We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
My mother’s husband after my (birth) parents got their divorce, was a man of great local wealth. A “big man” in the local community. He was quite the character.
He had 15 sons, and one girl. He was Catholic.
Don’t you know.
Anyways, after he passed on he give my brother a gift in his will.
No one knew what it was, and when we all took the truck to get it, we were all surprised.
It was a home liquor bar from the 1960’s during the Playboy age.
It has girly glasses, swizzle sticks, and was able to control lighting with velvet and mirrors inside the cabinet. We boys all thought it was cool as fuck.
My sisters thought that it was stupid; old antique furniture. something that should be given away at a thrift store.
My mother… well she just *sighed*.
Gave it to my brother.
Still, my mother wanted us to throw it away.
Ugh! She didn’t appreciate it’s value like we (my brother and I) did.
Often my brother and I would muse about being a “playboy” like 007, and seducing women in our bachelor pad.
He has it today.
It’s in his “game room” / study. Perhaps, he goes to it every now and then and mixed up a Tom Collins, or a Whiskey Sour.
Today…
Rights in the United States
How do servers feel when someone only orders the cheapest item on the menu?
The cheapest item on a menu is often the most profitable. That is no coincidence. At the top of the menu will be a prime rib roast for $60. At the bottom is the fettuccine Alfredo for $17.99. The prime rib is called the anchor item. Believe me, it is there to scare you. They sell very few of them and don’t make much profit because of the high cost of the raw materials. So now, they’ve coaxed you to look at the cheapest item, the Alfredo. One chef revealed that a pasta dish at the bottom of his menu cost only 98 cents in ingredients, but was $17.99 on the menu. It was the most profitable item on the list, and the most popular dish they sell, especially when compared to the $60 steak that only brought in a couple of bucks profit.
Then there’s the wine list. It was designed by a restaurant psychologist. They know that a couple on a date will order a bottle of wine. But the guy doesn’t want to look cheap, so he orders the second cheapest wine. But guess what else? The owner knows that too, and the second cheapest wine has the highest margin!
A menu is full of tricks. Many of them funny, like no dollar signs and no decimals. Or burying the price in the description rather than putting it on a column to the right, where prices are easier to compare.
There are many, many more. Try searching “restaurant menu tricks”. Here’s one of them:
Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed? Why?
Until May 12, 2007, I didn’t worry whether my bedroom door was open or closed while I slept. Now, my bedroom door is closed and locked every night.
Tenth-grader Alec Kreider, entered the Haines’ family home while all were asleep and stabbed them. All their bedroom doors were open and their garage door was up.
When you look at his photo, Alec was just a kid.
The only person to escape was the 19-year-old daughter. Alec didn’t know she’d returned from college that evening.
The Haines’ house was less than a mile from ours.
The police were at a loss to find the killer or even a motive for why this family had been killed. The police were vocal about what the area residents should do until the case was resolved.
It was during that month that we started locking the bedroom door. Finally, it became a habit that we continued even after Alec’s father drove his son to police headquarters.
Alec never disclosed why he killed a good friend of his and the parents. He pleaded guilty and there was no trial.
Edit:
Someone commented that the photo of Alec may have been when he was younger than the date of his arrest. I copied and pasted a photo so you could see how he looked on that day.
Decline
What are good skills to learn before going to prison?
If you’re going to prison, you need to learn how to shut up. It’s normal that when we see injustice, we want to fix it. Did you see someone steal another man’s shoes while he slept? Just mind your own business. Learn to lock up your own shoes, or make them not worth stealing.
Confronting the thief is a bad idea. Maybe you’re pretty good in a scrap and think you could take the scumbag down.
Maybe you can. But what will you do when three of them show up at your bunk at 2:30 in the morning with their padlocks inside socks? Those heavy chunks of metal, swung at high speed inside the sock, hit hard. It’s an impromptu weapon that works just as well as something from a medieval battlefield. The only thing it lacks are the spikes, but the inmates will compensate for that with enthusiasm.
Next, you need to learn that your case is nobody’s business. Period. It’s tempting to want to talk about what you’ve been through.
Don’t.
Just don’t.
The reverse is even more true. Do not ask anyone else about their case. It’s none of your business, and the asking invites trouble.
Prison is a primitive culture. It’s all based on power and social status. In a way, it’s like we’ve never built a civilization at all, and are stuck in our shared simian ancestry without the civilizing influences of the feminine gender. Ask yourself, “What would Jane Goodall do?”
Observe. Understand. Don’t get involved.
Learn to lose yourself in an activity. If you’re not much of a reader, learn to become one.
Learn some useful skills. Learn to sew. The ability to repair your own things will save you money, and can make you useful to others.
Learn to make do.
Two years later, I still catch myself glancing in trash cans for useful things.
Learn introspection. Learn to understand who you are so that essence can be preserved. Your time in prison is temporary. One day, you will be headed either to the streets, or to the hereafter. Either way, you want to leave as a civilized human being the least scarred as possible.
My goodness!
Southern Afghanistan 2008.
Group of Taliban fighters ambushed a squad of Marines in my platoon on a night patrol. We were engaged in a firefight with them during the day and a squad was pushed out to search for them. Traditionally the Taliban would not engage us at night because we “own the night”.
This time however, when the Marines got close they lit multiple stacks of dried vegetation on fire washing out our NVGs with light. They also engaged the Marines with RPGs and automatic weapons from rather well hidden positions that were only a stone’s throw away. In fact, they happened to throw back grenades that were thrown in their direction. I was pushed up from the rear as aid and litter to retrieve a wounded Marine and the light show I saw that night was like watching star wars space battle.
The green and red tracers being exchanged over the sight and sound of explosions, smell of burning fuel and large flames was all so astonishing to experience. The Taliban impressed me that day. In my experience that was one of only the handful of times I experienced a night battle in my year and a half total of combat zone time. Their success was short lived however, you can imagine who eventually won that fight.
When you are on the way up…
The Mughal Empire was ruled by only one dynasty, but why doesn’t anyone call it the “Mughal dynasty”?
There is no word “empire” in ancient Chinese history
This word was introduced to China by Westerners, and then the Chinese began to use it.
Therefore, the Chinese customarily refer to all their ancient regimes as “dynasties” rather than “empires”
Now, there are some new changes in the definition of ancient Chinese regimes in academic circles.
Some scholars began to try to distinguish between “empires” and “dynasties” in ancient China
They called some powerful regimes that ruled the whole of China “empires,” while they called some small regimes that only controlled local areas “dynasties.”
For example, “Ming Empire”, “Tang Empire”, “Song Dynasty” and “Shang Dynasty”.
They believe that many large empires and more small dynasties were born in ancient China. Their reason is that with every regime established, the name of the country changes. There has never been a regime named “Middle Kingdom” or “Middle Empire” in Chinese history.
Some scholars also believe that according to Western definitions, China established its empire in 211 BC and lasted until 1912. During these 2000 years, China had only one empire. All regime changes are “dynasties” within this empire. The change of dynasties is actually the continuous collapse and reconstruction of this empire.
Their reason is: the establishment of each dynasty claimed to have inherited the “mandate of heaven” from the previous dynasty. They even passed down the seal made by the first emperor as a symbol of legitimate power.
I think there is no standard answer to this question, just a customary name
Important
When is China expected to surpass the USA economically? Will they also become a military superpower at the same time?
Wake up it has already!
China has a bigger economy based on the flawed GDP PPP measurement that favours the west measurement of values of smokes and bubbles. Such as Wall Street values and not real tangible human values. Yet even in this flawed and skewed to the west measurement China has already overtaken them since 2014. China have more men, more ships more planes more ammunitions and it has vital new technologies such as hypersonic missiles and superior drone and sonar technologies that render most of U.S. weapons useless for at least a decade now!
Interstellar | “Tidal Wave” Full Scene (Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey) | Paramount Movies
Doesn’t Putin realize he will be VAPORIZED 15 to 20 minutes after he launches his first missile?
How exactly?
Let’s say Putin nukes Kiev tomorrow
Do you think anyone would retaliate?
No
That’s because nobody would want the risk of Russia launching Nukes against them in a counter strike
The attitude of NATO would be
“Boy he is ready to launch nukes and annihilate everyone. If we launch a nuke against Putin, the world will be annihilated”
So the West won’t launch nukes and would do their best and prevent war
Even the Neocons would be stunned enough to sue for peace
It’s what Medvedev would have done
Launch a small low yield nuke capable of killing maybe 100,000 Ukranians in Kyiv and getting peace
Let’s say Putin nukes France
Half a Dozen Satans, destroying and vaporizing the entire nation
Would UK Or US risk launching nukes against Putin?
They would know for certain that if they did, Russia will launch a counter strike and millions and millions of their people will die including Mrs Biden or the Biden Grandkids or Mrs Sunak Or the Sunak Kids
I don’t think they will
They will have all their nukes ready for launch but will ensure that they somehow de escalate from a full on nuclear war
So i dont think any NATO nation will retaliate against Putin on behalf of another Nation because that would be certain death
Unless Putin hits US or US hits Putin, the risk of MAD is very little
Putin can destroy any other nation in the planet without fear of consequences of nuclear retaliation
Maybe China is too large and has a strong enough AD to manage to defend itself
So how to ensure there is no nuclear confrontation?
Each side has enough Pentagon or Kremlin Brass who know when to draw a line and prevent nuclear escalation
I love this
What are some psychological facts about girls?
People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading peoples MIND.
A survey says that a person who likes to do the things which are “asked not to be done,” are sugar lovers. They like sweets more than anything in this world. 😉 If you know someone who is fond of sweets, get ready to face adventures.
68% of the people suffer from Phantom Vibration Syndrome, the feeling that one’s phone is vibrating when it’s not.
Depression can affect other parts of your body, potentially leading to other diseases, especially cardiovascular-related diseases.
Being alone for a long time or smoking 15 cigarettes a day, both are equally dangerous.
If someone is being a dick, tell them they have something in their teeth. That will make them feel self-conscious and weird, and should end their dickness. Works every time.
Unless you make peace with your past, you can never pave your future… so leave things that trouble you behind and focus on the future.
Having negative friends is linked to depression, lowered self-esteem, insomnia and anxiety. Positive friends promote good overall health.
While walking on a crowded street, keep looking to the path you want to go, most people will avoid getting in your way.
If you always thinking about someone and sometimes they randomly pop up in your head, they miss you and you are also on their mind 🙂
People who get angry very fast are under deep stress at that time and they need love and belonging immediately.
I heard this the other day. Apparently if you pick a word someone is using and smile each time they say that particular word, they will start to say the word more often.For example, someone is talking about dogs, and if you smile when they say *dog*, then they’ll say *dog* more often.
According to psychology, two effective ways to fight depression are exercising and spending time with pets.
Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
If you announce your goals or tell someone else about them, you are less likely to accomplish them because of the lack of motivation and interest that now result from someone else being aware of your goals. Keep them to yourself!
People who talk to themselves are smart by nature.
If a girl is really into you then she will look at you secretly when the people around you both are laughing.
For developing a new habit, follow it for 21 days, it will eventually become a routine.
Most marriages are failing faster these days than at any other period in history, and most people actually believe that marriages don’t work anymore. According to studies, marrying your best friend eliminates the risk of divorce by over 70% and such marriages are more likely to last a lifetime.
Smoking tobacco and having an unhealthy diet causes cancer more than alcohol would.
One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4–5 hours. One minute of laughter boosts the immune system for 24 hours.
Girls: An average man gets bored after 26 mins of shopping.
If you believe you are not good looking, you never will be good looking to others. (Seriously. It is like the Law of Attraction is in play a bit here.)
The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in there. The ones who accept you for who you’re.
Fuck Dude!
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
My ex-wife became convinced that I was hacking her home computer.
(Well, technically it was my computer, but it was an older one I’d left for her use after I’d moved out – a long, unhappy story.)
Among the many stupid parts of this claim, is that it was in the days of dial-up modems, where she could easily disconnect the computer from the internet. Hacking instantly prevented!
And, at that time, I don’t think’ spy-ware’ of that type even existed.
Also her son-in-law worked in IT, and could have easily installed standard security software for her. But I suspect he actually did that, and that she still thought she was being hacked.
The sad reality of the story is that she suffered from mental health issues, and constantly thought people were “out to get” her. Neighbours, (ex-)friends, co-workers, fellow church-members, etc.
Still, I was kind of surprised, 6 months after I’d moved out, when the police called to question me about “tampering” with her computer. They didn’t seem to give this much credibility, but I think they were obliged to follow-up, even know it was a waste of everyone’s time.
The irony is SHE had previously hacked MY email account, because she thought I had a secret girlfriend on the side. Nope, sorry – I was faithful to the bitter end.
(She also told people I was secretly gay – so which is it?)
What was your most embarrassing moment as a foreigner in another country?
6 months back, I was on a trip to China (related to work).
One fine day, I got late while coming back from work to my hotel. It was 9 PM.
An old lady called for me. She was sitting on the stones near footpath. When I approached her, she asked about where I was going. I told her that I was going to my hotel. She asked if she could come along.
I thought she might be worried because it was cloudy and dark. I agreed. We reached hotel and she followed me in. I thought she might be a guest at the hotel. But then she tried getting into my room as well on which I objected.
I had a feeling that something was wrong, as we had been communicating mostly in sign language as she spoke very little English. I called reception and asked them for help ASAP.
The reception guy came. I told him that I found this granny while coming to the hotel. But she’s following me every where. It would be nice if he could translate for me. He said something to her in Chinese and started giggling. He asked her to follow him.
I went downstairs for dinner in 20 minutes. The girls at the dining space started laughing when they saw me. I smiled back.
After my dinner, I went to the reception guy to ask why everyone was laughing at me. He told me that the granny was a call girl. And I was innocent enough not to understand that.
He told me that the girls were not laughing but feeling amused at my innocence. What a nice way to tell someone he messed up big.
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of U.S. Victoria Nuland has retired. according to a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. Victoria’s tenure caps three and a half decades of remarkable public service under six Presidents and ten Secretaries of State,” was noted in the Statement. (HT REMARK:The Witch is out . . . . this seems extremely peculiar to me; especially the timing of it, given the Ukraine-Russia thing going on. Perhaps this is a sign the entire Ukraine fiasco is going to be brought to an abrupt end???)
Bravery
What’s the most incompetent instance of bullying you’ve ever seen?
Actually, it happened to me.
I was a tiny ten-year-old and was often mistaken for eight. My bully was about twelve and was big for his age. He beat me up almost every day on the way home from school. One day, I’d had enough.
He came after me. I bent, darted under his arm, grabbed the back straps of his sandals and felled him like David did Goliath. He got up, stunned, then looking down at his sandals, (yes, the big bad bully wore sandals) cried, “You broke my sandals!” and began to cry and ran, I assumed, home. But that’s not the best part.
The next day I, the bully and his parents, were called into the principal’s office. When his parents saw me, their jaws dropped. There sits their big, strapping son, and I, a tiny, tiny blonde little girl. Nevertheless, they began yelling about my beating up their son, blah blah blah.
Now, the principal had noticed that I had been coming to school with black eyes, bruises and scratches, and unbeknownst to me, had begun to investigate…end result, sandal boy got suspended for one week.
Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of victory! He never bullied me again – nor did anyone else!
Good Advice
Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
Pork
1 pound pork tenderloin
Glaze
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Instructions
Place pork on a greased rack in a baking pan lined with foil.
Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl, set aside 3 tablespoons glaze. Spoon remaining glaze over pork.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 28 minutes or until done, basting occasionally with reserved glaze.
Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
Fun Facts
Your tongue length is related to your sexual curiosity. Those who can lick their elbows are more willing to try new experiences.
If you have a crush on someone, your brain will find it impossible to lie to that person.
People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading people’s minds.
The way you dress is linked with your mood. So dressing well most often helps in keeping you more stably happy.
Women with higher IQs have a harder time finding a mate.
The cells in your body react to everything your mind says. So negativity brings down your immune system and you feel sick.
The most you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
We believe what we WANT to believe.
Men are not funnier than women: they just make more jokes, not caring whether other people like their humor or not.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.
Dogs being dogs
Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?
The West had a good nice plan for China
Give them all the Capitalism they needed, flood them with Dollars, bring them into the WTO, flush their economy with green currency, create more billionaires
Then ultimately use that Capital and those billions to control the country
They had a ready made plan
Chinese would have all the money they wanted
China would be dependent on the US system
China would make their currency convertible
Slowly US Institutions would buy shares and stakes in Chinese Banks, Chinese Companies
Slowly US would invest into the Chinese stock markets and make the Shanghai bourse dependent on Wall Street
The ultimate plan was to make China – a mirror of South Korea
An Economy fully controlled by Western Capitalism like most of the other Lackey economies
In fact a US Think Tank American Foreign Policy Council set out objectives of this nature as early as in 1994
They expected China to be fully enmeshed to the US Capitalist system by 2019 , ie:- in Twenty Five years
Xi Jingping stunned them
He regulated the tap of capitalism flowing into China
Rather than creating more billionaires, he ensured the capitalism and capital flow benefited more middle class Chinese and Rural Chinese
Rather than build a castle based on speculation, he ended speculation and focused on building actual development
He diverted all that green money into SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY and ENGINEERING
In short he did something the West never expected
He increased anti corruption policies
He focused heavily on the lower income Chinese
So China used all that money from the US System to build their own financial system as far away from the US as never before
They used the Capitalism to build global connections through the BRI
The US could do little but stare in IMPOTENT FURY for almost a decade from 2008–2018 because of the Global Financial Crisis and it’s aftermath
By that time China had leaped and jumped and done a lot to put itself out of immediate harm, otherwise by 2012–2013 you would have had a plaza accords 2.0 with China
Today Chinas model is so unique that the West has failed in its objectives
The West supplied China with capitalism to control them and now China with the same capitalism has built it’s own ecosystem that threatens to one day surpass the West
Another is Putin
They flooded him with capital and created oligarchs to control him
He grinned, complied and when he was strong enough
The oligarchs simply disappeared
Excellent purging
One morning Oligarch goes to a walk, collapses
His tame militia are all in jail Or sadly killed in a terrorist strike
The Oligarch was blue when he died. Some nice Novichok.
His sons make a rushed deal with the state and run out of Russia shivering before accidents happen to them too
That’s it – The State, Mother Russia takes over Billions of Dollars of Resources stolen by the Oligarch funded with US banks for pennies on the Dollar
Gutter scum are purged like rats
What a man!!!!
Today?
Putin is the undisputed Tsar of Russia and Russia has discarded the West like a used condom
Next in the line is mostly Saudi Arabia
So be ready for hearing stories on BBC related to MBS committing some bogus genocide and sanctions on Saudis for some vague reason
Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. … [I]t’s Toria’s leadership on Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come. Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet – democratically, economically, and militarily. … President Biden and I have asked our Under Secretary for Management John Bass to serve as Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs until Toria’s replacement is confirmed.
Victoria Nuland, a member of the neo-conservative Kagan clan, is only 62 years old – too young to retire regularly. She will be remembered for handing out cookies to anti-government demonstrators in Ukraine and for installing the 2014 coup regime. That has been her main project in the State Department. But the 2014 Maidan putsch that turn the Ukraine into a battering ram against Russia, has ended in a complete failure. Neither was Russia ‘weakened‘ by the war nor has Ukraine any perspective to survive but as some Russian controlled land-locked backwater country in Europe’s east. Given that billions were spent on Ukraine with little controls and nothing to show for Nuland, and her family, have certainly made a bit on the side. One wonders if any of the ongoing and coming investigations into the black hole Ukraine will leave them unscarred. As even Guardian commentators are now waking up to the mess they helped create it is high time for European politicians to also finally accept this reality:
Western Europe has no conceivable interest in escalating the Ukraine war through a long-range missile exchange. While it should sustain its logistical support for Ukrainian forces, it has no strategic interest in Kyiv’s desire to drive Russia out of the majority Russian-speaking areas of Crimea or Donbas. It has every interest in assiduously seeking an early settlement and starting the rebuilding of Ukraine.As for the west’s “soft power” sanctions on Russia, they have failed miserably, disrupting the global trading economy in the process. Sanctions may be beloved of western diplomats and thinktanks. They may even hurt someone – not least Britain’s energy users – but they have not devastated the Russian economy or changed Putin’s mind. This year Russia’s growth rate is expected to exceed Britain’s. The crass ineptitude of a quarter of a century of western military interventions should have taught us some lessons. Apparently not.
Have you ever accidentally interrupted a crime in progress?
I came out of the shower at a truck stop once, to find that the cashier was being robbed at gunpoint.
It was about two in the morning and the truck stop was otherwise dead.
I very quietly sat my shower bag on the floor, ducked my way over to where the truck stop sold tools and found a tire-thumper. I then snuck up behind the robber and thumped him as hard as I could on his shoulder, right where his shoulder met his neck. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
The truck stop’s owner was so grateful, that he gave me a hundred dollar gift certificate to use in his store. He also gave me the tire-thumper, which is essentially a smaller version of a baseball bat, both as a thank-you for saving his store from being robbed, and likely his employee’s life, too.
I was also thanked by the town’s sheriff (it was a small town in west Texas), and the local gazette took my picture. I was also given an honorable mention by the trucking company I worked for at the time.
The robber was taken to hospital and then later, presumably, to jail. I’d walloped him a good one, later learning that I’d hit him so hard, that I’d broken his right collar bone, from hitting him from behind!
Interstellar | Docking Scene
Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
12 large leaves cabbage
1 cup cooked white rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup minced onion
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cabbage leaves 2 minutes, just until pliable; drain.
In large bowl, combine rice, egg, milk, onion, ground beef, salt and pepper.
Place about 1/4 cup of meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf, and roll up, tucking in ends. Place rolls in slow cooker, seam side down.
In a small bowl, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over cabbage rolls.
Cover, and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.
Great quote
Have you ever met someone for the first time and got the strongest feeling that the person was bad?
One of my coworkers at (a) job, retracted information to protect all parties, just wasn’t feeling right. He hired in just fine, passed all the drug tests etc. He seemed ok, but my problem gut feeling was there. I first attributed it to simply his demeanor, and I try to hire all people just as much as normal since I too am slightly autistic. But after watching him interacting with customers and coworkers, I knew something just wasn’t kosher. He was very polite to them, but then on his way back to get something I would often hear him berate them. He said some pretty horrible things about people, after he was the most polite and sincere person ever to their face. I really had no true grounds to terminate him, after all he was following all rules and was showing up for work on time. I had to keep his personal business to myself and him. Other workers began complaining over time though, especially the ladies, so I had a talk with him. What he said during that talk shook me to the core. He was middle eastern, so women to him were property, nothing more. He just wasn’t able to overcome his way of life and beliefs. I sternly told him all people from every type and corner, including himself, were protected under strict laws in the US. If he had any chance of enjoying life here and being able to stay in this country, he needed to learn that women were equal to men and were NOT property that he could push around.
He didn’t like that one bit. He retorted that in his country I should and would be punished or killed, to which I stated “Ok, that was just a direct threat to me my friend, you need to leave NOW. You are terminated effective immediately”. His response was I was not the head boss, and I had no authority to fire him. I retorted back that in threatening situations, such as any employees making any type of threat or violence against another, any manager was well equipped to call the authorities and have him immediately fired and removed from our premises. One call to my head boss was all it took. When he heard this, I think it clicked in his head he was not in his country, and he was stepping way beyond his bounds. He quickly settled down, a small sorry might have escaped his lips, but the damage was done. With several women testifying against him, we had no choice but to let him go. I made the phone call, and of course I was told that my decision was valid. I had it on speaker for him to listen to. I watched as a good bit of color wiped away from his face. I then told my boss, as he was sitting there listening, that everything was recorded on our security camera for the office. If any questions arose, she had the footage. She promptly set a do not erase for that camera footage.
So, I hang up the phone and look him square in the eyes. “Are you leaving quietly or am I needing to contact our local sheriff? “. No, I will go. ” Ok, no problems ever again from you at this location right? A tresspass will land you in jail and deportation out of our country. “ His expression said it all, like oh crap I just screwed up really bad. Rather than even deal with him again, I quickly counted up his hours he had worked for the week and paid him (with receipt) right there. Then I escorted him off our property. On my way back I heard him mumbling again under his breath. Probably trying to figure out how to have me killed. I was very glad to have him dealt with. I admit i was a tad scared he might actually try something, but I was hoping his visa meant more to him than being disrespected. We didn’t have any issues that I am aware of.
This Is Not A Drill | Captain Phillips
Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?
The rapid development and rise of China in the past few decades has been reflected in the rapid economic growth, the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, the huge changes in infrastructure and the continuous improvement of social welfare. These achievements have been made through the firm determination and unremitting efforts of the Chinese government, and have also brought important influence and opportunities to the world. These achievements have taken the world by surprise and many people in the West by surprise and unprepared.
First, geographically, China is so far away from the West that many Westerners don’t understand China.China is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. Westerners have to travel a long way to reach China. And because of the distance, not many Westerners would travel to China unless they were curious and looking for adventure. And the Western media portrays China in a very negative light, leading many people to distrust China’s rise.
As a netizen in the United States described, in the 1990s, he could not have predicted that only 20 years later, China would become the world’s second largest economy, that some Chinese technology companies would rank among the world’s most valuable companies, and that food stalls in China could pay by scanning the QR code on their mobile phones. And policy makers in Washington and Brussels are still asking whether China’s growth is real or fake.
Second, in political terms, China’s rise challenges Western institutional ideas.
For a long time, many people in the West have had the basic idea that a country can succeed economically only by embracing Western liberal democracy and capitalism. Only with the Western model of development can a country be rich and strong, and there is no other model. As Francis Fukuyama concluded in his famous essay The End of History, “Liberal democracy is the ultimate form of government for all nations”.
Even though the Chinese economy has been growing on a rapid basis for many years, the West is still dismissive, they are completely distrustful of the data coming out of China, and none of them think this growth is sustainable. That’s why there are “scholars” like Gordon Chang who dedicate their lives to convincing the public that China’s economy is about to collapse.
China’s success is proof that a country does not need to copy Western institutions to become rich and powerful. Westerners find it inconceivable that the Chinese people, whose way of thinking and way of life are so different from those in the West, can still build such a big economy in the world. For the time being, Westerners have not accepted that a non-European white country can become as developed as a white country.
Since the Middle Ages, no nation has ever grown up in peace. Great powers like England, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States have all grown up on the backs of others. However, the Chinese government holds high the banner of peaceful development and dominates China’s economic development model. Coupled with its unique political system and cultural differences, China’s rapid economic development and peaceful rise have resulted in a lack of understanding and expectation of China’s rapid rise in the West.
Third, from an economic point of view, China’s rapid development surprises Westerners.
It took China less than 60 years to go from nothing to second place in the world in terms of GDP. It took just 70 years for 1.4 billion Chinese to lift themselves out of poverty. Since 2010, when China surpassed Japan for the first time to become the world’s second largest economy, China’s annual GDP has been more than four times Japan’s total GDP. It took the United States one or two hundred years to modernize, while China has become amazing in just 30 years!
In 2022, the world’s steel production will reach 1,878.5 million tons, of which China will account for 1,013 million tons. China will have 5.35 million kilometers of highways in 2023, an increase of 1.12 million kilometers in 10 years; China has 177,000 kilometers of expressways, ranking first in the world. China’s high-speed railway has gone overseas. Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has been fully opened to traffic, with a speed of 350 km/h. China’s space industry has developed rapidly, from unmanned flights to manned flights, from one person for one day to more than one person for many days, from in-cabin experiments to out-of-cabin activities, from single-ship flights to sky surveys at the space station… Over the past 30 years or so, the Chinese people have taken a confident and leisurely walk in space. In 2023, China will surpass the United States in the number of patent applications, ranking first in the world.
Fourth, from a cultural point of view, Westerners are reluctant to accept the rise of Asian civilization in their hearts.
Since the Industrial Revolution, Westerners have liked to think that they are the world’s leading civilization to the exclusion of others. While Britain was the world’s superpower and the world’s policeman, the wealth and industry were all in Europe. Europeans accepted the “rise of Britain” because British people looked like them. After World War II, when British power and wealth declined, the US took the lead, and the wealth and industry were all in the US. Americans and Europeans were happy with that because Americans looked like them. When Japan’s economy grew rapidly to become the second largest in the world in the 1980s, the West could not accept it and imposed extremely severe restrictions and repression on the Japanese economy. Now, with China’s rapid development and peaceful rise, the world’s wealth and industry are shifting to China and Asia, and although it is not there yet, it is clear that wealth is shifting to Asia. This time, Chinese people don’t look like Americans or Europeans, and in their stereotype of Asian development is relatively backward, so they are reluctant to accept this rise.
All in all, in recent decades, the Chinese people have adhered to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, persisted in reform and opening up, and worked hard to develop their own politics, economy and culture. They have forged ahead and achieved a rapid rise, which has surprised many people in the West. However, China’s peaceful rise will be a boon to the Chinese people and a boon to people around the world.
What’s the most “small town” thing you’ve witnessed?
Here in Hong Kong… people think it’s like this.
Or this
But I live in the countryside.
It kind of looks like this
We have a problem with wild animals. Wild pigs are absolutely everywhere and eat the trash. Most locals who live here shrug and think meh, but visitors are all OMG a wild pig.
We also have massive snakes.
Oh and rats, huge fucken rats as big as cats. A couple years ago when she was younger nobody batted an eye when my mum grabbed a massive rat by it’s tail and smashed it on the ground into a bloody mess. A wild dog came along and ate it shortly after.
Ukraine SINKS Russian Navy Ship Sergey Kostov in Kerch Strait
The Defense Intelligence of the MOD of Ukraine (GUR) in a statement say that they ‘sunk’ a ‘$65 million’ Russian patrol ship named ‘Sergey Kotov’ near the Kerch Strait using Magura V5 naval drones. The vessel was a 22160 Bykov-class corvette, seen in the FILE PHOTO below:
As of Tuesday morning, traffic on the Kerch Strait Bridge is still stopped; no vehicles are permitted to cross it. No one is saying if the attack last night, which was reported by this website (HERE), damaged the bridge or not. Dmitry Medvedev, writing on his Telegram channel, confirmed the story: “Overnight, Ukraine’s naval drones found the Russian Navy stealth patrol ship Sergei Kotov in the Kerch Strait by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, damaged her stern and both sides and sank her.”
Real talk
Have you ever seen a kid and just thought “Well, they’re doomed”?
Yes. Trigger warning: offensive language.
I work as an anaesthesiologist. I put kids off to sleep all the time for surgery. Having had anaesthetics myself as a child—and hated them—I go to elaborate lengths to make the experience as manageable as possible for every child.
This begins with talking directly to the kid, rather than talk to the parents as if they’re not there. I try to gain a little of their confidence and trust. I talk on their level. I make jokes. I don’t lie or use euphemisms.
I usually give kids gas to breathe to go to sleep. For younger kids, I tell them a story as they go to sleep. For older kids, I show them a funny video on YouTube. Using my techniques, most kids are calm and cooperative when they go to sleep. Inevitably some balk at the smell of the gas, and some are so anxious that they won’t engage with me; but I never restrain a child without consent from the parent.
This particular wee lad was 7. He was accompanied by his grandmother. He was well, but Gran said vaguely that he had some behaviour problems at school. He didn’t really want to talk to me, but I did my best with my usual routine.
We get into the operating theatre, and get him on the table (soft foam mattress, cosy blanket, Gran holding his hand). I gently hold the mask and start the story. After a few breaths of the gas, his whole demeanour changed. He started saying “No, no, no” and pulled the mask off. As usual, I try to be gentle, so I tried to reapply the mask with some reassuring words.
“Fuck that!” he shouted. “This is mental!” He sat up and started to climb off the table. The nurse came over to help and he shouted “Fuck off, you nigger!”
He climbed off the table. His face was contorted in pure hatred and hostility. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such hatred in a child’s face. He was lashing out with his fists.
I hate restraining children. (Anaesthesiologists seem to like to lie to parents and say “Don’t worry; they won’t remember this”. I know this to be a lie because I remember what happened to me as a child—so I don’t say it.)
The only alternative is to abandon the procedure. Gran (very reasonably) didn’t think this was the right move. So we restrained him. All the time he was fighting and screaming insults and profanities. (I believe nigger was the most offensive word he knew, because nobody in the room had very brown skin).
Kids are afraid; I get that. Sometimes they pick up on their parents’ fears (or memories!); I get that too. Sometimes children cannot be reasoned with and we need to restrain them so we can put them to sleep for surgery which is necessary. But usually what they react with is fear and avoidance.
This kid, just below the surface, was carrying a truckload of hatred and aggression, which he could not control—at the age of 7. Had this kid been terribly brutalised? Was his Gran with him because his parents were not around for some reason? I could never find out.
Of course I’m extremely unlikely to ever see that kid again. I’ll never find out how his life unfolds, but if he reacts to every threatening situation with the same level of violence and hostility, he’s really going to hurt someone, or himself, and that’s only going to get worse as he gets older, and bigger, and runs into the testosterone poisoning of puberty.
I hope I’m wrong.
Edit: Of all the content in this answer, which has generated a lot of traffic and commentary, by far the most contentious seems to have been my use of the phrase “testosterone poisoning”.
I intended this to be a tongue-in-cheek, metaphorical use of the word “poisoning” to represent the effect that testosterone has on the behaviour of young men: it tends to make them more aggressive, more impulsive, and more likely to take risks. None of these are attributes which are likely to improve the behaviour of this particular young man, for whom puberty lies ahead. Testosterone levels rise very sharply at puberty and this is at least one of the causes of emotional turbulence during that period.
I didn’t mean to imply that testosterone is literally a poison. I do recognise that male puberty is a normal part of male development. I am not being sexist in my answer or attacking the male sex. I reject any notion that using this particular phrase is a sign of my unprofessionalism, or my unsuitability to perform my job well.
Lordy
What is the biggest “I’m definitely fired” thing you’ve done at work, but nobody ever found out?
Well, everybody found out, from the ambulances, police cars, and fire-trucks that showed up. The plume of smoke could be seen for miles.
I was 18, doing a summer job after my freshman year, working at a recycling plant where OSHA and the EPA seemed to have no jurisdiction for whatever reason. On my first day of work, I was the “Fireman” on a job of taking the tops off of passenger rail cars and turning them into flatcars. Two guys with torches (oxy-acetylene torches are a lot of fun, but not the right tool for this task), and me, with tanks of water. See smoke? Douse it. See fire? Really douse it. Too simple of a plan. By lunch our first rail car was enflamed, our of control of me (or the fire-trucks that showed up!).
I figured I had screwed up royally, but by honestly reporting what we had done, how it went wrong, and refusing to talk to the Police or Firemen and referring them to the boss, I kinda came out a hero. I got a raise, and the most fun summer job I ever had.
Chopsaw, no training, check.
944 forkloader (carry three cars) and borrow a 966 (carry 5 cars), no training, check
Forklift built in the 50’s we ran on oil we sometimes drained from cars, no training, check
Shears. Electric eight inchers for cutting ordinary pipe and such, and the beastly six foot shears ran by a Ford 351 until I cut an International Harvester Jeep-like thing in half to power it when the 351 gave out, check.
My own oxy-acetylene rig when the metal would only listen to fire? check.
Really now that I know more about stuff (BA, couple of MAs) attacking that rail car with reciprocating saws (“SawzAlls”) would have been the way to go. It was just plain dumb to try it with torches. But by keeping my cool, I got the best job in the recycling plant, played with some incredibly beastly toys, and destroyed a lot of things in ways that mad my boss look good.
Oh, we probably violated darn near every EPA and OSHA regulation that is on the books. But that summer was fun.
Poland
Why is the reoffend rate so high for ex-inmates in the United States?
Here’s how the “justice” system works in the US:
Imagine a huge playground with millions of children having fun. Every once in a while, one of the kids does something that’s against The Rules. Maybe he tosses sand at someone, uses bad words, or walks up the slide. Maybe he’s just *accused* of breaking The Rules.
Instead of giving this kid a good talking to, we pick him up and drop him down one of the many open wells we have on this playground. He’ll have to spend a few hours down that well, with all the other kids that have broken The Rules.
What do you suppose our little rule breaker learns down in that well? Do you think he’s hard at work becoming a better person? Hell no. The other bigger and meaner kids are busy making him worse. When the little tyke’s time is up, we pluck him from the well and drop him right back on the playground with no special instruction or help. He’s lost all his toys and whatever place in line he may have had.
Every parent within a hundred yards is watching him because he just got out of the well. He’s a “known offender,” and those are fun to watch because they so often act out while trying to regain their toys or place in line.
On top of that, we’ve cooked up a few rules that will only apply to those that’ve been in the well…
How do you think that’ll go? Do you suppose he’ll be caught reoffending?
Of course he will. Is he more likely to offend than other kids? Maybe. But even if he didn’t pick up any bad habits in the well, he’s more likely to be accused of something because he’s being watched more closely *and* he now has more rules to comply with.
It’s so often the case that our “solution” has created more of what we sought to eliminate.
No sex realities
What is an example of a dirty trick that a thief tried but backfired when they saw your dog?
Not a dog, but a cat. There is a young woman in my neighborhood who uses a wheelchair. She lives alone except for her cat. It is clear that a disabled person lives in her home with a wheelchair lift in the back.
She woke up one night when she heard a rustling in her bedroom. A young guy was going through her drawer looking for jewelry. He had her laptop in his hand. She saw a pistol stuck in the back of his pants. She froze, trying not to move and alert him that she was awake. She was terrified. There was no way for her to get away from him. She feared for her life.
He sensed she was awake and took the pistol out of his waistband. He cocked it and headed to the bed with the pistol pointing at her. When he leaned over her bed, pistol aimed to kill, her cat leapt onto his head. She started kitty karate on his face, shredding what might have been good looks with her claws. He ran screaming out of the house with a furious feline on his head. The cops found eye guts in the driveway.
The cat saved her life. Hard to feel sorry for a one-eyed guy willing to rob and kill a helpless victim. Kitty got lots of treats and is living the good cat life.
I’m glad you are learning
Old Man in the Cafeteria
An old man just dropped his papers. The young black woman in the absurd fur hat had just told him, “No.” In his nervousness, he spilled all that he was carrying. She wouldn’t help him pick up his papers any more than she would grant his request. She stands, shoulders straight, face forward, and watches him, her eyes cast downward – impassive and uncaring.
What was his request? Something minor. For someone who has been here as long as he has – since the Reagan administration – it had to be something minor. He knows better than to ask for anything that will require much more than a nod of her head.
The old man stoops to pick up his papers. He’s shaking, but I don’t know if it’s from age or the confrontation of the moment. His legal papers, a jumble of typewritten pages, handwritten notes, and official envelopes, contain his proof – proof of how he has been wronged – proof of how the system has failed him. I know this because I have a pile of papers just like his with its official court seals and signatures of attorneys who can afford me no more of their time.
He carries his jumbled pile to a nearby table where he takes pains to straighten it and remove the filth from the cafeteria floor. He returns the papers to a folder crafted from a box which once held a dozen cans of grape soda – trash pressed into service to contain and protect his most cherished possession: his hope.
A judge destroyed his life one day. A judge took away his future and condemned him to age behind walls, to die slowly outside the view of his friends and relatives.
This is nothing new. Every prisoner here knows this. Every man here has been through the process. Plead guilty to a crime you may not have committed, or exercise your “Right to a trial,” lose to an opponent with unlimited resources, and be punished four or five times worse for having the audacity to say, “I didn’t do that!”
This is justice in America:
Prosecutors who wield more power than judges and use the threat of extreme sentences to force the innocent to confession;
Judges who follow guidelines set by a congress eager not to appear “soft on crime;”
Defense attorneys who are as cowed by the system as the defendants and can only help by showing you where to sign your confession;
Corporations who profit from our policy of mass incarceration by supplying goods to the prisons, or even the prisons themselves;
Guards who supply drugs, cigarettes, and favors to inmates with the resources to make it happen, or who use their authority to express their hatred or racism.
The old man will try again. He’ll approach someone else when another month of his dwindling reserve of life has passed and the sting of the disinterested woman is gone.
Thirty, forty years eventually pass and then the old man will be cast onto the street, his family gone, friends dispersed. He’ll have no money and may even owe a huge fine. Too frail and elderly to work, he’ll find a bridge to keep the rain from his blankets.
Containing China: US Using Taiwan as East Asian “Ukraine”
When I was a senior in High School, I had a group of friends that I used to hang around with.
Oh, sure, most of the time we just stood around, smoked joints, drank beer and did acid. But it was a different time and a different place. We would alternate our locations, from the “standard” keggers, to road drives though the Western Pennsylvania woods to just hanging out near the river at a tipple.
Anyways, one of the guys was this older fella named Calvin. I liked him, but he was a hard drinker and partier.
I still get a chuckle out of this, but we are all stoned in my GTO. Calvin was in the back seat. A friend had lit a “Thai stick” which of course, was a very powerful form of marijuana, and when you smoked it, it felt like a baseball bat smashed your face. And we were parked outside this historical landmark; an old church and cemetery. We were listening to Led Zeppelin, and just sitting there completely zoned out. Our brains were pickled.
Calvin was chewing on something. He would reach into the ashtray at the side of the door wall and pull out some old cigarette butts and put in in his mouth and chew on it.
Then he said, after a while… “Man, this popcorn is the really stale”.
The PRC has sent barges into the channels between Quemoy and Xiamen to deepen the water channels between the ROC-held island of Quemoy and the PRC city of Xiamen. The ROC government in Taipei has said that this is a violation of the lines which the ROC had drawn between the two governments, and which had largely been respected by both sides.
Following the Feb. 14 event where an ROC coast guard ship chased a PRC fishing boat, leading to its capsize and the death of two PRC fishermen, the two sides have been involved in several rounds of negotiations. The PRC side has demanded a public apology and compensation to the families of the fishermen, but the ROC authorities have refused. So the PRC side has decided to deepen the shipping channels in the area, and violating the lines drawn up by the ROC.
Now the ROC authorities are threatening to take action against the PRC ships working in the area. They have not specified what actions they will take aside from pushing the PRC ships out of the area. This sets the stage for a confrontation.
The problem with the ROC position is that the authorities now publicly refer to the ROC as “Taiwan”, because the ruling DPP is for Taiwan independence. By taking a stance on offshore islands so close to Xiamen and PRC-held territory, they are choosing to enforce territory which is far away from Taiwan, and is not considered to be a part of “Taiwan”.
Why are they doing this? Do they expect the Biden administration to support them? It does not make a lot of sense.
If they don’t enforce it though, it is likely that the PRC air force and navy are unlikely to recognize air and sea claims made by the ROC anymore.
Salami-slicing in action.
Chuck Wagon Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
Cobbler Crust
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 cup cold water
Cobbler
1 Cobbler Crust
1 cup granulated sugar
6 cups peaches, drained and juice reserved
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1 cup juice from drained peaches
1/2 cup Black Jack Daniels
Instructions
Cobbler Crust
Mix dry ingredients and add shortening. Cut in with a fork. Mixture should look like coarse meal.
Add cold water gradually to make a ball.
Divide into 2 balls, top and bottom. Roll out one and line a 14 inch pan or 14 inch Dutch oven.
Roll out remainder and cut into 1 inch slices for latticework on top.
Cobbler
Melt butter in saucepan. Add peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon, sugar and Half-and-Half. Mix well.
Line pan or Dutch oven with crust.
Pour in fruit mixture.
Cover top with strips of crust in latticework pattern.
Moisten strips with water before baking and sprinkle sugar on latticework for crispy finish.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Every Man Needs To See This
What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?
When I bought my first car, a 1966 Mustang, my father insisted that I take it to his mechanic to go over it to make sure it was all working properly before I could drive it. It would stall out after 10 minutes of driving, so there was a problem.
The following was on the bill….
Clean top of carburator
Check oil filter for loosenes
Check window operation
Check exhaust system
Check steering, suggest replacement of steering box.
This was 1972 and the bill was over $300.00!!
The actual problem was a pinched fuel line. Rubber hose and two clamps. $1.50.
I replaced the oil filter and changed the oil. $7.50 total.
I removed the interior panels of the door, and greased the tracks. Already had grease $0.00
I replaced a broken hanger for the exhaust. $3.50
I pulled out the steering box and found it only needed grease and adjustment. Time and labor, already had grease $0.00.
The dude that worked on my car was a hack. I pointed out all this to my father and he only said “I guess your a better mechanic than the place we took it to. I never went back there.
Idiots
Is it difficult for British expatriates to find entry level jobs in law and business in Hong Kong as of 2023? Where do I look for work?
It’s difficult for my legal bod cousins. As I’ve mentioned before in another post during CNY celebrations a lot of UK born cousins were back in HK. A lot of them were looking for a route to come live in HK.
One of them was my cousin from one of my dad’s sisters. She’s worked in a UK legal firm for ages and wanted a way to come back here. Her just like many UK born ones have HKID cards so do not need visa sponsorship.
She had work experience.
She can work for less because accommodation is provided, the Clan provides several fully fitted out portacabins right at the back of the village, Portacabins are used because the common houses are being torn down and rebuilt. Anyway these portacabins all you have to do is pay for the electricity used.
She’s also pretty damned good in Chinese, HSK6… but here’s the thing HSK6 is still considered by most China born Chinese to be illiterate!
So? You have none of the above advantages.
You have to answer the question to HK immigration – why should I let you work in HK? What skills do you have that are in demand or somebody in HK can’t do. AND it has to pay over $28,000 a month.
You’re competing against all the returnees.
Jimmy Tells American General “The U.S. Is The World’s Biggest Terrorist!”
What is the most unsettling thing someone has said to threaten you?
A group of my friends was out drinking at a local bar where the music was loud, the floor was sticky, and the atmosphere was biker/tattoo/STD/obnoxious.
I was talking with someone who was an acquaintance-they were a friend of one of my friends. We knew each other, but only through these mutual friends.
Unfortunately, alcohol makes some people belligerent and, in the case of this one particular individual, paranoid.
I must have said something that didn’t sit well with him because the belligerent paranoid (BPA) accused me of disparaging him (I had not). He turned to my husband and told him he knew for a fact that our daughter was not his biological daughter (She is 100% his biological daughter). He started uttering non-sensical statements which I, for the most part, ignored and took as our cue to get the hell out of that dive bar.
The BPA went to the bathroom, my husband waited to pay the tab, and I went to get the car.
While I waited for my husband to come out, the BPA came up to my window and just stared into my car until I noticed him which caused me to jump and scream. I rolled down my window and told him he nearly gave me a heart attack.
Then he very calmly stared at me and said, “I’ll be by later tonight to stick a lighter in your outside dryer vent until your house catches and you all burn to death.”
Who the fuck communicates such a descriptive and specific way to unalive someone they barely know for reasons that are a complete figment of their imaginative paranoia?
My husband and I didn’t sleep well that night. The next day we installed cameras. And we have avoided all contact with the BPA since that unsettling and strange incident.
Bring your cat to work day
What are some deep things you should read today?
Everybody is self-made but only millionaires will admit it.
When you work for someone, the harder you work , the richer they get . When you work for yourself, the harder you work, the richer you get.
Continue to live for moments that make your heart smile wider than your face could ever imagine.
Uncomfortable dating tips : Women want you the most when you don’t need them.
Most people know “WHAT”to think , not “HOW” to think . If you learn this, you can conquer the world.
You can’t force love. Either it’s there or it isn’t. You’ve got to be able to admit it . If it’s there , you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect it.
Modern life is low-level psychic warfare.
Men will gladly spend a whole day with a woman, but not a single hour on their purpose. And, in the end, they ask, “why did she leave?”.
Men Have FINALLY Had Enough Of Their FEMALE Colleagues
Who is the dumbest law enforcement officer you have ever encountered?
Oh I have a doozy.
1978. Houston. Near the Galleria Mall.
I was getting off the freeway when a police car cut me off, almost running me off the road, no signal. Just truly bad driving.
Being young and stupid, when I was beside him at the light, I called him on it.
Oh he lit me up. I had three friends in my car with me. He made me get out of the car and was just screaming at me, telling me he could do anything he damn well pleased and poking me in the chest the entire time. I politely asked him to stop poking me with his finger and he threatened to break all my fingers off. He was so mad he was spitting and his partner was standing next to him with a smirk.
I stayed calm and asked my friends to write down their name, badge number, and car number. That’s when they hopped in their cruiser and just zoomed off.
I didn’t like it, so I called and talked to the desk officer. He took all the information and I assumed absolutely nothing would happen.
Nope.
I got a call back from a lieutenant a few days later. They had done an investigation, because the location I reported them at was nowhere NEAR where they were assigned for that shift. What they discovered is that they were cutting out of their area, going to the mall, and catching a movie. Lots.
The lieutenant shared that this was not the first complaint, but it was the last, because they’d both been fired.
Moral of the story? If you’re doing something outright stupid, don’t light up the stubborn college kid.
Today’s Shinjuku Kabukicho August 23, 2023 UP
As a patient, what’s the angriest you have ever been toward a doctor?
Dad had stage four mastatised pancreatic cancer, double incontinence, dementia and crippling arthritis. His oncologists used to call him in every month for a check up that consisted of him looking at dad’s medical notes asking how he was then nodding his head, that’s it. But, the trip to the hospital took nearly an hours preparation, a forty minute drive each way, a ten minute walk from the car park to the clinic (dad in a wheelchair when I found one) and then the worst bit! The oncologist used to call ALL that days patients in at 0930 then see them in alphabetical order! Look at our surname! The first few times were bad but one time after dad returned to the hospice he had to be rushed back to the same hospital under blues and twos! The next appointment we managed about an hour in the waiting room and dad was struggling to hold back his tears of agony, so I wheeled him out and started along the corridors back to the car. First the receptionist tried to stop us and I told her what to do on a short pier, then the nurse came running up to try to return us to the clinic “as the doctor was very busy and would get to us as soon as possible”. Dad told her to go forth and fornicate or something similar! She ran back and told the doctor (don’t know if fornication was involved or not). Pushing a wheelchair with a mind of a shopping trolley containing a fifteen stone (210#) obese man (5′2″ ) in immense pain, who didn’t want to be there, you don’t move very fast! The doctor caught up to us to find out what was going on and exercise his presumed authority! Wrong move! My dad used to be a CSM and he taught me how to project orders across a parade ground! Don’t shout at me if you have sensitive hearing! Amongst other things (including the legitimacy of his birth) I told him we were there for the benefit of dads health and not his ego! And we left, luckily for him he didn’t try anything physical! I’m also 210# but six foot tall and very little of that was fat! Unfortunately the stress and strain on dad contributed to him once again that evening being returned to hospital by emergency ambulance.
Now my dad through a variety of reasons was no stranger to that hospital. In the ward he usually ended up on, all the staff knew him and were on first name terms, most since being students. One of the senior consultants had first met my dad when he was doing his medical training and had become friends (even came to dad’s funeral! What, you think you recover from stage four pancreatic cancer? At 81?) He wanted to know why dad was back in hospital once again. So we told him who, how and why! Now this senior consultant is married to the chief executive of the hospital, that may or may not be the reason that the oncologist changed his appointments policy from block appointments to individual appointments and a very significant attitude adjustment the next time we went to see him!
Gen-Z
What is the biggest secret that your first boss told you that has helped you the most?
I started to work as a programmer with a large insurance company.
I was also going to a university at night for an engineering degree.
So, the job was just a paycheck for me until graduated.
My supervisor called me into her office and let me know that she knew that I was just using the job as a steppingstone until I graduated. She was a quaker and peppered her speech with thee and thou. A lovely lady.
She told me the company had its own problems and if I showed some diligence in my job, she would ensure that I would be rewarded for my effort.
I took her advice and made a great effort to please her and focused on my job.
When the company put together a planning group, she insisted that I be a part of it.
The group consisted of two vice presidents, three directors and one programmer.
The first problem we tackled was the number of boxes of paper documents shipped to all our service locations at the end of the month. The cost of shipping the boxes and how hard it was to look up the data at the service location.
This was in the late sixties and personal computers were not common.
I was a tech magazine reader at the time, so I suggested to the group that we output the data to a fiche machine because the fiche produced would be less costly to ship than sending boxes,
It would require the home office to buy the fiche machine and the service locations to rent fiche readers, which at that time were very cheap.
The benefit to the service location was the fiche was easy to handle and never got torn.
Well, the company and the service locations loved the idea, so it was accepted.
The planning group stayed together for a year, and we solved some smaller problems.
That 15-minute conversation with my supervisor changed my life forever.
When I received my degree, I no longer had an interest in engineering and chose to stay in the computer field.
She is gone now but not forgotten.
Pepe Escobar: Putin and China Send DEVASTATING Warning to NATO as Germany, Macron Threaten WWIII
This is really rather good.
Can Quora conservatives explain why and when you started being a conservative?
I can try.
It’s a long story, though. But, like most other people, my political leanings are the result of my influences early in life, and my experiences. And, to some degree, what I didn’t experience, that others did experience.
For example, it’s easy to be supportive of the police, when you’ve only ever had positive encounters with them. It’s easy to assume that most people can avoid negative encounters with the police by simply obeying the law.
That door swings both ways. It’s easy to have an adversarial view of the police when you or someone you know had a negative encounter with them.
Once you get a political idea in your head, you start to see it everywhere you look. This is true for people across the political spectrum. You’re influenced to see certain things and, by God, now that you’re looking for them, you see them everywhere.
For me, my journey to the right side of the political spectrum is more of a journey of being pushed away by the left, rather than willingly moving towards the right. I’m more libertarian than conservative, but, in contemporary America’s binary political landscape, it seems that anything that isn’t progressive is often all grouped under “conservatism.”
Progressives: What’s your stance on [this issue]?
Me: Total indifference. It has nothing to do with me.
Progressives: So you don’t support the people who are dealing with it?
Me: Does my support or lack of it have any impact on the issue whatsoever? No? Then why must I choose to support it or not? Why can’t I remain indifferent?
Progressives: You sound like a conservative. Your silence tells us all we need to know, and it won’t protect you.
Me: If indifference on this topic makes me a conservative in your eyes, okay then. I’ll add your labeling of my political stances to the list of things I don’t care about.
If I’m being super honest, in the last decade or so, I’ve gone from identifying as “libertarian” to identifying as “cynical.” I assume that most politicians are only looking out for themselves, most government attempts to fix issues will fail, or make things worse, the government has more than enough money to fix society’s problems, but a lot of that money is wasted, etc…
For example, there’s a ballot measure here in Chicago to raise taxes on real estate sales over $1m, to raise funds for housing options for homeless people. My view on that is that it will likely pass, but not a single homeless person will be helped by this. Any money raised by this will find its way into the pockets of politicians and their supporters, while the expenses will just passed on to renters. The people who support it will get to pat themselves on the back for caring about the homeless, while ignoring the complete lack of tangible positive outcomes from it. The goal here is virtue signaling from the rank-and-file voters, sticking it to “rich people,” and lining the pockets of the Democratic machine. Homelessness is just the necessary reasoning for it all.
Basically, I assume that, for the rest of my life, the general situation in the world, and in my country, will be roughly the same as it is now, and my best move is to put myself and my children in a position to avoid the worst of it. The “status quo,” when it comes to politics, is too hopelessly entrenched to be uprooted, and too hopelessly corrupt to be effective.
But this question is about the origins of my conservatism, not why I stick with it in middle age.
I suppose my political journey began as a child in the 80s and early 90s. My father worked for the U.S. Navy, as a civilian machinist. Among other things I remember him saying about his job were:
He was forced to spend millions of dollars on machines that he didn’t really need in his shop, but the companies who made those machines donated to the right politicians.
He was forced to spend every single dime he was allocated for the fiscal year, or, the next fiscal year, he wouldn’t get as much allocated. Saving money isn’t rewarded, but is actually punished, when you work for the government.
He would never be promoted beyond his current level, no matter how well he did, because he was a white male. Back then, the federal government was only interested in promoting racial minorities and females.
That last one was something I heard versions of from most white men I knew growing up. Of course, half of them worked at the same base where my father worked, so they dealt with the same policies. None of these were rich white men. They were all working class white men, and they all felt like they were being punished for things they didn’t do, in the name of “fairness.” And they placed the blame for that injustice directly at the feet of liberals.
The same white “social justice warriors” of the 50s and 60s found themselves, by the 80s, on the receiving end of social injustice, in the form of Affirmative Action. It seemed like every middle-aged white male I knew growing up was a “live and let live” and “don’t judge a book by its cover” kind of guy, with a serious chip on their shoulder that others weren’t adhering to the “don’t judge a book by its cover” mantra. Every single white guy who felt like they were falling behind in society was able to blame Affirmative Action for their slipping, no matter how true it was.
The message, for younger white guys like me, was easy to pick up: it is legal to discriminate against you because of your race and gender, and you just have to accept it.
And, once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere.
Why does my high school have a counselor specifically for helping minority students get into and pay for college? That’s discrimination. Why is no one calling it out? My parents are taxpayers, too. That counselor should be helping everyone who needs help with those things, and not discriminating against students based on race.
You just have to accept it… or, affiliate yourself with the side of the political aisle which points out the hypocrisy of it all.
So it wasn’t so much “we’re conservatives,” as it was “liberals are working against people like us, so I guess that makes us conservative by default. Where else would we go?”
By the time I got to high school, I was socially liberal, in the sense that I simply didn’t care about people’s personal business, particularly in the bedroom. I was also very concerned about environmentalism, and even started a small paper recycling program in my school. It didn’t last, but at least I tried. I wanted to be a “part of the solution.”
My environmental views have skewed heavily to the cynical side in the 30 years since starting high school. I think recycling paper is a huge waste of time.
I remember, however, in high school, being annoyed by some of my more politically involved classmates, demanding that I (and everyone else) not only form opinions in line with theirs on certain topics, but openly express our support. They had the “if you’re not openly supporting us, you must be quietly opposing us” attitude that I’ve seen in other progressives in my adult life.
Some of my most common PG-rated thoughts throughout my high school years were versions of “I’d care more about this person’s point of view if they weren’t so damn loud and obnoxious all of the time.” And, of course, a sarcastic “the problem you’re in could have been easily avoided has you made more conservative choices in life.”
It was during those years that my own sister, of her own volition, developed a drug habit, became a teen mom, and dropped out of high school. I had a front-row seat, starting around age 12, of how to ruin your life through really shitty decisions, and it sapped a lot of the sympathy I had for people who were dealing with the consequences of their own shitty decisions.
Although I’m getting better about it, when I hear that someone put themselves in a bad situation, and is now begging “society” to bail them out of it, one of my first thoughts is, “how is this anyone else’s problem but yours? Why should we all have to pay for this?”
Anyway, that’s my evil conservative origin story.
Tales From The Streets : San Diego Streets Ep-4
What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?
While inprocessing for the military, I worked at a radio station selling air time in a town of 30,000. When I took over my route a retired Army major was occasionally hitting $6,000. That was pretty good in 1979. I took billings over $8000. Three months later, I was fired (I was the only man), and a young cutsie 22-year-old girl was hired. She had zero experience.
My sales manager/station owner’s wife told me to “clean out my desk.” I did just that, trashing everything including sales invoices for the month. She made a big point of letting me know I wouldn’t be getting my commissions. I waited patiently for my salary check ($1,500 at the time) at my desk, then walked to the bank and cashed it.
Two days later I got the call. “Where are all the sales invoices for August?’
“In the trash.”
“What!?”
“You said clean out my desk. I did.” Then I hung up.
I heard later the young girl didn’t work out, and the station went bankrupt.
Sad, isn’t it?
Do you think that coaching institutes like Unacademy should be banned as they charge lakhs and crores and those who study from these will do corruption to recover their investment made on studies which they can’t earn honestly in a government job?
I absolutely do
Coaching has become an Industry today and whenever such things happen, everything becomes counter productive
Xi Jingping rightly said
In China :-
Private Tutoring Apps had become an Industry and had commercialized education so much that the newer generation was no longer going to such coaching facilities to LEARN OR ADD TO THEIR KNOWLEDGE OR UNDERSTANDING but to specifically orient themselves to scoring marks in a specific examination (Gaokao)
Private Tutoring Apps had become exploitative and were commercializing learning to an extent where it was feared that the entire Gaokao could be modified to suit the whims of the Private Tutoring Apps
So he wiped out the Industry mercilessly
“F*** the Billions of Dollars in Paper value”
Today Tutoring has gone back to the old 60 RMB per Hour student tutors or Volunteer Tutorials and Extra Coaching
India and China both have predators who suck the blood of common people and exploit them in the name of capitalism
The Difference is CHINA BANNED THIS
In China, if any Institute publishes the list of toppers for admissions
Their license is suspended for 5 Years
They are fined not less than 60,000 RMB but upto 250,000 RMB
Ministry of Education Bans the Idolization of China’s Top Gaokao Scorers
Stories of the top achievers of China’s national exams can no longer be propagated by state media; the emphasis should shift to the average, harmonious student.
India not only allows this to flourish but ignores cases where Institutes LIE about their students by paying money to the students and making the students lie
Most Coaching Institutions are run with political contacts
Now my point is
Is Unacademy really predatory?
Just because they offer coaching for a fee doesn’t make them predatory
Just because they have referrals doesn’t make them predatory. That’s just business. Same as a Tutor asking you to give her cards to your friends.
Do they exploit the situation in India and claim if you don’t take their course, you will lose badly
Do they help you learn or do they force you to structure your brain into clearing the JEE or NEET rather than learning the topics?
Do they prostitute education by paying more money to marketers than teachers?
So far at least I dont think they are that bad
Please correct me if they have become that bad
Coz that’s what happened to BYJUS
From being a place that helped students sharpen their brains to understand CAT better, they prostituted and pimped education spending more on “Celebrities” like SRK who also prostituted himself like he did with Arindam Chaudhari
Unacademy are also going BYJUS WAY
Using Tendulkar the dropout of Xth Standard to promote an Education Product
So they too are starting to pimp out education
It won’t create the Students India needs
Not the thinkers, analysts, people who understand fundamentals – they aren’t born from KOTA FACTORIES or Prospective Pimping Edtech Apps
They are born by self study with tutoring to help them sharpen their brains
One thing to learn and understand Physics, Maths and Chemistry and USE THIS KNOWLEDGE AND WRITE THE JEE
Another is to learn Physics, Maths and Chemistry BECAUSE YOU WANT TO WRITE THE JEE
The former is a winner
The Latter ends up mediocre in life in every aspect
Solution?
Ban full page Ads of Toppers by various Institutions
Regulate the Coaching Fees
Make sure Coaching Institutes remain Sole Proprietorships Or Partnerships and dont become Companies
Ban any Coaching Institute taking over another Institute
Register all Coaching Institutions with Ministry of Education with select standards
Otherwise the next two generations of students, the so called FUTURE OF INDIA would be the most worthless
Anyone who exploits students like this must be taken to Gulags and forced to labor for 20 hours a day in the -17 degree weather
Tokyo’s Night Joy Paradise Plus Unexpected PERMISSION 2
Can you provide an explanation of the recent Texas v. Pennsylvania case before the Supreme Court? Is it accurate that President Trump does not have jurisdiction over these cases due to not being a member of Congress?
Well, let’s start with some basic principles of U.S. constitutional law.
Under the constitution, the Supreme Court may only hear original cases in very limited circumstances. One of those is when one state sues another state. That’s not uncommon, but usually its due to disputes about the right to use water from rivers that pass through more than one state. The usual procedure is to refer the case to a special master (usually a federal court judge) who holds the trial and reports back to the Supreme Court which can then affirm the decision.
Congress cannot expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to hear cases that aren’t listed in the constitution. That was what Marbury v. Madison was about – the court was given power by congress to hear cases involving disputes about judicial appointments in the District of Columbia, and ruled that Congress didn’t have that power.
Now, onto the case. The State of Texas attempted to bring a case shortly before Congress was to meet to confirm the result of the 2020 election to sue the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for not following its own election laws. Essentially, they wanted to disqualify all the mail-in ballots cast during the election on the theory that Pennsylvania law hadn’t authorized them. This issue had already been tried by Pennsylvania courts which ruled such suits were “untimely” – any such suit had to be brought before the election, not after.
But the only issue before the court was whether they HAD to take the case. As a rule, the Supreme Court chooses which cases it hears, but again if this is a case within its jurisdiction to hear new cases, they might have to take it.
What the court ruled is that no state has the right to start a case in the Supreme Court unless the judges agree to hear it. That’s probably good policy as it appeared this case would have asked the Supreme Court to allow one state to enforce laws in other states, which in any other case would be a no-no. For example, Texas could not sue to prevent Pennsylvania physicians from performing abortions on Texas residents just because it’s illegal for a Texas resident to leave the state for an abortion, or based on some theory that Pennsylvania law doesn’t allow physicians to perform abortions except on Pennsylvania residents. Once again, the issues in this case were already settled in Pennsylvania courts, and those could have been appealed to the Supreme Court if there were a constitutional issue (that’s what happened in Bush v. Gore).
But let’s get back to the rule about the Supreme Court only being able to hear a narrow range of original cases. The president does not have the right to sue in the Supreme Court (although he could be sued in, for example, a case involving the appointment of an ambassador – that’s within the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction). Members of Congress don’t have the right to sue in the Supreme Court either.
Elysium Movie Clip | Full Robot Fight Scene | Matt Damon | Diego Luna
What is the most unbelievable behavior you witnessed from a new co-worker that made them get terminated almost immediately?
I worked in a loan department as a loan clerk. A man was hired as a new manager for one of our branch offices. Our Vice President asked me to train the man on the loan process and how to type out the form letters, etc.. This man gave me grief from moment one.
He was arrogant and a smart aleck. I wanted to slap him about every five minutes. He was also a male chauvinist pig. He kept making sexual remarks to me and about me. When I sat him in front of the computer to type out the form letters, he refused to do them, saying “Typing is women’s work. I’ll have one of the women do it for me.”
The final straw came when I took him back to our Vice President’s office. The VP was asking me how he had done and before I could respond, the man said something to the effect of “Well, she wouldn’t sit in my lap, so I think she needs to be spanked.”. I just stared at the VP. He turned to the new manager and said “You’re fired. This is one great lady and you’ve disrespected her since the moment you walked in. Get out before I turn her loose on you.”.
Middle Class Meltdown: America’s Unseen Crisis
Biden = Russia, Russia, Russia!
Trump = China!, China!, China!
Nothing is ever going to get fixed.
Was Hitler a drug addict?
Adolf Hitler was a chronic drug addict. His drug use was of epic proportions.
Hitler was prescribed by his doctors so many various drugs (including cocaine) that he was rarely in a state unaffected by powerful mind-altering substances.
According to his doctors, Hitler was “a good patient.”
He was meticulously adherent to the regimen for his chronic sinusitis: cocaine in aerosol form.
The German Fuhrer also took amphetamines, sedatives, and hormones.
Hitler relied on daily injections of the “wonder drug” Eukodol. It contained oxycodone, a semi-synthetic opioid. The drug caused the state of euphoria, practically rendering the user incapable of making sound judgments.
In his book “Blitzed”, German author Norman Ohler described how the Third Reich was permeated with drugs, including cocaine, heroin and most notably crystal meth, which was used by everyone from soldiers to housewives and factory workers.
Pervitin, an early form of methamphetamine, was available in Nazi German without a prescription.
In Nazi military during WWII, drug use was encouraged.
In September 1939, Ranke tested the drug on 90 university students and concluded that Pervitin could help the Wehrmacht win the war.
The effects of amphetamines on an person are similar to those of the adrenaline produced by the body, triggering a heightened state of alertness. In most people, the substance increases self-confidence, concentration, and willingness to take risks while at the same time reducing sensitivity to pain, hunger, and the need for sleep.
Later, a dose of cocaine was added to Pervitin tablets, to increase the drug’s potency and encourage continuous use.
When Hitler’s drug supplies ran out by the end of the war, he suffered severe withdrawal from serotonin and dopamine, paranoia, psychosis, rotting teeth, extreme shaking, kidney failure and delusion.
The Sopranos – Paulie enjoys Miami
Can Mike Tyson still knock out Jake Paul when he’s going to be 58 years old in the fight?
Technically yes but realistically an emphatic no.
I never thought I would be saying this but Jake Paul is likely to beat Mike Tyson.
Why? That’s a legitimate question since we are talking about one of the greatest and most feared heavyweight champions ever V a relatively junior pro boxer with very few fights.
I’m afraid it all comes down to age, activity and conditioning. At age 40 or even 50 I’d give Tyson a great chance but he’s nearly 60 now, been out of the ring close to 20 years and been doing a lot of other things. Put simply he’s just not in condition to fight a professional fight. He could beat the hell out of the normal types of guys in the street no doubt about it but this is a professional boxing fight we’re talking about. It’s very likely that after one round of intense fighting he’ll be totally finished from a cardio perspective. After that last stand, Jake Paul who if nothing else can at least hit hard will probably get him.
Don’t be fooled by the videos of Tyson looking fast and powerful in training. They have been carefully edited to make him look good. In reality in the fight (if it’s a real one) he won’t look that good or fast. He’ll still have a bit of power so there is some danger to Jake Paul but probably only for one or two rounds max. After that it will a big advantage to the younger man.
No matter how good a condition a fighter is in, the age aspect of this is relevant. A 60 years old head isn’t supposed to get hit hard by a pro fighter. The blood vessels can’t be trained to take those shots like they used to.
For people of my generation it’s pretty sad to see the great Iron Mike Tyson reduced to doing this kind of circus act.
This fight could end pretty badly and shouldn’t really be happening at all. That’s capitalism for you.
EDIT : I guess the most likely thing here is that they’re both in on it as a money grabbing exercise and have agreed with each other not to hurt each other. The fight will probably be the least interesting part of the next few weeks. It’s all about the build up.
Mr. Spock Sends Up a Flare – Star Trek – 1967
What is the craziest thing you ever did when you were a teenager?
I can’t believe I am going to admit this….
When I was 14 years old in 1982-ish. I was recently uprooted from my lifelong hometown. I moved from upstate New York to Pennsylvania with my mom and step-monster. A friend of mine had just gotten sentenced to serve time in a NY state jail. I wrote to Scott frequently, as I thought he must be bored and lonely. I used this same stationary every time, with little unicorns on it. After the third or fourth letter, I realized just how bad it was for him in there.
I got together a little bit of money and bought some pot. I put it in a little matchbook, and sent the matchbook to Scott, along with a letter saying something like “I hope this helps.” I was smart enough not to sign my name, just in case anything bad happened. I thought that it was illegal to tamper with someone’s mail. It never even occured to me that the jail’s officials in charge were allowed to open up Scott’s mail and go through it. I used the same stationary as normal. Little unicorns. Can you see where this is heading?
My parents were surprised when federal detectives showed up. The formal charges were:
“Using the Federal Government (The United States Post Office) to transport illegal drugs across state lines.” To a correctional institution, no less.
Okay, you can laugh your a** off now…
I’ll wait.
Thank God I was 14. I was sentenced as a juvenile offender (the record was sealed); deemed “incorrigible”; had a PINS petition put in place against me (Person In Need of Supervision); had to perform 100 hours of community service and was almost placed in foster care because my parents couldn’t handle it or me anymore. Thankfully, my grandmother took me in, instead. My parents called me all sorts of stupid. Yes, I have to agree. But my answer to them at the time was “I thought he could use a buzz.”
Hugs.
-Valeri
The fourth
What is a polite response when someone says they don’t like your home?
I am soon to be 64. At this stage in my life, I have a VERY low tolerance for a**hattery. I don’t bother trying to be polite to people that aren’t polite.
The last time one of my sisters came to my house and made a comment about a few papers laying on the floor, I didn’t let her get away with it. I left them laying on the floor after they fell off the desk; for a good reason, but that was none of my sister’s business. I don’t believe in explaining to people why my house looks the way it does. Why SHOULD I? So, what I said to her was this: “You don’t REALLY want me to start critiquing YOUR housekeeping, do you?”. After I said that to her, she never said anything about anything that was on the floor again.
You see, her and her husband always leave their dining room table FULL of all different kinds of papers, looks real messy, but you know what? I never say anything because it’s THEIR house! They can keep it the way they WANT to! Plus, I don’t CARE about it, it’s not MY house! They SHOULD have the same respect for me!
AND, that’s the same way I feel about someone coming into my home telling me they don’t like it. Depending on who it is that is saying it, I MIGHT say something like “I don’t care, you don’t live here.” or maybe ”What did you come over for then?”. See, the FUN thing about messing with RUDE people, is because they never expect people to be rude BACK, which is why they are rude in the first place, because people LET them get away with it. *I* don’t. The looks on their faces when they are rude and I am blunt with them…PRICELESS!!!
In a medium bowl, combine ground beef, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper; shape into four patties.
Grill or broil to desired doneness (about 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium).
Meanwhile, in medium skillet, melt butter.
Add onion and taco seasoning; mix well.
Cook onion over medium high heat until soft and transparent.
Top each patty with onions and cheese.
Return to grill or broiler until cheese is melted.
Place each patty on a roll; top with lettuce and tomato.
Companies Are Being Forced Out of NYC… Why?
Are Democrat supporters who have a pathological hatred of Donald Trump aware that at least 80% of what they think about Trump is misinformation and comes from outright lies by the US Mainstream Media?
I was a mainstream reporter (NYTimes and NY Herald Tribune) when Donald Trump was in his early 30s in NYC. I got to know him at his hangouts and on several more private occasions.
He was not then, nor is he now, “stupid” as so many anti-Trumpers continually proclaim. He was, however, a man whose word meant absolutely nothing. He spoke almost nothing but outright lies and “gut” fabrications. He’d betray a “friend” in a blink; he loathed any woman whose “pussy” he could not “grab”. He was a physical coward in private and in public. He was frightened to wetting his pants of his Nazi-loving, face-slapping, fascist father, to whom he lied and groveled. He had no friends since he only took and never gave. Both men and women immediately felt his creepy, duplicitous, despicable ways and avoided him unless they wanted to be close to what they thought was his money. Her learned how to manipulate and twist the American legal system from his evil genius lawyer Roy Cohen (“Don’t tell me about the law, tell me about the judge.”). I believed then that hate is stupid and as a reporter I did not hate Trump. But I understood him, and understanding is the opposite of hatred.
Trump is now and was then (as any woman who knew him even a bit well would agree) —- a mentally vicious, endlessly traitorous, sickeningly self-absorbed adolescent with feminine soft hands (no manual labor) and a filthy tongue. That was in his early 30s. Any honest observer and reporter quickly found him out and in New York and environs his name was a dirty joke. . . Then came TV “reality” shows and millions of unfortunate Americans watched how he behaved and they want to be just like him, and get away with it. If anyone who reads this considers themselves a friend of Trump, may their gods help them. He will make America and Americans poorer in mind, money, than it ever was, The only way to beat the Russian-sponsored thug is to confront him with a community of people who will oppose him and his fellow liars, cheaters, thieves, and those who tolerate them,
Father’s statement
What did you do when an aggressive driver got out of their car and wanted to fight?
Bad Traffic day in Orlando, FL. As a legal motorcycle rider, I was following traffic laws and traffic lights, and traffic wasn’t moving at all. The *ssh*l* in the car behind me started to lean on his horn. After 5 or 10 horn blows I started to respond with my 139 decibel horn everytime, followed by a turn of my head to look at the driver banging his hands on his steering wheel and yelling again. When he tried to pull up next to me in the space between me and the car in the next lane, I moved to block just enough of the lane that he would have to hit either me or the car in the next lane. At this point he starts yelling at me. He continues to try to move up. The Car next to me gives him just enough space, and I continue to control my lane.
When he gets close enough he started yelling “You! On the motorcycle! ….” and a flood of anti-hispanic, anti-biker rhetoric just comes spewing out of his mouth. Not being hispanic and not considering myself a “biker”, I calmly turned around, looked him in the eyes, and said “No hables espaniol”.
The drivers is ENRAGED! He starts to get out of his car. And he keeps screaming about immigrants. Once he is out of the car, I turn to him again.
I say to him “I was born in Philadelphia PA. Am I an immigrant? And aren’t you smart enough to understand that I don’t speak Spanish? That is what “No hables espaniol” means.”
The man is flabbergasted, stops in his tracks, flaps his mouth several times, and the best revenge, the log jam broke and the light changed, at the same moment. As I pulled away, the man was left standing in the middle of the street with every car behind him laying on the horn, and trying to get around him.
It Begins… Army Troops Take Over NYC
Have you ever had to tell an employee that their attire was inappropriate?
Yes, I had to take on the most difficult challenge of all, a man telling a woman that her attire was inappropriate for the office.
To set the scene, this woman was a young adult, a peer and also a work-friend. She had just lost a bunch of weight and also taken a European vacation. She was feeling good about her body and bought a dress in Paris that showed it off. This dress was so low-cut that it showed the underside of her breasts. If you wanted to pick up a casual hookup in a bar, this was exactly the dress you wanted to wear. But I would never, could never say that.
What I said to her was that this dress looked awesome on her with her weight loss, and if she was looking for a date, it was a great choice. But if she wanted to be taken seriously as an engineer and not distract people, something more conservative and businesslike might be a better choice. She was, in fact, having difficulty being taken seriously, so she took this advice on board and dressed more professionally after that. I got to keep our friendship and not get sued. I’m super glad I won’t ever have to do that again.
Passport Bros are leaving and Modern Women are HUMBLED
When U.S. prisons are inspected, does it actually help the prisoners?
The American Correctional Association (ACA) came to do an inspection at the Federal prison I was in.
A failed inspection would mean loss of accreditation. I’m not aware that means anything other than egg on some suit’s face.
For a prison inspection to be meaningful, hordes of inspectors should rappel from helicopters into the yard in the dead of night without warning. They could carry badges, clipboards, and maybe a few pieces of equipment. (OK… five minutes warning so nobody gets shot).
Instead, the prison had months of notice. They had enough lead time that they could leisurely waste weeks, doing nothing to get ready. When the visit was about two weeks off, suddenly stuff started happening.
New paint was slathered on everything, thick enough it could’ve stopped an escape all by itself.
In the chow hall, we had a persistent leak in the roof. Because it wasn’t fixed for years, the drop ceiling soaked up water, several tiles collapsed, and ominous mold was growing in the insulation around the duct work. At about the same time that paint was being poured over every surface, a crew of inmates came in to patch the ceiling. They didn’t fix the leak, they just patched the drywall and drop in sections that were affected.
Our dishwasher could never get up to temperature. The water was so hard that the heating coils were continually clogged with deposits several inches thick. Pick up any tray that had gone through the thing, and you’d immediately see that the luke warm water wasn’t getting trays clean (of course we never bothered with soap or surfactants either). Instead of trying to fix the dishwasher, the staff, experienced in many an inspection, simply stopped using it. It was “temporarily out of service” for the visit, and we used thousands of dollars worth of disposable foam plates and cups for each meal. This kept the inspectors from finding out that the machine was actually permanently out of service.
So, no. The inspections didn’t help us at all. Our food did get dramatically better for the couple of days that the visit went on, but that was really the only change.
After the visitors left, the dishwasher was plugged back in so it could moisten the dirt on the plates, and the ceiling started to crumble again, revealing mold that had blossomed nicely in the humid darkness.
What story of survival blows your mind every time you think about it?
A bolt of lightning hit the right wing of the aircraft, and suddenly LANSA Flight 508 was plummeting toward the ground. Over the screams of dozens of others, Juliane Koepcke — who was sitting at 19F, a window seat — heard her mother say from the seat beside her: “Now it’s all over.”
Seconds later, the plane is disintegrating in mid-air, and Juliane’s mom is gone. Juliane is still strapped in her seat, but she is not inside the cabin anymore — instead, she is all alone in the open air at a height of 10,000 feet, tumbling down from the heavens.
The last things she will ever see are packed treetops that look like broccoli heads. Or so she thinks.
Because the next day, she wakes up on the Amazon rainforest floor, still very much alive and miraculously only modestly wounded:
She had a concussion, a broken collarbone, some deep cuts. The forest, she wrote in her memoir, “saved my life,” the foliage cushioning the impact of her 10,000-foot fall. She went in and out of consciousness before finally pulling herself to her feet.
That is her first survival story, but now she is all alone in a jungle. She is seventeen years old, and she needs to focus on the next step. A second survival. Luckily for her, Juliane has lived in the jungle for several years, in a research station where both of her parents were working at the time.
She looks for her mom first, but doesn’t find her. Then, she decides to look for a stream, because streams often lead to villages, and she will soon need water. And when she finally finds a creek, she also finds dead people:
“When I turned a corner in the creek, I found a bench with three passengers rammed head first into the earth. I was paralysed by panic. It was the first time I had seen a dead body.”
[Image of plain wreckage of LANSA Flight 508, which had boarded in Peru. (Coral Brunner/Shutterstock.)]
As days go by, a wound on her upper right arm gets infested with maggots about one centimeter long each. She remembered that their dog once had the same infection and that her father had put kerosene in it, so when she finds a small hut with a palm leaf roof, and outboard motor and one liter of kerosine, she sucks the gasoline out and puts it into the wound.
The next day she hears human voices, and she is saved for the second time around.
Later, Juliane found out that her mom also survived the crash, but was badly wounded and died a couple of days later in the rainforest, all alone, and desperately hoping that a miracle had saved her daughter.
My brother, Daniel, lives in Colorado. He is the only family member that I remain in contact with.
I have a couple of sisters, but they are isolationists and never respond back to me when I try to reach out. Oh well.
For the longest time, my brother and I would talk and zoom every week. But after Covid hit, it broke down and our emails and talks got to be scarce. The last big talk that I had with him was when he was worried about World War 3 between the USA and China and offered to take me in (abandoning my family in China).
I wrote a post about this.
After that our talks got shorter and shorter, and then he got sick with COVID. He spent an entire month in bed, delirious and hallucinating. Turns out he didn’t get any vaccination, and instead took “colloidal silver” that he got from the internet to get better.
I had a few zoom meetings after that. He looked good. Lost a lot of weight.
But then, the last talk I had with him was about when his dogs died. My dog; PP had died, and so I was asking him about it. Later, he was going camping over the weekend. This was in July 2022.
Hi BV,
I think your correct, dad got her in '67, and I think she passed in '78 or'79. Tara was 11 and Kimba was 14, which is a good long time for a husky.. Ashia just turned 5 last week..
Hope your well! We're going on a three day backpacking trip in a few hours. That will be some fun, Ashia will be carrying her own food so that will slow her down abit :)
DZ
And that was my last e-mail from him.
That was a year and a half ago.
I haven’t heard anything since.
He has five different email accounts and two video accounts, and he doesn’t answer any of them. Further, the twice yearly alerts of vacations, travel, and parities that would occasionally pop up in my in-box … all ended.
Sigh.
Either he is purposely blocking me, or he himself went to the big Domain in the sky.
Vaxx victim?
In Prison for some law?
Death by accident?
I did find his wife’s coffeeshop on the internet, and sent her an email. This is what she said.
Hi BV,
first of all, Dan is fine and all is well! I honestly don't know why he wasn't in touch with you. I'd ask sometimes if he'd spoken with you but I had no idea that much time had passed since you two had communicated. I don't have any huge or exciting updates....
Tomorrow (Easter) we're going to one of my sister's for dinner. Some of my family will be there, so it'll be nice. Otherwise, just plodding along.
How old is Ray Ray now? I'm thinking she must be around 5 or so...? You should send my a picture if you think of it!
I'll tell Dan he must get in touch with you. It's just dumb not to communicate with family - often we're all we've got. And I apologize for not being more proactive in that regard!
Love to all of you from Colorado,
Emily
Sad to say.
It’s a reality when you get older. As time progresses, you circle of friends and relatives get smaller and smaller.
Today…
If China invades Taiwan militarily, who will the state of Singapore support, China or Taiwan?
Firstly, and this is the much more important point — most Chinese who understand modern China know in the depth of their souls that mainland China will never invade Taiwan; the main reason being that “Chinese should not kill Chinese” (a lesson learned from the bitter Civil War between KMT and CPC).
There are more reasons
For example – the Chinese are used to thinking long-term — and mainland Chinese know that PRC is on the ascendant, and ROC is either stagnant or even declining. The day will come when the Taiwanese would be less reluctant to unite with mainland China, though likely they would still want a “one country, two systems” approach.
Secondly, almost all leaders in Singapore have always maintained that we don’t take sides — this message have come from both our PM Mr Lee Hsien Loong, and our polymath and wise man, Mr George Yeo, among others
The Man up argument
About American Bullet-train, the Brightline.
One photo that can tell you why it’s not a real high-speed train:
See the stones under the railway tracks? Technically, it is called a ballasted track. That means this train cannot run fast enough to be called a high-speed train. Otherwise, it will become a killing train.
Well I happen to be a railway police officer.
Brother workers in the US, if someone asks you to build a second phase project for this railway, such as turning this poor railway from one pair of tracks into two, please remember that you may have accidents due to the strong sucking of Bernoulli effect or splashing stones. I don’t think the contractor will really consider your safety. When you are constructing, remember that time is not enough to observe the arrival of a fast train solely with your eyes and ears.
Also, for other Americans nearby, remember to take care of your children and keep them as far away as possible. Because even out of a few meters may not be a safe zone. See that white van far away in this photo? Not in the safe zone. Many parts of your fast train railways do not have fences. It won’t knock people into disabilities. If a person is accidentally knocked away by it, you need to shovel the body-jam up from the ground, or trees, depends. I am glad that China’s railways have fences, so most of our colleagues do not need to go through this.
Someone once asked me on Quora before, why Laos needs to build bullet trains when its economic conditions are not good enough?
Well this is the reason, the foundation made of stones means that this railway track is not suitable for running high-speed trains. If we build a regular railway, Laos will need to rebuild a route suitable for high-speed railways in the future. That will be a heavy burden for our neighbor.
Rail tracks are downward compatible, not upward. So next time, don’t believe in the scam of transforming ordinary railway lines into high-speed railway lines.
What was your most arrogant software engineering interview candidate experience?
“I am HOT SHIT!”
A year ago I interviewed a candidate for an Engineering PM role on my team; a sharp and interesting guy who grew up in New York and was grudgingly getting accustomed to life on the west coast. We needed a candidate who had a very specific set of deeply technical skills for that role and he fit the bill. He came in with glowing recommendations from some pretty senior people and had the exact experience and expertise that we needed. Basically he was an almost certain hire and I was his final round.
I didn’t want to grill him more on the technical aspects of the role since he had already proven himself in that space; I wanted to figure out what he would be like to work with on my team and what he would bring to the table there. My team is extremely close knit; it has been like a tight family for many years and we always have each others’ backs through thick and thin; we have worked quite hard to ensure that egos never get in the way.
We started off with him telling me about his journey, his passions and ambitions, his previous experiences on teams, etc, I told him about our team culture, the dynamics we share. I asked him why he wanted to join our team when clearly the whole world was open to him based on his assessment of himself.
He started to tell me how he was bored of large companies and wants to work at a small startup. He said that he only wanted this job for a year so he could add it on his resume and he would leave after that. That came across as odd, but I still decided to give him a chance since I knew the specific project we needed his expertise for would probably be done in a year so it might actually work out and give us time to change his mind.
The next words that he said had me completely baffled; “I am HOT SHIT!” he said, “You will be lucky to have me. You guys know I’m the best guy for the job. The only reason I’m here is because startups need people with 5 years of experience and I have only 4.”
I thanked him for his time, walked him to the door and went back to the interview panel and made it very clear that we would not be hiring this guy and that I would like to veto this decision; my manager heard me out and absolutely had my back on it 100%. We did not make him an offer.
There are three HUGE red flags here:
Arrogance. Someone who comes in believing and loudly announcing that they are God’s gift to mankind are not coach-able. You do not want to work with someone who is not coach-able; you always want people who will learn and grow and adapt to the needs of the team. One single arrogant member can bring toxicity to the whole team and destroy a culture and relationships that took years to forge.
Lies. I’ve worked on my own startups, lived with close friends who had startups, I’ve interviewed with startups and I’ve interviewed candidates from startups; you know what the one thing is that sets them apart from large corporations; they don’t stick to arbitrary rules. No startup(or competent hiring manager in any company for that matter) will ever pass on a great candidate just because he has one year of work experience less than what the online job description suggested. This was an extremely obvious bluff .
Commitment. When you hire someone into your team, you spend a good amount of your time coaching them, showing them the ropes, teaching them the business. It often takes 3–6 months for a new employee to become fully independent and during that time the whole team rallies together and helps set them up for success. If someone tells me that they plan to leave in a year for something new and shiny, it tells me that they are not going to put their heart and soul into this job; they will not be passionate about it and that means they won’t deliver their best results. It would also take up so much time from my whole team that the investment is not worth the returns.
Don’t let your arrogance eclipse your talent; all that remains is the shadow.
Creepy and cringe
What is the strangest complaint you have received at your job?
Some years ago while counting down the last few minutes before my shift ended in a public library, a young woman came to the information desk with an ennraged look on her face.
Lady: Can someone please tell me where the Spanish classes are? I’ve been on all the floors and no one seems to know what I’m talking about.
Me: Sorry miss but those aren’t Spanish classes. The Spanish Embassy has been having a series of public talks every Wednesday at 5 – 6 pm on the third floor discussing the Latin American economy. We simply allow them to use our conference room on the third floor.
Lady: Are you listening to what I’m saying? I left work early to come to these Spanish classes. Where are the people for the Spanish class?
Me: I’m sorry miss but we really don’t know. We simply give the Embassy access to our conference room. You might want to call the number they left on the advertisement.
Lady: So you’re saying this is your library, where you work, but you have no idea what’s going on?
Me: We know all what is going on in regards to our public services but the Embassy’s program is something external. Any complaints about the program can be addressed to the Embassy’s website.
Lady: Typical lazy government worker mentality…So you’re saying you have no knowledge of what is going on in your own building?
Me: This is actually not our building. Several government departments are housed in this building besides the library. Would you like me to call the Embassy for you?
Lady: You’ve wasted my time already. It’s already 5:30pm. I mean does it feel good to you to be getting paid for nothing? What’s the point of this library? I want to speak to your manager.
I was about to explain to her that we don’t have ‘managers’ but librarians when she whips out her cell phone and shows a screenshot of a Facebook post advertising the Embassy’s program.
Me: Miss. I’m sorry but that post shows that the program ends April 24th, which was two weeks ago…
Lady: ……so you….this is so unprofessional…..a big freaking library and you can’t call people and tell them that the Spanish class program has finished. I want to speak to the manager. This is unacceptable.
It was at this point I decided I that I no longer waste my time with this lady’s nonsensical complaint.
Bill Maher is officially PANICKING!!! He know it’s coming…
Nike announced that it does not source products from the XUAR and have confirmed with their contract suppliers that they are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region. Will this cause them to lose the Chinese market?
Those who have mainland business contacts may have been party to this conversation.
First among foreigners are the anglophones, then Italy, France, Germany, followed by the rest of the EU, then the Asian first world, the brics, and finally, the rest of the world.
American business interests in China are sacrosanct, followed by the brits, Canadians, Australians and so on, as per the order described.
Why? The Chinese understand there can be no economic interest without political power, and America is hegemonic. Helping America succeed in china is the best protection against sanctions and embargoes. The last 40 years has seen America develop a heavy consumer brand presence in China, with negligible Chinese presence stateside.
I believe the current Nike troubles framed against the illustrative example of h&m’s commercial erasure is a signal China is finally ready to weaponize this particular disparity.
China has had enough of America’s no holds barred maximum pressure strategy of confronting China, especially the attack on its domestic economy.
China is hurt. 2020’s live births is the lowest in 2 generations, 25 percent below 2016, compared to America’s 9 percent.
It is time to draw blood.
China can ask the coca cola ceo, you have 4–5 billion revenue this year. Your corporation can do 40–50 billion business each year in the future. You have supply chains all over Xinjiang. Do you observe genocide or mass incarceration in the data? If you refuse to make a statement or lie, we will burn you, and offer the Pepsi ceo your market share.
Choose.
And so on. There is no other growth story like china’s anywhere else, with the scale, stability and above all, speed. McDonald’s, for example, grew 10x faster compared to its Indian franchise.
Going forward, there will be no sacred cows among mncs in china. Trump made sure of that.
And yes, Nike can certainly lose the Chinese market if it gets erased like h&m.
It hasn’t happened… yet.
Note: The question and this answer is about China, not India.
Power projection
Men are starting to stand up in the USA.
Has someone treated you poorly until they discovered you were wealthy and/or successful?
The best one I ever heard of was from my grandfather. In order to receive a promotion at the company he worked for, he was required to attain a master’s degree. He was an engineer, of sorts, shall we say.
This was the 1960’s, and there was my grandfather sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 22 year old hotshots, while he was 50 years old. For 6 weeks, no one spoke to him, he wasn’t called on, the professor ignored him, and whatever work he did received an average grade.
One day, a singularly difficult real life engineering problem was presented in class from a local company called JPL. When none of the students could correctly answer it, the professor asked if anyone had any ideas…..
I love this part….
My grandfather raised his hand and answered it. The professor told him he was wrong. Mr. Professor then told the class the answer. Grandpa then interrupted the professor and informed him that the answer given to the class turned out to be incorrect for that particular alloy, and that the week prior my Grandpa’s team had found that with a 2% increase of cadmium, the answer was as my Grandpa said. The professor then asked Grandpa to come to the board and explain it in writing. He did. The professor then asked him who he was and what his job was.
After the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Manhattan and other projects were thusly discussed, Grandpa never sat down in that class again. Or any other. He taught the class as one who actually did these things…from Fat Man and Little Boy to the Saturn rocket booster and everything in between.
At the end of the semester, Grandpa received an “A”, and the professor informed him that he had received average grades before because his work just seemed too different than the textbook answers. The professor called a meeting of the department, and after a 60 minute interview they gave him his master’s degree and offered him an honourary doctorate if he would teach there. He declined.
Six months later, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Every July 21st for 20 years, a new offer was sent to Grandpa to receive his doctorate and teach. He wasn’t ignored any more.
Scientists Discover Most Incredible Habitable Planetary System
[You said in your interview that the Americans have no analysts on Russia left who would be familiar with our mentality, people, and culture. How can they declare us their enemies if they know nothing about our country?]
"They have no interest in that.
The United States has lost diplomacy as a method for establishing contacts, holding candid discussions, and identifying ways to strike a compromise.
It is not necessarily about specialists in Russian, European, Asian, or African studies. I don’t see serious specialists there.
They are accustomed to making demands.
They have even stooped to rudely and publicly telling China what to do.
Reportedly, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu had a telephone conversation with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. The US official said Washington was dissatisfied with Beijing supporting Moscow.
How can they say such a thing to the great power of China?
What about the reputation of the Americans themselves?
There is also a statement by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. I can’t get enough of his quotes.
He said that the West (through Ukraine) must necessarily win. If Russia wins, no one will ever be able to rely on the United States when they need help.
You can’t help thinking about Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and Syria (which they will supposedly leave). They will supposedly leave Iraq too, and they have effectively fled Afghanistan.
Speaking of help provided by the United States, they have a small nation of Haiti sitting right next to them, which they have been taking care of for more than a hundred years now.
Even before the UN was created, they were nurturing dictators, toppling them, and putting in new ones.
However, the Americans are powerless when it comes to preventing thuggery, rampant theft and embezzlement of public funds in that country, which is probably the world’s poorest economy.
It would not be difficult for the United States to take a sliver of the Ukrainian pie and solve at least this problem.
Instead, they showed up at the UN Security Council again and are trying to lure in someone from Africa to ensure law and order in Haiti (the US fiefdom).
Let them first sort things out in their own backyard, or rather a small portion of it.
It is sad to acknowledge that the psychology of global dominance and retaining hegemonism at any cost has never helped the United States solve any issues on the ground."
-Excerpt from remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Izvestia Multimedia Information Centre, Moscow, March 28, 2024.
Using the grappler
Is dictatorship always wrong? Doesn’t history have any examples of good dictatorships/dictators?
There are two problems with “good” dictators:
There aren’t that many of them
They don’t live forever
When a dictator creates a political system, that system is dependent on them…and on whoever comes after them.
If the line of successors is an unbroken chain of good leaders, all is well and good. But that hasn’t happened yet to date…
As an autocratic leader, I have no doubt his achievements were great. He united Germany, introduced social legislation, and sustained a European balance of power to avoid a world war.
The problem: he made sure to write a German constitution that concentrated all that power in one place – himself. And when he got let go, his successors weren’t up to the challenge.
The economist Max Weber gave the best assessment: “Bismarck created a great nation without any political education, without any political will, accustomed to letting the great statesman at the helm take care of politics for it.”
Weber died in 1920, so that makes his assessment even more powerful.
Sort of like raising children, no?
There might be “good” dictators, but I’m not convinced any of them can create a “great nation.” Not one that lasts, anyway.
Florida is different
The Chinese Communist Party often claims that Tibet before 1959 was a dark, theocratic feudal serfdom with cruel punishments, but Tibetans abroad often deny these claims. So what was the real situation in old Tibet?
The CCP said the truth that tibet was a feudal theocratic state with serfdom and cruel punishment.
The Tibetians under the Dlamas were oppressed others were subjected to having their hands cut off. Some had experienced punishment like this one shown below:
This led china under mao to liberate tibet in 1951 to free the Tibetians from oppression and incorporate tibet back to china. So mao did liberate tibet in 1951.
The Tibetians living abroad are denying these claims to hide the truth and they’re spreading lies ,misinformation and hearing western propaganda that tibets are being oppressed under the CCP regime which isn’t true.
Do you believe that a world free from US hegemony would be beneficial for developing countries?
Yes of course!
The U.S. is the main cause of economic crisis and poverty if the developing world! If the U.S. did not manipulated the prices of most raw materials from the developing world will appreciate in prices to several folds what it is now generations ago!
Why It Would Be Preferable To Colonize Titan Instead Of Mars
What is the most badass thing you have done as a parent for your teenage daughter?
My 15 year old daughter came home from Knott’s Berry Farm one night around midnight in tears. Someone had stolen her iPhone while she and her friends were on a ride and she was worried I would be mad.
I told her to hold on for a moment, went to my computer for Find My iPhone, and told her, “I found it. Let’s go.” She asked where and I told her, “To get your iPhone. It’s at an apartment complex in Santa Ana.”
We found the apartment building and I called the police. I brought them up to speed and they said they’d meet us at a gas station about a mile away. My daughter was starting to see some hope.
Three police cars showed up and, after I showed him where the phone was, the officer in charge said we could park down the street and watch. So we did.
It was about 2:30a and the lights were still on in the apartment for some reason.
The lead cop went upstairs and pounded on the door. A middle aged guy answered the door and the cop said a stolen phone was inside the apartment and he wanted it brought to the door (he told us later). My daughter and I heard the guy yell, “Anybody have an iPhone that doesn’t belong to you?” After a few seconds, he shook his head “no”.
The officer told us he said, “Look, I know it’s in there. So you can either bring it out, or I’ll stand here until the search warrant arrives and we’ll go in and find it ourselves.”
We saw the door close and less than a minute later the guy handed the officer my daughter’s phone. He brought it down and my daughter logged in to prove it was hers.
She couldn’t believe we actually got her phone back, but I was committed to fixing this so my daughter wouldn’t become a victim.
We got home about 4am, but neither of us was tired – LOL.
I know everything worked out in the exact way it had to for us to succeed, but it was a great lesson for my daughter about standing up for yourself and taking appropriate action. She continues to be a very empowered individual and I like to think I had a hand in that.
[NATO countries are planning to send their fighters to Ukraine. The media report that F-16 aircraft will be deployed against Russian forces and facilities in the special military operation zone. Will we be allowed to hit these targets at NATO airfields?]
"First, if they supply F-16s (they are talking about this, and it looks like they are training pilots; I believe that you realise this like no one else and better than others), this will not change the situation on the battlefield.
We will destroy their aircraft just like we are now destroying their tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment, including multiple launch rocket systems.
Of course, we would see them as legitimate targets if they operate from the airfields of third countries, no matter where they are located.
F-16 aircraft can also carry nuclear weapons, and we will also have to heed this while organising our combat operations."
-Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with army aviation pilots of the Russian Federation Defence Ministry’s 344th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining in Torzhok, Tver Oblast, Russia, March 27, 2024.
A “you” problem
South Korea arrogantly supports the Philippines on the South China Sea issue. Why?
How rampant is Yin Xiyue’s government today? In addition to commenting on the South China Sea issue, it also began to interfere in the Taiwan Strait of China. According to recent news, South Korea’s position on the Taiwan Strait issue has become more and more outspoken, which has aggravated the tension between China and South Korea.
There are two things.
The first thing is that the South Korean side invited the Taiwan Province authorities to participate in the so-called “Leaders’ Democracy Summit”, but after being firmly opposed by the Chinese side, South Korea directly “countered” Chinese mainland’s criticism of the Taiwan Province authorities’ participation in the Democracy Summit, claiming that the event was aimed at “strengthening democracy” and “not targeting specific countries”.
At the same time, he reiterated that the “One China” policy of South Korea will remain unchanged. Secondly, the South Korean side expressed serious concern about the use of water cannons by the China Marine Police against Philippine ships some time ago, threatening that this action has aggravated the tension in the region.
Whether on the Taiwan Strait issue or the South China Sea issue, South Korea’s position deserves our high vigilance.
These two things are enough to show that Yin Xiyue’s government has changed the cautious and neutral stance that South Korea has adhered to for many years, and began to take sides and openly intervene in sensitive issues such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
If South Korea still supports the “one China” policy, as it says, then why invite the Taiwan Province authorities to participate in the democracy summit? Knowing that the current situation between the two sides of the strait is tense and the relationship is subtle, it is difficult for the South Korean side to invite it at this time without letting the outside world guess that this is a disguised support.
As Lin Jian, the new spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized, there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan Province is an inalienable part of China. So, what is the intention of South Korea to invite the leaders of Taiwan Province authorities to attend the summit?
At least in my opinion, this is obviously malicious. In safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the PLA has always dared to take action. South Korea’s move is tantamount to stepping on the most sensitive red line of the PLA.
In this regard, the same is true on the South China Sea issue. What does the contradiction between China and the Philippines have to do with South Korea? Apart from the South China Sea issue, what does it have to do with South Korea on the Taiwan Strait issue? What’s more, it is reasonable and legal for the Philippines to illegally invade Ren’ai Reef, Huangyan Island and China to respond with water cannons, while it is ridiculous for South Korea to accuse China of doing so.
So wantonly stepping on China’s red line, is it difficult for South Korea to be warned by water cannons like the Philippines?
Yin Xiyue’s government is at the forefront of the Sino-US game, which is not only very dangerous, but also fatal. The South China Sea issue is also the same. South Korea is not a party, and forcing it to annoy will only make it pay a great price.
Wholly Cow
What was life like for German soldiers in Germany after WW2?
A lost war is a heavy burden. Some German soldiers added up to 10 years as a POW in Siberia. Many died in the camps, some died after returning home when eating their first big meal for years. Others discovered their wives had remarried and committed suicide. Those who made it back into normal life, weren’t acknowledged for what they had done, but they weren’t despised either.
Having returned from war, the former soldiers worked extremely hard and disciplined. Maybe a coping strategy to get along with what they had experienced during the war. Germany soon prospered. The “omertà”, that is, the principle of remaining silent about Nazism, was common sense until the late 60ies. The early years of the Federal Republic were characterized by strict conservatism. Everybody felt he or she had done something wrong. Nobody was interested to talk about it, knowing that some brutal guys would get away with it then.
When veterans met, they would discuss how they might have won WWII: “If I’d been in charge at the Ostfront, I’d taken all Panzers together at one point and hit the “Ivan” in the north where he least expected…”
Besides, their recipes were strikingly similar: Push harder, focus more, ignore casualties, and produce more “Wunderwaffen”. Some regarded Hitler as a visionary man, who lost WWII because “too many hounds soon catch the hare”. Most of the veterans I talked to were farmers. They made a little extra money cutting wood in the winter. And while they sat at the fireplace to warm up, they’d sing Russian songs. Stockholm syndrome came alive.
I had contact with many former Nazis.
Only a few I’ve met displayed attitudes and feelings as one would expect, that is, feelings of guilt, empathy for the victims, and anger about the lies they had been told. These “soft guys” seemed to be lucky, the war was over, and they had come out alive. Nazi times weren’t good times for them. They preferred not to be reminded of that. They would escape in some bonhomie gesture: “It’s good this is over, my boy”.
The majority of them pleaded “not guilty” when asked. “I had to follow orders, and we had an oath…” They wouldn’t talk much.
The normal soldiers were better off than former victims of the Nazis, or people who had fled into exile. Among the survivors, they were the most frustrated. Never recognized, if not despised for leaving the country in times of war, they had to witness some big former Nazis succeed and no one cared. Many intellectuals preferred not to return to Germany in the 1950ies and early 60ies. 1968, the time of the students’ uprising, was the turning point:
The younger generations asked questions about the past. The country changed a lot in the aftermath.
(Pinterest) The typical angle of the cap was no sign of individualism
The few “hardliners” could be recognized by their gait: Faster. More dedicated. Fixing with her eyes. They really were different. They mocked democracy and everything that goes with it. Not only that, they grinned and wore their caps at a certain angle, as can be seen in photographs of Wehrmacht daredevils: an odd mixture of courage and stubbornness, as well as a willingness to immediately stand at attention when needed and instructed, and to carry out any command uncritically.
I think they promised their wives not to talk too much. But occasionally, they did. They still internally wore the “Führer’s uniform” and saw an authoritarian regime as the most effective way to run a country. They often reassembled into organizations like the firefighters, whose uniforms—and commands—were oddly similar to those of the Wehrmacht.
Post-War firefighters in their uniforms.
And what about their attitude to Nazism?
No one I talked to, told me, he or she wanted the Nazis back. I wouldn’t put this up too high, for speaking out for the Nazis in public is prosecuted for criminal law. No law was needed to keep the Germans from going to war again. WWII seemed to have been a fundamental threat to almost everyone’s life. Nevertheless, deep in their hearts many still felt for Hitler, as you can tell from phrases like “Under Adolf this wouldn’t have happened”, e.g. when talking about how to deal with unemployment or how to make the lazy hippie guys of the 60ies and 70ies go to work. I remember some bad arguments between them and the younger generations, which often ended in yelling “Wenn’s euch nicht passt, geht doch rüber!” (“If you don’t like it here, move to East Germany!”). To me, the most shocking experience was their readiness, to lock people up in forced labor camps and “cure” misbehavior through hard, physical work. “A short trial, and then put them in front of the wall and: Ratatatatata!”
Yes, the Nazi soldiers, and their whole generation were confronted with the past by their children or grandchildren, but I cannot recall a single veteran, who in a discussion, changed sides or openly argued against the Nazis. The poison still worked. They didn’t tell us all. It was as if the Nazis had a grip on them until their last breath. They died one by one. Six of us lend a hand as we carried the coffin.
Many of us do not know what exactly grandpa had done, and yes, this is some kind of burden.
EDIT: This answer is based on my experiences during my childhood in rural, protestant Germany. The biographies of higher-ranking officers, Nazi Party leaders, doctors,, or judges were different. Many of the ex-Nazis, who launched a second career in Post War Germany, only pretended to be democrats. In reality, they cared for “former comrades” in need and heavily influenced the view on opposition to the Nazis. I have addressed these issues in different answers.
Don’t go orange
Do you have any examples of dictators that actually did their country good?
There’s quite a few. If you are from the West, some of these might shock you. If you are not, well, enjoy the ride 🙂
Number 1: Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi when he was a lot younger. Quite handsome, right?
Gaddafi is often portrayed as a bad guy, and as Ronnie put it “the mad dog of the Middle East”
But that is in fact, not true.
Let’s take a look at some of the luxuries that Libyan citizens had during his rule
1: Free electricity.
2: Free housing.
3: Free healthcare. Not only free healthcare, but the best free healthcare in Africa and the Arab world.
4: A high GDP per capita for two decades before the West started sanctioning Libya.
5: A portion of the money made from oil sales went directly into the bank accounts of Libyan citizens.
6: If healthcare in Libya was not sufficient, the state would finance the entire trip to a foreign hospital.
I could go on and on, but those are just six things.
Also this
Libya had the highest rating on the Human Development Index in Africa while Gaddafi ruled it.
So while he might be portrayed as a bad guy, he was actually a really good leader.
Number 2: Lee Kuan Yew
A young Lee Kuan Yew
Lee. Kuan Yew was the Prime Minister of Singapore for three decades. In those three decades, he transformed the undeveloped city state, which had no natural resources, not much land area and a small army, into a shining example of a developed country. But he did this with many challenges facing him, like the multiculturalism of Singapore. The population was a collection of Malays, Chinese, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Indonesians and many more ethnic groups.
While he did implement dictatorial measures, such as muffling the press, outlawing protests and arbitrarily detaining people, he still holds the title of “The Least Brutal Dictator in History”. He did not kill a single person during his three-decade-long rule. Torture was not implemented either.
Before he took the mantle of leader, Singapore was nothing more than a collection of plastic houses and shanties. Look at Singapore now.
Quite the success story, isn’t it?
Number 3: Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee. Slick haircut, right?
Park Chung-hee didn’t exactly come to power by democratic means. He made himself leader in a military coup. But unlike many leaders of military juntas, he was not a selfish blowhard who worked only to enrich himself. Instead, he enriched his country, South Korea.
He developed South Korea’s banking sector, business sector, and enriched the country with a policy of export-oriented industralization.
To give you some perspective, when he came to power, the GDP per capita in South Korea was a miserable 59 dollars. When his rule ended, it was 1,000 dollars.
Unfortunately, he was betrayed and assassinated in 1979, before he could do any more good to South Korea.
And as a bonus, he defended South Korea from communism.
Number 4: Qaboos bin Said al Said, or Sultan of Oman for short.
Looking quite dashing in a military uniform there.
When he took power way back in 1970, Oman was the poorest country in the Arab world. Now, it gained the nickname of “The Switzerland of the Middle East”. All thanks to this man.
Oman, like many other Arab countries, is rich mainly due to oil exports, but added to that, Oman also has a developed banking and finance sector. Hence the nickname. Oman also serves as one big negotiating table, due to its policy of military neutrality.
In 1970, Oman had just three or four schools. Now it has over a thousand, and a few universities, the most famous one being named after him. Also in 1970, the average GDP per capita in Oman was 345 dollars. Now, it is 15,000 dollars. Qaboos still rules Oman, and continues to improve it.
While other Arab countries constantly squabble, Oman quietly sits and looks by, enjoying its wealth.
Number 5: Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara. Humble military uniform.
Sankara achieved many great things during his short rule.
He ordered the planting of million upon millions of trees, in order to prevent desertification. He lowered his own salary, and rid the government of most of its corruption, which was a giant problem. He connected the country via roads, and built housing for the citizens of his country. He made it self-sufficient in farming. And he saved the country from French dominance.
He renamed the country from Upper Volta, its colonial name, to Burkina Faso. He composed the national anthem, and designed the flag of Burkina Faso.
Unfortunately, he was killed in a military coup, which was, predictably, sponsored by the French. It installed a brutal dictator who impoverished the country and was a puppet of the French.
So, those were the top five dictators who did their country good.
EDIT: After some research, I came to the conclusion that Lee Kuan Yew had in fact not rigged elections. Even the fiercest critics of his don’t say that he did. I am sorry to spread that misinformation around. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
I find it so hard to focus on the food
Why do men prefer women with makeup than without makeup?
They think they do. There is a style of makeup application called the “no makeup” look. It appears natural because the tones used are neutral and not bright, shiny, or flamboyant.
When I wear makeup, which is nearly everyday, I go for soft shades. I am naturally so pale white that my skin is translucent. Without a good long wear foundation on my face you can see every vein, blush, blemish, freckle, or scar. I conceal them with a matte foundation. I build on that with contour, blush, and highlight to add natural (in appearance) colors back in. It’s like painting a canvas. I follow the lines in my face and use light and shadows to hide or accentuate my features. Same with eye shadows and such.
However, there is one area where I usually without fail use bright color. My lipstick. I tend to wear a vermillion red. It’s certainly a “pop” of color. People have different reactions. Most people compliment the color. Some ladies ask me what color I’m wearing.
But I have occasionally gotten a negative response. Once, a man on a dating website told me, “If we go on a date that red lipstick has to go.” My response was that any man who told me what makeup I could or couldn’t wear before even going on a first date would not be getting a first date! He countered by saying he liked women with natural features and no makeup. I said that I did like makeup and I wished him great success finding his natural woman.
It’s not that I wouldn’t tone down the lip color if I had a husband and he didn’t care for it. I can be submissive and respectful. But he has to earn the right to have me comply with his preferences. Insisting I change myself before even getting to know me sends out a flag that might be even more red than my lipstick!
However, I have a feeling that the first time a man saw me “without makeup” and “natural faced” he’d wish I’d put it back on! I think men sometimes confuse wearing no makeup with “natural makeup.” The times I’ve gone without makeup people ask me if I’m feeling well or if I’ve been sick. They ask if I slept well the night before. It makes me inwardly chuckle. Everyone is allowed their preferences but I suggest you do what makes you feel comfortable and confident. Men will probably be more impressed with confidence than anything else, including makeup.
Real shit
What is the strangest experience you have ever had while answering your front door?
“JESUS CHRIST, WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?”
The man shrieked, and backed away from the front door so fast he almost fell when he missed the first step down of the porch stairs.
It was late afternoon. Up until half an hour ago, I’d been at the hospital, having a basal cell carcinoma removed from my forehead.
I was still woozy from the anesthetic I’d been given. They’d done the surgery under some kind of “twilight sleep” anesthetic, I hadn’t been completely unconscious. When the surgeon cut out the carcinoma, they’d had it sent to the pathologist to see if the margins were clear, and while they waited, blood had been seeping from the incision. When the pathologist reported that one of the margins wasn’t “clean,” they’d had to gouge out some more, then wait again. All that time, I’d been seeping blood. I felt sticky and swollen and yucky.
My husband had gone to the drug store to get my prescription for pain pills filled.
I wasn’t feeling well; anesthetic makes me nauseous. I had bandages wound round my head. The lesion was above my right eye, and the bandage partly covered my eye. There was a lot of swelling.
As part of the surgical prep, they’d washed my face with an iodine scrub. I could feel it still on my face.
I’d been lying down when the knock on the door came.
Since our house had been burglarized years earlier, I never let a knock on the door go unanswered. I sat up, waited for the world to stop spinning, then stood up. The knock on the door was repeated.
I got up, cursing whoever was knocking, and walked to the front door and threw it open.
Whatever the guy who was knocking was expecting, I obviously wasn’t it. He looked to be in his thirties and was holding a clipboard.
He reeled back away from me, and that’s when he yelled in horror.
Pissed me off. “I had surgery this morning. What do you want?” I demanded. At that moment, I felt something warm and wet running down my face.
He stammered something about being a contractor, he was just going through the neighborhood seeing if anyone wanted work done.
About then my husband came back. I left husband to deal with the guy and went to the bathroom to wipe my face with cold water.
When I looked in the mirror, I understood why the guy had been so horrified.
My face was unevenly painted yellow-brown from the iodine scrub. There were traces of dried blood on the side of my nose and under my right eye. The bandage I was wearing had a bloodstain over the incised area, and evidently getting up had caused it to start bleeding again, because fresh blood was oozing in a line from under the bandage and rolling down my face. My hair was all spiky and glued together with blood and iodine solution.
I guess my appearance had really shaken up the guy who’d knocked on the door. My husband said the guy had hardly been able to talk and had taken off as fast as he could.
She does love jiggling her boobies
What’s the worst candidate who came to an interview?
Many years ago my partner, David, was a shop manager and was advertising for a full time shop worker. One morning this kid came into the shop in dirty jeans and t-shirt and asked about the job. David gave him an application form and told him to complete it, which the kid did straight away. David said that he was starting interviews that afternoon and arranged a time.
The interview time approached. The kid turned up on time. Still wearing the same clothes, now wet (it had been raining) and now smelling of poor body odour. Not a great beginning.
First question, what have you done? Answer “I’m just out of Borstal….” For those who do not know, this is a prison for youth offenders. He was in prison for multiple counts of shoplifting!
Why didn’t you change and look smart for the Interview? – Because I live several miles away and I did not have the bus fare to get home and back. So I hung around in town all day.
David hired him. HR was very very worried.
Years later the kid was still employed, now assistant manager. He turned out to be one of the most reliable and honest employee David had ever hired. One day he admitted that he turned to shoplifting when he was younger to get caught and taken away from his abusive father. He was safer in prison than at home.
So he was the worst looking candidate, with the worst CV, but the best employee.
Artichoke Pepper Pizza with Feta Cheese
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
1 small orange bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 large can artichoke hearts, drained
1 pizza crust
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Add bell pepper strips; sauté for 3 minutes.
Add half of minced garlic; sauté for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Place remaining garlic, mayonnaise, crushed red pepper, black pepper and artichoke hearts in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Place pizza crust on a baking sheet.
Spread artichoke mixture over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border.
Top with bell pepper mixture.
Sprinkle with feta cheese and thyme.
Bake for 14 minutes or until crust is crisp. Cheese will not melt.
Where To Move If America Fails
Playing around with text to picture.
My prompt…
adventurer in the center of the picture, view from above , desolate, dusky sunset, many shadows, on orientalist style art depicting ancient ruins at a desert oasis, thin pool of water, exploring explorer, date trees camels, caravan, statues
Thai girls cooking street food
Why did my top performing employee quit after write up?
I have quit three jobs in my lifetime. All three were after being written up. Its a matter of honor. I performed my jobs to the best of my abilities. I always gave 110%. So getting bullshit writeups really piss me off. The first time was by the owner’s son. He basically told me my level of quality was too high for the company. I quit on the spot. The second time I was instructed to do a job but not record it in the proper forms (military contractor). It would have been an unsafe act. I refused to do the job. I was written up for not obeying orders. Put my two week notice in an hour later. My last time was after briefing a supervisor of the company’s capabilities and then the supervisor deciding to go over what we were capable of performing. After he finished chewing me out, I handed him my keys and quit on the spot. Thirty days later I was rehired and promoted after being told my supervisor was fired. Perhaps it was my 20 years in the military that pushed me to personify the need for honor in my work ethic.
Shorpy
The Passport Bros movement was inevitable…
Have you ever had something stolen, only to have it returned (anonymously or not) much later?
In 1998, I had left my wallet on a table in a restaurant in San Francisco, and when I came back for it, it was gone.
I called my credit card company to report it. Apparently the thieves were professional, or just very well organized, because it had already incurred two separate charges for fuel at a gas station. My bank rightly saw this as suspicious — who fills up two gas tanks at once? — and blocked the card from further use.
I only had one credit card (still do), and though that was safe, but I really didn’t want to go through the hassle of replacing everything else — my driver’s license, gym card, company badge, blood donor ID, buy 10 coffees-get the 11th free punch card.
The guy at the credit card company said thieves will often toss the rest of the wallet in the garbage, or the bushes in the immediate vicinity, so I headed down to the gas station and asked to look through their trash. No wallet. I checked out the greenery around the place, nothing.
So I sucked it up. Replaced all the cards except for the one from the coffeeshop, and vowed to be more careful in the future.
The one thing I was bummed about was the loss of the wallet itself. It was made out of Tyvek, printed with some comic-book graphics. It was a really cool wallet, and it was also very light. I’d purchased it at a crafts fair, and replacing it wasn’t an option.
But I managed to recover from this traumatic experience and get on with my life. 🙂
I spent a few more years in San Francisco, then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, then Somerville, then Medford, and in 2004, Seattle. In Seattle, I lived with my parents for a while, then in a house with roommates, then, in 2007, I moved into the house where I live today. That’s seven addresses in six years across 3500 miles and back again.
A lot of mail didn’t get forwarded, I would imagine. But one persistent little package managed to make it. I found it in my mailbox, covered with yellow “mail forward” stickers.
It was my wallet! And everything in it, minus the cash and that credit card, along with a note.
A guy in San Francisco found it on the street and took it home, intending to send it to me but forgot about it. Only when he was getting ready to move out did he find it. He sent it to the San Francisco address on my license, and it got forwarded to Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, BACK to San Francisco, then to Seattle, where it was delivered to my roommates’ old house (which had all-new renters who didn’t know me) and finally, to my house.
I don’t have the wallet anymore. After six years, it wasn’t my style anymore. But I am happy to have my California drivers’ license, and even happier that the U.S. Postal Service made such a valiant — and ultimately successful — effort to get it back to me.
Asparagus Pizza
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds asparagus
8 large mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Mix butter flour and salt until the flour resembles peas, add water and mix until you have a rollable dough.
Place on floured surface and roll out to 1/8 inch thick and in a circle.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place either a pizza stone or cookie sheet upside down in oven.
Place dough on a board that you can slide it off from into the oven and have a little cornmeal under the dough to help make it slide better. Turn the edges of the dough in about 1/4 inch and crimp at intervals to make a nice ruffly edge to your pizza, it will get crusty.
Cover the dough with the cheese and set aside.
Trim the asparagus and blanch it for 3 minutes in boiling water in a shallow pan.
Remove from pan and quickly dip in cold water to stop cooking process. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a pinwheel fashion around pizza dough with the stems meeting in the center and making a mound, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and slide into the oven on hot surface of pizza stone or cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cut into serving size pieces.
While pizza is baking slice mushrooms and place a small amount of olive oil in skillet and add shallots and garlic cook for about 3 or 4 minutes and add mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add just about 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir; remove from heat. Spoon a little on each slice of pizza and serve.
Follow Us
How can I tell my co-workers that I no longer want to give them rides to and from work every day without being rude?
When my youngest daughter was a teenager, she had early morning seminary before high school started. She had to be there at 6:30 or seven in the morning. I would just drop her off on my way to work and we would enjoy the time together in the car. Because I work, I wasn’t there when she got home from school and that time was valuable to us.
A woman in our church had just had a baby. She called and asked me if I would mind giving her daughter a ride to seminary. It wasn’t really out of my way so I told her I would be happy to do so. Every morning, her daughter got in the car and never said a word. When I dropped her off, she never even said thank you.
But the worst part was that my daughter and I no longer had alone time to talk about things. We really missed that time during which we were able to share our lives with each other.
Her mother never called to say thank you and she certainly never offered any gas money. And I had to deal with their surly and rude daughter every morning. Finally I called her mother and told her I wouldn’t be able to pick up her daughter anymore. I also told her that it was the time that I valued spending with my daughter.
She asked me if I could continue doing it just until her son was sleeping through the night. Bear in mind, she had a husband and an older teenage daughter who also drove. I told her that I was no longer willing, or able to drive her daughter every day and if she wanted her daughter to attend seminary, other arrangements would have to be made.
And that was the end of that. When I saw her at church after that, she was cold to me. I really didn’t give a damn. Her family choices were not my problem.
Buy a new house
Why China have a chance to became a next superpower?
That is your superiority complex version. The reality version is that China is already way ahead of the U.S. from every aspect. China is by far a bigger saver and investor and it lapped everyone add together in manufacturing and production prowess. It trains and graduates more engineers and scientist a year than the U.S. has in entirety.
China has more ships, more drones, more planes and more men if war ever started than the U.S. ever has. And worst it has the capacity to build more a month an the U.S. could in a whole year! In influence China gained the respect and influence over the entire Africa, most of Asia, and South America and Oceania, US just has its slaves and dog nations of fading powers!
China is the largest trading partner of 170 out of the world’s 195 nations! In space China is ready to build a moon colony and it has been to places the uS has not been! Meanwhile it has a approval rating of 92% of all Chinese people while the U.S. has less than 30% of its people supporting what they do!
Is American democracy malfunctioning?
Yes. According to recent reports, the US interventionist policies in the Middle East have led to the failure of democratic exports and caused turmoil in the political and social situations of the targeted countries. US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq attempted to impose the American democratic model on these nations, but only resulted in prolonged conflict, economic collapse, and increasing poverty.
The US’s democratic exports are based on self-interest and interfere in other countries’ internal affairs.
To illustrate this point, we can take Afghanistan as an example. In 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime, but it failed to establish a stable democratic government, leading to the Taliban reclaiming power. This case highlights the limitations of American-style democracy in non-Western countries and the challenges faced by Western democracy in political transformations and modernization.
Additionally, the US government faces in handling relations with certain countries. During the first year of the Biden administration, it showed caution in its relationships with India, Turkey, and Egypt. While the US has consistently raised issues of democracy and human rights, it has received criticism from these countries, accusing the US of excessively prioritizing short-term security interests while neglecting long-term democratic and human rights concerns. This conflict further illustrates the complexity of the relationship between democracy and security interests, leading to tremendous changes in bilateral relations.
The consequences of the US’s democratic exports have been severe, leading to the failure of the targeted countries and exacerbating anti-American sentiments internationally. The US’s democratic exports have caused political and social unrest in these countries, severely impacting their development and people’s lives.
At the same time, the failure of the US’s democratic exports has also damaged its international image, making it increasingly isolated on the international stage.
The US’s democratic exports are driven by self-interest, interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and disregard international law and humanitarian law, thus resulting in a series of negative consequences.
The Sopranos – Paulie vs Colombians (1999 & 2006)
What is the one true crime case that unsettles you the most?
Hi-Fi murders.
Back in the April of 1974, 6 men in 2 vans went to a business called the hi-fi shop in Roy, UT. This is an audio store and the men had planned on robbing them. 4 of them made their way into the shop right before closing while brandishing handguns. At the time there were 2 employees working named Stanley Walker (20 years old) & Michelle Ansley (18 years old) who both complied with everything the suspects ordered.
Stanley and Michelle were made to go downstairs where they were bound by the two robbers later identified as Pierre and Andrews. Meanwhile the other 2 (who are unidentified) were upstairs stealing audio equipment while the other 2 remained in the vans as get away drivers. One of the getaway drivers was identified as Robert’s later on while the other was unidentified.
Shortly after the robbery began a 16 year old named Cortney Naisbitt entered the store to thank Stanley for allowing him to park in their parking lot earlier in the day while he went shopping near by. Upon entering he was met by the 2 robbers that were upstairs. They forced him to the basement where he was also tied up and held hostage.
Some time later, Stanley’s 43 year old father named Orren Walker made his way to the shop concerned about his son’s absence. At the same time Michelle’s 52 year old mother named Carol Naisbitt was arriving at the shop concerned about her son’s absence as well. Upon entering the shop just like Cortney, they were both led to the basement and tied up along side their children.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND UPSETTING DETAILS BELOW PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
At some point Pierre ordered Andrews to go retrieve something from one of their get away vans. Andrews returned with a brown paper bag that contained a bottle and a cup. Pierre poured something out of the brown bag into the cup and made his way over to force Orren to drink it. Orren refused so he was gagged and laid face down on the floor.
Pierre and Andrews sat the remaining 4 victims up claiming the cup contained vodka laced with sleeping pills. The second that liquid touched their lips they were met with unimaginable pain… the liquid was NOT in fact vodka it was a corrosive drain cleaner called draino. Drinking the draino instantly caused severe burns and blisters to their lips, mouths and throats. They forced all 4 of the hostages to drink the draino. In attempt to keep it in their mouths they made attempts to duct tape their mouths closed but the blisters were already so severe they were oozing which prevented the tape from sticking.
Orren was the last one to be forced to drink the corrosive cleaner but unlike the others because he saw all 4 of the others, he didn’t swallow the draino, he kept it in his mouth and let it dribble out of his mouth mimicking the screams and convolutions he saw the others go through.
Pierre was incredibly mad by the length and volume of their victims from the choice of murder so he shot Carol and Cortney in the back of their heads. Carol was killed instantly but Cortney survived with major wounds. Pierre then fired at Orren but missed. Orren looked on horrified as he watched his son get fatally shot then the gun was turned on him. The bullet grazed the back of Orrens head but he was still alive.
Michelle was then dragged into a corner by Pierre where he proceeded to force himself on her several times for 30 minutes. She was then fatally shot in the back of the head.
Andrews and Pierre still knew Orren was alive. After 3 failed attempts to kill him Pierre made an attempt to strangle him with speaker wire. This attempt yet again fails to kill him. Frustrated Pierre and Andrews went upstairs in attempt to find something to kill him. This is where they found a ball point pen. They placed this pen in his ear and then stomped on it. The pen went through his head and out his throat.
Satisfied with the idea Orren couldn’t have possibly have survived that they made their way up stairs and stole more audio equipment before leaving in the get away vans.
Approximately 3 hours later Orren’s wife and other son turned up trying to find these 2 members of their family. Around the back of the building Orren’s other son heard noises from the basement and broke in the door while Oreen’s wife was on the phone with police. Entering the basement, they stumbled across the gruesome scene.
Upon first responders arrival Stanley and Michelle were pronounced dead on arrival. Carol was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately passed before making it to the hospital. Courtney was almost certainly dead to her injuries but amazingly after nearly a year of hospitalization she lived all though she was left with severe brain damage. Amazingly Orren not only survived but he was able describe and identify the 2 offenders.
Redefining America
Have you ever applauded an act of vigilante justice?
Yes. My Dad delivered some vigilante justice when I was 13. Dad was a large, gentle man. He was 6’4” and extremely muscular. He was born in 1917 and started working in the family coal mine at 4. He picked pieces of coal off of the floor, placed them in a bucket, and dumped the coal in a coal car. He continued to do hard physical labor for the rest of his life.
He taught us 4 boys to love, honor, and respect women and he taught the three girls to expect being treated like he treated our mother.
We lived in a small town in rural Wyoming. The neighbor kitty cornered from us was the opposite of my Dad. The weasel would get drunk and beat his wife and daughter.,
We were working in the yard one summer day when we heard a scream. Weasel’s wife ran out of the house with him right behind her. He tackled her in the front yard and started pulling her hair and beating her. Dad dropped his rake, said, “that’s enough”, and ran over there. He yanked Mr. Weasel off of his wife and beat the crap out of him.
About an hour later, Mr. Weasel crawled back into the house. An hour or so later, he got in his pickup and drove away. We never saw him again.
More fun with Text to picture.
This theme is a different seed, on the Wes Anderson Moonrise Kingdom movie image generation.
Until you are in a situation…
What did someone do in TSA/airport security that made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
My wife required a cane to walk. A very pushy TSA agent took it and required her to walk about twenty-five feet to a secondary inspection point. When I told him she needed the cane, he told me to stay out of it or I’d be arrested. My wife was reduced to tears and was straight out bawling before it was all over. It was a horrible way to start our vacation.
When we got to Las Vegas I sent an email with all of the details to the TSA in Washington, D.C. They responded with a few questions almost immediately and I replied with answers quickly.
The following day I got an email from the head TSA agent in Minneapolis. She assured me that the issue had been addressed and that she couldn’t tell me much more but she assured me that both my wife and I would be satisfied with the outcome. I took this to mean the officer had been terminated. I suspect that this had been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Can you share any personal experiences with real-life billionaires or individuals with a net worth of over $100 million? How do they behave around those who are not wealthy?
I know four people well enough socially, who are over 100 mil in net worth. No billionaires in USD terms.
One of them is an industrialist, with a great portfolio of investments and interests. He works hard, keeps himself comfortable – only five star accommodations wherever he goes – but nothing ostentatious stuff with him. Known him since college. Great fun chap. No difference in the way he treats one person vs another. Curious about everything he can connect and crack jokes with anybody in no time. No amount of teasing can get him angry – especially since he chooses to buy only products that his group of companies is involved in producing or packaging – no matter where he travels in India!
Another owns a fleet of planes and flies – all private jets. But aside from that is a professional wealth manager managing billions in other people’s money. Smart investment specialist. He is flamboyant, but in a very private circle. Talks about planes about 95% of the time! That’s his true love. Also down to earth, but doesn’t have time for any “small” talk. Dedicated to his work and his freaking planes. Flies way too much for the environmentalists!
Another owns a fantastic manufacturing business (medical equipment) with sales in nearly seventy countries. Very well connected and respectful of real people, no matter what. Treats everybody just the same. Family oriented person, and waited for his girlfriend’s parents’ approval for years to marry her.
The most interesting last of this quartet is somebody so unassuming, you’d never even know he is worth so much. Big time trading and stock market player. Low profile to the point of being invisible. Pious, religious, spiritual – I have never seen him with other rich people! Took me about a year to know he was worth that much. Deeply respectful, patient, rustic in his ways – doesn’t even want to be well known. Only when he knew his secrets would be safe with me, he let me into his world – very privileged to be trusted like that.
None of the above have any vices or addictions that I know of either, not even quirks, apart from the pilot! Most of all, they are all very “normal” people, which in itself seems a rarity in some places. Invariably respectful to others is a common quality I would say.
Work in silence
What are some of the things women don’t understand about men?
Men don’t use subtexts. They say what they mean. No beating about the bush.
They often don’t understand subtexts. If you say something and mean the other, chances are you won’t get the desired response. Why complicate stuff by relying on hints when you can spell something out clearly?
They don’t like to rehash their issues unnecessarily. And if they do, it’s with the express intent of finding a solution. Aimless thrashing of the matter is just a waste of energy for them. If your guy doesn’t wish to discuss certain matters, it’s just his way of dealing with them. Hounding him for that will just add to his woes.
Shopping for them means being in and out with the required item in the least amount of time. Window shopping and browsing are not their cup of tea. And if they do so, it’s only for you.
They can’t handle your tears. What pains you hurts them as well. They may not be able to articulate it but it is traumatic for them too.
Their non-verbal expressions pack a world of emotions. Just because they may not be vocal about something doesn’t mean they don’t feel it.
They are tough. They act tough. But they need tender loving support too.
Generalisations that hurt women hurt men as well. “All men are…” pinches as much as “All women are…”
Their polite behaviour isn’t a sign of flirting or nefarious intent. They don’t deserve to be viewed with mistrust always!
They have a unique bond with their guy pals. Their demeanour and persona is different with them. Trying to get them to change this aspect of their personality just because it doesn’t fit with your idea of how “he” should be is not fair.
They can have gal pals who are just that… pals. This shouldn’t be a basis for constant doubting and questioning.
Closeness is as precious as space.
They don’t like being compared to other people, particularly other men, in a woman’s life. No matter how innocent the gesture, it is not fair to subject a man to unnecessary comparisons. They don’t need to be measured against others to be told how they are.
Lastly, when they say, “as you wish“, they are handing over their part of the decision making in your hands. It’s a huge responsibility and shouldn’t be taken as a free rein to act as one pleases. Judiciousness should be the guiding factor.
These are just my observations and may not be correct completely. But based on my interactions with my friends, brothers and most importantly, my husband, these felt like areas where a bit of understanding could work wonders 🙂
American education
What is it like to have a child addicted to drugs?
Having a child addicted to drugs is a horror story that never ends. My oldest son is 37 years old. He became an addict when he was 12 years old. I’ve been at his funeral 25 years. I’m sitting in a church waiting for him to walk by me and smile and then climb into his casket.
Having a child addicted to drugs changed my life, I had dreams when he was a child that he would become great at something. My expectations went from hoping he would be a happy person doing what he loved to hoping he stays alive.
Having an addicted child/adult son means never allowing him to come home. I can’t buy him anything because he’ll sell anything for drugs. He’s sold blankets and sleeping bags I gave him to stay warm in the cold. I can never give him money. I buy lunch for him and watch him eat it.
My son knows my love for him is unconditional. I don’t approve of the choices he’s made but it’s his life.
My son has to want to climb out of the hole he’s in. I’ve shown him how to do it and led him to the “well.” He alone has to drink from it. He has to want to live a life of clarity.
I believe in miracles. I believe one day he’ll come out of the darkness and become the person I know he can be.
My hope is that I’ll be alive to see it.
What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?
The Brick.
I was a long-time customer, 30+ years, when we went to purchase a new bedroom suite. As my wife was getting what she wanted, I started looking at TV’s. I found a 51″ that I liked, so we bought that as well. Since it was a display model I also bought the extended warranty.
Well, within 6 months, the TV quit working. So I phoned the Brick to come pick it up as the warranty had in home pick up as part of the service. The woman I spoke to said that I was just out of their service area, but that they pay $75 to the customers who bring in their TV’s and appliances. Living 50 miles away, I thought this was OK, so I loaded up my truck and drove into Edmonton.
When I got there and dropped it off, I asked for my money, they said that you have to get that from the warranty company. Needless to say, I was pissed, and went home.
Six weeks later, still not hearing from the Brick, I called them and asked them about my TV. Oh, they said, it was ready the next day. Well why don’t you drop it off then I asked? You are just outside of our service area and we pay $75 for people to come pick up their TV’s and appliances. So I drove in to get my TV and asked where’s my $75? I was told that I have to get it from the warranty company.
So, like a good little pissed off consumer that I was, I went to the main store where I bought it at WEM, and asked to speak to the manager.
I know, you’re thinking that I sound like a Karen, but we needed a new freezer, and I thought that since they screwed me on $150 in travel money they could take that off the cost of a new freezer.
Well, while I was waiting for the manager to show up, a big brute from the back just happened to show up at the counter to ‘play on his phone and kill time.’ Did they think that I was going to fight the manager? Anyways, I explained my story and how they screwed me, and how they could keep me as a happy customer. All they had to do was take off the money from the price of the freezer. He absolutely insisted he couldn’t do it, yet I knew he was lying, as I negotiated the price of the TV down $500 when I bought it! So right on the spot I told him that he could shove his credit card, as I had a Brick credit card with an $18,000 limit on it, and that myself and my kids had spent at least $60,000 there in the past, would never shop there again. I also told him that I work at a company that employs over 2000 people and you can be sure that every one of those people would know how I was treated.
And I have never been back there, or to Leons, which is owned by the Brick.
Cooking in Vietnam is a visual treat
When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?
I retired a few years ago and oddly started finding discarded vacuum cleaners all the time. Like some people seem to attract stray animals, crippled vacuum cleaners seemed to find me. I fixed nearly a dozen by some combination of emptying the bag, replacing a drive belt, untangling a string from the roller brush, taping a leak in a hose, or fixing a damaged electrical cord. On average, it took me about 10 minutes to “repair” them.
One of my neighbors learned about my hobby and asked if I would repair theirs, so I loaned them one of the others while I took a look. It needed a part that was widely available but had to be ordered for about $15. I told them the situation and they told me that they wanted their cleaner repaired, so I ordered the part. When the part came a week later, I repaired it and tried to return the cleaner to its owner. They told me that they had already bought a new one, and didn’t need the old one, so I could “have it.” No mention of the money I had spent for the part. We didn’t talk much for awhile after that.
Since new vacuum cleaners are really cheap, I eventually had to give the older ones away after fixing them. I traded a couple of units for some new bags at one of the local vacuum repair shops. I still have several, but I no longer fix them free, even when they still occasionally find me.
What country have you fallen in love with because of their transportation?
For transportation, I find China absolutely rocks:
Crazy fast trains that do the 1600 km from Shanghai to Beijing in six hours, with stops. And they’ll do it for 50 US$.
Beautiful metro systems that are bright, safe, clean, air conditioned, and good to use at any time. The cost is negligeable, and these things go everywhere.
Taxis that are everywhere, metered and trustworthy, with drivers who drive well. Need one? Just wave at the next one approaching and get in. Affordable, too. You don’t need your own car in Shanghai or Beijing.
Maglev! The magnetic, levitating train from Shanghai Airport to town. I take it every time I’m there. Does 70 km in 12 minutes.
Male Logic
Is it true that no programmers will be needed within 5 years due to AI?
Lol. No.
The below image was made by an AI:
Looks neat?
Now look again at the stair case.
You really want that sort of bloopers in your software? Oh and a window for rainy days might be nice as well.
Or this one…
Here, the stair case isn’t too bad (except the very top and bottom), but cooking in that kitchen will be tricky…
I could post many more, but I trust the point is clear?
Are nuclear power plants safe?
Nuclear power is inherently unsafe, but.
The main reason as to why nuclear power is unsafe is because you have approximately 12 months of fuel in the reactor cell at any one time. Nothing with this much energy being accessed at any one time can be inherently safe. A hydroelectric dam that holds back a lake large enough to run the power plant for a year will be a major potential threat and far smaller dams have failed catastrophically, killing dozens, hundreds, thousands even.
Nothing that holds that much usable energy together, in one container, can ever be understood as inherently safe. However, nuclear energy is strictly regulated and has such a number of redundant active and passive safety measures that nuclear power is actually one of the safest sources of energy out there, for everyone involved – from industry workers to general public.
This is akin to aviation. Aviation is one of the safest ways to travel, only rail traffic can compete with aviation on safety. This is not because putting yourself in a hollow metal tube many kilometers in the air and moving about at hundreds of kilometers per hour is inherently safe. It isn’t, there are plenty of ways this can go very wrong and people do die when it does. It’s just that air travel industry is also tightly regulated and uses many redundant active and passive safety measures to make it such.
Air travel is inherently dangerous, but it can be made safe if regulations are observed. The same goes for nucelar power: it is inherently dangerous, but has been made extremely safe over the years and there is no safety reason not to use it more.
Men are suffering
Nora Vincent.
Why can’t we find a way without China? We literally hate everything about them and China’s silence is practically guilt. Why can’t anyone just try to find the way around/without China?
Well, I’m afraid you are completely and totally deluded. Most of the world is behind China. Only ignorant bigots like you hate China.
Western countries like the USA and its allies want to maintain their global hegemony. China’s rise threatens this hegemony. It’s as simple as that.
They’re jealous and fearful of China’s rise. Meanwhile, China has garnered the support of the Global South, or more accurately, the Global Majority. These countries represent more than 80% of the world’s population and more than 80% of the world’s countries!
Why so much support? Four main reasons:
China has fought no wars in the last 45 years. No other world power has ever been so peaceful for so long.
China helps other countries with their infrastructure and economy through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It also leads BRICS, which is unifying the Global South.
China is the largest trading partner with over 120 nations. They all benefit enormously from trading with China.
China respects all nations and does not interfere in their politics. China sanctions nobody. China overthrows no foreign government.
We’re living in corporate dystopia and Gen Z is reacting accordingly
On another (that I just cannot find at the moment), that China has secret bioweapons labs and one was accidentally discovered in California… an army of Covid mice to spread it all over California… not that it would matter. California is mostly a waste as it is.
Huawei phones read your brainwaves… don’t you know…
5G destroys your brains… well it did until… American companies renamed their 4G. Calling it “5G”.
India, Japan and the Philippines are going to stop China “dead in its tracks”… yeah. What ever you say.
The bullshit is really deep these days.
Meanwhile in China, actual troubling reports are coming forth.
I sure as fuck hope that China can sidestep this massive insane buildup towards war, but I am starting to waver and have my doubts. I need to contact the DC and find out its take on all this…
The USA is spewing wars everywhere.
“President” Biden is taking a nine day vacation. You know the kind you take right before you know that you will die. And he placed Victoria Nuland in charge.
Personally, I think she promoted herself. As there is NO ONE at the helm.
These are Americans who work and live in US, just like you, 100% Americans, except they are Chinese Americans, nevertheless they are Americans just like Donald Trump and you.
Chinese living in China can’t transfer enough money from China to buy properties in U.S. or any foreign countries, because China has strict $50,000 annual limit. It takes 10–20 years of transfers to buy an average home in California.
“Room-temperature superconductivity would enable long-distance lossless power transmission, leading to a new wave of global infrastructure development in the electricity network. Additionally, breakthroughs are expected in areas such as superconducting magnets, superconducting cables, and superconducting maglev trains, according to media reports.
“The breakthrough in room-temperature and atmospheric pressure superconducting materials would undoubtedly bring about revolutionary changes in various fields, including energy, transportation, computing, and medical diagnostics.”
It shows how pathetic and desperate the western news media houses are. The people all over the world are getting more informed and they are now not easily deceived by their blatant lies and deceptions anymore. Thanks to all these social media apps where fact-checks on faked and fabricated news could be shared at the speed of light to all corners of the world. The more the news media spew such silly news, the stupider they look. Even the old grannies today could differentiate them. A laughing stock!
When will the peak occur? It is occurring NOW, and it will go downhill from here.
Actually that is what western nations has become all due to its own doing. You see the west thought that it could simply keep increasing its price each time it’s Union asked for a pay rise and it’s CEO wants another 10 million dollars dollars bonus!
What it does not know is that when no one knows how to do what you do they have no choice paying higher and higher and higher. But close to around 2000 the world has become way smaller and there is really always an alternative product that is just as good.
Hence when the western producer increase the price it lose customers and market to the point that it no longer makes business sense to produce it in the west and it has to be outsourced to the cheapest and acceptable quality producer. This is almost always China.
Why China? First China has 1.4 billion hardworking, skilful workers who are discipline and highly intelligent working long hours and not demanding benefits and absurd salaries. Their automation robots amount to more than the world put together.
Their infrastructure is state of the art and their government focus on making organisations efficient and effective. Together they are simply unbeatable and everything done in the west cost 10 dollars the rest of the world may do it for 5 dollars. And China does it shipped it back to the U.S. for 3 bucks!
Many racist or superior minded individuals here like to fall into self delusions about cheap labour. But China’s labour is certainly higher than many nations yet it still remains the most competitive manufacturer on planet earth.
Today China U.S. making for 50% of humanity.
To do it yourself you need to reduce your CEO salaries by 90% workers salaries by 70% and you need to spent 100 trillion dollars for 10 years. You need to reduce your 800 military bases to 5 and cut your aircraft carriers by 10 and retrenched 1 million CIA and NED payrolls.
Or in plain simple English. You just cannot and won’t do it.
So stop talking shit about China. Just slapping tariff on some products from China caused you a double digit inflation and now a recession. Imagine China decoupling from you? The U.S. will nosedive into a 50 years recession! If I were you, I will be nice to China.
Interesting video…
How propaganda works and how US politicians get American voters to vote for them. Video put together by American university students to show the absurdity of it all.
Russia forgives African debt
Along with China, they are cutting the purse strings of the West from plundering the global south. More bad news for the USD.
A train coded C2551 slowly pulled out of the Beijing South Railway Station and headed for Tianjin Binhai New Area Tuesday morning, marking the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway.
As the first high-speed railway (HSR) with a design speed of 350 km per hour in China, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway carried a total of 340 million passengers since it entered operation.
Over the past 15 years, the daily frequency of trains running on the rail line has increased from 47 pairs to 128 pairs, and the shortest departure interval has been shortened from 15 minutes to 3 minutes, according to data from the China Railway Beijing Group Co., Ltd.
Wang Manman, a resident of Wuqing District, Tianjin Municipality, takes the bullet train to work in Beijing every day. The quickest journey takes only about 20 minutes, and there are eleven trains for her to choose flexibly during the morning rush hour from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
The operation of the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway in August 2008 was strong support for the hosting of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and has accelerated regional integration and development. It has also unveiled a fast-expanding modern HSR network in the world’s most populous nation, coupled with its booming economy.
By 2022, China had 42,000 km of operational HSR, ranking first in the world, and the length of high-speed rail regularly operating at 350 km per hour neared 3,200 km as of June 2022.
High-speed trains have changed people’s commute circle and lifestyle and greatly optimized resource allocation, noted Cheng Shidong, a transport official with the National Development and Reform Commission.
THE MAN FROM UNCLE Season One Long Opening
How US “democracy” really works…
Japanese Artist Creates Epic Anime Costumes For His Cats
If you’re a fan of cats, anime, and adorable cats dressed in tiny anime costumes, this one is going to be a treat. Apparently, there’s a talented Japanese man likes to create handmade anime costumes for his two cute cats and you can find his beautiful creations on his Twitter account.
If you know your anime well enough, you might be able to tell that most of the costumes he creates are based on those seen in productions from Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation film studio. It’s also worth noting that all of his designs are made from scratch and with his own two hands.
My take is that the US will not dare fight China because it fears losing. It is no different from the supposed meanest and baddest mafia refrain from going after their strongest peers. Losing means losing everything.
You see today a good majority of the world still thinks the U.S. is the head honcho. It still fears the U.S. somewhat, though much lesser these days. But what if it is proven without doubt that China’s weapons are much more superior and that in a war the U.S. lose?
What if the Chinese jets simply blow off the F16 in the sky like swatting flies? What if 13 US carriers disintegrate by Chinese hypersonic missiles raining down on them at 10 times the speed of sound giving the U.S. 3 seconds notice? What if a million drones attack in unison and what if China takes Okinawa and Russia takes Hokkaido and Pyongyang takes Seoul and Tehran takes Israel all in a week? What is the dollar becomes a dime a buck? What next?
The U.S. pretence is exposed the aura is gone. For good. It’s weapons will need to be on cheap sales. The U.S. cannot even bully it’s own slaves anymore. That is the real reason it will not fight if China takes Taiwan by force. It won’t and it is smart. China have nothing to lose. The U.S. has everything to lose.
So the U.S. will do the only thing it can do. Talk a lot of shit. And rant and rave. Gang up it’s unholy alliance and pretend it cares. That is what the U.S. can and will do.
White House PISSED at Tucker Carlson for Exposing THIS!
Without exception, being rich in a poor country is the way to go. I moved to the Philippines in 2011. Eleven years later my Filipina wife and I opened our first small day resort on the island of Leyte.
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Though the resort is still under construction, people still want to stop by and enjoy the pool.
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We’ve done a number of projects but this is the biggest and is scheduled to be fully functional with overnight accommodations and all the amenities in three years. Aside from using a backhoe to dig out the pool, everything is done manually using hand tools.
These projects employ a dozen local workers and puts money back into the hands of those that need it the most.
This project started in August of 2021 and my first milestone to have a working pool and pump room was achieved on February 16.
I was raised poor in the richest country in the world. It sucks to be poor in a rich country. Better to be rich in a poor country.
What is Dulles ideology? God’s Mission. America has a mandate from GOD, the King of the Universe, to impose its will on “Godless communism” anywhere, everywhere, on earth, at gunpoint if necessary.
Wild Rice Cheese Soup
2023 08 02 20 05
Ingredients
1 pound Italian sausage
1 small onion, diced
1 cup uncooked wild rice
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of potato soup
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pound cubed processed cheese
Instructions
Fry sausage and onions in a medium skillet until sausage is no longer pink. Drain and set aside.
In a small saucepan, cook rice in 2 cups of water until tender, then set aside.
In a stockpot, combine sausage, onion, rice, soups, milk and evaporated milk. Cook over low heat until warm.
Stir in processed cheese and heat. Stir occasionally until cheese is melted.
China Issues STRONG WARNING to NATO: Stay Out of Taiwan and Asia or Risk WAR
China has rejected NATO’s plan to expand into Asia and warned the Alliance that such a move risks all out war in the region.
2023 08 03 10 06
France opposes ‘decoupling’ after economic talks with China
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday that he opposes the “illusion” of countries “decoupling” from China and he does not believe the world’s second-largest economy constitutes a risk.
He made the remarks after China and France concluded the 9th China-France High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue in Beijing on Saturday. The two countries reached a series of consensus ranging from finance to climate change and aerospace.
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Le Maire said Chinese investors are welcome in France, especially in the field of electric vehicles, batteries and energy transition, citing an example of Chinese group XTC New Energy Materials that has invested with French nuclear giant Orano in batteries, French newspaper Les Echos reported.
Le Maire told a press conference on Sunday that France wants to get better access to Chinese markets. France is on the right track, Le Maire said, opposing the “illusion” of countries “decoupling” from China.
In 1986, Ronald Reagan said “There is no problem in lying to your people. As long as you don’t believe the lies yourself and fail to see the truth in front of your eyes”
He was talking about USSR and East Germany
Today that’s the case with the Collective West
They believe their own lies
They twist everything to keep believing in their own lies
They will destroy themselves to keep believing in their own lies
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Take Biden
He is still living in the 1990s
He still thinks Russia is a gas station and China is a cheap factory nation
The Pentagon tries to tell him but he brushes them off
He soon only ensures the YES MEN are heard from and his closest advisors are the same
Like our Indians brainwashed by Whatsapp University, they are all brainwashed by their own lies and propaganda
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Take Nuland
She has never made a diplomatic move in her entire life
She believes the US is supreme and anyone can be threatened and she threatens everyone with dire consequences
So most nations she threatens, hates her and hates the US and waits for the time to plunge the knife into the heart of the United States and twist the handle
Even now they are deluded into believing World War III will be won by them
They are deluded into believing that somehow Putin and Xi will be overthrown by their own Generals and US will triumph once again
They don’t realise that XI AND PUTIN are probably the only ones who are keeping the hawks in their countries at bay
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The Ultra Nationalists like Medvedev or even Lavrov and Kadyrov would happily launch nukes tomorrow and die if the Americans also die
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Anyone who knows China would know General Liu and his faction
Luckily until now these fools don’t have the full power to start WWIII
Macron isn’t quite as deluded as he pretends
Erdogan is a wily fox who plays the middle well
Austin is certainly more Pro Pentagon than White House now
Sunak is a lickspittle but he is too Indian to not be cautious
Gen Milley knows WWIII would be a disaster
Sullivan is a political animal but not an idiot or an ideological fool
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Obama controls a huge chunk of the party today and he certainly is no fool. He wouldn’t want Malia and Sasha to become vapor tomorrow.
So does the Pentagon
So push comes to shove, they can push off Biden and say “F*** off Mr President” or push the old man down the stairs after killing the cameras and say “He had an accident”
Yet who knows?
Ursula Van Der Leyen, Habeck, Baerbock, Nuland, Scholz, Marin are all spineless fools or doped to their eyeballs in Lies and Propaganda and they would burn themselves and their people in their delusions
They can happily start WWIII
So the only hope for humanity is for these insane creatures to be voted out or naturally die of some cause
Collective strike of 500,000 people!Will this president step down early?May have a toughest new one!
In the first few weeks I was here I was required to create a new bank account. I took the subway to the bank headquarters with my passport and a nice little letter from my supervisor confirming I was a current student at my university.
I filled in a form, she looked over my documents, did some typing, went to the back to get something, had me sign something, and BOOM, done! She handed me my new card.
All this in twenty-something minutes.
My little mind was blown to smithereens.
In my country (Papua New Guinea) to create an account it would take two weeks (for the paperwork to be processed). You would go to the bank, fill in the forms and show them your ID, birth certificates, and any other docs they need. You’d be told to come back after two weeks to collect your new bank card when your account is ready.
Even though I could still understand much of what this teller said to me in Chinese, she still made sure to type out what she said on a translator app and show me the message on the phone screen.
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I’ll even go far as to say I got special attention, which, being black, I was not really expecting. While I was seated waiting for my number to be called an assistant bank worker came to check if I have everything I needed, and to let her know if I needed any help. She also pointed out the direction of the washroom in case I needed it. Just doing her job, I know; still, I appreciated it.
I had gone recently to do some transactions via Western Union, they handed me this form.
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That was wrapped up quite quickly, too.
All in all, my experiences with banking had gone smoothly and quickly. You don’t even need a good command of Chinese to get your business done. They usually know English themselves or they’ll try to find some other way to communicate.
Treasury Tsunami Coming – U.S. Deficit Spending A Big Disaster
A massive treasury dump is coming and the markets aren’t prepared for a tsunami of bonds hitting.
2023 08 02 19 43
While the US government spending is nothing new, they are borrowing tons of money at high-interest rates. This creates two big problems. It could spark another banking crisis as well as create an even bigger inflation crisis down the road. Here’s what you must know!
In 1905, a photograph was taken in Japan capturing the moment when a Geisha, a female Japanese performing artist and entertainer, washed her hair before styling it. Geisha are renowned for their expertise in traditional Japanese performing arts, including dance, music, singing, and the art of conversation. They possess a distinctive appearance characterized by long, flowing kimonos, traditional hairstyles, and oshiroi makeup.
Geisha entertain at gatherings called ozashiki, frequently entertaining affluent clients. They also showcase their talents on stage and participate in various festivals.
China’s groundbreaking advancements in the semiconductor industry as wafer laser cutting equipment achieves full localization.
China’s Hua Gong Technology has successfully manufactured the world’s first 100% domestically produced high-end wafer laser cutting equipment, a crucial component in semiconductor manufacturing.
Wafers are made of brittle materials mechanical dicing of thousands or even tens of thousands of chips on a 12-inch wafer typically results in a heat-affected Zone and dicing line width of about 20 microns compared with about 10 microns for conventional lasers the reduction in dicing line width means that Wafers can achieve higher levels of integration making semiconductor manufacturing more cost effective and efficient.
This breakthrough not only enhances China’s self-sufficiency in semiconductor equipment but also reduces reliance on foreign technology, countering US technology restrictions.
This is a video from a purported “engineering” channel.
But you may be shocked by the arresting headline:
How Gotland-Class Submarines Transform NATO’s Approach to China and Russia
My eyes popped when I saw it in my feed.
Sweden isn’t even an official member of NATO and people are already incorporating Swedish military power into the wargame against the Russians and Chinese!
The acceptance that war with Russia AND China being inevitable is frankly, either gut-wrenching terrifying or utterly mind-blowing.
But a reading of the news over the past few years will convince even the skeptic that a consensus is being shaped among the first world citizenry, while the Russia-China axis is under constant dehumanization and presented as cartoon whims.
Victory, it seems, is assured, and plans are afoot to upgrade readiness for real conflict in the near future.
Part of the reason why I write about military affairs (particularly from the Chinese angle) is to draw the Western response.
To describe the experience as sorely disappointing is too mild.
I am gobsmacked flabbergasted by the repeated fairy tales thrown my way that bombers and nuclear subs lobbing tomahawks and other missiles will be able to sink the entire Chinese navy or disable the PLA, in a repeat of the 100-hour Iraq War. The rest of the American military then joins in the mopping up.
In other words, a turkey shoot even more spectacular than the Korean War, where 1 American died for 30 Chinese KIA.
The American-dominated media is suspending reality for the American people. No one has questioned the 200b increase in military spending since Donald took office. To put that figure in perspective, the increase is equal to two thirds of the Chinese military budget, the second largest globally. This is in tandem with massive increase of military spending in Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and elsewhere.
In a recent market research note, one recommendation caught my eye. It promoted the merits of the weapons sector—Lockheed, Raytheon, etc—and pointed to the massive inflow that’s been announced by many governments. As far as killing and maiming is concerned, it’s boom time, never mind the frothy market.
There is no equilibrium right now. The American-led west has been upping the pressure since the Barack administration’s pivot east, to the point President Xi is openly exhorting the PLA to be ready for war at all times.
These are dangerous times.
I see two outcomes.
One: The Americans realize the folly of their ways, and u-turning. I find that unlikely, given the dysfunctional politics that refuses to forego the God complex.
Two: Provoking conflict between Japan and China over Taiwan, dragging Korea into the same mess. The entry of Russia into the issue of Taiwan is a stabilizer for the Western Pacific, because Japan will have to work through the strategic calculus of a direct northern neighbor that has an iron grip on Sakhalin.
The risk goes up with time, as both sides ratchet up and escalate. This will continue until there is a clear winner. The best we can hope for is a continuous stream of economic crises emanating from the first world’s profligate and irresponsible ways, forcing leaders to focus on domestic discontent, rather than fixing “the enemy”.
Five years ago, during Donald’s tenure, I would have put the possibility of war within the next decade at 20–30%. Today, it’s 60–70%.
We, as in East Asians, should all make our own preparations for a uncertain and dangerous future.
How to Prevent Won Ton Wrappers From Drying Out: Keep won ton wrappers covered with plastic wrap until ready to use. Wrap any remaining won ton wrappers tightly in plastic wrap and store in freezer.
Make Ahead: Fill won tons as directed. Place in single layer on baking sheet. Freeze 1 hour or until frozen. Transfer to resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Freeze up to 1 month. Thaw in refrigerator before adding to hot soup to cook as directed.
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped water chestnuts
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons GOOD SEASONS Asian Sesame with Ginger Dressing
1 egg, separated
32 square won ton wrappers
8 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup thinly sliced water chestnuts
2 green onions, sliced
Instructions
Mix meat, mushrooms, water chestnuts, onions, dressing and egg yolk until well blended. Spoon evenly onto won ton wrappers, adding about 1 teaspoon of the meat mixture to each wrapper.
Beat egg white lightly. Brush onto edges of each wrapper; fold in half to form triangle. Press edges together to seal. Bring opposite corners of long edge of each triangle together, overlapping corners; brush with egg white to seal.
Combine chicken broth, mushrooms, water chestnuts and onions in large saucepan. Bring just to boil on medium heat. Carefully add won tons; simmer 4 minutes or until filling is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 servings, about 1 1/4 cups each
Military Veterans React to Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
2023 08 20 10 41
The Third Man (1949, Film-Noir) Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli | Full movie
HUNTED…By a thousand men! Haunted…By a lovely girl! Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
It is a GREAT MOVIE. Watch it if you have the time.
It seems that the re-posturing is in process, right on a schedule established decades ago. One; mind you, without any allowance for change in the Geo-political situation.
Todays…
You know, I was watching Babymetal the other day, and it occurred to me that the entire band is the embodiment of a cat.
Yes. Seriously.
The elements of [1] hard, and fast along with [2] the very cute.
It’s one manifestation of a cute kitty cat. Then it gnaws on your hand… and draws blood.
Seriously. Check this one out with that thought in mind.
BABYMETAL – メギツネ – MEGITSUNE (OFFICIAL)
Though… it is about a FOX (which is a human female embodiment of a feline).
Walmart My friend, 5″10″ 185 was walking out of the store on an Friday night. There were several high school boys horsing around with each other. As my friend walked past the biggest one, he went into a Rocky boxing stance behind him.(The store cameras caught the whole thing). He push punched my friend’s right shoulder enough to almost unbalance him. When my friend turned and saw a large figure in a fighting crouch, he continued his turn and placed the point of his elbow on the far side of the kid’s jaw.
Resulting in the kid flying backward to land flat of his back unconscious, with a broken jaw. Took about 2 seconds start to finish. The jaw was unintentional.
In the past 40 years, Chinese have worked hard, and the government has continued to invest in soft infrastructure (education, etc.) and hard infrastructure including transport and manufacturing.
In the US, Americans have voted to cut taxes and the size of government, which meant that there has been no investment in hard and soft infrastructure.
The “rise of China” is simply the result of those different policies.
According to the United States constitution, the purpose of the Government is as a vehicle to serve its people.
Are they being served?
Is inflation under control?
Are the streets clean, and safe?
Are people happy, employed in useful productive activities.
Is the nation as a whole, healthy mentally, physically and emotionally?
Does the future look bright?
Is food, and shelter affordable?
Is medical care cheap and easy to obtain?
Is the government meeting the needs of the individual?
As I see it, the most basic, of basics is neglected.
This is not only unhealthy, but completely unsustainable.
You do not need a nuclear conflagration to destroy the United States, it is already destroyed. It is torn up and sitting in the garbage swill of past glories.
The American society is dead. DEAD. Gone, and slaughtered.
There are ZERO vibrant and healthy cities in the United States today. The downtowns are boarded up, squalor rat and rodent infestations exist, and tent cities abound. Those that exist fumble and mumble in their drug haze like the zombies they are. Today, the United States (though there are a handful of “pockets” of normalcy) is simply a ghost-nation.
Hollowed out.
Void of any real and actual leadership.
Inept, incompetent, and runs a well produced “clown show” in front of green screens, reading well produced scripts to keep the rabble in line.
No.
A nuclear war will not kill the United States.
It is already a carcass.
Pick it up off the side of the road, and start fresh. It’s the only thing that is left to do.
…
Remember…
Nuclear weapons are designed to destroy large functioning cities, and masses of military. That are their targets. If the cities are just crumbling, and the only strategic targets are a warehouse here, a factory there, or a government building over there, then it makes far more sense to use conventional munitions in “surgical” strikes.
As the United States stands today, a nuclear war would have very little effect on the nation.
A dead dog is still a dead dog. To shoot it full of holes will not change anything. It doesn’t matter if you use a .22 caliber revolver, or a 10 gauge shotgun.
Thus, to hasten the demise of the United States (as it is already post-collapse) is to target the few remaining assets that keep it alive;
The factories that make the bombs and missiles.
The “leaders” that run the remains of the nation.
The transportation hubs that distribute goods and services.
That is the true and real reality of the situation.
…
The United States is a carcass.
Any action by the rest of the world would be to add lime to it and advance the decay.
SHOCKING PRE BIRTH EXPERIENCE! I Saw Why I Chose a Life of Suffering!
Please enjoy my interview with Betty Guadagno about he Near Death-Like Experience and pre-birth memories!
No, why would China invade Taiwan now when Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan was restored and recognised in 1945? The only question is whether or not the rival PRC and ROC governments which do not recognise the right of the other to govern China, intend to finally finish the Chinese Civil War. Admittingly, it does not take a genius to realise that at this point, if the fighting does resume, it is but a matter of the PRC finishing off the last remnants of the ROC rump on Taiwan, since the ROC forces have no chance of reconquering the entire mainland by now (though they did hold on to this desire as late as the 1970’s).
And the answer to whether or not the fighting should resume is a resounding ‘no’ on both sides as well. Everyone on both sides of the strait is Chinese, and quite frankly most of the irreconciliable points of contention in ideological dogma and political doctrine between the KMT and CCP have long since become obsolete.
What most Chinese wish for is to find a peaceful long term resolution to the civil war which does not involve bloodshed, and most people from across the Chinese World regardless of political affiliation recognise or are at least willing to trust that those advocating for ‘Taiwanese Independence’ are but a small albeit vocal minority on Taiwan. Meanwhile, no one finds writing systems or pinyin romanisation standards to be worth fighting and dying over. My own hometown is somewhat inland but not entirely remote from Xikou, where Jiang Jieshi himself grew up. There are plenty of people in Xikou nowadays who in principle do not object at all to the prospect of welcoming the remains of the KMT leader back for a proper burial when the situation permits it (which was his own dying wish).
Of course, negotiations will not be straightforward, and it is completely understandable that ROC officials will have concerns about their specific status within a reunified Chinese state, and what protections and guarantees will be offered for the specific particulars of their own way of life. However, almost everyone of political prominence in the 1930’s and 1940’s is either dead or rather senile, so most understand there is no concern of anyone being dragged away to a public trial by the people.
The only reason why there would be a motivation to achieve reunification by force would be if something drastic happens, such as if the MJD attempts to change the ROC’s name and contitution, or the US uses ROC territory as a base for attacking other parts of China.
Is China–Russia Alliance is Likelier than we think?
On 4FEB22, it was formally announced that China and Russia formed a new “national structure” together. In short, they joined together into one singular “state” of a type never before seen on the planet. This nation state is tighter than any kind of individual nation, and stronger economically than any other singular nation in the history of the globe.
Since today is late July 2023, this new “nation-state”; a unified Asia, has been in force and operating now for a goodly one and a half years. And we have seen some amazing changes take place.
Both the paramilitaries of China and Russia integrating together.
Joint leadership in the various national organizations.
A wide selection of free trade and energy activities.
Massive infrastructure projects.
Of course, NONE of this is reported in any of the Western “news”. You have to be able to read Chinese, Russian, or Persian to keep abreast on the massive big changes going on in the world today. The English reporting is absent, and if reported, it is distorted beyond recognition.
For instance, take the joint Naval exercises with Russia and China around Japan last week. Western reporting equals zero. Or, the new rail lines connecting Western Russia to China, the Western reporting is yet again; zero. How about the new manufacturing plants in Russia? Zero. Or the trade corridors from the Middle east into the Heart of Russia, via the China “bridge”? Reporting is zero.
And so, with the West living in this bubble of ignorance, it can be expected that those in the West are unaware that China and Russia are one.
It is a united Asia.
To a person in the West, it is almost like waiting to get an invite to a big party. And you wait and you wait and you wait. Then you find out that the party came and went, and no one told you. Yeah. It’s like that.
So to answer the question;
Is China–Russia Alliance is Likelier than we think?
It happened a year and a half ago. It is more than an alliance; it is a new global superpower. If the USA is considered to be a superpower, then the new Russia-China “new national form” is a Super-Duper-Supreme-power. And that is how things stand today.
Which is why…
The people; the citizens, worry about war, Taiwan, nuclear bombs.
The multinational companies, are all renewing investments in China and Russia independent of any American-led sanction efforts.
The nations are all abandoning the USD in favor of a BRICS “basket of currencies”.
So do not be confused by the dearth of actual “news” reporting. Watch what people, companies and nations are actually doing. Not what they are saying.
For instance, as an example…
Thailand elected, via color-revolution, a pro-USA leader. However, just this week the Thai Navy spent all week drilling with the Chinese Navy, and the the BRI projects are proceeding that connects Thailand to China, and Laos without any interruption.
Pay attention to what is physically going on. Not, what is being “reported.”
Fluffy Dumplings
unnamed
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 tablespoon melted shortening or oil
2/3 cup milk
Instructions
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into mixture of beaten eggs, shortening and milk.
When ready to serve, drop by teaspoonsful into boiling gravy (about 4 cupsful), cover and cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes or until done.
The Hunter Biden plea deal appears to have collapsed. The so-called ‘Sweetheart deal’ on tax and gun charges seems to have fallen apart in a stunning twist after prosecutors said president’s son could STILL be charged with other crimes.
During his appearance in front of a judge in a federal court in Delaware the president’s scandal-hit son said ‘yes, your honor’ when asked by the judge if he was going to plead guilty, and admitted he’s been to rehab six times in 20 years for addiction to drinking and drugs.
But then the Judge demanded a recess when an agreement between prosecutors and attorneys for the president’s son appeared to fall apart.
Hunter’s attorney Chris Clark said the agreement was ‘null and void’ after top prosecutor Leo Wise said the president’s son could still be charged with other crimes – including violations related to representing foreign governments.
He was a party guy who hated school and got really bad grades. One day, two men savagely attacked him and robbed Jason outside a bar, leaving him with a severe concussion.
This damage turned him into a math genius and made him learn fractal geometry, which he had never learned before. He then became a renowned mathematician.
Derek Amato
2023 07 25 16 1y9
At 39, he hit his head after diving into a pool. He was diagnosed with a concussion and 35% hearing loss. After that Derek started seeing black and white keys on his head and out of nowhere started playing the piano like an expert and eventually became a composer.
Ben McMahon
2023 07 25 16 20
He was in a car accident in 2015 and was in a coma for a week. When he woke up, he spoke perfect Chinese, even though he had only learned the basics in childhood.
Tony Cicero
2023 07 25 16 20fd
He was struck by lightning while making a call in a phone booth. Within days, he became addicted to music, which wasn’t the case before. After experimenting with the piano, he became a musical artist who composes his own music.
I may not call them superpowers, but they are definitely powers for the uninitiated.
NDE: Woman is Shown Pre-Birth Plan and is SHOCKED to see she Did Not Accomplish her Life’s Purpose
Please enjoy my interview with Norma Edwards about her Near Death Experience!
2023 07 25 15 41
The CIA
an ALL powerful organization unlike anything the world have ever seen
far more powerful than the Illuminati, the Free Masons and all powerful Men like Kim Jong-un
this organization had, thru mission creep, amassed GREAT POWERS for itself and now control the most powerful nations on earth
in a demonstration of its power, it had also made possible the Presidency of Joe Biden. It was in Ukraine that the CIA co-opted Hunter Biden as it fund bio labs. It also suppressed critical information that allow Joe Biden to win the 2020 election
2023 07 25 15 51
What most Americans are NOT aware is that the CIA:
is the largest drug smuggler in the United States and in many parts of the world. It also arms Narco trafficker in Latin America which destabilized MANY countries
the slush funds created from drug smuggling enable it to fund activities outside state control
throughout the world, it is responsible for the death of tens of millions of people as it funds wars, mayhem and overthrow governments
overseas and in the United States such as in Fort Detrick, it operates bio.chemical labs that conducts research into bio weapons designed to kill and eliminate whole races of people
In the United States, the CIA:
spies extensively on Americans
control pedophile rings such as those run by Jeffrey Epstein which allows it to control American business and political elites (Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Bill Gates were just some of the individuals who were frequent visitors to Epstein’s island). This control allows it to direct America’s domestic and foreign agenda
thru its funding of American and foreign media and think thanks, it promote hate in the United States against China, Russia, Muslims and others distracting Americans from what it is doing and the governing Plutocrats openly stealing from the country and its people
it CENSORS books in the United States and fund major Hollywood movies in order to manipulate Americans while funding studies on thought control experiments
it’s involvement in the opiate trade has led to the death of millions of Americans devastating lives and communities.
From an organization which was created to gather intelligence from foreign countries, the CIA have evolved to spy on and manipulate Americans as it wage wars and inflict death and chaos which affect millions around the world while controlling bio-chemical weapons. Most of all, it now controls American political and business elites.
What is the CIA up to? As we have seen, the CIA is involve with much nefarious activities. If Oliver Stone is correct, this could also include the assassination of an American President
It has now united the countries of Europe and Japan – countries with a long and bloody history of waging wars of racial domination – after triggering the Ukrainian crises by funding neo-Nazis Ukrainians and triggering the Maidan revolution
for it is clear that the CIA objective is world domination and to set the world alight triggering an orgy of death, chaos and destruction
more than anything else, the CIA represent the physical and spiritual manifestation
of the Dark Angel himself where it has now found a HOME
always seeking power and domination while sowing death and chaos in its wake
it is now in the cusps of accomplishing its objectives of lighting the world on fire
in this world, in a country that is big and small, haven is preparing its favourite son
for that epic confrontation against Evil itself
in order to save the world from a fiery end
Most DETAILED Near Death Experience Ever Recorded; Woman is given TOUR of the Universe! Venia Hill
Please enjoy my interview with Venia Hill about her incredibly in-depth Near Death Experience!
2023 07 25 15 45
These Humorous Stinker Station Signs Helped to Provide Comic Relief for Motorists in Idaho During the 1950s and ’60s
0 12
When traveling to distant places, it is well to remember where you come from. If you come from Idaho, chances are you are familiar with the Stinker gas stations, which used to put up gag signs along the roads. Those bright yellow Stinker Station signs all with black print truly were an “Idaho only” institution. The Stinker gas stations used to break the monotony of traveling through southern Idaho’s miles of sagebrush with their comic signs.
“BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCHES” UPDATED AGAIN 1:13 PM EDT — Major Air Strikes Against Ukraine
2023 07 27 10 25
Reports are coming in that Russia has launched 12 TU-95 aircraft carrying missiles for Ukraine
If each aircraft is carrying a full load, that is up to 96 cruise missiles.
Air Raid Sirens are sounding throughout the red shaded areas of Ukraine shown on the map above. Explosions likely to follow.
Check back.
UPDATE 11:31 AM EDT —
13 Russian Tu-95MS and a number of Tu-160M Strategic Bombers are currently noted Airborne across Western Russia heading towards “Launch Zones” over the Caspian Sea.
A Large Missile Attack on Ukraine _SEEMS_ Imminent.
UPDATE 11:34 AM EDT —
Preliminary launches of X-101/555 missiles from Tu-95 from the Caspian direction.
CONFIRMED! Initial Detection by the Ukrainian Air Force of Cruise Missile launches by at least 12 Russian Tu-95MS Strategic Bombers over the Caspian Sea; the Missiles should be entering Ukrainian Airspace within the next hour.
UPDATE 11:38 AM EDT —
ADDITIONAL MISSILE ATTACKS NOW TAKING PLACE! High-speed missiles entering Ukraine from the north, Ukraine’s air force says.
These are DAYLIGHT launches, not something the Russians usually do.
UPDATE 11:40 AM EDT —
Cruise Missiles Flying towards Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk .
Possible direction – Kremenchuk, Kropyvnytskyi!
Explosions are reported in Berislav district of Kherson region and in Kharkov.
UPDATE 11:43 AM EDT —
Right now, Ukrainians are in a panic that has long crossed the line of hysteria.
Rockets over the Kirovograd region towards Kiev;
More missiles in the direction of the Vinnitsa region;
Apparently, the Russian Air Force took significant steps to deceive the Ukrainian air defense; today’s missiles are constantly changing course in mid-flight!
Russian cruise missiles are flying to Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, — Ukrainian Air Force.
Explosions reported in Dnepropetrovsk region.
The second wave of Russian missiles is entering from the East.
Cruise missiles on the approaches to Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, and Odesa regions!
MORE:
Explosions Reported in Dnepropetrovsk and Kirovograd Regions
It appears that a portion of the Iskander missiles have successfully struck their intended targets.
The activation of the air raid alert following the initial strikes indirectly confirms the accuracy of the hits on these targets.
Moreover, there are indications that a ballistic missile strike targeted an assembly shop in Kharkov, which was allegedly involved in the production of drones.
As for the cruise missiles launched from the Caspian region, they have not yet reached their intended destinations.
There is speculation that these missiles could potentially target certain sites belonging to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Khmelnitsky and Vinnitsa regions.
NEW: A group of missiles is moving along the border with Moldova in the direction of Khmelnytskyi region!
UPDATE 12:13 PM EDT —
Multiple explosions heard in Khmelnytskyi region
UPDATE 12:25 PM EDT —
Missiles entering Lviv.
Lviv region advised to take cover immediately, missiles inbound.
Volyn and Rivne regions. Missiles also fly towards you.
COURSE CHANGES – AGAIN: Several RU cruise missiles turned from Lviv to Volyn region NOW! Some rockets in the Ternopil region made a 180-degree turn.
A group of missiles from Ternopil Oblast changes course to Zhytomyr Oblast, another group in the direction of Lviv Oblast and Volyn Oblast.
UKRAINE authorities in panic, now hysteria: screaming to citizens “Missiles constantly change their flight path. Stay in shelters!”
UPDATE 12:46 PM EDT —
Russian “Dagger” missiles heading in the direction of Kyiv!
(NOTE: Today’s ongoing missile barrages appear to be the largest and longest-sustained attack since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began. Ter for months, we were all told “Russia is running out of missiles.” HMMMMM. Looks like the people telling us that were . . . ahem . . . wrong.)
AT LEAST FOUR (4) HYPERSONIC “KINZHAL” MISSILES HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED AND APPEAR HEADING TOWARD KIEV.
MORE:
Iskander missiles have JUST BEEN launched from the Bryansk region Russia.
***** FLASH *****
Multiple reports coming in claiming land-to-land BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCHES have taken place inside Russia, heading toward Ukraine.
UPDATE 12:57 PM EDT —
Explosions heard once again in the City of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine.
UPDATE 1:13 PM EDT —
The attack seems to have subsided. No additional missiles are being tracked in, or toward, Ukraine.
Unconfirmed Reports that Starokostiantyniv Air Base in the Khmelnytskyi Region of Western Ukraine has been struck by at least 5 Russian Cruise Missiles. This Base is Home to the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade who operate Su-24 Tactical Bombers which are claimed to be the __ONLY__ Ukraine aircraft capable of utilizing “Storm Shadow” Air-Launched Cruise Missiles provided by the UK and France.
If this base and its planes have been put out of commission, then Russia achieved multiple wins; knocking out more Ukraine air power and HALTING the ability of Ukraine to use STORM SHADOW missiles, anywhere in the country.
Reports are that this is attack was focused on NATO Assets, Supplies, and Command Centers inside Ukraine, which would explain the daylight strikes.
THIS ENDS ONGOING UPDATES
Cajun Pork Chili
2023 07 27 11 25
Ingredients
2 pounds ground pork
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet green bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano*
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash of hot pepper sauce
Salt and pepper
Instructions
In a heavy saucepan, cook the pork over medium heat, stirring to break up the meat, for about 5 minutes or until browned. Pour off the fat.
Add onions, and cook until tender. Add garlic, red and green peppers and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
Add tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a spoon. Stir in kidney beans, hot pepper flakes, oregano, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Notes
* If you prefer a more traditional chili flavor, use cumin instead of oregano, and add chili powder to taste.
Originally Answered: What is it like to live on a small island?
I’ll answer for an island of 300 in the Maldives.
Enjoy? Things get boring very quickly unless you LOVE water sports or fishing. After we exhausted these options, cabin fever set in really quickly. Chess is a favorite pastime for locals.
Lizards and spiders galore, bats hanging in trees all day. Mosquitos are everywhere and the sand fleas are worse. Locals seem to have developed a tolerance for both though.
Translucent crabs COVER the edges of the island closest to the ocean from dusk to dawn.
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Biggest swimming pool ever
2023 07 25 16 2r9
The reefs are absolutely magnificent
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Fantastic visibility
Supplies come once and sometimes twice a week – you miss everything and if you don’t order it or get it on the day or even hour it’s delivered, you’re out of luck that week.
There is one small general store that has a regular refrigerator for Kit Kat ice cream cones and bottled water/soda (only Holstein’s that I can’t even find online) – while they last.
Most mosquito coils in the general store are so old they won’t light
More coconuts and fresh fish than you could ever begin to try to eat
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The boat that brings the supplies
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Waiting to board the boat – yep, you can go for free but you’re gonna ride with the bananas, pineapples, bread and orange juice headed for the resorts
2023 07 25 16 31v
Knocked out on the floor of the ship. There wasn’t an open spot left anywhere.
It smells like ocean, sand, coconuts, fish, and musky people – no deodorant, obviously
Air conditioning and heating don’t exist – ditto for heated water.
2023 07 25 16 31g
We caught all these fish using fishing line and a hook tied to a water bottle. We just let the line drop and our “captain” drove around until one of us got a bite. No more than five minutes and usually less than a minute. I’ve never fished so easily in my life.
Sometimes fish is cooked by gutting, covering with salt, spearing with a freshly picked palm frond and roasting lightly over a coconut husk fire
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Cooking on the deserted island across the atoll from where we stayed
2023 07 25 16 3s2
Yeah, there were plates on the deserted (read: private party) island. They get rinsed in the ocean.
Everyone eats with their hands. All the time.
Everyone knows everything about everyone – this cannot be underestimated. You have ZERO privacy
Even though everyone knows everything, there are still drug (heroin) and alcohol abuse problems – they are isolated enough that they protect each others privacy from the rest of the world.
You can walk from one side of the island to the other in under 15 minutes if you go slow. 10 minutes for a nice, brisk pace.
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One of the two main “streets”
Most furniture is made from wood and rope – withstands the sand and wind quite well
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Finishing off another coconut in my favorite chair
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Pretty cool six seater chair
There is a plane ambulance for major health emergencies – it has to fly to the island and fly back out
There is a speedboat ambulance within the atoll that will take you to another, slightly larger island with doctors for less major medical emergencies
There is one doctor from India who lives on the island part time for basic checkups and minor health care needs
There’s a large soccer (football) field that is used nightly, an open air mosque, and an open air two room school house
ZERO automobiles, a couple bicycles, a motorbike (maybe 50cc) every local rolls their eyes at because it’s so ridiculous (I think they’re waiting for him to accidentally ride into the ocean), and a couple carts for hauling what comes in on the boats
Two plastic lawn chairs at the end of one lane that faces the nearby resort island. On a good day, you can pick up the wifi from across the ocean. Spotty, but workable. Some days, people wait in rotation for a chair.
Hope that helps. Perhaps you’re looking for details about a bigger island, but some stuff should be similar. Good luck!
US Begins Draw-Down of ACTIVE ARSENAL to Give to Ukraine
The US is giving another $400 MILLION (Corrected) of Military aid to Ukraine but this time, the weaponry is coming out of the ACTIVE ARSENAL and NOT coming from reserves or excess inventory! The Active Arsenal exists to defend the USA itself.
The US confirmed a new aid package to Ukraine valued at up to $400 million. It comes direct from Department of Defense stocks.
The capabilities in this package include:
1. Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
2. Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
3. Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
8. Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets;
9. Hornet Unmanned Aerial Systems;
10. Hydra-70 aircraft rockets;
11. Tactical air navigation systems;
12. Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing;
13. Over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades;
14. Night vision devices and thermal imagery systems; and,
15. Spare parts, training munitions, and other field equipment.
This latest gift of military aid is now directly impacting the ability of the United States to defend ITSELF.
It’s almost as if someone in government is deliberately doing things to the country to make us vulnerable to invasion!
Smoky Pasta and Bean Soup
Warm up with this hearty soup. Serve with warmed bread sticks and a salad.
68e34c05d98c7e4635fa7ee0ba9b663c pasta dinner recipes recipe pasta
Ingredients
6 slices bacon
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, crushed
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 cups canned white beans, drained
6 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup macaroni or other small paste shape
Fresh Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
Instructions
In a large deep skillet, sauté bacon until some fat is rendered; add onion, celery, carrot, garlic and red pepper to skillet and sauté until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes, cook and stir occasionally for 10 more minutes.
Stir in beans; add broth and bring to a gentle boil. Add macaroni (or other small pasta) and continue cooking until pasta is tender, but still firm, about 15 minutes.
Serve immediately with Parmesan cheese if desired; or cover, refrigerate and reheat gently to serving temperature.
Right now, as of 2023, the “adversaries” against the United States is roughly about 85% of the global population.
The United States is a tiny part of the globe, and getting smaller each day.
So, who is the United States, and it’s allies, that the Mainstream Media like to refer to as “most of the world”…
American proxy nations.
These nations will do what the United States say. The methods of control vary from nation to nation, but they are not independent at all. It is extremely unlikely that these nations would do anything without asking the United States for permission first.
Canada
UK
Minor European states
Japan
American friends.
These are proxy nations that might have the ability to “break away” from the United States if conditions are favorable. Each nation operations under their own unique conditions. Some desire to be United States proxies, but Geo-political realities prevent full engagement, others wish to be more distant, but again, Geo-political realities prevent that as well. These nations are in a sort of limbo, and political expedience results in a default abeyance to American dictates.
Israel
Germany
Poland
France
Switzerland
Sweden
Finland
Neutral
These nations are trying to walk the razor-thin line of neutrality. There are internal elements that are dividing the ruling leadership. The issues involved in these nations are complex. Yet, their actions suggest that they are trying to “play both Geo-political blocks”.
Australia
Philippines
South Korea
The Global South.
These are the current “enemies” of the United States “Western” ideological block.
Some are codified, and formalized, such as Russia. Some are not formally engaged, such as China. Some are considered to be “American easy lays” such as South East Asia, though they are anything but that.
Russia
China
North Korea
Iran
Pakistan
All of the ‘Stan’s
South East Asia
Much of Africa
Brazil
South Africa
Argentina
Much of South America
Neutral but leaning with the Global South
These nations are currently picking sides. Most intel suggest that they are strongly leaning towards the Global South and rejecting the “American way of life”.
Mexico
Most of Latin America
India
Turkey
Bulgera
And that is pretty much the entire world. So, if you look at the list above, you can see the reality of what the world has fractured into.
A “West”; led by the United States. It promotes “American values”, “American democracy”, and woke progressive ideology. They use the USD as the dominant trade currency, and are referred to as the “English speaking world”. (Though that is NOT an accurate statement.) It’s an “American rules” order. It represents 15% of the world
An “East”. Led by the China-Russia-Iran-Saudi Arabia- Brazil-South African nexus. It’s a “multi-polar” order. Organized fundamentally under the UN charter. It is further subdivided into sub-blocks such as G20, BRICS+, and SEO. They use a basket of currencies based on hard tangible resources to trade. And combined, represents 85% of the world.
No.
It is unlikely that the United States can fight the entirety of the rest of the world and win. How likely or unlikely, is dependent on your personal point of view, and the intelligence or “news” that you (personally) consume.
American neocon = Likely that the United States will win, because it is blessed by God.
Typical proxy nation citizen = Tough call. Maybe the United States can persevere.
Global South Citizen = We are constantly underestimated. The United States cannot win.
Road to Bali (1952, Adventure) Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour | Full Movie, Subtitles
Today’s treat. Full movie. Great background movie.
When I lived in Boston (actually Milford, MA), I remember an incident. I was sitting at a red light on the East side of town, and watched this little old man (90+ years) go to his office. He looked like he was on “deaths door”; just a short shabbily dressed old man. He hobbled down the sidewalk to this old store front.
The storefront was dusty. Inside the windows were pile and piles of papers, and the windows looked like they haven’t been scrubbed for decades. He produced a key and went in. Then closed the door behind him, turning the “We’re open!” sign on the old fashioned door.
I remember thinking about this older gentleman. Still running his business (whatever it was) in and out through the years. Insurance? Records? Dry cleaning? Attorney? Who knows. But he continued. It was part of his life.
Perhaps it was his responsibilities, and habits that helped him live into his grand old ages. Perhaps it is the idea of a “retirement” that is actually the death-blow to everyone.
We must provide purpose.
We must maintain responsibilities.
We must provide value to continue…
Bizarre Discoveries Found In Unexpected Places
Can US wage a war with China without suffering huge casualties and huge damage in bases like Guam etc and bases circling China and in carriers, fighter planes, subs, destroyers and space assets which are of utmost important to US in every way?
No they cannot. And the US generals know this and that is why they continually advise the politicians against war with China.
When the Pelosi visit happened, the USA pulled back its two carrier groups further away from Chinese Taiwan coastal waters. Now you know they always travel in protective formation for the sake of the carriers. When the Chinese conducted military drills including live missile firing off Taiwan in protest they landed enough missiles on every single position that the carrier group had been in 8 hours previously To the meter. Every single US ship in that group would have been sunk if that had been a real opening of the war. All of the US fleets in those waters would be lost in a real war. The chances of USA not using nukes as retaliation for this is near zero. That means 5 minutes after US nuke launch the Chines missiles would launch and China would take massive casualties. USA would lose Hawaii Guam Wake All the Japanese bases and most of American mainland cities. (There are only 30 US cities with more than 1 million people, so 30 nukes and they are gone) and most of the 100 US bases on home soil.
I suspect North Korea would take out the South Korean bases and cities and maybe even some Japanese along with Alaska. Im pretty sure China cannot or would not touch the US bases in Europe but they can reach all cities in USA with maybe the exception of Florida. . I guess maybe 100–300 million deaths in China and much the same in USA with the loss of all above ground bases on the mainland and in the Pacific. The generals all know this. The politicians dont, or dont care.
I wonder if Russia would take the opportunity to join in and get rid of their biggest warmongering problem altogether. 7000 nukes can make a mess of NATO and mainland USA if they did.
Carolina Hot Dog Chili
2023 06 17 06 46
Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1 large onion (about 1 cup chopped)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon cider or white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
Instructions
Place the beef, onion and 2 cups of water in a Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat. Bring to the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stir to begin breaking up the meat.
Add the tomato paste, ketchup, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper, if using. Stir well until the tomato paste and ketchup are dissolved and the meat is mostly broken up.
Continue to cook at a simmer, stirring about every 5 minutes, about 15 minutes. As the chili thickens, you may need to reduce the heat to medium-low or low so it doesn’t stick. Refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days, or freeze in small freezer bags for up to 6 months.
Thaw or reheat in a microwave, stirring often.
If you want a finer texture, you can cool the chili at least 20 minutes and process in a blender or food processor for 30 to 45 seconds.
Hongkong media SCMP has tracked the number of US warplanes/warships at China’s door-step.
1,200 times in 2022 ! If this is not deliberate provocation & fight-picking by USA, what is it? Who is aggressive?
The key word here is : DOOR-STEP
Door-step in this article means outside your property line. Not inside.
Let say I walk at your door-step. On the street which is a public area. I have not entered your property line.
I carry something that looks like a rifle to you. Bullet-proof vest & helmet.
I have a track record that I made trouble for other households in the society.
How will you react to my appearance at your door-step if it is daily?
Now …
Let’s replace “I” with “USA”. “my rifle” with “US warplanes/warships”. “me at your door-step” with “USA at the door-step of China”.
Remember I am outside your property line. Same for US warplanes/warships outside China’s borderline according to UNCLOS.
Also, now replace “my daily” with “USA’s 1,200 times”
How will you react to my appearance at your door-step, daily?
If this is not DELIBERATE provocation & picking fights, what is it?
Minding one’s own business?
Assisting in keeping the region free of pirates?
Being there to help ships in distress during storms?
There is police/law to stop my malicious action towards you. If there is not, will you do everything to protect your family?
There is ICC & UN laws eg Non-Innocent Passage as I said in other articles. But ICC is believed to be “controlled” by USA. USA was not charged for war crime in the 2003 Iraq war.
Hence China must protect itself.
Now USA scolds CHINA BEING AGGRESSIVE ???
Only a bully or mafia is that unreasonable.
OK, so now replace “my freedom to walk on public street” with “US freedom of navigation”
Only a bully or mafia will turn the logic upside down & conveniently use Freedom as god.
It is this type of twisted logic that USA justified their action to instigate riots/coups/wars in the world 82 out of 100 times, since WW2. Causing millions of deaths & human suffering.
We must ask :
Why USA instigated riots/wars in Middle East for the past 20 years. OIL.
What about China? Rise of China that, in US words, threatens US status on world stage.
China works hard to better itself & thus achieves a lots. IMF said China contributes 30% of world GDP.
Am I not allowed to get A+ in my exam just because you get F- in yours?
Only sore losers have the type of mentality to contain others.
Search Quora for a question:
What is Innocent Passage under UNCLOS ?
Woman Dies During Stroke; Shown Past Lives & Life’s Purpose During NDE
“If you ignore the lessons, they’ll keep throwing them at you.”
In contrast, the 2010s felt very stagnant, despite the recession at the beginning of the decade, and political movements such as Occupy Wall Street, nationalism and populism in Europe, the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders movements, and the beginning of the Great Awokening.
Looking specifically at years, 2016 was a turning point with the election of Trump, 2017 was somewhat chaotic with political strife between antifa and the alt-right, then both 2018 and 2019 felt very stagnant.
Obviously 2020 was a chaotic year with the pandemic, as well as the BLM riots and acceleration in woke politics and cancel culture, with certain moments feeling apocalyptic. However, with the exception of Jan6th, 2021 was another stagnant year, with covid easing and the peak of the stimulus bubble and market euphoria.
Also in 2021, the right was totally demoralized and cancel culture had become the new normal. There was some return to chaos in 2022, with the onset of inflation and the Ukraine war. While this year has seen a banking crisis, dept default scare, migrant crisis, more political turmoil such as the inditement of Trump, and increased political instability overseas, overall things feel stagnant again, or perhaps a calm before the storm.
Despite recent fear of a debt default, major vulnerabilities in the financial system, higher interest rates, unprecedented levels of debt, sticky inflation, and the worst yield curve inversion in over 30 years, there is still a lot of bullish propaganda.
The bulls’ basis for optimism is a combination of the debt ceiling deal, official unemployment stats still being low, a slight dip in inflation, and hope for a pause in Fed rate hikes.
Not to mention the new cope of an AI boom saving the economy and ushering in a new bull market, which is just creating another bubble in stocks, on top of the existing super bubble.
If anything this just further shows the scope of the debt bubble, and high levels of income inequality.
The current vibes remind me a lot of January’s bullishness before the banking crash, though we will probably see some repeat of cycles of coming close to the imminent crash, followed by more copes of a recovery, before the inevitable big crash.
While bears have been vindicated, looking at the overall trajectory of the economy, there have been times over the past few years, when bears appeared wrong or overshot their predictions about the severity of an impending crisis.
For starters, expecting that covid would cause a depression, which did not anticipate stimulus propping up the economy, at least for the time being.
There was also concern, including from the mainstream media, that the Ukraine war was going to cause a global famine, the worst in modern history, by last fall.
There were also expectations that Europe would have a catastrophic energy crisis last winter, which also did not pan out.
Even Russia limiting oil production did not spike oil prices as high as anticipated. Europe lucked out by having a mild winter, and enough petrol and natural gas saved up in their reserves, and extra help from America, as Biden depleted America’s strategic petrol reserves.
Overall it was a combination of certain supply chain issues getting resolved from the pandemic and war, but also a decline in global demand, and just kicking the can down the road.
In order to have a healthier economy, it is necessary for super bubbles to pop, and a similar case can be made for social and political ills.
Since the pandemic mostly exacerbated the worst trends of the 2010s, such as social atomization, the mental health crisis, the sex recession, income inequality, the establishment consolidating power, cancel culture, cultural decay, and overall cringe, the question is whether a severe economic collapse would clear out societal bullshit or just make these problems worse.
An economic soft landing or stagnation scenario would likely exacerbate the worst existing trends, so I totally get the doomers and accelerationists who cheer on the collapse.
However, dissidents, who are often in despair, or feel that the current system is stacked against them, have this fantasy cope, that when the big collapse occurs, either they or their ingroup will do better or be liberated from systems of oppression, which is incredibly naïve. Dissidents have no institutional power and this doomer mentality is very passive, primarily fulfilling a psychological need. If one’s life and inner psyche is in chaos, one tends to want to see the cold indifferent society around them collapse as well.
Doomers rely upon this fantasy that one external shock to the system, or Black Swan event, will cause the entire system to come crashing down like a house of cards, but the system has shown itself to be much more resilient than that.
California shows that a one party liberal hegemonic system can last much longer than one would think, though it has been sustained by Silicon Valley revenue, and the exodus of the middle class acting as a safety valve for discontent. The financial propagandists who talk of a soft landing are partially correct, in that it is a soft landing or no recession for those at the top.
In fact, America is working great for the people who run it, but not for those with no power and influence.
The incoming severe recession may just mean more urban blight, homeless encampments, increased deaths of despair, and widening income inequality, but not necessarily a collapse of institutional power.
Collapses are often gradual and not overnight, and not necessarily a Mad Max scenario, but rather collapse just means a lower quality of life for most people. This is even true for third world nations that have collapsed, like Sri Lanka, or with the current high levels of inflation in Turkey and Argentina.
“The nightmare is not the “collapse.” The nightmare is that they pull off the End of History, and things just gradually get worse – more crime, more poverty, more degeneracy, fewer services, and a population incapable of anything other than demanding larger doses of the poison,” tweets VDARE’s James Kirkpatrick.
Dissidents rely upon this fantasy of the masses awakening and rebellion, but with lower wages and higher unemployment, there is just greater leverage to those in power and less to the people.
The political elite must factor in that some type of economic crash means that people will be desperate enough to work for little or nothing and give up their freedoms and autonomy.
The question is whether Americans, especially middle class Whites, can psychologically handle the decline and transition to a post-American order?
Federal Reserve Chart of change in Foreign Exchange Reserves
A probable scenario is where the US economy has a quasi-soft landing but at the expense of the rest of the world, by abusing the reserve currency to export inflation abroad.
For instance, nations being forced to play catch up with the Fed’s rate hikes in order to save their currencies.
This will accelerate the migrant crisis and increase resentment against America, with the potential for retaliation against the dollar.
On a similar note, an AI boom could turn the economy around after the recession, perhaps even a period of rapid economic expansion, but would also exacerbate income inequality and gradually erode the value of labor.
While there will likely not be a debt default anytime soon, the main danger now is the Treasury being forced to sell treasury bills and bonds, which would drain liquidity in the financial markets, thus exacerbating the banking crisis, push commercial real estate over the edge, and cause a pension solvency crisis.
Not to mention, exacerbating the financial trap that the Fed is in, where if the Fed pivots or bails out the banks, inflation resurges, but if rates are kept high, there will be a liquidity and debt default crisis.
Whether this will be the financial event that causes the big crash is hard to say.
Overall, the main vulnerability in the economy is the sheer levels of debt, both public and private, in which the response will likely be inflating the dollar to pay off massive debts.
The crash has taken much longer than anticipated, like watching paint dry, and I am done trying to guess when this mega crash will occur.
Generally I take the view that the economic bubble is just being propped up further, and that the inevitable is being delaying, which will lead to a much worse economic crisis.
However, what if this is all part of a successful managed decline, or manufactured stability, which is really depressing and demoralizing.
America is in decline but it is a stretch to say collapse, but rather a long term multidecade process, a slow motion decay, analogous to Rome’s decline as a late stage empire, which took a very long period of time to fall. America has both advantages over other nations and major vulnerabilities.
(Republished from Substack by permission of author or representative)
People are being killed over this – UFO whistleblowers EXPOSE the deep state agenda
US Attempts ’Divide and Conquer’ Strategy Against BRICS
Something extraordinary, at least on the surface, happened on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month – a somewhat pompous affair self-described as “Asia’s premier defense summit”.
Intel heads of 24 nations met in de facto semi-secrecy, because in the end the event was duly leaked (Western spin qualified it as an “informal” meeting).
Among the 24, the real deal comprised the US and all the other Five Eyes, plus representatives of two BRICS members, China and India. All the others were not identified with certainty or preferred to remain anonymous – presumably due to their “hanger on” status.
Crucially, key BRICS member Russia was not represented.
Reuters swore the information about the not-so-secret gathering came from five different – unnamed – sources. A Southeast Asian diplomat independently confirmed the presence of the Five Eyes, China, India and Singapore – and that was it.
The de facto sponsor of the meeting was Singapore’s Ministry of Defense.
Things gets curioser and curioser when we examine the leak a bit closer. So many sources basically corroborating each other point to a concerted spin – practically on an official level. If this was meant to be really secret, as in the past, that would have been the case, with every involved lip conveniently sealed. So why leak it?
Washington’s Divide and Conquer Strategy
Such spy vs. spy meetings, historically, take ages to prepare, especially one involving 24 nations and featuring superpower rivals US and China. That implies countless qualified sherpas redacting documents; very complicated logistics; an ultra-secure environment; and an extremely detailed script covering every intervention.
All of that must have been discussed in excruciating detail for months, side by side with putting together the larger agenda for the Shangri-La Dialogue: and all the while there were no leaks.
And then what was leaked, after the meeting, was just that it happened. With only selected participating players fully identified.
There’s absolutely nothing on substance.
It beggars belief that the Five Eyes would openly discuss Western security fears and/or procedures openly with the Chinese, not to mention the other minor hangers-on. After all the Beijing leadership is fully aware the US-UK is engaged in full hybrid war against China, with the Five Eyes and containment mechanisms such as Quad and AUKUS in tow.
The main reason for the leak is a dead giveaway when we see what US Think Tankland is spinning: the US was talking security with China and India behind Russia’s back.
This is purely wishful thinking – because no one knows anything about the substance of the discussions. The meat of the matter was not leaked on purpose.
The dead giveaway about the leak being engineered to undermine the BRICS – at least in the Western public sphere – would have to come from the usual suspects themselves: US think tanks, inserted in what the indispensable Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst, christened as MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank complex).
The chairman of the Eurasia Group laid it all out in detail: US foreign policy needs essentially to deploy the whole arsenal of Hybrid War techniques to seduce, coerce or subdue 6 so-called “swing states” in the geopolitical arena: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkiye.
It’s no accident three of these are BRICS members (Brazil, India, South Africa) and the other three (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye) are prime candidates to the inevitable expansion, BRICS+, already being discussed and about to get started during the upcoming BRICS summit in August in South Africa.
The American tactics remain predictable: classic Divide and Rule; attempts to undermine BRICS from the inside via P.R. operations and a vast 5th brigade; and if all goes wrong, attempts at color revolution and regime change.
Recently, the tactics miserably failed against both Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, and are also failing in terms of provoking mischief within the key RICs trio (Russia-India-China).
Growing Signs of US Desperation
The leak was, once again, shadow play: an extra layer of fog of war – and related to an ongoing war. It’s quite intriguing the “secret” gambit took place right before the green light from the usual suspects for Kiev to bomb the Kakhovskaya dam, and the de facto start of the spun-to-death Ukrainian “counter offensive.”
To have DNI head Avril Haines and her Beijing counterpart Chen Wixin discussing this on the same table is as far-fetched as it comes.
A more realistic scenario would have China and India on the same table discussing their intractable border issues. But they don’t need to go to Singapore to do that; they do it in the framework of the SCO, of which both are members, with Russia playing a mediator role.
US Think Tankland/MICIMATT spinning, predictably masquerading as political analysis, never reaches beyond the level of guesswork: they assume that China was discussing security with the superpower that really matters – the US – while ditching their comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.
Even without any input on the substance of the meeting, it’s fair to consider all about the leak that points to Ukraine.
The American intel narrative would go something like this: we need an exit strategy, badly, immediately. So let’s get Chinese intel to convince the Russians to freeze the battlefield as it stands – a ceasefire of sorts. Then we can re-weaponize Kiev and have another go at it later on.
Anyone following Russia-China high-level interaction these past few months knows this is – once again – nonsense. Beijing may have its 12-point plan for peace – which Moscow respects. But facts on the ground, imposed by US/NATO hubris, have engineered a major game-changer.
And then there’s the really fundamental question: when and how Russia will decide to cross the Dnepr. Only after that Moscow will be willing to discuss any possible “peace”, and only under its own terms.
At the same time, both Moscow and Beijing are fully aware that the proxy US/NATO war in Ukraine against Russiais a rehearsal inbuilt in the ongoing Chronicle of a War Announced: the real one, up next, against China, with Taiwan as pretext.
To believe that Chinese intel would willingly bend to the whims of the Five Eyes because they feel China is in a precarious geopolitical position does not even qualify as laughable. And yet that’s also inbuilt in US Think Thankland spin.
It’s as laughable as the Beltway narrative, imposed 24/7, of “China threatening war over Taiwan” when it’s the Hegemon that is using Taiwan as a remixed Ukraine, forcing Beijing to lose its Taoist patience.
So in the end what really stands out in this spy vs. spy saga? Not much. Except yet another whiff of Hegemon desperation.
Will China go bankrupt if it is no longer able to sell to the US market?
Nope.
People often think that China is extremely, extremely dependent on manufacturing goods and exporting to other countries.
Actually, China’s services sector is already bigger than its industrial sector. Furthermore, manufacturing is only one of three components in its industrial sector (the other two being construction and mining).
In addition, the biggest market for Chinese goods is actually China itself. Which also happens to be the biggest consumer market in the world.
Finally, it’s worth noting that while the USA is the biggest importer of Chinese goods, what the USA imports is only about the amount purchased by Hong Kong, Japan and Korea each year.
Meanwhile, there are still 120+ other countries that buy more goods from China, than any other country on earth.
To summarise, China doesn’t just manufacture & sell goods for a living. That isn’t even its main thing. Furthermore, while the USA is its biggest customer, the USA is still just one customer, out of MANY customers.
Egypt Shocking Announcement Joining BRICS: What It Means for the World Economics
https://youtu.be/w-92OEYxqMc
Amid U.S. “de-risking” rhetoric, world relies more on China’s exports — SCMP
Amid so-called “de-risking” rhetoric led by the United States, as the world relies more on China’s exports, China is learning to rely more on itself, reported the South China Morning Post. So far, Washington’s actions have little to show for results.
main qimg 2c8d67f932132ec723859435fca7bd2f
According to official U.S. data, the United States’ merchandise trade deficit with China was larger last year than when former President Donald Trump took office, and the overall trade deficit is at a record high.
Moreover, U.S. imports of manufactured goods have not moderated, with import penetration rising to 34 percent from 31 percent in 2017, the article said.
There has been a dramatic decline in China’s importance to U.S. trade, but China’s exports to the world have risen to record highs in recent years.
China has moved on from being largely an assembler of imported components to a manufacturer of sophisticated products, which has made China more self-sufficient.
12 ALIEN CRAFT In US Custody, Intel Confirms; One Source Claims PILOT Found: Michael Shellenberger
Why did Dell publicly announce their decision to move all their production out of China and stop using chips made in China by 2024, leading to a 45.1% fall in sales in that market, when they formerly were one of the top ranking brands in sales?
Ah!!!
Other way round
Dells announcement came after their market share fell in China
It’s simple
Dell doesn’t have a good market in China anymore
It’s sinking by the day
When I visited the previous time, i wentto the malls to see the laptops and saw a lot of Dell, IBM & HP Laptops dominating in every showroom and shop
This time I saw only Realme, Xiaomi, Redmi, Honor (Huawei) laptops selling like hot cakes with only Apple selling at the same demand
Nobody is buying Dell in China anymore
So Dell will move out of China because they lost the huge Chinese market
They have no chance in US except with high level IT infrastructure where IBM dominates the market or laptops where Apple is the king
Like Samsung
Dell will come to India and hope to make India a cornerstone market because Dell is our leading laptop and our Domestic laptops are a big disaster to date
Kenya Drops The U.S. Dollar
Should the US enter into a Cold War with China?
US still mired in a Cold War mindset, but tide is turning
At his long-awaited face-to-face G20 meeting with President Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed that notwithstanding vigorous competition, mutual conflict must be avoided. He cited the need for cooperation in a range of transnational challenges, including climate change, debt relief, health security, and global food security.
According to Chinese press reports, Biden doubled down on earlier pledges of nonconfrontation to encompass “five no’s” and “four no-intents” — no seeking of regime change; no new Cold War; no ganging up against China; no support for “Taiwan independence”; no support for “two Chinas”; no intention of conflict with China; no intention to decouple from China; no intention to hinder China’s economic development; and no intention to contain China.
However, these nine specific pledges do NOT appear in the relevant Washington readout. Rhetoric and diplomatic niceties aside, anti-China hype, postures and measures are likely to persist, fueled by strong bipartisan consensus of a systemic “China threat” echoed by a “hegemonic coalition” of America’s closest Western allies.
I experienced this continuing anti-China blowback firsthand as a sponsored speaker during a recent international conference, From Crises to Crises: Towards a New World Order — MEDays 2022 — held in Tangier, Morocco, from Nov 2-5. My three American co-panelists, all senior foreign policy advisers across the aisle, seemed to sing from the same robust anti-China hymn book.
I commenced by saying that I didn’t see how constantly antagonizing a targeted adversary can be regarded as a strategy.
I pointed out that all decoupling, sanctions, tariffs, denial of key technology access, and corralling Western allies to suppress China do not seem to have yielded meaningful outcomes.
With Ukraine-war disruptions and a faltering global economy, they have backfired on the United States (and the rest of the world), necessitating unprecedented serial interest-rate hikes to curb rising inflation.
With the possible exception of some of America’s closest allies in the so-called Five Eyes alliance, many countries do not wish to be forced to take sides, as China has become the largest trading partner to 128 out of 190 nations across the globe.
China’s centrality to the global supply and value chain is particularly prominent in the world’s largest trading bloc (accounting for one-third of the global economy and one-third of the world’s population), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which comprises the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as their principal trading partners — Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore.
I also pointed out that the Chinese government, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, has been successfully winning the highest support and trust of the vast majority of the Chinese people, multiple rankings above many other Western democracies, including the US, according to the most recent comparative studies conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center and the Edelman Trust Barometer.
Although I didn’t have the time to go into the details, the Edelman findings show that China is the biggest people’s trust winner in this year’s survey, thanks to the decisive action taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic within the nation and a rising pride in China’s global gravitas despite escalating US tensions.
I contrasted the legitimacy between China’s CPC-led system and Western adversarial democracies. The all-time CPC imperative is to bring about much better lives for people across the whole nation, while adversarial democracies tend to focus on vested interests and voters supporting the winning political party in every election cycle.
As for alleged “technology theft”, I mentioned the example of China’s success in building its own space station from scratch. China had also succeeded in landing a robotic probe at the back of the moon ahead of all other nations.
I said that despite substantial advancement, China has neither the intention nor the full military, financial and monetary capability to supplant the US as a world hegemon.
As is clear from the CPC’s 20th National Congress, what China is seeking is to realize the “China Dream” of national renaissance by 2049 — the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China — to reestablish China’s historic place in the sun, so to speak.
I admitted there have been substantial US-China disagreements and concerns. But building a bridge with a multitrack dialogue would be more productive than constructing fences and barriers.
How China responds to what President Xi calls a world “crossroads” amid “momentous changes unseen in a century” is embedded in his speeches at the 17th G20 summit in Bali (Nov 15-16) and at the APEC CEO summit in Bangkok (Nov 17), as well as in Premier Li Keqiang’s speech at the 25th China-ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh (Nov 11).
Xi outlined a clear vision for an “Asia-Pacific community with a shared future”. The region is “no one’s backyard”, nor should it become “an arena for big power contest”. It should embrace “openness and inclusiveness”, guided by “diversity and nondiscrimination”, enabling “win-win cooperation” and “regional economic integration” free from any supply-chain disruption or dismantling.
Rejecting a “Cold War mentality” and “bloc confrontation”, Xi puts forth the idea of “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” in a “Global Security Initiative” based on the United Nations Charter.
Specifically, Xi proposes building a “free trade area of the Asia-Pacific”, including reform of the World Trade Organization, better alignment among the RCEP, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement,
For the world at large, Xi stresses that “drawing ideological lines or promoting group politics and bloc confrontation will only divide the world, and hinder global development and human progress”. He espouses a Global Development Initiative, under which more than 60 countries have joined a GDI Group of Friends.
China has established the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, and will increase its funding for the China-UN Peace and Development Fund, in furtherance of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Xi refers to China’s submission of 15 projects to the G20 Action for Strong and Inclusive Recovery, working with G20 members on delivery.
Opposing the politicization of food and energy issues, the president points to China’s joint Initiative of International Cooperation on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains, the Global Clean Energy Cooperation Partnership, and the International Cooperation Initiative on Global Food Security in the G20.
It’s clear that under President Xi’s leadership, China is proactive in taking on a much larger role to help build a better world in a “community of common destiny”, bound together by global challenges like climate change, pandemics, food and water security, terrorism and development bottlenecks. This should be welcome.
The pivotal question is whether the US, as the world’s leading superpower, can rise beyond “American exceptionalism” and a zero-sum, “win-lose” mindset.
For decades, the CPC has been consistently misunderstood, misjudged and misrepresented, if not thoroughly demonized, by the West, including some of the most respected authors, broadsheets, think tanks, journals and other media outlets.
The so-called “China threat” is reaching a crescendo, portraying the US-China rivalry as a “life-or-death” contest between “democracy and autocracy”. This can be seen in tomes like The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower (2015), The Return of Great Power Rivalry (2020), and Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China (2022). According to the Washington-based Pew Research Center, unfavorable views on China are reaching historic highs in many countries.
Rhetoric aside, Biden’s assurances at his three-hour-long meeting with Xi in Bali focused on guardrails rather than blue-sky thinking. The upcoming 2024 US presidential election and the election for Taiwan’s leader are also likely to politicize issues prone to upsetting the apple cart, though not necessarily resulting in war. I’m, therefore, not overoptimistic about a lasting breakthrough in US-China relations.
However, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development calculations, developing countries will account for nearly 60 percent of the world’s GDP on a purchasing-power parity basis by 2030. More are becoming confident enough to exert their national interests, individually or collectively, in defiance of hegemonic strong-arm tactics. OPEC’s recent refusal to expand oil production on the US’ say-so is a case in point. More are likely to have China as the largest trading partner and to welcome a more-inclusive world order not drawn on ideological lines, as espoused by Xi.
As the pandemic recedes and as its economy resumes running on all cylinders, China is likely to be on track to become the world’s largest economy in nominal terms, perhaps by the early 2030s, and a strong, more-advanced socialist economy by 2035 as planned, thanks to rising productivity (despite worsening demographics) driven by robotics and a digitized economy, technological innovation, high-speed-rail-connected supercharged urbanization, and a rapidly expanded middle class of some 800 million by 2035.
If China could manage to bust the West’s allegations concerning trade, intellectual property and human rights “transgressions”, Xi’s panoply of concrete ideas, initiatives and proposals for a global community of common destiny are likely to gain faster traction and momentum, regaining for China its rightful place in the sun as the “China Dream” of national renaissance is eventually realized.
China Will Protect Taiwan “At ANY Costs”
https://youtu.be/9tzlT0VPwpE
On The Failure Of The Ukrainian Counterattack
On June 4/5 the Ukrainian military launched its long announced counteroffensive in southeast Ukraine. Ten days later there is no significant progress.
[General Petreus] spoke about the situation in Ukraine to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.On the counteroffensive, he said:
I think that this counteroffensive is going to be very impressive.
My sense is that they will achieve combined arms effects in other words, they will successfully carry out combined arms operations where you have engineers that are breaching the obstacles and diffusing the minefields and so forth; armour following right on through protected by infantry against anti-tank missiles; air defence keeping the Russians aircraft off them; electronic warfare jamming their radio networks; logistics right up behind them; artillery and mortars right out in front of them.
And most important of all … is that as the lead elements inevitably culminate after 72-96 hours, physically that’s about as far as you can go, and they’ll have taken losses … you have follow-on units that will push right on through and capitalise on the progress and maintain the momentum and I think that can get the entire Russian defence in that area moving, then I think you have other opportunities that will open up on the flanks as well.
Back in reality the lead elements of the Ukrainian attack got slaughtered. They ‘culminated’, i.e. lost their ability for further attacks, in less than a day:
The men of Ukraine’s 37th Brigade were freshly trained and armed with Western-supplied weapons, tasked with an initial push through Russian-occupied territory in the early days of a long-awaited counteroffensive.They would pay a heavy price.
Within 20 minutes of their June 5 advance south of Velyka Novosilka, in the southeast Donetsk region, mortars exploded all around them, soldiers said. A 30-year-old soldier known as Lumberjack saw two of the men in his vehicle bleeding heavily; one lost an arm as he cried out for his family. Lumberjack crawled into a crater, but the shrapnel from a mortar went through the soil and pierced his shoulder.
“We were left there in the field, without tanks or heavy armor,” said Lumberjack, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition that he be identified only by his call sign because he was not authorized to discuss the battle. “We were shelled with mortars from three sides. We couldn’t do anything.”
There were fewer than 50 men in the unit, he said, and 30 did not return — they were killed, wounded or captured by the enemy. Five of the unit’s armored vehicles were destroyed within the first hour.
Whoever trained those units made grave mistakes:
For the first hour and a half of the 37th’s assault near Velyka Novosilka, the Russians bombarded the unit with nonstop shelling that penetrated their AMX-10 RC armored vehicles, according to Grey, another soldier in the battalion who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his call sign. The armored vehicles, sometimes called “light tanks,” were not heavy enough to protect the soldiers, Grey said, and had to be positioned behind them instead of in front.
The AMX-10 isn’t a tank and can not be used as one. It is a wheeled light reconnaissance vehicle built by France 50 years ago to dominate insurgents in its former African colonies. One of its main features is to have a good speed when in reverse gear. This to bail out as soon as serious counter forces are detected.
The Ukrainian counterattack is now stuck in the Russian defense security zone, miles away from the real defense lines. This was predictable.
When the defense is established before contact with the enemy, the Soviets establish a security echelon up to 15 kilometers forward of the main defensive area. The elements which make up the security echelon come from the division’s second echelon. A security force of up to battalion size may be deployed in front of each first echelon regiment.A detailed and coordinated fire plan is developed. Weapons are positioned so that the maximum amount of fire can be brought to bear directly in front of the [Forward Edge of the Battle Area]. Enemy penetrations are blunted by shifting artillery fire and by conducting counterattacks.
fm100
biggerThe Ukrainian army used at least four brigades for its attack. At least two of those were from the 12 brigade reserve that had been built up for the counterattack. With losses of some 30% those involved were seriously mauled for little to no gain:
The Russians are trying to inflict as many casualties and destroy as many vehicles as possible in a battle zone ahead of the main defensive line, depleting Ukrainian forces before they reach it. In effect, it turns the area in front of the main defense line into a kill zone.
…
If the Russian strategy proves effective, Ukraine could lose too many of its newly trained troops — which number in the tens of thousands — and too many tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to breach the main line.Even if they get that far, the forces might be too weakened to stream south and help accomplish a major objective: severing the so-called land bridge that connects Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. This would be done by reaching the Sea of Azov, about 60 miles away.
The Ukrainian forces were obviously not trained for this. They also attacked in too many places. The map at the top shows attack arrows in 7 places and four main directions. One or two attack directions, with more concentrated forces, might have created better results.
The Russian President Putin recently described the Ukrainian casualties:
I will not give the number of personnel losses. I will let the Defence Ministry do it after it runs the numbers, but the structure of losses is unfavourable for them as well. What I mean to say is that of all personnel losses – and they are approaching a number that can be called catastrophic – the structure of these losses is unfavourable for them. Because as we know, losses can be sanitary or irretrievable. Usually, I am afraid I may be off a little, but irretrievable losses are around 25 percent, maximum 30 percent while their losses are almost 50/50. This is my first point.Second, if we look at irretrievable losses, clearly, the defending side suffers fewer losses, but this ratio of 1 to 10 is in our favour. Our losses are one-tenth of the losses of the Ukrainian forces.
Since the start of the counterattack the Russian daily report has listed a total of some 10,500 Ukrainian casualties.
A second large attempt to cross the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA) with the remaining Ukrainian forces is expected, but is unlikely to have a better outcome. The long promoted Ukrainian counterattack is likely to end with high Ukrainian losses and no gains.
As he heads into next year’s reelection campaign, Biden needs a major battlefield victory to show that his unqualified support for Ukraine has burnished U.S. global leadership, reinvigorated a strong foreign policy with bipartisan support and demonstrated the prudent use of American military strength abroad.
…
A muddled outcome of limited gains in Ukraine would provide grist for all of those critiques and further cloud the already murky waters of NATO and European Union debate over future posture toward both Ukraine and Russia. A less than “overwhelming” success would probably also increase pressure in the West to push Kyiv to negotiate a territorial settlement that may not be to its liking.
There is little the Biden administration can do to change the grim picture. Congress will likely prevent it from openly using the U.S. military in Ukraine. The European NATO allies have now seen what the Russian army can do to its enemies. They will not be eager to see the same done to their own troops.
That leaves negotiations as the only way out.
The question for Russia is when and with whom. Talks with only Ukraine, a mere U.S. proxy with no real say, would be insufficient. It is the U.S. government that must agree to a new security architecture in Europe. The Russian conditions for peace will be harsh and it will still take a lot of time, and many dead Ukrainians, until the U.S. agrees to them.
Posted by b on June 16, 2023 at 14:47 UTC | Permalink
Chinese says 24 hypersonic anti-ship missile will sink #USSGeraldRFord carrier fleet
What are some of the reasons why China would never start a full-scale military conflict with the United States, even though they have a military advantage over us?
There are many reasons.
[1] China is a peaceful nation. It considers war to be the absolute result of failure to resolve differences. And, China, being a merit driven nation, avoid failure at all costs.
[2] China has no need to fight the United States. There is nothing the United States has that China wants. This aspect of reality is at odds with the American narrative, but seriously trade with the United States is trivial, and what ever technologies that remain in the United States is not exclusive. China has “work-arounds”. The idea that “China would collapse without the United States” is a trope that feeds a proportion of the most ignorant of Americans.
[3] China is doing quite well right now. There is no need to change the status quo one way or the other. China is content to leave things stay as they are.
Of course, these reasons are pretty basic.
There is ONE REASON why China actually WOULD start a full-scale military conflict with the United States. This is the one and only reason. That is if China is attacked.
To avoid being attacked, China has clearly explained to the United States what an attack entails. That way there is no ambiguity. China might be many things, but when it need to be blunt, it spells out its position clearly.
For those who cannot read Chinese, or cannot find the English versions, here is a quick summary…
Shooting, attacking, killing, wounding or harming China or the Chinese people.
I know, I know, that American neocons like Tom Cotton, and Mike Pompeo believe that this is a trivial and silly reason, and that China “would never” respond to an American attack with military force. But, aside from those ideological fanatics, China is quite clear that bombing Taiwan, shooting at Chinese vessels or planes (as of this writing) would result in catastrophic war.
China has also created clear “trip wires” that would automatically trigger a military action. These “trip wires” are often called “red lines”, and they function as a clear delineation of action for the PLA forces.
Supporting or assisting anti-Chinese terrorist and separatist actions.
Placement of offensive weapons inside of Taiwan.
Invading Chinese air space, land or operational regions.
Overall, the Chinese “trip wires” are identical to American versions. And for the longest time, a calm status quo has been maintained, but the 2022 collapse of the American society, and the raging incompetence of the American government has created a domestic need to acquire a scapegoat, and that has become China.
We can hope that the United States focuses inward on the multitude of domestic problems that are symptomatic of the ruins of American society, but my personal opinion is that it will take decades, and a major restructuring of the very structure of the United States government.
Meanwhile, China will continue to avoid conflict to the point whereas it must engage the United States militarily. And then, when this sad failure in diplomacy occurs, China will go VERY, VERY HOT militarily.
ONE FINAL NOTE
China has already ascertained that China and the United States are in a war. As such, China has already developed a Casus Belli in support of it. China has already made the necessary arrangements and have coordinated with Russia as well as numerous other nations) on how to prosecute this campaign.
Therefore, you can expect the United States to continue to “ratchet up the thermostat” as a prelude to war, but do not misunderstand.
China has already determined the time, the methodology, and the rules, and the mechanism in regards to this conflict. China will continue to ignore the insults and provocations until it is the proper time to enact and conduct war on its terms.
She wants YOU to pay for her extra airline seats
If China succeeds reversing their birth rate decline, will other countries follow suit and enact policies similar to China’s?
The problem with this line of thinking is 99 out of 100 countries won’t be able to follow in China’s footsteps.
China banned after-school tutoring overnight to equalize the playing field. Can other countries do it?
China eradicated extreme poverty by sending officials to the poorest villages to fight poverty on the finest granular level. In the final decade, more than 3 million officials were dispatched, with more than 1,800 cadres sacrificing their lives due to the difficult conditions. Can other countries afford that kind of extreme commitment?
China built 40,000km of HSR in 15 years, enough to circumnavigate the earth. That’s more high speed rail than the rest of the world managed in the last 60 years. Can other countries catch up with China’s rocket speed?
China, the second largest economy, handles 300m containers with a network of automated ports served ably by excellent road and rail. The United States, with a far longer coastline and access to two oceans, struggles with 50m. Can other countries play the Chinese shipping game?
Don’t try to emulate China. That is a road paved with tears and disappointment.
Southern Chili
southern homemade chili 3
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground meat
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cans tomato paste
2 tomato paste cans water
1 (No. 2) can tomato juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cans chili beans, drained
Instructions
Brown meat with onion, garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper and chili powder.
Combine remaining salt and pepper with remaining ingredients except beans; add to meat mixture. Bring to a boil; simmer for 2 hours.
Add beans during final 15 minutes of cooking.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Young Girl Dies In Crash; Shown Afterlife And The Importance Of Thoughts (NDE)
One thing that I do enjoy is the smell of pine. I used to live in Hattiesburg Mississippi and the pine forests were huge. During the Spring, if you were not careful, you would get one heck of an allergy attack, though. But pines are nice, and dare I say it, magical.
Of course, being a PA boy, I like hard-woods, but pines are easy to walk through and magical on snowy nights. It’s an exercise in white and black. Quite and experience. You all should try it some time. If you live in the Northern climes, please take the time to make your nights during Winter magical.
Take care everyone.
Todays…
Why is Bill Gates visiting China now?
Simple we’re meeting the real leaders of the USA.
What you thought your votes meant anything? The USA is a corporate dystopia owned and run for the mega corporations.
The president the government are simply going through the motions and most people can’t see through it.
China supports Palestinian people’s just cause of restoring legitimate national rights — Chinese FM
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki in Beijing on Tuesday.
main qimg fc2988c6988a5fb45c801ac469cafc0b
Al-Maliki is accompanying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on his state visit to China from June 13 to 16.
President Abbas is the first Arab head of state to be hosted by China this year, which speaks volumes about the special friendship between the two countries and China’s support for the just cause of Palestine, Qin said.
He said he believes the two heads of state will plan the future development of bilateral relations and advance the traditional friendship to a higher level.
China has always firmly supported the Palestinian people’s just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights and will continue to support peace talks between Palestine and Israel and contribute wisdom to resolving the Palestinian question, Qin said.
Al-Maliki said China is a trustworthy, reliable friend, and Palestine appreciates the proposals pushed forward by China’s head of state for resolving the Palestinian question.
He added Palestine follows the one-China policy and will continue to support China on issues concerning China’s core interests.
10 REAL Cases Of Time Travel That Cannot Be Explained
Interesting, but don’t get too caught up on this kind of stuff. Who knows how valid any of this is. All I know is that time is our own PERSONAL experience record. Time travel isn’t really something that can exist, but rather a hopping or jumping upon the template.
POLAND SAYS BORDER TROOPS “FIRED UPON FROM BELARUS”
The government of Poland has just issued a statement claiming its Border Guards were “fired upon from the territory of Belarus.”
No further details have been released at this hour, 5:28 PM EDT. Check back for Updates.
What were wills that you do not see every day?
In June 1948, farmer Cecil George Harris accidentally put his tractor in reverse.
The tractor overturned, trapping Harris’ left leg under the rear wheel.
His wife didn’t find him until 10:30 that night, and he died at the hospital.
When neighbors investigated the accident scene days later, they found that Harris had carved an inscription into the tractor’s fender with his work knife.
main qimg 626b50d4768ccc251cecc8e8ae0d6633 lq
It read:
In case I die in this mess, I leave everything to my wife. Cecil Geo Harris.
The courts ruled that this was a valid will.
The fender was kept in the Kerrobert courthouse until 1996.
Today it and the knife are on display at the University of Saskatchewan Law Library.
This story reminds me of a Tuscan friend of mine who overturned his tractor and died.
Working a field with a tractor in mountains and hills is very difficult and dangerous, even though it looks easy to us who are just watching.
Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 1/2 hours. Or bake in two greased and floured loaf pans for about 1 hour.
What is your opinion on the U.S.’s strategy to outcompete China?
It’s a pretty useless strategy. It’s failing badly.
It’s based on dirty tricks, typical Tonya Harding-style tactics.
The USA has no hope of restoring the semiconductor industry, nor general manufacturing, in the country. Labour is too expensive. The populace is too far behind in education. The populace is too fat and lazy. The population is shrinking, and for a population that is already a quarter the size of China’s, that’s a real problem.
The Amazing United States
President Biden – United States will build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean * this is something that even China cannot do Watch: * unable to compete with China, the Americans have turned “mental”
2023 06 16 06 07
He Spent a Year in 3906 | This is what Paul Amadeus Dienach saw
This is very interesting.
The entire diary has been transcribed in a book titled “Chronicles from the Future”. There is all sorts of names, histories, places and stories worthy of review in the book. This you-tube video is simply just an overview. I am providing the full PDF of that book HERE for your reading pleasure.
A change in Mindset
The USA’s technology base is still the best in the world. Is that so, Mr. Zakaria?
According to a recent ASPI report, China leads the world in 37 out of 44 technological fields.
China has the finest infrastructure engineering in the world. That’s why it has spectacular bridges, high-speed rail, airports, seaports, dams, etc.
China is the world’s leader in green energy production, EV and battery production, thorium molten salt reactors, etc.
China has a spanking brand new space station, while the ISS is suffering leaks and is due to be decommissioned by 2030 with no replacement in sight.
China is the first and only nation to land on the far side of the moon.
China leads the world in 5G and 6G.
Despite US tech sanctions, China is rapidly creating its own semiconductor manufacturing chain with a number of major breakthroughs.
The USA is trying to spread good values? Perhaps that’s so but at what cost?
Over the past seven decades the USA has fought many dozens of wars and caused massive death and destruction everywhere (by some estimates, millions of civilian deaths). Is this worth the good values America is spreading? Please answer me, Mr. Zakaria.
Let’s be honest, the USA has no moral legitimacy.
The bad relation between Australia and China was Australia’s doing, sticking its nose into China’s domestic affairs.
India and China have had a long-standing border dispute. This can hardly be Xi Jinping’s fault. There’ve been border clashes for decades.
Vietnam and China still have positive economic relations, so I don’t know what Mr. Zakaria is talking about. Ditto for South Korea and China.
Moreover, China has vastly improved its relations with nearly every country in the Global South, including in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. What about BRICS, RCEP and SCO?
By contrast, the USA’s diplomatic relations around the world have fared far worse. US sanctions have driven a wedge between them. The USA alienated Saudi Arabia, esp. with the Khashoggi affair. When the USA went to Saudi Arabia pleading for increased oil production, Saudi Arabia dismissed them and did the exact opposite — cut oil production! Most of the world is massively de-dollarizing.
Why did China decide not to talk to the Americans? Consider this: for years, the USA has been demonizing China, sanctioning China, antagonizing China in Chinese waters, interfering in Taiwan, saying one thing and doing the exact opposite, and generally being a pain in the ass. Is it any wonder China is sick and tired of this crap?
The USA has proven itself to be duplicitous and dishonest. Is this a foundation for dialogue? Please answer me, Mr. Zakaria.
The USA needs to show China that it is willing to deal with China sincerely and consistently.
The choice between the US technology bloc and the Chinese technology bloc comes down to what each bloc has to offer. The US bloc offers military and security promises. The Chinese bloc offers peaceful economic promises.
If you have the mindset that says the world is after you and all is not safe, then the US bloc is the natural choice.
If you have the mindset that says the world can be peaceful through cooperation and common prosperity, then the Chinese bloc is the natural choice.
What is your mindset?
The United States returns to Africa BIG TIME
This is how the United States will counter China in Africa
AND ensure that America will reigned supreme into the next millennium
Watch speech by President Biden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zACN35LNO5Q
that is one incoherent incomprehensible mumbo jumbo
Israel confirms it will give Ukraine 200 Merkerva Tanks.
Stabbed Russia right in the back.
7 Mind Bending TRUE Time Travel
What is a meal you cannot recreate, even if you tried?
When I was a kid, we rented a house in the country. We had access to wonderful locally produced food. Our landlord had two Guernsey cows as well as chickens. We bought from him amazing whole milk with a very high butterfat content. The milk was not homogenized. The eggs were from free range hens. My mother grew vegetables and berries in a large garden. It was apple country so apples were very reasonable. My aunt canned vegetables and pears from her garden and kept a few hens. The meals I ate could not be duplicated since many of the heirloom fruits and vegetables are no longer available. The number of free range Guernsey cows is quite low in the US (which has mostly Holsteins). Modern homes tend to treat hard water but we drank the pure well water.
Many of the meals my mother cooked could not be duplicated but I will use the example of breakfast. I drank a large glass of whole milk (from a cow I was fond of). The toast was made from my mother’s home made bread. The bread was made using unbleached flour and water from the well which was in a limestone aquifer. The butter was locally made. The jam was jarred by my aunt. The eggs came the from chickens we saw every day behind our house. My mother squeezed the orange juice herself. We did not have bacon often but when we did it was locally sourced. We even had country style entertainment at breakfast – just before we ate, my mother would feed the wild birds at the stone porch ledge outside our kitchen window. We always had a wide variety of birds to watch while we ate.
We ate high calorie meals but we were very active. The local farmers lived to ripe old ages and could heft big feed bags even when elderly.
I was very fond of foraging in my mother’s garden and ate a lot of vegetables right in the garden. I would go into the fields and eat sun warmed berries. We gathered our own beechnuts and hazelnuts.
My mother and aunt were both excellent cooks who rarely bought premade food.
UH OH! BANKS IN AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCE WITHDRAWAL LIMITS
From August 20th 2023 Westpac Bank Australia customers will be prohibited from withdrawing more than $1000 from their accounts per day.
Other Banks will follow.
Access to your own cash . . . . SEVERELY LIMITED.
Still think Banking troubles are about a computer Virus?
Then, there’s THIS:
One needs only wonder why, if Australian Banks are owned mostly by U.S. financial firms, the people of Australia will be limited to their own money? Since it is U.S. Firms that __seem__ to be affecting withdrawal limits in Australia, then wouldn’t it be logical to believe they might try the same thing here in the US or over in Europe?
Forewarned is forearmed. Act accordingly.
Australia Approves Mandatory (Bill Gates) mRNA Vaccines for ALL Agriculture
Australia has announced plans to inject Bill Gates’ mRNA vaccines into all livestock destined for people’s dinner plates.
According to reports, the Australian government plans to make the vaccine rollout mandatory for all animals, regardless of whether cattle farmers agree or not.
On May 2, 2023, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) announced funding for a project to ‘test mRNA vaccines that can be rapidly mass-produced in Australia in the event of a lumpy skin disease or other exotic disease outbreak’.
The Manager for Animal Wellbeing, released a statement declaring:
‘This project will develop a mRNA vaccine pipeline initially for LSD, but potentially for other emergency diseases. This will enable capacity for rapid mass production of a vaccine for LSD in the event of an outbreak. No LSD vaccines are registered for use in Australia yet. While some vaccines exist overseas, the path to registration in Australia for traditionally-produced [vaccines] is longer than that of an mRNA vaccine.’
Spectator.com.au reports: Why are traditional vaccines, which have safety records that outstrip mRNA vaccines, subject to longer approval periods than mRNA vaccines? That sounds like a significant structural failure within Australia’s health body that, instead of being fixed, has the potential to be exploited by manufacturers looking to cash in on mRNA.
mRNA vaccines are quick to produce and ‘nimble’, which is why pharmaceutical companies like them – but that doesn’t mean that they are safe, effective, or suitable for consumers whether those are humans or livestock.
A 2022 article in PubMed Central notes: ‘Recently, the successful application of mRNA vaccines against Covid has further validated the platform and opened the floodgates to mRNA vaccine’s potential in infectious disease prevention, especially in the veterinary field.’
Do you feel mRNA has been ‘validated’ over the last three years?
No doubt this is why we keep hearing bleatings of ‘emergency’ and ‘outbreak’ in the same breath as mRNA, as if to remind us of the mantra used during the Covid era to embark on what the former Health Minister referred to as the ‘largest clinical trial – the largest global vaccine trial ever’. Look how that turned out.
The fall-out of Covid mRNA vaccines is likely to continue for the best part of a century as a percentage of vaccinated individuals ‘die suddenly’ or suffer from long-term debilitating illnesses. These are quickly becoming a burden for the health industry and state finances after vaccine manufacturers hand-waved responsibility because it was an ‘emergency’. Most nations are setting up compensation pools of cash to cope with the growing list of individuals who claim to have been harmed.
Another excuse used to feather the nest of mRNA vaccines is that they are thought to provide the solution for influenza-style viruses which traditional vaccines have proven ineffective against. Everyone wants to see an effective vaccine against respiratory viruses, but it’s almost as if the doe-eyed vaccine industry has put on a blindfold for the last three years. mRNA Covid vaccines did next to nothing to combat or control the influenza-style Covid and do not, based on what we have seen, offer any advantage to traditional vaccines for this problem beyond the feel-good marketing headlines. There is a strong argument that for the majority of the population, they did more harm than good.
Instead of suspending all mRNA vaccines until we understand what went wrong, they are being given priority treatment by regulators and championed by manufacturers who love the competitive edge of speed their production offers. Governments, particularly the (broke?) Victorian state government, are funneling tens of millions into mRNA development to keep capitaliZing on the political popularity they enjoyed during the Covid era.
MLA note that mRNA vaccines should be ready for use within two years and while everyone is busy stressing that this will be a ‘voluntary’ option for the farming community, vaccines inside the agricultural industry rarely are if a producer wishes to sell their product into domestic and international markets. If we go down the mRNA vaccine production line, it is extremely likely that Australians will be eating mRNA-vaccinated livestock within a couple of years with very little understanding of what this will mean health-wise.
Anyone who criticiZes mRNA vaccines or their potential future within the agricultural industry are paraded through the press as ‘conspiracy theorists’ with publications quick to send out the fact-checkers to insist that it’s pure fear-mongering to suggest fragments of these vaccines will end up in the food chain.
Except, it was a ‘conspiracy theory’ to suggest that the human body would continue making Covid mRNA vaccines long after the injection, or to raise concerns that it would leave the site of the injection. Not only did the fears described as ‘conspiracy’ prove to be true, the behavior and side effects of Covid mRNA vaccines are reaching well beyond what anyone predicted.
How sure are we that in the rush to saturate the market with mRNA vaccines, that proper long-term testing will be conducted, particularly when it comes to lingering in meat and milk? Will it impact high-risk activities such as calving, given there is a strong suspicion that Covid vaccines are responsible for a spike in human miscarriages?
Keep in mind that we are still being told Covid vaccines are ‘safe and effective’. The Australian government, sitting on a pile of unwanted vaccines, is spending public money on marketing campaigns, encouraging Australians to go and get their booster shots at the same time other countries have removed Covid vaccines.
At least some States in the US are taking note, rushing to pass legislation to ban the use of mRNA vaccines for animals involved in the food industry whose meat or milk is produced for human consumption. Idaho is one example where it will be a misdemeanor to use mRNA vaccines – and that includes the Covid vaccines.
Australians need to be aware that mRNA vaccines are coming for the agricultural industry and they will likely be compulsory. America is having a serious conversation about whether this should be allowed, and Australia needs to do the same thing. It is perfectly reasonable to require extensive long-term safety data before we revolutioniZe agriculture.
This conversation will not happen on its own. Australia’s agricultural elite resemble a body of yes-men nodding furiously toward mRNA. Family farmers – disempowered, constrained, and demoraliZed – have no voice in this matter. Their wishes will be bulldozed by a small collection of billion-dollar farming entities, several of which are foreign-owned.
If Australians care about what they eat, it’s time to start making a racket. As for those of us in American and in Europe, it might be wise to STOP BUYING ALL AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS/MEATS, IMMEDIATELY.
Process peach mixture in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.
Stir together evaporated milk and pudding mix in a large bowl; stir in peach puree, sweetened condensed milk and Half-and-Half.
Pour mixture into freezer container of a 4 quart hand-turned or electric freezer; freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Spoon into an airtight container, and freeze until firm.
Chinese FM holds phone talks with U.S. secretary of state on June 14. What did they talk about? What does this mean?
Let us compare their focus, shall we?
Qin: USA knows well who causes the difficult relationship between China & USA. Taiwan is China’s core among all core interests.
Blinken: USA & China must meet. (No main points)
Western media kept telling us that Blinken is going to China. Even has a date June 18.
But China maintains not to talk just for the sake of talking when USA never follows thru what it “promised” in meetings. It is a waste of time to talk empty.
This time US media said Blinken may meet 3 Chinese officials eg Qin Gang, Wang Yi & possibly Xi Jinping. (wow, Xi Jinping??? Right away we know it is exaggeration)
Like the Chinese “spy” balloon sage at the last minute of Blinken’s Chinese trip to China, this time there is suddenly a Chinese spy base in Cuba. Looks like USA is, again, preparing to say Blinken cancels the Chinese trip because of a spy base in Cuba.
Really, USA should learn that giving China pressure by fabricating a story wont get China to submit & meet US officials.
Treat China as a equal partner to USA. No more suppression. No more sanctions. No more LIES.
Today’s China is strong enough not to endure US “supremacy” any more.
Former NATO Chief Admits “We Decided Back in 2008, Ukraine WILL Become Member of NATO”
World Hal Turner 15 June 2023 Hits: 7447
Former NATO Chief Admits “We Decided Back in 2008, Ukraine WILL Become Member of NATO”
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Folks who think the Russia-Ukraine conflict began on February 24, 2022 may be surprised to learn it’s been brewing since 2008. Former NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen admits in video below “We decided back in 2008, Ukraine WILL become a member of NATO.”
That decision caused today’s troubles.
In the video below, released by “Alliance of Democracies” which was founded by the former NATO Chief, Rasmussen speaks about the present Russia-Ukraine conflict and how NATO is trying to find a way to admit Ukraine even though it is presently at conflict with Russia!
Rasmussen points to the possibility that the US and NATO might give certain “Security Guarantees” to Ukraine BEFORE it is admitted to NATO. The Interviewer asks Rasmussen if such Security Guarantees might be worded similar to those between the US and Israel, and Rasmussen makes a STUNNING admission:
We don’t have to use that wording we can use the wording from 2008. “We decided in 2008 Ukraine WILL be admitted to NATO.”
At approximately 1m 57s into the video below, he makes that statement. Watch for yourself:
This is a stunning fact. This was not previously publicized, anywhere.
What this means is that the present troubles between Russia-Ukraine/NATO/US all began with that decision back in the year 2008.
From that decision, the US/NATO and the collective West, did what they thought necessary to lay the foundations TO DO EXACTLY WHAT THEY PROMISED RUSSIA THEY WOULD NOT DO.
Back in 1991, then US Secretary of State, James Baker, met with then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his then Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevrednadze in the Kremlin. It is noted in official US and UK documents that Baker, on orders from then US President George H.W. Bush, told Gobachev and Shevrednadze that if the then Soviet Union agreed to the re-unification of East and West Germany, “NATO will not move beyond the Elbe (River)” in East Germany.
Here is a snippet of the UK document, from the UK National Archive, outlining the facts:
ScreenShot Minutes Elba Meeting NATO Wont MoveEastOfElba
So NATO knew in 2008, that back in 1991, the US, UK, France, and Germany promised the then Soviet Union that NATO would **NOT** be expanded east of Germany and now we see above, straight from the horses mouth, that the very Chief of NATO back in 2008 agreed to admit Ukraine. He knew they were not supposed to do that, but they did it anyway.
The US, UK, France and Germany explicitly promised not to do that, and NATO went ahead and did it anyway starting in 2008.
That leads us to who was in charge back in 2008. In the US, George W. Bush (the son) was President.
Michael Hayden, a retired United States Air Force four-star general and former Director of the National Security Agency, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Robert Gates, an American intelligence analyst and university president served as the twenty-second United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011.
Those are the men who needed to green-light such a move by NATO and, clearly, from Rasumussen’s admission in the video above, they must have actually done so.
Here we are, 15 or so years later, we are all on the verge of Nuclear World War 3 because of the decisions these men took in 2008.
Now, on several of my radio shows, I have wondered aloud if the people in our government are psychopaths based on the things they are doing which ARE leading us all into another World War?
The video above gives all of us a look into whether or not they actually ARE psychopaths.
When the Interviewer in the video above, asks Rasmussen “What will the Russians think about that (Giving security guarantees to Ukraine before it is admitted to NATO) Rasmussen replies “I don’t care.”
. . . and there . . . . right there . . . you now see the answer to whether or not these people are psychopaths.
We are facing nuclear World War 3 because of what men like Rasmussen did – and are still doing – and his response to the Interviewer is simply “I don’t care.”
With people like this, doing what’s being done, you and I seem to have no hope at all of avoiding nuclear world war 3.
Prepare as best you can with Emergency Food, Water, Medicine, a generator for electric, fuel for that generator, communications gear (CB/HAM Radio) and get right with God.
This Cat Table Gives Your Feline a Seat in the Table
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Japanese online retailer Dinos has released a new line of cat furniture and part of their line-up includes this all-natural oak wood table.
With a perch underneath and a hole in the middle, it gives your feline friend a seat, right in the middle of the table. Expertly crafted with high-quality wood, the fashionable table is beautiful both with or without your kitty.
On 2023/6/2-4, in the 20th conference for world defense leaders, UAE announced that it has withdrawn from the US-led navy. Instead, UAE joins the Middle East navy alliance. What is Middle East navy alliance?
The Middle East navy alliance is formed by 8 countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan & India. The job is to protect the waters in the gulf. Instead of asking USA for protection.
Iran navy spokesman said: we cannot find a legal reason to justify foreign (USA) navy to exist in Middle East. (I add) USA has no land, sea or air in Middle East. USA cannot “protect” gulf waters without invitation by ME. Middle East belongs to the peoples in Middle East.
Western media said UAE was not happy that US-led navy did not protect UAE well. Once a UAE oil tanker was said to have been detained, by Iran, western media said.
Then how to explain that UAE joins the Middle East navy alliance where Iran is in it?
The truth: after the Middle East reconciliation, ME countries compared notes. They found Iran did not detain UAE’s oil tanker. Who took UAE’s tanker? USA?
USA is like a gossiper who breaks up the friendship between people.
USA used threats to make others submit to USA.
ME was bullied by UK+USA. ME had no choice before. With the rise of China, & the help of Russia, ME rebels against USA. Simple.
In June 2023, Palestine representative visited China. Hope there is Palestine-Israel reconciliation in future. Israel+USA has turned Gaza into a hell. Violating lots of human rights. It breaks my heart.
US FedGov and NATO HQ Claims Under “Cyber-Attack” – Pro-Ukraine Group Promises to Blow-Up Kerch Strait Bridge within 36 Hours
Several Agencies of the United States Government are saying publicly this hour (3:11 PM EDT) they are under “Cyber Attack.” NATO Headquarters in Brussels is also claiming to be under “Cyber-Attack” Meanwhile, pro-Ukraine groups are publicly promising to “Blow-Up” the Kerch Strait Bridge to harm Russia.
These are developing stories, check back.
UPDATE 4:04 PM EDT —
I was reminded of an unusual posting on Twitter from the Atlantic Council just ONE WEEK AGO, making clear a “Cyber Attack can trigger Article 5 collective Defense” as seen in the brief video below:
Interesting just one WEEK after the Atlantic Council reminds the world of this fact, lo and behold, there’s a cyber attack against NATO.
Gee, how convenient.
Maybe we should start a countdown or take bets to see how long it may be until they blame . . . . hmmmmmm . . . . who might they want to blame . . . . .
oh yes, RUSSIA!
This is so obvious it’s disgusting.
These people are treating the possibility of World War 3 as if it’s a game.
UPDATE 4:15 PM EDT —
Some people seem to be getting VERY carried away, but I am reporting this to you so you can see what’s already being spoken about on Social Media — it’s NOT good:
THIS IS SO OVER-THE-TOP I CANNOT BELIEVE ANY RATIONAL ENTITY WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY PUBLISHED SUCH A THING. YET, HERE IT IS.
This is precious
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Why do Americans call the Chinese Communist government evil when it has lifted many people out of poverty?
To be more objective, rational, not all “Americans,” just a small group of them, especially the majority of those so-called “US elites” — including those in the political, military, financial, and media circles.
Not the vast in the trade and business circle — them with wide, deep and interwoven interests with China.
Not the vast in the education circle — basically they prefer more students from China, anyway, they equal to money to certain extent; also, most in the education circle still have some brain.
Not the vast of the ordinary Americans — they either would rather care less about anything China, or they personally have no those distaste towards Chinese government or the Chinese people.
Those Americans who really call the Chinese Communist government evil never really care about the human rights, wellbeings of other people, not even those citizens in their own country.
They only care about their own interests.
So, whoever “threatens” their already-possessed-interests, whoever blocks their way and becomes barriers for them to get more interests, is “evil.”
So, Chinese government has lifted some 800 million Chinese people out of extreme poverty in the past several decades? What’t their business?
But with more than a billion Chinese people uplifting their livelihoods, that means they need to consume more resources on the Earth. That would be “a miserable time” for “Australians and Americans,” as once said by Barack Obama.
So, isn’t the Chinese Communist government evil, by improving the over one billion Chinese people’s living standard? For us, it’s the realization of our China Dream, but for them, seems more like a nightmare.
China follows the political system of one-party-rule, with the other eight democratic parties providing consulations to its governance.
— How evil it is!
Because there leaves very very slim to no room for staging color revolutions in the country, especially on the Chinese mainland, where no “opposition party(ies)” for the US to infiltrate, and then to enstigate wide-spread anti-government protests, and hence be used as a weapon to shoot down the ruling administration!
But they never express it this way, they brand China as dictatorship, no election, no democracy! They are more than eager to “liberate” us Chinese people from the “tyranny,” and to force democracy onto us, even facts have spoken so loudly we are living a far better life nowadays without their “democracy.”
China “controls” its mass media, publications and also today’s online platforms.
— How evil it is!
Because there leaves very very slim to no room for the Western Mainstream Media to infiltrate into the mass media outlets, especially the state-owned media outlets here in China, but they still have achieved certain success, with spies infiltrated into even the highest level of state-owned media outlets. But on general, they can not control and manipulate the voices which should represent the Chinese people’s interests, as their louder speakers to demonize China, the Chinese government, the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese leadership as a whole and also as individuals — though they have been doing, are doing, and will continue to do all these outside China.
But anyway, the bulwalks are usually broken from within, no matter how strong they are. Now, with the “controlling” over the voices inside China by the Chinese government, we speak the same language, share the same vision, act in a unified manner, to build our country, our society, a better one, so the bulwark is strong enough as it should be. No possibility of being cracked by them into “a heap of loose sand,” so as to avoid being crushed one by one, with their philosophy of “divide and rule” — whether on regional powers or within a country with different parties/tribes/interest groups, etc.
But they never express it this way, they blame China for cencorship, they instigate that Chinese people are lack of freedom, they call Chinese living in an “Orwellian state”! But they would never shed even a drop of tear for the Chinese people once we live in a “free” world — like the then Russia immediate after the collapse of the Soviet Union, like the miserable Iraqis of today who are impacted by the US invasion, in the name of liberating the Iraqis and bringing democracy to the people there under the “dictator” Saddam Hussein……
China has most of its state assets “gripped” in the hands of the government, with a public system of — medical care, education, infrastructure, etc., or with its massive state-owned enterprises.
— How evil it is!
Because there leaves very very slim to no room for the Western capital to suck the Chinese blood like the leeches, or to even plough through the Chinese economic system and have a full control of the Chinese assets for their own interests, like what they have been parasiting on, exploiting and devouring many economies around the world.
But they never express it this way, they brand Chinese economy as “state-capitalism,” claiming Chinese economy not a free market economy, even though, it is the US who have listed more than one thousand Chinese companies, entities and individuals on its sanction list, while China is opening its arms as wide as it can, and welcoming CEOs and companies across the world to do business in and with China.
There are many other similar logic and similar cases.
In my opinion, whether a government is “evil” or not, we don’t necessarily need to listen to what the outsiders are trumpeting, we can see with our own eyes, hear with our own ears, feel with our own hearts, think with our own minds, experience with our own lives, whether the government has been serving the interests of the majority of its people, whether it has been delivering rather than shouting empty slogans and making empty promises, to its own citizens, as well as to the other peoples around the world.
As for what political system, what economic mode, what developmental road, etc., it takes, are all just tools serving the above goals and purposes.
We are living in a big enough world to accomodate various political systems, different economic modes and practical developmental roads.
And this, I believe, should be one of the key factors of a real democratic world.
Whenever I go to my favorite Chinese restaurant, I order pick-up. They’ll run my card and provide a receipt for me to sign. There’s a place for a tip, and they seem to expect a tip and act disappointed that I don’t. Am I wrong to not tip?
Let me preface my answer by first stating that I always leave an appropriate tip whenever I go to a restaurant and have a sit down meal that is served by a waitstaff. In the above case, however, this is going to be an unpopular and controversial answer but I stand by it.
My answer is “Absolutely not.” This is another example of “All participants get a trophy.” They are simply putting your items in a bag, ringing up the order and collecting your money. The same thing that happens in ANY retail store. Do you tip the Walmart cashier or the grocery store cashier? Of course not! This tipping nonsense for retail counter sales has really gone way too far. In fact, many times the “tip” section appears on your receipt is simply that the programmed computer simply does not differentiate as to how the food was purchased!
You have not been seated, no one brings your food to the table, no one cleans up after you. You bought an item at a retail counter and paid for it. If you were eating there and being served at your table (or counter) by a waitstaff it’s a different story.
That being said no one can tell you not to tip if you feel so inclined but do not feel obligated to do so.
Unexplained Mysteries That NEED Some Serious Explaining
More fun!
President of Czech Republic Calls for Russians in Europe to be put in Concentration Camps
President Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic has gone on television and said Russian citizens throughout Europe should be rounded up and put in camps, as was done to the Japanese in the USA during WW2, because their country wages aggressive war!
How NAZI-esque of him! Just like Hitler did with the Jews!
Here’s the video:
If the little NAZI Gestapo leaders of Europe keep this up, the only thing it’s likely to do is to get their country steam-rolled by the Russian army like Ukraine. Except most of their countries are far smaller and with smaller military than Ukraine.
What are they going to do, call NATO? That’s a laugh. NATO is already running out of artillery shells from supplying Ukraine.
I’ve got to tell you, folks, this is getting scary; the willingness of these Politicians to do whatever it takes to actually START a World War, is terrifying to me.
When this is all over, I suspect the world is going to need Tribunals to put these politicians in front of, for fomenting a Third World War.
If such Tribunals are lawfully constituted and convened, these politicians from NATO countries should be tried, and if found guilty, the Tribunal should order them hung by their necks until they are dead.
De-dollarization: Bangladesh moves to settle $12bn Russian loan in Chinese yuan
Bangladesh has approved a payment of $318 million to a Russian nuclear power developer using the Chinese yuan, according to a Bangladeshi official, offering the latest instance of countries bypassing the U.S. dollar and using the Chinese currency to conduct international payments.
The decision to use the yuan was made at a meeting in the Bangladeshi Finance Ministry’s economic relations division on Thursday, Uttam Kumar Karmaker, who heads the ministry’s European affairs wing, told The Washington Post.
The decision resolves a payments deadlock between Bangladesh and Russia that has lasted for more than a year. The South Asian country has been unable to pay Russia for the power plant using dollars after Russia was banned from accessing the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) international money transfer system last year because of sanctions over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The transaction, a payment for a $12 billion loan Bangladesh obtained from Russia to develop a nuclear power plant in Rooppur, will now be completed instead using yuan via the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), developed by the Chinese in 2015 to combat the dominance of the dollar in international trade.
A representative for Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp., the Russian contractor in charge of building the Rooppur nuclear power plant, confirmed the plan to use yuan for the loan repayment on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The Chinese online news outlet Sina reported Monday that a Bangladeshi official said that paying for the plant in yuan would be the most feasible option.
The majority of cross-border trade is denominated in dollars and flows through the U.S. banking system, which gives the United States the unique ability to impose sanctions on and freeze the assets of rival governments, such as Russia, Iran and Taliban-led Afghanistan. But critics of the sanctions accuse the U.S. government of “weaponizing” the greenback and undermining its global status.
The Bangladesh deal comes after several other countries signaled recently that they would opt for yuan payments to circumvent the need to use dollars. In March, Brazil said it would abandon the dollar for trade with China, a development that Chinese officials and state media celebrated as a step in the world’s gradual “de-dollarization” and the eventual collapse of American hegemony.
Putin: There Will No Longer BE a “Ukraine” – NATO Direct Intervention Will Not Change Outcome
Russian President Vladimir Putin made remarks in a TV interview Wednesday that make clear: There will be no negotiated settlement of Ukraine conflict, there will no longer BE a Ukraine, NATO intervention cannot change the outcome.
Explaining to a TV interviewer why Russia entered Ukraine, he pointed to Luhansk and Donetsk which were being pounded by Kiev Artillery and Mortar fire because those two Oblasts (states) wanted to secede from Ukraine like Crimea did. He told the Interviewer “We were forced to try to end the war that the West started in 2014 by force of arms.”
President Putin then went on with remarks that are utterly staggering. He said:
And Russia will end this war by force of arms, freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine from the United States and Ukrainian Nazis.
There are no other options.
The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West.
The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians and what used to be Ukraine will remain.
Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome.
But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe.
It looks like the US is ready for that too.”
When Putin said “And Russia will end this war by force of arms . . . freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine . . . there are no other options . . .” That makes clear there will be no negotiations. This conflict will end with the complete military defeat of Ukraine. But within that statement, Putin also mentioned “freeing the entire territory of the FORMER Ukraine . . .”
Whoa. The “former Ukraine.” Such words can only mean one thing: There will not BE a Ukraine anymore!
What other meaning can the words “the former Ukraine” mean?
Lest there be any question about there being “no Ukraine” anymore, in his very next sentence, President Putin made that explicitly clear. He went on to say “The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians, and what USED TO BE UKRAINE will remain”
WHAM! “. . . and whatUSED TO BE UKRAINE . . . . ” There it is again. No more Ukraine. It won’t exist anymore!
He then got directly in the face of NATO by saying “The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West.”
Clearly, President Putin is signaling to the West that no matter what weaponry the West sends to Ukraine, Russia will win. Period. Full stop. So what does THAT tell you about the weaponry Russia is willing to use? Most rational people will understand it means whatever weaponry NEEDS to be used, i.e. nuclear.
But President Putin’s next words were most staggering. He went on to tell the Interviewer “Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome.” What does THAT tell you? It tells most thinking people that Russia already KNOWS that NATO is going to intervene directly and that Russia is already prepared for such an eventuality. Folks, this means we’re going to actual World War 3!
President Putin made that explicitly clear when he also immediately added ” But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe.”
There it is. Plain as day. “The fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe.” World war.
Now, you’re probably wondering to yourself, “Why am I not hearing about this from the Mass Media?” Simple: The mass media doesn’t WANT you to know. They want you blissful and ignorant. So when all this DOES happen, you’ll be frightened and looking (to them) for answers.
And what will they tell you? Whatever propaganda the people who started this want told.
The folks in our U.S. Government are literally starting World War 3, it will likely go nuclear, and they want YOU kept fat, dumb, and happy.
Are you going to accommodate them, or are you going to step up and raise hell to maybe try to avoid what’s coming?
Whatever you choose, bear this in mind: Yesterday, the Ukraine legislature approved Child Military Training camps. Among the instructors are already experienced 16-year-olds who train 12-year-old recruits to fight.
Ukraine is now drafting and training 12 year old boys to fight for them.
What kind of monsters are these Ukrainian government people? Maybe it is better if Ukraine does NOT exist anymore.
Do all Chinese restaurants have “secret” menus?
If you are talking about the type of Chinese restaurants that cater primarily to the Chinese…
You need to bring a Chinese friend with you.
Often times, specials will be hand-written on a piece of paper and taped to the wall. The problem (for non-Chinese-speaking patrons) is that it is written in only Chinese.
I find that the more authentic Chinese restaurants make little effort to cater to their English-only speaking patrons. Why? Maybe that sector represents an insignificant part of their business. Maybe they are not proficient in translating and writing the English equivalent. It’s hard to say, for sure.
I’ll ask my girlfriend, “Hey, what does that sign say?”
Her: “Lobster Special: $9.99/lb.”
Me: “Hmmm. I don’t see that anywhere on the menu. Is it only available to Chinese?”
Her: “No comment.”
Why is the ASEAN alliance, along with BRICS abandoning the U.S. dollar like a sinking Titanic?
Lots of reasons for it.
I would like to share one of my perspectives, in a very simple way.
Previously, most people believed the US is the heaven on the Earth.
Everything related with the US was glorified.
Until former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
People became sceptical, but still thought highly of the US, anyway, he talked just about intelligence, which is, somehow far away from our daily life, especially from our money bags.
But, with the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia, as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the second strongest military force with the most nuclear warheads in our world, also an ecomomic power (entered the top ten economies in the world for GDP in 2022 according to IMF, despite the war), its national assets, frozen or even threatened to be confiscated by US, as well as some of its allies; Russian citizens’ (mainly tycoons’) properties, frozen or even threatened to be confiscated, some actually being stolen; and Russia was kicked out of the SWIFT; Russia is now on the top of list with the most sanctioned entities, individuals in our human history, none of them can actually have any deal with US dollars.
Since now the US can “steal” money from Russia, actually, earlier, Afghanistan, and ongoing from Syria (oil and wheat, etc.)……who can guarantee it would not be the next one to be stolen?
And the best way to avoid such possibility is to turn away from US dollar, to reduce both the reliance and the holding rate of the US dollar. The less one has, the less could be “stolen” even if the day came.
US Dollar is a weapon, but double-edged, while it indeed hurt others, it can not spare the US itself as well.
There is an internet slang here in China, 不作死就不会死 (No Zuo, No Die), meaning, “You won’t die if you do not seek death. / You will not get into trouble if you do not seek trouble.”
A sinking Titanic is then its doomed fate.
Sincerely wish the US would learn from this lesson, and take a second and even a third thought before taking any actions against other countries now.
ALL would be boomeranged, just sooner or later.
Do all Chinese restaurants serve exactly the same dishes?
Exactly the same dishes.
Exactly the same menu.
Exactly the same cooks.
Exactly the same waiting staff.
Exactly the same chairs.
Exactly the same tables.
Exactly the same decor.
Exactly the same tea pots and tea cups too.
Exactly the same kid at the cash register who helps out his parents during the busy periods, and who, during the lulls, sits at exactly the same empty table doing exactly the same school homework.
So far, scientists have been unable to figure out how Chinese restaurants manage this incredible feat.
Some have posited that they all exist in a bubble universe, frozen at the same chronological point.
Explosion in Odessa so powerful, Registered as Earthquake
Last night before Midnight eastern US time, an explosion took place in Odessa, Ukraine which was so large, it registered on earthquake seismographs in places as far away as Armenia!
Here is a seismograph image from a station in Kiev:
FyoGm13aQAE e8Y
Whatever exploded took out all webcams and all internet connectivity in Odessa.
Below, another image from another earthquake sensor, this one located in Armenia. Same Odessa Explosion(s):
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How come on Quora the Chinese expats never say anything negative about China? Is China a perfect country?
No, China is not a perfect country. There are no perfect countries. However, after reading so many negative comments about China on Quora and elsewhere, I feel the need to defend it. Most of the people I see criticizing China have never been there and are simply repeating racist, anti-Communist, or xenophobic lies. The truth, as always, is far more complicated and nuanced. I am an American, and I have found that, at least in the US, most people are not interested in the truth. Especially with covid, I am tired of hearing about the “China virus” or the “CCP”. I am sick of trying to discuss the reality of the situation, only to be called a “commie” or told to go back to China.
China is an amazing country. In many areas it puts the US to shame. However, half of America sees it as some comic book villain. I have watched my own country descend into fascism while claiming China is the bad guy. Even worse is the fact that my fellow Americans lap this up. I disagree with many things China does, but their government actually cares about their citizens. I can’t say that about my own government. If we ever get to the point where we can have an intelligent and fair discussion about China, then I can talk about both the negatives and the positives.
Southern Fried Chocolate Pies
southern fried choc pies
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup cold water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold margarine
Vegetable oil*
* Use peanut or safflower oil or solid vegetable shortening for frying.
Instructions
Crust: sift flour and salt together; cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knifes, until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add ice water a little at a time while tossing with a fork, until dough holds together. Do not get too moist.
Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into circles about five inches in diameter.
Mix cocoa powder with the sugar. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of this mixture onto one half of the circle and place 3 very thin slices of cold margarine on top. Fold opposite side over mixture and seal with a fork dipped in flour.
Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in a cast iron skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot.
Place pies in a single layer in oil and fry, turning to brown each side.
Serve hot, warm, or cold.
How does the food in the Chinese restaurants in America differ from authentic Chinese food?
This is just my personal impression. Tastes in food are different for everyone.
American Chinese food has more exaggerated flavors at the expense of subtlety and diversity. There’s a long running joke about American Chinese food that it’s basically “sweet and sour everything”. American Chinese food is so salty (soy sauce) and so sweet to the point that these are the ONLY flavors you taste. There’s no subtlety, no layer of different flavors hitting your taste buds. And everything is over cooked. As a result, no matter what you order, you end up tasting the same mouthful of mushy sweet and salty whatever.
Cantonese food (粤菜) was the first school of cuisine to enter the US with the initial immigrants from south-east coastal regions. The food they brough over was not even the most high end Cantonese food, but rather street peasant food. Hearty, heavy flavored dishes that are filling, easy to prepare, and go well with rice. So for a lot of Americans, Chinese food is Dim Sum, small dishes coming with bamboo steamer containers. And most of them are salty and sweet tasting that, on top of that, you have your over salted fried noodles and fried rice.
And more recently, some more “sophisticated” diners had been introduced Sichuan food, which is super spicy.
Chinese food is so much more beyond Sweet and sour everything, Dim Sim in steamers and Spicy chicken. But Americans wouldn’t have it.
I’ve talked about my story about taking 3 days to make soup for my ex-boyfriend, who had dumped soy sauce in it before he even taste it. (see: Feifei Wang’s answer to What horrifies the Chinese?) At one point, I had the suspicion that American’s taste buds are numbed by all these high flavored food. I mean think about it, all your favorite American foods, fried chicken, pizza, BBQ ribs, Hamburger, Fries… all of them are high sodium, high sugar, high fat, high everything foods. It’s like you started with a 10 and had to bring it to a 15 to be happy.
I had once dined with a Japanese friend, who complained about how Americans add too much wasabi when eating sushi or sashimi. “You’re only supposed to add a little for flavor, it’s never supposed to be burning-your-eyes-out-hot”.
I get the feeling that other kind of food also get the same “bring it up to 20” treatment when they are forced to adapt to US tastes. I went to Italy in 2015, and their pizza tasted very different to American pizza, full of flavor and texture. I went to Cancun in 2016, and the taste was very different to American Mexican food.
I wish American food would have less sodium, sugar and fat, and more subtlety and diversity.
An Empty World, A Time Traveler, Another Dimension | Liminal Spaces: The Reality In-between
Fun to watch. Do not take too seriously… for now.
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Liminal Spaces.
“He woke up in 2027, and there was no one anywhere.” This is actually super interesting, and I WILL discuss this later. Especially the guy who is being challenged by the television station.
Noclip is very interesting.
How do Chinese restaurants get their beef to be so tender? Like beef in black bean sauce or Mongolian beef etc. It almost falls apart in the mouth.
BEEEEEEEF!!!!!
I remember when my mom first taught me this as a kid. She told me that it was an “ancient Chinese secret” of some sort, that involves praying to the beef gods to make it all tender and that if I was good that day, it would be nice and tender when I sat down for dinner.
Little did I know that in order to turn the cheapest cuts of beef into this…
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that it took this…
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Corn Starch.
When the corn starch, ideally with a bit of soy or something along those lines, is mixed and coated over properly cut beef (I like to use flank steak personally), it breaks down the protein and makes it very tender and easy to cook.
You must have heard the term, “cut against the grain.” That’s the first important tip. When you’re cutting up the meat, take a look at how you’re cutting.
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See how it’s done? When you do cut it properly, the meat is much more tender already as it’s not structurally reinforcing its own integrity. Here’s a cross section of what it should look like when cut right.
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So when that’s done, just get a decent sized bowl, and mix a little soy sauce with the corn starch. Something like this…
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Mix it up, and this a good time to get down and dirty. I see so many videos and tutorials that say use a spoon or whatever. Honestly, just wash your hands well, and mix it by hand. You’ll be able to get the feeling if the meat is thoroughly covered easily and it should feel a bit slimy to the touch.
Give it then a couple of minutes to let it break down the meat. Some cooks like to put it in the fridge for an hour, but I find that 10–15 minutes is also pretty good in a jiffy, especially if the meat was sliced thin.
After that, the meat is ready for the stir-fry, and you’re ready to start cooking!
Oh, and before I forget, this works well with even the cheapest pieces of meat. No need for using pricey rib or porterhouse steaks and prime rib. Flank steak will do quite nicely.
This does wonders for chicken breast and thinly sliced pork loin as well.
Several commentators have told me that what I called “mom’s ancient Chinese secret” is a method called “Velveting”. Thanks to all who told me about the right term!
Baking soda works, and thanks to all who have mentioned it. The only reason why I don’t use it and don’t talk about it is that if it’s not rinsed off properly, you get an incredibly unpleasant chemical taste.
For every single person that’s said “corn starch” doesn’t work, then it’s probably the combination of the starch, soy and the cut all in one, especially the soy with the high salt content and the cut, which I cover. For heaven’s sake, stop griping about it and actually TRY THIS METHOD. It actually WORKS.
Blinken’s imaginary journeys – here’s what should happen
LOL. A most entertaining event when you expose their silly games.
I have said this over and over again. The world is changing. The West is going completely bonkers, and the “third world” is getting stronger and more aggressive.
If you are sitting in a pot of hot water, you will think that everyone in the world is experiencing what you experience, but that is not the case. You all need to step outside the cauldron. Cool down and enjoy yourself.
…
Many MM followers are writing to me and reaffirming their thoughts about all these “UFO disclosures” that seem to be very popular now. The over all opinion voiced here on MM is that it’s all a bullshit game, and the real deal is right here in MM land. I appreciate that. I really do.
Don’t get too caught up.
When one form of disinfo collapses, another one takes its place. The United States and the West) are so messed up that you will NEVER know the truth from the lies. Never.
…
Keep being yourselves and enjoy some nice Summer foods. Watermelon, tomato sandwiches, fried chicken, coleslaw, and all the rest. Like hotdogs over an open fire. Savor the good things.
Todays…
No empire has ever declined without going down fighting. Will it be the same for the USA, as China and Russia gain world hegemony?
Empires usually don’t collapse instantly, they degraded and decay slowly. Modern European colonial powers didn’t die and collapse, they didn’t fight each others, they fought in too many wars repeatedly, eventually they ran out of money. US didn’t fight UK, UK didn’t fight France in 20th century to destroy France.
Superpower can destroy itself if they mistakenly take on even more powerful opponent(s), such as the case of Germany and Japan, the result is total destructions and collapses.
Superpower often can defeat and destroy a rising power, as UK has done repeatedly, but each victory came with a heavy price, accumulating cost in money and manpower eventually diminished that superpower, as in UK, a shadow of its former empire, even India has a bigger GDP than UK.
China is not a lightweight but a super heavy duty global industrial and agricultural power bigger than US and all G7 combined. China and Russia combined is way beyond US and allies can handle.
War is not inevitable. If war is possible, US would’ve done it already.
I went to Canada and I was SHOCKED!
https://youtu.be/XBnaVQjLXfY
What honor remains in China?
Masses compared to the USA.
What deranged idiot wrote this question?
China; developed, civilised and well educated nation that spreads peace and prosperity around the world. Very honourable people if you go.
USA; crime ridden, poverty stricken hell hole full of deranged evil crazies (look at the pro US Quorans on this site) that spread war and suffering everywhere and hate anyone on this planet who complains about it. The US can go to hell. Leave the world alone. We; the people of the planet; over 90% who hate the USA have honour. You pro US ( and there are decent US people) hegemonic supporters have zero honour, courage, wisdom or anything anywhere near the decency that would warrant you being classed as an animal.
US Is Desperate For China’s Attention But China Isn’t Picking Up The Call
What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?
Let me preface this by saying that I was a journeyman machinist and helicopter mechanic. At the time, circa 1975, my daily car was a 1967 Ford Fairlane 2 door hardtop with a 289 V8 and 3 speed Hurst shifter on the floor. And I did all my own work on it.
I took it into the local Montgomery Ward Car Care Center to get the annual Virginia state inspection. After a while a mechanic came in the waiting room and told me I needed new shocks and they “just happened” to have a sale on shocks going on. I asked him to show me the problem and he pressed down on the rear fender and said the car was bouncing too much, indicating bad shocks.
I grabbed my keys so they couldn’t move the car and called the local state police office which was nearby. The staties were responsible for overseeing inspectors. A state cop soon showed up and I explained the issue. He had the center put a new inspection sticker on my car and proceeded to pull the inspection license from the shop. They had to go to an administrative hearing and lost their inspection for several months.
Oh, and by the way, just a few days before I had just installed a set of expensive air adjustable shocks on the car which was the first thing I mention to the state cop.
Urgency to Flee Australia Before New Rules Take Effect
What is the craziest April Fool’s joke someone has ever pulled off?
Some smart guy named Porky Bickar fooled his whole town into thinking the nearby dormant volcano was about to erupt.
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This was in Sitka, Alaska, 1974.
Bickar was a local businessman, pilot and apparently the local prankster. He came up with the idea for the volcanic eruption prank as a way to promote his new helicopter charter business and to bring some excitement to the lifeless town of Sitka.
First, he secretly flew up a hundreds of old tyres to the volcano’s crater and tossed them in.
On April’s Fool’s he set fire to them.
As you can imagine, the resulting smoke and flames caused widespread alarm among the poor confused folks of Sitka.
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Panic set in, immediate preparations for evacuations were made. Kids were sent home, families gathered their precious possessions, called in their pets.
The last eruption was over 4000 years ago. What’s happening? The Coast Guard sent a helicopter out to investigate. When the pilot arrived, he looked down and saw:
A spray – painted Happy April Fool’s message.
But don’t think of Bickar as careless. He had taken precautions and informed the authorities with the exception of the coast guard.
Once news got out that it was a prank, most Sitka residents thought it was hilarious. Even a flight that was leaving Sitka that day was diverted so that passengers could see the faux eruption. The admiral in charge of the Coast Guard in Alaska later told Bickar he thought the prank was brilliant.
Thankfully, people had a sense of humor back then so everyone pretty much laughed it off; it would have been considered an act of terrorism today.
White Man Scolds Black People For Not Listening To Malcolm X Regarding Lying Liberals
What advantages did the Germans have during Nazi rule?
Have a lot of sex, if you are young and considered genetically attractive. They breed healthy Aryan girls who fit any type of man. Blonde and blue-eyed to the front of the line. It’s free, no-strings-attached sex. Something that young people tend to like. And Reich cared for the babies in a special SS “Kindergarten” called Lebensborn to raise them in order to replenish conquered territory. Most would be adopted to select families, mostly from the SS. An estimated 900 pregnancies were caused by the Nuremberg demonstrations alone.
Sex between chosen, young, and genetically pure Germans is recommended. Awards, such as the Cross of Honor of the German Lady, were given to women who contributed most to the Reich. The German high command knew that it had to replace the millions of soldiers and civilians who would be lost in the war. They think for the long term. But the Reich lasted only 12 years, not a thousand, so it was all in vain. Sports and physical fitness are also widely regulated and encouraged. And people are taught to give birth naturally, not look down on it as in previous generations. So, life was pretty good for most Germans until the war came to their home.
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What is something that most people don’t know about you but if you tell it you’re afraid they wouldn’t believe you?
I saved all the passengers on a plane, including myself and my family, from a deadly airplane accident.
But not in the way you might think. It wasn’t like the pilot passed out and I took control of the flight or anything like that.
Let me explain. I was around 7 or 8 years old. I remember we were at the airport, about to board a flight to Miami (USA). The plane was running a bit late (as it often happens), but eventually, we boarded, about an hour later than scheduled.
We entered the plane, stowed our luggage in the overhead compartments, and took our seats. Of course, I chose the window seat. I was sitting next to my father, while my mother was in the row next to us.
The pilot announced that they were ready for takeoff and asked everyone to fasten their seatbelts and prepare for departure. However, what he didn’t prepare them for was what was about to happen next.
Just seconds before the plane was about to start moving, I began convulsing out of nowhere, something that had never happened to me before. According to my father, veins popped out on my neck, and I wasn’t responsive to what they were saying, so he decided to shout for the takeoff to be stopped.
All the passengers got scared, thinking there was some kind of attack when in reality, it was just my father causing a commotion to halt the plane. In the end, a flight attendant announced that there was an emergency situation, and the plane abruptly stopped just as it was about to take off.
The curious thing is that after a doctor checked me and my father signed some papers, he made the daring decision (he wouldn’t miss his vacation for anything) to continue the journey. If anything happened to me, it would be his responsibility.
What’s even more curious about the whole incident is that after many passengers complained about the delay caused by me, the plane prepared to start again. However, as it started, one of the turbine generators spontaneously caught fire. They had to evacuate us, and the same passengers who had complained earlier now called me ‘The Blessed Child’ while giving me crosses and saint stamps, thanking me for potentially saving them from a fatal mid-flight accident.
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So, technically, thanks to my sudden seizure, I ended up causing a delay, which led to the turbine catching fire while the plane was still on the ground. I saved the lives of the passengers on that flight.
Johnny Cakes
EDR Southern Johnny Cakes ExtraLarge1000 ID 1361175
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease, plus more, as needed
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
In another large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water, eggs and sugar. Add the buttermilk mixture into the flour and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix or the pancakes will be tough.
In a cast iron skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until just barely shimmering. Spoon 1/2 cup of the batter in the skillet. Cook until bubbles form all over the surface of the cake. Flip the cake and continue cooking until soft and fluffy, and the center is completely cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil as needed.
Serve hot with butter, pure maple syrup, honey or your favorite pancake topping.
Biden Intensifies Warning To Uganda, Repeal Anti-Gay Law Or Else
Is Rishi Sunak’s assertion that China represents the “biggest challenge” to global security accurate?
I’m going to try to give a more sympathetic interpretation to Rishi’s comments.
I grew up in Canada and studied in the US at a time the West had just emerged triumphant from the Cold War. Francis Fukuyama had just written “The End of History”, trumpeting the ultimate victory of Western liberal democracy as led by the US. My view of China was formed by reading books such as Jung Chang’s “Wild Swans” about China’s Cultural Revolution. I knew little about China except that it was poor and umm… communist lol.
Then I moved to Hong Kong for work. I started going into China on business trips.
My first visits pretty much confirmed my biases. The country was very poor. But I also noticed something; it was developing very rapidly. I’d visit Shenzhen and each trip it seemed that a new office tower or highway had sprung up seemingly overnight.
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Shenzhen in 1990 (top) vs 2014 (bottom)
I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about China — in part because of all the business I did there. And even though I was an eyewitness to the changes taking place, I still didn’t predict how fast the country would develop. Who would’ve guessed back at the turn of the millennium that in less than 25 years, China’s economy would be bigger (by PPP) than the US?
So yes, if by “global security” Rishi is talking about the US led post-war order, China is a threat. Because it is big enough and has a center of gravity that offers countries an alternative to the United States’ view of the world. I wonder if American policymakers realize just what a seminal moment the Saudi – Iran peace deal that China brokered was. By pulling off something America was unwilling or unable to do, it showed the limits of American influence — and demonstrated that meaningful geopolitical objectives could and would get done without the US.
Change can be scary. We live in a world that is changing so fast. And much like me at the turn of the millennia, Western policymakers have yet to come to grips with how fast China’s rise is or what the implications are. That’s why they view China as a “threat” to global security.
The unipolar world is dying. Long live the multipolar world.
It’s time to EXPOSE AFRICA, where are you for your people you enslaved?
A comparison of China and the US’s legacy in Africa
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Have you ever checked into a hotel room and found something unexpected?
This isn’t so much finding something unexpected as not finding something expected. One time when I was young and on the road home in an older car, my car broke down in the evening, on the off-ramp in the town of Port Hope, in Ontario, Canada. We managed to push my car to a nearby auto service shop and a nice guy drove us to a nearby hotel. The clerk gave us a key to a room and we went and found the room, but there was no bed in the room! We went back to the front desk and found the clerk in the pool room shooting pool and said “ummm, there’s no bed in the room you gave us.” He apologized and gave us a different room, which did have a bed. Aside from the missing bed, the people of that town treated us very well. It was a few days before Christmas and someone came in on his day off to fix our car while someone else showed us around town. I have fond feelings for the people of Port Hope, Ontario.
America’s Desperate Bid To Save The Dollar Just Failed
Friday, 09 June 2023 7:05 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 09 June 2023 7:12 AM ]
US President Joe President Biden (L) meets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Alsalam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 15, 2022. (File photo by the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia)
A classified document has revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) threatened to impose significant economic costs on Washington after US President Joe Biden warned Riyadh over its decision to slash oil production last fall.
Even though the Saudi government publicly defended its actions politely via diplomatic statements, the 37-year-old de facto ruler of the country threatened in private to re-evaluate the Arab nation’s relationship with the White House and impose significant economic costs on the United States if it retaliated against the oil cuts.
According to the document, the crown prince claimed “he will not deal with the US administration anymore,” and promised “major economic consequences for Washington,” The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The US intelligence document was circulated on the Discord messaging platform as part of an extensive leak of highly sensitive national security materials.
“We are not aware of such threats by Saudi Arabia,” a spokesperson with the US National Security Council said.
“In general, such documents often represent only one snapshot of a moment in time and cannot possibly offer the full picture,” the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added.
“The United States continues to collaborate with Saudi Arabia, an important partner in the region, to advance our mutual interests and a common vision for a more secure, stable, and prosperous region, interconnected with the world,” the official said.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington has yet to make a comment on the matter.
Eight months after Biden vowed “consequences” for Saudi Arabia after oil output cuts, the US president has yet to take any measures against the Arab country and MbS has continued to engage with top US officials, as he did with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the seaside Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this week.
Biden, who had pledged to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” as a presidential candidate, now scarcely communicates with the crown prince but the president’s top aides have gradually rebuilt ties with him hoping the two nations can work together on pressing issues, including normalization with Israel, Saudi Arabia’s growing relationship with China, a long-sought peace deal in Yemen and continued disagreements over the supply of oil.
A second leaked US intelligence document from December last year also warned that Saudi Arabia plans to expand its “transactional relationship” with China by procuring drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and mass surveillance systems from Beijing.
During a news conference alongside Blinken in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud highlighted that China and Saudi Arabia are close and strategic allies and have been increasing cooperation in the energy and financial sectors, and that “cooperation is likely to grow.”
He said Saudi Arabia’s ties with the United States and China were not a “zero-sum game.”
“I don’t ascribe to this zero-sum game,” Prince Faisal said in Riyadh. “We are all capable of having multiple partnerships and multiple engagements and the US does the same in many instances.
“So I’m not caught up in this really negative view of this. I think we can actually build a partnership that crosses these borders,” the top Saudi diplomat said.
Riyadh’s strengthening of its commercial and security ties with Beijing comes as US influence wanes in the Middle East region.
I prefer to raise my child in China over most Western countries.
What was the biggest jerk move by a park employee you have ever seen?
A man, who identified himself as Ante, took his girlfriend to Disneyland, and there he got down on one knee on a stage in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, ready to propose. He had his friends waiting a distance away, phone camera out recording.
Ante whips out the ring box, and as he’s asking the question, a Disney employee sprints in out of nowhere, snatches the ring box from his hands, and runs off stage.
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Why? Because people aren’t supposed to propose there, unless they got permission to.
According to the person who filmed, they had permission but that employee didn’t know this.
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He tells them to come down the stage and complete their proposal there.
In a daze, Ante told the employee, “She said yes.”
The man responded: “Yes, that’s great, but over here, it’s going to be even better.”
It was too late, though; he had fully ruined the couple’s moment.
I understand the employee was just doing his job but Jesus, have some fucking tact. He could’ve stopped them with his voice, yelled at them even, anything but snatch the ring out of Ante’s hands mid-proposal. That was disrespectful.
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Ante reacted quite well; many others commented they would’ve punched the man.
Disney apologised in a statement:
We have offered our sincere apologies to the couple concerned and we will do everything we can to make this up to them.
“Disneyland stands for dreams,” Ante said in a phone interview. “Our moment was destroyed.”
Undercover Boss Employees That Got BRUTALLY FIRED!
https://youtu.be/KF-ybeLfyHo
What was the extremely disturbing about the last century 😶?
Imagine for a moment that you were born in the year 1900. When you were 14 years old, World War I begins and ends only when you are 18 years old, leaving 22 million dead.
A little later, a worldwide pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you are alive, 20 years old.
At 29 years old, you survive the global economic crisis that began with the crash of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and hunger.
When you are 33 years old, Nazism comes to power.
When you’re 39, World War II starts and ends when you’re 45, with 60 million dead.
When you are 52 years old, the Korean War begins.
When you’re 64, the Vietnam War starts and ends when you’re 75.
A person born in 1985, for example, thinks that their grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, not knowing that they have survived several wars and global catastrophes.
Today we have been living with a great pandemic for more than a year. We are scared and tired. We lost friends and relatives, we are scared.
In the past, conditions were even worse, but yes, humanity survived under these conditions and overcame it.
Believe me, better days await us.
What is something movies always get wrong?
dig a grave
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This happens a lot in movies these days: someone kills someone else, and in an attempt to hide said body, they just go out and casually dig a 6-foot-deep grave big enough to fit a man with a shovel.
No. Crap. Chance.
Have any of these writers ever tried to dig a grave? Do you know what happens when you go below 8 inches of soil? Rocks. Clay. Slate. Very dense soil – you name it.
Very soon you will find that your shovel is completely useless.
Show at least someone with a pick, because that’s the bare minimum you need to dig a grave. And even with that, it takes you hours and hours.
Think about that too – if you assume the grave is 6 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 feet deep – that’s 108 feet. mud. Dry mud typically weighs about 75 pounds per cubic foot. So one grave is 8,000 pounds of earth. 4 tons. Good luck feeling your hands after this.
Ukrainian Armored Columns Got SMASHED and AMBUSHED
Russia
2023 06 09 18 28
What is Rear Adm. Mike Studeman referring to when he mentions “China blindness” at a military conference earlier this year?
Rear Adm. Mike Studeman might be referring to the phenomenon where individuals or organizations fail to recognize or intelligently address the strategic threat posed by China’s role as a significant global power.
This term “China Blindness” has been used to describe a range of issues related to China. In particular, it refers to a serious lack of understanding of what China is, how it operates, and what it is capable of. It is a “catch all” phrase that describes a cloud of ignorance of what China actually is today.
The Admiral is admonishing his peers as a warning. To believe the false narratives encapsulated in the public narrative is to risk serious defeat on the battlefield. To engage China, one must be realistic, and fully address the harsh and uncomfortable reality that confronts the USN. If it fails to do so, it could result in catastrophe.
As far as I can understanding it, the use of this term suggests a need for greater awareness and friendly engagement with China. As opposed to the politically-driven narratives of forcing and pushing China to follow United States dictates.
China Prepares for Worst-Case Scenario
Is it true that a woman once tried to sue Keanu Reeves for child support?
Yup.
This was in 2009. The woman pictured, Karen Sala, filed a paternity suit seeking around $3 milion a month in spousal support plus about $150,000 a month in child support (going back to 2006).
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Sala claimed she had a sexual relationship with Keanu, that they lived together and that he was present at the birth of three of her children.
She said she had known him since she was four or five, as he grew up down the street from her.
“I didn’t know he was Keanu Reeves,” she said. “To me he was Marty Spencer.”
Marty Spencer, lol. The claim that that was his name should have been enough to throw the whole case out.
The strongest piece of evidence against her was of course, the DNA test results, which showed Keanu was not the father of Sala’s children.
It gets better. When presented with this evidence, Sara, who was representing herself, claimed Keanu could’ve used hypnosis to alter the test results. What the hell.
The judge threw the case out.
What is the saddest moment you have seen in a movie or TV?
I felt really sorry for this guy.
X-Factor New Zealand, 2015.
This man, Joe Irvine, stepped onto the stage and sang “Cry Me A River”.
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He sang well enough, nothing seemed to be wrong.
But when he was done, two of the judges ploughed into him, they completely laid into him. I mean they trashed him so bad they made Simon Cowell look like a sweetheart.
But why did they do that?
It wasn’t because of what he sang, or even how he sang. In fact it had nothing to do with his singing.
It was because of how he looked.
The two judges were Willy Moon and Natalia Kills, a married couple. Both of them are also singers.
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On that particular episode, the contestant Joe Irvine looked very much like Willy Moon.
Willy Moon, left. Joe Irvine, right.
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The couple claimed Joe Irvine changed his look so he could look like Willy Moon.
Willy Moon joined in the tirade, saying it felt cheap and absurd, and “like Norman Bates dressing up in his mother’s clothing”.
[1] (Norman Bates is the killer in the horror film Psycho).
All these comments were rude and completely unnecessary, and look at the poor guy’s face, he looked like he was about to cry.
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He didn’t say much back to them. He only said that he liked the way he looked.
The two judges’ tirade sparked an outrage on social media, causing both of them to be simultaneously fired from the show.
[2] They received so much hate that they fled the country to Los Angeles.
[3] The couple at the airport, accompanied by security, still trying to look fashionable as they flee the country. God, they look creepy.
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Joe Irvine received a lot of support on social media from the public and also from celebrities, such as Ed Sheeran.
New Zealand chart-topper Lorde sent him a letter and some cupcakes.
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Lorde’s letter read
I’m a performer too, and I wanted to say that no matter how many people make fun of me for how I dress, move and act, I’m being me – and that’s what’s important. Good luck and lots of love, Lorde.
People were understandably upset with those two judges. Those two judges said a lot of mean things to Joe Irvine, and even compared him to a (fictional) murderer.
On social media, people ridiculed those judges, and some people harassed them to the point where they felt they had to leave the country for the sake of their own safety.
No matter how much someone tries to copy your looks or style or whatever, you just can’t tell them they look like a psycho killer in front of thousands of viewers.
What I found hilarious were the memes made about the female judge, Natalia Kills.
She trashed Joe Irvine for copying her husband’s style, so people trashed her for copying the styles of other…..famous individuals.
Chinese scientists have managed to improve the stability of CL-20, the world’s most powerful conventional explosive by a factor of 500%.
While extremely powerful, the use of CL-20 thus far has been limited because of its dangerous instability. Scientists from the Sichuan Military and Civilian Co-Innovation Centre for New Energetic Materials successfully developed new nanomaterials that greatly improved the stability of the explosive.
This opens the way for CL-20 to be used more extensively in applications such as rocket propellants that provide greater range for missiles, more powerful warheads and/or lighter and more compact missiles and bombs. The material also has lower observability when used as a missile propellant. CL-20 is also a key material used for increasing the range and reducing the size of ICBMS. Some analysts believe the recent Chinese war games that simulated hypersonic missile attacks on aircraft carriers assumed CL-20 warheads.
The origins of this material are a bit murky. In 1994 Professor Yu Yongzhong a Chinese explosives expert synthesised CL-20 for the first time in his lab and reported the discovery in Chinese scientific journals. A couple years after that, US military scientists reported discovery of the same material, but claimed they actually first synthesised it in 1987. Ironically, the “CL” stands for China Lake, the military facility where the American scientists worked.
The Terminator – Fat Boy – Harley-Davidson motorcycle
Could someone from South Africa who is white come to America and legally declare themselves African American on their job and college applications?
Yes. I went to a high school with a girl of Dutch extraction who did exactly this. It was hilarious in class one day because there was a girl there from Botswana and apparently they could communicate. We had this insane black history teacher who just started screaming at this girl for claiming she was African, and the girl from Botswana jumped to her defense(they were really good friends) and the teacher kept claiming white people weren’t African. Apparently the girl from Botswana started swearing and insulting the black teacher in whatever language these two spoke and the girl from South Africa was laughing hysterically after a few seconds. When I asked why later that day, it turns out that the girl from Botswana had said something like “you cotton pickers don’t know a thing about Africa or real Africans and so all you can do is pretend” later the two of them tried running for class office as the “African American” candidates.
United States Senator Diane Feinstein
She’s on a number of major policy committees and is one of the people handling America’s Geo-political posture. She comes, and represents California.
Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman will form a joint navy to guarantee the security of Persian Gulf.
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The Persian Gulf region produces nearly one third of the world’s oil and holds over half of the world’s crude oil reserves as well as a significant portion of the world’s natural gas reserves.
Iran has always called on the Persian Gulf countries to participate in establish security in this important region.
Al-Jadid Qatar news website reported that the consultations of Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman have started with the coordination of China and with the aim of ensuring the safety of navigation in the Persian Gulf.
The US sphere of influence on Gulf states is wanning fast.
2023 06 03 12 07w
President Biden is confused again
2023 06 04 09 11
Who is the biggest steel producer in the world?
China 🇨🇳 leads here with whooping share of 53.9%. There is a big difference between first & second spot. Tata steel is the king 🤴 in this sector 🇮🇳.
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“He’s really excited an has no clue why we’re here…”
In what areas is China ahead of the US?
In a few areas, actually. First is infrastructure. The Chinese planned waaaaaaaaaay ahead while building. That’s why there were ghost cities. The developers built huge communities before they were needed, knowing that large factories were coming soon. Above that is public transportation. Smaller cities have buses available that will take you just about everywhere within the city and bigger cities have subways as well as buses. For going between cities and provinces, China has a high speed rail system in place that is more extensive than the American highway system! For example: I lived in a city called Nanjing in China – about 200 miles/300 km from Shanghai. I could take a high speed train from Nanjing to Shanghai in about 1.5 hours!
In contrast, I took an Amtrak train from Detroit to Chicago (about 300 miles/480 km) and it took over 8 hours!
Another area China wins at is public utilities. They provide electricity, water, and gas for billions of people for very affordable prices! I paid maybe a total of $20 (US) per month for all utility bills, whereas it cost me over $100 in America! Atop of that is wireless technology (which is considered a public utility in China). I paid 100 rmb ($15) monthly for 16 GB of 4G data, with 1000 texts and 500 minutes of talk (which pretty much meant unlimited everything for me). In America I pay $50 a month for my unlimited plan. Yes, the 4G is a little faster, but that may just be because I’m not trying to access the foreign web here…
A third area (kinda related to the second) is how the CCP controls markets and prices so everyone can live a comfortable life. I ate a big plate of food at a small restaurant for between 10 and 20 rmb… ($1.25-2.50). The government controls the means of production, so there is plenty of food for everyone!
I hope you enjoyed my answer!
Those Aren’t Mountains Those Are Waves
The U.S. says it wants to “de-risk and diversify” its relationship with China, and Europe said it wants to de-risk rather than decoupling with China. What’s the difference between de-risking and decoupling? What does it mean for China?
When you decouple, it is liked cutting off the umbilical cord. There is no more that relationship. That’s something that US cannot afford as they still need China now and into the future. There is one and only China, no other country can replace China for that effective and cost-efficient supply chain and that best-in-class manufacturing capability that is too good to miss. The Americans had lost that art of manufacturing decades ago and they can’t just take it back to revive their industries and to make it competitive again.
When you de-risk which is actually what the Americans are currently doing, they can be selective on which items that they can use to suppress China where they think it hurts most and to slow down their economic-military growth and technological development and in areas where they pose the biggest threat to the American hegemony. But de-risking has to be clean and precise, it can backfire and cause even more harm to the American economy which is happening now – American semiconductor companies and their Korean/Taiwanese/EU/Japanese allies are seeing a sharp fall in revenue and may eventually lose the lucrative Chinese market which is the world’s largest consumer of semiconductor chips today.
Current silicon wafer technology has reached its technological limits and it can’t advance much without suffering lower production yields, higher production cost and lower reliability performance. Not all electronic applications require these <7nm semiconductor chips but low-voltage/power and high-speed processing consumer products like mobile phones do. But consumer type products are not a life or death type application, countries can still live without having such advanced technologies if they aren’t allowed to have them. I am still happily using an iPhone XR phone today.
China has its own self-sufficient ecosystem and has a huge domestic market consumption of its own products and services. So they can still exist and live life as per normal. Of course, China is investing and developing the next generation of advanced technologies as in the case of semiconductor applications – photonics chips, graphene chips, quantum computing chips etc…. and they are already leading the world in some of these future disrupting technologies.
So what does it mean to China? Nothing much. China had been isolated and humiliated for a century before. They do know how to survive with all the global sanctions and restrictions. But the world cannot live without China today.
Meanwhile…
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“Jesus Christ, That’s Jason Bourne”
Antony Blinken said that the Russian army is not the second in the world, but the second in Ukraine. Do you agree with these words?
Antony Blinken has a way with words. However, it would be nice if he could actually back up those words. Thus far, Blinken’s tough guy antics have only gotten US special operators slaughtered.
The latest blow came on the night of Sunday, May 21st. That night, American special operators from Delta Force, the 75th Ranger Regiment and other NATO special operations units were staying at a workshop in the Yuzhmash ICBM factory in Dnipropetrovsk. They were forward deployed in preparation for the upcoming Ukrainian offensive. A Ranger Battalion and a squadron from Delta Force were tasked with spearheading an assault on the nuclear powerplant at Energodar in the opening hours of the upcoming, Ukrainian counteroffensive. They were waiting in the ICBM factory for their orders to move out.
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However, it looks like the Rangers will be unable to complete their mission. On the night of the 21st, Russian KH-22 cruise missiles slammed into the workshop, killing all of the Rangers as they slept. After action reports from US military intelligence described it as “a burial for the living.”
It looks like as a result of the strike, the Ukrainians have been forced to call off their assault on the Energodar plant. Furthermore, it looks like that night’s attacks and other pinpoint strikes against command posts and arms depots have rendered Ukraine’s counteroffensive stillborn. That might help explain the mysterious delays behind the bold, Ukrainian counteroffensive.
It would be nice for a Western audience if Blinken’s words rang true. However, if the Russians are able to take out about 1,000 of the US’s best special operators in a night with a pinpoint strike, clearly they are the better side.
Representative Frank (NY)
He’s been reelected over and over again to the office ever since the 1950s.
2023 06 04 09 13
Official Statements:
Peskov: relations between Russia and Poland are now at zero, if not at a negative level
“We have a rich history with Poland in our relations. Now, unfortunately, these relations are at zero, if not at a negative level,” Peskov said
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Cranberry Fritters
2023 05 28 17 14
Ingredients
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
Oil (for deep frying)
Confectioners’ sugar (optional)
Instructions
Wash cranberries and dry on paper towels.
Sift dry ingredients together and mix in milk gradually to form a stiff dough. With well-floured hands, pinch off 1 teaspoon of dough and make an indentation. Sprinkle a little brown sugar in the indentation and place a cranberry in the center. Roll dough around the berry. balls should be about the size of a large marble.
Heat oil in a deep, heavy kettle until the temperature reaches 375 degrees F.
Drop fritter balls into the hot fat and fry, turning, until they are deep golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper towels. If desired, shake confectioners’ sugar over the fritters just before serving.
Serve hot.
This Mini Furniture Is Designed Just For Cats
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A campaign revealing mini furniture for cats is unveiled in Japan amid a new generation of craftsmen’s hopes to build upon a once-prosperous industry. The 60-second clip shows the feline friends-come-guinea pigs getting comfy on genuine furniture scaled down to their size.
The campaign, produced by Okawa City, hopes to promote the area in Fukuoka, a hub for professional craftsmen specialising in traditional crafts such as woodworking, hardware, glass and cutlery. The prefecture, which is is home to 150 furniture-manufacturing factories, once boasted a large industry for wedding furniture specifically made from Kiri, a light but strong japanese wood used for chests and boxes.
The war in Ukraine appears to be heading toward either a bloody stalemate or a successful Russian war of attrition. Against this backdrop, some argue that Washington’s worst geopolitical nightmare may come true due to the Ukraine war. To the extent this is true, and US elites have only themselves to blame. By all appearances, the US has entered a phase of decline when geopolitical gambits that are meant to forestall the end of imperial hegemony only hasten its demise.
When Russia launched the military operation in 2022, many on the left were surprised that Russia did it, as it did not seem to be in the Russian national interest to do so. There had been many alarms raised in the US warning of an impending Russian invasion. But after the Iraqi WMD and Russiagate hoaxes, it is easy to understand why many thought US officials and the corporate media were, as ever, lying.
One veteran journalist who clearly saw what was coming was Joe Lauria of Consortium News. This outlet was founded by the late Robert Parry, a legendary journalist who was forced to leave corporate media because his journalism routinely exposed the hypocrisy, duplicity, and criminality of US foreign policy.
In a February 4, 2022 article, Lauria wrote that, the US plans to weaken Russia by imposing punishing sanctions and bringing world condemnation on Moscow depend on Washington’s hysteria about a Russian invasion of Ukraine actually coming true.
There is a history of the US baiting adversaries into wars that the power elite believes will redound to the benefit of US hegemony. Such was the case when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
There is much reason to surmise that the US thought similarly about a Russian war against Ukraine. The strategic importance of Ukraine to Russia was well understood. After Russian military operations began, it was eventually reported that prior to February 2022, US officials had held a grim assessment of Ukraine’s chances in a war that Zelensky was apparently not trying to avoid. The Intercept wrote, “The Central Intelligence Agency was so pessimistic about Ukraine’s chances that officials told President Joe Biden and other policymakers that the best they could expect was that the remnants of Ukraine’s defeated forces would mount an insurgency, a guerrilla war against the Russian occupiers.”
Months before the war, Yahoo News, citing CIA insiders, reported that the US “is training an insurgency, [teaching the Ukrainians how] to kill Russians.” Echoing some of the darkest elements of the Cold War, the CIA had undertaken “stay-behind force training” in Ukraine.
In hindsight, we can discern that the US pursued NATO expansion into Ukraine knowing that this was a red line for Moscow – just as a Russian military alliance with Mexico would be unacceptable for the US. We now know that US officials had a grim assessment of Ukrainian chances in a war that the US understood was likely to result from Ukrainian statements and actions. We see that prior to the invasion, the US rebuffed Russian diplomacy aimed at defusing the crisis.
Rather, the US apparently wanted to use the war to damage Russia by getting the country mired in a long occupation and bloody insurgency. The US also sought to establish a sanctions regime that would cut Russia off from foreign trade, especially with Europe. This context helps explain why the US and UK scuttled peace talks that could have ended the war in Ukraine back in April of 2022.
Because the crackpot realists of the US power elite so badly misjudged the military, economic, and diplomatic aspects of the conflict in Ukraine, the war has served to accelerate the demise of US hegemony. As professional US imperialist Fiona Hill recently acknowledged, “The war in Ukraine is perhaps the event that makes the passing of pax Americana apparent to everyone.”
US leaders have only themselves to blame. The pursuit of open-ended global primacy was always madness. In decades past, US leaders tried and failed to turn the US away from empire. Now that the curtain is falling on US global hegemony, can new post-Biden leadership succeed where these men failed?
Native American Ravioli
2023 05 28 17 19
Ingredients
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Instructions
Pour the flour into a mound on a flat working surface. Make a depression in the center with your hand that almost reaches through to the board. Crack the eggs directly into the well and, with a fork, whip in the salt and oil, mixing the flour in from around the edges. Mix and knead the dough with your hands for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough has a smooth and elastic consistency. If the dough seems a bit dry, add a little water; add a little more flour if it seems too moist.
Once you have obtained the desired consistency, cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Divide the dough into handsful and roll out each section to a very thin, even, almost translucent thickness. Use your imagination to cut the dough into any size or shape.
Any filling can be used to make the ravioli.
Blue Cornmeal Ravioli: Substitute a combination of 1 cup finely ground blue cornmeal and 1 1/2 cups flour for the flour in this recipe. Increase the number of eggs to 5.
“Our daughter is gone!” Abandoned French Palace with Tragic Story explored
TSMC can’t find the staff. But if you look deeper Western media already trying to come up with excuses for America’s impending failure to steal technology from one of their vassals.
Here is the real reason:
American education system has failed; American workers are too uneducated to compete.
America’s government is too corrupt at all levels to build any real infrastructure.
American society has outsourced its social safety net to rent-seeking middlemen. These leech productivity from society, actually productive industries, and workers. Making production in the USA unviable.
But it’s apparently the fault of the Chinese (RoC types are always labeled as Chinese when it’s convenient).
Why the Hunter Biden “laptop issue” is so significant
2023 06 04 06 58
Is this a ‘Bot or for-real?
2023 06 04 09 17
Velociraptors Long Grass
Persian Gulf States to Form Joint Navy in Coordination with China
When US lost the trade and technological war against China, and lost Ukraine war to Russia, the world no longer afraid of US because the “perceived US position of strength to force the world to obey” diminished. As a result, all the victims of the mafias suddenly and voluntarily joint china to endorsed the policy of mutual respect and win win. The crusader regimes will be down faster than imagination.
Satanic Treasure 🔞 Where To Find The Hidden Treasure In The Old House of Satanists ❌ HUNTER
The world is catching on…
Well, Western media just going to write whatever BS, quote “anonymous sources”, publish rumors and innuendos, WHY do they even NEED to be at the meetings? Any meetings?
It seems the “meetings” would be a complete waste of time and money for the Western media folks. So, it’s only for their “human rights” that they do not be subjected to such “meetings”?
2023 06 04 09 22
India, China, every BRICS and global south country needs to learn this.
Is this a ‘Bot of for-real?
2023 06 04 09 19
Men In Black 3 (2012)
https://youtu.be/Rc507n76IaM
Stop Saying ’Sorry’ If You Want To Say ‘Thank You’: A Seriously Insightful Cartoon
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We often apologise assuming that people will appreciate our politeness and good manners. But in most cases, the other party is much more pleased to hear words of gratitude from you rather than an apology. Talented illustrator Yao Xiao, using everyday situations as inspiration, helps to explain why «thank you» is sometimes better than «I’m sorry» in this cartoon.
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The international community has been de-dollorising and decoupling with the US. The US has been isolated by the international community. Will the US be able to bomb the international communities now?
Of course I can’t know for sure, but am encouraged by a video of George Galloway filmed last year in Belgrade by the remaining ruined buildings left by the US/NATO Winston-Smith-Memory-Holed bombing campaign against Serbia in which the Chinese Embassy was attacked. The former British MP said the world has changed since 1999 with BRICS outpacing the G7 and the Global South (the “world” that doesn’t exist on CNN, MSNBC, etc.) ditching the increasingly erratic US $: “Nobody’s going to bomb another Chinese Embassy now!”
Taiwan is beefing up its communications infrastructure to ensure that it remains connected to the rest of the world in case of any emergency. Cindy Wang reports on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
2023 06 04 14 25
China HUGE Breakthrough in Missile Chip Tech Amid US Chip Sanctions
https://youtu.be/6R3VG_BG4_I
Is this a ‘Bot or for-real?
2023 06 04 09 20
What happened when selling a house that made you not sell to the prospective buyer?
We listed our house in 2016 during a red-hot sellers market. In the Pacific Northwest, houses were selling in 1–2 days. We were hoping to sell quickly because we’d just built another home and two mortgages would be a lot to handle.
When the house finally listed we had a full price offer of $275k on the first day and we were thrilled. We didn’t think twice about accepting it with only one contingency – a home inspection, which is common here. We arranged for the inspection which would take one week.
You know there’s often more to the story. *Image from CBS News.
We were a little concerned when the buyer asked to have an HVAC inspection using their own company instead of using the home inspector, but we gave our permission without asking why.
Their HVAC company did their inspection a few days before the previously-arranged home inspector was supposed to show up. We were presented with a quote for $15k to fix several problems: AC too small, gas fireplace won’t ignite, the furnace was not installed to building code, and the furnace didn’t work. The first words out of my mouth were “what the F?”.
Since it was springtime, we’d been running the AC and furnace on and off before showings so we knew they worked. We contacted the owner of our HVAC company who installed the furnace only three years before and he came out immediately to check on all these issues. We contacted the buyer’s realtor and we all went to our house to check out this mystery.
Our HVAC guy:
-measured the AC unit and determined it was sized properly for our home.
-the fireplace igniter was disassembled by “someone”. We put it together and it started right up.
-now the HVAC guy went into our crawl space where he confirmed the furnace was installed to code.
-we tested the furnace and it wouldn’t start. Our guy tested a few things and finally removed the steel face and found the igniter power wire had been unscrewed and the nut carefully set to the side for a quick reattach!
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Not my furnace but you get the idea. A nut was carefully removed and wire pushed aside. *Image from Google images.
We’d been sabotaged.
With the buyer’s agent standing right there, I asked why her client had done such an obvious job of messing with the system. She quickly became very nervous and near tears but I had a feeling she wasn’t involved. In her nervousness, she started telling us that she’d visited at least 20 houses with these people and they’d made many lowball offers, always sticking to prices that were too low. We assumed they had made a plan to buy and then demand price concessions after “inspecting” the HVAC. They probably had a family member that worked there or arranged for a kickback. In my head I’ve made the plot much more sinister over the years.
I told my realtor we weren’t going to work with this buyer. No deal. We’d take the property off the market before selling and if they pressed us they would regret it as we had a lot of evidence that they’d tampered with our HVAC systems. They walked away with their earnest money (pun intended).
Since we had offers so quickly we increased the price by $10k and removed the “pending” status. After a few days we had an all cash offer which we accepted.
So, the silver lining … a learning experience! I’m happy we had a trustworthy realtor on our side. He said he’d never seen a situation like this one.
Abandoned: Europe’s Largest Underground Airport explored
Is it correct to say that China cannot survive without trade from South Korea or Japan at all?
China exports to South Korea is 0.7% of Chinese GDP, exports to Japan is 0.94% of Chinese GDP. Both are great trading partners but still relatively insignificant.
Every Rodney Dangerfield line from Caddyshack
Many Americans think that Donald Trump resembles Rodney in this video.
Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?
Back in the late 90’s I worked on a net caffe back in Venezuela, and among other things we provided tech service. One day a client called about a computer she had that ate diskettes.
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These things for the younger folk.
So we asked her to bring it in, and I open it to see what’s up. She had a computer case that had a disketter opening, kinda like this one:
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but there was no diskette drive inside the hole, so she would push them and they’d fall into the case. There were 20 diskettes inside.
No more meetings, no more talks on the phone with chief Lloyd Austin
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INTRODUCTION
Experiencing a series of vicious acts, violence and provocations as well as the general lack of trust, China has now decided not to answer phone calls from Lloyd Austin, chief of U.S. defense ministry.
Prospects for a renewed high-level military dialogue between China and the U.S. remain dim, with Beijing saying their defense chief will not hold a bilateral meeting while both are attending a weekend security conference in Singapore.
Closely monitoring the moods of the PLA and comparing the other Chinese departments with their U.S. counterparts, Beijing believes that the Defense Department under Lloyd Austin is the weak link in the United States.
Beijing is now deeply concerned that US and China are most likely to trigger conflicts between the two armies of the world’s largest superpowers.
Traditionally, China has always been faithful to their policy of peaceful and cooperative relations with the US, especially the military wing, believing that any armed conflict can trigger a war which is beyond calculation.
The Chinese leadership has decided to take a peaceful and preventive measure by sending the message unmistakably to the American side, hoping to forestall a future war that they believe is down the road.
The Chinese have an adamant sense of history: They have in their hearts reserved a special place for their American friends, and how much hate they have for their “foes”, the barbaric Imperial Japanese Army.
Today, the Chinese are still “fighting” these Japanese “foes”; the non-stop production and viewing can testify that they watch anti-Japanese war movies every day.
The message? China’s trying to avert any military conflict, but it’ll fight back if provoked.
FM spokesperson Mao Ning blamed the U.S…
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning most recently blamed the U.S., saying Washington should “earnestly respect China’s sovereignty and security interests and concerns, immediately correct the wrongdoing, show sincerity, and create the necessary atmosphere and conditions between the two militaries.”
She gave no details, but tensions between the sides have spiked over and Washington’s military support and sales of defensive weapons to self-governing Taiwan, China’s assertions of sovereignty to the contested South China Sea and its flying of a suspected spy balloon over the U.S.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to address the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, while Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu will speak at the gathering on Sunday.
Austin met previously with Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, at last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue – which appeared to do little to smooth relations between the sides. In his address to the forum, Wei accused the U.S. of seeking to contain China’s development and threatening to assert its claims to Taiwan by military force.
China refused to take a phone call from Austin… insisting that communications on the military level have yet to show signs of improvement
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden cordially met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting of large economies last November in Indonesia. Unfortunately, contacts have proceeded only sporadically since then, with only side meetings on neutral territory.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing in February after the U.S, shot down a Chinese “spy” balloon that had crossed the United States. He later met with the Communist Party’s senior foreign affairs adviser Wang Yi in Austria.
China refused to take a phone call from Austin to discuss the balloon issue, the Pentagon said. Always beset by mistrust and accusations, communications on the military level have yet to show signs of significant improvement.
Beijing was reportedly angered by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s April stopover in the U.S. that included an encounter with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China’s PLA holds military exercises and sends fighter jets, drones and ships near the island “to advertise its threat to attack and wear down Taiwan defenses.’
Moreover, “China protests movements of U.S. Navy ships and aircraft through the Taiwan Strait and close to Chinese-held islands in the South China Sea, dispatching its own ships and planes and raising the possibility of confrontations or collisions.” (Source: MDT/AP)
CONCLUSION
Last century’s Sino-Japanese war might be over, but the aftermaths of horror of war – such as hard-feelings and the anti-Japanese sentiments are still here to haunt the nation.
Remarkably, Germany’s leaders did an excellent job in easing the pains inflicted by the atrocities of the Nazis. Remember the picture of Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling before the million Jewish victims massacred?
Japan’s leaders have never done that; they have even erased this memory by white washing the “rape of Nanking”, a genocidal chapter in their bloody acts of atrocity.
Western anthropologists have observed that the Americans are reality bound, whereas the Chinese are past oriented in culture.
Some American leaders are mistaken as they perceive China as a “threat” to American national security. False!
Chinese students pose a “threat” to their American competitors; they are culturally and genetically prone to “academic achievements – a syndrome pushing them to succeed.” True!
The American public are manipulated by media to the point that they believe the Chinese president got carried away with the “no limits” friendship with Putin, who’s invading Ukraine. If one goes by the number of Chinese students attending colleges and universities in the U.S., the picture’s crystal clear. They prefer America to Russia.
If unprovoked, no Chinese has ever and would never think of harming the Americans, who are held high in regard as “professors of great learning”; the Chinese see themselves as “learners in apprenticeship”. Such perception has been around since the end of WWII.
The Chinese are happy to see their leaders getting along well with their American counterparts, Katherine Tai, the Secretary of Trade and Commerce, and Janet Yellen, the chief of finance, just to name a few.
The Chinese just can’t accept Lloyd Austin; they fear that he might “lead or mislead” the two nations to the tragedy of “sleepwalking” into war.
Noble Family disappears: Time Capsule Château left Abandoned
What roles does the US think China is playing in the world today?
Today?
Today, this June 2023, China is the dominant nation in the world.
In every metric, China dominates.
Some metrics are obvious and astounding. Where it is obvious that China is the predominant nation in the world in that particular role.
Lifestyle for it’s citizenry.
Destruction of poverty.
Elimination of air pollution.
Manufacturing ability.
New technologies.
And so on and so forth.
It is no mistake that the rest of the world (well, the nations that are not proxies of the United States, that is) turn to China. They turn to China for trade. For economics. For science, and manufacturing. They turn to China for help and assistance. They turn to China for guidance, and direction.
They turn to China.
…
Now that being the truth, you have a multi-billion anti-china funded effort. This effort is designed to keep the American public, and the citizens of the proxy nations, ignorant of reality. Anything positive or neutral is withheld, and colored with outrageous lies. There’s no other way to describe the war propaganda; it’s untruths, and lies that are the direct opposite of the truth.
And if you, the reader are not aware of this, shame on you.
…
The rest of the world is turning into a multi-polar world based on individual national sovereignty, They no longer use American currency, follow and obey American laws, rules and conventions, and are distancing themselves from the insanity that has gripped the United States and dragging it downward.
There are exceptions.
A “color revolution” in Thailand, and South Korea has placed “puppet governments” in power. And the first things that these puppets do is pull their nations closer to the United States, and then engage in a war where many of their countrymen are killed.
It’s the United States method of Geo-Politics.
…
But, back to the question about China.
Do you know what the United States will look like in 2040? Do you know the projections? What are the economic, social, scientific, and cultural changes that will manifest int he United States in 2040?
Well, you don’t know.
Because there just isn’t any writings, projections, or videos about this subject. The United States has no plans for this far in the future. Instead the United States fully intends to “kick the can down the road” and let someone else deal with the various messes and problems that are sprouting up left and right everywhere.
RAND studies are looking at regional wars, and proxy war and color revolutions well into the next decade. But NOTHING about building the American domestic society. Nothing about the future of schools, society, and infrastructure. It’s almost as if those issues are not important.
But…
China knows.
China knows what the world will look like in 2040.
…
I see a prosperous China. Where China is a wealthy nation. Far wealthier than anything in Europe today.
I see a vibrant, and healthy Africa. Crime being eliminated, and social services expanding as industry does as well.
I see South America growing and modernizing. And like Africa, a strong middle class.
I see Chinese bases on the Moon, and the start of a Chinese colony on the surface of Mars.
I also see some amazing breakthroughs in national governance across the world where nations restructure their nations to be more efficient like China, and to punish the evil and greedy like China has.
Yes.
…
I see a bright future ahead.
And it is all starting today with the global leadership of China.
The Ukrainian Military Is In Bad Shape
Erik Kramer and Paul Schneider are two former U.S. special operations soldiers who have been in Ukraine since 2022 to train Ukrainian troops.
At War on the Rocks they paint a dark picture of the state of the Ukrainian military. Their intent is to get money for more training, thus the real picture may be less dark than they describe. But even if one takes that into account it is still a sad state for an army that has been at war for more than a year. Some excerpts:
Based on our nine months of training with all services of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to include the Ground Forces (Army), Border Guard Service, National Guard, Naval Infantry (Marines), Special Operations Forces, and Territorial Defense Forces, we have observed a series of common trends: lack of mission command, effective training, and combined arms operations; ad hoc logistics and maintenance; and improper use of special operations forces. These trends have undermined Ukraine’s resistance and could hinder the success of the ongoing offensive.
What ongoing offensive?
Under mission command, the German Auftragstaktik, the leader disseminates his intent (“to attack through the northern woods to take town x”) and authority to subunits that is passed down with the mission to empower subordinates at all levels. Each subunits can make its plans to coordinate and execute the mission as best as possible. The contrast is an order command where every detail of execution is ordered from the top down. Both have advantages but to have a mixed system, as Ukraine currently has, is the worst of all places.
In our experience, across many units and staffs, the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not promote personal initiative and foster mutual trust or mission command. As Michael Kofman and Rob Lee recently discussed on the Russia Contingency podcast, elements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have an old Soviet mentality that holds most decision-making at more senior levels. Amongst military leaders at the brigade level and below, our impression is that junior officers fear making mistakes.
But to use mission command down to the lower levels of a Platoon one needs noncommissioned officers (sergeants) to run the show. Those the Ukrainian military had are by now probably dead:
Having trained every component of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, we have continually seen a lack of an experienced noncommissioned officer corps. It is common to see field grade officers running around during training counting personnel and coordinating for meals. In the United States, it takes years to develop just a junior noncommissioned officer.
The next big lack is combined arms training and use. Tanks protect the infantry, the infantry protects the tanks, the artillery covers the battlefield to allow tanks and infantry to maneuver, command takes care that all three coordinate their actions.
The armor/infantry relationship is supposed to be symbiotic, but it is not. The result is that infantry will conduct frontal assaults or operate in urban areas without the protection and firepower of tanks. Also, artillery fires are not synchronized with maneuver. Most units do not talk directly to supporting artillery, so there is a delay in call for fire missions. We have been told that units will use runners to send fire missions to artillery batteries because of issues with communications.Most of the military’s operations are not phased and are sequential. Fires and maneuver, for example, are planned separately from infantry units — and infantry units plan separately from supporting artillery. This mentality also carries over to adjacent unit coordination, which is either nonexistent or rare and causes high rates of fratricide. Unit commanders have concerns about collaborators and thus are hesitant to pass on critical information that can be used against them to sister units.
These issues are compounded by unreliable communications between units and with senior leadership. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have a hodgepodge of radios that are vulnerable to jamming. Further, battalion missions are mainly independent company operations that do not focus on a main effort coupled with supporting efforts. The armed forces do not combine effects, so operations are piecemeal and disjointed. The separate missions are not supporting each other, nor are the missions of lower level units “nested” under a higher level mission. Sustainment is not synchronized with operations, either.
Due to the wild mix of weapons and for lack of trained mechanics logistics and the maintenance of equipment are a mess.
This lack of coordinated maintenance and logistics also translates into medical care. Medical evacuation and care are haphazard. Experienced Ukrainian combat medics have repeatedly stated that many of the evacuees would have survived it they had reached definitive care in a timely manner. The Ukrainian Armed Forces can solve this issue with a systematic logistics process.
Ukrainian special forces are mostly used as infantry even as they should be used for more demanding missions. There also are gimmick missions:
Ukraine special forces units comprised of international volunteers shop around their services to conventional unit commanders without a mission being tied to a strategic or operational goal. One example of a mission was a conventional brigade commander who had reported to his command that he had occupied a village taken from the Russians. When he realized that the information he had was mistaken and they had stopped short, he asked the international special operations forces unit to go into the occupied village and take a picture of a Ukrainian flag placed on top of a building in the center of the village.
A suicide mission to hide the commanders false reporting …
The authors claim that most of the above problems could be fixed by more ‘western’ training which they are more than willing to sell. However, what has become of the last armies ‘western’ forces have trained in Iraq and Afghanistan? Both fell apart. An army must reflect the local society and culture. It can not be formed top down by outside forces.
Since 2015 the Ukrainian army has been build up and trained by U.S. and British forces. What the WotR authors describe is the result of that.
Posted by b on June 3, 2023 at 17:01 UTC | Permalink
Inside This Secret Masonic Crypt will Shock You! (R$E)
How is China scaring the U.S?
China is scaring America in several ways:
China is about to overtake America as the world’s largest economy, probably by 2028.
China and BRICS are creating alternative reserve currencies to the US Dollar. China is accelerating global de-dollarization.
China is surpassing America technologically in most fields. In space exploration, China landed on the far side of the moon, China landed a rover on Mars, China built the Tiangong space station. China leads in 5G/6G. I could go on and on and on.
China is gaining substantial diplomatic credibility and influence around the world. BRI, BRICS, RCEP, SCO…these things keep US officials up at night. China recently brokered the Saudi-Iran peace deal.
China is modernizing its military with amazing military tech. Hypersonic missiles. J-20 and J-35. Type 003 Fujian with EMALS. Powerful destroyers and nuclear attack submarines. I could go on and on and on.
China’s extraordinary manufacturing capacity means that China could outlast the USA in any war. Building ships, planes, tanks…you name it.
China is such a crucial part of America’s supply chains, including military supply chains, China could strangle the United States.
US politicians are shitting their pants.
NATO INVADING SERBIA!!!!!
NATO will officially be invading Serbia, a non-E.U. European country even after protest by Belgrade.
A Staunch Chinese ally in the region.
“Wokeness” is the new COINTELPRO. Pink fascism is the du jour variety
In George Orwell's 1984, the totalitarian state would periodically rewrite the history books, making everything logical and correct. The old Soviet Union had a similar classical approach to propaganda. But modern western propaganda is more like avant-garde jazz: a whirlwind of noise and conflicting rubbish that drowns out all else. It's like using noise to jam a radar system. One can still find old books that are clearly written, there is no attempt to destroy the past, just bury it beneath a blizzard of garbage so that people don't even know it's there.
Posted by: TG | May 22 2023 15:37 utc | 17
China no longer talks with the US government. But it is in active and productive talks with United States industry and commerce folk.
There is obviously a serious disconnect in this matter, as it seems that the United States government does not represent the people, or the industry that it is supposed to.
China is recognizing that.
And dealing directly with the principals.
But if you live in the West, you will be oblivious to that fact, and the reaction to this reality is being of a hysterical nature.
Spewing forth of massive quantities of bullshit…
Everything in the West is bullshit.
It’s all lies. It’s all nonsense. It’s all so much garbage, that no one can possibly figure out what is real or a lie. Bills to restrict what you can say are named “freedom to speak law”, and taxes to pay for more wars is titled “end the war tax”.
The food in the United States is GMO laden trash, filled with chemicals. The history books, if they are even read are filled with manufactured nonsense. The United States did not go to the moon, nor is Fort Knox filled with gold bars. There is no such thing as freedom in the Untied States, and the idea that Americans are well represented by “representatives” is laughable.
It’s lies after lies, and the “house of cards” is falling.
Right.
Now.
China warns the USA
Hit the brakes NOW, or face war.
They Cannot Hide It Anymore: China Refuses All Communication with U.S. – THREE Weeks Now!
Since the end of high level meetings between the U.S. and China which took place in Vienna around May 10, China has cut-off all communication with the United States.
Chinese officials refuse phone calls, meetings, and any dialogue with American representatives says one high ranking State Department official.
This has gone on since the meetings in Vienna around May 10, which means it has now been THREE WEEKS since the two governments spoke with each other. Heck of thing for the two largest trading partners on the planet.
So . . . Who was it from the US that went to Vienna, met with China and clearly did something that smashed relations? None other than, Jake Sullivan.
The US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and top diplomat from China, Wang Yi, had two days of intense meetings in Vienna.
OPINION
Now, I have long viewed Jake Sullivan as not only a pencil-neck geek, but, to be candid, I view the guy as having the intellect of a flea.
What he did is not yet known to me, but I expect to find out in short order. When I do, I will report it.
In the meantime, the American people should know that relations between the U.S. and China are having a very large problem, and Beijing has cut off all contact.
When the talking stops . . . . well . . . .
…you know what generally comes next.
China still has some very sharp, unused arrows in the cabinets in the basement:
Imagine what will happen when tomorrow, someone will post a movie clip on TikTok with a Big Mac with a nail or an insect into it. The whole of McDonalds empire will implode. The same could happen with KFC, Subway, PizzaHut, Starbucks, Apple, Microsoft, …
They’re all making more than half of their turnover in China. That could all be done and over with, in a mere couple of days.
________________________
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波
US anti-China sentiment impedes resumption of high-level exchanges
By Global Times Published: May 25, 2023 11:00 PM
As high-level communication between China and the US resumes, an anti-China vanguard groupuscule in the US House of Representatives is getting even more fidgety. By hyping some twice-told tales about the “big bad China,” they try to show their presence and sabotage the improvement of bilateral relations.
The US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday approved two reports regarding China’s Xinjiang and the island of Taiwan as its first set of policy recommendations, hoping some of its recommendations will become law this year.
Formed in January, the bipartisan committee and its members have constantly made provocative moves on China-related issues, trying to prove its value to the US Congress.
For instance, it has held several hearings in a fanfare way to attack China on various topics, such as TikTok, Taiwan, economic and trade, and human rights.
In April, the panel engaged in a table-top simulated war game exercise over a possible conflict in the Taiwan Straits. On the surface, it concluded that “nobody wins when deterrence breaks down,” as the committee leader, Mike Gallagher, put it. But, in fact, it was a disguised attempt to encourage the US to strengthen its military intervention in the Straits.
Later that month, members of the committee also traveled to California with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet with Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen, disregarding strong opposition from the Chinese side.
In some way, the panel works as a policy incubator for Congress. Its members aim to form some consensus in their small circle and then propose and promote it in other bigger and more important committees. It is like delivering bullets to other panels and the leaders of the House that strive to shoot at China all the time.
Besides, all the 24 representatives in this committee share one similarity: They hold an extremely negative and hawkish attitude toward China, making the group a veritable anti-China vanguard in Congress. Working as a small group means their anti-China endeavors can become more well-planned and well-organized. As important sources for the Congress’s possible agenda against China, these US lawmakers actually live off by bashing China and use China-related issues to gain more exposure in US public opinion and climb up the political career ladder further.
The contrast between the provocative House panel and the White House’s desire to ease the tension with China shows that some US lawmakers and government officials do not entirely agree with each other on China-related issues. At the congressional level, more emphasis was placed on the saber-rattling geopolitical competition with China with strong ideological hues.
Thus, it is no surprise that some Members of Congress are unwilling to see the stabilization of China-US ties. Their sensationalist political posturing reveals the sinister intentions to destroy China-US relations or to push the two countries into a new cold war.
Yet, even within the US government, it’s hard to find a common understanding of how to deal with China. The announcement of Rick Waters, the State Department’s top China policy official, stepping down and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman retiring underscore the divergences among officials in Washington over which path to take in relations with China.
Overall, it is rather challenging for US President Joe Biden to unify the administration’s opinion and approach to China. And even if he does, a Congress that advocates a tougher China policy will still hinder the implementation.
“The current situation also reflects the limitation of the Biden administration’s China policy; that is, pursuing dialogue and engagement with China while thinking about suppression and restriction is impossible. If Washington continues to adhere to these two contradictory mentalities, it will never achieve the result it wants, Zhang Tengjun, deputy director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.
As extremism in US politics has long hijacked the country’s policy toward China, we should not expect Washington’s China strategy to return to a rational and normal track soon. And it is a shame that US diplomacy, all along, cannot get rid of the aggravated interference and intervention of the extreme China hawks.
Big Vessel
The Dalian shipyard delivered a 460,000-ton (displacement) ship. The ship is an oil&gas floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. It is the largest of its kind and one of the largest ships ever built.
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Sci-fi Movie in Reality: Beijing Subway Pilots Palm Scanning for ‘Empty-Handed’ Entry and Exit!
No need to swipe a card or scan a QR code. A Beijing subway line now allows passengers to enter and exit “empty-handed” by scanning the palms of their hands.
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A pilot program launched on Sunday to apply the new technology on the Daxing Airport Express, which links the Beijing Daxing International Airport, said the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.
Passengers can show their palms to pass ticket gates at stops along the line after inputting their palm information at the station’s ticket machines and authorizing the use via WeChat, a popular messaging app in China. Fees are automatically deducted after exit.
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The ticket gates recognize the user’s palm print and veins without contact, said the commission. It can allow passengers to take subway trains if they do not have cash when their smartphones run out of battery.
The commission said data masking and encryption technologies have been applied to protect the user’s information.
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Half-Dead Senator Fully Propped Up By Democrats
Meanwhile back in the United States…
WTF! These are who is “running” the United States.
Describe Americans
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Putin just ENTERED the most dangerous phase of the war
Two hours of what the fuck! The legislation originating out of the USA is frightening.
Media And Politicians Throw So Much Bullshit At Us That It Is Difficult To See Through It
Western media are feeding us bullshit. It is so strong that even western politicians, like the public, seem to believe in it. The reason is that it is increasingly difficult to detect the bullshit because there is just too much of it.
[I]t is these censorious states and the mass media that carry their messages with stenographic precision into print and electronic dissemination who are the ones that day after day feed disinformation to the public. It is cynically composed and consists of a toxic blend of ‘spin,’ by which is meant misleading interpretation of events, and outright lies.The many months long battle for the provincial Donbas city of Bakhmut, or Artyomovsk as it is known in Russia, has been described variously from on high in Washington, London and Berlin. When the likely outcome was unclear, the defense of Bakhmut was called heroic and demonstrative of the brave fighting spirit of the Ukrainians.
Casualty figures issued by Kiev and then trumpeted from Washington suggested that the Russians were stupidly throwing away the lives of their fighting men by using WWI style human waves of attackers who were decimated by the defenders. Russian lives are cheap was the message. The fact that Russian artillery on site outnumbered and outperformed Ukrainian artillery by a factor of five or seven to one was freely admitted by the Western propagandists as they pleaded for increased supplies to Kiev. They, nonetheless, issued casualty reports for the Russians that inverted the force correlation. It was assumed, obviously with reason, that the public was too lazy or too uninterested to do the arithmetic.
The Russian forces fire ten times the number of shells the Ukrainians can fire. In a modern war artillery fire causes 65+% of all casualties. It is thus impossible that Ukraine is losing less soldiers than the Russians.The total ratio may well be 7 to 1 but it will certainly be to the advantage of the Russian forces side.
The reporting on the alleged not-fall of Bakhmut in mainstream media is similar nonsensical:
Russia’s capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. It would represent the first Ukrainian city it has seized since Lysychansk last summer, and be a setback for Kyiv, which expended precious ammunition and sent some of its most capable forces to try to thwart Russia’s devastating monthslong assault on the city. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there.
Bakhmut has fallen. Why then is the NYT writing in the subjunctive ‘would’? It does not make sense.
Ukrainian forces have been reduced to small footholds in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which despite its limited strategic importance has emerged as the war’s bloodiest battlefield. But they have made gains on the Russian flanks, in a move to encircle the city and extend the fight there, according to Ukrainian officials and military personnel in the field.
… Ukraine still holds slivers of the city, including the area around what has become a landmark of Ukraine’s last redoubt: a destroyed sculpture of a Soviet MiG fighter jet, according to multiple military personnel involved in defending the position, which Russian forces continue to contest.
No. Ukraine does not hold ‘slivers of the city’. Videos published yesterday evidently prove that:
Ukraine Control Map @UAControlMap – 10:50 UTC · May 22, 202346/48 Wagner flag raise in south west Bakhmut near the destroyed MiG statue
Coordinates: 48.57570907, 37.96475216
Map view: Google
‘Encircling the city’ is likewise a dream.
Situation in Bakhmut on May 8
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Situation in Bakhmut on May 22
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The scale of the map is on the bottom right. From it we can tell that the Russian forces, under attack, have moved back some 1 or 2 kilometers from the difficult to defend fields towards better suited positions after Ukrainian forces wasted their lives to open a corridor for the troops fleeing from Bakhmut. That attack happened on May 11. On the following day the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian side, during the last 24 hours, had lost 1,725 men, 9 tanks and 55 armored combat vehicles. That was so far the biggest reported daily loss in this war. The lines on the flanks of Bakhmut have since been stabilized.
So where please is the ‘encirclement’? The maps show no attempt of one.
Yves Smith points out that the disinformation allures have seemingly turned into the believes of those who issues them:
In corporate America, there’s a decent risk that fakery will get caught out by competitors, short sellers, whistleblowers, and just plain careful reading of audited financials.
…
By contrast, in politics, reality avoidance is routinely the key to a long and successful-looking career, witness Eurocrats’ fondness for “kick the can” strategies. And that propensity is particularly dangerous when leadership groups have become both selfish and short-termist. There really was once upon a time some people who went into government service for the service part, and not for the revolving door and networking.
… But now, the well-honed effectiveness of propaganda has encouraged politicians and their media amplifiers/allies to go hog wild with selling Big Lies. And the worst is there are no consequences for the perps. … The wee problem with the war in Ukraine and the escalating US eye-poking of China is neither is going very well, to the degree that the propaganda started fizzling out very quickly in the Global South and is losing its potency in the West.
It’s hard to keep up the pretense of a great inevitable Ukraine victory with Ukraine losing Bakhmut, after Zelensky made it the centerpiece of his Congressional love-fest last December. Oh, but Ukraine is still trying to deny it is lost, as they did for Mariupol and Soledar until well after the fact.
The believe into impossible things is not only with regards to the war in Ukraine but also with the bigger view towards China:
Similarly, US officials may have told themselves that much of the world regarded China with suspicion due to its often-overheated rhetoric and hypersensitivity to slights. But these self-comforting beliefs about China’s position on the world stage got a big wake up call with China brokering a normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and then Syria.
Now China is making more trouble by wandering into America’s back yard, as in Europe, and talking up its napkin-doodle Ukraine peace plan.
According to the Financial Times, the G7 has issued its strongest condemnation of China, and most of the other international mainstream media also highlight that it “amps up pressure on China.” It seems that the only way for the G7 to catch people’s attention and show its sense of presence is to speculate on the issues related to China.As a “rich countries’ club” that once accounted for up to 70% of the global economy, the G7 has been facing a serious existential crisis in recent years as its economic weight has been declining, coupled with a decline in global population share and perceived attractiveness.
… The louder the anti-China rhetoric from the G7, the smaller its actual impact will be, as this is a natural law. This is because it would mean that G7 serves the strategic interests of the US rather than the welfare of the international community, making it difficult to receive any “assistance” but more difficult to make progress. It is very likely that in the end, the G7 will find that it has expended a lot of effort, but the result is only spinning its wheels.
…
The Hiroshima summit seems to have given the G7 a sense of “shaping history,” but this illusion will soon be blown away by the winds of reality, since without internal prosperity and development, external displays of strength are only superficial.
Unfortunately many people in the west believe the bullshit their politicians and media are throwing at them. As Caitlin Johnstone observes:
The problem that underpins most other problems in modern times is that human minds are highly hackable, and that the science of hacking them at mass scale has been advancing since Bernays over a century ago. This is what keeps people consenting to the destructive and exploitative agendas of the powerful against their own interests.
…
Many people, maybe even most people, are to some extent aware that our entire civilization is bullshit. Relatively few are able to describe exactly how and why it’s bullshit, though, because there’s so much bullshit it’s hard to get a clear view of how the bullshit is happening.It’s hard to understand how and why our civilization is bullshit exactly because our civilization is bullshit. It’s rife with lies, the teachers feed us lies, the algorithms feed us lies, and we’re trained to look for information in areas that will turn up lies.
…
In a civilization that’s made of bullshit, it’s rare to gain solid enough footing and high enough ground to be able to look around and clearly see how all the bullshit is happening. Everything here is geared toward preventing us from gaining that footing. It takes hard, diligent work, and more than a little luck.
Unfortunately her conclusion is right.
Posted by b on May 22, 2023 at 14:25 UTC | Permalink
How China Is Using Artificial Intelligence in Classrooms
Godfree points out…
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Wagner Finds Antique Weapons In Ukraine’s Underground Weapons Cache
Why I refrain from social media…
Unfortunately, we need to suffer parrots who don’t understand a word of Mandarin or Hokkienese, who cannot place Taiwan on the map, who cannot tell Taiwan from Thailand, yet consider themselves the world authority on China/Taiwan issues simply because they can produce a Fox Cable News invoice. Pathetic!
My response below:
The US congress is loaded with chicken hawk draft dodgers, as is the US administration. All words and zero nerve. Whom are you kidding? Your backing by the US Congress is worth no more than human refuse. The Congress had better make sure it has enough money to tide over the end of May first before worrying about Taiwan. LOL.
You are showing total ignorance of history and international law. The fact that the US recognizes the One China Policy is due to the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation from WWII. Never heard of them, right? Not surprised. It was not borne of some “good relationship” or US love of China, but international law that everyone must respect, or admit being a thug. Come on, let’s have some “Rule Based International Order”, OK?
You are welcome to come to fight and die for Taiwan independence. The Taiwanese would love you, as none of them wants to fight, and they are all betting on idiots like you to come fight and die for them, so they can keep making money. Put your acts where your words are and don’t be a chicken hawk.
Come to fight and die for Taiwan independence, so the DPP president Tsai Ing-wen and 2024 DPP candidate Lai Ching-teh can escape to the US to reunite with their huge families there. They will thank you.
INSANE: Young Americans Don’t Know ANYTHING!
Monument To The Unknown Bureaucrat
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Several countries have monuments to the Unknown Soldier, but perhaps only Iceland has a sculpture honoring — and lightly satirizing — the thankless, anonymous job of the bureaucrat. The 1994 sculpture by Magnús Tómasson depicts a man in a suit holding a briefcase, with his head and shoulders subsumed in a slab of unsculpted stone.
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Raeisi: Iran, Indonesia agree to trade in local currencies to defuse dollar dominance – Pars Today
The seal is believed to have been cast in China and bestowed by Emperor Guangwu of Han upon a diplomatic official (envoy) visiting from Japan in the year 57 AD.
The seal is very well known in Japan, as its taught in Japanese history books to be a cultural asset which ascertains how Japan as a nation came into being. Its the first known textual record of Japan as a country.[3]
2023 05 28 08 31
Richard Wolff: This Is the Worst Economic Period in My Lifetime
Deep-Fried Turkey
2023 05 22 16 47
Ingredients
1 (10 to 12 pound) turkey
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 to 5 gallons peanut oil
Instructions
Rinse and dry turkey.
Remove neck and giblet bag from small cavity in front and the large body cavity.
Generously season inside cavity with salt and pepper. Use as much cayenne pepper as taste buds will allow.
Heat oil in cooking pot large enough to submerse turkey in hot oil.
Heat oil to 350 degrees F to 375 degrees F.
When oil is hot, using a sling of strong twine or a lifter, lower turkey into hot oil.
Cook about 5 minutes per pound or until meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reaches 180 degrees F.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
RED ALERT! US GOVERNMENT ISSUING SATELLITE PHONES, RUSSIA EVACUATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, F16s WILL BE WW3
America is sick, and needs therapy
It is getting more ludicrous by the day!
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The debt ceiling crisis looms over the US. But guess what? Its politicians are crying wolf, warning that this crisis is “playing into the hands of China”.
These days, in shambolic America, everything problematic has a China angle, including debt ceiling.
They blame Chinese imports for their industrial decline.
Soon, they will blame China for their constipation or erectile dysfunction.
It’s Sino-phobia gone mad!
Unfortunately for China, irrational fear of China is the only thing that unites a bitterly divided Congress and country. Politicians speak the same language only when attacking China. Senator Patty Murray, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has gone so far as to declare: “The more we play with default….the more we prove that China and our competitors are right.”
Has US-China relations reached a point of no return?
Post-Trump, America is a hotbed for extremists.
So far, not a single official, elected or appointed, is brave enough to step forward to dilute the venom against a peaceful country whose only sin is outshining America.
China is busy supporting infrastructure projects in more than 150 countries, while the US has poured hundreds of billions into needless wars.
Insanely jealous, America finds in China its convenient bogeyman.
Then there is Republican Senator Susan Collins. She says: “The world faces an authoritarian government that seeks to regain its hegemonic past and dismantle the international order created by the United States and our allies following World War II.”
What a load of nonsense!
For two centuries, China was a humiliated, not a hegemonic, country. Where is this hegemonic past that Collins speaks of?
Her historical ignorance is alarming. As for “dismantling” the international order, look who’s talking? Who’s behind the military conflicts, big and small, in the last 75 years? China merely defended its territorial integrity. It has never disrupted the international order, whatever that is.
What then about the South China Sea?
Well, you are talking about China’s own backyard through which more than 50% of the world’s commerce flows.
It is a choke-point that China must either defend or be strangled by US encirclement.
Militarizing these islands is a must for self-survival.
Or else, China might as well sign its own death warrant.
What about Taiwan?
Under America’s one-China policy, it is a part of Chinese territory, and thus strictly a domestic issue, and in no way a slice of the global order. Ditto Hong Kong and Xinjiang. All internal affairs, all exclusively Chinese concerns.
Whipping up anti-China hysteria is America’s biggest con job, thanks to Trump the pathological con artist.
Want to know a little secret? China owes its stupendous success in the last 40 years, largely, to one thing: national unity.
While America is paralyzed by partisanship, and India is torn apart by genocidal village-burning religious or ethnic hatred, China promotes ethnic harmony and shared prosperity, bestowing preferential benefits on its minorities.
Free from division and distractions, ethnic peace is in China’s vital national interest.
That’s why, there is zero hate crime in every street across every city in China. Minorities coexist peacefully.
I totally discount the possibility of persecution of innocent Uyghurs.
Why should Xinjiang be a singularity? It’s illogical.
It’s unChinese. It rings untrue.
China doesn’t have a history of mistreating minorities.
Its respect for ethnicity is miles ahead of racist America.
China, however, won’t tolerate foreign-fomented Muslim terrorism. Like any country targeted by Islamic terrorists, China acts forcefully to contain them. There are re-education centers, yes, but they exist to re-absorb indoctrinated trouble-makers into society.
Discrimination runs counter to China’s pacific approach to inter-ethnic relations. If anything, there is reverse discrimination in favor of ethnic minorities.
I trust my own eyes.
I distrust American disinformation.
Pre-Trump, America used to enjoy a rosy and cozy relationship with China. Now it seems like a distant memory.
Today’s America is a troubled nation, angry at itself, and angrier at others who know how to govern. It’s no longer fit to be in the world’s driver’s seat.
The US is deeply troubled by China paranoia. Uncle Sam, you’d better book an appointment with your therapist, and have your head examined.
Americans Don’t Know Anything About America
There Are Now 3D Printing Spurs That You Can Attach To The Back Of Your Crocs
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Even outlaws need to sip their whiskey with a comfortable pair of Crocs on their feet, which is why today’s post is bringing out the inner-cowboy in all of us. Transport your heels to the Wild West with these Crocs spurs, which fit perfectly on the back strap of your favorite pair of Crocs!
These spurs (or sprocs) currently fit the full size range of the regular Croc Clog. The All Terrain, Yukon Vista, and other wide strap Crocs models will not fit.
crocs spurs3
They’re made out of plastic and come in 5 different colors: black, white, silver, copper, and marble. The shop’s description also says to reach out to them if you’re looking for custom-colored Crocs spurs, as they can do additional colors, though they also include that these orders take a little longer to fulfill.
crocs spurs5
crocs spurs4
OMG – Exposed by CNN
Chinese hiding behind an American flag
apparently its name is ZPMC(振华 or 振華), literally meaning MAKE CHINA GREAT AGAIN in chinese – I have NOT been able to verify this
Apparently even the American flag is Chinese
China has been trying to unite the world, a peaceful and a better world is good for China. The US and the UK have been inciting conflicts and wars in the world, which the US and the UK believe it is good for the US and the UK. Why?
If you are a despicable thief stealing from the rest of the world and when any country object to your thievery you bomb them and kill millions into smitten, you need to stage war after war after war.
And if you war monger and coerce either or both sides buys arms for you, war is very profitable.
If the side you picked wins you now have a slave vassal state and you can choose your puppet to run the nation for the benefit of US and UK, why won’t you trouble making and war mongering 24/7 and 365 days a year!
Why?
Any fool can see it benefits the US and UK to cause and create trouble all over the world.
The real question is that is it good for UK and the US in the long run.
I don’t think so.
why?
The trouble with the US and UK U.S. that it expects the world will be stupid and don’t see through their evil intentions.
They do.
And by 2023 180/195 nations don’t want and don’t allow the US and UK to manipulate and interfere in their nations anymore.
Today the US is very very very weak politically.
The Global South and most of Asia, And Eastern Europe are aligned to de-dollarise and move its economy away from the U.S. and UK.
So the net effect of fucking up the world may seem good when nations are poor and disorganized from 1945–2000.
But as nations progressed, people become sensible and clever the evil scheme is so very evident.
You mentioned China unites them, the truth they all jointly see no way out but to stop the US and UK excesses.
The world won’t allow 12.5% of humanity to rule the 87.5%! History will be told years from now the starting point is the Ukraine war.
Arms Stockpile in Ukrainian Salt Mine
China, US ‘candid’ trade talks in Washington pave way for addressing ‘core issues’ in ties
Exchange paves way for addressing ‘core issues’ in frayed ties
By GT staff reporters Published: May 26, 2023 09:39 PM Updated: May 26, 2023 11:11 PM
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China’s commerce minister met with US commerce secretary and US trade representative in the US on Thursday and Friday respectively and held “candid” talks in a move that Chinese analysts said could be a prelude to further high-level engagement between the world’s two largest economies and could pave the way for China-US trade and economic ties to play more of a ballast role to help improve frayed bilateral relations.
However, the resumption of high-level interactions comes with Washington’s provocations and attempts to crack down on China in many fields, prompting calls for the US to adjust to a rational, realistic perception of China and to respect China’s stance and bottom line.
China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington on Thursday before attending the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Detroit. The two sides had “candid, professional and constructive exchanges” of views on China-US economic and trade relations as well as issues of common concern, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said in a statement on its website on Friday morning.
The Chinese side expressed key concerns on the US’ economic and trade policies toward China, on semiconductors and export controls, as well as its outbound investment reviews, according to MOFCOM.
Wang also met with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Friday and the two had “candid, pragmatic and in-depth exchanges” of views on China-US economic and trade relations as well as regional and multilateral issues of common concern, according to MOFCOM.
The Chinese side expressed concerns regarding key issues, including the US economic and trade policies toward China, Taiwan-related topics in the economic and trade domain, the Indo-Pacific economic framework and Section 301 tariffs. Both parties agreed to maintain communication.
The meetings between the Chinese commerce minister and US commerce secretary and trade representative, along with the recent resumption of high-level engagements between Beijing and Washington, are one of the most important meetings between the two countries after the US shot down an unmanned Chinese civilian airship and hyped the “China threat”, which drove China-US relations to a new low. It also happened after China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met in Vienna and held “candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive” talks for more than 10 hours on May 10 and May 11.
“China and the US have been maintaining the necessary communication, but the key is that the US cannot engage in communication and cooperation with China while continuing to hurt China’s interests,” Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Friday, noting that the US should meet China halfway to bring China-US relations back to the right track of sound and steady growth.
Significant meeting
Chinese experts said the Thursday meeting is of major importance, as it takes one step further the pledge by the leaders of the two countries from last year’s Bali meeting to manage differences and disagreements and prevent confrontation and conflict.
It is believed that the meeting could help create an environment to solve, mitigate and manage differences in areas linked to trade and economic issues, the ballast of China-US relations, analysts said, holding the belief that such engagement could be a barometer of how much the two sides are heading toward the further restoration of high-level exchanges after months of recrimination.
The US’ crackdown and containment of China in the field of advanced technology must stop and “The concerns raised by Minister Wang are clear, detailed and to the point,” He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Friday.
The fact that the two ministers met for the first time since the pandemic in person in Washington showed that the working-level communications between the two sides have borne fruit, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times Friday.
According to MOFCOM, China and the US agreed to set up communication channels to maintain and strengthen exchanges on specific economic and trade issues in addition to areas of cooperation, meaning “some new channels could be set up for issues that cannot be solved by existing ones,” Gao anticipated.
A readout from the US Department of Commerce said the discussions were “candid and substantive” and that the meeting was “part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the relationship.”
Chinese experts said that the core issues hindering China-US trade and economic ties at the moment are tariffs and the US crackdown on Chinese companies.
The US side has come to realize that bilateral trade grew despite the trade war and that trade with China has win-win results, experts said, noting that the meetings between the Chinese commerce minister and Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai could lead to trade ties playing an expanded ballast role in bilateral relations.
Experts said the Chinese side is making sincere efforts to improve bilateral ties.
China’s new ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, who arrived at his post this week, said on his Twitter account that his mission is to enhance China-US exchanges and cooperation, and he looks forward to working with his American colleagues in the future.
Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen on Friday met with Colm Rafferty, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, and representatives from some American companies to exchange views on bilateral trade and economic relations, US companies’ operations in China and China’s business environment.
However, Chinese experts also warned against being overly optimistic about these meetings, despite the positive signals that came from them.
According to the US readout, Raimondo raised concerns about the recent spate of Chinese actions against US companies operating in China.
Chinese experts noted that legal action taken against some US consultancy firms and the cybersecurity review by relevant Chinese authorities on Micron’s products sold in China have been carried out in accordance with the law and are based on facts. They should not be confused with or compared to the US’ broad crackdown on Chinese companies under the pretext of national security.
The US has used national security as a pretext to put more than 1,200 Chinese companies and individuals on various lists and subjected them to all kinds of restrictions despite the lack of hard evidence of wrongdoing, spokesperson Mao Ning said at Wednesday’s routine press briefing, noting that such moves constitute economic coercion and are unacceptable.
Mao on Friday also called on all parties to jointly oppose the US’ economic coercion and bullying practices and safeguard the multilateral trading system following the US’ grouping of its allies to contain China.
No easy path
Despite the resumption of high-level interactions between China and the US in the economic and trade fields, Washington has not reined in its provocations and attempts to crack down on China in many fields.
The US played a major role in hyping China-related topics at the just concluded Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima. The communiqué and other documents adopted at the summit smeared China and brazenly interfered in China’s internal affairs.
Arms sales to the island of Taiwan continue as Taiwan media said the US $500 million sale through the Presidential Drawdown Authority had recently begun, and that FIM-92 Stinger missiles arrived at Taoyuan Airport on Thursday.
A bipartisan House committee on Wednesday adopted two reports recommending that Congress take action over China’s Taiwan island and the Xinjiang region. The committee will focus on human rights before shifting to military and economic concerns, media reported.
Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday that the US wanted to engage with China on economic and trade issues due to its own needs, but will not abandon containment in other fields.
The US still upholds the old method of dealing with China based on strength – ordering China to cooperate according to US needs and creating problems to maximize its bargaining chips, while not respecting China’s stance and bottom line, Li said.
The US’ hegemonic mentality and paradoxical behavioral pattern are the crux of the difficulties in China-US relations, said Li, who urged the US to adjust to a healthy, rational and realistic perception of China’s development, recognize that China’s growing influence will not constitute a “threat,” and handle China-US relations based on equality and mutual benefit, not hegemony and a new cold war.
Analysts acknowledge that due to the US’ imbalance in its mentality and policy, fierce competition and confrontation will not disappear and China-US relations will continue to be very complex with interests and conflicts intertwined.
As two major powers in the world, the most likely scenario would be to engage in certain areas of common interests while being cautious in managing differences and avoiding conflicts, Li said.
Dr Pepper Texas Chocolate Cake
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Ingredients
Cake
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup Dr Pepper
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Frosting
3/4 cup butter-flavored vegetable shortening
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup Dr Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, tapping out any extra flour.
Cake: Sift together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa and baking soda into a bowl and set aside.
Pour the Dr Pepper into a saucepan and add the chocolate chips. Heat on low, stirring often, until the chips are just melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract in a mixer bowl and mix on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes.
With the mixer running, slowly pour in the Dr Pepper-chocolate mixture and continue beating until combined, about 1 minute.
With mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more.
Divide the batter between the twp pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the layers in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and flip the pans over onto a cooling rack. Gently lift off the pans and let the cake layers cool completely.
Frosting: Beat shortening and butter in a mixer bowl until soft and fluffy.
Add the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa, and continue mixing until combined.
Stir together the Dr Pepper and vanilla extract and very slowly pour it into the frosting, beating with mixer on high speed to thin it a bit. Continue beating until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Set first layer, top down, on a flat plate. Spread 1 cup of the frosting on top.
Top with the second cake layer and spread remaining frosting on the top and sides of the cake, making attractive swirls.
Yield: 12 servings
Americans Living Abroad: First Time You Realized America Really Messed You Up
https://youtu.be/MPOsf_EpHxs
A free Patreon video for you all to enjoy
I posted this video up after repeated banning by you-tube.
It discusses the paper-trail of how COVID was developed, funded, patented, and used by the United States.
The world is changing, and perhaps it’s best to be ignorant of it. Just concentrate on growing your plot of tomatoes, and watering your flowers. The bad, with is terrible enough, is poised to go really awful.
Today is a mish, followed by a mash. Let’s hit a nasty subject first, and they emerge from it with some upbeat funk.
Now for the good old boys out there.
Here’s something for the rednecks…
Toby Keith – As Good As I Once Was
Here’s something for the rednecks…
OK. A short trip towards a serious subject.
Standing up to the powerful…
One of the things that I really hate is how agents are retired. I hate being called a child predator; a cat torturer, or a dog killer. That’s SOP with the United States.
Edward Snowden was a renegade serial rapist. Anyone that opposes the “powers that be” are charged with sex crimes. That’s how to you can tell that Donald Trump was an outsider. How many gals accused him?
But there it is.
Dancing in the Moonlight
Back when I was in middle school, this song was popular.
Discovery
If you are accused of a crime, there is a process called “discovery”. That is where the court is presented the “proof” that you are a criminal.
All “discovery” is boiler plate. They didn’t even bother to use a different font or font size. One sheet that covered a boiler plate of about 75 pages of the horrors of predators. And my name was at the top.
Pisses me off.
Barbecue it wrong. This is extraordinarily evil.
It’s lazy, and especially evil since you are dealing with destroying a person’s life. You take his “mingzi” and absolutely trample it.
In the Meantime
Anyways, you can defend yourself…
Edward Snowden can. Do you think he will get a fair “shake” in the USA?
Everyone gets an opportunity to defend myself. The accused is allowed to call others into the discovery to offer their side of the story.
My case?
Truth. All of my assets SUDDENLY had problems.
The psychologist doctor who was treating my wife (at the time) and had a long documented psy eval on us, and my spanning years was called up to testify. A perfect asset. But right before she could appear; her visa was pulled and she was forced to return to South Africa. Usually, an event that take half of a year, happened in days. She had to leave immediately. She had to leave in 72 hours.
Leaving only the local doctor who simply read aloud the “boiler plate” bullshit off the discovery.
Evil coordination
This coordination of evil; this whitewashing of reality, and this intent to erase me has left a major impression on my soul.
It changed me.
From one thing.
To another.
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I wish that I could go silently off into the night, but I cannot.
Little things remind me of the evil that resides inside the United States.
Like some kind of festering, puss filled open sore with maggots, cockroaches and insects of various types running land and takeoff maneuvers.
Rocket || Creep || Guardians Of The Galaxy
We can relate…
With each “news article”, I am reminded of the evil.
I try to run from it. I try to hide from it.
It keeps drawing me back in.
All that I can say to my MM audience, that my affirmation schedule is on track. And while I spend most of it on myself, I have a section devoted to “the cornfield”. The entire nation; lock, stock, and barrel are slowly and inexplicably being slid into the festering cesspool known as Hell.
And I contribute to this.
As does Sebastian.
As does the entire kit of operatives in our section.
We could have been retired quietly. Sensibly. Respectfully.
But Noooooo…
Eminem – Lose Yourself [HD] – Joker
But noooo!
We have to live the rest of our lives “cursed” as outcasts, and shunned by the bulk of society.
But that doesn’t change who we are.
https://youtu.be/Nm5ITeYqz9A
If you think it is bad now, wait until MY, and SEBASTIAN and the others in our kit gather up the template and start tossing it about. We are all connected by EBP. We are all functional (to one degree or the other), and all of us remain service-to-others, but face the harsh reality of the monster that the United States has become.
The only way out is concentrated intention.
We have greater abilities than just simply changing your color of sock. Don’t you know.
We were broken, but we picked up the pieces and glued ourselves together. I know it’s not a pretty sight, but we have unfinished business. And it’s on a personal level.
Deal with it.
jason bourne extreme ways music video
There are some amateurs that are trying to modulate and change the base line template. They don’t like what it is; particularly that the world is going Chinese, and they are trying to snap it back to a United States dominated template.
Last night, I’ll tell youse guys the truth, I must have devoted all of it to world-line template repair.
Like I said… amateurs.
But still, lost of flapping about. Loose endings. Just “cornflour” growths, Zoomy expansions, and pools of mush.
The Oompaloompas were (of course) just repairing away, but the damage was so substantive that (for reasons that I am not sure of) my section was out in force repairing everything.
Might have to come back again tonight and finish.
Saw Sebastian, but didn’t talk with him.
Don’t worry the world is turning into a peaceful, safe and fair place. And the days of United Strength are over.
What the G7 has become…
Why does G7 claim to be an economic summit? It seems that they are sparing no effort to undermine the economic development of their own countries. It is now a pure political summit.
At the beginning, these countries organized this summit because they had sufficient international influence, which means that the top few economies in the world could together occupy more than half of the world economy. Look at them now, complaining about “economic coercion” from a country that has not joined the G7. One country has “coerced” seven most powerful countries at the same time? That sounds like a joke.
I would like to discuss the power and authority of an organization. They come from the transfer of power from all members who join the organization, so their application scope should also be limited to their participants.
That’s like participating in an insurance plan, where the money should come from the investors who participate. When it collects fees from its neighbors who are not eligible for compensation, it is a triad, which means it should be eliminated.
And what G7 is doing is making various demands on non G7 countries to provide wealth for G7 countries. This is extortion, the real “economic coercion”.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax (Official Video)
Transformation
It is to the immense fortune of the Uyghur Muslim population of Xinjiang that they have a modern, civilized, secular, egalitarian, wealthy, people-centered socialist government.
A government that is committed to spending enormous resources to bring economic development, infrastructure, healthcare, education and social services to the remote and impoverished region, de-radicalize and educate people, provide for their human needs, teach them the language and marketable skills, integrate them with other Chinese citizens who they previously regarded as aliens and enemies, give them gainful employment that allows them to live new lives, and above all, break the hold that Islamic extremists and ethnic separatists have over them, taking advantage of their ignorance and isolation.
China puts much more into the development of its farthest, indigenous territories than the US puts into Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and even modern Indian reservations, and much more than Canada puts into Nunavut and Yukon.
A Xinjiang without China would be in the hands of militant Islamists supported by the United States to squeeze China. It would go the way of Afghanistan. And being so remote, landlocked and devoid of resources, it would rot in poverty and famine without huge external investment.
What limited prosperity and modernity exist elsewhere in Central Asia compared to Afghanistan — in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan — are largely the result of 70 years during which the Soviet Union played the same role for these lands as China plays for Xinjiang, although the Soviet Union was much poorer in resources than modern China and did not complete the job.
What once was a faraway, forgotten place with little formal economic activity, a harsh, crude life for its people, no connections with the outside world, no modern amenities or opportunities, and no authority but religious fundamentalists and armed extremists, is undergoing an extremely expensive transformation. In a couple of decades the average Uyghur Muslim of Xinjiang will enjoy a standard of living lacking nothing compared to his fellow Chinese citizen in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen or Hong Kong.
Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter #23 1977
Love the Afros!
https://youtu.be/f0bdLdTJdKI
What role will NATO play if there will be a conflict between China and Taiwan?
As we know NATO is an extension of US hegemony, and USM forces them to buttress US positions in global affairs and to uphold US hegemony. When USG is ready to start a Taiwan War to contain China, it is not looking to try and defeat PLA in this fight because the casualties and risks to USA is too high for US to bear. Rather, the purpose is to rupture China Europe relations and cost maximum harm to Chinese markets and supply lines. All these moves are aimed at containing China’s rise mainly.
Hence NATO’s main function will be to unite EU and West allies to sanction China, and to deal as heavy a blow to Chinese supply chains and China’s finances as possible. And some NATO forces may move to the US 2nd line island chains like S Korea, Japan and Phillipines to reinforce those alliances but highly unlikely USM will use them to actually fight PLA because that will draw Russia, N Korea and Iran into WW3.
Why do you think China is building SCO, BRICS and 140+ BRI countries to build alternative supply lines, markets and a dedollarised financial system. The whole point is to continue its economic and financial stability in such a scenario. And if the usd reserve status breaks in such a strategy, US funding and ability to lead the EU for such a fight will weaken. As long as US deficits and its huge usd31.5trillion Tbill debts are not solved, Russia and China have far higher odds to break this devious US plot to uphold US Hegemony. It will essentially become a fight between the West and the global South, and at the moment, the Global South is more vibrant, healthy and larger.
main qimg 19ab45e9fab99468cb2a135d2a83c7b1
In fact, the effects of the first phase Ukraine war is inflation and stagnation for EU, should have been ample warning to the West that this strategy will be a failure so starting a phase two Taiwan war to uphold US hegemony will be completely stupid. But the problem we have today is there are enough arrogant hawks in USA that think US hegemony and exceptionalism can never fail. They should read more history, GLOBAL HEGEMONS NEVER LAST FOREVER. Roman Empire, Mongol Empire, Ottoman Empire, British Empire and Nazis are examples that maintaing huge forces to dominate the world always result in bankruptcy and end of Empire finally. Time to end those 800 USM military bases and start negotiating peacefully for a transition to a multipolar world.
S.O.S. Band – Take your time (Do it right) (Extended Version – Tony Mendes Video Remastered Video)
This is truly strange.
Watch the full video. Is the Biden administration so insane to think that the USA population will believe this?
Which country is the main military threat to Indonesia? Many Western medias are saying that China is the main military threat to Indonesia. Is this true?
Once more the Western media – of which I must confess I was once a part – is ill-informed and just plain wrong.
Most of the media pushing this line are simply parroting the tropes of second-rate politicians inspired in turn by crazies in the Intelligence Communities (oxymoron) seeking to justify their existence.
China is the big Daddy of Asia and about to become number one in the world.
Indonesia is quietly emulating the Chinese achievements from a later start and a tad more slowly – this due to the constraints of its embrace of democracy and the decentralization of power created by sweeping Constitutional changes from 1999 to 2002.
Economists expect it will soon become the world’s fourth ranked country in economic terms as well as by population. And it is the undisputed dominant player in ASEAN.
Indonesia and China currently enjoy good relations – the suspicions aroused by the events of 1965 have long since faded. It’s just a couple of weeks since President Widodo visited Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping. Jokowi was one of the first leaders to receive such an invitation after the COVID shutdown.
Now, does anyone really think that China has or will in future have designs on Indonesia?
Really – why would they bother?
Why on earth would they? China and Indonesia have strong, somewhat complementary, and growing trade links, and Indonesia also makes up more 42% of the population of the ASEAN Common Market.
Both are key founding members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that came into effect in January and is regarded as the world’s largest trade block, representing around 30% of the world’s population.
China is also the driving force behind the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (this initiative was officially launched by Xi Jinping on a state visit to Indonesia in October 2013). Indonesia’s infrastructure drive has been a beneficiary with funding for electricity grid development and water storage and irrigation projects.
Indonesia also is the beneficiary of ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives, most notably the high-speed rail connection being built between Jakarta and Bandung.
So, once again, why on earth would China want to engage in hostilities with Indonesia? It can afford to buy whatever influence it feels it needs through judicious placement of largesse and the ordinary processes of trade – so long as there are no artificial barriers (such as ill-considered sanctions) .
And you can bet this route will be a hell of a lot less expensive and much less complicated than any kind of force, particularly a shooting war.
Disputed waters and blown-up fishing boats
Let’s not get carried away by the appearance of Chinese Navy vessels in the small area of disputed waters where the South China Sea meets the North Natuna Sea. Former Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti did an excellent job of curbing illegal fishing vessels caught in Indonesia waters by blowing them up. But that was bound to eventually bring some sort of reaction.
And let’s not get all excited about camouflage-coated big boys toys playing pretend wars around Indonesia’s borders to keep the expensive but necessary defense readiness folk from being bored to death.
More importantly let’s not swallow the myth of the USA as a potential saviour simply because they SELL Indonesia military technology and equipment (when it happens to suit them).
The hard, cold reality is that the US acts in what it perceives to be US interests. And as we have seen in recent years, what the US may currently consider to be its interests can change in a heartbeat.
Chinese build-up a response to US strategic policy
US strategic policy is the principal reason why China is being characterized as an ogre in the West. The critics focus on the Chinese military build-up, especially its Navy, and the creation of forward bases and airfields on atolls and artificial islands in the South China Sea..
But no one talks much about what prompted this Chinese reaction.
The graphic below posted by Nick A1 in a Quora answer in July tells most of the story. Add to the startling American containment arc a naval group constantly patrolling the South China Sea (sometimes two of them) out of Subic Bay.
main qimg 5543cbbdd9727d994b5e70340c3d2863 lq
Plus, divisions of military personnel permanently stationed in South Korea (28,500), Japan (more than 30,000), and Guam (20,000). Not to mention what might be lurking under the surface of the seas or high in the sky.
That should be more than enough to explain Chinese nervousness, right?
Just IMAGINE what the US reaction would be if the Chinese set up major bases in Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Newfoundland and sent its naval fleet to alternately patrol the Gulf of Mexico and the West Coast south to the Panama Canal. (The Cuban missile crisis on steroids.)
Add to the present military posture the history of overt and covert US involvement in Asia since the second World War – Korea, Philippines (1950s), Indonesia (1965–7), and Vietnam and Cambodia. Not to mention its adventures in the rest of the world, especially the Middle East and Latin America.
Be cautious about reliance on America
Other answers to this question have suggested that America is or will be a protector against China for the nations of Southeast Asia.
To that I say be cautious. Very cautious about regarding the good ole USA as a potential guardian angel. Most Americans are good and generous people (I lived there for four years and made many friends). But when it comes to national interests the American nation is ruthless and prone to being trigger happy if it doesn’t get its way.
As for China … it has been around for a lot longer – some four millennia longer in fact.
It’s recently demonstrating some ruthlessness too, but it takes a more measured view. Instead of instantly snatching for its six-guns it’s likely to ponder a problem and find a more sophisticated blend of solutions.
Paradoxically, it’s the kind of international relations approach so famously advocated 120 years ago by US President Theodore Roosevelt when he declared “Those who speak softly and carry a big stick will go far.”
It’s a shame that so many Americans in powerful positions in succeeding generations seem to have forgotten the Rough Rider’s flash of wisdom.
For Indonesia China more opportunity than threat
No, Indonesia has no reason to be fearful of any Chinese ‘military threat’.
Quite the contrary. Indonesia has deliberately and skillfully maintained a policy of strict neutrality under a succession of very different leaders since the Bandung conference of 1955. It has assiduously refused to be identified as part of any Great Power Bloc. Consequently, it has no “enemies” and is generally regarded with goodwill in the wider community of nations, China included.
Rather than any kind of threat the continuing emergence and success of China is a huge opportunity for Indonesia.
Together these two transformational nations – along with their ASEAN and RCEP partners – can and will lead the way into the rest of the Asian century. The last thing they will want, or need is for any kind of military adventures to get in the way of building mutual prosperity.
China’s principal strategic interests in Southeast Asia must certainly include ensuring its vital sea lanes through the South China Sea and around the Malay Peninsular are secure.
A close and enduring friendship with a non-aligned Indonesia, along with its existing close relationship with Singapore ensures, protection of the vital and busy sea lanes of the Singapore/Malacca Straits – which carry a third or more of the world’s shipping. A big proportion of that shipping is carrying goods to or from China, including vital oil supplies – the Straits are China’s equivalent of the Panama Canal
Here’s hoping the Big Stick of the Chinese military build-up will be enough to deter the US from reaching for its six-guns.
Here’s hoping too that at some point enough of the Western media will start reading and researching more widely, and thinking for themselves. They will then have the tools to refute the China threat nonsense being peddled by the politicians, ideologues and other assorted ‘nutters’.
Patrice Rushen – Forget Me Nots (Official Video)
Love the BASS in this video.
Ahead of Joining BRICS, Iraq Issues Ban on U.S. Dollar Transactions
The Interior Ministry of Iraq issued a ban on U.S. dollar transactions across the country. Iraq is one among the 24 countries that have shown interest to join the BRICS alliance and accept the new currency for global trade. The Iraqi government banned entities from initiating business transactions with the U.S. dollar early this week. Iraq aims to control the fluctuating black market exchange rate, that has been plaguing the country for long enough.
The development is also designed to strengthen the usage of the Iraqi Dinar in the nations’ Forex markets. The ministry aims to lower the difference between the official exchange rate offered by the government and the exchange rate that’s thriving in the black markets. The move will reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar and bolster its native currency the Iraqi Dinar.
“The dinar is the national currency in Iraq. Your commitment to transact in it instead of foreign currencies boosts the country’s sovereignty and economy,” the statement read. The Ministry also pointed out that failing to do so will lead to criminal offenses with punishable crimes. The law will “hold accountable anyone who attempts to undermine the Iraqi dinar and the economy,” it read.
General Hussein Al Tamimi, who heads the operation directorate explained that offenders will be fined one million Iraqi Dinars. Moreover, repeat offenders will attract harsher punishments including double the fine with a year’s imprisonment.
“If the violator repeats it, he will face an imprisonment penalty of up to one year plus a one-million Iraqi dinar financial fine. In case of a third violation, that penalty will be doubled and we’ll have the business license turned,” Tamimi said.
Evelyn “Champagne” King – I’m In Love
Upbeat it!
Iraq Aims to Join BRICS After U.S. Dollar Ban
Source: IraqiNews.com / Photo: Alsharqiya
Iraq is looking to join the BRICS bloc in a move to end reliance on the U.S. dollar. The nation is ready to accept the new currency to settle cross-border transactions. The next BRICS summit will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in August 2023. Around 19 countries have both formally and informally requested to join the alliance, reported Bloomberg.
If more countries join BRICS, the expansion of BRICS+ will only hurt the prospects of the U.S. dollar. Also, if the yet-to-be-released BRICS currency grows stronger, it could ring the death knell for the USD. Read here to know what could happen to the American economy if the BRICS currency becomes the global reserve.
Soul Train Line I Don’t Want To Lose Your Love Emotions
I must have worn the groove out on my album on this song. Not a day went by without it playing in my stereo.
Chipotle Garlic Chicken in Crema
2023 05 13 19 02
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 whole head garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled
3 dried chipotle chiles or 3 tablespoons chipotle powder
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup crema Mexicana
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 dried California chile (optional)
1 sweet onion, minced
6 chicken breast halves, boned and skinned
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup grated white Cheddar or Manchego cheese
Instructions
Roast the garlic in dry skillet over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has softened and developed little brown bits around the edges.
If using dried chipotles, soak them in hot water for 20 minutes, then rinse and pat dry. Slit them open and scrape out and discard the seeds.
Peel the roasted garlic, then place in a food processor. Add the chipotles (or powder), salt and crema. Process until pureed.
Pour the puree into a shallow saucepan; add the milk and chicken broth. Bring to simmer and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet. Add the optional California chile and cook until it barely changes color. Do not let it burn! Remove the chile.
Add the onion to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Push to one side of the skillet, then add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until golden on both sides.
Transfer the chicken to a heat-proof serving dish. Cover with the chipotle-garlic mixture, and top with the cheese.
Broil for a couple of minutes, until the cheese has melted and the sauce starts to take on more color.
Crumble the optional toasted California chile over the top for garnish.
Kool & The Gang – Fresh
Now for some FUNK!
Putin WARNED him this would happen, he didn’t bluff
You know those depleted uranium tank shells the United Kingdom sent to Ukraine? Reports say that Russian missiles blew them up this weekend.
Footage of huge explosions near the city of Khmelnytskyi show that Russia targeted ammunition stores in advance of the “planned counteroffensive.”
The mayor of that city reported that the city itself was not targeted but that buildings were damaged by the blasts and at least 21 people were injured.
The military administration in that region confirmed that “critical infrastructure” had been hit by at least four Russian drones.
Blowing up uranium is a biological hazard.
The UK was warned about this but chose to send these weapons anyway. Now Germany has committed another $2.9 billion in arms for Ukraine and Zelensky has indicated he will not give up power and hold elections as long as his war powers are in place.
Which could be forever.
2023 05 16 12 22
Report questions support for US
HYPOTHETICAL CONFLICTS: In a scenario involving Taiwan, only Australia, Japan and Singapore might provide ‘limited support’ to the US, Rand Corp said
By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter
Allies of Washington might decline or only provide limited support to the US if a conflict breaks out across the Taiwan Strait, the Rand Corporation said in a report on Tuesday.
The Santa Monica, California-based think tank’s report, titled US Major Combat Operations in the Indo-Pacific, examined the willingness of US allies and partners to provide air combat support to US operations in the event of a major combat contingency in the Indo-Pacific region.
Twelve significant regional players were identified as the focus of the study — Taiwan, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
It proposed four hypothetical scenarios: a conflict over Taiwan, a second Korean war, a maritime conflict in the South China Sea and a major stability operation on the Korean Peninsula following a North Korean collapse.
The assessments were based on factors such as national interests, fear of retaliation, domestic politics, public statements by senior officials and the judgement of local experts.
Regarding the scenario of a conflict over Taiwan, only Australia, Japan and Singapore might provide “limited support” to the US, while other countries would be likely to decline support, the report said.
Australia has shown a willingness to invest more heavily to support regional operations in the Indo-Pacific region, but the assistance it provides to defend against maritime invasions might be minimal, it said.
Japan considers Taiwan “an extremely crucial partner and an important friend,” which demonstrates the nation’s closeness to Taiwan, it said.
Singapore is likely to see a Taiwan crisis initiated by China as a violation of its commitment to regional stability and a risk to be dominated by China if such an attack is successful, the report said.
The latest Rand report includes Singapore! that is pure bullshitting.
As the Singapore Prime minister already openly declared (last year in a press conference) after meeting Biden in US, that Singapore will NOT be involved in any conflict involving China.
The assessment showed that while Taiwan is most likely to support the US in a cross-strait conflict, “Taiwanese support under every other China-related scenario examined in this report is ambiguous at best and unlikely at worst” for fear of serious repercussions, Rand Corp said.
With the survival of Taiwan’s democratic governance and status as a de facto independent country at stake, non-China land invasion scenarios would probably significantly elevate the chances of Taiwanese support, it said.
Taiwan is fostering closer relations with the US and other like-minded democratic nations as the country has faced increasing hostility from China since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016, it said.
The New Southbound Policy launched by Tsai is an effort to diversify the nation’s economy away from overdependence on China, it said.
Taiwan’s security strategy is “multifaceted and largely dependent on sustained US support,” aimed at blunting Chinese advantages, the report said.
Chic – Good Times (1978)
My generation.
What is wrong with being Chinese?
This essentially.
2023 05 16 11 55
In the western world? Like the US? You have to work HARDER for LESS results. Harvard for instance you need a higher score than whites and black students. Similar elsewhere.
In the western world you face constant racism and constant gaslighting as the people there will constantly tell you that there is no racism whatsoever and that you’re the racist. Violence and racism is encouraged against you at the GOVERNMENT level.
So like English or French in their own countries we have it easier because of majority privilege right?
Um no.
China is HYPER COMPETITIVE. Look at it this way. My children aren’t even born yet and we’re discussing where they should grow up. Woman did Gaokao. I didn’t. The 8 year old boy who lives nearby? He speaks at least 8 languages. We know this because our village is somewhat cosmopolitan with Germans, French, Ghanans, Nigerians and others. He makes me cry with jealousy how good he is at piano and guitar and drums. He does calculus for fun ffs.
And here’s the thing? He’s just an average kid.
Saw Meets The Godfather
Does China have any nuclear missiles pointed at the United States?
China’s military has two crucial elements. They are…
Defensive.
Offensive.
The way that these two elements are used is unique to China, and some detail must be provided to fully grasp what this entails.
Defensive. This is the army, the navy, and all other forces under control of the unified military command. Their job; their purpose, is to completely destroy any attacking / invasion force to Chinese land, people, territories and islands. Thus, they are a completely defensive military. They are only to be used in the protection and safety of China and Chinese people.
Offensive. China has no ambitions to become the world’s hegemon. Thus, the offensive component is designed for strategic deterrence. In the event that China is attacked, then China MUST launch offensive missiles, and weapons. The reason for this is simple. Wars are never won on defensive posture. They must have an offensive component.
China’s missiles, and related systems are designed for precisely that. Were China to be attacked, say if the United States were to bomb TSMC in Taiwan, the defensive systems would clean the Pacific of all American ships and vessels. But, you know, that would not be enough.
China would be forced to maintain a defensive posture for eternity. Constantly fighting off, the swarming missiles and ships, and aircraft that the United States would launch at it.
To prevent this, the offensive systems would need to be activated. These include hyper-velocity glide vehicles armed with enhanced-radiation MIRV nuclear weapons. These would be targeted at the attacking nation (in this case the United States), as well as any supporting proxy nations, such as Japan, Australia and Manila.
So, as you can see, it’s really simple.
An attack on Taiwan, is an attack on China.
China would respond defensively in a tactical manner. Erasing all naval vessels and bases.
China would also respond offensively in a strategic manner. Cleansing the civilian population centers with (environmentally friendly) “neutron” based nuclear warheads.
The cities of the attacking nation(s) would be devastated, and thus a rapid end to the conflict would be guaranteed.
Of course, in this horrific scenario, the attacking nation(s) should be well aware of the risks that they are taking. They would realize that China would conduct war lethally.
So they would take prudent measures…
Sacrificial nations will be identified and there they would take the brunt of the nuclear horror. The United States would make sure that China wastes it’s missiles on disposable targets like Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Manila, and Tokyo.
United States Naval vessels would be out of the range of most of the tactical weapons systems that China fields. Instead, European proxy nations (NATO) ships would act as diversion targets so that the American navy would still stay afloat.
And these have all been “gamed out” by China…
Once the initial volleys of missiles cycled though their routine, the United States would launch prescheduled, preplanned MAD nuclear destruction on China.
Which would trigger Russian “dead Hand”, and what ever survived China’s nuclear response, the Russian systems (dirty, deep, and very radioactive) would turn the United States into a barren lunar wasteland.
…
Awful. Right?
Nuclear war WILL ABSOLUTELY ERASE the United States. There is no scenario where it does not.
But, China, a culture that is over 6000 years old, will survive.
Carmine Jr.’s Meeting of Minds Sitdown – Tony Sopranos Phil
Ministry of Defense Confirms: Russia has shot down a British Storm Shadow Cruise Missile
The Russian Defense Ministry claims that air defense shot down a Storm Shadow cruise missile. Not sure where as of yet. The trouble with this is simple, that missile can only be fired by NATO aircraft. Which means a NATO plane launched it either in or near, Ukraine.
Here are the specs for a Storm Shadow Cruise missile:
Type: Long-range air-launched cruise missile
Place of origin: France & United Kingdom
Service history
In service: 2002 – present
Used by: See
Production history
Designer: Matra BAe Dynamics
Manufacturer: MBDA
Unit cost:
€850,000 (US$1.18 million) (FY2011)
£790,000 (US$1.27 million) (FY2011)
Specifications
Mass: 1,300 kilograms (2,900 lb)
Length: 5.1 metres (16 ft 9 in)
Diameter: 0.48 metres (19 in) estimated
Warhead: 450 kilograms (990 lb) BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge)
Engine: Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet, producing 5.4 kN thrust
Wingspan: 3 metres (9 ft 10 in)
Operational range:
Over 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi) Lo-Lo profile
Export version: over 135 nmi (250 km; 155 mi)
Flight altitude: 30–40 metres (100–130 ft)
Maximum speed: 1,000 km/h Mach 0.8-0.95 (depending on altitude)
Guidance
system:
Inertial, GPS and TERPROM. Terminal guidance using imaging infrared DSMAC
Launch platform:TornadoMirageRafaleTyphoon
Ukraine does NOT have any of those aircraft.
So who fired it?
Since Ukraine doesn’t have any NATO type of fighter jets. They are probably launched from Polish or Romanian airspace from NATO jets.
Earth, Wind & Fire – Let’s Groove (Official HD Video)
Unusual Animals: Hydrocynus Goliath
1 34
Hydrocynus goliath, also known as the goliath tigerfish, giant tigerfish or mbenga, is a very large African predatory freshwater fish. The giant tigerfish is restricted to the Zaire River system, Lualaba River, Lake Upemba and Lake Tanganyika.
It is overall silvery in color with no conspicuous stripes. A few broad stripes may show up under the scales after death. It has fourteen or more teeth in the upper jaw and very short gill rakers, less than one third the length of the gill filaments.
2023 05 15 14 39
The largest giant tigerfish may exceed 110 lbs (50 kg) but stories of fish weighing up to 132 lb (60 kg) have yet to be authenticated. Its ferocious appearance gives ample indication of its predatory habits. This strong fighter is one of the great freshwater game fish species.
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A number of incidents have been reported in The Congo of this fish attacking humans. This reputation, combined with its strength, has earned it an almost mythical status among anglers, and it has been called the “greatest freshwater gamefish in the world”.
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Miami Vice – Final Scene
So very 1980s.
Has Xi Jinping killed the goose that lays the golden egg by arbitraily bankrupting the private tutoring industry and with it destroying tens of billions in equity of public companies?
Oh quite the Opposite
All of China will thank him for it one day
Private Tutoring Industry was becoming way out of control.
Initially Tutoring was a boon, it helped Chinese students understand concepts pretty well
However as time went by Tutoring slowly became more and more deeply seated into the Chinese Education structure and every student began to lazily depend on Tutoring which meant Private Tutors could demand more money
With time it became almost like without private tutoring no Urban Chinese student could survive or do without
And slowly Private Tutorial Groups began to rise in value, start IPOs, bloat up without any assets and claim to be worth billions.
Is that a Golden Goose?
Please tell me how many Students do you know in US who go to SAT Coaching or GRE Coaching?
Most Students self study or study in Groups rather than pay for a Tutorial course
Yet in China – students using Private Tutorials rose to nearly 88% by 2019.
They used Tutors for everything and the basic concept understanding that created the Excellent Chinese Students of the 1990s -2010s would slowly be eroded if this nonsense had continued
Spoonfeeding at its worst
And on top of this Most Tutorials became Industries of their own and began marketing and began to ridiculously boost their own valuations
No!!! said Xi Jingping
He had many discussions with Respected Professors and Teachers and fundamentally covered the three Points in 2020 May which included
→ Students ability to think and learn on their own are being affected by Private Tutorials
→ Private Tutorials are grossly inflated and taking full advantage of the Lax focus paid to them in the early 2005–2010
So the CPC said – Let Students who dont understand use Tutors and Tutorials but let Students not become lazy
Thus he decided to formulate and regulate the industry
It was a Brilliant Move
Those who wanted to become Billionaires with Tutoring – scrambled
Those who made good money and genuinely impacted Students to think – stayed and continued to nurture and build more students
Even Today Private Tutoring Exists
Only thing is – the Industry is regulated
Ceiling on Valuation, Mandatory insistence on Registration of Tutors, Syllabus being overseen by the CPC Education Committee to ensure Students can still think and learn on their own, No IPO allowed until 2032, Minimum 15 years for a Tutoring Company, Valuation based on Asset Valuation not Speculative Valuation, No Overseas investment in Private Tution Companies
The Result – The Sharks are GONE or going really fast.
Genuine Tutors and Tutorials are very much here to stay and help students especially weaker ones while also ensuring future students learn on their own and dont get spoonfed
And best of all -Tutorials dont replace Schools and control a Robotic Destiny of Students.
Easily one of the Finest Pieces of Legislation by a World Leader in the 21st Century
OneRepublic – Counting Stars
A West Virginia revival meeting.
Why isn’t China part of the G7?
Well you need to know a little bit about why G7 was formed in the first place.
So the story was that in 1971, the Bretton Woods system , which pegged all major currencies at that time to gold, was getting shaky. The US had a huge trade deficit. The French was bitching about “the exorbitant dollar” because “it costs a couple of cents for the US to print the money, while we have to send in our real gold in exchange for the dollar”, the Germans were pissed because it cost them a lot of money to artificially keep the Deutsche Mark pegged to the dollar. They just wanted their gold back and be done with it. The Swiss was the first to just go to the Americans, handed in the US dollars, and said, here you go, $35 an ounce, I want my gold back, NOW. Then everybody started to want their gold back and the US didn’t have enough gold in reserve to pay them (Yep, somebody printed more money than they had gold to back it up with). So – Nixon unilaterally announced, “let’s just forget about your gold. Let’s make the USD a fiat currency (Fiat money). From now on, it’s worth as much as I tell you, OK?” Nixon shock
Basically he just got up in the morning, walked to the mic, and made the announcement to the world. Just like that.
Well, this action pissed off the Europeans big time, but there’s nothing they could do about it. It’s the quintessential “Beggar Thy Neighbor” policy where you find yourself in trouble, you get yourself out of trouble by passing the trouble to your neighbor. So the Europeans came back and said, well since you own more than half of the gold in the world (as a result of WWII), there’s nothing we can do about it. But can we at least meet and talk this through before you just go do it the next time? This is how the precursor of the G7, the “library group” was formed. It had 5 members – the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan.
The original purpose of the G7 group was to do economic horse-trading behind the scenes, like, I’ll put in 1% stimulus if you cut your tariff by 20%, things like that, you know, that are best discussed IN SECRET because you are trading the economic welfare of one group of your citizens against another group of your citizens. The goal was to prevent these countries from killing each other economically, get it? It’s a forum to manage the economic in-fighting among this group of countries, so right away, people went out looking for allies. The US proposed adding Canada, and the Europeans countered with Italy. Then the Europeans proposed adding EU as a member (because the Dutch and the Belgian were pissed they weren’t represented), and the US countered with adding Australia. The French said forget it, too many Anglos in the room already. OK fine. That’s how we ended up with the G7 – the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada.
What happened afterwards is that like all organizations, it started to take on roles that it was not designed to do. Election campaigns coming up, and some G7 member decided to use the occasion to do some political grandstanding – good for the votes, you know. This was universally resented by the other members of the G7, because when you do political grandstanding, you invariably do so at the expense of the other members. Nonetheless, when you throw together a group of politicians, what do you expect? It’s like putting together a group of drunks and expect no alcohol to be served in the party. It went quickly from one guy taking a small sip to everybody drunk as sh*t. It’s at one of these G7 meetings where Helmut Schmidt made his famous pronouncement on Margaret Thatcher – “she is a bitch, she is tough, she lacks scope and she cannot lead”.
Then in 2008, the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit. All G7 members went down the tube. So what do you do? You go look for somebody with money, yes, those despised “developing countries” who have been saving their pennies. Like China, India, Brazil, … I mean, seriously, all G7 countries, other than Germany, are in debt up to their necks. Do you expect them to manage their economy to the debtors’ satisfaction, or to the lenders’ satisfaction? So, from 2008 and onward, the G7 group completely changed its focus, from global economy to politics. The economic forum is taken over by G-20 major economies , which China participates.
As for the original G7, there is now talk to invite Russia back to G7, with the Germans and the UK loudly proclaiming that the Middle East security can not be solved without the Russians. So Russia is on track to be invited back in 2017. Now do you get which countries should participate in G7?
The “advanced, democratic” countries who are bombing the Middle East!
China is NOT “advanced”, NOT “democratic”, and most importantly, NOT bombing the Middle East.
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS 「ちっぽけな勇気」
Reminder about the rule of THREE.
Mexican Stuffed Chicken Breasts
2023 05 13 19 03
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 can green chiles
2 tablespoons black olives, chopped
1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup canned enchilada sauce
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
Instructions
Split, skin, bone and pound chicken breasts to flatten.
Crush the tortilla chips finely. Chop enough black olives to yield 4 to 6 teaspoons.
On each chicken breast place 1 chile, 1 teaspoon or more of chopped olives and 2 tablespoons jack cheese. Roll breasts tightly and fasten with wooden picks. Dip each roll into the beaten egg, then into crushed chips.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet; brown rolls lightly. Place rolls in a shallow baking dish.
Chop the tomatoes but do not drain. Mix with the enchilada sauce and pour over chicken rolls. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and bake 5 to 7 minutes longer until cheese is bubbling.
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (Official Video)
Reach out and touch faith…
DPP “former legislator” Guo Zhengliang announced his withdrawal from the party, who will be next?
2023-05-20 09:04
Guo Zhengliang, a former "legislator" of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party , declared yesterday (19th) that "the way is different, and we will not conspire with each other" and officially quit the Democratic Progressive Party.
Before officially quitting the party, Guo Zhengliang once said that he is no longer a member of the DPP, and revealed that the reason why he will go further and further away from the DPP is because the Tsai government is unwilling to purchase the BNT vaccine in 2021 For one thing, contact with Shanghai Fuxing.
Recently, "China Times News Network" YT conducted a survey on "Guo Zhengliang announced his withdrawal from the Democratic Progressive Party!
Many netizens discussed the next candidate who might leave. Who do you think it will be?", as many as 71% of netizens They think it is "legislator" Gao Jiayu, and 29% choose Taipei City Councilor Wang Shijian.
Article HERE
Everyone Will Be Wiped Out in 30 Days… The U.S. is in Real Trouble!
https://youtu.be/-02t3hyG8f0
People in the U.S. Think They Are Better Than They Actually Are. People in Asia Don’t
Western individualism may promote a “better than you actually are” mindset
How competent are you, compared with your colleagues? When psychologists approach teams of coworkers with variations of this question, an interesting pattern emerges. If people have a truly realistic perspective of their abilities, then their self-assessments should generally fall around the middle. Instead psychologists have repeatedly found that people’s self-assessments are inflated. In fact, superstars and underperformers alike tend to think they are better than they truly are.
This effect is one example of a positive illusion: a cognitive bias that makes you feel more competent, more blessed, more fortunate and better than you are. Positive illusions seem intuitive and reasonable to many people. Some scholars argue that these illusions are fundamental to our species’ survival. To get by in life, they reason, you must remain optimistic, work hard, succeed, live long and leave offspring behind.
Of course, some people don’t experience positive illusions and have a more realistic self-assessment. Unfortunately, such self-appraisals could make them feel more inadequate when comparing themselves with many others who have a very positive self-assessment. These comparisons may be an important cause of imposter syndrome—the suspicion that one is not deserving of one’s achievements. In other words, imposter syndrome may be the dark side of the societal norm toward positive selves.
But there is an important caveat to this discussion: the available evidence is based almost exclusively on a small fraction of humanity called Westerners. If positive illusions were truly essential to our species, we would expect them to be universal. But my work—and that of other research teams—suggests otherwise.
In the early 1990s my colleagues and I started our “Culture and the Self” project, exploring how the sense of the self might vary across cultures. We found no strong evidence for the better-than-average effect or other positive illusions in East Asia. In Japan, for example, when university students were asked what proportion of their peers were better than them in various traits and abilities, the average estimate fell around 50 percent.
In our newest area of research—cultural neuroscience—we find that the neural pathways that support positive illusions are absent in certain communities. In other words, a pattern that most psychologists have seen as a human universal is instead a product of culture.
The vast majority of the psychological database comes from so-called WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) societies. Most scientists in psychology and other academic fields have a WEIRD cultural background. Therefore, the common view that positive illusions are a human universal is based on heavily skewed research.
To go beyond the limits of this WEIRD cultural perspective, my colleagues and I have directly compared responses from Westerners and East Asians to questions asking about the self. In one study published last year in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, both American and Taiwanese participants judged how good or bad they would feel when facing success or failure. Americans reported they would feel better about success than they would feel bad about failure. Meanwhile Taiwanese participants did not show this positive illusion: if anything, they reported they would feel worse about failure than they would feel good about success. This response from Taiwanese participants may reflect another psychological tendency called the negativity bias, in which negative events typically have much stronger emotional impacts than positive ones.
We then went a step further from past research by monitoring people’s brain waves as they made these judgments. Specifically, we looked at the magnitude of the “alpha wave”—a pattern of activity that appears when a person’s mind wanders and engages in internally directed thoughts. We observed the alpha effect when Americans thought about themselves within a fraction of a second after learning that something good happened to them. This early attention predicted the magnitude of their positive illusions. Taiwanese participants did not show this pattern when thinking about either success or failure happening to the self, nor did they show evidence of holding positive illusions, as mentioned above.
In East Asia, modesty is culturally valued. For that reason, some Western psychologists have tried to explain the absence of positive illusions by arguing that East Asians disguise their true feelings to avoid appearing too self-focused. But our data show that this explanation is inaccurate. We saw no added brain activity, for instance, that would correlate with effortful concealment of one’s true feelings among the Taiwanese people who participated in our study.
On the contrary, Westerners take an additional step to boost their good feeling when something good happens to them. They spontaneously maximize good feelings about the self through an automatic neural response. It occurs within a fraction of a second, without apparent effort, let alone any deliberation or conscious strategizing. Such a response might seem natural and inevitable, but it is not. Instead the response is cultural, having formed through years of socialization. The brain is extensively trained to produce this response because it supports attitudes that help a person fit into their individualistic culture, valuing self-promotion and initiative. East Asians show no such spontaneous or automatic response. They would seem to be more accepting of various events as those events happen to them. Other work we have done has found that while self-esteem predicts health in the West, it does not have the same consequences in East Asian societies.
When considering these results, it’s important to flag that findings about a whole culture or community are nuanced. Within a given group, there can be a high degree of variation from one person to the next. As previously mentioned, some people in the West experience imposter syndrome, which could be especially problematic, given this culture’s strong normative emphasis on feeling positive about the self. This example demonstrates why we cannot assume every Westerner or East Asian will follow a set pattern. But in broad terms, when we see these kinds of trends in our research, we have an opportunity to learn more about how culture shapes the brain and behavior.
We think the cultural variation in positive illusions is one example of a broader cultural difference in how the self is construed. Western societies generally regard the self as independent. Consequently, people in these societies are motivated to feel good about themselves. They work hard to identify their competence and uniqueness. In many cultures outside the West, however, people regard their selves as interdependent and embedded in social relationships. They feel protected and secure when connected to a larger social community. From that cultural perspective, there is no need to feel particularly good about one’s independent, individual self.
These differences set the stage for all manner of misunderstandings. From the Western perspective, East Asians might appear excessively polite in their attention to social ties or could seem disengaged or even depressed or maladjusted in their ambivalence toward self-promotion and initiative. Our data, however, show that East Asians respond to events naturally and realistically, without extra thought. From the East Asian perspective, the Western tendency to boost good feelings about oneself could come across as futile, unnecessary or even childish because it shows how the person is failing to appreciate the relational nature of the self. But our data suggest that Americans boost their positive selves because it helps them adapt to their culture. Altogether, by adopting the cultural neuroscience approach, we may keep our cultural preconceptions and biases at bay, thereby making our science less ethnocentric.
Stepping back, this work underscores the power of culture. Humans are the only animals that have survived by creating and taking advantage of various conventions, practices, meanings and social institutions. The evolution of these things, summarily called “culture,” has accelerated, especially over the past 10,000 years, forging several major cultural zones today. These zones vary greatly, and the cultural variation in positive illusion is a single instance, albeit an important one, of a more general process by which our culture shapes our ways of thinking, feeling and acting. We know what our culture is. Yet we don’t appreciate its mind-shaping power enough.
No Doubt It s my Life
The Far Side
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Will America follow in the footsteps of Rome?
Yes. The US empire was designed and built like Rome and it is following the footsteps of its falling as George Santayana(1905) said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.
When considering the factors that led to the decline of Rome, it becomes evident that the similarities between the two situations are striking. The Roman Empire’s decline unfolded through a multifaceted progression, encompassing a blend of internal and external elements. The three major aspects that caused the eternal decline of Rome are internal decline, the dilution of a cohesive culture stemming from population expansion, and external challenges along the borders.
Internal Decline: (as seen in Daily headline news)
Corruption, nepotism, and political infighting weakened Rome’s institutions and governance.
Economic inequality grew, leading to social unrest and a widening gap between the elite and the masses.
Moral decay and a loss of traditional values eroded civic virtue and weakened the fabric of Roman society.
Loss of Coherent Culture: (failed to assimilate the new legal and illegal immigrants)
Rome’s expansion incorporated diverse cultures, diluting the sense of a unified Roman identity.
Assimilation of various populations proved challenging, resulting in fragmented cultural practices and values.
The empire struggled to integrate these diverse cultures, undermining social cohesion and a common purpose among its citizens.
The Decline of the Economy under the border problem of the American Empire: (Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Southern boarder with Mexico)
Constant external threats and invasions strained Rome’s military and economic resources.
The need to sustain military campaigns and defense led to the debasement of the currency, causing rampant inflation and economic instability.
Increased taxation to fund the empire’s defense further burdened the struggling economy.
Best of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (part 17)
How much does a Chinese PL-15(E) missile cost?
The idea of “costs” is a Western utility.
You say, “a hamburger costs $1”, or a “Aircraft carrier costs $15 billion”.
And in so doing, you equate value to it.
In China, it’s very different.
Value is ascertained differently, and handled differently.
He needs a meal. He doesn’t have enough money. He is given the meal.He wants the car. He hasn’t enough money. Salesman discusses ways to get a cheaper car in a better deal.Students need books. Books appear.Emergency hospital is needed. It is built.
While currency, and all the book keeping that it entails, is similar to that of the West. The utility and utilization of that medium of exchange is quite different.
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In the case of PL-15(E) actual costs in terms of Western understanding will never be obtained. If China needs this missile, then it appears. And that is the way it is done. Book keeping is handled on a different level and is divorced from the entire process.
However…
Were China to sell this product to another nation; say Vietnam. The relationship as established by the diplomatic corps will determine the price that will be paid for it.
Which is unlike the West. Where costs are determined by the manufacturer of the product.
So in regards to ITEMS transferred by a GOVERNMENT system…
China. Government related costs are handled on a personal basis.
USA / West. Costs are uniform and determined by the civilian manufacturer.
…
Finally, a “sanity check”. For some perspective.
You run out of money.And you need it soon. So you ask your friends for helpYou ask your American friend.He replies ‘Why do you need it?”, followed by a bunch of questions all requiring detailed answers. And at the end of the day, when it is all explained, he still refuses to lend you the money.You ask your Chinese friend.He replies “what’s your bank account number? Let me deposit it directly”.
That is the difference between the two societies.
American Psychosis – Chris Hedges on the US empire of narcissism and psychopathy
Must watch.
https://youtu.be/kpU5JtZEST8
O-o-h Child
My little girl cannot control here emotions. She’s too young. One moment she is hysterical, and the next she is happy as can be. There’s an on/off switch if I ever saw one.
Let’s just control our emotions and have some positivity in our lives.
Ukraine Forced to Use ROBOTS to Fight Ammo Dump Fire – Radiation and Poisonous Depleted Uranium Dust
Ukraine has had to begin using ROBOTS to carry fire hoses into the remains of an ammunition dump, blown up by Russian missiles last week, because the dump housed about $500 Million worth of British-supplied Depleted Uranium tank shells, which spread radioactive and poisonous Uranium dust all over the area.
The poisonous Uranium dust is so prevalent, that human firefighters dare not go into the scene.
Robot Fire fighter Ukraine 2
The fire at the site of a missile attack on a military warehouse in Khmelnitsky is extinguished by robots, remotely.
Depleted Uranium (DU) tank shells were supplied by the British despite explicit warnings from Russia that such ammunition, if used by Ukraine, would be treated as a “Dirty Bomb” attack upon Russia, unleashing a Russian response with its own radioactive weaponry! Yet the British sent the depleted uranium shells anyway.
Now, some observers are laughing that, in its zeal to supply Ukraine, Britain has ended up being the entity that radioactively contaminated their “ally” Ukraine! Had Britain heeded Russia’s warning, the shells would not have been there.
While radiation levels have “spiked” upwards since the ammunition depot was hit, they are not dangerously high, and won’t be. Depleted Uranium gives off very little radiation. Here’s the Radiation readings for that city:
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The big trouble with Depleted Uranium is that the substance is ALSO . . . . poisonous. Breathing it in almost guarantees lung cancer and other ailments. As weather washes the DU into the soil, it pollutes ground water, thereby poisoning the area water supply for DECADES.
Moreover, pregnant women exposed to DU, suffer miscarriages and hideous birth defects of children they carry to full term.
Robot Fire fighter Ukraine 3
Prevailing winds in this city will carry the Uranium dust to other cities, towns, and villages downwind.
RADIATION PATROLS OPERATING!
Dosimetric patrols work in the city. Measurements of the radiation background are carried out “in uncharacteristic places.” If earlier they were made in the area where the Khmelnytsky ammo depot was located (Neteshyn and its environs), now they are made in the regional center, in the west of the region and in Ternopil. After arriving at the military warehouse, the wind was blowing in a westerly direction. The authorities are silent about the work of patrols.
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“My friends from Ukraine reported that the Westerners are panicking. They collect belongings and flee away from Khmelnitsky, and from Lviv and Ternopil. From everywhere where there are Ukrainian military units, warehouses, repair shops. Locals whisper that the detonated warehouse in Khmelnitsky was filled to the brim with depleted uranium shells. And my sources confirm this, ” writes political scientist Yuri Kot.
After the explosion, an increase in gamma radiation was recorded in the city. The release continues to grow. Given that depleted uranium emits a relatively small dose of gamma radiation, the current surge indicates the destruction of a very large stockpile of munitions, which sent uranium dust into the air.
My previous coverage of the Radiation Spike with video of the original explosion from the Russian missiles hitting, can be read HERE
… like I was saying (jam)
S Korea must prepare for a Taiwan war: ex-official
‘INEVITABLE’: In the event of a war with China, North Korea could launch partial attacks, so South Korea needs to strengthen its missile defenses, the ex-official said
By Chen Cheng-liang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff reporter. Taipei Times.
South Korea would inevitably be drawn into a potential war in the Taiwan Strait, so it must take steps to prepare and prevent war from breaking out, a former South Korean official said on Friday last week.
The US plans to send a submarine equipped with nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula as a deterrent against a nuclear attack by North Korea, US President Joe Biden said during a visit to the White House by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on March 26.
Former South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Lee Yong-jun said the submarine would also have important implications for the US’ ability to respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported on Friday last week.
The Ohio-class nuclear submarine could be equipped with 192 nuclear warheads — nearly half of the total number of nuclear warheads that China has — including the Trident-2 nuclear missile, which has an accuracy of within 100m, he said.
“Each of those warheads is 32 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II, meaning a fully equipped Ohio-class submarine is a threat equivalent to 6,000 times that bomb,” he said.
“Within three to five minutes it could turn every major Chinese city into scorched earth,” he said.
Having such a powerful US arsenal so close to China’s shores would leave the Chinese leadership feeling helpless, he said.
“But this is largely China’s own fault. This is the price China should pay for allowing and supporting North Korea’s nuclear weapons development over the past 30 years, obstructing international sanctions, and helping North Korea complete its nuclear armament,” he said.
Many people believe that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would attempt an invasion of Taiwan within the next few years, and if that happens, the US would inevitably be drawn into the conflict, and Japan would most likely assist the US, he said.
Those assumptions were evidenced by a number of factors including the US’ acquisition of bases in the Philippines, US aid packages to Taiwan for defensive weapons and Japan’s arming of uninhabited islands in Okinawa Prefecture, he said.
In the event of a war, the US and its allies would provide large-scale military assistance to Taiwan, and the US would completely block trade and financial transactions with China, he said.
“In that scenario, it would be very difficult for South Korea to only provide humanitarian aid to Taiwan, as it did during the Ukrainian war, or to remain on the sidelines,” he said.
“US troops stationed in South Korea may be transferred to the Taiwan front at that time, and North Korea may be incited to take military action,” he said.
“South Korea would be unable to escape the possible diplomatic, military and economic repercussions of the war.” he said.
A Russian defeat in the Ukraine war would greatly weaken China’s will to invade Taiwan, Lee said,
“the South Korean government should provide greater support to Ukraine’s defense.” he said.
South Korea and its allies must continue to articulate their opposition to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, he said.
“Since a Chinese attack on Taiwan may instigate North Korea to launch a partial missile attack, South Korea’s missile defense network should be greatly strengthened,” he said.
South Korean companies should also readjust their trade with and investment in China in advance of such a conflict, as sanctions on China would make such trade impossible, he said.
"Whereas, all through Chinese history, when the rulers screwed up, the peasants would kill the lot of them, together with their wives and children, and festoon their heads at the front gate of the city."
So you wonder WHY, China is a merit-driven society that is very serious about war? Very serious about society? Very serious about economics?
China. Does. Not. Play.
Ai! We are all unfortunate spectators riding on a bus driven by a madman. I don’t care what anyone else says. They are all on drugs, lack experiences, wrapped up in a world alien to the rest of us. They have mental illnesses, and access to enormous powerful weapons.
It’s frightening.
The ignorance of Americans…
Evidently Chinese are still farming with oxen. You got to love the paranoia and sheer ignorance floating around in Murica.
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What are some of the costliest mistakes ever made in history?
In 1966, an engineer named Walter “Taffy” Holden found himself in a perilous situation when he accidentally took off in a jet without knowing how to fly it.
Holden, who had minimal experience flying small aircraft, was in command of the No. 33 Maintenance Unit of the Royal Air Force (RAF) at RAF Lyneham.
His unit maintained the English Electric Lightning F.1, a high-speed jet fighter capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 2.
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On the day of the incident, Holden was working on the jet, trying to replicate an electrical problem.
While attempting to press the throttle slightly, he inadvertently engaged the afterburners, which resulted in a surge of power.
Unfortunately, the jet had locking gates on the throttle once the afterburners were engaged, and Holden was unfamiliar with how to release them.
He found himself hurtling down the runway at a high speed, with another plane ahead of him.
In a split-second decision, Holden chose to take off rather than power down the engines.
Despite lacking a helmet, communication with an experienced pilot, and with the landing gear locked in the down position, he managed to narrowly avoid the other aircraft and successfully took off.
However, his attempts to eject from the jet were futile as the ejection seat was in service mode.
Holden, now airborne and in control of the jet, turned it around and attempted to land on a different runway. After two failed attempts, he finally managed to touch down using a maneuver called the “taildragger,” which he had learned from his experience with single-seat aircraft.
Although not ideal for the Lightning, this landing technique allowed him to safely land the jet.
The aircraft was subsequently repaired and put back into service.
Today, it can be seen fully intact at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
Holden’s actions were later deemed to be in the best interests of himself and the aircraft. He continued to serve in the RAF until his retirement many years later.
Holden passed away in 2016 at the age of 90, leaving behind a remarkable and beloved story of an engineer who accidentally flew a jet.
Not the costliest mistake in history, nonetheless its an interesting story.
When Police Find Out Her License Is Suspended, She Loses It
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False Claims About Russia Continue To Cloud The ‘West’s’ Vision
The pro-Ukrainian Spectatorstates correctly that the sanctions on Russia have failed. But its reasoning is dubious:
The West embarked on its sanctions war with an exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world. As we have discovered, non-western countries lack the will to impose sanctions on either Russia or on Russian oligarchs. The results of the miscalculation are there for all to see. In April last year, the IMF forecast that the Russian economy would contract by 8.5 per cent in 2022 and by a further 2.3 per cent this year. As it turned out, GDP fell by just 2.1 per cent last year, and this year the IMF is forecasting a small rise of 0.7 per cent. And that is all in spite of the war in Ukraine going much more badly than many imagined it would in February of last year. The Russian economy has not been destroyed; it has merely been reconfigured, reorientated to look eastwards and southwards rather than westwards.
Yes, the ‘West’ had an “exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world”. But that is only a part of the problem. The ‘West’ still thinks it is superior to other countries even as at least some other countries have caught up with it and are, in parts, superior in the use of science and technology.
Moreover the ‘West’ thought that Russia was inferior to it. In 2015 the late Senator John McCain called it a “gas station masquerading as a country”:
“Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country,” McCain said. “It’s kleptocracy. It’s corruption. It’s a nation that’s really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important.”
In the early 1990s Russia surely was down. But it wasn’t out. It had a heavy industry and everything it needed to feed it. It had well educated people and large scientific community. When McCain spoke, 25 years after Russia’s downfall, the country was largely back in the upper league.
Its per head production of steel, cement, energy and food was and is higher than in most ‘western’ countries. Those are the basics numbers one needs to judge an industrial country and its capabilities, not some dubious number like the Gross Domestic Product which includes ‘services’ of dubious value. (For example the share of health expenditure in the quite high U.S. GDP is 16.8% with a worse outcome for the general population than in less spending European countries.)
As it has now become clear even to the Spectator that the sanctions on Russia have failed one would hope that the ‘West’ would come to a more realistic view of itself and of Russia economic capabilities. Unfortunately that is not yet the case.
… DeSantis said of Putin. “And so, he’s basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the US.”
The ‘West’ will continue to underestimate Russia’s capability as long as such false claims are still believed. Only a realistic assessment and more respect for Russia’s capabilities can correct the mistake of waging and losing a proxy war against it.
A clear spike in gamma radiation has been detected in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine after a Russian Missile blew up a Ukrainian ammo depot on or about May 12th. Radiation levels continued to rise on the 13th and presently remain at the elevated level. It appears the ammo depot stored Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions.
The explosion which rocked Khmelnitsky from the Russian missile strike, was very big. Video of the explosion, complete with actual air raid sirens that were sounding at the time, appears below:
Very little gamma radiation comes from depleted uranium. As such, this clear spike in gamma radiation in Khmelnitsky indicates that there was very large stockpile of the DU munitions that was destroyed, distributing uranium dust into the air.
By comparison, the towns of Ternopol, Khmilnik, and Novaya Ushitsa remained at their regular, base radiation levels. This indicates that the Khmelnitsky anomaly is indeed a spike and corroborates the claim that the stockpile in Khmelnitsky contained DU munitions.
khmelnystki radiation readings
Mr. Spock Sends Up a Flare – Star Trek – 1967
Super Antics: The Badass Comics by Kerry Callen
super antics1
Kerry Callen is a talented illustrator and book author who loves depicting the humorous adventures of the golden age Superman, his friends, and all the hijinks of their wacky universe. He calls this series of cartoons “Super Antics”, and they’re brilliant.
Goetta, a breakfast sausage, was originally a peasant dish, meant to stretch out servings of meat over several meals. It is very popular in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area.
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Ingredients
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
8 cups water
2 1/2 cups steel cut oatmeal
1 large onion, sliced*
1 to 4 bay leaves (optional)*
2 teaspoons salt
Pinch of pepper
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Instructions
In a large pot with a lid, boil the water, add salt, pepper and oatmeal. Cover and let cook for two hours, stirring often.
Add the meat, onion and bay leaves. Mix well. Cook for another hour, stirring often. Remove bay leaf.
Pour into any size bread pans. Refrigerate overnight.
To serve, slice the goetta and fry it until crispy or just until heated through.
Goetta may be served with pancakes and eggs, on sandwiches or in place of meat at dinner.
Notes
* Two teaspoons of savory may be substituted for the onion and bay leaf.
The Fall of Rome vs. the US Today
Troubled Pakistan Arrests Former PM Imran Khan
Today former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was arrested while visiting the Islamabad High Court in an unrelated case. The arrest comes at a critical point for Pakistan’s economy. Behind the scene U.S. and China are wrestling for influence.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested as he appeared in a court in the capital, Islamabad, to face corruption allegations, sparking protests across the country.The arrest on Tuesday is the latest twist in a months-long political crisis and follows several unsuccessful attempts to apprehend the cricketer-turned-politician, including a police raid in March at his residence in the eastern city of Lahore which he had managed to evade.
Last year Imran Khan was ousted from office after a few turncoats in his PTI party decided to vote with the opposition against him. He has alleged that the Pakistani military, and behind it the U.S., were involved in the scheme. Since then he has called for new elections.
Khan continues to be the most popular politician in the country and has a large following. His supporters are now out in the streets to protest against his arrest.
The case that led to this arrest is one of several dubious ones launched against him:
Akbar Nasir Khan, a top police official in Islamabad, told Al Jazeera that Khan was arrested in a case related to the Al-Qadir University Trust. The anti-corruption National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had issued an arrest warrant against Khan on May 1 in relation to the case, he said.The accountability body issued a statement saying Khan had been arrested “for the crime of corruption”.
“The former prime minister has not given any adequate response to the summoning notices of NAB. His arrest has been made in accordance with the NAB ordinance and the law,” the statement read.
Since his removal from power last year, Khan has been slapped with dozens of charges, all of which he denies and says are politically motivated.
Khan had recently accused the head of the Pakistan’s military intelligence service ISI of being responsible for two assassination attempts against him:
The military on Monday issued a harshly worded statement, terming the accusations of its involvement in last year’s shooting “highly irresponsible and baseless”.“We ask the political leader concerned to make a recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations,” the statement said.
Khan, however, doubled down on the allegations in a video message he released early on Tuesday, before leaving Lahore for Islamabad to attend a court hearing in a separate case.
“This man [Major General Faisal Naseer] tried to kill me twice and whenever an investigation is carried out, I will prove that it was this man and there is a whole gang with him,” the PTI chief said.
The PTI has called on its supporters to protest against the arrest. There have since been some riotous scenes throughout Pakistan’s cities.
Arresting Khan over some dubious issue after his recent spat with the military looks bad. The current unelected government will be seen as illegitimate instrument of the military, a role Khan himself was accused of before he was ousted.
There will now come days of rioting and violent police and probably military response throughout Pakistan. These will continue until Khan is released. In similar cases Pakistan’s supreme court eventually ruled that arrests like the one of Khan are illegal:
“In a state like ours, the state’s power to use violence and restrict an individual’s freedom is often used to punish politicians and leaders who have lost the establishment’s favour. Without prejudice to the merits of the case against Imran Khan, his recent arrest can hardly be viewed with a legal lens alone.“Even when viewed from a legal lens, the arrest appears derogate with the judgment rendered by the supreme court in the Khawaja Salman Rafia’s case, where it held that arrests before conviction are an aberration given the serious erosion of fundamental rights that it entails.
“Additionally, the court in that case had alluded to accountability laws being used for political engineering. While the PTI government had preferred a review against the afore-noted decision in 2020, its leader now appears to have been embroiled in the same web of political engineering, thus showing the more things change, the more they remain the same.”
Pakistan’s economy is extremely weak with very high inflation, food scarcity and too few currency reserves. It might default soon. An announced but not agreed upon IMF program will impose even more harsh conditions that the country will be unable to fulfill.
Posted by b on May 9, 2023 at 16:20 UTC | Permalink
Best of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (part 11)
Why is the US so evil to the world? Why can’t the US promise to the world that the US will never pursue for hegemony and threaten other countries like peaceful China does?
US don’t know peace. It knows only war.
The U.S. has been around only 249 years after killing off tens of million Native Americans. 230 out of 249 years it is in a war of sorts killing probably 100 million in total directly and indirectly.
This is how the U.S. conduct diplomacy. First it bribed, if that won’t work, it coerce, if that won’t work it threaten, if it still don’t work it sanctions. If that still don’t work it blockades when that don’t work it simply carpet bombs to kill innocent men, woman and children.
That is the United States of Atrocities.
The world is turning off the U.S. and toward China a 5000 year old peaceful civilisation. Good riddance USA we don’t want you anywhere near us. Stay away as far as possible. Go back to attend to your good American people. They are being shot by random mass killers more than once a day! Go back to giving college kids free tuitions, go back to providing really good and affordable health care not by those pharmaceutical that bribed you into office. Go back to give home to your home less. Yes locking up nine times per million more than China don’t make you free. Free the lesser sentence. Give freedom.
Hear this the world don’t want you around. Go back. Killing close to a hundred million is barbaric. And for once let your media tell the truth. The ghost of the 100 million will haunt you forever.
How an insane couple accidentally turned themselves in
Inflation in China
Compare to the rest of the world.
By the way, is inflation in the USA really 4.9%?
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Inflation in China. 0.1%.
Why do middle aged women think the more experience they have acquired in life the more it increases their chances to find men, but they fail to realize there is no product in the marketplace that increases in value with age and use?
I like online dating for finding partners. Gives me more control.
I use mediocre to bad pictures. I talk about my history of mental illness. I highlight my brain and my aesthetic sensibilities. I talk about my values, my goals, and the kind of life I enjoy living on a day-to-day basis.
That is, I highlight my personality, life experience, and lifestyle. Despite what you claim, it works well.
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And I mean, I’m reasonably cute. But in a schlubby no-effort sort of way.
This is me annoyed by trying to avoid glare from my glasses in the photo. Because I don’t take enough selfies to know how to avoid that. It’s representative of the crap I put on my dating profiles.
I message people I’m interested in, and I encourage them to reject me when they’re hesitant. I don’t want hesitation, and I don’t want anyone to settle for me.
If you’re interested, cool. If not, also cool.
I’m not for everyone. No one is. I only want people who can tolerate my weaknesses and appreciate my strengths. I continually work to decrease the former while increasing the latter, but I make no promises, and the changes I make may not align with your desires. Hoping for anything else is madness.
I’m not here to impress you. I’m here to have fun. With you, if you can keep up. But if not? That’s cool.
I am a niche product. There is only one of me. As a rule, the supply does not meet the demand. That may change in 20 years, when my sun-avoidance and EDS-wrinkle-prevention skin becomes less of an asset.
But I doubt it.
Maybe we’re just in different dating pools. I hope you like yours as much as I like mine.
Sarah literally thinks she’s going home later…
Seven Russian Tu-95 Strategic Bombers Airborne and Moving to Attack Vector
As of 5:20 PM eastern US Time on Saturday, 13 May, seven Russian Tu-95 Strategic Bombers have gone airborne and are moving to attack positions for missile launches against Ukraine. Air raid alerts are sounding throughout Ukraine as seen on the map image above.
The aircraft began taking off about two ago, from Olenya Air Base in Northwestern Russia, around 3:15 PM EDT, and have been flying large holding patterns until about 5:30 PM EDT when they began moving into attack positions.
Live Updates to appear below . . . check back
Olenya airbase NW Russia map
UPDATE 5:48 PM EDT —
A Russian Mig-31K, with a belly-mounted Kinzhal hypersonic missile clearly visible, took off from Savasleyka Airport located at the red marker on the scalable map below:
UPDATE 5:52 PM EDT —
Explosions now in Ternopol, in far northwestern Ukraine, with two such explosions shown in the images below:
7UXOr1Q
MORE:
Reports coming in saying Iskander launch from Belgorod towards Kharkov…
UPDATE 5:59 PM EDT —
Missile over Odessa tonight not sure by whom…
Explosions Slavyansk just in..
UPDATE 8:03 PM EDT —
Second round of Air Raid Alerts in much of Ukraine now sounding.
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USAF AWACS on the border of Ukraine; Squawking NORSE61
Cruise missiles have reportedly been launched over the Caspian Sea from Tu-95s
Travel time for such missiles varies. Kh-55 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles expected to enter Ukrainian Airspace any minute.
Russian tactical aviation is active in the north east direction bordering Ukraine.
What are the benefits of America’s alliances with Japan and Australia? What are the obligations of these countries to America as allies?
Frankly no benefit to America, Americans and their dogs, Japan, Japanese, Australia and Aussies. They are delaying the inevitable and screwing up their relationship with the worlds biggest market. Roughly bigger than their next 10 biggest market put together. And that is a conservative estimate!
What benefit? Imagine opening up a restaurant and screwing up to 60% of your customer by bad mouthing and fabricate lies 24/7 and 365 days a year and wondering why they won’t give you business.
Japanese. Australian and Americans should trade amongst themselves and be ready to suffer 50% inflation rate and become poorer by 75%! Yes go ahead and steal and scam each other.
Obligations! as long as you are the dog and a slave of the US that you clearly signed up to be. Talk shit, lie, fabricate falsehoods blame China and Chinese for everything and anything! Basically get ready to sink with the sinking ship United States of America!
“If We Only Had Some Phasers” – Star Trek – 1967
Midwestern Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches
Midwestern Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches are extremely popular in Illinois and through the Midwest.
Cut 4 (1 inch) slices of pork. Trim any exterior fat from edges and butterfly each slice by cutting horizontally through the middle almost to the edge so that the halves are connected by only a thick piece of meat. Put each butterflied slice between pieces of plastic wrap. Using a wooden meat mallet, or the side of a cleaver, pound vigorously until the slice is about 10 inches across.
Mix together flour, cornmeal, salt and black pepper.
Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a deep, wide skillet to 365 degrees F. Dip each slice of pork in water, then in flour mixture. Fry tenderloin, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve on buns with desired condiments (mustard, mayonnaise, dill pickle chips, ketchup, sliced onion, lettuce).
Chinese government ships have been carrying out a systematic survey in the eastern Indian ocean. Data gathered may be particularly relevant to submarine warfare.
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The survey activity covers a massive area, around 500,000 square km, and is getting larger. The inference is that, as well as conducting civilian research, these ships may be gathering information for naval planners.
Hydrographic data is civilian-defense agnostic. This means that it can be used for both civilian and military purposes. The eastern Indian Ocean is likely to be of particular interest to the Chinese Navy as they expand their submarine capabilities. The data from these surveys may help submarines navigate, or improve their chances of remaining undetected.
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Some of the survey activities, nearer to Indonesia and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, may relate to finding the US Navy’s reputed ‘fish hook’ sensor networks. These are designed to track Chinese submarines entering the Indian Ocean.
30 Countries Now Ready To Accept BRICS Currency
Vinod Dsouza
May 13, 2023
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A growing number of countries are showing interest to join the BRICS alliance and accept the new currency. BRICS could soon become BRICS+ as the South African ambassador, Anil Sooklal hinted that the alliance could expand this year. The decision to allow other countries to join the bloc could be taken at the next summit in August in South Africa. Sooklal confirmed that more than a dozen countries have formally and informally applied to join BRICS, according to Bloomberg.
The alliance would become stronger after expansion as their GDPs would race ahead of the U.S. and other Western powers. This could put the dollar and the Euro on the back foot as developing nations might end reliance on the USD. Therefore, BRICS stands in a better position to usher in a new global financial order than at any time before.
According to the latest report, 25 countries are ready to join BRICS and accept the new currency for international trade. The countries that have shown interest to join the BRICS alliance are Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
BRICS comprises five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Therefore, a total of 30 countries are now participating to dethrone the U.S. dollar from its global reserve status.
If these many countries ditch the dollar and begin cross-border transactions with a new currency, the USD could be hit. The dollar could weaken on a global scale and find no means to fund its deficit. The soon-to-be-released BRICS currency could have the power to eliminate the dollar’s dominance internationally.
The countries that are interested to join BRICS are also oil-rich nations. Therefore, the alliance could force European countries to pay with the new currency for oil and not the dollar. Read here to know how many sectors in the U.S. could be affected if this development takes place.
Christian Romero, The 8-Year-Old Killer…
Is China’s J-31 fighter significantly better than their J-20 fighter?
Is a screwdriver better than a hammer?
When it meets a nail, no.
But the hammer cries no contest with screws.
Warmaking is a system on system competition, and not a duel between particular weapon systems.
The FC-31, now known as the J-35, has evolved into the Swiss Army knife, next to the single-minded interceptor/air superiority fighter that is the J-20.
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A mainland friend that is a military buff contends it is the lack of domestic engines that curtailed the J-35’s introduction, with the available parts going to the J-20’s production. After a decade of hard work, the latest J-20s coming off the production line are equipped with powerful thrust vectoring domestic engines, a massive upgrade over the interim Saturn AL-31.
He pointed to videos that analyzed the flight profiles of recent J-20 airshow demos, and the evolution from earlier models.
With the J-20 becoming operational in all 5 Chinese theater commands, the time is ripe for the introduction of the J-35 family.
The navalized version is destined for the EMALs-capable Fujian and future Chinese supercarriers. The regular version will supplement the J-20 as a multirole strike fighter.
There is apparently a V-STOL version in development, which will change the nature of the Liaoning/Shandong’s ability to project combat power, as well as future escort carriers.
Note the J-35 is a 5th-gen twin-engine design, unlike the American F-35.
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The J-20, being the more mature platform, has been spotted as a two-seater test bed.
This is the world’s first 5th gen two-seater, and possibilities are rich with a WSO onboard. The J-20 can turn into a forward command post for EW, drone C&C, autonomous stealth wingmen or even a stealthy AWACS role in joint operations.
The J-20/J-35 are shaping up nicely to fill different operational gaps as Chinese air power marches steadily (and stealthily) towards 21st century parity.
The first world no longer determines the cycle time for weapon systems this century. That is the key takeaway.
Even basic infantry gear like assault rifles and MREs are being retired and replaced at a much faster clip by the PLA than elsewhere.
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Meet the new QBZ-191, no longer a bullpup.
Get used to being surprised by the Chinese repeatedly. They have hit a string of home runs in the past decade.
The J-35 will be no different, having gone through a long period of testing and development.
Life in the United States
“if you want more money, get a better job!!”
“ok..” gets better job
“why can’t i fill all these $10 job openings?! nObOdY wAnTs To wOrK!!!!”
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What does poverty look like in your country?
This is the ghetto in Salinas California in The United States.
Also locally known as “China Town”.
I was born and raised in Salinas and was told to never go to Chinatown and I never did until three months ago I am 36 years old now.
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I went there for a job interview for a Social Worker position to help homeless find a home.
This area is secluded from the rest of Salinas.
It almost feels like you entered another city.
They cut off roads that go in a circle to keep people out and leave the homeless in.
When i entered it was PACKED with people in the streets.
It smelled like urine and feces.
During my interview a man overdosed on drugs and was having a seizure.
His lips were blue!
The ambulance came.
Once my interview was done. There was pimps, postitutes, drug addicts and drug dealers all scattered in the streets it was hard for me to drive out of there because they kept walking close to my car.
I was terrified!!
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It was strange to see the transactions with the drug dealer and the addict..
The drug dealer was in nice clean named band clothes with some expensive sunglasses on talking to a bum with dirty rags on with long facial hair.
The difference between their appearances was major!
Once I finally made it out I CRIED and was praying to god for ALL of them. It was such a shock to know that place existed while I was being raised there.
The “news” still continues it’s march for war buildups. The “leadership class” believe (erroneously), that all is in hand. But they are wrong. Very wrong. Their “misfortunes” in Russia, and the rest of the world, imply bigger systemic issues that are growing into large mountains that will eventually capsize their pleasure cruse.
Don’t get too caught up.
Life is good, and getting better. But you all cannot control the rest of the world from jumping off a cliff. Just don’t follow them.
Shortly after a British Airways flight had reached its cruising altitude, the captain announced:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain. Welcome to Flight 293, non-stop from London Heathrow to New York. The weather ahead is good, so we should have an uneventful flight. So, sit back, relax, and… OH…MY GOD!”
Silence followed complete silence!
Some moments later, the captain came back on the intercom.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sorry if I scared you. While I was talking to you, a flight attendant accidentally spilled coffee on my lap. You should see the front of my pants!”
From the back of the plane, a passenger yelled “For the luvva Jaysus, you should see the back of mine!”
As a doctor, what is the most unusual way a patient has thanked you for taking care of them?
When I was an ENT resident, I had a patient named Alvin who had been treated multiple times for an oral cancer. What happened on a visit after a biopsy stays with me today. At that time I wrote an article about it. Kind of a long answer to your question,, but I think worthwhile:
Alvin lay on the gurney, oblivious to the huff of the respirator forcing oxygen into his lungs. Pulling the surgical mask from my face, I reached for his pulse and checked his pupillary reflexes, matching the physical input against the digital readouts on the recovery room monitor. Everything looked good except that Alvin was going to live.
Alvin, a master woodworker, had cancer. At least, he’d had it before. Four years ago a small sore on the floor of his mouth proved positive for squamous cell carcinoma. Chemotherapy, radiation and three mutilating surgeries over as many years battered the disease to a standstill.
Throughout his ordeal, Alvin was indomitable. His face disfigured by the loss of half of his lower jaw, skin burned leathery by radiation, he saw no reason to complain let alone despair. Although he couldn’t smile, he never failed to joke with the nurses and talk about the mountain cabin where he planned to retire.
When Alvin presented for his checkup, there was another lump. My heart sank. He’d had all the drug and x-ray treatments his body could tolerate. Another surgery was out of the question.
“I don’t know about this, Alvin,” I said. “I think we’d better biopsy it.”
With a voice made raspy by his treatments, he said, “Sure, Doc. No problem.”
A week after the biopsy, Alvin bounced into my office after a wave and a wink to the receptionist.
He plunked himself in front of my desk, eyes still bright but unaccompanied by the usual deep laugh lines. He unshouldered a Woodworker’s Supply tote bag and set it beside the chair. “So what’s up, Doc?” he said.
The damning pathology report lay on my desk like a sheet of lead. My voice broke on his name. I took a sip of water and pulled myself together.
“It’s not good, Alvin. The cancer’s back. I don’t think we can stop it this time.”
Alvin nodded and leaned back, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds. Leaning forward, he rummaged in his bag, extracting a package about the size of a cigar box brightly-wrapped in silver paper. He placed it on the desk and pushed it across to me.
“I know, Doc, and I knew you’d feel real bad about it. I thought this might cheer you up a little. Made it myself.”
Speechless, I carefully unwrapped a wooden box with an intricate inlay of a bird on the lid and scrolls of a yellow wood encircling the periphery.
“Not bad, eh?” he said. “Now the box is amboyna burl from Southeast Asia. One of the most exotic burls around. Chinese emperors used to hoard it like gold. Now they use it to make the dashboards on those high-end Mercedes. Just a delight to feel it in your hands, isn’t it? Like butter.”
He reached across to outline the yellow scrollwork inlaid on the sides. “Now that’s East Indian satinwood,” he said excitedly. “India and Sri Lanka. Tightest grain you ever saw. Hold it up to the light and it looks like it’s embedded with diamonds.”
I ran my hand over the polished surface, turning it to catch the light, catching some of Alvin’s enthusiasm for the natural beauty of the wood and marveling at the craftsmanship.
“The bird,” he said, “is my poor attempt at a phoenix. Lots of different woods in it for the colors: bloodwood for the fire, granadillo for most of the body, plum for the wings, some ebony for the talons. Whaddaya think?”
I stared slack-jawed at the man who’d just received a death sentence. “Alvin,” I managed, “it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Knew you’d like it,” he said, his voice smiling for him. “Thanks for being my doc. We gave it a good run didn’t we?”
Why do so many foreigners go to China and think China is good?
Because there are two worlds: the one you see in real life and the one you see on TV or newspaper.
You watch TV, navigate through social media and you think you are well informed abou the world. And you know a lot about China. A strong dictatorship, damn commies, cheap labor and poor brainwashed people that would be amazed to see the “Free world”. The government is spying on their citizens, like CIA or NSA. But when commies do, you think is worst. Of course.
And one day, casually, you decide that you will visit China.
You arrived there and you are shocked. You can barely believe in your own eyes.
The big cities are super modern, big, shinning tall buildings. The way you pay, the way you shop, the hypermarket looks like in The Jetsons.
You are in the future.
The level of automation there is out of this world (Western world, cough, cough). You had no idea that so many online services were already available to the people. You realize you have been scammed by your own country and media.
After the initial shock, you, an an educated person after all, well traveled, you have knowledge. Knowledge from the free world.
You decide to talk to the educated Chinese. Another shock. They know more about you (you as a citizen and your political beliefs) and your country than you know about them. Where is the brainwashing?
“Hey, but they are not free” you think in relieve. What can you do that they can’t? Let’s see… protest?
As if protests are changing something…
Vote? Chinese economy is growing faster and better than democracies…
It doesn’t matter, you are a free, superior citizen of the developed world. You traveled there to China to see them! And see that the Chinese studying abroad are going back to China… Whatever, they are commies.
You visit the Rural China, you still see a lot of poverty. You feel better about yourself. Hahaha, they are still poor!
You go back to the big cities and there is no way to deny the reality: China is growing and is glowing.
You go back home and you see, China is actually a good place. Very different from what you see on TV.
That’s why year after year the “experts” in your country are predicting the fall of China. There is nothing else to do beyond pray that somehow China will stop growing and wil be the end of the Western hegemony over the world.
PS: Go on, call me Communist Party propagandist.
We start with three videos
All there (x3) must be watched. This is from Singapore, and they are a third party trying to understand China.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2 is especially illuminating, to quiet those who insist China will fold immediately with a blockade of the Malacca Straits.
part 3
Love
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The sad death of Australian wine
Australia killed wine trade with China. The LARGEST consumer of wine in the world.
This is what happened…
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While standing in line at a grocery store, what was the most arrogant display you have ever seen?
This happened a few days ago at Wal-Mart.
My son and I got in line to check out and an elderly woman with a walker was at the register. She was having a bit of difficulty with unloading her cart so the man in front of us went to help her. As we waited, my son overheard a woman behind us say “Why is it taking so long? My God, why do they let people like that in stores.”
My son turned to the woman and said “For the same reason they let people like you in here. They have to eat too. I hope you find yourself in her position one day and remember how rude you are now.”
She stood there in shock and silent afterwards. I had tears of pride in my eyes knowing that my son just put a pretentious person in their place. He went over to the elderly lady and asked if she needed help to her car and went with her to load her groceries. At 16, and mildly autistic, this was HUGE. He didn’t wait for permission, he just went and did what was right.
I wish others would do the same.
The Poverty In Mississippi Is Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen
America
Reality…
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Can a cat distinguish accidentally stepping on its tail from something done to hurt them?
I’ve, on occasion woken up in the middle of the night…stumbled around and accidentally stepped on my cat’s tail.
There are two things that happen at that moment, one he cries out immediately and I get off, two I pick him up, hug him, kiss his cheek and tell him I’m sorry.
He still loves the crap out of me and I love the crap out of him.
Does he know it was an accident, absolutely…you know how I know? He didn’t scratch the crap out of me or run off, he waited for the kiss and hug then made sure I was alright.
As with everyone on this planet, you get the gambit of responses. Some cats bolt some fight back and some overreact.
Chicken Fajita Pasta Toss
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Ingredients
8 ounces vermicelli or thin pasta, drained and kept warm
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
1 cup quartered, sliced onion
1 cup sliced red bell pepper
1 cup sliced yellow bell pepper
1 (7 ounce) can chiles, drained and cut into strips
1/2 cup taco sauce
1/2 cup water
1 package fajita seasoning mix
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1 lime, cut into wedges optional
Instructions
Heat vegetable oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken; cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until no longer pink.
Add onion, bell pepper and chiles; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir taco sauce, water and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture thickens.
Serve over pasta. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.
6 servings.
These people WON’T like China!! 这些人不会喜欢中国!
I notice that everyone new to China said they notice it’s clean, friendly and safe. I suppose every society had its ups and it’s downs, I think that living in a crime free society must be a massive plus.
What drives people’s motivation?
During my years in high school, every time I walked to my physics class I’d go past this mostly-empty board which showed all the former-students that had gone on to study a science at Oxford or Cambridge.
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I desperately wanted to get my name up on that board. I mean really desperately. And guess what? I’m on it! On the right, 10th from bottom. It is odd seeing it for the first time, over two decades later.
Driven people are usually driven by something dark, almost sinister. Insecurity, ego, attention, wanting to prove someone wrong, rivalry, money. It’s rare for someone to be driven in wanting to make the world a better place – humans are generally too selfish for that kind of stuff.
Take doctors. Most will tell you they chose medicine to help humanity in some way. Bullshit. It’s the status, the respect, the title, it’s about making parents proud, it’s about being the Mac Daddy in the hospital. If we loved helping other humans so much why do so few of us want to do degrees in charity management?
And so there we have it – I ended up studying Physics at Oxford, not because of a passion to study the laws of the universe at the finest university in the universe, but to get my name up on a stupid board.
Do you think China will surpass the United States as an economic superpower in our lifetime? Why or why not? What are some reasons for your answer?
My answer. -MM
Oh, that. Yeah. That pretty much happened in the 1970’s.
As always, do not expect to be informed by reading Western (American) “News”. The term “disinfo” means to distract and inform with falsehoods.
I suppose I could throw out all sorts of facts and figures. I could show you charts. In general, the more charts thrown in an article the more believable it is. It’s a funny thing with non-critical thinkers; they see charts, but don’t understand their meanings or impacts. Colorful ones are the best. You’ll get a lot of nodding bubble heads for certain.
So…
What is an “economic superpower”? How does it translate into lifestyle?
Or to put differently, if you lived inside of an economic superpower, what would you lifestyle be like? And it is from that angle; from that vision, from that observation that we will explore the answer to this question.
This is different from tabulated reams of data, and lectures by “blue panel experts”. This is different from “on the street” interviews, and what the “history books” say.
If you lived in an economic superpower, your life would be [1] stable, [2] comfortable, and [3] safe. Otherwise, what’s the point? A name? A title? No, don’t be silly. An economic superpower is a place where everyone lives a great life.
Let’s look at the three aspects…
Stable
You could work in your chosen profession without ever having to worry about a “layoff”, a “downsize”, a “right size” or firing. You would not need to hold multiple jobs to support your family, and a family would only need one breadwinner.
Comfortable
You would have a fine, well attired home. No mortgages. No need to procure loans or borrow money to support that lifestyle. You would eat well, sleep comfortably, and have access to inexpensive, but good, medical care.
Safe
Crime would not be present, and there would be few instances of fraud. There would be no crime or fraud in government, and everything would be transparent and above-the-board.
Of course, for large nations, you can never actually achieve the ideals.
But you can obtain a “best fit” ideal; one where the various three aspects were predominant in your culture. And that, this honest to goodness view of personal first-hand reality is what we need to judge what an economic superpower is. Because using this measurement, you are omitting technology. You are omitting oligarch influence. You are omitting government type and behavior. instead you are looking at the visceral aspects of society; ones that you experience.
Around 1970, the United States lost this role. At the same time, China gained this role.
And everything else is just fluff.
Numbers and opinions that are great on multiple choice questions on a test, but have no actual purpose in regards to understandings.
By comparing one’s lifestyle you can easily see whether they are living in an economic superpower or not.
The early 1970’s was the time when Americans lost the three primary elements of societal foundations that are prevalent in an economic superpower. And it was precisely at this time, when the Chinese gained them.
the american dream doesn’t exist
Some thoughts…
Anger is a condition in which tongue works faster than the mind.
Money can’t buy happiness but poverty can’t buy anything.
They start missing you when they fail to replace you.
You can’t be strong all the time. Sometimes you just need to be alone & let your tears out.
Everything comes with an expiry date.
You can’t start the new chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.
What is China’s plan to counter United States Navy carriers?
China has very sophisticated anti-ship missiles (including hypersonic), destroyers (Type 055, Type 052D), attack submarines (Type 093, upcoming Type 095), ASW aircraft, satellites, etc. to counter the US Navy. US carriers would be foolish to come close to China’s coast (within several thousand kilometers).
China also has the world’s most advanced stealth fighters in the J-20 and upcoming J-35.
America brags about its ageing F-22 (production discontinued in 2011) and its underpowered F-35, which has a shorter range, lower ceiling, lower speed, and smaller payload than the J-20. LOL.
The Pentagon is not stupid. They won’t engage China.
The latest Anti China media campaigns fell flat
As an American citizen, what is the best way for me to influence the response to a Chinese takeover of Taiwan? Although I care about the action, I don’t care enough about it to start WW3.
Answers don’t seem to address the question: if you don’t want US to get involved with the battle of Taiwan, which might trigger WW3, what can you do as an individual?
If that’s the premise of the question.
My friend posted an email that he sent to his district congressman last year when Russia invaded Ukraine, his demand was the opposite, he requested the congressman to support sending US military into the war!
Now that’s ww3 that almost happened, last year.
Now this is a smart guy, smarter than me, how could he have made such a stupid decision?
Me and another friend were ridiculing him, that we would buy guns and armor for him, so that he can volunteer for Ukraine. Hey if you wanna die don’t represent us. You can volunteer to fight, we will root for ya, even buy your gears!
The topic of nuclear Armageddon came up, I asked him, you and me both live in tier one cities, the first wave to be vaporized, have you thought of that? Never mind the guy who lives in Texas or Ohio, who might go berserk to be tough with Russia, it’s for us to die when shit happens, not him. And we can support Ukraine all we want (through funding the war, supplying weapons and intelligence to coordinating attacks, to sanctions which we don’t agree with again but that’s at least not the line in the sand), but hey NO that’s NOT our war!
You see Russia or China or whichever nuclear country that we decide to attack, they would make sure that DC, NYC, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and maybe Chicago (sorry Chicago don’t think you were that important but you would probably be totally ok to be missed in the top 5 must hit list for America) bite the dust.
So let’s go B——n? Well f* you too if you think that our lives can be collateral damage in MAD. Great gracious that B——n didn’t think so, sometimes it’s good to back down.
So call and email your congressman, and other representatives – if you want my vote don’t do anything silly on that front, you are triggering ww3. Unfortunately that’s all you can do.
Btw, that friend has completely come to his senses after a few months of the war and now totally agree with me. That is not our war, support all you want, but if you wanna join do it yourself, die for Ukraine but don’t represent me!
Peace.
I also want to talk a bit about my perspective on Taiwan, since most Americans don’t know that ww3 could be happening on that side of the world and what our government and representatives are doing about it.
We are patrolling our great navy carriers near their waters.
BUT it’s our right amirite? Yeah pretty much if a peeping tom wants to it is also his right, as long as he keeps enough distance, but that’s not hostile? Com’on.
Also don’t forget if peeping tom isn’t even your neighbor, there’s something called restraining order (in fact even if he were your neighbor).
Oh that’s not all that is happening in that area, that’s what we have been doing for decades.
What we are doing now is to go to slap them in the face, by doing something we don’t do before but are doing now often to infuriate them, we visit their wife during some sort of divorce.
BUT it’s our right amirite? Sure bet. A man visits your wife who hates you, sleeps over at her place, hey he’s not banging her promise. That’s not being hostile? Ok maybe he will make sure that you see them banging, is it hostile enough for ya?
BUT what about freedom? and democracy!
Wah I got to see a porn movie that also educates us about democracy.
Freedom!
Peace.
(I usually don’t want to talk about war with Russia and China but if it’s before we go for ww3, at least don’t pretend that it’s a joke, do people’s lives look like a joke to you?)
Chinese Culture: The values that set them apart.
I lived in China for 8 years and honestly, those were the best and happiest years of my life. Cheers!
What is the most sadistic thing you have seen one of your family members do?
My brother, cousin and I are adopted.
I asked my mother when I was little why she couldn’t have her own children. She said she had a hysterectomy.
I didn’t think much of it then but as I got older I realized she had only been 30 when my older brother was adopted. I thought it was unusual to have the procedure done in her 20’s.
My mom was born in 1916, so a risky procedure, I would think in the 1930’s. I found out her younger sister had a hysterectomy at a early age as well.
Then, in my 50’s I got the whole story from an older cousin.
My Adopted mom’s mother had made a deal with a devilish doctor ( probably for sexual favors) to perform hysterectomies on her daughters while they were CHILDREN.
I believe my mother was eight and my aunt perhaps six!!!!
My mom and aunt didn’t remember anything of the procedure.
They didn’t know what had been done to them until in their 20’s, when my Aunt Etta was talking to her fiancé ( my uncle Bill) and as all young people in love do, they were discussing how many kids they wanted, and my GRANDMOTHER from the next room, yelled in to them, “ You won’t be having any children! I took care of that! I’m not having your body ruined like mine was!”
That is how my mother and aunt found out they would never have children…. thanks to a sadistic and psychopathic grandmother and some crazy, immoral doctor in Dallas, Texas in the 1920’s.
Not that Way: The Superb Concept Art Works of Oliver Ryan
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Oliver Ryan is a UK based concept artist and illustrator working in games and animation.
The ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors meeting agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies to ensure financial stability.
To facilitate regional economic integration, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made a declaration on advancing regional payment connectivity and promoting local currency transaction on Wednesday during the two-day ASEAN Summit
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The leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have agreed to “encourage the use of local currencies for economic and financial transactions.” The group comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This move will help them reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar.
Southeast Asian Countries’ De-Dollarization Efforts
The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, for the 42nd ASEAN Summit on May 10-11 under the chairmanship of the Republic of Indonesia. ASEAN members comprise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This year’s 42nd ASEAN Summit under Indonesia’s chairmanship is themed “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth,” held from May 9 to 11 in the Indonesian town of Labuan Bajo.
Ahead of the summit, the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) had expected that Indonesia could drive regional de-dollarization through its 2023 ASEAN chairmanship. Ajib Hamdani, head of Apindo’s Economic Policy Analyst Committee, said in an official statement that de-dollarization has become a global phenomenon and, to some extent, an economic orientation.
Leaders declared to commit to advancing regional payment connectivity by utilizing emerging opportunities brought by innovation to facilitate seamless and secure cross-border payment, taking country circumstances into consideration. They also agreed to encourage the use of local currencies for cross-border transactions in the region and support the establishment of a Task Force to explore the development of an ASEAN Local Currency Transaction Framework.
ASEAN is seeking to improve its regional payment connectivity through initiatives such as the recently launched Indonesia-Malaysia quick response (QR) standard, which allows citizens of both countries to use QR codes and their local currencies to make payments in the other. The bloc is also encouraging the settlement of regional accounts in local currencies rather than with the US dollar, the go-to currency for international trade.
“This is in line with the purpose of ASEAN centrality, so that ASEAN can be much stronger and self-reliant,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said of the currency policy recommendation
An official declaration released by the chairman at the conclusion of the summit states: “We adopted the ASEAN Leaders Declaration on Advancing Regional Payment Connectivity and Promoting Local Currency Transaction to foster bilateral and multilateral payment connectivity arrangements to strengthen economic integration by enabling fast, seamless, and more affordable cross-border payments across the region.”
The declaration continues:
We commit to encourage the use of local currencies for economic and financial transactions among ASEAN member states to deepen regional financial integration and promote the development of currency market in local currency to strengthen financial stability in the region.
Among ASEAN countries, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines been developing their capacity for local currency settlement since 2017. Recently, the region has established the similar framework with China, Japan and South Korea.
ASEAN leaders have also agreed to explore the development of a unified ASEAN local currency transaction framework that would help countries in the region transition away from established trade currencies like the US dollar.
At the end of March, the ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors met in Bali, Indonesia, and agreed to take steps to reinforce the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar or other major international currencies for cross-border trade and investment in an effort to ensure financial stability and avoid spillovers such as high inflation from the global crisis.
Bank of Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said in April that Indonesia is following the BRICS’ de-dollarization lead . The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are working on a common currency to reduce their reliance on the USD; their leaders plan to discuss this topic at their upcoming leaders’ summit.
Multiple people expect a common BRICS currency to erode the U.S. dollar’s dominance, including a former White House economist who warned that if the BRICS nations used only their common currency for international trade, “they would remove an impediment that now thwarts their efforts to escape dollar hegemony.” Investment analyst Jon Wolfenbarger cautioned that a successful BRICS currency could result in the U.S. dollar losing its reserve currency status. This would hurt U.S. living standards and lead to less power for the U.S. government.
What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?
A woman called my newsroom crying. Nobody wanted to deal with her. So they sent her to me. She was crying and hard to understand, but the basic story went this way…
She had bought a used car. She needed it badly to get to the THREE jobs she held to support her children by herself. No husband. Less than two weeks after buying the car, it broke down. She called the dealer who had told her it had a 30-day warranty.
He told her he couldn’t help. But, she told him, you said it had a 30 day warranty. His response — too bad. When she complained, he told her — “lady, you’re dealing with the big boys now.”
She was crying as she told me this. I was — to put it mildly — angry.
My response to her — let me call you back.
I called him. I explained the problem and when I did not get what I considered a good response, I “explained” things to him:
He needed to respond appropriately to her and solve the problem.
If he did not respond appropriately, I would have my entire investigative news team look into his operation.
He did not like that.
Cautionary note here: My response – YOU picked the wrong person to fight with, and no, NOW, you’re playing with the Big Boys, expletives to follow…
He took back her car.
Gave her a slightly newer model without any problems.
She called crying and thanked me.
I may have cried a little bit too.
Do you think Japan is still occupied by the Americans?
Picture worth a thousand words. …
.
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The US vice-president Harris visited Zambia via China built airports & China built expressway to speak in the China built buildings in Zambia. She called African countries including Zambia to fight against China’s modernization of Africa. Why?
Although the Biden administration has been trying to disassociate its policy towards Africa from its confrontation with China and Russia, a senior administration official who spoke on a call with reporters ahead of Harris’s trip acknowledged that “Obviously, we can’t ignore the current geopolitical moment. It’s no secret that we are engaged in competition with China. And we’ve said very clearly we intend to outcompete China in the long term.”
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For decades, the United States treats African countries like charity cases. That was exacerbated during the Trump administration, which largely ignored the continent. Former US President Donald Trump even insulted some African countries as “shithole countries” in a 2018 meeting.
At the same time, China, as a strategic competitor of the United States, has continuously strengthened its investment in Africa, helping African countries build roads and other infrastructure, and establishing more solid economic and political relations. That was determined by how differently China views Africa than the U.S., with the latter tending to see Africa as a series of problems–wars, famines, something like that, while China seeing it much more of an opportunity.
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Vice President Kamala Harris landed at Zambia’s Kenneth Kuanda International Airport, a project upgraded by China.
Aiming to reset U.S.-Africa relations, several Biden administration officials paid visit to the continent. The vice president is the fifth Biden official in three months to visit the continent. For Harris, the first Black U.S. vice president, it also carries especially high stakes. Harris’ arrival marks the latest, most high-profile official to visit Africa this year, reportedly to pave way for President Joe Biden’s visit later in the year.
However, the change of the Biden administration does not mean that the United States has begun to pay attention to Africa’s development. The essence of Biden’s policy logic is no different from that of its predecessors, or even all their predecessors. What the United States cares most about in Africa is to ensure the influence of hegemony, and to deal with the “competition” of other major powers outside Africa, which is the source of all motives for the United States to ignore or attach importance to Africa.
Although the U.S. spares no effort to woo Africa, the current China-Africa trade volume is still five times that of the U.S.-Africa trade, and China’s direct investment in Africa is still twice that of the U.S. These are indisputable facts. In addition, China’s aid to Africa has not only about building a large amount of infrastructure, but also created millions of job opportunities for Africa. Therefore, it is self-evident how African countries and peoples should choose, to cooperate with China for tangible development or to be placed at the “strategic bottom” by the United States.
Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Put oil in pan and cook over medium heat. Add chicken and sauté for about 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.
Reduce heat to low and cover; let cook for 10 minutes or until fork can be inserted in chicken with ease.
Remove chicken and keep warm. Drain off oil and discard.
In saucepan, add lime juice and cook over low heat until the juice begins to bubble. Add butter, constantly stirring until butter thickens. Stir in chives and dill weed.
Spoon over chicken and serve.
Garnish with lime slices and dill weed.
They Really Did It! | The U.S. Confiscates Russian Assets
2023 05 13 19 14
What 10 things have you stopped doing in your life?
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Stopped eating maida based products to keep me healthy.
2. Stopped using an alarm to wake up in the morning…. 😅😂
3. Stopped focusing on people who leave. Instead started to focus on the one’s who stayed through thick and thin.
4. Stopped being in touch with people who always left me hanging at the edge.
5. Stopped expecting people to text me first cause no one cares about you:(
6. Stopped using phone while eating and before going to sleep.
7. Stopped overthinking about every freaking thing. Now I do meditation.
8. Stopped trying to please everybody. Who cares what others think about me. !?
9. Stopped trying too hard to be friends with everybody. Now I am happy with the only one’s I have. Quality over quantity:)
10. Stopped using insta too much. Now i read novels and write.
The US and the US-led G7 confessed that their GDPs are exaggerated, much less than the Chinese GDP in the world. Their military and economic coercion on other countries have been no effects in the world. Why?
This is true. The US is in a state of apparent decline, and this decline may be even irreversible. At this rate, within 10 years or so, the Chinese GDP per capita will match the US, and the standard of life will be higher, because the GDP in China is distributed more evenly among the population. No small testament to this is that China already, recently exceeded the U.S. in life expectancy, one of the main indicators of national wellbeing, if not the main one.
Because of the above-said decline, the US is losing world influence, which is leading to the formation of new big economic alliances like BRICS, and the new “no limits” strategic and economic alliances between Russia and China. The decline is also leading to the beginning of de-dollarization, a very dangerous trend for the US.
I hope the U.S. and its allies take heed of all this and make the necessary adjustments…the day before yesterday. This is not the time for intolerance, intransigence, and being uncompromising….
In a stunning revelation, it has been disclosed that China and the US were engaged in a high-stakes military confrontation mere 150 kilometers away from Hong Kong in early 2021.
The intensity of the situation prompted the US to take a bold step and destroy its floating sonars to prevent them from falling into Beijing’s hands, reported SCMP.
One day before the deadly riots on January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump had gathered outside the Capitol building in Washington.
On that same day, the report said three US military aircraft embarked on an unusual submarine hunt, conducting operations remarkably close to China’s shoreline.
A team of Chinese military scientists has released the first open report on the January 5 incident, which includes a significant disclosure.
The report disclosed that a US anti-submarine plane flew close to Hong Kong, reaching as close as 150 kilometers (93 miles).
The report further said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) acted swiftly by deploying a classified counterforce during the US naval exercise, but the nature and size of this response remain classified.
Led by Liu Dongqing from PLA Unit 95510, the research team emphasized that US activities significantly threatened China’s national security. The study highlighted that such actions could severely impede the critical missions of Chinese submarines during wartime.
The report said that US spy planes strategically placed sensors in the waters near the Dongsha Islands, which are also referred to as the Pratas Islands. These islands consist of atolls and reefs under Taiwan’s control.
The deployment of these sensors indicates the involvement of the United States in monitoring activities in the region, adding to the complexity of the situation surrounding these contested waters.
In contrast to other disputed islands in the South China Sea, where the United States has been conducting freedom of navigation operations to challenge what it perceives as China’s excessive claims, the Dongsha Islands are claimed solely by Taipei and Beijing.
In this case, the absence of broader territorial claims by other countries sets the Dongsha Islands apart from other contentious areas in the region.
8 Chinese work ethics that WILL improve your life
6 Signs that you have a strong mindset
You move on. You don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself.
You are kind, fair, and unafraid to speak up.
You embrace change. You welcome challenges.
You stay happy. You don’t waste energy on things you can’t control.
You are willing to take calculated risks.
You celebrate other people’s success. You don’t feel threatened by other’s achievements.
China Accuses US Of Monitoring, Blocking, And Containing Chinese Subs
The United States, according to Chinese researchers, has devoted significant efforts to target China’s submarine forces in recent years specifically. They contend that this intensified focus is part of a larger pattern of increased US military activities within the South China Sea region.
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The report added that the US utilizes sophisticated tools such as sonar buoys and sensors to locate submarines even when operating at significant depths below the surface.
The scientists from the PLA assert that the techniques employed by the United States pose a “severe threat” to China’s submarines, significantly impeding their ability to operate covertly within the region.
According to Liu’s team, the US uses a deliberate tactic of flying spy planes at low altitudes of around 60 meters, which is relatively close to the ground and poses safety risks.
This tactic enhances the ability to detect and track submarines, especially by anti-submarine patrol aircraft such as the US Navy’s P-8A.
The report revealed that the US military deployed several aircraft to locate Chinese submarines, which operated in a coordinated manner to achieve their goals.
The team led by Liu Dongqing from the PLA’s electronic warfare unit noted that the US intended to monitor, block and contain China’s activities.
The US military maintained a persistent presence in the area by conducting multiple flights over an extended period, enabling them to gather extensive information about Chinese submarine activity and enhancing their situational awareness and surveillance capabilities.
In response to the US efforts, PLA researchers have proposed measures to counteract them, as suggested in the latest study.
China’s electronic warfare capabilities could disrupt or jam US floating sonar systems, hindering submarine detection. China is also developing realistic decoys to deceive US sonar systems by mimicking submarine sounds and movements.
The Chinese military also collaborates with private companies to enhance submarine stealth technology.
That being said, the disclosed information highlights the escalated military activities and countermeasures being taken by both sides.
What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?
I went to a mall in my hometown 2 weeks ago to redeem a gift voucher I got from my parents about 3 years ago.
I parked in the basement and walked up to the doors where a guy wearing a staff uniform was waiting and opened the door for me, as I stepped inside he joined me and pressed the button to go the a certain floor without asking me where I’m going.
As the doors started closing my gut told me to GTFO because something is off about this guy.
I stepped out pretending that I forgot something in the car, the guy didn’t follow me out.
I decided that it was nothing and shouldn’t stress about it. So up I went to the 3rd floor, as I stepped out a bunch of security guards came running toward the lift and chased me out and took the lift to the next floor.
I asked one of the people what happened and no one knew.
Maybe 10 minutes later there was an announcement saying that the 5th floor and the elevators on that side of the mall is closed due to security reasons.
Turned out that the guy who was with me in the lift slashed the next guy who entered’s neck with a carpenters knife (killing him) and tried to attack the security guards when the doors opened.
Not so much for China, but rather for the United States. China CAN weather out the changes. The United States hasn’t a chance in Hell.
The mere idea that these concepts are actually being considered should illustrate just how crazy, desperate, and ruthless the United States has become.
Take note that the thrashing of the dying United States is getting worse and worse. Soon, some kind-soul is going to need to put it out of its misery.
We begin here…
Newton Stone
There are plenty of standing stones all around Europe. The most famous of these is undoubtedly England’s Stonehenge, but other countries boast ancient monuments and mysterious artifacts too. In Scotland, the most bizarre and confusing of these is the Newton Stone.
Standing in Aberdeenshire, the Newton Stone was carefully carved into a serpent-like pattern. Along with whatever snake-type creature is shown, the stone appears to boast some flowers and some circles. Unfortunately, the meaning of those images isn’t known by archaeologists. However, the other side of the Newton Stone is where things get really crazy.
On the back, there are six lines of indecipherable text. There is a series of dash-like lines and carvings that historians are pretty sure date back to an ancient language called Ogham. However, there are a few other lines written in some other mysterious text. Linguists have no clue what the second language is or what the message is supposed to represent.
Some scholars believe it is a very rough, ancient version of Latin left over from when the Romans occupied the area. Others claim it’s a bastardized form of Ancient Greek, while another group of linguists wonders if there’s a Slavic background to the bizarre text. Still, other experts contend the text is Pictish—an ancient language spoken by peoples who lived ages ago in Scotland and northern England.
That last theory might make the most sense, but it hasn’t given modern researchers any conclusive answers. To this day, the Newton Stone’s purpose is not clear. And the message scrawled on its backside is even more of a mystery. Is it a religious shrine? Could it be a message having to do with weather patterns or other natural phenomena? Was the scribbled inscription a warning of a terrible future ahead? We simply don’t know, but the mystery of the site makes it a little creepy—and a lot of fun.
Achiote Butter-Basted Turkey
with Ancho Chile Gravy
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Ingredients
2 fresh poblano chiles
3 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, halved and seeded
1 (22 to 24 pound) turkey, giblets discarded
1 large white onion, quartered
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons achiote paste
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup Masa Harina
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Char the poblano chiles over a gas flame or in a broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose chiles in a paper or plastic bag. Let stand 10 minutes to steam. Peel and seed chiles.
Toast ancho chiles in a heavy, large skillet over high heat until the color darkens slightly and the chiles are fragrant, about 30 seconds per side. Transfer the ancho chiles to a medium-size bowl. Add enough hot water to the bowl to cover the chiles. Let stand until the chilies soften, about 20 minutes.
Puree four ancho chile halves with 1/2 cup soaking liquid in a blender. Add the roasted poblano chiles; puree. Season with salt and pepper. Drain the remaining two chile halves; chill. (Puree and soaked chiles can be made one day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Rinse the turkey inside and out, and pat dry. Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining two ancho chile halves into strips. Place the chile strips and onion in the turkey cavity.
Mix the butter and achiote paste in a small bowl to blend. Run your fingers between the turkey breast skin and meat to loosen. Rub half of the achiote butter over turkey breast under skin. Rub butter over the outside of turkey. Place turkey in a large roasting pan. Tuck wings under the turkey. Tie legs together to hold shape. Pour 1 1/2 cups of stock into the pan.
Roast the turkey 45 minutes. Tent the turkey loosely with foil. Continue roasting until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 180 degrees F, basting every 30 minutes with pan juices, about 3 1/2 hours. Transfer the turkey to platter. Tent with foil.
Pour the turkey pan juices into a measuring cup. Spoon off the fat from the pan juices, reserving 1/4 cup of fat. Add enough remaining stock to the pan juices to measure 3 cups. Return 1/4 cup fat to the roasting pan. Place the pan over two burners set at medium heat. Add the Masa Harina; whisk until the mixture resembles a paste, scraping up any browned bits, about 2 minutes.
Gradually whisk in the pan juices. Add chile puree; simmer 4 minutes to blend the flavors.
Season gravy with salt and pepper. Serve turkey with gravy.
Yield: 14 servings
WAR IS HERE, the U.S. is in real trouble!
https://youtu.be/5Y23vc43z0U
Alastair Crooke
April 24, 2023
There seems to be more cultural energy present in the U.S. today, than there is in Europe, which has long since severed from living myth.
The message sent by the Chinese Defence Minister’s three-day visit to Russia is clear. His reception – a high-profile event – was intentionally invested with high visibility. And at its symbolic centre was a meeting with President Putin on (Orthodox) Easter Day which was consequential, both for being far beyond the norms of protocol, and for occurring on Easter Day, when Putin would not customarily work.
Its key message may be surmised from remarks earlier framed by Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times: “The U.S. repeatedly claims that China is preparing to provide “lethal military aid” to Russia in the ongoing Ukraine conflict”. But that war has “has been going on for more than a year: And according to the West’s previous calculation, Russia should have already collapsed by now … And, whilst NATO is supposed to be much stronger than Russia, the situation on the ground doesn’t appear as such – which is why it causes [such] anxiety in the West …”.
Hu Xijin continues:
“If Russia alone is already so difficult to deal with, what if China really starts to provide military aid to Russia, using its massive industrial capabilities for the Russian military? [If] Russia alone … is more than a match for the Collective West. If they [the West] really forces China and Russia to join hands militarily – the question that haunts them is that the West will no longer be able to do as it pleases. Russia and China together, would have the power to check the U.S.”.
This essentially was what the Defence Minister’s visit was all about: Events have moved on since Hu wrote that piece in the Global Times a few weeks ago and, if anything, recent developments have lent added dimension to his clarion warning that a Sino-Russian joining of hands – militarily – would mark a paradigm change.
The recent event of the U.S. Intelligence leaks (as well as earlier reports from Seymour Hersh) seem to point to deep internal schism in the U.S. ‘Permanent State’:
One element is convinced that the Ukrainian Spring Offensive is a disaster in the making – with major consequences for U.S. prestige. The Neo-con contingent, on the other hand, bitterly refutes this analysis, and instead demands escalation via immediate preparation (arming Taiwan) against a U.S. war to be waged against both China and Russia soon. The neo-cons claim a Russian panic and collapse could happen within 24 hours of an Ukrainian attack.
To put it plainly, the sudden ignition of neo-con war fever against China has just done what Hu earlier foresaw: It has forced Russia and China to join hands militarily, not necessarily in Ukraine, but rather to plan and prepare for war with the West.
In the wake of the Intelligence leaks, the focus on Ukraine in the U.S. has waned, and been replaced in the U.S. with a rising fever for war with China.
The Chinese Defence Minister’s extended Moscow visit was the tangible evidence that now, China and Russia are convinced that the prospect of war is real, and they are preparing for it. Putin underlined the ‘jointery’ by, inter alia, prioritising the strengthening of the Russian Pacific fleet, and upgrading generally Russian Naval capacities.
This is just crazy: Hu was ‘spot on’. If NATO does not have the military industrial capacity to defeat Russia on its own, how can the U.S. and Europe expect to prevail against China and Russia combined? The notion seems delusional.
Historian Paul Veyne, a towering figure in the history of the ancient Roman world, once posed the question: Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths? All societies, he wrote, contrive to some notional distinction between ‘truth’ and ‘falsity’, but in the end, according to him, this too, is just another ‘fishbowl’, the one we happen to inhabit, and it is in no way superior, as a matter of epistemology, to the fishbowl in which ancient Greeks lived and made sense of their world, in no small part through myths and stories about the gods.
In respect to the myth of the Roman Empire which nourishes U.S. foreign policy, Veyne’s position is profoundly contrarian. For his basic claim is that Roman imperialism had little to do with statecraft, nor economic predation or the assertion of control and the demand of obedience, but rather that was motivated by a collective wish to create a world in which Romans might be left alone, not simply secure, but undisturbed. That is all.
Paradoxically, this account would place the American traditionalist ‘Right’ – which leans to a Burkean-Buchanan perspective –closer to that of Veyne’s Roman ‘reality’ that to that of the neo-cons: i.e. what most Americans wish is for America to be left alone, and to be secure.
Yes, the gods and myths were tangible to the Ancients. They lived through them. The point here is Veyne’s warning against our ‘lazy treating’ of ancient Romans as versions of ourselves, caught up in different contexts, to be sure, but essentially interchangeable with us.
Did the Greeks believe in their Myths? Veyne’s short answer is ‘no’. The public spectacle of authority was an end in itself. It was artifice without an audience – as an expression of authority beyond question. There was no ‘public sphere’, indeed no ‘public’ as such. The state was instrumentalist. Its role was to mediate and keep the Empire aligned and attuned with these invisible and powerful forces.
The gods and myths were understood by the Ancients in a way that is almost wholly alien to us today: They were energetic invisible forces that carried distinct qualities that both shaped the world and carried meaning. Today, we have lost the ability to read the world symbolically – symbols have become rigid ‘things’.
The implication of Veyne’s analysis is that Rome is false as a comparison to support the ‘myth’ of the inevitability of U.S. primacy: The ‘mythical’ neo-con approach of course is instrumentalised to convince us all that U.S. primacy is ordained (by the gods?), and that Russia is low hanging fruit – a fragile rotten structure that easily can be toppled.
Do then the neo-cons believe their own myths? Well, ‘yes’ and ‘no’. ‘Yes’, in that the neo-cons are a group of people who come to share a common view (i.e. Russia as fragile and fissiparous), often proposed by a few ideologues deemed to be credentiallised. It is a view however, not based in reality. These adherents may be convinced intellectually that their view is right, but their belief cannot be tested in a way which could confirm it beyond doubt. It is simply based on a picture of the world as they imagine it to be, or more to the point, as they would like it to be.
Yes, the neo-cons believe their myths because they seem to work. Just look around. As the means of communication have become decentralized, digitized and algorithmic, contemporary culture has forced individuals into herds. There is no standing apart from this discourse; there is no thinking outside of the Tik-Toc feed; it gives rise to the formation of a pseudo-reality, severed from the World, and generated for wider ideological ends.
Put plainly, there never was a ‘public sphere’ in Rome in the modern sense, and in today’s sense, no alive western ‘Public Sphere’ either. It has been anaesthetised via the social media platforms. The public spectacle of neo-con credentiallised ideological authority (say, a Lindsay Graham advocating for war on China) becomes an end in itself. An expression of authority beyond question.
The neo-con myth of Russia on the cusp of implosion makes no sense. But it is a picture of the world as the neo-cons imagine it to be, or more to the point, would like it to be. The shortcomings of the Ukrainian forces as detailed in (their own American) Intel leaks: They pretend not to notice – convinced, as Foreign Policy explains, that once the expected Ukrainian offensive launches, if “the Russian soldiers panic, causing paralysis among the Russian leadership … then the counter-offensive will be successful”.
The more such delusional analysis is pursued, the more functional psychopathy will be exhibited, and the less normal it becomes. In short, it descends into collective delusion – if it hasn’t already.
The U.S. may have entered a fever for war (for now! (Let us see how it lasts as events in Ukraine play out)), but what of Europe? Why would Europe seek war with China?
“Emmanuel Macron’s call for Europe to reduce its dependency on the United States and develop its own “strategic autonomy” caused a transatlantic tantrum. The Atlanticist establishment, in the U.S. as much as in Europe, responded in a typically unrestrained fashion — and, in doing so, missed something crucial:
“Macron’s words revealed less about the state of Euro-American relations than they did about intra-European relations.
“Very simply, the “Europe” Macron speaks of no longer exists, if it ever did. On paper, almost the entire continent is united under one supranational flag — that of the European Union. But that is more fractured than ever. On top of the economic and cultural divides that have always plagued the bloc, the war in Ukraine has caused a massive fault line to re-emerge along the borders of the Iron Curtain. The East-West divide is back with a vengeance”.
“The end of the Cold War and, then, the CEE countries’ accession to the EU just over a decade later were both heralded as the post-Communist countries’ much-awaited “return to Europe”. It was widely believed that the EU’s universalist project would smooth out any major social and cultural differences between Western and Central-Eastern Europe …Such a hubristic (and arguably imperialistic) project was bound to fail; indeed, tensions and contradictions quickly became apparent between the two Europes”.
Belief in an integral European culture has been more a mark of a central European sensibility than of the western edge of Europe. It was not only Russia that was at issue for the East. They resented being cut off from a world of which they had been an essential part. Yet when communism receded, the European culture – as imagined by the dissidents – vanished in a Europe beset by division and a culture war imposed from the centre that purposefully has attempted to strangle any attempt to revive national cultures. For Milan Kundera and other writers like him, there is no living culture in Europe, and its posterity inhabits a void created by the disappearance of any supreme values.
Paradoxically, the war in Ukraine has strengthened Russian national culture, but has exposed the façade in the EU. There seems to be more cultural energy present in the U.S. today, than there is in Europe, which has long since severed from living myth.
Meanwhile in Japan
wholesome japan facts 1
A Sobering Confession
I am a 72 year old female who just found out I have stomach cancer.
My whole life I worked as a neurosurgeon and spent my youth and up until my early forties, going through school and trying to become the very best medical doctor.
I never had kids, was way to busy to marry, and only even had any definition by my career title.
My life was based on my career and focusing on helping others. It wasn’t until my 70s did I realize that all of my family is dead and I never had friends. I had collegues and coworkers, but never any friends. Even as a child, I was always the “lone” wolf.
I retired 5 years ago and loved my party. It was awesome having people say goodbye and feeling included. But after that, no one checked up on me or even said anything to me after that day.
My family like mother, father, siblings, died many years ago. It’s now just me.
I realized I worked myself to death and never had a life. Never went on any trips, never met a wonderful man and had children. It was always just me and my patients.
Now that I am dying, I really have nothing left. Most people wouldn’t want an older friend or romantic partner, and if they do, I now have to worry about them wanting me for my money as I am a multimillionaire.
To the people reading: Meet people. Most of you are young. Put family and friends first. And live your life more than your career.
– ItreallyistheEnd
Red Neck solution
2023 05 13 08 39
A functional gift
1679909179 bi0wp54el3
Full Metal Jacket – Act 2 Intro
This is what Americans think the rest of the world is like.
Slick find in a thrift store
1679909208 znrmltowyn
In Japan
wholesome japan facts 15
Unpacking “The Conversation” of the Pentagon Papers
The “Pentagon Papers’ is making the rounds as the big new event of the past couple of weeks. The controversy is over the ‘leaks’ of strategic briefing documents detailing US future plans for the war in Ukraine. I’ve watched this story unfold with a weather eye but wanted to wait to see how it would progress before commenting.
I know, not going for the click-bait at the height of the anxiety-pimping is a rare thing these days.
This morning Kit Knightly at Off Guardian put out a strong post on the disinformation process that I believe is worth your time. Even though I disagree with his conclusion, or more precisely leave myself open to a different conclusion, his Disinfo Radar isn’t far off from the calibration zero-point.
This leak has all the hallmarks of being a fake, by Kit’s 5 point heuristic, a heuristic I think has value, just not singular value. This ‘leak’ doesn’t fit this model because of other responses to it. Because in order to sweep it into the corner, it burned the media as information gatekeeper in ways that those with power never do. More on that later.
Black is the new Red
For now let’s focus on the black-pilled, those that live in a perpetual state of cynicism. For them it is easy to just dismiss this event the way Kit does, as something to shift the Overton Window in such a way as to reinforce the narrative they want you engaged in –in this case maneuvering us into supporting another war for globalism.
It’s all content designed, in the parlance of social media, to boost engagement. Because the system has adapted, they don’t manufacture consent anymore – they farm participation. Angry refutation and warm praise record the same in the algorithm. They don’t want your agreement, they want your attention. And when they feel the story is losing the audience, well, here’s some super secret facts you aren’t supposed to know.
This is an excellent point that I agree with, in theory. Yes, they use multiple approaches to move public opinion. Yes, they like to hand out red pills to the normies to give them the cheap dopamine hit of ‘figuring stuff out.’
But, here’s the thing about this type of insight, it’s its own form of psy-op.
Formally identifying this gives the disinformation brokers the flexibility to use both of these techniques (and other techniques) to keep people like Kit and fellow travelers like Whitney Webb and others focused on trying to figure out which one it is.
I hate to single Whitney out here because I genuinely like her and believe she’s an honest broker, but I have to because of her current obsession, Jamie Dimon, which I’ve been asked about by so many people (again, more on that later),
The thing to observe is when they figure it out, they will write, talk and text about it.
It drives traffic, gives positive feedback, and has all the appearance of both real journalism and sincerity (which, by the way, I’m not doubting) but is it for the right reason?
It looks to me like chum for smart people to feel clever and one step ahead of the bad guys. The positive feedback drives subscriber and revenue growth reinforcing the idea of work well done.
But is it really? Or are they just rats chasing the trail laid for them by the cheese mongers?
I say this as someone acutely aware of their own personal tendency to doing just that. It’s not hard to fall down the wrong rabbit hole, obsessed with facts but not what they mean…
This is why all heuristics in an information space as polluted as this one need constant error checking.
Conversing With Tyrants
Uncovering the techniques of control are just uncovering the mechanics. In this case, however, it looks like it is uncovering the agenda, but I don’t think that’s the case here.
Ultimately, it brings to mind Gene Hackman’s ultimate fate in Coppola’s classic movie The Conversation, playing his saxophone in the ruin of his apartment secure he’s satisfied his paranoia.
For all of his skills and brilliance, rather than be an asset, he’s been taken off the board chasing shadows.
That’s the trap of focusing on the what (the corruption) and the how (the mechanisms) but not the why.
This is a serious issue going forward.
Distrusting those with power goes without saying. We’re all operating in this space with this basic drive. No doubt, there. It’s our duty to uncover truths, but it’s also important to question our own frameworks, lest we become reflexive repeaters of the very disinformation we believe we are uncovering.
So, in this case to dismiss the Pentagon Papers as just another control technique may feel right but be completely wrong because it assumes the basic fallacy of this period of history, that there is only one big club vying for control over the West.
The Division Hell
I’ve produced a lot of content making the case for a counter revolution within the US power hierarchy. The basic premise is that as groups approach existential threats to their power and/or position they will react in predictable ways to maintain their power.
It isn’t complicated. But it does mean that corrupt people may act in ways counter to how they reacted previously, forsaking old relationships. I’ve never believed group identity is eternal because I don’t believe cartels are anything other than meta-stable based on mutual coincidence of wants.
Because of that we have to remain open for people to surprise us with moves that seem out of character.
Only the most ideologically nihilistic would pursue Davos’ path. Only those with a hatred of humanity born of a deep wellspring of love for all things Malthusian would bring us to this point. [inviting open war between nuclear-armed powers]. And to deny that there’s anyone in a position to oppose this from our side of the new Berlin Wall is just surrender masquerading a cynicism. [emphasis mine]
To understand how fragile Davos really is I put it to you like this: For the price of a few hundred basis points, the Fed forced a coup in the UK, the ECB into a tightening cycle with more yield curve control, likely blew up FTX and its burgeoning offshore crypto-dollar Ponzi Scheme, and forced the Swiss National Bank to intervene against the bank run on Credit Suisse.
And this brings me back to the Pentagon Papers. It is the height of lunacy to believe there aren’t people out there honestly trying to stop this train before it stops at World War III. To dismiss the leak as just another brick in the imperial wall while not seriously considering the idea that it was done by patriots in the Pentagon is honestly irresponsible.
Because you can construct that argument very easily, especially given how over-the-top the response was by the “Biden” administration. Do you think John Kirby is really that good at misdirection and misinformation?
I don’t.
In fact, his exchange with the media is a major tell that this was not something on the administration’s whiteboard. When the media openly asks how they can help (seemingly supporting Kit’s point #1) we have crossed into new territory. Why?
Because it’s never been that way before. Yes, we knew the media were court stenographers, people like myself and Kit have known this for more than a decade. But to openly torch what’s left of their credibility to support disinformation to keep the administration’s secrets is something very very new.
This wasn’t some double-secret 12-D chess maneuver by hyper-competent game players. This was far more what it looked like on the surface, a sphincter-clenching moment of raw panic from people whose lies were outed in pure damage control mode.
Here’s a better question that’s been going around for days now, How can the FBI find the leaker so quickly when they can’t find their ass with a map and both hands when it’s something they want to keep secret?
Is your worldview so black that you can’t even consider that this straight from shitlib Central Casting 21-year-old “gun enthusiast” (like that’s even a pejorative) wasn’t fed to them as chum to make their response look as insane as it was?
That doesn’t look like panic to you?
Seriously, if this kid was as much of a misguided patriot as he was portrayed you don’t think he wouldn’t lean in and take one for the team for a commanding officer he respects trying to stop the US military from being railroaded into another war it couldn’t win?
I’m not saying it’s true. What I’m saying is you can’t discount that possibility to zero, or even not consider it as highly likely just because your cynicism is your defense mechanism against disappointment.
You see in my world the MIC is terrified of everyone finding out that their weapons don’t work. The Dept. of Defense is equally terrified of us finding out they’ve spent trillions on imperial welfare and not very much on actual military preparedness, or that Obama and company have purposefully left it a shell.
What should scare you more is why that was allowed to happen and for whom was that a strategic goal?
Talk about a question no one in D.C. wants to face!
Even if you believe the whole thing is just a massive grift to keep fleecing the Muppets for annual appropriations, it doesn’t track then that they leaked these plans to sell more weapons.
Because it would be a one and done deal. Sell weapons for a few quarters into a sovereign debt and currency crisis to lose a war (or two) which culminates in the complete humiliation of the US military.
No way would patriots within the Pentagon and the MIC grifters go for this strategy. The incentives do not line up.
Talk to the Unseen Hand
In the same way, as I’ve argued for nearly two years, the incentives for Wall St. and the Fed do not line up either. Which brings me back to Whitney Webb and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Whitney is making the rounds with her latest expose on the connections between Dimon and Jeffrey Epstein.
I’m not commenting on the quality of Whitney’s work or her motives behind it.
The timing on this is, of course, coincident with Dimon’s legal troubles over the same issue, which we know is a highly politicized issue. Now, if there is one person who has the pull and the power to support the Fed’s moves to regain control over its monetary policy it is Jamie Dimon.
As such, Dimon then represents one of the biggest threats to Davos’ desired outcomes of a future dominated by full surveillance over all financial activity via CBDCs. Make no mistake, I don’t trust Dimon as far as I could throw him, but I also know that he is a fulcrum on which a lot of future plans rest.
So, to me, his new legal troubles are a counter-move against him, in a classic ‘nuts and sluts’ campaign to pressure him out of his position. If you think JPM is a monolith then you have a simplistic view of organizations. It isn’t. There are plenty of people at JPM who would sell Dimon down the river for a whole lot less than thirty pieces of silver.
If Davos can’t get rid of Jerome Powell at the Fed then Dimon is the next best target.
This isn’t to say that Whitney shouldn’t inform us of Jamie Dimon’s connections, his past, etc. But proving Dimon is dirty is like proving the sun rises in the East. His recent comments in JPM’s annual report about using eminent domain to procure stable energy for the future is easily explained.
Wall St. loves a one-sided trade and setting monetary policy. There is a healthy probability that Powell may lose the political fight on Capitol Hill and JPM will need to support moronic Climate policies or face extinction, so throwing a bone to the Davos crazies makes sense. But his position that oil needs significant investment is also simultaneously genuine.
Everyone focused on the solar farms and windmills but Dimon’s statement also included the only thing you would actually use eminent domain for… pipeline. And pipelines are a big Davos no-no.
The real job of the journalist/analyst is to ask why is it that all of a sudden we know of Dimon’s past associations with Epstein?
Who’s seeding that into the zeitgeist? If you’re going to take the bait and ‘expose the real Jamie Dimon’ then shouldn’t you also ask why someone is putting that idea in your head?
If you’re really interested in the truth then you would always keep your radar for such stuff in good working order.
But if Dimon really is a WEF/Davos stooge then why is he being pursued in a kangaroo court similar to what Donald Trump is currently going through (also an Enemy of Davos) and what was done to Matteo Salvini in Italy over his migrant policy.
No one is out there defending Jamie Dimon as the victim of a Soros-backed smear campaign because he’s the epitome of what is hated in the world right now: a rich, white guy, CEO of the most powerful bank in the world.
Ask yourself who benefits from taking him down?
If Dimon was a Davos stooge as Whitney suggests then why aren’t his legal troubles going away rather than seemingly multiplying?
This is the core of one of my basic heuristics in trying to parse real information from the fake, what are they trying to make me believe about what’s in front of me? Do I believe that?
Why is it being amplified through the response engines of social media?
In the end the conversation we should be having isn’t over who did what before the game reached its terminal phase but who they will become when theirs is the head on the chopping block and why?
And that’s the real heuristic needed to parse where things are headed and who’s on which side of the ledger.
Best Ever Transporter Scene In “Star Trek: The Original Series”
Japanese respect for tradition
wholesome japan facts 17
What I have always wanted
2023 05 13 08 28
GoodFellas | East New York 1955
The gift that you have been waiting for…
2023 05 13 08 26
This is CATASTROPHIC news for the U.S.!
https://youtu.be/Bzp4pJSZRaw
Xi presides over meeting on promoting coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region
Key time points of the region’s development and an abridged translation of the official readout
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, two days after his inspection tour in Xiong’an on Wednesday.
2023 05 13 08 05
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region includes three provincial-level regions, with key focuses on relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and coordinating development in one of the biggest city clusters in China.
By taking advantage of their geological closeness and economic significance, the three provincial-level regions are expected to produce a collective impact on the regional and national economy.
Today’s piece offers you a list of key time points of the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and an abridged translation of the official readout of Xi’s inspection.
2023 05 13 08 06
KEY TIME POINTS
Xi’s history of visiting the region and speeches related to coordinated development can be traced back to May in 2013, when Xi visited Tianjin Municipality and called for composing “a tale of two cities” with the characteristics of a modern socialist country in the new era. In August of the same year, Xi called for coordinated development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
In 2014, a seminar concerning coordinated development was held in Beijing in which Xi said the synchronized development has “national significance,” and this strategy should be promoted to a national level. In 2015, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee released an outline of the development plan in this region, providing an important guideline for implementing the strategy.
In February 2016, a plan for socioeconomic development during the period of the 13th Five Year Plan in the region was brought into effect, which is the first 13th Five Year plan for inter-regional development.
In March, a report regarding the administrative sub-center of Beijing and relieving the city of non-essential functions was approved by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
In 2017, China announced its plan to construct the Xiong’an New Area, eying on becoming a significant part of the world-class Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster, taking over Beijing’s non-capital functions and providing a Chinese solution to “big city malaise,” such as overcrowding, pollution and traffic congestion.
Xiong’an, together with the sub-center of Beijing — Beijing’s Tongzhou District, is expected to become one of the two areas for future development of the capital city, boosting the region to become one of the three economic engines of China, other than 珠三角 the Pearl River Delta and 长三角 The Yangtze River Delta Regions.
ABRIDGED TRANSLATION OF THE OFFICIAL READOUT
Xi Jinping: Make Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region pioneer in pursuing Chinese modernization
President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reach new heights in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to make it a pioneer and example in pursuing Chinese modernization. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
On Thursday and Friday, Xi went to the cities of Cangzhou and Shijiazhuang, where he visited the countryside and places including a port and a research institute.
On Thursday morning, Xi visited Cangzhou City, where he learned about the cultivation of crops that are tolerant of drought and high alkalinity at a wheat field.
Later in the day, Xi visited a coal port area of Huanghua Port. Xi noted the unique locational advantages and convenient shipping conditions of Hebei Province, underscoring the need to upgrade Hebei’s ports and optimize their functional layout to play a bigger role in promoting coordinated regional economic development and developing a modern industrial system. Xi urged the development of Huanghua Port into a modern hub port with multiple functions.
On Friday morning, Xi visited a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang City. He entered a workshop to observe the chip production process, stressing the need for new breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. Xi encouraged researchers to achieve consistent progress in grasping cutting edge technologies and developing more technological and engineering equipment and projects of great significance.
Later, Xi visited the planning exhibition hall of a biomedical industry park, where he emphasized the importance of strengthening basic research and scientific innovation capacity to keep the lifeline of the biomedical industry firmly in China’s own hands. To achieve this, he called for more research and development of medicines that fit into the genetic and physical characteristics of the Chinese population.
12日下午,习近平在石家庄市主持召开深入推进京津冀协同发展座谈会。
On Friday afternoon, Xi chaired a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
During the meeting, he called on Hebei to focus on the primary task of high-quality development and the strategic task of creating a new development pattern to accelerate building the province into an economic powerhouse with a sound environment.
Since the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, new and remarkable progress has been achieved in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, especially in the Xiong’an New Area, Xi said. It has been proven that the CPC Central Committee’s major regional development strategies meet the need for the country’s high-quality development in the new era, he said, describing the strategies as effective channels for advancing Chinese modernization.
Xi called for solid and orderly efforts to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, urging the planning for the relocation to Xiong’an of another batch of the headquarters of state-owned enterprises directly under the central government in Beijing as well as their subsidiary companies and units of innovation operation. Work should be done to restrain Beijing’s functions non-essential to its role as the national capital from increasing, Xi said.
习近平强调,要推动北京“新两翼”建设取得更大突破。
Xi called for more progress in developing both the Beijing municipal administrative center and Xiong’an to effectively rid Beijing of “big city malaise.”
Xi said the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with a number of first-rate colleges and universities and abundant high-end research talent, has a solid foundation of innovation. The region should play an exemplary role in achieving greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, he said, calling for accelerated efforts to build Beijing into a major hub for independent and original innovation. Xi stressed the necessity of reinforcing the principal role of enterprises in innovation and cultivating a group of leading innovative enterprises with international competitiveness that hold independent intellectual property rights. Xi urged efforts to consolidate and enlarge the foundation of the real economy, stressing that strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuit, cyber security, biomedicine, electronic power equipment and emergency response equipment should be the first priority. He also called for efforts to build world-class advanced manufacturing industrial clusters.
The coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should ultimately improve the people’s wellbeing and promote common prosperity, Xi said, adding that constant efforts should be made to enhance the people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness and security. Xi stressed the need to promote key ecological conservation and restoration projects such as the sand control belts in northern China and major ecological projects such as the building of ecological shields.
Xi urged efforts to further accelerate the development of transportation and other infrastructure, as well as efforts to advance intra-regional coordination. Beijing’s edge in scientific and technological innovation should be combined with Tianjin’s strength in advanced manufacturing research and development, Xi said, calling for strengthening joint efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. Xi urged efforts to help eligible areas in Hebei absorb the scientific and technological spillovers from Beijing and Tianjin as well as the transfer of industries. He also called for building the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region into a national pacesetter in opening-up.
习近平强调,…… ,进一步增强各级党组织的政治功能和组织功能,为推进京津冀协同发展提供坚强保证。
Xi stressed the need to further enhance the political and organizational role of Party organizations at various levels to provide a strong guarantee for the coordinated development of the region.
Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting. Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, accompanied Xi in the inspection trip and attended the meeting.
In his remarks, Li Qiang urged efforts to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region more effectively and efficiently, focus on relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, and ensure notable results will be achieved in landmark projects in the process.
Ding Xuexiang called for persistent endeavor to prevent and control air pollution and bring the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to a new level.
The blind development of energy-intensive projects with high emissions and backward production capacity must be curbed, said Ding. He also urged redoubled efforts in developing new and clean energy and preventing and controlling pollution.
Ready for a fun night…
2023 05 13 08 24
What happens when you lose your home at 72 in Amesbury, Massachusetts?
Thrift store find
2023 05 13 08 35
Meanwhile in Russia…
2023 05 13 08 23
False Claims About Russia Continue To Cloud The ‘West’s’ Vision
The pro-Ukrainian Spectatorstates correctly that the sanctions on Russia have failed. But its reasoning is dubious:
The West embarked on its sanctions war with an exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world. As we have discovered, non-western countries lack the will to impose sanctions on either Russia or on Russian oligarchs. The results of the miscalculation are there for all to see. In April last year, the IMF forecast that the Russian economy would contract by 8.5 per cent in 2022 and by a further 2.3 per cent this year. As it turned out, GDP fell by just 2.1 per cent last year, and this year the IMF is forecasting a small rise of 0.7 per cent. And that is all in spite of the war in Ukraine going much more badly than many imagined it would in February of last year. The Russian economy has not been destroyed; it has merely been reconfigured, reorientated to look eastwards and southwards rather than westwards.
Yes, the ‘West’ had an “exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world”. But that is only a part of the problem. The ‘West’ still thinks it is superior to other countries even as at least some other countries have caught up with it and are, in parts, superior in the use of science and technology.
Moreover the ‘West’ thought that Russia was inferior to it. In 2015 the late Senator John McCain called it a “gas station masquerading as a country”:
“Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country,” McCain said. “It’s kleptocracy. It’s corruption. It’s a nation that’s really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important.”
In the early 1990s Russia surely was down. But it wasn’t out. It had a heavy industry and everything it needed to feed it. It had well educated people and large scientific community. When McCain spoke, 25 years after Russia’s downfall, the country was largely back in the upper league.
Its per head production of steel, cement, energy and food was and is higher than in most ‘western’ countries. Those are the basics numbers one needs to judge an industrial country and its capabilities, not some dubious number like the Gross Domestic Product which includes ‘services’ of dubious value. (For example the share of health expenditure in the quite high U.S. GDP is 16.8% with a worse outcome for the general population than in less spending European countries.)
As it has now become clear even to the Spectator that the sanctions on Russia have failed one would hope that the ‘West’ would come to a more realistic view of itself and of Russia economic capabilities. Unfortunately that is not yet the case.
… DeSantis said of Putin. “And so, he’s basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the US.”
The ‘West’ will continue to underestimate Russia’s capability as long as such false claims are still believed. Only a realistic assessment and more respect for Russia’s capabilities can correct the mistake of waging and losing a proxy war against it.
Walter White “Heisenberg” Having Dinner with Gustavo Gus Fring
American “news”
Is it no wonder that Americans are so very ignorant of the events of the world?
2023 05 13 08 15
When the world is unkind…
2023 05 13 08 22
Why Hitting the Debt Ceiling Would Be ‘Catastrophic’ for U.S. Economy
Breast of Chicken Oaxaca
chicken
Ingredients
Chipotle Sauce
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon chicken-flavored bouillon granules
4 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
3/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon lime juice
Chicken
1 peeled avocado, cut into 6 wedges
1 tablespoon lime juice
6 (4 ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded asadero or Monterey jack cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Cooking spray
8 cups hot cooked linguine (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
1/4 cup sliced ripe olives
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
Chipotle Sauce: Combine first 3 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Pour sauce into a bowl; stir in sour cream and 1 tablespoon juice.
Chicken: Toss avocado with 1 tablespoon juice. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each breast half to form a pocket. Stuff 1 avocado slice and 2 tablespoons cheese into each pocket. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, and dredge chicken in flour. Dip chicken in egg whites; dredge in breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 6 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.
Toss pasta with olives and parsley.
Place 1 1/3 cups pasta on each of 6 plates. Arrange chicken on pasta; top each serving with about 3 tablespoons chipotle sauce.
Show how classy you are
1679909204 sp0sudk3c7
5 Reasons Being Indecisive Will Ruin Your Life
Will you take the job? Will you quit the job? Will you text her now or later? Will you break up with her? Will you move? Will you go out or stay in and work? Will you order sushi or thai?
Every single day we face a number of decisions. Each decision will affect you in some way. What you order for dinner will likely have only a small impact on your life. Maybe it will cause you an upset stomach, but that’s about as extreme as it can get.
Other decisions will have greater consequences. Deciding to quit your job, for instance, is sure to have more obvious, long-term effects on your life. But even though this fact can be scary, you cannot let it slow down your decision making process. Sure, there’s more information that must be gathered when it comes to changing careers versus ordering dinner, and the decision will likely take longer as a result. However, it’s important to realize that the dangers of prolonging the decision making process almost always outweigh the benefits of gathering more information.
Here are five reasons you should be making quicker, more concrete decisions:
1. Most decisions are not important
The pareto principle states that roughly 20 percent of causes generally account for 80 percent of the results. This means that roughly 20 percent of the decisions you face will account for 80 percent of the impact on your life. However, aside from obvious long-term decisions like buying a house or getting married, you won’t be able to accurately identify most of these choices. This means you shouldn’t waste time or energy on most decisions, because it will likely cost you more than the outcome affects your life.
For example, I often stress myself out about stupid shit like when I should text a girl or what I should write in said text when I’m single. Even after countless repetitions, I can let a routine decision like this affect my tranquility. I have to remind myself that in all likelihood, it doesn’t fucking matter.
2. A good decision today could be a bad decision tomorrow and vice-versa
This fact can be eye-opening. It’s extremely common to make a decision that grants you an immediately beneficial result, yet you come to regret it in the long-term. The opposite is equally true: it’s not rare to make a decision that seems like it was a terrible choice right after you make it, yet turns out to be a great choice a few weeks, months, or even years down the line.
A common example here is breaking up with a girl or quitting a job. It’s a decision that often causes you tremendous pain and suffering in the weeks and months that follow the decision. However, you usually bounce back with a fierce determination across all areas of your life that propels so much growth that you look back and realize it was actually a good thing overall.
The point is, because external circumstances and prolonged time can change how you view a particular outcome, you shouldn’t waste time worrying about making the “perfect” choice or regretting having made the “wrong” one. At the end of the day, there’s no such thing.
3. Making concrete decisions frees your mind
When there’s something on your mind, an issue or challenge you’re facing, the only way to get it off your mind is to make a decision that addresses the issue at hand. In my case, it doesn’t matter if it’s what book I’m going to write next or what time I should schedule a particular appointment, I can’t stop thinking about it until I’ve come to a firm decision.
The process I’ve recently adopted is keeping a notebook open on my desk. Whenever I catch myself repeatedly thinking about something to the point that it’s distracting me from the task at hand, I make a decision about it and write it down in the notebook. The act of writing it down helps my mind put the issue to rest—it makes me feel like I’ve made a firm decision that I won’t second guess.
4. People immediately identify and respect decision-makers
It doesn’t matter if it’s in a social setting, work environment, or with a girl you’re dating. When you consistently offer a firm decision to any situation that requires one, people recognize it. They unconsciously start to identify you as a leader. You’re aren’t afraid to make decisions and shoulder the responsibility that comes along with it.
With your friends this could mean choosing the bar or restaurant you’re going to check out on Friday night. At work it could mean advocating for a particular solution when everyone else in the room is sitting on the fence, fearful of committing one way or the other. With your girl this could mean always picking which activity you’ll pursue when the question arises.
5. Indecision spreads like wildfire
Decision making is a habit like any other. If you’re at dinner with someone who can’t even choose what they’d like to drink off the menu, chances are they can’t make any other decisions without their stress levels shooting through the roof either. What this means for you is if you don’t start practicing making quick, firm decisions you’ll be practicing not being able to make decisions by default. There’s no middle ground. When you’re at dinner, make a quick choice and forget about it. When you’re with your boys, voice your opinion about what you think you should do. By constantly making small decisions quickly, you’ll be able to face the tougher ones with a firm resolve as well.
Signs of the times
2023 05 13 08 20
The Future After De-Dollarization
Meanwhile in China
2023 05 13 08 36
What’s It Like To Be Gay And In Prison?
It depends on the man himself.
In CCA there was an openly gay Hispanic fellow, who I don’t believe spoke any English. The Hispanic guys doted on him. He was treated by a number of men the way you might expect they would treat a girlfriend. I saw his admirers bring him little gifts, candy purchased on commissary, the milk from their breakfast… They would save him a seat close to the TV, and made sure his laundry was tended to.
The Hispanic fellow liked to stand on the upstairs balcony where he had a direct view into the showers… Most of us thought it was funny. He seemed to think nobody noticed. There was a female guard, a petite brunette in her early twenties who did the same thing. There were a few guys who liked an audience and would make sure the merchandise was on display. I think the same guys performed for the woman and the fellow.
In federal prison we had Gay Dave, a tiny man who looked like he could’ve been a model if he could feign a little more of the machismo that magazines seem to like. He loved the attention he got and seemed to play it up. I remember saying something to him about the prison-issue blankets. His reply, in a lilting voice was, “Now, I forget… Sheet or blanket, which one goes on top?” I walked away thinking, “Can he really be that dumb?”
Oh. Duh. I got it later. I was the dumb one.
Big Gay Ken was completely different (bet you thought I was going to say Big Gay Al). Extremely bright, Ken had the most caustic wit I’ve ever encountered. He was large featured, loud, and extremely heavy. His wit was used defensively against everyone, even those he might call friends. It was entertaining in short bursts, but draining over the long haul. The dirty white boys loved to hate Ken. I suspect they were jealous of how he could verbally shrink anybody, and was never afraid to. They called him The Kangaroo because his stomach, devoid of any muscle, drooped down between his legs while he sat (and he sat a lot) . It seemed to remind them of a marsupial’s pouch. Ken, bright as he was, never got it. “Kangaroo? What the fuck is THAT supposed to mean?!” he’d shout for the entire unit to hear. I say shout, but that was Ken’s normal conversational level.
We had a gay doctor. A wonderful man who was so much fun to listen to… He often taught health classes and had everyone’s respect as far as I could tell. I’d often see men come to ask him his opinion on their health concerns at chow hall. He was always smiling and helpful. He’d make sure you knew what the medical department was *supposed* to do for you.
Finally there was “Pocahontas.” She was feminine in every way that she could be, save one. Every gesture, from her walk, to the way she moved her head were those of a woman. She wore little bits of jewelry made in prison, and paid far more attention to her clothes than most. She grew her hair out as long as she could, but male pattern baldness doesn’t care how comfortable you are in your body and it will thin whatever you have. Almost everyone gave Pocahontas a wide berth.
The openly gay guys were just people like everyone else, some with more virtues than faults, some the other way around. Their individual experiences were pretty much what their personalities created.
– Jim Christmas, Four years behind bars for another man’s crime.
Paulie Walnuts shoelaces rant
Japanese uniqueness
wholesome japan facts 10
Viking Penny
In 1957, a wannabe amateur archaeologist hiking through rural New England found a small coin at what was thought to be an ancient Native American site.
The location, at Naskeag Point in the state of Maine, was originally believed to be a sacred Indian setup. But when the amateur sleuth turned the silver coin into a group of experts, everything we thought we knew about the New World was flipped on its head.
After studying the coin in great detail, the experts realized it was an 11th-century Norwegian coin.
It must have been carried over to North America by Viking sailors at some point in the 1000s or immediately after that. Immediately, it became one of the earliest examples of currency ever found in the Americas. And without question, it was the earliest known piece of Scandinavian silver that was found to be deposited on American shores.
By the mid-1970s, new teams of archaeologists had determined the coin dated back to a period between 1065 and 1080.
That made sense, as the Native American site where it was found was itself thought to have been in use around 1100. But how did the coin get to North America? And how long were Norse travelers here to have handed it over as a gift or trade item to natives? The issue is further complicated because the so-called “Maine penny” is the only 11th-century Norse coin ever found in America.
With no other examples to speak of, scientists and skeptics alike wonder if it isn’t some kind of hoax. But it appears to have been altered in a way that may tell its true tale:
A small mark on the silver coin indicates it was likely used as a pendant.
Rather than functioning as currency, it could have been a one-off gift given by Norse visitors to new world natives. That would seem to make some sense—but archaeologists and historians simply don’t know for sure.
A perfect childs toy
Another thrift store gem.
1679909211 2yvnhhdbm4
Turtle Tunnels
wholesome japan facts 8
Miami Circle
Many unsolved ancient mysteries involve stones. There’s a reason for that: stone—unlike wood, mud, or anything else—withstands the tests of centuries of time. That we even know of these mysterious sites still in existence today is because their stone creations have been maintained through eras. The stone circle of Miami, Florida, is precisely one of those sites.
In 1998, South Beach developers broke ground on what was supposed to be a new condo complex. They wanted to demolish a few blocks of old housing and put up a line of sleek skyscrapers. As they were tearing down to build back up, they started digging deep down into the ground. And there, they found something fascinating: a circle of 24 large holes filled with heavy limestone tablets. By law, the developers called in archaeologists to uncover even more.
The experts began digging down even further (and much more carefully) and soon uncovered an entire setup. The stones were placed in a perfect circle that had a 38-foot (11.6-meter) diameter. The area was also covered in long-buried artifacts like animal bones, shark teeth, and even primitive ax heads made from basalt rocks. Archaeologists tried to carbon-date what they could with the sediment and ground surrounding the discovery. In doing so, they estimated the “Miami Circle” to be roughly 2,000 years old.
Beyond that, there isn’t very much known about the circle itself or why it was put there. Archeologists believe the stones were placed by a group of people known as the Tequesta. This mysterious tribe survived as late as the early 18th century, but they were a mystery to many even then.
In the 1500s, Spanish explorers came across them and described the Tequesta as bloodthirsty, hostile, and nomadic. Coming from the Spanish, of all people, those first two descriptors have a certain dark irony to them. But it’s the third one that puzzles archaeologists the most.
The Tequesta really were nomadic, living in small, constantly roving bands that hid out all across the Everglades. Not much is known of their existence, and even less is known of the Miami Circle. But the site still sits smack-dab in the middle of the city today, and researchers are still digging up finds and studying artifacts from it. Maybe one day, they hope, more will be unearthed (literally) about who the Tequesta were and what they were up to with that giant circle.
In reading this article, which is a collection of snippets (video and text) of this moment in time, it should be clear what the reality of today is.
The West is dying. It is failing.
The Western leadership, isolated in their own “bubbles” , are clueless and detached. Still on the hunt for easy riches, and planning to secure those riches.
The East, slow, cautious, and careful are weary and reserved. They run through the motions with the West… but with LOW expectations. Fully expecting an attack any month now.
As they posture themselves they study, and continue in technological advancement and growth. The rest of the world wishes to ride with them.
Season the meat with garlic, salt and vinegar. Make small holes in the meat and fill with chopped onions olives and capers. Brown the meat in the Red Oil.
Sauté the potatoes. Cover with water. Season to taste. Cook for 45 minutes covered, over low heat.
When White America becomes the picture of poverty
Senior officials of China, US hold candid talks
Senior officials from China and the United States met in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday and Thursday and had candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive discussions on bilateral ties.
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Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan discussed removing obstacles in China-US ties and stabilizing the relationship.
Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, fully expounded on China’s solemn position on the Taiwan question.
Trade curbs opposed
The two sides exchanged views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the Ukraine issue and other international and regional issues of common concern. Both sides agreed to continue to make good use of the strategic communication channel.
In another development, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China. The two sides exchanged views on China-US economic and trade relations, as well as their respective concerns over other economic and trade issues, the ministry said in a news release.
Also on Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce said that the Chinese government will resolutely oppose any move by the US to restrict US companies from investing in China or coercing its allies to follow suit, as such moves undermine the international economic and trade order and disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains.
Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for the ministry, made the remarks at a news conference after Bloomberg reported that US President Joe Biden aims to sign an executive order to limit investment in China’s high-tech industries and hopes to get an endorsement from its G7 partners on such curbs at next week’s meeting.
“If the news report turns out to be true, China will resolutely object to such acts”, as they run contrary to the market economy and the principle of fair competition, affect enterprises’ normal business decisions, undermine the international economic and trade order and disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, said Shu.
China will remain steadfast in advancing high-level opening-up and welcomes enterprises from all countries to invest in China and share development opportunities, the spokeswoman added.
Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the US government habitually politicizes technology and trade issues and uses them as a tool and weapon in the name of national security, while its true intention is to suppress China’s development.
It is rare for governments across the globe to launch outbound investment screening on the pretext of national security. The US will need a well-structured legal basis to enforce the restrictions, and it would be the same for its allies to do so, Tu said, adding that relevant countries must discard such a Cold War mentality and follow market rules.
Wu Chaoze, chief analyst of technology, media and telecom industry at China Securities, said the curbs, if enforced, will have limited impact on China’s relevant high-tech sectors. The scale of US investment concerning areas such as AI, chips and quantum computing in China remains relatively small, as US companies have avoided investing in China due to US sanctions in recent years, Wu said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that China and the US have maintained communication. “What matters is that the US cannot keep raising the issue of communication on the one hand, while on the other, keep suppressing and containing China,” Wang said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
The US side should view China in an objective and rational manner, respect China’s red lines, stop undermining its sovereignty, security and development interests, and work with China in the same direction to bring bilateral ties back on the track of sound and stable growth, he said.
Ukraine is FINISHED and Blackrock is taking over
Non-Chinese vehicles inside of China are losing popularity
Interesting discussion over an article. The Author is Frans Vandenbosch, a prolific and knowledgeable author. I found his argument interesting and compelling. Forgive for jumping at this frozen moment in time.
That man “The Electric Viking” (Sam Evans), I believe he’s from Australia, is a joke.
He certainly is telling some truths, but he has a skewed viewpoint on German, Chinese and global automotive industry.
He looks at the world with American glasses. He can’t hide his aversion for Mercedes Benz.
He’s right, the western automotive industry is surviving thanks to the sales figures in China.
But he doesn’t mention exact market share figures in China.
The French (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen) all based in Wuhan, have never got a combined market share of more than 5%. Chinese consumers don’t like French cars. They rightfully perceive the french cars as bad quality, and they don’t like the french style “revolutionary” design.
The American cars (GM in Pudong, Ford in Chongqing) used to have a reasonable market share in China. But already before the trade war, they were massively losing ground to the Germans. Today, they’re in the same category as the French; for other reasons.
Then the Germans (Volkswagen/Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz). They used to have a combined market share in China of more than 60%. Indeed, they are losing a tiny bit of the market every year, but still, the overwhelming majority of the cars at Chinese roads are German. Made in China, of course.
And he is absolutely right that the Japanese carmakers are very fast losing market share these days. Yes, they missed the train of the EV’s. They might have hybrid models, but that’s not a big success in China.
And he is right too about the Chinese EV carmakers are very fast improving in quality, even offering some options that German EV’s don’t have. But I don’t see that they’re eating away the market share of the super quality German cars in China.
Mr. “Electric Viking” has no reason to write of Mercedes, BMW or Volkswagen in China. He’d better ask the question why the French and American carmakers are almost out of business in China.
When White America becomes the picture of poverty
Chinese FM calls for Berlin to reject decoupling
Through the latest visit to Germany by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, both Beijing and Berlin have displayed great expectations about upcoming landmark high-level exchanges and collaboration in a wide range of fields in the post-pandemic era, observers said.
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China and Germany should stand firmly together and deliver more practical outcomes in the near future and beyond to offset voices urging economic decoupling or seeking to encourage strategic rivalry between the two nations, officials and experts said.
Qin, on his first trip to Europe since becoming State Councilor, started his five-day visit to Germany, France and Norway on Monday.
At his meeting on Tuesday with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, they made preparations for upcoming seventh round of China-Germany intergovernmental consultation, the first of its kind to be held in a face-to-face format in the post-pandemic era.
Both sides agreed to “make encompassing plans for the two countries’ pragmatic cooperation in various fields in the coming period of time”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.
Beijing and Berlin agreed to reinforce coordination in multilateral domains and step up cooperation in areas such as climate change and biodiversity, according to Wang.
At the meeting on Tuesday, Qin said that China and Germany should jointly oppose a “new Cold War” and “decoupling economies or severing supply chains”, and inject confidence and impetus into world peace and prosperity.
Cui Hongjian, director of the China Institute of International Studies’ European Studies Department, noted that economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany is highly complementary and serves economic globalization.
“Their relations, based on economic mutual benefits and inclusiveness, are also a major driving force for Berlin’s efforts in bolstering its own diplomatic influence,” he added.
Qin’s visit took place amid rising calls in the European Union for limiting or restricting the EU’s relations with China — a concept also known as “de-risking”, as well as an increasingly assertive stance being taken in the bloc against so-called “threats” in fields such as supply chains.
In response to such moves, Qin said at a joint news conference following the talks in Berlin that Beijing endorses the position taken by Germany and the EU about rejecting economic decoupling with China, but it is also concerned by calls in the EU for “de-risking”.
“What China brings to the world is opportunities, cooperation, stability and reassurance rather than crisis, confrontation, turbulence and risks,” he said.
Phasing out engagement with China on the pretext of “de-risking” is actually “phasing out opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development”, he warned.
Germany, the EU and China should all adhere to international trade rules and the spirit of contract and continue to open up to each other, he said, adding that economic, trade and investment cooperation must not be politicized and the market should not be interfered with.
Qin warned that it is worth noting that some countries are launching a “new Cold War”, and that this is a real risk that deserves attention.
He referred to a research report recently issued by an Austrian think tank which estimated that in the event of economic decoupling with China, Germany will suffer from a drop in its annual GDP of around two percentage points, equivalent to about 60 billion euros ($65.7 billion).
Feng Zhongping, director of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of European Studies, noted that “challenges remain in terms of China-EU ties because some political figures in Europe prefer to highlight the two sides’ differences in tackling the Ukraine crisis and label China as a systemic rival, and many of them have been influenced by Washington as well”.
Beijing, Berlin and Brussels have a lot of work to do to fix the problems in this regard, he said.
“China-EU ties are a key part of China’s diplomacy, and currently the relations have shown the signs of a rebound. It is one of the top priorities for both sides to keep this momentum steady and sound in the long term,” he added.
Spring offensive false start
Biden DHS Criminally Conspiring with Mexico to Signal Illegal Aliens WHEN to Enter USA ILLEGALLY
Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been CRIMINALLY CONSPIRING with Mexico by coordinating mass swims by Illegal Aliens coming across the Rio Grande River so those people can enter the US ILLEGALLY. DHS has been using an encrypted Whatsapp channel to coordinate with Mexico Immigration!
In recent days, large crowds of immigrants have formed on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande fully prepared to swim over well-worn crossing spots to Brownsville – but seemingly held back by unarmed Mexican immigration officials.
Over the course of several recent days in this northeastern Mexican city when perhaps 3,000 immigrants a day swam over to Brownsville with no opposition on either side, a curious pattern became evident. At some sort of signal from the Mexican immigration officers, a group of about 100-150 from the crowd would suddenly stand in unison and rush down the riverbank, past the immigration officers, and swim over to America.
It turns out that this pattern was far from happenstance. The Center for Immigration Studies asked several of the Mexican immigration officers what was going on and learned that President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has been coordinating these mass swims with Mexico’s immigration service, INM, at high levels on an encrypted Whatsapp channel.
The officers explained that their senior officers were in touch with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials about how many immigrants were gathered and were prepared to cross the river at any given time.
“We’re letting them know that there’s a group of people ready to cross,” one officer explained.
The Americans on the other side would ask the Mexicans to hold back the migrants – not because such crossings are illegal and should be blocked and obstructed, but only until the Americans had finished processing the last batch into the country through Brownsville. Once the Americans felt they could take in more, they message the Mexicans that “they are ready to receive them.” Then, senior officials would radio the on-ground immigration officers, all of whom are equipped with radios.
Next, the officers signal to the waiting crowd to go forward and, once they figure enough are in the water, they cut off the rest and push and cajole them back into line until the Americans signal they’re ready again.
The Mexican officers said the Americans initiated this system in late April but could only guess at why – perhaps to better manage the processing of very high recent numbers of crossings. But the collaboration explains why Mexican immigration officers are stationed at the river at all, and raises many questions.
CBP did not immediately respond to telephoned and emailed messages for comment.
But the process, which has never been publicized, amounts to a “controlled-flow” system most often used, controversially, by Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, to facilitate mass illegal migration to the U.S. border rather than incur the expense and trouble of blocking it in those countries.
Controlled-flow by the Biden administration’s DHS with Mexico also constitutes a highly unusual U.S. policy – and likely a Felony Criminal Conspiracy to violate immigration laws – that demonstrates formal acquiescence to illegal immigration and an official willingness to accommodate mass illegal immigration rather than stopping, blocking, or deterring it, as required by law.
It remains unclear as the Title 42 expedited removal power comes to an end at midnight on 5/11, and is replaced by a new policy, if the controlled-flow scheme will continue working.
Numerous times in Matamoros, Observers witnessed migrants charge the Mexican immigration officers and pour into the river ahead of “schedule.”
Dozens of the migrants openly argued with the Mexican officers to let them through. But the officers argued back that they had to be patient, lest children or adults drown in uncontrolled crossings.
Mexico seemed to signal a willingness to use muscle if necessary to maintain the controlled-flow arrangement. Late Tuesday, as the crowd grew visibly restive, a squad of armed Mexican National Guard showed up and began patrolling the line.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
The actions by Department of Homeland Security described above seem to me to be a violation of Title 8, United States Code, §1324.
Below is that specific law:
§1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens
(a) Criminal penalties
(1)(A) Any person who-
(i) knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien;
(ii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law;
(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;
(iv) encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law; or
(v)(I) engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts, or
(II) aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts,
shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).
(B) A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs-
(i) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i) or (v)(I) or in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) in which the offense was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
(ii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;
(iii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) during and in relation to which the person causes serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18) to, or places in jeopardy the life of, any person, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; and
(iv) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) resulting in the death of any person, be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined under title 18, or both.
Why is it that China may not need Western technology very much longer?
China needs western technology? As far as I can tell, the only thing that they can’t do themselves right now is make 7 nanometer chips. 14 nanometer chips are just fine for 99% of applications, and China can make those.
China’s universities are now top notch, and China is pumping out vastly more PhDs than the USA annually. 80% of Chinese people who received their PhDs in western universities return home, and that percentage is undoubtedly climbing as the west descends further into Sinophobic idiocy. China gets gray rhino risks and knew its chip supply chain was at risk from US interventionism, unlike the USA which completely missed that it stopped manufacturing chips and most of the most advanced ones were being built in Taiwan.
That’s an island 140 km off the mainland of China that everybody in the world, in Taiwan and in China agrees is part of China, but which we have been politely pretending is the government in exile of the mainland, ignoring the fact that the 24 million people in Taiwan have zero capacity to govern the 1.4 billion people of China. Taiwan has massive trade with China and millions of people have gone both ways over the past 13 years doing business, traveling and the like. They’ll sort out their squabble eventually, and almost certainly peacefully, especially if the USA stops rabble rousing on their doorstep.
Let’s turn this around.
2023 05 13 06 10
Shipping containers leave China full and return empty
Where do you think most of the batteries in the world come from, either as a finished product from the world’s largest battery manufacturer, CATL, or with rare earths or lithium processed in China? When will the west stop needing China batteries and processed minerals, critical components in electrification, renewables and decarbonization?
Where do you think most of the solar panels in the world come from? When will the west stop needing Chinese solar panels as we fight climate change?
What country do you think is capable of manufacturing sufficient electric buses to enable bus fleets in the west to decarbonize? Do you think New Flyer, which peaked at about 6,500 buses in a year and has barely started making electric buses will be able to replace even California’s 100,000 buses in any reasonable timeframe? What about the country which has 600,000 electric buses on its roads, and multiple vendors who have all built massively more numbers of buses than any western OEM?
What country do you think is capable of building enough electric cars for that matter? Japan’s OEMs like Toyota, Mazda and Honda are barely making electric cars. Ford and GM still haven’t figured out how to make many of them. BMW, VW and Mercedes are barely off the starting line of electrification. Tesla is a new American brand, but it makes a lot more cars in its Chinese factories for Asian markets than it does in its western markets. BYD sells more plug-in cars than Tesla does, and it’s shipping them globally. China buys over 60% of all electric cars. The west needs Chinese electric cars if it wants to hit its targets, as western OEMs are resisting and stumbling.
What country do you think is capable of manufacturing a sufficient number of onshore and offshore wind turbines? The one that built more offshore wind in 2022 than the rest of the world’s combined construction for five years, aka China? The one that has built more onshore wind than the rest of the world combined for the past several years? The one that has a highly efficient and low-cost domestic supply chain and processes all the minerals required for wind turbines? Or maybe the higher cost western suppliers who have to buy all their processed minerals and many components from China at higher cost due to current protectionism?
China will be fine if the west’s actions like the US CHIPS act spread.
The west, on the other hand, doesn’t have the industrial capacity, the minerals processing capacity or the skilled and diligent workforce. The west has expensive domestic supply chains compared to China, whose purchasing power parity advantage is astounding. The west has to build millions of the things China has already built millions of to catch up to China’s experience curve advantage.
Ignore the western chauvinism in at least one of the other answers. Anyone who hasn’t been paying close attention to the reality in China has no clue about it, instead remembering things that were barely true 20 years ago and western media’s weird anti-Chinese themes and framing.
Star Trek Next Generation – Ancient Battle Cruiser
What is your take that Blinken asserted China must communicate with the US? Do you think it is prudent for China to insist that the US must behave & fullfill its promises before any contact can be initiated? Why is US so desperate to meet China?
Clearly, China is justified and correct in insisting that the United States fulfill its commitments and consensus. A state visit is a signal to the world of friendship and cooperation. Once China agrees to a visit by a high ranking US leader, it will be seen by the world as a signal of détente in US-China relations, whether or not there will be tangible results in the end. If the US does not continue to honor its previous consensus and commitments with China, but China joins the US in releasing a signal of détente, then US containment of China is sure to intensify. China’s cautious approach is also self-protective.
2023 05 13 06 14
Moreover, the condescending attitude revealed in Blinken’s words is not a signal of friendship or de-escalation toward China; rather, it is more like a flurry of defiance and orders. Despite his statement that he expects progress in relations between the two countries, it is clear from the actions of the US government as a whole that the United States is not going to give up its interference in China’s internal affairs and various restrictions on trade with China.
The real purpose of the US is just that in view of the deteriorating global security situation at the moment, more and more other countries want to see a de-escalation of tensions between the two great powers, China and the United States. The US, as the party that initiated the conflict, does not want to take the blame for destroying world peace, so it deliberately pretends that it wants to communicate with China very much, which is actually deceiving global public opinion. This can be seen from the fact that Blinken used the word “must” to ask China, if the United States is sincere in wanting to improve relations with China, not to mention their performance in action, at least in words, should not be so aggressive. After all, it is now the United States that is eager to seek communication with China, not China that wants to communicate with the United States. To speak in a commanding tone when it is clear that one wants to initiate contact with China is clearly uncomfortable and distrustful. By simply emphasizing the US willingness to talk and engage with China, Blinken is in fact implicitly accusing China of not accepting US demands, so it is China that is sabotaging US-China relations.
2s023 05 13 06 15
Since the “balloon incident” earlier this year, US-China relations have been deteriorating. In order to suppress China’s development, the US has been doing everything possible, first by smearing China with rumors and hypeing “China threat” with its allies, and then by repeatedly provoking China on issues related to China’s territorial sovereignty, such as the Taiwan Strait. Blinken, who said that “China should communicate with the United States,” has made wrong statements on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other issues that are not in line with the US-China consensus, intending to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
In fact, although the US has been interested in suppressing China, but also dare not and China really tear face, on the one hand, because now China is strong, the US is still in the Ukraine battlefield fighting against Russia, its “number one enemy”, at this time. Therefore, confrontation with China is not wise. On the other hand, the US needs China’s help to get itself out of the debt crisis. At the moment, the US urgently needs to reach some cooperation and consensus with China in related fields to ease the social pressure at home and prevent the situation in the region from getting out of control. This is one of the reasons why Blinken expects to visit China, although China has been refusing to allow top US leaders to visit China because the US keeps infringing on China’s interests and interfering in its internal affairs.
2023 05 13 06 15
No country will be friendly to a country that harms its own national interests and sovereignty. If the United States really wants to ease the tensions and seek contact and dialogue with China, it should stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. The US indeed need to stop talking about seeking new progress for US-China relations while recklessly undermining China’s interests.
Japan Releases Fully Functioning Female Robots
Hedge Fund Manager Says Gov’t May Restrict Bank Withdrawals – Tells public to *****Panic*****
Hedge fund manager and macro economic expert Hugh Hendry issued a major warning on the US banking system and the US economy; telling people to “. . .panic.”
In a new interview on Bloomberg Markets, Hendry says mass panic and capital flight away from the US banking sector is entirely justified.
Hendry says a further decline in the M2 money supply, which in part tracks money in liquid checking accounts, could convince the US government to step in and prevent citizens from taking their capital out of the banking system.
“Sometimes it’s kind of relevant to panic. I would recommend you panic… You’ve seen the biggest waterfall decline in M2 right now. M2 is deposits, not loans. That’s the deposits fleeing the system and going into money market funds.
That could reach a crescendo where the Treasury and the Fed may have to come in and actually restrict your right as a US citizen to pull money out of the US banking sector.”
Hendry says capital flight from US banks is not solely about fears on whether the FDIC will insure deposits above $250,000, and a blanket guarantee on deposits would not solve the problem.
“There is capital flight, deposit flight from the banking sector seeking yield. I fear that, I don’t say this lightly, but in 1934 the Federal Reserve Act confiscated gold from US citizens.
We’re at the point where the Fed and Treasury officials I’m sure are having to consider a gate a lock on US bank deposits.”
When it comes to where Americans can place their capital amid the uncertainty, Hendry says his go-to is US Treasuries and potentially Bitcoin.
“It’s time to own the most reviled security in the universe, the ultra long Treasuries. I know you all think we’ve got an inflation problem. It was a supply shock, and a supply shock needs the manifestation of more and more bank printing of loans to propel it into the future. We’re getting the opposite. The ultra longs are trading two to three standard deviations below the ETF…
I’ve not got the bug, but Bitcoin is something I could conceive as an asset class that could trade three or four times higher in the next five years. There is no other asset class that I could make that determination.”
They fucked around and will find out…
He is making some very good points. Step by step.
These Stingless Bees Build One Of A Kind Spiraling Hives
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While some of us might think otherwise, we don’t know that much about bees. If asked, we would probably describe a bee as a yellow and black pollinator who makes honey and has the ability to painfully sting once they feel threatened. But the truth is, there are around 20,000 species of bees and the common honeybee isn’t the only one. Bees can come in a variety of colors and sizes. Also, only a few of the species make honey.
If that’s not surprising enough, not every bee can sting and not all of them who do sting die after it. While we may be more familiar with the common honeybee, there are so many others most of us haven’t heard about. Such as Tragonula carbonaria, also known as Sugarbag bee. These bees are native to Australia and what sets them apart from the swarm is their unique spiral hives.
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Sugarbag bees inhabit the tropical regions in the northern and eastern part of the country. Generally, these bees are black with white fur on their faces and sides and they measure less than one-sixth of an inch. What’s interesting about these tiny creatures is that they may seem defenseless because they don’t sting. However, once under attack, they bite and inject an irritating formic acid.
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Sugarbag bees are quite good architects. They demonstrate their abilities by creating a one of a kind spiral hive. These pollinators build their hives in a mesmerizing clockwise spiral. However, it remains unclear why Sugarbag bees prefer to build them in a manner like that.
China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, on May 6
China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue on May 6 signaled the resumption of trilateral cooperation mechanisms and helped increase mutual trust between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have encountered border disputes over the past few years. Over the past few years, Pakistan and Afghanistan had severe conflicts and disputes over the borderlines, and the trilateral meeting itself was a rare opportunity to promote peace and talks.
Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are neighbors of China, sharing good political relations with China, and they are also aware of China’s role in not only mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran but also on the Ukraine crisis, so they both have expectations for China.
The two countries are willing to work with China in tackling regional issues and enhancing communication and policy coordination, signaling their enhanced confidence in China’s diplomatic role. The three also made it clear to oppose interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, illegal unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan, and all acts that undermine regional peace and stability.
With the sound of a siren, the high-speed passenger ferry Haizhuhu, named after Haizhu Lake, left Pazhou Ferry Terminal for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Thursday morning, marking the official opening of the new ferry terminal in the downtown area of Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
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Haizhuhu, which carried 60 passengers, arrived at the China Hong Kong City terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui in about two hours, accelerating the connectivity among major cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to a statement released by Guangzhou Customs on Friday.
Located in Guangzhou’s busy Haizhu district, Pazhou Ferry Terminal of the Pearl River is the only cross-border water passenger transport port in the downtown area of the southern metropolis, and its operation will help boost the construction of a modern comprehensive transportation system in the GBA.
Located on the south bank of the Pearl River, Haizhu district, where the China Import and Export Fair complex is located, has become one of the major convention and exhibition centers in the country.
In addition to direct ferry routes to Hong Kong’s downtown area, Pazhou Ferry Terminal has also opened a ferry service to Hong Kong’s international airport.
The terminal plans to launch ferry services to the Macao Special Administrative Region, located at the western edge of the mouth of the Pearl River, to meet the demands in the following months, the statement said.
The operation of the ferry terminal will help fill gaps in the high-speed passenger ferry routes from Guangzhou’s downtown area to Hong Kong and Macao and it is sure to become another new transportation hub, it said.
According to customs statistics, the daily average number of passengers transiting through Pazhou Ferry Terminal reached more than 300 during the May Day holiday, with the peak on April 29, when more than 400 inbound and outbound passengers were recorded.
The customs department has handled 55 inbound and outbound ships and over 3,500 inbound and outbound passengers since the terminal’s trial operation began on April 14.
Tianzhou
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Here’s Why The World Hates America
Spring Has Come, Cats Are Flying Back
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Spring has come and now cats are flying back home… and they don’t give a damn about birds’s rights.
Two weeks ago the Biden administration had recognized that the announced Ukrainian ‘counteroffensive’ will fail to make much progress.
The operation has still not started and Zelensky has moved its launch further into the future:
Speaking at his headquarters in Kyiv, President Zelensky described combat brigades, some of which were trained by Nato countries, as being “ready” but said the army still needed “some things”, including armoured vehicles that were “arriving in batches”.”With [what we already have] we can go forward, and, I think, be successful,” he said in an interview for public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, like the BBC. “But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”
Time will not prevent that any counteroffensive will lead to high casualty rates. In fact, waiting longer means more attacks on the troops in their current positions. Any detected agglomeration of forces or material is already coming under long range Russian missile fire.
As the counteroffensive is destined to fail the Biden administration is out to move the goal posts. In Foreign Affairs two of its MIC propagandists, Michael Kofman and Rob Lee, demand to prepare for a much longer war:
Policymakers, however, have placed undue emphasis on the upcoming offensive without providing sufficient consideration of what will come afterward and whether Ukraine is well positioned for the next phase. It is critical that Ukraine’s Western partners develop a long-term theory of victory for Ukraine, since even in the best-case scenario, this upcoming offensive is unlikely to end the conflict. Indeed, what follows this operation could be another period of indeterminate fighting and attrition, but with reduced ammunition deliveries to Ukraine. This is already a long war, and it is likely to become protracted. History is an imperfect guide, but it suggests wars that endure for more than a year are likely to go on for at least several more and are exceedingly difficult to end. A Western theory of success must therefore prevent a situation in which the war drags on, but where Western countries are unable to provide Ukraine with a decisive advantage.
The delusion is strong in that assessment. A ‘theory of victory’ or ‘success’ is just that – a theory. Ukraine does not have the personnel to sustain a longer war. Nor does the ‘west’ have any spare weapons that could give the Ukraine a ‘decisive advantage’.
Still the cue was picked up Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmitro Kuleba (machine translation):
If Ukraine does not succeed in its counteroffensive against the aggressor country Russia, it will prepare for the next one.This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in an interview with Bild published on May 10.
He urged “not to consider this counteroffensive as the last one” – “because we do not know what will come of it.”
Kuleba noted that if Ukraine succeeds in its counteroffensive against Russia in liberating its territories, “in the end you will say: “Yes, it was the last one,” but if not, then you need to prepare for the next counteroffensive.”
Kuleba is already asking for weapons for the next ‘counteroffensive’ to be launched after the currently announced one fails.
Dreizin published an alleged ‘battle plan’ for a Ukrainian ‘counteroffensive’ in the Zaporozhia front:
(1) Break through the Russian forward defense along the line Nesterianka-Novosyolovka (6km and 19km southeast of Orekhov, respectively) into the defense depth of Guards battalions in the Polozhsk-Orekhov sector, utilizing, in the first echelon, the 47th and 65th Separate Mechanized Brigades, 9th Army Corps (total of 2 tank and 7 infantry battalions—8300 men with up to 60 tanks, up to 200 other armored fighting vehicles, up to 110 field pieces and mortars, 12 MLRS, up to 100 motor rafts.) Breakthrough of the contact line will be in the order of the 65th which is already on the line, then the 47th. Neighboring units including the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade will carry the task of harrying neighboring Russian units so as to prevent reinforcement of Russian forces at the main axis of advance.
(2) Subsequently, deploy the main forces. The main blow is to be from the vicinity of Orekhov, in the direction of Tokmak, ultimately towards Melitopol’. …
From the point of strategic value the chosen target is the right one. However, it is also the one where the Russian military has prepared its strongest defense lines.
zdefense1
Source: @Inkvisiit, Scribblemaps – biggerIn military books this is know as ‘echeloned defense’ with three lines of well prepared positions ten kilometer apart from each other. Each line consists of tank obstacles, mine belts, prepared anti-tank positions to monitor and counter potential breach attempts and well prepared artillery support from behind the next defense line.
zdefense3
biggerTo crack such a nut without air support and without significant artillery advantage is nearly impossible.
It is why I think that the Zaporozhia region may not be the real target of the counteroffensive. All the talk about it may well be a diversion. The least prepared front is in the area south of Kherson.
zdefense2
Source: @Inkvisiit, Scribblemaps – biggerBut to get there would require a difficult river crossing of the Dnieper which will also limit supply lines. This would be a high risk attempt which might gain some ground. But whatever would be won would soon be lost again as any river crossing would come under sustained artillery fire.
There may well be other obstacles for launching the announced ‘counteroffensive’. It is rumored that the commander of the Ukrainian army, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, was wounded or killed during a recent Russian missile strike in Dnipro. He has not been seen since and he did not take part in a recent NATO meeting where his expected presence had been announced.
Apropos NATO:
NEXTA @nexta_tv – 7:29 UTC · May 11, 2023U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command spokesman Martin O’Donnell said that #Ukraine received about 600 types of weapons for the counteroffensive – more than any one army in the world has.
What army can handle 600 different weapons systems with all the implied training, maintenance, spare part and ammunition supply issues? None can do that. But O’Donnell is proud of providing a zoo of weapons which are incompatible to each other.
The shells for the British L118 light gun, the French AMX 10 reconnaissance tanks, the German Leopard 1 tanks and the U.S./Lithuanian M101 Light Howitzer all have a nominal diameter of 105 mm. But they are all incompatible to each other. Just imagine the logistic screw ups that will inevitably happen when the Ukrainian front line troops will request additional 105mm ammunition supplies.
The UK has delivered the export version of the Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine. These have a reach of some 250 kilometer and can be fired from the ‘westernized’ Su-24 airplanes that Poland sent to the Ukraine.
They seem to be part of a new NATO talking point to excuse the inability to deliver more weapon:
The war in Ukraine will increasingly be a battle between large numbers of poorly trained Russian troops with outdated equipment and a smaller Ukrainian force with better Western weapons and training, NATO’s top military official said on Wednesday.
Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO’s military committee, noted Russia was now deploying significant numbers of T-54 tanks – an old model designed in the years after World War Two.
“But the problem is they still have a lot of T-54s. So … in terms of numbers, quantity, it is an issue,” Bauer told reporters after a meeting of the alliance’s national military chiefs at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The T-54 are used by Russia as immobile anti-tank guns dug into the defense lines, not as mobile main battle tanks. Russia still has plenty of newer T-72 and T-90 models for that and no need to replace those.
The Storm Shadow may deliver some success – up to the day the Russian military has finds a way to prevent that. Like all previously announced wonder weapons it will also disappoint.
Just look at the much hyped HIMARS missiles. According to leaked Pentagon documents the Ukrainian military fires on average some 13 HIMARS missiles per day. Over the last two month the Russian clobber report listed an average of 6 HIMARS missiles per day as eliminated by Russian air defenses. The rest of the missiles get diverted by electronic warfare measures:
[I]n recent months, the systems have been rendered increasingly less effective by the Russians’ intensive blocking, five US, British and Ukrainian sources tell CNN, forcing US and Ukrainian officials to find ways to tweak the HIMARS’ software to counter the evolving Russian jamming efforts.“It is a constant cat-and-mouse game” of finding a countermeasure to the jamming, a Pentagon official said, only to then have the Russians counteract that countermeasure. And it is not clear how sustainable that game is in the long term.
The HIMARS system has thereby turned out to more or less useless. The idea that such ‘quality’ weapons can beat the greater Russian ‘quantity’ of equally good weapons is, like so many, simply nonsense.
Posted by b on May 11, 2023 at 16:55 UTC | Permalink
How California Destroyed its Middle Class (A Cautionary Tale)
Ok, this is waaaay weird: Yesterday as thunderstorms came over the Rocky Mountains in Montana, a TORNADO formed atop the mountains!
This is probably one for the history books:
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This Is What Life Is Like In Small Town Arkansas
Ribs in Orange and Chile Sauce (Costillitas en Naranja)
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Ingredients
2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
4 pounds country-style spareribs, cut into individual ribs
2 medium white onions, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch wide slivers
1 (1 pound) can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
2 cloves garlic
1 to 2 tablespoons ground, seeded, dried ancho chiles
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup piloncillo or brown sugar
1 teaspoon shredded orange rind
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Orange slices, cut into halves
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Instructions
Heat lard or oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add as many ribs as will fit in single layer without crowding. Cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes; remove to plate.
Repeat with remaining ribs.
Remove and discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pan. Add onions; sauté over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes.
Process tomatoes and garlic in blender container until smooth.
Add chiles, cinnamon and cloves to onions. Cook and stir over medium heat for 30 seconds.
Add tomato mixture; cook and stir for 5 minutes.
Add orange juice, wine, piloncillo, orange rind and salt to pan; heat over high heat to boiling. Add ribs; reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until ribs are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
Remove ribs to serving plates.
Skim and discard fat from cooking sauce. Stir in vinegar; spoon sauce over ribs.
Serve, garnished with orange slices and cilantro.
Evidence US Planning WWIII Against both Russia and China
On May 3rd, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told C-Span in an interview, that there will be no objection by the U.S. Government if Ukraine’s Government attempts to or does assassinate Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin. He said: “These are decisions for Ukraine to make, how it’s going to defend itself, how it’s going to get its territory back, how it’s going to restore its territorial integrity, and its sovereignty.”
Also on May 3rd, Japan’s Nikkei Asia news service headlined “NATO to open Japan office” and reported that “NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Tokyo, Japan, the first of its kind in Asia.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization aims now to become not only America’s anti-Russian military alliance but also America’s anti-Chinese military alliance, which will support the breakaway of China’s province of Taiwan (which since 1972 the U.S. Government has formally recognized Taiwan to be) from China, just as it refuses to support the breakaway of Crimea and three other provinces of Ukraine from Russia.
America and its NATO deny that they are either anti-Russian or anti-Chinese and insist that they instead seek merely regime-change in both countries so that both Russia and China will come to provide democracy and human rights like America’s Government does.
The U.S. Congress is now considering legislation that’s advertised as the “Ukraine Victory Resolution” but is formally titled H.Res.322 “on Ukrainian victory”, and which states that “it is the policy of the United States to see Ukraine victorious against the invasion and restored to its internationally recognized 1991 borders.” That would require the complete defeat of Russia in Ukraine. If it happens, then almost certainly Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would either resign or be overthrown and replaced by a leader that America’s Government will approve of. If it instead does not happen, then the U.S. Congress and President will already be obligated, by means of having passed this Resolution into law, to invade Russia in order to achieve by direct U.S. military force what Ukraine’s military had failed to achieve. That invasion of Russia by the U.S. and its allies would constitute World War Three, WW III.
The U.S. Government has not yet committed itself irrevocably to revoking its prior recognition that Taiwan is a part of China; but, if it finally does do that, then, of course, America and its allies will be at war against China, which would likewise be WW III.
There is also under consideration by the U.S. Congress something that is called “The Restrict Act” which would institute martial law over all news-media in the U.S. in preparation for a formal and all-encompassing declaration of martial law in America. By means of that total censorship, the U.S. public will know, regarding both Russia and China (and anything else) only what the U.S. Government will allow Americans to know; and this would enormously facilitate Congress to declare publicly that America is at war against both Russia and China. So: the legislative preparations in order to do this ‘Constitutionally’ (except for violating only the First Amendment) will already have been put into place.
NOTE: This news-report is being simultaneously distributed, and submitted for ublication free of any copyright, to all U.S. and UK news-media.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s new book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
Pro Russian Blogger Arrested by SBU
I got a you-tube strike for filming the Covid lock-down in Zhuhai. It was listed as “medical misinformation”. LOL!
As someone who ended up in the insolvency business, if you renage on your debt obligations then your fate is taken out of your hands. You are often screwed if even one creditor decides to make an example of you. Now I believe international debt is slightly different. In corporate or personal lending you can recover in 3 to 5 years. You mess with China and I'm thinking generations...So anyone in charge of international debt restructuring needs to be similarly aware of the implications. One of those will be a flight from the USD$ if US controlled institutions are not seen to be equitable. Or even if they are. No one likes losing money.We do indeed live in interesting times.Posted by: marcjf | Apr 15 2023 18:38 utc | 11
I have been musing about coffee lately.
You know, I grew up with a percolator tin on the stove and really, really, REALLY extra black coffee that had been cooking all day.
Today, most people carry a cardboard cup of coffee to work. It’s good. But, you know, it’s nto the same thing as the kind of coffee that I grew up with.
I wonder…
How about someone saying something good about the 1960’s era style of coffee…
Been trying to explain this for years to my peers. I'm a Black American, but went to a diverse high school from which one of my lifelong friends is Chinese. Through him I've met a lot of people who transferred here as students when we were in college.
Dated a couple Chinese women, married one, and from these experiences learned a bit about their culture.
What Varafakis says towards the end of the clip when he states that the Chinese are "patient investors" is right.
From my personal experience (albeit anecdotal), I've learned and try to explain that they play the long game. Westerners are so greedy that they want their returns right away.
Which is why they are SO destructive. Both at home and abroad. They're willing to blow the place up for short-term gains. Eastern nations, China, Japan, Korea...they value quality over quantity, and are willing to invest in long term projects.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged “the tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting faster” and “we may see the world becoming more multipolar”, with the decline of US dollar hegemony, war in Ukraine, and rise of China.
By Ben Norton
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The president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, gave a speech acknowledging that “the tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting faster” and “we may see the world becoming more multipolar”, with the decline of US dollar hegemony , war in Ukraine, and rise of China.
“We could see more multipolarity as geopolitical tensions continue to mount”, Lagarde added.
Geopolitical Economy Report editor-in-chief Ben Norton analyzed Lagarde’s speech with Radhika Desai, professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group:
”, the European Central Bank (ECB) president cited the “growing rivalry between the United States and China”.
Lagarde stated:
So I decided to accept the idea, and I do that reluctantly, because I don’t think that it’s necessarily a pretty picture, but to accept the idea that we are moving towards a fragmented or a more fragmented world than we’ve had it, and that we are not necessarily in a completely bipolar situation, but that we might move in that direction.
We are witnessing a fragmentation of the global economy in two competing blocs, with each bloc trying to pull as much of the rest of the world closer to its respective strategic interests and shared values. And this fragmentation, as I have mentioned, may well coalesce around two blocs led respectively by the United States of America and by China, the two largest economies in the world at the moment.
In her presentation, Lagarde hinted that the European Union could potentially try to pursue an independent path, mentioning the “strategic autonomy agenda in Europe”.
, arguing the leaders of the region cannot simply be “vassals” and “followers” of Washington.
Lagarde is one of the most powerful people in Europe. She was France’s former finance minister, before later serving as director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
(CFR), a powerful think tank with a close relationship with the US government, which essentially acts as the link between the State Department and Wall Street.
The politically connected Rockefeller oligarchs cultivated the CFR in the early 20th century, funding its influential War and Peace Studies Project during World War Two and collaborating with Washington to help plan the First Cold War against the Soviet Union.
There is a risk, when we use financial sanctions that are linked to the role of the dollar, that, over time, it could undermine the hegemony of the dollar.
…
Of course, it does create a desire on the part of China, of Russia, of Iran to find an alternative.
Rising wages for Asian workers fuels inflation in Western economies
Professor Radhika Desai noted that much of Lagarde’s speech was about inflation.
“This point about inflation goes to the nub of the issue of multipolarity, which, ultimately, what is it but is diminution in the power of imperialism?” Desai said.
In her speech at the CFR, Lagarde acknowledged that, following the end of the First Cold War, the world was “under the hegemonic leadership of the United States”.
Lagarde said:
In the time after the Cold War, the world benefited from a remarkably favourable geopolitical environment.
Under the hegemonic leadership of the United States, rules-based international institutions flourished and global trade expanded.
This led to a deepening of global value chains and, as China joined the world economy, a massive increase in the global labour supply.
As a result, global supply became more elastic to changes in domestic demand, leading to a long period of relatively low and stable inflation.
That in turn underpinned a policy framework in which independent central banks could focus on stabilising inflation by steering demand without having to pay too much attention to supply-side disruptions.
In these comments, Lagarde was clearly indicating that the exploitation of low-paid Chinese workers by Western companies was a significant factor in reducing consumer price index inflation in the core of the imperialist world system.
Lagarde’s remarks were reminiscent of a confession by EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell, who admitted in Brussels in October that “our prosperity was based on China and Russia
”:
So our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy and market.
You, US, takes care of our security. You, China and Russia, provide the basis of our prosperity.
This is a world that is no longer there.
Our prosperity has been based on cheap energy coming from Russia – Russian gas, cheap and supposed[ly] affordable, and secure and stable, which has been not the case.
And the access to the big China market for exports and imports, for technological transfer, for investment, and for having cheap goods.
I think that the Chinese workers with their low salaries has done much better, much more to contain inflation than all the central banks together.
So our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy, a market.
Desai stressed that it is not true, as Lagarde claimed, that “the world benefited from a remarkably favourable geopolitical environment” under US “hegemonic leadership”.
“No, the First World benefited”, Desai countered.
How the hegemonic US dollar system hurt the Global South
Desai noted that this system of US hegemony, which was never really stable, was based on two things: “US military power on the one hand, but also equally importantly, the US dollar system”.
“And if we look a little bit more closely at it”, Desai said, “in practically every major respect, the dollar system has not been good for the Third World, not good for the vast majority of countries in the world, that are not Western, that do not have a place in the G7 where they can coordinate macroeconomic policy and make sure that US allies don’t get too badly burned by the US dollar system – although they have been badly burned by it as well, as we saw in 2008”.
Desai explained:
First of all, the dollar system systematically undervalues the currencies of the Third World.
And when you undervalue a currency, what you are doing is you are undervaluing the resources and the labor of those countries.
Precisely, this is the mechanism by which the West has managed to get access to the resources and the labor of these countries cheaply.
And that also means that the rest of the world has to sell their resources for a song and to work doubly hard, triply hard in order to sell – they have to sell a massive volume of goods, export a massive volume of goods to Western countries, in order to earn Western hard currencies, including the dollar, because their money is systematically undervalued in relation to this.
So that there has always been a big discrepancy between the volume of exports and the value of exports, which of course is artificially lowered by the bad exchange rate.
Secondly, the dollar financial system has given the world nothing but a series of crises after crises, a great deal of volatility.
An international medium of [exchange] ought to have a stable value, but the dollar’s value keeps fluctuating.
Another problem, and a large part of the volatility, and the tendency to crisis, comes from the fact that, whereas a proper monetary system should be based on sort of a balanced environment, the dollar systematically has required imbalances.
The chief among them, of course, being the vast US current account deficits, which the rest of the world has to finance.
But also the imbalances that are created by the US dollar-centered financial system, which has been on the one hand creating vast amounts of unsustainable dollar debt, indebting households, indebting businesses, and indebting governments around the world.
And, on the other hand, blowing up asset bubbles so that US financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals can make a killing with the inflation of asset values.
But this, of course, only leads to the crash of these, or the bursting of these bubbles, and this has created more problems.
Further, the Third World is told that the US has a very sophisticated financial system; it’s great, it’s going to provide you with the capital you sorely need for development.
But of course, in reality, the US-focused financial system offers the opposite of that, because capital for productive investment – which indeed the Third World and the rest of the world really needs – needs to be stable, long-term capital that is able to invest for a long period in infrastructure projects and projects that have long gestation periods, but eventually are very important and good for the economy.
But this is not the sort of capital that the US financial system offers. Instead, the US financial system offers short-term capital that only goes to inflate the value of existing assets, rather than investing productively in the creation of new goods and services.
So the rest of the world is told, you know, ‘Lift your capital account restrictions, allow free capital flows and you will get the capital you want’.
In fact, what the Third World gets is the opposite of that: the capital they don’t want – hot money that comes stampeding in when these investors, who are not particularly knowledgeable, think things are good, and hot money that stampedes out at the slightest sign of a problem, thanks to equally ignorant investors leaving behind financial crises, credit crises, currency crises, and, of course, economic crises.
A couple of other points that one should also add to this: Number one, this system, particularly debt crises, from the Third World debt crisis onwards, has enforced a system of debtor responsibility, completely ignoring that any credit relationship has two relatively equal parts, and if things go sour, if things go wrong, if a debt cannot be paid, both debtor and creditor are co-responsible for the problem.
Instead, all the weight of adjustment, the weight of repayment, etc. has been on the debtors.
And, as you know, this is the chief mechanism by which so much money is being drained out of debtor countries, which are the vast majority of countries in the Third World, and goes into the coffers of the rich countries.
And finally, one final point: Given that this system has been so awful, naturally, countries have wanted to leave it.
And what has the US done historically to countries that have wanted to leave it? It has essentially waged war against them.
Think of Saddam Hussein. Think of Moammar Qadhafi. What was crucial about these two leaders? It was the fact that one of their key projects in each case was a project to leave the dollar system and try to create an alternative to the dollar system.
And this is why they were essentially deposed and killed, in gruesome ways, in the case of Qadhafi.
And, of course, their countries have been left essentially prey to all sorts of military, political, financial, and economic instability.
So this is not a [stable] system.
And so, naturally, finally now, the rest of the world has alternatives. And the United States can’t even wage a war to force the Third World back to the dollar system.
Moroccan Chicken with Prunes,
Almonds and Couscous
This is a great dish for Rosh Hashanah.
2023 04 15 07 35
Braising chicken in a sauce that combines cinnamon, nutmeg and honey with a hint of saffron might sound surprising, but this is a delicious, spectacular dish. Some people sprinkle the chicken with toasted sesame seeds as well. If you’d like a touch of green, you can garnish the dish with fresh basil.
Ingredients
3 pounds chicken pieces
2 yellow onions, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup chicken stock, broth or water
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads
1 1/3 cups pitted prunes
2 tablespoons honey
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 (10 ounce) package plain couscous, cooked to package directions
1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, lightly toasted
Instructions
Combine chicken, onions, salt and pepper in a Dutch oven. Cover; cook over low heat, turning chicken pieces over occasionally, 5 minutes.
Add cinnamon, stock and saffron. Heat to a boil over medium heat. Cover; simmer over low heat, turning pieces occasionally, until breast pieces are tender when pierced with a knife, 35 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Cook remaining chicken pieces, until tender, covered, 10 minutes.
Transfer chicken to plate.
Add prunes and honey to sauce; cook uncovered over medium heat until prunes are just tender, 5 minutes.
Transfer prunes to a heated bowl; cover. Discard cinnamon stick.
Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to thicken slightly, about 5 minutes.
Add nutmeg. Taste; adjust seasoning.
Return chicken to pan. Cover; heat over low heat 5 minutes.
Fluff couscous with a fork; mound it on a heated platter.
Arrange chicken around or over couscous; spoon sauce and prunes over chicken.
Garnish with almonds.
John Mearshimer On China, Neocons, and Ukraine
2023 04 20 10 40
https://youtu.be/zoBPltOyCrg
Another Train Derails- this one in Maine. Haz Mat Released
A train has reportedly derailed in the state of Maine and officials say they believe hazardous materials were on board.
2023 04 17 18 14
“Train derailment with fire north of Rockwood, hazardous materials please stay clear!” The Rockwood, Maine Fire & Rescue posted on Facebook Saturday.
The Fire & Rescue team posted a photo of the incident that shows a derailed train and a fire burning in a snow covered forest area.
Rockwood Fire & Rescue did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
It is unclear if anyone was injured during the derailment.
Rockwood, Maine, is located on the western side of Moosehead Lake in the northern part of the state roughly 45 miles from the Canadian border.
The railroad tracks in that area of Maine are owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, Fox 23 Maine reported.
Canadian Pacific Railway did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hal Turner Opinion
We here in the United States have thought for a long time that we are the “be all” and “end all” of human civilization. We were the best of the best and no else even came close.
Not anymore.
The numerous derailments of trains throughout this nation over the past couple months shows that we’ve descended to third world status in our infra-structure.
The condition of our highways, of our bridges, of our electric grid, all point to it.
Someone on the Internet summed it up quite succinctly with the image below. . . China versus USA:
Reality in two ics US v China
The image reflects the reality. The reality . . . is an “effin” disgrace.
Instead of corporations doing stock buy backs, and giving huge bonuses, it’s long overdue they use that money to fix their infrastructure.
The damage to commerce, and to our environment, from these train derailments is far to high to sit back and allow business as usual. The sickening of people and destruction of private property by these derailments and the chemicals they release, is completely unacceptable. Things MUST change. These derailments have to stop.
“THIS WILL BE WORSE THAN A THIRD WORLD WAR, PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA!” in Exclusive
https://youtu.be/LVHfwXtBIek
“Sweeteens”: Young Londoners Enjoying Freedom after the Lockdown
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Made from photographs taken in May of last year, as the UK’s first lockdown began to ease, photographer Laura Jane Coulson’s new book, Sweeteens, is a love letter to freedom, youth, and the green spaces of London. The book immortalizes friends of the photographer, mostly young people, enjoying these precious moments of freedom in such an absurd time.
“In May 2020, at the end of an unseasonably warm spring, lockdown began to lift – and with it, to everybody’s surprise, the thrum of friction that soundtracks a city like London subsided. The percussive clang of discord, usually a constant companion from borough to borough, was temporarily silent. In its place, harmony hung like a low haze over the streets, sinking into the cracks between buildings and soothing their inhabitants. Permitted to spend time outside again, Londoners were drawn to the city’s green spaces to see their friends and family – from a distance, kind of.
The combination of proximity after months spent in isolation, the quiet joy of reunion, intimacy and idle chatter, the bittersweet recognition of what had been lost in a few short months all melded together, glued by heat, relief, a kind of raw, hopeful happiness. The atmosphere was defiant, gentle, bold and jubilant. It felt strangely calm. This is the city that Laura Jane Coulson captures, in the photographs that follow. A couple of weeks later, something in the air had changed again, and the spell was over. The cacophony returned, coarse and dissonant as ever. But that, of course, is part of the magic.”
The U.S. is the only country that can print “unlimited” money and exchange it for real goods from other nations. This is due to the US Dollar’s reserve status.
But do you know the U.S. can also extend this exorbitant privilege to an ally? Here’s how the scam works…
If you want to understand how the U.S. defrauds the world, you need to know how reserve currency works and how the US Dollar (USD) gained that status.
The tool that allows the U.S. to extend its exorbitant monetary privileges to an ally is called ‘swap lines.’ ‘Swap lines’ are agreements that enable one country to exchange its currency with the currency of another. This is done through their respective central banks.
Let’s use the example of ‘swap lines’ between the U.S. & UK to illustrate how the scam works:
Countries are free to print their own currencies.
But only the U.S. can print “unlimited” amount of dollars without suffering hyperinflation due to the USD’s reserve status.
That means the U.S. can generate “unlimited” amount of dollars out of thin air & exchange them for:
– tangible goods from China
– resources from Africa
– oil from the Middle East
That’s “magic.”
No other country can do that… unless the U.S. grants them a ‘swap line.’
What if the UK wants a share of that “magic money”? The U.S. Fed can help. Here’s how:
The Bank of England prints 1 trillion GBP. It then swaps that with the Fed for 1.25 trillion USD (the current exchange rate).
The UK has just indirectly printed 1.25 trillion USD!
Did you see the “magic” that just happened?
Unlike America, the UK cannot print GBP with impunity and allow all that excess “money” to enter the market. That would devalue the GBP & cause hyperinflation.
So it prints the GBP & swaps them for USD with the Fed instead.
In short, the U.S. defrauds the world with its USD, then uses ‘swap lines’ to share the spoils with its staunchest allies.
The U.S. can grant ‘swap lines’ to any country it wants.
Now do you understand why some countries are diehard supporters of the U.S. Empire?
Being a staunch US ally means they get to create money out of thin air thanks to the U.S.A.
Stunning Vintage Photographs Of The Early Teen Bicycle Messengers In 1908-1917
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In 1908, the National Child Labor Committee hired Lewis Hine, a New York sociologist and photographer, to document the exploitative working conditions of child laborers in dozens of occupations, from mining and manufacturing to farming and newspaper selling. Among the many workers he captured were bicycle messengers in several southern cities.
Almost immediately after the development of the pedal-driven velocipede in the 1860s, people began to use the bicycle for delivery purposes. David V. Herlihy’s 2004 book on the early history of the bicycle contains several references to bicycle messengers working during the late 19th century, including a description of couriers employed by the Paris stock exchange in the 1870s.
The photos that Hine took became the face of the child labor reform movement and ultimately helped push through the 1916 passage of the Keatings-Owen Act, which set age and shift length restrictions for young workers. While the act was struck down by the Supreme Court, it set the stage for lasting reform to be created during the New Deal of the 1930s.
Above: “George Christopher, Postal Tel. #7, 14 years old. Been at it over 3 years. Does not work nights. Location: Nashville, Tennessee”. November, 1910.
“Raymond Bykes, Western Union No. 23, Norfolk, Va. Said he was fourteen years old. Works until after one A.M. every night. He is precocious and not a little “tough.” He told me he often sleeps down at the Bay Line boat docks all night. Several times I saw his mother hanging around the office, but she seemed more concerned about getting his pay envelope than anything else”. June, 1911.
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Found Working Nuclear Bunker with Vehicles & Gear
Ruthless! U.S.A. Foments Coup d’etat in Sudan Just Two months After Russia’s Approach
Two months ago, on February 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the African nation of Sudan. One of the topics discussed: A Russian Naval Base on the Red Sea. Here we are two months after that discussion, the U.S. has fomented a military Coup in Sudan.
Russia’s agreement . . . out the window. That’s how utterly RUTHLESS the USA is. It took our CIA just two months to make it all happen.
You see, when the USA cannot get what we want by peaceful means, or bribery, we foment the overthrow of an entire country’s government.
It comes down to power. The USA is the Top Dog of this planet, and the people running the USA are not going to “allow” anyone else to unseat us.
Whatever it takes to keep hold of our power, the people running our government seem willing to do. Economic sanctions, trade war, election fraud, bribery, or, as we see with Sudan (and as we saw with Ukraine) the OVERTHROW of a government.
The USA will not be dislodged from its perch above the world and anyone who tries, gets crushed, ruined, destroyed, or dead.
That is what our country has become.
That is why much of the world is distancing itself from us, and from our currency.
Unless the American People step up to put a stop to the way our government is doing things, I FEAR our country will get stopped. By Russian nuclear missiles.
What choice are we leaving the Russians? We won’t leave them alone. We’ve been surrounding their country for decades with more and more NATO members — all of whom then start aiming missiles at Russia.
We smash countries — like Syria — who are allied with Russia. We takeover countries that we cannot induce to join NATO (i.e. Ukraine), and when Russia tries to peacefully negotiate a naval base on the Red Sea with Sudan, we are now overthrowing the Sudan government.
No matter what Russia does, we interfere. Sometimes peacefully. Sometimes legally. Most times through Bribery and force.
Sooner or later, the Russians are going to realize that the USA simply will not stop; will not peacefully co-exist.
When that realization happens, there will be only one choice Russia has left: To either utterly destroy the United States, or capitulate to it.
The sleazy douchebags who infest the US Government think Russia will capitulate. I think Russia will push the launch button.
Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
d726fe40478b2a6840768968104b47ab
Yield: 6 servings
Equipment
Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
4 slices day-old white bread
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
1 1/2 cups Half-and-Half
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups water
Instructions
Butter the bread with 2 tablespoons of the butter, then cut into cubes.
Put the brown sugar in an even layer in the bottom of a 6 cup baking dish that fits comfortably inside the pressure cooker. Press any lumps from the sugar with the back of spoon.
Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into small pieces and dot over the sugar, then sprinkle with brandy. Add the cubed bread, but do not stir.
Whisk the Half-and-Half with the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Pour over the bread, again without stirring.
Cover the baking dish with foil so that no water can get inside. Pour 2 cups water into the bottom of the pressure cooker. Place the baking dish on a grid or in a steamer basket (whichever your cooker has) to get baking dish off bottom of cooker. Cover pressure cooker and bring up to medium pressure (10 pounds). Reduce heat to stabilize pressure and cook for 25 minutes. Release pressure and remove baking dish. Pour off any water that has accumulated on top of foil, then remove foil.
Run a knife around the edges of baking dish to loosen pudding from the sides. Invert a serving plate over the top of the baking dish and quickly turn the two pieces over. Remove the baking pan. Serve bread pudding warm or at room temperature.
When the pudding is inverted, you will see that the brown sugar butter and brandy have made a delicious caramel sauce. As there is no sugar in the pudding, be sure each serving gets a generous helping of the sauce.
Here’s a Liberal that actually “Gets it.” He really does!
I have found that rarest of ocassions where a Liberal REALLY DOES “get it” about the world, and what they’re heading into with Conservatives. It ain’t pretty, but this guy delivers the ugly truth with terrific humor . . .
I especially like the part where he tells his fellow liberals “we’re gonna get butchered.”
Clearly, “the word” has gone out. Two days ago nearly 1 in 4 articles in the Main Stream Media (propaganda) feed were Ukraine stories. Yesterday it dried up to under 1 in 20 articles as Ukraine stories.
Today: NOTHING.
The feeds haven’t been Ukraine-free like this for over a year.
It looks to me as though the memo went out; Ukraine is finished, no more coverage.
This entire Ukraine thing was clearly coordinated across the whole propaganda platform of MSM. Very similar to the “mostly peaceful” coordination of Black Lives Matter riots in 2020. Also very similar to all MSM outlets being told to call the Waukesha Parade Massacre the Waukesha Parade Crash.
When every single outlet starts using the same ridiculous term at the exact same time . . . it was ordered.
When every single outlet drops the hottest set of propaganda stories about Ukraine at the same time . . . it was ordered.
Free press does not exist today.
Something is definitely up with Ukraine. They were pushing it at a thousand miles an hour and then it just slammed into a brick wall and we hear nothing at all.
One possibility is the story about Zelensky embezzling the $400 MILLION in Diesel fuel money. That is definitely something the criminals in DC wish to keep out of the news.
Then too, it might also relate to the Classified documents allegedly released publicly by that 21 year old Airman via a Gamer chat forum. Have you noticed the coverage . . . it’s all about “the leak” and not one word about the CONTENTS of the leak.
These documents PROVE the US and NATO have actual boots on the ground in Ukraine, engaged in actual fighting against Russia. Not one peep about this from the MSM. Why?
Because the government knows it has crossed the final red line with Russia by having boots on the ground, and government doesn’t want the American (or European) people to have any idea WHY Russia slams us, when that slamming takes place. They want the public kept dumb.
Rabbit hole the whole thing then no one will know why Russia attacks the US.
Of course, Ukraine is losing to Russia even after the 100s of billions sent there by Biden . . . and . . . U.S. election campaigns for 2024 are getting ready to kick off.
How is Biden going to explain another Afghanistan debacle when the US/NATO tuck tail and run from Ukraine? So the MSM is quiet; thinking the country will focus on something else in the 72 hr news cycle.
Lastly, it could also be a lot more sinister. The PTB and NATO are about to escalate the war in Ukraine and they want no coverage while they start WW3.
US Rushes to Provoke War w/Growing Chinese Army: Admits Taiwan will be Destroyed
The following is something that I wrote for Quora…
Going to war is a FAILURE of diplomacy.
China, which has endless lists of successes, is not prone to failure. From poverty elimination to coronavirus, from high speed trains, to technological advancements. China runs things with intelligence, and fully funds efforts lead by merit. For China to fail at something; anything would be truly a rare event.
The United States, at least in the last fifty years, has a near endless list of failures. It seems that there is nothing it can get right. From a simple pedestrian bridge, to building a high speed rail. From solving homelessness, to simple maintenance of roads and bridges, the United States is flailing and failing at everything.
Now, let’s talk “WAR”.
China who is able to succeed in anything it puts it’s mind to, and the United States that fails at everything. The two nation go head to head.
What is the probable outcome?
The United States will start a war.
It will under-estimate China.
It will make foolish decisions.
It will under supply.
It will make political decisions instead of practical ones.
It will count on allies who are unreliable.
It’s media will spew out disinformation.
It will bear tremendous losses.
China will finish the war.
Nothing will be reported.
It’s all robotic, calculated, precise and detailed.
It will be one surprise after the other.
China will dictate the terms of American surrender.
And that is that.
And everyone knows that this is what will happen. You can put lipstick on a pig, but after all, a pig is still just a pig.
A Tale of two leaders–and of two regions
What a study in contrast! At exactly the time when Ma Ying-jeou, the former Taiwan leader, made a nostalgic trip to the mainland, returning to his roots for the first time and welcomed home like a long-lost son, Tsai Ing-wen, his successor, was offering herself as a pawn in America’s geopolitical game, kowtowing to China-bashing US politicians. Ma’s emotional visit was shared on social media and melted millions of mainland hearts. In a single day, it exploded with 120 million likes. With an uncanny sense of timing, Ma shows Taiwan how to repair the ruptured relationship. Tsai, by contrast, was cursed as a traitor by sputtering-mad Chinese patriots in America. One offers a common future, the other pumps boatloads of cash into the accounts of American merchants of death for deadly weapons. One promises the sunny upland of peace, the other the gates of hell.
Despite her LSE education, Tsai can’t think straight. How can she not realize that Beijing will never accept Taiwan as a US surrogate? It’s like having a foreign master in your household. During Ma’s rule, Taipei and Beijing enjoyed a long honeymoon, with the 1992 Consensus anchoring cross-strait relations, and both practically breathing through the same nostrils. Now all you hear is saber-rattling and the drumbeat of war. By prostituting herself to America, Tsai is hastening Taiwan towards doomsday. How does she sleep at night?
Beijing had pinned its hopes on Taiwan’s eventual and peaceful return to the motherland on the Hong Kong and Macau model. It works like a charm in Macau. But Hong Kong is another story.
Hong Kong is vulnerable—unlike Macau, it is only half-decolonized at best and crawling with sinister foreign agitators.
Hong Kong is historically an economic city, and its people are economic animals. Pre-Handover, they were indifferent to politics. Suddenly, they were handed more freedom than they could handle. Under the British, street demonstrations were banned. But after they left, Hong Kong quickly descended into the “protest capital” of the world—the curse of excess freedom.
A high degree of autonomy opened the floodgates to freedom, quickly weaponized by anti-China activists. What Hong Kong needed was not more freedom but better local leadership, not the likes of the disaster-prone Carrie Lam.
Neither New York nor Washington, nor London enjoys this much freedom. None allows rioters to occupy its streets for 10 months. Yet, the unrest was portrayed to the world as a fight for freedom. Hong Kong was on the brink.
Simple-minded activists never told us they were fighting for a worthless objective: Under the Basic Law, candidates for the top job must first win Beijing’s blessing. Given the poor slate of candidates, a universal vote is meaningless. The city is awash with smart money-makers, but wise leaders are a rarity.
For this useless one-person-one vote over lousy leaders, they paralyzed the city—a high price exacted for a hollow ideal.
Organizers of lawless protests included a tenured professor of law. He and his cohorts got carried away, playing superhero to American cheerleaders, making pilgrimages to Washington for photo-ops with Nancy Pelosi.
In an ugly show remote-controlled by America, rioters reached a point of no return. Local political clowns began hallucinating of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The circus had come to town.
But soon, the pendulum has swung the other way– a belated chaos control, not a trampling on basic rights.
Unconscionable Western press came to Hong Kong blindfolded, determined to bad-mouth China and acted as American mouthpieces.
They didn’t tell the world that “One country Two Systems” was faithfully honored by Beijing, but dishonored by anarchists. Under the system, locals were not supposed to call for the downfall of the CCP. They wanted two systems but no country. Washington knew, if things went south in Hong Kong, geopolitical repercussions will spread, most notably, across the Taiwan strait. Tsai was teetering on 11% popular support. The mess in Hong Kong breathed new life into her politics.
Had Hong Kong carried off the experiment smoothly, Taiwan might have been ready for Beijing’s embrace. Instead, it now threatens to become another Ukraine, despite being Chinese territory. But China is not Russia, and Taiwan is not Ukraine.
China has a big dream, and America is determined to derail it–inadvertently aided and abetted by an incompetent local leader who in five short years sold the national reunification master-plan down the river.
Hong Kong must reboot its system, heal the wounds and seize the opportunities dangled by the Greater Bay Area. This time, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and focus on local livelihood. As for Beijing, bring Taiwan back into the fold, using Ma’s healing ways. Dialogue, not dogged enmity. A purely domestic quarrel must never escalate into a history-ending global conflict. Outside meddlers trying to fish in troubled waters can take a long walk on a short pier.
Are Americans ready for a possible war with China?
No, not at all, America just desperate, unable to hide its bandit culture and behavior.
America is begging China for help, bandit style/ways, pointing gun at you demand help, threatening blow out if not meet demand.
America is sick, broke on the brink of collapsing, lost in all wars it found over the years. How can it fight with superpower like China.
Unfortunately, this time around China will not heal or buy the bandit culture and behavior.
China has better things to take care at home and around the world. All American provocations do not mean anything to China.
China popular idiom said, a wise man will not take near eye-sighted humiliation, revenge is a long term mission. Just like recent landing of military aircraft in Taiwan to antagonise China.
America can not effort to have another war let alone war with superpower China.
President Donald Trump took to his social media account this afternoon and posted “WORLD WAR III” . . . nothing else. S going to HTF is my guess . . .
I am endeavoring to find out what may be going on worldwide that would give rise to a man like him, making a posting like that. On Easter Sunday, no less.
Something’s up . . . something big.
UPDATE 8:15 PM EDT —
BRICS+ is taking over and there’s nothing the West can do about it. The US dollar won’t be the worlds reserve currency and the US Govt won’t be able to print money on the backs of other nations. US Govt bonds will be junk because of insane US debt. The End
Top 10 Nations by natural resources:
RUSSIA
$75 trillion
BRICS+
UNITED STATES
$45 trillion
The West
SAUDI ARABIA
$35 trillion
BRICS+
CANADA
$33 trillion
The West
IRAN
$27 trillion
BRICS+
CHINA
$23 trillion
BRICS+
BRAZIL
$22 trillion
BRICS+
AUSTRALIA
$20 trillion
The West
IRAQ
$16 trillion
BRICS+
VENEZUELA
$14 trillion
BRICS+
Multipolar world wins!
FRANCE ABANDONING U.S.
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON on the plane returning from his 3-day trip to China: “Europe should reduce its dependence on the extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar… If the tensions between the two superpowers heat up … we won’t have the time nor the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and we will become vassals.”
FtRoMOrWYAAKF 9
MACRON also said: “Europe must reduce its dependency on the US and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan.” So not only is France abandoning the US, they are now actively encouraging Europe to do the same. Bear in mind, France just conducted the first-ever transaction for Liquified Natural Gas in a currency OTHER THAN the U.S. Dollar! So the French are cutting off their use of our Dollars as well.
EUROPEAN UNION
Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the “European Commission” (of un-elected tyrants) departed the PRC through a regular terminal at the airport with baggage screening and passport checks, just like any other nobody. Notice the look on her face as she has to be around us commoners . . .
FtRnlOcXwAAXxM
China’s amazing “dis” of the head of the European Commission in this way — and in such a public manner, is a statement by China that the EU isn’t even worth paying attention to. Not militarily, and not with its “EURO” currency. It shows that the EU doesn’t matter anymore. Not in the coming version of the world.
MORE:
The Germans are asking the Kremlin to allow them to produce cars in Russia. The German publication Speigel reports that it has sent a three-page letter to Vladimir Putin with a proposal to resume cooperation.
This shows that EU Sanctions against Russia are literally starting to come apart at the seams. If trade with Russia resumes in any meaningful way, the West ENTIRE plan in Ukraine and to takeover Russia, will fail before it starts.
CHINA
China controls 98% of the world’s rare earth Minerals productionand plans to ban their export to the US for national security reasons!
The U.S. __must__ have some of those rare earth minerals to manufacture for our Military. Without those rare earth minerals, our military might – and the accuracy of our weaponry in particular – is __gutted__. No more playing Globo-Cop; except it won’t be by OUR choice, it will be forced upon us by China.
UKRAINE
Ukrainian medium-range air defense systems will be completely depleted by May 23.
They will be able to withstand only two or three more waves of blows. /The Washington Post, citing Pentagon documents/ Air defense systems
NASAMS, Iris-T, and Patriot Missile Systems will soon arrive in Ukraine, said Yuri Ignat, adviser to the country’s Air Force Command. Not certain if – or how many such systems – can arrive in Ukraine before May 23.
If Russia strikes 3, 4, or more times, Ukraine will be finished before May 23. This __may__ prompt a direct NATO entry, and thus . . . WW3.
MORE
Russia is moving elite units of its army, including paratroopers, to Bakhmut. Wagner PMC has suffered very severe losses, but has gained significant ground there. Now, the regular Russian Army is sending its units.
If (OOOOPS) WHEN Russia takes Bakhmut, the entire south and southeast of Ukraine will be cut off from supplies. It will likely fold fast. Again, another possible reason for NATO to come “all-in” and thus trigger WW3.
All these developments are troubling, but I am not sure any of them individually, or all of them collectively, get us to what President Trump said: “World War 3.”
More if I get it.
Greek Mint and Ouzo Flavored Meatballs (Keftedakia)
f82a6178b47e3fbec0a9d4e57fe3448b
Ingredients
2 slices Italian bread, crusts removed
1/4 cup ouzo
7 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried mint flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
Pour Ouzo in a small bowl. Tear bread into small pieces and soak in Ouzo 5 minutes.
In a skillet, over medium heat, sauté onion in 3 tablespoons oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon and place in a large mixing bowl. Squeeze bread dry, discarding Ouzo, and combine with onions. Add in turkey, egg, mint, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Form meat mixture into 1-inch balls and roll in flour to coat evenly. Place on a cookie sheet and refrigerate 1 hour.
Add remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet, over medium high heat, and sauté meatballs until browned, about 8 – 10 minutes.
The public fallout and Brand destruction of “Bud Light” beer continues, with Internet meme’s and all sorts of public criticism. Sales, though, show the facts: Stunning LOSS of customers, nationwide.
The brief video below, from an affiliated Distributor for Anheuser Busch makes it plain: The company is losing customers and sales at a ferocious pace:
This PLUNGE in retail sales is a direct result of Bud Light hiring a trans-something as a spokes-something.
When I was a Regional Sales Manager for North American Van Lines, I had occasion to speak with R. Allan Brogan, a Senior Vice President of Norfolk Southern Railroad (which owned North American Van Lines) and he told me something I never forgot.
"I had to fire a couple sales guys and they were family men.
I had major concerns about firing them BECAUSE they had mouths to feed. I
never fired ANYONE flippantly; to me firing someone is waaaaaay serious.
There was just no hope for these guys, but I still felt bad.
R. Allan Brogan told me
"Hal, it's not the people you fire who hurt you the most. It's the people you KEEP . . . but SHOULD HAVE fired, that hurt you the most."
I never forgot that.
With that sage advice firmly in mind, I can say with confidence that the people who PROPOSED this “Tranny” hire should be FIRED by Anheuser Busch for bad judgment. The people who APPROVED this “Tranny” hire and ad campaign for Anheuser Busch, should be FIRED.
Their poor judgment is literally destroying the Bud Light Brand and costing millions in lost sales. Out the door with all of them!
I suspect it’s only going to get worse.
Now, people are going to wonder if any guy they see drinking a Bud Light is a homo. Worse, people are going to look at any GIRL drinking a Bud Light, and wonder if she’s __really__ a girl!
No normal person wants to be associated with this “Trans” mental illness. Grown-ups playing “make-pretend” they’re something they’re not. It’s sick!
Clearly, the people at Anheuser Busch who put this project together have NO IDEA AT ALL who their customers are. I suspect that very shortly, there won’t BE very many customers anymore. NOT because customers are “Bigots” but because the Trannies and their movement are deranged perverts.
But . . .
Maybe there is a bright side to this ?????? After all, it seems to me in two days Anheuser Busch has done more to stop drinking than AA has done in 80 years.
麥小兜 – My First Song『你聽,這是我真實的聲音。』【動態歌詞Lyrics】
‘Peace In The Middle East? That’s A Threat.’
Thanks to China’s and Russia’s mediation peace is breaking out in the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates has begun withdrawing its forces from #Yemen. The Saudi-Emirati-Yemenite agreement will be announced soon.
The Middle East is solving its conflicts without the #US negative impact.
Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai · Apr 7
Great news:
#SaudiArabia will announce the end of the war in #Yemen after the Eid al-Fitr. Saudi is ending all its (high/low) conflicts in the Middle East with #Iran, #Syria, #Iraq, #Yemen & #Lebanon(not interested in the country for now) to turn towards its own development. …
Peace will also come to Syria. The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia will soon visit Damascus. He will invite Syria to rejoin the Arab League. An Arab League summit will be held next month in Saudi Arabia and the Syrian president Bashar al Assad is expected to be there.
This comes after agreements between Iran and Saudi Arabia to bury the hatchet and after agreements between Iraq and Iran to reign in a Kurdish uprising in Iran that was controlled by Kurdish forces in Iraq.
‘We can’t have that’, says U.S. president Joe Biden. He sent CIA director Bill Burns to Saudi Arabia to threaten consequences:
CIA Director Bill Burns made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia this week where he reportedly aired Washington’s frustrations over Riyadh’s opening to Iran and Syria through mediation brokered by US rivals China and Russia.Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official confirmed the trip to Al-Monitor. “Director Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia where he met with intelligence counterparts and country leaders on issues of shared interest,” the US official said.
The official did not disclose the exact day of the trip but said that Burns discussed intelligence cooperation, especially in the area of counterterrorism. The CIA director met the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Burns likely threatened to withhold U.S. intelligence on terrorist groups from the Saudis. The CIA could additionally push some of its ISIS assets to make some nasty appearances in Saudi Arabia to then offer ‘help’ to ‘fight terrorism’.
I do not think that this will work. The Saudis have had enough of U.S. interference in their region. They are looking for development and development requires peace.
The US Navy deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Middle East waters via the Suez Canal, a spokesperson revealed Saturday.The Pentagon’s rare disclosure of the location of one of its Ohio-class submarines came amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran after an American military contractor was killed by a drone attack on a US base in Syria last month.
The USS Florida arrived in the region before transiting the canal on Friday “to help ensure regional maritime security and stability,” Cdr. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, told Al-Monitor via email.
…
Last week, the Pentagon extended the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS George H. W. Bush in the Mediterranean to support US forces in the Middle East in case of further conflagration and moved up the planned deployment of a squadron of A-10 attack aircraft to the region, CNN first reported.
Meanwhile the Zionists finally have to confront their ideological core:
Sina Toossi @SinaToossi – 15:28 UTC · Apr 8, 2023Israel’s former defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon says Jewish extremists who believe in “Jewish supremacy” & seek a “big war” are influencing the Israeli government’s decision-making. He likens their agenda to a “Mein Kampf” in reverse.
Muhammad Shehada @muhammadshehad2 · 15hExtremely important! #Israel’s *right-wing* ex-Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, sheds light on Israel’s most dangerous government & the supremacist ideology of its Finance & Security Ministers.
Listen to every word to understand the ongoing escalation! video
Moshe Ya’alon describing the ideology of two current ministers: “Jewish supremacism. Mein Kampf in reverse. … To as soon as possible get to a big war. … This is what goes into the decision making process in the Israeli government.”
When government ministers seek a big war they will probably get one. A civil war between ‘liberal’ Zionists and hard core ideological Zionists, fought on the back of Palestinians, may become a prelude to that.
Iraqi Transport Minister Announces that Sumerians Launched Spaceships 7,000 Years Ago
ancient Spaceships 1
The Minister for Transport in Iraq made a controversial speech at the inauguration of a new airport in southern Dhi Qar, in which he stated that ancient Sumerians built the first airports 7,000 years ago and launched spaceships from there to explore other planets. He also claimed that all the world’s angels were Sumerian. To support his claims, he referred to the work of Samuel Kramer, Russian professor and Sumerian expert, who highlighted the Sumerians’ advanced understanding of the cosmos.
The Sumerians were the first known people to settle in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years ago. Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq), Sumer was often called the cradle of civilization. By the 4th millennium BC, it had established an advanced system writing, spectacular arts and architecture, astronomy and mathematics.
The Sumerians recorded their astronomical observations as early as 3500–3200 BC. Astronomical phenomena were important to the Sumerians, who equated planets with gods that held an important role in their mythology and religion. Jupiter, for example, was associated with their main god, Marduk, patron deity of the city of Babylon.
Arab news channel Albawaba reported that Minister Kadhem Finjan al-Hamami made his comments during a visit to a new airport construction site in southern Iraq, near Basra, where he claimed that the Sumerians had built an airport in exactly the same location in around 5,000 BC.
“It’s a long story, maybe you don’t know about it. Maybe even people from Dhi Qar don’t know – the first airports that were built on planet Earth were built in the 5th Millenium BC in Dhi Qar,” al-Hamami said , in an Al Jazeera translation. “There were Sumerians who launched spaceships [from Dhi Qar] and headed to other worlds,” he added, arguing that all the world’s angels “were Sumerian” and stating that Sumerians were the first to discover Pluto.
The video of his statement [in Arabic] can be viewed below.
While no one in the audience questioned the Minister, listeners were quick to jump to social media to rubbish his claims. The Middle East Monitor shared comments from internet users who criticized the incompetence of the government. “Iraqi transport minister’s hallucinations about spaceships in Nasiriyah proves that the [Haidar] Al-Abadi government is full of fools, hashish addicts and the most worthless of humanity,” said Dawood Al-Basri.
To support up his claims, Finjan referred to the work of the late Samuel Kramer, who was one of the world’s leading Assyriologists and a world-renowned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. In his book, ‘History Begins at Sumer’, Kramer argues that the Sumerians had the first achievements in all the major fields of human endeavour, including government and politics, education and literature, philosophy and ethics, law and justice, agriculture, and medicine. However, critics of the Transport Minister’s speech say that Kramer never mentioned ancient airports or spaceships.
Nevertheless, the Minister does have a number of supporters among ancient astronaut theorists, who argue that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity, with many believing that ancient Sumer was the first place in which contact was made.
Ancient astronaut 0
Ancient astronaut proponents suggest that aliens came to Earth long ago, citing such evidence as this ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal as proof of advanced technological influences ( public domain )
CHINA Surrounds TAIWAN, USA on ALERT, Russia Moves Nukes toward
Irish Joe Biden’s Irish Sopranos
Declan Hayes
April 8, 2023
Biden’s visit is just one further shameful act of degradation of a people who once stood for something infinitely nobler than Joe and Hunter Biden.
The ostensible reasons for POTUS Joe Biden, the Grim Reaper himself, to visit his Irish colony in mid-April is, firstly to view the areas of Ireland that were unfortunate enough to spawn his ancestors and, secondly, to cash in on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the deal that allegedly brought peace in our time to Ireland.
Because pretending to be Irish brings political dividends and lots of uninformed votes in America, it is not currently worth dwelling on. Vichy Ireland’s Peace Process is a very different matter. This deal copper-fastened NATO rule in Ireland by allowing the gerrymandering of politics and the fruits of office flowing from it in the occupied north east to be divvied up between the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party and the Catholic Sinn Féin group, both of whose histories are mired in organised crime. It allowed the Southern and nominally independent Southern part to be fully subsumed within the American umbrella and, more importantly, it allowed its CIA and MI5 architects to bestride the narrow world, falsely claiming they were peace-makers rather than war-makers. Far from being an exercise in bridge-building that Gandhi or the Buddha himself would be proud of, it is one of the CIA’s most cynical moves of the last half century.
These latter points can be seen by how rabidly the Irish government and the toadyish Sinn Féin opposition support NATO’s Ukrainian campaign and with Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin’s nominal boss, demanding Russia’s entire diplomatic delegation be immediately expelled from the country over a war she and her drug dealing friends know absolutely nothing about. This is the same Sinn Féin nominal boss who was “profoundly shocked” that Jonathan Dowdall, her right-hand man, was also the right-hand man of top mobster Gerry Hutch, whose charge of murdering a top capo in the Kinahan organised crime cartel will be decided by a non jury Irish court at about the same time Biden’s plane is fecking off back to America.
The main thing, the obvious thing to emerge from the Hutch and Dowdall trials is that the Irish secret service, together with their MI5 and CIA bosses, have all of Ireland’s criminal and paramilitary groups totally infiltrated and that, far from being progressives, these drug dealers are, in effect, just an extension of the British and American armed forces. Because NATO has used the same human dregs to much the same purpose in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and a host of other countries, the Irish experience that Irish Joe Biden is now cashing in on is therefore worth a second glance.
Although the so-called Troubles kicked off in 1969, much like Syria and Ukraine, the British and Irish security services had already laid the groundwork for the mayhem that was to follow. Protestant gangland boss Gusty Spence has recalled how British generals briefed him on what was required of his counter gang and Irish military intelligence recruited Joe Cahill and other dodgy IRA leaders to do their bidding.
Though Cahill had received the death penalty in 1942 for murdering a Belfast cop, the authorities instead hanged brave Tom Williams for it, whilst Cahill was allowed work unmolested in Harland & Wolff shipyards, whose workers had a history of murdering Catholics whenever the fancy took them. That a notorious Catholic cop killer could work there unmolested for decades defies common sense; the only explanation is that he was a protected species.
But then, as noted journalist Kevin Myers points out, the Cahill and other families that were at the centre of the Belfast IRA also had a side hustle in raping children, a low-risk crime, given their omerta practices they passed down through the generations.
Thus, when the Troubles erupted to scar entire generations of Irishmen and women, the British, Irish and American security services were ready. They would let chaos reign but then emerge with a peace process that suited their needs, rather than those of the combatants or the civilians unlucky enough to have endured hell.
As Ireland was at the centre of a major low intensity counter-insurgency operation from 1968 to 1998 and, as that campaign continues to this day, MI5 and the CIA had plenty of time to put their assets in place. John Joe McGee and Stakeknife, the bosses of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit, were both MI5 agents. As was Denis Donaldson, a long time confidant of IRA martyr Bobby Sands and Sinn Féin boss Gerry Adams, whose IRA brother and IRA father were both notorious child sex abusers and who was himself implicated in some of the worst war crimes of the Troubles. As were so many others, the list is an almost endless geometric progression.
Although I have touched on Sinn Féin’s flawed pedigree here and here, the main thing to take going forward is how M15 and their CIA bosses not only choose the ground on which they fight but fashion it to their needs. One key way to do this in Ireland was through the supergrass trials where scores of IRA diehards would be remanded in custody for years on the word of a paid MI5 agent and their places within the IRA be filled by others on the MI5 payroll, who would rise through the IRA ranks over time.
This tactic was so successful that, at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, the IRA had been reduced to a single sniper in South Armagh and recalcitrants in nearby East Tyrone were dealt with by the simple shoot-to-kill expedient, of summarily executing them, in other words.
Following the Good Friday Agreement, the British Government allowed the IRA to do some housekeeping, as British warlord Mo Mowlam euphemistically put it, to slaughter those opposed to their criminal shenanigans in plainer English. Although that housekeeping continues with Protestant and Catholic criminal gangs to this day, with more government-approved murders in South Armagh and savage beatings in East Tyrone, it has metamorphosed into the Irish wing of ANTIFA Inc, where women, children and others in the U.S. Democrats’ cross hairs are as much fair game as they are anywhere else in America’s evil empire. To see how this works elsewhere, one only has to see the criminal contribution of Ukraine’s Nazi thugs to the post-Maidan “peace process”, or the widespread slaughter of minorities and secular Sunnis by Syria’s “moderate rebels”.
Though Biden can don his leprechaun hat and claim himself to be as Irish as a crock of cow manure, the key thing to see is how the CIA, MI5 and Irish military intelligence have shifted the goal posts to such a degree that Biden is neither immediately lambasted nor run out of Dublin town for the senile creep that he is. As with Sir Keir Starmer’s British Labour Party and the joke that is the Scottish National Party, the practical effect of all this is that whatever Western resistance might emerge to NATO’s litany of war crimes, the Irish, with their joke of a Peace Process, won’t even offer token resistance to Biden and NATO’s other war devotees. Biden’s visit is just one further shameful act of degradation of a people who once stood for something infinitely nobler than Joe and Hunter Biden and their crack cocaine fueled wars of conquest, expropriation and extermination.
BRICS countries and candidate countries for the BRICS Plus
Enigmatic Artifact: Possible Chinese Bi Disk Found in a Kentucky Garden
ancient Chinese bi disks
“It was just lying there” the finder explained as he recalled the moment and the previous two years of inquiries to understand what it was, along with his frustration of not knowing how it ended up in his garden. Afterwards, and with a look on his face that he expected me to have all the answers, asked, “How do you think it got here?”
As with other such Chinese in appearance artifacts found in North America without supporting contextual information, I could only respond that there are multiple possible explanations
A more informative answer came from the Burke Museum in Washington State, responding to the finder’s earlier inquiry and photograph. Paraphrasing… we don’t know what it is, but similar objects have been found on the West coast of Mexico and “it should not have been found in your part of the country.”
Other responses, also based upon photographs, from universities, art dealers and museums were equally inconclusive. Some thought it was a 20th century fraud, others didn’t know, and one based on personal inspection thought it to be authentic. Until it is subjected to rigorous examination its authenticity remains unknown.
What Is Known
This artifact was found in a small garden next to a pond, on heavily wooded acreage in a sparsely populated area of Harrison County (Kentucky, USA), which the owner characterizes as being “in the middle of nowhere”. Several miles away are two earthen mounds and the general area has long been popular with surface collectors of Native American artifacts.
Based upon a specific gravity test and visual inspection, the disk is Nephrite Jade and has areas of a white surface film, which is concentrated around the bas-relief features. Interestingly, one side is darker than the other. The depictions of a possible Shui dragon and a partial bird, both playing prominent roles in Chinese mythology, add to the Chinese theme of the disk, along with the four script characters.
The history of the bi extends back to Neolithic China some 5,000 years ago. The earlier versions were simple disks with no ornamentation, but became increasingly ornate with motifs representing deities associated with the cardinal directions and heaven and earth images. Aside from its religious symbolism, the bi also represented the person’s high social status and that he was of high moral character… and it ultimately accompanied the person in his grave.
Disc with Dragons
Perforated Disc (Bi) with Dragons. China, Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 ( CC BY 2.0 )
Perforated Chinese Disk
Perforated Chinese Disk (Bi) with unfinished Relief Spirals, circa 481-100 BC. ( Public Domain )
Until such time when more definitive testing results are available, the enigmatic artifact remains a mystery to be solved.
Sixbomb (식스밤) – Step To Me /東大門ミリオレライブ/스텝 투 미
How to Take Off a (Political) Straitjacket
Tatiana Obrenovic
April 6, 2023
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Serbia should understand that it could and must take off the straitjacket the West put on it with its generous assistance.
This issue should have already been resolved which means that there is no reason for concern until ‘the next one reason comes round’. Namely, Kosovo is Serbia and even after the Ohrid meeting in the same proportion it used to be before that meeting on the 18th March between Belgrade and Pristina – the first lady of the Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova explained a few days ago, which means that Kosovo remains the heart of Serbia with its essential autonomy in accordance with the Resolution 1244. Above all, Zakharova, when we asked her a few further questions gave two very important and equally reassuring questions.
Firstly, the Serbian province of Kosovo entering any international organizations is non-negotiable. These are not the UN only. We asked specifically about Interpol and UNESCO and we got said response. And secondly, the EU can change their negotiating positions as much as they wish, and regrettably with our (Serbian) forced consent. but the Security Council is to be asked i.e. Russia and China with it. Anyhow, if the matters were any different, the self-proclaimed pseudostate of Kosovo would have joined the UN a long time ago. In this way it cannot move an inch from the UN Resolution 1244. That goes to say in case that the unfavorable total turnaround does not happen, except that we do not have anything to hope for, we should not fret too much about the International Donors’ conference for Kosovo (without the asterisk and a footnote) and this crippled rump of a country which might be left behind out of Serbia.
It is common knowledge that by Ohrid Annex we were threatened within the next 150 days. Mercifully, it is written there that no allocation of funds will occur before the EU determines that all the clauses of the Agreement are fulfilled in its entirety. Lest we forget, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic himself pledged in public that not all the clauses will be fulfilled. We should take his word for it. And not only because the breaching of his pledge would mean the breaching of the Serbian Constitution. Our ‘not meant to be’ donors did not express enough resourcefulness yet again. We were offered the very same thing earlier as well: to bribe us into selling our Kosovo to them demanding from us to agree to the Faustian bargain.
At the time of the Ahtisaari negotiations, as part of the secret K1 strategy, which was later exposed by Wikileaks so as ”to move us away from the Kosovo issue laden with emotions, towards a more democratic, more prosperous future”. They offered us the long-term programme worth $23 million ‘most generously’ for agriculture, $14 million in technical aid for the sectors with high growth potential, $21 million for Sandzak and the south of Central Serbia; One may wonder why there exactly because that was not a mere coincidence, and $1 million for the Dom Omladine (Youth Cultural Centre) in Belgrade ‘to throw the Serbs off the scent’. All in all, it was about $60 million in total. In other words: beads and trinkets – the good old recipe already tried and tested on all the other ‘Indians‘.
But back then the benefactors were, at least they thought they were, in a much better financial state than today. Back then they were not going through the great economic crisis such as the one in 2008 which did not happen out of the blue, whereas now 15 years later, they should brace up for a perfect storm, so to speak. That is most probably the crucial aspect of this war between the Collective West and the rest of the world. Thus it is vitally important for us to pay particular attention. Anyway none of this can be avoided, be it good or evil so it would not go amiss for us to prepare to any extent imaginable.
For starters we should understand that we could and we must take off the straitjacket they put on us with our generous assistance and moreover that for this procedure of taking off a strait jacket we do not need the skills of Harry Houdini but the readiness to do it. On one hand, the banking crisis is gaining momentum as we speak. The collapse of a few smaller banks in the USA nobody has heard of before immediately spilt over to the systemically important Credit Suisse Bank of which many have heard of course, and then even more important Deutsche Bank is mentioned for its notoriety, which in its portfolio has an abnormal amount of speculative financial derivatives which is dozen times bigger than the total GDP of Germany.
Bloomberg reports that Charles Schwab’s financial empire worth 7 billion dollars is in turmoil. This is not the Klaus Schwab of Davos but nonetheless both belong to the same order. Fox TV warns that out of 17 thousand billion dollars in deposits with the U.S. banks only 128 billion dollars are insured. Dr Mohamed el Erian, the President at King’s College, Cambridge University, warns that the crisis which is now taking shape will not be limited to the banking sector only. By the way, all those who are prone to believe the pledges given by the ‘competent authorities’ that all will be fine, it might be worth remembering that the very same ‘competent authorities’ claimed the very same thing 15 years ago.
The crisis which began to raise its ugly head in February 2007 exploded with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers only in September 2008. It further goes to say that most probably the chaos is yet to unleash. And this chaos will be substantially bigger because that crisis back then was concealed by using all the means said ‘competent authorities’ had at their disposal. This crisis now starts exactly for that reason because the unlimited amount of fiat money printed and low interest rate. But other means are non-existent. Additionally not even the causes of the original crisis were resolved. Now there is an ever worse backlash against them because there is an ongoing parallel process which did not exist back then.
The news comes in quick succession. The ASEAN members are giving up on the trade in dollars, euros, pounds sterling and Japanese yen. India and Russia are now using ruble and rupee. Brazil and China are ditching the dollar currency from their trade calculations. Kenya will be buying oil from Saudi Arabia for their own currency and not for U.S. dollars. All these are the news from the past few days and there are more similar news. Saudi Arabia and China already agreed on yen currency to be used to purchase oil. And it is not a coincidence that at the same time Iran and Saudi Arabia are en route to mutual reconciliation helped by China and Russia and all of them together complete with India will be members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The formula: oil for security as the basis for petrodollar and the basis of power of the U.S. dollar ever since it had to leave the Gold Standard is becoming meaningless. The key word is de-dollarization. It goes without saying that it did not come from nothing and it is not a random matter either. In fact, in all likelihood now mechanisms which were designed after 2008 to be used under these circumstances are being set in motion now. And sanctions against Russia and the freezing of its assets in the range of Western finances and control, those finances which are already within their range must wonder who may well be the next one in line to be brutally robbed (by the U.S. and NATO) has accelerated matters. And then add to all this the protests throughout the USA and Europe to all this. And what we see now is just the beginning of what will inevitably escalate because the discontent will not be any less, the bigger the economic crisis becomes. And the accompanying efforts by the government to suppress the expression of this discontent.
In line with that, draconian measures are being issued even for bad mouthing Macron on Facebook – which is now, strangely enough, a verbal injury whereas the regime in the USA in the eve of the U.S. elections 2024 is issuing an indictment against Donald Trump, the leading opposition candidate and the former U.S. President. (N.B. indicting a former U.S. President is illegal and unconstitutional per se according to the very same U.S. Constitution) These are the golden standards of the Western ‘democracy’. And we are still wearing said (political) straitjacket. We are so constrained with this straitjacket that we ‘banned ourselves’ by the Law of National Bank of Serbia (Article 62) from borrowing as a country with our own National Bank. But we are allowed to borrow from foreign banks which leads to debt slavery which is the most ‘desirable’ state of the matter we should sink deep into.
The same applies to Greece, which is now more indebted than before it even entered into the savings programmes and it sold off everything they could, somewhere along the line. It is worth noting that the aforesaid Article 62 has one crucial exception. Namely, we can borrow from our own National Bank of Serbia but only for the liabilities we have with the IMF. As if the IMF had written that law for its own interests and not ours. But times change. Bloomberg informs us these days that there is an alternative to the IMF. China, research indicates, has become the chief financial saviour of the developing countries rather than the IMF. It is already carrying out the rescuing missions throughout Africa. And we (Serbia) are a developing country. And we are in close (economic and political) proximity to China in the same manner Africa is, which means that even that excuse of not having another economic choice to make is inapplicable any more, in order to ‘keep on wearing the straitjacket’.
The former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Treasury, Monica Crowley, is warning these days that with the current political process and economic realignment in the world, the dollar will lose its status of a global reserve currency and alongside that, she says the USA will lose their economic dominance and the status of the super power in the world. One should not even elaborate on how favorable this development will have to be for Serbia. But only if we do not fritter it away for the proverbial ‘trinkets and beads’. Otherwise, we do not deserve to be rescued from the straitjacket. Because we would prove we truly deserve it.
“Why does Russia think NATO is the biggest threat?”
SHORT ANSWER
Because it’s what makes the most sense for our political class right now.
LONGER ANSWER
At the start of his rule, President Putin had no problems either with NATO or with its enlargement. There’s no record of his anti-Westernism ahead of his moving to the Kremlin. Moreover, after the Washington ’99 summit, he quietly asked the Americans if he could join the club, too.
Road fork
But about 15 years ago, Russia entered a period of turbulence. The model of commodity-fueled growth from the 2000s exhausted itself. Radical nationalists were gaining ground. And the ruling oligarchical clans got a piercing sense of danger. Any rotation of power would lead to some new hungry predators grabbing their riches and tearing to pieces themselves and their families.
How to get out of such an impasse? Anywhere in what people in my time in propaganda called the “Third World,” the easiest way has always been “FIGHT THE WEST!” and “DOWN WITH AMERICA!”
In 2012–13, President Putin obviously made a decision to raise this flag. Then, barely a year passed before Crimea was captured. The Ukraine war started in anything but name.
Now you see why Putin must be our President for life?
No grand vision
Most in the West seem to believe our hybrid war with them sprang from Putin’s “imperial visions.” That’s silly.
It’s fully a product of our internal politics. Ever since 2014, the war has been Putin’s perfect tool for defanging the radical nationalists—the most numerous and largely invisible threat to our state-oligarchical elite.
“Liberals” in Russia are a joke as a political force. Most of them are easy to buy. Among the rest, the principled ones are easy to scare enough for them to flee to the West. After all, it’s where their home is, isn’t it? And the most obstinate can be eliminated like Nemtsov or locked up behind bars. There are not too many of them, no problem.
The enemy inside us
The radicals are different. They’re hard to spot. The most dangerous of them are the silent ones lurking among the security services and the military. They are Ridley Scott’s xenomorphs, waiting for their hour here and there inside the body of our Derzháva (“the mighty State”).
The beasts are ready to burst out any day they decide their moment has arrived.
This is why it’s so imperative to keep the State busy with what seems like a radical nationalist project. It’s the Russian Reconquista. As long as they believe that it’s exactly this, President Putin and his men are safe in the Kremlin. And hey, many thanks to Western propaganda! They repeat in a thousand voices that this is the “USSR 2.0” going on, too!
Why the West?
There are three major reasons why the West—and not China, or the “Great Displacement” by the Muslims from the south—was picked as a mortal threat to Russia’s existence.
Foreign invasions from the west (Napoleon, the Keizer, Hitler) are deeply embedded in our collective memory.
Rotation of power and civil society are distinctive Western concepts, toxic to our Statist foundation.
Centuries-long pent-up hate among the lower classes against anything they associate with progressivist activism on the part of our State. Our rulers’ modernization projects rarely failed to bring pain and misery to millions of their subjects. When Putin says the Westerners are the ones to blame for all our carnage, this deeply resonates with something in our national archetypes.
Below, a piece by Vitaly Podvitsky from the early days of Putin’s second presidency. Vladimir Putin is St George striking the serpent of Russophobic globalism in the shape of Obama.
To us, Obama was easily the most harmless American president since Reagan. His administration considered us a “regional power”, and was asleep at the wheel when the Ukraine war broke out in 2014. What made him the most hated US president for our propaganda? My bet is on the unique combination of “black” + “clueless” + “progressive” + “American.” Go Brandon, try to beat that!
The SUN is SETTING on the U.S.
https://youtu.be/87p_LbZd-lE
Controversial Claim by Geologist: Mysterious tracks in Turkey caused by unknown civilization millions of years ago
Mysterious ancient tracks
In what is sure to cause controversy, a researcher has claimed that the mysterious and ancient ruts which crisscross the Phrygian Valley of Turkey were caused by an unknown and intelligent race between 12 and 14 million years ago.
Dr. Alexander Koltypin , geologist and a director of the Natural Science Scientific Research Centre at Moscow’s International Independent University of Ecology and Politology has recently completed investigations at the site in Anatolia which is marked with strange ruts, described as “petrified tracking ruts in rocky tuffaceous deposits’ made from compacted volcanic ash,” according to MailOnline.
volcanic rock in Turkey
Repeated travel with vehicles eventually cut into the soft, volcanic rock in Turkey. Credit: Alexander Koltypin, Dopotopa.com
The tracks cut across the landscape of the Phrygia Valley, dating back to various historical periods, according to conventional academia. The earliest roads are thought to have been made during the Hittite Empire (circa 1600 BC – 1178 BC). As time went on, paths were cut deeply into the soft rock by the Phrygians, then by the Greeks, and Alexander the Great with his armies. They eventually became part of the Roman road network, writes Culture Routes in Turkey .
Relief in basalt battle chariot
Relief in basalt depicting a battle chariot, Carchemish, 9th century BC; Late Hittite style with Assyrian influence. Did such vehicles leave the tracks in the ancient Phrygia Valley? (CC BY 2.0 )
Koltypin and colleagues have examined the rocky fields interlaced with deep grooves, and have suggested that it was indeed vehicles which caused the tracks, but not lightweight carts or chariots. Instead he suggests the “unknown antediluvian all-terrain vehicles” were huge and heavy. In addition, he dates them back to approximately 14 million years ago, and claims they were driven by an unknown civilization.
He told MailOnline, “All these rocky fields were covered with the ruts left some millions of years ago….we are not talking about human beings.”
The geologist says with certainty that the ruts are prehistoric without a doubt, due to the weathering and cracks observed.
“The methodology of specifying the age of volcanic rocks is very well studied and worked out,” Koltypin said.
deep tracks
The deep tracks run along the landscape, some reportedly as deep as 3 feet (1 meter). Credit: Alexander Koltypin, Dopotopa.com
The scientist notes that the distance between each pair of tracks remains consistent, and that the measurement fit that between the wheels of a modern vehicles. However, the tracks are much too deep for today’s cars, raising more questions about what sort of transport device was being used.
The deepest ruts are three feet (one meter), and on the walls of these ruts are horizontal scratches, very much appearing to have been left by the ends of axels poking out of ancient wheels.
scratch marks side tracks
Photograph showing the scratch marks along the side of the tracks. Were these caused by ancient axels? Credit: Alexander Koltypin, Dopotopa.com
News site Express reports that Koltypin believes the deep channels were cut into the soft, wet soil and rock due to the sheer weight of the large prehistoric vehicles. He says, “And later these ruts – and all the surface around – just petrified and secured all the evidence. Such cases are well known to geologists, for example, the footprints of dinosaurs were ‘naturally preserved’ in a similar way.”
prehistoric mysterious vehicle tracks
The prehistoric mysterious vehicle tracks as found in the Phrygian Valley of Turkey, with a modern car for scale. Credit: Alexander Koltypin, Dopotopa.com
Koltypin is aware that his claims are controversial, but says mainstream academia will not address the subject matter as it will “ruin all their classic theories.”
“I think we are seeing the signs of the civilization which existed before the classic creation of this world. Maybe the creatures of that pre-civilization were not like modern human beings,” he proposes.
Very similar interesting and mysterious tracks exist in other locations of the world, notably in the Maltese archipelago. These ancient grooves continue to puzzle researchers. Some of the strange tracks of Misrah Ghar il-Kbir deliberately plunge off cliffs or continue off land and into the ocean. It is not yet known who made the tracks, or why.
Like the channels at Malta, questions remain surrounding the deep tracks cut into the stone in the Phrygian Valley.
Koltypin’s research work continues as he investigates anomalous sites, but it will likely be some time before established academia embraces his unconventional theories.
BIGBANG – BAD BOY M/V
Korean boy kpop.
Bank Robbery
During a robbery in Zimbabwe, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: “Don’t move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you.” Everyone in the bank lay down quietly. This is called the “Mind Changing Concept” Changing the conventional way of thinking.
When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: “Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!” This is called “Being Professional” Focus only on what you are trained to do!
When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): “Big brother, let’s count how much we got.” The older robber rebutted and said: “You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!” This is called “Experience.” Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications!
After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: “Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”. This is called “Swim with the tide.” Converting an unfavourable situation to your advantage! The supervisor says: “It will be good if there is a robbery every month.” This is called “Killing Boredom.” Personal Happiness is more important than your job.
The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: “We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!” This is called “Knowledge is worth as much as gold!” The bank manager was smiling and happy because his losses in the share market are now covered by this robbery. This is called “Seizing the opportunity.” Daring to take risks!
So who are the real robbers here?
Armies of Azerbaijan and Armenia FIRING at each other along border
Heavy Fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian Forces is being reported North of the Village of Tegh near the Lachin Corridor in Eastern Armenia. What started as a Small Skirmish earlier now reportedly involves Artillery and possible Heavy Armor. Fighting took place near Tegh during the Border Clashes in 2021 as well.
Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan confirmed the death of at least 6 Azerbaijani soldiers. It is __said__ that Armenia has suffered substantial losses of troops in today’s fighting.
Armenia’s MoD says that Azerbaijani forces are firing mortars in the vicinity of the armenian village of Tegh.
Armenian Forces are Shelling the Positions of the Azerbaijani Army across the Border near Tegh utilizing 120mm Mortars and 152mm Self-Propelled and Fixed Artillery.
Azerbaijani Sources are claiming that they have seen indications that Armenian Tanks and Armored Equipment is currently being Transferred to “Forward Positions” near the Fighting along the Border with Azerbaijan and along the Lachin Corridor.
UPDATE 11:28 AM EDT —
Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of using Iranian shahed drones to target troops. Armenia is denying reports
– Reports that Armenia has abandoned posts in Tegh in anticipation of Azerbaijan drone attack.
– Armenian parliament cancels meetings
Greek Orange Cake in Orange Syrup (Pontica)
5dc91cbd149027e9f0ac078df5530ec9
Ingredients
Syrup
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Cake
1/2 stick butter, melted
6 eggs, separated
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
First make the syrup by combining the orange juice, water and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the syrup from the stove and allow to go cold.
Butter an 8 x 12-inch baking pan with all the melted butter. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff and they can form a peak.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until light yellow; add the sugar, orange rind and vanilla and blend well.
To the egg yolk mixture add the egg whites a little at a time, alternating with 2 tablespoons of flour mixture until all used. Pour the batter into the pre-buttered baking pan.
Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove the cake from the baking pan and cut into diamond shapes. Place the cake pieces on a large plate that will trap the syrup when poured over.
Pour the cooled syrup over the still warm cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.
Rema, Selena Gomez – Calm Down (Official Music Video)
African pop music. I will be present much more African music as Africa is going to replace America as a middle class of value.
Testosterone Levels in Men Chart
There is a tremendous benefit for men who are experiencing symptoms of fatigue, muscle loss, joint pains, stiffness, hair loss, low libido, erectile dysfunction, mental fog, depression, or memory loss to contact their doctor to discuss the possibility of getting a blood test for Low T. These are all possible signs that testosterone levels are below what is needed by the body for optimum functioning.
Take a look at the normal testosterone levels in men by age chart below as a reference:
Age Years
Free Testosterone Average Range
Total Testosterone Average Range
Normal Total Testosterone
30 – 40
8.7 – 25.1 pg/mL
219 – 1009 ng/dL
600 – 675 ng/dL
40 – 50
6.8 – 21.5 pg/mL
201 – 993 ng/dL
500 – 550 ng/dL
50 – 60
7.2 – 24.0 pg/mL
170 – 918 ng/dL
400 – 450 ng/dL
Over 60
6.6 – 18.1 pg/mL
156 – 700 ng/dL
300 – 350 ng/dL
What is considered normal testosterone levels in men by age varies considerably, as shown above. A man in his early fifties who falls at the low end of the average range will most likely be experiencing many of the symptoms associated with Low T. Treatment with bioidentical testosterone therapy will be beneficial at this point.
No More Conspiracy Theory; They ADMIT Using Chemtrails!
Former CIA Director John Brennan gave a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations and in it, he admitted government is engaged in “Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI)” which, he claims, can slow or halt “Climate Change.”
So all of us who have seen these “chemtrails” with our own eyes, but been called “Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy Theorists” are proven right once again; they ARE spraying from planes – deliberately. And we’re all breathing it.
Within the US Constitution, there is no power delegated unto Congress, to allow them to engage-in, or even pay for, this type of atmospheric experimentation. It is a power NOT granted to the UNITED STATES.
Worse, they are doing this activity based on a “theory” of “Climate Change.”
So, since it is only a theory, it is now clear they are experimenting UPON THE AIR WE BREATHE, to examine their little pet theory.
I have not, do not, and will not, consent to be experimented upon.
Abbey
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Our 14-year-old dog Abbey di*d last month. The day after she passed away my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so, and she dictated these words:
Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.
Love, Meredith
We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven.
That afternoon she dropped it into the letterbox at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, ‘To Meredith’ in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it.
Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, ‘When a Pet Dies.’
Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page were the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:
Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help and I recognized her right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank you.
Deagel Map summary
Deagel.com’s [infamous] 2025 forecast was removed from their website sometime in 2020. The content is reproduced here for reference and educational purposes. This map is a visual summary of the forecast percentage population change by country, 2017-2025.
So the USA raised the retirement age from 64 to 67. Phew! It’s a good thing that I applied for it early. Damn! I’d be forever waiting for this fucking stipend otherwise. Sheech!
Now this…
2023 04 06 09 36
Freedom of speech and press. No longer exists in the USA.
Period.
Europe tries to break Russia and China apart
It failed bigly.
2023 04 09 06 44
An outstanding video!
The idiot will not stop…
EU to sanction home appliance exports to Russia?
Memo to Frau von der Leyen: Pull the plug on it
Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, the European Union has ratified 10 sanctions packages designed to undermine Russia’s capacity to wage war in Ukraine. Now, kitchen appliances are in the EU’s crosshairs.
British newspaper The Telegraph, claiming to have seen a confidential EU report, says Brussels is considering imposing trade restrictions “on countries helping Russia acquire [microchips] in washing machines and used cars to repair its battle-stricken fleet of tanks.”
Thus the EU is threatening to apply secondary sanctions – that is, penalties on persons and entities outside of the EU’s legal jurisdiction – on countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
When weighing the imposition of secondary sanctions, EU policy should be guided by realpolitik and strategic thinking rooted in common sense, rather than by ideology and moral indignation, whether feigned or sincerely meant.
For the EU to impose trade restrictions on other countries on the suspicion that they are reselling significant quantities of home appliances to Russia, which then strips them for their microchips, is potentially destructive of the West’s strategic interests across Middle Eurasia.
The evidence suggests that harvesting microchips contained in home appliances sourced in “secondary” countries, usually for military use, is an exceedingly rare occurrence. It is cost-ineffective and unnecessary to boot, because EU countries have not seriously clamped down on the export of EU-sourced processors used in refrigerators, washing machines and other such appliances.
EU (and G7) leaders should think twice before insisting that other countries – mainly in Central Asia and the Caucasus – expend energy and resources on so dubious an undertaking with potentially negative political consequences for themselves.
To sanction – and possibly punish – consumers and traders of home appliances is unreasonable and impractical in view of the easy accessibility of military-grade microchips on the market already.
Moreover, these chips are nearly impossible to track after delivery to distributors or resellers in third counties around the world. What’s more, by the end 2022, Qingdao Haier Ltd, a Chinese enterprise, had become the largest maker of washing machines and refrigerators in Russia.
(By the way, General Electric sold its 100-year-old appliances business to Haier in 2016.)
Common sense
Then there is this consideration, which should occur to anyone with an ounce of common sense: Why would the Russian military – or any military for that matter – go through all the trouble and expense of finding, importing or buying vast numbers of washers and refrigerators when it is easier and cheaper to order large quantities of microchips from the many companies and resellers hawking them worldwide, including chips compatible with Russia’s own global positioning system, GLONASS?
A Forbes magazine article titled “Is Russia really buying home appliances to harvest computer chips for Ukraine-bound weapons systems?” states that “these kinds of chips [for drones] have long been widely available to civilian users on the global market, and Ukrainian authorities say at least six US companies produce GLONASS-compatible chips.”
And these components are “not under embargo,” says Sven Etzold, the senior director of business marketing at U-Blox: “They are usually for civil usage and can be officially bought through a distributor.”
Chris Miller, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and specialist in semiconductors, said recently, “My feeling is that most of the chips that Russia is accessing today for integrating into military systems are not coming via this route [home appliances].
“We should probably assume that Russia is going to find ways to get access to lower-tech chips simply because they’re widely available,” he said.
Chip suppliers
According to an investigative report in January summarized in the Netherlands Times, “Several million microchips produced by Dutch manufacturers, including NXP and Nexperia, wound up in Russia last year in shipments that were handled by resellers after sanctions were in place as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
One can only assume that Russia has installed some of these Dutch microchips in military hardware.
“Key technology [used in drones for satellite navigation] is European and American,” reportsCBS Evening News, and “the chips are still flowing” into Russia and available in the global market. The Columbia Broadcasting System singled out U-Blox, a Swiss company, and Maxim and Microchip, two US producers of microprocessors, whose chips could well have ended up in Russia.
In view of all this, it doesn’t seem to make sense to threaten Armenia, Kazakhstan or Turkey, for example, with sanctions of one kind or another when the availability of new lower-tech chips is widespread. Secondary sanctions on home appliances seem uncalled for.
EU-Russian trade
Al Jazeera reported last month that “in total, the EU imported €171 billion (US$186 billion) worth of goods from Russia starting from March 2022 until the end of January 2023.”
According to Eurostat, the EU statistics office, the European Union has posted a net trade deficit in the billions of dollars with Russia each month since January 2021. This means that significant business between Russia and the EU continues despite all the chatter to the contrary.
Europe’s double standards are clear for everyone to see. While Brussels wants to call on non-EU countries to cut their trade with Russia, the EU continues to trade with Moscow.
Start with Western firms
Nearly 9% of Western firms have divested from Russia since the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, according to Simon J Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St Gallen, and Niccolò Pisani, professor of strategy and international business at IMD Business School in Switzerland: “Of the total of 1,404 EU and G7 companies with commercially active equity investments in Russia before the invasion of Ukraine … by the end of November 2022, a total of 120 (8.5%) [had] actually left.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should be careful before boasting in public about the devastating efficacy of her sanctions:
“We have sanctions. We have banned all export of semiconductors. The impact of these sanctions is now very real and tangible on the ground in Russia. The Russian military, for example, cannibalizes refrigerators and washing machines to take out the semiconductors, trying to get the semiconductors for their military hardware.”
The EU does not seem to understand that the imposition of secondary sanctions works against its efforts in Central Asia and the Caucasus – as described in a recent official document – to “mitigate socio-economic dislocation, facilitate trade within and beyond the region, diversify transport routes, [and] lift investments.”
Brussels might go after those EU and G7 companies with active businesses in Russia and prevent its own microchip makers from making available thousands of microprocessors in world markets before giving the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus a hard time about refrigerators and washing machines.
It would be more diplomatically productive for EU ambassadors stationed abroad to engage their hosts as partners rather than as pawns on the global chessboard.
What are your thoughts on China’s RMB (Yuan) potentially replacing the US Dollar as the global currency one day? What do you think China must do/accomplish first before this could be possible?
Why would there need to be a Global Reserve Currency in the first place?
You see what happened to the US Dollar right?
As the US Dollar debts bloated more and more and more, the US survived entirely due to more and more Global circulation of the US Dollars
Initially the US had the TRADE DOMINANCE to keep the Dollar as a Reserve
In 1986 – the US dominated 47.72% trade and had a reserve currency percentage of around 73%
In 2022 – The US had a 15.2% trade and a reserve currency percentage of 56%
You see the difference?
Printed Dollars fled to different nations in various forms and protected the Average American from the impacts like Inflation
Every Dollar represents an IOU from the US Treasury to the holder
So technically the US holds a debt of almost $ 107 Trillion from its institutions and it’s capital markets and debts
As the US Dollar loses hold over the world and as the world begins to move to Economics over Politics, the US Dollar loses appeal and more people will begin to prefer other currencies or Gold Or Trade Barter
So what happens next?
All those US Dollars come HOME
In 2019 if you have $ 26 Billion of Trade in a single day, almost 67% went into foreign accounts of other nations and only around 30% returned to the US , keeping the Dollar Supply restricted
Today out of $ 26 Billion of Trade , only 55.8% goes into Foreign Accounts ensuring more and more Dollars come back to US Accounts
That’s 11.2% gone in a mere 4 years
Add to that newly printed Biden Dollars – $ 9.32 Trillion of them over 3 years
That’s BAD
That means US Citizens for the first time in say 15 years actually suffer Real Inflation and More Inflation
It’s ADANI GROUP except on a much larger scale
It’s a $ 107 Trillion Debt against an Asset base of barely $ 14.7 Trillion of Actual Core Assets
All because USD was a Global Reserve Currency beyond 2001
Let’s see China Today
China is in a Beautiful Position today
It’s economy is wonderfully controlled with a mere 2.14% Inflation because of it’s exchange rate with the Dollar of almost 7 instead of a more realistic 4.23–4.61
China dominates 21.6% Global Trade and the Yuan has a 2.85% Global Share
THIS ALLOWS CHINA TO KEEP THINGS ECONOMICAL IN CHINA YET HAVE ENORMOUS FINANCIAL CLOUT GLOBALLY
The Yuan is non convertible and that protects China from any foreign interference
Now Yuans share can rise to maybe 15% or maximum 20%
However if Yuans share goes to 60% like the Dollar, then China will start rising it’s Debt everywhere and abandon it’s Yuan – Remimbi system and end up in a bad way
Instead THERE SHOULD BE NO GLOBAL RESERVE CURRENCY
Instead maybe a Basket of Pegged Values like Oil, Food, Gold and Yuan and Rubles and a few other currencies to develop a GLOBAL CURRENCY
Like there was once
A Wonderful Pegged Resource called GOLD
Sleepwalkers
This sucker is going down.
Godfree Roberts
In January last year I published (NYT, FT, etc.) three claims, hoping to provoke responses from American readers, making sure that they could dispute my claims. I tracked their engagement until, late last week, a million folks had read at least one of the three:
Social Claim: There are more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides, executions, and illiterate, incarcerated, poor, homeless people in America than in China. 62% of Americans own homes compared to 96% of Chinese, and American families’ net worth, $97,000, is a fraction of Chinese families’ $363,000 PPP, which is also more equitably distributed.
Military Claim: China’s 340-ship navy will have 400 boats eighteen months from now, while the US hopes to grow from 290 vessels now to 300 by 2030. PLAN boats are newer and, thanks to advanced propellants, explosives, and terminal guidance systems, their 10x more numerous missiles outrange America’s. Their fleet sails under an umbrella of satellites and drones that guide 1,000-round salvoes of shore-to-ship missiles that destroy fleets in minutes, and hundreds of ballistic missiles that can sink a carrier in Darwin Port.
Economic Claim: China’s peacetime GDP is $30 trillion, America’s is $25 trillion PPP. China’s will add $1 trillion this year and can maintain that pace through 2049 while the US struggles to add one-fourth of that. China’s productive –wartime – economy, is three times bigger and more diverse than America’s service-based economy.
2023 04 06 19 33
Heartbreaking Truth #1
Clearly, the US has passed the culminating point of its 170-year-long assault on China: it can no longer mount an attack with a reasonable prospect of success, or even survival. General Milley has begun lowering expectations, especially important after Afghanistan and Ukraine. Western elites, usually eager to exchange our lives for their status, find the prospect of nuclear dematerialization by one of China’s bigger, faster, ICBMs unattractive, making a shooting war unlikely.
Heartbreaking Truth #2
One million educated, engaged readers read at leas one of my claims. None seriously challenged them. Make of that what you will, but I suspect that despair plays a part. Besides, who wants to be the bearer of evil tidings?
The Bearer of Evil Tidings
The bearer of evil tidings, When he was halfway there, Remembered that evil tidings Were a dangerous thing to bear.
So when he came to the parting Where one road led to the throne And one went off to the mountains And into the wild unknown,
He took the one to the mountains. He ran through the Vale of Cashmere, He ran through the rhododendrons Till he came to the land of Pamir.
And there in a precipice valley A girl of his age he met Took him home to her bower, Or he might be running yet.
She taught him her tribe’s religion: How ages and ages since A princess en route from China To marry a Persian prince
Had been found with child; and her army Had come to a troubled halt. And though a god was the father And nobody else at fault,
It had seemed discreet to remain there And neither go on nor back. So they stayed and declared a village There in the land of the Yak.
And the child that came of the princess Established a royal line, And his mandates were given heed to Because he was born divine.
And that was why there were people On one Himalayan shelf; And the bearer of evil tidings Decided to stay there himself.
At least he had this in common With the race he chose to adopt: They had both of them had their reasons For stopping where they had stopped.
As for his evil tidings, Belshazzar’s overthrow, Why hurry to tell Belshazzar What soon enough he would know?
I Drove Around California For A Month. It Was A Disaster.
Traditional Beatdown (AKA Being ‘Jumped In’)
Probably the most common method of gang initiation is the classic “beatdown” (aka being “jumped in”). It involves the wannabe gangster fighting a specific number of the gang’s members for a certain amount of time. The wannabe must withstand the beating as well as fight back.
Most gangs have a variation of this method, including “The Line.” Candidates are kicked and punched repeatedly as they walk between two lines of gang members. The prospect must make it to the end of the line while still on his feet. If he doesn’t, he can try again on another day when his bruises and wounds have healed.
But even this method can be deadly . . .
In 2010, a senior from the University of Arkansas was beaten for three minutes as part of a jump-in for the Bloods gang. He suffered irreparable blunt force trauma to his head and died at the hospital an hour later.
Why did Japanese tech companies invest record money in China during 2020-2021 if Japan is a member of the Quad?
I have always said Business is Business
Japanese Investments in China for 2020–2021 hit $ 30.8 Billion of which 86% or approximately $ 28 Billion was by the Tech Industries.
Here are the distributions
Renewable Energy – 37.7%
High Speed Infrastructure – 24.3%
Finance and Domestic Luxury Retail – 14.2%
In 2019–2020, it was $ 18.4 Billion.
Why?
Simple. Japanese Businessmen want the best returns and its China that provides the returns
The rest is Politics
Thats why most Japanese Businesses that wanted to leave China in 2020 have tucked their tail and returned back despite a 32% rise in wages sanctioned by the CPC in 2021.
As Mehmood said The Whole Thing that ki Bhaiyya Sabse Bada Rupaiyya
‘Jacked In’
Being “jacked in” is a street-savvy term for committing an auto theft in the hopes of becoming a gang member.
It works like this: To show his “earning ability” for the gang, a prospective member will steal a car (usually at gunpoint), convincing the higher-ups of his gall. If successful, he’s accepted as a full member.
In January 2008, 17-year-old Charles Brown hopped into the back seat of a parked car in Kiamesha Lake, New York. The back seat already had three passengers. Brown then pointed a gun at the driver, forcing him to relinquish the vehicle. Later, police learned that this had been an initiation attempt for a local Crips gang.
French Keep Dining While Protest Fires Burn Outside
What a time to be alive!
Kidnapping
To prove themselves worthy of induction into the Vatos Locos gang, Jose Cruz and Hugo Torres of North Carolina spawned a national manhunt in 2011 after allegedly kidnapping a man and holding him at gunpoint during a robbery. Police said that the criminals drove the man to a secluded mobile home. There, he was beaten before finally being able to free himself and run for help.
All of this was done as part of the initiation of Cruz and Torres into a local Hispanic street gang.
In another crime in June 2013, Mexican soldiers were able to rescue 165 people—including women and children—who had been savagely kidnapped and held for ransom by Mexican cartel gangs.
Melitzanosalata
2023 04 06 09 40
Ingredients
3 whole medium eggplants, approximately 4 pounds, washed
1/2 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped, juices strained
Prepare a grill (you may also broil the eggplant). Pierce eggplant with a fork and grill, turning frequently to prevent burning Cook until the skin becomes black and the eggplant is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack over a baking sheet, to catch the juices.
When eggplant is cool, peel the skin and coarsely chop. Discard the juices.
Place the paddle attachment on a standing mixer. Add the eggplant and tomato, onion and garlic, and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and add the yogurt. Mix on medium for 1 more minute.
With mixer on medium speed, slowly add the vinegar and lemon juice. Continue mixing; slowly add the olive oil. Add seltzer water as needed to reach desired consistency; slightly thick, but light and relatively loose.
Add parsley, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate overnight and serve.
To prepare the yogurt: You’ll need 1/2 cup yogurt to make 1/4 cup strained for this recipe. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and set over a bowl (the bowl should support the strainer so it does not touch the bottom). Put the yogurt in the strainer and let it drain overnight. Discard the liquid and use the strained yogurt as directed.
‘Sexed In’
Most gangs aren’t prejudiced against the idea of recruiting female members. As such, a special initiation process is involved. According to the Florida Gang Reduction website, a female recruit sometimes has to roll two dice. Then she has sex with that number of gang members.
Isha Nembhard, a former female gang member from London, said that women being prostituted as induction into a gang is common.
“A lot of girls are sort of prostituting themselves to have sexual relationships within a gang and get treated in a bad way,” she said. “For example, she might know about what happens to girls in the gang but still sleeps with all of them just for the status.”
Libianca – People (Check On Me) [Official Music Video]
African pop music.
Gang Rape
Once believed to be nothing more than a sensationalized “rumor,” rape is a very active and brutal method of initiation for some gangs. Eight teenagers from a California outfit known as the “South Side Mafia” were accused in 2011 of luring an 11-year-old girl into a park bathroom where they took turns raping her as part of an initiation rite.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, gangs created the ruse of inviting female mall shoppers to a “party” where they would be locked in a room and repeatedly raped by inductees. Given the choice between a traditional “jump-in” (being beaten into the gang) or raping a female, prospective gang members choose rape far more often in Albuquerque.
Vatican renounces ‘Doctrine of Discovery.’ When will Supreme Court do likewise?
Richard Becker
April 2, 2023
More than five centuries after it was formulated in a series of papal decrees, the Vatican issued a formal announcement on March 30 repudiating the Euro-supremacist “Doctrine of Discovery.” In essence, the “doctrine” said that all lands not occupied by “Christians” passed into the hands of the European conquerors as soon as they were “discovered,” and their inhabitants enslaved.
Composed of decrees issued between 1452 and 1497, it served as the quasi-legal justification for the expropriation of entire continents in the name of spreading the Catholic faith. The repudiation by the Pope is the culmination of decades of struggle by Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada and around the world demanding its withdrawal.
But while the Pope has now renounced it, the U.S. Supreme Court has not. The high court continues to treat the “doctrine” as an integral basis of U.S. law, particularly in regard to the rights — or lack thereof — of Native peoples.
Most notable in recent times was a 2005 decision authored by the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg which invoked the “Doctrine of Discovery” in her majority ruling against the Oneida Indian Nation. The Oneidas were seeking to recover lands and rights in central New York State guaranteed to them under the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua treaty with the U.S., signed by George Washington, then president.
The Oneidas, one of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy were awarded 300,000 acres “in perpetuity” by the treaty. By the 20th century, nearly all of that land had been taken over. In the 1970s, the Oneidas began buying small parcels on what had been their reservation land, including in the small city of Sherill, New York. They objected to the demand by the city that they pay property taxes on the basis that they were a sovereign nation. While the Oneidas won in lower federal courts, the Supreme Court ruled against them 8-1, with Ginsburg authoring the decision:
“Under the Doctrine of Discovery, title to the land occupied by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign – first the discovering European nation and later the original states and the United States . . .
“Given the longstanding non-Indian character of the area and its inhabitants, the regulatory authority constantly exercised by New York State and its counties and towns, and the Oneidas’ long delay in seeking judicial relief against parties other than the United States, we hold that the tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancient sovereignty, in whole or in part, over the parcels at issue.”
In 2020, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote upheld the right of Native nations to reservations that would have included nearly half of Oklahoma. While this was a victory for a coalition of Native nations, right-wing justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion upholding the government’s power to deny the right of self-determination to Indian peoples.
“Once a reservation is established, it retains that status until Congress explicitly indicates otherwise,” wrote Gorsuch. “Only Congress can alter the terms of an Indian treaty by diminishing a reservation, and its intent to do so must be clear and plain.”
How did a loathsome “doctrine” authored in feudal times come to have what liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices alike consider a legitimate basis in U.S. law?
It was the Supreme Court itself that incorporated the “doctrine” into U.S. law, which became foundational in dealing with Native nations, in a key 1823 case, Johnson v. McIntosh.
The decision by Chief Justice John Marshall, declared that, in keeping with the “Doctrine of Discovery,” Native people had only the “right to occupancy” of land and not the right to title or ownership. Only the federal government, Marshall ruled, could own and sell Native lands and that “the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands”
Following the Vatican’s repudiation, the struggle will intensify for the U.S. government to do the same.
Cutting And Slashing
In 2008, three kids from a Coney Island school were charged by police after cutting over a dozen other students with a razor as initiation into a local MS-13 gang. While some students willingly rolled up their sleeves, those who didn’t were pressed against a desk and cut forcibly.[6]
Elsewhere in New York, a pair of similar incidents took place in 1999 when six members of a Bloods gang attacked a woman on a train. They cut her with razors and stabbed her. Two days later, another woman was robbed of her jewelry. During the crime, her face was slashed so viciously that it required 150 stitches.
Karithopita (Greek Honey Walnut Cake)
Karidopita Greek Walnut Cake with Syrup 1 750×563 1
Ingredients
Cake
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cups chopped walnuts
Honey Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice or extract
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
Beat all ingredients, except walnuts and honey syrup, in mixing bowl on low speed of electric mixer (scraping bowl occasionally) for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Prepare honey syrup by heating sugar and water to boiling, then reducing heat and simmering uncovered for 5 minutes.
Stir in honey and lemon juice; pour over warm baked cake.
Cut in triangles and serve.
Stabbing
Stabbing someone is a frequent initiation rite among prison gangs, but it isn’t necessarily absent from the streets. Upon his release from prison, Mark Block of Hesperia, California, noticed that his friend’s brother was sporting a gang tattoo—one he hadn’t rightfully earned.
Insisting that the man “make his bones” the proper way, Block, a white supremacist, accompanied 21-year-old Kyle Smither and his tattooed brother on the search for a target. Spotting a Hispanic male working out in his front yard, the Smither brothers stabbed the man several times and slit his throat.
In 2003, a 13-year-old boy stabbed an elderly woman to death after robbing her. This was also a gang initiation. Police discovered the woman’s body in her apartment. She had stab wounds about her face and upper body.
Kizz Daniel, EMPIRE – Cough (Official Video)
African pop music
Trial By Fire
In December 2011, 10 teenagers from Sweden were charged with aggravated arson for gutting a shopping mall as part of a local gang initiation. The Berga Centre Gang had imposed a test on wannabe members. It required them to light a dumpster on fire, which rapidly spread to a nearby mall and burned it to the ground.
But gang arson isn’t limited to property. In 2013, Esterrell Simpson and Maurice Hollis, both of Houston, Texas, were charged with murder after chasing down Carlos Hernandez—a random passerby—and setting him ablaze as part of an initiation ritual for the Black Disciples.
2 ‘Blood In’ (Murder)
Homicides committed for gang initiation can encompass everything from drive-by shootings to the murders of gang rivals or even strangers. Others simply make no sense at all, such as the 2004 death of Bob Mars, a high school coach from Kennewick, Washington.[9]
Two teenagers, one sponsoring the other for induction into a local gang, shot and killed the coach as part of an initiation rite.
In Richmond, California, police believed the random shooting of a pizza delivery man was likely the work of a gang initiation, too. As he approached a door to deliver the pizza, unknown gunmen shot him from behind and killed him.
Serial Killing
The police in Juarez, Mexico, have been battling an even more horrifying monster as it relates to gang violence: serial killings. Used both as an initiation method and a way to settle unpaid drug debts, Mexican cartels have racked up an astounding death toll in the name of gang warfare.[10]
Many victims are found with their skulls crushed, having been run over by car tires. In October 2013, 20-year-old Juan Pablo Vazquez was arrested after being linked to 79 murders, all of which he committed himself in the name of a cartel.
The shock oil production cuts from May outlined by the OPEC+ on Sunday essentially means that eight key OPEC countries decided to join hands with Russia to reduce oil production, messaging that OPEC and OPEC+ are now back in control of the oil market.
No single oil producing country is acting as the Pied Piper here. The great beauty about it is that Saudi Arabia and seven other major OPEC countries have unexpectedly decided to support Russia’s efforts and unilaterally reduce production.
While the 8 OPEC countries are talking about a reduction of one million b/d from May to the end of the year, Russia will extend for the same period its voluntary adjustment that already started in March, by 500,000 barrels.
Now, add to this the production adjustments already decided by the OPEC+ previously, and the total additional voluntary production adjustments touch a whopping 1.6 million b/d.
What has led to this? Fundamentally, as many analysts had forewarned, the Western sanctions against Russian oil created distortions and anomalies in the oil market and upset the delicate ecosystem of supply and demand, which were compounded by the incredibly risky decision by the G7, at the behest of the US Treasury, to impose a price cap on Russia’s oil sales abroad.
On top of it, the Biden administration’s provocative moves to release oil regularly from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in attempts to micromanage the oil prices and keep them abnormally low in the interests of the American consumer as well as to keep the inflationary pressures under check turned out to be an affront to the oil-producing countries whose economies critically depend on income from oil exports.
The OPEC+ calls the production cuts “a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market.” In the downstream of the OPEC+ decision, analysts expect the oil prices to rise in the short term and pressure on Western central banks to increase due to the possible spike in inflation.
What stands out in the OPEC+ decision is that Russia’s decision to reduce oil production by the end of the year has been unanimously supported by the main Arab producers. Independent but time-coordinated statements were made by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Oman and Kazakhstan, while Russia confirmed its intention to extend until the end of the year its own production reduction by 500,000 barrels per day, which began in March.
Significantly, these statements have been made precisely by those largest oil producers in OPEC, who have a record of fully utilising their existing quota. Put differently, the reduction in production is going to be real, not just on paper.
Partly at least, the banking crisis in the US and Europe prompted the OPEC+ to intervene. Although Washington will downplay it, in March, Brent oil prices fell to $70 per barrel for the first time since 2021 amid the bankruptcy of several banks in the US and the near-death experience of Credit Suisse, one of the largest banks in Switzerland. The events sparked concern about the stability of the Western banking system and fear of a recession that would affect oil demand.
There is every likelihood that tensions may increase between the US and Saudi Arabia as higher oil prices will push inflation and make it even more difficult for the US Federal Reserve to find a balance between raising the key rate and maintaining financial and economic stability. Equally, the Biden administration must be furious that practical cooperation is still continuing between Russia and the OPEC countries, especially Saudi Arabia, notwithstanding the West’s price cap on Russian oil and Moscow’s decision to unilaterally cut production in March.
However, the Biden administration has only a limited range of options to respond to the OPEC+’s surprise move: one, go for another release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; two, pressure US producers to increase domestic oil output; three, back legislation that would allow the US to take the dramatic step of suing OPEC nations; or, four, curb the US’ export of gasoline and diesel.
To be sure, the OPEC+ production cut goes against the Western demand to increase oil output even as sanctions were imposed against Russian oil and gas exports. On the other hand, the disruption in oil supplies from Russia contributed to the rising inflation in the EU countries.
The US wanted the Gulf Arab states to step in and step up oil production. But the latter did not oblige because they felt that there wasn’t enough economic activity in the West and there were clear signs of recession contrary to expectation.
Thus, as a result of the sanctions against Russia, Europe is facing the complex situation of inflation and near-recession known as stagflation. In reality, the adaptive and agile OPEC + read the situation correctly and has shown that it is willing to act ahead of the curve. At a time when the world economy is struggling to grow at a healthy rate, the demand for oil would be relatively less, and it makes sense to cut oil production to maintain the price balance.
All that the Western leaders can complain about is that the OPEC+ cut in oil output has come at an inappropriate time. But the woes of Western economies cannot be laid at the door of OPEC+ as there are inherent problems which are now coming to the surface. For instance, the large scale protests in France against pension reform or the widespread strikes in Britain for higher wages show that there are deep structural problems in these economies, and the governments seem helpless in tackling them.
In geopolitical terms, the OPEC+ move came after a meeting between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman in Riyadh on March 16 that focused on oil market cooperation. Therefore, it is widely seen as the tightening of the bond between Russia and Saudi Arabia. In fact, in May, as the largest members of OPEC join Russia in its unilateral reduction, the balance of quotas and the ratio of market shares between and amongst the participants in the OPEC + deal will return to the level set when it was concluded in April 2020.
The big question is, how Moscow might profit from the OPEC+ decision. The rise in crude oil prices particularly benefits Russia. Simply put, the production cuts will tighten up the oil market and thus help Russia to secure better prices for the crude oil it sells. Second, the new cuts also confirm that Russia is still an integral and important part of the group of oil producing countries, despite the western attempts to isolate it.
Third, the consequences of Sunday’s decision are all the greater because, unlike the previous cuts by the OPEC+ group at the height of the pandemic or last October, today, the momentum for global oil demand is up, not down — what with a strong recovery by China expected.
That is to say, the surprise OPEC+ reduction further consolidates the Saudi-Russian energy alliance, by aligning their production levels, thus placing them on equal footing. It is a slap in the face for Washington.
Make no mistake, this is another signal regarding a new era where the Saudis are not afraid of the US anymore, as the OPEC “leverage” is on Riyadh’s side. The Saudis are only doing what they need to do, and the White House has no say in the matter. Clearly, a recasting of the regional and global dynamics that has been set in motion lately is gathering momentum. The future of petrodollar seems increasingly uncertain.
Koulourakia (Greek Butter Twist)
2023 04 05 15 42
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 tablespoon water
2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 to 3 teaspoons sesame seeds
Instructions
Cream butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed of electric mixer.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla extract; beat until blended.
Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing after each addition.
Chill dough for 1 to 2 hours.
Divide dough into fourths. Divide each fourth into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a 4-inch rope; fold each rope in half, and twist. Place twists 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Combine egg yolk and water; brush over twists. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sesame seeds.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown.
Immediately transfer to wire racks to cool.
Spyro ft Tiwa Savage – Who is your Guy? Remix (Official Video)
African pop music
Is the US practicing fearmongering by banning TikTok?
No they are practicing thievery, they want to steal it, that’s what they too, if I was in control of tik tok, I’d tell them to get stuffed, and pull out, just not go there, and let their kids know, in no uncertain terms, as to why. It looks like their government is run by a bunch of criminals, talk about a country being run by the mafia, this takes the cake,
Karydopita
2023 04 05 15 40
Ingredients
3 cups water
4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 orange or lemon, peel only
2 whole cloves
18 eggs, separated
5 tablespoons cognac
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces zwieback, finely crushed
1 pound walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Combine the water, 2 1/2 cups of the sugar, orange or lemon peel and cloves in a saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the peel and cloves and cool.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks until light and lemon colored, and gradually add the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix the cognac, vanilla extract and baking soda and slowly add to the yolks and sugar.
Combine zwieback, walnuts and cinnamon, and gradually add to the batter, mixing on low speed.
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly fold into the cake batter, then pour into a greased 15 1/2 x 11 x 2-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or until a deep chestnut color.
Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack. Spoon the cooled syrup over the cake and allow it to cool in the pan.
Cut into traditional diamond shapes, according to desired size.
We are yet to mull and muse as to how China has succeeded in bringing peace to the two countries which the USA has always tried to drive a wedge in between.
After it agreed with Saudi Arabia in December 2022 to purchase its oil in Chinese yuan and not only in dollars any more, and while Russia has also been cooperating with Saudi Arabia with great success as regards the oil business and with Iran, too within the Shanghai Organization for Cooperation (SCO) together with China, China has managed to clinch a historic reconciliation of Iran and Saudi Arabia despite the unrelenting efforts by the USA to wreak havoc and cause continual conflicts among them, all in line with the notorious test and tried model by the Roman Empire — divide and rule; rather than ‘bring peace, unite and cooperate’.
The intrinsic logic of each and every empire of the political West seems to be such. Perhaps the wretched citizens of Yemen and those of Saudi Arabia as well might have a chance to sigh a breath of relief but the USA will surely not.
A superb economic and political turn-up for the history book in the Middle East could easily prove to be fatal for their imperial interests in which their dollar will be the first casualty to suffer losses but certainly not the only one.
After the negotiations in Beijing twenty-odd days ago, after they were being held in Iraq and Oman for two years, the three countries, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, declared that the deal between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Islamic Republic of Iran had been reached, which includes the agreement on the renewal of diplomatic relations among them; it presupposes the respect for the sovereignty of each country and the non-interference with their respective internal issues.
Thus the negotiations in the area of economy and security, investments and science and about sport and culture came part and parcel of this cooperation.
Briefly speaking, with the assistance of India and China, two regional powers and bitter rivals to a great extent, have announced publicly that they have set off on a new political journey of all-encompassing process of mending their relations instead of their further degradation in the ’name’ of said blood-soaked ’divide and rule’ principles of the international relations.
Thus it is blatantly obvious whom the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had in mind when they declared that this elimination of differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia will have a beneficial effect on the liberation of the countries from the overwhelming foreign interference; that the two countries have now taken their political destinies in their own proverbial hands and that their agreement coincides with the monumental trends of development.
The highest ranking diplomat of China, Wang Yi who was on a political visit to Moscow recently, decided that Russian-Chinese relations are reaching new dimensions on their pathway to build a multipolar world and on this occasion he pointed out that the Beijing Agreement between Riyadh and Teheran represents a breakthrough complete with a dialogue and peace which happened at the moment in which, there obviously is an alarmingly scanty amount of both around.
’Why do Iran and Saudi Arabia place trust in China’ is one of the headlines on the Chinese global TV networks, which point out the close relations between Beijing,
Teheran and Riyadh as opposed to those with Washington, the relations of whose with Saudi Arabia have become ever more tense in that they do not even have established diplomatic relations and they cannot enable any dialogue between them.
Accepting China as a mediator represents their respectful admission of the rising importance of China in the Middle East where many crises have emerged as a direct result of foreign interventions.
Chinese diplomatic concepts of peace and cooperation to one’s mutual benefit have gained an overwhelming support in the region. And even further afield than just in the region, says the Indian diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar ’The new era in world politics has dawned.
This is a historic event of paramount proportions, which by far surpasses a question of Saudi Arabia — Iran relations. It stands in silent testimony of a colossal shift in tectonic plates of geopolitical politics of the 21st century. The USA, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar, which has for eight decades been a dominant power in the politics of West Asia is nowhere to be seen. The U.S. has been done away with, to its embarrassment. The USA has 30 military bases in West Asia, and as many as five in Saudi Arabia only. But the USA has lost the magic wand of its leadership. China, says the Indian diplomat, has shown to the whole rest of the world: the Global South, all the way from the South America to Africa, how the democratized, multipolar world can in effect function in the foreseeable future by way of the superb diplomacy of a great power based on agreement and reconciliation; in one word it certainly is a refreshing as much as it is a revolutionary approach ’unite and cooperate’ rather than ’divide and conquer’.
Moreover, says M.K. Bhadrakumar, perhaps we might never find out what role Russia played behind the scenes but on the eve of the unannounced reconciliation in Beijing one day before, the leader of the Saudi Arabia diplomacy, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud was in Moscow. And one week earlier on the 6th of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked on the phone with the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who visited Beijing mid-February. After that, Wang Yi was in Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The three leading oil and gas producers are speeding up their search for payment mechanisms, which are to give a wide berth to the U.S. dollar. China is already in the midst of talks on such arrangements with Saudi Arabia and Iran. China and Russia are doing away with the dollar currency from their transactions — the Indian diplomat indicates the key aspect of this non Western cooperation, which is gaining momentum with great success.
It is abundantly clear that a rapid erosion of the dollar status as the world currency will not only mean the collapse of the U.S. economy but it is bound to cripple the ability of the USA to wage never-ending wars, which happen to be conveniently far away from their home turf, and impose its global hegemony along the way. Besides, the reconciliation of Saudi Arabia and Iran will give rise to their joining BRICS in the foreseeable future. One has to bear in mind that in one comprehensive study by Cambridge University, BRICS was defined as ’the coalition for the de-dollarization’, which the Riyadh — Teheran reconciliation aided by Beijing gives all the more credit and lends it ever more historical significance.
We are yet to mull and muse as to how China has succeeded in bringing peace to the two countries which the USA has always tried to drive a wedge in between and bring but feud and discord on the brink of a direct military conflict. And we are yet to learn hard political lessons from it.
Victony & Tempoe – Soweto (Official Video)
More African pop music.
A measure of reality
2023 04 08 20 14
Does the arrival of Ma Ying-jeou’s delegation to the mainland mean that the people of Taiwan prefer peaceful reunification?
There is no doubt that no one wants to see war happen. I believe that both people in mainland China and Taiwan would want to achieve reunification in a peaceful manner.
But it must be admitted that with the meddling of the United States, from textbooks that distort historical facts to Tsai Ing-wen’s sneaky visit the United States, many people in Taiwan have forgotten their origins under the influence of the political environment, remembering only that they are Taiwanese and not recognizing themselves as Chinese. And the voice advocating Taiwan’s independence is getting louder and louder.
main qimg f7c9f76ee4a9cb69050e87bb813a60d3
According to Tsai’s speech, the history of Taiwan begins in 1945, and the true origin of the so-called Republic of China in mainland China is not mentioned at all. With all kinds of deliberate guidance, even we foreigners take it for granted that Taiwan and China are two different countries.
Yet it is not so. Taiwan has been a territory of China since ancient times.
From records that can be traced back thousand years or the Cairo Declaration signed after WWII, all are evidence of facts that cannot be denied or distorted.
main qimg 960b47feeebd35c7d165fc7d9b3f5d49
Ma’s visit to mainland China is serving to remind people in Taiwan, especially the younger generation in Taiwan, of and understand again the common roots and history of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Ma’s visit included Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, and Shanghai. Among these places, Xiangtan in Hunan is Ma’s ancestral hometown, Wuhan is the site of the Wuchang Uprising of the 1911 Revolution (The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China’s last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. ), Nanjing is the former seat of the Nationalist Government, and Chongqing was the capital of the Nationalist Government during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Ma visited the Nanjing Massacre Victims Memorial Hall, the Wuchang Uprising Memorial Hall, and Zhang Zizhong Martyrs’ Cemetery. These places connect the people of mainland China and Taiwan with their common emotions and shared national and historical memories.
main qimg cf4d930bd688d2b691cec969262f9f58
What the “Taiwan independence” groups want most is to cut off the common feelings and memories of the people of Taiwan and mainland China.
In her speech last year, Tsai did not even mention the 1911 Revolution and Sun Yat-sen (Father of the nation in the Republic of China).
The so-called “Republic of China” seems to have sprung from a stone.
The visit of Ma Ying-jeou is a strong reminder that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China” and “we are all Chinese”, and can even be seen as a declaration.
In addition, the young Taiwan students he brought with him exchanged with mainland students in several universities, which is very conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and affection between young people across the Taiwan Strait.
main qimg 30cf91dfe5921361e6e8c77eb595211d
Media in Taiwan interviewed the youths who visited mainland China, and these young college students said they had re or in-depth understanding of the mainland and found that the mainland was not as scary as said in those propaganda, but equally rational and friendly.
They also learned more about the history of the war of resistance against Japan that had been deliberately erased in Taiwan, and found common roots and emotional resonance with mainland China.
Moreover, some of them also expressed that the mainland university students and them had a lot in common and they became friends during the exchange.
It can be said that the greatest significance of this visit is that it enables people in Taiwan to begin to notice what the real mainland China looks like and to begin to have access to the real history of being Chinese.
main qimg 2c36065de60625be844bdd8dd3549c98
While Ma Ying-jeou visited the mainland to lead young students to retrace their history, Tsai Ing-wen’s sneaky visit to the United States became a stark contrast.
The US insisted on allowing Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen to “transit” the US despite China’s stern representations and repeated warnings.
The US media kept hyping the matter, but called this sneaky and unwelcomed visit a normal “transit.
If it was a normal transit through the doorstep of the United States, then why did she enter the door as a guest, meet with Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives in a high-profile meeting, and have frequent contact with U.S. officials and members of Congress?
The US provides a platform for Tsai to make secessionist statements about “Taiwan independence.
The essence is that the United States and Taiwan are colluding with each other to enhance the substantive relationship under the guise of “transit”.
main qimg d3ab3d985ed1facf3207fd1451544a56
The US is undoubtedly seriously undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and moreover sending a serious wrong signal to the secessionists that want to make Taiwan independent from China.
The US, the world biggest troublemaker and peace-buster, only wants to create more trouble for China.
As for the lives of the people in Taiwan, it doesn’t care, as long as Taiwan continues to receive a steady stream of weapons from it.
Stupid people in Taiwan worship the United States as their daddy, while those smart ones in Taiwan long for peaceful reunification with the mainland China with the pursuit of common prosperity and development.
Mèla – Tulululu
Mourabiedes
2023 04 06 09 42
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup coarsely grated or finely chopped almonds
3 1/2 cups flour
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Heat oven to 275 degrees F.
Cream butter until light and fluffy.
Mix in the 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar and egg yolk, creaming well. Beat in almonds. Stir flour; measure and gradually add just enough flour to make a soft dough that you can shape with your hands. Pinch off pieces of dough the size of a walnut and roll between your hands. Shape into half moons or stylized S shapes.
Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove from oven; let cool in pan until lukewarm.
Sift confectioners’ sugar onto wax paper.
Carefully transfer the cookies from baking sheet to sugared paper. Sift more sugar over the top, coating them at least 1/4 inch with sugar. Let stand until cool; then store in a cookie jar or crock.
Makes about 30.
The Restrict Act Takes Away ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS – Not Kidding!
It should be called “The Restrict Your Freedom Act”.
Is China seemingly in disarray/controlled disarray? Is this how governments, even autocratic ones, fall into disfavor by losing/ expending the goodwill they’d accumulated unwisely? What’s really going on in China right now?
China is doing fine, far better than any of the Western developed nations.
Don’t believe the Western mainstream media garbage about China.
China isn’t autocratic, it’s a democracy. China has its own form of democracy which works well.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have closed. It is said that China may be enacting an Embargo against the USA prior to invading Taiwan, the same way the US Embargoed Japan before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Others say it is a Union labor issue.
Unions representing workers at the two ports are in talks for a new contract.
The ILWU Local 13 withheld workers from their shifts starting Thursday evening, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping employers on the West Coast.
“The action by the Union has effectively shut down the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – the largest gateway for maritime trade in the United States,” the PMA said.
The union, however, released a statement making no mention of any formal work action.
The organization said Thursday several thousand members were in attendance at the organization’s regular monthly meeting, at which a new president was sworn in. It said on Friday many members were observing religious holidays with their families.
“On Friday, April 7, 2023, union members who observe religious holidays took the opportunity to celebrate with their families,” read a statement from ILWU. “Cargo operations are ongoing as longshore workers at the Ports remain on the job.”
Port officials and shippers, however, believe the absences are a deliberate, if unspoken, message from the union to put pressure on the talks.
The closures come as cargo volumes have already dropped from peak levels a year ago.
The union has been working without a new contract since July.
Trade experts say some shippers have already started diverting cargo traffic away from the two ports.
“A lot of the cargo has been shifted away from the West Coast ports, into the middle of our country and the East Coast,” said Nick Vyas, executive director of the Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Southern California. “So we have a seen a significant drop in volume at our West Coast ports, which is not a good sign.”
He noted that some 40% of the foreign goods arriving to the United States are processed through the two ports.
The Port of Los Angeles released a statement saying it is continuing to communicate with the ILWU and the PMA to support a return to normal operations.
“Resuming cargo operations at America’s busiest port complex is critical to maintaining confidence to our customers and supply chain stakeholders,” Port of Los Angeles officials said.
Port officials remain optimistic that operations will resume Saturday.
Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero released a statement: “Four of the Port’s container terminals are closed for the day, today, April 7. Terminal operators at the affected sites said they made the decision to close when workers did not report for their shifts this morning. We have no further information as to the situation, but it is expected that normal, regularly scheduled hours and operations will resume tomorrow.”
Choppy times, but things are accelerating towards change like a “bat out of Hell”.
The USA is in full-on “war mode”. It’s all downhill from here. Worrisome.
But, seriously, China plays a tough game, and the participants on the side of the USA are one big clown-show.
But do not worry.
MM lays out the future
Laying the groundwork for war
These Bills to punish and isolate China in the event of hostilities between US and China are only the first raft of measures against China. They are a prelude to all manner of Isolation Sanctions and Sequestration of China USD reserves and assets overseas, including the assets of Chinese individuals, defined as they please. The wave of McCarthyism sweeping the US against things Chinese can only intensify with the bipartisan support for containing China. Can the breakout of War be far behind?
Today, the House Financial Services Committee advanced several bipartisan bills during its first markup of the 118th Congress to combat the generational threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) economic aggression. This comes after the Committee held its first hearing of the Congress on combatting the economic threat from China.
The following measures were agreed to and subsequently reported to the House of Representatives:
H.R. 554, the “Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act of 2023,”sponsored by Rep. French Hill (AR-02), will disincentivize Chinese aggression towards Taiwan by publishing the assets of top Chinese leaders, as well as cutting them and their family members off from financial services, if Beijing acts against Taiwan.
H.R. 1076, the “Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act,”sponsored by Rep. Monica De La Cruz (TX-15), will combat the flow of illicit Chinese fentanyl into American communities through a study on illicit financing in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs.
H.R. 540, the “Taiwan Non-Discrimination Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Young Kim (CA-40), will require the U.S. to advocate for Taiwan’s membership at the International Monetary Fund.
H.R. 510, the “Chinese Currency Accountability Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-08), will prevent the CCP from coopting critical international institutions like the International Monetary Fund by requiring the Treasury Secretary to oppose an increase in the weight of China’s renminbi in the basket of currencies determining the value of Special Drawing Rights.
H.R. 839, the “China Exchange Rate Transparency Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Dan Meuser (PA-09), will protect global market participants from the CCP’s exploitative practices by requiring the U.S. Director at the International Monetary Fund to advocate for greater transparency in China’s disclosure of its exchange rate policies.
H.R. 803, the “PROTECT Taiwan Act,” sponsored by Rep. FrankLucas (OK-03), will help isolate the CCP from the international financial system by directing the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude representatives from the People’s Republic of China from proceedings of various international financial groups and organizations in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.
H.R. 555, the “Securing America’s Vaccines for Emergencies (SAVE) Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Hill,will help end U.S. over-reliance on adversarial governments for medical supplies during an emergency by bolstering and diversifying existing supply chains through the Defense Production Act.
H.R. 1156, the “China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2023,” sponsored by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), will promote American financial resiliency by requiring the Treasury Secretary to report on global economic risks emanating from the Chinese financial sector.
A type of portable electromagnetic riot gun developed by China recently went through a firing test and displayed traits superior to traditional firearms, including low noise, little muzzle flash and low recoil, with experts saying on Monday that the technology marks a development trend for future weapons.
The gun uses nine coils to accelerate projectiles, which are stored in a magazine behind the coils, Lei Fengqiao, an employee at Chongqing Jianshe Industry (Group) Co Ltd under the state-owned China South Industries Group Co Ltd, said in a program on China Central Television (CCTV) on Sunday.
Unlike traditional firearms that fire round bullets, the electromagnetic gun fires projectiles shaped like a coin, as the gun is designed for riot control purposes rather than causing lethal damage, Lei said.
Coin-shaped projectiles will less likely cause penetration damage, have a larger spread, which makes the gun more suppressive, and are easy to manufacture at an inexpensive price, he said.
The munitions are also easy to carry and do not use gunpowder, which makes them easy to store and transport, CCTV said.
A built-in lithium battery provides power to the gun. A fully charged cell allows the gun to fire hundreds of rounds consecutively before a fast recharge, and temperature has little effect on it, CCTV reported.
The grip is set at the middle of the gun to balance the weight, while at the front of the gun are three buttons that can switch between different firing modes, change power output, and turn on and off, Lei said.
A small screen on the gun shows its status, including battery usage, munition usage, temperature and firing mode. It has an automatic mode, a semi-automatic mode and a shotgun mode, the CCTV report shows.
A rail on the top of the gun allows it to be equipped with scopes and calibration devices of the operator’s choice to assist in aiming, Lei said.
Surpassing the rate of fire of traditional rifles, which is about 700 to 800 rounds per minute, the electromagnetic gun’s top rate of fire can reach several thousand rounds per minute.
The weapon attracted public attention after it made its debut at the Airshow China 2022 in Zhuhai, South China’s Guangdong Province.
In a firing test, the electromagnetic gun easily destroyed wooden planks, beer bottles and car windows, had low noise and little muzzle flash, gave off no smoke or bullet shells, and had low recoil, CCTV reported.
Lei said that the electromagnetic launch technology is characterized by high stealth, which is the direction of development for future weapons.
In addition to riot guns, electromagnetic launch technology can also be applied to other weapons such as lethal guns, from handheld guns to large-caliber artillery, a Beijing-based military expert told the Global Times on Monday, requesting anonymity.
China has reportedly been testing a warship-mounted electromagnetic railgun. Another possible application is for air defense, due to its high rate of fire, the expert said.
The Chinese military general and strategist Sun Tzu, who lived around 2,500 years ago, argued that the ability to wage war is of vital importance to the state. According to him, it’s a matter of life and death, and cannot be neglected. In his manual The Art of War, Sun Tzu states that the superior way of winning a war is winning by not fighting.
But when this path, for some reason, is not accessible, then we must confront the situation with the utmost care. We must know what strategies to use in the right conditions, and which battles to enter and which to avoid. Being unskilled in the art of war can have devastating consequences. Going into battle without a plan, letting our emotions get the best of us, not taking the welfare and humanity of the army into account, or attacking a stronger opponent that we simply cannot defeat, are among the mistakes that will lead to our doom.
Hence, according to Sun Tzu we must use our intelligence to fight a war, study our enemy closely, take into account the circumstances before we attack, not overextend and exhaust ourselves, and even throw ‘honor’ out of the window by using tricks and diversions to win if necessary, as the Soviets did (quite brutally) by using suicide dogs against Nazi tanks; not for glory or fame, but for effectiveness and victory.
In a previous video about Sun Tzu, we’ve globally explored his ideas on warfare from a viewpoint of ‘winning without fighting’. This video is the first part of a series that dives deeper into Sun Tzu’s wisdom for fighting smart in war, and how we can use this to approach the battles of everyday life. The third chapter of Sun Tzu’s book focuses on choosing the right strategy, which is a good place to start our journey. Hence, this first part is based on the third chapter. Also, the elaborations in this video are partly based on the author’s interpretations and reasoning.
Using the right strategy
During his career, John Perkins stood before the Shah of Iran, the president of Indonesia, and the royal house of Saudi Arabia, offering them large sums of money if they would agree to the terms that he laid out in front of them. But if they didn’t agree, then retaliation would follow. John Perkins was an economic hitman, who helped to shape a global capitalist system that’s based on the exploitation of resources through bribery, assassination, and even war.
In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, he describes the tactics that his organization used to conquer its opponents, which were generally leaders of countries. First, they would make them an offer they can’t refuse. This could be a sum of money in exchange for cheap labor or a deal with a company to pay off the country’s debt in exchange for oil. If they refused, then they would try to overthrow or assassinate them. This, according to Perkins, happened to Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, who didn’t want to change his plans to reorganize the hydrocarbon sector, which threatened the interests of the United States. In 1981 Roldós died in a plane crash.
In some cases, these assassination attempts failed. An example of this is Saddam Hussein, who, said Perkins, refused to implement the same oil policy as the Saudis did. In 2003, a combined force of troops invaded Iraq. In the same year, Saddam Hussein was captured. After his trial, he was executed. In no way this video intends to condone the actions described by Perkins. It’s merely a pitch-black example to illustrate how this strategy has been successfully implemented many times: unfortunately for questionable reasons and with terrible consequences. However, the strategy that the economic hitmen use resembles the tiered system that Sun Tzu proposed in the third chapter of his book, which aims to prevent violent conflict if possible.
Sun Tzu distinguished different forms of warfare. The highest form is to attack strategy, the second-highest form is to attack alliances, the next is to attack armies, and attacking cities is the last resort. In the ethical sense, we want to win without causing too many casualties because it’s the most humanitarian thing to do. Winning without fighting causes virtually no casualties, but bombing cities will result in the death of many innocent civilians.
An example of the devastating effects that choosing the last resort can have is the atomic bombings on the Japanese cities Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the Second World War. This event ended the war quickly, but it wasn’t a victory to be festive about, as these bombings resulted in a death toll of hundreds of thousands of people. With a total death toll of around seventy-five million people as a consequence of the Second World War, we can’t speak of any victory; it was a humanitarian catastrophe with mostly losers. This is something that Sun Tzu wants us to prevent.
In a pragmatic sense, we can also make a case for fighting smart by preventing not only destruction but also unnecessary effort and spending of resources. Sun Tzu states:
The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.
So, if we can, it’s always better to try fighting with efficient and non-destructive methods. The first one is to attack strategy. Attacking strategy means attacking the enemy’s plans; or, in some way, obstructing them. By doing this we solve the conflict at the root; which is the scheme from which a possible threat arises. The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t generally involve bloodshed.
Imagine, for example, a couple of coworkers are planning to reorganize your department, with the consequence that your position within the company becomes obsolete. You can sue your company as a countermove, but chances are that you’ll lose the case, and you’ll suffer great financial losses in the process. Instead, it’s more efficient to obstruct their plans, for example by convincing the management that their plans are bad, and by presenting counter plans that involve you. Or you can try to sabotage their plans in one way or another.
When this doesn’t cut it, Sun Tzu urges us to attack alliances. For example, if the obstruction of your coworkers’ plans fails, you can then try to weaken the alliances by turning people against each other. This can be done by gossiping, creating alliances yourself, and disclosing information that shows your opponents in a bad light. Admittingly, these methods aren’t the most elegant ways of achieving one’s goal. But, again, they generally don’t involve bloodshed, although they could provoke violence nonetheless.
Knowing when to fight
When none of the previous methods work, it may be a lost cause. Sure, we can try to attack the company as a whole. But we must choose our battles well. The strength of an army is limited, as is the case with ourselves and our resources. Sun Tzu lies the importance of calculations at the base of all of his strategies. Is there a chance of winning? Or is it better to avoid battle?
It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
If you have a reasonable chance of winning, fighting could be a viable option. But then it’s essential to remember that our resources and energy are finite. To put it pragmatically: what’s the ‘net profit’ as a result of fighting this battle? Will it improve our situation or will it drain us and leave us worse than before we entered it? Sun Tzu argued against fighting long, exhausting battles, as they do not only deplete one’s resources but also destroy the army’s morale. “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare,” he stated.
Sun Tzu justly argues that it’s better to take a country intact and to capture a regiment, detachment, or company without harming or destroying it. With such thinking, we could also approach the battles of everyday life. If we evaluate all proposed steps in detail, will the benefits outweigh the losses or the other way around? If the latter is the case, and we’re still eager to fight, we’re probably being led by emotion rather than reason and logic. According to Sun Tzu, being led by emotion can have disastrous effects when it comes to decision-making. I quote:
The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.
At the end of the day, life is full of battles, and it’s best to prevent destructive confrontations if that’s possible.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always an option.
But this doesn’t mean that the degree of destructiveness cannot be mitigated. Sun Tzu teaches us that there are many shades of grey between peace and violence.
He shows us the alternatives to the equivalent of what he calls ‘siege warfare’.
If we can’t solve the problems by diplomacy, can we win by sabotaging the enemy’s plans?
Can we destroy alliances?
Can we defeat the armies and spare innocent civilians?
Sun Tzu urges us to choose our battles carefully.
This requires calculations as well as sufficient knowledge about ourselves, the enemy, and the circumstances we’re up against.
Defeating the enemy quickly and efficiently is preferable. But getting entangled in long, exhausting conflicts must be avoided.
And in some cases, when the odds are so clearly stacked against us, there’s no reasonable course of action but to give up and leave.
Thank you for watching.
Chicken Edovo
A delicious Philippine entree!
chicken adobo 5
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced into rings
1 tablespoon oil
3/4 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce over chicken
Salt and pepper
4 or 5 bay leaves
Instructions
Rinse chicken. Cut up into small pieces.
Brown onion rings and garlic in oil, then add chicken pieces and brown.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken.
Bring to boil and cook covered until chicken is tender and done.
Taste juice. Add more vinegar or soy sauce to your taste.
Serve chicken and juice over rice.
82-Year-Old Man Covers DROWNING POOLS “Bodies” on Americas Got Talent!
This guy is fucking living life. Man! I hope that I still can rage like him at 83!
This software reveals true color of ‘Summit for Democracy’: Global Times editorial
By Global Times
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In the just concluded so-called Summit for Democracy, US President Joe Biden, as the host, declared that a coalition will be formed to combat governments “who misuse surveillance technologies for repression.” He also used an executive order that prohibits the US government’s use of commercial spyware as a prominent example of the US’ leadership in strengthening “democracy,” portraying the US as the “defender” of global cyberspace.
However, when Washington’s facade is still fresh and new, the New York Times on Sunday published an article about the US government’s secret use of spyware from the Israeli firm NSO Group, which once again completely exposes the US’ true nature as a fake defender of global cyberspace.
NSO, mentioned in the New York Times, is the same company that created the spyware Pegasus, known as “perhaps the most powerful spyware ever created.” The Pegasus scandal once caused a global sensation. The spyware has a daunting ability to collect information about location, photos and passwords without the users’ permission. It has spied on at least 50,000 phone numbers from 50 countries, including those of hundreds of politicians and government officials. This triggered a chain reaction and even a political storm. The incident was called “one of the biggest spy scandals of our time” by some media.
Early last year, a New York Times investigation revealed that the FBI had purchased Pegasus, after which FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that the FBI had indeed purchased the spyware, but only for “research and development.” In the latest investigation by the New York Times on Sunday, the White House, after placing NSO on a Commerce Department blacklist in 2021, used a front company to sign a contract to purchase Landmark, another software from NSO. “Under this contract, according to two people, there have been thousands of queries in at least one country, Mexico,” wrote the report.
In fact, specific spying behaviors from the US as a veritable “empire of mass surveillance” are no longer considered “news.” As early as 2013, the PRISM scandal revealed that Mexico’s then-president was under US surveillance. Perhaps Mexicans can only sigh that they are “so far from God, so close to the US.” On the contrary, regarding Pegasus and its company NSO, the US government has once again shown the double face of raising standards for others high while abandoning its bottom line easily. The world needs to be more alert to this.
After the Pegasus scandal was exposed by multiple media outlets and widely condemned in July 2021, the US government blacklisted NSO in November of that year, claiming that it engaged in activities that are “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US.”
However, according to a New York Times report, the US government had secretly deployed the hacking tool domestically for many years and given it to other countries before the ban. Even after the ban was issued, the US government continued to sign contracts with the company despite the scandal, and the contract remains valid to this day.
Washington’s hypocritical and sinister side is also reflected in the fact that after NSO was targeted by the US and fell into difficulties, other partners were “scared away,” and then the US defense contractor giant L3Harris Technologies Inc “coincidentally” appeared and began acquisition negotiations. According to reports, L3Harris Technologies has had close communication with US intelligence agencies and the US Department of Commerce and has made some progress. Perhaps at this point, the real reason why the US Department of Commerce sanctioned NSO has become apparent. Even the Israeli side couldn’t help but feel angry at the US’ hypocrisy.
Many media outlets, including the New York Times, have reported that the “Five Eyes Alliance” is considered by NSO as its largest potential market, and it is highly likely that they have already cooperated. As China has become the main target of the “Five Eyes Alliance” in recent years, we have reason to suspect that it will use Pegasus to spy on China. Given the US’ consistent style, we can only speculate on the worst-case scenario regarding its bottom line.
Of course, this does not prevent the US from putting on an enthusiastic performance at the “Summit for Democracy,” nor does it prevent many Americans from constantly hyping the so-called Chinese hackers issue and shifting attention by slandering other countries. However, from the PRISM scandal to Bvp47 and Dirty COW to Irritant Horn and MUSCULAR project, the “moral” banner raised by Washington is riddled with holes. The image that Washington has left in the eyes of the world is already that of a “false preacher” who shouts slogans louder and pulls the bottom line lower.
U.S. calls for joint G-7 action to prevent China’s economic bullying – Nikkei Asia
How would the G7 countries respond? French company TotalEnergies just sold LNG to China in RMB. A revolt, a rebellion, and from a major ally. With Russia, Brazil and very soon Saudi Arabia as well as other Gulf States selling their oil and gas in RMB, we will see more of similar reports.With Aramco's refinery investments in China, delivering upwards of 700,000 barrels a day, it means that China will be selling finished products to ASEAN and surrounding countries needing energy to develop their economies (may even include American lapdogs). All of that will, of course, be in RMB. As petro-dollar gets eaten up by petro-yuan, so goes dollar-hegemony. At some point, the US will be forced by its loss of dollar-hegemony to act responsibly. No longer will it be able to continue with its profligate printing and inflating. No longer will it be able to ask the rest of the world to suffer the consequences of its QEs. No longer will it be able to create unlimited funds to fuel wars and feed its MIC. No longer will it be able to sanction anyone at will. That is how an empire falls, and that is the global change unseen in a century.I actually predicted this in a Quora article when Trump started the US-China Trade War in 2018. I'm no prophet. All I did was stop believing in lies. Read the comments too. Some of my replies are brutal. I really haven't done much on Quora, maybe starting again after finishing my trilogy, which is taking very long. Here is a cleaner copy on my blog page.I won't end this without another prediction. This may surprise some people because you can't depend on pundits to tell you any real insight.
The fall of the empire will cause great changes for Israel and Palestine. A lot of the move to the east by Arabian countries is caused by an unspoken sliver of pain and humiliation stuck in the heart of most Arabs, There are 450 million Arabs surrounding less than 10 million Israelis, of which over 20% are Arabs.
The walls that Israel built to imprison the Palestinians will become prison walls for the future Israel if they do not see the writing on the wall.
The Jews will survive as they have survived for millenia.
The state of Israel has come and gone in the past, and if the modern state of Israel continues on its current path, no one will weep a single tear when it gets replaced by a just and peaceful entity, probably under another name. And they can kiss their shekels goodbye.PM
Owners Let Their Norwegian Forest Cat Roam Freely Outside, And He Looks Majestic
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In March 2018, Camilla from Norway fell head over heels in love with an 8-week-old kitten she saw online. It was a Norwegian Forest cat looking for his forever home. In the photo that captivated Camilla, the little rascal was simply irresistible, tilting his head and staring at the woman from the screen with the biggest, most innocent eyes she had ever seen.
“I was completely sold,” Camilla told Bored Panda. “A few moments later, [there was no question about it]. Me and my boyfriend Sondre were going to become cat owners. In May, we brought home the sweetest little ball of fur. He made us so happy.”
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Bubbles and the Shitrockers (feat. Alex Lifeson) – Who’s Got Yer Belly
Moscow Diary: The Capital of the Multipolar World
This is about Russia-China - and beyond.
After nearly 4 decades as a foreign correspondent all over the planet, I am not exactly impressed by anything anymore.
But my four weeks in Moscow that felt like decades - in the eye of the hurricane - were something on a whole new level.
I did manage to talk to some of the Chinese sherpas in Xi's delegation.
Preferred to keep it private.
The diary was originally published on Strategic Culture - totally censored all across NATOstan.
And yet ZeroHedge picks up a lot of my columns - without mentioning the source - so now tons of Americans are reading it.
Talk about a Sun Tzu media move.
All the best to all of you,
Pepe
Link HERE
Escobar: The Capital Of The Multipolar World – A Moscow Diary
In Moscow you feel no crisis. No effects of sanctions. No unemployment. No homeless people in the streets. Minimal inflation.
How sharp was good ol’ Lenin, prime modernist, when he mused, “there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”. This global nomad now addressing you has enjoyed the privilege of spending four astonishing weeks in Moscow at the heart of an historical crossroads – culminating with the Putin-Xi geopolitical game-changing summit at the Kremlin.
To quote Xi, “changes that haven’t been seen in 100 years” do have a knack of affecting us all in more ways than one.
James Joyce, another modernity icon, wrote that we spend our lives meeting average and/or extraordinary people, on and on and on, but in the end we’re always meeting ourselves. I have had the privilege of meeting an array of extraordinary people in Moscow, guided by trusted friends or by auspicious coincidence: in the end your soul tells you they enrich you and the overarching historical moment in ways you can’t even begin to fathom.
Here are some of them. The grandson of Boris Pasternak, a gifted young man who teaches Ancient Greek at Moscow State University. A historian with unmatched knowledge of Russian history and culture. The Tajik working class huddling together in a chaikhana with the proper ambience of Dushanbe.
Chechens and Tuvans in awe doing the loop in the Big Central Line. A lovely messenger sent by friends extremely careful about security matters to discuss issues of common interest. Exceptionally accomplished musicians performing underground in Mayakovskaya. A stunning Siberian princess vibrant with unbounded energy, taking that motto previously applied to the energy industry – Power of Siberia – to a whole new level.
A dear friend took me to Sunday service at the Devyati Muchenikov Kizicheskikh church, the favorite of Peter the Great: the quintessential purity of Eastern Orthodoxy. Afterwards the priests invited us for lunch in their communal table, displaying not only their natural wisdom but also an uproarious sense of humor.
At a classic Russian apartment crammed with 10,000 books and with a view to the Ministry of Defense – plenty of jokes included – Father Michael, in charge if Orthodox Christianity relations with the Kremlin, sang the Russian imperial anthem after an indelible night of religious and cultural discussions.
I had the honor to meet some of those who were particularly targeted by the imperial machine of lies. Maria Butina – vilified by the proverbial “spy who came in from the cold” shtick – now a deputy at the Duma. Viktor Bout – which pop culture metastasized into the “Lord of War”, complete with Nic Cage movie: I was speechless when he told me he was reading me in maximum security prison in the USA, via pen drives sent by his friends (he had no internet access). The indefatigable, iron-willed Mira Terada – tortured when she was in a U.S. prison, now heading a foundation protecting children caught in hard times.
I spent much treasured quality time and engaged in invaluable discussions with Alexander Dugin – the crucial Russian of these post-everything times, a man of pure inner beauty, exposed to unimaginable suffering after the terrorist assassination of Darya Dugina, and still able to muster a depth and reach when it comes to drawing connections across the philosophy, history and history of civilizations spectrum that is virtually unmatched in the West.
On the offensive against Russophobia
And then there were the diplomatic, academic and business meetings. From the head of international investor relations of Norilsk Nickel to Rosneft executives, not to mention the EAEU’s Sergey Glazyev himself, side by side with his top economic adviser Dmitry Mityaev, I was given a crash course on the current A to Z of Russian economy – including serious problems to be addressed.
At the Valdai Club, what really mattered were the meetings on the sidelines, much more than the actual panels: that’s when Iranians, Pakistanis, Turks, Syrians, Kurds, Palestinians, Chinese tell you what is really in their hearts and minds.
The official launch of the International Movement of Russophiles was a special highlight of these four weeks. A special message written by President Putin was read by Foreign Minister Lavrov, who then delivered his own speech. Later, at the House of Receptions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, four of us were received by Lavrov at a private audience. Future cultural projects were discussed. Lavrov was extremely relaxed, displaying his matchless sense of humor.
This is a cultural as much as a political movement, designed to fight Russophobia and to tell the Russian story, in all its immensely rich aspects, especially to the Global South.
I am a founding member and my name is on the charter. In my nearly four decades as a foreign correspondent, I have never been part of any political/cultural movement anywhere in the world; nomad independents are a fierce breed. But this is extremely serious: the current, irredeemably mediocre self-described “elites” of the collective West want no less than cancel Russia all across the spectrum. No pasarán.
Spirituality, compassion, mercy
Decades happening in only four weeks imply precious time needed to put it all in perspective.
The initial gut feeling the day I arrived, after a seven-hour walk under snow flurries, was confirmed: this is the capital of the multipolar world. I saw it among the West Asians at the Valdai. I saw it talking to visiting Iranians, Turks and Chinese. I saw it when over 40 African delegations took over the whole area around the Duma – the day Xi arrived in town. I saw it throughout the reception across the Global South to what Xi and Putin are proposing to the overwhelming majority of the planet.
In Moscow you feel no crisis. No effects of sanctions. No unemployment. No homeless people in the streets. Minimal inflation. Import substitution in all areas, especially agriculture, has been a resounding success. Supermarkets have everything – and more – compared to the West. There’s an abundance of first-rate restaurants. You can buy a Bentley or a Loro Pianna cashmere coat you can’t even find in Italy. We laughed about it chatting with managers at the TSUM department store. At the BiblioGlobus bookstore, one of them told me, “We are the Resistance.”
By the way, I had the honor to deliver a talk on the war in Ukraine at the coolest bookshop in town, Bunker, mediated by my dear friend, immensely knowledgeable Dima Babich. A huge responsibility. Especially because Vladimir L. was in the audience. He’s Ukrainian, and spent 8 years, up to 2022, telling it like it really was to Russian radio, until he managed to leave – after being held at gunpoint – using an internal Ukrainian passport. Later we went to a Czech beer hall where he detailed his extraordinary story.
In Moscow, their toxic ghosts are always lurking in the background. Yet one cannot but feel sorry for the psycho Straussian neocons and neoliberal-cons who now barely qualify as Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s puny orphans.
In the late 1990s, Brzezinski pontificated that, “Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical center because its very existence as an independent state helps transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”
With or without a demilitarized and denazified Ukraine, Russia has already changed the narrative. This is not about becoming a Eurasian empire again. This is about leading the long, complex process of Eurasia integration – already in effect – in parallel to supporting true, sovereign independence across the Global South.
I left Moscow – the Third Rome – towards Constantinople – the Second Rome – one day before Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev gave a devastating interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta once again outlining all the essentialities inherent to the NATO vs. Russia war.
This is what particularly struck me: “Our centuries-old culture is based on spirituality, compassion and mercy. Russia is a historical defender of sovereignty and statehood of any peoples who turned to it for help. She saved the U.S. itself at least twice, during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. But I believe that this time it is impractical to help the United States maintain its integrity.”
In my last night, before hitting a Georgian restaurant, I was guided by the perfect companion off Pyatnitskaya to a promenade along the Moscow River, beautiful rococo buildings gloriously lighted, the scent of Spring – finally – in the air. It’s one of those “Wild Strawberry” moments out of Bergman’s masterpiece that hits the bottom of our soul. Like mastering the Tao in practice. Or the perfect meditative insight at the top of the Himalayas, the Pamirs or the Hindu Kush.
So the conclusion is inevitable. I’ll be back. Soon.
As US armchair politicians and analysts are hyping up a possible war, true American warriors are calling for peace. Everyone needs to calm down about war with China, top US general Mark Milley said on Friday in an interview with Defense One. On Monday, Taipei Times published a front-page story featuring Milley’s rhetoric.
According to Defense One, the China heat is on following this year’s Chinese balloon saga. In the past few weeks, members of Congress in hearings aimed a list of concerns about China – everything from nuclear weapons to computer chips, “invading” Taiwan, and allying with Russia – at Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “Milley has taken to telling lawmakers that war with China – and Russia – is not imminent or inevitable. It’s part of an effort to lower the heat,” Defense One reported, citing Milley and adding that Milley stressed a more realistic and less emotional approach is needed when dealing with China-US ties.
Milley clearly recognizes the predicament the US faces amid US politicians and media’s excessive hype of tensions with China. To some extent, he was saying that something has gone wrong in the US’ China policy, and the problem is mainly on the US side.
As a career soldier, Milley realizes when the US displays overly hawkish hostility against China, it goes far beyond the actual needs of American national interests. Thus, he made his point – the US military should not be dragged into a war with China for hysterical reasons, in other words, for the constant hype of unreasonable tensions, Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen is on a visit to Central America with a planned stop-by in California and a scheduled meeting with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. US officers, think tanks, and media have been sparing no effort to stir up troubles about the Taiwan question long before the trip. They either constantly make speculations on the timetable of a possible cross-Straits war, or simulate war games on the possible American cost of such a conflict.
When American elites who have never fought in a war are obsessed with talking out loud about a military showdown, Milley remains sober. He is well aware that it is not journalists nor politicians who will have to fight on the front lines. And he knows it is not in the US’ interest to actually fight a war against China. For a career military personnel, it is more important to boost deterrence than actually joining a hot war.
More importantly, it is completely unrealistic for the US to confront both China and Russia militarily simultaneously. Milley is aware of the strength of American military power; thus, he knows that Washington should not provoke Beijing and Moscow at the same time. Otherwise, the US will simply wreck its capability to seek absolute military hegemony worldwide, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times.
Milley’s argument is objective and calculative. After calling for a cooling down of tensions, he said that he prefers the “speak softly, carry a big stick” tactic – lowering the rhetoric a little bit while making sure the US has an incredibly powerful military that is capable. And he agrees with calls for the US to send arms to Taiwan island as quickly as possible.
It means that despite the fact that the US still has a clear military advantage, such an advantage is no longer overwhelming. Hence Milley believes a military means is not an option before it has a sufficient advantage in the armed forces.
That’s the reason for ceaseless US arms sales to the Taiwan island – the US is not preparing to fight China; it is preparing Taiwan island to fight the Chinese mainland. The US won’t willingly sacrifice itself to help Taiwan secessionist forces, but it is willing to fight a proxy war, using the Taiwan island as a consumable or a pawn.
The US still remains the most powerful country on the globe, but its toxic political environment has been eroding its strength since the end of the Cold War. The toxic environment is what drives Milley’s concerns on whether the US’ might can be long-lasting.
China’s development and the US’ decline are not directly related. And the current era is no longer one in which one country can play a dominant role with purely military power. Benign competition can help both China and the US develop. If China becomes strong enough one day, it will be grateful to both its friends and strong competitors, including the US, Song said.
The US is too anxious and hysterical, because it has lost its way and is on the wrong path.
Bratwurst
2023 04 03 13 49
Ingredients
1 pound link bratwurst
2 green bell peppers, cut into strips
2 medium onions, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon basil
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
Cut the bratwurst into 1-inch pieces and brown well in the skillet.
Add the peppers and onions and sauté until cooked, stirring frequently.
Within the past few hours today, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to a cut of one million barrels a day in oil production. This comes just after Russia announced a cut of its own by 500,000 barrels per day.
These cuts will now drive UP the price of oil and, by extension, gasoline and Diesel fuel.
Since the illegitimate Biden regime here in the US has drained much of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the regime is now UNABLE to counter this loss of daily production.
UPDATE 6:00 PM EDT —
The White House has reportedly responded to OPEC+’s decision to cut crude production by 1 million barrels/day by saying that “output cuts aren’t advisable right now,” adding that The White House is “focused on prices for American consumers.”
Recall too, Biden threatened the Saudis with “consequences” over last October’s 2 million barrel oil cut but then he took no action.
Let’s see if this new OPEC cut elicits any further response.
Hal Turner Remark:This is a squeeze play against us. They know our idiot in chief has already depleted our strategic oil reserves to artificially lower prices so and they know his options are now very limited. He either continues to deplete those reserves from an already dangerous level or prices are going up.
Best CHINESE SCIENTISTS Are Leaving The United States For China
https://youtu.be/JU5S22pbJgI
GT Voice: China is best safe haven; global investors shouldn’t miss out because of politics
By Global Times
For months, China’s swift economy recovery has been making headlines around the world, often portrayed as the only “bright spot” across a slowing global economy. But what does such a recovery look like? What does it mean for global investors? There was no clear, full picture, and there were some doubts, especially in foreign media.
But, a growing number of recent signs suggest that the pace of the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy is faster than many have expected. In March, the purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a gauge of factory activity, beat some economists’ forecasts and reached 51.9, well within expansion territory. What’s more, the PMI reading for the non-manufacturing sector jumped to 58.2.
And things may be just getting started. Following the two sessions, where China set an annual GDP growth target of about 5 percent this year, Chinese officials at all levels have moved swiftly to further speed up the economic recovery, with a series of policy measures. On Friday, Zhu Zhongming, a vice minister of finance, said China will step up fiscal support for the economy, including tax and fee reductions for businesses. The extended and optimized tax and fee cuts are expected to reduce more than 480 billion yuan ($69.9 billion) in costs for market players.
What’s more, various central government departments and local governments have also launched what appears to be a nationwide campaign to improvement business climate for businesses. Just over the past several days, provincial governments from Northeast China’s Liaoning Province to South China’s Hainan Province held special meetings for the effort.
All of this points to an optimistic picture for China’s economic recovery. Amid the growing signs of rapid recovery, the World Bank, in a report on Friday, raised its forecast for China’s growth by 0.6 percentage point to 5.1 percent in 2023. Some context will help better grasp the scale of China’s recovery this year. For the Asia Pacific, growth excluding that of China will slow to 4.9 percent this year, down 0.9 percentage point from 2022. For the world economy, growth will average 2.2 percent throughout the rest of the decade, according to the World Bank. So, from every aspect, China’s growth will be the bright spot for the world economy – and an ideal market for global businesses seeking growth.
And that’s not all. While China is on a stable trajectory toward recovery, advanced economies like the US and the eurozone are facing both significant slowdowns and the risk of financial and banking crises. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and some other banks in the US and the failure of Credit Suisse in Switzerland exposed the profound risks in the Western banking system. While Western officials have repeatedly claimed that a broader crisis is not imminent, investors are understandably jittery and in desperate need for viable options to cushion the risks in advanced economies. And where they could find such options? One word: China.
There is no shortage of fearmongering headlines pushed by the Western media reports about China’s economy. Their assertion is often based on hearsay or outright lies. They claimed that China is increasingly “hostile” to foreign businesses and many foreign businesses are abandoning the Chinese market. But they ignored the steadily increases in foreign investment into China, even during the toughest period of the epidemic. In 2022, foreign direct investment into China grew 6.3 percent to 1.23 trillion yuan. That doesn’t exactly look like a “mass business exodus” from China, does it?
Also, there are the ever growing calls for “decoupling” or “reducing reliance” from US and other Western officials, asserting that it is unsafe for foreign businesses to invest in China. But for any fair-minded person, it should be crystal clear which country is making it unsafe for cross-border investments. In a desperate attempt to preserve its shrinking global dominance, the US is picking fights, economic or otherwise, around the world. It is adopting protectionist policies at home to bolster its domestic industries. Externally, it is imposing unilateral sanctions on any country it deems to be unfriendly. Worse yet, it is now exporting risks of financial and banking crises to the world.
Many multinationals are fully aware of what is actually happening on the ground. And if there was any doubt about China’s continuously expanding market access and improving business climate for global businesses, face-to-face meetings with Chinese officials at two major forums – China Development Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia – should offer sufficient reassurance. For businesses around the world that seek win-win cooperation, don’t miss out on China just because of geopolitical ramblings in the US.
Old South Silken Peanut Soup
2023 04 03 13 51
Ingredients
Soup
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
5 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock which is not traditional)
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
Garnish
Dribbles of heavy cream
Finely-minced celery leaves
Instructions
Sauté onion and celery in the butter until soft, but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
Stir in the stock a little at a time, whisking, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Puree, solids first, then whisk in peanut butter and cream until the soup is smooth.
When ready to serve, reheat (don’t let boil), then ladle into small bowls.
Dribble 1/2 teaspoon of cream in a pretty pattern, then sprinkle with minced celery leaves and finely crushed peanuts.
Serve immediately.
Serve hot as a first course.
Survivor of last week’s Tornados talks about his “Preps” and what went wrong
I found this story while surfing the web and thought it would be very relevant and helpful to my readers. It’s from a guy who survived the Tornados in Little Rock, Arkansas this week. Quick read . . .
My City Being Hit By A Tornado Taught A lot About The Limits Of My PREPSOk, so we live in Little Rock.An entire swath of the city from basically the southwest toward the river just looks like a bomb went off.Been without power since the Tornado struck our neighborhood, luckily for my family, our home was spared any significant damage. Though it was one of the scariest things I've ever been through. There is nothing like holding your wife and daughter in a pitch black bathroom while it sounds like a freight train is barreling through your entire world.With that said we've been running off preps at the moment and I have learned a lot about things.1) Bad things happen FAST. It was just a "normal afternoon" and lucky for us we were all home, but within the span of hardly anytime we went from tornado sirens, to all in the sheltered part of our home, to what sounded like the world was being torn apart outside, to no power, no cell service, no nothing within minutes. Having plans of how to get in touch or meet up should we have all been separated are non existent really and I need to make one and improve on that.2)Ham radio was a lifesaver. Literally. Remember cell service went down instantly here. A tower was crumped like a pretzel and no one could call out or in. I was listening and talking on the 2M repeater here in town right before the storm after the warning went off with storm spotters. After the tornado moved on I quickly began checking on neighbors. Ingress and egress to the neighborhood was blocked by downed trees. Within minutes I was able to get a group of hams from close by and their friends and other neighbors with chainsaws to make quick work of cutting and moving them. This allowed for emergency services to get in quickly and rescue an elderly resident from her home who may have been having a heart attack. Without this kind of ability to quickly coordinate, void of grid comms, I don't know if that would have been so efficient. More people need to at the least their Technician license, and be active on simplex and their local repeaters.3) You need more gas. I need more gas. I keep two 5 gallon NATO jerry cans USUALLY full. When I fill up our truck I will fill them up also, then have gotten into the bad habit of using that gas and not filling them up immediately. Bad mistake. I had to make a run, after the pandemonium, to a gas station with power. Not smart. This was a failure on my part. Never again will I be without gas on hand for my generator. Also adding two more jerry cans. Keep oil on hand too for your generator and the oil changed. Luckily I done so very recently.4) Luckily for us the weather is quite pleasant, so our small generator need only run our fridge, freezer, etc. But we are heavily reliant on gas for our cooking and water. Should the gas lines be down (if they need repair) these service would not work. Need more public gas independent methods of doing this things. I have a small camp stove but with limited propane this isn't great. Adding keeping LP on hand and a camp shower and solar shower option.5) There are VERY FEW PEOPLE PREPARED. It definitely made me aware of how after a few days without supplies people will be coming FOR YOUR SHIT. There is only a handful of people in my neighborhood with generators. We are being generous and allowing people to charge phones, laptops, etc. But at night, when all the lights were out and there was no cell service, It certainly made me aware that my whirring generator and the smell from my neighbors grill cooking steaks, would be a call for starving and desperate in times of need. Definitely makes one consider the bug in / bug out argument. I don't have a definitive response for that at the moment, just making notice. These leftist idiots sayings stupid shit like "why does anyone NEED an AR15?" Well that's why. Your shit will be at the least harder to take if you are well armed and able to defend against MULTIPLE attackers.6) Candles Candles Candles. Flashlights are good but you need more candles. Buy a big ass pack of tea lights or a few. Buy a case. You need more than you think. Again flashlights are great, definitely headlamps are VERY helpful.7) Should this event have happened in the bitter cold of winter we can heat our home with wood, and usually have plenty, had it been the 100 degree summer, this would really suck. A small window AC unit is probably a good investment to at least be able to keep one room comfortable. Buying one.We now have cell service back, though power is still out. It is not estimated to be back on until very late this evening, thought he lineman working our area said that was itself a very optimistic window.So far, no loss of life that I know of, which is surprising when you actually see the damage this tornado caused.Godspeed. Stay prepared. Shit goes crazy in a snap. It's never the thing you see coming that gets you.
China EximBank, Saudi National Bank achieve first loan cooperation in yuan
By Global Times
The Export-Import Bank of China (China EximBank), a major policy bank in China, announced on Tuesday that it has achieved the first loan cooperation with Saudi National Bank, the largest bank in Saudi Arabia, in yuan, facilitating financial cooperation under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The move shows the rising role of the yuan on the international stage, expanding from trade settlement to loans, an expert told the Global Times.
The funds will be preferentially used to meet the demand of China-Saudi Arabia trade projects, China EximBank said on its official WeChat account.
The cooperation is a concrete manifestation of implementation of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed in person by the heads of the two states in December last year, said the bank.
As the first case of cooperation between China EximBank and financial institutions in Saudi Arabia, it will help facilitate financing and trade among countries and regions along the routes of the BRI, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, China EximBank added.
China and Saudi Arabia have made much progress in creating synergy between their strategies and conducting bilateral cooperation in various fields in recent years.
The Middle East country remained the single biggest oil supplier to China in 2022. Bilateral trade reached $116 billion last year, up 33.1 percent on a yearly basis.
Imports from the Middle East country stood at $78 billion, up 37 percent year-on-year, according to China’s customs data.
Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the international role of the yuan is growing, expanding from trade settlements and cross-border investment to loans.
In 2022, yuan settlements of cross-border goods trade stood at 7.92 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion), an increase of 37.3 percent year-on-year, while cross-border yuan settlements of direct investment stood at 6.76 trillion yuan, up 16.6 percent, data from China’s Ministry of Commerce showed in January.
“The loan cooperation between China EximBank and Saudi National Bank in the yuan is a good template for deals with other countries, especially in the countries and regions along the BRI routes,” Dong noted.
The yuan’s growing momentum in overseas markets is unstoppable with the nation’s further opening-up, Dong said, adding that its influence is obviously picking up in the Middle East region, where some countries are faced with unilateral sanctions by the West.
Iraq’s central bank said in February that it plans to allow trade from China to be settled directly in the yuan for the first time, in an attempt to improve access to foreign currency, according to Reuters.
“It is the first time imports would be financed from China in the yuan, as Iraqi imports from China have been financed in (US) dollars only,” said Mudhir Salih, the government’s economic adviser, according to a Reuters report.
Separately, an Iranian official said Iran and China have recently talked about increasing the share of their national currencies in two-way trade, given that the yuan accounts for a considerable part of bilateral trade, and de-dollarization is on the government agenda, according to Iran newspaper Financial Tribune.
Other countries such as Russia and Vietnam have also opted to use the yuan in trade settlements, an indication that the currency’s internationalization not only suits China’s needs but also those of more countries.
“It will be an inevitable trend for China to step up cooperation with its trade partners in the yuan as the latter will refuse to accept the US’ economic coercion,” said Dong.
Chinese college developed 4th-generation chip materials, invalidating European and US restrictions.
ChatGPT prompts and result
I followed your suggestion and asked for a Global Times rewrite:
China and the United States: A Comparative Analysis of Their Balance Sheets
In recent years, China and the United States have emerged as two of the world's largest economic powers, with significant influence on global financial markets. As such, it is essential to take a closer look at their respective balance sheets to understand their economic strengths and weaknesses. In this analysis, we will examine the balance sheets of China and the United States, and compare their government, corporate, and household finances.
Government Finances:
In terms of government finances, both China and the United States have a significant amount of debt. China's national debt as a percentage of GDP stands at around 60%, while the United States' national debt is at around 107% of GDP. However, it is worth noting that China has a higher level of foreign reserves, which are around $3 trillion, compared to the United States' reserves of $121 billion. This indicates that China has a higher level of financial security in the event of a financial crisis.
Corporate Finances:
When it comes to corporate finances, China has a higher level of corporate debt than the United States. This can be attributed to the significant amount of investment made in the country's infrastructure and real estate sector in recent years. However, it is important to note that China's corporate debt is largely held by state-owned enterprises, which could pose a potential risk to the economy in the event of an economic downturn. On the other hand, the United States has a higher level of equity financing, with a more significant proportion of corporate financing coming from the stock market. This suggests that the United States' corporate sector may be more resilient in the face of economic challenges.
Household Finances:
In terms of household finances, China has a higher level of household savings than the United States. This can be attributed to the cultural differences between the two countries, where Chinese households tend to save a higher proportion of their income compared to American households. However, it is important to note that China's household savings are largely held in low-yielding bank accounts, which may not provide adequate returns over time. On the other hand, American households have a higher level of equity investments, which have historically provided higher returns over the long-term.
Overall, it is evident that both China and the United States have unique strengths and weaknesses in their respective balance sheets. While China has a higher level of foreign reserves and household savings, it also has a higher level of corporate debt held by state-owned enterprises. In contrast, the United States has a higher level of equity financing and a more significant proportion of corporate financing coming from the stock market. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each economy, policymakers in both countries can make informed decisions to promote economic growth and stability.
In conclusion, it is clear that both China and the United States have significant economic influence on the global stage. By examining their respective balance sheets, we can gain a better understanding of their economic strengths and weaknesses. As policymakers in the United States continue to navigate economic challenges, it is essential that they take into account the lessons learned from China's economic model to achieve long-term stability and growth.
White House ADMITS Countries worldwide Refusing U.S. Dollar
White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre was asked what the Biden regime was doing about countries switching away from US Dollars and using their own currency as settlement of foreign trade. Her response was stunning . . . .
"Switching to national currencies is a violation of the rights of American citizens."
The White House then threatened with sanctions those countries that refuse the dollar in mutual settlements.
It’s already trending on social media:
So there you have it. Countries around the world have, IN FACT, either stated their intention to cease accepting the US Dollar, or have already begun refusing the US Dollar.
The White House has now tacitly acknowledged it.
This is now a slow-moving train wreck for the United States. Our federal government has abused so many countries with our “economic sanctions” and has done it for so long, that countries around the world have begun rejecting the US dollar as a means of payment for international trade.
If countries no longer accept the US Dollar, then the US Government has no means by which to impose economic sanctions. The US Government becomes toothless against all those foreign nations.
On top of the economic sanctions abuse, that same US federal government has over-spent by so much, and run-up so much debt, that the world is rapidly losing faith that the US dollar will have __any__ value at all.
What this means for you and me here in the USA, is that hyper-inflation is already on its way.
Here’s why:
For almost 100 years, the US Dollar has been __THE__ currency for the world. It has been the only reliable currency for everyone.
No matter what country chose to trade with any OTHER country, both countries knew that settling the trade in US dollars preserved the value of their trade and was a rock-solid measure of value.
In order to be able to smoothly carry out those foreign trades, central banks all over the world, kept a supply a US Dollars in their central banks, so trade could be settled.
As of right now, at least six point four TRILLION U.S. Dollars, are resting in the central banks around the world.
As more and more countries cease using the dollar, foreign banks will no longer need to keep those dollars in their central banks.
Those dollars will begin to come home to the USA.
As those dollars come home, the value of the US dollar, against foreign currencies, will begin to drop. (Because nobody will want the Dollars)
Now, we here in the USA don’t manufacture much of anything anymore. Thanks to the corporate imbeciles who pushed us into becoming a “service economy” much of our manufacturing was shipped out to foreign countries.
Then, thanks to the other imbeciles who pushed “Free Trade” we removed Tariffs from foreign goods imported into our country. The idea was sold to us by the “Free Trade” shysters who claimed that if the US dropped tariffs, then all other countries would drop tariffs and that would mean American-made products would be cheaper overseas, thereby increasing demand, thereby increasing American jobs.
THAT WAS A FRAUD.
The people pushing “Free Trade” had no intention at all of selling American-made products to more foreign countries. What they ACTUALLY wanted was to ship American JOBS to foreign countries, use the cheap foreign labor, then sell those same products back here in the USA for the same high prices and without Tariffs! That allowed the manufacturers to pocket the increased profits from using cheap foreign labor but still sell the same good here in the US for the same high price.
In the end, it was only American JOBS that got exported, not American products.
So we now see the result of the “double-whammy.” Hit #1 was when we changed to a “service economy”. Hit #2 was when we bought into the “Free Trade” lie which allowed corporate Boards of Directors to move manufacturing jobs OUT of the USA to pocket the profits from cheap foreign labor.
Which brings us back to the value of the US Dollar. Since we don’t manufacture much here anymore, and have to buy MOST of the things we use from foreign manufacturers’, as the value of the dollar plummets, everything we need to buy will become FAR more expensive; several hundred percent more expensive!!!
This is what YOUR members of the US House of Representatives, and YOUR members of the US Senate have done. They have abused so many countries with the threat or actual application of economic sanctions, that those countries are now abandoning the US dollar AND, they’ve so over-spent that people worldwide now see the US Dollar as being UNRELIABLE and heading toward being worthless.
YOUR member of Congress caused this.
YOUR member of the Senate caused this.
When YOU cannot afford food and YOUR family is going hungry . . . or when YOU cannot buy the typical normal things that every family needs . . . .remember that when you see your members of Congress and the Senate on the street.
When you see them, hold them accountable right then and there.
China uses “Dual-chip Architecture” to counterattack USA, China doesn’t need to buy U.S. chips!
A little story
Hi <redacted>,
My feedback on your 10 questions was that I thought they would need to be reframed to a less complicated language.
A little of my own history, specifically because I recognized some years ago the war propaganda against China, I asked the Saker at the now frozen site if I could write a regular column on China. That site was in existence specifically to fight the empire's war on Russia and as recent history unfolded, we saw the very same war on China. It has been there for a long time but now only some years ago did it reach a prominence. But I was outside the focus of the Saker's site and had to be careful and could not be too enthusiastic on China. That was simply the norms of the site, and not anyone's shortcomings but lead to me to design the weekly articles as a magazine style and not too threatening to then existent propagandized minds.
I knew we had to go broader, as the initial war on Russia was only a part of the development of the world and the war on China was equally and even actually more important. This could not be done on the then existent Saker site, and this is why I opened globalsouth.co - for a broader view on our world and the process of multipolarization and a fair economic structure globally. China is a massive part of that and a leader.
Initially the China content was to say the least not welcome and I was beaten to a pulp. This is what I learned:
Debunking takes too much time away from productive activities. Your article quoted here I would handle simply as follows: “This is a falun gong newspaper and that specific article repeats regularly, sometimes quoting organs are being taken from falun gong, and in other cases quoting organs being taken from the supposed ‘Uyghur concentration camps’ in Xinjiang. And then I would add links like: – What is falun gong, -What is happening in Xinjiang and other such appropriate or something that I had pre-developed. Should the commentator come back with more gripes, without reading the background material, I could not be less interested because it is a waste of time to get involved in this granular level of bickering, trying to inform those that do not want to be informed.
A clear understanding that I cannot, even on such a big site as the now frozen Saker site, do a great deal to change minds. And this lead to …
A surprise finding. On those articles I started following the elephants that went walk-about, every week. This lovely and emotional story engaged people and changed minds and hearts. People would start asking me to please keep updating on the elephants. People would start comparing how their country would have handled something like that. And as the elephants walked, the China story grew. Who would have thunk?
At the end of the range of articles, the positive comments outweighted the negative comments materially.
I took the direct feedback from the previous week’s articles, to design the content for the next week on the smaller magazine article mostly drawn from Godfree’s newsletter (and I am so grateful for that!) and a bigger article. That worked and now, if I do a China article, there is no negativity. I get email asking me to handle certain issues and it has changed to a net positive. It is as if people, at least in our grouping, now are open to want to know, and not fight. The minds have opened.
This personally designed process lead to major articles on say Governance or Economy or Technology, or Propaganda, and these were eventually tolerated on that site. But it took time. I had to swallow and tolerate comments such as "The Mad Han on the Saker Site probably eats baby organs for breakfast".
We now have a problem in our fraternal sites. Seemingly some Russian commentators are creating polarization in the Russian/Chinese relationship. I just handled one of those and surprisingly I had some Russians write me to say ... High Time that someone said something!
These commentators are following the western line.
And took it back to their sites. So far, I have not made enemies among the fraternal sites even with professional and respectful critique of this sore point. Again, I won't change minds, but I find that many are now much more careful on how they phrase their issues. We gotta be thankful for small mercies yes.
So, to end, one has to decide what suits your own style. In reality, I am not the savior of the west, their alt media, and their cockamamie ideas and propaganda about China. The simplest question now is: OK, you don't believe the propaganda about Russia, so, don't you think the story about China is equally propagandized and contrived in order to war against China?
I personally am best placed to inform those that are already interested and willing to work at it, and in such a way build a network effect. So far, I have not even one infographic developed, but I do have an extensive library for things like Free Tibet, or China is our Enemy, Tiananmen Square, the development of western propaganda, or such topical issues.
So, this is my own story. A blend of encouraging those that are interested but know nothing, ruthlessly pruning those who want to bicker, giving people the information to go and do the debunking themselves and as such save myself time, and telling the positive story about China.
Again, if you want to develop something larger, I will of course help with dissimination, but so far, I have to follow what works for me and was developed on a site that was not fully friendly to this pivot and did not really believe that it needs attention. Yikes, walking on egg shells.
I hope I did not waste your time in relating this history. In my heart, I am with you but real hard experience let me know that one has to labor and toil in your own garden almost peer-to-peer. A large anti-propaganda and debunking campaign would have to be as large as the initial propaganda campaign to make even a dent.
<redacted>
Trailer Park Boys I am the liquor ultimate edit
Highly Detailed Illustrations By Ilya Milstein
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Ilya Milstein is a Milan-born, Melbourne-raised and New-York based illustrator that works in a pretty traditional way.
«I’m drafting all my work with blue pencil, then hand-drawing them with black ink on paper before coloring them in computer», he says.
The Melancholy of Dreams: Illustrations by Felicia Chiao
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Felicia Chiao is an artist from California who sketches the life of a certain bald man. The little man is melancholic but sweet, and his existence is dull and sad, but his sadness is light and even cozy. Chiao’s illustrations suggest that she depicts the typical everyday life of each of us – drawn out like an old man’s daydreams.
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Be Cool (10/11) Movie CLIP – That’s Not Gangsta (2005) HD
Opinion: ‘Most U.S. banks are technically near insolvency, and hundreds are already fully insolvent,’ Roubini says
By
Nouriel Roubini
In January 2022, when yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds TMUBMUSD10Y, 3.503% were still roughly 1% and those on German Bunds were -0.5%, I warned that inflation would be bad for both stocks and bonds.
Higher inflation would lead to higher bond yields, which in turn would hurt stocks as the discount factor for dividends rose. But, at the same time, higher yields on “safe” bonds would imply a fall in their price, too, owing to the inverse relationship between yields and bond prices.
This basic principle — known as “duration risk” — seems to have been lost on many bankers, fixed-income investors, and bank regulators. As rising inflation in 2022 led to higher bond yields, 10-year Treasurys lost more value (-20%) than the S&P 500SPX, +1.44% (-15%), and anyone with long-duration fixed-income assets denominated in U.S. dollars DX00, -0.13% or euros USDEUR, -0.27% was left holding the bag.
The consequences for these investors have been severe. By the end of 2022, U.S. banks’ unrealized losses on securities had reached $620 billion, about 28% of their total capital ($2.2 trillion).
Making matters worse, higher interest rates have reduced the market value of banks’ other assets as well. If you make a 10-year bank loan when long-term interest rates are 1%, and those rates then rise to 3.5%, the true value of that loan (what someone else in the market would pay you for it) will fall. Accounting for this implies that U.S. banks’ unrealized losses actually amount to $1.75 trillion, or 80% of their capital.
The “unrealized” nature of these losses is merely an artifact of the current regulatory regime, which allows banks to value securities and loans at their face value rather than at their true market value.
In fact, judging by the quality of their capital, most U.S. banks are technically near insolvency, and hundreds are already fully insolvent.
To be sure, rising inflation reduces the true value of banks’ liabilities (deposits) by increasing their “deposit franchise,” an asset that is not on their balance sheet. Since banks still pay near 0% on most of their deposits, even though overnight rates have risen to 4% or more, this asset’s value rises when interest rates are higher. Indeed, some estimates suggest that rising interest rates have increased U.S. banks’ total deposit-franchise value by about $1.75 trillion.
If depositors flee, the deposit franchise evaporates, and the unrealized losses on securities become realized. Bankruptcy then becomes unavoidable.
But this asset exists only if deposits remain with banks as rates rise, and we now know from Silicon Valley Bank and the experience of other U.S. regional banks that such stickiness is far from assured. If depositors flee, the deposit franchise evaporates, and the unrealized losses on securities become realized as banks sell them to meet withdrawal demands. Bankruptcy then becomes unavoidable.
Moreover, the “deposit-franchise” argument assumes that most depositors are dumb and will keep their money in accounts bearing near 0% interest when they could be earning 4% or more in totally safe money-market funds that invest in short-term Treasurys. But, again, we now know that depositors are not so complacent. The current, apparently persistent flight of uninsured — and even insured — deposits is probably being driven as much by depositors’ pursuit of higher returns as by their concerns about the safety of their deposits.
Investing Insights with Global Context
In short, after being a non-factor for the past 15 years — ever since policy and short-term interest rates fell to near-zero following the 2008 global financial crisis — the interest-rate sensitivity of deposits has returned to the fore. Banks assumed a highly foreseeable duration risk because they wanted to fatten their net-interest margins. They seized on the fact that while capital charges on government-bond and mortgage-backed securities were zero, the losses on such assets did not have to be marked to market. To add insult to injury, regulators did not even subject banks to stress tests to see how they would fare in a scenario of sharply rising interest rates.
The economy is falling into a ‘debt trap.’
Now this house of cards is collapsing. The credit crunch caused by today’s banking stress will create a harder landing for the U.S. economy, owing to the key role that regional banks play in financing small- and medium-size enterprises and households.
Central banks therefore face not just a dilemma but a trilemma. Owing to recent negative aggregate supply shocks — including the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine — achieving price stability through interest-rate hikes was bound to raise the risk of a hard landing (a recession and higher unemployment). But, as I have been arguing for over a year, this vexing tradeoff also features the additional risk of severe financial instability.
Borrowers are facing rising rates — and thus much higher capital costs — on new borrowing and on existing liabilities that have matured and need to be rolled over. But the increase in long-term rates is also leading to massive losses for creditors holding long-duration assets. As a result, the economy is falling into a “debt trap,” with high public deficits and debt causing “fiscal dominance” over monetary policy, and high private debts causing “financial dominance” over monetary and regulatory authorities.
As I have long warned, central banks confronting this trilemma will likely wimp out (by curtailing monetary-policy normalization) to avoid a self-reinforcing economic and financial meltdown, and the stage will be set for a de-anchoring of inflation expectations over time. Central banks must not delude themselves into thinking they can still achieve both price and financial stability through some kind of separation principle (raising rates to fight inflation while also using liquidity support to maintain financial stability). In a debt trap, higher policy rates will fuel systemic debt crises that liquidity support will be insufficient to resolve.
Central banks also must not assume that the coming credit crunch will kill inflation by reining in aggregate demand. After all, the negative aggregate supply shocks are persisting, and labor markets remain too tight. A severe recession is the only thing that can temper price and wage inflation, but it will make the debt crisis more severe, and that in turn will feed back into an even deeper economic downturn. Since liquidity support cannot prevent this systemic doom loop, everyone should be preparing for the coming stagflationary debt crisis.
Trailer Park Boys Space Weed
Report: Israel Passes U.S. Military Technology to China
"From personal knowledge, I know that the IDF has had a very long and deep relationship with the PLA, a lot of it being under the radar. They took off their uniform, put on a different hat, and visited each other (doing a lot of things behind closed doors) when it was not kosher to do so."
Secret U.S. missile and electro-optics technology was transferred to China recently by Israel, prompting anger from the U.S. and causing a senior Israeli defense official to resign.
The head of defense exports for the Israeli Defense Ministry resigned after a U.S. investigation concluded that technology, including a miniature refrigeration system manufactured by Ricor and used for missiles and in electro-optic equipment, was sent to China, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
Another Israeli news site, Aretz Sheva, reports the U.S. is concerned the technology could ultimately find its way to Iran, which last year sought to buy military equipment from China for its nuclear program.
Ricor, on its company website, identifies a number of defense programs using its miniature cryo-coolers, including UAVs, airborne enhanced vision systems, missile warning systems, hand-held thermal imagers and thermal weapons sights.
The Maariv report identified the Israeli defense official as Meir Shalit, and said he apologized to U.S. officials on a recent visit.
Israel has a long record of getting U.S. military technology to China.
In the early 1990s then-CIA Director James Woolsey told a Senate Government Affairs Committee that Israel had been selling U.S. secrets to China for about a decade. More than 12 years ago the U.S. demanded Israel cancel a contract to supply China with Python III missiles, which included technology developed by the U.S. for its Sidewinder missiles, The Associated Press reported in 2002.
You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man (2005) HD
Biden ADMITS: Using Indictment(s) Against Trump “To make sure he does not become President Again”
Biden all but confirmed that his team is coordinating these Trump indictments to “Demonstrate he will not take power” and “making sure . . . he does not become the next President again.”
The world according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is in a constant state of update, as tens of thousands of contributors work to ensure the site’s content is correct.
But now an innovation on the site has confirmed a long-held suspicion: that Wikipedia is a prime target for spin-doctoring.
A new identification program on the site reveals that some of the most prolific contributors to Wikipedia are the CIA, the British Labour Party and the Vatican – and they are not just updating their own entries.
The Wikiscanner site shows the CIA has edited entries on many issues relating to the United States Government, including presidential biographies and descriptions of military operations.
It has also edited topics as diverse as Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and the singer Richard Marx.
Seamus Byrne is the editor of online technology site Gizmodo Australia.
“Wikipedia is basically an open encyclopedia online that basically anyone can edit, anyone can add entries to and anyone can change anything they read on there,” he said.
But he says while anyone can put up content, users do keep track of entries to ensure they’re accurate and balanced.
“It’s quite a large community of users that are really devoted to Wikipedia, and something they do spend a lot of time monitoring is when changes are made,” he said.
“I guess so far it hasn’t been a case of monitoring the source, but they do try to keep an eye on any bias that may appear within any articles.”
And the Wikiscanner has revealed some interesting sources of that bias. It rummages through entries and edits posted on Wikipedia to find where they originate.
And among the usual list of companies and celebrities spinning their online image are some unusual mentions, including the British Labour Party, the Church of Scientology and the CIA.
Mr Byrne says he is not surprised.
“You’ve always got the feeling that they’ve been doing it and it just confirms that idea because there’s a lot of both vanity editing but more serious editing that goes on,” he said.
Checking sources
Gerard Goggin is an expert on the use of the internet in politics at Sydney University, and he says the influence of organisations such as the CIA on Wikipedia is cause for alarm.
“This underscores that we need to be careful with all the sources we quote,” he said.
Despite the CIA’s input, Dr Goggin remains a fan of Wikipedia.
“What is really crucial here is that people are aware of how Wikipedia comes to be, how entries are created and what the limitations of it are,” he said.
“One of its advantages is that any change to the entries can be tracked and you can actually reference those. People need to be aware of that kind of thing because Wikipedia is not the be-all and end-all.”
Mr Byrne says proof that the CIA is editing on Wikipedia will fuel internet conspiracy theories.
He says Wikipedia is just one place where government agencies are watching people.
“Obviously there’s the quite large – and people in online circles certainly know about it – Echelon Project,” he said.
“It’s a series of surveillance systems around the world that actually monitor phone, data, all kinds of traffic that goes on, looking for keywords related to things like terrorism and all kinds of troublesome issues and they pull that out and try to sift through it to find any connections that could be made to point to a real problem.”
Indonesian Chicken Breasts
You can make this with whole chicken breasts or with boneless ones. The advantage of the boneless is that they are lower in fat and easy to slice and work well on a serving platter. The advantage of the whole ones is that they have more flavor.
00269aa5fb99aef2e32c4d32f099b691
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons best quality curry powder
1/4 cup shredded coconut
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut in half
Instructions
Make a marinade from the first 5 ingredients. Pour it over the chicken and refrigerate for several hours, turning it occasionally to make sure every part of the chicken is coated.
Heat the grill and remove the chicken from the marinade.
Grill the chicken and the bell pepper for about 15 minutes, using the leftover marinade as you do so.
To serve, cut chicken and the pepper diagonally into 1-inch slices.
Sneaker Pimps – 6 Underground (Official Music Video)
Indonesian Pork Skewers
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Ingredients
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/4 cup light molasses
2 tablespoons ginger preserves or orange marmalade
1/2 medium pineapple, halved lengthwise, cored and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 medium red sweet pepper, cut into strips
Instructions
Combine the vinegar, mustard, molasses, ginger preserves and ginger in a small mixing bowl.
Alternately thread the pork cubes, pineapple slices and pepper strips on 12 (6-inch) metal skewers, leaving about 1/4 inch between pieces.
Brush with the molasses mixture.
Grill the kabobs on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium-hot coals about 12 minutes or until no pink remains and juices run clear, turning and brushing with molasses mixture after 6 minutes.
Heat the remaining molasses mixture and pass with the kabobs.
‘Medicine God’ in Central China found guilty, but faces no punishment for illegal trading of epilepsy medication
By Global Times
.
In less than a year after China approved domestically-developed anti-epilepsy drug Clobazam, a father in Central China’s Henan Province whose daughter is epileptic finally received a verdict from a local court over his case for privately buying the medicine from overseas and trading it online before it was legally available in the Chinese market.
The father, surnamed Hu, was found guilty of illegal sale of goods but will not face any criminal punishment, according to the judgement of a court in the Zhongmu county on Thursday.
Hu reportedly began buying Clobazam from overseas via the internet and sold to other families with epileptic children in 2020.
Synthesized in the 1960s with the primary goal of providing greater efficacy with fewer benzodiazepine-related side effects, Clobazam has been approved in more than 100 countries and regions to treat epilepsy and is regarded as the last resort to tackle a few specific types of epilepsy that affect minors.
But the medicine was listed as a second category psychotropic drug in China, meaning that it is potentially addictive and must be strictly controlled. Under this circumstance, a number of Chinese patients had to purchase the medication from overseas via private agencies or foreign websites.
In July 2021, Hu was arrested together with other four mothers with epileptic children on suspicion of trafficking, transporting and trading drugs. The prosecutors decided not to charge the four mothers, but filed a lawsuit against Hu, according to media reports.
Hu stood trial for the first time in March 2022. He was released on pending in April 2022. When the second trial in the case opened on Thursday, the prosecutor noted that Hu had been engaged in illegal purchase and sale of a controlled substance.
Liu Chang, Hu’s attorney, stressed to the court that, in essence, Hu’s behavior was a good faith effort to try and save and help each other, which conforms with the definition of China’s regulations of the behavior of production, import and sale of medicines with self-rescue and mutual assistance for non-profit purposes.
Liu said that the judgment in this case reiterated the Supreme People’s Court’s rules for identifying narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs, that is, narcotic drugs have dual attributes and should be judged in light of where they come from and how they are used.
For psychotropic medicines like Clobazam that are indeed used for medical treatment, the court adopted the defendant’s position and resolutely refused to recognize it as a drug, reflecting humanity of the judiciary, Liu told media.
After the trial, the court explained to media that Hu had made profit worth about 500,000 yuan by selling Clobazam. This has disrupted the order of the drug market, and therefore he stood guilty. This sentence would also help prevent others from imitating his behavior. However, considering that the medicines Hu bought and sold are used to treat epileptic patients and did not lead to a serious social impact, no penalty was imposed, the court said.
Clobazam gained public attention in China in November 2021 as the arrest of Hu and other four mothers leading to thousands of parents pleaded on social media platforms for legal access to the then domestically unapproved medicine that could provide a lifeline for their children.
The National Health Commission (NHC) replied in December 2022, saying that it is researching the medical needs of patients and coordinating with other government departments to organize bulk procurements and imports of Clobazam.
In March 2022, the NHC released a list of 50 medical institutions that would take the lead in importing and using Clobazam.
A generic version of Clobazam, produced by Yichang Humanwell Pharmaceutical in Central China’s Hubei Province, was awarded the country’s first market approval for the medication in September 2022. It is priced at 84 yuan per package that contains 28 tablets of 10 milligrams each, which is reportedly “the world’s lowest” price.
Clobazam is among the various medicines that had been made newly available in China as the country in recent years enhanced efforts in medicine accessibility after the issue of difficult access to and high prices of some rare medicines in China caught public attention in 2017 with the release of a film tiled Dying to Survive.
The film is based on the story of Lu Yong who imported affordable generic anti-cancer medicines from India and sold them online to help chronic myeloid leukemia patients in China. Lu was dubbed ”the Medicine God” by Chinese netizens due to his efforts in providing inexpensive medicine to Chinese mainland leukemia patients.
Along with the efforts of Chinese governments, in the past five years, a total of 618 medicines have been included into the nation’s medical insurance system, according to media reports.
Chinese democracy resembles Procter & Gamble more than Pericles of Athens.
Hundreds of times every day an arm of government asks people their opinion, solicits solutions to their revealed problems and test-markets the most promising. VC Robin Daverman explains:
China is a giant trial portfolio with millions of trials everywhere: innovations in everything from healthcare to poverty reduction, education, energy, trade, and transportation are being trialed in different communities. Every one of China’s 662 cities is experimenting: Shanghai with free trade zones, Guizhou with poverty reduction, twenty-three cities with education reforms, Northeastern provinces with SOE reform, pilot schools, pilot cities, pilot hospitals, pilot markets, pilot everything. Mayors and governors, the Primary Investigators, share their ‘lab results’ at the Central Party School and publish them in State-owned media, their ‘scientific journals.’
Significant policies usually begin as ‘clinical trials’ in small towns, where they generate test data. If the stats look right, they’ll add test sites and do long-term follow ups. They test and tweak for 10-30 years, then ask the 3,000-member People’s Congress to review the data and authorize national trials in three provinces. If those trials are successful, the State Council (China’s Brains Trust) polishes the plan and returns it to Congress for a final vote. It’s very transparent, and if your data is better than mine, your bill gets passed, and mine doesn’t. Congressional votes are nearly unanimous because reams of data back the legislation.
This allows China to accomplish a great deal in a short time because your winning solution will be quickly propagated throughout the country. You’ll be a front-page hero, invited to high-level meetings in Beijing and promoted. As you can imagine, the competition to solve problems is intense.
Local governments have a great deal of freedom to try their own things as long as the local people support them. Various villages and small towns have tested everything from bare-knuckled liberalism to straight Communism.
2023 04 08 15 42
Critics who label China’s Congress a ‘rubber stamp’ miss the point of that institution: to vote based on data, not rhetoric or promises. Congresspeople visit mature Trial Spots, survey local opinion, audit statistics, calculate budgetary impacts, and debate national scalability and political viability. Though few trials even reach the provincial level – where they can affect one-hundred million people – even failures contribute to the trove of data that shapes legislation.
Trial Spots, and the data they generate, are one of China’s most remarkable political strengths. They allow legislation to be rolled out confidently and rapidly and, largely thanks to them, most Chinese say the country is run for their benefit rather than for particular groups. Harvard’s Tony Saich, who conducts his own surveys says, “Ninety percent of people are happy with their government–and getting steadily more optimistic”.
Today, I am going to review some of my earlier graphs concerning when the peak-transition time occurs. These estimations were compiled back in 2020; three years ago. I think that they have held up pretty well.
We start with this one.
When the “big war” will occur…
This is from Strauss and Howe. Here is the full historical turnings, plotted on a nice graph against each other…
@strauss howe
And now, this is the zoom-in to the quarter that pertains to our period in time. As you can see, Strauss and Howe predicted the global war to occur sometime around 2025 – 27. Which is what the United States government is planning for.
That’s two to four years from now.
fourth turning wwiii 2025
This is the MM prediction…
Makes sense, though, I have to admit, that perhaps things are running early this turning. The 2020 bioweapon on China, and the 2022 Ukraine war is suggestive of an earlier start. (Around 1936 if you transpose over the graph above.)
This is my intel.
First compiled and made in 2018.
And then posted again in 2021.
It’s now 2023, and I’m sticking with it.
CLIMAX this year.
SHTF 1
As far as I can figure, I’ve pretty accurate.
USD collapse starting in 2023. All resolved by 2028.
Climax of all-out crazy in 2023.
USA domestic unrest starting in 2022 through 2028.
In 2024, the federal government will change radically.
USA society full collapse in 2024 though 2026.
Hot war 2023 through 2026. (Maybe one year earlier if you include Russia/Ukraine)
Notes
Some things that I am noticing…
Everything seems to be proceeding earlier than the 1930s-1940s model. Perhaps there were events that were not reported on to the general public, or perhaps modern technologies has advanced the schedule somewhat.
Fighting is on time. But the predictions suggest a three year long period of fighting. Which makes use in the second year of hot war conflict.
The discharge of the USD as a global currency is on time, but seems to be really accelerated than I predicted.
I see no evidence that the US government will change.
And societal American (Western) collapse is still years away???
What are your thoughts?
Bill in Canada to CRIMINALIZE “Offensive Remarks” about Transgender Freaks; $25,000 Fine!
World Hal Turner 05 April 2023
Canada tranny Bill large
The government of Ottawa, CANADA is considering a Bill to make it criminal to utter “Offensive Remarks” about (Mentally-ill) Trans-gendered freaks, with fine up to $25,000 per offense!
In order to be clear about this, the government of Canada is “protecting” mentally delusional people, who ignore actual physical, biological, reality, and telling everyone else THEY must accept the mental delusion or face a fine.
There is no such thing as “Trans-gender.” It is a physical and biological impossibility.
Humans have DNA and Chromosomes which exist in every cell of our bodies. Each and every cell has DNA coding as to whether the cell belongs to a male or female.
Trans-gendered ignore that physical reality and claim their sex is something OTHER THAN what their DNA and chromosomes are. This is a mental delusion. It is a mental sickness. It is not reality.
Some of these so-called “Trans-gendered” take hormones and have surgery to mutilate their outward appearance from their actual biological sex, to what APPEARS to be the other sex.
These artificial hormone-taking, and surgically mutilated people do not, and cannot, change their DNA and their chromosomes. So while their artificial efforts to deny reality may make them APPEAR OUTWARDLY as the other sex, every cell in their body remains the sex they were born with.
The entire “Trans-Gender” movement is nothing more than severe mental illness. Denial of reality.
From another point of view, one can safely argue that Trans-gender people are literally at war, with God Himself. Their claim to be a different sex, is their statement that THEY are right, and God is wrong.
Worse, these people are so self-centered, so selfish, and so spoiled, they DEMAND everyone else agree with them, accept them, and not even speak any truth regarding them.
Mentally-ill, spoiled brat people are not the stuff of which legislation should be based.
Shame on Ottawa.
Pepperoni and Peppers
Doesn’t this sound absolutely yummy?
Skillet Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Chicken 2
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups thin green bell pepper strips
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 pound pepperoni, sliced thin
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, cut up
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooked pasta or rice (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
In large skillet, sauté green bell pepper and onion in butter until crisp-tender.
Stir in pepperoni; cook for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve over pasta with cheese.
Serves 4.
For microwave oven, cook pepper and onion in butter for 5 minutes. Add pepperoni, tomatoes and salt. Cook 3 minutes or until hot.
“The Crisis Is About To Get MUCH Worse..” | Jeffrey Sachs
March 2023: Biggest Loss of U.S. Bank Deposits in History
The American people are pulling money out of banks at a rate which, during March, saw the biggest drop in Bank Deposits in U.S. History!
The image above from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (BOG) shows the sudden and dramatic change in Bank Deposits; it’s staggering.
For the month of March, 2023, banks inside the USA saw $389 BILLION Dollars taken out by US citizens and companies!
Even at the height of the “Great Financial Crisis” of the year 2008, not a single monthly decline in 2008 exceeded $100 billion. Since the recent high, total deposits in the US are now down a record $1 trillion.
So where is the money going?
Well, it certainly isn’t going to pay down debt. Americans debt remains at the highest levels it has seen in decades.
Auto loan and credit card interest rates just hit a new record high. Average interest rates:
– Credit Card: 24.5%
– Used Cars: 14.0%
– New Cars: 9.0%
Meanwhile, we have record levels of debt:
– Total Household Debt: $16.5 trillion
– Auto Loans: $1.6 trillion
– Credit Card Debt: $986 billion
The worst part? Student loans just hit a record $1.6 trillion. Interest on student loans has been suspended since 2020, but it set to resume this year. The debt crisis is real.
WHERE’S IT GOING?
So if the cash is coming out of banks, but not paying down debt, where is the money going?
Americans are “prepping.” They are buying the things they think they might need if everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
Sure, they’re buying shelf-stable foods that stay good for a long time: Pasta, Rice, Beans, canned tuna and canned meats, jarred sauces, and the like. But they are also buying interesting things: Generators to power their homes during an outage. Solar power systems for off-grid power or power during outages. TOOLS! Americans are buying tools like there’s no tomorrow; from simple sets of screwdrivers, wrenches and sockets, hammers, and manual saws, to power tools like saws, drills, nail guns, and the like.
Interestingly, Americans are also buying spare OIL for their vehicles, space oil filters, air filters, and even fuel filters for those who own diesel powered vehicles. Believe it or not, Americans are also buying spare brake pads for their vehicles in numbers far above the “typical” amount.
Quietly, a big item now being sold far and wide: Home safes. Not the cheap kind with digital keypads that might get wiped out by an electro-magnetic pulse. Real safes; with dial combination locks and keys. The fireproof and burglar proof kind that sell for several hundred dollars (or more) each. So clearly, Americans are keeping some of the cash at home, just in case.
It as though Americans see a complete collapse of society coming, and they want to make certain they have what they will need during the six months to a year they think it might take to put basic things back together again – or at least keep the basics operating for awhile.
Ominously, Americans are also buying what it takes to PROTECT themselves if everything goes to hell: GUNS and AMMUNITION. Lots of it. Sales of handguns, shotguns, and rifles are through the roof! In fact, sales of Ammunition are so brisk, it’s hard to find common items like 9mm .357 and .40 caliber bullets for handguns, and very hard to find 12 Gauge shotgun shells. Rifle ammo is still in good supply, but stores are starting to see drawdowns on inventory of .308 and 7.62 rifle ammo.
Strangely, the money isn’t coming out in bank “Runs” but rather coming out slowly and very consistently.
To try to stem the outflow of money, Banks are now offering significantly higher interest rates as shown below.
2023 04 07 15 09
Some Bank Officers say that if the trend from March continues through May, “a slew of banks will be forced to go under.” Banks, they say “simply cannot afford to have this level of withdrawals happening so consistently.”
Prankster Replaces Pet Names With New Labels In Local Pet Store
funny prank1
In his simple but funny prank, comedian Jeff Wysaski changed the signs labelling some of the critters at the pet store to reflect who they REALLY are.
Israel is “ready” to attack Iran and can do so even without support from the United States, Israeli media quoted IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi as saying on Wednesday.
“We are ready to act against Iran. The Israeli army has the ability to strike both in distant countries and near home,” i24NEWS quoted Halevi as telling the IDF’s army radio.
He said that the IDF will enhance its capabilities for a pre-emptive strike on Iran, and that such a strike would be “overwhelming” despite the geographical distance.
“We know how to act alone. We are a sovereign nation that reserves the right to make its own decisions. It would be good to have the United States on our side, but it is not an obligation,” he added.
These comments come amid growing tensions between Iran and Israel, with Iran accusing Israel of killing two of its military personnel in Syria last week and vowing to retaliate.
Israel accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a claim that Iran denies. Israel has previously warned that if diplomatic efforts fail to curb Iran’s nuclear program, it would resort to military action.
NEW YORK TIMES: “Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation”
Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on the Internet and social media channels, senior Biden administration officials said.
The Pentagon is investigating who may have been behind the leak of the documents . . . (Original Story HERE)
Several of the Documents referred-to by the New York Times are — and have been — on the Hal Turner Radio Show web site HERE
Mobile Nuclear Missile Launchers Moved to Finland Border
pon Finland’s entry into NATO, the Russian government promptly began moving nuclear missiles on launcher trucks to the Russian border with Finland, near Vyborg, Russia. Video, below, shows the arrival of the nuclear launcher trucks and missiles.
The scalable map below shows the location of Vyborg Russia in relation to Finland, so readers can gauge just how close to the new NATO Member, missiles have now been placed:
2023 04 08 12 36
Hal Turner Opinion: Somehow, I get the feeling that Finland was a LOT safer and in far less danger WITHOUT being a NATO member. Now, it seems to me, Finland has placed itself into Russia’s nuclear crosshairs. Pity. Bad decision to join NATO.
2023 04 08 12 38
Catographer Nils Jacobi Captures Whimsical Cat Portrait
Photographer Nils Jacobi, also known as the “catographer”, has captured the hearts of cat lovers everywhere with his expanding collection of adorable cat photographs. Through his lens, Jacobi offers a diverse and comprehensive view of our beloved furballs, highlighting the unique character and personalities of each individual cat.
Both the US and NATO repeatedly claim they are not “participants” in the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Documents classified as “SECRET”- shown below- tell a very different story. These documents also reveal PLANS TO INVADE RUSSIA ITSELF!
This content is for Hal Turner Subscribers only .
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US military experts “concerned” about effectiveness of Wagner PMCs
The Department of Defense (DoD) conducted an in-depth analysis of the activities of Russia’s Wagner Private Military Contractors (PMCs) and came to the conclusion that NO similar structure in the USA, Great Britain, or France is comparable.
Insiders in the DoD are concerned about the Wagner PMCs, because they are the most organized and combat-ready PMCs in the world, surpassing even the American Blackwater PMCs, the British Aegis Defense Service PMCs, and the French Salamandre PMCs.
Among other things, the mentioned Western PMCs have never encountered operations and tasks that the Wagner PMCs successfully perform.
Thanks to the highest level of training and equipment, the Russians operate at a level previously unattainable for private military companies.
An unnamed Pentagon official involved in these types of operations in Afghanistan said:
"Their effectiveness is absolutely stunning. If we had used similar strategies in Afghanistan, we would not have caused the chaos that we have left in the Middle East.“
According to the estimates of many experts, the Wagner fighters perform a number of tasks of increased complexity and increased risk. These are not only traditional tasks of all PMCs, such as the protection of diplomatic missions and civil operations. In general, these are the most complex combat operations in their implementation: ground attacks, control of artillery, air forces, and the use of air defense systems.
The fighters of Wagner carry out reconnaissance tasks, information gathering and data analysis, which were later used to make strategic decisions during the missions.
Earlier, the Dutch journalist Sonia van den Ende said that “Wagner” can become the main weapon of anti-globalism in the modern world and can eliminate the domination of oligarchic elite groups of the West, which is ruinous for the entire human civilization.
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Pushing the United States out of the Middle East…
Read this next article. It really deep dives into the ground-breaking changes in the Middle East…
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Iran–Saudi Deal: Not a Diplomatic Normalisation, But An ‘Architecture’
As this bellum (war) rolled across the region, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and others -- all formerly rich states -- were turned into economic dust-bowls of poverty.
The agreement reached by Saudi Arabia and Iran (and guaranteed by China) is not primarily about restoring diplomatic relations. Notably, the two teams were led by their heads of state security. Rather, the Accord is about building a new security architecture for the Region.
This potentially is revolutionary.
Ever since Yitzhak Rabin in the early 1990s decided to invert “Israel’s” original security paradigm of ‘The Periphery’ (non-Arab states) versus “Israel’s” Arab Neighbourhood (in order to lay the ground-work for Rabin’s aspiration for some Palestinian understanding), the region has been turned into a desert of a contrived Anti-Security Architecture.
To achieve the objectives of seeking peace with the Arab sphere, the Israeli leadership — needing a cause around which Israelis and the US Congress could rally — demonised Iran.
From that point on, Iran has been said (for some decades) to be at the very cusp of achieving a nuclear weapon (though it has never happened).
The consequence has been devasting: Iran curled into a prickly porcupine, with Ahmadinejad growling warningly to those who might come close to keep their distance.
The US and “Israel” then turned the inherent intellectual and cultural polarisation arising from the Iranian Revolution from a major social occurrence, into a casus bellum.
The mantra was that for “Israel” and its Arab allies to feel safe, Iran and its revolutionary mindset must be destroyed — or at least mentally ‘re-wired’ towards western ways.
(Any parallel with today’s western calls for Russia to be broken up, up and to be subject to a mindset rehab is not coincidental.)
In consequence, as this bellum (war) rolled across the region, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and others — all formerly rich states — were turned into economic dust-bowls of poverty.
But then the geo-strategic ‘plates’ moved: It was obvious that US interest in the region was flagging badly — and it was equally clear that China and Russia were coming into their own, with a much more attractive formula than that of Washington: Instead of demanding absolute fealty and subordination, China insisted on respect for sovereignty and autonomy in respect other states’ internal affairs.
So, there was the ‘pull’ exerted on the two rival Islamic states by the rise of the new global powers (China-Russia); but the other part to the equation was that the Saudi leadership had become jaundiced by the US demeaning them as vassals.
Even Trump insulted the Kingdom when he said the latter ‘could not last a week’ without US protection.
And then when the Aramco facilities (Abqaiq) were attacked by missiles, where was their US protection?
Zero.
It was not there.
Two other elements were necessary for this agreement to have come into being: One was patient old-fashioned mediation (the process had begun in Beijing, some six years ago, during King Salman’s visit), but with President Xi giving the mediation his personal attention (a trait of diplomacy long-forgotten in the West).
And the second was that Iran had been emerging from its long sojourn of introspection — thanks in no small part to its engagement by Russia and China, and from the ‘window’ opened by the possibility for it to join the SCO and BRICS. Iran was being offered ‘depth’ — strategic and economic depth.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia has been slowly, but incrementally, distancing itself from the proposition first launched with Abdul Aziz ibn Saud in the early twentieth century by St. John Philby — that radical Wahhabism was the secret weapon by which the kingdom could secure its dominance over the Islamic world.
A notion subsequently adopted with alacrity by western Intelligence services to service of weakening and containing Iran.
Simply, MbS slowly had been de-weaponizing Wahhabism.
The moment, therefore, was propitious.
And China seized it.
The most telling aspect was that the talks lasted over three days (6 -10 March), and that nothing leaked.
The outcome struck Washington and “Tel Aviv”, as if by a thunderbolt.
Of course, we do not know the secret side agreements, but for sure, Saudi Arabia will have sought – and got – assurances that Iran will not pursue a nuclear weapon; that it will not threaten the kingdom’s vital infrastructure, or seek to de-stabilise the Kingdom; and that Saudi Arabia and Iran jointly will work to bring the Yemen war to an end.
Similarly, it is a certitude that Iran will have sought from Saudi Arabia that it cease funding external media stations seeking to broadcast their regime-change messages into Iran, and supporting movements such as the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK), certain Kurdish groups based in Iraq, and militants operating out of Baluchistan into Iran.
What does the architecture portend?
Well, too much to list briefly, but as a thought exercise, imagine the consequences in Lebanon were Saudi and Iran jointly to resolve to end the miseries of the Lebanese people; the near-starvation in Syria, or the collapsed state of Iraq …
Imagine the economic consequences for Asia of a joint Iranian–Saudi/Gulf–Russian determination to effect a new energy policy in which they both act to shape commodity prices and also to give commodities a different pricing and selling structure.
And what of America and “Israel”? Well, Mark Dubowitz of the neo-con Foundation for the Defence of Democracies think-tank put it succinctly:
“[It is] a lose, lose, lose for American interests. It demonstrates that the Saudis don’t trust Washington to have their back, that Iran sees an opportunity to peel away American allies to end its international isolation, and it establishes China as the majordomo of Middle Eastern power politics”.
Simply put, Netanyahu’s dream of an Arab alliance coming together to support Israeli military action against Iran is over.
This is significant, as Netanyahu well knows that Washington would never support military action against Iran, absent substantive, active Arab support behind it.
That’s over, too.
The 1980 Carter Doctrine that determined that the US would allow no rival to rise in the Middle East is over too.
China-Russia and Eurasia is rising.
This Accord comes at an awkward time for Netanyahu. Iran was pencilled in to be the diversion for “Israel’s” spiking internal trauma.
Now he has to confront the crisis with nothing more than the crisis itself.
Iran and Saudi Arabia: a Chinese win-win
The single Iranian-Saudi handshake buried trillions of dollars of western divide-and-rule investments across West Asia, and has global leaders rushing to Beijing for global solutions.
The idea that History has an endpoint, as promoted by clueless neoconservatives in the unipolar 1990s, is flawed, as it is in an endless process of renewal. The recent official meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing marks a territory that was previously deemed unthinkable and which has undoubtedly caused grief for the War Inc. machine.
This single handshake signifies the burial of trillions of dollars that were spent on dividing and ruling West Asia for over four decades. Additionally, the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the fabricated reality of the new millennium, featured as prime collateral damage in Beijing.
Beijing’s optics as the capital of peace have been imprinted throughout the Global South, as evidenced by a subsequent sideshow where a couple of European leaders, a president, and a Eurocrat, arrived as supplicants to Xi Jinping, asking him to join the NATO line on the war in Ukraine.
They were politely dismissed.
Still, the optics were sealed: Beijing had presented a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine that was branded “irrational” by the Washington beltway neocons. The Europeans – hostages of a proxy war imposed by Washington – at least understood that anyone remotely interested in peace needs to go through the ritual of bowing to the new boss in Beijing.
The irrelevance of the JCPOA
Tehran-Riyadh relations, of course, will have a long, rocky way ahead – from activating previous cooperation deals signed in 1998 and 2001 to respecting, in practice, their mutual sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
Everything is far from solved – from the Saudi-led war on Yemen to the frontal clash of Persian Gulf Arab monarchies with Hezbollah and other resistance movements in the Levant. Yet that handshake is the first step leading, for instance, to the Saudi foreign minister’s upcoming trip to Damascus to formally invite President Bashar al-Assad to the Arab League summit in Riyadh next month.
It’s crucial to stress that this Chinese diplomatic coup started way back with Moscow brokering negotiations in Baghdad and Oman; that was a natural development of Russia stepping in to help Iran save Syria from a crossover NATO-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) coalition of vultures.
Then the baton was passed to Beijing, in total diplomatic sync.
The drive to permanently bury GWOT and the myriad, nasty ramifications of the US war of terror was an essential part of the calculation; but even more pressing was the necessity to demonstrate how the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, had become irrelevant.
Both Russia and China have experienced, inside and out, how the US always manages to torpedo a return to the JCPOA, as it was conceived and signed in 2015.
Their task became to convince Riyadh and GCC states that Tehran has no interest in weaponizing nuclear power – and will remain a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Then it was up to Chinese diplomatic finesse to make it quite clear that the Persian Gulf monarchies’ fear of revolutionary Shi’ism is now as counter-productive as Tehran’s dread of being harassed and/or encircled by Salafi-jihadis. It’s as if Beijing had coined a motto: drop these hazy ideologies, and let’s do business.
And business it is, and will be: better yet, mediated by Beijing and implicitly guaranteed by both nuclear superpowers Russia and China.
Hop on the de-dollarization train
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) may exhibit some Soprano-like traits, but he’s no fool: he instantly saw how this Chinese offer morphed beautifully into his domestic modernization plans.
A Gulf source in Moscow, familiar with MbS’ rise and consolidation of power, details the crown prince’s drive to appeal to the younger Saudi generation who idolize him…
Let girls drive their SUVs, go dancing, let their hair down, work hard, and be part of the “new” Saudi Arabia of Vision 2030: a global tourism and services hub, a sort of Dubai on steroids.
And, crucially, this will also be a Eurasia-integrated Saudi Arabia; future, inevitable member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS+ – just like Iran, which will also be sitting at the same communal tables.
From Beijing’s point of view, this is all about its ambitious, multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A key BRI connectivity corridor runs from Central Asia to Iran and then beyond, to the Caucasus and/or Turkey. Another one – in search of investment opportunities – runs through the Arabian Sea, the Sea of Oman, and the Persian Gulf, part of the Maritime Silk Road.
Beijing wants to develop BRI projects in both corridors: call it “peaceful modernization” applied to sustainable development. The Chinese always remember how the Ancient Silk Roads plied Persia and parts of Arabia: in this case, we have History Repeating Itself.
A geopolitical revolution
And then comes the Holy Grail: energy. Iran is a prime gas supplier to China, a matter of national security, inextricably linked to their $400 billion-plus strategic partnership deal. And Saudi Arabia is a prime oil supplier. Closer Sino-Saudi relations and interaction in key multipolar organizations such as the SCO and BRICS+ advance the fateful day when the petroyuan will be definitely enshrined.
The high-speed de-dollarization train has already left the station.
ASEAN is already actively discussing how to bypass the dollar to privilege settlements in local currencies – something unthinkable even a few months ago. The US dollar has already been thrown into a death by a thousand cuts spiral.
And that will be the day when the game reaches a whole new unpredictable level.
The destructive agenda of the neocon leaders in charge of US foreign policy should never be underestimated.
They exploited the 9/11 “new Pearl Harbor” pretext to launch a crusade against the lands of Islam in 2001, followed by a NATO proxy war against Russia in 2014.
Their ultimate ambition is to wage war against China before 2025.
However, they are now facing a swift geopolitical and geoeconomic revolt of the World’s Heartland – from Russia and China to West Asia, and extrapolating to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and selected latitudes in Latin America.
The turning point came on 26 February, 2022, when Washington’s neocons – in a glaring display of their shallow intellects – decided to freeze and/or steal the reserves of the only nation on the planet equipped with all the commodities that really matter, and with the necessary nous to unleash a momentous shift to a monetary system not anchored in fiat money.
That was the fateful day when the cabal, identified by journalist Seymour Hersh as responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, actually blew the whistle for the high-speed de-dollarization train to leave the station, led by Russia, China, and now – welcome on board – Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Philadelphia Scrapple
2023 03 28 20 39
Ingredients
1 quart water
1 cup white cornmeal
1 pound pork liver sausage, crumbled or finely chopped
3 onions, diced
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper, to taste
Instructions
Bring water to boil. Let boil after adding each ingredient in order, then cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently.
Pour into loaf pan and cool.
Slice and fry. If 1 pint milk and 1 pint water are used as the liquid, the scrapple will brown more easily.
Is Netanyahoo (Again) Looking For War?
Israel’s occupation of Palestine is moving towards another hot conflict.
More Palestinians had gathered in the mosque, responding to calls by Waqf to pray inside overnight. At one of the mosque entrances, police officers could be seen escorting dozens of Palestinians out of the compound. Residents and shoppers milled around, watching social media videos on their phones showing the renewed clashes that had happened just meters away.Early on Wednesday, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes.
The violence had calmed by early Wednesday morning, but in the evening, Palestinian militants fired two more rockets from Gaza, with one falling short inside Gaza and the other falling near the security fence separating Gaza from Israel, the Israeli military said. There were no reports of casualties.
The mosque sits in a hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and conflicting claims over it have spilled into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and stands in a spot known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism.
Muslims currently celebrate their Ramadan holy month while Jews began their week-long Passover holiday. Last week some ultra-orthodox rabbis had asked prime minister Netanyahoo to allow them to abuse Al-Aqsa:
Fifteen rabbis have asked the Israeli government on Thursday to ascend the Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif next Wednesday, when the Jewish holiday of Passover begins, a move that could exacerbate tensions in Jerusalem during the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan.The rabbis have put a request to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Thursday to ascend to the Temple Mount and for Jews to be allowed to offer the Passover, the way it was practiced in biblical times.
Over the years, a majority of rabbis has ruled that Jews are not allowed to ascend the Temple Mount site, since purification rituals cannot be performed in times when the temple is destroyed. Most rabbis also object to reviving biblical sacrifices of lambs or goats. Still, far-right religious activists have registered a clear trend in recent years of an increase in the number of Jews ascending the Temple Mount compound.
It is dubious that the place where Al-Aqsa is standing is the one where the mythical Jewish temple once stood. Despite intense decades long searches no archeological evidence has been found to prove that.
The Waqf, the authority that administrates the al-Haram al-Sharif, had called for Muslim believers to stay there over night to prevent the sacrilege against the Mosque. In response to the first raid on the mosque earlier this week some rockets had been fired from Gaza to which the Israeli military responded with bombings.
Dozens of rockets were fired from southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon with 25 intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system over northern Israel, the military said. At least three people were injured and several buildings were damaged.The Israel Defense Forces said 34 rockets had been fired toward the border with five landing inside Israel, and most of the rest downed by Iron Dome. The impact sites of four others were not yet clear.
Such a massive barrage would this the largest number of rockets fired from Lebanon since the 2006 war, during which thousands of rockets were launched at Israel. In August 2021, Hezbollah fired 19 rockets at northern Israel.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and a Hezbollah source told the Al-Arabiya network that it was not behind the rocket fire, apparently blaming Palestinian groups based in the area. However, it was unlikely they would do so without at least the tacit approval of the Iran-backed terror group that controls southern Lebanon.
This was indeed a message from Hizbullah.
Amal Saad @amalsaad_lb – 14:08 UTC · Apr 6, 2023The unprecedented barrage of rockets fired at Israel today, allegedly by Palestinian factions in Lebanon, was an indirect message from Hizbullah. Nasrallah had warned as recently as January 2023 that Al-Aqsa was a red line that would lead to an “explosion of the whole region” 1/2
Hizbullah is trying to stretch the rules of deterrence with a new equation: violating al-Aqsa will trigger responses not just from Gaza but also from Lebanon. Hizbullah is responding by proxy with grey zone warfare to preserve the rules of engagement and avert an escalation. 2/2
It is not yet clear that a escalation can be prevented. Currently the Israeli security cabinet is meeting. United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) in south Lebanon have allegedly received orders to enter their bomb shelters. UNIFIl called the called the situation “extremely serious”.
Netanyahoo and his ultra-right coalition partners might be interested in launching a new war to divert from their attempts to change the secular state of Israel into a religious led one. Large color-revolution like protests have been held against that and Netanyahoo’s project of putting (secular) supreme court judgments under (religious led) parliament revision is currently on hold.
A ‘nice little war’ might be a welcome distraction and a way to silently revive the matter. But the 2006 war against Hizbullah, which Israel lost, showed that nice little wars can easily turn against their instigators.
Posted by b on April 6, 2023 at 15:42 UTC | Permalink
Australia to pour $13 billion into manufacturing to ensure nation ‘makes things here again’
Note: Re- industrialisation policy without addressing tax issue, high labor cost for low productivity work force, super high domestic and international transport cost, and other costly factor of production such as land, rent, power, water , and all type of local, state, and federal taxes, levies and fees already a policy failure even before it begin.
The west is run by people with no common sense, no basic knowledge, and know no consequences... By tearing up China belts and roads agreement signed by Victoria government 3 years ago, Australia is never to lower it cost of International transportation, and hence, no condition to become a manufacturing based country.
Article…
Australia has launched a A$15 billion (S$13.3 billion) scheme to promote manufacturing and new technologies to address longstanding concerns that the country “doesn’t make things any more” and is too reliant on exporting its abundant resources.
The new scheme, called the National Reconstruction Fund, was a signature policy of the ruling Labor Party, which was elected last May on a promise to boost investment in manufacturing and the uptake of technology.
The move follows growing concerns about the country’s vulnerability to supply chain shocks as well as its economic over-reliance on China, which in 2022 accounted for 27 per cent of Australia’s total trade and 30 per cent of exports.
Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic said the scheme was one of the largest peacetime investments in Australian manufacturing. It will provide loans, investments and guarantees to projects in the field of renewables and low-emissions technology, agriculture, medical science, transport and defence.
“We are trying to rebuild and revitalise manufacturing at a time when we’ve been dependent on concentrated or broken supply chains,” he told Sky News last week. “We’ve got the geopolitical environment we’re operating in where we do need to reduce those dependencies.”
The scheme aims to address concerns about the make-up of Australia’s economy, which receives massive revenue from exporting raw items such as natural resources and agricultural produce, much of which is processed abroad. A report in 2020 found that Australia had the least self-sufficient manufacturing sector of any country in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes 38 developed economies
A separate study of 133 countries by Harvard University in 2020 found that Australia had the 91st most complex economy. The top five countries in the list – which measured a country’s ability to produce a diversified and sophisticated set of products – were Japan, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea and Singapore.
The United States is “playing with fire” and engaged in a hot “hybrid war” with Russia, having already graduated from the Cold War stage, a Russian government minister has claimed, even going so far as to blame the U.S. for rising nuclear tensions.
The new Cold War is already over, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said, accusing the United States of “playing with fire” by pushing the world towards nuclear war that he insists Russians wish to avoid.
The comments come just hours after Russia announced it had deployed nuclear-capable missiles to the borders of NATO in Belarus, and refitted Belarussian jets with the equipment to carry and drop nuclear bombs. Moscow made a tacit accusation that the United States was to blame for this, saying Russia was doing no more than America already did, in stationing nuclear weapons in the territory of European allies.
While blame is generally laid at Russia’s door for invading Ukraine, the minister insisted it was in fact the U.S. that was pushing the world towards nuclear war and that Russia was the peaceful party trying to avoid such an exchange. Expressing this, Ryabkov postulated: “…there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it must not be unleashed.”
“The way our American opponents are recklessly, provocatively, and in many respects absolutely carelessly, moving up the escalation ladder, the way they are blinded by their absolutely absurd certainty about their ability to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, makes one doubt their mental faculties and their common sense.”
The U.S. is “playing with fire” and was risking making “fatal mistakes”, Ryabkov said, saying the Russian Federation “will be ready to take all measures and to use all means at our disposal” if there were attempts to encroach on their sovereignty.
When I was a young boy, I was a member of the “Boy Scouts”. We would attend weekly meetings at the homes of “Den Mothers”, do various projects for badges (that we would sew onto our clothing), and attend special events, often involving a bonfire and lots of hotdogs and soda.
One of the favorite things that I loved to do was to take a hot dog and cook it deep in the depths of the fire until it was too blacked to handle. Then, I would take it out and slather ketchup, mustard, onions (raw), tomatoes, and relish onto the dog in the hotdog bun.
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Of course, everyone loved marshmallows, and the potato chips. And there was always other snacks such as some baked beans. Often the beans would be cooked in the can by simply placing the can of beans on the fire itself.
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I know that today, the top potato-chips are Lays brand. But when I was growing up, it was Wise Potato-chips. They are crunchier, and saltier than Lays. Often, the Den mothers would place the chips in a big basin for all us kids to grab and place on our plates.
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I loved to eat it with a nice dip. I found out later that it was always “home made” from a box of creme-cheese, and salad mix packets. I have really loved those days. The food flowed easily and the times were wonderful.
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There was always a very nicely done potato salad. In fact, I find it difficult to imagine a campfire party without potato salad, and baked grilled (de-silked) corn. A well made potato salad always uses a nice spicy mustard, don’t you know.
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As I got older, we still had these campfire get-togethers. Only now, we called them “Keggers” and we focused on the beer, and the music rather than the eating. It was a loss, that at the time we did not notice. But today, in hindsight, it was a serious omission.
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Now, here I am in China. Food everywhere, and it is normal to drink (serious hard alcohol) and eat.
And I see the importance of filling your belly before you go on an all night binge. Whether it is a night with pretty girls and KTV, or whether it’s just you and the guys going to play some snooker, or Majiong.
Do not neglect the important aspects of your life.
Like a fine hotdog.
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Spring is arriving.
Make the most of it.
You have friends, and a pack of hotdogs is cheap. You can outfit an entire party for a low price. All it take is a minor bit of organization, and a campfire.
Reserve a spot.
Make arrangements for a center base party location, and place a few tents for people to rest or nap if they want to. Plenty of alcohol and soft drinks. Lots of food. Music. Some ball to toss.
Have fun.
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Meat Loaf Wellington
meatloaf wellington
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups cracker crumbs with 1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup warm water
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
4 bacon strips
2 packages crescent roll dough
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Flour
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix ground beef, veal and pork together by hand in a large bowl.
Add Worcestershire sauce, eggs, cracker crumbs, ketchup, water and soup mix.
Mix by hand and shape into a loaf in a shallow baking dish.
Drape the loaf with bacon strips.
Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until done. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
Separate 2 packages of crescent roll dough into 6 rectangles. Reserve the remaining 2 for decorating. Overlap the triangles on a large floured surface to make a large rectangle. Gently press together the seams and perforations. Place over meat loaf and mold to fit.
Trim off excess dough. Use remaining rectangles to make a design for the top; cookie cutters may be used. Brush dough with egg white and return loaf to the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
Israeli-made cluster mortar shells were found in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Israel has been caught red-handed supplying deadly cluster munitions to Ukraine for use against Russian forces.
Despite the fact that Israel SAYS it does not supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, it turns out that the Israel Defense Forces have transferred a large batch of 120-mm mortar ammunition to Ukraine.
Apart from the fact that such ammunition has a high destructive power, it turned out that the ammunition in question is M971, which is a cluster munition that not only causes serious destruction, but also poses an additional threat of landmines. This is not the first time the Israeli side has supplied such munitions to Ukraine.
In the footage published by the Ukrainian military, viewers can see that these are indeed M971 munitions. Their exact quantity transferred to Ukraine is not disclosed, but there could be tens of thousands of shells.
The Israeli 120 mm M971 mortar ammunition is equipped with 24 submunitions, which are scattered in open terrain and explode when dropped on the ground. The ammunition is actively used to defeat manpower and armored vehicles.
Deliveries of such munitions to Ukraine indicate that Israel is directly participating in the aggression against Russia.
The US has recently once again strengthened restrictions on sales of American chips to China, however Chinese chips are not sitting idly by. Recently a seven nanometer chip was officially launched for sale taking the opportunity to seize the domestic Market which put pressure on American competitors.
It is reported that a domestic GPU chip company in China has officially released the graphics cards launched last year. The price is about 500 Yuan cheaper ($73) than AMD and NVIDIA’s graphics cards of the same grade and the performance has reached the level of the latter two’s mid to high-end chips the floating-point performance of this graphics card is slightly stronger than AMD’s RTX 3060 graphics card since the release of GPU chips in China has attracted much attention overseas, reviewers quickly bought them after the release.
After testing by relevant overseas reviewers the actual test reached 13.9 teraflops which is indeed slightly stronger than RTX 3060, the domestic graphics card uses the self-developed 7nm GPU core as the first GPU core it is quite good to be able to reach such a level, after all the leading American chip company Intel has been developing GPU chips for many years but it has been difficult to keep up with invidious level, the fact that domestic GPU chips can reach such a level has shocked Nvidia, the leader in GPU chips.
This is why Nvidia quickly launched the customized GPU chip a800 after the United States restricted the sale of high-end GPU chips to China last year.
Analysts predict that the revenues of Intel and Nvidia will decline by 40 percent and 22 percent respectively in the first quarter.
At this time if the United States further restricts these chip companies from selling chips to China, they will only suffer further losses. In fact Chinese Chips have replaced imported chips with domestic chips as much as possible the volume of chips imported by China in the first two months of this year fell by 26.5 percent which is much larger than the 15 decline in chip Imports in 2022.
For GPU chips domestic GPU chips have reached Nvidia’s mid to high end level so they can replace most of Nvidia’s chips if Nvidia does not even sell custom chips such as the a800 to China what competitiveness does Nvidia still have in the Chinese market?
For those uninitiated in this field, NVIDA is the champion of GPU chips who has better advantage over AMD.
Remember one thing. China is not India. Chinese IQ horsepower is way higher than Indians who are nowhere on the world stage.
China is even ahead of the US – however tad bit that be.
US Citizen: USA=University of Clown Sh*t
Trans female former student, 28, armed with two assault rifles and a handgun, kills three nine-year-old kids and three staff members at Nashville private Christian school after writing manifesto and drawing maps of church campus
The shooting took place on Monday at The Covenant School in Nashville
Shooter has been named as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who lives nearby
Six people – including three children – are dead after a transgender female shooter opened fire at a private school in Nashville, killing three nine-year-old children and three staff members.
The shooter was 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who at one time attended the school.
Police said she identified as transgender, and online profiles show Audrey used ‘he/him’ pronouns.
At around 10.13am, she opened fire at The Covenant School, shooting and killing nine-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
Scruggs was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, the pastor at the affiliated presbyterian church.
Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, head of school Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61, were also killed.
Why did ancient Egypt stop worshipping cats?
Technically, ancient Egyptians remain frozen in time as the people who preceded modern Egyptians. Ancient Egypt came into decline when Greeks and Romans took over, especially in 30 BC, when Egypt became a Roman province. With the spread of Christianity in the 3rd and 4th centuries, the practice of revering animals was abolished along with all pagan rituals. Modern Egyptians are adherents of Islam for the most part with a Christian minority, the Copts. Neither group worships animals.
Ancient Egyptians did not worship cats as cats per se so to ask why they stopped worshipping them is a moot point. The matter is much more complex. The ancient Egyptians worshipped a goddess named Bast. Cats represented the divine Bast or Bastet, the goddess who assumed the image of a lion or panther initially then a cat-headed woman or a cat by the 2nd millennium BC. The reverence paid to cats as representatives of the goddess Bast can be compared to the respect paid to the cow in the Hindu religion as a representative of the nurturing mother earth.
Hence, cats were respected because they incarnated the qualities ascribed to Bast: ferocity, nurturing, motherhood, sensuality, pleasure, magic, warmth of the sun. The proud, haughty felines deigned to enter into a pact with humans, aiding them in return for shelter and food. Cats are intrepid stalkers, who not only rid the granaries of mice and rats but go hunting with humans as well. They also attack dangerous pests like reptiles and scorpions. Mother cats lovingly nurse and protect their kittens. As they produce copious litters, cats are associated with pregnancy.
Detail of a painting from the tomb of Nebamun, c. 1350 BC, showing him standing on a reed boat hunting birds. At left, his cat has grabbed three birds. Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images:
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Cats love to bask in the sun. The orange and red colour of cats was associated with the glow of the sun.
Cats are valued for being playful, amusing companions, very affectionate when they choose to be so, lavishing furry caresses as they rub against their humans. They purr in musical cadences, hence the association of Bast with music. Not only did Bast show her motherly instincts by protecting the baby Horus, she was associated with sensual pleasure and revellery. Her festival was held yearly in the city of Bubastis, named in her honour. Herodotus (c. 450 BC), who attended such a celebration, described the unbridled merry making, where women outnumbered the men and the party goers indulged in feasting, drinking, dancing and unbridled sexuality. Participating in this joyous orgy guaranteed the attendees good luck throughout the coming year.
The cat figures as a warrior in the journey of the soul in the afterlife as slayer of the serpent of chaos and darkness, Apep, enemy of the sun god Ra. The snake-demon had to be killed every night so that Ra could return every morning to light the world with his brightness. It has been pointed out that the type of cat portrayed in such a scene is probably a serval, a type of wild cat.
According to the Texts of the Pyramids, Bast stood on the boat of Sun god Ra alongside Thoth and Hathor to thwart the attacks of the giant serpent of chaos, Apep, who wanted to devour Ra. Note that according to the versions of this story, it is sometimes Ra who turns into a cat during the fight against Apep, without Bast being present. Papyrus from Book of the Dead of royal scribe Hunefer, ca. 1300 BC, detail. Jon Bodsworth (photographer). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons:
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Another reason for the popularity of the cat was a fashionable attempt to imitate the royals and the upper classes. Cats were pampered in the homes of the rich and famous, bedecked in gold and jewellery, so even the lower classes made much of these furry companions.
A copy of wall painting found on The Tomb of Nakht , 18th dynasty, showing a cat eating fish under a chair where a woman sits. Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images:
Several goddesses were represented with feline features, such as the lion-headed Sekhmet, Mut, Tefnut, Shesemtet, Wadjet, Mafdet, Pakhet and others, who appear with a sun disc on the head.
When a cat died, the family went into great mourning, shaving off their eyebrows. According to Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st c. BC), an Egyptian mob lynched a Roman who had killed a cat. Cats were also embalmed and placed in tombs. However, the desire to have a mummified cat to please Bast led to the practice of raising cats for the sole purpose of killing and embalming them to sell as offerings.
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US threatened to invade International Criminal Court
Cats, Bastet and the Worship of Feline Gods
By Yekaterina Barbash
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Cats are among the most iconic animals in ancient Egyptian art and culture. The Egyptians encountered lions, panthers and jungle cats in the wild. Smaller cats lived among humans from early on, hunting vermin in homes and granaries. Through close observation, the Egyptians came to admire felines for their complex, dual nature. Felines combine grace, fecundity and gentle care with aggression, swiftness and danger. Gods ascribed with these qualities were often represented with feline features. But Egyptians did not worship felines. Rather, they believed these ‘feline’ deities shared certain character traits with the animals.
Bastet is probably the best-known feline goddess from Egypt. Initially depicted as a lioness, Bastet assumed the image of a cat or a feline-headed woman in the 2nd millennium BCE. Although she combined both nurturing and violent qualities, her shielding and motherly aspects typically were emphasized. Countless representations of a seated cat, cat-headed goddess or cat with kittens include dedicatory inscriptions addressed to Bastet. By offering such inscribed images, donors expressed their wishes for health and children or, more generally, life and protection.
Such revelations were important to an exhibition I organized at the Brooklyn Museum, called Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt. The idea for this show began while I was exploring our storerooms. A gilded wooden statuette of a goddess with a leonine head and the body of a woman peered at me from a shelf and stopped me in my tracks. I was intrigued by its beauty and elegance and by the unusual combination of her features. She has been in Brooklyn since 1937 but remained off view because of her poor condition.
This goddess with a feline head and leonine ears wears a tripartite wig. Judging by the remains of a peg on top of the head, a separately made sun-disk once adorned her, holding the bronze uraeus in place. She sits on a floral base with both her feet and buttocks touching the floor and knees drawn up to the torso. Her feet appear tightly bound together, connecting her to the underworld as if on a mummy. Her arms are bent at the elbows, with the right hand clenched in a fist while the left palm extends beside her left knee. The black painted base, reminiscent of a papyrus umbel, has an opening on the stem-end. Unexpectedly, a small cat mummy was originally enclosed in the hollow interior of the figure. But why was it there? To whom was it offered?
Although the Brooklyn statuette incorporates features familiar from Egyptian art, the compilation of these features makes it very unusual and, at first consideration, mysterious. For example, our goddess’ crouching or squatting position is used in two-dimensional representations of gods that appear in temples or tombs and on mortuary papyri. However, in three dimensions lion-headed female divinities are usually standing, striding or seated on a throne. Next, the umbel base of our figure recalls papyrus scepters frequently held by feline divinities and papyrus-form columns with cats on top dedicated to Bastet. Still, floral-shaped bases are unusual for wooden figures of gods of this size (just over a foot in height), and rarely appear as an animal mummy container. Such bases are more common in smaller bronzes and amulets or in large stone sculpture. Finally, containers for cat mummies do not typically take the form of a crouching feline goddess. Instead, animal mummy containers in the shape of a lion-headed woman generally represented the goddess seated on a throne and inscribed as Wadjet. And the Wadjet container, usually was for ichneumons (mongeese), not cats.
Despite the unusual features, certain details are clues to the identity of our statuette. Many powerful goddesses were represented with her features, although they are notoriously difficult to identify without an inscription. Bastet, Sakhmet, Mut, Tefnut, Shesemtet, Pakhet, Mafdet, Wadjet and others all appeared as a lioness or lion-headed woman with a sun disk on her head. Each one was named a daughter of the Sun God and the Eye of the Sun. Egyptians associated cats with the sun for a number of reasons. They saw the red and yellow fur of cats and lions as the colors of the sun itself. Cats love warmth and basking in the sun. And most importantly, much like the self-contradictory nature of felines, the sun possesses a dual nature as a warming source of life or a scorching danger in the desert. Thus, many dangerous and protective daughters of the sun god were endowed with a leonine nature.
In Egyptian mythology, the terrifying and nurturing aspects of feline goddesses are most commonly represented by the Sekhmet and Bastet, with other daughters of the Sun worthy of this title. For instance, Hathor-Tefnut is described in the Myth of the Eye of the Sun in Philae as the one who “rages like Sekhmet and is friendly like Bastet.” All these goddesses should be seen as one fierce, feline, female force that carried the power of the sun’s fire to destroy, burn and scratch all who stood in her way, but turned into a motherly divinity when pacified.
The mummy found inside the Brooklyn figurine – indeed a cat mummy – offers a clue to the figurine’s function. Cats are one of the more numerous animals to be mummified by the ancient Egyptians. Each mummified animal was linked to a specific god and offered to that god in hopes of favor or a sign of gratitude. Egyptians dedicated cat mummies to the nurturing and dangerous goddess Bastet. Bubastis, the Delta city that was the center of worship of this goddess, is the origin of masses of cat mummies. Most of these were placed in rectangular or cat-shaped coffins or wrapped in linen and painted to resemble a cat. Mystery solved, as much as any ancient Egyptian puzzle can be: the Brooklyn Museum’s figurine served as a particularly fancy cat mummy container, probably an attempt to conjure extra favor from Bastet.
Funniest Raccoon Memes by Nocturnal Trash Posts
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Who doesn’t like a good raccoon meme? Who doesn’t like a good raccoon? Wait, who doesn’t like a good raccoon anything? Trash pandas are awesome and no, there can’t be any other way. And speaking of raccoon memes, there is a dedicated Instagram page that celebrates raccoonhood with existential, funny, and straight up nonsensical memes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 21, 2023. Xi on Tuesday held talks with Putin in Moscow. Putin held a solemn welcome ceremony for Xi Jinping at the St. George’s Hall. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. They had sincere, friendly and fruitful talks on the bilateral ties and major regional and international issues of mutual interest, and reached new, important common understandings in many fields.
The two sides agreed to follow the principles of good-neighborliness, friendship and win-win cooperation in advancing exchanges and cooperation in various fields and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.
In the refreshing weather of March in Moscow, Xi arrived at the Kremlin in a motorcade. He was welcomed by the Kremlin’s horse guards and greeted by the Kremlin Commandant at the alighting point.
Putin held a solemn welcome ceremony for Xi at the St. George’s Hall. Accompanied by the majestic welcome music, Xi and Putin walked in big strides on a red carpet from the opposite ends of the hall to meet each other in the center. They had a firm handshake and took photos together. The military band played the national anthems of China and Russia.
The two presidents held small-group talks first and then large-group talks.
Xi pointed out that China and Russia are each other’s biggest neighbor and that consolidating and developing long-term good-neighborly relations with Russia is consistent with historical logic and a strategic choice of China, which will not be changed by any turn of events.
Since his first state visit to Russia 10 years ago, China and Russia have enjoyed mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual benefit, Xi said, adding that relations between the two countries have grown from strength to strength, showing the features of being more comprehensive, more practical, and more strategic.
Xi said that during this visit, he saw many ordinary Russians in the street waving their hands at the Chinese motorcade in a demonstration of goodwill. He sees clearly that China-Russia relations have strong public support.
No matter how the international landscape may change, China will stay committed to advancing the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, he said, adding this state visit to Russia is a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. China is ready to work with Russia to build on past achievements, enrich the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, bring more benefits to the two peoples and make greater contribution to human progress.
Xi noted that changes unseen in a century are evolving faster and the international balance of power is undergoing a profound shift. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major countries in the world, China and Russia have natural responsibilities to make joint efforts to steer and promote global governance in a direction that meets the expectations of the international community and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
The two sides should support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests, and jointly resist the interference in internal affairs by external forces, he said, calling on the two sides to enhance communication and coordination on international affairs, especially in the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and other multilateral frameworks, practice true multilateralism, oppose hegemonism and power politics, contribute to global post-COVID economic recovery, advance the trend toward a multi-polar world, and promote the reform and improvement of the global governance system.
Xi and Putin heard reports by the leading officials of the relevant government departments of the two countries on cooperation in various fields.
Thanks to joint efforts, China and Russia have enjoyed deepening political mutual trust, convergence of interests, and understanding between the peoples, Xi said, adding that their cooperation in such areas as the economy and trade, investment, energy, people-to-people and cultural exchanges and at the subnational levels have made continued progress. There are a growing number of areas and an even stronger consensus for cooperation.
China is in the first year of fully implementing the guiding principles set forth by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it will foster a new development paradigm at a faster pace, promote high-quality development, and advance Chinese modernization in all respects, he said.
Noting China-Russia cooperation enjoys significant potential and space and is strategic, reliable and stable, Xi said that the two sides need to strengthen overall coordination, boost trade in traditional areas, such as energy, resources, and electromechanical products, continuously enhance the resilience of industrial and supply chains, expand cooperation in such areas as information technology, the digital economy, agriculture and trade in services. They should step up cooperation in areas of innovation and facilitate cross-border logistics and transportation, he added.
The two sides should cement the cornerstone of people-to-people exchanges, he said, calling for efforts to encourage more interactions between sister provinces/states and between sister cities, ensure the success of the Years of Sports Exchange, and facilitate the personnel movement between the two countries.
Putin once again extended Russia’s warm congratulations on Xi’s reelection as President of China by unanimous vote and the formation of a new government in China. He said that Russia-China relations are developing very well, and that good progress has been made in all fields of bilateral cooperation.
Noting exchanges and cooperation are active between the governments, legislative bodies, at different levels and in different areas, Putin said that amid a complex environment, such as the spread of COVID, Russia-China trade bucked the trend and realized growth.
He expressed hope that the two sides will make full use of their existing channels of exchange and work for new progress in practical cooperation in various fields, including the economy and trade, investment, energy, space and cross-border transportation and logistics, and bring people-to-people and cultural exchanges in sports and tourism and at subnational levels to new heights.
Russia firmly supports China in upholding its legitimate interests on issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Putin said, adding Russia congratulates China on helping to successfully bring about historic outcomes from the talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing, which fully demonstrates China’s important status and positive influence as a major country in the world.
Russia appreciates China for consistently upholding an objective and impartial position on international affairs, supports the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative China has put forward, and stands ready to further enhance international coordination with China, he said.
Xi and Putin believe the exchange between the two sides during the visit is in-depth, rich and comprehensive and has injected new impetus into the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.
They directed the competent departments of the two countries to follow through on the common understandings reached at the presidential level, enhance communication and work more closely with each other to deliver new and greater progress in China-Russia practical cooperation and boost development and rejuvenation in both countries.
They agreed to stay in close touch through various means to jointly guide the sound and steady growth of China-Russia relations.
After the talks, Xi and Putin jointly signed a Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era and a Joint Statement of the President of the People’s Republic of China and the President of the Russian Federation on Pre-2030 Development Plan on Priorities in China-Russia Economic Cooperation.
During the visit, the two sides also signed bilateral cooperation documents in such areas as agriculture, forestry, basic scientific and technological research, market regulation, and the media.
How did people from ancient China dress? What kind of clothes did they wear and how do you know that it is Chinese clothes?
Ancient China, known as a state of propriety and decorum, has long been hailed as the “Kingdom of Costume” with its exquisite clothes.
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In the minds of ancient Chinese, in addition to keeping a warm and beautifying appearance, clothing was also an effective measure to establish social order, distinguish nobility from inferiority, grant rewards, and exert punishments, serving as a yardstick of court rituals.
A form of dress code was first constitutionally established at the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty(1046-771BC). In order to show dignity and majesty, the king and ministers would wear different colors of robes in sacrificing ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.
Also, wearing fur clothing was strictly in line with rank. Hunters who gained precious furs had to contribute them to the ruler, for they were prohibited from selling or using furs without permission.
People aged above 70 were allowed to wear silk and eat meat. Such regulations allowed seniors to enjoy such precious items in their twilight years, rewarding them for their lifelong contributions to society. This was the origin of the Chinese tradition of respecting the elder.
Costume is more of a diverse term that encompasses different clothing styles in various dynasties. All dynasties had rules and orders that stipulated the textures, colors, patterns, and styles of clothes in detail.
After the unification of China in the Qin (221-207BC) and Han (202BC-9AD) dynasties, the style of costumes was gradually standardized.
Generally speaking, the formal dress had wide sleeves extending to the knees out of proportion, presenting a solemn style. Everyone could quickly tell the social status and rank of people from what they wore daily. The upper class wore clothes with wide sleeves, while servants had short clothes with narrow sleeves (such a style of clothing was for ease of movement and labor).
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Common types of commoners’ costumes in ancient China’s Han Dynasty
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Common types of dress for nobles costumes in ancient China’s Han Dynasty
The color of the official robes was a significant indicator to distinguish hierarchy. Adopting colors to classify official ranks was initially shaped in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and officially established in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the system of official robes inherited the tradition of the Sui. During Emperor Gaozong’s reign, official ranks were indicated by clothing color. Decrees made stipulations about clothing colors and ornaments. Since then, all the following dynasties have observed the color system of the Tang, using four colors, including purple, scarlet, green, and blue, to classify the hierarchy.
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An ancient painting of one of Tang’s emperors: Emperor Gaozong. During Tang Dynasty, yellow is only for the emperor. And another people cannot dress in this color.
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The pottery cultural relic from Tang Dynasty exhibited at Xi’an museum. The pottery people dressed in green, which is ruled as the color for low-level officials in Tang Dynasty.
The manifestation of appearance has evolved over its long history, dazzling and colorful, elegant and simple. Different tastes epitomized the pursuit of beauty and people’s ideal life in a specific era.
China Announces Naval Enforcement in Taiwan Strait – ships to be stopped, boarded, inspected. US Says “No”
China’s Fujian maritime safety administration launched a three-day special joint patrol and inspection operation in the central and northern parts of the Taiwan Strait that includes moves to board ships, it said on its WeChat account.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosting Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California on Wednesday, becoming the most senior U.S. figure to meet a Taiwanese leader on U.S. soil in decades.
The maritime safety authority in the southeastern Chinese province said on Wednesday the operation included “on-site inspections” on direct cargo ships and construction vessels on both sides of the Taiwan Strait “to ensure the safety of vessel navigation and ensure the safe and orderly operation of key projects on water.”
Taiwan’s Transport Ministry’s Maritime and Ports Bureau said in a statement late Wednesday said it has lodged a strong protest with China about the move.
It said it has notified relevant shipping operators that if they encounter such requests from China they should refuse them and immediately notify Taiwan’s coast guard to render assistance.
“If the mainland side insists on taking one-sided actions, it will create obstacles to normal exchanges between the two sides. We will be forced to take corresponding measures,” it added, without giving details.
Areas covered by the operation include the Pingtan Taiwan direct container route, the “small three links” passenger route, the Taiwan Strait vessel customary route, the densely navigable areas of commercial and fishing vessels, and areas with frequent illegal sand mining activities.
The “small three links” passenger route refers to boat routes between Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands which sit opposite China and Chinese cities.
Once again, US meddling in the affairs of foreign nations is at the root of this latest international trouble. Taiwan’s President, met yesterday with U.S. Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. That set off alarm bells in Beijing and China’s Ministry of Defense laid out what’s what.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense stated:
The US government must cease all official contact with Taiwan and the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party;
The US authorities must stop interfering in China’s internal affairs on Taiwan;
The US should stop developing ties with Taiwan and emasculate the “one China” principle;
The Chinese army will maintain a high degree of combat readiness to protect national sovereignty in the Taiwan Strait.
So there we have it. The gauntlet has been thrown down by China. The U.S. is officially, publicly, told to stop.
Of course, the U.S. will not stop because it arrogantly believes it is the pre-eminent power of this planet and no one else can tell the US what to do.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a recipe for a fight. Soon.
Bacon Cheeseburger Meat Loaf
Meat loaf is boring no more, especially when it has the flavors of a bacon cheeseburger.
cheesy bacon cheeseburger meatloaf
Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
4 slices crisply cooked bacon, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon McCormick® Mustard, Ground
1 teaspoon McCormick® Onion Powder
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ketchup
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix ground beef, bacon, 1 cup of the cheese, bread crumbs, egg and seasonings in large bowl.
Shape into a loaf on shallow baking pan. Pour ketchup over top.
Bake 45 minutes.
Sprinkle meat loaf with remaining 1/2 cup cheese; bake 10 to 15 minutes longer or until meat loaf is cooked through.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 1 hr | Serves: 8
Substitution Tip: Prepare as directed, using 1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Salt in place of the garlic powder and salt.
The US sabotaged the NS pipelines, thus is scared of NU investigation. The US biological labs made the covid, the US then used the virus as a biological weapon to have sneakily attacked Wuhan China in Sept 2019. Thus the US is untrasparent. Why?
It is a military empire. The largest one in history.
When viewed from this perception, instead of the ludicrous idea that it is a democracy, everything becomes crystal clear. Not only can American actions and behaviors be clearly understood, but future actions can be predicted with ease. Making adversarial nations quite capable of thwarting American belligerence.
“What’s Coming IS WORSE THAN A WW3, THIS IS SERIOUS!”
https://youtu.be/ZUzR0wYMfTI
CONFIRMED: Russia Building Troops In Syria to “EXPEL U.S. Army”
The Russian government has begun an “unprecedented” build-up of military might inside Syria with the plan to “expel the U.S. Army” from the country.
The Russians are inside Syria with the permission of the Syrian government. U.S. Troops are in Syria WITHOUT such permission.
The U.S. entered Syria on the grounds that the terrorist group “ISIS” was taking over vast swaths of the country, stealing the oil to fund itself, and was growing and spreading into other countries.
But when the US entered, they did very little to stop ISIS. Instead, the US began backing a group calling itself “the Free Syrian Army (FSA)” which was openly trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Things went very badly for Assad, and his government was losing against ISIS and against the FSA, so Assad went to Moscow to ask for military help.
Russia agreed to help and sent the Russian Army.
Within months, the Russians absolutely smashed ISIS — and the FSA. Assad’s government was able to re-establish control over vast portions of the country.
But the US never left the country and, to this very day, maintain control over huge sections of northeast Syria . . . where the oil is.
A couple years ago, Russia provided video surveillance footage showing the US allowing tanker trucks to come into Syrian oil areas, fill-up, and then go into Turkey or Iraq. Once there, the oil was partially refined, re-labeled, and sold on the oil market. But no one says where all that money ever went!
It later came out that the US, along with Israel, and Turkey, were grabbing upwards of thirty million dollars a MONTH in Syrian oil, and selling it. Where the money went, no one knows.
This theft of Syrian oil caused Russia to tell the US, Israel, and Turkey to halt the theft of oil. No one listened. SO Russia BOMBED certain oil facilities in northeastern Syria to physically prevent the ongoing theft of oil. This turned out to be a short hiccup in the theft. The damaged facilities were repaired, and the oil flowed again.
This has now gone on for years.
Now, Russia is moving large numbers of troops, armor, artillery, and planes into northeast Syria, to face the US Army.
Word coming from the area is explicitly clear: Russia is planning to EXPEL the US from Syria.
Unlike Ukraine, where all the nations of NATO have been supplying weaponry to that government so as to fight Russia, there is no such arrangement within Syria because Syria and Russia are allies. So if there’s a face-off between Russia and the US inside Syria, NATO will not be able to do very much.
We are now faced with the very real possibility that Russia will tell the US “get out of Syria by this date, or be put out by force.” What happens next is anyone’s guess, but war is on the table. Direct war – between the US and Russia.
Grab a bowl of potato chips and dip and sit a spell.
If youse got some brewski’s, have a quaff.
Enjoy today’s installment.
MM Interview on “Super Soldier Talk”
Bob & Doug McKenzie – Twist-off Tops
They were basically mocking the American impression of Canadians, and then Americans started basing their Canadian impressions on Bob and Doug McKenzie, which was a satire of how the Americans thought Canadians talked and... I've gone cross-eyed...
Saudi Arabia takes step to join China-led security bloc SCO, as ties with Beijing strengthened. What does it mean for the US influence in the Middle East?
It should be the nail in the coffin of the US hegemony in the gulf region and the Middle East, also it will be a blowback for the US arms & ammunition sales. Even Military Industrial Complex already book the sales of their used arms and ammunition in the Ukraine war. But it is obvious that after the peace deal brokered by China of Saudis and Iran, all proxy wars in the region (especially Yemen, Libya, Syria, etc) will be finished. Because most of the wars are fought between Sunni and Shia factions. So the middle east and the gulf will be cleansed from wars in near future.
Even though the US and the west have already Ukraine war as a proxy war and arms sale, also they are trying hard to instigate another war in the heart of Asia in form of Taiwan. But in the gulf specifically, in war-torn areas like Syria and Yemen, China will be the lead in reconstruction and rehabilitation work, which will financially important in this era of global recession and slowdown.
Finally, with the strong leadership of China in regional trade blocks like SCO, RCEP, ASEAN, BRICS, and many more, the chance of disruptions or war chances is minimized (even for China and India too). So no room for USA MIC here. In Africa and Latin America, the situation is abruptly changing in favor of China instead of the USA, due to the strong influence of China. Conclusively the fall of the war-mongering policies of the USA will be no room in near future due to the peaceful rise of China and its soft power.
On 2023/3/27, China Foreign Affairs Qin Gan announced that China will sign the “Southeast Asia Nuclear-weapon-Free-Zone Treaty”. What is the treaty about?
Qin’s announcement came out after meeting with ASEAN secretary. ASEAN all welcome it, except perhaps Philippines who does not want peace in the ASEAN region.
Qin said: China will be the first one to sign the “Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Treaty” so as to maintain safety & stability of southeast Asian region (hereafter SA region).
China will work with southeast Asian countries to eliminate interference from country(s) outside SA region.
China will implement the rules in “Declaration on Conduct of Partners in South China Sea” that were set by countries in SA region.
China will make South China Sea a peaceful sea. A friendship sea. And a cooperation sea.
The 2023 treaty is a supplement to “Declaration on Neutralization of Southeast Asia” that was signed in Bangkok in 1971 by 10 countries in SA region.
By signing the 2023 treaty, China has promised southeast Asian countries not to install nuclear weapon in any countries in SA region.
China urges southeast Asian countries to exercise their strategic sovereignty. Do not let the US-led West lead them by their nose.
Philippines has been led by the nose by USA recently. Macros allowed USA increase US military base from 5 to 9. Before going to Japan, Macros repeated a Japanese slogan “when Taiwan has problem, so will be Philippines”.
Westerners only hear the western narrative without knowing the history of South China Sea.
Let me give a summary re South China Sea – history from natives on Hainan Island, China
Natives on Hainan Island are fishermen for generations. Can trace back to Han Dynasty ie 2000 years ago. They own a book that records the rocks/islands in South China Sea. This book 更路簿 (literal translation: distance & road record) 1更 (distance) = 10 海里 (nautical miles). It was a map & directory for fishermen in old days before there is beidou/GPS. This book is classified as world cultural heritage today.
In the past, fishermen would leave 1 person on the island (for months) so as to guard it. Or erect a sign with Chinese words to mark their territory.
Can any countries eg Philippines or Vietnam present such historical records?
Two Quorans gave detailed history of SCS. Search Quora.
1, Why does China not declare out of the UNCLOS 1982 to continuously claim 80% of South China Sea in the Chinese legal way? Answered by Johnny Fung in China World Leader
2, USA approved Chiang Kai-shek’s 11-dot line – prepared by Chiu Yu in China World Leader
American “news” for today…
The “Drudge Report”…
2023 03 29 11 22
Prince – Purple Rain (Official Video)
On 2023/3/28, there are 2 forums going on. One whose headquarter is located in China is called Boao Forum for Asia. One is led by USA & called The Summit for democracy. What is the difference of the 2 forums?
China’s focuses on business & trading which unifies the intl community. USA divides the intl community by political system.
When USA unilaterally decides which country can join or not, USA itself is NOT democratic. … there is no justification for USA to lead the summit.
USA’s foreign policy is to DIVIDE. Divide countries & divide people inside any country. Like a gossiper dividing the friendship of you & your friend, by creating hatred or fear of the rival. By demonizing rival with lies & twisted facts.
USA divides the intl community into “democracy” & “authoritarian”.
Russia runs western democracy but is called authoritarian by USA. Aha. Now we see it. The so-called “democracy” depends on whether a country submits to USA or not. Submit to an un-democratic USA. Isn’t that an irony?
True democracy calls for respect & coexistence of the different. We dont tell others how they manage their home. Why can USA tell others how they govern their country?
See, USA is so authoritarian that they takes away other’s FREEDOM to govern their country according to their situation, culture & history.
So authoritarian that they uses arbitrary economic sanction or military to deprive people in other countries of human rights eg Economic Right to job/income, Social Right to safety, & even Right to Life in case of wars.
USA is a true AUTHORITARIAN in the intl community. But USA calls itself democratic.
China is also called authoritarian by USA because China does not submit to USA.
What is Boao Forum about? Business & trading.
Every country & individual needs economy to maintain life eg buy food, shelter, healthcare etc. Everyone can live under any political system; the world exists long before the word “democracy” was born.
Business & trading has no nationality, political system, religion or ethnicity. They speak the same language – money ie basic need for life.
BusIness & trading UNIFIES people. Not dividing people.
FYI, there is a 3rd one called China Development Forum. It is organized by Chinese government to invite world CEO eg Apple, Pfizer, BHP etc.
A guy called my radio show tonight saying he viewed video and found what HE says are discrepancies in the shoes and pants the shooter was wearing. I stopped that call dead in its tracks and I’ll tell you why.
I am not Alex Jones. He pulled that stuff with the Newtown, CT school shooting and it got him sued.
I’m NOT going to be another radio host who gets sued to oblivion by airing whack-jobs who deny reality, because those calls and their absurd theories cause emotional harm to grieving families.
Alex Jones did that, and now he’s on the hook for a Billion Dollars in damages. Oh, and all those callers to his show that pushed that bullshit, none of THEM ponied-up even one cent of that court judgement, did they? Nope! They left Alex Jones swinging in the breeze and moved on to some other outlet to push their tripe.
I’m not gonna have that shit on my show.
It is my considered opinion this shooting at a Christian School in Nashville, TN took place. I believe the victims were brutally murdered in cold blood, and the families of those victims are in my thoughts and prayers. They should be in yours too.
I will not abide absurd theories about this type of incident somehow being manufactured or in any way untrue.
If you want to push that crap, do it somewhere else. I won’t have it on my show or on my web site.
Barbecue Pork Roast, Tavern Style
2023 03 29 10 57
Ingredients
2 large onions, sliced
1 (4 pound) pork roast
6 whole cloves
2 cups water
1 (16 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
1 large onion, chopped
Instructions
Place half of the sliced onions on the bottom of the slow cooker.
Place meat on top along with cloves and the remaining sliced onions.
Add water, cover and cook for 8-12 hours or overnight on LOW.
Remove meat from slow cooker. Drain liquid from slow cooker and discard.
Remove bone and fat from meat; shred meat; return to slow cooker.
Add chopped onion and barbecue sauce.
Cover and cook another 1-3 hours on HIGH or 4-8 hours on LOW, stirring 3 or 4 times.
At around 11 am on March 23, 2013, all eyes were on the podium at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations as the world attentively awaited an important speech that was to be delivered.
It was Xi Jinping’s first important speech during his first overseas trip after he was elected as the Chinese president. The speech was highly anticipated and drew worldwide attention.
“It is a world where countries are linked with and dependent on one another at a level never seen before. Mankind, by living in the global village in the same era and on the same Earth where history and reality meet, has increasingly emerged as a community of common destiny in which everyone has in himself a little bit of others,” he said.
This major concept of human beings having “a community with a shared future for mankind” proposed by Xi soon grabbed international headlines and was quickly spread to all parts of the world through extensive media reports.
In what seems like an instant, one decade has passed since the momentous speech, and the decade has been marked by numerous and significant changes.
As the world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, the historical trend of peace, development, and win-win cooperation has gathered an unstoppable momentum. The prevailing trends of global multipolarity, economic globalization, and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible. Meanwhile, the world is being confronted with complex and intertwined traditional and nontraditional security challenges with damaging hegemonic acts, domination and bullying. There is a long and tortuous way to go for the global economic recovery. Countries around the world are deeply concerned and eager to find a lasting solution to mounting crises through cooperation.
The world has gained a more profound understanding that peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefits make the world vibrant while bullying, division, conflict, and confrontation only lead nations into strife and chaos.
The world today is also full of uncertainty. Human beings must overcome the fog of hegemonism, the prevailing Cold War mentality, the employment of zero-sum game tactics, the notion of the inherent superiority of certain civilizations, and other forms of interference, and veer away from this turbulent course of history as soon as possible. The concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” proposed by Xi is the ideological beacon charting this course.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once said the UN is willing to join China in promoting world peace and development, and in realizing the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
A vision to future
Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a major global concept in his speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, calling for joint efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind, on March 23, 2013. Photo: Xinhua
Truth can only be made clearer through the test of time. The great value of the concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” has been repeatedly validated over the last decade because of its insight into reality and a forward-looking vision for the future.
Only with insight can we see the times clearly.
Xi noted that we should expand our global vision and develop keen insights into human development and progress trends, respond to the general concerns of people from all countries, and play our part in resolving the common issues facing humankind.
Historically, the world has never been more connected than it is now, and human beings have never been more interdependent as they are today. If the Suez Canal is blocked, Europeans will run out of coffee to have with their breakfast; a severe rainstorm in Southeast Asia will increase the prices of computer hard drives in Latin America; thousands of parts for an airplane are manufactured by companies in dozens of countries; when an earthquake hits a country, news and pictures of the natural disaster can spread all over the world in a few minutes; and now the novel coronavirus disease has forced the entire world to fight together.
As we are all members of the global village and we belong to a community with a shared future for mankind, it is impossible to solve problems arising from such interconnectivity by severing links. All human beings must be seen as one in order to find the right way to deal with such problems.
A vision is the key to the future.
Xi has repeatedly used a “ship” as a metaphor to portray the future of mankind, when he virtually addressed the 2022 World Economic Forum, stating that “facts have shown, once again, that amid the raging torrents of a global crisis, countries are not riding separately in some 190 small boats, but are rather all in a giant ship on which our shared destiny hinges.”
In the last decade, the world has experienced dramatic changes and the road has been fraught with difficulties. Against this backdrop, the vision of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” is becoming more forward-looking when we consider how mankind has worked together to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, when the UN Climate Change Conference achieves positive outcomes, and when the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) creates many “national landmarks,” “livelihood projects” and “monument of cooperation.”
As Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain’s 48 Group Club, said in 2020, “Coronavirus [disease] is a global crisis that no country is immune from. It has proved that building a community with a shared future for mankind is the only right choice to win the battle.”
History has proved once again that nearsightedness leads nowhere and selfish interests lead only to bad results. “Building a community with a shared future for mankind” is the only way to overcome the rapids in the treacherous waters of history.
World of great harmony
Throughout the ages, people at home and abroad have shared their yearning for a better world. The idea of “a community with a shared future for mankind” continues to resonate because its approach emphasizes “commonality.”
Pursuing the concept of “Datong,” or “a world of great harmony,” is the main aim.
“We should jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and work together to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity,” Xi said in relation to the vision of an ideal world. This is a clear blueprint for a community with a shared future for mankind, and a contemporary version of the ideal of “great harmony” for mankind.
Over the last decade, Xi has visited more than 70 countries on the five continents during his more than 40 overseas trips, hosted and attended a series of important multilateral diplomatic activities, proposed the BRI, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promote a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation, all of which have enriched the vision of “a community with a shared future for mankind” and created specific ways to achieve the said vision.
This has offered China’s solution to the changing world, times, and history, and gained broad international consensus.
“It’s mankind’s common ideal to build a world in which there are no disputes, every country enjoys development, and every person lives happily,” Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister, said at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in April 2018. “To realize this ideal, political leaders in the world need to show great foresight, point out the development direction, and make their best efforts to turn the vision into a reality,” he said.
“China’s initiative to build a community with a shared future for mankind is based on such a vision and it is hoped that all countries will join hands to realize the goal,” he noted.
Facing together is an effective way to solve problems.
In China’s eyes, to truly pursue world peace, we need dialogue and consultation, and to truly benefit the global population, we should build a shared future.
As Xi said, prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and war can only cause disaster and suffering, while mutual respect, equality, peaceful development, and common prosperity represent the right path to be taken.
Over the last decade, the universal values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom have gained increasing popularity. Building an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity has become an increasingly common pursuit for more and more countries.
The international community clearly realizes that there is no such a thing as a superior state, nor a one-size-fits-all model of national governance, nor an international order dominated by a single country. A united world - not a divided one - that is peaceful and not volatile is what serves the common interests of mankind.
The initiative of building a global community with a shared future was initiated by China, but promoted by all.
The concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” proposed by Xi is extremely important, Pakistani President Arif Alvi said on March 15, 2023, adding that only by working together can countries around the world address the challenges they face, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and poverty.
China, under the leadership of Xi, has established a better image in the world and is leading the world in a good direction, Alvi said.
Beneficial global thoughts
The charm of thought often reflects one’s great personality. The idea of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” has gained increasing popularity among the people because it reflects Xi’s spirit as the leader of a major country and a world-class leader with the aim to benefit the world while deeply caring for its people.
This spirit offers great wisdom for the benefit of the world.
“All countries should rise above differences such as nationality, culture, and ideology, to build a community with a shared future for mankind and jointly build our shared planet,” Xi has said on numerous occasions internationally while extending a sincere invitation to the rest of the world. “All countries are welcome to board the train of China’s development,” “Our aim is to turn the Chinese market into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all,” “Development is real only when all countries develop together,” he said.
The facts speak for themselves. The BRI has become a quality international public goods jointly built by all parties and shared by the world.
The China-Europe freight train line, so far, runs more than 65,000 trains, making it an “iron caravan” connecting Asia and Europe. The China-Laos railway can transform Laos from a landlocked country into a land-linked hub that connects the wider region. The Chinese-built Peljesac Bridge in Croatia fulfilled the Croatian people’s dream of connecting their northern and southern territories.
This sentiment also encapsulates the Chinese’s leader’s “people first” philosophy.
Even when China was poor, it tightened its belt to help its African brothers build this [Tazara Railway] railway, Xi said when he held talks with visiting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Beijing on November 3, 2022. “Now that China is more developed, it is better placed to act on the principle of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith, to help our African friends achieve common development, and to build a stronger China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era,” he noted.
From the Tazara Railway to Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, and Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), from the China-Cambodia Friendship Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Village Project to the provision of 1,000 training quotas for poverty alleviation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to various countries, sincerity and real actions all bear witness to China’s initial sincerity in seeking development with the world.
“Most of the world has said this is really how we want to move forward… China and its development, and its willingness to share that development has created a new opportunity for the world,” said William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the US publication Executive Intelligence Review.
China’s success story of poverty alleviation has given “a different direction to history,” Jones said.
By relying on independence, putting people and their lives first, peaceful development, openness, inclusiveness, and solidarity, instead of war, colonialism, and plunder, the Chinese people have blazed a new path to modernization, which is different from the Western mode.
The Chinese path to modernization has inspired many other countries, especially developing ones, to figure out a new path to modernization. The Chinese people hope and believe that as more countries in the world embark on the path to modernization, the dream of a community with a shared future for mankind will come true eventually.
Right path serves common interests
The world belongs to people from all countries, and the future of the world must be in the hands of all people. Why has the concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” profoundly influenced the world? Because it encourages openness, goodwill, and innovation to achieve common goals.
This right path best serves the common interests of the vast majority of people in the world.
Xi stressed that to have a community with a shared future for mankind is not to replace one system or civilization with another. Instead, it is about countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures, and levels of development coming together for shared interests, shared rights, and shared responsibilities in global affairs, and creating the greatest synergy for building a better world.
In the last decade, the concept has brought joy along the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR thanks to faster and smoother travel instead of the cries of the refugee camp; it has brought about the opening of new factories in industrial parks around the world rather than enterprise collapse in the wake of Western-proposed “decoupling”; it has transformed certain land-locked countries into land-linked hubs, prevented some countries from being sadly made into “chess pieces.”
Martin Jacques, a senior fellow of politics and international studies at Cambridge University, said that China has carried out unprecedented work at home and abroad, and offered “a new possibility” to the world.
This right path encourages active participation.
In the last 10 years, the concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” has been written into the resolutions or declarations of the United Nations, BRICS, and other international organizations many times over: At the bilateral level, China has resonated with many countries in the face of complicated global issues; at the regional level, the building of several communities with a shared future has enjoyed steady promotion; at the global level, communities of global development, human security, human health, and human and natural life, communities with a shared future in cyberspace, a community with a shared future in nuclear security, and a community with a shared future in the ocean have emerged.
The Global Development Initiative proposed by Xi has received positive responses and support from more than 100 countries and international organizations, including the United Nations, and about 70 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative.
Recent Saudi Arabia-Iran talks in Beijing had achieved important outcomes, which are a testament to the successful practice of the Global Security Initiative, which has been praised and supported by more than 70 countries, and was unanimously welcomed by the international community.
Xi introduced the Global Civilization Initiative at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15, 2023, which was warmly endorsed by the participants and resonated widely with the international community.
The BRI has transformed from a blueprint proposed one decade ago to a reality today, turning into effective development for countries and tangible benefits for countless people. So far, it has seen the participation of more than three-quarters of the world’s, attracting trillion dollars of investment, forming more than 3,000 cooperation projects, creating 420,000 jobs for countries along the BRI route, and lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty.
It has been a decade since the concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” was proposed. The world has seen the power of ideas and heard the echoes of history – only when destiny is shared will the world have a brighter future.
People want to live comfortable lives, to have friends and wine in every place they go, to have a happier future for their children that’s better than they have today. No one wants to survive in uncertainty, poverty, and backwardness, to grow up in a land shrouded in hostility and intimidation.
“Building a community with a shared future for mankind is an exciting goal, and it requires efforts from generation after generation,” Xi addressed the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 18, 2017.
How can we take responsibility for our children and give them a better future?
The world’s tomorrow depends on our decisions today. We believe that as long as we uphold goodwill and communicate sincerely, even the biggest conflicts can be resolved and even the thickest ice can be broken. We look forward to realizing harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation among countries, passing on the flame of peace from generation to generation.
Chinese people are ready to cooperate with the people of the world, to always be on the right side of history and on the side of the progress of human civilization, and to walk hand in hand on the path to peace and development.
China’s rare earth countermeasures have succeeded!
The Burden Of Blogging
Some times it’s just like this. I am not feeling well. I am not sick but something is just not right.
I have no idea what to post about. Every theme and issue feels so repetitive. It is the burden of blogging, especially when one tries to post every day.
I need a pause. Likely only for a few days. I will continue to post open threads. I will continue to clean the spam queue and to somewhat police the comments. But over the next few days there will be no new original content here.
I will do something other than reading news, thinking and writing about it. I hope that it will help to clean my mind to then come back with some fresh ideas.
Artist Illustrated 25 Bad Puns To Brighten Your Day
0 9 1
According to an artist Irina Blok: “I am a designer based in San Francisco, and I love to doodle during my spare time. I hear many words that amuse me during the day, not sure why, but they are just too funny. Perhaps it’s a combination of being easily amused and having English as a second language. In any case, it’s a good method to escape our sad pandemic reality and deal with stress.
For example, when my mother mentioned she is doing “intermittent fasting,” an image of a person putting a mitten over their head popped into my mind. Then when I heard “thumb drive,” I saw an actual human thumb driving a car. Same with “Bluetooth” (my daughter was asking why someone came up with this name?) – in my head, I saw an actual blue tooth transmitting Wi-Fi from a mouth.
I usually write down funny words, and when I have some free time, I grab my iPad and quickly draw it. My goal is to create a new drawing every day, and I have been sharing them on my Instagram.
I really enjoyed drawing this, and I hope you’ll find these amusing too! Here are the links to my previous posts if you missed them here and here.”
25 Bad Puns Inspired By Everyday Things 603a86da76ab9 880 650×650 1
The World Has Misjudged the Semiconductor Supply Chain
https://youtu.be/NfTTUjo5FJo
What was Hitler’s last day on Earth like?
In late April 1945, chaos reigned in Berlin. Years of war had turned former superpower Germany into a battleground, and its cities from strongholds into places under siege. The Red Army had completely circled the city, which now called on elderly men, police, and even children to defend it. But though a battle raged on in the streets, the war was already lost. Adolf Hitler’s time was almost up.
The people of Germany had already taken leave of their Führer. Since a public appearance on his birthday, April 20, he had been disconcertingly absent from the public eye. In reality, he was holed up in a bunker near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, surrounded by his command staff and a few private citizens, including his mistress Eva Braun.
For weeks, bad news drifted into Hitler’s hideaway. As American forces advanced from the west, and the relentless Soviet tanks from the east, Hitler’s generals began to lose their heads. Suspicious of a coup by his closest advisors, Hitler raged and planned and raged again. When he learned that Felix Steiner, one of his SS commanders, had ignored his orders to stage a heroic last stand south of the city, he began to rant and cry, declaring the war lost. Later that day, he consulted with Werner Haase, his private doctor, about the best ways to commit suicide.
By April 29, the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Though Hitler married Eva Braun that morning, people were more interested in discussing suicide than celebrating a wedding.
Hitler had learned that Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, had given the Allies an offer of immediate surrender—an offer they promptly refused. Outraged, Hitler demanded that Himmler—once his close and powerful compatriot—be arrested.
Then Hitler heard of the death of Benito Mussolini, his counterpart in Italy. Executed and defiled by an angry mob, the dictator’s end was a powerful warning about what might be in store for the man who had promised his now-devastated country an endless empire. Mussolini’s death set the last 24 hours of life in the bunker into motion.
APRIL 30, 1945
All times are approximate
1 a.m.: Field Marshal William Keitel reports that the entire Ninth Army is encircled and that reinforcements will not be able to reach Berlin.
4 a.m.: Major Otto Günsche heads for the bathroom, only to find Dr. Haase and Hitler’s dog handler, Fritz Tornow, feeding cyanide pills to Hitler’s beloved German Shepherd, Blondi. Haase is apparently testing the efficacy of the cyanide pills that Hitler’s former ally Himmler had provided him. The capsule works and the dog dies almost immediately.
10:30 a.m.: Hitler meets with General Helmuth Weidling, who tells him that the end is near. Russians are attacking the nearby Reichstag. Weidling asks what to do when troops run out of ammunition. Hitler responds that he’ll never surrender Berlin, so Weidling asks for permission to allow his troops to break out of the city as long as their intention never to surrender remains clear.
2:00 p.m.: Hitler and the women of the bunker—Eva Braun, Traudl Junge, and other secretaries—sit down for lunch. Hitler promises them that he’ll give them vials of cyanide if they wish to use them. He apologizes for being unable to give them a better farewell present.
3:30 p.m.: Roused by the sound of a loud gunshot, Heinz Linge, who has served as Hitler’s valet for a decade, opens the door to the study. The smell of burnt almonds—a harbinger of cyanide—wafts through the door. Braun and Hitler sit side by side. They are both dead. Braun has apparently taken the cyanide, while Hitler has done the deed with his Walther pistol.
4:00 p.m.: Linge and the other residents of the bunker wrap the bodies in blankets and carry them upstairs to the garden. As shells fall, they douse the bodies in gas. Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda, will kill himself tomorrow. Meanwhile, he holds out a box of matches. The survivors fumble and finally light the corpses on fire. They head down to the bunker as they burn.
On May 1, Germans who can find time between shells to listen to the radio are greeted with the tones of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung—“The Twilight of the Gods.” Hitler, they are told, has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany.” The Führer is dead.
Huawei has completed key technical breakthroughs in chip autonomy and 14nm EDA tools.
What Were Aztec Sacrifices Ritual Actually Like?
They were religious events first. The Aztecs believed that their gods got their sustenance from human sacrifice; and one of the basic duties of Religion is caring for your gods. The most important of these sacrifices were carried out during the 18 monthly festivals of the Solar Year.
One of these, to give you an example, was the Tlacaxipehualiztli, the Festival of the Flaying of Men, celebrated at spring equinox before the rainy season, one of the most brutal and complex.
We know about it thanks to the notes of the Spanish monk Bernardino de Sahagun, who in the 16th century interviewed old Aztec men who were still alive in pre-spanish Mexico and recounted how this festival was held in the Aztec capital:
40 days (or maybe even a year) before the festival, a captive (from war) was designated to impersonate the god Xipe Totec (Our Flayed Lord), and he was celebrated in public as living image of the God until the Festival.
He was taught courtly manners, walking about the city playing a flute, smoking tobacco and being praised by the people and the Tlatoani (the leader).
He was even wed to four young maidens representing goddesses. There were similar representants for other important gods (Tonatiuh, Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Chililico and so forth).
These slaves-gods were to be sacrificed on the main pyramid by cutting out the heart. There were six sacrifice-priests who cut open the slaves breast with an Obsidian knife and then cut out the heart.
After that, the corpses were rolled down the pyramids stairs. The corpses were then flayed and their flesh given to important Aztecs. Moteuczuma would have gotten the best part, the femur. The flesh was then eaten.
Other captives would be clothed in the skin of the flayed corpses and adorned with the ornaments those killed earlier wore as “gods”.
They were paraded through the city by their captors, and finally, on the next day, fought in mock combat against Eagle- or Jaguar-wariors (they only had a mock sword with feathers instead of obsidian).
Once the captive was beaten down, he was sacrificed by a priest wearing the vestments of Xipe Totec.
His heart and blood from his chest was then presented to the sun. The captor would take that blood, and walk around the city to the statues of the gods, feeding them by painting their lips with blood.
The captives corpse was then brought to his captors house, flayed, and cut up, his flesh given away and eaten.
However, there was a special link between captor and captive, and the captor wouldn’t eat of the flesh of his captive.
Poor or sick people would walk through the streets, wearing the skins of the sacrificed, begging.
For twenty days, the priests, too, would wear the flayed skins, often adorned with gold and feathers, until the next festival (Tozoztli) approached.
The skins were then stored in special containers in a cave in the Xipe-Totec temple.
There were certainly festival-like elements, but the main events were very ritualized and everyone involved hat a part to play and knew what to do.
Even the captives were probably not struggling against their fate, but from what I’ve read, walked to the place of their sacrifice willingly, and played their part in the choreography.
The religious part was the most important. The gods needed to be fed.
China’s anti-sanctions solution released! Biden’s plan may fail.
What Was it Like Living in Occupied France During WWII For the Average Person?
In France, the Nazis split France into an occupied and unoccupied zone – occupied being the north, unoccupied, or Vichy, being the south. Nazis would have been living in the occupied zone – you would have had to board one for several days at a time – from 1940, and into the unoccupied zones from 1942.
The economy certainly suffered. By the terms of the armistice, the French had to pay for the costs of their own occupation. Although the French got the Vichy government, the Nazis became less and less interested in collaborating with them as opposed to outright taking advantage of them, particularly in the economic sector. 40% of French industry and 58% percent of state revenues went towards Germany, and in 1943 Germany instituted what’s called the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) which was basically a labor draft. You get your papers from the Germans, you get sent to Germany or Poland to go work in a factory. You’re there for however long they want you and you don’t get to go home. It was hugely, hugely resented.
And yes, there were definitely strict rations, which became even stricter as the war went on.
The Vichy government had their own special police, called the milice. The important thing to remember about occupied France was that the Vichy gov’t legitimized itself by asserting that Vichy France was a free France. As a result, you get Vichy police in addition to the Nazi police, you get French civil servants organizing much of the “National Revolution,” etc. (Interestingly, the Vichy government also made Mother’s Day an official holiday.) The idea of French sovereignty was huge, and when the Nazis started to infringe on it by instituting things like the STO and trying to deport French nationals, then you have a problem.
As for clandestine resistance movements, that’s another post entirely, but I’ll go on.
In France you had the external resistance and the internal resistance. The former was led by Charles de Gaulle, who flew to London after the 1940 armistice and basically said that he thought Vichy was stupid and if you agreed with him, go join him. He eventually had 7,000 people in what was called the FFL (Free French Legion, I think) and they fought out of Algeria. They were rather successful. I’m not a military historian by any means, so I have no idea what they actually did, but several governments recognized de Gaulle as the legitimate leader of France and de Gaulle was able to pester Eisenhower into liberating Paris in the summer of 1944.
Then you had the internal resistance, which was much less organized. The FFL tried to hook up with them in 1942 so that all the resistance forces in France could be under de Gaule – it was a success if only because the internal resistance needed the money from the FFL. The CRN (National Resistance Council) that came out of this “merger” was generally successful? I think. They coordinated with the guerilla fighting units to distract German/Vichy forces and kept up morale after the STO/full occupation. They also helped out in the Battle of Normandy.
Planet Claire (The B-52s Cover) by Jan van Grean
What Was Life Like For a Jester In The Medieval Era?
Being a true Jester was very hard work. You had to be a one-man entertainment machine.
One had to be able to memorize long-form poetry, tailor jokes to fit the crowd, tactfully tease your patron without committing offense, and zing guests that your patron wasn’t fond of.
You had to play instruments, sing, dance, perform acrobatics, and design and maintain your own motley.
They would learn puppetry, ventriloquism, juggling, balancing, and slight of hand.
The best description I’ve personally heard to describe the life of a licensed Jester was to think of yourself as a living television.
You were to appear immediately when your patrons needed you and provide whatever form of entertainment they desired for as long as they desired.
You would sing a lullaby for the children one moment and recite accounts of bloody wars the next if that’s what was asked of you.
A sharp mind, a strong body, and a gift for improvisation were often requisite for this sort of work.
Secondly, a Jester’s job wasn’t only to make whatever noble employed him laugh. Their position as a member of court was surprisingly complex.
The most famous jesters were probably quite intelligent and quick witted, similar to our best comedians today.
A jester was given the right to say things without deference to authority, but they had to walk a thin line of not offending too many people or pushing the limits too far.
That ability to bypass deference had a lot of uses in a royal court where everyone was obsessed with being “politically correct” if you will.
A jester was able to deliver bad news to King Phillip VI of France about the destruction of his fleet by the English when nobody else dared by allegedly stating that the English “don’t even have the guts to jump into the water like our brave French”
They also provided a check to nobles who were too full of themselves. While it was expected for most in your court to agree with and support the noble, the jester was there to point out flaws.
Elizabeth I of England reprimanded one of her jesters for not being severe enough with her.
William Sommers was liked by Thomas Cromwell for often pointing out the extravagant spending of the English court.
Further, as a member of the court and an employee of the noble, they were generally well paid and granted a decent amount of influence and power.
This is REALLY bad!
Old Record Producer Hears – BABYMETAL – Gimme Chocolate – Old Guy Reaction
I'm a 44 year old metal head and I've been jamming out to Babymetal for ten years. As the rest of the music industry has drowning in trash for the last 20 years Babymetal is a breath of fresh air wrapped in metal. FYI the fans of Babymetal are known as The One and no we are not cult.......or are we?
Cajun Sausage Jambalaya
A slow cooker makes Cajun Sausage Jambalaya a snap. Be sure to check the last hour or two to keep the rice from overcooking.
1 pound boneless pork loin roast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, lean
12 ounces andouille sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups rice, medium-grain white
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 bell pepper (green, red, or both), chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
Instructions
Mix all ingredients except green onions in slow 4 to 6 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, or on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Watch carefully during the last 1 hour (LOW) or 1/2 hour (HIGH) of cooking to prevent rice from overcooking.
Just before serving, check seasoning and add green onions.
Working as KTV Girl in Beijing
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The 10 Deadliest Battles Of The American Civil War
The American Civil War is a devastating mark on the history of America. The number of lives lost was substantial, and the social and economic repercussions, though some needed, changed the face and future of the United States forever.
These are a few of the deadliest (and most important) battles of this historic conflict.
Fort Donelson
The Battle of Fort Donelson took place in early February of 1862. Fort Donelson, located near the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, was a Confederate stronghold backed up by thousands of soldiers. The Union, lead by Ulysses S. Grant, attacked the fort after their initial taking of Fort Henry.
The Union won the battle, and it was a significant victory on their part, as it resulted in the surrender of 12,000 Confederate soldiers and new power in Kentucky and access into Tennessee. The number of casualties? 17,398, mostly Confederates.
Second Bull Run
The second Battle of Bull Run took place in Manassas, Virginia, and evidence of the battle can still be seen today. It was a Confederate victory resulting in 22,180 casualties, with slightly more than half of those casualties occurring on the Union side. This battle is considered one of the most important for the Confederacy.
Antietam
It’s not entirely certain who won the Battle of Antietam, but there’s no doubting the heavy losses on both sides, resulting in 23,100 casualties. The result of the battle was the Confederate retreat across the Potomac, after the battle took place in Maryland, in mid-September, 1862. Not long after the battle occurred, President Abraham Lincoln gave his Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most important events in American history. While this battle certainly isn’t the deadliest on our list, it is significant, as September 17th was the bloodiest day in America’s military history so far.
Stones River
This Tennessee Union victory was not far ahead of the Battle of Antietam in terms of casualties, coming out at 23,515. After a Kentucky battle, Confederate and Union troops clashed outside of Nashville in December of 1862. The battle began on New Year’s Eve, took a small recess on New Year’s Day, and then resumed on January 1st, 1863. It lasted until January 5th when the last of the Confederate troops retreated further into Tennessee. When the troops retreated, the Union did not follow, proclaiming a victory for themselves and awaiting their next opportunity.
Shiloh
Another Tennessee battle, the Battle of Shiloh took place in April of 1862. The Union did win this battle, although they suffered the most casualties. The total number of fatalities was 23,746, and 13,047 of these fatalities were on the Union side. However, despite this, they still won the battle.
The Confederacy lost a chance to overpower the Union troops, after the Confederacy launched an attack on General Ulysses Grant at Pittsburg Landing and the Union called for reinforcements and the Confederates lost their general. After a counterattack planned by Ulysses, the Confederates were forced to retreat, despite their better numbers.
Chancellorsville
The Virginia Battle of Chancellorsville took place nearly a year later, in 1863, taking place in late April and early May. The Confederates took the victory under General Robert E. Lee, and there was a total of 24,000 casualties, approximately, with the Union suffering 14,000 and the Confederacy suffering 10,000. The battle is told in many history books as General Robert E. Lee’s best and most important victory throughout the war. However, the Confederacy also suffered a huge blow during the battle with the death of Stonewall Jackson. The worst part? Jackson was killed by his own men, accidentally wounded at night due to a soldier mistaking his identity.
The Wilderness
In May of 1864, more than 100,000 Union troops went head to head with only 60,000 Confederates. With Ulysses Grant newly in charge of the entire Union army, he planned to attack Robert E. Lee in what was to become a historically tragic battle. The Union lost about 17,666 men and the Confederacy lost about 11,000 for a total of more than 28,000 casualties. Worse yet, one night, with many of the dead and dying lying about the battlefield and camps, a fire broke out over the landscape, killing those who could not escape. The resulting scene of the Battle of the Wilderness has been depicted as one of the most horrific of the war.
Spotsylvania Court House
Taking the third spot on our list, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House took place near the same time as the Battle of the Wilderness, also in May 1864. Again, there is no clear winner in this battle, but there were almost 30,000 casualties, though more were on the Union side. The battle saw Generals Grant and Lee go at it again, for nearly two weeks, in a series of battles often grouped into one in retelling. Many important military figures on both sides were killed, before the two sides broke it off and the Union continued their march to Richmond, Virginia.
Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga took place in Georgia, in 1863, resulting in 34,624 casualties, split almost evenly between both sides. The Confederate army won, forcing the Union army back into Tennessee. While the battle did not play much of an important role in the overall war and was not significant on either side, it was the second most deadly incident over the Civil War, earning it the second spot on our list of the Civil War’s deadliest, bloodiest battles.
Gettysburg
Arguably one of the most well known and the most easily recognizable battles in the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg was also one of the absolute deadliest. The three-day event resulted in more than 50,000 casualties. Regardless of its date almost two years before the war’s end, it was the beginning of the South’s destruction. From this point forward, the South no longer attempted to invade the North with their war efforts, and battles were fought on Southern ground. The battle site, in Pennsylvania, is one of the most popular, if not the singularly most popular, Civil War site in the country.
David Bowie – China Girl (Official Video)
•David Bowie – vocals
•Stevie Ray Vaughan – guitar
The Complete Guide to What Every Man Should Keep in His Car
Things In Car 2
When I was growing up, I noticed that my father kept his car well-stocked with supplies. A lot of the equipment was for his job busting poachers as a game warden, but most of the things were for emergency situations that could happen to anyone. And there were plenty of times when my dad was able to put those supplies to work.
Be it a maintenance issue or a snowstorm, keeping the following items in your vehicle can save you time and discomfort, and perhaps even your very life, should an emergency arise. Obviously, the necessity of some items depends on the environment in which you live/are driving through (you don’t need an ice scraper in Tampa) and the season (though it’s best just to stock this stuff and keep it stocked, rather than removing/adding things as the seasons change).
1. Paper maps. Sometimes — okay, plenty of times — Google Maps or Waze doesn’t want to cooperate. And if you don’t have service, their reliability is of no import anyway. It’s always a good idea to keep paper maps handy of the areas you’ll be driving through.
2. Snacks/MREs. You never know when you’ll be stranded for long periods of times in your car. And depending on where you are, you could be dozens of miles from the closest source of help. Keep some MREs or granola/power bars in the back of your car to munch on while you wait for a tow truck to come, or to sustain you for a long walk to a gas station to call for help.
3. Cell phone charger/extra battery. Cell phones, and their batteries, are notoriously unreliable and quick-draining in emergency scenarios. It’s like they know when you need them most. Build some redundancy into your car’s emergency kit by keeping both a charger, and an extra battery. No excuses; they’re cheap these days.
4. LifeHammer. Should an accident trap you in your car, this rescue tool could save your life in a couple ways. It has a seat belt cutter, a steel hammer head that easily breaks side windows, and a glow-in-the-dark pin for easy retrieval in the dark. Every car should have one easily accessible!
6. Portable air compressor. When your tire is leaking but hasn’t totally blown out, instead of putting on a spare, you can use a portable air compressor to get back on the road. The compressor fills your tire up enough to allow you to drive to a repair shop to get it fixed. It plugs right into your cigarette lighter. Bonus use: no more paying 75 cents to fill up your tires at stingy gas stations.
7. Windshield wiper fluid. Few things are as indispensable as wiper fluid. Dirty windshield, no fluid, and wet, dirty roads? Get used to stopping every 10 minutes to clean the windshield. Always have some in the car for when you inevitably run out and need it most.
8. Roadside flares. When pulled over on the side of the road, you’re basically a sitting duck, hoping that other drivers don’t clip you. It’s especially dangerous at night. Ensure that you and those around you are visible when you pull over by using road flares, or at least a reflective triangle. The old school flaming flares seem to be harder to find these days as people switch to the LED variety.
9. Jumper cables. You walk out to your car after a long day of work, stick the key into the ignition, give it a turn, and…click, click, click. Crap! You then look up and notice you left the dome light on all day. It happens to the best of us. Car batteries die, so be ready with a set of jumper cables. And even if you never suffer a dead battery, it’s always good to have a set of jumper cables so you can help a damsel (or dude) in distress who needs their car jumped.
10. Tow strap.Get your car unstuck from anything with a tow strap. Attach one end of the strap to the front of the car that you want to pull and the other to the hitch on the back of your car. The stranded driver stays in the dead car, puts it in neutral, and gets freed. Easy as that!
11. Water. For when you’re stranded in Death Valley in the middle of the hottest heat wave on record…or for any other time your car decides to break down on you. Also for when you’ve been on the trail and are parched because you didn’t pack enough in your hiking pack. Always keep a few bottles handy in the trunk.
12. First aid kit. Whether you’re cleaning up a head wound filled with glass shards or fixing a boo boo on your two-year-old, it’s good to have a first aid kit. You can always buy one, but putting together your own in an Altoids tin is more fun.
13. Blankets. Blankets have uses that go beyond emergency situations. It’s always good to have a blanket in the car for snuggling with your gal while you cheer for your team on a cold fall night or for laying it on the ground for a picnic. Get the space-saving (but not very romantic) emergency Mylar variety, or something a little classier like the Paria from Rumpl.
14. Fire extinguisher. Car fires can be especially dangerous because of the flammable liquids coursing through their systems. Keep an extinguisher in the car that can be used not only for your own emergencies, but for others who might be in danger as well. An auto extinguisher is useful, as it will be rated for putting out car-specific fires that are fueled by gasoline and oil.
15. Shovel. There are a couple of instances where a folding shovel might come in handy. The first is when you get stuck in the snow or ice. You can use the shovel to dig some snow out and place some dirt under the tire to get more traction. The second situation is when a car tire gets stuck in a hole or something. You can use the shovel to dig about and create some ramps to help get your car unstuck. Also, it can be used as an improvised weapon.
Winter/Snow-Specific Items
16. Kitty litter. Kitty litter? For traveling with your cats and they need a potty break? Hardly. Kitty litter is extremely useful as a traction device when you’re stuck in the snow or ice after a skid gone wrong. It’s not usually that you’re buried in snow that keeps your car from moving, but the slickness of the surface you’re trying to move on. Throw a handful of kitty litter in front of the tires, and they’ll have some traction to help get you on the road again.
17. Multi-wick candles. If you’re stranded in a broken-down car in the winter, you might need more than just a blanket. An actual heat source will come in mighty handy. Have a multi-wick candle (the single wick kind don’t provide adequate warmth) on hand (and matches!); it can keep your car warm for quite awhile. Candles are expensive, so make your own on the cheap (and you save even more money going scentless).
18. Ice scraper. Don’t be the chump who’s out there scraping their windshield with a credit card at 5AM in the morning. A good ice scraper will set you back just a few bucks from most any convenience store, and it will make clearing your windshield much easier and much faster.
19. Hat and gloves. Along with a blanket, make sure your head and hands stay toasty warm too. The thicker the better here; you aren’t going for fashion, but survival.
20. Tire chains. Not only are tire chains handy in wintery mountain passes, they’re actually required in some states. Don’t get stuck in the mountains; don’t get a ticket for not having chains.
BABYMETAL – PA PA YA (feat F HERO) – Old Guy Reaction
How to Escape a Sinking Car: An Illustrated Guide
Sinking Car 3
Nearly 12% of the bridges in the United States have been deemed “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration. It’s scary to think that one might collapse while you’re driving over it, plunging your car into the water below. Becoming a victim of bridge collapse is hardly the only way to end up in a submerged vehicle, however. Many drivers simply skid out around a curve, go over a guardrail, and end up in a body of water. According to some studies, over 10,000 water immersion auto accidents happen each year.
Finding yourself in a sinking vehicle can be a terrifying experience and panic can keep you from being able to escape. Memorize these easy-to-follow tips so you can stay calm and get out quickly and safely if this ever happens to you. You don’t have to know every detail, but remember these four words: “Seatbelts. Children. Windows. Out.”
Stay as calm as possible. When you have gallons of water filling your car, it’s hard not to panic. But when the difference between life and death comes down to a matter of minutes, having a clear head is essential to your survival. Panic is often the reason people drown; they lose the ability to think straight and don’t know what to do. The women in the North Dakota accident called their friends on their cellphones! But panic=death. Hyperventilating and wasting your energy on ineffective actions closes off the easiest options of escape, wastes precious oxygen and shortens the amount of time you’ll be able to hold your breath when making an escape. Just concentrate on what you need to do.
Your best chance of escape is the first 30-120 seconds. In research done on the subject, it was found that in the vast majority of situations a vehicle will actually float for 30-120 seconds before sinking. This is your best chance at escape. Stay calm, but also act quickly. If you have your wits about you, 30 seconds is plenty of time to escape, even with passengers.
Do not wait for the pressure to equalize! When your car starts really sinking, the differential between the pressure outside the car and inside the car makes opening the door impossible. So people are commonly told to wait until the car fills completely with water in order for the pressure inside and outside of it to equalize, at which point you will supposedly be able to open the door. But two shows, Mythbusters and Top Gear have tested this theory and found it wanting. The inside/outside pressure will eventually equalize, but it won’t happen just as soon as the car fills up with water. It takes a bit longer, so long that you’ll likely drown before it happens. It is possible if you are patient, calm, and conserve your oxygen, but don’t count on it.
The door is an option, but not your best option. There are still some experts that say your best chance of escape is through the door right as you hit the water. In our research, however, this theory is losing steam. Sure, you have the ability to escape through a door if it’s done immediately, but there are a few serious downfalls. One, if you try and can’t do it, you’ll have exhausted much of your energy. Then you’ll be panicked, which is bad. Two, it requires a tremendous amount of strength to open a door, even in just a foot of water. You may be able to escape that way, but can your wife and kids? Third, if you escape through the door, the car will pretty much immediately sink, rendering it impossible for passengers to escape. If you’re a strong man, you can go this route, but only as a backup plan and if you’re the only passenger in the vehicle.
Roll down or break a window. Simply put, the window is your best chance for escape. If the waterline has not risen past the windows, try rolling down the window first. Contrary to popular belief, Mythbusters found that automatic windows don’t immediately short circuit underwater. But as the car sinks, the pressure of the water will prevent you from rolling them down. This is even the case with manual windows. Even if you’ve got Popeye-sized biceps, you won’t be be able to overcome the pressure and roll down the windows. You’ll probably just break the crank.
So if rolling down the window doesn’t work, you’ll need to break the side window to escape. This is actually harder than you might think as the windows are made of strong, tempered glass. While the windshield is easier to shatter, they’re designed to be unbreakable and are laminated with a plastic sheet that could keep you trapped in the car. If you’ve been doing your push-ups and pull-ups, you might be able to break the side window with your elbow or fist. Aim for the corner of the window. But this is extremely difficult. The water significantly slows down the force of your movements. The Mythbusters were unable to break it with a kick from a steel-toed boot. Even if you are able to punch it through, your risk cutting up your hands on the broken glass. Remember the scene at the beginning of Karate Kid II when Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese punched through some car windows? Yeah, your hands could look like that. Wrapping your hand in something can help reduce the chance of slicing them up.
Your best option is to have some sort of device in your car at all times that allows you to easily break your windows in case of an emergency. The LifeHammer or the T3 Tactical Triage and Auto Rescue Tool are two tools you might want to consider keeping in your car. The former has a hardened steel tip while the latter has a spring loaded steel tip window punch, which allows you to break strongly tempered windows with the push of a button. They also have cutting devices that will cut through a seat belt if you find that you can’t unbuckle yourself. Keep them in a place that will be immediately accessible in case of an accident; you don’t want to be rummaging through your glove compartment as your car fills with water.
Escape through the window. If the waterline is still below the car window, escaping from the window will be pretty quick easy. If the waterline is past the window, keep in mind that as soon as you break the window, you’ll be hit with a flood of water. But you should still be able to swim out. Watch Adam from Mythbusters “break” the window and make his escape:
Swim to safety. Push off the car and swim to the surface. If you’re disoriented and don’t know which way is up, look for bubbles and follow the direction they’re going.
What to Do with Passengers
First, don’t open the door to make your escape. While you might be able to get out, the car will quickly fill with water and sink rapidly, possibly trapping your passengers in a watery grave. Instead, roll down or break the window.
Escaping from a sinking car is hard enough by yourself. But what if you have passengers? The first goal is to keep them calm. Take control of the situation by explaining exactly what you’re about to do. When people see there’s a plan, they’ll usually calm down. Make sure they can get out of their seatbelts. If the buckles don’t work, they’ll need a cutting tool. A child can escape from the rear window, but know that they are smaller than front windows. If it’s a small child, pull them up to the front and get them out of your window and follow after.
Prince & The Revolution – When Doves Cry (Official Music Video)
More American “news”…
No wonder Americans are considered to be ignorant and boorish by the rest of the world.
2023 03 29 11 25
Is it true that every single piece of information on TikTok is automatically transferred to the Chinese communist party intelligence?
Of course. Every time you post a funny cat video on TikTok, the Chinese intelligence agents want a full report on the colour of the cat; its age and gender; and its exact location by GPS.
Don’t you know? Every aspect of your personal life that you post on TikTok is a grave matter of national security. Such as what you ate for lunch, snd the new pair of shoes you bought, and the latest video game you’re playing.
Besides, the CCP intelligence officers have nothing better to do but watch millions of TikTok videos all day long.
Strange Brew 1983 : Van Jump scene..
USA media believe that the USA’s tech war against China and a possible military war will completely cripple China and the USA will reign supreme until the end of the century. What’s your opinion?
It’s clearly not working. Trump’s trade war cost the US 1,800 factories and 250,00 jobs. Trump and US experts said that the US would win the trade war in 2 weeks. 2 years later. the US is the one that has suffered massive damage.
Fed research: Trump’s trade tariffs led to losses in billions
Chinese exporters and American importers have been misrepresenting data to avoid paying taxes or losing out on rebates.
Trump’s trade policies have cost thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs: Action is urgently needed to rebuild the manufacturing sector after the coronavirus pandemic
.
A new report by EPI Senior Economist and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Research Robert E. Scott finds that President Trump’s trade policies have failed to curb offshoring—and they have not addressed the root causes of America’s growing trade deficits and the decline of American manufacturing. In addition to the Trump administration’s overall weak trade…
And now Biden would have you believe that the US is going to stop China from producing chips. Well, SMIC just started mass production of 12nm chips with Chinese equipment. SMIC was already producing 7nm chips and no one knew until some reverse engineer took apart a SMIC chip to see what process node was used and discovered, to his surprise, that it was 7nm.
None of the equipment China is currently using stopped working. They are still producing chips.
SMEE just released their 28nm machine to a customer for testing in production. Which means that it will be mass produced this year. With 28nm machines, China can make 7nm chips using all Chinese equipment.
Huawei just came out with 12nm EDA software for designing chips at 12nm. So expect 7nm or smaller for EDA software this year or early next year.
As far as the military is concerned. China is a peer. Which means that China has comparable technology or better. Everything the US uses must be brought by ship. China has zero logistics for their fight with the US should the US start a war.
China’s industrial capacity is more than the US and the EU combined. And China has already stockpiled enough missiles to sink double the number of US ships in existence. So even if the US convinced all NATO nations, Japan, South Korea, Australia to send everything they have. They will all be sunk.
The problem for the US is that each ship has limited ammo. The ships have maximum of 90–120 VLS launch cells. They carry anti-missile missiles and land attack missiles. The mix is about 1/3 to 1/2 anti-missile missiles.
It is SOP to fire 2 missiles per incoming anti-ship missiles.
China has 1,200 frontline fighters like the J-15, J-16, J-20. Each can carry 6 air to air missiles or 4 anti-ship cruise missiles. China has around 500 H6 bombers that can carry 5 anti-ship cruise missiles each. China also has a large drone fleet of around 500. Each drone can carry 4 air to air missiles or 2 anti-ship missiles.
Go look up the number of US destroyers. And do some simple math. You will find that the US doesn’t have enough ships or fighters. Which means that everything the US, NATO, SK, Japan, and Australia will be destroyed or sunk.
Notice I didn’t even bring up Chinese ships or submarines or land launched anti-ship missiles or hypersonic missiles.
So the US government has seriously mis-calculated. The US simply can not win. The current policy will backfire. we can hope that the US won’t be stupid and start a war that the US will lose.
In 3 days EVERYTHING changes for the US Dollar | Redacted
The Countries Bailed Out by China:
A new report published by the AidData research lab at Virginia’s College of William & Mary sheds some light on the usually nontransparent practice of Chinese bilateral emergency loans. The researchers that also hail from the World Bank, Harvard University and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy identified 22 countries that were bailed out by Chinese loans when they ran into liquidity problems between 2000 and 2021.
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Countries that utilized these loans in an especially high number of years, i.e. rolled over their loans into subsequent years include Pakistan, Mongolia, Argentina and Sri Lanka. The latter country tapped China’s central bank for the first time in 2021 before defaulting on its debt anyways in 2022. Argentina and Mongolia were also identified by the report as countries that have been in dire financial distress since the early 2010s and were using China as a lender of last resort despite the country’s loan terms being less favorable than lower-interest bailouts offered by the IMF or the U.S. Fed. The list of Chinese bailouts also includes countries experiencing major inflation events, like aforementioned Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt.
Bailout amounts provided by China remained quite low in the 2000s and early 2010s, before shooting up from 2015 onwards, climbing to a total of $100 billion for the two decades. The two most common ways in which these loans work is through a liquidity swap with the Chinese Central Bank – where most of the outstanding balances of around $40 billion were located as of 2021 – or through credit lines from Chinese state-owned banks. Three countries, Venezuela, South Sudan and Ecuador, received prepayments on goods they were to deliver to China.
CIA Larry Johnson: “What’s Coming IS WORSE THAN A WW3, THIS IS SERIOUS” in Exclusive Interview
https://youtu.be/nhWXUowhInA
The West is stuck between the public sentiment which it contrived and the reality on the ground, Alastair Crooke writes.
Consequential Strategic Change – Upon leaving his meeting with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping said to Putin, “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years – and we are driving this change together”.
The ‘Entente’ was sealed during hours of talks over two days, and amidst a plethora of signed documents. Two powerful states have formed a duality that, in marrying a gigantic manufacturing base to the pre-eminent raw materials supplier and the advanced weaponry and diplomatic nous of Russia, leaves the U.S. in the shade. A seat in the shadows (assumed through volitation, or inability to contemplate such radical transition) reflects the U.S. with its back turned towards participation in the unfolding multipolar world.
With the U.S. in thrall to hegemony, the emergence of a global trifurcation is inevitable – including the three spheres of trade war: Eurasia, led by Russia China; Global South influenced by India – and with the U.S. dominating over the EU and Anglo-Sphere.
But that was not the essence of what President Xi meant by ‘change’; trade, military interchange and monetary system change were already ‘baked in’. What Xi and Putin are suggesting is that we must cast aside the old spectacles of western orientalism, by which we have been accustomed to view the world, and to think it differently and in diverse ways.
Transformation is never easy. How is the U.S. political class reacting? =It is flailing about wildly. It is deeply spooked by the manifestation of this new entente. It has lashed out, as usual, with a propaganda outpouring: Putin got little from Xi’s visit, bar pomp and ceremony; Xi’s was a ‘bed-side call’ on an ailing patient; Russia humiliated by becoming a Chinese resource colony –and to top it all, the summit failed to find a Ukraine resolution.
All of this propaganda is nonsense, of course. These are canards thrown to the winds. Washington understands how compelling is the Chinese narrative: China seeks harmony, peace and a meaningful way of life for all. America, however, stands for domination, divide and contain – and bloody, colonial-type forever wars (in the China meme).
Xi’s narrative has traction – not just in the ‘refuse-to-be-aligned’ world, but significantly within ‘Other America’, too. It even resonates a tad in otherwise wholly ‘tin-eared’ Europe.
The problem here, is that these ‘two Americas’ – the entitled Oligarchy and ‘Other America’ – simply were not able to discourse with each other, and have withdrawn into separate spheres: The western tech-platforms (such as Twitter) were knowingly configured so as to precisely not listen to ‘Other America’. And to cancel, or de-platform, contrarian voices. Today’s anti-Russian schema is yet another derivative of ‘nudge psychology’, originally trialled during Lockdown: Then ‘Science’ (as determined by the governments) offered public ‘certainty’, and at the same time stoked fear that any non-compliance with government rules might lead to death.
The moral certainty (claimed from following the ‘Science’) gave justification to judge harshly, condemn and dismiss people who in any way questioned Lockdown. Today’s geo-political psychological ploy – a derivative from the Lockdown precedent – is to ‘paste’ to the geo-political sphere the woke position of zero tolerance towards questioning supposed principles ‘that are inviolable’ (such as Human Rights). Thus, the schema uses the narrative ‘clarity’ of Russia’s ‘illegal, unprovoked and criminal invasion of Ukraine’ to give the western public the satisfying sense of righteousness needed to similarly judge harshly, oust from employment, and publicly denigrate any who expressed support for Russia.
This is viewed as an Intelligence Success, by contributing to the objective of maintaining NATO ‘burden sharing’ – and in ensuring across-the-board western expression of ‘moral outrage’ at all things Russian.
The West’s ‘Certainty Ploy’ may have worked, in that it deceptively has kindled a moral fury within a large segment of public opinion. Yet it can also be a trap – by firing up such emotionally charged propaganda; the force of the latter now limits western options (at a time when the circumstances of the Ukraine war are much changed from what had been expected). The West is now trapped by that public opinion that views any compromise that is not one of full Russian capitulation to violate its ‘inviable principles’.
The notion of exposing differing facets to a conflict (which lies at the crux to mediation), providing differing perspectives coming into view, becomes intolerable when set against ‘black and white’ righteousness. Xi and Putin are held by the western media to be so morally deficient that many fear being scorned for being on the wrong side of the ‘moral’ fault line on such a contentious issue.
Notably, this ploy does not work in the rest of world, where wokism has little traction.
There is however a substrata of Ruling Class worry about this denial technique. Two real issues arise: First, can America survive absent U.S. hegemony? What bonds, what national meaning, what vision could substitute to hold such a diverse nation together? Is ‘modernity as the winner of history’ convincing in the context of contemporary cultural degeneracy? If today’s scouring ‘modernity’ comes only at the cost of personal loneliness and loss of self-esteem (which is the recognised symptom of alienation arising from severance from community-roots), is technological ‘modernity’ then worth it? Or can some return to earlier values become the guiding prerequisite to a different mode of modernity? – one that works with the grain, instead of against the grain of cultural embeddedness.
This is the key question posed by Presidents Xi and Putin (through the civilisational nation-state concept).
Secondly, the U.S. has morphed from being a military to essentially a rent-seeking financialised hegemon. What price the enduring U.S. business prosperity should the U.S. lose dollar hegemony? Dollar ‘privilege’ has long sustained U.S. prosperity. But American sanctions, asset seizures, and new monetary arrangements pose the question: Is the global order changed so much that dollar hegemony, beyond the U.S. and its dependencies, is no longer sustainable?
The western ruling classes are certain of the answer: Political and dollar hegemony are interconnected. Keeping power, enriching the ‘golden billion’, means sustaining both – even as the Élites plainly can see that the American narrative is losing traction around the world, and states are migrating to new trading blocs.
That ‘Other America’ is not so sure they see the carnage associated with America’s endless interventions as ‘worth the candle’. There is too, an undercurrent of thought that a financial system, dependent on ever more and ever bigger ‘fixes’ of financial stimulant, either is healthy (in creating inequalities), or that its’ pyramiding leverage can be sustained over the long term.
: “For America to be displaced … by an Asian people long despised and dismissed with contempt as decadent, feeble, corrupt and inept, is emotionally very difficult to accept”. Yew predicted, “The sense of cultural supremacy of the Americans will make this adjustment most difficult”.
Equally, for China, which has had a long and continuous history as a great power, to be blocked by a ‘people from nowhere’ is intolerable.
l’Entente is a bitter pill for the West. For a generation, separating Russia from China has been a primordial U.S. goal – as originally prescribed by Zbig Brzezinski: To contain both Russia and China through exacerbating regional disputes (Ukraine, Taiwan) was the zero-sum-game, with Russia the first target (to compel a pivot back to the West through economic implosion),and then move on to contain China – but China alone. (Yes, some in the West believed
that a Russian pivot westwards was very feasible).
A former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Wess Mitchell, wrote
in the National Interest magazine: To Prevent China Grabbing Taiwan: Stop Russia in Ukraine! Simply put, Mitchell’s point was: “Were the U.S. to inflict enough pain on Putin for his gamble in Ukraine”, then Xi implicitly would be contained.
So, containing Russia via Ukraine was ‘it’: “If the United States is going to threaten catastrophic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, they better damn well be catastrophic, because the credibility of the U.S.-led financial system for punishing large-scale aggression – is on the line”, Mitchell warned. “The United States will only get one chance to demonstrate that credibility—and Ukraine is it”.
Mitchell continued,
“The good news in all of this is that Ukraine has given the U.S. a momentary, and perishable, window to act decisively and not only deal with the situation in Ukraine – but dissuade a move against Taiwan… The impact of Putin’s brutality in galvanizing European burden-sharing is a game-changer for U.S. global strategy. With Germany spending more
in coming years on defense than Russia ($110 billion annually vs. $62 billion), the United States will be able to focus more of its available conventional forces on deterring China”.
‘A momentary window’? But here was the egregious mismatch: the U.S. was betting on ‘the perishable moment’, but Russia was preparing for a long-term war. The financial sanctions didn’t work; Russia’s isolation didn’t happen; and the containment strategy contributed rather to destabilising the global financial system to the detriment of the West.
The Biden Administration had bet all on a containment strategy intended to avoid a two-front war – a strategy that has not worked out, as expected. More than that, the shooting down of the Chinese balloon and the ensuing anti-Chinese battle cries emanating from all quarters in the U.S. convinced the Chinese that their earlier, November attempt at détente with U.S. and Europe at the Bali G20 was ‘dead in the water’.
China re-calibrated; and prepared for war. (At minimum, a sanction Cold War, but ultimately, for Hot War). Full steam ahead with l’Entente. The Brzezinski divide and rule strategy had been holed below the waterline and sunk.
The West is now painted into a corner: It cannot sustain war on both Russia and China, yet its overblown, deliberately deceitful, manipulation of public opinion to create western ‘cohesion’ makes de-escalation almost impossible.
The public in the U.S. and Europe now sees Russia and China in the darkest shades of the Manichaean Demiurge. They have been repeatedly told that Russia stands at the cusp of total collapse, and that Ukraine ‘is winning’. Most Americans, most Europeans believe this. Many have come to revile these new adversaries.
The U.S. leadership class cannot back down. Yet, it has not the means to wage a two-front war. The trap consists in propaganda stemming from an earlier Lockdown schema that was designed to frighten, and dis-inform the public. A principal aim of which was to make doubt or scepticism appear morally irresponsible within public discourse. Similarly, the new schema of western public control by which Presidents Xi and Putin are made to look so morally deficient that much of the public fears to criticise the war on Russia – has boomeranged. That ‘certainty’ means that it would be morally irresponsible to back out of a war – even one that is being lost. The war now must proceed to the defeat of the Ukrainian regime – an outcome far more humiliating than a negotiated end would have been. But public opinion will not allow anything less than Putin’s humiliation. The West is stuck between the public sentiment which it contrived and the reality on the ground.
In this way, the West fell into its own ‘Certainty Trap’.
When I was married to my first wife, I started to notice some odd behaviors as she sunk into the madness of her illness. They were subtle, and after a brief spell of madness, she went back to normal.
Over time, her crazy behavior become longer in duration, and more frequent.
It took me time to realize that she was slowly losing her marbles. But eventually I started to notice that some of her behaviors (independent of her bouts of crazy-town) were fixed. And very, very unusual.
The very first thing that I noticed was she no longer knew how to pose for a picture.
Every time I would try to take her picture, she would face the camera and give me the “deer in the headlights” look. I’ll tell you it really pissed me off.
Even when I took the time to pose her, the moment, when I picked up the camera, she would face it, lose her pose and give me that “deer in the headlights” look.
Sheech!
So… the United States is now in serious long-term psychosis. And we (as generally sane people) see this every moment the “news” reports on some event…
China cut off lithium supplies when the United States sanctioned it. That means no batteries for cars, and cell phones, and all those nice cheap “green technologies”. The oligarchy class int he USA then decided to make a quick buck by seizing by hostile takeover, the lithium mines and operations in Mexico.
Nope. Said the President of Mexico.
So then what happened?
Oh, yeah! Congress is now pushing for the Untied States to invade Mexico.
Man, this is getting to be a cross of a horror movie, and a Tim Burton surreal movie. It’s all fucking wacked. Check this out…
‘Mexico is not a US colony!’: AMLO condemns invasion threats, honors nationalization of oil, lithium
President of Kenya Urges Citizens To Get Rid of U.S. Dollars – soon (Operation Sandman????)
The President of Kenya today announced to all citizens they should get rid of any U.S. Dollars they may be holding because they will become worth less within weeks.
William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto, Ph.D, CGH; is a Kenyan politician who is serving as the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022.
Prior to becoming president, he served as the first deputy president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022.
Today, in a nationally televised speech in Kenya, Ruto said “Those of you who are holding dollars, you shortly might go into losses. So you better do what you have to do because this market will be different in a couple of weeks.”
This stunning announcement gives credibility to a RUMOR that has been circulating for over a year, that 142 countries around the world have secretly agreed to what they call “Operation Sandman.”
According to the RUMOR, Operation Sandman will “put the US Dollar to sleep” by having all 142 countries repudiate the currency on the same day, and refuse to continue accepting it for payment in Trade.
Countries around the world began planning this when they witnessed the then-Democrat-Controlled US Congress, go on a spending spree of several TRILLION Dollars in Omnibus Bills. Those countries realized there is nothing backing the value of US Dollars and they saw that the US Congress has no plans at all to reign-in spending.
One country’s Finance Ministry recently told the US, “We are no longer willing to accept ones and zeros in a bank computer as actual payment for real goods.”
The countries agreed that holding US currency was becoming foolish because it was becoming worthless on its face, thanks to all the rampant over-spending by the US Government.
Now, it appears those countries may actually take action “within a couple weeks.”
If countries around the world repudiate the Dollar as payment for goods in trade, then they would halt providing manufactured goods or raw materials unless paid in some currency OTHER THAN DOLLARS.
Since the U.S. barely does any manufacturing at all anymore, thanks to the business nitwits who thought it was a good idea to convert the US economy to a “service economy” then products we buy in stores will simply run out and we will be unable to re-stock because no one will want our money.
Among the business nitwits are also those who pushed for “Free Trade” claiming it would improve sales of American-made goods overseas if America agreed to halt Tariffs on all imported items. The government bought-into the idea, not realizing – or not caring – that these very businessmen weren’t at all interested in selling more American goods overseas. What they were interested in was shipping American JOBS overseas, taking advantage of cheap labor, then shipping those exact same products back to the USA to sell at the same high prices . . . . while pocketing the profit from the new, foreign, cheap labor without having to pay Tariiffs.
The Businessmen, their corporate Boards of Directors, and Commerce Organizations who touted “Free Trade” were the ones who moved American jobs overseas and now, the country barely manufactures anything, anymore.
So here we are, years later, and thanks to those businessmen, and the federal politicians who foolishly believed their lies about “Free Trade,” we have almost no manufacturing. Countries around the world seem to be actually planning to stop accepting the US dollar as payment, so we won’t be able to buy anything because it’s all made overseas now!
Retaliation against the people who did this should be swift and ferocious when Americans can no longer buy even life’s basics because corporate titans and certain others stripped our country of manufacturing.
PREPARE NOW!
Readers should make a list for themselves of all the “Basics” we take for granted, and make certain you have a bunch stocked up. Things like:
Underwear
Undershirts
Socks (White and colored)
Shoes (Dress and casual), Sneakers, Boots (Hiking & Work)
Belts (dress and casual)
Sweaters
Coats and jackets
Hats
Bathing suits/swimwear
Jeans / Dungarees / Pants
Casual and dress shirts
Ties
Suits and Sport Coats
Head out to your kitchen and see if you need any new:
Pots
Pans (Cast iron and non-stick)
Mixing bowls
Dishware (Plates, Dishes, Bowls)
Utensils (Knives (Carving, Steak, and butter), forks, spoons, spatulas, etc.
Drinking glasses, cups, coffee mugs
Cutting boards for use with slicing meats or breads
POWER TOOLS !!! (Drills, saws, nail guns, and the like)
EXTENSION CORDS (For both inside a house, and long ones for working outside)
Gas can(s)
The list of everyday things we all take for granted is almost never-ending. I’m certain I missed a whole slew of things, but you get the idea.
Almost NONE of these things are made here anymore and if you’re running low or your stuff is old and wearing out, you need to get these things in your possession while you still can!
If these foreign countries do what it seems the President of Kenya has hinted they ARE GOING TO DO, then all these things become scarce overnight and will remain scarce for . . . . YEARS!
I’m sure there are many more things that you can think of. What ever they are, GET THEM. FAST!
China’s 3nm phototransistor development breakthrough with brand new technology never thought of.
The United States is trying to block the development of China’s technology starting from Huawei 5G sanctions to chip sanctions upon most Chinese companies. Facing the technological hegemony of the United States, China is also looking for a way to change lanes and overtake!
Recently Dai Ching’s team at the China National nanoscience Center has made an important achievement in the field of Polaritons based on the efficient excitation and long-distance transmission of polaritons. The team successfully created a photo transistor which realized the regulation of positive and negative refraction of light at the nanoscale and significantly improved the ability to manipulate light at the nanoscale.
You must know that phototransistors are the main basis for the development of photonic chips and China’s continuous breakthroughs in the field of phototransistors have made China a leader in the field of photonic chips and has led to the world’s leading level.
Earlier the Chinese Academy of Sciences also officially announced that it has broken through the research and development of 3nm Optical chip transistors and a tube chip production line has been built in Beijing ready to start production.
This news soon caused shocks in the industry. This is undoubtedly a qualitative breakthrough for domestic chips and it also verifies the possibility of China changing lanes and overtaking in the chip field.
So what are the characteristics of optical chips why will Optical chips become the main Lane for China’s semiconductors to change lanes and overtake. Even Huawei’s Rin Zhengfei said that Optical chips are the future of chips.
There are four reasons. First Optical chips have speeds that silicon-based chips cannot match if a photon and an electron are allowed to hit a clock at the same time the result is obviously that the photon must arrive first after all the speed of light is close to 300 000 kilometers per second which is unmatched by electrical signals, the optical chip uses light waves as the carrier of signal transmission and calculation unlike traditional silicon-based chips.
Photonic chips use Global new semiconductor materials such as InP and GaAs substrates which almost completely outperformed silicon-based materials in terms of cost and performance. According to the data given by the Chinese Academy of Sciences under the same conditions the computing power of optical chips will reach more than one thousand times that of silicon-based chips which can be described as an existence against the sky.
Second the optical chip has lower energy consumption less heat generation and stronger information carrying capacity, photons not only generate less heat electrons but can also achieve considerably higher data transfer rates than electrons in this way the volume of the optical chip device will be greatly reduced.
Third, Optical chips no longer need to rely on expensive EUV lithography machines, this means that in the field of optical chip development China does not have to worry about being stuck by the United States because in terms of aspects China and the United States are on the same starting line in the field of optical chips.
Even many Technologies in China have surpassed the US solving the problem of high-end chip shortcomings. China can produce high-performance chips by itself which is undoubtedly a disaster for American Semiconductor companies after the release of the U.S chip act U.S chip Giants Qualcomm Intel and Texas Instruments all suffered backlash and their performance fell sharply.
If China succeeds in the research and development of high-end ships it means that China will no longer rely on the U.S market in the future, the loss of the Chinese market is even more of a disaster for U.S companies, the excess chip production capacity cannot be sold and in the end they can only beg China to buy.
Although the optical chip has many advantages it also faces a new problem in the current development one is how to commercialize it and the other is how to make it smaller and use it in terminal equipment.
China has already started commercialization and assembly line production of quantum chips and quantum computers it will not be too far to solve the problem of optical chips.
China is vigorously promoting the substitution of domestic chips this stems from the tremendous progress made by Chinese Chips in just a few years China has made breakthroughs in memory chips analog chips GPU chips etc..
Recently Bill Gates once again stated in an interview with the British financial times that the US’s approach cannot stop the advancement of Chinese Chips but will instead cause more losses to U.S chips American chip companies.
Chinese chip industry has not flinched and has further cultivated its own chip system promoting the development of risk V architecture is exactly China’s approach to further enhance its independent research and development capabilities of chips, this will fundamentally get rid of the U.S chip system in the end of this race.
Western world with paltry 15% global population slice wont be able to withstand against the rest – most of whom are well entrenched in Asia which includes two great powers, namely; Russia and China.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (Senate) Dmitry Medvedev made remarks today that seem to confirm war with the West is the choice that has, in fact, been made.
When analyzing public remarks of any leader, one must always take into account errors in translation, and more importantly, nuances in culture/language that may exist in one culture, but do not precisely translate to other cultures. So interpreting remarks of foreign officials is a delicate task that must be undertaken with very great care.
Having said that, sometimes the meaning of a foreign officials remarks translate very precisely, and say what we actually think is meant. Such was the case today.
Today, Dmitry Medvedev said the following: “The consequences of the collision of the world’s most powerful armies will be terrible and there will be no victor at all.”
Pretty hard to not understand the plain meaning of that. Let’s dissect:
“The consequences of THE collision . . . .” Not “a collision” but rather “THE” collision. His use of the word THE rather than “a” indicates to me that a collision IS, in fact, coming.
“. . . WILL be terrible . . .” Not “would” or “could” but rather “WILL.” His use of the word “WILL” rather than “would” or “could” reinforces my interpretation above that the decision to go to actual war has been made.
Lastly, “. . . there WILL be no victor at all.” Again, his use of the word “WILL” is now double reinforcement of the reality that the decision for an actual shooting war is already made, and worse, since “. . . there will be no victor” that tells me it is also decided that the coming war WILL be nuclear. After all, a nuclear war is the ONLY war that has no victor.
Medvedev is not in any way careless with his use of language. He is clearly a highly educated man, who says what he means and means what he says.
He went on: “Russia is not fighting the Ukrainian regime, but rather the 3.6 million-member NATO army.”
That. That right there . . . is the hideous, ugly reality. Medvedev knows what’s what, and he just said it publicly. When a top elected official of a country, publicly declares that war is being waged against his land by an identified combatant, the only expected course of action is for his country to engage that combatant directly. So this remark reinforce my interpretation of earlier remarks above.
Medvedev’s choice of words today, terrifies me. Not because I am afraid to die — I’m not. But because his words seem to indicate (to me) that tens of millions of us are going to die, and our world will __never__ be the same. The good will perish with the evil. Cities and towns will be flattened. Disease and death will run rampant.
This is a catastrophe that does not have to be. Yet our U.S. government, and its NATO vassals, are pursuing this course to the exclusion of almost all else. It seems like insanity to me.
In related news, Estonia’s Foreign Minister has decided to expel one Russian diplomat. Moscow will respond to Estonia’s decision to expel Russian diplomat — Russian Foreign Ministry.
So what little is left of “Diplomacy” is also being intentionally wrecked by our NATO vassals.
AC/DC – Highway to Hell (Live At River Plate, December 2009)
Huawei update
Huawei Technologies Co said it has successfully developed electronic design automation, or EDA tools, for chips above 14 nanometers process by partnering with domestic partners, marking a crucial breakthrough for China’s semiconductor industry amid the US government restrictions.
Nicknamed the “cradle” of integrated circuits, EDA is software widely used in the sector and is of great importance to the entire process of designing chips.
Xu Zhijun, rotating chairman of Huawei, said the company has completed the localization of EDA tools above 14nm in the chip field and will complete comprehensive verification this year.
Huawei confirmed to China Daily on Friday that Xu made the remarks in a late February meeting.
China has long relied on US companies such as Cadence and Synopsys for high-end electronic design automation tools. EDA for 14nm chips are middle-end products, but it still marks a breakthrough.
The progress is part of a broader push by Huawei to develop domestic development tools for hardware, software and chips amid the US government’s lingering restrictions.
Xu said the company has replaced 78 software tools affected by Washington’s ban, which can basically ensure the continuity of its research and development efforts amid US restrictions.
Xu said that although the company has achieved many breakthroughs in product development tools over the past three years, it still faces formidable challenges.
Huawei will redouble its efforts to attract more global talents in order to achieve a strategic breakthrough in the area, he added.
Major Chinese insurance companies have also tailor-made insurance services to promote the use of domestically developed chip products such as EDA tools, people familiar with the matter told China Daily.
Such insurance services, which have already been used to support homegrown auto chip companies in 2021, can help Chinese semiconductor enterprises lower research and development costs, and accelerate efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, they said.
Silent Hill Promotional Event In Tokyo
Models dressed as bandaged nurses take part in a promotional event for the film “Silent Hill” on June 22, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan.
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Numerous Stratotankers Just Went Up Over Iraq . . . 20 Missiles Just Struck 3 US Bases in Syria
Iran may be about to get hit. Three Strato-tankers just went airborne over Iraq. LIVE UPDATES BELOW . . .
-USAF KC135R 60-0365
-USAF KC135R 62-3533
-USAF KC135T 58-0069
Putting that much air refueling capability into action signifies a big air operation is about to take place. Something big is happening.
2023 03 26 18 02
UPDATE 5:24 PM EDT —
Receiving Intel that upwards of Twenty missiles have struck at three different US Bases inside Syria:
the US Conoco Oil Field base in the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor
Three more US bases have been targeted rockets and artillery, including: Al-Tanf, Homs governorate Koniko Gas Field, Deir Ezzor governorate
MORE:
Missile strike continues at this moment and it is targeting the American base in the Koniko and Khasham field near the town of Al-Jafra, northeast of Deir Ezzor, which is used by US army.
US military official confirms to Al Jazeera that one of the American military bases in Deir_ez-Zor has been targeted by about 6 to 8 rockets, adding that “American forces are assessing casualties and damage”
UPDATE 5:28 PM EDT —
US AND Coalition war planes are now striking back.
“Strong and successive explosions were heard at the entrances to the city of Al-Mayadin in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, coinciding with the flight of the international coalition aircraft over the area”
MORE:
Apache helicopters and US warplanes are flying in the sky of Deir Ezzor countryside now
UPDATE 5:31 PM EDT —
Warplanes are said to be taking off from the US base in Qatar. Planes are heading towards Syria. to hit Iranian militias
MORE:
U.S. and Iranian/Militia Forces in the Deir ez-Zur Region have reportedly been exchanging Rocket and Missiles Fire between each other for the last few hours; Coalition Aircraft have also been attempting to Strike the Iranian Launch Sites.
Heavy US Air Force activity over parts of eastern Syria after rockets were launched at a US base
UPDATE 5:40 PM EDT —
The 3 US bases in Syria are currently UNDER ALMOST CONSTANT artillery fire. Reports of damage and fire at the bases.
American planes are in the airspace of eastern Syria, some of which took off from the Persian Gulf, including the B52.
*****BULLETIN *****
5:42 PM EDT —
Preliminary reports indicate that some units of the Syrian Arab Army may be engaging US forces. It has also been reported that Syrian Armed Forces carried out attacks against Turkish forces in Syria
HAL TURNER INTEL — Speaking to some sources in Syria, the attack tonight on the US base is devastating by the sounds of it. High possibility of numerous American casualties…
Pro-Iran forces in Syria warn they may ‘respond to more US strikes’
UPDATE 5:52 PM EDT —
Pro-Iranian forces evacuated all of their HQs as they attacked several U.S. bases in eastern #Syria, fearing severe retaliation.
BREAKING NEWS: Russia Moves Ten (10) Aircraft to Belarus “Capable” of Carrying Tactical Nukes; WILL ALSO STATION NUKES IN BELARUS!
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a shocking surprise announcement today that “Russia has now positioned ten (10) aircraft inside Belarus capable of carrying Tactical nuclear weapons.” He declined to say if such weapons are already on those aircraft.
Putin also announced that actual nuclear bombs “will be stationed in Belarus from now on.”
Developing . . .
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Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
2023 03 19 16 56
Ingredients
Flaky Crust
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk, beaten, to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)
Instructions
Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor or blender. Using the pulse feature, cut in shortening and butter until a coarse meal forms. Blend in enough ice water, 2 tablespoons at a time, to form moist clumps. Gather dough into a ball; cut in half. Flatten each half into a disk. Wrap separately in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; toss gently to blend.
Roll out 1 dough disk on a floured work surface to a 13-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch diameter glass pie dish. Trim excess dough, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang.
Roll out second dough disk on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round. Cut into fourteen 1/2-inch wide strips. Spoon filling into crust. Arrange 7 dough strips atop filling, spacing evenly. Form lattice by placing remaining dough strips in opposite direction atop filling, trim ends of dough strips even with overhang of bottom crust. Fold strip ends and overhang under, pressing to seal. Crimp edges decoratively.
Brush glaze over crust. Transfer pie to a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Bake pie until golden and filling thickens, about 1 hour 25 minutes.
Transfer pie to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Oasis – Wonderwall (Official Video)
Is the US practicing fearmongering by banning TikTok?
This is the problem with TikTok:
it is a Chinese company making a better product than its American equivalent
over 150 million Americans now used it ignoring their government warning of being spied on
amongst its MANY contents, it provided information that debunks the state narratives
it tells of corruption at the highest level of the American Government, provide concrete examples of how they are being manipulated and question why Americans are not living better lives – universal health care, better infrastructure, better education, etc
most of ALL it tells of the American public revulsion’s at the constant death, war and destruction that is waged against others in their name by the military industrial complex.
Therefore TikTok is a threat to those who are in power in the United States. They should fear for what they had done to the country and its people.
The attempt to ban TikTok in the United Stated have now galvanized the American TikTok community which makes up about half the American population AND this are younger Americans. More consequently and making their anger worst, as reported by the Washington Post, this action to banned TikTok was orchestrated and paid for by Meta
So it will be interesting if the State will proceed with banning TilTok.
Tacony dungeon: Linda Weston gets life plus 80 years for locking up and starving disabled people
A 55-year-old woman in the US has been sentenced to life plus 80 years in jail for locking up disabled people in basements and attics in order to steal their social benefit cheques. Linda Weston, the main accused, was convicted of keeping her victims locked in different US states from 2001 to 2011.
According to NBC News, when Judge Cynthia Rufe sentenced Weston to life in prison, she said: “Your acts were unconscionable. You are evil.”
She further said: “Ironically, in prison you will get three meals a day and medical and psychological services . . . something you didn’t do for your captives.”
Weston was saved from the death penalty following a plea bargain in September.
Weston was saved from the death penalty following a plea bargain in September. She pleaded guilty to 196 federal counts during the hearing and apologised for what she had done: “I am sorry. I believe in God and God knows what happened.” To which the judge, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, replied: “There are a lot of people in this courtroom who know what happened, too.”
Two of Weston’s associates — Eddie Wright and Weston’s daughter, Jean McIntosh — have pleaded guilty, while two others are awaiting trial. According to prosecutors, the group ran their operations in three other states. Back in 2011, four disabled adults were discovered locked inside a boiler room in an apartment building in a Tacony neighbourhood in Philadelphia. They were rescued by the police.
According to the prosecutors, Weston’s group tortured six disabled adults and four children by starving them. Some were even forced to drink their own urine and eat human waste. Others were encouraged to have children so the group could collect more benefits cheques.
Back in 2008 in Virginia, a woman in the group’s captivity died after suffering from meningitis, after being kept starving and locked in a kitchen cabinet for months.
Another victim died due to starvation in 2005. “You are evil and done a bad job on me. I’m trying to get over this and get this part behind me,” one of the victims, Drwin McLemire was quoted as saying by NBC.
Weston’s group stole more than $200,000 (£131,939) in social security benefits from victims, some of who were forced into prostitution, prosecutors said. “When the individuals tried to escape, stole food or otherwise protested their treatment, Weston and others punished them by slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, burning and hitting them with closed hands, belts, sticks, bats and hammers or other objects, including the butt of a pistol,” US District Attorney Zane Memeger said in a statement quoted by The Washington Post.
The USA is gradually losing against China and Russia. Almost all countries are starting to lean on Russia and China. Is the USA on the way to game over?
This is absolutely correct.
Let me note which country is fully and unconditionally with the U.S. For me it is UK and Canada.
Next which country are trapped into fully supporting the U.S. For me it is the former colonial powers, France, Spain, Belgium and Netherlands.
Then there are those countries using the U.S. to balance and threaten Russia. For me these countries are Poland, Scandinavian nations. Sweden, Finland, Norway, Lithuania and some small Eastern European mainly former Soviet satellites nations needing counterbalance having poke Russia’s eyes constantly.
There are Anglo nations that has some blood bonds such as Australia and New Zealand. And finally there are 3 slave vassal states that essentially has no rights of their own effectively.
These countries today represent 13% of the worlds population and add up to 2 dozen nations or a mere 12% of world’s nations.
The rest of the world which represents 87% of the world’s population are totally aware of the evil nature of the U.S.
The U.S. game of impoverish these countries while hypocritically lying about human rights, democracy, freedom while ganging up with their cronies to threaten the world.
The Ukraine war is the one that break the camel back.
Today these 150–160 nations are openly and publicly opposing the U.S. hegemony. And fully backing the multi polar world.
To the world this is the only way forward to contained the US from threatening the world.
To me even these 13% of the world is also not fully supporting the oppression of the developing world. A good 50% of them don’t even support their government. Frankly the U.S. command less than 5% of the worlds opinion.
True these countries are rich but also true is that all these nation are failing and stagnating.
For me it us game over for the U.S.
Of course the U.S. and their hang ons partners won’t admit it and to me the harder they fight it the more they will be hurt. And more of their allies will leave them.
I don’t credit Russia or China.
They did not win it.
The U.S. lost it. By over interference, over exuberance, overspending, over estimating itself, over warmongering and underestimating the rest of the world.
I Went To The Poorest County In America
The gathering storm
The crisis of American national power has begun. America’s economy is tipping over, and Western financial markets are quietly panicking. Imperiled by rising interest rates, mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasuries are losing their value. The market’s proverbial “vibes”—feelings, emotions, beliefs, and psychological penchants—suggest a dark turn is underway inside the American economy.
American national power is measured as much by American military capability as by economic potential and performance. The growing realization that American and European military-industrial capacity cannot keep up with Ukrainian demands for ammunition and equipment is an ominous signal to send during a proxy war that Washington insists its Ukrainian surrogate is winning.
Russian economy-of-force operations in southern Ukraine appear to have successfully ground down attacking Ukrainian forces with the minimal expenditure of Russian lives and resources. While Russia’s implementation of attrition warfare worked brilliantly, Russia mobilized its reserves of men and equipment to field a force that is several magnitudes larger and significantly more lethal than it was a year ago.
Russia’s massive arsenal of artillery systems including rockets, missiles, and drones linked to overhead surveillance platforms converted Ukrainian soldiers fighting to retain the northern edge of the Donbas into pop-up targets. How many Ukrainian soldiers have died is unknown, but one recent estimate wagers between 150,000-200,000 Ukrainians have been killed in action since the war began, while another estimates about 250,000.
Given the glaring weakness of NATO members’ ground, air, and air defense forces, an unwanted war with Russia could easily bring hundreds of thousands of Russian Troops to the Polish border, NATO’s Eastern Frontier. This is not an outcome Washington promised its European allies, but it’s now a real possibility.
In contrast to the Soviet Union’s hamfisted and ideologically driven foreign policymaking and execution, contemporary Russia has skillfully cultivated support for its cause in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. The fact that the West’s economic sanctions damaged the U.S. and European economies while turning the Russian ruble into one of the international system’s strongest currencies has hardly enhanced Washington’s global standing.
Biden’s policy of forcibly pushing NATO to Russia’s borders forged a strong commonality of security and trade interests between Moscow and Beijing that is attracting strategic partners in South Asia like India, and partners like Brazil in Latin America. The global economic implications for the emerging Russo-Chinese axis and their planned industrial revolution for some 3.9 billion people in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are profound.
Inside presidential administrations, there are always competing factions urging the president to adopt a particular course of action. Observers on the outside seldom know with certainty which faction exerts the most influence, but there are figures in the Biden administration seeking an off-ramp from involvement in Ukraine. Even Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a rabid supporter of the proxy war with Moscow, recognizes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demand that the West help him recapture Crimea is a red line for Putin that might lead to a dramatic escalation from Moscow.
Backing down from the Biden administration’s malignant and asinine demands for a humiliating Russian withdrawal from eastern Ukraine before peace talks can convene is a step Washington refuses to take. Yet it must be taken. The higher interest rates rise, and the more Washington spends at home and abroad to prosecute the war in Ukraine, the closer American society moves toward internal political and social turmoil. These are dangerous conditions for any republic.
100 Items You Need, That DISAPPEAR FIRST During War
This list was made by a person who survived the Bosnian War. It shows the 100 items to disappear first in war. As Americans decide whether or not the government of the State of New York should be allowed to continue to exist, over the pending Trump arrest, perhaps this list may come in handy if Civil War erupts.
It was written by a survivor of the war, they shared it with the world, now I share it with you.
Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy…target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
Water Filters/Purifiers
Portable Toilets
Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 – 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
Rice – Beans – Wheat
Vegetable Oil (for cooking) Without it food burns/must be boiled etc.,)
Charcoal, Lighter Fluid (Will become scarce suddenly)
Water Containers (Urgent Item to obtain.) Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR PLASTIC ONLY – note – food grade if for drinking.
Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won’t heat a room.)
Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
Propane Cylinders (Urgent: Definite shortages will occur.
Survival Guide Book.
Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term lighting is difficult.)
Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula. ointments/aspirin, etc.
Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
Vitamins
Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is dangerous without this item)
Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products.
Thermal underwear (Tops & Bottoms)
Bow saws, axes and hatchets, Wedges (also, honing oil)
Aluminum Foil Reg. & Heavy Duty (Great Cooking and Barter Item)
Gasoline Containers (Plastic & Metal)
Garbage Bags (Impossible To Have Too Many).
Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels
Milk – Powdered & Condensed (Shake Liquid every 3 to 4 months)
Garden Seeds (Non-Hybrid) (A MUST)
Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
Coleman’s Pump Repair Kit
Tuna Fish (in oil)
Fire Extinguishers (or..large box of Baking Soda in every room)
First aid kits
Batteries (all sizes…buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates)
Garlic, spices & vinegar, baking supplies
Big Dogs (and plenty of dog food)
Flour, yeast & salt
Matches. {“Strike Anywhere” preferred.) Boxed, wooden matches will go first
Writing paper/pads/pencils, solar calculators
Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime.)
Workboots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
Flashlights/LIGHTSTICKS & torches, “No. 76 Dietz” Lanterns
Journals, Diaries & Scrapbooks (jot down ideas, feelings, experience; Historic Times)
Garbage cans Plastic (great for storage, water, transporting – if with wheels)
Men’s Hygiene: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc
Cast iron cookware (sturdy, efficient)
Fishing supplies/tools
Mosquito coils/repellent, sprays/creams
Duct Tape
Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
Candles
Laundry Detergent (liquid)
Backpacks, Duffel Bags
Garden tools & supplies
Scissors, fabrics & sewing supplies
Canned Fruits, Veggies, Soups, stews, etc.
Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
Canning supplies, (Jars/lids/wax)
Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
Bicycles…Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc
Sleeping Bags & blankets/pillows/mats
Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered)
Board Games, Cards, Dice
d-con Rat poison, MOUSE PRUFE II, Roach Killer
Mousetraps, Ant traps & cockroach magnets
Paper plates/cups/utensils (stock up, folks)
Baby wipes, oils, waterless & Antibacterial soap (saves a lot of water)
Rain gear, rubberized boots, etc.
Shaving supplies (razors & creams, talc, after shave)
Hand pumps & siphons (for water and for fuels)
Soysauce, vinegar, bullions/gravy/soupbase
Reading glasses
Chocolate/Cocoa/Tang/Punch (water enhancers)
“Survival-in-a-Can”
Woolen clothing, scarves/ear-muffs/mittens
Boy Scout Handbook, / also Leaders Catalog
Roll-on Window Insulation Kit (MANCO)
Graham crackers, saltines, pretzels, Trail mix/Jerky
Popcorn, Peanut Butter, Nuts
Socks, Underwear, T-shirts, etc. (extras)
Lumber (all types)
Wagons & carts (for transport to and from)
Cots & Inflatable mattress’s
Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc.
Lantern Hangers
Screen Patches, glue, nails, screws,, nuts & bolts
Teas
Coffee
Cigarettes
Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc,)
Paraffin wax
Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.
Chewing gum/candies
Atomizers (for cooling/bathing)
Hats & cotton neckerchiefs
Goats/chickens
U.S. Is Lying About China Being A “Threat!” – Says Fmr Australian Prime Minister
The Tiktok hearings are the beginning of the end of domestic contentment…
Watching the hundreds of videos all point to an element of great unrest.
The Congressmen and Senators are idiots who don’t understand the basics of life.
They want to ban a Chinese app that everyone uses, event though the CEO has been trying to accommodate their desires.
The app is bringing American together and this entire event is causing people to argue that the government does not represent the people.
The Spot Price of Gold Bullion jumped $64.30 per ounce today (+3.34%), reaching a cost of $1987.30 per ounce during regular market-day trading. Once the market closed, Gold continued to rise, reaching $1993.70. as of 5:42 PM eastern US Time (+3.68%).
This is taking place because people are pulling cash out of Banks and out of Stock Markets, and rushing to WHAT THEY ***THINK*** is the “safety” of Gold. In fact, what most of them are doing is buying “Paper” Gold . . . . allowing someone ELSE to hold the actual metal for them. If things in the financial markets continue NEXT WEEK, as they’ve been going this week, all those “Paper” Gold holders . . . . may find out the hard way, they have nothing. Only people who took actual delivery and have the gold in their own hands, are safe.
According to a new study reported by the Wall Street Journal, one-hundred eighty-six (186) additional banks have the same issues that faced Silicon Valley Bank before it collapsed.
Given that this is now being publicly reported – albeit DELIBERATELY after the markets closed on Friday — this weekend could result in an actual “Black Monday” when markets re-open on the 20th. (We will all have to watch pre-market conditions when futures trading opens up Sunday night.)
Fed BigBanks RegionalBanks
Given all the government activity last weekend, as Silicon Valley Bank and then Signature Bank collapsed, it is entirely feasible that government action may also take place this weekend.
What will YOU do if the government orders a “Bank Holiday” next week, and none of the banks can open? What will YOU do if all the ATM’s, credit, and debit cards are OFFLINE for a Bank Holiday? That could mean every store would be CASH ONLY; No credit, Debit, or even EBT cards! How will you eat? How will you put fuel in your car?
You had better prepare while you still have a slim window to do so: This weekend.
I Went To The Most Liberal Place In West Virginia
RUSSIA TO “PRACTICE” SUB-LAUNCHED NUKE STRIKE AGAINST U.S.A. FROM SUBS IN PACIFIC OCEAN
The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy said tonight his government will “launch salvos of missiles from submarines . . . in the neutral waters of the Pacific Ocean, relatively close to the coast of the United States, equipped with imitation nuclear warheads.”
The date of this ‘exercise” is not yet known.
This will be Russia’s response to the United States sending B-52’s to within ten miles of Russian territory (an island in the Baltic Sea) wherein they practiced launching nuclear cruise missiles at St. Petersburg, Russia, earlier this week. That incident, earlier this week, was reported HERE
From the Russian Foreign Ministry: “We urge the United States to think about the consequences of its increasingly aggressive actions fraught with direct military confrontation with Russia.”
Hal Turner Analysis
Things are not getting better, folks. They’re getting very much worse.
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers, drained (optional)
3/4 cup water
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
Salsa and sour cream
Crust
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
Instructions
Filling: In 10-inch skillet, brown and cook ground beef; drain thoroughly. Return meat to pan. Add onion; return to heat and cook until tender. Add mixed vegetables, beans, jalapeno peppers, water and taco seasoning. Cook over medium-high heat until most of liquid is gone.
Crust: In medium bowl, combine flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk, egg, oil and chiles; stir until flour is moistened. Spread evenly over top of meat mixture in skillet. Cook, covered, over low heat for 30 to 35 minutes or a wooden pick inserted into crust comes out clean.
Serve hot with salsa and sour cream.
Serves 4 to 6.
You can also bake this in the oven. Using an ovenproof skillet, bake at 375 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Peach Pie
This is a wonderful way to prepare pie the old-fashioned way in a cast iron skillet.
2023 03 19 16 58
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
8 fresh peaches
Instructions
Sift flour; measure and add salt and baking powder. Sift again. Cut in shortening as for pastry. Add milk all at once, just enough to make a soft dough. Turn out on a floured board and roll a round piece 1/4 inch thick and several inches larger in diameter than the skillet used. Place dough in bottom of skillet, letting edges hang over the outside. Then fill with sliced peaches and sprinkle with a mixture of 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon flour. Dot with butter. Fold edges toward center to partially cover the pie. Leave center of pie uncovered.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.
Serve warm or cold.
U.S. Air Force Attacks Allegedly IRANIAN Assets Inside Syria; Numerous Dead
A U.S. Government Press Release reads as follows: Earlier today, a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time.
The intelligence community assess the UAV to be of Iranian origin.
“At the direction of President Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. “The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC.”
—————-
Hal Turner Remarks
And there’s your “False Flag” that now gives a green light to US Forces to attack Iran itself (perhaps along with Israel).
Did you catch the paragraph which read “The intelligence community assess the UAV to be of Iranian origin.” OHHHHHHH! The “Intelligence Community?” Do they mean the same nitwits that came to a consensus that President Trump got elected through “Russia Collusion?” Yea, that’s them. The same nitwits who couldn’t figure out that the entire Russia Collusion nonsense came from the Hillary Clinton Campaign! That’s the level of dingbat, and asshat, presently infesting the US “Intelligence Community.” Soy boys and girly men most all of them, I think.
Here we go. The US will use this as a pretext for attacking “nuclear sites” inside Iran. Just watch.
What has just taken place in Moscow is nothing less than a new Yalta, which, incidentally, is in Crimea. But unlike the momentous meeting of US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in USSR-run Crimea in 1945, this is the first time in arguably five centuries that no political leader from the west is setting the global agenda.
It’s Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that are now running the multilateral, multipolar show. Western exceptionalists may deploy their crybaby routines as much as they want: nothing will change the spectacular optics, and the underlying substance of this developing world order, especially for the Global South.
What Xi and Putin are setting out to do was explained in detail before their summit, in two Op-Eds penned by the presidents themselves. Like a highly-synchronized Russian ballet, Putin’s vision was laid out in the People’s Daily in China, focusing on a “future-bound partnership,” while Xi’s was published in the Russian Gazette and the RIA Novosti website, focusing on a new chapter in cooperation and common development.
Right from the start of the summit, the speeches by both Xi and Putin drove the NATO crowd into a hysterical frenzy of anger and envy: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova perfectly captured the mood when she remarked that the west was “foaming at the mouth.”
The front page of the Russian Gazette on Monday was iconic: Putin touring Nazi-free Mariupol, chatting with residents, side by side with Xi’s Op-Ed. That was, in a nutshell, Moscow’s terse response to Washington’s MQ-9 Reaper stunt and the International Criminal Court (ICC) kangaroo court shenanigans. “Foam at the mouth” as much as you like; NATO is in the process of being thoroughly humiliated in Ukraine.
During their first “informal” meeting, Xi and Putin talked for no less than four and a half hours. At the end, Putin personally escorted Xi to his limo. This conversation was the real deal: mapping out the lineaments of multipolarity – which starts with a solution for Ukraine.
Predictably, there were very few leaks from the sherpas, but there was quite a significant one on their “in-depth exchange” on Ukraine. Putin politely stressed he respects China’s position – expressed in Beijing’s 12-point conflict resolution plan, which has been completely rejected by Washington. But the Russian position remains ironclad: demilitarization, Ukrainian neutrality, and enshrining the new facts on the ground.
In parallel, the Russian Foreign Ministry completely ruled out a role for the US, UK, France, and Germany in future Ukraine negotiations: they are not considered neutral mediators.
A multipolar patchwork quilt
The next day was all about business: everything from energy and “military-technical” cooperation to improving the efficacy of trade and economic corridors running through Eurasia.
Russia already ranks first as a natural gas supplier to China – surpassing Turkmenistan and Qatar – most of it via the 3,000 km Power of Siberia pipeline that runs from Siberia to China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province, launched in December 2019. Negotiations on the Power of Siberia II pipeline via Mongolia are advancing fast.
Sino-Russian cooperation in high-tech will go through the roof: 79 projects at over $165 billion. Everything from liquified natural gas (LNG) to aircraft construction, machine tool construction, space research, agro-industry, and upgraded economic corridors.
The Chinese president explicitly said he wants to link the New Silk Road projects to the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). This BRI-EAEU interpolation is a natural evolution. China has already signed an economic cooperation deal with the EAEU. Russian macroeconomic uber-strategist Sergey Glazyev’s ideas are finally bearing fruit.
And last but not least, there will be a new drive towards mutual settlements in national currencies – and between Asia and Africa, and Latin America. For all practical purposes, Putin endorsed the role of the Chinese yuan as the new trade currency of choice while the complex discussions on a new reserve currency backed by gold and/or commodities proceed.
This joint economic/business offensive ties in with the concerted Russia-China diplomatic offensive to remake vast swathes of West Asia and Africa.
Chinese diplomacy works like the matryoshka (Russian stacking dolls) in terms of delivering subtle messages. It’s far from coincidental that Xi’s trip to Moscow exactly coincides with the 20th anniversary of American ‘Shock and Awe’ and the illegal invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq.
In parallel, over 40 delegations from Africa arrived in Moscow a day before Xi to take part in a “Russia-Africa in the Multipolar World” parliamentary conference – a run-up to the second Russia-Africa summit next July.
The area surrounding the Duma looked just like the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) days when most of Africa kept very close anti-imperialist relations with the USSR.
Putin chose this exact moment to write off more than $20 billion in African debt.
In West Asia, Russia-China are acting totally in synch. West Asia. The Saudi-Iran rapprochement was actually jump-started by Russia in Baghdad and Oman: it was these negotiations that led to the signing of the deal in Beijing. Moscow is also coordinating the Syria-Turkiye rapprochement discussions. Russian diplomacy with Iran – now under strategic partnership status – is kept on a separate track.
Diplomatic sources confirm that Chinese intelligence, via its own investigations, is now fully assured of Putin’s vast popularity across Russia, and even within the country’s political elites. That means conspiracies of the regime-change variety are out of the question. This was fundamental for Xi and the Zhongnanhai’s (China’s central HQ for party and state officials) decision to “bet” on Putin as a trusted partner in the coming years, considering he may run and win the next presidential elections. China is always about continuity.
So the Xi-Putin summit definitively sealed China-Russia as comprehensive strategic partners for the long haul, committed to developing serious geopolitical and geoeconomic competition with declining western hegemons.
This is the new world born in Moscow this week. Putin previously defined it as a new anti-colonial policy. It’s now laid out as a multipolar patchwork quilt. There’s no turning back on the demolition of the remnants of Pax Americana.
‘Changes that haven’t happened in 100 years’
In Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, Janet Abu-Lughod built a carefully constructed narrative showing the prevailing multipolar order when the West “lagged behind the ‘Orient.’” Later, the West only “pulled ahead because the ‘Orient’ was temporarily in disarray.”
We may be witnessing a similarly historic shift in the making, trespassed by a revival of Confucianism (respect for authority, emphasis on social harmony), the equilibrium inherent to the Tao, and the spiritual power of Eastern Orthodoxy. This is, indeed, a civilizational fight.
Moscow, finally welcoming the first sunny days of Spring, provided this week a larger-than-life illustration of “weeks where decades happen” compared to “decades where nothing happens.”
The two presidents bid farewell in a poignant manner.
Xi: “Now, there are changes that haven’t happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes.”Putin: “I agree.”Xi: “Take care, dear friend.”Putin: “Have a safe trip.”
Here’s to a new day dawning, from the lands of the Rising Sun to the Eurasian steppes.
Romania Moving to “Annex” Moldova and Parts of Ukraine ! ! !
The Romanian Senate is debating a proposal tabled by Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă to annex the former Romanian territories occupied by present-day Moldova and Ukraine under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939).
According to article 3 of the draft bill: “Romania will annex the historical territories that it owned, respectively, Northern Bukovyna, Hertsa region, Bugeac (Cahul, Bolgrad, Izmail), historical Maramures and Snake Island.”
These territories are inhabited by 1 million people.
Ukraine would thus LOSE much of its present southwest, including “Snake Island!”
UPDATE 1:05 AM EDT (FRIDAY)
Word is coming in that the “Annexation” of “formerly Romanian territory” (i.e. Moldova”) would allegedly include the independent autonomous area of . . . . Transnistria! And upon the Annexation, Russian troops in Transnistria would allegedly be ordered to leave!
That would put a large weapons depot storage from the Soviet era, firmly into the hands of (NATO Member) Romania, and the amount of weapons in that depot would be enough to supply Ukraine for a full year in its fight with Russia!
Suppose the Russian troops are told by Moscow to stay? Will a fight erupt between Romania (NATO) and Russia?
This is getting very dirty, very fast.
Her parents locked her in the basement for 10-years. This is how it ended…
Which is the world’s richest country and poorest country?
China is richer than the next 9 richest countries in the world! …
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Famous Music Hits Turned Into Vintage Ad Posters
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David Redon wanted to take music hits and treat them like they were vintage ads, that the artist was the product and the title was the baseline. We can highlight the fact that David Redon adapted wonderfully every visual code of the first printed ads.
It’s Fake Nikes, Fake Reeboks, Fake Rolexes but Original Shoes
It’s the Brand that is Counterfeit
main qimg 00c4ed36e15a3358c84ea6ea6b43f7f5
A Nike Factory works on the SAME MOULD and MATERIAL as a Factory making non branded shoes.
The Feet Energy Shock Absorber Pad is patented design from Nike and that’s the difference
Nike also has special color pattern dyes that are unique and custom made from Ohio
Nike also has Industrial stitch fasteners that are patented designs (Stitching the threads) and custom made threads
This FESA Pad costs 50% of the Manufacturing cost.
In China, they make Pads that are around 60% -70% of Nikes quality and the Pattern Dyes are 90% similar and made in China
China makes 90% of the Worlds Stitch Fasteners and Threads for shoes barring a few big brands like Nike Or Adidas. So they can easily get a fastener and thread at maybe 1/3 to 1/4 the price
Difference is the Cost per Pair for this Non Branded Shoe is 1/6th of what it costs to manufacture a Nike.
So a Nike costs 225 -400 Yuan to manufacture in China and retails for 650–1200 Yuan
A Fake Nike costs 62 Yuan to manufacture in China and retails for 190–270 Yuan
The Fake Nike is 70–75% the Quality of Nike
main qimg 0ccfbaca2b58d21dab8f81aaf1fedc48
It has a roaring market of practical Chinese teens who want cool brands but dont want to pay the brand premiums or the cost of design related R&D
No Issues
It’s even encouraged
So Fake Nikes are pretty easy to make
The Same Mould , Materials, Similar Pads and Similar Dyes (Local Produce and not Imported from Akron Ohio) at 16–20% of a Nikes manufacturing cost
China has NO ISSUES
The Problem will come when the Fake Nikes ARE SOLD AS ORIGINAL
That is a Crime and Counterfeiting is charged and you face 3–7 Years Jail for First Offence and 5–15 Years for subsequent offense
So if a Fake Nike retails for less than 300 Yuan, no issues. Even Cops will buy some grinning. You have a problem? Go to the copyright commission
If a Fake Nike retails for 600–800 Yuan, that is the same or close to the retail price of an Original Nike, YOU ARE DEAD!!!
Our Chinese friends are very practical but they have their own codes when it comes to trade
They may cut corners but CHEATING is something they cannot stand
An Exporter who sells you Lead containing toys for 9 Yuan Retail ($ 1.20) that the Importer in US will retail for $ 4.99 , doesnt bother anyone in China
An Exporter who sells a Toy for 157 Yuan Retail ($ 24.40) with a ‘Special Fee’ and a No Lead additive guarantee, that the Importer in US will retail for $ 69.99 , will be Blacklisted and Jailed and fined massively
China Just EXPOSED the US Failure in the Middle East
GIANT, SEA-BASED, EARLY-WARNING, NUKE MISSILE RADAR PLATFORMS DEPLOYING FROM HAWAII
Something’s up. Several UNIQUE and very important vessels for early-warning-detection of nuclear missile launches, have been suddenly deployed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1) a floating, self-propelled, mobile active electronically scanned array early-warning radar station.
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The Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1) is a floating, self-propelled, mobile active electronically scanned array early-warning radar station is designed to operate in high winds and heavy seas. It was developed as part of the United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Ballistic Missile Defense System.
The radar is mounted on a fifth generation CS-50 twin-hulled semi-submersible oil platform. Conversion of the vessel was carried out at the AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas; the radar mount was built and mounted on the vessel at the Kiewit yard in Ingleside, Texas.
It is nominally based at Adak Island in Alaska, but has spent significant time at Pearl Harbor in test status. When it departed Pearl Harbor today, it was ***NOT*** on any heading back toward Alaska. It seems to be heading out into the Pacific toward . . . Asia.
MORE
Yesterday the U.S. Navy Mobile Aerial Target Support System (MATSS-1) IX-524 towed barge also left Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – March 22, 2023 as seen below:
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The MATSS systems aboard this particular vessel provide advanced remote telecommunications capability that extends the reach of the 42,000 square-mile Pacific Missile Range, the world’s largest instrumented multi-environmental range capable of supported surface, subsurface, air, and space operations simultaneously.
AND THIS . . .
SS Pacific Tracker (WQVZ) ballistic missile test tracker leaving Honolulu, Hawaii – March 22, 2023.
These types of vessels, there are only five of them in the world, are maintained in ROS-5 status and this one has been activated by TOTE Services in response to a no-notice mission activation.
OUR MOST SERIOUS FIREPOWER TOO!
Lastly, an Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine left Pearl Harbor directly from the Beckoning Point Deperming Facility – March 22, 2023, shown below:
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Deperming, or degaussing, is a procedure for erasing the permanent magnetism from ships and submarines to camouflage them against magnetic detection vessels and enemy marine mines.
The Ohio class of nuclear-powered submarines includes the United States Navy’s 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and its four cruise missile submarines (SSGNs). Each displacing 18,750 tons submerged, the Ohio-class boats are the largest submarines ever built for the U.S. Navy.
They are the world’s third-largest submarines, behind the Russian Navy’s Soviet-designed 48,000-ton Typhoon class and 24,000-ton Borei class. At 24 Trident II missiles apiece, Ohio-class boats carry more missiles than either the Borei class (16, 20 by the Borei II) or the Typhoon class (20).
Like its predecessor Benjamin Franklin- and Lafayette-class subs, the Ohio-class SSBNs are part of the United States’ nuclear-deterrent triad, along with U.S. Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 14 SSBNs together carry about half of U.S. active strategic thermonuclear warheads.
Although the Trident missiles have no preset targets when the submarines go on patrol, they can be given targets quickly, from the United States Strategic Command based in Nebraska, using secure and constant radio communications links, including very low frequency systems.
All of these unique and dangerous systems departed Pearl Harbor suddenly, within the past 24 hours. Something BIG is up. This is no joke.
Hal Turner Remark: Seeing this, I am convinced we are in the endgame and things are coming to an explosive end. We are all living on borrowed time now.
New Attack: U.S. Army Logistics Convoy Blown Up in Iraq
A strike drone attacked a US logistics convoy in Babil Governorate (Iraq).
No word yet on deaths or injuries. No indication if this is the start of large new attack(s).
Word from Intel circles is already saying “Iran.”
More if I get it, but not too much more is expected tonight.
“I Want More Squirrels in Gwent”: Fantasy Illustrations by Anna Podedworna
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Anna Podedworna is a Polish artist, primarily known for her series of works for Gwent, Cyberpunk 2077, League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering. For fans of the “Witcher” universe Anna is a native person in general – she has drawn so many cool illustrations for the cards that they have long become icons of the series of games.
In a recent interview Anna shared an interesting story related to Gwent: “My favorite card is the recently released Squirrel. It was the last card I illustrated for Gwent. There’s even a little story about it. The first director of Gwent had a strong dislike for squirrels. After discovering this fact, I set out to collect as many squirrels in the game as possible.
My first attempt at implementation was the “Iorveth: Meditation” card, but of course that wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, many of my attempts were tragically thwarted. Later, when I already knew I was leaving the company, a decision was made: it was now or never. I illustrated the damn squirrel and left it to the developers. They did not disappoint.
Anna summed up the interview by saying, “I want more squirrels in Gwent.
“China’s hyperspectral detection satellites oversee the Western Pacific battlespace and airborne lasers detect waves and temperature variations generated by moving targets.
The West Pacific Surveillance and Targeting satellite, along with fifteen Yaogan-30 satellites in low-earth orbit, operating as triplets positioned in close proximity, geo-locate military platforms by measuring the angular or time difference of arrival of their intercepted electromagnetic signals.
Below them, the Caihong-T4, a massive, solar-powered drone, loiters for months at a cloudless altitude of sixty-five thousand feet, while below, the fifteen-ton, one-hundred fifty-foot wingspan Divine Eagle High Altitude Stealth-Hunting Drone reads electronic signals from aircraft long before they approach their targets.
Below the drones are AWACS, whose solid-state detectors have twice the range of US rotating domes, relay targeting information to domestic and Russian-built S-400 anti-aircraft/anti-missile batteries.
Jin Canrong, the PRC’s senior defense policy advisor, says China has deployed weapons that can destroy in minutes every military base in its region, see all stealth bombers and submarines, and take out every aircraft carrier within two thousand miles of shore.
"The first salvo of 1,000 CJ-10 missiles would cripple seventy percent of US bases in the region and create a strategic dilemma for the White House. "Since no Chinese missile struck the United States, an American retaliatory strike on a target within China would be an escalation "Within hours, Seattle or Los Angeles would be destroyed – knowing that the US has no missile defense while both Russia and China have advanced systems".”
China Is Playing Her Hand, Moving to Save the World from the Satanic American Empire
Please ignore the racist comments in this article. -MM.
Basically, there is a looming crisis of the US dollar at the same time that the Chinese are taking their place as the dominant world power.
China is moving rapidly now, playing cards they’d been holding in their hand. The importance of the Iran-Saudi peace deal cannot be overstated. The US media is downplaying it, saying that this simply restores 2016 norms. In actual fact, if you read about the details of what has been agree to (which I just had the time to finally do today), this deal takes relations between these two countries to a level they haven’t been at since before Khomeini’s 1979 revolution.
It is incredible that this was effectively a kind of surprise announcement. The US has been taking the alliance with Saudi Arabia as a given, even though it has been collapsing ever since the American media made such a massive deal about Saudis killing one single terrorist-supporter journalist. After the US put those lunatic sanctions on Russia, it was obvious that the relationship was over – but somehow, the US didn’t act as though they understood that, just as when they did the sanctions, they didn’t act as though they understood that China and India would refuse to sign on to the
The China deal with Iran means that Saudi is solidly on China’s side.
In the larger context, what this shows is that China is able to solve problems that were previously considered unsolvable in order to form strong alliances and is able to counter the US system of violence and threats by uniting people under a common goal of national independence underlined by a cooperative system of global trade.
Along with constantly threatening war and sanctions, the US functions by playing nations off against each other. If you look at the history of US involvement in the Islamic world over the last 4 decades, the entire strategy has been keeping Shiite and Sunni at each others throats. The US will switch sides back and forth, supporting whichever is perceived as the underdog, in order to prevent one side from becoming dominant. The US also insists on manipulating the domestic politics of its victims, given that the US is guided by a Jewish agenda of total global domination – a world world government supported by a one-world culture of mixed multitudes of peasants with no national or religious identity.
The Chinese counter strategy hits every weakness of this system by reinforcing the rights of national identity and culture, respecting national sovereignty, and basing global cooperation on the positive goal of universal prosperity rather than the negative goal of undermining human instincts.
This is lining up with an emerging banking crisis. Yesterday, I wrote that I don’t necessarily agree with predictions of immediate doom, but the claim that the banking system has backed itself into a corner is absolutely true. These people thought they were invincible and acted like they were invincible and as it turns out, they are not invincible. They are now forced to attempt to shore up their books while the Saudis and others draw knives.
If the Jewnited Snakes begins firing shots, they will do so in a panic as a last gasp. They’ve walked straight into their own demise. No one forced them to do these Russian sanctions and prove all of the Chinese prophecies of lunatic mania. No one forced them to do the coronavirus hoax and follow it with an orchestrated collapse of the market that brought the US banking system to the brink. They acted haughtily, like the enemies of King David, and God turned their evil to good.
No one can predict how long this will take to play out, but the game is already over, and has been for some time. There is no longer any series of moves the Jews can make and win.
What it looks like now is that Emperor Xi is going to start rapidly laying cards on the table, creating a situation where the Whore or Babylon and her slaves are isolated in America and Europe.
It will be like that emo song we all hate.
Very bad things could start happening in these places as the Jews realize that their global agenda is over and then completely turn on the populations of these countries and just try to hurt the people as much as possible in a sadistic way.
What is going to happen is going to happen, and that is all that is going to happen.
China is now the global peace broker. They announced this last week with the incredible Saudi-Iran deal, now they are going to present their peace plan for the Ukraine, and the US is going to be forced to say “no, we want this war to continue until we can collapse the government of Russia, we don’t care how many people die or what it does to the global economy.”
They’ve already said this, in fact. John Kirby was out there this weekend, and he said that any cessation of hostilities is “completely unacceptable” because Russia must be destroyed and prevented from acting in the world in the future.
Xi is in Moscow now. This is the big play. There is zero chance that the US is going to allow Zelensky to do peace. He tried to do it in March of 2022 and they told him no.
After the US is forced to make a big show of “war at any costs,” China then has a blank check from every allied country to do whatever it takes to put down this mad brute.
If the US falls into the trap – and they almost certainly will, given what we’ve seen – and sanctions China with the same sanctions they’ve put on Russia, the house of cards falls. Further, China will be in a position to declare a formal blockade against the US.
It’s all perfect timing, as the US has been indicating it wants to end the war anyway – but they can’t end it on China’s terms, or they’re just openly bowing to the Emperor.
European countries will begin breaking off soon enough and siding with the East. The US has been planning this world war, and they are going to be in a situation where they are at war with the entire world.
Xi this week published an op-ed about his Glorious Mission to save the earth for Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
In the piece, he declared the dawn of a new world order, led by Russia and China, where nations have independence and the right to self determination and are not bullied by pigs. Lauding the unbreakable bonds between Russia and China, he announced “the formation of new types of international relations and a community of shared destiny for humanity” and noted that Russia China relations are strong enough to withstand any pressure.
Xi called for mutual respect between nations, writing that “the international community is aware that no country in the world surpasses all others.” In a clear reference to the US assertion that they represent an absolute moral order to the universe, he writes: “there is no universal model of governance, and there is no world order where the decisive word belongs to a single country.”
He continues with his criticism of the Jewnited Snake:
Profound changes are taking place in the modern world. Peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are an unstoppable historical trend. Multipolarity, economic globalization, and democratization of international relations are an irreversible trend.
At the same time, both traditional and non-traditional security challenges are rapidly increasing. Actions of hegemony, despotism, and bullying cause serious harm to the world. It will take a very long way to restore the world economy. The international community is deeply concerned and in desperate need of ways to get out of the crisis.
…
In the past decade, universal values such as peace, development, equality, justice, democracy, and freedom have taken deep root in people’s hearts. More and more countries are united in their common aspiration to build a clean and beautiful world where durable peace, universal security, shared prosperity, openness, and tolerance prevail. The international community is fully aware that no country in the world is superior to others. There is no universal model of governance, nor is there a world order where one country has the final say. Solidarity and peace on the planet without rifts and upheavals serve the common interests of all mankind.
Every problem on earth is coming from the same place.
Xi then outlines his plans for peace, which are of course, very obvious, and could only ever be denied by Jewish lunatics intent on using the conflict to push a globalist and satanic agenda on the world.
Further, he made reference to a “long and tortuous global economic recovery,” clearly indicates that China is prepared to deal with whatever fallout results from open opposition to the Western world order.
Xi closes with a statement of intent: he writes that China has spent the last decades getting its own house in order, and they are now ready to take on global challenges, the primary problem, as he’d already explained, being US global hegemony.
Meanwhile, the media is flipping out, saying China is moving to take over the world. The Guardian published a fascinating op-ed by celebrated former Moscow correspondent Jonathan Steele that effectively outlines everything I just wrote above with slight moderation.
From it:
Now, 30 years after the demise of the Soviet Union, there are signs that the unipolar world of US dominance may be coming to an end. The main challenger is not Putin’s Russia, but an increasingly confident China. Leaders in the global south are also stirring. In the first flush of shock over Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in February last year, more than 140 UN states voted to condemn it. But only around 40 countries in total have joined the US in imposing sanctions on Russia. As the west floods Ukraine with military hardware, the notion that it is merely helping to defend Ukraine looks questionable to many Asian, African and Latin American states who suspect the end goal to be regime change in the Kremlin.
A survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reveals a significant shift in public opinion in several key countries. People want to see a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even if it means Ukraine giving up western-supported aspirations to victory and accepting the temporary loss of some territory. It is not only citizens of authoritarian China who think this way. So do citizens in India and Turkey.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told the Munich Security Conference last month: “I see how powerful the Russian narrative is, its accusations of double standards.” France’s Emmanuel Macron said he was “shocked by how much credibility we are losing in the global south”.
Some fear a new cold war, this time between the west and China. Looking 10 years ahead, others expect to see a multipolar world in which states will not be pressured to align themselves with one side or the other. Either way, in spite of the resurgence of US power in Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine, the era of US supremacy in the rest of the world may soon be over.
Just so you understand: I am far from the only one saying all of this. In fact, it is difficult to find any serious people anywhere disagreeing with my basic assertions. The only thing you can find is vulgar American propaganda made for morons. This is the same media which makes claims like “the Ukraine is a democracy” and claims that the US is dumping all these weapons on the country for humanitarian reasons. This media portrays the US as invincible, and effectively argues that there are no problems on earth at all beyond the annoyance of Chinese, Russians, and the entire third world not being gay enough.
I don’t think you will be able to find anything written at an adult level that does not concur with the conclusion that following the events of the last three years, the US empire has backed itself into a corner and really has no clear way out. The only difference between these mainstream analyses and my own is that I take these things to to their logical conclusions – the most important of which being that if the US does not maintain global hegemony, the US financial system collapses, which will make the nation nigh entirely irrelevant on the world stage. There is an “all or nothing” dynamic to the US system which would be admitted in other contexts, but is too scary for most to admit in the context of this present decline of the empire.
Hold Tight
It’s happening now. Moves are being made. China goes all in. Cards on the table.
It feels so wonderful to see it all finally coming crashing down. The Jews and their anti-Christ culture of filth and degradation destroyed my family. As an adult, I have been hounded by these people relentlessly. They destroyed my company, costing me tens of millions of dollars, and ran me out of my home country. But much more than this, they completely destroyed the nation my ancestors built, and they succeed in destroying most of the people in it with their revolutionary ideologies, sexual perversions, drugs, and spiritual rot.
But God is good and everyone is going to get what they deserve.
The only thing I ever wanted in my life was to see this whole system come crashing down, and here it is.
What happens next is all but irrelevant, given that it can’t possibly be worse than what is happening now.
But what will happen is that Nick Fuentes will become dictator of America and Ye will sing at my homecoming event.
4 Non Blondes – What’s Up (Official Music Video)
What is the biggest waste of electricity you’ve seen in a home you visited, were a guest in, or even in your own home?
A co-worker of mine figured out why her electric bill had tripled with the help of their neighbor’s cats. For three months one summer their electric bill suddenly went through the roof. They checked out all their appliances, air conditioning, etc. and couldn’t find the problem. Then one cool evening she looked out the window and noticed there were several neighbor cats lying on her driveway. This was an “Ah Ha!” moment. She had a driveway heater with a switch in the basement that was used very briefly when the driveway was icy in the winter. Turns out a workman who was doing a job in her basement was looking for a light switch and flipped on the driveway heater switch. When no light came on, the guy figured that light was broken and found a different light, The driveway switch wasn’t labeled (at least not then). So her driveway had been continuously drawing electricity all summer. Only the neighbor cats could detect the difference in temperature on the driveway and would “chill out” there on cool evenings. It took her 3 months to notice the abundance of cats lying on her driveway and connect that with the driveway heater and the high electric bill.
Head of Ukraine Central Bank Buys new Rolls Royce “Ghost”
Firstly, it will NOT occur in the South China Sea.
Secondly, it will be a missile war.
Thirdly, Aircraft carriers will not play a major role.
Fourthly, mainland America will get to become participants in the war.
BABYMETAL – METAL KINGDOM (OFFICIAL)
What makes China’s educational system successful? What lessons can the United States learn from China’s example?
I taught in the UK, in state schools back in the 90’s and a lot of time was wasted in pandering to the worst behaved students. The management teams were trying to avoid being too “autocratic” and focusing on rewarding the badly behaved students to bribe them to not misbehave. The well behaved and smart students were often neglected. There was a lot of politically correct propaganda too. Moving to China to teach adults was like Heaven in comparison.
In China, in general, society is more advanced and evolved than in the west. I don’t mean just based on infrastructure, technology or wealth. In Chinese society there is much more respect for humanity, family, community and society as a whole. There is a respect for sensible, considerate behaviour and not this egoistic, narcissistic extreme individualism that is prevalent in the west. Responsibility is championed. In the west, it is rights first, responsibility second.
In the west, and you can see it with the dreadful politicians, there is so much time wasted on self centred, emotional drama. It is as if society learns from the awful soap operas. “Me, me me” mentality.
In China; it is “Us, we can work together and achieve” and with no pathetic self centred, emotional drama. Look at the state of the west now; war and weapons all over the world. I am 100% certain that Chinese education, culture and society is far more advanced than the western ones; especially the UK and USA.
Saudi Arabia Unloading U.S. Treasuries; Lowest level in 7 years!
Loss of confidence in the US Dollar is growing. Saudi Arabia has begun earnestly dumping US Treasuries, with the Oil-rich nation now having fewer US Treasuries than anytime in the past 7 years.
This trend with Saudi Arabia is being mirrored by many other countries which are fearful the US has already over-spent itself (into oblivion) and will NOT be able to actually repay the money it owes.
Other countries have also been unloading US debt notes.
As the US sees it’s hegemony over the world slipping away, they are becoming more and more warlike; seemingly TRYING TO START WW3.
Also known as "suicide by cop" -MM
Such a war would result in tens of millions of Americans killed, which is exactly, precisely what the US NEEDS TO HAPPEN, so they can cry for debt relief and get out of the debts they owe.
When I was young, my mother stayed at home and would take care of the house. We called it “domestic chores”. My father would work all day, and then when he was paid, he would give all of his pay to my mother to budget for. She in turn, would give him a small stipend for his wallet and spend the rest on our family needs.
All in all it worked out pretty good.
Then came 1974, and the “Woman’s Lib” movement (which my mother was a great advocate of – burning her bra and all the rest), as well as the advent of high inflation and credit cards forever changed the traditional household to something “better”; a more progressive family unit.
While I often miss the simplicity of those days, the things that I love about China is how “traditional” it is in regards to friends, family and relationships. You’re never going to starve or want in China.
Today’s installment…
No Need
Intelligence shows that the Biden administration has been discussing how to sabotage the Iran-Saudi Arabia relationship, the Ukraine-Russia peace talk in White House daily & nightly now. Why has the US been so terrified of the world peace?
No need to hear from you intelligence!
Just looking at the U.S. evil intentions will make the world certain that the U.S. will sabotage it no different from how they destroyed the Nordstream 2 pipelines. The U.S. never wanted peace. It never wanted a better world. It design a messy world so that it can jumped in and take advantage of the chaos. And stir up a war do that Ot can sell weapons to both parties.
The only difference today in 2023 is that the world knows now! And this is not good for the west and the U.S. Their only game in town is up. Nation by nation will stay as far away as possible from the U.S. No different from a strange bed fellow that no one wants to get near.
Very soon, the U.S. needs to steal from their fellow colonials and fellow native slaughterers. Let’s see how U.S. cons the UK!
Cheap Trick – Surrender (from Budokan!)
What was life like in the 1960s in the USA?
I’ve often wished I could pick up my kids and take them back to the 60s for a day, just so they could see what it was like.
We dressed up on Saturdays to go shopping. There was always a G-rated movie to see.
Store clerks were grown-up professionals who actually made enough to live on and really knew their products. Big department stores had elevator men with wearing uniforms with big gold braid who cheerfully did their job of getting you where you wanted to go.
You could go out in public all day and never hear a cuss word.
Ladies wore hats and gloves to church. Ladies even dressed up to come over to play cards with my grandmother.
Men wore hats and knew when it was proper to take them off, when to touch them, etc.
It was quite common to have homes and cars unlocked all day.
Moms were home in the daytime. Neighborhoods were not deserted during the day as they are now. Big groups of children in my neighborhood played outside together every day. There was no air conditioning, so it was unthinkable to play in the house on a sunny day.
It was rare for women to drive and it was very common to see older ladies rolling their groceries home in a cart. Lots of men didn’t drive, either, as we lived on a bus route.
Parents in the neighborhood watched out for everyone’s kids. If one of the kids misbehaved his or her mother knew all about before he or she even got home.
Dogs and cats roamed the neighborhood. It was common to see several dogs sitting outside the grocery store waiting on their owners.
People were friendly and polite. Always. At least in public.
On Saturdays everyone in the neighborhood ran errands and did their yard work. Ladies went to the beauty shop to have their hair done for church the next day. Men went to a barbershop and they most certainly never set foot in a beauty parlor. You had to make sure you had everything you needed for Sunday because all the stores would close by Saturday afternoon.
On Sundays most people went to church. Even if they didn’t, the neighborhood was completely quiet. Sunday was a day of rest and stores were closed. There was never a lawn mower running or any activity going on outside. Most people visited with family and had a big family dinner.
It was normal for people to have big front porches and go from house to house visiting.
There were only three TV channels and they all signed off at 11 p.m. with the national anthem.
It was common for neighbors to listen in on your telephone conversations because everyone was on a party line.
You couldn’t wash clothes last minute because nobody had a dryer. If it were raining it took forever for your clothes to dry in the house. Clothes also had to be ironed, so you really had to plan ahead.
I was surprised by some of the comments. I was born in 1963, so I am writing from the perspective of a little girl and focusing on what was most different from today. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in a small southern city. It was definitely not Mayberry and I most certainly did not have an idyllic childhood.
My parents were divorced and I lived with my mom, my grandmother, and an uncle. I had a babysitter with two grown daughters. My father was in prison.
My house was just down the street from the Catholic church and there were dozens of big Catholic families on our street. I never met another child with divorced parents until 1974.
I heard about Vietnam and body bags in hushed tones but I didn’t understand what was going on. I did have an uncle there, so I did recognize the fear that gripped my mother and grandmother every time they watched the news.
I vaguely understood there was racial unrest but I didn’t understand why. I attended the Catholic school through the fourth grade and was told Jesus loves everyone equally. From what I remember, grown-ups would agree with that thought, but believed there would be no trouble between races if they simply didn’t interact. It wasn’t until the 70s when things got violent. It became common to hear gunshots at night and we moved to a “better” neighborhood in 1974. In the 70s We endured forced busing for a few years, which was a huge waste of time and money and caused more racial upheaval. For the first time, there were fights every day in school.
I never realized we were poor until we moved to the “better” neighborhood and all the girls in my class had pierced ears, wore designer clothes, and had long ago given up playing with toys, in the fifth grade.
While there are things I remember fondly from the 1960s, I certainly wouldn’t want to live there. I do, however, really miss beautiful manners and beautiful clothes.
This is Uyinene Mrwetyana:
South African girl.
She disappeared on the 24th of August 2019. After her disappearance, her friends went and stood outside the Post Office and handed out missing person fliers.
She had gone to the Post Office to collect a parcel. When she got there, the man who attended to her said she should return later, as the lights were out. He told her to return at 2pm. The Post Office closes at 1pm. When she came back later, he raped and killed her.
When the friends were giving out fliers, this man apparently watched them and even took some and said he’d distribute them to people that visited the Post Office.
You know what he told the police when they caught him?
“This one really put up a fight. It took so long for her to die.”
At her funeral, her mom said “ I’m sorry I warned you about everything except the Post Office.”
It broke my heart.
She was 19 years old.
Who are some of the dumbest criminals ever to be caught?
I would like to nominate the following interesting group of guys.
In the city of Charleroi, Belgium, a group of men walk into an e-cigarette store around 3 p.m. They demand money from the owner of the shop, a man called Didier.
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Didier knows he can’t fight off six men at once, so he came up with a plan. He told the wannabe robbers that 3 p.m. was a terrible time to rob his place. If only they would leave and come back around 6 p.m, when there would be more money in the cash register. The men talked with Didier for roughly 15 minutes and then left.
Didier picks up his phone and calls the cops on the gang, telling them what happened and that they would be back in a few hours.
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The police listened to Didier and thought: “Nobody would be so dumb. They aren’t actually going to come back after this, right?”
False. Around 6 p.m., as instructed, the guys return to the store to rob it. The plainclothes officers who showed up just in case were there waiting for them in a back room.
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I have to give it to them, they do like to believe in their fellow man.
What is the difference between a Chinese and Japanese child?
The idea that Japanese children are somehow better-behaved, or simply “cuter” than their Asian counterparts, is a widely accepted stereotype that fits into the whole mythos of “Japanese superiority”. The problem with that idea, however, is that as with all forms of superiority complexes, it’s based on half-truths and even untruths.
Lemme give you an example of what I mean.
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Back in 2021, this picture of a cute little 2–3 year old girl went viral on Chinese social media. It was claimed that this was a Japanese kindergartner walking alone to school, and that Japanese people raise their kids to be independent and self-reliant at a very early age. Others claimed she was standing because she’d given up her seat to someone in need – being this cute, brave, and well-mannered, is surely a testament to the superiority of Japanese society, culture, and genetics.
Internet commenters simply couldn’t stop talking about the greatness of Japan, and the sheer inferiority of China. Due to oppressive politics, a subpar culture, and hopelessly flawed genetics, Chinese children will never look as cute and confident as this!
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Except if you looked at the posters on the train, you can see the photos of her were clearly taken in mainland China. Specifically, Hangzhou.
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↑ The girl’s (very Chinese and very patriotic) mother was furious about people stealing and mislabeling photos of her daughter, just to further an anti-Chinese narrative.
But people still couldn’t (or wouldn’t) believe such a cute child could possibly be Chinese. So her mother dressed her up like this, which shut everyone up for good:
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So there you go. Children everywhere are all the same. They’re snotty, stinking, screaming balls of flesh who are only occasionally adorable. Anything to do with “cuteness” and such is mostly a reflection of a family’s level of wealth and care, as well as a society’s level of development. The same way house-cats in a rich household tend to look better than strays on the street.
, children are probably only going to look even cuter than before.
There are already enough double standards out there, with the specific aim of keeping the Chinese down. It is important not to let them affect children, and how adults perceive of them.
Tiffany – I Think We’re Alone Now (Official Music Video)
What are the most important psychological facts that everyone should know?
We all know the unavoidable Karens, but there’s also the Ritas, and they are much worse and definitely more dangerous. Unfortunately we all trust them, due to a simple but simultaneously very sophisticated psychological trap.
And that trap is called trauma.
We all know those women who once had an eating disorder (think anorexia), and then later became “professional” diet coaches. Without any medical degree whatsoever. The Goop herself is a dangerous example.
She is the basic Rita with a capital “R.”
Given people diet tips while she barely eats anything.
Just weeks ago I read about this woman who is famous in The Netherlands, who proudly stopped drinking alcohol, and suddenly is a self-proclaimed anti-alcohol advocate. How convenient when the advocacy begins after you stopped using.
She also declared that she had had an alcohol problem for many years — although she never said a word about any problem before she quit. And nobody else did.
In hindsight, our problems always become much worse, since then our heroism (of quitting) becomes much greater. In my opinion, she might have had a problem, but that does not mean other people do.
Again: Rita with a capital “R.”
I even know a professional stillbirth coach. The woman in question has three healthy kids, but a fourth died at birth, and suddenly she became an expert — and not much later a paid professional — coaching couples who end up in the same situation. Without any psychological expertise.
But still, we believe such people, as if trauma makes us wiser, which it does not.
Having experienced trauma does not mean you can professionally help other people suffering from similar trauma.
Suffering from psychosis does not make you a psychologist. Suffering from anorexia in your childhood does not make you a diet coach in later life (while you still suffer from anorexia, by the way). Being a victim does not make you suited to be a professional guide.
Being a patient does not make you a doctor.
Expertise requires a much greater effort, much wider and deeper knowledge, much more theory and much more experience. It takes years and years and years of guided study. And Ritas can and will hurt vulnerable people even more (even if they think they are doing the right thing).
So please stop following Ritas, stop consulting them and stop paying them. Stop watching them, and stop reading them. They are using trauma for their own benefit, and they have no expertise whatsoever, whatever they say or believe.
You are not helped by Ritas such as Gwyneth Paltrow — you are abused.
“Rita” stands for Rather Ill-suited Trauma Adviser, by the way.
And although I coined the term myself, you do not have to pay.
This is Natasha Conabeer:
Another South African girl.
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She went missing on the 18th of August.
About 2 days ago, she was found outside her house. Her kidnappers drugged her, raped her and beat her. They broke every bone in her body, and they apparently scooped out her one eye. Then when they were done, they went and left her at home. She died on the 9th of September at the hospital.
This isn’t even all of them. Another woman was apparently dumped by a car in her neighborhood last week after being raped and killed. A 17 year old girl was shot dead by her boyfriend, who then killed himself afterwards. Another woman, just like Natasha, left for work in the morning and disappeared. When she was found, she was drugged and beaten. She died in the hospital. A man also killed 3 of his kids and his stepdaughter because their mother wanted to divorce him.
A 20-year-old boy called Nicholas Ninow raped a 7-year-old at a restaurant last year and they want to say he needs psychological help.
I am angry because the women in my country of South Africa are dying, but the only thing people are putting their energy on is being Xenophobic.
The other day, I had to work in a different shop. A man there that I don’t know and have never met, came and put his arms around my waist to hug me. I pushed him off. He asked me why. I told him I didn’t want him touching me. He flat out said “I have the right to touch you however I want to.” I’m not even exaggerating. Those were his words.
Gobble It Up Pot Pie
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
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Ingredients
Filling
2 (15 ounce) cans mixed vegetables, drained
1 pound (2 cup) cooked turkey, shredded
1 (12 ounce) jar turkey gravy
Topping
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1 (6 ounce) package instant turkey stuffing mix
1 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Filling: In large mixing bowl, combine vegetables, turkey and gravy; mix well.
Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole.
Topping: In skillet, melt butter.
Add onion and celery and cook until tender.
Add seasoning packet from stuffing mix and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in stuffing. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in dried cranberries.
Spread stuffing evenly over vegetable mixture.
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until heated through.
The examples of the Western elite fever dream warping their thinking have multiplied at an extraordinary rate in the past few days and I simply cannot cover all of the main ones in a single post, so there will be a later post with the examples that would have made this post far too long.
Just when you think that the Western elites cannot sink any lower, they prove otherwise. The level of rank hypocrisy and utter pettiness reminds us that we are dealing with the equivalent of a child throwing a tantrum because they cannot get their own way. How dare Russia not collapse under our sanctions! How dare the Russians shoot down our drone spying off their coast! How dare the Chinese support the Russians! How dare the Russians and Chinese work to bring peace to the Middle East! … The list of “why can’t you accept that we are the ‘Massa’” style reactions accumulate day after day. The Western garden is annoyed that the trees in the non-Western forest will not bow down to it and accept it as their guide to what a good civilization is (this reminds me of the scene in the Lord of the Rings where the Ents uproot themselves and join the fight against Mordor by attacking Isengard).
All of the Western elite propaganda actions are part of the playbook for any nation that stands up to the West; make the country and its leadership look as horrendous as possible through extensive media control and the use of civil puppet institutions to smear them. That’s how you get a population to go to war with the enemies of the Western elites, to shed their blood and their money for the benefit of the elites. For now, it is the blood of the Ukrainians, a nation that is slowly being depopulated of its young able-bodied men, but as this approach seems to be failing Western young men’s lives may be the next to be squandered. Of course, the reality is that there are at least 20,000 “sheep dipped” Polish military personnel already in Ukraine (at least 2,000 of which have died) as well as significant numbers of other sheep-dipped “mercenaries” and special forces personnel.
The ICC indicts Putin for saving children’s lives
The Polish President of the Interminable Criminal Court (yeah, I bet he is unbiased against Russians) announces the indictment of President Putin for the “crime” of transferring children beyond the reach of murderous Ukrainian artillery salvoes aimed directly at civilian areas and the retribution of Ukrainian fascist organizations. The British Prosecutor of the ICC, who will have led the investigation stitch-up is also the brother of a convicted paedophile (you really can’t make this stuff up!). As Russia is not a signatory to the ICC this is all just propaganda pantomime BS. This is the same ICC that the US is not a signatory to and has threatened to invade the Hague if any US citizen is tried there! The ICC could also be called the International Colonial Court given its predilection for taking down African politicians. It is certainly a Western organ of dominance given its’ studied blindness to Western crimes. The ICC found the President of Serbia not guilty of war crimes, but only after he had died suspiciously in The Hague under their detention! The Mississippi courts of the 1950s could have learnt a few tricks from the ICC!
A German Idiot/Minister states Putin will be arrested if her enters Germany
The German Federal Minister of Justice decided to open his mouth and ruin any hope of a future relationship with Russia even more by stating that he would arrest Putin if he entered Germany given the above ICC propagandist ruling. He could have just kept his mouth shut and demurred if questioned on this, but no he had to stand up to show what a complete tool he is. Just like the idiot Canadian elites who ruined their relationship with China when they arrested kidnapped Meng Wanzhou and were then shafted by the US administration who made a deal with China. That’s what happens to mere supplicants, they are seen as expendable by their master; the Germans don’t seem to have learnt this lesson yet.
NATO asks for Russia and Belarus to be thrown out of the Olympics
A whole bunch of countries asked the International Olympic Committee to ban Russia and Belarus from the next Olympics. When looked at closely the list of nations is basically NATO countries plus NATO wannabees, so basically NATO asked the IOC to ban a country they are having a war with (and one not actually involved in the Ukraine War). Perhaps a better solution would be to move the Olympics from France, who put their name to the list and are to all intents and purposes an active participant in the Ukraine War, to a neutral nation and declare the Olympics politics free. If those nations want to ban themselves from the Olympics that’s up to them. Maybe the IOC should have done that when NATO illegally bombed Serbia, NATO countries illegally invaded Iraq and when NATO destroyed Libya etc.? The hypocrisy is redolent.
Perhaps also, the Olympics should be moved away from France given the obvious disregard of the French President for his people through extensive police violence and ruling by decree to ram through an increase in the pension age that 75% of the French people are against:
A Canadian Idiot/Minister Calls for Russian Regime Change
Yes, I am a Canadian and have to watch my leaders commit what accounts to treason, acting against the national interest, again and again. They are like sock puppets with Uncle Sam’s hand up their arses, it is utterly pathetic. But one of the worst has to be Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Joly, who mixes incompetence with being a US puppet. A civil and commercial lawyer, an MP for only 7 years and with previous positions of Canadian Heritage (3 years), Tourism (1 year), and Economic Development (2 years). Hardly a deep career in diplomacy to be able to deal with giants like Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) and Wang (China)! Then again, we have a Prime Minister whose main previous experience was as a drama teacher and a Ukrainian nationalist (also a previous minister of foreign affairs), as Finance Minister. Of course, the US doesn’t set a high bar with an ex speech writer as Secretary of State.
Well, Ms. Joly proved her metal by doing exactly what diplomats are explicitly not supposed to do, say the quiet bit out loud! Calling for explicit regime change in Russia! I wish we could have regime change in Canada, but all of the main parties are captured by the Western fever dream.
The US Trump Fever Dream
Matching the external fever dream of the US establishment is their internal Trump Fever Dream. Just as in the international area, every move the establishment takes seems to make their enemy, Trump, stronger. The completely unneeded raid on Trump’s Mar-el-Lago estate supposedly to go after “secret” papers ended up shining a light on the breaches of security by Biden with respect to “secret” papers and the partisan nature of the state; with no “gotcha” to discredit or imprison Trump. Now we have a New York district attorney who seems to have spent the last few years trying not to prosecute people while working overtime to find something, anything, on Trump to prosecute. As Elon Musk stated quite correctly, an indictment of Trump on this flimsy case that stretches the bounds of the law could bring Trump a landslide in 2024.
This inter-elite war, between the internationalist bourgeoisie who give little thought to a true reinvigoration of US manufacturing (that would significantly reduce their profits) or the US population (their response to the East Palestine eco-disaster displays this lack of caring, reminding us of Obama’s show of disdain with respect to the Flint water crisis of 2014 – watch the video, below, did he even sip that water?) and the domestic bourgeoisie who rely on domestic real estate, domestic extractive industries and what’s left of domestic manufacturing has ripped the mask of the US elite. The capitalist-controlled state and media which previously only aimed their wrath at the workers and economically leftist politicians, is now being used in an attempt to crush a capitalist domestic competitor. But after seven plus years of “Russia, Russia, Russia”, “Trump soft on Russia”, and “Trump is corrupt” and more generally “Trump Bad”, The Donald is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to run against Biden(?) in 2024.
Expect the US internationalist establishment to get more and more desperate as time goes on, Trump should stay away from open topped cars in any large spaces ending in “Plaza”. Their desperate acts may only expose them more and strengthen Trump more. If the establishment can awake from its Trump fever dream, we may see an “arrangement” where some senior Democrats are thrown to the wolves to protect the whole. Perhaps the Biden Crime Family plus a few others get thrown under the bus, with Biden himself conveniently non compos mentis. A Hunter show trial may serve to feed the retributive thirsts of the Trump supporters, while the lurid details of “Chinese interference and bribery” will serve to vilify China. The details of Ukrainian corruption could also be used as a smokescreen to exit the Ukrainian stupidity. The timing would also be good for the establishment to move on from their failure in Ukraine and focus fully on China; something that Trump would be happy to do. Let’s remember though, Trump is a billionaire capitalist who mimics a populist politician while really not giving a damn about the US people, what he really cares about is his domestic assets; and going after China.
A Ray of Light: Taiwan Now Only Recognized By 0.49% of the Global Population
El Salvador has now removed its recognition of Taiwan and accepted China as the true representative of all of China, including the province of Formosa. Only 12 of the tiniest of the 193 nations of the world now recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, with pretty much all of them being in the Caribbean (Guatemala, Haiti, Belize etc.), South America (Paraguay) or are Western-dominated tiny Pacific island nations (Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, Naura). Of course, this will do nothing to stop the US trying to stir up trouble with China over Taiwan, but it does help remove even more of the diplomatic cover, now if only Guatemala and Paraguay could do the same …
The ongoing tightening of the relationship between China and Russia continues onwards, driven by the Western elites’ rising fever dream. The formal visit of Xi to Moscow and the contents of the public announcements and press conferences show that China understands that its support for Russia is existential to both nations. The West cannot be allowed to divide and conquer, with an example of Chinese support being Russia’s move to #1 oil supplier to China ousting Saudi Arabia; so much for the Western attempts to control Russia’s oil exports. China (and India) will be the beneficiaries of Russian hydrocarbons rather than Europe; with ongoing work to expand Russia gas supplies to China through pipelines and LNG tankers.
It does seem that the Western elites thought that the ICC indictment of Putin would stop Xi travelling to Russia, perhaps that was even the main reason for the sudden indictment? The utterly delusional nature of this is evident to anyone outside the fever dream. They really thought that a China which is seeing increasing hostility from the West is going to undermine its biggest ally because of an indictment by the Western kangaroo court in The Hague? The Chinese snub of the ICC will play very well in Africa, with the West delivering a propaganda win for China outside the West. The utter delusions and hypocrisy of the Western elites is shown in their pathetic denunciations of Xi’s visit, while all their crimes are conveniently not investigated by the ICC. Russia will also have won in the non-West as it stands up to the ICC and moves to indict the ICC sock puppets involved in constructing this fact-challenged indictment. In his recent statement.
Secretary of State Blinken recently condemned the China visit to Russia, using the ICC ruling as flimsy support for his statements. He accused the Ethiopian government (the one that overthrew the Western puppet regime) of war crimes, reminding Africa of the games that the US plays in legitimizing its’ acts of aggression against those that will not say “uncle”; gold for the leaders who accept US dominance and lead for those that do not. The fact that the US State Department considers that it can judge the rest of the world on human rights, while being the biggest violator of them (Iraq, Rendition and Torture program, Occupation of Syria, mass imprisonment at home), shows utter hubris, hypocrisy, and mendacity.
With the tight alliance now including Iran and Belarus, and China and Russia’s influence spreading throughout the non-Western world (e.g. their negotiating of a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia) and the Ukraine war going Russia’s way, time is on their side. The rumoured peace deal being negotiated by Russia between Turkey, Iran and Syria would underline the very significant loss of influence for the West in the MENA region.
In the area of foreign relations, the relative size of official foreign visits can tell us a lot. The Brazilian President’s visit to the US was spartan, while the upcoming trip to China is much bigger: with a very large business contingent. Brazil is open for business with China. Although Lula has to tread carefully it seems with respect to the Ukraine war belligerents (although short of implementing sanctions) he is carefully balancing between the West and non-West while understanding the inevitable decline of the former with respect to the latter.
The reception for Chinese and Russian visits to Africa has also been visibly warmer than that for Western delegations; with Macron being treated with relative disdain. Neocolonial bullies only apologize when they have been severely beaten, and Macron’s speech promising “profound humility” toward Africa (although perhaps just propaganda) is a statement of France’s much weakened position in that continent. Below are a couple of excellent presentations by Cyrus Janssen covering why the US is losing its’ position in Africa and Latin America; in two words – arrogance and hubris.
And…
All fuel for the Western fever dream, which will only intensify the China, Russia, Belarus, Iran alliance, and force other nations to pick a side. They will tend to pick the side they see winning, and that is increasingly not the West.
Judas Priest – You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Live from the ‘Fuel for Life’ Tour)
This is Tshegofatso Pule.
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She was 8 months pregnant. She went missing on Thursday, 4 June. She was last seen on security footage being accompanied by her boyfriend to an unknown car that she left in. On June 8th, she was found killed.
South Africa is a very dangerous place.
The Grand Strategy: Kissinger & Rockefeller Scheme to Transfer Wealth & Industry to China
April 10, 2020 – The Coronavirus has exposed the Globalist neo-liberal World Order for what it is: a system designed to transfer wealth from the many into the hands of a few in order to dominate the rest of the world and protect their monopolistic power.
Author Antony Sutton claims Wall Street funded not only the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, but the rise of Nazi Germany and Hitler as well as international Communism.
Here is a telling quote from Sutton’s book, “The Best Enemy Money Can Buy” (1986):
By using data of Russian origin it is possible to make an accurate analysis of the origins of this equipment. It was found that all the main diesel and steam-turbine propulsion systems of the ninety-six Soviet ships on the Haiphong supply run [to the North Vietnamese] that could be identified (i.e., eighty-four out of the ninety-six) originated in design or construction outside the USSR. We can conclude, therefore, that if the [U.S.] State and Commerce Departments, in the 1950s and 1960s, had consistently enforced the legislation passed by Congress in 1949, the Soviets would not have had the ability to supply the Vietnamese War – and 50,000 more Americans and countless Vietnamese would be alive today.
Who were the government officials responsible for this transfer of known military technology? The concept originally came from National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, who reportedly sold President Nixon on the idea that giving military technology to the Soviets would temper their global territorial ambitions. How Henry arrived at this gigantic non sequitur is not known. Sufficient to state that he aroused considerable concern over his motivations. Not least that Henry had been a paid family employee of the Rockefellers since 1958 and has served as International Advisory Committee Chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, a Rockefeller concern. – Skull and Bones, Antony Sutton & Bankrolling the Enemy
It is a bizarre strategy indeed to engage in trading and doing business with an enemy, especially when that enemy is engaged in egregious human rights abuses.
Here is a conversation between President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about Chairman Mao Zedong from February, 1972:
While discussing Nixon’s trip to China, Kissinger said, “Your trip [his upcoming historic trip to China] can change the whole future of the world.” Nixon and Kissinger then went on to speculate as to why Mao and the Chinese wanted to open relations with the Americans. What is most striking is the lack of critical thinking regarding the true intentions of China.
When Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller met with Zhou Enlai in China in 1973—just after President Richard Nixon had visited China establishing official relations—an understanding was reached whereby the U.S. would supply industrial capital and know-how to China.
In return Kissinger-connected corporations would gain the monopolistic advantage of low-cost labor production which could out-compete all U.S. domestic industry.
The comparative advantage gained was being able to hire Chinese laborers who were ready to work hard at exceedingly low cost—with no drugs, no alcohol, a strong work ethic, no unions, no paid benefits and weak environmental standards. And with such a large labor pool, burned out workers could simply be replaced. This gave the Rockefeller/Kissinger corporations a major edge over their domestic U.S. competitors who had to pay relatively high wages, high regulation costs, deal with union strikes and collective bargaining etc.
Of course, the American consumer did not see greatly lowered prices commensurate with such greatly lowered labor costs. The $19.99 plastic action-figure toy marketed with a Hollywood movie still cost $19.99 even though it cost $12 to $15 to produce in the U.S. but less than $2.00 per copy to produce in China and transport to America’s West Coast container ports for distribution throughout America.
The consumer paid pretty much the old prices but the corporations split the monopoly profit with China’s Princelings since it did not take much of a lowering of prices to drive high-wage, high-benefit, contracted-labor domestic corporations out of business (not to mention the environmental and workplace safety regulations with which domestic companies were saddled). Then, Wal-Mart became a near-monopoly retailer that increased and reinforced the widespread selling of these off-shore manufactures.
Thus, America’s domestic producers were not simply being bested on one or another area of production; they were being bested across the entire spectrum of manufactured goods that American buy. It was anticipated that these domestic firms would fail, and their failure was hastened by the banks maintaining a deflationary domestic economy in the U.S. throughout the post Rockefeller-Kissinger-Zhou buildup of China and the degrading of American domestic manufacturing. – 21st Century Wire
Just as author Antony Sutton described, this was a way for the ruling class to gain a foothold and monopoly at the expense of the American middle class who saw all manufacturing sent overseas. The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed how damaging a policy this was, as America had become reliant on our adversaries like China. All while China is engaging in a military doctrine called “unrestricted warfare” that it is waging against us as part of their China 2050 grand strategy.
Take a look at some of Chairman Mao’s western handlers. Take for example, Israel Epstein and Sidney Shapiro, both of whom come from the west, with Shapiro having been trained by the US Army. Israel Epstein was Mao’s propagandist for the west, and we have to wonder if there is any familial relation to Jeffrey Epstein:
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Were these men working on behalf of the central bankers? Most likely. But that will be explored further in a separate article.
We see a similar pattern with the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia: it was planned, financed and instigated by a small group of men in New York, acting on behalf of the international bankers. As Antony Sutton described in Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution:
We can conclude that the rise of China was not so much organic, as it was engineered by the same people and their philosophical heirs who have orchestrated other “cultural revolutions” in the past and then enforced socialism/ communism on the people. The Asia Society has described this same thing on their website:
You can click on each box and read how China was shaped very much by western bankers. Transmissions Media has produced a thorough breakdown of some of the more recent instigated “changes” in regard to China.
This timeline describes a plan for the destruction of America and the takeover by China as the new superpower that will impose the will of the international banking community. According to the author, the World Trade Organization was key to this, while perhaps the UN was the distraction.
The Rockefellers made the United States of America dependent on China. That should send a chill down the spine of any reader, considering China’s horrific human rights abuses.
T. Jack Mulcaire claims:
The Rockefeller dynasty is more responsible for the creation of the twin-engined US-China financial system than any other group of people. The family saw China’s potential as a market early on. John D. Rockefeller Sr., the family’s patriarch and founder of the Standard Oil monopoly empire, sold his first kerosene to China in 1863 and made his first charitable donation to Christian missionary efforts in China that same year. Commerce and philanthropy would come to define the next several decades of Rockefeller engagement in China. The synergy between trade and charity was strong and definitely intentional.
Rockefeller philanthropic institutions and biographers have portrayed the family’s interest in China during the early 20th century as a hobby, driven by nothing more than an idle fascination with Chinese culture and history and a generic desire to ‘do good’. But when we look at the activities of their commercial empire in China during this time, it’s clear that they were investing, not just donating. You don’t get to be the richest man in the history of the world, with a family fortune equal to about 1.5% of total annual US economic output, unless you’re always looking for an angle. During the early decades of the 20th century, the United States was transitioning to a coal-generated electric power grid. But China was desperately poor and would not be electrified for decades. The country was a market of 400 million people who mostly relied on vegetable oil lamps to light their nights.
The Rockefeller-owned Standard Oil monopoly, which was the largest company in the world at that time, made large capital investments to capture that market and provide ‘Oil for the Lamps of China‘. The company gave away at least 8 million new kerosene lamps, branded with the ‘Mei Foo’ name under which Standard Oil sold kerosene in the Chinese market, and sold millions more at ultra low prices, to create a demand for Standard Oil kerosene.
The Standard Oil presence in East Asia was the largest American direct investment in the region prior to World War II. Although the company was broken up in 1911 due to anti-trust action, the family retained control of most of its constituent parts and operations in China were not affected. Stanvac, the company’s main operating subsidiary in China, owned hundreds of river vessels to bring its products to market in China’s interior, including 13 large tankers. After 1932, Standard took a hit to its market share by entering into a voluntary market allocation agreement with Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco and the Soviet owned Kwang-Ha oil company, but China remained an important market for the Rockefeller petroleum empire.
Concurrently with this massive investment of capital and expansion of operations in China, the Rockefeller family’s philanthropic institutions were spending lavishly in the country. Rockefeller funded philanthropic institutions spent tens of millions of dollars in China between 1900 and the Second World War. Rockefeller money created the China Medical Board and Peking Union Medical College, which essentially introduced modern Western medicine to China, as an adjunct to a concurrent effort by Rockefeller-funded organizations to totally transform the American health system. The Foundation’s attempted a total transformation of the lives of hundreds of millions of rural Chinese peasants, by introducing modern technological agriculture methods via the North China Council for Rural Reconstruction. The agricultural program was cut short by the Japanese invasion in 1937, but over the course of the 20th century, the Rockefeller Foundation would dedicate well over $1 billion to ‘change China’. – T. Jack Mulcaire
Could this be why we see China following the Rockefeller Foundation “Lockstep” playbook during this Coronavirus outbreak? There certainly is evidence that the bankers are still very much banking on the Chinese elites. CNN Money reported in 2016 for example, that JP Morgan Chase had been fined for hiring the children of China’s elites to gain access to deals. This is called pay-to-play.
This is all part of the Kissinger-Rockefeller Grand Strategy of building up China while systematically destroying America.
Bush was also connected to China according to an article entitled “Skull & Bones: The Bush China Connection” that also explains how Mao attended a Yale Divinity School were he was groomed.
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It is not a coincidence that people like Bush and Rockefeller have generational ties to China.
In fact, after the death of David Rockefeller, Jr., China Daily published a 10-page eulogy and memorial that detailed how “important” Rockefeller was in shaping modern China. The article entitled “Rockefeller Family’s Connections to China” reports some incredible things:
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Robert Blackwell, a Kissinger Fellow and member of the Council of Foreign Relations recently wrote a paper entitled “U.S. Grand Strategy Towards China” which illustrates that the same elites are trying to mold current policy.
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Henry Kissinger recently gave an interview to The Atlantic, which is a NATO think tank that attempts to re-form America into the image of the European Union. Take a look at the symbolism:
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The title of it “World Chaos and World Order” is a reference to those in the know, about the infamous Masonic “order out of chaos” motto. This centuries-long plan by these international bankers is not over at all. I believe that Kissinger deceived Nixon who did not understand what was intended in opening up relations with China. Nixon believed that the Chinese people would see the value in freedom and “free trade.”
It’s been speculated that this is why Kissinger and Rockefeller instigated the Watergate coup against Nixon—a frame-up with John Dean and Kissinger as the real “Deep Throats,” by my deductions from public information. Was this so that the Rockefeller/Kissinger plans for China’s industrialization and America’s de-industrialization could proceed unopposed? Exactly that certainly did occur after Nixon resigned to avoid a constitutional crisis that would hinder the proper working of government.
If so, what does that say about the current and still on-going coup attempts against President Trump? He clearly is not following their script. That is one thing for which we can be most grateful.
Autograph – Turn up the Radio
Pork Loin Cordon Bleu
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Ingredients
8 thinly sliced pork loins
8 slices boiled ham
8 slices Swiss cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 small shallot, diced
1/2 cup Pere Magloire Calvados
Instructions
With a rolling pin, pound each pork loin 3 times. On 4 pieces of pork, place a slice of ham and a slice of cheese and top with another piece of pork. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook the pork for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side.
Add the shallot and cook for another minute.
Next, add the chicken stock and place in the oven for 6 minutes at 300 degrees F.
Serve immediately.
This is Naledi Phangindawo.
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She was murdered by the father of her kids. He was apparently abusive, and she tried leaving him so he killed her. South Africa. Very dangerous place.
What is the most badass thing a historical figure has ever said?
King Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor was one of the most powerful entities in Medieval Christian Europe. He fought against the Turks and founded “The Order of The Dragon”, a society committed to keeping Christian Europe free from Islamic rule. He was also a total hottie.
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bangin’
Now my dude Sigismund was known for being a total, all-around badass. He was super intelligent, spoke like 7 languages, campaigned against Venetians, drank booze out of a giant gold and jewel encrusted horn, and all that other badass stuff. Nobody dared question his intellect… that was, of course, until the day.
Sigismund was holding a counsel to settle the Western Schism, which is just a fancy word for “there were 3 different dudes trying to convince everyone that they were The Real Pope™ and nobody knew who to believe”. Not good because The Pope had a lot of power in the Middle Ages and was basically a Super Holy King (A.K.A “The Mac Daddy”).
So during one of those counsel meetings my dude Sigismund was just up there killin’ it. Speakin’ Latin. All that Medieval shit. When all of a motherfucking sudden there was a cardinal, a representative of The Catholic Church, who decided to interrupt Sigismund and tell him that his Latin was weak af.
That’s right. They straight up Grammar Nazi’d The Holy Roman Emperor and oh ho ho boy — he did not like that shit. So he reached into the depths of his magical, fur capped head and pulled out this sick burn;
“I am The King of the Romans — I am above grammar.”
OH LAWDY.
He needs some milk.
get wreck’d nerd
Is the world really controlled by just a few families?
Indeed, we live within a power hierarchy where only a few dozen families control the world and do whatever they wish for themselves. It seems as if they have limitless abilities with their power, as they limit humanity from obtaining true information, acquiring certain medication, normal food and cheaper energy that we could have long used instead of oil. They act based on their egoistic pursuits and position.
We are powerless to create any different kind of order in our world unless we rise to a degree of connection where we start feeling the positive forces dwelling in nature, which are currently concealed from us. We will then exit this power structure we find ourselves in. These few families cannot stand in the way of nature’s governance and limit our world in its positive form of development.
The wisdom of Kabbalah calls these people in power “angels.” The Kabbalistic meaning of “angels” is completely different to the way most people think about that word. “Angels” means certain forces that are under the complete control of the upper force, and these ones in question function as a shadow of our flaws.
If we positively connect in a way that adapts us to the positive forces of nature—forces of love, bestowal and connection—we neutralize negative forms of control over us. For the time being, however, while we remain detached in our egoistic connections, each one pulling their own way, then it is as if we sustain those few families’ power. In other words, we ourselves are their power source, and we create the conditions for their existence.
Therefore, our progress to a harmonious and peaceful future depends on our transformation to positively connect. When we do so, we will feel the powers over us operating out of absolute love and care—an attitude that will grant everyone access to the most powerful, boundless and perfect form of fulfillment.
5 things a narcissistic pervert will never tell you!
What are the things that a narcissistic pervert will never tell me? What does the manipulator hide from me? How to understand a narcissistic pervert?
The manipulative narcissistic pervert hides all sorts of things from you, often to prevent you from escaping from his grip.
He especially does not want you to succeed in getting into his head in order to understand his real game. Indeed, it is totally possible to recognize the weaknesses of the narcissistic pervert.
Learn to detect the signs quickly and you will be able to destroy the narcissistic pervert.
HERE ARE THE 5 THINGS A NARCISSISTIC PERVERT WILL NEVER TELL YOU:
The narcissistic pervert is completely dependent on you.
He would feel a great inner emptiness without your presence and would go completely crazy, as if all of a sudden his precious treasure disappeared.
If this were to happen, he would be alone with himself and would even be very afraid of it. For the NP, you are his favorite prey!
He would like to be like you and have your qualities.
The manipulator is extremely jealous of the extraordinary person that you are. He is jealous of your qualities that he will probably never have.
Often, they keep you in their grip to take away all the good in you since their jealousy is too intense. You must learn to protect your value from this toxic person.
The Narcissistic Pervert Manipulator wants to own you and is desperate to control you.
He is constantly in need of controlling you. It is in his nature and if he were to lose control, he would fear being controlled by you.
He has the mind of a very spoiled child.
A narcissistic pervert is not a responsible adult. The actions and mindset of this personality are exactly that of a child king.
If they can’t keep you, they will easily replace you.
As you know, the NP doesn’t want to be alone and is desperate for a prey to fill an inner void. It’s as if he lives and breathes for the simple purpose of destroying others.
BABYMETAL – ギミチョコ!!- Gimme chocolate!! (OFFICIAL)
Did China keep Snowden in Hong Kong?
Absolutely
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On May 7th he requested for a 21 day Holiday to go to Hong Kong for Traditional Medicine Treatment for Epilepsy.
On May 13th 2014, Snowden wrote to the Ministry of State Security in China and the FSB in Russia requesting for Asylum.
He gave 10 IP addresses to each Country monitored by the NSA as an initial offer of Asylum
The US promptly decided to extradite him from Hong Kong
Enter Robert Libbo & Ong Boon Keong
US filed three immediate requests :-
Provisional Arrest Immediately
If not Provisional arrest, at least Confinement in his Hotel Room
Monitoring all his activities
Sadly for US, China had got the IP Addresses and were Furious!!!!
Two Chinese Big Shots from the CPC visited HK and left a day later
HK said – Sorry!!!! We cannot arrest him or monitor his activities!!! Send your Extradition request within 30 days
Chinese Officials from the Singapore Consulate met Snowden and Snowden gave them over 278 GB of Data across 4 80 GB Support Disks. It contained many many many monitored IP addresses and protocol routes.
A Pro West Judge was slated to hear the case but 1 hour before the first hearing – He was so terrified by someone who called him that he mysteriously took a 14 day recuperation and the case moved to a devout pro chinese Judge – a Lady who refused everything to the US and openly told HK authorities to arrest anyone who entered the Mira Hotel without permission- diplomacy be damned
By the time US used Political clout – Snowden vanished. He moved to Kowloon to some Refugee apartment and the Pro Chinese Judge exempted him from any appearance.
The Technicalities
The US sent a formal extradition request and Lackey HK politicians dutifully endorsed it to the court.
Our Pro Chinese Judge promptly rejected it on grounds of:-
—Error in listen name
-Social Security Document not a valid proof of ID in HK and Passport details are mismatched
This was true. The Request was so hurried that the Name and Passport were botched up.
However China of 2013 wasnt the China of 2022. The Mainland Authorities knew eventually they would have to kowtow to US and send Snowden to US unless they invaded HK.
So they tipped off Snowden who moved to the Russian Consulate in HK
Snowden throws a Brilliant Curveball
Snowden applied to 21 Nations for Asylum knowing fully well he would go only to China. Later he changed to Russia after advise from the Chinese.
Snowden used the NSA tracking against them by making 20 calls to the Bolivian consulate in HK and talking to the Bolivian Ministry.
Everyone believed he would make for the Bolivian consulate.
Unlike Assange, Snowden wasnt an Idiot who trusted the Western System knowing they were all prostitutes of USA long ago.
Nobody looked at Russia
It was China or Bolivia.
Meanwhile HK authorities passed an order forbidding Snowden to leave by Air if he presented his passport
China makes the last call
Again China made a call and the order was revoked on Human Rights grounds and was called for somewhere in Mid June 2014
Snowden left 2 hours after it was revoked and well before US State Department could respond.
By the time the US State Department responded, Snowden was Long Gone and was in Moscow where Asylum was granted in a record 40 minutes pending a hearing scheduled 11 months later.
So it was China who ensured that Snowden never got caught or extradited
They however knew that they could not bring Snowden to Beijing and risk so much Political Pressure, so they orchestrated his movement to Russia and subsequently demanded details from the US on their spying that US simply could not give.
CHECKMATE
Today Snowden is a Russian Citizen
What happened in China next
The Great Firewall was enhanced and every single Protocol was destroyed
China amended the law to exempt Personal Security to US Equipment Server Engineers – Two Engineers who were arrested on grounds of spying were beaten so badly in custody that the rest fled China in sheer terror.
Over 500 Equipment Contracts with US were decimated
China demanded newer Security Agreements and told a Facebook Engineer who was arrested how they would target their families
It was literally a Mafia Moment in China
US Security Experts in China were so frightened that they all fled China and their equipment was seized and destroyed.
US didnt protest because they were caught with their pants down
Israels entire Surveilance system was compromised in Iran and Five Iranians were executed and their families disappeared
Israel and US lost a Massive Surveillance Behemoth in the Region
Snowden was easily Chinas Greatest Patriot
Without him imagine?
China would never have set up counter surveillance on US and created their Great Firewall and protected itself from Malicious Western Impacts.
Into the Black
Why is American life so much harder than it was in the 50s and 60s?
Not by MM-MM
This is a white guy’s perspective. Please don’t beat me to death.
Mom stayed at home. Dad went to work.
There were more, and better paying jobs out there for men who came back from the wars because there was less competition (not from working women)
So the Dads brought home the bacon and Moms cooked it.
There were Black and White TV’s in mid 50’s. No dishwashers (only Mom). We were ahead of the game and had a washer AND a dryer in the basement.
Got our first color TV in 64. Same year my mom, who was 46 got her driver’s license and first car. It was also the same year I was mugged as a 16 year old and hospitalized for a shattered nose and fractured skull (this was in a Good Neighborhood) on the S.W. side of Chicago.
This is the street corner where I was mugged.
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So it seemed to be simpler.
4 TV channels which went off about midnight.
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No internet, ping pong in the rec room, BBQ’s every weekend at a different house in the neighborhood.
Baseball in the park.
Good Humor Ice Cream trucks.
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Door to door salesman.
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The Milkman. Edit 10/5/2019 – They still exist! I met one today, didn’t look like this guy, but it seems that they have evolved, still delivering to retail outlets, BUT he does deliver milk and cream to people who are shut-in’s because of a disability.
That sort of surprised me. Enjoy.
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Friendly streets.
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That’s what I remember and why it seemed to be simpler. The homes on this street are at least 67 years old, the age of the red brick 1 story house where I grew up (photo from 2018).
Maybe life seemed simpler than it really was. 🙂
EDIT: I want to thank the thousands of you who feel the same, and understand what happened when you read this post, and upvoted me.
It also dawned on me that I did not reference a lecture I had seen about the evolution about our information OVERLOAD.
Simply, in the 1800’s we only made a few decisions a day, Plow the front 40 or the back 40. kill and dress a chicken or a pig for dinner, THIS WHITE SHIRT OR THAT WHITE SHIRT for Sunday Church.
Today we make THOUSANDS of decisions AN HOUR.
The process of typing this edit meant I had to think, phrase and actually perform thousand+ keystrokes, just for this message.
Yep, life was easier when we didn’t have computers, IPads, SMART watches and SMART PHONES or 1000 TV Channels with 999 different opinions.
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The volume of information and decisions that we need to make every day is outpacing the evolution capability of our 30 Million year old brains.
Thanks again for reading!
Edit Christmas Day 2019.
One thing I just remembered today was when I was little, we did not have a fireplace in the house that you can see in the picture above. So I would go to the front door, and not only unlock the door, but open it slightly. My parents tried to tell me that when Santa couldn’t find a chimney to come down, he had a master key and came in.
But I did not believe them. In my mind I was only slightly taller than the door knob. So I would open the door, and then go to bed. But in the middle of the night after my parents went to bed, I would check the front door. It was always closed, so I opened it again, maybe just 1/2 inch. I would leave the cookies and milk next to a chair right by the door. While there was a storm door, the house would get still get cold, most Christmases were snow free, but still cold in Chicago.
My parents figured it out, because the milk and cookies were always gone, and the door was always closed when I got up.
Deep Dish Hamburger Pie
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Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 can green beans
Salt and pepper to taste
Ketchup
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
Brown the meat and add your seasonings.
Stir in enough ketchup to suit your taste.
Add green beans and stir in well.
Place this mixture in a casserole dish and top with the mashed taters and then top that with the cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F until heated through and cheese is browned.
In the West, where the State is regarded with varying degrees of suspicion–even hostility–and, as a consequence, an outsider. In China the state is seen as an intimate, a part of the family. Indeed, as the head of the family. Martin Jacques.
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Cut to the chase
China is winning because it is run by honest geniuses and its people make stuff. We are losing because America is run by professional liars and we’ve stopped making stuff. Let us count our losing ways:
China’s productive (wartime) economy is three times bigger than America’s.
96% of them own their homes vs. 60% of us.
Their incomes double every decade. Our last raise was in 1975.
Their median net worth is higher, their wealth and income inequality lower.
Their streets are a hundred times safer.
They live much longer, healthier lives than Americans.
Their kids graduate 3 years ahead of ours in math and science.
They have a ‘stunning lead in 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies’
The IQ cutoff for a government job (or a PhD in theoretical physics) is 140.
Their government does not lie.
Their government keeps its promises.
Covid Zero was the greatest civil defense demonstration ever.
There are more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides, executions, and illiterate, incarcerated, poor, homeless people in America than in China.
China’s diplomacy is unmatched, as is its prestige: 100 heads of state will attend the BRI tenth anniversary this year.
Do the Math
Every year, twelve million Chinese babies are born with IQs averaging five points above ours, ten million graduate high school three grades ahead of ours, eight million graduate college, the top one-million take the three-day guokao, the civil service examination and, every year, the smartest 27,000 get jobs. This is a cause for clan celebration and an entry in Family Books, some of which predate the birth of Christ.
Every year, the government offers its new hires a choice of career tracks. The ambitious ones choose the leadership track and are promptly dispatched to the nation’s poorest villages with vague instructions to double their incomes. Those who succeed are asked to repeat their performance for an entire county. That’s how Xi started.
That’s how they all start.
And that’s how, in 2021, China’s government accomplished far more than all Western nations combined. As Chairman Rabbit explains, “In China, the government must solve problems by all means and take all responsibility – and its responsibility is both political and moral”.
The Moral Issue
That’s another major difference between our systems: Chinese officials are expected to set a moral example and civil service promotions are determined first by candidates’ moral maturity – for reasons familiar to John Quincy Adams, “Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Gallantry would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net”.
Planning
In 1951, Mao refined the Confucian model, adding democratic oversight, local experimentation, and endless surveys run by four-thousand full-time researchers at the Academy of Social Sciences’ fifty research centers and two-hundred sixty social disciplines. Says author Jeff J. Brown, “My Beijing neighborhood committee and town hall are constantly putting up announcements, inviting groups–renters, homeowners, over seventies, women under forty, those with or without medical insurance, retirees–to answer surveys. The CPC is the world’s biggest pollster for a reason: China’s democratic ‘dictatorship of the people’ is highly engaged at the day-to-day, citizen-on-the-street level. I know, because I live in a middle class Chinese community and I question them all the time. I find their government much more responsive and democratic than the dog-and-pony shows back home, and I mean that seriously”.
Planners tour the country, hold meetings, listen to local opinions, and formulate proposals which specialists evaluate and budget. Then twenty-seven levels of bureaucrats responsible for implementation submit feasibility analyses. Says a planner, “Computers have made huge improvements in collecting and analyzing the information. Still, thousands of statisticians, actuaries, database experts and technicians with degrees in urban, rural, agricultural, environmental and economic planning invest thousands of hours interpreting and analyzing this vast trove of data, statistics and information. Needless to say, for a continent-sized country with over a billion citizens, it takes hundreds of thousands of people to develop a Five-Year Plan”. Think tanks formulate policies, provincial field trials test them. Successful solutions are rolled out nationwide and their sponsors become front-page heroes.
Heroes
Let people see that you only want their good and the people will be good. The relationship between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows across it. If good men were to govern a country continually for a hundred years they would transform the violently bad and dispense with capital punishment altogether. Analects.
Most Chinese heroes – and even some of its Gods – were real-life government officials whose legacy is a happier, richer country. If that doesn’t explain the governance gap, I don’t know what does.
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
When I was 10, my parents signed me and my younger siblings up for the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Kids Birthday Club. Basically, I gave Krispy Kreme my address and birth month and they would send me a coupon for a free dozen doughnuts every year on my birth month until I aged out of their Kids Club at age 12— ‘cause this is just for kids, OK?
Sweet deal.
But Krispy Kreme forgot to ask for the year in my birthday. They have no clue how old I am.
So I’m now almost 25, and I’ve been a member of the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Kids Birthday Club for 15 years. That’s a 180 free doughnuts for me, plus another 180 for my sister and 180 for my brother.
, no joke), and now they don’t even offer it. Adults can sign up to get one single donut on their birthday and some special days (tax day, Halloween, National Doughnut Day), but that’s it.
Will anyone at Krispy Kreme ever notice that I’ve been “under age 12” for 15 years? Tune in next year to find out.
Edit 2018: Nope, didn’t notice yet.
Edit 2019: More donuts.
Edit 2020: Happy donut day!
Edit 2021: Still more donuts.
Edit 2022: Congratulations to me, I’ve been “under 12” for 19 years! Can we get to an even 20?
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What was your rescue cat or dog’s name before your changed it? If you didn’t, did you consider it?
My husband has severe anxiety and panic attacks. He decided to get him an emotional support animal. My husband loves cats, so we decided to get a kitten. I called the local rescue and was put in touch with the kitten foster mom. When I talked to her, I told her that we were looking for a kitten that was calm and would tend to be a lap kitty. She said she had the perfect one. It was a kitten named Sadie.
We went to see the kittens. The foster mom had two large rooms with about 20 kittens. She brought a black and white kitten to my husband. This was Sadie. My husband petted her but soon she jumped down and was off playing with the others.
Then this lanky blond kitten crawled into my husband’s lap. He purred like crazy. My husband fell in love with this kitten. The foster mom said she wasn’t sure that this kitten would be a good match for us. He was always play fighting and getting in trouble. She had named him Scrappy because of his feisty personality.
My husband had made up his mind, so we took Scrappy home. We had thought of different names that we liked. The kitten became Marley before we even got home.
Our Marley has been an angel. He has helped my husband so much. Marley always knows when my husband needs him. He will cuddle up close to my husband and purr. Since Marley came to live with us about 8 months ago, my husband has not had a bad panic attack and his anxiety is better. We love our “Scrappy” kitten named Marley.
You know guys, I look back at all the mistakes I have made, and the stupid, stupid and so very embarrassing things that I did. I look at the opportunities that I had, but didn’t take, and the times where “paradise” was thrown at me, and I was oblivious to it. I look at my life in hindsight and the term “What the fuck were you thinking?” comes to mind.
I don’t know if youse guys understand. I mean, to say, I’ve really done some stupid things.
Sometimes over girls. Maybe mostly…
Sometimes not being serious when I needed to, while at other times being too serious when I should have lightened up some.
I know that when I was born, I told myself not to forget: “this is going to be an adventuresome life!” Truth this. But so damn exhausting. I wonder if I was the fellow who scripted this life. Not that some committee “convinced” me to accept it. And in so scripting it, man! It’s be cray-Zee.
Makes you think. That I scheduled out this life that I am living.
That I made it. That I planned it. That I am living it…
Don’t you know.
Anyways, been thinking alot about “telltales” and “signposts”. I’ve been seeing a lot lately. Hum. What could that mean? I wonder…
Tell-tails.
Signposts.
Hum…
…
Today’s installment.
Introducing Karaoke KTV in Manila, Philippines
One of the many reasons why I love Asia… the KTV scenes are EDITED OUT. But you can see entering the establishment, and read my writings to discern what happens inside.
Confessions of an Underachieving High IQ Individual
What’s it like to have an extremely high IQ?
Years ago, aged eighteen, I joined MENSA. I left after a year, having seen ample evidence to support the old description of MENSA as “The society for people impressed by their own intelligence”. In truth, the whole organization was creepy.
Anyway, when I applied they sent me an IQ test which you sent in to be scored. If you scored highly enough they asked you to attend a monitored exam. I scored 158 on the test at home and 159 when I went to London to be tested.
I have never encountered anything, either at school, university or at work that has been intellectually difficult for me.
I got an English degree and a law degree and barely worked to get either.
My memory has always served me well. I quickly see patterns that others don’t seem to notice (that’s your IQ test sewn up right there) and just find concepts come easier to me than to a lot of other people.
I do get bored with most subjects quite quickly but, so far, so good.
The problem, for me, lies in the fact that I never developed any sense of urgency about anything.
People will be impressed by how hard I worked on something when, in truth, I zipped through it in no time at all, paying it almost no attention.
I learned to let people think I have worked hard because it serves me well.
I’m essentially, and incurably, lazy.
I should have achieved so much more and I am bright enough to know it.
I’m fifty years old now, have been married twenty years and have three beautiful children, so my life is no train wreck, but I know I have shortchanged myself and my family.
I constantly look at others with envy; never of their material success but of their professional achievements and work ethic.
I could have done pretty much anything I wanted to do, but have ended up drifting into a sales career which pays well but gives me not one ounce of professional satisfaction or pride.
A high IQ is a great advantage but, in later life, it will torment you in ways the young cannot imagine.
If you don’t learn to make best use of it, a high IQ will remind you on an almost hourly basis that you threw it all away.
This is why so many underachieving people are unable to shut the fuck up about it – we become addicted in childhood to praise which dries up once more diligent, if less intelligent, peers start overtaking us.
Those who are not socially intelligent enough to recognize how obnoxious it is will mention their intelligence whenever they get a chance, imagining that other people care.
The world and its prizes belong, quite rightly, to hard working people, not intelligent ones.
Italian Chicken Packets
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Ingredients
1 chicken, quartered, or 2 pieces chicken per packet
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 fresh ripe tomatoes or 1 can drained tomatoes, chopped
4 large green olives, chopped
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 bay leaves
Instructions
Wash chicken quarters or pieces; drain and pat dry.
Peel and chop tomatoes if using fresh tomatoes.
Cut 4 (12-inch) pieces of aluminum foil, and grease one side of each with olive oil.
Place a chicken quarter or chicken pieces in center of each piece of foil.
Combine onion, garlic, tomatoes, olives, basil, oregano, celery salt, and pepper and mix well.
Spoon sauce over each chicken packet. Top with a bay leaf.
Fold foil into neat, sealed packages. Place on a cookie sheet.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 40 minutes to one hour, until chicken is cooked.
Serve from package.
People having a bad day
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After 8 years living in China, these are the 8 reasons why I still don’t want to leave!
2023 03 17 15 22
2.5 Tons of Uranium Ore Concentrate “Missing” from Libya Mine
The UN nuclear agency said on Wednesday that approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium ore concentrate had gone missing from a site in Libya.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi told the organization’s member states that inspectors on Tuesday found that 10 drums containing uranium ore concentrate “were not present as previously declared” at the location in Libya.
The IAEA will conduct further activities “to clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location”, it said in a statement, without providing further details on the site.
Libya in 2003 abandoned a program to develop nuclear weapons under its long-ruling former dictator Mohammar Qadhafi.
The North African country has been mired in a political crisis since Qadhafi’s fall in 2011, with a myriad of militias forming opposing alliances backed by foreign powers.
It remains split between a nominally interim government in the capital Tripoli in the west, and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Look What China Did Shocking American Scientist | INSANE!
China’s incredible space technology achievements are being recognized as well as their future potential. Thanks Alex for sharing this well researched video!
GT Voice: US’ hooligan nature laid bare in forced divesting of TikTok
By Global Times Published: Mar 16, 2023 10:31 PM Updated: Mar 16, 2023 10:38 PM
There has been an absurd development of the political farce surrounding the crackdown on TikTok, which has recently been playing out in the US and spreading to Canada and some EU countries.
The Biden administration has threatened to ban TikTok if its Chinese owners don't divest their stakes in the popular video app, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Even though TikTok has tried its best and done almost everything possible within the technical range in response to the so-called national security concerns, it remains helpless in the face of Washington's economic vandalism.
The message is clear: if Washington cannot see TikTok ending up in an American hand, it will shut it down. Judging by the various bans and legislation involving TikTok that US politicians have been working on, it is not impossible for the worst to happen.
Yet, the Emperor's New Clothes surrounding national security concerns cannot hide US politicians' selfish and hooligan nature. The US claims that TikTok threatens to undermine US national security, but there is no evidence at all supporting the killing or robbery of such a globally successful app on national security grounds. The fact that Washington can suppress and even rob TikTok without justification and only because it is owned by a Chinese company is the latest manifestation that in order to maintain the US hegemony, Washington can make any rogue behavior that is against the law and business rules. This could serve as a wake-up call to companies around the world about the political risks of doing business in the US. If they are successful enough to pose a real challenge to American business titans, a rogue government in Washington will start finding fault with them.
TikTok has been seeking various technical solutions to soothe the so-called national security concerns. For instance, it has committed to spend $1.5 billion on a plan known as "Project Texas," which would enact a stronger firewall between TikTok and employees of its Beijing parent company. It has also built what it called a Transparency Center in Los Angeles to help legislators and journalists understand how it safeguards data and how its algorithms work.
But what has happened to the company has laid bare that there is no way to play by the rules to address the US politicians' so-called concerns. This is because it is not national security issues, but TikTok's ability to challenge the supremacy of the US internet industry, that is what really upsets Washington.
With more than 1 billion active users, TikTok is the most downloaded Chinese app in the world last year. The US has 113 million active TikTok users aged 18 and above, and a 2022 Pew Research Center survey of American teenagers aged 13 to 17 found that 67 percent say they use the app, which would add up to about 17.4 million teenagers.
By comparison, the development of some American internet giants has been overshadowed. Facebook-parent Meta Platforms announced on Tuesday it would cut 10,000 jobs this year, marking a second round of mass layoffs following the first one in fall 2022. Since 2020, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken out on several occasions about TikTok's threat to American values and technological dominance.
Of course, the US government's crackdown on Chinese technology companies has not only aimed to rob economic interests off Chinese companies, but also to curb China's high-tech development and to maintain the US technological and financial hegemony.
However, it should be noted that the fact that Washington cannot allow a Chinese company to have the potential to beat American internet giants in market competition doesn't mean China will allow its hegemony to rob Chinese companies of core technology. Behind TikTok's success is the rise of a new algorithmic technology, which is the representative of Chinese high-tech companies gaining an advantage in international markets.
When the former Trump administration tried to push through a forced sale of TikTok in 2020, China's Ministry of Commerce already made adjustment to its catalog of technologies that are subject to export bans or restrictions, which includes certain advanced information process algorithms. It goes without saying China will resist any bully-like robbery of Chinese companies' core technologies.
12 People Reveal What It’s Like To Have Loving Parents
1. Best way I can describe it is just a general feeling of security. Just knowing that they’re behind you 100%, and even when they’re mad at you it’s almost always because they’re trying to help you in the long run.
It’s not something you really appreciate until you get older and start to notice kids around you that have to deal with some pretty fucked up shit from their parents. It’s kind of slowly realizing how many bad things you’ve just never had to worry about thanks to your support system.
And, the best part is how your relationship changes as you get older. When they slowly start treating you like a fellow adult, and you get to see them as more of a whole person.
2. I had a loving mom, but a very shitty dad.
My mom supported me through all my school. Would go to different stores to get me supplies for my projects. She’d try to read the same books I had to so she could engage in critical thinking discussions. Attended my sporting events and cheered me on. Would lay in bed with me after I’d have a nightmare and run her fingers through my hair till I fell asleep. Would constantly reassure me that I was capable of pursuing my dreams. She made sure to tell me she loved me every day and give me hugs frequently. She’s an amazing woman and am so grateful I have her.
3. It’s safe to take risks, they’ll catch you
4. It’s affirming – that whatever goes wrong or right, they’re “there” for you.
Not everyone has this, I understand. But for those that do, it’s something for which to express gratitude.
5. I have loving parents and am an adult.
They are not perfect. I’ve got baggage. We’ve all made mistakes in our relationship.
I was never abused in any way.
As an adult, I have a very good relationship with them. Maybe the big thing is that we can forgive eachother easily for the errors of our past. Now it’s more like having very good friends than patents. And the roles are changing as I give more advice than I recieve these days.
6. I’m 25 (nearly 26). My parents were incredible growing up, and they still are. I grew up middle class, never extravagantly wealthy or anything, but we never had to worry about where our next meal was coming from.
My mom is a pretty tough lady. She’s a 3rd generation Italian immigrant and grew up on The Hill, St. Louis’s Italian neighborhood. She kept us (my brother, sister and I) in line and was never very sentimental, but she always cared for us and stuck up for us.
My dad is one of 6 siblings. He’s the second oldest. He is a very caring, sentimental guy. He’s 62 and retired now, but he worked as an information technology project manager for Anheuser Busch and made good money.
They both provided well for us, gave us what we needed and were fair in their discipline when they needed to be. I realize at my age now that they sacrificed a lot along the way – taking us to soccer and baseball games, dropping us off and picking us up from school every day, dealing with our being whiny and annoying, all kinds of stuff. I suppose I really did have the sort of classic, American dream childhood and I think I’ve always taken it for granted.
What was it like, OP asks? It was nice. It was comfortable when it needed to be and challenging when appropriate. I live on my own now and I’m going over to see them for Father’s Day today. I may mention a word of thanks for giving me a pretty nice life.
7. You just always feel 100% safe and that no matter what happens EVERYTHING will be okay.. it makes life way better.. you don’t have to seek companionship outside of your family as much because you already got that “loved” feeling from your family.. basically you rarely feel alone when you have loving parents/family.
8. The most beautiful part is watching your parents love EACH OTHER! Didn’t even see how this would be valuable until I became an adult and learned that not everyone gets to grow up seeing healthy love. This plays an important factor in the relationships I have and it’s the reason why I’m glad to say I’m a healthy SO. Whenever I hear about people I know in a abusive and toxic relationships, the first thing I always ask is how were their parents relationship…trauma is a real and unfortunate learning mechanism.
9. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s incredible. I was born to two loving parents who waited until they were well-off financially to have children. The only struggle I’ve ever had in my life is with depression (genetic/hereditary, nothing I can really do about it). I’m in college now, my parents pay for my expensive university with all their heart, they go out of their way to do little things to make me happy. My mom will surprise me with take out from my favorite restaurant, my dad will surprise me with basketball tickets or take me to see a movie. We have “arguments” but its 99% of the time over little things that we don’t remember 10 minutes later, and it rarely happens. We operate as a family, make decisions as a family. Like every important decision I make is not all on me, its as a family, so it’s low risk, high reward. A big part of parents being loving is parents being responsible, and my parents have always been responsible adults. I think its a special kind of cruel when a child loses the strong image of parents, or they never had it in the first place. I view my parents as strong figures, anchors. They have their moments of weakness but overwhelmingly are always strong.
I only hope to continue this and be an even better parent to my eventual kids.
10. Especially my mom told and still tells me that she loves me nearly every time we see each other.
They don’t tell me they are happy or mad with my life choices but tell me that I am the one who need to live with them and as long as I am happy, they are too.
They weren’t perfect though but they were able to apologise when they realised they deeply hurt me. They always explained their parenting choices and I never once in my life heard the famous “my house, my rules”.
And the last thing that is very important to me is that they are absolutely loyal to their kids. Other adults or family members like older cousins or so are mocking me? They would always step in and defend me if I weren’t able to. Always took my feelings seriously. I realised in elementary school that this wasn’t normal for most of the adults
11. Amazing! My mother is the most loving and caring mother you could ask for. Im 30, but still close as hell with my mum, visit every weekend and help her with the DIY side of things in her home. She’s slowly going blind which is heartbreaking to watch her struggle with day to day life!! Once she’s completely blind, I’m leaving my job to help look after her as much as i can. She gave me and my siblings the best upbringing she could of given us, so I have to repay her.
So yeah, its great having loving parents. You will do anything for each other.
12. The feeling of acceptance, understanding, and security. Also the immense knowing that they will do anything for you, even if it means that they go through hell.
My father and mother escaped from communist countries (Poland and Vietnam), and nearly died during it. Upon arriving they worked many jobs and went through hell in order to give us a good upbringing. My father owns a pizza shop, and in its early days he worked from 8am-3am, usually not being able to sleep beacuse of the stress of knowing that if something goes wrong, his family will starve. At the worst of it (that I know of), he had to set up a mattress at the back of the store, and slept there so he knew that it would be okay.
My parents have been through hell and back for us, and will in the future if they need to, nevertheless they gave us enough attension and love.
One of the biggest thing for me is trust, I trust them, and they do trust me. We have a mutual respect.
Dexys Midnight Runners, Kevin Rowland – Come On Eileen (1982 Version)
What if, Tomorrow Morning, You Wake Up to: “Banking Crisis Shuts ALL Banks – ATM’s Credit, Debit Cards ALL Shut Off”
What if tomorrow morning, you woke up to blaring headlines saying “Banks Ordered SHUT DOWN; All ATM’s Credit & Debit Cards ALL Offline.”
What if, as you listened to, or read the story, you found out that because of systemic losses and stock market crashes, ALL banks had to be shut down completely . . . . for two weeks . . . . until authorities could isolate the failed banks, and control the financial contagion?
For most people, the idea that their bank would be closed for a couple weeks is never even a passing thought. And the notion that all credit cards and debit cards would suddenly be offline and unusable, is even less of a possibility. Yet that is PRECISELY what could happen given the ongoing bank failures and stock plunges!
So, let’s just play “make pretend” for a minute and ask yourself “How would I get by for a couple weeks with no bank, no ATM’s and no credit/debit cards?
How would you eat? How would you feed your family? Do you even HAVE two weeks worth of food in your house?
How would you put fuel in your car to get to/from work? Do you even HAVE a 5 gallon gas can (or two) on your property? Is it full?
Most folks have never even considered this situation and that . . . . that right there . . . . is why most folks would be in shear panic (and shit outta luck) if this situation actually takes place.
Now, a lot of you might be thinking to yourselves “I can write a check.” Fat chance. If you’re a business, are YOU going to accept checks when you know the banks are failing? Uhhhhhhhh. . . . . . . hmmmmmmmmm. . . . . NOPE!
Cash only!
Supermarkets? Grocery stores? Gas stations? Same thing. CASH ONLY.
Now what do you do?
I pose this scenario to get you thinking. Because PLANNING has to be done BEFORE a crisis hits. Sadly, most people today, don’t plan beyond their next 5 minutes.
You see, those of us who actually DO plan . . . . you mock us as the “tin foil hat crowd and/or “conspiracy theorists.” We think about such things. We plan. We’re as ready as anyone can be for local, limited, disruptions to regular life.
And we have some bad news for you. Don’t come calling to us when you and your kids are going hungry. Don’t come calling to us when your car is out of fuel. Because if you come calling for such things, we have a stark choice to make: Either feed you, or feed ourselves.
Guess what? In that situation, YOU LOSE.
I have to feed me and MY family before I feed you or yours. And I am not going to take food out of MY family’s mouths because YOU never thought (or couldn’t be bothered) to plan.
That may sound harsh, but that’s reality.
So take a few minutes right now and take a look at what food you have in your pantry. Do you have enough Pasta, Rice, dried beans, canned tuna, canned chicken, a couple jars of sauces for over the pasta or rice, a jar or two of mayonnaise? Do you have a couple loaves of bread? Any canned soups that are heat and eat? How about a manual can opener?
You need to have this stuff to make sure YOU and YOUR FAMILY can eat if everything goes to hell with the banks.
You need to have some spare fuel.
Most of all, YOU NEED TO HAVE CASH MONEY stashed in the house somewhere, to get by if everything falls apart.
Don’t say you weren’t warned. Because the plain truth is, most people just couldn’t be bothered to plan . . . . and those folks get no sympathy.
Chinese troops set out for China-Cambodia joint exercise amid intensive foreign military exchanges
A Type 071 comprehensive landing ship is carrying Chinese troops on their way to participate in a large-scale joint exercise with Cambodia, marking yet another major event in a busy month of foreign military exchanges by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
In accordance with a bilateral agreement, the armed forces of China and Cambodia will hold the Golden Dragon-2023 joint exercise in Cambodia from late March to early April, with the subject of the exercise being operations for the security of important events and humanitarian aid, China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a press release on Wednesday.
More than 200 troops from the Army, the Navy and the Joint Logistic Support Force of the PLA Southern Theater Command held a departure ceremony on Wednesday in Zhanjiang, South China’s Guangdong Province, on the flight deck of the Jinggangshan, a Type 071 comprehensive landing ship, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the day.
After the ceremony, the Chinese forces set sail for a port in Cambodia, where they will mobilize motorized vehicles to the exercise area, CCTV reported.
The goal of the exercise is to further advance the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Cambodia, enhance political mutual trust, expand military exchanges, and boost the two militaries’ capabilities in anti-terrorism work and humanitarian aid, the report said.
More than 3,000 personnel and over 300 vehicles will participate in the drill, which is the fifth such joint exercise between China and Cambodia, CCTV said.
The Golden Dragon-2023 exercise comes amid China’s intensive foreign military exchanges. Other major events include the ongoing China-Iran-Russia joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman, the China-Russia-South Africa joint naval exercise off the South African coast in late February, the AMAN-23 multinational maritime drills in Pakistan in early February, the Edelweiss Raid 2023 international mountain infantry competition in Austria in late February, and the Cobra Gold 2023 joint exercise in Thailand from February to March.
China’s participation in all of these exercises is focused on communication, exchanges and cooperation to boost understanding and joint capabilities. The training subjects focused on safeguarding regional peace and stability from non-traditional security threats such as terrorism, piracy and natural disasters, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Thursday.
In the post-COVID era, the Chinese military will continue to resume, expand and deepen foreign exchanges, contributing to peace and stability and displaying China’s international responsibilities, Zhuo Hua, an international affairs expert at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy of Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.
By comparison, the US has been rallying gangs in exercises that stir up regional military tension and serve its hegemonic geopolitical aims, experts said, citing events like the recent US-Philippines Balikatan exercise, the US-Japan Iron Fist exercise and the US-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise.
The world should see that the Chinese military is providing public security goods to the international community and acting as a stability factor for peace, while the US is creating tensions and even conflicts for its own interests, observers said.
Chumbawamba – Tubthumping
“Gender Fluid” Director of Credit Suisse Draws Scrutiny as Bank Collapsing
As the world watches the stock value of Credit Suisse implode, people are asking how this could happen. That question is causing attention to be paid to the company Directors; one of whom is “Gender Fluid.” Folks are now asking “How can this guy run a company when he can’t even decide if he’s a man or a woman?”
Director Credit Suisse Gender Fluid large
Pictured above is Credit Suisse Director Philip Bunce. However, depending on how he feels on any given day, he may come to work dressed in a wig and women’s clothes, calling himself “Pips” Bunce.
And while he’s busy trying to decide on whether he is a male or female on any given day, the company he is supposed to be Directing is seeing it’s stock value collapse.
Of course, none of this would matter in most other business situations, but Credit Suisse just happens to be a “Systemically important” bank. Now that it is is serious liquidity trouble, the company and its Directors have BECOME the public’s business because the public is being asked to “backstop” Credit Suisse with about $54 Billion in liquidity from public funds through the Swiss National Bank.
Switzerland has agreed to provide that funding. Yet folks are rightly asking whether or not this “Director” should continue to be with the firm now that his actions and those of the other Directors, have made Credit Suisse a public welfare recipient?
Maybe Mr./Ms. Bunce should be sent on its merry way and be replaced with someone who is actually mentally/sexually stable, who can actually do the job necessary to make the company solvent and stable?
On, and the other “Directors” who hired this . . . . thing . . . . it seems to many people THEY should be given THEIR walking papers as well. Clearly, THEIR judgement – in hiring this . . . . thing . . . . – seems questionable.
“Weird” Al Yankovic – Amish Paradise (Parody of “Gangsta’s Paradise”)
Confessions of a Hypersexual Woman
What are your urges like?
The need for sex is constantly present. The pleasure it brings is pure euphoria. And I have the constant need for it so when I get it, I want it even more. All the time. The better the sex, the more sex, the happier I am.
Is having a relationship hard?
It’s hard on my partner. We hooked up when I was 16 and I was needing to have sex multiple times a day. At one point 10 times in one day. Which he could keep up with back then. But now 10 years later he is understanding of my needs but not quite meeting them. In 2020 he agreed to letting me do onlyfans to get some of my needs out without being unfaithful. But became uncomfortable with that after a while. It does put a strain on our relationship because his sex drive cannot match mine.
Have either of you brought up an open relationship?
We’ve talked about it and it’s just not for us. I NEED sex but I want it from him. And he doesn’t want me with anyone else. And I don’t want to be with anyone else.
That’s not to say I don’t have strong urges that could make me cheat and I do worry about what would happen if I were put into a position of temptation.
Do you avoid situations where you cheat? Like bars or clubs?
I do go out but I have to bring one of my sisters with me who will decide when I’m getting out of line or in a dangerous situation and have a bouncer wait outside with us for a ride/Uber. But I go out less now since I’ve put my sisters in situations where they feel I/they are unsafe.
When I drink I become very bubbly and friendly and sometimes respond to that behavior in ways that could get me in trouble or seem like an invitation.
Is it the act of sex (penetration) or the orgasm that you seek? Like, is masturbation a part of it as well?
I would say it’s both. It started getting worse around 12 with like obsessive masturbating. But now I also need the penetration to feel close to someone.
Does it satisfy you if he uses toys on you? Is that an option for you to get your needs met and him to be a part of it?
Absolutely! But he works a lot so he’s often tired and has to go to bed early
Have you tried denying/avoiding those instincts/feelings for a while? If you did how long have you lasted?
Even after having a baby I was supposed to wait 6 weeks to have sex and I only waited 2 lol it’s complicated to explain I guess. I need sex to be happy and I need it very often. I’m very horny all the time and I get disappointed and upset if I can’t have it. Which can cause problems
How does your sex drive correlate to your mood? Does bad/good mood bring it down temporarily?
Usually when my head is in a bad place I want it even more and I’m pan
Is there an event in your life that contributed to your hyper-sexuality? Was there any sexual abuse that you think may have led to your hyper sexuality?
I was molested at age 7. But also very over sexualized by men from a young age due to my features. And then I was introduced to chat rooms like Omegle around 12 and would have inappropriate relationships with adult men
Have you found any solutions or working towards a solution to break your addiction?
It has gotten better over the years to wear I can go 2-3 nights a week without it but meds do not work for my specific mental illness, I’ve done 10 years of therapy and 7 years with a psychiatrist.
Were you diagnosed?
Borderline personality disorder. I’m diagnosed with ptsd as well.
Have you been prescribed medicaiton?
I have been on Latuda, Wellbutrin, Prozac, Zoloft, lamictal, risperdal, the list continues. 7 years of different medication combinations with little to no difference in most symptoms.
How do you counter this huge thing in your life to allow yourself to lead a normal life?
I mean it’s not debilitating I still function and do things like a normal person
Obviously you were a victim in your childhood, do you resent your hyper-sexuality sometimes because of the circumstances in which you got it?
I guess it’s hard for me to really resent sex because I do love it. I guess I would like it if it wasn’t too much for my partner sometimes but it’s not his fault it’s fully on me
The Russian Navy has located the downed US MQ-9 “Reaper” Drone in the Black Sea, about 50 nautical miles from Sevastopol and has created a blockade around the crash site.
The Russian Navy salvage Vessel Kumma is enroute to the location.
RussianNavtSalvageShip
It is reportedly going to attempt to retrieve the drone, which is said to be under about 90 meters of water.
Do you trust the media? This is SHOCKING, Operation Mockingbird is back
The Just Won’t Stop – NYT Pushes New False Claims By Debunked Anti-Russia Propagandist Clint Watts
A hacking group with ties to the Russian government appears to be preparing new cyberattacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and government offices, Microsoft said in a report on Wednesday, suggesting that Russia’s long-anticipated spring offensive could include action in cyberspace, as well as on the ground.
…
For now Russia’s main influence campaign is concentrated in Europe, but it will shift to the United States “as the year gets closer to a presidential election debate going into fall,” said Clint Watts, the head of Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Center.
Substack writer Matt Taibbi previously reported how top Democrats like California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as well as Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, kept promoting claims that the Kremlin had significant influence in public discourse despite being told otherwise by Twitter executives.On Friday, Taibbi did a deep dive into their source, Hamilton 68, a so-called “dashboard” that purportedly monitored Russian bot activity.
Hamilton 68, which was spearheaded by former FBI special agent and MSNBC contributor Clint Watts, was operated by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a “neoliberal think tank” founded in 2017 with an advisory council that includes Clinton ally John Podesta, former Obama-era acting CIA director Michael Morrell, former Obama official Michael McFaul and The Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol.
Taibbi wrote Hamilton 68 “was the source of hundreds if not thousands of mainstream print and TV news stories in the Trump years.”
But behind the scenes, Twitter executives trashed Hamilton 68 and deliberated whether they should publicly rebuke ASD.
“I think we need to just call this out on the bulls— it is,” Twitter’s then-head of trust and safety Yoel Roth wrote in an October 2017 email, later writing in January 2018 that the dashboard “falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots.”
“Virtually any conclusion drawn from it will take conversations in conservative circles on Twitter and accuse them of being Russian,” Roth wrote in February 2018.
Despite such fact based reporting three big wig NYT ‘reporters’, Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger and Marc Santora, continue to repeat the baseless ‘disinformation’ lies of the known anti-Russia propagandist Clint Watts . This without adding any critical context.
I would not generalize it like that. Matt Taibbi for one is a good reporter. But some other ‘reporters’ are indeed producing nothing but a constant stream of the most stinking refuse ever.
Posted by b on March 16, 2023 at 9:46 UTC | Permalink
Happy pictures
2023 03 17 11 58
2023 03 17 11 56
Rita Hayworth Is Stayin’ Alive
Confessions of Parents Who Absolutely Regret Having Children
1. I’m tired of people trying to make me feel bad because I didn’t want to deal with this nightmare of a diagnosis. I straight up admit I absolutely did not fucking want a special needs child which is why I aborted my first pregnancy – there was a chromosomal abnormality so I noped out real quick.
Got just about every damn test you could with the second pregnancy and everything was fine. But no. Autism.
All I ever fucking wanted was a normal family, is that so much to ask? My life growing up was walking on eggshells because of my mentally ill father and intellectually disabled sister. Then I was free. Only to get dragged back into hell.
I’m tired of all the extravagant accommodations and never ending extra shit that goes into autism. We’re supposed to bend over backwards to children who only care about their immediate needs and themselves no matter what the fuck anyone else’s needs are – and then we get blamed for churning out entitled assholes.
I’m tired of this broken fucking kid and never ending heavy burden. While I would never hurt him I can absolutely see how this breaks some parents and these nightmare kids end up getting thrown off a bridge. (I’m not saying I would throw him off a bridge you drama queens, I’m saying I can understand how parents snap)
Pre natal diagnostics needs to get on the fucking ball.
Edit: like moths to a flame the autists are in full force to bitch about how awful I am.
Autism isn’t a shield for shit behavior. I’m allowed to be irritated with shit behavior no matter the origin. I’m human.
Guess what, you don’t live in a vacuum and your caregivers matter too. I’m sorry (not sorry) that the truth of raising an autistic child triggers you so much but, well, it’s not my job to cater to your feelings. Go somewhere else if you hate it so much.
2. My (40M) son (12M) has been physically and verbally abusing my wife (42F) and daughter (9F) for 3-4 years. Dozens of medicinal combinations, 4 hospitalizations (writing this from the hospital while waiting for a placement for his 5th), 8 months in a residential center, making his needs/problems the center of our lives (wife has had not worked or done anything but be his full time caretaker for years), have yielded no relief. I pay for a house the wife+kids live in, and an apartment I live in and work from a few miles away, because my presence/existence is an irritant to my son (and wife prioritizes son’s preferences/comfort above all else), and my daughter occasionally has to stay in the apartment with me when son attacks her.
Yesterday, wife and MIL and both kids went for ice cream, but the store was unexpectedly closed. That disruption in plans was enough that son escalated from standard daily behavior of punching my wife, to attempting to strangle her, and attacked elderly MIL with a heavy wooden board (luckily she knocked it out of his hands and was uninjured).
So, marriage in shambles, finances and mental health destroyed, daughter traumatized… all societal systems (US) from hospitals to cops to therapists to public schools to private schools to psychiatrists to psychologists to residential centers to crisis response (and probably more I’m forgetting) unable to help at all.
My daughter is mostly a joy and (aside from removing what she’s been exposed to) I would change nothing about her.
I regret my son’s existence.
3. The actual reason I had a kid was just pressure from society. I mean, this is what people are supposed to do you know? I’ve always made so much effort ticking all the boxes what people are “supposed to do”. I’m 30 years old and my biological clock is ticking. All my friends have kids so I thought to myself that it was now or never. Now I have this beautiful, healthy, lovely 2 year old whom I love more than words – make no mistake, I’m a good mom. But what I want is sleeping in, going to the gym whenever I want, travel, doing spontaneous things etc. That was my life before my daughter was born. I don’t feel this “rewarding” feeling everyone are talking about. I feel bitter and unfulfilled. I wouldn’t dare saying those things out loud to anyone.
4. I was told the moment you push out your baby & hold it in your arms is the most amazing, most magical, euphoric moment you will ever experience in your entire life.
So there I was..in the hospital, holding my new baby, waiting for it… I felt NOTHING. But I did lose a lot of blood though. I was told that C-Sections are not that bad. I’ll be fine! I couldn’t talk for weeks & barely had any energy to move. But I do have a long nasty cool looking scar that my wax lady points out to me every time I get a wax.
I was told that my breast would just go back to my regular size. My breast are so flat and saggy that I literally have to rush to put clothes on after I get out the shower bc I hate lookin in the mirror. I was told that it’s just “baby weight” it’ll go away after birth. My stomach is so fat & sloppy that it looks like I’m in the early stages of pregnancy.
I was told by my OBGYN that “I’m just in a phase, I’ll get my confidence back!” Today, as I write this in tears, I haven’t felt like me in years. Something’s off..I always look like I’m feeling & feel how I look (which is ugly).
I was told that “Kids are a blessing, you’ll enjoy it!” I literally look forward to every freakin day & night when my kid goes to sleep for that little peace & quiet time that I have to myself. This is the biggest highlight of my day! I use every bit of that time thinking about all that I could be right now before I enter parenthood.
I was told that I have “18 Summers to get it right” That is true & I take that to the heart, but I might just spend my whole adulthood living for my kid & I haven’t even enjoyed my life yet. Thing is, I could be the best parent ever & it still won’t ever be enough cause in the end, kids grow into individuals w/ a mind of their own. 70% comes from me & the other 30% will come from life itself. Life is the greatest teacher. Hopefully when she turns 18, I’ll have something to look back & smile about.
Knowing all the sacrifices, blood, sweat & tears it took to get here will be more than enough for my warm heart to accept. I wait everyday for that moment. I was told that this sht comes easy, being a parent is natural. I’ve been a mom for damn near 3 years & ain’t sht been easy yet. Literally been winging this sh*t since day 1.
I was told just taking 10 mins for yourself will do wonders for you. I can’t even take a shower w/o thinking I’m hearing someone crying & banging on my bathroom door. I was told that child support payments will ease the load. The court ordered $194 in payments & he doesn’t even pay that. I was told from friends & family that I have their support. I’ve had to quit so many jobs bc I had no one to watch her. I had to steal food so many times bc I just don’t have it right now. I was told that it’ll get easier, when?
The fact is, I was lied to.
5. My son is gifted. He’s also a gigantic fucking asshole.
What they see is the tiniest little sliver of a moment, and have no idea that the rest of the time is absolutely exhausting. He has behavior problems, is constantly argumentative, and lives to push every fucking one of my buttons every single goddamn day. It is honestly a battle not to hit him the way I would have been, and my reward for restraint and respecting his person is constantly eating shit.
He has no friends, acts half his age, and is a gigantic brat no matter what we do. I’ve had to give up my life to revolve around his, and I expected to be done by now honestly. Most mothers can get back to work when their kid starts school… I cant.
All of my fucking time is taken up by his endless needs, the time he’s in school is the only time I can get anything meaningful done. The entire parental load is dumped on me, as well as every speck of housework, and society thinks I need to bring in an income too because I’m not doing enough?
It’s all shit. All of it.
When he is on stage and captivates everyone, if just for a moment… I would trade all of it to go back and remain childless. I see parents whisper to each other that they wish their kid could be more like mine and it makes me want to cry. Because they don’t realize how difficult having a gifted kid is. Honestly I would have preferred a normal child.
I put on a brave face though, and gush about how proud I am. But I’m dying inside.
Lots of us regret. Even the ones you would never think do. But I regret all of it.
It’s funny how when I was younger the idea of a hardworking husband that could afford for me to be a stay at home mother to a gifted kid – that was like a dream scenario.
But that’s exactly what I got, and it’s a prison.
I love him and I will continue to do my best for him, but Christ this is the worst job I’ve ever had.
6. I fucking hate being a mother (and wife). There, I said it.
I’ll preface with saying that I do love my children , but It absolutely drains every single part of my being. To the point where I’m not sure I can keep going much longer.
I hate how I went undiagnosed with a neurological disorder my entire life until recently, which makes being a parent/partner so damn difficult. I could have made better choices had I known.
I hate that I grew up thinking because I was a girl, having kids was just part of life. I hate how we don’t normalize conversations surrounding the topic of NOT having children.
I hate that I even feel this way. Not like they asked to be here. So I go through the motions and try my best . For them. But what I wouldn’t give to go back 20 years and make different choices.
The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed
Confessions of a Tech CEO Who Had Millions Tied Up In Silicon Valley Bank
So something like from that show Silicon Valley? You stocks went from millions to nothing?
Worse. Our bank account had millions of dollars in cash in it which we use to pay rent, employees, etc. All of that money has been frozen now that the bank has collapsed and the FDIC has stepped in. We can’t access it, use it, or transfer it to another bank.
This has happened to countless companies. Hundreds of companies missed payroll on Friday or will miss payroll over the next few days.
Why would you keep so much in one bank knowing it’s uninsured? Why not buy US treasuries as an alternative?
There’s a lot to dig into here, and arguably this is the most important cultural shift that needs to occur amongst venture-backed companies going forward.
Large companies – and thus more mature ones – absolutely diversify. For that reason, SVBs implosion is mostly hurting small and medium sized startups who maintained all of their capital in SVB. The question is: why were these startups not more proactively defensive? I think there’s a lot of contributing factors.
1) Most early stage startups are founded by and focus entirely on employing non-admin talent, meaning no HR, no finance, etc. In fact, one of our investors (a tier 1 investor with several billion dollar funds) explicitly talked me out of hiring a CFO until we were “50-100 employees”. So, what you end up with is a talent pool of specialists whose strength and focus isn’t in financial risk aversion, but rather in the skills needed to build product, find traction, and drive growth.
2) Focus. In early stage startups, you’re so frantically working to find product/market fit, recruit key talent, close customers, and navigate investors that you quickly deprioritize anything that doesn’t immediately drive revenue or product market fit. This leads to a bunch of blind spots in the business that are easy to take for granted. One is financial risk aversion. There are only so many tasks you can commit your attention to each day, and the purely administrative ones tend to fall by the wayside.
3) Convenience. Take your typical seed stage startup. In 2019, a seed round would be 2 million, plus or minus. In 2021, that same seed stage round could be 4-8. That means 32 bank accounts required to ensure that no more than $250k is present in any account. Amongst all of the other stuff you have to do as both a manager and individual contributor, this degree of oversight feels untenable.
4) Hubris. Probably a bit too strong language, but worth at least mentioning. Startups are inherently risky and financially insecure businesses, but we tend to have faith that our institutional partners — VCs, banks, etc. — are trustworthy and secure. We try to focus on the things we are most in a position to control, and we trust our partners to support us in the gaps. That’s not a good perspective to have going forward.
There are a lot of reasons. Going forward, all startups should probably have CFOs actively protecting cash. That hasn’t been the standard in the past for small companies. It should be going forward.
You weren’t notified of the potential problem before ?
I received an email.at 3:09 ET on Thursday.from.one of our investors saying, “This is probably alarmist, but you might want to move your money out of SVB.” That’s it. I immediately contacted another bank, but by the time the application was submitted, approved, created, and transfer submitted, it was already too late. About 16 hours.
Do you think your company can bounce back from this?
The next few days are critical.
The industry is expecting the FDIC to provide $250k in insurance on Monday. If that miraculously happens, it provides limited relief for the smaller companies, of which mine is one. With that $250k, I can make 2 payrolls. So, that gives me 3 weeks to figure out our next step.
The biggest question is whether or not the government will step in to make all of the depositors whole (meaning ensure companies like mine get access to the cash we already had). Even if that happens, there’s no way to know how quickly that can occur. Many Americans don’t think it should at all.
If that doesn’t occur, then we’ll likely be looking for a new source of capital (probably an investment) and use that to keep the company alive long enough to hopefully find a buyer.
What happens to a company that can’t make payroll?
We held a 2 hour company wide call, during which I explained what happened, what’s next, and the options we have. Then we did breakout sessions with each team. People are understandably concerned, but not because they’re in the dark.
There is a lot of he said/she said going on about when any of this money will be returned. The truth is nobody knows. My plan A is to access (hopefully on Monday) the FDIC $250k insurance to cover my team’s next two payroll cycles. That gives me time to do two things: 1) see if there’s a short-term resolution of SVB that benefits us, and 2) work with our partners in a bridge loan. The latter is the most likely path for any early-stage startup that has the option.
After that, who knows. If it takes months or years for any of the capital to be returned, then probably look for an acquirer so my team has a soft landing somewhere.
Do you think that the failures on the bank should be settled by tax payer money?
It’s a great question. I think the potential reverberating damage of not making the depositors as whole as possible is catastrophic. Not just for those companies, but for the us economy itself and the future of the US as a global innovator. Seeing online chatter, it’s clear to me that most people don’t understand how broad reaching this situation is. It’s MUCH bigger than a few “coastal leftist capitalist millionaires”.
Does that mean that taxpayers should be responsible? No. Ideally the capital would come from another bank acquiring the assets over the coming days/weeks. That seems unlikely, at least at a price that would cover all depositors.
Somebody is getting fucked. It shouldn’t be the depositors who only held cash. And it shouldn’t be the taxpayers. Very difficult situation.
Who do you think will be the White Knight? (Do you believe there will be one?)
Interesting question. No for-profit institution can truly be the white knight. They’re self-interested parties (which is fine) and are going to try to acquire the assets for pennies on the dollar. Meaning whatever is left will be a fraction of what was there before. The govt. Can certainly intervene, but to what end.
Ultimately, I think the question is really: Who is going to get screwed over the most in order to protect the rest.
If the government is the only way to make yourselves whole, what are your thoughts about the government taking equity positions in those companies rather than providing a cash bailout?
We need cash to operate. If that cash is in exchange for equity, I’m generally okay with the idea. In fact, I would personally love a closer relationship between govt and innovation companies. I have long maintained that we need our best people thinking about the biggest problems – govt, education, healthcare, etc. But because public sector salaries can’t compete, we often pool too much top talent in the private sector. A closer relationship between the two might have positive outcomes.
Did you start the company or just rise up to the position?
I started the company with two co-founders. They made salaries first. I started getting paid about a year later.
CEO compensation varies WIDELY by company, stage, and sector. I firmly believe that CEOs at most large corporations are grossly overpaid. That is far from my personal case. I currently make $150k/yr. I’m far from the highest paid employee at my own company. For early stage companies, there is a director correlation between a startup’s likelihood to fail and how much s/he pays him/herself. I made much more at previous companies, but founder/CEOs typically don’t work for the salary. They work for the potential equity outcome.
What were your roles and responsibilities as a CEO for this company.
At my stage, the primary responsibilities are hiring, budgeting, HR, team management, fundraising, and investor relations. After that, each CEO has a unique set of skills based on their background which determine what else they do. My background is in product management, so I also lead the design and development of our software product.
Typically external CEOs are brought into a startup after the company has achieved a certain degree of scale. Maybe the founder is ready to move on, or maybe the company needs someone with more expertise at that growth stage. Typically external CEOs come from within the existing social network, via investor introductions, or through an executive recruiter.
Putin’s next cyber attack will be DEVASTATING, according the deep state
17 People Reveal The Biggest Problem Plaguing Their Life Right Now
I’m 60. My biggest problem is having to work 50 or 60 (or more) hours a week just to keep up with the bills. Plus I have a bedridden wife with cancer and we’re raising our oldest grandson. As Sargeant Murtaugh once said, “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
37 and I’m going blind. I don’t know how long it will take, when I will be legally blind and unable to live my life with the richness, independence and everything else I expected, but it’s coming. It’s a crushing inevitability. Every day that I get to see my loved ones faces is a gift.
40’s and I drink too much and need to lose weight. I only drank 3 times in February and I’ve increased my daily walks so I’m working on it!
I’m just trying to find some reasons to not hate my own existence. But here we are. A couple days ago was my 43rd. My finances suck. I’ve been depressed most of my adult life but I’m just really sad right now too. There is a difference between sad and depressed and I’m both right now. And I don’t deserve to be either, I’m healthy, I still have all my limbs and digits thanks to modern medicine, and there are people who care about me, which makes the depression just feel like even more of a failure. I hope you feel better soon. I hope I do too.
74 and don’t really have any problems other knowing my time is limited. Don’t buy any green bananas. 🙂
78, and knowing I am terminal. I can handle it, but everybody else is in denial. I’m hearing lots of, “After all, doctors don’t know everything, do they?”
No. They don’t. But they do know the five-year survival rate is 1%. Now let’s all say that together boys and girls.
“The five-year survival rate is 1%.”
59 and my thoughts are consumed with losing my wife(and best friend). I’ve loved her for 42 years. I want 42 more.
The older I get the shorter it all seems, Ive heard the same from everyone. Everyone pretends to be at peace, I thinik it’s more for the others than that they really believe it. There isn’t anything you can tell someone when they are 16 that they will ever truly understand until they’re 60. I suppose this is where the bitter sweet thing hits. But it hits really fucking hard when it does.
61(F)… Relationship heartache and likely to be let go at work. I’m too old for either of these when 6 years away from retirement.
29. All my bills are going up, but my paycheck is not.
I’m 62 and I am watching my wife die day by day from pancreatic cancer. She is the love of my life, God’s gift to me. I had been married before but never have I known love until I met her. I cannot breathe. I cannot cry because I must be strong for my beautiful bride. My heart is breaking day by day. When the end comes I cannot imagine living a day without her smile and laughter.
My mother just passed away, leaving me with implied responsibility for my same-aged brother with special needs. There was no plan, despite me begging them for years to figure something out. I live ten hours away and work full-time plus. Now I’m supposed to figure it all out.
31, grief, anxiety, money, never being able to afford a home and by extension claw my way out of poverty. I have more money now than I ever did in my life and it still won’t get me anywhere.
55, live alone, work 100% from home, and have no friends and family. Shit be lonely.
27 and more and more I’m coming to the horrifying realization that I don’t really like the world, where it’s headed, the way we idolize and reward cruelty and selfishness, the way the world is just kind of… ugly. This is not the world I envisioned living in when I was younger, and that crushing realization is a lot to come to terms with. Some days are especially difficult. Other days I wonder whether it’s worth sticking around for something I dislike so much.
I’m 48 and my son is 16. He has a muscle eating disease call Muscular Dystrophy and has lost the use of his legs, his arms have weakened to the point that he can barely lift a glass and he’s in a wheelchair. He has an upcoming major surgery for scoliosis (caused by the disease) that will enable him completely for up to a week. He worries about it and about the disease (dying) and on top of that, he gets very depressed about not being able to do the things that other kids his age can do. I worry constantly about him, but there is nothing I can do. That’s my biggest problem (he’s not the problem, but the fact I can’t do anything but worry).
My kids won’t stop getting sick. They’re missing so much school. It’s like their bodies have decided to just alternate weeks with different respiratory viruses.
This video was hidden inside the movie folder in all Windows 95.
30 of the Best Non-Sexual Feelings in the World
1. When you unexpectedly catch a smell that reminds you of a person or a place that you love.
2. Laying awake with someone, and being so lost in conversation that you talk for hours without even realizing it.
3. When something funny catches you off guard in just the right way, and you laugh uncontrollably.
4. A dog or cat or just a fluffy, non threatening animal coming up to you and cuddling you until you can’t breath.
5. Being close to someone you have a crush on and just nearly touching. The almost touch is a magical thing.
6. Farting away a stomach ache
7. Seeing someone happy with the gift you gave them.
8. Taking a piss after holding it for the whole car ride
9. Getting that popcorn kernel out of your teeth
10. Tingles from listening to some good music
11. Having a 3 day weekend and waking up on that Saturday realizing you still have two more days off.
12. Having a conversation with someone who’s genuinely interested in what you have to say
13. Waking up in the middle of the night and realizing you still have 5 hrs more to sleep.
14. Head massage. Even those wire “hands” you can get to do it yourself feel amazing.
15. Sleeping in a bed with clean and warm sheets straight out of the dryer.
16. That moment of clarity when your brain stops going and you’re just present, wherever you are.
17. Silence. Just go to an area with no civilization whatsoever and sit. No expectations, obligations or unnecessary needs.
18. Waking up at 3 am with massive thirst and then you take that nice, cold and godly sip of water
19. First sip of coffee when you wake up on vacation.
20. Water coming out of your ear after it’s been stuck there for a bit.
21. When you’re at someone’s house and their pet chooses your lap to sit on.
22. Taking a smooth, efficient, clean poop. Also taking a huge shit that you’ve been holding for too long.
23. Contagious laughter, to the point no one remembers what made us start laughing.
24. Love. Long ago in a relationship -I said something awkward that revealed my feelings but not directly and the response was ‘I love you too stupid, let’s go get some coffee’
25. When you find yourself genuinely looking forward to the next time you’ll see/talk to someone, then you realize you’re smiling like an idiot.
26. When you feel like someone truly sees you.
27. When you put down your judgment long enough, to let yourself be proud of the things you’ve accomplished.
28. When someone says, “I love you” for the first time, or you finally muster up the courage to say it yourself.
29. When you get together with siblings or cousins, and laugh for hours while retelling childhood stories that you all have already told 100 times.
30. Watching people enjoy the food you cooked.
China’s Rise As A Superpower | Warning To America
Chicken and Sourdough Dumplings
404d2189bc19abeb20e2363c578d8455
Ingredients
Dumplings
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening
2 quarts boiling water
Chicken
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons melted shortening
1 (6 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped pimiento
1 (2 to 3 pound) fryer, cooked, boned and cut into bite-size pieces
Instructions
Dumplings: In large bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Combine milk, egg, sourdough starter and vegetable oil or melted shortening and add to dry mixture all at once, stirring just until moist. Drop dough from tablespoon into boiling water. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Drain and place on top of cooked chicken.
Chicken: Over medium heat, add flour to shortening. Stir constantly while adding milks, soup, water, salt, pepper and pimiento. Add chicken. Pour into a 3-quart casserole and top with dumplings.
We are over the transitional period. Over the next year or two, the dawning of understanding will creep into the collective minds of those that “lead” the West. How this will manifest can be anything, but I remain hopeful…
A scaling back of many policies.
Changes in the way that many things are done.
Some attempts (which will be failures) that will try to prevent the hemorrhaging of the Untied States.
However, I am often wrong, and I fail at least 50% of the time in my predictions. Though, I’m often quite correct on trend-lines. Outcomes. Not so well.
What outcomes?
Flipping the tables with global nuclear war.
Invasion of Mexico, Iran, or Taiwan.
Civil war in the United States
Who know what will happen. I don’t.
Have a great day.
Posted for the record.
Self explanatory.
Those of us who consume western msm are not delusional when we state there is an anti-China editorial policy in western newsrooms.
2023 03 14 14 46
Jason And The Argonauts (1963)
I always find with these stop-motion animation films that the wonderful Harryhausen creations always far out-act the human talent! Sadly, here is no different – Todd Armstrong in the title role and Nancy Novak as ” Medea” are as wooden as the Argo in this retelling of the ancient Greek myth.
It is still, however, an exciting action adventure though, with plenty of episodes to keep it moving along as Jason fights monsters and treachery to seek out the legendary Golden Fleece from the distant land of Colchis.
It’s got a decent enough, largely British, supporting cast with Honor Blackman standing out as his patron “Hera” and Nigel Green making for a wonderfully over-the-top “Hercules”, but the spoils definitely go to Talos, the Harpies and the skeleton battle is fabulous.
https://youtu.be/1c8NvctkSzs
What is the Chinese opinion of the United States of America? Do they hate us as much as we hate them? Is their dislike towards USA justified? If yes, why and if no, why not?
No
Not even half as much!
Chinese people thinks the U.S. system and policies are daft and don’t work. They don’t hate the country and certainly don’t hate the people. There is very few who are racist like some Americans.
The Chinese people sees Americans as good customer and America as huge market. The treat customers well. They will never be submissive and subservient to you as to them they are a far more mature and intelligent person. You can think what you want but that what they think about themselves.
They saw through the manipulation and cheating of the so call international rules based international order and so does most others. And they will certainly not allow it to perpetuate. Quite rightly so. They still hope you guys comes to your senses soon before you implode.
The Chinese are at least 3 full steps ahead of Americans in thinking and response. You can rant and rave if you want but frankly it is not beneficial to hate the Chinese or China or CCP. The U.S. will lose more. If China maybe they can it means 100% it can be done. China will be either your biggest customer or your biggest competitor that U.S. your choice.
Vietnam War: Racquel Welch 1967
Why doesn’t milk taste like real milk anymore? I just want milk that tastes like real milk.
Milk in America and Canada underwent a major deterioration in taste in the early 1970’s. In the UK and Europe it happened in about 1980.
Milk undergoes significant and irreversible biochemical changes once it is heated above 64.5˚C. And these changes are readily detected as a deterioration in the taste.
Prior to 1980 in the UK, and roughly the early 1970’s in North America, milk was commonly pasteurised by heating it to between 63˚C and 64˚C and holding it in that temperature bracket for 30 minutes. It was a protocol developed in 1906 by Public Health officials in Massachusetts, who were desperate to persuade people to drink pasteurised milk instead of raw milk. But bringing milk close to boiling meant the wonderful rich taste of the milk when raw was lost. So the public bought raw milk by choice.
With what must have been a considerable amount of research, they found that by heating milk above 63˚C but below 64˚C, and maintaining the temperature for 30 minutes, the pathogens were killed, but the rich taste of the milk was not damaged. After WWII it became the widespread approach to pasteurising milk.
But in the 1970’s a far faster method was developed, which was to heat the milk to 73˚C and run it through pipework for just 15 seconds. The pathogens they were concerned about were effectively killed off by this method. And though the wonderful rich taste of the milk was damaged, the industry was persuaded to switch over to the new approach by the great cost savings it brought.
And since that switch in the mid 1970’s the per capita consumption of milk in the USA has declined by over 40%.
In movies from the 1950’s and 1960’s you often see a glass of milk at the dinner table. Look at movies made since 1980 and a glass of milk is a very rare sight. If you have never tasted milk produced using the old protocol, then you do not know what you are missing.
My wife is a dairy farmer, and we pasteurise and bottle our milk for sale through shops across Scotland. (In Scotland milk sold to the public has to be pasteurised.) Ours is one of the very few dairy farms in Scotland using the old approach. We tried (once) heating the milk to 73˚C but hated the way the taste was dramatically altered, in our view, damaged. And so we stick to the slower, older method. But we have noticed that, should someone forget to turn off the heating elements at the wrong point, and the temperature of the milk in the big pasteurising vessel goes above 64.5˚C, it then develops a “sticky” quality. We studiously avoid this happening, as that stickiness means the vessel is suddenly a nightmare to clean.
As milk goes above 64.5˚C the proteins are increasingly denatured. And the denatured proteins then coagulate with the butterfat. And this seems to be what causes the stickiness. I presume it is also involved directly in the alteration of the flavour of the milk.
And so the vast majority of the population on both sides of the Atlantic have no experience these days of good old-fashioned drinking milk. And that’s a big pity.
Addendum: there’s an important topic that is related to all the above.
Crohn’s Disease has surged in the years since the HTST process was adopted, and it appears there is a direct link between the two topics. There is a very widespread disease amongst cows & cattle called Johnes Disease, and it is caused by the Mycobacterium avium subsp. tuberculosis, commonly referred to as MAP.
The bacteria, once introduced to a herd, is nearly impossible to get rid of, as it can survive in the cow pats in fields for years.
There is currently no treatment for Johnes Disease, which is a wasting illness of the digestive tract. The symptoms of Johnes Disease and Crohn’s Disease are identical. While it is a simple matter to demonstrate that Johnes Disease is caused by MAP, there are ethical barriers which make a similar determination of MAP and Crohn’s Disease impossible.
We can’t have two groups of healthy people, and expose the folk in one group to viable MAP, and see what happens. But there is an enormous body of circumstantial evidence pointing to Crohn’s Disease being caused by MAP. Some 10% of supermarket milk sold in the UK (for example) has been found to contain viable MAP, i.e., 10% of milk on those shelves just might cause Crohn’s Disease in people who consume it on a regular basis.
The older process of 63˚C for 30 minutes is actually 10 times more effective at killing off MAP than the typical HTST process. Longer exposure to high temperatures are needed it seems, and this is why the HTST approach is a poor process for milk pasteurisation.
China’s Fujian air wing is slowly taking shape
China’s Fujian air wing is slowly taking shape, possibly making it the first carrier worldwide capable of launching 5th-generation stealth fighters from its decks.
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Few days ago it was reported that China might be preparing to deploy a new stealth fighter or perhaps a stealth drone from its Fujian aircraft carrier, incrementally building the combat capabilities of its third carrier and flagship naval vessel.
It is noted that the J-31/ FC-31 will complement the J-15, China’s only carrier-based fighter. It also mentions that the J-31 will be used for air supremacy missions due to its stealth characteristics, while the J-15 will be limited to ground and sea attacks.
However, the report notes that both the J-31/FC-31 and the Fujian are still not combat-ready, with the J-31/FC-31 still undergoing ground tests and the Fujian expected to perform sea trials later this year.
China’s J-31/FC-31 has a 2,000-kilometer estimated range, maximum takeoff weight of 28 tons, an operational ceiling of 15 kilometers and a top speed of Mach 1.8 or 2,205 kilometers per hour.
FH-97A Loyal Wingman drone is an AI-powered unmanned stealth aircraft designed to complement the J-20 stealth fighter. Unlike other loyal wingman drones, the stealthy FH-97A has a 1,000-kilometer range with a six-hour maximum flight time.
The FH-97A is designed for air-to-air operations, noting that it has a front-mounted EOTS and internal weapons bay for six infrared air-to-air missiles. Apart from air-to-air roles, the report mentions that it can perform secondary missions such as surveillance, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and electronic warfare. Considerations are being made to develop a carrier-based FH-97A variant featuring in-flight refueling capability.
Foreign agents and protests in Georgia
A classic color revolution to disrupt the southern border of Russia.
Burial Bundles with Painted Bodies in Fabric Found in Peru Pyramid
burial bundles
Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered a monumental temple site where they discovered unique human burials wrapped in fabrics printed with bizarre zoomorphic designs. These bundles contain the remains of deceased individuals, as well as various offerings and personal belongings wrapped in multiple layers of textiles, often with intricate designs and patterns. Found in tombs and caves, many burial bundles have been preserved for hundreds, or even thousands of years.
High Status Ancient Burials
PAP reports that within one burial mounds, archaeologists identified the wrapped remains of a young boy whose skull was “ intentionally deformed .” Wrapped in a three meters (9.84 ft) long cloth which was decorated with “totally unique zoomorphic representations,” the researchers reported that the boy was born into a “high-status family.”
Cranial deformation was a common practice in Peru. The process involved binding the heads of infants to create a flattened or elongated skull , often with the intention of denoting social status or cultural affiliation.
Łukasz Majchrzak is a bioarchaeologist focused on pre-Columbian cultures in Peru, specializing in health, diet, and lifestyle. Majchrzak, said the boy’s wraps were covered with “unique” zoomorphic representations, and similar fabrics have never been found anywhere in the Andes mountains to date.
Dyed
Dyed fabric found in a tomb at the top of the site, dated 772 -989 AD Photo: Łukasz Majchrzak
Painted And Wrapped for The Afterlife
The team of archaeologists were excavating what they describe as “a monumental temple” on the Cerro Colorado hill located near the city of Barranca in Peru, when they found the series of “unique tombs.” These were not ordinary burials because the people within the graves were painted and wrapped in high-quality fabrics.
Located near the coastal city of Barranca in Peru, Cerro Colorado is a famously red hill which is caused by high levels of iron oxide in the soil. With expansive panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, including the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains, this important archaeological site features a sunken plaza and an amphitheatre, which were utilized in the pre-Columbian era.
The recent excavations were conducted by a team of archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University and St Mark’s University, in the “Los valles de Barranca ” project. According to a report on Nauka W Polsce , four earthen mounds were excavated in 2022 and, amidst a monumental temple structure, four tombs were discovered containing painted human remains wrapped in high-quality fabrics that dated to 772 AD – 989 AD.
Peruvian
Cross-section of a Peruvian mummy bundle. Source: Juulijs / Adobe Stock
Unwrapping Ancient Burial Bundles
The above dating determined that the graves belonged to the Wari culture , whose legacy can be found at Castillo de Huarmey, located only 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) north of Barranca in the Huarmey district of Peru. Castillo de Huarmey is a 16th-century coastal fortress built by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro’s brother-in-law, Jerónimo de Aliaga. The castle is known for its unique blend of Spanish, Inca, and Chimú architectural styles and contains numerous well-preserved murals depicting daily life in the region, and a Wari mausoleum.
On two of the newly excavated pyramidal mounds, the monumental temple was found to have been constructed using dried red clay bricks and stone blocks. This discovery inspired a large-scale excavation of the site which revealed the burial bundles, also known as “fardos funerarios”.
example
An example of a Wari burial bundle (Public Domain)
Revitalizing Ancient Holy Sites
Research revealed that while the burials dated to between 772 AD and 989 AD, the temple complex itself was built between 2500 and 2200 BC. This dating is derived from two of the four structures, with the remaining two not yet excavated, so the site might prove to be even older.
Majchrzak explained that such settlements, with “imposing architecture,” were built in the Andes during the third millennium BC. As agriculture spread, as a result of increasing interactions with communities residing in the Amazon, later Andean cultures established burial necropolises in abandoned deeply-ancient places of worship, believing their ancestors were buried within the timeworn pyramids.
China and Saudi Arabia just dealt a CRUSHING blow to the U.S. Dollar
Buffalo Chicken & Pepper Grilled Cheese Sandwich
BuffaloGrilledChickenPic 570×766 1
Ingredients
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1 tablespoon Cabot Salted Butter, melted
1 cooked chicken breast, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 tablespoons Cabot Salted Butter, softened
8 (1/2 inch thick) slices LaBrea Bakery Take & Bake Garlic Loaf Bread or any garlic flavored bread
4 roasted red bell pepper quarters (about 1 cup drained, jarred or 1 fresh roasted red bell pepper)
4 ounces Cabot Pepper Jack, thinly sliced
Instructions
Heat Breville sandwich maker until green light switches on, or two sided electric grill.
In medium bowl, combine hot sauce and melted butter; add chicken and toss until well combined.
Working in batches, butter one side of each bread slice and place bread on sandwich maker, or electric grill, buttered side down.
Layer evenly with chicken, bell pepper and cheese.
Cover with remaining bread slice, buttered side up.
Close lid and cook for 3 minutes or until bread is golden crisp and cheese is melted. Alternatively, cook sandwiches in heavy skillet over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes per side.)
Fighting Off The Children Of The Hydra’s Teeth | Jason and the Argonauts
This reminds me of a scene from the 1960s movie “The Ugly American”.
2023 03 14 14 5sfd8
It says in Chinese: emergency relief, 1 set.
The photo is from Türkiye, and relevant information has been censored on the US platform.
Look at how it was “reported”…
2023 03 14 14 58
Then here comes the question: did the US military buy these materials or just “borrow” them from Syria? Shouldn’t there be a comprehensive public verification of the executors?
LOL.
Alastair Crooke
March 13, 2023
The West is too dysfunctional and weak now to fight on all fronts. Yet there can be no retreat without some de-legitimising humiliation of the West.
Just occasionally, a window is opened onto the truth of how the ‘system’ works. Momentarily, it stands naked in its degeneracy. We avert our eyes, yet, it is a revelation (though it shouldn’t be). For, we see clearly how tawdry has been the attire which clothed it. ‘Liberalism’s’ seeming success – almost wholly an ephemeral PR production – serves only to make its underlying internal contradictions more obvious; more ‘in your face’ – much less credible.
This unravelling speaks to a failure to satisfactorily resolve liberal modernity’s inherent contradictions. Or, rather its unravelling derives from thechoice to resolve a waning legitimacy, through an ever more totalistic and ideological reaching for hegemony.
One such window has been the sordid affair of the UK pandemic lockdowns – as revealed by a paper trail leak of 100,000 ministerial WhatsApp messages, managing the lockdown project.
What did they show (in the words here of pro-government leading political commentators)? An ugly picture of how a western Establishment interacts in adolescent sniping at each other, and in its utter disdain for the populace.
“It [lockdown] wasn’t about science, it was about politics. That was obvious as soon as the government began talking about following The Science – as if it were a fixed body of revealed truth … they were engaged in a deliberately misleading campaign of public coercion. The programme was designed to frighten – not inform – and to make doubt or scepticism appear morally irresponsible – which is precisely the opposite of what science does”.“The model for the monumental government programme in which sitting on a park bench, or meeting with extended family, became a criminal offence – was the nation at war. Horrifying levels of social isolation were deliberately designed to present the country as mobilised in a collective effort against a malign enemy. Much of this went way beyond what we generally regard as authoritarianism: even the East German Stasi did not forbid children from hugging their grandparents, or outlaw sexual relations between people who lived in different households. Every other consideration had to be relegated in a heroic national struggle against an invading army whose objective was to kill as many of us as possible. And this enemy was particularly insidious because it was invisible”.
Sherelle Jacobs:“We have been granted a rare glimpse of Power’s true nature away from the media gaze: how, in private, it schemes, swears, sulks and derides. On full display are all its dismal paradoxes: its fierce megalomania and constant seeking of reassurance from political aides; its tendency to groupthink and relentless sniping.“One feels a new cold solidarity with 1970s [Watergate] America in its horror at the “low-grade quality of mind” that characterised their political class. But perhaps the strongest parallel with Watergate is that … the state’s operations seem suffused with humdrum nihilism. It is there in the amused crusades to “scare the pants” off people. It is in the deadpan mocking of holidaymakers locked up in quarantine [hotels] (“hilarious”). It is in the remorseless dedication to “the narrative”. “How zealously the state threw themselves into implementing draconian measures, once it had decided at HQ that lockdowns were the correct populist call. We have come to learn how Hancock (Health Minister) conspired to “sit on” scientists, who he denounced as “wacky” or “loudmouth” for defying the official lines. We must digest the knowledge that civil servants insisted the “fear/guilt factor” was “vital” in “ramping up the messaging” during the dubious third lockdown. Just as unedifying is the revelation that, in the run up to this lockdown, politicians seized on a new variant as a tool to “roll the pitch with”. Perhaps most galling is Patrick Vallance’s (Scientific Adviser) advice that the Government should “suck up the media’s miserable interpretation of scientific data” to then “overdeliver” in an atmosphere of cranked up fear”.
“We see the PM appallingly served and briefed. Almost suspiciously so. At one stage, he is so in the dark about Covid’s fatality rate that he misinterprets a figure by a factor of one hundred. [Yet] the most revealing moment came in June 2020, when the mild-mannered Business Secretary, argued for certain rules to be advisory rather than compulsory. At this stage, Covid circulation had plummeted – deaths had fallen by 93 per cent from the peak: “Why is she against controlling the virus”, the minister complains. She is motivated by pure Conservative ideology! The Cabinet Secretary retorts [i.e., she is libertarian].“The Lockdown Files include thousands of attachments sent between ministers. When I first came across them, I hoped to find high-quality top-level secret briefings. Instead, ministers were sharing newspaper articles and graphs found on social media. The quality of this information was often poor, sometimes abysmal”.
The ‘Lockdown Files’ – as published in the UK by The Telegraph – expose a toxic culture where any minister or civil servant asking “awkward” questions knew they were liable to be briefed against, sidelined or ostracised. ‘Off the boil’ Members of Parliament thought to oppose lockdowns were placed on a secret Red List, and the then Health Secretary’s aide wrote, “these guys’ re-election hinges on us: We know what they want”.
But the Files reveal something even more chilling. What was the overall public response to the publication of the files? Plainly said: It is that a majority of the people are so numbed and passive – and so in lockstep – as the state inches them through a series of repeating emergencies towards a new kind of authoritarianism, that they don’t fuss greatly, or even notice much.
To be clear, the Lockdown episode is iconic of this new schema of control effected through hegemony, ideology and tech. Autonomy for the individual – and his or her search for a life, lived with meaning – now is displaced by its opposite: The instinct to subjugate and dominate, and to impose order on an inchoate and seemingly threatening world.
The surveillance-based liberal managerial state has, as Arta Moeini has written, ballooned into “a totalistic and aspiring globe-spanning Leviathan”, fraudulently disguised in the feel-good casing of liberal democracy – the key liberational elements of which, having been long replaced by their antonyms, in an Orwellian inversion.
To be clear: All the excesses of state power that occurred in the UK during the pandemic were permitted within the realms of the Western political system. The state may at any time suspend the rule of law for what it deems the greater good. The pandemic merely exposed the workings in extremis of liberal democracy – channelling Carl Schmitt’s notion of a “state of exception” being the source-code to state ‘sovereignty’ over the populace.
In this ethical vacuum, and with the capsize of societal meaning, western politicians can only snipe coarsely at one-another, Lord of the Rings-style, whilst hoping to surf whatever ‘the narrative’ and the media ‘play’ of the day can ‘up their level’ in the power matrix. To be blunt, in its lack of any deeper guiding principle, it is purely sociopathic.
However, in pushing the pendulum of the liberal schema so hard over towards the hegemony extremity, it has caused the other end to the spectrum of the overall liberal schema to catch fire: The demand to respect individual autonomy and freedom of expression. This antithesis is particularly apparent in the U.S.
Liberalism was conceived during the early French Revolution as a project of systemic liberation from oppressive social hierarchies, religion and cultural norms of the past, so that a new order of liberated individualism could come into being. Rousseau saw it as a radical clean break from the past – a disembedding of the individual from family, church and cultural norms, so that he or she could better evolve as a unitary component to a redeemed universal governance.
This was the meaning to liberalism in its early phase. However, the subsequent Reign of Terror and mass executions under the Jacobins signaled the schizophrenic connection between ‘liberation’ and the desire to force compliance on society. The persistent appeal of violent revolution versus imposed (Utopian) ‘redemption of humanity marks the two oppositional poles to the western psyche which today is being ‘resolved’ through the tilt to ‘hegemony’.
This inherent tension between the radical liberation of the individual and a conformist ‘world order’ was to be resolved via ‘new universal values’: Diversity, gender and equity – plus restitution awarded to the victims for earlier discrimination suffered. This ‘liquid modernity’ was thought to be ‘globally neutral’ (in a way that Enlightenment values were not), and therefore could underpin the western-led World Order.
The contradiction inherent to this was too evident: The Rest of World sees the ‘liberal’ order as an-all-too obvious device to prolong western power. They refuse its ‘missionary’ underside (this aspect was never present outside the Judeo-Christian Sphere), and the claim that the West should determine what values (whether Enlightenment or Woke) by which we all must live.
The non-West observes rather, a weakened West and no longer feels the need to offer fealty to a global ‘overlord’. The meta cycle of enforced westification (from Petrine Russia, Turkey, Egypt – and Iran) is over.
Its mystique, its thrall is gone, and though lockdown compliance in the UK (and Europe) was indeed achieved through ‘project fear’, the success came at the expense of public trust. To be plain: the authority of Authority in the West increasingly is distrusted – at home, as overseas.
The crisis of liberalism’ contradictions and waning authority deepens.
Carl Schmitt’s other two mantras were firstly, to keep power: ‘Use it’ (or lose it); and secondly, configure an ‘enemy’ as polarising and as ‘dark’ as possible in order to keep power – and to keep the masses fearful and compliant.
Hence, we have seen Biden – lacking an alternative – resorting to radical Manichaeism to bolster Authority against his domestic opponents in the U.S. (ironically casting them as enemies of ‘democracy’), whilst using the Ukraine war as the tool by which to cast the West’s war on Russia too, as an epic struggle between the Light and Dark. These Manichean ideological source-codes for now, dominate western liberalism.
But the West has put itself into a trap: ‘Going Manichean’ puts the West into an ideological straight-jacket. It is a crisis of the West’s own making. Put bluntly, Manichaeism is the antithesis to any negotiated solution, or off-ramp. Carl Schmitt was clear on this point: the intent of conjuring up the blackest of enmities, precisely was to preclude (liberal) negotiation: How could ‘virtue’ strike a bargain with ‘evil’?
The West is too dysfunctional and weak now to fight on all fronts. Yet there can be no retreat (without some de-legitimising humiliation of the West).
The West has gambled all on its fear-led, ‘emergency-crisis’ managed ‘control’ system to save itself. It’s hopes now are pinned on its ‘Beware! The big boss has gone angry-mad’ act; he might do anything’, which it hopes will cause the world to back-off.
But the Rest of World is not backing off – it is becoming more assertive.
Fewer believe what the western Élites say; fewer still trust their competence. The West has recklessly ‘placed its bet’; it may lose all.
Or, more dangerously, in a fit of anger, it may kick over others’ gaming tables.
Raquel Welch distracts soldiers in 1969’s 100 Rifles
https://youtu.be/tcyVLMfsZ_4
“Memes of the Floating World”: Artist Recreates Favorite Memes In Japanese Print Styles
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According to an artist: “It started as a Christmas gift to my wife, who loves the “Woman Yelling at Cat” meme, and has unfolded into an art project called “Memes of the Floating World.” In this strange dream world, classic Japanese woodblock print art and legends mash up with memes, dead and living, and internet lore from the past and present.
I don’t know where this project will take us next, but it’s sure to be at least a little bit dank. Official art prints are available only at Society6, so make sure you can bring the weirdness into your home. Thank you for taking a look!”
Avocado, Bacon and Ranch
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
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Ingredients
8 bacon slices
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
8 slices white or wheat bread
4 (1 ounce) slices Cheddar cheese
4 (1 ounce) slices Provolone cheese
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 8 slices
Instructions
Prepare bacon according to package directions then drain and set aside.
Spread each slice of bread with 1/2 tablespoon of dressing. Top 4 of the bread slices with 1 slice of Cheddar cheese and 4 of the bread slices with 1 slice of Provolone. Top each Cheddar slice with 2 bacon slices and 2 avocado slices.
In a hot nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the bread slices cheese side-up, over medium heat, until browned, about 4 to 7 minutes.
Press Provolone-topped bread slices and Cheddar-topped slices together.
Cut in half on the diagonal.
Serve immediately.
Do you think China will be thrown out into the cold by all Western countries?
China thrown out into the cold? I think the risk is more serious that the Western countries will be thrown out into the cold by the rest of the world, if things continue developing in the way as they do today. China is bigger than the whole west put together. And the forming camp that includes pretty much everyone else outside North America, Western and Central Europe, ANZ, Japan and S. Korea who aren’t interested at all in taking part in US-led sanctions, ideological, moral and cultural crusades is actually 80% of the world. The world is a very different place than a couple of decades ago…
The below graphic shows the most important trading partners by country in 2000 and in 2020…
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The US and the Western Allies would do much better if they wouldn’t push the rest of the world together into an anti-western coalition
EDIT: Following up on the comments about China being only a wobbly economy that is merely based on low cost manufacturing of poor quality “stuff”, and that is supposedly still very far behind the US and the west. I thought I would share a couple of interesting articles from the London-based The Guardian newspaper that will help to bust a few of these myths. I think it’s important that we don’t put our heads in the sand and have a clear picture about the reality
Statue of Kali
Why do people in the US see people who don’t own cars and use public transit as poor and low class?
I’m from the US. I live in a part of the country that does not have public transit. We don’t even have Uber yet if that tells you anything. To live in my town you need a car. Plain and simple. You can’t even get a job here unless you have a car or someone with a car who will bring you to work. It’s literally a question on applications: do you have reliable transportation? If your answer is no, forget working there. We don’t have grocery delivery unless you use Amazon. (Well, my grocery store will deliver to me, but it’s not something they advertise to the general public.) And the way that the town is laid out, you can not just walk to the store, the doctors office, your job, or anywhere really.
That being said, some parts of the US like New York City, do have public transit. It’s in need of updating and some pictures of it make me seriously question the cleanliness of it, but it exists. And I’ve never assumed that only poor or low class people use it!
I went to Singapore last year. In Singapore it is painfully expensive to put a car on the road. It’s not like paying US $20 here for a drivers license. No, you won’t put a car on the road in Singapore without a significant expense. But fret not, because Singapore has an extensive, modern, clean, and efficient public transit system. Bus lines and MRT will take you most anywhere you want to go, and you can easily find a taxi or a Grab driver.
I certainly don’t think people in Singapore using public transit are poor or low class! Far from it, even actor Chow Yun Fat who married a Singaporean woman, uses it. It’s convenient and affordable.
China is another country with efficient public transit in many locations. They have high speed trains and were one of the first in the world to use them. I don’t think people in China are poor or low class for using public transport.
What we should remember is that many countries have the infrastructure to support public transit, making car ownership an option rather than a necessity. Perhaps one day the U.S. will realize that they should invest in better infrastructure, making car ownership unnecessary for us as well.
A nuclear attack message has been broadcast on Russian television stations "Nuclear strike has been conducted, please go to the shelter, take your calcium iodide pills" The red alert in several regions of Russia broadcasted via TV and radio. Video below:
Video as seen on Russian TV stations just minutes ago (9:52 AM eastern US time)
UPDATE 10:30 AM EST --
RUMORS . . . . this is a computer hack.
No word from inside Russia . . . at all.
No word if anyone is actually moving to shelters - or not.
My wife got her lazy, good for nothing, fat ass out of bed as this was happening. I told her. She shrugged it off. Actually told ME "I'm not awake yet, I have to wake up."
I told her "I wanted us to be in Pennsylvania this week. We should go now" She waved me off like as if to say "It's all such a bother."
I've come to realize I hate this woman. After 31 years, I feel nothing in my heart but disgust when I even look at her. Totally, completely useless. I don't even know why I've stayed. Oh. Wait. I do know . . . . so I can pay for it all.
Now, I'm supposed to what. . . wait until she wakes up?
Maybe wait so she can get dressed or something . . . .
If this __is__ a computer hacking and a fake, I've just gotten a real eye-opener about how the real thing would go down in __my__ house. I'd be vaporized waiting for my good for nothing wife because . . . . It's all such a bother.
I hate my life. I hate what it's become. I've got to get out of this.
2:24 PM EST--
I have arrived at my house in Pennsylvania. Alone.
She told me "You have to leave me the car." I replied "I'm taking my car towed behind the pick up truck." She responded "I have to have a car." I asked "For what, you never go anywhere?" She said "You're not taking the car."
I wasn't going to bother pointing out that it's mine. I don't want to bother fighting anymore. I left her the car. Fuck it. I just have to be away from this toxic person.
When I got off the Interstate for the exit to my house, first thing I did was hit the bank and grab some cash; the small maximum I can withdraw daily from an ATM. If things go boom, nothing is going to work; no credit cards, no debit cards. Cash would be king, so I got some.
Next stop, fuel-up the truck. It took 14.5 gallons. If it all goes to hell, I'll at least have fuel. Added DEF fluid too, which is the pollution control fluid that diesel vehicles must use in the USA along with fuel. Now, at least I'm set with that.
I still have to unpack some stuff from the truck, crank the heat up in the house . . . it's down at 60, so got to warm it up.
Will bring in firewood to have inside. Supposed to get significant snow here tonight into tomorrow. Then, off to the supermarket for last minute stuff.
I did a lot of thinking during the three hour drive. Marriage is not a suicide pact. My wife already made clear - quite recently - she has no desire to survive a nuclear war because it would just be so awful. So in my mind, she's already given up. I have not.
She may be willing to sit there and die. I am not.
Maybe this is nothing -- I hope so. But I am not going to discount everything I have seen and heard, and just chalk this up to some computer hacker. Things are wound too tightly now. The possibility of an actual Russian nuclear strike upon us is very real, very near, and very JUSTIFIED.
I will not sit idly-by and wait to be vaporized. She can. I won't.
I told her I do not plan on coming back. I told her I know she may need money help from time to time, and I will do what I can on that. But as far as I'm concerned, this marriage is done.
It's ***NOT*** just what happened today. It's years and years and years of a lot more. There is no salvaging this marriage and worst of all - I don't even want to bother trying. THAT . . . . is how far gone it is.
Sigh.
The people that you surround yourself with has the biggest influence on your life. Be careful, and wise. Choose carefully.
Today, we are going to step into a time machine.
We are going to a softer and calmer time. You know (why), to reset ourselves fromt he onslaught of fear-mongering and insanity.
We begin with a fine 1960’s era show…
Petticoat Junction – Season 7 Episode 26
Be the Rufus
A very old lady was at the register with a few things from the marked down grocery shelf. She was as clean as could be, with her snow white hair neatly combed. Her clothes were out of style 60 years ago, but they too, were clean and neat. She was in front of me at the checkout register. She had a loaf of day old bread for .50 and a box of generic corn flakes that was taped up, a bag of mixed bruised fruit, and a quart of milk. When her bank card was declined, she quietly said, “I will put these back.” I said no, and I paid for her items, and I added a package of Oreos, a Sara Lee pound cake, and a box of Red Rose tea bags that were in my pile that I had selected for myself. I know that dear, sweet old lady with the tears rolling down her face would never have bought those for herself. The cashier bagged the items and handed the bag to the woman. With her tear-stained face, she raised her hand to heaven, bowed her head and said, “by the glory of God, in Jesus name, thank you.” Like ships passing in the night, my path crossed hers, only that one brief time. I never saw her again.
I will never forget her.
Gabriel Khiterer Captures Majestic Portraits Of Stray Cats
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Gabriel Khiterer is a talented 19-year-old self-taught photographer from Vilnius, Lithuania who pays tribute to the stray cats live near his house.
1(10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1(10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1(12 fluid ounce) canevaporated milk
1tablespoonchopped fresh parsley
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and the milk. Add the beef, cream of wheat and onion and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place balls on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 minutes.
Drain meatballs on paper towels, if needed. Then place meatballs in a lightly greased 2 quart casserole dish. In a separate medium bowl, combine the soups with the evaporated milk, stirring until smooth. Pour over the meatballs.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for another 40 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.
Green Acres – Mr. Haney’s “Super Wedding Service”
Love this show and everyone in it. Great wholesome comedy
The concept of an old-fashioned dates back to the early 1800s and includes whiskey, bitters, cherry juice, sugar and water. This old-fashioned recipe, which is extremely popular in Wisconsin, uses brandy in place of whiskey and lemon-lime soda instead of water for a milder cocktail. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen
In a rocks glass, muddle orange slice, cherry, cherry juice and bitters. Add ice. Pour in the brandy, water, orange juice and soda.
Sweet Brandy Old-Fashioned Recipe Tips
Do you use brandy or bourbon in an old-fashioned?
While this recipe calls for brandy (the classic Wisconsin choice), bourbon or rye whiskey are also delicious options. (Have leftover brandy on hand? Try mixing up one of these brandy cocktails.)
What bitters should you use in an old-fashioned?
Angostura bitters are the traditional choice for old-fashioneds, but craft bitters are flooding the market. Try orange, cherry or smoked cinnamon for an updated twist on this classic cocktail.
Does an old-fashioned have a cherry?
Yes—with classic old-fashioned recipes like this one, you begin by muddling a maraschino cherry with orange and bitters. You can opt for Luxardo cherries (the original maraschino cherries) as well. Also, the typical old-fashioned garnish is a speared cherry with an orange slice. A cinnamon stick is another classic complement.
How do you drink an old-fashioned?
Enjoy your old-fashioned on the rocks. If you have an extra-large ice cube tray, use it to make ice for this classic cocktail—big ice cubes help keep your drink from getting watered down. (If you want your old-fashioned extra cold, try these Frozen Brandy Old-Fashioneds.) For something to munch on while you sip, try these Spiced Mixed Nuts.
“My daughter likes the cheese stuffed into this tasty meat loaf made with a blend of ground beef and Italian sausage. Served with a salad and sourdough bread, the meal is special enough for company. —Laura Lawrence, Salinas, California”
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Ingredients
1 cup meatless spaghetti sauce, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
1 pound lean ground beef
8 ounces bulk Italian sausage
3 pieces string cheese
Directions
In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce, egg, bread crumbs, garlic and rosemary. Crumble meat over mixture and mix well.
Press half into a greased 8×4-in. loaf pan. Place two pieces of cheese, side by side, near one end of loaf. Cut the remaining piece of cheese in half; place side by side on opposite end of loaf. Top with remaining meat mixture; press down firmly to seal.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until meat is no longer pink and a thermometer reads 160°; drain. Drizzle with the remaining spaghetti sauce; bake 10 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
Editor’s Note: Three ounces of mozzarella cheese, cut into four 1/2-inch sticks, may be substituted for the string cheese.
Be that Rufus!
The nice Latina lady ahead of me at the checkout was purchasing baby items: baby food, disposable diapers, formula, etc. And a few other food items.
Card rejected.
Tries another card. Rejected.
Another. Same thing.
She digs for cash. Some, but not enough.
She reddens. Tears. “Can I take some things back?”
Register clerk starts to pull away enough merchandise so what remains will be covered by her cash.
I, standing there in a kind of daze, just waiting my turn, suddenly wake up to what’s happening.
“Holy cow!” I said to myself. “This stuff is for a baby —maybe HER baby. No way she’s not taking this home…”
I gestured to the clerk, who I knew, and who knew me. “I’ve got this,” I said. “Just include it in my total.” He voids her sale, rings me up, including her stuff.
She tries to refuse. I listen politely, and tell her it is OK. “I will pay you back!” she insists, tears streaming down her cheeks, as we move toward the exit.
I replied: “Lady, if you continue to threaten me with repayment, I’m going to retaliate by paying off your car loan or your mortgage or your next month’s rent, and I know you wouldn’t want me to do that, right? So don’t deprive me of the opportunity to do something nice for someone.”
She stopped and just looked at me. Then whispered, “Thank you sir. God bless you.”
“God has blessed me,” I answered. “God had me in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to help someone in need. And we are both blessed.”
We parted ways.
[EDIT]: I am surprised, and I am honored, and I am humbled, by the comments which have expressed approval of my actions. And at the same time, I am, I confess, somewhat troubled by those who say they wish they could do the same as I did. And the truth is that all of us, no matter our material means, can do as I did, whatever your means. If not material, then by your identity and your values. The point is, give something. Anything, whatever you have to give. And when you do this, you put yourself in the place of the person whom you support. So just do it, with whatever you have.
Crazy (Cool) Cat Men: Ridiculous Studio Photos Of Men Posing With Their Beloved Cats
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It’s perfectly OK for men to post cute photos of holding cats in their arms, but these guys have taken it to a whole other level! They’ve been posing with their cats, just like probably many men secretly do, however, the thing is that their pictures came out and are funny as hell!
“Some people call it dinner hour, but many of us call it rush hour. Slow down the pace with this so-simple mouthwatering ground pork meal. The only thing you’ll have left over is time to share with your family at the table. —Brigitte Schaller, Flemington, Missouri”
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Ingredients
1-1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook pork and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
Drain pasta; add to skillet. Stir in zucchini. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes or until zucchini is crisp-tender.
Can you freeze Jiffy Ground Pork Skillet?
Transfer individual portions of cooled pasta mixture to freezer containers. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally and adding a little tomato sauce if necessary.
Ground pork and ground beef are both pretty high in fat. (Let’s be real, that’s part of why they taste so good!) Ground pork can have a little less saturated fat and cholesterol than ground beef. But if you’re truly looking for a healthier alternative, try ground turkey.
How long does ground pork last in the fridge?
Ground pork doesn’t last long! Use it within 1 or 2 days before it goes bad.
What variations can I try for this ground pork recipe?
Try swapping ground Italian sausage or ground turkey for the pork. You can also add seasonal vegetables (such as spinach, broccoli or eggplant) and experiment with different pasta shapes.
Maps are very useful… usually. However, @TerribleMaps Twitter account proves that not all maps are created equal. Scroll down to see the best examples of hilariously pointless maps!
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Cheng Benhua
Cheng Benhua became famous for this photograph taken on the day of her death, when she faced her assassination with a smile.
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In 1937, war broke out with Japan’s invasion of China. Cheng Benhua was part of the Chinese resistance. She was captured along with other comrades in 1938, when the Japanese arrived in her region. She endured an ordeal: she witnessed the execution of her comrades, was repeatedly raped and humiliated. Despite all this, Cheng remained impassive and defiant, demonstrating a steely spirit that would not be broken. The photo was taken by a Japanese correspondent before she was bayoneted to death at the age of 24.
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In China she became an icon. The city of Nanjing has a 5-metre high statue of Cheng, the warrior who smiled at death, as a symbol of the indomitable spirit.
Be the Rufus!
This young mom if two was in chick fil à with her two young children in tow. You can tell she was having a very bad day she orders lunch for her two children. One of the children asked “mommy, where’s yours?” And she said she wasn’t hungry. She attempted to pay using her credit or debit card and it was declined. She asked to run it again and it was declined. She claimed she didn’t have any money on her and she couldn’t pay for the meals. Mom was in tears. She told her children she didn’t have the money to buy them lunch and started leaving. Now the children were in tears and were crying they were very hungry. I told the manager and said go stop her and give her the meals and I’ll pay for them. I also said add a number one meal for mom so she can eat as well.
When she found out what I did, she came up to me and hugged and profusely thanked me explaining how her husband died and she was unable to work because of her young children, one who is in the autism spectrum. I told her not to worry, and to enjoy her lunch.
She wouldn’t stop thanking me. Meanwhile everyone else there was complimentary of my actions. But not one other stepped up to offer what I did.
Chicken-Pepper Alfredo
When I want a lighter dinner, I use lean turkey bacon in this recipe. It gives the pasta that richness you want without all the extra fat. —Courtney Harris, Denton, Texas
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Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked linguine
1-1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
4 turkey or pork bacon strips, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jar (15 ounces) roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Cook linguine according to package directions. Meanwhile, sprinkle chicken with garlic powder and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken, mushrooms, onion, bacon and garlic; cook and stir 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Drain linguine; add to skillet. Stir in Alfredo sauce; heat through. Sprinkle with cheese.
Does the USA know that its biggest enemy is China?
The USA’s biggest enemy is itself.
USA people know very little about anything beyond their borders. Their media is a massive brainwashing lying machine.
On Quora, the most abusive, hateful and stalking people come from the USA. It seems that any human on the planet with real life experience of the world can be abused for criticising the USA. Their posts are full of hate, advocacy of the destruction of entire nations and the massacre of millions all for fake morality based on spurious lies. What a horrid and miserable life it must be to be stuck in the USA and believe that your awful country has a right to spread misery globally. So as a human being from planet Earth (definitely not from the USA) I have every right to express my views based on real life experience and also to choose if I wish to engage for long with such hateful and ignorant people from the USA.
It was, in all regards, an average day in duck’s average life when he suddenly asked himself: “Who am I?” Since then, he has given a lot of thought to the purpose of life, wondering if a duck can do something more than just quack and stuff its face with breadcrumbs. Is that’s all there is to life? It’s a feeling many of us can relate to, and it’s probably an origin story behind existential crisis duck night light. It’s a funny lamp with a silicone body which feels soft to the touch and gives out a warm glow which will turn off automatically after 30 minutes so you can drift off peacefully.
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What evidence is there to support the claim that China has replaced the US as a superpower?
China is by far the superior civilised nation.
The US builds up its military whilst its people have no universal health care, live in growing poverty and in crime. The US tries to contain, hawk, and disrupt China’s development. Also they are willing to provoke wars all over the world to ramp up their out dated and globally unwanted hegemony. They have invaded, and bombed many nations and slaughtered hundreds of thousands and ruined the lives of millions. The vast majority of the people on this planet shun the USA now and want nothing to do with it. On this site the supporters of the US demonstrate ignorance of the world, of China and hateful feelings toward any nation that doesn’t comply with the USA’s narrative. The pro US Quorans also are prone to personally abuse any Quoran that criticises the USA as if all us people on this planet should LIKE the USA? After all it has done. The USA is a horrid, horrid, evil regime that needs to change or end. It should pull all its forces, spies and politicians home and leave the good people of this planet well alone.
China has brought itself out of poverty and the people live better than ever now. China offers peace and prosperity to the world. It has helped its own people live in a much more stable and pleasant society than the USA’s. I know this from being very fortunate to have lived there for years. I’m not merely a propagandist like so many lying hypocrites from the USA like to label me as. I know that China is a nation with a peaceful society, a civilised society and a vibrant culture, that supports its minority groups and all religions that exist there. Unlike the US people on this site who have never set foot like to rant; China is a free and happy society. It’s effects on Africa and Latin America and Asia are very positive. China is good for the world. The real evaluation of a civilised super power is with regard to its wisdom, civilised behaviour and that it benefits the world and it achieves all this peacefully. So China is the vastly superior nation to that vile…other one. May China continue to rise for the benefit of this planet. China is the future, China is the hope.
Princess Bride – Battle of Wits
Mendacious menace
By ISHIDA RYUJI
Japan’s economy has been stagnant for nearly 30 years, yet it still has ambitions to be a military superpower
A joint strategy document was delivered after the Japan-United States Security Consultative Committee (2+2) meeting in Washington on Jan 12, 2023. It was based on three defense documents issued by the Japanese Cabinet in December 2022, namely the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Program Guidelines and the Mid-Term Defense Program.
The Japanese government has clearly taken China as a hostile country in these documents, indicating that its Self-Defense Forces will strengthen their cooperation with the US military to target China. To this end, Japan has hiked its military budget and improved its counterattack capability, which goes far beyond the established policy of its so-called purely defensive defense posture, since the capability to hit enemy bases is not allowed.
While claiming that the security environment is deteriorating, the Japanese government is attempting to change the status quo by force and is therefore doubling its military expenditure.
If the economic growth of countries in the “Indo-Pacific” region is regarded as a “challenge to the international order”, all the developed countries in the region should be regarded as a “threat”. Yet Japan’s rapid economic growth in the 1960s was praised instead of being seen as a threat. The so-called free and open international order pursued by the West would be neither free nor open if it did not include India and China. Only by positioning the fast-growing developing countries as emerging partners rather than threats, can regional peace and stability be effectively guaranteed.
Japan’s military build-up to counter China’s rise is in essence an attempt to create enemies unilaterally by not allowing the development of a new power that might threaten the vested interests of the West.
In this regard, the US and Japanese governments have always disregarded the fact that the Japan-US alliance has overwhelming military strength in the Asia-Pacific region. The US and Japan have sought to legitimize the reinforcement of their military presence by hyping up China’s “extensive and rapid military build-up”. However, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China’s military expenditure in 2021, which was the second highest in the world at $293.35 billion, was only about one-third that of the total military expenditure of the US, which was the highest at $800.67 billion, and Japan, which was ninth in the world at $54.12 billion. It is true that China’s military expenditure has been increasing since the 2000s, but it is necessary to put that in the context of the need to modernize its military and the continuous development of its economy. In fact, China’s military budget increases have remained in the range of 1.3 to 1.6 percent of its GDP since 1995, far below its economic growth rate.
There is no doubt that the US’ military spending is considerably greater than that of any other country in the world, with its military expenditure accounting for 3 percent to 4 percent of its GDP. Japan is now about to double its quota of 1 percent to 2 percent of its GDP, and will become the world’s third-largest military power. The country’s economy has been stagnant for nearly 30 years, yet it still has ambitions to be a military superpower. That is not commensurate with its economy. And the US military can take full advantage of its newest base on Okinawa, which is located at China’s “throat”. If there is any military threat in East Asia, it is not from China but from the Japan-US alliance.
China’s policy is not hostile to the US and Japan, and it has not formed any military alliances targeting any other country. Japan and the US, by contrast, no longer disguise the nature of their military alliance. Military alliances require enemies to be fabricated if there is no real threat, which is what the US did with the Soviet Union and what it is now doing with China. On the other hand, since the mid-1950s, China has always followed the diplomatic principle of non-alignment and pacifism and insisted on not having military alliances. In the face of containment and blockade, China did not take the initiative to identify the US and Japan as enemies and conduct a targeted military build-up. The containment and blockade of the US-Japan alliance are entirely unilateral hostility, which has never changed.
China’s Foreign Ministry on Feb 22, 2023, issued the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, a vision of peace proposed by China to the world at a critical moment given the situation in Ukraine. Compared with the “strategy document “between Japan and the US in January, China’s aspirations for peace and the pursuit of global interests are evident.
In the process of promoting the implementation of the Global Security Initiative, China will adhere to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. In contrast to the idea of forming military alliances that are hostile to or antagonistic toward specific countries, the Global Security Initiative embodies an aspiration of pursuing peace and a community with a shared future.
China and Japan signed their Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1978. Although that treaty remains in force, the “strategy document” of Japan and the US made no mention of it.
Japan’s current policy blatantly ignores the first article of the treaty:
"The Contracting Parties shall develop relations of perpetual peace and friendship between the two countries on the basis of the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence".
While China is strictly implementing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, Japan and the US are building up their military force so as to intervene in the Taiwan question. It is they that are the greatest challenge to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Choosing the right gravy boat is serious business. Sure you could go the traditional route, and select a regular boring gravy boat, but if you’re looking to just get downright weird, this puking cat gravy boat ought to do the trick. Made to look like the gravy is being puked out of the cat’s mouth, this unique sauce server was certainly made for the crazy cat lady out there. After all, what better to show your guests that you are completely unhinged than putting something like this on a dinner table?
Behold, the Yodeling Pickle! Truly a marvel of modern technology. It’s the perfect combination of two things that should never go together: pickles and yodeling. Yes, it’s actually a real thing you can buy online, and it’s completely, totally 100% pointless.
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Be the Rufus
It was after work one day and I had to pick up some essentials from the grocery store. I’m tired and cranky and my back is hurting. I grabbed what I needed and got in line. The young woman in front of me had a toddler and a 3/4 year old, both whiny (like me🤣) trying to buy a package of spaghetti noodles, a cheap can of sauce and a small package of hamburger. Her card wouldn’t scan and she was visibly getting more and more distraught. I stepped up and said, ““Honey, I’ve been there. Let me get this” and I told the cashier I would pay. The woman stepped aside, now crying, and I added bananas, bread, milk, lunchmeat and cereal to her order and paid.
Partridge Family
If you are in need – ask for help!
My little sister once had a really horrific type of stomach cancer.
What made it worse was that my family was poor at the time she had the cancer, so we couldn’t afford high-quality treatments and hospitals for her.
Anyway, one year, my parents found a doctor in Massachusetts who they thought could treat (and save) my sister.
The doctor was extremely qualified and specialized in treating the specific type of cancer that my sister had.
So anyway, my mom took my sister to that doctor for treatment, and I and the rest of my family stayed home since we couldn’t afford travelling all together.
After months of my sister being treated in Massachusetts by that doctor, my sister’s condition one day got critically bad.
She was on the literal verge of dying, so I and my younger brother and my dad decided to urgently go to Massachusetts to be with my sister.
We packed our stuff up and took the first flight we could find. It was such an emergency that my dad didn’t find the time to buy the plane tickets online, so we had to buy the tickets directly at the airport. At the airport, however… my dad had selected the tickets and he was going to pay for it using his credit card, and… it pains me so much to write it, but the card was abjectly declined, because of insufficient funds. We all panicked and my dad rummaged through his bag, and he found my mom’s credit card, which she had forgotten to take with her. He tried that card to buy the tickets, and it was declined too — for the same reason.
I just started silently crying at that point. “What if she dies without us being with her?” I remember my brother fearfully asking my poor dad. My dad was so dejected at the situation that he couldn’t even say anything. Unfortunately, we never could purchase those godforsaken fucking tickets, and we missed our flight.
And my sister died without us being with her. We were only able to get to her and my mom after my sister had died. Regrettably, she died a grievously painful death, and my mom told me that she was constantly screaming for me to come to her, and asking why I wasn’t coming to her. She died saying something along those lines; she died saying how much she was missing me, her big sister. And she died without me.
It’s been years upon years since she died, and to this day, I’ve never recovered from the sheer trauma of that hellish experience, and I probably never, ever will.
Cardboard Cat Forts: The Ultimate DIY Project for Feline Fun
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Picture this: You’re sitting at home, surrounded by Amazon boxes that you’ve been too lazy to recycle. You’ve got some time on your hands, a cat on your lap, and you’re feeling a little bit creative. What do you do? You build a cardboard cat fort, of course!
But why do cats love cardboard so much? It’s not just because they’re weirdos (although that certainly plays a part). No, it turns out that there are some legit reasons why felines can’t resist the allure of a good cardboard box.
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First of all, cats are all about safety and security. They love small, enclosed spaces where they can hide and feel safe from predators (or from their pesky human roommates). Cardboard boxes provide that sense of protection that cats crave.
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But it’s not just about safety. Cardboard is also a great insulator, which means that it keeps cats warm and cozy. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good snuggle session in a warm, cozy box?
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Of course, there’s also the playfulness and curiosity factor. Cats are curious creatures by nature, and a cardboard box provides endless opportunities for exploration and play. They can jump in and out of the box, paw at it, scratch it up, and generally just have a grand old time.
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And let’s not forget about marking their territory. Cats have scent glands on their paws and faces, which they use to mark objects and claim them as their own. A cardboard box is the perfect blank canvas for a cat to make their mark and declare to the world, “This is mine!”
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So go ahead, build that cardboard cat fort. Your feline friend will thank you for it. And even if they don’t appreciate the intricate design work and clever architecture, at least you’ll have a good laugh watching them poke their little heads out of the various nooks and crannies.
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Be the Rufus!
“You’re such an embarrassment.”
I’m at the grocery store, ready to check out. I keep glancing over my phone and scrolling through my Twitter feed while waiting for my turn.
“Yes, that too, what the hell? What in the world is wrong with you, woman!?”
I paused my scrolling feed for a sec, and glanced up to see the aggressive speaker.
From what I can tell, he was dressed up for a special occasion like a red carpet event or gala. Strange. I went back into my phone mode, and getting bored, switched from Twitter to my weekly planner. I had to pee, so I started slowly tapping my feet as a distraction.
“I am so sorry, son, I didn’t know…”
“Of course, my dear.” said the elderly mother. (It’s clear they are mother and son.) She spoke in a soft, shaky voice, and was hunch backed, with thin, grey hair. Her middle-aged son was twice her size.
The elderly woman spoke to the cashier, “Can you please add the two bottles of wine and the chocolate? And, let me see… Oh, is it too much to ask if you don’t mind, to remove the eggs, almond milk, and the peaches too? I am so sorry to cause everyone trouble.” She turned to me with a frown and sad eyes, obviously embarrassed. She whispered, “I am so sorry.”
I gave her a big smile and said, “Oh, not at all. You’re totally fine.”
“For crying out loud. Wow, you’ve managed to ruin my night. That’s it, I’ll be out in the car waiting with Joanna.” The son had one hand in his pocket, and the other rubbing his forehead in an irritated manner. He turned around and walked out of the store.
“What a douche bag.” I said to myself, and then went back to staring at my phone.
“Ma’am, can you please swipe again?” The cashier asked the sweet, elderly lady.
“Of course, my dear.” she said in her soft voice, her entire body shaking as if she was going to fall.
“What card is that? Oh it’s an EBT card. Ma’am we don’t accept that at this store.”
“Oh no… That’s all I have except some cash and change. Can you please cancel out the transaction? I’ll get the wine and the Ferrero Rocher chocolate. I’ll see if I can come up with the cash.” She began shaking even more, her voice starting to crumble as a tear slid down her cheek. She walked toward the Coin Star machine to get dollar bills to add to her cash so she could buy the things for her son.
I couldn’t take it anymore. My heart was ripped. I didn’t want to embarrass her, so I waited until she walked away.
“Hey, please don’t cancel the items. Also, can you please ring the peaches, almond milk, and the carton of eggs? While you do that, can I quickly get something?”
I ran to the gift card aisle. There was a $50 Visa and a $500 American Express. I picked the AmEx.
The elderly woman, at this point, was barely to the exit door.
“Please add $500 on AmEx and these two frozen pizzas.”
The cashier said, “Oh, wow, $500. Is it a special occasion? Someone is lucky!”
“Yes, I was very lucky, and I’m going to repay the kindness.”
I checked out, and walked toward the elderly woman. I asked, “Ma’am, what’s your name?”
Taken by surprise, she looked at me with her sad eyes. Still shaking, she said, “I am Laurie.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Laurie. You see, earlier today, my boss gave away $1,000 for a silly competition at work. I won, and I was going to give it to my mother. But today, when I saw you, you reminded me of her. If you would be so kind, would you accept this small gift and split it with my mother? I mean, if she were here, this is what she’d ask me to do, and sharing my award would make me happy, but sad if you don’t accept.”
“I can’t do that, my sweet angel.” she said, looking down and crying uncontrollably.
“Yes, you can. If you consider me your angel, you will do just that because knowing you won’t will make me sadder than you.” I don’t know why, but I started crying along with her.
After a few minutes of negotiating, she accepted but asked for my cell phone number and address so she could mail me a check. I gave her the wrong number.
I took out the AmEx card, and wrote, “You’re a lovely mother.”
I offered her my arm, and we walked toward a brand-new Mercedes Benz, where her son was waiting. I glanced through the window and saw him lounging, conversing with a woman who must’ve been Joanna.
He looked at me, shocked, and got out of the car. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” Turning to his mother, he said, “Mom, who the hell is that guy?”
Quickly, she became nervous, and I could tell she was embarrassed. “Please, it’s not like him, forgive his behavior.”
“I am Sonny,” I replied. “I am here to escort Ms. Laurie to your car. If you care enough, could you please let her in?”
The son mumbled, “Oh yes, sure. Whatever.”
I opened the door, and Ms. Laurie stepped inside. She spoke in her sweet trembling voice, “Thank you so much, angel, sweet boy. I expect to talk to you soon, I am in your debt.”
I said to her son, “Listen dude, whoever you are, I don’t give a fuck and if I see you again being rude to the elderly, I’ll be sure to call you out in public. You’re lucky I didn’t today.”
Fuck off got inside his car and drove off.
I wonder what the mother could have done so wrong to be worthy of her son’s rude behavior?
Does he know that 50 years ago this beautiful, young woman was busy wiping his butt, feeding him, and looking out for him? One must wonder what horrible things his mother may have done for him to be that angry; it makes me sick to see that he allows her to live on food stamps, and watched as she left her groceries behind so she can buy the two bottles of wine. She showed her love for him while he sat talking to a young girl who was half his age and looked like someone’s teenage daughter.
I went home and immediately called my mother. I started to cry as she said, “Kaise ho beta?” (How are you, my son?) I know that she’s old now, and that life is so short; someday she’ll be gone, and the thought of that caused an ache that made my voice choke. “Ahem… I am doing well Ammy (Mom). I just wanted to call to say I love you. That’s all.” I hung up and continued to cry.
The truth to the matter is that there’s no one like your mother, so spend time with her, love her, appreciate her because you never know when this very moment can be taken away from you.
The real truth about Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co has replaced more than 13,000 components in its range of products with local substitutes and redesigned over 4,000 circuit boards in the past three years, founder Ren Zhengfei said, offering a glimpse of its efforts to overcome years of US sanctions.
2023 03 21 06 35
Founder Ren, 78, said the production of circuit boards has “stabilised” after the Chinese telecoms giant developed replacement parts from domestic sources. Huawei will launch MetaERP, its own resources planning system, next month and fully use its own operating system, data system, compiler and language.
Ren delivered the speech during a February 24 seminar to thank the public and academics who participated in the company’s search for solutions to its technology predicament. The transcript was also posted by Peking University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, among others.
Ren said until Huawei’s skirmishes with the US, he was an advocate of Western technology when he was young and still admired Western tech after he founded Huawei, adding that even now he is not “anti West”.
Meanwhile, Ren said Huawei spent US$23.8 billion (entire GDP of Macau) on research and development in 2022. After its smartphone business was impacted by the US sanctions, the company began looking for more opportunities in enterprise solutions.
Arnold Ziffel Craves Jellybeans & Lisa Douglas’ Tries Driving – Green Acres – 1970
Who has more allies, the United States or China? Why? Which country has more “spheres of influence”? Which one is bigger and which one is smaller, if any at all (countries)?
The western media especially the U.S. media will have you believe that the U.S. has enormous influence and the biggest number of allies but the truth is this.
Due to the decades of abused of power the U.S. has lost the plot. All it has left are 4 groups. One, their fellow native slaughterers, two, their fellow despicable colonial powers, three their slave vassal states and finally four, some weak and small Eastern European nations that regularly poked Russia in her eyes and then needs to hide behind the U.S.
Together these U.S. dependents represent less than 20 nations out of 195 nations. In population it hardly exceed 5% of the world.
What about China. Let us look are real alliances such as BRI. 145/195 nations fully support China. Or we can take the various UN resolutions. China frequently has 160/195 nations supporting China. Why?
The Entire Africa, the entire South America, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia and some parts of Eastern Europe duly support China. That is why. The main reason China has such a following is easy to understand as long as you ignore the western narrative.
Think about China fully recognising each nation’s sovereignty. Think about China respecting the rights of each nation own path to their future. Think about China not colonialists, not interfering, not bullying, not forcing its way. China have real friends not the U.S. think of the countries supporting the U.S. out of need or no choice. It is not sustainable.
Lighten up guys.
2023 03 10 19 07
What happened to the Brady Bunch actors…
Who is the most badass person in history that no one knows about?
There are many historical figures who are not well-known but have accomplished remarkable things. It’s difficult to say who the most “badass” person in history is, as it’s a subjective term, but one person who could fit that description is Lozen.
2023 03 10 19 49
Lozen was a warrior and spiritual leader of the Chiricahua Apache, who lived in the late 19th century. She was known for her exceptional horseback riding, sharpshooting, and strategic thinking. She fought alongside her brother, Victorio, and the famous Apache leader Geronimo, and was considered to be one of the most skilled warriors of her tribe. She also had a reputation as a powerful medicine woman, and many believed that she had supernatural powers.
Lozen actively fought against the U.S. Army and Mexican army for the preservation of Apache way of life, freedom and their land, and was known for her ferocity in battle and her ability to evade capture. She was also known for her ability to scout and gather intelligence for her people, which was vital in the Apache resistance.
Unfortunately, her story is not well-known, but she is remembered and honored by the Apache people and some historians as a powerful and respected warrior, leader and medicine woman.
A Sweet Little Photo Story Proving That True Love That Knows No Bounds
A fine end to this post which started with Hal Turner and Nuclear War.
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This brave cat overcame all the obstacles for the sake of meeting his beloved. And what would you be prepared to do in the name of true love?
What’s the saddest “card declined” moment you’ve seen?
I was about 16 and a man in front of me was trying to buy a pack of ramen and cat food. He was probably 50 and looked completely overwhelmed and ready to cry. His card declined so he removed the ramen and bought the cat food. He then tried to buy the ramen using another card which then declined. He started to count change but was still short. I gave the cashier $20 for it and let the man keep the change. I’ll never forget the look on his face. It really struck me that he spent the little he had to make sure his cat was fed and would’ve gone hungry himself. He kept trying to have me take the change too which I also think spoke of his character. At that time my dad would just hand me money, I know spoiled, but the $20 didn’t mean much to me. it meant a lot to that man and I hope he’s doing okay.
Xi Jinping meets Putin. AUKUS, preparing for conflict
As an Australian I, like many of my countrymen am appalled at our political class. It no longer matters which of the two major parties is in power, the policies are basically the same and have been derived from the WEF Globalist's play book. In particular, our subservience to the American war machine. We have given our sovereignty away and are the unofficial 51st State of America. They say "jump" we say "how high Sir". Our salvation might come when the American empire finally collapses. A collapse that is inevitable. The current financial crisis has no end, because it is built on a foundation as stable as desert sand. I am aware they have a massive nuclear arsenal, they may decide if they can't have the power, then they will take everyone else with them to the grave. We in Australia could well be among the first to die.
Forging Ahead to Open a New Chapter of China-Russia Friendship, Cooperation and Common Development
2023-03-20 06:21
Xi Jinping
President of the People’s Republic of China
At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will soon pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President ten years ago. Over the past decade, I have made eight visits to Russia. I came each time with high expectations and returned with fruitful results, opening a new chapter for China-Russia relations together with President Putin.
China and Russia are each other’s biggest neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination. We are both major countries in the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries uphold an independent foreign policy and see our relationship as a high priority in our diplomacy.
There is a clear historical logic and strong internal driving force for the growth of China-Russia relations. Over the past ten years, we have come a long way in our wide-ranging cooperation and made significant strides into the new era.
— High-level interactions have played a key strategic role in leading China-Russia relations. We have established a whole set of mechanisms for high-level interactions and multi-faceted cooperation which provide important systemic and institutional safeguards for the growth of the bilateral ties. Over the years, I have maintained a close working relationship with President Putin. We have met 40 times on bilateral and international occasions. Together we have drawn the blueprint for the bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, and have had timely communication on major international and regional issues of mutual interest, providing firm stewardship for the sustained, sound and stable growth of China-Russia relations.
— Our two sides have cemented political mutual trust and fostered a new model of major-country relations. Guided by a vision of lasting friendship and win-win cooperation, China and Russia are committed to no-alliance, no-confrontation and not targeting any third party in developing our ties. We firmly support each other in following a development path suited to our respective national realities and support each other’s development and rejuvenation. The bilateral relationship has grown more mature and resilient. It is brimming with new dynamism and vitality, setting a fine example for developing a new model of major-country relations featuring mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.
— Our two sides have put in place an all-round and multi-tiered cooperation framework. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China-Russia trade exceeded US$190 billion last year, up by 116 percent from ten years ago. China has been Russia’s largest trading partner for 13 years running. We have seen steady increase in our two-way investment. Our cooperation on major projects in such fields as energy, aviation, space and connectivity is moving forward steadily. Our collaboration in scientific and technological innovation, cross-border e-commerce and other emerging areas is showing a strong momentum. Our cooperation at the sub-national level is also booming. All this has brought tangible benefits to both the Chinese and the Russian peoples and provided unceasing driving force for our respective development and rejuvenation.
— Our two sides have acted on the vision of lasting friendship and steadily strengthened our traditional friendship. On the occasion of commemorating the 20th anniversary of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, President Putin and I announced the extension of the Treaty and added new dimensions to it. Our two sides have held eight “theme years” at the national level and continued to write new chapters for China-Russia friendship and cooperation. Our two peoples have stood by and rooted for each other in the fight against COVID, which once again proves that “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
— Our two sides have had close coordination on the international stage and fulfilled our responsibilities as major countries. China and Russia are firmly committed to safeguarding the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. We have stayed in close communication and coordination in the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, the G20 and other multilateral mechanisms, and worked together for a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations. We have been active in practicing true multilateralism, promoting the common values of humanity, and championing the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.
Looking back on the extraordinary journey of China-Russia relations over the past 70 years and more, we feel strongly that our relationship has not reached easily where it is today, and that our friendship is growing steadily and must be cherished by us all. China and Russia have found a right path of state-to-state interactions. This is essential for the relationship to stand the test of changing international circumstances, a lesson borne out by both history and reality.
My upcoming visit to Russia will be a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. I look forward to working with President Putin to jointly adopt a new vision, a new blueprint and new measures for the growth of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the years to come.
To this end, our two sides need to enhance coordination and planning. As we focus on our respective cause of development and rejuvenation, we should get creative in our thinking, create new opportunities and inject new impetus. It is important that we increase mutual trust and bring out the potential of bilateral cooperation to keep China-Russia relations at a high level.
Our two sides need to raise both the quality and quantity of investment and economic cooperation and step up policy coordination to create favorable conditions for the high-quality development of our investment cooperation. We need to boost two-way trade, foster more convergence of interests and areas of cooperation, and promote the complementary and synchronized development of traditional trade and emerging areas of cooperation. We need to make sustained efforts to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, so as to provide more institutional support for bilateral and regional cooperation.
Our two sides need to step up people-to-people and cultural exchanges and ensure the success of China-Russia Years of Sports Exchange. We should make good use of the sub-national cooperation mechanisms to facilitate more interactions between sister provinces/states and cities. We should encourage personnel exchanges and push for the resumption of tourism cooperation. We should make available better summer camps, jointly-run schools and other programs to steadily enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples, especially between the youth.
The world today is going through profound changes unseen in a century. The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable. The prevailing trends of world multi-polarity, economic globalization and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible. On the other hand, our world is confronted with complex and intertwined traditional and non-traditional security challenges, damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying, and long and tortuous global economic recovery. Countries around the world are deeply concerned and eager to find a cooperative way out of the crisis.
In March 2013, when speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, I observed that countries are linked with and dependent on one another at a level never seen before, and that mankind, living in the same global village, have increasingly emerged as a community with a shared future in which everyone’s interests are closely entwined. Since then, I have proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative on different occasions. All these have enriched our vision for a community with a shared future for mankind and provided practical pathways toward it. They are part of China’s response to the changes of the world, of our times, and of the historic trajectory.
Through these ten years, the common values of humanity — peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom — have taken deeper roots in the heart of the people. An open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world with lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity has become the shared aspiration of more and more countries. The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order. The common interest of all humankind is in a world that is united and peaceful, rather than divided and volatile.
Since last year, there has been an all-round escalation of the Ukraine crisis. China has all along upheld an objective and impartial position based on the merits of the issue, and actively promoted peace talks. I have put forth several proposals, i.e., observing the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respect of the legitimate security concerns of all countries, supporting all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis, and ensuring the stability of global industrial and supply chains. They have become China’s fundamental principles for addressing the Ukraine crisis.
Not long ago, we released China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis, which takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties and reflects the broadest common understanding of the international community on the crisis. It has been constructive in mitigating the spillovers of the crisis and facilitating its political settlement. There is no simple solution to a complex issue. We believe that as long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the crisis as well as a broad path toward a world of lasting peace and common security.
To run the world’s affairs well, one must first and foremost run its own affairs well. The Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, are striving in unity to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese path to modernization. Chinese modernization is characterized by the following features: it is the modernization of a huge population, the modernization of common prosperity for all, the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement, the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and the modernization of peaceful development. These distinctive Chinese features are the crystallization of our practices and explorations over the years, and reflect our profound understanding of international experience. Going forward, we will steadfastly advance the cause of Chinese modernization, strive to realize high-quality development, and expand high-standard opening up. I believe that this will bring new development opportunities to Russia and all countries in the world.
Just as every new year starts with spring, every success starts with actions. We have every reason to expect that China and Russia, as fellow travelers on the journey of development and rejuvenation, will make new and greater contributions to human advancement.
It was January in Toronto. I was in the grocery store with my then four-year-old son. We were chatting, teasing each other while going through aisles with giggles and smiles. There was a young mother shopping with her little boy who was about the same age as mine. So naturally we noticed each other and made some exchanges when bumping into one another from aisle to aisle. I overheard her denying a lot of stuff that her son wanted to buy by saying, “Sorry, Mommy didn’t budget for this.” Or “We don’t have money for that.” The little boy wasn’t asking for anything absurd. He was asking for fruits, yogurts, goldfish crackers and so on. So the boy would still put his choices in the shopping cart regardless of how much his mom said she wouldn’t buy them.
So we finished shopping around the same time and ended up at the same cashier, her in front of me. She started leaving out the items her son put in without permission. So the boy protested and then turned into a meltdown. The mother was tired, frustrated and clearly at the end of her rope when her debit card got declined. She started putting back more and more necessities like bread, milk, cheese and eggs. Then she apologized to the cashier after the last decline and wanted to dash out of the store due to embarrassment. But the little boy wouldn’t leave without a fight. So over the whole course of the mother trying to reason with the little boy, I pieced together the story. She is a single mom living with her handicapped mom. Her ex hasn’t paid child support, and she had to pay a psychiatrist’s bill — for her older son — which wasn’t fully covered by insurance. She works two jobs and was in a rush to get the shopping done so she can return home, drop off the kids at the babysitter and then go to work. And they are missing the bus because the little boy cried too long. So while she was taking care of the situation, I gestured to the cashier to ring through all her items and her little boy’s, grabbed a bunch of chocolate bars and added in and paid it quickly. I then gave her a lift to her place. (Thank God I had an extra booster seat for my nephew.) We chatted along the way and got to know each other a bit more. She insisted on asking for my phone number so she could repay me. When she called me a couple of days later, I casually asked if she was up for an office job. One thing led to another. She has been working here for five years now, and she is continuing with her post-secondary diploma through my company’s education assistance program. Her mom is working for us too as a part-time office administrator. I have received the most genuine friendship from her and her family since, which I am totally grateful for and didn’t expect, when I used my card five years ago. I often think back to the day we met and feel lucky that I had the opportunity to know her and have this wonderful experience.
It’s a crazy time. War; world war 3 is solidly in process.
It’s a stealth war, and those “citizens” in the West haven’t a clue. The East (also known as the Global South) are biding their time, and readying. Hopefully death blows won’t become necessary. But were they to evolve to that point, it will be a very short and exciting time.
Remember the DM said, and it still holds true…”medium to small bads”.
Todays’ installment.
Hungry Charlies
This was a hangout that I used to frequent in my University days. Here’s some stories…
Attended many a rugby party there. Didn't play rugby and barely survived the parties which came complete with endless raunchy songs and the infamous 3 man lift for newcomers (google it if you don't know what I'm referring to)
I also barely remember a whole lot of green beer and bad hot dogs on Saint Patty's day.
I do remember when a friend of mine was working there and a whole bunch of us were hanging out after hours while he cleaned up. He went into the ladies room with his mop and bucket and then immediately started to howl with laughter.
When the rest of us entered, he pointed to the latest graffiti on the ladies room stall where some co-ed had written in large block letters "There is nothing more overrated than your first fuck and more underrated than a good shit."
And here…
- I got choked out by a 45 year old man after I called him "sir"
- got kicked out for trying to steal their Halloween poster... Fuck I really wanted that.
- Blacked out numerous times there... I guess that's not really a story...
- Got kicked out for flipping a table after the Yankees got eliminated in the 2011 ALCS. Oops.
- Jammed out with Eli numerous times after "King of the Road" told us it was time to go home.
- Watched game 6 of the 2011 World Series there, one of the craziest sporting event I've ever seen. Chucks went wild.
- My first sharpie'ing the wall experience. One I won't forget.
- Getting the high score in pop-a-shot. It lasted about 20 minutes.
- Discovering Mind Erasers. What a glorious beverage.
- Learning how to really play pool on a few $2.50 burger Monday afternoons. What a deal. I wouldn't be half the player I am now without them.
- Partying with Dennis Crowley after he delivered my school's convocation speech. I told him he should put venues's wifi passwords on foursquare, he thought it was a great idea. He didn't listen \U0001f614.
- Syracuse basketball games.
- Getting denied with my terrible fake ID (it said I was a 26 year old Italian guy in a wheelchair), over and over again.
- come to think of it... Pretty much every senior year memory was at chucks. Hopefully it regains it's honor.
Baked Beef Curry with
Custard Topping (Bobotie)
4554c7669bf1cb0e7c7bfb6fd3040298
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground beef or lamb
1 cup soft bread crumbs (about 1 1/2 slices bread)
1 cup milk1 egg
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 to 3 teaspoons curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
Paprika
Instructions
Mix beef, bread crumbs, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, onion, almonds, raisins, lemon juice, curry powder, salt and pepper.
Spread mixture in ungreased 2-quart casserole.
Bake uncovered at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes; drain excess fat.
Mix beaten eggs and 1 cup milk; pour over beef mixture.
Sprinkle with paprika.
Place casserole in a 13 x 9-inch pan on oven rack.
Pour 1 inch of very hot water into pan.
Bake uncovered until beef is done and custard is set, about 30 minutes.
Garnish with lemon slices and pimento if desired.
Cut into wedges to serve.
Confessions Of A Former Mafia Boss
Michael Franzese is an American former New York mobster and caporegime of the Colombo crime family, and son of former underboss Sonny Franzese. He was heavily involved in the gasoline tax rackets in the 1980s. At the height of his operation, federal authorities claim Franzese generated close to a billion dollars a year in a gas-tax scheme he masterminded. Since then, he has publicly renounced organized crime, created a foundation for helping youth, and became a motivational speaker.
What was the main appeal of joining the mob for you?
I joined to help my day get out of prison. plain and simple. the money and power came for me later on. once i got in, i wanted both.
What is the process of becoming a “Made Man” like?
Very intense. very solemn, very serious. I took an oath with a picture of a saint burning in my hands. My thumb was cut with a knife and blood dropped on the floor. The oath is never to violate the brotherhood of La Cosa Nostra.
Is it generally harder for someone outside of the family to become a made man?
It is harder. you must be “proposed” by another made man. he vouches for you. my father did for me. the mob wants to know your background, where you came from. then you go through a pledge period where you must prove yourself.
Did you (or other made members) get an actual salary, or did you just have access to any money you needed?
ha. no salary you earn for yourself unless you were the boss. most guys were not good earners. trust me.
Where did you get the idea for the gas station scheme? And since it was getting so big, did you have any sort of an exit strategy in case the authorities got too close? Or would you just keep running the scam until you went down with the ship?
Gas tax scheme was one in a million. so much money. better then drugs and a lot less ugly. a guy in the biz came to me when some other mob guys tried to shake him down and move in on his business. i chased the guys away and the 2 of us devised this scheme to defraud the government out of the tax money on every gallon of gas. at it’s height, we sold 500 million gallons of gas a month and kept 20 – 30 cents a gallon of the tax money. do the math. lots of money.
What were the actual logistics of your gas tax scam?
The scheme was complicated, but we were way ahead of the authorities, they could not figure out what we were doing. if my partner didn’t turn snitch, they would never figured out the scam.
Could you go into detail about how you would find and proposition public officials to cooperate with you? Anything from police and inspectors all the way up to higher-ranking decision makers.
Like everything else, public officials, law enforcement… some of them like money and power. We knew how to use our influence and money to get to those who would play along. At one time, the mob controlled almost every major union in america. We had strength right into the White House back in the Kennedy days. believe it. it’s the truth.
Can you describe the most brutal/violent thing you ever witnessed while in the mob? The most brutal act you heard committed?
The demeo crew. chopped up bodies and buried the parts in cement drums. Witnessed death. it’s not pretty. Let’s leave it at that.
How many lives have you personally ended and how many have you been responsible for ending.
Tough question. know this. you are part of the life, you are part of the violence.
What were the most popular methods of intimidation and/or extortion?
Just following through with what you say you are going to do. if you say I’ll beat you with a bat if you don’t perform/pay, you know they will. It’s knowing you back up what you say that scares people.
What is the scariest situation you have been in?
Walked into a room one night and thought I was going to get killed. I was called in by my boss over money I generated in the gas business. That’s how it goes, you walk in and never walk out when you are in real trouble. I was in the right, proved it and her I am. But, brother, my heart was pounding, knees weak… Still don’t know why I went. I guess just a product of my life back then.
Who was the scariest person you ever encountered and what made them particularly frightening?
My dad was scary. saw him go off on people. scare because he was no bs. he would do exactly what he said. no fear in him.
You spent approximately three and a half years in prison. How were you treated by the other inmates that were aware of your past?
I spent almost 8 years in prison. 5 years, then 3 on a parole violation. i had a lot of publicity. i had a pedigree going in. i was treated well, with respect because i treated other inmates well. respect is a big thing in prison. FYI, both john Gotti and Carmine persico (my former boss) were both smacked around in prison. guys doing life without parole don’t care who you are if you disrespect them they have nothing to lose. didn’t hurt that Fortune Magazine named me as one of the 50 most powerful mob bosses in the US.
What was it like walking away from the mafia, was it accepted or were you threatened or hounded in any way?
I struggled mightily for years after walking away. my father disowned me. the family put a hit on me. the feds tried to make me a witness. lots of pressure. very tough. and very tough for me personally. even though i didn’t hurt anyone, i felt like i betrayed my oath and it really troubled me. only God and time were able to fix that.
Any fears about your safety today?
I can’t go back to brooklyn to live, or in NY in general. wouldn’t last. but i don’t live in fear. i am a person of strong faith now. God has had my back. remember, i am the only made man, a caporegime, that i know of who has walked away from the life, publicly, not entered a witness protection program and lived. it’s a God thing, my friend. not coincidence.
How much are you worth and have you really quit the mob or is this just deep cover?
I’m out. 15 years straight proves it. at one time, I was bringing $8-$10 million a week into my operation. had a jet, a helicopter – all the toys. today, I work for a living. for myself but I work.
Does the mafia still have a big presence in the US? Are they just better at hiding it now?
Yes. not nearly as big as when I was active in the 70’s – early 90’s. but still exists. don’t count it out. very resourceful.
Any stories of interaction with other organized crime “families”, such as Russian mob, Yakuza, Outlaw bike clubs, mexican prison gangs, etc?
A million. Spent 20 years in the life. Organized the Russian mob from Brighton beach in the gas business. Best partners I ever had. I taught them how to defraud the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars of tax money back then. They now are deep into medicare fraud, setting up fraudulent medical clinics all over the country. Would take hours to tell you all the stories.
What is your relationship like now with other former members?
Most everyone I ran with is either dead or in prison for the rest of their lives. I outlasted most all of the guys. blessed! Guys on the street will not really associate with me now. Would not look good for them. but I really didn’t have many enemies in the life. I made people earn money and that makes lots of friends.
How does the mob or other organized crime compare today with your day? Is it worse? Better? More or less brutal?
My day was pretty much towards the end of the golden age of the mob that began in the late 40’s. different today. i wouldn’t want to be a part of it. we had some integrity about us. respect and honor did mean something with the old timers. today??? the Russians have gotten pretty violent at times. but it’s all not what it was.
How do/would crime families view the more modern organized street gangs? A means to an end as partners or just petty criminals not to be trusted?
Petty criminals. no respect for human life. we chased them from our neighborhoods if they would even dare to enter.
Are there mob groupies like rock stars have?
And how. you would not believe the attraction to that life from men and women alike.
How accurate are most mob movies/television shows? If you could recommend one to watch for authenticity, which would it be?
Most authentic – Goodfellas and Donnie Brasco. They mention my name in Good fellas. The bar scene. I knew those guys very well. My era. saved Henry Hill’s life 2 x. I knew Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke well, also. And Left Guns Ruggerio was a good friend. Those two are the most accuarate depiction of that part of the life.
Is Goodfellas pretty close?
Very close. However, Henry hill never looked so good as he did in that movie. he was a low level guy, an associate. not nearly as close with Paul vario as the movie depicted. other then that, the Lufthansa robbery and all that followed was pretty accurate.
How accurately did The Sopranos portray the inner workings of the mob?
The best thing about the Sopranos was how he interacted with his family. mob guys also had family issues. the business stuff was not real realistic. made them look incompetent. some guys were, but others were pretty darn smart.
If a mob boss was ever visiting a psychiatrist he would be in the trunk of a car by the end of the week, along with the psychiatrist. But the family interaction was fairly legit.
Was Tommy DeSimone really that psychotic or was Pesci being over the top?
Pesci was a bit over the top, but i loved it. tommy was crazy, but pesci made him bigger then life.
It seems that a lot of families have been destroyed by all of the bloodshed and corruption that mafia groups like the Colombo family have perpetrated over the years, yet mobsters are generally romanticized in film and on TV. Do you agree that this is how these groups are generally portrayed? Do you think that this is harmful? What is your take on this with your new outlook on life?
The Godfather did more to raise the profile of the mob then any other movie. yes it’s harmful. the life should not be glamorized. why? it’s an evil life. not saying the men are evil. i was one of them that happened to be blessed. the life is evil because people die, families get destroyed because of a lifestyle i lived it. i know.
How do you feel about your past? Does it haunt your? Are you proud? Any regrets?
I am not proud of my past. my wife will tell you that i do have rough nights sleeping at times. regrets? i would have preferred not to have gone through it, but i just move on and try to use my experiences to benefit others.
How did faith play into your life while you were in the mafia?
I left the life because i fell in love with a christian girl we are now married 28 years. God used her to get to me. saved my life, preserved my freedom. very blessed. i love the Lord for what he has done for me.
If you had it all to do over again, would you make the same choices? Was the lifestyle worth all the trouble you went through?
Life on the street and in the mob is a dead end. prison or death is the way it will end today. i would not go into that life, knowing what i know now. i try my best to drum this into the head of our young people, gangbangers. Not worth it for me or for anyone in the life. Trust me.
Where’s Hoffa at?
They will NEVER find Hoffa’s body. trust me on that one.
How good is your mom’s cooking? She make good spaghetti?
My mom and grandmother were the best. grandma’s meatballs cannot be duplicated and mom could whip up a delicious meal in minutes. miss them both! but my wife is a great cook. blessed!
The Greatest Audition You’ll Ever See | The Carol Burnett Show Clip
US Base attacked
2023 02 19 15 40
I was trying to save a poor cat that was lying dead on the street.
What’s It Like To Be A Software Engineer At Google
You come in in the morning. Everybody’s hours are different, nobody’s punching a clock. In general, people with school-age kids usually come in earlier than single folks. I arrive usually around 8:30, and head for breakfast. Food at Google is amazing. I’m sorry, let me correct myself. Food at Google Tel-Aviv is amazing. Food at Google in the Bay Area kind of sucks, if you ask me (lots of kale. Googlers love to complain about kale. Googlers love to complain. We’ve developed a special internal web service called memegen, almost entirely dedicated to complaining about things like kale). Food in Google Paris and Google Kirkland is pretty awesome too, and if you live in the US, then you’ll probably like the food at other offices too.
So, breakfast at Google Tel-Aviv is especially awesome, and I make a point of never missing it. I polish it off with a coffee from an espresso machine, and head to my office. As for my office, very few people at Google believe in open spaces. Unfortunately, these few happen to be the very top management, so open space it is. Again, we at Tel-Aviv are pretty lucky in that the layout of the high raise building we reside in simply does not allow for very large open spaces, on the other hand, whoever designed this office space went for looks over functionality, so the noise and lighting situation is pretty abysmal (did I mention Googlers love to complain?) – but the looks were impressive (that is, before most of the features built to impress, built at huge costs, were removed in order to squeeze in a few more desks or a couple more cafeteria tables – as it happens, I’m glad all of this fluff is gone, and overcrowding is actually a good kind of problem – better than having too much vacant space, if you ask me).
I then work for a while, meaning, I mostly write code, or review code my team mates wrote, or troubleshoot production issues. As for the last part, we do that quite a lot. We are also usually doing an oncall rotation, where we make sure our code is not causing any troubles to our users, and fixing any glitches. Long running, mature services have Site Reliability Engineers looking after things on the daily basis, but still, plenty of things to take care of in order to make sure everything’s working smoothly. There are lots and lots of tools written by googlers, for googlers, including monitoring systems, IDEs, version control system etc. The learning curve is pretty steep, but the tools are quite powerful.
Quite often my gettin’ in the zone is then interrupted – oops, I’ve got an interview to perform, won’t want to be late for that. We interview once per week on the average, which is not a lot, there are offices where people interview more, but, yes, we love to complain – Googlers complain about interview load almost as much as they do about kale (or more, depending on the locale – kale appears to be American peculiarity, whereas interview load is universal). Interview lasts 45 minutes, but then I spend quite some time writing an interview feedback, so that a hiring committee can have all the necessary information to make their hire/no hire decision, so another half an hour is gone by.
It’s now 2 hours since the breakfast, time to hit the gym – gotta work off all these calories! Some folks believe that massage helps against sourness after a hard workout, for them we have on-site massage therapists.
It is time for lunch. Here in Tel-Aviv we have 3 cafeterias to choose from. In the Bay Area and in offices such as NYC office there are many more venues. Regardless, the choice of food is impressive. After lunch – desert, coffee and ice cream at the dairy cafeteria. Today we had eclair topped with raspberries and blueberries, and a snickers ice cream.
Off to do some work again. Coding, doing code reviews, maybe some meetings. We work a lot with teams in other offices, so some of the meetings are over the GVC – Google Video Conferencing system.
And that’s about it. I’m heading home relatively early, to get me some time with the kids before their bed time, and knowing that I have another GVC with folks on the West Coast of the US at my 10PM – their noon (yes, 10 hours time difference is not easy to cope with). I do most of my work on my laptop, so I can work from anywhere – office, home, train during the commute – so nobody cares that I take this GVC from home.
– Dmitry Rubinstei
5 ICBMs That Could End the World: A Look At the Most Deadly Missiles in Existence
VP Harris: “The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed Crimes Against Humanity”
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris told attendees “The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.” It APPEARED to attendees that this will become the basis for actual war between the US and Russia. The saddest part: It is a deliberate fraud.
Here is video of Harris remark:
When an elected official of a country uses language like this, in public, about the leaders of another country, that begins the process of building a record; a record that generally, historically, becomes the basis for war.
The attendees of the Munich Security Conference, apparently with some type of Biblical “hook in the jaw” showed themselves to be useful idiots and broke into applause when these words of world war were spoken:
Harris MunichSecurityConference
Rather than step-back from the activities that have gotten the world to the point we’re presently at, these people are ratcheting-up, making things worse.
VP Harris remarks are not based in reality, they are delusional. No rational person could arrive at the conclusion she spoke, yet an entire US Government has “formally determined . . . .????”
Which persons made this determination? By what method? What facts lead them to this conclusion?
Specifically, what “crimes” do they allege?”
No answers to any of those questions.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
My radio show audience knows that, for months, I have lamented the actions taken by the US Government is support of the NAZI regime in Ukraine. We have supplied weapons, ammunition, missiles, rockets, now tanks and maybe, in the future, aircraft. We have used OUR surveillance aircraft to pinpoint Russian troops and supply depots, and forwarded explicitly accurate GPS coordinates that Ukraine then uses to fire weapons and kill those troops.
Yet while we are doing such things, we have the gall to publicly say “We are not a participant in this conflict.” Bullshit. We are a participant. We’re just not the one pulling the trigger.
I warned my audience repeatedly that sooner or later, Russia will declare us to be a “co-belligerent” or a “participant” in the Ukraine war, and when Russia makes that declaration, that’s all it takes for them to begin targeting us.
Now, you’ve actually seen how a government goes about doing such a thing: An official comes out and says publicly “Our government has formally determined that . . . .” and wham, that’s all it takes.
Kamala Harris just did it by saying the US “has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.” I now expect Russian President Putin, in his upcoming national address on February 21, to make a similar statement about the United States (and NATO). I suspect he will say something like “Russia has formally determined that the United States (and NATO) are active co-belligerents and participants in the Ukraine war.”
If he says that, after what Harris just said in Munich, then World War 3 is upon us.
I suspect we will be attacked. Here, inside the United States.
I suspect missile salvos will be launched against targets inside THIS country.
I suspect that innocent Americans will start to be killed. Here. In America.
All because Ukraine would not stop bombing the people in Luhansk and Donetsk, and the United States egged-it-on. The United States (and NATO) have done all this deliberately. They WANTED to start a war.
The persons inside the United States and NATO who have done this, should be held accountable.
UPDATE 8:17 AM EST —
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has issued the formal decision:
BlinkenDeclaration CrimesAgainstHumanity
Confessions Of A Russian Mail Order Bride
What did you do before you joined the mail order service?
I just graduated from college.
Why get into it?
I was young and didn’t have clear intentions, just curiosity
What was the appeal to the US?
Russians have a romanticized vision of US – that is free, cool, and a land of opportunity.
What were your perceptions of the US before you came? Has your experience been anything like what you were expected since your divorce?
Perceptions before I came were shaped by Hollywood – so white picket fence and two story house with two kids and a dog. Or Manhattan. And all kinds of freedom for all. Turned out to be the opposite of that.
Since my divorce – yes, I live the American dream now. But I had to make it by myself.
How do you perceive men that “order” their brides? Is there an outstanding difference to those that look for their wives themselves?
It depends on a particular man. If he is looking for something submissive and is going to abuse her – very negatively. But if he just wants to have a family and is out of luck in his own country – why not?
Why don’t women who are interested in this sort of thing ever go to the US dating sites (OKC, POF, Match, etc) and look for their ideal husbands and contact them through those instead of the mail order bride sites since most people tend to think they are scams?
I don’t know. Maybe because your average US male is not interested in a long-distance relationship?
Did you try dating Russian men? What was that like?
Yes. I was very young, so I just remember being constantly pressured to have sex.
How old were you when you married your American husband, how old was he?
21, 45
What he did for a living?
Businessman
Do you know how much he paid for you?
I know he spent $10K to fly over and have a wedding. Not sure how much he paid to the agency. May have been a free online service?
Was he doing it for sex?
He was doing it for many reasons and I’m sure sex was one of them.
How was the sex?
Sex was OK
Are pre-nups common for these marriages?
Pre-nups are common, especially when men are wealthy.
Did you bang the first night you met him?
Maybe.
How was your marriage at first?
Initially it was a honeymoon-like relationship. He treated me well and we had a brief dating period. I did notice him mistreating service staff (very rude) once and thought about leaving right then, but decided that I should be an adult and not bail on someone so easy.
Did you ever develop genuine affection for him?
I did develop genuine affection – in his good/ sane times he was very fascinating and charming. He also travelled the world and had great taste. It all was like a great adventure. I didn’t feel forced to be intimate.
Did you ever feel like you were using him just to come live in America? Do you think he ever felt used?
I didn’t feel like it – I was going to create a family, we had a kid. I supported him through crushing poverty and disability and only left him after he was OK again. He probably feels he was used – he tends to blame other people for his problems.
Did you have a plan B in case the marriage didn’t work out? If yes, what was it? and would you ever go back to Russia if you got the American citizenship?
I was 21, so I didn’t even have a plan A. And yes, I would go back to Russia – I had a good life there. Aside from being embarrassed, of course.
Is becoming a mail order bride in Russia an embarrassing thing?
No.
So whats there to be embarrassed about?
That I couldn’t make a success of my new family and my new country
What would you say is the percentage of mail order brides who take the money and disappear?
I’ve met one. She got $100k after being married for 2 weeks to a guy worth $20M. Most others do not get much if anything – they are unfamiliar with laws, do not speak the language, and do not have any support system.
OK, so you say that you have some friends who are Russian mail order brides with happy stories. What made them stand out, were they looking for rich older men who will just pay for their existences, or did they find husbands who created a normal (American) life, with 2 incomes, children, a normal family life, etc.
Their husbands were decent people who treated them like equal human beings.
What’s the best success story you’ve heard of in regards to their life in America?
My childhood friend married a real estate developer who worships her, had 3 adorable kids. I know a few more who married millionaires and heirs but those didn’t turn out that well. If both people genuinely desire family it tends to work out. If one of them looks or sex slave house maid and another one for money, then there will be problems.
You have a lot of friends who have left their husbands after a short period of time? I feel that when you marry a man who twenty or thirty years your senior is difficult to sympathize with them.
I don’t know. I always preferred older men. Also, I am not looking for sympathy, so none is needed. I have a few friends who left their husbands after several years – but they usually endured emotional and physical abuse.
Can an average looking American with average income get a Russian bride? Or are most mail order brides after money?
yes. no.
Do Russian brides only choose white men or do they sometimes choose black, latino, or asians?
They prefer white men I think but I’ve seen mixed couples
Have you since remarried? And what’s your current occupation?
Thanks. Yes, I remarried. I am an attorney now.
Do you regret it?
I thought about it a lot and decided that I do not. When I married him I was a stupid little girl and after this experience I grew into a strong adult.
How do you think American men stack up against Russian men?
American men are not aggressive enough and Russian men are too aggressive. So if there is a beautiful woman walking down the street, Russian man would be all over her and would not take no for an answer. American man would probably just silently hope to run into her again.
What big differences have you noticed between Russian and American women, if any?
American women are more demanding.
When I was in law school, I went on a trip with three of my female classmates. They were discussing their dating life once and I was stunned with their requirements – a guy must be tall with dark hair, well-dressed, Harvard-educated, and the list went on and on. Conversely, Russian women set the bar too low – a man who is an ogre in more ways than one can score an outstanding woman.
Why is Russia full of lonely women? I understand that alcoholism is rampant over there, but is it really that bad?
Alcoholism is very bad, life expectancy for men is terrible. women used to be economically disadvantaged – to get ahead in life you need a man. so women were treated like cattle – any blemish (old (over 20) age, former marriage, etc) and your value as a mate deteriorates.
Are the drivers in Russia really as bad as the YouTube videos show?
Worse.
The US and Russia get in a war, let’s call it world war 3. Which country do you side with??
US. I know because I cheer for US Olympic team since 3 years ago. Was cheering for Russians before then.
The Thoughts And Feelings Of A Nazi SS Guard As He Is About To Execute 23 People
Felix Landau was a member of the feared German SS. For much of the war he belonged to an Einsatzkommando, a mobile death squad charged with exterminating Jews, Romani gypsies, Polish intellectuals, and a number of other groups within Nazi-occupied territory. Landau operated throughout Poland and Ukraine, slaughtering his way from town to town.
His remarkable diary details his appalling crimes, often in graphic detail. This entry, from July 1941, records his actions in the city of Drohobych in western Ukraine.
The lack of emotion he feels during the killings is typical of SS officers who took part in mass executions.
Landau was documented as being particularly brazen in his ill-treatment of Jews, randomly shooting at themfrom his window as they walked down the street.
Following the war, Landau managed to evade capture until 1959, when he was put on trial and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He was released for “good behavior” in 1971 and died in 1983.
At 6.00 in the morning I was suddenly awoken from a deep sleep. Report for an execution. Fine, so I’ll just play executioner and then gravedigger, why not. Isn’t it strange, you love battle and then have to shoot defenseless people. Twenty–three had to be shot, amongst them the two above-mentioned women. They are unbelievable. They even refused to accept a glass of water from us.
I was detailed as marksman and had to shoot any runaways. We drove one kilometre along the road out of town and then turned right into a wood. There were only six of us at that point and we had to find a suitable spot to shoot and bury them. After a few minutes we found a place.
The death candidates assembled with shovels to dig their own graves. Two of them were weeping. The others certainly have incredible courage. What on earth is running through their minds during these moments? I think that each of them harbours a small hope that somehow he won’t be shot. The death candidates are organised into three shifts as there are not many shovels.
Strange, I am completely unmoved. No pity, nothing. That’s the way it is and then it’s all over. My heart beats just a little faster when involuntarily I recall the feelings and thoughts I had when I was in a similar situation.
On 24 July 1934 in the Bundeskanzleramt when I was confronted with the machine-gun barrels of the Heimwehr. Then there were moments when I came close to weakening. I would not have allowed it to show, no that would have been out of the question with my character. “So young and now it’s all over.”
Those were my thoughts, then I pushed these feelings aside and in their place came a sense of defiance and the realisation that my death would not have been in vain. And here I am today, a survivor standing in front of others in order to shoot them. Slowly the hole gets bigger and bigger, two of them are crying continuously. I keep them digging longer and longer: they don’t think so much when they’re digging.
While they are working they are in fact calmer. Valuables, watches and money, are put into a pile. When all of them have been brought to stand next to one another on a stretch of open ground, the two women are lined up at one end of the grave ready to be shot first.
Two men had already been shot in the bushes by our Kriminal Kommissar, I did not see this as I had to keep my eyes on the others. As the women walked to the grave they were completely composed. They turned round. Six of us had to shoot them.
The job was assigned thus: three at the heart, three at the head. I took the heart. The shots were fired and the brains whizzed through the air. Two in the head is too much. They almost tear it off. Almost all of them fell to the ground without a sound. Only with two of them it didn’t work. They screamed and whimpered for a long time. Revolvers were no use. The two of us who were shooting together had no failures.
The penultimate group had to throw those who had already been shot into the mass grave then line up and fall in themselves. The last two had to place themselves at the front edge of the grave so that they would fall in at just the right spot.
Then a few bodies were rearranged with a pickaxe and after that then we began the grave-digging work. I came back dog tired but the work went on. Everything in the building had to be straightened up. And so it went on without respite.
19 Year Old Crosses Over; Learns About Energy, Consciousness And The Source (NDE)
What’s it like to get fucked over by your ex-wife?
I was scammed by a woman who married me with the intent to divorce later – at 15 years. It was her second marriage and she knew the legal system all too well. Over the years, she was careful to make herself appear like she contributed to the marriage. But the reality is that she contributed very little. She made sure that she never had a job. Although I worked sometimes 60 hours per week, I spent more time raising my son than the EX, and performed most of the homemaker duties. Just for good measure, near the end of the marriage, the EX tricked me into getting deep into debt by insisting on purchasing various properties. She went so far as to convince me that by adopting a baby girl would fill a void in our marriage. I thought it was for love, but found out too late that is was simply a calculated legal move. After only a couple of weeks after the adoption, the EX told me that the girl was my problem.
“So I worked full time, took care of my 10-year old son, and now a baby girl. The EX started openly bar hopping and staying out almost all night. The EX had me just where she wanted me and now she was just biding her time until the marriage clock hit 15 years.”
“The EX wants me to move out, but because of the debts, I could not afford to. In order to get me out of the house, the EX falsely claims that I sexually molested our adopted daughter, who was only 4 at the time. The EX said with a big smiling grin ‘I have got you now!”
“Child Protective Services subsequently investigated this and found her claims to be completely baseless. The CPS representative even told me how to file a complaint against the EX for the false accusation. However, my lawyer advised me that the courts do not like such “sticky situations” and therefore advised me not to file a complaint. Through this investigation my boss, work associates, and customers were all aware of the allegations against me. Although I was exonerated, there would always be a stigma of doubt with them. I finally realized the level of evil that I was dealing with and that the EX will stop at nothing. She starts trying to get my son to turn against me. I come home from work one day and the sheriff deputies are waiting for me outside my front door. I am informed that the EX will claim domestic violence unless I leave. So I did with only the clothes on my back. I spent the next 4 days and nights living in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I had to bath and clean in their restroom. I was nearly arrested….
“In an attempt to avoid the attorneys from ruining us financially, I offered the Ex a deal. She can have the marital residence paid for, she can have $150,000 in cash, and I will pay child support. The EX tells me to ‘Go to Hell,’ and walks out on mediation.
“We go to court in the summer of 2007 and the EX spends the first 4 hours character assassinating me. I tell my lawyer that she is constantly lying, but he responds that Florida is a ‘no fault’ state and her testimony is irrelevant. So she gets away with depicting me as a monster and herself as a tireless-hardworking-loving-saint…. Our rookie Judge X, who was seeing his first divorce case, bought into her lies and handed down an extraordinary unfair ruling. She would keep the house while I paid 75% of the first and second mortgages for the next 16 years, she gets half of my the 401K ($250,000), I am denied all of my pre-marital assets totaling $150,000, she also gets half of my $45,000 inheritance, she keeps our daughter’s state stipend as hers although this is expressly meant for the child. She even gets a car allowance, child support, and $3,005 per month permanent life time alimony. The judge gave her $5 extra so she would not be burdened with the state fee of 5 bucks.
“I get to pay her attorney’s fees. I get to pay half of her extraordinarily high credit card debts. My equitable distribution of $50,000 is put on hold for 12 years with no interest accumulating, so inflation will reduce it to next to nothing. All of this nearly bankrupted me. I am stripped of everything and humiliated. I made less than $1,300 per week and it was taking $3,200 per week pay the court-ordered payments. I had nothing to eat except one peanut butter sandwich for supper each night, and I lost over 50 pounds in just a few
weeks…. I was forced to default on all credit cards…. I had to deal with 2 additional lawsuits filed against me by banks. I worked 2nd and 3rd jobs that did not pay much.
“At the Kennedy Space Center, I was the lead propellants engineer supporting the space shuttle and now I was nearly homeless. The judge in his arrogance even wrote in the final judgment that he impoverished me. All of this was affecting me at work. The EX and her agents harassed me at work and sent me inappropriate emails in an attempt to get me fired. They even resort to harassing me at my home. I was reaching a breaking point. I am eventually demoted and removed from my position as lead engineer, which I had held for 16 years and nearly 100 Space Shuttle launches….”
Animals Reunited With Owners After Years !
12 Gunshot Survivors Describe What Getting Shot Feels Like
1. Shot in the arm when I was young when I got caught in the middle of a drive by shooting.
You know in the movies where a gun goes off and there’s a sudden look of shock on the victim’s face before he looks at the wound? That’s very accurate. I did not feel any pain or anything. I heard the gunshot and felt a tight pressure in my arm. I looked and saw the wound and how much blood I was losing, and the next thing I know I’m in the hospital.”
2. I got shot through the thigh with a .45, it burned like a motherfucker. The bullet went through the bone completely and the tendons pulled everything out of place, my leg was about 4 inches shorter than the other. Trying to move it was absolute agony, I was praying to pass out but never did
3. I was shot with Ak-47 to the leg. Felt like a baseball bat hit me; but with no pain. This was followed by a buzzing feeling for 5-10 seconds then the severe achy pain set in. Once I got back, I was diagnosed with a spiral fracture. Less painful than I thought it would be, but it was still up there!
4. About 4 years ago I was struck by 4 rounds from machine gun fire, one actually skipped off my body armor right into my left bicep. Honestly did not feel pain when I got hit, just this weird wave of feeling hot and wet on my left side. The pain definitely came after once a tourniquet was applied.
5. I was shot in left foot when I was seventeen. At first I thought it was a bee sting because it sounded like bees flying by. 2 seconds later I realized something was wrong. The bee noises were bullets flying by. It felt like a hot fire poker along the path of the bullet. We were camping and like an hour and a half to a hospital. The burning lasted the entire time until morphine got in. Was in a walking boot for months due to tendon and nerve damage. No bones were damaged but my foot is still numb on top due to nerve damage and it always hurts. I always feel it and if anything hits the entry or exit points or the scar from surgery to remove bullet fragments it send weird tingles up my leg. Definitely changed my life.
6. I was shot 4 times and got shrapnel from a 5th shot in my neck working security at a nightclub. 3 of the bullets were caught in my vest that other staff constantly razzed me about wearing under my t-shirt. The 4th entered my chest between the sternum and shoulder, exited my back above the shoulder blade and lodged in the back panel of the vest and the shrapnel cuts were similar to paper cuts on my neck, they just bled a lot. The gun was a .380 and honestly I felt the ones hit my vest because they were similar to punches and didn’t notice the one actual wound until I realized I couldn’t lift my arm all the way up. It was a numb, sometimes throbbing burning pain. I was treated at the hospital, given painkillers and had to rehab the arm which is back to 100% again. I later found out one of the bullets actually went through someone standing in front of me. Afaik that person is alive and well. All 3 shots into the vest could have been fatal shots to the lungs/heart.
Anyone out there in policing/security/ems etc. just remember a $200-300 vest can save your life.
7. Got shot in the calf with a .22 LR while landscaping about a decade ago. It just felt like a push-pinch like if someone pushed a wasp stinger into my skin and since I was using a weed whacker at the time, I thought it had picked something up and thrown it against my leg. It went numb, and when I looked at the wound it was bleeding way too much to be from random debris. It really only hurt after I started fucking with it to stop the bleeding. If you get shot, don’t look at the wound if at all possible.
The shooter was a German foreign exchange student with surprisingly bad muzzle awareness, trigger safety, et cetera, but since the damage was minor we all laughed it off. Honestly it didn’t hurt that bad, hopefully being shot by a smaller caliber has helped me build my immunity up towards larger bullets.
8. Surprisingly painless compared to what you might expect, I’m not one of those ‘I didn’t even realize I was shot’ people, though I can definitely understand where they’re coming from. The very first thing I felt can only be described as a sudden impact of no sensation, I felt numbness wash over the area, if I had not realized I was about to be shot shortly before I was I could see how I could have easily have been too distracted to notice this immediate response. That feeling then gave way to a horrible burning sensation. It’s a very ‘hot’ pain, it feels the way a very flushed face or a blister feels, but intense and painful and after a little time passes the area around it has this very unexpected achy pain that feels more like what you would expect from being hit with a bat than being shot. And yet I wouldn’t know how I would even rank it in terms of how painful it actually was, the feeling of being shot was seamlessly paired with the adrenaline and wooziness of having REALIZED I was shot and the knowledge that I really couldn’t afford to get shot again. The three intermingled and alternately masked and intensified each other. For a few moments I’d totally forget I had been shot, only for my attention to come back to myself in a lot of pain. I’ve never had to describe it before, my words seem so inadequate, its a very bizarre series of sensations that I imagine is almost never experienced by people in an otherwise clear state of mind. I really cannot understate the significance of the psychological impact it had on me in the moment, which totally distorted my processing of physical sensation.
9. It’s a bit of burning sensation mainly. The quick pierce into your body hurts like hell. Best way I can describe it is that it feels like being continuously poked as if someone is holding multiple sharp pricks to you and pushing in but not stabbing.
Painful as shit, but it’s not an ungodly amount of pain to where you can’t even cope with it if it’s in an area of non importance in your body such as arm or shoulder. Can’t speak of experience from being shot anywhere else.
To be honest ricochets hurt a shit load worse than a direct impact because it can hit you in multiple places instead of just one entrance and/or exit wound would in a direct impact.
10. Smaller caliber shot through the arm. Just a flesh wound, it did bounce off the bone though. It felt like electricity. The only thing that I can relate it to would be hitting a baseball (or anything) wrong with a bat or stick. That’s 80% of the feeling. The initial pain was exactly like that. After pains however were something unique that I can’t relate to anything. It wasn’t until I noticed all the blood that I realized I’d been shot. I was angry for a few seconds then I laughed about it. Then I was more worried about wrapping the wound and coming up with a good lie. 7/10 on the pain scale I’ve had worse but it was not pleasant.
11. I got shot in the foot about 2 years ago with a .45. Went in one side and out the other, pulverized some of the bone too. There was no pain at all. Only knew I was shot because of all the blood. At the hospital about a half hour later it started to hurt a little. Doctor was surprised that I only rated the pain as a 4 out of 10. It hurt a fair bit in the days and weeks after, but never intolerably.
12. I got shrapnel to the shin. It in such a way it looked like a clean fillet of skin down to the bone. It hurt pretty fucking bad, the initial feel was like take a lead pipe to the shin.
A buddy of mine from the same unit but operating out of another FOB took a 7.62MM straight through his upper left arm. From what he told me with the adrenaline and heat it felt a little worse than a bad wasp sting. After the dust off back the medics working on his arm noticed he need his dental check up and continued to patch him up while he got a good teeth cleaning.
Cucumbers and Tomatoes in Yogurt (Raita)
2023 02 19 16 45
Ingredients
2 medium cucumbers
2 scallions (with tops), chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup plain yogurt
Instructions
Cut cucumbers lengthwise into halves. Scoop out seeds; chop cucumbers.
Mix cucumbers, scallions and salt; let stand 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes.
Mix remaining ingredients except yogurt; toss with cucumber mixture.
Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Drain thoroughly.
Just before serving, fold in yogurt.
What’s It Like To Be A Hikikimori (Hermit)?
I was 16 when I dropped out of public school to finish up online. That is when my prolonged bouts of social isolation started. I had friends, but these friends were people I abused drugs with (to cope with our life circumstances), as they weren’t socially adapted like most people our age.
As time went on I ended up cutting off all contact with them and haven’t contacted them since age 18. I haven’t had a social outing in 5 years. It’s liberating but embarrassing at the same time to be saying that.
I moved out a few days after I turned 18 into an apartment paid for by my parents. I’ve been here in this 2 bed apartment for 5 years. I can go months without leaving my apartment.
I’m so pathetically apathetic/majorly depressed/self-hating/unmotivated that I have allowed and manipulated/encouraged my mother to come over and pre-make all my food for me (salads, pre-cooked meat, etc) for a few days at a time.
She comes over every 3-4 days to clean my entire apartment (dishes, trash, etc) and drop off my food. She’s been doing this the past 5 years so I don’t have to leave my apartment, even if it’s something trivial like bringing in a case of water; she does it ALL.
She’s running out of energy and she’s getting reoccurring back injuries and shoulder pain from all the lifting she does. I can’t honestly tell you I feel sorry for her or guilty for her pain. I simply have removed all empathy from my being as a way to look out for myself and my “selfish” needs in order to minimize suffering and cope with my dissipating youth.
I literally do nothing to help her but retreat to my room where my computer is and wait patiently for her to leave. I can’t bare to see her. Although I am minutely thankful for her “helping” me with the necessities, I genuinely deep down have an innate hatred for her. She is arguably at the epicenter of all my suffering in life.
I am Hikikomori/NEET because I absolutely hate the way my face looks and I feel as if I’m not tall enough or robust enough body-wise. I have no motivation to better myself because the foundation of my life (my body/looks) is fundamentally flawed and subhuman.
I hate her because I inherited her objectively unappealing features via genetic recombination.
I can say — with confidence, that I just want to continue to be left alone. I can’t stand to face reality or the outside world and all the difficulties that would inevitably await me.
I do think about suicide a lot but I wouldn’t do it because I have a strong survival instinct and I would only be open to suicide via a certain pharmaceutical that is virtually unattainable.
It’s kind of liberating — to give up all hope in life. I feel so old. The past 5 years have flown past me in the blink of an eye. It’s all such a blur. The entire 5 years was spent watching youtube videos, playing video games and sleeping. The entire time, literally.
Everyday is the same, there is no difference as the days go by. What I do today Is the same thing I did 5 years ago when all of this started to get serious.
It’s hard to find people online who live such a life like me. There are days I want to cry but I can’t get anything out and it leads to anger.
Will the West's Christian Colonial Cretins attack China?
I doubt it. John Pilger's 2016 doco The Coming War On China, and a short-lived abc.net.au weekly current affairs program called China Tonight from March, 2022, have persuaded me that:
1. China hasn't forgotten the Opium Wars nor the perps. And has made Opium Wars part of the school curriculum...
2. One suspects that China will have a much shorter Nuclear War fuse than Russia if subjected to an(other) Unprovoked Attack by the CCCs.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 1 2023 17:06 utc | 4
Lately, I have been dancing with my little girl.
It’s a great work out, but I have to tell youse guys, it’s EXHAUSTING. Try this little number. See if you can keep up the pace for a full three minutes! Ugh!
On the plus side, she’s learning Japanese along with her English and Chinese…
Yes. Do not live a life of regret…
The Story Of David Glasheen, A Real Life Robinson Crusoe
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David Glasheen is a 70-year-old former businessman from Sydney’s North Shore who traded in his suit for a loincloth after losing most of his money in the stock market crash of 1987. He first visited Restoration Island in 1993, he acquired an interest in the island with his remaining money in 1994, and moved there permanently in 1997 with his girlfriend. But with no hot water, a bath or the mod cons she found it tough and left to return to the city. Since then he has upgraded accommodation on the island, and has lived there happily with his dog Quasi.
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David Glasheen, who has lived alone on the island off Cape York Peninsula since 1993, made international headlines four years ago, when he went online looking for a “Girl Friday” to live with him.
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David Glasheen says sometimes he gets lonely with his dog his only companion but he is occasionally visited by passing yachtsmen, kayakers and organic farmers.
A meme
A meme shared: Gas prices are rising again because China stopped its Covid crackdown.
For years, the Western perception of the Chinese economy has alternated between two extremes: either the Chinese economy is at the cusp of collapsing - the "China collapse" theory - or the Chinese economy is rising so rapidly that it poses a threat to the world - the "China threat" theory.
There is virtually no middle ground between the two totally contradicting narratives, though both serve the same goal - smearing China's socialist market economic system.
Western media outlets switch between the two narratives at different times to best serve that goal.Such a twisted, malign practice cannot be clearer than what we have seen over the past several weeks, as China moved to downgrade its COVID response, went through a COVID infection peak and embarked on a rapid economic recovery in such a short time span.
The transitions happened so swiftly that the shift in Western media outlets' narrative of the Chinese economy could barely catch up.
Before the Chinese Spring Festival holidays, many foreign media outlets made grim predictions about China's epidemic situation and economic recovery.
Bloomberg on January 20 predicted a "COVID catastrophe" during the Chinese New Year, while CNN on January 18 claimed that a "COVID-19 tsunami" was brewing in the countryside amid the holiday travel rush.
And of course, China’s Spring Festival is a smashing success.
Some of the info provided would make great material for comedians; Carlin would make much of the narrative swap. What’s happening is NEVER the fault of the West; it’s always somebody else’s fault. I’m reminded of the Family Circus cartoon and the “Not Me” ghost. Bill Keane was very insightful with that.
From the glory days of pie in America. Enjoy!
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Don’t live a life of regret…
Like this person.
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I snapped at my dad for getting me the wrong video game and I can still see the disappointment in his face. Haunts me to this day.
Preventing a long war w/Scott Ritter
Scott at his brilliant best! A voice of reason and reality amid a dangerous climate of delusional esculatory rhetoric in the West.
Relics of the past…
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Don’t live a life of regret…
Like this guy.
I called my buddy one night because I knew he was having a tough time, I told him I'm coming over, he kept saying no I'm good I'm good...he was less than a mile away. I said okay and then his mom called me in the morning saying he was dead and what did he say to me in the phone call.
I wish I went over
Philly Cheese and Ground Beef Casserole
Bring the fabulous flavor of Philly cheese steak sandwiches to a comforting casserole!
2023 01 25 07 44
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 (8 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
8 (1 ounce) slicesprovolone cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced into wedges
2 medium red bell peppers, cut into strips*
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 (16.3 ounce) can Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle original biscuits
* To easily cut peppers, cut a thin slice off bottom of pepper. Set pepper on cutting board, cut side down. Cut strips of pepper from stem down to board, cutting just the flesh and leaving seeds and core attached to stem.
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13 x 9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray.
In 12-inch skillet, cook beef, mushrooms, salt and pepper over medium-high heat 7 to 9 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.
Place in baking dish.
Arrange cheese over beef mixture, overlapping slices if needed.
In same skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and bell peppers. Cook over medium-high heat 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until peppers are crisp-tender.
Stir in garlic; cook 1 to 2 minutes longer. Spoon over cheese in baking dish.
Separate dough into 8 biscuits. On lightly floured surface, pat biscuits into 5-inch circles. Arrange biscuits over vegetable mixture.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown on top.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft)
Don’t live a life of regret…
Like this chick.
I deeply regret picking on this very socially challenged girl when I was younger. I wasn't particularly vicious or anything but I should have used my popularity to stand up for her, or at least treat her right.
Through Darkness Into Light: The Concept Art Of Ivan Khomenko
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Ivan Khomenko is a freelance concept artist and digital illustrator based in Kostroma, Russia. He currently works as a concept artist at One Pixel Brush. We have an amazing collection of science fiction and fantasy themed works by the artist below from both commercial and personal projects. Ivan Khomenko’s illustrations and paintings have an incredible cinematic quality.
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Don’t life a life of regret
Like this person…
I was seven years of age, I had an argument with my mother the night before she died. Before I went to bed she asked me for a hug I told her NO and stormed off to bed. The next morning I woke up to find everyone in the house was gone, it was very surreal and confusing. My father came back in that morning crying and told me my mother had died of a brain hemorrhage..
Never go to bed on an argument.
Oddly and curious
daily picdump 4246 640 44
daily picdump 4246 640 high 06
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Don’t live a life of regret
Like this man.
Not getting a second opinion sooner on my back injury. Injured my back at work in 2014, was taken to a WorkCover doctor where I now know I was misdiagnosed and then gaslighted by the workplace OH&S officer. Had I known that I could seek a second opinion from another doctor while on WorkCover, it would have been found that I had a permanent disc protrusion that was impacting a major nerve.
I waited 7 years to seek a different opinion, all because I believed the WorkCover doctor and a physio couldn't be wrong as they were professionals and that I had 'just a simple back strain'. Meanwhile I'm walking around in chronic pain with a disc protrusion that could've ruptured at any given moment.
I'm now permanently disabled thanks to my own stupidity. And I can't take legal action against the company now as there is only a 3 year grace period to do so.
Illustrator Perfectly Captures The Beauty Of Single Life
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Mexico-based artist Idalia Candelas draws women who are content to be alone. Using pencil, ink, and watercolor, “Postmodern Loneliness” is a series that celebrates being single. Candelas says she was inspired by her time living alone in Mexico City.
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“The theme of the loneliness has been recurring in my drawings,” Candelas told Mic. “I like to show women who exist in solitude but do not suffer. They are not depressed or crying. Rather [they] are safe, exalting in the sense of enjoying the company of just herself.”
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Do not live a life of regret
Like this person…
My mom died nearly one year ago. She battled ALS for two years. It was very sudden and a horrific experience. The last thing she said to me before she lost the ability to speak was “stay”. She was dying and afraid and just wanted her daughter to stay by her side, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit and watch her die. It was excruciating for me. I did visit her every day until her death, but she was no longer there really. She died a week later. I will never forgive myself.
China will ramp up efforts to stand on its own feet in science and technology and solve the issue of foreign stranglehold in the sphere, as part of a push for the country to become a global forerunner in key technological areas, according to key takeaways from the top leadership on Tuesday.Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has stressed the efforts to accelerate the establishment of a new pattern of development and enhance the security and initiative of development when attending the second group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee on Tuesday afternoon.As the country eyes expediting the establishment of a new pattern of development, technological self-sufficiency and competitive yet secure supply chains will become all the more important, industry observers said, citing the US-led technology decoupling from China....On top of that, the country will take accelerated steps toward science and technology self-sufficiency and self-strength and address foreign "stranglehold" issues, Xi said.
The actions by the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals that began decades ago to thwart development within the Global South has finally blown-back onto their economies as becoming sovereign in all areas is now the goal of all Global South nations and is a Movement that will not be beaten back again as it was in the 1950-60s when it was first attempted.
Recall that nobody holds a patent on Nature’s Secrets; they can be discovered by anyone and used.
The Global South holds a big advantage over the West in STEM grads and better economic models to follow to promote that advantage.
What remains to be seen in the future is the Global South’s behavior towards the West: Can the urge to put the West down and trample on it as the West did to the Global South be resisted?
Can Xi’s vision of a Win-Win world of a shared human destiny triumph? Only Time will tell.
Do not live a life of regret
As in this…
Being too kind to people that do me wrong all the time.
Some more Godzilla Haikus
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Don’t live a life in regret
Like this fellow…
I deeply regret letting my creative writing and piano playing skills go to s**t. Ever since I entered the corporate world 19 years ago, it has consumed me and I no longer feel passionate about those things. I stopped practicing everything. When I try to make myself do them, it feels like just that, like I am forcing myself and it is no longer fun. I feel like I’ve become a shell of my former self in so many ways.
Preacher Man Casserole
The preacher isn’t the only one who will enjoy this great casserole.
2023 01 25 07 45
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
Garlic (to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
8 ounces tomato sauce
8 ounces egg noodles
8 ounces sour cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook and drain ground beef.
Mix beef with garlic, salt, sugar and tomato sauce.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook and drain egg noodles.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese together in a small bowl.
Layer, in order twice – noodles, sour cream mixture, meat.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivered a speech at Keio University in Japan on Wednesday.
If we are to describe this speech, it would be labeled with "poor level, bad influence, and insidious intentions."
It was not worth mentioning, but the negative trends of NATO and Japan exposed from its content deserve the high vigilance of the entire Asia-Pacific region. It can be said that the speech is full of "ominous omens."Before visiting Japan, Stoltenberg went to South Korea.
Although he also played up the "China threat" in South Korea and tied China, Russia and North Korea together with malicious intent, his words were far less straightforward and blatant than in Tokyo.
Facing the Japanese audience, Stoltenberg spent a lot of time attacking China.
He said in a sensational tone, "What is happening in Europe today could happen in East Asia tomorrow."
He also said unctuously, "China is not our adversary," but what he said later was basically to smear and slander China.
He accused China of "substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear weapons, without any transparency" and said that China (the Chinese mainland) is attempting to assert control over the South China Sea, and threatening Taiwan.Stoltenberg's words and actions in Japan and South Korea are very different, which reflects many deep-seated problems, indicating that the two countries play different roles in NATO's strategic design.
In Seoul, he mainly spoke to the South Korean side, which was the target of his persuasion and incitement, while in Tokyo, he spoke to the entire Asia-Pacific region, and the Japanese authorities stood by as accomplices and co-conspirators.A joint statement was issued after talks between Stoltenberg and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on January 31, in which the common stance against China and Russia was very prominent, and the intention to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Straits was very strong.
These will undoubtedly create risks of camp confrontation and division in the Asia-Pacific region.
The role NATO is playing is exactly the same as it has played on the European soil.
In other words, it is actually NATO itself that is promoting the idea that "what is happening in Europe today could happen in East Asia tomorrow."A wolf whose base camp and activities have been in the far west for a long time has found a foothold in East Asia with great ambitions.
Japan is the one who lured the wolf into the house, and also seeks a high-sounding reason.
As the secretary general of NATO, Stoltenberg is not qualified to dictate East Asian affairs, not to mention even giving outrageous statements.
To some extent, Japan created such an opportunity for him and NATO. Stoltenberg did not hesitate to speak sweetly about Japan, saying that among NATO's partners, none is closer or more capable than Japan.
He also praised Japan's substantial increase in defense budget and revision of its security strategy, behaviors that have been widely questioned in the Asia-Pacific region.
NATO and Japan formed a vicious mutual reinforcement.
Like Germany, Japan is captured and lacks sovereignty.
Only its people can alter the situation, which is the same formula for Europe.
IMO, NATO will likely last through the 2030s, although it will likely shrink to just the Outlaw US Empire, Canada and UK, and perhaps Denmark and Netherlands.
Once Russia establishes its new security arrangements, it will become clear there’s no longer any need for NATO within Europe. But as with its evil twin the EU, it will take time for its complete demise.
This Woman Restored An Old Van To Make All Her Traveling Dreams Come True
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Marina Piro wanted to travel the world with her rescue dog Odie, but she couldn’t find the right van to travel with. After a little bit of searching she decided that the best thing to do would be to build one herself.
“The main reason why I chose to be travelling by van was that I wanted to have Odie with me. A van seemed the most viable option. Too many bus, train, plane companies do not accept dogs, not to mention the difficulties you might have to find a suitable accommodation. Despite being the most practical solution, van life with a dog can be difficult at times and you must consider various aspects of it before throwing yourself into it,” she said.
"...For Confucian societies that value the family and the community more than the individual, people will be more willing to suffer a little bit to save the lives of the old and the weak. Whereas, for societies that value the individual rights and their freedoms, they will not care about the underprivileged that are more likely to die, and that is their freedom of choice. They must have their freedom and their economy. They have a million deaths yet they laugh at China with five thousand, in total. It is their freedom to be stupid and delusional."
I guess you could classify 2023 as a settling down, begrudgingly by some, of new Geo-political realities. Things are shaking out. It will be choppy, but good!
Remember High School pizza?
City School Pizza
Yield: 24 servings
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Ingredients
French-Style Pizza Crust
2 packages dry or cake yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups lukewarm water
9 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
Topping
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 (8 ounce) can tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt
3/4 teaspoon dried sweet basil
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 pound ground or chopped luncheon meat
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
French-Style Pizza Crust
Dissolve yeast and sugar in water.
Add flour and salt. Knead until smooth.
Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
Cut into 2portions. Let rest 15 minutes.
Pat or roll to even thickness in 2 (15 1/2 x 10 1/2-inch) jellyroll pans. Set aside.
Topping
Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, oregano, salt to taste, basil, garlic powder and luncheon meat. Sauté until mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes.
Spread sauce on prepared French-Style Pizza Crust in pans. Sprinkle each crust with cheese.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or until cheese layer is bubbly and browned.
Notes
Source: Los Angeles Times – 9/23/82
Marine Corps reactivates base on Guam
The U.S. Marine Corps reactivated a new base on Guam in a ceremony, Jan. 26, honoring the long-shared history of the Marine Corps and Guam and establishing a forward presence in the Indo-Pacific that will endure into the future.
USMC press release
Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Blaz is the first newly constructed Marine Corps base in 70 years and serves as a testament to the U.S.-Japan alliance. Guam was chosen as the location for the new base during the 2012 Bilateral Agreement between the U.S and Japanese governments, under the Defense Policy Review Initiative, which set the framework for the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The base is named in honor of Brigadier General Vicente Tomas “Ben” Garrido Blaz, the first CHamorro Marine to attain the rank of general officer.
“Today is an important day that marks the future of the Marines on Guam, and it is also a day to reflect on the century-long history of the Marine Corps in this beautiful place we call home,” said Col. Christopher Bopp, Commanding Officer, MCB Camp Blaz. “On this island Marines and their CHamoru brethren have lived in peace and fought in war together and we are proud to carry on this legacy of honor and courage.”
Guam’s history is marked by the enduring partnership between the U.S. military and the people of Guam. Since the establishment of Marine Barracks Guam in 1899, the Marine Corps has had a nearly continuous presence on Guam. The Marine Barracks was reactivated after World War II and deactivated November 10, 1992.
During the ceremony at War in the Pacific National Historical Park, honors were rendered to the Honorable Lou Leon Guerrero, Governor of Guam; Commandant of the Marine Corps; U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environmental; Japanese Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense and Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs provided remarks. The ceremony ended with a traditional pass and review.
Gotta love this dude. Lives in a literal true warzone, was interrogated and held hostage by SBU and just brushed it like nothing, had bike accident, AGAIN BRUSHED IT LIKE NOTHING AT ALL, and just went full "anyyyyyway, look at those fools!" and started dropping truth-bombs like it's nothing, another day in our mundane lives.
What is your opinion on the U.S./China relationship? Do you think it will improve or worsen in the future?
It will worsen for one more president after Biden.
why?
Simple, the U.S. has been in a denial mode since 2014 all the time they underestimated China and China is happy to let the U.S. lulled themself into oblivion.
Biden ought to have woken up to know that China is no pushover but he is too old and too uninformed about China except for fear mongering by his handlers.
I think it needs about 15 years of adjustment by the U.S. to move from disbelief to denial to refusing to accept China is in most way bigger than the U.S. and that the more you contain or to control China the worst it is for America.
By the next president, they will be in a refusing to accept reality stage. That president will know China is really a big deal and the U.S. can hardly match China but for political reason it is better to still pretend that they are still weaker and we the U.S. can still tell them what to do.
But by late 2020s say after 2028 China’s strength is too big to pretend and denying it looks very daft and silly even as a U.S. president. Also by that time the U.S. dollar is a shade of it is even now. By that time it makes sense politically to move into reluctant acceptance stage and to try to benefit by China’s size and market beats trying g to contain China.
American pain will have been rather unbearable by then and it’s people will recognise that selling to China and cooperation with China and Asia is the way to go.
Not at the moment. Today the chest beater and the blind optimism of the U.S. group overwhelmed the realist. And politicians are smart. They know that politically it is still better to talk as though China can be beaten. And talking shit on China is still fashionable. I see 2028–2032 period as the time the realist becomes the majority in America.
A Secret Roswell Journal Becomes The Focus Of A New UFO Documentary
A secret journal offers new clues about the nature of the alleged 1947 AD UFO crash at Roswell in the New Mexico desert, or does it? Before we kick off, this isn’t one of these Reddit stories that emerged from some basement decorated with posters of the Starship Enterprise and Chewbacca. Quite the opposite.
Live Science is one off the internet’s more respected academic media outlets and today they tell the story of a hitherto unknown personal diary belonging to Major Jesse Marcel, a head intelligence officer at the Roswell Army Air Field. The secret Roswell journal could change the narrative of this famous UFO event. In particular, the secret Roswell journal may contain secret coded observations that will help to “clarify” what really happened in Roswell in 1947 AD.
Marcel investigated the famous Roswell site in New Mexico where in 1947 a UFO is believed by many to have crashed. Furthermore, he claimed to have recovered some of the debris from whatever ditched in the desert that July night near the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF). Newspaper photos at the time showed Marcel with pieces of metallic material and on the afternoon of July 8, 1947 AD he disclosed to the media “the crash and recovery of a flying disc.” However, the following day, an army official made a statement saying that a weather balloon had fallen to earth, “not a flying saucer.”
Will The Secret Roswell Journal Change Everything?
The Roswell story now takes a new turn since Major Marcel’s family revealed they had kept his personal secret Roswell journal which contains “hitherto unknown clues about the crash.” The secret diary and its equally secret contents will soon be presented on History Channel´s History’s Greatest Mysteries series in an episode called Roswell: The First Witness . The episode was released on December 12th, Saturday, 2020 AD. The show host, Ben Smith, is a former CIA operative and the show’s lead investigator. He thinks it is very unusual that the day after the government claimed they had recovered a UFO they switched stories and maintained it was merely “a weather balloon,” Smith told Live Science .
This story is another in a long line of recent reports pertaining to UFOs. According to The Guardian in 2017 AD a former Pentagon official confirmed the existence of a federal agency that had been “secretly investigating UFOs since 2007.” Then, in 2018, U.S. Navy pilots reported “three encounters with fast-moving UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomena” better known to us civies as UFOs. And building up this emerging alien narrative, officially declassified videos of these occurrences were published in April of this year, as previously reported on Live Science .
Secret Roswell Journal: A Problem Of Might, May And Could
Let´s now return to Major Jesse Marcel, the author of the secret Roswell journal. He investigated the site at Roswell and recovered what he believed to be debris from a flying saucer . In 1997 AD, Time published an article saying Marcel told an interviewer at the time that “he believed” the object that crashed in the New Mexico desert had extraterrestrial origins. Now, a forensic analysis of Marcel´s secret Roswell journal “could reveal” coded messages that he wrote about the crash at the time that it happened, Ben Smith said.
This application of the word “could” will no doubt have skeptics raging, because they all know what’s most probably coming here. If the diary really contained any actual evidence that the Roswell incident was nothing more than a collapsed weather balloon we would certainly have heard about it by now. Unless of course thousands of unpaid interns and staff at the network have all kept quiet, doubters can argue. Perhaps the skeptics greatest argument is presented in plain sight in the newspaper photograph of Marcel on the evening of the crash. To all but the most committed believers in extraterrestrials it is perfectly clear that Marcel is holding a piece of a crumpled (crashed) weather balloon.
When the History Channel episode airs and unavoidably “no evidence” of extraterrestrials is offered, perhaps then maybe some “believers” will consider the content of the Ancient Origins news article I wrote about this only last month.
A team of Oxford University researchers recently applied statistics to the question “are we alone” and concluded that “life on earth is probably a unique universal phenomena, and that it´s ‘extremely unlikely’ that any other intelligent life exists anywhere else in the universe.” This is a profound claim that sceptics love and believers loathe.
And the same extreme opinions are likely to flood across social media channels when the details of Major Marcel’s secret Roswell journal are revealed.
Japanese Illustrator Suzusiro Puts Maids On Skateboards And We Can’t Complain
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If you’re a fan of Japanese manga and anime, you may have seen skateboarding characters before (Misaka Yata in K comes to mind), and there’s a very strong probability that you’ve seen maid characters before (Roberta from Black Lagoon, Ram and Rem from Re:Zero Beginning Life In Another World, etc.), but unless you’re a fan of Japanese illustrator Suzusiro, you’ve probably never ever seen the two of them combined!
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Bialys
What is a bialy? It’s a disk of dough with slight depressions in the center and topped with onions. These are as popular as the bagel is in the northeast. They are a great snack which tastes great with some cream cheese.
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm water ( 105 to 115 degrees F)
5 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
5 teaspoons granulated sugar
5 to 5 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup dehydrated minced onion*
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt for sprinkling (optional)
1/4 cup cornmeal for baking sheet
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water for wash
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Whisk together warm water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl, stir in one cup of flour and salt. Add most of the remaining flour and stir with a wooden spoon to make a soft mass. To your mixer, attach the dough hook and mix 8 to 10 minutes or you can knead by hand.
Cover the dough and allow to rest for about 45 to 60 minutes. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment paper and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.
Place dehydrated onions in a bowl and add hot water and allow the onions to soak for 15 minutes. Drain the onions well, place in a bowl and add the oil and poppy seeds if using. Set aside.
Punch down the dough and divide into two. Divide each half of dough into six equal pieces. Allow dough to rest 10 minutes.
Roll of stretch each portion into a 4- or 5-inch oval or circle, being careful not to overwork the dough. Place bialys on prepared baking sheets, with your fingers make indentations in the center( do not go through the dough). Lightly brush the outer perimeter with the egg wash. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of prepared onion topping and a little sprinkle of salt, if using. Cover with a floured tea towel and allow to rise 30 to 40 minutes or until puffy.
Bake until golden brown, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. (If the bialys are browning too fast, reduce heat to 425 degrees F).
Notes
* or you may substitute 1 cup finely chopped fresh onion, the dehydrated onions will stick better to the raw dough
If you like a thicker bialy (which is great for sandwiches) let the dough rise longer. For thin bialys, reduce the rising time.
Why The Bialy Is Better Than Any Bagel You’ve Ever Had
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you didn’t boil a bagel before baking it? Have you ever wondered why bagels have a hole in the middle instead of more bagel? Have you ever wished that bagels contained more onions, were slightly more tender and weren’t the size of manhole covers? Guys, this unicorn exists, and it’s called a bialy.
The bialy is like the bagel’s older, less famous cousin who gets more handsome the longer you look at him. If you live outside of New York City, LA or a few very select spots in Chicago and Florida, you might have never even heard of bialys, but that should definitely change. Bialys show up anywhere there is a significant Jewish population — they’re Polish, by origin (from Bialystok!), but have been adopted by American Jews for just about as long as there have been American Jews. Here are a few reasons why bialys will always be better than bagels.
You’ll never have to unhinge your jaw to eat one. You’ll also never have to have jaws made of steel to chew them.You can eat one with your breakfast and you won’t feel so full you are going to die.
Biden Admin May Regret Shunning China’s FM as Ambassador
Shut him out for 500 days when he was “just” an Ambassador
The Biden administration shut out outgoing Chinese ambassador Qin Gang for much of his more than 500-day tenure in Washington, D.C. But that all changed last week when Chinese leader Xi Jinping appointed Qin as the country’s new foreign minister, creating a headache for the administration at a time of high tension between Washington and Beijing. The problems will be front and center in the coming weeks when Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China as the countries clash over trade, Chinese military intimidation of Taiwan and access to technology.
“I think that there are probably those within the administration that feel chagrined that they did not extend the courtesies [to Qin] that normally would be extended to an ambassador,” said Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.
Qin didn’t get all of the meetings he requested with senior administration officials over the past 17 months, although the administration did relax its restrictions on Qin’s access in the run-up to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial trip to Taiwan in August. But he returns to Beijing this week to helm China’s foreign ministry stung by failed efforts to connect with the Biden administration.
Qin’s promotion confirms he has Xi’s trust, something the president signaled in October by appointing Qin to the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. Qin replaced Wang Yi, whom Xi appointed to lead the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission last week. Beijing will name Qin’s successor “after completing due procedures,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday.
Months after arriving in Washington, D.C., in July 2021, Qin was limited to meetings with just a handful of U.S. officials, according to two people with knowledge of the interactions. That narrow access came despite repeated requests to meet with more senior administration officials, said those people, who were granted anonymity to share private conversations.
The White House rejects this characterization. “Senior White House officials — along with senior officials from across the administration — have engaged regularly with Ambassador Qin since his arrival in Washington,” spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a written statement. The statement included a list of eight senior officials, including Blinken, Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who had met with Qin while he was ambassador.
The Chinese embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding Qin’s access to U.S. officials during his tenure.
Qin responded to the restrictions on high-level access by relying on lower-level interactions with other foreign ambassadors and state and municipal-level officials. He even hung out with the NBA’s Washington Wizards.
That experience may work to his advantage as foreign minister. Qin’s “broad exposure to the United States outside the Beltway … will give him an appreciation of the broader forces informing America’s foreign policy,” said Ryan Hass, former director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council.
If Qin resented his treatment in Washington, his farewell messages didn’t show it. He expressed “sincere gratitude” for the “great support and assistance from all sectors of the American people” in a tweet thread published on Monday.
The test of Qin’s sincerity will be his management of Blinken’s trip to China. “Our understanding is that Secretary Blinken will be traveling to Beijing in February right after the Chinese New Year,” said USCBC president Allen. If Qin is still nursing a bruised ego — and if the visit occurs after a promised trip to Taiwan by GOP leader Kevin McCarthy — Blinken may hit a diplomatic brick wall in Beijing.
Blinken has yet to release an agenda for that trip. But he’ll need Qin’s help to address a growing list of issues including counternarcotics cooperation and China’s growing nuclear weapons arsenal. Qin has signaled such cooperation is possible. In a tweet published on Sunday, Qin thanked Blinken for “constructive meetings” and said he looks forward to “continuing close relations” with Blinken.
Blinken marked Qin’s promotion with a tweet that confirmed the two men discussed “maintaining opening lines of communication” in a farewell phone conversation on Sunday. Blinken “expects to continue a productive working relationship with Foreign Minister Qin in his new role,” a State Department spokesperson unauthorized to speak on the record told POLITICO in a statement.
Qin’s history of bare-knuckled pushback of foreign criticism of China may have worked against his success in D.C. In his public debut in September 2021, he reinforced his reputation as a prickly avatar of Chinese diplomacy with a speech that excoriated U.S. “wrong beliefs” and cautioned against violating Beijing’s “red line” of core interests in areas including the South China Sea, Taiwan and Xinjiang. He spiked those comments with an ominous reference to China’s nuclear weapons capability and warned of “disastrous consequences” if the U.S. seeks to suppress China using a “Cold War playbook.”
Time didn’t dull those sharp edges. A year later, Qin used a near-90-minute press briefing to decry perceived U.S. transgressions against Chinese sovereignty. He also expressed frustration that his best efforts to engage with the Biden administration had failed to prevent Pelosi’s Taiwan trip. But the structure of China’s diplomatic corps may limit Qin’s influence on bilateral relations.
“Through Fire And Water”: The Superb Concept Artworks Of Ross Tran
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Ross Tran is a concept artist and illustrator who attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Ross has worked for companies such as Walt Disney Studios, Psyop and Tyler West Studio.
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The USA is pretending it is not bankrupt.
Slowly, then suddenly as the observation attests.
If you can’t finance your trillions, with what medium of exchange will the goodies for military be paid?
Keep an eye on the trajectory of U$D. USG relies on its hegemony -the dollar as the global reserve currency -to finance its budget and trade deficits.
As the dollar is shunned…….Paul Craig Roberts former Assistant Sec. of U.S. Treasury, commenting on KSA’s recent announcement to accept other currencies in payment for oil…wrote
In recent years Washington has so abused the dollar’s reserve currency role with sanctions and asset seizes that many countries desire to settle their trade imbalances in their own currencies in order to escape Washington’s ability to threaten and punish them for serving their own interests rather than Washington’s. If Saudi Arabia abandons the petrodollar, the demand for dollars and the dollar’s value will fall.[.]
This is a major threat to Washington’s power and to the financial power of American banks[.]
Prime example of self-harm unfolding. Within hours of Blinkie’s (US Sec of State) departure:-
Egyptian parliament approves agreement to join the BRICS bank
Cairo, Jan 30 (Prensa Latina) The Egyptian Parliament approved an agreement adopted by the Government that allows the country to join the New Development Bank of the BRICS group, the Al-Ahram diary reported.
The vice-president of the Economic Committee of the House of Representatives, Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, affirmed that joining the institution benefits the country.
“We will benefit from the Bank’s financial and technical assistance in areas such as sustainable development, health, infrastructure, transportation, water, and telecommunications,” he said. “It represents a step in the fight against the dollarization phenomenon and opens up new markets for Egypt’s agricultural and industrial products,” he said.
Legislator Mervat Mattar, stated that “the BRICS group is an important forum that can divert the course of the international economy from US and dollar dominance.” He also welcomed the Russian central bank’s decision a week ago to add the Egyptian pound to its list of foreign currencies exchangeable for rubles.
Last December, the Egyptian Council of Ministers announced its decision to join the BRICS, after a proposal by President Abdel Fatah El-Sissi.
The addition of Egypt will also relieve the state budget of the pressure to find dollars to meet imports because members of that bank can use their national currencies in bilateral trade, he said.[.] (emphasis added)
BRICS founding members: Brazil Russia India China South Africa
Have you read the list of countries applying for BRICS membership?
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco, Mexico, Iran, Argentina, Uruquay are among some 22 countries named to date.
Chicken with Olives and Feta Cheese
Chicken with Olives and Feta Cheese 1 of 1 600×900 1
Ingredients
2 pounds chicken thighs with skin and bones
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 (14 1/2) ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
3/4 cup Kalamata olives or other brine cured black olives, pitted, sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and sauté until brown, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add onion to drippings in skillet.
Sauté over medium heat 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juices, olives, wine and oregano.
Return chicken and any accumulated juices to sauce; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Transfer chicken and sauce to platter. Sprinkle with feta cheese and serve.
In the 1980’s, newly married and laid off during the collapse of the American steel industry, my wife and I were living in a van and traveling to find work. This was after I left the Navy, and I was off in my period that I refer to as “lost in the wilderness”.
We left Pennsylvania and were on our way to California. It was Winter time, so we took a long circumambulating route though the Deep Southern states.
We were broken down, and waiting on a paycheck in the mail (that the manager was taking a long time to deal with) and just slowly starving in a broken down van sitting at the side of a rural road in Alabama.
When the police came over to investigate, we (my wife and I) were eating some old onions (that we found in the compost pile behind a house) with packets of yellow mustard that we got from the Rax fast food restaurant chain. We were eating it like you would eat an apple, and both of us were really thin. The police gave us five dollars for gas to get out of town and they escorted us to the next town, and deposited us at a private home for wayward souls, and they helped us get on our feet.
But, you know, I will never forget the look on the officer’s face when he peered inside and watched us eat old rotten onions with mustard.
Global Smartphone Shipments Plunge Most On Record
A new report via Massachusetts-based International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed worldwide smartphone shipments experienced the most significant quarterly drop on record over the holiday season as cooling consumer demand suggests trouble for smartphone manufacturers ahead of earnings releases.
Fourth-quarter global smartphone shipments plunged 18.3% year over year to 300.3 million units.
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The decline was the largest on record for one quarter and contributed to an annual reduction of 11.3%. 1.21 billion smartphones were shipped for the year, the lowest yearly total since 2013.
Russian Navy Ship Conducts SIMULATED Hypersonic Missile Launch off U.S. East Coast – Electronic Warfare JAMMED U.S. Radar, Phones, Internet for 34 seconds
A Russian Navy ship in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda, conducted a simulated launch of a ZIRCON Hypersonic Missile against a “nautical target 900km away.” The Simulated launch involved the use of Electronic Warfare that actually JAMMED U.S. radar, cellular phones in the Mid-Atlantic USA, and even disrupted digital internet traffic for 34 seconds!
The Russian Navy Frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” tested the strike capabilities of Russia’s much-hyped Zircon hypersonic missile in the western Atlantic Ocean.
People in the mid-Atlantic region of the US experienced electronic warfare jamming of civilian devices like cellular phones and Internet for 34 seconds.
One source reports via COVERT INTEL “In accordance with the training situation, the frigate practiced arranging a ZIRCON hypersonic missile strike against a maritime target at a distance over 900 kilometers away.”
The 2023 Military Strength Ranking
The 2023 Military Strength Ranking by Globalfirepower.com shows that the United States, Russia, and China have remained the world’s top military powers with China continuing its climb to the No.2 spot.
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Best Ever Biscuits
Best Ever Biscuits
Yield: 10 to 12 biscuits
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening or butter
2/3 cup milk
Instructions
In medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well to distribute the baking powder and the salt.
Using a pastry blender or fork, cut shortening into flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you use butter, be sure it is chilled. (Mixing by hand softens the shortening, making the dough sticky and hard to handle.)
Gently push the flour-shortening mixture against the sides of the bowl, making a well in the center. Pour the milk into the well all at once. Using a fork, stir just until the mixture follows the fork around the bowl and forms soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently 10 to 12 strokes.
On the lightly floured surface, pat the dough to 1/2-inch thickness (or roll it out with a lightly floured rolling pin, if desired). Sprinkle a little flour over dough.
Cut biscuit dough with a 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, pressing the cutter straight down. Be careful not to twist the cutter or flatten the cut biscuit edges or you won’t get straight-sided, evenly shaped biscuits. Dip the cutter into flour between cuts to prevent sticking. If you do not have a biscuit cutter, use a straight-sided glass. Or, pat the dough into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle and cut into squares or triangles using a sharp knife.
Using a metal spatula, carefully transfer the cut biscuits to an ungreased baking sheet. For crusty-sided biscuits, place about 1 inch apart. For soft-sided biscuits, place biscuits close together in an ungreased baking pan.
Re-roll scraps of dough and cut into biscuit shapes. Try to cut out as many biscuits as possible from a single rolling of dough. Too many re-rollings of the dough causes biscuits to be tough and dry.
Bake biscuits in 450 degrees F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until biscuits are golden on the top and the bottom.
Serve warm.
Ural Motorcycles: Break Out
Routine, boredom, office slavery and chains of marriage – this is not about people who ride bikes. Ural motorcycle sets you free. It helps you get away from all this, and gives you absolute freedom.
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Utah Plastic Surgeon Allegedly Destroyed COVID Vaccines, Gave Fake Shots To Children
A Utah plastic surgeon, along with three others, is facing charges for allegedly administering fake COVID-19 vaccines to children, destroying vaccines, and distributing falsified vaccine cards.
Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, the owner of the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah in Midvale, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to court documents (pdf).
Moore’s office manager Kari Burgoyne, receptionist Sandra Flores, neighbor Kristin Andersen, and the Plastic Surgery Institute are also charged in the case.
The defendants are accused of running a vaccine scheme out of the physician’s business.
Moore and Andersen were allegedly members of a “private organization seeking to ‘liberate’ the medical profession from government and industry conflicts of interest,” the documents state.
In May 2021, Moore signed an agreement with the CDC to administer COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination cards. Court documents claim that Moore and Burgoyne then ordered “hundreds of doses of COVID-19 vaccines,” which they began receiving at the plastic surgery center in October 2021.
Working the Plan
After receiving the vaccine doses, the doctor and three others started notifying “fraudulent vax card seekers” that they could “receive fraudulently completed COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards from the Plastic Surgery Institute without having to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” the documents state.
Those seeking fraudulent vaccination cards were required to pay $50 cash or make a $50 donation to Moore and Andersen’s private organization.
Burgoyne allegedly managed the “day-to-day logistics of the scheme,” while Andersen handled the screening process. Once a person was successfully screened and had made their $50 payment, Andersen would send them forms to complete.
“Flores and other employees would then provide the Fraudulent Vax Card Seekers with the completed COVID-19 Vaccine Record Cards without administering any COVID-19 vaccine to them,” the document reads.
The group also gave fake vaccines to children when requested by the minors’ parents.
“Dr. Moore, Burgoyne, and Flores also arranged, at times, to administer or have others administer saline shots to minor children at the request of their parents so that the minor children would think they were actually receiving a COVID-19 vaccine,” according to the document.
The names of the fraudulent vaccination card seekers were uploaded to the Utah Statewide Immunization Information System.
Between Oct. 15, 2021, and Sept. 6, 2022, the Plastic Surgery Institute allegedly received about 2,200 doses of the vaccine and destroyed nearly 2,000 of them at a value of more than $28,000. The doses were destroyed “usually by drawing them from the bottle and then squirting them down the drain from a syringe.”
At least 1,937 fraudulent vaccination cards were allegedly sold at $50 each for a total of $96,850. The vaccination cards and the vaccine doses amounted to a combined value of nearly $125,000.
Undercover Agents
The scheme fell apart when an undercover agent managed to complete the “referral only” process and acquire a fake vaccination card.
A second agent went through the process and then asked Flores if his children could also receive a similar vaccine record card.
Flores “wrote on a Post-it note that ‘with 18 & younger, we do a saline shot,’ indicating that minors could receive saline shots and obtain the cards without receiving the vaccine,” the court papers say.
12,000-Year-Old Lost City Off New Orleans Coast or Imagination Gone Wild?
A self-proclaimed amateur archaeologist professes that mysterious granite stones found over the years by fishermen near the uninhabited Chandeleur Islands, located 50 miles east of New Orleans in the United States, are actually architectural artifacts from a 12,000-year-old lost city. Having visited the site 44 times, George Gelé, a retired architect, is convinced that he has found the remains of a submerged city predating the ancient Inca, Maya and Aztec civilizations of the Americas.
Even more startlingly, he claims that there is a pyramid in the granite city, which he has named “Crescentis”, that is related to the Great Pyramid at Giza ! The oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , the Great Pyramid is located in Greater Cairo in Egypt. “What’s down there are hundreds of buildings that are covered with sand and silt and that are geographically related to the Great Pyramid at Giza. Somebody floated a billion stones down the Mississippi River and assembled them outside what would later become New Orleans ,” Gelé told CBS affiliate WWL-TV.
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George Gelé claims that the lost city located off Chandeleur Islands is related to the Great Pyramid of Giza, seen here. ( merydolla / Adobe Stock)
The Building Blocks of the Lost City of “Crescentis”
So what exactly has Gelé built his theory of a lost city on? While its foundations may be weak, the building stones are solid enough. Local fishermen have for years been talking about netting strange square rocks near the Chandeleur Islands. Granite in the area is certainly something that requires explanation, given that it isn’t found naturally in Louisiana or Mississippi, reports the Sun.
Gelé, who has taken 44 trips to the site over nearly 50 years, has produced underwater sonar images of what he is convinced are discernible ruins of major buildings. These, he claims, include a large pyramid. “All I know is somebody built a city 12,000 years ago and it’s stuck out in Chandeleur. Whether or not they had someone on their shoulder who flew in with a UFO, I don’t know. All I know is they left a whole lot of granite rocks out there,” he said according to WWL-TV.
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An aerial view of Chandeleur Islands. Louisiana, Chandeleur Islands, St. Bernard Parish. (NOAA Restoration Center / CC BY 2.0 )
Another Bermuda Triangle?
But that’s not all. According to Gelé, the pyramid, which he estimates is 280 feet (85 meters) tall, produces an incredible amount of electromagnetic energy . His claims are corroborated by local shrimper Ricky Robin who’s been out with him on four excursions.
According to Robin, the compass on his boat spun completely out of control as they neared the point which Gelé told him was the tip of the pyramid. “Everything will go out on your boat, all your electronics. Like as if you were in the Bermuda Triangle . That’s exactly what we got here,” he is quoted in the Sun as saying . He added that the granite slabs that fishermen found in the area at regular intervals had long been a topic of discussion and putting two and two together, he thought of them immediately as pieces of the pyramid since it was exactly where his compass went crazy.
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George Gelé has spent almost 50 years studying the site where he believes a lost city is hiding underwater. (WWLTV / YouTube)
A Lost City? Or Are There More Mundane Explanations?
Though he has his adherents, many treat Gelé’s claims with skepticism, subscribing to explanations that are as of now less of a stretch of imagination than the theory of a submerged city near the Chandeleur Islands . And there are several of these rather more realistic explanations. One is from a late 1980s Texas A&M study which claims the granite blocks originate from old shipwrecks or ballast stones thrown overboard by Spanish and French ships to lighten their load as they entered shallow waters.
In fact, Gelé himself made a presentation in 2014 along similar lines. There he explored possibilities of the stone piles being from a construction dump or a build up from several shipwrecks. LSU archaeology professor Rob Mann told local newspaper the Advocate in 2011 that he believed the granite slabs originated from an abortive attempt to build an artificial reef. The state’s archaeologist told the same newspaper that while he agreed that barge loads of stones seemed to have been dumped there, the reasons were not clear.
The jury is still out on whether there is any substance to Gelé’s claims of a 12,000-year-old lost city, or whether the more commonplace explanations are closer to the truth. Certainly, Gelé’s hypothesis is more romantic. But until future dives, solar technology or satellite imaging help him put some proof out there, he will find it difficult to find serious scientific backing for his lost city ideas.
Top image: Representational image of a lost city at the bottom of the ocean. Source: diversepixel / Adobe Stock
By Sahir Pandey
Cast Iron Garlic Rolls
Cast Iron Garlic Rolls are a perfect addition to any weeknight meal.
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Prep: 10 min | Bake: 12 to 15 min | Servings: 10
Ingredients
10 Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
Spray a 10-inch cast iron skillet with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine melted butter, garlic powder, and parsley. Dip each roll into butter mixture, coating completely and arrange in skillet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.
Remove wrap and gently brush with remaining mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
Russia Throws Down Nuclear Gauntlet over M1, Bradley and other Offensive Weaponry to Kiev
This is FLASH TRAFFIC: Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russia Delegation to the Organization for Security and Coorperation in Europe (OSCE) has just publicly thrown down the nuclear gauntlet to the collective west, in an official statement:
Gavrilov said that he has been instructed by his government to announce “We know that the Leopard-2 tank, as well as the Bradley and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, are armed with uranium-core armor-piercing projectiles, the use of which leads to [radioactive] contamination of the area, as happened in Yugoslavia and Iraq.
If such shells are delivered to Kyiv, we will consider this as the use of dirty nuclear bombs against Russia, with all the ensuing consequences.”
It is a fact that the US and NATO do have Depleted Beryllium and Depleted Uranium ammunition which is used as “armor piercing” and “bunker busting” projectiles. None of these projectiles causes a nuclear chain reaction, so there is no nuclear blast from them. HOWEVER, when these particular projectiles strike their target, the metal used to make the projectiles (Uranium and/or Beryllium) is so dense, that it punches through whatever it hits. AS THAT HAPPENS, layers of the projectile disintegrate into highly radioactive powder which then travels by air, polluting entire areas for decades.
In Afghanistan, when the US used such weapons against the hideouts of Osama Bin Laden, the projectiles went through hundreds of feet of rock in the mountains and shed layers of radioactive material as they penetrated. This radioactive powder then polluted the groundwater for miles inside Afghanistan, leading to contaminated wells, which then lead to horrifying birth defects in almost all pregnant women who drank the water.
These effects have been deliberately concealed from US citizens by a compliant US media, but they occurred AND ARE STILL OCCURRING to this very day.
Russia has just thrown down the nuclear gauntlet to the West.
The probability of a now-Nuclear exchange – and outright nuclear war — just got very, VERY, real.
Another use of depleted uranium is in kinetic energy penetrators, anti-armor rounds such as the 120 mm sabot rounds fired from the British Challenger 1, Challenger 2, M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams. Kinetic energy penetrator rounds consist of a long, relatively thin penetrator surrounded by a discarding sabot. Staballoys are metal alloys of depleted uranium with a very small proportion of other metals, usually titanium or molybdenum. One formulation has a composition of 99.25% by mass of depleted uranium and 0.75% by mass of titanium. Staballoys are approximately 1.67 times as dense as lead and are designed for use in kinetic energy penetrator armor-piercing ammunition. The US Army uses DU in an alloy with around 3.5% titanium.
Depleted uranium is favored for the penetrator because it is self-sharpening and flammable. On impact with a hard target, such as an armored vehicle, the nose of the rod fractures in such a way that it remains sharp. The impact and subsequent release of heat energy causes it to ignite. When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew and possibly causing the vehicle to explode. DU is used by the U.S. Army in 120 mm or 105 mm cannons employed on the M1 Abramstank. The Soviet/Russian military has used DU ammunition in tank main gun ammunition since the late 1970s, mostly for the 115 mm guns in the T-62 tank and the 125 mm guns in the T-64, T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks.
The DU content in various ammunition is 180 g in 20 mm projectiles, 200 g in 25 mm ones, 280 g in 30 mm, 3.5 kg in 105 mm, and 4.5 kg in 120 mm penetrators. DU was used during the mid-1990s in the U.S. to make hand grenades, and land mines, but those applications have been discontinued, according to Alliant Techsystems. The US Navy used DU in its 20 mm Phalanx CIWS guns, but switched in the late 1990s to armor-piercing tungsten.
Only the US and the UK have acknowledged using DU weapons. 782,414 DU rounds were fired during the 1991 war in Iraq, mostly by US forces. In a three-week period of conflict in Iraq during 2003, it was estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of depleted uranium munitions were used. More than 300,000 DU rounds were fired during the 2003 war, the vast majority by US troops.
The Chill And Retro Motion Pixel Art Of Motocross Saito
Pixel artist, designer, DJ and track maker Motocross Saito creates memorable GIF animations in a retro style, channeling ’80s and ’90s culture and music, with a focus on hip hop. Although he has been introduced internationally as the “loneliness GIF” artist, as Motocross Saito explains in this interview with CNN Japan, what he is really aiming for in his animated GIF pixel art is to “express a feeling that can soothe your mind, create a calming effect.”
Many of his animated GIF scenes feature a common character, perhaps his alter ego, a school girl with blue hair who seems to like hip hop, flips through LPs at record shops, makes music and DJs in her home studio surrounded by all kinds of electronic music equipment, and apparently lives with her pet German shepherd.
The People’s Republic of China has fired back at US criticism of its relationship with Zambia, arguing that Washington should address its own crisis first.A statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Lusaka on Tuesday has urged the US Treasury to focus on “solving the US’ own domestic debt problem."“The biggest contribution that the US can make to the debt issues outside the country is to act on responsible monetary policies, cope with its own debt problem and stop sabotaging other sovereign countries’ active efforts to solve their debt issues,” the statement blasted.However, the embassy added that “even if the US one day solves its debt problem, it is not qualified to make groundless accusations against, or press for, other countries out of selfish interests, because it cannot at all alleviate [the] US’ tremendous responsibility for the reason of the world debt issues, let alone the fact the US’ domestic debt problem is now worsening the world’s economic and financial stability.”
Yes, the reply came from the Embassy but you can bet it was formulated in Beijing. There’s more to the article I urge barflies to read. IMO, this incident marks the opening salvo of the 2023 Debt War that the Outlaw US Empire has no hopes of winning but acts as if it can behave as it did in the past when there was little international resistance, which isn’t the case today.
Muntean / Rosenblum Paint Dramatic Scenes of Contemporary Life
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Artist duo Muntean / Rosenblum use traditional Christian iconography and Baroque modes of seeing to create mystique around contemporary life. Typically set in landscapes distinct to the 21st century, such as nuclear plants and graffiti-ed railroad tracks, the paintings appear as documentary film stills or snapshots of our current reality. However, by contorting perspectives in a dramatic Caravaggio-esque manner and devising moments where pain or discomfort appear as main subjects, Muntean / Rosenblum cultivate the same aura of the unknown that is so captivating in paintings centuries old.
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To further enhance the strange, almost sinister quality of the works, the London and Vienna-based artists insert philosophical musings as captions. For example, “We imagine that we remember things as they were, while in fact all we carry into the future are fragments which reconstruct a wholly illusory past,” is scrawled under the image of a man looking down solemnly, while behind him, an ambush of armed-police crouches amid heavy smoke. With this written clue, one decodes the painting as a representation of memory.
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While Muntean / Rosenblum use a variety of recurring motifs, none is as strong as the use of naked skin to translate ideas of innocence and vulnerability. In the context of Muntean / Rosenblum’s paintings, shirtless sleeping boys in boxer shorts; topless teens helping a fallen comrade; and a naked young girl fresh from the pool take on the role of a pseduo-Jesus. Despite (or maybe because of) their youth and naïveté, they are posed to absorb the evils of the world surrounding them.
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Potsdam Agreement that ended World War 2 VIOLATED! Germany to send tanks to Ukraine
After weeks of pressure from Western allies, Germany on Wednesday announced it will send battle tanks to Ukraine in violation of the Potsdam Agreement that ended World War 2, as the Kyiv’s war with Russia wages on, a move that may spur the U.S. to do the same.
Germany is set to send 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks and approve other countries’ requests to do the same, answering a longstanding call from Kyiv for the heavy combat vehicles.
Poland, in particular, was eager to supply Kyiv with the Leopard tanks — but Germany, which makes them, needed to sign off on the move before the tanks were sent to a country outside of the NATO alliance.
Former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton earlier this week knocked Berlin’s performance during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “incredibly disappointing” and a potential signal to Moscow of a weakness in the NATO front.
“NATO is a lot more fractured than some of its political leaders would like to let on,” Bolton said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely saw Germany as “the weak point in the alliance.”
The Biden administration could now move to send additional tanks, a reversal of its initial stance.
“The war started by [Russia] doesn’t allow delays. I can thank you hundreds of times – but hundreds of ‘thank you’ are not hundreds of tanks,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter over the weekend.
The Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany, its border, and the entire European Theatre of War territory. It also addressed Germany’s demilitarization, reparations, the prosecution of war criminals and the mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from various parts of Europe. France was not invited in the conference but formally still one of powers occupying Germany.
Executed as a communiqué, the agreement was not a peace treaty according to international law, although it created accomplished facts. It was superseded by the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany signed on 12 September 1990.
As De Gaulle had not been invited to the Conference, the French resisted implementing the Potsdam Agreements within their occupation zone. In particular, the French refused to resettle any expelled Germans from the east. Moreover, the French did not accept any obligation to abide by the Potsdam Agreement in the proceedings of the Allied Control Council; in particular resisting all proposals to establish common policies and institutions across Germany as a whole, and anything that they feared might lead to the emergence of an eventual unified German government.
Overview
After the end of World War II in Europe (1939–45), and the decisions of the earlier Tehran, Casablanca and Yalta Conferences, the Allies assumed supreme authority over Germany by the Berlin Declaration of June 5, 1945.
At the Potsdam Conference the Western Allies were presented with Stalin’s fait accompli awarding Soviet-occupied Poland the river Oder as its western border, placing the entire Soviet Occupation Zone east of it (with the exception of the Kaliningrad enclave), including Pomerania, most of East Prussia, and Danzig, under Polish administration. The German population who had not fled were expelled and their properties acquisitioned by the state. President Truman and the British delegations protested at these actions.
The Three Power Conference took place from 17 July to 2 August 1945, in which they adopted the Protocol of the Proceedings, August 1, 1945, signed at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam. The signatories were General Secretary Joseph Stalin, President Harry S. Truman, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who, as a result of the British general election of 1945, had replaced Winston Churchill as the UK’s representative. The three powers also agreed to invite France and China to participate as members of the Council of Foreign Ministers established to oversee the agreement. The Provisional Government of the French Republic accepted the invitation on August 7, with the key reservation that it would not accept a priori any commitment to the eventual reconstitution of a central government in Germany.
James F. Byrnes wrote “we specifically refrained from promising to support at the German Peace Conference any particular line as the western frontier of Poland.” The Berlin Protocol declared: “The three heads of government reaffirm their opinion that the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the [final] peace settlement.” Byrnes continues: “In the light of this history, it is difficult to credit with good faith any person who asserts that Poland’s western boundary was fixed by the conferences, or that there was a promise that it would be established at some particular place.”
In the Potsdam Agreement (Berlin Conference) the Allies (UK, USSR, US) agreed on the following matters:
Establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers, also including France and China; tasked the preparation of a peace settlement for Germany, to be accepted by the Government of Germany once a government adequate for the purpose had been established.
See the London Conference of Foreign Ministers and the Moscow Conference which took place later in 1945.
The principles to govern the treatment of Germany in the initial control period.
Post-war Germany to be divided into four Occupation Zones under the control of Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and France; with the Commanders-in-chief of each country’s forces exercising sovereign authority over matters within their own zones, while exercising authority jointly through the Allied Control Council for ‘Germany as a whole’.
Reduction or destruction of all civilian heavy industry with war potential, such as shipbuilding, machine production and chemical factories. Restructuring of German economy towards agriculture and light industry.
This section covered reparation claims of the USSR from the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. The section also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within two years. The Soviet Union withdrew its previous objections to French membership of the Allied Reparations Commission, which had been established in Moscow following the Yalta conference.
All but thirty submarines to be sunk and the rest of the German Navy was to be divided equally between the three powers.
The German merchant marine was to be divided equally between the three powers, and they would distribute some of those ships to the other Allies. But until the end of the war with the Empire of Japan all the ships would remain under the authority of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board and the United Maritime Authority.
The United States and Britain declared that they would support the transfer of Königsberg and the adjacent area to the Soviet Union at the peace conference.
The Three Governments have taken note of the discussions which have been proceeding in recent weeks in London between British, United States, Soviet and French representatives with a view to reaching agreement on the methods of trial of those major war criminals whose crimes under the Moscow Declaration of October 1943 have no particular geographical localization. The Three Governments reaffirm their intention to bring these criminals to swift and sure justice. They hope that the negotiations in London will result in speedy agreement being reached for this purpose, and they regard it as a matter of great importance that the trial of these major criminals should begin at the earliest possible date. The first list of defendants will be published before 1st September.
There should be a Provisional Government of National Unity recognized by all three powers, and that those Poles who were serving in British Army formations should be free to return to Poland. The provisional western border should be the Oder–Neisse line, with territories to the east of this excluded from the Soviet Occupation zone and placed under Polish and Soviet civil administration. Poland would receive former German territories in the north and west, but the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement; which eventually took place as the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in 1990.
Conclusion on peace treaties and admission to the United Nations organization.
It was noted that Italy had fought on the side of the Allies and was making good progress towards establishment of a democratic government and institutions and that after the peace treaty the three Allies would support an application from a democratic Italian government for membership of the United Nations. Further
[t]he three Governments have also charged the Council of Foreign Ministers with the task of preparing peace treaties for Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Romania. The conclusion of Peace Treaties with recognized democratic governments in these States will also enable the three Governments to support applications from them for membership of the United Nations. The three Governments agree to examine each separately in the near future in the light of the conditions then prevailing, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary to the extent possible prior to the conclusion of peace treaties with those countries.
The details were discussed later that year at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers and the treaties were signed in 1947 at the Paris Peace Conference
By that time the governments of Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary were Communist.
Territorial Trusteeship
Italian former colonies would be decided in connection with the preparation of a peace treaty for Italy. Like most of the other former European Axis powers the Italian peace treaty was signed at the 1947 Paris Peace Conference.
Now that hostilities in Europe were at an end the Western Allies should have a greater input into the Control Commissions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Annex to this agreement included detailed changes to the workings of the Hungarian Control Commission.
The Three Governments, having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner.
“German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland” refers to Germans living within the 1937 boundaries of Poland up to the Curzon line going East. In theory, that German ethnic population could have been expelled to the Polish temporarily administered territories of Silesia, Farther Pomerania, East Prussia and eastern Brandenburg.
Because the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany were under great strain, the Czechoslovak government, the Polish provisional government and the control council in Hungary were asked to submit an estimate of the time and rate at which further transfers could be carried out having regard to the present situation in Germany and suspend further expulsions until these estimates were integrated into plans for an equitable distribution of these “removed” Germans among the several zones of occupation.
Allied troops were to withdraw immediately from Tehran and that further stages of the withdrawal of troops from Iran should be considered at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in London in September 1945.
The city of Tangier and the area around it should remain international and discussed further.
The Black sea straits.
The Montreux Convention should be revised and that this should be discussed with the Turkish government.
International inland waterways
European inland transport conference.
Directives to the military commanders on allied control council for Germany.
Use of Allied property for satellite reparations or war trophies
These were detailed in Annex II
Military Talks
Annex I
Annex II
Moreover, towards concluding the Pacific Theatre of War, the Potsdam Conference issued the Potsdam Declaration, the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender (26 July 1945) wherein the Western Allies (UK, US, USSR) and the Nationalist China of General Chiang Kai-shek asked Japan to surrender or be destroyed.
Aftermath
Already during the Potsdam Conference, on 30 July 1945, the Allied Control Council was constituted in Berlin to execute the Allied resolutions (the “Four Ds”):
The northern half of the German province of East Prussia, occupied by the Red Army during its East Prussian Offensive followed by its evacuation in winter 1945, had already been incorporated into Soviet territory as the Kaliningrad Oblast. The Western Allies promised to support the annexation of the territory north of the Braunsberg–Goldap line when a Final German Peace Treaty was held.
Post-war, ‘Germany as a whole’ would consist solely of aggregate territories of the respective zones of occupation. As all former German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line were excluded from the Soviet Occupation Zone, they were consequently excluded from ‘Germany as a whole’.
EXPULSIONS
In the course of the proceedings, Polish communists had begun to suppress the German population west of the Bóbr river to underline their demand for a border on the Lusatian Neisse. The Allied resolution on the “orderly transfer” of German population became the legitimation of the expulsion of Germans from the nebulous parts of Central Europe, if they had not already fled from the advancing Red Army.
The expulsion of ethnic Germans by the Poles concerned, in addition to Germans within areas behind the 1937 Polish border in the West (such as in most of the old Prussian province of West Prussia), the territories placed “under Polish administration” pending a Final German Peace Treaty, i.e. southern East Prussia (Masuria), Farther Pomerania, the New March region of the former Province of Brandenburg, the districts of the GrenzmarkPosen-West Prussia, Lower Silesia and those parts of Upper Silesia that had remained with Germany after the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite. It further affected the German minority living within the territory of the former Second Polish Republic in Greater Poland, eastern Upper Silesia, Chełmno Land and the Polish Corridor with Danzig.
Though the Potsdam Agreement referred only to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, expulsions also occurred in Romania, where the Transylvanian Saxons were deported and their property disseized, and in Yugoslavia. In the Soviet territories, Germans were expelled from northern East Prussia (Oblast Kaliningrad) but also from the adjacent Lithuanian Klaipeda Region and other lands settled by Baltic Germans.
IRS Alerts Taxpayers They Must Answer a New Question On Tax Forms Or Face Consequences
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an alert to taxpayers on Tuesday,reminding them that they must report all digital asset-related income and answer a new digital asset question on their 2022 federal income tax return or face consequences such as delayed refunds or even penalties.
The IRS said in a Jan. 24 release that a key change on 1040 forms this year is that the agency has replaced the term “virtual currency” with “digital assets,” in addition to some other modifications to the wording.
The “Yes” or “No” question, which was expanded and revised this year to update terminology, reads as follows:
“At any time during 2022, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, gift or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?”
“All taxpayers must answer the question regardless of whether they engaged in any transactions involving digital assets,” the agency cautioned.
It is a legal requirement to accurately report all income, including income from digital assets, on federal income tax returns. Failure to do so could result in non-compliance with tax laws and possible penalties.
The IRS has provided a detailed explanation of what constitutes a digital asset, which includes such things as stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrencies.
Taxpayers need to check the “Yes” box if they:
Received digital assets as payment for property or services provided;
Transferred digital assets for free (without receiving any consideration) as a bona fide gift;
Received digital assets resulting from a reward or award;
Received new digital assets resulting from mining, staking, and similar activities;
Received digital assets resulting from a hard fork (a branching of a cryptocurrency’s blockchain that splits a single cryptocurrency into two);
Disposed of digital assets in exchange for property or services;
Disposed of a digital asset in exchange or trade for another digital asset;
Sold a digital asset; or
Otherwise disposed of any other financial interest in a digital asset.
Those who tick the “Yes” box must also report all income related to their digital asset transactions on relevant forms. For instance, an investor who sold cryptocurrency during 2022 would use Form 8949, Sales and other Dispositions of Capital Assets.
Taxpayers should check the “No” box if they merely owned digital assets but didn’t engage in any transactions involving them in 2022.
They should also tick “No” if they merely transferred digital assets from one wallet or account they own or control to another one that they own or control, and if they bought digital assets using real currency like the U.S. dollar.
Many Americans Will See Smaller Tax Refunds
The IRS has warned that many taxpayers should expect a smaller refund this tax season because of tax law changes including the expiration of pandemic-related stimulus payments that would otherwise have boosted refund balances.
“Due to tax law changes such as the elimination of the Advance Child Tax Credit and no Recovery Rebate Credit this year to claim pandemic-related stimulus payments, many taxpayers may find their refunds somewhat lower this year,” the IRS said in a press release on Jan. 23, the day the agency began tax returns for 2022 earnings.
Not all tax filers will see lower refunds as individual circumstances vary; many will see smaller checks.
The Recovery Rebate Credit was a way for millions of Americans to receive pandemic support if they did not receive their full amount via stimulus checks.
This credit was available for missing amounts from the first, second, and third round stimulus checks, and could only be claimed on 2020 and 2021 tax returns.
The stimulus checks were discontinued in December 2021 and the missing third-round amounts could only be claimed on a 2021 tax return filed in 2022.
However, people who may have missed the opportunity to claim missing third-round stimulus payments can review their 2021 tax return and consider filing an amended return.
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) for 2022 tax returns has been reduced to $2,000 per child, down from the expanded amount of $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children between 6 and 17 in 2021.
Some taxpayers may be eligible for an Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which would allow them to receive up to $1,500 of the CTC as a refund on their tax return.
Also, a tax credit that working parents can use to help cover child care costs or that people with adult dependents can use for the same purpose is lower in 2022.
Double Orange Scones with Orange Butter
Double Orange Scones with Orange Butter
Ingredients
Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/3 cup butter
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon sugar
Orange Butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
Instructions
Scones: Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well.
Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
Add oranges, milk and egg, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface, and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.
Pat dough into a 6-inch circle on a greased baking sheet.
Cut into wedges; separate wedges slightly.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Serve warm with orange butter.
Orange Butter: Combine butter and orange marmalade in a small bowl, stirring well.
Man Dies In Car Crash; Taught About Creation And The Quantum World (NDE)
I do not have enough time to devote myself to the needs of my little daughter. She (at her age) is 24-7, and I am working multiple jobs and multiple projects. But, you know, I always try to give her priority. So, I have these little events. One of which is an occasional movie with her and myself. I try to do it weekly.
Our time.
Give her momma a break.
So we sit down on the sofa, and watch a movie. Given her age, and my activity schedule, we usually break the movie down into two segments,; the first half on one day, and the the rest on another.
During the movie, we eat a snack. Mostly being a small bag of potato chips, or some crunchy “kid snacks”, and we sit down and watch the movie. I like “American style” Lays (yellow bag) potato chips. We set the bag down, and using scissors, cut a big hole on the side so it forms a kind of disposable tray.
I also make sure that she went to the bathroom before we get started.
Mostly we watched downloaded movies in torrent format, then saved on the drive. I just pull them up and we watch uninterrupted.
The movies that I select are based on things that I want her to concentrate on…
Love
Tenderness, compassion
Independence
Winning over adversity
And so my list is not going to be the average fare that you find on the internet. In fact, you might be surprised in the lack of Disney films (though some are included), and the high concentration of Studio Ghibli films (all in English over dub animation).
Most of the videos you can find easily on the internet with a little bit of sleuthing. Since my child is bilingual (English and Chinese) versions of the movies in these languages are fine, and interchangeable. However, we seek out English versions (say for example) the Japanese movies.
Here’s my preferred videos, in no particular order…
A delightful fantasy that will bring out the child in anyoneHave you ever wished that you could escape your dull and stressful life at school or work and go on a magical adventure of your own, with one of your closest friends at your side, facing all sorts of dangers and villains, and unraveling the mystery of a lost civilization that's just waiting for someone to discover all its secrets?
Even if you're not quite that much of a fantasy-lover, have you ever wished you could simply experience what it's like to be a kid again, and not have a care in the world, for just a couple of hours?
This is exactly what Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky" is all about.
Pazu, a young but very brave and ambitious engineer, lives a rustic life in a mining town until one day, a girl named Sheeta falls down from the sky like an angel and takes him on a journey to a place far beyond the clouds, while all the while they have pirates and military units hot on their trail.
Simply put, it is just the incredible adventure that every kid dreams of at one point or another, and I can't help but feel my worries melt away every time I see it.
An English dub of this film was produced by the Walt Disney Company in 1999 (originally intended to be released that same year), but wasn’t released on DVD until 2003. The English dub shortens the title to “Castle in the Sky,” removing the word “Laputa,” since it means “the whore” in Spanish.
Cat Woman (2004)
A adult film, not an animation. Talks about a strong woman, transformation, change, righting wrongs, and being a cat.
I want my daughter to be strong, and tough. When we watch this movie, she loves the scenes of cats, and how “cat woman” behaves. For days afterwards, she acts a little cat-like in her walk, talk and playing ball. LOL.
2023 02 05 11 57
Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is a visual artist who is stuck working in the advertising division of a large beauty product manufacturer, Hedare. When she acquires information that could potentially put the company out of business, they try to dispose of her. Because she had previously, unwittingly passed a "test", however, she is saved by a group of cats and transformed into a Catwoman.First, let me note that I loved this film. It's a 10 out of 10 for me. Since I'm well aware that most critics, professional and amateur alike, have trashed this film, I'll focus on why I thought it was so good. Maybe this will help some new viewers consider giving it a look, and possibly encourage some reevaluation by those who have already seen the film.The script immediately drew me into the film, and although I'm male, I identified with Patience. I'm also a visual artist. I have also worked for a company similar to Hedare in the past (although a much smaller and less nefarious beauty product company). I lived in an apartment that looked, on the outside, almost exactly the same as Patience's apartment complex. I also had neighbors who night after night played loud music or television until three or four a.m., while I first tried to block out the sound in any way that I could, then asked politely for them to turn the music down, and so on, until I finally called the cops on them so I could get some sleep.Not that I need to identify with a character to like a film, but that made this one have extra resonance with me in the beginning. Additionally, I was immediately drawn in by the fantastic cinematography and set design. Those kinds of things are just as important in a movie as the story is. Film is a visual and aural artform. The whole package is important. Creative, attractive visuals such as those in Catwoman are part of the package.The script, including the subtexts, worked well for me. Catwoman is a film about discovering identities, peeling away literal and metaphorical masks, and the difference between various stages of public versus private "faces". That the plot is centered on a beauty product manufacturer, then, is perfect. These themes permeate every aspect of the film. For example, Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt) is continually peeling away the appearances of Patience, throughout the length of the film, and Patience is doing the same for herself--discovering her "true self". I can't think of a scene that doesn't touch on this theme in some way. That's very clever and thought-provoking scriptwriting, and it doesn't end there. There are also themes about femininity cleverly woven through the film, for example.I thought the cast did a fantastic job. Berry is great as a Catwoman, and subtly referenced most of the previous screen Catwomen. She also incorporated a lot of crafty cat-like behavior. I enjoyed the supporting cast, especially Alex Borstein as Patience's friend, Sally. The effects worked well for me, and at times they were also very subtle and clever, such as Catwoman's whip representing a tail in many shots (most of this was achieved via digital effects). I was also impressed with the creativity and different approach of many of the fight scenes. It was nice to see Brazilian martial arts incorporated for a change.Some of the negative criticism probably stems from a kind of purism that is disproportionately found among comic book fans when it comes to comic book films. I'm not much of a purist, but in any event, for anyone paying close attention, you'd note that Berry's character isn't supposed to be Selina Kyle. In the mythology of as presented here, "Catwoman" isn't a lone token, but a type. Patience is just another instantiation of a long line of catwomen. So departures from previous portrayals of Selina Kyle aren't relevant, even if we believed that filmmakers were obligated in some way to previous depictions of the "same" fictional characters (which I don't believe, not being a purist).Catwoman is worth a (second) chance if you can leave some of your preconceptions at the door and if you're prepared to think a bit about a comic book film.
2023 02 05 11 57d
Epic (2013)
Shrinking to the size of ants, and inhabiting a huge ancient forest; with a mad-scientist father… it’s stuff that kids just eat up. The parade scenes, and all the interplay is mesmerizing to my daughter. She just cannot keep her eyes off it.
2023 02 05 12 09
I didn't think I'd like this movie, but I took my 10-year-old cousin to see it anyway, and I really loved it.I've heard this film compared to everything--FernGully, The Borrowers, Avatar, etc., and while it is another film in that genre and it may be a little cliché, it does create its own fascinating world and tell its story in a unique way. Its themes are heavy (family and belonging, the balance between growth and decay/life and death) but are handled in a successfully child-friendly manner.The animation and design are gorgeous. I love the cute fairy-like flower and leaf people; I even love the design of the goblin-like bad guys (the Boggan). I want to see more stories set in this incredible little world. I also appreciate how much care went into animating that forest.While the characters are pretty familiar, they're still delightful. I thought the choice of voice actors was particularly good. I liked Amanda Seyfried as the main character, M.K. (Mary Katherine), I looooved Colin Farrell as Ronin, and I have to say, I was really pleasantly surprised by Beyonce as Queen Tara. She has a voice just like honey, which fits the queen's sweet, playful personality. Queen Tara emerges as one of my favorite animated characters of all time (and NO, I do not find her voice "too ghetto." I don't appreciate people sniffing down their noses at others that way) because she carried so much of the movie with what turned out to be really minimal role. Plus, I always love to see people of color portrayed positively in children's films.I would definitely take kids to see this again, although it might be too scary for kids younger than 6 and too slow for kids older than 12. Folks have to admit, this is a fun movie to watch, and highly imaginative kids especially will love it.
2023 02 05 12 03
Free Guy (2021)
Just fun. Modern. Interfaces clearly with social media usage by children. Totally relatable, with deep messages…
…strong woman character. Nice guy.
A message of helping others…
2023 02 05 12 13e
One glance at FREE GUY, the newest big budget offering from Hollywood's favorite action-star/comedy master Ryan Reynolds, will cause most to approach with valid skepticism.
The plot seems like a cheap knockoff of films like Ready Player One or even The Matrix, but made in a crude fashion to make more money at the box office.
The actual movie, however, could not be further from the worst estimates.
Not only is FREE GUY constantly hilarious due to Reynolds and an inventive screenplay, and not only is this possibly the feel-good event of the summer, but it also has a considerable amount of thought put into the meaning of its premise and places a mirror in front of modern-day video game culture.To put it simply, perhaps the main reason this movie comes together so well is because of Ryan Reynolds' constant charisma and hilarity. Most of his dialogue is clearly either written by him or created by him on the spot (I have no idea how he hasn't received a screenwriting credit for this and the Deadpool movies), and the film is that much better as a whole because of it. He also interacts with the other actors in the film very well, including Jodie Comer and Joe Keery, two underrated actors who prove here that they aren't just one-time stars from their respective television shows (Killing Eve and Stranger Things). The ensemble combines to create the most consistently funny movie of 2021 so far.However, this movie isn't just hilarity and crazy antics, although it could easily get by on those aspects alone.
FREE GUY has tons of heart and authenticity despite its virtual reality-based plot, and is about very human emotions such as disillusionment, the feeling of being trapped, and, of course, love.
There are times where the heartwarming aspects of this film resemble a charming romantic comedy and others where it gets so existential that it almost feels like The Truman Show.
It never dives quite as deep as the latter film, but the fact that it even has the guts to include these themes made this easygoing big-budget movie a far better watch for me.
Sure, the last thirty minutes are very cheesy and contain a lot of clichés, but the buildup is so solid that it earns some dumb rom-com moments near the end.FREE GUY is worth going to see because it is one of the few quality films right now that increases one's faith in human nature.
Lately I feel as though I have lost my faith in humanity with all that is happening in the world, so it is refreshing to get a movie that feels confident in the human experience.
Maybe I'm looking too deep into the message of FREE GUY and maybe it was conceived just so Ryan Reynolds could screw around for two hours, but either way the price of admission is well worth it for an amazing time at the theater.
2023 02 05 12 13
Home (2015)
A fun adventure about an independent girl searching for her mother (a big hit with my young daughter) and her cat. It teaches to face face your fears, friendships, promises, and handling adversity. All to a fun soundtrack.
2023 02 05 12 29
...there's something so utterly sweet and innocent about Home that it zooms by with an enchanting charm.
When people tell you to calm down by going to your happy place, it probably looks something like this.
It's arguably the most child-centric movie Dreamworks have produced for a few years too.
The adult-targeted humour is kept to a minimum and the physical comedy is amped up to levels that is normally irritating but here works an absolute treat.
Its success can be attributed, in a big way, to the lovable alien Oh (Jim Parsons). A clumsy go-getter with endearing optimism, cuddly colour-changing looks, and amusing speech patterns, Oh steals the spotlight whenever he is on screen, which is about 95% of the time.
As his plucky partner in adventure, Tip, Rihanna's precocious human child is fairly stock standard, whilst Steve Martin's dim-witted leader of Oh's Boov race lands a few hilarious moments among some dull ones. Vibrant, energetic and with an unexpected tear-jerking finale, Home falls on the right side of simple.
2023 02 05 12 28
Here’s the Music Video, with scenes from the video.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
In a time of war and falsity here it is a dancing poetry from Japan against all the cruelty and pain.
The moving castle leads us to a magic place where life has a strong value and elderly people have an important role to play. Also in an apparent hostility or in a scarecrow, Hayao Miyazaki gives us the chance of finding a friend and not letting the dream go down.
2023 02 05 13 51x
The perfect technique and the emotional stream are in complete harmony. If the jury of the Venice Film Festival had been more far-seeing, it would have given a more prestigious prize to this masterpiece.
2023 02 05 13 51
Kikis Delivery Service (1989)
One of our favorites. A young girl leaves home with her cat to begin her start as a young witch. Calm, peaceful and enchanting. My little girl loves the imagery, pace and feeling of the movie.
2023 02 05 13 56
One of the greatest children’s films ever made
This ranks up there with Pinocchio as the greatest movie for children ever made. One huge problem with most animated children's films are that the plots are so conventional and often contain very 1950s ideals for society that they become detrimental to society.
One's childhood is the most impressionable time in their life, so movies that are directed towards them teach them what places different sorts of people play in society.
There is a very humorous, but also very serious bit of dialogue in a film called The Last Days of Disco where characters discuss the effects Lady and the Tramp could have on little girls, depicting a young female dog falling for a vagabond Tramp.
This, they muse, sets young women up to fall for rebellious men later in life.
This may seem like a humorous idea, but it's absolutely true.
Even good Disney movies give children these standards. As nice as The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves may be, they basically teach that it is the woman's place to grow up and get married, prefereably to a handsome rich man (perhaps the rich part is never said, but both the main male characters in these films do happen to own castles).
The writers of these films probably had no idea that that is what they were doing, but it is.
That is why Pinocchio is the best Disney movie. It is probably the only Disney animated film that I can think of that actually concerns the predicament of its target audience: children. I can hardly think of a single (American) animated film besides it that has a child as its main character (oh, the Jungle Book, which is also excellent).
Then comes Kiki's Delivery Service.
It is an absolutely perfect movie about a young girl out on her own trying to handle the responsibilities of life. It is, in my opinion, the best movie that a child can watch.
And not only will it teach children, it is also marvelously animated, directed, and written.
There is a plethora of great characters, exciting moments, and imaginative situations. It should also expand a child's mind, not only because of the imagination involved, which will help to break children away from conventions in their film experience, thus making them more intelligent, but because it comes from another culture.
It doesn't overtly show its Japaneseness, unless you count the imagination involved (though you should count that as a credit towards Hayao Miyazaki, who is the greatest genius of animation as far as I'm concerned). But it may spark an interest in children old enough to understand that someone from another country made it. Also, for younger kids, Miyazaki's fantastic, equally good My Neighbor Totoro. 10/10
(ps: I have only seen the English dubbed version of this film. I find it perfectly acceptable and great.
Nothing made me cringe, anyway. I think Kirsten Dunst did a very good job characterizing Kiki, a much better job than Claire Danes did characterizing San from Princess Mononoke.)
2023 02 05 13 5f5
2023 02 05 13 55ff
Labyrinth (1986)
A kids’ movie. I remember watching this on Betamax in the late 1980’s. But my daughter absolutely adores it.
2023 02 05 14 0g3
Labyrinth was directed by Jim Henson of the Muppet and The Dark Crystal fame. It was produced by George Lucas and featured David Bowie as the villain Goblin King. It's also one of Jennifer Connelly's first films. And it just might be the best live-action Alice in Wonderland film ever made.
Sarah (Connelly) is a proud cloudcuckoolander, someone whose head is permanently stuck in the clouds and who can very easily lose entire days playing make-belief in the parks. And then she's given the unenviable task of looking after her baby brother while her parents go out on a date. And of course the kid gets kidnapped by goblins within fifteen minutes. Top notch job there, Sarah.
To Sarah's credit, she's obviously distraught by this and does everything she can to get her brother back. Nevertheless, her character is a bit tough to get behind most of the time. You can see that her heart is in the right place, but otherwise she's a brat. Not helping the matter is Connelly's acting. It's atrocious, especially in the early scenes. As the movie progresses, she does get better, but she's not going to be winning any Oscars anytime soon. (Which is ironic because fifteen years later she did just that with her role in A Beautiful Mind.)
2023 02 05 14 0d3
But, putting that aside, the film is otherwise a whole lot of fun. David Bowie is an absolute blast, although the songs he's given to sing could have been better. Jim Henson's puppet work is also on full display and is easily the best part of the film. Furthermore, the story has that mad, no logic whatsoever dream quality to it, which makes it enjoyable to watch, and the characters aside from Sarah are very enjoyable.
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
This plays upon the “must save momma” theme that my daughter is a big fan of. Her eyes are glued to the video, and he’s hopping up and down as they race to save “momma”. It’s one of our favorites.
2023 02 05 14 11
I wasn't going to watch this movie at all because of the terribly low score (4) on IMDb. Luckily, my kids talked me into it, and I was very pleasantly surprised indeed.I am amazed that this movie scored so low. Yes, granted, its nothing groundbreaking; there are plenty of well-worn formulas applied. But its far from unusual in this regard, and the story is full of fun situations and characters.Visually, its very nice to look at, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the time I spent watching it. So did my kids, 8 and 10, who both thought it was great! I don't usually review movies here, but I often check the ratings before watching films. In this instance, I am amazed at the low rating this film received, and feel its unrepresentative of the actual quality.
2023 02 05 14 09
I wasn't expecting this at all. I really wasn't. I hadn't read the bad reviews, however I saw the trailer and figured it would be quite cheesy and probably lame. Oh no aliens took my mother and I have to stop them! Sounded like a cheesy cartoon which would involve shooting aliens and running around to find his mom and save her, yada yada yada.Well... boy was I surprised.The movie started out with the whole alien world and because I knew the title was Mars needs Moms it implied the aliens were looking for moms. I watched them show two moms who's kids weren't listening, then it showed a third one who minded his mom. Satisfied by this result, it shows the boy and his mom and how the boy is in that age where he doesn't know why he should listen to his mom. Before they go to bed he says he wishes he didn't have a mom. The emotion from that makes you feel so bad.Now many scenes later the mom got abducted by the aliens, and the boy managed to hitch a ride and meets some new friends and learns a lot. By the time the ending comes you really hope he can save his mom.
The emotions I felt were amazing.
More amazing though was the fact that I eve got some tears near the end. I won't say what happens, but it was very emotional and powerful to me.So I would recommend this movie to anyone. And I'm 18 for your information, so hearing that a young adult got tears from a movie like this must be something.
Meet the Robinson’s (2007)
“Keep on moving forward”
Lewis is an 12-year-old orphan who is always inventing things. However, in a science fair, he meets Wilbur, a 13-year-old boy from the future who is chasing after a Bowler Hat Man who came to the past to steal Lewis' invention, a machine that shows memories. When he steals it, Wilbur takes Lewis to the future, as Wilbur explains he is chasing the villain due to him stealing a time machine. This would lead to an adventure where Lewis meets Wilbur's family, The Robinsons, and stop The Bowler Hat Man from changing the future.
This is a horribly underrated film.
The characters are actually enjoyable, especially the members of Wilbur's family, from Uncle Art, the galactic pizza delivery guy voiced by the late Adam West, to Tiny The T-Rex, each character has an unique personality and talent.
Also, the film is beautifully animated and teaches a lesson: keep going forward, despite your failures.
This is worth checking out.
2023 02 05 15 41
Moana (2016)
Just fun, and a great happy movie with depth.
Wow, what a great great movie! The visuals in this movie are breathtaking!! They are so gorgeous! But, besides the visuals there is such a heart and imagination and creativity to this movie. Moana is such a likable, smart, and relatable person. the voice work for Moana is so sweet and so good. The chemistry between Moana and Maui is so great and so natural. The songs in this movie are so charming, catchy and fun! But, How Far I'll Go is such an emotional song and it has such heart...I dare say I like it a little more than Let It Go! The way Moana sings it and you can feel it!! Wow, I just looved this movie and it is great for kids and adults. I will always love it and I wanna see it again!
2023 02 05 15 44
My Neighbor Totoro aka Tonari no Totoro (1988)
This is our all-time favorite movie to watch. If you are a father, and you want to spend an afternoon with your daughter, this is perfect. Track down the English version. I got mine via a torrent.
2023 02 05 15 50
This is the movie I watch to restore my faith in humanityI first saw "My Neighbor Totoro" when I was maybe seven.At the time, I thought that it was really boring(that was still when I liked Disney movies). Years later, when I discovered "Princess Mononoke" I learned that MNT was by the same director and watched it again. And I find that I appreciate this film a whole lot more now then I did when I was seven.
The animation is absolutely stunning(as with all Miyazaki films)and the story is deceptively simple, told with patient, subtle attention to detail. The best example IMO is the scene where Mei falls asleep on Totoro's stomach.It's fruitless to try and describe it;you have to see it for yourself.
2023 02 05 15 51
I absolutely agree with Roger Ebert who called "My Neighbor Totoro", "One of the most beloved of all family films".
Its colorfully bright and sparkling animation is enchanting.
It is incredibly realistic and at the same time makes us along with two main characters, the young sisters ready for a miracle to happen any minute.
The gentle story is touching, uplifting, funny, and tender without being overly sentimental or didactic.
The film takes place in the early 50s, when 10-year-old Satsuki and her baby sister, curious and energetic 4-year-old Mei spend one summer in an old house in the country side with their University professor father while their mother recovers from a serious illness in the nearby hospital.
The great master Hayao Miyazaki remembers well what it is like to be a child, to see magic in the everyday life and be always ready to encounter it.
This ability usually disappears as the child becomes adult but it stays forever in a few chosen, and they become the visionary Artists - just like Miyazaki himself.
The film is partially autobiographical for the writer/director/storyboard artist. "When Miyazaki and his brothers were children, his mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis for nine years, and spent much of her time hospitalized.
It is implied, yet never revealed in the film, that Satsuki and Mei's mother also suffers from tuberculosis.
He once said the film would have been too painful for him to make if the two protagonists were boys instead of girls." (From the IMDb film trivia)
Totoro of the title is an adorable funny blue forest spirit who lives in the nest beneath a huge tree and makes the trees grow and the winds blow.
Totoro becomes the friend and protector of the sisters and one day he sends them on the bus journey that is like nothing they and the viewers could ever imagine.
I wish I could ride that cat bus.
What a wild and kind imagination an artist should have to create it.
How much happier we all are knowing that Hayao Miyazaki exists and makes his amazing films at the Studio Ghibli for which King Totoro is the mascot.
Spirited Away (2001)
No only a classic, but a movie about a young girl who is trying to get her parents back. There’s magic, dragons, friends, and so many details to mention that it boggles the mind.
2023 02 05 15 56
This is a wonderfully imaginative and fantastical children's fantasy. It is easy to see why it was perhaps the critical hit of 2002. The film is glorious to look at. It is a testament to old fashioned animation techniques that seem to be resigned to foreign animations. Of course there is some use of computer imagery for certain shots but they blend seamlessly and the overall artistry involved is superlative.
2023 02 05 15 57
This is the first Hayao Miyazaki film I have seen and I will certainly watch his others. The story plays on many elements successful with kids films, that transport you back to your own childhood and also allows the young audience to connect with the themes in the movie too. The story centres around Chihiro, a young girl about to move into a new place and who feels insecure about the new environment she will be living in. These fears become a part of her encounter with a strange abandoned amusement park that she and her parents find when they reach a dead end in their car. At the park they find that their is a stall that is seemingly open, with glorious displays of mouth watering food. There are no people about but Chihiros parents decide to gorge themselves on this bounty and pay later. As Chihioro explores she comes across a strange boy who warns her to get out before dark. It is too late however, because as night falls, ghosts are awakened, and then by the time she gets back to her parents they are turned into pigs. She then finds that the route she came from is gone and she is now trapped in this place, her only allie being the boy she met earlier. She is told to get a job at the centre piece of the park, a bath house run by Yubaba, an evil power mad witch. This is a bath house for the spirits and Chihiro has to find a job there before she is found and turned into an animal herself, then unable to save her parents.
2023 02 05 15 5s8
The story is imaginative and the characters and animations endlessly unique and strange. This is just so much more creative than Hollywood. The characters are likeable and we become engrossed with Chihiros adventures inside this bathhouse, and the characters she comes into contact with as she tries to get her parents back as humans and whilst trying to get back to the human world. What I also loved in this film is that the animation gives it a real sense of cinematography, the drawing makes the film stand out in a way that American animations rarely do. Another film I think of that looked really good was Bellville Rendezvous. Another great point in fact the best part of it, is the fantastic score. It really is uplifting and very original. This is just great film making.
2023 02 05 15 58
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
2023 02 05 16 04c
Oh, the dog; Snowy makes this movie fun for the young kids, it’s really fun for the entire family. Treasure, adventure, high-seas adventure, planes, desert, and so much more…
2023 02 05 16 03x
As you may know Tin Tin is a very old character and there has been books and TV programs made about his great adventures by his inventor Hergé.
This new film has been voted the best animated film and once you've seen this film you'll know why.
The film is well paced out and there's never a dull moment in this film. The 3D in this film is spectacular and it's well worth seeing this film in 3D if you can.
The film is around 1 hour 47 minutes long and in this time Steven Spielberg manages to squash in a good few adventures into one in this film.
This makes it much more exciting and you really get to know how Tin Tin and Captain Haddock were in the old days.
As a projectionist, I've seen this film about 6 times now and I still don't get bored watching it.
Absolutely brilliant film, I really recommend going to see this film as soon as you can.
Hope the review helps your thoughts on the film. Thanks for reading, I'll be making more reviews on the films that I see at my cinema so you can get the latest thoughts from me on the films. Thanks again BPH projectionist
One of my daughter’s favorite movies. Cats, kids. School. And magical adventure. The English dub version is just lovely.
2023 02 05 16 08s
After the wild but fully justified furore surrounding Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli's next production is a much lower key affair, clearly aimed at a younger market. Having said that, this cynical thirty-something loved it to bits. Ghibli purists seem to be somewhat snobbish about the studio's output, but If this is an example of one of their films designed more for harmless family entertainment, I can stand to see a lot more of it.
This is a wonderful fantasy film, cute and funny, and full of remarkable and memorable characters. The animation is solid and detailed, occasionally even breathtaking, and the soundtrack is gorgeous. The brisk running time ensures the light story doesn't outstay its welcome. In fact, I could easily have watched more, and I'm already looking forward to Ghibli's or Miyazaki's next flight of fantasy.
2023 02 05 16 08
Up (2009)
There are many more that I can add, but I really want to add this masterpiece. It is well known, but should never be over-looked if you want to share some time with your daughter….
I remember my mother cooking for us kids back in the 1960s. She had this thing (as all our moms did) with BIG hair. She would wear these curlers in her hair all day, and they were enormous round things too. And when she would cook, she would have this long ashy cigarette in her mouth, or held in her long fingernailed hand while she would cook on our olive green stove.
We had a yellow (Ma Bell) telephone on the wall. It had a rotary dial, and a long cord so that you could talk in the other room if you wanted some privacy.
We had numerous ashtrays in the house. One had a beanbag on the bottom, so that it can be used on the sofa.
My mother would light her cigarette on the electric stove, by using the burner. And when she was finished she would toss it in the garbage disposal unit in the sink.
Our kitchen had olive appliances; olive refrigerator, stove, and this enormous Sears microwave that sat up on the red countertop of our yellow metal cabinets. We had the ceramic his and her salt and pepper shakers that looked like a boy and girl kissing, a macramé plant holder near the window, an old picture of a sad clown on the wall, and (near the TV room) two paintings of big-eyed beatnik boy and a girl. The boy had a guitar, and the girl had a tambourine in her hands.
I guess you never see that these days, a mother cooking with a cigarette in one hand and frying bacon in the other. But I’ll never forget the scene.
China’s CPC has an instruction manual to prevent USA organized color revolutions:
China has put it’s foot down and said NO NO NO MORE. And it will no longer allow, permit or tolerate efforts at “color revolutions” instead of war in it, or it’s aligned nations.
Persevere in Placing Political Security in the Predominant Position
坚持把政治安全放在首要位置
Introduction
For China’s first generation of communist leaders, revolution meant baptism by smoke and gunpowder. Their path to political power snaked through battlefields and prison cells littered with the bodies of dead comrades. Only narrowly did their party escape total annihilation.
Decades spent shadowed by death instilled a keen awareness of peril in the psyche of the cadres who survived. Neither political power nor battlefield victory ever soothed away this sense of threat.
However, the Party’s successful seizure of power did change which danger its leaders perceived as most threatening.
Mao Zedong would label this peril the threat of “peaceful evolution.”1 Though warnings of peaceful evolution are still issued, contemporary party documents, such as the translated material presented below, more often frame the danger in terms of “political security” [政治安全].2
Both phrases articulate a fear that hostile foreign powers seek to leverage dissent in China to subvert or overthrow communist rule of China.
Translated below is an authoritative discussion of this threat as party leaders perceive it.
It was originally published as the sixth chapter of The Total National Security Paradigm: A Study Outline 《总体国家安全观学习纲要》a 150 page textbook created jointly by the Office of the Central National Security Commission and the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China.
The Study Outline was released on April 14th, 2022 and subsequently distributed to party committees at all administrative levels as an “an important and authoritative auxiliary text for the broad mass of cadres” to include in their group study sessions.3
Published shortly after the creation of the PRC’s National Security Strategy [国家安全战略] and concurrently with a bureaucratic expansion of the state security complex to the local administrative level,4 the book is designed to provide an accessible and unclassified overview of the security doctrine millions of cadres are now expected to implement.
At the center of these ideas is the Total National Security Paradigm, a set of concepts that party sources describe as Xi Jinping’s signature contribution to Chinese security theory.
The textbook’s publication was carefully timed to coincide with the eighth anniversary of the meeting where Xi first introduced this paradigm.
In that meeting Xi instructed party cadres to “pay attention to both traditional and non-traditional security, and build a national security system that integrates such elements as political, military, economic, cultural, social, science and technology, information, ecological, resource, and nuclear security.”5
Threats to “traditional security” include those that can be handled through normal military means; “non-traditional security threats” comprise the rest of Xi’s long list—a list that has only gotten longer in the years since, as terms like “food security” and “biosecurity” have been added to the catalog.
Yet not all non-traditional fields of security are created equal. In that same 2014 speech Xi informed the Party that “political security is our fundamental task.”6
This judgment is echoed in the structure of the Study Outline, where it is the only field of security—including the traditional military sort—to be given its own chapter length discussion.7
The Study Outline makes clear why political security deserves such high priority. “Political security,” it instructs, “means safeguarding the ruling position and leadership status of the Chinese Communist Party and safeguarding the institution of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.”
The manual describes Socialism with Chinese Characteristics as “a rigorous, comprehensive, and scientific system of institutions” whose institutional integrity guarantees China’s return to national greatness. “If institutions are stable, so is the state.”
On the other hand, if “political security cannot be guaranteed, the state will inevitably disintegrate like a sheet of loose sand.”
The Study Outline warns that this “is a real and present danger.” China is engaged in an “institutional competition,” the “most fundamental type of competition between states.”
Arrayed against the Chinese system are powerful “hostile forces” who “persistently seek to ferment a ‘color revolution’ within our state, vainly attempting to subvert the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the socialist institutions of our state.”
Party members should not be fooled by periods of tranquility or moments of détente: these hostile forces “have never abandoned their subversive intent to Westernize and divide our state.
They do not rest, not even for a moment.” Nor is compromise or concession a workable solution. “In the realm of ideological conflict,” the Study Outline instructs, “we have no way to compromise and no place to retreat to. We must obtain total victory.”
The Study Outline views ideology as the primary battlefield of institutional competition: Those who “sow chaos and subvert sovereign power often begin by piercing a hole in the realm of ideology and sowing chaos in the thoughts of the people.” The ideological realm must be defended, for “once the defensive line in thought has been breached it is difficult for other defensive lines to hold.”
The Study Outline directs cadres to pay special attention to three domains where the defensive lines must hold: on the internet, in the schools, and among China’s religious and ethnic minorities.
In all three domains the Study Outline describes events that Western observers tend to depict as spontaneous reactions to government policy as incidents carefully orchestrated by party enemies.
When viral outrage leads to mass protests, cadres can be assured that such events are “intentionally chosen, follow a plan, and are organized and contrived ahead of time” by hostile forces.
If university students have learned to “bite the hand that feeds them and kick the wok that fills them” it is because the hearts of “our youth are the territory that hostile forces spend the most effort fighting for.” If the “ethnic consciousness” of minority groups is not “subordinate to and serving the common Chinese national identity” this is because “hostile forces at home and abroad use ethnic problems to carry out separatism, infiltration, and sabotage activities.”
Though “disintegration of sovereign power” may “begin in the realm of thought,” the enemies and weapons faced in that realm are just as dangerous as those faced in the more tangible world of blood and bullets.
The Study Outline’s assertion that “the disintegration of sovereign power often begins in the realm of thought” presents a sharp contrast with Mao’s famous argument that “sovereign power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Underlining Xi Jinping’s Total Security Paradigm is the recognition that not all problems can be solved by gun barrel. But that recognition is not new. Mao himself reached the same realization when he credited the de-Stalinization of Europe to ideological subterfuge, fearing that a similar combination of internal sabotage and external pressure might derail China’s revolution. Deng Xiaoping reached a similar conclusion following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the protests at Tiananmen Square. The United States and its allies “engage in peaceful evolution,” Deng declared. Their strategy is to “wage a world war without smoke or gunpowder.”8
The dangers Mao and Deng feared in their twilight years dominated Xi formative ones. Xi Jinping does not believe the threat has abated: the close attention he pays to the Party’s political security has been a defining thread of his rule. Manuals like this Study Outline signal his determination to overcome the threat of peaceful evolution.
They are a survival guide to wars waged without smoke or gunpowder.
—THE EDITORS
1. The label was inspired by U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’s 1958 judgment that “internal pressures are bound to alter the character of the communist regimes,” thus American foreign policy should seek to “accelerate [this] evolution within the Sino-Soviet bloc” through peaceful means: John Foster Dulles, Policy for the Far East(United States: Department of State, 1958), 10-11.
Bo Yibo provides an insider account of Mao’s reaction to Dulles’ speech and his subsequent understanding of the ‘peaceful evolution’ threat; it is translated into English in Qiang Zhai, “Mao Zedong and Dulles’s ‘Peaceful Evolution’ Strategy: Revelations from Bo Yibo’s Memories,” Cold War International History ProjectBulletin (Winter 1995/96), issue 6/7, pp. 228-232.2. The evolution of these concerns between the Mao and Xi eras is traced by Matthew Johnson in “Safeguarding Socialism: The Origins, Evolution and Expansion of China’s Total Security Paradigm,” Sinopsis (Prague: AcaMedia z.ú., June 2020) and “Securitizing Culture in Post-Deng China: An Evolving National Strategic Paradigm, 1994–2014.’ Propaganda in the World and Local Conflicts, 4, no. 1. See also Russel Ong, ‘Peaceful Evolution’, ‘Regime Change’ and China's Political Security, Journal of Contemporary China (2007), vol 16, issue 53, 717-727.
3. Taken from “Zongti Guojia Anquan Xuexi Gongyao: chuban faxin 《总体国家安全观学习纲要》出版发行” [The Total National Security Paradigm: A Study Outline is Published]Renmin Wang 人民网 [People’s Daily Online], 16 April 2022. In Chinese the passage reads 广大干部群众学习贯彻总体国家安全观的重要权威辅助读物。4. For a concise overview of these developments, see Jude Blanchette, “The Edge of an Abyss: Xi Jinping’s Overall National Security Outlook,” China Leadership Monitor, 1 September 2022.
For a broader discussion of the Total National Security Paradigm, also see Sheena Chesnut Greitens, "Internal Security & Chinese Strategy," hearing on "The United States' Strategic Competition with China" § Senate Armed Services Committee (2022); Joel Wuthnow, "Transforming China’s National Security Architecture in the Xi Era” hearing on CCP Decision-Making and the 20th Party Congress” § U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing (2022); Samantha Hoffman, “Programming China: the Communist Party’s autonomic approach to managing state security,” PhD diss, University of Nottingham (2017).5. Xi Jinping, The Governance of China, vol 1 (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 2014), 221-222.6. Ibid., 222
7. Three prominent scholars associated with one of the leading state-controlled research centers on the Total National Security Paradigm note that the first chapters of the manual present broad, general principles that apply to all fields of security; the later chapters deal with specific applications, with the chapter on political security intentionally placed at the head of this second section. They further note that this organization of the material is an intentional echo of Xi Jinping’s own presentation of the subcomponents of the Concept as he presented them in a December 2021 speech. An English translation of this speech can be read in Xi Jinping, Governance Of China, vol 4 (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 2022), 453-456
For the observations on the manual see 陈向阳, 董春岭, 韩立群 [Chen Xiangyang, Deng Chunling, and Han Liqun], “Shenru Xuexi Xuanzhuan Guanche Zongti Guojia Anquan Xuexi Gangyao 深入学习宣传贯彻《总体国家安全观学习纲要》[Deeply Study, Publicize, and Implement Total National Security Concept: A Study Outline]”, Qiushi 求是 [Seeking Truth], 22 August 2022. Available here
8.邓小平 [Deng Xiaoping], Deng Xiaoping Wenxuan《邓小平文选》 [Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping], vol 3 (Beijing: People’s Press, 1993), 325.
There’s something funny I want everybody together discuss.
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I am fond of comparing China’s reform now with Shang Yang’s reform more than 2,000 years ago that enabled the State of Qin to conquer all other states and unify China.
China’s reform now is similar to Shang Yang’s in giving play to people’s talents and diligence. Then there is the question: Will the reform make China so strong as to conquer the world?
Germany tried to conquer the world when it became the strongest but suffered disastrous defeat. Will China be so stupid?
Chinese scholars believe that of all the ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization is the only one that has survived for more than 4,000 years because China has never tried to conquer the world or been fond of war.
However, a despot did emerge in China who wanted to conquer the world with his ideology called Mao Zedong Thought. Fortunately, China is poor and backward at that time. Otherwise, the human race will suffer more serious disasters than World War II as Mao was even willing to fight a nuclear war for his ideal communism.
Can we be sure that no despot like Mao will emerge when China is strong enough to conquer the world?
The US has tried hard to contain China, but can it stop China’s tremendous economic growth? No. what it has been doing and wants to do only facilitated China’s economic growth, for example, removal of Chinese state-owned sector’s monopoly and privilege.
What about containing China militarily? Stopping Israel export of early warning aircrafts, Canada’s export of 1,300 kW engines to deprive China’s WZ-10 armed helicopter of powerful engine and removal of the inner partitions of the hull of aircraft carrier Ukraine sold to China.
Did all those containing efforts work?
No. China has developed on its own early warning and control aircrafts with better functions than the most advanced American one and 1,500kW engine for WZ-10 and designed and installed partitions in the hull on its own to turn the hull into an operating aircraft carrier.
Instead of making great efforts to develop new weapons to maintain military superiority, the US uses the excuse of China stealing its technology to catch up with it.
Now, China has surpassed the US in anti-satellite (ASAT), anti-ASAT, hypersonic glide vehicle, drone, amphibious landing craft, etc. and is catching up and will soon surpass the US in midcourse ICBM interception, aerospace plane, conventional and nuclear submarines, stealth fighter jets, destroyers, frigates, ballistic and cruise missiles, etc. US will soon have nothing worth stealing by China. What excuse will the US have for lagging behind then?
It is a pity that American people are not much interested in history; therefore, they cannot learn the historical lessons.
Before World War II, Germany exploited its people’s patriotism and mindset for retaliation of its defeat in World War I to give play to its scientists and engineers’ talents. As a result, when World War II broke out, it had much better weapons than other countries. Even at the end of the war, its new tanks remained the best in the world.
The situation is being repeated now. China is using Chinese dream and the history of China’s past misery of being bullied by world powers to rouse people’s patriotism and give play to its scientists and engineers’ talents and diligence in developing advanced weapons. That is why China can catch up with and surpass the US so quickly.
I have described that in my post “Why Can China Surpass the US in Weapon Developments?” on July 26. Recently, Chinese media has published National Defense University’s report on how private enterprises are encouraged to make contribution to China’s weapon development. I give my summary of the report below:
National Defense University issued on July 25 a report titled “Report on China’s Joint Military and Civil Development”. The report says that over the past few years China has gradually formulated and perfected a full set of laws, rules and regulations related to private enterprises’ participation in development of national defense. Private enterprises are conscientiously undertaking the tasks of research, development and production of weapons and equipment for Chinese military. They have taken part in such major projects as Shenzhou X’s travel to space, Chang’e Lunar program and the commissioning of the Liaoning aircraft carrier.
According to the report, encouraging and supporting private enterprises taking part in development of national defense is an important part of the work to promote joint military and civil development. At present, a three-in-one framework for such development has initially taken shape. It consists of the governing laws and regulations, measures of implementation and the formulation of a catalogue of jobs to be taken by private enterprises.
China faces an increasing number of threats to its security due to the development and changes in the situation at home and abroad, There have been more demanding new requirements for national defense and military modernizations. Under such circumstances, private enterprises are conscientiously undertaking the tasks of research, development and production of weapons and equipment for Chinese military and doing their best to satisfy the urgent needs for the development of weapons and military equipment.
By May 2013, there had already been more than 500 private enterprises in China that have obtained licenses for research, development and production of weapons and military equipment and more than 1,000 civil technologies had been applied in research and development of equipment.
The report points out that over the past few years, due to the encouragement through a series policies and measures the number of private enterprise taking part in development of weapons and equipment for the military has kept on growing. The scope of the work they do has gradually extended from components, parts through entire equipment and master equipment.
For example, private enterprises have developed a certain light attack vehicle that can carry various kinds of light weapons, is equipped with GPS navigation system and has great cross-country capability and a certain crawler-mounted robot able to travel on rugged land such as sand, rocks and tidal flat.
Some local governments conscientiously encourage, support and guide the application of superior civil technologies to serve the need for national defense and military modernizations. For example, some private enterprises in Hebei Province have undertaken jobs in major projects for Shenzhou X, Chang’e spacecraft, the commissioning of the Liaoning aircraft carrier, National Day military parade, etc. Jiangsu Military Command jointed hands with local relevant enterprises in successful achieving over 100 technological innovations, including the “Artillery Operation Command Quick Response System”, “cross-wall surveillance radar” that have been widely used in troops’ war preparations and training.
Source: military.people.com.cn “National Defense University report says private enterprises participated in major projects such as the Liaoning aircraft carrier and Shenzhou X rocket” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the report in Chinese)
The Incredible REINCARNATION STORY of Sunny Ray
Amazing story!
The One Night House: Squatters from Welsh Folklore
one night house
The story of the one night house, or tŷ unnos, is something heard from a friend or relative. The Welsh custom is a quaint tradition with interesting roots. Oral history is keeping the concept alive, although it’s now more legend than reality.
What exactly is a one night house? It’s a dwelling built by squatters in one night. Work would start at dusk, and come daybreak, the home would be standing in what had previously been a vacant spot. There are parallels in the folklore of other countries that might explain where it came from and how it worked.
A Story Passed On Through the Generations
Folklore is any custom preserved among the people by retellings or reenactments, and the one night house certainly fits that description. There’s very little written or recorded about tai unnos , the plural of tŷ unnos. However, thanks to stories told by parents and grandparents to the next generation, some information about the custom survives.
The last one night houses were thought to have been built by squatters more than 100 years ago. The evidence that remains about the Welsh tradition suggests that it was first practiced in the 17th century and went on for the next two hundred years.
During that period, many of the small holdings on larger estates were thought to have come from that tradition. As well as inheriting the tŷ unnos, families took on the tradition. The task was handed down to the next generation, who would go out as the light faded to build their own one night house.
Since the building of one night houses no longer occurs, the idea is fading. Lovers of folklore and history are hoping to keep the tale alive. For the memory of the custom to survive among its people, it needs to be researched, discussed, and told as part of stories.
Poor
Poor folk in Wales and elsewhere have squatted on land to claim it for centuries. In Welsh folklore, if you could build a one night house without being detecting – it was yours! ( Public Domain )
A British Tradition
Although the custom is mostly talked about as a Welsh one, there are other tales of one night houses from the land bordering Wales and from other parts of the British Isles . It was a time of population expansion in those parts, and many families were in need of a dwelling.
There were more conventional routes to take to have a home, although many families shared, with the older and younger generations all under one roof. It’s thought that poverty was a driving factor for someone to build a one night house.
Many landowners had fenced off their property for other purposes, and taxation also played a role. It’s no coincidence that the Hearth Tax was levied in 1662 and was later followed by the Land Tax, which acted as a general tax.
Land ownership was a touchy subject throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Much of the land used by commoners was enclosed by the gentry and aristocracy during this time. Based on the evidence in Scottish records , it’s thought that only 3% of the population owned land in the 18th century.
Community Effort
Just because one night houses come from legend doesn’t mean they didn’t get built. As you can imagine, building a house in the dark and in a limited amount of time was no easy thing. The squatters didn’t work alone; they would often gather their friends and relatives to help them work through the night to get the modest dwelling built.
The stories usually start with the squatter and their community gathering materials. They would bring them to the site at dusk, ready to start work as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. According to tradition, the work would go on all night until the house was finally built.
At daybreak, a fire should be lit in the hearth, so that smoke could be seen coming from the chimney as dawn arrived. Only a build that followed these customs was thought of as a one night house.
Unwritten Rules
It’s not clear why the house had to be built during the night, although, as squatters, the process had to be a secret one. The housebuilder didn’t technically have any rights to the land, after all. It was a generally accepted custom that to complete the work in that short space of time and have the fire burning gave the squatter their rights.
It could also be assumed that if no one noticed the house popping up overnight, then the new homeowner could pretend it had been there all along. Planning law and planning permission didn’t arrive in Britain until the 20th century.
Building a house in one night didn’t grant the squatter permission to live on the land, however; there’s no record of the practice being permitted in Welsh law, or English common law , as it was under at the time. Little is known about whether the squatters succeeded for long and if there were any legal consequences.
Architectural Style
Since there aren’t any authentic examples of a one night house remaining, it’s not possible to know what they looked like. However, there are a few clues to paint a rough picture. In the tales, there wasn’t a specific design to work to, and it’s not known how many people would live in a one night house, but many believe that they weren’t large buildings.
Remains 13
Remains of a ty-unnos or one night house at Maen Dewi The standing stone has been used as the central support to the overnight house that was thrown up by squatters several centuries ago, with the byre on the left and the domestic dwelling room on the right where the garden furniture is. (Bob Helms / CC BY SA 2.0 )
More often than not, they were one-story and one-room dwellings. The site for the build was usually wasteland or a small plot out of the way. Some stories also include the custom that the land around the house was included in the squatters’ rights. Legend has it that the amount of land was measured by seeing how far the squatter could throw an ax from the threshold.
The rules stated that four walls, a fireplace, a roof, and a door was necessary, with additional features, like windows, being added later where possible. Building materials weren’t cheap, but they weren’t scarce either.
Many one night houses are thought to have been built with found materials, usually stone and wood, from the area. Since it involved the work of several people with stones and logs of different sizes, it’s said that the finished article often had an irregular and unusual appearance.
In fact, it was the lack of uniformity in architectural style and the strange appearance of these houses that made them recognizable to others. Thanks to the customs and stories, parents would point out tŷ unnos to their children, and so the tradition lived on.
simple
A simple home in Cardiff resembling a one night house of years past ( Public Domain )
Folklore Revival of One Night Houses
In 2017, a Welsh designer at the Arts Council of Wales teamed up with the community around the National Botanic Garden to build a one night house. The project was commissioned by Common Ground for the Woodland Trust.
His aim was to keep the stories and knowledge of tŷ unnos alive. The project was also designed to connect art with the community and link it all to the local environment and folklore. He didn’t claim his squatter’s rights, though, and the space is used by the community.
The act captured the element of the one night house that’s most relatable. It’s thought to have come from traditions of dares and wagers, where people did something in one night just to prove that they could.
There are a few of reproductions of tai unnos that can be seen today. St. Fagans National Museum of History near Cardiff has Llainfadyn Cottage, which was built in 1962 based on a 1762 example in Gwynedd. Alternatively, a visit to Snowdonia will reveal the Ugly House (Tŷ Hyll), a quaint 19th-century cottage inspired by the tradition.
Llainfadyn
Llainfadyn Cottage, St Fagans Museum, Cardiff, a reproduction of a one night house (David Hallum Jones / CC BY SA 2.0 )
Inspiring Tales
Besides reproductions and recent one night house projects, folklore has inspired other creative endeavors. There are records suggesting that the last known tŷ unnos was built in 1882 in Flintshire. There’s a fictionalized written account of the adventure in the novel Mushroom Town by Oliver Onions, written in 1914. In the book, the practice is referred to as hafod unos , meaning a summer dwelling of one night.
As with the community project, it’s clear that the attraction lies in the connections and feelings a one night house brings. Folklore is more than just nostalgia; it’s the people’s interactions with their surroundings, especially if they were night owls!
Top image: Tŷ Hyll ( The Ugly House) near Betws-Y-Coed, inspired by the one night house tradition Source: Steve Daniels / CC BY SA 2.0
By Lex Leigh
4 Out Of 10 Americans Delaying Medical Care Over Costs
“Life is Peachy”: The Superb Brightful Girly Characters by Igor Lomov
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According to an artist: “Hi, I am Igor and my nickname is Blik_47. I am a certified art teacher, used to work as a graphic designer for many years but my true calling is to create digital art. I post things on social media (always as Blik_47) in both Russian (my native language) and English.
I create original artwork and I never pass other people’s work off as my own. However, I occasionally engage in social media promotion events and repost the work of my followers (with full credit).
I am just about to finish the development of my own cyberpunk board game. It is in a sleek transportable box. The card design, game mechanics, packaging and instructions are all developed only by me. This game has cards and tokens. It can be played by 2-4 players at once. There are two main game modes – “deadly match” and “survival” (cooperative mode against the boss). Both Russian and English versions of the game will available.”
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Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
2023 01 22 15 11
Ingredients
8 slices thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch strips
8 ounces ground beef
2 red onions, cut into 1/4 inch dice
3 tablespoons Real California unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon pepper, or more to taste
3 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cups Real California Half-and-Half (can use evaporated milk)
3 cups shredded Real California sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small tomato, cut into 1/4 inch dice
Instructions
In a large saucepan or small stockpot over medium heat, cook bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
Add beef to the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking it up, until no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate.
Set aside about 1/3 cup of onions. Add remaining onions and butter to the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 7 to 9 minutes.
Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle in flour, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add broth and Half-and-Half or milk and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Add mustard, Worcestershire and 2 1/2 cups of cheese, stirring to melt cheese. Stir in about 3/4 of the bacon and 3/4 of the beef. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Serve soup garnished with remaining cheese, remaining bacon, remaining beef, reserved onions and tomatoes.
Prep: 30 min | Cook: 35 min | Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Man Shocked by What He Saw His Pets Doing in Heaven
Great. Just Great! Look at what our $$ millions for each tank gets us . . . .
You want to see first hand how we’ve been getting bilked by the military-industrial complex? Our Abrams tanks . . . you know, our main battle tanks . . . can’t go up hills in the snow. They skid and slide backwards.
M1 AbramsPrice
This is what Six to nine MILLION DOLLARS EACH buys us?
With weapons systems like this, would be even be able to defend our own country . . . in the winter????
Fall is officially here. Now is a great time to try out some hearty autumn dishes like chicken and wild rice soup. Our recipe is rich and creamy. You can serve it as an appetizer if you want, but it’s filling enough to stand on its own as an entrée. This recipe stands out from the rest because it calls for freshly roasted chicken, plenty of delicious vegetables, and a nice dollop of plain Greek Yogurt. Adding yogurt, instead of cream, for example, helps to make this soup extremely flavorful but also relatively light, calorie-wise.
2023 01 22 15 12
Ingredients
1 deli-roasted chicken, about 2 1/2 pounds
6 cups water
2 medium carrots, ends trimmed and cut into chunks
1 small rib celery, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 small bay leaf
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/3 cup uncooked wild rice*
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Cabot 2% Plain Greek Yogurt or Cabot Plain Greek Yogurt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or more to taste
* You can reduce the cooking time with “quick-cooking” wild rice, which is done in about 15 minutes, or substitute another flavorful rice, such as brown basmati.
Instructions
Pull off meat from chicken, placing skin, bones and any hot or solidified juices in large saucepan. Dice 2 cups of chicken meat, saving rest for another use, and set aside in refrigerator.
Add water, carrots, celery, peppercorns and bay leaf to saucepan; bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to maintain simmer. Cover pan and cook broth for one hour.
Pour broth through strainer set over large bowl, pressing on solids to extract all broth. Discard solids.
Melt butter in empty saucepan. Add onions and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until onion is tender and just beginning to brown.
Pour in strained broth. Add wild rice, bring to simmer and cook covered for 40 to 50 minutes or until rice is tender.
In small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, yogurt and cornstarch until completely smooth with no small lumps; stir mixture into pot and continue stirring until soup thickens and returns to simmer. Add thyme, salt, pepper and 2 cups of reserved diced chicken.
Taste soup, adding additional salt and pepper if needed. Stir until heated through and serve.
Yield: about 6 cups for 4 servings
The UNEXPLAINABLE REINCARNATION of Chuck McMurray
“I Will Never Forget The Look On Her Face”: Woman Swaps Sugar For Salt In her Drink To Catch The Office Thief
As the workday drags on, the minutes going slower than a snail up a tree and the clicking of the keys on the keyboards turning into a semi-soothing white noise, you can’t help but think back to that amazing sammich waiting for you at lunchtime. But a pang of fear strikes your heart ever so silently—what if someone steals it?
Workplace thieves are not as rare as they should be, their long fingers tingling with the craving of ruining someone’s day to fuel their selfish desires. Therefore, it’s always satisfying when these people get their just taste of karma, and in this case, it’s extra salty. A woman decided to share her story on r/PettyRevenge, and I think you may know where this is going.
Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below, sharing any similar stories you may have. And if you’re craving more after this one, Bored Panda has got another article for you right here. It’s a juicy one as well—pun intended. Now let’s get into it!
There’s nothing more frustrating than leaving your food and drinks in the work fridge only to find them all gone when lunchtime comes around
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The taste of karma is a delight for those watching justice unfold, but for the troublemaker—it’s nauseating at the very least. A very clear lesson from this story—don’t take things that aren’t yours to take! But why are these stories so commonplace? Are we predisposed to stealing?
As noted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, “kleptomania is exceedingly rare, whereas shoplifting is relatively common.” Kleptomania occurs in approximately 0.3–0.6% of the general population, yet there’s something about the work environment that just triggers a surge of wanting to own your coworker’s things.
According to Art Markman, human behavior is focused on doing things that feel right in the short term rather than things that feel right in the long term. The consequences of one’s actions feel more distant compared to the urge to eat or have a tasty drink. Art believes that to decrease small thefts in the workplace, we need to start by making it harder for people to do the wrong thing, but that may be easier said than done.
The key to this puzzle may lie in the motives for stealing in the first place. Brianna Morton shared the insights she gathered from those who’ve been workplace thieves themselves. Some of the reasons for their nefarious actions included seeking revenge on another thieving individual, desperation, and wanting to be a nuisance on purpose.
It’s sad to say, but stealing can become an addiction. According to WebMD, when your brain’s opioid system is unbalanced, you develop strong urges to steal, accompanied by anxiety, arousal, and tension. After stealing, you get a sense of pleasure and relief. Sometimes, you may feel guilt or remorse after the act, but you’re still unable to control the urge.
However, no pleasure should come at the expense of another person, and being stolen from is rarely on anyone’s bucket list. So, all those who are stealing for any other reason than the absolute need for their longevity and survival can get a bunch of salt running down their throat.
We hope that the original poster got their just deserts and they were never stolen from again. And that the lady doing the stealing learned a very valuable lesson.
Anti-Fascist Action (ANTIFA) is engaging in riots, looting and arson attacks in the city of Atlanta Saturday night. Numerous stores have been looted, several vehicles, including police cars, have been set ablaze.
Mayor Andre Dickens “Many of these protesters are not from Atlanta, and many are not even from the state of Georgia. The Mayor stunned assembled media outlets when he revealed, during a Press conference, some of those arrested “have been found to have explosives on them.”
As most readers readily know, Protesters don’t destroy property and hurl explosives at police, those would be Rioters
The Mayor clearly stated “These people mean harm to people and to property.”
Atlanta is on fire tonight, but @cnn reporters @DavidPeisner & @PamelaBrownCNN are reporting Atlanta police officers, NOT protestors, are committing violence for tackling & arresting these thugs burning and destroying a police cruiser and store front windows.
This is a developing story. More as I get it.
UPDATE 10:19 PM EST —
and:
Violent Antifa protectors are calling for a ‘Night of Rage’ against police officers after a raid of ‘Cop City’ left an activist dead and a state trooper injured.
Georgia State Patrol troopers swooped on the autonomous zone at the site of the future $90million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in a ‘clearing operation’ on Wednesday.
In a press conference, Georgia Bureau of Investigations director Michael Register confirmed that the shooting was in self-defense, with the protestor opening fire ‘without warning’ at the trooper.
But activists are now calling for a ‘Night of Rage’ and bloodshed against the police following the shooting – threatening to enact ‘reciprocal violence’ against the authorities.
Japanese Artist Paints Hyperrealistic Paintings That Are So Precise You Might Confuse Them With Photos
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This time, I want to present an incredible gallery of pictures of… paintings. Although it might be hard to believe these were actually painted by a human hand, this is a true representation of the beauty and power of talent and hard work.
Japanese painter Kei Mieno creates painstakingly detailed and realistic paintings that can be easily mistaken for photographs. Let’s admit, the kinds of photographs not everyone would be able to take. Colors, lights, shadows, contrasts, texture—everything comes together to create incredibly lifelike artwork. The remarkably skillful artist, who celebrates his 36th birthday today, uses oil to bring his hyperrealistic ideas to life.
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Scientist Clinically Dead For 6 Minutes; Leaves Earth And Is Shown The Afterlife (NDE)
Beef Stroganoff Soup
beef stroganoff soup
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 pound beef sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces fresh button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups beef broth (low-sodium or regular)
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 cups dried egg noodles
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Snipped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper.
In a Dutch oven, melt butter with olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook steak one-half at a time, in until browned. Set beef aside.
Add mushrooms, onion and garlic to Dutch oven. Cook and stir over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.
Stir in beef, broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste; bring to boiling. Cover, and reduce to a simmer; cook for 45 minutes until beef is tender.
Add noodles; boil gently, uncovered, for 6 to 7 minutes until noodles are tender.
In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream and flour. Add to soup, and cook, stirring until bubbly.
During 3 Week Coma; Woman Is Shown The Reason We Come Here (NDE)
Remember who you are.
This event sounds more like she was tapping into the collective consciousness via prayers rather than a full-on NDE.
The end of the USD to pay for oil is destined to erode the value of it. So what this means is that there’s going to be some amazing global changes coming soon to all of us. The reserve currency status of the USD is coming to an end.
“…Xi stressed that the greatest truths are the simplest, and hard work is the key.
The new journey is a long one full of glories and dreams where there is no shortcut, but hard work.
We should come down to earth, work hard, and do not fall into fantasies or distractions.
We should be honest and studious, respect the reality, do not act against rules or work recklessly.
We should seek truth and be pragmatic, focus on actual effect, and do not make superficial work or show.
Those who work will succeed, and those who walk will arrive at destination.
A person of action will leave a good name in history.
We created a glorious past with hard work, and we will create a better future in the same way…”
Have a great day, and enjoy this post.
Let’s start here…
Don “No Soul” Simmons complete (“Blacks without Soul”, from the film Amazon Women on the Moon)
https://youtu.be/G_IkJnTus6Q
Some Democratic Senators in the United States are questioning the need to sell nuclear submarines to Australia.
Interesting development.
This, as well as other actions, such as the war games about great losses over Taiwan, suggest a strong Democratic push to pull away from adoption of the Neocon anti-China narrative championed by Mike Pompeo, Tom Cotton, and John Bolton.
The excuses are rather weak, but present never-the-less. As such they are suggestive of a reordering of American force-projection.
KEY POINTS
Australia is expecting to buy at least eight nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS
But two U.S. senators think a “sober assessment of the facts” is needed
It is the first time members have expressed significant misgivings about AUKUS
Two key U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns regarding the supply of nuclear submarines to Australia under the troubled AUKUS trilateral pact, warning that the deal could stress America's shipbuilding capacity to a "breaking point" while ignoring "contemporary realities," according to Breaking Defense."Over the past year, we have grown more concerned about the state of the U.S. submarine industrial base as well as its ability to support the desired AUKUS SSN [nuclear sub] end state," Sens. Jack Reed, (D-R.I.), and James Inhofe, (R-Okla.), noted in a Dec. 21 letter sent to the White House, the outlet reported.The trilateral AUKUS deal refers to the security pact for the Indo-Pacific region announced in September 2021 between the U.S. the U.K. and Australia. The key highlight of the deal is the sharing of highly sensitive nuclear submarine technology with Australia, enabling Canberra to receive American Virginia-class subs.
Illustrator Repaints Disney Princesses In Her Unique Style
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If you spend your days surfing the never-ending Instagram feed, you might’ve already heard of a freelance illustrator called Isabelle Staub, who rocked the platform with her fresh reimaginings of classic Disney Princesses. What you might not know, though, is that this series also helped the artist to get out of a serious creative block.
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Very cool discovery
2023 01 21 10 04
OMG ! I Try to help bad condition kitten.attack by dog and sent by the owner with taxi to clinic !
Texas Chicken-Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
2023 01 12 19 05
Ingredients
Steak
3 pounds round steak, 1/2-inch thick
2 cups all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
Vegetable oil (corn, peanut, safflower oil) for frying*
* Beef suet, lard or solid vegetable shortening are traditionally used for cooking chicken-fried steak
Cream Gravy
1/4 cup pan drippings
1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
3 cups warm milk
Salt
Black pepper
Instructions
Steak: Trim the fat off the meat, remove the bone and cut the meat into 6 equal-size pieces. Use a meat mallet to pound the steaks on both sides, until they are 1/4-inch thick. Then cut each pounded piece of steak in half (making 12 pieces total).
Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a large shallow bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together well in another large shallow bowl.
Dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour, coating them well on both sides. Then use the meat mallet to pound the flour into the steaks. Dip the steaks in the egg-milk mixture, then dredge them again in the remaining flour. Set the steaks aside in a single layer on a large piece of wax paper.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Pour the vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch into 2 or 3 large heavy-bottom skillets (iron skillets are best). You will have to cook the steaks in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the number of skillets you have. Set the skillets over medium heat. The oil will be hot enough for frying when it pops when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it.
Carefully put the steaks in a single layer in the hot oil and cook over medium heat until the bottom side of each steak is golden brown (about 7 to 8 minutes).
Turn the steaks over, cover the skillets, reduce the heat to low and cook until the bottom sides are golden brown and the steaks are tender (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Transfer the steaks to a heatproof platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the remaining steaks and prepare the cream gravy.
Cream Gravy: Pour the remaining oil out of one large skillet into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup, but leave in the skillet any particles of batter that stick to the bottom of the pan.
Return 1/4 cup of the oil to the skillet and stir in 1/4 cup of flour. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, but don’t let the mixture brown.
Slowly add the warm milk to the pan, stirring with a fork or wire whisk to prevent lumps from forming. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is smooth and thick.
Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve the chicken-fried steaks with the cream gravy poured over them.
Yield: 6 large servings (2 steaks each)
Meticulous Miniature Handcrafted Meals
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When the sense of detail is pushed to its limits, it gives birth to incredible miniature works such as these diverse meals handcooked by Kimberly Burke and created at a scale of 1:12. On the menu today: chicken, bread, fruits, cake, fried eggs or fajitas.
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Titans Condoms, There the Best
Discovery
2023 01 21 10 07
Is The War In Ukraine About To Go To An Entirely New Level?
If Russia intends to make a major move to win the war in Ukraine, it needs to do it very soon.
As you will see below, representatives from over 50 different nations will gather this week for a historic meeting in Ramstein, Germany.
The goal of that meeting will be to implement a plan to absolutely flood Ukraine with tanks and missile systems in an attempt to turn the tide of the war. At the moment, the Russians have regained the initiative and the Ukrainians are steadily losing territory in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainians are hoping to buy enough time for the next massive influx of military aid to arrive, because it could potentially change everything.
Most of you have probably not heard about the meeting that will be held in Ramstein, Germany on Friday. The following originally comes from the Wall Street Journal…
Representatives of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine are set to gather in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss provisions for Kyiv and pledge fresh supplies later this month. The U.S.-led assembly, known as the contact group, includes all countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and allies, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, offering lethal and nonlethal aid.
Ukraine is expected to receive Patriot missile systems, which Ukrainian officials say would hobble Russia’s missile attacks that have wreaked havoc on Ukraine’s civilian and critical infrastructure. Some Western officials also said that the first-ever shipment of Western-made main battle tanks could also be announced at the Friday meeting in Ramstein.
The only way that the Russians will be able to stop all of this equipment from getting to Ukraine would be to launch an enormous new invasion from the north that completely cuts off the flow of aid from the western powers.
Russia has been moving troops and equipment into Belarus for months, and many believe that such an offensive will soon happen.
Russia and its ally Belarus launched a series of air-force exercises Monday along the border with Ukraine in an effort to boost cooperation ahead of what Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe could be a fresh effort by Moscow in the coming months to retake battlefield momentum.
Throughout history, military exercises have often been used as a cover for major military operations.
But that doesn’t mean that the Russians will pull the trigger in this case.
Perhaps the Russians are just bluffing and are simply trying to hold a large number of Ukrainian forces along the northern border as the main push happens in the east.
At this point we just don’t know.
But many analysts in the western world do believe that the Russians will launch some kind of new offensive in the coming months…
“The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative,” said a note from the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank that publishes daily reports on the war in Ukraine.
Actually, I think that if the Russians are going to make a move it will happen soon.
When the mud returns in the spring, it will be much more challenging for Russian tanks to move around efficiently.
So if a major offensive is going to take place, it will almost certainly be conducted within the next several weeks.
One of Vladimir Putin’s allies has claimed World War Three has already started as he called for Russia to launch a nuclear missile strike on Britain, France and Poland.
TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov told Russians that Moscow should target the West to disrupt NATO countries from sending supplies to Ukraine.
You don’t hear this sort of talk on television here in the United States.
In fact, at this point most Americans still believe that the risk of nuclear war is extremely low.
But they see things very, very differently inside Russia.
These remarks by Solovyov were in response to reports that NATO powers are getting ready to ship large numbers of tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine…
It comes as Britain is poised to supply Challenger II main battle tanks to Kyiv, in the first such move of the war.
France is shipping French AMX-10 reconnaissance vehicles, Germany is sending 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, and the US is promising 50 M2 Bradley fighting vehicles.
Both sides just continue to escalate matters, and that has brought us dangerously close to nuclear conflict.
Earlier this month, Dmitry Medvedev made headlines all over the globe when he “threatened the United States of America with hypersonic cruise missiles”…
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev threatened the United States of America with hypersonic cruise missiles and compared the American government’s policies to that of Nazis in a Thursday Telegram post in response to a US embassy appeal to Russian citizens for peace.
“The main gift of the New Year was the arsenal of Zircon missiles that went yesterday to the shores of NATO countries,” said Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council.
The nuclear warhead-capable Zircon missiles were reported by Reuters Wednesday to have been placed on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov to be deployed to the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
By the way, we have absolutely no way to defend against those hypersonic cruise missiles.
If the Russians launch them, they will hit their targets.
If our leaders were sane, they would be trying to find a peaceful way out of this mess while there is still an opportunity to do so.
Sadly, that window is rapidly closing.
If the Russians launch another massive invasion of Ukraine from the north, there will be no going back.
Both sides will just keep escalating the conflict until someone crosses a line that will never be able to be uncrossed.
On Russian television, they are already talking about the inevitability of a nuclear conflict.
Hopefully people will start to wake up before it is too late, because the clock is ticking.
Sybil Danning, Amazon Women on the Moon
https://youtu.be/2GZDsVzdQcI
Arrowhead
2023 01 21 10 09
Saudi Arabia continues to move away from petrodollar
The trend to stimulate worldwide anti-American sentiment or enflame what already existed was evident from that first China/US undiplomatic summit in Alaska. It has been a steady slope down from there.
Original San Antonio Chili
2023 01 12 19 03
Ingredients
2 pounds beef shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup suet
1/4 cup pork fat
3 medium-size onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart water
4 ancho chiles
1 serrano chile
6 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon comino seeds, freshly ground
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
Salt to taste
Instructions
Place lightly floured beef and pork cubes in with suet and pork fat in heavy chili pot and cook quickly, stirring often.
Add onions and garlic and cook until they are tender and limp.
Add water to mixture and simmer slowly while preparing chiles.
Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop very finely.
Grind chiles in molcajete and add oregano with salt to mixture. Simmer another 2 hours.
Remove suet casing and skim off some fat.
Never cook frijoles with chiles and meat. Serve as a separate dish.
Alternative …
Ingredients
Requires a blender and a dutch oven
2 each ancho and guajillo chiles, reconstituted
1⁄2 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems 125 mL
2 tbsp pure lard or oil 30 mL
1 lb 500 g each trimmed boneless stewing beef and stewing pork, cut into 1⁄2-inch (1 cm) cubes and patted dry
2 onions, thinly sliced on the vertical
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp each ground cumin and dried Mexican oregano 15 mL
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 serrano or jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
6 green onions (white and green parts), very thinly sliced (optional)
Crumbled Mexican cheese,such as soft cotija
Instructions
1. Transfer reconstituted chiles with liquid to blender. Add cilantro and purée until smooth. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in Dutch oven, melt lard over medium-high heat. Add beef and pork, in batches, and brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate as completed and set aside. Reduce heat to medium.
3. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Add sliced onions to pan and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Return beef and pork to pan. Add reserved ancho and guajillo chile mixture and stir well. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to preheated oven. Bake until meat is very tender, about 2 hours.
4. Ladle into warm soup plates. Garnish with serrano pepper (if using) and green onions (if using). Sprinkle with cheese.
Notes
To reconstitute dried chiles, remove the stems and place in a heatproof bowl. Add 2 cups (500 mL) boiling beef stock and soak for 30 minutes, weighing the chiles down with a cup to ensure they remain submerged.
If you want to make a version of this dish that is similar to the one made by former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, substitute venison for the beef. You can also cube a beef chuck roast and use it in place of the stewing beef.
Moreover …
The very first San Antonio chili contained neither tomatoes nor beans, making it reminiscent of some South American adobos. This probably isn’t surprising, because the “chili queens” certainly had Hispanic roots. This is my slightly amended version of the recipe that is held in the research library of the Institute of Texan Cultures.
Amazon Women on the Moon (First Chapter)
Now You Can Touch A Niceballs To Relieve The Stress At Work
Imaginarte, the communications agency, has developed a prosthetic accessory that makes it possible. Holidays are the perfect excuse for doing the things that daily life normally gets in the way of: going to the same beach as every year, cremating steaks on the barby, taking up trekking without having a clue what that is, monging out watching a 9 hour monster session of that series you read the spoilers for months ago. Or simply sitting around playing with your balls.
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It doesn’t matter whether you have them or not. There are moments when we all, men and women alike, just need to play with our balls. So, what’s the problem? Returning to work after our much-needed holidays invariably means we just haven’t got the time for it.
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”Amazon Women on The Moon’ (1986) Deleted scenes & Bloopers.
Let’s have a nice and easy slide into the new year of the Rabbit.
2023 is a year of the Water Rabbit, starting from January 22nd, 2023 (Chinese New Year), and ending on February 9th, 2024 (Chinese New Year's Eve). The sign of Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture.
2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.
I’ll gather up some videos and put it up on you-tube when I get a chance.
Let’s check out today’s post…
Back in the day…
Most of us believe that Victorian era was a grim and serious era, full of hardworking people, so that they didn’t even have time to enjoy their lives and having some fun. While this isn’t true, because cameras were very expensive and for a single photograph one had to sit in static position with same facial expression from few seconds to 10 minutes. So it seems impossible for a person to smile or laugh for minutes, that’s why majority of the Victorians preferred to sit in static position with strict expressions.
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The All New Baby Safety Seat. Never Leave Your Kid Inside A Hot Car While You Shop Again. Late 1950s, Early 1960s
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East Texas Buttermilk Pie
buttermilk pie2
Ingredients
1 (9-inch) pie shell, baked
3 rounded tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nutmeg, to taste (optional)
Cinnamon, to taste (optional)
Instructions
Mix flour, sugar and salt; add to butter.
Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix and pour into pie shell; sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon, if desired.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. Test with knife. It should come out clean when pie is done.
Poor kitten was living his last moments on the roadside but no one came to help him!
https://youtu.be/6Aa-zF6-yGE
We Won’t Be Fooled Again – Inflation Is Most Definitely Not “Under Control”
Inflation is going down! Let’s all celebrate! We all knew that when the Federal Reserve began aggressively hiking interest rates it would have an impact on inflation. Higher rates have caused a new housing crash, they have crushed the tech industry, and they have sparked the biggest wave of layoffs that we have seen since the Great Recession. We have entered a significant economic downturn, so it was inevitable that the annual rate of inflation would start to moderate. But as I will explain below, that doesn’t mean that inflation is now “under control”. The real rate of inflation is much higher than we are being told, and people all over the country are being absolutely crushed by the rising cost of living.
Let’s start with the good news first. According to the Labor Department, the annual rate of inflation is rising at the slowest pace since October 2021…
Consumer prices increased 6.5% from a year earlier, down from 7.1% in November and a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index, a measurement of what people pay for goods and services, which labor released on Thursday.
The rise last month marks the slowest annual gain since October 2021 and matches economists’ estimates.
Still, inflation remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average, underscoring the persistent financial burden placed on millions of U.S. households by high prices.
So we are still definitely in a high inflation environment.
But let’s dig deeper.
Most Americans don’t realize that the way that the inflation rate is calculated has literally been changed more than two dozen times since 1980.
And every time it has been changed, the goal has been to make inflation appear to be lower than it actually is.
That would be comparable to the peak inflation that we witnessed during the Jimmy Carter era.
So don’t let anyone try to convince you that inflation is “low” or “under control” or anything like that.
The main reason why the rate of inflation moderated somewhat during the month of December is because energy prices have been falling…
Americans saw some real reprieve last month in the form of lower energy costs, which fell 6.1% in December. Gas prices dropped 12.5% over the month, the biggest contributor to the overall headline decline in inflation in December.
That is great news, but it is already being projected that gas prices will rise significantly later this year.
And once war in the Middle East erupts, gas prices will go to heights that most people never even dreamed was possible.
The cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and the American people are becoming increasingly frustrated by this.
I would like to share a video with you that illustrates what I am talking about.
The woman in this video doesn’t understand all of the numbers that I have just shared in this article. All she knows is that when she goes to the grocery store, prices are way higher than they once were. This video contains some graphic language, and I apologize for that in advance. But I want you to see her anger, because this is how millions upon millions of Americans are feeling about inflation right now.
Would you like to be the one that tries to convince her that inflation is “under control” now?
Sadly, the truth is that over the past few years the cost of living has been rising faster than our paychecks have, and so U.S. families have steadily been getting poorer…
The average American family has lost the equivalent of more than a month’s salary in annual income since President Biden took office as high inflation and rising interest rates eat away at their finances, according to research by the Heritage Foundation.
Experts at the conservative think tank analyzed consumer prices and interest rates and found in their latest report released Thursday that the average American household has lost the equivalent of $7,400 in annual income since Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2021. The income loss represents an increase of $200 from September, when the think tank’s research found a $7,200 decline in annual income for the average American household dating back to the start of Biden’s term.
Prior to the pandemic, we were in a low inflation and low interest rate environment.
Now that the Federal Reserve has dramatically hiked interest rates, we now find ourselves in a high inflation and high interest rate environment.
While their elected representatives in D.C. struggle to pay the nation’s bills, Americans are facing a similar challenge as their household budgets are stretched thin due to inflation and higher borrowing costs. Those financial challenges led more than one-third of households to rely on credit cards or loans to buy necessities in December. Average credit card interest rates reached a new record high of 19.14% APR compared to a Bankrate.com database.
“Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards to make it from paycheck to paycheck, resulting in higher levels of indebtedness. Rising credit card balances in an era of rising interest rates is a path to insolvency,” Antoni told FOX Business. “The average interest rate on credit cards is now around 20 percent while half of Americans cannot pay off their credit cards each month, and balances are growing at a 16 percent annual rate.”
We are getting hit from both ends.
We have to pay more to buy the things that we need, and we have to pay higher interest rates when we borrow money to pay for those things.
But those that are under the spell of the corporate media will continue to assume that everything is fine and that our leaders have a plan to get us out of this mess.
I truly wish that was true.
Unfortunately, the short-term economic outlook is extremely dismal, and prominent voices all over Wall Street are warning that 2023 will be a really rough year.
Remarkable Behind-The-Scenes Photos From ‘Back To The Future’ That Will Bring You Back To The ’80s
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Some people have speculated for a while now that there will be a remake of the legendary movie series Back To The Future. But this mindset is not without criticism and skepticism since many fans feel that without Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd there simply is no way that a remake would be good enough to even be considered.
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Here’s a great collection of rare behind the scenes photos for Robert Zemekis’ film Back to the Future. These images came from the incredibly well researched Back to the Future site Outatime, offer a candid behind the scenes look at this classic movie. Be sure to check out these 70 pics below, and let us know what your favorite Back to the Future scene is.
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Secret revealed
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Spooky strange
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“Retired Military Had Motorcycle Crash, Has Vision of Imminent Transformations in the World” [ NDE ]
Yikes!
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Vision-Dieter glasses
There have been countless weight loss hoaxes over the years, from pills and elixirs to topical treatments, fad diets, and more. One product sold in the 1970s with glaringly false claims was Vision-Dieter glasses, which were said to decrease cravings and hunger by using “secret European color technology.”
The initial objective of the creator was to manufacture glasses that would distort the color of food packaging in hopes of making shoppers less likely to purchase products just because they were in colorful containers. But realizing how much money could be made in the dieting field, he decided to market the glasses as a tool for consumers who were trying to lose weight.
It should come as no surprise that the Food and Drug Administration took action. These color-tinted weight reduction glasses were seized due to misbranding. Most pairs were eventually destroyed by the FDA when the claimant refused to come forward.
Totally cool!
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Recently discovered?
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A Starfish Waking Back To The Water
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Chef Eddie Jackson’s Smoky Texas Chili
with Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings
This chili is absolutely divine. It’s rather labor-intensive, but the result is well worth the effort.
chef eddie smoky chili
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients
Smoked Chuck Roast
4 pounds beef chuck roast, smoked, cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and pepper
Chili
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dark chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon fine black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 roasted poblanos, coarsely chopped
1 quart (4 cups) beef stock
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon beef base
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt to taste (optional)
Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey or 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 small jalapeño, finely diced
Instructions
Smoked Chuck Roast
Add wood chunks, chips, pellets or charcoal to smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Preheat to 250 degrees F.
Season trimmed chuck roast generously with salt and pepper.
Place chuck roast on rack in smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Set timer for 8 hours.
After 4 hours, or when the roast reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees F, wrap with unwaxed butcher paper and place back on smoker.
After 4 more hours, or when the roast reaches 208 to 210 degrees F internal temperature, remove roast from smoker.
Let rest in the butcher paper for at least 1 hour.
Slice the roast into cubes right before adding to the chili.
Chili
In a Dutch oven, heat vegetable oil over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Add diced onion and sprinkle with salt, if desired. Saute until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the red peppers and saute for 2 minutes.
Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and garlic powder stirring frequently for about a minute allowing the spices to bloom, but not burn.
Add the cubed smoked chuck roast and poblano peppers. Once all ingredients are coated with spices, stir in beef stock and tomatoes to the pot, deglazing the bottom.
Add oregano, beef base, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring chili to a boil then turn stove to LOW heat and simmer covered for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.Meanwhile, make Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings.
Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings
Mix together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar for Cheddar Jalapeño Dumplings.
Add eggs folding gently to combine. Then stir buttermilk into the mixture until combined.
Fold in cheese and jalapeños, being sure not to over mix the batter.
Place 1 to 2 ounce dollops of dumpling batter into the chili. Continue to simmer chili, covered, for 20 minutes or until dumplings are firm, but fluffy.
Serve chili in bowls garnished with shredded cheese, sliced scallions, cilantro leaves and a dollop of sour cream, as desired.
You Guys Are Cute With Your Scary Spiders. I Found This Under My Couch A Month After I Fumigated
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This is “Wow Cool”!
I imagine the plumage must have been impressive.
2023 01 21 10 03
Cool Pics That Show How People Enjoyed Parties In The 1970s
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Here below is a photo collection that shows how people enjoyed parties from the 1970s.
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WFLD Channel 32 – Lost in Space – “Blast Off Into Space” (Complete Broadcast, 4/16/1980)
This Will Haunt My Dreams
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We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023
Is your job safe? Right now, we are witnessing so much turmoil is so many different sectors of our economy. The housing market is crashing, the cryptocurrency industry has imploded, the tech industry is laying off workers at an extremely frightening pace, and some of our most important retailers are heading into bankruptcy. The information that I am about to share with you is deeply troubling. It has become exceedingly clear that our economy is in huge trouble, and I fully expect that our problems will accelerate even more as the year rolls along.
Let me start by pointing out what is currently happening at Microsoft. It is one of the wealthiest companies in the entire world, but due to a shift in “macroeconomic conditions” executives have decided that it has become necessary to lay off 10,000 workers…
Microsoft announced thousands of job cuts this week, becoming the latest tech company to pluck its workforce as the global economy slows.
The software company confirmed Wednesday its reducing workforce by 10,000 people through the end of the third quarter of the 2023 fiscal year.
The cuts come “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities,” the company’s CEO Satya Nadella released in a statement to its employees Wednesday.
If even Microsoft is laying off thousands of workers, is any job in the private sector truly safe?
Meanwhile, some of the biggest names in the retail industry are plunging into bankruptcy now that the holiday season is over.
Party City filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, weighed down by competition and years of financial losses.
The largest party goods and Halloween specialty retail chain in the United States said in a regulatory filing that it reached an agreement with debtholders to cut its $1.7 billion debt load.
Even more alarming is the fact that it is being reported that a bankruptcy filing for Bed Bath & Beyond has become “likely”…
Bed Bath & Beyond has been in discussions with prospective buyers and lenders as it works to keep its business afloat during a likely bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter.
The retailer is in the midst a sale process in hopes of finding a buyer that would keep the doors open for both of its major chains, its namesake banner and Buybuy Baby, said the people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
So many brick and mortar retailers are really struggling right now, and many of them are blaming competition from Internet retailers such as Amazon.
But if Amazon is doing so well, why did they start laying off approximately 18,000 workers on Wednesday?…
Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees in a blog post that the company was laying off about 18,000 people as it seeks to cut costs and would begin contacting impacted employees on Jan. 18.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy said in the Jan. 4 post. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”
The wave of layoffs that we have been witnessing in the tech industry is truly unprecedented.
Prior to this week, more than 25,000 tech industry workers had already been laid off this year, and this comes on the heels of the massive layoffs that we saw last year…
According to the data tracking website, more than 101 tech companies around the world have laid off 25,436 employees so far in 2023. Most of the layoffs have taken place in the United States, accounting for 22,400 employees fired.
The number of workers being laid off from tech companies is a trend that is continuing since 2022, when 154,336 workers were fired from over 1,000 tech companies around the world, according to the data.
But at least the tech industry is in far better shape than the cryptocurrency industry is.
Let me share four major announcements that have all happened within the past 10 days…
Genesis Global Capital is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this week, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The cryptocurrency lending unit of Digital Currency Group has been in confidential negotiations with various creditor groups amid a liquidity crunch. It has warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy if it fails to raise cash, Bloomberg previously reported.
Crypto.com announced plans to lay off 20% of its workforce Jan. 13. The company had 2,450 employees, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 490 employees were laid off.
CEO Kris Marszalek said in a blog post that the crypto exchange grew “ambitiously” but was unable to weather the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire FTX without the further cuts.
On Jan. 10, Coinbase announced plans to cut about a fifth of its workforce as it looks to preserve cash during the crypto market downturn.
The exchange plans to cut 950 jobs, according to a blog post. Coinbase, which had roughly 4,700 employees as of the end of September, had already slashed 18% of its workforce in June saying it needed to manage costs after growing “too quickly” during the bull market.
#4 The founder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato has actually been arrested. Apparently he was laundering money on a scale of epic proportions…
The founder of the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested early Wednesday in Miami in connection with a vast money laundering operation, accused of transmitting more than $700 million in illicit funds in the past four years.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national, oversaw a major “high-tech financial hub that catered to known crooks,” including cybercriminals and drug dealers seeking to process dirty money.
The cryptocurrency industry will never look the same again after all of this turmoil.
On top of everything else, the Saudis appear to be poised to make a major move that could literally change everything.
At the yearly gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Saudi finance minister decided to drop a bombshell…
Saudi Arabia is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar, according to the kingdom’s finance minister.
Needless to say, this could potentially completely undermine the dominance of the petrodollar.
Of course we cannot afford to have that happen, because the dominance of the dollar is one of the only things that is keeping our system afloat.
At this point just about everything is moving in the wrong direction for the U.S. economy, but most people still do not understand the bigger picture.
A lot of the “experts” assume that we will just suffer through a temporary recession and then things will eventually return to normal.
I wish that was true.
Unfortunately, our entire system is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and those that are currently running things are not going to be able to put it back together again.
Very unique and interesting
2023 01 21 10 00
My Dad Brought A Kitten Frozen Stiff Back To Life.
I'm a retired trauma nurse, and, you did EXACTLY what you should do. Cold truly does slow the dying process!! Im in love with that adorable little fur ball!!! You are a genuinely good and kind person!!!
"Never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up."
-Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States
Apparently, that includes (potentially) destroying human civilization via nuclear hellfire.
Posted by: Monos | Jan 4 2023 19:25 utc | 3
I started a new technique on my affirmation campaigns. Instead of using my spreadsheet on the computer, I am simplifying the text into short sentences, and putting them all in a tiny little booklet. Easy for me to read quickly and simply. I have the strong urge to move away from an over reliance on computers for affirmation campaigns. Hum.
I hope this post finds you well. Some art. Some funny stuff. A tiny bit of Geo-political stuff. Some food. Some cats.
Basic MM fare. Enjoy.
The bitch slap of reality
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UPDATED 11:50 AM EST — NATO “Contact Group” (War Council) Meeting Now at Ramstein Air Base – Germany – Over Ukraine
At least thirty-two (32) military Generals have convened for a meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, to discuss future “aid” and “tactics” for the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. Today, the world will find out if Germany will approve the sending of German tanks to Ukraine – a “Red Line” for Russia.
Germany manufactures the Leopard-2 main battle tank. Several other countries in Europe have purchased a number of these tanks over the years, and want to ive them to Ukraine, so as to fight Russia, but there’s a problem.
When a country manufactures weapons, and then sells those weapons to another country, the sale is contingent on the receiving country agreeing NOT to re-sell (or give) those weapons to anyone else without permission of the originating country.
In this case, Poland want to give the Leopard-2 tanks they bought, to Ukraine. Germany has not given permission, so the tanks cannot go.
Last week, the German Defense Minister, Lebrecht, resigned There is now a new Defense Minister, and he is attending today’s meeting at Ramstein Air Base.
Leaked information coming out of Germany indicates the new minister will approve the transfer of Leopard-2 tanks, but right now, that is only RUMOR.
Yet, there are additional problems.
Through political back-channels, Russia has informed Germany that if German tanks attack Russian soil, it will be a violation of the Potsdam Treaty that ended World War Two. That Treaty makes clear Germany is only allowed to have a “Defense Force” which can be used “for nothing else.” Manufacturing tanks which are then sent to Ukraine to fight Russia, would be using the German military for “something else” and Russia’s position is that will violate the Demilitarization” provisions of the Potsdam Treaty. Russia allegedly told Germany that if German tanks attack Russian soil “World War 3 will begin immediately.
The rub here is that the former oblasts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporozyhe, have now joined Russia and been accepted by the Russian legislature, called the Duma. So those territories are now “Russian soil.”
Ukraine does not recognize this, nor does the collective West. They refer to those oblasts as having been “illegally annexed.”
So Russia views the territories as Russian soil, the West does not. If Ukraine is given German tanks and use those tanks to attack “Russian Soil” it will re-start World War 2, or be known as “World War 3.”
That is how close the entire world is to horrifying war on a vast scale, and we all get to hear the decision about the German tanks, today.
UPDATE 11:50 AM EST —
The new German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius has just publicly announced “NATO countries failed to reach a unified position regarding the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.” He went on to say “”Statements by the media that Germany is on the way to creating a coalition to send heavy tanks to Ukraine are lies. There are good reasons to send equipment, but there are also reasons not to.” All pros and cons must be weighed. Many allies share our point of view, Pistorius added.
Coffee Syrup
This is an old New England favorite. It is usually stirred into cold milk (2 to 3 tablespoons per glass). It can also be used to flavor milkshakes, or used as an ice cream topping.
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Instructions
Place enough coffee and water to make 6 servings. Run the coffee cycle as usual.
When the coffee is finished brewing, discard the used coffee grounds and add to the filter a second quantity of coffee sufficient to make 6 servings. This time, instead of adding fresh water to the coffeemaker, pour the already-brewed coffee into the machine. Run the coffee cycle again. You’ll end up with double-strength coffee.
Repeat the process again, using new coffee, but reuse the brewed coffee instead of water. In the end, you’ll have triple-strength brewed coffee.
Measure the amount of brewed coffee. Add half as much sugar as there is brewed coffee. For example, if after the three brewing cycles you have 5 cups of brewed coffee, add 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar. Stir briskly until the sugar is dissolved. Make sure you add sugar while the coffee is hot so that the sugar dissolves.
Store the syrup in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator. It keeps a very long time.
Notes
You need a coffeemaker in which boiling water goes through the ground coffee in a filter and drips into a pot. The ingredient amounts will vary depending on your coffeemaker and how much syrup you want to make.
Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW)
China is pursuing a new military system known as Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) to align its forces from cyber to space, an effort U.S. officials say is fueled by a need to counter the Pentagon’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative.
Like JADC2, the MDPW core operational concept, as it’s known, relies on interlinked command and control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to quickly coordinate firepower and expose foreign weaknesses, according to the annual China Military Power Report, which the U.S. Department of Defense delivered to Congress in November.
The Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army, “refers to systems destruction warfare as the next way of war,” the official added. Under that premise, warfare is no longer solely focused on the destruction of enemy forces; rather, it is won by the team that can disrupt, cripple or outright destroy the other’s underlying networks and infrastructure.
The U.S. considers China the No. 1 threat to its national security, with Russia a close second. Both have long invested in military science and technology.
Cheese Characteristics and Uses
American – Semi-soft, mild, smooth, light yellow or orange, usually cut into square slices; it does not separate when melted.
Crackers, English muffins, pretzels, apples and red grapes. Serve with beer, light white wine, ice-cold milk, tomato juice and lemonade.
Amish (Lacy) Swiss – There are different types of Amish Swiss which have been perfected by the Amish in different areas all around the country. The most commercially popular is a longhorn shaped Swiss cheese which develops small lace-like eyes. It is creamier in texture than regular Swiss cheese.
Ham and cheese sandwiches.
Anejo Enchilada – Mexico. A firm, pressed cheese rolled in paprika. This cheese is not as strongly flavored as Cotija but can be easily shredded or grated. It is commonly used as a topping or stuffing for enchiladas, burritos, and tacos.
Asadero – A smooth, yellow cheese with more “tang” than the mild Queso Quesadilla cheese. This cheese is ideal for baking because its stronger flavor adds to the appeal of a baked dish.
Asiago (ah-zee-AH-goh) – Piquant, sharp tasting cheese with a nutty, pleasantly-salty flavor. Asiago blends well with Cheddar, Parmesan or mozzarella. This cow’s milk cheese gets its name from from the village of Asiago in northern Italy. There are two types, Asiago d’allevo and Asiago pressato. Both fresh Asiago (delicate and sweet, made with whole milk) and aged Asiago cheese (more savory in taste, aged from 3 to 12 months, and made with skim milk) may be purchased in the United States in many different grocery stores (including Walmart) and gourmet markets.
Asiago Pressato PDO is semisoft and a pale straw-color, and dotted with some small holes. Look for the mark Asiago POD or PDO ( protected designation of origin). Authentic Asiago comes from only four places in Italy – Vicenza, Trento, and parts of Treviso and Padua. The The symbol of authentic Asiago PDO is:
The d’allevo is made from partially skimmed cows’ milk and is beige in color with distinctive tiny holes running throughout the cheese. When ripe, the cheese can be soft and makes for a great table cheese, but when aged for a year or longer, it is used as a grating cheese. The flavor is rich, somewhat nutty, but mild. It may be coated with paraffin. It can range from a softer firm to a hard granular texture depending on aging. When grated, it melts quickly over heat. In a restaurant, ask for Italian Asiago PDO. Aged Asiago may be shaved or grated to serve over salads and pastas.
Pasta, figs, grapes, apples and pears. Serve with red wines, cider, cranberry juice and sparkling red grape juice.
Baby Swiss – The mildest, sweetest cheese of the family that includes Switzerland’s famous Emmentaler and Gruyere. Baby Swiss is notable for its light, almost white color, creamy texture and small holes. Ivory to pale yellow, creamy with small eyes, it melts well when shredded. It has a buttery, slightly nutty and sweet flavor and smooth melting characteristics. A smoked version is also available.
Cheese trays, sweet fruits and berries, croissants and muffins. Serve with fruity white wine, aged red wine, juices and ice-cold milk.
Basato – Uruguayan. Semi-hard and sharp. This unique table cheese can be used as you use Provolone.
Excellent in antipasto, sandwiches, as a topping, or in cooking. It shreds well.
Blue Cheese (Bleu Cheese) – Semi-soft white cheese with blue veins, sometimes crumbly interior. This is a generic term to describe many different types of cheeses made throughout Europe and North America. All blues begin as unpressed white cheese onto which a blue mold such as Penicillium roqueforti is dusted. The mold makes its way into the interior of the cheese via forty or so holes punched through the wheel of cheese as it ages. Most blues have a crumbly texture and a sharp, tangy flavor. Blue cheese melts quickly under heat when crumbled.
Serve blue cheese with robust, whole-grain crackers. Crumble blue into sour cream or plain yogurt as a dip, or into mayonnaise as a dressing. Pears, raisins, fruit breads and walnuts. Serve with full-bodied red wines, cappuccino, fruit juice and champagne. Port wine is the classic accompaniment.
Boursin – Soft, French dessert cheese. Rich and creamy with some tartness.
Good with fruit and wine.
Brick – Semi-soft. Ivory with numerous small round and irregular-shaped holes and an open texture. Shredded brick melts quickly under heat. Mild with a sweet, pungent flavor.
Apples, grapes, pears, onions, sweet crackers and dark bread. Serve with light red wines, beer, cran-apple juice, cider and sparkling mineral water.
Brie (bree) – A world-famous externally-ripened cow’s milk cheese that originated in the 13th-century near Paris. It is an easily recognized thin disc covered with a whitish bloom. This rind may be eaten depending on personal taste. At its peak, the cheese’s interior should be plump and glossy, but not runny or smelling of ammonia, which indicates over-ripeness. Its flavor (without the rind) may be best described as mildly tangy and fruity.
Serve Brie with a variety of fruits. Thin slices served on a sandwich with roast beef are quite tasty. Some people enjoy Brie baked in a pastry crust.
Camembert – Created in 1789 by Marie Harel, a peasant woman and said to have been christened by Napoleon himself, this cow’s milk cheese (40 to 45% fat) is world renown. 11 centimeters in diameter and 3 to 4 centimeter’s thick, this smooth creamy cheese with a soft white rind should be served at room temperature when perfectly ripe. You’ll know it’s perfectly ripe when it oozes thickly. If it is runny, it is overripe. An externally-ripened cows-milk cheese similar in appearance to Brie. Its flavor is only slightly more assertive than Brie, and its rind is edible.
Use Camembert as you would Brie.
Cantal – Firm, yellow cheese from France. Piquant flavor.
Good with wine or beer, for snacks, appetizers, desserts or cooking.
Cheddar – Hard, smooth, firm, it can be crumbly and have a white or orange color. Cheddars that are more mild melt well under direct heat whereas a sharper Cheddar will not melt as well and will perform better shredded and incorporated in a sauce. Ranges from mild to sharp, becoming sharper with age. Cheddar can be frozen but some of its moisture will be drawn out. This does not change the flavor but it does affect the texture. For this reason, once Cheddar has been frozen it is best suited for cooking.
Apples, pears, pumpernickel and rye breads, mushrooms and tomatoes. Serve with red wines, beer, apple cider or Port.
Chesire – Firm, moist, salty cheese from England. Sometimes crumbly. Rich and mellow.
Good for snacks, appetizers or dessert. Serve with dry red wine or beer.
Chevre – The French word Chevre is a generic term for cheese made from the milk of goats. Most Chevre made in the United States is a very fresh, soft white cheese shaped into small logs. Contrary to popular belief, its flavor is tangy, yet mild.
Colby – Hard cheese, although softer with a more open texture than Cheddar. It is light yellow to orange, has tiny holes and melts well when grated. Ranges from mild to mellow, lightly sweet to sharp and tangy and is often sold in longhorn shape. An American original, Colby is named for the town where it was invented. Colby is a “washed curd” cheese. The term “washed curd” indicates that during the cooking process the whey is replaced by water to reduce the curd’s acidity. In addition, the curd is not turned and stacked like a Cheddar, nor is it pressed quite as hard. The cheese which results is somewhat similar to Cheddar, but softer and moister with a mild, sweet flavor. Colby may be used just like Cheddar.
Apples, pears, pumpernickel and rye breads, mushrooms and tomatoes. Serve with red wines and beer, apple cider or Port.
Colby Jack – The colorful combination of a yellow cheese (Colby) and a white cheese (Monterey Jack). This mixture of two different cheeses gives Colby Jack a unique marbled look. It is generally sold in a full-moon or a half-moon shape when it is still young and mild in flavor. Eight ounce bars cut from 40 pound blocks are another popular way you’ll find this cheese packaged and sold.
Cotija – Known as the “Parmesan of Mexico,” this cheese is strongly flavored, firm, and perfect for grating. It is used in Hispanic cooking in a manner similar to the way Parmesan is used in Italian cooking.
Cotija is commonly used to add a lively garnish to common dishes: simply sprinkle on top of refried beans, salads, chili or lasagna. In Mexico, it is also widely used to enhance the flavor of many savory dishes by mixing directly into the casserole or recipe. In the U.S. it is increasingly popular on pasta.
Cottage Cheese – White with small or large individual moist curds that resist melting. Cottage cheese should not be frozen. Milky and mild.
Tomatoes, citrus fruit, herb or fruit breads, salads and vegetables; serve with white wine or ice-cold milk.
Cream Cheese – Soft, white, smooth, spreadable cheese that melts quickly and should not be frozen. Mild and slightly acidic, often flavored with fruits or herbs.
Fresh fruit, jams and jellies, fruit and nut breads and bagels; serve with cranberry or grape juices or a light white wine.
Duroblando – A strongly flavored Caribbean cheese that is firm, and has a mild smoked flavor. It is used for grating in a manner similar to Cotija.
Edam – Firm, coated in a red wax with a creamy yellow, semisoft to hard interior. It melts quickly under heat when shredded. Mild, slightly salty, nut-like flavor.
Mild Edam – Peaches, melons, apricots and cherries. Serve with fruity wine and lager beer, lemonade, flavored iced tea, apple juice and raspberry sparkling water.
Aged Edam– Apples and pears. Serve with fruity red or white wines and sparkling red cranberry juice.
Emmentaler – “Swiss” cheese from Switzerland. Hard and smooth, pale yellow cheese with large holes. Sweet, nutty flavor.
Good for fondues, snacks, dessert and cooking. Serve with red wine or beer.
Farmhouse Cheese – These are terms you will hear and see quite often when dealing with limited-production, artisan crafted cheeses. “Farmhouse Cheese” is not a specific type of cheese, but a term used to denote a cheese made by a farm using exclusively the milk from its own herd.
Additionally, Farmhouse cheesemakers usually use raw (unpasteurized) milk in their cheeses because they feel the pasteurization process removes some of the “character” of their milk. During the cheese’s aging process, the cheese builds up certain acids which cause it to “self-pasteurize,” making it perfectly safe to eat. Because Farmhouse cheeses are usually made in small batches by hand, the cheesemaker’s individual style becomes very evident in the flavor, texture and even the color of the finished product.
Feta – Of Greek origin, this pale white cheese was originally made from the milk of sheep. Today, in the United States, it is often made from cow’s milk. Feta’s curd is only lightly pressed and then ripened in brine, giving the cheese a crumbly texture and salty taste. Soft, flaky, crumbly and white, feta melts well over heat. Salty, pickled flavor.
Use on a Mediterranean-inspired appetizer tray or crumbled over salads. Olives, sun-dried tomatoes, vegetables, fruit, seafood and chicken; serve with Greek wines like retsina, tomato juice and citrus sparkling water.
Fondu au Raisin – French, dessert cheese. Semi-soft, mild and creamy. Coated with black grape seeds.
Serve with nice red wine, French bread, fruit.
Fontina – Semi-soft from Italy. Mild. nutty flavor, light brown rind.
Good in fondue, with bread, fruit, for dessert. Serve with dry red wine.
Fromage Blanc – A very soft, spreadable unripened cheese made from skim milk. Literally translated from the French, Fromage Blanc simply means “white cheese.”
Gorgonzola (gohr-guhn-ZOH-lah) – Semi-soft with a light ivory surface and interior marbled with blue-green veins. Piquant, spicy flavor similar to blue cheese. It becomes crumbly with age and melts quickly when crumbled over heat. Named for the Italian city where it is made, this cow’s milk cheese is rich and creamy with a slightly pungent flavor. When aged over 6 months, both the flavor and the aroma become stronger….much stronger. Some people think its stinky, but if you like strong cheese, you will love gorgonzola.
Pears, raisins, fruit breads, sweet crackers and walnuts. Serve with full-bodied red wines, sweet red wine, cappuccino, fruit juice and champagne.
Gouda – Originating in the Netherlands, Gouda is easily recognized by its distinctive red waxed exterior, enrobing a three to fifteen-inch wheel. The cheese itself is straw-colored, with a firm yet creamy texture scattered with small holes. Typically aged for only a few months before it reaches maturity, its mild and buttery flavor develops a richer tang as the cheese ages. Gouda can range from semisoft to firm, has a smooth texture and is often found in a wax coating. Gouda melts quickly when it is shredded and heated. Baby Gouda is usually coated in red wax; a more mature Gouda has a yellow wax coating and black wax or brown rind suggests it has been smoked and aged for over a year. Mild and nutty, it is often available smoked or with caraway seeds.
Mild Gouda – Peaches, melons, apricots and cherries. Serve with fruity red or white wine, lager beer, orange juice, apple juice, flavored tea and citrus sparkling water.
Aged Gouda – Apples and pears. Serve with hearty red wine, beer, coffee, cider and sparkling red grape juice.
Smoked or flavored Gouda: Apples, pears, thinly sliced prosciutto. Serve with red wine, beer, sparkling cider, tomato or vegetable juice and cran-grape juice.
Gruyere – It is a shiny yellow, hard, smooth small-eyed cheese that melts well without separating and is often used for sauces, with grilled meats, poultry and fish. Mild and slightly sharp.
Prosciutto or thinly-sliced ham or salami, apples, figs, melon, dates, walnut halves. Serve with full-bodied red wine, beer or ale, tomato juice, cranberry juice and cider.
Havarti – Semi-soft light to pale yellow with tiny eyes in its smooth body, it melts well when it is shredded. Mild to mellow.
Roasted red peppers, olives, bread, and bread sticks. Serve with fruity white wine, sparkling water, light red wine and sparkling water.
Kasseri – A firm Greek cheese, lends a pungent, nutty taste; if it is unavailable, Parmesan can fill the role.
Use in Pastitsio.
Liederkranz – Strong cheese, soft and creamy. From the U.S. Similar to Limburger.
Good on dark bread, with beer or wine.
Limburger – Very strong cheese from Belgium. Semi-soft with a smooth, creamy ivory body is covered in a brownish exterior that melts quickly under direct heat when it is sliced. Strong, robust and highly-aromatic.
Pumpernickel and other whole-grain, dark breads and crackers, pretzels and onions. Serve with beer, full-bodied red wine, cranberry juice, cran-grape juice and tomato or vegetable juice.
Livarot (LEE-vah-roe) – One of France’s oldest, a wonderful cheese named after a village in Normandy and whose nickname is the Colonel because it is bound with five strips of paper that look like a Colonel’s stripes. Originally, the stripes were made of natural rush harvested from the edge of ponds. This is a strong cheese with lots of flavor (beefy, nutty) and a pungent aroma. (If it has a smell of ammonia, it is past its prime) Livarot is made from cow’s milk but has only a 40% fat content. It is naturally white but colored orange-red with a tincture from a South American tree called the roucou. It has a soft washed rind, is round with a 12 cm diameter and is 5 cm thick.
Livarot goes great with a big red wine as well as with apple cider. Try it with bread and/or fruit, especially apples and pears.
Mascarpone (mas-cahr-POHN-ay) – Made in Italy from cow’s cream, mascarpone is a buttery double to triple cream cheese. It has an ivory color, smooth texture and cream-like flavor. It is sold in 8 ounce and 1 pound containers. Hard to find in this country, you may have to look in a good cheese shop or specialty market. Creamy, thick and smooth, it melts well in sauces. Full-flavored, semisweet and butter-like.
It is indispensable for cannoli fillings as well as the classic dessert, Tiramisu, and is the foundation for Torta. It may be used as the primary ingredient of a “killer” cheesecake. Fresh fruits, berries, fresh figs, shortbread and ladyfingers; serve with sparkling, light, fruity wines and coffee or liqueurs.
Monterey Jack – Semi-soft, creamy white with tiny cracks, Monterey jack melts best when it is shredded or sliced. Mild to mellow. Created by Spanish monks in early California, Monterey jack is a light-colored, creamy-textured relative of Cheddar noted for its mild flavor. It is because of that mildness that Monterey jack is so often flavored with Jalapeno Jack being the most famous of this type. All jack cheeses melt beautifully.
Especially good on broiled, open-face sandwiches. Jack’s meltability has made it indispensable for Southwestern and “Tex-Mex” dishes, shredded over tacos, stuffed into enchiladas or melted over refried beans. Serve jack cheeses with beer and fruity wines.
Morbier (MORE-bee-yay) – Named for a little farm town in France, this semisoft cow’s cheese was originally made with left over cheese for personal consumption by the cheesemakers. At the end of the day the cheesemaker would take leftover curd from making Gruyere de Comte and press it into a mold. To keep it from drying out and to keep the insects away, he would top it off with a little ash. In the morning he would add any additional curd on top of the ash and you had Morbier. Today it is made from a single batch of mild and add a harmless vegetable product to give it the same appearance. It measures 15 – 18 inches in diameter, about 3 inches in height, weighs about 20 pounds, and has a minimum fat content of 45%.
Mozzarella (maht-suh-REHL-lah) – A semi-soft creamy white, malleable cheese with a mild flavor typically made from cow’s milk. It melts best when it is sliced or shredded. Often known as “The Pizza Cheese,” mozzarella is mild and delicate and is often molded into shapes. It came from southern Italy where it was originally made from buffalo milk. If you are lucky enough to find real buffalo mozzarella in your local market, try it. Although expensive, it’s like eating ice cream compared to frozen yogurt. Mozzarella is packaged in a variety of sizes and is produced in whole-milk, part-skim and skim varieties. The higher the fat content, the richer and more tender the cheese.
Besides pizza, Mozzarella may be used to top any baked Italian dish, including ziti casseroles, lasagna, and veal, chicken or eggplant “parmesan”. It may be marinated in good olive oil and herbs as an antipasto. Bread and pan (or deep) fry mozzarella “cutlets” and serve on a pool of marinara sauce. Good with mushrooms, plum tomatoes, sweet crackers and pumpernickel bread. Serve with light red wine or a white zinfandel, soda, beer and juice.
Muenster – Semi-soft yellow, orange or white surface with a creamy white, smooth interior, it melts quickly when shredded. Mild to mellow. A surface ripened cheese, is a mild cheese that has a resilient, open texture with just a hint of salt. One of Muenster’s trademarks is a dark orange coloring applied to the outside of the cheese. This is a natural coloring called annatto, which is tasteless.
Shredded for sandwiches and pizza toppings. Tomatoes, baby carrots, zucchini, rye and whole-grain breads, crackers and mustard. Serve with fruity wine like a white zinfandel, beer, juice and soda.
Neufchatel – Originated in Normandy France. It is a very soft, spreadable cheese similar to cream cheese. It differs from true cream cheese because it is made from whole milk and not cream. Neufchatel can be molded into many shapes and is traditionally molded in a heart shape. However, in North America it is more commonly found in a brick form (and is found next to the regular cream cheese in the supermarket).
Use instead of cream cheese in almost any recipe. It is also very good on toasted bagels, with or without lox and raw onion.
Panela – The most popular fresh cheeses in Mexico, this cheese is mild, white, and crumbly. Like Queso Blanco, it will not run when heated. It will get soft and creamy but will not lose its shape.
Used in Mexico for many cooked dishes and is commonly crumbled over salads, tacos, chili and burritos.
Parmesan – Hard Italian cheese, with sharp, piquant flavor. A grating cheese.
Used in all types of cooking, especially Italian dishes.
Parmigiano-Reggiano – There are parmesan cheeses made all over the world but there is only one Parmigiano-Reggiano. Although more expensive, this granular textured cheese whose processing method hasn’t changed in the last 700 years is usually aged for 2 years. If labeled stravecchio – 3 years or stravecchiones – 4 years. Two reasons why Parmigiano-Reggiano has better taste and consistency; (1) the flavor of the milk which comes from cows whose diets are strictly controlled, and (2) the strict production codes that have kept the cheese making the same for centuries. Only fresh milk, rennet, and salt are allowed in the dairy. However, in 1984 the laws changed to allow the entire years production be branded Parmigiano-Reggiano. Prior to 1984, only the cheese produced between April and November could be labeled such.
Pasteurized Process Cheese – This popular style of cheese encompasses cheeses like white and yellow American and many smoked varieties. Natural cheeses like Cheddar and Swiss are ground or shredded together, and heated in excess of 150 degrees F. through the introduction of very hot steam. Concentrated milk fat and an emulsifying agent are added, along with a preservative and sometimes a natural coloring agent. While hot, it is poured into a mold and allowed to cool. The end result is a smooth, consistent, uniform piece of cheese which has better keeping qualities and does not continue to sharpen like non-pasteurized cheeses.
Pasteurized Process Cheese Food – The difference between pasteurized process cheese and pasteurized process cheese food is that skim milk is added along with other flavorful ingredients like jalapenos, garlic, onion, caraway, or various other spices. Pasteurized Process Cheese Food is lower in fat than regular American Cheese and most natural cheeses.
Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread – A dairy product similar to pasteurized cheese food but higher in moisture to allow it’s easy spreadability. These cheese spreads come in many varieties and flavors and are also lower in fat than regular natural cheese.
Pecorino (peh-koh-REE-noh) – From the word pecora which means ewe in Italian, cheeses made from sheep’s milk in Italy are called pecorino. Although the majority of pecorino is made in southern Italy, especially Sardinia, the best known pecorino is Pecorino Romano. Genuine Romano is only produced in the province of Rome from November to June. Locatelli is genuine pecorino cheese. Pecorino is straw colored, 36% fat, semi-hard, granular with a smooth rind coated in oil. It comes in a cylindrical shape about 12 inches in diameter, 16 inches tall and although a little sharper than Parmesan, it is often substituted when used in cooking. It has an intensely strong sheepy quality to it. It is to southern Italy what Parmigiano-Reggiano is to the north. Look for the sheep’s head logo with Pecorino Romano embossed on the rind to make sure you are getting the real stuff.
Grated on pasta dishes.
Pepper Jack – A Monterey jack cheese which has had jalapeno peppers blended in. It has a mild creamy texture, yet the peppers add a delicious spicy flavor.
Can be eaten as a snack or it can be a marvelous addition to any recipe.
Port du Salut (por du sa lu’) – Semi-soft, smooth and buttery. Mellow to robust flavor between Cheddar and Limburger.
Dessert cheese; delicious with fresh fruit. Great with apple pie. Good on a snack tray.
Provolone – The hard, stringy texture makes it easy to cut without crumbling. This light yellow to golden brown cheese is usually packaged in round, pear and sausage-shaped packages bound with a cord. It melts quickly when shredded. Full, sharp, piquant, usually smoked flavor. Provolone is the ubiquitous “hoagie cheese” found on almost all Italian-style sandwiches. Generally formed into cylinders or ball-shapes (in the U.S.), Provolone is white and firm-textured with a mild flavor. Provolone is very often smoked, making the cheese’s flavor more assertive.
Besides its use in sandwiches, versatile Provolone may be used as a pizza topping (with Mozzarella), served on an antipasto tray or used in salads. Tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives, breads and pears. Serve with full-bodied reds like Merlot or Chianti and sparkling water.
Quark – This is soft, spreadable German-style cream cheese. Its fat content is higher than the skim milk Fromage Blanc, but significantly lower than Mascarpone. It is very white, with a tangy flavor.
Very versatile, Quark can be used in everything from bagel spreads to desserts.
Queso Blanco – This mild tasting cheese is the most popular cheese South of the Border – both for snacking and cooking. It is wonderful to cook with because, unlike American-type cheeses, it will become soft and creamy when heated but will not melt!
Use for stuffed chicken breasts.
Reblochon – Creamy, French cheese. Semi-soft, with mild and nutty flavor.
Good for dessert, with French bread, fruit, wine.
Ricotta – From Italy. Soft and fresh, mild and creamy.
Important cooking cheese for many Italian dishes, including lasagna.
Romano – Hard Italian cheese. Varies from mild to sharp.
Young cheeses good with bread, fruit, wine. Older cheeses grated for cooking.
Roquefort – Semi-soft French cheese. White marbled with blue-green. Sharp, pungent flavor.
Good for dessert with strong red wine; also salad dressings.
Saaland Pfarr – Swedish. The curd is mashed with whiskey before ripening.
Saanen – Swiss. Hard and dry, rich flavor similar to Gruyere. Used for grating, thinly slicing and melting.
Saga – Danish. A lovely blue, triple-crème cheese. Young, with a softer flavor than traditional blues because it isn’t aged.
Sage Cheddar – American. A natural Cheddar flavored with sage before ripening.
Sage Cream – English. An unripened cream cheese. Green colored from fresh, bruised sage leaves and spinach juice.
Sage Derby – English Derby cheese flavored with sage. A traditional Christmas food in Britain.
Sage Lancashire – English. A variety of Lancashire. Contains sage leaves.
Saingorlon – French. Cow’s milk cheese, rich, semi-soft, ripened, blue-veined, but delicate in flavor.
Saint-Benoit – French. A soft cheese that has been rubbed with charcoal and salt before ripening.
Saint-Ivel – English. Soft cheese inoculated with the same culture that is used for making yogurt; with curing, develops a flavor like that of Camembert.
Saint-Marcellin – Also known as Bruleur de Loup. French. Soft goat’s milk cheese, mild when fresh.
Saint-Paulin – A variation of Port du Salut. Created by the Trappist monks of Notre Dame in 1816. Semi-soft when young. In cold countries it will remain that way, but in hot countries it ages to semi-firm consistency.
Sainte-Maure – French. Seasonal goat cheese. One of the first goat’s milk cheeses to enter the U.S. A great first-try goat’s milk cheese.
Samso – One of the finest of Danish cheeses. Gold colored, semi-firm, with a nut-like, buttery flavor.
Sap Sago – A Swiss hard cheese that has no fat in it. Flavored with herbs. It must be grated.
Sardo – Hard, salty Argentine cheese used for grating.
Sbinz – Perhaps the oldest cheese made in Switzerland. An aged cheese, hard and even-textured, making it excellent for grating. Preferable to the Parmesan because of its richer flavor and higher fat content. Often thinly sliced and eaten with bread when not quite hard.
Scamorzo – Also known as Scamorze and Scamorza. A mozzarella-type but more solid. Salty, and may be smoked. Soft when young, firm enough to slice when aged. It is hung from rafters to ripen and is repeatedly rubbed with oil.
Schabzieger – Hard cheese from Switzerland. Sometimes called “green cheese” because powdered clover is added. Made of slightly sour skimmed milk.
Schimmelkase – German. Soft, with a white crust. Good added to scrambled eggs.
Schlosskase Bismarck – Named after the German Prime Minister.
Septmoncel – French. Also known as “Jura Bleu.” Blue-veined cheese made with a mixture of cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk.
Serpa – A prized Portuguese cheese made of sheep’s milk. As a young cheese, soft and buttery. With age, it becomes semi-hard and sharp tasting.
Serra de Estrella – Portuguese. Made of ewe’s milk or a combination of ewe’s and goat’s milk. Soft or semi-soft with an unusual, piquant flavor.
Slipcote – English. Soft, fresh, white cheese. Ripened between cabbage leaves for only a week or two and as rich as butter.
Smokelet – Norwegian smoked cheese.
Soft Jack – A young Monterey Jack. Made from whole cow’s milk.
Sorbais – Maroilles variety. Pungent. Bright yellow, with reddish-brown rind.
Stewart – Scottish. Known as the Stilton of Scotland. Lacking the depth of flavor as Stilton, a worthy cheese none-the-less. The blue cheese has a mild flavor; the white, salty.
Steppenkase – A German cheese, bland and nutty. Low in fat. Eat as is or slice and serve on crackers. Excellent with a Riesling.
Stilton – Semi-soft; slightly more crumbly than blue; blue-veined; grows sharper and stronger with age. Distinctive from all other blue cheeses for its being based in a Cheddar cheese. One of the great British cheeses. Used for dessert, cheese trays, dips and salads. Goes with fresh fruit and bland crackers. Some recommend as a substitute for Feta.
Stacchino – Fresh, soft and creamy. Made from cow’s milk.
Svecia – Swedish. Firm. Sometimes made with caraway seeds.
Swiss – Sweetish; nutty with large holes; deep ivory to pale yellow. Gentle-flavored, meltable, and easily sliced. Used for dessert, cheese trays, salads, sandwiches, appetizers and as an ingredient in cooking. Goes with fresh fruit and squares of crusty French bread.
Szekeley – Hungarian. Soft, sheep’s milk cheese that is packed in sheep bladders. Available smoked as well.
Taffelost – Norwegian or Danish dessert cheese, semi-soft, creamy white with a red outer rind.
Taleggio – Italian fine dessert cheese. From soft to semi-soft, smooth and aromatic, becoming more full-bodied with age. Great with crusty bread and wine.
Tamie – A French semi-soft cheese made of skimmed cow’s milk.
Telemi – Rumanian. Made of sheep milk. American Telemi is made of cow’s milk. Semi-soft, much like the American version of Mozzarella.
Tete de Moine – “Monk’s Head.” Aromatic and strong flavored Swiss hard cheese made of cow’s milk.
Tijuana – Mexican. Firm, pale, but with a hot aftertaste. Hot red pepper is added to the curd before it is aged.
Tillamook – United States. A type of Cheddar, medium to sharp in flavor. A raw milk cheese. The older the cheese is, the more flavor it develops.
Tilsiter – Also known as Tilsit. Made originally by the Dutch. Semi-firm, with strong aroma and flavor, increasing with age. Good for cooking and eating. The butterfat content ranges from 30 to 60 percent. Now also made in Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and the United States.
Toma di Carmagnola – Italian. Soft and buttery with a slightly nutty flavor.
Tomar – Portuguese cheese made of sheep’s milk. It has a smoky-nut flavor.
Tomme de Chevre – French. Made from goat’s milk.
Tomme de Savoie – French. Semi-soft cheese made of cow’s milk. Distinguished flavor.
Coca-Cola Mini Kiosks By Ogilvy & Mather Berlin Promote Tiny Coke Cans
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To promote the launch of its tiny coke cans, Coca-Cola and advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Berlin deployed and installed a series of miniature kiosks throughout five different major cities in Germany.
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According to Adweek, the kiosks sold an average of 380 mini cans per day, which Ogilvy says is 278 percent more than a typical coke vending machine. The small scale intervention included a pint-size vending machine, which also served to describe the the print campaign’s main motto: ‘It’s the little things in life that make us happy’.
According to Adweek, the kiosks sold an average of 380 mini cans per day, which Ogilvy says is 278 percent more than a typical coke vending machine. The small scale intervention included a pint-size vending machine, which also served to describe the the print campaign’s main motto: ‘It’s the little things in life that make us happy’.
Confessions Of A Woman Who Just Confronted Her Childhood Abuser
I knew he would lie. I knew he would deny deny deny. I knew he’d get angry and throw out whatever he could to hurt me. I didn’t care and I didn’t budge. It happened. I remember it all. I’m not the only one it happened to. I known the truth and I didn’t flinch, not even once.
I told my mom first. I had told her once before, but she didn’t believe me. I was 17 and I was afraid. My dad is a narcissist, screams and goes berserk if things aren’t EXACTLY how he wants them. He would pin the family against one another, we would all take turns being the one berated all day. If it wasn’t you then you best hop on the berate bandwagon or your next. The entire day you were followed around being yelled at for how you do everything wrong, and all the family would have to agree. You go up the stairs too slow, you don’t sit quietly enough on the couch, the way you speak, the way you smell, you’re not smiling anymore, everything. Spoken to like you are dirt hoping tomorrow won’t be your day again. If you fought back you were hit, shoved into whatever table or thing was near you. You guys get it. I was afraid.
My mom is very kind but very meek. She also wanted a perfect family and when people were over that’s the picture he would paint. She’d turn a blind eye to pretty much everything.
When I was 17 they found a poem I wrote about hating him. He demanded to know why on earth you could hate your daddy so much. I felt so backed into a corner, over and over I was being drilled. So I said it “you molested me”. Well he blew up “I never did that! You are a LIAR! I would never touch my kids! Maybe I did but I forgot!” Yes I am serious about that last part. Those were his exact words. They demanded to know what he did, but I was so afraid. I couldn’t get it out. I never talked about it before, I couldn’t do anything but cry. They called me a liar and a few days later my mom reminded me to get him a father’s day present. I didn’t dare bring it up again.
That was 11 years ago.
I’m now living in an entirely different state with my amazing husband. But, he was still in my life and ruining it. Even just the sound of his voice when I would call my mom made me want to SCREAM. This man is a MONSTER. He destroyed me. As if the emotional and physical abuse wasn’t enough he took every piece of innocence from me. People freak even imagining one of their parents reaching into their pants to get them off, and thats my life. It never goes away, it’s in my head forever.
I had to cut him out. Forever.
So, my parents came to visit and I sat my mom down alone and flat out told her. I told her everything. Every detail. She cried. I hope she believed me.
Then I sat down with her, my husband and my father.
I stood my ground, I told him I wanted him to get help but this was the last time he would ever see me because he molested me. He blew, finger pointed, called me a liar, said he didn’t remember anything like that. I just kept repeating firmly “I don’t believe you.” Never breaking eye contact, my husband said there wasn’t even a tremble in my voice. Every time he threw something else at me I knocked it down calmly and firmly “you can talk about that in therapy. But there is no need to lie to me, I don’t believe you. I remember and I was so young, I know you remember. You are a child molester.” Boy did my calmness get him angry! I have never seen him sweat and squander like that EVER. After about 5/10 minutes of him changing his story and squawking I said “you can leave my house now”. And he said in the most degrading tone possible “what makes YOU so righteous?!” I know he meant it as an insult but damm I took it as a complement.
That was yesterday. I am excited for my new life. I feel like the rabbit from the velveteen rabbit, like I’m finally becoming real. I just can’t believe it, I can’t believe that person who stood up to him, so calmly and confidently, was me.
Ukraine – The Big Push To End The War
Over Christmas I had a short talk with a relative about the war in Ukraine. He asked me who would win and was astonished when I said: “Ukraine has zero chance to win.” That person reads some German mainstream news sites and watches the public TV networks. With those sources of ‘information’ he was made to believe that Ukraine was winning the war.
One may excuse that with him never having been in a military and not being politically engaged. But still there are some basic numbers that let one conclude from the beginning that Russia, the much bigger, richer and more industrialized country, had clearly all advantages. My relative obviously never had had that thought.
Former Lt.Col. Alex Vershinin, who in June pointed out that industrial warfare is back and the ‘West’ was not ready to wage it, has a new recommendable piece out which analyses the tactics on both sides, looks ahead and concludes that Russia will almost certainly win the war:
Wars of attrition are won through careful husbandry of one’s own resources while destroying the enemy’s. Russia entered the war with vast materiel superiority and a greater industrial base to sustain and replace losses. They have carefully preserved their resources, withdrawing every time the tactical situation turned against them. Ukraine started the war with a smaller resource pool and relied on the Western coalition to sustain its war effort. This dependency pressured Ukraine into a series of tactically successful offensives, which consumed strategic resources that Ukraine will struggle to replace in full, in my view. The real question isn’t whether Ukraine can regain all its territory, but whether it can inflict sufficient losses on Russian mobilized reservists to undermine Russia’s domestic unity, forcing it to the negotiation table on Ukrainian terms, or will Russian’ attrition strategy work to annex an even larger portion of Ukraine.
Russian domestic unity has only grown over the war. As Gilbert Doctorow points out wars make nations. The war does not only unite certain nationalistic parts of Ukraine who still dream of retaking Crimea. It also unites all of Russia. Unlike Ukraine Russia will be strengthened by it.
Casualties are expected in wars and the Russians, with their steady remembrance of the second world war as their Great Patriotic War, know this well. Screw ups also happen and at times some bad leadership decisions puts people into the wrong place where the enemy can and will kill them. That is what happened in Makeyevka (Donetsk) on New Years day 2 minutes after midnight. Some 100 Russian reservists died. The Russian leadership pointed out that they were killed by U.S. HIMARS missiles. The former Indian diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar judges that this was a U.S. escalation which will likely receive a response:
The intelligence inputs in real time show direct American participation in the horrific operation targeting the Russian conscripts’ New Year party just when the toasts began. Of course, whipping up public sentiments in Russia against Putin is a core American objective in the war.We are entering a grey zone. Expect “surgical strikes” by the Russian forces, too. After all, at some point soon enough, it will emerge that what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Some retaliation has already happened. Yesterday the Russian Defense Ministry reported that over 130 foreign mercenaries were killed in attacks on their bases near Maslyakovka and Kramatorsk. Those Polish soldiers are now gone. The Russian military also continues its quite successful counter-artillery campaign:
Missile and air strikes launched at a hardware concentration near Druzhkovka railway station (Donetsk People’s Republic) have resulted in the elimination of:
two launching ramps for U.S.-manufactured HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS);
four armoured fighting vehicles for Czech-manufactured RM-70 Vampire MLRS;
over 800 rockets for MLRS;
six motor vehicles, and up to 120 Ukrainian personnel.
Within the counterbattery warfare, two launching ramps for U.S.-manufactured HIMARS MLRS, that were used for shelling settlements of the Donetsk People’s Republic, have been detected and destroyed near Kramatorsk.Three U.S.-manufactured M-777 artillery systems have been destroyed at their firing positions near Artyomovsk (Donetsk People’s Republic), and Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People’s Republic).
Two Ukrainian fighting vehicles for Grad MLRS have been destroyed near Volchansk (Kharkov region) and Serebryanka (Donetsk People’s Republic).
Two D-30 howitzers have been destroyed near Kamenskoye and Gulyaypole (Zaporozhye region).
Those are four HIMARS, three M-777, some Czech ‘aid’, 800 HIMARS missiles and some Ukrainian guns that were lost in just one day. That was probably more than the ‘West’ can deliver over the next months.
Even the New York Times notes that Russia is exhausting the Ukraine as well as its western support by simply throwing cheap stuff at it:
The Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones that Moscow has increasingly been relying on since October are relatively uncomplicated devices and fairly cheap, while the array of weapons used to shoot them out of the sky can be much pricier, according to experts. The self-destructing drones can cost as little as $20,000 to produce, while the cost of firing a surface-to-air missile can range from $140,000 for a Soviet-era S-300 to $500,000 for a missile from an American NASAMS.
This only confirms the point Alex Vershinin was making. Russia has cared for its resources while the Ukraine, and NATO, have wasted their stuff mostly in senseless frontal campaigns against well protected Russian troops.
Ukraine is dependent on the West to fund its government, giving new meaning to the expression “client state”. Ukraine’s GDP contraction is estimated to be on the order of 35-40% for 2022. Ukraine in November projected its 2023 budget deficit to be $38 billion. Mind you, that is for essential services and is likely to underestimate the cost and knock-on effects of dealing with Russia’s attacks on its electrical grid. Again, before the grid strikes, the IMF had estimated Ukraine’s budget needs at $3 to $4 billion a month. It’s an easy bet that that $38 billion funding gap will easily come in at more than $50 billion.
And paying for teachers’ salaries, pensions, road repair, hospitals, are not the sort of thing that enriches the military-industrial complex. This is a huge amount for the West. Euronews, in discussing the then estimated $38 billion hole, strongly hinted Ukraine would come up short: …
Yves Smith also points out that, as we predicted in March, the pro-Ukraine propaganda is not really fixing the war:
Last and not at all least, the success of Ukraine propaganda seems to be falling despite the media and politicians doing their best to create the impression otherwise. Lambert and I were both very much surprised to read that a recent poll of likely US voters (as in presumably politically engaged) found fewer than 1/3 thought Ukraine was winning the war.
Lastly to find out who will win this war we can point to the mid December interview the Ukrainian war leader General Valery Zaluzhny gave to the Economist.:
General Zaluzhny, who is raising a new army corps, reels off a wishlist. “I know that I can beat this enemy,” he says. “But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFVs [infantry fighting vehicles], 500 Howitzers.” The incremental arsenal he is seeking is bigger than the total armoured forces of most European armies.
What Zaluzhny really says is that the war is lost if he does not get those resources. He knows well that is he will not receive them.
So how will Russia proceed towards the end game?
Dima of the Military Summary Channel discussed yesterday how two big moves, one up from the Mariupol area and one down west of Kharkiv, can cut all railroad lines that connect west Ukraine with the eastern frontline where some 80+% of the Ukrainian army is now deployed.
I agree that the move from the south will happen but I am less sure about the northern branch.
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biggerThe Ukrainian army, just like the Russian one, depends on railroads for medium and long range transport. Neither has enough trucks to move the big amount of supplies that are needed to support the war.
Ukrainian railways
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Source – biggerTo be able to supply its forces any Russian move must follow the rail lines and create some safety corridor left and right of them. Some railways will be damaged by fighting but Russia has special railroad regiments that are trained and equipped to do repairs under war conditions. The move from the south would go to Pavlovgrad (Pavlovhrad) while the move from the north would pass Kharkiv in the west and aim at Lozova. When both are taken the Ukrainian army at the eastern front will be completely cut off from the rest of Ukraine and, without supplies, will have to surrender or die.
Both are big 200 kilometer (120 miles) long moves that require significant amounts of forces. But after its mobilization and with volunteers Russia has 350,000 additional forces it can move in. 75 to 100,000 are sufficient for each push while the rest can keep the Ukrainian troops in the east very busy and fixed in their position.
Then comes the question of when.
Due to currently warmer than normal weather the ground in Ukraine is not yet frozen and the mud will return in March and April. That gives only a two months window to move forward. If I were the Russian commander I would probably wait and use the six dry months during the summer. But there are other criteria, like politics and economics, that will come into play and which may require an earlier move.
If the plan works the war will largely be over. Russian troops will be free to move anywhere in Ukraine with only little resistance. A move to retake Kherson and Odessa will then be a rather easy and short affair.
The big question is how the U.S. will respond. If the Ukraine falls the U.S. and NATO will have lost their war against Russia. That will cause serious political damage.
Thomas H. Lipscomb writes that war will be lost because it was badly planned and in a way that could never have changed its direction:
American military planning was once world class. But who would plan a proxy war against Russia, one of the acknowledged masters of artillery with far better air defense technology than any in the West, and then equip our puppet Ukraine with inferior weapons and only enough ammunition to last six months? And surely American planners couldn’t help knowing that there was no longer a manufacturing base for resupply, and NATO warehouses were practically empty?
This will have wide ranging consequences:
[T]he United States current leadership is a bunch of total idiots, blinded by ideology, arrogance and illusions of pursuing a “rule-based” global hegemony, an opportunity long passed, as our performance in this proxy war shows. The United States may have won the Cold War but it lost the peace. Its strategic thinking and its military is obsolete and configuration of both forces and equipment is based on assumptions from the past millennium. The battle for a Great Global Reset under a unipolar American hegemony has been lost as well. The World Economic Forum is now about as relevant as the Holy Roman Empire. All they can continue to do is terrorize the increasingly authoritarian states of the West with asinine policy proposals.The attempt to destroy Russia prodded it to a burst of brilliant diplomacy and leadership by Putin and his team that has quietly established that the rest of the world prefers sovereignty and a multi-polar world. The post Cold War “Pox Americana” as Larry Johnson has called it, is over. Historians of the future will study this period of history with fascination. Few times in history has such immense change happened so fast.
The effect of losing the war will be noticed in global and domestic politics. ‘Western’ global standing will be degraded and the leadership of the war party will receive some well deserved bashing.
But will the U.S. let that happen? Can it allow itself to lose this war? Or will it escalate? Even when that is likely to only worsen its situation?
I have no idea yet how and who in Washington will decide on those questions.
Posted by b on January 4, 2023 at 19:00 UTC | Permalink
This Artist Created Very Cute Covers Of The Music World, Replacing Singers With Cats
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The kittens always success on the internet. For those who like to see them in fun poses, musician and designer Alfra Martini has created The Kitten Covers, a blog with classic album covers with cats digitally inserted on the scene, replacing the stars cover.
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The Clock Is Ticking For Humanity As A Horrifying Fertility Crisis Looms
Is humanity running out of time? Based on the growth of the global population during the last century or so, you wouldn’t come to such a conclusion. In 1900 there were about 2 billion people living on this planet, and now there are about 8 billion. But some experts are now suggesting that we have reached a very significant turning point. Global population growth has slowed dramatically, and birth rates have actually fallen well below replacement level in many industrialized nations. Couples are having a more difficult time producing babies, and there are many that are blaming our highly toxic environment for this.
A twitter thread about our looming fertility crisis has gotten a tremendous amount of attention over the past few days.
There are some pretty bold claims being made in that thread, and I decided to fact check three of the most startling…
#1 “1 in 4 couples cannot conceive naturally”
According to the official CDC website, 19 percent of women aged 15 to 49 in the United States are not able to get pregnant…
In the United States, among heterosexual women aged 15 to 49 years with no prior births, about 1 in 5 (19%) are unable to get pregnant after one year of trying (infertility). Also, about 1 in 4 (26%) women in this group have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term (impaired fecundity).
So that would suggest that it is actually around 1 in 5 couples that are not able to conceive naturally.
However, it should be noted that the infertility rate has been steadily rising, and the number on the official CDC website reflects data that is a bit old.
If current trends continue, it is just a matter of time before “1 in 4 couples cannot conceive naturally” if we are not there already.
#2 “Sperm counts are down 60%”
This claim appears to be right on the nose. As I noted last week, a study that was recently released found that sperm counts have fallen by about 60 percent since 1973…
The latest analysis added seven years of sample collection and 44 study results to the 244 included in the earlier 2017 analysis. That study, in its analysis of data trends between 1973 and 2011, found an average decline in mean sperm concentration of 1.6% per year, and an overall decline of 59.3%. The latest study found an even steeper decline – to 2.64% post-2000 and an overall fall of 62.3% among unselected men. This, add the authors, represents a decline of –4.70 million/year, and indicates that this world-wide decline is continuing into the 21st century at an accelerated pace.
If sperm counts continue to plunge this rapidly, it won’t be too long before a majority of human males are infertile.
If that happens, the global population will begin to decline very rapidly.
#3 “if you’re an average person using regular soaps, deodorants, shampoos, body washes, conditioners, hair products, makeup, you’re ingesting over 200+ chemicals + heavy metals a day, all linked to infertility”
This claim was much harder to verify.
On the official NIH website, we are told that “pregnant women in the United States are exposed to 43 or more different potential chemical toxins”…
Environmental toxins are ubiquitous and sometimes implicated in infertility development, either through anatomical abnormalities or endocrinological dysfunction. Based on a National Health and Nutrition Survey from 2003 through 2004, pregnant women in the United States are exposed to 43 or more different potential chemical toxins.[3]Knowledge and experience in evaluating exposure to environmental toxins are critical for any reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist.
Environmental toxins affect individuals throughout the lifespan, including prenatally, and can have various effects, from increasing cancer risk to ovulatory dysfunction to altered semen quality.
Of course the NIH has not exactly been a beacon of truth in recent years.
Without a doubt, we are all endlessly exposed to extremely hazardous toxins in our food, in what we drink, in the air that we breathe and in the products that we put on our bodies.
A lot of those toxins have been linked to infertility, and many believe that this is one of the primary reasons why birth rates have been falling all over the world year after year…
It’s happening to men and women and as well, I should add, non-human species. And what we see is that the decline in the number of children that people have is one percent per year worldwide over the past 50 years. That’s true of developed countries and underdeveloped countries. And the same rate of decline, one percent per year, is what we see for the declining sperm count, what we see for the decline in testosterone, we see for the increase in miscarriage rates, and we’ve examined in our book “Count Down,” how each of these endpoints is deteriorating, if you will, at the same rate, about one percent per year, which is another bit of evidence, although not conclusive, that these are related to a common cause.
What do you think is going to happen to us if these trends continue?
According to the US Census Bureau, the fertility rate – which measures how many children an average woman will give birth to during her life – was 1.6 in 2020.
This falls far below the level of 2.1 needed to maintain current population levels.
As I detail in my new book, this crisis is an existential threat to the future of humanity, but most people simply do not care.
Most of us are just going to continue to bombard ourselves and our children with highly dangerous toxins no matter what information comes our way.
Sometimes I think that we are simply too stupid to continue as a species for much longer.
Instead of trying to figure out how to avoid extinction, we have become an “idiocracy” in which our young people are constantly devising increasingly bizarre ways to get the most social media views possible…
The clock is ticking for humanity, and we cannot save ourselves from the historic catastrophe that is in front of us.
Hopefully we will realize how desperate our situation has become before time runs out completely.
Switzerland to Deploy 5,000 Army Troops to protect World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos
The Swiss army will deploy 5,000 troops ahead of the World Economic Forum’s next meeting in Davos. Authorities indicated the troops were authorized to utilize coercive police measures to fulfill their security mission.
“The Federal Parliament has set a ceiling of 5,000 troops who will serve in support during the WEF, which will run from January 10 to 26. Some of them will be stationed directly in Davos, where the annual meeting will be held from January 16 to 20,” the statement read.
According to the statement, other servicemen will provide logistics and air force operations support throughout Switzerland. Soldiers will be authorized to“use coercive police measures to carry out their respective tasks,” the government said.
There will also be snipers on the roofs of most buildings, and in previous years the Swiss Police have shot drones from the sky.
The WEF predicts that soon everyone will be able to ‘rent’ anything they need under the cover of ‘sustainable development’ (SDGs) and ‘saving the planet’ (Net Zero). There is no doubt that the tiny elites who rolled out the Great Reset will own it all.
The number of participants in the forum is currently unknown. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro will attend the Davos forum personally, according to the latest information. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will also be attending.
Zelensky will also speak at the World Economic Forum’s Davos meeting alongside CNN anchors and NATO chiefs.
Only distinguished delegates were allowed to fly in and out of Davos last year due to a no-fly zone.
There has been fierce opposition to the WEF’s extremist agenda, including The Great Reset, Build Back Better, and You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy. The WEF is now feeling the heat. In response to those who oppose its techno-tyranny, it has waged a defensive PR campaign recently. The World Economic Forum also recently canceled its Twitter feed in favor of Chinese state-run social media:
1. “What we have to confront is a deep systemic and structural restructuring of our world, and the world will look differently after we have gone through this transition process (Great Reset)” – Klaus Schwab B20 Summit Indonesia 2022 Opening Remarks 14.11.2022. pic.twitter.com/H7AL0uCQXN — SikhForTruth (@SikhForTruth) November 15, 2022
Klaus Schwab gave the opening remarks in November at the B20 event. He said that “What we have to confront is a deep systemic and structural restructuring of our world, and the world will look differently after we have been through this transition process” (aka the Great Reset).
The coronavirus pandemic has been the vehicle for the Great Reset conceived by Klaus Schwab of the WEF. Globalists intend to eradicate all borders, dismantle the free market, and drastically reduce the global population.
How A Dog Should Wear Pants?
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How would a dog wear pants? This twisted question has been plaguing the Internet at least since November, when a Yik Yak user posed the question, and then BuzzFeed polled its readers. Fast-forward to December when FB page Utopian Raspberry user “Norbert” posted a stylized illustration of the same question, which was then re-tweeted by Maxim editor Jared Keller, who went on to interview “Norbert.”
Read the short interview, then see the puzzling picture and Mashable’s take on it, below:
“I created it last night at about 2 or 3 am (it’s 4:30 pm now my time),” Norbert told Maxim. “I saw some dogs wearing pants, and I thought about how they don’t really have arms so their pants should technically go on every leg. I just tried both versions. I honestly didn’t expect it to become so popular,” he added. “I’m just glad people found it entertaining.”
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German Intelligence Worried over Ukraine Army Losses in Bakhmut
Germany’s foreign intelligence service is alarmed by losses the Ukrainian army is suffering in fighting against Russian forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian army is “losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day” the BND intelligence service told a group of Bundestag lawmakers who focus on security at a secret meeting this week.
The BND warned that the capture of Bakhmut by Russian forces would have significant consequences, as it would allow Russia to make further advances. It also said the Russian army was using its own soldiers like cannon fodder in Bakhmut.
Russian forces in eastern Ukraine said on Friday that Russian forces had taken control of Klishchiivka, a small settlement south of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
Confessions of a Man Who Suffered From Locked-In Syndrome
How did you get locked-in?
I was diagnosed with a terminal progressive disease May 24, 2017 called toxic acute progressive leukoenpholopathy. I declined rapidly over the next few months and by the fifth month I began suffering from locked-in syndrome. Two months after that I was sent on home hospice to die. I timed out of hospice and I broke out of locked in syndrome around July 4, 2018. I was communicating nonverbally and living in rehabilitation hospitals, relearning to speak, move, eat, and everything. I finally moved out of long-term care back to my new home December 1, 2020.
Do you know what caused the disease?
Some kind of toxic cutting agent. I’m 99.9% sure it was heroin because that was my drug of choice. I used to freebase heroin off tinfoil on a daily basis. Drugs are bad mkay!!
When did you realize that people thought you were in a coma or brain dead?
I remember very specifically as I was losing all of my bodily functions, I noticed in the hospital that no one was interacting with me anymore. When a nurse would come in change and IV, they would typically say, “Hello Mr. Haendel, I am here to change your IV”. They stopped for approximately 10 days and this is when I had an “oh shit” moment and thought to myself, ‘ no one realizes that I am cognitively in tact’. Unfortunately I overheard everything.. one of the most painful was, “don’t worry, he can’t hear you. He’s brain dead anyways”
The scary thing is recent research shows 1 in 5 comatose patients might actually be locked-in. Hopefully they can get fMRIs more readily available to distinguish between someone who is vegetative and someone who is locked-in.
What’s it like being locked-in?
I fully understood everything. My perceptions were good although I was extremely hypersensitive to everything and my internal clock was questionable as in I did not know how much time had elapsed, but I did have a pretty good idea. I could taste, smell, hear, see and feel, but like I said, I was hypersensitive to all these things and very uncomfortable. The weight of a sheet would make me itch and burn up and when a nurse would walk by, the breeze from her walking by would make my skin feel like it was burning.
Were you scared? How were your anxiety levels?
Constant panic attack… my anxiety was off the charts all the time. I am actually surprised my heart didn’t blow out considering I was in triple tachycardia.
How did the doctors know you had locked in syndrome and weren’t just completely gone?
They did not know until I started to communicate. When I could communicate verbally, I was able to describe my experience and they then realized I had been locked-in.
Didn’t they do an EEG and still see brain activity?
Yes they did and it showed slowed theta. There were some brain waves but The assumption was I was disconnected from reality or vegetative
Was the diagnosis accurate? If so, do your doctors have an explanation for how you pulled back from a disease with terminal progression, or is a relapse expected?
The diagnosis was accurate, it’s called toxic acute progressive leukoencephalopathy. I am the only documented case of recovery from Stage 4 of this disease and it baffled everyone. According to my brain scans, none of my progress should be possible but I am no longer terminal and I am basically like a newborn who has to relearn how to do everything. A relapse is not expected!
How did you occupy yourself during your time locked in?
I occupied myself with a lot of self communication. I talked to myself in two voices about literally everything. There is an article in the Guardian that goes into more detail about this if you’re interested… it’s amazing what your mind will come up with to keep entertained.
I only had involuntary vertical eye movements during the time of locked-in syndrome but I could definitely see a majority of that time.. I just couldn’t move my eyes.
How was the experience of falling sleep and waking up like?
I didn’t really fall asleep or wake up. It was more like I just passed out at time… usually from extreme tachycardia or pain.
Did you hear things people around you said assuming you couldn’t hear them/weren’t comprehending that they’d never have said otherwise?
Yes and yes unfortunately.
What kept you pushing forward and not give up on life?
Honestly, I was tired of being stuck in my mind and body. I was so frustrated that I had to break out… I literally couldn’t take it and I realized I was not dying. I overheard every day for 8 months that I would die… and guess what? I didn’t… so I just thought to myself, “I gotta get out of this”.
What was the most meaningful type of care and support were you given during your time locked-in?
I had a combination of care givers that would not speak to me to care givers that would sing to me. My dad went to extreme lengths and definitely burnt himself out in his effort to care for me both before and during hospice. In my recovery since I cam out of locked-in syndrome, the support has been overwhelming.
In terms up meaningful support, people who continued to talk to me as if I was actually there was extremely helpful. They would talk to me about the news, about their days and just “normal stuff”. They also kept saying they knew I was in there, which I was!
Keep in mind, I was transferred numerous times and supports changed frequently but the most meaningful were the people who engaged with me.
When did you realize that you were starting to recover?
Blinking for “can you hear me?” was the first time I was able to communicate and that’s when I realized that the doctors thought there was a chance I was in there. But then they started asking me other questions like “Blink if you know where you are. Blink if you know who the president is.. etc” Many were convinced that my blinking was just an involuntary action but over the next few weeks, I was taught how to stick my tongue out (barely) and that was my “yes”… so then we had a yes/no system which took me out of being completely locked-in into being virtually locked-in.
When you “broke out,” was it sudden or was it a slower process?
It felt slow to me but I’ve been told throughout this entire journey since July 4, 2018 that I’m recovering at lightning speed. That said, I hadn’t been able to communicate for 2 years, and there was so much I wanted to say that simply being able to answer “yes” or “no” felt like a snail’s pace.
How are you feeling today?
Phenomenal and truly blessed to be alive. I am sitting in my own apartment, in my own clothes. I finally feel like I have some independence but still working on literally everything every single day.
What your plans are for the future?
First things first, I would like to be able to walk and perform all my daily living tasks by myself. Aside from that, I would like to do some public speaking and be a voice for the voiceless.
Do you think it would be a good idea to leave the radio on for locked-in patients?
It would have been nice to have some music but make sure it’s not the same station all the time! And also, make sure it’s calm and soothing and not too loud because the patient might have a pounding headache! Music has always been a big part of my life and the hospital spa channel really did it for the first four hours but as we got into month two, I was freaking out and would have appreciated some variety!
What is your biggest most profound takeaway of this unique challenge you had to face?
The biggest takeaway is don’t take things for granted… it might sound cliche, but I truly appreciate all the small things. And never give up! seriously!
The United States of America is now within five billion dollars of it’s legal DEBT CEILING and unless the . . . REPUBLICAN. . . House of Representatives takes action, the US will default on its obligations within a month. THAT would crash the global economy.
The U.S. government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month. That starts the clock on an expected standoff between President Joe Biden and House Republicans. Default looms with the global economy at stake.
Once the government bumps up against the cap — it could happen any time in the next few weeks or longer — the Treasury Department will be unable to issue new debt without congressional action. The department plans to deploy what are known as “extraordinary measures” to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out, the government could be at risk of defaulting unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.
The expected showdown over the debt limit would be a stark display of the new reality for Biden and his fellow Democrats, who enjoyed one-party control of Washington for the past two years. It would presage the challenges to come in achieving even the modest ambitions that Democrats are bringing to the task of legislating in a divided Capitol.
The White House has insisted that it won’t allow the nation’s credit to be held captive to the demands of newly empowered GOP lawmakers. But it has no choice. The Constitution gives to CONGRESS the sole power to spend money and unless Congress ups the limit, the Biden Administration is dead in the water, financially.
Moreover, the concessions made by new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in his arduous path to securing the job raise questions about whether he has the ability to cut any kind of deal to resolve a standoff.
With this kind of leverage at their disposal, House Republicans can make certain __their__ pririties are met. Like canceling the 87,000 new IRS Agents. The House passed a Bill to do just that, as their first order of business last week. But Biden has already said he will Veto that bill.
He may.
But when it comes time to negotiate over the debt ceiling, things like that will come back to bite Biden.
The stakes are treacherous. Past forecasts suggest a default could instantly bury the country in a deep recession, right at a moment of slowing global growth as the U.S. and much of the world face high inflation because of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
When Media Provide ‘Analyses’
There was a time when news and opinion pieces were all there was in a newspaper. The usual advertisements and crossword puzzles were just the supporting extras on top of that. But some two decades ago a new form of ‘news’ was added to the content. It called itself ‘analyses’ and claimed to be a neutral form of discussing this or that item. Written by journalists, not opinion editors, it was supposed to be fact based.
But after reading many of those ‘analysis’ I found that they are mostly used for propaganda. Their conclusions are obviously developed before the journalist or ‘columnist’ goes out and collects whatever may support those.
We find one example of such ‘analysis’ in today’s Washington Post.
Written by Ishaan Tharoor it opens with a very broad claim.
DAVOS, Switzerland — At this annual meeting where global elites are urged to collaborate, cooperate and get along, one message rang loudest: Send the weapons. As in the previous World Economic Forum session in May, the war in Ukraine loomed large in discussions. And while political leaders voiced their steadfast support for Kyiv, so too did a host of major corporate bigwigs.
The first question is of course why the people who fly in their private or government jets to Davos to discuss the climate problems they are causing are supposed to be ‘elites’.
But lets set that aside for now. What I really quarrel with is the selection of people mentioned in the peace all of which want to ship even more weapons to Ukraine.
There is the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the ever mealy mouthed CNN filler Fareed Zakaria.
Next to Zelensky was the …
… former British prime minister Boris Johnson — who, no matter his controversial ouster at home, remains a popular figure among Ukrainians
One wonders how many Ukrainians Thardoor has spoken with before making that ‘popular figure’ claim. Recall that it was Johnson who in early April 2022 prevented Zelensky from signing a peace agreement with Russia and urged him to wage a wider war:
According Ukrainska Pravda sources close to Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, who appeared in the capital almost without warning, brought two simple messages.The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with.
And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.
Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to “press him.”
…
After that, according to Ukrainska Pravda sources, the bilateral negotiation process [with Russia] was paused.
Since then some 300,000 Ukrainians were wounded and some 150,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. What do they or their relatives think about Johnson’s intervention? Is he ‘popular’ for them?
In Davos, the sentiment was overwhelming. “Give them the tanks! There’s absolutely nothing to be lost,” Johnson insisted, adding that the world needed to place greater trust in the Ukrainians’ courage and fighting spirit. “We continually underestimated the willingness and the ability of Ukrainians to fight and defend their homeland. … They proved the world completely wrong. They are going to win. We need to help them win as fast as possible.”
Is some uttering of the ever lying Boris Johnson ‘elite’? Does it really reflect the opinion of those in Davos?
Tharoor has more sources.
In its pavilion, U.S. tech company Palantir hosted Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who celebrated his nation’s usage of Palantir’s data-driven software in its prosecution of the war against Russia.At the same breakfast session, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, spoke of his plans to help coordinate billions of dollars worth of reconstruction financing for Ukraine, saying he hoped the initiative would also turn the country into a “beacon of capitalism.” David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, spoke cheerily of Ukraine’s postwar future. “There is no question that as you rebuild, there will be good economic incentives for real return and real investment,” he said.
Nothing of the above is a real opinion. These are people hyping their businesses which they hope will profit from the war.
A succession of European leaders, like Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, insisted their governments would maintain total support for Ukraine for as “long as it takes.” Members of a bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation echoed the sentiment. The rhetoric belies concerns privately held by many officials: As my colleagues reported Thursday evening, CIA Director William J. Burns recently traveled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky to brief him on U.S. expectations for Russia’s upcoming military campaigns and convey that, at some point, the scale of current assistance to Ukraine may be harder to come by.More the reason, Ukraine’s supporters contend, to rush aid now and help Ukraine make more rapid gains. “Whenever Ukraine goes to negotiations, it has to go in as strong as possible in those talks,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told me.
That’s it for the ‘facts’ underlying the nonexistent ‘analysis’ of that column.
The only one talking tanks is the bygone British prime minister Boris Johnson. Nothing provides support for the claim that it is the ‘overwhelming sentiment’.
There is nothing provided by Tharoor but a collection of the current standard blabber of ‘western’ politicians and marketing talk by some business folks who are hoping for large payouts to them.
His ‘analysis’ is a war mongering opinion peace. Its conclusion was preconceived.
‘Elite’ it is certainly not.
The twilight zone finchley
Tanks to Germany
An anaolgy for the tanks being sent by the west to Ukraine :
Back in 1967, the Honda Motor Company abandoned it’s motorcycle grand prix efforts to concentrate on car developement and manufacture. Or so the official line goes. However behind that story was the fact that every motorcycle they fielded in competiton used completely unique parts, even down to the ‘ clip on ‘ handlebars and the maintenence and technical requirements were a huge financial drain on the company.
The west is cobbling together an assortment of different fighting vehicles, each without compatibility to the other, or Ukraine’s troops, each a complex and difficult machine to master, let alone intergrate with Ukraine’s military. They all require their own spares, logistical back up and mainteneance programes and each are designed to operate in a different theatre of combat than the Ukraine.
The fact that these ‘ elites ‘ and western politicians are deaf to more expert voices who tell them this is not going to achieve anything.
( In the case of the U.K. they have so few, that a mere 14 sent will severely affect the number of ‘ new ‘ Challenger 3 tanks, which apparently will be built on the Challenger 2 platform. The U.S. Bradleys which are difficult in every aspect to operate. The German Leopard 2 series have many upgrades for other countries requirements and are not all compatible. That the U.S. Abrams is a gas guzzling, heavy monster that requires a logistic chain that the Ukraine military has no hope of creating etcetra. And what happens when an example or two end up intact in Russian hands? ).
These comment about sending more arms marks them out as wealthy fools whose only elite capability is to clean the latrines at Davos, rather than discuss complex geopolitical issues.
A New England favorite, this Nantucket Pie is not really a pie. It’s more like a cake. It’s delicious whether you call it a pie or a cake!
nantucket pie
Do not use frozen cranberries for this pie. Only fresh cranberries will work.
Ingredients
Topping
2 cups halved fresh cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Cake
2 large eggs
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily spray an 8- or 9-inch springform pan with oil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Topping: In a medium bowl combine cranberries, walnuts and sugar. Toss well. Pour mixture into prepared springform pan. Spread evenly and pat down a bit.
Cake: In a medium bowl, combine eggs, butter and sugar. Mix until smooth, then add the flour. Mix until smooth. Batter will be thick. Spread batter gently with a spatula over the cranberry-walnut mixture until all areas are covered.
Place springform pan on prepared baking sheet, and bake for for 30 to 35 minutes.
After removing from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes.
With a butter knife, gently go around the edge of the pan. Slowly, release the side of the pan and remove the ring.
Let the pie sit for another minute. Then gently invert onto a plate. As you slowly begin to remove the bottom of the pan from the top of the pie, use a butter knife to guide the topping away from the pan, if necessary.
Cool and serve.
Hornets Nest That Formed Around The Face Of A Wooden Statue That Was Left In A Shed
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This Artist Photoshops Old Paperback Books With Ridiculous Titles
Even though the internet is primarily focused on knowledge, connecting people, and providing services, a very nice and, to be honest, necessary function of the internet is to give people things to laugh about.
In the sea of comedy that anyone can find on the various social media, there’s also Paperback Paradise, a page dedicated to photoshopping vintage paperback book covers with funny, weird, and absurd titles, subtitles and marketing blurbs that were oh so popular on books back in the day; and Domi, the artist behind the self proclaimed “world’s #1 used book store”.
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Mystery solved!
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The Time Element – Rod Serling (1958)
This is excellent. Superb writing as always from Rod Serling – a real shame there’s no writing like this on TV now.
Note the actor. Yeah, half of the film was shot, and then he was fired, and replaced with Michael J. Fox.
Why?
What are the lessons here?
What about your life…?
Are you learning from your life? Are you making a difference?
Consider being the best YOU possible.
Manchego and Serrano Crostini
“I found this easy tapa dish on the internet. It’s tasty and will disappear in moments! They are the perfect size for your guests to handle for an appetizer or at a wine and cheese party. Enjoy!”
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Ingredients
1 whole grain baguette, cut into 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch slices
1⁄4 lb serrano ham, sliced thin and to fit the baguette slices
8 ounces manchego cheese, sliced thin and slightly smaller than the ham
Saute garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Discard garlic if you like.
Arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet. Brush slices with olive oil.
Assemble crostini, with ham first then cheese. Cook under broiler until until cheese is melted and ham is warm. Watch carefully!
Serve.
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Woman Was 15 Minutes Clinically Dead And Spent 5 years In Heaven
She talks about her perceptions of “the triad”. As I have discussed related to quanta.
She’s showing things from her perspectives…
4 People Describe What’s It Like To Have Bipolar
1. It’s the most amazing pile of beautiful misery to grace the hell of my divine existence! When your good, things are FANTASTIC! the other %80 of the time is spent trying to prevent your (percieved) justifiable suicide.
2. I have bipolar disorder type 2. It has affected me my whole life, though I didn’t realize it and didn’t get diagnosed until my late 30s.
I’m afraid of my own brain. I hyper analyze every mood and feeling, worried that I may be sliding into yet another episode of mania or bone crushing depression.
It sucks. I feel like so much of my life’s potential has been eaten up by the alternating bouts of depression, mania, and the guilt and shame I felt (and still feel) when I do have clarity. I lost my job, my marriage, and very nearly lost my life to bipolar. My ex tried to get my partial custody revoked because I am “crazy” but thankfully in my state that doesn’t hold water unless I demonstrate an inability to care for my kids.
I’ve also lost almost all of my friends, either due to manic or depressed behavior that alienated me from them, my ex’s embellishment of how insane I am, or my isolating myself after my last nervous breakdown. It took 18 months to be well enough to try working again, and every day at work seems like the day I will quit because I can’t take the stress and anxiety of it. But I go. And I keep going every day.
I can’t handle this illness anymore. But I take it a day, an hour, a minute at a time if I have to. And I take my medication religiously. At least I know without a doubt that I have done everything in my power to control this thing rather than let it control me.
3. Sometimes I’m very happy all of the time and I don’t need much sleep. I will start a lot of things and take up many new hobbies which rapidly develop into an obsession and then I’ll move onto something else.
It takes a lot of effort to get things complete because I will work on multiple tasks simultaneously. I was once cleaning the 2 bathrooms, sorting through laundry, cleaning the cooker and dishwasher, cleaning the patio doors, washing the floors, dusting bookshelves and sorting out the drawers under the bed all at once. I was running from task to task and became convinced my slippers were slowing me down. Our apartment at the time had a long, open plan living/dining room and kitchen. I grew convinced my slippers were slowing me down and kicked them across from the living room and into the kitchen.
I also suffer from memory problems during hypomanic episodes, which means that I only remember brief things once the episode has passed. An example of this is with my medication. I had gone to the pharmacy to collect my prescription, but they didn’t have enough and I said I’d call back in for the rest another day. They gave me a slip of paper and I went back a week later after running out of the meds I’d got the week before.
The pharmacist had said I’d been in the day after and collected the rest of my prescription, which I have absolutely no memory of, nor did I know where I would have put my medication if I had. She ended up doubting herself and went back to check the records and could show me that I’d been back in to collect the pills. Not even the time or date jogged any memory. I left to go back to my doctor and ask for another prescription but I had to go home for something. I got to the entrance of my apartment building and I couldn’t find my keys in my pockets and went hunting into my bag. While digging around I found a paper bag and found the remainder of my prescription that I’d picked the following day. I went back and told the pharmacist I’d found them and apologised for taking her away from her other jobs.
I also avoid going outside when I’m hypomanic. When I’m in large crowded areas, I pick up on people’s emotions and start feeling them as if they were my own. And it’s not just a single emotion I’ll feel at once, but a mixture of all emotions. Because people with bipolar’s emotions are already extremely elevated, this becomes intoxicating and I’ll end up very hyperactive and happy, but I’m also more prone to getting angry too. Because I’m hyperactive, I am doing everything faster and it feels like time around me has slowed down, so people walking in front of me, or having my way somewhere blocked makes me very angry.
If I do need to go into a crowded area, I’ll have to spend a few hours mentally preparing myself to go out. So I’ll make a mental map of the places I need to go, the route I’ll need to take to get the things I need in the most efficient way and I can’t deviate from that route as I’m more easily distracted when hypomanic and if I deviate from my route, then I’ll end up spending all my money on cheap tat because I felt like it would make my life a lot better at that time, and then not know why I got it.
My memory problems have also got me into debt several times too. I can buy things and forget I’ve purchased them, then remember I was wanting to buy it and go and buy it again. It’s not uncommon for me to buy 2 – 3 copies of the same thing, and shops rarely allow you to return them, so I end up just giving the multiples away to people.
I’m also prone to making rash, snap decisions. It’s not uncommon for me to randomly quit a job or take a sudden dislike to a close friend and remove them from my life. Due to the way bipolar works (depression and hypomania/mania), your job performance will drop while depressed, and then you can suddenly snap into a hypomanic/manic episode without knowing it and start irritating those around you. Because of how work places tend to treat those with mental health problems, they often won’t take you back if you quit because they see you as a liability.
But you tend to crash into one of the deepest depressions you can have when it ends. Like the saying goes “the higher you go, the further you have to fall”.
4. Some people say stupid things “yesterday I was feeling great and today I just feel normal, omg I’m like so bipolar lol”, don’t say this, it’s hard enough being a victim of it, and it becomes infuriating when people say things like this (this is pretty much true for all mental illnesses).
So what is it like being bipolar? Imagine swimming, swimming forever, you are not a particularly talented swimmer and to make things worse you have weights on your wrists and ankles. The heaviness of these weights change, with no real pattern, sometimes the weights are light enough for you to swim along with everyone else and it’s manageable and life is bearable. But sometimes the weights are heavy and just staying afloat becomes incredibly difficult, and sometimes the weights become even heavier than that, when the weights become too heavy you will eventually slip below the surface.
When you are under it seems like getting back up is impossible, sometimes the weights are so heavy you can’t get back up and you have to hold your breath until they get lighter but the longer you hold your breath the harder it is to not sink further leaving you to be in constant hope the weights become light enough to cope and get back up. For most the thought of giving up and letting go crosses their minds, once you’ve drowned you don’t have to struggle and cope anymore, because of this some people do. For some people the weights do get lighter and they can get back above the surface and continue swimming, some people don’t.
Friends are other swimmers, some have their own weights some don’t and it’s your friends who will rescue you when you sink under, they will help you swim carrying you along but they are also swimming and have to carry themselves, the more they help you the harder their own swimming becomes, some will move on and leave you, some will stay, and you will encounter more, replacing the ones lost.
Some use drugs to help with the struggle, drugs will temporarily make the weights lighter and it will be easier until they wear off but when they do wear off the weights will be heavier than before. Some people hurt themselves, doing this makes the weights slightly lighter but it makes the wearer weaker.
I can’t say bipolar does get better, certain medication will lighten the weights as will positive things in your life but you will always wear your weights. So why keep swimming? Everyone drowns at some point anyway so what’s the point? You want to get as far as you can during your swim, you want to experience the good things and you want to keep going, you want to beat your weights, you want to help carry others, you only get one swim, some people have it easier than others but it’s best not to waste it.
Rory Gallagher Irish Tour 1974 Tattoo’d Lady
I had this album. This is the first time that I watched him perform what I once owned.
13 People Reveal Their Secret That Could Ruin Their Lives
1. I run a cake business. I charge people hundreds for wedding cakes… Every last one is made using Pilsbury cake mix I buy for $1 a box at Walmart. I suck at baking. Every time I’ve ever tried to make a cake from scratch it sucked. But baking is like.. My whole deal.
My friends all call me the cake girl. It’s like my whole life is a lie. People compliment my cakes all the time. Telling me how delicious they are. Telling me it’s so much better than box mix cake. Telling me they could never bake a cake so delicious.
Well guess what? For $1, they too can make a cake just as delicious. Just add oil, eggs and water. In my defense, I love cake decorating. I make all of the frostings and fondant from scratch. I just hate baking fucking cakes!!
I base my prices mostly on the decoration of the cakes and not of the cake itself, ifthat makes sense. Still… No one knows about this except my husband. Even my best friends think I fucking slave over the oven mixing and baking these damn cakes.
I have been doing this for YEARS. If anyone knew my business and reputation would be in the toilet for sure. :/ I keep telling myself I have to learn how to make the damn cakes without the box mixes, but I never do it. I feel like such a sham sometimes.
2. Some guy convinced naive 15 year old me to send nudes and then used it against me for 6 months. He found me on Facebook and threatened to send them to my friends list if I didn’t do whatever he asked me too. He would make me get online whenever he asked and have me masturbate for him. He even tried to get me to meet up with him in person. I got really lucky when his profiles just disappeared one day and I took that opportunity to delete every social media account I had. I haven’t gone back since and I never will. It really fucked me up for a while but I don’t really have anyone to blame but myself. It’s been 6 years since and I still haven’t told anyone I know this story.
3. I get paid a six figure salary for a standard 40 hour a week corporate job for a massive well known company. In a given week I do maybe an hour of actual work, the rest of the time I am on social media or youtube slacking off. I thought when I got this job that eventually someone would figure out I don’t do anything all day but here I am 14 years later still doing fuck all and getting paid a lot for it.
4. I once helped out my a female friend’s family by taking care of their cat for a week. Every day for a week, I would go over there and snoop around their house. I found my friend’s diary, and proceeded to read the entire thing. I used this information to get her to like me, and she is currently my wife.
5. Cousin died when we were both seventeen. There was a reception at his house just after the funeral. I went into his room and stole all the money that was there, took some other valuables that his parents wouldn’t realize were gone. No one knows that I did it, they just assumed he didn’t have any money in his room, only loose change. I don’t regret it, but I will never admit I did it.
6. I had a baby with sperm donated from a man who advertised on craigslist. If my very religious family found out it wasn’t an “accident” I would be completely shunned and disowned.
I am a female who is ugly. NO, that’s not the secret. But.. I AM ugly because I have a facial deformity that I was born with. I’ve never had a long term partner and only had sex a few times in my life. My biological clock was ticking LOUDLY and I desperately wanted a child – there wasn’t going to be time enough to meet someone and my odds were none existent as a middle-aged, ugly female.
I own my home, have a career – but I didn’t want to lose all my savings to pay to have it done through a clinic and sperm donation, etc. It would have been at least $15K per try. My chances of adopting were also almost none existent as any women looking to adopt her baby out isn’t going to pick the ugly, middle aged lady to adopt their baby, plus is crazy freaking expensive. I wanted the money I had in savings, etc.. to toward raising the child.
So I turned to Craigslist and got it for free.
My child is a preschooler now and I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled! I pinch myself every day because my child is in my life and I feel so fucking lucky. Every day is a dream come true and I savor each and every moment. I try to be the best mom I can be in every way. Parenting really makes you take a long, hard look at yourself and how you show up in the world. I parent from my heart.
I regularly send pictures and updates to the generous and selfless man who trusted me on a hand shake.
7. I am basically living a lie. I told my entire family I was able to transfer out of community college and into a university, but I never finished up the requirements. So since I live at home, every day instead of going to school I go to the local library and bs. My lies are so extensive, I even go to the campus and meet my girlfriend for lunch sometimes. I’ve made fake transcripts to show my family, and to make it look like I’m actually studying I go to MIT opencourseware to look up facts that I “learned in class” that day. I have become a remarkable liar. I hope to be transferring in the fall and then I look forward to living a normal life. Coming clean is not an option at this point.
8. Ok, so this is a secret I’ve kept for nearly 20 years.
During the summers when I was growing up, my parents would often leave my brother and I(I’m male) with our aunt and uncle who lived out in the country. It was great as they had 4 sons of ages close to ours so we had a lot of fun doing kids stuff.
One summer when I was 8, the oldest cousin was maybe 16. We somehow got talking and he asked me if I wanted to sleep in his room that night. He has the nicest room and bed so I was all for it. Got into bed and he asked if he could touch my penis. I was 8 and just thought it was ok so I let him. He rubs it for a bit and then asks me to do the same to him. So I do. This progresses and eventually I’m sucking his cock. I think I knew this was wrong so I said I didn’t want to carry on. We stop and I goto sleep quite confused.
I wake up and he hands me some money and tells me never to tell anyone about what happened. Next night he tries to do the same thing.. But now all I care about is the money. So I do it. This carried on for 2 summers.
Eventually I got old enough to realize it was quite wrong regardless of the money and stopped.
I’ve not told anyone this. He’s now married with 2 kids. I’m also married and we see them sometimes at family events. I don’t have the balls to even try and talk to him about it.. Hell I’m not even sure what I’d say.
9. I came very, very close to committing a school shooting
I was picked on A LOT in high school. I think it was because I tried so hard to be cool and everyone saw right through it. There were these 4 cowboy jock types that gave it to me the worst. After being publicly humiliated and beaten in front of a girl I liked (as she laughed/cheered), I decided that none of it was worth it anymore. I had no support at home being an only child and having parents that worked constantly, and cutting and burning myself didn’t make me feel better anymore. So I got my dad’s handgun out of the gun-safe (he uses the same combo for everything, the idiot) and brought it to school with me the next day.
I can’t adequately describe to you guys how ready I was to kill these four. I had absolutely no fear or doubt in my mind. I wanted nothing more than to show everyone what happens when you push someone over the edge like they did. I had the gun tucked in my waistline. I was wearing this baggy pair of cargo shorts that i wore a couple times a week that day. I remember walking towards the cowboy’s table, so goddamn ready for it to be over, when the gun fell out of my waistline, down my left short leg and made the loudest fucking sound as it hit the cafeteria floor. I tried my best to grab the gun real quick, but people saw what it was and screamed, and one of the instructors tackled me to the ground.
They eventually concluded that I had brought the gun to school to impress people with badassery, and had no intention of using it. I was expelled and sent to live at a youth ranch in Idaho until I was 18. I did have the intention of using it though. I was going to kill all of them. I’m 24 now, and I still think about it all the time. I have not recovered from high school. I’m still terrified of people in general, and avoid having relationships because of what I fear I’m capable of.
10. A while back, I was cheating on my wife with a coworker. It went on for months, and I never really cared for the woman I was cheating with. She was super hot, though. After a while my coworker started getting really crazy and threatening to tell my wife (whom I had a child with and a baby on the way) about everything. Obviously, I kept trying to cut things off because I realized I was making a mistake. She lost it one night and was freaking out and texting me telling me she was going to come to my house, and a drunk driver hit her. She died instantly. No one knows I was having an affair, and my family went to her funeral.
1. I’ve been in a strictly sexual relationship with a first cousin for the last five years. We only ever saw each other once or twice a year growing up before she moved to the other side of the country and then never really saw or interacted with each other again until 5 years ago when she moved back. What started as us meeting up one in awhile has become a regular thing in the last few months. It’s escalated to the point where we’re now sexting each other.I’m scared to death of what might happen if anyone in our family finds out but I don’t want to stop what’s happening either.
Here’s the story: It all started out very slow before it escalated into full on sex.
I was informed by another cousin of ours and asked to help her move since I was free at the time. We started hanging out throughout that summer and then one afternoon we had brunch and then went back to chill at her apartment. It was a super hot day so we thought let’s just go indoors and relax and watch some TV or a movie.
I can’t remember what we were watching but we were chatting the whole time too, just talking about our relatives and what we were looking to do with our lives and careers. After awhile she kind of just leaned on me and got comfortable and I threw my arm around her (almost instinctively) and were just hanging out like that for a bit.
Eventually she gave me a lingering look that was kind of asking “what’s happening here?” and we both went in for a kiss. We were both shocked that it happened but we got over it fast and started making out and running our hands all over each other until my hand was up her skirt touching her thru her panties and then I realized what we were doing and stopped it from going any further.
We both came to our senses and stopped before anything went any further. We decided to forget it happened and move past it but every time we met up after that we’d make out and push our boundaries until we eventually ended up having sex. Afterwards, we were meeting up regularly until we both got really busy with work and only met up on occasion. We completely stopped when each of us had a significant other but would start hooking up again every so often when we are single. As mentioned before, now it’s become a regular occurrence where we hook up multiple times a week and we’ve been sexting with each other now.
12. On the outside, I am a happily married 30-something, about to buy a house, in sync with my wife on most things like religion, kids, that things will get better for us, etc.
In reality, I am a deeply depressed, secret alcoholic (which I fear is already adversely affecting my health, but I can’t stop), don’t believe in any higher power anymore and derive little or no pleasure or satisfaction from anything.
Most of this started with a sudden and untimely death of my mom, and some other family drama that happened around the same time while I was in university. I powered my way through there because I was encouraged to by those around me, even though I wanted so badly to drop out. This is also about the time I started abusing alcohol, I barely drank at all before.
My family is rather scattered now, living in different states. My wife and I are close, but I have been unwilling (unable?) to find or make new, meaningful friends as an adult in the city I moved to for a job.
I am so stressed: I feel pins and needles in my brain/head and tongue constantly, and drink heavily (5-10 drinks/units per day most of the time, sometimes more, I can hold off if I am traveling or around family (or in a situation where I can’t drink at all). I don’t even get really that drunk visibly anymore, which is why (I think) I hide it well from my wife. There is usually an empty vodka bottle hidden in my briefcase by the time she gets back from work, and I have usually poured my “first glass of wine” by then to mask that I have already been drinking (I get home from work earlier than she).
She thinks I am as happy and fulfilled as she and excited and ready to have kids and start a family, etc. etc. In truth I am just numb to this world. I try to love her, I think I do, and expend all of my energy keeping up the facade and affection for her. But apart from that I have zero energy or desire for anything. I used to be athletic, and still look decent, but my physical shape is fading fast. I don’t have or enjoy any hobbies. I just wake up, go to work, drink when I can, and mark off the days as I get older and closer to eventually dying.
I don’t know what to do. Tried therapy back in the day, and meds, didn’t seem to help. I just am trying to make life ok for the people around me who I don’t want to see be like me inside, mostly my wife. But beyond that I feel like I have totally missed the boat and am past satisfaction or having any meaningful place in the world.
13. My whole professional life is built on a lie and it’s about ready to come down.
When I was 22 I was in a bad way — halfway through my bachelor’s degree, but with a building addiction to opiates and some mental health issues.
Summer of that year I was in a bad car accident — in addition to broken bones throughout my body, my head went through the window and my face received severe lacerations that required hundreds of stitches to close and left me looking very rough. As tough as that was to deal with, I also now know that I sustained a traumatic brain injury that left me very confused, angry, and overwhelmed by life in general.
I wanted to keep up appearances, so after taking three months off to recover I tried to go back to school. Within the first week I knew I couldn’t handle it. Too many questions about what happened, too much anxiety, and I had lost pretty much all my coping skills. When I got overwhelmed (which happened often), I would feel sick and scared and literally forget where I was and what I was doing. It was frightening and embarrassing, especially for someone like me who had always had high expectations placed on my shoulders by those around me.
I had lost pretty much all my friends at this point, and in my mental state, I thought that those who remained would abandon me if they knew how much I was struggling.
So, I told everyone that it was going great. Every day I would I leave the house for six hours and drive. Sometimes I would stop in a parking lot, sometimes I would just keep driving all day. I would find cheap used textbooks at college bookstores so that I could bring them home and “study.” I created elaborate lies about my classes and my professors in order to have stories to tell when people asked how it was going.
I kept telling myself that I was just doing this until my brain worked again, and that next quarter I would go back for real when I could actually handle it. Problem is, things just kept getting worse, and as time went on I became less able to get back on track.
This went on for 2.5 years, until I was supposed to be graduating. So, I lied about that too. I forged transcripts and came up with stories of why I didn’t want to work in the field of my degree and hoped to move past it. I got a labor job and slowly found things working themselves out as my brain chemistry improved and steady work kept me from completely destroying myself.
Eventually I had to move. For the first time in over a decade, I was finally free of my opiate addiction and starting to feel part of the world again, but I was still carrying the lie of my college degree. I volunteered in some places related to that field and they really liked me.
They liked me so much, in fact that they hired me on an emergency basis (no transcripts required) and I’ve worked there ever since. Now, three years into my sobriety and seemingly a lifetime removed from the pain of those years, they want to promote me to a career-level job that I would absolutely love.
I’m so good at what I do and it brings me so much joy, but this promotion would come with scrutiny and background checks that I know I can’t stand up to.
When I was so depressed, I honestly didn’t think I’d even live this long, so while I knew that my lies could create this situation, I never prepared for it. Worse than losing this job would be having everyone around me find out what happened, so I am at a point now where I have to quit what I love because they like me too much.
I plan to go back to school for real and I think I’ll do well, but the shame and regret of this situation is something I don’t think I’ll ever shake.
Pronounced Dead for 20 Minutes – What He Saw and How it Changed His Life Forever
Scott Drummond shares his amazing experience of what he felt and saw when he was pronounced dead for 20 minutes. It is a very personal and tender moment in his life, a moment that drastically changed the rest of his life forever.
A Car For The Jet Age: Cool Pics Of The 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket
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The 1950s was a rememberred decade in many things. From the boom of culture and fashion to the unique inventions of cars, especially the 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket.
The Oldsmobile Golden Rocket was a two-seater show car built by Oldsmobile for the 1956 General Motors Motorama. The radically styled fiberglass concept, designed to resemble a rocket on wheels, was revised several times and displayed at various other auto shows, most notably at the 1957 Paris Motor Show where it generated much fanfare, 18 months after it was first revealed.
The car was also featured in the promotional short film Design for Dreaming along with the rest of the 1956 General Motors lineup.
Here below is a cool photo collection of the 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket.
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Confessions Of An American Indian
What tribe are you from?
I grew up and lived on the Oneida Nation rez in Wisconsin. I am part of the Turtle Clan (or Wolf, if you want to be pedantic)
Why do some people call your clan the Turtle Clan if it’s really the Wolf Clan?
Oneida is a Matriarchy and my ancestry is through my father which would put me in wolf clan. My Grandma is Turtle though, so i choose to go off of that.
Is your Oneida Nation related to the Oneida Nation in NY?
Same ones. We were moved forcefully from there
How many people are in your tribe?
There’s only about 15,000 people left in my tribe
Can you speak the Oneida language?
I know a handful of words. I know MAYBE 3 people that can hold a really shitty conversation. It’s pretty much forgotten
What kind of lodging/homes are on a reservation? Regular houses? Does the traditional teepee survive? Are teepees a Hollywood thing?
My great grandparents were part of the last generation to be taken from New York (Oneida Lake) They lived in longhouses/tepees. My grandma (who is still alive) was part of the first generation to be born on the rez. People live in regular homes though. There’s cool housing programs though the tribe that they expand every year.
What is the most common misconception that people have about you and/or your culture?
That (my tribe specifically) wear headdresses. Also rain dances are not a thing, they were never a thing and will never be a thing
How much of the old bush crafting/ living in the outdoor skills are still taught?
Not really. It’s more of people teaching beadwork/dancing/language.
What exactly is the significance of beadwork?
It is just as important as dancing as it connects us to our ancestors. There’s a lot of rules for when you bead though. You can’t bead when you’re tired, when it’s stormy, when its dark out, and a whole host of other things.
How much of native tradition is carried on in the reservation? Does anyone still believe in the spiritual ways of native Americans in the past?
To be honest, it is pretty much all lost or dead. We still observe certain traditions such as powwows. (I actually had a powwow just for me) The elders are dying faster than we can interview them and there isn’t much we can do. Just recently two of our oldest elders were stabbed and murdered in their own home and left to rot for almost a month. I would like to think the good outweighs the bad though
Any idea why the elders were murdered?
I actually knew the guy personally. He had a really rough life. (physical abuse by all his family) He was probably looking to rob them and things went south. I feel no remorse for this guy. Everything coming to his is what he deserves. He took two lives.
Rest in Peace Harry and Lorraine Brown Bear.
What is the biggest issue facing your tribes and/or natives in general?
Generational poverty. It’s sad how a lot of my people live.
How often does your reservation rely on tourism, if you had to take a guess?
We get 99.99 percent of our money from our . If you count that as tourism then quite a bit.
How big are your monthly membership checks from the ?
We have one large and members get 1000 dollars a year from it. Far from a monthly check. Elders get more money though and have other benefits such as free wood and housing
What’s the biggest obstacle to living on a reservation besides being low income/poor?
There is nothing here. It’s kinda sad actually
How bad is the drug/alcohol abuse on the reservation?
There is so much alcohol abuse it’s disgusting. There’s more heroin then meth from what I’ve seen. A lot of my family drinks and it will bring them to an early grave
What kind of changes do you think needs to take place for the betterment of people living on reservations?
The biggest change that i would like to see with Indians is to get off of welfare and actually have the US have good programs for a change. It’s so hard when people are this poor and cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Leaving the rez is not looked down on the traditional sense. There’s more of a jealousy going on. Very few people can just leave.
What do you believe the government should do to improve the lives of people on your reservation?
They could keep honoring the treaties. I don’t think the government will ever help out besides that. It’s nice to dream though
Do you think reservations are good/useful? As an outsider, I’ve always thought they were pointless because there is more bad than good e.g. alcohol and drugs, poor education, poor job opportunities, poor healthcare, poor justice, etc.
If that happened the culture would die almost instantly. Reservations are the last thing that we have they may be broken but broken things can be mended. I would cry if the USA took my home away
Do you still harbor any deep rooted anger/frustration at the atrocities commited by the US Govt?
At this point the older i get the more i realize that nobody will ever give a shit about us. We will cease to exist and only become a footnote in a history book. I personally have moved on from the past, it’s just that nobody cares about their neighbors anymore
Have you found much prejudges or animosity between different native tribes? Or has the history of oppression unified the native peoples somewhat?
I’ll be blunt with this one. There are respectable tribes and there are not respectable ones. Theres a lot of shit some tribes do that make me angry
How do people in reservations view “Outsiders”?
The rez is open to the public as it stands right now. The tribe does not own 51% of the land and therefore cannot fully govern the territory. I don’t have any disdain for white people living here and i don’t really know anyone who does.
Do you feel like an American? I’m not suggesting that you should, but I just find the social status of American Indians odd in that way. You didn’t choose to have this government or culture put upon you, but do you accept it and feel a part of it?
If I lived on the rez forever I would never feel like a American Citizen.
Does it bother you at all to be called “Indian”?
Frankly, I have been an Indian longer than iv’e been a Native American and most people here like it that way.
What is your opinion of the team name of the Washnington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians?
Who gives a flying fuck! Let them have their team! Nobody really cares on my end haha
Do you guys actually care about Native Indian costume on Halloween?
I find them Hilarious
How do you and others you know feel about Thanksgiving?
I fucking love thanksgiving. Huge meal with all my family? Sign me up! I really don’t care about the implication at this point. White people are offended enough for me
How do you feel when you see hipster chicks get dream catchers tattooed?
Dreamcatchers are for children to ward nightmares away. They are kinda like a nightlight. The kids think they work but its all made up
Where do you live now and what are you doing for a living?
Right now I live in Appleton Wi. I’m currently on the path to becoming a Firefighter! I go back the the rez every weekend pretty much to visit my family.
How would you compare life on the reserve to the life you currently have in the city?
I can walk down the street without feeling like i’m going to get robbed. Also there is so much more things to do here. The rez is poor and boring to be honest. In Oneida you have to drive a good 40 minutes to get to any place of culture that is not a bar.
Do you have any idols?
My Father is my idol. He has worked hard all his life (and continues to do so) to give his children a future. He’s tough as nails and a big reason I’m going into a Firefighting career. He continues to volunteer at the Oneida Fire Department and hes a huge influence on my life.
What do you think is the perfect way to live life?
Free of stress and surrounded by loved ones
They CAN’T hide this anymore, it’s all starting to unravel
When it starts happening to family and friends people know, it’s going to raise eyebrows. The whole “help, I’m having a coincidence!”thing only can last for so long…
11 People Who Gave Up On Their Dreams Reveal Whether Or Not They Regret Their Decision
1. Honestly turned out great. I realised my band wasn’t going to get a record deal after a few years and then after playing for other peoples bands for a while it starred to become less fun.
I got a ‘proper’ job, started working on my career and used my new spare time to start playing rugby again. Now I’ve got a really good job in a sector I enjoy working in, married, kids, nice house all that stuff and I still play rugby on Saturdays (pre pandemic) to keep things a little different as well as keeping in shape.
I don’t really see it as giving up on my dream. It was just recognising that it wasn’t going to happen. I’m very fond of that period of my life and having spent quite a few years chasing that particular dream I don’t have any regrets or what-if’s about being in a band.
2. Chased my dream, took decades, and did better than I thought I could. Stayed focused throughout. Thing is, I should have re-evaluated long ago. Turns out I was chasing the wrong dream. I regret not recognizing that the dream can and should change. If you blindly chase one dream, the finish line isn’t necessarily fulfilling.
3. No. I was on the path to becoming a professor, and I don’t regret leaving academia AT ALL. The pay is terrible, the requirements to achieve your dream can crush the soul out of you if you’re not careful, and the chances of achieving actual job security grow dimmer by the day. There are some things I miss about it, but I really can’t regret choosing a good paying, if somewhat more boring, office job that gives me security and disposable income to pursue my own hobbies and travel (before the pandemic, of course).
4. Part of me regretted it, part of me knew I had to.
I always wanted to be a doctor. No pushy parents or anything like that. I just wanted to fix problems and medical things seemed like the most interesting problems, things change, get worse/better, add new problems.. My little brother was born and developed seizures and development issues. I decided Pediatrics was for me! The same problems/puzzles but with the added intrigue of the patient being unable to tell me what was wrong.. Sounds a bit sick, but that’s what my brain wanted.
I didn’t get the grades at school, unfortunately my step dad died and it messed me up a bit being needed at home with my siblings and I shifted my focus. I did go to university, did an access course and a biology degree with the aim of then going on to medicine afterwards. Sadly, I got two rejections for med school (on my birthday no less) and I pissed away the rest of my final year, because…what was the point anymore??
I then met a boy (now husband), and needed to get a job. Any job. Please just give me a job. Countless applications were ignored or rejected. I felt worse than useless. I finally landed a job at a call centre. Hated every minute of it. But bills got paid, a wedding and honeymoon have been paid for, and we bought our house..
But. In 2019 I knew I was turning thirty soon and knew this wasn’t what I wanted, even if it was what I needed.
I enrolled at a local college on an access course and last year I passed with distinction. I applied to a few university courses, and I had two successful interviews. I quit my sucky job on new year’s after nearly 6 years of hating it. And in two weeks I start my course to become a nurse.
Plans change, needs must. But I’m hoping its worked out…
5. 18 months ago I left my mediocre career as a stuntman for more secure work as a DoD contractor. I’m now living life in Japan with a loaded bank account and my wife can focus on her writing. Although I miss performing stunts I now enjoy my day to day life without worrying about finances or health insurance.
I regret nothing. I can say I doubled Gerard Butler and Micheal Madsen but it was time to move on to provide for my new family.
6. As someone who quit academia shortly after my PhD and gave up all my research hopes and dreams, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I work a relatively “boring” job in marketing now (I worked with wolves during my PhD so pretty much everything is going to be “boring” in comparison). I have no emotional attachment to my job or colleagues which is a refreshing change and affords me a lot of mental space and freedom. I can finally tune out and stop working, something I could never do during my PhD.
The pay is mediocre, but when you’re used to being in academia, the job security itself is a huge boon. Besides, as an international PhD student who had spent almost all his life savings to move and set up abroad, I learned to maintain a 50%+ savings rate very quickly. If you learn how to have a good savings rate (even if it isn’t that high) and can maintain it after quitting academia, that shit adds up fast.
I desperately miss working with those fluffy, lovable, morons, but I can now daydream about buying a car and building a house without mentally kicking myself for it.
7. I went to school for and worked as a video game developer. I saw the crunch times, the frequent layoffs, and general instability of the industry and decided it wasn’t for me after all.
Been doing work in various industries trying to find something I want to do for a living. Came to the conclusion that I will never like working. So I am settled in at an aerospace manufacturing plant that has been in operation since WWII and I can and probably will spend the rest of my working days here.
I’ve decided that it’s better for me to get my life’s fulfillment from my hobbies and relationships instead of my work.
8. Turned out great, just not right at the moment as I am still job hunting after having to quit my previous job. Still no regrets though.
I went to college to become a 3D animator. Something I always dreamed about. I was top of the class, constantly won awards for my work. I honestly thought I was going to make it big. Then the final semester started and all the seniors were required to go to a special hiring event where tons of big names would be. I got my portfolio and resume copies ready to go, and spent hours researching the big names and their projects as well as rehearsing lots of practice questions.
It was devastating. No one would look twice at my stuff. Introduced myself, made some awkward small talk as they were so disinterested, then as I walked away they would immediately put it in the stack with hundreds of other portfolios, and not in the special pile.
I switched up my game. I started introducing myself with a quick mention that I had a background in programming (I did). Thinking that maybe that would give me an edge. Oh boy did it work. Suddenly I was getting personal business cards, phone numbers and emails, my resume was put on the special pile.
It was at that moment I realized I went into the wrong field. I was just a tiny insignificant drop in a sea of artists, many of whom were much more talented than I could ever be.
Finished up my degree and went back to college for a BS in Computer Science. Got my first job right out of college from an internship I did over the summer. The job itself was heaven, and I really enjoyed it. It also helped that I made bank when I was there. Paid off all my school loans within 3 years and had plenty to invest and put into savings.
While it sucks not having anything right now, I’m hoping to find something soon.
Side note: The 3D stuff I still do as a hobby. Not nearly as good as I once was, but it is still fun and relaxing.
9. At age 15 I started playing guitar in a band. The dream was to become a Rock Star. At age 22, I was playing Gazzari’s on the Sunset Strip. A set of original tunes in club where so many famous people started. It was the heyday of the metal scene and that was happening in Los Angeles. By 1984 I realized that it was not just a question of being a great band. Or writing great songs. I had seen a lot of great bands in Los Angeles that had great songs, go absolutely nowhere. Then really crappy bands, I won’t mention names to avoid hurting anyone, that did have commercial success. So why was this?
It turns out being a great band that writes great songs, is just not enough. You also have to be incredibly lucky. More people win the lottery than become famous rock stars. It was time to get real. I was 22 and I wanted things. So I gave up my dreams and became an electrical apprentice.
By the time I was 24, I was running jobs. At 27 I was accepted in the IBEW as a journeyman electrician, after passing the Journeyman Block Test, accepted in a lot of states. At age 31 I became a Master Electrician and General Foreman in the IBEW. I then became the Superintendent of a large Union shop . And finally at age 33 I started my own Electrical Contracting business. At age 41 I became 100% disabled and was forced to retire. That was almost 20 years ago. I still have my Bray Amp and my Les Paul in my bedroom, always plugged in, so I can pick it up anytime I want. So, I’d say everything turned out ok for me.
10. I made a solid run at becoming a writer. It was always my dream as I’ve been an avid reader my whole life and have always had an active imagination. I studied English in university, read everything I could and spent my 20s living and travelling overseas. I joined writers groups, did an apprenticeship with an established author and worked my ass off for years, both abroad and when I returned home. I even got a few short stories published. And I was miserable.
Writing fiction has to be the worst paying job in the world when you factor in the time you put in (Stephen King references this at the start of On Writing). Writers like King are extreme outliers, and even he had to work a 9-5 while writing Carrie. It is extremely hard to grind out a job all day, then come home and try to write all evening. Or get up at 5am everyday and write before work. Not only is it difficult to conjure up the juice you need to write when you’re working around a “regular” life schedule, but everything else in your life slips. You don’t have time to workout. You miss out on spending time with friends and family. You’re sitting in you desk or chair every night while your partner is watching TV alone. And if you have kids… good luck.
I became overweight, depressed, and miserable. I developed back issues from spending 12+ hours a day in a chair. I wasn’t getting anywhere in life, and while it was nice to get published the odd time, I didn’t find the joy in my own writing the way I do in others. So I let it go.
Now, I have a great job, nice house, and lots of time to spend with my wife and pursue my hobbies. I fixed my back issues and got in great shape (until COVID) And I have grown so much as a person since then. So no regrets.
I do think about it from time to time though. I still read a lot, and I’m sure that itch will come back sometime. It’s not like being an athlete… nothing to say I can’t pick it back up any other time
11. I was a child actor. I was relatively successful – I was on a popular soap and even had my fifteen minutes of fame – I had TV shows and films and commercials on the go. Of course this meant I was bullied at school – if I answered their incessant questions about what it was like on set, they said I was stuck up for talking about myself. If I didn’t answer their questions, they said I was stuck up for not engaging with them. I was talked down to, ignored, laughed at – the usual high school stuff. But for most people, that stuff ends in high school. For famous people, it never ends (as we see on the internet daily).
Then I met someone on set who told me what it was really like – that if you’re not made for it, the fame part can completely destroy you as a person – if you are private or shy or anxious, as I am, it can tear you apart inside, and it’s constant, and for the really famous people, it never, ever goes away. She helped me recognise that what I loved was the process, the on-set family, the job itself. The recognition, the total lack of privacy, and the inevitable bullying just wasn’t what I wanted my life to be. She showed me that at this early stage of my career, I could make my choice, I didn’t have to just stumble into a lifestyle I wouldn’t easily be able to get out of. She showed me the truth – that for most people, by the time they know they hate the lifestyle, it’s already too late.
When I was 18, I quit my agency, and never looked back. Now, 19 years later, in my office job in finance, I make a fraction of what I could have made, and I don’t enjoy my work nearly as much as I enjoyed tv and film sets. But I’m anonymous, and I am happy. The girl I met, these days she can’t even go to a grocery store or a petrol station without being mobbed (we’re not still in touch, but I follow her career). Me, I can go anywhere and do anything without anyone giving me a second glance. That makes me happy. I hope she is happy too.
US spy plane makes dangerous maneuvers against monitoring PLA airplane during close-in recon on China
It was a US RC-135 spy plane that engaged in dangerous maneuvers against a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy J-11 fighter jet which was monitoring the US aircraft during the latter’s close-in reconnaissance over the South China Sea, and the US intentionally misled the public, the PLA Southern Theater Command said on Saturday, releasing a video documenting the incident.
The US statement disregarded the truth and is pure slander and hype, said Senior Colonel Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the PLA Southern Theater Command, in a statement on Saturday.
Tian’s statement is a response to a recent US military statement claiming a PLA Navy J-11 fighter jet came within six meters of a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft over the South China Sea on December 21, forcing the US aircraft to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, Reuters reported on Friday.
A US RC-135 aircraft conducted intentional close-in reconnaissance on China’s southern coastline and the Xisha Islands of Hainan, South China’s Hainan Province on December 21. The PLA Southern Theater Command organized aerial forces to conduct tracking and monitoring through its entire course, Tian said.
Despite multiple warnings from the Chinese side, the US aircraft suddenly altered its flight stance, pushed the Chinese aircraft toward left in a dangerous approach movement, which seriously compromised the flight safety of the Chinese military aircraft, severely violated the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters between China and the US as well as related international law and practices, the spokesperson said.
A video documenting the incident from the perspective of the Chinese J-11 fighter jet was attached to Tian’s statement, which showed the US RC-135 intentionally altered its flight stance in a dangerous approach toward the Chinese aircraft at 11:25 am on December 21.
From the video released by the Chinese side, it is obvious that the US aircraft actively maneuvered left toward the Chinese aircraft, verifying that it was the US side that engaged in dangerous moves, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Saturday.
On the other hand, the video release by the US only showed the Chinese aircraft flying alongside the US aircraft without making any dangerous maneuvers, the expert said.
The Chinese pilot took professional and standard action according to laws and regulations, fully reflecting the Chinese military’s responsible attitude toward regional safety and the safety of frontline personnel, Tian said.
“The US side intentionally misled the public, called black white, blamed on China while itself is to be blamed and attempted to confuse international opinion,” he said.
“We sternly require the US to restrain the movements of its frontline maritime and aerial forces, strictly abide by related international laws and related agreements and prevent maritime and aerial accidents,” Tian said.
The Chinese military is on high alert at all times, as it will resolutely carry out its duties and missions, safeguarding national sovereignty and security, the spokesperson said.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson from the China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regular press conference on Friday in response to the incident that, for a long time, the US has frequently deployed aircraft and vessels for close-in reconnaissance on China, which poses a serious danger to China’s national security.
The US’ provocative and dangerous moves are the root cause of maritime security issues, Wang said.
“China urges the US to stop such dangerous provocations, and stop deflecting blame on China. China will continue to take necessary measures to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security, and work with regional countries to firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Wang said.
Confessions of the Deputy Warden Of The World’s Most Humane Prison
How did a program like this come about, was it at first controversial or was it always accepted as a good idea?
Building the facility was a decision made by the parliament in Norway. The way is was built, was to reflect some of the central principles of the Norwegian correctional services; Humanity and Normality. Some said the first months that is was to “luxurious” – but that critique silenced after a while.
How many prisoners are in your prison?
Approx. 260. A big prison by Norwegian standard, very small by US standards…. We could argue for hours what is the “best” size, however my experience is that very large prisons is more about “logistics” than rehabilitation.
What sort of crimes have the majority of inmates committed? Are there particular crimes that make the inmates less likely to be rehabilitated?
Drug-related crimes are on top. In “second place”, murders. Third; rapists/sexual offenses. Rehabilitating pedophiles is difficult.
Do you see many repeat offenders?
Absolutely, we have them in Norway (and Halden) also. However, re-offending is less likely in Norway and the other Nordic countries, due to our focus on rehabilitation. If I simplify, you might say that re-offending is often connected to those having a drug addiction that we don’t succeed in helping enough.
What are the psycho-social backgrounds of your prisoners? Is there a common theme?
90% have some kind of mental issue, 60% are substance abusers, a substantial number have had problems (violence, sexual abuse, et.c) i their upbringing, many are without jobs, very low education, et.c The majority of the inmates have issues in many aspects of their life.
What is an inmate’s day-to-day life like at Halden?
In short; All inmates shall be in some kind of activity – every day. The normal routine is getting up in the morning, prepare their own breakfest and lunch, thereafter going to work or school. After work/school, they return to their living unit to have dinner. In the afternoon, there are visits, time in the yard, going to the library/gymnasium/etc. They are locked in their cells from around 20:30 to 07:15 Next morning.
What is the reason behind the 20:30 lock down?
Its a cost issue really regarding staffing.
How would you deal with the type of “Fight or die” culture that pulls non-violent offenders into prison gangs for self defense? That issue is pretty much universal in the US prison systems. I’ve always held that putting a burglar in the general population of a prison with violent lifers just forces the non-violent criminal to evolve into a more dangerous criminal.
We do the same in Norway also, mixing all kinds of offenders together. So why do we not have the same problem, or at least not to the same extent, that the US do? I think the answer is because in our prisons, our officers are together with the inmates at all times – we control the prison environment, not the “high-status” inmates. This is part of what we call “dynamic security”, the dialogue and contact between the officers and the inmates.
Do you ever feel intimidated or in danger from your inmates?
Very seldom. Treating people with respect and have a willingness to communicate, reduces tension.
If an inmate gets violent, how are you supposed to handle it?
First of all, most situations that are evolving, is possible to solve by communication. Since our officers are together with the inmates, they feel any tention early and are able to talk the situation down. In the few cases this is not possible, all officers are trained in the use of “physical power”, both on an individual level, as well as a team.
Is there ever a need for solitary confinement? If so, how often is it used and for how long?
Norway doesn’t use solitary confinement as in the US. We have “Security cells” where inmates who present a clear danger to themselves, other inmates, or staff – are put. But they stay there just until the situation is calmed downed, normally within 24 hours – where they move back into general population. You don’t stay in the Security cell as a punishment, as you do in the US.
What are some effective strategies for changing prisoner behaviors for the long term?
Start building trust – by treating them humanely and with respect. Then you have the basis for talking about change, future, etc.
What methods do you see inmates use to help rehabilitate themselves?
This varies among the inmates, you might say that we try to “tailor-made” the effort for all inmates. Screening and interviews form the basis for how we plan the intervention, together with the inmate. In addition to what you mention, I could add; Substance abuse treatment, housing issues, debt counselling, social network, et.c
How do Norwegian sentencing standards compare to US standards? Wouldn’t alternative sentencing for non-violent criminals help ease the burden on the system to allow for that level of supervision?
Alternative forms of “imprisonment” have shown very good results in Norway. I am especially thinking about “Electronic bracelet sentence”, where you live in your own home, being able to keep your work and social relations. The results are low re-offending and low operational cost for the correctional service, very cost-effective over-all.
What criticism do you face nationally and internationally about providing this kind of facilities and treatment to convicts/criminals?
Not much criticism anymore, actually – only some in the beginning. The values, methods, et.c – are the same nationwide, so the reactions initially in Norway was that the facilities was “to nice”. Same from some European countries, UK in particular. Later, the interest har been more curious and open-minded – from most countries really, I guess it is because they feel we are doing something right.
Do you think that Norwegians (and other Scandinavians) are more law abiding in the first place?
I don’t know really. And I am not sure if being law abiding is the right question to begin with. I think the level of crime is partly connected to our up-bringing; Do we have good schools, do we have a good child welfare service, do our children live in caring and functional families, etc. The background to inmates are so “filled with issues” from their younger years.
How do Norwegian citizens feel about having convicted criminals in the workplace? In the US most companies do a background check on prospective employees and felony convictions are a barrier to employment in many cases.
A criminal record might stop you from having certain jobs permanently, or for a period of time, also in Norway. But only these jobs/employers can request that insight into police records, not all employers. So even if there is some stigma of being an “ex-con”, there are job opportunities in Norway. Norway has a low uneployment rate in general, so if you have the right education/et.c – getting a job is absolutely possible.
If your wife was raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?
No.
Would you favor sending the perpetrator to a prison similar to the one you run, or to a prison similar to those in the US?
Similar to the one I run.
It is of course easy to sit here behind my computer and have principles. On a personal level I would have been devistated by such a crime, and it is hard to predict what I would say then – as a private person. But one the same time, a government system’s actions and operations can’t be based on emotions – but on facts, knowledge, et.c – hence my answers initially.
If you had to make a single critique of the United States Criminal Justice System as a whole, which would make the most good?
To much focus on punishment&revenge, to little focus on rehabilitation.
Do you believe that the Norwegian model of prison systems can be replicated in other parts of the world?
Yes, definitely. I often hear that “this will not work in my country”. Have in mind then that Halden prison inmate population consists of approx. 40-45% non-Norwegian inmates – coming from 30-35 different countries. Do we have more “issues” with those coming from other countries? No, we do not. This tells me there is something “universal” about treating people with respect and humanity.
Whats your favorite part of the job?
I think it is the daily feeling of “doing good” for society.
Boston Cream Pie
“An ancient Good Housekeeping recipe that I religiously make every New Years day. If you’ve never made a scratch cake, you don’t know what you’re missing. Using cake flour is a must. See Lennie’s recipe #87689. Be sure to properly measure your flour by lightly spooning into a measure cup until overflowing then using the backside of a knife to level off. Too little flour will produce a callapsed cake and too much will have wet spots with dense layers. Cake layers freezeable. Prep time also includes assembly time.”
1⁄2 cup semisweet chocolate or 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9″ round cake pans or make it easy on yourself and trace the bottom of the cake pans on a piece of waxed paper and cut to fit then place on bottom of pans. No need to grease; the cakes will fall right out.
For the cake layers: Separate eggs; place whites in a small, clean bowl free of any grease or oil and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl with an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Very gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Add egg yolks, oil and 1/2 cup milk to flour mixture. With electric mixer, beat until smooth, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add remaining 1/2 cup milk and vanilla. Beat just until combined. Carefully fold beaten egg whites into batter. Divide batter into prepared pans.
Bake cakes 20 to 25 minutes or until centers spring back when gently pressed. Cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen cake around edges with a sharp knife then turn cakes out onto racks and remove waxed paper, if used; cool completely. (Tip: I make the cake layers in advance, wrap and freeze. Defrost in wrapper for a couple of hours then proceed with the filling and glaze.).
While cake is baking, make cream filling: In a 1-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup milk to boiling. In cup or small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup milk, cornstarch, sugar, pinch salt, egg and vanilla until blended.
When milk comes to boiling, gradually stir in cornstarch mixture with wire whisk. Return to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minutes or until thickened to pudding consistancy. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Make chocolate glaze: In 1 quart saucepan, heat water and sugar to boiling. Add chocolate chips; stir until glaze is smooth; remove from heat. Cool 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.
To assemble, place one cake layer, upside down, on a serving plate. Spread with cream filling. Top with remaining cake layer, right side up. Spoon glaze over top; spread to edges of cake. Refrigerate.
2023 01 01 21 47
The Defeatist Confessions From The Forever Alone Community
1. Sometimes I remember just how lonely I am, how deprived of physical or emotional intimacy I am, and it just leaves me with a cold, numb, empty feeling that radiates from my core to my extremities.
Sometimes I think back on a time, any time, that a girl smiled at me, or laughed at a joke, or any basic, every day, little social cue that she’s potentially a little interested, and I’m overcome with frustration bordering on rage because I couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it.
When that happens I might just sort of growl/moan to myself if I’m somewhere with other people around, but if I’m alone (especially in the car)I’ll scream at the top of my lungs, either a stream of profanities or just a wordless bellow.
When I see or hear any sort of reference to sexuality or romance I just want to bash my face in against the corner of a wall somewhere. Kissing scenes in movies, couples doing couple-y things in public (seeing teenage couples is hands down the worst,nothing like knowing you’ve got less game than a sixteen year old), even just seeing a picture of a hot woman can make me feel like shit sometimes.
I feel like at this point I can’t even show an interest in women, any women, like I’m incapable of it, or not allowed to. It’s like I’ve been in this fucked up situation so long that my brain has rationalized it, and I’ve concluded that I’m supposed to be alone, that I deserve it for whatever fucking reason.
Back in college sometimes when I rode the bus and it was crowded, I’d get a girl sitting next to me. Just feeling our thighs touching lightly, or our shoulders, and it would be the highlight of my day often. sometimes I’d even stay on past my stop just to keep that brief, fleeting moment of human touch going, however meaning less and unintentional it all was. The worst part about that was when I’d get a boner, and I’d feel like some kind of horrible, perverted creep, which would play back into that whole “I deserve to be alone like this) kind of mindset.
Basically, it seriously fucks with your head, and puts you in a mental state where it’s almost impossible to do anything to fix how lonely you are.
2. It’s a source of more or less constant misery in my life. No matter what I do, what I succeed at, what I achieve etc. that albatross is going to be around my neck forever – I’m unwanted, undesirable, not good enough for the rest of the human species.
I try my best to not let it affect my life, vent my frustrations strictly online and try to live every day of my life to the fullest, but I can’t say it doesn’t sap my motivation to do things. I have this lazy loser streak in me, so the desire to just let myself go and become a stupid boring slob gets strong at times.
I’m currently in therapy to learn to deal with those feelings more effectively. I’m allowing the possibility that doing so may finally lead me to experience sex and love, but I’m not holding my breath. I know I’m pretty much bottom of the barrel when it comes to attractiveness and, logically, can’t think of a reason for a woman to choose me – anything I can give, a better looking man can give too.
The worst part of being FA for me is the future. I’m still only creeping up on 30 and have managed to stay healthy so far, but I won’t be this way forever. I’m scared of dying slowly and painfully with no one to even help me. I’m scared also of becoming completely isolated when everyone I know is married and has a busy family life. I’m scared of eventually spiraling into a depression so strong and so bad that I will kill myself.
3. Soul destroying. Humans are social animals, so we need intimate contact and sufficient social interaction in order to be happy and functional. Being deprived of it is horrendous. It’s almost like physical pain. I mean, it isn’t but it feels close to it. It is crushing, excruciating, inescapable and utterly all consuming.
The most intimate thing I have ever experienced is platonic hugging with a female friend of mine (I’m male), and that is almost like a drug to me. The odd thing is that it isn’t a sexual thing – I’m not aroused or turned on that much when we do it. I mean, I am a bit as I am a heterosexual male, but what I mostly get out of it is just intimacy with another human – something I’m very deprived of. Just holding her, feeling her skin, her warmth, her hair, the sound of her breathing, even her smell. It’s just so nice to have intimate contact with someone who cares about me, even if its non sexual. Because that’s why I’m depressed. I’m not too bothered with never having been kissed; its being unwanted, worthless, unloved and utterly, truly alone that kills me inside every second of every day.
4. I’ll be 39 in a few months. I’m really struggling with finding reasons to keep trying or stay around. I wish I could adequately describe in proper detail just how bad the pain and hopelessness is and the events that lead to it, but it would be several pages. I’ll try to sum it up as short as possible
Live in the middle of nowhere with my mother, zero career opportunities, this is a very isolated, rural, and depressing place
Have not had a job in almost ten years now
Zero social life, zero friends either online or in real life
Still a virgin and zero dating opportunities for the reasons above, and my lack of culture-fit with this state, basically here if you aren’t native and didn’t find your life partner in high school, lots of luck finding anyone. If you’re an otaku, better hide your power level.
I think the worst part of all of it is, twelve years ago, I got out of this miserable place, moved 3000 miles to the west coast, and finally, for the first time in my entire life, had a small taste of what romantic and social success are actually like. I really wish I had never had that experience, because it showed me just exactly what it is I’ve been missing for my entire existence, and what I will never experience again.
I lost all of that from a very devastating, improbable series of events and bullying in my social and romantic life which culminated in me getting fired from my job and having to drop out of grad school to move back here due to no longer having an income and being severely depressed from the fallout.
When I was younger, people still cared about me, but now, I am considered by every part of society (familial, social, romantic, professional) as irrelevant, unredeemable and a lost cause who should do everyone a favor and stay out of sight. I find it heartbreaking how fast one’s value to society depreciates as they age, the only way to offset that is to keep a social network and most importantly, a significant other.
5. I’m 39 gonna be 40 in the coming year and all I had was a single month relationship throughout my life. At first I felt that I was a cripple trying to run without legs when it comes to attracting girls. I had plenty of female friends yet being friend zoned was a certainty. They all told me I was handsome but of course hearing that and yet not being handsome enough for them told me in my head that was just a pity story for them. I held no apathy towards them..I just accepted that it,s just nature’s way of selection of attraction and I was not meant for selection.
Years later it turned into a hatred…a growing seed of emptyness where I had a dim view on not just women but the whole game of dating and it gave me a perspective seeing from afar hanging with friends. Seeing how superficial pick ups were, how girls would go out with the “jerk” so to speak. How a single word or gesture in the first seconds of your life will determine if she likes you or not. In the end I felt being judged every second when I was being sincere. My openness towed caring for another was threatened by the very girls that I wanted to share with. Agian..I felt the laws of natural selection playing it’s game.
Later in the years it came to experience..or the lack of. I was already being generalized as some sort of creep or loser the second I told them i am a virgin in my late twenties. I guess one night it hit me…i didn’t want to be hateful for the rest of my life.
I was able to see my lack of skill of talking to girls was creeping into a depression or more accurately I felt I was going through a withdrawal of a addictive drug but without the benefits.
I guess I wanted to turn my single status and turned into a weapon against my hatred and unhealthy obsession for finding love that I have seen cripple others in the same situation as me.
I wanted revenge and live a positive life and free of the addiction that made me feel so lonely the last decades.
Looking back I felt I have gone through an emotional battle accepting the truth. I am not part of the natural selection process..love is blind ..so it will never find me.
I felt I let go a poisonous part of my life…i feel free..I do get a little stab in my heart ..a little bit of emotion crawls out and tries to lie to me that I still have a chance of findinging someone…then I remind myself of all the superficial bullshit people who never been in my situation..and here their rose colored fairy tales of how easy it is.
Those ignorant empty words give me strength ..no a challenge to stay single. Because there are more of me who are in the same situation..and we are growing.
Intimacy is the most foreign concept to me…except knowing that it has no logic to it as all emotions do. It can inspire and also destroy…love dwaldles on both good and evil taking no true accountability but only taking credit for the successes and leaves the room when someone fails at it. The risks are great..that is no mystery to me. We all take risks..for me I feel I’m taking a bigger risk…but I know the reward of self sustained emotional positive life is a absolution rather throwing for heart to a girl who is fickle with her emotions. (Men of course are are capable of this as well.).
When my years of absence of another become more then the years ahead a question grew inside me…but I guess it was always there….”Why is love such a big deal?”. Love is just an emotion..a perk so to speak but not a right..like driving….just because you deserve love does not mean love will come to you and even if you work hard at it it’s not a absolution. If it was Every single person on earth will be paired up and that is a fairy tale believed only by the true naïve.
Love is not for everyone..cause not everyone finds it. Because I did not find it should I suffer further looking for it? Should I listen to people who never been in my situation who have the audacity to force false hope upon me? Thats one way to stay single forever.
Miserable blind cat crying for help rescue cat before & after 7 months
Happy ending.
Posted by Jamie Wright :
Jan 5, 2023. China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us – Former senior Australian diplomat John Menadue
“We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged.”
That is why the US is persistently goading China into conflict and possible war. And we follow along.
As Jack Waterford put it from a US official, the US sees us as an ‘easy lay’.
What the United States really resents about China is that it is successful after almost two centuries of poverty and humiliation.
China has certainly changed but the problem is the US refuses to change and accept the fact that it’s no longer the sole hegemon.
And the recent US election will not change anything in that regard with both the major parties having a common view about the ‘China threat’ and heavily influenced if not controlled by the military/industrial complex supported by a compliant media.
We follow like a patsy.
The United States is by any measure the most aggressive and violent country in the world and will not accept a multi-polar world where countries large and small can live in peace together.
The US has a dogmatic and self- righteous view that it is ‘exceptional’, a ‘chosen people’ and should set global rules for everyone.
It parrots endlessly about ‘ a rules based international order’.
That is really code for US hegemony and domination.
And to top up its cynicism, the US then cherry picks the rules that it decides to support.
The only military risk that we face from China is if we continue as a proxy for the US in its endless wars.
The US is a dangerous ally, as Malcom Fraser put it. With the complicity of our Ministers, senior public officials and journalists our national sovereignty is being seriously eroded.
Our military is being fused with the US.
We employ retired US military people in our Department of Defence.
In Five Eyes our intelligence agencies take in the dirty washing of the CIA. None of our Prime Ministers stand up for Australia in relations with the US like Gough Whitlam did fifty years ago.
In the 19th and 20th Century we were drawn into United Kingdom’s Imperial wars.
We are now drawn into the United State’s imperial wars.
We allow others to control our thinking and behaviour.
Our ‘leaders’, think Richard Marles, have been on an American drip feed for so long they have an instinctive Washington mind set.
As China reasserts its historic world role there is no doubt that Chinese influence and footprint is growing in our region but there is no evidence whatsoever that we are under military threat from China.
Yet the assumed military threat from China guides almost everything the Albanese Government does and says on strategic and defence matters.
And our captured journalist join the anti China throng.
Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton must be delighted to find themselves mimicked by Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles.
China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us.
But as a settler society we remain fearful of our region with echoes of the yellow peril and White Australia.
China does not have a history of military aggression beyond the defence of its own borders.
It has only one foreign base in Djibouti, mainly for anti-piracy purposes.
In contrast, the US has over 800 overseas bases including in Guam, Diego Garcia, ROK and Japan that ring China.
The US fleet, with our support, regularly patrols off the China coast.
The US would have hysterics if Chinese vessels patrolled off the Californian coast and the Florida Keys.
Or if China had B-52 type aircraft based in Mexico!
Not surprisingly, China is determined that it must have the military capability to defend its homeland.
However, it does not project its military power around the globe as does the US. China has not been engaged in military activity for the past forty years.
In that time, the US has overthrown numerous governments and illegally invaded many countries.
China has a large and diverse population in areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
It has land borders with fourteen other countries. Not surprisingly China focuses on domestic issues and the protection of its borders.
If China was an imperial power, it would have swallowed up Mongolia, a democratic, mineral rich state which is more than twice the size of Ukraine.
Japan is the only country that has threatened Australia.
China never has.
Japan occupied large parts of China in WWII and was responsible for the deaths of over 20 million Chinese people.
Clueless and careless of its aggressive history, Japan is again leading the anti-China frenzy in QUAD. This will not end well.
I woke up to this comment at the top of my comment stack.
2023 01 26 08 54
Ah, what is fucking wrong with you people? I don’t need to read this, and I don’t want to promote this, but I am (at times) flooded with this exact kind of nonsensical gibberish.
Look people, I get enough of this “ugly” for a lifetime. I am sorry to put it on MM. Please accept my apologies, but I do want you all to see what is festering in the United States these days.
Today, well, this post is just going to be rather soft.
Please have a nice day, and make the most of what you have. Be kind to dogs and cats. Buy a cup of coffee for some co-workers. Try to add some good into the world, rather than vomiting out on everyone with evil, vile hatred puke.
Make the world a better place. In a kind and soft way, you can make a difference. You. Yes, you can.
Know that I believe in you guys.
What’s It Like To Date A Woman 25 Years Older Than You?
I dated a lovely woman that was exactly twice my age. I was 25 and she was 50.
She’d been through a terrible, abusive marriage, and had 3 grown children, 2 of which were older than I.
Her ex and her kids treated her like shit and unfortunately she let them.
Together we made a life running a business together that was successful enough for us to afford 2 homes, 3 nice cars, and a 30+ foot house boat.
Eventually I realized that while I had a damn good life, I was not happy.
Age is not just a number. It eventually gets to the point where you can see the huge difference.
I got tired of the Mom jokes and I was totally out of my element when her kids visited. I hated how they treated her and it became a source of contention for us.
Sexually, we were great at first, but that changed quickly as she went through menopause. She was no longer interested in sex and I was a raging 30yr old by then.
We started sleeping apart because her “back hurt” and I was just so comfortable with my life that I didn’t protest.
Things really started to fall apart when I was getting closer to 40 and realized that she just couldn’t keep up with the things I wanted to do in life.
I was taking care of her more and more and I started to resent her for it. Eventually I realized that unless I left I would be miserable.
I told her when I was 38, after 13 years together, that I thought it was time for us to part ways. One of the most difficult things I’ve ever done.
She was totally devastated. So much so that I almost stayed, just to make sure someone would be there to care for her as her health failed.
I begged her to become self reliant and moved out after 6mo. of trying to help her settle her life apart from me.
I moved out of state and told her idiot kids that they needed to help her.
That’s the last time I saw her. I left her with everything. Both the houses and 2 cars and the boat, also the business we’d built together.
Financially she wouldn’t ever have to work again. I started over with a pickup truck and about $2k in the bank.
Vintage Hamburger Goulash
“Found while surfing the net. I don’t remember what site I found it on.”
Saute beef, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes and 2 onions in large frying pan. Drain excess fat. Lots of onions makes this good.
Meanwhile, in another pan cook macaroni in boiling, salted water until tender. Set aside until almost ready to serve.
When beef and onions are finished cooking, add the canned, crushed tomatores and approximately 1/2 cup water; also add garlic salt, pepper, chili powder and mix well.
Simmer for about 20 minutes; then add cooked macaroni noodles and mix well when ready to serve. If you add the macaroni noodles too soon, they may over cook and get mushy.
2023 01 02 12 52
9 People Reveal Their Frustrations Of Being Raised By Overbearing Asian Parents
1. I visited a family friend with my parents, and while we were on our way back, my dad said he was discussing with the other parents about how me and their child, and most Asian children in this generation aren’t decisive/willing to take risks at all. I literally exploded.
Like why the fuck do you think we are this way?
Don’t you think maybe if you guys weren’t so fucking stingy with compliments and over critical with every single little mistake we made growing up then we would be a bit more confident and not deathly afraid of making mistakes???
Kid grow up to reflect how they are raised, it’s not like all of the Asian kids had a secret meeting and we just all decided to be constantly insecure and anxious as fuck and afraid of making decisions/mistakes in our life.
No, our parents literally raised us to be fucked up and then complain about it like we decided to be fucked up. Asian parents literally have no fucking clue how raising a child works.
They raise their child toxically and then expect them to magically turn out like they were actually raised by mentally healthy and loving parents. Fuck you.
I turned out to be insecure and anxious and pessimistic and afraid of mistakes/decisions because you raised me this way.
I’m not even holding grudges, but stop acting like I chose to be like this, no one would choose to be like this.
2. Asian parent logic: I must berate and emotionally abuse my children. I will never apologize to my children for any mistakes, even if they are my fault. I will not respect their boundaries.
At the same time, I demand fearful obedience, financial support in old age, and unconditional devotion.
Asian parents expect children to adhere to a social code that they don’t even reciprocate. It is insane to abuse a child, rip away any sense of self worth from them and expect them to love you. How is a child suppose to even reciprocate or learn something that was never taught or shown??????????
God forbid I ever bring this up to the pea sized brains of my parents. I don’t want kids because I don’t want to perpetuate this toxicity. It can rot with my childless body when I die.
3. It amazes me that parents think doing the bare minimum as parents is deserving of lifelong gratitude.
“We fed you and housed you and bought you clothes and let you go to school”
You are literally supposed to do that for your children. Don’t have children if you don’t expect to do this as a parent, you idiots.
Like you feeding and clothing your kids make you an exceptional parent. I mean what was the alternative?
Child services being contacted was the only other option. You don’t get praised in school for getting 50%.
4. My mum is always comparing me to someone. This includes but is not limited to: my sibling, my cousins, distant relatives, my OWN friends, random news stories about 8 year old prodigies… Even Obama.
It’s gotten to the point where I’ve literally heard it all until today I was gushing about BTS and how proud I am of them for coming so far especially with their Grammy nomination, when my mum said this:
“Look at BTS working so hard. Why don’t you work as hard as them? They are so hard working. You’re not even worth BTS.”
5. Asian Parents sometimes like to say that we are “ungrateful” and “entitled”. I think the opposite. I think THEY are the ones who are ungrateful and entitled.
They assume we should be automatically happy after being provided a “roof on your head, food to eat, clothes to wear”. They assume that just because of these things, we should be willing to do anything and everything they want, exactly the way they want it, whenever they want it.
That’s called being entitled.
They don’t like the fact that we have our own emotions, our own plans. It means, in their eyes, that we are “ungrateful”. However, being called ungrateful is nothing more than an insult. It holds no weight, parents are just mad that their directions are not being followed. Instead of appreciating that you have a child who does even decently at school, or piano, or anything, you hold them up to these ridiculous standards, always expecting more than what they have.
That in my view, is called being ungrateful.
6. The problem with Asian parents is that they refuse to look at us as separate human beings with our own thoughts, emotions, etc.
They also want control over every aspect of their life, I guess this extends to control of their kids.
And THEN they act surprised when all this backfires. “Oh, WHY IS HE LYING TO US”. Maybe because you restrict fucking everything? Come on.
7. Expecting kids to behave according to cultural practices of a place 1000s of miles away goes against our nature as human beings
As a student of science and psychology specifically, it kills me to see asian parents expecting their children who came here young or were born here to follow norms of a country in some other continent. It literally goes against our nature to adapt to places that are NOT in our immediate environment. It is completely abnormal and dysfunctional to raise kids with the expectation. If you are westnerized and live in the west then that means you are showing signs of healthy human behavior. We are not meant to stay in one time and place or adapt to environments that are not ours. We’d not make it as a species if this were the case.
I’ve seen parents who have been here for decades (my own especially) who literally show immense pride for not changing and still being very cultured. That’s insane to me. If you’re in a country for 30 years and you still live like you were back home then there is something incredibly dysfunctional about you. That’s not normal and horrible for your kids and this is because there is all this pressure to adhere to a place that they’ve never lived in while telling them to actively reject the place that you do.
Don’t get me wrong, I think celebrating your culture is great and incorporating culture in your life if thats your thing is fine. However, celebrating your culture and imposing culture on kids are very different and often the culture being imposed is not even the current culture back home anyways. What really happens (and I’m basing this on my mom) is that people back home have changed and grown and she has stuck in some 1970s time capsule that she keeps telling me to believe is what our culture back home looks like now.
8. I am every tiger parent’s dream daughter, and I am miserable
Thin, youthful, physically attractive, athletic, near-perfect health. Attended a top U.S. engineering school. Software engineer at Google. On track to be top 1% income and top 6% wealth for my age group within a year.
Yet they treat me like shit. Constantly screaming. Criticizing my every purchase. Asking how much I paid for certain items (coffee, food, bicycle) and complaining that I spend too much money. Not to mention back when I was a child I was screamed at and beaten every day, despite being a pretty good daughter. I have accomplished everything a tiger parent could ask for, yet I am miserable and so are my parents.
9. Turning 30 next month. My entire teens and 20s up to 27 was wasted. The best years of my life, under the vice grip of my overbearing, manipulative parents.
I was forced to commute to university. Never had the uni experience. Just classes and back home. By the time I entered the work world I was extremely under developed socially.
I got a great first job at a famous brand but compared to all the other grads there I was so far behind in every sense of being a professional. They were all great at shmoozing and articulating themselves. Being fun without being creepy. Being assertive in meetings and presentations. Organizing after-work grad socials etc. Meanwhile, I was the complete opposite of all that.
Even just everyday conversations they were all so well versed in different topics. Meanwhile I was sooo sheltered I had nothing to add to a conversation or tell a story. Mate, even my vocabulary, and literally how I string sentences together was underdeveloped.
And when I tried to fit in it came across very contrived and probably very creepy. I quit the job a year in because it was easier to run than get “found out”.
I didn’t start dating til 22. Even this was half-hearted because of the mental programming by APs and forced to stay at home, curfew and general overbearingness by them.
They didn’t know I was dating. But whenever I would go out my mum would literally harass me with calls and shouting when I got back home it was just easier to be an incel than deal with her bullshit.
Had no hobbies, because these were all labelled a waste of time.
Normally I used the gym to block and drown these regrets and feelings of self-pity. But since lockdown and no gym I’ve been abusing drink and food to avoid these thoughts. I just cant get over it. And I know these feelings will get worse the older I get and more time distance from my 20s.
I feel like at 29 I am at the development level of where most normal 20 year olds are.
I absolutely resent my parents and myself. I have immense self hate because of this shit.
Origami Inspired Pet Houses Will Give Your Furry Friend a Stylish Abode
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Japanese companies Netco and TENEO have collaborated to dream up these charming pet houses using traditional origami techniques, and begun a crowdfunding project to realize them that is sure to please cat and small dog lovers.
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The main material is a foldable eco-friendly strain of cardboard. The production team has also consulted Professor Jun Mitani ,a Tsukuba University professor part of an origami research lab, to ensure pets’ comfort while retaining the beauty of the origami structure.
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The main purpose of this project has been to integrate the Japanese tradition into modern lifestyle living. This project was a collaborative work between two parties; a new apparel brand, TENEO and an event marketing company, Nouvelle Vague.
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The Thoughts And Feelings Of A Police Officer Who Just Shot Someone To Death
I was involved in my first on duty shooting incident. And I killed someone. It is considered a justified shooting, but never the less its been keeping me up at night. And I thought maybe sharing it will help me process what happened.
I was watching a red light that’s known to produce some speeders and considered a dangerous intersection.
When I witnessed a car run the red light at a high rate of speed. I began pursuit, thinking it was a normal traffic stop. The car pulled over shortly after I began the pursuit.
I was getting out of my vehicle when all of a sudden when the driver stuck his hand out of the window and began shooting at me.
I immediately jumped back, pulled out my gun and returned fire. I swear it felt like it was an hour long shoot out but I watched the dash cam, and body cam, and it was literally a few seconds before the car took off again, I kept firing after the car took over, believe it was 3 or 4 shots.
I then got back into my car and took off in pursuit again, called in back up, when the car started to act erratically a few hundred meters from where the shooting took place the vehicle ran off the road and into a ditch.
I pulled up behind it, and grabbed my rifle positioned myself and called for the driver to stick his hands out.
I wasn’t getting any response, after a few calls I decided to approach the vehicle. My eyes were trained on the driver seat as from what I saw there was only the driver in the vehicle, as I get closer I can see the steering wheel, interior of the windshield is covered in blood.
I later learned I hit the suspect twice, once in the shoulder once in the head, it had been the last few shots I had taken as he had already taken off.
The suspect was dead, I then hear crying, look in the passenger side rear seat and see a 3 yr old boy crying his eyes out calling for his daddy.
Then it hit me, I had just killed this little boys daddy right in front of him.
I checked on the boy, thankfully outside of a bit of bruising caused by the crash he was ok. Shook up and scared out of his mind, but alright.
When back up arrived I had the boy sitting on the hood of my car, but outside of that the incident was over.
I later learned the person I shot at had warrants out for his arrest and he was facing some serious charges and serious time in jail.
Also after looking at my patrol car I noticed the suspect shot the hood of my car, the windshield, and the door I was behind.
It still keeps me up at night, this was the first time I was ever involved in a shooting, and first time I ever killed someone and I pray its the last time.
I think back on the emotions, and its so complex, it went from regular traffic stop to panic, to anger, to fear, and when I saw the boy a brief moment of anger that this would risk his child life over his stupidity to sorrow for that boy having witnessed his dad get killed in front of his own eyes.
I keep going back to that moment asking myself if I should have done something differently, but I can’t think of anything.
The suspect was in my opinion easily going 20+ above the speed limit, plus he ran a red light.
The second he started shooting at me he took away my choices, I had no choice but to return fire. My chief told me it was a text book use of force.
But it still keeps me up at night. At first I declined therapy, but a week or so ago I agreed to it.
One of the things that really brothers me is what if I had shoot the 3 yr old in the process?
His rear window was full of my shots, I’m sure a few inches over, and I may killed a child, that’s what really keeps me up at night.
That day also made me realize how close I am came to getting seriously injured or worst.
I would hate for my family to get the visit from my chief telling them I had been killed in the line of the duty. It sometimes really makes me question why I do what I do and is it worth it?
What A 14 Year Old Psychopath Looks Like
"Having worked in several federal prisons for 31 years, I used to always tell people that the huge, muscular inmates were rarely the ones one should be afraid of. This young dude is a perfect example of that. Guys like this don't have any interest in a face-to-face fist fight. They are cunning and have no problem coming up behind you and running steel through your neck. Dude's like this are the ones who are really, really dangerous."
https://youtu.be/eEHTB7ZVFm8
10 People Who Like Their Steaks Well-Done Explain WHY
1. First of all, by well done, I mean brown all the way through, which is not the same as completely burned so that the steak resembles a hockey puck in appearance and flavor.
I have had some phenomenal steaks cooked well done at moderate-to-upscale steakhouses, and the outside was barely charred at all.
After trying steaks cooked to a variety of temperatures, I feel that well done is the best according to my tastes. I don’t feel that the flavor is substantially lost by cooking the steak for longer.
Of course each temperature has its own distinct flavor, but I do not feel that a properly prepared well-done steak sacrifices much, if any, flavor.
The same goes for texture, if prepared properly. That said, in general, I prefer my food cooked all the way through.
When I cut into a rare steak and am greeted with a bright-red gush of raw beef and blood-like juice, I completely lose my appetite. Presentation is important when eating such an expensive meal. Finally, a fully cooked steak reduces the probability of picking up a foodborne illness. So it’s a win anyway you cut it (pardon the pun).
2. I like steak, but I don’t get how people enjoy tough and chewy raw steak. It’s just not enjoyable to eat. Well done (or medium well) steaks imho are more flavourful and I like the texture of the meat a lot better, but everyone acts like I’m desecrating the sanctity of the steak when I order well done. Like, it’s just food. Let me eat how I damn well want to eat it.
3. I just prefer the taste of it and don’t like tasting raw parts of half-cooked steak. Steak is a slice of meat. You’re supposed to cook the raw bits of meat. Nobody eats chicken half-raw. So why is it bad to eat steak well-done?
4. I like Well-Done meat myself too. Coworkers always jokingly bashed me for it, so I tried Medium-Well, Medium, and Medium-Rare burgers n steaks. No difference in taste for me, chewiness I could care less about. So I stick with Well-Done.
5. I don’t get it. It’s raw. It goes in mushy and exits mushy.
Humans have discovered fire. We don’t have to eat the animal raw right after a successful hunt. I really view it as uncivilized and animalistic.
I like medium well. Or well done.
The fibers don’t even break down for proper chewing if it’s too raw.
6. Everyone talks about how rare steaks are so “juicy” but I like a hard and smoky taste. It’s what I enjoy. I’m tired of people treating well-done steak eaters like they are doing something wrong. Steak CAN be cooked well done, and it tastes good (to people like me). In fact, I just cant eat rare steaks, I’ve tried. Something about seeing really pink meat is just off putting.
The common argument I hear is, “eating well-done steak is a waste of the meat. It can be eaten that way, yes, but its an inferior way of enjoying it and shouldn’t be done.”
Well, guess what, the world isn’t all about you and how your tastebuds work. When I get a steak, I pay for it with my own money. I enjoy what I eat and think, in my eyes, it is the best way to enjoy steak. So let off this elitism about eating steaks the “right” way.
7. I like the overall bite within a well done steak. A medium rare to me, has a soft texture that feels weird in my mouth that I just can’t bring myself to swallow it. People say well done steaks are rubbery but I’ve have tender and juicy ones.
8. I genuinely prefer the taste of dry meat over moist. I have weird tastebuds though, so I prefer everything savory to be on the Brulee side of things. Meat just doesn’t taste as good to me, if it isn’t slightly burnt.
9. I was a meat cutter for years so I was able to try a wide variety of cuts any way I felt like preparing them.
The thing that put me off rare meat was how much juice flowed out and the seemingly endless squishy chewing required to finish a bite. With a well done (but well cooked) piece it broke down a lot easier and did not fill my mouth up with the extra juice.
I’m pretty sure most of it was psychological because thinking about chewing something rare would make me gag.
What I found is that the same things that made a cut good when medium rare make it good well done – and I could most certainly tell the difference between a well cooked rib steak and a piece of chuck.
I cannot abide by meat nazis. The perfect way to cook meat is the way you, or whomever you’re serving it to, enjoys it
10. Nothing to do with the taste, everything to do with the consistency. I’m from eastern europe, here everything is well done, so when I first came to the US and tried an american steak at a somewhat upscale restaurant, don’t know if it was medium, rare, medium rare, whatever and I couldn’t care less, I thought I was gonna puke across the table. It had the consistency of rubber and phlegm, and then for a week I had the worst indigestion ever. But I didn’t give up, I continued to try american style steaks all with the same result. Even tho the taste was marginally richer than a properly cooked well done steak back home, that phlegm rubber consistency and the red water that dripped out of it put me off for the time being. Might try forcing myself to eat that stuff again next time I visit but the chances are VERY slim I’ll ever end up liking it.
Add bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon gravy mix and onion.
Crumble beef over mixture and mix well.
Shape into two patties, about 3/4 inches thick.
Broil 3-4 inches from the heat for 6-7 minutes on each side or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Place the remaining gravy mix in a small saucepan; stir in the water and mustard. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened. Serve over patties.
2023 01 02 12 56
9 Guys Who Were Sexually Assaulted By Women Reveal Their Story
1. When I was a private in the Army, a female friend in my unit became somewhat obsessive over me to the point of being a stalker after I rejected her advances. We had faulty locks on our barracks doors that could be opened with a pair of pliers.
She would casually break into my room and wait for me… so we could “talk about us.” She would normally leave if I told her to, so I didn’t think much of it.
One night I came home drunk, passed out, and woke up in the middle of the night to her giving me a bj. I didn’t even know how she got in my room. When I realized what was happening, she attempted to ride me. I pushed her off and told her to leave.
My roommate, friends, NCOs, etc, everyone just thought it was hilarious. It didn’t really bother me, but I definitely look back and see that it was wrong.
2. Friend’s mother. She was 50something, we were teenagers. She assaulted at least 4 of us. This was the cool house where you could drink, hang out etc.
For my part, she once pointed a rifle, that I assumed was loaded, at me another kid and told us to wash her dishes. Part way through she reached into my pants and started stroking me. Her husband actually walked into the room during this and when I looked to him he said “don’t look at me, she’s got the gun”
I know other friends got a lot worse than I did. She also assaulted the girl who would later be my first adult partner with a vibrator. Her daughter’s bf lived with them for a year and I’m pretty sure he got the worst of it.
When I was in my early 20s she died of a heart attack and that guy brought a 6 pack to my house to tell me. Only time I’ve toasted to someone’s death.
3. Got drunk with some friends and took a couple bars (not an uncommon Saturday night back then). One girl and I stayed up bs’ing in the kitchen. Most folks had passed out and it was a way to keep from disturbing people. The next thing I recall is waking up on the couch with her riding me and biting the hell out of my chest (the bruise lasted about a week and a half). A few other people wake up to the noises, including my girlfriend that I shared the apartment with. The girl riding me stopped to the commotion and left quickly.
I had never blacked out before and wanted to make sure I was okay (drugs are bad, mmm’kay). Toxicology turned up she had slipped some rufies in my drink at some point. Had gf go with me, because she was having a hard time believing the story. (Hot chick riding your bf in the living room while you sleep so you can work in the morning and him not wanting it). Also had them check for any STDs as people started warning us that she may be running green. Came back clean, but that night started my path to stop using drugs.
Talked to a cop friend about the situation and he, low key, advised against trying to press charges since there were drugs and alcohol present and they would have to search the place for evidence and that wouldn’t go too well for me and it would come down to her word against mine. Even with me being rufied, it would be hard to convince a jury, so I let it go.
Went about three years without seeing her anywhere, even though we ran in the same circles. Bumped into her in a grocery store and she immediately started apologizing. I told her it was in the past and I’ve moved on. She wasn’t making a scene and I didn’t really want to make one either. I don’t know that I would have had that restraint had I bumped into her shortly after the incident.
4. Long story short: Late night after the bars in college, I go home and passed out, girl knocks on my door and asks if I’m home, we know her so my roommate says yeah and lets her in. She goes straight to my room where somehow, while I lay lifeless passed out drunk, she gets me hard and starts riding me. My roommate opens my door and flips on the light and asks if she even put a condom on me first, she says no, and he kicks her out. I am informed of all this in the morning. Scary the idea that if the roles were reversed, it’d be a severely different story but I personally didn’t really care nor did anyone else when I told them. Every single response was “that’s awesome easiest lay of your life”
5. I was raped twice by two different girls. The first one was my dad’s girlfriend. I was staying with my dad and his girlfriend when I was around 16 and one weekend he went away for the weekend.
Well the moment he left his girlfriend tells me let’s go. We go to the liquor store and she tells me to pick a bottle. I drank tequila every night with my dad so I thought nothing of it.
I picked a bottle of absolute citreon and a six pack of beer. Well we start taking shots and before you know it the entire bottle is gone. I get and and throw up in the bathroom and stumble back to the couch and pass out.
That’s all I remember…… Until I wake up to her giving me a blowjob. I passed out again and she is riding me.
I couldn’t pass out after that so I pretended to sleep until she was done. The next morning I woke up ran in the shower and when I got out she was telling me about the great life we were gonna have. Well I played it off until my dad got back and told him everything. Shit blew up and I went back home with my mom and buried it in my head for 20 years.
Second time I was drinking with a bunch of friends and a friend who was staying with me was seeing this girl.
Well the girl he was seeing had another girl who was sleeping at her house so I had to drive them all. The whole drive to my house this girl is saying she was gonna fuck me. I sorta laughed and said nahhh I’m good.
You fucking with my other boy and I got a girl. Well she wouldn’t take no for a answer. When we got to my house I told my friend not to leave us alone. As soon as I use the bathroom I get back to my room and this girl is naked in my bed.
I go to leave the room and she runs over and closes the door and litterally pushes me onto a chair. I get a flashback of the first time and I freeze. I let her do her thing and I went to bed.
I never told anyone and my girlfriend at the time ended up being my wife. She put up with my depression for about 15 years before she got tired of it and I finally told her.
It was like a huge wieght off my chest. I still never drink around females unless my wife is around and I have a hard time looking females in the face when I talk to them. It really fucked me up. If I have 1 drop of alcohol my dick is dead to the world. I get such bad anxiety and the occasional flashback.
6. Ended up in my exes room because she said she wanted to talk. She locked to door and told me she wanted to fuck. Told her no repeatedly and she started slapping and kicking me every time I tried to leave.
I told her I was gonna yell for help and she said “who are my roommates gonna believe you or me?”.
So I tried calling my friend to come help me but she took me phone and threw it into her closet, with the same kicking (balls) and slapping me.
I finally relented and let her do whatever she wanted then packed up my things left and completely blocked her off of everything.
7. I got nearly blackout drunk with my roommates and floor mates in first year, the night before our first exam. Went to bed alone, they staid up drinking. Woke up (vague drunken awareness ) to a girl trying to stuff my whiskey dick inside her. Didn’t really know what to do and just sort of drunkenly let her continue. I was extremely confused as this girl was an out lesbian, I had no idea what was going on. Tried to off my self a few days later.
Took a long time to admit to myself that it even happened, maybe it contributed a bit to trying to kill myself? Cuz I was in a miserable terrible black hole for the next months and eventually switched schools. It took a long time to even consciously connect the dots. Never really told anyone cuz I couldn’t really even admit to myself that maybe, that wasn’t a cool thing of her to do.
And if I did tell anyone other than a therapist I have a hard time believing they would be supportive. MY close, lifelong friends already think I’m a wee bit of a slut (some truth), especially because I’m not looking for commitment in any form. So I imagine people would be super dismissive. At the time my roommates sort of tongue in cheek congratulated me, because you know, isn’t that the dream?
“You were drunk in first year and hooked up with a lesbian?! Legendary!”
8. I was raped by my college roomate’s girlfriend. This happened around sophomore year of college. One of my roomates had been dating this girl off an in for about 8 months or so.
She was a tall, athletic, attractive red head. She had that oh so famous red head temper. My roommate was also not the best boyfriend.
They fought a lot in our apartment. Several times, I was forced to physically get between them to prevent an altercation and/or our stuff getting broken. These fights happened at least once a week, and almost every time they drank.
One Friday, she tells me that she wants to set me up with one of her soriorty sisters, so we 4 (roommate, roommate’s gf, gf’s friend, and myself) all go out to the clubs. The night was going surprisingly well.
The friend and I didn’t really connect in a romantic level, but we were all having a good time none the less. At one of the clubs, it’s my turn to buy a round, I’m standing at the bar, trying to tune out the loud music, when I feel an arm reach around from behind me and grab my crotch.
Natural reaction, I turn to see who it was and see my roomates gf standing behind me grinning… I carefully removed her hand, and tried to mentally brush it off as the alcohol getting to her.
Fast forward another two hours and we are in the cab going back to our apartment. Roomate and girlfriend are loudly fighting about something, while the friend and I are sitting in uncomfortable silence.
It is at this point, things get really blurry, it was as if all of the nights alcohol hit me all at once.
I remember us getting back to our apartment parking lot and my roomate and his girlfriend are shouting at each other. I throw the driver a bill and stumble back to our apartment with girlfriends friend in tow, leaving them to fight outside. I don’t know where the friend crashed, I just walked straight in and straight to my bed. I don’t think that I even took my club clothes off.
Don’t know how much time passed, but get the feeling of something wet around my crotch area and on my stomach.
My initial thought, before opening my eyes, was that I pissed myself. Upon opening my eyes, I see my roomates girlfriend on top of me, riding me. I sobered up in that one second and quickly shoved her off of me.
I just remember saying “WTF are you doing?!” and her saying VERY loudly, “Well someone else won’t fuck me!” as if she wanted my roomate to hear. I told her to get out, and she did whilst calling me an asshole.
I lay there for a minute trying to analyze what just happened, when I start to feel sick. Not sure if it was the alcohol or the incident that just occurred, but I ran to the bathroom to puke. I returned to my bed and fell back asleep.
I never brought it up with my roomate or his girlfriend. I dont know if she ever told him. He told me the next day that he was so blasted that he didn’t remember anything after we left the club.
The sorority sister was no where to be found the next morning. Roomate and his girlfriend broke up for good not long after that.
I still see her around town every now and then. We are cordial we speak, but I have never brought up the incident. I’m not even 100% sure if she remembers doing it. To be honest, even I have confused feelings about it to this day.
Artist Illustrates Everyday Life With His Wife In Funny Comics
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Yehuda Adi Devir is a Tel-Aviv-based illustrator, comic artist and character designer who creates adorable comics about his daily domestic adventures with his wife, Maya. Whether she’s ridding the house of roaches, using him as her personal radiator (or pillow), motivating him to work out, or destroying the kitchen while preparing complex meals (like cereal), Yehuda’s wife provides him with all the inspiration he needs to create his cute and often relatable comics.
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What’s It Like To Have Cluster Headaches
Can you describe what the pain feels like?
Firstly, it is one-sided. > 95% of the time for me it is left hand side. Imagine a clamp around your head tightening, but at the same time there is a sharp hot object behind your left eye trying to drill an exit hole through your eye. The clamp continues to tighten – and every time that you bargain with the universe that “OK, thats my limit, stop now pleas” it tightens a little more. You vomit, loss of balance, and sometimes get quite scared for no real reason. You know what is going on (most of the time) but you have a deep feeling of fear. I also taste stone at the top of my head (how weird).
I’ve been run over at an estimated 40 MPH, I’ve broken legs, arms, dislocated knees and nothing comes close to this. It does take you to a new level of pain – and the human body can take more than you can imagine.
Cluster headache are probably the worst pain that humans experience.
How does it compare to getting kicked in the balls?
About the way getting flicked on the arm feels compared to getting a steak knife driven into it.
Do you ever contemplate suicide?
To be brutally honest – yes, at the worst moments, it is an option. Anything to kill the pain. Now that I am on O2 therapy and we are stabilizing the daily attacks, that has helped. Sometimes, when you are in a three day attack with no relief, it does seem like the only route, but most of the time it actually makes you appreciate the good moments more.
Did you say 3 day attacks? Like non-stop? How do you eat / sleep / work?
You learn to adapt – and so do your family. The main clusters are timed: 01:15 and 05:00 are my worst ones – using oxygen and at least one dose of Imigran Injection. The challenge is that you can only use two Imigram per day – so whilst it does abort the attack, it has limited use in any 24 hour period. The pure O2 therapy works very well, and my wife and kids notice the warning signs now before me, so I can now bang on the O2 for half an hour as it come on. Its not the most fun I can imagine, but you learn to cope. I work my own business, so I can program from home when my body allows me to work, and they guys at work are amazing as well.
Having a family and workmates that are understanding is the best thing in the world though. They know that when the beast kicks in, it takes priority over everything – Everything – I mean Christmas, New Years, Birthday, misses then all because of this damn thing, it just takes over when it wants to. But hey, its not terminal, I’m alive, and people have it worse.
How long do the attacks usually last for you?
It can be as short as 1.5 hours if it wants to responds to the oxygen and Zomig – AND if I spot it in time, rising to three hours if it feels like being stubborn or if I didn’t treat it in-time (with headaches for the rest of the day but at least the major attack is over)
Worst case, this can be up to three days if untreated or just because its my turn to get a long one and my body decides fuck you, thats why.
Is oxygen the best way to alleviate the pain?
Yeah, the oxygen is the best thing that Ive tried aside from the Imigran (but that has limited uses in a day -O2 is unlimited and 100% natural). I will normally sit on the oxygen for half an hour and it may abourt, or at least hold it off long enough for something else to take effect (Zomig or zydol depending on severity.)
Are you able to do anything when you have a headache?
No, fraid not. Its complete zombie state. Lying in bed, crying, waiting for the pain to pass, cant cook, hard time walking, dont really feel like eating or drinking. This can lead to problems in the longer ones because you have to keep hydrated, but IF you just dont drink any fluids when you are in one – then this just extends your cluster period!
What’s the most unconventional or weirdest thing you tried to stop the pain?
Weirdest thing was trying to knock myself out – ran head first at walls, blood let, hit my kneecap with a brick to distract the pain – none of it worked!
When did you first start getting the attacks?
About 15 years ago – started off as migraines then (one every three months), but changed forms about 6 years ago and became increasingly regular. The Dr admitted that this was not migraine behaviour, did the usual CAT scans etc, and eventually sent to a Neurologist. Good boy NHS, the Neurologist instantly know what was. The O2 therapy and Imigran cant be cheap, but welcome to the UK -the NHS do not let that cross their mind – once they have you diagnosed, they do everything they can to help.
I don’t remember the first specifically, but I was around 14-15 when they first started, and my reaction was generally to throw up and go sit in the closet in the dark with a blanket over my head because that’s the only thing that felt better.
I also shared a room with my younger brother at the time, who was quite loud and annoying, so I tended to be very violent and throw things at him when I had a headache and he wouldn’t turn down his TV or stop being annoying.
Do you know what causes them?
I have some basic triggers (dehydration, tiredness etc) but not the usual migraine triggers like food, coffee, paint, perfume etc.
What’s the difference between cluster headaches and migraines?
Cluster headaches are generally several orders of magnitude more painful, focused, and come one after another in “clusters” hence the name. They are not triggered by anything we know of, unlike migraines that can be brought on by light, sounds, etc. They can also disappear for months, even years at a time, only to come back nonstop for even weeks without rest.
Have you ever been confronted by someone saying “some event” hurts more. If so how did it go down?
Yeah, I’ve had that. “Just take a few ibuprofen and walk it off, or drink some water” thanks random co-worker, if only I had thought of that sooner.
I know some people are really trying to help, but some people are so bitchy and passremarkable. That soon stops the day you simply collapse in a heap, featal like on the deck, unable to move, ambulance called as you can’t even speak properly (one co-worker later said I sounded possessed!). That tends to let them know what scale of pain we are really talking about. The comments soon stop after that
What medicine do you take for it? Have you tried medical mj?
I don’t take any prescription medication for them currently. I used to have 800mg Ibuprofen, but they stopped working. I had the opportunity to try Vicodin for them, and it did not do anything but make me pee a lot.
Marijuana doesn’t do anything for them either. It does help to distract my thoughts sometimes, but I wouldn’t really consider that a treatment.
Have you ever tried morphine-based drugs to alleviate the pain?
A few of the medications are morphine based – and whilst they lift the smaller attacks, the problem with them is two fold: 1.) Time taken for the body to absorb. They just take too long to get into the system. By the time the pain killing element kicks in, the pain level is beyond medicating. The injection or the O2 is a lot more direct and quicker. 2.) Rebound headaches. Yeah, the human body is a scumbag. It can give you rebound headaches so that it can get more codine or zydol!!
The injections are amazing – BUT worth pointing out that they are not traditional pain killers. if you were in any sort of pain, I could give you this and it would have no effect at all. They work by changing the expansion/contraction of the blood vessels in the brain and perhaps also assist with Serotonin binding – but to be honest, the medical trade know they work but are not 100% sure why!
I hear small doses of Psilocybin have been known to virtually cure cluster headaches. It is also a legal form of treatment.
Ive heard they work, but not tried them yet. I rule out nothing. I would inject heroin directly into my eyeball during an attack if you said that it would help!
Are there any long term side effects? Are these headaches slowly damaging you beyond repair, or is it literally just a shit load of pain and nothing more?
As far as I know, there is no long term damage to the brain – which is so reassuring. At first, you can not believe that you can have this level of pain without some sort of scaring on the brain, but its more down to blood vessels in the brain contracting (or expanding, can never remember which) and causing the most unbelievable pain. I am so grateful that there is no long term damage though….
Is there any illness/disease you would NOT prefer to have?
Yeah, despite the pain and general cr-pness of this condition, lets face it – people have worse. its not terminal for a start. But if we are thinking non-terminal, my sister in law has MS and that scares me. Also Alzheimer’s sounds really scary, as does Parkinsons. I think they scare me worse than what i have.
Atheist Man Dies; Travels from Hell to Heaven During NDE
Man, oh man! The United States is going full-on Mad Max…
Geo-Politics, out of the USA, is just a bunch of rich kids who inherited money, or got it easily and know nothing about diplomacy. Meanwhile the rest of the world are cautiously waiting for the Untied States to bleed out… finally.
It seems like a lot of bad stuff is up ahead. But, that is an illusion.
It’s going to be some uncomfortable contractions. But not catastrophic change. So relax on that account.
Keep in mind the basics…
Community
Local skills
Rufus and smiles
Network
Garden
Alternative transportation, and power.
Northwest Sweet Cherry Pie
Nothing kicks off the holiday season quite like a fresh Northwest Sweet Cherry Pie straight from the oven!
northwest sweet cherry pie
Ingredients
2 pie crusts, prepared
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cherry juice, reserved from pitting (fresh) or from rinsing/rehydrating (preserved)
7 cups (pitted) sweet cherries
3/4 – 1 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon almond extract or bourbon-vanilla bean infusion
Instructions
Using a fork, whisk together the cherry water and cornstarch in a small bowl, then set aside.
Stem and pit the cherries, if not already done.
Fill pie dish with cherries and blend the remaining volume (about 2 cups or 1/4 the total volume) into a puree. Pour the remaining whole cherries into a mixing bowl and return to the refrigerator (if using frozen cherries).
Using a heavy-bottom pan, gently heat the puree and sugar over low heat until the volume has reduced by 1/3 to 1/2. Constantly stir across the bottom to prevent burning.
Once reduced, remove from the heat and stir in the cornstarch slurry until the mix regains translucency. Gently and briefly reheat if needed. Stir in the extract and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Pour the cooled mixture over the whole cherries, gently stirring to incorporate. Pour the final cherry mixture into a 9 or 10-inch prepared pie crust, and top with a second crust. Pinch, crimp and vent the top crust. Brush with a beaten egg if so desired and sprinkle lightly with coconut sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 55-60 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is steadily bubbling. Aluminum foil may be used around the crust edges to prevent browning during the second half of the bake.
Transfer the pie to a cooling rack, and most importantly, allow the pie to cool completely before serving (3-4 hours).
THIS IS GOING TO BE DIFFERENT. LEARNING TO LIVE WITH CHINESE POWER.
Hugh White is addressing quite skillfully but also assertively the
central emotivo-cognitive dissonance lived by the majority of the
Australian people and I would venture to extend it to most Westerners.
The title of Hugh White's video on Youtube : THIS IS GOING TO BE
DIFFERENT. LEARNING TO LIVE WITH CHINESE POWER.
Hugh White, definitely not the average Westerner, was spot on.
I noticed that the title appearing during the lecture is a tad different
: instead of DIFFERENT, we have INTERESTING.
IT'S GONNA BE DIFFERENT or INTERESTING (for sure !!!)
A GROUP ON THIS PLANET CALLED THE CHINESE HAS TRUE POWER. The kind of
power the Western ruling class had exclusively for the last 2 centuries.
THE WEST IS GONNA HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT. And I predict that it
will be a quite steep learning curve...
Not being the average Westerner, Hugh White truly understands, in spite
of inevitable ups and downs, that China will not collapse soon and the
CPC (the Communist Party of China) will not be overthrown by the Chinese
in the foreseeable future.
I also like very much the less official CCP (the Chinese Civilization
Party) coined by Professor Kishore Mabhubani and promoted
enthusiastically if not wildly by me.
I dare predict that the CPC/CCP will last 350 to 400 years minimum.
The Red Dynasty ruling nowadays from Beijing is a great one, its first
73 years (1949-2022) having all the hallmarks of a great Chinese
Dynasty. Anecdotally, its founding father Mao Zedong was from a peasant
family, like Liu Bang (Gao Zu 高 祖 Lofty Founding Ancestor of the great
Han Dynasty) and Zhu Yuanzhang (Tai Zu 太 祖 Supreme Progenitor of the
shining Ming Dynasty). A great Chinese Dynasty usually lasts 300 to 400
years.
For those who might be shocked that I call the CPC/CCP the Red Dynasty, I
would like to offer this down-to-earth and incontrovertible fact : the
Chinese soldiers, sailors, airmen swear their oath of loyalty to the
CPC/CCP, not to the Chinese Nation or to any other institution. The
Chinese military men in the past also swore their oath of loyalty to the
Emperor and to the Imperial House. As in all truly top-down societies,
the military men are the servants of the group at the very top of the
Chinese society at a given period of China's journey, those capable to
understand deeply that China is an Eternal Idea having espoused History :
the timocratic men (motivated by justice & honor) and the
aristocratic men (motivated by discovery, inventivity, creativity and
playful exploration); not the plutocratic men (motivated by profits,
wealth and power) and certainly not the democratic men (motivated by
hedonism, lex talionis, tribal affinities and their understanding of the
inner and outer realities limited to senses perceptions).
But I added "minimum". Why ?
Because the present rejuvenated, meritocratic, authoritarian and
paternalistic Confucian-style ruling class is much much much more
capable to receive criticisms and suggestions from, to talk to, to
discuss with the Chinese population (a more educated Chinese population
much more capable having elaborate and fruitful dialogues with their
rulers) than the former Chinese Emperors assisted by their meritocratic
bureaucracy and a much smaller group of scholars/literati from the
general population.
For the Chinese still wanting to protest, I remind everyone there are
about 500 authorized public protests everyday in Mainland China seen as a
legit mode of communication between the Chinese and their rulers.
That is precisely the core reason for the return of the Classical
Education and Confucianism (+ the indispensable techno-scientific
training, needless to say) in China. An endeavor favored and promoted by
many in the ruling class but especially by State Councilor Wang Huning,
the no 4 of the present Politburo Standing Committee (2022-2027).
Yes, "authoritarian" and "paternalistic" are not dirty words, at least
not for me. The Chinese and the Asian societies
were and are archetypically top-down societies with a benevolent
proclivity coming from the integrated teachings of Confucianism,
Buddhism, Daoism. The integrated 三 教 (San Jiao : Three Teachings) were
already a social reality pervasively present in all the layers of the
Chinese society at least from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It's true
that if someone wished a career in the Imperial administration,
Confucianism was a must but the general representation of the world in
everyday life was buttressed by the INTEGRATED Three Teachings. And even
under the rule of the CPC/CCP, that Weltanschauung is still valid. An
authoritarian and paternalistic ruling class is not necessarily evil
when a serious epistemological program is offered to ALL for
self-improvement, learning skills, climbing the social ladder and
contributing to the Nation.
Not forgetting the ongoing serious efforts to curb down corruption.
Not everything was dandy during the Chinese Empire, needless to say, but
it was the most prosperous place on Earth for many many centuries
before the arrival of the most nefarious KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal
Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment), not forgetting
the Chinese complacency and decadence during the nineteenth century,
obviously the root cause, the arrival of the most criminal KFC-AZAEL
being only the triggering event.
It might be unfair to use vague umbrella concepts like the Westerners or
the collective West (~12% of the global population). A fair question
would be : is there truly a collective West ? Is it so uniform ? Is it
so monolithic ?
I will try to be more precise in the expression of my thoughts.
So, in continuity with Pepe Escobar's trilogy concerning the
irreplaceable trio CHINA-RUSSIA-IRAN which rightfully stressed that
those three nations, that I personally label with the grandiose name
Nations-Empires-Civilizations (NEC), are at the center of the unraveling
of the colonization era made essentially by the most atrocious
KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American
EstabLishment).
I want to say that the West in question here is the colonial West,
essentially expressed by the 2 contemporary forms of economic
neo-colonialism and a most psycho-rigid mentality having at its core an
unwarranted superiority complex. (eg, Josep Borrell's archetypical
statement on "the Garden" vs "the Jungle". This example illustrates an
extremely gross case, it might be much more subtler, obviously...).
Let's not forget some extremely deep-rooted bad habits (and old habits
die hard, to say the least) we call in this group the 6 E:
E.xpansionism, E.xtraction, E.xpropriation, E.nslavement,
E.xtermination, E.vangelism.
Hugh White had the common sense to add at the end that China's return is
not necessarily a threat to the USA's general interests. Of course, if
the present US ruling class (the KFC-AZAEL : the Kakistocratic Feudal
Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment) adamantly desires a
true global empire, China's return will definitely hobble that wild
ambition but if the KFC-AZAEL is capable to be sincerely satisfied
(satisfied or not satisfied...that is the question !!!...😉 ) with a
regional empire (and frankly a big one !!! So they will still be at a
quite exalted position in the global pecking order...), or in more
refined/diplomatic words, a big zone of direct influence, China's return
is not an obstacle at all.
The irreplaceable trio CHINA-RUSSIA-IRAN (that I promote unremittingly)
is the comprehensive coalition of the last 3
Nations-Empires-Civilizations (NEC) on Earth. If the USA cannot live
with the option of being a truly big regional empire (even only paying
lip service hypocritically for the time being because let's be lucid,
the KFC-AZAEL will not be destroyed so easily), the 3 NECs will have to
increase the PAIN-FEAR dial to make it understand that the global
colonization era is really ending.
Phir Milate Hain ! Quan
Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is leading the charge for Republicans in launching an investigation into General Mark Milley and Nancy Pelosi.
On January 7th Gosar tweeted
“Remember – we will conduct a real investigation into J6. The effort to attempt a coup between traitor Gen. Mark Milley and Pelosi will be reviewed and exposed.”
Gosar would continue
“Milleys treasonous sell-out to China will be investigated. Pelosi not warning members about intel of impending violence will be exposed.”
Gosar would continue his series of tweets by writing
“soon, we’ll know the truth.”
5 People Reveal What’s It Like To Live In Finland, The Happiest Country In The World
1. In Finland, things just simply work, promises are kept, life can be planned ahead and people keep their distance. It’s perfect. The darkness before the snow comes is pretty depressing, but it’s the cost of not having that many people around, and I’m willing to pay.
I’m not exactly a world traveler (and won’t be until they come up with carbon neutral airplanes) but from what I’ve seen, the only places I would live in besides Finland is Sweden or Norway. And even then I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t fit in as well as I do in Finland.
When I have gone south, the absence of forests somehow beats me down. Then I see the society and all the things that are better in the Nordics.
In Finland, even the poorest live in better conditions than I did when I was a child, and my childhood wasn’t bad at all, at least terms of being fed, clothed, kept warm and dry or gadgeted.
You just need to go to Germany and see street prostitutes, people living in very bad conditions, doing work but not making enough for food, and bad infrastructure.
I visited Spain two years ago, and oh dear. Not a single elevator in the metro stations of Barcelona was working, so any disabled or stroller pushing people were denied of public transportation. A lot of people were living on the streets, and I didn’t even have to see the living and working conditions of the immigrants in the fruit farms. And this was inside the relative safety and living standards of EU – I’m not even going to talk about what I saw in Thailand or Russia.
The rich have it good everywhere. With money, you can afford what the state doesn’t supply, be it housing, medical care, mobility, security, whatever.
But in Finland, even the rich use public medical care, because it’s that good. People leave their houses unlocked, because there are so little desperate people to burglar around. There isn’t a real class society (yet). We take so good care of our poor, that we can afford the luxury of not fearing each other. I feel bad looking at human suffering or environmental damage, and that is a big reason for me not to travel.
I haven’t looked at how they measured the happiness rating, but my guess is that because Finland takes care of everybody, a bigger portion of the people are happy, not just the rich.
We still have poverty, and even though the relative conditions our our poor are better than.. anywhere else really, they still feel unhappiness because they feel shunned upon and disconnected from society. This can be worked on, however, and it’s much easier to make people feel accepted and connected when the problem of organizing running water, heat and electricity has been solved half a century ago.
2. I find living in Finland quite peaceful and safe. Some may regard it also boring and lame (some comments I’ve read), but to me Finland means the life where I don’t have to worry for my life in the very basic level. This society won’t let anybody starve or freeze.
Finland is estimated to be the most stable country in the world. To me it tells that we have done something right, despite our current economic problems.
This is a society where everything is negotiated, different parties can express their views and the power is balanced so that any party can’t dominate the political field. Politicians are used to compromise with their adversaries. That’s why the Finnish politics may seem a bunch of horse trading. Always when you get something you must give something.
This prevents sudden changes in the society, causing as well stability as rigidity.
I think that most Finns like to live a pretty peaceful and quiet life. We are not a nation of big dramas either in politics or personal life. And this is probably what some regard boring.
I think that this is one of the middle-class societies: we put an effort to raise poorer people to the middle-class and since a big part of it is funded by the proggressive taxation, our filthy rich elite is quite small – and I guess they are not very rich in the international comparison.
3. As far as living in Finland, it all depends on which part. Northern Finland(Lapland) is dark and cold in winter, but it does have it’s beauty with the Northern Lights and the landscape. Avoid Kemi, depressing town. The more south you go the less long dark winters. I loved Vaasa, and I love Espoo too.
From an American ex pat perspective there are differences. Typical apartment bathrooms do not come with bath tubs, and there is nothing to separate the shower floor from the rest of the bathroom so you have to sweep the water to the drain. If you have a shower closet, those are quite small for the avg American. Everything is in smaller scale here. If you are over 6 foot tall the beds can be a problem.. Public laundrymats are unheard of. I know one place in Helsinki that is coin operated. Most apartment blocks have their own laundry rooms, and almost all apartments have hook ups for washers in the bathrooms. About 50% of apartments have clothes dryers. We are lucky that the owner included a washer dryer tower in our unit.
Mass transportation here in the metro area is excellent. You can get almost anywhere in minutes. It will be even more so once the metro extension to Matinkylä is completed. Our shops close at early hours, very rare to find markets or pharmacies open 24 hours. I can think of one or two in Helsinki.
Crime is very low. I feel very safe walking around at night time here. Because of the dark winters it is common to be out at night. There is a growing international presence in Finland. Because of the educated populace many companies are moving here to take advantage of the talented and skilled work force.
Learning Finnish is very hard. For native English speakers it is especially challenging. At some point it is good also to know Swedish because it is one of the official languages. Mainly in cities such as Vaasa, and parts of Espoo. Next year I will begin to tackle Swedish.
Ice hockey is HUGE here. Also a sport called salibandy (floorball). track and field is big. Finland is into fitness, but we do have our share of couch potatoes. Finland is one of the top consumers of coffee and also milk.
Finland has a very good social system, but our taxes are very high. Finland is one of the least, if not THE least corrupt nation in the planet. You can not run a social system successfully if you are corrupt. Also the success of our social system is due in part because Finland is a small country. The way we do things here is just not scale-able to a country of over 300 million.
4. Finland is well organised. Everything works, new technologies are used to the full and schedules are taken seriously.
Snow gets ploughed on streets and airports during the night for buses and planes to keep to the timetables in the morning, EU regulations are meticulously applied and officials can be trusted.
Maternity leave topped with the annual four weeks’ holiday adds up to eleven months, which can be divided between both parents and you can stay at home taking care of the baby till its third birthday and prefering to return to work or to study you are guaranteed a daycare place for the child.
Because of the relatively new independence ( Finland will turn 100 next year) Finns are patriotic and quite supportive of the national defence. The whole age class takes part in military service, women voluntarily.
Finns are work-oriented and even though not spending as many hours working (theoretically 37.5 hours/week), they are efficient and concientious.
To set the balance, they use about the same amount of alcohol as their fellow Europeans, but have their weekly dose concentrated to the weekend often with the aim of getting drunk.
The labour day, which is celebrated on 1st May together with the students’ Vappu celebration of the beginning of the summer season and use of the white student cap is a very wet party taking place on the streets and parks of the University cities.
A very different, although hardly drier celebration is Juhannus, Midsummer, around the 24th June, when cities are deserted and the longest day of the year is spent in the summer cottages grilling sausage and taking a plunge in one of the 187 888 lakes after sauna.
Drunkenness is not considered a social embarassment. Alcohol (over 6 %) is a state monopoly only sold in Alko stores to majors (>18). Nevertheless also teens drink alot.
Finns feel emotional about sports and are among the best sport audiences, turning up in crowds, which has together with the organizational capacities won Finland the management of many international championships. Not enthusiastic about football,which they are notoriously bad at, but field sports ( long distance, javelin), ice hockey and the motorsports.
The arts, theatre and opera are considerably less popular and favored mainly by the women. The construction of the new opera house of Helsinki was strongly opposed in the 1980’s as expensive and elitistic, even though Finland has produced a proportionally high amount of top conductors (Berglund, Salonen, Oramo, Saraste, Mälkki) and very good contemporary composers ( Sallinen, Kokkonen, Rautavaara, Lindberg, Saariaho).
5. This is the common man’s version of what’s it like…
Just yesterday, I went to a river near my house, took a dip in freezing cold water and went under the sun. In a few minutes, I was dry like new.
Summers are amazing in Finland. Short but amazing. The other day, I took a 5 Euro rent a cycle and completed the entire stretch surrounding the lake near by. And then took a nap under the trees. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
Getting on to a healthy life style here is easy. There are walking and cycling paths everywhere. You can walk how much ever you want, any time any day, no one to bother. Some times I just take a bus to a distant place and walk all the way back. It’s fun.
Finland is not “touristy” kind of beauty. It will not just amaze you the moment you enter it. It’s grows onto you. After a few days of living, you will start enjoying the “not-so-flashy” things like the fresh fruit markets, the open air concerts, the bicycle rides, a nap in the park, international sports events, beer and food festivals.
In a way, Finland made me feel more connected to nature. You can run in the forest whenever you want. You can swim in the lake. You can go for fishing. Most of times you will see families spending time with their kids, pets, listening to live music, playing guitar, going for a walk – having a great time with simple things in life.
Many times, I feel like I live in a big village. A few weeks before, me and my wife were coming back to our home quite after midnight. We just chose a spot on the way and were talking for few hours. At no point we felt threatened or scared. We were just talking as if it’s in our courtyard.
Many of the people usually focus on the Winters of Finland. Yes, winters are cold, it can be depressing. But the summers make it worth while.
Once it snows, even winters can be fun. You can go for saunas, ice swimming or a walk on the lake (yes on the lake!)
If you have never been to Finland, plan for a month’s stay in smaller cities like Tampere during summer. You will not regret it.
Bizarre Paintings Of Mecha Robots And Werewolves Attacking East European Peasants Of The Early 20th Century
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The Polish artist Jakub Rozalski, who goes by the sobriquet “Mr. Werewolf,” has produced an amusing series of steampunk-ish canvases in which serene and idyllic rustic landscapes of what seem to be Eastern Europe (Rozalski’s very back yard, you might say) in the early decades of the 20th century feature the prominent and inexplicable existence of completely fictitious giant mecha robots.
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Various iconographies are jammed together, the imagery of peasant life in the early years of collectivization, the imagery of science fiction, the imagery of modern warfare…. add it all up and you might find yourself calling to mind, ohhh, the first few scenes of The Empire Strikes Back, set on the icy terrain of Hoth, perhaps?
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Rozalski’s intent is “to commemorate this sad and tragic period in history, in my own way, to light on this parts of history that usually remain in the shadows of other events… remember and honor the history, but live in the present.” He adds, “I like to mix historical facts and situations with my own motives, ideas and visions. … I attach great importance to the details, the equipment, the costumes, because it allows you to embed painting within a specified period of time.”
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The World of Scythe is a beautiful 105-page art book showcasing the work of Jakub Rozalski for the board game Scythe, one of the most successful games ever funded on Kickstarter. The book was only made available to backers during the Kickstarter campaign, and is now only available on ArtStation Shop.
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Howling at the Moon, a new book published in cooperation with Artstation, will transport fans into Jakub Rozalski’s mysterious worlds where history, folklore, and modernity harmoniously clash. Inspired by traces of imagination from his childhood on the Polish countryside, his incredibly breathtaking and unique artwork will pull you into his alternate fantastic worlds filled with colossal giants, ominous machines, werewolves, lonely wanderers and rural landscapes. Artwork is complemented by sectional text in English and Polish. Fans can learn more about the artist in the interview text in English and Polish. Renowned Director and Designer Brent Ashe has crafted every aspect of Howling at the Moon’s presentation to make it an art experience satisfying collectors with a fine eye. The special edition includes a stunning bold hardcover slipcase and an envelope of 6 exclusive prints. Digital art enthusiasts will also enjoy learning more about the artist’s creation process in tutorials at the end of the book.
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Blond Texas Sheet Cake with
Caramel-Pecan Frosting
4c3e8dd1977a372713c4d403b72dcc48
Ingredients
Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Frosting
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the cake, beat the cake mix, buttermilk, butter, egg whites and almond extract together with an electric mixer at low speed for 2 minutes or until blended. Pour batter into a 15 x 10-inch jellyroll pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 hours.
To make the frosting, place chopped pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes or until lightly toasted.
Bring butter and brown sugar to a boil in a 3 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in buttermilk.
Return mixture to heat and bring to a boil. Pour into bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla and almond extracts, beating at medium-high speed until smooth. Stir in pecans.
Pour immediately over cooled cake in pan and spread quickly to cover cake.
Serves 12.
Confessions Of A Golden Gate Bridge Jumper AND Survivor
What was so bad in your life that got you to the point of jumping?
It was a number of things! I’ve struggled with debilitating pain since I was 13 and depression, anxiety, and complex PTSD since I was 15 so that’s what the suicidal ideation was but two weeks before my psychiatrist at the time doubled my antidepressants (very bad idea) which threw me into a manic episode. I ended up dropping my savings on tattoos and then jumping off the bridge in a week.
Was there any particular reason why you chose the Golden Gate bridge?
I chose the Golden Gate Bridge first because of how effective I perceived it to be. The second reason is because my family wouldn’t have to deal with my body, I assumed only the Coast Guard would (also not true) don’t do it guys.
Did you hesitate or just go for the jump?
I didn’t hesitate I was afraid someone was going to notice me.
How long did it take to hit the water?
Seconds
What was going through your mind during the fall?
I didn’t really have any fully formed thoughts. I was feeling a lot.
How did you land in the water?
The wind turned me in the air so I landed slanted primarily on my left ankle which is why the most severe damage was to my ankle and the least severe was to my back.
What happened when you hit the water?
It’s like hitting cement. Pain was pretty much all I felt. I dissociated pretty heavily until I arrived at the hospital (and went into surgery immediately) but at no point did I lose consciousness.
When was the moment you realized “oh fuck I lived”
When I hit the water for sure. I processed the pain and then thought fuck I don’t want to drown.
You must be a fantastic swimmer
Hahaha once your body hits the water though there’s no way to move at all. I did it during the middle of the day with the intention to die on impact so when I didn’t a boat just ended up picking me up.
How did the boat come across you in the water? How did they get you on the boat?
They saw me when I fell because they were nearby. I’m pretty sure they threw something and then grabbed me but I don’t remember very well. I was dissociating a lot and my memory is spotty.
Do you know how long it took from when you jumped until the boat picked you up?
I didn’t have much of a conception of time so I couldn’t say for sure but not very long. I was treading water in the bay while bleeding with broken bones so it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes
What are the odds, you are so lucky, how far did you fall and did you get injured?
Yeah there’s like a 2% survival rate? The fall is 200 some odd feet. I shattered my ankle. Tore my perineum (requiring a colostomy bag and surgery though not as much as the ankle) and got compression fractures in my back.
I can’t imagine the pain
I couldn’t either. It was like nothing you could even grasp. Though the bone infection I got from my first ankle surgery was worse than impact I think
I read an article by someone else who survived the same jump. He said the moment he jumped he regretted the decision. Did you feel the same way?
No. I felt immediate relief. That was likely one of the reasons I survived because my body was very relaxed upon impact.
Could you explain the feeling of falling 200 feet? What could you compare it to?
The actual sensation of falling is pretty much like you’d expect. Like the out of control feeling when you trip but you can’t catch yourself but all you can see around you is water coming closer.
Did you realize at any point that all of your problems were fixable?
It was more of a gradual thing. I had really severe pain before my attempt and that wasn’t going away soon so I knew my shit wasn’t that flexible but I knew I needed to learn to cope because I couldn’t do that to my family again.
Who would you have missed the most?
I would have missed my family, the earth, and my future the most.
How did your friends and loved ones react?
With compassion and love and grief.
How are you doing today?
A lot better. Still struggling with my mental health but my medication is stable so now so am I.
Do you regret jumping?
That’s kind of a hard one. I try not to regret anything that made me who I am today. I think it was probably necessary for my path to recovery. I do however regret the trauma it caused my loved ones and the fucking medical bills.
Do you have a any long term injury from the fall?
I will never be able to walk normally. My left ankle has been fused after like ten fucking surgeries. I had a colostomy bag for five months but thankfully that’s been reversed. I broke my back too so there’s been pain and I’m not sure how longterm that is. Every person I know who has attempted said their body was just so dramatically aged in the process and that was my experience is.
Do you think, knowing what you know now, that you’d ever let your metal health get to that point again or would you reach out?
At this place in my life I have the tools (therapy, meds, a good support system) to reach out when things get bad before I get unsafe. I have a hard time with the word “let” because I feel like there’s the implication that it’s within someone’s control? Or implied fault somehow? I’m responsible for my actions (as we all are) but mental illness is a hard situation. I’m not in control of how bad it gets I can only control how I respond to it if that makes sense.
If you had died on that day, what have you experienced since then that you would have missed out on?
Honestly after this I put so much time and energy into recovery and I have gotten so far. I have started going to school for nursing and am in a beautiful housing situation with my best friend. I ended falling in love with myself and the world again as corny as it sounds. My insights are meditation is really important and therapy should be accessible and available to all.
Grocery Stores In New York City Are Considering Locking Up Food Because Theft Has Become So Rampant
Food has become a prime target for thieves, and that should deeply alarm all of us.
Once upon a time, shoplifting was a minor nuisance for most retailers in the United States. But today the game has completely changed.
Highly organized gangs of thieves are systematically looting stores all over the country, and this is costing retailers billions upon billions of dollars.
Authorities call it “organized retail crime”, but I call it complete and utter lawlessness.
Wild Wild West. A period of the complete collapse of society. -MM
When you have large groups of people storming retail stores all over the nation on a regular basis, that is a major crisis.
Originally, a lot of these gangs were primarily targeting goods that could be resold on the Internet very easily. But now a lot of grocery stores are being targeted, and food is being stolen on a scale that we have never seen before.
Shampoo, toothpaste, and razor blades are all items that grocery stores have increasingly started locking behind counters. Soon, that list might include food.“People have no fear of coming to your store and stealing,” said Nelson Eusebio of the National Supermarket Association.“Our employees are terrified,” Eusebio continued. “We have young people that come to work, young cashiers who work part-time, these kids are 16-17 years old. They’re traumatized.”
When I first started warning that we are becoming a “Mad Max society”, a lot of people thought that I was exaggerating.
Sadly, the breakdown of law and order just continues to accelerate in many of our largest cities. In fact, it is being reported that grand larcenies “were up 80% in New York City last year”…
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has made a point of combating the repeat offenses. “Criminals believe our criminal justice system is a joke,” Adams said in comments referring to a serial intruder who was arrested and released 26 times.
“Those arrested for grand larceny go to court, get released and on their way home from court, they’re doing another grand larceny.”According to the New York Police Department, grand larcenies, thefts of over $1,000, were up 80% in New York City last year.
Only an 80 percent increase?
Yes, that sounds perfectly “normal” to me.
In other areas of the country, shortages are the big news right now.
I never imagined that Costco would totally run out of eggs in early 2023, but this has actually happened at many of their stores.
As I discussed yesterday, bird flu is one of the factors that is causing supplies of eggs to get tighter.
But as the farmer in this video explains, it is certainly not the only factor.
No matter how high interest rates go, people still need to eat.
So the Federal Reserve can hike rates to the moon, but food prices are still going to remain ridiculously high.
However, higher rates will crush many other areas of the economy, and some of the biggest names in the corporate world are now conducting mass layoffs…
Goldman Sachs is just the latest firm to reduce its size in recent months. Morgan Stanley announced that it would cut two percent of its staff in December, Amazon plans to cut over 18,000 jobs, and Salesforce announced it would cut ten percent of its workforce and close some offices last week.While white collar workers were less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lock-downs than their blue collar counterparts, many jobs were simply done remote instead of being cut, professionals are now bearing the brunt of the economic headwinds America faces.
When are people going to finally understand that we have a major league crisis on our hands?
When Goldman Sachs lays off large numbers of workers, that is a red flag.
When Morgan Stanley lays off large numbers of workers, that is a red flag.
When Amazon lays off large numbers of workers, that is a red flag.
Facebook, Twitter, McDonald’s and Walmart are also laying off workers.
As they used to say in the 1980s, it is time to wake up and smell the coffee.
At this point things are so grim that the World Bank is warning that the entire global economy could plunge into a recession this year…
The global economy is just one more knock away from a second recession in the same decade, something that hasn’t happened in more than 80 years.That’s the latest warning from the World Bank, which on Tuesday sharply lowered its forecast for global economic growth.
As economic conditions deteriorate, people are going to become increasingly desperate.
And desperate people do desperate things.
So if you think that organized retail theft is bad now, just wait until you see what is ahead.
The social deterioration that we have been witnessing over the past several years will soon accelerate significantly, and that is really bad news for all of us.
Many retail stores on both coasts have already closed due to the epidemic of theft that we are experiencing, and a whole lot more will soon be permanently shut down.
We really are in the process of becoming a “Mad Max society”, and we only have ourselves to blame.
4K 60Fps Video Shows Colorized Footage Of NYC In 1911
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Video editor Denis Shiryaev recently shared a video on his Youtube channel that shows colorized footage of New York City in 1911. The video is a restored version of the footage previously shared by a Swedish film crew from Svenska Biografteatern, which showed an old film slowed down to a natural rate with added sound for ambiance.
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Shiryaev worked on that source video and turned it into a 4K HD masterpiece that really brings the atmosphere from more than a century ago closer to us today.
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Along with the video, Shiryaev wrote: “Restored with neural networks 1911 New York footage taken by the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern on a trip to America: ✔ FPS boosted to 60 frames per second; ✔ Image resolution boosted up to 4k; ✔ Resorted video sharpness; ✔ Colorized – I am still unsure about this, but regarding to high request from the subscribers decided to test DeOldify NN on this video.”
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Genuine Texas Chili Bread
bread
Ingredients
3/4 cup hot salsa
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1/8 cup hot pepper sauce
1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed kidney or pinto beans
3 teaspoons fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped (about 4 peppers)
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
Instructions
Place all ingredients in bread pan, select a light crust setting, and press “start”.
Confessions Of A Not-So-Well Endowed Man
How small is your penis?
It is an innie when soft. Erect, and this was before the addition of all my extra weight, I’m a whopping 3 1/4 inches long (and that was pushing the ruler in as deep as I could) and under an inch in diameter which means short and very skinny.
Does it fit inside a condom?
I haven’t found a condom yet that isn’t like sticking my dick in a sandwich bag. They are that loose.
How old were you when you realized you were different? Were your parents supportive?
I kind of started to realize in high school, and that was during the early 90’s. I wound up seeing a Hustler or Swank or something and was horrified at the difference between me and guys in there. I started noticing bulges on guys at school and I had none. I’ve never talked about it with my parents but they really botches the whole sex thing and had me convinced that if I even kissed a girl I would go to jail for rape.
Ever tried penis enlargement pills or a pump? Did it help even temporarily?
I haven’t tried pills. All the science says they don’t work. The pump didn’t do much except swell it a little and it was very temporary.
I read somewhere that micro penis can be fixed slightly with an operation. is this true?
The operation involves snipping the tendon at the base of the penis. This lets it extend about another inch, but you also loose some of the ability for it to stick out perpendicular to your body. It is generally considered not worth doing.
Silicone injections look like a horror show and that just does width.
I have had to accept I just have to use what I have.
Is it hard to masturbate? Like can you use your whole hand? or just the thumb and pointer finger?
Yeah, thumb and pointer mostly and that is while laying back. I usually use a massager with a vibrating ball and it works pretty well. It gives me some extra reach and feels good at the same time.
Are you afraid to pee in public restrooms? Does the thought of it being seen terrify you in any way? What do you hate most about your condition?
It’s not that bad as long as there are stalls with a door. Otherwise I hold it and find facilities elsewhere. I have an amazing ability to hold urine.
What I hate most is the social stigma attached to having a small penis. The world pretty much considers you worthless.
Do you ever walk around with a strap on?
I have thought about it but never done it.
What was your first sexual experience like? How did she react?
College. Me 21, her 18. I had no self confidence as I had been rejected recently by two girls I had fallen hard for, and right in a row. So, we dated for a couple weeks and while we were watching a movie one night I heard her sigh in frustration and she grabbed my hand and put it on her boob. We finally moved to the bedroom and we fooled around for a while and then she put her hand in my pants and said, “Oh, its so….um…..hard.” She rubbed me for a while but it didn’t go anywhere and we went to sleep. Dumped me a couple days later.
Was that the worst? Are there any that really stick with you?
Yeah, it was the worst and I didn’t have another one until I was 29. However, I wound up with a totally psycho chick that litarlly only wanted oral. So 5 months of me eating her out and then her blowing me and swallowing. EVERY NIGHT. She was also on some sort of heavy birth control so no cycle. It was GLORIOUS….until the psycho came out.
How did you meet your wife react and how did she react upon finding out?
The internet is an amazing thing. As I basically became a hermit after college, staying online when I wasn’t at work, I started webcamming on places like Webcamnow. I would just sit there broadcasting my micropenis and some random women would start talking to me. I found out that there was a rather large group of women that like small penises. I had a hell of a lot of really hot cam on cam and phone sex over the years.
I met my wife online so she actually saw it by camera first and she likes the small size. It fits her mouth perfectly and she had a bad vaginal tear at some point that required surgery so she is extremely tight for a normal penis but perfect for mine.
Do you often attempt penetration with your wife?
Not often, maybe twice a month or so. But, we have lots of toys and the Hitachi magic wand has become her personal savior.
Penetration is really only possible with her laying on her back on the edge of the bed and me standing on the floor.
How exactly do the mechanics of sex work when you can’t penetrate that deeply? I imagine it’s kind of difficult.
My wife is the only woman I’ve had intercourse with so she technically took my virginity. The position we discovered that works well is with her on her back on the edge of the bed with her legs pulled back and me standing on the floor. It gets in and actually gives her pleasure because of prior vaginal surgery that makes her very tight.
The trick though is a Hitachi Magic Wand. We wedge it between us after she gets excited enough and orgasms just roll out. She usually stops after around 10 or so.
Side note – Anal is impossible for us. So many men are always going on about how they want anal and can’t get it. For us, my wife wants it and I can’t give it to her so she has to rely on her buttplugs for that.
I would say nothing is holding you guys back from a fantastic sex life.
It really is pretty good. She’s also got a pretty regular cycle so I can guess what days she is in the mood and when she isn’t. It makes things pretty easy and keeps her satisfied.
Are you with your wife because you were physically attracted to her, or because she accepted you?
Very valid question. At first, I was so desperate for companionship, I didn’t care. She was female, alive, and willing to touch me. I literally moved her across the country in the hopes that I might finally lose my virginity. She was willing to move because she was sick of living with her parents.
It was rather awkward in the beginning because while we had talked for over a year, we never got to date. So she would stay shut in her bedroom for the first couple weeks, only to come out and talk occassionally and get meals. Then one night she comes to my room naked and throws me on the bed. She climbed on and took my virginity.
Things improved once that hurdle no longer existed. We found out that we had a lot of common interests. Over a couple years we got to really know each other wound up getting along really well with each others families.
So now, yes, I am physically attracted to her. I also care very much for her and feel protective of her. I know I got very lucky because it was entirely possible that it wouldn’t work out. We beat the odds.
Given that you do have a small penis, but have found a woman so accepting of it, do you feel it’s overrated, having a large penis? What I mean is, is the love in your relationship stronger than feelings of inadequacy?
Yes, our love is stronger and it has greatly lessened my feelings of inadequacy. When you hear most small penis jokes, they still involves a relatively normal size, just on the smaller side. Me however, I was scared to date because if things went well, I couldn’t wear a condom and that whole scenario terrified me. So I just didn’t date and on the rare occasion that I did go out, I just ignored any signals and never let it progress.
I think society’s emphasis on penis size, and looks in general, is one of our worse attributes. I shudder to think how many people that could have gone on to great things faded away because of their personal inadequacies.
So let’s all hear a few of these highly educated black people have to say about China.
I trust they are qualified to comment unlike those who never stepped into China before and are immensely brainwashed by their own corrupted oligarchic regime who think the entire world revolve around their country thus they are entitled to whatever “exceptionalism” they were babbling about.
Having lived in a civilization with few welfare mechanisms, Chinese people have always saved. One of the greatest goals for saving is education for the children. This is paramount and an investment in the future as a well educated son would be expected to support his parents in their old age. Chinese parents will live a very simple life until their son is properly educated. That’s the traditional view. Now savings are compulsory and automatically deducted from salary, including old age pension. Although education is free, getting into a top school (obligatory) and maintaining the lifestyle (vacation trips to Europe etc) are expensive. Indeed so expensive most parents don’t believe they can support more than one child. Compulsory health insurance also means that hospital stays are covered, but doctors still expect a gratuity to ensure a full effort (red packets). So I expect that despite a great increase in standards of living, and a developing welfare system, Chinese families still try to live simply and save for the future.
Help me! Poor cat Only breath left! | Rescuing sick cat and transforming his life!
I had tears in my eyes watching this video! The poor cat was just lying there waiting to die – too weak to react when you picked her up. To see her alert and on her feet is amazing. YOU ARE A MIRACLE WORKER!
It is, by most accounts, going to be rather rough if you live in the West.
The key, as always is to be the Rufus. Do your affirmation campaigns, and do not panic by reading the “news”.
There are massive global Geo-political realignments going on, and the evil psychopaths in the United States are going to get desperate. But, the ‘adults int he room” won’t allow them to “toss the entire game board in the air”. So don’t worry.
Be frosty and alert.
And…
Smile.
What Is Doctor Assisted Death Like?
An immediate family member last year was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans (popcorn lungs) with an unknown cause to it. It is something that is not curable. As someone who was a daily part of my life it was hard to watch the condition progress.
His condition progressively got worse and he was transferred to a palativcare physicality a couple of weeks ago. He wasn’t happy living the way he was living and slowly dying. The doctors discussed with him the option of assisted death… something he did not know about, and myself I thought was still not finalized in Canada yet, so it was a surprise to hear this.
After a long discussion with the family and doctors, he signed the papers a week ago to start the process. He wanted to end his life and do away with the suffering and the suffering to come.
So yesterday (Saturday) afternoon was the scheduled day for this to happen. The day started like any other for him… he was very upbeat, laughing, and smiling. All of his close love ones we’re around that morning. We spent hours talking, playing crib, and going through some old memories.
Around 2PM the doctors came into the room, I almost fainted once it dawned on me that it was time – I felt dizzy but I stuck through it. It was even harder to see my kids go through the emotions of it.
What I’m about to describe from here-on-out is very surreal… the doctors sat down next to him in the chair and asked if he was ready to begin the process. He instantly said he was. The doctors then put two ports into his veins, gave him a relaxant and made his recliner comfortable. She explained the first needle he would get would be a heavy anesthesia, which would take him under within seconds, a second needle to numb any pain because the rest of the needles would be nerve-killing, and without it, he would feel a burning sensation. She explained to him it would be just like falling asleep. They then left the room and told us we had as much time as we needed before they would begin.
We all said our goodbyes and shared some final moments through his tears and ours. We agreed we didn’t want to prolong the process and make it any harder, so he had the doctors come back in about 2:30PM.
They carried in roughly 8 needles and laid them on the table next to him. We all stood around him and held his hands. The doctor sat next to him again and put the first needle into the port and asked him if he was sure he still wanted to go ahead with this process.
He said “Yes my love, do it” – my mind was racing when he said this, a rollercoaster of emotions came over me as he grabbed our hands tight and the doctor pushed the needle in. Within seconds you could see his expression change to a relaxing state, he started to mumble some stuff about where he lived… the doctor told us this is the needle kicking in. She then pushed in the second needle right after and he was still grabbing our hands. She then pumped in the remaining milk-looking needles (which I assume was for the nerves). His grip got a little loose, he closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed down. I can’t fathom the time this took… it was like everything was a standstill, but it seemed about 30 seconds, and his breathing and heart then stopped and it was over.
It tears me up writing this out today but I wanted to share my experience going through it and get awareness out there for this option, if any of your family members are terminally-ill, this is an option for them. I have so much respect for the bravery it takes for someone to go through this process – to sit there and have your life taken away, it takes a special kind of person.
I want to thank this great above-and-beyond civilized country for having this option available to him yesterday and I hope my story can help ease some minds about what the process involves. Its truly peaceful for the patient to go through.
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup finely chopped parsley
Cooked rice (optional)
* To reduce fat, butter may be reduced by half.
Instructions
Melt butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic and sauté until vegetables soften and begin to release their juices, about 6 minutes.
Add tomatoes with their liquid and chicken broth. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add cream of chicken soup and stir until smooth.
Stir in salt, black and white peppers and chicken pieces. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Stir in parsley and serve over rice if desired.
Women And Cats: Contemporary Bijinga Paintings By Kazuho Imaoka
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The tradition of bijinga (美人画, “beautiful person picture”) is said to have originated in Kyoto around the mid-Edo period as an art form that portrayed not only external beauty, but inner beauty. The style continued to evolve through the Meiji and Taisho periods of Japanese modernity but now, a group of young Kyoto-based painters are taking the genre and adding a fresh coat of paint. One of those is Kazuho Imaoka.
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Born in Osaka in 1991, Kazuho Imaoka studied at Seian University of Art and Design in Shiga prefecture. Her portraits feature woman, and in many cases, their cats, combined with an emphasis on fashion and textiles.
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Imaoka has said that her subjects are often linked in someway to herself, and that she attempts to convey the unspoken emotions of women living in society. The young artist’s portraits are unmistakably contemporary, but she has a way of connecting the past to the present, perhaps through a successful transmission of inner beauty.
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4 Guys Reveal What Its Like To Go Through A Nasty Divorce
1. I suspect everything would have worked a lot better for me had I not married a person with an extreme personality disorder. Sadly, people don’t come with those sort of markings, and she hid her nature pretty carefully before the marriage.
I got served on a Friday after 5pm when I came home to a nearly empty house. She cleaned out our joint accounts, I had nothing to hire a lawyer with even had there been one available on a weekend. If there are free resources for men facing divorce in my area, I could not find them.
She took the children, all of their clothes, toys, books, and furniture (excepting a bed for each child). I didn’t have any idea where my kids were until the following Tuesday. She left no note, she and her family would not answer the phone.
My ex refused to negotiate on anything. Because my kids are young and she was a “stay at home mom” I got very little consideration on custody issues. No one batted an eyelash when my ex withheld the kids from me, or when she cleaned out our joint accounts.
I paid for all of the lawyers involved, directly or indirectly. The way she took the money from our shared accounts made it nearly impossible to recover anything. Pretty soon I was a paycheck with support obligations and bills that kept me with negative cash flow for 6 months. I made too much to file for bankruptcy, but not enough to cover everything.
I never had an issue with paying child or spousal support. They way they calculated it wasn’t fair, but what can you do? I had lots of issues with getting access to the kids. After the divorce, she ignored most of the items in the final decree, I couldn’t call my kids and she kept me in the dark about school, medical, and after school activities. Had I failed to pay support, an organization would have come after me. When she refused to comply with the divorce decree, I had nothing. To get traction, I would have to go back to court, which I couldn’t afford.
It was brutal. I don’t remember long stretches of the last two years. I held myself together, stayed employed, and cared for my kids when I had them.
I don’t think men in a marriage with a stay at home mom understand how vulnerable they are. I would never consider such an arrangement again, under any circumstance.
2. My divorce was brutal. My ex cheated on me (7x) and when I filed, she instantly started crying that I beat her, playing the helpless blonde card at every turn, crying at the drop of a hat, how there was no way she could possibly support herself (with 2 multiple degrees and a job history). She pushed for 100% custody of the kids and made me pay through the nose for every moment I got to spend with them. She took most of my retirement and made me pay all her legal fees. Everytime I pushed back, she painted me as abusive and misogynist and the judge (a woman) gave her what she wanted.
I ended up with 45% custody of the kids (after a year-long fight), a year of my salary in legal fee debts, no house, and no retirement. She then proceeded to give the kids every single thing they wanted (let my 14 year old daughter sleep with her 19 year old boyfriend in her house) to try to woo them over to her, which backfired horribly and ended up alienating the kids to her completely. When that didn’t work, she took a fireplace iron to my son and ended up being committed, which was where her BPD (borderline personality disorder) was diagnosed.
Now, 10 years later, I’ve not spoken to her in 4 years, the boys despise her, and her daughter is realizing how crazy she was.
3. I was married to a verbally abusive women who broke me financially when I divorced her. I seriously believe that she didn’t even want all that she got, she just wanted to see me suffer.
I’m happy to hear you got away clean but I don’t know a single man personally who has. You said that the mother of your kids has been very reasonable. The mother of mine was awarded custody and I was allowed to visit at her home twice a week for one hour. I have no criminal record or violent history. When I would visit she would bitch at me from the time I rang the doorbell until the time I left. She also has had a vastly higher standard of living with the child support and alimony I was forced to give her for a marriage that was less than 2 years and would flaunt it incessantly.
She tricked a different guy into marrying her right after we divorced by faking a pregnancy. Then when she got married to him she did the same shit to him except with two more kids.
I was able to get the alimony stopped after she remarried but had to pay out the nose through the entire divorce process and until she remarried. I had to work two jobs to pay her off and had to live rent free with a friend until it stopped. She still makes a killing in child support which is only used marginally on the kids.
4. My ex-wife had an affair. While the court would not recognize it despite the testified evidence of numerous late night phone calls to his place of work, the suspicious “picnic lunches” at a location hours away from town, etc, an affair took place for almost a year.
Without knowing all of this at the time, she asked me for a divorce and then wanted full custody of our children, despite the devotion and involvement I was and am in their lives.
That being said, my ex-wife hired an unethical attorney, who believed in a scorched earth policy to ensure his client was awarded the bulk of the estate and the hours he billed were astronomical.
At trial, I was portrayed as a horrible husband and person, which is the farthest from the truth. The “spin” the attorney put on day-to-day aspects of life in order to make one out to be “the bad guy” was mind boggling and eye-opening to how the family court system is truly flawed.
The unethical tactics and manipulation my ex-wife allowed her attorney to do in court was unconscionable, all to achieve money.
The judge in my trial clearly did not understand the concept of pre-tax and after-tax assets and awarded my ex-wife approximately 85+% of the assets acquired during the marriage, in addition to enormous amounts of alimony and child support for 16 years although I was not married that long.
Given this huge amount of money she was receiving, I was still ordered to pay for everything for the children (private schools, clothes, sports/extra cirricular, trips, supplies, etc….everything!). I was also ordered to secure a life insurance policy for millions and name her as beneficiary.
This “alimony sentence” I was given through my early 60’s, has prohibited me to save for retirement and continue to live the life I would like with my new wife, yet the judge ordered me to keep her in the life to which SHE was “accustomed”. Despite the fact she is an educated woman capable of working and supporting herself in the lifestyle she desires.
Even worse, is that the ex-wife has been living with another man for 5+ years. Despite the emotional toll and unsettling environment my ex’s living arrangement has taken on the children, she continues to fight for alimony even though the divorce decree states it ends when living with a man that is not her husband.
Yet the flawed CT cohabitation law is written that the domestic partner must also provide financial support to her household. Why would the live-in provide financial support when the ex-wife has substantial amounts of money? Therefore, the alimony now becomes support of BOTH of them!
10 People Reveal What They Love About Fishing
1. Fishing is a way of being in symbiosis with nature. Not all the materials are “natural” but I feel while i am fishing, the life around you accepts you as part of that environment.
Your body slows and your mind focuses enough to be aware of all that is happening around you. You get to experience things you can’t plan to happen; an eagle swooping for a fish, a dolphin chasing mullet, sharks free swimming; observing intimate interactions between multiple species. I love it
2. I like bass fishing and my fishing buddy likes ocean fishing, both are cool. With bass fishing, you don’t cast and wait a few hours, you cast continually. You get good at recognizing spots and putting your lure right where you think the fish is.
Really though, two things are nice. One, is all you care about is fishing. No phones, no job, no outside world. It is just you and the fish. How often are you really able to escape into your own mind like that. Before I learned how to meditate, fishing and golf were the closest I came.
Second, is fishing buddies. Do not underestimate how important it is to have activities with friends. For you and your boys to go out their and spend the day distraction free is great. Funny things will happen, stories will be made, and no one is going to get hurt. All around good time to spend
3. Fly fishing actually gets me because its not about the actual fishing, its the stalking the waiting, the nature, the escapism, the spotting, the zen of it all. (I either eat or catch and release – mainly on the rare occasions of success). It surprised me when I tried it, so I guess i can simply say, there is fishing and there is fishing
4. I live in Land Locked Canada and to me fishing has always been about connecting with the land.
I particularly have fished a lot in Kootenay lake in British Columbia. Learning your fishing spot is learning how our world works. This lake in particular was formed millions of years ago and the mountains to the east used to make up what used to be the pacific coastline. This helps inform why the fish that live in the lake exist where they do.
It can be a sobering experience knowing the native people, for thousands of years fished the same fish and how the lake has changed over the years in both the longterm and over the decades as damming in the 50s has raised the water level.
And that’s just one lake. Every lake, stream and river has its own story.
My point is when I fish I’m on a boat going up the shoreline, seeing the rock formations and cliff faces. In the Fall, seeing snowflakes in the mountains turn to rain.
Then there’s the fishing itself. Again your on a boat on a nice day seeing the beauty of the lake, and then you get to fight the fish when you get a bite.
Knowing how to tire a big fish out is really fun on its own and once you have the fish you have a delicious dinner.
5. I fish because it allows me to interact with, and have a relationship with the natural world and all of its inhabitants. The birds, waterfowl, fish, land animals, etc all going about their day searching for food while I do the same is a peaceful experience for me.
Also, it will always remind me of my grandfather and the lessons and stories he told while we were fishing together. He’s still with us, but when he’s not I will always be able to connect with him out on the water wetting a line.
6. I call it hydrotherapy. Exploring mother nature does wonders for the soul. I usually do more observing than fishing ,there’s always more to learn.
Fishing teaches patience, which is sorely lacking in today’s society.
It has taught me to be a good steward of my waters as I pick up bag after bag of trash left by selfish cretins.
My motivation is to catch a bigger fish,of course, but I’ve learned that putting the big ones back to breed feels better than eating them.
7. Just peace. Its the only way I can put work, life, stress, etc out of my mind without excessive substance abuse. Feels like I’m my whole self when I’m on the water, my instincts kick in and everything else goes away.
Granted, landing a piggie smallmouth is a fckin thrill. But it’s more about peace than anything.
8. For me getting out on the water provides peace of mind.
I like to fly fish so my lure selection is a little more nuanced and particular, but when I get out there and I’m focused on picking the right fly to convince the big brown trout holding in a pool 20 ft away from me to eat.
Everything else washes away. It provides a strange level of hyper-focus and absent minded clarity at the same time.
Often I’ve gone out fishing to decompress and get away from work for a little while and when I get back to doing important things I often find that i’m refreshed and can approach problems with a new perspective.
Being out on the water also allows your mind to wander and sometimes this has produced great ideas that i wouldn’t have realized had I stayed at my desk trying to hammer out work.
Besides all of the mental aspects of the hobby when you hook into a fish that can actually fight back and pulls on your line there is a massive adrenaline rush, it almost touches something primal in your soul.
9. Sure, I find it relaxing. It’s one of the few activities in which my mind is totally blank. When I’m in the creek, there’s no thoughts of work, bills or other life stressors.
But, to be honest, I’m not a very religious person so I try to be somewhat ‘spiritual’ and fishing and being outdoors helps me achieve the spirituality I want.
To be closer with the Earth and enjoy the beautiful world around us. I know that sounds like a very hippy thing to say but, to answer your question, relaxation to be closer to Mother Nature.
10. It’s one of the few activities I’ve found where my mind can stay focused on a singular, low pressure objective for hours on end. My job requires a lot of me, in the sense that I have to be on top of 30 different, often higher pressure situations at any given time.
I’ve never been able to achieve relaxation while “vegging out” and fishing strikes that awesome balance of requiring focus while lacking any type of competition or pressure. I also just like being on or near the water.
Beyond that, it’s an awesome community. Since I started fishing I’ve struck up so many conversations with people who are excited to talk about catches, favorite spots, lures, etc.
Africa
Yesterday on the week in review thread I noted the Chinese FM’s visit to Africa.
Today, we have an excellent overview by Ekaterina Blinova about happenings there, “From Unipolar World to Multipolarity: Why US Attempts to Intimidate Africa Won’t Work,” that I highly suggest be read.
Here are several outtakes:
"China continues to be the leading source of FDIs in Africa and has a pipeline of projects, particularly in infrastructure," Kubayi told Sputnik.
"Africa's relations with China continue to deepen. This relationship can yield great benefits to both parties in joint research and development, manufacturing in Africa, and an African market that is expected to reach 2.5 billion in population by 2050.
African wealth in minerals such as rare earths and others are all thoroughly purposefully explored for practical action and development.""The recent G20 summit reiterated the importance of multilateralism and the United Nations in its declaration," Mikatekiso Kubayi underscored. "BRICS – which China and Russia are members of – emphasized the need to deepen and improve the practical experience of multilateralism with the United Nations at its center.
The changing geopolitical landscape is changing precisely because of the realization that it does not benefit the majority of the world.""You have emerging multilateral platforms like BRICS, for instance, that have so much momentum, and seem to be more open to emerging powers, more focused on issues that are really important to the majority of the world," Ovigwe stressed.
"One of the trends we might see going forward is countries tilting more towards these new and emerging multilateral platforms because they want it to be accessible to them. G7 is not going to be expanded – it has already contracted from G8 to G7."
The Colonial Age of Plunder is ending but the Outlaw US Empire persists in trying to keep it alive as it knows of no other method.
The result is obvious to foresee–the Empire will isolate itself and cease to be the sort of Empire it is today, which is great for RoW.
Confessions of a Prison Wife
How did you two meet?
I was with his brother at the time. Weird, I know, but his brother wanted me to start writing him so I did. I am a firm believer in “you can’t help who you fall in love with”, I just happened to fall in love with someone who is incarcerated! That is the way I see it, at least.
Why would you even marry that type of person?
Honestly, I was NOT looking for a husband at all. I have never been one to go out and look for a man, let alone one to marry. When I first wrote to him, it was just with the intention of making someone’s day because I know they get lonely in there, but it just blossomed into something more than that.
I think anyone who marries an inmate has their own reasons. I did not welcome him into my life with the intention of marrying him, at all. In fact, when I first was asked to write to him, I really did not want to. But when you finally meet an inmate, (a good one, at least. some belong right where they are) you come to this realization that they are human beings that make mistakes, some mistakes just have severe consequences. My husband always says, “ANYONE can go to prison” and as stupid as that sounds (like, duh) its true. My mom used to lecture me about being with a man in prison, and now her boyfriend is doing jail time for the first time, and now she gets it.
What did you see in him that made you fall in love with him so hard?
There was something about him that I did not see in other men that I’ve been with. For starters, the prison system humbled him a lot. I did not know him when he was free, but I have heard a lot of stories from his mom, his brother, and him. He used to be very cocky, too cocky, which is why he is where he is. He is also everything I have been looking for in a man, except the prison thing, of course. He is very sensitive, he would cry to me on numerous occasions during visit, telling me how much he wants to be out in freedom with me, and how he wishes he could do so much more to me because he feels that I deserve the best. I could see it in his eyes that he loves me more and more with every visit we would have, and trust me, there is no better feeling in life knowing that there is someone out there that you love that loves you back, incarcerated or not.
How was your dating life before this?
It was pretty normal, I have dated some assholes, but I have dated some really great guys, they just were not what I was looking for.
Why is he incarcerated?
9 counts of armed robbery.
Who did he rob?
He robbed a lot of businesses near where he lived, such as grocery stores, restaurants, Circle Ks, places like that.
Was anyone hurt?
No, no one was ever hurt, he never shot anyone, he only pulled a gun on people when he felt that he “had to”. I know that is pretty sick to say, but for example, he robbed a grocery store once and the manager was blocking the entrance with the carts so he could not get out, so he pulled a gun on him but never shot, he just had to leave. If he hadn’t, the manager wouldn’t have let him out and he would have been caught.
How long is his sentence?
We met while he was incarcerated for 4 years and he has about 10 left.
What kind of prison is he in?
He is in a medium security.
What made him turn to robbery?
Well, he has always had a job since he was legally allowed to, and he constantly moved his way up to full time jobs that paid really well. Not bad for someone who did not have a diploma/GED at the time, in my area it is at least. When he first started doing the robberies, he had his job in construction and was making very good money, but he got laid off and he had a lot of bills to pay, including rent, not to mention a girlfriend that he fully financially supported. To make a long story short, he was desperate for money for the bills, and after he did it the first or second time, he realized how easy it was, so he continued to do it. He was not caught for several months, so he felt, in his mind, that he could get away with it for a long time.
You said you’re a ‘wife’, how did you get married?
The prison conducted the wedding with a justice of peace.
How often do you get to visit him
I see him every weekend, 8 hours one day, 4 hours the other. My husband and I are quite different from other couples in there, we get away with quite a lot. We talk mostly, joke around with each other, kiss, eat food from the vending machines in there, and have sex every now and then.
How do you have sex? Do they allow conjugal visits?
No, there are no conjugal visits allowed.
There is an indoor and outdoor visitation area. The Correctional Officers will do walk arounds in both areas until about noon, I’ve noticed is when they stopped. We usually do it at that time in the outside area because the correctional officers go in the strip search room to check the inmates whose visits end at noon, which takes them awhile. My husband asks one of his friends to “keep point” or keep a look out for the cops and children too, and we just do it against this wall that is not visible to the inside area or cameras. Obviously it does not take long, so it is pretty easy to get away with. Its pretty sad how easy it is, honestly.
How supportive, in your eyes, is the prison system to spouses? Especially spouses that marry during sentences?
Not at all, really. Not only with spouses, but with families too. I talk to a lot of moms and other wives and siblings about how we are treated, and we are probably treated just as bad as the inmates at times. With spouses that marry during a sentence, they are pretty unsupportive from the moment your inmate submits a marriage request. You have to go through “counseling” where the prison chaplain pretty much tries to convince you not to get married, it is pretty sad.
Have you ever consider leaving him?
That is one of the things about him, I have NEVER lost interest. Being with an inmate definitely keeps things interesting, believe me! I have never considered leaving him, I am in for the long haul. I feel that I will be with him the whole time. I am not like other women, I am very dedicated to a man once I am with one. He did not think I would last as long as I have, but now he knows I will not leave, either, which is why he had decided to marry me. I would rather be with a man who is incarcerated and know for a fact that he loves me, than be with a man on the street where I have to question their love for me everyday.
How do your friends and family feel?
My friends absolutely love him and my parents weren’t keen on the idea at first, I feel like they thought it was a phase, but now its been a few years so they’re warming up, and they see how happy I am.
Where’s your father?
He lives like 20 minutes away from me. He loves him.
Where was he when you were growing up?
I lived with my dad full time from the age of 14 to 18, he is in the military, so he is a smart man and has never been one to hide his feelings about the guys I have dated, but he has told me he really does like him.
Do you worry since he is in jail that he might be violent or hurt you?
No, I really don’t. I know him pretty well despite the circumstances, and he is has not been violent or has shown signs of being violent with me, he is actually a big teddy bear.
Do you and your husband feel bad for the families’ lives you’ve possibly ruined? Or the PTSD the robberies may have given the victims?
As someone who is very passionate for the justice system, I do feel bad for them and I wish I knew who they were so I could reach out to them and apologize on his behalf, and I would be sure to let them know that he is definitely paying for it now. On the other hand, when he got his sentencing and whatnot, none of his witnesses showed up, and witnesses usually do that to provide closure for themselves, so I found that rather odd.
Do you think your husband belongs in jail?
Yes, he does belong where he is. What makes him a “good” inmate is that he knows that. He has never once said, “I do not belong here”. In fact, he has made it clear that he belongs right where he is at. He just wants to do his time, and get the hell out of here. Also, at his sentencing, he did no say “I’m sorry for what I did”. He said, “I know what I did was wrong, and I apologize to all the victims and families that I have hurt during this process”. I know that sounds odd, and you may be wondering, how does that make a difference? But I have learned that usually when people say sorry, they do not really mean it. And rarely do criminals say, “I know what I did is wrong”. Aside from that, he has been in for about 5 years and has had no charges within there, and it is VERY easy to get charges in there with how rude the cops can be, and he managed to get his GED as well, he is also on very good terms with the Correctional Officers and the Deputy Warden, they all say he is a good person, they have told me themselves.
We Won’t Be Fooled Again – Inflation Is Most Definitely Not “Under Control”
We have entered a significant economic downturn, so it was inevitable that the annual rate of inflation would start to moderate. But as I will explain below, that doesn’t mean that inflation is now “under control”.
The real rate of inflation is much higher than we are being told, and people all over the country are being absolutely crushed by the rising cost of living.
Let’s start with the good news first. According to the Labor Department, the annual rate of inflation is rising at the slowest pace since October 2021…
Consumer prices increased 6.5% from a year earlier, down from 7.1% in November and a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index, a measurement of what people pay for goods and services, which labor released on Thursday.
The rise last month marks the slowest annual gain since October 2021 and matches economists’ estimates.
Still, inflation remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average, underscoring the persistent financial burden placed on millions of U.S. households by high prices.
So we are still definitely in a high inflation environment.
But let’s dig deeper.
Most Americans don’t realize that the way that the inflation rate is calculated has literally been changed more than two dozen times since 1980.
And every time it has been changed, the goal has been to make inflation appear to be lower than it actually is.
That would be comparable to the peak inflation that we witnessed during the Jimmy Carter era.
So don’t let anyone try to convince you that inflation is “low” or “under control” or anything like that.
The main reason why the rate of inflation moderated somewhat during the month of December is because energy prices have been falling…
Americans saw some real reprieve last month in the form of lower energy costs, which fell 6.1% in December. Gas prices dropped 12.5% over the month, the biggest contributor to the overall headline decline in inflation in December.
That is great news, but it is already being projected that gas prices will rise significantly later this year.
And once war in the Middle East erupts, gas prices will go to heights that most people never even dreamed was possible.
The cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and the American people are becoming increasingly frustrated by this.
I would like to share a video with you that illustrates what I am talking about.
The woman in this video doesn’t understand all of the numbers that I have just shared in this article. All she knows is that when she goes to the grocery store, prices are way higher than they once were. This video contains some graphic language, and I apologize for that in advance. But I want you to see her anger, because this is how millions upon millions of Americans are feeling about inflation right now.
Would you like to be the one that tries to convince her that inflation is “under control” now?
Sadly, the truth is that over the past few years the cost of living has been rising faster than our paychecks have, and so U.S. families have steadily been getting poorer…
The average American family has lost the equivalent of more than a month’s salary in annual income since President Biden took office as high inflation and rising interest rates eat away at their finances, according to research by the Heritage Foundation.
Experts at the conservative think tank analyzed consumer prices and interest rates and found in their latest report released Thursday that the average American household has lost the equivalent of $7,400 in annual income since Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2021. The income loss represents an increase of $200 from September, when the think tank’s research found a $7,200 decline in annual income for the average American household dating back to the start of Biden’s term.
Prior to the pandemic, we were in a low inflation and low interest rate environment.
Now that the Federal Reserve has dramatically hiked interest rates, we now find ourselves in a high inflation and high interest rate environment.
While their elected representatives in D.C. struggle to pay the nation’s bills, Americans are facing a similar challenge as their household budgets are stretched thin due to inflation and higher borrowing costs. Those financial challenges led more than one-third of households to rely on credit cards or loans to buy necessities in December. Average credit card interest rates reached a new record high of 19.14% APR compared to a Bankrate.com database.
“Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards to make it from paycheck to paycheck, resulting in higher levels of indebtedness. Rising credit card balances in an era of rising interest rates is a path to insolvency,” Antoni told FOX Business. “The average interest rate on credit cards is now around 20 percent while half of Americans cannot pay off their credit cards each month, and balances are growing at a 16 percent annual rate.”
We are getting hit from both ends.
We have to pay more to buy the things that we need, and we have to pay higher interest rates when we borrow money to pay for those things.
But those that are under the spell of the corporate media will continue to assume that everything is fine and that our leaders have a plan to get us out of this mess.
I truly wish that was true.
Unfortunately, the short-term economic outlook is extremely dismal, and prominent voices all over Wall Street are warning that 2023 will be a really rough year.
Latin America Geo-Political situation
Peru
The majority indigenous people are in open rebellion. I’m surprised at the level of action– a general strike, many airports shut down, demands are being hardened. They want Boluarte out and Castillo back in.
Most of Castillo’s base was somewhat disillusioned with him when he was deposed and jailed— that has changed. Death toll rising. One police dead, his car stopped, burned including him, his partner in the hospital.
U.S. support and involvement is getting more press. Coup leaders don’t know what to do.
Brazil
Black Agenda’s Margaret Kimberly interviews Brazilwire’s Brian Mier (text, not video), a good, brief summary of what’s going on regarding the coup attempt, Bolsonaro, Lula’s response and quick history lesson including Obama/Biden role.
Right now everyone loves Lula: Putin, Xi, Biden etc.
Biden is pushing hard to pull Lula into his team (I don’t think he will succeed).
Domestically Brazil is a mess as is Lula’s cabinet but I expect the next month will see many pushed out, including purge in military/police.
HEREGlenn Greenwald has a summary on the coup, 8 minutes. Greenwald and Mier don’t like each other: Greenwald’s husband/congressman supported a Lula opponent in the first round.
Pepe Escobar thinks the CIA staged the Jan 5 coup attempt.
Very interesting. I read Escobar every chance I get and generally think he’s on target but he often seems to project beyond his facts, probably mostly accurate but sometimes he leaves me scratching my head.
He’s Brazilian, knows Lula personally but he has been in Eurasia a long time. Escobar is convinced Lula will supercharge BRICS which means Lula is “playing” Biden.
Haiti
This is a “must view” that summarizes the U.S./West endgame, detailing what a country looks like at the end stage of imperial dominance. (1hr 24min)
Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberly interview Jemima Pierre– a native Haitian– and lay it out, pointing fingers and naming names.
Support for and solidarity with Haiti is huge in Latin America. Most in the West don’t get that.
The bottom line, U.S. is naked and exposed in Latin America and Caribbean.
Lots of confusing actions at elite and government levels but over time the “street” is heating things up.
Multipolarity is the only path that will benefit from it.
Not Uni-polarity; the American “rules based order”.
Bayou Beans and Rice
Serve Bayou Beans and Rice with hot fluffy rice and a tossed salad.
bayou red beans rice andouille
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
2 cups red beans
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons seasoning salt
Bay leaf
Pinch of granulated sugar
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Smoked sausage, sliced
Cooked rice
Sliced green onion (garnish)
Instructions
Wash beans, soak overnight and drain.
Cover beans and all ingredients except smoked sausage and rice with cold water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until done.
Meanwhile, brown sausage in a skillet, then add to the beans the last half hour of cooking.
Serve over rice.
(Ukraine) Soledar direction situation as of 13.00 January 13
In the Soledar sector, the assault detachments of the PMC “Wagner” are clearing the quarters and underground communications on the western outskirts of Soledar. Today, Wagner entered the territory of the urban-type settlement of Sol and established control over the depot of the railway station of the same name.
▪️In the north-west of Soledar, active battles are taking place on the southern outskirts of Krasnaya Gora and in Paraskovievka near the Bakhmutka River. After the liberation of the railway station Sol, the village of Blagodatnoye was actually cut off from the supply lines from Seversk and Artemovsk (Bakhmut).
▪️The surviving members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Soledar and its environs are spreading information about huge losses in manpower due to command errors. In one of the brigades in the company of the formation, only 30 people remained, and in the battalion of 24 OMBR out of 300, only 100 fighters survived.
Fighting continues in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and its suburbs. After the liberation of Opytnoe by PMC Wagner, position of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city is deteriorating.
▪️In Minkovka, a reserve command post for the consolidated group has been equipped, and the forces of the 116th brigade of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Sumy region are expected to arrive.
▪️As a result of the active offensive of the RF Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost control over two company and two platoon strongholds in Artemovsk (Bakhmut), Kleshcheevka and Krasnaya Gora.
▪️Only on January 12, confirmed losses of Ukrainian formations in Artemovsk amounted to 100 people, and 39 were wounded. To strengthen positions, 600 mobilized servicemen without combat experience are expected to be transferred in the near future.
▪️According to the radio interception from Artemovsk, over 800 people have been killed over the past five days, not counting missing and wounded.
In addition, individual units of Polish mercenaries, who were transferred to the direction a few weeks earlier, suffered huge losses.
The Poles spread information about the loss of communication and the complete disunity between the formations in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and the surrounding area. The moral and psychological state of mercenaries is at a low level.
▪️The forces of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Ombre of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted a counteroffensive on Russian positions southwest of Artemovsk (Bakhmust). The attack was repulsed, and separate detachments of the 28th brigade fled from the combat area.
The leadership of the Ukrainian operational-tactical group “Soledar” assesses the situation as critical and expects the intensification of the offensive of Russian troops at the Berestovoye-Spornoye line in order to reach the Seversk agglomeration, as well as in the south at the Ozaryanovka-Mayorsk line towards Druzhba and Dyleevka.
The release of Opytnoe allows the start of advancements on the southern outskirts of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), as well as attacking the fortified areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kleshcheevka from the east.
Ilya Kuvshinov is an illustrator and storyboard artist originally from Moscow, Russia, but whom currently resides in Yokohama, Japan. Much of his personal work consists of pin-ups influenced by video games and film. Beautifully and sensitively rendered, Kuvshinov is able to paint alluring female characters without the need to sexualise them (for the most part).
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Major Natural Gas Pipeline EXPLODES on Latvia-Lithuania Border
A major natural gas pipeline has exploded on the border of Latvia and Lithuania. Gee. What a shame.
Public broadcaster LRT reports that the entire town of Pasvalys, located in northern Lithuania, has evacuated due to the situation.
The map below shows the location of Pasvalys, near the border:
2023 01 14 08 49
Maybe the pipe preferred Russian natural gas to the swill traveling through it now?
You know, Russia can help Latvia and Lithuania repair that pipeline . . . OOOOOPS . . . wait a minute, no they can’t. Those pesky economic sanctions prevent Russia from helping. Awww shucks.
Oh well, NATO. You built this tree house; now you sit in it.
Two can play your games . . .
2023 01 14 08 50
Latin America
Regarding Lula flirting with Biden and the West Karlof is spot on in his comment quoting Arevalo: “he’s a sardine who’s learned how to swim with the sharks and survive.”
The leaders of Latin America know how the U.S. imperial mafia works.
They have the scars to remind them.
More than that, a huge percentage of normal people there know it too. When a leader like Lula or AMLO is shown smiling and shaking hands with Biden or his people it turns my stomach.
I don’t like when they condemn Russia’s “invasion” in Ukraine.
At that point I can’t tell if they are selling out or if they are making a tactical accomodation in order to survive the moment.
But their actions on the ground reveal their long term strategic direction which appears to be away from the U.S. empire and toward the sane, multipolar world.
Many current Latin American leaders have survived attacks, coups, imprisonment which usually included mortal threats on them and family members by the U.S. I’m sure their traumas are seared into their memories:
Lula–prison, by Obama/Biden
Evo Morales– couped, attempted to shoot down his plane, U.S. backed
Arce (Bolivia)– assasination plot foiled, U.S. Cia backed
Castillo– U.S. CIA/state dept backed coup
Colombia’s Petro: one assasination attempt, his vp, two assasination attempts
Honduras’s Xiomara Castro– husband Zelaya was couped by Hillary clinton’s people, 2009
Cuba– too many to list
Nicaragua– Ortega, long list as well
Venezuela’s Maduro, numerous coup and assasination attempts
Mexico’s AMLO, right wing oligarchs teamed up with U.S. support to run him out of office 2 years ago, they failed.
Argentina’s vp Cristina Fernandez given 6 year prison sentence backed by U.S.
We are moving slowly and cautiously towards the new year. By all accounts, this will be a pivotal year. Initial observations suggest a positive outlook for China, a continuation of the same for Europe, and a slow bumpy slide for the United States.
I tire of Geo-politics,, but you all do know that these last few years are history-book events. As will be this year.
Domain Commander suggest small to medium bads. But not what we all think. So don’t get too upset with your fears taking over.
Most of this post will be on the easy light side, with some thoughts…
11 Signs That The Economic “Tipping Point” That Everyone Has Been Waiting For Has Now Arrived
How bad do things have to get before people start realizing that we are in the midst of a full-blown economic crisis? The “experts” on television are endlessly debating about whether or not we are going to have a “recession” this year, and meanwhile economic activity is imploding all around us.
The number of homes being sold in this country each month has already fallen by a third. The number of job cuts in November was 417 percent higher than it was during the same month a year earlier, and at this point even Amazon is laying off thousands of workers.
The Federal Reserve has declared war on inflation, but prices continue to spiral out of control. In fact, vegetables are 80 percent more expensive now than they were 12 months ago. Meanwhile, the financial markets continue to plunge. A third of the value of the Nasdaq has already been wiped out, and more than two-thirds of the value of all cryptocurrencies is already gone.
After everything that has already transpired, everyone should be able to clearly understand what is happening.
So many people have been waiting for an economic nightmare to come, but the truth is that it is already here.
The following are 11 signs that the economic “tipping point” that everyone has been waiting for has now arrived…
The S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell at the fastest rate since May 2020 in December, a continuing sign that the manufacturing sector is on the decline, S&P Global reported Tuesday.
The U.S. Manufacturing PMI posted a 46.2 in December, down from 47.7 in November and solidly below 50, which signals that the sector is contracting, according to S&P Global. Production levels contracted in back-to-back months, with new sales plummeting at the end of December at the fastest pace since 2007, as companies cited weakening demand amid “economic uncertainty” and inflation weighing on customers.
#3 We just witnessed the largest one day drop in the Baltic Dry Index since 1984…
The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index crashed on Tuesday in the worst decline on record, sinking on prospects of a global recession.
Baltic Dry Good Index is a measure of global shipping and economic health. The overall index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax, and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, plunged 17.5% to $1,250, the most significant daily decline since 1984.
#4 Thanks to rapidly falling imports, we just witnessed the largest monthly decline in the trade deficit since the last financial crisis…
According to the BEA, the November trade deficit narrowed to $61.5b from $77.8b in prior month, coming in below the median estimate of $63.0BN (and just barely missing the top end of the range of $61.3BN to $80.5BN from 42 economists).
Remarkably, the 20% one-month decline in the deficit was the single biggest drop in the US trade deficit on a percentage basis going back to the global financial crisis!
#5 In 2022, U.S. auto sales were the lowest that we have seen for a full year in more than a decade…
Industrywide, U.S. auto sales totaled 13.7 million vehicles in 2022, the lowest figure since 2011 and an 8% decrease from the prior year, according to the research firm Wards Intelligence. Sales had topped 17 million vehicles for five straight years before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, unleashing supply-chain problems that have bogged down deliveries ever since.
#6 The average rate on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage is more than twice as high as it was this time last year…
Mortgage rates inched up again last week, after a slight increase the week before interrupted six straight weeks of falling rates.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.48% in the week ending January 5, up from 6.42% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate was 3.22%.
#7 According to CNN, sales of apartments in Manhattan were 28.5 percent lower in the fourth quarter of 2022 than they were in the fourth quarter of 2021…
Higher rates and still-high housing prices cooled demand at the end of last year, causing sales to tumble. Sales dropped 28.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
Bed Bath & Beyond warned Thursday it’s running out of cash and is considering bankruptcy.
The retailer, citing worse-than-expected sales, issued a “going concern” warning that in the upcoming months it likely will not have the cash to cover expenses, such as lease agreements or payments to suppliers. Bed Bath said it is exploring financial options, such as restructuring, seeking additional capital or selling assets, in addition to a potential bankruptcy.
Amazon.com Inc. is laying off more than 18,000 employees — the biggest reduction in its history — in the latest sign that a tech-industry slump is deepening.
Our leaders were able to keep the party going for a long time by absolutely flooding the system with money, but now they have lost control.
We are literally careening toward disaster, but most Americans still don’t understand what is taking place.
Most Americans just assume that those in authority know exactly what they are doing and that a “return to normal” is inevitable.
I wish that was true, because the ride into the economic abyss that we are facing is not going to be fun.
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What’s It Like To Witness An Execution?
I wrote the following description of having just witnessed an execution while in the passenger seat of a car driving away from the prison. I wanted it to be as accurate and detailed as possible…
I came to Oklahoma to witness a killing, a homicide in fact.
At a microphone Debbie Huggins fights tears and with a strong southern drawl says slowly, emphatically: “What we did to him today was much kinder than what he did to my dad.”
“Him” refers to Michael Selsor and “what” to the murder of Clayton Chandler, a clerk shot six times during a gas station robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Selsor pulled the trigger even after Chandler had complied and volunteered the loot.
“In 1975 I never would have thought that it would take 37 years for justice,” Huggins says.
Today’s justice was delivered about half an hour before Huggins approached the microphone; it is why I am here.
There are few acts graver than when a government takes the life of one of its own citizens. Executions often get a lot of coverage in the US, when there is something controversial about the case or enough people believe the condemned might be innocent. These scenarios attract media attention and fuel vigils. This was not the case with Michael Selsor. Everyone agreed that he did it, including him. The reporters who cover Selsor’s execution will focus on Huggins and her family. Perhaps you cannot blame them. The only interview Selsor ever granted was to me.
Even though executions are conducted on behalf of the citizens of the state, very few are allowed to witness it: families of the condemned and their victims, lawyers, law enforcement, and journalists. This is why I felt a responsibility to witness Selsor’s end and then to report it as dispassionately and honestly as I could. The following attempts such an account.
About an hour before Huggins gives her statement, I am led from a makeshift media center to the notorious H Unit, home of Oklahoma’s death row. A pat down ensures our escorts that I carry no possessions other than the clothes on my back. They give me paper and a pen so I can take notes. I am joined by five other reporters. We maneuver through a set of gates that open to a large passageway. The walls and floor are made of smooth concrete. The passage feels stark, modern, like a secret missile silo – and incongruous with this century-old prison famous for inmate rodeos and executions.
Eventually we turn through a large yellow door into the death chamber’s viewing room. I have been here before, but then the space was empty and part of the tour – now it is ready for business.
A handful of prison officials and guards are waiting for us in the viewing room, a narrow rectangle about four times as long as it is wide. A long series of windows to my right are covered by drawn blinds. Two rows of 12 brown metal folding chairs – the kind dragged out of a storage closet at a school picnic – are lined up. I am the first reporter in the room and told to go to the end of the second row and take a seat.
As I sidestep down the row I notice for the first time another set of windows on the left side of the room. The tinted panes conceal the identity of those on the other side. I suppose the setup is not unlike a wedding with two families to attend to and keep separated. The original victim, Clayton Chandler, is represented by an unknown number of family members behind the dark glass. It is hot in the room – at least 90 degrees and rising as people file in. Movement behind the opaque windows catches the light and my eye; at least two people are fanning themselves with white paper. Chandler’s family members must already be in place, watching us nervously find our seats.
Three lawyers in dark suits representing Selsor enter next and sit directly in front of me. Selsor’s family follows. His son wears a grey t-shirt, shorts and a military-short haircut. Tattoos cover his neck and arms. Selsor’s sister, with a shock of blonde hair, looks tired. Her bright blue, short-sleeved shirt contrasts a suntanned face, wizened beyond her years. A box of cheap tissues rests in the son’s chair, courtesy of the state. Once Selsor’s family is settled, a small contingent of law enforcement file in, including Jeff Jordan, who investigated Chandler’s murder as a rookie homicide detective. He is now Tulsa’s police chief.
A cacophony of banging echoes throughout the prison. We have been warned not to be alarmed by the noise – it is how inmates say their goodbyes.
Selsor is respected on death row. He is seemingly regarded as a serious and contemplative individual who became an asset of sorts to prison inmates and staff alike – though officials always caveat the sentiment with a reminder that his crime was inexcusably wrong and such actions must bear consequences. As the run guy, a job given to the toughest of the condemned, Selsor made deliveries to other cells and kept fellow inmates in line. When school children visited the prison, Selsor played a regular part in the tour. From behind bars he shared his life lesson about the consequences of one’s actions with the children.
The appointed time nears and the banging becomes rhythmic – quick at first, but slowing now to a steady, dirge-like pace.
The director of Oklahoma prisons, Justin Jones, who has twice appeared on Fault Lines, enters. The yellow door shuts behind him. Rather than taking a chair, he is handed a phone, a hotline to the governor’s office. Though not far from me, I cannot hear what he is saying. Jones hangs the receiver up, picks up a different phone connected with the execution chamber and tells them to proceed.
It is exactly 6 pm local time. The curtain goes up as guards raise the mini-blinds inside the execution chamber. Selsor’s family in front of me gasps at the sight of him. He is strapped to the bed with his arms padlocked down and covered in a sheet up to his chest. Selsor’s pinched eyebrows convey a look between fear and guilt.
The son waves to his father for what turns out to be the last time and reaches for the tissues. The son and sister begin to cry. Selsor lifts his head as much as he can and turns toward his small audience: “My son, my sister, I love you ’til I see you again next time. Be good. Eric, [Selsor’s lawyer] keep up the struggle.” His eyes scan the viewing room: “I’ll be waiting at the gates of heaven for you. I hope the rest of you make it there as well.”
He looks to the prison official standing over him and says: “I’m ready.” Relaxing back to the bed, he turns his head to the side and focuses on his son.
Though we cannot see it, we all know what is happening now. Two intravenous lines run from Selsor’s arms to two holes in a wall about three feet behind his head. From a hidden room, three executioners each press a plunger sending lethal doses into his veins: one with pentobarbital, another with vecuronium bromide and a third with potassium chloride. The executioners are each paid $300 in cash, so no paper trail leads to their identity.
With a tilted head still looking at his son, Selsor’s gaze begins to fade, his eyelids half closing. A final breath exits his body with a visible puff from his lips. His body stills, eyes half open and locked on his son. It is roughly 6:03 pm.
The next three minutes pass painfully slowly. No one moves in the death chamber or viewing room. I hear barely perceptible sounds of crying from the row in front of me. A medical examiner in the chamber approaches the bed, checks for signs of life and pronounces Michael Selsor dead at 6:06 pm.
We solemnly return to the media center. Huggins holds a press conference and tells us that the execution did not bring closure or the kind of justice it seems she was seeking, but it is easy to see her relief from the death of Selsor. The ultimate boogeyman in her mind was finally gone.
In time a death certificate will be issued from the state of Oklahoma. For cause of death, it will say Selsor died from a homicide. Though it took nearly four decades to find its target, it is clear now that the trigger Selsor pulled that fateful day in 1975 ended not only Chandler’s life, but Selsor’s own as well.
Confessions of an Investment Banker
What do you do?
I work in the Internet and Interactive Entertainment group of the bank, where we perform advisory mergers and acquisitions services and work to arrange financing for our clients through IPOs and by issuing debt (I help internet companies get access to piles of cash).
As a banker on the internet team, I get to work with the top brass at every possible website you can think of. Whenever you hear “xyz dot com is going to merge with abc”, you can bet that I’m involved.
Investment bankers do one of two things for their clients. all my clients are in the internet/video game space.
1) We help companies get access to capital (money) by issuing corporate bonds (debt) or by going public through an IPO. companies need money to expand, and we offer that service.
Issuing corporate bonds is similar to taking out a mortgage, except the dollar amounts of bonds are several orders of magnitude larger.
2) We help companies merge or acquire other companies. these often very complicated transactions that require the buyer to have access to billions of dollars of cash, for example.
Investment bankers are like real estate brokers. We don’t “invest”.
How much do you make?
I expect to make around 1.2 million this year
How many hours do you work per week?
Hours are easily 100 hours/week. Younger guys often sleep in the office, and work 7 days a week. You will be expected to drop everything, even if your brother is getting married, for the job.
How do you not burn out?
I take extravagant trips to crazy places and do serious outdoor/adventure type stuff. Last trip was a backpacking trek through the rockies with around two mountain passes each day and wild weather. I like to live off the land, and lots of guys here are obsessive about training for marathons, mountain expeditions, etc.
Being in the city helps. it never closes and you get to socialize. The worst part is waking up in the morning after you got home at 4am the prior night. it’s tough. really tough.
I get to see my fiance on the weekends and we basically see each other only in the mornings on weekdays.
We dont have kids yet. i’m not sure how that is going to go down, to be honest. I don’t think i want to be that kind of dad. and that day is coming soon. we think we can last about 2-3 years but i’m not sure i want my child raised in that kind of environment.
Is your lifestyle worth the money?
Like many in the business, I plan to earn big and retire early, leaving banking for good to focus on raising a family and living in the mountains. banking, for me, is a means to an end. It is also incredibly exciting, cut-throat, and demanding. Definitely not for everybody.
Although you earn an amazing amount of money each year, do you ever feel envious of other co-workers/superiors that earn 20-50x more? Do you hope to attain that level of income?
Yes i do. i think it’s human nature, especially when you see a guy and say “dude, i totally do the same thing that guy does, and i’d like to earn that much”. of course, i’m sure that other guys at the bank say the same thing about me….
Pretty sure they set it up this was on purpose so that employees retain an absurd competitive fire in their bellies for year after year.
Truth be told, i’m pretty satisfied with my income, but having an eight figure annual income just for one year would set up anybody’s family forever.
How’d you get that job and is it really all connections?
I got the job through a traditional route: top undergrad school with high gpa and engineering background, work experience in technical field, back to get my mba at top 5 school where i got a 3.8 gpa, and was hired to work at the bank following graduation. I did a summer internship at the bank.
Getting into investment banking is easy – as long as you are still a junior in college and are a serious student. the easiest way into banking is to get an internship after your junior year of college. it’s incredibly compettive, and you will need to stand out from the crowd.
Connections can play a big part in helping you get to know the bank.
How do you stand out from the crowd?
They assume the applicant pool for these jobs will have stellar grades, cool extracurriculars, and so forth.
The way to stand out is to show the bank you REALLY want the job. you do that by meeting with as many current employees of each bank as possible before the applications are due. place phone calls, get to know people etc etc.
Also, nailing your interviews and being supremely prepared for finance questions doesn’t hurt.
What kind of skillset do you have and do you use?
Powerpoint and Excel are the two tools that an analyst will use almost exclusively. it’s about creating the slides that we use in our “pitch books”. recent college graduates enter the bank as “analysts”, and after three years are either promoted to associate, go to business school, or are shuffled out of the bank.
A you progress, you become less “excel” (doing discounted cash flows aka DCF) and more into “client” relationships ie: going into Ford Motor and telling them how some crazy acquisition is going to increase the value of the firm. Investment Banking is ultimately a sales job, and the guys with the biggest rolodexes win.
Investment banking is by far the most competitive field to get into. I compare it to being a professional athlete. what would you sacrifice to become a starting pitcher for the yankees? year round strength training, intense focus, competitive fire, endless practice, and years on the road, away from your family.
What do you think of trading? Is it more competitive?
Trading has a slightly more aggressive culture, but it is easier to get into, possibly by a whisker. if your friend formatted an excel table incorrectly, he’d probably get absolutely reamed out by his superiors. screaming and yelling is very common. Trading is like that, but they also scream about everything in general, and they tend to have worse grammar than me when writing emails. Lots of capital letters and misspellings “HARLY DAVIDSON KITCHEN SINKED HTE QUARTER AND UR TELLING ME THAT THEIR FINANCEING ARM IS GOING TO BE OKAY LOL”
Have you been effectively saving a portion of what you earn throughout your employment?
Yes and no. firstly, yes my expenses have risen as I have purchased a nice apartment. but more importantly, outside of a house, you really have to push the envelope in my profession to spend more than you earn.
One of the pressures is this: you have so little free time that you’re actual free time/vacation becomes invaluable. it means i end up spending inordinate amounts of money to get places quickly – if i haven’t taken a single day off for three months and i finally have five days, you better believe i’m not taking the bus or slow-boat anywhere for my vacation.
How do you invest your savings? By yourself or with an adviser?
My money is professionally managed. due to compliance issues, lots of the information I possess is “inside”. I speak directly to management and we are given extreme amounts of need to know information. The SEC watches all of our trades and our families and friends trades to combat insider trading.
What are the motives of most people involved in the industry. Is it simply money, or do people actually find joy in that kind of lifestyle? Or anything else?
Having a ceo call you up and ask for your opinion day after day after day is pretty awesome.
Every day, the things i work on are reported on the front page of every newspaper in the world. you get to be involved at a very high level, which is honestly thrilling.
Money plays a big role in putting up with the hours. but there is more to the job than simply long hours and big paychecks. The work we do tends to be rockstar awesome. Call me crazy but I get off on doing stuff like that. We get to talk to so many interesting and successful people.
The worst kind of investment banker is the guy who just really, really doesn’t want to be there. they wanted the lifestyle, but just can’t deal with the downsides, which are monumental. If you get into banking for the wrong reasons, you’re going to hate it!
What’s the most you ever spent on strippers?
Not a lot. Have been with people who have spent a lot. Strip clubs are not my scene to be honest. I am a geek/nerd/numbers guy. Outdoorsey.
If after college graduation you’d unexpectedly inherited a trust fund that meant you could live an extravagant life without working, what career do you think you would’ve ended up in?
Mountaineer/ski instructor/backcountry ski guide – without a doubt. my third career will hopefully be something tangential such as opening up a heliski operator or ski store or something.
If you were to die tomorrow, would you have been happy with your life?
Actually, very happy. have an amazing, beautiful, smart fiance and feel a real sense of accomplishment about my work. I am optimistic about the future, and proud of what i’ve accomplished in the past.
Classic Rock And New Wave Songs Brilliantly Reimagined As Vintage Pulp Fiction Paperbacks
“London Calling” re-imagines the classic Clash song as an issue of a 1950s-era pulp detective magazine. Prints come in four sizes, priced accordingly. Prints are on heavy, glossy archival-quality paper. The perfect gift for the punk rocker in your life.
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Graphic artist Todd Alcott has brilliantly reimagined classic rock and new wave songs as vintage pulp-fiction paperback books.
“Black Dog” re-imagines the epochal 1971 Led Zeppelin song as the German poster for a 1930s movie version of The Hound of The Baskervilles.
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Michael Snyder: The Overall Theme For 2023 Will Be “Here We Go!”
A lot of people tend to use the phrase “here we go” when they think that something really good is about to happen, and others tend to use it when they think that something really bad is about to happen. Needless to say, in this case I am using the phrase “here we go” as my overall theme for 2023 because I believe that we are going to be facing a really rough year.
I expect that so many of the trends that have been percolating throughout 2022 will greatly accelerate over the next 12 months. So if you were not pleased with 2022, it is likely that you are really not going to enjoy what is ahead of us in 2023.
I certainly don’t need to tell any of you that 2022 was a very tough year for the economy. It truly was a year when “everything started to fall apart”, and lots of prominent voices on Wall Street are now warning that things will get even worse in 2023.
But if the Federal Reserve were to suddenly reverse course and begin lowering interest rates, that would help the short-term economic outlook a great deal.
Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen. In fact, Fed officials are openly telling us that they expect interest rates to remain elevated for “some time” to come…
Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed their commitment to combating inflation at their December meeting and indicated that interest rates could remain elevated for “some time” until there is clear evidence that consumer prices are falling.
Minutes from the U.S. central bank’s Dec. 13-14 meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers worried that investors and financial markets could misinterpret their decision to raise interest rates more slowly as a sign they were ending their campaign to bring prices under control. Officials stressed that the smaller rate hike – 50 basis points, compared to the previous fourth 75-basis point-increases – “was not an indication of any weakening” and warned of continued risks on the inflation front.
So there is no hope on the horizon, and higher rates will continue to crush economic activity for the foreseeable future.
And with each passing day, what is happening to the economy is becoming clearer and clearer. For example, we just learned that Salesforce will be laying off approximately 8,000 workers…
Salesforce plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce, or nearly 8,000 employees, and reduce its office space as tech companies cut costs amid concerns about the economy.
In a note to employees Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said the move comes as customers take a more cautious approach to spending as the economic “environment remains challenging.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
There will be many more layoffs during the weeks and months to come.
Another trend that I will be watching very closely in 2023 is the deterioration of faith in our politicians and in our governmental institutions.
The drama that is playing out in Washington right now is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Kevin McCarthy is a prototypical “swamp creature”, and that is why the establishment loves him. As Speaker of the House, McCarthy would be in charge of keeping the wheels of corruption in motion. There is so much campaign money that needs to be funneled in the right direction, so many important favors that need to get done, and so many critical deals that need to be orchestrated.
The Washington establishment can’t afford to have someone with principles as Speaker of the House, and so they are going to keep pushing for McCarthy.
Of course McCarthy is deeply unpopular outside of Washington, but so was Nancy Pelosi.
Sadly, that doesn’t really matter, because we we are not supposed to have a say in these battles.
But the American people are getting fed up. They can see the endless corruption that is going on, and the popularity of both parties is sinking.
And the truth is that politicians from both parties have been lying to our faces over and over again.
For many of our politicians, lying is as natural as breathing is.
Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point where most of our politicians have lost all of their credibility, and a population that no longer has faith in the system is going to be exceedingly difficult to govern.
I also expect 2023 to be a year of great natural disasters.
Throughout 2022, there was just one historic disaster after another. It seemed like I was constantly writing about droughts, famines, wildfires, hurricanes, giant storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and tornadoes.
Unfortunately, I believe that the 12 months that are ahead of us will be even worse.
If you doubt this, just consider what has been happening over the past few weeks.
In late December, a colossal “bomb cyclone” brought a “once in a generation storm” to the Midwest. In fact, the blizzard that we witnessed in Buffalo was the worst storm in the entire recorded history of the city.
Just as we were recovering from that, a mammoth “atmospheric river” slammed into the west coast. Some parts of California received more than four feet of snow, and there was catastrophic flooding in other areas.
Now here we are just a few days later, and another “bomb cyclone” is about to hammer California. According to the National Weather Service, this is going to be a “truly brutal” storm…
Another powerful storm, known as a bomb cyclone, is hitting the California coast and the National Weather Service in the Bay Area is warning residents that the “truly brutal” system needs to be taken seriously.
The system could trigger “immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life,” forecasters say. It comes on the heels of a round of record-breaking rainfall that slammed the same area over the weekend.
I have never seen two immensely powerful storms hit California so close together.
There will be “widespread flooding”, and conditions in some parts of the state will be so dangerous that authorities are actually encouraging people to have “go bags” prepared in advance…
A dangerous storm system is slamming California, with meteorologists at the National Weather Service warning of imminent “widespread flooding, impassible roads, mudslides/landslides [and] rapid rises in rivers/creeks.” The system, which prompted the Weather Service to take the unusual step of urging residents to have “go bags” at the ready and prepare insurance documentation in advance, is set to unleash its harshest conditions Wednesday night into early Thursday.
Virtually the entirety of Northern and Central California is under flood watches and high-wind warnings, with damaging gusts to 60 mph possible. Strong to severe thunderstorms could be in the offing as well, in addition to 2 to 4 inches of rain in the lowlands and more in the mountains. In the highest terrain, the heavy rain will transition to up to 2 to 4 feet of heavy snow. Along the coast, beaches will be battered by large waves and areas of coastal flooding.
I also believe that 2023 will be a year when multiple pestilences run wild all over the planet.
These days, it seems like a different disease is making global headlines each week.
A few weeks ago everyone was talking about RSV, and then it was Strep A, and now this week a new “super variant” of COVID is deeply alarming authorities…
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and chief of the COVID Risk Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, has called XBB1.5 a “super variant.”
XBB.1.5, which is mutated from the original Omicron strain, appears to be spreading faster than others because it is better at attaching itself to human cells.
“A mutation in the virus is located at the site where it binds to the human cells,” said Wine. “To effectively infect humans, the virus needs to bind to cells, and XBB.1.5 seems to do this very tightly.”
Next week it might be something else.
At this point, there are billions of people that have compromised immune systems, and that means that the global population has been perfectly primed for whatever plagues we see in 2023.
I certainly can’t end this article without talking about war.
I expect that both sides will continue to escalate the conflict in Ukraine in 2023, and it appears that the Russians may be preparing a massive new offensive campaign from the north.
Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, and I believe that a war between Israel and Iran has become inevitable.
On the other side of the planet, the Chinese could soon pull the trigger on an invasion of Taiwan, and if that happens we could also see North Korea invade South Korea while the U.S. is distracted with China.
I have been warning that these wars were coming for a long time, and once they erupt our world will never be the same again.
In fact, our world is already radically different from what it was like just a few short years ago.
So much changed throughout 2020, 2021 and 2022.
But the pace of change is only going to accelerate even more as we get deeper into 2023.
So buckle up and hold on tight, because here we go…
1 cup shredded swiss cheese, can use mozzarella, cheddar, etc
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease/spray a deep 13 x 9 baking dish.
Place shredded cabbage in bottom of baking dish; set aside.
Brown and crumble ground beef (or turkey) with the onion and red bell pepper; drain and return to the skillet.
To the drained beef mixture, add the diced tomatoes (undrained), salt, pepper, sugar and caraway seeds. Stir together well and spread this mixture over the cabbage in the baking dish.
In a small bowl, stir together the tomato sauce and sour cream, blending well. Spread this mixture over the beef mixture in the baking dish.
Cover and bake for 1 hour.
Uncover, evenly sprinkle with the 1 cup of shredded swiss cheese and bake (uncovered) for an additional 15-20 minutes.
2023 01 05 11 27
Confessions Of A Woman Who Had Her Rapist’s Baby
What happened?
When I was 19 years old, my 38 year old boss held me against my will for 3 weeks and raped me multiple times. I ended up pregnant and have been raising my son for the last 8 years.
How did he keep you against your will?
He told me we were working in a different city for a few days. He proceeded to take me to his elderly mother’s house. She had some sort of dementia so she didn’t understand what was going on. He took my keys and my phone and if someone called me, he would send a text pretending to be me. He kept me in a constant state of buzzed by only allowing me to have drinks with alcohol.
At night I was to take a sleeping pill with alcohol so I wouldn’t wake up and sneak away. I tried to fight him, but he had 100 pounds on me and I didn’t stand a chance against him.
Did he go to jail?
No. The cops failed to properly investigate claiming the lack of physical evidence made this a he-said/she-said case so it basically wasn’t worth their time.
Is there no way to hold this guy accountable?
The statute of limitations was up 2 years ago. Because they failed to properly investigate and didn’t place charges against him, there is nothing to be done to hold him accountable.
Did the police/authorities give you a reason they wouldn’t investigate someone’s three week abduction?
Lack of physical evidence. And because I went willingly (I thought we were going for work) it wasn’t considered an “abduction” because I was an adult.
Was abortion ever something that crossed your mind?
There was a moment where I seriously considered it. But due to my faith, I just couldn’t do it. However, I would NEVER agree to FORCING a woman into carrying their rapist’s child. I had my faith to hold onto, but even then, it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
I also want to add that I had considered adoption, but when I had my first ultrasound and saw the heartbeat, I felt this overwhelming love and I knew we would survive this together.
Does your son look like him?/Do you love your son?
Luckily my son looks like a mini male version of me, so I never feel like I’m looking at my rapist. And I absolutely love my son with all my heart. This wasn’t his fault anymore than it was mine.
Does your son know?
No. He knows that another man “put him in my belly”. I WILL NOT EVER tell him about the rape.
There is absolutely NO circumstance in which this information will be beneficial to my son. I will not withhold any pertinent medical information, etc.
As far as he will ever know, it was a one night stand with a guy who turned out to be dangerous. He has a long criminal rap sheet that I can refer to.
He knows that another man “put him in mommy’s belly”, but he’s never pressed beyond that because my husband is “daddy” and always has been. He’s an amazing father so my son has no holes he feels need to be filled.
I’m aware that he may ask more questions as an adult, but I plan to be as vague as possible. Make him believe it was just some one night stand or something. The truth would just destroy him.
Is the rapist trying to claim parental rights? Does he pay child support?
He he fighting the petition to terminate his rights. He hasn’t made any attempt to contact my son, but he’s trying to make it as difficult as possible for my husband to adopted him.
I never sued for child support because that would give him an open to visitation rights. I have done everything I can to protect my son from him.
He is a rotten human being. Still wants to feel powerful my making you feel miserable.
That’s exactly why he’s doing this. It’s always been about power. 9 Years later and he still holds some power in my life. He isn’t going to give it up.
Have you ever been scared of your child ending up like the father?
Absolutely! It’s one of my biggest fears. But my husband and I are raising him to respect everyone, not just women. I will do whatever it takes to raise him to be a productive and successful member of society.
Has this created fear of intimacy or having future children ?
Initially it was extremely difficult for me to enjoy intimate moments. But then I met my now husband when my son was 16 months old.
He was patient and sweet and our relationship was about more than sex, so I grew to trust him and allow myself to enjoy the intimacy with him.
Still, every year, the month of June I subconsciously shut down the “funky town train”. My husband always understands and allows me to initiate when I’m ready to be intimate again.
Due to my amazing husband’s patience, we have actually had 3 more children in the last 5 years.
What advice do you have for people in your situation who did not get the rape allegation immediately pursued?
EMDR therapy! You may not be able to put your rapist away, but at least you can work through the trauma and not let it control your life. Take back your life!
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) EMDR.com explains the process. Basically it reprograms your brain to dissociate the emotion from an event. It’s extremely helpful for all forms of PTSD. 🙂
How did going through the emdr therapy feel?
The first few weeks were ROUGH… soooooo much was brought up and I wanted to quit so many times. But it’s amazing how the process works through your trauma, separating the emotion from the event.
For about 3 days after each session you will feel everything again. But by the 4th or 5th day, the portion of your trauma you worked on during that session is suddenly easier to think about without breaking down.
It’s really the most indescribable experience.
Twitter Files Show How The Deep State Conquered Social Media
Matt Taibbi provides a summary of the recent revelations of Twitter manipulations in service of partisan government entities. The publication of the ‘Twitter files’ came in several Twitter threads from writers, left and right leaning ones, who had been given access to the files and internal Twitter communication.
Recounting the internal drama at Twitter surrounding the decision to block access to a New York Post exposé on Hunter Biden in October, 2020.
Key revelations: Twitter blocked the story on the basis of its “hacked materials” policy, but executives internally knew the decision was problematic. “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?” is how comms official Brandon Borrman put it. Also: when a Twitter contractor polls members of Congress about the decision, they hear Democratic members want more moderation, not less, and “the First Amendment isn’t absolute.”
We will later learn that it was the FBI, which had the Hunter Biden laptop material and knew it was real, which pushed Twitter to censor the story by claiming that it was ‘Russian hacked’ material.
Bari Weiss gives a long-awaited answer to the question, “Was Twitter shadow-banning people?” It did, only the company calls it “visibility filtering.” Twitter also had a separate, higher council called SIP-PES that decided cases for high-visibility, controversial accounts.
Key revelations: Twitter had a huge toolbox for controlling the visibility of any user, including a “Search Blacklist” (for Dan Bongino), a “Trends Blacklist” for Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and a “Do Not Amplify” setting for conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Weiss quotes a Twitter employee: “Think about visibility filtering as being a way for us to suppress what people see to different levels. It’s a very powerful tool.” With help from @abigailshrier, @shellenbergermd, @nelliebowles, and @isaacgrafstein.
The above one is of special interest to me.
Until late 2021 my Twitter account @MoonofA, which I mostly use to promote my writings here, was not allowed to grow beyond 19,500 followers. There were also signs that tweets by me were not shown to users who were following me. After my account was released from the growth prison it rapidly grew to 47,500 followers in the fall of 2022. It then again went into growth prison for no discernible reason and without me getting any notice of it. Now anytime my follower count increases by 100 or so it will automatically be slashed back to 47,450 followers. There are also again signs that tweets from my account are again ‘shadowbanned’.
Moon of Alabama @MoonofA · Jan 4New on MoA:
Ukraine – The Big Push To End The War
https://moonofalabama.org/2023/01/ukraine-the-big-push-to-end-the-war.html
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If you hadn’t retweeted that, I doubt I’d have seen it. I follow MoA, never see a single tweet.
Not sure the cleanup has been entirely successful yet.
Well, I do not think that Elon Musk bought Twitter to do a ‘cleanup’. I believe he wants to use it for his own purposes whatever those may be. If it requires a new deal that gives government entities censoring access in exchange for whatever Musk’s wants or needs he will agree to that.
Back to Matt Taibbi’s summaries. Thread 3 to 5 were about Trump’s removal from Twitter. His account was locked despite the fact that he had not violated any of Twitter’s internal rules.
Thread 6 to 12 are about the government infiltration of Twitter from every angle, the Pentagon, the three letter agencies as well as various other entities started to censor free speech on Twitter:
Twitter Files Parts 11 and 12, by @mtaibbi, January 3, 2023HOW TWITTER LET THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY IN
and
TWITTER AND THE FBI “BELLY BUTTON”
These two threads focus respectively on the second half of 2017, and a period stretching roughly from summer of 2020 through the present. The first describes how Twitter fell under pressure from Congress and the media to produce “material” showing a conspiracy of Russian accounts on their platform, and the second shows how Twitter tried to resist fulfilling moderation requests for the State Department, but ultimately agreed to let State and other agencies send requests through the FBI, which agent Chan calls “the belly button of the USG.”
Revelations: at the close of 2017, Twitter makes a key internal decision. Outwardly, the company would claim independence and promise that content would only be removed at “our sole discretion.” The internal guidance says, in writing, that Twitter will remove accounts “identified by the U.S. intelligence community” as “identified by the U.S.. intelligence community as a state-sponsored entity conducting cyber-operations.” The second thread shows how Twitter took in requests from everyone — Treasury, HHS, NSA, FBI, DHS, etc. — and also received personal requests from politicians like Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, who asked to have journalist Paul Sperry suspended.
The big mainstream media have been quiet about the Twitter revelations. The New York Post and a few other right leaning outlets had a piece about the attempt to ban columnist Paul Sperry:
The journalist in question was Paul Sperry, a Post columnist who in January 2020 wrote an article for RealClearInvestigations about the purported “whistleblower” behind former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, for which Schiff served as a House manager.In the article, Sperry said then-CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella was overheard talking in the White House with Sean Misko, a holdover staffer from former President Barack Obama’s administration.
A former official who reportedly heard the conversation told Sperry, “Just days after [Trump] was sworn in they were already trying to get rid of him.”
Misko later left the White House and joined the Intelligence Committee, which Schiff chaired, Sperry reported.
The email posted by Taibbi shows that Schiff’s office asked Twitter to take five specific steps that an unidentified company employee said were “related to alleged harassment from QAnon conspiracists.”
They included, “Remove any and all content about Mr. Misko and other Committee staff from its service — to include quotes, retweets, and reactions to that content.”
In response, another unidentified Twitter employee wrote, “no, this isn’t feasible/we don’t do that.”
Schiff’s office also asked for suspension of “the many accounts, including @GregRubini and @paulsperry_, which have repeatedly promoted false QAnon conspiracies and harassed” someone whose name is blacked out.
The Twitter employee responded to that by writing, “we’ll review these accounts again but I believe [name blacked out] mentioned only one actually qualified for suspension.”
In an email Tuesday, Sperry told The Post, “I have never promoted any ‘QAnon conspiracies.’ Ever. Not on Twitter. Not anywhere.”
“Schiff was just angry I outed his impeachment whistleblower and tried to get me banned,” he said. “I challenge Schiff to produce evidence to back up his defamatory remarks to Twitter.”
The only major and good piece written about the Twitter revelations I know of is by Lee Smith in the otherwise not readable Tablet Magazine:
This one is well researched and well written. It shows that the whole manipulation by the FBI was and is done in partisan interest with the war-mongering parts of the Democrats being the main beneficiary. The piece is quite long but I recommend to read it in full.
You may think that the paragraph below is exaggerated. However, the evidence following it fully supports the conclusion:
In fact, the FBI’s penetration of Twitter constituted just one part of a much larger intelligence operation—one in which the bureau offshored the machinery it used to interfere in the 2016 election and embedded it within the private sector. The resulting behemoth, still being built today, is a public-private consortium made up of U.S. intelligence agencies, Big Tech companies, civil society institutions, and major media organizations that has become the world’s most powerful spy service—one that was powerful enough to disappear the former president of the United States from public life, and that is now powerful enough to do the same or worse to anyone else it chooses.
All of this was build in secret. All of it can be secretly used against any target. It is also interesting that the fake issue of ‘Russiagate’, like the ‘Skripal affair’ in Britain, was to a large part the preparatory buildup to the current war in Ukraine.
While the Twitter files have now given us some knowledge of this they will not change anything. The Republicans are too weak, too corrupt and too susceptible to blackmail to seriously get into the depth of the whole issue.
Posted by b on January 6, 2023 at 17:26 UTC | Permalink
Ground Beef Stuffed Green Bell Peppers With Cheese
“We had these not too long ago and we both decided that they needed a little more seasoning. We put a little hot pepper sauce on them and they were much better. I would probably include 2 teaspoons in the meat mix the next time that I make them.”
Cut off the tops of green peppers; discard seeds and membranes.
Chop enough of the tops to make 1/4 cup, set aside.
Cook the whole green peppers, uncovered in boiling water for about 5 minutes; invert to drain well.
Sprinkle insides of the peppers lightly with salt.
In a skillet cook ground beef, onion and 1/4 cup chopped pepper till meat is browned and vegetables are tender.
Drain off excess fat. Add drained tomatoes, salt, Worcestershire, and a dash of pepper.
in a separate pot put water bring to boil add rice cook until rice is soft. if needed add more water.
add rice to beef mixture.
Stir in cheese. Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Place in a 10x6x2 baking dish.
Bake, covered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. in the last 5 minutes add any remaining cheese to the top of the peppers.
2023 01 05 11 24
What’s It Like To Know You Are Going To Die Soon?
How does it feel to know you are dying? That is a difficult question, because the answer can be different from day to day or even from hour to hour. The feeling, range from denial, to fear, to guilt, to anger, to sadness and to acceptance. It is the same, I suppose, as any grieving process. You can’t work your way through one set of feelings and neatly move on to the next.
It is almost like being at the beach, standing in the water on a windy day. A wave comes at you and almost knocks you off your feet. You struggle and regain your balance, just in time for the next wave to hit. Over time, the strength of the waves subside and you think your footing is a little more secure. Suddenly, out of seemingly no where another large wave hits and you almost loose your balance again.
I suppose that pretty much describes the grieving process for anything. You can be hit by wave after wave of denial or anger, what ever, each wave trying to knock you down. The emotional waves don’t hit in any particular order or strength. Gradually, these waves do lessen in strength or intensity and you come to the peacefulness of acceptance. You are still not out of the water, and at anytime a wave can suddenly come back and hit.
Over time these emotional waves become less frequent and less severe. For me acceptance came almost as a relief. Knowing, I would not have to deal with the roller coaster ride of emotions, the ups and downs. Am I totally free of these feelings, no. I don’t really know, if I ever will be totally free. As long as you are alive, how can you be totally free of your feelings? Accepting them is one, thing being free of them is another. The waves have just been downsized and more easily manageable.
Maybe, I am still in an element of denial. I know what the doctors have said and I accept that. I just don’t think it is going to happen any time soon. Is that denial or just the human spirit pushing us on? I don’t know. With acceptance does that mean I have given up? No. Does that mean I have lost the will to live? NO. All it means is I am ready to go when God calls me, but not one minute before that. I do not fear death, I just want to delay it as long as possible.
A new joke circulating on a forum (Tieba):
The first message sent by the Chang'e-1 satellite to Chinese control center is:
Without the natives, it is real that the U.S. landed on the moon.
Phew! I am busier than five armed lumberjack at a waffle bake-off. I’ll tell you what. We are getting ready for CNY, and things are shutting down here in China and a festive mood is fogging inward.
The United States continues in it’s insanity.
The difference in tone between 'west' and 'east' is remarkable. The West is a hysterical drama queen posing as Lady Liberty and the East; methodical, plodding, with a fixed mindset to get out from under for-profit Empire; aka The Great Satan.
Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 10 2023 15:57 utc | 5
Here’s a selection of thoughts and articles reflective of these times.
China now publishes more high-quality science than any other nation – should the US be worried?
I am a policy expert and analyst who studies how governmental investment in science, technology and innovation improves social welfare. While a country’s scientific prowess is somewhat difficult to quantify, I’d argue that the amount of money spent on scientific research, the number of scholarly papers published and the quality of those papers are good stand-in measures.
China is not the only nation to drastically improve its science capacity in recent years, but China’s rise has been particularly dramatic. This has left U.S. policy experts and government officials worried about how China’s scientific supremacy will shift the global balance of power. China’s recent ascendancy results from years of governmental policy aiming to be tops in science and technology. The country has taken explicit steps to get where it is today, and the U.S. now has a choice to make about how to respond to a scientifically competitive China.
Growth across decades
In 1977, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the Four Modernizations, one of which was strengthening China’s science sector and technological progress. As recently as 2000, the U.S. produced many times the number of scientific papers as China annually. However, over the past three decades or so, China has invested funds to grow domestic research capabilities, to send students and researchers abroad to study, and to encourage Chinese businesses to shift to manufacturing high-tech products.
Since 2000, China has sent an estimated 5.2 million students and scholars to study abroad. The majority of them studied science or engineering. Many of these students remained where they studied, but an increasing number return to China to work in well-resourced laboratories and high-tech companies.
Add onions and pork and sauté until onions are soft.
Add ham, garlic, thyme and parsley and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add sausage and cook until browned. Stir in stock and bring to boil.
Add rice, bay leaf and cayenne. Return to boil and cover. Simmer over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to see if all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water if liquid boils away before rice is cooked.
Joint Statement Between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines
The United States is active in trying to turn the Philippines away from China, as with this current visit. But the pro China and Philippines agreements are clear and say otherwise.
Note especially point 13 and 14 below :
13. The two heads of state had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on the situation in the South China Sea, emphasizing that disputes in the South China Sea are not the whole of bilateral relations, and agreed to properly manage differences. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting regional peace and stability, freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and agreed to resolve disputes peacefully on the basis of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, the Charter of the United Nations and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
14. The two heads of state agreed that confidence-building measures are conducive to enhancing mutual trust, and affirmed the important role of China-Philippines diplomatic consultations and the China-Philippines bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea issue. The two sides decided to establish a direct communication mechanism between the Department of Border and Ocean Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Ocean Affairs of the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A recent war game scenario run by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is not worthy of reference, as it was designed to hype the “China threat” theory, and to suggest the US should fully arm the island of Taiwan preemptively, and instigate the US military to immediately intervene if a conflict breaks out, Chinese mainland experts said on Tuesday.
The US think tank said the simulations indicate the US, Japan and the island of Taiwan would suffer huge losses in defeating the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) if a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Straits in 2026.
From a technical point of view, the simulations are biased and set under a scenario of wishful thinking, as they underestimated the PLA’s capabilities and overestimated US and Japanese forces, analysts said.
If the Chinese mainland launches a reunification-by-force operation on the island of Taiwan in 2026, it would result in thousands of casualties among Chinese mainland, US, Japanese and Taiwan island forces in a likely defeat of the PLA, which will also leave the US in a crippled state, the CSIS said after running this war game 24 times, CNN reported on Monday.
In the simulations, the US and Japan lost dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft and thousands of service members, which would damage the US’ global position for many years, according to the CSIS report, which also predicted losses of two US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in most scenarios and the devastation of the island of Taiwan.
The Chinese mainland would also suffer heavily, losing about 10,000 troops, 155 combat aircraft and 138 vessels, the report claimed.
Such war game simulations are by no means professional, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
It is impossible for the US think tank to gain access to the PLA’s force deployment and equipment specifications in detail, so the data it used in the simulations are obviously biased and mere wishful thinking, Wei said.
“For example, the think tank predicted the sinking of two US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. That is too small a number,” Wei said, citing the PLA’s missile strike capabilities working in tandem with naval and air forces.
The PLA operates DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles capable of striking moving maritime targets like aircraft carriers at hypersonic speeds against which there is no defense, observers said.
On Sunday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command organized cross-service joint alert patrol and realistic combat-oriented exercises in sea and aerial areas around the island of Taiwan, countering collusion between and provocations by external and “Taiwan independence” forces. Some 57 aircraft and four vessels of the PLA were detected around the island of Taiwan on the day, with 28 of the detected aircraft including fighters, bombers and drones crossing the so-called median line of the Taiwan Straits and entering the island’s self-proclaimed southwest air defense identification zone, according to a press release by the defense authority on Monday.
It marked the first time the PLA Eastern Theater Command has announced a joint drill around the island of Taiwan in 2023, but such drills have become routine since at least 2020, and have grown with the increasing provocations by Taiwan secessionists and external interference forces.
In 2022, the PLA sent 1,727 planes into the island of Taiwan’s self-proclaimed air defense identification zone, compared with about 960 incursions in 2021 and 380 in 2020, AFP reported, citing releases by the defense authority on the island.
The PLA’s exercises have demonstrated that the Chinese mainland has the confidence, the will and the capability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, another Chinese mainland military expert told the Global Times on Tuesday, requesting anonymity.
If the US and Japan interfere in the Taiwan question militarily, not only will the US lose its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, it will lose all of its footholds in the Asia-Pacific region, including military bases in Japan, Guam and even Australia, the expert said.
One thing is right about the CSIS’ war game predictions, and that is that the US and Japan will definitely be left crippled if they interfere in the Taiwan question, the expert said.
Citing the CSIS report, CNN said that for US troops to prevent the Chinese mainland from ultimately taking control of the island of Taiwan, some constants emerged among the 24 war game iterations it ran, including that the US must be able to use its bases in Japan for combat operations and that the US needs to fully arm Taiwan before shooting starts and jump into any conflict with its own forces immediately, as it is impossible to get troops and supplies onto the island of Taiwan once the conflict starts.
This is intentionally instigating the US and Japan to militarily interfere in the Taiwan question and encourage “Taiwan independence” forces in their secessionist moves, analysts said.
The ill-intended war game will only give the “Taiwan independence” secessionist and external interference forces a false vision that will lead them to their doom. On the contrary, they should refrain from any military moves, fully understand that Taiwan is a part of China, realize the deterrent in the form of the PLA, and not overestimate their capabilities, experts said.
Confessions Of A Man Who Had His Limbs Lengthened
How did you find out that limb lengthening was even an option?
I was hanging out with friends getting lunch and one of them jokingly brought up the surgery not directed at me but just that there are people who actually would do it. I hadn’t heard of Leg lengthening and researched the hell out of it that night. I was already wearing lifts in public and felt better about my appearance from that. I joined the make me taller forum and just read a bunch of diaries from former patients from different doctors where they share their procedure and for the most part it just seemed like a few months of pain. Most of the patients were walking after 6 months which I know sounds like a long time but the mental space I was in, 6 months seemed like nothing if it meant I wouldn’t be short anymore.
I researched for about a month negotiated with my doctor and bought my flight.
How, exactly, do they do it?
Tibias are broken in half with a surgical saw. You get frames put on your legs on both sides of the broken tibias. Every day you lengthen about 1mm and your muscles and skin stretch with the gap of the bone.
Do you then just always have a gap in your bone?
No, your body is truly amazing. The gap gets replaces with new bone. Once the bone is fully recovered it’s called bone consolidation. That’s what I’m waiting for to happen for my legs. It’s taking it’s sweet time though.
How much did the procedure cost?
$15K
That’s pretty cheap, where in the world was the operation performed?
In India. China and India currently have the lowest cost procedures. It’s about 90K in the US and UK.
Did you pay cash for this procedure? Does the 15k include everything, or are you also supposed to feed yourself too?
Wire transfers to the doctor. Some people make a large down payment and then make small payments over their time there. yes, 15K includes everything.
Three meals are provided every day but they’re not that good. You’ll eat them for the first couple months and then start eating fast food.
Is the facility/hospital clean by western standards?
The hospital is clean for sure. It’s more everything else that sucks. At the guest house that I’m at we eat pretty much the same stuff everyday. We only recently discovered Mcdonalds and as a person who hasn’t eaten fast food in years I’ve eaten probably over 200 Chicken Nuggets.
What did you do all day in the hospital while not in physical therapy?
Patients play poker, chess and watch way too much horrible television. It’s the most relaxed time of my life. Some people try and use the time to be really productive by learning a new language or taking on some new skill but the pain makes it pretty hard to concentrate for an extended time.
Why did you stop at 3 inches?
3 inches is about the most I could gain and stay under a 20% gain in my Tibia which is recommended for a faster recovery with less complications.
How painful was the lengthening?
Every day you try and lengthen about 1mm which isn’t too bad until you start getting toward your 5cm mark. Your body is kind of just taxed. Some patients slow down the lengthening and others just deal with the pain but take the pain medication and muscle relaxers. We get two physical therapy sessions a day and that’s where the real pain is. You spend probably 22 hours a day just laying down but for these sessions they are stretching out your legs and insuring that you maintain flexibility. I’m pretty flexible but have lost a lot of strength. I’m now 125 pounds from 145. and my legs look like real skinny.
Complications can really get you, I had a pin site where the metal goes through the the bone and comes out on the other side that was infected. I couldn’t really move my leg much for about 4-5 days until the infection went down. I’d say I got lucky overall in that I didn’t have too many complications. Another patient had to stop because of nerve damage around 2 inches. He’s 5’7 but wants to lengthen his femur’s now.
Are there potential long term health issues with this type of surgery?
Limited mobility, bones not forming properly.
What made you do it?
More or less I was just tired of feeling like I had to make up for my height. Like I had to be more charming more outgoing more qualified for the same things and i’ll admit mainly women. I have female friends who flat out in the past have told me the only reason they wouldn’t date me was because of my height.
Have you gotten rejected a lot because of your height before?
Many times except it’s typically not a direct rejection. For example in my teenage years and early twenties I would just be a girls friend with benefits. We’d have a good time together and as long as she knew that other people thought we were friends there was never a problem with us going out in public. You’re having a sexual relationship with a person who only wants others to think of you as friends. A couple times I’ve powered through it by being persistent and eventually gaining some form of a relationship but all that work and it’s built on an uneven foundation. I’m always the aggressor always the one expected to do more for my partner. It’s taxing.
I just find it depressing that height is such an issue in society that you were willing to put yourself through this.
I agree 100%. Wish it wasn’t this way but it IS. I want you to think about this though. I could have spent the rest of my life always being upset about my height and I think that would have been more painful. I just went through alot of pain but it’s already in the past. Now I just need to focus on walking and my bones healing properly.
Can you explain the two types of people you’ve met there?
Some people such as myself feel like this was the only piece missing in their life. They had the looks, the personality but just lacked the height. When you talk to these guys you see that they’re really confident and just want to go back to their routine with a better outlook.
Then you meet some folks here who leg lengthening is just one of the many things they “need” to fix about themselves almost like career patients. They want to do leg lengthening then penis enlargement and more plastic surgery. I feel that these guys won’t really be happy with any results they get.
Can you do sports after this surgery? Does it affect you physical condition?
After about six months I’ll be lucky if I can play basketball again. I won’t do serious weights on my legs for at least a year or so just to play it safe. Also age comes into play. Older patients have a harder time recovering. So far my recovery time has been pretty good but my bone consolidation is taking what feels like forever.
So was it worth it?
Yeah, I’d say so. Now that I’m back I’m slowly starting to hang out with old friends and most of them comment on how I look taller but I always just say it’s because of the crutches. I’m walking around at about 5’9 without shoes and with at 5’10. I’m now taller than the majority of women I meet and it feels good. When I hug somebody even in my fragile state right now I still feel more manly because I’m hugging down now. My bone is pretty solid now and just struggling with my muscle. My leg’s are still really weak but I’m now starting on lifting legs at the gym but really low weight. I’m still excited about the thought of me walking around like a normal person at this height.
Say in 20-25 years your own kid comes up to you and says they want to get the surgery what would you tell them?
Go for it. In 25 years I imagine this procedure could possibly be even safer and hopefully less invasive. We can all sit here and say that we should all be happy with who we are and we can make it sound like I’m insecure for getting this procedure but I’m pretty sure I convey more confidence than my peers and co-workers. I would never want a person to miss out on something as important as a loving relationship because of something they have no control over such as height.
The Shooting Seems to Have Begun; America Heading to Civil War. Democrat Homes Being Shot-At in New Mexico
New Mexico Police confirm that the homes of at least SIX (6) Democrat elected officials in the state of New Mexico, have been shot-up over the past month or so. While no one has been injured, it seems America is now rapidly descending into the Civil War that so many have warned is coming.
Albuquerque police announced they were investigating whether shots fired into the homes of some Democrat elected officials and near the offices of others are connected to one another, Police Chief Harold Medina said.
However, he remained tight-lipped on all other details, except to say the suspect is a man under the age of 50. Police confirm they have someone in custody ON UNRELATED CHARGES. The Chief would not say what he is charged with, when he was arrested, if he was working with anyone else, or where he is being held.
At a news conference announcing the development Monday afternoon, Chief Medina said detectives are still executing search warrants and trying to determine whether the suspect is responsible for all the shootings, or just one.
He said all documents are sealed while investigators build the case.
Police revealed they were investigating gunshots fired at the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioners Debbie O’Malley and Adriann Barboa, and state Sen. Linda Lopez in December and January. It wasn’t long before shootings were also reported to have occurred near the offices of state Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas and Attorney General Raúl Torrez. The department also said investigators found evidence of shots fired at the home of Javier Martinez, the nominee for speaker in the New Mexico House of Representatives.
Medina said investigators “have some ideas as to a possible motive,” but it’s too early for them to disclose anything.
“We have got to solidify some information and we don’t want to compromise any part of the investigation,” he said.
On Dec. 4, Barboa’s Southeast Albuquerque, New Mexico, home was struck with eight rounds.
A week later, on Dec. 11, more than 12 bullets were shot into the walls of O’Malley’s North Valley home. O’Malley was in her final months as a commissioner and is no longer serving on the board.
Then, on Jan. 3, at least eight shots were fired into Lopez’s Southwest Albuquerque home. The bullets passed through her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom.
Hours after police announced the investigation into the shootings, ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology picked up three shots near the Downtown building where Maestas has his office. There was no damage to the building.
Later that night, APD revealed that detectives were investigating whether gunfire outside Torrez’s campaign office on Dec. 10 was also connected. Torrez had already moved out of the office, which is Downtown on Park NW, after winning the race for attorney general.
Last week, after hearing about the other shootings, Martinez inspected his home in the Valley Area Command and saw that it had been shot up, as well, an APD spokesman said.
“He discovered damage presumably from gunfire heard in early December outside his Albuquerque home,” spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. “APD detectives went to the home and located evidence of a shooting.”
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
So who is it that is shooting-up the homes and offices of Democrats, and WHY? Of course, part of me __should__ think that this is bad conduct that __should__ be denounced. For various reasons, however, I won’t say what I think.
I will, however, talk in a general sense about matters political and the redress of political grievances through the use of force.
For a very long time, politicians in general, and Democrats in particular, have been taking actions that strip citizen’s liberty and meddle in citizen’s affairs.
They did these things, in my view, because they came to the erroneous conclusion “there are no consequences.”
Very high percentages of them continued to be re-elected no matter what they did, and it seems that some of them came to the conclusion that Americans were basically push-overs; that citizens didn’t have the guts to take up arms against government officials, and even if they did, they wouldn’t dare.
Looks to me as though they were wrong.
Now, I have no idea who did these things or why. I will not, however, condemn whoever did this because I think this has been a long time coming.
I also think it will not stop in Albuquerque. I personally think, and this is just my personal opinion, not advocacy, or solicitation to take action, and certainly not any threat by me to do anything because I absolutely will not be engaging in any violence or crime against anyone . . . . but I think . . . this may be just the beginning.
I wonder if Democrats will get a message from this?
I wonder if they’ll figure out that the spirit of resistance to tyranny is still alive in this country?
Are these the first shots of a second American Civil War? Maybe.
These Boys Went Through Hell: The Dozier School of Horrors
Some real history. Note about the fact that evil people get into positions of power.
My uncle was at that school in the 50's. He would not get into specifics as to what happened to him there, he said it was horrific. He cried when he told me he was there. It left an indelible mark on him for the rest of his life.
https://youtu.be/ACj0phcl-SM
W.H.O. Meeting in Secret to convert themselves to Enforceable Law under EXISTING Treaty; FORCED VACCINES, OUTLAW GUNS “Public Health Issue”
The International Health Regulations Review Committee (IHRRC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to meet in secret from Monday, January 9, 2023 to Friday January 13, 2023. The IHRRC will be working to finalize what is now a 46 page document that includes proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR).
The proposed amendments would:
Change the overall nature of the World Health Organization from an advisory organization that merely makes recommendations to a governing body whose proclamations would be legally-binding. (Article 1)
Greatly expand the scope of the International Health Regulations to include scenarios that merely have a “potential to impact public health.”
Seek to remove “respect for dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of people.” (Article 3)
Give the Director General of the WHO control over the means of production through an “allocation plan for health products” to require developed states parties to supply pandemic response products as directed. (Article 13A)
Give the WHO the authority to require medical examinations, proof of prophylaxis, proof of vaccine and to implement contact tracing, quarantine and TREATMENT. (Article 18)
Institute a system of global health certificates in digital or paper format, including test certificates, vaccine certificates, prophylaxis certificates, recovery certificates, passenger locator forms and a traveller’s health declaration. (Articles 18, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 35, 36 and 44 and Annexes 6, 7 and 8)
Redirect unspecified billions of dollars to the Pharmaceutical Hospital Emergency Industrial Complex with no accountability. (Article 44A)
Allow the disclosure of personal health data. (Article 45)
Greatly expand the World Health Organization’s capacity to censor what they consider to be mis-information and dis-information. (Annex 1, page 36)
Create an obligation to build, provide, and maintain, IHR infrastructure at points of entry TO ENABLE THE W.H.O. TO UNDERTAKE THIS CENSORSHIP (Annex 10)
The 76th World Health Assembly is scheduled to occur from Sunday May 21, 2023 to Tuesday May 30, 2023. In order for the proposed amendments to be considered during the 76th World Health Assembly, they must be submitted to the World Health Organization at least 4 months in advance.
The IHRRC plans to submit these proposed amendments to the WHO by Sunday, January 15, 2023.
The International Health Regulations are existing, legally-binding international law. If the proposed amendments are presented to the 76th World Health Assembly, they could be adopted by a simple majority of the 194 member nations. According to the already agreed upon rules of the IHR, if the proposed amendments are adopted, the member nations would not need to take any additional actions.
The United States Senate would not be required to provide a two-thirds vote to give their “advice and consent.” No signatures by national leaders would be needed.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
This is precisely how all the elected politicians around the world intend to FORCE Vaccines on everyone, FORCE Vaccine Passports, and FORCE quarantines; by DELEGATING those powers to unelected people at the World Health Organization, then telling YOU “Our hands are tied, this is required by International Law and Treaty, we have no power to stop it.”
Worse, the WHO deems to decide for you and me, what constitutes “disinformation and misinformation, and they are giving themselves power to not only decide that, but to be able to actively CENSOR all of us, to prevent us from getting information out to the public when WHO and their pals are all wrong . . . as in the just recently proved “COVID-19” nonsense, and their phony “vaccines” that are causing people to drop dead in public.
Because they are making changes within an EXISTING TREATY, no vote by the US Senate is needed and nothing can be done (other than abrogate the Treaty and quit the WHO) to stop these FORCED changes.
You, your family, your children, could be FORCED to be vaccinated with God only knows what, simply because these unelected people in Geneva, Switzerland, say so! You or your children could be FORCIBLY QUARANTINED just because these unelected people in Geneva Switzerland say so.
This is the single most outrageous power grab in world history. It should be stopped. Now.
Because this is an existing Treaty, it, along with the US Constitution, is, by virtue of the Supremacy Claus of our Constitution, “the highest law of the land.” No state would be able to “opt-out.” There could be no redress of any of it via courts because it is a Treaty. All of us would find ourselves completely helpless.
It has never been decided by a US Court, as to whether or not a Treaty can usurp or over-rule provisions of the US Constitution. Are you willing to trust the present US Judiciary to protect our rights? I’m not. I’ve seen the federal courts in action up close and personal. They are now fabulously corrupt and completely unreliable.
If this secret meeting is allowed to put forth the changes outlined above, you and I would no longer have a right to speak the truth about things they do; they can censor it by law. You and I would not have the right to say “no” to their new, phony, and harmful, ‘vaccines.”
This is a usurpation of liberty taking place right before our eyes. We must step up right now to put a stop to it while we can still do so peacefully, and not by force of arms.
Oh, and “arms” . . . could be deemed a matter “potential to impact public health” and they could BAN the private ownership of firearms, and it would be legal because . . . a Treaty!
The Ordinary Life of Anubis, a God of Death, in Melancholic Illustrations by Joanna Karpowicz
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There’s a mystery in each of these intriguing paintings, pulling you into their depths. The figure of Anubis seems to be an outsider waiting to participate in each painting’s story – like yourself as an observer of the image.
There’s an entire narrative waiting for the viewer in every picture, and the strangeness of each scene provokes questions in your mind as to what is (or could be) unfolding. You will want to step into each painting and discover its secrets.
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Anubis is the Greek name of the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Archeologists have identified Anubis’s sacred animal as an Egyptian canid, the African golden wolf. The African wolf was formerly called the “African golden jackal”, until a 2015 genetic analysis updated the taxonomy and the common name for the species. As a result, Anubis is often referred to as having a “jackal” head, but this “jackal” is now more properly called a “wolf”.
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A painter, creator of comic art and illustrator, Joanna Karpowicz is a graduate of the State Secondary School of Visual Arts in Kraków, as well as the Faculty of Painting at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, where she received her diploma in the studio of Prof. Leszek Misiak in 2001. She lives and works in Kraków.
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A change very soon?
The USA can not back down against the Russians. To do so would be a certain loss of the United States Dollar (USD) losing its world reserve currency status. So the USA and the West it controls will continue to escalate both with sanctions and the war in Ukraine.
All talk about peaceful negotiations will prove to be in vain. Yes, this is the most logical thing for both sides. Yet, it would lead to a rapid loss of the special status that the USD enjoys.
If the USA fails to destroy the current Russian presence, then it loses the value of the USD. A month after that, the USA will be in worse conditions than any of the existing 3rd world nations.
So, the escalation continues in the hope of a breakthrough in destroying the Russians.
The sanctions have obviously failed backfiring more upon the European Union and the NATO nations than upon Russia. The only hope that the USA now has is on the Ukrainian battlefield where the Russians are also winning.
The only option left will eventually be the nuclear option. The USA will plan a first strike launch against the Russians.
However, the Russians will beat the USA to a first launch. This will be the decisive end of the USA and NATO.
The entire world is about to change drastically very soon. I estimate that the Russians will launch soon after they take and secure the Donbas. With Soledar about to go down, this could happen in the time frame of months, not years.
Posted by: young | Jan 10 2023 16:25 utc | 14
What’s It Like To Be In An Airplane That Is Falling From The Sky?
I was in a commercial jet that fell from cruising altitude. It was a small jet flying on a now defunct airline.
We had just started the descent when the plane tilted and the dropped out of the sky. Nose was pointed nearly straight down.
I was sitting in the aisle. People were screaming, yelling out – but I can’t remember the words. All kinds of crap was flying through the cabin and the flight attendant was no where to be seen.
My brother and Dad were in the seats behind me. I remember thinking about how sad my mum was going to be. And then looking out at the window at the ground.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pilot was able to regain control and the plane started to right itself again…. for about 15-30 seconds, before starting another uncontrolled descent.
It was more terrifying the second time around – the ground was far closer. I was certain that I was going to die and looked over at a blonde woman about my age sitting next to me. We hadn’t spoken the entire flight, but I reached out in some impulsive desire for human contact at the end…and we held hands as the plane fell out of the sky. I can remember looking at her face briefly, she was crying.
As the ground started approaching and you could make out things like trees and houses, I felt a sense of peace fall about me.
Death seemed to be certain but I didn’t care. It seemed like it was going to be quick and painless – but I remember being surprised that it was going to all end this way.
Then we started to feel the pilot struggling with the plane and it started to right itself again…and for a second time the plane pulled out of the dive.
It was still incredibly bumpy and people were crying and screaming out at every round of turbulence – everyone was waiting for the next and final dive.
When we landed, the young woman and I were still holding hands. People were dead quiet.
What was surreal was that the flight attendant got on the microphone when we reached the gate and thanked us for flying on that shitty ass airline and ‘hoped we would fly again’.
They brought a bus out and one of the pilots came out with us. He didn’t say a word, but his knee was shaking uncontrollably.”
The Most MANIPULATIVE Narcissist Interrogation Ever
Good lord. My ex-wife destroyed my life after 20+ years of marriage and my kids are emotionally scarred because of her (as am I, I can finally admit) but at least I didn’t have to go through such a media circus. I still feel bad for Keith.
Sorry for all the you-tube videos about sick people. But we MUST really come to grasps at who is actually running the West, and why the threat of war is present. We need to understand the reality of what and who these “leaders” actually are.
Big Easy Gumbo
All that I can say is “yummy!”.
big easy gumbo
Ingredients
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 pound turkey sausage links, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 (15 ounce) can Veg·All Original Mixed Vegetables, drained
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
Cooked white rice
Instructions
In medium fry pan, heat oil over medium high heat; sauté celery, onion, green pepper, cubed chicken and sausage for 5 minutes or until cooked.
Stir in mixed vegetables and tomatoes; cook until heated through.
Serve over cooked rice.
Yield: 8 servings
6 People Reveal Their Deep Secrets That Have Been Weighing On Them
1. I poked a hole in a condom and purposefully got a girl pregnant to prove I wasn’t gay
This was the late 80s and I was 14/15 and things weren’t a great time to be a gay teenager not that it excuses what I did. I was so afraid of being outed that I started a relationship with my then bestfriend’s sister. My friends were constantly messing with me about not having slept with her and calling me gay. They were just joking but I took it so seriously that I convinced her sex and I poked a hole in the condom hoping to get her pregnant so that I’d have proof…
She did end up pregnant and when I found out the reality of what I did really hit me.. She just thought the condom didn’t work and I never told her I did it on purpose… She was forced to go to an alternative school and eventually dropped out to have the baby. Her and her family moved away with the baby and I never kept in contact with them… I’ve always felt like a pos for ruining her life and abandoning my kid.
2. I don’t love my wife, and I resent that I have to care for her, but I will probably never leave her.
She was my high school sweetheart. The love of my life. My soulmate. When she suffered a brain injury and fell into a coma, I had no idea whether she would ever wake up again. When she did, she was severely disabled, and she was a different person.
I hoped her old personality would come back with time and therapy, but it’s been 5 years since she woke up, and I think this is just what she’s like now. She’s not a bad person, she’s just not the woman I fell in love with. I’m expected to be grateful that I got my wife back, but the truth is my wife died the day she was injured.
I hoped I would be able to fall in love with this new person, but you can’t just force yourself to fall in love with someone. So I resent her. I know it isn’t her fault, it’s not fair that I feel this way towards her, but I resent this new woman for taking my wife away, and for the fact that I have to take care of her.
I can’t leave her. She has no one else to care for her. And she still has my wife’s voice, her laugh, her smile. I couldn’t bear to lose those, they’re all I have left of the woman I love. So I pretend. I pretend I don’t notice that she’s a completely new person, I pretend I still love her, I pretend I don’t resent her. I care for her. I’ve accepted that this is my life now.
3. Six years ago, i swapped my then-girlfriend now-wife’s cat with a more well-behaved lookalike.
She had an all black cat that was extremely aggressive. It scratched everyone, hissed at everyone, and didn’t use its litterbox half the time. My wife insisted she could get it to behave better. One week she went out of town to visit her family and I was supposed to go to her apartment and feed it.
The first night I went over, it scratched the shit out of my arm. I joked to the cat that it’s not special and I’ll replace it if it scratches again. The joke stuck with me until I had thought about it enough that it wasn’t a joke. The next morning I went to the local animal shelter. Found an identical cat who was already litterbox trained and acclimated to people, but was a little skiddish (it’s old owner died of a heart attack and the animal shelter people said they think that’s why it was skiddish). But overall, it was a lot friendlier and better behaved, and the skiddishness would help it resemble the original cat.
So I adopted it, took it to my wife’s apartment, settled it in, then drove her original cat to an animal shelter a town over (I was paranoid my wife would find out if I took it to a local one).
It’s been 6 years since then. We got married 4 years ago. We still have the swapped cat. It answers to the original cat’s name. My wife knows nothing. She loves this cat and brags about how much better behaved it is. Everytime I see it, I feel like a total piece of shit.
4. I know my 7yo son is not my biological child
My ex wife and I were having a rough time when our youngest was 6. We separated for a few months and then reconciled. A few months later she announced she was pregnant. We ended up divorcing three years later. Our sons are 7 and 13. My 13yo is a clone of me. My 7yo looks nothing like me, my other son or even his mom. He looks just like the guy my ex was fucking when we separated. For example, my ex and I have blue eyes and my 7yo has big brown eyes.
She thinks I’m a fucking fool and that I believe he’s mine but I’ve known for a few years now. It doesn’t really bother me. I love that boy more than life itself but I get a kick out of watching her having to live with a lie that eats her alive because she’s fearful it would destroy her family.
She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.
5. I ended my friendship with my BFF because her kid is ugly.
My bff of 3 years is a single mom. We would text every day and she would send me 15-20 pictures a day of her four year old son. I’ve seen photos of this childs EVERY move. I’d wake up to pics of him on my phone. I’d see them again on social media. Sometimes she would even send pics in the mail.
The thing is that the kids ugly and seeing his face that many times a day made me angry. There’s no nice way to put it.
If I was honest and asked her to stop sending me pictures it would crush her. In hopes that she would catch onto my energy I stopped replying to the pics calling him cute & saying aww. Instead I’d react to the pictures with a thumbs up or id comment on something in the background that was totally irrelevant.
Eventually it irked me so much that I stopped communicating entirely. We have spoke a few times and I apologized saying I’ve been busy with life.
Honestly I don’t miss the friendship. In fact, i’m relieved that I don’t have to be blown up with pictures of her ugly kid 24/7
6. My son has significant disabilities, and I hate that this is my life
Before I begin you should know that I love my child unconditionally. He is so smart in his own way, and has a generous heart. I know this.
But I also, sometimes… okay, a lot of the time, hate that this is my life.
I hate the looks we get. When someone asks him a question then awkwardly realizes he can’t respond. When he has a major, hysterical meltdown in a store and I have to sing and rock him on the floor until he calms down. When other kids realize he isn’t as “normal” as he looks…
I hate that he will probably never have a real friend. That I will have to fight for him to be included in everything. That his birthday parties will likely be adults/family only.
I hate not being able to go to church without making sure they have an adult with training to be with him. I hate how hard it is to find adults to be with him. And that I have to be the one to train them.
I hate that he will be my only child. I don’t know that I can handle a second child with disabilities… and it’s not fair to him if we bring a neurotypical child into the mix. It’s not fair to the other child either.
I hate that he has to be watched 24/7. I never get anything done because I am exhausted from keeping him safe while trying to give him room to grow and learn.
I hate the appointments, the juggling of specialists and primary care doctors and trying to remember who needs to be told what. I hate having to sign a kajillion disclosures to share information, and I hate that even my husband has to ask me what all kiddo has going on.
I hate that he hurts me. Yes, I understand the reasons: trauma and development and delayed attachment and frustration. But I hate that my baby boy, my darling child, regularly kicks and hits and bites and scratches me.
I hate saying, “Kind hands, please.”
I hate how much I rely on his tablet to occupy him.
I hate when people say it’s just a phase. Or all boys/kids do that. It’s not true, and they know it. But no one is comfortable enough to say, “that sounds like it sucks.” Which is what I really want.
I hate that being away from him takes so much planning and money. That we can’t hire just anyone to watch him. It has to be an adult with training, or a respite provider (which is impossible to get), or a rare, understanding friend. Or my husband.
Most of all, I hate that I hate any part of being his mommy. Because I always wanted to be a mom. And when we found out we couldn’t have biological children, I was so happy my husband agreed to adopt. I knew it would be hard. I knew it meant raising a child with disabilities and trauma. And I worked my ass off to prepare for it.
But here I am. On Reddit, telling however many strangers that I hate being a mom to a child with disabilities. Because there is nowhere else I can go and be this raw and open about it.
And I hate that our society is the kind of place where parents like me can’t be raw and open. Because I already know some of you are judging me, or calling me a snowflake, or passing by this post because this sliver of my reality is too much for you to bear on top of your own stuff.
But I had to say it. Had to let it out because it’s too hard to carry around on top of all the other shit I have to carry every single day.
Ukraine And Russia Agree – Russia Is Fighting NATO
Russia and Ukraine have publicly agreed on a fundamental and important issue.
The question is who Russia is fighting in Ukraine.
During an interview with a Ukrainian TV station the Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister of Ukraine, answered that the Ukraine has “already become a de facto member of the NATO alliance.”
defukr
biggerThe interview, given four days ago, is available on Youtube. English language subtitles can be generated by autotranslate. The sentence pictured above comes at about 1:25 minutes in.
Sputnik, which seems to be the only international outlet that has picked up on this, has more (from ~11:05 min):
“At the NATO Summit in Madrid” in June 2022, “it was clearly delineated that over the coming decade, the main threat to the alliance would be the Russian Federation. Today Ukraine is eliminating this threat. We are carrying out NATO’s mission today. They aren’t shedding their blood. We’re shedding ours. That’s why they’re required to supply us with weapons,” Reznikov said …The official said Kiev was being constantly reminded by its “Western partners” that it, “like a real shield, is defending the entire civilized world, the entire West,” from the Russians, and said that he personally has recently received holiday greeting cards and text messages from Western defense ministers to that effect.
Reznikov expressed “absolute” certainty in Ukraine’s eventual entry into NATO, saying he was “convinced that this is an absolutely realistic possibility… Of course they won’t accept this political decision via consensus before our victory. This is clear. But after the victory, after all this ends and some kind of peace arrives, NATO countries, first and foremost, will be interested in the construction of this security architecture. They have seen their own weak spots, they have seen who is strong and powerful. Today they are teaching us but tomorrow our officers, sergeants and even privates will be teaching them how to fight the Russians. Russia remains one of the threats to NATO, and for Europe as a whole.”
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is seen by diplomats as one of the major hardline influences on Putin, who has promised victory in Ukraine despite a series of battlefield setbacks.”The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv – this is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain,” Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.
“The Westerners’ plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world,” Patrushev said.
…
Asked about Patrushev’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said NATO and the United States were part of the Ukraine conflict.
“De facto they have already become an indirect party to this conflict, pumping Ukraine with weapons, technologies, intelligence information and so on,” Peskov told a regular news briefing.
As both sides now seem to agree on the real participants of the conflict we can assume that they will later also come to an agreement about its outcome. That however will still take a while.
The heavily fortified Ukrainian strongholds in Bahkmut (Artyomovsk) and Soledar are about to fall. The long fight over these cities has come at a high price particularly for their defenders. All the reserves the Ukrainian command has thrown into them have been ground up by massive Russian artillery applications.
Other reserves the Ukrainian army is still training up are waiting for new supplies of ‘western’ weapons. But what has been newly promised, mostly infantry fighting vehicles (aluminum cans), will only become available in late spring. The most likely plan the Ukrainian command will want to pursue is a move south towards Mariupol (bottom right) to severe the Russian land connection to Crimea.
ukrdef2
biggerThere is however only a small chance that such a move during spring could be successful. Until then Russia has the time to make its own moves.
Posted by b on January 10, 2023 at 15:30 UTC | Permalink
Why the CIA Attempted a ‘Maidan Uprising’ in Brazil
A former US intelligence official has confirmed that the shambolic Maidan remix staged in Brasilia on 8 January was a CIA operation, and linked it to the recent attempts at color revolution in Iran.
On Sunday, alleged supporters of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace, bypassing flimsy security barricades, climbing on roofs, smashing windows, destroying public property including precious paintings, while calling for a military coup as part of a regime change scheme targeting elected President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva.
According to the US source, the reason for staging the operation – which bears visible signs of hasty planning – now, is that Brazil is set to reassert itself in global geopolitics alongside fellow BRICS+ states Russia, India, and China.
That suggests CIA planners are avid readers of Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar, formerly of the New York Fed. In his ground-breaking 27 December report titled War and Commodity Encumbrance, Pozsar states that “the multipolar world order is being built not by G7 heads of state but by the ‘G7 of the East’ (the BRICS heads of state), which is a G5 really but because of ‘BRICSpansion’, I took the liberty to round up.”
He refers here to reports that Algeria, Argentina, Iran have already applied to join the BRICS – or rather its expanded version “BRICS+” – with further interest expressed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Indonesia.
The US source drew a parallel between the CIA’s Maidan in Brazil and a series of recent street demonstrations in Iran instrumentalized by the agency as part of a new color revolution drive: “These CIA operations in Brazil and Iran parallel the operation in Venezuela in 2002 that was highly successful at the start as rioters managed to seize Hugo Chavez.”
Enter the “G7 of the East”
Straussian neo-cons placed at the top of the CIA, irrespective of their political affiliation, are livid that the “G7 of the East” – as in the BRICS+ configuration of the near future – are fast moving out of the US dollar orbit.
Straussian John Bolton – who has just publicized his interest in running for the US presidency – is now demanding the ouster of Turkey from NATO as the Global South realigns rapidly within new multipolar institutions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his new Chinese counterpart Qin Gang have just announced the merging of the China-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Russia-driven Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). This means that the largest 21st century trade/connectivity/development project – the Chinese New Silk Roads – is now even more complex, and keeps expanding.
That sets the stage for the introduction, already being designed at various levels, of a new international trading currency aimed at supplanting then replacing the US dollar. Apart from an internal debate among the BRICS, one of the key vectors is the discussion team set up between the EAEU and China. When concluded, these deliberations will be presented to BRI-EAEU partner nations and of course the expanded BRICS+.
Lula at the helm in Brazil, in what is now his third non-successive presidential term, will offer a tremendous boost to BRICS+, In the 2000s, side by side with Russian President Putin and former Chinese President Hu Jintao, Lula was a key conceptualizer of a deeper role for BRICS, including trade in their own currencies.
BRICS as “the new G7 of the East,” as defined by Pozsar, is beyond anathema – as much for Straussian neo-cons as for neoliberal.
The US is being slowly but surely expelled from wider Eurasia by concerted actions of the Russia-China strategic partnership.
Ukraine is a black hole – where NATO faces a humiliation that will make Afghanistan look like Alice in Wonderland. A feeble EU being forced by Washington to de-industrialize and buy US Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) at absurdly high cost has no essential resources for the Empire to plunder.
Geoeconomically, that leaves the US-denominated “Western Hemisphere,” especially immense energy-rich Venezuela as the key target. And geopolitically, the key regional actor is Brazil.
The Straussian neo-con play is to pull all stops to prevent Chinese and Russian trade expansion and political influence in Latin America, which Washington – irrespective of international law and the concept of sovereignty, continues to call “our backyard.” In times where neoliberalism is so “inclusive” that Zionists wear swastikas, the Monroe Doctrine is back, on steroids.
All about the ‘strategy of tension’
Clues for Maidan in Brazil can be obtained, for instance, at the US Army Cyber Command at Fort Gordon, where it’s no secret the CIA deployed hundreds of assets across Brazil ahead of the recent presidential election – faithful to the “strategy of tension” playbook.
CIA chatter was intercepted at Fort Gordon since mid-2022. The main theme then was the imposition of the widespread narrative that ‘Lula could only win by cheating.’
A key target of the CIA operation was to discredit by all means the Brazilian electoral process, paving the way for a prepackaged narrative that is now unraveling: a defeated Bolsonaro fleeing Brazil and seeking refuge at former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion. Bolsonaro, advised by Steve Bannon, did flee Brazil, skipping Lula’s inauguration, but because he’s terrified he may be facing the slammer sooner rather than later. And by the way, he is in Orlando, not Mar-a-Lago.
The icing on the stale Maidan cake was what happened this past Sunday: fabricating a 8 January in Brasilia mirroring the events of 6 January, 2021 in Washington, and of course imprinting the Bolsonaro-Trump link on people’s minds.
The amateurish nature of 8 January in Brasilia suggests CIA planners got lost in their own plot. The whole farce had to be anticipated because of Pozsar’s report, which everyone-who-matters has read across the New York-Beltway axis.
What is clear, is that for some factions of the powerful US establishment, getting rid of Trump at all costs is even more crucial than crippling Brazil’s role in BRICS+.
When it comes to the internal factors of Maidan in Brazil, borrowing from novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, everything walks and talks like the Chronicle of a Coup Foretold. It is impossible that the security apparatus around Lula could not have foreseen these events, especially considering the tsunami of signs on social networks.
So there must have been a concerted effort to act softly – without any preventive big sticks – while just emitting the usual neoliberal babble.
After all, Lula’s cabinet is a mess, with ministers constantly clashing and some members supporting Bolsonaro even a few months ago. Lula calls it a “national unity government,” but it is more like a tawdry patchwork job.
Brazilian analyst Quantum Bird, a globally respected physics scholar who has returned home after a long stint in NATO lands, notes how there are “too many actors in play and too many antagonistic interests. Among Lula’s ministers, we find Bolsonarists, neoliberal-rentiers, climate interventionism converts, identity politics practitioners and a vast fauna of political neophytes and social climbers, all well aligned with Washington’s imperial interests.”
CIA-stoked ‘militants’ on the prowl
One plausible scenario is that powerful sectors of the Brazilian military – at the service of the usual Straussian neo-con think tanks, plus global finance capital – could not really pull off a real coup, considering massive popular rejection, and had to settle at best for a “soft” farce. That illustrates just how much this self-aggrandizing and highly corrupt military faction is isolated from Brazilian society.
What is deeply worrying, as Quantum Bird notes, is that the unanimity in condemning 8 January from all quarters, while no one took responsibility, “shows how Lula navigates virtually alone in a shallow sea infested by sharpened corals and hungry sharks.”
Lula’s position, he adds, “decreeing a federal intervention all by himself, without strong faces of his own government or relevant authorities, shows an improvised, disorganized and amateurish reaction.”
And all that, once again, after CIA-stoked “militants” had been organizing the “protests” openly on social media for days.
The same old CIA playbook though remains at work. It still boggles the mind how easy it is to subvert Brazil, one of the natural leaders of the Global South. Attempted old school coups cum regime change/color revolution scripts will keep being played – remember Kazakhstan in early 2021, and Iran only a few months ago.
As much as the self-aggrandizing faction of the Brazilian military may believe they control the nation, if Lula’s significant masses hit the streets in full force against the 8 January farce, the army’s impotence will be graphically imprinted. And since this is a CIA operation, the handlers will order their tropical military vassals to behave like ostriches.
The future, unfortunately, is ominous. The US establishment will not allow Brazil, the BRICS economy with the best potential after China, to be back in business with full force and in synch with the Russia-China strategic partnership.
Straussian neo-cons and neoliberals, certified geopolitical jackals and hyenas, will get even more ferocious as the “G7 of the East,” Brazil included, moves to end the suzerainty of the US dollar as imperial control of the world vanishes.
What A Homicidal 12 Year Old Looks Like
Please keep in mind that these are the kinds of people running the United States these days.
We’re back to what the world looked like in 1914 (world war 1), or before 1939 (world war 2), only in a limited sense.
There’s a plethora of nations struggling to expand their influence, but all of them are betting on multipolarity, or “peaceful modernization”, as Xi Jinping coined it, and not Forever Wars: China, Russia, India, Iran, Indonesia and others.
So bye bye 1991-2022.
The hard work starts now.
Welcome to the New Great Game on crack.
The “news” is boring, but it’s about to get lively.
I’ve put together some interesting tidbits that help round out what is going on in the West (including the United States) right now.
What’s It Like To Go To Harvard
Harvard is a very extreme place. You go there and everyone is extremely smart, extremely driven, extremely focused on attaining their goals. It is so extreme that it can become scary sometimes. When you have a bunch of people with high intelligence, but who are not necessarily mature or moral, you can get some pretty nasty results (that’s how you get so many insecure, bright students going into Wallstreet to make a lot of money even though it’s screwing everyone else over).
Even the clubs are extreme. You don’t just write for the newspaper. You have to go through a semester long competitive process to be selected into the Crimson. And after that, if you want to do well in the Crimson, you have to work your ass off and neglect your studies to be considered a true trooper. Kids here consider their extracurriculars a job. All social interactions have some sort of shady networking pre-professional slime to them.
A lot of students are really full of themselves. They spend all their time climbing the ladders of success and trying to win everything. Everyone is super busy all the time. You have to arrange lunches with your friends about two weeks in advance.
Harvard is not the type of place where you backstab your friend, but if your friend fell in a race, you would keep on running and not bend down to help. Students, for the most part, are only interested in their own benefit and will do things that look good, rather than things that are good.
But then again, there is the other extreme too. There are people who come to Harvard, not because of legacy or money, but because they are genuinely interested in the truth. I’ve met people who are so gifted at their focus, whether it’s poetry, writing comic books, musical composition, or biomedical research, and they work on these things night and day. They thrive in the guidance of their professors, and I have faith that they will make a meaningful contribution someday. I try to stick to those people.
If you ask any student what they think about Harvard, most will say that they hate it, but that they found a great group of friends who keep them sane. Those who really really really love the place have some serious mental problems–either in that they are super disingenuous or are psychopaths, or are there really only to network and join the super elite circles of final clubs and whatnot.
Harvard is still a very elite place. You will feel out of place if you are anything but a white male. You will feel a bit uncomfortable if you come from a normal middle class family, because bit by bit you see just how much money your fellow peers have.
You will realize that Harvard doesn’t care about you. Professors have office hours, yes, and they say to come, but their heart is not into it. Everyone at Harvard is there for their own benefit, for their research and for advancing their careers. Occasionally you will find professors who genuinely care, but they are the exception.
I knew going into Harvard that it wouldn’t be easy, that Mother Harvard does not coddle. And I was right. It has been hard as hell. And it’s sad to learn the truth about Harvard. But truth does make you stronger, and I would not be as strong as I am today if I didn’t gain these hard lessons from my undergrad years.
– My-Ngoc To, Harvard undergrad
I Wonder Who….Rory Gallagher Live in Belfast
Fine blues.
GEOPOLITICAL FOOD FOR THOUGHTS BY LARRY ROMANOFF :
USA WAS THE HERO DURING WW2. TODAY IT IS THE MOST HATED NATION IN THE WORLD. WHAT HAPPENED IN BETWEEN?
Some years ago, David Ignatius wrote an article in the Washington Post titled, ‘Replant the American Dream’, in which he told of traveling the world as a foreign correspondent some 35 years ago, and how he believed that as an American he carried a kind of white flag, presumably of purity and moral superiority, signifying that he – being an American – was ‘different’, and that “the world knew it”.
He then noted dejectedly that the US was slowly “shredding the fabric that defines what it means to be an American”, that Americans are now seen as “hypocrites who boast of our democratic values but who behave lawlessly and with contempt for others”.
His basic premise was that the US, and Americans generally, had “used up all their seed corn” and needed now to reach out to the world and ‘share America’s values’ once again.
He then ended with a statement of hope about the celebration of American Thanksgiving Day. Reading from his mythological American history book, he recounted the Pilgrims’ desolate fears as they departed the Old World for America, and “the measureless bounty they found in the new land”, which they shared with the local natives.
You have already read an accurate account of the first Thanksgiving, which was a bit short on sharing measureless bounty. Ignatius ended with the words: “We need to put America’s riches back on the table and share them with the world, humbly and gratefully.”
I wrote a reply to Mr. Ignatius that said in part :
You said that when you traveled the world as a correspondent carrying your American flag, you believed and felt you were different from all the others, a perception all foreigners shared. But that isn’t exactly how it was.
What you really meant to say was “I was better than them, and they knew it”.
Your despair is not from having shredded your fabric, but a nostalgic regret that those people have finally realized you are not better than them, but are worse, and that they no longer respect you but despise you.
You don’t want to reach out and ‘share America’s riches’. What you want is to replant the false utopian values of American superiority in the minds of all those people so you can once again travel the world and tell yourself you are better than everyone else – and to once again see that delusion in their eyes.
You said you must stop behaving as if you were in a permanent state of war, but your America has always been in a permanent state of war. That’s what you do.
Wars of aggression are what define you as a nation.
You don’t want the world to think badly of you about your culture of torture, massacres and war, but you have no intention of ceasing them.
You continue to destroy nations, topple governments, foster regional wars and revolutions, reduce small countries to poverty and misery, but you want to be judged only by the utopian values you preach but never follow.
You say that Americans “traveling and sharing” will make everything okay again, that you would no longer be misunderstood.
But why do you think your US today is the world’s most hated nation? It isn’t because the world doesn’t understand you, but because it does understand YOU. You are reviled as a nation and as a people, for your values that produce only instability, terror, misery, poverty and death.
You say you want to “give something back to the world”. Well, maybe you could begin by giving back the country you live in, to those from whom you stole it. Maybe you could give Panama back to Columbia and Hawaii back to the Hawaiian people. And maybe Puerto Rico back to the Puerto Ricans. Maybe you could give Korea back to the Koreans and stop preventing the unification they have wanted for the past 60 years. Maybe you could get out of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Maybe you would like to give back the wealth you forcibly plundered from about 100 nations with the strength of your military.
Perhaps you would like to give back to Chile the hundreds of billions worth of copper you stole. Maybe you would like to return all the gold you plundered from all of Central and South America and the Caribbean, when you repeatedly invaded those countries, forced open – and then emptied – the vaults in their central banks. Maybe you would like to convince Citibank to give back the billions in gold it stole from the Chinese citizens who trusted it. Maybe you would like to give back to the Philippines and Nicaragua and Haiti the peace and happiness they had before you colonised and destroyed them.
Maybe you would like to give back to mothers in Iraq the 500,000 babies that Madeline Albright killed.
You said you wanted to share America’s riches with the world, but the time for that is long past. You no longer have any riches to share with anyone, and you never shared them even when you did have.
Instead, you shared your depleted uranium artillery with the people of Iraq and Libya, who today have fetuses born that are described as ‘unidentifiable lumps of flesh’. For a decade, you shared napalm and Agent Orange with the people of Vietnam who today, fifty years later, still have tens of thousands of hideously-deformed babies being born.
Your CIA shared its 1,000-page torture manual and its Death Squad training with dozens of your dictators in Latin America. You shared your brand of democracy with Yugoslavia, converting it from a peaceful federation to a broken and pathetic mess of despair, and you then shared that same template with a dozen other nations, priding yourself on your “color revolutions”, leaving nothing but death and misery in each of them.
If you don’t mind, we don’t want you to share anything more with us.
We have had enough exposure to American-style freedom, democracy and human rights, to last us for generations.
And, to tell you the truth, we in the world have lost our stomach for your worldwide carpet of atrocities, brutality, death and misery, as well as our tolerance for your hypocrisy.
All we want is for you to just go home, mind your own goddamned business, and get your dirty, bloody, dollar-soaked fingers out of most of the world’s nations you are exploiting.
The seed corn that you refer to, is gone, but it was not eaten. It just rotted.
Confessions of a Woman With a Photographic Memory
Is studying super easy for you?
Studying? What is that?
How easy is it for you to take tests?
Absurdly easy. It’s actually pretty great, I never have to study. People at my university get a little pissed off sometimes by that.
I have never had anything but an A or a perfect score on any test (excluding math and my current studies in Russian). I chose not to skip any grades because I didn’t want to be “abnormal,” and my talent isn’t something that I reveal to most people.
How long does it take you to remember something you’ve read a year ago?
Instantly.
Have you ever tried to memorize the dictionary?
No, I have not. I got bored.
Are you able to scan quickly through a book, then “read” it later in your head?
No, I can’t. I have to actually read it the first time. That would be pretty sweet though.
Can you recall by Title/Page Number?
Title, yes, without fail. Page number is more sporadic, because I have trouble with numbers.
So how far back do your memories of things you have read go?
My earliest memory is from reading the book “Goodnight Moon” when I was in kindergarden, the first book I ever read.
How fucking easy were english classes?
Haha English classes are a fucking joke. I had to make a tough decision when I got to college; be an English major and do NO work, EVER, or actually pick something I’d need to try in.
Has anyone ever thought you cheated on a test or something like that?
YES. Sometimes during tests, teachers ask questions that come directly from the book. When I was younger if I wasn’t paying careful attention, I would accidentally just regurgitate the direct answer from the book, word for word. I didn’t mean it to be plagiarizing, I was just trying to be as precise as possible. After a few visits to the principal’s office and having to explain and prove that I wasn’t cheating, I learned to be much more careful when I take tests like that. I much prefer multiple choice.
How’d you prove to the principal?
In middle school, the first test I was sent to the principal for was given to me again verbally. After that, my teachers gave me my tests verbally for a while until they were convinced. They then sent a note in to my high school when I got older, explaining the situation.
Does your understanding of the material have any effect? ie, quantum mechanics. Do you have complete recall of writings you don’t understand?
No, my understanding is completely normal. If I read a book about quantum mechanics, which I have never studied, I would understand it precisely as well as someone who had also never studied it. I’d still have complete recall, though, and I could read other, more basic descriptions of quantum mechanics and slowly understand what I read previously based on that.
Could you in theory read a complex book then go ponder on it later without the book in hand? Then go and refer to other passages in the book or other relative books and piece it together pretty easily this way?
Yes. That’s sometimes how I do it when I read a book out of my depth.
When you are deciding on a book to read, does the fact that the memory off the book will be permanent influence you decision? I guess i’m asking if memory of garbage writing (tabloids, twilight) is a burden.
Yes and no. I don’t read magazines, ever, but I don’t mind reading books on the bestseller list or anything. Generally books like Twilight have no value or interest for me whatsoever, and subsequently kind of go away after I’m done. It is a problem when people constantly bring them up though, because then the entirety of the text floods my brain and I want to jump off a bridge.
Does this ability extend to words you hear?
No, I have poor listening comprehension. If I was ever going to suffer in a class, it would definitely be a lecture class with no textbook. I remember things I’ve heard or watched exactly as well as anyone else with moderately poor listening comprehension.
Is there every anything you remember that you wish you could forget?
Yes, absolutely. I’ve gotten some pretty nasty text messages/facebook messages, and the like. I really, REALLY wish that I could forget those sometimes.
Are there ever times it becomes a burden to remember so much? Perhaps something that you remember that you wish you didn’t have to?
YES. Sometimes it’s really lonely/upsetting to have so much wandering around in my head. If I’m happy and in a good mood, it generally is okay, but if I’m upset it can be terrible.
Are you autistic?
No, I am not autistic at all, I lead a pretty normal social life. I probably drink more than the average college student. I do have a fairly extreme case of OCD, which I’ve theorized might have something to do with my memory. I’ve heard of people with OCD who have super autobiographical memories, who can remember with extraordinary accuracy and in extraordinary detail the events of their lives and the days on which they occurred.
Has this affected your social abilities any?
Um, to an extent, yes. When I was younger I was extremely combative. There is NOTHING teachers and adults hate more than a child who constantly corrects them, and who is right in that correction. I was very depressed for a long time, because I never had anyone to talk to who understood. It was in high school that I realized that my memory was not unique. Knowing you aren’t the only one makes all the difference in the world, and I’ve become pretty normal socially since then.
Has this affected your love life?
I’ve had two boyfriends for two years each. The first was fairly docile and didn’t pick arguments with me; we had a low-key, nonargumentative relationship that ended due to him leaving for college. My second boyfriend was the most religious person I have ever encountered, and judged me deeply for my beliefs and failed to acknowledge anything I said. We fought continuously and we broke up due to college and also because we just didn’t get along. Now, I try to just opt for friends-with-benefits situations or one night stands. I’m not the most emotional person, and unless something really extraordinary happens, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Do you encounter any mental problems?
YES. I am CONSTANTLY inundated with random information. I’ll be talking to someone, and a quote from a book will pop into my head, and then another related quote will pop in, and it becomes an endless stupid chain. My current roommate discovered my ability through this once; I was very drunk and just went off on a quote chain like that, and basically gave her a running monologue of my train of thought. It gets pretty annoying sometimes. Also, if I am sad/upset/in any kind of negative mood at all, I feel like my head is a very unpleasant place to be.
Have you ever used your ability for profit?
Not yet. I’ve used it for my personal gain, such as academics, but that’s it as of now.
Do you want to use your talent for the better or follow your passion, or a combination of both?
Sort of a combination of both. I plan to attend law school after my graduation from college, which I have wanted to do since I was a child. I want to be a public defender, and I hope that my extensive memory can be put to good use there.
What is the most interesting thing you can remember reading? Favorite books, authors?
My favorite thing, and probably the most useful thing, that I have ever read has been the Bible. I am an atheist, and though I am less combative than I used to be as a young teenager, there is nothing more disconcerting to someone trying to convince me to be Christian than being able to recite the entire book back to them. Aside from this, Nietzsche, Sartre, Nabokov, Updike, and Dostoevsky are my favorite authors. My favorite book is The Possessed (also titled Demons and Devils), by Dostoevsky.
What is your favourite line of text you’ve ever read?
The poem Annabel Lee by Poe, and 2) “It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. The sky was so starry, so bright that, looking at it, one could not help asking oneself whether ill-humoured and capricious people could live under such a sky.” -Dostoevsky, White Nights
Brand New VW Transporter Gets Witty Camouflage To Keep It From Being Stolen
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There are plenty of different ways to protect your car from theft, but one owner of a Volkswagen Transporter van decided to protect it in a novel way – by covering the new vehicle in rust-like vinyl to make it look like a hunk of junk!
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The artwork for the vinyl wrap, done by Clyde’s Wraps in Glasgow, involved taking exact measurements of the entire van. This allowed their artists to realistically model rust as if it had been formed by water running down from the vehicle’s handles, mirrors and frames.
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“It only took 3 days for the police to pull him over to ask what was going on with all the rust,” Clyde’s Wraps write on their website. “Please note that there is nothing illegal about going to town with graphics on your vehicle but it may confuse others!” That’s true, but in this case, it seems like that was exactly the point – and it worked!
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Baked Swedish Meatballs
“This recipe is from my Seaward Inn Cookbook. My husband loves it so much that I am putting it on-line to reference while travelling. I serve it with egg noodles. The Seaward Inn is a lovely place in Rockport, MA, that we visited each summer while the Campbell family owned it. Great food and ambience!”
Shape into 1″ balls. Brown on all sides in skillet (or bake in 400 degree oven for 20 min.).
Remove meatballs to 2 quart casserole.
In skillet, or saucepan:
Add 5 Tbsp flour (or cornstarch) to meat drippings, then add 1 can Consomme and 1 can water.
Note: Shake with 1 soup can of water with flour (or cornstarch) if meatballs were baked. Then add to Consomme.
Cook, stirring gravy until thick and smooth.
Add 1 cup light cream and 1 tsp dillweed, and stir until blended.
Add to meatballs.
Bake, covered for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
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Rory Gallagher – A million miles away 1977
I'm watching a genius that played straight from the heart ..This type of musicianship is rare..Forget tricks and speed and so-called power playing...What your looking at here can not be learned from a book or video ..this is true art ..R.I.P Rory
Confessions Of A Woman In A Male Dominated Engineering Class
Being in the computer engineering field, I’m used to a certain difference in the number of guys to girls in my classes. Even in my first basic programming course there was like 100 guys to maybe 15 girls before a few of them dropped and we ended up with like 10 finishing the course.
A couple months ago, when I walked into Intro to Software Engineering, I saw… well, I saw a room full of 49 guys. And then there was me. Some of the guys I had taken classes with before and I knew, many were new faces.
Now, my other classes this semester have been more fairly balanced, but for the past couple of months every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have to be in a room for three hours with some of the thirstiest, horniest guys on campus, all focusing their attention on me. And I’ve been loving teasing every single one of them. Sometimes I even make their dreams come true.
I admit, being a (relatively) attractive girl that’s into nerdy shit really inflated my ego from middle school on. If I didn’t have a whole childhood’s worth of family trouble and abusive, traumatic relationships I would probably be insufferable (maybe I am already, oh god). I thought I was used to the attention from the guys, from being the only girl on the math club in middle school and being group touched in the hotel room during a competition to being convinced to join the Gaming Club in high school with my boyfriend to be something he showed off as he made me suck him off in front of the club.
Nothing, though, nothing compares to the attention I get being the only girl in Intro to Software Engineering, Spring 2019.
And it all started innocently enough – I thought I was just going to enjoy being the center of attention, indulge in my little haven of being desired, tease my way through the guys and enjoy myself. It was empowering. But it’s developed into bit more than that. I’ve developed a bit of an unhealthy addiction to being the slut of the group. I am addicted to pleasing awkward, nerdy cock. My reputation has spread slightly, and I need to dial it back I think.
At my core, I’m a numbers girl. I love data, almost as much as I love sucking the cum out of a cock. And here’s what the numbers say:
41: The number of guys from this class who have added me on Instagram or Facebook and have sent me some thirsty, creepy, or honestly genuinely sweet message hitting on me. That’s 82% of the class.
12: The number of different guys I’ve had sex with that take this class
20: The number of different guys that I have made cum in some way with some kind of -job.
24: The number I want to get that 20 count up to (half of the class, that’s pretty good, right?) before this class ends.
3: The number of weeks I have until this course ends.
7: The number of distinct places on campus I’ve done something with a guy from this class (I count “their room” as just one place across all guys).
4: The number of guys that I genuinely liked well enough that I hung out with multiple times.
7: The most number of guys who have been in the same room as me topless.
4: The most number of guys I’ve made cum in one night through whatever means.
336: The approximate dollar value in terms of lingerie I’ve given away as a sexy little trophy for some guys.
0: The number of times I’ve worn a bra to class since February 18th.
What’s It Like To Lose Everything
I once had it all – literally what seemed to be the pinnacle of my life or so it seemed. We just purchased a beautiful new home in a great area of the city. Zero debt plus 6 figures in the bank. Cute new car. Great position at work. To the outside world, we seemed like the “it” couple. Then everything came crashing down.. fast and HARD!
Marriage dissolved almost overnight. I lasted ONE year in that brand new house. ONE. For reasons too long to list, my 14 yr relationship with what was supposed to be my “life” partner dissolved. And with it, I also lost my immediate family – goodbye brother and mother (dad croaked years ago).
SAME effin time, my work decided to let me go – AFTER dedicating 10 years of my life to them and being promoted 4–5xs. I didn’t see it coming at all. It was almost like I was blindsided. I was in the middle of a monster release, was working around the clock – so much so that my European counterparts were convinced I never slept. My developers, everyone was BLINDSIDED that THEY (VPs, CTO, etc) chose to cut me off. Me and my barely 6 figure salary. I believe I was paid about high $90k then.
And my SHITHOLE of a soon to be ex wanted EVERY FKN THING! He would NOT let me go. So I left him the house, car, everything in it. EVERYTHING was devalued at a fraction of a price just so that I can be free and OUT of harms way. What did this mean? It meant that I had to start over… and can kiss my upgraded Samsung appliances buh-bye. LOL it was back to laundry mats again. Which is fine but still.. I miss having my own washer dryer.
Same time my 16 yr old dog is dying… Literally. He was diagnosed with an incurable aggressive tumor at the same time my marriage fell apart. So to date- lost my house, husband, job, mother, brother and now dog?! Yea shit times dont even being to cover it.
PLUS I had to now pay my very expensive divorce attorney. Yes he kept me safe but at a price. $50k to be exact.
By some miracle, my old landlord heard of my plight and offered me my old home back. Upgraded appliances and all. Phew. So that solved where to live. But the economy was still in the tank. NO ONE WAS HIRING! And I mean NO one.
Despite my good background, I couldn’t find a job close by. Ended up commuting down the Peninsula 2 hours each way. Did I mention my ex got the car? Yep so I Zipcar and rode their shuttle and just made it work. My health took the brute of it. My body was attacking itself from all the stress. My gums became swollen. My digestive tract rejected something as simple as strawberries. And there was nothing my GP could do but wait for the stress to subside and for my body to go back to “normal”. I ballooned up 45 lbs in 6 months because of this and no, I wasn’t pregnant.
But I was working right? LOL wrong. That peninsula gig lasted approximately 2 months! The boss turned out to be an utter nightmare. All 8 people in her dept either quit or transferred out she was such a dragon lady. A few months later my old job (yes the one that let me go) asked me to come back and help them out of a bind. *sigh* Beggars cannot be choosers, right? It’s work, right?
So I returned.. 45 lbs bigger and clearly depressed because of everything else going on in my life. Everyone at work was flabbergasted. Few could barely recognize me. Some naively asked if I was happy to be back. I responded “This feels like attending your exbf’s wedding and he’s marrying a supermodel. Btw he’s the one who got away.. That’s what THIS feels like”
But I soldiered on cuz I needed the money. That didn’t last. My boss at the time turned out to be dealing with her own life problems and thus wasn’t in the best headspace – explaining the sudden bind. The person who I replaced couldn’t take the stress and jump ship midstream – which is highly unusual, especially knowing her caliber and strong work ethic. So this “return” only lasted 3 months! My exit was so callous that they turned off my admin rights AS I was teaching a class!
At this point, I sincerely hated life. I was trying to make the financial bleed stop. I even played around w/ water fasting thinking of various ways to stretch the dollar. The only person who didn’t suffer was my dying dog. I forgoed vitamins, healthy food, healthcare, etc. I sold EVERYTHING. All my electronic appliances – gone via Ebay. All my jewelry gone!
Diamond stud earrings went to a lovely lesbian via Ebay. I gave sent her the appraisal that I had made almost a decade ago for insurance purposes. My watch went to a second hand shop in Florida. My cocktail earrings went to a diamond merchant downtown. And my wedding rings went to an “estate” jeweler close by. The last stung the most. I never had ANYTHING EXPENSIVE my whole life. This was it. I cried SO much. I didn’t want to let them go but I had zero choice. None.
Unemployment was maxed out after 6 months. I sold everything else at home. LOL I even sold my stupid Burberry scarf, air filter and a flash drive. Basically if it served no utilitarian purpose, it was gone. Even if I only made $5. It was still $5 more than what I previously had.
I remember the jeweler almost didn’t take the rings. He said I needed to stop crying or else he wouldn’t take them and gave me this stupid lecture how they weren’t flawless. Flawless my azz. I know jewelry and they nearly ticked off “excellent” in all the 4Cs. He said I was young and pretty and will probably remarry. LOL I couldn’t think straight. I could not stop crying. How do I explain to him that I was married to a monster and those rings were the only piece of jewelry that I ever had the 14 yrs I was with him. My eyes even water now in remembrance.
But I had to pay the bills. I have to pay my rent and utilities. My utilities got turned off at least once. EACH of them.
I ended up at a startup through a recruiter who I met via an old application a few yrs ago. That was ok until she met me. Talk about catfight. Meow! She got on my case because I was always hungry and started to shrink. How do I explain to her that I barely had any food at home? That being at work and access to the snacks and free meals was my guaranteed sustenance of the day?! But I kept it professional.
And lo behold this Series A startup closed up shop. That gig lasted 4 1/2 months. FML!!! And worse yet, not only did they lose funding but we had to move.. from the best place of the city to the worst. So not only was I poor but now I’m worried about my safety because I’m now surrounded by drugged out vagrants. Lovely.
All throughout this time, I maxed out my CCs. Cashed in my 401k. Liquidated my savings. I was as poor as can be. And completely utterly miserable.
18 months floated by.. yes 18 months and zero bites. None, nada. I even tried my hand at odd jobs. No one would hire me. Even dumbed down my resume. No dice. Then miraculously I landed a gig. Something that I knew as it was applicable to my background. And shyt, well guess what happened.. Yep. Let go again. This time after 5 solid months.
It turned out to be a clusterfuck. They kept moving the deadlines. Politics up the wazoo. And the environment was weird. The men kept flirting with me. Constantly. Didn’t matter what age. 25 all the way up to 40. I was 42 back then. But I still did it. Cuz dmn it, I’m not a quitter and sorely needed the cash.
My loving friends stood buy and offered emotional support. One even loaned me cash as he is a self retired budding millionaire. First I thought he did it because of his religion and the fact that his mom loaned him cash when he was in a bind. Nope. Turns out he was hoping to fk me and professed having a long standing crush on me. Um, no ty.
As of today, I’m slowly getting my shit in order. Slowly rebuilding my life. So no, not back to where I was but I’m hopeful. But what you just read described my fall from grace.
– Anonymous
Baby Kitten By The roadside and Waiting For Someone To Save It
I have to say this is my favorite out of all the videos you uploaded.
I saw in your face the emotion, the kindness, gentleness and the satisfaction of being able to heal the sweet kitty that loves you now.
The smile on your face is priceless ! You must keep this kitty now. He (I think it is a ‘he’?) has claimed you are his own!
France Supplies Light Tanks to Ukraine — Escalation
In a potentially escalatory move, French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to supply Ukraine with tanks following talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Wednesday, the Elysée announced that French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks — which were designed in the 1980s and are currently being phased out of the French military — will be sent to Ukraine. The move is a significant change of position from the Macron government, which hitherto has shied away from sending armor to the war zone for fear of escalating tensions with Moscow.
France has already been supplying Kyiv (Kiev) with air defense systems, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, and armored vehicles, but President Macron has been one of the few voices in Europe to consistently call for continued peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin to bring the conflict to an end.
The decision to send French-made tanks to the battlefield appears, therefore, to be a first move in shifting perspectives from western capitals on the viability of peace talks with the Kremlin.
A French presidential aid said according to the AFP: “The president wanted to increase aid” to Ukraine “by accepting to deliver AMX-10 RC light tanks,” adding: “It is the first time that Western-designed tanks are supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces.”
President Zelensky for his part wrote on Twitter: “Had a long and detailed conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron on the current situation. Thanked for the decision to transfer light tanks and Bastion APCs to Ukraine, as well as for intensifying work with partners in the same direction.”
Just days later, U.S. President Biden said he too would be sending armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, selecting Bradley M2s to be donated. Germany is also getting involved, announcing at the same time it would be sending Marder IFVs to Ukraine, a potentially risky move given the German Army has just brought back its now-vintage Marder armor to front-line service, given the new replacements have so many problems they have proven totally unusable in actual service.
Situation report: Brazil at the start of 9 January.
1. A state of emergency is declared in the Brazilian capital until 30 January. Various citizens’ rights will be restricted in accordance with the law on emergencies.
2. Brazilian President Lula da Silva announces the start of an intervention of federal troops in the capital to suppress an insurgency.
3. Argentina and Chile formally offer Brazil an offer to send police special forces to the capital to help the Brazilian police suppress the riots.
4. Brazilian authorities promise to bring those responsible for the riots to the harshest possible accountability and Lula said that he will seek where their money and resources come from.
5. Venezuelan President Maduro calls the attempted coup in Brazil a neo-fascist insurgency.
6. Most leaders in Latin America send supportive messages to Lula and they all know it is an attempted right-wing coup, so they condemn it. Lula has incredible support in the region.
7. Lula has been out and about, assessing the damage as the presidential palace, congress buildings, and supreme court buildings in the area called Brazilia, have been vandalized.
8. I cannot confirm but seemingly the previous minister of Justice is in Orlando, Florida and that is where Bolsonaro is.
9. In the general language, the neo-fascist rioters are being called Fascist Trump-Nuts.
10. Reports are filtering in now that Brazilian authorities said the riots in the capital are over. Ricardo Cappelli, the spokesman for the Capital Federal District, said the situation in the region, including the country’s capital, Brasilia, was “under control.” Government offices will resume work in the coming hours. According to preliminary data, more than 400 supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro were detained during the protests.
11. I noticed the lack of Israeli flags among the rioters. During the election, the Bolsonaro factions carried Brazilian flags, Israeli flags and USA flags. I did not see one video where they are continuing to carry Israeli flags.
12. This attempted coup d’état will not remove Lula as president.
We keep watching as we see such an overt attempt at recreating a January 6th (US) situation. Russian channels are calling this a Maidan, and Escobar, crisp as always says:
HERE IS A MAIDAN REMIX GOING ON RIGHT NOW IN BRASILIA.CIA rat lines NEVER sleep.
The background in the region is that there are riots in Bolivia (regional) and in Peru the people are still in the streets after their recent coup where their president was arrested. The empire is striking back in this region that is working hard to take its own power back. AMLO in Mexico has meetings with Justin Trudeau and Biden at the moment, and he stated that he will approach Biden to remove the remnants of the hated Monroe Doctrine.
More to follow.
What is a Psychedelic Experience Like?
“Euphoria and insight,” as Roger Sterling said in Mad Men, but while the ‘visuals’ are what’s publicized, they really only make up a very small portion of the experience.
The #1 thing psychedelics do is make you unable to rationalize how important events and emotions are supposed to be, similar to the way a child thinks. In other words, it makes EVERYTHING seem incredibly significant, in a way it’s almost impossible to experience otherwise. You are INCREDIBLY attuned to small emotional / mood / vibe changes, and are in a heightened, much more “raw” state of being. This can be incredibly enlightening (or terrifying, depending on how your trip goes).
On psychedelics, you very quickly realize that scrolling on your phone, for example, makes you very uncomfortable, feels shallow and vapid, and drains your energy, like a room full of too-bright fluorescent lights. Horror movies are totally out, even if you normally love them, because the brutality will be far too much to bear. But something as simple as going outside, having a campfire, and listening to good music suddenly becomes absolutely incredible, and extremely poignant. Nature is the #1 thing to pair with psychedelics. It truly makes you see the beauty of the earth in a much more profound way.
It’s also a serotonin kick, and it makes your emotional relationship senses heightened as well. You often experience a profound sense of camaraderie and an outpouring of love — you will realize, for example, all the ways that your partner is beautiful, kind, and wonderful, and you’ll question how you could ever take anything for granted, especially the people that you’re surrounded by.
It can also grant you deep introspection, where your mask of ego and projection is thrown off, allowing you to see the truth at the core of your life (although sometimes this “truth” is not more accurate than the way you see yourself, just simply different.) This can be wonderful, or it can be extremely difficult, it just depends on your surroundings, dose, and mental state.
Long story short, while psychedelics don’t make you hallucinate, it’s like they strip away the callouses of your soul and heart, callouses that have been layered on by pain, age, boredom, and the grinding repetition of life. Once those callouses are broken down by the psychedelic experience, it allows you to see the world with a sense of childlike wonder again, and grasp the extraordinary nature of life and this earth for the miracle that it is.
Amazing Photos of the Third Generation of the Ford Thunderbird, 1961-1963
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The third generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car produced by Ford for the 1961 to 1963 model years. It featured new and much sleeker styling (done by Bill Boyer) than the second generation models. Sales were strong, if not quite up to record-breaking 1960, at 73,051 including 10,516 convertibles.
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A new, larger 390 cu in (6.4 L) FE-series V8 was the only engine available (in 1961). The Thunderbird was 1961’s Indianapolis 500 pace car, and featured prominently in US President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade, probably aided by the appointment of Ford executive Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense. It shared some styling cues with the much smaller European Ford Corsair.
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It was replaced by the 4th generation Thunderbird for model year 1964. Here is a set of amazing photos of the third generation of the Ford Thunderbird (1961-1963).
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FOIA Documents prove COVID-19 “Vaccines” were treated as “Medical Counter-measures” to a Bio-Weapon attack. Entire COVID Operation Run by US National Security Council with NO MANUFACTURING SAFEGUARDS OR DISCLOSURES
New Docs Reveal Department of Defense Controlled COVID-19 Program from the start. The FDA Vaccine Approval Process was Theater. A combination of the PREP Act, Emergency Use Authorization, and Other Transactions Authority (OTA), shielded Big Pharma, Agencies, and Medical Participants that Delivered Unregulated Vaccines, from any liability.
According to congressionally passed statutes, research of active laws, and extra details obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the Department of Defense owns, implements, and oversees the COVID-19 vaccine program as a “Countermeasure” to foreign attack. While the public was bombarded with an orchestrated fear campaign, the U.S. Government managed the Covid response as a national security threat.
The undercover operation was orchestrated utilizing three critical legal maneuvers:
1. Emergency Use Authorization EUA.
2. Prep Act,
3. Other Transactions Authority
President Trump declared a Public Health Emergency (PHE) on March 13, 2020, under the Stafford Act, putting the National Security Council in charge of the Covid policy. Covid-19 vaccines are “medical countermeasures” – a grey area of products that are not regulated as vaccines or medicines.
“They put the National Security Council in charge and treated it as an act of war,” said Latypova.
According to Operation Warp Speed/ASPR reports, the DoD ordered, oversaw, and tightly managed the development, manufacture, and distribution of Covid countermeasures, mainly utilizing the DoD’s previously established network of military contractors and consortia.
Department of Defense (DoD), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ordered all Covid countermeasures, including “vaccines” as prototype demonstrations of large-scale manufacturing, avoiding regulations and transparency under Other Transaction Authority. As prototypes used under EUA during PHE, Covid countermeasures, including “vaccines,” need not comply with the U.S. laws for manufacturing quality, safety, and labeling.
“The implication is that the U.S. Government authorized and funded the deployment of noncompliant biological materials on Americans without clarifying their “prototype” legal status, making the materials not subject to normal regulatory oversight, all while maintaining a fraudulent pseudo- “regulatory” presentation to the public,” said Latypova.
“Most incredible is the fact that current Laws enacted by the United States Congress appear to make the coverup actions LEGAL!”
Under the PHE, medical countermeasures are not regulated or safeguarded as pharmaceutical products (21 USC 360bbb-3(k)).
The American people were led to believe that the FDA, CDC, and figureheads like Anthony Fauci, oversaw the COVID-19 vaccine program. Their involvement was an orchestrated information operation. All decisions concerning the COVID-19 vaccine research, materials acquisition, distribution, and information sharing were tightly controlled by the DoD.
Hundreds of Covid countermeasures contracts have been uncovered. Many disclosures are in redacted form. However, Latypova and Watt have found sources to fill in the details.
A review of these contracts indicates a high degree of control by the U.S. Government (DoD/BARDA). It specifies the scope of deliverables as “demonstrations” and “prototypes” only while excluding clinical trials and manufacturing quality control from the scope of work paid for by the contracts.
To ensure that the Pharma is free to conduct the fake clinical trials without financial risk, the contracts include the removal of all liability for the manufacturers and any contractors along the supply and distribution chain under the 2005 PREP Act and related federal legislation.
Why is no action by regulators or courts? According to Latypova and Watt, a combination of recently passed legislation and executive orders make it LEGAL to LIE! The HHS Secretary is accountable to no one if the Health National Emergency continues to be extended by Congress every three months.
A significant information operation was set in motion the minute COVID-19 hit. The U.S. government, the intelligence community, the media, and Big Tech colluded to orchestrate and implement an intense pressure campaign designed to get the vaccine legally designated under the Emergency Use Authorization Act while vilifying dissenting doctors, critics, and viable alternative treatments. This designation allowed for speedy manufacturing devoid of the standard safety and public health protocols.
For a vaccine to receive designation under the EUA, there can be no other known treatments or cures. Therefore, many proven treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were blacklisted in the media and dismissed as “horse de-wormers” when these cheap, readily available drugs were in the past heralded for their effectiveness.
Eminent COVID-treating doctors such as Peter M. McCullough and Pierre Kory have faced unprecedented attacks on their medical credentials.
HAL TURNER ANALYSIS AND PERSONAL OPINION
I am not a lawyer and am not qualified to render a competent legal opinion. That said, it seems to me, as a layman, that when these COVID-19 “vaccines” were declared to be prototype demonstrations of large-scale manufacturing, that was fraud.
This was not going to be a . . .demonstration of large-scale manufacturing” it was going to be wide-scale distribution to the general public. This was clear from the outset. There was no question about this. THAT makes it fraud.
The persons who declared the “vaccines” to be prototype demonstrations of large-scale manufacturing knew what they were saying was fraud and they did it anyway.
In American federal jurisprudence, “Fraud vitiates everything.” Nothing that stemmed from the fraud can be allowed to remain, and everything caused BY the fraud must be remediated by the courts to the extent possible. (See United States v. Throckmorton (98 U.S. 61 (1878)). In the Throckmorton case, the Supreme Court of the United States court held “fraud vitiates everything.”
As such, it seems to me, no one can have any immunity from liability because everyone involved knew, or should have known, the entire COVID-19 Vaccine operation was a fraud. Not only were the brand new mRNA gene therapy shots NOT “vaccines” they were being distributed as such when everyone in the process knew there was no foreign attack, this was not a “medical countermeasure,” and the representation that these were “prototype demonstrations of large-scale manufacturing” were all falsehoods.
I believe this situation qualifies as a “crime against humanity” for the scope of the deliberate fraud, and the horrific damages, injuries, and deaths, caused by these mRNA vaccines.
People are still, to this very moment, actually dying from consequences of having taken these fraudulent “vaccines.” People need to go to prison for this.
In the meantime, NO ONE SHOULD TAKE THESE VACCINES OR THEIR “BOOSTERS.” It is now clear that no safeguards were used in the manufacture of these materials, no one is being told what the actual ingredients of these shots are, it is now established scientific fact these shots do not prevent anyone from being infected with COVID, do not protect anyone from transmitting the virus to others, do not prevent severe illness from COVID, and do not prevent death from COVID. Worse, there are documented, widespread, injuries and deaths attributable to these shots.
Given these realities, it seems logical to me that no one should take these shots again.
Confessions Of An Ex-Mercenary
How does one become a mercenary ?
Typically you start somewhere. I was a US Army Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne. Friends of friends found me, and got my first contract to go to Africa.
How’s the pay?
Pay can fluctuate. First of all, there’s a lot of deadbeats in this space. For example, Liberia asked me to create a littoral sea fighting force, but I couldn’t figure out how they would actually pay (regardless of promises) so I walked away. Never work for the UN. Total deadbeats.
The US pays you about double what you might make in uniform, which ain’t much given the risks. All the stories of guys making 2 grand a day are BS. Maybe a few guys at the beginning of the Iraq war. Also, the US might pay Blackwater $1500/day for you but Blackwater pays you only $400/day, pocketing the rest.
The best is extractive industry, especially those that are private owned. You can find these in Houston, with the right connections.
What was the best/worst compensation for the contracts you’ve been on?
Worst. Not getting paid what was owed me.
Best. Getting paid six-figure for a two-week walkabout among the armed groups of the Sahara. Oil company.
How do you acquire your equipment? Especially for situations where you’re raising a small army.
It depends on the client. When I worked US government (USG) contracts, they would pay for it and I would go get it. Hence I did shopping sprees in Eastern Europe.
Are there anybody that you refuse to work with? If so: why?
There are many whom I would refuse to work with. For example, China or Russia. Actually, any who is the enemy of the US, since I’m still an ex-soldier at heart and blue passport holder.
However, a lot of people don’t care and go where the money. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, left the US and now works for China in Africa. He’s now in DC pimping an idea to hire a mercenary army to “fix” Afghanistan. It’s a dangerous idea.
What was the craziest thing you had to do as a mercenary?
Stop a genocide in Africa.
Could you elaborate?
Only a little.
The US had intel that an extremist Hutu group hiding in the Congo called the FNL were planning to assassinate the President of Burundi in 1994. If they did this, it would cause a chain of reprisal killings – Tutsi killing hutus and hutus then killing tutsi – that would rekindle the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The US sent us in to prevent all this from happening, with out the governments of Burundi, Rwanda, DRC etc knowing. Only about 5 people knew in Burundi our mission, including the President and General in charge of their military.
We succeeded. I am sorry that I can’t go into the operational details.
What is the rule on killing kids?
There are no rules.
Unless they are written into the contract.
BTW mercs make moral choices. They can say ‘no’ to a contract or ROE, unlike soldiers and marines. They can also go ‘off contract’ or rogue.
Is your work considered peacekeeping, or are you on a definite side of the wars you’ve been part of?
“Peacekeeping” is one of those weasel words that diplomats like to throw around to cover their operations. Putin said he was doing ‘peacekeeping’ in Chechnya. The UN does “peace enforcement,” which they did in the eastern Congo in 2013.
I’m straight faced about it. We do war.
During your time as a Merc, how many times have you had run-ins with SOFs (Special Operations Forces) from other countries, which ones, how many did you actually have to fight, and which ones scared you the most?
All the time. People cluster around skillset, so if you have a SOF or paratrooper or ranger etc background, you will gravitate to those with like skills and either form a team or join one.
The best are from US, richer European countries and many of the former Soviet republics. Latin american SOF is good too. The worst are African and Middle east countries. Scariest: ex-Soviet. They are…different than the rest of us.
How so? Psychologically they’re different? Their skill sets?
Yeah. Many of them are crazy and tough. They use to have this thing in Spetznatz training called the Rule of the Grandfathers. Recruits would have bones broken.
How large is the industry, and would you say that it is mostly larger bodies of armed men, or do mercenaries also do smaller, covert ops missions in tight, single digit groups?
It’s really hard to say how large and how much money is sloshing around the private military world. There’s no Department of Labor and Statistics for Mercenaries.
During the height of the US wars in Iraq and Afghan, contractors worked in large military corporations. Now that this market has dried up, mercenaries are atomizing into smaller units.
What is the mortality rate for mercenaries?
It depends. Let’s assume proper mercenaries here, meaning they are ex-military and in conflict zones. The mortality is higher than most 1st world militaries. Also, if you get hurt, you are likely screwed.
Merc ops gone wrong generally don’t make the news. Mercs are hired often to work in the shadows, and if something goes wrong, their employers cut them away like a kite. That’s why we call these ‘kite missions.’
High end mercs are hired because they offer good plausible deniability.
What is the biggest misconception on PMC’s (Private Military Contractor) or Mercenary firms that is currently being published in the political science literature?
Political Science and academics in general don’t know much because this industry is so opaque. You have to be on the inside to understand it, yet not succumb to it, or get blackmailed into silence.
The common misperceptions are:
Mercenaries are ineffective. Wrong, very wrong.
Mercs are illegitimate. “Legitimacy” is a big word people like to throw around with much thinking. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter that much.
Mercs are all evil. Some are, some are not. Same with soldiers.
We can use international law to curb mercenaries. Wrong again. Mercenaries will just shoot your law enforcement.
Mercs are peripheral security problem. Wrong. The market for force is growing and cannot be stopped. At least not if we leave it on auto-pilot, which have.
Lastly, mercs are not useful. This is wrong. They are like fire: power a steam engine or burn the building down. They can augment UN forces of be used as terrorists.
Did this kind of experience provide you with insights into a deeper understanding of the interactions between the western world and the middle eastern one? If yes, could you go into details?
You can’t understand the middle east if you think in terms of “states” or countries. You have to think in terms of blocs of ancient powers warring one another. You have the Sunni bloc, lead by Saudi Arabia and includes the GCC, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and N. Africa and others.
Then you have the Shia block, lead by Iran and includes N. Iraq, Syria regime, parts of Lebanon.
I call these blocks “deep states,” not like Steve Bannon’s conspiracy theory but rather networks of power, elites and interest.
These Sunni and Shia Deep States have been at war, in some fashion, since the death of Mohammed. People who don’t see the middle east as two warring deep states will be left scratching their heads, which is what many ‘experts’ here do. Every day.
Is it good to have an knowledge of geopolitics related to the war you are participating in as a mercenary?
No. Optional.
The only knowledge you need to master is how to operate in a fire team.
Can you drop some light on the level of discipline in the mercs (rape, plunder,etc) during interactions with non-armed civilians? Have you personally witnessed any such incidents?
Good mercs do good things, bad mercs do bad things. Just like national armies around the world. However, I ran across mercenaries in the Congo that were pure evil. Really evil. It was sad.
BTW this is a serious concern you raise. I don’t have an answer because what mercenaries do is introduce market dynamics into warfare. Supply and demand dictate warfare as much as traditional military strategy.
Example. When I was in West Africa, some warlords used rape as a tactic and strategy of war. You could hire mercs to terrorize and cow local populations this way. You could also hire mercs to kill those mercs. But you are left with a world awash in mercenaries, and that’s what I fear is coming.
So, just curious if there are female mercenaries, or is this just a male arena?
I never found any female mercs, although it doesn’t mean they are not out there. I ran across female warlords in Africa, who would cut off you undercarriage in a heartbeat. With a rusty machete.
Mercenaries seem to have a fixed role in small arms conflicts (like what you said about Africa and the middle east) but with the international security landscape focused nation states and their nuclear weapons, what role do you believe mercenaries will play, if any, in nuclear security?
I think the international community is by definition Westphalian and can only see the world like a state. That’s why they continue to struggle against non-sate (what they humorously call ‘sub-state’) actors. Hence the mayhem.
Mercs are rising and can take over states, become a praetorian guard, can bully states etc. Let’s not forget that most of the states in the world are fragile or failing. And nothing is stopping the rise of mercenary organizations around the world. 100 years from now, mercenaries will be a bigger problem than nukes.
How has the battlefield changed in your lifetime? I imagine tactics are changing every day with each new advancement in equipment, but did you foresee the role of drones playing such a large role in current conflicts? It seems like we are heading towards wars where soldiers will never be in line of sight or am I thinking far too down the road?
Well, there’s war and warfare. War never changes; it’s bloody, violent, political etc. Warfare changes all the time, including tactics, leadership, environment, technology.
Drones are cheap and easily rigged into kamikazes. Expect mercenary “air forces” of suicide drone squad. There are also cyber mercs called “Hack Back Companies.”
That said, technology is over rated in war. The US has loads of tech and yet can’t conquer Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS etc. Meanwhile the humble IED remains a big tactical problem.
Mercenaries also change war. They open up strategy to the laws of the market place. Future Generals may need to know more about the laws of the marketplace and Wall Street, so they understand how to increase or decrease the flow of mercenaries into a battle space.
In your opinion, what is the best approach to handling North Korea?
DPRK is the headache that keeps on giving. If we strike them, they shell Seoul with artillery. China uses them as leverage to extract favor from the US.
Ultimately, no one wants to see DPRK fall. China and South Korea don’t want to absorb 20 million deranged refugees and no one wants to tempt the DPRK leadership’s will to launch everything they have.
Ultimately the best course of action is the status quo, which is why nothing has changed in 70 years.
What is a moment you can still vividly recall today?
Digging up children’s teeth in the genocide killing fields outside Bujumbura, Burundi.
What sorts of non-millitary exclusive skills helped you the most or did the best to keep you alive?
Cultural skills. When you are operating in Africa or elsewhere, you need to be cultural attuned. First, I’m a white guy with straight teeth, which means I’m American. That can be very disadvantageous in some parts of the world. You have to have a good intuition about people.
How does the merc profession mesh with family life? I imagine it takes one away from family a lot.
Merc life is pretty incompatible with married life. You’re always “deployed.” You can maybe do something like 6 months on a defensive lucrative mission, like defending oil pipelines in the desert. Then 6 months at home.
What is the biggest misconception people label you guys with?
People think mercenaries are villains, etc. This is BS.
People often throw machiavelli in my face, who said mercenaries are “faithless whores” or something like that. He was the guy who wrote The Prince (which I love, as well as his Art of War and Discourses on Livy). But he was a total failure. During the the early 1500s, he was in charge of Florence’s defenses and got seriously burned by his lame mercs. So he Mr Sour Grapes. Most mercs – then and now – are not like that.
The prejudice against mercenaries is extremely unjustified. Would you rather be taken a prisoner by Blackwater of the Zimbabwe army ? I recommend the former.
Beautiful Portraits Of Gorgeous Japanese Women By Kato Yasuo
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Easy Manicotti
“No cooking the manicotti, so that’s the easy part. Sometimes I will add some frozen chopped spinach, cooked and squeezed dry. A real easy meal!”
In the minutes after the New Year arrived, Ukraine struck a temporary Russian Barracks in Makiivka, killing at least 89 Russian soldiers.
Today, Russia retaliated.
More than 600 of Kiev’s troops have been eliminated in a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian-held city of Kramatorsk in the Donbass, Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed.
The bombardment on Sunday was a “retaliation operation” carried out in response to “a criminal attack” by Ukraine on a temporary housing area accommodating Russian servicemen in the city of Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on New Year’s night, the ministry said in a statement.
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian military has managed to uncover and confirm the location of Ukrainian troops in Kramatorsk in the DPR, the statement read. This data revealed that dormitory No.28 in the city was hosting more than 700 Kiev soldiers, with 600 more staying in dormitory No.47.
“As a result of a massive missile attack on these temporary housing areas of the Ukrainian military’s units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed,”the ministry said.
On January 1, at precisely 0:01am, Ukrainian forces targeted a temporary housing area containing Russian troops in the city of Makeyevka. Six missiles from a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher were fired at the building. Two of them were intercepted by Russian air defenses, but four made it through, causing massive damage to the facility. The death toll from the strike has reached 89, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Earlier this week, Moscow said several HIMARS systems operated by Ukraine had been destroyed in Donbass, including the launcher that was used in the strike on Makeyevka.
The strike on Kramatorsk took place following a 36-hour truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Orthodox Christians, who make up the majority of the population in Russia and Ukraine, could go to church and celebrate Christmas safely. The ceasefire by Russian forces was unilateral, and the Ukrainian military continued to shell multiple areas in the newly incorporated Russian territories of Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Moscow said.
This, from the Russian Ministry of Defense:
"In response to the criminal strike of the Kiev regime in the first minutes of January in Makeevka a retaliation operation was implemented During the day, Russian intelligence tools opened and reliably confirmed the temporary deployment points of the AFU military in Kramatorsk.During the day, the temporary deployment points of Ukrainian servicemen in Kramatorsk were opened. There were more than 700 military personnel in Dormitory No. 28 and more than 600 in dormitory No. 47.As a result of a massive missile strike on these points of temporary deployment of units of Ukrainian troops, more than 600 soldiers were demilitarised."
The hard work starts now. Welcome to the New Great Game on crack, Pepe Escobar writes.
2023 starts with collective NATO in Absolutely Freak Out Mode as Russian Defense Minister Shoigu announces that Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov is now on tour – complete with a set of Mr. Zircon’s hypersonic business cards.
The business tour will encompass the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, and of course include the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire’s former Mare Nostrum. Mr. Zircon on the prowl has absolutely nothing to do with the war in Ukraine: it’s a sign of what happens next when it comes to frying much bigger fishes than a bunch of Kiev psychos.
The end of 2022 did seal the frying of the Big Ukraine Negotiation Fish. It has now been served on a hot plate – and fully digested. Moscow has made it painfully clear there’s no reason whatsoever to trust the “non-agreement capable” declining superpower.
So even taxi drivers in Dacca are now betting on when the much- vaunted “winter offensive” starts, and how far will it go. General Armageddon’s path ahead is clear: all-out demilitarization and de-electrification on steroids, complete with grinding up masses of Ukrainians at the lowest possible cost to the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass until Kiev psychos beg for mercy. Or not.
Another big fried fish on a hot plate at the end of 2022 was the 2014 Minsk Agreement. The cook was no other than former chancellor Merkel (“an attempt to buy time for Ukraine”). Implied is the not exactly smokin’ gun: the strategy of the Straussian/neo-con and neoliberal-con combo in charge of U.S. foreign policy, from the beginning, was to unleash a Forever War, by proxy, against Russia.
Merkel may have been up to something telling the Russians, in their face, that she lied like crypto-Soprano Mike Pompeo, then she lied again and again, for years. That’s not embarrassing for Moscow, but for Berlin: yet another graphic demonstration of total vassalage to the Empire.
The response by the contemporary embodiment of Mercury, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Maria Zakharova, was equally intriguing: Merkel’s confession could be used as a specific reason – and evidence – for a tribunal judging Western politicians responsible for provoking the Russia-Ukraine proxy war.
No one will obviously confirm it on the record. But all this could be part of an evolving, secret Russia-Germany deal in the making, leading to Germany restoring at least some of its sovereignty.
Time to fry NATO fish
Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, visibly relishing his totally unplugged incarnation, expanded on the Fried Negotiation Fish saga. “Last warning to all nations”, as he framed it: “there can be no business with the Anglo-Saxon world [because] it is a thief, a swindler, a card-sharp that could do anything… From now on we will do without them until a new generation of sensible politicians comes to power… There is nobody in the West we could deal with about anything for any reason.”
Medvedev, significantly, recited more or less the same script, in person, to Xi Jinping in Beijing, days before the zoom to end all zooms – between Xi and Putin – that worked as a sort of informal closure of 2022, with the Russia-China strategic partnership perfectly in synch.
On the war front, General Armageddon’s new – offensive – groove is bound to lead in the next few months to an undisputable fact on the ground: a partition between a dysfunctional black hole or rump Ukraine on the west, and Novorossiya in the east.
Even the IMF is now reluctant to throw extra funds into the black hole. Kiev’s 2023 budget has an – unrealistic – $36 billion deficit. Half of the budget is military-related. The real deficit in 2022 was running at about $5 billion a month – and will inevitably balloon.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, a professor at the Kiev School of Economics, came up with a howler: the IMF is worried about Ukraine’s “debt sustainability”. He added, “if even the IMF is worried, imagine what private investors are thinking”. There will be no “investment” in rump Ukraine. Multinational vultures will grab land for nothing and whatever puny productive assets may remain.
Arguably the biggest fish to be fried in 2023 is the myth of NATO. Every serious military analyst, few Americans included, knows that the Russian Army and military industrial complex represents a superior system than what existed at the end of the U.S.SR, and far superior to that of the U.S. and the rest of NATO today.
The Mackinder-style final blow to a possible alliance between Germany (EU), Russia and China – which is what is really behind the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine – is not proceeding according to the Straussian wet dream.
Saddam Hussein, former imperial vassal, was regime-changed because he wanted to bypass the petrodollar. Now we have the inevitable rise of the petroyuan – “in three to five years”, as Xi Jinping announced in Riyadh: you just can’t prevent it with Shock’n Awe on Beijing.
In 2008, Russia embarked on a massive rebuilding of missile forces and a 14-year plan to modernize land-based armed forces. Mr. Zircon presenting his hypersonic business card across the Mare Nostrum is just a small part of the Big Picture.
The myth of U.S. power
The CIA abandoned Afghanistan in a humiliating retreat – even ditching the heroin ratline – just to relocate to Ukraine and continue playing the same old broken records. The CIA is behind the ongoing sabotage of Russian infrastructure – in tandem with MI6 and others. Sooner or later there will be blowback.
Few people – including CIA operatives – may know that New York City, for instance, may be destroyed with a single move: blowing up the George Washington bridge. The city can’t be supplied with food and most of its requirements without the bridge. The New York City electrical grid can be destroyed by knocking out the central controls; putting it back together could take a year.
Even trespassed by infinite layers of fog of war, the current situation in Ukraine is still a skirmish.
The real war has not even started yet.
It might – soon.
Apart from Ukraine and Poland there is no NATO force worth mentioning. Germany has a risible two-day supply of ammunition. Turkey will not send a single soldier to fight Russians in Ukraine.
Out of 80,000 U.S. troops stationed in Europe, only 10% are weaponized. Recently 20,000 were added, not a big deal. If the Americans activated their troops in Europe – something rather ridiculous in itself – they would not have any place to land supplies or reinforcements. All airports and seaports would be destroyed by Russian hypersonic missiles in a matter of minutes – in continental Europe as well as the UK.
In addition, all fuel centers such as Rotterdam for oil and natural gas would be destroyed, as well as all military installations, including top American bases in Europe: Grafenwoehr, Hohenfels, Ramstein, Baumholder, Vilseck, Spangdahlem, and Wiesbaden in Germany (for the Army and Air Force); Aviano Air Base in Italy; Lajes Air Base in Portugal’s Azores islands; Naval Station Rota in Spain; Incirlik Air Base in Turkey; and Royal Air Force stations Lakenheath and Mildenhall in the UK.
All fighter jets and bombers would be destroyed – after they land or while landed: there would be no place to land except on the autobahn, where they would be sitting ducks.
Patriot missiles are worthless – as the whole Global South saw in Saudi Arabia when they tried to knock out Houthi missiles coming from Yemen. Israel’s Iron Dome can’t even knock out all primitive missiles coming from Gaza.
U.S. military power is the supreme myth of the fish to be fried variety. Essentially, they hide behind proxies – as the Ukraine Armed Forces. U.S. forces are worthless except in turkey shoots as in Iraq in 1991 and 2003, against a disabled opponent in the middle of the desert with no air cover. And never forget how NATO was completely humiliated by the Taliban.
The final breaking point
2022 ended an era: the final breaking point of the “rules-based international order” established after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
The Empire entered Desperation Row, throwing everything and the kitchen sink – proxy war on Ukraine, AUKUS, Taiwan hysteria – to dismantle the set-up they created way back in 1991.
Globalization’s rollback is being implemented by the Empire itself. That ranges from stealing the EU energy market from Russia so the hapless vassals buy ultra-expensive U.S. energy to smashing the entire semiconductor supply chain, forcibly rebuilding it around itself to “isolate” China.
The NATO vs. Russia war in Ukraine is just a cog in the wheel of the New Great Game. For the Global South, what really matters is how Eurasia – and beyond – are coordinating their integration process, from BRI to the BRICS+ expansion, from the SCO to the INSTC, from Opec+ to the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
We’re back to what the world looked like in 1914 (world war 1), or before 1939 (world war 2), only in a limited sense.
There’s a plethora of nations struggling to expand their influence, but all of them are betting on multipolarity, or “peaceful modernization”, as Xi Jinping coined it, and not Forever Wars: China, Russia, India, Iran, Indonesia and others.
So bye bye 1991-2022.
The hard work starts now.
Welcome to the New Great Game on crack.
Pepe Escobar
January 7, 2023
The Most Shocking Interrogation You’ve Ever Seen: Markeith Loyd
"The effort and time put in to making these videos is astounding. I’m 36 years old, I’ve seen a lot of different productions of film and/or documentaries and this is extremely impressive! Excellent work EWU! My wife and I enjoy watching your videos together. Please keep them coming!"
I often argue that it is better to be ignorant of all the bad and evil stuff in the world, as long as you will never be influenced or affected by it.
Ah, but the truth is, that in certain place, namely the United States, it has become a cesspool of drug-addled mentally ill people that defines the state of “normal” for that society. This is concerning.
You you need to be aware. You need to be accepting of things that you cannot change, and you had best be prepared.
Let’s dive in…
What’s It Like To Be A Psychopath?
Emotionals: Flatlines. Most days are just flatlines. You go out there, and you do what interests you, and sometimes the monotony of your existence is punctuated by events.
Sometimes you feel pleasant and happy, sometimes you feel angry, but your emotions are like calm ocean waves.
It comes, and then it goes, invariably around the clock, and they’re just as mild and watery as waves. There are no tsunamis in our world. We do not implode. We do not explode.
Our emotional range typically lacks the highest peaks and the lowest lows, but especially not the lows.
Relationships: We don’t love, and we don’t bond, and we don’t grieve. I treasure some people, but if they fell off a really tall cliff I would ask why and (if no justice needs serving) I move on. There are psychopaths who invest in people and have inner circles. There are those who do not. I’m one of those somewhere in the middle, with an inner circle I will not kill for. Regardless, we are fiercely loyal to our people. We go to great, incomprehensible lengths for them, because we are never concerned with the question, why me?
Why me, is for me, the singularly most damaging, self-pitying question people ask in a relationship. Why me? Why do I have to put up with this? Why do I have to suffer so? Why am I trapped into this? Well, we don’t have that. When we want to leave, we dust off our asses and get on our bikes and ride into the satanic sunset. If we stay, we are doing it of conscious choice and we don’t fucking whine about it.
Most importantly, we do not stalk, and we do not trap you into a relationship you don’t want to be. Your stalker ex? Not a psychopath. Your boss? Not a psychopath.
Masks:
A mask is something we use to fit in.
It is the minutiae of faking empathy, emotion, and NT thought processes in order to fit in. It is not some glamorous Sailormoon transformation process that immediately levels us up from human to dark vigilante. It includes, but isn’t just limited to:
Responding with ‘I’m fine’ instead of ‘Fuck off’
Caring about your epileptic kid stories
Being afraid with everyone else when an escaped lion appears, and screaming like a little girl.
Griping about bills.
Nervousness about a big day, speech etc.
Caring deeply about being fired
Complaining about the prices of things.
Showing low-self esteem sometimes ala ‘I’m so fat! I hate myself!’
Pretending to remember and keep grudges from that time Albert from Accounts was slightly rude to you, because that’s expected behavior and you don’t want anyone to know that you’ve all but forgotten his existence.
Extrapolate to everyday interactions that fits this trend. In other words, it’s mostly to cover up the fact that we biologically cannot give a shit, because everyone else expects us to give many shits and fit in with their model of NT behavior.
You dial these up and down depending on what your culture/society is like, but the end goal is the same — to fit in.
In tldr terms, we biologically cannot give a shit about most things that people give many shits about, so we have to hide it.
Diseases and assorted NOs:
No, we do not get PTSD. No, we do not get depressed. No, no insecurity, nor arrogance. Not sadism usually, but there are exceptions. We do not play with people for fun. We do not kill. We do not kill ourselves either. We do not post our brain scans online. We do not self-diagnose. We do not care what you think about us. We are all here for a reason, and that reason is not to nurture your disbelief.
I hope that is comprehensive insight into our day.
– Carlis Kwok
Key Pipeline Carrying Gasoline to northeast, shutdown by leak
A critical conduit supplying fuel to the US Northeast was halted on Wednesday, when the Colonial Pipeline temporarily shut operations after a spill, the latest disruption to energy flows following an outage to the Keystone oil pipeline last month.
Some product was released at Colonial’s Witt delivery station near Danville, Virginia, prompting the shutdown of its Line 3, spokeswoman Meredith Stone said in an email. The company is planning a restart at around 12 PM Eastern time on Saturday, according to a notice shared with users of the pipeline.
Colonial’s Line 3 transports refined products such as distillates and gasoline to the New York Harbor market from Houston, via Greensboro, North Carolina, and is part of a broader system that supplies fuels to the eastern US. The system’s key gasoline conduit was shut for nearly a week in 2021 after a cyberattack.
Colonial’s vast product system which includes Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 are a vital source of fuels for the eastern US. Lines 1 and 2 extend from the Houston area and meet in Charlotte, North Carolina, to form Line 3 into New York Harbor.
Beautiful Photos of the 1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner
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Introduced as a 1953 model, the new Studebakers again stunned onlookers and competitors with its radical styling. The long and lean two-door coupe was undeniably the star of the show, while the hastily designed four-door sedan was somewhat ungainly in comparison.
Representing the top of the line for 1953 Studebakers is this gorgeous Commander Starliner Hardtop. This car is an outstanding example of the breed, subject to a bare-metal restoration finished in attractive factory-offered colors of Bombay Red with a Salem White roof.
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Devoid of the fussy chrome jewelry that was typical of the early 1950s, the Commander Starliner has delicate bumpers and carefully judged brightwork that highlight the clean and uncluttered lines. Excellent, high-quality plating features on the bumpers, grille, and window trim, and the car is very well-detailed. It rides on period correct Firestone whitewall tires, with the steel wheels fitted with factory-optional wire wheel covers.
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Power comes from the original 232 cubic-inch OHV V8 engine, making 120 horsepower in standard spec. In this car, it pairs with an automatic transmission to create the ideal relaxed grand tourer. Much like the rest of the vehicle, the detailing is exceptional, with correct paint finishes on the engine and accessories. Correct fabric wiring is used, and factory correct decals appear on the oil filter and air filter housings. The attention to detail is outstanding, down to the correct Willard battery.
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Highly detailed and ready for enjoyment, this 1953 Commander Starliner Coupe brilliantly captures the optimism and creativity that defined Studebaker in the early ’50s.
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Barbecue Beef Brisket Sandwiches
Slices of beef brisket steeped in a sweet and savory sauce create a world-class sandwich.
brisket sandwiches 3 600×900 1
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) beef brisket, trimmed
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion (about 1 1/2 cup), coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup dark beer (such as porter or stout)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon paprika
6 Kaiser or other sandwich rolls
Instructions
Cook the brisket: Season the brisket with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the brisket, brown on all sides and transfer to a slow cooker.
Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir well.
Cook, covered, on LOW until the meat is very tender – 8 hours.
Remove the meat, place it on a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Reserve the sauce.
Carve brisket into thin slices and divide it among rolls topped with reserved sauce.
Serve warm.
Yield: 8 servings
What’s It Like To Almost Get Beheaded By A Mexican Cartel
I’m a 20 year old half Mexican-american dude who lives in the state of Sonora, Mexico, very close to Arizona. More precisely in Hermosillo, its biggest and capital city of the state, whose streets have been controlled by “Los Salazar” — a criminal band allied and supported by the Sinaloa’s Cartel — which’s sustation gets mainly financed by manufacturing meth and weed and crossing it to the US. In order for them to grow up and stay immune from the federal government, their motto “silver or lead” has lead for high commanders and politicians to take up the money and to set things up for the cartels to do them moves.
That being said, I wanted you guys to get a bit of background on this because this is the reality we live everyday.
I remember these story that it happened not too long ago — maybe 2017— when I accidentally got involved with the wrong guy and almost ended up dead. Back to when I started to fuck with H, money wasn’t the thing but finding a dealer since almost one one sell it and the ones who did were addicts from lowkey hoods , so I used to hang up with a guy who as an addict could get it for me if he could get high with me. I never used it daily but more like once or twice a month, and this guy helped me out with it.
Story:
I remember exactly how it happened. The day was perfect and I had the money to get half a gram, so I texted the guy on Facebook, hoping it to get a quick answer so we could meet at the point again; however, it didn’t happen so I decided to take an uber to his house and hopefully he will be there. Knocking off the door with no answer thinking to go back home, he finally opens the door and even tho he looked screwed up, I got happy I will get high.
Idk why he was so annoying at the time but i was just there for the dope so I didn’t care, besides, he was a fuckin’ junkey and u can’t expect much from them. His dealer was 30min away from his house and so I accompanied him as we usually used to. I never expected this to happen but once arrived, he told to stay at the corner while he gets the fix and gets back, but when it does, I looked at him running towards me making signs with his face and hands of like “get the fuck out!!!”, I had no idea of what was happening but before I knew it, a truck parked next to us while a bunch of dudes forced us to get inside.
They put a bag in my head so I could see nothing. In the inside, I was being taken by two or three guys so I couldn’t move, the guys didn’t talk to much to me but they were seriously threating my friend by saying “ya te cargo la verga ahora si, joto” which in English would mean “you fucked up already, bitch”.
About ten minutes after, the truck stops inside a garage and got taken inside a house where they took off the bag and then we both got placed at the corner of a room that smelled very nasty.
By that time, I already knew I’ve fucked up even though I had no idea of its reason. I was around cartel members whose coldness at killing people is know by everyone.
He and I were told to layed down and so we did. I looked at my friend and he didn’t even look at me, his eyes looked lost, and his mouth was shut. My mind was empty at that moment. Then, I heard some man asking questions related to him. Then I knew why we were here, he owed money to the boss. The men gets inside the room and my friend says: “Hey, you know I’m gonna pay you, man! I’m sorry, I can get you the money now! Please don’t!” Boss: “It’s too late. I don’t want your money now. U fucked up.” Then he asks: “Who’s these other guy???” Someone replies: “We don’t know. He was just with him.” Then he asked me: “Why are u with this piece of shit?? U wanna get killed too???” I replied: “No, sir. I’m a 20 year old student, I live with my parents. He used to get me heroine, since I didn’t know other way. I don’t have anything to do with him.” He said: “U sure? We’ll see” Then he asks a guy: “hey, moustro, come get me my machete (big knife). Let’s show this piece of shit what happens when u fuck with us.” My friend very scared said “Please don’t! I’m sorry. I swear if god I will pay you! I already have your money man! Come on! It doesn’t need to be this way. You know me man. Please, have some mercy. Please, please! Just one chance!” The boss kept quiet as someone handled a machete. When I saw it I knew what it was coming, I almost freaked out, but I tried to stay quiet and in silence.
For god’s sake, I don’t even want to think about it. I just closed my eyes and felt so scared and horrible. I don’t want to describe it. All I can say is that, once the man got this machete on his hand, he said “ahora si agarrenmelo a este pendejo” which would mean “Now yes, hold on to this fucker.” then he got grabbed by two men so we could not move, i tried to crawl a bit away as I could hear him screaming. Then I closed my eyes, but i heard everything.
The man used his machete to behead his head off. It was so horrible. I can’t describe how it sounded like but the screams were just so so terrorific. His last words were “no, don’t please. Please don’t, don’t, no, no please.” then I didn’t heard any word from him anymore. Guys were talking shit but i wasn’t putting attention.
Once dead, for a second I opened my eyes and saw so much blood so I closed them again. I didn’t know what was gonna happen next, and that’s all I remember. I passed out. Three hours later, I woke up in the middle of the night in a ditch. My face was bleeding, my whole body was was hurting. I got a trauma, but i lived to tell the story. I hope u guys never come through shit like this. It’s no joke.
– xluzix
330 Years of Unknown History: The Oldest Road in America Finally Surfaces
Often, there are hidden truths and old tales that get lost with each generation. As such, there is an untold story about the United States that begins in the 1600s.
Prior to English entrepreneur and Pennsylvania founder William Penn’s arrival to the New World, this continent was inhabited by various Indigenous Indian tribes. Once the Swedes and the Dutch began settling in the area they bartered for land (and fought over it). After William Penn’s arrival the land was sectioned out to various hamlets. The Indigenous tribes started to die off because of fighting or disease and most of them left the river areas. Mills started to appear in the late 1600s and early 1700s which created a boom in food production. This led to more people settling in the Tri-State area. Then in the 1800s, the result was that Philadelphia had the world’s largest and most diverse growth spurt of industrial sectors which of course played a huge role in the Revolutionary War.
In the 1600s, the King’s Highway was built to go from Boston, Massachusetts to Charleston, South Carolina. This highway is now the oldest road in continuous use in the nation. In Philadelphia, William Penn had the King’s Highway Bridge built by residents via royal edict. This bridge, built in 1697 is the oldest roadway bridge in continuous use in the nation. When it comes to Philadelphia however, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are still the popular tourist attractions.
“People only know about the history of Center City, Philadelphia.” said Fred Moore of the Northeast Philadelphia History Network. “Northeast Philadelphia has been all but forgotten.”
Map of the Kings Highway
Map of the King’s Highway courtesy the author.
Dangerous Deeds and Historical Events
What people are shocked to find out is that delegates of the Continental Congress often met to discuss their independence from Britain in taverns in Frankford, (now a neighborhood of Philadelphia before the consolidation of 1854). George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other important people would often travel to, work in, and sleep in parts of Northeast Philadelphia. Fast forward to the Civil War when there was a population growth of African Americans and you will find that residents of Northeast Philadelphia played a big part in the abolishment of slavery and the Underground Railroad.
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The US Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century slaves to escape to free states and Canada. Painting by Eastman Johnson, 1862. ( Public Domain )
When Thomas Holme created the first map of Philadelphia in 1687, the grid system that is in use throughout America first made an appearance. This was an efficient way of sectioning off the city as well as making it easily accessible. Then the Indian trails started to become major roads, and they had to be widened for horse and carriage travel, and the area started to become more industrialized. From those times came so many unheard stories that revealed a unique perspective on the lives of our forefathers and those who brought our nation independence.
There is a great story about Lydia Darragh, a woman who warned American troops of a British invasion during the Revolution. She crossed British lines and found out about the ambush, then left, stating she needed to get more flour from the mill to make bread for them. She did get more flour, but also stopped at an American encampment in Northeast Philadelphia to warn Washington’s troops. If that hadn’t happened, there was a chance we wouldn’t be a free country today. It is stories like these that need to be told.
“I’m baffled as to how this story has never been told before.” said Director Jason Sherman of The King’s Highway documentary. “People need to know what happened along the King’s Highway. Hopefully this documentary sheds some light on the importance of this area and how it played a significant role in the birth of our nation. Let’s save our buildings and the history that stays with them.”
Milestone
Milestone along the King’s Highway, the oldest road in continuous use in the nation. ( Public Domain )
History Revealed
The King’s Highway and the historic locations along the road are the foundation of the film. Augmenting that with in-depth historical coverage, along with expert speakers, archival footage, historical documents, photographs, maps and artifacts, the documentary is set to give us a glimpse into the past. Time lapse and walkthrough footage of various locations will allow viewers to see the beauty that has been all but forgotten. The goal of the film is to not only spread awareness about the historic value of this area, but to also showcase the historians and preservationists that are fighting to keep our beautiful city intact. Ultimately, we are spreading the word that Center City is not the only place America’s history is present.
stone arch bridge
The stone arch bridge on Frankford Avenue in Holmesburg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Erected in 1697 in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, it is the oldest surviving roadway bridge in the United States. ( Public Domain )
The producers have officially launched a Kickstarter page to get support for film festival submissions and DVD manufacturing. With support from local historical societies, civic associations, historians, experts, college professors, museums, and volunteers , The King’s Highway is causing quite a stir in the communities of Northeast Philadelphia. Center City, Philadelphia has often been the focus of film and TV specials, but no one has ever documented the King’s Highway and Northeast Philadelphia. The film will explore the importance of registering historically significant buildings on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Too many buildings are being demolished every day and they need to be saved, in order for history to be saved.
12 Guys Reveal The Red Flags They Ignored, For The Sake of Getting Laid
1. She legit stole my wallet the first time we hooked up. It had $200 in it
Sex was so damn good I just made sure I hid my wallet and valuables for rounds 2-4
2. That she was crazy. One of the first things she said to me while making out at a party was “they all say I’m crazy, but I’m really not.”
3. She said she had thousands of kids that telepathically communicate with her all at once.
I only talked to her for a few more weeks and slowly faded myself out since I was too afraid to just ghost her. That’s the type of crazy I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of. I didn’t pry too much more into it due to how uncomfortable I got.
4. The last girl I dated told me she liked holding a knife to her ex’s neck while he slept because she fantasized about murder and wanted to see what it felt like.
5. She showed up to my apartment without directions or asking. She was a friend of a friend, and knew the complex itself from talking with her earlier. Never crossed my mind to ask how she figured out my building or apartment until later, and when you wake up to a cute girl knocking on your door at 2 AM, it doesn’t really cross your mind.
We saw each other for a few months, til I figured our what was cute at first was stalkers and became upsetting when I need to sleep. Lesson learned, now I use an alias and safe house when I meet people.
6. 20 year old stripper whose husband was in jail. Husband got out and fire bombed my car in her driveway.
7. She told me she was a manipulative, emotionally unavailable, and controlling person. I still went in. She wasn’t lying lol but I think I maneuvered it well.
8. First day, she fell in love. Day two, she slapped me in the face. Day three, she broke into my house. Day 4, I learned she could squirt across the room. Day 5, she told me she had chlamydia. Day 6, I smashed one last time and didn’t pull out. Day 7, she brought me the pill that treats chlamydia and sucked my soul out right after. Day 8 and beyond, I ignored the rest of her calls and left her on read. I’m surprised my house didn’t get burnt down as it still stands today.
9. Hooked up with a girl near DC who was very into SpongeBob, which is cool I am too, but she was like SUPER into SpongeBob. Throw pillows, posters, stuffed animals everywhere. When we hooked up she made me do the laugh so she’d get off
10. Family gang ties. She would use that as a threat to prevent me from breaking up, cheating, or making her upset in general.
11. I met a girl on a bus and on our first date she told me that her father is always present and she can see him sitting right next to me. I thought she was joking or used a metaphor of him always watching her but she pointed where he was sitting (I should mention that he is alive and well). I proceeded to have a 2 year long relationship with her with lots of weird things happening in it.
English wasnt her first language neither was mine but we communicated in english. Sometimes she would say “we” when talking about what she did on a day and refuse to elaborate. Any kind of argument would end up with her trying to gaslight me about unimportant details (like she would say something and I would quote it back to her and she would say: “no thats what you said.”
She married a 60 year old man when she was 25. Really mysterious person – to this day I cant say how crazy she really is.
12. I get to her place, and it is like 4 things away from a trash heap. Seriously, piles of trash, clothes, dishes, books, etc. EVERYWHERE! Her couch looked like it was rescued from a dump. I have no sense of smell (luckily) and was down baaaaad so I was like whatever.
Then I hear a small critter noise, look over and she’s got a massive cage FULL of mice/rats. Like a ceiling to floor length cage, the kind you’d keep several toucans in. I cannot tell you the level of uncomfortable it is making out on a filthy couch, next to a pile of trash while being able to hear mice. Sex was amazing though, but I just couldn’t deal. She was a PhD student or something and the mice were retired lab rats, even still… Clean your place.
13. That she was 100% bat shit insane.
Met online. She opened with saying “wow what a dirty old white man. Whats with you white men?” She, herself, was white.
I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t. She was dead ass serious about having a heated racial argument against her own race. I played along. Turns out, she does that as a “test” to see if people can “handle her”. Red flag, but she was one of the hottest people I’ve ever talked to. We continue on.
She is an artist/engineer. She tells me how big her house is and how she would LOVE to support me. She’d pay all my bills, etc. This seemed odd, as I just met her.
She insisted I come out to Detroit to see her. I was in Ohio. I have known her a day. Well, as my blood wasn’t in the right area of my body, I decided to go. I drove the few hours and showed up at what could only be described as a house used in movies to depict a trailer trash, dirty individual.
Her front yard was covered in an array of random objects. It looked like a bomb went off in the middle of a yard sale for stuff a goodwill wouldn’t accept. There was so much random stuff, I has to step on a chair and over a fence to get from her driveway to the front door. We continued on.
Her house was a mess. It was like a homeless person got a home and moved all their homeless essence into it. It wasn’t dirty, per say, just…so so so much clutter. We went to her room and i laid down. We proceeded to talk for a while, and we wound up in a moment of silence.
I brought up something I’d seen in a documentary recently and she got super serious, super fast. She looked at me and said “okay, and the point of that sentence was…?” I replied that I was just trying to make small talk. “Who fuckin cares about a documentary. Why do I give a shit?”.
I wasn’t sure how to respond , so I went with just explaining the concept of small talk. She interrupted me and said “you are boring as fuck. Why bother opening your mouth?”
I couldn’t understand what was happening. I never had an interaction like that before. She was now nitpicking everything I said and getting angrier by the minute. I tried so much to change the subject to something she’d like but I couldn’t manage.
I still decided to sleep over. The worst part was, no matter how I tried to initiate the sex that she was talking nonstop about having over text when we met, it never happened. We just..went to sleep. I spent the entire night staring at her ceiling instead of leaving because, well, tomorrow exists.
The last straw was when she got up, pretended I didn’t exist, walked to the bathroom and took the loudest, nastiest shit ive ever heard come out of a woman…with the door open. She didn’t wash her hands, or flush.
All that for a set of blue balls and hours and hours of wasted driving.
Reports: Country of Belarus Drafts “all men ages 18-60”
Reports are coming in saying the country of Belarus has reportedly announced a Draft for “all males ages 18 through 60.” Looks like a full mobilization for war.
What A 15 Year Old Mass Killer Looks Like
Here’s some more visions into the mind of those that desire to take on control of others through leadership roles. Check it out.
https://youtu.be/MtNASztI83c
This Brutal 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom I Jonckheere Coupe
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The motor car may have been invented by German engineers, but it took two Brits to refine the concept; Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. With the Silver Ghost, introduced in 1907, Rolls Royce had set new standards in build quality and reliability. The British manufacturer has never been known for their innovations, yet has excelled in perfecting well proven principles.
For over 15 years, the ’40/50′ Silver Ghost was the only model on offer, at a time where many of the competitors offered multiple of models and types. In 1922 it was joined by the Twenty, which was aimed at a slightly wider market. From 1921 onwards, the North American customers were served more directly by a new factory in Springfield, Massachusetts. The ‘Springfield’ Silver Ghosts were intended to be identical to the British built cars, but after a few cars were built, changes were carried through to comply with the North American’s needs.
Competition from rivals like Hispano Suiza and Isotta Fraschini had grown considerably. In 1922 work was started on a larger, more powerful model to replace the Silver Ghost, which had served the British company so well for nearly two decades. Delayed several years because of other pre-occupations, the new Rolls-Royce was introduced to the public in May of 1925. First known as the ’40/50 New Phantom’, this model is now commonly referred to as Phantom I.
Much of the development concentrated on the new straight six. In many ways this was a larger version of the ‘Twenty’ six cylinder engine introduced in 1922. Cast into two banks of three cylinders, the new engine was only slightly larger than the Ghost’s but performance was considerably improved by adaption of overhead valves. The first Phantoms featured cast-iron heads, which were later replaced by twin-plug, aluminium examples to cure ‘pinging’ problems when run on poor quality fuel. In good Rolls-Royce tradition all that was said about the power was that it was ‘sufficient’ but it is believed the Phantom ‘six’ developed around 100 bhp.
Belgium-based urban exploration photographer LeiV Photo captured these interesting – perhaps even tear-jerking – scenes of classic cars slowly rusting away into oblivion in a barn or garage at an undisclosed location. Among them are an abandoned Ferrari and an old MG.
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The Ferrari appears to be little more than an empty stripped-out shell, doubtless offering little beyond a logbook should a restoration (or rebuild) effort ever be mounted. Its distinctive form, and iconic prancing horse emblem, serve as decayed reminders that this was once someone’s pride and joy. Moreover, the photographs suggest that it may have been the victim of a fire.
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The MG, on the other hand, appears to be more intact, though no less rusted through following years of idleness. The engine is fitted and the classic MG badge still graces its elegant front. Photographed in HDR, the textures of rust and decay add extra layers to the subjects which almost offset their sad condition.
Bonus: Abandoned Lamborghini Diablo surrounded by goats
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It’s made the rounds of the automotive and motorsport publications and websites. But like other abandoned supercars that have turned up online and spread like wildfire across the blogosphere, the circumstances behind its apparent dumping are hazy. Aside from our understanding that the photograph was taken in October 2011, we know very little about what appears to be an abandoned Lamborghini Diablo, parked in a field and surrounded by grazing goats.
Flickr user Nylon – who photographed the abandoned Lamborghini and added the tagline “Lamborghini Diablo Goat Edition” – hasn’t disclosed the unfortunate vehicle’s location, but comments on the page have questioned whether the abandoned supercar could actually be a replica.
Modern Forensic Science Helps Crack Details of 700-year-old “Cold Case” in Italy
Cold case Italy
In a “case of raw violence” in medieval Italy, four sword blows to the head killed a man, a team of scientists investigating the case 700 years later has determined.
Violent Murder Through Repeated Sword Blows to the Head
The victim suffered as many as four brutal sword blows to the head. “The individual was probably taken by surprise by the attacker” and was unable to properly protect his head, Tesi told Live Science in an email interaction.
The first blow fell from the front, but as the man turned, probably trying to escape, the murderer chased him and hit him repeatedly from behind. The deepest wounds were inflicted from the rear. The forensic techniques used by the scholars in their examination of the dead man’s remains included computed tomography , or three-dimensional X-ray scans, and precision digital microscopy of the skull injuries to aid facial reconstruction .
Archaeology Meets Forensics
The skeleton was excavated in 2006 at the Church of San Biagio in Cittiglio, a small town in Varese province of northern Italy. The older parts of the church date back to the eighth century AD. The victim’s remains, however, were found in an 11th-century atrium built near the entrance. Radiocarbon dating has established that he was interred there before 1260 AD.
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The murder victim was interred in the Church of San Biagio in Cittiglio prior to 1260 AD, which is now the site of ongoing excavations. (Omar Larentis / CC BY 4.0 )
The victim was a young man between 19 and 24 years of age. A 2008 study had thrown light on some of the murder victim’s skull injuries. The new study has found other injuries and has established their sequence.
According to Tesi, the victim initially appears to have dodged or blocked his assailant, although the first blow did land on the top of his head, causing a shallow injury. As the man turned around to flee, however, he was “then hit in rapid succession by two other strikes, one affecting the auricle [ear] region and the other the nuchal [back of the neck] region,” she said. “At the end, probably exhausted and face down, he was finally hit by a last blow to the back of the head that caused immediate death,” she added.
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The latest study found the murder victim was probably killed by four sword blows to the head; the first caused a slight wound, but the others seem to have killed him as he was trying to escape the attack. (Stefano Ricci/University of Siena)
The “evident overkill” indicated that the assailant may have had a complex motive for the attack. The savagery and frenzy of the attack betrayed a determination to ensure that the assault ended in the death of the victim.
The Murder Weapon, the Deceased, and His Killer
The new study has found that all the wounds were caused by the same straight-bladed weapon that was likely a steellongsword that was in use at the time. Further, the wound positioning shows that they were all inflicted by the same person.
An attempt to discover the victim’s identity through examination of historical records ended in failure as “we didn’t find anything,” Tesi said. However, the prominent positioning of his tomb makes it likely that he belonged to the influential De Citillio family that had originally built the church.
An older, healed injury to his forehead suggested that the victim had probably been a combatant in some battle. His right shoulder blade had developed in a way that suggested that he was in the habit of using a bow and practicing archery from an early age . This was perhaps a sign that he often hunted for sport.
Forensics
Forensics show the murder victim’s shoulder blade indicated he was adept at archery. At the time, many youths learned archery from a young age. ( alex_marina / Adobe Stock)
The scientists also used facial reconstruction to examine how the blows from the sword affected the soft tissues of the victim’s head. “We tested wound formation by placing a blade on the reconstructed head and replicating the blows received by the subject,” Tesi told Live Science . It helped them gauge the severity of the wounds.
Caroline Wilkinson , director of the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, said to Live Science about the study in which she was not involved, “It’s really interesting — a good use of forensic techniques to look at trauma to the head, and how those wounds have been caused.”
Wilkinson and Tesi both highlighted that facial reconstruction helps people to relate to human remains rather than looking at them as mere specimens. “Seeing the face and eyes of a young man is definitely more emotional than simply looking at a skull,” Tesi said.
This study shows how history can benefit from multidisciplinary approaches. Archaeology, forensics, historical records, and reasoned conjecture all came together to rebuild the sequence of events of a 700-year-old murder case.
By Sahir Pandey
12 People Reveal What It’s Like To Have Depression
1. It’s like trying to laugh at a joke that isn’t funny. Trying to smile for a photo you don’t want to be in. It’s like waking up in the morning and hating that you actually woke up. It feels like someone is just draining the energy out of you every time moment you are awake. It really isn’t that weird that people feel the urge to end their lives during a depression. It really makes you feel like you’re 80 years old, lost your beloved partner, are incapable of of doing what you want to do, and the only thing to find peace is to end your life. Depression is living day-by-day, not knowing what you’re going to do with yourself today. Not knowing if you want to be alive tomorrow.
2. Depression for me is a constant feeling of wanting to go home, but no matter where I am, I am never home. Even when I’m at my physical home.
It’s a constant sense of wanting to go somewhere else. I’d feel better if i was at this place. Then you go there and then it’s the same exact feeling, just in a different physical location.
I feel mentally homeless and I just want to go home.
3. You wake up in the morning and immediately wish you were still asleep. You’ll maybe try to grab a few more hours and avoid reality a little longer, but by that time your brain has kicked in, reminding you of everything you should be doing and need to do and what a failure you are for not doing them. But the concept of getting up and facing the day seems insurmountable, so you lie there, paralysed by your own self loathing and apathy.
You drag yourself out of bed after a few hours. Put on yesterday’s dirty clothes, avoid showering because it’s too much effort. You consume nothing but coffee all day because eating is too much effort, and besides, you hate yourself too much to deserve food.
You don’t go outside because it’s terrifying and foreign and you may need to interact with others, which involves mustering the tiny amount of energy you have to pretend you don’t feel this way, because the alternative is them seeing how broken you are inside and pitying you.
So you sit and stare blankly at the TV, your computer or your phone trying to kill time but not actually doing anything. Just existing, not processing anything, not thinking anything. Just killing the time until you finally get to go back to bed and lie in the dark unable to sleep because your brain is telling you how pathetic you are for being this way, than you are a failure, a burden, nobody would care if you were dead. But even suicide feels like too much effort. At 4am you’ll finally fall into a six hour sleep that is your only respite from it all, only to wake up and do it all again.
4. Living with depression is like running a marathon with a broken leg and then having everyone run past you and say “Yeah, yeah, broken leg boo-hoo, we’re all tired.” And then run the same fucking race everyday. The cycle.
You’re depressed!
You’re okay, it’ll take time, but you’re okay!
What the hell is taking so long, life blows, you’re depressed again!
You woke up and got dressed today, it’s looking up from here?
SIKE, you fucking idiot, did you truly believe your depression was done with you? You’re dumber than you lead yourself to believe!
Okay, we’re okay, we’re gonna make it. I just gotta stay strong.
Oop, you fucked up once today, I’m dragging your ass back into the dark.
OVER AND OVER AND OVER!
Is there really only one way out? I don’t know if I wanna die, I got a brother who may need me one day. I’m tired. So tired, man.
5. The worst thing about depression,is seeing everyone around you progress in their life and you are stuck in the same place.
Its like when you are playing videogame and you get stuck on some part of mission,while others are having fun,you are having the worst time in ur entire life
6. You know the feeling when you wake up, and you just want to sleep for another 5 minutes? But, you can’t because you are late for something? Imagine that feeling towards everything all the time. Always.
7. Imagine a super bad day. Maybe you lost your job. Or your significant other broke up with you. You are very sad. You may even be weepy. Life is void of colour, taste and smells. Things that once gave you pleasure do nothing. Your friends irritate you. Your favourite movies are kind of meh. Those chips you love to snack on taste bland.
And there is the exhaustion. You are tired all the time – physically and mentally. So exhausted that you don’t want to get out of bed. Or brush your teeth. Or shower/dress. Getting off the couch to make a sandwich is akin to climbing Mount Everest, so fuck that.
Its a deep, dark place. Everyone has experienced emotional upheaval at some point but non-depressed people have a ‘reason’ for it. Its temporary. Depression is living like this all the time. It also fucks with your sense of reason. Many people can’t cope with the pain. It feels like it will never end and you personally feel weak, and like a failure. People around you don’t get how tired you are. They say, take a walk or something else they deem helpful. It doesn’t help though because that walk never happens and the circular reasoning brings you right back to hating yourself.
Depression is a nasty beast but can be helped with the right meds/therapy. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
8. “Feeling nothing” is is the straight up answer, but let me elaborate. You have a bunch of hobbies or interests, that you just don’t feel like doing anymore, for no particular reason. “Oh, in my spare time I love to read a book/play my guitar/go for a walk”. None of that exists anymore. You remember that you (used to/are supposed to) like it, you just do not feel like it. So you stop doing it, and start doing… nothing.
Performing any mundane chore that you have to do, feels like carrying the burden of the one ring. Cleaning? Not gonna happen. Cooking? Who cares? “What is this, hunger? Meh.” Taking a shower? “Oh, jeez, I haven’t showered in 2 days, it’s nice and warm and… But then I’ll have to take of my clothes, and then my hair gets wet, and I’ll have to stand up and….” Getting up? “What is this world, and why am I part of this?”
9. Not wanting to do anything. Not wanting to be anything. Not wanting to be at all. I don’t necessarily want to die. I just want to have never existed.
10. You asked me how depression felt, and this is what I could come up with…
It feels like I’m walking upstream, through a current strong enough to pull me under four times over
There are others with me, but they are walking along the banks telling me to “just get out of the water”. But instead of extending a hand of help, they just move on and leave me behind.
Every once in a while, I find a rock that is strong enough for me to lean on. And I rest for a bit.
But the rocks always get tired of holding me up, and when they let go, I’m left drowning, thrown 50 feet back again.
And nothing is harder, than standing up in that current, when everything in you is telling you how much easier things would be if you just let yourself get dragged under.
11. It’s like I’m watching life on TV instead of living in it, and all I want to do is change the channel
12. We only wish depression was being “sad”.
But depression is much more than that.
It’s the excuses you have to make when you can’t make that meeting.
It’s the friends and family you’ve lost because you can’t explain why.
It’s the opportunities that land in everyone else’s lap, that they get to grasp with both hands, while yours slip out of your grasp.
It’s the exhaustion that binds your body to your bed.
It’s the hatred and resentment you feel towards yourself, towards the world for being the way it is.
It’s your proven truth that everything and everyone gets better, except for you.
It’s the demon that dragged you down and trapped you in the hellish prison that is your own mind.
It’s the ball and chain locked around your neck, choking the life out of you as you trudge through your marathon, while everyone else gets to charge on ahead, unimpeded.
It’s the wall that blocked you off from life.
It’s the leech that sucked out everything positive about your life and clouds your memories.
It’s not just being “sad”. And we can only wish it was.
Better than Arby’s Roast Beef
delicious roast beef
Put it in the slow cooker last night and this morning the house smelled heavenly.
Ingredients
1 (3 to 4 pound) roast
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Place roast in slow cooker. Stir remaining ingredients together and pour over roast.
Cook on LOW all night.
The next morning stir together. Remove any membrane or fat if desired. Stir well again.
Let simmer on LOW until noon or evening.
Serve on buns.
Leftovers freeze beautifully.
Review from Nancy, 5/28/03 – Put it in the slow cooker last night and this morning the house smelled heavenly…LOL! I had to take a sneak early taste test and it is AWESOME.
Kitten was lying motionless next to a very dangerous big road! He was starved and exhausted
What Was It Like To Be Shipped To A Concentration Camp?
We’ve been traveling for twenty-four hours. Where, only God knows. We’re all starting to get nervous. People were saying all sorts of things; listen to them and the front must be far behind us, and yet we’ve been traveling across Poland for half a day now and there’s no sign of it.
Now the train has started to slow. Could we finally be there? I don’t want to believe it—I’d started to think this trip would never end. We’re getting close, definitely—you can see buildings over there. And so many of them—it’s a huge camp. I can see people, but what are they wearing? It looks like pajamas, and they’ve all got the same ones.
My God, those are prisoners’ clothes! Where have they taken us?! This is a concentration camp! There are some men working over there, stacking boards. Why is that man beating them so hard? It must hurt horribly, he took a cudgel to them. How can he be so cruel? He isn’t even a German—he’s also in a striped jumper, but he’s got a band on his arm.
I must have been wrong; we can’t be stopping here. Why would they take us to a concentration camp? It’s not as if we’ve done anything. It’s horrible how they treat people here. I can’t watch; it makes me ill. He’s walloped another one, an old man. What a stinker; he’s barely twenty. Shame on him; that man could be his father and to treat him that way. He kicked him again till the poor old man staggered.
So that’s what a concentration camp looks like; I could never imagine it. People have been living this way for several years. And we complained about Terezín. That was an absolute paradise compared to this.
What’s this? The train has stopped. A whole group of striped people is running toward us. Is there anyone among them from Terezín? Maybe they’ve come to help with our baggage. Perhaps Dad’s among them. But no, they’ve probably just come to see what sort of train this is. We’re not getting off here, surely? Or—why didn’t it occur to me earlier?—this is Auschwitz, of course. Birkenau is nearby, maybe the trains don’t go there, so we’ll have to walk that bit. Definitely, that’s the way it is. This is Auschwitz, the concentration camp, and we’re going to Birkenau, the work camp.
The carriage next to us is already alighting. Why so much noise over there? They’re banging on our door. I suppose it’s our turn now. Why are there so many SS men outside? Are they all here to guard us? Where would we run to? It would be pointless anyway. We’re in it; there’s no helping us.
“Everyone out! Leave your luggage where it is! Alle heraus, schneller!!!” Leave everything here, hand luggage too? Why are they shouting so much, what’s with the spiteful smiles? They’re grabbing everyone by the wrist; what are they looking for, watches? If only they wouldn’t yell at us so much, and what do those grimaces and comments mean? They’re treating us as if we belong in that concentration camp. One woman just got a slap for trying to take a loaf of bread with her. Is this Birkenau?
Why is my throat so scratchy? I don’t want them to know how I feel.
Stupid eyes—why are they smarting? I mustn’t cry! For all the world, not now!! “Alles da lassen!”—“Leave everything as is!”—“Schneller, heraus!!!”
They sort us into two groups. One—older women and mothers with young children—goes to the left; the other goes to the right. “Sick people shouldn’t say anything,” hushed voices repeat; “you’re all healthy,” one of the ones in prisoner’s clothes whispers in Czech just behind me. A Czech, then. The lines in front of us move; soon it will be our turn. As long as they leave me and Mom together. Surely they can’t separate us if I say we belong together. Or will it be better not to say we’re together? Probably; maybe they deliberately wouldn’t let us stay together if they knew how much it mattered to us.
They’re even taking mothers away from their children. I know that girl there; she’s going to the right and her mom’s going left. But the mom’s quite old; she’s got gray hair. My mom still looks young. But . . . maybe I look too much like a child? Maybe they’ll ask me how old I am. Should I tell the truth? Fifteen; no, that’s too little—they’d send me left and separate me from Mom. I’d better say I’m older, maybe eighteen. Do I look it? Sure, maybe they’ll believe me.
The line is getting shorter; the group of five in front of us has gone. Oh Lord, I pray to you, leave me and Mom together. Don’t let them send us each a different way.
Two more people and it’s our turn. For God’s sake, what if he asks me what year I was born? Quickly: 1929 and I’m fifteen, so if I’m eighteen . . . 29, 28, 27, that makes 1926. Mom is standing in front of the SS man, he’s sent her to the right. Lord, let us stay together! “Rechts!” the SS man snarled at me and pointed the way with his finger. Praise be, we’re both on the same side. Thank you, God, a thousand thanks for making it work out.
First they led us to the baths, where they took from us everything we still had. Quite literally there wasn’t even a hair left. I’ve sort of got used to the shaven heads, but the first impression was horrid. I didn’t even recognize my own mother till I heard her voice. But so what, hair will grow back, it’s not such a tragedy, as long as we survive. I don’t hold out much hope. As soon as we got here, they held us up with a long speech, of which I remember nothing beyond the first sentence, which was plenty: “Ihr seid in Vernichtungslager!” You are in an extermination camp. Upon which they drove us here, into this building, on to bunks from which we are not allowed to move.
I’m seriously hungry; we’ve not eaten since morning, it must be seven o’clock already, but it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any supper. Who knows, maybe they won’t feed us at all and will leave us to die of hunger. If only we’d eaten that pâté on the train; we were saving it for Dad, so we’d have something to give him right away.
My God, we’re such idiots, what were we thinking? “You’re following your men to a new ghetto.” And we believed them. Some people even volunteered to come. That’s why they let us take all our luggage. A nice pile of things they can put in their warehouse today.
We’re better off going to bed and sleeping off our hunger. Maybe they’ll leave us alone for today. Figuring out how to fit ten into a space for four will be a problem, of course, but we’ll manage somehow. If we all lie on our sides in one direction, it might work. We have three covers (that’s not really the right word, but I can’t find another term for the filthy rags that perhaps at one time used to be covers) that we have to share; we’ll put our clothes under our heads—so yes, it’ll work. We won’t be comfortable, but after all the events and afflictions of the last twenty-four hours I’m so tired that I think I could sleep well even on these bare boards.
What must the girls in the Heim be doing? Francka, Šáry, and the others? Will they remember me? And what about my lovely bunk? I won’t see out the end of the war on it now.
So they’re not letting us die of hunger. By this I don’t mean that there was plenty of tasty food, not by any reckoning, but it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that there was something at all.
Early in the morning came the wake-up call, after which each bunk received a pot with scrapings in it. They said that we’re new here so there was no more left for us. I was utterly miserable. If that’s how they’re going to feed us, then it’s the end for us. Although it wasn’t at all edible—cold, thick, and bitter—we forced it down. Partially to fill our stomachs with something, anything, and also because we were afraid that they would punish us for leaving food.
After breakfast was roll-call, where they counted us, left us standing there for an hour, maybe two, I don’t know exactly, because I don’t have a watch—in any case it was endless. Why I don’t know; apparently it’s part of the daily program. They only let us back in the building once it seemed to them that we were sufficiently tired and frozen through and through. It’s only October, but it was freezing cold standing there at four in the morning (it must have been around then, it was still completely dark), almost naked, for the rags they dressed us in can’t be called clothes, our bare feet stuck in Dutch clogs (sometimes only one clog, if you’re not clever and energetic enough to clamber down from the bunk in time and there aren’t enough to go round)—and the worst thing of all, with a shaven head; that’s the part that gets coldest.
Besides that, this Polish climate is awfully odd. During the day the sun beats down till people faint from the heat, while in the early morning it freezes worse than at home in December. I have to laugh when I remember how Mom always got mad when I wouldn’t want to put on a cap or long stockings in winter. If I ever get home again, I will never wear anything on my head till the day I die.
No sooner had we crawled (in the true sense of the word; there are no ladders here like there were at Terezín) back on our bunks and wrapped our numb legs and hands in rags than it was time to get up again, from whence we went to the latrine and the Waschraum. Everything went by at such a pace that it was absolutely impossible to use either of these two rooms. We’d barely taken two steps inside and the guards were chasing us out again, using cudgels and suchlike.
Marching at a pace quick enough to lose your clogs in the mud so abundant here, we returned to the building. Shortly thereafter they brought soup—called zupa here—not too tasty, with everything possible (and impossible) floating in it. Rotten turnip, corn cobs, bits of frozen marrow, stalks, and beetroot, which gave the mixture a pinkish color. As earlier that morning, five to ten people ate from a single pot. That didn’t help the taste, because we don’t even have spoons. Many people turned up their noses or didn’t even eat, but not me. You have to eat—doesn’t matter how or what. Like the proverb “A good pig eats everything,” I stuffed myself as full as I could. I used my teeth and my hands—just like the others who understand what’s what and don’t give themselves airs.
In the evening there was roll-call again, when bread rations were given out—a quarter-loaf of dark rye for each person and a spoonful of jam. We have no knives, so we just broke off bits and spread the jam with the crust. Mom and I hid one portion for the next morning and ate the other for supper. One of the guards gave me a handkerchief—I was surprised, since they’re all such pigs. She saw Mom covering my head with her bare hands and it must have awakened a bit of human kindness in her; the rest aren’t susceptible.
I’m so angry with myself; I let myself be waited on like a small child and I just sob all day. I can’t help it; everything here is so horrible. Bedtime is drawing near and I’m already good for nothing. Lying unmoving in one position until morning. Last night I didn’t even wake up once, but this morning I was all bruised, my bones felt as if they’d been broken, dreadful. You can’t sleep well on a hard surface and now here it is again. Oh, God, why are you punishing us like this? “Ruhe, alle schlafen, schneller!”—“Silence, everyone to sleep, hurry up!” The block warden patrols the middle of the building and the guards tear about shouting like madwomen. “Schlafen, schneller!” The lights have gone out.
– Helga Weiss
Russian Official: Put “Zircon Hypersonic Missiles . . . 100 Miles from Potomac River”
DD COMPOSITE RUSSIAN ROCKET graphic comp v2 2 large
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (Senate) threatens to aim Russia’s Zircon hypersonic missiles at Washington by placing the ship carrying them 100 miles from the Potomac River.
Russia’s former president lashed out at the US in a statement calling for the country’s warships, armed with hypersonic missiles, to be stationed close to Washington, DC.
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, made the remarks in a vitriolic Telegram post in reaction to an appeal to ordinary Russians from the US Embassy.
On Wednesday, the embassy had tweeted a Russian-language video that said President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is “not worthy” of Russians.
In response, Medvedev said: “The main gift of the New Year was the arsenal of Zircon missiles that went yesterday to the shores of NATO countries.”
He then called for the missiles to be stationed “somewhere 100 miles from the coast [of the US], closer to the Potomac River”
Hypersonic missiles are exceptionally fast, and can travel on an unpredictable flight path, making them harder to intercept with traditional air defense systems. The Zircon has a range of between 310 and 620 miles, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
The 405-mile-long Potomac River passes through Washington, D.C., the seat of the US federal government.
On Wednesday, Russia announced that it was sending its Admiral Gorshkov warship, armed with Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, on a long-range voyage that would pass through the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.
Medvedev has produced some of the most extreme and hawkish commentary since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, repeatedly touting his country’s nuclear arsenal and often going beyond the rhetoric offered by Putin.
Calling the US “sons of bitches” and “freaks” in his post, he described the US Embassy’s tweet as a cynical effort to use Nazi propaganda methods.
The US has been one of Ukraine’s most important allies during the conflict, sending billions of dollars of aid and weaponry to the country.
Medvedev said that the sight of the Admiral Gorshkov off the coast of the US would “bring to their senses anyone who poses a direct threat to Russia and our allies.”
Oh So Good Cabbage Rolls
“I have adjusted and tweaked this recipe to make it truly my own. During the last part of cooking the sauce becomes thick and delicious. For the adventurous, add a dash of Louisiana hot sauce when serving.”
No different than a war on pedophiles or war on murderers or any other serious crime. Did you lose the war because there’s still pedophiles? No, it’s a war that will never end. And I’m okay with that.
Do we defund all the police because crime still exists?
How is this different from the failed alcohol prohibition?
I would say it’s different because the majority of people are still against most of the drugs that are still illegal and continue to use their vote to say so.
Do you think we could catch more murderers and pedophiles if we stopped arresting and jailing people with addictions and clogging up the courts?
So for the most part when you see people getting time for drugs it’s because they’re pleading down other charges. So no. I can’t tell you how many wife beaters or shooters we’ve put away on drug charges.
What do you mean pleading down?
The DA will offer the accused the option of pleading guilty to the drug crimes and they will drop the violent crime charges of domestic abuse. In jail people that have committed crimes against women or children don’t get treated very well while people with drug charges get treated normally. If you know your guilty you might as well not go into jail with a target on your back.
Why is addiction something that deserves to be criminalized?
DEA doesn’t go after addicts or anybody that takes personal use drugs. That’s low level cop shit.
Do you every feel like your job is pointless or what you do is useless? There’s obvious US government backing of cartels as well as Mexican government?
I can’t tell you how many violent gang members or fentanyl laced stuff we’ve gotten off the streets and I’m very proud of that.
You have to realize that the US government refers to a million different departments. The DEA themselves doesn’t support the cartel.
How does the legal shakedown between states with legal weed and weed still being federally illegal work?
DEA for the most part won’t take marijuana cases unless it’s very large amounts. We mostly hand it off to locals, assuming it’s illegal. If it’s in a legal state and a small amount we don’t care. It’s a waste of our time.
What do you feel is going to happen to any DEA presence in Oregon?
Considering the DEA will absolutely still take on hard drug cases I imagine that nothing will change for them. It will depend on the courts and the AUSA’s on whether they’ll charge them or not.
Any agencies that you worked with that was less professional and would not work with again?
Hahaha oh man you’re asking me to dime agencies out. I think the general stereotypes fit the agencies. FBI is generally pretty bad with street level stuff and are a little more stiff and white collar. I’ve never had any problems with them. We’ve had issues with HSI trying to steal our cases because we overlap so heavily. I personally haven’t had any real issues with any individual agents or other agencies.
What was your path to the DEA like? Meaning.. where did you go to school? what did you take? how long? did you become a police officer and then work your way up? Always wondered what it took to get to that level.
I went to school for IT. I didn’t really enjoy it. I joined the National Guard and deployed and really enjoyed that. I went into military contracting then shotgunned my resume to a bunch of federal agencies, and accepted the DEA.
There were people in my class who were furniture salesman and stuff like that though. No prior police or federal law enforcement experience. From the day I applied to the DEA to the day I was at the academy was about 2 years.
Degrees are required though correct?
Can be waived for law enforcement experience from what I have seen
What is the best thing about your job?
The best thing about the job is when you get a really big score of money in my opinion. Getting drugs off the street is great but when you can get a good haul of cash, that really hurts them, and helps local police departments.
I enjoy the job and find it fun. The thrill motivates me, also bragging rights to your coworkers.
What was your biggest score?
700 kilos
They retaliate or anyone ever retaliated?
Hahah yeah some people died for that one
From your side or theirs?
Theirs. DEA agents dying in the line of duty like never happens
What is the worst thing you’ve seen?
The worst thing I’ve probably ever seen on the job was the first shooting I got into when they tried to revive the body. They put on what looks like a CPR machine but he had bullets all through him and his stomach was all distended from his internals. Everytime the machine would pump into him you’d see his guts distend a little more. That was pretty gross.
Who is the most mentally deranged person you’ve met or heard about in your active years?
If you mean like psychopath sociopath types, we honestly don’t see many of those. We see a lot of really really dumb people. A few years back I went to a detention hearing for an individual we arrested where we had video surveillance of him picking up a load of cocaine leading up to him getting pulled over. He gave written consent to search the vehicle and we found the cocaine. Pretty easy case honestly. And when I heard him plea not guilty I almost laughed out loud in court. I guess that shocked me quite a bit. There’s a lot of dumb people like that. We deal with dummies a lot haha
Upside Down Pepperoni Pizza Casserole
“Fun and easy take on pepperoni pizza – one of my sons favorites. Great one-dish meal!”
1 (16 1/3 ounce) package grands homestyle refrigerated reduced-fat buttermilk biscuits, separated and cut into fourths
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare baking dish (I use a 1.75qt oval baker).
Over medium heat, combine the ground beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet until beef is browned.
Add the mushrooms, olives, pepperoni and tomato sauce and heat through.
Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Top randomly with biscuit pieces.
Bake 15-18 minutes until biscuits are browned and casserole is bubbly.
2023 01 01 15 27
What Was It Like To Go Through A Gas Attack In World War 1
Arthur Empey was an American living in New Jersey when war consumed Europe in 1914. Enraged by the sinking of the Lusitania and loss of the lives of American passengers, he expected to join an American army to combat the Germans. When America did not immediately declare war, Empey boarded a ship to England, enlisted in the British Army (a violation of our neutrality law, but no one seemd to mind) and was soon manning a trench on the front lines.
Emprey survived his experience and published his recollections in 1917. We join his story after he has been made a member of a machine gun crew and sits in a British trench peering towards German lines. Conditions are perfect for an enemy gas attack – a slight breeze blowing from the enemy’s direction – and the warning has been passed along to be on the lookout:
“We had a new man at the periscope, on this afternoon in question; I was sitting on the fire step, cleaning my rifle, when he called out to me: ‘There’s a sort of greenish, yellow cloud rolling along the ground out in front, it’s coming —‘
But I waited for no more, grabbing my bayonet, which was detached from the rifle, I gave the alarm by banging an empty shell case, which was hanging near the periscope. At the same instant, gongs started ringing down the trench, the signal for Tommy to don his respirator, or smoke helmet, as we call it.
Gas travels quietly, so you must not lose any time; you generally have about eighteen or twenty seconds in which to adjust your gas helmet.
A gas helmet is made of cloth, treated with chemicals. There are two windows, or glass eyes, in it, through which you can see. Inside there is a rubber-covered tube, which goes in the mouth. You breathe through your nose; the gas, passing through the cloth helmet, is neutralized by the action of the chemicals. The foul air is exhaled through the tube in the mouth, this tube being so constructed that it prevents the inhaling of the outside air or gas. One helmet is good for five hours of the strongest gas. Each Tommy carries two of them slung around his shoulder in a waterproof canvas bag. He must wear this bag at all times, even while sleeping. To change a defective helmet, you take out the new one, hold your breath, pull the old one off, placing the new one over your head, tucking in the loose ends under the collar of your tunic.
For a minute, pandemonium reigned in our trench, – Tommies adjusting their helmets, bombers running here and there, and men turning out of the dugouts with fixed bayonets, to man the fire step.
Reinforcements were pouring out of the communication trenches.
Our gun’s crew was busy mounting the machine gun on the parapet and bringing up extra ammunition from the dugout.
German gas is heavier than air and soon fills the trenches and dugouts, where it has been known to lurk for two or three days, until the air is purified by means of large chemical sprayers. We had to work quickly, as Fritz generally follows the gas with an infantry attack. A company man on our right was too slow in getting on his helmet; he sank to the ground, clutching at his throat, and after a few spasmodic twistings, went West (died). It was horrible to see him die, but we were powerless to help him. In the corner of a traverse, a little, muddy cur dog, one of the company’s pets, was lying dead, with his two paws over his nose.
It’s the animals that suffer the most, the horses, mules, cattle, dogs, cats, and rats, they having no helmets to save them. Tommy does not sympathize with rats in a gas attack.
At times, gas has been known to travel, with dire results, fifteen miles behind the lines.
A gas, or smoke helmet, as it is called, at the best is a vile-smelling thing, and it is not long before one gets a violent headache from wearing it.
Our eighteen-pounders were bursting in No Man’s Land, in an effort, by the artillery, to disperse the gas clouds.
The fire step was lined with crouching men, bayonets fixed, and bombs near at hand to repel the expected attack.
Our artillery had put a barrage of curtain fire on the German lines, to try and break up their attack and keep back reinforcements.
I trained my machine gun on their trench and its bullets were raking the parapet. Then over they came, bayonets glistening. In their respirators, which have a large snout in front, they looked like some horrible nightmare.
All along our trench, rifles and machine guns spoke, our shrapnel was bursting over their heads. They went down in heaps, but new ones took the place of the fallen. Nothing could stop that mad rush. The Germans reached our barbed wire, which had previously been demolished by their shells, then it was bomb against bomb, and the devil for all.
Suddenly, my head seemed to burst from a loud ‘crack’ in my ear. Then my head began to swim, throat got dry, and a heavy pressure on the lungs warned me that my helmet was leaking. Turning my gun over to No. 2, I changed helmets.
The trench started to wind like a snake, and sandbags appeared to be floating in the air. The noise was horrible; I sank onto the fire step, needles seemed to be pricking my flesh, then blackness.
I was awakened by one of my mates removing my smoke helmet. How delicious that cool, fresh air felt in my lungs.
A strong wind had arisen and dispersed the gas.
They told me that I had been ‘out’ for three hours; they thought I was dead.
The attack had been repulsed after a hard fight. Twice the Germans had gained a foothold in our trench, but had been driven out by counter- attacks. The trench was filled with their dead and ours. Through a periscope, I counted eighteen dead Germans in our wire; they were a ghastly sight in their horrible-looking respirators.
I examined my first smoke helmet, a bullet had gone through it on the left side, just grazing my ear, the gas had penetrated through the hole made in the cloth.
Out of our crew of six, we lost two killed and two wounded.
That night we buried all of the dead, excepting those in No Man’s Land. In death there is not much distinction, friend and foe are treated alike.
After the wind had dispersed the gas, the R. A. M. C. got busy with their chemical sprayers, spraying out the dugouts and low parts of the trenches to dissipate any fumes of the German gas which may have been lurking in same.”
True Differences Between Designers And Clients Show Why They Will Never Understand Each Other
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Designers and clients see everything so differently that a conflict is only a question of time . To illustrate this, ‘Trust Me, I’m A “Designer”‘ made a witty animation that lists the things that cause the biggest disagreements.
From typefaces, to software – professionals and their clients cannot be any more different. It hits the very core of the problematic relationship between the two groups and shows why designers and clients will never be friends.
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Mushroom Toasts
“This appetizer is not only delicious but adaptable as well. Use your choice of mushrooms, creme fraiche or sour cream, shallots or red or white onion. Make the mushrooms a few hours ahead if you like but toast the bread just before serving. Adapted from Fine Cooking magazine.”
2023 01 01 21 32
Ingredients
1 lb mushroom (wild mushrooms, or a combination of cultivated mushrooms including portobellas, cremini, oyster, shi)
Wipe any dirt from the mushrooms with a damp cloth or paper towel.
Cut off any tough stems; half smaller mushrooms and quarter larger ones to make approximate even sizes.
Heat butter and 1 Tbsp of the oil in a 10-12 inch deep saute pan over medium-high heat.
Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes, until any liquid has evaporated. If the mushrooms become too dry add a drizzle of oil.
Transfer mushrooms to a cutting board, let cool a few minutes, and chop coarsely.
Wipe out the pan and set over medium heat with 1 Tbsp olive oil.
Add shallots, thyme and a pinch of salt and stir for a minute or two until shallots are tender and slightly golden.
Return the mushrooms to the pan and stir in the creme fraiche to heat through without bringing to a simmer.
Remove from the heat and stir in parsley and more salt and black pepper to taste.
Note: If you are making the mushrooms in advance stir in only 1/4 cup of the creme fraiche now and add the other 1/4 cup when reheating later.
Just before serving position oven rack 6 inches below the broiler element and heat broiler.
Place baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil; Broil for a minute or two to toast.
Spread warm mushroom mixture over toasts and sprinkle on the Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Note: Do not at any time overheat the mushroom mixture once the creme fraiche has been added or the cream will break.
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What’s It Like To Find Out That Your Child Isn’t Yours
So, I’ve been with my wife (34yo, I’m 35) for 17 years. High school sweethearts, and got married 7 months before he was born, as soon as we knew she was pregnant. We have always had sex, and enjoyed it, ever since we started, with very few breaks. I can say we had, so far, a very happy life together, and no reason whatsoever to think the opposite.
Then, yesterday, my world collapsed: the boy’s health recently started to worry us, and we took him to a doctor, who tested him positive for a genetic disease that had to be present in both parents. We both got tested, but only she tested positive – I didn’t. And that’s when she said that the boy’s father was not me.
Right now, I don’t know what to do. I can’t process this – we went through college together with very few issues; we had, or so I thought, a happy life together, we have similar work schedules and I have never once suspected something was happening on my back. And yet, this is not my son. This is one of her co-workers from another job’s son, as she now told me. She told me she had fallen for this guy for about a month, they had sex a couple of times, and then they stopped because she loved me oh so much. And through this month, I suspected absolutely nothing, and happily lived my happy life.
I can’t trust her, now. I can’t barely look at her in the eyes. I thought we had everything that we wanted, and we were already making plans of having a kid, when he appeared. We were happy. I was genuinely happy. And now, I can’t help it but feel that I lived a nine year old lie.
I remember proposing (humorously) that we get a parenting test at the time, because I was still using condoms, and she just told me “don’t be silly” in an expectable reply. She could have freaked out, or get defensive, but acting normal was all she had to do to make it go away. I was actually kidding, and now, more than ever, I regret that. She knew I was kidding. She was a bitch.
It gets worse – I can’t look at the boy the same way. It’s not his fault, and I’ve loved that little pest ever since before he was born. But I can’t feel that now. I feel he’s someone I raised, but he’s not my son. I was taken that connection away. With him, with her, with everything. And he’s got a fucking life-threatening disease that may require a liver transplant and will probably need me more than ever.
We have a big house, good cars, a nice life without any financial worries, but I lost what mattered the most.
I need help coping with this. I don’t know what to do, or who to speak to about this. I have to let this out, or I’ll snap. It’s all a whirlpool of emotions. Hate and rage. Not healthy at all. We are still together, but I don’t know if we can make it. I can’t look at her, I can’t tolerate her voice, and I have started to be cold to the boy, which I’m feeling absolutely miserable about. He is a smart kid, and he already knows something is wrong. But I can’t help it.
She said it only happened that time, she felt adventurous, she just wanted something out of routine, but I can’t believe her. This was not simply being cheated. My life became a lie, and I feel I lost everything but the meaningless things. She’s not the person I knew, he’s not my son, and all in all, I’m alone, and without offspring of my own.
Has anyone been here, and got a happy ending? I don’t want a divorce, because that would be ending all that we ever had, but on the other hand, I question whatever it was that we really had.
Let’s Hope That The Irrational Optimists Will Be 100 Percent Correct About 2023
I hope that I am wrong about our immediate economic future, and I hope that all of the other respected voices that are warning of economic doom in 2023 are wrong too.
It would be wonderful if things turn in a positive direction at some point during the next 12 months and 2023 turns out to be a year of peace and prosperity for the entire world.
Of course virtually nobody is expecting the year to start well.
As I discussed yesterday, there is a growing consensus among the “experts” that the months ahead will be quite rough. But even though it has become exceedingly obvious that short-term economic conditions will not be good, some optimists are still trying to put a positive spin on things. For example, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi is trying to convince us that we will only have to endure a “slowcession” before things finally turn around…
Many CEOs, investors and consumers are worried about a recession in 2023. But Moody’s Analytics says the more likely scenario is a “slowcession,” where growth grinds to a near halt but a full economic downturn is narrowly avoided.
“Under almost any scenario, the economy is set to have a difficult 2023,” Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi wrote in a report on Tuesday. “But inflation is quickly moderating, and the economy’s fundamentals are sound. With a bit of luck and some reasonably deft policymaking by the Fed, the economy should avoid an outright downturn.”
Let’s hope that he is right on target.
And if he does turn out to be correct, let’s hold a big celebration next December celebrating what a wonderful year 2023 was.
I would be up for that.
But I don’t think that is the way that things will play out.
Even now, all of the “mega-bubbles” are starting to burst all around us and the chaos that we have witnessed in the financial markets is unlike anything that we have seen since 2008.
The “bubble economy” that we had been enjoying for such a long time was dependent on a very rapidly growing money supply, but thanks to the Fed the money fountains have now been turned off.
Money supply growth fell again in November, and this time it turned negative for the first time in 28 years. November’s drop continues a steep downward trend from the unprecedented highs experienced during much of the past two years. During the thirteen months between April 2020 and April 2021, money supply growth in the United States often climbed above 35 percent year over year, well above even the “high” levels experienced from 2009 to 2013.
Since then, the money supply growth has slowed quickly, and we’re now seeing the first time the money supply has actually contracted since the 1990s. The last time the year-over-year change in the money supply slipped into negative territory was in November of 1994.
At some point, economic conditions will force the Fed to reverse course.
But for now Fed officials remain deeply afraid of inflation, and so we will remain on the current path.
What this means is that the early portions of 2023 are likely to look a lot like late 2008 and early 2009. We have already started to see a very alarming wave of layoffs, and this has particularly been true in the tech industry…
Tech-driven companies are embarking on a layoff spree the likes of which not seen since the pandemic, a new report has revealed – laying off more than 150,000 workers within the course of a year.
The concerning numbers were laid bare in a recently released analysis from Layoffs.fyi, which tracks firings in real time through information gleaned in media and company releases.
Through these means, the firm found that the technology sector – which had been largely spared in 2020 amid the mass wave of firings when Covid-19 first surfaced – are now among those with the largest numbers of job cuts, with rates increasingly rapidly over the past few months.
Sadly, it is likely that there will be even more tech layoffs in the months ahead.
Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives shared a similar sentiment about the 2023 economy on “Mornings with Maria” Tuesday, cautioning that Big Tech companies still need to “rip the Band-Aid off” in terms of layoffs as a “Category 5 storm” threatens the macroeconomic landscape.
“Look, a lot of Big Tech, they were spending money like 1980s rockstars. And I think that really shows,” Ives explained. “Sometimes they were increasing 15, 20% per year. I still think it’s a ‘rip the Band-Aid off,’ still some more headcount cuts. We think potentially another 8 to 10% headcount cuts in Big Tech. You look at what happened with Meta, and that’s a good example. Once Zuckerberg finally read the room, cut in terms of what he needed to, stock ultimately lifted. I think, be that as a catalyst, I think you will see a continued cutting of heads in Big Tech because they’re getting ready for the Category 5 storm in terms of what we’re seeing with the macro.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
Could we really see a “Category 5” economic storm in 2023?
Yes, we could.
But once again, let’s hope that the irrational optimists will be correct and that such a storm can be avoided somehow.
Ultimately, many of the irrational optimists are entirely convinced that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with our system and that just a few minor adjustments are all that is needed to get us back on the road to endless prosperity.
On the other hand, there are people like me that are entirely convinced that our system is fundamentally unsound and that it is inevitable that the entire Ponzi scheme will eventually come crashing down all around us.
Normally, most Americans tend to be quite optimistic about the coming year, but this year is different.
When offered opposing outcomes on each issue, about eight in 10 U.S. adults think 2023 will be a year of economic difficulty with higher rather than lower taxes and a growing rather than shrinking budget deficit. More than six in 10 think prices will rise at a high rate and the stock market will fall in the year ahead, both of which happened in 2022. In addition, just over half of Americans predict that unemployment will increase in 2023, an economic problem the U.S. was spared in 2022.
But maybe 2023 won’t be so bad after all.
Maybe our leaders will be able to find a way to reinflate all of the old bubbles one more time.
We better hope that they have one final miracle up their sleeves, because the alternative will not be pleasant at all.
Artist Vlad Kapichay Gives Foreign Anime And Fairytale Heroes A Russian Makeover
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Popular characters from other cultures get their dose of peculiar Russian melancholy.
A young photoshop enthusiast from Chelyabinsk has turned his hobby into art. Inspired by the 2D Among Us art group, Vlad Kapichay, 21, experimented with the synergy of Russia’s mundane environment and foreign-made cartoon and anime characters. The result is an unusually melancholic but strikingly beautiful art.
Kapichay prefers working with classics, like Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese film director and creator of the acclaimed Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and others.
Loneliness, a recurring topic in his work, is a reflection of his own life. “I’m still looking for my muse,” said Kapichay who is not dating anyone at the moment.
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What is it Like to Have a Nymphomaniac Girlfriend?
Dating a nymphomaniac ( or hyper-sexual – a REAL one) as a guy is completely exhausting.
Its real fun at first, but then after a while you see why it can be seen as an addiction. And even that’s cool. But after a month or two you have to establish some norms or boundaries to make it sustainable, (in my experience, after 8 months).
My nympho girl at first seemed just like any other girl. Not trashy or slutty looking, actually the opposite. We went on a few dates, at first I thought she was juat nervous…once during a walk in the park we sat on a bench, and she sat straight and stiff and just looked straight ahead.
It was the third date and we clicked before so I thought weird, put put my arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. I also put my hand on her upper leg and noticed her crotch was super hot I could feel it on my hand (she was wearing a skirt). She squeezed my hand but otherwise just sat there staring forward.
Later she told me she had to do that to control herself, she wanted to bend over the bench.
So after that third date…..most people have sex once maybe a couole times then cuddle and what not. We had sex 12 times in 6 hours….the last time I literally passed out with her on top of me …but then get this- she grabbed some energy drink powder from her purse pulled my head up where I wake up a little, then she dumped it in my mouth hoping I could last once more. Nope I just flopped. Then at about 5am she wakes me up and we have sex a couple times in bed and once in the shower before I go to work. ..
So yeah she would get mad if I brought up, maybe a picnic in the park or something. She would actually get mad. So we go to a big park for a picnic and she leaves everything in the car except her “f-blanket” locks the door and puts the keys in her crotch with a big smile. So pretty much, well everything you do, there must be sex, and if not like 5 times or whenever you pass out like every night. And she even has enough energy to go running or run a freaking marathon ffs. And it doesn’t matter if she has friction burns or a messed up ankle she’ll want lots of sex right after in the shower!
Finally I had too much and she kept getting mad so I just broke it off. I’m not the open relationship type AT ALL, but I honestly hope she would find someone that would work for her sex wise. I’m not sure if this is related to nympho stuff, but she would just talk about herself and not really care about things about me (non-sex stuff,) Anyway..
So then she texts me after a bit, more to tell me it was a mistake, then a few we weeks after that.
So now we are back together and I said why not move in. I did make it pretty clear for boundaries and laid out what I was going to do, and for her not to be mad about it. She is still a little mad sometimes and she lets me know and we talk about it, its just more mellow now
And I know what you are thinking, oh shes totally sleeping around etc. No. She is really a into me. Ive read that means shes a focus nympho. Like when she goes out with friends (oh I love those times lol), she’ll want me to send her selfies of masturbating or something. Once I sent her a short video clip of me in the shower and she immediately came home ….lol
So, while those are some hard parts, there are a lot of neat parts like:
– She doesn’t “attack” me most the time, alot of times she wants me to initiate, (of course she will drop non-subtle hints)
– She is not into foreplay. Shell have an orgasm 60 seconds into sex, so she never complains about things like “I need this or that.”
-She is ready to go 24/7, and is always happy to. Doesn’t matter when, where, and every time its like I gave her a diamond ring or something.
– You get really comfortable talking about sex and what you like and etc. and doing different (sometimes way different) things. I would never talk about these things with anyone else, but with her its comfortable. Probably b/c we do it so much its like breathing
– She never uses sex as a weapon or denies sex to get something.
-She doesnt get mad really about anything (except not having sex, or missing an opportunity to have sex).
She’ll never get fat, she expends more energy per day than a nuclear bomb. I have seriously not seen her tired ever, except when she was really sick and then I said lets have sex and she was all full of energy again.
She gets lots of free stuff, or talks people into giving us free stuff. We went on a trip once and she got us a free car rental.
There is a growing consensus that 2023 is going to be a miserable year for the U.S. economy and (maybe) for the global economy as a whole.
In fact, in all the years that I have been writing I have never seen so many big names on Wall Street be so incredibly pessimistic about the coming year. Of course much of that pessimism is due to the fact that 2022 went so poorly.
The cryptocurrency industry imploded, trillions of dollars in stock market wealth evaporated, inflation became a major problem all over the industrialized world, and a new housing crash suddenly erupted.
Considering all of the pain that we have experienced over the past 12 months, it is only natural for the experts to have a negative view of 2023. The following are 11 ominous warnings that they have issued for the year ahead…
#1The IMF: “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession. Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people”
#2Bloomberg: “Economists say there is a 7-in-10 likelihood that the US economy will sink into a recession next year, slashing demand forecasts and trimming inflation projections in the wake of massive interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.”
#3The World Bank: “As central banks across the world simultaneously hike interest rates in response to inflation, the world may be edging toward a global recession in 2023 and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies that would do them lasting harm, according to a comprehensive new study by the World Bank.”
#5Mohamed El-Erian: “Many ‘high-conviction’ U.S. recession calls are immediately coupled with the assertion that it’ll be ‘short and shallow.’ Reminds me of the behavioral trap ‘transitory inflation’ proponents fell into last year”
#6Nouriel Roubini: “No, this is not going to be a short and shallow recession, it’s going to be deep and protracted”
#7Larry Summers: “My sense is that it’s much harder than many people think to achieve a soft landing”
#8Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: “Economic growth is slowing,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said at the same conference. “When I talk to our clients, they sound extremely cautious.”
#9Charles Schwab & Co.’s Liz Ann Sonders: “We have to take our medicine still, meaning a weaker economy and a weaker labor market. The question is, is it better to take our medicine sooner or later?”
#10BlackRock: “Central bankers won’t ride to the rescue when growth slows in this new regime, contrary to what investors have come to expect. They are deliberately causing recessions by overtightening policy to try to rein in inflation”
#11Michael Burry: “Inflation peaked. But it is not the last peak of this cycle. We are likely to see CPI lower, possibly negative in 2H 2023, and the US in recession by any definition. Fed will cut and government will stimulate. And we will have another inflation spike. It’s not hard.”
As you can see, there is a general consensus that things will be bad in 2023, but there is disagreement about just how deep the coming economic downturn will turn out to be.
If the worst of these forecasts turn out to be accurate, that will actually be incredibly good news.
Because the reality of what we will be facing in 2023 is likely to be significantly worse than any of these experts are currently projecting.
With each passing day, we continue to get even more numbers that indicate that big trouble is ahead.
For example, we just learned that luxury home sales absolutely cratered during the months of September, October and November…
Sales of luxury homes fell 38.1% year over year during the three months ending November 30, 2022, the biggest decline on record, according to a new report from Redfin, a technology-powered real estate brokerage. That outpaced the record 31.4% decline in sales of non-luxury homes. Redfin’s data goes back to 2012.
The luxury market and the overall housing market lost momentum in 2022 due to many of the same factors: inflation, relatively high interest rates, a sagging stock market and recession fears.
We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008.
And we all remember what the housing crash of 2008 ultimately did to the financial markets.
Normally, the beginning of a calendar year is a time for optimism. As we look forward to a completely clean slate, it can be easy to forget the difficulties of the previous 12 months.
Decades of very foolish decisions are starting to catch up with us in a major way.
Our leaders tried very hard to keep the party going for as long as possible, and to a certain extent they were quite successful in doing so.
Our politicians in Washington kept borrowing and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars that we did not have, and that definitely delayed our day of reckoning.
And the Federal Reserve kept the financial markets artificially propped up for years by endlessly pumping giant mountains of fresh cash into the system.
But such foolish measures only made our long-term problems even worse, and now our leaders are losing control.
Short and not my videos. but please start off the new year properly! Remember that your actions define your quality of life. Not just now in this life, but in all subsequent lives. Make a difference. help others.
Be THAT Rufus!
Animals That Asked People for Help & Kindness | Best Moments Of 2022 !
This poor kitten was struggling for his life in his last moments on a cold morning!
https://youtu.be/I3B-rxTCYMk
Kitten Stuck In Net Fights For His Life
https://youtu.be/iEMBXZJ8_DI
Man is ambushed by 13 homeless kittens
Best Inspiring Animal Rescues Of The Year
Bullied Cat Bursts Into Tears By A Man’s Love Who Became His First Friend
Paralyzed homeless cat makes an UNBELIEVABLE recovery! My mind was blown!
Homeless cat asks for help
Cat Abandoned When Owners Moved Jumps Into His Rescuer’s Arms
I’m still fighting Coronavirus. This is just going to be a simple post.
INTERVIEW: Is the confirmation British commandoes are in Ukraine a deliberate escalation?
When I lived in New Orleans, I saw an altercation outside this bar called Decatur House. This drunk redneck decided he’s harrass a punk. The punk kept beating him down, and the guy kept coming back for more.Eventually the drunk redneck’s wife came with a cop, begging the cop to arrest her husband before he got killed. She told the cop that the punk was just acting in self defense, but her husband was too dumb to know when to give up.NATO needs a wife like that.
How does it feel knowing China is number 2 in GDP but number 76 in GDP per capita?
How does it feel knowing that the US is number 1 in GDP and 5th in per capita GDP and yet it can’t afford to house all its citizens despite there being more than enough houses to, feed all its people despite there being more than enough food, and to provide universal healthcare despite it being more than capable to?
China solved her housing crisis, food shortages and healthcare accessibility decades ago, back when her GDP per capita rivalled that of your average sub-saharan African nation. Meanwhile, America would rather burn all its money on pointless wars against the poor in foreign states, vying for corporate interests instead of putting its money where its mouth is.
Pan Pizza
pan pizza
If you love pizza, you’re in luck. This pan pizza recipe will give you a super versatile dough that you can make into a fantastically pillowy cast-iron skillet pie, or stretch out by hand into a classic New York style slice to bake on a sheet tray. For those no-frills days when you’re not in the mood for sauce and cheese, you can treat this dough just like you would a traditional focaccia and bake it plain with lots of oil, flakey sea salt, herbs or whatever else you want to throw on top for a jazzed-up piece of crunchy-soft bread.
A dough like no other
There are three things that make this pizza dough unlike any other you’ve made before: a tangzhong paste, a little bit of whole wheat flour, and a very long resting time. The tangzhong method incorporates a water roux into the dough to maximize the tender, moist qualities found in your favorite breads. Often used in Japanese-style milk bread, you can make tangzhong by briefly cooking water and flour together over a medium-low heat until a paste forms. This process gelatinizes the starch content in the flour and helps trap moisture inside the dough, giving you a bite of pizza that is pillowy, fluffy, and soft with a little chew on the inside.
Accounting for about 10% of the total flour weight, the whole wheat flour plays two roles: providing a more hearty flavor to the dough, and giving the moisture-rich dough more structure. While you can use entirely all-purpose or bread flour—just substitute in 1/3 cup of white flour instead of 1/4 cup whole wheat—the higher bran and germ content in whole wheat gives our dough a slight nuttiness and depth of flavor. Because whole wheat flour tends to absorb more moisture than all-purpose or bread flour, its addition also makes our relatively high-hydration dough (ringing in at about 81% hydration!) a little bit easier to handle during the stretch and fold process.
More often than not, more time = more flavor in cooking, and this dough is no exception. This dough takes at least one full day to develop into its best self, but your patience will be rewarded! Thankfully, it is a time-intensive but not labor-intensive dough, requiring less than 5 minutes of kneading. We begin with a brief autolyse stage in which we allow the dough to rest on its own without putting in too much work. 30 minutes to one hour later, we begin a series of quick stretch-and-folds to help develop the gluten in a gentle manner, like we do in our sourdough bread recipe. Four rounds of stretch-and-folds later, we divide the dough into two portions, plop each into a well-oiled bowl, then cover and rest overnight in the fridge to further develop the flavor and gluten network. The longer the cold rest, the more flavorful the dough—go up to 4 days if you’d like to have a little bit of sourdough-like tang to your pizza!
Use it or freeze it.
Save yourself a trip to the grocery store and make a double batch of this dough if you are a pizza fanatic—after developing your desired level of cold-rest tanginess in the fridge, transfer your portioned balls of dough to the freezer (either in a lightly oiled resealable plastic bag or in an airtight container) for extended storage. Prior to use, either defrost overnight in the fridge or take out to defrost on your counter at room temperature 2 hours before your intended baking time.
Cheese first, then sauce.
If you want to avoid a soggy slice, top the pie Detroit-style with cheese underneath the sauce. Assembled this way, the sauce gets slightly caramelized and perfectly reduced when exposed directly to the hot oven heat. It also serves as a protective layer and prevents the cheese from browning too much and overcooking in the 500° oven. Ever have the cheese on your cooling pizza coagulate together into a solid sheet that slides off the slice in one piece when you go in for the bite? Not sexy. Keep it sexy and keep it saucy—just keep it on top.
Bake it hot.
Yup, that oven temp is not a typo—we’re baking this baby at 500° Fahrenheit. That’s about as hot as home ovens go, and it’s the perfect temperature to bake at if you want a crispy-bottomed pie with a soft, tender, pillowy interior. Baking at lower temperatures will mean longer cooking times, resulting in a drier pie with a tough bite. If you’re making this pizza in a cast iron skillet, we’re using a 5-minute stovetop sear before the baking begins to set the crust up for crispy success—don’t skip this step if you want the most gorgeously golden pie bottom even known to mankind.
And to top it off—
You can put whatever you want on your pie! Customize with your favorite ingredients: mushrooms, onions, sausage, pepperoni, peppers, olives, anchovies—nothing is off limits. Live your best life, eat your best pie.
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RUSSIA TALKS TARGET: Yellowstone National Park – (and its Super Volcano)
Talk show hosts on Russia-1 TV network, were openly discussing using a SARMAT nuclear missile, with a single “monoblock” 100 Megaton warhead, to target the super volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park, causing a super-eruption, to wipe out western civilization!
The last time the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted was about 800,000 years ago. That eruption sent volcanic ash over two-thirds of north America, wiping out most of the life at the time. The volcano is already overdue for another eruption, and these Russian TV hosts are openly wondering if a gigantic nuke, striking in the heart of Yellowstone Lake, could trigger another super-eruption to wipe out the United States.
According to the estimates of experts in Russia, “a number of events confirm the direct(!) involvement of the USA and Poland in the massive military-logistical support of the Kiev regime, in the preparation and implementation(!) of joint terrorist attacks on the ground of the Russian Federation”.
Moscow claims that “the drone avionics and control stations were manufactured by American Spektreworks, a company that performed the initial coordination and control of the drones at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona.”
In addition, the relevant services emphasized that “the final assembly and flight tests of these drones took place on Polish territory, near the Rzeszow airport, which is used by the US and NATO as the main supply hub for the Ukrainian armed forces . ”
“The installation of the payload, the flight mission and the launch itself were carried out from Odessa and Krivoy Rog,” claim Russian experts.
Ukrainian drones hit the military airfields Engels-2 (Saratov Region) and Diaghilev (Ryazan Region) on December 6. These strikes were followed by the eighth massive missile attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“I Was Made In China” – Funniest EVER AGT Audition?
As a child of two Chinese parents, I can confirm literally every stereotype and fun insult she said in this performance.
DPP Losing Streak Marches on with Most Recent Taiwanese Election Result ……
In the delayed mayoral election in Chiayi City, Taiwan, that just concluded today, the DPP party again lost to the KMT, 64% to 35%! This wrapped up the 2022 Taiwan local election, registering the worst defeat of the DPP since its founding in the 1990s, despite widely reported and proven election fraud under the watch of DPP-controlled Central Election Commission, intervention by the judicial branch in DPP’s favor, and DPP’s monopoly and domination of the news media. It is widely conjectured that DPP loss could have been much more extensive without the above distorting factors.
This final episode of the 2022 Taiwan local election capped a year of Taiwanese popular opinion turning from apathy and cynicism to rage and fury toward the DPP. If anything, the lopsided vote count in Chiayi, in not so staunchly pro-KMT southern Taiwan, could indicate this fury is only growing.
How effective will the US export blacklist be to derail and destroy China’s technology development in semiconductors and aerospace?
In the past 20 years, China and the world’s economy have grown rapidly, mainly driven by the development of information technology. The semiconductor industry has become the core driving force of economic and social development and an important pillar of world economic development with its strong innovation, integration, driving and permeability.
In recent years, with the strong support of national policies, China’s semiconductor industry has achieved great development and basically established a complete industrial chain. However, key areas and key links in the industrial chain are still especially subject to materials and equipment, key technology, etc. and heavily dependent on foreign countries. The foreign export bans have blocked the pace of development of China’s semiconductor industry to leap forward to high-end.
Aiming at the world-class level, the Chinese scientists and engineers have united as one, faced difficulties, and successively conquered key core technologies such as inter-satellite links and high-precision atomic clocks. The components of the Beidou-3 satellite department have achieved 100% localization, and the Chinese scientists and engineers have truly achieved independent control. The service life of Beidou-3 satellite is more than 10 years, the positioning accuracy is better than 10 meters, the speed measurement accuracy is better than 0.2 m/s, the timing accuracy is better than 20 nanoseconds, and the service availability is better than 99%. All performance indicators have reached the world-class leading level. Aerospace-grade chips require more attention to safety and stability. Special production processes for aerospace-grade chips are required to meet strict design standards to adapt to complex space environments, such as strong cosmic rays, impacts of meteorite fragments, and steep drops in temperature. The 28nm and the 22nm process chips of the Beidou system have been mass-produced. Compared with those 180nm in 2015, the Chinese aerospace-grade chips have reached the world-class level.
China has become a new big country in the integrated circuit industry. In the past few decades, through continuous efforts, several integrated circuit industry centers have been formed in the Beijing-Tianjin-Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the central and western regions. Several characteristic integrated circuit industrial parks. China’s integrated circuit is one of the few industries in the world that has five complete sectors: design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment and materials.
China has formed a relatively complete industrial chain and has a huge group of enterprises whose quality is constantly improving. From a global perspective, the size of enterprises is still relatively small, but many enterprises have entered relatively advanced positions in subdivided fields. Even the long-term absence of semiconductor memory has gradually emerged as an emerging force.
The rapid development of China’s semiconductor industry largely benefits from the long-term semiconductor investment mechanism. Although the investment number is not large enough, it has played a huge role in promoting the development of the entire Chinese semiconductor industry. China is a gathering place for the fast-growing integrated circuit industry. In 2021, the revenue of the entire industry exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 1,045.8 billion yuan. In 2004, the largest semiconductor industry in China was the packaging and testing industry, followed by the manufacturing and design industries. In 2009, the design industry surpassed the manufacturing industry to become the second largest industry. In 2016, the design industry surpassed the packaging and testing industry to become the largest Industry. In 2020, the manufacturing industry surpassed the packaging and testing industry and reached the second place.
From the changes in the three-semiconductor links, it can be seen that the industrial structure of China’s semiconductor industry is becoming more and more reasonable. Among them, the design industry is the fastest growing industry, with an average annual compound growth rate of 26.6%. In recent years, China’s semiconductor manufacturing industry has emerged as an important backbone of China’s integrated circuit industry. Although its scale is not large enough, it surpasses the semiconductor packaging and testing industry. It can be said that this is a strategic shift.
China is the largest single semiconductor market. In 2021, the output value of the global semiconductor industry was US$556 billion, and the output value of China’s semiconductor industry was US$192.5 billion, accounting for nearly 35% of the world’s total. According to China Customs data, China imported 432.5 billion US dollars of integrated circuits, accounting for about 78% of the global output value of integrated circuits. At the same time, nearly 35% of the 78% integrated circuits imported by China were used locally, and more than 40% of It is also installed in the whole machines for export. This is an important sign of China’s status as the world’s largest single market.
The competitiveness of China’s integrated circuit products is still improving, especially in the field of high-end general-purpose chips. The achievements of China’s semiconductor industry are the result of long-term investment. China is in a very favorable stage of development, the stage of industrial upgrading and development: from low added value to high added value; from low technology to high technology; from low productivity to high productivity; from the low end to the high end of the industrial chain upgrading.
The status quo of China as the world’s factory will not change in the short term. There are hundreds of products in China that are highly demanded in the world. This has also created very important conditions for the development of China’s semiconductor industry. For a long time, China has deployed manufacturing as the center, and now China should turn to a product-centered industrial development model. The 22 chip design companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board are an example. According to their annual report data, the average gross profit rate of these chip design companies in 2021 was about 47%, which was 15% lower than the average gross profit rate of 62% for American chip design companies. Although the average R&D investment of these companies has reached 25.5%, which is 8.5% higher than the average R&D investment of 17% of American semiconductor companies, the total R&D investment of the 22 chip design companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board was only 1.08 billion US dollars.
The innovation capability of Chinese enterprises is still limited by scale and profitability and is actually very weak. The other better methods need to be adopted to promote the improvement of innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises. The 5G mobile communication in China has an advantage of an important driving force for the future development of China. The 5G technology is a low-latency, massive machine-type communication technology that is still developing and will promote industrial intelligent transformation in the future, such as autonomous driving and industrial automation.
The development of the integrated circuit industry of China will not be achieved overnight. It requires long-term persistence and continuous efforts, and various preparations must be made. The semiconductor industry of China is still facing great challenges, both external and internal. Based on the situation of chip factories under construction in China and the shipments of chip equipment manufacturers around the world to China, it can be confirmed that the goal of self-sufficiency in domestic semiconductors reaching 70% in 2025 is about to be achieved. In other words, chip production needs to more than double in the last three years, and automotive chips need to double more than 15 times, indicating that the investment logic of domestic substitution still exists, and there is still room for at least doubling in three years.
China’s development will not change because of certain people or things, nor will it stagnate because of external suppression. The Chinese have to make all kinds of preparations while running hard. Relying on China’s huge market and the Chinese colleagues in all industries who are struggling day and night, China’s development is just around the corner, and the other side of victory will be surely reached!
The US export blacklist will not be effective to derail and destroy China’s technology development in semiconductors and aerospace but its own high-tech industries. The high-tech industries of the US will suffer huge losses in the coming years. From Tiangong, Beidou, Chang’e to Tianhe, Tianwen, Xihe, the aerospace and semiconductor high-tech industries of China continue to create new history.
It is too late for the US government and politicians to focus only on meddling in the high-tech industries of China.
What a waste of time and energy. Wake up please.
China’s De-Dollarization Strategy – They Want A Global Dollar Dump
Like what Jeffrey Sachs has said : the greed of a 100 year old empire like capitalism America knows no bounds , Karma strikes hard one day…..
Biden Opens Africa Summit With Sanctioning African Leaders
The Biden administration is holding a summit with some 40 leaders of African countries. The New York Times headline of its reporting on the summit is revealing:
“Bringing Africa’s Leaders to Washington”? Why not “invited African leaders to Washington”? Isn’t this reminiscent to the millions of Africans who had been “brought to America” in past centuries?
The U.S. is late in fostering better relations with Africa:
NAIROBI, Kenya — In Russia, Africa’s leaders were feted at a seaside resort where military aircraft for sale were parked outside the summit hall. In China, they dined with President Xi Jinping, some of them one-on-one, and received promises of investments worth $60 billion. In Turkey, they won support for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.Now they are headed to Washington for a major summit hosted by President Biden — the latest diplomatic drive by a major foreign power seeking to strengthen its ties to Africa, a continent whose geopolitical clout has grown greatly in the past decade.
There is little hope that the U.S. will do better than other nations:
As the planes of over 40 African heads of state descend on Washington, a question looms: What can Mr. Biden offer that they want?“The U.S. has traditionally seen Africa as a problem to be solved,” said Murithi Mutiga, Africa director at the International Crisis Group. “But its competitors see Africa as a place of opportunity, which is why they are pulling ahead. It’s unclear if this conference is going to change that.”
What the leaders from Africa demand is first of all respect:
Africa’s top diplomat says that, first of all, they want to be heard.“When we talk, we’re often not listened to, or in any case, not with enough interest,” President Macky Sall of Senegal, who is president of the African Union, said in an interview in Dakar last Thursday. “This is what we want to change. And let no one tell us no, don’t work with so-and-so, just work with us. We want to work and trade with everyone.”
There is no serious attempt to really get into better relations with African countries:
There will be initiatives to tap the African diaspora for new ideas in higher education, creative industries and the environment and for collaborations with NASA on space programs. A guide for summit delegates, obtained by The New York Times, predicts that Africa’s “space economy” will grow 30 percent by 2024 — an opportunity for the U.S. to help with technologies to solve problems related to climate change, agriculture, security and illegal fishing and mining.But there is little sign that Mr. Biden intends to launch a signature policy initiative like previous American administrations.
In short: it is a sales show and at least partly aimed at one of Biden’s constituent groups – ‘diaspora Africans’.
There is not much to expect from the meeting but empty words and not so empty threats. Yesterday, the day before the first summit meeting is supposed to take place, the Biden administration set the tone by … sanctioning African leaders:
The Biden administration on Monday slapped corruption sanctions on the son of Zimbabwe’s president as the U.S. prepares to host a major summit of African leaders in Washington.The Treasury Department announced it was hitting four Zimbabwean people and two companies with penalties for their roles in undermining democracy and facilitating high-level graft. Those sanctioned include Emmerson Mnangagwa, Jr., the son of the previously sanctioned Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
…
“We urge the Zimbabwean government to take meaningful steps towards creating a peaceful, prosperous, and politically vibrant Zimbabwe, and to address the root causes of many of Zimbabwe’s ills: corrupt elites and their abuse of the country’s institutions for their personal benefit,” Treasury said in a statement.
“The goal of sanctions is behavior change,” it said. “Today’s actions demonstrate our support for a transparent and prosperous Zimbabwe.”
I fail to find a participants list for the summit at the State Department’s Africa Summit page. But I am pretty sure that Zimbabwe as well as ten plus other member states of the African Union will not be present. It would be interesting to learn who those are.
Sanctions are typically reviewed by the National Security Council before they are enacted by the Treasury. That the White House let these pass at this time means that the move is intentional.
Those who are coming will notice this well timed action against the leadership of one of their fellow countries. It is likely supposed to intimidate them: “Watch what could happen to You!”
But times have changed. I doubt that they will fall for such a cheap trick.
Posted by b on December 13, 2022 at 12:37 UTC | Permalink
How I See the US After 15 Years Living Abroad
I lived in Asia for 20 yrs… After coming back to the US… I found that everything is failing in the US… Infrastructure, healthcare, education, law enforcement…. Dems and Rep DO NOT want to make the US a better place, they want to enrich themselves and hold onto power…. Political systems do not last forever because a few will figure out how to game the system…. Media, Money, and politicians have found that way…. Average people just suffer the consequences… But if you say this, you will be banned by YouTube. Better set up a channel on Rumble like most independent journalist do….
Russia Deploys **THIRD** Multi-Nuclear-Warhead Missile
Last week, the Russian Ministry of Defense released videos of two separate “YARS” nuclear ICBM’s being loaded into silos. Turns out, there was a third, in Bologovsky. Russia’s message to the West is clear.
In Bologovsky ,from the Strategic Missile Forces, a missile regiment of mobile “Yars” took up combat duty (third deployment of such system so far in a few days)
The “Yars”, which is being put into combat, is replacing the Topol mobile missile system.
The location in Bologovsky is shown on the map below relative to the rest of Europe.
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Europe and the USA, via their cute little military alliance called NATO, continue to interfere with what Russia is doing inside Ukraine. Russia has warned against such interference at the start, back on February 24, but those warnings have fallen upon deaf ears in the west.
Now, Russia is moving large, multi-warhead nuclear weapons very near the borders of NATO countries in Europe. If the ears of NATO will not hear, then perhaps the eyes of NATO can see?
The writing is on the wall for any rational person to view: Russia seems to be telling the west something like “If you continue to mess with us in Ukraine, we are going to start messing with YOU.”
Why the West doesn’t seem to get the message is unknown. Perhaps they need to start seeing the bright, white, flashes?
How will China’s switch to the yuan affect the US dollar and global economy?
Initially all that China wanted to do was to create a separate trade ecosystem that could guarantee continuous trade from and to China and ensure China had a continuous supply of Energy and Food in return for which China flooded the other countries with everything else from Machinery to Dry Goods to Canned Goods to Paper to Structural Works to Railways to Advanced Communications
This is called the Yuan Ecosystem
Cross Currency Swaps fuel the Ecosystem and a different settlement system that completely by passes the SWIFT was created
This was done to ensure that US could not block Chinese Trade financially.
Later this Yuan Ecosystem became a haven to Nations sanctioned by the United States
Especially Iran
Irans GDP looks like it crashed from $ 420 Billion in 2009 to $ 233 Billion in 2022 but in reality – Iran has flourished economically and its Yuan GDP is CNY 3.14 Trillion in 2014 to CNY 5.05 Trillion in 2022. Thats because Iran has almost completely moved to the Barter Ecosystem & the Yuan Ecosystem (Now they have also incorporated the Ruble Ecosystem)
Adoption of Chinese RMB as foreign reserve currency seen as latest move to bypass US sanctions and revive oil sales
So Iran is actually doing pretty well. It has deviated so much from the US Dollar that its Economic Activity is no longer gauged under USD Terms and its closer to measure it in Yuan.
Russia survived and thrived because of the Yuan Ecosystem
They were able to Bypass the SWIFT in less than 2 months by merely expanding the Chinese Russian Settlement System and simply received more payments in Yuan
Today the Yuan Ecosystem is likely to merge with the Ruble Ecosystem and the Barter Ecosystem of Iran and createa Three Country Exchange Mechanism which could be adopted by BRICS in which case Turkey and Saudi Arabia would willingly make deals under this system.
As the US becomes weaker, it becomes a bigger and bigger despot and frankly the entire world is becoming tired of the Anglosphere (US, Australia and UK) and its regular bullying and baiting.
Now they have an alternate – The Yuan Ecosystem
An Alternate Ecosystem of a Separate Trading System and a Separate Currency that bypasses the West entirely
The Yuan Ecosystem of course is nowhere near the Western Ecosystem
Yet it is now an Option for Nations that have had enough of Bullying by the West
FLAT-OUT LIED! Labor Statistics “REVISED” from Q2 this year . . .
Estimates by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia indicate that the employment changes from March through June 2022 were significantly different in 33 states and the District of Columbia compared with current state estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES). Early benchmark estimates indicated higher changes in four states, lower changes in 29 states and the District of Columbia, and lesser changes in the remaining 17 states.
In the aggregate, 10,500 net new jobs were added during the period rather than the 1,121,500 jobs estimated by the sum of the states; the U.S. CES estimated net growth of 1,047,000 jobs for the period. Payroll jobs in the nation remained essentially flat from March through June 2022 after adjusting for QCEW data.
Hal Turner Analysis and opinion
Well, there you have it, folks. The illegitimate Biden Regime, corrupting almost everything it touches, has now clearly gotten to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia to skew the job numbers as propaganda for the masses. Bankers don’t make mistakes like saying there’s 1,121,500 new jobs when, in fact, there were only about 10,500. But Bankers can . . . ahem . . . . lie.
And that is what I think we have here. I( think the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in “correcting” their numbers, has exposed themselves to be . . . what many people might call . . . liars.
No rational person makes a mistake like that, and no rational person believes that a Bank (never mind the top bank in the country) makes a mistake like that. Thus, it seems probable the bank flat-out lied. On purpose.
From this point on, it seems to me, the Federal Reserve job numbers simply cannot be believed. Oh, and this might help explain why the economy (out here in the real world) is clearly in a catastrophe, despite what the “reports” say.
This is what is meant by asymmetrical warfare:
the United States may be sanctioning Chinese companies and individuals
ban the sales of chip making equipment and chip design software
prevent Americans from working in China
in order to destroy China’s semiconductor and hi-tech industry.
In response, China is swarming the market with mature chips – which incidentally also make up the larger share of the market and is the most widely used chip which they have now mastered and will saturate it in time. Using their far more efficient manufacturing process, they will drive American and other chip manufacturers out of the market by selling at a price the Americans will not be able to match. As American and other manufacturers become unprofitable with less funds to invest in R&D, they will become increasingly uncompetitive. In contrast, the Chinese companies will earned greater revenues and will be able to invest in more R&D. Over time, they will be manufacturing and controlling leading edge semiconductors.
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As the report noted: “The Chinese could just flood the market with these technologies……… Normal companies can’t compete, because they can’t make money at those levels.”
The Americans have screwed themselves to a poorer place. By waging war on Chinese semiconductor industry, they have set the foundation for the destruction of that industry in the United States.
The Americans are now scrambling for a response. They have been out manoeuvred AND that they are NO good pathways out – they have already lost.
French Pizza Bread
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Craving homemade pizza, but don’t want to deal with finicky pizza dough? We get it, that stuff can be tricky. Skip it altogether, and grab the nearest loaf of French bread instead. The loaf makes for a delicious pizza “crust” that will get crispy on the outside, while staying nice and soft on the inside. It’s truly the best of both worlds.
Speaking of being the best of both worlds, we took that idea EVEN further. As we were cutting our French bread for these pizzas, we were reminded of another classic Italian restaurant staple—garlic bread We brushed our French loaf with garlic butter here to combine our two favorites, and it is truly to die for. You could skip the garlic if you’re a purist (but hey, we’re making pizza on bread here, so we say anything goes!), but we still recommend toasting the bread for a few minutes before you put your toppings on to keep it nice and crisp.
As for toppings, we went the classic pepperoni route, but there’s no reason you can’t keep it vegetarian with mushrooms, peppers, and onions, or add in some sausage for a meat lover’s pizza. It’s your pizza night, so go crazy!
Want to take this completely to the next level? Take it outside, and turn it into grilled pizza bread. Simply wrap your French loaf pizzas in aluminum foil, and toss them onto a campfire or grill—in 10-15 minutes you’ll be eating pizza, no 500° oven required.
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Putin just dropped a BOMBSHELL on next steps in Ukraine War
Thank you guys for keeping us updated on real news!
How effective will the US export blacklist be to derail and destroy China’s technology development in semiconductors and aerospace?
Ultimately it’s all about Economics
China had the demand and the demand will grow more and more
As demand grows, so will the efforts for maintaining supplies by any means necessary.
If China had been a saturated market like Japan then yes, these moves would have perhaps succeeded
China however is far from saturated and the Chinese are hungrier than ever for more AI, more Automation and more Technology
The law of Economics is older than Biden or even USA
Nations with a Technological edge have always seen their edge diminish over the years and see the rest of the world catch up.
China has the money, the engineers and the world’s strongest espionage network and fingers in every pie in every nation.
China would already be working on many ways to thwart the policies
Shell companies in Singapore or Europe whose real ownership is buried for minimum 25 years
A handful of Judges cultivated for years and now placed to help China with favorable rulings
Thousands of Chinese origin Engineers working in Korea or Taiwan who have helped China bridge a 30 year gap in 5 years.
Simultaneously China would also be
Bringing up more and more Engineers into Semiconductor Research
Attract Western Talent to China especially Mainland Origin Talent who despite living for years in USA feel the call back home
This will ensure that China doesn’t slip and keeps its pace of technology to around 60–65% of what it was in 2019 when it had full access to US Technology
That would still ensure Chinas sustained growth albeit a bit slower
China already has the potential to develop core technologies and has done so
The Key is commercialization of these core technologies on a large enough scale.
It’s the same as Anti Russian Sanctions
China will come through because THE ECONOMICS IS WITH CHINA
As long as their Energy is uninterrupted.
And trust me if US play with Chinas Food Or Energy – China would handle things very differently indeed.
Calling or writing to our elected officials is literally a waste of time. Over the last two years I have called frequently as well as written them.
I always speak to some staff member who answers the phone and sounds like they are all of 19 years old.
Always the same conversation, "thank you for your call and I will convey to the congressman/senator your concerns".
The following month I received a form letter that often includes items that I did not even talk about.
The only way you get to actually let your elected official to hear what you have to say is to be a relative or a big campaign donor with his cell phone number...otherwise it is a waste of time.
Gone are the days of mountains of telegrams being delivered to the congressional offices, no longer do we hear independent editorials in the newspaper or TV/radio and the reason is they are all corporate controlled by a handful of corporations in the backpocket of the government.
So folks, fate is already written, what will happen will happen and we are powerless just as the peasants of the middle ages against the Lords and Barons.
The last two national elections are that same message.
The news out of the United States is far too distressing. Let’s enjoy elements of “The Maltese Falcon” as we explore the contemporaneous news of our daily fiasco.
Let’s start here…
The US/the UK even don’t cares about their own citizen’s lives, human rights & freedom, but care more about the Chinese lives, human rights & freedom.
Why are lives of Chinese thousands times more important than lives of Americans & British people?
Keep your eyes open when these Anglo-Saxons care about you.
When they cared about some natives, those natives got genocide.
When they cared about Africa, blacks became slaves.
When they cared about the Indian Subcontinent, well, that doesn’t count. Many Indians feel privileged about their colonial past.
When they cared about oil, we saw how many countries were destroyed in the Middle East.
When they cared about Ukraine, it got a coup and civil war lasted 8 years and is still bleeding for Anglo-Saxon interests.
Why do I know this secret?
Because China was cared about by them. Then opium was sold in large quantities in China. They called the Chinese the sick man of East Asia.
Now they care about China again and you see the “evil of China” every day in the media they control.
A few days ago, Americans announced that they are ready to help China on COVID-19 surge if China asks. It really freaked me out.
Maltese Falcon Opening Sequence
The best of the film noirs.
American opinions…
I say bring it.I gave up on this country years ago. It’s all bullshit. The majority of the people are stupid as bricks and the rest just want “normal” back.God’s gonna use our “enemies” (Russia ain’t my enemy) to bring His wrath down on us. Whether it’s EMP, nukes going off over many cities, a bioweapon or whatever doesn’t matter. It’s over.
Summits
There are two erstwhile ‘summits’ going on.
The first we can simply note and then let it go because it is of null value. This is the December 13–15 US-Africa Summit, with 49 delegations from African states and one from the African Union (AU). It is clear that this summit was called for one reason only. This reason is to talk, bully and threaten the African states out of working with China and Russia, so, it is not really a summit at all and I get notes from the African side, who reports that there is a deficit of trust. With the rest of the world, Africa saw that the collective west is non-agreement capable and at least in the Mali area, they kicked out the French. The US will not get out of this summit what they hoped for, which is an African shift to the west.
In somewhat of a segue, we see the same trajectory very clearly now in Peru, where the Peruvians are out on the streets, protesting, being killed, and not leaving. The latest is that the military has been called in to try and establish order. There are three demands from the Peruvians: 1) Closure of the right-wing congress 2) New elections 3) Free Pedro Castillo, and also a constitutent assembly to close the loopholes in the Peruvian establishment of congress, because this coup was the result of pure lawfare. The pattern of deficit of trust is clear here as well and these countries. Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Bolivia released a joint statement supporting Peru’s elected President Pedro Castillo, saying he is victim of “anti-democratic harassment,” following a US-backed coup.
Back to the main topic. The second 'summit' which cannot be classified as a summit per se, is the end-of-year gathering of the Valdai Club. I've been catching as much of this as is possible. The one paper that really caught my attention is titled: A World Without Superpowers. It can be downloaded here: DOWNLOAD
There are two presentations in this report that I would take issue with. The one is on page three and reads as follows: A new system is bound to take shape in a future stage of global politics, even if this is unlikely to happen any time soon.
I would consider this statement political as it does not really fit the rest of the presentation. It probably was added as a type of soporific because the new system is making strides of progress. I do know this will take time.
From <REDACTED>.
Is it time for the US to decouple from China economically?
It is never time for anyone to decouple from China. Not even the U.S. China represent roughly 18% of world’s population but because of its high marginal propensity to spend and its high investment capacity, its share of world’s consumption is close to 40%. But what is worst is the fact that China is the manufacturing hub of the world!
So for quite a lot of stuff such as semiconductor micro chips, China alone represent 60–70% of the worlds market. I cannot even start to imagine what will happen to the U.S. manufacturer or supplier being told by some US government officials that they have to stop doing business China! I am a businessman and no one wants to lose 60% of the market. Usually it means going bankrupt.
I know that some people here in QUORA still think we are in 1945 and when the US says you are out , you are dead. Today in certain business US is really not a big player at all. In Semiconductor micro chip business the U.S. a a mere player amongst many many players and it is a nation amongst nation contributing towards the chip making. If America decouple with China, essentially it is decoupling from the world almost.
I hope the for the U.S. sake, the U.S. start to make sense soon.
The Maltese Falcon (1/10) Movie CLIP – Help Me, Mr. Spade (1941) HD
U.S. Votes **AGAINST** United Nations Resolution to Combat “Glorification of Nazism”
The United States of America voted today AGAINST a Resolution by the United Nations General Assembly, to “Combat the glorification of Nazism . . .” The Biden Regime now officially supports NAZI ideology.
Out of the 180 countries present for today’s vote, 120 voted in FAVOR of Combatting Nazi ideology, 50 countries, including the USA, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Germany, and Italy voted AGAINST, and ten nations abstained.
Here is the UN vote total chart:
UN Gen Assmbly Anti Nazi Vote 12 15 2022
The Coming Autogolpe in the USA
This is a video that will set the pace for the rest of the past. Please enjoy.
With the rise of China and other non-Western economies, do you think the days of Western economic dominance are numbered?
Even now, Europeans have clearly realized that their economic problems come from the economic opposition between the US and EU, but the questioner is still trying to shape the atmosphere of economic opposition between the West and China.
I do not remember that China did any economic damage to Europe, but provided a large number of medical personnel and materials to European countries at the beginning of the epidemic. No one thanked us but we don’t care. We did the right thing.
If Europe cannot prevent the US from plundering the European economy from fossil fuels, agricultural products and military industry, then the European economy is indeed facing a fatal threat. If there is another war in Eastern Europe or Central Asia, the refugees will also crush the European economy.
The way out for Europe is not in the west but in the east. I’m not saying only China.
Also, if Europe and China cooperate, European talents will not be lost and economic problems will be alleviated, you can still rise another day. If Europe continues to be plundered by the US, talents will migrate to the US and never return.
American opinions
The United States is on the hit list for annihilation.
Gotta ask yourself a question. Who is the blame for all of this.
The U.S. Gov .and the Pentagon. NATO included.
At this point in time any more rockets or missiles attacks coming from Ukraine.. patriots missiles coming into Ukraine won't change the outcome of this war one bit.add insult to injury.
Russian military will have to make a decision when too use their ICBM's to fire on UK or the U.S. because the U.S. military will have to attack Russia in someway so as for Russia to see it as a direct threat of and attack coming from the United States and Nato.this clearly will be suicidal on Nato and the United States.
Once this attack occurs the east coast will be history .
New York and Washington DC .
And your politicians will be going underground to their military bases . Will have to see how all of this plays out in the coming months ahead .
The Maltese Falcon (2/10) Movie CLIP – Joel Cairo (1941) HD
Is Japan a semicolony of the USA?
What do you call a country that cannot and/or not allowed to protect itself, is occupied by another country and have multiple foreign military bases permanently station there to threaten their country and people ?
Vassal State ? Colony ? Semicolony ? Subordinated ally ? Puppet state ? Or an independent country ?
Your own choice and decision.
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Is the statement that the PLA can “take Taiwan” in days a fiction? Military strategists assert the island could prove virtually impregnable to an attack by China if Taiwan manages it properly.
PLA can take Taiwan in a few days. Taiwan conscripts receive only four months of military training. Its soldiers are nicknamed “Strawberry Soldiers” by its own people for being easily bruised, hardly a heroic designation for an army.
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Pampered Strawberry Soldiers under sunshades at the firing range in Taiwan.
Taiwan is counting on the U.S. to save them from a PLA invasion. Now that TSMC has vacated to Arizona, there is no longer a need for the U.S. to protect the island. Taiwan needs a diplomatic solution.
When You’re Slapped, You’ll Take It & Like It – The Maltese Falcon (3/10) Movie CLIP (1941)
Experts have said that China’s debt is unsustainable, how do they plan to restructure their economy in order to correct this?
How exactly can Chinas Debt be unsustainable?
Their External Debts are around 19% of their GDP
Their Internal Debts are 75% of their GDP
Their Total Debt is 343% of their GDP which means the interest is roughly 19% of their GDP
So where and what Debt is Unsustainable?
Shall we compare this to UK?
UK has nearly 287% of GDP as External Debts
US has 130% of GDP as External Debts
So why do Experts say Chinas debt is Unsustainable?
Simple. They see this 350% of GDP and say that this is unsustainable.
They of course know that firstly all debt is in Local Yuan and secondly that Debt can be restructured infinitely if they are in Yuan.
As long as the interests are paid, Debt which are in local currencies can be rolled over again and again
The Debt of 314 Trillion Yuan is owed by all Chinese Companies , every one of them to it’s Chinese Bondholders and Public
The Interest paid is around 18.7 Trillion Yuan a year that is roughly $ 2.85 Trillion which barely comes to 15% of Chinas GDP.
So even if all these Companies sink overnight, Chinas Government can actually pay interest every year from it’s own coffers at a 15% Contraction of GDP.
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You see these men?
They don’t think like me
They decided to stop the unnecessary burdening of the companies with more and more debt.
Thus they introduced Equity Restructuring
Where Companies offer shares in lieu of Debt.
Real Estate Companies have reduced their debt by 12% so far this way
They introduced Profit linked buyback of Debt
A Company with more profits than their target that year can pay off these profits and retire some of their debt
They did this because they always look at the future and they know that the path ahead must always be smooth.
China can easily maintain this debt for another 20 years but Xi Jingping and the CPC don’t want to burden the leaders of 2042 into hurriedly making decisions without the benefit of hindsight
Rather slow your economy by 50% now and ensure that by 2030, your entire weaknesses are elimainated and then by God you come out roaring and fully strong.
And by 2030, US Debt is expected to be 213% GDP and Social Security payments would be reaching 8.2% GDP
Tucker Carlson: We were shocked to learn this
NOTHING should shock us anymore.
The Maltese Falcon (4/10) Movie CLIP – Kasper Gutman (1941) HD
When and how can China surpass the United States of America (USA) as an economic superpower?
China has surpassed USA a long long time ago as an economic powerhouse.
Today China’s growth alone is bigger than G7 put together.
Today China’s GDP in real purchasing value parity is very close to 1.4 times bigger than the USA.
Today China’s middle income is close to 700 million people or more than twice the size of the USA.
China’s consumption alone is close to 40% of the world, while the U.S. is a shade over 14% now.
When you measure Economy just like when you measure the health of a person you need to measure many different aspects such as BMI, heartbeat, weight, hypertension, blood sugar level….
Sure based on a highly inflated USD GDP, the U.S. is still 15% higher but one need to measure in different aspect and terms. To gauge the various aspect of growth.
For example. The disparity of wealth of the USA is diabolical and plain disaster. Imagine 400 people in America owns half of America while 1% of Americans owned 80% of America while 330’000’000 other Americans share the balance 20% of America. It is a credit to their media spin that there is no massive revolution there!
So anyone who knows basic economics knows that China has overtaken the U.S. for at least a decade by now and it is still growing 3 times the speed of the U.S. for another 3–4 decades to come.
The Maltese Falcon (5/10) Movie CLIP – Mighty Funny (1941) HD
Why doesn’t Taiwan officially declare independence and apply for UN membership since they’re backed up by the US?
It takes at least a week for US’s aircraft carriers to reach Taiwan.
However, it only takes a couple of minutes for missiles from mainland China to reach Taiwan.
Do the math.
Chicken Noodle Soup: A Heartwarming Classic
Chef Jean-Peirre has become my absolute favorite Chef to learn from. I have massive respect for people like Marco Peirre-White, Jacques Pépin, Julia Child, and the long list of other amazing chefs. But there is just something wonderful relative to Chef Jean-Peirre’s style that is comforting. He reminds me of what my father would be like if he was a professional chef.
The Maltese Falcon (6/10) Movie CLIP – There’s Our Fall Guy (1941) HD
What are some reasons why some people say China is not a threat to the world?
To me China is an adult and treats people respectively.
On the other hand we have the US who bullies everyone and works with the principle ‘do as I say not as I do’.
Look at the number of wars the US instigated and involved its allies.
I for one do not agree following the US into anymore wars.
Now look at the number of countries China has destroyed since WW2. None.
Actions always speak louder than words and the US certainly is ‘mouthy’.
The Maltese Falcon (7/10) Movie CLIP – There’s Only One Maltese Falcon (1941) HD
Was China’s high speed railway worth it since it put the country into $1 trillion dollars of debt?
Thats the Biggest Mistake you make
IT IS NOT 1 TRILLION DOLLARS
It is 6 Trillion Yuan!!!!!!
Thats the whole world of difference between $ 1 Trillion and 6 Trillion Yuan
6 Trillion Yuan Debt can be restructured 100 times – until the end of 2122 AD or 2222 AD also.
The Railways are Public Assets owned by the Chinese Public. The Debt is owned by the Chinese Public. So at the end of the day – the Debt is collateralized and even if its not a 1:1 Collateralization- The public have their own Trains, Rail Routes.
Thats the Beauty of Public Sector
Unlike the West and sadly my own country India where a few capitalists borrow from banks and build infrastructure and the Govt pays these capitalists also from Banks – Chinese Debt is entirely public.
As long as China and its economic growth continues -China can happily restructure even 50 Trillion Yuan with no issues whatsoever.
Since everything is Indigenous – all Suppliers , contractors and engineers and workers can be paid in Yuan ensuring the continuous transactional chain of Yuan related debt.
And China are also Upscaling
The Larger the Scale – the more efficient the smaller cogs.
$ 100 Million needs 15% Profitability, $ 1 Billion may need only 7% Profitability and $ 100 Billion may need only 4.25% Profitability.
China is reaching a scale where by 2025–2027 – 3.5% Profitability is sufficient to bring in a massive amount of money and also provide tickets at the cheapest cost.
So again this is Western Propaganda by a Group of Economists who still look at everything from the US angle where Capitalists own stuff and where Debt is always institutional and where Scale of Expansion is non existent.
China is simply doing what Rockefeller and Carnegie did in the early 1900s which US has forgotten
China has absolutely zero issues with this “Debt”
Chinas Railway Expansion is perfect Economics.
What are the major cultural differences between China and Taiwan?
I live in Taiwan and I was in mainland China for several months this summer. I spent most of my time in Yunnan but also visited Beijing, Shanghai and Fujian.
*Major subjective generalizations ahead*
The first thing I noticed in China was that the frequency of ”不好意思“ dropped tremendously. 不好意思(bù hǎo yì si) is a Mandarin phrase that can be loosely translated to mean “excuse me”, “pardon me” or “I’m sorry”. Taiwanese use it when they bump into someone on the street, when they ask for a favor, when they are late, when they offend you, when they interrupt someone or any other time to express shyness, shame, politeness or a mild apology. Chinese seem to reserve this word for more severe offenses such as being very late to a formal meeting or bumping into someone so hard they actually stumble over and fall to the ground.
Chinese tend to be more nationalistic, patriotic and proud of their country. There is something of an identity crisis going on among young Taiwanese. Many young Taiwanese think Taiwan is a poor economic backwater that is not a “cool place to live”. This is very unfortunate because the quality of life here is really quite high and they take things for granted such as the high level of safety(particularly for women) and the affordable national healthcare system. When I told Chinese that I was leading a language immersion course for American high school students to learn Chinese, people were delighted and proud that people wanted to learn their language. When I told Taiwanese, they just asked why would anyone want to learn such a useless language when they already speak the ‘all-powerful’ English.
Chinese people are more likely to boast about China and compare it to other countries. Taiwanese love to complain about Taiwan and praise other countries. Chinese will proudly tell me that China is a very safe country and even make jabs about how America is dangerous with all the mass shootings and gun violence. Meanwhile, my Taiwanese relatives complain to me about how “dangerous” Taiwan is and that they live in debilitating fear riding the subways of Taipei. That is 100% insane because Taiwan is literally one of the safest countries on earth -definitely the safest country I’ve ever lived in. And no, not a single one of my relatives has experienced a single crime, not even a minor one, in the last three decades. (Crime was higher in the 1980s).
Many Chinese are highly critical of Japan, the US and South Korea; Taiwanese love fantasizing about moving to Japan, South Korea or the US. Even Chinese who do want to live abroad are still more critical.
Chinese are much more optimistic about the future of their country and sincerely believe living standards will continue to improve. Taiwanese are much more pessimistic, in fact, they are too pessimistic, saying things like “Taiwan is becoming a third-world country” or “there is absolutely no future here” or “we have the most corrupt government in the history of the human race”. There is indeed corruption in the Taiwanese government, especially during the time of former president Chen Shui-bian, but it is relatively mild by global and historical standards.
Older Chinese men love to pressure and coerce other young men into drinking hard liquor. If your glass if empty, they will pour you another drink and then you are obligated to 乾杯 with them. I’ve never experienced this in Taiwan except in aboriginal villages and even then the pressure was mild compared to rural China. Chinese also drink considerably more than Taiwanese.
Many Chinese men are heavy smokers. They smoke at home and they smoke in public. They smoke in restaurants, bars and markets. I was offered many cigarettes by strangers in China. I’ve never been offered cigarettes in Taiwan and there is less smoking in Taiwan(thank god).
Chinese have less respect for food preferences, diets, vegetarians or food allergies. I have G6PDD which means I could die if I ate fava beans but folks in Yunnan still insisted I eat their home-cooked fava bean meal. They seemed to just think I was being picky. In Taiwan, people understand allergies and will go out of their way to accommodate most food preferences.
I don’t know why this annoyed me but cafes in China always listed green and oolong tea under no-caffeine beverages which is incorrect. In Taiwan, a no-caffeine beverage is an herbal tea like rooibos or lemon ginger.
Chinese, especially in the Yunnan, are okay with eating just about anything. I ate all sorts of bugs and strange meats and fungi in China. I was told that people who are picky or do not eat certain foods, including crickets and worms, are just privileged. Young Taiwanese are appalled at the prospect of eating dog, insects, donkey or larva.
There is a higher percentage of Chinese who are rugged, tough and aggressive. Taiwanese tend to be more sheltered, non-confrontational and ‘nerdy’. I certainly met people in China that I wouldn’t want to mess with. I rarely meet such people in Taiwan.
Southeast Asian cuisines, and foreign food in general, is a lot more popular in Taiwan. There are several dozen pho restaurants in Tainan alone. I could not find a single pho restaurant in Kunming even though Yunnan literally borders Vietnam.
As a half-Asian, half-White person, I was much more likely to be seen as a Chinese or some other Asian in China. Taiwanese usually think I am a non-Asian foreigner – either American, Brazilian or Turkish. People I chatted with on the train in China were surprised I was half-White. Taiwanese, on the other hand, are surprised I am even half-Taiwanese and are often shocked I speak Chinese. My theory for this is that there is a broader spectrum of phenotypes and ‘faces’ in China that are considered Chinese whereas Taiwan essentially has two faces – Han and aboriginal(Austronesian). You can refer to my answer about Chinese minorities to learn more.
Chinese will openly and bluntly talk about people’s physical features. I chatted with two people on the train who began discussing with each other why my “nose was not right” or how my “eyes were abnormal”. Another time, I chatted for a while with an old man. When I mentioned that I was mixed, he looked at me with surprise and said ”你長得像中國人,真的是混血失敗“ which means “your mix was a failure because you look totally Chinese.” LMAO! Taiwanese are generally more polite about this.
Most Chinese do not value democracy, freedom of speech or freedom of the press. While many people I met used VPNs and complained about the censorship, most people still thought the Great Firewall was for the greater good. Taiwanese love their freedom of speech and freedom to demonstrate. Neither really care about privacy or surveillance however.
Despite the censorship and propaganda, I found Chinese to be generally more aware of geopolitics than Taiwanese. Many young Taiwanese are completely apolitical. Taiwanese media often focuses on bizarre things such as how handsome an interpreter is rather than the conference itself.
Blue collar and service jobs are filled by domestic migrant labor from poorer provinces in China. The same jobs are filled by Southeast Asian workers in Taiwan. Consequently, the “dirt cheap but delicious food” throughout China is Sichuanese hot pot whereas the equivalent in Taiwan is Vietnamese pho.
Taiwanese are more open-minded and tolerant of LGBT people compared with Chinese. Taiwanese are also less overtly racist towards Black people and South Asians. Outside the big cities, Chinese will stare shamelessly at foreigners – especially foreigners they see less often such as Black or Indian people. Taiwanese are curious to see foreigners too but will at least try and pretend they aren’t looking. Taiwanese will also smile to be polite whereas Chinese will often just stare blankly and say something like “Look! She’s black.” or “What is an Indian doing here?” or “Why is that guy so fat?”.
Taiwanese are slightly friendlier on average but the margin is not as great as I previously thought. I was told that mainland Chinese are rude and unfriendly but that was not my experience. If Taiwan gets a 9/10 rating for friendliness, then Yunnan and Fujian both get 8/10, Beijing, Singapore and Penang get a 7.5/10 and Shanghai a 6/10 while Hong Kong, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur all get a mere 5/10 – 不好意思!
Chinese have a more positive view of Taiwan than vice versa. I was genuinely surprised by the number of Chinese who had visited Taiwan or were planning to. People liked my Taiwanese accent and thought Taiwanese were cool. They also do not hate the pro-independence Taiwanese politicians but rather just think they are ‘silly’. China is a much more polarizing topic in Taiwan. For obvious reasons, Chinese do not see Taiwan as a threat whereas many Taiwanese see China as their greatest threat.
Finally, Chinese tend to be early-adopters of technology. Everyone from rural fruit vendors to beggars took payment via WeChat or Alipay. Almost every business in Taiwan is cash only, even the higher end places that take card only take certain types of cards and often the machine doesn’t even work. There is an app for everything in China and businesses are more integrated with the internet whereas many businesses in Taiwan are still off line.
Fauci NEEDS To Be Investigated For COVID Lies Says Jeffrey Sachs
Rand Paul has been the sole legislator calling out Fauci from the beginning! Thank you Rand Paul!
American opinions
The USA deserves its fate.
The Maltese Falcon – The Maltese Falcon (8/10) Movie CLIP (1941) HD
Why do some non-Chinese claim to understand China when most Chinese don’t understand their own nation?
Because they haven’t been in China long enough?
There is a joke among expats that goes something like this: Someone who visits China for a week is an expert on China. One who has been in China a year knows a lot about China, one who has been in China 5 years knows a little bit about China, and one who has been in China 10 years or more knows nothing at all about China. (I think this is said about foreigners in any country.)
A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. When people know a little bit about something it is easy to see themselves as an expert, but the longer time they spend, the more they realize they don’t understand.
I’ve been in China 8 years, so I still think I understand just a little bit. Give me a couple of more years to fully realize I am truly completely ignorant.
Proof America Is The Most Corrupt, Evil & Murderous Nation On Earth
The USA is 100% corrupt. Well stated.
What makes China a more productive country than a consuming country?
China is not a consuming country?
If you visit China, you will find that Chinese consume A LOT and very conspicuously, even more conspicuously than Americans. When it comes to electric vehicles, digital services, 5G and other modern amenities, China is WAY AHEAD of everyone else because China and Chinese are not stuck in the past.
This is because the Chinese government does not allow the corporations of the past to dictate the development of the future.
Unlike in the west.
I Won’t Play The Sap For You – The Maltese Falcon (9/10) Movie CLIP (1941) HD
If China’s invasion of Taiwan succeeds, who will be the next to be invaded by China?
Oh we are coming directly for you, the US.
We are not that Hero that beats every henchmen then the boss, nope, we will just go directly for you.
Your first island chain is broken, 2nd island chain is almost broken, and then it’s gonna be Hawaii, then the mainland.
Get ready to be re-educated!
No, in actuality China already told you it’s territory claim from the very beginning, and that will be our claim. We really couldn’t give a fuk about others you see. Why should we take the effort to rule you, feed you and try to make you happy? You think administrating a country is fun? We are already in heavens when we see how incompetently you have ruled yourself for the past decades, you are doing a very good job running it into the ground, why would we help you correct that?
Former Spy Says Biden Is a “Controlled Asset” of the CCP – Biden’s Actions Show This Is the Case
By Joe Hoft
Published December 13, 2022 at 11:00am
..
Can you doubt that the United Stats is corrupt? -MM
Just before the 2020 election, 51 former intelligence officials falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian disinformation operation. Thanks to Elon Musk, we now know that Twitter colluded with Joe Biden’s campaign, the Democratic Party, the mainstream media and the FBI to prevent American voters from learning the truth — namely, that the Democrats’ presidential nominee and his family had knowingly taken millions of dollars from Chinese intelligence officers.A patriotic former U.S. spy named “Sam” Faddis — who recruited and ran foreign agents for America for many years — is convinced that, as a result of this collective betrayal of the public trust, we elected as president a “controlled asset” of Chinese intelligence.The new House of Representatives must make exposing and evaluating the potentially catastrophic national security repercussions of such a dangerous penetration — and taking corrective action — its first order of business.
Biden Hosts Summit of 49 African Leaders to Counter China & Russia’s Growing Power Across Continent
It’s not about helping Africa. It’s about containing China.
Deputy Speaker of Russian Senate: West Faces EXISTENTIAL CHOICE; Continue Suicidal Strategy or Engage Self Preservation
Konstantin Kosachev, the Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (Senate) said this week the West will soon face an EXISTENTIAL choice: It can continue with a SUICIDAL strategy (in Ukraine) or apply SELF PRESERVATION. He’s talking about us all . . . being killed.
Western countries are standing at a crossroads and must decide whether they want to continue pursuing selfish policies that address only their own security, or recognize that this is a dead-end track, the vice speaker of upper chamber of the Russian parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday.
Writing on Telegram, Kosachev, who also chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, said that “sooner or later, the West will have to make an existential choice” between catering for only its own interests, “or admitting that this suicidal strategy has exhausted itself.”
The senator noted that a return to the principle of “indivisibility of security architecture” was the only path forward. Kosachev explained that this means a “deliberate refusal to ensure one’s own security at the expense” of other countries, adding that it serves “as a cornerstone” for all complex diplomatic arrangements.
The vice speaker also claimed that there is a rift between Western countries on this issue. He pointed to the statements made by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the need for a new security framework after the Ukraine conflict ends.
According to Kosachev, these remarks “suggest that there are still remnants of common sense and a sense of self-preservation in France and Germany, which are behaving more responsibly.” That sentiment, however, is not shared by a number of other EU countries, including the Baltic nations and Poland, he stated.
Earlier this month, Macron expressed the view that NATO should prepare security guarantees for Russia after the Ukraine conflict is settled. Around the same time, Scholz noted that peace in Europe depends on the revival of post-Cold War security arrangements with Russia.
Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources, that the three Baltic states, along with Poland and Slovakia, had officially lodged their disapproval of the French leader’s remarks on making guarantees to Moscow. The same day, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said that Russia should not expect such promises from other nations, arguing that Moscow has to ensure the safety of the EU, and not the other way around.
Hal Turner Analysis and Opinion
“Existential choice:” Whether we continue to exist.
“Suicidal Strategy” A strategy that is going to get us killed.
“Self Preservation:” Saving our own lives . . . .
The Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council is talking about us existing no more because our strategy is suicidal and that only France and Germany show any sign of self-preservation. These words are from a high ranking official in a country that can actually DO what he is talking about.
US and Western government public servants are leading us into our own deaths with their obsession over Ukraine and what they’re trying to do to Russia. Russia is actually SAYING these words now; that’s how far this situation has gone.
Do YOU want to face the end of your existence because the US government and governments in Europe are acting so badly? Do YOU have any clue their actions are so aggressive that Russia views them as almost being suicidal? Do YOU have any sense of self-Preservation? Because according to Deputy Speaker Kosachev, YOUR self-preservation seems to be at stake.
Words like this are not generally spoken in world affairs. Yet these are, in fact, the precise words now being used by Russian leadership.
Were you even AWARE that the US and European Governments had pushed things this far?
You would do well to get up off your butt and start telling American and European officials their behavior is heading toward getting millions of us killed.
It was just Tuesday that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Russia-1 TV that Russia has arrived at a stop called “confrontation” and they are not shying away from that.
IT was later Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said relations between Russia and the West has past “the point of no return.”
Folks, this is literally Doomsday language. From three top Russian officials – none of whom is Putin.
Things are escalating out of control – fast. Our governments are going to get a whole lot of us killed.
We, as regular citizens, must step-up for our own self preservation, and demand the US government and European governments cease their suicidal strategy. It’s almost too late but there still may be time, if we all take action, now.
LOADING ICBMS INTO SILOS
To demonstrate just how serious the situation actually is, the Russian Ministry of Defense revealed this week that TWO Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) were loaded into new silos in Kozelsk, Russia in the past two days! Each “YARS” missile carries eight (8) nuclear warheads. Each of those warheads has an explosive yield of 800 kilotons. So between those two new missiles, Russia can vaporize sixteen separate targets!
This is not “posturing.” This is not a game. Those are real missiles and Russia is openly telling us in the West, we are coming to an “existential choice.” Our continued existence is rapidly becoming questionable.
Imagine that!
People who skipped their COVID vaccine are at higher risk of traffic accidents, according to a new study | Fortune
I’ve lived here for 6 years, and yes, I do love China. Please recognize that ALL my comments reflect that of a foreigner in China – not natives. Here are my top reasons why I (and my wife) love living in China:
#1 – The people are great and the friendliest I have known in my world travels and international residencies. And, people are HAPPY!
#2 – The food is fantastic, fresh, and incredibly cheap! I especially enjoy buying fresh produce, at least 10 types of mushrooms at about 10% of USA prices. Our average precooked takeout 3 course dinner is around $3.00-$4.50 per person. Sometimes it is only about $2.00 per person (again, this is for fresh pre-cooked takeout, not for making our own dinner!).
#3 – There is no violent crime in Beijing, a city of 22 million people. Our teenage daughter attending high school here could be out until 2AM with friends, doing karaoke or whatnot, and we had no worries for her safety!
#4 – Incredible public transportation. Never need a car. My occasional city bus ride costs $.15! The high speed inter-city trains are amazing! This weekend I’m travelling by train from downtown Beijing to downtown Hefei – 1,000 KM by fast train – 4Hrs23Min. You could never make that time by plane!
#5 – The career opportunities are excellent, with salaries comparable or higher than the USA while cost of living is about 35% the cost of the USA. That’s why Chinese are able to save – not because they are so frugal! And, no age discrimination in employment!!
#6 – Vibrant, lively, and endlessly entertaining. Even after 6 years, walking down our street in Beijing is like attending “Cirque du Soleil.”
#7 – Thousands years old and ultra modern Art, culture, history, architecture – FANTASTIC!!
TikTok C.E.O. Shou Chew on China, the Algorithm and More
He’s a pretty decent CEO. I like listening to him.
Cream of Asparagus Soup
Cue the sound of a triumphant chorus. We love asparagus in all forms, whether its simply steamed, grilled or baked into a cheesy asparagus and bacon casserole, it is one of our favorite greens in the warmer months.
This creamy soup however, is an unsuspecting hit. It is refreshing while providing a bit of richness and some pure asparagus taste. We marry it with a touch of butter and some garlic to soften the grassy notes, simmer it with broth until tender, then blend it until smooth with a healthy dose of cream. What results is a beautiful, soothing green soup that’s rich enough to be a light meal or a satisfying appetizer. It can be served hot, straight off the stove, or cold (if you manage to have any left over). Cheers to spring, and cheers to soup!
If have leftovers they can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Though its totally great by itself, this soup is even better when sprinkled with some homemade breadcrumbs that have been toasted in butter and garlic.
1520876631 asparagus soup delish 1
Ingredients
2tbsp.butter
1clove garlic, minced
2lb.asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1″ pieces
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2c.low-sodium chicken broth
1/2c.heavy cream, plus more for garnish
Freshly chopped chives, for garnish
Freshly chopped dill, for garnish
Directions
Step 1In a heavy pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden, 5 minutes. Add broth and simmer, covered, until asparagus is very tender but still green, 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 2Using an immersion or regular blender, puree soup. If using a regular blender, be sure to stop and remove lid a few times to avoid overheating the soup. Return to pot, stir in cream, then warm over low heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 3Garnish with more cream and herbs.
Russian Donbass Commander: “nuclear escalation inevitable”; Elite Belarusian Forces begin staging for sweep into Western Ukraine
“Russia is unable to ‘defeat the NATO bloc’ without using nuclear weapons, a Russian commander has admitted.
Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of Russian forces in Donetsk, stressed that Russia is fighting against the entire Western world, so the next escalation of the war in Ukraine ‘can only be one: nuclear‘.
The commander went on to say ‘We know our capabilities. We realize the limits of our resources. If NATO countries exceed certain limits, e.g. dispatch of Leopard tanks. They are very close to crossing the red line.”
Meanwhile, elite Belarusian forces with new tactical markings have been deployed on the border with Ukraine:
“At 8 km from the border with Ukraine, elite Belarusian forces have been deployed, bearing new distinctive tactical markings. This fact and the large transfer of forces to the Ukrainian border has caused alarm in Kyiv.
Belarusian elite forces have marked with red squares the equipment being driven to the border with Ukraine. Usually, tactical signs are drawn up before the start of hostilities.
Everything shows that the first target of the joint Russian-Belarusian attack will be Lviv, Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr, these four regions. An attack is also being prepared for Kyiv from a second axis with the aim of besieging it. Without power and with supply routes cut off, the remaining civilians and soldiers in the Ukrainian capital will not last.
According to information so far, the Belarusian military command has deployed the airborne forces of the 38th Brigade to the border with Ukraine.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SahmJMQ33FA
Do you think there are any particular events or changes that mark the end of western dominance?
The Ukraine war will marked to beginning of the end of the lop sided world’s so call rules based international order. History will judge my statement but I am thoroughly convinced that history books in the future will note that the counter actions and arbitrary decisions made by the west on its sanctions and daylight robbery of its foreign currencies reserves marks the end of the blind trust the rest of the world gives to the western financial institutions and the U.S. dollar as a global trading currency.
This has very high consequence since as is the most vital weapon the west has to control and contain the world. Not to mention it benefit tremendously from this lever of control. No nation, not even U.S. very close allies will ever trust the U.S. to control its financial assets ever again. And the usage of the US dollars will reduced substantially from now onwards seeing t what the west did to Russia.
VIDEO: **AMERICAN** Troops Get Lost in Ukraine – Ask **RUSSIAN SPEAKER** for “Map”
Video has emerged from inside Ukraine showing AMERICAN troops, who got lost, going to the private home of a . . . . RUSSIAN SPEAKING CITIZEN . . . to ask for a “map” . . . . so they can go kill . . . . Russians.
This is how half-assed things are going over there.
Question #1: Why are AMERICANS bearing arms in Ukraine?
I thought it was illegal for private American citizens to take up arms on behalf of another country. I thought an American LOST his citizenship for doing so.
Question #2: Why are these “troops” not able to get support from Ukraine? ? ?
If they’re fighting on behalf of Ukraine, where’s the support? Where’s the logistics? Where’s the communications?
Question #3: How long will Russia tolerate AMERICANS killing Russian soldiers, before Russia starts attacking the US for our war-making inside Ukraine?
The US and NATO can only feign “not being party to the conflict” for so long. Clearly, both the US and NATO __are__, in fact, parties to the conflict. This video is proof.
Since Congress has not declared war, or even authorized the use of military force, by virtue of what authority are these Americans waging war in a foreign nation (in our name by the way)?
How long do YOU think Russia will sit-by and do nothing, while American troops kill Russian soldiers?
Get right with God. The federal corporation-in-lieu-of-government is going to get a lot of us killed when Russia has to start lobbing nukes at our port cities to force us to stop supplying the war in Ukraine.
And my commentary on Quora…
Are American troops fighting in Ukraine?
Yes there are.
I do not know the force mix, nor the size of the forces. However, we are getting scattered reports of deployments of special force, technical specialists, entire airborne groups, and others.
I read a report out of Ukraine that claimed that 11,000 American troops have died in Ukraine as of 10DEC22, but I don’t know how accurate it is. It seems rather high, and well above “advisors” and “policing forces” that many of us (on the sidelines) assumed were in place.
These numbers suggest full-scale military intervention.
I can tell you that have watched all sorts of videos showing Americans in Ukraine. Here’s a typical one. In this one we have American Rangers wearing Ukrainian Nazi service patches, speaking in plain-as-day American asking for directions from a Russian!
I suppose that you can argue that if there were actual Americans “on the ground” in Ukraine, that CNN and FOX “news’ would be reporting on it. But, that’s so 1990! Never will happen.
I have watched three American “retired” generals who were leading forces in Ukraine, paraded as captured assets inside of Russia, and their utility and roles are as clear as day.
To me, this absurd funding in billions and billions and billions of dollars and weapons into Ukraine, suggests something far more sinister than simply “helping a friendly country out”. Something ELSE is going on, and it ain’t being reported.
It smacks of Laos in the late 1960’s. It smacks of large scale warfare and if the American people get wind of it, there may be Hell to pay!
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of – The Maltese Falcon (10/10) Movie CLIP (1941) HD
Russia is in this for the long haul and understand now exactly who and what they are confronted with. They will be conservative, pummel the Ukrainians with artillery and slowly strangle Ukraine by destroying it's critical infrastructure, all the while protecting and increasing their military capabilities for what they must believe at this point will be an inevitable military confrontation with NATO.
The west has gone insane...on pretty much every level. It has reached a level of dystopia that I feel I wake up each day in the Matrix waiting for Agent Smith to come and get me...for simply refusing to stay within the designated lines...
How can this not end in all out conflagration with the entire western world being led by madmen and outright psychopaths. Someone is going to do something extremely stupid and we will all pay the price. At this point I really no longer care of I go down, as long as the Empire of Lies goes down with me.
Posted by: JustAMaverick | Dec 10 2022 17:48 utc | 1
I have not commented on Xi’s visit to Riyadh until now; I wanted to wait until I could see what was really going on.
Here are the developments, which you will not see in the western media:
The Riyadh summits place Xinjiang’s development at the center. Xi is determined to make Xinjiang a showcase for how well the Chinese development model works with a Muslim-majority population, and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Muhammad bin Salman fully supports this project because he wants to show that Saudi society first, and then Muslim nations can modernize without western financing and support.
Because of US sanctions on Xinjiang products, it will switch from selling its exports to the US to selling to Central Asia and the Middle East markets. US Congress scores another own goal for China.
Next step: Energy sales from Saudi and Gulf will be denominated in yuan or BRICS currency after Saudi joins SCO.
Saudi, Gulf states, Russia are all against Muslim extremist movements. Guess who will support Muslim extremist movements’ terror attacks to disrupt their economic integration? These attacks will be disruptive and cause casualties, but will strengthen the commitment to the Russia/China/Central Asia/ Islamic nations economic integration through the Belt and Road Initiative.
China has committed to plugging in the Belt and Road Initiative to the Saudi Vision 2030 project, which is MBS’s pet project for Saudi modernization with Chinese technology and products using Saudi financing. Huawei is getting top billing and will make billions.
Almost all of the Islamic nations have modernization vision projects just like Saudi Vision 2030. In every instance, Xi is connecting these visions to the Belt and Road Initiative. This is very notable: Unlike the US, China positions itself as a technology and construction partner equal with these governments instead of as a domineering partner as the other global power does.
The simplest and easiest way to understand this is that the modern technology and transport infrastructure China now has is getting rolled out into the Arab and Islamic nations, and they will plug into China through Xinjiang, which will not look that foreign to many Muslims.
China has decided
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Ozzy Osbourne Flying High Again 1982
Man , this is a blast from the past.
Did Tom Cruise Wear Shades or Not?
No, apparently. One this world-line template he doesn’t!
The “Old Time Rock n Roll” scene in Risky Business featuring Tom Cruise became an instant classic after the movie was released in 1983. Tom Cruise’s dance moves in the scene have been parodied countless times, including very memorably by snarky butler Niles in the American TV sitcom The Nanny and the cast of Scrubs.
Curiously, in the vast majority of these parodies, people wear shades when they strut along to the lyrics of “Old Time Rock n Roll”—Niles included.
That is because most people around the world seem to remember Cruise wearing shades during the scene.
And yet, he doesn’t.
And there’s the white vs. pink shirt issue… but that’s for another list.
What is something unrealistic that you often see in movies that annoys the hell out of you?
The geeky girls in high school movies who are supposed to be ugly are still extremely damn good-looking
2. When the real ugly person gets a 15-minute makeover and becomes the sexiest guy in the country wtf.
If it’s a girl all she has to do is take off her glasses and let down her hair and suddenly she’s America’s next Top Model.
3. Drivers taking their eyes off the road for almost a minute to have a conversation with passenger
Yet somehow they miraculously keep the car straight and NEVER crash into anything. But if I look away for 6 seconds I’ve killed 4 people.
4. Bad guys missing EVERY SINGLE SHOT fired at the hero.
Henchmen with machine guns firing at the protagonist down a straight indoor hallway and missing every single one of the 50 shots fired. I’m pretty sure if you blind-folded a dude and told him to fire in the general direction of the protagonist at least a few bullets would hit.
5. Jumping out a glass window and coming out the other side unscathed
I’m not even going to mention how easily glass breaks in movies. But people will dive through a glass window head-first and land on surface full of broken shards of glass and come out unscathed.
6. High school students portrayed by someone clearly in their 30’s
Every High school senior looks like they’ve been a senior for 10 years.
7. Superman holding a building up
I like when a building is practically falling over and Superman holds it up by something like the windows. The real superhero is the manufacturer of that window because it just supported an entire damn building.
8. Female protagonists in dystopian movies looking like Miss Universe
We’re in a post apocalyptic world, and we’ve got bad-ass female fighters, covered in blood and dirt because life is fucking tough, and she’s tough. But you better believe her eye-liner game is on point. Because she’s a warrior, not a goddamn savage.
9. The same bad-ass female with perfectly waxed leg and armpit hair.
Because it’s a tough world out there and surviving without silky smooth legs is not an option.
10. Cellphones never work in an emergency (See Home Alone)
Somehow they are lost, dead, out of coverage area, stolen, etc. It’s cheap story telling. I am always amused at how creative movie makers become in order to destroy the cell phone plot-hole.
11. Sparing the villain’s life for a few minutes of monologue
I’ve watched countless movies that could’ve ended a lot sooner had the hero just not given a damn about the villain’s evil plan and dramatic back story.
12. Letting off a damn .45 pistol indoors multiple times with no ear protection and carrying on normally like they’re not temporarily deafened for the next 30 seconds.
Anybody who has actually shot a round of that will know how unrealistic that is.
13. Also racking back the slide on a handgun to do the “ch ch” thing that sounds cool before they shoot someone.
Unless you’ve literally just put the magazine in, all that will do is eject a perfectly good unused round out the side
14. Whenever there is a bird of prey, no matter what it is, they always use a red-tailed hawk call.
Because all birds of prey sound the same.
15. Computers that beep on every keystroke.
If that were real, nobody would last more than ten minutes before heaving the damn thing out of the nearest window.
16. Any device can be hacked no matter where or how far away it is.
Doesn’t matter if the device is in another solar system. It can be hacked.
17. Hacking only takes a few seconds
I don’t know who came up with the notion that anything from my grandma’s toaster to the NSA’s satellite database can be hacked in 5 – 6 taps of a keyboard, but I’d like to have a word with them.
18. Everyone’s house is so clean
No stray Cheetos, random toys or grubby counters? Not even a hair out of place.
19. Calling “HELLO?” when you think there’s a serial killer in your home
Oh yeah because a serial killer would totally just respond “Oh hey Brenda, I’m in the kitchen – would you like a sandwich?”
20. Small misunderstandings leading to emotional breakups
Movie: Girl sees new boyfriend having lunch with another girl. Immediately freaks out and runs off. Guy yells, “Wait I can explain!”
Reality: Girl sees new boyfriend with another girl. She’s concerned but walks up and says hi. He introduces other girl as his sister. Sister says she’s heard so much about the girl. All is well.
21. Waking up with your hair perfect and not a drop of drool on your pillow
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only ugly sleeper in the world.
22. When aliens say “EARTH” they really just mean the USA
The only place aliens ever seem to land on.
23. Aliens can speak perfect English
Especially in Marvel. How tf does Thanos speak English? Star Wars was slightly better.
24. Children taking two bites of toast and a sip of orange juice before rushing out the house to go to school.
It is ALWAYS TWO BITES. Never mind the fact that the mother woke up early and prepared a full 3-course breakfast.
25. After sex they just roll over like there’s nothing to clean.
Never have to deal with wet sheets or bodies.
26. Explosions that don’t impair hearing
You’ll see someone narrowly dive away from an explosion and walk away fine, because apparently the only things that can harm you are the flames.
27. You can knock anybody out with blunt force trauma without causing any serious injury or permanent damage.
They wake up with no headache or permanent brain damage.
28. Supervillains only operate in the same city as superheroes
Why can’t the Joker just move to another city?
29. Bombs will always have a clearly visible timer
From the villain’s point of view, it’s just good manners.
30. It is perfectly simple to resuscitate somebody with a few half-hearted pushes as long as you say you love them
It usually goes something like this: “You can’t leave me…please! Live Kyle! Live damn it! I love you!”
Kyle: *coughs*
31. People never say good-bye when they hang up the phone
What is up with this? They just end the call and walk away – WTF?
32. High school party stereotypes
There will always be 500 people at the popular guy/girl’s house playing beer pong and getting drunk with super-loud music blasting through the streets. And at some point the cops show up to stop the party. This happens every time without fail.
33. NOBODY POOPS
Pulp Fiction is an exception to this.
34. If the hero has to fight a group of bad guys, they’ll sportingly attack him one at a time
I mean come on. It’s just good manners.
35. People in grocery stores always have a baguette in their bag
Whenever someone in a movie goes grocery shopping, you can tell because they have a perfect French baguette and celery leaves poking out of the top of their brown paper bag.
36. Nobody sneezes
Never. Not once.
37. The news is always turned on at the perfect time
When someone gets a call and the other person says “Turn on the TV!” It’s always turned on to the correct channel just as the news headline is at the perfect point for them to see.
38. It takes 12 seconds to strangle someone to death.
Yeah maybe I’m a superhuman, but I can hold my breath for over two minutes so that’s not working on me.
39. If there’s an ASIAN character in the movie, he will know martial arts
Because all 1.5 billion people in China are martial art Masters.
40. People running away from moving vehicles
I don’t care how fast you are, unless you’re the Flash, you can not outrun a car from this century. (unless it’s a toy car – then I back you)
41. Coughing generally equates to a terminal illness.
I’ve never seen a cough not mean anything in any movie in my life.
42. Subtitles.
This one takes the cake. I have spoken to many foreigners in real life and never seen any subtitles that translate what they’re saying to English. Not true. Completely fake.
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The US Dollar is over
This is a quick overview (short and punchy) of some momentous events today with great impact on how multipolarity rolls out and how the US dollar is being ditched.
……………..
I believe today (December 9th, 2022) we saw somewhat of a coup d’état, a major step towards leaving the US Dollar behind, in a blistering scenario.
1. Xi Jinping’s visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) encompassed three separate summits, the first being China’s state visit to Saudi. Two other summits, a China-Gulf summit, and a China-Arab summit, with leaders from Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Arab states, are also in the line-up. So, it is a series of summits.
Xi Jinping was welcomed on purple carpet, for royalty, and with much pomp and circumstance. I guess the Abrahams Accords are lying in a river somewhere, abandoned. He also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
Early in the day, we started getting indicators that the trade agreements signed during these three summits will be non-Dollar trade. What actually happened is quite vast in scope.
China will continue to import large quantities of crude oil from GCC countries, expand imports of liquefied natural gas, strengthen cooperation in upstream oil and gas development, engineering services, storage, transportation, and refining, and make full use of the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange as a platform to carry out yuan settlement of oil and gas trade.
The number of trade agreements signed exceeds 24 separate deals. Xi Jinping proposed further areas of cooperation in the next three to five years, including finance and investment, innovation and new technologies, as well as aerospace, and language and cultures. China will carry out financial regulatory cooperation with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Countries), and facilitate GCC enterprises to enter China’s capital market, establish a joint investment association with GCC, support sovereign wealth funds of both sides to cooperate in various forms.
I have not seen a number inked below these various agreements. This is of lesser importance as Big Money has met Big Money. The preparatory work for these three summits would have been huge and yet, it escaped the notice of most. It will of course be vast in monetary terms, and with the proposed areas of cooperation following, we can extrapolate that many of those already have draft agreements ready.
Let us segue for a moment. We’ve all heard of the long arm of the US law specifically in issues of US dollar usage. To explain this very simply is that the US, through their instruments such as Swift, claims an erstwhile jurisdiction on any transaction anywhere in the world, that is done in their dollar. This then is the core of the financial power of the dollar. Or shall I say, the core financial power of the US Dollar eroding fast.
2. In St.Petersburg, Russia, a similar summit reached its culmination today at a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Council Summit
The EAEU member states have signed agreements to implement financial industrial cooperation equivalent to $270bn – here is the stated kicker – business will be done in non-dollar terms.
This is why I say trade in non-dollar terms is now a marketing slogan and we will see more and more countries following. The US Dollar is therefore being left behind in new business done and the tone and pace is set by China / Gulf States / EAEU. The concept of free trade is also being changed materially to major trade in blocs and blocs will have their trade agreements. It remains to be seen how organizations such as WTO will reform to new conditions.
The long arm of the law in terms of the US Dollar is Done and Dusted and being Ditched! Welcome to practical multipolarity.
China Meets Saudi Arabia – The Asian Era Has Begun!
We are witnessing a pivotal moment in history! I appreciate the facts as well as the possibilities. Great video as always Sean!
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Alice Cooper – I’m Eighteen (from Alice Cooper: Trashes The World)
The United States is nuts!
The US actions are just nuts. The US media is just nuts. The responses of the American people are just nuts.
I am glad that President Putin has had so much patience and self-control. It will likely lead to a much more everwhelming win for Russia ... and China ... and Iran and Saudi Arabia and a lot of other countries.
The other benefit of his approach is that it minimizes the odds of nuclear annihilation.
Posted by: Woke American | Dec 10 2022 18:27 utc | 13
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MICHAEL BRUCE: HARD HEARTED ALICE (Acoustic)
Without a doubt one of my favourite Alice Cooper songs,such a sentimental song.Love the E major fanfare at the end.Alice sang the tune so we can forgive Michael for not getting the lyrics exactly right.Michael Bruce is a living legend.The original AC group were so inspiring musically to many young would be rockers out there.RIP Glen Buxton.
Did King Henry VIII Hold a Turkey Leg?
The Mandela Effect happens with just about anything, including movies, TV series, books, Broadway shows, and even paintings or portraits.
One of the most famous paintings of King Henry VIII is of him sitting at a dinner table, just his upper torso visible, holding a turkey leg in his hand. At least, that is how most people visualize it. In reality, there is no painting of King Henry VIII holding a turkey leg. There is, however, a Renaissance painting of him holding a pair of leather gloves in one hand and the string of a scabbard in the other.
Expanding on this Mandela effect example, some people took things even further by claiming that Henry VIII was the first English king to eat turkey and that he was a huge fan of the meat. There is also a host of examples in the media in which Henry VIII is depicted as holding or eating a turkey leg as a direct result of the belief that the turkey leg painting exists.
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In case you wanted to know…
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Apple Pear Cobbler
“I created this recipe wanting a cobbler, yet only having canned ingredients on hand. I kind of surprised myself by how well it came out! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!”
A new Twitter Files investigation has revealed the many tools that company executives employed to blacklist and shadowban conservative voices. The thread posted to Elon Musk’s platform reveals that the internal Twitter name for shadowbanning is “visibility filtering.”
Released by former New York Times reporter Bari Weiss in yet another lengthy Twitter thread, the revelations on Thursday showed that several mainstream conservative voices, from Charlie Kirk to Dan Bongino, were shadowbanned by the social media company under the rubrics of “Visibility Filtering” or “VF.” At one point, Twitter even placed Stanford professor, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, under the label “Trends Blacklist” for arguing that coronavirus lockdowns would harm children. Per Weiss:
Twitter once had a mission “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected.Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.Or consider the popular right-wing talk show host, Dan Bongino, who at one point was slapped with a “Search Blacklist.”Twitter set the account of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to “Do Not Amplify.”
As Weiss and multiple conservative commenters pointed out, Twitter routinely denied shadowbanning voices, especially based on “political viewpoints or ideology.” While shadowbanning might not be the term that Twitter employed, the company still performed the censorial practice under the banner of “Visibility Filtering or “VF.” According to Weiss, “multiple high-level sources confirmed that “Visibility Filtering” took place.
“Think about visibility filtering as being a way for us to suppress what people see to different levels. It’s a very powerful tool,” one senior employee is quoted as having told Weiss.
“We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do,” said one anonymous engineer, which two other Twitter employees confirmed.
Bari Weiss further profiled efforts by Twitter executives to censor accounts like Libs of TikTok, which Breitbart News will cover more extensively as the investigation unfolds. Recently, former Twitter safety executive Yoel Roth, who quit after billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company, defended the platform’s fateful decision to censor the Christian satire site The Babylon Bee for calling transgender HHS assistant secretary Dr. Rachel Levine a “man.”
“We have seen from a number of Twitter accounts, including Libs of TikTok, notably, that there are orchestrated campaigns, that particularly single out a a group that is already particularly vulnerable within society,” Roth told New York magazine editor Kara Swisher at the Informed conference last week. “So, not only is not funny, but it is dangerous and it does contribute to an environment that makes people unsafe in the world.”
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Van Halen – Jump [Best version ever!]
What can America learn from Xi Jinping anti-corruption campaigns?
America’s biggest problem isn’t “corruption”, China’s is. So, China solves it. (Or, at least try to)
America’s biggest problem is almost no one knows where the real problem is, and 99% of the people is either not intelligent enough, or don’t have the motivation to point it out.
And the worst part is, it’s a democracy.
On one hand, you got politicians hiring extremely smart people studying what kind of words voters like to hear, analysing opinion trendings like a business model.
(Imagine this kind of effort devoted to actually solving the problems)
On the other hands, your average joes know absolutely zero about anything complicated beyond their 20 feet yard. When you talk to these folks, they repeat the narrative their subscribed media feed tells them. Over and over again. It’s tedious and boring, but these people think they are so original and cool to be like this.
Urgh…
If you are a voter, and you are actually not smart enough, you are susceptible to the rich and powerful people’s manipulation. It literally seeps through every corner of your life.
And if you are smart enough, you’d realize these political problems are complicated beyond comprehension, and it won’t have mattered either way you vote, you’d not show up at the booth at all (which, to my comfort, a large portion of Americans do choose not to vote).
Americans are intentionally divided by the politicians and big money. Two groups are too caught up in their heated debate and bickering, they don’t even need censorship to keep the country intact — flooding the media with random information every which way is just as effective as a censorship… or perhaps even more effective.
Back in the days when America’s education system wasn’t about who throw balls far, American capitalists did not monopolize everything, politicians still cared about the people, and media still had a sliver of integrity left, and its international competitions are either caught up cleaning a bunch of communist rebels and failing, trying to collect dead relatives from a nuclear aftermath, scavengeing for factory parts after Ally bombing, or trying to fend off soviet invasion in the vast desolate mountain ranges, yes, democracy in America worked well.
It worked so well, that Americans started to genuinely believe it was the other way around: Democracy gave all of those good things to them.
Now? It’s a sad entertainment business. At best. A comedy that fails to make me laugh.
Let’s not forget the challenges, missions, and the level of development for the two countries are entirely different.
If China does something and it is effective (somewhat), it doesn’t mean America learns and does it, it would be effective as well.
So no, there is nothing to learn from the Chinese government cleaning up corruption for the American government.
Cat fun comix
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China set to shake up energy market. Mongolia gas pipelines
The fire spread across an area of around 7,000 square meters (75,000 square feet) at the Mega shopping mall in the town of Khimki on the outskirts of Moscow and just seven kilometers (four miles) from the capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Comments?
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Cat fun comix
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Sammy Hagar & the Circle “Why Can’t This Be Love” on the Howard Stern Show
Tan Youhui and the Dirty Half-Dozen
Outsourcing is common nowadays. Unfortunately, this often means you don’t get what you pay for. Chinese real estate investor Tan Youhui learned this the hard way back in 2013. The mogul paid hitman Xi Guangan approximately $282,600 to kill a plaintiff in a lawsuit against him named Wei. But instead of completing the job, Xi Guangan outsourced it to another hitman.
The second killer then outsourced it to a third, who outsourced it to a fourth. The fourth killer then hired Ling Xiansi to commit the murder. Instead of killing Wei, Ling Xiansi contacted him for a meeting. The two conspired to fake Wei’s death. They used false photographic evidence to fool Tan Youhui into thinking Wei was dead. Wei then called the police, who launched a full investigation. According to Chinese court records, all six men involved were found guilty and sentenced to prison.
Full text of Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at China-GCC Summit
Source: Xinhua
Editor: huaxia
2022-12-10 03:08:30
RIYADH, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech here Friday at the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit.
The following is the full text of the speech:
Building on Past Achievements and Jointly Creating a Brighter Future of China-GCC Relations
Riyadh, Dec. 9, 2022
Distinguished Colleagues,
Secretary General Dr. Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf,
Good afternoon!
At the outset, I wish to express heartfelt appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit. It gives me great pleasure to join you in planning for the future of China-GCC relations.
The friendly exchange between China and GCC countries goes back nearly two millennia in history. Throughout those years, the two peoples interacted with each other continuously along the ancient Silk Road inspired by the “Eastern wisdom” of peace, harmony and truth. In 1981, China established contact with the GCC upon its inception. Forty plus years on, the two sides have written together a splendid chapter of solidarity, mutual assistance and win-win cooperation.
The leapfrog growth of China-GCC relations is attributed to the profound mutual trust. China and GCC countries have all along supported each other’s sovereignty and independence, respected each other’s development paths, upheld equality between countries regardless of their size, and stood firm in defending multilateralism.
The leapfrog growth is attributed to the high degree of complementarity. China has a vast consumer market and a complete industrial system, while the GCC, with rich energy and resources, is embracing diversified economic development. This makes the two sides natural partners of cooperation.
The leapfrog growth is attributed to the empathy of the two peoples. Both belonging to the family of Eastern civilizations, China and GCC countries have similar culture and values. And the peoples enjoy close bonds of friendship.
The leapfrog growth is also attributed to the solidarity between the two sides in times of adversity. Against regional and international uncertainties as well as challenges such as the financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and major natural disasters, the two sides have come to each other’s aid and navigated through the difficulties together.
Colleagues,
In response to the profound changes unseen in a century, GCC countries have strengthened themselves through unity, achieved economic growth despite COVID-19, and worked vigorously for political settlement of regional hotspots and thorny issues. They have made the GCC the most dynamic regional organization in the Middle East and the Gulf. China highly commends you for all this. Standing at a historical crossroads, we should carry forward the tradition of China-GCC friendship, and take the establishment of the China-GCC strategic partnership as an opportunity to enrich the strategic substance of this relationship.
– We should be partners for greater solidarity. We need to further consolidate political mutual trust and firmly support each other’s core interests. We need to jointly uphold the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, practice true multilateralism, and defend the common interests of all developing countries.
– We should be partners for common development. We need to better synergize development strategies and leverage our respective strengths to cultivate driving forces for development. China looks forward to working with all parties to advance and implement the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and follow through on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a view to promoting regional development and prosperity.
– We should be partners for common security. China will continue to firmly support GCC countries in safeguarding their security, and support the efforts by regional countries to resolve differences through dialogue and consultation and to build a Gulf collective security architecture. China welcomes the participation of GCC countries in the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in a joint effort to uphold regional peace and stability.
– We should be partners for cultural prosperity. We need to enhance interactions between our peoples, increase cultural exchanges, draw on each other’s fine cultural achievements, and promote the rich values of Eastern civilizations, so as to contribute our share to the development and progress of human civilizations.
Colleagues,
In the next three to five years, China is ready to work with GCC countries in the following priority areas:
First, setting up a new paradigm of all-dimensional energy cooperation. China will continue to import large quantities of crude oil on a long-term basis from GCC countries, and purchase more LNG. We will strengthen our cooperation in the upstream sector, engineering services, as well as storage, transportation and refinery of oil and gas. The Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange platform will be fully utilized for RMB settlement in oil and gas trade. The two sides will work more closely on clean and low-carbon technologies involving hydrogen, energy storage, wind and photovoltaic power and smart power grids, as well as localized production of new energy equipment. We will jointly establish a China-GCC forum on peaceful use of nuclear technology and a China-GCC nuclear security demonstration center. China will provide 300 training opportunities to GCC countries on peaceful use of nuclear energy and technology.
Second, making new progress in finance and investment cooperation. China and GCC countries could collaborate on financial regulation and facilitate the entry into China’s capital market for GCC companies. China will work with the GCC to set up a joint investment commission and support cooperation between sovereign wealth funds from both sides in various forms. The two sides could explore setting up a China-GCC forum on industrial and investment cooperation, strengthen investment cooperation on digital economy and green development, and build a working mechanism on investment and economic cooperation. The two sides could start currency swap cooperation, deepen digital currency cooperation and advance the m-CBDC Bridge project.
Third, expanding new areas of cooperation on innovation, science and technology. China is ready to build big data and cloud computing centers with GCC countries, strengthen 5G and 6G technology cooperation, build together innovation and entrepreneurship incubators, and implement ten digital economy projects in such areas as cross-border e-commerce and communications network. A China-GCC cooperation mechanism in meteorological science and technology will be set up, and the two sides could convene a seminar on climate response.
Fourth, seeking new breakthroughs in aerospace cooperation. China will carry out a string of cooperation projects with GCC countries in remote sensing and communications satellite, space utilization, and aerospace infrastructure. The two sides could select and train astronauts together, and China welcomes GCC astronauts to its space station for joint missions and space science experiments with their Chinese colleagues. China welcomes GCC countries’ participation in payloads cooperation in its aerospace missions including Chang’e and Tianwen, and will consider establishing a China-GCC joint center for lunar and deep space exploration.
Fifth, nurturing new highlights in language and cultural cooperation. China will cooperate with 300 universities, middle and primary schools in GCC countries on Chinese language education, work with GCC countries to set up 300 Chinese language smart classrooms, provide 3,000 “Chinese Bridge” summer/winter camp opportunities, and set up Chinese language learning and testing centers and online Chinese classes. The two sides could hold a China-GCC language and culture forum, and compile a bilingual library for people-to-people and cultural exchanges and mutual learning.
Colleagues,
China and GCC countries share the glorious mission of developing and revitalizing our nations. Our relations are both time-honored and young. Let us build on our achievements and work together to deliver an even brighter future of China-GCC relations.
Thank you. ■
What are your thoughts on Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption push? Over 100,000 Chinese officials have been indicted under it.
I don’t know for sure if corruption has been totally eradicated by I can share my personal experience as follows:
– 20 years ago when I was running a business in China, corruption was rather rampant. A high level official with a power company (i.e. lots of $ to purchase goods) that was my customer flaunted his wealth and status, admitting he had several mistresses. We as a supplier had to kiss his ass and give him a cut (through a 3rd party as we were not allowed to touch it directly) of the sales deal. A few months later I heard he got arrested. Obviously whoever he was leaning on one level up for support also got caught himself.
A few years back when I went to ShiJiaZhuang for a business visit with my Canadian friend, we were treated to lunch after the morning meeting. The receiving party was very apologetic and said with Xi’s new directive they are not allowed to be lavish even when entertaining foreign visitors. Very different from the days when I was working there. We were taken to a modest restaurant for lunch but the food was good though inexpensive, and I had no complaint at all.
If you look at the way infrastructure is built in China, the speed and the quality, you have to draw the conclusion that low-level, wide-spread corruption simply cannot be there. For if it was, progress would have been at a snail’s pace. So I do believe this problem is at least contained, if not totally solved, by Xi’s measure.
Xi Jinping’s Visit to Saudi Arabia and the overthrow of Atlanticism
As Atlanticists continue their commitment to a future shaped by energy scarcity, food scarcity, and war with their nuclear-capable neighbors, most states in the Persian Gulf that have long been trusted allies of the west have quickly come to realize that their interests are best assured by cooperating with Eurasian states like China and Russia who don’t think in those zero-sum terms.
With Chinese President Xi Jinping’s long-awaited three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, a powerful shift by the Persian Gulf’s most strategic Arab state toward the multipolar alliance is being consolidated. Depending on which side of the ideological fence you sit on, this consolidation is being viewed closely with great hope or rage.
Xi’s visit stands in stark contrast to US President Joe Biden’s underwhelming ‘fist bump’ meeting this summer, which saw the self-professed leader of the free world falling asleep at a conference table and demanding more Saudi oil production while offering nothing durable in return.
In contrast, Xi’s arrival was greeted by a multi-cannon salute and Saudi jets painting the red and yellow colors of China’s flag in the skies over Riyadh. Beijing’s delegation of political and business elites, in the following days, will continue to meet with Saudi counterparts to strike long-term strategic deals in cultural, economic and scientific domains.
The visit will culminate in the first ever China-Arab Summit on Friday, 9 December, where Xi will meet with 30 heads of state. The Chinese foreign ministry described this as “an epoch-making milestone in the history of the development of China-Arab relations.”
While $30 billion in deals will be signed between Beijing and Riyadh, something much bigger is at play which too few have come to properly appreciate.
Riyadh’s steps toward the BRI since 2016
Xi Jinping last visited the kingdom in 2016, to advance Riyadh’s participation in China’s newly unveiled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A January 2016 policy report by the Chinese government to all Arab states reads:
“In the process of jointly pursuing the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, China is willing to coordinate development strategies with Arab states, put into play each other’s advantages and potentials, promote international production capacity cooperation and enhance cooperation in the fields of infrastructure construction, trade and investment facilitation, nuclear power, space satellite, new energy, agriculture and finance, so as to achieve common progress and development and benefit our two peoples.”
It was only three months later that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) inaugurated Saudi Vision 2030 which firmly outlined a new foreign policy agenda much more compatible with China’s “peaceful development” spirit.
After decades serving as an Atlanticist client state with no viable manufacturing prospects or autonomy beyond its role in supporting western-managed terror operations, Saudi Vision 2030 demonstrated the first signs of creative thinking in years, with an outlook toward a post-oil age.
On the energy front, China Energy Corp is building a sprawling 2.6 GW solar power station in Saudi Arabia, and Chinese nuclear developers are helping Riyadh develop its vast uranium resources while also mastering all branches of the nuclear fuel cycle.
In 2016, both nations signed an MoU to build fourth generation gas-cooled nuclear reactors. This follows the UAE’s recent leap into the 21st century with 2.7 GW of energy now constructed.
By early 2017, Riyadh had firmly bought its ticket on the New Silk Road with a $65 billion agreement integrating the Saudi Vision 2030 and BRI with a focus on petrochemical integration, engineering, refining, procurement, construction, carbon capture, and upstream/downstream development.
In the new post-American epoch, signs of this spirit of cooperation and bridge building have increasingly come to be felt, even while its effects have been forcibly restrained – as millions of Yemenis suffering under seven years of war can testify.
Unlike the Atlanticist fixation on Green New Deals which threaten to annihilate industry and farming, Riyadh’s post-oil outlook is much more synergistic with China’s idea of “sustained growth” that demands nuclear power, continued hydrocarbons, and robust agro-industrial development.
China’s trade with Saudi Arabia rose to $87.3 billion in 2021, which saw a 39 percent increase over 2020, while US-Saudi trade has collapsed from $76 billion in 2012 to only $29 billion in 2021.
Some of this Beijing-Riyadh trade may now be conducted in the Chinese Yuan, which will only undermine the US-Saudi relationship further.
In the first 10 months of 2022, China’s imports from Saudi Arabia were $57 billion and exports to the kingdom rose to $30.3 billion. China is additionally building 5G systems and cultivating a vast technology hub with a focus on selling electronic goods, all while helping Saudi Arabia build up an indigenous manufacturing sector.
A trend of Harmonization
Despite the continued chaos in Yemen, and economic devastation in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, Beijing’s subtle trend has nonetheless been one of healing with Saudi Arabia – and regional power Turkiye.
Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have often acted as rivals, and front two distinct foreign agendas with broad regional ambitions that overlap on many fronts. But despite this competitive past, higher necessities have induced both nations to harmonize their foreign policy outlooks with a new “look east” focus.
This was expressed during the Saudi crown prince’s visit to Ankara in June 2022 where the two heads of state called for “a new era of cooperation” with a focus on political, economic, military and cultural cooperation outlined in a joint communique.
Only days after MbS’s return from Turkiye, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Jeddah to promote regional stability stating in a press release “they changed points of view on a number of issues that would contribute to supporting and strengthening regional security and stability.”
Iraq and Saudi Arabia had only re-established diplomatic ties in November 2020 due to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait 30 years earlier.
Between 2021-2022, Iraq had worked hard to host bilateral talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran with five rounds of talks held and Kadhimi stating his belief that “reconciliation is near.” Tehran-Riyadh diplomatic ties were cut in the aftermath of the 2016 execution of outspoken Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, prompting the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by angry protestors.
In March 2022, MbS stated that Iran and Saudi Arabia “were neighbors forever” and stated that it is “better for both of us to working it out and to look for ways in which we can co-exist.”
By August 23, 2022, the UAE and Kuwait created a new milestone by restarting diplomatic relations with Iran. And although nearly every Persian Gulf state (plus Turkiye) had devoted years to supporting regime change in Syria, a new reality has imposed itself with all Arab parties veering toward the Chinese BRI model of regional integration and economic development.
The Key Role of Iran
Not only is Iran a key player in the Greater Eurasian Partnership serving as a strategic hub for the southern route of China’s BRI, but it is also a keystone of the Russia-Iran-India-led International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) which has become a major force synergizing with the BRI.
Iraq and Iran themselves are in the final stages of building the long-awaited Shalamcheh-Basra railway which will unite the two nations by rail for the first time in decades while also offering a potential extension to the already existent 1500 km railway through Iraq to Syria’s border.
The climate for cooperation was undoubtedly made possible by the presence of Chinese economic diplomacy which established a 25 year, $400 billion energy and security deal with Iran – but also Russia, whose similar but smaller $25 billion, twenty-year deal with Tehran may easily expand to $40 billion in Russian investments in Iran’s vast oil and natural gas fields in the coming years.
Saudi Arabia and Russia’s relationship with OPEC+ demonstrated its potency this summer when Riyadh won the ire of Washington by not only denying Biden’s requests for increased oil production, but cutting overall oil production and driving up global prices of oil. Saudi Arabia benefited by vastly increased imports of discounted Russian oil which were then sold to a desperate Europe.
Furthermore, Saudi plans to join the global hub of multipolarity itself, BRICS+ (alongside Turkiye, Egypt, and Algeria), in addition to recently becoming a full-fledged Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) dialogue partner, have placed its destiny ever deeper into the growing Multipolar Alliance.
With the increased potential for stability and harmonization of interests across various power blocs, an atmosphere more conducive to long-term economic investments is finally presenting itself to Chinese investors who had long looked upon conflict-ridden West Asia with justifiable trepidation.
In August 2022, the Saudi state oil company Aramco and China’s Petroleum and Chemical Corporation Ltd signed an MOU expanding on the aforementioned $65 billion cooperation deal of 2017, which involves the construction of Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Company (FREP) and Sinopec Senmei Petroleum Company (SSPC) in Fujian, China, and Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) in Saudi Arabia.
Rail and interconnectivity
Perhaps most exciting are prospects for interconnectivity that play directly into the development corridors tied to the BRI. In Saudi Arabia, this train has moved steadily apace with the 450 km high speed Haramain Railway built by China Railway Construction Company connecting Mecca to Medina completed in 2018.
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Photo Credit: The Cradle
Discussions are well underway to extend this line to the 2400 km North South Railway from Riyadh to Al Haditha completed in 2015. Meanwhile, 460 km of rail connecting all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members is currently under construction, which is driving reforms in engineering, trade schools, and manufacturing hubs across the Arabian Peninsula.
In 2021, all GCC states gave their full support to a $200 billion Persian Gulf-Red Sea high speed railway dubbed “The Saudi Landbridge,” which also dovetails another $500 billion megaproject with vast Chinese investments, dubbed the futuristic NEOM mega-city on the Red Sea.
The Eurasianists stand to gain
It can only be hoped that this new chemistry of harmonization and win-win cooperation may soon provide a key to ending the fires of conflict in Yemen and other regional states.
Further, with Russia and China both helping to broker diplomatic backchannels, and with Iran playing an active role within this process, perhaps negotiations for reconstruction can begin in this war-torn zone of conflict.
It is not an extreme stretch of the imagination to see the new Persian Gulf-Red Sea rail project extending north into Egypt and south into Yemen.
Looking at a map of the region, one can imagine the reactivation of the “Bridge of the Horn of Africa” first unveiled in 2009, that would have extended rail across the 25 km Bab el Mandeb strait connecting pipelines and rail lines into Djibouti and East Africa, more broadly.
While a western-manipulated Arab Spring derailed that concept in 2011, and the Saudi war against Yemen drove it further under ground since 2015, perhaps this new spirit of inter-civilizational cooperation under a new economic architecture liberated from the Atlanticist-dominated dollar system may provide just what it takes to revive the idea once again.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel Admits: Minsk Agreements were only to “Buy Time” for Future Ukraine-Russia War
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday admitted that her participation in the Minsk Agreements between Ukraine and Russia in 2014 and 2015, was a deliberate deception; designed only to “buy time” for Ukraine to build its army for war with Russia. A war that is now presently taking place.
All this was PLANNED . . .
It is widely known that so-called “Conspiracy Theorists” believe almost all of the things going on politically in the world are “theater.” They claim that the upheaval, dislocation, troubles are “all planned” long in advance. Most folks discount such claims as being too fantastic to believe, yet now we have actual proof that the present Ukraine-Russia war, was, in fact, planned as far back as 2014. All the troubles we have today from that war . . . were, in fact, planned.
In public remarks this week, Angela Merkel quite casually revealed that the Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015 were not signed with the intention of achieving lasting peace. Instead, they were signed, according to Merkel, “to buy time” for Ukraine during which it would strengthen for new conflicts with Russia.
She also admitted that at the time “NATO was not able to provide military support to the Kiev regime to the extent to which it does so today.”
Merkel went on to point out that “Ukraine used that time to get stronger” and event went so far as to say “the Ukraine from 2014-2015 is not the Ukraine we see today” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would have easily run over” Ukraine back then.
Bear in mind that the Minsk Agreements were hammered-out during what were described as “marathon negotiations” in one case, lasting a non-stop nineteen hours, between then-Ukraine-President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Merkel, French President Francois Holland, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was only this past June, 2022, when the world found out that Ukraine’s former President Petro Poroshenko publicly admitted he deliberately LIED at the Minsk agreements, participating in them even though he already knew he had no intentional at all of implementing them.
In an interview with German Television Deutche Welle, Poroshenko said the Minsk agreements “meant nothing” and claimed credit for giving Kiev enough time to militarize
Petro Poroshenko admitted that the 2015 ceasefire in Donbass, which he negotiated with Russia, France and Germany as president of Ukraine, was merely a distraction intended to buy time for Kiev to rebuild its military.
He made the comments in interviews with several news outlets back in June of this year, including to Germany’s Deutsche Welle television and to the Ukrainian branch of the US state-run Radio Free Europe. Poroshenko also defended his record as president between 2014 and 2019.
“We had achieved everything we wanted,” he said of the peace deal. “Our goal was to, first, stop the threat, or at least to delay the war – to secure eight years to restore economic growth and create powerful armed forces.”
He cited Sun Tzu’s stratagems as an inspiration for the deception. Winning a war does not necessarily require winning military engagements, Poroshenko said, calling the deal he made a win for Ukraine in that regard.
In the interviews, Poroshenko spoke about his role in negotiating the Minsk agreements, a roadmap for reconciliation between his government and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The former president apparently confirmed that Kiev hadn’t come to the talks in good faith, but simply wanted a reprieve after suffering a military defeat.
Now, with the comments made by former German Chancellor Angela Merekel, the world finds out that she, too, was “in on it.” She KNEW the entire Minsk Agreement meetings were nothing more than a farce, yet she sat through those meetings, face-to-face with the President of Russia, and deliberately, willfully, LIED right to his face.
What kind of people must Merkel and Poroshenko be, that, as heads of state, (or even just as plain, ordinary people) they could willfully sit at a serious negotiation for peace, when in reality, they were simply planning for a much worse war, years later? Does that make Merkel and Poroshenko Sociopaths? Psychopaths?
Based on web definitions of sociopath and psychopath, both people may very well qualify for those diagnosis.
FROM WEB MD:
You may have heard people call someone else a “psychopath” or a “sociopath.” But what do those words really mean?
You won’t find the definitions in mental health’s official handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Doctors don’t officially diagnose people as psychopaths or sociopaths. They use a different term instead: antisocial personality disorder.
Most experts believe psychopaths and sociopaths share a similar set of traits. People like this have a poor inner sense of right and wrong. They also can’t seem to understand or share another person’s feelings. But there are some differences, too.
Do They Have a Conscience?
A key difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is whether he has a conscience, the little voice inside that lets us know when we’re doing something wrong, says L. Michael Tompkins, EdD. He’s a psychologist at the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center.
A psychopath doesn’t have a conscience. If he lies to you so he can steal your money, he won’t feel any moral qualms, though he may pretend to. He may observe others and then act the way they do so he’s not “found out,” Tompkins says.
A sociopath typically has a conscience, but it’s weak. They may know that taking your money is wrong, and they might feel some guilt or remorse, but that won’t stop their behavior.
Both lack empathy, the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes and understand how they feel. But a psychopath has less regard for others, says Aaron Kipnis, PhD, author of The Midas Complex. Someone with this personality type sees others as objects he can use for his own benefit.
They’re Not Always Violent
In movies and TV shows, psychopaths and sociopaths are usually the villains who kill or torture innocent people. In real life, some people with antisocial personality disorder can be violent, but most are not. Instead they use manipulation and reckless behavior to get what they want.
“At worst, they’re cold, calculating killers,” Kipnis says. Others, he says, are skilled at climbing their way up the corporate ladder, even if they have to hurt someone to get there.
If you recognize some of these traits in a family member or coworker, you may be tempted to think you’re living or working with a psychopath or sociopath. But just because a person is mean or selfish, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have a disorder.
‘Cold-Hearted Psychopath, Hot-Headed Sociopath’
It’s not easy to spot a psychopath. They can be intelligent, charming, and good at mimicking emotions. They may pretend to be interested in you, but in reality, they probably don’t care.
“They’re skilled actors whose sole mission is to manipulate people for personal gain,” Tompkins says.
Sociopaths are less able to play along. They make it plain that they’re not interested in anyone but themselves. They often blame others and have excuses for their behavior.
Some experts see sociopaths as “hot-headed.” They act without thinking how others will be affected.
Psychopaths are more “cold-hearted” and calculating. They carefully plot their moves, and use aggression in a planned-out way to get what they want. If they’re after more money or status in the office, for example, they’ll make a plan to take out any barriers that stand in the way, even if it’s another person’s job or reputation.
Brain Differences
Recent research suggests a psychopath’s brain is not like other people’s. It may have physical differences that make it hard for the person to identify with someone else’s distress.
The differences can even change basic body functions. For example, when most people see blood or violence in a movie, their hearts beat faster, their breathing quickens, and their palms get sweaty.
A psychopath has the opposite reaction. He gets calmer. Kipnis says that quality helps psychopaths be fearless and engage in risky behavior.
“They don’t fear the consequences of their actions,” he says.
Draw your own conclusion if Merkel and Poroshenko meet the definitions of sociopath or psychopath cited above.
Which brings us all back to the “Conspiracy Theorists” who warn us that all the things going on in the world are carefully planned and scripted “theater.” Clearly, since we now know that the Minsk Agreements were a farce, entered into willingly by Poroshenko and Merkel, that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine __was__ actually planned, as far back as 2014!
The other participant in the Minsk Agreements, Francois Holland of France, has not said if he, too, was aware that the effort was a farce, but since both France and Germany are NATO members and allies, it seems logical to believe President Holland of France would have known too.
Which leaves President Vladimir Putin, of the Russian Federation. We now find out he was deliberately deceived by both Ukraine and Germany during both the Minsk one and Minsk two meetings.
What is he to do?
Clearly, Ukraine cannot ever be believed again; it’s very top leader willfully lied – twice – for the express purpose of building an army to fight a war with Russia.
Clearly Germany cannot ever be believed again; it’s leader participated in the willful deception.
France . . . it’s likely they were “in on it” but we just don’t know right now.
Oh, and the most important party regarding the Minsk Agreements -a party who was NOT ACTUALLY PARTICIPATING — the United States . . . under then President Barak Obama, HAD TO KNOW the meetings were a deception. It seems impossible that the largest, most important member of NATO, the USA, did not know.
So how can Russia believe __anything__ the United States says, when it, too, seems to have been part of the deliberate deception?
The major “takeaway” from all this is the simple reality that the present Ukraine-Russia war __was__ planned . . . as far back as the year 2014. Ukraine INTENDED to have a war. YEt now that they have gotten what they planned, WE in the US and NATO, are expected to cough up tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons, to “help” them.
“Poor Ukraine” we hear. “They’ve been invaded by Russia” we hear. Yet it turns out, they PLANNED this confrontation as far back as 2014.
I say, since Ukraine planned it, let Ukraine fight it. Since Ukraine planned it, let Ukraine PAY FOR IT.
All US Military aid and cash to Ukraine should stop immediately. They built this treehouse, let them sit in it.
Of course, I might be missing one important aspect. What if it was the US and NATO that actually planned this? Maybe THAT is why the US and NATO are so heavily invested in it?
If that’s true, then I’d like to find out the names of the people in the US and NATO who came up with this plan. I’d like to send them the $195 bill I just got to fill-up my diesel pick-up truck that took 32 gallons and cost me $195 for ONE tank full. I’d like to send them the $400+ food bill from the supermarket every couple weeks to feed my family. I’d like to send them my now $400-$500 electric bill for my small, 1200 square foot condo.
I am suffering all these increased costs because of a war THEY planned. Let THEM pay for it.
The more serious part of this deception, is that since they clearly PLANNED the Ukraine-Russia War, then they clearly knew all these economic hardships would come with that war – and they did it anyway.
The absolute worst part of this is that their deception, may actually result in a nuclear war. They must have considered this as well, since they planned it so many years ago.
If the ongoing troubles result in a nuclear exchange, I want to know the names of the people here in America who planned this all the way back in 2014 and 2015, so they can be held personally accountable, on the spot. Their “Qualified Immunity,” only works in court. It doesn’t work out in the real world, out in the streets.
No, their “Immunity” doesn’t work at all out here.
.
Unrelenting propaganda: we hear speculation of Putin is dying as well….now flee to America backyard waiting for US to arrest him?
The West is truly BAT-SHIT crazy! -MM
Vladimir Putin’s former aide suggests he will flee to South America if he loses Russia’s war with Ukraine
Dubbed Operation Noah’s ark, a former aide of Vladimir Putin has shared the plan the President could take in the advent that he begins to lose the war.
Evan Dando – Drug Buddy live 01/30/10 New York, NY Lemonheads
Been there. (nod)
The Fishmobile
Can fish avoid obstacles on land? Okay, fish and land don’t gel. But this didn’t stop researchers in Israel from building a car for goldfish. Kind of like an aquarium on wheels. The goal was to understand how fish learn to navigate and if their brains could handle a trip on land.
Six goldfish were trained to pilot the fish-operated vehicle or FOV. At first, the fish swam erratically but then seemed to grasp the situation and their movements became more deliberate and relaxed. Indeed, the goldfish quickly learned how to make the FOV drive forward, but it was harder to teach them to think outside the tank, so to speak.
But with simple obstacle training and a lot of treats, the fish stopped driving aimlessly around the room and headed straight for targets. Once they reached a target, they were rewarded with a snack. When obstacles were placed in their path, the fish learned to drive around them to get to the target—and something yummy. This proved that fish can be remarkably resourceful in challenging environments in order to find food.
Cat funny and strange…
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Don Henley – The Boys Of Summer (Official Music Video)
This song is quintessential 80’s, absolutely one of the coolest and best songs by Don and of the 80’s. Takes me back to growing up in the 80’s. What an awesome time.
Brazil in Chaos Over Stolen Election; Emergency Broadcast System Activated, Military Says MARTIAL LAW Coming
Color Revolution in process to break Brazil off from the BRICS+ alignment with the Global South. You can be assured that the United States is involved somehow. -MM
The country of Brazil is in chaos this morning after weeks of citizen protest of the “stolen” Presidential Elections. The Emergency Boradcast System is Activated. Citizens are being told to stock up on food and water for 21-30 days. MARTIAL LAW will be implemented and troops given SHOOT TO KILL Orders for anyone found out on the streets.
This is a fast developing situation, check back.
Cat funny and strange…
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Ukraine SitRep – Catastrophic Losses, Failing Wonder Weapons, NATO Escalation
The Russian military is still integrating most of the mobilized 300,000+ men and volunteers. According to Putin 25% of the mobilized forces are in combat units, 25% in rear positions, while 50% train in Russia. It does not look like an imminent all out attack on the Ukrainian front lines is in the cards. The expected large winter attack may not be coming at all. Instead the new forces will rotate through the frontline and only attack locally whenever they see an opportunity.
The Russian do not need to attack. Their task is to demilitarize Ukraine. As long as the Ukrainians come to the front lines and attack the Russians their is no need to launch a large attack on them.
The map from a months ago versus today shows only a few small changes of the front lines.
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Every day all of the frontline sections are full of artillery/bombing symbols. That is mostly Russian artillery mowing the grass and killing Ukrainian soldiers.
Over the last month it was mostly the Ukrainians who attacked all along the front only to run into walls of steel and explosions. They did not manage to break the Russian lines. They tried again and again but failed with high losses.
Russian offenses were mostly confined to the Bakhmut/Artemovsk front where the Wagner private military contractor group has captured multiple Ukrainian trench lines and villages. This usually comes only after the artillery has cleaned the area and the few surviving Ukrainians moved out. The map from a months ago versus today shows small but important differences in that front line.
There must be a Ukrainian high order to hold onto Bakhmut at any price. The Ukrainian army has again and again moved reserve brigades into the area. Its hold operation is extremely costly:
Tony @Cyberspec1 – 5:46 UTC · Dec 10, 2022Polish newspaper NDP (Independent Political Journal) believes that without the support of NATO, the fighting in 🇺🇦 would end within a week.
NDP: daily losses of the AFU near Bakhmut reach a battalion (500-800 soldiers), hospitals in the city of Konstantinovka are overcrowded,
The above is not the only source which made that claim.
Big Serge @witte_sergei – 18:32 UTC · Dec 8, 2022LPR officials claim that Ukraine is transferring up to 500 men *per day* to Bakhmut to replenish losses. Even Arestovych admitted that Russian artillery strength in the sector has a 9 to 1 advantage. Bakhmut is becoming the largest and most costly battle of the war for Ukraine.
Newsweek spoke with a ‘former’ U.S. Colonel who, together with ‘volunteers’, trains Ukrainian soldiers. Here is what he says about Ukrainian losses:
“Bakhmut is like Dresden, and the countryside looks like Passchendaele,” he said, referring to the German city destroyed by allied bombing in World War II and the infamously muddy and bloody World War I battlefield. “It’s just a horrible and miserable place.”Ukraine closely guards its casualty figures, but its forces are believed to be suffering badly around Bakhmut.
“They’ve been taking extraordinarily high casualties,” Milburn said of the units training with Mozart. “The numbers you are reading in the media about 70 percent and above casualties being routine are not exaggerated.”
Despite their “tremendous morale,” Milburn said the defenders “have an acute ‘regeneration problem,’ which means getting new recruits into the line as quickly as possible.” This means those being thrown into the fight have little beyond basic training.
“Typically about 80 percent of our intake who are coming off of the line have never even fired a weapon before,” Milburn said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
A unit that has 50% casualties is usually no longer able to fight and must be replaced. But the Ukrainians leave their units on the frontline until nearly nobody is left in them.
So the number of 500 casualties per day on the Bakhmut front seems realistic. Over the last months the daily report of the Russian ministry of defense listed on average some 300 Ukrainian casualties per day. But the ministry does not report the casualties from Bakhmut as the operations of the private military contractor Wagner are not included in it. So the daily total over the last month, despite little movement of the front lines, must have been some 800 dead Ukrainians. In the 30 days between the two maps at the top at least 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers have left the battle field.
It is no wonder that such high numbers can not be replaced.
The mix of dead or wounded will likely be 1 to 1 as medical evacuation from the frontline trenches is extremely difficult. Most wounded will just die there.
It is not only the men that are lost. The equipment they used is mostly lost with them. 24,000 men are the equivalent of 6 to 7 NATO brigades. The German army has now only 8 of those. When I was it that army it had 36 brigades plus significant reserve units. The same large downgrade happened with the general state of NATO. It is not ready for a war with Russia.
The western wounder weapons have done little for Ukraine. The Russians have update their air defense systems to now detect and shoot down HIMARS missiles. They report some 10 to 20 of such kills per day. The shooting down of small and medium sized Ukrainian drones has dropped from 20-30 per day in the summer to 2-3 per day. Either the Ukrainians have run out of drones or the weather has made theirs unusable. Russian drones continue to fly and they help with artillery targeting. The western artillery systems can not be repaired in the field as the Ukrainians lack the training and tools to do that. The Wall Street Journalreports:
Less than 50% of the self-propelled Panzerhaubitze — a class of mobile, long-barreled battlefield guns officially known as PzH2000 howitzers that are widely considered to be among the best-performing weapons of their kind — are on the battlefield at any given time, because they must be taken to Lithuania for repairs, nearly 900 miles from the Kherson front in southern Ukraine, senior German officials said. Germany has so far delivered 14 such weapons, and the Netherlands another five.Other allies, such as the U.S. and Britain, service the arms they donated to Ukraine in Poland, near the Ukrainian border. But Warsaw has refused to allow Berlin to set up a servicing center in Poland, requesting instead that the German manufacturers provide confidential technical information in order for a Polish state-controlled company to do the work, according to German officials involved in the talks.
There was also a spat over Patriot air defense missiles. Germany offered to station these in east Poland but with German crews. Poland first accepted the offer, then rejected it and said the missiles should go to Ukraine. It then retracted again and will now accept the offer.
The international relation within Europe are getting worse. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz has declared that he wants Germany to be the leading power in Europe. Germany’s neighbors, and most of its own population, are not happy with that.
Over the last five months Latvia has hosted the Russian opposition TV station TVrain. It has now shot it down because TVrain, sending for a Russian audience, also had some positive things to say about Russia. TVrain had survived in Russia for 12 years. In Latvia it lasted only four and a half months.
Alec Luhn @ASLuhn – 19:24 UTC · Dec 9, 2022.@tvrain journalists have been blacklisted in Latvia & declared a foreign agent in Russia on the same day 🤔 link
What these anecdotes show is that NATO is slowly falling apart. NATO is losing the proxy war in Ukraine and it is losing it badly. The people know it and it will have consequences. An increasingly authoritarian EU will follow the same path.
But there are powers in NATO that want to prevent that downfall. They will try to get NATO directly into the fight:
NATO’s secretary general warned on Friday that Russia’s war in Ukraine could expand into a wider war with the Atlantic alliance.The official, Jens Stoltenberg, repeatedly cautioned in news media interviews this week against underestimating the situation in Ukraine and emphasized the wider threat President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could pose to Europe.
“If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong,” Mr. Stoltenberg said in an interview released on Friday with the Norwegian journalist Anne Lindmo, in which he added that there was “no doubt” a full-blown war against NATO was a “real possibility.”
“I understand everyone who is tired of supporting Ukraine. I understand everyone who thinks that food prices and the electricity bills are far too high,” he said. “But we have to pay a much higher price if our freedom and peace are threatened through Putin winning in Ukraine.”
Reread that last sentence:
“But we have to pay a much higher price if our freedom and peace are threatened through Putin winning in Ukraine.”
Putin wining in Ukraine, which he is doing, will threaten our freedom and peace?
Russia has no interest in Europe beyond Ukraine’s borders. So how is that suppose to endanger us?
It is bullshit but it is designed to push for NATO entering the war when it becomes obvious to everyone that Russia is wining it.
NATO countries are increasingly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, with the United States intentionally proceeding with an escalation on this track, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Thursday.”NATO members are increasingly and directly involved in this conflict. Their support for Kiev is now much diversified than it was a few months ago. This is a reflection of Washington’s intentional policy, obediently pursued by the Europeans, of escalating the conflict. They are playing with fire. The risks are soaring,” Ryabkov said.
Mr. Stoltenberg’s comments came two days after he said that Russia was intentionally stalling the war in order to prepare a renewed onslaught against Ukrainian forces next year.
Let us assume that Russia waits until March for its all out attack on Ukraine. In the meantime it continues to grind the Ukrainian army down without itself having significant casualties. The Ukrainian army will by then have lost another 72,000 men. That is probably a third of its current strength. By then its acute ‘regeneration problem’ will have become even more acute. It means that it will then be much weaker.
What plans may Russia have for an all out spring attack?
Dr. Michael Vlahos and Col. Douglas Macgregor are military historians. They have watched the war in Ukraine and recently discussed it. They have come to their own conclusions. Neither believes in the nonsense of a winning Ukraine that the ‘western’ media are trying to sell us. They have ideas how Russia may want to attack.
Each of those videos is some 30-50 minutes long. But it is content on a higher level than what you will see in other talk shows. I highly recommend these.
Posted by b on December 10, 2022 at 17:24 UTC | Permalink
Norman Feller
Despite his name, Norman Feller is far from a “normal fella” (sorry, I had to).
Like many people at the time, Feller was extremely concerned about the coming of the new millennium and the potential Y2K disaster. Feller took it a few steps farther than others, though. He built an underground bunker before 2000 and stayed in the bunker. Not for just a few days, but for 14 years. He only emerged in September 2014.
I can only assume that fear and paranoia played a major part in his underground living for over a decade! Despite that, Feller was in good health and spirits.
“She’s Gone” – Yacht Rock Revue featuring John Oates
Cat funny and strange…
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Does The Thinker Hold His Hand against His Head or His Chin?
The bronze sculpture The Thinker stands in the Musee Rodin in Paris. The sculpture depicts a nude male figure sitting on a rock and leaning over with his right elbow on his left thigh. The weight of his chin rests on the back of his right hand, according to many tourists.
But several people who have visited the statue believe that the statue’s right fist is pressed against his forehead. The frontal view of the statue reveals that the knuckles of the right hand are actually pressed up against his mouth—and his hand is not in a fist.
Several books, both fiction and non-fiction, describe the statue as having his right fist to his forehead, though, confusing the issue even more.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said minutes ago today (Wednesday) that “the threat of a nuclear war is on the rise” over NATO’s interference in Ukraine.
The Russian President also said:
“Russia will defend its allies with all available means.”
“Russia does NOT have tactical nuclear weapons in other countries unlike the United States.”
Means; they have the BIG PLANET BUSTER NUKES. Not the smaller bombs based on precision nuclear strikes. - MM
“We didn’t speak about usage of nuclear weapons.”
“Russia has not gone mad.”
“We have most advanced weapons, but do not want to wave them around.”
“Russia considers such weapons as deterrent.”
…
Developing, check back . . .
Cat funny and strange…
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Jimmy Buffett performs MARGARITAVILLE with special guest JJ Watt
Tiny kitty couches
crocheted cat couches8
Pear and Gruyere Omelet
“Pears and creamy Swiss Gruyere fill this easy omelet.”
Russia is officially considering adding to their military Doctrine a “Preventive Nuclear First-Strike”
.
Why do so many foreigners go to China and think China is good?
I’ve lived for substantial time in 3 Asian cities (Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen), and they all surprised me on the upside. In the case of China, here’s why I like it:
it’s modern, and continues to develop all the time. They have modern cities, excellent transport infrastructure (highways, airports, high-speed trains network which is unmatched in the world, excellent public transport and taxis), excellent hotels, malls, restaurants and cafes, beautiful parks, etc.
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There’s a feeling of safety and freedom in Chinese cities, which impress with their size. There’s no one to tell you what to do, and you can see from the behavior of the diverse crowd, people just do what they want. In most places you won’t see any police. In some others they are present in security posts. They just do their job, i.e. sit there silently and behave reasonably, adding to the security and order. Do you know that police in China doesn’t have firearms? They are just like a part of the crowd, only doing their job.
friendliness of Chinese people. You will always get help, no matter that you can’t speak a word in Chinese besides 你好, or they can’t speak English. They’ll spend their time and go out of their way to explain you how to get somewhere, or how to buy a train ticket, they’ll patiently and enthusiastically explain how to get what you need. They’ll be positive and practical all the time while helping you.
they are non-dogmatic. The people are simply pragmatic and hardworking, they want to live good lives, and feel responsible for their well-being. They are not brainwashed (something which is actually more typical to Western countries, and you can see it on Quora too). The main philosophy of China is just common sense and being a good person.
business is in the genes of Chinese. Small shops and restaurants are ubiquitous, which makes me think self employment and small business must be a major kind of employment. The government creates excellent business infrastructure. For example, the hi tech city area in Shenzhen is very impressive and has lots of spaces to support innovations and startups. China hosts some of world’s biggest trade shows and exhibitions. It’s easy to see trends in the world economy here.
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they are connected and communal. It’s easy to talk with people and make friends, especially if you are open and respectful.
technologically, China is of course advanced in many ways. For example, electric transport has been very developed here for years. You can find electric bikes, personal transportation vehicles (like kick scooters or mono wheels), electric taxis and cars, even electric buses (the photo below is a bus charging station).
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some things are convenient. The Chinese messenger app (WeChat) is very advanced and makes it easy to make payments and much more; it’s a technology marvel. For example, in some cafes you can scan QR code on your table, which brings up the menu on your phone; you can make an order and it will be sent to your table. You can pay with your mobile phone almost everywhere, you don’t need cash or credit card. It’s fine to leave your wallet at home if you have a phone with you.
still kept (and in some cases even exaggerated) some of its sweet traditions. Well, their language itself is ancient to begin with. In the very developed Chinese cities you’ll see many people still trying to live simple ways. Outdoor tai chi, dragon boat festivals, traditional medicine, etc., add charm to the urban culture.
it’s vast and intellectually stimulating. It’s very geographically diverse, has rich history, and Chinese are passionate about learning and self development, they’re smart and focused. I love book shops here and book cafes; Shenzhen’s central book store claims to be the largest in the world.
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To give a more balanced answer, I’ll mention a few negatives. They are not big, but are a part of life, too:
air pollution in some cities and regions. People are used to it. Most of the time it’s not terribly bad, and unfortunately air is more or less polluted in most (if not all) cities of the world. I take break from cities and travel once in a while to other countries or areas in China (such as Yunnan, Hainan) where the air is clean.
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internet problems. Although the networks are fast, but due to traffic monitoring some Western sites are blocked (Google, popular social networks, and some news sites).
you shouldn’t be lazy and start learning the language and culture. It is very worthy. Although you always get help and generally friendly attitude, you need to do your part and learn at least the basics of Mandarin. Unlike in HK, in the mainland little effort is made to translate anything into English (beyond road signs and metro announcements). It pays a lot to know at least common phrases and basics of characters writing (汉字). It is a lot of fun actually.
Overall, China is fast pace, generally efficient, straightforward, but you need to get used to it and learn ways of doing things. They may be not what you are used to coming from another country.
The world today is falling into an Abyss that was created by the United States, and many world “leaders” are deciding to either follow the United States, or to get the Hell out of the way.
So we start with today’s installment…
Emperor Caligula the Sadist
Emperor Caligula of Rome is bound to top any list of crazy rulers. Caligula was a leader whose sadism and depravity seemed to have known no bounds. For a start, Caligula tried to instate his horse, Incitatus, as a consul. He appointed a priest to serve the horse and had a stunning marble stable built, complete with chairs and a sofa. This was more than a little eccentric.
Then there are the multiple tales of his sadism. For example, one day at the Circus Maximus, Caligula was enjoying the spectacle when suddenly it became apparent the organizers had run out of criminals to feed to the lions. Caligula simply had the first five rows of spectators dragged from their seats and thrown into the arena. Hundreds died.
Another time, when someone insulted Caligula to his face, he responded by having the man’s family executed in front of a crowd. It began with the man and his wife. Then the children followed, one by one. Eventually, only the youngest daughter, a 12-year-old, was left alive.
The crowd was outraged but had stayed out of morbid curiosity. Before the young girl could be killed, a spectator cried out that she must be spared as she was a virgin. The girl was crying hysterically, having watched her family dispatched one by one. Caligula responded by ordering the executioner to rape the young girl in front of the crowd before strangling her to death.
Caligula was also said to have been beyond debauched. He publicly had sex with his three sisters at public banquets and games, sometimes on the banquet table itself. It has also been claimed that he prostituted his sisters out to other men for his entertainment and slept with his brother-in-law.
Historically, much has been made of Caligula’s sadism. Some historians have claimed that some of the worst tales about Caligula were exaggerated or made up in an attempt to discredit him after his death. However, enough sources exist to paint a picture of an emperor who was mad, bad, and totally insane.
Caligula 0
What’s the dumbest case you’ve ever had on jury duty?
A young lady was at her parents, and the parents were fighting. Yelling, not anything physical. The wife says if the husband doesn’t shut up she was going to call the police. So, evidently he kept on, and she picks up the phone and dials 911. The daughter grabs the phone and puts it down, and told them both to behave like you would with your children. So, they do, and everything is back to normal when they hear the police knocking on the door. The daughter is arrested for interfering with a 911 call. When this went to court the state wanted her to get six months. We are all looking at each other, shaking our heads that something this stupid made it to court. Deliberation was very short, and of course she was found not guilty.
Soros has a deep hatred for China.
Because China has cost him billions of dollars twice.
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Soros is a speculator who makes his money by shorting and other means of financial leverage.
Back in 1998, his speculation triggered the East Asian economic crisis.But during this economic crisis, China held out and managed to snipe Soros in Hong Kong, inflicting huge losses on Soros.In mid-July 1997, January and May 1998, the Hong Kong dollar was subjected to three massive speculative sell-offs, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate was hit, the Hang Seng and futures market indices plunged by more than 4,000 points and the market was in a state of extreme panic. Western public opinion jokingly claimed that Hong Kong had become an ATM for international speculators.According to the plan of Soros and others, they will first short the Hong Kong dollar in the currency market, forcing the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to resort to the old trick of pulling up interest rates, which will inevitably lead to a fall in the stock market and a parallel decline in HSI futures. The speculators could then sell short HSI futures at a lower price in the futures market, making both the currency market and the stock market profitable, with the intention of getting drunk on HSI futures.In August 1998, after several trials, Soros came back with his strongest men and firepower. Vowing to end Hong Kong in one battle.On August 14, the Hong Kong government suddenly took action, using the Exchange Fund and the Land Fund to enter the stock market and the Hang Seng Index futures market at the same time, causing the Hang Seng Index to rally by more than 560 points that day, up 8%, to close at 7224 points; Soros's army was instantly surprised, they did not expect the Hong Kong government, which has always boasted a free market, to really enter the market and fight.Subsequently until the 24th, the Hong Kong government and Soros's speculator group has been back and forth between you and me, a short fight. But the Hang Seng Index slowly dampened the momentum of its previous wild slide and began to be in a state of oscillation.27 August, the day before the settlement day. At 10am, the Hong Kong stock market opened. As soon as it started, speculators' selling orders came in like a mountain. Within the first 15 minutes, turnover reached HK$1.9 billion; in the second 15 minutes, it was HK$1 billion. And in the 15 minutes before the market closed, the battle went into a frenzy, with turnover reaching HK$8.2 billion! The state of affairs was so gruesome that it dazzled all the traders on the floor.On this day, the Hong Kong Government used HK$20 billion to commission 10 brokerage houses to hound the 33 HSI constituent stocks. The Hang Seng Index closed at 7,922 points, up 88 points from the previous trading day, the highest since 4 Nov 97.28 August, the settlement day of the HSI futures. This was Soros's last chance to short the Hang Seng Index, and it was up to this wave to see if the large amount of bearish futures he had previously purchased would make a profit.At 10am, the duel was fought. The Hong Kong government and the short-selling group immediately engaged in a fierce battle over HSBC Holdings and HKT. While the speculators' sell-offs were rampant and overwhelming, the government's forces were able to buy all the shares without leaving a single one. In only 5 minutes after the market opened, the turnover was as high as HK$3 billion!Before the market closed at 12 noon, the battle became fierce again, "Cheung Kong Holdings", "China Telecom" and many other blue-chip stocks were sold by speculators, the sea of stocks, the Hong Kong Government's frenzied efforts to save. The turnover at the close of the afternoon market was HK$40.9 billion. As the market opened in the afternoon, the battle became even tougher. As the speculators' sell-offs rolled in, the Hong Kong government used almost all the foreign exchange reserves it could muster to eat up the entire stock market and hold the entire line, with an average of $350 million worth of stocks changing hands every minute.At exactly 4 p.m., the Hang Seng Index finally settled at 7,829!Four thrilling hours later, the day's trading volume reached an all-time high for the Hong Kong stock market - HK$79 billion! HSI futures finally settled at 7851 points. In a total of 10 trading days back, the HKSAR Government used approximately the equivalent of HK$120 billion of foreign exchange reserves to pull the Hang Seng Index up by 1,169 points.HKSAR Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen then declared that the Hong Kong government had won the battle against international speculators and in defence of the Hong Kong stock market and the Hong Kong currency.On this "dueling day" in defence of Hong Kong, the stock market traded at a volume of HK$79 billion, about 10 times the usual volume.Soros tried to move back into the fray in September, but on 7 September, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued new rules on foreign exchange, securities trading and settlement, which greatly restricted speculation by speculators. On the same day, the Hang Seng Index soared 588 points to the 8,000-point mark. The international speculators' losses were further exacerbated and they eventually had to retreat from Hong Kong in defeat.The story further on is well known, as the Hong Kong market gradually recovered and the Hang Seng Index returned to above 10,000 points in 1999, with the Hong Kong government making billions of dollars by exiting the stock market altogether.
In 2019, Soros tried to short Hong Kong again while fomenting unrest in Hong Kong through the Open Society Foundations, but was once again sniped. Soros has been “shut down”.
Because of the turmoil in Hong Kong at the time, Hong Kong stocks fell and Soros bought a large number of short positions, expected to be no less than 200,000, to start shorting Hong Kong.Data show that on August 13, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange futures and options total turnover and small Hang Seng Index futures turnover record high. At the same time, the Hang Seng Index experienced a sharp drop of more than 10% in a round of more than 3,000 points.What Soros did not expect was the Hong Kong Government's move on 4 September which led to a single day gain of 4.3% for Hong Kong stocks, leaving Soros on the losing end of his first battle!On September 5, the reluctant Soros again chose to throw a large number of short orders to fight to the death. As a result of this the Hang Seng Index took a dive in the afternoon and fell sharply.But what Soros didn't expect this time was the suspension of trading in all derivatives markets in Hong Kong from 2pm that day, disrupting all his plans! Regarding this emergency closure of the HKEx, HKEx Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Li Xiaojia, said in an interview: "In any market, a market closure is a big decision, a decision that cannot be taken lightly, and the decision to suspend the market will only be made if we judge that the market is no longer operating in an orderly manner. orderly and therefore made the decision to suspend the market. Such judgements are never easy. We are continuing to investigate the root cause of the incident and will make an announcement to the market as soon as possible."As a result, there was talk that the HKEx's move was to "shut the door" and give Soros nowhere to go!The following day, when the HKEx resumed normal trading, the continued rise in Hong Kong stocks caused Soros, who had been a big player for many years, to "close the door on the dog", as expected, and to suffer heavy losses of over HK$2.4 billion!
After reading this, I think we understand why Soros is targeting China, right?
The reason is that he can’t benefit from the current China.
I think there are some “philanthropists” in support of the overthrow of the Chinese government, but not on the scale of Soros.
Tsar Peter III and his Toy Soldiers
Some rulers lose their minds over time, and some never had them in the first place. Tsar Peter III of Russia seems to have suffered from a kind of Peter Pan syndrome; he never grew up! Today, he is mainly remembered as the ruler whose wife, Catherine the Great , deposed him and ruled in his stead. But how did Catherine manage to get rid of her husband?
Well, it was widely believed that Peter was obsessed with toy soldiers. Catherine claimed that on their wedding night she was left disappointed when Peter had plans other than consummating their marriage.
Instead of undressing, Peter pulled a box of toy soldiers out from under his bed and forced his bride to play with them until 2am. Another time, Peter spent a substantial amount of time setting up a toy fort ready for a mock battle. He was left enraged when a rat happened to walk past and knocked over his toys. The rat was soon hung from the wall for ‘breaching military discipline’.
Catherine may indeed have exaggerated the stories of Peter and his toys as a way of discrediting and ultimately deposing him. However, there are enough sources that corroborate her claims to safely say that Peter was a few soldiers short of a full platoon.
Tsar
Attack in Russia: Get ready, this is the last straw for Putin
US Secretary of State’s quote about Russia is so much bullshit. “Russians are not winterized.” That’s like saying Jamaicans can’t handle hot weather.
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Gingerbread Cake (Spicy)
“Adapted from a Gourmet recipe, this spicy gingerbread originated from the Gramercy Tavern. It’s excellent warm, and even better after one day. If you like a deep, spicy gingerbread, you might try this one!”
Butter a 10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan well and dust with flour, shaking out excess.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess.
Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat.
Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.
Sift flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl.
Whisk together eggs and both sugars.
Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture.
Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
Pour batter into bundt pan and bang pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles.
Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes.
Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes.
Turn out onto rack and cool completely.
You can serve the gingerbread immediately, dusting lightly with confectioners sugar, and/or adding whipped cream.
You can also hold the gingerbread for a day before serving, as the flavors develop with some time.
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What did someone say to you that instantly made you realize their life was in danger?
“Can you please get me a cup of coffee?”
Innocuous and innocent, right? But it was the code word.
I worked in the Dean of Students office at a local college and my boss, the Dean, didn’t drink coffee. She did handle the occasionally out of control students. She told us that if we ever heard her ask for coffee, we needed to call security, police and lockdown the east side of campus. We did.
The student had her at knife point shortly after her cryptic message but the confrontation didn’t last long because she was able to get the innocuous warning to us. To this day, I don’t know if the irate student ever figured out how we knew.
What if China turn left after the 20th National Congress of CPC?
This is an exceptional chat.
Excellent analysis by Charles Liu on China’s peaceful rise to help the Global South from poverty with its BRI policy.
CPC has a paternalistic inclination. Like looking after a large family, you’re motivated to help the extremely poor members and inculcate the responsibility of the very wealthy to share a bit. No man is an island, common prosperity is a common good, and nobody can claim to have generated their wealth alone external to the society
We Are Being Warned That The Global Economy Is Having “One Of Its Worst Years In Three Decades”
Will 2022 go down in history as one of the most important economic turning points that we have ever seen? All over the planet, economic activity is beginning to decelerate and uncertainty about the future is in the air. Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to escalate and a very painful energy crisis has begun. Unless there is some sort of an economic miracle, it appears that 2023 will be a very difficult year, and the long-term outlook beyond next year is even more ominous. Suddenly, many of the talking heads on television are openly speculating about the hard times that are coming, and the word “recession” is being thrown around quite frequently.
But will we only be dealing with a “recession” in the months ahead, or will it be much worse than that?
The world economy is facing one of its worst years in three decades as the energy shocks unleashed by the war in Ukraine continue to reverberate, according to Bloomberg Economics.
In a new analysis, economist Scott Johnson forecasts growth of just 2.4% in 2023. That’s down from an estimated 3.2% this year and the lowest — excluding the crisis years of 2009 and 2020 — since 1993.
The global economy is more interconnected than ever before, and so pain experienced on one side of the globe is often keenly felt on the other side.
BuzzFeed is axing 12% of its workforce, or around 180 staffers, in a bid to cut costs as the digital media company faces headwinds including an ad-spending pullback and the completion of its integration of Complex Media.
The company informed affected employees via email Tuesday that they were being terminated. “In order for BuzzFeed to weather an economic downturn that I believe will extend well into 2023, we must adapt, invest in our strategy to serve our audience best, and readjust our cost structure,” CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in a memo to employees about the job cuts.
As the housing market crashes, the financial industry is being hit really hard as well.
Morgan Stanley cut about 2% of its staff on Tuesday, according to people with knowledge of the layoffs.
The moves, reported first by CNBC, impacted about 1,600 of the company’s 81,567 employees and touched nearly every corner of the global investment bank, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about terminations.
Speaking of the housing market, we are being told that somewhere around 270,000 recent homebuyers in the U.S. are already underwater on their mortgages.
We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008 and 2009, but this is just the beginning.
If the Federal Reserve insists on hiking interest rates even higher, it won’t be too long before millions of homeowners will be underwater on their mortgages, and that will definitely be a nightmare scenario.
So many families are living on the edge of financial disaster in late 2022. If you can believe it, approximately 20 million U.S. households are currently behind on their utility bills…
According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), roughly 20 million households in the U.S. — one out of six homes — are behind on their utility bills.
As of August, these families owe about $16.1 billion in total, with an average amount owed of $788 — and the consequences of this could be dire, especially as home heat costs are expected to reach their highest level in over 10 years.
We are already in a state of economic crisis right now.
But don’t expect the White House to admit that any time soon.
Meanwhile, the cost of living just continues to go higher and higher. Earlier today, I was stunned to learn that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is actually admitting that double-digit price increases on packaged foods “are going to be with us for a while”…
Walmart (WMT) is the largest retailer in the United States and has a gauge into consumer habits and a wide array of products.
McMillon said that inflation was “most stubborn” on packaged food. Double-digit price increases on these essentials “are going to be with us for a while,” he said.
So we are going to have rapidly rising prices and an imploding economy at the same time.
Yes, 2023 is going to be a whole lot of fun.
At this point, even the mood on Wall Street is shifting.
The S&P 500 shed 1.44% to close at 3,941.26, while the Nasdaq Composite sank 2% to finish at 11,014.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 350.76 points, or 1.03%, to settle at 33,596.34.
Stocks added to Monday’s declines, with the S&P falling for a fourth straight day and its seventh negative session in eight. Tuesday’s moves bring the Dow’s two-day losses to more than 830 points.
Just a few weeks from now, 2022 will mercifully be over.
But if this year has been “one of its worst years in three decades”, what will the global economy look like a year from now?
As I have detailed above, the U.S. economy is really starting to deteriorate quite rapidly.
So how bad will things eventually get?
Let us hope for a “recession”, but let us also prepare for an economic nightmare.
Is it possible that the US is headed in the direction of a dictatorship?
Certainly.
In 1935, the great American novelist Sinclair Lewis (lived 1885 – 1951) wrote a classic novel titled It Can’t Happen Here. In the novel, a charismatic politician named Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip runs for president of the United States on a radical populist platform, promising to give every American family $5,000 a year.
Windrip portrays himself as the champion of traditional American values, a true patriot, a lover of liberty and justice, and a pious Christian. He holds massive, energetic rallies. He portrays himself as a “man of the people” standing up for the “forgotten men” of the working class. He demonizes immigrants, minorities, intellectuals, and the press. He laments the decline of the United States and promises to restore the United States to her former glory. In chapter nine, he is described as follows:
“The Senator [i.e. Windrip] was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store.”“Certainly there was nothing exhilarating in the actual words of his speeches, nor anything convincing in his philosophy. His political platforms were only wings of a windmill.”
On the platform I have described, Windrip wins a landslide victory and sails right into the presidency. As president, he declares Congress an “advisory” organization and strips it of all its powers. Any members of Congress who object are promptly thrown in prison. Windrip then creates, arms, and trains a paramilitary force called “the Minute Men,” named after the militiamen who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
Windrip’s Minute Men work to enforce his agenda and force anyone who does not support Windrip into submission. Despite everything Windrip is doing, the vast majority of Americans continue to support him, insisting that everything he does is necessary for the restoration of American military power and economic prosperity. When confronted with the notion that Windrip’s regime may be fascistic, they say, “It [i.e. fascism] can’t happen here.”
You may notice some interesting parallels to certain contemporary politicians. Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that Trump is not Buzz Windrip. They may bear an uncanny resemblance to each other, but they are still different. The character of Buzz Windrip was modeled in part on Adolf Hitler, who was at the height of his power when the book was published, and in part on the Louisiana Democratic Senator Huey Long, who was at the time running for president on a populist platform.
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ABOVE: Image of an early edition of Lewis Sinclair’s novel It Can’t Happen Here
The truth is, I think it is possible for any country on Earth with any form of government to turn into a dictatorship. No country is completely immune to the charms of authoritarianism, not even the United States. We may pride ourselves on our love of freedom, but saying that you love freedom means nothing if your actions do not show it. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to recognize authoritarianism when it rears its ugly head and it is certainly possible for even the most ardent believer in democracy to support an authoritarian figure.
The only real question is not “Is it possible the U.S. will have a dictator?” but rather “How likely is it for the U.S. to become a dictatorship given the present circumstances?” Just because the United States could become a dictatorship does not necessarily mean that it will. If our institutions are upheld and all the powers of the presidency are held in check like they are supposed to be, then we can avert dictatorship.
There is nothing unrealistic about the United States electing a populist demagogue with authoritarian leanings; it has already happened. What I think is somewhat less realistic about Sinclair Lewis’s novel is his portrayal of the conversion of the United States from representative democracy to dictatorship. This conversion—if it does happen—probably will not happen overnight. It will only happen after years and years of norms being flouted and institutions undermined.
If the United States turns into an autocracy, it will probably happen a way similar to the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic was not overturned by one man; it took well over a century for the Republic to fully transform into the autocracy of Augustus.
Furthermore, even as late as the reign of the emperor Diocletian (ruled 284 – 305 AD), people were still pretending like “the Republic” was still a thing, even though it really had not meaningfully existed in any sense for over three hundred years. For those interested in the history of the decline of the Roman Republic, the 2018 book Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny by the American classical historian Edward J. Watts is an excellent and startlingly contemporary history of that time period. On page 281—the very last page—Watts offers this brilliant paragraph, which feels as close to home as any news report:
“Rome’s republic, then, died because it was allowed to. Its death was not inevitable. It could have been avoided. Over the course of a century, thousands of average men, talented men, and middling men all willingly undercut the power of the Republic to restrict and channel the ambitions of the individual, doing so in the interest of their own shortsighted gains. Every time Cato misused a political procedure, or Clodius intimidated a political opponent, or a Roman citizen took a bribe in exchange for his vote, they wounded the Republic. And the wounds festered whenever ordinary Romans either supported or refused to condemn men who took such actions. Sulla, Marius, Caesar, and Augustus all inflicted mighty blows on the Republic, but its death was caused as much by the thousands of small injuries inflicted by Romans who did not think it could really die. When citizens take the health and durability of their republic for granted, that republic is at risk. This was as true in 133 BC or 82 BC or 44 BC as it is in AD 2018. In ancient Rome and in the modern world, a republic is a thing to be cherished, protected, and respected. If it falls, an uncertain, dangerous, and destructive future lies on the other side.”
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ABOVE: Cicero Denounces Catiline, painted between 1882 and 1888 by the Italian painter Cesare Maccari. If the United States ever falls into dictatorship, it will probably happen gradually. Over time, norms and institutions will be undermined until dictatorship simply feels normal and natural to most people.
I must end this answer with a question mark. I do not know if the United States will become a dictatorship. If the United States does become a dictatorship, I cannot say how soon it will happen. It could happen a century and half from now or it could happen a decade from now. All I am certain of is that it will take time. Gradually, norms and institutions will be undermined until dictatorship simply feels normal and natural to most people. At first, few will even recognize it as a dictatorship, but the truth of the matter will be made clear by time.
Unless, of course, we stop it from happening altogether.
4 People Describe What’s It Like To Have Bipolar
1. It’s the most amazing pile of beautiful misery to grace the hell of my divine existence! When your good, things are FANTASTIC! the other %80 of the time is spent trying to prevent your (percieved) justifiable suicide.
2. I have bipolar disorder type 2. It has affected me my whole life, though I didn’t realize it and didn’t get diagnosed until my late 30s.
I’m afraid of my own brain. I hyper analyze every mood and feeling, worried that I may be sliding into yet another episode of mania or bone crushing depression.
It sucks. I feel like so much of my life’s potential has been eaten up by the alternating bouts of depression, mania, and the guilt and shame I felt (and still feel) when I do have clarity. I lost my job, my marriage, and very nearly lost my life to bipolar. My ex tried to get my partial custody revoked because I am “crazy” but thankfully in my state that doesn’t hold water unless I demonstrate an inability to care for my kids.
I’ve also lost almost all of my friends, either due to manic or depressed behavior that alienated me from them, my ex’s embellishment of how insane I am, or my isolating myself after my last nervous breakdown. It took 18 months to be well enough to try working again, and every day at work seems like the day I will quit because I can’t take the stress and anxiety of it. But I go. And I keep going every day.
I can’t handle this illness anymore. But I take it a day, an hour, a minute at a time if I have to. And I take my medication religiously. At least I know without a doubt that I have done everything in my power to control this thing rather than let it control me.
3. Sometimes I’m very happy all of the time and I don’t need much sleep. I will start a lot of things and take up many new hobbies which rapidly develop into an obsession and then I’ll move onto something else.
It takes a lot of effort to get things complete because I will work on multiple tasks simultaneously. I was once cleaning the 2 bathrooms, sorting through laundry, cleaning the cooker and dishwasher, cleaning the patio doors, washing the floors, dusting bookshelves and sorting out the drawers under the bed all at once. I was running from task to task and became convinced my slippers were slowing me down. Our apartment at the time had a long, open plan living/dining room and kitchen. I grew convinced my slippers were slowing me down and kicked them across from the living room and into the kitchen.
I also suffer from memory problems during hypomanic episodes, which means that I only remember brief things once the episode has passed. An example of this is with my medication. I had gone to the pharmacy to collect my prescription, but they didn’t have enough and I said I’d call back in for the rest another day. They gave me a slip of paper and I went back a week later after running out of the meds I’d got the week before.
The pharmacist had said I’d been in the day after and collected the rest of my prescription, which I have absolutely no memory of, nor did I know where I would have put my medication if I had. She ended up doubting herself and went back to check the records and could show me that I’d been back in to collect the pills. Not even the time or date jogged any memory. I left to go back to my doctor and ask for another prescription but I had to go home for something. I got to the entrance of my apartment building and I couldn’t find my keys in my pockets and went hunting into my bag. While digging around I found a paper bag and found the remainder of my prescription that I’d picked the following day. I went back and told the pharmacist I’d found them and apologised for taking her away from her other jobs.
I also avoid going outside when I’m hypomanic. When I’m in large crowded areas, I pick up on people’s emotions and start feeling them as if they were my own. And it’s not just a single emotion I’ll feel at once, but a mixture of all emotions. Because people with bipolar’s emotions are already extremely elevated, this becomes intoxicating and I’ll end up very hyperactive and happy, but I’m also more prone to getting angry too. Because I’m hyperactive, I am doing everything faster and it feels like time around me has slowed down, so people walking in front of me, or having my way somewhere blocked makes me very angry.
If I do need to go into a crowded area, I’ll have to spend a few hours mentally preparing myself to go out. So I’ll make a mental map of the places I need to go, the route I’ll need to take to get the things I need in the most efficient way and I can’t deviate from that route as I’m more easily distracted when hypomanic and if I deviate from my route, then I’ll end up spending all my money on cheap tat because I felt like it would make my life a lot better at that time, and then not know why I got it.
My memory problems have also got me into debt several times too. I can buy things and forget I’ve purchased them, then remember I was wanting to buy it and go and buy it again. It’s not uncommon for me to buy 2 – 3 copies of the same thing, and shops rarely allow you to return them, so I end up just giving the multiples away to people.
I’m also prone to making rash, snap decisions. It’s not uncommon for me to randomly quit a job or take a sudden dislike to a close friend and remove them from my life. Due to the way bipolar works (depression and hypomania/mania), your job performance will drop while depressed, and then you can suddenly snap into a hypomanic/manic episode without knowing it and start irritating those around you. Because of how work places tend to treat those with mental health problems, they often won’t take you back if you quit because they see you as a liability.
But you tend to crash into one of the deepest depressions you can have when it ends. Like the saying goes “the higher you go, the further you have to fall”.
4. Some people say stupid things “yesterday I was feeling great and today I just feel normal, omg I’m like so bipolar lol”, don’t say this, it’s hard enough being a victim of it, and it becomes infuriating when people say things like this (this is pretty much true for all mental illnesses).
So what is it like being bipolar? Imagine swimming, swimming forever, you are not a particularly talented swimmer and to make things worse you have weights on your wrists and ankles. The heaviness of these weights change, with no real pattern, sometimes the weights are light enough for you to swim along with everyone else and it’s manageable and life is bearable. But sometimes the weights are heavy and just staying afloat becomes incredibly difficult, and sometimes the weights become even heavier than that, when the weights become too heavy you will eventually slip below the surface.
When you are under it seems like getting back up is impossible, sometimes the weights are so heavy you can’t get back up and you have to hold your breath until they get lighter but the longer you hold your breath the harder it is to not sink further leaving you to be in constant hope the weights become light enough to cope and get back up. For most the thought of giving up and letting go crosses their minds, once you’ve drowned you don’t have to struggle and cope anymore, because of this some people do. For some people the weights do get lighter and they can get back above the surface and continue swimming, some people don’t.
Friends are other swimmers, some have their own weights some don’t and it’s your friends who will rescue you when you sink under, they will help you swim carrying you along but they are also swimming and have to carry themselves, the more they help you the harder their own swimming becomes, some will move on and leave you, some will stay, and you will encounter more, replacing the ones lost.
Some use drugs to help with the struggle, drugs will temporarily make the weights lighter and it will be easier until they wear off but when they do wear off the weights will be heavier than before. Some people hurt themselves, doing this makes the weights slightly lighter but it makes the wearer weaker.
I can’t say bipolar does get better, certain medication will lighten the weights as will positive things in your life but you will always wear your weights. So why keep swimming? Everyone drowns at some point anyway so what’s the point? You want to get as far as you can during your swim, you want to experience the good things and you want to keep going, you want to beat your weights, you want to help carry others, you only get one swim, some people have it easier than others but it’s best not to waste it.
How China’s Nuclear Arsenals Leaving The US Ones Behind
The true and actual number of weapons systems; nuclear and other is absolutely unknown. It’s useless to guess. What the pentagon thinks is probably incorrect.
https://youtu.be/ZLU6n9FyOSY
A Therapist Reveals Unusually Common Things They Often Hear, That People Are Hesitant To Disclose
1. I work in an older adults service for people with dementia and mental health problems. I see a lot of family members/Carers feeling ashamed of the fact that they are finding it incredibly difficult to care for someone that has dementia or a chronic mental health problem.
Carer burnout is a real issue and people need to know that it’s not easy to see someone you love struggling every day, or slowly fading away month by month. Carers and family members desperately need time for themselves and need to know that it’s okay to feel the way that they do.
No one is superhuman and we all have our own needs. It’s why we have therapy groups for Carers. It’s okay to struggle to look after someone and you should in no way feel ashamed of having those feelings.
2. Unwanted intrusive thoughts are normal and do not mean you are a bad person (yes, even intrusions of sexual/religious/moral themes).
By definition, these are thoughts that are unwanted bc they go against your own values and highlight what you don’t want to do (eg, a religious person having unwanted blasphemous images pop into their mind, or a new parent having unwanted sexual thoughts about their new baby).
However normal these thoughts are (over 90% of the population), the moral nature of these thoughts mean that often people experience a lot of shame and take many years before they first tell someone about them.
3. That they “hear voices”. I’ve found that a lot of people aren’t familiar with their own internal dialogue or “self talk” and that this is typically “normal” internal processing. A lot of people think that they are “hearing voices” and hallucinating. There are some pretty simple questions we can ask to determine if it’s hallucinating or just internal dialogue, and most often it’s the latter.
4. Clients become quite fearful of admitting that they weren’t successful since the last time they had a session. This could include not succeeding in using a coping skill that they’re learning about, or not being able to complete a homework assignment I gave them. Humans aren’t robots, and therapy is a lot of work.
That being said, I don’t expect people to be perfect as they start to work on themselves in a positive way. It takes time to really commit to change, especially in relation to trauma or conflicted views that an individual holds. I feel as if the client doesn’t want to let me down as their therapist, but these “failure” events are just as important to talk about as successful moments!
5. Intrusive thoughts about sex with family members or (in their mind ) “nymphomania” as a result of childhood sexual trauma (and adult). Hyper sexuality isn’t often discussed as one of the PTSD symptoms, so people walk around with so much shame about it.
6. A common one in the time I was a therapist was simply “I don’t know”.
You’d be surprised how reluctant people are to admit that they don’t know why they’re feeling how they are. But that’s exactly why you’re (or were, I’m not a therapist any more) sat there with me; so we can figure out why together.
It always put me in mind of a line from America by Simon and Garfunkel:
“Kathy, ‘I’m lost’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping. ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why’.”
7. Some of the most common ones have been visual and/or auditory hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. I usually hear “I don’t want to be put in the hospital” or “I don’t want you to think I’m crazy”. Also, basically anything sexual. I’m not going to judge you for being into BDSM, fetishes, etc. Honestly, I’ve probably heard it before and I’m not here to judge you. Same goes with any non-consensual experiences (especially if we’re working through trauma).
8. Basically, anything having to do with sex. There’s so much shame. Sexual abuse. Sexual fantasies and fetishes. Erectile dysfunction. Infidelity. Becoming sexually assertive. I’ve been told that I have a good “psychologist’s face.” I try not to have a strong reaction to normalize the discussion. With adolescents, they are extremely anxious to tell me if they’ve relapsed or aren’t doing well. They cut one night or they were suicidal. They’re having a lot of negative self-talk or panic attacks. They’ll come in, pretending everything is okay. It’s usually in the last 10-15 minutes that they’ll say something. They’ll reveal that they worried they’d let me down. That I’d be disappointed in them. It usually turns into a discussion about policing other people’s feelings and tolerating emotions. I explain that I care about their well-being and it’s my job to monitor my emotions and reactions, not their role.
9. I’d say a common one is believing that there’s something innately, irreparably wrong with them that makes them unable to ever truly ‘fit in’. For a lot of people it’s such a deeply ingrained belief that it can be extremely painful to acknowledge or express, regardless of the level of personal success in their lives.
10. Two topics come up with regularity: when someone discloses to me that they were sexually abused as a kid, and/or when some is experiencing suicidal ideation. Both are something I hear from clients every single day, and so I don’t find it weird at all. But, when I have someone in front of me who’s talking about it for the first time, I know it’s important to validate the fact that even though I might be talking about this for like the fifth time that day, they have never talked about this EVER, and are in need of gentle care to feel safe.
11. That they haven’t had sex with their partner in years and don’t know how/if they will ever have sex with their partner again. There is so much shame around sex in the USA that a lot of people are scared to talk to their partner about their sexual needs. Time goes by, and suddenly they haven’t had sex in 3, 5, 10 years. It starts for a lot of people in their 40s and 50s.
A lot of people (falsely) believe there is something wrong with their marriage because they fantasize about people other than their partner.
12. I do a lot of trauma work. Many people who have experienced molestation or sexual assault feel ashamed and confused because their bodies responded.
Having an erection/lubrication or even an orgasm does not mean you wanted the sexual contact and it is still assault. Clients often hold a lot of shame and confusion about this.
They wonder if it means they wanted it or if there is something wrong with them. It is a tough thing to work through because of this. Assault is assault. Sometimes human bodies respond to sexual touch even when we don’t want that touch.
13. To name a few: “compulsive” masturbation, fears of being a pedophile/rapist (this is a common OCD fear), hoarding, sexual performance difficulties, history of sexual abuse or sexual assault (unfortunately it is VERY common), drug use, amount of money spent on various things, having an ASD diagnosis, going back to an abusive relationship / staying in an abusive relationship, grieving years and years after a loss, self-harm of all sorts, wanting to abandon their current lifestyle (for example, to have more sex, to escape responsibility or expectations), history of gang violence / crime, their sexuality (or asexuality), gender identity, the impact of racism / racial trauma, paranoia, hallucinations, feeling uncomfortable in therapy, not believing in therapy, difficulty trusting a therapist, fear of psychiatric medication, fear of doctors in general.
14. Recurring intrusive thoughts about harming others. Can be hurting/killing someone or sexual fantasies about children or relatives. Usually people take a while to admit those.
The reality is that if you are having them frequently you aren’t dangerous. You probably have OCD and are terrified that you might be dangerous.
Charles VI of France Believed He Was Made of Glass
Charles VI of France is remembered for two things: his crushing defeat at Agincourt against the British and the fact that he was really quite mad.
Charles’s bouts of psychosis are numerous and well-documented. In 1393, he forgot his name and the fact that he was king. When his wife came to visit in an attempt to help, he had no idea who she was either. He ordered his servants to look after her but also get rid of her.
Then from 1395-96, he began claiming he was Saint George . He recognized his servants and officers, but could not remember his wife or children. Around the same time, he took to running wildly around the corridors of his residence, Hotel Saint-Pol. It became such a problem that to keep him inside and safe, entrances had to be walled up.
Then in 1405, he refused to bathe or wear clean clothes for five months. After this last bout of madness, records of his mental illness become scarcer. It is believed this is not because he recovered but because his bouts of insanity became so numerous that people gave up keeping track of them.
Thanks to Pope Pius II , we know that at some point Charles began to believe he was made of glass . He became terrified of breaking and would let no one touch him. He would sit still for hours and even went as far as having iron rods sewn into his clothing to protect him. It’s common for powerful men to have fragile egos, but Charles took it one step further.
Madness 0
Could 65 Trillion Dollars In “Hidden” Derivatives Cause The Entire Global Financial System To Crash?
If you thought that the collapse of FTX was something, just wait until the entire global financial system comes crashing down all around us. Most people just assume that the system is being managed by rational people that behave in rational ways, but of course countless investors assumed the same things about FTX. Sadly, the global financial system has slowly but surely been transformed into the largest casino in the history of the world. It is a colossal Ponzi scheme, and once in a while authorities give us a little peek into what is really going on behind the curtain.
For example, this week the Bank for International Settlements released a report that warned that 65 trillion dollars in “hidden” currency derivatives could potentially be a major threat to the stability of the entire system…
There’s a hidden risk to the global financial system embedded in the $65 trillion of dollar debt being held by non-US institutions via currency derivatives, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
In a paper with the title “huge, missing and growing,” the BIS said a lack of information is making it harder for policy makers to anticipate the next financial crisis. In particular, they raised concern with the fact that the debt is going unrecorded on balance sheets because of accounting conventions on how to track derivative positions.
Last year, the total value of all goods and services produced in the entire world was just 96 trillion dollars.
So we are talking about an amount of money that is almost unimaginable.
Everything will be okay as long as financial conditions remain relatively stable.
“Off-balance-sheet dollar debt may remain out of sight and out of mind—but only until the next time dollar funding liquidity is squeezed,” the analysts write. “Then, the hidden leverage in pension funds and insurance companies’ portfolios . . . could pose a policy challenge.”
So let’s hope that such a scenario does not materialize any time soon.
For researchers at the BIS, it’s the sheer scale of the swaps that’s worrying. They estimate that banks headquartered outside the US carry $39 trillion of this debt — more than double their on-balance sheet obligations and ten times their capital. Accounting conventions only require derivatives to be booked on a net basis, so the full extent of the cash involved isn’t recorded on a balance sheet.
“There is a staggering volume of off-balance sheet dollar debt that is partly hidden, and FX risk settlement remains stubbornly high,” said Borio, head of the monetary and economic department at the BIS.
When this thing finally implodes, there isn’t going to be enough money in the entire world to fix it all.
But don’t worry.
The “experts” are telling us that everything is fine.
Meanwhile, more of our largest corporations are planning layoffs. According to the Wall Street Journal, this even includes PepsiCo…
PepsiCo is reported laying off headquarter workers, The Wall Street Journal reports.
A person familiar with the matter told the Journal that hundreds of jobs are being cut in the head office of the North American snacks and beverages divisions.
Employees in Purchase, N.Y., Chicago, Ill. and Plano, Tex. are said to be impacted.
I thought that PepsiCo was doing well.
I guess not.
But don’t worry.
The “experts” are telling us that everything is fine.
Hundreds of media industry staffers were laid off this week during a brutal period that saw Warner Bros. Discovery, Gannett and others slash headcount as economic uncertainty plagues news organizations.
Gannett, a newspaper juggernaut that owns dozens of local media outlets along with USA Today, began its latest round of layoffs on Thursday. The cost-cutting effort impacted roughly 6% of the company’s news workforce of about 3,440 employees.
I can’t remember ever seeing such a wave of layoffs at our largest media companies.
But don’t worry.
The “experts” are telling us that everything is fine.
Of course the truth is that everything is not fine.
Economic conditions are deteriorating all around us, and the ripple effects are being felt everywhere.
According to Fox Business, even Las Vegas is feeling the pain…
Inflation is taking its toll on Sin City as fewer tourists are visiting the gambling Mecca, and those who do spend less than usual, according to a new report.
The University of Las Vegas business school released a report forecasting the city’s economic outlook between 2022 and 2024 and noted that its economy turned grim in June of this year, according to Fox 5.
“Interest rates have gone up. And we know that we know that prices are going up as well. And that’s what the Fed is trying to get their hands around and solve. So it may be that the Fed’s policies is having an effect not only nationally, but it’s also affecting our economy locally,” one of the study’s authors, Professor Stephen Miller, told the outlet.
2008 and 2009 were incredibly difficult years for Las Vegas.
Now those that run businesses in Sin City are bracing for another extended downturn.
In all my years of writing, I have never been more concerned about the short-term economic outlook them I am right now.
It is very likely that 2023 will be a really hard year for the U.S. economy, and of course this comes at a time when the entire globe is being hit by crisis after crisis.
For ages we have been warned that a day of reckoning would eventually be coming, and now it appears that day of reckoning has already arrived.
There is certainly nothing wrong with hoping for the best. But there is also wisdom in getting prepared for the worst.
What’s something that seemed innocent when you were a child, but now that you’re an adult it’s actually inappropriate or creepy?
I was at a family gathering the other day. My brother was tickling my 4 year old daughter. She was giggling, and as kids do when tickled, saying stop. She was being loud (as she was being tickled. That’s what kids do). Grandma then scolded my daughter for being loud. I said “She said stop”, my brother said, “She’s laughing, she likes it.”
Now, I am not saying anybody in my family was doing anything inappropriate. I suspect zero foul play, it was innocent fun. Still, objectively, I saw this happen:
I saw a girl, being touched, and saying stop.
Then, a man saying, see, she likes it.
Then another woman, a trusted adult, blaming the child for being to loud, silencing her protests.
Again, totally innocent situation.
But knowing what goes on in the world, I don’t like it. I don’t like the normalizing of “see, she liked it”.
How many molesters start with the tickling game. Get the kid used to you touching their arm. Then the shoulder. Then move inwards. That’s called grooming, and I’d bet a lot of that starts innocently enough.
Again, I am not saying the Uncle was doing anything wrong. But the actions that happened, in another context, could be very wrong.
We don’t play the tickling game anymore. And when my daughters say no, they will be heard.
Nero the Mother Killer
To be honest, you could write an entire list just of crazy rulers of Rome. The most famous of them is probably Nero. Nero appears to have begun his reign relatively sane, but increasingly fell into a paranoia that left him a little crazy.
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Much has been made of Nero’s violent tendencies, but Nero had a softer side (which was also crazy). By the time Nero became the emperor of Rome at the age of seventeen, he had been trained in the arts and was a talented singer, musician, and reciter of poetry.
In Roman culture, professional actors and musicians were, socially speaking, barely higher than whores or slaves. But Nero loved to perform. As emperor, he hosted a range of events and competitions to play in public. He even went as far as entering the Olympic Games and forcing the organizers to include artistic competitions. Unsurprisingly, he won every event he entered.
He loved performing so much and played for so long that audience members came up with inventive means of escape. Old men would feign death and women would fake going into labor just to escape. When Nero died he stated, “What an artist dies in me.”
Also, he had a habit of killing the people close to him. It all began with his mother, whom he had killed. His reasons for having his mother killed are unclear, but it seems after her death Nero began to suffer from paranoia. If his own mother could turn on him, anyone could.
It is widely believed Nero had his first wife killed and killed his second wife himself. After his second wife, Poppaea, died, he had a young commoner who resembled his deceased wife castrated. He then dressed the young man as his wife and married him – truly the actions of a crazy ruler.
French ambassador: US ‘rules-based order’ means Western domination, violating international law
That’s right, China is not rising, China is regaining its former position it’s been having for at least 2000 years prior to Western aggression and colonization.
The West’s 200 years of domination is coming to an end whether it accepts it or not. The sooner the West learns to live and deal properly with the new multipolar world the better is for everyone.
If the West is not able to compete within its own trade platforms and continue to abuse its own financial systems, then they really shouldn’t blame China or other countries for creating new trade and financial platforms that would better serve the people of the developing world.
Qin Shi Huang’s Search for Immortality
Qin Shi Huang was a ruler who believed his own hype. At least in his case, it was somewhat earned. Qin Shi Huang rose to power as the first emperor of a unified China in the 3rd century BC.
Once Huang gained power, he rapidly became obsessed with keeping it. He had many enemies, and over the years he faced several assassination attempts. The idea that death was the only thing that could separate him from power caused him to lose his mind. He became obsessed with gaining immortality. He consulted doctors who prescribed him a healthy regimen of sex to maintain his vitality.
When this failed, he began taking pills full of mercury. These had the opposite effect. His health declined, and so did his sanity. As Huang lost more and more of his marbles, he turned to mysticism. His greatest adventurers were sent out to the ‘Islands of the Immortals’ to find a magical elixir that would allow him to live forever. Fearing evil spirits, he had a complex system of tunnels built that connected his 200 palaces.
Huang is best remembered for his magnificent tomb filled with its army of terracotta soldiers. They were meant to be an immortal army that would protect their supposedly immortal emperor. Huang died in 210 BC..
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Eggnog Fudge
“Instead of giving away fudge, make the fudge look like a wrapped present!”
In a large pot on medium high heat, mix sugar, eggnog and vanilla. Stir until it begins to boil. Stop stirring and place candy thermometer along pots edge and allow to heat to 238 degrees. Once this occurs remove from heat and stir in butter, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until just combined and then pour into a parchment lined 10X10 inch tin and allow to cool completely.
Cut into various shapes and smooth any rough edges with a potato peeler. Pierce one end with a toothpick. Coat shapes in the candy melt color of your choosing and allow to set completely before decorating .
Mix frosting and scoop into a medium piping bag. Pipe decorative final ribbons. Paint after completely dry if desired. I found a small star tip makes for a perfect ruffle ribbon with one little squeeze.
Putin Balks At West Imposing Oil Price Cap
Alex and Alexander are the best geopolitical analysts out there. Great to see them on your show Jimmy.
What’s It Like To have Narcissistic Personality Disorder
As an actual narcissist, I’m writing anonymously to avoid being exposed. I may not be officially diagnosed with NPD (nor I’d ever want to be), but two of my psychologists, including the current one, described me as “a narcissist”, and being a psychology student myself, I think it’s unfortunately accurate.
My self-image, it’s quite inconsistent. Sometimes, I do feel grandiose, but in many aspects I am objectively above-average, at least.
Since I’ve had episodes of serious depression, I’ll explain it in comparison to that.
When you are depressed, you view yourself as horrible by cherry-picking your worst qualities and experiences. It might be accurate – if a bit exaggerated – but you forget about the good things.
Now, narcissistic grandiosity feels like the opposite of that. You cherry-pick your best qualities and experiences. When you think of yourself, only your successes and capabilities come to your mind. (Part accurate, part exaggerated)
Now how does being a narcissist feel? I think the feeling i could most strongly attribute to being a narcissist, is the constant need to be important, respected and powerful. If people treat you with just a tiny little bit less respect, than you think you deserve, you get angry. And by angry, I mean internally consumed by rage.
That awful, bitter feeling started in my childhood (obviously). I’ll describe the process as well as I can.
So… I used to be a very kind, intelligent, but a bit spirited, and more than a bit aggressive child until my early teens. While I was always in the top quarter of the class, and pretty responsible for my age, there were those times, when I was told off, called cheeky, punished, ect…
For most people, this is a normal part of their childhood, but for me, it increasingly felt like being unfair to me, and I couldn’t accept that. I resented adults (and I still do) more than anything. Every mistake seemed bigger in their eyes when I made them, than when they did.
Swearing, wanting too much, becoming angry, speaking my mind had much more consequences for me, than for them. (I know, this is true for all minor mistakes of children, compared to that of their parents, but still. I couldn’t accept. I can’t.)
They spotted all my mistakes so well, so I began to spot theirs.
My parents were relatively sensible people, as far as parents go, but they were certainly no angels. They often shouted at each other, swore all the time, and talked to me and each other in a pretty rude way.
They smoked. They lied. (Who doesn’t?) They didn’t always do well in their jobs. Basically no serious, abusive stuff. But they (and other adults) were of course scandalized, if we, kids did any of that. I always asked them why, and they always reasoned with things like “It’s not your house, You live on your parents’ money, We know better, You should respect your elders…”.
And I just felt desperate and powerless. I was too young to work and unqualified anyway.
I couldn’t grow up instantly, but I often fantasized about that when we’ll get older, they would get it all back. They would be dependent on ME! And I would tell them off! I would be the boss. And most of all, I’d be BETTER than them. I’d show them that I’ve ALWAYS been!
But well, meanwhile I had to get my way somehow. I knew by that time that kindness and logic don’t convince everyone, honesty just gets you into trouble, and obedience makes your superiors have even higher expectations towards you. And that is where the narcissist’s best friend, manipulation comes into the picture.
I had to learn how different kinds of people react to different approaches. To use my words as a means to an end, rather than wearing my heart on my sleeve.
In some situations, i needed to tone my tactless, aggressive personality down. That was pretty difficult, but worth it. I genuinely became more patient because of this little self-control exercise.
In others, I needed to exaggerate my emotions. That came pretty naturally.
And by my late teens, I tended to switch from nice to furious in seconds. (It can baffle people into compliance.)
Guilt-tripping and directing the blame at others came as a family legacy. (Heh.)
All of this for that sweet, sweet feeling of power.
Still, I empathize with other people, and will be benevolent towards them, as long as they at least treat me like an equal.
But I’ll be hell-bent on humiliating those, who are condescending towards me.
Despite all of this, I think it’s possible to channel all these possibly harmful urges into something positive.
If you want to be admired and feel powerful, you can deceive yourself and others into thinking that you are, OR you can work towards being actually admired and powerful. That’s what I’m trying to do.
I used to go to a therapy group, where I realized that helping people gives me a rush of power that is much more satisfying than simple, selfish manipulation.
Honestly grateful “admirers” are much better than mislead ones. Thus, I found my place in the field of psychology….So that’s all.
You can be disgusted by me or think I’m a horrible person, but these are the feelings of a certain narcissist. And hey, at least I’m self-aware, and trying to better myself. And wrote this long text for your entertainment.
(So feel free to feel thankful and praise me. 😛 )
What should I absolutely not do when visiting your country?
Rwanda, a tiny country in the eastern central part of Africa (it is there, in red) Rwanda
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When visiting Rwanda, don’t bring any plastic bags as they are prohibited in the country. When you try to bring them, they will be confiscated right at the airport. Same goes with throwing waste in the environment, our country is very clean, and throwing any waste would be a shame for you, and the authorities can punish you for that.
Don’t openly discuss ethnic issues. 22 years ago our country had seen one of the most atrocious tragedies in human history 1994 Genocide Rwandan genocide
you shouldn’t go around asking everyone what? where? how? who are you? The good way to learn this history is to try and visit some memorials which are rich in that history and it’s near the main city, Kigali and almost in every other city across the country.
Don’t try to take pictures of everything you see especially people even young kids in the street without first asking. Yes, our country is still under development, you might see poor neighborhood, young street kids or some funny things you can make out of those pictures – taking photos of those vulnerable people without their permission is a sensitive issue in our culture.
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You shouldn’t be annoyed or irritated if someone didn’t make it on time. For many people being late “is just okay” one hour or 4 hours would still be okay 😉 so if you are meeting someone either for business or personal affairs just bear this in mind and be patient.
Restaurant and other service businesses. You will be treated really well, in fact a special treatment will be given to you if you are a foreigner (Rwandans are very welcoming and we are naturally good to our neighbours), but don’t take advantage of it or think that they want something from you (i.e. don’t shout or raise your voice when you are not satisfied with the service, there is a good manner to bring the issue at hand).
Rwanda is very safe and secure. Contrary to the popular belief or some perception of a country which has been in Genocide 22 years ago, you can move around anytime you want; even midnight. Don’t expect anyone to understand what you are talking about, even if you speak English or French, the majority of people only know one language; Kinyarwanda. Taxis, local traders, waiters, service providers, etc. they try hard to understand you but make sure when you are traveling to have a local guide with you (this will also help you pay less for everything, because you will not be overcharged cause you are a foreigner)
Don’t bring cats or dogs to public places or smoke in public. This doesn’t mean Rwandans hate animals, it means they respect other people’s views almost on anything. There are also special places reserved for smokers.
When you are a guest to someone’s home, don’t pay (or contribute) for the food or drinks offered unless asked to, this is rude or in some cases disrespectful.
Don’t get annoyed if you are being called ‘muzungu’ everywhere. Literally muzungu means ‘a traveler’ but it is widely known as ‘white people’, even Asians are called ‘muzungu’ 😉 😉 Don’t think they are being racists or are they trying to insult you.
Welcome to Rwanda! The land of thousand hills.
This Rare Battle-Sword Just Found in Sweden Is “An Evolutionary Leap”
Kalmar battle sword
Researchers in Sweden were excavating a 400-year-old cellar floor when they came across this “rare” battle-sword from the Military Revolution.
Archaeologists from Arkeologerna were digging at the intersection of the Kungsgatan and Västerlnggatan roads in the city of Kalmar, in the southeast of Sweden on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Best known for its Renaissance-style Kalmar Castle , with turrets and a drawbridge, in the old town cobbled streets lead visitors along corridors of well-preserved 17th- and 18th-century buildings.
The Arkeologerna researchers discovered a cellar floor which records suggested was part of a medieval farm that belonged to “Gotskalk Hulskede in 1368 AD”. The farm property was again mentioned in a 1483 AD text and it is known that it burned down in the summer of 1611 AD during the Kalmar War.
A report in Heritage Daily says the archaeologists discovered “two severely burned hand grinders, a pile of charred grains, and broken brick, stone, and wood” most probably from the top floors of the houses covering the cellar’s floor. And it was while they were removing collapsed roofing material that the “rare” Danish sword was discovered.
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Two heavily fire-damaged hand grinders. ( Arkeologerna)
You Can Only Poke The Bear So Often!
The Kalmar War/Conflict was fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway from 1611 AD to 1613 AD. Tensions began back in 1607 AD when King Charles IX of Sweden declared himself King of the Lapps, then taxed them, in what was traditionally Norwegian territory. Then, to get around paying tolls to Denmark and Norway for using the Øresund “Sound” strait, which separates the Baltic Sea and the North Sea , Sweden forged a new route via Lapland.
According to a report in TechTimes, this one toll “constituted up to two thirds of Denmark’s state income in the 16th and 17th centuries”. Not at all chuffed, i n April 1611 AD King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway declared war upon Sweden and invaded from the south with 6,000 Danish soldiers.
The city and castle of Kalmar were known as the “key to Sweden,” because they controlled the Kalmar Straight and all shipping access to the northern trade routes on the Swedish east coast, and Stockholm. The 6,000 invaders had their weapons trained on first taking control of Kalmar’s castle, then the entire city, but things didn’t go according to plan.
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The excavated stone cellar in a Kalmar street, where the battle sword was found. ( Arkeologerna)
Lost in the Smoke of War
After several months of sieging, Danish forces successfully penetrated Kalmar’s city walls, but they failed to crush the Swedish forces and skirmishes continued until the death toll got to around 900 men (700 Swedish and 200 Danes). Eventually, England drew up peace terms which were guaranteed by King James I of England and VI of Scotland and the Peace of Knäred was signed on 21 January 1613 AD, bringing the Kalmar War to a close.
King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden’s victory over Denmark set him on the path that would see him build his territory and army into a major regional power. This is why historians regard the conflict as a turning point in the history of armed conflict in Scandinavia. And it was in the aftermath of this war that the cellar burned causing its roof to collapse, covering the “rare” Swedish sword.
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Excavations in Kalmar revealed, in the now exposed 17th century basement, lay the lost weapons of a Danish soldier. ( Arkeologerna)
This Weapon Is ‘An Evolutionary Leap’
Arkeologerna said in a statement that at the time of the Kalmar War armies across Europe were experiencing “the military revolution.” An article in the defense publication, The Forge , explains the term ‘Military Revolution’ was originally coined in a paper delivered by Michael Roberts in 1955 to describe the period between 1560 AD and 1660 AD which saw new tactics and weapon systems being tested. These military changes brought about “significant transformation in warfare that contributed to the elevation of Western Europe as a center of world power,” according to Roberts.
Arkeologerna describes the rare sword as “an evolutionary leap” from the medieval sword , to more modern designs that would eventually dominate the 17th century battlefield. And symbolically, perhaps no better of an artifact could have been discovered to mark the Kalmar War, and Sweden’s first steps into the military revolution, than a broken and defeated Danish sword.
Top image: The Kalmar sword in situ where it was found. The tip is broken. Maybe in connection with battle? Source: Arkeologerna
By Ashley Cowie
How many Flat-Earthers are there in the United States?
Too many.
A friend’s daughter is a flat-earther. I have another friend who is a U2/ER2 pilot. The pilot gave me pictures that he took from the cockpit at 65,000 feet that clearly shows the curvature of the Earth. The flat-earther immediately went into the “He’s lying.” “The cockpit is distorting the view making it look curved when it’s not.” and “It’s lens distortion.”
It’s like arguing with a log.
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Confessions of a Man Who Shot Himself In The Head And Survived
What pushed you to do it?
A lot. Losing my girlfriend, the savings account we worked at for years, the business we created. Just exacerbated my anxiety and depression.
My ex really pushed me to get help in the times where I wasn’t struggling, so I became defensive and put it off. I shouldn’t have, because it would have given me the skills to get through the times I was struggling. Therapy is a bitch. I keep learning things about myself that I’m not proud of. Things I could have managed better for years. The more I learn, the more confident I become that I can better myself.
How long did you take to decide that you were ready to end it?
I decided the night before. It took about 12 hours for me to finalize it.
Did you think about your girlfriend before you did it?
She was in the house. I yelled that I loved her. Then I said Im sorry to my mom, and that I loved her (she wasn’t in the house). But yeah. For years, she was/is constantly my first thought.
What did it feel like when you shot yourself?
Nobody prepares you for what getting shot feels like. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t sting. It doesn’t ache. It just burns. Like fire in my head. And blood pouring from my mouth.
I think I was still in shock when I arrived at the hospital, but when they pushed the fentanyl, all that burning went away and I could recognize how much burning pain I was in.
I remember not being able to talk because my tongue hurt.
My pain the first month in the hospital got progressively worse, but high amounts of painkillers will trick you into that.
How did the shot not kill you? How did it “miss”?
I don’t fucking know. It went in by the corner of my left jaw, and came out above my forehead on the right side, taking most of the orbit of my eye with it. I fucked up.
What caliber did you use?
9mm Luger.
Maybe it wasn’t your time?
I wish. I don’t really believe in that mentality. Someone close to me said something along the lines of, “God wasn’t ready for you yet.” And my first thought was, “thousands of years of medicine research and a team of excellent doctors is the reason I’m here, but ok.”
I’ve read stories about how people who jumped off bridges (and survived) immediately regretted doing so and wanted to live more than anything as they were falling. Right after the moment, did you have regrets about doing it with a desire to live or maybe have disappointments that it didn’t work? Or maybe no feelings at all right after?
I woke up with a “what the fuck?” Mentality. I was more confused that I woke up. I didn’t really have feelings about it until a few months later when the drugs wore off.
What was the first thing your mom said to you afterwards?
I’m not sure what my mom said. I woke up post surgery and my whole family was there (they all had to fly in). I was very confused. (Now I know I was in surgery for 10 hours).
What was the road to recovery like for you?
It’s still ongoing. 2 months in the hospital/rehab, lots of follow up appointments, physical therapy, mental/emotional therapy.
Legal battles for custody and household items.
Lots of reintegration with my parents and immediate family, which has been great. It fortunately brought us all closer.
Before I did it, I can’t remember the last time my brother and I spoke on the phone even. It really shook my brother the most. I’m super grateful for his presence in my life now.
Physically, what are the long term consequences to your face and skull from shooting your self?
Physically, I lost my right eye. And I have a plate in my jaw forever. And my forehead is missing a piece of bone they took out during a bifrontal craniotomy. Beyond that, I’m pretty healthy.
Is your face messed up?
Pretty normal for a dude with one eye.
Are you dealing with chronic pain, nerve damage, headaches, etc.?
It’s alright. Headaches suck, mostly because only morphine is enough to dull them. Nerve damage is only in my jaw/tongue/cheek, which is frustrating, but I started vaping because it makes my tongue tingle, and I don’t bite it accidentally anymore.
Is she okay?
Probably not. But she won’t talk to me. I truly hope she is. Of all the negativity between us, I only hope that she’s doing well and that someday, sooner than later, we can sit down and have an honest discussion about it.
What’s something you would want to say to your ex-girlfriend?
This is something I think about all the time. Previously, I was very concerned with myself, and put myself into context when I didn’t need to. That’s something I’d change if I had an hour to sit down with her.
I’d really like her to know that I love her. To this day, nothing has changed. I’d like to have the conversation that I don’t hold anything against her, except for the fact that she knew and didn’t drag me to get help and stand by me, in ways I did for her, and leaving me in the worst of times.
I’d really like the opportunity to listen to her. I don’t know what she has to say, and I don’t need to hear anything. I wasn’t a very effective communicator during our relationship, and I’d like the opportunity to really hear her out, and share those emotions.
Do you still harbor thoughts about suicide?
They’ve mostly gone away. There are times I ponder it, but it’s more the idea of, whereas previously I was fantasizing the roadmap.
Did anything change about your personality or preferences on things as a result of the trauma? Something you would never expect that would change?
Not particularly in personality or preferences. I became a hell of a lot more forgiving and patient, which wasn’t much existent (except with my kids) before.
I think the thing that changed the most was having my emotional brain available. I wasn’t very capable of connecting with my emotions before, I genuinely thought I was broken. I really got down on myself when it came to my ex, because I couldn’t empathize with her when she experienced heightened emotions, and it put a wedge between us, or I did. Now I’m empathizing with commercials, and it’s really bizarre when I become mindful of it, even still.
Do you regret doing it?
I think a lot about regret. I don’t regret shooting myself. I regret the way I proposed to my ex. I regret the way I treated her and other people when they needed me. I regret losing sight of myself because I wanted to be someone else. I regret spending so much time looking for escape instead of looking inward. But I don’t regret shooting myself. It changed my world.
How are things going for you now?
It’s not really going better. I spent years developing a family and life. It’s going about exactly as I predicted before putting a gun to my head. But! On the other side of that, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about love, myself, and bettering myself mentally that I never could have without experiencing tragedy in my previous lifestyle.
And I get to share my story and hopefully help others, which is something I never cared much about.
Ivan the Terribly Crazy
So far, most of the crazy leaders discussed above, lived lives of luxury. Their madness was either the result of an insatiable ego or in Charles’s case, genetic. But Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible as he would come to be known, was different. He lost his mind due to the abuse he had suffered as a young man.
Ivan lost both of his parents at a young age. After the loss of his mother at the tender age of seven, Ivan was left defenseless. The elite members of the Russian government tormented and abused him. At an early age, Ivan began torturing small animals as a coping mechanism.
In 1544, at the age of 14, Ivan had had enough. He seized control of his country by having the head of the government fed to a pack of hungry dogs. He was crowned tsar two years later at the age of 16.
At first, it appeared being made ruler cured him of his insanity. He made a public confession and apologized for his various cruel acts. In the beginning, he was a good tsar. For example, he created laws aimed at creating class equality, so that no one would suffer as he had.
But it didn’t last long. He soon began massacring his own people, especially anyone who dared challenge his autocratic tendencies. As he got older, he became more unhinged and the paranoia and rage of his youth reappeared. This culminated in the murder of his eldest son, heir, and favorite, Ivan Ivanovich.
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12 Guys Reveal The Red Flags They Ignored, For The Sake of Getting Laid
1. She legit stole my wallet the first time we hooked up. It had $200 in it
Sex was so damn good I just made sure I hid my wallet and valuables for rounds 2-4
2. That she was crazy. One of the first things she said to me while making out at a party was “they all say I’m crazy, but I’m really not.”
3. She said she had thousands of kids that telepathically communicate with her all at once.
I only talked to her for a few more weeks and slowly faded myself out since I was too afraid to just ghost her. That’s the type of crazy I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of. I didn’t pry too much more into it due to how uncomfortable I got.
4. The last girl I dated told me she liked holding a knife to her ex’s neck while he slept because she fantasized about murder and wanted to see what it felt like.
5. She showed up to my apartment without directions or asking. She was a friend of a friend, and knew the complex itself from talking with her earlier. Never crossed my mind to ask how she figured out my building or apartment until later, and when you wake up to a cute girl knocking on your door at 2 AM, it doesn’t really cross your mind.
We saw each other for a few months, til I figured our what was cute at first was stalkers and became upsetting when I need to sleep. Lesson learned, now I use an alias and safe house when I meet people.
6. 20 year old stripper whose husband was in jail. Husband got out and fire bombed my car in her driveway.
7. She told me she was a manipulative, emotionally unavailable, and controlling person. I still went in. She wasn’t lying lol but I think I maneuvered it well.
8. First day, she fell in love. Day two, she slapped me in the face. Day three, she broke into my house. Day 4, I learned she could squirt across the room. Day 5, she told me she had chlamydia. Day 6, I smashed one last time and didn’t pull out. Day 7, she brought me the pill that treats chlamydia and sucked my soul out right after. Day 8 and beyond, I ignored the rest of her calls and left her on read. I’m surprised my house didn’t get burnt down as it still stands today.
9. Hooked up with a girl near DC who was very into SpongeBob, which is cool I am too, but she was like SUPER into SpongeBob. Throw pillows, posters, stuffed animals everywhere. When we hooked up she made me do the laugh so she’d get off
10. Family gang ties. She would use that as a threat to prevent me from breaking up, cheating, or making her upset in general.
11. I met a girl on a bus and on our first date she told me that her father is always present and she can see him sitting right next to me. I thought she was joking or used a metaphor of him always watching her but she pointed where he was sitting (I should mention that he is alive and well). I proceeded to have a 2 year long relationship with her with lots of weird things happening in it.
English wasnt her first language neither was mine but we communicated in english. Sometimes she would say “we” when talking about what she did on a day and refuse to elaborate. Any kind of argument would end up with her trying to gaslight me about unimportant details (like she would say something and I would quote it back to her and she would say: “no thats what you said.”
She married a 60 year old man when she was 25. Really mysterious person – to this day I cant say how crazy she really is.
12. I get to her place, and it is like 4 things away from a trash heap. Seriously, piles of trash, clothes, dishes, books, etc. EVERYWHERE! Her couch looked like it was rescued from a dump. I have no sense of smell (luckily) and was down baaaaad so I was like whatever.
Then I hear a small critter noise, look over and she’s got a massive cage FULL of mice/rats. Like a ceiling to floor length cage, the kind you’d keep several toucans in. I cannot tell you the level of uncomfortable it is making out on a filthy couch, next to a pile of trash while being able to hear mice. Sex was amazing though, but I just couldn’t deal. She was a PhD student or something and the mice were retired lab rats, even still… Clean your place.
13. That she was 100% bat shit insane.
Met online. She opened with saying “wow what a dirty old white man. Whats with you white men?” She, herself, was white.
I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t. She was dead ass serious about having a heated racial argument against her own race. I played along. Turns out, she does that as a “test” to see if people can “handle her”. Red flag, but she was one of the hottest people I’ve ever talked to. We continue on.
She is an artist/engineer. She tells me how big her house is and how she would LOVE to support me. She’d pay all my bills, etc. This seemed odd, as I just met her.
She insisted I come out to Detroit to see her. I was in Ohio. I have known her a day. Well, as my blood wasn’t in the right area of my body, I decided to go. I drove the few hours and showed up at what could only be described as a house used in movies to depict a trailer trash, dirty individual.
Her front yard was covered in an array of random objects. It looked like a bomb went off in the middle of a yard sale for stuff a goodwill wouldn’t accept. There was so much random stuff, I has to step on a chair and over a fence to get from her driveway to the front door. We continued on.
Her house was a mess. It was like a homeless person got a home and moved all their homeless essence into it. It wasn’t dirty, per say, just…so so so much clutter. We went to her room and i laid down. We proceeded to talk for a while, and we wound up in a moment of silence.
I brought up something I’d seen in a documentary recently and she got super serious, super fast. She looked at me and said “okay, and the point of that sentence was…?” I replied that I was just trying to make small talk. “Who fuckin cares about a documentary. Why do I give a shit?”.
I wasn’t sure how to respond , so I went with just explaining the concept of small talk. She interrupted me and said “you are boring as fuck. Why bother opening your mouth?”
I couldn’t understand what was happening. I never had an interaction like that before. She was now nitpicking everything I said and getting angrier by the minute. I tried so much to change the subject to something she’d like but I couldn’t manage.
I still decided to sleep over. The worst part was, no matter how I tried to initiate the sex that she was talking nonstop about having over text when we met, it never happened. We just..went to sleep. I spent the entire night staring at her ceiling instead of leaving because, well, tomorrow exists.
The last straw was when she got up, pretended I didn’t exist, walked to the bathroom and took the loudest, nastiest shit ive ever heard come out of a woman…with the door open. She didn’t wash her hands, or flush.
All that for a set of blue balls and hours and hours of wasted driving.
It’s kind of pathetically funny how the United States is today. But you know, even an idiot can fire a shotgun. We all have to laugh, not get too caught up, and move on with our lives. Just take care. Be careful
Today’s installment.
Veal Osso Buco (Yummy)
“This is a very tender Italian veal dish with a flavorful tomato and herb sauce. It takes a while to prepare, but does not require much attention while cooking. Original recipe makes 6 to 8 servings, but I scaled it down to make 2 servings. It is DELICIOUS!!!”
In a shallow dish, stir together flour, salt, and black pepper.
Dredge meat in seasoned flour.
In a large skillet, melt butter with oil over medium heat.
Brown meat in skillet.
Remove meat from pan, and set aside.
Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to drippings in pan.
Cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
Stir in tomato sauce, water, basil, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf.
Return meat to pan.
Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer.
Cover, and cook for 2 1/2 hours.
Serve the delicious sauce over meat, a bed of rice, or mashed potatoes.
2022 12 02 21 10
China and nuclear weapons
Beijing accelerated its nuclear weapons program last year and has nearly doubled its supply of warheads since 2020 to past 400, a size that US military planners did not expect to see until about 2030, a new report from the US Department of Defense says, according to an American mainstream media report.
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The report noted that although China already has the world’s largest navy and is the “top ship-producing nation in the world by tonnage”, it is continuing to expand its capacity to produce “submarines, warships, and auxiliary and amphibious ships”, as well as increasing its ability to produce aircraft.
“China’s decades-long efforts to improve domestic aircraft engine production are starting to produce results,” it said.
“China’s first domestically produced high-bypass turbofan, the WS-20, has also entered flight-testing on the Y-20 heavy transport and probably will replace imported Russian engines by the end of 2022,” the report added.
2022 12 03 16 15
China is killing its people over “covid”. They are putting people in unsafe places to save them. The people are protesting. Biden Admin says “Protestors are speaking for themselves”. Why care about Ukraine but ignore China?
Protestors are speaking for themselves, totally right.
Because they’re speaking for money. And not much.
The CIA paid them $250–300 for each, but because the spies are too corrupt, they embezzle 90% of their money, finally, when these bottom spies went to participate in the “protest”, they shouted all night, held up white paper, risked being caught by the police, and finally got $27 (Guangzhou) or $12 (Chengdu).
But they can’t convince anyone, and the Chinese are enjoying this entertainment.
It’s already a joke on Chinese network now.
So this is the color revolution. Interesting. It seems that the same is true in Ukraine.
Why are Putin and Xi Jinping so against LGBT?
China
China doesn’t support or condemn Homosexuality.
In fact China has approximately 25 Million to 50 Million Gay People on record.
China legalized Homosexuality in 1997 , 17 years before India decriminalized it.
China of course doesn’t punish homosexuality but affords no extra rights to gay persons whatsoever.
China is very fair
China says You have the right to be Gay. That is your freedom. However people have the same right to not allow you to lease their flats or in general discriminate against you.
China also doesn’t flaunt its homosexuality.
Not many Parades in China.
However China has no issues with LGBT as long as you don’t flaunt it and understand that people may discriminate against you and that is their rightright
Russia
Russia has always been anti gay
It is the basic Christian philosophy where Homosexuality is deemed wrong and unnatural
Europe entirely condemned homosexuality at a time when the East (Japan, China, even India) regarded it as perfectly normal.
The ‘Abrahamic Religions’ as Rami Sivan and Ambika Vijay say – introduced this “Morality Clause” about Homosexuality based on the Christian and Islamic teaching.
So Russia still believes what they once followed , while the West has changed primarily
You could say Russia still lives in the 1800s as far as Homosexuality is concerned.
Details Emerge about China’s July “Fractional Orbit” Nuke Strike Weapon TEST
New information emerging about the nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon test conducted by China in July 2021, says the missile traveled much longer in distance and time than any Chinese land attack weapons system to date coming “close enough” to its target.
“China conducted the first fractional orbital launch of an ICBM with a hypersonic glide vehicle from China on July 27th, 2021. This demonstrated the greatest distance flown (~40,000 kilometers) and longest flight time (~100+minutes) of any PRC land attack weapons system to date,” the Pentagon report on China Military Power Report, released on Tuesday said.
Although the Pentagon report does not provide many details about China’s hypersonic missile capabilities, a report by The War Zone says that information contained in the report conforms with statements made by top U.S. military officials.
Now-retired Air Force General John Hyten reportedly then told CBS News that China “launched a long-range missile,” that “went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to China, that impacted a target in China.” Asked if the missile hit the target, Hyten reportedly said, “Close enough.”
Hyten also termed Chinese military modernization as “stunning” and reportedly warned that Beijing would one day have the capability to launch a surprise nuclear attack on the U.S.
“Why are they building all of this capability?” Hyten was quoted by CNN as saying. “They look like a first-use weapon. That’s what those weapons look like to me.”
While the Chinese hypersonic missile test is compared to the U.S. Air Force’s own secretive X-37B uncrewed orbital vehicle more than a hypersonic missile like Russia’s air-launched Kinzhal missile, military experts had said that it was unlikely to trigger an arms race between the two powers.
In recent years, China has continued to accelerate the modernization and expansion of its military forces apart from developing nuclear, space and cyberspace capabilities. Beijing’s focus has also been on enhancing its deterrent capabilities and at the same time pushing forward with an ambitious expansionist narrative in the South China Sea region.
Are the anti-Xi demonstrations in China genuinely spontaneous or have they been carefully organized by outside instigators to make it appear to the Western media that they are spontaneous Chinese demonstrations?
As far as Shanghai is concerned, it was originally a memorial activity. On November 26, many young people mourned 10 compatriots who died in the fire in Urumqi on Urumqi Road
Why do they mourn 10 compatriots who died thousands of kilometers away? On November 15, 2010, a particularly serious fire broke out in the Jiaozhou Road apartment building in Shanghai, killing 58 people. Shanghai people always think that this is a stain of Shanghai’s public management, so young people in Shanghai will spontaneously go to the place where the Jiaozhou Road fire happened on November 15 every year to offer flowers and mourn. So also in November, after a serious fire broke out in Urumqi, young people in Shanghai spontaneously went to Urumqi Road to mourn the dead.
At the same time of mourning, people complained about the inconvenience caused by the closure, because it was said at that time that the closure of this community in Urumqi was the reason why so many people died. However, the subsequent investigation and the social media statements of the owners of the community showed that the community was open, and there were various reasons for the occurrence and process of the fire, but it had nothing to do with the containment. But people at that time did not know these things, so they began to shout slogans against blocking and nucleic acid testing.
Perhaps this gathering gave those lurking people a chance, so on the evening of the 26th, many people with other purposes were mixed in the protest team. The difference between these people and those who mourn or protest during the day is.
1. Most of these people come from other places and speak Mandarin with Hong Kong accent or ABC accent
2. These people are very experienced. They lead us to shout slogans and teach us to raise white paper to protest
3. These people bring their own photography team. They know what shooting angle looks the most intense, and they will not collide with the police force at the same time
4. Most of these people belong to some NGO, especially some church organizations
5. That is to say, from this moment on, they led everyone to shout the slogan “Down with CCP, Down with XI”. Before that, the anger of the protest team was directed at the containment measures
Encouraged by the results of the protest in Shanghai on the evening of the 26th, some people quickly organized protests in other cities in China in Twitter and Telegraph groups. Beijing, Dalian, Chengdu, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hangzhou are all their targets, but perhaps because of the hasty organization, they make a lot of jokes
The event in Dalian was cancelled because it was too cold. I wonder if the American Consulate in Shenyang would be criticized internally. After all, other cities with American embassies and consulates organized protests, but only the Shenyang Consulate could not organize them
During the protest in Chengdu, a group of people led the crowd to shout slogans in Hong Kong accented Mandarin, and then were scolded by the local people in the local dialect. Then the organizer also made some women’s rights props to arouse more anger in Chengdu, but did not know that Chengdu is the city with the highest status of women in China.
In the protest in Guangzhou, the organizer called everyone to go to Haizhu Square to rally against the blockade of Haizhu District, but did not know that Haizhu Square was not in Haizhu District.
For the protest in Hangzhou, the organizer informed everyone to protest at the gate of Yintai Department Store. Then some people went to the gate of Yintai on the West Lake, and others went to the gate of Yintai on the lakeside. As a result, there were fewer people.
Therefore, it is true that the Chinese people have grievances and protests. But it is also true that some foreigners want to make things worse.
Edward Snowden is now a Russian Citizen
Former CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) officer Edward Snowden has received his Russian passport after having been granted citizenship by President Vladimir Putin earlier this year.
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Since Snowden now holds a Russian passport, he cannot be legally extradited to any foreign state seeking charges against him.
In 2013, Snowden leaked a massive trove of classified documents revealing the NSA’s sprawling surveillance operations, which targeted American civilians and collected their electronic communication data and phone records. His revelations launched nation-wide debates about government surveillance and led the US appeals court to declare the NSA’s program unlawful.
When the leaked files were posted in a number of media outlets, Washington promptly revoked Snowden’s US citizenship, making him a de facto stateless individual. He initially tried to flee from Hong Kong to Latin America, but got stranded during a layover in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where he ended up living for over a month. Ultimately he was granted asylum in Russia, where he has remained to this day.
DOOMED! Europe Faces MASSIVE SHUTDOWN As big Companies Ditch Germany In Favor Of China:
The manufacturing hub of Europe will barely make it through the coming winter. This is because, during the past eight months, sufficient gas reserves have been amassed to prevent an outage in the power supply. However, a more dire scenario might be around the corner as major enterprises with deeper finances seek safer economic footing in other nations. In addition, rising energy prices and depleting gas supplies might lead to a wave of shutdowns among smaller companies unable to weather the storm.
A nightmarish scenario might play out for Germany’s heavy industry after 2023 if cheaper electricity isn’t available. And economists at Deutsche Bank say this might mark the beginning of Europe’s rapid deindustrialization.
The announcement by BASF, a chemical giant and cornerstone of German industry that was created 157 years ago, might indicate things to come. At the end of October, the company said it would be “permanently” reducing its activities in Europe due to the continent’s high energy prices. Moreover, others are anticipated to replicate similar behavior.
You see, the European headquarters of BASF consume as much natural gas as all of Switzerland every year. And companies in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries are also significant consumers and may be tempted to go abroad for cheaper energy.
Now, almost 10 percent of enterprises in Germany’s celebrated small and medium-sized industrial sector, known as the Mittelstand, are considering relocating production abroad. Economists’ general consensus is that much high-energy manufacturing will move elsewhere. And so, companies that can’t afford to uproot and relocate could have to go out of business.
The greatest economy in Europe is stable for the time being. GDP increased by 0.3% in the third quarter, while Goldman Sachs projects a 1.1% decline in 2023, which will be unpleasant but not disastrous. A Goldman Sachs economist predicts a severe downturn. The longer high prices persist, the more difficult it will be for European factories and other energy-hungry sectors.
According to the IMF and other organizations, the actual threat for Europe is not this winter but the one to come. IMF recently stated in an interview that while this coming winter would be challenging, the winter of 2023 might be considerably worse. And it will be considerably harder for Europe to replace the storage tanks next year without major Russian gas flows than this year especially if China recovers and buys more liquid gas from the global market. And once Europe emerges from this winter, experts anticipate that storage tanks will be relatively low.
What does it mean if a country has a high GDP PPP? Is it good or bad?
If you are a layman, think about it this way. In the US if you buy a Big Mac for a dollar, if you take your dollar and convert to RMB or Yuan, the 1 dollar can buy you 2.5 Big Mac in China.
So you can conclude that China undervalued its RMB or it could be the other way the U.S. overvalued the Dollar. Or a combination of both. Or another possibility is that is more plausible is that in the past 40 years the inflation rate is higher than the U.S.
From China’s point of view is that Chinese RMB can buy more in China and a dollars worth of RMB can buy you less in the United States of America. So it cost more to bring your money to buy stuffs in America and Americans can buy more from and in China.
So in PPP or real value GDP China has overtaken the U.S. since 2014, 8 full years ago and today China’s PPP is already 150% of the US. But in US dollar per say it is close to 85% of the USA. You can conclude it as the U.S. fooling itself and fooling the world and overvaluing the dollar through inflation.
Whatever it is, it is not good for America. And it is not good for Americans. It means standard of living is falling. Hence since 1980 Chinas real standard of living has increased 30 times in 40 years while during the same time period the US real income not only not grow it slide back to the 1960s level.
But what is worst for America and American’s is the income disparity. 400 richest Americans owned 50% of America. And 1% of the richest Americans own 80% of America’s wealth. Conversely 99% of Americans share the 20% of wealth. So in reality Most American’s are poor or close to third world living standard.
I leave you to decide on your own if PPP is important, good or bad. It is the measure of real wealth. China can sell many things to the world while the U.S. needs to buy most things from the world. Chinese real standard of living certainly improved while American real standard of living certainly deteriorated.
When real income increased the disposable income grow and hence domestic consumption grow. Today the Middle income people of China has grow to almost twice the entire population of the US. This means Chinese economy is less dependent on world economy and it is more self subsistence.
I can only give you my opinion. China’s economy is not only strong but it is very healthy and the US economy is getting weaker and very unhealthy. It will always face high deficits and debts.
With 1,700 deaths from coronavirus in China, do Chinese Quora users still feel that the Chinese government has been doing a good job for coronavirus?
My wife and I had stayed at home in Shanghai for over a month before I officially resumed working in office two weeks ago, when the virus control in Shanghai proved effective with full cooperation from the tens of millions of disciplined citizens like us.
Now with the escalation of this epidemic in countries outside of China, Chinese government started to intensify the control of passengers who returned from areas/countries with fast increasing confirmed cases. My wife had to fly to Tokyo on business trip for a week last Monday and returned yesterday, this was the first business trip since her last trip to Bangkok 2 months ago before this outbreak. She knew she would have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon her return, yet she did not know it would be this strict.
I went to pick her up at Hongqiao airport last night, and witnessed how Chinese fight the battle against the potential spread of virus.
Every passenger would go through strict screening and be categorized into three groups. Group A was domestic transit passengers and have to fly or take HSR to some other cities in Shanghai. After cleared with ID registration, flight ticket/train ticket, self declaration and health check, they would leave, and their route was monitored until received by check-in counter, and such info would be relayed to their next stop. When they arrive, the health department would be expecting them at the gate and carry on the escort.
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Group B was for passengers leaving for other cities by car, same procedure followed
My wife lived in Shanghai, so she belonged to group C. She finally got off the airplane, three hours later. She went through very strict screening and register via mobile phone /app
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After she picked up the checked luggage, she would have to register in an area, and find a section where the staff from the district we live were waiting for my wife.
The signs on the counter indicated the administrative district in Shanghai, and the residents would Q in front of the counter and register
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Double checking the registration, my address, and confirmed how my wife prepared to travel back home in Shanghai. When they knew I would drive her back home. The staff(health agency staff, police and airport staff) came out and escorted me to the airport garage, registered my ID, took note of my license plate and made sure we got in the car and drove directly home without stop in the middle.
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It was kind of interesting when my wife and I were escorted by a group of people, as if we were VIP. Foe those who did not have family pick up, there will be cars to drive them home.
for those who do not have permanent residence in Shanghai, they would register and be sent to a facility where they would go through 14 days of quarantine.
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2 minutes before my arrival, my wife’ phone rang and it was a guy in charge of the property management of my residential complex. He asked where were we and asked us to wait in the garage where he would be there to greet us.
He told us during the 14 days self-quarantine, we could not leave our apartment. Property management and security staff would help us pick up delivery, food and garbage every day, and if we need anything just give them a call, and they will help us do it, so we do not need to go out. He told us CDC would come tomorrow to check everyday, and even I would have to go through the same self-quarantine and could not go to work until CDC advises otherwise.
The local police station also showed up and made sure we must stay inside the apartment.
I am a bit excited to see CDC guys show up today:)
seriously I do feel it is a bit exaggerated, but the strict control does provide great sense of security for all of us, and I would be glad to cooperate knowing it must be done.
When I post this on my wechat, all my friends understand and felt glad the government is really taking this seriously, so the tens of millions of citizens’ sacrifice and self-quarantine for the past one month would be really worth it.
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How Much does China monitor the lives of its citizens? As in is it more “free” or less “free” than western media portrays it as?
Facial Monitoring
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China has a very sophisticated 5G facial print recognition system installed across 9 key cities.
From the arrival into Beijing Airport or Shanghai Airport, your facial print goes into the system and remains there for life even if you come back vide a different passport.
When you check in to your hotel, no need of handing over your passport in most cases. Just look into a scanner and the system will match the facial print and confirm where you are staying.
Train Stations, Taxi Stands, Government Premises, Universities all have scanners, so they know where you have been.
That’s how they busted the BBC liar of Shanghai during the protests
They clearly proved he was at the US Consulate several times and at Shanghai near the University premises. He had cleverly left his cellphone behind but he didn’t know 😁
They even established that he had visited the school of political sciences in that University
He however had lied saying he was home and he had never visited the University.
However they inform you of the facial print. Sadly it’s a Mandarin Sheet over the Immigration Desk so most foreigners would ignore it.
However that’s only foreigners and not all foreigners
Only select Nations like Canada, USA, Taiwan, S Korea, Japan, Australia etc
And NOT INDIA , we are trustworthy migrants
But Locals?
I don’t think so but i am not sure
Too many to have a successful facial print program
The Algorithms would need fastest processors to analyze facial prints of millions of people in nano seconds
Easier for a few thousand people than a million or so.
Internet Monitoring
Traction Algorithms are followed
Like Weibo users with around 5K followers or 10K followers (Purely arbitary numbers,I have no idea how many) known as Influencers
They are identified when they declare income from “Tips” which amount sometimes to 10,000 Yuan a month (1 Yuan per follower).
Surge in traffic leads to monitoring the tweets and if the tweet is inappropriate, it will be taken down and you have to appeal
Yet it’s not so black and white. Many weibo users continue to criticize the CPC once the authorities realize they are positive critics (White critics) and not Western funded
Guys like me Or Aravind would be on a traction list but would be allowed as White Critics
Chinese version of Guys like Subramaniam Duraisamy Or Mr. Prasanna Bhalerao would be VIPs and Heroes to the CPC with their bland acceptance and justification of CPC policies saying “It’s okay to lose lives but US lost more”
Most Weibo users would be angry and passionate but won’t be on traction lists as they don’t have the traffic
And they don’t give a damn if you praise the US everyday. They encourage debate on US vs China ferociously
Financial Monitoring.
Primarily for Tax Evasion
Some of the finest algorithms written ever.
The Chinese can hunt down tax evaders very fast using Financial monitoring.
Even a First Class Air Ticket by a normal Economy Class traveler puts up an alert
Based on all this they estimate the earned income and if you declare more than 7.5% less of this sum, you will get a notification
If you declare 7.5–20 percent, you get a request for an Official Visit
My Nephew once got a large credit from his UK account to buy a car and didn’t declare the amount and got a demand for a visit
Of course once you have a reasonable explanation they will close the file
It’s how they bust the TikTok influencers who merrily hid millions of Yuan and now are paying massive fines
But like I said, they have Social Responsibility classes in many blocks for free, held by the Government and in Universities too
They tell you what’s allowed and what’s not, very clearly. So it’s transparent enough as long as you don’t get stupid.
Foreigners are welcome though they rarely know of such programs.
So it’s called “Good Monitoring” done for Growth and Development.
No spying on cellphones stuff that US does
More jokes about the failed “color revolution”:
The color revolution cancelled in Dalian because of the cold weather.
Guangdong spies hoped that everyone would gather in Haizhu District and set the gathering place in Haizhu Square. Finally, they found that Haizhu Square was not in Haizhu District.
In Shenzhen, the patriotic people who wanted to have fun prepared eggs and waited at the place where the spies claimed to gather for the second time, but the spies did not dare to come.
In Shanghai, several girls shared a bunch of flowers to take photos and show off on the Internet. After taking photos, the girl who bought the flowers collected the flowers back to her home.
In Hangzhou, a rioter who rode a shared bike to participate in the “protest” was taken away, and the shared bike has been charged all the time. “Shared bike has not been returned” has become a new network meme in Chinese network.
A lot of Hong Kong rioters who participated in the riots a few years ago took part in this activity. They comforted each other that this was just a small testing to China, and that the US should drop weapons to coastal cities by planes to help them.
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“Someone help me return the shared bike”.
Tiantian
I was talking to someone years ago and in response to my depressed self–pity and regrets over the wasted past she said,
“You know, you could have done everything you dreamed of. Gotten that fancy degree, found great jobs, travelled the world, made millions. And then you could’ve been hit by a car at 30.”
And now I’m reading about someone almost identical to her example : Tiantian Kullander.
2022 12 03 19 58
Born to a wealthy entrepreneurial cosmopolitan family in Hong Kong, Tiantian grew up in California, Australia, Singapore, Sweden and England. He got a BA in Finance from Durham University and trained as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before he even graduated. When aged just 20, he was already getting interviewed by Capital magazine, advising other young people on how to how to land a coveted job in finance based on his experience.
After graduation he was hired at Goldman Sachs full–time, working as a member of its structured credit training team. Then he moved to Morgan Stanley where he specialized as an emerging markets trader. In 2017, aged just 25, Tiantian left investment banking to cofound his own company, the cryptocurrency trading platform Amber Group, in his native Hong Kong. He worked fanatically to grow the company, resulting in Amber Group becoming known worldwide and reaching an astonishing market capitalization of $3 billion by early 2022. Tiantian also found time to establish Ethereum platform KeeperDAO in 2019. Also in that year, Tiantian earned prestigious recognition as a leader of change in the world of finance when Forbes put him on its list of 30 under 30 Asia. And to top it off, he married a beautiful girl and had a son. Tiantian was one of the most successful and exciting ascenders in the world, becoming famous with a blazing finance and technology career and on his way to getting incredibly rich at a baby age.
None of that matters anymore, because last week Tiantian died of unknown causes in his sleep at the age of 30.
Life is unpredictable… Just do what you want to do most and don’t worry about anything else.
Have you ever left a date midway?
Yep.
We went out to a nice sushi restaurant she suggested. It was about 40$ per person which is expensive for my taste, but I had just sold one of my first patents and felt good about finally having some spending money so I didn’t mind.
She seemed interesting, funny and smart but then she said it: “I would never pay for myself on a date, that’s the man’s job.”
I asked her, “What if you invited me out?”
She just shook her head,
“Nope”
I inquired,
“What if you made more money than me?”
She responded,
“Then you’re just not a man.”
I asked her if she thought men and women were equals, and she said women were superior in every way but physical strength.
I asked how she reconciled equality between the sexes with a “men always pay” mentality, and she gave me this bullshit run around answer that somehow ended with her proclaiming she didn’t hang out with people unless they were pretty.
I had a crisp 100 and I slowly unfolded it in front of her and the waiter, I told him to keep the change so she wouldn’t gyp him, and put it down on the table and told her nicely,
“Enjoy your meal, on me.” Then I left.
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What is a split-second decision you made that changed your life?
“Dad, I want to drop out of university.”
It was December 2015. I was completely stressed out of my mind, because I only had four days to study for five huge exams. On top of that, I also needed to complete three final assignments AND I had to work extra shifts at my part-time job.
The transition from high-school to university was difficult for me. After class and work, I was always tired, and I just wanted to relax in the evenings. I naturally gravitated towards procrastinating and leaving things to the last minute. Plus, the first few months of university, procrastinating worked okay for me. I always knew I could just pull an all nighter and 9 times out of 10 the work would get done. Sure, my work was not as good compared to if I had actually planned ahead of time. However, the work still got done which is all that mattered to me.
But it was that last week of first semester, when I was looking at the mountain of work I had to do and felt so defeated. Again, I had 4 days left (due to chronic procrastination and poor time management) to study for 5 exams and complete 3 big assignments.
I didn’t want to do the work.
It was just way too much work.
Just looking at my textbooks, I felt like having a panic attack.
I felt way too stressed.
I knew even if I did study over the next few days, I probably wouldn’t do that well since I left everything to the absolute last minute.
So I called my dad. This would be a fateful moment of my life.
Me: “Dad, I have way too much work to do. I can’t do this anymore. I am stressed out of my mind. My mental health, wellness and life has gone to the shambles because of this degree. I want to drop out. I can’t take it anymore.”
Dad: “You need to get an education. You can’t just drop out.”
Me: “Well this amount of work is just too unbearable. I am not going to do well on my exams because I should have started studying like 2 weeks ago. I feel so behind. Maybe I could just drop out now and work full time instead. And then when I am ready to go back to university, I’ll go back.”
Dad: “Well the decision is up to you. You can’t live in the city anymore and would have to move back at home if you decide to drop out.”
Me: “Okay. I will think about it tonight and get back to you.”
After going for a short walk and reflecting on the conversation I had with my dad, I knew what decision I needed to make.
I decided to take the next 4 days and study as much as I possibly could and work on my assignments. I called a co-worker and asked them to take my shifts for the week. I only got 3–4 hours of sleep per night but I managed to complete all my assignments and pass all exams. Mind you, that semester I finished most of my classes with either a C or C-, with some B’s.
The next semester I really smartened up though. I saw an academic counsellor and was able to get my studies more on track. I reduced my work hours from 20 hours to only 10 hours per week. I reduced my procrastination by keeping a monthly calendar and carefully planning to get things done a few days before the deadline. I believed in myself that I could achieve good grades if I put forth the effort and studied hard enough. Thankfully, I ended up graduating 4 years later with honours and got a job in my field shortly after. I sometimes ask myself, If I would have dropped out, where would I be in life?
I’d probably still be happy but I’m proud that I was able to overcome that hard time in my life and keep positive.
Why do people protest against Xi Jinping’s policies?
Two possibilities:
One is that people want to fight for a policy that was already announced nearly a month ago;
The other is that a group of spies bribe a group of people to perform, so as to scare off investors from Europe who want to come to the mainland.
I choose the second one.
In China, only a few streets in specific cities have such “protests”. No one calls on the Chinese network, and there are no omens. All of a sudden, though the number of people is small. What happened in this block, people in other blocks did not even know it, until the next day they learned. It did not happen naturally.
In the “protests” in various regions, the organizers were heard to have Hong Kong and Taiwan accents, some wrote traditional Chinese characters, and one even directly admitted that he is Taiwanese and took out their medical insurance cards.
In China, if it happens naturally and protests for some rights and interests, people will only shout slogans for their own rights and interests, not empty words, and will not tolerate the existence of spies. The slogan calling for “Xi to step down” or “women’s lives matters” would not happen in China. But it happened, and people can heard their accents, that means people can realise that their team leaders are spies. So why would they continue if they’re average civillians? According to the survey of several American statistical agencies, the support rate of the Chinese government is more than 90%, and you don’t believe that it has become zero overnight, do you?
Because of the serious corruption of the spy organization, the price of $200 – $300 per person originally set by the US has even changed to $140 (Beijing), $70 (Wuhan), $40 (Chengdu), and $27 (Guangzhou) per person, leading the spy to complain on the Internet and be found. It’s already a joke and Chinese people are laughing at that.
So, I think the answer is, a group of spies bribe a group of people to perform, so as to scare off investors from Europe who want to come to the mainland.
The US has also recently announced through the media that the mainland is about to wage war against Taiwan.
The US also held a joint US Japan military exercise near Taiwan Island to create an atmosphere.
But China always has its own plan and always develops the country according to the plan. China will not dance to the rhythm of the US.
P.S. If anyone doubts what I said, I can find relevant videos or photos for you. But if someone calls me wumao directly without any reason to refute, I will block you.
China Taps Alibaba, Tencent To Beat US Sanctions on semiconductors:
China has enrolled tech giants Alibaba Group Holding Limited and Tencent Holding Ltd to aid its efforts in designing semiconductors chips to reduce its dependence on Softbank Group Corp-owned Arm.
Arm, headquartered in the U.K. but has significant operations in the U.S., is seen as vulnerable to any ramping-up of U.S. sanctions.
The Chinese government has established a consortium of companies and institute Beijing Open Source Chip Research Institute to create new chip intellectual property.
The group used Arm’s rival Risc-V, an open-source chip design architecture, to create Xiangshan, a high-performance Risc-V computer-processing chip aimed at matching Arm’s IP and boosting the development of a Chinese chip design market.
Before Beijing’s push to combine resources, Chinese tech giants Alibaba and ByteDance had already set up teams using Risc-V architecture to develop high-performance chips that power AI algorithms and data centers.
As a surgeon, have you ever had a patient who came in for a simple procedure that turned into something dire and complex?
I don’t usually answer questions like this because when I give what I think is a good reply, there are about 10 or 20 views and no reaction. Nevertheless, here you go:
I was called to the ER for what was thought to be a routine nosebleed that turned out to be the sentinel bleed of a carotid blowout in a recently operated and irradiated cancer patient.
There is a saying in surgery that says if you can’t hear it, it’s not really bleeding that much. I learned that night that if it’s not on the walls and ceiling (I don’t know how it got there, but it did) it’s not really bleeding that much. He survived.
I read the many serious and sometimes frivolous stories here on Quora for entertainment. However, I think there are few on this site that know what it’s like to be covered with someone else’s blood and know that you, and you alone, have minutes or seconds to assess, make a decision, and act for life or death. It wasn’t often, but similar crises happened on multiple occasions in the past 40 years. Sorry to sound overly dramatic, but that is an everyday possibility for all healthcare providers.
Now that I’m retired, I’m happy to no longer experience the exhilaration and terror of opening an airway in a person that was about to die. Once the crisis was over and the patient was stable, I would sit down and rest until my hands stopped shaking from the adrenaline. I don’t want that anymore but I’m thankful for those that do.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Why do U.S. voters pay no attention to https://www.usdebtclock.org ?
We have a $30 trillion debt, 130% of GDP, record tax receipts and we still spend beyond growing our debt. A 1% increase in interest is a $30 billion increase in what taxpayers owe.
Look 40% of Americans don’t vote. Out of the 60% who vote 50% of them and are highly and absolutely believed in the U.S. media narratives that spin the greatness of America and its exceptionalism. A good 80% of the balance are simply ignorant of the deep shit America is in which is not only accurate, but if anything it is actually worst.
So as little as 6% of American voters or 3% of the US population is aware that America as we know it today is totally unsustainable and on the verge of total collapse no different from FTX or Robert Madoff. These people are choosing who could get America out of this hell hole better and faster!
Goulash Triestino
“This is Lidia Bastianich’s delicious recipe for Beef Goulash in the style of Trieste, a city in Northern Italy that had previously been part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. This recipe is great because it’s simple yet has loads of flavor. She suggests serving it Middle European style with boiled or mashed potatoes, Italian style with polenta or fettuccine or simply with steamed rice.”
Pour the olive oil into a small saucepan (about 6 cup capacity), set over medium-low heat, and drop in the onion wedges. Toss to coat in oil, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until sizzling and softening.
Spread onions in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed 9 or 10-inch saucepan (such as an enameled cast-iron French oven with a tight-fitting cover) and drop the beef cubes on top of the onions, filling the pan in one layer. Sprinkle another 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, all the paprika, and the oregano over the meat and drop in the rosemary. Without stirring or turning the meat chunks, cover the pan tightly. Heat the meat, with the seasonings on top and the onions below, so it starts to release its juices and stew. Check once or twice to see that the pan liquid is bubbling and the onions are melting (not burning) but don’t stir.
After 30 minutes or so, set the cover ajar a couple of inches and adjust the heat to keep the juices bubbling and slowly reducing. As they thicken, stir up the onions so they don’t burn and tumble the meat in the pan.
Continue cooking, partially covered, for another 1/2 hour or so. When the juices are concentrated and thick in the pan bottom, prepare the goulash sauce:.
Pour 3 cups cold water in the small pan and whisk in the flour. Set over low heat and continue whisking until the flour is dispersed with no lumps, then whisk in the tomato paste. Heat gradually, whisking often, until the tomato-flour water just comes to a bubbling boil. Pour into the big saucepan and stir well, turning the meat chunks over–they should be nearly covered in sauce.
Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, put on the cover slightly ajar, and cook 45 minutes to an hour, until the meat is quite tender and the sauce is somewhat reduced. Season with more salt to taste. Turn off the heat and let the goulash cool in the pan for several hours before serving or refrigerate overnight.
Reheat slowly, stirring now and then, until the meat is thoroughly heated. Thin the sauce with water if it has thickened too much. Serve hot. (Though not part of the original recipe, I like to garnish mine with a dollop of sour cream.).
However, we also cannot deny that the protests in some areas, such as Shanghai, have deviated from their purpose, showing very classic and traditional color revolution routines. In Hong Kong, in Ukraine, wherever there is turmoil and disaster, similar patterns of behavior are constantly being played out. NGOs, CIA, and the media used social incidents as an entry point, hired gunmen or instigators at the protest site to quickly intensify the situation, and even resorted to direct murder to promote confrontation.For example, during the protests on Middle Urumqi road, traditional Chinese characters, which are basically not used in mainland China, were written on the banners hanging; those who first started chanting political slogans had obvious Hong Kong or Taiwanese accents. It is almost impossible to obtain explosives or guns in mainland China, so by elevating a social issue to a political issue is a common tactic used by American conspiracy agencies to incite color revolutions. As a native of Sichuan, I have witnessed similar tactics in the suicide incident of student in Chengdu 49 Middle School. Protesters from southern China, armed with symbols (flowers, like carnations), chanted slogans in unison. Their behavior constitutes all the necessary elements in a political upheaval.The simultaneous protests in many places in China are essentially a farce of young and fearless students being manipulated and instigated by malicious foreign political forces. It took advantage of the public's dissatisfaction with the current epidemic prevention policy, induced student groups who did not have a deep understanding of national security to take to the streets to protest, and then tried to detonate social incidents into political incidents through extreme means at the scene. Another attempt at a color revolution.
However, there is nothing to worry about.During major policy adjustments, instability or errors in implementation are quite normal. If you believed US propaganda that this was the standard for China's imminent collapse, then I'm sorry - as we've apologized to you many times - that but was your pipe dream.
Well, apparently not only is China collapsing, but it has already collapsed! Who would have thunk it?
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Well, that’s what you might think if the ONLY news you read is from the United States.
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I ask you all, does this look familiar to you? Does this maybe jog your memories, eh?
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Yeah.
It’s called “projection”. You place what you know about yourself upon your enemies. Then you hype up the “weaknesses” of your enemies relentlessly.
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Hey! It’s entering “Loony Town”. Now. Here’s Hal Turner…
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LOL.
If China actually fired on protestors it would be all over everywhere; CNN, BBC and all the rest.
Keep in mind that Chinese police do not carry guns. Don’t you know. Those that do, well, they are lethal marksmen. If six shots were fired, then six people would be dead. Where are they?
I am very skeptical…
Let’s take and place bets.
I’ll bet you that Xi Peng is still running China, and Putin is still running Russia this time next Christmas. Any takers?
together
I’m going to do something new and unique in this post. I have a full movie. But it is in eight (x8) small 15 minute portions. This is from you-tube, and it lends itself nicely to this experiment of mine for today.
I hope you enjoy it.
It’s a weird and wacky comedy from the 1980’s titled “Water”. It’s got a lot of Monty Python based jokes and sketches, major actors, and takes place on a tiny, backwater island in the Caribbean sea. It’s a fit for this strange period of time that we find ourselves in.
First up…
(1)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
This is a forgotten comedy classic.
Those of you from the Caribbean islands would really appreciate this wonderful movie. It shows the strange world of a small island living.
This entire movie is presented in this post in 15 minute blocks. Here’s the first one.
https://youtu.be/Gmu80-AXrRs
A Christmas movie suggestion
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CANCELLED! Nuclear Arms Treaty Talks Between U.S. and Russia
Meetings of the bilateral advisory commissions on the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty between Russia and the US, scheduled for November 29 trough December 6 in Cairo, have been cancelled.
No word yet on who cancelled the talks, or why.
Just formal acknowledgement the talks will not take place.
Another Christmas movie suggestion
2022 11 29 16 20
Gambas Pil-Pil — Chili Shrimp (Spain)
This recipe was found in the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food.
In a large skillet, combine oil, garlic & crushed red pepper.
When oil is hot & starts to sizzle around the garlic, add the shrimp & fry for 1 minute on each side.
Remove pan from the heat & squeeze lemon juice over shrimp & sprinkle with salt, to taste.
Serve very hot!
China extends tariff exemptions on some US goods in ‘reciprocal’ move
By Global Times Published: Nov 28, 2022 07:39 PM Updated: Nov 28, 2022 07:35 PM
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China will extend tariff exemptions for six months on some US goods subject to countermeasures against US Section 301 measures, according to an official announcement on Monday, in what analysts call a standard and reciprocal move after the US also announced similar exemptions.
Days after the US announced a tariff exemption extension on some Chinese goods, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced an extension of tariff exemptions on the ninth batch of US goods from December 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023, read a statement on the website of the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
According to a product list published by the MOF, the tariff exemptions are being extended on timber, agricultural products, lubricating oil, machine tools, forging machines, laser products and healthcare products.
China and the US are waiving tariffs on some products that are urgently needed from the other side, Hu Qimu, deputy secretary general of the digital-real economies integration Forum 50, told the Global Times on Monday.
“The trade attitude and policies of the US toward China are unstable and change often. I believe that as long as the US offers to stop imposing additional tariffs on China, China will in return stop imposing additional tariffs on the US. But the US always goes back and forth,” said Hu.
What China shows is its reciprocal countermeasures against the US, Hu noted. “If you sanction me, I will definitely sanction you back. If the US relaxes its policies, China will do the same.”
Since September 2019, China has extended several exemptions for US goods subject to retaliatory tariffs, following extensions by the US of tariff exemptions.
The US-initiated additional tariffs on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect in July 2018 as part of former US president Donald Trump’s tariff war against China.
But China-US trade increased by 8.3 percent on a yearly basis in 2020 and expanded by 28.7 percent in 2021. In the first 10 months of 2022, trade between China and the US rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to $639.83 billion.
Meanwhile, US companies have not stopped investment in China even after the US launched a trade war. Cargill announced increased investment in China. ExxonMobil began construction of a major petrochemical project in Huizhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, which is the first major petrochemical project wholly owned by a US company in China.
The trade figures and investment decisions show that economic and trade ties between the world’s two biggest economies are impossible to halt, analysts said, noting that the next step is to find a specific path to solve problems based on the understanding that decoupling cannot be achieved.
China-US economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial in nature. Starting a trade war or a technology war, building walls and barriers, or pushing for decoupling and severing supply chains run counter to the principles of the market economy and undermine international trade rules, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said last week.
The USTR also said in the Thursday statement that it “may continue to consider further extensions and/or additional modifications as appropriate.”
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43a9a3b6 a804 4f2f 9ede 059aa993ff89
(2)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Shawn,Dick Clement
https://youtu.be/oy6OcJ9bZn0
Another Christmas movie suggestion
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Who is leading the Coronavirus “Protests”…
Look at this protest leader…
main qimg 07c1c91593b7be181c53f0f8caefb3bf lq
It says “ Pay attention to the conductor/commander when in the protest area.”
We know that the protest leaders are not Chinese.
Another Christmas movie suggestion
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(3) ‘Water’ Michael Caine,Valerie Perrine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
Caine plays Baxter Thwaites, a Governor who has ‘gone native’ (similar to his role in The Honorary Consul), and Billy Connolly as local biracial activist Delgado, supported by the last performance of Leonard Rossiter, as Sir Malcolm Leveridge, and one of the last performances of Fulton Mackay.
The story is set in the fictional Caribbean island and British colony of Cascara. Widely ignored by the British Government, media, and general public, local Governor Baxter Thwaites is having an easy life in his small and peaceful colony.
That peace is disturbed when an abandoned oil rig starts delivering water - at the standard of the finest table water brands (and laxative companies, as it contains a substance that makes you "shit like clockwork").
Different parties, including Downing Street, the Cascara Liberation Front, the White House, French bottled water producers, and Cuban guerrillas take interest in the future of the island and threaten to destroy the cosy way of life enjoyed by the island's inhabitants.
https://youtu.be/Fev6U7XOROY
Another Christmas movie suggestion
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How organized is the NED in the protests inside of China?
Check out this…
main qimg 4c95cf3cc18de34bf554b5aa4627c324 pjlq
Is it true that the Chinese Communist Party is losing support among the people? If so, why?
If you mean the “protests” in various cities recently hyped up by the western media, I can tell you that in Beijing, people participating in the protests can get $140, in Chengdu it is $70, in Wuhan it is $40, and in Guangzhou it is poor $27.
We have laughed at Guangzhou for this all day.
Look, the "Voice of Democracy and Freedom" of the US has a price, and that price is $27.
In Beijing, people changed the slogan of the parade to “We need to do nucleic acid testing” and “We need to scan health codes”. In Chengdu, the accent of outsiders shouted “we want freedom”, while the locals laughed “you want your motherf**ker freedom”. In Shanghai, the leaflet even wrote traditional characters, and the writer could not write one of these characters.
Do you know what the people who really marched in Xinjiang did? They said they did not oppose the government, but only to express their condolences. At the end of the parade, they sang the Chinese national anthem, and three times of it.
Can you imagine that happening in the US or UK or any other country?
So if you’re daydreaming about China collapsing, you can stop now.
EXCLUSIVE: Official Documents prove Anthony Fauci & Bill Gates are responsible for developing the COVID Virus in a Biolab
The US government funded Peter Daszak’s ECO Health Alliance to the tune of $61,491,183 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.
It also directly or indirectly funds the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the tune of $7.4 million dollars to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded Ralph Baric to the tune of $46,958,414 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.
This totals more than $114 million in the period from 2000 to 2020 to make new coronaviruses which are infectious to humans.
There is no question that SARS-CoV 2 (causing Covid-19) is man-made. Here’s the evidence…
I could cite some dry statistics and display some graphs but plenty of other people have done that. I am going to give the perspective of a 52-year-old who has seen a great deal of change, some of it for the better, most of it for the worse. I am going to share what has led to my misanthropic nihilism and negativity concerning the current “state of affairs.”
When I was growing up I literally never heard of mass shootings. This does not mean they did not happen. It means they were very rare. Now, they are so commonplace as to be discussed with barely a nod. “Ten people dead; sixteen injured. Pass the potatoes, please.” We must get to the root of this epedemic, and there are multiple causes. A solution is not easy. The non-glorification of violence would be a good start. Unfortunately, Americans are not only desensitized to the horror of violence and death; we are entertained by it. We have cultivated a culture of violence appreciation. I am further alarmed that so many people completely dismiss this phenomena because it hasn’t happened to them or someone they know. We have dismissed and accepted this with a shrug.
Republicans: Beginning in the middle part of the 20th century, GOP conservatives went so far to the right that they no longer resembled their former somewhat progressive selves.They became increasingly less liberal and more racist. Dixiecrats saw this and were incensed. Going forward, more and more conservatives and racists joined the Republican Party. Ideologies flipped. Republicans became the party who swung to a racist extreme, enshrined guns to a bizarre extent, and demanded their religion be legislated into law. In addition, their every effort has been to take from the poor and give to the wealthy. This became abundantly clear during the absolutely ridiculous “trickle-down-economics” era of Ronald Reagan. The rich can never be rich enough. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social security are all in danger. The gulf between the poor and the rich widens every day. The time grows nearer when the 95% will not be able to put roofs over their heads, even as the very rich, who should be paying more, lounge on their sun-drenched pool decks contemplating their wealth. I do not advocate “taking their money away,” as so many people suggest. I advocate a fairer playing field where the poor and the wealthy pay a more equal percentage in taxes rather than allowing the wealthy unfair advantages that have them paying less. And, big news flash here; we need to tax everyone fairly across the board and bring down our overall spending to decrease the deficit, rather than cut social security, and Medicare. Why are the poor the first people we think of when we consider cutting costs? Even the legendary investing guru Warren Buffet once said that his secretary’s tax rate is higher than his own, and Buffet is a multi-billionaire. We are an oligarchy, folks. Republicans have now become the number 1 problem, as they have enabled and backed Donald Trump and begun destroying voting rights in the wake of his lost bid for reelection. Republicans have become a much bigger threat than Democrats ever since they refused to allow Dems to seat Supreme Court justices and proceeded to stack that and other federal courts with super-majorities. The Supreme Court has now become nothing more than a partisan tool. Many progressive rulings will be overturned in time. This is a terrible development.
Democrats: ( I am just left of center myself) have swung so far out into fantasy land that we have to be careful of everything we say and do. Literally everything is offensive. We have taken equal treatment and turned it into some kind of weird Frankenstein’s monster. Everyone deserves equal rights but political correctness has run amok. I am on the liberal side, but we need to tone down the anger. SJWs care about the welfare of all but are often so angry they can’t even be engaged in a polite debate without wanting to call in a firing squad. Wokeness, cancel culture, and censoring free speech needs to stop. Fight bigotry and hate where it exists, but don’t see it in every corner, jumping to identifying it as such until you know for sure what it is. Treat everyone equally. Use common sense and learn to identify some extreme left ideas from fringe groups as the bizarre notions they are. Up to 100 different genders? Seriously? I am also very unhappy with my party’s new tendency to try to destroy individuals by digging up comments they made 35 years ago. All of us have said something risque’ or controversial at some point. Doing this is plain ridiculous. Even with all this said, at least the Democrats mostly shed their past racism (even as it was embraced by many conservatives) and have been the leaders in advancing minority rights for decades. They have made mistakes, but I fault them far less in current times than Republicans.
Politicians are bought and paid for. They should be forced to wear the names of their contributors on their suits, like those ads that are printed on the sides of racing cars. I saw this suggestion on Facebook and it is so true. How can politicians properly serve the people when they are beholden to the wealthy benefactors and corporations who donate money to them? Capitalism isn’t necessarily bad but it must be overseen and regulated. Unchecked, it produces tremendous wealth inequality and political corruption, as noted above. We need strict limits on political donations and a restructuring of how they are made, perhaps with a government supplied stipend distributed equally.
Religion still rules the masses, much more so than other highly developed countries of the world, allowing bigotry and anti-science to flourish on into the 21st century. Politicians (especially conservatives) pander to this because it is one way to ensure continued support. Give your voters a couple of the things they want most and they will overlook the crooked bigger things (like tax cuts favoring the super rich.) I am not against religion: I am against having it in politics. Separation of church and state has always been a nifty idea in America but has never been a real thing. That is sad.
Housing costs are out of control. One must mortgage away many decades of one’s life to buy a house that is too large and too expensive. It’s ridiculous. Small, modest homes could be purchased for much less money, but that would meet with the dissatisfaction of city ordinances and neighbors. It’s a big, fancy house in many cases or nothing. The alternative is sky-high rent on an apartment. Gone are the days when renting was cheaper than owning. Now, even modest apartments are so expensive they leave little money left for food. No one seems to advocate rent control anymore because greed is master. A livable wage is not high on the agenda either. Meanwhile, more and more people are pushed out onto the streets and homelessness increases. We find it easy to put the blame on the victims. Yes, many homeless have made mistakes but not all of the onus is on them. We have a system that is, by its very nature, generating more and more of this problem.
A college education has gone completely into the stratosphere with its exorbitant cost. It’s unbelievable. A text book can cost several hundred dollars and full-time tuition for a single semester well into the thousands. Small non-traditional for-profit “colleges” didn’t help the situation any either. Though some are at least somewhat legit, many are not, and nearly all are far too expensive, thereby producing many graduates with overpriced degrees that are not likely to be valued at what they cost. And what about the large percentage of dropouts who aren’t likely to benefit at all from what they have spent? In the 1980’s college was still affordable. I signed promisory notes and managed to pay the 4 or 5 hundred dollar costs by the time the term ended. I could not afford to go to college today. It would not be possible. People are exiting universities (not necessarily graduating) many thousands of dollars in debt. Even upon graduating, most students have depressingly low chances of landing jobs in their chosen fields. Competition is greater than ever. Young people are depressed. They are sarcastic and prematurely cynical; and they have every right to be. This generation is yet another that promises to perform more poorly, save less money, have less opportunity, and be more dysfunctional than their parents and grandparents; yet, the bulk of our politicians do not appear to care. A country that wants to offer hope to all people, grant a good standard of living, and preserve this standard for the future, understands the value of turning out well-educated citizens. Yet, we make it ridiculously expensive to become educated. Why are we doing this? We must take greed out of higher education. Should profit be the top priority? * I would also add that we need to stop housing students in luxury apartments while they attend college. Living in an efficiency or a dormitory is good for you. It builds character to live simply and humbly while going through school.*
Infrastructure has begun to suffer. Our city roads aren’t built to withstand the burgeoning population. Roads most everywhere are in terrible shape, and bridges are a nightmare, old and deteriorated as they are, and in need of expensive care. I am amazed, after having traveled a fair amount, that many of our states have some of the worst roads in the developed world. The power grid as well is old and crumbling in many areas. This is embarrassing and we can do better. At least in 2022 we have a president willing to put a trillion or two into tackling infrastructure. Sounds expensive, but it’s grossly overdue. * as of April 2022, money has finally been allocated for this. Perhaps that will be one step in the right direction.*
My newest edit in this piece is to mention the problem we have with illegal drugs in this country (and I do not refer to pot, which I consider less dangerous than alcohol). The illegal use of powerful, lab-created drugs has reached wide-scale pervasiveness both in cities and rural communities. It is a huge problem that ruins lives, costs a great deal of money, creates crime, violence, and too often results in death. Elderly folk lose their life savings (and sometimes their lives) to some charismatic stranger who cons them for drug money. Many addicted people will stop at nothing to get their fix. Drugs become these people’s lives. Only the lucky few benefit from some sort of intervention/rehab, while the majority do not. On top of this, it has now become harder for people who desperately need pain medications to be prescribed them because of the violence and crime that people are willing to commit in order to obtain, sell, and use them. One of our mistakes (in less violent cases) has been to over-incarcerate. With the exception of violent and murderous offenders, this hasn’t helped much, if any. Drug-users also enter the work force and cause constant problems. I have had the displeasure of working with them. In some industries this is dangerous. One thing we need to do is stop romanticizing drugs and to stop treating those of us who recognize the problem as being uncool nerds. Many of the other items on this list, such as cost of living and the political divide, cause depression and hopelessness, and these things make drugs more appealing. Reduce the pain caused by many of our other problems and you do, to some extent, reduce the desire to take drugs. We must examine the pharmaceutical industry as well and look into its marketing practices to determine the extent to which it has contributed to the problem.
U.S. companies relocate to other corners of the world in order to pay their employees very little and government encourages this. Good employment opportunities domestically are shrinking and I am not talking about the many low pay service jobs. Many people who would have formerly held these higher paying skilled jobs are forced into the only careers available; retail, restaurants, and other service jobs where the pay does not meet one’s needs. While unions were desperately needed at one time, their demands grew out of control, demanding ever-higher pay and benefits even in sectors that were no longer profitable. They are partly to blame. We also need officer salary caps, especially on publicly traded companies. More profits need to be handed down to shareholders and lower tier employees rather than having officers make 100 million or more salaries. To the fat-cats of corporate America, this is a big grown-up game of Monopoly where they horde as much wealth as possible while everyone else suffers. I am not against capitalism, but (like any system) it has to be monitored and governed; otherwise, it becomes capitalism out of control, and that is what we have now. The operative word is GREED.
Our health care is still unaffordable. The Health Care Act is a start but is flawed, largely due to the concessions that had to be made to pass it. Greed is absolutely rampant in this industry in which a simple pill can cost hundreds of dollars. The very sick must worry about medical bankruptcy while trying to battle their illnesses. Some of the most broadly advertised physician-prescribed medications are the most expensive ones still under patent. When was the last time you saw a commercial for an older unpatented inexpensive medication? Any minor move made on a patient’s behalf in the hospital is ridiculous in its cost. Greed is master above all else. Now, it is quite likely that Republicans will remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as other features of the health care act. Additionally, a little-known consequence of the health care act is that it forces people who might otherwise retire early to remain in the work force into their late 60s in order to receive health care. Medicare and Medicaid will not kick in yet (in most cases) if you retire at 58 or 60. This is one item that tells me that the government is worried about the lack of enough workers in the next few decades.
By the 2030s or early 2040s things will be gravely worse, with an ageing population and fewer people paying into social security than drawing from it. Thanks to government’s redistribution to the wealthy, the problem is exacerbated. We will initially lose a chunk of those payments and will eventually lose this and other programs completely. This initiates our entry into third-world status.
I think what disturbs me most is the complete unwillingness of our two major parties to work together for the good of the nation. And yes, (due to individuals like the hateful obstructionist Mitch McConnell), I fault the conservative party more for this than the other, although fault lies on both sides. A few decades ago, we had some caring politicians who went to the table with honest intentions of compromising and reaching a solution, even when they strongly disagreed. Even with this disagreement, we often respected eachother. Now, we have a complete unwillingness to cooperate, even going so far as to refuse to allow the opposing party to put judges on the supreme court. This hateful divide hurts everyone. The parties have opposing views, but they should not be enemies. Their goal should be to unite in promoting as good a life as possible for all citizens. Additionally, we have tactics and tricks like gerrymandering and voter-suppression as well as the grossly outdated electoral college that suppress the will of the actual majority of people.
Even with our greater technology, I-Phones, computers, medical advances, and other luxuries, these problems lessen us every day, and not enough people care to do a damn thing about it. Obsessive greed is one of the things we most need to tackle, from big corporations to medicine and higher education. Money is important but we have allowed that obsession to get in the way of the higher interest of caring for all our citizens. Making all their needs more affordable and obtainable is a good start. I am thankful I do not have kids. I would grieve incessantly now to think of the world I have brought them into. I only hope that younger people are observing this disaster and that they will take the reigns and make some needed changes. It may be too late.
* To the few folks (including a lady who was so rude I deleted her comment) who think we should love the country as it is or “get out,” I say this. Such reactions are naive and juvenile. I love my country and I wish to see it become better. Civilizations do not progress through complacency. They advance when folks sound alarms and encourage change. That is why women and minority groups now have rights they would never have enjoyed had they just “loved it or got out.”
In response to people both in this thread and in their own answers who keep pointing out that the U.S. is a world leader, has a great military might, has abundant freedom and influence, etc.. this is my reply. I am largely talking about internal conflict here. I am discussing problems that are dividing us from within, and this includes the aforementioned two-party system of hatred and divide. There is more to being a success than having a great military or a high GNP or world influence. I am talking about the hate that has nearly taken us over, and of the increasing unaffordability of the cost of living. We are disintegrating. We still lead the world in many ways, perhaps, but even the rest of the world sees the problems we are experiencing that are collapsing us from within and are appalled. We lose the world’s respect more every day. Some of the horrendous politicians and presidential administrations of recent years (including Trump in particular) have greatly contributed to the problem. What one administration accomplishes, the other tears down with the next election. We can’t even be trusted to remain in a peace agreement or environmental agreement anymore. The two-party hate is palpable.
*Years later, I now look upon the blatant attempt by one narcissist and his legion of worshipers AND legislative enablers to overthrow our government to install a backward dictatorship and I am more pessimistic than before. Our representative democracy is in dire trouble and the unpleasant marriage of government and religion threatens to roll back decades of progress. What happened to us?
Another Christmas movie suggestion
2022 11 29 16 19
(4)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
https://youtu.be/_mOZUp4A6oI
Another Christmas movie suggestion
2022 11 29 16 1eqavs8
About the latest “protests”…
2022 11 29 14 14
(5)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
This recipe combo was found more or less intact in the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food. Preparation time does not include time needed for dough to rise.
FOR THE DOUGH: In a small container stir together yeast & 1/4 cup warm water, then set asde for 5-10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour & salt, then make a well in the center & pour in the oil.
Work in the oil with your fingertips until completely absorbed, then add the yeast water & knead with your hands for several minutes.
Gradually add another 1/4 cup warm water & knead until dough is smooth & elastic, then form into a ball, cover with a damp cloth & leave in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
FOR THE TOPPING: In a skillet over medium heat, combine thyme, sumac & sesame seeds, stirring continuously until the aroma rises & the mixture is slightly toasted. Salt to taste & set aside to cool slightly.
In a small bowl, mix together all the topping ingredients.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions & roll each into a ball.
Dip the first ball of dough in flour on all sides, then shake off the excess before rolling it into a thin disk about 1/8-inch thick.
Make a few dimples across the flat dough, pressing hard with the tips of your fingers (done to stop oil in the topping from running out during cooking), then spread a quarter of the topping over the disk of dough.
Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat & cook the dough in the skillet, topping side up, for 3-5 minutes or until bottom is crisp & lightly golden.
Repeat the procedure to make the rest of the breads.
Serve hot or warm, either plain or with some yogurt or . . .
Another Christmas movie suggestion
2022 11 29 16 18
(6)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
This recipe comes from the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food. Preparation time does not include the 3 hours needed for the chicken breasts to marinate.
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken breasts with 1/2 cup of onion, lemon juice, olive oil & spices, then add the thyme before adding the salt to taste.
Stir well & then let marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, then place chicken breasts in a roasting pan & bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.
Remove from the oven & shred the chicken into slivers.
Open oval pitas at the seam to create a large pocket, then spread a tablespoon of garlic sauce on the bottom half before filling each pits with equal amounts of sandwich ingredients (i.e. chicken, tomato, onion, gherkins, mint & parsley).
Wrap the bottom of the ‘sandwiches’ with a napkin & serve immediately.
As a Chinese Citizen, I admire the West’s system of government and would like to see China transition into a kind of Nordic-style welfare state. Unfortunately, the CCP is extremely authoritarian, making this unlikely. What do Chinese think of this?
I think you are a fake!
I think you think we in QUORA are fools.
I think you are a white Caucasian Anglo Saxon who thinks your system is the best in the world.
I think you don’t know after stealing from the rest of the world for a century yet today you are highly indebted yet thinks others must be like you!
I think you just like to tell everyone that China is authoritarian to make your broken system good.
I think you don’t know how to think.
Good try but 97% Chinese thinks their system is far superior.
They think you don’t know how to think.
100 Million Dead Birds Are Just The Beginning, Because This Pestilence Is Far From Over…
Did you know that an extremely vicious virus that is currently sweeping across the globe has already killed more than 100 million birds? If you haven’t heard about this yet, don’t feel bad, because most people in the general population don’t know about this either. Like so many of the other nightmares that we are facing right now, the mainstream media continues to downplay the bird flu crisis and continues to insist that authorities have everything under control. But of course the truth is that they don’t have this outbreak under control. Flocks are being steadily wiped out all over the planet, and prices for turkey, chicken and eggs just keep going higher and higher. If the bird flu spreads even faster in 2023 than it did in 2022, it won’t be too long before we have some pretty serious shortages on our hands.
Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States. Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.
We have never seen anything like this before.
According to CNBC, the number of dead birds in the EU alone has reached “nearly 50 million”…
Governments across Europe have culled bird populations to limit the spread of avian flu. Almost six million birds have been killed in the Netherlands since October 2021, while Spain, Bulgaria, Denmark and France have also been badly affected.
Nearly 50 million birds have been killed in Europe this year as countries try to contain the disease, according to the EU’s Food Safety Agency.
Actually, that figure is a bit old, but I was not able to find an updated one.
But if you take that number and add 50 million from the United States, that gives us a grand total of approximately 100 million dead birds, and that doesn’t even account for the remainder of the globe.
For example, nearly 3 million birds have already been wiped out in Japan, and at this point the bird flu is beginning to spread like wildfire in that country…
Cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, are spreading at an unusual pace in Japan, with 18 outbreaks confirmed this season through Saturday at poultry farms in 12 of the country’s 47 prefectures.
But that number is expected to rise further, in line with global trends.
This has truly become a worldwide crisis.
Past outbreaks have either greatly subsided or completely gone away during the hot summer months, but that did not happen this year.
“The virus has mostly impacted turkey and egg operations, sending prices to all-time highs and contributing to soaring food inflation. While the spread slowed during the warmer months, it continued to fester and now risks further spread as cooling temperatures prompt more birds to migrate,” Bloomberg said.
Of course this comes at a really bad time, because if you follow my work on a regular basis you already know that global food production is being hit hard from countless directions right now.
The UN has already been warning us that 2023 will be a year of famine in many areas of the planet, and so it would be very helpful if the bird flu were to disappear.
Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen any time soon.
And actually we have been extremely fortunate so far.
If the bird flu were to mutate into a form that humans can catch and spread easily, we would rapidly be facing a global health scare of epic proportions.
Up to this point, it has been rare for humans to catch the bird flu, but when it does happen the death rate can be as high as 60 percent…
But when the bird flu does infect people, it can be quite severe, with a mortality rate estimated to be at approximately 60 percent, according to the CDC.
Can you imagine how frightened people would be if such a virus started spreading among humans in our major population centers?
The panic would be far beyond anything that we have experienced over the past few years.
So this is a story that we will want to keep a close eye on.
For years, I warned my readers that we were moving into an era of great pestilences.
Of course what we have been through so far is just the beginning.
The pestilences that we are currently dealing with will continue to spread, and more are coming.
Millions upon millions of people have died up to this point, and tens of millions more will eventually die.
A lot of you have been waiting for life to “return to normal”, but that isn’t going to happen.
Global events have begun to spiral out of control, and things are only going to get more intense as we roll into 2023.
Another Christmas movie suggestion
2022 11 29 16 17
Merry Christmas
christmas tree ornament8
PLA Southern Theater Command troops warn away trespassing US warship near Nansha Islands
By Global Times Published: Nov 29, 2022 11:09 AM
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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command on Tuesday morning discovered that the vessel USS Chancellorsville had trespassed into waters around the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea without China’s authorization, and followed and warned away the guided-missile cruiser.
USS Chancellorsville
The US military’s actions are a serious violation of China’s sovereignty and security, and irrefutable proof of its hegemony in navigation and militarization of the South China Sea, Tian Junli, a spokesperson from the PLA Southern Theater Command, said on Tuesday, noting that such behavior fully reveals that the US is the provocateur against peace in the region.
China holds indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their nearby waters, and the PLA Southern Theater Command maintains a high state of readiness at all times to resolutely defend the country’s sovereignty, security and peace and stability in the South China Sea region.
In July, the destroyer USS Benfold sailed near the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea only a few days after it was driven away by the PLA from Chinese territorial waters off the Xisha Islands.
Consecutive provocations by the US expose not only its navigational hegemony, but also its anxiety in the face of the growing capabilities of the PLA, experts said.
(7)’Water’ George Harrison,Eric Clapton,Jon Lord,Michael
https://youtu.be/oVBZR__BlPE
Merry Christmas…
christmas tree ornament12
It Is Beginning: 41 Percent Of All Small Business Owners Could Not Pay Rent In November
Many experts are now warning that we could see the housing market and the commercial real estate market simultaneously crash in 2023. If that were to happen, it would put an extreme amount of stress on our financial system. The only way we will avoid such a fate is if the Federal Reserve starts reducing interest rates. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen. In fact, officials at the Federal Reserve keep telling us that interest rates are going to keep going up. This is literally a suicidal course of action, because higher rates are going to absolutely crush the economy.
If you doubt this, just consider what is already happening.
According to a new Alignable survey that was just released, 41 percent of all small business owners in the United States could not pay rent in November…
Due to high inflation, reduced consumer spending, higher rents and other economic pressures, U.S.-based small business owners’ rent problems just escalated to new heights nationally this month, based on Alignable’s November Rent Poll of 6,326 small business owners taken from 11/19/22 to 11/22/22.
Unfortunately, 41% of U.S.-based small business owners report that they could not pay their rent in full and on time in November, a new record for 2022. Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing. But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.
In September, that same survey found that 30 percent of all small business owners could not pay rent.
Many were deeply alarmed by that figure, and then it jumped up to 37 percent in October.
Now we are at 41 percent, and if there is any time when small business owners should be able to pay rent it is during the holiday season.
When commercial real estate tenants cannot pay rent, it inevitably has a domino effect.
It appears that we will soon have millions of empty commercial spaces all over the nation, and many owners will soon be unable to make loan payments because sufficient rent money is not coming in.
If the Federal Reserve insists on raising rates even higher, I anticipate that we will eventually be facing a commercial real estate crash of unprecedented size and scope.
Meanwhile, the implosion of the housing market continues to pick up speed.
Existing home sales have now declined for nine months in a row, and the median price of a home in the U.S. has now fallen by about 7 percent.
Sadly, many experts are now warning that things will only get worse in the months ahead. Here is one example…
“In one line: Collapse in prices is coming,” wrote Kieran Clancy, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
I told my readers that this would happen if the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked interest rates.
Of course home prices could soon fall a lot more. In fact, Pantheon is projecting that they could ultimately fall by a total of 20 percent from the peak…
Pantheon estimates that existing home prices will keep falling, ultimately dropping by about 20% from their June peak of around $414,000.
If you are planning to sell a home, I would try to do it as quickly as possible before prices go way down.
Distressed crypto firm BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey following the implosion of putative acquirer FTX.
So why is BlockFi in so much trouble?
Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is the fact that they loaned 275 million dollars to FTX that will never be repaid…
In the filing, the company listed an outstanding $275 million loan to FTX US, the American arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-bankrupt empire.
I warned my readers that FTX would not be the last domino to fall.
In a matter of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy as liquidity dried up, customers demanded withdrawals and rival exchange Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to buy the company. Gross negligence has since been exposed. Ray added that a “substantial portion” of assets held with FTX may be “missing or stolen.”
FTX has more than 1 million creditors, according to updated bankruptcy filings, hinting at the huge impact of its collapse on crypto traders and other counterparties with ties to Bankman-Fried’s empire.
FTX was just one giant Ponzi scheme, but of course the entire system is just one giant Ponzi scheme.
The entire thing is eventually coming down, and a lot of prominent voices are trying to sound the alarm about this.
For instance, author Robert Kiyosaki tweeted the following just a few days ago…
Many of you know I do not invest in equities, bonds, ETS or MFs. Please DO NOT listen to what I’m going to say next: “I would get out of paper assets.” The world economy is not a “Market.” I believe economy is the biggest bubble in world history.
Of course he is quite correct.
We have been living in the largest bubble in all of human history.
And once it finally shatters into billions of pieces nobody is going to be able to put it back together again.
So get ready for a massive adjustment in your standard of living.
With very hard times looming, the Washington Post is encouraging their readers to reduce food costs by eating bugs…
The Washington Post advised Americans Sunday that instead of a traditional season dinner, which now is unaffordable for a quarter of families, they should instead look to eating bugs.
Army Lt. Gen. Antonio Aguto is regarded as a top candidate to lead SAGU. He currently commands First United States Army. A mobilization and training command headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois
Lost in the whirlwind of midterm election news last week was an announcement that not only will Washington send $400 million worth of additional weapons to Ukraine, but it is pushing forward with a new joint forces command, to be stationed in Germany, to “handle weapons shipments and personnel training.”
According to the Department of Defense, the new command, which was previously reported this summer, will be officially called the Security Assistance Group Ukraine, or SAGU, and will be based out of U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany. It will be a led by a 3-star general.
The command will involve 300 U.S. military personnel but will likely work closely with U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s training center in Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels as well as the service’s garrison in Baumholder. In addition, “the thousands of U.S. soldiers now positioned at training areas in Poland and Romania … could factor into the plans,” Stars & Stripes reported.
The new command is expected to have a long term presence, according to Stars & Stripes:
By establishing a dedicated headquarters focused on Ukraine support, the Pentagon is putting in place an organization to carry out what is expected to be a long-term mission.The Wiesbaden headquarters is slated to be manned with personnel from across the military branches, making it a joint service operation. Tours are initially planned to last between six months and a year, but longer accompanied tours are also possible.
The U.S. government has now provided over $18 billion in weapons to Ukraine, and officials are crediting Kyiv’s successes against the Russian invasion to a constant flow of military assistance to the country. This new command signals a digging-in by the Western powers with the U.S. at the head, my Quincy Institute colleagues tell me.
“It is definitely a sign that the U.S. is preparing for a long war in Ukraine and long-term military competition with Russia,” says George Beebe. “You don’t put a 3-star in charge just to keep track of weapons flows in Ukraine.”
Anatol Lieven suggests this cements the current trajectory of US-European security. “In my view, it indicates that Ukraine is to be a ‘major non-NATO ally’ and a U.S. dependency, and that the U.S. will try to build the whole of European security around support for Ukraine and hostility to Russia.”
Of course, Washington has stopped short of putting U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine to help President Zelensky in his aim of driving Russia out of his country. Polls continue to show that is not what the American people want. But having a 3-star just over the border, commanding billions in weapons and training efforts is getting as close as it gets.
It will be interesting to see if the administration keeps up its recent ostensible desire for peace negotiations. Certainly this new command “shows Moscow that the alternative to compromise is a U.S. that is ready and willing to provide robust military support for Ukraine for a long time to come,” says Beebe.
(8)’Water’ Michael Caine,Jimmie Walker,Dick Clement
There are Chinese people with real grievances against their government.
The US empire’s propaganda machine will spin current protests in China to advance imperial agendas.
Western intelligence agencies will become more and more involved in these protests the longer they go on.
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It still amazes me how many people who fancy themselves anti-establishment critical thinkers will spend all day mindlessly regurgitating mainstream media lines about China.
I cannot emphasize enough how little respect I have for anyone who parrots US empire narratives about China and how completely dismissive I am of all their attempts to explain to me that it’s actually right and good to do this.
Literally all of our major problems are because of the people who rule over us; if you’re buying into the narrative that who we should really be mad at right now is a government on the other side of the planet with no power over us, you’re a fucking loser. You’re a bootlicking empire simp. You’re worthless, bleating human livestock.
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Why does China keep aggressively surrounding itself with US military bases?
US Military Set to Return to Subic Bay, Philippines to Counter ChinaThe US closed its military base in Subic Bay 30 years agoby Dave DeCamp@DecampDavehere— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) November 25, 2022
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Everyone knows the US has invaded countries completely unprovoked very recently and will definitely do so again, but we still have to pretend that Putin is the worst thing since Hitler.
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It’s disturbing how many people I encounter who claim Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is worse than America’s invasion of Iraq because Ukraine is a “democracy”. How fucked up do you have to be inside to believe human lives are worth less because of their nation’s political system?
Leaving aside the fact that a nation which bans political parties, shuts down opposition media, imprisons opposition leaders, and is vastly more accountable to Washington than to its own people is in no way a “democracy”, that’s just a profoundly disturbed way of looking at life. A mother holding the remains of a child whose body has been ripped apart by military explosives does not care whether her country is considered a “democracy” by the western governments who are invested in that country’s military outcomes.
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Rightists correctly believe that liberals subscribe to an artificially constructed worldview designed by the powerful in the service of the powerful, but incorrectly believe that they themselves do not.
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Common debates:
Which status quo party is best
Which side of the culture war is correct
How the western empire should act
What capitalism should look like
Uncommon debates:
Should status quo politics exist
Should the western empire exist
Should capitalism exist
Should class war replace culture war
And it is of course entirely by design that the former are common and the latter are uncommon. Keeping everyone debating how establishment power structures should exist, rather than if they should, ensures the survival of those power structures.
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It’s actually a really big problem that the most visible “left” in the US is completely worthless on war and militarism. When Americans who are critical of those things look right and see people like Rand Paul and Tucker Carlson doing something then look left and see AOC and Bernie doing nothing, which side do you think they’ll choose?
And of course this is because the so-called progressive Democrats are not “left” in any meaningful way, but your average mainstream American doesn’t know that, and perception is reality. The US is the nation where antiwar sentiment is most important and the most urgently needed, and it’s been buried on the left. Americans are trained that Clintonites are “center-left” and AOC/Bernie are “far left”, and anyone further to the left than them on foreign policy is demonized by these progressives as a Russian agent. This creates the very understandable impression that the entire left is pro-war.
When you’ve got Ilhan Omar and AOC calling people who protest US proxy warfare at their rallies Russian operatives and antiwar leftists like Jill Stein branded as Kremlin agents, the message mainstream Americans come away with is that antiwar sentiment is only welcome on the right.
Again, I get this isn’t true and there’s lots of antiwar sentiment on the true left in the US, but nobody sees that left. It’s denied any media presence or political validity; mainstream Americans don’t know the difference between an anti-imperialist socialist and a Berner. This causes antiwar Americans to drift to the right; I’ve watched it happen in real time with some of my US followers. I do my best to make the case for the left, but I’m just one voice amid a surging deluge of messaging they’re getting that the real opposition is on the right.
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Naming your war machinery after the Indigenous tribes your government genocided is the modern-day equivalent of wearing the skulls of your enemies on your war horse.
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A lot of acceptance of the status quo worldview boils down to a failure of imagination. People literally can’t imagine the possibility that reality is as different as it is from what they’ve been told by their teachers, parents, pundits and politicians. It’s actually unfathomable to them, and that is because it’s so different. The world we’re trained to see by establishment perception managers is as different from the real world as any fictional world is.
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The incremental normalization of police murderbots is probably nothing to worry about. HERE— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 26, 2022
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The claim that capitalism is the best system for generating profits is basically correct; it’s hard to beat greed and starvation as a carrot and stick to get the gears of industry whirring. The issue here is that merely generating profits won’t solve most of the world’s problems, and in fact many of our problems come from the fact that capitalism is too effective at turning the gears of industry. Our biosphere is dying largely because capitalism values making lots of things but not un-making things; we’re choking our ecosystem to death because it’s profitable.
Capitalism has no real answers for problems like ecocide, inequality, exploitation and caring for the needful. Yes “let the markets decide” will generate lots of profits for those set up to harvest them, but profit-seeking cannot address those very serious problems. The “invisible hand of the market” gets treated as an actual deity that actually exists, with all the wisdom necessary to solve the world’s problems, but in reality the pursuit of money lacks any wisdom. It can’t solve our major problems, it can only make more stuff and generate more profit.
Find me a capitalist business plan for leaving a forest untouched. Find me a capitalist business plan for keeping someone free of illness, for ensuring that someone with nothing gets what they need, for giving resources to a struggling parent. You can’t. Capitalism can’t do this. These are the most important things in the world, and no possible iteration of capitalism has any solutions for any of them whatsoever, apart from “Well hopefully rich people will feel very charitable and fix those problems.” And how is that solution working out? It’s a joke.
The “Maybe the very rich will feel charitable and fix our problems for us” solution assumes that the very same people who are wired to do whatever it takes to claw their way to the top of the ladder will suddenly start caring deeply about everyone they stepped on to get there. Capitalism elevates sociopaths, because profit-seeking competition-based systems reward those who are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead.That’s why we are ruled by sociopaths, and it’s why looking to “philanthropy” as a solution to our problems is a ridiculous joke.
When capitalism proponents tell socialists and communists “You don’t understand economics,” what they really mean is “You don’t understand that capitalism is the best system for generating profits.” But socialists and communists do understand this; it’s just that generating profits, in and of itself, is not sufficient.
If lack of wealth is your major problem, then capitalism can be a tool to address it; that’s what China is temporarily doing to keep up economically with the western forces who wish to enslave it. But such measures won’t solve ecocide, inequality, exploitation, and caring for the needful. For that other measures are needed.
If you want to make more of something (money, material goods), then capitalism can be a good way to do that. But if you need to make less of something (pollution, inequality, exploitation, sickness, homelessness, etc) it’s worthless, and other systems must be looked to.
You can say “But communist regimes are authoritarian blah blah” all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that capitalism has zero answers for the most important problems facing our species. This still needs to be addressed, and moaning about Mao and Stalin isn’t an answer. Don’t like the iterations of socialism we’ve seen so far? Okay. Then find another answer, and remember we’ve already established that capitalism is not an answer; it cannot address the problems we’ve discussed here. So we need to find an actual answer that does actually work.
Dismantling capitalism, if we ever achieve it, will be the most difficult thing that humanity has ever accomplished. As hard as everyone becoming a buddha, and essentially not much different. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is existentially necessary for us to do so.
We’ll either move from competition-based systems to collaboration-based ones, eliminating all the obstacles necessary for us to do so, or we will go extinct. We are at our adapt-or-die juncture as a species.
The idea that it should or can shows absolutely and positively the insanity that grips the United States today.
And there is few things as insane as the American “news” today…
Check out today’s Drudge Report…
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Yes, there is a massive push to destabilize China. This is part of that effort. Protests, and massive “news” coverage in the West. It’s a well established NED technique.
But keep reality in mind…
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Here’s what is going on ACTUALLY…
The protest did not take place in Urumqi, Xinjiang, but thousands of miles away in Urumqi Road, Shanghai.
The crowd at the Shanghai protest came from the “Nanjing Media College” in Shanghai, a private, third-tier university where the students are largely clueless and the teachers are particularly pro-American. No matter what time of year it is, students and young people are still the best people to agitate. The location of the protest was Urumqi Middle Road, less than 500 meters from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai.
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The linking of the “Urumqi fire” to “Dynamic zero-COVID Policy” has anti-China forces operating behind it.
It is definitely a conspiracy.
Shanghai Urumqi Road Protest…
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Confessions of “protesting” students on site. Saying that if anyone gets caught, they must run to their nations’ embassy. (Yes, That’s right. They are not Chinese citizens.) It also says that the Chinese officials will not be nice, and to be careful about posting on Wechat.
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The text of the Shanghai Urumqi Road protest is in Traditional Chinese. Not in mainland Chinese.
The only people that use Traditional Chinese characters are those living in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
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Chengdu, a group of people with Hong Kong dialect shouted “Long Live Freedom, Long Live Democracy.”
Then a man with a local Sichuan accent shouted.” I want your fucking freedom!”
That’s when “the jig was up”. Everyone was aware that these “students” were not locals, and were not mainland Chinese. They couldn’t even understand the local dialect where they supposedly lived.
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Two women confronted police in Guangzhou’s Haizhu Square and tried to agitate, shouting in Mandarin to the crowd behind them, “Guangzhou people are standing up!”
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A group of locals scolded the two women in Cantonese.
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They didn’t even understand what was being said to them!
Faced with the Cantonese language abuse of the Guangzhou crowd, they acted unusually bewildered. How can local mainland Chinese not know Cantonese they wondered.
Even Hong Kong people know and can speak Cantonese. The only Chinese people who cannot are those from Taiwan, and a handful from the extreme Western Chinese regions. Cantonese is well spoken throughout China.
A member of the “Fifth Column” tweeted a question: Why do you tip 1000 in Beijing and Wuhan. 500 tip in Chengdu but only 300 tip in Guangzhou.
Referring, of course, to the “tips” of money from the CIA / NED to protest. These come in packages and sizes.
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The people sent to Chengdu speak Hong Kong dialect;
People sent to Guangzhou, can’t understand Cantonese.
The CIA should have mobilized some locals to be more convincing. They might as well have worn signs on their chests that say “I am CIA prevaricator”.
A1nYNISUL1500
With or without Dynamic zero-COVID Policy, the U.S. will use various excuses to create color revolutions.
The Chinese National Security Agency is getting to work! Yeah. Another CIA agent arrested, and well… he won’t be alive too much longer.
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Also the West has predicted wrongly.
As far as I know, it is not the CPC that supports the Dynamic zero-COVID Policy, but the grassroots in China, which is the mainstream public opinion in China.
Do you expect the CPC to go against the mainstream public opinion in China?
At least 80% of the people around me are supporters of the Dynamic zero-COVID Policy, and young people who use VPNs do not make up the majority of China, and these people who earn “tips” to protest are even less representative of mainstream Chinese public opinion.
Compare the economic stats…
China is “kicking butt”, and the United States is floundering.
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Declan Hayes
November 27, 2022
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Though the World Cup, like all similar tournaments, must return to their apolitical roots, the U.S. and its allies are the elephants in the room, the flies in the ointment, the mothers of all spoilsports.
MI5’s BBC news site recently led with the non-story that Chinese protesters are calling for President Xi to resign. How convenient, with the collapse of MI5’s Hong Kong protests, that these gulls are unwittingly acting as a fifth column for the Royal Navy and America’s Seventh Fleet, which stalk the Taiwan Strait! One wonders when the U.S. will arm these peaceful protesters, just as they have previously armed their confreres in Syria, Iran and Hong Kong.
The Chinese government have the two basic problems of multiplication and of division. They fear that a small, localized problem, if replicated across China, will quickly become unsurmountable and their problem of division makes them divide their national cake, such as it is, in 1.42 billion ways, whilst keeping their 1.42 billion citizens happy and hopeful for their future. Human resource management, in other words, on a Biblical scale.
China’s perennial problems of multiplication and division, spurred on by Perfidious Albion and her equally treacherous allies, are an unenviable headache China’s leaders must deal with. Witness the snows that blanketed all of China a few Chinese New Years ago, when more than 100,000 migrant workers stranded in Guangzhou Railway station vented their wrath at those hapless soldiers who drew the short straw and so had to explain to these angry hordes that the snow made thousands of km of rail tracks unpassable and that, as a consequence, all 100,000 of them, together with millions more of other stranded migrant workers, could not make their annual pilgrimage home to their rural villages.
Pity the freezing Chinese soldiers who had their own New Year ruined not only by the snow but by the understandable failure of the government to explain to hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens that they could not budge the billions upon billions of tonnes of snow that ruined their holiday. Now return to MI5’s BBC news site and ask why the Chinese authorities allow BBC to exploit these problems by picking and choosing who to interview in China, where the BBC clearly does not belong.
Pop over to Iran, whose citizens are still celebrating their team’s win over Wales and ask why the BBC does not highlight the hundreds of Iranian soldiers and citizens their peaceful protesters deliberately murdered.
Speaking of the World Cup, witness Carlos Queiroz, Iran’s manager, asking why the BBC ambush his players with politically loaded questions but never direct political questions at the managers and players of England or the United States, whose countries are bywords the world over for human rights’ abuses. And, given that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which is hosting the tournament, are no slouches when it comes to abusing human rights, why are they not also targets for the BBC’s ire?
Although the German team did protest on behalf of their transgender colleagues, isn’t it odd these German jokers had nothing to say about whoever it was who blew up the Nordstream pipeline and thereby condemned thousands of elderly Germans to a cold winter and an early grave? Perhaps the German team are good only for vacuous virtue signalling and not much more. It certainly seems so.
Had the jokers of the German football team really wanted to protest, they could have ransacked Qatar’s Al Udeid air base, which houses tens of thousands of U.S., British and Australian marines and paratroopers. But that would have been haram. The sad reality is that not only Qatar but the entire Middle East is blanketed with American military bases and it is only those protests, which support Anglo American hegemony that are permitted.
Though the World Cup, like all similar tournaments, must return to their apolitical roots, the U.S. and its allies are the elephants in the room, the flies in the ointment, the mothers of all spoilsports. Irrespective of how NATO, the jokers of the German football team and their BBC apologists pink wash their own crimes, whilst eulogizing their Ukrainian Nazi death squads or their Qatari funded Syrian head hackers, the tide will soon turn when their fake protests run their course and become only targets of ridicule and derision. Though that process has already begun in Moldova, in the Netherlands and even in LGBTQ++ obsessed Germany itself, it will accelerate over the coming months as the destruction of Western Europe leads to its own explosive backlash.
Kitty sculpture.
I’d buy one.
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How does life drain you in the United States of America?
I fucking hate being an American citizen and living in the U.S. I really do. I am ashamed I am a veteran of its armed forces, too. Being an American and living in this country is emotionally, intellectually, and physically exhausting because:
Guns. Fucking. Everywhere. And no one wants to do anything about it. Even as thousands of people are killed every year because of them, they want LESS restrictions on guns.
Voting is almost pointless at this point if you live in a conservative state. Trump is gaining steam to be a contender again in 2024, if you can believe that shit. In any other country in the world this would be impossible. Not America. In America, there is no rule of law and you can try to overthrow an election you lost and STILL get a chance to be president again, let alone be allowed to run or never be prosecuted.
A MILLION Americans dead from a global pandemic that obliterated the economy and devastated families, and Americans insist that listening to scientists and wearing masks and getting shots is for pussies. In fact, they SUE DOCTORS to force them to prescribe HORSE DRUGS to them.
The hostility towards science and affinity for faith is fucking unbearable. We have people — and there are a lot of people — who believe women should not be able to get an abortion, gay people should not be allowed to marry/adopt children, transgendered people should not be allowed to go to the bathroom, and climate change is just a conspiracy meant to kill American energy jobs…among other things. A sizeable portion of the U.S. (~40%) think God is in control and we should just submit to his will.
Poor people are treated like absolute shit, particularly minorities and immigrants. We treat people of lesser means deplorably here. It’s WAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY worse to be homeless and/or poor in the U.S. than it is in Europe, Asia, or Oceania. Americans were *CHEERING* when the Supreme Court said landlords could start tossing people left jobless out on their asses so they could bring in more profitable tenants. There’s zero safety net here, too. If you lose you’re job in America, your life is over.
I could go on.
Americans get more outraged that you won’t stand for the stupid flag than they do that police murder citizens for minor infractions or that the 99% are supporting the 1% of freeloaders at the top.
And the worst part is that it’s impossible to fix any of it, because the way the Constitution is written, all the states with no people control most of the government.
The Senate is split 50–50 when 50 of those Senators represent 35–40% of the population. To make any change to the Constitution you need 3/4 of states AND 2/3 of Congress, which is an impossible hurdle to clear in today’s environment.
They literally killed the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT because conservative states oppose it. They oppose EQUAL RIGHTS for fuck’s sake.
Yeah, America sucks. It’s a marginally better country than Russia or Brazil, but that’s a low bar to clear.
**UPDATE 10/31/2022**
Brazil had the common sense to eject their far-right leader. Bolsonaro is outta there now. It seems only America is fucking stupid enough to give the guys who attempted a coup power back…voluntarily…because of inflation…which is temporary.
What a shitshow of a country the U.S. is.
China’s New Super Technology: America Offers $50 Billion
https://youtu.be/1s2NQMrtYNo
Beautiful Bagels – (using bread machine to make the dough)
“These are what I would describe as “best ever bagels”. They are crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I’ve had this recipe for years – and was passed on to me by another bagel lover. They are especially nice eaten whilst they are still warm, spread with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, thin slices of smoked salmon, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some freshly ground black pepper!
Place all the above ingredients into bread machine, and select ‘dough’ cycle.
Stop the bread machine 40 minutes after the mixing starts (1 hour and 10 minutes from beginning of dough cycle).
Tip bagel dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead by hand for about 1 minute.
Cut dough into 8 pieces.
Roll and’gently massage’ each piece into a snake.
Dampen and overlap the ends pressing firmly to form a ring.
Place each ring on an individual piece of baking paper already lightly sprayed with oil.
Cover all rings with a sheet of baking paper and allow to rest.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil.
Carefully lowering each bagel one by one (about 4 at a time) into the pan of boiling water, slide the paper from each bagel ring away.
Gently turn bagels allowing about 40 seconds on each side.
Lift each bagel out and drain on absorbent paper towels.
Place drained bagels on baking baking tray already lined with baking paper.
Brush each bagel with lightly beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and sprinkle with lots of poppy seeds or toasted sesame seeds.
Bake in hot oven (220’C, Gas mark 7) for about 15 minutes- or until a nice deep golden brown colour.
When it comes to movie sets at least, John Zemansky is a heck of a hookup. There is, in fact, almost nothing he can’t source — or manufacture. Case in point: He supplied Doc Brown with (faux) uranium. He bought the broom Mrs. Doubtfire famously rocked out on. And he provided Tony Montana with all manners of guns, cash and cocaine. Zemansky retired in 2007, but he still loves to talk about his time as a property master — whether it was helping bring Robert Zemeckis and the Back to the Future franchise into the Old West or securing a mountain of coke and weaponry for Brian DePalma and Al Pacino.
‘The plutonium Doc Brown used in the first Back to the Future picture? We just made that all up’
I grew up around the prop business. I didn’t really want to do it at first, but I decided to do it for a little while before figuring out what I really wanted to do. To my surprise, once I got into it, I really liked it.
I went to work in TV at first, but then I got lucky and got to work in features. I did 60-some pictures. My favorite projects were westerns, because I love antiques and I enjoy hunting for the real stuff. I did all the Back to the Future pictures, and the third one was my favorite because it was a western. I had to find Doc Brown’s gun, and then the effects guys added all the armatures on it.
A lot of prop guys like science fiction, but you can build anything. The plutonium Doc used in the first Back to the Future picture? We just made that all up. I doubt real plutonium looks anything like that, but how many people have seen plutonium anyway?
‘If Al Pacino didn’t feel like something was right, he wouldn’t move forward until he thought it was perfect’
Scarface was the second picture I did with Brian DePalma. DePalma was a very quiet guy — he was always thinking. Scarface was supposed to be a 61-day shoot, but it went to 120 days or something like that. We never seemed to be able to get started until 10 or 11 in the morning. I think some of that was Al Pacino.
If he didn’t feel like something was right, he wouldn’t move forward until he thought it was perfect. Also, he never worked past 6 p.m. — it was in his contract. The movie was running so far over that the studio wanted him to work later. But he found out that the studio executives were coming to the set to get him to work later, so he just didn’t show up to work that day.
‘The only gun on Scarface that wasn’t totally real was the one where Pacino says, ‘Say hello to my little friend’’
I have no idea how many guns I had to supply for Scarface. It was a lot. They were real guns, too. They’re props, but that doesn’t mean they’re not a real gun. It takes a real gun to fire a blank. The only thing that wasn’t totally real was the one where he says, “Say hello to my little friend.”
That was an M16 with an M203 grenade launcher under it. They used those in Vietnam, but you can’t really get your hands on one, so I had to get it manufactured.
Pacino must have fired a thousand rounds out of that gun, and it was hot. When Pacino got shot, he fell on the gun and he burned his hand very badly. They had to take him to the burn hospital to fix his hand, and we shut down for three to five days after that.
Also, for that final shootout, the scene was originally shot with pistols, shotguns and a few oddball rifles. We spent a week shooting it, but DePalma looked at it and hated it. He said, “Let’s get some machine guns in here!” So we shot the whole thing all over again with automatic weapons.
‘When you’ve got stacks of money, usually just the top bill is real, and the rest underneath is dummy money approved by the government’
Depending on the scene, we’d use all real money or just some real money. For something like a poker game, that’s all real cash because, at most, it’s probably only $5,000. When you’ve got stacks of money though, usually just the top bill is real and the rest underneath is dummy money approved by the government. Up close, it looks like dummy money, but from a distance, you can’t tell.
I did a picture where I needed $175,000 in $100 bills. That was Brewster’s Millions and that was the most I ever had to get. I can’t remember how much I needed for Scarface, but most of it was that dummy money because a lot of it was in stacks.
As for the cocaine, nothing fancy or real there — it was simply powdered baby milk that I bought at the market.
The Russian Federation has begun utilizing what they call their “FAB-500” munitions. It is a 500 kilogram high explosive bomb enhanced with fuel to create a thermobaric shockwave. (“FAB” = Fuel Air Bomb)
No living thing (with lungs) can survive the shockwave, which can actually be SEEN, as shown in the video below.
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Uncaring asshole landlord
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This Is How America Ends
I’m not American and I find that video heartbreaking! How American politicians are still walking this earth astounds me. They clearly don’t care about those who elected them.
Polish “Mercenaries” Open-Fire and KILL Ukraine Army Commanders Near Bakhmut
An altercation has taken place between Polish “Mercenaries” fighting FOR Ukraine, and Ukrainian Army officers commanding them.
The Polish Mercs and a grouping of about ten thousand Romanian “Mercenaries” also fighting for Ukraine, were allegedly ordered by Ukrainian Army officers to attack Russian positions around Bakhmut.
Fierce fighting has been going on there for weeks and Ukraine is losing.
The Polish “Mercs” told the Ukrainian Army Officers it would be suicide for them and the Romanians to go attack, everyone else who has done so has been slaughtered by the fortified Russian positions.
The Ukrainians then allegedly told the Polish either attack or WE will kill you for Mutiny, at which point the Polish drew their weapons and KILLED the Ukrainian commanders.
Details right now are very sketchy and people in-the-know are very unwilling to talk about this. It’s all very hush-hush and likely to stay that way.
Address Be Like Left Testicle Dick No.7
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What makes Libya worse now than before when Gaddafi was in power?
Libya has been in crisis since the fall of gaddafi in 2011
The country has become a hotbed of islamist extremists.
Militias had been clashing throughout since the fall of gaddafi
Immigrants from sub saharan african countries have been subjected to modern slavery and therefore libya has become a hotbed for the mediterranean immigrant crisis.
The country had two governments competing for power from 2014.
Libya was once a prosperous nation under gaddafi and later own became a war torn nation
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3 Idiotic Military Blunders That Lost Battles Before They Started
War has changed greatly over the course of history, that much is obvious. From tactics to weapons to what exactly you’re allowed to do to the opposing forces without being considered a war criminal, those interested in seizing others’ lands in pursuit of liberation, loot, or the second masquerading as the former, follow a much different path than armies of old. I’m sure medieval armies would have loved to have a remote-operated, axe-wielding juggernaut drone that could charge the opposing castle’s champions like heavy-metal Pokemon instead of getting a mace to the face, but they never had such luck.
One constant through any generation of warfare, though, is something that doesn’t have to do with armies, their armaments, or whether or not poisoning is ok. It’s a limitation that ancient lords share precisely with modern generals: the human brain’s constant capacity to make an incredibly dumb decision. Pure brute strength can only ever carry you so far, and one ill-timed miscalculation can cost you infinitely more dearly than a number disadvantage or obsolete artillery. War is a game in which many lives are on the line, and unfortunately, it can be thrown just as easily as a round of League of Legends.
Here are 3 incredibly dumb, and massively devastating, military blunders in history.
The Battle Of Agincourt
For the first incredibly deadly oopsie, let’s look at the famous Battle of Agincourt from the Hundred Years’ War. To set the scene, we can imagine the general state of things before the battle was to begin. In this corner, we have a French army of 20,000 men, primed and ready to deliver a drubbing to the enemy. In the other corner, we have the 27-year-old King Henry V of England, with only 5,500 men, most of whom were currently suffering from dysentery. As you can imagine, the French army had pretty much already marked this as a W. With almost four times the men, and with far fewer of them having active, bloody diarrhea, they were almost celebrating in advance.
However, it was what stood between the armies that would make the biggest difference: a massive, recently plowed field, turned by rain into a sea of deep mud capable of drowning a pig. The English, understandably, didn’t want to fight in the mud, but Henry realized they might be able to goad the French into taking the disadvantageous ground with, basically, a large-scale, medieval version of shouting “HEY, I BET YOU GUYS CAN’T KICK OUR ASS!” His army threw up banners and marched only a small distance forward, but this taunt was enough to send the French Army, their minds filled with an Arnold Palmer of equal parts hubris and bloodlust, charging into a literal shitstorm. Their men and horses immediately got stuck in the mud and became a human shooting gallery for the English archers. By the time the battle ended, the French would surrender after losing nearly 6000 men. The casualty count for the English? Roughly 400. If only the French had played Darkest Dungeon.
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Another human error resulting in massive human loss was the battle known as the Charge of The Light Brigade during the Crimean War in the year 1854. It’s a battle that even inspired a poem of the same name by Alfred Tennyson, dedicated to the heroism of those that would die in the battle. However, this heroism, and these deaths, were entirely and wholly unnecessary, caused by something that even a modern office worker is all too familiar with: miscommunication among management. Though one could also argue that hundreds of men dying because two big wigs couldn’t clearly communicate is itself a poetic treatise on war.
First, the loss that led to the situation that would go so deadly sour: the British and French, fighting the Russians, were forced back from the Causeway Heights, fleeing four fortifications filled with recently installed artillery. The Russian forces were repelled only a short distance later, but Lord Fitzroy Somerset Raglan decided he would really like all those guns they just left back. So he issued an order to try to take back those four fortifications to prevent the Russians from acquiring all that sweet, sweet, weaponry. Except that he didn’t say “Please go retake the four fortifications we just abandoned, to retrieve our guns.” He said instead, “advance rapidly to the front … and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.”The guns he was talking about were the guns in the Causeway Heights. The cavalry he issued this order to, unfortunately, was not in sight of the Causeway Heights. What they were in sight of was a fully entrenched, absolute shit ton of Russian artillery, at the end of an open valley. For some reason, instead of maybe questioning the wisdom of an order that was basically “run down a hallway at a mounted gatling gun,” George Bingham and James Brudenell, the Earls of Lucan and Cardigan, respectively, shrugged their shoulders and basically went, “seems weird but ok.” They then charged their men into the valley, at which point they were shot at from THREE SEPARATE DIRECTIONS by Russian gunners. It was basically a horrific, deadly, real-life version of Tower Defense flash game. 670 men participated in the charge. 110 died, 160 were wounded, and 375 horses were killed. They did not win.
The Battle Of Karansebes
Though the two military blunders already covered might vary greatly in both time period and cause, they do share a single element that this final entry does not: an enemy. After all, in every fight, there is a winner and a loser (at least objectively), but it takes real talent to lose a battle in which no one else is actually participating. During the Austro-Turkish war, the Austrians managed to pull off this uniquely embarrassing feat in the “battle” of Karansebes. The tale starts, like many great mistakes, with a good quantity of alcohol.
Outside of Karansebes, a group of soldiers were getting good and soused off a supply of schnapps, now mostly known for making 18-year-olds puke at a house party. Another traveling group passing by asked to split the bottle, and were denied. Out of maybe a mixture of pride and a deep love for borrowed schnapps, this quickly turned into a fistfight. This fistfight between soldiers then resulted in a couple rogue discharged firearms.
Now, back in Karansebes, the rest of the army was on high, un-schnapps-filtered alert, and when they heard gunshots, they sounded the alarm, shouting “Turks! Turks!” believing themselves to be under attack. They shouted it loud enough for the drunken tusslers to overhear, who then, not knowing they were the false Turks in question, panicked themselves, and started charging back to camp to help protect it from… themselves.
At this point, we have two groups of Austrian soldiers. One, in Karansebes, fingers on triggers, looking for Turkish soldiers approaching from the horizon. The second, drunk group of Austrian soldiers were now quickly approaching from the horizon. You might be able to play the rest of this out in your mind. The soldier in the city fired on the group riding home. The group riding home assumed their camp had already been taken by the Turks, and fired back. And thus, that night began a battle between the Austrian army and the Austrian army that would result in thousands of casualties and included precisely zero enemies.
Even better, the real Turks did indeed arrive two days later, to find a greatly reduced, rag-tag army in the process of recovering from a battle against themselves. The city of Karansebes had rendered itself defenseless, and the Turks were then all too happy to capture it with minimal fuss. Teaching one of, perhaps, the most important military lessons of all time: don’t bogart the schnapps.
“Progress” Is Not Always A Good Thing
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George Carlin – Stand Up About Religion
This man is a genius. We call it comedy only because it’s difficult to accept that he’s right.
What is something you did as a kid that would be considered unsafe for kids now?
The idea of “helicopter parents” had not been invented or even considered. Parents expected us to be doing things on our own without any supervision. Since both my parents and any statute of limitations are long passed, it’s safe to speak about the currently unspeakable!
We would normally leave the house without telling anyone where were going. One time we all left the house, and the parental units left the house thinking we were there. We came home and the front and back doors were wide open, just the screen doors closed. We never told them, they never asked.
There were several large ravines about 1/2 mile away with pretty steep sand hills and cliffs which we climbed or even rode our bicycles down. Usually no problem, but on occasion, the front wheel of the bike would dig in and we would sail over the handlebars into the sand further downhill. If you had a good tumble, the next person might try and do it better! Some of these hills were used by adventurers on motorcycles, we were pioneers of bicycle moto-cross.
We would spend summers and warm weekends in the ravines, exploring and playing in the small river that ran through it, looking for frogs, fish, snakes, lizards or other interesting creatures.
Road hockey games, two or three to the street. Some kids had nets, and most of the time we used boots or garbage cans, or other vertical items as goalposts. A tennis ball was the “puck” of choice and as you played, the wooden blade of the hockey stick would wear down from the full 3″ height to a sharp point that could have been lethal if used with malice. At some point, one enterprising company sold plastic blades that could be attached to the stub of a hockey stick to extend its life. At the time though, regular sticks were around $5 and the blades were about $2, so you didn’t see too many. The cod word “CAR” caused the game to be quickly moved off the road. Mike Meyers grew up in a different part of the city, and a bit later, but it was a universal signal for a quick time out. We tried to play on streets that had curbs, they were much easier than the streets that still had ditches beside the road.
Firecrackers were still legal, but you had to be at least 12 to get them, so we had the older kids buy them for us. May 24th, Victoria Day, was one of the loudest days of the year. Kids would stand around and throw the 2″ ones at each other, and you’d have to duck. The only time you were ever hurt was when someone would jam one down your shirt from behind. If he could run fast, he might do it again. Mostly they were “convinced” by the rest of the guys not to do it again.
We took the bus, by ourselves to areas around town. I took swimming lessons that required 2 buses to get to, and the only thing my mom said was “make sure you get a transfer!” By the time I was 12, we’d take the bus and the subway downtown. No big deal.
We all discovered rockets and explosives, and since my dad was a chemisty prof, he had a copy of the “Chemical Rubber Company Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1944” which contained so many things that would scare the willies out of Gen Xer parents!
Of course, the Estes rocket engines were great, simple and safe, but we wanted more! How about coloured flames? Check the book! Better propellent? Check the book!
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I still have the book, and my dad even updated it to one that even had more current info! I used it in school for chemical compounds in photography. Needless to say, we lit up the nights at times. 😉
Speaking of photography, I began developing film in my early teens. Black and white chemistry is relatively safe, but the colour processes at the time included various acids and cyanide compounds, all availalble from Kodak at your local photography store. We were trusted with these poisons, and don’t forget, we usually were in the dark (actually and metaphically!) about the dangers.
We all survived. Nobody had a cell phone, nobody had to be home befpre dinner and if you were late, you’d end up eating cold leftovers.
I tried to bring my own kids up the same way, and mostly told them not to tell their Mom what we did. We’d go tobogganing on a hill with a 150′ drop, and a hill hat gave a jump at the bottom, and can remember my youngest, who was about 5 at the time flying off, spinning at least one 360 through the air and getting back up the hill for the next ride. We used to play “hockey” with a group of kids and the same young daughter, at 3 or so, had to have a stick and play. She learned to stop by crashing into someone or the boards, but would pick herself up and be giggling back into the fray. Two hours each Sunday and the kids couldn’t wait for the next week’s “game!”
Both daughters survived, one is 42 and the other 38, and those are the memories that I think they are proudest of.
THIS IS THE MOST FREQUENT QUESTION FROM A FAMILY PSYCHOLOGIST-SEXOLOGIST.
FIRST HE WILL GET RID OF YOUR CAT, THEN HE OFFERS TO SEND YOUR MOM TO A NURSERY HOME.
WELL, AND THEN …….
HE WILL GET RID OF YOU!!!
MY ADVICE: DON’T AGREE!!!
LET IT ACCEPT YOU AS YOU ARE, OR LIVE ALONE …
Al Bundy’s Best Insults
When I was 14, I laugh cause it's funny.Now I'm 34, I laugh cause it's true.
Master of the keyboard
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A War on Homelessness
This came out in 1990, and every point he made hits its mark flawlessly. America hasn’t changed in over thirty years.
Cats, how did you get your names?
We adopted a young stray tuxedo cat from my cousin who found him under her porch in the middle of winter. She already had her quota of kitties (didn’t know there could be to many kitties?) so had to find him a new home.
He was very skiddish as he had to fight to survive. (We live in central Alberta and December is very cold) He was to be our oldest daughter’s companion and 10th birthday gift as her birthday is right in between Christmas and New years.
She wanted to name him ‘Venus’ after the planet because she was really into planets and space at that time.
I told her to think about rhyming words that would go with Venus because they would become nicknames, and I didn’t want to call the kitty ‘Penis’ by mistake. Lol.
So she settled on ‘Mars’, God of War and it 100% suited him.
He is such a little fighter. The first few weeks he would steal any thing remotely food-like and try to hide it. Cat food, dog food, bread, muffins you name it. (He would try to eat the bread right through the bread bag!!)
The weirdest thing he stole was a small bag of potting soil. He but a hole in the corner of the bag and dragged it across the house. We had white carpets at the time so that was fun to try to clean up.
But all in all Mars (Marsie is a nickname) fits right in with our little family. He is extremely close to our daughter and he sleeps with her every night.
He has been such a wonderful companion for her especially her going through growing up and the ups and downs of that. I’m so thankful he came into our lives when he did, he certainly is a huge blessing.
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Natasha Wright
November 26, 2022
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The Xi vs Biden meeting stood out a geopolitical mile for its vital importance or at least for its potential to make the world laugh at Biden’s faux pas.
At this point in time we are looking at the G20 Bali Summit behind us waving a half grim goodbye to it remembering the sorrowful sight at its very unofficial beginning. There obviously was both protocol and symbolism galore there. On one hand, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, set foot on Bali with the readily available red carpeted airplane steps to welcome him to the Summit, while on the other hand Bumbling Biden (who seem to have borrowed this adjective from his counterpart Bumbling Boris, who recently resigned from No 10) he descended down the bleak and bare airplane steps, though mercifully he did not trip over and fell.
The G20 Bali Summit 2022 was and still is in its wake ‘a battlefield’ between two global sides in an economical/financial and political war all in one: the Collective West and all the others. G20 countries were and are split in half and not much more than that should have been expected. The old world order doggedly refuses to leave the geopolitical arena whilst the new one is still in its fledgling stage. On one geopolitical front there were/are: the USA and its allies: EU, Germany, France, Italy, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea in one word: The Collective West. On the other one there are Russia and all the other members which have not imposed sanctions on Russia: ten of them in total. Let us try and remember the times when G20 was established in 1999. Admittedly, one couldn’t have possibly imagined the shape and form this list is in today. In this other /second group are Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey in alphabetical order of this formally informal alliance in terms of their cultural, historical, geopolitical values to say the least which would be an understatement on my part. This second group of countries tend to be in the long and arduous process of distancing themselves in an ever-growing alienation and saying goodbye to the Collective West because what binds them together within G20 at this point is economy only but there is a gaping hemorrhaging hole in between all of them in terms of their cultures, values and views on a multitude of other issues which keeps them split apart. If one looks at the economic/ financial forecasts and the parity of purchasing power by 2030, China is bound to have a two times bigger economy than the USA. Believe it or not, the USA will be only the third in the world and not one other country from the Collective West will be in the first ten by then.
To get back to the Bali Summit, there were a number of bilateral meetings at the summit but the Xi vs Biden meeting stood out a geopolitical mile for its vital importance or at least for its potential to make the world laugh at Biden’s faux pas.
Admittedly, the USA insisted on the talks with Xi for what it’s worth. It lasted for three hours or so and it was held in the Chinese official residence on Bali. One thing everybody seems to agree about is that it was a good thing that the talks did happen rather than not. A number of reputed political portals confirmed that this meeting came with a long-awaited sigh of relief. It was a positive signal for the rest of the world whatever they may have talked about during the meeting because the two (warring) sides (at least surely USA was and is at ‘war’ with China while China sits peacefully contemplating and operating affairs in their own ‘ways of their world’ not falling prey to US provocations in the form of, for instance, Crazy Nancy’s fleeting visit to Taiwan recently). At least Xi and Biden were able to sit together and talk and still manage their differences and promote cooperation one way or the other, given the circumstances.
Biden surely couldn’t hold his horses so he opted to bash China because of a long list of alleged issues coming from the Washington DC and their ‘whataboutism cookbooks’ such as: alas, you know Hong Kong, Tibet, encroaching upon human rights, only too forceful activities towards Taiwan and then market and economy practices and so on and so forth. I mean that is what the US and the Collective West do and keep doing all the time snapping at others like ‘mad dogs of media disinformation war’. Engrossed in an anti-Russia, anti-China naming and shaming mode, Blundering Biden added that the USA would continue to compete with (against? more like it) China in global markets. China, on the other hand, only made a politely mild comment with their interpretation of the Bali meeting with Biden that it was a good thing that happened. China also added that whenever the USA sets off a series of unilateral provocations against China, their relations sink and sour most terribly. Beijing ‘s officials present in Bali also kindly reminded the USA that they should do away with the illusion that the USA ‘ is always right’. Even the biggest US allies seem to be taking a sharp U – turn giving them a wide political berth now
The countries now ready and willing to merely blindly follow and join the bandwagon USA in ‘restraining China’ are few and far between at this point. Oh well, the USA has had this obnoxiously arrogant tendency ‘to restrain’ other countries which they deem as ‘naughty’. That mindset comes across as extremely immature with brutal consequences upon a huge number of countries globally for decades now. The bad ‘old’ days when Washington DC was able to achieve that sort of thing with ease in their whimsical political cauldrons are long gone. A quick look away from Blundering Biden, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi made sure they reiterate their stances that China and Russia are ready to create and promote a multipolar world.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s the next in royal transition to become king, Muhammad bin Salman did not meet with Biden at all but decided to give him a very politically well-deserved cold shoulder (bless ‘im:) but it is worth knowing that as early as next month he will offer a most warm welcome to Xi Jinping. The G20 Summit admittedly did not achieve what America has been craving for in their savage power hungry geopolitical appetites and hoping for desperately, which was the brutally harsh denunciation of Russia. The participants did condemn the war as such, because the ending of the summit had in its protocol a final resolution to wrap things up as per usual since the summit cannot be and should not be without one. The final document produced by the participants was to do with the war in Ukraine and without the undeserved adjective ‘Russian’ superglued to it unduly, which is how the Collective West puppets keep calling it in their childish histrionics.
In the final Declaration, there surely is a strong condemnation of the war as such and not of Russia as a country.
Reuters confirmed that the pressure from the Collective West did prevail for the duration of the whole summit but ultimately the Collective West managed to fall flat on their collective political noses. Arguably, the divide line right in the midst of their protruding political bellies of the G20 ‘being one rather awkward whole’ speaks volumes about the world we are living in.
One should well and truly not forget the brilliant Xi Jinping in his hapless close encounter with Justin Trudeau whom he met in passing in the G20 ‘alleyways’ and having the bravery to reproach the Canadian clown in his nothing but a fatherly way. One has to simply look in Xi’s eyes at that very moment and see his mature and almost fatherly smile and look in his kind eyes in addressing Trudeau about Trudeau leaking out their private conversation to the media and adding contrived and made-up details all along to suit his own political fancy. Trudeau being shameless Trudeau yet again. I myself still shudder with utmost disgust at Trudeau being the fascist Trudeau during the Truckers Protests in Canada this very winter and if one only casts a quick glance and listen to the utter nonsense in Trudeau’s arrogantly smirky response to Xi only to scuttle away an ostrich walk style, though he avoided burying his humiliated head in the sand while at it.
All in all, regrettably the Collective West may well remain the недоговороспоспобнные i.e. ‘incapable of making an agreement for quite a long while, which is what Sergey Lavrov famously called them using that Russian neologism adjective spot on and rightly so. Mercifully, the Collective West have failed miserably in trying to achieve things they were craving for in desperation all along.
Jetson – the Family of the Future
One of the best cartoons as a kid. Those cartoons in the 1970s were classics and hard to beat with the ones airing now. I remember the Saturday morning cartoons were what kids woke up early for…. with only 12 channels on the TV.
https://youtu.be/1oDaHRbIDH8
People Getting Coffee vs. 30 People Enjoying Coffee
Think about it. Pause. Think.
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What are the benefits of going to jail/prison?
One of the benefits…if you do enough time…is that you will not do anything stupid enough again to get yourself sent back to prison.
If you didn’t do much time the first time or two you’ll probably try something else and go back to prison.
I used to see those guys coming in and out, in and out. Again and again.
There are benefits to going to prison for a good jolt. But I guess it really just depends on the person.
I know some people who did just a little time and learned their lesson, and I know some who came back again and again and again and literally didn’t learn their lesson until they got struck out and received a life sentence.
Ukro-nazis preparing another batch of “Russian atrocities™”
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Finian Cunningham
November 23, 2022
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For Western media to harangue China over its zero-Covid policy and to try to blame China for the failure of Western capitalism is beyond farcical. It is degenerate.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping recently reiterated that China would be adhering to its strict public controls against the Covid-19 pandemic, there was discernible disappointment in the Western media that the Asian giant was not conforming to a “let it rip” approach.
China is maintaining a zero-Covid policy with new guidelines on how to ease restrictions in a dynamic way calibrated to local conditions.
Western capitalist governments have all but given up on public efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic. The attitude of “living with Covid” is motivated by the unspoken priority to restore capitalist business as usual. The result is a continuing widespread infection rate among Western nations, and, with that, a proliferation of immune-resistant strains of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. In Western states, a de facto laissez-faire policy amounts to the authorities seemingly being prepared to see their people not “living with Covid” but rather “dying with Covid”.
By contrast, China has maintained a zero-Covid public health policy using a combination of mass vaccination, society lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing and tracing. The upshot is that China’s death toll from the two-year pandemic is a tiny fraction (less than 0.5 per cent) of the numbers that have perished in the West. This is because China’s socialist government prioritizes protection of public health over commercial and short-term economic gains.
Therefore, it seems particularly grotesque that Western media are now cajoling China to abandon its zero-Covid policy, which they are distorting or are impugning as a “failure”.
This week saw an upsurge in Chinese infections from Covid-19 in the capital Beijing and other cities. There were three reported deaths from the disease. The China figures are still relatively low compared with infection and deaths in Western states. For example, in the United States, it is reported that deaths from Covid-related illnesses are about 1,000 per day, which is down from a high of 4,000 per day last winter.
Still, there is an unseemly tone of glee in Western media reports and comments that China’s zero-Covid strategy is allegedly failing to contain the disease. The Financial Times, the BBC and other media were peppered with accompanying chiding calls on the Chinese government to drop its “Communist controls” and to adopt a “living [dying] with Covid” approach.
Another tack being used to pressure China is to blame its anti-epidemic practices for the slowdown that is dogging Western economies.
A Reuters report this week attributed stock market losses in the United States and continuing problems of consumer price inflation on “worries” over China’s zero-Covid policy.
“All eyes are on China today and their Covid-zero policy. Traders are worried that China could expand their restrictions which could slow down growth and threaten higher inflation,” Reuters quoted John Doyle, vice president of dealing and trading at Monex USA, as saying.
This dubious viewpoint of blaming China for Western economic woes is based on the premise that Beijing’s pandemic control policies are stymying its own economic growth and reducing supply chains to Western nations which are then hit with higher inflation, stock market turmoil, job losses and general business downturn.
It is true that China’s zero-Covid policy has curtailed the country’s roaring economy from earlier years of double-digit growth. Nevertheless, the Chinese government believes the fundamentals of the economy are still sound for future recovery. In the meantime, however, the priority for the authorities is on protecting public health and preventing the sort of deadly epidemic outbreaks of Covid-19 that have occurred in the West.
One can understand that with a population of 1.4 billion – 20 per cent of the globe – and many people living in densely packed mega-cities, the Chinese authorities are right to be concerned about warding off a dangerous pandemic.
It is thus a matter of sovereign authority for China to choose whatever public health policies it deems necessary in order to protect its nation. The arrogance of the West is seen in its presumption to lecture China on how to handle Covid-19 and especially in advocating Beijing to adopt Western policies – policies that have been wanton in exacerbating the pandemic, deaths and illnesses. There is an echo here of the colonial Western arrogance seen during the 19th-century Opium Wars.
It is somewhat obscene that the Western media – as mouthpieces for their governments – are mounting a propaganda campaign to undermine China’s principled efforts to maximize the protection of public health and minimize deaths.
In the United States where over 1 million people have died from Covid-19 over the past two years – compared with China’s 5,200 deaths – the evident converse priority is to maximize private commercial profit by minimizing the protection of public health.
What is even more galling about Western remonstrations to China about abandoning its zero-Covid policy is that the economic failings in the United States and Europe are inherent, and have little to do with China.
The U.S. in particular is exporting its inherent economic problems to the rest of the world by endlessly printing dollars and artificially raising its exchange value against other currencies. This is having massive repercussions of soaring inflation for food and other commodities both globally and in the U.S.
Washington has also stoked huge problems with its unilateral actions of banning semiconductor exports to China and cutting off Russian energy supplies.
The systemic problems battering the U.S. and European economies should be branded “Made in America”. Yet the Western media are trying to blame China and, most recently in a particularly sickening spin, to try to label China’s anti-pandemic policies as somehow a negative practice causing problems for the West.
The callous lack of care shown by Western governments toward their people through the hands-off approach in dealing with the Covid pandemic – a let it rip, dying with Covid policy – is testimony to the vile nature of capitalism and its political administrators. These same sick and psychotic values are at the root of why capitalism is a failing economic system. The Western media play a big part in normalizing the horrendous death and disease that capitalist pathology engenders.
So, for Western media to harangue China over its zero-Covid policy and to try to blame China for the failure of Western capitalism is beyond farcical. It is degenerate.
Very sad
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What was the turning point of your life that changed you completely?
I purchased The Sunday NY Times.
I never read or bought The NY Times before that day. Today I’m an avid reader.
I am a firm believer in faith, Karma, destiny and a higher being. Just not the Church.
It was going on six months since losing my job at a CALDOR department Store (They went out of business). I became miserable and started a downward spiral into depression.
Here’s a pic for those too young to know.
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The job paid $4.35 per hour in 1998. And it was my full time job. I was going to auto tech school at night hoping for a better career one day.
I started drinking heavy. I didn’t care. It was bad enough that I was already poor, on welfare and housing assistance. But when all that misery combined with alcohol, my situation made me feel even more hopeless. And I was ready to let go.
But life turned into a blessing on that fateful Sunday. I got up around 7:00AM to go buy more beer. It used to be illegal to sell beer before 12:00PM on Sundays in NY. But because I’m a regular from the neighborhood, I was allowed to tuck the bottle in my jacket.
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(SOOOO EMBARRASSING!)
I started to walk out after my purchase when I decided to buy a NY Daily News. But it’s too early. No daily news, only The NY Times. So I grabbed one, handed over my $1.50 and walked out.
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I immediately went to the help wanted ads when I got back in my apartment. And there it was. The biggest help wanted add on the page.
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$12 – $18 per hour.
For one day only 9AM-12PM. on that following Monday.
Doors close promptly at 12.
I was twenty-four years old and never came close to earning $5 per hour.
I woke up early that Monday morning. And gave myself two hours to get there for a trip that takes about one hour. I put on my Sunday best, grabbed some résumés and started my trip to the JFK Hilton.
I arrived and found the conference room and it was barren. There were only about fifty people in the conference room. It didn’t feel like a job fair. I almost turned around because I thought I was in the wrong place.
We were called in the order that we signed in. I watched as some people left after the short interview and some sat back down. I was one of the people that was told to sit back down after my interview.
Round two came as fast as round one. This company has this job fair thing down to a science. I’m called back up to the table by Mrs. Alexander. I will never forget her. She hands me a drug test cup and says follow me. A drug test! at a job fair. Probably the best way to weed out the druggies.
After that, I fill out all my employment forms. And then she says. “let’s go over some things while we wait for your results. Because of your experience and interests I have decided to hire you as a motor pool mechanic. This is your rate of pay, you will be on 90 days probation with random drug testing, report to this man at this location this time next Monday. Now read and sign your code of ethics booklet.”
(And with the most beautiful motherly I understand what you have been going through smile) Mrs. Alexander says “Congratulations Gerry and fix your tie.”
I’M HIRED! The whole process took all of 40 minutes. I went from $4.35 per hour. To $16.52 in 40 minutes. I walked out of that Hilton with tears in my eyes.
It only gets better from there. I start work and immediately fall in love with the company, the work hours, the people, and of course the pay. Life got good and was only going to get better.
I get great advice from an older worker. One can go anywhere in this company. Just get your Qualies (Qualifications) for everything, go to class for everything, read and study everything and then get your ass out of the motor pool.
So I did just that. I went from repairing company vehicles at the motor pool, to lineman electrician, and now my present position as a locomotive engineer earning six figures. Six figures with a high school degree and a technical school certificate. And I can honestly say that I do not mind paying taxes at the end of every year.
Being poor and uneducated gave me serious depression. And That Sunday NY Times was destiny.
If the NY Daily News was available that Sunday I wouldn’t have bought The NY Times.
The job fair had few people because poor people won’t pay $1.50 for the Sunday NY Times when the NY Daily News is only $ 0.75.
And NY Times readers don’t usually look at the help wanted ads.
Something was definitely pulling the strings behind the scenes for me. I was going the opposite direction of where I am today.
American Cookie Cutter Suburb: Autocentric, Boring, Dystopian, Void Of Soul, Void Of Culture, Void Of Happiness
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Very Serious Shortages Of Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Tamiflu, Albuterol And Tylenol Have Erupted All Over The United States
Hospitals are filling up all across America, and there are extremely alarming shortages of some of our most important medications. Health authorities are warning that RSV, the flu and COVID are combining to create a “tripledemic”, and there are simply not enough medications to go around. Personally, I am most concerned about RSV. It is spreading like wildfire from coast to coast, and we are being told that very young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. I wrote an entire article about the RSV outbreak earlier this month, and since that time things have gotten even worse. Our medical system is being absolutely flooded with sick kids, and this has caused very serious shortages of amoxicillin, augmentin, tamiflu and albuterol…
America is facing a shortage of four key medications used for common illnesses in children as virus season comes back in full force.Officials have declared a shortage of first-line antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin, which are used to treat bacterial infections. Tamiflu, the most common flu medication in the US, and albuterol, an inhaler for asthma and to open airways in the lungs, are also in short supply, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
But we haven’t even gotten to the heart of flu season yet.
In fact, the beginning of winter is still about a month away.
So what will things look like by the time we get to the middle of January?
At this point, things are already so bad that we are also starting to see a very serious shortage of tylenol…
A children’s Tylenol shortage currently affecting Canada has carried over into the United States, pharmacists in multiple American cities have warned.The drug’s short supply, experts say, stems from a recent spike in pediatric sickness as seasonal bugs come back with a bang after being suppressed during COVID-related lockdowns.
This is nuts.
In all my years, I have never heard of a shortage of tylenol in the United States.
Unfortunately, we now have millions of people with compromised immune systems all over the country, and so RSV and the flu are hitting us extremely hard.
One doctor told CNN that “I’ve never seen anything like this”…
“In my 25 years of being a pediatrician, I’ve never seen anything like this,” pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Stacene Maroushek of Hennepin Healthcare in Minnesota told CNN. “I have seen families who just aren’t getting a break. They have one viral illness after another. And now there’s the secondary effect of ear infections and pneumonia that are prompting amoxicillin shortages.”The reason for shortages is due to increased demand, especially with a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu cases. The combination of RSV, flu and COVID circulating has been called a “tripledemic.”
This is going to be one long winter for our medical system.
As I mentioned earlier, hospital beds are rapidly filling up all over the nation…
These surges have filled children’s hospitals across these states. The Children’s Hospital of Alabama, the state’s largest pediatric hospital located in Birmingham – 91 per cent of beds are filled, according to official figures.Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which includes the largest children’s hospital in Tennessee, is at 98 per cent capacity as of Tuesday.
And as I discussed in my article about RSV earlier this month, there are some hospitals that have already filled up all of their beds.
Of course most children that get sick don’t end up in the hospital.
Most of them just stay home and are cared for by their parents until they recover.
In October, more Americans missed work to take care of sick children than ever before…
More than 100,000 Americans missed work last month – an all time high – because of child-care problems, many of which come down to sick children and sick daytime caregivers.
Sadly, we will almost certainly set another new all-time record this month.
It sure would be nice if the federal government would step in and help to ensure that everyone has enough medications to give to their children during this medical emergency.
But instead of doing that, the Biden administration has decided to give another 4.5 billion dollars to Ukraine…
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in coordination with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of State, is providing an additional $4.5 billion in direct budgetary support to the Government of Ukraine. The funding, which will help alleviate the acute budget deficit caused by Putin’s brutal war of aggression, was made possible with generous bipartisan support from Congress. The Government of Ukraine will receive the funding in two tranches before the end of 2022.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just announced that the Ukrainians will be receiving another 400 million dollars in military aid…
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $400 million military aid package to Ukraine on Wednesday.The package will include “additional arms, munitions, and air defense equipment from U.S. Department of Defense inventories,” Blinken said in a statement, which didn’t provide many specifics on the weapons heading to Ukraine. It is the 26th time the administration is using the presidential drawdown authority, which allows the United States to take from its stockpiles and provide those weapons to Ukraine.
Rather than giving so much money to the Ukrainians, why can’t we spend it on some antibiotics for our children?
It seems to me that our priorities are really messed up.
The RSV outbreak that we are witnessing right now is really serious. If you have young children, you will want to closely monitor developments in your local area.
After a couple of really tough years, a lot of people had been hoping that we would experience a “return to normal” in 2022.
This year we have seen the bird flu kill tens of millions of our chickens and turkeys, a global monkeypox epidemic has spread all over the globe, and now RSV and the flu are ripping across the nation.
We really are living in unprecedented times, and the challenges that we are facing are only going to get even greater as the months roll along.
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“SARMAT” Nuclear Missile Goes Into FULL Production
Russia’s “Sarmat” strategic missile has gone into serial production. What do you need to know about the powerful superweapon of the Russian Federation?
First.
This is the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile in the world, surpassing the American ones in all respects.
– 1.5x range.
– by tripling the number of warheads.
– by take-off weight by 6.5 times.
– by the total power of the core charges by 7 times.
– by combat load by 9 times.
Second.
The Sarmat has Avangard hypersonic capsules that are totally IMMUNE to all known missile defenses, while the U.S. Minuteman III has no hypersonic capsules.
Third.
The Sarmat can also deliver a high-precision non-nuclear strike, in which the kinetic energy creates destruction similar to a nuclear explosion, but without radiation.
Fourth.
The Sarmat will be silo and mobile-based, while the U.S. Minuteman III is silo-based only.
Fifth.
The Sarmat is the latest rocket to enter service in 2022, while the U.S. Minuteman III entered service 50 years ago.
The Sarmat is one of six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018. The RS-28 Sarmat made its first test flight on 20 April 2022, and the Russian government expects the missile is entering service in 2022. On August 16, 2022, a state contract was signed for the manufacture and supply of the Sarmat strategic missile system.
Egg Muffin sandwich
“Just like McDonalds, but you can control the ingredients. Great for work or breakfast on the go!”
In a microwaveable cup roughly the same diameter of the muffin, add the egg, a tablespoon of water.
Beat the egg, add the bacon (or sandwich meat, or nothing).
Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes (until egg is cooked) while muffin is toasting.
Assemble the muffin and let stand for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
2022 11 27 17 42
The Wandering Earth (English dubbed) full 2hr movie
Here’s a real treat. This is probably one of the best science fiction movies to come out in the last five years. But, it’s Chinese, and thus has been outright banned, and blocked and generally given the worst reviews ever…
Too bad. It is awesome.
Good basic science fiction fare. No transgender or woke anything. Good story-line, great subplots, and great special effects. And the woke folk that write reviews HATE it.
It’s on you-tube (much to my surprise), and you all had best check it out before (yet again) the neocon war-mongering cabal puts this movie on it’s “copyright protection” bans.
I suggest you all watch this movie, and have fun. It’s long at 2 hours and is in English. Dubbed, but well done, and it will be a great adventure to enjoy. Watch it if you can spare the time!
https://youtu.be/SFFY0_80M4E
There is also a Chinese version, HERE. If that version above has been banned for “national security” reasons.
You know what? I remember my earliest days. I mean, literally, I remember entering the physical womb of my mother as a pre-birth infant. And I well remember the words that I repeated over and over… “this is going to be a real adventure life; don’t forget it”. LOL. Yeah. I actually did that.
I remember opening my eyes for the first time, and looking at my hands. I remember seeing my parents for the first time and thinking “so those are my parents”, and I remember the little butterflies (toy mechanism at the top of my bassinet.)
I remember Kindergarten, and I remember playing “store”, playing the triangle in the class “band” and trying to build a clay house. So many things that I remember. It’s our memories that helped to shape me as I am today.
It is mind-boggling to me that religions JUSTIFY the erasure of memories (as in reincarnation) as an important part of growth, when the absolute opposite it true.
I placed a you-tube video up today…
Five minutes after it went up, the ten-minute video had these metrics…
2022 11 23 17 34
One must wonder how anyone could find the video in such a quick time and vote on it’s worthiness without viewing it completely? I know about the down-vote. There’s a jackass troll who down votes each and everyone of my videos within minute of it going up. But the two up-votes? That’s a mystery.
2022 11 23 17 34b
It’s just a simple and short video. But why is it partially blocked by You-tube? What did I do or say? It’s really just a simple little thing. All it is, is some simple views of China.
Let’s investigate…
2022 11 23 17 35c
Ok, so one of the songs used in the video is specified that it cannot be shown to people in certain regions.
What region do you suppose it is?
2022 11 23 17 36
Oh. It’s because China must be blocked. Oh, it’s “Believe Music SMC”.
According to Wikipedia…
Believe (also known as Believe Music; previously known as Believe Digital) is a global digital music company headquartered in France.
So some french folk, owned the copyright on this Chinese song, and banned it from being used in China. What do you know. It must be a trend in the West. Like you-tube. Like Linkedin. Like Twitter.
Ah. China-bad. Eh?
But wait! There’s more…
Copyright controversy
Believe has been accused of copyright trolling, particularly on YouTube, where it has been alleged to engage in claiming copyright for works that are either copyright free or that they do not own the rights to.
The company was the subject of a New York federal lawsuit alleging that they were behind large scale, willful, copyright infringement.
Ah hah.
So now you know.
JET LI vs AN ARROGANT JAPANESE KARATE STUDENTS! FIST OF LEGEND!
Always so damn polite for all those attackers to wait one by one to attack.
Birria
“BIRRIA This recipe is from Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, where the broth is served with everything, even sandwiches on the street. Jalisco prides itself on being the home of this spicy chile-based broth. Heat Scale = Medium Recipe By: Adapted from David Rosengarten’s (FoodTV) I have further adapted it having just having returned from Guadalajara and eaten alot of the real thing.”
PREPARE THE MEAT: Trim the fat from the meat; cut into 2 large pieces. Put meat into a large non-corrosive baking dish or pan.
PREPARE THE MARINADE/GLAZE: Heat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Tear chiles into flat pieces and toast a few at a time, pressing them against the hot surface, until they crack and blister; flip them and press down again. Transfer chiles to a large bowl and cover with boiling water; weight down with a plate to keep them submerged, and soak at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, roast the garlic in the same griddle or skillet, turning frequently, until soft inside and blackened outside, about 15 minutes. Cool and peel. Drain chiles, reserving 3/4 cup soaking liquid; put chiles into a blender with garlic, cloves, sesame seeds, vinegar, cumin, peppercorns or ground pepper, and salt. Process/blend until mixture is smooth; then strain through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl. Remove 1/2 cup of mixture to a small bowl, and stir in the sugar; set aside to use for the final glazing.
MARINATE THE MEAT: Spread the rest of the chile paste thoroughly over the meat. Cover completely and refrigerate at least 18 hours.
COOK (SLOW-STEAM) THE MEAT: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Use a deep wide roasting pan that has a tight lid. Put a roasting rack into the bottom of the pan (it must sit at least 1 inch above the bottom of the pan—if not, prop it up with custard cups, tin cans, etc.) Measure in 4 cups of water. Then lay the marinated meat onto the rack and spread any marinade remaining in the marinating pan or dish. Cut a double thickness of heavy-duty foil to cover the roasting pan; place the pan lid over, making sure the pan is covered as tightly as possible. Bake 4 hours.
FINISHING THE BROTH: Remove the pan lid and foil; carefully remove the tender meat to a platter. Take out the rack; spoon the fat off the broth with a ladle. Measure out the broth into a 1-quart container; add water to equal 1 quart liquid if necessary, and pour into a saucepan. Puree the tomato in a blender and add it to the broth along with the oregano and cinnamon. Cover; simmer over medium-low heat 45 minutes. Season with salt.
GLAZE THE MEAT: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove meat from the bones, keeping pieces of meat as large as possible; discard bones, gristle and excess fat. Set meat on a baking sheet; brush lightly with reserved chile paste glaze, and bake 10 minutes to set the glaze.
TO SERVE: Keep tortillas warm in a towel-covered basket. Serve the broth in a tureen. Present the meat on a large platter, or slice meat across the grain to serve it in deep plates, awash in the broth. Combine onion and coriander in a small bowl to pass with the lime at the table.
2022 11 24 17 50
Ukraine – Lights Out, No Water And Soon No Heat
Earlier today the Russian military shut down the Ukrainian electricity network.
Previous attacks had limited the distribution capacity to some 50% of demand. Controlled blackouts over several hours per day allowed to give some electricity for a few hours to most parts of the country. The attack today created a much larger problem. Not only were distribution networks attacked but also so the elements that connect Ukraine’s electricity production facilities to the distribution network. All four nuclear power stations of Ukraine with their 15 reactors are now in shutdown mode.
ukrelhit1
biggerKiev along with most other cities of Ukraine no longer has electricity.
Moldavia is likewise effected as it received some 20% of its electricity from Ukraine. When the Ukrainian network shut down the only local thermal power plant shut down too. It is likely that it can be switched on again but that can be a complicate process.
Limited electricity imports from the European system into Ukraine may still be possible but that electricity would only be available in Ukraine’s western cities.
Before today’s attack the Washington Post reported of the difficulties in repairing the network. As we ad explained before the Russian attacks are hitting the transformers that connect the national 330 kilovolt backbone network. These are hard to replace:
As the scope of damage to Ukraine’s energy systems has come into focus in recent days, Ukrainian and Western officials have begun sounding the alarm but are also realizing they have limited recourse. Ukraine’s Soviet-era power system cannot be fixed quickly or easily. In some of the worst-hit cities, there is little officials can do other than to urge residents to flee — raising the risk of economic collapse in Ukraine and a spillover refugee crisis in neighboring European countries. ...Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that about half of the country’s energy infrastructure was “out of order” following the bombardment. ...For weeks, Russian missiles have targeted key components of Ukraine’s electrical transmission system, knocking out vital transformers without which it is impossible to supply power to households, businesses, government offices, schools, hospitals and other critical facilities.During a briefing for reporters on Tuesday, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukrenergo, the state-run power grid operator, called the damage to the power system “colossal.” ...Russians, he said, were mainly targeting substations, nodes on the electrical grid where the current is redirected from power stations. The main components of these substations are autotransformers — “high-tech and high-cost equipment” that is difficult to replace. ...A list of “urgent needs” from DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, circulating in Washington, lists dozens of transformers along with circuit breakers, bushings and transformer oil. ...But it is the autotransformers — the “heart” of the substations, in the words of Kudrytskyi — that are at the top of the Ukrainians’ list of needs and the key to keeping the country’s electrical grid functioning.The Ukrainians have tried to buy up every autotransformer they can find, going as far as South Korea to purchase them, but they still need to place orders for more to be built.“We try to collect everything around the world that they have now, and order more,” said Olena Zerkal, an adviser to Ukraine’s Energy Ministry.
Any attempts to repair the network are useless as long as Russia continues to attack it.
To stop these attacks requires a political solution. Ukraine will have to give up and find some agreement with Russia.
Russia also attacked some of the natural gas sources Ukraine has:
Russia last week broadened its targets. Oleksiy Chernyshov, chief executive of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, said in an interview that a “massive rocket attack” hit 10 gas production facilities in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions, including Shebelinka, one the largest production and drilling areas.“Of course, we will do our best now to recover, but this will take time and resources and material,” Chernyshov said. “Time is of the essence,” he added. “Because winter is now.”The targeting of the gas supply was a critical development, said Victoria Voytsitska, a former member of parliament now working with civil society groups on getting Ukraine the equipment it needs. If Moscow takes out the gas system, she said, cities and villages across the country could become “uninhabitable.”
The Russian gas provider Gazprom has announced that it will reduce the transport of gas through Ukraine to European customers as the Ukraine is stealing from it:
Gazprom says that it has noticed some of the gas intended for Moldova under a contract with the local gas firm is being diverted by Ukraine. If the imbalance in gas transit continues, Gazprom will start reducing gas flows via Ukraine on the morning of November 28, the Russian gas giant said today, as carried by Russian news agency TASS.
Without electricity there is no water flowing in the water distribution systems of the cities. Without water toilets can not be used. Public hygiene will suffer. The internet in Ukraine is also down.
ukrelhit2
biggerA country that is becoming ‘uninhabitable’ has little chance to wage and win a war. When there is no transport, no electricity, no heat and no communication everything becomes incredibly difficult.
The refugee stream all this will cause will increase pressure on Europe to push Ukraine into negotiating for peace with Russia. Tough conditions will be applied but there is no other way out of this mess.
—
Throughout the last weeks Ukrainian attacks on the frontline have been remarkably ineffective. There is no longer any coordination of larger formations. The units attacking now are mostly only company size or even smaller. A 12 minute video that showed drone footage of such an attack was published yesterday:
What's the media hiding? @narrative_hole - 11:20 UTC · Nov 23, 2022I can’t believe I missed this one today, the editing is unbelievable.A 12 minute clip of Ukrainians conducting what was sadly a suicide attack on Russian trenches... just to be pummeled by Su-25’s, infantry, heavy mortars, a tank, MLRS and finished with an Su-34 bombing run.video
Sitting on top of an armored infantry vehicle some 20 Ukrainian soldiers drive up to a fortified area and enter the first empty row of trenches. From there they try to attack the second row of trenches that is held by a handful of Russian soldiers.
The Ukrainian troops seem to be fairly well equipped with helmets and armor vests. But they have no support.
The Russian infantry fights back. It is supported by well targeted mortar fire, artillery, tank and air attacks. The Russians have drones up in the air that can see the whole scene. The Ukrainian units have nothing but their rifles and a few hand grenades. After the attacking platoon is destroyed the Russian artillery attacks and destroys the industrial area from where they had been coming. The whole operation ends up as a complete disaster. All Ukrainian troops involved seem to be dead. The Russian side seems to have had no or only few casualties.
What's the media hiding? @narrative_hole - 1:04 AM · Nov 23, 2022This battle took place some time ago, but it’s still incredible to watch now that they made the concise edit.If we consider that such attacks happen by the dozens every week, the Russian MoD estimates of Ukrainian daily losses aren’t that farfetched.
There are several such attacks per day and only very few are successful.
In Donetsk direction, units of Russian army continued their intense operation. More than 60 Ukrainian servicemen and five armoured fighting vehicles have been eliminated.
In South Donetsk direction, artillery fire and decisive actions by Russian troops have repulsed an attack by the AFU with up to a company's tactical group forces towards Pavlovka.
In addition, as a result of a pre-emptive fire attack, enemy reserves advancing from Ugledar have been destroyed.
A sabotage and reconnaissance group of the AFU has been destroyed near Novodarovka (Zaporozhye region).
The enemy's losses amounted to more than 40 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, three armoured vehicles, a MT-LB and four pick-up trucks.
In Kupyansk direction, an attempt to launch an attack by an AFU mechanised infantry company near Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic) has been thwarted by artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems.
As a result of Russian artillery fire more than 30 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles and one mortar have been destroyed.
In Krasniy Liman direction, an attempt to move the AFU company tactical group to attack the Chervonopopvka (Lugansk People's Republic) has been disrupted by pre-emptive fire.
Up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, three mortar crews and two motor vehicles have been eliminated.
Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery have neutralised the AFU 128th Mountain Assault Brigade's command post deployed near Volnyansk (Zaporozhye region), as well as 72 artillery units at their firing positions, manpower and hardware in 144 areas.
...
That are at least 150 dead Ukrainian soldiers just there.
I do not understand hwy the Ukrainian command is still ordering such senseless attacks. Militarily it should have long gone into defensive mode. It would save Ukrainian lives and would make it more costly for the Russians to attack.
—
The European parliament, which has no serious legislative function, voted today for a non-binding resolution that declared Russia to be a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’. Some Russian’s found that outrageous. A few hours later the Parliament was hit by a ‘sophisticated’ cyber attack:
The European Parliament website was affected by a hacking attack, officials said on Wednesday.Parliament President Roberta Metsola said it was a "sophisticated attack" and that a pro-Kremlin group had claimed responsibility.She noted that the attack followed the EU lawmakers' vote to name Russia a "state sponsor" of terrorism over its war in Ukraine."My response is: Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)," Metsola said.
That irrelevant Maltese conservative still has a lot to learn.
Posted by b on November 23, 2022 at 16:56 UTC | Permalink
November 22nd – Ukraine is about to be annihilated
No mincing of words when Colonel answers any question in clear and concise and factual answers .
https://youtu.be/dfgF4x7TCmM
Multimillion-Dollar Supercars Abandoned in dimly lit storage
0 32
Never thought you’d see a Bugatti or Pagani left to rust? Neither did we. But that’s exactly what this set of sobering images shows.
Jesus H. Christ.
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This last image is HEARTBREAKING…
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Denzel tells an under-aged to sit and listen | The Equalizer
This scene is incredibly powerful. This is how humans should treat each other. Mutual respect without judgement. Not trying to gain advantage. We can all help each other if we just let down our egos and fears.
Mentorship and encouraging. A Father to a young lady in need of protection and guidance.
The beauty of this scene was the young girl was screaming inside for help not knowing the man in front of her, whom she barely knew, heard every.. single.. word..
Chief of Czech General Staff: “Prepare for major war with Russia”
The Chief of the Czech Republic General Staff (Army) is today publicly urging his country to “prepare for a large-scale war with Russia.”
General Karel Rzehka went on to tell his government and countrymen “If a direct military clash between the Russian Federation and NATO takes place in Europe, the Czech Republic will become a “participant” in this conflict from the first minute.”
Developing.
SHOCKING! Elon just exposed the truth we all suspected
Well, we were aware of the imbalance at Twitter but it is gratifying to have our suspicions confirmed.
Very Serious Shortages Of Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Tamiflu, Albuterol And Tylenol Have Erupted All Over The United States
Hospitals are filling up all across America, and there are extremely alarming shortages of some of our most important medications. Health authorities are warning that RSV, the flu and COVID are combining to create a “tripledemic”, and there are simply not enough medications to go around. Personally, I am most concerned about RSV.
It is spreading like wildfire from coast to coast, and we are being told that very young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.
I wrote an entire article about the RSV outbreak earlier this month, and since that time things have gotten even worse. Our medical system is being absolutely flooded with sick kids, and this has caused very serious shortages of Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Tamiflu and Albuterol…
America is facing a shortage of four key medications used for common illnesses in children as virus season comes back in full force.Officials have declared a shortage of first-line antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin, which are used to treat bacterial infections. Tamiflu, the most common flu medication in the US, and albuterol, an inhaler for asthma and to open airways in the lungs, are also in short supply, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
But we haven’t even gotten to the heart of flu season yet.
In fact, the beginning of winter is still about a month away.
So what will things look like by the time we get to the middle of January?
At this point, things are already so bad that we are also starting to see a very serious shortage of Tylenol…
A children’s Tylenol shortage currently affecting Canada has carried over into the United States, pharmacists in multiple American cities have warned.The drug’s short supply, experts say, stems from a recent spike in pediatric sickness as seasonal bugs come back with a bang after being suppressed during COVID-related lockdowns.
This is nuts.
In all my years, I have never heard of a shortage of Tylenol in the United States.
Unfortunately, we now have millions of people with compromised immune systems all over the country, and so RSV and the flu are hitting us extremely hard.
One doctor told CNN that “I’ve never seen anything like this”…
“In my 25 years of being a pediatrician, I’ve never seen anything like this,” pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Stacene Maroushek of Hennepin Healthcare in Minnesota told CNN. “I have seen families who just aren’t getting a break. They have one viral illness after another. And now there’s the secondary effect of ear infections and pneumonia that are prompting amoxicillin shortages.”The reason for shortages is due to increased demand, especially with a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu cases. The combination of RSV, flu and COVID circulating has been called a “tripledemic.”
This is going to be one long winter for our medical system.
As I mentioned earlier, hospital beds are rapidly filling up all over the nation…
These surges have filled children’s hospitals across these states. The Children’s Hospital of Alabama, the state’s largest pediatric hospital located in Birmingham – 91 per cent of beds are filled, according to official figures.Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which includes the largest children’s hospital in Tennessee, is at 98 per cent capacity as of Tuesday.
And as I discussed in my article about RSV earlier this month, there are some hospitals that have already filled up all of their beds.
Of course most children that get sick don’t end up in the hospital.
Most of them just stay home and are cared for by their parents until they recover.
In October, more Americans missed work to take care of sick children than ever before…
More than 100,000 Americans missed work last month – an all time high – because of child-care problems, many of which come down to sick children and sick daytime caregivers.
Sadly, we will almost certainly set another new all-time record this month.
It sure would be nice if the federal government would step in and help to ensure that everyone has enough medications to give to their children during this medical emergency.
But instead of doing that, the Biden administration has decided to give another 4.5 billion dollars to Ukraine…
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in coordination with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of State, is providing an additional $4.5 billion in direct budgetary support to the Government of Ukraine. The funding, which will help alleviate the acute budget deficit caused by Putin’s brutal war of aggression, was made possible with generous bipartisan support from Congress. The Government of Ukraine will receive the funding in two tranches before the end of 2022.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just announced that the Ukrainians will be receiving another 400 million dollars in military aid…
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $400 million military aid package to Ukraine on Wednesday.The package will include “additional arms, munitions, and air defense equipment from U.S. Department of Defense inventories,” Blinken said in a statement, which didn’t provide many specifics on the weapons heading to Ukraine. It is the 26th time the administration is using the presidential drawdown authority, which allows the United States to take from its stockpiles and provide those weapons to Ukraine.
Rather than giving so much money to the Ukrainians, why can’t we spend it on some antibiotics for our children?
It seems to me that our priorities are really messed up.
The RSV outbreak that we are witnessing right now is really serious. If you have young children, you will want to closely monitor developments in your local area.
After a couple of really tough years, a lot of people had been hoping that we would experience a “return to normal” in 2022.
This year we have seen the bird flu kill tens of millions of our chickens and turkeys, a global monkeypox epidemic has spread all over the globe, and now RSV and the flu are ripping across the nation.
We really are living in unprecedented times, and the challenges that we are facing are only going to get even greater as the months roll along.
Uriah Heep – Sweet Lorraine
Music from the same time period as the movie “Dazed and Confused”. My era, back in the day.
Trillions Upon Trillions Of Dollars Of Wealth Is Being Wiped Out As The “Everything Collapse” Accelerates
Have you checked on the health of your investments lately? If not, you may be surprised to find out where things currently stand.
As the “everything collapse” accelerates, trillions upon trillions of dollars of wealth is being wiped out. Many that thought that they were financially set for the rest of their lives are now in panic mode as asset values rapidly crumble. Just look at what happened to Sam Bankman-Fried.
He was worth 16 billion dollars coming into this month, and now the value of his assets has been “reduced to zero”. In fact, when you factor in all the money that he owes to creditors, it is likely that his net worth is actually less than zero.
The cryptocurrency market has lost more than $1.4 trillion in value this year as the industry has been plagued with problems from failed projects to a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the fall of FTX, once one of the world’s largest exchanges.
FTX wasn’t the first domino to fall, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Digital-asset brokerage Genesis is struggling to raise fresh cash for its lending unit, and it’s warning potential investors that it may need to file for bankruptcy if its efforts fail, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Genesis has spent the past several days seeking at least $1 billion in fresh capital, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. That included talks over a potential investment from crypto exchange Binance, they said, but funding so far has failed to materialize.The rush for funding was precipitated by a liquidity crunch at the lender after the sudden collapse of FTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. Genesis halted redemptions shortly after revealing on Nov. 10 that it had $175 million locked in an FTX trading account.
Needless to say, that 175 million dollars is now gone and it isn’t coming back.
Meanwhile, Coinbase continues to spiral downhill as well. According to Axios, the market cap for Coinbase has now fallen under 10 billion dollars…
The market capitalization of Coinbase just dropped below $10 billion. This time last year, it was more than $70 billion.
Of course it isn’t just the crypto industry that is in enormous trouble.
For years, Tesla’s stock price just kept going higher and higher.
Business Insider reports that Tesla’s market valuation has plummeted by nearly $700 billion from its peak a year ago. Insider notes that the $670 billion decline is equivalent to the market value of three Disneys, four Nikes, or six Starbucks.
Meanwhile, ordinary U.S. consumers are losing a tremendous amount of wealth as well.
According to the New York Post, U.S. homeowners “lost a staggering $1.3 trillion in home equity in the third quarter”…
US homeowners lost a staggering $1.3 trillion in home equity in the third quarter during a major slump in the housing sector, according to data published by mortgage analytics firm Black Knight on Tuesday.Home equity – broadly defined as the value of a homeowner’s property minus what is still owed on their mortgage – has plummeted during a rapid market correction.The equity losses in just three months were “by far the largest quarterly decline on record by dollar value and the largest since 2009 on a percentage basis,” according to Black Knight data & analytics president Ben Graboske.
We have never seen a quarter like that before.
Not even during the crisis of 2008 and 2009 did we see such a huge quarterly loss.
A new housing crash is here, and it has already gone global. In fact, Spain has already developed a plan to offer “mortgage support relief” to over a million Spanish households…
Spain’s cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to mortgage relief support for more than one million vulnerable households and help for middle-class families a day after the government and banks reached an agreement in principle.The measures are subject to final negotiations with banking associations, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said, adding that banks had a month to sign up ahead of their planned implementation next year.
Sadly, we will see much more government intervention all over the western world as this nightmare gets even worse in the months ahead.
Just about everyone can feel that very tough times are in front of us, and some experts are now issuing bold pronouncements that are quite chilling.
For example, Nouriel Roubini is warning that what we are facing is probably going to be “as bad as during the Global Financial Crisis”…
“History suggests it’s going to be near mission impossible to avoid a hard landing. You’re going to get not only inflation, not only a recession, but what I call the ‘Great Stagflationary Debt Crisis.’ So it’s much worse than the ’70s, and it’s probably as bad as during the Global Financial Crisis.”
Actually, if all we go through is a repeat of what we experienced in 2008 and 2009 we would be extremely fortunate.
Because the truth is that it isn’t just the economy that is failing.
As I have repeatedly warned my regular readers, what we are now witnessing is literally the collapse of everything.
Our entire society is slowly but surely coming apart at the seams all around us, but most people still expect that conditions will eventually return to “normal”.
Unfortunately, “normal” has left the building, and a tremendous amount of pain is ahead.
Cuernitos Menonitas (Mennonite “little Horns”)
“”For most Mexicans, the Mennonites are tall, light-skinned people, dressed in overalls, who produce their famous cheese… Every family has at least one cow that produces the milk, cream and butter for daily use, as well as chickens for meat and eggs. Pigs are primarily raised for home-cured hams, cold cuts and bacon. The homemade garlic beef sausage has become popular in the [Chihuahua] region, where people know that the Mennonite products are made from all local ingredients, using traditional methods.” (Recipe translated and adapted from recetasycomidas.com)”
2022 11 24 17 54
Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) cans crescent roll dough
8 links mennonite salami (or substitute another hard salami)
1 cup mennonite cheese, finely grated (or substitute monterrey jack)
Open and separate crescent rolls. Place a salami link on each one, and sprinkle with cheese. Roll up from the long side and curve to form a “little horn”.
Brush with beaten egg mixture and place on a greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes, or until golden.
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Mr. Mrs. Smith (2005) Full Movie Watch Online Free
You-tube. Comedy. Fun. Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday.
When I was a young boy, the house that I lived in had a small brick basement. The curious thing about this basement was this little brick water moat along the walls. Of course, growing up, I thought that this is the way basements were designed. Not realized how unusual it was. Now as an older man, I realize that the brick walls would occasionally seep water, and that water would collect in the “moat” and drain away.
What seems common and everyday to us, could also be a very strange and unusual event, thing, place or behavior to another.
Keep in mind that just because you see things one way, does not mean that your neighbors will agree with you.
Photo album of a 1937 Japanese air strike on Shanghai handed over to Chinese consulate – SHINE News
Evan Kail, an American pawnshop owner, gave the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago an old collection of photos from World War II yesterday.
The collections contain more than 30 rare color prints documenting Japanese atrocities in Shanghai.
Kail sparked widespread curiosity in September after suggesting on TikTok that the photographs might be from the Nanjing Massacre.
Later, he claimed that the photographs were most likely taken in Shanghai, not Nanjing.
He announced on social media that he had handed over the book to a staff member from the consulate office.
“I want to thank China and all the people who stood by me throughout this process. It has been a life changing experience,” Kail wrote.
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In a letter, Zhao Jian, consul general in Chicago, expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the album.
“History serves as a mirror for the people today and your donation certainly helps inspire everyone with a kind heart to safeguard peace,” Zhao wrote.
According to Zou Dehuai, a Chinese history blogger, the photos were from a Japanese air raid on Shanghai’s crowded Nanjing Road in 1937.
On the afternoon of August 23, 1937, an aerial bomb exploded on the third-floor southeast balcony of Sincere & Co Ltd, which was located on Shanghai’s densely populated Nanjing Road.
The windows of the nearby Wing On Co Ltd and stores along Nanjing Road and Laohe Road (now Liuhe Road) were all shattered. The air raid killed 215 people and injured over 570 others.
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KARLS DISCO WIENER HAVEN
Best scene from the movie right there folks…
The movie is “Straight to Hell”, it’s a kind of cult flick. One of the greatest movie songs of all times. It gets stuck in your head….for years at a time.
Is China a threat to the international order?
Of ALL the countries of the world, China is the greatest threat to the International Order as led by the United States and Western countries because it has proven that its one party meritocratic system:
had enabled the fastest growing economy in the history of men;
it had uplifted its population from poverty in just several decades;
it has become the largest manufacturing and industrial country with over fifty percent of the world’s output.
AND it has managed to avoid the political instability caused by two party systems such as the United States and United Kingdom where leaders harnessed hatred to win power and caused great harm to their country.
That is, China is a threat to the current western led International order because it has demonstrated that it is more effective a creating a better future for its people.
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BUT its biggest threat is that thru the Belt and Road initiative, China is creating a better future for all mankind, a prosperous interconnected and interdependent world contrasting this with the International order which had inflict war and chaos and exploit those countries.
Izmir Koftesi
This Turkish dish comes from the Mediterranean town of Izmir, which is a popular tourist destination for Turks and foreigners, alike. It’s basically a dish of baked meatballs with potatoes in a flavorful tomato sauce. However, the real magic of this dish lies in its seasonings, which include fruity Aleppo chili flakes and nutty ground cumin.
delicious
This Turkish classic of meatballs and potatoes in tomato sauce is perfect anytime as a simple dinner or as an addition to an iftar table (the meal Muslims eat when they break their fast during the month of Ramadan). There are different ways to make the dish: some people form the meatballs into small football shapes; others prefer patties. Some sear the meatballs before baking; others put them in the oven raw. I prefer forming patties because they look better when arranged with the potatoes and are easier to sear. And I like searing them because it locks in the juices, but you can do whatever you prefer.
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large egg
1 onion, grated
3 cloves garlic plus 2 cloves garlic, minced separately
2 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Neutral-flavored oil, such as canola or vegetable, for searing
2 russet potatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large green bell pepper, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 large tomato, cut into 6 or 8 wedges
Directions
Place the ground beef, parsley, breadcrumbs, Aleppo pepper flakes, cumin, egg, onions, 3 of the minced garlic cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl and combine well using your hands. The mixture will be wet and a bit sticky. Form into 20 to 24 meatballs about 1/2-inch-thick in the shape of your choosing (see Headnote).
Heat 2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in batches and adding more oil as necessary, sear the meatballs until nicely browned on two sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Slice the potatoes crosswise 1/2 inch thick into a total of 20 to 24 slices. Arrange the seared meatballs and potatoes in an alternating pattern in a 9-by-9-inch baking dish. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to darken and release its color into the oil, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oregano, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and give the mixture a nice stir. Add 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then taste and add more salt, if needed.
Pour the sauce gently over the meatballs and potatoes. Top with the bell peppers and tomatoes. Cover with parchment paper and bake until the potatoes are tender and the meatballs are cooked through, 40 to 50 minutes.
Garnish with parsley before serving.
G7 is Clear-eyed to Align on China? | Speak Softly
The French are definitely putting something together. The EU really shot itself in the foot as it was following the US against Russia.
Which is a better place to live permanently, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore?
I’m Indian, speak (Mandarin), read and write Chinese and have lived in Singapore for 8 years, Mainland China for 7, HK for 3 and Taiwan for 2 years and am married to a Taiwanese lady. I am currently back in Shanghai for my 4th stint of living on the mainland and here’s what I think.
Taiwan: Inexpensive, clean, friendly. However, economic opportunities are limited and when I worked there I was at about 1/3 of what I used to earn in China, so it might be a good place to retire rich but not for your working years. Also not an international place, not even in Taipei City.
HK: Very international. Great mix of urban and outdoors opportunities – hiking, beaches, hang-gliding etc. However, it is expensive, not very friendly and while some sectors are healthy and have a lot of opportunities (finance, mostly) the rest are all very small now that HK is no longer the place where China companies are run from.
Singapore: Has changed a lot in the last couple of decades. It’s now become very international, expensive and highbrow, so it’s lost a lot of the simple charm and pleasures of some years ago. People (local Singaporeans, I mean) can be really charming and friendly , the variety and authenticity of food is amazing and it could be a nice place to live in long term if you’ve got a good job and live within your means, but I also know a lot of people who live beyond their means and that’s a surprisingly real danger in this city. Also, the weather sucks.
Mainland China: Lots of opportunities, things can be as expensive or as cheap as you want, big cities are clean (ish) and efficient and people are very very friendly if you speak even a little Mandarin. Also, contrary to popular belief, there is a great degree of personal freedom, it’s relatively easy to set up a business here and it’s extremely safe. I wouldn’t retire here but in my active working years, I keep coming back to China because it’s just amazing. Shanghai, in particular is very international and while it’s more expensive than most other cities in China you can still live here cheaply if you need to – I had to do that for about 2 years when I was in a startup and managed to live quite well on very little money, something that would not have worked in Singapore or HK.
So from my perspective, in the active years, it would be China, Singapore, HK and Taiwan in that order – possibly for retirement it would be Taiwan first and none of the other options – my next retirement option to Taiwan would be Malaysia.
UK orders sale of microchip factory by China’s Nexperia, citing national security
Chinese company set up, built, staffed and trained a UK company. Just as they were starting operations, the UK seized it. Forcing it to be sold at low price, to UK nationals. I wonder what would happen if China did the same things to all those multi-national companies inside of China?
17 November 2022, 06:48
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government on Wednesday ordered Chinese-owned technology company Nexperia to sell at least 86% of Britain's biggest microchip factory, Newport Wafer Fab, following a national security assessment.
The review of Nexperia's 2021 purchase of Newport Wafer Fab, now known as Nexperia Newport Limited, was announced earlier this year after legislation came into force in January allowing the government to scrutinise and potentially block acquisitions and investments in sensitive sectors.
It can be applied retrospectively to deals completed since November 2020.
"We welcome foreign trade and investment that supports growth and jobs. But where we identify a risk to national security we will act decisively," Business Minister Grant Shapps said on Twitter... Read more :
What makes the USA a powerful country, and can it be overtaken in terms of scientific and technological development?
Grow up.
USA has lost the scientific and technological edge at least since 2010 or perhaps even earlier. Go to China. Their trains traveled 600 KM per hour and they have 120’000KM high speed railway line most build within 10 years. The US took 10 years to build less than 500KM from San Francisco to Los Angeles and it is still not ready yet!
The Solar and Wind energy usage is bigger than the rest of the world combined, the US especially the Republican Party is still denying climate crisis! Chinese use 60% of worlds EVs and produce 90% of world’s EVs including most of US Tesla using Chinese made batteries.
The US is struggling to installing 5G throughout the US and it barely reached your suburbs, China has completely installed up the the most rural areas and has been using 5G for a few years. Now China has started 6G and has send up several 6G satellites to facilitate driverless vehicles.
China has taken the lead in quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence’s technology, Biotechnology, and most key fields. For example when the US wants to decouple from China in the Semiconductor Chips field what they meant is that the US who only possess some technology and some raw materials and some know how.
Most of the technology, raw materials and know how’s are now with other companies, other nations and non U.S. entities. The US can only bribe and coerce other nations to stop selling to China. And highly likely will not work. The logic is simple. If you forced a company or a nation to forego 40% of their market and influence negatively the rest of the market. Those companies will not choose bankruptcy and the US cannot compensate then a hundreds on billions for years on end.
US has some technologies, some are key and strategic. So has many countries and companies other than the US. At best US is one of the countries that has technologies. So get real.
A letter from a follower…
Hei MM,
Had a grand time the other evening supping on fine bread, fine cheese and honey, and homemade mead and digging the tunes of the best of The Police. I believe changes are afoot, and often they hit you upside the head when least expected to start a new direction.
What direction and to where, I don’t know, but I have hope and belief that I will get to where I need to be, perhaps regardless of my affirmations. Change in habits, expectations, or perception – perhaps the nudges were not loud enough.
Sometimes you lose a good friend, but you have to keep the memory alive. That is the way with Mutt, the sheep dog that never reached his potential, and all others that follow will be compared to him.
I have lost several dogs – one that died from old age next to our fireplace, one that got run over by the UPS guy in our driveway (a freak accident), several cats (I am not really a cat person, but I think we tolerate each other; we have the cats for the mice and rats that are around).
Side note here: when we first moved here (Estonia), for some reason we stored a bag of grain in a part of the house we were not using (that in itself is another story). One night I heard some noise in that room. I went to look, turned on the light, and there must have been 20-30 or more rats gorging themselves on this bag of grain. I grabbed the first thing I could find and ended up clubbing 2 of them to death. We found their holes and filled them in with Makroflex (not sure of the English name). Next night they were back again, after eating through the Makroflex, and I was only able to club one. We thought if we would hang the bag of grain from a rope tied to a rafter, it will deter the rats. Nope, they can climb. It got to the point where I would lay awake in bed each night waiting for them to come and rush in with my club often to no avail. We finally got cats (these ended up either disappearing or got ran over by cars), and finally totally dismantling the room (we found a few Kopeks dated in the 1940’s and 1950’s in the floorboards as well as part of a dismantled gun that from our research was originally manufactured in the late 1800’s).
We got 4 more cats (only 2 remain –one went wild nearby our neighbors, the other ran over recently), and we haven’t seen rats since, and occasionally get our mouse presents on doorstep.
Back to Mutt. He had a good life and one bad day (actually ~18 hrs). I have had a good life and probably more than one bad day, but the good far outweighs the bad.
My sheep have good lives, and then one bad day (for them). We still have one dog left but she has a different job – to protect the sheep from wolves, and has not failed to do so. It has been a tough couple weeks but each day gets a little better. I haven’t lost the memory of any animal that was dear to me.
My 2 takeaways from this episode so far.
One, for some reason I have quit drinking coffee and have no desire to. I have enjoyed my morning coffee for many years, and I don’t know what the connection is, but I no longer want coffee in the morning (or any other time) and the thought of drinking coffee doesn’t sit well with me. I cleaned my coffee press and cup the other day and found some moldy fuzzy stuff growing there. No matter how long I have been away from Mutt (when he was alive), a few minutes to all day, his exuberance and excitement to seeing me again was always the same.
If only we treated our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and strangers that same way we would all be better people for doing so. Be the Rufus; help when you can, be kind to animals and fellow humans with no expectation of reward. Hug those you love and let them know how much you care and what they mean to you because you may not get another chance, and that is what you will regret – the woulda, shoulda, and what ifs of what was not done. These seeming little things can make a big difference later on in ways you cannot comprehend.
Hug your wife, your kids and let them know what they mean to you. Be good to your cats (goldfish, birds?) and continue to be the Rufus when you can.
Sometimes we all need reminding of what we know so keep reminding us all to be Rufus people. Thanks for all you do and as Joe Dirt says ‘keep on keepin on”.
Never give up.
Did President Duterte choose to raise the issue of China’s militarization in South China Sea during his meeting with Xi Jinping?
If you are an American, for your sake ask all officials and CIA operative to not travel to Asia and waste tax payers money.
Your tricks are up. Asian sees a con a long way away. Nothing can fool Asian neighbours anymore. We see the US as the source of the problem. And certainly not the solution at all.
We want you as far away as possible. Don’t get me wrong if you are an innocent tourist or a businessman with good intentions, you are welcome.
Asians people spot trouble maker and shit stirrer a mile away. We don’t welcome you. And if you do come we will miked you dry and go home penniless. Sure we will fool you with out unique Asian politeness. But we know our neighbours and neighbourhood better than you because we lived together thousands of years.
Not just Duterte. But every Asian leaders don’t want you, don’t need you, we like to stay as far away from you as humanly possible.
Color revolution in Malaysia
Excellent inside look at how the United States corrupts elections around the world, with visuals. The USA are the masters of controlling "democracies" to achieve whatever outcome they desire.
The first outcome of Xi’s meeting with President Biden is a new way of looking at the US-China relationship.
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Western media presents the US-China relationship as a competition between two countries, but President Xi
presented a different perspective to President Biden: how the relationship looks to the other 193 countries: “Current China-U.S. relations don’t meet the fundamental interests of our two countries and their people, nor the expectations of the international community”.
“A statesman should think about and know where to lead his country. He should also think about and know how to get along with other countries and the wider world,” said Xi, and suggested they jointly “chart the right course for bilateral ties”.
The meeting was the first face-to-face meeting between China and the US since 2019, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since President Joe Biden’s election, and Xi laid out three areas of common interest:
preventing conflict and confrontation, leading to peaceful coexistence;
benefiting from each other’s development; and
promoting post-COVID global recovery, tackling climate change and coordinating to resolve regional problems.
Significantly, the three-and-a-half-hour meeting, which the White House requested, was held at the Chinese delegation’s residence in Bali, not at the G20 venue. Biden said the US does not seek a New Cold War; does not support “Taiwan independence”; does not support “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”; does not seek “decoupling” from China; and does not want to contain China.
The two men agreed on the importance of establishing the guiding principles of China-US relations, conducted constructive discussions on this issue and tasked their working teams to reach agreement. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will follow up during a visit to Beijing, and China suggested they work on together on six major items:
The world in the 21st century must avoid repeating the mistakes of the Cold War. The two countries should take a correct view of each other’s internal and external policies and strategic intentions and establish a tone of dialogue rather than confrontation and win-win rather than zero-sum President Biden introduced the midterm elections in the United States,.
Setting clear a direction that prevents China-US relations from spiraling out of control. President Xi said that two major countries such as China and the US cannot do without some great principled consensus, “With principles, there is direction, with direction, to properly handle differences and expand cooperation. It is based on this consideration that China and the US should adhere to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. President Biden has repeatedly reiterated such important statements as “four not one intention.”
China says the US should translate President Biden’s positive remarks into concrete policies and actions, stop containing and suppressing China, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, stop undermining China’s sovereign security and development interests, work with China to build the “four beams and eight pillars” conducive to the sound and steady development of China-US relations, and jointly consolidate the “solid foundation” for stable and lasting China-US relations.
Taiwan is part of China, and the Taiwan issue is China’s internal affairs. During their meeting, President Xi briefed President Biden on Taiwan’s history of colonization and aggression by outside powers over the past few hundred years, stressing that China opposes “Taiwan independence” and maintains territorial integrity, which means protecting China’s ancestral land. Anyone who wants to split Taiwan from China runs counter to China’s national greatness. The Chinese people will certainly share the same enemy and will never consent. President Biden said the US side adheres to the one-China policy, does not support “Taiwan independence,” does not support “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan” and does not seek to use the Taiwan issue as a weapon.
Because China and the US are permanent members of the UN Security Council, the international community hopes they will jointly address global challenges. President Xi Jinping said that China-US cooperation is good for both countries and the world. There are differences and differences between China and the United States, and differences should not become an obstacle to the development of China-US relations. Differences should be Cooperation requires a good atmosphere and stable relations. It must not be done unilaterally. Facts have repeatedly shown that the entire China-US relationship cannot be defined simply by competition, and cooperation is always the best choice for both countries. China-US cooperation benefits all parties and opens up a win-win future for China and the world.
On democratic human rights, President Xi observed that freedom, democracy and human rights are the common pursuit of mankind and the consistent pursuit of the CPC. The United States has American-style democracy and China has Chinese-style democracy, both of which are in line with their respective national conditions The entire process of people’s democracy in China is based on China’s national conditions and historical culture and reflects the will of the people Specific differences between the two sides can be explored, provided they are exchanged on an equal footing.
It is said that the Chinese are unfortunate because they do not have freedom. What do they think?
I’m an American who has been to China many times.
Freedom is somewhat relative. An old joke goes something like an American saying “You’re not free to criticize your government or country” and a Chinese responds “At least I’m free to support them!”
For the most part you can pretty much do whatever you want, there’s no random checks or harassment by the cops. Chinese cops are very friendly and hospitable, far more than Americans but that’s party because Chinese police aren’t hated or attacked nearly as much. Kids are taught from an early age to respect public servants like cops, firefighters, soldiers etc. It’s a very different culture, more like America 50 years ago.
There’s a few things that are banned such as pornography. You actually can criticize the government as long as you’re not a public figure like a radio personality, celebrity, journalist etc. Making jokes about the CPC is not unusual, they’re something like a meme to them. Guns aren’t universally banned as most people think, but very tightly regulated and require a license. Roughly the same level of private gun ownership as the UK. It’s a very safe society thanks to harsh penalties for breaking the law (you can get the death penalty for selling drugs, or even for political corruption, bribery, etc).
Journalism is basically supervised by the government, but they can generally publish whatever they want as long as it’s not politically critical. The media is very honest, because they don’t want to get caught in lies and undermine their legitimacy. They’d rather just omit a story than to lie about it. Compare to the US where most journalists lie routinely, on both sides, getting caught publishing fake news all the time.
Elections are a non issue that most people don’t bother with. You actually can vote, but it’s like voting for a local representative. That local rep votes for a higher rep, and so on. Nobody directly elects anyone of importance. Most people don’t even care so they don’t bother to vote.
Religion isn’t a problem if you belong to a legitimate established religion, not some crazy cult or scam like Scientology. Unfortunately the government doesn’t care about your holidays, nor do most employers, so it’s normal to work on Christmas. Churches accommodate this by holding services at night. With Catholics there’s no underground church anymore due to the agreement with the Pope a few years back. Church services are what you would experience everywhere else, same content, same Bible, and in major cities they’re in multiple languages, sometimes officiated by foreign missionaries, priests, etc.
Kids can drink in restaurants, it’s no big deal for a teen to have a beer or two.
Soldiers are confined to their bases, they live an extremely spartan lifestyle where enlisted men live together in communal barracks even if they’re married with children. Officers live in upstairs apartments. Discipline is harsh and getting arrested for anything is a dishonorable discharge, which carries with it far more limitations than here, like being banned from public transportation.
Altogether unless you like rioting and burning down buildings, committing crime, or watching porn, you probably wouldn’t notice much difference regarding freedom. Feel free to ask me any more specific questions, but don’t bother arguing with me or posting dubious news articles, you’ve never been there and I have so you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
Neo meets Morpheus (soundtrack edit)
The Matrix (1999)
Is the “Xinjiang Uyghurs” thing entirely a myth?
Of course it’s not a myth, silly! Uighurs are real! They aren’t like Santa Clause and unicorns! It’s just that they aren’t being exterminated in mass murder camps. China isn’t running their own version of Nazi Germany. Xi Jinping is not Hitler.
You see, the US is trying to fight a Cold War with China but China isn’t interested. Xi Jinping and those under him are very wise. Brilliant actually, because the US is throwing everything they can at China on multiple fronts. But China remains unmoved, resolute, strong in the face of pressure.
The US may start wars everywhere else but China is telling the US to get their troublemaking backsides off of their lawn and to go home.
The US harasses China in the SCS about Taiwan. The US harasses China’s financial district in Hong Kong. The US surrounds China in military bases from all sides. The US harasses China about Tibet.
Coincidentally Xinjiang separates China and the US theatre for war in the Middle East. Oooops! Didn’t know that, did you?
The US has admitted there is no genocide (state department). The US has admitted that they lie and are proud of it (Pompeo). The US admits that they run disinformation counterintelligence programs (Mockingbird, COINTELPRO etc). And the US has a terrible track record of starting wars and killing civilians whenever they want to “help spread democracy” (every war and intervention since WWII, literally). The US also thinks it runs the world and that China is about to surpass them as a superpower. Well they don’t run the world, but China is about to surpass them, and anything that will derail China’s success is fair game to the US government.
It’s no myth that Xinjiang and Uighurs exist. It’s a myth of lies every time you turn on Western media.
A China Insider comments on an e-mail thread
He’s well known, well liked, and well informed. But I cannot divulge his name. Many of you have read some of his writings on MM here.
Definitely the anti-mRNA movement has spread. With good reasons: People with a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine are dying faster than people with an inactivated, traditional vaccine.
Are you saying that the people resisting the devastating mRNA vaccines are the cause that more people are refusing the (traditional, inactivated) polio and measles vaccines ?
I didn’t knew that. Do you have some reports showing figures, proving that it are the mRNA refusers are the main cause of the increasing number of polio and measles vaccine refusers ?
China doesn’t want to approve and release a new mRNA vaccine without proper animal testing and the required Phase 1, 2 and 3 testing on humans. Such a procedure, if properly conducted, is taking almost two years.
One can’t say that, because China is testing a mRNA vaccine, developed in China, that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe.
Here, in my own neighbourhood, there are people
1. who’re fully vaccinated, boostered et all with Pfizer vaccines. And are satisfied with it, in spite of the side effects.
2. who’re fully vaccinated, boostered et all with Pfizer vaccines. And nevertheless died from Covid.
3. who’re fully vaccinated, boostered et all with Pfizer vaccines. And shrugging say that they had no other option because they’re in the medial business or in the army, … Or any other excuse to satisfy their consciousness.
4. who’re fully vaccinated, boostered et all with Pfizer vaccines. And deeply regret it, feel shame about it.
5. who’re fully vaccinated, two shots. And refused the boosters.
6. who got their first shot. And from then on got their ’re full consciousness back, refused any further Pfizer shots.
7. who went to Hungary or Serbia to get a Sinovac or Sputnik vaccine
8. who participated in testing of new, experimental Chinese vaccine in test phase 2 or 3
9. who got no vaccine at all because there are no other than mRNA vaccines in this country
10. who refuse all kind of vaccines out of religious reasons.
Enter the Matrix | The Matrix [Open Matte]
The mirror aspect of this scene follows the reverse Alice in Wonderland motif of the movie where, instead of going through the looking glass and traveling to a fantasy world, the looking glass travels into Neo’s body and wakes him up from the dream world into the real world.
The Killing Fields of Samoa
What happened in Samoa in 2019 and why is it so important now
We’re going back in time today… not all the way back to Ingersoll Lockwood times but just a little bit. To 2019. Just before the “COVID-19 pandemic”. Our location? The beautiful islands of Samoa.
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And you’re asking “What are you talking about? What happened in Samoa?”.
A lot happened. All in one month in November 2019 – just before the PANDEMIC™ struck, and you will see that the similarities with the PANDEMIC™ are eerie – down to the same forced lockdowns and forced vaccinations that were only ever intended to enforce medical fascism on a population – because every pandemic plan document prior to 2020 said they were not helpful to contain a viral outbreak.
So let’s then turn to Samoa (and neighbouring Fiji and Tonga) in 2019. Here is the timeline
April 2019 – MMR relaunched in Samoa after a pause on the vaccination program in 2018 after two vaccine-related deaths of children. The vaccine program was poorly received by the Samoan population and uptake was low. 1st Oct 2019 – UNICEF delivered 135,000 doses of measles vaccines to Fiji, 110,500 doses of measles vaccines to Samoa (as well as supplies of vitamin A) and 12,000 doses of measles vaccines to Tonga 18th Oct 2019 – Samoa declares a measles outbreak. 24th Oct 2019 – Tonga declares a measles outbreak. 7th Nov 2019 – Fiji declares a measles outbreak (archive here) 15th Nov 2019 – State of emergency declared in Samoa after 1000 cases and 15 deaths (of which 14 were children under five)
Immediately the propaganda machine moves into action making the world believe that the problem is the fact that Samoa – for one year only – had a lower vaccination rate than the neighbouring islands…
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Other estimates of vaccine coverage in the region actually put Fiji and Tonga at nearly 100% and the coverage in Samoa reached 100% in 2013 following which it started dropping. In other words, if the vaccines were working as promised herd immunity should have been reached years before. In fact, despite global vaccination rates over 80% it appears that the herd immunity promise has never eventuated for measles.
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Confirmation of this was of course the fact that Fiji and Tonga both had measles outbreaks despite reported vaccination rates of near 100% – so the vaccines didn’t prevent a massive bout of infections at all.
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And in fact, there was a mass vaccination campaign which had already provided 32,743 vaccinations (mostly children) before the outbreak – for a population of 200,000 people, of whom there are approximately 20,000 under-5s. In other words, enough of the Samoan population had been vaccinated by 2019 that they should have been “protected” from a fatal measles outbreak.
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So why was the Samoan outbreak such a problem that it was reported worldwide while the Fiji/Tongan outbreaks were ignored? Well, kids were dying. A lot. In fact, the death rate in the Samoan measles outbreak of November 2019 was 40 times the usual death rate for measles in developed countries.
Wait, what? Here’s the official chart as at Dec 8, 2019 from the Samoan govt twitter feed when the population was “90% vaccinated”
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In the under 10 category this was 62 deaths out of 2898, which is 2.1%1. The typical death rate for measles in “Developed economies” is 0.05%. Here is a review from 2009 but there have been similar reviews since.
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I’ve chosen an earlier review on purpose, despite the fact that it was funded by the WHO. It is hard to find a later review not funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The authors concluded that there was trend to lower CFR (case fatality rate) in vaccinated populations but it wasn’t definitive and there may also have been a benefit of Vitamin A supplementation. The biggest underlying association with reported CFRs was in fact where the study was done, with rural and and urban areas showing higher CFRs on the basis that they were biased towards areas with a higher incidence of measles outbreaks.
We can assume therefore that the true CFR for measles should be much lower than 1%, in healthy populations irrespective of vaccination uptake. In fact the measles vaccination is supposed to prevent outbreaks (i.e. infection) rather than the complications of the outbreak (e.g. death and pneumonia). It is therefore interesting to see what happens in completely unvaccinated populations and why victims might die – a clue given in this study
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The point being, that a rational overview of measles death rates should assess the medical care given to measles cases rather than simply relying on vaccination alone as a method to control measles fatalities. To underpin the point, despite measles vaccination programs reaching nearly every community of every country in the world, what is happening to the death rates from measles?
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Oops.
So there are two aspects to the devastating and fatal Samoa outbreak
Why did a measles outbreak occur in 3 neighbouring islands at the same time, just weeks after a delivery of UNICEF vaccines to those very islands?
Why did the death rate in the Samoan outbreak reach such high levels far in excess of what would be expected in a country with access to healthcare?
Well for (1) it is clear that the vaccine wasn’t effective at preventing the outbreaks, which means that either the measles vaccines don’t work (not just the current one they provided but those from the years prior that were supposed to give herd immunity) – or there was a new strain of measles introduced that was not covered by the vaccines.
For (2) it is reasonably clear from reports on the ground that there were major issues getting hold of medical treatments for those affected. It’s really worth watching this episode of The Highwire from Dec 2019 which gives a very different view of the situation than the government and WHO reported.
The takeaway from reports in Samoa at the time was that basic medical care, including Vitamin A, Vitamin C and other supportive measures, was denied to the children of Samoa. It is almost as if it was necessary that a lot of children died to promote a narrative that then required government intervention “to sort out the problem”. To be clear, those children didn’t need to die. They died because the government needed to convince the population that they were in charge and dissent was not allowed. Governments do this.
In any case the desired intervention came swiftly in early December.
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What is it that this “crazy anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist” is claiming? Vitamin A and vitamin C treats measles? That’s crazy, right?
Wrong.
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Just to clarify, it’s better that children don’t get measles at all but if they do, the correct supportive measures (as you would get in “developed” countries which still get measles despite 95%+ vaccination rates) reduce the risk of death. That’s also according to the WHO
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Of course, Vitamin A supplementation became an “anti-vaxx conspiracy theory” in December despite the fact that UNICEF delivered vitamin A supplements to Samoa in November.
I do not want to turn MM into a anti-Vaxx blog. I just want to highlight an article of importance during this very critical time. -MM
It’s only WEEKS away and it might be worse than the Great Recession
"The current administration can’t do simple math and they certainly can’t do business. We’re so hosed."
Should the United States declare war on China in response to the Uyghur genocide?
Such an ignorant thing to suggest.
First of all, why would anybody start a long, bloody war over an internal domestic matter in China??? Such a war would be enormously destructive for both China and the United States, as well as the entire world. You do understand that both countries are major nuclear powers, right?
Second, there is no Uyghur genocide. This is anti-China propaganda bullshit from the Americans. You’re going to start a war over a fantasy?
Third, war would mean millions of civilian deaths in both countries. These civilians are innocent. You profess to defend innocent Uyghurs but you would condemn millions of Chinese civilians to wartime death?
It is clear you haven’t given an iota of thought to this entire matter. It’s a knee-jerk reaction from a profoundly ignorant mindset.
STRAIGHT TO HELL. 1987
Seriously, love this movie.
At his meeting with Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated the one-China principle and that Taiwan belongs to China. What do you think? Is Biden trying to improve US-China relations?
Talk is cheap.
Do it. since you admit Taiwan is part of China which means say Hawaii is part of the USA stop selling arms to Taiwan without China’s consent. China did not send its leader of congress flying into Hawaii?
He certainly don’t have a joint meeting and public announcement that condemns the US policy! China don’t arm Hawaii, it certainly don’t send its warships to Hawaii unannounced and unwelcome!
So saying one thing and behaving another like a rogue state cannot be good for America’s image. Back off. Taiwan is China’s business just as Hawaii is the US business. Just back off.
Your are damn right Biden is trying to improve relation just as China wants to. Offending your biggest market which happened to be bigger that the next 5 nations and growing a Spain a year is suicidal for the US.
Start repairing your image around the world beginning with China that the US knows bulling nations don’t work in 2022. Start accepting you are a pillar not the sole superpower anymore that knows you can’t arbitrarily sanctions nations you don’t like. These days it harm you more than it harms them.
This meeting is pursued by the US, China is happy to help make a better world. I am happy they met and the handshake and genuine smile from both man is a happy moment for the world. China is not your enemy. You have been your own enemy.
Biden, control you neocons, your military industrial complex and NRA before they destroy you and America. Act like a leader. Sack Blinken and O’Sullivan they destroy the spirit of humanity. Build bridges with China not walls. China knows wall don’t work. It has relics to remind them.
How can people live? How can you not getting angry? Why do such crimes committed across the world continue on a daily basis, year on year?
Still remember, during the Covid pandemic, the crusaders seized each other shipment of medical supplies transit through each other countries?
And the recent behavior across virtually all Western countries in seizing everything Russians?
Yet, I wake up everyday surrounded by the crusader propaganda machine. Listening to all kind of HR craps, fake news, and self advertised universal Western values... Knowing the reverse is the truth... It is hard not to drive people resentment.
I also collected the behavior of the crusader soldiers war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan by each and every crusader nations, these crimes includes chopping off people heads, use as ball to kick and have fun, and chopping of people fingers as trophy to keep track of how many they killed... Yet, those with war such crimes scandal won election.
How not to link such behavior with the culture of cruelty?
How not to call such civilization barbaric and needed culture reform and re-education?
Cheers
Chua
What is the biggest culture shock you have ever faced?
When I first came to America from China at the age of 6, I entered first grade. I didn’t understand why kids were getting their lunch food and not finishing it. I saw children bring their left over food to the large trash cans and scraping it off their trays – from half-eaten pizzas to untouched burgers. I watched them pour their milk into a white bucket. In China, this was a huge no-no in school. We had to finish everything. The first kid who finished his lunch got the privilege of helping the teacher clean up the classroom and set up the nap time area.
One day, my first grade American teacher announced that we would be having a pot luck and everyone was encouraged to bring something from their country. I got super excited and told my parents. They were debating whether to make pot stickers (Chinese dumplings) or Lo mein noodles. I loved dumplings!!! My mom stayed up after her long day of work and kneaded the dough, chopped up the bok choy and minced ginger and pork and folded them into dumplings. She put them in the fridge and woke up early in the morning to steam them and fry them so they would taste extra fresh when I brought them to school. They smelled great and looked golden brown after they were cooked.
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(They looked exactly like these, photo from genius kitchen.)
I was so excited to share these with my class and teachers. It was placed in the corner of the table next to all the other delicious food. Many kids grabbed the cookies and juices and were hesitant to try the dumplings. One or two kids bravely took a piece and knew what they were because they had it with their parents at a Chinese restaurant. At the end of the party, it was cleanup. My teacher walked up to me and asked and pointed to the tray of dumplings, “would you like to take these home?” I meekly replied, “No…” it was very impolite to take your gift home. I thought she was going to share it with other teachers, but immediately after I said that, she poured the whole tray of dumplings into the trash and continued cleaning. I was baffled; what just happened???
This was the biggest culture shock I have experienced and still continue to see frequently in my American friends. Please eat all your food or take it to go or share it or just get enough so you don’t have to throw it away. Thank you.
Court Orders CDC to Release Data Showing 18 Million Vaccine Injuries in America
More than 18 million people were injured so badly by their first COVID shot from Pfizer or Moderna that they had to go to the hospital. That’s according to the CDC’s own internal data, which a court just ordered the federal agency to release to a watchdog group.
The CDC started a vaccine monitoring program back at the very beginning of the COVID shot rollout in December of 2020. You might remember it; the program was called V-safe. People were asked to install the V-safe app on their smartphones and then self-report if they have any negative effects from the experimental mRNA shots, which were released to the public under an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA.
A lot of people were eager to help, because world governments had scared many folks very badly over the virus. Many thought that the COVID shots were a medical miracle in late 2020. So, more than 10 million people downloaded V-safe on their smartphones, and then proceeded to get vaccinated.
That’s a huge sample size for a medical study. With 10 million people participating in the V-safe self-reporting system, it gives an extremely accurate statistical model to use when studying the 230 million Americans who have had at least one COVID shot.
The CDC tracked data in the V-safe program for the first 18 months of the vaccine’s public availability, up through July of this year. But then, strangely, the CDC never published any data from V-safe. We couldn’t see it. We just had to trust the CDC, which had been caught lying repeatedly.
The CDC’s main webpage about the mRNA COVID shots still says, to this very day, “COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and free.” That’s the very first sentence on the website. Safe and effective! That’s been the CDC’s position for the entire time. The vaccines are safe, and they cannot hurt you.
If that’s true, then why wouldn’t the CDC release the data until a court ordered it to do so following a lawsuit by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN)? The data speaks for itself.
Of the 10 million people who participated in V-safe – again, a massive sample size – 3.3 million reported Adverse Health Impacts (AHIs) immediately after their first vaccination. That’s 33% or one-in-three. Of those 3.3 million people, 1.2 million reported that they were unable to perform daily activities for a time after vaccination. 1.3 million reported getting so sick from the shots that they had to miss school or work. And about 800,000 reported being hospitalized by their COVID vaccination.
That last figure is the most worrisome. 800,000 hospitalizations out of 10 million people? That’s an 8% hospitalization rate. It means that as many as 18 million of the 230 million people who received at least one shot may have been hospitalized with an adverse reaction.
A study published in June of 2021 by the National Institutes of Health found that the hospitalization rate from COVID-19 for the total population was 2.1%. If you are under the age of 40, the NIH study claims hospitalization rate from COVID-19 is just 0.4%.
For the shots, the hospitalization rate has been 8%.
This means that:
YOU ARE 4 TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE HOSPITALIZED BY THE VACCINES THAN BY COVID ITSELF, NO MATTER WHAT AGE GROUP YOU ARE IN.
YOU ARE 20 TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE HOSPITALIZED BY THE SHOTS IF YOU ARE UNDER AGE 40 THAN BY COVID ITSELF.
ICAN has set up a website where you can finally view the CDC’s V-safe data online. The data was released on October 3, 2022, under a court order. You can see the data for yourself HERE.
The CDC seems to many people to have been lying to the American people about the vaccines all this time.
(HT Remark:There need to be legal consequences for this. Public trials and long jail sentences are necessary for anyone at the CDC who participated in this cover-up.)
Grace Jones – I’m Not Perfect But I’m Perfect For You
Is there anything positive the crusaders could contribute to the world?
According to the joint chiefs of staff of the South Korean armed forces, four South Korean F-35A jets and four US F-16 fighters flew in a coordinated assault formation over the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula.
The Joint Chief also announced a mock drill for attacking North Korea’s ground-launch facilities with GBU-12 airborne laser-guided bombs to show that they were prepared “to strike the adversary with precision.” The bombing mock drill was reportedly conducted at a firing range in Gangwon Province.
The intercontinental ballistic missile fired by North Korea reportedly traveled about a thousand kilometers before landing in the sea over 200 kilometers away from Japan. However, the Japanese Defense Minister stated that the intercontinental ballistic missile had a range sufficient to strike the entire mainland of the United States.
Have there been any recent notable strikes or labor protests in China’s manufacturing sector?
Thousands of Protests!!!!
Surprised?
Why exactly should you be?
I mean this is China – they manufacture on a Scale that is unimaginable to most of the world. Obviously a Nation that manufactures for the entire world would have far more Labor Protests and disputes than the rest of the world combined.
So why dont we hear of too many Protests?
I mean sure – One Protest and the West will cover it like its the next 1917 Revolution – but generally – the number of Protests we hear about are probably around 1% of the actual protests that happen in China.
The Reason is – The Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
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Collective Bargaining is one of the best Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
Every Worker agrees that a Minimum Number is required to officially Protest during working hours
The General Number ranges from 1/3 to 3/4 of the Workers
Some Industries demand at least 4/5 Workers to register a Protest to initiate Collective Bargaining
The Main Protest in China isnt about Wages or Money. Its about the number of hours of work.
So a Single Meeting is enough to ensure that a Protest is finished successfully
Blacklisting
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Blacklisting is famous and China has a single unified Database of Workers in most Cities.
A Blacklisted Worker can never be member of any Association and cannot be part of any Collective Bargaining.
Workers who protest too much – Western Style will get Blacklisted and that means being at least 50% worse off than your fellow workers.
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Profit Linked Wage and Incentives
China is the only Country that officially has a system where Taxes are linked to Economy and where Profits must legally be split among the Workforce vide Wage and Incentives.
This way if the Owner suffers, the Employees will put up with it but if the Owners makes big profits then so will the Employees
The PLWI was already followed by many Companies in the Higher End of the Scale (Huawei for instance) but now its become the Law since 2017.
As a result – Most Workers in China dont protest on Wages or Conditions, unlike most other Countries.
Their Protests are about the more mundane things that can range from Working Hours to Alternate Sundays Off to Canteen doesnt serve Pork or The Bus is too slow for us
Thus Most Protests can be easily handled in a single meeting
STRIKES – NO!!!!
Strikes are Illegal and anyone who strikes will suffer the full force of the law.
Protests are legal if permission is availed and if the public is not disturbed
However any Protest that extends beyond Permitted Time or Space will lead to dire consequences
The world was shocked when video emerged showing what appeared to be Ukrainian soldiers slaughtering Russian soldiers, who had surrendered, were disarmed, and laying face down on the ground. Now, Social Media postings claim they have identified the soldiers who fired the deadly shots!
Killing surrendering troops is a War Crime.
The violent and graphic video was reported earlier, HERE
As seen in the posting above, the men are now being “hunted” for what they did to the Russians.
Why are citizens of countries like Spain, Italy, and France who eat a lot of bread not among the most overweight people in the world?
Quite a few things:
Our bread, and in general, our food, never have sugar added. I mean, if I got bread, and it tastes sugary, I never buy that again. Bread is not supposed to be sugary.
We eat a lot less processed food.
Our cities are walkable. I, for example, live in Madrid, and don’t even have a car. I’m at 15 min. walk from my work. I go walking to buy groceries and generally everything.
This is a personal pet peeve of mine: what happens with the gluten-free mania you have there? I mean, if you are celiac (which is an objective thing that have its own test), then I can understand… but the rest? Gluten is protein, and one of the most complete proteins that you’ll find in the vegetal world… and you remove it from the bread??? Are you fucking crazy, people? I generally like breads with as much gluten as you can find; they are generally more airy, the crust is tastier, and is a lot more healthy. There is nothing like a Hogaza Gallega.
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And this have more protein (around 15%) than many processed meals you eat.
5. Fats. If you don’t gorge yourself in sugars, you have space to eat healthy fats. Olive oil, the main one, but also fats that go with meat and fish. Likewise, if you don’t gorge on sugars and added starches of processed food, you can eat more starches. I eat french fries most days; of course, not the frozen stuff: directly cut from the potato, and fried in good olive oil. Good fats are important to be healthy, help raise testosterone and quite a few other things; if you avoid the hydrogenated shit of processed food, you have space for them in your calorie budget.
6. Sugary drinks. We have those, but we don’t have the same culture that you have. We drink it sometimes, but generally the zero version. They are also crap, but at least not sugary shit; and we don’t drink them that frequently.
Why do European people stop traveling to the USA?
Let me tell you a true story. Last year my wife and I flew from New Zealand to Britain for a holiday. It’s about 24 hours flying so there is a 2 hour stop half way at Los Angeles to refuel. It doesn’t take 2 hours to refuel but unlike sane countries where you can wait in a transit area the USA makes you go through immigration even though you are going straight back into the same seat on the same aircraft.
No problem, I have an APEC card so I can bypass the queues. Nope, unfortunately I was holding a transit card so my wife and I were pulled from the very short APEC queue as the busy body official said if I was in transit I was not in the USA to do business and therefore could not use my APEC card.
So we join the first queue for biometric scanning. Half an hour later we have a ticket and go join the new queue. I’m a known traveler so apparently I can join a short queue but my wife has never been to the USA so has to join the normal queue. The normal queue which is massive. After an hour we are only about one third done. I was expecting another 2 hours wait at the current progress rate. Before my APEC card, I had needed up to 3 hours to clear entry into the USA and missed at least two connecting flights that way. So half an hour before due departure the flight crew came looking for us. We waved our transit cards and were pulled from the queue. We were taken to the APEC line to clear so we would not delay the departure on to London. The same queue I was thrown out of 90 minutes earlier. I hate LAX, it is the worst run airport on the planet.
I have traveled to Ukraine and I regularly travel to China both of which are super pleasant experiences relative to entering the USA. Coming home is still the best. I can arrive on an international flight at Auckland airport and from the time the wheels touch the runway to the time I exit the terminal can often be less than 30 minutes and the one customs officer I have to talk to will have a smile on their face and do their job in about 20 seconds.
If the USA wants tourists, they need to first start treating their visitors as human beings, not terrorists.
China has donated 1.1 million masks and thousands of pieces of protective clothing to Japan, 7.1 million masks to South Korea and 1.25 million masks to Iran. Why hasn’t China donated masks to the United States?
The first thing to emphasize is that it is not that China has never donated masks to the United States. On April 21, 2020, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg: “At present, China has provided 1.4 billion masks to the United States. This is equivalent to each Chinese contributing 1 mask, and each American people can get 5 masks.
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China’s donation of masks to the United States does not mean that China is courting the United States or to please the United States, but because China is a responsible country, not limited to political disputes, and can stand on a humanitarian level in the face of the epidemic, put aside conflicts and help each other.
But what have American politicians done to China during the epidemic? Trump has repeatedly called the novel coronavirus the “Chinese virus” in an attempt to stigmatize China, continue to intensify racial conflicts and racial discrimination, and incite hatred. They also continue to maliciously slander China, claiming to have found “the core evidence that China leaked the virus”, which is outrageous. They also watched the fire from the other side, and did not provide medical assistance to China.
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In the face of these bottomless behaviors, there is no need for China to express any goodwill to the United States, but why is China still willing to put aside conflicts and donate materials to fight the epidemic together? That is because the Chinese people pay attention to tolerance, unlike those despicable American politicians, and choose to put the greater good first in the face of the epidemic, which is a common disaster to mankind. It can be seen that China has always pursued the realization of the common interests of mankind, and has always regarded the world as a community with a shared future. This is enough to admire.
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Why was China willing to generously donate materials to Japan, South Korea and Iran?
That’s because these countries helped China in times of crisis, put aside their conflicts and disputes and cheered for China.
“The mountains and rivers are different, the wind and the moon are in the same sky” written on the materials donated by Japan to China touched the hearts of many people; all walks of life in South Korea have donated nearly 200 million yuan for China’s fight against the epidemic; and Iran, which was sanctioned by the United States, still donated millions of masks to China.
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China will never forget these friendships. Thousands of years ago, there was a saying in China, “Put me with peach, and repay it with Qiong Yao “. China will definitely repay the help from all over the world.
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Therefore , before asking this kind of question , it is best to think about whether what the United States has done is really worthy of China’s goodwill? At the same time, think carefully about whether the United States itself is worthy of the self-proclaimed “world leader” , and has it really taken on the responsibility of a big country to help those in distress? Of course , I also call for distinguishing those despicable American politicians from the friendship between the Chinese and American people. I think this friendship will allow us to remain compassion in the face of difficulties and malicious incitement .
Russia is sending record amounts of crude oil to Asian countries.
Exports to China, India, Turkey, and unspecified locations rose to 2.39 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg. Russia is racing to export crude ahead of the EU ban on Russian oil, which could slash Russia’s oil revenue.
Obviously, the world can live without the crusaders, whereas, the crusaders without the power to bully and loot, they will be down the drain and become nothing.
Russia is scrambling to export more crude before European Union sanctions take effect, and the nation is currently shipping record volumes of oil to Asia.
Russian crude flows to China, India, and Turkey – as well as crude shipments that haven’t been labeled with a final destination – rose to 2.39 million barrels a day in the month leading up to November 11, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Meanwhile, in the last week, Russian oil exports fell to a three-week low, with the nation exporting just 2.9 million barrels a day.
That’s a sign Russia is ramping up crude sales to its allies ahead of December 5, the date where the EU ban on Russian oil will fully kick in and the bloc is expected to give support for the plan to cap Russian oil prices.
If successful, the measures are expected to majorly crimp Russia’s export revenue, and some effects are already being seen. Russia’s revenue from crude exports just hit its lowest point since the invasion of Ukraine. In particular, crude exports to Europe fell to a five-week low of 700,000 barrels a day in the month leading up to November 11, and oil shipments to Europe were down 11% compared to the previous four-week period, according to Bloomberg data.
Russia has threatened to simply sell more oil to Asia if western nations impose a price cap, but Russian ports are already running into insurance and shipping issues with sanctions, and the upcoming deadline has exporters racing to hand off crude to customers in Asia.
At this point, any ships loaded with Russian oil in the Baltics won’t make it to China or India in time before sanctions kick in, which could leave oil shipments uninsured mid-voyage. Russian ports in the Pacific are also unlikely to make it a trip to India without getting spoiled by sanctions, as the voyage takes several weeks.
Europe could also get hurt by sanctions, as the continent faces an energy crisis and skyrocketing oil prices once Russian supplies are slashed from the spot market. Goldman Sachs commodities chief Jeff Currie warned that Europe would see another spike in oil prices this winter, with Brent crude hitting a $115 a barrel. Energy Aspects’ Livia Gallarati proposed a similar price range, as supplies are set to tighten and demand isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) telling people to “stop” taking ivermectin for COVID-19 was informal and just a recommendation, government lawyers argued during a recent hearing.
“The cited statements were not directives. They were not mandatory. They were recommendations. They said what parties should do. They said, for example, why you should not take ivermectin to treat COVID-19. They did not say you may not do it, you must not do it. They did not say it’s prohibited or it’s unlawful. They also did not say that doctors may not prescribe ivermectin,” Isaac Belfer, one of the lawyers, told the court during the Nov. 1 hearing in federal court in Texas.
“They use informal language, that is true,” he also said, adding that, “it’s conversational but not mandatory.”
The hearing was held in a case brought by three doctors who say the FDA illegally interfered with their ability to prescribe medicine to their patients when it issued statements on ivermectin, an anti-parasitic that has shown positive results in some trials against COVID-19.
Ivermectin is approved by the FDA but not for COVID-19. Drugs are commonly used for non-approved purposes in the United States; the practice is known as off-label treatment.
The FDA created a webpage in 2021 titled “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19” and later posted a link to the page on Twitter while writing: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
A second post stated: “Hold your horses, y’all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.”
“Q: Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19?
A: No.”
Those actions interfered with the doctors’ practice of medicine, violating the laws including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the lawsuit alleges.
It asked the court to rule the actions unlawful and bar the FDA from directing or opining as to whether ivermectin should be used to treat COVID-19.
Jared Kelson, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told the court during the hearing that that informal claim “doesn’t explain the language they actually used: ‘Stop it. Stop it with the ivermectin.’”
The FDA’s actions “clearly convey that this is not an acceptable way to treat these patients,” he argued.
Plaintiffs in the case include Dr. Paul Marik, who began utilizing ivermectin in his COVID-19 treatment protocol in 2020 while he was chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School and director of the intensive care unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
After the FDA’s statements, Marik was told to remove the protocol from the school’s servers while Sentara issued a memorandum to hospitals telling them to stop using ivermectin against COVID-19, with a citation to the FDA.
Marik was forced to resign from his positions because he couldn’t prescribe ivermectin due to the FDA’s statements, the suit alleges.
The government has moved to dismiss the complaint, asserting plaintiffs lack standing because the injuries cannot be traced back to the FDA.
More From the Hearing
During the recent hearing, which was on the motion to dismiss, the government said the FDA could not be blamed for the injuries.
“Plaintiffs have also not shown that any of their claimed injuries are fairly traceable to defendants’ statements because their injuries were caused by independent third-party conduct that was not a predictable response to those statements,” Belfer, the government lawyer, said.
Belfer noted that the FDA’s pages say people can use ivermectin if their health care provider prescribes it, argued the statements “did not bind the public or FDA, did not interpret any substantive rules, and did not set agency policy,” and said the FDA’s position could change in the future if new data become available.
“They also do not have legal consequences for anyone but simply provide nonbinding recommendations to consumers,” he said.
Kelson disagreed.
“If the government is going to label ivermectin a horse medicine or a horse dewormer and promulgate the idea that it is only for animals, then the natural correlation is that doctors who prescribe it are horse doctors or quack doctors, which has played out,” he said. “That is enough of a harm to get into court,” or have the motion to dismiss rejected, he said.
Ivermectin is used on animals in addition to humans. The FDA used a picture of a horse in its Twitter posts and on one of its pages.
“The government engaged in a singularly effective campaign here to malign a common drug that has been used for a very long time and has been dispensed in billions of doses. It’s one of the most famously safe drugs in the history of human medicine. And when people did exactly what the FDA said to ‘Stop it. Stop it with the ivermectin,’ I don’t understand how that would not be traceable back to the FDA,” Kelson said.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee overseeing the case, said that he was most concerned about the social media statements because they did not include any qualifiers.
Belfer argued the statements were aimed at consumers and that the Twitter posts linked to one of the pages, which does include the qualifier.
“So it was predictable that if you include the link to the article, people will click on the link and will see the full article, which includes that disclaimer that if your doctor writes you a prescription, you should fill it exactly as prescribed,” he said.
“The plaintiffs, by their own admission, have continued to prescribe ivermectin. So they always had the authority. It may be that patients were not able to fill prescriptions, but the doctors themselves always had the authority,” he added later.
Brown said he appreciated the briefing from the parties and that he would rule “as quickly as we can for ya’ll.” As of Nov. 19, he has not issued a ruling.
Ken Griffin warns U.S. faces ‘immediate Great Depression’ if China seizes Taiwan’s semiconductor industry
The Citadel CEO worries U.S. restrictions on selling advanced computer chips to China could make invading Taiwan more tempting to Beijing.
Note: like Chinese space station, Beidou, moon landing, the coming Chinese made chips will beat any existing crusader technologies.
Pan Gallego is a traditional Spanish crusty bread originating from Galicia. It is characterized by a soft and springy crumb with many air pockets and a hard crust, depending on the variety. In artisan bakeries, it’s made with wheat flour or trigo gallego (Galician wheat), a sourdough starter, salt, and large amount of water.
The bread needs long rising times – at least 3 hours – and baking times. There are four types of loaves – the bolo or hogaza, a misshapen round loaf with small cracks on the upper part and often with a topknot; the rosca, an irregular and flat ring of bread; the bola or torta, which is round and flat; and the barra, a baguette-type loaf.
The bread is aromatic with an intense wheaty flavor and slightly acidic notes. For the best experience, try it with a cheese called La Tetilla.
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Ingredients
1 tablespoon Spanish olive oil
1 smoked ham hock, skin scored
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika
1 1/2 cups dried white beans, such as navy, rinsed and soaked in cold water overnight
1 pound potatoes, peeled and large-diced
1 pound turnip tops, rinsed well and coarsely chopped (substitute spring or savoy cabbage if you cannot find turnip greens)
In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the ham hock, onions, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until slits of ham hock have begun to open and vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon of the salt, pepper, to taste, and paprika and cook for 1 minute longer. Add 9 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. Drain the white beans and add them to the pot. Return to a simmer and continue to cook at a simmer until beans are just beginning to get tender, about 1 hour longer. Remove the ham hock and, when cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the hock and shred into bite size pieces. (Discard skin and bones.) Return the meat to the pot along with the remaining salt (or to taste), potatoes, turnip greens, and chorizo and continue to cook until beans have broken down slightly, potatoes and greens are very tender, about 1 hour longer. Remove the bay leaf and serve hot.
Note: you may have to add a bit more water if the soup gets too thick during the lengthy cooking time.
COVER-UP OF VACCINE DATA BEGINS; EUROPEAN DATA PURGED FROM VAERS SYSTEM
The Vaccine Adverse Event Recording System (VAERS) has been a well-spring of information about the ugly reality of COVID-19 “Vaccines.” This past week, the data in VAERS was “purged” of European information, at the request of “European Regulators.”
The deliberate removal of European information caused the following data changes:
The “Cancer Signal,” was halved
The “Myocarditis, Dose 3 Response Signal” was lost, AND;
994 “Spontaneous Abortions/Still-Births” were dropped.
A cover-up of Vaccine-related injury data is now in full progress.
The report below, by Jessica Rose, provides the details . . .
BY: Jessica Rose
As most of you know, me and a bunch of other people are monitoring VAERS data very closely week-by-week. This week (11.18.22), the first thing I noticed was that the Foreign data set was less than a fraction of the size it was last week (11.11.22): down from 283.51 MB to 96.81 MB. There is a disclaimer under the VAERS data that states the following, so this is not mistake.
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I decided to process the data as I always do on Fridays.
The first thing I do when I analyze the VAERS data (after downloading) is compile the Domestic data set. Then I compile the Foreign data set. The I merge them along with the 2021 COVID-19 data. Then I count the numbers of VAERS IDs in both and do some basic descriptive statistics – like how many males versus females, age demographics, dose data and more. Then I start my grouped queries like death counts and severe adverse event counts, etc..
In the case of myocarditis, I always run the code over the Domestic, the Foreign and the combined data sets independently.
The first thing I noticed is that the myocarditis dose 3 response signal is gone. There is a 49% decrease in the number of myocarditis reports.
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The second thing I noticed was that 944 spontaneous abortions are missing.
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The third thing I noticed was that the cancer reports, although they maintain a similar age distribution as the previous weeks, as shown in Figure 4, there is a 46% decrease in reports.
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There’s so much more to cover, but I will update as time goes on.
This move to scrub VAERS Data comes the exact same week that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claimed in court that their telling people NOT TO USE Ivermectin to treat COVID-19, was merely a Recommendation . . . with no force to it. (STORY HERE)
Clearly, governments are trying to cover-up and erase the factual data and the actual conduct they engaged in surrounding COVID-19.
I might be moving with my husband to Canada. We’re from the US. What are some things I should know about Canadian culture before we move? Which American cultural things do I need to be aware of and avoid?
Twenty-five years ago I moved to Canada on a fiancé Visa. I have been very happy here. Canada is DIFFERENT in history, landscape, laws and constitution, politics, and their sense of place in the international scene. I spent the first 3 years listening and learning, being very sweet and respectful and above all generous and friendly. I let them see that I was actually OK and this made many good friends for me. I read as many books as I could about this wonderful nation and I paid attention to the local and national news. I was an IMMIGRANT and not so much an American anymore.
First you must determine if you will be allowed to live in Canada. The country has strict immigration laws which cannot be skirted. Not everyone is allowed to cross the border and set up a long-term living situation.
Culture: For the most part Canadians are quieter, less bossy, and far less outspoken that Americans. Americans seem more childlike in that they are louder, friendlier and more demanding. Sorry, but this is true. So tone it down. Be polite. Say please and thank you and show great respect for everyone. There are many cultures here and they love to celebrate themselves and their old-country traditions too. Join the fun!
It is silly and rude to compare the two countries. There are some things in which the U.S. surpasses all others in accomplishment. But that does not make it a “better” country. It is also rude to criticize Canada’s political system, health care system, highways, restaurants, holidays (Victoria Day?) traditional food (depending on which region you will be living in), availability of luxury items, or anything that is Canadian. Canadians can complain, but new immigrants should hold their tongues.
The health care system is not perfect, but it IS wonderful, in that NO one must ever worry about their ability to pay for medical care, from the most minor to the most major events. I had open-heart surgery and the cost to me, ambulance, medi-flight, 2 weeks in the cardiac unit to stabilize, then the surgery and the week of recovery cost us ….ZERO. The only expense my husband and I had was to fly home from the major city in another province to our sweet home in the wilderness of northern British Columbia. IF you are seriously ill you will be given the best care immediately. IF you can wait (as for a knee replacement) then you will be put on a list and when the orthopedic surgeons are finished treating emergency cases and all the folks ahead of you on “the list,” it will be YOUR turn to receive world class care. Canada is rightfully proud of its history of health care reform, and yet they really love to gripe about it.
Comparing the two countries is just wrong. It’s “apples and oranges.” Their trade agreements, climate, resource development and production are quite different from the systems in the U.S. For example: food is more expensive here. But you learn to make holistic adjustments to accommodate this. Drugs are cheaper because the government has control over the prices that can be charged.
Society: Canada isn’t so much a “melting pot” as it is a stew, with “foreign” cultures generally receiving the respect they deserve. Do to a constitutional agreement with Quebec, Catholic schools are also public schools and supported by the state. Get used to it. There is racism in Canada, and it seems to all on the aboriginal (native) people here who are referred to as First Nations People. They are the Inuit, Indians, Metis (mixed Indian and white). They don’t have the violent history that native people in the U.S. have had, but they suffer as second class citizens and low expectations. Canada recognizes this problem and doesn’t have any good answers to eradicate the racism because, as it is for every other nation, this is an endemic problem, deep and dug in.
There’s a fair amount of male chauvinism too. Women face the same barriers as they do in the U.S. And Canada has its share of right-wing extremists, white nationalists, kooks and cult leaders. And I was really surprised to discover that not just a few Canadians thought that Donald Trump was a savior, and they wanted him to come lead Canada in the “right direction.”
But since I have lived here, I’ve come to see that Canadian Conservatives are more liberal than our liberals are. They are proud of their county. They want to be GOOD people, socially responsible and kind. They seem more religiously tolerant as well, in that I have yet to meet a Canadian who thought they could tell ME how to worship.
Canadians are VERY proud of their land. It is majestic, wide, wild, beautiful and magnificent.
If you learn to sing their anthem, they will really like you for it.
Apple Souls
I have released one of my Patreon videos for public consumption. If you haven’t watched this one yet, I would recommend that you do.
Ukrainian Nazi troops have committed a war crime of slaughtering surrendering Russian Troops. The Russians were dis-armed, laying face-down on the ground, when Ukrainian Nazis opened fire upon them, killing them all. Video of the slaughter appears below . . .
According to sources on the scene, soldiers from the Ukrainian 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, committed the murders. According to eye witnesses, the names and surnames of the killers are known and the information has been passed to the Russian Army.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement: “The Russian Federation demands, from International Organizations, to condemn the crime of Ukraine, with the Execution of Russian prisoners of war, and conduct an investigation.”
Here now is actual video of the Russian soldiers SURRENDERING. CAUTION: GRAPHIC VIDEO SHOWING ACTUAL WAR CRIME DEATHS! Viewers will see the Russians are dis-armed, and laying face-down on the ground, when the Ukrainians open fire and kill them all:
Bear in mind that the Ukraine Army is the one being backed by the United States and by the European Union. That Ukrainian Army is carrying out cold-blooded murder, in the name of, and with the direct help of, the people backing them.
Is THIS what YOU thought your government was backing? It is!
Well…
Speaking of what the United States is doing right now. Let’s look at Coronavirus; the US bio-weapon that no one dare talk about…
BBC Television: “Segment of HIV” Used to Create COVID-19 Vaccines !
The manufacturer’s of COVID-19 “Vaccines” now admit on TV that a “tiny segment of HIV” was used in the making of COVID-19 “vaccines.” As most people know, HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Below is video proof with the direct admission, from BBC television.
As more and more people around the world got snookered into taking the COVID “Vaccine” we all got to see how more and more people started dying from strange ailments. Young people started dying from Myocarditis and Pericarditis. Middle aged people starting dropping dead from blood clots in the brain, in the lungs, or in their hearts. Other people started dropping dead from “unknown causes” to such a large extent, they made-up a phony name to describe it: Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS).
Now, we finally have an idea as to why: Manufacturers of the COVID-19 “vaccine” used segments of the HIV virus in the COVID “vaccine.” For a lot of the people who got the COVID vax, it now appears to many that they actually gave you a tiny version of . . . AIDS.
This is what has been getting said since the very beginning. Indian scientists tried to publish a paper that stated they found HIV-like gain of function in Cov19 and were quickly silenced. Turns out, the whole time, that has been the truth.
They knew. They silenced anyone who found out. They kept it as secret as they could until they jabbed as many as they could. The depravity of these people knows no limit!
All the politicians and “public health” officials, pushed this on you. They pushed it on TV, on radio, in newspapers.
How about all the news media, both local and national? They pushed this on you too.
How about the big-name Hollywood stars all telling their fans to “Get the Vax?” They too, pushed this on you.
How about the Corporate Executives and Boards of Directors, who coerced you into taking this crap, by threatening to fire you from you job if you refused? They forced this crap on you.
And now, a whole slew of people have died, and more are dying every day.
They killed you.
I wonder how many people are going to decide to return the favor?
Speaking of the United States “cluster fuck”, how about all the woke leftists with eyes full of glee over a new world order ruled by transsexual unicorns prancing in beautiful gleaming cities of gold…
Cheesy Mostaccioli
This recipe is from an old Pampered Chef cookbook. Simple and something my kids will eat. Freezes well.
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This is AWESOME!!!! It's also SO easy to make! I used extra lean ground sirloin to cut down a bit of the fat in the meat and I added 2 small cans of sliced mushrooms. Other than that, I made the recipe exactly as directed and it turned out FANTASTIC!! I tripled up the recipe and served it for a party and ended up giving the recipe to 5 or 6 people! Hubby and kids also love it!! It's a definite keeper
Have you noticed that the pace of layoff announcements has gotten rather fast and furious lately? Many of the biggest companies in the entire country are now conducting mass firings, and this is reminding many analysts of what we witnessed back in 2008. During the “Great Recession”, millions of Americans ultimately lost their jobs. Will we see a similar thing happen this time around? Let’s hope not, but right now the signs are not encouraging. The following are 10 major layoff announcements which have all happened within the past 10 days…
Gannett, the owner of USA TODAY and local news operations in 45 states, announced Thursday another round of job cuts in the company’s news division after a third-quarter loss and an earlier series of cost-cutting measures.The company, which plans to cut 6% of its estimated 3,440 staff in the news division, will notify affected employees on Dec. 1 and 2.
Roku is the latest technology and media player to slash jobs, revealing in a securities filing Thursday that it plans to reduce its workforce by about 5 percent, or about 200 jobs.
CNN CEO Chris Licht had to speak to employees during a tense company town hall on Tuesday as the network faces layoffs by early December after he was tasked with finding ways to cut costs.Licht, 51, addressed questions surrounding the cuts after he previously indicated during the summer that CNN would not face any need to fire staff.
Cisco Systems Inc.’s stock rose in extended trading Wednesday after the networking-technology company delivered better-than-expected numbers on the top and bottom line, and offered encouraging guidance.Still, Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren announced a “limited business restructuring,” to be shared with employees on Thursday, that will right-size its real-estate portfolio and impact about 5% of its 80,000 workers worldwide — or 4,000 people.
Louisville-based employer GE Appliances is planning to lay off 5% of its salaried workforce in coming weeks, the company confirmed to The Courier Journal.
The cost of keeping the company running has risen for several reasons, according to GE Appliances spokesperson Julie Wood, which has caused the business to look into money-saving measures.
The layoffs in the tech sector just keep piling up.On Tuesday, project management software provider Asana announced “the difficult decision” to cut its workforce by 9% as part of a broader corporate restructuring program.
Lifestyle media company Outside Media, which houses titles including Backpacker, Ski and Climbing, laid off 12% of its workforce Tuesday, according to a memo sent by founder and CEO Robin Thurston.
The layoffs that had been announced last week were confirmed Thursday at local tech company Lyft, raising questions about what the loss of jobs will mean for the wider Bay Area economy.Ride-hailing app company Lyft confirmed the layoffs to KPIX. Lyft is eliminating 227 jobs.
After laying off 50 percent of the company’s employees, Elon Musk has turned his attention to Twitter’s contract workers. According to separate reports from Platformer’s Casey Newton and Axios, the social media platform began reducing its contingent staff on Saturday afternoon. After a period of uncertainty about the scale of the job cuts, Newton put the number at approximately 4,400 affected individuals.
Amazon workers were left in chaos after they learned they were the first of the expected 10,000 to be laid off in a 15-minute meeting with executives.News of the coming layoffs broke on Monday, with employees getting a calendar invitation to the quick, scripted meeting with executives on Tuesday, specifically members of the Alexa voice assistant division.
In that list I didn’t even mention the layoffs at Facebook which could end up being the biggest of them all.
Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. If the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, what we will see in 2023 and beyond is likely to be far worse.
The U.S. economy is already slowing down dramatically, but the Fed seems determined to hike interest rates even higher.
They are committing economic malpractice right in front of our eyes, and what they are doing is going to severely hurt countless numbers of our fellow citizens.
The Scholz caravan went to Beijing to lay down the preparatory steps for working out a peace deal with Russia, with China as privileged messenger.
With his inimitable flair for economic analysis steeped in historical depth, Professor Michael Hudson’s latest essay, originally written for a German audience, presents a stunning parallel between the Crusades and the current “rules-based international order” imposed by the Hegemon.
Professor Hudson details how the Papacy in Rome managed to lock up unipolar control over secular realms (rings a bell?) when the game was all about Papal precedence over kings, above all the German Holy Roman Emperors. As we know, half in jest, the Empire was not exactly Holy, nor German (perhaps a little Roman), and not even an Empire.
A clause in the Papal Dictates provided the Pope with the authority to excommunicate whomever was “not at peace with the Roman Church.” Hudson sharply notes how US sanctions are the modern equivalent of excommunication.
Arguably there are Top Two dates in the whole process.
The first one would be the Third Ecumenical Council of 435: this is when only Rome (italics mine) was attributed universal authority (italics mine). Alexandria and Antioch, for instance, were limited to regional authority within the Roman Empire.
The other top date is 1054 – when Rome and Constantinople split for good. That is, the Roman Catholic Church split from Orthodoxy, which leads us to Russia, and Moscow as The Third Rome – and the centuries-old animosity of “the West” against Russia.
A State of Martial Law
Professor Hudson then delves on the trip by “Liver Sausage” Chancellor Scholz’s delegation to China this week to “demand that it dismantle its public sector and stops subsidizing its economy, or else Germany and Europe will impose sanctions on trade with China.”
Well, in fact this happens to be just childish wishful thinking, expressed by the German Council on Foreign Relations in a piece published on the Financial Times (the Japanese-owned platform in the City of London). The Council, as correctly described by Hudson, is “the neoliberal ‘libertarian’ arm of NATO demanding German de-industrialization and dependency” on the US.
So the FT, predictably, is printing NATO wet dreams.
Context is essential. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a keynote speech at Bellevue Castle, has all but admitted that Berlin is broke: “An era of headwinds is beginning for Germany – difficult, difficult years are coming for us. Germany is in the deepest crisis since reunification.”
Yet schizophrenia, once again, reigns supreme, as Steinmeier, after a ridiculous stunt in Kiev – complete with posing as a unwitting actor huddled in a bunker – announced an extra handout: two more MARS multiple rocket launchers and four Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers to be delivered to the Ukrainians.
So even if the “world” economy – actually the EU – is so fragilized that member-states cannot help Kiev anymore without harming their own populations, and the EU is on the verge of a catastrophic energy crisis, fighting for “our values” in Country 404 trumps it all.
The Big Picture context is also key. Andrea Zhok, Professor of Ethical Philosophy at the University of Milan, has taken Giorgio Agamben’s “State of Exception” concept to new heights.
Zhok proposes that the zombified collective West is now completely subjugated to a “State of Martial Law” – where a Forever War ethos is the ultimate priority for rarified global elites.
Every other variable – from trans-humanism to depopulation and even cancel culture – is subordinated to the State of Martial Law, and is basically inessential. The only thing that matters is exercising absolute, raw control.
Berlin – Moscow – Beijing
Solid German business sources completely contradict the “message” delivered by the German Council on Foreign Relations on the trip to China.
According to these sources, the Scholz caravan went to Beijing to essentially lay down the preparatory steps for working out a peace deal with Russia, with China as privileged messenger.
This is – literally – as explosive, geopolitically and geoeconomically, as it gets. As I pointed out in one of my previous columns, Berlin and Moscow were keeping a secret communication back channel – via business interlocutors – right to the minute the usual suspects, in desperation, decided to blow up the Nord Streams.
Cue to the now notorious SMS from Liz Truss’s iPhone to Little Tony Blinken, one minute after the explosions: “It’s done.”
There’s more: the Scholz caravan may be trying to start a long and convoluted process of eventually replacing the US with China as a key ally. One should never forget that the top BRI trade/connectivity terminal in the EU is Germany (the Ruhr valley).
According to one of the sources, “if this effort is successful, then Germany, China and Russia can ally themselves together and drive the US out of Europe.”
Another source provided the cherry on the cake:
“Olaf Scholz is being accompanied on this trip by German industrialists who actually control Germany and are not going to sit back watching themselves being destroyed.”
Moscow knows very well what the imperial aim is when it comes to the EU reduced to the role of totally dominated – and deindustrialized – vassal, exercising zero sovereignty. The back channels after all are not lying in tatters on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Additionally, China has not provided any hint that its massive trade with Germany and the EU is about to vanish.
Scholz himself, one day before his caravan hit Beijing, stressed to Chinese media that Germany has no intention of decoupling from China, and there’s nothing to justify “the calls by some to isolate China.”
In parallel, Xi Jinping and the new Politburo are very much aware of the Kremlin position, reiterated again and again: we always remain open for negotiations, as long as Washington finally decides to talk about the end of unlimited NATO expansion drenched in Russophobia.
So to negotiate means the Empire signing on the dotted line of the document it has received from Moscow on December 1st, 2021, focused on “indivisibility of security”. Otherwise there’s nothing to negotiate.
And when we have Pentagon lobbyist Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin advising the Ukrainians on the record to advance on Kherson, it’s even more crystal clear there’s nothing to negotiate.
So could this all be the foundation stone of the Berlin-Moscow-Beijing trans-Eurasia geopolitical/geoeconomic corridor? That will mean Bye Bye Empire. Once again: it ain’t over till the fat lady goes Gotterdammerung.
The End Of The Retail Industry As We Know It Today
Will this be the last “somewhat normal” holiday season for U.S. retailers? Normally, the holiday season is the most profitable time of the year for our retailers, but it has become clear that holiday spending is going to be way down in 2022.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of long-term trends that won’t be going away any time soon that are squeezing the life out of the industry from both sides. If those long-term trends cannot be reversed, we will soon see a lot more decaying buildings with boarded up windows where thriving retail establishments once existed. The health of the retail industry is critical to the health of the overall U.S. economy, and right now the outlook for the future of the industry is not good.
As inflation forces consumers to spend more on gas and groceries, about 1 in 3 Americans (34%) plan to spend less on holiday shopping in 2022 than they did last year, according to a new Clever Real Estate poll of 1,000 Americans.Retailers have taken notice, hosting holiday sales earlier than normal and ratcheting up discounts to move merchandise. Stores want to draw attention to deals now before Americans decide to cut back further on nonessential spending — especially when 58% of the country already reports feeling worried about finances.
This is yet another sign that we are heading into a very serious economic slowdown, and it is extremely troubling news for our major retailers.
In fact, Target is publicly admitting that it has been forced to “lower its expectations” as we head into the holiday season…
Target’s profit fell by around 50% in its fiscal third quarter as it cleared through unwanted inventory and sales slowed heading into the holidays, prompting the company to lower its expectations for retailers’ most important time of year.
If all the industry was facing was a tough year or two, most retailers could survive that.
Unfortunately, there are a couple of long-term trends that are currently plaguing the industry that aren’t going to go away for the foreseeable future.
First of all, we are witnessing a tsunami of retail theft that just keeps getting worse year after year.
The discount retailer told reporters on a call to discuss its third quarter earnings results that inventory shrinkage — or the disappearance of merchandise — has reduced its gross profit margin by $400 million so far in 2022 compared to 2021.“At Target, year-to-date, incremental shortage has already reduced our gross margin by more than $400 million vs. last year,” Target CFO Michael Fiddelke said on the earnings call, “and we expect it will reduce our gross margin by more than $600 million for the full year.”
We aren’t just talking about somebody stealing a few candy bars.
600 million dollars is an enormous amount of money.
And a spokesperson for Target is attributing the bulk of the losses to “organized retail crime”…
A Target spokesperson told Yahoo Finance via email after the call the shrinkage was mostly specifically attributed to “organized retail crime.”
At this point, organized retail crime has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States.
Highly sophisticated gangs of thieves are robbing our retailers blind all over the country, and things are particularly bad in states such as California where penalties for shoplifting are extremely soft…
This isn’t just a problem at big-box retailers, either. The California Retailers Association has decried the rampant theft, which is hurting Golden State businesses small and large. Theft has gotten so bad in some parts of San Francisco that it is beyond belief.“I’m new to San Francisco,” Times journalist Thomas Fuller told a grocery store clerk shortly after moving to the city. “Is it optional to pay for things here?”
It sounds like an absurd thing to ask, but Fuller explains that he was genuinely forced to wonder what was going on after he witnessed people walk into Walgreens and Safeway, grab stuff, and walk out.
Shoplifting is a crime against all of us, because more of our favorite stores are being forced to shut down with each passing day.
Unfortunately, there is not an easy solution to this crisis. The moral foundation of our society is steadily rotting away all around us, and that means that even more young people are likely to pick organized retail crime as a “career choice” in the years ahead.
Meanwhile, the stunning decline of the middle class is also a trend that is really hurting our retailers.
As I detailed in a previous article, half of all workers in the United States made less than $3,133 a month last year.
Needless to say, you can’t live a middle class lifestyle in America today on just $3,133 a month.
More people are falling out of the middle class each month, and one recent survey found that close to two-thirds of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck…
According to a LendingClub survey, the number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck is nearing record levels.As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. That’s just one percentage point below the record high of 64% last spring. To put it into perspective, the number of people feeling this kind of strain a year ago was around 57%.
Once upon a time, most Americans had at least some discretionary income to spend, and life was good for our major retailers.
But now all of that has changed.
On top of everything else, a major economic slowdown is staring us in the face, and prominent companies all over the nation are now laying off workers.
The company that once defined family entertainment is going from media giant to epic failure, suffering over $1.4 billion in streaming losses and a stock drop of around 39% for the year. And, it would appear that these financial declines are inevitably leading to employee layoffs.Disney has put a freeze on hiring, it is limited employee travel and is also reviewing workers for efficiency with plans to introduce cuts as a means to make the company “more nimble.”
We live in such troubled times, and things are only going to get more difficult in 2023 and beyond.
So I would encourage you to enjoy your favorite retail stores while you still can.
Because as conditions continue to get even harsher for our retailers, many of them will soon be forced to close their doors for the last time.
Senate Votes Overwhelming To End Covid Emergency
Why isn’t the US doing anything about China’s growth in power?
Did you just wake up, Mr. Rip Van Winkle?
The US has been doing tons to try and “contain” China…
spread propaganda rhetoric and disinformation in an attempt to turn public opinion against China
interfere in Chinese commerce by banning Huawei and SMIC
interfere in Chinese politics using the CIA in Hong Kong and Xinjiang
abduct Meng Wanzhou on trumped-up charges, repeating the same thing that happened to Alstom executive, Frederic Pierucci, in 2013
apply trade sanctions and tariffs
intimidate China with several supercarrier battle groups operating off China’s coast
Unfortunately for the US, none of these tactics are working. So what is America’s next step? All-out war?
TWITTER Locks-Out all Employees; Suspends Access Cards until at least Monday
The radical leftists that infest Twitter as “employees” were locked-out of all company buildings around 7:30 PM last night, and will remain locked-out until Monday. Concerns about employee sabotage over job cuts apparently was the motivating factor in taking this lock-out step.
Ah, it seems that it’s time for “clean up” of the sludge that inhabits the leadership and functional positions in the West…
Speaking about clean-up.
So a war-crime is committed by Ukrainian Nazi’s against Russia. American statements are all “Russia is evil. Every justification is acceptable.” so what does Russia do?
What country is the hardest to drive in for a foreigner?
I’ll vote for China.
I have lived in China for a few years, and never drove, but took taxis and cars that had drivers, not only because it is not so easy for a foreigner to get permission to drive in China, but also because the dynamics of driving in China are very hard to get your head around if you aren’t Chinese.
The main thing to understand is the general, Chinese approach to negotiation. If you have been to China, or met Chinese people, you will have observed that it is different from the way of us westerners.
Let’s say the situation is one where two strangers walk towards each other on a sidewalk:
in a western country, one of the two pedestrians would be the first to slightly change course, so as to permit both to pass by each other with ease;
in China, it works like this: one pedestrian slightly changes course, which will cause the other pedestrian to also change to the same side; since this aggravates the situation, the second pedestrian will then quickly make a maneuver that accommodates the first pedestrian’s space requirements.
So you get a lot of situations, also in traffic, that feel like the other driver is actually going for you, when in fact, they are doing it to acknowledge you, followed by an overly pronounced swerve to give you space.
As weird as that sounds, it has to do with politeness, and being courteous enough to give people options.
For me, as a westerner, it just looks downright confrontational at first and suicidal directly thereafter, but there you go. Reflexes can’t easily be re-trained.
And then, you get a whole lot of other things that just don’t work, mentally, for guys like me:
double lane hogging; if you aren’t certain where to go, try to occupy as many lanes at the same time as you can so as to have as many options as you may need; you will see cars driving on the markings, solidly;
high intensity crawling; every now and then, in the middle of a twelve lane, Shanghai freeway, there is that Porsche Cayenne, lugging along at 3 km/h, with a driver clenching the wheel in a posture of absolute fixation on something nobody else can see.
stopping for no reason; many Chinese drivers drive as if they were walking through a supermarket. “Oh, look, almond milk! Shall we stop and get some?” And they will just stop, anywhere, without recognisable reason. I would probably rear-end a car a day.
Even sitting in a taxi as a passenger who participates visually is an exercise in keeping your stomach from churning, because there simply never is any steady flow of traffic. The dynamics of driving in China seem erratic and slow beyond comprehension.
The only place in China I ever enjoyed driving in was this one:
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U.S. Consumers Are Doing EXACTLY What They Did Just Prior To The Crash Of 2008
We never seem to learn from our mistakes. Just before the financial markets crashed and the economy plunged into a horrifying recession in 2008, U.S. consumers went on a debt binge of epic proportions.
Mortgage debt, auto loan debt and credit card debt all skyrocketed, and so when the economy finally crashed all of a sudden there were millions of Americans drowning in bills that they were unable to pay.
Well, now it is happening again.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, during the third quarter of 2022 household debt increased at the fastest pace that we have seen since the first quarter of 2008…
Households added $351 billion in overall debt last quarter, taking the total to $16.5 trillion, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Tuesday. That’s an increase of 8.3% from a year earlier, the most since a 9.1% jump in the first quarter of 2008. The debt figures aren’t adjusted for inflation.
This is a recipe for disaster.
As I have been warning my readers for years, you want to have as little debt as possible when economic conditions get really bad.
Unfortunately, even though everyone can see that economic activity is slowing down all around us, consumers are piling on debt at a stunning pace.
Most of the latest increase came in mortgage debt, by far the biggest liability on household balance sheets. It rose by $282 billion in the third quarter, and by $1 trillion from a year earlier, to $11.7 trillion. Mortgage and home-equity debt combined are up by $2 trillion since the pandemic began.
Credit-card debt also increased by the most in 20 years, with balances rising by 15% from a year earlier. The surge comes as the average interest-rates on card borrowing has climbed above 19%, the highest in data going back to the mid-1980s, according to Bankrate.
I really feel bad for those that purchased homes at or near the peak of the market.
So many Americans have overextended themselves to get the homes of their dreams, and as prices plummet in the months ahead millions of them will soon be underwater on their mortgages just like we saw in 2008 and 2009.
Even more troubling is the fact that Americans are racking up such huge credit card balances.
The New York Fed is telling us that there are now 555 million open credit card accounts in this country.
But only 329 million people live here.
That is madness.
Meanwhile, large companies all over the nation are starting to lay off workers.
Amazon reportedly plans to lay off 10,000 corporate and technology employees as soon as this week.The cuts would affect the company’s devices organization, retail division and human resources, people familiar with the matter told the New York Times.
This will be the largest round of layoffs in Amazon’s history, and Jeff Bezos is now giving out advice on how to best deal with the coming economic downturn…
The business leader offered his starkest advice yet on a faltering economy in an exclusive sit-down interview with CNN’s Chloe Melas on Saturday at Bezos’ Washington, DC, home.Bezos urged people to put off expenditures for big-ticket items such as new cars, televisions and appliances, noting that delaying big purchases is the surest way to keep some “dry powder” in the event of a prolonged economic downturn. Meanwhile, small businesses may want to avoid making large capital expenditures or acquisitions during this uncertain time, Bezos added.
He also told CNN that we should “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”.
Wow.
How many times have I said the same thing to my readers?
When Jeff Bezos starts sounding just like The Economic Collapse Blog, that is definitely a sign that it is late in the game.
Other big tech companies have been conducting mass layoffs as well, and that list includes Facebook and Twitter…
Last week Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, revealed that it will cut 13 per cent of its workforce, while Elon Musk axed half of Twitter’s employees following his successful takeover of the social media site.The announcements are the latest in a slew of job cuts across Silicon Valley, as experts warn the tech industry is facing a ‘triple whammy’ of a slowing economy, inflation and an end to pandemic-driven growth.
If the Federal Reserve does not start reducing interest rates, we are going to see a tsunami of layoffs in 2023.
And if the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, it is likely that we could eventually see millions of Americans lose their jobs.
Aggressively hiking rates at the beginning of a major economic slowdown is suicidal.
But the Federal Reserve is doing it anyway.
On the consumer level, piling up debt just as economic conditions are starting to really deteriorate is a really foolish thing for Americans to be doing.
Unfortunately, we just witnessed the greatest consumer debt binge since 2008 during the third quarter.
As I stated at the beginning of this article, we never seem to learn from our mistakes.
The times that we are moving into are going to be incredibly challenging, but reducing the amount of debt that you are carrying will make things a bit easier.
Sadly, most people out there aren’t going to take that advice.
Instead, most people are going to continue partying even as the system falls apart all around them.
In 2008 and 2009, countless Americans that had been living comfortable middle class lifestyles ended up losing almost everything.
You don’t want to be one of those victims this time around.
We are going to see so much financial pain in 2023, but much of it could have been avoided if people would have made much different decisions ahead of time.
Who is Hong Kong’s real hero, and why?
There was a real hero in Hong Kong’s not-so-distant past.
Meet Joanna Tse Yuen-Man.
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Born on 31st March 1968, Tse grew up in a 200 square foot apartment in Kwai Chung, part of a working-class family of “everyday Hong Kongers” — an everyday person who stood out because of her determination to become a doctor to help people, and because of the tragedy that marked her life, losing her husband to leukemia in 2002, just two years after they married.
But then, in March 2003, the SARS epidemic hit Hong Kong. It was devastating. Of the estimated 8,273 cases worldwide, 1,755 (21%) were identified in the city. Hong Kong also saw one of the highest mortality rates, accounting for 299 (40%) of 775 total deaths. Not only was it deadly, no one at the time understood the disease fully. The medical community had no idea what they were dealing with.
As patients stricken with SARS began flooding the city’s hospitals, doctors divided their teams into ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ teams, where dirty teams were responsible for treating SARS patients in the wards. Tse volunteered to join the dirty team. With her specialist training in respiratory medicine, she felt she should be treating these cases.
After resuscitating a SARS patient who later died from the disease, Tse began to experience symptoms of her own, including high fever. At first, she was optimistic, even assuring her family that she would celebrate her birthday with them after she recovered. But looking at her own lung scans, it was clear she was getting worse.
Joanna Tse died from SARS on 13th May 2003, the first of several medical professionals in Hong Kong to die from the disease.
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Funeral of Dr Joanna Tse Yuen-man in 2003, from South China Morning Post
Joanna Tse is an example of an ordinary, unprivileged person who sought to save others despite the potential cost to herself. As So Wing Yee, a doctor at Prince of Wales Hospital and a friend and classmate of Tse, said:
“She was quietly determined in what she wanted to do. Some people loudly declared they wanted to be heroes. She wasn’t like that.”
What made Dr Tse and other rescuers like her heroic was that they risked their lives and were willing to suffer for it. Joanna Tse knew the dangers of contact with SARS patients, yet she volunteered to work with them anyways without seeking glory or recognition.
Every day and in many walks of life, people go beyond the call of duty. But to go beyond the call of duty in an act that clearly endangers one’s life is an act of heroism.
Joanna Tse and others like her are real Hong Kong heroes.
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A statue of Joanna Tse in the Tai Chi Gardens at Hong Kong Park
Chicken Ring
This recipe is from an old Pampered Chef cookbook. Simple and something my kids will eat. Freezes well.
On 17 November, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a concentrated strike, using high-precision long-range air-, sea- and ground-based weapons, at the facilities of military control, defence industry, as well as related fuel and energy infrastructure of Ukraine.The goals of the strike have been reached.All the missiles have accurately stricken the assigned facilities.
I have no idea if the last line is true but it does not matter much.
The targeting of 330 kilovolt transformers in various switching stations has cut some 50% of the distribution capability of Ukraine’s electricity network. These transformers weigh up to 200 tons. There are no replacements. You do not buy them at the next corner but will have to order them with years of lead time. As far as I can tell Russia is currently the only producer of transformers of that type.
Isn’t it a war crime to destroy the infrastructure that supplies civilians?
It depends. If the infrastructure is used exclusively for civilian purpose the destruction is illegal. But the electricity and transport infrastructure in Ukraine is used for civilian AND military purposes. In a recent Politico piece Ukrainian officials are even confirming that:
An unreliable energy sector could have deadly consequences, Ukrainian officials say. In recent conversations, they’ve added that it could halt food production and transport operations — critical services needed to support military operations.
The strike has resulted in the neutralisation of the production capacities for nuclear weaponry.
I wonder where and what that has been:
One depot of artillery armament, delivered by western countries and prepared for being sent to troops, has been destroyed.The redeployment of the reserve forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), and the delivery of foreign armament to operations areas have been frustrated.
The last sentence describes the real purpose of the attacks on the energy systems.
The lack of energy is degrading the railway network that brings weapons from the west to the eastern front. It makes redeployment of units from one front section to another very difficult and time consuming. It will give the Russian forces the advantage when they change the Schwerpunkt of their attacks from one corner of the frontline to another.
Another effect of the strikes on the electricity systems and the blackouts in the big cities that follow them is a renewed stream of refugees that will want reach western Europe. It will over time change the public opinion and the political priorities of those countries. If they fail to end the war they will have to carry the burden.
Preheat Instant Pot to saute setting. Add olive oil and butter and swirl to coat. Add pancetta, pork, and beef. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid evaporates from meat and begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, tomato paste, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, and thyme sprigs. Season with salt and pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add red wine and cook until reduced by three-fourths, about 6 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, stir to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper before topping with lid. Set pressure to high and cook 35 minutes before releasing pressure naturally for 10 minutes. Release pressure automatically. Open lid and return Instant Pot to saute setting. Add heavy cream and stir to combine. Cook until slightly reduced, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper and use as desired.
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We Are Being Warned That Meat Prices Could Go Up Another 40 Or 50 Percent
If you have been to the grocery store lately, you have probably noticed that meat prices have gone up dramatically. Unfortunately, we are being warned that things could get much worse in 2023. All over the northern hemisphere, cattle ranchers are dramatically reducing the size of their herds due to relentless drought conditions. Meanwhile, the bird flu has already resulted in the deaths of nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys in the United States and Europe. On top of everything else, progressive politicians throughout the western world continue to be absolutely determined to get us all to start eating less meat.
So prices are likely to continue to go up for the foreseeable future, and supplies are starting to get really tight.
The German meat industry has warned of impending supply bottlenecks, especially concerning pork, and a board member is putting at least some of the blame on Germany’s current left-wing government, which is well-known for its attacks on meat and efforts to transition to a plant-based food supply.“In four, five, six months, we will have nothing on the shelves,” predicts Hubert Kelliger, head of group sales at the large butcher Westfleisch and also a member of the board of the Meat Industry Association (VDF), according to Die Welt.
And Kelliger is also warning that whatever is on the shelves in 2023 is likely to cost “20, 30, or 40 percent” more than it does today…
“Whether that will be 20, 30, or 40 percent cannot be quantified today — but it will increase significantly again,” said Kelliger. Such an increase would already be on the back of already substantial increases. Germany has experienced an overall 40 percent increase in food prices this year, including a 73 percent increase in potatoes. Further price jumps ahead could be disastrous for German consumers.
Needless to say, we have been seeing similar price increases here in the United States.
The fact that so many U.S. ranchers have been slaughtering cattle due to the drought has helped to stabilize prices somewhat in the short-term, but as the size of the national cattle herd continues to decline the long-term outlook is not good at all.
In fact, some beef producers in Oklahoma are actually claiming that the price of ground beef could eventually go up to 50 dollars a pound…
Thanks to the unending economic symptoms of the pandemic and 2022’s inflation double-punch, average beef prices are currently about twice what they were in 2019. Add in the deepening widespread drought, a shortage of hay and feed, skyrocketing prices, transport costs, and various other metrics, some Southwest Oklahoma beef producers suggest cheap ground beef could eventually top $50 per pound.Even worse, while beef is the topic because Oklahoma is a beef-producing state, the same trend is happening to other raised proteins at the moment too. The answer won’t be “We’ll just switch to chicken.” Those prices are steadily climbing too, and let’s not get depressed together thinking about bacon and pork loin.
Ground beef certainly won’t be that expensive next week or next month.
But someday it will happen.
If you love ground beef, what will you do then?
Thankfully, the elite have already been working on a solution for you.
In fact, just this week the FDA announced that one form of “lab-grown meat” is now ready for public consumption…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time cleared a meat product grown from animal cells for human consumption, the agency announced on Wednesday.UPSIDE Foods, a company that makes cell-cultured chicken by harvesting cells from live animals and using the cells to grow meat in stainless-steel tanks, will be able to bring its products to market once it has been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), said a release from the FDA.
Doesn’t that sound yummy?
And as I have covered previously, other companies are working on developing something called “beetle burgers”.
The UN is telling us that eight billion people live on the planet now.
As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, we aren’t going to be able to feed them all, and food prices will rise to levels that most people could not even imagine right now.
Why does Cambodia ban US visits to Ream Naval Base? Why did Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen say the naval base is “not a place for thieves or robbers”?
So Cambodia has done a deal with China to refurbish the Ream naval base. In response the US sanctioned the two top Cambodian guys there.
Consequently Cambodia banned all US visits.
The upshot is that because of their [1] lack of care /concern and respect in the first place and [2] their belligerent tone once things got away from them, the US has been kicked out of Cambodia and China is flat out building a navy presence there.
Which is pretty significant when you look at a map.
I just have to wonder how the US let Cambodia get away from them so easily. Having a quick read of the US government website they spent most of their time calling Cambodia out for human rights stuff and generally being a dick to the Cambodians.
Now it’s blown up in their face and PLAN is in the Gulf of Thailand and also with an emerging BRI deal to put a channel across Thailand to get access to the Bay of Bengal.
Go America…
Did Xi Jinping actually school Trudeau at G20? What was it about?
Yep. Exactly so.
Here is the actual Chinese for those who can read it.
It was a very polite rebuke. Trudeau was hilariously talking about his openess and transparency (yeah how about openly publishing all your trade talks, especially the parts you gave up to secure other benefits LOL)
Xi Jinping (again politely) pointed out that he did not give permission to disclose the talks contents. This is a simple rule that applies in every relationship. If something is private, don’t be a blabbermouth, or any friendship goes kaput.
If the parties that are not friends (aka business negotiations) were in talks about a possible buyout then one party goes out and says “X is buying us out for $10/share!”, what happens?
Answer: Legal action by the other party.
Anyway congratulations to Trudeau. To show that he was a big boy at the big boy’s table, he screwed up any Canadian/China trade talks. He probably thinks its very much worth it since his ego is more important than his country LOL
If the USA was the rising power and China was the dominant power, would China be trying to destabilize and demonize the USA, like how the USA is trying to destabilize and demonize China?
Interesting speculative question. I don’t believe so. Unlike USA, China is not obsessed with global power. It has not exhibited any global ambition in over 4,000 years as the world’s oldest continuous civilization state.
China has always been a regional actor and an inward-looking nation. Even when it becomes the dominant power later this century, it won’t be by design. China is simply growing organically, thanks to an enormous population and excellent governance.
In other words, China will become the world’s largest economic and technological powerhouse by virtue of natural development. All nations wish to do this. It has nothing to do with imperialism.
And should China also have the world’s largest military, it will be for defence. Defending its territory. Defending its trade routes. Defending its economic interests situated with trading partners. China will NOT serve as the world police.
China will NOT export its political system by overthrowing foreign regimes and installing alternative governments.
China will NOT interfere in the domestic matters of other countries. Unless invited by the UN for humanitarian action (China has a significant peacekeeping force with the UN).
If China slips from first place, it won’t be a big deal. China doesn’t care. Its priority is always the welfare of its people.
“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it.
The sky darkens.
Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness.
One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impossible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle.
Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance. “Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years...
Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a saecular winter.
Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning.
History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.”
– Strauss & Howe– The Fourth Turning
It was less than a year ago on December 16, 2021 when our dementia patient in chief was instructed by his handlers to lie, obfuscate and demonize critical thinking Americans who refused to become victims of the Big Pharma, Fauci promoted, untested, unsafe, ineffective gene therapy by declaring “we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm”.
Biden’s vaccine mandates were overturned in the courts.
The unvaccinated did not die from Covid.
Very few people died from Covid. Some really old and infirm people on death’s doorstep died with Covid. Some very unhealthy obese people died with Covid. But even 95% of the old and unhealthy survived Covid.
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Virtually no one under 70 years old died from Covid. Biden was lying. Fauci was lying. Walensky was lying. Gates was lying. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was lying. Their paid-off medical industry was lying. Their highly compensated corporate legacy media talking heads were lying. Captured politicians were lying. The entire Covid scheme was nothing more than weaponizing the annual flu through fear propaganda, a billion-dollar advertising campaign, and enacting totalitarian measures on the world as part of the Great Reset Build Back Better New World Order plot orchestrated by our globalist oligarch overlords.
Every Fourth Turning has its own dynamics, chaotic current, political nuances, general confusion, antagonists, and event driven upheaval. We are currently in the 14th year of this Crisis and Biden’s predicted winter of death for the unvaccinated didn’t happen and death and illness is striking down the vaxxed in far greater numbers than the unvaxxed.
The perpetrators of the pandemic exercise to see how far people of the developed world could be pushed, abused, and turned into subservient vassals of the state are now demanding amnesty for themselves and their co-conspirators, as the consequences of their murderous escapades become impossible to cover-up and conceal.
Real data from the real world, not from their skewed manipulated models, is piling up, and despite the media’s tireless efforts to ignore, censor, and misinform, the truth is seeping out through the diligent digging of those who were right from the very outset of this scamdemic.
The complete and utter failure of these so-called vaccines has been evident from the very outset, as infections, hospitalizations, and deaths increased after the vaccines were rolled out as the savior of all mankind. The vaccines performed so atrociously the CDC had to change the definition of vaccine in order to obscure what a failure they proved to be. The narrative police can obfuscate and attempt to revise history, but the lies are all documented and available for anyone to see and hear.
Fauci said masks don’t work. Fauci said the vaccines would keep you from getting Covid, transmitting Covid, being hospitalized from Covid, and dying from Covid. Walensky, Birx, Biden, Trump, and a slew of other “medical experts”, Hollywood stars, famous athletes, journalists, and Sesame Street characters all mouthed the same “safe and effective” tripe non-stop about a vaccine that is provably not safe and not effective. The few brave medical professionals who dared question the narrative and provide alternative treatments (ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine) were censored, scorned, ridiculed, banned, de-licensed, de-platformed, and had their careers destroyed.
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The initial anecdotal evidence about the vaccines being useless in protecting anyone from the flu is now backed up by hundreds of real scientific studies (not fake studies bought by Big Pharma) showing boosters having negative efficacy as these multiple shots degrade people’s immune systems, just as doctors like Korry, Malone, McCullough, Vanden Bosche, Cole, Zelenko, and many others warned would happen.
Antibody-dependent Enhancement (ADE) is now happening in millions of those who have gotten vaxxed.
Young people dying suddenly from heart attacks, myocarditis now becoming common in young men, athletes collapsing, cancer being activated by the spike protein, and the all-cause mortality skyrocketing across the world can no longer be denied.
Last week Service Corp Intl., the largest funeral home operator in the world, reported earnings far higher than they expected because non-Covid deaths were much higher than expected.
The CEO said they expected 1% growth over the 3rd quarter of 2019 and ended up with 15% unexpected growth.
Lincoln National, one of the largest life insurance companies in the country, reported terrible financial results as life insurance payouts on those between 18 and 64 years old soared 163%.
Both companies said these were virtually all non-Covid deaths.
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As these horrific trends continue, the true impact of these Big Pharma multi-billion-dollar profit potions of death will become unequivocally apparent.
Biden will get his winter of death, but it won’t be the unvaxxed dying.
With 250 million Americans and another 5 billion people around the world having their immune systems weakened by the Big Pharma gene altering money makers, the coming winter months will be problematic for millions of the duped.
Expect hospitals to be overwhelmed and the media to remain silent about the true cause.
As more children start dying suddenly, retribution against the murderers Fauci, Bourla, Walensky and a passel of pernicious pandemic protagonists will be on the minds of those who have lost children, spouses, and other loved ones.
Anyone expecting the domestic or international environment to improve in the near future are foolish and living in a state of denial.
Fourth Turnings have ebbs and flows, but the intensity never diminishes until distinct winners and losers are patently unmistakable.
Think Yorktown, Appomattox, and Hiroshima. All three previous American Fourth Turnings ended after all-out war, bloody conflict, and death on a grand scale. There is absolutely nothing going on the world today indicating we are not headed for a similar bloody outcome of death on an epic magnitude.
Biden’s handlers have him conducting a proxy war in the Ukraine against Russia, blowing up their pipelines, bridges, and war ships. Funneling $80 billion, with more on the way, to Zelensky and the most corrupt country on the planet is an act of war.
At the same time, Biden’s amateur hour advisors continue to instigate China by actively supporting Taiwan independence. Alienating countries constituting half the population of earth is a recipe for global conflict.
UKRAINE THE UNITED STATES ARE NOW FIGHTING A PROXY WAR WITH RUSSIA 1
The blowing up of the Nordstream pipeline by the U.S. and their U.K. co-conspirators has sentenced Germany to a winter of deprivation and desperation.
German citizens will die this winter due to the actions of an American Empire thrashing about in its final death throes of debt, deception, degradation, and denial.
This man made global catastrophe of supply chain calamity, raging inflation, energy crisis, and food shortages has been purposefully initiated by malevolent men who treat mankind like pawns in their game of global chess.
The global reset is real.
Schwab, Gates, Soros, Obama, Biden, Clinton, and their cohort of Davos billionaires, Wall Street shysters, and satanic legions will stop at nothing to implement their agenda of turning the world into a techno-gulag where they control the population through social credit systems, human microchips, 24/7 surveillance, and central bank digital currencies.
The peasants will own nothing and eat bugs, told they are happy under threat of the truncheon, while their overlords fly private jets, eat, and live like kings, owning everything and gleeful at their ability to control the world through psychological and technological manipulation of the willfully ignorant masses.
Domestically, the U.S. is contending with raging inflation, particularly in food, energy, shelter, and medical care – just the things needed by the middle class and poor to live their lives.
The reported inflation of 7% to 8% is a lie and everyone knows it, even if they are unaware of the Fed/BLS bullshit “adjustments” which purposely reduce the true level of inflation by 5% to 8%.
The manipulation of the data is to hide the truth from the masses.
Inflation is actually higher than it was in the early 1980’s when Volker needed to jack the Fed Funds rate to 18% to tame the raging inflation.
Tough guy Powell, described by the feckless mainstream media as the new Volker, currently has the Fed Funds rate at 3.75%.
Hysterically, the corrupt politicians and Wall Street cabal are demanding a halt to these “devastating” interest rate increases. And their demands will be met in 2023.
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Our empire of debt ($31.2 trillion and rising by $6 billion per day) can’t handle much higher rates. Interest on the national debt was $399 billion in FY22, up from under $300 billion in FY16, and is now on track to exceed $700 billion in FY24. Powell and the Fed are now trapped by their own reckless kowtowing to their Wall Street owners and spineless political hack swamp rats in D.C.
They unleashed this inflationary wave across the globe purposely, while Biden and his handlers have exacerbated it with their green new deal and sanctions on Russian fuel, food, and fertilizer, leading to a looming global disaster on our doorstep. When people in 3rd world countries can’t afford food, they storm presidential palaces and hang their leaders. Revolutions have already begun across the world.
The middle and lower classes in the U.S. have already depleted their savings and maxed out their credit cards. They now need to choose whether they can eat, pay the utility bill, or pay for their prescription. Many have lived above their means, with McMansions “bought” with a $600,000 mortgage, $70,000 vehicles leased or financed over 7 years, and luxurious vacations on one of their 10 credit cards.
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The poor didn’t benefit from the good times, but they are bearing the major burden of the food and energy inflation.
The chickens have now come home to roost, and the wave of foreclosures, auto repossessions and credit card defaults will begin in earnest this winter as corporations across the land begin laying off millions.
The downward spiral has begun and can’t be reversed.
The mid-term elections, which will go on until the democrat party of chaos is able to manufacture enough votes to retain the House, is being used as another psy-op to demoralize the masses, produce more civil strife and chaos, while ensuring the continued destruction of our society by the left-wing radicals relentlessly inflicting their lawless, immoral, communistic agenda upon a nation too cowardly, indoctrinated, and apathetic to fight back.
Throughout history the president’s party ALWAYS loses a significant number of seats in the House and Senate during midterm elections.
The Bushes, Clinton, Obama, and Trump all lost a significant number of seats after their 1st two years in office.
We have a dementia patient in chief with an approval rating below 40%, the worst inflation in 40 years, 75% of the country saying the country is on the wrong track, and politicians, generals, and media talking heads blustering about nuclear war, but we are being told by our overlords Biden’s party supposedly has picked up a seat in the Senate and has broken even in the House.
It’s so laughable only a liberal arts graduate or MSNBC bimbo talking head would believe it.
Anyone who argues these results were legitimately achieved are either brainless twits or part of the election stealing scheme.
The polls, which always skew positively for democrats, showed republicans leading in all the major swing state races.
Overall, the republicans received 7% more national votes than they did in 2020, but somehow managed to lose every contested Senate seat and squander most of the contested House seats in swing states.
They are trying to convince me Americans voted for inflation, recession, war, CRT in our schools, gender fluidity, mutilating children, pedophilia, open borders, masking and vaxxing children, lockdowns, mandates, dead guys, and brain damaged commies. That is not what happened.
They just used the exact same methods in the key races in the key states they used in 2020 to steal the elections. Why change if it works?
In the State of Florida, which implemented rational voting procedures and limited mail-in ballots, Ron DeSantis, who won in 2018 by 32,000 votes over a black, criminal, drug addict, deviant, won re-election by 1.5 million votes last week.
After two years of torturing our children, encouraging murder, rape, robbery, and destroying our economy, the Democrats should have experienced massive losses in the mid-terms.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, the polls showed a clearly brain damaged stroke victim, John Fetterman, losing by 2% to TV doctor Oz after a disastrous debate performance that proved beyond a doubt the guy should be in a medical facility and not in the Senate.
He cannot string ten words together in a coherent sentence.
In addition to his brain damage, he ran on freeing more criminals onto the killing field streets of Philly, eliminating fracking and coal jobs, and aborting babies up until the time of birth. Somehow this freak ended up winning by 4%, according to those who control the vote count.
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The mail-in ballot scam used in 2020 due to the “Covid emergency” was kept in place, even though there is no emergency, because that is how Democrats can guarantee victory forever.
Over 1.2 million mail-in ballots were cast, with almost 70% from democrats and 20% from republicans.
It’s a two-pronged strategy.
In the corrupt urban ghettos of Philly and Pittsburgh, the mail-in votes are “harvested” by Soros paid “activists” who fill out the ballots on behalf of the busy crackheads and fentanyl fiends and do mass dumps of ballots into conveniently located lockboxes.
Who knows how many vagrants, illegals, and ne’er-do-wells are paid and transported to voting sites in Philly by the democrat machine, in addition to the dead voters casting ballots.
In the suburbs you have the left-wing soccer moms and cat ladies filling out the mail-in ballots for their basement dwelling prodigy too busy gaming and watching porn to actually vote.
Fetterman won this mail-in vote by over 500,000 and won the overall election by 234,000. This same formula was duplicated in Georgia, Arizona, New York, Nevada, California, and other Democrat run states.
This is why they are desperate to keep Kari Lake from winning in Arizona, as she will dismantle their cheating operation.
Those in control of this entire rigged system, including republicans like McConnell and Graham, don’t want anything to change, as they enrich themselves and their globalist benefactors no matter who is elected/selected.
This country and the world have become nothing more than a skimming operation, based on a Ponzi scheme, with the military as enforcers, media as propagandists, and alphabet agencies as the secret police eliminating dissenters.
All voting “irregularities” will be met with silence by the captured legacy media and all who question the results will be declared crazy conspiracy theorists by the totalitarians committing the atrocities. The truth doesn’t matter, but silence about the truth does.
quote great is truth but still greater from a practical point of view is silence about truth aldous huxley 14 0 082
The globalists calling the shots want you demoralized, indebted, fearful, freezing, starving, and angry at each other, as they methodically implement their Great Reset agenda without fear of retribution or even comprehension of what their diabolical scheme entails.
The chaos, uncertainty, anger, deviant behavior, and military conflict all dovetail nicely into the waning years of this Fourth Turning.
Domestic conflict which has for the most part played out in the media and political arena thus far, threatens to turn hot, as government agencies and media stoke the flames of discontent, resentment, and rage bubbling just below the surface of our civil society.
There is only so far good men can be pushed before they respond with an unanticipated level of violence against their antagonists. Once this response is triggered a grim determination will engulf the land, as a fight to the finish mentality will have been initiated.
Men who didn’t ask for this fight will be ready to die for their cause.
The debt, civic decay, and global disorder which catalyzed this Fourth Turning in 2008 have only grown larger and more untenable in 2022. The initial volcanic eruption of the Fed/Wall Street induced global financial crisis continues to flow along the predicted channels of distress.
The economic distress is palpable, as raging inflation is destroying the standard of living for most Americans and working people across the globe. Both government and consumer debts are mounting as interest rates are rising. Financial markets have become extremely volatile, with a downward bias.
The 2023 recession will trigger much higher unemployment and crashing stock, real estate, and bond markets.
This economic tsunami will exacerbate the already intense levels of social distress, as unemployed, broke, and angry Americans turn their wrath on the illegal hordes crossing our border and the politicians encouraging this invasion.
Biden’s incessant demagoguery against white MAGA supporters will ultimately achieve the pushback he is instigating, and it won’t be pretty. This absurd woke agenda of glorifying deviancy and abnormality will fall by the wayside as people will be forced to worry about survival as opposed to this trivial nonsense.
The political distress we’ve been experiencing since the 2020 election shows no signs of subsiding. Our governmental institutions have lost all credibility and appearance of serving justice.
The FBI and CIA have become the surveillance state arms of the Democrat party, conducting a coup against a sitting president, and falsely imprisoning protestors, journalists, and dissenters from the approved government narrative.
The stealing of the last two elections has created animosity on a grand scale between opposing political factions on the local, state, and federal level.
Biden has now twice used a bait and switch maneuver of overstepping his authority and the Constitution.
He and his handlers knew a national vaccine mandate was un-Constitutional, but declared it so, and intimidated employers across the country to force a medical procedure on their employees as a requirement of employment.
Many were fired and many more have been injured or killed due to this false mandate. The Courts were always going to overturn this executive order, and the tyrants knew it, but did it anyway.
The latest bait and switch came to fruition on the day after the election. What a coincidence. Biden declared he was writing off $500 billion of student loan debt by transferring the burden from gender studies college graduates to plumbers, landscapers, electricians, truck drivers and other hard-working Americans.
Pelosi is on tape saying Biden didn’t have the authority, but he did it anyway in a blatant illegal manner to curry the votes of the dumb indoctrinated youth.
And it worked. So now that the courts have ruled it un-Constitutional, the dumb remain in debt.
The purposefully instigated feud between Trump and DeSantis is designed to spur further discord in the political arena.
This is being cheered on by the left-wing media as they try to destroy republican chances to win the presidency in 2024.
The real distress in politics is having a bumbling, senile, child sniffing moron as president, cackling clown as vice president, and a cadre of low IQ seditious boobs in positions of power, all on the puppet strings of Obama, Soros, and their traitorous cabal.
If there has ever been a more recklessly irresponsible and incompetent group of dullards in control of a flailing empire, I would love to know about them.
If any group of imbeciles were capable of accidently triggering World War III through sheer hubris, lack of strategic foresight, inability to comprehend the consequences of their actions and sheer madness, it is those currently steering the U.S. Titanic into a global war iceberg of Russia and China.
They seem determined to have the American Empire go out with a bang rather than a whimper.
With all the nuclear posturing, supplying weapons to countries provoking Russia and China, ongoing NATO proxy war with Russia, and the Middle East powder keg poised to explode if Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, or Turkey make the wrong move, the threat of a global conflagration has not been higher since World War II.
One misstep by someone could create a cascade of events which could end the world as we know it.
We are all stuck in this Fourth Turning and there is no escape, except through death.
Our society will be reshaped, the death of the existing social order and rebirth of a new social order might be better or worse depending upon the decisions we make as individuals and as a nation.
The outcome is unknown and future uncertain.
All roads appear to be leading to a real winter of death in 2023.
Most of the squalls which will coalesce into a perfect storm of death and destruction over the next few years have been set in motion and nothing any of us can do on an individual basis can reverse the course of these events.
Putting our faith in political figureheads as saviors who will fight our battles is a forlorn hope.
Voting has not and will not change the course we are on, which was charted by decisions and choices made since the start of this century.
Individual and community efforts at preparation for the coming storm and what follows is all we can do at this point.
As Strauss & Howe cogently point out, history offers no guarantees and things could go horribly wrong in a hurry.
Do not be fooled by the narratives being spun by those controlling the media messaging.
The stock market going up, GDP being reported as positive, BLS telling you inflation has dropped all the way to 7.7%, Ukraine is winning, vaccines are safe, and our elections are fair and honest, is nothing more than Bernaysian propaganda designed to control and manipulate you.
There are bad people doing bad things to the people of this world and only good people can defeat them.
2022 11 19 10 36
You need to find people you can trust and make plans to help each other through the coming winter of death.
Being a loner during a Fourth Turning is not ideal.
If you can’t raise your own food, befriend a farmer.
Make sure you are sufficiently armed and do not trust anyone from the government or beholden to the government for their living.
Become physically and mentally prepared for what is coming.
Reduce your taxable footprint and help starve the machine.
Keep everything in perspective and decide what is really important.
Biden, Gates, Soros, and Schwab are nothing more than human flesh. They will die and meet their maker, just as we all will. Act as if the decisions and deeds you take in the next few years will determine how your children and their children will view your legacy.
Will you make them proud or ashamed?
The choice is yours.
There is a foreboding chill in the air as the storm clouds gather.
“History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship.
We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin.
Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.”
– Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war.
Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.”
– Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
Rage is an emotion, and as such it can be useful or dangerous. It’s up to us to figure out how to use it adequately. Many people would use other techniques to funnel their rage so that it wasn’t destructive.
Some would run, lift weights, or apply themselves in sports.
Others would internalize it, drink, brawl, or jut be an asshole.
Still others funnel that rage into music.
Those of us who are from the United States, or from the Domain, or have survived a broken marriage, a bad boss, or a corrupt government have all experienced real cold rage. I know I have. And I do my best to control it, least my “incredible hulk” comes out.
This post is going to be a tad different.
And it isn’t for everyone. What this post contains is some pretty harsh rock-n-roll music that has often served me (personally) in releasing and dealing with rage.
As such, it’s a bid dangerous and a tad toxic if you are not ready for it.
If you are not ready, then just skip this article and wait for a calmer and gentler post tomorrow. But if you are ready, or willing, or adventuresome, then have some fun…
BUT DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU
Here we go…
Austin Meade – Happier Alone
A Day To Remember: Miracle [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Zero 9:36 – Adrenaline (Official Video)
Bring Me The Horizon feat. BABYMETAL – Kingslayer
Wolfgang Van Halen – Mammoth WVH: Distance (Official Music Video)
Seether – Bruised And Bloodied (Official Music Video)
AC/DC – Shot In The Dark (Official Video)
Beartooth – Below / Devastation (Live at St. Augustine Amphitheater)
AC/DC – Realize (Official Video)
Papa Roach – The Ending (Remastered)
Greta Van Fleet Candlelight Sessions – Broken Bells (Live)
Greta Van Fleet – Heat Above (Live)
Five Finger Death Punch – Living The Dream (Official Music Video)
Daughtry – Heavy Is The Crown (Official Music Video)
Pop Evil – Breathe Again (Official Music Video)
I Prevail – Every Time You Leave (Official Music Video) ft. Delaney Jane
Rise Against – Nowhere Generation
Architects – “Animals”
The Pretty Reckless – And So It Went (Official Music Video)
The HU – Wolf Totem feat. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach (Official Music Video)
Bring Me The Horizon – Teardrops (Official Video)
Papa Roach x Jeris Johnson – Last Resort Reloaded (Official Music Video)
Chevelle – Self destructor (Official Music Video)
Five Finger Death Punch – A Little Bit Off (Official Music Video)
Yeah. The United States and the West are so full of shit right now that it’s just not even worth my time (and my sanity) to deal with it.
I think it’s better to let dying dogs…die.
I am finding my Rufus posts to be in violation of you-tube policy. It’s very disheartening to have my thoughts on helping people, smiling, happiness and support to be banned by You-Tube; a United States social media company.
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The videos that are posted within my videos are freely common on Douxing; a Chinese social media platform. This single point should tell you the total and true state of “freedom” in the United States today, compared to China.
As luck would have it, a great coincidence occurred… Just today.
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So, I no longer need to upload videos to You-tube and pass their censorship guidelines. I can just upload the videos directly to patreon.
Whenever I place a video link on Quora answer, some jackass complains to You-tube and they delete it without specific justification. Instead, they use their "boiler plate" litany of excuses that often make absolutely no fucking sense.
Popa Chubby – Sympathy For The Devil
As an American who has lived abroad, what do you dislike the most about the US?
I am 43 and have lived in
NORTH AMERICA (both US and Canada), SOUTH AMERICA (Colombia), EAST ASIA (South Korea, Japan), NORTH AFRICA (Morocco), EUROPE (Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain)
My dad traveled a lot so I grew up in a fairly international atmosphere, then I got a job that took me all over the world. My lifestyle has led me to have a rather international way of seeing things, to get to the point I don’t really feel that American and when around Americans I feel out of place.
Here is a list of things I dislike.
CONFORMISM: A lot of people in the US lack intellectual curiosity, America is a nation of consumers, not of thinkers…. A lot of Americans think life resumes to working to pay bills, saving for retirement, having kids, and running the rat race destination nowhere!
EXPENSIVE EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE: I had a cavity that was killing me in the US. I waited a week to go back to Colombia (I lived in Colombia at the time) so that I could see a Colombian dentist. The Colombian dentist did just a SUPERB JOB much better than any dentist I have ever used in the US, and it costed me 40 bucks to get my tooth fixed. In America it would have been around 800 dollars or perhaps thousands.
TAXING AMERICANS ABROAD: There are only TWO countries around the world that tax their citizens on worldwide earned income. The US and Djibouti in Africa. Djibouti does not enforce it unlike the US. (Ironically the US claims Djibouti is a dictatorship that infringes on human freedom)
CHARACTERLESS AMERICAN CITIES: Too many suburbs, too much sprawl, everywhere you look you notice the landscape is dotted with cookie cutter suburbs, crappy generic malls, massive billboards advertising crap, and gigantic parking lots. American cities lack excitement. (There are only three cities in the US…. NY, San Francisco, and New Orleans. The rest is Cleveland!)
RACE: Living abroad you realize that hate is universal, and while you might find racists and bigots here and there around the world, in America “Race” is a business! Race is such a monumental thing in America that it is almost illogical. In other countries race is a thing you think about once or twice in the span of a few years and for a few seconds, but in America race permeates and defines literally EVERY ASPECT OF THIS COUNTRY.
TOO HOMOGENEOUS – COOKIE CUTTER: This is linked to the characterless, corporate like – Home owners association loving, ambiance of the country. From coast to coast everything is corporate and looks exactly the same. Restaurants are the same, coffee shops are the same, clothing stores are the same, foods are the same, people dress the same, architecture looks the same. All that sameness has an effect on the otherwise diverse demographics, who overtime become mind numbingly homogeneous.
FOOD IS CRAPPY, GENERIC IN TASTE AND HEALTHY OPTIONS EXPENSIVE: How is it possible that in Colombia or Spain or Morocco or Vietnam I can buy some amazing fresh organic produce anywhere for a couple of bucks… but in America I have to go to whole foods and spend a good amount of money in healthy vegetables so that I can be sure they are free of GMO’s? Not only that, in other countries, food varies based on the restaurant. In America food tastes alike all over.
YOU NEED TO DRIVE EVERYWHERE: Not sure why intelligent urban growth is not an option here. A nation this rich could afford to build efficient public transportation no? I was reading that a high speed train between Boston – NYC – Philly – Baltimore – DC would generate billions in revenue, cause co2 decline in the region, and decongest roads in the north East. The issue is corporate lobbies in DC won’t let it happen.
TOO MUCH POVERTY: Not only monetary but intellectual. Ignorance of the world, prejudices, stereotypes of other cultures are ok and the norm. Americans have no damn clue of how the world works and live in an alternate planet called the American bubble! On this planet, all people do is work and work and work, many with crappy wages, shitty jobs, tons of people struggle and the government is absent or hardly cares. All the while Americans convince themselves or firmly and naively believe they are LUCKY because they live in the greatest nation on earth.
PEOPLE WALKING AROUND IN PAJAMAS, OR SOCKS AND SANDALS: Make at least a fucking effort to look like you took a damn shower! Do you really need to go out in pajamas or socks and sandals like a fucking nasty troglodyte?
EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY EITHER CAME FROM AMERICA OR IS EXARCERVATED BY AMERICAN MEDIA: Political correctness, Feminazism, Racialism, Identity politics, toxic divisions, extreme conservatism, extreme liberalism, cancel culture, shitty flag waving patriotism.
THE INTELLIGENT DO NOT CALL THE SHOTS, THE SHOTS ARE CALLED BY THE DUMB, LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, GROSS ON SOCIAL MEDIA! The louder and dumber you behave on Twitter, the more followers you get, hence the more power to change things your way you get because spineless politicians will jump on your boat in order to get votes.
LACK OF GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING, IGNORANCE AND BACKWARDNESS ACCEPTED AS NORMAL: Americans self congratulate on things like having a woman vice president, or having a mixed race president and think it is groundbreaking. Ironically half the planet has already had females in charge for decades, and all sorts of people with all sorts of skin colors leading! Argentina already had transgender women on tv back in the 70s! In the US people think it is so forward because we finally have Ru Paul Drag race.
GUNS GUNS GUNS AND THE IDIOTS THAT LOVE THEM: I tried teaching in CO but I gave up after realizing what mess our education system is. During a conversation with a fellow teacher she showed me her loaded gun. She proudly stated… “This is my girl, she keeps me safe!”. I do not know how safe I would feel to have my child go to school with an armed teacher, one day she goes crazy and there goes my child and his classmates! And this is blue state Colorado! Imagine the red ones! TOO MANY GUNS…. which takes me to the next point.
TOXIC MACHO CULTURE COMPARED TO OTHER RICH WESTERN NATIONS AND EVEN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: From the college “bro” that thinks wearing pink is gay; To men desperate to belong to pointless stupid fraternities where they can hang out and get wasted with other “dudes”; To punks that think their assault rifles make them manly; To resentful pricks that want to shoot everyone because women won’t pay attention to them; To dickheads running the show that think it is their rightful place as old straight males to dictate whatever everyone else should do! This country breeds entitlement! It is overflooding with a bunch of pseudo-alpha male, “John Wayne” wannabes; absolutely convinced they are exemplary and wise beyond words because they are men!
— Notice the contributions of straight men in this country in the last decade : Mass shootings; right wing groups like the Proud Boys, the Alt Right and their douchebag hairstyles— This level of entitlement in straight men is surprisingly rare in many places abroad (Unless you are in the Middle East.) Granted that is changing quickly but for a so called developed nation, it is terribly backwater!
Mix ingredients for the first marinade. Add chicken pieces and marinate for 25-30 minutes. Dry-roast coriander seeds in frying pan over a medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add cumin seeds and dry-roast for 30 seconds. Grind these spices in blender, or mortar & pestle, then mix them in non-metallic bowl with other ingredients for second marinade. Salt to taste, and add chicken pieces. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Thread the marinated chicken pieces onto metal or pre-soaked wooden skewers. Pre-heat a grill, chargrill or grill pan to hot. Grill the skewered chicken, turning a few times, so that the chicken gets cooked evenly from all sides. Remove the chicken from the grill. Take the pieces off the skewers and place on a plate.
For tomato masala heat ghee, or oil in frying pan. When the ghee is ready, turn the heat to medium-high and fry coriander seeds and cinnamon stick for 1 minute. Add bay leaves, cloves, green cardamoms and black peppercorns, and fry for 1 more minute. Now add halfed tomatoes and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add 125 ml of hot water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, and cover with a lid. After 20 minutes remove skin from the tomatoes and continue to simmer until the tomatoes have completely disintegrated. Now remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves from tomato masala and blend it with a hand-held blender and pass it through a sieve to obtain smooth puree. Set this masala aside.
For the gravy heat the ghee in frying pan. When the ghee is hot, add the onions and reduce the heat to medium. Fry for 10-15 minutes, or until onions are tender and golden.
In the meantime, put almonds and desiccated coconut in blender and grind to powder. Now grind this almond-coconut powder with double cream and a little water to make a fine paste.
When the onions are golden add garlic, ginger, and green chillies, and fry for 1 minute. Then add turmeric, paprika and cumin and saute for 30 seconds. Put in the tomato masala, almond-coconut paste, tomato paste, honey and 125 ml of hot water. Cook for 10 minutes, or until sauce starts to thicken. Remove the curry sauce from the heat, and blend it again with the hand-held blender until smooth. Return to a clean pan, reheat again and add cheddar cheese. When the cheese is melted, slowly whisk in the cream. Add dry fenugreek leaves, garam masala and salt to taste. Put in the chicken pieces and stir for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
To finish the dish, stir in the chopped coriander leaves. Serve with naan bread or pilau rice.
How many jobs did ex-convicts apply for until they were accepted?
Good question! It has a relatively simple answer. Within a day or two, you realize there is little chance of getting meaningful employment, most often far from your area of expertise, think manual labor. You’ll be hard pressed to land a job where you or what you represent scares people!
Before I even got out I knew I wasn’t going into anything even close to my preferred field. In fact, I thought it through a hundred times and the answer was always the same. Hourly labor. I was like 59 and I immediately started calling manual labor jobs. A fairly specific type. Hard work, awful shift, virtually unlimited overtime with a decent starting rate.
On about my 4–5th call I was interviewed and offered a job as a traffic barricade setter/driver. 5 pm to 5am with extra work on days off when we closed freeways, which was all the time.
The first year I almost died, literally and figuratively. Night Shift is awful. It takes everything to make the switch. Days without sleep, falling asleep driving home in the early mornings, working in active traffic lanes when the bars close, my age and even though I thought I was in shape for almost 60, it’s brutal work. I didn’t really have a life outside the job but that was part of the plan, make money, don’t violate. For me it worked. I made $90k in 2008, not a bad 1st year for an ex-con.
If you want to work, physical work, you’ll get hired pretty quick. If you’re picky, lazy, have a victim mentality, feel like ‘they owe me’ or ‘I ain’t doin’ that’, be prepared for a long slog to a job. And when you finally land it, you’ll probably hate it!
I’ve been chasing reports of deserted towns and have yet to find one. Over and over, I would read articles in the international press claiming that China is building towns that are never inhabited–only to find something very different upon arrival.
Ordos, the most famous ‘ghost city,’ took ten years to populate but now has a thriving downtown and rising home prices.
Xiangluowan, Lanzhou, Zhengzhou, Zhujiang, and Zhengdong, former ‘ghost cities,’ currently host the biggest urban migration in history. Newer cities–backwaters a decade ago–are complete and awaiting occupants while others, like Xinyang New District, are finishing construction. Wade Shepard.
When the vast, now empty city, below, opens it will be the first conceived, designed, emulated, modeled, constructed and wired entirely in this century.
Xiong’an New District, bigger than Greater London, on a greenfield site sixty miles south of Beijing, will connect the world’s most prosperous city¹ to its impoverished hinterland while re-housing industries unneeded in a national capital. Tax collection and patent inspection will move there, as will think tanks and high tech companies like AliBaba, that do not need to be in the capital.
SOEs have 100 subsidiaries and branches in the area in sectors like infrastructure construction, frontier information technologies, advanced biological technologies, modern service, energy, and new materials. 3,000 enterprises have registered in Xiong’an, 80% of which are scientific and technological enterprises from Beijing. To accompany them, Beijing’s top universities, hospitals, and schools are building branches in Xiong’an.
Ultimately, however, the New District’s success or failure depends on millions of highly educated youngsters who are picky about lifestyle. That’s why..
70% of Xiong’an’s forty square miles will be wetlands and forest,
its eco-city model² features low-energy construction materials, automated light mass transport and green urban pockets.
transportation, water, and electricity infrastructure mostly underground.
all commutes, including downtown Beijing, are under 55 minutes.
4 high-speed commuter lines connect 3 new airports³ with the national high-speed rail network. Travel time to all airports is the same⁴.
the New Area is designed with and for 5G, IoT, AI, big data cloud computing, smart sensors, smart lighting, and integrated personal recognition.
The entire infrastructure designed for remote-controlled, self-driving vehicles and automated traffic management.
Boom Time?
Justin Lin Yifu, the world’s leading developmental economist, says Chinese GDP can grow 8% pa through 2050, since China’s urban-rural ratio and per capita GDP have just reached Japan’s 1970 levels, when that country’s economic takeoff began.
Xiong’an was designed to repay its capital cost within 30 years by boosting residents’ productivity and, thus tax contribution. If it is on track by, say, 2030, expect Xiong’An 2.0. By 2050, hundreds of millions will live in cities like it.
1
Beijing is home to the most billionaires and the most high-end shops in the world. Porsche dealerships cover acres of expensive land..
2
The new development benefits from lessons learned since 2008, when Singapore and China agreed to build Tianjin Eco-city and use 26 KPIs – like air quality, water quality, noise pollution, wetland and shoreline protection, urban greenspace, water consumption – to measure the city’s ecological, economic, and social development. The project is ongoing.
3
Beijing Daxing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang.
4
The trainsets for each airport line are designed to operate at different speeds.
U.S. and South Korea EXTEND Military Exercises that Caused North to Fire Missiles!
The United States and South Korea have extended their large-scale, military, air exercise known as “Vigilant Storm.”
In response, North Korea said that SK/US will realize that they made an irreversible, immense mistake.
Dongping has a say
Interesting story…
...I do not know how to answer all your questions. I am teaching at semester at sea this semester, and I do not have good internet access. But I can tell you from my limited life experience that socialism is good for the working class, not for the elite in the short run. It will be good for everybody in the long run, even though people do not see it for their limited vision.
Socialism will eventually emancipate everybody from the oppression and exploitation of the capitalism and the state. I wrote a book called the Unknown Cultural Revolution.
You should check it out. When I first proposed to write my dissertation on that topic, my American advisor told me that if I did not change the topic, he would not serve as my advisor any more, and he warned me that would not be able to graduate and get a degree, and I would not be able to get a job in the U.S.
I told him that I could find another professor to advise me. I told him that I did not need to graduate and get a degree. I also told him that I did not need to get a job. I am Chinese and can always go back to China. I left his office and talked to another professor.
The other professor asked me if I was sure that my adviser did not want to advise me any more. I said that I just left his office. The other professor picked up the phone to confirm. But my advisor said that I got him wrong, and he wanted me, and asked the professor to send me back to him. I went back to his office. He told me that I was on my own now. Do not blame him for not warn me ahead of time. I told him that I did not expect him to help me, and I just need him to serve as my nominal advisor.
I worked on my own and did all the research on my own. When I showed my draft to him, he said that I should apply for the Spencer Foundation Grant, which was the most prestigious grant for graduate students in the U.S. I did, and got it.
It turned out that I was the only one to get the Spencer Foundation Grant that year at Brandeis, the first to graduate and the first to get a tenured track job among my cohorts at Brandeis that year. My professor actually told me that my success helped him and we became best friends for some reason. He told me that he argued in the department that his student got the spence foundation grant, his student was the first to graduate and get a tenured track position.
Because the spencer foundation advertized my dissertation, I got severa offers from publishers. I was able to publish the hard copy of the book in 2000 with Garland Publishing, and published the paper back of the book in 2008. I tell you this to show how difficult it was to do research on the positive side of the Cultural Revolution in the West.
In China, the Cultural Revolution was a tobo for many years. Only negative staff can be published about Mao Era. The great leap famine nonsense and intellectual suffering nonsense flooded the Chinese book markets. My students in the U.S. could not understand, because they did not understand that we lived in class societies. Even in socialist China, there are people who hated socialism and Communist party so strongly, they wished that the Americans or Jiang Jieshi came back to kill the communists for them.
During WWII, many Chinese military generals collaborated with the Japanese to kill the Chinese Communists, because they could not tolerate a society when there would be no elite any more. The total number of collaborators with the Japanese was unknown. Some people estimated at five or six million.
If there was war between China and the U.S. today, my feeling is that the number of collaborators would be even bigger.
I mentioned that Deng Xiaoping carried out a campaign of ten years to purge anybody who was loyal to Mao and the gang of four. Before him, Hua Guofeng did three years, arresting hundred and thousands of Mao loyalists in China. Deng Xiaoping's original plan was to execute Mao's wife. But because most other leaders disagreed with him he relented in the end, but still murdered her in 1992, when Mao heat emerged in Chinese society.
Deng Xiaoping got the one child policy from the U.S. and imposed it on the Chinese people brutally which literally torne the Chinese society apart. The Chinese people's hatred against the government officials reached the peak. I could not imagine if there was a time period in the whole Chinese history that the Chinese people would hate their leaders more than Deng era. I have done rural research for more than thirty years. The Chinese people's anger against Deng Xiaoping and his policies for ruining their livelihood has no bounds. But all these can never be published in China.
But I am sure that Xi Jinping and the top leaders in China knew this.
That was one reason that they were slowly adjusting their policies in China.
In 2017, at an international socialist congress in Beijing, I was grouped with a scholar from Central Party School who was sharing his rural research result, which was devastatingly bleak. I asked him if they had reported the result to the central committee. He told me that they know all too well. He argued that if there were foreign invasion in China, the Chinese Government could not count on the local party branches to function properly.
In 2018, I got a grant to take four students to do research in rural China. I saw dramatic change in the rural areas. New school buildings, new clinics, new paved roads, provincial officials were stationed in the village, working part time with village leaders to solve rural problems. Farmers' attitude toward the central government improved dramatically. In the four villages we visited in Shandong, every household got one thousand yuan to build a more environmental friendly eco bathroom. I was told that that program alone caused Sixty Billion Yuan in Shandong Province alone.
I do not buy all these books published during the last four decades in China for one reason. There was a coup in China after Mao's death. The Deng Xiaoping government wanted to make friends with the West. They need to tarnish Mao era in order to justify their dramatic change. It is just that simple. Their effort came back to haunt themselves and the Chinese Communist Party. Xi Jinping is trying to amend that now.
During Mao era, Chinese elite were required to work with farmers and workers on a regular basis. They were required to live among the people, and their children had to go to school with the common people. It was called share the hardship and share the pleasure.
Production team leaders had to work every day with farmers, no exception. Meeting could only be held at night.
Village leaders had to work no less than three hundred days a year.
Commune leaders no less than 250 days a year in the fields with farmers.
County leaders no less than 200 days a year. That was a national guideline.
I was a manager of a village factory for five years. I worked everyday with my workers, and harder than my workers, but got the same pay. I can tell you that our production increased each year.
Before I was the manager, I was working with four young girls to assemble fish boat gears. The first month we did 7 sets. The second month we increased to 14 sets, and third month we did 21 sets, by the fourth month, we did 28 sets. From then on, we were able to assemble on average one set a day. The profit was one thousand per set at the time. My group produced more than 100,000 yuan profit for the factory that year. That was one of the reasons that I was chosen to be manager of the factory at the age of 18. I was looking for better way to increase production all the time, even during my sleep. I dreamed about finding a solution for one problem at night, and found it in my dream. The next day, I tested and found it to be very effective.
When leaders worked very hard with workers, and workers had no reason not to work hard.
Chairman Mao once said that a worker by nature wants to work. If a worker refuses to work, there must be something wrong with the management.
In the U.S. I am often hired on the side by some enterprises to interpret for Chinese engineers who came to the U.S. to teach American workers how to use Chinese equipment. One of the Chinese engineers told me that he was shocked by the inefficiency of American working place. He said that one Chinese worker would be as good as four American workers.
I noticed as well that when the bosses were around, workers pretend to work. But once the bosses left, they would go out to smoke, or go to bathroom. I explained to the Chinese engineer that American workers saw no reason to work hard for the capitalists who pocket most of the profits.
Yang Heping, Bill Hinton's nephew, who grew up in China, and went to the U.S. to work and for his ph.d after Deng Xiaoping returned to power. He eventually returned to China in the 2000s, and now teaches in Beijing. He made several public speeches about his working experience during the Mao era and in the U.S. You might find it interesting to watch them. But they are in Chinese.
I am teaching at a small private college in the U.S. The last three presidents the college hired were all disasters. These people came to the job for the money but had no leadership skills. They were paid five to six times more than professors, and they made a mess and were asked to leave after five or six years with a fat separation check. Some of my students and parents suggested that I should be the present. I am too old to take on something like that. But if I were to serve as the president, I would not take more than a professor's pay, and I would continue to teach one or two classes a year. I would lead by example, and dedication to my community. But there is no such thing in the U.S. That was the philosophy I developed during Mao era. I think that socialism will only workers if the CPC returned to its Mao's spirit of sharing the hardship and pleasure with the people.
Dongping
TID: Any blast with a white flash, which is a nuclear weapons burning its ‘pit’ is assured to be a nuclear weapon
Previously, Ukrainian forces launched a major drone attack against the Russian city of Sevastopol and the Russian ships in the Black Sea, which prompted Moscow to suspend the grain deal.
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned France, Britain, the US, and Turkey that the Kiev regime is preparing a provocation with a “dirty bomb”, as Ukraine intends to escalate the conflict into a nuclear crisis and pin the blame on Russia.
A dirty bomb contains radioactive isotopes and an explosive load that disperses radioactive material across large areas.
Outcome of New normal: live with COVID:
In January 2022, Brookings Metro published a report that assessed the impact of long Covid on the labor market. Data on the condition’s prevalence was limited, so the report used various studies to make a conservative estimate: 1.6 million full-time equivalent workers could be out of work due to long Covid. With 10.6 million unfilled jobs at the time, long Covid potentially accounted for 15% of the labor shortage.
This June, the Census Bureau finally added four questions about long Covid to its Household Pulse Survey (HPS), giving researchers a better understanding of the condition’s prevalence. This report uses the new data to assess the labor market impact and economic burden of long Covid, and finds that:
Around 16 million working-age Americans (those aged 18 to 65) have long Covid today.
Of those, 2 to 4 million are out of work due to long Covid.
The annual cost of those lost wages alone is around $170 billion a year (and potentially as high as $230 billion).
These impacts stand to worsen over time if the U.S. does not take the necessary policy actions. With that in mind, the final section of this report identifies five critical interventions to mitigate both the economic costs and household financial impact of long Covid.
Bankrupting the Enemy: The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor.
Other Title
US Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor
Summary
Was the bombing of Pearl Harbor an unprovoked attack on the United States? According to a new book by Edward S. Miller, the Japanese motivation stemmed from U.S. plans to defeat Japan economically in the years before World War II. Miller discussed his book, “Bankrupting the Enemy: The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor” in a program sponsored by the Humanities and Social Sciences Division. In his book published by the Naval Institute Press, Miller contends that the United States forced Japan into international bankruptcy to deter its aggression. The Japanese government had a huge cache of dollars fraudulently hidden in New York. In July 1941, President Roosevelt froze the money to “bring Japan to its senses, not its knees,” Miller asserts. Roosevelt’s intentions were thwarted, however, by U.S. bureaucrats who were determined to deny Japan the dollars needed to buy oil and other resources for economic survival. Miller demonstrates that the deprivations facing the Japanese people as a result of the fund cutoff buttressed Japan’s choice of war at Pearl Harbor.
2 statements from Sergey Glazyev, former minister of Foreign Economic Relations in Boris Yeltsin’s cabinet, today the Commissioner for Integration and Macroeconomics within the Eurasian Economic Commission, the executive body of the Eurasian Economic Union, and close confident of president Putin, published 5 days ago on his official Telegram channel:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
(on the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China)
The 20th CPC Congress and the plenum of the newly elected Central Committee that ended in Beijing are covered here mainly in terms of politics. It mainly emphasizes the importance of Xi Jinping’s re-election to key leadership positions, whose status as the core of the party was confirmed in the resolutions adopted. I would invite readers to consider the ideological significance of these events in comparison with the achievements of our country and the CPSU that led it, whose leadership role was enshrined in the USSR Constitution.
The 20th Congress was a watershed for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: at it, Khrushchev, who succeeded Stalin as head of the party, unveiled a report that exposed the personality cult of his predecessor and discredited the party in many ways. Having read that report, Mao Tse Tung told his comrades that corrupt officials and traitors had seized power in the USSR, and that they would lead the country to ruin. In this, he proved to be a visionary – Brezhnev, who removed Khrushchev from power, succeeded in correcting the blunders of the vain Khrushchev, but the even more vain Gorbachev, promoted by Andropov, returned the country to the disastrous path of thoughtlessly copying Western institutions and discrediting his own achievements.
In China, it is not customary to abandon the heroic achievements of the past and to vilify their predecessors. The Chinese value their own experience, work on their own mistakes and learn from the mistakes of others. Unlike us, they have preserved both the socialist system and the leading role of the Communist Party, as well as state planning, while constantly improving their system of governance. Avoiding self-destructive decisions, cautiously reforming the economy and subordinating market relations to the goal of enhancing social welfare, they have achieved tremendous success.
The 20th CPC Congress marked the 100th anniversary of the CPC, which adopted the CPC Central Committee Resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the party’s 100-year struggle. I encourage you to read it in the link below. It is important for us to draw the following conclusions from this experience.
Three decades after the self-dissolution of the CPSU, the collapse of the USSR and the MSS, the cause of socialism lives and wins. Not only in China, but also in Vietnam, the socialist oriented India and other Asian countries have achieved tremendous success during this time. These countries now constitute the core of the new world economic order and form the new fast-growing center of the world economy. Southeast Asia is already ahead of the U.S. and the EU in terms of output, and three times faster than the U.S. and the EU.
By refusing to continue socialist construction, we have climbed into the last wagon of the dead-end capitalist world, the collapse of which was postponed for 30 years thanks to the appropriation of wealth and resources of the former Soviet Union and the USSR countries placed under Western capitalist control. Having exhausted its potential, the American-centric financial and economic system is decaying and the global hybrid war unleashed by Washington is essentially its agony.
Finding itself after the collapse of the USSR on the periphery of the American-centric system of oligarchic capitalism, Russia has degraded in the scientific, technical, economic, spiritual and cultural fields, becoming a raw materials, financial and intellectual donor to the United States and the EU. Its demographic losses have been about 15 million unborn and prematurely dead citizens (relative to the reproductive behavior model of the late Soviet Union). The most developed union republic, Ukraine, has been turned into a Nazi concentration camp under the direction of Western intelligence services; the Baltic republics, absorbed by the EU, have lost their ability to develop and become depopulated.
The Chinese Communists, while preserving the Soviet political system, Marxist-Leninist teachings, and the socialist order, abandoned dogmatism and creatively approached market-based economic reforms. They were able to subordinate market mechanisms to the goals of improving public welfare and economic competitiveness, and learned to use entrepreneurial energy for the benefit of society.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––
(on the Chinese socialist model of economic development and its significance for Russia)
The socialist market economy created by them turned out to be qualitatively more effective than both the Soviet administrative and planning system and the developed capitalist countries. Preserving the socialist ideology and national economic goal-setting and strategic planning, the CCP follows an innovative way of development, constantly improving the system of market economy regulation, ensuring the highest possible level of investment and innovation activity by methods of state control.
Further development of the world economy for the foreseeable future until the end of this century will be determined by socialist-oriented countries. China, led by the Communist Party, and democratic India will compete for leadership in all significant for mankind spheres: industrial, scientific and technological, social, cultural, environmental. The efforts of the U.S. power and financial elite to retain leadership through a global hybrid war are futile and will bring nothing but multimillion-dollar casualties and disasters to the countries within its sphere of influence.
The stunning success of China, India and Indochina, which have maintained their socialist orientation, against the background of the agony of the core of the capitalist world in the form of a world hybrid war, puts us before a choice: return to the main road of modern socialism or perish on the periphery of the agonizing American-centric financial and economic system. Of course, we can speak only about the modern understanding of socialist construction – with the use of market mechanisms and entrepreneurial energy, relying on traditional moral values. The era of class struggle and the coercion of millions of people to work is a thing of the past. The modern socialist state is an integrator of various social groups on the basis of creative activity for the improvement of social welfare. The system of socialist government must harmonize the relationship between man, society and nature and create conditions for the creative self-realization of each individual in socially useful activities. The socialist state today must be not only just and demanding, but also humane, legal, democratic, intelligent – a state of development. Its principles are outlined in the program provisions of the World Russian People’s Council. Its organic ideology is Orthodox socialism, complemented by the values of other traditional confessions in Russia.
Our peripheral position is manifested today in our inability to mobilize the resources available in the country – they still drain away to U.S.-controlled jurisdictions. If this situation persists, every day of war strengthens us by taking the enemy’s capital, resources and minds out of our country, and weakens us. Three hundred thousand of our honest and best mobilized men are fighting, and as many more are fleeing to the enemy’s location. Millions of people are doing their best to help the front by giving their savings to the fighting soldiers, while the monetary authorities are conniving with the comprador oligarchy in taking capital out of the country. Without the restoration of socialist ideology, state planning, socially equitable distribution of national income, subordination of the banking system and monetary policy to the goals of increasing investment and mobilizing all available resources in the process of expanded reproduction, we cannot escape from the current futile peripheral and dependent situation. The time has come to correct the mistakes made thirty years ago. Repeating them today and continuing to follow the false path of the Washington Consensus amidst the stunning successes of the Chinese Communist Party is not only foolish, but treasonous.
Rome is easing up on its arms supplies to Ukraine amid Kiev’s ongoing military conflict with Russia, Il Messaggero reported on Tuesday, citing sources within the Italian government that claim no new weapons packages are under consideration at the moment.
Although new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pledged to honor Kiev’s request for more military assistance and advanced air defense systems, the outlet says all arms shipments to Ukraine are currently on stand-by.
“Only and only because it is first necessary to coordinate with NATO and go into detail on Ukraine’s military requests. Only then will we understand what Kiev needs and what armaments we will be able to supply,” government officials reportedly told Il Messaggero.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is expected to visit Italy in the coming days to meet with Meloni and Italian Defense Minister Giulio Crosetto. Together, they are expected to discuss what weapons are essential to defend Kiev and work to solve three key issues before military shipments can resume.
The first one being Kiev’s request for the very expensive SAMP-T surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile systems. According to Italy’s Defense Ministry, the country only has a few of these systems at its disposal and if it were to deliver some of them to Kiev, it would risk weakening its own air defense capabilities. Il Messaggero notes that this issue could result in Rome sending other weapon systems to Kiev instead.
Italy has also yet to completely fulfill delivery of five arms packages already pledged to Ukraine. “We have to complete the job, before facing a new one,” sources told the outlet.
Finally, in order for any new weapons packages to be approved for Kiev, the minister of defense must discuss the issue with the Parliamentary Committee on Services, which is still not operational following the recent elections in Italy.
Despite this temporary delay in approving a sixth weapons package for Ukraine, Italy’s new government insists that military support for Kiev is “not in question.” Meloni, who recently became the country’s first female prime minister, told parliament last week that the only way to facilitate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is by helping Kiev defend itself militarily.
Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned the West against pumping Ukraine with weapons, insisting that it would only prolong the conflict and lead to more bloodshed.
Scientists from US, UK, Japan… Flow to China.
2022: Scientists leave the UK as China overtakes US as most favoured destination | Science|Business
HERE
2022: The U.S. Is Losing Scientists to China. How to Stem the Flow. | Barron's
HERE
2020 : China snaps up Japanese scientists, sparking fears of technology outflow. Government must urgently improve domestic research environment to stem brain drain
HERE
Will the US invade China?
Absolutely not. There are many reasons.
They have over 4x the population than we do.
To invade, we’d have to ship our military over there
They are a collectivist culture we are more individualistic. By that I mean that someone from the US is far more likely to say “screw this” than the chinese who historically are motivated by what is important to the greater whole.
They haven’t attacked us beyond spying, which nearly all countries do.
They are our largest trading partner. Companies here would go broke and we’d also lose a lot of consumer goods manufactured there.
They have nuclear weapons
We would have virtually no allies anymore due to such an unprovoked attack.
We have very little to gain and a lot to lose.
The bottom line is simple. We would lose and lose badly. It would come down to who is ready to fight the hardest. Since we’d be attacking their very land, they would.
Naan
“This naan is from the New Vegetarian Epicure. With just four ingredients and no yeast, it is simple to mix up, but it is so soft and flavorful I figured I’d add it to the many recipes already posted. Prep time does not include 1 hour of “resting.””
Stir in the yogurt till the dough is too stiff for a spoon, then knead it in the bowl till it holds together well, adding more flour if necessary.
Turn it out on a floured surface and continue kneading for about 5 minutes till the dough feels smooth and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball and put it in an oiled bowl, covered with a towel, to rest for an hour or longer.
Take the dough out and cut it into 10 equal pieces. Form each into a ball and press the balls flat into round discs.
Heat a large frying pan or griddle, either seasoned cast iron or a good non-stick finish.
Heat your oven to about 500 and have the broiler on (this is how the original recipe states it – I know with my oven it’s either 500 degree oven OR the broiler, but you get the idea.
Take 1 piece of dough at a time and roll it out on a floured surface till it is about 8-10 inches across and less than 1/4 inch thick.
Lay it on the hot griddle and cook it over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes (I don’t think mine took that long).
It will puff up in places or all over, and there will be some blackish-brown spots on the bottom.
Slide a spatula under the naan and transfer it to the oven, directly onto the rack, for a minute or two, just till it finishes puffing up into a balloon and begins to color lightly on top.
Remove naan from the oven and brush it lightly with melted butter if you like.
Continue this way with all the dough, stacking the breads into a napkin-lined basket.
Serve the breads hot, fresh from the oven, or let them cool and wrap them up.
To reheat, wrap them in aluminum foil, in packets of 4 or 5 breads and put them in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
British Ambassador SUMMONED To Russian Foreign Ministry; Confronted Over Attacks on NordStream Pipelines
British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert was SUMMONED to the Russian Foreign Ministry today. She arrived shortly after 10:30 AM, Moscow local time.
Upon her arrival, she was greeted by a crowd chanting anti-British slogans and holding placards reading “Britain is a terrorist state.” She left after about 30 minutes.
The reason the Ambassador was Summoned was to be directly confronted about British involvement in the recent attack upon Russian naval vessels near Sevastopol, Crimes, and about the bombing of the Nord Stream Pipelines, weeks ago.
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the press “there can be no doubt that British intelligence services were involved in the terrorist attack on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol on Oct. 29 and the act of sabotage against the Nord Stream pipeline. They will not be left without a reaction. We have stated this in the Security Council. We spoke about that publicly… British ambassador has been summoned and given the relevant materials… the same materials… will also be made available to the public at large.…”
Zakharova went on to tell the press “They tried to absolve themselves of responsibility for the terrorist attack. They said that they did not even know about anything like that. It was a very strange reaction. They have contacts, as they have always had, with the Russian Defense Ministry.”
She finished her remarks about the matter by saying “In principle, they could have tried to clear up certain things. It has turned out that a priori they know the answers to all questions…. They argue they had nothing to do with it. They should have at least asked what evidence we have…”
PUBLIC TO BE TOLD
It now appears that Russia plans to reveal publicly, the evidence they possess, proving the British government blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline.
Our previous coverage of this matter reported (HERE) that the Russian have data showing that after the Nord Stream pipelines detonated, alarms from sensors in those pipes, alerted Russian natural gas company GAZPROM that pressure in the pipes had dropped massively and suddenly. Russia also has records from Apple iCloud, showing that one minute after the pressure sensor alarms began sounding at GAZPROM, British Prime Minister Liz Truss sent a text message from her iPhone to US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken which said “It’s done.”
At that moment, no one in the world knew that the pipelines had been blown up. GAZPROM only knew that there was a massive and sudden pressure drop. But Liz Truss knew . . . because it was the British government that carried out the bombing of the pipelines. It was Liz Truss that texted Antony Blinken telling him “It’s done.”
x
Will the G7’s proposed Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative to build worldwide infrastructure effectively counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or is this just wishful thinking?
This is a joke, right?
So the G7 is going to compete with China in building infrastructure. China is the country which has consumed more steel and cement in five years than the US did in the entire 20th century, including fighting two world wars.
This the US, which has such lousy roads, bridges and buildings, the same US where President Biden cannot get Congress to pass a bill spending $2T to rebuild basic American infrastructure.
So, if I were an African head-of-state, and China and the US came to me offering to build infrastructure in my country, who do you think I would choose? I think I would have to think for all of one minute to come to a decision.
OK, so the US doesn’t have much experience building stuff, but the US is a democracy, while China is not. Why should I care about who is a democracy and who is not a democracy? I just want infrastructure so that my country can modernize and be more competitive.
FOR DOUGHNUTS: In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Add pumpkin, eggs, milk, and shortening, butter, or margarine; beat with an electric mixer on low speed till mixed.
Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip with a 1/2 inch opening. Pipe onto 2 greased baking sheets in 3-inch circles. Bake in a preheated 375* oven for 10 minutes, or till golden brown. Cool doughnuts on a rack over waxed paper.
FOR ICING: In a small mixing bowl stir together powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough milk to make a smooth icing of glazing consistency. Spoon icing over doughnuts.
Germany moves closer to China
Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz will go to Beijing to secretly ask China’s help and cooperation in resisting the pressure and threats from the USA.
There a large delegation of German industry bosses with him; they want more cooperation with China, and no sanctions.
Germany is divided, the German media are bribed, the German politicians are threatened by the USA on a daily basis.
The German industry however is fighting for survival. They know very well that the future of the German economy is in cooperation with China. Almost all German big MNC’s are making 60 to 80 % of their turnover in China. Without their China presence, there is no German industry anymore. Kunshan, Shenyang and many other Chinese cities are actually German, very few other foreign investments there. In Suzhou, in the night clubs, the Chinese audience is loudly singing “Über den Wolken” (von Reinhard Mey, 1974) Yes, the Chinese audience is singing in German there !!
And I can assure you, all the German employees of these MNC’s in Germany are very well aware of the importance of the cooperation with China.
Germany’s Scholz: The way we deal with China must change – POLITICO
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travels to Beijing this week in what is fast becoming a controversial trip, amid pressure both domestically and from within the EU to take a tougher line against China.
Scholz is the first Western leader to visit the Asian country since the COVID-19 pandemic began and will go with a delegation of German business leaders.
But many have questioned his intentions behind the trip, arguing he is prioritising economic ties at a time when the EU is looking to reduce its dependency on countries like China and Russia.
Strong trade links already exist between Beijing and Berlin, with China being its second-largest export destination.
As a result, the idea of decoupling from China, like what is happening with Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, is a virtual non-starter for a lot of German businesses, with so many heavily invested in the country.
It’s an offence to have more than 50kg of potatoes on your person at anytime in Western Australia
And it has been since 1946.
How does it feel to narrowly miss a flight which subsequently crashes and leaves no survivors?
Does anyone remember this image from 1979? The Air New Zealand Mt Erebus crash in Antarctica that made news around the world with 257 dead and no survivors.
x
It was a full aircraft and I was top of the waiting list hoping for a cancellation. Air New Zealand rang me the night before and said be ready to leave home at 6 am – they would ring me then if anyone cancelled.
I sat by the phone until 6.30 – no call and I was full of disappointment. This was to be the final excursion flight for the season and it was full of celebrity hosts and Antarctic veterans like Peter Mulgrew.
A gloomy breakfast listening to radio coverage of the flight’s departure full of joy and excitement that only made my disappointment worse. Followed by a gloomy day.
Late afternoon a news flash – the returning aircraft hadn’t made the expected radio contact as it came within range. A later bulletin – it was overdue. Hours later an Antarctic search team spotted wreckage on the mountain and it appeared there were no survivors.
I was freaked out and stayed that way for a week. All sorts of thoughts. If any of those 257 had cancelled, their life would have been saved and I would be dead. Did someone just save my life by feeling sick but deciding to go anyway? A deep unease as all the details of the crash were told and the stories of the victims’ families. I didn’t want to tell my story and nobody asked.
Gradually I got used to the idea I’d had a lucky escape and gave up trying to make sense of it. It simply didn’t make sense. If any one of those 257 had cancelled they would have lived and I would be dead. Try and fit God’s Will into that scenario because I can’t.
There were two moments in later life when I had flashbacks. One was meeting the partner of a crash victim and sharing our stories – freaky for both of us. The other was meeting one of the team who recovered the bodies. Freaky again, and I told him “If I had been one of the victims I would have been eternally grateful to you for that final act of caring.”
So my last 44 years have been a bonus I’m still thankful for.
Edit: My apologies for disabling comments. After a few days several people began lecturing me on how God had fingered me with a message about my wicked ways and said I should be changing my life around so I don’t go to Hell, and when I told them I didn’t agree things got nasty. The comments I’ve left are all good, and I can’t think of anything that hasn’t been said, but I’m happy to get private messages.
What a year. From the first of the year to now, it’s been an increasing level of insanity out of the United States and the rest of the world is cautiously terrified.
What we know is the top leadership are not only crazy old egotistical mental cases, but sexual deviants that resort to zombies when not ingesting drugs. They care not a wit about the American people, and have been slinging useless dollars everywhere except on the American people.
Neocons, woke maniacs, and their proxy drug-addled accomplices are gearing up for a “big global war” that is obviously not going to benefit anyone, but they are doing so in the hope that a global wide nuclear war will “level the playing field” so that everyone can start again anew, and since America is protected by God, it will remain “the shining house on the hill“.
The rest of us just want the government that is causing all this discord to stop.
Now there are those, such as Jeffry Sacks that argue all the right points but come to the erroneous conclusion that what is needed is “more dialog”. Bullshit. The United States is agreement incapable, is nothing but a non-stop litany of lies and falsehoods and the “man behind the curtain” is a mind-numbed, ideological, idiot.
Of course, it’s all just my optimism showing.
The true and real situation is far worse that this.
Let’s discuss what is going on, in a more humanistic level.
Kittens Rescued On The Verge Of Death Next To Deceased Mother (part 1)
Chinese space station completed
Tian Gong is now completed !
Tian Gong
.
Core module Tian He 16.6 m x 4.2 m
Lab module Wen Tian 17.9 m x 4.2 m
Lab module Meng Tian 17.88 m x 4.2 m
The telescope Xun Tian will be launched next year.
Let’s not forget how this spacestation has been treated in the Western “news” media…
Let’s keep it “real”, eh?
American propaganda about the space station.
Remember The Name (Official Video) – Fort Minor
Boneless Breast of Chicken Saltimbocca
“My Mom found this recipe in a Benson and Hedges cookbook, around 20 years ago. It’s a little work but, believe me, it’s worth it. I always requested her to make this dish on my birthday.”
Top each with 1 slice prosciutto ham and 1/2 slice cheese.
Cook shallots and garlic until soft; add mushrooms, wine, broth and herbs.
Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes.
Stir into hot mixture 1 T flour and a small amount of sherry.
Stir in remaining sherry and cream; season with salt and pepper.
Pour sauce over chicken.
Bake in a 375° oven for 20 minutes.
《纸嫁衣3鸳鸯债》 主题曲 《鸳鸯债》
Do you think the United States has enough confidence and strength in the face of both China and Russia?
Consider this: Since the Second World War, USA has not had one military victory against a powerful adversary. Not one victory in over 75 years!!! Think about that for a moment.
All USA can do is bully much weaker nations like Afghanistan, Bosnia, El Salvador, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Yugoslavia, etc.
What can USA do against a military peer like China and Russia? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo.
Going to war with a nuclear superpower is suicide. Both China and Russia have massive militaries and massive nuclear inventories.
Look at the proxy war in Ukraine backed by USA and NATO. Russia is winning. (Don’t listen to Western mainstream media.) Despite all the money and arms that they’ve been shovelling into Ukraine, Ukraine is a dead man walking.
No, USA does not have enough confidence.
Back to the Future: Doc asks who’s president in 1985
This is a hoot!
Elon Musk Cries FRAUD: Says Twitter Execs Tried to HIDE Real User Numbers from the Court / SEC
In a stunning example of corporate filth, Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for about $44 Billion, is now finding evidence the previous Executives may have engaged in literal fraud; not only against Musk to boost the purchase price, but also against the Court wherein they filed suit to force him to buy the company!
This morning, Musk tweeted the following, apparently containing excerpts from internal Twitter Executive email/direct messages:
At first glance, casual observers are saying this certainly explains why twitter’s senior counsel and CEO were fired — with cause.
They get No stock options, no bonuses, no golden parachutes.
If what Musk Tweeted holds true, he can go after billions from the board and executive committee; and perhaps the advertisers have some roll in the deception as well.
For instance, if the number of claimed users by Twitter was deliberately fraudulent, the former executives and Board of Directors might be Liable for the difference proportional to the stock price.
If 100 million users sold for $40 billion… but they had only 25 million users, they owe musk $30 billion plus court costs.
Oh this is going to get good. And there are clear injured parties, clear damage, absolute standing, and governmental oversight in the process. It wasn’t a private sale in a closed room. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was involved. This could be viewed by authorities as stock fraud by former Twitter execs. People could go to prison for this.
How the Russians Found Out it was the UK that Bombed the Nord Stream Pipelines
Over the past two days, the Russian Ministry of Defense publicly accused the UK of blowing up its Nord Stream pipelines. No proof was offered.
I have found out what the proof actually is . . . . and it is the reason Liz Truss is no longer Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . . .
Down in the River to Pray | O Brother, Where Art Thou?
When someone whom you think is your ally screw you………and screw you hard and furious
President Macron of France and Chancellor Scholz held a lunch meeting in Paris last week.
It is clear that they now recognized that the Americans have TOTALLY screwed Europe
That the Americans had:
triggered the war in Ukraine and took the lead in initiating economic sanctions against Russia
is strongly believed to have attacked Nord Stream 1 and 2 and with it the cost effective gas supplies needed to fuel European industries and allow them to be competitive and profitable
AND it capitalized on these by selling American LNG at three to four times what the Europeans had previously paid for Russian gas
in the process, it effectively decapitated much of European industries
x
BUT these is NOT all:
the United States is now in the process of passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers tax cuts and energy benefits for companies investing on U.S. soil – a move aimed at these no longer profitable European companies to RELOCATE to mainland United States
effectively, it will DE-INDUSTRIALIZED Europe
European leaders are now in a panic mode.
Chancellor Scholtz is now scheduled to visit China
and this visit will be followed by President Macron who will make a subsequent visit to China
SCREWED by whom they believe was their ally……..over and over
TOTALITY of it is that many European countries is now likely to pivot to the BRI-Eurasian world.
What is the oddest reason you have been contacted by your child’s school?
When my deaf/autistic son was in kindergarten I got a phone call from his teacher while I was at work. She was laughing and said she absolutely had to call me and tell me what happened immediately.
x
My son was sitting beside another boy on the floor stacking blocks. Another boy came up and pushed my son. My son made no response and didn’t even look at him. The boy sitting beside him said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The bully pushed my son again, and again got no response. The seated boy again said, “I wouldn’t do that.” The bully then bent down and scattered my son’s blocks. My son calmly stood up, took one big swing, and punched the bully, sending him sprawling across the floor. My son immediately sat back down without a sound and started stacking blocks again as if nothing had happened. The seated boy turned to the bully and said, “See? I told you so.”
The teacher on the phone said she and my son’s aide were laughing uncontrollably after witnessing this. Normally a child would get in trouble for punching another kid, but the simplicity and economy of motion were stunning. They said they had never seen anything like it.
1.21 Gigawatts – Back to the Future
Can the US government send a covert fact finding team into the Uyghur concentration camp and take photographs to make a credible case in the UN?
Simply explained in two pictures…
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Which one do you think they’re going to show?
Two Guys Noticed These Pipes Sticking Out Of The Ground , They Never Expected This To Be Underneath
Two men in Germany were out exploring the fields when they found two pipes sticking up from the ground in the middle of nowhere. What they discovered is nothing short of amazing. This is one of our favorite stories of urban exploration. What they found is simply fascinating.
After finding the pipes in the field, locating the entrance wasn’t too hard. This is the entrance. A hundred meters or so from the periscopes and surrounded by coniferous trees. It was covered with a wooden lid which was easy to remove by using a crowbar. The iron door you can see in the picture would swing back in, but the lock was broken so they couldn’t get trapped inside.
My Cousin Vinny – The Defense Is Wrong
Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?
My neighbor was to marry his girlfriend. They had been in a relationship from when they were in the 9th grade i.e. when they were 15 years old. It was nearly a relationship of 13 years.
From sharing notes to sharing their lives, they were forever together. They studied in the same school, the same college and now work for the same software company in Bhopal. Sounds filmy, doesn’t it?
It was all set. I consider him extremely lucky to have got that girl in his life.
They were engaged and the wedding was scheduled in January.
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Now January comes, I wait for an invitation but didn’t receive one. I come to know that the wedding has been called off by the Boy’s family. I met him at a party and asked what exactly went wrong. He said, “The girl was characterless. I don’t want to discuss much as I’m already heartbroken.” I feel bad for him but was also shocked as I knew the girl and her family personally. They were good people.
After a few days, this girl’s dad on a casual visit told us the whole story. I was shocked beyond limit knowing the real reason.
The reason was that the guy, who had been dating her for 13 years, had asked her for an XUV-5OO car and ₹10 lakhs as dowry, stating that it is a must. The girl’s father refused at once. The girl, madly in love, was prepared to get the car financed on her own salary. Later, the guy’s younger sibling himself confirmed the whole story (he’s my age).
Man! Lucky are those who get to marry a girl whom you’ve shared a relationship since the IXth standard. Do you agree?
You ask for dowry, call her characterless in your defence when rejected. This is cheapness beyond imagination.
I am speechless!
My Cousin Vinny (5/5) Movie CLIP – Automotive Expert (1992)
The largest artillery bombardment in history saw over 9k Soviet guns and rockets firing along a 18 1/2 mile front. What was that experience like for the Germans who received it?
*chuckle* *chuckle* *chuckle*, yes, I know which bombardment you are referring to. You are talking about the opening barrage during the Battle of the Seelow Heights, right? 9000 Soviet guns firing 500,000 shells in the first 30 minutes alone! For comparison, the Battle of the Somme was just 1,537 guns and 1,500,000 shells in 4 days. I would call that definitely impressive and it can rightfully claim to be considered the largest artillery bombardment history has ever seen. But do you know what is so funny about that?
Well, I will tell you now a little story about this man here …
Gotthard Heinrici
This is Gotthard Heinrici and perhaps you might know him or not, it doesn’t matter. For now, he is for you just what the Wehrmacht considered an above average general and the man that commanded the German forces at the Seelow Heights. Like the majority of German soldiers he wasn’t exactly stupid and knew his craft. As such, Heinrici anticipated the preparatory bombardment and prepared his forces to stem the tide of the Soviet assault. Zhukov´s one-million men and 3,059 tanks against his unlucky 100,000 men and 587tanks.
As usual, the German defence consisted of a classical defence in depth with multiple layers of trenches and strong points. And obviously, he knew that Soviet offensives were always preceded by a little preparatory bombardment to “soften up” the German lines. Therefore, he pulled his troops back and left the first and second line completely undefended.
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Zhukov was already aware that the Germans would do something like that as this wasn’t the first time that he encountered such a move. As a consequence, he extended the bombardment to the third line hoping to catch the Germans by surprise. What Zhukov didn’t anticipate, however, was that Heinrici, the old Eastern front fox he was, at the last moment pulled his troops back even farther. Because the entire defence network in the plains below the hills was just a ruse and the Soviets fell for it. The Germans never intended to defend even a single inch of ground down there, what they had fortified were the heights.
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And thus the bombardment began. So, what kind of effect did this impressive demonstration of Soviet firepower have? What did the largest concentration of artillery the word has ever seen actually achieve? Absolutely nothing! Zero, nada, niente. The entire Soviet artillery hit nothing at all!
Back to the Future Part 2 (8/12) Movie CLIP – The Almanac (1989)
What are shocking historical facts they don’t teach you in school?
They don’t teach you the stories of the enemies.
It makes them human, as stories are told by humans, not monsters.
Think about it. Have you ever read in a textbook about some German soldier who saved dozens of his comrades in battle?
No, you probably haven’t, probably the most human thing you’ve heard from the enemy was the Christmas ceasefire in World War I, and maybe bits and pieces of other stories, but mostly it about patriotism of the people who won, which is why the quote “History is written by the victors.” is all too real (sometimes this isn’t true, see the Vietnam War or the Korean War in a US textbook).
I’m gonna tell you a story of a man that saved two dozen German soldiers from the Russian invasion of Germany.
He drove a ‘convoy’ of two trucks, both Mercedes Benz LG3000s, or more commonly known as that truck from Raiders of the Lost Ark (although the movie’s truck was made off a GMC CCKW 353 chassis)
He was ordered to take the injured men from a skirmish back to Germany to receive proper treatment. But he knew it was over, the Germany he knew would never stay the same, and if any of these men made it back to a German hospital, they would be killed in their beds by the Russians…
So he secretly made plans to take the two trucks filled with injured men (most of these men were about as young as he was) thru Germany, to the now liberated France. He packed up everyone, and his other driver and co-drivers were all trusted friends who wanted to defect too. So they got in the trucks and drove from a devastated Warsaw, making a harrowing journey towards France, a 1,500 km journey, or 932 miles. They took off in the afternoon, but couldn’t drive top speed due to the injuries of the men.
He drove on mainly dirt roads, the uneven paths rocking the trucks back and forth, his truck almost got stuck in mud, which would’ve left all of them stranded in the woods. Luckily they made it. 10 km from the border of France, he tied white cloth to sticks to act as flags of surrender and put them on the top of the trucks, he also brought along red paint to paint the side of the trucks with red crosses so the Allies would know that they had injured men inside. Then they put the pedal to the metal, and drove as fast as they could to the border, not driving on the main roads, as they were in the midst of battle.
Then they did make it across, and when they did they drove as fast as they could down the roads, blaring their horns, then they came across an American allied division, they stopped in front of them and came out their hands up, the Americans shouting at them with guns. The medic spoke little English and said the words “Defect!” and “Injured inside!” and pointed to the white flags and the red crosses.
He was sent to a POW camp in Michigan, and when the war ended, he stayed.
EDIT:
I completely forgot to tell you who that man was!
Way to go Holly.
That man was my great-grandpa, just to let you know, who is still alive to this day. He served under the Nazi regime as a field medic from 1942 to 1945.
Anyways, all of you people have a lovely day!
Cat Proves Every Mother Is Strong After She Saw Her Kitten Dead | Animal in Crisis EP215
What would happen if China started to reclaim Taiwan?
“Reclaim” is the wrong word. Taiwan is already part of China.
China wants to peacefully reunify with Taiwan. It won’t use force unless Taiwan crosses the red line and moves to separate.
If Taiwan crosses the red line, then there will be military action, probably a blockade of the island, as well as the destruction of Taiwan’s military assets and critical infrastructure. Within weeks or months, Taiwan will be forced to sue for peace.
If in the hopefully unlikely event that Western countries, such as USA, UK, and Australia, should intervene, then this will trigger a global conflict, possibly nuclear war. The consequences will be catastrophic, as major cities in China, America, Britain, and Australia would be wiped off the map, and millions of people would die. That’s just for starters.
So that you don’t go to bed tonight burdened by anxiety and nightmares, I’ll spare you any further details.
Movie CLIP – Biff’s World (1989)
The US dollar retains dominance in 2022, but did China’s Yuan gain share among global currency reserves?
At first a leak, then a spill and soon it becomes a gush.
I think the shrinking US orbit nations, like its fellow natives slaughters US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, it’s slave vassal states like Germany, Japan and South Korea it’s former colonial powers of Spain, France, Belgium Netherlands and UK and some tiny fascist states like Lithuania and Moldova will carry on using the USD for some trade for some time but these group of nations are all slowing mature economies and all have huge debts and high deficits.
The rest of world will move on trading with each other’s currencies and some BRICS denominations. Why?
Who on earth wants to be fxxk any anytime and for any whims and fancies by the west especially the US? No one! What they did to the Russians scare the shit out of every other nations in the world.
My conservative guess is that by 2035, the world will use USD roughly 25% BRICS 35% EUROS 10% and the balance 30% will use Currency Swap Arrangement for international trade.
To me China does not even want the Yuan to be used to replace the USD, so you can forget the notion that Yuan will replace the USD. China wants a fair trade not a China centric trade. That is a mere US and western narratives meant to demonise China.
A story of work…
I applied for a job at Coca Cola. I was a high school drop out, without even a GED at the time.
I was really desperate for work, just about on the verge of being homeless.
The person who interviewed me said he was sorry, but a high school diploma was an absolute requirement. He said they have tests that people must pass before they get hired, and without at least a high school diploma, I wouldn’t be able to pass the test.
This was pretty much for an entry level job. I asked him if I could take the test and then he could make his decision. He reluctantly agreed, I guess to get rid of me more than anything else.
Needless to say, I got a perfect score on the test, and finished it in one third of the time allotted.
He called his boss and asked for an exception to the rules, which was granted.
Long story short, when I left Coca Cola, I was the boss of his boss. That was 5 years later.
I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words. …
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The Soggy Bottom Boys Against the Ku Klux Klan | O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Kittencal’s Chicken Cacciatore
“Coating in flour then browning firstly will insure your chicken will be moist and tender and also add extra flavor to this dish, you will need a large skillet for this or you may use a pot, I use my wide 5-quart chicken fryer skillet — if you are not an olive-lover you may omit, they really do add flavor to this dish, but do not use black olives — adjust the chili flakes to suit heat level, using good-quality canned Italian diced tomatoes will only improve the flavor of this dish also for the best flavor I would strongly suggest to use only skin-on bone-in chicken for this — made as stated this make a delicious restaurant-quality dish paired with cooked pasta and sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.”
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat (I have listed 6 tablespoons oil, use enough oil to cover the bottom of your skillet).
In a shallow bowl mix the flour with garlic powder, then coat each piece of chicken lightly in the flour mixture (shaking off any excess).
Cook the chicken in oil over medium-high heat on both sides until just lightly browned (about 4 minutes per side) then remove to a plate and set aside.
Add in mushrooms, onions and green bell pepper; cook stirring for about 3-4 minutes or until just softened scraping any browned bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the skillet.
Add in fresh garlic, chili flakes, oregano and basil; cook stirring for 2 minutes.
Add in tomato paste; cook stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
Add in diced tomatoes with juice, chicken broth and wine, olives, seasoned salt and bay leaf; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally (just to blend the flavors).
Return the browned chicken back to the skillet (carefully turn the chicken to coat with the sauce).
Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for about 1-1/4 hours, stirring occasionally and turning the chicken pieces a few times during cooking.
Season sauce with more salt if desired and black pepper about halfway through cooking.
Serve with cooked pasta.
Russia begins dismantling Biden’s neocon Ukraine project
The Wealth of Nations
I would suggest that the US public should read the book by Adam Smith called “The Wealth of Nations”. The countries in the world will be richer if they can specialize in what they do best and trade with each other. I will start by talking about Walmart. It provided the lower classes in America with really very good products but at really cheap prices. It made their standard of living much higher. It is cheaper than anywhere else in the world for similar products. Walmart has a subsidiary called ASDA in Europe which benefitted the Europeans. So American Walmart is doing really well for the US and wherever they go because of globalization. This is the case of American ingenuity combined with Chinese manufacturing skills to benefit the world and itself. Then there is Apple’s iPhone, Nike, General Motors, Ford, and other international American brands, which are good and relatively cheap. Macdonalds, KFC, Starbucks are all over China. A lot of intermediate goods like bicycle parts, personal mobility vehicles are imported into the US to make them cheaply for Americans. Are all these bad and should be destroyed? Then there is the Rare Earth for the manufacture of the modern weapon system for Lockheed Martin, Should it all be stopped too?
For the last three years, every time the President mentioned the “Decouple” word, the American Stock Market will be in a tailspin. Do the people know more about the economy better than the President? It all started with a little invention 5G. All these came about because the Chinese Huawei developed 5G which will give us a faster download than 4G on our phones. The American Hawks went into a frenzy and extrapolated that the Chinese will displace the American hegemon with the Chinese hegemon! Why the bullshit about 5G and not a thing about 4G and 3G? This is a crazy lie! If you should fact check from Wikipedia, you’ll see that the per Capita Income of the US is more than six times that of China. The Chinese are worried about their flooding, Coronavirus Pandemic, uplifting their very poor citizens in the mountainous areas, and on top of the lying bullshit from the US. They are already very busy and would not in the least be interested in being the hegemon! Just go and have a look at present China, you’ll see that they are as free as America in the various cities. They produce a lot of billionaires and fast catching up with America. The difference is that they have a very steady and efficient leadership and the US has an inept president. They need to be a bad communist regime to produce that number of billionaires because communists are poor and corrupt.
Whoever comes in October will need to have an agreement with China on terms that will benefit both of them. Hopefully, the evil China that Trump described be kept in the dustbin of history. Deal with the new China that we know and understand! The world can only hope that the US and China do not fight Stupid trade wars but negotiate a set of rules whereby they can live by. Americans do not need to bad-mouth China, it already is a great country. Will that be too much to hope for instead of the fighting and war talk. In case some American hotheads bring out the stealing subject, I will list a few data to dispel it. The Chinese have filed more patents than the next four of the US, Japan, S.Korea, and the EU combined. They produce more than 7 times the STEM graduates than the US. At the present time, they do not have the need to “steal” American technology. In the last few days, Qualcomm settled to pay Huawei 1.8 billion dollars for the patent rights to use the 5G technology. Likewise, Huawei had paid a mountain of cash to use Qualcomm 4G technology. The “stealing” and the copying came from a distant past. Put that in the bins of history and move on.
In short, the US and China have a symbiotic economic relationship whereby both parties benefitted enormously from it. It is a win-win relationship! Try to live with the facts and move on!
Back to the Future: The skateboard chase
Newspaper: Pelosi’s Husband is Gay Alcoholic; Was “Assault” at Pelosi Home Gay Sex Gone Wrong
Reporter Stan Greene, a Staff Writer for the Santa Monica Observer, reports that the recent assault of Nancy Pelosi’s Husband, at their San Francisco home, was likely an argument between Mr. Pelosi and a Gay Prostitute.
In his story,
“The Awful Truth: Paul Pelosi Was Drunk Again, And In a Dispute With a Male Prostitute Early Friday Morning.”
Greene writes:
As SF's gay bars closed at 2 am, two gay men met in a bar and went home together. Happens every night in the City by the Bay. Except one of these two men, was married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.I might disappear for telling you the truth. If I do, you'll all know why. But here's what really happened early Friday morning in San Francisco. IMHOAccording to SFPD "RP [Reporting Person] stated that there’s a male in the home and that he’s going to wait for his wife. RP stated that he doesn’t know who the male is but he advised that his name is David, and that he is a friend,” the dispatch official said. “RP sounded somewhat confused.”It's been a rumor for years in SF that Paul Pelosi is gay. David Depape the alleged assailant, is said to be a Castro (neighborhood in SF) Nudist. "The lunatic who allegedly assaulted Paul Pelosi is a Berkeley resident and a 'Former Castro Nudist Protester' and hemp 'jewelry maker' ...sounds totally MAGA Republican to me. 🤣🤣" this from Twitter.Ok, so here's the theory, as related to me by a source: "Castro Nudists are a group of really radical gay male prostitutes that parade around naked with c--k rings. First of all, the Police did not come in response to an alarm. They come in response to a "wellness check". So someone called them to check on Pelosi.""When he didn't answer the phone, the cops broke the sliding glass door to get in. Pelosi was struggling with the suspect, who was in his underwear.Pelosi owned the hammer. Not Depape. Or, the male prostitute was doing something Pelosi didn't like."
The web site seems to be experiencing trouble right now, but here’s a partial screen shot of the original story (Archive link HERE):
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Greene goes on to write:
"And then there was the press conference when they didn't know the mic was on. During that, a reporter confirmed that the suspect was a gay Castro Nudist, but (authorities) told him he couldn't use it.""Now tell me something. These people are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Nancy is third in line to the Presidency. You don't think they have the most amazing security? And by the way, when Pelosi was in that drunk driving accident, he had a young man with him, and that too was covered up by the police and the press.""How would (suspect Depape) have been able to break a window that without triggering an alarm? He didn't. The police broke the window to gain entry. There was only one hammer, and it belonged to Pelosi. And only ONE cop quoted the perpetrator saying, "Where's Nancy?" None of the other sources said that happened.
Greene then points out:
"And one of them could easily have broken that window. Remember, there was no alarm triggered. How would (suspect Depape) have gotten into that house without doing that? The cops smashed the glass to gain entry."Who called 911 to initiate a wellness check? Either Nancy or her staff, who hadn't hear from Paul all evening and suddenly it's 2 am. Or a neighbor, hearing a fight at the Pelosi residence.Admittedly, David Depape is a known nutcase. He's an election denier, says mainstream media, who has posted conspiracy theories online. That may be true, but he also lives in Berkeley, where he is a 42 year old career student.
Greene wraps-up his story with this little gem:
"My law firm served a lawsuit against Paul Pelosi one time in SF after attempting to serve at other residences-Napa, Georgetown. They weren't home, but staff were, and multiple law enforcement officers were on the perimeter. Break-in is odd given this level of security." said Harmeet Dillon, Republican National Committee Chairman"
The Maltese Falcon (1941) – Humphrey Bogart
Lies, Lies, Lies
23433 ViewsOctober 13, 2022
By Batiushka for The Saker blog
Introduction: Narcissists All
One of the laziest but most effective forms of lying (propaganda/spin) is not simply to tell the opposite of the truth, but rather to lie by attributing to your enemy your own weaknesses.
That way you do not have to invent anything, you just make a transfer.
An example is how the Kiev regime, which at that time had lost 60,000 dead from their armed forces and claimed that the Russians had lost 60,000 dead from their armed forces, rather than the actual figure of 6,000 (1). Children do this: ‘It wasn’t me, it was him’. This is in fact a form of psychological transfer, used by all narcissists and gaslighters: ‘You are the one who is ill, not me’. And it typifies the narcissistic (‘West is best’) Western mentality.
Thus, in 1854 Commodore Perry forced Japan by military threat to ‘trade with’ the USA, in order to ‘take it out of its isolation’ and that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Those who lived in those two cities then much regretted their lack of isolation.
And as for the USA? It was itself still in a state of cultural isolation, having learned nothing from age-old Japanese culture, but instead imposing its own anti-culture on all and sundry. Or then there was that war criminal General Curtis LeMay who boasted of his potential to ‘bomb back into the Stone Age’ in order to bring freedom and democracy, when in fact his brain was in the Stone Age and he had no idea what freedom and democracy are. Or there is the statement that Russia is corrupted by oligarchs, when in reality ‘Russian’ oligarchs (most of them are Jewish) are purely Western creations from the 1990s, following the model of the only system that the Western world has ever practised – Feudalism, with its economic serfdom (2).
What are Musk, Bezos, Gates and Buffett, if they are not oligarchs/feudal magnates?
This technique was clearly displayed in the 2006 Litvinenko and 2018 Skripal cases in the UK. In the first case, a Russian traitor and British spy was murdered by polonium.
Now, if you wanted to murder someone (who presented no threat to you) without incriminating yourself, would you rather not just employ a hired killer who would leave no trace?
It would be much cheaper.
Interestingly, polonium is a very rare radioactive substance, but is available to British secret services. In the Salisbury case of the Skripals, involving a retired British spy, who seemed to be wanting to repent for his treason (he had already served his sentence in a Russian prison), and who was poisoned with a substance available in only about three places worldwide, one of which is twelve kilometres away from where he lived in one of the most fearsome chemical weapons establishments in the world.
His murder was bungled, on which Skripal and his daughter were then abducted and ‘disappeared’ (to New Zealand?), though an innocent woman did die of the poison. When questions were asked about some very strange aspects of the case, the British media were issued with a ‘DSMA-Notice’, censoring them and forbidding them to report any further on the matter.
Below are just a few examples of this psychological transfer taken from the current War on Russia (WOR) being conducted by the Western elite in what is still for the moment known as the ‘Ukraine’:
Lies
1. This is a war for the freedom of the sovereign and democratic Ukraine.
Now anyone knows that the Ukraine is run by the hated SBU, or Secret Police, which threatens to examine every e-mail, Viber, Whatsapp or Telegram message for any evidence that you may not support the Kiev regime, which overthrew the previous democratically-elected in 2014 and has genocided part of its population. (By the way, if you do not support the Neo-Nazis in Kiev, expect to be waterboarded – after all the SBU are CIA-trained). The Ukraine – a sovereign country? It is in fact a US vassal, a colonial client-state, which has no sovereignty at all and is run by Jewish (Poroshenko, Kolomoisky etc) and US (Hunter Biden and Monsanto) oligarchs.
2. Ukrainians are against Russia.
Some are. Some are not and they greet Russian logistical aid as liberation. The conflict in the Ukraine is basically being fought between US-backed and Russian-backed Ukrainians. Not surprising when you consider that the Ukraine is a purely artificial State, constructed by monstrous, Non-Russian, Marxist dictators, Lenin in 1922, Stalin in 1939 and Khrushchov in 1954. Interesting to see how the ‘Free World’ fully supports the tyrannical decisions of Communist dictators….
3. The war in the Ukraine started in 2022.
It started in 2014 with the coup d’etat which cost the US taxpayer $5 billion. Read a little history.
4. The rouble will be rubble.
Claimed by Biden last February, the opposite soon became true. It is already the euro and sterling that are rubble.
5. The Russian economy will be in tatters.
Claimed by Biden last February, the opposite soon became true. It is Western economies that are in tatters.
6. Russia is Bankrupt
Claimed by Biden last February, the opposite soon became true. It is Western economies that are bankrupt and above all the Ukrainian economy, which depends on a transfusion costing the US taxpayer $1.5 billion per month. According to today’s edition of the Rothschild comic ‘The Economist’, the Russian economy has never done so well.
7. Putin is dying of cancer and has only weeks to live.
Claimed last February, he seems to have made a miraculous recovery since! Whereas Biden is clearly not always compos mentis….
8. Putin is mentally ill.
Is this why he can make high-level speeches with powers of analysis and depth of logic completely lacking in any Western politician? Biden, Johnson, Truss, Zelensky? Here is where you should be looking for mental illness.
9. The Russian armed forces have run out of fuel.
Claimed last April about the armed forces of the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. On the other hand, Kiev forces clearly lack fuel.
10. The Russian have run out of ammunition.
Claimed last April, they have no shortages at all. After all they have a huge and independent arms industry, with arms so technologically advanced that they do not exist anywhere else in the world. (After all, 80% of the International Space Station is Russian-made). On the other hand, Kiev ran out of ammunition just about that time and now NATO supplier-countries are also running out.
11. Ukrainian refugees are fleeing the war for Europe.
Yes, they are. Over 2,000,000 have fled the Kiev regime’s genocide in the Eastern Ukraine and Russia has more Ukrainian refugees than any other European (yes, Russia is a European country) country. I personally know some of them. In Western Europe we also have a lot of Ukrainian refugees. But with rare exceptions, until now they had no reason whatsoever to flee non-War zones where they lived, apart from the large numbers of young men fleeing conscription into the Kiev Army (bribes of up to $5,000 dollars were being paid to Ukrainian border-guards to get out last March; I know cases). Most of them here in Paris are doctors, dentists, interior designers and other professionals, middle-class and upwards, with German cars much better than those owned by the average Western European. They simply left the Ukraine (where in 95% of the country no war was apparent until a few days ago) to get residence permits in Western European countries. Indeed, 4,000,000 of them have returned to the Ukraine since May, when they realised that Western European streets are not paved with gold and that here you have to work for a living.
12. Russians Commit Atrocities
According to the State-controlled media in Kiev, Russians love to waste their missiles on civilian apartment blocks and cultural edifices, like the Philharmonia in Kiev. They also love to murder civilians, especially babies (though not this time round in Belgium or Kuwait, only in the Ukraine) and they especially target hospitals and primary schools. As the filming from Bucha showed, Russians generally murder people three days after they have left the area (by long-distance hypnosis?) and lay out the bodies of their own supporters from local morgues, face down at regular intervals along roads. This is a great aid to filming.
13. The Russian have killed millions of civilians.
Where are the bodies? On the other hand, the graves of the 14,000, including 400 children, murdered by Kiev since 2014, are visible to all in the Donbass.
14. The Russian have lost hundreds of thousands of troops.
Since fewer than 100,000 have been used, this would be rather difficult, unless the Russians have a technique for resurrecting the dead several times over. If it were true, there would be a public outcry in Russia at such losses. On the other hand, Ukrainian losses….
15. The Russians have so few soldiers that they are recruiting new ones in prisons.
The fact is that the Russian Army, at 1,000,000 and with 2,000,000 reservists, is one of the largest in the world. As for recruiting in prisons, this is the technique of the French government. Any convicted murderer in France is offered a choice: Go to prison or else join the Legion (the Foreign Legion).
16. Russia is preparing to start a nuclear war.
The only nuclear threat made so far has been that made by the British Truss. However, since British nuclear weaponry depends on the USA, she will not be allowed to use it without US permission. And the US are frightened.
17. Putin’s operation is doomed.
Claimed by Western journalists in September 2022, the statement has yet to be justified. On the other hand, the Ukrainian operation…
18. The Russians blew up its own Nordstream Pipelines.
Obviously: The Russians are so logical that they always blow up their own pipelines, especially when Biden has announced that he would do something like this, the former Polish Foreign Minister has thanked the USA for doing it, and the pipelines are in NATO-controlled waters, infested with NATO submarines, underwater drones and divers, and the pipelines are not being used anyway because of illegal sanctions.
Conclusion: Mental and Spiritual Feudalism
I am sure that readers can find a host of other examples, the fruit of the creative writing of State-controlled Western media. We mentioned above economic serfdom, the result of Feudalism, which was nothing but a protection racket run from castles (bizarrely now become tourist sites), surrounded by their concentration camp villages. Indeed, the Italian mafia is only a late leftover of Norman-introduced Sicilian Feudalism, which, like its later form of Capitalism, never knew the difference between price and value. However, worse than economic serfdom is mental and spiritual serfdom. And this is the fruit of the institutionalised system of lies, called the State-controlled Western media.
13 October 2022
Note:
1. This miraculous multiplication reminds me of a Ukrainian Uniat (Greek Catholic) bishop I met many years ago. When I asked him, how many Ukrainian Greek Catholics there are, he answered: ‘700,000, but at the Vatican we always tell them 7,000,000. If you don’t multiply the real numbers by ten, they won’t take you seriously’.
2. For the academically-minded, regarding the history of the development of Feudalism around the eleventh century, French historians are the best, naturally, given that Feudalism began there. See, for instance: La Societe Feodale, Marc Bloch; L’An Mil, Georges Duby; L’An Mil, Henri Focillon; L’Europe est-elle nee au Moyen Age, Jacques Le Goff; Le Pape Leon IX et la Reforme de l’Eglise 1002-1054, Charles Munier; Les Grandeurs de l’An Mille, Pierre Riche. In English, apart from Richard Southern’s studies, you have a translation from French with The Feudal Transformation 900-1200, Poly and Bournazel; and original works by, for example: The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350, Robert Bartlett; The First European Revolution 970-1215; R.I. Moore; The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950-1250, R.I. Moore. In German, apart from the older studies of Tellenbach, you have especially Karl Leyser’s Am Vorabend der ersten europaeischen Revolution. Das 11 Jahrhundert als Umbruchzeit and his lecture in English The Ascent of Latin Europe.
Rufus leaps into action
It was around 1am and I was woken by a loud crash. Still in a half asleep stupor, I wondered if I had dreamed it but I got up and went down to my front door. This was right in front of my house:
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Except, the police hadn’t even arrived, yet. I’m a nurse, and I have seen some horrific things at work, but nothing ever scared me this much. This was the view from my front door.
I’ll never forget how creepy it felt as I walked over to check on the occupant(s). My heart was racing and my legs felt shaky. The airbags had deployed (obviously), so I couldn’t see inside. With a shaking hand, I pulled back what remained of the side airbag on the driver’s side and peered inside. I was expecting to see something that looked like it went through a meat grinder.. There was a teenager boy in the driver’s seat. His eyes were open and he was calmly staring straight ahead. I could see he was still breathing.
I held his hand and asked, “Are you feeling pain anywhere?” He looked at me and his face was completely intact, though his nose was bleeding. He said, “Yes. Can you please call my mom? I don’t know where my phone is. She’s worried.”
My phone was in the house but my neighbor had his. I asked the kid for his mother’s number and repeated them to the neighbor. After six numbers, the kid shut his eyes, his hand went limp and stopped talking, so we weren’t able to call her.
The car in the above photo had been an Acura SUV.
I checked on the other car, and it was a middle aged woman in a Dodge Durango. She was conscious and had a broken ankle and probably some broken ribs and a neck injury. The impact of the crash had snapped the back of the driver’s seat and she was flung into the back of the vehicle (she had been driving with the back seat folded down, I think.
By then, emergency personnel had arrived, so I let them take over. That’s when I went inside and snapped the above photo.
Here’s a photo of vehicle #2. The front of the house in the background is mine. I have a 14″ stone retaining wall in front and if it was not there, this vehicle would have ended up coming into the front of the house. The rear axle of the vehicle had snapped from the impact of hitting that wall.
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A witness, who had been driving southbound behind vehicle #1, said there was a slow moving vehicle ahead. The kid got impatient and swerved into the northbound side, to pass, and collided head-on with #2.
It took the fire department over an hour to cut this kid out of the vehicle.
A few days later, the kid’s mother was walking around in front of my house, with tears rolling down her face. I went out there and asked if she was okay. She introduced herself and I asked if he was okay. She said his leg was pretty mangled and he had a ruptured spleen, but he was going to be fine. She told me that he has cystic fibrosis and was wearing a chest brace that saved his life. The surgeon who worked on his spleen told her the brace likely saved his chest from being crushed.
I explained about him asking me to call but losing consciousness before I got her number. She said he remembered me and had asked if I the lady called her. She asked what lady and he said the one that was holding my hand when I had the accident. She thought he was delirious. She hugged me.
She told me it was her car and she had asked him to fill the gas tank for her, around 12:30. He had stopped at Taco Bell before getting gas and was heading home. She got nervous when he was gone for an hour and asked her older son to drive her around to look for him. They had driven past the scene of the accident and didn’t even recognize her car. She said she was praying whoever had that crash was alive. After driving around for more than an hour, her son stopped at the accident scene to ask a cop if they’d had any other accident reports in the area. The cop asked him what kind of car and he told them. He asked if he knew the license plate number so he asked his mother and she handed him her registration card. The cop walked over to the back of the vehicle then told them that was her car and the hospital where they had taken him.
Luckily, nobody died in this horrific accident. It could have been much worse.
Noor Inayat Khan.
On Sep 13, 1944, a princess from India lay dead at Dachau concentration camp. She had been tortured by the Nazis and then shot in the head. Her name was Noor Inayat Khan.
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The Germans knew her only as Nora Baker, a British spy who had gone into occupied France using the code name Madeline. She carried her transmitter from safe house to safe house with the Gestapo trailing her, providing communications for her Resistance unit.
Wireless operators in France had a life expectancy of six weeks. Noor was actively transmitting for over three times as long.
While she was in France, every other wireless operator in her network was slowly picked off until she was the last radio link between London and Paris. It was “the most dangerous and important post in France.”
She was offered a way back to Britain and refused.
In fact, in her transmissions to London, she once said that she was having the time of her life, and thanked them for giving her the opportunity to do this.
She was captured by the Gestapo, but never gave up; she made three attempts at escape. One involved asking to take a bath, insisting on being allowed to close the door to preserve her modesty, and then clambering onto the roof of the Gestapo HQ in Paris.
Her last word before being shot was, “Liberté!”
Her entire life and her mother’s life as well are FASCINATING. A Royal, Muslim, Anglo-Indian woman in WW2.
Dexter saved my life.
In 2020 I was feeling a gnawed off most days and my primary care physicians couldn’t track down a justification behind my constant weakness and failure to prepare hard (I’m a previous genius contender who actually prepares like one).
Dexter
Following quite a while of getting minimal all the more then, at that point, shrugs from clinical staff one day I began feeling chest torment. It seemed like a torn muscle so I chalked it up as a preparation injury and disregarded it.
Out of nowhere Dexter, who had been around me for a very long time, went to me and began pawing at my chest and crying. He had never acted along these lines. I concluded it was a warning and called 911. As I opened the entryway for paramedics I had a “widow producer” cardiovascular failure and fell (extremely low endurance rate, consequently the name). The cardiologist who worked on me said assuming that I had held up 3 additional minutes to call I could never have made due.
I’ve had many pets throughout the long term and cherished them all. However, I had an exceptional cling to that feline. He experienced a stroke and died a couple of months after the fact. I miss him consistently.
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Update: Amazing! I generally knew Dexter was a unique kitty yet everybody’s upvotes and positive criticism shows others on the planet see that as well.
He was a decent ally to me for a long time I’m happy to see him gaining the appreciation he merits.
Miracle That Happened To Abandoned Cats (Part 2)
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of – The Maltese Falcon
One of the finest endings in all film history. Hammet’s marvellous words about solidarity and brotherhood (remember this film was released as America made a commitment to fight Fascism and this is a great anti-fascist speech) stay in the memory.
I think Bogart almost, (almost), gets a little too theatrical and loses his peerless naturalness at the moment he picks Mary Astor up and gives her the final hard words ‘I won’t because all of me wants to’.
But this is momentary and his final words as his eyes are fixed on the elevator/gallows as Astor is put behind ‘bars’ are sublime acting. Astor is brilliant throughout as well and just oozes sexiness. Brigid O’Shaughnessy thought that would be enough, Sam Spade showed her it wasn’t.
Not a lot of people outside China took notice that the US Congress banned CNSA (China’s National Space Agency) to cooperate in the International Space Station program around 10 years or so ago.
The reason cited was fear that China will copy blablabla etc (the same old tired nonsense).Fast forward to 2022, China is about to complete all the modules of its very own space station Tiangong.
The only other one beside the ISS (which is fast approaching its retirement).
Basically China managed to build and launch a fully functioning space station from scratch without any help from other countries in a mere 10 years. Plus, it’s a more advanced, spacious and convenient space station than the ISS.
Same thing with its nuclear weapon program.
Same thing with high speed rail network. Back in 2007 China had none but now it has more than the rest of the world combined.
Same thing with its giant tunnel boring machines. China had to buy them from European countries but it now builds better versions of them domestically and dominates the export market that used to belong to those European countries.
Same thing with ship building. China just took the top spot from South Korea last year.
Same thing with 5G. In 4G era Chinese companies caught up quickly with their western competitors but now 1 Chinese company Huawei owns the majority of patents for 5G technology.
The list goes on and on. But you get the idea.
Betting on China not being able to manufacture anything is a losing bet. The US playing its little game with chips is delaying the inevitable and will only end up in US, Taiwanese and South Korean companies losing the Chinese market share forever to SMIC.
Newspaper: Pelosi’s Husband is Gay Alcoholic; Was “Assault” at Pelosi Home Gay Sex Gone Wrong
Reporter Stan Greene, a Staff Writer for the Santa Monica Observer, reports that the recent assault of Nancy Pelosi’s Husband, at their San Francisco home, was likely an argument between Mr. Pelosi and a Gay Prostitute.
In his story,
“The Awful Truth: Paul Pelosi Was Drunk Again, And In a Dispute With a Male Prostitute Early Friday Morning.”
Greene writes:
As SF's gay bars closed at 2 am, two gay men met in a bar and went home together. Happens every night in the City by the Bay. Except one of these two men, was married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.I might disappear for telling you the truth. If I do, you'll all know why. But here's what really happened early Friday morning in San Francisco. IMHOAccording to SFPD "RP [Reporting Person] stated that there’s a male in the home and that he’s going to wait for his wife. RP stated that he doesn’t know who the male is but he advised that his name is David, and that he is a friend,” the dispatch official said. “RP sounded somewhat confused.”It's been a rumor for years in SF that Paul Pelosi is gay. David Depape the alleged assailant, is said to be a Castro (neighborhood in SF) Nudist. "The lunatic who allegedly assaulted Paul Pelosi is a Berkeley resident and a 'Former Castro Nudist Protester' and hemp 'jewelry maker' ...sounds totally MAGA Republican to me. 🤣🤣" this from Twitter.Ok, so here's the theory, as related to me by a source: "Castro Nudists are a group of really radical gay male prostitutes that parade around naked with c--k rings. First of all, the Police did not come in response to an alarm. They come in response to a "wellness check". So someone called them to check on Pelosi.""When he didn't answer the phone, the cops broke the sliding glass door to get in. Pelosi was struggling with the suspect, who was in his underwear.Pelosi owned the hammer. Not Depape. Or, the male prostitute was doing something Pelosi didn't like."
The web site seems to be experiencing trouble right now. I wonder why?
Greene goes on to write:
"And then there was the press conference when they didn't know the mic was on. During that, a reporter confirmed that the suspect was a gay Castro Nudist, but (authorities) told him he couldn't use it.""Now tell me something. These people are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Nancy is third in line to the Presidency. You don't think they have the most amazing security? And by the way, when Pelosi was in that drunk driving accident, he had a young man with him, and that too was covered up by the police and the press.""How would (suspect Depape) have been able to break a window that without triggering an alarm? He didn't. The police broke the window to gain entry. There was only one hammer, and it belonged to Pelosi. And only ONE cop quoted the perpetrator saying, "Where's Nancy?" None of the other sources said that happened.
Greene then points out:
"And one of them could easily have broken that window. Remember, there was no alarm triggered. How would (suspect Depape) have gotten into that house without doing that? The cops smashed the glass to gain entry."Who called 911 to initiate a wellness check? Either Nancy or her staff, who hadn't hear from Paul all evening and suddenly it's 2 am. Or a neighbor, hearing a fight at the Pelosi residence.Admittedly, David Depape is a known nutcase. He's an election denier, says mainstream media, who has posted conspiracy theories online. That may be true, but he also lives in Berkeley, where he is a 42 year old career student.
Greene wraps-up his story with this little gem:
"My law firm served a lawsuit against Paul Pelosi one time in SF after attempting to serve at other residences-Napa, Georgetown. They weren't home, but staff were, and multiple law enforcement officers were on the perimeter. Break-in is odd given this level of security." said Harmeet Dillon, Republican National Committee Chairman"
Papa Roach – She Loves Me Not (Official Music Video)
Looking into the sweeping U.S. ban on chip sales to China
The more the US tries to restrict Сhina, the more stronger, resilient and self-sufficient Сhina is becoming. And we know that because that’s actually exactly what has happened every time the US has imposed a ban on Сhina to use a certain technology.
Here are a few quick examples: After such restrictions/bans went into effect, Сhina has build the first reactor to ever use the third-generation nuclear power technology, became the world leader in photovoltaic, drone, fintech and EV sectors, came at the forefront of quantum computing, created their BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, developed its homemade Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer chips, build the Tiangong Space Station, sent a rover on the dark side of the Moon and on Mars etc. etc. etc.
Have in mind that most of the examples above have occurred precisely after a U$ ban on Сhina to use certain technology.
And Сhina has not only caught up, but more often than not it actually got ahead of the US.
As they say, what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.
Learning from the modus operandi of the US, it will therefore continue to step over the Taiwan's red line.
We may not read about it in the news, but they're stepping on and over the red line without remit on a daily basis.
No bullets have been fired yet, but this is war nonetheless.
It has been going on for over a decade at least, and it will not let up just because a new president is elected or the president says we want peace with China.
Lies and damned lies.
Believe habitual liars' endless lies at your own risk.
The test for Germany is when China is forced to take action vis-a-vis Taiwan.
If China does not have the right strategy and the means to reunify Taiwan without bloodshed and within twenty-four hours, watch how fast Germany has to act like a US puppy again.For those who are not familiar with how a war can be waged without firing a blunderbuss, which is what the US is doing, I refer to the Chinese historical example of the war between Wu and Yue during the period of Spring and Autumn of Eastern Zhou.
Yue state's chief administrator and strategist Wenzhong devised seven stratagems to destroy its overlord of Wu state.
Only three were needed to eliminate Wu from the face of the earth.
One of the stratagems involved supplying the most beautiful woman Xishi to the Wu overlord to cloud his judgment, the other involved surreptitiously damaging Wu's food supply, and the third helped Wu destroy its own economy by encouraging profligate spending.
The hubris of Wu state's overlord did the rest. Not a single arrow was fired in anger.Every Chinese child who was taught Chinese history knows this story.
Now we know why Chinese people think differently.PM
Papa Roach – Between Angels And Insects (Official Video)
Why is Xi Jinping abandoning Deng’s highly successful growth model for China?
Deng’s model was never intended to be permanent. It was simply the first stage in modern China’s evolution.
Today, China has successfully completed this first stage. It’s time to move to the next stage which Xi will pilot.
China is strong enough, economically, technologically and militarily, to take her place front and centre on the world stage. China has a grand view for herself and the world which Xi will execute.
If you want to know the details, just read the official documents from the 20th National Congress.
Ronny Montrose with Joe Satriani “Rock Candy”
Cute story
One morning a husband returns to the cabin after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap.
Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out, since it is such a beautiful day. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.
Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says,” Good morning, Ma’am, what are you doing”?
“Reading a book,” she replies, (thinking, “Isn’t that obvious”?)
“You’re in a Restricted Fishing Area,” he informs her.
“I’m sorry, officer, but I’m not fishing, I’m reading.”
“Yes, but you have all the equipment. I’ll have to write you up a ticket.”
“For reading a book”? she replies.
“You’re in a Restricted Fishing Area,” he informs her again.
“But officer, I’m not fishing, I’m reading.”
“Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I’ll have to write you up a ticket and you’ll have to pay a fine.”
“If you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault,” says the woman.
“But I haven’t even touched you,” says the Game Warden.
“That’s true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.”
“Have a nice day ma’am,” and he immediately departed.
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It’s likely she can also think.
Siren Song – Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby | O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Margherita
“This is a great recipe for a simple, thin crust pizza. It’s from Jim Lahey (of no-knead bread fame) who now runs a popular NYC pizzeria called Co. The recipe was printed in New York Magazine (Jul 12, 2009). If you don’t have a pizza stone, this works well in a cast iron skillet. The recipe requires very little time and effort but the dough must be started the day before.”
To make dough: In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and stir until blended (the dough will be very sticky). Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70 degrees.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top with flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.
Shape the dough into 3 or 4 balls, depending on how thick you want the crust. Generously sprinkle a clean cotton towel with flour and cover the dough with it. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
To make sauce: Blanch tomato for 5 seconds in boiling water and quickly remove. Allow to cool to the touch. Peel the skin with your hands and quarter the tomato. Remove the jelly and seeds, and reserve in a strainer or fine sieve. Strain the jelly to remove seeds, and combine resulting liquid in a bowl with the flesh of the tomatoes. Proceed to crush the tomatoes with your hands. Add salt and olive oil and stir.
To make pizza: Place pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven and preheat on high broil. Stretch or toss the dough into a disk approximately 10 inches in diameter. Pull rack out of oven and place the dough on top of the preheated pizza stone. Drizzle 5 generous tablespoons of sauce over the dough, and spread evenly. Try to keep the sauce about ½ inch away from the perimeter of the dough. Break apart or slice the buffalo mozzarella and arrange over the dough. Return rack and pizza stone to the middle of the oven and broil for approximately 6 minutes. Remove and top with basil, olive oil, and salt.
As of 4:30 AM Sunday, it’s a bit nippy here in northeastern Pennsylvania; 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
I was so exhausted yesterday, I actually went to bed around 7:00 PM and slept right through to 4:30 this morning!
Emotional exhaustion from all the worry about what’s going on in the world, in the nation, etc.
Watching my country deliberately take steps that will result in a nuclear World War 3 with Russia, and/or China.
Watching our elected officials here in the USA openly steal the upcoming November elections . . .
For instance, here in Pennsylvania, they actually mailed out 255,000 election Ballots to “voters” whose registration information cannot be verified with the US Social Security Administration.
Clearly these are phony voters, and those 255,000 Ballots, can swing the elections statewide. Again. Just like happened in 2020.
It’s overt. In our face. And no one in the cops, or the Prosecutors Offices, does anything at all about it.
If we start getting the idea of taking the law into our own hands, and confronting these cheats, WE are the ones who end up getting arrested.
This all seems untenable. It’s getting tiresome.
I can’t help but wonder if push is coming to shove?
A kitty story
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A friend asked me to take her to a local animal rescue place to drop off some supplies we had bought them.
She had been trying for ages to persuade me to get a cat for company.
She insisted we walk through the cages of cats waiting for adoption.
As we approached one particular cage a black and white cat started jumping up and down against the wire trying to attract attention.
The woman who ran the shelter said his name was Joe and he was only 9 months old, and that his twin sister Jenny was also in the cage, hiding in the sleeping area too scared to come out.
I talked to Joe for a minute then he walked back into the sleeping area and we could see him nudging Jenny, trying to get her to come out and meet us too.
Jenny eventually moved closer to the door of the sleeping area but wouldn’t come any further. She looked terrified and very unhappy.
My heart melted and so I welcomed Joe and Jenny into my life.
That was in 2008 and they are still with me and I love them both.
The Days Of U.S. Hegemony Are OVER Says Putin
Putin is correct.
Russian Navy Ships Hit in Sevastopol Harbor – Ukraine Drone Attack
“There are reports that as a result of a morning attack by kamikaze UAVs and submersible drones of the Armed Forces Ukraine (AFU), the Sevastopol Naval Base minesweeper was damaged and the radar station of the Admiral Makarov frigate of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was hit by shrapnel.”
Video from the area shows a bright explosion from the Sevastopol Harbor last night:
Who guided those drones for the attack is an issue, right now. Before and during the attack, a U.S. GlobalHawk unmanned aerial vehicle was in the area, loitering:
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It is not officially known if the US GlobalHawk had anything to do with the attack, but conjecture is running high.
At this hour, 6:42 AM EDT, we can be reasonably certain that some serious damage was done to the Russian Fleet in Sevastopol.
The attack was at 5 AM, still dark, and 8 hours later there is lot of smoke from a considerable area.
UPDATE 8:07 AM EDT —
Statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense:
Sevastopol Bay was attacked by 9 UAVs and 7 marine drones. Minesweeper “Ivan Golubets” was damaged . . .
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Funky Towel Joe’s Apartment
What would happen to the United States dollar if Saudi Arabia joins BRICS and starts trading some oil in Yuan?
Not just Saudi Arabia.
Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, And Iran are joining BRICS soon. It is a given that 3/4 of the world will join hands to stop the US financial and US Dollar hegemony and they WILL succeed. A new global order is here. Thanks to the Ukrainian war provoked and designed by the US and UK.
Think of the US dollar manipulation, the financial blockade of Russia, sanctions on Russia is the last throw of the dice by the US and the west. The demise of the US dollar use by 3/4 of the world will end the ability of the US to print money without recourse.
The BRICS will dwarf G7 by a big way! In population and in economic might. The US shot themselves in their feet the moment the west sanctions were declared. The world has lost all trust on the USD and the financial institutions. No rational and sane nation will ever allow itself to be contained and harm by the US and the West.
Not just in oil but in all trade, countries will do currency swap and use some BRICS denomination backed by real value minerals such as gold. Sure the 12 or so US vassal states, some former colonial powers, Anglo brothers and some tiny Eastern Europe nations will still trade in Dollar or Euro. So let them cheat and sanction each other!
Claim: Twitter Execs Fired FOR CAUSE — No “Golden Parachutes”
Twitter executives let go after Elon Musk took over the company, may not get their $20-$60 Million “Golden Parachute” payments because Musk allegedly fired them FOR CAUSE.
That means they were let go for a reason OTHER THAN Musk buying the company!
Being fired FOR CAUSE may negate the Golden Parachute payments!
When the Buyout Agreement between Twitter and Musk was negotiated, the top executives were assured they would get large payments if their leaving was simply a part of the takeover.
But apparently, Mr. Musk found out something the Executives may have done, or perhaps something they may have said/represented to him, which may not have been truthful, and Musk has now fired those executives FOR CAUSE.
Two sources familiar with the situation told the New York Times that would mean the Executives didn’t leave the company simply as part of Musk’s takeover, they were fired for justifiable reason.
While there will likely be heavy litigation over the matter, for the time being it looks as though none of those executives will get their multi-million dollar golden parachutes.
Why is NO ONE investigating this?
Young people 0yrs – 20yrs, all injected with the mRNA Vaxx are dying off. They are dying at an alarming rate. Zero flat lined up until March 2020. Then, boom, a steady increase.
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Check out the video before You-Tube takes it down.
Do you want to watch You-Tube videos about China?
More educational, on point and goes into great discussions. Then go HERE to the massive You-Tube video repository.
Drone Attack On Sevastopol
This morning at 4:20 local time the Russian fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol was attacked by nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous maritime drones. Earlier a maritime drone that had run aground in Crimea and had been found and pictured.
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During today’s attack a large U.S. drone had flown circles south of Crimea. It likely relayed data from and to the drones.
The maritime drones are British and Russia alleges that British specialists had trained the Ukrainian navy in using them. It also says that British soldiers were involved in the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline.
The Ukrainians published twovideos shot by the maritime drones while attacking. One of the video shows extensive gun fire impacts near the drone from a Russian helicopter that is attacking it.
The Russians say that all the aerial drones and 4 of 7 maritime drones were defeated before they could caused damage. They also say that one mine seeking ship was damaged in the harbor. It is possible that the damage is greater than Russia admits.
As a consequence of the attack Russia declared that the deal which allowed for grain exports from Odessa has been suspended. That deal had already been in danger as the ‘west’ had not fulfilled its part of the deal which would have allowed for the export for Russian fertilizer to third parties.
I find it likely that Russia will take additional measures to punish the Ukrainian navy for the brazen attack. Additional attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure is another possibility.
Meanwhile all recent attempts by the Ukrainian army to penetrate the Russian held lines have failed. It is notable that these are now much smaller in size with just a battalion or in some cases just two companies in the lead.
It is now definitely mud season in Ukraine during which it is impossible to cross most farmland even on feet. This will hinder the attacking forces on both sides until winter sets in.
What are some reasons why the US is losing faith in democracy?
The American people are finally waking up to the fact that their government has not been taking care of them for many decades. For example,…
The top 10% of Americans own 70% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 50% own less than 2%.
Millions of Americans cannot afford health care.
There is a severe lack of affordable housing.
Over 500,000 Americans are homeless.
Over 1,000,000 Americans died from Covid.
Countless thousands of Americans die from random gun violence and mass shootings every year.
America practices mass incarceration — the highest number and the highest rate in the world.
America’s infrastructure is literally crumbling.
The minimum wage has barely risen since the 1960s. It is NOT a living wage.
The average real income of the bottom 50% of Americans has been steadily declining for decades.
Instead of helping Americans in dire need, the government is shipping billions upon billions of dollars to Ukraine.
No matter who they vote into office, nothing ever changes!
Julius Nyerere famously said, “The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”
My Chicken Parmigiana
“This is a family favorite meal and one I make for special occasions, such as birthday dinners. The cooking method of this particular version is different from the conventional chicken parmigiana recipes I always used to make. Once I tried this much easier and moister version, I never went back to the “old” method. I often use homemade sauce in this, but a good-quality bottled sauce, such as Classico or Barilla, is perfectly acceptable as well. I serve this chicken atop mounds of freshly cooked pasta with some additional heated sauce. I have often chosen to replace the mozzarella with thin slices of Provolone cheese. NOTE: Edited to add that pounding the chicken is not necessary with this method. Part of what is unique about this recipe is that even the meatier pieces of chicken get so moist & tender as it braises in the sauce.”
Dip chicken breasts into the egg, then into the crumbs,coating both sides and shaking off excess.
Melt butter or margarine over medium heat in a large, deep skillet. Add chicken breast halves to the pan and brown on both sides – just enough to brown the chicken, not to fully cook it yet.
Pour spaghetti sauce into the pan, immediately reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the chicken has cooked all the way through, about 15-20 minutes but the time will vary depending upon the thickness and size of your chicken breasts.
Sprinkle with parsley and cheeses, re-cover, and simmer just until cheese melts- about 5 minutes.
Serve with cooked spaghetti.
China has been building mass scale of manufacturing photonic chips factories now & will be ready to supply the world by year 2023. The photonic chips are 1,000 times better & faster than the 3-5nm chips manufactured by Taiwan & South Korea. Why?
Here is the Thing
YES:-
China is the only Nation on Earth who can manufacture Photonic Chips Cost Effectively
No other Nation on Earth Can
US gave it up nearly 20 years ago
You simply cannot run a sustainable Profit
The Scale for which Profit is required is simply unsustainable
The Demand would need to be So Tremendous to justify a scale which would involve ENTIRE CITIES dedicated to manufacture Photonic Chips.
Its not the Technology. The Technology is available openly and readily.
LIke Hypersonic Missiles
The Technology was available in 2000 itself and was nothing new. The Theory was available. However manufacturing efficiently was not possible and US decided it was not worth it.
China and Russia later managed to use their Manufacturing Dominance (China) and Raw Material Haven (Russia) to ensure they could make efficienct Hypersonics and ensure that they now have or plan to have a cost effective Arsenal.
Likewise Photonic Chips Manufacture can be done by China at Effective Cost and on a Scale large enough to achieve sustainability for its own Internal Domestic Market.
That is the Good News!!!!
So All Good?
2023 is simply impossible
Developing the Basic Infrastructure for Indigenous Implementation of the Technology may take 5 Years and another 3 Years for achieving Commercial Dominance
Thats 8 Years or 2030
In the meanwhile China still has to keep targeting the 3nm or 5 nm Wafer Fabrications Indigenously and keep spending the massive Scale of Production
So you see the Problem
China could abandon the 3nm/5nm Manufacture Aim and move completely to Photonic Chips but that would mean a 8 Year Gap and after that – the Results could be screwed up or the Photonic Chips may not work as China expects to
That means a Waste of 8 Years
The Cost of which would be a Delay in Chinas AI plans, Robotics Plans, Upgrading Technology plans
China could stay with the 5 nm/3 nm Manufacture Aim and achieve Indigenous Manufacture by say 2025–2027 and dominate AI and Robotics and move to the next phase of Technology
That would be easier than developing and taking a risk on Photonic Chips
Its the same as Abandoning the Option of Manufacturing of J-20s to make it as good as a F-22 Raptor , and instead seeking to manufacture the Avengers version of Aircraft
Better to persevere and make aircraft like the F-22 in 4–5 years than totally abandon everything to hope to make Captain Americas Helicarriers
Can China do Both?
That would be the thing
However it would need a Huge Load of Investment
Huawei is in a perfect position to explore and work on Photonic Chips
Huawei has the Technological Edge and the Exponential Leap into cutting edge Research
SMIC
SMIC Meanwhile can continue to explore and keep targeting the Indigenous Supply Chain dominance of Chips within the Chinese Economy
Presently SMIC has achieved Commercial Production Capability of 14nm
And that was fast
So its a Lot of Hard Work and China shouldnt be like India
This “Ready to supply the World by 2023 and 1000 Times better”- this is Indian Language
Chinas language is always China Hopes to achieve indigenous control over its Chips and leave it there
Its Possible and if China can manage it – It would be incredible
Fingers Crossed!!!!
Biden quietly moves world closer towards armageddon. Finland ready to host nukes
A Severe drought is crushing American California tomato crops and shortages are coming – fast.
Soup season is upon us, but one of the main ingredients for soups, chilis and stews may be in short supply: canned tomatoes.
We’ve been hearing for a few months now that a historic drought in California is impacting farmers’ tomato crop yields this year and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the drought is going to end anytime soon.
The California League of Food Producers references a recent Reuters story that reports California’s current drought actually started in 2020.
Another news story published on today.com says that the drought is the worst the Golden State has seen in more than 1,200 years.
Just how bad is the drought in California? Drought.gov, a website managed by the National Integrated Drought Information System, reports that 99.8% of the entirety of California is suffering from moderate drought, while 91.8% of the state is in severe drought; 40.9% of the state is in extreme drought; and 16.6% of the state is in exceptional drought, hitting its agricultural belt hard.
In addition to the impact tomato crop shortages may have in fresh produce displays at grocery stores, the shortages will likely impact other household staples like canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.
“Ninety-five percent of the processed tomato products consumed in the United States comes right here from California’s Central Valley,” Mike Montna, president and CEO of the California Tomato Growers Association, told CNN.
“Mainly the tomatoes from the growers that I represent go to your ketchups, pizza sauces, your retail sauces that you see at the supermarket.”
Those of you who rely on canned tomato products,, whether it be whole, crushed, diced, Puree or Sauce, had best stock up now, while you can.
“This is a delicious rich soup that will need a longer cooking time then most soups and tastes even better the next day it’s really a meal in itself, I serve it with garlic bread on the side — to save some time prepare the meatballs up to a day ahead, the meatball mixture may be doubled if desired, if you don’t use all the meatballs then freeze for another time and just drop them into the soup frozen — 1/4 to 1/3 cup dry red wine may be added to the soup :)”
For the meatballs; in a bowl combine all ingredients until blended.
Shape into 3/4-inch balls; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to add to the soup.
In a large pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat; add in garlic and saute for 2 minutes.
Add in onions, dried oregano and crushed chili flakes; saute for about 4 minutes, stirring.
Add in celery, carrots and tomato paste; saute stirring for 2-3 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon.
Add in chicken broth, tomato sauce, kidney beans, green beans, spinach leaves and zucchini; return to a boil.
Add in uncooked meatballs; bring to a simmer (do not stir for at least 20 minutes).
Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours (after about 30 minutes of cooking season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste).
Add in cooked pasta and 1/3 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to heat through (can add in more cheese if desired).
Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
Russian Missiles Hit British Operations Center in Ukraine
The Russian Army has struck the base of the Ukrainian Navy in Ochachiv, a city in the Nikolaev Region, with missiles. This particular strike took out the Communications Center and Intelligence Department of the British Naval Operations Service.
We are told by sources in Ukraine that at least one Russian precision missile hit at the actual window sill of the Base Commander Office!
Said one knowledgeable source …
"Britain is responsible for the Kerch bridge attack, the NS1 and NS2 sabotage, sinking the cruiser Moskva and also for yesterdays attack on the Sevastopol Crimea naval base. If you are in UK, I would start thinking to move out. You not gonna like whats gonna happen next...."
The United States government (and it’s proxy nations) are restricting all content, and information out of China. In it’s place they are placing propaganda, all designed as a prelude to war.
This post discusses one such event.
In October 2022, CGTN produced a video discussing the construction of a road system in South East Europe. This video is able to be viewed inside of China, but NO WHERE ELSE.
Even though they are using the American You-Tube platform. The video (even though in English) is ONLY viewable inside of China. Imagine that!
As shown by this screen shot…
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And even now, using a VPN I cannot access it.
I NEED to access it only from inside of China, as shown here…
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Well, MM recorded the video and put it up on the MM channel.
Please check it out and observe what you are forbidden to see and learn…
Watch it now before it is banned from my “channel”.
No one, by any jumps or fantasy justifications can actually validate the United States as functioning AT ALL, let alone in some form of order. At this stage, it simply appears that the USA is one enormous criminal network… attacking everyone, fleecing everyone and everything, and just looting and pillaging at will while the vile evil villains joke and strut about proud and haughty in their seemingly untouchable state.
The United States is in a steep nose dive.
All evidence points in that direction.
Consider this next article. If the pandemic is the cause of ACT test results, then you would see a uniform drop across all college entrance tests in all the nations of the world. But that is not what is being observed. Only a drop in the American ACT tests.
Well… it must be the pandemic. Not the US system…
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide
Ah. Blame the pandemic. You notice that no one is providing proof that it is caused by the pandemic. Just a bold statement taken as truth.
-MM
By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY
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PHOENIX (AP) — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.
The class of 2022′s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What’s more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT — showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.
The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.
In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.
“Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline,” said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. “Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.”
Normally, we shouldn’t have economic stagnation and rampant inflation at the same time. But that is exactly what we’ve got.
U.S. GDP actually declined during the first two quarters of this year, and we are being warned that economic activity could slow down a whole lot more in the months ahead. Meanwhile, we are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis since the Jimmy Carter era. The cost of living has become extremely oppressive, and this is particularly true when it comes to food. We just got some new numbers from the Department of Labor on Wednesday, and quite a few of them are absolutely stunning…
Fresh and dried vegetables: up 15.7 percent for the month and 40.2 percent for the year.
Grains: up 10.7 percent for the month and 30.4 percent for the year.
Fresh eggs: up 16.7 percent for the month and 97.3 percent for the year.
Bakery products: up 0.8 percent for the month and 14.0 percent for the year.
Pasta: up 1.1 percent for the month and 34.1 percent for the year.
Finfish and shellfish: up 2.5 percent for the month and 2.9 percent for the year.
Processed fruits and vegetables: up 2.6 percent for the month and 16.0 percent for the year.
Dairy products: down 1.6 percent for the month but up 18.2 percent for the year.
Soft drinks: up 1.9 percent for the month but up 15.8 percent for the year.
Pork: up 5.5 percent for the month but down 2.0 percent for the year.
Fresh fruits and melons: down 1.2 percent for the month but up 20.7 percent for the year.
Turkey: up 0.5 percent for the month and 38.2 percent for the year.
This is crazy.
In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this.
Everywhere you look in the grocery store, prices are rising to levels that are completely nuts. If you can believe it, even Pepsi has raised prices on their products by an average of 17 percent over the past year…
The 12% increase it expects from full year organic revenue, noted by the Wall Street Journal this morning, comes at the hands of average prices rising an astonishing 17% from the year prior. The price hikes have also helped the company raise its profit outlook. It now expects per-share earnings growth of 10% for the year, the report notes.The rise in prices has helped offset a “slight decline” in overall sales volume, the report says. This means that Pepsi is fighting the recession that the country is in with more inflation.
Has the size of your paycheck gone up by 17 percent during the past 12 months?
If not, you are losing ground.
Sadly, most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck these days, and more of us than ever are falling behind on our bills. Just check out the results of a brand new LendingTree study…
That’s according to a new LendingTree study, which found that 32% of Americans have paid a bill late over the past six months, and an overwhelming majority – about 61% – said it’s because they did not have enough money to cover the costs.Another 40% of respondents said they are struggling more to afford their bills than they were just one year ago. Most said they fell behind on a utility bill, credit card payment or cable or internet bill.“Life is getting more expensive by the day, and it’s shrinking Americans’ already tiny financial margin for error down to zero,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst.
At the same time that the cost of living is becoming excruciatingly painful, economic activity in the United States is really starting to slow down and big companies are starting to lay off workers.
As Walmart continues making adjustments to the structure of its business plan, the e-commerce-based company has announced it will let go of nearly 1,500 employees by the beginning of December. The employees will all be laid off from one specific fulfillment center in Atlanta, Georgia. This may come at a bad time for all the employees with the holidays quickly approaching, but the company is doing this to ensure their future.A recent blog post published by the Senior Vice President, Karisa Sprague, breaks down and shares details of just how they are developing their fulfillment network for the future. Essentially, the Senior VP says that Walmart is making necessary adjustments to provide the highest level of customer service that they can, as well as also doing the best by their employees. She goes on the mention that evolution is essential as times change.
Crypto.com has laid off some 2,000 employees in one of the biggest downsizes in the cryptocurrency industry yet. The cuts account for about 40% of the DeFi exchange’s staff, according to CoinDesk. The current layoffs come after the exchange cut over 400 jobs in the middle of June.
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.
Many more layoffs are coming.
And just like we witnessed in 2008, the U.S. housing market is really starting to implode.
Rapidly rising rates are scaring off buyers, and demand for new mortgages is absolutely plummeting…
The average interest rate on US home loans has hit its highest level since 2006, as the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes to fight inflation continue to raise borrowing costs for homebuyers.The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage hit 6.81 percent for the week ending October 7, the eighth straight weekly increase, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.Higher borrowing costs have sent home sales volume plunging. The MBA’s Purchase Index, which measures new mortgages to buy a home, dropped 2 percent from the prior week and 39 percent from a year ago.
This is what stagflation looks like.
And thanks to a series of colossal errors by our leaders, it is going to be with us for a while.
If you are searching for someone to thank for this mess, you can thank Joe Biden, our free spending Congress critters, and the “experts” at the Federal Reserve.
Most Americans trusted them when they told us that they had everything under control.
Now we can see that it was all a charade, and the months ahead are looking exceedingly bleak indeed.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President of [Kazakhstan] Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, Dear colleagues!For 30 years, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia has been discussing pressing issues related to strengthening security and stability throughout the vast Asian region.Today's meeting is taking place against the backdrop of major changes in global politics and the economy. The world is becoming truly multipolar, and Asia plays a very noticeable, if not key, role in this, where new centers of power are growing stronger.The countries of the Asian region are the locomotive of world economic growth. Such integration associations as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Eurasian Economic Union are operating dynamically and with good returns.Russia is also actively involved in all these processes. We stand for the development and prosperity of Asia and the creation for this purpose of a wide open space of mutually beneficial trade and investment cooperation, for the expansion and deepening of cooperation ties in various sectors of the economy.Let me remind you that it was Russia that stood at the origins of the creation of the business council at the meeting, through which many successful conferences and seminars have been held over the past years on the entire range of economic topics.And of course, together with other Asian states, we are doing everything to form a system of equal and indivisible security based on the universally recognized principles of international law of the UN Charter.Our meeting and other regional associations have to deal with many acute problems, including the increased volatility of global prices for energy, food, fertilizers, raw materials and other important goods. This leads to a deterioration in the quality of life in developed and developing countries. Moreover, there is a real threat of hunger and large-scale social upheaval, especially in the poorest countries.Russia, for its part, is making every effort to provide critical products to countries in need. We call for the elimination of all artificial, illegitimate barriers to the normal functioning of global supply chains in order to meet the urgent challenges of food security.Like many of our partners in Asia, we believe that it is necessary to launch a revision of the principles of the global financial system, which for decades allowed the self-proclaimed so-called golden billion, which has closed all flows of capital and technology, to a large extent live at someone else's expense.As a priority step, we see a more active use of national currencies in mutual settlements. Such measures would undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the financial sovereignty of our states, developing domestic capital markets, and deepening regional economic integration.It is extremely important, together with other regional forums and organizations, to continue to work actively to resolve emerging crisis situations and conflicts in Asia, to strengthen cooperation between our states in countering the terrorist threat, identifying and neutralizing extremist groups, blocking their financial support, combating drug trafficking and suppressing the propaganda of radical ideas.Unfortunately, Afghanistan remains one of the most acute security challenges for our region. Our colleagues have already spoken about this today.This country, after more than 20 years of military presence of the United States and NATO, the failure of their policy, was unable to independently solve the problems associated with terrorist threats, which is confirmed by the ongoing series of bloody terrorist attacks, including the explosion near the Russian Embassy in Kabul on September 5.In order to normalize the situation on the territory of Afghanistan, of course, it is necessary to jointly promote its economic reconstruction. But above all, we urge compensation for the damage done to Afghans during the years of occupation and the unfreezing of illegally frozen Afghan funds.In the context of a settlement in Afghanistan, it would be useful to use the capabilities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and its regional anti-terrorist structure.We also invite all Asian countries to cooperate more closely with the International Data Bank for Countering Terrorism, established at the initiative of Russia.I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Russia, together with China, has drafted a joint statement at this summit on security cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies. We hope that it will be approved.In conclusion, I would like to mention the importance of strengthening multilateral cooperation between the states participating in the meeting in the social, cultural and humanitarian spheres, in promoting inter-civilizational dialogue and contacts between people.In particular, volunteer movements also require support. The acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic, which we have passed, has shown the undoubtedly useful role that volunteer and youth structures play in providing assistance and assistance to the population. Russia has a good, rich experience in these matters, which we are ready to share with interested countries.On the whole, I would like to note with satisfaction that the joint work within the framework of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures is progressing in a positive manner. Russia will continue to develop multifaceted cooperation with all the parties represented at this meeting.We support the initiatives of Kazakhstan's chairmanship.Thank you very much for your attention.
With the latest acts of terrorism being performed by NATO, IMO it’s becoming clear that the term terrorism is becoming a cover term for NATO/Outlaw US Empire.
The anti-terrorism principle, which also includes the extremism present within Color Revolution attempts, is now a major part of Eurasian multilateral organizations’s aims.
Thus, while none of those organizations are overtly against any one nation or bloc, it’s clear that they’re against those that are responsible for Terrorism and Extremism, which as we know consist of the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals.
Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals that mainstream science considers to be mythical or non-existent. Animals studied by cryptozoologists are called cryptids. Famous examples include creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti. Unsurprisingly then, there is quite a lot of derision aimed at cryptids in scientific circles. Cryptids are the stuff of low-level tabloid magazines and conspiracy theorists, right? Wrong! Many animals that experts once believed to be cryptids are actually flesh and blood living things.
Famous Cryptids that Aren’t Actually Cryptids Anymore
1.The Platypus
The platypus is a weird animal that seems to break a lot of rules. At the time of its first discovery by Europeans, it seemed to contradict everything they thought they knew about mammals.
The platypus is a furry, Australian mammal that lives in rivers. It has the feet of an otter and the tail of a beaver. So far, not that strange. Then one looks at the head, and it appears to have a bill of a duck, unlike any other mammal.
Even stranger still is the fact that it lays eggs. Only five living mammal species do so, the platypus and four kinds of echidna (spiny anteaters). Up until the discovery of the platypus, it was common knowledge that one of the things which defined a mammal was giving birth to live offspring.
On top of this, the platypus is venomous! Venomous mammals were basically unheard of. The male platypus produces venom from glands attached to its ankle spurs. It is believed these are used defensively against other males, especially during mating season.
It’s unsurprising then that European naturalists from the 18th and 19th centuries believed the platypus to be a hoax. When the first platypus corpses arrived in Europe from Australia, the experts weren’t sure what to make of them.
Many thought it to be the work of Chinese sailors, who had previously tricked them with the corpse of a supposed mermaid. It was believed the platypus corpses were just well-put-together amalgamations of other animals! It took nearly a century for zoologists to admit they were wrong and definitively confirm the existence of the platypus.
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2.The Giant Squid
Another poster child for famous cryptids that turned out to be real is the terrifying giant squid. Reports of the giant squid go back 2,000 years to the time of Aristotle. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, did a pretty good job describing the giant squid in his Natural History .
He got pretty much everything right, except the size. Showing that the giant squid was too massive even for the superstitious ancient writers to get right, Pliny only estimated the squid at 30 feet (9 meters) long, when in reality it’s over 40 feet (12 meters) long! Early run-ins with giant squid were likely the inspiration for several mythological sea monsters , like Norse mythology’s Kraken and the Scylla of Greek mythology.
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The giant squid remained a cryptid for so long because its existence was seemingly fantastical, and hard to verify. The sea is almost unfathomable in its size and depth. Looking for anything in the ocean, even something as huge as a giant squid, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is exacerbated by the fact that the giant squid is a deep sea creature, and humans haven’t spent much time down there.
The only chance early zoologists had to study and verify the giant squid was through carcasses that would very occasionally wash ashore. The problem with this was that hungry sea creatures had often begun eating the corpses before they washed ashore, meaning complete samples were rare. Added to this was the fact that the carcasses tended to rot extremely quickly, leaving little to work with.
The first recorded discovery of a mostly intact giant squid carcass was in the 1870s. However, it wasn’t until the last decade or so that we managed to take photos of a live specimen, cementing the giant squid’s status as a former cryptid.
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3.Sea Serpent Cryptids
Stories of dreadful sea serpents that dwell in the ocean date back thousands of years. Even the Bible makes references to a gigantic beast called Leviathan that roams the briny depths looking for prey. Much like in the case of the giant squid, for a long time, scientists thought these sea monsters were too huge to be real.
Cryptozoologists, however, believe that many sightings of these historic sea monsters are cases of real animals being misidentified, and then being given a fantastical, superstitious twist. One incredibly rare species is perhaps the likely culprit.
The oarfish is a long, bony fish with an elongated body that has been found to grow to at least 56 feet (17 meters) long. They are found in oceans all over the world, but usually live in the deep ocean. They have sometimes washed ashore during storms and occasionally come to the surface when near death.
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It seems likely that these giant fish are responsible for at least some of these early depictions of sea serpents. The first live oarfish wasn’t filmed until 2001, showing just how rare and hard to verify these fish were.
4.The Ultimate Cryptid: The Unicorn
Now obviously, unicorns as traditionally portrayed don’t exist. The unicorn is still very much a cryptid. Except it isn’t. Although no one has discovered a horned horse yet, we can go back 2,000 years and find the animals that likely inspired talk of unicorns.
Pliny the Elder described the unicorn two thousand years ago. He described it as having “the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.” That sounds suspiciously like an Indian rhinoceros.
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There is another contender for real-life unicorn inspiration. The second is a little stranger, however, seeing as it lives in the sea. The narwhal is a type of toothed whale that lives in the freezing waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. Its defining feature is a large protruding canine tooth, known as its tusk. This tusk is startlingly similar to the imagined unicorn horn.
Unicorn horns were an incredibly popular curio through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance period. These unicorn horns came from narwhals that the Vikings had hunted, selling their tusks for crazy prices as unicorn horns. When the English explorer Martin Frobisher led a Canadian expedition in 1577, he came across a dead narwhal. The name he gave it? The sea unicorn.
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5.The Komodo Dragon
Before 1910, any scientist claiming to believe in a giant lizard that looked like a dragon would have been laughed out of the room. At the time, it was widely believed that giant lizards were a thing of the past, and nothing on the scale of a Komodo dragon could exist.
When pearl fishermen returned from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia telling tall tales of giant ‘land crocodiles’, no one took them seriously. After all, fishermen are famous for exaggeration. Then, in 1910, an expedition from Buitenzorg Zoological Museum visited Komodo Island and produced the first scientific report on the creatures. Lieutenant Jacques Karel Henri visited the island and took home both a Komodo dragon skin and a photograph.
The Komodo dragon remained mostly a mystery until 1926, when a second expedition went in search of the dragon. Its leader, W. Douglas Burden, came back with twelve preserved Komodo dragon bodies, as well as two live animals. It was only then the Komodo dragon truly left the realm of the cryptids and entered the world of established science.
The 1926 expedition and discovery of an animal considered by many to be prehistoric went on to inspire the 1933 film King Kong .
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6.The Humble Gorilla
Sometimes an animal becomes so commonly known that it’s surprising it was ever considered a cryptid at all. For example, the humble gorilla was considered a cryptid until 1847.
The term gorilla comes from a Carthaginian explorer called Hanno the Navigator, who was exploring the African coast in 500 BC. He described coming across a tribe of “gorillae”, monstrous and violent humans. Although it is likely he actually encountered chimps or baboons, the name has stuck.
Reports of monstrous, hairy humans who would attack and overpower villages continue throughout the centuries but were never taken seriously by scientists. In the 16th century, an English explorer described ape-like humans visiting his campfire at night.
Gorillas in general remained cryptids until 1847, when Thomas Savage found gorilla bones in Liberia. With the help of a Harvard anatomist named Jeffries Wyman, he then released a formal description of the species dubbing it, Gorilla gorilla. Sadly, from this point onwards, other anthropologists began hunting gorillas in earnest, seeking to learn as much about the discovery as possible.
The mountain gorilla stayed a cryptid for a while longer. It wasn’t formally recognized as a species until 1902, when a German officer, Captain Robert von Beringe, shot one in the Virunga region of Rwanda and took it home to Europe.
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7.The Okapi
The okapi is an African mammal that resembles a cross between a zebra and a donkey. Their only bizarre feature is the two hair-covered, horn-like structures called ossicones that they have just above their eyes. These may sound bizarre, but actually, the okapi is from the giraffe family, and the ossicones are pretty much the same as a giraffe’s horns.
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The okapi isn’t especially peculiar, certainly not compared to the giant squid or platypus. Yet it was considered a myth until 1901. The problem was its central African habitat was already well-known to European explorers, and since they had never seen one, they did not believe the tales the locals told of the okapi.
Okapi inhabit incredibly dense forests and live quiet, solitary lives. Even the locals who told stories of them were unsure. Their knowledge of the okapi predominantly came from evidence the animals left behind, like tracks, rather than actual sightings.
In 1890, Sir Henry Stanley was the first European to describe the mammal after traveling in the region. However, he had no solid proof, and so the okapi remained a cryptid. It was not until 1901 that zoologist and imperial officer Sir Harry Johnston obtained a skull and some skins with the help of locals. With this physical evidence, the okapi’s existence could finally be confirmed.
The okapi wasn’t caught on film in the wild until 2008, which should give an idea of just how hard this beautiful animal is to track down.
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Conclusion
So, if these cryptids turned out to be real, what about Nessy or Bigfoot? Why are people who believe in them still mocked and derided in the scientific community? The animals above, and in fact, all former cryptids share at least one thing in common.
They come from remote, hard-to-explore regions of the planet. These animals stayed cryptids for so long because European scientists hadn’t had a chance to fully explore their habitats yet. Once they had, these animals stop being cryptids. The problem is, besides the oceans, most of the earth’s land mass has been pretty well studied by now. The likelihood of creatures as large as the okapi walking around undiscovered up to now is slim to none.
Another thing most cryptids have in common is that they were actually discovered ages ago. The okapi and mountain gorilla had been talked about by African tribes for centuries. Likewise, the indigenous peoples of Australia were likely familiar with the platypus.
The awkward truth is that the only reason these animals were never taken seriously is old-fashioned racism. For the most part, something remained cryptid until European scientists said otherwise, seeing it with their own eyes. Centuries of eyewitness accounts made by the locals didn’t count, because colonial-era European scientists lacked respect for the indigenous people of the places they were colonizing.
Although it is unlikely any more large cryptids will be discovered, there is always some hope. There are still far-flung corners of the world and the fathomless depths of the oceans we haven’t scoured yet. If we are now willing to listen to the people from these areas, who knows what we might discover?
PayPal’s censorship plan EXPOSED and it’s getting worse
This is horrific!
The USA is NOT NOT NOT the land of freedom and justice.
This is fucking horrific. Watch the entire thing to the very end!!!!
URGENT: RUSSIA ISSUES CIVIL DEFENSE INSTRUCTIONS TO ENTIRE POPULATION: “RADIATION”
School children in every single city and town in Russia brought home official government notices today, telling families what to do in Civil Defense Emergencies like . . . radiation.
Poster boards are going up in mass-transit stations, at city halls, in shopping centers with the exact same message.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
“Civil Defense
The procedure for the actions of the population on the go signal when at work.
The signal “ATTENTION TO ALL!”
Accompanied by the activation of sirens with intermittent beeps followed by verbal information about the signal GO
* upon hearing the SIGNAL, turn on your radio or television set and listen to the message about the situation and how to proceed
* pass on the information you receive to your neighbors
* Act according to the messages you have been given.
Ways you should notify ALL!!:
* Television
* loudspeakers
* sirens
* bell
*radio
*Howls from businesses and vehicles
*phone, text message
* mobile sound-amplifying installations
* Information board
*social networks
Actions of the population
(inscriptions on the signs)
– Turn off lights, gas, water, heaters
– Close windows and doors tightly
– Cover gaps around doors, vents with a wet cloth.
– use personal protective equipment.
– Take cover in the nearest protective structure, buried room or other premises of the underground space, including the subway.
– Report to the assembly area
– evacuate to a safe area.
ACTIONS FOR:
* AIRBORNE ALARM
* CHEMICAL ALARM
* RADIATION ALARM
* THREAT OF CATASTROPHIC FLOODING
RESTRICTED SIGNAL
* Return to your place of work
* Be prepared for a possible repeat of the civil defense “ATTENTION TO ALL” signal.””
NEW YORK CITY DID SAME
The Hal Turner Radio Show reported to readers and listeners back on July 11 that New York City Emergency Management issued a Public Service Announcement for TV telling New Yorkers what to do when a NUCLEAR BOMB hits the city! (Story Here)
Then New York City posted NUCLEAR ATTACK warning signs in Subway cars (Story Here)
NEW JERSEY TOO
The State of New Jersey also began warning its population of nuclear emergencies with large poster boards inside Shopping Malls (Story Here)
In September, New Jersey placed giant ads on the sides of all New Jersey Transit buses with the same warnings and instructions! (Story Here)
OTHER COUNTRIES TOO!
Just this week, the country of Finland told its citizens to get Potassium Iodide pills to take in a “Radiation Emergency” (Story Here)
When the Russia-Ukraine thing went “hot” Romania knew what was coming . . . and began handing out Potassium Iodide pills to its citizens (Story Here)
Poland began handing out Potassium Iodide Pills to its citizens just weeks ago (Story Here)
Back in April, the European Commission began construction of nuclear blast facilities for itself (Story Here)
GOVERNMENT KNOWS WHAT’S COMING
Governments don’t do things like this for no reason. They do it because they either KNOW this is going to happen, or they believe strongly it may happen.
In this particular case, they KNOW . . . . because THEY are the ones causing it!
The only people who aren’t taking much of it seriously is the general pubic. That attitude had better change real fast.
You need Emergency Food (canned, Boxed), emergency water (5 gallon containers for each person at home, minimum, Extra supply of any medicines you need to live, first aid kit, portable radio with spare batteries, flashlights with spare batteries, and much, much more.
Even with these supplies, survival is questionable. However, WITHOUT any emergency supplies, YOU and YOUR FAMILY will not stand any chance at all.
Prep.
NOW!
Finland Tells Citizens “Stock Iodine Pills” in case of “Radiation Emergency”
Fears of _actual_ nuclear war continue to grow over the Russia-Ukraine situation. The latest example is Finland’s Ministry of Health which, today, told citizens to stock up on Iodine pills “in case of radiation emergency.”
The ministry presented the new recommendation at a media event on Tuesday.
The ministry said the recommendation was limited to people 3-40 years of age because of the potential risk radiation exposure poses to that age group.
The release of radioactive iodine from a nuclear incident into the environment, could build up in the thyroid gland. This is most harmful to children, who are at greater risk of developing thyroid cancer due to large doses of radiation,” the ministry’s statement read.
The statement noted that in case of such an emergency, sheltering indoors was the main way for people to protect themselves from hazardous radiation.
The ministry also noted that a single iodine tablet dose usually provides sufficient protection. It added that iodine rarely causes side effects, but that individuals who have thyroid conditions should use the substance with caution.
The recommended single dose for 12-40 year-olds in a dangerous radiation situation is 130 milligrams of potassium iodide. Children over 3 years of age are recommended to take half of that dose.
The ministry said that there are no iodine products suitable — nor available in Finland — for children under the age of three. However, the recommended dose for children under three years of age is 32.5 milligrams of potassium iodide, and for newborns half of this.
However, the ministry continues to recommend that pregnant women over the age of 40 keep a supply of iodine tablets at home, as fetal thyroid glands are significantly more sensitive to radioactive iodine than they are among adults.
“Public healthcare services will procure iodine tablets suitable for children under the age of three and will determine the best way to distribute them to the parents of such children and to pregnant women. Regional healthcare providers will inform people when such an iodine product is available,” the ministry’s statement read (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
Iodine stocks sold out
On Tuesday afternoon, Finland’s largest chain of pharmacy outlets, Yliopiston Apteekki, reported stocks of iodine tablets had practically sold out nationwide following the issuing of the ministry’s statement.
Chief pharmaceutical officer Kati Vuorikallas told the STT news agency that the surge in demand has also been reflected in the increased traffic on the chain’s website, which has caused the site to slow down significantly or even crash for some users.
Efforts are being made to replenish the iodine stocks, Vuorikallas added, but there is no precise schedule on when this will happen.
We, the Heads of State and Government of the participating States of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), meeting on 12-13 October 2022 in Astana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of CICA, decided to chart the following course of our further cooperation:
[1] We are launching a structured, comprehensive and transparent negotiation process on a gradual, step-by-step, consensus-based transformation of CICA into a full-fledged regional international organization.
[2] The CICA transformation process will pursue the following main objectives: to identify key areas of future cooperation and to strengthen the institutional and institutional framework of our interaction.
[3] We believe that the organization will contribute to ensuring dynamic, equal, comprehensive and balanced economic growth, interconnectedness, social and cultural development of the participating States. We will step up collective work within the organization in order to find joint solutions to the problems common to all of us of the XXI century. to ensure the security and prosperity of the region, the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the UN Charter.
[4] Our organization will engage and cooperate in areas of interest to all participating States with other States, organizations and forums that share our objectives and principles to strengthen results-oriented and consensus-based multilateral cooperation in the region.
So, yet another multilateral organization aims at joining with other like-minded organizations thus knitting the region more firmly together. And as with the SCO, a big portion of the organization’s focus is on anti-terrorism efforts which are detailed in other adopted documents that can be found here.
Misguided Foreign Policies Against Russia And Others Damage The U.S. And Its ‘Allies’
Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational foreign policies have brought the U.S. to a point where it is loosing its primacy in the world.
In response to the 2014 U.S. coup in Kiev the Russian Federation supported ethnic Russian rebels in the Donbas region to resist that anti-Russian progroms with which the Nazi-controlled Kiev regime threatened them. This blocked U.S. plans to move Ukraine into NATO and to station U.S. missiles directly at the Russian border.
In 2016 the Democrats sought revenge by pushing fake claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections. To justify her loss in the presidential election Hillary Clinton created ‘Russiagate’, the false claim the Trump was somehow directed by Russia. She was supported by high ranking officials throughout the deep state and especially within the FBI. In hindsight their behavior was beyond belief:
An FBI supervisor repeatedly testified Tuesday that agents did not corroborate an explosive allegation from a former British spy of a “well-developed conspiracy” between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign before citing the claim as a reason to initiate surveillance of a former Trump campaign official.
…
The FBI used the unconfirmed report, Auten testified, to seek court approval of a secret surveillance warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser, and then successfully got that warrant reauthorized on three occasions, based in part on the same, uncorroborated claim.
…
Auten told the jury that shortly after receiving the first batch of Steele documents in the fall of 2016, a group of FBI officials met with Steele and offered him “anywhere up to $1 million” for information that would corroborate the claims in his reports. But Steele never did provide corroboration, Auten said in response to Durham.
…
Steele had been hired to produce reports by research firm Fusion GPS, which had been retained by a law firm that represented Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee.
‘Russiagate’ created a feverish anti-Russian atmosphere especially within the Democrats and their followers.
Adding to this was a serious ignorance of Russia economic and technological capabilities. U.S. politicians rely on biased media which created a false picture of Russia. I did my best to debunk that as often as I could:
The rest of the NYT piece is not any better than its very first paragraph. It simply repeats false stereotypes about Putin as an “autocratic leader” or about the non-existing Russian influence on U.S. elections.Nearly thirty years ago when the Soviet Union broke apart Russia had a deep fall. The liberalization of its economy had catastrophic consequences. But it has since reformed itself. It is now back to its traditional position in the world. A large Eurasian power which is in nearly all aspects independent from the rest of the world and able to protect itself. It must therefore be taken into account when one thinks of global polices. That is simply a fact and not the effect of a “mindgame” that Russia allegedly plays with the “west”.
That the U.S. still has problems to understand that is not Russia’s fault but the result of the skewed descriptions of it.
I wrote the above in December 2019(!). Ten month later I revisited the issue:
Over the last years the U.S. and its EU puppies have ratcheted up their pressure on Russia. They seem to believe that they can compel Russia to follow their diktat. They can’t. But the illusion that Russia will finally snap, if only a few more sanctions ar applied or a few more houses in Russia’s neighborhood are set on fire, never goes away.
…
Russia does not accept the fidgety ‘rules of the liberal international order’. Russia sticks to the law which is, in my view, a much stronger position. Yes, international law often gets broken. But as Lavrov said elsewhere, one does not abandon traffic rules only because of road accidents.Russia stays calm, no matter what outrageous nonsense the U.S. and EU come up with. It can do that because it knows that it not only has moral superiority by sticking to the law but it also has the capability to win a fight.
…
Russia is militarily secure and the ‘west’ knows that. It is one reason for the anti-Russian frenzy. Russia does not need to bother with the unprecedented hostility coming from Brussels and Washington. It can ignore it while taking care of its interests.
As this is so obvious one must ask what the real reason for the anti-Russian pressure campaign is. What do those who argue for it foresee as its endpoint?
The answer to my question was revealed in mid of last year when the U.S. and the EU threatened Russia with ‘crushing sanctions’. The idea was to destroy Russia’s economy to then breakup the country. It was a very stupid one:
Russia is the most autarkic country in the world. It produces nearly everything it needs and has highly desirable products that are in global demand and are especially needed in Europe. Russia also has huge financial reserves. A sanctions strategy against Russia can not work.To use the Ukraine to gaud Russia into some aggression to then apply sanctions was likewise a rather lunatic attempt.
…
Instead of splitting Russia from China the U.S. has unintentionally done its best to push them into a deeper alliance. It was the most severe strategic error the U.S. could make.
Instead of a taking a new strategic posture that would support a pivot to Asia strategy the U.S. is now moving troops back to Europe.
The narrow-minded bigotry of U.S. decision makers, fed by a belief in U.S. exceptionalism while lacking any conception of real power, has led to this defeat.
The U.S., through NATO, had build up the Ukrainian army with the intent to use it against Russia. As NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg proudly claimed:
As you know, NATO Allies provide unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine. Actually NATO Allies and NATO have been there since 2014 – trained, equipped and supported the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The recent war was launched by Ukraine on February 17 with artillery barrages against the Donbas republics. Massive sanctions against Russia were introduced. The Russia army finally marched into Ukraine.
It took only a few weeks to recognize that the sanctions, as I had expected, utterly failed. In the first days the Rubel fell only to come back much stronger. There were no shortages for Russian consumers. Russia’s industries kept buzzing along.
But the sanctions did crush the ‘west’ and especially its consumers.
Over the years the U.S. and the EU have held up sanctions against the oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Russia. They also destroyed parts of Libya’s oil industry. In total the sanctions have kept some 20% of global oil production either off the markets or made them more difficult to buy and sell. On top of this U.S. relations with major Middle East producers, especially Saudi Arabia, have cooled down.
In late 2021 consumer prices for hydrocarbon products exploded. When they threatened to derail the Democrat’s chances in the mid terms President Biden used tax payer money, in form of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to subsidize gasoline prices:
The United States and five other world powers announced a coordinated effort to tap into their national oil stockpiles on Tuesday, attempting to drive down rising gas prices that have angered consumers around the world.The move appeared to underwhelm oil traders, who had been expecting President Biden to announce a larger release from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the biggest in the world with 620 million barrels.
…
The concerted effort, the largest ever for a release of strategic reserves across multiple countries, is meant to address fluctuations in supply and demand for oil, administration officials said. And it was a shot across the bow of OPEC Plus, the name for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia and other countries. Mr. Biden has pushed those countries to increase production, but has been rebuffed.
The move could bring a response next week when the group holds its monthly meeting. While it could prompt those countries to increase production, it could just as easily push the cartel to restrict supply further and push global prices higher.
Since 2021, the nation’s SPR has diminished by about 35%, with 2021 starting with 638 million barrels in inventory. By the end of the year, that figure had dropped to 594 million barrels. Today, there are 416 million barrels—and even more are set to be released.
The U.S. has not only sanctioned major oil producers, it also instigated a war against the third largest (Russia) and pissed of the second largest one (Saudi Arabia).
The peak of such stupidity was the idea to limit the price ‘allowed’ to be paid for Russian oil:
A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of:
[T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russia’s oil revenue.
…
Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price.
How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also buy the product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.
…
Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it.
A month ago OPEC+ finally fired back by decreasing its output aim by 2 million barrels per day. To some of them a price of oil around $80 per barrel is simply a budget requirement:
The quiet understanding emerging from [Biden’s] trip was that Saudi Arabia would increase its production by about 750,000 barrels a day, and that the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000, pushing down gas prices and worsening President Vladimir V. Putin’s ability to fund a war that was stretching much longer — and with much higher casualties — than Mr. Biden had expected.But the production increases were fleeting. While Saudi Arabia boosted production significantly in July and August, it backed away from their promise to sustain those levels over the rest of 2022. Its leaders, and all of OPEC, worried that the specter of global recession was driving prices down, from $120 a barrel over the summer to below $80. Below that level, they fear, budgets have to be cut and social stability is threatened. So the Saudis decided they had to act.
The sanctions and the bad relations with Saudi Arabia mark a major failure of U.S. foreign policy writes M. K. Bhadrakumar:
The Biden Administration tempted Fate by underestimating the importance of oil in modern economic and political terms and ignoring that oil will remain the dominant energy source across the world for the foreseeable future, powering everything from cars and domestic heating to huge industry titans and manufacturing plants.
… The Western powers are far too naive to think that an energy superpower like Russia can be simply “erased” from the ecosystem. In an “energy war” with Russia, they are doomed to end up as losers.Historically, Western nations understood the imperative to maintain good diplomatic relations with oil-producing countries. But Biden threw caution into the wind by insulting Saudi Arabia calling it a “Pariah” state. Any improvement in the US-Saudi relations is not to be expected under Biden’s watch. The Saudis distrust American intentions.
The congruence of interests on the part of the OPEC to keep the prices high is essentially because they need the extra income for their expenditure budget and to maintain a healthy investment level in the oil industry. The International Monetary Fund in April projected Saudi Arabia’s breakeven oil price — the oil price at which it would balance its budget — at $79.20 a barrel.
The budget point is an obvious one. But more important is that all of OPEC+ recognize the new sanction scheme as a potential attack on each of them:
Meanwhile, a “systemic” crisis is brewing. It is only natural that the OPEC views with scepticism the recent moves by the US and the EU to push back Russia’s oil exports. The West rationalises these moves as aimed at drastically reducing Russia’s income from oil exports (which translates as its resilience to fight the war in Ukraine.) The latest G7 move to put a cap on the prices at which Russia can sell its oil is taking matters to an extreme.
… No doubt, the West’s move is precedent-setting — namely, to prescribe for geopolitical reasons the price at which an oil-producing country is entitled to export its oil. If it is Russia today, it can as well be Saudi Arabia or Iraq tomorrow. The G7 decision, if it gets implemented, will erode OPEC’s key role regulating the global oil market.Therefore, the OPEC is proactively pushing back. Its decision to cut down oil production by 2 million barrels per day and keep the oil price above $90 per barrel makes a mockery of the G7 decision. The OPEC estimates that Washington’s options to counter OPEC+ are limited. Unlike in the past energy history, the US does not have a single ally today inside the OPEC+ group.
Due to rising domestic demands for oil and gas, it is entirely conceivable that the US exports of both items may be curtailed. If that happens, Europe will be the worst sufferer. In an interview with FT last week, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned that as winter approaches, if energy prices are not brought down, “we are risking a massive deindustrialisation of the European continent and the long-term consequences of that might actually be very deep.”
All this is the consequence of U.S. ‘Russiagate’ phobia, originally raised for purely domestic policy reasons. It is a consequence of misrepresenting and misjudging the size and importance of Russia’s economy. It is consequence of believing that Russian (and Saudi) interests can be ignored.
Russia’s aim is to de-NATO-size Europe. It will do this by using the sanctions against it to deprive Europe of cheap energy. Sustained over months or years it is all that is needed to make NATO fall apart.
The sanctions will finally split Europe from the U.S. and its failed foreign policy.
The congressional backlash against Saudi Arabia escalated sharply on Monday as a powerful Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US.Washington’s anger with its Saudi allies has intensified since last week’s Opec+ decision to cut oil production by 2m barrels, which was seen as a slight to the Biden administration weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, and an important boost to Russia.
…
Hitting out at Mohammed bin Salman’s decision to “help underwrite Putin’s war through the OPEC+ cartel”, Menendez said there was “simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict”.
“I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough,” he said.
Another Democratic senator and a member of Congress – Richard Blumenthal and Ro Khanna – expressed similar sentiments in an opinion piece for Politico that also accused Saudi Arabia of undermining US efforts and helping to boost Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The senators want to block weapon sales to Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman will rather happily buy Russian air defense system. In contrast to U.S. systems they have the advantage of actually functioning. Saudi Arabia’s Intermediate Range Missiles are from China. It will be happy to add more of those too.
Pissing off Russia, China and the whole Middle East – all at the same time – while condemning its ‘allies’ to a systemic economic crash and utter poverty, is the result of an irrational U.S. foreign policy.
I find it unlikely that the Biden administration with its librul ideology will be able to correct its own errors. The failures and mistakes will stay uncorrected and their consequences will multiply. It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies.
Posted by b on October 12, 2022 at 16:06 UTC | Permalink
On the other hand, the FBI apparently cherishes its dog whistle “racists” who are essentially agents provocateurs, most notably radio talkshow host Ted Turner.More than a decade ago, I wrote:Radio talk show host and blogger Hal Turner was an FBI trained agent provocateur, his attorney told reporters in Hartford [August 18, 2009]. The supposed white supremacist worked for the agency from 2002 until 2007. “His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest,” Michael Orozco told the Associated Press.The article I wrote originally appeared on Infowars and Prison Planet. The above link in the byline of the repost now points to an ad for an old Alex Jones documentary. I am persona non grata at both websites and I imagine a lot of the work I did there has made it to the memory hole.But let’s not wander off track.As the case against Turner and the revelations of his attorney reveal, the government did not abandon its COINTELPRO tactics, as it claimed in the mid 1970s. The FBI, acting as the establishment’s political secret police, continues to undermine political movements the elite consider dangerous and a threat to their control and influence.Recall, I wrote the above more than a decade ago, and since that time the situation has grown far worse, predictably so under the mentally compromised Joe Biden.The FBI infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1950s and 60s.“During the 1960’s, the FBI’s role was not to protect civil rights workers, but rather, through the use of informants, the Bureau actively assisted the Ku Klux Klan in their campaign of racist murder and terror,” the authors of “COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story.”Church Committee hearings and internal FBI documents revealed that more than one quarter of all active Klan members during the period were FBI agents or informants. However, Bureau intelligence “assets” were neither neutral observers nor objective investigators, but active participants in beatings, bombings and murders that claimed the lives of some 50 civil rights activists by 1964.Bureau spies were elected to top leadership posts in at least half of all Klan units. Needless to say, the informants gained positions of organizational trust on the basis of promoting the Klan’s fascist agenda. Incitement to violence and participation in terrorist acts would only confirm the infiltrator’s loyalty and commitment. The report, nearly impossible to find on the internet, notes the FBI established “dozens of Klaverns, sometimes being leaders and public spokespersons. Gary Rowe, an FBI informant, was involved in the Klan killing of Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights worker. He claimed that he had to fire shots at her rather than ‘blow his cover.’ One FBI agent, speaking at a rally organized by the Klavern he led, proclaimed to his followers, ‘We will restore white rights if we have to kill every negro to do it.’”In other words, the FBI was a prime motivator in racist violence, same as it has more recently worked behind the scenes to fabricate Islamic terror groups.
Unless and until departments/agencies like CIA, FBI, Federal Reserve etc. are shut down USA will remain RINO (Republic In Name Only), a post-constitutional failed state with nuclear power and hosting an international credit cartel. Volatile mix.
Expecting such endemic corruption to be remedied by mid-term or Presidential elections in the current polity is a form of mental illness. USA is a pathocracy.
“To really understand the core of the conflict in Ukraine – where a proxy war rages – one must break down the confrontation thus: The US and its European allies, who represent and back the global financial sector, are essentially engaged in a battle against the world’s energy sector.
“In the past 22 years, we have seen how easy it is for governments to print paper currency. In just 2022, the US dollar has printed more paper money than in its combined history. Energy, on the other hand, cannot be printed. And therein lies a fundamental problem for Washington: The commodity sector can outbid the financial industry.”
As you read, I’m not the only one who sees energy at the core of our conflict.
The KGB of Belarus knows that the West is considering using tactical nuclear weapons against the Belarus and Russia. This was stated on Tuesday by the head of the department, Ivan Tertel, on the air of the Belarus-1 TV channel.
“According to our data, which we obtain from the military-political circles of the West, they believe that in no case should they lose (in Ukraine – TASS note). Therefore, the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons is being discussed, among other things, which are created for direct aggression against our country and against our allies,” Tertel said.
On October 10, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the leadership of NATO and European countries is considering options for possible aggression against Belarus, up to a nuclear strike.
According to him, Belarus and the Russian Federation are beginning to use a joint regional grouping of troops in connection with the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State.
Why can’t America let China annex Taiwan?
China cannot annex Taiwan — Taiwan is already part of China.
What China seeks is to reunify with Taiwan. Big difference.
America is an imperialist. It sticks its nose into things that are none of its business. Taiwan is China’s domestic matter.
America is using Taiwan as a pawn to undermine China, whose economic rise threatens America’s global hegemony.
RUSSIAN MILITARY RADIO BROADCASTS TO CITIZENS IN KHARKIV: “EVACUATE CITY NOW”
The Russian Army is using regular AM and FM radio to transmit to Ukrainian citizens in the city of Kharkiv. The broadcasts are telling them to evacuate that city immediately.
The military high-powered radio transmitters are even broadcasting directly ON TOP OF what would be the traditional radio stations in that area. The military transmitters are simply over-powering the regular radio stations.
Over the past 48-72 hours, Russian troop build-ups are showing what appears to be “Special Military Operation -Season 2” . . . only with very much more men.
On the map below, the hand-drawn circles in red show the present build-up of Russian forces, and the circles in blue show Ukrainian force locations.
x
Most of Ukraine’s forces are engaged in the southeast of the country. The Ukraine troops to the east of Kharkiv, are now finding themselves squished between two superior Russian force groupings; one in the Belgorad region of Russia itself, the other in Luhansk. They seem to be inside a perfect “Pincer” situation.
Ominously for Ukraine, the sudden and very large build-up of Russian troops in Belarus, to the north and northwest of Kiev, looks very much like what existed when Russia initially began its Special Military Operation into Ukraine. At THAT time, the troops in Belarus, north of Kiev, moved in a 47 mile long convoy toward the city, but stopped without attacking.
It turned out to be a feint; Russia did that so as to force Ukraine to keep essential troops in the north to protect the capital, Kiev, while they moved against targets in the south. This time, however, it seems quite clear that if/when those Russian troops come out of Belarus again, Kiev could be mince-meat.
In addition, the Russian forces toward the top left of the map, also in Belarus, is an interesting build-up. Would they swoop in against Kiev, or will they head due south to Lutsk, Rivne . . . or both?
Stay tuned . . .
If China was to launch a naval blockade of Taiwan, what do you think would be the ramifications for regional stability and American interests?
Well, you do understand that Taiwan is part of China, right? China has every right to blockade its own territory and it is absolutely none of the Americans’ fucking business.
However, I’ll tell you what are the ramifications if the Americans interfere: war between China and USA. Very likely, a most devastating war.
So it behooves the Americans to keep their nose out of China’s business.
Obama Official Flip-Flops On Nuclear War w/ Russia
Jeeze!
ARREST VIDEOS: UKRAINIAN SBU AGENT CAUGHT WITH MANPADS IN MOSCOW; SECOND CAUGHT IN BRYANSK
The Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) has released arrest video of a Ukrainian Intelligence Bureau (SBU) Agent, in Moscow, with MANPAD, shoulder carried surface-to-air missiles! A second video, shows another arrest in Bryansk, of a man with rocket-propelled grenades, to carry out a terrorist attack upon a logistics facility in Russia.
In the first of two videos below, an actual Agent of Ukraine’s SBU is caught driving a Volkswagon minivan, with two “Igla” MANPAD surface-to-air weapons. These are shoulder-fired weapons that can take down any aircraft at relatively low altitude, especially civilian air liners.
As you will see in the video, the weapons were hidden in a carefully constructed secret compartment, beneath the vehicle:
Video
Since Moscow is not a gigantic military hub, it is initially thought this man was going to hit civilian airliners, to sew terror in the Russian civilian population:
SECOND ARREST: BRYANSK
In Bryansk, a second man was quickly taken down, and found to be in possession of some type of rocket-propelled explosive, allegedly to be used against a Russian Logistics center. Video of that arrest, and of the device to be used, is below:
Video
A possible future for the United States
The forces that run the USA are misusing the financial institutions because as long as these institutions can be “s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d”, there are bundles of short term profit. If, (or when) it snaps, (so what), we have garnered $ trillions, and captured the majority of real assets. What will happen? The states will gain more power, as in federalism and some areas will break away. I say areas, because there are not going to be 50 new nations. States can’t sustain themselves alone. There will have to be regions. Even California (the fifth largest world economy) has no water resources. They are dependent on other states.
It is already happening with projects like “Greater Idaho”. It is not that Idaho has expansionist desires. The push comes from the outside.
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The way I interpret it is that states have political power, like their two senators. There is a rural / urban divide in America, but every rural state also has a very large city. Illinois and Chicago for example. It is a given that the urban population will cancel the rural vote and thwart their desires and programs. So rural counties want to get out of California and get away from Portland. This is not a break up of the USA, but it is a re-configuration of political power.
State governors could start to feel out the possibilities of regions, develop sharing with allied states. First share emergency services, pollution control, electrical power (which Texas does not do), emergency policing powers, maybe make agreements on the deployment of the national guard? They could make voter blocs in the US congress. Admittedly these are future developments.
Who will Alaska ally with? Russia is an obvious choice. A railroad tunnel would be built. Alaska would become a hub for the distribution of natural gas, when fracking runs dry. They would be a land based shipping center between Asia and the Americas.
I think that it is highly likely.
Joe Biden: “Two Words – Made In America”
Can he count?
The USA is so corrupt…
I learned from the reference below. that
On January 16, 1794, Congress passed a resolution that prohibited anyone who owned stock or held an office in a financial institution from being in Congress. also I learned that The original Thirteenth Amendment (1810) prohibited lawyers from functioning in Congress.. From HERE
It is becoming clearer and clearer that congress does not work for those it governs. What then are the governed to do?
How can the average members of the public in western prone nation states promote for their president and other members of their elected governments non pilgrim society members?
Membership in the society is secret; and i believe Epstein’s trial would have shown how threat, intimidation and blackmail keeps the affairs of secret societies secret and how such intimidation, is used to make government parties vote against the best interest of those it governs.
Over the years, nearly every president and high level member of governments seem to have been member of, or closely associated to one or more these secret organizations (mostly secret organizations seem to work by making government into a secret hidden arm of for profit influence on rule of law and formation and function of government institutions) operating both external to and embedded within the bureaucracies and working governments that govern us all.
IMO surveillance and secrecy are the feedforward feedback loop that allows special interest to carve out and profit from the privatization of monopoly powers. Surveillance and secrecy have captured “governed humanity” and surrendered it into “service of making oligarchs a profit”.
Rule of law created by biased or corrupt politics is a tool of tyranny; it converts government into an invasive imperialistic assault weapon capable to undermine human rights.
"The White House on Wednesday released its new National Security Strategy (NSS).
This is a routine of every US government and an important document that reflects and guides the incumbent government's internal affairs and diplomacy.
But after reading the 48-page document, the international community generally feels a strong sense of unease and concern.
The 'national security' pursued by the US will come at the expense of the security of other countries.
If the path and direction stated in the report is followed, the superpower of the US will sooner or later go to the opposite side of world.
Therefore, peace and stability, and the consequences will be unimaginable." [My Emphasis]
The writer continues:
"The release of the strategy report was delayed for several months due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but we did not see from the report that the US had deeply reflected on the root cause of the conflict, let alone learned any lessons.
Instead, it further strengthened the camp confrontation and binary opposition mindset that led to the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine." [My Emphasis]
The writer then concentrates on the portion devoted to confronting China.
But from just this little bit we can surmise that it’s more of the same old shit poured into a new can.
However, it appears that the writer needs to learn something about the Outlaw US Empire for he believes the Cold War ended:
"It has been 31 years since the end of the Cold War, but the political elites in Washington still have not learned to coexist with other countries in a new way."
IMO, it's China's fault for failing to realize the Outlaw US Empire will never give up its goal to dominate the world, and to also see that goal was inherited--if not stolen from--the Empire's Colonial mother: England. Why is it that China and other nations fail to see what they ought to be seeing?
Well, to be fair, the writer does see many things as this portion reveals:
"The new report is a mirror, reflecting the selfishness, ambition and the deepest fears of Washington's political elites.
In all its national strategy reports, Washington emphasizes US' 'leadership.'
There is nothing wrong with ambition, but what does the US want to do by 'leading' the world?
The report shows that the US is still trying to rope in one group and fight another, creating division and confrontation in this world...."In its quest to suppress and contain China, Washington has lost its mind." [My Emphasis]
The other article provided this summary regarding China:
"Chinese experts said that the Biden administration's national security strategy basically continues the Trump-era position on China, and is more of a summary of US action and intention."The strategy suggested that the US basically has three goals it wants to achieve in the future:
[1] limit China's development in the high-tech field;
[2] limit Chinese influence, promote ideological alliances, and prevent the success of the Chinese system from being widely recognized around the world;
[3] and make further provocations over the Taiwan question to trap China, experts noted." [My Emphasis]
I’m curious to see just how the bolded goal above was described and how it’s to be accomplished.
Given the overall continuity, I doubt Biden had any direct input despite BigLie Media saying otherwise, as with this example:
"CNBC believes that the Strategy generally functions 'more as an aspirational expression of a president's values than as a blueprint for military plans.'"
If that’s actually the case, then Biden wants to become a War President; but then, he is already.
We start off with a commentary from Hal Turner. Now, for those of you who are unaware, he is bunkered up. He’s in rural Pennsylvania and living as a prepper waiting for nuclear evisceration of the United States. While he has some ties to government and all the rest, he’s also a disinfo agent. Think of him as a “double agent”. There’s good, with a lot of bad mixed in his content.
But…
The fact is that he is (himself) in a bunker and hiding out in rural America should tell youse guys something.
Personally… It’s going to get bad for Americans. But, not THAT bad. This is MM speaking.
HAL TURNER COMMENTARY
Russia sending LIVE NUCLEAR MISSILES on launcher trucks to pass in front of the US Embassy in Moscow is the single most unprecedented nuclear threat in the history of the world.
Yet the American people remain blissfully unaware that their federal government is causing so much trouble overseas, we are now at actual risk of being hit with a nuclear attack. The American people are not being told by their mass media that things between the US and Russia have spiraled so terribly in the past few months. In fact, the entire US mass media, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBS, FOX News, newspapers like the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Dallas Morning News and all the rest, have kept reporting about this matter to a bare minimum. To my knowledge, NOT ONE of them have outlined how close we actually are to World War 3 and a nuclear holocaust. The same goes for all the big name wire services, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), Thompson-Reuters news service; limited coverage at best.
Want to know why the US Mass-Media is keeping this all low-profile? Because they’re really not “journalists” or even “Reporters” anymore; they’re partisans. They’re completely political. They don’t do “news” anymore; it’s more “propaganda.” The media know their fellow liberal Democrats are in real trouble as the mid-term elections approach. They don’t want to report anything that will make the Democrats look bad. And, of course, the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate, along with the Democrat President, causing so much trouble that we might get nuked, would definitely not make their fellow liberals look good. So the liberal media . . . keeps it all very quiet.
It was only this past week, when dementia-addled Joe Biden told a Fund-Raiser in New York City that we’ve never been closer to Armageddon since the Cuban Missile crisis. The media reported that remark, but did nothing to outline how we got here, what WE did to cause this trouble, and that we are now at actual risk of being hit with a nuclear first strike, by the only country on earth capable of defeating us.
Yes, Russia CAN defeat us. You see, THEY have hypersonic missiles and we don’t. THEY have nuclear bomb shelters for their population, and we don’t. THEY have food, water, medicine, electric generators and machine tools in all of their nuclear shelters, and we don’t.
The long and short of this is . . . . THEY survive . . . . we don’t.
You see, this is not about Russia using nukes against Ukraine; Russia doesn’t need to do that. Ukraine is nothing and the Russian Army would ordinarily make quick work of them. But Ukraine is being supplied by the USA and its NATO vassal puppets on a string.
That’s what NATO countries are: Puppets dancing on a U.S. string.
Russia knows this, and Russia, it seems to me, is growing tired of the relentless meddling by the US/NATO that is costing the lives of thousands of Russian soldiers.
Russia has warned the United States over, and over, and over again, to stop interfering in Ukraine as it is none of our business. Ukraine is NOT a member of NATO. Ukraine has no Treaties for defense with the U.S. The U.S. has no economic or national security interest in Ukraine, yet we are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, and cash money to Ukraine. In addition, we are using our spy satellites and military spy planes to gather real-time intelligence on Russian troop movements, and then providing TARGETING COORDINATES to Ukraine, to kill those Russia troops.
Russia is rapidly coming to the conclusion that all their troubles can be stopped by hitting the United States with a nuclear strike, and hitting us FIRST.
They know that the moment a nuke detonates on US Soil, NATO will fall apart. Sure, the UK will fire a return nuke strike, but the UK is tiny and can be wiped out by Russia’s new “SARMAT” missile in two-hundred and two SECONDS. Yes, you read that right, 202 SECONDS from launch to impact . . . and the UK is gone. France may also fire a nuke or two, but the French know those Russian SARMET missiles can launch and hit Paris in 180 Seconds. France . . . will likely buckle rather than be nuked.
The way I see it, all the little NATO member countries would fold like a cheap camera the moment big brother USA gets hit. Because all the little NATO countries know they don’t stand a chance if the US isn’t around to back them up.
So, as you read this, Russia has made the most explicit DEMONSTRATION of coming nuclear war, that any country has ever done with any other country. They have publicly and repeatedly warned us to stop interfering. Our federal government won’t stop.
Sooner or later, Russia is going to have to decide whether or not to PUT A STOP to them. And when that fateful decision is made, YOU, ME, and all our family and friends, will begin to see bright, white, flashes before we get burned to death in nuclear blasts and fires.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
You know who is doing this to us? No, not just that dementia-addled Commander-in-Thief, Joe Biden, whose Democrat Party stole the 2020 Presidential Election with rampant voter fraud. The people TRULY responsible for this . . . are YOUR local members of the US Congress.
You know, all those political phonies that glad-hand, back-slap, smile, and lie to your face, when they come home from Washington. Yea. Them.
THEY have voted to approve every cent of money used to forcibly overthrow the Government of Ukraine in 2014. The money they approved went to support a new government (read Puppet regime) favorable to the west. THEY approved the money to train and equip Ukraine’s army. THEY winked and nodded when Ukraine started attacking Russian-speaking citizens in Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. THEY (and their dementia-addled POTUS, flatly refused Russia’s Diplomatic efforts for a Treaty to have iron clad, legally enforceable, security guarantees for Russia, as NATO continued its expansion all around Russia’s borders. Russia proposed that in December of last year. The US and NATO laughed at it as they threw the proposal in the trash can.
When you and your family get slaughtered by Russian nuclear missiles, you can thank your local member of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. They are personally to blame for what is going on and they are personally responsible for creating this situation with Russia.
And when they crawl out of their cushy, safe, nuclear bunkers, while the rest of us who might survive are suffering from the nuclear war they caused, remember it was THEM who did this to all of us. They are to blame. They are guilty.
I’m not certain there’s any way to avoid what I see coming – nuclear war. But maybe, just maybe, if enough of you get off your butts, start calling and going into Congressional offices and telling them in no uncertain terms they better knock this shit off, maybe we can avoid Armageddon.
If you do nothing, don’t be surprised as your skin burns off your body when the Russian nukes hit us.
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Ok. So why is Hal talking about this?
The United States demand that Hong Kong (China) turn over a $500 Billion yacht because of “sanctions”
China told the United States to go away and leave them alone.
The United States retorts that “HK could lose it’s status as a financial hub in Asia”, if it refuses to obey the dictates out of Washington.
MASSIVE RUSSIAN ATTACKS IN PROGRESS INSIDE UKRAINE; Zelensky’s Office Hit By Missiles!
After the bombing of the Crimea Bridge by Ukraine, it appears Russia’s “Kid Gloves” have come off. Kiev, and a dozen other cities in Ukraine, are under Russian missile attack. Russian Fighter jets and bombers saturate the skies. Damage is heavy, and continuing . . .
This is a fast-developing story, check back for LIVE updates . . .
UPDATE 9:30 AM EDT —
Attack in central Kiev; downtown business and government section:
“Now, Kiev residents know how the people of Donetsk felt as Ukraine pounded their city for years . . .” Not so nice is it?
Ukraine President Zelensky’s Office hit by Russian missile strike! Not that it matters, but it’s a ruin.
UPDATE 9:40 AM EDT —
During the night, Russia deployed twenty-thousand (20,000) troops on the border between Ukraine and Belarus.
Mykolaiv region now reports a large number of Russian jets attacking.
City of Lviv has lost electric power. Welcome to the war you all so wanted.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a statement saying “a direct response to the terrorist act of Ukraine on the Crimean bridge “can only be the direct destruction of terrorists.” Not the capture of prisoners. Nope. Their death.
9:44 AM EDT —
The office of Ukrainian Secret Intelligence Service, (SBU), was hit in Kiev. Of course. My guess is that there would be a large number of CIA, and NATO assets there as well.
9:48 AM EDT —
SIGNIFICANT RUSSIAN ATTACKS ARE CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN ALL PARTS OF UKRAINE ***
9:55 AM EDT —
Another series of explosions throughout Ukraine. It is reported that the attacks are made on government, military, Intel infrastructure. Russian missile attacks have been reported in multiple cities across Ukraine, including in Dnipro (VIDEO BELOW), Lviv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky and Ternopil.
UPDATE 10:00 AM EDT —
City of Lviv Thermal Power Plant destroyed:
UPDATE 10:15 AM EDT —
REPORTS OF MORE THAN A DOZEN MISSILES LAUNCHED FROM THE BLACK SEA
Kharkov metro trains have stopped working
Ukrainian railways report damage to the contact network in Western Ukraine and train delays.
75% of internet traffic is lost in Ukraine, netblocks data
UPDATE 11:22 AM EDT —
Kiev Thermal Power Plant #6, destroyed:
Kiev “101 Business Center” Hit.
Explosions are reported in Krivoy Rog.
**BULLETIN **
Russia: “We disabled the “Starlink” satellites” being used by Ukraine Army.
— US EMBASSY IN KIEV:
"The U.S. Embassy urges US citizens to shelter in place and depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options when it is safe to do so."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a top-level video conference with his National Security people this morning:
WATER AND ELECTRIC INTERRUPTION IN KHARKIV.
TOTAL BLACKOUT IN KHARKIV
***** FLASH *****
German Embassy in Kiev hit by Russian air strike, BILD reports.
(HT REMARK: If this is true, then German Territory has been “attacked” by Russia. Germany may try to invoke NATO Treaty, Article 5, collective self defense. If they invoke it, and NATO agrees, then World War 3 has officially begun.)
Lviv has lost its water supply
***** FLASH *****
UPDATE 12:40 PM EDT —
NATO CAUGHT HOUSING ACTIVE-DUTY ARMY TROOPS FROM NATO COUNTRIES, IN ZAPOROZHYE;
Evidence suggest a planning surprise offensive using those troops!
Russia ATTACKED the housing blocks where those NATO troops were being housed, including five-thousand (5,000) Polish regular, active-duty troops.
The Russian missile strikes killed so many, NATO had to call-off the surprise offensive.
Now reports going around from Ukrainian media that mobile communications are down all over Kharkov Oblast.
UPDATE 12:44 PM EDT —
Statement by President Vladimir Putin:
"it is simply impossible to leave the crimes of the Kiev regime unanswered. In case of continued attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation, the responses will be tough and correspond to the level of threats."
UPDATE 12:58 PM EDT —
Electric grid connections from Poland to Ukraine now destroyed. Power cut.
Estonia is preparing to formally recognize Russia as a terrorist state, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament
Russia’s Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, says Ukraine strikes only “first episode” of response.
UPDATE 1:02 PM EDT —
Total electricity blackout in Lviv, Ternopil, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava regions after Russian missile strikes at critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
UPDATE 1:08 PM
More missile strikes in Kiev.
UPDATE 1:28 PM EDT —
From October 11,Ukraine stops exporting electricity to other countries to stabilize its own energy system, – Ukrainian Ministry of Energy
*** BULLETIN ***
Poland advises its citizens in Belarus to leave the country.
Really Big
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How does a stray cat feel when someone rescues and takes them home?
Last spring my partner and I started feeding the crows in my backyard. They liked peanuts in the shell. I read somewhere that cat food was good for them, and we had some stale food left from a departed cat, so we started putting handfuls of that out. Soon the neighbourhood cats came to eat here.
We noticed one ugly emaciated creature coming to eat; we assumed it was feral as it was terrified of humans. We called it “Skinny” and because it looked so pathetic and bedraggled, we made sure it got something to eat every day.
After a few weeks of nervously eating here, one beautiful day “Skinny” didn’t run away from me while I filled the food dish. Suddenly and to my shock,
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“Skinny” was in my lap, nuzzling me and purring. I wasn’t looking for a pet, but I had to decide in that moment to adopt her.
She needed a bath – smelled like she’d been sleeping in a dumpster – and a more dignified name. It became apparent that “Ophelia” was pregnant, and she needed an emergency C-section plus amputation of her broken tail. I had had no intention of spending money on vet bills, but she so quickly found a place in my heart, I had to cough up.
Today she is the most perfect pet. Ophelia is an indoor cat and never tries to escape, but greets me at the door whenever I come home. When I’m here, she’s my shadow, always on my lap or at my heel (even when I go to to the toilet). Sleeps with me every night. She is the picture of health.
I believe she is grateful for her rescue.
RUSSIAN CITIZEN FURY
The citizens of Russia are so utterly furious with the actions of the United States (and our NATO Vassals) in Ukraine, they took to the streets of Moscow today chanting “Nuke Washington.”
Carrying the Ribbon of St. George flags, and lead by a mock ICBM, the crowd protested the actions of the United States which is arming Ukraine, giving money to Ukraine, and providing intelligence data to kill Russian soldiers, that they gathered and marched through Moscow to the U.S. Embassy.
The St. George Ribbon is of special meaning and importance in Russia.
The ribbon of Saint George is a Russian military symbol consisting of a black and orange bicolor pattern, with three black and two orange stripes. It appears as a component of many high military decorations awarded by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the current Russian Federation.
In the early 21st century, the ribbon of Saint George came to be used as an awareness ribbon for commemorating the veterans of the Eastern Front of the Second World War (known in post-Soviet countries as the Great Patriotic War). It is the primary symbol used associated with Victory Day. It enjoys wide popularity in Russia as a patriotic symbol, as well as a way to show public support to the Russian government.
Why has the US ban on Xinjiang’s tomato exports had such limited effect? | South China Morning Post
Tomato products from Xinjiang were designated by Washington as ‘high-risk’ under the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act. But the industry has proved remarkably resilient because it does not rely on American imports, and exports to about 80 countries.
The Bill Gates cabal is prepping for NUCLEAR war with these bunkers
Sabotaging Starlink, Russia Is Using EW Complex “Tirada” To Disrupt SpaceX Satellites
Under the condition of anonymity, two government officials told the news outlet that soldiers encountered connectivity issues when they visited cities that had just been liberated from the Russian occupation.
Since the liberation of some areas had not yet been announced, experts speculate that the problem may have been caused by SpaceX employees trying to prevent the Russian military from using the technology.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, tweeted a response to the article. “This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by the end of year.”. “Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for when only a small percentage have been,” he added. “As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified,” he noted.
Is Russia’s “Tirada” Suppressing Starlink?
On the other hand, Russian media presents a dramatically different version. They claim that the Russian military decided to use the Tirada-2S satellite communications electronic jamming system against Starlink.
There is not much information available about the system in the public domain. It is believed that the development of the equipment began in 2001 when the requirement for a system emerged that could block satellite connection with ground-based terminals and transceivers on aircraft.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has issued an ultimatum to Israel asking them to withdraw from Southern Lebanon, giving them 24 hours to do so, otherwise threatening clashes with the IDF in southern Lebanon.
Here is the official statement:
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USA pushes “rules based disorder”
Australian article. I like the term "Rule- based disorder". No worry, China is good at putting back order with inclusive characteristics.
The conventional wisdom holds that, simply put, the post-war rules-based liberal international order is under siege thanks primarily to Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. This is an explanation that distracts us from contemplating more uncomfortable possibilities, ones that might cast doubt on deeply-held convictions about international relations during the past several decades.
Why the conventional wisdom is wrong
The first point to bear in mind is that the conventional wisdom just assumes that the post-World War II order is the same as the post-Cold War order. This is mistaken. The US-led post-World War II order was a bounded order that was limited mainly to the western world and was built on a realist, not liberal foundation. The US-led post-Cold War world, on the other hand, has been international and liberal. With the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the US became the world’s most powerful nation and its leaders sought to transform the realist western order globally into a truly liberal international order.
However, the rules-based order began unravelling in the 2000s.
Have we forgotten the US-led invasion of Iraq, which spawned the Sunni rebellion that morphed into a plethora of Islamic jihadist movements while enhancing Iran’s strategic presence in the Persian Gulf? Far from incorporating the Middle East into the liberal order, the US and its allies have played a key role in spreading illiberal disorder in that region. Meanwhile, a nativist and xenophobic form of populism has been spreading across Europe. And that’s not to mention Russia’s incursion in Ukraine in 2014 or China’s military expansion in the South and East China Seas since 2012.
The upshot from all this is that the rules-based liberal international order was under siege well before Donald Trump’s debut on the global stage. Underlying all these debates about Trump is a broader issue at stake, one that American realists led by my friend and mentor John Mearsheimer have made: that the rules-based liberal international order contained the seeds of its destruction.
The flaws of the rules-based international order
There are several fatal flaws that have helped undermine the effectiveness of the rules-based international order from the outset. Here are six of them.
Democracy is the wave of the future
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that there was no viable alternative to liberal democracy and that almost every nation in the world was bound to become a liberal democracy.
During the past decade, the number of liberal democracies has been declining, reversing a seemingly unstoppable trend. Indeed, some leaders today extol the virtues of illiberal democracy. This diversity of opinion about what constitutes the best political order means that it is going to be extremely difficult to create a world in which all the great powers are liberal democracies, and virtually impossible to fashion one in which almost all countries are liberal democracies.
Global consensus
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that globalisation and economic inter-dependency would increase the prospects of international cooperation. However, there never has been and never will be anything approximating universal agreement on genuinely collective policy approaches. Nation-states do not act on the basis of good will or good intentions; they act on the basis of defending the national interest. In an increasingly multi-polar world, more states have effective veto power over collective action. This new pluralistic world has given rise to what New York Times columnist David Brooks has called “global-sclerosis”: an inability to solve problem after problem.
Western unity
During the Cold War, the conventional wisdom held that “the West” was a given, a natural presence. However, as the distinguished Australian conservative Owen Harries FAIIA observed in Foreign Affairs magazine in 1993, the political West is not a “natural construct but a highly artificial one”.
In fact, notwithstanding the Cold War, the West has almost always been deeply divided politically: just think of Europe’s wars. For most of its history, the US has been deeply suspicious of, and hostile towards, European power politics, stressing its differences from the older continent.
The clash between Brussels and the most unsophisticated American leader in history will mark the breaking point in the political West.
The end of nationalism
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that nationalism was a thing of the past. However, the decision of liberal states to delegate substantial power to the international institutions that comprise the liberal international order has led to a populist backlash. Because nationalism is all about self-determination and sovereignty, it does not fit with a situation where international institutions make policies that have a profound effect on their member states.
So, it is not surprising that the main reason a majority of British citizens voted to leave the European Union in 2016 is because they felt their nation had surrendered too much power to Brussels and it was time to reassert British sovereignty.
This logic also helps explain why Trump won power by running on an ‘America First’ campaign and slammed the key institutions that comprise the liberal international order, from NATO to the WTO.
Co-operation among rival powers
In the 1990s, it was widely believed that the more China and Russia integrated into the global economy and became members of international institutions, the more they would become peaceful and even democratic.
However, China and Russia have resisted Washington’s efforts to spread the liberal international order. Xi Ji-ping is the most authoritarian leader since Mao and China is more assertive than ever. Putin is an authoritarian leader who will play hard ball to protect what the Kremlin sees as vital strategic interests in its near abroad. In particular, neither Beijing nor Moscow want US military forces in what they deem as their spheres of influence.
US unipolarity
At the turn of the century, it was widely believed the US was seemingly invincible. If anything, America got mugged by reality.
The US has fought seven wars in the years since the Cold War ended – Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Iraq/Syria – and it has been at war for three out of four years during that period.
Although the US possesses the military means to defeat any other country, there is not an American solution to every problem. To put it bluntly, Americans do not have the understanding of other societies and people, the attention span or staying power, to engage in an active, interventionist policy of nation-building and democracy-promotion on a large scale.
None of this is to deny US strengths. It remains the world’s largest economy and its lone military superpower. Its demographic trends are moving in the right direction.
All this is true enough, but it overlooks a larger point: the ‘Pax Americana’ had been waning for years before Trump arrived on the scene. What distinguishes Trump from his post-Cold War predecessors, however, is that he does not pay lip service to the notion of American global leadership. And without an activist and assertive US, there is no plausible way to uphold the rules-based liberal international order.
All these perhaps explain why so many western leaders are anxious, even defensive, about the state of the liberal international order. However, the rules-based international order frayed a long time ago. It was doomed from the start. And its underlying problems cannot be fixed.
“A splash of juice and an orange marmalade brush-on gives these garlicky chops a burst of flavor. For an extra-special treat, use blood oranges in place of the regular ones.”
Cut orange in half. Cut one half of the orange into 4 wedges; set wedges aside. Squeeze juice from remaining orange half. Remove 1 Tablespoon of the juice and brush on both sides of each chop. Sprinkle chops with garlic-pepper seasoning and salt. In a small bowl combine remaining orange juice, orange marmalade, and the chopped rosemary; set aside.
Preheat broiler. Place chops on unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 3 to 4 inches from the heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Turn and cook for an addition 5 to 6 minutes, brushing with orange marmalade mixture for the last 2 to 3 minutes of broiling. Chops are done when pork juices run clear or a meat thermometer inserted into center of chop registers 160 degrees.
Serve orange wedges with chops. If desired, garnish with rosemary sprig. If desired, squeeze juice from orange wedges over chops.
New 2023 Changan Huawei AVATR 11
I was going to buy this car before I chose my hybrid.
https://youtu.be/h_-E2NNQFqA
STUNNING Testimony: Pfizer Never Tested COVID “Vax” to “Stop Transmission” of Virus! We were all lied to ! ! !
In utterly stunning sworn testimony before the European Parliament, a Director of Pfizer admitted they NEVER TESTED their so-called COVID “Vaccine” for its ability to “stop transmission” of the virus. People around the world were lied to, their freedom restricted, because they were not “vaccinated” and allegedly could therefore spread the virus.
Countries throughout Europe and even in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, prevented people from going outside, socializing, using public facilities if they were not vaccinated. People all over the world were told they could be “spreaders’ without the vaccine. That was a lie because the vaccine was NEVER TESTED for any ability to stop the transmission.
Some countries implemented “Vaccine Passports” and went table-to-table in restaurants to see if people were vaccinated. They were told “show us your vaccine passport” by police.
Oh, and by the way, as we all see now, the vaccine didn’t seem to stop transmission — at all.
The “vaxxed” could still get the virus. They could still spread it to others.
Freedom was viciously taken away for those who chose to remain unvaccinated. In some places, people were even PHYSICALLY FORCED to take the vax, even when they didn’t want it.
All of this was glossed-over with claims “without the vax, you could infect others.”
People lost their jobs over this; and the entire claim that taking the vax to stop the spread, was a deliberate lie.
PFIZER never tested to see if their so-called vaccine would stop transmission.
Putin and China just changed EVERYTHING, and the West is desperate
Check out at least the first 9 minutes…
Jeffrey Sachs: US biotech cartel behind Covid origins and cover-up
Sachs does not say one way or another.
We know that we don’t know.
But one thing is certain. The people in charge of Covid information in the West are lying and obfuscating. They include journalists, scientists, and academics. No need to mention politicians; they’re a given.
Let us stay smart, read widely, gain direct experience, look under the surface, read between the lines, learn about the author, detect false narratives, reject unnecessary adjectives, and question everything. Most importantly, be critical not only of others, but also of ourselves.
1⁄2 cup maple sugar, plus more for sprinkling if desired
Directions
The day before you want to make the rolls, make the brioche dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the flour, granulated sugar, and salt on low speed to combine. Add the yeast and mix to combine, 10-15 seconds more. Add the eggs and milk and mix for 4 minutes. The dough should form a sticky, shaggy ball around the hook.
Increase the speed to medium and slowly add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, being careful to incorporate each addition before adding the next; the entire process should take about 3 minutes. (If you add the butter too quickly, it can create a greasy disaster in the bowl, so pace it out.) Scrape the bowl down once or twice to make sure everything is homogenous. (This mixing period is called intense mixing – and it is! Don’t be alarmed if the mixing is noisy or difficult in the early to mid stages, it will come together.) Then knead the dough (in the machine) until it is smooth and uniform, 1 minute more.
Grease a large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, and up to 18.
The next day, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick and about 20×12 inches (though no need to be precise). Brush the surface of the dough evenly with melted butter and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of the sugar evenly over the dough.
Position the dough so that one of the long sides is facing you. Fold the left edge over toward the center, about three quarters of the way over the dough. Fold the right edge one quarter of the way over the dough and make sure it meets and doughs the left edge. The dough will now look somewhat like an open book with an off center spine. Fold the larger side over the smaller side. You will now have 4 layers of dough. If the dough feels soft or sticky, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes – if not, proceed.
Roll out the dough again to a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick and about 20×12 inches (though no need to be precise). Brush the surface of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle another 2 tablespoons of sugar over the dough. Position the dough so that one of the long sides is facing you. Fold the left edge of the dough one third of the way over the dough. Do the same with the right edge, resting it on top of the piece you just folded over, as though you were folding a letter to fit into a business envelope. You will now have 3 layers of dough. If the dough feels soft or sticky, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes – if not, proceed.
Repeat step 4 to complete another 4-fold.
Repeat step 5 to complete another 3-fold.
Lightly grease 16 muffin cups with nonstick spray. I do have to use two muffin pans to make this – if you only have one, refrigerate the remaining pieces while you bake the first. Place the second round only around the edge of the pan so that they bake evenly.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle, about 12×20 inches. Cut the dough lengthwise into 16 even strips. Tightly roll each strip up into a spiral and place it, spiral side up, in a cup in one of the prepared muffin pans. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they appear puffy, 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Sprinkle the rolls with more maple sugar, if desired. Bake, rotating the sheets from front to bake and top to bottom at the halfway mark, until the rolls are evenly golden brown all over and the internal temperature reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit on a thermometer – about 25-33 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before unmolding and serving.
Variations:
Citrus Faux-Laminated Brioche Buns: After you mix the dough, mix ¾ cup granulated sugar with the zest of two oranges – let sit, covered, overnight. Use this in place of the maple sugar in the recipe. In step 8, lightly grease a 9×9 inch pan. In step 9, cut the dough into 12 even strips. Roll the strips into spirals and place spiral side up in the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Vanilla-Bay Loaf: After you mix the dough, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar with the seeds of 1 scraped vanilla bean and 2 finely crushed up bay leaves – let sit, covered, overnight. Use this in place of the maple sugar in the recipe. In step 8, lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. In step 9, cut the dough into 1 inch cubes. Stack the cubes tightly in the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Here we go again, the U.S. is about to INVADE Haiti next?
All of our lifestyles are about to change in a major way, but the vast majority of the population still does not understand what is coming. Throughout our entire lives, we have always been able to depend on a couple of things. There would always be cheap gasoline to fuel our vehicles and there would always be mountains of cheap food at the grocery store. No matter who was in the White House and no matter what else was going on in the world, those two things always remained the same. Unfortunately, those days are now over and they aren’t coming back.
We have entered the greatest energy crisis that any of us have ever experienced, and it isn’t going to go away any time soon.
So you might as well get used to high gas prices. Earlier this month, brand new all-time record highs were set all over southern California…
Los Angeles-Long Beach – $6.46 (Record high)
Orange County – $6.42 (Record high Saturday)
Ventura County – $6.40
Riverside County – $6.33 (Record high)
San Bernardino County $6.32
But that isn’t the real problem.
The real problem is with natural gas.
Thanks to the war in Ukraine, supplies of natural gas in Europe have become extremely tight, and this has pushed prices into the stratosphere.
Needless to say, this is going to greatly affect food productions in the months ahead. According to Bloomberg, over two-thirds of all fertilizer production capacity in Europe has already been shut down due to soaring natural gas costs…
Europe’s fertilizer crunch is deepening with more than two-thirds of production capacity halted by soaring gas costs, threatening farmers and consumers far beyond the region’s borders.
This is an absolutely massive story, but hardly anyone in the United States is covering it.
Global fertilizer production is going to be greatly reduced, and that is going to have very serious implications for agricultural production all over the world…
“Nitrogen plant shutdowns in Europe are not simply a problem in Europe,” she said. “Reduced supply on the scale seen this week not only raises the marginal cost of production of nitrogen fertilizers, but will also tighten the global market, putting pressure on plant nutrients’ availability in Europe and beyond.”We’re already seeing prices elsewhere rise again. The price of the common nitrogen fertilizer urea in New Orleans rose over 20% in weekly prices Friday, the most since March, a few weeks after the war began, according to Green Markets.
I know that fertilizer may not be the most exciting topic for a lot of people, but the truth is that approximately half the global population would starve if we didn’t have any…
In fact, it’s estimated that nitrogen fertilizer now supports approximately half of the global population. In other words, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch — the pioneers of this technological breakthrough — are estimated to have enabled the lives of several billion people, who otherwise would have died prematurely, or never been born at all.
Let that paragraph sink in for a moment.
The only way we can even come close to feeding everyone on the planet is by using vast quantities of fertilizer, but now fertilizer plants all over Europe are being forced to shut down because of the price of natural gas.
As long as this global energy crisis persists, the global food crisis will also persist.
Russia is normally the largest exporter of natural gas in the entire world, and an end to the war in Ukraine would go a long way toward solving our current problems.
But there isn’t going to be an end to the war in Ukraine.
Once again, western leaders are assuring us that the war will not end until Russia is forced out of every inch of Ukrainian territory.
That includes Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.
Of course the Russians would use tactical nukes long before we ever get to that point.
And once the Russians use tactical nukes, the west will do the same.
As it currently stands, there is no “off ramp” for this war.
Instead, we are simply counting down the days until it goes nuclear.
I am sorry to tell you that, but it is the truth.
If the American people truly understood what was at stake, there would be massive peace protests all over the nation right now.
Meanwhile, the worst multi-year megadrought in 1,200 years continues to absolutely ravage agricultural production in the western half of the United States.
A reporter from FOX recently visited the cornfields of Wayne County, Nebraska and what he discovered is extremely chilling…
“I’m standing in the middle of a cornfield that, if this was a normal year or in other words, if the corn was growing the way it was supposed to be, you wouldn’t even really be able to see me right now,” FOX Business’ Connell McShane reported from Wakefield, Nebraska. “It would be way up above my head. But now I look at this, maybe knee-high at best.”McShane visited field after field in Wayne County and found the same short stalks with very sparse ears. Over 99% of that county is in exceptional drought.
This drought has been going on for years and years.
And it just keeps getting worse.
On the west coast, we are being warned that production of tomatoes, garlic and onions will be very disappointing this year due to the drought.
As a result, prices are going to go much higher in 2023…
In addition to tomatoes, other crops like garlic and onion are also expected to be impacted.“What you’re seeing harvested this summer that really hasn’t even hit the grocery shelf is a 25% increase in the cost of the product to the processors — the canners, the buyers downstream,” California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Don Cameron told Reuters. “The onions and garlic have already been negotiated for 2023 with another 25% increase in price.”
This is really happening.
Food prices may seem high to you right now, but the truth is that this is the lowest that they are going to get.
The cost of living is becoming extremely oppressive, and countless people out there are really struggling to make it from month to month.
Earlier today, I came across a tweet from a 47-year-old lawyer that really hammered this point home…
-20 years ago, working as a server, I lived in a corner 1 bdrm apt downtown with amazing water views for $700/month.-A similar apt now $3,600/month, more than 5x as much.-As a lawyer at age 47 I am unable to afford living in the apartment I did at age 27 while waiting tables
The cost of gasoline is going to continue to go up.
The cost of natural gas is going to continue to go up.
The cost of food is going to continue to go up.
In fact, the cost of just about everything is going to continue to go up.
The artificially-inflated lifestyles that we were able to enjoy for decades are now disappearing, and there is a tremendous amount of pain on the horizon.
We were warned that this would happen, and now a day of reckoning is here.
Ukrainian forces have destroyed almost all bridges and mined the roads along the border with Belarus, Anatoly Lappo, chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus, said on Sunday. Minsk has accused Kiev of planning imminent strikes on its territory.
“Today, almost all border bridges have been blown up, and automobile and railway border routes are completely mined,” Lappo told Belarusian TV.
Ukrainian forces have fortified the border “to the extent that they put anti-tank mines in three rows on the roads,” Lappo said.
The troops Kiev has sent to the border are “not border guards,” Lappo claimed. “We are under pressure, they are aiming at our border guards, sometimes they shoot in the air, constant aerial reconnaissance is being carried out,” he added.
A day before the news broke, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry claimed that its ambassador to Belarus was summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry and handed an official note saying that “Ukraine is planning to conduct a strike on the territory of Belarus.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it “categorically rejects” the accusation, adding that it could be part of a Russian plan to “stage a provocation and further accuse” Kiev.
Earlier this week, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko accused Ukraine of massing tens of thousands of soldiers near the border. While Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine from its territory at the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, he said last week that Belarus’ role in the conflict is limited to self-defense and denying Ukraine the ability to “shoot Russians in the back from the territory of Belarus.”
With tensions along the 1,000-kilometer border rising, the Belarusian Defense Ministry stated that it has the capacity to field 500,000 trained troops “if the need arises.”
(HT REMARK: Things over there are truly escalating over there at a speed, and in ways, that I did not even imagine. Prepare yourselves. World War 3 is at the door for all of us. Get right with God.)
Russia, Having ‘Run Out Of Missiles’, Launches Barrage On Ukraine
Back in March I had warned that Lies Do Not Win Wars. Here is another practical example.
After allegedly having ‘run out of missiles’ and, more importantly, patience, the leadership of the Russian Federation decided to de-electrify Ukrainian cities with a ‘barrage of missile strikes’.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had barely got started in Ukraine and dared the West to try to defeat it on the battlefield, while insisting that Moscow was still open to the idea of peace talks.
…
“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try,” he said.”We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this.”
…
“Everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest,” he added. “At the same time, we don’t reject peace talks. But those who reject them should know that the further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”
UN: Ukraine nuclear power plant loses external power link – ABC News – Oct 8, 2022
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, has lost its last remaining external power source as a result of renewed shelling and is now relying on emergency diesel generators
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia carried out waves of strikes on several Ukrainian cities including the capital in the broadest and most intense onslaught since the start of the invasion, after President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of a “terrorist attack” on a critical bridge connecting Russia’s mainland to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had carried out dozens of strikes using missiles as well as Iranian-made drones to target civilian and power infrastructure. “They want panic and chaos,” he said. “They want to destroy our energy system.”
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media Monday that, “Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information about strikes in many cities of our country.”General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on Twitter that Russia had launched 75 missiles at Ukraine but that “41 of them were neutralized by our air defence.”
Zelenskyy later emerged onto a street in Kyiv to record a selfie video with a message to his people and the world, denouncing Russia for the barrage of missiles which he said had targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and its civilians.
Kiev, Lviv, Karkov, Dnipropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog all report damage to their electricity infrastructure.
Posted by b on October 10, 2022 at 10:00 UTC | Permalink
Russia Now Devastating Ukraine In Latest Escalation
Finland Tells Citizens “Stock Iodine Pills” in case of “Radiation Emergency”
Fears of _actual_ nuclear war continue to grow over the Russia-Ukraine situation. The latest example is Finland’s Ministry of Health which, today, told citizens to stock up on Iodine pills “in case of radiation emergency.”
The ministry presented the new recommendation at a media event on Tuesday.
The ministry said the recommendation was limited to people 3-40 years of age because of the potential risk radiation exposure poses to that age group.
The release of radioactive iodine from a nuclear incident into the environment, could build up in the thyroid gland. This is most harmful to children, who are at greater risk of developing thyroid cancer due to large doses of radiation,” the ministry’s statement read.
The statement noted that in case of such an emergency, sheltering indoors was the main way for people to protect themselves from hazardous radiation.
The ministry also noted that a single iodine tablet dose usually provides sufficient protection. It added that iodine rarely causes side effects, but that individuals who have thyroid conditions should use the substance with caution.
The recommended single dose for 12-40 year-olds in a dangerous radiation situation is 130 milligrams of potassium iodide. Children over 3 years of age are recommended to take half of that dose.
The ministry said that there are no iodine products suitable — nor available in Finland — for children under the age of three. However, the recommended dose for children under three years of age is 32.5 milligrams of potassium iodide, and for newborns half of this.
However, the ministry continues to recommend that pregnant women over the age of 40 keep a supply of iodine tablets at home, as fetal thyroid glands are significantly more sensitive to radioactive iodine than they are among adults.
“Public healthcare services will procure iodine tablets suitable for children under the age of three and will determine the best way to distribute them to the parents of such children and to pregnant women. Regional healthcare providers will inform people when such an iodine product is available,” the ministry’s statement read (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
Goonies clip
If you have time, this is a cute little B-grade escape.
Iodine stocks sold out
On Tuesday afternoon, Finland’s largest chain of pharmacy outlets, Yliopiston Apteekki, reported stocks of iodine tablets had practically sold out nationwide following the issuing of the ministry’s statement.
Chief pharmaceutical officer Kati Vuorikallas told the STT news agency that the surge in demand has also been reflected in the increased traffic on the chain’s website, which has caused the site to slow down significantly or even crash for some users.
Efforts are being made to replenish the iodine stocks, Vuorikallas added, but there is no precise schedule on when this will happen.
Top 5 Chinese Electric Cars to Look Out For in 2022
Welcome to my world…
UGANDA????
a Ukrainian AN-124-100 heavy transport aircraft departed Entebbe, Uganda this morning and landed at Rzeszow-Jasieńka International Airport in Poland, which is the main air hub for military equipment, weapons and ammunition delivered to Armed Forces Ukraine (AFU).
According to open sources, Uganda’s army has several dozen units of Soviet equipment, including T-72 and T-55 tanks, BMP-2, BTR-60, 122mm D-30 guns and Grad MLRS, as well as a stock of ammunition for them. In addition, T-90C tanks and BTR-80A armoured personnel carriers were supplied to Uganda from Russia.
A few months after the outbreak of hostilities, most of the AFU’s artillery ammunition stocks began to run out, and many familiar Soviet vehicles were also needed, forcing Ukraine to seek new sources of supply from European states with Soviet-era equipment as well as exotic countries such as Pakistan.
This strange flight of a Ukrainian Ruslan from Uganda, a country with large stockpiles of Soviet armaments, to a Polish airfield, which is the main supply base for Ukraine in need of Soviet armaments, raises serious concerns about the possible involvement of Uganda in this conflict on the side of the AFU.
American & Russian Supercomputers Become Friends, Impose World Peace By Nuking Cities
Vladimir Putin’s forces now facing ‘total collapse’ in Ukraine, former NATO commander says
Vladimir Putin’s crumbling army is heading for a total collapse in what could be Russia’s biggest military disaster in a century, a former NATO commander has predicted.
Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired British army general, served as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2011-2014. After leaving the military, he wrote a book on the threat of a potential war between Russia and NATO.
“I think the scene is being set for a decisive rout of the Russian army in Ukraine,” Sir Richard told The Sun.
He hailed the “masterclass” counteroffensive which has seen Putin’s forces driven back in the east and south of Ukraine, and added that the fightback was “maintaining momentum”.
Ukrainian forces are now bearing down on the key city of Kherson as they make significant gains in regions Putin only recently tried to claim as part of Russia.
In an attempt to turn the tide, Putin is reportedly massing troops in Belarus, which neighbours Ukraine and whose dictator Alexander Lukashenko is a Russian ally.
Belarus was the initial launch pad for the invasion, and it’s feared that Russia could try once again to encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
In response to that threat, Ukrainian troops have been seen moving to reinforce the border with Belarus.
But Sir Richard believes such a gambit would be of little use for the Russians. In fact he says there is likely no way out of their current, desperate predicament.
“The Russians are like the boxer trapped in the corner of the ring against a very agile opponent who punches one side and then punches the other,” he said.
“The Ukrainians pushing the Russians back to the February 23 line – the day before the war started – by the end of 2022, I think, is entirely feasible.”
He compared the current rout to the collapse of the Russian tsar’s military in 1917. That revolution saw soldiers mutiny and refuse to follow orders, ending Russia’s involvement in World War I.
“The scene is setting for a collapse of the Russian army,” the retired general said.
“This could be an avalanche, and now we are seeing the cracks in the snow. The Ukrainians are creating more problems than the Russians are capable of solving. It’s looking good.
“The morale is gone. You’ve got soldiers who simply don’t want to fight. These guys were told they would be welcomed with open arms by cheering crowds and the so-called ‘Nazis’ would collapse. But they were met by a ferocious resistance. They are in a country that doesn’t want them there. Why should they die for Putin’s adventure?
“Conceptually, the Russians do not understand combined arms warfare, they haven’t trained properly, physically they haven’t got the right kit and what they do have is rubbish, and morally they are completely bankrupt.
“The Ukrainians are well prepared, they’ve got the clothing, they’ve got the kit, and they’ve got the morale and the motivation. They are not going to stop.”
But while he was optimistic, Sir Richard warned the danger – including the threat of nuclear weapons – has by no means gone away, urging the West to keep up the pressure on Putin.
“We should take that nuclear threat very seriously, but we should not in any way blink, and I am pretty encouraged by the response of the West,” he said.
“But if we are promising massive retaliation in some way or other, you have to prepare for the worst case, and the worst case is being at war with Russia.”
And he drew a grim comparison between Putin and Adolf Hitler, saying the Russian leader was now “in the bunker”, as the German dictator was in the dying days of World War II.
“We are dealing with crunchy political issues at the moment, but nevertheless – we might not want this war, but this war might want us,” said Sir Richard.
“We must prepare for the worst case. This is about insurance. The way to avoid a potential war with Russia is to be ready for it, and we are not ready for it.”
Putin recently copped a new humiliation as his prized Kerch Bridge was blown up, partially severing the one fixed link between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.
Russia responded with a wave of indiscriminate bombardment across the country, as Putin labelled the Ukrainians “terrorists”.
Fears also continue to loom that Putin could follow through on his nuclear threats as he is backed further and further into a corner.
And questions remain over his future, with it being increasingly difficult to see how he can remain as Russia’s leader if there are more humiliations.
“There will be no peace in Europe while either Putin, a Putin-like regime, or an ultranationalist sits in the Kremlin,” Sir Richard said.
“The only way to ensure that the threat (is over) once the fighting stops is to make sure Ukraine is a member of NATO, and NATO must bite the bullet and put troops on the ground and forces in the air over Ukraine.
“The way to maintain peace and the way to deter war is to be ready for it, and that means a generational challenge with a serious, major military expenditure, not unlike the Cold War.”
A movie to entertain you. Yeah. Ukraine. China. Biden. Etc. Etc.
Take a break today.
The Characters:
Parsifal – Granted, this is a strange moniker to give to the film’s main character, but he does kick tail. He also gets stabbed a lot. He probably carries a tube of Neosporin in his jeans.
Giara – She is blonde, attractive, and eats rats (this is unusual for blondes). Parsifal falls in love with her at first site. Stabbed in the gut with a piece of scrap iron.
Bronx – The aptly named expert on New York City. He has a claw for a hand, but that does not help when he is shot in the head.
Ratchet – Truly intimidating with his large size, inhuman strength, and eye patch. Gets his cybernetic head crushed by Parsifal.
Shorty – A midget, what else? Commits seppuku.
Big Ape – In the spirit of “names that make sense,” this guy is tall, strong, and has abundant facial hair. Microwaved.
The President – Of the Pan-American Confederacy, that is. Dying of cancer.
The Homeless Prophet’s Brother – Witty, “They baked the Big Apple.” and a talented musician.
The Last Fertile Woman on Earth – Let us just call her “Eve.”
Ms. Ania – One of the Eurac officers, even though she acts severely demented.
Bald Eurac Leader – This poor guy was having a bad week. First Bronx claws his eyes out. Then, after a lengthy and painful looking restoration process to restore his sight, Ms. Ania shoots him in the center of the back.
The Plot:
The year is, if you have not guessed, 2019. The Eurac alliance (Europe, Asia, and Africa) nuked America and now control the mass of rubble that was New York City. They use the remaining inhabitants as subjects for inhumane experiments. The problem is sterility; not one fertile female is known to exist anywhere in the world. Apparently, some of us guys still have swimmers aplenty, but the radiation made the gals barren.
The Euracs also devote considerable effort to eliminating the contaminated squatters who still run free in the city. The movie opens with one such scene. A mass of men, armed with post-apocalyptic weapons (flamethrowers, spiked maces, etc.) face off opposite a detail of Eurac cavalry. I was expecting them to fight, but both groups begin attacking unbroken windows. The unmounted skirmishers are apparently mercenaries, assisting with enforcing city ordinances. The ordinances are: turn yourself in for dissection or else we will kill you. Yes, I know, that sounds like just one ordinance. The “or else we will kill you” part applies multiple times. No, Rudolph Giuliani is not still the mayor of New York in this movie. Why would you think that?
Pause the events in New York, because the hero is in Nevada. Parsifal was once the best operative in the Pan-American Confederacy. Now he participates in a savage race that involves armored vehicle combat. The cars are festooned with spikes and a small cannon, that looks like a sailing warship’s swivel gun, is attached to the roof. I have no idea how the firing mechanism works, let alone reloading. Anyway, the protagonist manages to defeat the other car and claims his prize. In addition to winning more tokens that pay for killing another person (neat idea, I could use a few of those), he wins a female slave. This “woman” worries me. As in I could see her looking into a mirror and saying, “I’d f**k me.” in that heavy voice of hers. You will be more than relieved to hear that, after providing the slave with a convenient horse for transportation, Parsifal lets “her” go. Then two Confederate soldiers stun the benevolent killer; they take him back to their headquarters in Alaska.
I am being obtuse about the “female” slave used as a prize. The movie openly calls “her” a hermaphrodite. I wonder if you could trade two of them for a real woman.
In order to survive, the human race must reproduce. What is left of the American government wants the future to be filled with patriotic little boys and girls, not Eurac bastards. The President ordered Parsifal’s capture for one reason: a fertile woman has been located in New York and the champion of the Nevada Race is the only person who can get her out. The intent is to place her aboard a waiting spaceship with a crew of carefully selected men, then harvest her eggs as they mature and use in vitro fertilization to make the babies. The goal is for Eve to produce five hundred mature eggs. Methinks that the little lady will be getting a few injections…
The spaceship is going to Alpha Centauri. I guess that the proposed star system is a romantic location. Not that the plan provides for much romance, unless Eve gets hot at the notion of twenty dudes spanking their monkeys to make special sauce for the test tubes. Of course, doing it the old fashioned way would result in fewer babies and her developing calluses in awkward places.
Joining Parsifal for the mission are Ratchet and Bronx. The trio gain entry into the city with little trouble, but quickly run into a gang. The hoodlums are no match for the three operatives. Especially not after Ratchet deploys his secret weapon. He has these metal balls on a wire. The cyborg (note: we are not supposed to know that he is artificial yet) swings the weighted spheres in an arc before striking opponents in the head. Sounds painful to me. It looks painful when one hoodlum gets hit. In the end, the gang is defeated.
Something that you may notice about this film is that the writer hated rats. Ratchet squeezes one rodent before chucking it, then the trio encounters the rat hunters. A crazed-looking Asian man leads a pack of mangy (one of them is Giara, she is decidedly not mangy) people down a corridor. The Asian guy totally flips out and starts flagellating rats with his whip! Plus, the other hunters use sticks that look like frog gigs to impale the rats. Just when you think this scene has to slow down, the rat-hating mob flushes a midget out of the rubble. They are about to murder the unfortunate little guy when Parsifal intervenes. Unfortunately, there are too many bad guys. The feral tribe takes the companions prisoner.
Uh, there was not a “No animals were harmed in the filming of this picture.” disclaimer at the end. Not that I really care about the rodents, but I like seeing the PETAphiles get riled up.
The rat hunt is more than just a search for subsistence; it is a ritual. Whoever bags the most rodents gets to have sex with whoever they want. This is why it really, really sucks to be Giara, because guess who probably gets picked all the time. Parsifal watches as the woman is dragged into a side room for some post rat-mashing nookie. Lucky for her that the Euracs pick that moment to attack. The rat hunting tribe is either killed or captured, along with Parsifal and Bronx (Ratchet breaks his chains and escapes). The crazy Asian guy bites it hard. A mercenary smashes his skull with a crude weapon that is either a sharp mace or a blunt hatchet, your choice.
Ms. Ania and the Eurac commander know something is up with Parsifal and his buddy. The two men are in good physical condition, along with being free of weeping sores. The Euracs correctly deduce that the pair are Confederate agents. Quick thinking on the part of Parsifal deflects the interrogation. He tells Ania that they are searching for the last fertile woman on Earth, but he also misleads her by saying that Giara is that woman. The terse Eurac commander fares worse while interrogating Bronx, because the prisoner uses his metal claw to gouge the officer’s eyes out. (I wonder why they did not put a big rubber band on the claw. We do that to lobsters.)
The commander’s maiming is not permanent. Later we see the eye replacement surgery. Strangely, the Eurac doctors cover the patient’s head with crushed ice. Did somebody check the manual? Do they have that backwards? I need to know.
With the help of Ratchet and Shorty, Parsifal and Giara escape from the prison. The group crawls through tunnels until they reach a cave under the old United Nations building. A colony of midgets uses the cave as their secret hideout! Hahahaha! Man, I just…whew, that really satisfied some deep emotional need that I did not even know I had. Too bad for the midgets that the Euracs are relentless in their pursuit. The bad guys also carry along a device that projects harmful sound waves through the tunnels. Only the main characters, and Shorty counts as one, escape. All of the midgets die gruesomely from the gadget’s sonic emanations.
Following their escape, the Confederates finally meet Big Ape and his troupe of gaudily costumed monkey men. It does not take them long to finally locate Eve. She was placed in suspended animation by her father, a great scientist. Shorty leads Parsifal to the refuge, where they find the father dead of old age and the comatose daughter enclosed in a glass display case like some sort of Disney fetish gone horribly wrong. Also present is a station wagon. The vehicle is present to transport the girl, container and all, out of the city. One little problem: the Lincoln Tunnel is the only way out of New York and it is heavily defended by Eurac troops. Only by armoring the station wagon will they have any chance of making it through alive.
Big Ape and Giara are left behind to guard the girl, while Parsifal, Ratchet, and Shorty sneak into a junkyard to find some armor plating. The midget proves himself a hero when he leads a Eurac patrol away from his friends. The award is posthumous – Shorty is killed by the towering oppressors. Parsifal and Ratchet do not die, but are consigned to dragging steel plate a few miles. On the other hand, Big Ape has a much better afternoon. He is fertile. He wants children. He knocks Giara unconscious and opens Eve’s display case. The next time we see Big Ape he has a smug look on his face.
Okay, whoever wrote this script had some serious relationship problems.
The armored station wagon proves well-suited to the task of breaking through the Eurac checkpoints. Using his superb driving skills, Parsifal avoids two minefields that were planted to deny the tunnel as an escape route. “Minefields” is a little misleading. What emerge from the ground are large, blinking caltrops. The contraptions are tipped with razor-sharp spikes and light up like glow sticks. Anyway, they get past those, survive a hail of fire from a laser cannon at the last checkpoint, and burst clear of the tunnel. Then a bunch of red beams hit the car, turning Big Ape into a pile of steaming bones. Oddly, though he was directly on top of Eve’s Tupperware bed, she is unharmed. The glass case does not even show signs of condensation on the inside! Oh, sure, I try to heat up sloppy joe mix and get a royal mess, but sleeping (and fertile) beauty’s molecules refuse to be agitated.
Still remaining is for Parsifal and Ratchet to have a reckoning, apparently on account of the hero guessing that the brute is really a cyborg. At the end of the fight there is an indescribable scene with Giara, fatally wounded, spouting gibberish about love to a grieving Parsifal. The entire speech comes out of left field; no idea what to make of it. Maybe somebody accidentally shuffled in a page from the script for “Terms of Endearment.”
I really enjoyed this film. The plot is complete lunacy, most of the characters are poorly developed, and the lines are over the top, but it works! The pacing flies by at breakneck speed and you feel like you are being carried along with Parsifal. Everything happens so quickly that he cannot get to know his companions. All that he has time to do is evaluate their motivation and loyalties, then continue trying to stay one step ahead of the Euracs. Pretty much, “You are not working for the Euracs and do not want to kill me? Good to go, let’s get moving.” Assisting the audience in getting their bearings is the fact that the characters are all very simple. Nobody needs much development.
The models used to represent the ruined city are serviceable, as were the shots showing the American craft flying in and out of the Alaskan base. I did mistakenly believe that the base was located on the moon, until I watched the film a second time. Then I discovered the last bastion of freedom was in Alaska. The ruined city streets used for some of the scenes were also impressive. You have to wonder where they found so many derelict office buildings, long before the Dot-Com crash.
Things that I learned from this movie:
A flamethrower is the ultimate eviction notice.
Ring mail armor was made with gymnasts in mind.
It is difficult to tell the difference between Alaska and Europa.
Midgets are bad luck.
American stun guns are much more effective than European models.
Leftover cooking fat can be used to make field expedient hearing protection.
Midgets never surrender.
When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he could not stop thinking about sex.
Stuff to watch for:
14 mins – The fact that his dork was hydraulic, spun at 10,000 rpm, and shot brake fluid did not give you a clue?
21 mins – I think that dirt bikes or ATVs would have been more appropriate.
23 mins – Trains used this tunnel?
29 mins – What really sucks: that was a pot of boiling diarrhea.
41 mins – Somebody has been filming my dreams again.
63 mins – If Charlton Heston survived the bombs, he would probably not be a part of this group.
75 mins – “That way, if he decides to rape her, he has to kill you first.”
79 mins – Guess who got full this weekend?
93 mins – Nobody is strapped in! I mean, the g-forces they are going to experience could kill someone in poor health, but these people are all milling around without a care in the world.
Quotes:
Parsifal: “The President sent us. He says there’s a woman around here who can make babies.”
*Her*: “That thing back there was a cyborg, half man, half robot. I knew one once. I didn’t know what he was until I had made love with him.”
A bunch of “kids” or otherwise ignorant Americans are flooding Quora with all sorts of leading anti-China questions. It’s giving me indigestion. AH. I just cannot wait until they find other things to preoccupy their lives with. Maybe like scrounging around for bits of coal, or fighting over a moldy turnip.
Here’s today’s installment. It will be short and quick.
What is the greatest display of accuracy with a gun you’ve ever seen from someone at the firing range?
I hate to get into the middle of this one as there are some real stories of legendary marksmanship told in here however my story is about me, so fuck it here it is. An honest to god no shitter and witnessed by 50+ people.
In the mid 80’s I was a genuine real life gunners mate guns with the United States Navy stationed onboard the USS Mount Hood AE-29. We were just finishing up a rare world cruise and the ship was allowing a “Tiger” cruise for the last 3 days. Google it but essentially it’s where the Navy lets any male over the age of 14 come aboard the ship and live with you and do what you do in the Navy for the last three days of the cruise. Think dad‘s, grandfather’s, uncles, brothers etc. It’s really a neat thing as a lot of times the “Tigers” are veterans themselves. Even WW II vets in some cases. We picked them up in SanDiego and for 3 days, and they ride the boat back to our home port of San Francisco.
I’m happen to be the senior enlisted GMG onboard at the time also serving as the ships armorer (in charge of the armory) and my GQ (battle station) was mount captain of the forward gun mount. We’re going to do a big gun shoot for the Tigers so we tape a huge man overboard flare to a 55 gallon drum and chuck it over the side then pull out about 3 miles and shoot at it with the ships main guns. So here’s my dad up in the forward gun mount, watching his son be the mount captain shooting at this 55 gallon barrel 3 miles away and I can see he’s really digging watching me up in the mount captains chair, sound powered phones on my head barking orders to the gun crew and shit. Very cool moment in hind sight.
We expend about 12 rounds so the Tigers can hear and feel the big guns go BOOM but we don’t hit the barrel directly obviously, because that would be bullshit, however the shrapnel from the 27lb. shells exploding all around it (because we’re fucking accurate boys) tears a few holes in the barrel but it doesn’t sink. It floats upright now about 1/2 sunk still spewing flame and smoke as the man overboard flairs are about the size of small SCUBA cylinder.
Now it’s against maritime law to leave anything floating in the ocean that could be seen as a navigation hazard. So the call comes down from gun control into my headset in the gun mount for me to send somebody to the armory and draw a weapon and report to the bridge wing to shoot the barrel so it’ll sink and we can be on our way.
Except my dad is with me so instead, I take him to the armory with me, as I’ve got the keys to it already and if anybody is going to shoot the barrel, it’s gonna be me in front of my dad……right?
Stay with me, this is awesome. So I’m in the ships armory with my dad and he’s looking at all the weapons I can pick from and he looks right at the rack of (2) M- 60’s we have and asks…can you take that??? For those of you that don’t know what an M-60 is, think John Rambo and that handheld, belt feed machine gun. 7.62 (.308) caliber he shot up that town with. I mean I could have taken a M-14 rifle, .45 cal pistol or a shotgun but noooo, not me. I grab the crowd pleaser and a 100 round belt of ammo for my dad to carry and off to the Starboard bridge wing we go.
We open the bridge wing hatch and who do I see sitting in his chair but the captain of the ship himself, who takes one look at me and the M 60…….and my dad carrying the 100 rnd. belt of ammo and shakes his head and says “only you Carpenter. you’re the only one that would think to bring that fucking thing up here”.
Now all of the tigers are out on the bridge wing with the captain as they’ve all assembled there for the shoot. So I lock and load the 60 and lay it up on the bridge wing railing and I’m all ready to let it eat. Then the captain,,,,realizing that this could look bad for any number of reasons, comes to his senses and right before I pull the trigger says “Single shot only please”. Now that particular weapon platform doesn’t have a single shot option…..at all. I’ll have to just squeeze it and then let it go instantly to try and get just 1 shot out of it as it’s built for full auto all the time. No selector switch, single fire, 3 round burst anything. It also doesn’t have any kind of scope or even a rear site of any kind, just a small little blade out on on the end. In short, It’s made for everything BUT accuracy and single shots. We’re easily 200–300 yards away from the barrel and I ask him if he could possibly move the ship a little closer in order for me to have a better chance but he skipper isn’t having any of that changing course and speed crap. He just mean mugs me and sais “just shoot the damn thing”. I mildly start to protest but here’s these 50 or so Tigers staring at me along with my dad and I realize I’m gonna have to just give it the old “Kentucky Windage” try so I dig in, get behind it and draw the best bead I can.
Now mind you this is in the open ocean boys and I’m 75’ above the waterline and the ships rolling and pitching as we’re doing about 6 knots and the 300 yard barrel is rolling and pitching as well although (mild seas) and it’s basically fucking hopeless. I say a quick silent prayer and it’s a fucking miracle. I somehow manage to squeeze off 1 single round. All you could hear was the faintest “ping” with no splash and the thing instantly sinks. All the while still spewing flame and smoke. I mean it disappears so fast if you blinked, you missed it. Like a magic act.
The entire bridge wing goes crazy!!! All these Tigers are high fiving me, the captain, the XO,,,,, everybody. It all happened so fast, I still can’t believe I hit it but I’m gonna take the win and walk out obviously. As I go to safe and clear the gun, the Captain asks me if I thought I could manage to burn the now 99 rnd belt up over the side without shooting the ship. I assure him I can, he nods his head and I proceed to burn up 99rds of full auto 10’ away from all these guys who really proceed to go crazy now. I mean it’s fucking pandemonium on the bridge wing. Then,,,,,as all the empty brass and links are piling up and as the smoke clears….all the noise is fading away, I happen to see my dad in the middle of the crowd collecting slaps and claps galore all while beaming at me like he never had any doubt that I wouldn’t hit it. It was like I had practiced that shot a hundred times and somehow he was responsible for it all in that brief 15 seconds of time
I just cradled the gun in 2 hands, collected a few hand shakes from several WW2 vets and walked off like I had done done exactly that. There was nothing left to say.
You know that was 35 years ago and my dad is 87 now. He still finds a way to tell that story once or twice a year to new unsuspecting folks that haven’t heard it in a way that still makes him beam at me……at least when he gets to the good part. All these years I never had the heart to tell him that it was just shit ass luck. Maybe part of me wants to believe there was a pinch of skill involved………..but I doubt it.
There’s lots of “better” feats of marksmanship in here to be certain. But how many young men will ever get the opportunity to even take a shot like that, under those circumstances with a belt feed full auto machine gun, on a US war ship in the open ocean and then pull it off ……in front of their dad?
Cheers boys.
John C.
Pork Goulash
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A lot of people think one-pots all taste the same. Not true! Especially with this recipe. Its blend of spices, pork, and cream sure taste special to me.
What You’ll Need
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds boneless single pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can (10 ounces) condensed beef broth, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup heavy cream
What to Do
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat and add pork, onions, and garlic. Saute 5 minutes, or until pork is no longer pink on outside. Stir in paprika, dill, salt, pepper, and all but 2 tablespoons of beef broth.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining beef broth and cornstarch; pour into skillet and stir until sauce has thickened.
Slowly add cream and stir until warmed through.
Notes
Don’t overcook this once you add the cream because the sauce will separate. And then there won’t be any sauce left for spooning over some hot cooked egg noodles.
Will China be the new global power, despite everything that happened?
China is already a global power. Its strength is economics.
If by “new global power” you mean the sole superpower. The answer is no. It will not.
I am not sure what you have in mind about “everything that happened”. China has been on the growth and development road for a long time. US tried to contain it without success. This will continue. You will hear more and more bad things said about China. But China will be unperturbed and continues to pursue its own goals.
If you are shaken by the talks about the impending collapse of its economy, citing its zero-Covid policy and problems in the property sector. Don’t be. They are all nonsense. As for its Covid policy, no need to go further than to check the statistics of infections and deaths. As for the property sector, just know that it was triggered by the Chinese authorities to rein in the debt addiction in the industry. It is paying the price now to ensure that the sector will be strengthened and be able to grow without the dangers of financial over-leveraging. Give it 3 years.
Know that despite these problems, the Chinese economy is probably the strongest among the major countries. It had not poured untold quantities of cash to save the economy from Covid – it was not needed – and caused the inflation that are raging in the US and the rich countries. Notice the governments are helpless, leaving everything to the central banks to raise interest rates and sell their bond holdings. Politicians are engaged in their favourite sport of blame-game, while the people suffer.
Stock markets will drop another 40% as a severe stagflationary debt crisis hits an overleveraged global economy
NEW YORK (Project Syndicate)—For a year now, I have argued that the increase in inflation would be persistent, that its causes include not only bad policies but also negative supply shocks, and that central banks’ attempt to fight it would cause a hard economic landing.
When the recession comes, I warned, it will be severe and protracted, with widespread financial distress and debt crises. Notwithstanding their hawkish talk, central bankers, caught in a debt trap, may still wimp out and settle for above-target inflation. Any portfolio of risky equities and less risky fixed-income bonds will lose money on the bonds, owing to higher inflation and inflation expectations.
Roubini’s predictions
How do these predictions stack up? First, Team Transitory clearly lost to Team Persistent in the inflation debate. On top of excessively loose monetary, fiscal, and credit policies, negative supply shocks caused price growth to surge. COVID-19 lockdowns led to supply bottlenecks, including for labor. China’s “zero-COVID” policy created even more problems for global supply chains. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shock waves through energy and other commodity markets.
What Guo Wengui is doing is challenging and trampling on US law, but why is the US tolerating him?
let me tell you about iran.
My father was a low level police officer when the Shah of Iran ( a puppet of USA) was the official leader of Iran.
when the revolution came – my Father fled with the others – I was 5–7 years old. I still remember my mother asking my father why we were fleeing our motherland, and his reply was that many officials who had committed atrocities will be executed.
my mother asked him why – “WE” were fleeing our mother land? and his reply was – Although he had not commited any atrocities – the revolution will not have the time or the patience to differentiate between the good and the bad. – so we all left.
you know – my father applied for American VISA – and he was rejected – because he was not important – then we fled to India because my father’s sister had married an Indian and we lived and settled in Delhi first then to Kolkata and then to Gangtok – Sikkim.
later I grew up and studied in China and then moved to the USA – that is a different story for another day, today is my father’s day.
Much of my Father’s life in India was spent selling dried fruits in Delhi then Kolkata and then in Sikkim, he left everything in one day and we arrived at India in just the clothes and two suitcases – our house, our land, our friends everything was left in one single day.
do you know why my father was not granted a USA VISA – he was too moderate – too by the book – too kind, he would not indulge in extra judicial killings – too soft on the revolution – too attached to his homeland – too patriotic.
but all those who killed others at the drop of a hat – who did not mind violating extra judicial killings etc – all of them got USA – VISA because they were considered assets who could be used against the State of Iran later.
My Father always told me – We are Iranians – no matter where we live – our identity is Iran – today we may not have a favorable wind but the winds will change and we will go back to Iran. We cannot hate our motherland just because we are paid some bribes to hate our motherland. we cannot hope for the destruction of our motherland because our motherland is our identity and we cannot allow our identity to be destroyed.
he also told me – The USA has no Identity – its history is just a few hundred years old and no matter how hard it may try it cannot create an identity as solid and firm as our – ASIAN civilization and IDENTITY – so never hate or attempt to destroy our IDENTITY. – the USA attempts to do this because it cannot match the history or identity of our past so it wants to bring all down to its present level by recreating definitions of identity etc.
in my belief Guo wengui is just one of the many stooges that the USA has used in the past – similarly you will find many such iranian stooges who work for the state department.
Can you guess what car this is?
Car interior 1…
Car interior 1
Is Shenzhen really as bad as Hong Kong people think it is?
I lived in Hong Kong for a year and Shenzhen for about five years.
I found Shenzhen to be more spacious and relaxed than Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong I found that there were a few incredibly rich people, many struggling and too many poverty stricken people.
In Shenzhen there were many rich people, a large and growing middle class and the poorer people there lived much better than the poor in Hong Kong. Housing is generally better, more modern and with more room for people to live in. Hong Kong has a more vibrant tourist industry, but that’s about it. It’s much better for people’s living standards to live in Shenzhen now.
U.S. Continues to Build Military Presence in Europe – Because Europe Must Be killed
A decision was made inside the United States last year to “kill off the competition” and as a result, Europe must be industrially killed. War was the means chosen; Ukraine is the theater in which it is to take place.
Today, 12 US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bombers, as seen in a file photo above, are expected to arrive in the UK.
In total, there are already fifty (50) F-35s.
For months, the world has watched as the U.S. and its NATO vassals, take deliberate steps to engage Russia in direct war. Russia has not taken the bait . . . yet.
The reasoning behind the militant actions of the U.S. and NATO escaped most folks. Sure, the whole “protect democracy” nonsense has been spewed endlessly and the dupes in the general public believe that, but slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people through war is never a good option.
So what is the __real__reason for the whole blow-up?
Well, Ukraine has a well-earned reputation for being the most corrupt nation in Europe and likely, the world. Politicians launder “foreign aid” money through Ukraine, then filter it back to their own pockets through non-governmental organizations and then into shell corporations they control. So that’s a reason the powers-that-be want to keep Ukraine in existence; it feeds their cash.
Child sex trafficking is another reason. Ukraine is a literal hub for kidnapped children being forced into the sex trade for deviant, degenerate, perverts that infest the so-called “elite.” The upper classes of society have become so evil, so filthy, that rich perverts enjoy sexing children. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine in existence.
Cocaine and Heroin trafficking throughout Europe and into the USA is very lucrative and Ukraine is so saturated with illicit drugs that even their President has a reputation for being a coke-head. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine around.
But while these activities and the cash they generate are sizeable, something much, much, bigger had to be in the works.
I have found out what that “something” is.
Europe Must Be Killed
The real goals of the US in Ukraine are the destruction of Europe and its economic leader: Germany.
Why?
Let’s describe the world situation at the beginning of 2022 (immediately note that I give inaccurate figures to do justice to MMI and @Spydell_finance, but the approximate figures do not affect the disposition itself or the conclusions):
China: GDP: $16.9 trillion. Industrial sector ~30.5%, or $ 5.1 trillion. Export economy 15.3% with an export degree of 1.35 (easily interchangeable, technologically not advanced, but massively price-elastic, requires low profit margins of producers and not expensive labor, as well as agglomeration of producers).
Germany: GDP $4.2 trillion USD. Industrial sector ~27-30%, or $ 1.1-1.3 trillion. 35% with the world’s highest export ratio of 2.07 (only Japan has an even higher ratio of 2.49). That is, exports are irreplaceable, technologically complex and therefore VERY HIGH MARGINS)
The EU as a whole. GDP 17 trillion USD (suddenly !!! more than China, or at least the same amount). Industrial sector ~25%, or $4.1 trillion. (suddenly a little less than China). Only this branch of industry, as already written above, is a high-tech sector, that is, a marginal area that allows rapid positive capital growth.
US. GDP $22.9 trillion USD. However, the industrial sector accounts for only 18%, or $ 4.1 trillion. (Suddenly less than China and just as much as the EU)!!! And the financial sector is over 20%, as is the entire service sector with 77% of the economy. But even this industrial sector accounts for only 7.7% of exports and has an export development index (ECI) of only 1.57 (just like China).
To go back to the beginning of the year, the accumulated imbalances in Quantitative Easing (QE) by the federal reserve are accelerating inflation and could bury the entire dollar system.
The end of QE and the beginning of the Fed’s balance sheet reduction would guarantee the collapse of the services sector, the near-death of the financial sector and a large part of venture capital IT as zombie companies with negative revenue margins or without cache flow.
In order to survive, the United States urgently need to develop the real economy, i.e. industry.
However, since the world has become global, no new markets are foreseen. The system cannot conquer Mars and then sell to Martians, so therefore it will have to grow on intensive investments, which means negative capital work. Since aggregated venture capital investments on intensive investments do not pay off, which has been obvious since 2009, the U.S. is staring at an economic dead end.
So what to do?
Kill the competition.
To get more industry, the US has to get it from somewhere it already exists. Let’s look at each possible candidate for the US to grab industry:
Option 1: China.
But, firstly, China is a subject (sovereign), secondly, the Chinese and US economies are too intertwined, and thirdly, the development of an industry comparable to China means low profit margins, long payback periods and falling personal incomes. And a decrease in personal income is a revolution in the USA. The option is not suitable.
Option 2: EU.
Fits perfectly, no subjectivity and high margin business.
However, the business is so profitable because it is very technological, i.e. it has a high and long entry threshold. It takes decades of development, thousands of patents and the construction of a team of specialists.
But the patents, specialists and companies do not belong to the EU.
The US has to force these companies in their entirety to move to the USA, just as, for example, low-margin production migrated to China in the 90s.
To do this, you need to create unbearable conditions for the economy: war, hunger and cold.
News 1:
German industrial production fell by 1.8% in the first 8 months of 2022 due to sanctions against Russia, and the German chemical-pharmaceutical sector (high gas dependence) recorded a decrease of 10.7%.
News 3: Explosion at branches of Nord Stream 1 and 2.
To those watching closely, all these things are links in a single chain of events: The EU must be destroyed. At any cost.
It doesn’t matter how many people get killed, there’s $4+ TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
It doesn’t matter how many cities or even countries get wiped out, there’s $4 TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
People will breed, so they can replace whatever war dead take place. Cities and countries can be rebuilt. But the $4 TRILLION a year (of real industry) absolutely, positively, must — and will — come to the US.
Period. Full stop.
This war is about money. $4 TRILLION a year in real industry. Anyone who gets in the way of that will be steamrolled.
This is the main goal of the USA in Ukraine.
Bad Girls: Movie Posters of Dangerous Dames, Sizzling Sirens, and Gun-Toting Gals
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The US reputation has gone down to hell, 80% of the world population has a negative view on the US regime, the US society, the US animalistic style of democracy, human rights and freedom. Why has the US been notorious in the world?
To be fair, it’s the US politicians that are animalistic and barbarian in their conduct and behavior. From my dealings and working together with Americans, I estimate at least 40% of them are fair-minded and reasonable people. And these 40% too hate their politicians, regardless of their party affiliations.
The question is then; why are US politicians so notorious? My observation is that:
American politicians are absolutely useless and impotent in terms of the country’s development and progress. They are absolutely incapable of contributing to the growth and development of USA. The achieve of the country has been the outcome of research, study, innovation and investment by scientists, academics, thinkers, investors, etc. Just think about any field of achievement that America has made significant process; can you name a politician who was leading it, contributing directly to it, etc?
So, American politicians are basically parasites, sucking the money/benefit out of the ‘democratic systems’ they prey and dependent on. And once they manage to get on a juicy position, they will fight against the next parasite in order to remain in that sucking position for as long as possible.
Once the American politicians get on to some juicy position, their benefit is far, far, far beyond the official perks and incomes. They, again regardless of Democrat and Republican, will think of ways and means to create ‘legislations’ first to make life difficult for the productive segments of the society. Then, depending on who (after failing to content with the complexity of the myriad legislations) offer more bribes, will once again fight with other parasite to formulate/pass more legislations to make life a little easier for the bribe givers. Of course the in-position parasitic politicians are hugely rewarded in the form of bribes/kickbacks, etc
This is the reason American politicians and their families are enjoying lifestyles way, way, way beyond what their official perks/salaries could afford. Again, both Democrats and Republicans are playing the same game, they simply take turns at the expense of regular Americans.
Until and unless regular Americans wake up to this reality and overthrow the regime structure in Washington, their country will continue to go down the sewers of history.
F-35s Struggle To Fly! Frustrated South Korea Says Its US-Origin Stealth Fighters Marred By Defects
South Korea’s F-35 stealth fighter jets, which it touts as a critical component in deterring North Korean threats, appear to be experiencing severe maintenance challenges.
The ruling People Power Party’s Rep Shin Won-sik presented Air Force data to demonstrate the issues the South Korean Air Force is encountering in making F-35s fully operational. He mentioned that the fighters were grounded 172 times during the timeframe.
He also noted 62 cases where the jets could fly but couldn’t complete specific missions. Shin revealed the information, highlighting the need for the South Korean military to exert significant effort in introducing and maintaining such cutting-edge weaponry.
“Grounded fifth-generation fighters could carry out missions for only 12 days on average last year and 11 days in the first half of this year,” Yonhap reported. In contrast, throughout the course of the 18 months, the older generation aircraft F-4E and F-5 were grounded 26 and 28 times, respectively.
However, the South Korean Air Force stated that the F-35As achieved their goal operation rate of 75%, which indicates that sustaining the readiness posture was not a problem.
The service admitted difficulties obtaining parts for defects in the newly launched model. It further noted that it would work to obtain them as soon as possible from the manufacturer.
It is important to remember that Australia made headlines when it intended to spend an astounding AUD14.6 billion ($10.87 billion) to maintain its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fleet until 2053.
US Secretary of state Brinken has issued a report calling China “a country with high risk of genocide”, is it a groundless charge? Does the US have the right to criticize China on the issue of human rights?
It is a completely groundless charge. Note that the US has never presented a single shred of credible evidence to support its allegation. Why not?
In the age of smartphones, there should be plenty of hard evidence.
For the US to criticize China on human rights is rich, for example:
recall the native American genocide
recall the Japanese-American internment
recall the use of Agent Orange on Vietnamese civilians
the US has mass incarceration — over 2 million Americans incarcerated, mostly for minor offences, for the highest incarceration rate in the world
the US has mass surveillance — recall PRISM as exposed by Edward Snowden
abuse and torture of Muslims at Guantanamo Bay
Pot. Kettle. Black.
China Warns U.S. of Grave Consequences if Ukraine Joins NATO
LOL. China warns the United States?
China warned the United States it could face severe consequences—including the prospect of nuclear war—if it allows Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), drawing the 30-member alliance into the country's conflict with Russia.
The Dodge Corporation Make Al An Offer He Can’t Refuse | Married With Children
Solomon Islands Insisted China References Be Removed Before Signing US-Pacific Partnership Declaration
Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele explained why his government was going to refuse to sign the pact.
October 05, 2022
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Solomon Islands agreed to sign an accord between the United States and more than a dozen Pacific nations only after indirect references to China were removed, the Solomon Islands foreign minister said Tuesday.
“There were some references that put us in a position where we’ll have to choose sides, and we did not want to be placed in a position where we have to choose sides,” Jeremiah Manele told reporters in Wellington.
His remarks represented the first time Solomon Islands has publicly acknowledged it had initial concerns about the agreement and expressed why it had a change of heart.
The accord was signed in Washington last week, with U.S. President Joe Biden telling visiting Pacific leaders that the United States was committed to bolstering its presence in the region and becoming a more collaborative partner.
The administration pledged the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade. The summit came amid growing U.S. concern about China’s military and economic influence in the Pacific.
What do you think about the Chinese government killing and imprisoning CIA spies in China?
I think its lovely. They should do this more often.
To teach people that treachery and Treason don’t pay.
If you don’t like your country enough to betray your country, then move to another country and denounce your country rather than to work with a foreign power whose aim is to destabilize your country effectively backstabbing your government.
And for the Americans they catch snooping around in China? They would be doing a good job killing them too. They will learn to mind their own business and stay in their country.
So I fully support Americans dying in China at the hands of the Chinese. These people have destabilized so many countries in the past 70 years. Any spying American deserves a bullet to the skull.
The stories that I have heard of are gruesome. Absolutely horror movie material. China does not play. -MM
Can you guess what car this is?
Mystery car 3…
Mystery car 3
China is an increasingly important global player, but its human rights record is often criticized.
Can the CCP improve human rights within China without destabilizing the government?
China’s human rights record is criticized from the Western perspective, based on the West’s value system. Why should China adhere to the West’s value system? What makes the West’s value system so much more desirable or righteous?
It’s not as if the West’s value system has a spotless record. This is a system that has supported waging endless wars around the globe causing unimaginable human carnage.
This is a system that has supported sanctioning dozens of countries causing enormous human suffering.
This is a system that has censored the West from presenting the other side of the story in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
This is a system that has supported colonialism in Africa and Asia, enslaving millions of people, and robbing their countries of their natural resources.
In the United States, people are denied shelter and health care and protection from gun violence and systemic racism. Early in its history, USA slaughtered millions of indigenous people to steal their land.
China has a different value system based on thousands of years of history. China respects and honours its ethnic minorities, all 55 of them. China protects its citizens, even from themselves. China places a very high priority on harmony, safety and stability.
You don’t have to agree with China’s value system, but you cannot deny that it works extremely well. The Chinese people are happy and prosperous and safe. The Chinese people are very proud of their country’s progress.
Can you guess what car this is?
Mystery car 4…
Mystery car 4
Finally, The victims of imperialism dare to stand up in solidarity against the USA
London | The global oil producing cartel OPEC on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels a day, driving up prices and creating a new economic and political headache for the West.
OPEC’s decision came just hours after the European Union had signed off a new Ukraine-related sanctions package on Russia that included a price cap on Russian oil....
Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia blasts Australia over US nuclear submarine deal
Singapore | Australia’s planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines has made armed confrontation in the South China Sea more likely, according to veteran Malaysian politician Dr Mahathir Mohamad.In an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review, Dr Mahathir said an arms race in the region was inevitable after the creation last week of the AUKUS pact as part of Canberra’s decision to buy nuclear-powered submarinesHe also fears the agreement could prompt China to match its claims with actions in the South China Sea.“This agreement indicates you openly regard China as a possible enemy and that, if it comes to the crunch, you might even go to war. Just imagine what war would do to south-east Asia,” Dr Mahathir said.His comments follow those of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who on Friday expressed concerns about the new security partnership.According to a statement released by his office, Mr Ismail Sabri told Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Malaysia feared AUKUS could spark a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific.This would be the opposite of the peaceful coexistence on which AUKUS participants say the agreement is pinned.Dr Mahathir, who dealt with three Australian prime ministers during his long first stint as Malaysian PM from 1981 until 2003, said Canberra had again proved that Australia identified as a European nation that just happened to be located away from Europe and the United States.‘Australia looks west’“Australia keeps talking about the region, and about being much closer to the region. Yet, every time there is a crisis or problem, Australia looks west. It seeks friends from the West, not from the East,” he said over Zoom from his office in Kuala Lumpur.The 96-year-old said the AUKUS agreement, and Australia’s role in particular, had changed the dynamic.“You have improved your capacity to fight. Even if these submarines are not carrying warheads, they will introduce nuclear capabilities to the region,” Dr Mahathir said.“So you have escalated the threat. This will elicit a response from China.″China until now has permitted boats to traverse the contested waters of the South China Sea. This could change, Dr Mahathir said.“China has declared the South China Sea belongs to China. But it has not stopped ships sailing through, even warships. So far, China’s claim has just been a statement; they have not really been carrying out what they claim is their right to do certain things.“If you bring in military weapons in the region and the alliance is supplying them with weapons, I think that will elicit some reaction.″Dr Mahathir, who fronted a coalition that won an historic victory in 2018 only to lose it due to infighting less than two years later, noted the Malay states had co-existed with China for centuries before the Federation of Malaya was formed in 1957.The bilateral relationship has its frictions. Along with Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia claims sovereign rights that clash with China’s view that it owns 90 per cent of the South China Sea.Like other claimant states, Malaysia’s preferred forum for dealing with this territorial issue is the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since 2002, ASEAN has been working with China to develop a code of conduct for the South China Sea.The long process shows no sign of resolution but for many involved, the process itself is successful if it keeps armed conflict at bay.‘We ASEAN countries like to solve problems through negotiation.’— Mahathir Mohamad, former Malaysian prime minister“We ASEAN countries like to solve problems through negotiation,” Dr Mahathir said. “Malaysia is a small country; we are aware of that. We value China because it’s a big market for us, and they value us because they get some raw materials from us.“We have to live next door to China, and we can’t be confronting them.” In Dr Mahathir’s view, Australia and the US are trying to push ASEAN states to take sides.“You keep on trying to persuade ASEAN to confront China, to be unfriendly. We cannot do that. The United States has a lot to contribute to south-east Asia. But so has China,” Dr Mahathir said.In his view, the idea of a balance of power, “that groups of countries are a threat to other countries” is “an old kind of thinking”.He believes AUKUS is the latest sign the West has not adjusted to the rise of Asia.“In the past, you were very comfortable because Eastern countries did not have the capacity that Europe and America had, but now many Eastern nations – Korea, Japan and China – have almost the same capacity as you.“They want to send out rockets to outer space and so on. Let them do that. Compete there; that doesn’t hurt us. But don’t disrupt our market.”
Spring is here and the grass will need to be mowed soon. But if you have this sweet DIY retro mini lawnmower that looks like a vintage automobile, the job will surely be a satisfying one.
Forum user Jeep2003 chronicled his “Mini Push Mower” build project over at Old Mini Bikes (which itself is a fascinating community of people who ride and build mini motorcycles). The mower uses a two-stroke engine from an old snowblower and the deck comes from an old smoker grill. The tail lights are fantastic!
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Diamond Dredging Vessel – MV Pacific
I really enjoy these scale models of ocean vessels. Here’s a particularly nice and detailed one. From HERE.
With the sole possible exception of the great Sun Tzu and his “Art of War”, no military theorist has had such an enduring philosophical impact as the Prussian General Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz. A participant in the Napoleonic Wars, Clausewitz in his later years dedicated himself to the work that would become his iconic achievement – a dense tome titled simply “Vom Kriege” – On War. The book is a meditation on both military strategy and the socio-political phenomenon of war, which is heavily laced with philosophical rumination. Though On War has had an enduring and indelible impact on the study of military arts, the book itself is at times a rather difficult thing to read – a fact that stems from the great tragedy that Clausewitz was never actually able to finish it. He died in 1831 at the age of only 51 with his manuscript in an unedited disorder; and it fell upon his wife to attempt to organize and publish his papers.
Clausewitz, more than anything, is famous for his aphorisms – “Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult” – and his vocabulary of war, which includes terms such as “friction” and “culmination.” Among all his eminently quotable passages, however, one is perhaps the most famous: his claim that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.”
It is on this claim that I wish to fixate for the moment, but first, it may be worthwhile to read the entirety of Clausewitz’s passage on the subject:
“War is the mere continuation of politics by other means. We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must always include the object in our conception.”
On War, Volume 1, Chapter 1, Section 24
Once we cut through Clausewitz’s dense and verbose style, the claim here is relatively simple: war-making always exists in reference to some greater political goal, and it exists on the political spectrum. Politics lies at every point along the axis: war is begun in response to some political need, it is maintained and continued as an act of political will, and it ultimately hopes to achieve political aims. War cannot be separated from politics – indeed, it is the political aspect that makes it war. We may even go further and state that war in the absence of the political superstructure ceases to be war, and instead becomes raw, animalistic violence. It is the political dimension that makes war recognizably distinct from other forms of violence.
Let us contemplate Russia’s war-making in Ukraine in these terms.
Furthermore, Putin – contrary to the view that he wields unlimited extralegal authority – is rather a stickler for proceduralism. Russia’s government structure expressly empowers a very strong presidency (this was an absolute necessity in the wake of total state collapse in the early 1990’s), but within these parameters Putin is not viewed as a particularly exciting personality prone to radical or explosive decision making. Western critics may claim that there is no rule of law in Russia, but at the very least, Putin governs by law, with bureaucratic mechanisms and procedures forming the superstructure within which he acts.
This was made vividly apparent in recent days. With Ukraine advancing on multiple fronts, a fresh cycle of doom and triumph was set in motion: pro-Ukrainian figures exult in the apparent collapse of the Russian army, while many in the Russian camp bemoan leadership which they conclude must be criminally incompetent. With all of this underway on the military side, Putin has calmly ushered the annexation process through its legal mechanisms – first holding referendums, then signing treaties on entry in the Russian Federation with the four former Ukrainian oblasts, which were then sent to the State Duma for ratification, followed by the Federation Council, followed again by signature and verification by Putin. As Ukraine throws its summer accumulations into the fight, Putin appears to be mired in paperwork and procedure. The treaties were even reviewed by the Russian constitutional court, and deadlines were set to end the Ukrainian hryvnia as legal tender and replace it with the ruble.
This is a strange spectacle. Putin is plodding his way through the boring legalities of annexation, seemingly deaf to the chorus which is shouting at him that his war is on the verge of total failure. The implacable calm radiating – at least publicly – from the Kremlin seems at odds with events at the front.
So, what really is going on here? Is Putin truly so detached from events on the ground that he is unaware that his army is being defeated? Is he planning to use nuclear weapons in a fit of rage? Or could this be, as Clausewitz says, the mere continuation of politics by other means?
Expeditionary War
Of all the phantasmagorical claims that have been made about the Russo-Ukrainian War, few are as difficult to believe as the claim that Russia intended to conquer Ukraine with fewer than 200,000 men. Indeed, a central truth of the war that observers simply must come to grasps with is the fact that the Russian army has been badly outnumbered from day one, despite Russia having an enormous demographic advantage over Ukraine itself. On paper, Russia has committed an expeditionary force of less than 200,000 men, though of course that full amount has not been on the frontline in active combat lately.
The light force deployment is related to Russia’s rather unique service model, which has combined “contract soldiers” – the professional core of the army – with a reservist pool that is generated with an annual conscription wave. Russia consequentially has a two-tiered military model, with a world class professional ready force and a large pool of reserve cadres that can be dipped into, augmented with auxiliary forces like BARS (volunteers), Chechens, and LNR-DNR militia.
Putin the Bureaucrat
It is often the case that the most consequential men in the world are poorly understood in their time – power enshrouds and distorts the great man. This was certainly the case of Stalin and Mao, and it is equally true of both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Putin in particular is viewed in the west as a Hitlerian demagogue who rules with extrajudicial terror and militarism. This could hardly be farther from the truth.
Almost every aspect of the western caricature of Putin is deeply misguided – though this recent profile by Sean McMeekin comes much closer than most. To begin with, Putin is not a demagogue – he is not a naturally charismatic man, and though he has over time greatly improved his skills as a retail politician, and he is capable of giving impactful speeches when needed, he is not someone who relishes the podium. Unlike Donald Trump, Barack Obama, or even – God forbid – Adolf Hitler, Putin is simply not a natural crowd pleaser. In Russia itself, his imagine is that of a fairly boring but level headed career political servant, rather than a charismatic populist. His enduring popularity in Russia is far more linked to his stabilization of the Russian economy and pension system than it is to pictures of him riding a horse shirtless.
This two-tiered, mixed service model reflects, in some ways, the geostrategic schizophrenia that plagued post-Soviet Russia. Russia is an enormous country with potentially colossal, continent spanning security commitments, which inherited a Soviet legacy of mass. No country has ever demonstrated a capacity for wartime mobilization on a scale to match the USSR. The transition from a Soviet mobilization scheme to a smaller, leaner, professional ready force was part and parcel of Russia’s neoliberal austerity regime throughout much of the Putin years.
It is important to understand that military mobilization, as such, is also a form of political mobilization. The ready contract force required a fairly low level of political consensus and buy-in from the bulk of the Russian population. This Russian contract force can still accomplish a great deal, militarily speaking – it can destroy Ukrainian military installations, wreak havoc with artillery, bash its way into urban agglomerations in the Donbas, and destroy much of Ukraine’s indiginous war-making potential. It cannot, however, wage a multi-year continental war against an enemy which outnumbers it by at least four to one, and which is sustained with intelligence, command and control, and material which are beyond its immediate reach – especially if the rules of engagement prevent it from striking the enemy’s vital arteries.
More force deployment is needed. Russia must transcend the neoliberal austerity army. It has the material capacity to mobilize the needed forces – it has many millions in its reservist pool, enormous inventories of equipment, and indigenous production capacity undergirded by the natural resources and production potential of the Eurasian bloc that has closed ranks around it. But remember – military mobilization is also political mobilization.
The Soviet Union was able to mobilize tens of millions of young men to blunt, swamp, and eventually annihilate the German land army because it wielded two powerful political instruments. The first was the awesome and far reaching power of the Communist Party, with its ubiquitous organs. The second was the truth – German invaders had come with genocidal intent (Hitler at one point mused that Siberia could be turned into a Slav reservation for the survivors, which could be bombed periodically to remind them who was in charge).
Putin lacks a coercive organ as powerful as the Communist Party, which had both astonishing material power and a compelling ideology which promised to bring about an accelerated path to non-capitalist modernity. Indeed, no country today has a political apparatus like that splendid communist machine, save perhaps China and North Korea. So, in the absence of a direct lever to create political – and hence military – mobilization, Russia must find an alternative route to creating a political consensus to wage a higher form of war.
This has now been accomplished, courtesy of western Russophobia and Ukraine’s penchant for violence. A subtle, but profound transformation of the Russian socio-political body is underway.
Creating Consensus
Putin and those around him conceived of the Russo-Ukrainian War in existential terms from the very beginning. It is unlikely, however, that most Russians understood this. Instead, they likely viewed the war the same way Americans viewed the war in Iraq and Ukraine – as a justified military enterprise that was nevertheless merely a technocratic task for the professional military; hardly a matter of life and death for the nation. I highly doubt that any American ever believed that the fate of the nation hinged on the war in Afghanistan (Americans have not fought an existential war since 1865), and judging by the recruitment crisis plaguing the American military, it does not seem like anyone perceives a genuine foreign existential threat.
What has happened in the months since February 24 is rather remarkable. The existential war for the Russian nation has been incarnated and made real for Russian citizens. Sanctions and anti-Russian propaganda – demonizing the entire nation as “orcs” – has rallied even initially skeptical Russians behind the war, and Putin’s approval rating has soared. A core western assumption, that Russians would turn on the government, has reversed. Videos showing the torture of Russian POWs by frothing Ukrainians, of Ukrainian soldiers calling Russian mothers to mockingly tell them their sons are dead, of Russian children killed by shelling in Donetsk, have served to validate Putin’s implicit claim that Ukraine is a demon possessed state that must be exorcised with high explosives. Amidst all of this – helpfully, from the perspective of Alexander Dugin and his neophytes – American pseudo-intellectual “Blue Checks” have publicly drooled over the prospect of “decolonizing and demilitarizing” Russia, which plainly entails the dismemberment of the Russian state and the partitioning of its territory. The government of Ukraine (in now deleted tweets) publicly claimed that Russians are prone to barbarism because they are a mongrel race with Asiatic blood mixing.
Simultaneously, Putin has moved towards – and ultimately achieved – his project of formal annexation of Ukraine’s old eastern rim. This has also legally transformed the war into an existential struggle. Further Ukrainian advances in the east are now, in the eyes of the Russian state, an assault on sovereign Russian territory and an attempt to destroy the integrity of the Russian state. Recent polling shows that a supermajority of Russians support defending these new territories at any cost.
All domains now align. Putin and company conceived of this war from the beginning as an existential struggle for Russia, to eject an anti-Russian puppet state from its doorstep and defeat a hostile incursion into Russian civilizational space. Public opinion is now increasingly in agreement with this (surveys show that Russian distrust of NATO and “western values” have skyrocketed), and the legal framework post-annexation recognizes this as well. The ideological, political, and legal domains are now united in the view that Russia is fighting for its very existence in Ukraine. The unification of the technical, ideological, political, and legal dimensions was, just moments ago, described by the head of Russia’s communist party, Gennady Zyuganov:
“So, the President signed decrees on the admission of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia. Bridges are burned . What was clear from the moral and statist points of view has now become a legal fact: on our land there is an enemy, he kills and maims the citizens of Russia. The country demands the most decisive action to protect compatriots. Time does not wait.”
A political consensus for higher mobilization and greater intensity has been achieved. Now all that remains is the implementation of this consensus in the material world of fist and boot, bullet and shell, blood and iron.
A Brief History of Military Force Generation
One of the peculiarities of European history is the truly shocking extent to which the Romans were far ahead of their time in the sphere of military mobilization. Rome conquered the world largely because it had a truly exceptional mobilization capacity, for centuries consistently generating high levels of mass military participation from the male population of Italy. Caesar brought more than 60,000 men to the Battle of Alesia when he conquered Gaul – a force generation that would not be matched for centuries in the post-Roman world.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, state capacity in Europe deteriorated rapidly. Royal authority in both France and Germany was curtailed as the aristocracy and urban authorities grew in power. Despite the stereotype of despotic monarchy, political power in the middle ages was highly fragmented, and taxation and mobilization were highly localized. The Roman capacity to mobilize large armies that were centrally controlled and financed was lost, and warfare became the domain of a narrow fighting class – the petty gentry, or knights.
Consequentially, medieval European armies were shockingly small. At pivotal English-French battles like Agincourt and Crecy, English armies numbered less than 10,000, and the French no more than 30,000. The world historical Battle of Hastings – which sealed the Normal conquest of Britain – pitted two armies of fewer than 10,000 men against each other. The Battle of Grunwald – in which a Polish-Lithuanian coalition defeated the Teutonic Knights – was one of the largest battles in Medieval Europe and still featured two armies that numbered at most 30,000.
European mobilization powers and state capacity were shockingly low in this era compared to other states around the world. Chinese armies routinely numbered in the low hundreds of thousands, and the Mongols, even with significantly lower bureaucratic sophistication, could field 80,000 men.
The situation began to shift radically as intensified military competition – in particular the savage 30 years’ war – forced European states to at last begin a shift back towards centralized state capacity. The model of military mobilization shifted at last from the servitor system – where a small, self-funded military class provided military service – to the fiscal military state, where armies were raised, funded, directed, and sustained through the fiscal-bureaucratic systems of centralized governments.
Through the early modern period, military service models acquired a unique admixture of conscription, professional service, and the servitor system. The aristocracy continued to provide military service in the emerging officer corps, while conscription and impressment were used to fill out the ranks. Notably, however, conscripts were inducted into very long terms of service. This reflected the political needs of monarchy in the age of absolutism. The army was not a forum for popular political participation in the regime – it was an instrument for the regime to defend itself from both foreign enemies and peasant jacqueries. Therefore, conscripts were not rotated back into society. It was necessary to turn the army into a distinct social class with some element of remoteness from the population at large – this was a professional military institution that served as an internal bulwark of the regime.
The rise of nationalistic regimes and mass politics allowed the scale of armies to increase much further. Governments in the late 19th century now had less to fear from their own populations than did the absolute monarchies of the past – this changed the nature of military service and at last returned Europe to the system that the Romans had in millennia past. Military service was now a form of mass political participation – this allowed for conscripts to be called up, trained, and rotated back into society – the reserve cadre system that characterized armies in both of the world wars.
In sum, the cycle of military mobilization systems in Europe is a mirror of the political system. Armies were very small during the era where there was little to no mass political participation with the regime. Rome fielded large armies because there was significant political buy-in and a cohesive identity in the form of Roman citizenship. This allowed Rome to generate high military participation, even in the Republican era where the Roman state was very small and bureaucratically sparse. Medieval Europe had fragmented political authority and an extremely low sense of cohesive political identity, and consequently its armies were shockingly small. Armies began to grow in size again as the sense of national identity and participation grew, and it is no coincidence that the largest war in history – the Nazi-Soviet War – was fought between two regimes that had totalizing ideologies that generated an extremely high level of political participation.
That brings us to today. In the 21st century, with its interconnectedness and crushing availability of both information and misinformation, the process of generating mass political – and hence military – participation is much more nuanced. No country wields a totalizing utopian vision, and it is inarguable that the sense of national cohesion is significantly lower now than it was one hundred years ago.
Putin, very simply, could not have conducted a large scale mobilization at the onset of the war. He possessed neither a coercive mechanism nor the manifest threat to generate mass political support. Few Russians would have believed that there was some existential threat lurking in the shadow – they needed to be shown, and the west has not disappointed. Likewise, few Russians would likely have supported the obliteration of Ukrainian infrastructure and urban utilities in the opening days of the war. But now, the only vocal criticism of Putin within Russia is on the side of further escalation. The problem with Putin, from the Russian perspective, is that he has not gone far enough. In other words – mass politics have already moved ahead of the government, making mobilization and escalation politically trivial. Above all, we must remember that Clausewitz’s maxim remains true. The military situation is merely a subset of the political situation, and military mobilization is also political mobilization – a manifestation of society’s political participation in the state.
Time and Space
Ukraine’s offensive phase continues on multiple fronts. They are pushing into northern Lugansk, and after weeks of banging their heads against a wall in Kherson, they have finally made territorial progress. Yet, just today, Putin said that it is necessary to conduct medical examinations of the children in the newly admitted oblasts and rebuild school playgrounds. What is going on? Is he totally detached from events at the front?
There are really only two ways to interpret what is happening. One is the western spin: the Russian army is defeated and depleted and is being driven from the field. Putin is deranged, his commanders are incompetent, and Russia’s only card left to play is to throw drunk, untrained conscripts into the meat grinder.
The other is the interpretation that I have advocated, that Russia is massing for a winter escalation and offensive, and is currently engaged in a calculated trade wherein they give up space in exchange for time and Ukrainian casualties. Russia continues to retreat where positions are either operationally compromised or faced with overwhelming Ukrainian numbers, but they are very careful to extract forces out of operational danger. In Lyman, where Ukraine threatened to encircle the garrison, Russia committed mobile reserves to unblock the village and secure the withdrawal of the garrison. Ukraine’s “encirclement” evaporated, and the Ukrainian interior ministry was bizarrely compelled to tweet (and then delete) video of destroyed civilian vehicles as “proof” that the Russian forces had been annihilated.
Russia will likely continue to pull back over the coming weeks, withdrawing units intact under their artillery and air umbrella, grinding down Ukrainian heavy equipment stocks and wearing away their manpower. Meanwhile, new equipment continues to congregate in Belgorod, Zaporizhia, and Crimea. My expectation remains the same: episodic Russian withdrawal until the front stabilizes roughly at the end of October, followed by an operational pause until the ground freezes, followed by escalation and a winter offensive by Russia once they have finished amassing sufficient units.
There is an eerie calm radiating from the Kremlin. Mobilization is underway – 200,000 men are currently undergoing refresher training at ranges around Russia. Trainloads of military equipment continue to flood across the Kerch bridge, but Ukraine’s offensive plods on with no Russian reinforcements to be seen at the front. The disconnect between the Kremlin’s stoicism and the deterioration of the front are striking. Perhaps Putin and the entire Russian general staff really are criminally incompetent – perhaps the Russian reserves really are nothing but a bunch of drunks. Perhaps there is no plan.
Or perhaps, Russia’s sons will answer the call of the motherland again, as they did in 1709, in 1812, and in 1941.
As the wolves once more prowl at the door, the old bear rises again to fight.
46 Trillion Dollars In Financial Wealth Has Already Been Lost During The Great Global Market Crash Of 2022
In less than one year, 46 trillion dollars in financial wealth has been wiped out. If that isn’t a “crash”, how would you define one? Since last November, stocks and bonds have been plunging all over the globe. When there is a good day like we saw on Monday, sometimes that can fool us into thinking that everything is going to be okay. But in order to understand what is really going on we need to step back and look at the bigger picture. And when we look at the bigger picture, it becomes exceedingly clear that we are in the midst of a historic worldwide market crash. According to Bank of America, a whopping 46.1 trillion dollars in financial wealth has already been wiped out since last November…
It’s been a tough year for investors, with global stock and bond markets erasing $46.1 trillion in market value since November 2021, according to Bank of America.The massive drawdown has led to forced liquidations on Wall Street, the bank’s chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett said in a Friday note, highlighting the recent break below 2018 support in the NYSE Composite Index.
When I first came across that number I could hardly believe it.
But it is accurate.
Stocks have been falling and falling and falling, and Bank of America is warning that this is one of the worst global bond market crashes that we have ever seen…
Analysts at BofA liken it to going “Cold Turkey” and blame it for causing the third “Great Bond Bear Market.”They calculate the 20% plus losses suffered by government debt investors over the last year are now a par with the post World War I and II years of 1920 and 1949, and the Great Depression rout of 1931.The combined collapse in global stock and bond markets means global market capitalisation has been slashed by over $46 trillion.
That is an amount of money that is difficult to comprehend.
The total value of all goods and services produced in the United States last year was approximately 23 trillion dollars.
So we are talking about an amount of money that is roughly twice as large as our GDP for an entire year.
When the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world took the punch bowl away, it was obvious that something like this would happen.
Central bank intervention pushed global financial markets to absolutely absurd levels, and there was no way that they could remain there once the artificial support was removed.
Here in the United States, all of the major stock indexes have fallen for three quarters in a row, and tech stocks have been leading the way down…
The S&P 500 Index closed on Friday at 3,586, down 25.6% from its intraday high on January 3, and where it had first been in November 2020.The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, is down 31.8% from its high on November 5, having thereby maintained its function as early warning signal.The Nasdaq closed at 10,576, down 34.8% from its intraday high on November 22, the very day Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella dumped 50.2% of his Microsoft stock in a bunch of frenzied trades, totaling $285 million. On the list of best-timed insider trades ever, he must be at the very top. Since then, Microsoft shares have plunged 33.4%, to $232.90, the lowest closing price since March 2021.
… today Black Knight confirmed that the US housing market has turned decidedly ugly with the two biggest monthly declines since the global financial crisis.According to a Monday report from mortgage-data provider, median home prices fell 0.98% in August from a month earlier, following a 1.05% drop in July.The two periods marked the largest monthly declines since January 2009. In fact, at the current pace of declines, we may soon see a record drop in home prices, surpassing the largest historical slide hit during the global financial crisis.The report noted that July and August 2022 mark the largest single-month price declines seen since January 2009 and rank among the eight largest on record.
If the Federal Reserve does not reduce rates, things will soon get really, really ugly for the housing market.
Unfortunately, the Fed is actually going to keep raising rates because Fed officials are scared to death of the raging inflation crisis that they originally helped to create.
Thanks to the Fed, grocery prices were up 13.5 percent in August…
We’ve seen the higher prices at the grocery store, and it looks like they won’t be coming down anytime soon.New government data shows grocery prices climbed 13.5% in August from the year before. That’s the highest annual increase since March 1979.Food producers say the surge is a result of paying higher prices for labor and packaging materials. They also point to extreme weather, disease and supply issues.
As long as we keep seeing numbers like that, the Fed is going to keep raising rates.
And the price of gasoline just hit another all-time record high in Los Angeles…
Gas prices hit a record high in Los Angeles County of $6.466 per gallon on Monday morning, soaring past the previous record set during the nationwide price surge this past spring.
If you think that is bad, just wait until California residents are paying 10 dollars a gallon for gasoline.
The cost of living has become incredibly oppressive, and one recent survey found that 73 percent of Americans believe that their incomes are “falling behind inflation”…
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day survey results on Ballotpedia also found that 73% of Americans say that over the past year, their income has been falling behind inflation. The survey’s sample size was 1,200 registered voters, and it was conducted online by pollster Scott Rasmussen on Sept. 15-17. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 2.8 percentage points.
Until inflation is under control, the Fed is going to keep raising rates.
And inflation is not likely to be under control any time soon, because the vast majority of U.S. manufacturers are planning more price increases in 2023…
In a new Forbes/Xometry/John Zogby Strategies survey shared with Secrets about the impact of inflation and the continued supply chain crisis under President Biden, 87% of manufacturing CEOs said they planned to increase prices in 2023.Many cited the ongoing supply chain crisis, problems getting materials from China, and sellers taking advantage of the economic mess to jack up prices.“Our margins are under pressure as costs creep up throughout the supply-chain network,” one CEO told the poll conducted by Jeremy Zogby, the managing partner of John Zogby Strategies.
So the Federal Reserve will not be riding to the rescue of the financial markets this time around.
Fed officials are absolutely petrified of high inflation, and so rates will continue to go up.
And that means that this financial bubble will continue to implode. As Eric Peters has aptly noted, market crashes can take a long time to fully play out…
“It’s important to remember that the bursting of a bubble takes a long time to play out. It may feel fast and chaotic at various points in the process, but it isn’t really. Look at 2008. Everyone thinks of Lehman’s Bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, as the big catalyst for that crisis, but the S&P 500 had peaked the previous November. Bear Sterns failed on March 13th, 2008. From the Friday before Lehman’s bankruptcy to the end of that month, the S&P was only down 7%. The real weakness was in October with a local low in November.”The final bottom wasn’t until March of the next year. “The bubble was bursting before Lehman Brothers.” That was just the large cathartic event that caught our attention, ignited our imagination. “And even after that it took months for the market to bottom. Markets don’t clear imbalances instantaneously. So we should be preparing ourselves for a marathon, not a sprint.”
We are still only in the very early chapters of this story.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks flooded the global financial system with money, and so now we are facing a horrific worldwide inflation crisis.
They are attempting to fix things by rapidly raising rates, but that is causing absolutely enormous problems for global financial markets.
This isn’t going to end well, and we have finally gotten to a point where this should be exceedingly obvious to everyone.
Chinese President Xi Jinping says that Hong Kong is moving “from chaos to governance”. Is it true?
Very true. Absolutely true.
The 2019 Hongkong riot was actually a coup led by USA to put a US puppet as the HK Chief so as to destabilize China. USA has been destabilized the entire world since WW2.
USA almost succeeded by infiltration into every walk of HK life such as govt, education, court etc. They failed only after China handed down a national security law that targets secession, subversion, collusion & terrorism. Note all countries have similar security laws.
Why HK had no security law before? Simple. It was a plot by UK before they returned HK to China. In 1984, UK realized they must return HK in 1997. UK had a China-UK treaty to rule HK but China did not honor it. Because UK militarily forced China buy opium from UK’s colony India. Make Chinese addicted, so that UK could make money/silver. It was similar to US D Trump’s trade war in 2017. The only difference is that Trump used high tariff and UK used weapons.
UK then plotted HK rebellion from China, in name of democracy. Note that colonizer UK never gave HK democracy. Anyway, UK recruited HK traitors. Remove all the laws that dealt with riots & treason.
No place in the world has no security law to protect themselves. Five years after return, HK also introduced laws to deal with riots etc. Rebels rallied a mass protest & the security law was voted down by the democrat-traitors. Now looking back, it was part of the plot to leave HK unable to deal with a coup.
Later US took over from UK. In 2014, there was an Occupy Central in HK & an Occupy London in UK. UK suppressed the movement in 1 day. After investigation, UK reported that HK rebels were recruited by USA.
Occupied Central was a drill for a coup. The 2019 riot was for real.
There were always “white” (a politically incorrect word) people near the riot spot or on the vandalism spot. One got caught & has an ID card from CIA. Junior leaders were caught meeting US embassy officials in hotels & restaurants. A senior leader was caught meeting US ambassador/or top embassy personnel. The #1 HK traitor has a former CIA agent as his assistant/boss. And there was an unusually large number of US officials working in HK (the # has shrunk now).
There were many NGO, unions, organizations for human rights & animal rights etc. Most if not all were directly or indirectly funded by NED. Most if not all movement leaders have a large sum of money that they could not explain.
In Hongkong, NED has spent thousands of millions of dollars. Even “little” people got paid. Show up in a peaceful mass would get paid HK$200-300. Higher on riot spot. Injure or even kill a police also got paid. 1 person was so rich to buy 2 apartments, cash.
Old or pregnant women were used. It is always the police who pushed them to the ground. One pregnant woman was caught on CCTV that she lay on the ground before police approached her.
Fake news like the above drowned HK. They came out daily if not hourly to create & simmer hatred of HK govt, police & China. … fake news spread as fast as weed thru internet. … it is the 1st time I see ugly human nature can go that far. It is beyond a normal human can go that ugly.
Rebel-journalists on the riot spot took pictures on police so as to simmer police brutality. In fact, it was the other way round. Rioters were paid to injure police. $$$. Their brutality is animal type of brutality If I disclose their weapons & brutality here, Quora probably will ban me.
There was always a big group of people on the riot spot. Other than (rebel) journalists, there were (rebel) first-aid people too. Looking back, they were there to block the police from normal work to deal with the riot. One (rebel) journalist was only 12-13 years old.
There is a picture of a one-eye woman published by NYT. She claimed she was blinded by police. But, based on privacy reason, she went all the way to the highest court to block police from obtaining her medical report from the hospital that treated her injury. She has gone to Taiwan today but was caught having 2 bright eyes at HK airport. Why block police investigation? Don’t you want justice & compensation from police?
Because of this woman’s eye, HK has become lawless but rioters’ law.
Ordinary HKers dared not talk in public. Rioters used verbal & even physical violence against those who expressed different opinion. Once they (in a group) rounded up a scholar. I watched TV: 1 rioter lay on the ground but he said the scholar pushed him which is not true.
Rioters set fire on a by-standers who said he is Chinese. Or use bricks to hit the head of a worker (causing death) who was hired by govt to clean up the bricks scattered by rioters on the road. Or house arrest & beat up a journalist from China for days. Or bully & even beat up passers-by who did not speak Cantonese the HK dialect. One who could not speak Cantonese is a Japanese. Or block international air travellers.
Rebel-air hosts once released oxygen from aeroplanes, endangering the life of passengers.
Rebel-judge let go of arrested rioters. Righteous judges would receive death threats. It is lawless, said one retired righteous judge.
Rebel-doctor or nurse “torture” patients if the patient was a police or not on their side. One doctor prescribed medicine to harm the health of a policeman-patient. … medical staff is supposed to care for the patient. Professionalism is supposed to be above politics, Besides democracy calls for respect & coexist with the different.
Because it was a plot that started in 1980’s, one generation of HKers were brought up on hatred of authorities, being rude & violence (verbal & physical).
I saw on TV that 1 kindergarten teacher on the protest spot telling the kids police are bad people. A history expert who has power in HK education circle changed Chinese history by glorifying UK’s opium/trade war with China. Instead of saying UK militarily forced China buy opium from UK, he said UK was trying to help addicted Chinese to stop smoking opium. Some published picture books to depict the govt or police or China as wolves who bully them the lambs.
This generation made their own law. One university vice principal was cornered because rioter-students demanded university to drop Chinese language as a requirement to graduate.
There were school bullies who would bully those who did not agree to violence/riot.
Students who did not do well in school were recruited as leaders to mark a territory under their control. Similar to the underground organizations we see in a movie.
In court, rebel-lawyers always said “this rioter is mentally disadvantaged.” & hence should not go to jail but a place for re-education.
Rebels propagated that China is poor, uncivilized, dirty etc. But they have never visited China.
This propaganda happened in HK. And is also in Taiwan.
If you cannot imagine how people can be brain-washed that much, then …
Let us discuss human nature.
I study ancient civilizations. I find all cultures have creators. All creators made the same sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It means it is the same creator. All humans are creator’s children.
Creator gives us different wisdom. It means creator designed a diverse world. You use flour to bake cakes. I make noodles. Diff wisdom. Diversity. So there should be many cultures & religions in the world.
Some spread their religion to other cultures & wipe out local religions. That is, they have damaged creator’s design of diversity. Yet they claim they love creator.
They suppress the god-given wisdom of creator’s other children.
They violate human right – indigenous people’s cultural right, according to article 8.2a in UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet they claim they love fellow humans ie creator’s children.
UN says all gods & religions are equal. When China asks them not to propagate that theirs is the only true one, they cry religious suppression.
China also asks them not to erect a big cross outside a building. Keep (small) crosses inside their private property. A cross was an old tool for criminals on death sentence. It damages local belief in Feng Shui. Again they cry religious suppression.
Lesson learnt about human nature:
Leaders work for POWER & MONEY. Love of creator is just a slogan to gather followers to build power.
Followers take leader’s word as truth. Lack independent & critical thinking. Dismiss different views right away. Stay inside box.
Another human nature: those who cry suppression are the ones who disrespect/suppress others, or break law. Bullies.
Human nature applies to politics too:
EU Pushes For More Sanctions Which Will Come Back To Bite It
On February 22, two days before Russian troops entered the Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU put reams of sanctions onto Russia. They also confiscated some $300 billion of Russia’s reserves that were invested in the ‘west’. The sanctions had been negotiated between the EU and the U.S. and prepared for over several months.
The idea was to bankrupt Russia within a few weeks. The deluded people behind those sanctions had no idea how big and sanctions proved Russia’s economy really is. The sanctions failed to influence Russia in any way but their consequences led to a shortfall of energy in Europe and increased the already high inflation rates. Inflation in Russia is sinking and its general economic numbers are good. The now higher energy prices generate sufficient additional income to completely finance its war efforts.
A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of:
[T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russia’s oil revenue.
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If the global price of oil remains high, it would complicate the European Union’s effort to impose a price cap on Russian oil that was expected to gain final approval on Thursday, after E.U. negotiators reached an agreement on the measure as part of a fresh package of sanctions against Moscow.Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price.
Several diplomats involved in the E.U. talks said that Greece, Malta and Cyprus — maritime nations that would be most affected by the price cap — received assurances that their business interests would be preserved, the diplomats said.
The countries had been holding up what would be the eighth sanctions package the European Union has adopted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of worries that a price cap on Russian oil exported outside the bloc would affect their shipping, insurance and other industries, the diplomats said.
With oil prices at a high, Russia is raking in billions of dollars in revenue, even as it sells smaller quantities. The cap — part of a broad plan pushed by the Biden administration that the G7 agreed to last month — is intended to set the price of Russian oil lower than where it is today, but still above cost. The U.S. Treasury calculates that the cap would deprive the Kremlin of tens of billions of dollars annually.
How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also that product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.
To make the measure effective, and cut Russian revenue, the United States, Europe and their allies would need to convince India and China, which buy substantial quantities of Russian oil, to purchase it only at the agreed upon price. Experts say that even with willing partners, the cap could be hard to implement.
Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it.
The whole idea is crazy and way too complicate to achieve anything:
Under the new rules, companies involved in the shipping of Russian oil — including shipowners, insurers and underwriters — would be on the hook for ensuring that the oil they are helping to transport is being sold at or below the price cap. If they are caught helping Russia sell at a higher price, they could face lawsuits in their home countries for violating sanctions.Russian crude will come under an embargo in most of the European Union on Dec. 5, and petroleum products will follow in February. The price cap on shipments to non-E.U. countries has been championed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as a necessary complement to the European oil embargo.
Under the E.U. deal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus will be permitted to continue shipping Russian oil. Had they not agreed to place their companies at the forefront of applying the price cap, they would have been forbidden from shipping or insuring Russian oil cargo outside the European Union, a huge hit for major industries.
More than half of the tankers now shipping Russia’s oil are Greek-owned. And the financial services that underpin that trade — including insurance, reinsurance and letters of credit — are overwhelmingly based in the European Union and Britain.
This is of course an open invitation to other countries to enter the oil shipping and related financial services businesses at the cost of European companies.
China and India will both it to increase their market shares in those fields. Their ships will transport Russian oil to whoever wants to buy it for the market price minus the always negotiable Russian rebate. Greek ships will sit idle or will be sold off while Indian and Chinese and other Asian tankers will be very, very busy. China’s big insurance companies will happily join that new global services business.
That European bureaucrats agreed to his stupid U.S. idea, which will foremost hurt European businesses, is another sign that Brussels has given up on having any agency.
Today OPEC+ countries, the seller cartel for oil, reacted to the crazy sanctions idea and the upcoming global depression by agreeing to decrease their daily output by 2 million barrels. This was not done out of Saudi solidarity with Russia. Saudi Arabia needs oil at above $80/bl to finance its budget.
Brent Crude, which had fallen to $83/bl on September 26, has since risen to $93/bl.
The global demand for oil is around 100 million barrels per day. Should the demand stay up the 2% reduction in OPEC+ production will have significant price effects and $100 per barrel will be in easy reach.
But OPEC+ is committed to stable prices, not to significant price increases. During the OPEC+ session today the Saudi Prince Abdulazis showed this table:
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biggerSince the beginning of the year the prices for all forms of carbon based energy except crude oil have increased considerably. Abdulazis argued that the chart shows that OPEC+ is managing oil prices responsibly. The EU is certainly not doing similar.
The Biden administration has meanwhile nearly halved the content of the U.S Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This to keep U.S. pump prices down and the Democrats in power.
Posted by b on October 5, 2022 at 16:48 UTC | Permalink
What are the main things that people from the U.S. notice when they move to Australia?
What the hell, the light switches are backward!
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This switch is *ON*, when it’s pressed on the bottom.
The second thing I noticed was, “What the hell, I’m sure I plugged in my phone!” (but I hadn’t switched on the “electrical receptacle” — Australian power points are most often turned on and off at the wall plate or on the “power board” (power bar).)
The first thing my kids were confused by was which button to depress to flush the toilet. Every Aussie toilet I saw had a half-flush and full-flush option. And it’s not a potty, and it’s not in the “bathroom”. It’s a toilet.
There’s a drain in the floor of the bathroom where the tub or shower is. This is quite standard.
There are no “no shirt, no shoes, no service” signs. Quite a few people go barefoot.
!@#$!@ bindis.
Not the South Asian forehead mark. Not Steve Irwin’s daughter.
No, I mean these:
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They’re like little lawn caltrops. They’re painful. I don’t know why there are so many barefoot Aussies given these little nasties. (I was told they’re properly Bindii
(pronounced bindi-eye) but I rarely heard people call them that. They’re the seedpod of a vicious weed. I might have some strong feelings about them.)
You let entire flocks of these expensive birds fly around freely as if they were…
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…oh wait, right, this is where cockatoos are from.
Burger King has renamed itself:
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and despite their 1950’s diner decor, they don’t have any ketchup.
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ketchup for their french fries. Which would be “tomato sauce for their chips”, actually. Toh-mah-toe, not toe-may-toe. But seriously. THEY HAD NO KETCHUP FOR THEIR FRIES. (Not even Rosella, or any of the other local brands, which all taste far too clove-y and vinegary for my own taste, although my kids adapted.)
Also, shopping centers have amazingly short “trading hours” (that’s business hours, for us Yanks). Except for late closing day (and varies by state). Which is usually midweek. But otherwise the whole place may close down at 6:30 p.m. or earlier. Aussies take their work/life balance seriously.
Oh, and all the school age children are wearing uniforms. It’s like Hogwarts! But not always nearly so attractive:
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(No disrespect to the model. I don’t think there’s any issue of her being homely. Just her pinnie.) I haven’t been able to find any images that do justice to the disturbing “nothing fits any of these kids!” impression that an entire school’s worth of kids in these uniforms gives, with the two or three styles of hats, as well as the oddly fitting shirts and shorts on the boys. Every school has a different color scheme, and you can often tell the posh schools from the less affluent ones.
This is the default “sushi” around Oz.
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It’ll cost you somewhere between $2.40 AUD in Melbourne to $3.50 AUD in Sydney (per piece). Most common are avo-salmon or tuna-sweetcorn. The little soy sauce fish in the background of this image are ubiquitous, too.
Every. Single. Restaurant uses this particular style of takeaway container.
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Some are deeper or shallower (I saw three different sizes) but they’re all essentially the same. Except that the corner curvature varies, so if you use them as miserly substitutes for proper kitchen storage, you’ll go a bit mad.
Unless otherwise specified, a lemonade is something like this:
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Yes, it’s fizzy. It’s like a mostly lemony 7-Up or Sprite. (For the non-Americans reading this, in the U.S., a lemonade consists of lemon juice, sugar (or other sweetening) and water. Period.)
…and there’s an amazing barrage of traffic signs in Sydney. I’ll spare you the imagery.
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
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This recipe will take your taste buds down South, to where good old-fashioned recipes are still king. Our Homemade Biscuits and Gravy recipe is full of so much down-home goodness, you’ll want to eat these homemade biscuits at breakfast AND dinner, which is perfectly all right by us!
What You’ll Need
2 cups pancake and baking mix
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 (16-ounce) package hot pork sausage
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
What to Do
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir baking mix, buttermilk, and the 1/2 stick melted butter until soft dough forms. Drop 8 equal spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt remaining butter; cook 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, or until browned. Add sausage and cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until no pink remains, stirring to crumble sausage. Add flour; mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce, milk, salt, and pepper; mix well. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, or until gravy thickens, stirring constantly.
Cut biscuits in half and spoon sausage mixture evenly on bottom halves. Replace tops and serve.
Why is China hesitating to admit the fact that anyone who listen to K-pop in China will be sent to prison camps and their organs will be harvested? Even neutral & non-political K-Pop fans agree with this fact.
I’m sitting on my bed, doing my math homework and simultaneously writing this whilst blasting no love again by taeyeon, in a quarantine facility in Guangzhou, China. I seem to be in no immediate danger of being arrested. When I opened my door earlier to take my covid test, I had red flavour by red velvet playing in the background – I was not arrested by the nurse and sent to a prison camp, and as far as I’m aware, my organs are all present and functioning perfectly fine inside my body.
Heck, I probably did not need to write all of that because if I was taken to a prison camp, I would not be posting this.
also note to whoever asked this question: in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct, I would suggest changing listen to listens, as with your current grammar I doubt you will make it far in the political field in which you seem to be so heavily invested in.
“OMG LESBIAN VELMA FINALLY,” reads one tweet, which has over 100,000 likes.
As I get older, the more I realize that it’s not only the American leadership that are “bat-shit crazy”, but most of the population as well.
Sheech!
Velma was sort of a cartoon version of my (boyhood) dream girl. She was soft, nice, smart, talented, and wore a soft turtleneck cuddly sweater. Oh, and she wore nerd glasses before they were cool. And let’s not forget about her many discoveries and de-masking of the “bad guys”!
Velma was the stuff of boyhood fantasies.
My fantasies lie dead in the dust! Sigh.
When did so many American citizens stop believing their government can function as a force for good?
Some people have always believed this but it didn’t become a mainstream idea until Ronald Reagan popularized it.
He said things like “The government is not the solution to our problems, it is the problem” and “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Prior to Reagan most Republicans were for smaller government but still believed that it could be a force for good.
Republican president Eisenhower increased the minimum wage, expanded Social Security and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and started large government projects like the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Interstate Highway System.
Republican President Nixon wanted to expand Welfare to a “living wage” system, proposed universal health care, signed Title IX guarantying equal educational opportunities for women, signed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and formed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Reagan pushed previously fringe anti-government views into the mainstream.
The Three Stooges || You Nazty Spy 1940
This old skit reminds me of how the USA operates today. LOL
https://youtu.be/LvVPopDC9vA
Chinese Girl
The Monkees on The Johnny Cash Show 1969
Is China a democracy, since anyone can join the Communist Party and thus anyone can vote? Is a single-party democracy any different from a non-partisan democracy?
China is a democracy. However, it is not a liberal Western democracy.
The West are not entitled to define what is and isn’t democracy.
In both democratic systems, citizens vote for their representatives. The only difference is that China is based on a one-party state while the West have multiple parties that compete with one another.
Bekah
My daughter Bekah passed away 1 year ago from an unexpected asthma attack causing her to go into cardiac arrest. She was alone in her apartment when it happened and dialed 911 herself.
They were quickly able to reach her and bring back a pulse but she coded a second time in the ambulance. After 9 days in the ICU she was totally unresponsive to any stimuli and they called a time of death although she was still “alive”. She was an organ donor and helped to save 5 people.
A friend of mine had a vivid dream of my daughter in where my daughter walked in the room looking very much alive.
He shouted to me “Bekah is alive” She looked at him and said “no, I’m here to give my heart.”
She then walked up to a child and handed her heart to her. My daughters heart did go to a child, a 12 yr old. I’ve struggled with the what if’s and feeling guilty that she was alone when she passed.
I worry that she was scared or that she felt pain. Hearing some of the stories on this group help to give me hope that she’s at peace and maybe she did choose to give of herself to help others.
I ask God daily to please give me a million signs of her presence until it’s my time to see her beautiful face once again. Bekah’s mom ~ forever 22
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Kitty chooses her “owner”
This little girl showed up at my back door on Christmas Eve three years ago. Per my estimate she was about 4 to 6 months old and about a quarter her current size.
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Since her belly was shaved (I assumed she was spayed) and she is a bit of a rare breed for where I live (she looks and has all the characteristics of a pure Russian Blue), I assumed she belonged to someone in my neighborhood.
She wanted attention (a sure sign she was raised by someone since feral cats do not crave petting and human attention).
I asked all my neighbors and they had never seen her before nor did she belong to anyone in the neighborhood, as I checked; she also had no chip for identification purposes. I waited over a week assuming she would find her rightful owner, as she might have just wandered off, but she kept hanging around and coming back, so I took her into my home and adopted her.
I have had cats before so I have experiences and other past cats as a comparison.
This particular cat is the most affectionate, happy (per her constant purring), and cuddly cat I have ever known, but only with me as she just hides when other people come around.
Sometimes she jumps up in the middle of a dead sleep and immediately looks over at me as if just wanting to know I am still there.
I can say with certainty this cat is afraid of being abandoned again and she is grateful to have been rescued/adopted.
Chinese Girl
Here’s Why The U.S. Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline!
Is there really a problem with human rights in China?
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Every time I answer a question about “human rights in China,” I get frustrated. Because the exchanges and debates around the topic have been so thoroughly tarnished by Washington. The issue of human rights has become increasingly removed from its own meaning and has become a classic geopolitical game. So I’ve grown tired of debating with people who firmly believe that China has a human rights problem. When they talk about human rights in China, their focus is always on the tiny minority that confronts China’s constitutional system, and they are indifferent to the content of human rights that is fundamental to China and most important to the general public. They don’t even seem to be interested in China’s efforts to reduce and eliminate inequities in everything from education to health care, to increase poverty alleviation, to strengthen the rule of law, to increase the rate of petition resolution, and so on.
The Chinese are not stupid, the Chinese are not retarded, and the Chinese are not brainwashed. If there is a real human rights problem in China, you don’t need to worry, they will resist, and no political party can withstand the power of 1.4 billion Chinese people. It is because the Chinese people have witnessed the stark contrast between the Chinese government’s all-out effort to fight the epidemic and the U.S. government’s disregard for the lives of the people that they are convinced that the Chinese must value their human rights more than the Americans do. This is more effective than any amount of preaching and propaganda. China, as a rapidly growing society with a huge population, is not easy to govern itself, which is why they are very strict about “confronting the political system” -It does not mean that China is not doing a good job of building human rights. That’s why I find it ridiculous when the US and some small European countries with a few million people tell China what to do. They are like little kids driving go-karts in a park who want to teach the driver of a giant truck how to take the wheel.
No one can deny that the vast majority of people’s rights derive from the continued stable development of the country. To destabilize China and curb its development is to fundamentally deprive the Chinese people of their rights, and the U.S. government today is the greatest threat to human rights in China. Take, for example, the Hong Kong affair, where the core issue is restoring order, and the U.S. labels it a human rights issue and encourages violence and protest. Then there is the Xinjiang Re-education Center, which is simply an organization that trains Uyghurs to help them acquire skills for better employment, and is smeared by the U.S. as a concentration camp for genocide. These actions are unlikely to promote “better human rights” in Hong Kong or Xinjiang, but they do add to the problems and costs of China’s rise.
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I don’t know if my answer to this question is what you want, but it’s all from the bottom of my heart. As always, when you talk about human rights, first ask the people of that country. If you really want to know the human rights situation in China, you can visit China and take a look or do some research there. If you can be objective and respectful, you will be welcome.
What is the difference between an Australian meat pie and an English meat pie?
Growing up in the UK until migrating to Australia in the mid 1970s meat pies were popular but fairly limited and were either rather runny minced beef, or steak and kidney. I lived in Cardiff for a while and there was a round pie or a larger rectangular one. When I returned to Britain on holiday in 2000 I couldn’t find a proper meat pie anywhere. Most of the bakers seemed to do a rectangular ‘steak bake’ that was tasty and reminiscent of a pie but not really the proper article. They were also disappointingly small and you needed two.
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I spent a month in England, Wales, Scotland and failed to track down a proper pie. With two hungry teenage boys in tow we would have loved an Aussie style pie.
In Australia nearly every bakery has a big pie and sausage roll section with a hot cabinet and there are a lot of dedicated pie shops selling a huge range of pies. I’d guess pie consumption is far higher in Australia and every town has a signature pie outlet that is very popular and against which others are measured.
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Often there are up to 30 different varieties such as chunky steak, crocodile, chicken mornay, curry, vegetarian options etc. And most sit-down pie cafes accompany the pie with mashed potato, mushy peas and a generous dollop of gravy.
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That’s one I regularly have from the popular pie cart whenever I visit Lismore New South Wales. There’s a pie under there somewhere!
A pommie steak bake would scream in terror and run away down the street.
Globalists are pushing a nuclear attack, and Putin knows it
Why do school lunches taste bad?
You may be surprised to find out school meals in the United States actually cost more per student than better lunches elsewhere.
That’s because although the school lunch program started out with a very good motive, someone found a way to pervert it into something terrible.
So, first the school lunch program. During World War II, the draft office was rejecting lots of people because they were malnourished and underweight. The government looked into it and found that most of them weren’t eating well because their parents couldn’t afford enough food for them. To address the issue, the easiest way to give them more calories and nutrition was to feed them in school when they were all together and the food could be prepared in bulk.
Now, food used to be a major expense in people’s budgets. However, during the Nixon administration, about the same time as the oil embargo, food prices spiked and that percentage went up. In order to address this, the Nixon administration pursued several policies to encourage food production, like subsidies and price supports.
Now, this means that Americans now spend a very low percentage of their income on food. The problem is that this still means there is a lot of food grown that can’t be eaten or exported – there’s too much of it and there’s no demand for it. Dairy is cheap, but that’s because the government pays a guaranteed price for milk. Milk doesn’t last long, so most of it is turned into cheese.
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Enterprising politicians decided to take advantage of this by requiring most of the surplus to be purchased by schools for school meals.
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So, cookies (use up all the surplus wheat and flour), peas (surplus of those too), canned fruit (lots of surplus fruit), potatoes (lots of surplus) and chicken (also surplus). Rounding it off is ketchup, which is also surplus.
However, this stuff still isn’t “cheap”. All that processing costs money. That’s okay, the school lunch program will pay for that, as long as you stick to their surplus menu.
Meanwhile, over in France, the people in charge of school meals can pretty much get whatever is in season at the local market.
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So, a little pasta salad, fresh bread, fresh fruit, a small breaded fish cutlet, and cauliflower with sauce. This meal is obviously less expensive, but it’s also better in every respect.
Chinese Girl
Best ever Roast Beef
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Over the years I have always been told that the best roast beef comes from the best quality beef. It is correct if you use a top quality cut of beef and roast it to medium rare the result is amazing. What is not correct is that you cannot create the perfect roast with a more budget cut of beef.
Top quality cuts of beef are not usually in a families weekly food budget so I went on a mission on how to create the same tender and amazing roast beef on a more everyday budget cut of meat that will give you that OMG moment when you take a bite but not break the bank balance.
I tried various methods, slow cooking in the slow cooker, roasting in the air fryer, slow cooking in the oven and while the result was good, it was not outstanding and the quality you get from a more expensive cut of meat just was not there.
When you research cooking methods and recipes one thing always stands out to me, most cheap cuts of meat are slow cooked AND they have some sort of marinade/ sauce attached to the recipe.
With this in mind I set about creating a marinade from ingredients I would use typically with beef and in making a gravy and presto the result was arguably the best weekly roast beef we have had and the gravy well that is just a whole other story because the gravy was out of this world.
I marinated the beef from the morning to the evening for the best result, however if you run out of time make sure you marinate it for at least 30 minutes.
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We have now had this roast dinner on weekly rotation not because of the meat but because of the gravy which started off as the beef marinade, was cooked in the tray with the beef sitting on top of a rack and the juices pouring into the marinade and then thickened up on the stove top.
While the cut of meat may not be the top quality meats you can buy the end result is so good that it would warrant being star of your table at your next dinner party. It is that juicy and tender and cooked to perfection your guests would not be wrong in mistaking it is an eye fillet roast!
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And being school holidays if you are away camping this is the perfect camp oven roast dinner to cook over an open fire!
Prep 10 min // Cook 1 hr 20 min (including resting time)
INGREDIENTS
1 – 1.6kg topside beef roast
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup good quality red wine
2-3 cups liquid beef stock
3 tbs EDMK Italian spice mix (or commercial brand)
4 tbs seeded mustard
4 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste.
2 tbs butter
2 tbs plain flour
Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups liquid beef stock
2 tbs seeded mustard
2 tbs minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbs EDMK Italian spice mixed
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce.
METHOD
Mix all above ingredients together in a jug and set aside.
Place beef in a container and pour the marinade over the top and place in fridge to marinade for a minimum of 30 min.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees and remove the beef from fridge and rest until room temperature.
Pour the marinade into an oven tray and place a rack over the top and place the beef on the rack.
Smear the remaining seeded mustard and garlic over the beef and then place in the oven.
Cook for 25 min per 500g of meat checking the roast 1-2 times and if the liquid begins to evaporate pour a little more liquid beef stock in the bottom.
When the meat is cooked to medium rare based on weight remove from the oven and transfer to a board and cover with foil to rest.
In a saucepan melt the butter over a low heat and then stir in the flour until it turns a light brown colour.
Pour all juices from the bottom of the oven tray into the saucepan and whisk continually over a low heat until the gravy is thick and smooth. Add more liquid beef stock for additional gravy or until you reach your desire consistency.
Slice the meat against the grain into thick slices and serve with roasted vegetables and gravy.
Note: To cook over a camp oven or in a slow cooker cook in the marinade and then remove the beef when cooked and thicken the sauce as per the above instructions.
Chinese Girl
What if North Korea nuked China? What would happen?
Then I hope the crazy fat kid has a very large bunker deep underground.
Because the Chinese will blast his fat ass to Pluto.
LUCY Clip – “Give Me The Case” (2014)
Is the United States leadership responsive to the needs of the people?
No. It supports extreme partisanship, enables propaganda, perpetuates horribly exploitative big pharma, and oversees a very racist society. Currently it appears to be turning into a Banana Republic with the President baying for the head of his opponent, threatening to lock her up, baiting North Korea into WWIII, lying constantly to the electorate, and trying to force a ridiculous $multi-bn wall onto it’s citizens. Charisma, charm and superficiality quite literally Trump substance, integrity and truth.
We can only hope that we will look back on all of this one day in shame, whilst watching a poorly-constructed yet inexplicably watchable Lifetime movie about how things managed to get so, so bad.
Forrest Gump: Saving lives in Vietnam
Why is the meat pie in Australia so poor?
As with practically any other item of food, there are good ones and bad ones to be had.
In general terms, if you’re buying one in a plastic bag from a convenience store, it won’t be as good as one bought loose from a bakery. But then there are good bakery pies and bad bakery pies. I can even think of a couple of bakeries I know where certain fillings of pie are significantly better than others. And that’s before you consider factors such as the time of day you’re buying the pie and whether the bakery has changed owners – a very good bakery around my way has sadly gone downhill after a change in ownership, for example.
Stalingrad (1993) Firing Squad Scene
Where can I get some British fish and chips?
There used to be a really good chippy in Wragby. Barnsley used to have Woody’s (hurrraayyy!), but they sold it, the new bloke ruined it, and went bust, and now they’ve knocked it down (booooo!) so you’re out of luck there, but cheer up, because there’s a really nice one that looks like the chippy from hell but serves the chips of heaven a bit further along down an alleyway, and if you’re a bit more posh you can do a fifty minute or so walk up to Dodworth and go to Gate Chippy which is very good indeed.
Or you could go to Whitby, but avoid the last weekend in October because it’s packed end-to-end with Goths being spooky, and go to the Magpie. Be prepared for a long queue. Personally I liked that place in Skegness the best; it’s a fish ’n’ chip restaurant upstairs with a sea view; you get a big fish, loads of chips, mushy peas if you want ’em and a couple of slices of bread ’n’ butter, all brought to your table by pretty girls in proper waitress’s uniforms, and it’s all a bit Bertie Wooster so what’s not to like?
Scotland does a lot of ‘em, especially if you go to Glasgow, where they’ll deep fry anything. Fish, sausage, Mars Bars, pizzas, you name it they’ll dip in batter and fry it.
There was a good one in Monmouth where I got served by a woman who quite obviously did not like the English. When I open my gob, in the course of one sentence you are left under no doubt that I am English. Oh dear. I think she’d have pissed on my chips if she thought she could get away with it. Honestly, I was in awe of her passive aggression, and some of it wasn’t all that passive. I made notes to use later. I gave her the tenner with the words Bank of England (unlike Scotland, Wales didn’t have its own money) uppermost and plainly visible just to wind her up. When she rammed it in the till I thought it was going to explode. I sniffed my chips outside to check for cyanide. They were good chips, though, and the fish wasn’t bad, either.
So really, anywhere in England, Scotland, or Wales, and I don’t really know about Northern Ireland since when I was younger the main goal was to do what you’d got to and get back to the other side of the Irish Sea rather than looking for a decent chippy. Just ask one of the locals which they think is best. They’ll know where it is. Guaranteed.
I blame the EU. Ursaveloy und ein Loadachips.
Bobby Bacala Sr Kills Sally And His Friend – The Sopranos HD
How has China been able to maintain such a large economy despite being an authoritarian state?
Historically, economies have grown under authoritarian control, for example,
the Roman Empire
the Ottoman Empire
the Portuguese Empire
the Spanish Empire
the Dutch Empire
the French Empire
the German Empire
the British Empire
the Soviet Union
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Large democratic economies have only existed in the last half century or so. Note that USA is not a democracy (it’s a republic).
Authoritarian states tend to be more effective at economic growth because they face no opposition. They can create policies without compromise. They can execute policies without hindrance, especially in the long term. They can galvanize their populations to produce economic output. Tight control is the order of the day.
Sloppy governance leads to wastage and inefficiency.
Get Hard (2015) – Gangbanger Accountant Scene
Why are American shopping malls dying?
True story.
My 15-year-old son’s best friend’s parents work at the Macy’s in our local mall.
I know that Macy’s is struggling, so I decided I would do some shopping there when I could. I really wanted my son’s friend’s parents to keep their jobs, because they don’t live close, and I’m worried that if they lose their jobs they will pull their son out of the school he’s in and my son will lose his friend. (They used to live in the neighborhood but moved to get a larger living space).
So I went over to the Macy’s to buy a throw rug. We have carpet in our house and the cats chew it up and I just wanted to buy a small throw rug to cover up part of the carpet.
When I got to the Macy’s, the escalator was broken. No big deal. I walked up three flights. I then found the rugs but they were incredibly expensive. The cheapest one was many hundreds of dollars.
The next problem was that I could not find anyone to pay for the rug! It was late on a Sunday and no one seemed to be around anywhere. I found myself wandering from department to department, carrying the heavy rug on my shoulder. I finally found an employee, but they said they could not help me. I needed to go back to the housewares department and find someone there.
I finally found myself getting so frustrated that I almost started shouting, “Is there noone here who can help me?!? I just need some help!”
But then I calmed down and realized that shouting like a lunatic was probably a bad idea. I put back the rug, left the Macy’s, walked back down the stairs, came home, fired up the Internet, and ordered a nice throw rug for $50 in a few minutes. It arrived at my front door a day later.
I think what’s happening is that, as brick and mortar stores bring in fewer sales, they are having to cut staff and cut spending. As they do so, the shopping experience becomes less and less pleasant. Which then drives more people online. Which then means the store must cut more people and more budget. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m going to miss having brick and mortar stores nearby when I need something urgently. But I don’t see how you stop it.
FULL INTERVIEW: The conversations turn on civil war in the US says Prof Richard Wolff
There are many predictions about China’s economic collapse. Why isn’t that happening?
Take Evergrande!!!!
Why did so many Economists predict that Evergrande collapse would be huge etc etc????
Because they are stupid??? No
Because they are biased??? Maybe…but they are still reputed Academics who wont just tout propaganda
So Why????
BECAUSE THEY LOOK AT EVERYTHING FROM THE US ANGLE (And the European Angle and the Japanese Angle and the Indian Angle) or the US LENS
In the United States – The Shareholder is GOD
So any Collapse of a Company , leads to a blow in the Markets which causes massive massive massive losses and creates all the financial crises since 1929.
In China – The Investor is GOD
China believes that the Speculator is a Gambler. They restrict major funds from investing too much into the Stock market and ensure that the Common Citizens who invest in the stock market know that they can lose their shirt or win a pile of gold.
Instead their Focus is on the Investor - the ones who paid for the Houses, the ones who bought Bonds etc. They are to the Chinese - the backbone of Economics.
IN the United States – Rule of Law is Cumbersome but Absolute
This means - THE LAW Comes First. So whenever any Company Collapses - you have Chapter 11s filed , Protection of the Company Directors and Shareholders , Allowing the Company to file counter suits etc.
This means the Assets of the Company get wound up for an average of 46 months and by this time shares plummet to Zero.
Thus a Companys failure means failure for all its investors.
In China – The Public is Absolute or the Common Man
China puts everything including Freedom or Human Rights above the Common Man.
So in China when a Collapses - the System will first Force a company to pay back its investors.
The Law never interferes
The Company has to pay back its investors by selling Assets, swapping Assets etc.
This means Assets of a Company can be disposed off in weeks rather than months or years.
And thus Investors almost always get between 55% - 100% of what they invested
IN the United States – Value is all about Perception
US doesnt like the word ‘Assets’ or ‘Profits’
They like ‘ Potential’ or ‘Expansion’
This means many Companies in US are almost always heavily bloated with very little Real Assets
So in a sense US is mostly like India. They do nothing until a company folds and then its Chapter 11 and in some cases - FBI investigations or SEC investigations
So when a Company crashes - its Perception or Potential crashes and its Value crashes.
In China – Value is all about ASSETS
China doesnt like words like ‘Potential’ or ‘Closing a Deal’ etc.
They like Hard Core Assets - Land, Contracts, Trade Deals, Gold, Jade, Coal , Gas Pipelines are what they love.
So when a Company crashes - It always has Assets to back it up and these Assets manage to salvage a big chunk of Value
So thats what is helping China ignore Evergrande or even a Real Estate Crisis while if this was happening in US or even India – people would be scrambling for cover.
Yet while Economists are good – they simply dont think like a Chinese or know the Chinese System
My Associate Lawyer in Singapore told me how Westerners focussed on Huge Office Space whereas a CHinese office was a small 15X10 enclosure and yet you had 10 times larger deals floating through the same.
Likewise Most Western Personal Debts are based on paperwork etc. Most Chinese Personal Debts are given based on just the mans face and his Chop (Chop is a personalized Stamp like thing with Unique Chinese characters)
So those who make Predictions on China – Just don’t understand how China works
Its why Singapore never makes Predictions on China. They simply report the US Predictions and Laugh because They are Chinese too.
Likewise South Korea understands the Chinese Way as does Taiwan and even HK
That’s why South East Asia really didn’t care too much about Evergrande. They just reported what the West said but ignored it.
That’s why South East Asia scrambled in Panic when Lehman Brothers folded. They also know how US works and knew how big a crisis it was.
Just change your glasses and wear a Chinese one – and you will see just how different Chinese Business is compared to the Western models
Why are Americans leaving America?
I really can only answer for myself.
I have been living in Europe on and off since 2000. I moved first for work reasons.. I opened a European office of my company in Berlin. I kept my home in Colorado and would commute every 6 weeks. In 2010 I finally sold everything in the US and moved permanently to Latvia.
I moved permanently to Europe for a number of reasons:
The cost of health insurance and healthcare was becoming insane. As I got older I knew that I would need a dependable healthcare system where I did not need to concern myself with any pre-existing conditions. In Europe I did not need to worry about healthcare. I get top notch healthcare and never have to worry about pre-existing conditions or expensive health insurance.
I really enjoy the multitude of cultures here in Europe. I enjoy exploring, learning about cultures, languages, foods and history. Now I can get in my car, drive a while, cross a border and be in another world. I can explore millennia of history everywhere I go.
I really got tired of the consumer society that America has become. People go way out on a limb to buy the latest crap that they do not even need. There is constant propaganda to buy, buy, buy. It becomes a mindset. Even after all these years I am still getting out of that programming. Maybe because some of that has spread to Europe but it is no where near as bad.
I no longer wanted to be around all the willfully ignorant, bigots, idiots, morons, closed minded assholes, and greedy sociopaths in America. I did not want to walk into a restaurant, bar or doctor’s office and have Fox playing on the TV polluting the environment. I wanted to be out of the right wing propaganda bubble that America was surrounded by. I saw this getting worse every year. I watched as the right wing influence in the media grew. I watched as the right wing Christians and conservatives infiltrated our schools, military, police forces, corporations, media, government, bureaucracies and every other aspect of society. It got to the point where there were too many acquaintances and colleagues who I could no longer even be around. More and more they felt it was acceptable to be openly bigoted and hateful towards ‘others’ and those who they deemed different or less than themselves. I could see the writing on the wall and saw where America was headed. So I left it all behind. I am glad I did. After Trump was elected I realized I no longer had a country. That America had gone so far downhill that I could no longer live there even if I wanted to. I know that even after Trump is gone the trumpistas will still be loud and proud, creating chaos for their corporate masters and destroying our country. I prefer being far away from that toxic environment.
No place is perfect. Every country has its pluses and minuses. I guess, if we have the opportunity to move to a place where we feel more comfortable we should.
Why has the meat pie not seen much popularity outside of New Zealand, the UK, and Australia?
They’re popular in New England, though they’re not the same.
Aussie/Kiwi meat pies (in my experience) are kind of their own thing. They’re made primarily with ground meat (usually beef,) onion and bbq/tomato sauce. They’re delicious (and plentiful.) Meanwhile the British eat more kinds of pies than I have managed to try.
Here in New England, we eat Shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie, which I realise are popular elsewhere.
We also eat the style popular in the Canadian maritimes — this is the type my family have always eaten, and here’s how I make them. Note that these use “ordinary” pie crust, as you’d use for apple, top and bottom. This will make a 9-inch pie:
NOTE that I buy the cheapest cuts of meat available. No need for anything fancy; just whatever’s on sale.
Arrange your lower crust by itself in the pie plate and pre-bake at 125C until golden.
Dice your meat into 2.5 cm (one inch) cubes, and brown the meat in a bit of butter in a frying pan until it is seared on the outside.
Put the meat, onion, and savory (or sage & thyme) in a stew pot, and add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to barely simmering, and simmer, covered, for 1.5 to 2 hours, checking every half hour to add water to keep the meat covered as necessary, until a piece of meat will just about fall apart when you squash it with a fork..
Remove from heat, and pour everything into a colander to strain it. Let it cool in the colander while you prepare the potatoes.
Peel and dice your potatoes, and boil them the same as if you were making mashed potatoes. When they’re done, strain out the water, add the lard, and then mash in the usual way. No lumps! Be thorough. Don’t add milk to these… just thoroughly mashed potatoes and lard. The potatoes are the binder that will hold your filling together. Canadian/New England pies don’t slouch and run the way some others do. They’re more like a pork pie.
Return to your cooled meat. Examine all your cooked pieces, and scrape away or remove any fat or gristle that remains (most of it will have boiled away.)
Now put the meat/onions in a mixing bowl, and start adding the potato/lard mixture, mixing/stirring as you go. Don’t worry that the meat falls apart as you mix. It will do that. But do try to keep it as intact as possible, so there are some big chunks in each slice.
Add salt and plenty of ground black pepper. When the filling is mixed, and tasting good, fill your (pre-cooked) lower crust, add your top crust, cut some vents, and bake at 175 deg C until the top crust is done, usually about 40 minutes or so.
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Why has China chosen to remain silent regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
First, China has not been silent. Even before the war, China had been pressing for regional peace talks. But guess what, the West prefers to dig up dirt from the Beijing Olympics… I mean… I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The West should be like this: Who cares, we need the whole world to know the evil of the Olympic Games. Putin and Ukraine can wait.
Second, China knows better that internal affairs are usually better handled internally. The history between Russia and Ukraine goes back to 1991. Better to let Russia and Ukraine resolve these issues internally.
Third, I did not see the West upset when two US presidents destroyed three Middle Eastern countries in the space of 20 years, one of them for a bag of washing powder. Where were the ABC, BBC, CNN and the rest of the media when millions of refugees poured into the EU, hundreds of thousands were made homeless and countless civilians died? No, it’s all cool and normal 😀 They don’t even deserve to be in an entertainment column reporting on Brad Pitt’s facial (no offense, he’s a great actor).
Conclusion:
When things fall apart, blame China.
When things get better, talk down China.
When things are no longer things, guess what, China! 😀
Chinese Girl
Why does the United States have so much freedom compared to other developing nations?
Um, what freedoms do Americans have? Not too many I can think of.
Many Americans don’t have the freedom to:
have affordable housing — homelessness is rampant in all the major US cities
have affordable health care — many go bankrupt over medical bills
be safe from gun violence — mass shootings occur on a daily basis!
be safe from systemic racism — BLM and “I can’t breathe”
be safe from a pandemic — USA has over a million Covid deaths!
have a living minimum wage — minimum wage is stuck at 1960s level
be safe from mass incarceration — the highest level and highest rate in the world
express their political opinions on social media — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. practice massive censorship
The list is endless.
So do tell me what these American freedoms are.
Are you fond of Australia?
Unlike many Australians, my husband and I had to make an active choice on where to live when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child. We were living in London at the time, owned our own flat, both had good jobs, and loving being so close to everything (travel was our lifeblood.)
Before five years in the UK, we had spent a year travelling through South America, and before that, five years in New Zealand, so hadn’t lived in Australia for more than a decade. So our dilemma was to stay in London, go back to New Zealand, or go home to Australia.
Both of our families lived in Australia, so clearly that was a factor, but we were never going to live close enough to them for it to be a major factor: my parents live so far north there are very few jobs for my husband there, and my inlaws lived at the other end of the state, where we’d gone to uni and started our working lives. We wanted to try something else.
Australia won, in the end, for pretty shallow reasons. Bigger houses, more outdoor space for kids to play, an economy that meant it was possible for us to live on one income for as long as we wanted to. My job was not a child-friendly one, involving long hours and lots of travel, so I chose not to work, and then to work from home.
We ended up in Melbourne because that’s where the first decent job offer came from, and I was seven months pregnant at the time and fairly keen to settle down. It was a blessing in disguise – Sydney (where we’d mostly been looking) was much more expensive housing wise, and the cooler, wetter Melbourne winters weren’t really a problem after our years in London.
(Top secret: when the sun comes out in a Melbourne winter, it is pure paradise on Earth. Not dissimilar to a UK summer, in fact.)
Sure, the summers can be hellishly hot, but the humidity is generally low, and waiting for the change (when the cool front comes through on the wind change, bringing a drastic drop in temperature and often a spectacular storm) is the state sport. (They’ll try and tell you its that AFL, but believe me – it’s waiting for the change. Watching it come on the radar and the whole household moving out onto the verandah just to FEEL the first kiss of cold air. )
We live where we live (out on the leafy suburban fringe) because I like to walk a lot and love having the choices of the sealed paths along the Yarra, the Plenty and Diamond Creek, or the wild bush tracks where you can feel dirt under your feet. If we want to have a long weekend away, sure, we can’t go to Paris or Rome or Seville any more, but there are a million little towns between Adelaide and Sydney along a spectacular coastline. Some places are completely undeveloped because of national park protection and it’s not hard to find somewhere almost empty once you figure out where to look. (Even on the Great Ocean Road.)
Melbourne is one of the great cultural capitals and we try to take advantage of that, but mostly don’t – we came home for the outdoors, and the bush, and space and quiet and privacy. Getting up to the city is actually quite easy – we live five minutes away from a railway station and its a 50 minute trip at slowest – and I’d be commuting that every day if I worked in the city. (Most people do.)
Sure, the traffic is worse than it used to be (isn’t it everywhere), and housing is more expensive than it was (isn’t it everywhere), but no one can take away the blue mornings in July that make you feel so alive, or the exhiliration of the change after a run of 40 degree days. Spring and Autumn, cool mornings, warm afternoons … perfect weather. (I like storms.)
As a parent, I love the fact that my children could attend good local schools and still get a solid education, but in Melbourne I have a massive choice of independent school options as well – we chose Montessori, but have a Steiner school, several good Catholic schools and several non-denominational independent schools nearby as well. Yes, we are saving money towards our children’s tertiary education because Australian university courses are way more expensive than they used to be, but they are still subsidised by the government and won’t be out of reach for our kids even if we don’t manage to save much.
Both of my kids are into high risk sports, and my husband commutes on a bike and races on the weekend, so our family has more contact with the health system than I’d like. Most of our GP and hospital visits are free, and even for xrays and the like, services are heavily subsidised.
The wildlife can kill you but mostly doesn’t want to, and a little bit of common sense goes a long way. (Never put your hand into a hole, never put your foot where you can’t see the ground.) Biggest risk for most people is probably the sun, to be honest – learn to wear a proper hat, and sunscreen, and stay hydrated. If its over 40 degrees, stay out of the sun until its cooler.
Talk to people. Get to know the place – get out of the cities and visit the parks, the beaches, the gorgeous wilderness. Smell the gum leaves, admire the wattle in bloom, see how the colours are different to anywhere else, this place has its own palette, red and yellow and silvery green.
(I like Australia wild and untamed, though suburbia is pretty great.)
How strictly are Chinese people isolated from the rest of the world?
I don’t know. You tell me.
I finished watching The Mandalorian last week.
To my surprise, I quite liked it.
IG-11’s sacrifice scene almost made me shed a tear.
But I still haven’t watched the last season of Game of Thrones.
Or Spiderman: Far from Home.
Most days I work from home from my laptop.
I go out for occasional walks in the park and in the evening I usually go for a run around the neighborhood.
I go to the nearest Tesco once a week to stock up on groceries. I find that on average, I spend about an average of €25 a week for groceries. But last week I broke my budget by €2 when I decided to get a jar of Ovaltine Light. * sad face *
Before I came to Ireland to do my Master’s, I had previously lived in several countries:
Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany.
I’ve also traveled to many more countries than that.
Iceland was a favorite.
I stayed a couple of days in a small town whose entire population is… get this… 200 people.
Last place I traveled to was London, in January 2020.
Five days. Had some Nando’s, tried the buffet at Pizza Hut (so-so), had too many quick meals at McDonald’s. And even had a chicken sandwich at a place called “Chicking” (I assume it’s Chicken + King)
Also, had a great haircut and dye job from a Singaporean hairstylist – there are wayyyyy more Asian hairstylists in London than Dublin.
I don’t think I live an isolated life, although Dublin is currently under Level 5 restrictions, so in that sense, you could say that I’m somewhat isolated because we’re not supposed to travel too far outside of our residence without a good reason (buying groceries would be a good reason, having a party with your mates who live 15 km away would be otherwise)
So, how did I do?
Do you think I’m isolated from the rest of the world?
Is it fair to say that the USA has gone from the greatest country on Earth to a near Third World country? Did conservatives not warn of this happening for the last 70 years?
Is it fair to say that the USA has gone from the greatest country on Earth to a near Third World country?
Yes, I think it’s fair to say that…
Did you know that America’s life expectancy this year dropped to below that of China’s? I’m not pulling your leg.
Life expectancy is one of the crucial factors that determine how well-developed a country is.
Another factor is the level of poverty in the country. In America, there are vast swaths of homeless people in all the major cities. For the supposedly richest nation on earth, this is unconscionable.
Millions of Americans suffer from food insecurity. Food banks are stretched to the limit.
Millions of Americans cannot afford health care, which is considered a fundamental human right around the world.
America has the some of the worst infrastructure in the world, literally crumbling and decaying.
Gun violence is so rampant in America that mass shootings occur on a daily basis! I’m not pulling your leg.
In 2020, 45,000 Americans were killed by guns, according to the CDC. This includes suicides.
Of course, wealthier Americans deny that USA is slipping in quality of life. They’re so insulated from the shit that’s going on around them, they have blinders on.
Economically already surpassed on all parameters of consequence except one and that will also be reached in 2028–30 period. China is already the largest economy in PPP terms, the largest trading nation in the world, the largest industrial base, largest manufacturing capacity, largest tading partner to the most number of countries and it’s BRI project is the largest development and infrastructure project in history.
Technologically hard to tell whether China has already surpassed or has few years more to catch up. My guess is overall China is 95% of the overall US technology framework and architecture. This means in many technology fields China has already left USA behind in the dust and in some fields its at par while in few others its behind. So overall it’s 95% if we have to quantify it.
Sopranos and Lupertazzi’s Sitdown to discuss Ralph – The Sopranos HD
Where are the best meat pies in Australia?
In my opinion, Adelaide, my home town, makes the absolute best pies. One of the downsides of living in the city of Melbourne is that the only meat pies or bakery items I can find are either made by large franchises, and therefore depersonalised, or sold in a packet.
In Adelaide, that is near sacreligious. There is at least one good bakery in the heart of each suburb, which makes everything fresh in store, and typically has upwards of 20 savoury bakery varieties, and even more sweet varieties.
One of my personal favourite locations is Enjoy Bakery on the Parade at Norwood, partially because it was within walking distance(1 hour or so) of my house, but also because they have a ridiculous range, not to mention delicious flavour.
Here is a visual aid:
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Of course, any true Australian would accompany their bakery meal with the following beverage:
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I happen to be holding one of these in my hand at this very moment!
You know someone isn’t Australian when something other than a meat pie comes into their mind when you say ‘pie’, it almost disgusts me that Americans would call a blueberry pie, ‘pie’ as if that were somehow acceptable.
Chinese Girl
What are the most intolerant and ridiculous school lunch policies, where teachers or lunch monitors criticize what you pack for your child’s lunch?
My cousin’s daughter brought home a note from her teacher saying that the lunch she had packaged for her had been thrown away because it was unhealthy and that she owed the school money for the school lunch her daughter had been given. My cousin called her daughter’s teacher to find out what the issue was and apparently the school had banned lunchables so her daughter’s lunch of sliced turkey breast, cheese grapes and yogurt was deemed a lunchable and therefore unhealthy because it included whole grain flatbread. which the teacher insisted were crackers so it was a homemade lunchable and violated the rules . The teacher didn’t care that it was whole grain it was a cracker so it was unhealthy.
My cousin’s set up a meeting with the teacher and the principal and explained exactly what her daughter had brought for lunch including the nutritional information to prove that her daughter’s lunch was indeed healthy then asked provided the menu for the day her daughter’s lunch was throw away. Pizza, corn, a roll and fruit cocktail. The principal apologized and said that it wouldn’t happen again. A few days later letters were sent home explaining that the teacher would be gone for the rest of the year and the students would be getting a new teacher.
Come to find out that the school hadn’t banned lunchables or had any requirements on lunches brought from home but the teacher in question had tried imposing rules on what SHE felt was acceptable lunches and gotten in trouble for throwing away a student’s lunch the year before so she ended up getting fired.
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Nomar
I promised my cat Nomar that I would one day share her story, so here it is –
I was looking for a new cat since one of my others had recently passed on – it had left a void in the house, and he was sorely missed.
My nearby shelter (Paws) had quite a few up for adoption, and a small tuxedo cat caught my eye. When I first asked to see her, I was warned by the staff that she was a bit hostile toward people, but something told me to take a look anyway.
Well, they were more than correct as I was promptly scratched and bitten by the little thing. I was then told that she had arrived at the shelter a few months beforehand and was quite pregnant.
She gave birth to seven kittens soon after, all seven were quickly adopted out when they were ready.
It came to me quickly that Mom would definitely be difficult to find a forever home for. Well, (you guessed it) I could not allow her to sit in a cage forever and then possibly lose her life. My heart would not allow this – I adopted her.
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Once home, to my surprise, my other cat took a liking to her, and they got along very well.
But for myself or any other human – well, she wanted to rip us to shreds immediately.
To shorten things, it took over a year of patience before she began to trust me. Here’s the fun part – one day I awakened to a brand – new cat in my home. It was nothing less than astounding, Nomar had gone through some sort of transformation during the night.
My vicious little girl kitty had suddenly become more than friendly, more like a loving, secure, happy cat.
It came as a total shock to me – she was a changeling. Nomar must have come to a conclusion – accepting me and trusting me completely as her own, to have forever.
Later I found that she had decided to love everyone else as well, friends, neighbors, even total strangers.
If there is such a thing as a miracle, this was it.
Through the years the two of us were tight as a knot, always together. She was very intelligent, inventing her own games to play, learning constantly and just plain loving her life, and I sure never regretted bringing Nomar home, a very, very special cat indeed.
I often think of what might have been. This wonderful, happy, trusting kitty may never have existed.
Of course, someone else may have felt the same as I did and adopted her, but to me – I was the lucky one.
Her real personality came alive when she realized no one would hurt her, ever. I can’t imagine what a waste it could have been.
We loved each other tremendously until that awful day came when she left our world. But I will forever remember Nomar, the sweetest little creature in the universe.
I believe that I gave her the best 15 years that a cat could have. Rest in peace Nomar. Hope I did you justice with this.
I will love you until I die.
Ralphie Figured Out Who Told Johnny Sack Of The Joke – The Sopranos HD
Why is China such a nightmarish country? China literally seems like the stuff of nightmares.
Because you don’t know the first thing about China. You need to visit China before talking shit about it.
Your understanding of China is based on Western media propaganda garbage.
Millions of foreign tourists visit China every year. They see China as a magnificent and beautiful country.
There is no substitute for your own eyes and experience. Stop reading Western media rubbish and go to China!
Why is the United States considered “the land of the free”? Is it because of all the free stuff that the government provides?
Yes it is a land of free money. Since Bush they have given out over 10 trillion dollars to Americans and American companies to buy its own shares. That is 10′000′000′000′000 whic is no different from the communist regime in the 1950s giving out food stamps.
But the sickening thing is the Americans laugh and slur Communism and Socialism. They are doing what Communist and socialist no longer need to do 70 years ago!
The US is broke and bankrupt for at least 30 years now, and totally dependent on printing money like there is no tomorrow doing things no one needs nor wanted and certainly will not pay for. And spending money they do not have.
This will end now. The USD will be used only amongst less than 10 countries within a decade. And this madness will stop and so will America’s hegemony. Unless it wants a 5000% inflation!
Johnny informs Tony about Ralphie’s joke – The Sopranos HD
The Australian Traditional Meat pie!
“This is The Australian Traditional Meat pie! usually eaten for lunch for just watching the aussie rules footy. You can make 1 big meat pie or more little ones from this recipe!”
Add 3/4 cup of the water, bouillon cubes, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano, and nutmeg.
Boil and cover for 15 minutes.
Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth paste; add to the meat mix.
Let cool.
Grease a pie dish and line with puff pastry.
Add the cooled filling mixture; brush edges of pastry with milk or beaten egg; put the pastry top on; press edges down with a fork.
Trim edges and glaze top with milk or beaten egg.
Bake in a very hot oven, 220 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 25 more minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with veggies, fries, or salad.
Is the rest of the world going to have to choose between the US and the West or Russia and China?
They’re basically making that choice now. Most of the world’s nations refuse to side with the white Anglophone countries (USA, UK, Australia, Canada) and most of the countries within the EU…
They refuse to follow Western sanctions against Russia.
They refuse to follow Western sanctions against China. They’re buying 5G equipment from Huawei, for example.
OPEC countries refuse to increase oil production at the West’s behest.
They continue to trade with China and do business with China.
They accept China’s offer to build their infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
They join alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO.
They are moving to de-dollarize, to move away from using the US Dollar.
The world is bifurcating into two distinct spheres…economically, financially, technologically, diplomatically.
I am in the middle of my Chinese national Holiday. You-Tube has penalized me to having a video “spreading medical misinformation”, and I am being tormented by a couple of ‘Merica! folk who want to “kick some slant eyed ass”.
A police officer was standing behind her and happened to hear the amount and saw she was using a cane, struggling to walk back to her car. He went outside and told her to sit in the car as he would pump the gas for her. After a few minutes of getting to know one another, he realized she was really struggling and didn’t have any gas or money left. The $3 will only get her so far. He told her to hang tight- came inside and put another $20 out of his pocket. He went back and finished pumping and she told him her husband had recently passed away and she’s stuck paying all their bills and is behind every month. This $20 really helped her! She would of most likely ended up running out of gas. Nowadays there’s so much negativity towards police officers. No one respects them. We hear all the complaints and “bad” stories. I’m not saying every officer is perfect, I’m sure some are at fault at times. We all make mistakes- but we should all respect, appreciate, and thank them for what they do. Leaving your family every day to try and make sure everyone else’s is safe can be tough. Think about it- who do you call when you’re in danger? Who’s running in harm’s way as you’re running away?
To all the men and women in blue, I THANK YOU for your service!”
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For decades, America has assumed that China would gradually liberalize, open its markets, and improve its human-rights record, but that strategy simply hasn’t worked – is it time to give up on China?
China has not opened up? I’m pretty sure anyone holding that view has not visited China recently.
Go to Beijing or Shanghai or any other big Chinese city. You will find malls that look not much different from Hong Kong or Singapore. They may even be built and operated by conglomerates from these port cities. American fast food, French bags, Swiss watches. Whatever you want you can have. Markets as open as any major international city today.
As for liberalization, more than 150 million Chinese travel abroad each year. That is an astounding number, greater than the population of Japan. Just 40 years ago, the numbers were negligible. But the more incredible number is this: more than 150 million Chinese RETURN HOME. There are no reports of millions of Chinese refugees seeking asylum overseas.
On to human rights. China is behind Singapore in terms of rule of law, and trust in the government internationally. But Singapore still get routinely trashed for the death penalty, caning, inequality and other human rights abuses. We are a common law democracy but there are always murmurs if not shouts of dynastic politics, non-democracy, high political salaries and other evils.
We can never please the west because we are not the west.
China is changing. Warp speed fast. But please temper any judgment with the fact China started from a very low base. China was at war for the better part of 100 years from 1850 to 1949, half of it without a functional central government. Can you imagine 3 generations of anarchy and destruction? What do they call it, dystopia?
The current generation of chinese youth enjoy far more freedoms and privileges than their parents did. The next will, too.
Paulie Gualtieri dethrones Tony Soprano
https://youtu.be/lN5XY-a7BCY
Have you ever met a celebrity and found they were much kinder or ruder than you expected?
Last March, my family was visiting Southern California. They wanted to check out Venice Beach. My daughter loves to work out as much as I do so I suggested we leave the others at the beach and walk over to the original Gold’s Gym, the Mecca of bodybuilding. For the next hour and a half we lifted weights, toured every inch of the place, stared at all the pictures of the famous bodybuilders on the walls, and generally had a great time. We stopped at the gift shop and bought a couple of things to commemorate the day. I finished paying and looked up and pointed near the entrance.
“It’s Arnold,” I said. Sure enough, it was the Terminator himself. My daughter gasped, “Let’s get a picture!”
By the time we got to him he was talking to two guys who were in the gym but came out to meet him. Standing next to them we overheard their entire conversation. He was encouraging them and complementing them on their strength and size. When they left, my daughter asked for a pic with us.
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“Shu-uh”, he replied. We thanked him for his time and he wished us a good day before riding off on his electric bike. He honestly could not have been more gracious or down-to-earth.
Photos of American factories
According to Donald Trump and Joe Biden, American industries will eventually return, and when that does, the American industrial might will be unstoppable. Let’s take a look at some of the factories that will roar back into life.
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If there was ever a movie that relates to the crazy world that we live in today, it is the Peter Sellers movie “Dr. Strangelove”.
Dr. Strangelove LDRip test
And the USA is busy trying to “suppress” and “hurt” Russia…
Russian retail chain ‘DNS’ confirms hack after data leaked online
Russian retail chain ‘DNS’ (Digital Network System) disclosed yesterday that they suffered a data breach that exposed the personal information of customers and employees.
DNS is Russia’s second-largest computer and home appliance store chain, with 2,000 branches and 35,000 employees.
According to the scant details provided in the announcement, a group of hackers residing outside the Russian Federation exploited a security gap in the company’s IT systems and accessed customer and employee details.
“We have already found gaps in the protection of our information infrastructure and are working to strengthen information security in the company,” says the DNS announcement.
While the firm has not provided details on what information was compromised, it clarified that the hackers didn’t steal user passwords and payment card data, as that data isn’t stored on their systems.
DNS data leaked on hacker forum
DNS’ disclosure of a security breach comes hours after a threat actor began leaking the company’s data on a hacking forum, allegedly stolen by a hacking group known as ‘NLB Team.’
The data was allegedly stolen on September 19 and contains full names, usernames, email addresses, and phone numbers of DNS customers and employees for 16 million people.
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Full Article HERE. CIA and NSA been really busy harassing Russia.
Why is democracy not a convenient choice for China?
First of all, you’re talking about liberal Western democracy. This model is based on multiparty elections.
China has a different model of democracy, one that is based on a one-party system.
So it’s incorrect to say that China doesn’t have a democracy. It’s just not your model of democracy.
Second, China’s democratic model has proven to be far more effective for the Chinese. It has enabled China to rise from a totally impoverished nation in 1979 to the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity in just 35 years, an unimaginably short period of time! And it achieved all this without fighting a single war!
No other country in history has risen so large, so quickly, so peacefully. It’s truly an economic miracle.
Third, China did adopt Western democracy back in 1912 when the Republic of China was created. It turned into a colossal disaster. The country was ravaged by warlordism; it was in danger of flying apart at the seams.
Life was bad enough that the Chinese fought a civil war. The ROC was defeated and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rose in its place.
Fourth, the Chinese have seen liberal democracy failing all around the world. Russia adopted democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union and it also turned into a colossal disaster. India’s democracy held back its economic development — by rights, India’s economy should be comparable to China’s today.
Taiwan adopted democracy around 1990 and its economy has suffered chronic wage stagnation ever since. Taiwan’s parliament is infamous for its brawls.
UK’s democracy allowed the country to be royally fucked by Brexit.
USA’s democracy is in total chaos as the country is plagued by endless social and political problems.
Germany’s democracy allowed the country to be fucked by fuel shortages.
Just about all Western democracies have suffered terrible losses from the pandemic.
Why on earth would China consider adopting liberal democracy again??? What would it have to gain?
Killing Heidi – Mascara
Not popular in the USA, but was in Campsie when I lived there. Take a time machine back to pleasanter times.
America Is Successfully Pursuing ESG = Extreme Shortages Guaranteed
Everything that needs electricity is made with the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. In an all-electric world, there will be nothing to power without oil.
Ronald Steinis an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for Heartland, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”
Energy growth, electricity AND the products made from oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil and the fuels to power ships, planes, militaries, and space programs, are directly linked to prosperity and well-being across the globe.
Today, most of the energy the world consumes is from hydrocarbons, with crude oil being the dominant source of transportation fuels. Today, crude oil is the ONLY source for the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil that makes more than 6,000 products for society.
President Biden’s U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections are that world energy consumption of crude oil, coal, natural gas, electricity from renewables, and nuclear will grow by 56 percent between 2010 and 2040. Without any replacements or clones to what fossil fuels can provide the EIA forecasts that fossil fuels will continue to supply nearly 80 percent of world energy use through 2040
President Biden and Sacramento leaders, from Governor’s Brown, Schwarzenegger, and now Newsom, have supported reductions of in-state oil production. And all remain supportive of Biden’s pledge that “we are going to get rid of fossil fuels”.
Another way to interpret Biden and Newsom’s pledge for an all-electric world:
Biden and Newsom are oblivious to the reality that everything that needs electricity is made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. In an all-electric world with JUST wind and solar electricity from breezes and sunshine, there will be nothing to power.
Biden and Newsom believe that the products and fuels manufactured from fossil fuels, are supporting lifestyles and economies, are dangerous and polluting and is causing dangerous climate change.
Biden and Newsom believe that all the infrastructures developed in less than two centuries, from the products manufactured from crude oil, are not needed by future societies, such as medical, electronics, communications, and the many transportation infrastructures such as airlines, merchant ships, automobiles, trucks, military, the space program.
Biden and Newsom believe that an all-renewable electricity system from unreliable weather conditions, WITHOUT the products and fuels from fossil fuels, can work to support a modern economy.
Today, Biden supports and encourages banks and investment giants to collude to reshape economies and energy infrastructure with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) divesting in fossil fuels movement. ESG is an extremely dangerous precedent as the American people never voted to give banks this sort of control over our country.
With no known replacement for crude oil, Biden and the ESG believers need to be careful about eliminating “all” 3 fossil fuels!
America continues to contribute to China’s domination as divesting in crude oil, the same oil that changed the world after 1900, guarantees shortages and inflation in perpetuity of products supporting societies and economies.
It seems obvious that the efforts to cease the use of crude oil may be the greatest threat to civilization. Attempting to attain a decarbonized world like the one that existed in the 1800’s and before, could result in Billions of fatalities for the eight billion on earth from disease, malnutrition, and weather-related deaths, versus the projections of millions of fatalities from changes in climate.
The world leaders are experiencing a “dangerous delusion” of a global transition to “just electricity” that eliminates the use of the fossil fuels that made society achieve so much in a few centuries.
There were almost 700 oil refineries as of January 2020, but as a result on continuous over regulations and permitting delays and the worldwide support of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) to divest in fossil fuels, the right operating model and level of integration will be crucial for survival and sustained profitability of refineries.
Consequently, one in five American oil refineries are expected to cease operations over the next five years. One in five is 20 percent, or almost 140 refineries expected to be shuttered worldwide, resulting in a 20 percent decline in the products manufactured to meet the ever-increasing demands form society. With the reduction in manufacturing capabilities, shortages and inflation in perpetuity are likely the new norm!
As of 2021, there were eighty-eight new facilities in planning or under construction in Asia and Europe is set to see an addition of twelve petroleum refineries.
The amount of oil fed through refineries in Asia has significantly increased in the past three decades as demand for petroleum products surged in developing countries such as China and India.
Today, America’s energy policies support being held hostage to unstable Petro-powers and the vagaries of foreign crude oil supplies to meet America’s demands.
The key challenge is meeting the growing demand for energy in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Energy supplies are crucial to economic growth in both developed and developing countries to power businesses and homes, connect communities across boundaries, provide safe water, move commodities, and ultimately promote human and economic development.
While renewables continue to underperform in the generation of electricity, subsidies continue for wind and solar power plants based on “nameplate ratings”. Wind and solar should be penalized when they cannot deliver that for which they have been permitted. And while America promotes the “nameplate farce” of wind and solar, crude oil continues to be targeted for elimination along with coal and natural gas, even though oil is seldom used for generating electricity.
The unintended consequences of attempting to rid America and the world of crude oil usage are being realized in supply shortages and soaring prices resulting from the elimination of products and fuels manufactured from crude oil that support:
Asphalt for roughly sixty-five million miles of roads in the world
Tires for the 1.4 billion vehicles in the world
Fertilizers to feed the world on this increasingly resource-stretched and crowded earth.
Medical supplies that are primarily made from oil derivatives
Jets that comprise more than 50,000 for military, commercial, and private sector.
Merchant ships that comprise more than 53,000 that move products throughout the world
Vehicles that are mostly made of plastics
Renewables of wind turbines and solar panels that are made from oil derivatives
Simply put, the goal to “electrify everything” is a de facto energy tax on low- and middle-income citizens that could add more instability to already proven unstable power grids.
It is mind boggling that America continuously perpetuates greater reliance on foreign countries for the products demanded by society, and for the exotic minerals and metals to support wind, solar, and EV batteries. America is successfully pursuing ESG, i.e., Extreme Shortages Guaranteed and inflation in perpetuity that is associated with unreliable supplies to meet ever increasing demands.
They are the buzzwords of New York City crime circa 2022: Random and unprovoked.
A chilling spate of recent incidents involving innocent victims runs the gamut from a woman savagely beaten inside a Queens subway station to a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl killed by a stray bullet to a Mexican immigrant nearly killed by a sucker-punch outside a Manhattan restaurant.
The latest terrifying attack took the life of a veteran city EMS lieutenant on her way to grab lunch in Astoria this past Thursday, with a schizophrenic stranger knocking her to the sidewalk before stabbing her 20 times for no apparent reason.
“There’s something profoundly wrong with New York,” said Mary Hassler, 66, an Astoria resident and cosmetics sales person. “The number of these attacks are growing. There seems to be more and more all the time.
Hey, NYC residents voted for this when they voted in a Leftist mayor, leftist city council, and leftist District Attorney. They’re literally getting what they voted for. If you would have asked them if they supported defunding, no cash bail, etc, a few years ago they would have said “yes!”
But the department reports an uptick so far this year in 911 calls involving emotionally disturbed people. Through Sept. 29, police cited an 8% hike with the latest numbers at 131,199 — roughly 500 per day, up from 128,488 over the same stretch of 2021.
And in a year when the NYPD reported a nearly 12% drop in homicides, there was also a citywide 37% jump in robberies and a 43% increase in grand larceny as New Yorkers expressed their fears about the ongoing situation.
Like in California, criminals feel emboldened to do crime. And what does a city council member recommend?
I love the first section, where, under Direct, it’s recommended you “repeat the same statements until the person causing harm corrects their behavior or exits.” Right, right, that’s totally feasible. Of course, they could be exiting because they’ve already filled their bag with goods and it’s time to go.
Several experts reacted to the CEO of McDonald’s suggesting his company could be the next to flee Chicago’s crime wave by telling Fox News Digital that progressive policies and defund the police rhetoric have created a dangerous situation that will cause even more businesses to flee and most negatively impact the most vulnerable communities in the city.
In a mid-September speech, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Chicago is a “city in crisis” and that rising crime has made it more difficult to recruit employees to the company’s downtown West Loop headquarters with many scared to return to in-person work after the pandemic due to safety concerns. (snip)
Crime in Chicago, which has skyrocketed since the Black Lives Matter riots and defund the police rhetoric that evolved from the death of George Floyd in 2020, has been cited by other businesses as the reason to pack up and leave. Heritage Foundation senior research fellow in the Center for Health and Welfare Policy Robert Moffit told Fox News Digital that the exodus leaves lower income workers to fend for themselves in a city where police morale and staffing has plummeted due in part to defund the police rhetoric.
Again, the residents of Chicago advocated for this. They voted fro uber-left wing nuts. Now they’re getting what they asked for and are upset. Too be perfectly honest, I have no sympathy. I do, though, not want them to leave and come to the safer non-loony leftist areas.
Blazing Saddles ( Kansas City Faggots )
The Surveillance State: Intelligence Community Developing AI Tool To Unmask Anonymous Writers
A press release on Tuesday from the ODNI revealed that the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), their research and development arm, is starting work on the Human Interpretable Attribution of Text Using Underlying Structure program – HIATUS for short.
Why couldn’t Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions within China that resist CCP’s rule form a coalition with US, and Japan and other anti-China nations to fight against China and declare independence?
What makes you think that Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are resisting CCP rule?
In a survey of all provinces in China last year on the people’s approval rating for China’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Xinjiang gave the highest approval rating. That is not consistent with a province that resists China’s leadership.
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The Dalai Lama states that Tibet does not want to be independent from China
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Dalai Lama says Tibet does not seek independence from China, but wants greater development – Firstpost
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Tibet does not seek independence from China but wants greater development, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said.
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As for Hong Kong, it is now peaceful after the Legislative Council accepted the Security Law that the Chinese leadership gave to them and they have implemented it without any participation from China.
Stop spreading the US lies against China!
Dr. Strangelove (6/8) Movie CLIP – No Point in Getting Hysterical (1964) HD
In 1967 or ’68, a plumber doing renovation work on a building in a quiet North Center neighborhood of Chicago broke through an old wall to discover a hidden space. Inside this time capsule, hidden for over 50 years, stood a pristine motorcycle. The paint, white rubber tires and even the leather of the seat were incredibly well preserved, and it was soon realized that almost every part of the bike had been meticulously hand crafted.
It was truly an one-off, possibly one of the rarest motorcycles in the world, and the only clue to its origins lay in the name “Traub” which was painted on the tank and cast on the engine covers.
The elderly owners of the building were tracked down and told about the mystery, and they admitted that their son had stolen the motorcycle in 1917; how it came to be walled up in the building is still unknown, and after their son had been killed in the First World War it had been left there all but forgotten.
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Almost every item on it had been engineered and manufactured specifically for this bike; aside from a Schebler carburetor, Bosch magneto, Troxel Jumbo seat and a period wheel rim there are no shared components from any other motorcycle of that era. The pistons are hand made and have gap-less cast iron rings and much of the engineering and machining is years ahead of its time.
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The v-twin engine is unique to the Traub; with a sand-cast, hand-built, 80 cubic-inch side valve motor and a three-speed transmission thought to be one of the first of its kind. The rear brake setup is also unique, consisting of a dual-acting system that employs a single cam that pushes an internal set of shoes, while simultaneously pulling an external set of contracting shoes.
The motorcycle utilizes two clutch levers; the conventional foot-operated mechanism along with a hand lever that sits alongside the fuel tank on the left side. The lever gate for the shifter is also unique, operating what could have been the first three-speed gearbox on an American motorcycle. The transmission has two separate neutral positions, between first and second gear and again between second and third, marked on the shift mechanism with a zero.
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The powerhouse is a beautifully crafted 78ci V-twin engine with a 4in stroke and a 3 7/16in bore; 1,278cc, which was large for the time. (The majority of big displacement motorcycle engines from the Traub’s era were around 1,000cc (61ci). Using a side-valve arrangement, the top of the cylinders feature a gas primer valve, adjustable crankcase breather and unique engine mounts.
After its discovery, the motorcycle was first traded to Torillo Tacchi, a motorcycle shop owner in Chicago, in exchange for a $700 Suzuki. Tacchi restored it and kept the bike for some 10 years. He later sold it to Bud Ekins (Steve McQueen’s stuntman) while Ekins was on set of the Blues Brothers movie in the late 1970s. The Traub was later sold to California collector and restorer, Richard Morris, who then sold it to Wheels Through Time Museum curator, Dale Walksler, in 1990.
It has been on permanent display in the museum collection ever since.
Allegedly the only parts that had to be fabricated in the final restoration were the base gaskets; the bike is so perfectly machined that no other gasket was used anywhere in the engine, one more significant indicator that this was not a mass-production machine.
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For many years a mystery lingered as to who had built the Traub, and whether any other examples existed.
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In the May 25, 1907 issue of Motorcycle Illustrated a letter was printed from a Richard “Traut”, 749 North Paulina Street, Chicago, Illinois;
“Dear Sir – Enclosed find one dollar for which send me The Motorcycle Illustrated beginning with June issue. Also find enclosed picture and specifications of a motorcycle made by myself throughout engine and all. I worked on this cycle about one year, putting in the time only between 7 pm and 11 pm. I also worked Sundays. This motorcycle has no wonderful qualities, but will run as good as any four-horsepower motorcycle I know of.Specifications – Wheelbase, 55 inches; tank capacity, 3 1/2 gallons gasoline, 1 gallon oil, sufficient for 125 miles; power, 4 horsepower; bore and stroke 3 1/4 by 4 inches; auxiliary gasoline tank, 1/2 gallon; speed, more than the roads will stand; perfect grip control; throttle and spark motor is geared 3 3/4 to 1; it has a cycle chain with washers and does good service; has never troubled me yet, and I rode all of 1,500 miles. The belt is not my own idea. Tanks have gauge glasses, so you can see at an instant how much gasoline you have. Hoping to see this in print, I am. “
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Gottlieb Richard Traub is listed in the 1900 census at this address; his occupation was simply noted as “a laborer”.
In the 1910 census a Richard Traub lived at 1520 North Paulina St .,Chicago, with the same family members as resided at 749 North Paulina. He was born on 23rd of March, 1883, in Chicago; of German descent, a common heritage in that neighborhood. In 1910 he was 27 years old, and a now said to be a “toolmaker at a factory”. According to his WW1 draft registration of 1917-18 he was still at 1520 North Paulina, but most interestingly he was then listed as a self employed ‘experimental machinist’. Two years later in 1920 he was at the same address, his occupation shown as “a laborer at an experimenting co.”
By 1930 he had moved to Park Ridge Illinois, possibly as plater or chromer at an experimental company. His 1942 draft registration card has him self employed in Park Ridge. There are references to him building telescopes in Park Ridge in the 1940’s, and he died in 1952 aged 69. He was buried in Concordia Cemetery, Forest Park Illinois.
It should be noted that North Paulina st. in Chicago is in the same neighborhood, and in fact may be the same street, as the building where the motorcycle was found in 1967.
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Garlic-Butter Orzo Chicken Casserole
Find 20 minutes and this luscious, Caprese salad-inspired, chicken casserole can be tonight’s dinner. The trick to the quick prep is coating the raw ingredients with rich and aromatic seasonings before baking. The chicken breasts get rubbed with olive oil, Italian seasoning and a dash of red pepper flakes and placed atop a garlicky, buttery bed of orzo and tomatoes. Then the casserole gets sealed up tight with foil, so the flavors can concentrate and meld in the oven. It won’t take long before you’re enjoying the savory aroma—and flavor—of this dish!
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Ingredients
Garlic-Butter Orzo
1 cup uncooked orzo or rosamarina pasta
1 cup Progresso™ chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
Chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz each)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
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Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. (Official Video)
Protector HMS (A173)
This is a scale model of the HMS Protector. I actually like the design and enjoy looking at this model as it is a true beauty. Please enjoy.
Breaking Bad Season 4: Episode 8: Hector Salamanca spare Gus’s life
When delivering pizza or other food, what is the most surprising thing that has happened to you?
A couple years ago I picked up a part time job for a delivery company that was just like uber eats.
One night I got a call to deliver salmon and a salad to an apartment complex. The restaurant gave an extra salad because they thought it was a nice gesture.
Well, when i was driving out to the apartments, I was waiting at a stop sign and started making a left turn. I didn’t see it right away, but a car was speeding at about 40 in a 25. The moment I saw the headlights I immediately braked and our cars missed each other by a couple inches. Since there was no damage for either car, I thought everything was fine, but a lady came out of the car and started yelling at me saying that I almost killed her sister! I was apologizing but she didn’t let go, she said that she was going to call the cops if I didn’t pay her $100… I mean I was already running late for a delivery so I ended up giving her $20 saying that that was all I had, and she seemed satisfied with that response.
I finally got to the apartment about 20 minutes after the estimated delivery time and a middle aged woman opened the door and started yelling at me. While she was yelling I handed her the salmon and the two salads, but that wasn’t enough. The lady said, “my salmon is mangled, and I didn’t order any salads. WHERE’S MY POTATO.” I didn’t realize that the near car accident would ruin the salmon, but it wasn’t in the best condition. I apologized about the salmon and asked about the potato. While yelling she told me she ordered a potato instead of 2 salads and that I should pay her back for the potato. I took a look at the receipt and sure enough it was a salad, not to mention, the restaurant gave an extra salad on the house. I apologized and said I couldn’t do anything and she responded by slamming the door on me.
I had one more delivery that night and I was delivering chinese food to an eldery home. I buzzed in and a sweet granny opened the door. She gave me a tip in coins while apologizing for how small the tip was. One of the coins was an old timey car wash coins. After such a terrible day, that grandma and her car wash coin made my day.
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The Doomsday Machine in Dr. Strangelove
If living in mainland China is so bad, why don’t Chinese people just leave abroad? Are Chinese citizens forbidden to leave?
It isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s very good for hundreds of millions of people. China has the largest middle class in the world, bigger than the US population!
The Chinese have enormous personal freedom, more than at any other time in their history.
I could go on and on, but the best thing for you to do is to go visit China. You will be utterly amazed. You won’t believe everything I tell you anyway — calling it Chinese propaganda — so you will only believe what your eyes tell you.
What conversations have you overheard in a language they assumed you don’t know?
I was in the metro, going to attend a seminar at Delhi University.
Two guys were standing just next to my seat.
Suddenly, they started speaking in German, not knowing that I too knew German. They were actually practising the language.
The whole conversation was something like this in the German language:
Guy 1 — What did you do the whole day?
Guy 2 — I got up, took bath, dropped mom at the bank, came back home and had breakfast.
Guy 1 — let’s talk about something interesting. Choose a topic.
Guy 2 — hmmm…. Let’s have some casual talk.
Guy 1 — like?
Guy 2 — let’s talk about this girl.
Until now, I was careless but suddenly I became conscious, hearing this. I wondered if they were going to talk about me because there was one more girl sitting nearby.
Guy 1— I like this girl. But I don’t like her blue bag.
(Mmmm…..Mmm…it was me😅).
Guy 2 — but I like her dressing sense. She looks smart.
Guy 1 — what if she is boring.
Guy 2 — what if she is charming.
Guy 1 — You look interested in her.
Guy 2 — Shall I propose to her?
And then, both burst into laughter. I was finding it very difficult to stay calm. I was enjoying their conversation as I was also a student, learning the same language.
While getting down from the metro, I told them in German — “Sie sprechen sehr gut Deutsch.” (You speak German very well.)
On this, they were shocked. Speechless. Now, it was my turn to laugh.
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Fat Dom Gets Whacked By Silvio And Carlo
Why has the US become increasingly unstable in its domestic and foreign policy over the past several decades?
This is the failure of US capitalism.
For the first 200 years of its history, US capitalism worked well. It made America wealthy and prosperous. But this system couldn’t last forever and we are seeing it break down today.
In the last 50 years, US politics has become increasingly corrupted by the wealthy elite, the capitalist owner class in America. The American worker class has become essentially slaves. Their needs are not being met. Health care and housing and education are unaffordable. Homelessness is rampant. Gun violence is rampant. Systemic racism is rampant. Infrastructure is crumbling. Mass incarceration is at the highest level in the world.
Economic inequality is staggeringly high — the top 10% of Americans own 70% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 50% own less than 2%.
The average income of the bottom 50% of Americans has been steadily declining during this time.
US Congressmen are bought and paid for by the wealthy elite. They no longer have the welfare of the people in mind. Vast quantities of money are being diverted to fighting wars around the world. In 1961, President Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of the military-industrial complex (MIC). And we’re seeing the consequences of the MIC’s unbridled power today…
Over $2 trillion were spent on the war in Afghanistan.
We have major humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.
Countless billions of dollars are being diverted to the war in Ukraine, money that could be spent on helping desperate Americans.
The US national debt has surpassed $30 trillion. Can anybody truly wrap their heads around this number?
Corruption is a cancer that’s eating away at America. And there’s no cure or treatment for it. It’s terminal.
Mikey
They love us right back and they show it every single day. It’s been a beautiful lesson to learn.
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We have walked through fire together, Me and my little fire walker.
He has made me feel so brave.
Loving him was like breathing.
Mikey RIP
Mikey
March 7, 2003 – February 16, 2021
Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night (Countdown 1984)
I was in MAJestic training. Living in Ridgecrest, CA.
Is eating out in Asia really as cheap as many people say?
In Beijing, I lived on an amazing breakfast food called Jianbing.
It’s an egg-based pancake with spicy pastes spread on top. You then place a crispy pork belly on top of that, with spring onions etc. and then wrap it all up.
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Here it is being made.
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The finished product.
The price for this magic?
3 Yuan.
That’s under 40 cents in United States currency.
China’s economy is collapsing due to its zero Covid policy and Xi’s arbitrary policies, why are Western politicians still worried about China threats?
China’s Economic Collapse?
Xi Jinping’s dictatorship?
Gosh, there are so many jokes in one question. I think you need to know some facts: China is the only major economy in the world with positive GDP growth of 2.3% year-on-year in 2020, and the top major economy with GDP growth of 8.1% year-on-year in 2021. If that’s a “collapse”, what is progress?
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Also, if you are talking about the Qing Dynasty, then indeed you can describe it as an authoritarian regime, but in 21st century China, I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that “Xi’s arbitrary policies”, the fundamental political system of China is the system of people’s congresses, and all power belongs to the people. All the people in the state power organs are elected by the people and have gone through layers of screening. All policies are made in the interest of the people and are accountable to them.
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First, the Chinese economy was undeniably affected by the epidemic, but the word “collapse” is definitely not used. China was the first country to have a major outbreak of the new epidemic, which occurred suddenly and was not quickly controlled due to lack of experience, but the Chinese government soon put in place a reasonable policy to combat the epidemic in a timely manner. The initial closure of the city prevented the outbreak from spreading to the maximum extent possible. Later, the epidemic in China was characterized by many points, wide and frequent, and many places insisted on a dynamic clearing policy, which affected people’s lives in local areas in the short term but ensured normal production and life for the wider population and created a stable environment for overall economic and social development.
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If these policies were not effective, then China would not have been the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth with a 2.3% year-on-year GDP growth in 2020. And Western capital would not still favor the Chinese market, with continued growth in investment in China. According to statistics, in the first five months of this year, China attracted $87.77 billion in foreign investment, up 22.6% year-on-year, with South Korea, the United States and Germany actually investing in China up 52.8%, 27.1% and 21.4%, respectively. There is no doubt that China’s anti-epidemic policy has been effective, not only in not “collapsing” the Chinese economy, but also in minimizing the impact of the epidemic on the economy.
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Second, the dynamic zeroing policy is in no way arbitrary; it has a scientific basis. Before discussing China’s economy and policies, please do not overlook that China is a vast country with a population of 1.4 billion. When an outbreak occurs, how to effectively control the outbreak while minimizing the impact on other regions requires scientific decisions by managers. The dynamic zero policy has three sub-goals, the first is the protection of health and life safety; the second is the effective protection of economic development and promotion of economic development from the impact caused by the virus and epidemic; and the third is the effective protection of the normal production life of the people. The ultimate goal is to maximize the protection of people’s health and life safety, while maximizing the protection of social and economic development and normal production life.
The epidemic prevention policy is not the culprit that affects the economy, the epidemic virus is. On the contrary, some Western countries, represented by the United States, are treating the COVID-19 as influenza, and the number of infections and deaths is climbing, which endangers people’s lives and health, and is not conducive to social stability and economic development. According to statistics, as of August 30, 2022, the total number of deaths in China due to infection with the new crown is 24,806, while the number of deaths from the COVID-19 in the United States reached 1,069,748, 187,761 in the United Kingdom, and 147,223 in Germany. Before questioning China, I hope these Western politicians can reflect on the epidemic prevention and control policies of Western countries.
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Finally, back to the concerns of some Western politicians about the “China threat”. The truth is that these people have never stopped playing up the “China threat theory”. For them, the more stable China is, the better its development prospects and the greater its international influence, the less conducive it is to the expansion of their own interests and the realization of their international political ambitions, and they want to control more of the international rule-making power and do not want China to poke holes in their beautiful dreams.
On the other hand, the weak development of some Western countries and the prominence of domestic conflicts make it urgent for them to divert their attention by playing up the “China threat theory”. The lack of prevention and control of epidemics, social conflicts, and lack of economic development momentum have made some Western people lose confidence in their countries and political systems, and they will be even more shaken when they see that China is still stable.
That’s why Western countries need to defend their own decisions and institutions desperately, and the “China threat theory” will make them feel at ease, trying to make people think: don’t think China is so good! China’s development is a threat to the world! How else can they maintain their long-standing sense of superiority?
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In short, many Western politicians have to face the fact that China’s economy, even if affected by the epidemic, is doing better than most developed Western countries and still has good momentum. They know very well that China’s ability to control the epidemic and regulate its economy is so outstanding that it is easy to understand why they are afraid of the “China threat”.
Dr. Strangelove- “Wing Attack Plan R?”
ASEAN
Southeast Asia makes up ASEAN. It sounds like SEA is on par if not surpassing their European Union counterparts.
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Blazing Saddles (3/10) Movie CLIP – Harrumphing with the Governor (1974) HD
The US has two options with China, prepare to be #2 or stop China from being #1. What’s the best option for the US?
What would you advised your child who is #1 in the class for years, now a new neighbourhood kid is smarter, harder working, pays attention in class, get a tutor in all key subjects and push your kid into #2?
Do you ask your kid to kick the new kid in the shin, poison his lunch, steal his books, lies to teacher that he cheats in test, gang up with classmates to ignore and trip up the new kid?
That is what the US did precisely.
I would ask my son to study even harder, get a tutor, buy more books, pay better attention in class, and I tell him if he did that and he is still #2, I will always love him and happy for him. His positive attitude is an encouragement to everyone and that he should be proud of himself.
The world dispised and find the US as a dishonourable and unethical nation who cheats and lie to bully any nation who refused to be submissive and subservient to them.
Hence its global stature is down in the drains.
Sugababes – Push The Button (Official Music Video)
Have you ever tried to annoy a scammer who called you? If so, what happened?
Yes!!!! Now they’re all automated robot calls. but, I liked “live” ones. Especially if I was bored.
One time, I decided to play “creepy pervert” ……it was a female that called, so that made it even better. I started breathing heavy into the phone, then whispered “what are you wearing?….tell me as you are taking it off”….CLICK!!!!!!!
Another time, I answered and he said “Hello, How are you today!”………well…….he ASKED!!!!! so, I told him…..”well, I woke up in a good mood, but as I was fixing breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese, some bacon, I like it crispy, never cared for soggy half cooked bacon, crispy is better. Well, I dropped my favorite coffee mug. It broke into a million pieces! I tried to fix it, but I had NO glue! can you imagine?! I ALWAYS have glue in the junk drawer. do you have a junk drawer? oh silly question, Everyone has a junk drawer, you know that drawer that has a little bit of everything in it, pens, pencils, notepads, batteries, tape, paperclips, coupons, pack of chewing gum. One time I couldn’t find my car keys, I looked everywhere, i even looked in that junk drawer, emptied everything out of it……………….I just rambled ON and ON til he just hung up.
Another time……I did “the paranoid person”…….”hello how are you today?”…….How did you get this number? I know its you! you’re never going to get me!! Ive seen you, outside my house, in the dark! you think I don’t know you are there, I know you’re there! I see you! you’re there right now aren’t you!?
When i don’t have time to play, I just say Oh!!! hi! great, um, can you hold on for a minute? and I put the phone down……go do whatever, dishes, vacuum, etc. every now and then I pick it up Are you still there? just give me one more second!…put phone down again.
…smoking a cigarette. Horrible habit, I know. 4 young men rushed me, decided they wanted my car, beat me up, and wanted my keys. I told them the keys were in the house. They decided to go in. What they weren’t expecting were my 2 80lb Pit Bulls. They are sweethearts and the kindest dogs you’ll ever know but protect their home and owner with finesse. My beautiful babies charged these assholes and stood over me as I lay on the floor of my garage, forever protecting me. They are rescues. Unwanted dogs. They saved my life. Please consider adopting a rescue. They might save your life too.
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What is some dish you ate that was so delicious that you’ll remember it for life?
Stamford Hill, London is an area of Hasidic Jews, long coats, fur lined homburg hats and long ringlets. I used to live there.
I came across a tiny Jewish shop advertising “Corned beef sandwiches”
Two huge slabs of bread with an inch of corned beef between, some hot mustard and sauerkraut on the side and a couple of pickles.
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That was 50 years ago and I can still taste it.
Why don’t the Chinese people get rid of Xi Jinping?
Um, why should they? Xi Jinping is one of the greatest leaders China has ever had.
Under his watch, China…
eradicated absolute poverty in 2020, elevating over 850 million people, according to the World Bank
added over 30,000 km of new high-speed rail to the existing 9,000 km
launched the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history known as the Belt and Road Initiative
largely eliminated corruption within the Chinese government
led the world in 5G, AI, mobile payments, quantum computing, Thorium reactors, etc.
landed on the dark side of the moon (Chang’e 4)
landed a rover on Mars (Zhurong)
built its own international space station (Tiangong)
started building supercarriers, the only other country with this capability (Fujian)
developed one of the world’s best stealth fighters, the Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon”
developed operational hypersonic missiles (which USA lacks!)
hosted the magnificent 2022 Olympic Winter Games
forged powerful new alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO
eliminated terrorism in Xinjiang through the wildly successful deradicalization program
restored peace and stability to Hong Kong with the national security law
protected the people from COVID-19 — only 5,226 Covid deaths!
I’ll stop here ‘cuz I don’t want to embarrass China.
Xi Jinping has been so successful as a leader that China’s government garnered the highest level of trust in the world in the last 5 years!
Should China abandon its Made in China 2025 plans to avoid stepping on the USA?
No.
Not at all.
China should add China 2030, China 2035, China 2040….. on top of China 2025.
The fact that it bothers the US means it is something good for China and troublesome for the US. Hence it must and it will persue more vigorously. Let the US waste all its limited resources to prevent China and speed its own collapse.
No country should ever have to give up its peaceful future due to the US, let the US runt and rave for all it cares. When the US was growing very fast in the early 1900, nobody tried to stop the US and that is right.
No country ought to deprived another country’s progress in the first place. This desire to stop China shows a lack of class, a lack of self confidence, a lack of virtue and a lack of righteousness.
Why do majority of Singaporeans have neutral opinions on everything, even during times of injustice? Many Singaporeans told me that they are neutral on Ukraine war and Uyghur genocide.
The Singaporean population is 74.3% Chinese. They understand what is happening back in China. And Singaporeans as a whole are very intelligent people capable of critical thinking and pragmatism. They see things as they are. They aren’t falling for Western propaganda on Ukraine or the Uighurs. They know the truth is more complex than how the US makes it out to be. Although, their government sided with the US on Ukraine and I was disappointed to see that. I hope that doesn’t become a trend in Singaporean government. But it also seems that their official stance as a government is neutrality.
But the people themselves are very clear headed. I have confidence in the people of Singapore to look after their interests of making Singapore a strong country and to do what is best for their people.
Best of Dr. Strangelove
How are weebs seen in Japan?
Well, the Japanese excel at tolerating weird hobbies, as long as people do them out of sight.
But yes, being a hardcore anime fan does carry a stigma, even in Japan. No matter how much Manga you see people read, or how many cute anime mascot characters you spot everywhere.
Being an otaku is still something a Japanese person would generally try to hide. Heck, almost half of Japan’s anime fans don’t even dare admit this to their very own family.
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Also, don’t believe everything you see on the net.
This for example, despite being widely shared, is 100% fake.
Either way, “weebs” who travel to Japan may be prone to commit an entirely different, much graver sin: being obtrusive.
Some will expect Japan to conform to their fantasies. Some will act the way they see Japanese act in anime (bluntly). Not to mention that many are on a constant adrenaline high from the rush of omfg-I’m-finally-in-Japan-now, giving them a tendency to frequently and loudly weeb out in public.
Of course reality catches up with them.
But until then, many not only act like freaks, but like obnoxious freaks.
Words fail me to express how much you just don’t do that as a Japanese.
Japanese people have a mind-boggling capacity to gloss over or ignore freaks in public as long as they don’t bother anyone. Being obtrusive or even obnoxious however? That is close to being the ultimate sin there. It immediately places you at the bottom of the respect ladder.
Will the Japanese tell foreigners that?
Surprise, generally not.
Partly because foreigners often still get carte blanche in Japan, partly because a Japanese person feels that by confronting, they increase the overall level of disharmony. Meaning they won’t do it unless they need to “protect” others. Like… when other guests at a restaurant feel disturbed.
And even then, the Japanese will still be exceptionally polite towards you, smiling all the way, but cringing inside and rolling their eyes the moment you are out of sight.
So there. “Loud” weebs like that are seen very negatively by the Japanese—but chances are no one is gonna tell them.
Want to dodge that effect?
Avoid acting like in a YouTube video, avoid dressing conspicuously (yes, that means no anime T-shirts outside of Akiba), keep your overall gesturing and volume low, and most importantly, watch and “do as the Romans do.”
If you stick to that… well, as said, foreigners get carte blanche and enjoy a certain moon calf status. This includes being a “weeb.”
Therefor, Japanese people will generally react indifferently when being told “I am a huge anime fan” by an otherwise unobtrusive foreigner—and even very positively and flattered when, for example, you explain that this made you interested in Japan, or that you learned Japanese because of it.
Are the Japanese the only people that eat multiple carbohydrates in one meal, like eating fried rice as a side dish to white rice or eating ramen with another small bowl of rice?
You haven’t visited the UK and Ireland have you?
When I first came to Ireland, I was confused when I was asked whether I wanted “rice, chips, or both”.
“Both?”
“Yeah. Rice and chips.”
Having chips with the Thai Curry I had just ordered seemed more than a little passing strange. It was unfamiliar, uncharted territory. Without GPS.
Since I am somewhat …. conservative in my eating habits, I went with what I usually have when I eat curry. (That would be rice, in case you were wondering).
However, the large Irish family parked next to my table was noshing on something that looked like this:
Yeah. Rice and chips. On the same plate.
(I don’t own any of the pictures below)
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I have seen Irish friends eating something called a crisp sandwich.
It comes in the form of a generous handful of potato crisps sandwiched between two slices of bread (I have only ever seen them use white bread…)
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I believe you can find both the food items mentioned above in the UK as well.
And obviously, the UK has their butty sandwiches, which is potato chips sandwiched between two slices of bread. (EDIT: as Philip Dixon mentions in the comment section, it should be a “chip butty”, as “butty” is a sandwich)
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I confess – I haven’t tried any of the above dishes.
They scare me.
A lot.
By Dawn’s Early Light 1990
This is the FULL MOVIE. If you have the time, then watch it.
This will be considerably uglier than the last depression. Back then people still had a clue on how to survive with gardening, cooking, canning, hunting, fishing, and sewing skills. Almost all still had wood or coal burning stoves. They also lived in communities of extended families, which does help in creating a micro supply chain of helping hands and necessities. Payment of government debt will pretty much limit the bankers response. Of course we could go the route of a debt jubilee. Would the funny money bankers allow it? Or are they just the giddy architects of financial collapse for the great banker reset?Sooner or later the grids will be going down, so good luck to all. My best advice is get yourself the access to clean water, buy warm clothing, and get a coal/wood stove if you can.Posted by: Old and Grumpy | Oct 3 2022 19:14 utc | 27
Some stories and news article for your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy them.
FDI into China Rises 16.4%YoY in Jan-August 2022
Uh? I thought that China was “isolated” and collapsing?
Foreign direct investment into China climbed 16.4% year-on-year to CNY 892.74 billion (USD 138.41 billion) in the first eight months of the year, China’s commerce ministry data showed.
In dollar terms, FDI rose 20.2%.
Foreign investment into the service sector climbed 8.7%, while high-tech industries FDI inflow surged by 33.6%.
Among the main sources of investment, FDI into China increased mainly from South Korea (58.9%), Germany (30.3%), Japan (26.8%), and the UK (17.2%). less
2022-09-19
“I was on my usual running path when I heard an older man yelling loudly enough for me to hear through my headphones. “Sexy lady, hey hey hey sexy lady!” He kept screaming it and I decided to just ignore him and keep running.
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This ignoring seemed to piss him off so he lashed out and said “eff you, dumb B****!” Now let’s keep in mind he was well-dressed and appeared to be on his lunch break from an office job.
That was my trigger point. The B word. I ripped off my headphones prepared to stand up for myself when this little boy who was walking alongside his mother and little sister in a stroller looked at the guy and said, “Hey. That is not nice to say to her and she didn’t like you yelling at her. You shouldn’t do that because she is a nice girl and I don’t let anyone say mean things to people. She’s a girl like my sister and I will protect her.”
The man was immediately embarrassed and started gathering his lunch to leave. I asked the mother if I could hug the little boy (his name is James) and I told him how grateful I was for him. He just shrugged and said “Well I just wanted to make sure your heart was okay.”
According to his mother, this is a typical day in the life of James. Thank you so much to the mothers and fathers who are raising the next generation to be brave and courageous, and to be little earth angels for all. I am so touched.”
USS GERALD R. FORD AIRCRAFT CARRIER STRIKE GROUP DEPLOYING TO . . . NATO
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) departed Naval Station Norfolk, on Oct. 4.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is deployed to conduct operations alongside NATO Allies and partners to enhance integration for future operations and demonstrate the U.S. Navy’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and conflict-free Atlantic region.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) deployment includes:
Carrier Strike Group (CSG 12),
Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW 8)
and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2.
Deploying with the group will be Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60); the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS McFaul (DDG 74), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116); the Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753); the Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Joshua Humphries (T-AO 188), and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5).
Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses
The United States is run by idiots
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Livin’ Ain’t Livin’ – FIREFALL
Are you sick of the tipping culture in the United States?
Yup.
The breaking point for me was when I got a letter from a major hotel chain saying the people who clean the rooms don’t make much money, and encouraging guests to leave them a tip.
Rather than, you know, the hotel paying them a living wage.
From the very beginning, tipping has been a way for restaurant owners to underpay staff, and shift the burden of decency from themselves to the customers.
For a long time I believed the story that tipping somehow encouraged better service, because if I wasn’t satisfied I could leave a smaller tip. Couple of problems with that theory. The first is, by the time the bill comes I’ve already suffered from the unsatisfactory service. Leaving a lousy tip might satisfy my thirst for revenge, but it doesn’t make my evening any more enjoyable.
Second, often service suffers for reasons unrelated to the server. When the kitchen gets slammed, or the steak gets overcooked and has to be redone, the food comes slowly. I mentally reduce the tip, even though there is nothing the server could have done about either situation.
Third, the reality is that most people tip within a fairly narrow range. You really don’t have much more control than you would if the tip were built in.
Fourth, some restaurants let the servers keep their tips, while others pool them and divide them according to the owner’s wishes (meaning he/she can underpay line cooks, busboys and dishwashers as well). The direct relationship between tip received and money pocketed is illusory.
Fifth, it has led to a restaurant culture in which waitstaff can be unbearably chatty. In much of Europe that’s considered annoying; a server’s job is to keep an eye on the table, and be ready to respond promptly if anything is needed. British television regularly mocks the hyper-enthusiastic American server.
Sixth, WHY IS THERE A TIP JAR AT STARBUCKS? They make my coffee. I pay for my coffee. Their employer pays them. Why do I have to stand there while the person at the register keeps glancing from me to the tip jar, making me feel like a heel if I don’t toss in a little extra for someone who is doing their job? We don’t tip doctors or nurses or the guy who adjusts your brakes (though tipping him might be wise). Why have we decided that everything food-related can’t simply be paid for?
Don’t get me wrong (probably a bit late for that request): If you think someone has gone beyond expectation for you, hit ’em with some cash. That, to me, is a real tip. The rest is just hiding the real cost of your meal, and making life easier for the owners.
Powderfinger – (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind [Official Video]
BREAKING NEWS: LARGE EXPLOSION AT SOUTH KOREA AIR BASE
There has been a large explosion at a South Korean air base; the closest base to the North Korean border.
Photos and videos from social media show what appears to be a missile launch from the ground up into the sky, but seconds later, something on the ground exploded.
Locals say the South Koreans fired a missile interceptor that MISSED it’s target allowing the inbound missile to hit successfully.
This is DISPUTED by other sources that say the explosion was the result of an “accident” at the base, although no one is saying what the “accident” was.
But the photo above clearly shows the launch contrail of a previously fired missile, illuminated by the explosion and fire below. So it is clear just from this empirical evidence that some type of missile WAS fired into the sky BEFORE whatever caused the explosion, actually hit.
More details as they become available
What are some underrated turning points in history?
In the morning of May 3, 1986, China Airlines Flight 334 took off from Changi Airport in Singapore. Its final destination was Taipei, but it was scheduled to make stopovers in Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport and Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport.
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On its way to Bangkok, the plane suddenly shifted course. One of the plane’s pilots, Wang Xijue, got into a fight with the other pilots, subdued them, and took over the plane. He then made contact with aviation authorities in mainland China and landed in Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, where he defected.
Wang Xijue, a pilot of Taiwan’s China Airlines Flight 334 who orchestrated the hijacking that enabled him to defect to mainland China. He lives on the mainland today.
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When news of the hijacking reached Taiwan, the government of Chiang Ching-kuo was faced with a dilemma. Since 1979, Chiang Junior had insisted on not making any contact, compromise, or negotiation with mainland China. But now, a plane from Taiwan had unexpectedly ended up in “enemy territory,” leaving Chiang with two choices: he could look tough and refuse to enter talks with mainland officials, but risk not getting his plane back — and the crew in it who didn’t want to defect. Or he could make contact with the mainland to get his plane back, but risk upending a longstanding policy and allowing future defections.
In the end, Chiang settled on talking with the mainland, and sent officials to Hong Kong to meet up with mainland officials to get Flight 334 back. Finally, the plane and crew were returned to Taiwan, but Wang, who had defected to visit his family on the mainland, stayed behind.
The hijacking of China Airlines Flight 334 was a pivotal moment in Cross-Strait relations. By negotiating with mainland China to get his plane back, Chiang Junior opened the gates for further contact with the mainland. A year later, the government allowed military veterans who had fled to Taiwan during the civil war to visit their family in the mainland, seeing no reason to keep them in Taiwan when one of their own (Wang was a former air force pilot) managed to break loose. Slowly, the scope of people allowed to travel between mainland China and Taiwan widened until it included basically everyone.
Today, over a million Taiwanese live in mainland China, and people from mainland China with the proper documentation can fly straight to Taiwan and back.
Simple. Each country has a different situation. Only Chinese know how to govern their country. We should not judge a country by a name eg democracy or dictatorship or monarchy etc. We should judge it by whether the leader is doing a good job for their people & whether their people are happy.
Why is the West paranoid (China-phobia) about Communist China? Vietnam is also communist. Why no paranoid about Vietnam?
Haha. Right away, we know US propaganda is at play.
Why USA bad-mouths communist China & communist N Korea? But not communist Vietnam. Because China is rising. It is militarily & economically challenging USA’s #1 status in the world. Not only does Vietnam not challenge USA, USA needs Vietnam’s geographical value as a stepping stone to create troubles for China.
N Korea also has geographical value to USA. But USA already has S Korea. That is why USA must bad-mouth N Korea too.
See, nothing scary about communism. Everything to do with US paranoid (China-phobia) & dictatorship.
Like religion, propaganda manipulates people’s mind. Look: all cultures have creators. All creators made the same sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It is the same creators. Different wisdom will develop diff religious practices & myths. You use flour to bake cake. I make noodle. Diff wisdom. Diversity. But some religion propagates their creator is the true one. Others are false & evil.
Let say it was USSR who won over USA, ie communism/Marxism won over democracy. Then democracy will be propagated as evil.
Core-communist democracy
A smart Quoran added an adjective “communist democracy” to settle an argument.
Communism & democracy are 2 different things. But we can put the 2 together by using an adjective eg communist democracy or democratic communism.
Communism/Marxism, socialism & capitalism refers to distribution of public fund/assets. Socialism is less extreme as communism/Marxism. Most western countries in Europe & Canada today are socialist who have a generous welfare system. In capitalist USA, a Harvard research revealed that 20% of Americans owns 80% of US assets with 1% owning 25%. 20% as middle-class owns 5%. 40% at the bottom poor owns zero. In some cases, the middle-class is worse than the bottom poor because their income may not pay off their debts ie negative asset while the bottom poor has zero asset.
Democracy has 2 parts: election & spirit. Democracy spirit calls for …
1, for mutual respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto others who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
2, for compromise. Today’s political parties fight with each other for votes. Oppose for the sake of opposing. Never think for the welfare of the country as a whole. Each party acts like a dictator.
Not many countries practise 100% democracy. Hence, democracy generally refers to election.
All western socialist countries have elections. They are called socialist democracies. USA is a capitalist democracy.
A communist country can also run elections & should hence be called a communist democracy. Those who are less communist but have elections should thus be called socialist democracy eg Chile, Venezuela & more.
In China, the ruling party is called Communist. But they have evolved to have democratic elections. Regions below provincial level have general elections. Provinces or above have representative elections. At the same time they practice socialism with Chinese characteristics (ie mix of Marxism & capitalism). Therefore, instead of “communist China”, China should be called “socialist China” or socialist democracy today. Westerners have not updated their knowledge & think China is like a bible that never changes.
Why not just call “China”, without an adjective? Like we call USA, UK without an adjective.
We learn not to label people by religion, skin color or ethnicity, eg Muslim, black or Jewish. Can we do the same for a country?
Who call China a dictator despite China has election? The one who breaks democracy spirit ie the US-led West.
Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We don’t tell our neighbors how they should manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
If a country is a democracy, but the leader is not pro-USA, USA will say their election is fraudulent, or the leader is corrupted, Then declare the elected govt is illegitimate. Then incite a coup & put a pro-USA person as legitimate govt eg 2011 Egypt. 2014 Ukraine & more. … It is god of USA who chooses the leader for other country & not elected by local people. … US democracy = dictatorship
For countries that do not have western styled elections, all leaders are called dictators & evil & must be overthrown by USA. Except communist Vietnam who has geographical value to USA. Haha
… it is US benefits. Nothing to do with communism or democracy/dictatorship.
A Harvard survey that has been conducted regularly for the past 10 years shows that over 90% of Chinese approve their leader. It is not up to westerners to rate other countries if they truly believe in democracy. Democracy calls for respect & coexistence with the different. We do not tell our neighbors how to manage their home, do we? Same for governance of a country. To force western values onto other country who has a different situation & culture is DICTATORSHIP.
Democracy also calls for compromise. The 2 US parties oppose for the sake of opposing without compromise for the welfare of the country. USA looks more like a dictator by definition.
To be fair, China did have times when they used dictatorship. China’s 1st revolutionist who used democracy to overthrow the Qing emperor, Sun Yat-sen, was a dictator after revolution. Why? He (& his successor Chiang Kai-shek) has to unite a country that was divided during revolutions. Same for other revolutionist eg Mao Zedong. The only difference between Sun & Mao is the slogan. Sun shouted democracy. Mao shouted Marxism/communism.
France’s path to democracy also mixed with dictatorship eg emperor Napoleon.
To summarized: today’s China has elections & freedom. It is not a dictator. But because China is rising, the West is worried & thus propagated hatred & fear toward China. That is all.
How can I learn to focus well?
This is Legit.
Being greedy in progress is one of the most typical causes of procrastination.
We intend to achieve our goal as quickly as possible by climbing a gigantic ladder that becomes more challenging for our brains every day.
Instead, concentrate on forming habits by taking little everyday measures.
If you want to finish a 350-page book.
Start by reading 10 pages every day, not 50 pages a day.
For months, the world has watched as the U.S. and its NATO vassals, take deliberate steps to engage Russia in direct war. Russia has not taken the bait . . . yet.
The reasoning behind the militant actions of the U.S. and NATO escaped most folks. Sure, the whole “protect democracy” nonsense has been spewed endlessly and the dupes in the general public believe that, but slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people through war is never a good option.
So what is the __real__reason for the whole blow-up?
Well, Ukraine has a well-earned reputation for being the most corrupt nation in Europe and likely, the world. Politicians launder “foreign aid” money through Ukraine, then filter it back to their own pockets through non-governmental organizations and then into shell corporations they control. So that’s a reason the powers-that-be want to keep Ukraine in existence; it feeds their cash.
Child sex trafficking is another reason. Ukraine is a literal hub for kidnapped children being forced into the sex trade for deviant, degenerate, perverts that infest the so-called “elite.” The upper classes of society have become so evil, so filthy, that rich perverts enjoy sexing children. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine in existence.
Cocaine and Heroin trafficking throughout Europe and into the USA is very lucrative and Ukraine is so saturated with illicit drugs that even their President has a reputation for being a coke-head. So that’s another reason the rich and powerful want Ukraine around.
But while these activities and the cash they generate are sizeable, something much, much, bigger had to be in the works.
I have found out what that “something” is.
Europe Must Be Killed
The real goals of the US in Ukraine are the destruction of Europe and its economic leader: Germany.
Why?
Let’s describe the world situation at the beginning of 2022 (immediately note that I give inaccurate figures to do justice to MMI and @Spydell_finance, but the approximate figures do not affect the disposition itself or the conclusions):
China: GDP: $16.9 trillion. Industrial sector ~30.5%, or $ 5.1 trillion. Export economy 15.3% with an export degree of 1.35 (easily interchangeable, technologically not advanced, but massively price-elastic, requires low profit margins of producers and not expensive labor, as well as agglomeration of producers).
Germany: GDP $4.2 trillion USD. Industrial sector ~27-30%, or $ 1.1-1.3 trillion. 35% with the world’s highest export ratio of 2.07 (only Japan has an even higher ratio of 2.49). That is, exports are irreplaceable, technologically complex and therefore VERY HIGH MARGINS)
The EU as a whole. GDP 17 trillion USD (suddenly !!! more than China, or at least the same amount). Industrial sector ~25%, or $4.1 trillion. (suddenly a little less than China). Only this branch of industry, as already written above, is a high-tech sector, that is, a marginal area that allows rapid positive capital growth.
US. GDP $22.9 trillion USD. However, the industrial sector accounts for only 18%, or $ 4.1 trillion. (Suddenly less than China and just as much as the EU)!!! And the financial sector is over 20%, as is the entire service sector with 77% of the economy. But even this industrial sector accounts for only 7.7% of exports and has an export development index (ECI) of only 1.57 (just like China).
To go back to the beginning of the year, the accumulated imbalances in Quantitative Easing (QE) by the federal reserve are accelerating inflation and could bury the entire dollar system.
The end of QE and the beginning of the Fed’s balance sheet reduction would guarantee the collapse of the services sector, the near-death of the financial sector and a large part of venture capital IT as zombie companies with negative revenue margins or without cache flow.
In order to survive, the United States urgently need to develop the real economy, i.e. industry.
However, since the world has become global, no new markets are foreseen. The system cannot conquer Mars and then sell to Martians, so therefore it will have to grow on intensive investments, which means negative capital work. Since aggregated venture capital investments on intensive investments do not pay off, which has been obvious since 2009, the U.S. is staring at an economic dead end.
So what to do?
Kill the competition.
To get more industry, the US has to get it from somewhere it already exists. Let’s look at each possible candidate for the US to grab industry:
Option 1: China.
But, firstly, China is a subject (sovereign), secondly, the Chinese and US economies are too intertwined, and thirdly, the development of an industry comparable to China means low profit margins, long payback periods and falling personal incomes. And a decrease in personal income is a revolution in the USA. The option is not suitable.
Option 2: EU.
Fits perfectly, no subjectivity and high margin business.
However, the business is so profitable because it is very technological, i.e. it has a high and long entry threshold. It takes decades of development, thousands of patents and the construction of a team of specialists.
But the patents, specialists and companies do not belong to the EU.
The US has to force these companies in their entirety to move to the USA, just as, for example, low-margin production migrated to China in the 90s.
To do this, you need to create unbearable conditions for the economy: war, hunger and cold.
News 1:
German industrial production fell by 1.8% in the first 8 months of 2022 due to sanctions against Russia, and the German chemical-pharmaceutical sector (high gas dependence) recorded a decrease of 10.7%.
News 2:
The Wall Street Journal published a report on the mass relocation of large German companies to the New World on September 21. Report HERE
News 3: Explosion at branches of Nord Stream 1 and 2.
To those watching closely, all these things are links in a single chain of events: The EU must be destroyed. At any cost.
It doesn’t matter how many people get killed, there’s $4+ TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
It doesn’t matter how many cities or even countries get wiped out, there’s $4 TRILLION dollars a year (of real industry) at stake.
People will breed, so they can replace whatever war dead take place. Cities and countries can be rebuilt. But the $4 TRILLION a year (of real industry) absolutely, positively, must — and will — come to the US.
Period. Full stop.
This war is about money. $4 TRILLION a year in real industry. Anyone who gets in the way of that will be steamrolled.
This is the main goal of the USA in Ukraine.
Why do so many Chinese people have Western first names but Chinese surnames?
It’s for your convenience.
And in many cases, ours as well.
My colleague’s name is 映雪.
When romanized, it is Ying Xue.
She has completely given up hope on any non-Chinese-speaking person pronouncing her name right.
She told me that, sometimes, when people call out her name, like the time she went to a clinic for a medical check-up and they called out her name because yeah, the doctor can see her now – she doesn’t recognize it all, because it gets mangled and butchered beyond belief.
So now, she just goes by the name “Snow”.
Everyone gets that right the first time round.
Given a choice between spending minutes trying to work out if someone is calling your name, or introducing yourself by a name that the vast majority of people will get right, some people decide to go with the latter.
It’s not rocket science.
Would you be able to pronounce 映雪 correctly the first time round, Mr. Asker?
And it’s not only the Chinese.
I have a Vietnamese colleague.
Her last name is Duong.
Except for our Vietnamese colleagues, and most of our Asian colleagues – everyone gets it wrong.
So she goes by Linda, as in Linda Duong.
There is a Korean colleague.
Her last name is Choi.
Yeah, that’s another hard one.
So she goes by Jenny Choi.
Everyone gets the Jenny part right.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird – 7/2/1977
A thought
Yup, owning farmable/gardenable land and growing organic food is definitely the key to survival. Gold, shitcoins, et al. cannot be eaten or bargain with when the real shit hits the fan.
But go it now!
Posted by: Sam Smith | Oct 3 2022 19:20 utc | 29
Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin in great scene from 1973 Don Juan movie
https://youtu.be/qLlVePdNSGw
An overlooked point
One thing that is overlooked is the Return of the Dragon dollars. China and other countries have started reducing their dollar reserves; these dollars are coming home, and boost the inflation. The symptom is the export of hitherto less traded items out of the US. Those who are dumping the dollars back in the US will want to buy something, anything, with those dollars, because tomorrow those dollars will lose value even more. Therefore buy and take away whatever you could out of the US, before it declares bankruptcy, I mean, refuses to redeem its T bonds.
Posted by: Old Brown Fool | Oct 3 2022 19:23 utc | 32
Do abandoned cats get really sad?
Look at the eyes…
1 Tess, left outside for 8 years and treated like garbage. Photo taken while she was a stray.
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2 Tess a few months after I took her in (her owners moved away and left her behind).
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3 Phoebe – found in the weeds behind my house, 4 months old, starving and flea-bitten.
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4 Phoebe six months after I took her in.
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Look at the eyes.
Abandoned cats are sad, beaten down, and afraid.
Adopt a stray cat or dog from the street or the shelter. Save a life and change your life for the better.
Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter #23 1977
https://youtu.be/f0bdLdTJdKI
Is the United States in decline?
Yes.
I could cite some dry statistics and display some graphs but plenty of other people have done that. I am going to give the perspective of a 52-year-old who has seen a great deal of change, some of it for the better, most of it for the worse. I am going to share what has led to my misanthropic nihilism and negativity concerning the current “state of affairs.”
When I was growing up I literally never heard of mass shootings. This does not mean they did not happen. It means they were very rare. Now, they are so commonplace as to be discussed with barely a nod. “Ten people dead; sixteen injured. Pass the potatoes, please.” We must get to the root of this epedemic, and there are multiple causes. A solution is not easy. The non-glorification of violence would be a good start. Unfortunately, Americans are not only desensitized to the horror of violence and death; we are entertained by it. We have cultivated a culture of violence appreciation. I am further alarmed that so many people completely dismiss this phenomena because it hasn’t happened to them or someone they know. We have dismissed and accepted this with a shrug.
Republicans: Beginning in the middle part of the 20th century, GOP conservatives went so far to the right that they no longer resembled their former somewhat progressive selves.They became increasingly less liberal and more racist. Dixiecrats saw this and were incensed. Going forward, more and more conservatives and racists joined the Republican Party. Ideologies flipped. Republicans became the party who swung to a racist extreme, enshrined guns to a bizarre extent, and demanded their religion be legislated into law. In addition, their every effort has been to take from the poor and give to the wealthy. This became abundantly clear during the absolutely ridiculous “trickle-down-economics” era of Ronald Reagan. The rich can never be rich enough. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social security are all in danger. The gulf between the poor and the rich widens every day. The time grows nearer when the 95% will not be able to put roofs over their heads, even as the very rich, who should be paying more, lounge on their sun-drenched pool decks contemplating their wealth. I do not advocate “taking their money away,” as so many people suggest. I advocate a fairer playing field where the poor and the wealthy pay a more equal percentage in taxes rather than allowing the wealthy unfair advantages that have them paying less. And, big news flash here; we need to tax everyone fairly across the board and bring down our overall spending to decrease the deficit, rather than cut social security, and Medicare. Why are the poor the first people we think of when we consider cutting costs? Even the legendary investing guru Warren Buffet once said that his secretary’s tax rate is higher than his own, and Buffet is a multi-billionaire. We are an oligarchy, folks. Republicans have now become the number 1 problem, as they have enabled and backed Donald Trump and begun destroying voting rights in the wake of his lost bid for reelection. Republicans have become a much bigger threat than Democrats ever since they refused to allow Dems to seat Supreme Court justices and proceeded to stack that and other federal courts with super-majorities. The Supreme Court has now become nothing more than a partisan tool. Many progressive rulings will be overturned in time. This is a terrible development.
Democrats: ( I am just left of center myself) have swung so far out into fantasy land that we have to be careful of everything we say and do. Literally everything is offensive. We have taken equal treatment and turned it into some kind of weird Frankenstein’s monster. Everyone deserves equal rights but political correctness has run amok. I am on the liberal side, but we need to tone down the anger. SJWs care about the welfare of all but are often so angry they can’t even be engaged in a polite debate without wanting to call in a firing squad. Wokeness, cancel culture, and censoring free speech needs to stop. Fight bigotry and hate where it exists, but don’t see it in every corner, jumping to identifying it as such until you know for sure what it is. Treat everyone equally. Use common sense and learn to identify some extreme left ideas from fringe groups as the bizarre notions they are. Up to 100 different genders? Seriously? I am also very unhappy with my party’s new tendency to try to destroy individuals by digging up comments they made 35 years ago. All of us have said something risque’ or controversial at some point. Doing this is plain ridiculous. Even with all this said, at least the Democrats mostly shed their past racism (even as it was embraced by many conservatives) and have been the leaders in advancing minority rights for decades. They have made mistakes, but I fault them far less in current times than Republicans.
Politicians are bought and paid for. They should be forced to wear the names of their contributors on their suits, like those ads that are printed on the sides of racing cars. I saw this suggestion on Facebook and it is so true. How can politicians properly serve the people when they are beholden to the wealthy benefactors and corporations who donate money to them? Capitalism isn’t necessarily bad but it must be overseen and regulated. Unchecked, it produces tremendous wealth inequality and political corruption, as noted above. We need strict limits on political donations and a restructuring of how they are made, perhaps with a government supplied stipend distributed equally.
Religion still rules the masses, much more so than other highly developed countries of the world, allowing bigotry and anti-science to flourish on into the 21st century. Politicians (especially conservatives) pander to this because it is one way to ensure continued support. Give your voters a couple of the things they want most and they will overlook the crooked bigger things (like tax cuts favoring the super rich.) I am not against religion: I am against having it in politics. Separation of church and state has always been a nifty idea in America but has never been a real thing. That is sad.
Housing costs are out of control. One must mortgage away many decades of one’s life to buy a house that is too large and too expensive. It’s ridiculous. Small, modest homes could be purchased for much less money, but that would meet with the dissatisfaction of city ordinances and neighbors. It’s a big, fancy house in many cases or nothing. The alternative is sky-high rent on an apartment. Gone are the days when renting was cheaper than owning. Now, even modest apartments are so expensive they leave little money left for food. No one seems to advocate rent control anymore because greed is master. A livable wage is not high on the agenda either. Meanwhile, more and more people are pushed out onto the streets and homelessness increases. We find it easy to put the blame on the victims. Yes, many homeless have made mistakes but not all of the onus is on them. We have a system that is, by its very nature, generating more and more of this problem.
A college education has gone completely into the stratosphere with its exorbitant cost. It’s unbelievable. A text book can cost several hundred dollars and full-time tuition for a single semester well into the thousands. Small non-traditional for-profit “colleges” didn’t help the situation any either. Though some are at least somewhat legit, many are not, and nearly all are far too expensive, thereby producing many graduates with overpriced degrees that are not likely to be valued at what they cost. And what about the large percentage of dropouts who aren’t likely to benefit at all from what they have spent? In the 1980’s college was still affordable. I signed promisory notes and managed to pay the 4 or 5 hundred dollar costs by the time the term ended. I could not afford to go to college today. It would not be possible. People are exiting universities (not necessarily graduating) many thousands of dollars in debt. Even upon graduating, most students have depressingly low chances of landing jobs in their chosen fields. Competition is greater than ever. Young people are depressed. They are sarcastic and prematurely cynical; and they have every right to be. This generation is yet another that promises to perform more poorly, save less money, have less opportunity, and be more dysfunctional than their parents and grandparents; yet, the bulk of our politicians do not appear to care. A country that wants to offer hope to all people, grant a good standard of living, and preserve this standard for the future, understands the value of turning out well-educated citizens. Yet, we make it ridiculously expensive to become educated. Why are we doing this? We must take greed out of higher education. Should profit be the top priority? * I would also add that we need to stop housing students in luxury apartments while they attend college. Living in an efficiency or a dormitory is good for you. It builds character to live simply and humbly while going through school.*
Infrastructure has begun to suffer. Our city roads aren’t built to withstand the burgeoning population. Roads most everywhere are in terrible shape, and bridges are a nightmare, old and deteriorated as they are, and in need of expensive care. I am amazed, after having traveled a fair amount, that many of our states have some of the worst roads in the developed world. The power grid as well is old and crumbling in many areas. This is embarrassing and we can do better. At least in 2022 we have a president willing to put a trillion or two into tackling infrastructure. Sounds expensive, but it’s grossly overdue. * as of April 2022, money has finally been allocated for this. Perhaps that will be one step in the right direction.*
My newest edit in this piece is to mention the problem we have with illegal drugs in this country (and I do not refer to pot, which I consider less dangerous than alcohol). The illegal use of powerful, lab-created drugs has reached wide-scale pervasiveness both in cities and rural communities. It is a huge problem that ruins lives, costs a great deal of money, creates crime, violence, and too often results in death. Elderly folk lose their life savings (and sometimes their lives) to some charismatic stranger who cons them for drug money. Many addicted people will stop at nothing to get their fix. Drugs become these people’s lives. Only the lucky few benefit from some sort of intervention/rehab, while the majority do not. On top of this, it has now become harder for people who desperately need pain medications to be prescribed them because of the violence and crime that people are willing to commit in order to obtain, sell, and use them. One of our mistakes (in less violent cases) has been to over-incarcerate. With the exception of violent and murderous offenders, this hasn’t helped much, if any. Drug-users also enter the work force and cause constant problems. I have had the displeasure of working with them. In some industries this is dangerous. One thing we need to do is stop romanticizing drugs and to stop treating those of us who recognize the problem as being uncool nerds. Many of the other items on this list, such as cost of living and the political divide, cause depression and hopelessness, and these things make drugs more appealing. Reduce the pain caused by many of our other problems and you do, to some extent, reduce the desire to take drugs. We must examine the pharmaceutical industry as well and look into its marketing practices to determine the extent to which it has contributed to the problem.
U.S. companies relocate to other corners of the world in order to pay their employees very little and government encourages this. Good employment opportunities domestically are shrinking and I am not talking about the many low pay service jobs. Many people who would have formerly held these higher paying skilled jobs are forced into the only careers available; retail, restaurants, and other service jobs where the pay does not meet one’s needs. While unions were desperately needed at one time, their demands grew out of control, demanding ever-higher pay and benefits even in sectors that were no longer profitable. They are partly to blame. We also need officer salary caps, especially on publicly traded companies. More profits need to be handed down to shareholders and lower tier employees rather than having officers make 100 million or more salaries. To the fat-cats of corporate America, this is a big grown-up game of Monopoly where they horde as much wealth as possible while everyone else suffers. I am not against capitalism, but (like any system) it has to be monitored and governed; otherwise, it becomes capitalism out of control, and that is what we have now. The operative word is GREED.
Our health care is still unaffordable. The Health Care Act is a start but is flawed, largely due to the concessions that had to be made to pass it. Greed is absolutely rampant in this industry in which a simple pill can cost hundreds of dollars. The very sick must worry about medical bankruptcy while trying to battle their illnesses. Some of the most broadly advertised physician-prescribed medications are the most expensive ones still under patent. When was the last time you saw a commercial for an older unpatented inexpensive medication? Any minor move made on a patient’s behalf in the hospital is ridiculous in its cost. Greed is master above all else. Now, it is quite likely that Republicans will remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as other features of the health care act. Additionally, a little-known consequence of the health care act is that it forces people who might otherwise retire early to remain in the work force into their late 60s in order to receive health care. Medicare and Medicaid will not kick in yet (in most cases) if you retire at 58 or 60. This is one item that tells me that the government is worried about the lack of enough workers in the next few decades.
By the 2030s or early 2040s things will be gravely worse, with an ageing population and fewer people paying into social security than drawing from it. Thanks to government’s redistribution to the wealthy, the problem is exacerbated. We will initially lose a chunk of those payments and will eventually lose this and other programs completely. This initiates our entry into third-world status.
I think what disturbs me most is the complete unwillingness of our two major parties to work together for the good of the nation. And yes, (due to individuals like the hateful obstructionist Mitch McConnell), I fault the conservative party more for this than the other, although fault lies on both sides. A few decades ago, we had some caring politicians who went to the table with honest intentions of compromising and reaching a solution, even when they strongly disagreed. Even with this disagreement, we often respected eachother. Now, we have a complete unwillingness to cooperate, even going so far as to refuse to allow the opposing party to put judges on the supreme court. This hateful divide hurts everyone. The parties have opposing views, but they should not be enemies. Their goal should be to unite in promoting as good a life as possible for all citizens. Additionally, we have tactics and tricks like gerrymandering and voter-suppression as well as the grossly outdated electoral college that suppress the will of the actual majority of people.
Even with our greater technology, I-Phones, computers, medical advances, and other luxuries, these problems lessen us every day, and not enough people care to do a damn thing about it. Obsessive greed is one of the things we most need to tackle, from big corporations to medicine and higher education. Money is important but we have allowed that obsession to get in the way of the higher interest of caring for all our citizens. Making all their needs more affordable and obtainable is a good start. I am thankful I do not have kids. I would grieve incessantly now to think of the world I have brought them into. I only hope that younger people are observing this disaster and that they will take the reigns and make some needed changes. It may be too late.
* To the few folks (including a lady who was so rude I deleted her comment) who think we should love the country as it is or “get out,” I say this. Such reactions are naive and juvenile. I love my country and I wish to see it become better. Civilizations do not progress through complacency. They advance when folks sound alarms and encourage change. That is why women and minority groups now have rights they would never have enjoyed had they just “loved it or got out.”
In response to people both in this thread and in their own answers who keep pointing out that the U.S. is a world leader, has a great military might, has abundant freedom and influence, etc.. this is my reply.
I am largely talking about internal conflict here. I am discussing problems that are dividing us from within, and this includes the aforementioned two-party system of hatred and divide. There is more to being a success than having a great military or a high GNP or world influence.
I am talking about the hate that has nearly taken us over, and of the increasing unaffordability of the cost of living.
We are disintegrating. We still lead the world in many ways, perhaps, but even the rest of the world sees the problems we are experiencing that are collapsing us from within and are appalled. We lose the world’s respect more every day.
Some of the horrendous politicians and presidential administrations of recent years (including Trump in particular) have greatly contributed to the problem. What one administration accomplishes, the other tears down with the next election. We can’t even be trusted to remain in a peace agreement or environmental agreement anymore. The two-party hate is palpable.
*Years later, I now look upon the blatant attempt by one narcissist and his legion of worshipers AND legislative enablers to overthrow our government to install a backward dictatorship and I am more pessimistic than before. Our representative democracy is in dire trouble and the unpleasant marriage of government and religion threatens to roll back decades of progress.
What happened to us?
Butch DeConcini attacks Tony Soprano
https://youtu.be/nRNpOuVGh4U
Is there a way for the United States to disentangle their economy from China without wrecking its economy?
My opinion: NO.
Whether America likes it or not, the US is dependent on China for its growth and survival. Most people focus on consumer goods which indeed are an important sector for the US since the US is strongly a service economy and not a manufacturing economy. 80% of America’s GDP is in the service sector. Only 10% is in manufacturing. But, in the sector lies much of the technology sales and foreign affiliate sales for the US.
Those like Trump that think they can bring manufacturing back from China to the US and compete internationally are on a fools errand. What these misguided zealots fail to realize is that Trump is like the Pied Piper and leading them to a false narrative. It is not trade in products that is of singular importance as Trump would have you believe. It is the positive inflow of wealth from all sectors to the US that is important and the reason the US has been so successful since WW2. The US had a head start after WW2 because both Europe and Asia laid in ruins, US industry was unscathed by the war and in fact enriched by the war. FAS more than doubles US exports to the world.
One of the biggest reason the US is so wealthy is a sector called: ‘foreign affilate sales’ It is those sales by a multinational from domestic sales in a country from its subsidiary operating in that country. The US enjoys a health FAS in China as it does around the world. If one counts FAS into the math, the US enjoys a wealth surplus, not only from China but from the whole world. In 2016, that wealth surplus was about $3 trillion which dwarfs America’s total export trade About 2 to 1, FAS exceeds US exports .or about $5.7 trillion in FAS vs $2.5 trillion on total US exports. in 2016. Not only that, but wealth inflows into the US from Chinese tourists, students, investment in US debt, and FDI are on top of what US companies do in sales in China.
Trump jeopardizes that FAS by threatening China.
Not only that, but there are 16 minerals the US depends on China for. There are over 60 mineral from around the world the US depends on others because we don’t either have them domestically, or not enough for our needs, 16 are from China. On that list are things like rare earths that have the attention of media today with people saying we don’t or do have a problem. In rare earths, the US has one mine in California and it sends its concentrates for processing before it can be used. It is dominated by light rare earths which is not the section most in need by the military. However, the US military has proposed to fund a US processing capability to keep military needs from being shut out by China. It does not offer a commercial solution. The US tried twice to compete with China and both times the civilian company involved failed and declared bankruptcy.
I think there is a equally important mineral, Gallium that China produces 95% of. It is the reason China is moving ahead of the US in 5G. Huawei owns 2000 patents in Gallium. Why? Gallium replaces silicon for high frequency and high power applications in 5G. So far the US seems oblivous to that fact. If the Chinese cut off rare earths and gallium, would that start a war? Gallium is used in things like radars, sensors, and ELINT applications and China is the world’s 95% source.
Tangy barbecue sauce, cheesy mac, and a sprinkling of buttery, toasted Progresso™ bread crumbs team up to make this meal a total hit. Our bbq pulled pork mac and cheese is a super hearty meal that is easy to make whenever the inspiration hits you. The big, bold BBQ flavors add a delicious twist on the classic favorite, now reimagined as pulled pork mac and cheese. It all starts with the pulled pork and a homemade cheese sauce that comes together with just a little bit of whisking. From there, it’s only a matter of combining the ingredients and baking them into the best bbq pulled pork mac and cheese.
$479 Bn in US exports amount represents less then 5% of China’s GDP.
China’s GDP is growing at 6.7%. If the loss of US exports were to impact China’s GDP proportionately, it will be absorbed within less then one year through normal growth all things being equal.
To replace lost export volume to the US, China would need to grow exports to other countries by an average of 6.5%.
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You can judge for yourself if China can manage without exports to the US.
Can the US manage without smartphones, personal computers, tablets and empty shelves in Walmart?
Sly & The Family Stone “I Want To Take You Higher” LIVE on U.S. TV 7/74
https://youtu.be/am04NZL8pA4
As a police officer, what’s the one call that will be with you forever?
There is a lot of calls I remember but the one I remember most was this one:
It was about 2AM on a Wednesday morning and that is typically a quiet time in Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas. I got a call for a “10–50 Major Vehicle vs. Motorcycle” and to respond Code 3 (A major accident involving a motor vehicle and a motorcycle and respond with lights and siren due to the level of the emergency. For those who are reading this – this was in the time of Harlon Copeland as Sheriff so I am dating myself.
I hit the Code 3 and arrived 4 minutes later, and about 1 minute after another unit who was sent also. Upon my arrival, I observed a 1980’s era Ford F-150 pickup truck sideways against a curb and a motorcycle, totally smashed laying upon alongside the front of the Ford. I could not see the motorcycle operator, but the driver was freaking out.
As I approached, I saw the left side of the Ford pickup and walked around the right side where my partner was standing. As I came around, I saw that the right front tire was totally 100% on top of the motorcyclist’s head – and he was wearing a helmet (I remember specifically it was a “Bell” helmet!). Fire companies were still far away. My partner was talking to the motorcycle operator and believe it or not he was answering! My partner and I rushed to our patrol cars and took out our tire jacks and put them both under the truck and jacked it up.
Once the motorcycle rider was freed from under the crushing weight of the Ford F-150’s tire, he literally stood up and unbuckled the helmet and said, “Thank GOD I was wearing my helmet!”. He walked away with some scrapes to his face and serious scrapes to that “Bell” motorcycle helmet. At the time there was no law to wear a helmet and today there isn’t either. He chose to protect himself.
To this day, when I see a motorcycle operator without a helmet I think of that guy and his lucky, strong, and wonderful “Bell” helmet. I am sure he has it somewhere high on a shelf in a place of honor for saving his life. *** WEAR YOUR HELMET!”
Lawson, The Most Professional Arms Dealer In Albuquerque
https://youtu.be/5Dv9mytyIEM
Have you ever seen someone being literally laughed out of a courtroom?
The situation was too serious for someone to be literally laughed out of the courtroom, but this is a true story.
My daughter was kidnapped when she was 10 — recovered 12 hours later in bad shape. Imagine the worst and then multiply that by 100 and you have an idea.
After my daughter testified, I was up next. I wasn’t allowed in the courtroom, nor my wife because we were also witnesses.
The defense attorney tried to paint me as a “wanna be” cop loving hick. He starts asking me questions.
“Is this a picture looking in your daughters room” says our monster’s attorney (who, I shit you not, looks exactly like Mr Burns from the Simpsons).
“Yes” I answer.
“And this is?” he asks pointing.
“Um, her door?” I answer.
“And this thing stuck to her door?” he asks.
“A poster.” I say, firmly.
“And this writing — what does it say?” he asked with a grin.
“It’s a TARDIS. My daughter is a Doctor Who fan. She also has Tardis sox and a Tardis dress. It’s a time machine disguised as a police call box from the 1960s.” I answered. I’m thinking where the heck is he going with this.
The jury giggles — there’s some laughter in the courtroom.
“And who gave this to her?” he asked with a stern tone.
“Um. Santa”. I said maybe a bit too softly
“What was that?” asked the Simpson Burns clone.
“Santa Claus. It was a Christmas present from Santa” I said loudly.
Both the jury and the court ‘audience’ erupted in laughter, even the judge did a face-palm, I’m told.
That ended the “police” fan boy line of questioning.
Note: Our monster was found guilty, received LWOP (life without the possibility of parole) and 14 life sentences totaling up to 200+ years to life (that’ll give you an idea of the horrors our daughter endured. When our daughter (now 13) found out about my testimony, she gave me a big hug and told me: “OMG! I can’t believe you got Doctor Who and Santa Claus in the court record!”
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Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan
What’s something your cat has done that you’re going to talk about forever?
This is Stella who’s just turned 17. Back in early 2010 I’d had ivf and was waiting the 12 days until I could test to see if I was pregnant. A few days before I was due to take the test, Stella started climbing onto my stomach and curling up and would fall asleep. Now Stella loves her strokes and cuddles, but isn’t a lap cat at all so when she did that I thought ‘she knows something I don’t!’ Sure enough, 3 days later I was looking at 2 lines on that pregnancy test and my son is 12 next week. And she’s very protective of him too.
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How are they going to prevent global nuclear war?: Will Cain
The Expected Financial Crash Is Finally Here
When two experienced economy and finance analysts, who both correctly predicted the derivative crisis of 2008, again warn of an imminent crash one better listens up.
For months, I have been confident that Europe would suffer a financial crisis and a depression, as in a real economy catastrophe accompanied by a market crash. It might not be that severe and lasting as 1929, but the breadth would mean there would not be 1987 quick bounceback nor a 2008 derivatives crisis concentrated at the heart of the banking system. Even though that looked like financial near-death experience, the same factors that made it more acute in many respects also made it easier for the officialdom to identify and shore up the key institutions that took hits below the water line.The short version of what follows is things are looking even worse now, and on multiple fronts.
…
Below we’ll discuss the rapidly accelerating real economy crisis, which is exacerbated by central bank tightening as pretty much the only line of defense against inflation that is almost entirely the result of a multi-fronted supply shock.1 Needless to say, the Fed raising interest rates (which Bernanke recognized as necessary in 2014 to tame bubbly asset prices but then lost his nerve) does nothing to get more chips from China or magically cure Covid-afflicted staffers so they can show up at work. But it will whack all sorts of speculators and financial firms who have wrong-footed their interest rate positions.
And it also seemed apparent that the US would be pulled into the maelstrom, perhaps not as far, but contagion, supply chain dependencies, and the importance of Europe as a customer would assure the US would suffer too.
The second warning comes from ‘Dr. Doom’ Nouriel Roubini:
There are signs a debt crisis is forming and the economy is headed for a hard landing, Nouriel Roubini says.
Roubini predicted a deep recession and a 40% fall in the stock market by the end of the year.
He has warned that a wide range of shocks will have dire effects on global economies.
There are signs that a debt crisis has already started taking shape, and a hard landing of the economy before the end of the year is now the baseline scenario, according to top economist Nouriel Roubini.
Roubini, who has earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” for his pessimistic views on markets and the economy, has warned of a looming debt and inflationary crisis for about a year. Previously, he predicted it would lead to a Frankenstein-style recession by the end of 2022, mixing the worst aspects of 1970s stagflation and the 2008 financial crisis.
And the signs of that financial meltdown are finally emerging, Roubini said, who referred to a hard landing as the baseline scenario in an op-ed for Project Syndicate on Monday.
“Signs of strain in debt markets are mounting … the crisis is here,” Roubini said, referring to recent moves by central bankers to stem market volatility.
His argument which I highlighted is nearly similar to the one Yves makes:
NEW YORK – For a year now, I have argued that the increase in inflation would be persistent, that its causes include not only bad policies but also negative supply shocks, and that central banks’ attempt to fight it would cause a hard economic landing. When the recession comes, I warned, it will be severe and protracted, with widespread financial distress and debt crises. Notwithstanding their hawkish talk, central bankers, caught in a debt trap, may still wimp out and settle for above-target inflation. Any portfolio of risky equities and less risky fixed-income bonds will lose money on the bonds, owing to higher inflation and inflation expectations.
…
Everyone now recognizes that these persistent negative supply shocks have contributed to inflation, and the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the US Federal Reserve have begun to acknowledge that a soft landing will be exceedingly difficult to pull off. Fed Chair Jerome Powell now speaks of a “softish landing” with at least “some pain.” Meanwhile, a hard-landing scenario is becoming the consensus among market analysts, economists, and investors.
It is much harder to achieve a soft landing under conditions of stagflationary negative supply shocks than it is when the economy is overheating because of excessive demand.
The central banks have misdiagnosed the reason for the currently high inflation rates. They were caused not only by too much stimulus provided by governments and the central banks but to a large part by the lack of supplies which is to the consequence of the pandemic and the ‘western’ sanctions following the war in Ukraine. By increasing interest rates the central banks fought against the wrong enemy. They made things worse:
Are we already in a recession? Not yet, but the US did report negative growth in the first half of the year, and most forward-looking indicators of economic activity in advanced economies point to a sharp slowdown that will grow even worse with monetary-policy tightening. A hard landing by year’s end should be regarded as the baseline scenario.
While many other analysts now agree, they seem to think that the coming recession will be short and shallow, whereas I have cautioned against such relative optimism, stressing the risk of a severe and protracted stagflationary debt crisis. And now, the latest distress in financial markets – including bond and credit markets – has reinforced my view that central banks’ efforts to bring inflation back down to target will cause both an economic and a financial crash.
…
Moreover, there are early signs that the Great Moderation has given way to the Great Stagflation, which will be characterized by instability and a confluence of slow-motion negative supply shocks. In addition to the disruptions mentioned above, these shocks could include societal aging in many key economies (a problem made worse by immigration restrictions); Sino-American decoupling; a “geopolitical depression” and breakdown of multilateralism; new variants of COVID-19 and new outbreaks, such as monkeypox; the increasingly damaging consequences of climate change; cyberwarfare; and fiscal policies to boost wages and workers’ power.
…
US and global equities have not yet fully priced in even a mild and short hard landing. Equities will fall by about 30% in a mild recession, and by 40% or more in the severe stagflationary debt crisis that I have predicted for the global economy. Signs of strain in debt markets are mounting: sovereign spreads and long-term bond rates are rising, and high-yield spreads are increasing sharply; leveraged-loan and collateralized-loan-obligation markets are shutting down; highly indebted firms, shadow banks, households, governments, and countries are entering debt distress. The crisis is here.
There is little one can do to protect oneself from the consequences of this crisis. Try to stay on the safe side. Have as little debt as possible. If you have debt it will likely be much better to have it at a fixed interest rate. Don’t bet on the value of any assets you might have.
This storm will be rough and the consequences will be severe.
Posted by b on October 3, 2022 at 18:01 UTC | Permalink
The Band – The Last Waltz – The Weight feat. the staples singers
I just got a notice of eviction, and I’m due to be out by Christmas. How do I fortify my house so I can’t be removed?
Imagine this if you will. I was a landlord for a few years and would’ve hated a tenant like you.
I am not a rich man by any means of the term. I worked for years in 100+ Louisiana heat to afford my house, then when things were finally looking up I moved to a nicer one for my family.
My friends talked me into renting not selling by saying I could make extra money, and that people depend on rentable properties when they can’t afford to buy. The numbers worked out so that’s what I did.
I got a renter who met the criteria and was nice. Paid rent on time, never broke anything or was loud.
One day rent was late, I waited. 3 days late, I sent a letter. 7 days late, I deliver a letter. 12 days late, I knock on the door, I am met with the same nice renter that explains they were out of town and they just walked in as I knocked and that they’ll write it immediately.
3 weeks late, I knock and was told they lost their job and can’t pay. I tell them how sorry I am for their situation, but maybe they can take a loan, borrow from family, or something alike.
I made them aware that regardless of either of our situations, the bank wants their mortgage payments. Their response was, no matter what, they would not be paying rent anymore. In return I told them they would need to be out as soon as possible. They reacted as if I asked for their first born,“I just told you I can’t afford rent, where am I supposed to go?”. I told them that I am so so sorry about their job, but if they aren’t paying then I have to, and how are they comfortable enjoying the fruits of my labor which they are now refusing to pay back.
They asked me to leave! That’s right, my house! The mortgage was $1200 a month. I understood that they would no longer pay, so I called every lawyer friend that I had until one sent me the forms I needed. It took 6 months to get them out. Over $7000 that I had to pay for another person/persons to live in my house.
I am not vengeful or spiteful, but I smiled when Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Deputies dragged him out.
They left a small collection of firearms which they never returned for our contracted me about. I was allowed to keep and sell anything left after a certain date, which I did. Luckily he didn’t try to barricade himself, but he did trip himself(on camera) coming down the 3ft steps, then try to sue me and my insurance. Which he then said he would settle for 25k. I sold the firearms for about $5600 individually! Why didn’t he just do that and pay the rent?!?!?!
I’m sorry you are in this position, but keep in mind that you are putting someone else in the same position by not leaving, on top of being an asshole.
Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song
Something is Happening in Belgorod Russia . . . Strange Glow from sky
Something very peculiar is taking place in the sky above Belgorod, Russia: First there was a single beam of golden light, shining down from the sky, then there were TWO!
x
“This is the letter my neighbor sent me after I let him babysit my pets while I was on vacation”
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Peter Frampton – Do You Feel Like We Do
Ah. 1977.
I notice that an international student living next door often goes tutoring for extra cash. How can I collect evidence and report him to USCIS for deportation?
Ok, so you’re an awful person.
Also wrong.
You’re allowed to work up to 20 hours/week during term, and 40 hours/week during breaks.
Unlike you, the US government understands that international students have bills to pay, and might need to eat occasionally. What your neighbor is doing is both legal and praiseworthy, precisely the sort of person we should be welcoming with open arms.
Mr.Inbetween 3×09 – Farmhouse Shootout Scene
What’s China planning for the long run?
Several general goals:
Complete her economic development. Become one of the so-called “advanced” economies.
Complete her military build-up. Become safe from US and NATO aggression.
Complete her technological development. China still lags behind USA in several technological areas.
Build a more unified and multipolar world order. The process has begun with alliances such as BRICS, RCEP, and SCO.
Reunify with Taiwan, peacefully if possible.
Cool Change – Little River Band
Sad Kitty
My adopted sad kitty( had to get him, heart was breaking)hid in the basement for 8 months. My husband and I tried everything to make him comfortable, then one day recently he came up and is loving and accepting. He has nice fur now and is much bigger. At the shelter his name was jinx, changed to binx. Looks like he has a will to live and be loved now. So happy had to share!
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Did China keep Snowden in Hong Kong?
Absolutely
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On May 7th he requested for a 21 day Holiday to go to Hong Kong for Traditional Medicine Treatment for Epilepsy.
On May 13th 2014, Snowden wrote to the Ministry of State Security in China and the FSB in Russia requesting for Asylum.
He gave 10 IP addresses to each Country monitored by the NSA as an initial offer of Asylum…
The US promptly decided to extradite him from Hong Kong
Enter Robert Libbo & Ong Boon Keong
US filed three immediate requests :-
Provisional Arrest Immediately
If not Provisional arrest, at least Confinement in his Hotel Room
Monitoring all his activities
Sadly for US, China had got the IP Addresses and were Furious!!!!
Two Chinese Big Shots from the CPC visited HK and left a day later.
HK said – Sorry!!!! We cannot arrest him or monitor his activities!!! Send your Extradition request within 30 days
Chinese Officials from the Singapore Consulate met Snowden and Snowden gave them over 278 GB of Data across qty=4 80 GB Support Disks. It contained many, many; many monitored IP addresses and protocol routes.
A Pro West Judge (in HK) was slated to hear the case…
…but 1 hour before the first hearing…
… He was so terrified by someone who called him that he mysteriously took a 14 day recuperation and the case moved to a devout pro chinese Judge.
This judge was a Lady who refused everything to the US and openly told HK authorities to arrest anyone who entered the Mira Hotel without permission- diplomacy be damned!
Arrest them immediately! No exceptions!
By the time US used its Political clout – Snowden vanished.
He moved to Kowloon to some Refugee apartment and the Pro Chinese Judge exempted him from any appearance in court.
The Technicalities
The US sent a formal extradition request and Lackey HK politicians dutifully endorsed it to the court. (Known as “rubber stamping”.)
Our Pro Chinese Judge promptly rejected it on grounds of:-
[1] Error in listen name
[2] Social Security Document not a valid proof of ID in HK.
[3] The Passport details are mismatched.
This was true. The Request was so hurried that the Name and Passport were botched up.
However China of 2013 wasn’t the China of 2022. It was much weaker.
The Mainland Authorities knew eventually they would have to kowtow to US and send Snowden to US unless they invaded HK. (There were too many American assets, operatives and CIA operators inside of HK).
So they tipped off Snowden who immediately moved to the Russian Consulate in HK
Snowden throws a Brilliant Curveball
Snowden applied to 21 Nations for Asylum knowing fully well he would go only to China.
Later he changed to Russia after advise from the Chinese.
Snowden used the NSA tracking against them by making 20 calls to the Bolivian consulate in HK and talking to the Bolivian Ministry. All in an elaborate ruse.
Everyone believed he would make for the Bolivian consulate.
Unlike Assange, Snowden wasn’t an Idiot who trusted the Western System. He knew that they were all prostitutes of the USA for a long, long time.
But, you know…
Nobody looked at Russia
Everyone thought that it was either China or Bolivia.
Meanwhile HK authorities passed an order forbidding Snowden to leave by Air if he presented his passport.
China makes the last call
Again China made a call.
And just like that, the order forbidding movement by air was revoked on Human Rights grounds and was called for somewhere in Mid June 2014.
Snowden left 2 hours after it was revoked and well before US State Department could respond.
By the time the US State Department responded, Snowden was Long Gone and was in Moscow where Asylum was granted in a record 40 minutes pending a hearing scheduled 11 months later.
So it was China who ensured that Snowden never got caught or extradited
They however knew that they could not bring Snowden to Beijing and risk so much Political Pressure, so they orchestrated his movement to Russia and subsequently demanded details from the US on their spying that US simply could not give.
CHECKMATE
Today Snowden is a Russian Citizen
What happened in China next
The Great Firewall was enhanced and every single American spy Protocol was destroyed.
China amended the law to exempt Personal Security to US Equipment Server Engineers .
Two Engineers who were arrested on grounds of spying were beaten so badly in custody that the rest fled China in sheer terror.
Over 500 Equipment Contracts with US were decimated
China demanded newer Security Agreements and told a Facebook Engineer who was arrested how they would target their families in very, mean, cruel and nasty ways.
It was literally a Mafia Moment in China
US Security Experts in China were so frightened that they all fled China and their equipment was seized and destroyed. They dropped what they were doing and left within hours. Some didn’t even pack.
US didn’t protest because they were caught “red handed” and with their pants down.
The Israels entire Surveillance system was compromised within Iran. Aside from the many captures and long imprisonments, Five Iranians were executed and their families completely disappeared.
Israel and US lost a Massive Surveillance Behemoth in the Region.
Snowden was easily Chinas Greatest Patriot
Without him imagine?
China would never have [1] set up counter surveillance on US, [2] created their Great Firewall and [3] protected itself from Malicious Western Impacts.
The land area of China is around 3.7million square miles, while the land area of the U.S. (minus Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories), is 2.9million square miles.
Do cats become more attached to their owners as they age?
I believe they do.
When Mikey was a kitten he was pretty attached to me but then after 6 months old he became more independent.
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He was so funny and so full of life and he was such a busy guy. Though, he was always ready for cuddle time at bedtime.
I noticed a shift in Mikey’s behavior towards me when he was around 8 years old.
He started following me around again like he did when he was a kitten.
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He started keeping tabs on me.
Mikey was born deaf so he always had his own way of communicating and his meow was super loud.
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When I would return from the store or wherever I had been he would protest loudly to let me know he was not happy about me leaving him.
By the time Mikey was 12 years old we were joined at the hip. Where mommy went, Mikey went too.
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I even took him with us on our vacation to California from Oregon. 12 hours in the car and he did so well, he was so happy he got to go.
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Mikey died at 18 years old and we were closer than we had ever been before.
We spent quality time together especially between the ages of 12 and 18 years old.
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Honestly, his senior years were my favorite years, I loved how he depended on me because for all the years prior it was me depending on him.
He never let me down.
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So I couldnt let him down.
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We had a wonderful life together with every moment filled with love.
We were best friends.
Truth be told, I was always the one with the attachment issues.
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Divinyls – Boys In Town [HQ]
Oh SHIT they think Putin is bluffing and they’re pushing nuclear war.
Well worth the two hours. At least check out the first segment (after the 30 minutes or so lead in)…
Shining a light on these dark corners of the American Empire, where shadowy spooks wage war on the regular people of the world, including non-elite Americans, to benefit the private interests of globalist oligarchs and petty tyrants.
Global supply chains work only in peacetime, but not when the world is at war, be it a hot war or an economic war. The low inflation world had three pillars: cheap immigrant labor keeping nominal wage growth “stagnant” in the U.S., cheap Chinese goods raising real wages amid stagnant nominal wages, and cheap Russian natural gas fueling German industry and Europe more broadly. Implicit in this “trinity” were two giant geo-strategic and geo-economic blocks: Niall Ferguson called the first one “Chimerica”. I will call the other one “Eurussia”.
Both unions were a “heavenly match”: the EU paid euros for cheap Russian gas, the U.S. paid U.S. dollars for cheap Chinese imports, and Russia and China dutifully recycled their earnings into G7 claims. All sides were entangled commercially as well as financially, and as the old wisdom goes, if we trade, everyone benefits and so we won’t fight. But like in any marriage, that’s true only if there is harmony. Harmony is built on trust, and occasional disagreements can only be resolved peacefully provided there is trust. But when trust is gone, everything is gone, which is the scary conclusion from Dale Copeland’s book: Economic Interdependence and War.
Reviewing 200 years of history, including the Napoleonic and Crimean wars, the book explains that “when great powers have positive expectations of the future trade environment, they want to remain at peace in order to secure the economic benefits that enhance long-term economic power. When, however, these expectations turn negative, leaders are likely to fear a loss of access to raw materials and markets, giving them an incentive to initiate crises to protect their commercial interests”. This “theory of trade expectations” holds lessons for understanding not only today’s conflict between the U.S. on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other, but also the outlook for inflation. Put simply…
…if there is trust, trade works. If trust is gone, it doesn’t. Today, trust is gone: Chimerica does not work anymore and Eurussia does not work either. Instead, we have a special relationship between Russia and China, the core economies of the BRICS block and the “king” and the “queen” on the Eurasian chessboard – a new “heavenly match”, forged from the divorce of Chimerica and Eurussia…
Why hasn’t the US been able to drive Huawei out of business even though it has used every trick possible to hurt the company?
Because most of the nations in the world KNOW the US is lying. It is the US that is spying on everyone and trying to impose US rule on every nation in the world.
Since Huawei wasn’t doing any business in the US anyways, the US government has failed because the world trusts Huawei and doesn’t trust the US at all.
After all, the US used a tube of Tide detergent to justify invading Iraq. That is about as infamous as you can get.
Popa Chubby – Little Wing
Let’s start with this wonderful clip… one of the best blues guitarists.
“Better that right counsels be known to enemies than that the evil secrets of tyrants should be concealed from the citizens. They who can treat secretly of the affairs of a nation have it absolutely under their authority; and as they plot against the enemy in time of war, so do they against the citizens in time of peace.”― Baruch Spinoza
It hasn’t been a month since President Biden mounted the steps of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, declaring it his duty to ensure each of us understands the central faction of his political opposition are extremists that “threaten the very foundations of our Republic.” Flanked by the uniformed icons of his military and standing atop a Leni Riefenstahl stage, the leader clenched his fists to illustrate seizing the future from the forces of “fear, division, and darkness.” The words falling from the teleprompter ran rich with the language of violence, a “dagger at the throat” emerging from the “shadow of lies.”
“What’s happening in our country,” the President said, “is not normal.”
Is he wrong to think that? The question the speech intended to raise—the one lost in the unintentionally villainous pageantry—is whether and how we are to continue as a democracy and a nation of laws. For all the Twitter arguments over Biden’s propositions, there has been little consideration of his premises.
Democracy and therule of law have been so frequently invoked as a part of the American political brand that we simply take it for granted that we enjoy both.
Are we right to think that?
Our glittering nation of laws observes this year two birthdays: the 70th anniversary of the National Security Agency, on which my thoughts have been recorded, and the 75th anniversary of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The CIA was founded in the wake of the 1947 National Security Act. The Act foresaw no need for the Courts and Congress to oversee a simple information-aggregation facility, and therefore subordinated it exclusively to the President, through the National Security Council he controls.
In 1963, no less than former President Harry Truman confessed that the very agency he personally signed into law had transformed into something altogether different than he intended, writing:
“For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble…”
Many today comfort themselves by imagining that the Agency has been reformed, and that such abuses are relics of the distant past, but what few reforms our democracy has won have been watered-down or compromised. The limited “Intelligence Oversight” role that was eventually conceded to Congress in order to placate the public has never been taken seriously by either the committee’s majority—which prefers cheerleading over investigating—or by the Agency itself, which continues to conceal politically-sensitive operations from the very group most likely to defend them.
How can we judge the ultimate effectiveness of oversight and reforms? Well, the CIA plotted to assassinate my friend, American whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, in 1972, yet nearly fifty years of “reforms” did little to inhibit them from recently sketching out another political murder targeting Julian Assange. Putting that in perspective, you probably own shoes older than the CIA’s most recent plot to murder a dissident… or rather the most recent plot that we know of.
If you believe the Assange case to be a historical anomaly, some aberration unique to Trump White House, recall that the CIA’s killings have continued in series across administrations. Obama ordered the killing of an American far from any battlefield, and killed his 16 year-old American son a few weeks later, but the man’s American daughter was still alive by the time Obama left.
Within a month of entering the White House, Trump killed her.
They stripped him naked, save a diaper he couldn’t change, in a cold so wicked that his guards, in their warm clothes, ran heaters for themselves. In absolute darkness, they bolted his hands and feet to a single point on the floor with a very short chain so that it was impossible to stand or lie down – a practice called “short shackling” – and after he died, claimed that it was for his own safety. They admit to beating him, even describing the “forceful punches.” They describe the blood that ran from his nose and mouth as he died.
Pages later, in their formal conclusion, the Agency declares that there was no evidence of beating. There was no of evidence torture. The CIA ascribes responsibility for his death to hypothermia, which they blamed on him for the crime of refusing, on his final night, a meal from the men that killed him.
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In the aftermath, the Agency concealed the death of Gul Rahman from his family. To this day, they refuse to reveal what happened to his remains, denying those who survive him a burial, or even some locus of mourning.
Ten years after the torture program investigated, exposed, and ended, no one was charged for their role in these crimes. The man responsible for Rahman’s death was recommended for a $2,500 cash award — for “consistently superior work”.
This summer, in a speech marking the occasion of the CIA’s 75th birthday, President Biden struck a quite different note than he did in Philadelphia, reciting what the CIA instructs all presidents: that the soul of the institution really lies in speaking truth to power.
“We turn to you with the big questions,” Biden said, “the hardest questions. And we count on you to give your best, unvarnished assessment of where we are. And I emphasize “‘unvarnished.’”
But this itself is a variety of varnishing — a whitewash.
For what reason do we aspire to maintain — or achieve — a nation of laws, if not to establish justice?
Let us say we have a democracy, shining and pure. The people, or in our case some subset of people, institute reasonable laws to which government and citizen alike must answer. The sense of justice that arises within such a society is not produced as a result of the mere presence of law, which can be tyrannical and capricious, or even elections, which face their own troubles, but is rather derived from the reason and fairness of the system that results.
What would happen if we were to insert into this beautiful nation of laws an extralegal entity that is not directed by the people, but a person: the President? Have we protected the nation’s security, or have we placed it at risk?
This is the unvarnished truth: the establishment of an institution charged with breaking the law within a nation of laws has mortally wounded its founding precept.
From the year it was established, Presidents and their cadres have regularly directed the CIA to go beyond the law for reasons that cannot be justified, and therefore must be concealed — classified. The primary result of the classification system is not an increase in national security, but a decrease in transparency. Without meaningful transparency, there is no accountability, and without accountability, there is no learning.
Do you believe that the CIA today — a CIA free from all consequence and accountability — is uninvolved in similar activities? Can you find no presence of their fingerprints in the events of the world, as described in the headlines, that provide cause for concern? Yet it is those who question the wisdom of placing a paramilitary organization beyond the reach of our courts that are dismissed as “naive.”
For 75 years, the American people have been unable to bend the CIA to fit the law, and so the law has been bent to fit the CIA. As Biden stood on the crimson stage, at the site where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and adopted, his words rang out like the cry of a cracked-to-hell Liberty Bell: “What’s happening in our country is not normal.”
If only that were true.
Brazil
Ave do Café, the Avenue of Coffee.
What is the most selfless or caring thing you have ever seen a cat do?
My kitty Otter was a dog tamer.
Otter
My daughter had dropped off a husky mix named Jackson at the house who would have been otherwise euthanized. This happened while I was on a trip.
This dog had supposedly killed a cat before (don’t know if that was true) and my cats were on the refrigerator.
Well I let him know the kitties outranked him and gradually Otter would challenge him by walking by.
They never were best buds but they tolerated each other.
Fast forward a couple of years. Jackson, who was fairly old when he entered our lives got cancer.
His appetite left him.
So Otter, who had absolutely NO interest in his food would go over and pretend she wanted to eat it!
He would trot right over, get territorial and eat his dinner.
It was so sweet.
He died a few month later.
They were more like buddies at the end.
Otter lived until she was 18. She was the best cat I ever had.
Owned her from the day she was born.
She was always courageous and had a beautiful cat heart.
4 Non Blondes – What’s Up (Official Music Video)
Amazing
The owner of the cow decided to install a CCTV camera after hearing the barking of dogs every day So he got to see this amazing scene. Every day a Leopard comes and the cow loves him, licks him. When he found out from the old owner of the cow, he said that this leopard was only twenty days old when the mother of the leopard died. Since then the cow has fed him her milk and the leopard thinks that the cow is his mother, so the leopard comes to visit the cow every day in love with his mother.
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What’s the best “tourist trap” you’ve ever fallen into?
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Personally I’ve never fallen into this scheme but whenever I visit our tiny sister island of Tobago I roll my eyes seeing the amount of tourists who get caught in this trap.
Imagine this…
You’re on vacation with your family in the Caribbean island of Tobago, known for its stunning blue beaches and laid-back, bohemian lifestyle.
As many tourists do, seeing that it’s the closest beach to the airport, they spend their first day on Store Bay, the most commercially popular beach in Tobago.
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As you arrive down the steps, past all the numerous souvenirs, handicraft and food stalls, you look for a nice shady area on the sand to lay your beach towel and make camp. Unfortunately all the good spots are taken so you whip out that suntan lotion and decide to take in some Vitamin D because you’ll be taking a dip in the water anyhow.
Suddenly a sinewy barechested young man looking like this:
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Comes with a beach umbrella, and while taking puffs of his marijuana spliff, he stabs the umbrella into the sand amongst you, which provides much appreciated shade from the enhanced Vitamin D plus sunrays that are making you sweat.
You think, ‘Wow, what nice thoughtful people these Tobagonians are.’
You thank him but he doesn’t seem to hear you. He leaves and you assume that the umbrella is complimentary of whatever tourism board is running the country as you notice practically everyone has an umbrella like yours.
The man returns with a couple of beach chairs. You jump up ready to assist this helpful man. His mind seems distant as he stares towards the sea horizon as though expecting something. You say thanks again but he leaves without a word.
You enjoy yourself in the sun and sea, taking a few splashes in the azure waters. Discussing plans for the evening with your spouse, watching the kids frolic on the sand.
An old boat adorned in bright colours arrive on shore blasting music from its speakers. You see a bunch of people get up and head towards the boat. It’s apparently a glass bottomed boat that tours the nearby beaches.
The man magically appears behind you.
‘Yuh wah go on de glass bottom boat?’ he says.
You take some time to translate his sentence and you quickly say yeah. He whips out a card of tickets and a pencil and writes a note under some tickets. He then leads you and your family to the boat and assists you all in helping climb onto it.
What great hospitality! What great people! What a nice country! They really do go above and beyond for the tourists.
These are the thoughts you think whilst enjoying the tour, staring at the beautiful sights while the children look at fishes and coral through the glass bottom.
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The tour lasts about two hours and when you return you decide that you will stay on the beach for the sunset.
When the sun sets most people are leaving and you see your man along with others like him collecting their vacated beach chairs and umbrellas.
You watch the sunset and fall in love with the country. Your man is somewhere behind you smoking another spliff and enjoying the sunset with you. However he seems to be scowling. You tell yourself that maybe that’s just his countenance. Never judge a book by its cover.
You decide to wrap things up and as you and your family assist in dusting off the beach chairs and folding and the umbrella, your man comes over with a few shirtless friends and takes over that duty.
He is staring at you and you don’t know what to say.
‘Thank you for everything,’ you say awkwardly, ‘You’ve been so kind…..What’s your name?’
‘Yuh have $1200 (TT) dollars for us sir.’ he says in a gruff, solemn tone while staring you in the eyes. His friends are poised nearby smirking at the scene.
‘You didn’t tell me you were charging me all this time! You didn’t tell me the cost?’
You look at him and his men who look agitated and upset and you look nervously at the near deserted beach. You know that quarreling over money with a bunch of unknown, sinewy shirtless locals would not be a good idea given the circumstances.
‘Brudda, if yuh don’t mind’ said one of his friends, ‘We real busy. Y’all went overtime. Jus pay we for our services nuh.’
He is saying this more as a growling threat than a request. You do your calculations. $200 US should cover the fee and give you back a little more than $100 TT change. You grudgingly give him the money. He looks at it, pockets it and he and his men leave without a word, laughing at something they were discussing, not even considering your change.
You’ve just been schemed my good friend.
Lesson #1 in coming to Tobago as a tourist.
Absolutely nothing is free.
Edit: Did not expect this little gem of advice to take off so quickly. But please be aware that these sort of schemes and unwholesome attitudes are mostly prevalent at Store Bay. The rest of Tobago is very easy going and trustworthy.
The Government is doing its best to curb these type of characters from tainting our image. This is just a lesson to be on the alert if you do decide to visit our marvelous country.
Edit 9.01.22: Those guys who try to scheme you with their beach chairs and boat rides in Tobago are nothing compared to the ‘trailer trash’ of Trinidad. Click here to read all about it.
What are your thoughts on China’s treatment of their citizens right now? Should they be charged with human rights violations?
China treats its citizens very well, thank you very much. Whatever you’ve heard or read about human rights in China is Western media propaganda bullshit. You need to be aware that Western governments and Western media have been perpetrating a massive disinformation campaign against China for decades.
How to cook Rogan Josh
Roganjoshalso spelled roghan josh or roghan ghosht, is an aromatic curried meat dish of Kashmiri origin from the Kashmir Valley of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rogan Josh
The lovely color of rogan josh (sometimes spelled roghan josh or roghan ghosht) comes from the Kashmiri dry red chiles used to prepare it. When you read the recipe, it may seem like you will end up with a fiery dish, but do not fear—the chiles add fantastic flavor to the Indian curry without making it too spicy.
Whole spices along with ground and fresh spices are what add layer upon layer of flavor to this Indian curry. Marinating the lamb in yogurt helps to tenderize the meat, and a touch of cream at the end gives the dish a little richness.
Serve with plain boiled rice or pulao and a vegetable side dish like okra or cauliflower.
Rogan josh has a savory, meaty, spiced flavor. Recipes vary greatly based on the cook, so the exact flavors can differ. The balance of dried chiles and a mix of spices gives the curry layers of flavor without making it too spicy.
How spicy is rogan josh curry?
While rogan josh does contain chiles, they are dried Kashmiri chiles, which are a mild type of pepper. The chiles add flavor and color rather than intense heat. You can adjust the chiles to your taste and spice tolerance.
Does rogan josh contain tomato?
Recipes for the Indian curry rogan josh vary depending on the cook’s preference for spices and other ingredients. Some recipes for rogan josh contain tomato puree or tomatoes while others do not. The color primarily comes from the Kashmiri chiles.
Lee Amendment
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced an amendment declaring that China is not a developing country and should not be treated by the UN or other intergovernmental organizations as such. The amendment would also require the Secretary of State to propose the removal of China’s designation as a developing nation under the Kigali Amendment. Sen. Lee’s amendment passed the Senate by a unanimous roll call vote: 96 vs 0. . From HERE.
What is the smartest thing you’ve seen a child do?
When one of our twins had just turned 5, just a few weeks into kindergarten, I went into our playroom and realized the computer was running Windows 10.
I asked my wife if she upgraded it. I asked our then 10 year old. No and no.
Stumped, I finally asked the 5 year old.
He proudly announced that he had as he liked Windows 10. Not quite believing him, I asked him how.
He sat down, brought up Google, typed in “Window 10 upgrade instructions” and started reading me the steps.
Stunned, I asked: “you can read”?
He laughed and said he’d been able to read that well for over a year.
I asked him how?
He pulled up Youtube for Kids on his tablet and showed me how he had enabled closed captions.
He calmly said he’d been reading along since he was 3.
He’s 6 now. I have yet to find software that will lock down his tablet. He cracks them all.
Proud, and a little scared.
Do younger Chinese, especially the well educated Chinese born after 1990, support the Chinese government more?
When foreigners met a Chinese guy that supports CCP government, they always say, “ poor people being brainwashed by their government.”
However the experiences of mine tells an opposite story.
China education do put little communist ideology in our politics textbook from high school. But it in fact had made an opposite effect – high school students tend to rebel especially you push to convince him/her to believe something. For me, I hated the politics course in those days, and because of that, I chose to study science courses instead of literature courses even though my history is much better than my physics. I was fond of a young writer named Han Han who was often writing articles to criticize the system and government. I did like a history teacher named Yuan tengfei, who is famous for criticizing Mao Zedong and praise western ways of thinking. It was like kind of anti-government idea and I was pretty proud of that then.
But things began to change after I went to Japan for further study. I was looking forward for new free life outside China, I expected lots of people with different ideas and independent thoughts. However people here are not like what I thought. Media have strong bias against everything in China, and most of the people here accept the false information without any doubt. And as I started to watch YouTube, what I have found is just double-standards of westerners.
An example is COVID-19. When Wuhan was lockdown, I was preparing my master thesis in Japan. Like others, I also thought that could no more than a heavy flu. The very strict method is controversial outside China, I was also doubt the necessity then. But days later, the SOS messages from individuals of wuhan began to spread in Chinese SNS. Too many heart breaking stories and I lost sleep in many nights, what I could do was only forward SOS messages to make sure more would see and took care of the people in trouble.
what is it like outside China? They were making fun of the plague and call us the patient of Asia. They were mocking on our temporary hospitals and call them concentration camp. They were making jokes about our country just like democracy countries do not have plague. The westerners always label themselves as human rights fighters and savers but they have never focused on the miseries of Wuhan people, somehow might warn themselves that it is not simply a flu; all the news here is to show how bad CCP is, and make fun of us.
Now the pandemic in China is contained, but for worldwide it have just begun. The developed world acted like shit but they just blame others. The whole world started to build temporary hospitals which is apparently worse than ours, but surprisingly there is no one mocking on them! The president of the most powerful country in the world, has especially strengthened my idea. Mr.president always said it’s a flu and “ I know corona virus better than anyone” two weeks ago; While now US became the patient of America, he said he was always serious and their method against the virus was perfect. Then his popularity just climbed! WTF??? Is this the result your perfect democracy trying to make? To produce a cheater to run the country and cheat the people? And is this your wise people that even not able to tell you are played like a fool?
No it’s too far from my expectation now. I know there are many problems in China but I believe she will be better. Because only 15 years ago while I was a middle school student, there is no road to the city, one of the happiest thing for my childhood was that my dad’s McDonald’s delivery from the city, which at least cost him two days by ship in a round trip. Now? 2 hours on express way and will be 30 minutes by high speed train in 2024.
I’m not going to convince anybody to love China, because after several years abroad I know, it’s impossible to erase the bias in your mind by only talking. At least I don’t think I can convince the 100 million people who support Trump.
Cat on guard
Yes! We used to laugh when our Catkins would stubbornly sit beside the cat door until we closed it at night. We thought it was just another of her many quirks.
But when she had to spend the night at the vet, we found out the real reason for her vigil. We woke up at two, thinking we were dreaming: we clearly heard the sound of crunching coming from the corner where we kept Catkins’ dry food.
We switched on the light to see THREE strange cats calmly munching away! No wonder Catkins kept watch, with three moochers trying to steal her food! The three looked well-fed, and were clearly someone’s pets.
We shooed them out, and took out the cat door. Catkins was then happy to spend her evenings on the couch with us, relieved of the need for guard duty.
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Interesting comments from a Canadian
Cardi is a confused clown----a racist piece of trash- a complete idiot --He should be the Minister of Destruction ( their finances could take a future HARD HIT ---the only language fools like Cardi understand ( as well as Boris Johnson- Prince Justin "Jackboot" Trudeua- Amtrak Joe Biden and Scottie Mad Dog Morrison) is a blow to the head or a bankrupt bank account------
----BIG DEBT but talking proud ---------
2007 might be coming their way very soon ---a big collapse.
FIRE Finance Insurance Real Estate ----the 4 stooges ( USA UK Canada Australia ) Make zip --nothing ------all increases in employment courtesy of bankrupt governments--this spending and borrowing can not continue forever.
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Oh Liz Truss--visits Queen Elizabeth II and 2 days later--the latter expires.
USA is now starting this close all Confucius Institutes Nonsense and Education Minister Cardi ( this idiot should be put away into an institution for idiots) either closed or is closing the Confucius Institute in New Brunswick ---
Canada and USA ( the only 2 countries (who know - understand and apply ---human rights ---democracy and freedom) are now planning to sail through Taiwan Straits
They ( UK USA Canada and Australia) Have NO respect for anyone---just the Big Bozo sitting in DC and the Industrial Military Complex.
===============================================
Third Point:
Remember all the fuss 2019 in Hong Kong-------it was going to collapse---its people were suffering---the innocent thugs vandalizing the place were heros --Nancy Luvkins and Trump Toadies
--------it is all a game of Yes I do
---NO You don't or No I Don't
Yes you do..
Took some material from United Nations HDI Index and the results are as follows:
The human development Index measures countries according to the following:
Life Expectancy at birth
Education: Mean years of schooling
Standard of living: GNI (Gross National Income) per capita.
Now here are the results for 2013 and the most recently 2022:
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Issues:
Hong Kong rose from 15 to 4 —NOW that is a huge increase and there were the riots there in 2019—–it should have fallen according to MSM like Fox or CNN or even CBC
Canada fell from position 8 to 16 —- a big drop
USA fell from position 5 to 17—– another big drop
Australia fell from 2 to 8
UK was the only one to rise from 13 to 12 —but this Trails Hong Kong.
Each of these English speaking countiries fell by 8 points ——and the HDI measures human condition—-tells the truth –now who is fooling who Mssr Trump-Biden-Trudeau–you are like Mr Know-it-all from International Falls: Bullwinkle M Moose ” Hey Rocky –watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat !!!!”
What British food should one absolutely try (either because it is delicious or because it’s peculiar)?
May I present the humble Cadbury’s Mini Roll:
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This was invented when an unsuspecting Brit who, on visiting America, took a bite of a Twinkie and, after throwing up and swearing profusely, took it upon themselves to create the most heavenly yet simple cake bar known to mankind.
They come in packs of 10, laughingly referred to as “Family Packs”, which to be fair is true if you live on your own. I have been known to open the sweet drawer (the part of the kitchen where all Britons hide their shame), open a single bar ‘just for a snack’ and be found 6 hours later by one of my children in a hyperglycaemic coma on the sofa, surrounded by wrappers with chocolate all over my face.
“Is Daddy an alcoholic Mummy?”
“No, he’s just a greedy cu…. so ‘nd so”
These things put all other sweet snacks to shame.
I was inspired to answer this question upon seeing a very well written homage to the Beef Wellington. A BW is all good and well for a posh dinner, but is fuck all good when you are hanging out of your arsehole and need 10,000 swiftly delivered cake based calories and a pint of Lucozade.
Is China on the verge of becoming the next massive threat to the United States? Why or why not?
If you see your shadow as a threat, it will be a threat.
US already regards China a threat. China demands equality in their relationship. Its rise is in inexorable, and gaining influence and respect in world affairs. It sets an example for countries to resist US hegemony.
US responds out of fear and a negative attitude. The proof is that every important US foreign policy statement or action has China back and centre, notably the increasing propaganda to demonize it, the unending streams of sanctions, and the haste to form new alliances, as well as, to draw NATO into the Asian theatre.
China’s technology prowess is catching up with the US. It already leads in several foundation technologies, like 5G communications, green economy, and AI applications. On semiconductors, its manufacturing capacities has taken a quantum leap, in sophistication as well. It is already able to do 7nm chips. US leads in specific technologies to make semiconductors may be tenuous, as it lacks behind in manufacturing. China is STEM-focus, in contrast to law and finance in the US. China graduates 4 times the number of STEM bachelor degrees compared with the US, and 2 times the number of PhDs by 2025. It consistently outscores the US in international science and technology rankings for K-12 students. In 2018m it ranked first in the PISA scores against 25th for the US.
So, China is more than a threat in technology prowess. It is catching up with the US, and sets to overtake it in the near future, and then to widen the lead.
China is a nuclear power. Its military forces are growing stronger in its continuing program of modernisation and mechanisation, which started about 5 years ago. The focuses are on command and control, troop training, and equipment and weaponry, especially the air force, and the navy. It is well capable to defend the country, and if need be, to counter-attack. It therefore lessens the threat of attack by the US, such as by its carrier strike group. It also renders much of the rhetoric by the US to defend Taiwan less believable or moot.
In this sense, China is a threat to the US because it is able to defend an attack by the US. It is a defensive threat rather than an offensive one. It is not a threat if US does not intend to attack it. It is not a threat to attack the US and its military forces and bases around the globe.
China gains many foreign friends and much respect and influence through trade and investments. US feels threatened because this may cause it to lose global influence, and compromise its hegemony in world affairs.
But this threat is more of its own making. US has been (1) dishonest and destructive, as is clear from the countries it had bombed and the failed states in the Middle East, (2) racialist, such as its attitude towards non-white refugees, and the hoarding and slow fulfilment of its pledges of Covid vaccines, and (3) bully and unconscionable, the most flagrant is to freeze $7 billion of money that belongs to Afghanistan, and leaving the people to suffer hungers and starvations.
So long as US hangs on to hegemony, and No.1 in its chosen fields, it will feel threaten by any country on the rise.
In the 1980s, it was Japan, which it was able to dispose off quite quickly. Japan is a much smaller country and is beholden to the US for defence.
Now it is China, which it will have to compromise and find accommodation. China is much larger and more powerful than Japan, and is not beholden to the US. China has its own national goal, which it will pursue disregarding the US.
Why does homemade fried rice never taste the same as fried rice from a Chinese restaurant? Am I missing some secret ingredient or method?
I can’t say for sure whether or not you’re missing any secret ingredients, since I don’t know your recipe. I am certain you’re missing one key component though, and that’s heat.
Chinese restaurants cook over commercial wok burners, which put out 125,000 BTUs of heat. Your home stove might generate 15,000 BTUs out of its largest burner. That’s a pretty significant difference.
The heat of a wok burner imparts a distinctive flavor onto foods. When foods hit the polymerized surface of a hot steel wok, they instantly release moisture, which leaves the food in the form of steam. The foods are tossed through the rising steam, where they capture the droplets of water, and fall back into the wok. This action, repeated over and over, is the essence of wok cooking. The intense heat also causes rapid browning and caramelization and gives the food a distinctive smokey flavor. The flavor, known as Wok Hei in Cantonese, is what makes Chinese take out so crave able, and can’t be duplicated on a home stove. None of what I described can be duplicated, to the same degree, on a home stove. It just doesn’t generate enough heat.
This is a 125,000 BTU wok burner.
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That ain’t your momma’s kitchen stove.
If the US and China have the same wage rate, will America become competitive against China in manufacturing?
Most Americans still thinks that China is competitive because of its lower wage cost. It still thinks and dream on that it owns and provide key technologies.
But the truth is really far from this. Chinese success is only partially because of labour cost. It’s their infrastructure, its their own technology, its their great educational system, its robotics and automation, it is their super duper government machinery, its their hardwork, its the intelligence and skill of their workers.
That is why inspite of the wage rise by as much as ten folds since 1980s, the Chinese has only grown more competitive. And its products and services demand have only got stronger inspite of the trade war, the decoupling, the increase cost.
So even if the US managed to be on par with China on labour cost, American products will still be not competitive. It’s infrastructure is much more dilapidated, its labour could not match the skill and capability of the Chinese, its production lacks robotics and automation, its goverment is of no help and in stalemate.
These are simply facts not words like exceptionality which the US claims over and over again without substance.
Audioslave – Like a Stone (Official Video)
How do Chinese stay slim with all that orange chicken, egg rolls, and chow mein they eat?
That’s easy!
What you think I eat every day:
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What I actually eat every day:
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Is it true that the BBC in the UK says China is bullying the Uyghurs? Or is the BBC helping US allies spread disinformation to deceive his people?
Watch their expose on it they made a few years ago.
Looks terribly damning but if you wait right to the end? It shows these Uighurs being allowed home for the weekend.
They know that you won’t watch to the end so that’s why they put it there.
What sort of death camp allows people to go home at the weekend?
For someone growing up in a dysfunctional family, what are things you wish you had but never did growing up?
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — Leo Tolstoy
Why can’t Chinese people eat normal food like pizza, burgers, and steaks?
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It’s such a huge pity if your world is only filled with pizza, burgers and steaks.
You will find a lot more varieties of food than you can imagine if you go to China.
China is mainly famous for its eight cuisines, which include Cantonese Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine, Anhui Cuisine, Hunan Cuisine, Jiangsu Cuisine, Shandong Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Zhejiang Cuisine.
You can find hundreds of and even thousands kinds of dishes for each of the major cuisines.
Besides that, there are also various sorts of local food in different places across China.
China has a large territory. Different places have food with different flavors.
The real US agenda in Africa is hegemony
by Pepe Escobar, first published at The Cradle and posted with the author’s permission
Forget development. Washington’s primary interest in Africa today is keeping the Chinese and Russians out.
In a rational environment, the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) would discuss alleviating the trials and tribulations of the Global South, especially Africa.
That won’t be the case. Like a deer caught in the geopolitical headlights, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued platitudes about a gloomy “winter of global discontent,” even as the proverbial imperial doomsayers criticized the UN’s “crisis of faith” and blasted the “unprovoked war” started by Russia.
Of course the slow-motion genocide of Donbass russophone residents for eight years would never be recognized as a provocation.
Guterres spoke of Afghanistan, “where the economy is in ruins and human rights are being trampled” – but he did not dare to offer context. In Libya, “divisions continue to jeopardize the country” – once again, no context. Not to mention Iraq, where “ongoing tensions threaten ongoing stability.”
Africa has 54 nations as UN members. Any truly representative UNGA meeting should place Africa’s problems at the forefront. Once again, that’s not the case. So it is left to African leaders to offer that much-needed context outside of the UN building in New York.
As the only African member of the G20, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently urged the US not to “punish” the whole continent by forcing nations to demonize or sanction Russia. Washington’s introduction of legislation dubbed the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, he says, “will harm Africa and marginalize the continent.”
South Africa is a BRICS member – a concept that is anathema in the Beltway – and embraces a policy of non-alignment among world powers. An emerging 21st century version of the 1960s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is strengthening across the Global South – and especially Africa – much to the revulsion of the US and its minions.
Back at the UNGA, Guterres invoked the global fertilizer crisis – again, with no context. Russian diplomacy has repeatedly stressed that Moscow is ready to export 30 million tons of grain and over 20 million tons of fertilizer by the end of 2022. What is left unsaid in the west, is that only the importation of fertilizers to the EU is “allowed,” while transit to Africa is not.
Guterres said he was trying to persuade EU leaders to lift sanctions on Russian fertilizer exports, which directly affect cargo payments and shipping insurance. Russia’s Uralchem, for instance, even offered to supply fertilizers to Africa for free.
Yet from the point of view of the US and its EU vassals, the only thing that matters is to counter Russia and China in Africa. Senegal’s President Macky Sall has remarked how this policy is leaving “a bitter taste.”
‘We forbid you to build your pipeline’
It gets worse. The largely ineffectual EU Parliament now wants to stop the construction of the 1,445 km-long East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) from Uganda to Tanzania, invoking hazy human rights violations, environmental threats, and “advising” member countries to simply drop out of the project.
Uganda is counting on more than 6 billion barrels of oil to sustain an employment boom and finally move the nation to middle-income status. It was up to Ugandan Parliament Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa to offer much-needed context:
“It is imprudent to say that Uganda’s oil projects will exacerbate climate change, yet it is a fact that the EU block with only 10 percent of the world’s population is responsible for 25 percent of global emissions, and Africa with 20 percent of the world’s population is responsible for 3 percent of emissions.
The EU and other western countries are historically responsible for climate change. Who then should stop or slow down the development of natural resources? Certainly not Africa or Uganda.”
The EU Parliament, moreover, is a staunch puppet of the biofuel lobby. It has refused to amend a law that would have stopped the use of food crops for fuel production, actually contributing to what the UN Food Program has described as “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude.” No less than 350 million people are on the brink of starvation across Africa.
Instead, the G7’s notion of “helping” Africa is crystallized in the US-led Build Back Better World (B3W) – Washington’s anaemic attempt to counter Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – which focuses on “climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality,” according to the White House. Practical issues of infrastructure and sustainable development, which are at the heart of China’s plan, are simply ignored by the B3W.
Initially, a few “promising” projects were identified by a traveling US delegation in Senegal and Ghana. Senegalese diplomatic sources have since confirmed that these projects have nothing whatsoever to do with building infrastructure.
B3W, predictably, fizzled out. After all, the US-led project was little more than a public relations gimmick to undermine the Chinese, with negligible effect on narrowing the $40-plus trillion worth of infrastructure needed to be built across the Global South by 2035.
Have YALI, will travel
Imperial initiatives in Africa – apart from the US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which amounts to raw militarization of the continent – brings us to the curious case of YALI (Young African Leaders Initiative), widely touted in the Washington-New York axis as “the most innovative” policy of the Obama years.
Launched in 2010, YALI was framed as “empowering the new generation of Africa leadership” – a euphemism for educating (or brainwashing) them the American way. The mechanism is simple: investing in and bringing hundreds of young African potential leaders to US universities for a short, six-week “training” on “business, civil leadership, entrepreneurship, and public management.” Then, four days in Washington to meet “leaders in the administration,” and a photo op with Obama.
The project was coordinated by US embassies in Africa, and targeted young men and women from sub-Saharan Africa’s 49 nations – including those under US sanctions, like Sudan, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe – proficient in English, with a “commitment” to return to Africa. Roughly 80 percent during the initial years had never been to the US, and more than 50 percent grew up outside of big cities.
Then, in a speech in 2013 in South Africa, Obama announced the establishment of the Washington Fellowship, later renamed the Mandela-Washington Fellowship (MWF).
That’s still ongoing. In 2022, MWF should be granted to 700 “outstanding young leaders from sub-Saharan Africa,” who follow “Leadership Institutes” at nearly 40 US universities, before their short stint in Washington. After which, they are ready for “long-term engagement between the United States and Africa.”
And all that for literally peanuts, as MWF was enthusiastically billed by the Democrat establishment as cost-efficient: $24,000 per fellow, paid by participant US universities as well as Coca-Cola, IBM, MasterCard Foundation, Microsoft, Intel, McKinsey, GE, and Procter & Gamble.
And that didn’t stop with MWF. USAID went a step further, and invested over $38 million – plus $10 million from the MasterCard Foundation – to set up four Regional Leadership Centers (RLCs) in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal. These were training, long distance and in-class, at least 3,500 ‘future leaders’ a year.
It’s no wonder the Brookings Institution was drooling over so much “cost-efficiency” when it comes to investing “in Africa’s future” and for the US to “stay competitive” in Africa. YALI certainly looks prettier than AFRICOM.
A few success stories though don’t seem to rival the steady stream of African footballers making a splash in Europe – and then reinvesting most of their profits back home. The Trump years did see a reduction of YALI’s funding – from $19 million in 2017 to roughly $5 million.
So many leaders to ‘train’
Predictably, the Joe Biden White House YALI-ed all over again with a vengeance. Take this US press attache in Nigeria neatly outlining the current emphasis on “media and information literacy,” badly needed to tackle the “spreading of disinformation” including “in the months leading up to the national presidential election.”
So the US, under YALI, “trained 1,000 young Nigerians to recognize the signs of online and media misinformation and disinformation.” And now the follow-up is “Train the Trainer” workshops, “teaching 40 journalists, content creators, and activists (half of whom will be women) from Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Zamfara, and Katsina how to identify, investigate, and report misinformation.” Facebook, being ordered by the FBI to censor “inconvenient,” potentially election-altering facts, is not part of the curriculum.
YALI is the soft, Instagrammed face of AFRICOM. The US has participated in the overthrow of several African governments over the past two decades, with troops trained under secrecy-obsessed AFRICOM. There has been no serious Pentagon audit on the weaponizing of AFRICOM’s local “partners.” For all we know – as in Syria and Libya – the US military could be arming even more terrorists.
And predictably, it’s all bipartisan. Rabid neo-con and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, in December 2018, at the Heritage Foundation, made it crystal clear: the US in Africa has nothing to do with supporting democracy and sustainable development. It’s all about countering Russia and China.
When it learned that Beijing was considering building a naval base in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, the Biden White House sent power envoys to the capital Malabo to convince the government to cease and desist. To no avail.
In contrast, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was received like a superstar in his recent extensive tour of Africa, where it’s widely perceived that global food prices and the fertilizer drama are a direct consequence of western sanctions on Russia. Uganda leader Yoweri Museveni went straight to the point when he said, “How can we be against somebody who has never harmed us?”
On 13-15 December, the White House plans a major US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington to discuss mostly food security and climate change – alongside the perennial lectures on democracy and human rights. Most leaders won’t be exactly impressed with this new showing of “the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa.” Well, there’s always YALI. So many young leaders to indoctrinate, so little time.
光亮(大型紀錄片《紫禁城》主題歌)Lyrics, Pinyin, English Translation
This is the song that I used in my you-tube tribute to the “Return of the Heroes”.
Gypsy
This is Gypsy, my precious little cat:
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He was only 5 weeks old when some horrible person threw him out of their car on the highway in Southern Arkansas.
My dad saw him, stopped and picked him up and took him home.
His nail beds were ripped out and as you can maybe see in the picture, his face was all cut up.
I slept on the bathroom floor with him that night and he crawled out of the basket we put him in and curled up on my neck.
I put him back in the basket over and over and he would just cry and meow and climb back out again onto my neck.
Finally I let him sleep there.
The next morning we took him to the vet and the vet fudged his age up a couple weeks so I could buy Gypsy an airline ticket.
Two days later I flew with him back to California where I live.
He is now 11 months old and living very happily up in his new home in the Sierra Nevadas.
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BAD COMPANY – Deal With The Preacher
Have you changed the way you think about China after visiting?
Oh for sure. My opinions on China took a 180 degrees turn. The real China that I saw with my own eyes was so different from what the media had been portraying for years.
I visited Beijing, China for the first time in 2011 March. From then on I visited about once every 2 to 3 years. It was just a 2-hour flight from South Korea where I used to live. I really have wonderful memories of my visits and I feel nostalgic about them sometimes.
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Beihai Park, Beijing in 2016 (above)
China just felt so vibrant and full of energy. I did see a lot of similarities with Korea, except it was more interesting and authentic. It is a whole world in itself with its long history and rich unique culture.
What really struck me was the sheer scale of their infrastructure: glitzy skyscrapers, airports, malls. I especially like their malls because they got great restaurants and shops. Any and every kind of brand, product, food, and entertainment that you can ever want is made available to you. The food options are overwhelming sometimes. Every time I go to a restaurant in China, I felt like I was attending a banquet, at least the proper ones where I went for a night out.
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Guomao business district, Beijing (above)
But the hospitality, warmth, and genuineness of the Chinese people are what really impressed me the most. There was no pretense or fakeness in my interactions with them, as is often the case in the west. Their emotions are more authentic and human.
Before I came to China, I had the impression that China was an oppressive communist regime similar to North Korea. Boy was I wrong. I never felt so free in my life. You are generally free to do what you want as long as you don’t stir controversy by touching on a few sensitive topics. I never had to worry about the police, Karens, racists, and criminals as I had to while I was in the states. For example, I can jaywalk freely without getting stopped by the police.
Overall, I have developed a very positive yet balanced opinion of China after many visits (and many years of living there). I am well aware that it has its issues like any other country. But on balance, a wonderful country where the positives outweigh the negatives.
Arrived In Germany. Will The U.S. Be Close Behind?
Things are starting to get really crazy in Germany. The Germans are dealing with the worst inflation crisis that they have seen since the days of the Weimar Republic, and meanwhile economic activity is starting to shut down all over the nation. Of course other European countries are facing similar problems, but Germany was supposed to be the economic rock that the rest of Europe could always depend upon. Unfortunately, the decision by the Russians to cut off the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is hitting Germany extremely hard. If we could just get both sides to agree to end the war in Ukraine, that would greatly help matters, but that simply isn’t going to happen. In fact, it appears that Vladimir Putin has decided to greatly escalate matters, and the western powers will inevitably greatly escalate matters in response. What this means is that the economic turmoil that we are witnessing in Europe isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
This week, we got some inflation numbers out of Germany that are so high that it is difficult to believe that they are actually real…
German producer prices rose in August at the fastest rate since records began in 1949, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed today, pointing to a further increase in consumer prices.Producer prices of industrial products rose by 45.8 percent compared to the same month of last year. Compared to July 2022, prices rose 7.9 percent.Soaring energy prices on the back of Russia’s war against the Ukraine remain the main driver behind rising prices.
If we continue to see monthly increases of around 8 percent, next year at this time we could be talking about a yearly jump of close to 100 percent.
Wow.
How bad do things have to get before we actually start using the term “hyperinflation”?
Energy prices are the biggest reason why inflation has gotten completely out of control, and the German government has been forced to nationalize a huge natural gas company in order to keep it from going under…
The German government is closing in on an agreement to nationalize gas giant Uniper SE, as Berlin moves to stave off a collapse of the country’s energy sector.A provisional agreement between the government, Uniper and its main shareholder, Finland’s Fortum Oyj, has been reached, according to people familiar with the situation. While contracts haven’t been signed, Berlin is aiming for an announcement later this week.
According to the CEO of Uniper, the company has been losing about 100 million euros a day during this crisis.
Needless to say, the German government cannot save everyone, and so a lot of firms won’t survive this crisis at all.
For example, a manufacturer that has been making toilet paper for Germans for nearly 100 years is now headed into insolvency…
Hakle has been a German household name since 1928, but the Duesseldorf-based toilet paper manufacturer said all it took was this summer’s gas price shock to drive it into insolvency.
“Economic activity may pull back somewhat this quarter and shrink markedly in the autumn and winter months,” the central bank said, adding that it didn’t forecast this adverse scenario in a June report.Bundesbank continued: “There are mounting signs of a recession in the German economy in the sense of a clear, broad-based and prolonged decline in economic output.” It said a contraction is expected in the third quarter with deeper declines in economic activity in the fourth.“High inflation and uncertainty with regard to energy supply and its costs affect not only the gas and electricity-intensive industry and its export business and investments, but also private consumption and the service providers dependent on it,” the central bank said.
You can refer to such a scenario as a “recession” or a “depression” if it makes you feel better.
I call it an economic collapse.
The U.S. economy will soon be experiencing immense turmoil as well.
According to billionaire Barry Sternlicht, the Fed’s exceedingly foolish policies are pushing us toward a “serious recession”…
In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday, Barry Sternlicht, the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital, said he believes Americans are facing a major recession if the Federal Reserve proceeds with several more rate hikes as a means of curbing inflation, which is reportedly the central bank’s plan.“The economy is braking hard,” Sternlicht told the financial news outlet, according to the Daily Caller. “If the Fed keeps this up, they are going to have a serious recession and people will lose their jobs.”
He is right on target, but instead of saying “people will lose their jobs” he should have noted that lots of people are already being laid off. This is something that I have been documenting on my website for quite some time, and this week we learned that Gap has decided to lay off hundreds of corporate workers…
Gap Inc. is cutting about 500 corporate jobs as the clothing retailer struggles with declining sales.The job cuts, which include open positions, will be primarily at Gap’s offices in San Francisco, New York and Asia and hit various departments, a representative for the retailer confirmed Tuesday. The moves were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Ouch.
In this environment, very few workers are truly safe.
The struggling TV and film industry continues to run face first into bad news. This week it was reported that Warner Bros. Discovery was firing 100 TV ad salespeople at the same time that Paramount has considered ending offering Showtime as a standalone service, Bloomberg reported.Netflix followed suit with their own layoffs, the report says. The company has reportedly let go hundreds of employees and abandoned some of its office space. At the same time, the firm’s stock price has collapsed and fallen more than 60% from its all time highs.
Back in 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs.
Will we see something similar in the months ahead?
And just like during “the Great Recession”, the housing market is really starting to slow down. In fact, we just learned that homebuilder confidence has now fallen for nine months in a row…
The confidence of builders of single-family houses fell again in September, the ninth month in a row of declines, “as the combination of elevated interest rates, persistent building material supply chain disruptions, and high home prices continue to take a toll on affordability,” the NAHB report said.With today’s index value of 46, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is now below where it had been in May 2006, on the way down into the Housing Bust.
This time around, it won’t just be a few areas of the planet that suffer.
At this moment we are literally witnessing economic implosions all over the planet, and the stage is being set for an immensely painful 2023.
The one thing that could really turn things around would be peace.
Unfortunately, global leaders on both sides seem absolutely determined to drag us into the type of cataclysmic global conflict that I have been warning about for years.
So there isn’t going to be peace, and that means that things are going to get really bad in 2023 and beyond.
But I also believe that you were put at this specific moment in history for a reason.
It is when times are the darkest that the greatest good can be done, and that is something that we will all need to remember during the very dark times in front of us.
Cortez the Killer – J Mascis & the Fog
A poll result says over 60% Taiwanese would arm themselves to actively resist against PRC China take over, is the poll result credible? Will people willing to put in big bet with their money to show belief for such a poll result?
I am from Taiwan.
Polls in Taiwan need to be read with a lot of nuances. Maybe it is the same everywhere, but definitely so in Taiwan.
In Taiwan the answer to a poll does not reflect what a person believes in, but how he would like the answer to sway the outcome of the poll, and in turn his lot in the big picture. So if you don’t read these polls with a big grain of salt, you would be lost.
So what does an average Taiwanese want? I can safely tell you that, at the present point in time, what he wants is for his current state of life to remain exactly as is, for as long as possible. This is the instinctive reaction of anyone in the face of great uncertainties, not only for the Taiwanese. And Taiwan is currently in exactly such an extreme uncertainty.
Does he really mean to pick up a gun to fight with his life and livelihood on the line? Hell No! But by thus answering to the pollster, he believes it has the biggest chance of attracting international attention and sympathy, and somehow that will translate into some assurance of maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. Just the status quo, no more! This is the best anyone wants in a situation of extreme uncertainty. No one wants to rock the boat at this juncture, even if that means they have to continue living under the oppressive, corrupt, criminal, autocratic and kleptocratic DPP police regime. It beats uncertainty at this juncture!
If you extrapolate this poll answer, with a strong motive to influence the optics of it, into an interpretation that the average Taiwanese loves his freedom and democracy under the DPP police state rule (LOL), and hates re-unification with China so much that he wants to put his life on the line, then you are totally led astray. I know for sure a predominant number of those who answered yes to this poll will be nowhere to be found if it ever, really comes to that, since this warlike picture and its ramifications were not what crossed their minds when they answered. They were only thinking how this poll result will look in New York Times.
Note I am not even saying these people don’t love freedom under the DPP police regime (LOL) or don’t hate unification. I am rather saying this poll is reflecting something that has nothing to do with these concepts you are interpreting. It is measuring something not asked in the questionnaire, namely, the degree of anxiety about the extreme uncertainty in Taiwan right now. If you interpret it wrong, it will not be pretty.
Also, up to this point I am assuming the poll was conducted by a neutral and honest organization. That’s a tall order. The polls in Taiwan are notoriously rigged and manipulated that most often they are worthless. For example in the 2019 DPP primary for presidential candidate, the polls were manipulated for months in multiple iterations, until the table was turned and the then underdog (incumbent and current president) Tsai finally came out on top. The polls stopped right at that point.
What has President Xi Jinping done that has made him so liked and respected in China?
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Steve Wozniaks interview was the clincher here
In 2001 – Apple delivered a Patented Device to a Chinese Factory. For almost 300 days they forgot about it. Then they lazily called back and took collection of their device with China delivering some of the components.
In 2019 – Apple delivered a simple blueprint of a Patented Device for China to develop a manufacturing estimate. 4 Apple Engineers flew down with the blueprint locked in a case. They met in Singapore in a closed room with the Chinese. They delivered 1/4 the Blueprint and said we will share with you only on a piece by piece basis.
That is what China is under Xi Jingping
A Nation that can take an inch and convert it into a Mile
A Nation which is burgeoning so fast that the slighest relaxation can destroy an entire industry
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When China developed its famous ‘China Sets’ mocked at regularly by people – the West relaxed and happily allowed their Chipsets to be sold to China saying “Learn from us!!!”
And China did. Under Xi Jingping – China is today at such a position that YOU NEED ACTS OF CONGRESS TO DESPERATELY TRY TO STIFLE CHINAS PROGRESS
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Under Xi Jingping – China no longer needs foreign components for Aerospace and less than 5% Components for Defence.
And this happened over just 9 years (2013–2022)
Tell me one Nation that can boast of this?
Israel for all its industry still needs nearly 40% US Designs and Technology
But lets forget these things. After they are economical and while Xi will take credit, China may have evolved anyway as long as you didnt have a Bungling Doofus of a leader.
Lets look at how life for the Common man has changed under Xi
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Apartment Buildings
Rampant Speculation meant that a Flat that cost a mere 191000 Yuan to be built sold for almost 1.5–2 Million Yuan.
Under Xi?
326000 Yuan!!!
Under Xis Social Control and Common Prosperity Platform – over 60,000 Apartments are being built by the Government Works Department on an average in a major city.
These apartments are sold for fixed prices ranging from 326K-411K against almost 2 Million for a similar sized apartment built by a private builder.
Exactly like how LKY priced his famous HDBs until his son became a US Lackey and decided to destroy daddys golden model with his less golden model.
And now its likely to be many more apartments.
Every Family in China will own a home by 2035 he promises.
Likewise [1] More Healthcare benefits, [2] Keeping Food Prices easily affordable, [3] Keeping Gas prices in Check, [4] Ensuring Superb Public Transport at affordable prices
He has been there for the Middle Class
He has been a Bane for the Wealthy Billionaires
Just like Deng Xiaoping
Unlike Hu Jiantao who was a Boon to Wealthy Billionaires over the Middle Class
A Great Leader – Xi Jingping !!! Makes me envy China every day.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family, the one thing I wish I had was security, a sense of safety.
Don’t get me wrong, my family was pretty well to do. I was very well provided with everything a child needs: food, clothing, allowance, money for school trips, books, supplies for hobbies, after-school classes. I was the first one in my friend group to have a PC, a walkman (remember those things?), a cellphone, and a car.
I grew up with my grandma because both of my parents were workaholics who simply didn’t want to take care of their kid. They divorced and each remarried. They both have hugely successful careers in their own fields. And I wasn’t in their lives.
My grandma did a great job raising me right. But she never let me forget I was living off her charity. She never let me forget the place I stayed was not my home, it was her home; I just stayed there and she could kick me out any time she wanted.
“Then you can go to your dad or your mom, see if they’ll take you in. They won’t, so you better behave!”
I visited my parents often. And when I went to their house, dealing with their new spouses, they would make it very clear to me that, this was not my home. This was the home of my dad and his new wife, and my mom and her new husband. I was a guest and I’d leave in a few hours. They had their own life, I had mine.
So I knew my grandma was right. If she kicked me out, neither of my parents would take me in. Mostly, my dad would talk to my grandma and beg her to take me back again.
It wasn’t a thing I thought about in everyday life. But there was always this sense of insecurity, lingering just underneath the surface. That I don’t belong here, and eventually, I’ll go somewhere else.
I think, all things considered, I grew up alright. I didn’t do drugs, I didn’t get involved with gangs. I graduated from college and became a tax-paying contributing member of the society.
But one thing I noticed about myself as an adult is that I have no sense of a “root.” Every place I stayed, I’d have this lingering feeling that it was all temporary. Eventually, I’d leave and go somewhere else. For the past two decades as an adult, I moved from one place to another, oftentimes with nothing but a few boxes and a couple of suitcases. Other than obvious monetary value, I didn’t have anything that I held dear. I’d look at my room and think that if everything was burned to ashes, I wouldn’t feel anything except “gosh I have to buy everything again…”
I have difficulty forming attachments with people. I have not made a single long-term friend since I graduated high school. The two people from high school I’m still in contact with… we only talk to each other about once a year. I don’t feel lonely. I don’t understand people’s need to “hang out” with friends. I mean, I get it. I can even enjoy it with people I like. But I wouldn’t miss it if I didn’t get to hang out with them.
Things have been getting better for me lately because of these two:
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I’m very attached to my cats. I feel that the place I live right now is my home because they live here with me.
Apophenia
How the Internet Transforms the Individual into a Conspiracy of One
The easier it becomes to produce information, the harder that information becomes to consume — and the harder we have to work to separate the spurious from the significant.
Humans are meaning-making machines, seeking order in the chaos. Our pattern recognition capabilities are a key determinant in defining intelligence. But we now live in a dystopian digital landscape purpose-built to undermine these capabilities, training us to mistake planned patterns for convenient and even meaningful coincidences.
You know the drill: email a colleague about the shit weather and start getting banner ads for cheap flights to Corsica (I hear it’s nice?); google “ordination license” or “city hall hours” and watch your inbox fill with rebates for rings and cribs. For those of us who grew up during the rise of surveillance capitalism, our online experience has been defined by the effort of separating coincidence from cause-and-effect. Today we understand, if not accept, that hyper-consumption of information online comes at the cost of being hyper-consumed, bled by tech companies for the that data our readings secrete: You click, and the Big Five scrape a sample of your “preferences”—to exploit.
The real cost to this recursive construction of reality from the ephemera of our preferences is that it tailors a separate world for each individual.
And when you do live at the center of a private world, reverse-engineered from your own search history, you begin to notice patterns that others can’t. Believe me when I say I know what it feels like to be told that you’re the only one who sees the connection—a pattern of injustice, say—and that you’re downright crazy for noticing anything at all. To manufacture meaning from mere coincidence is the essence of paranoia, the gateway to world-building your own private conspiracies—or else to an epiphany that allows you to see the world as it actually is.
I want to talk about that epiphany, about taking back control of our atomized, pre-conspiracy world.
The German psychologist Klaus Conrad called this premonitory state apophenia, defined as perceiving patterns that don’t actually exist and referring them back to an unseen authority who must be pulling the strings. It’s a theory he developed as an army medical officer specializing in head traumas under the Third Reich. Today, it’s analogized to political conspiracy thinking.
Consider Case No. 10: a German soldier at a filling station refuses to service a patrol that doesn’t have the proper paperwork. Chalk his behavior up to that infamous Nazi officiousness, but when the patrol returns, papers in hand, the soldier still refuses to obey orders. His pattern recognition has gone into overdrive, and he’s begun to see every detail—a locked door, these patrolmen, papers signed or unsigned—as a test. His paranoid disobedience lands him in the psych ward, where Conrad writes him up as one of 107 cases that revolutionizes the Germano-sphere’s understanding of human psychology.
Conrad became famous for recognizing this oppressive emergence of patterns as a pre-psychotic state that he compared to stage-fright. It culminates in a false epiphany: an apophany is not a flash of insight into the true nature of reality but an aha experience (literally: Aha-Erlebnis) that constitutes the birth of delusion. The entire universe has “turned back” and “reorganized itself” to revolve around the individual, performing and corroborating his suspicions.
Shakespeare said that all the world’s a stage. But in this case it’s staged specifically for you, the audience who’s also the star.
For someone obsessed with the pathology of conspiracy, Conrad was pretty susceptible to conspiratorial thinking himself. Born in Germany and raised in Vienna, his loyalties to the Nazi Party preceded his military duty. He joined in 1940 when his earlier research in hereditary epilepsy looked like promising fodder for the Nazi’s monstrous sterilization laws. Maybe it was careerist opportunism, maybe it was ideological. Or maybe it takes one delusion-obsessed man to recognize another: Hitler was one of greatest conspiracy theorists of all time.
Only Conrad’s scientific findings aren’t themselves delusional. In fact he ended up being one of the only Nazi scientists to be producing science without rockets, torture, or pentagrams. The traumatized soldiers he treated on the battlefield turned out to be good data, and the hundreds of cases he worked on allowed him to work out the laws of ”Gestalt” (i.e. ‘pattern’) psychology, a school of thought that argues the human mind grasps in an instant not just individual elements of an information set, but entire configurations or patterns. For example, when we see alternating bars of light, they appear to be moving, even though they’re not — our brains are just recalling patterns related to the perception of motion and applying them to stationary objects.
In an apophenic state, everything’s a pattern. And while Conrad’s stage-model uses the analogy of starring in your own one-man show, the narcissism of living online today provides plenty more. On Instagram you can filter your face, filter out unwanted followers, construct an image that you and your peers want to believe in—you’re living a private illusion, in public, that the world reifies with likes. For-profit data collection has literally “reorganized” the world to revolve around you. As you wish it—or they will it.
The true epiphany, I want to argue, is that you’re the one pulling the strings. Enlightenment is to realize you have more agency than your push-notifications would have you believe.
Here’s a better way to think: in an apophenic, information-glutted world where you can basically find evidence for any theory you want, where people inhabit separate online realities, we should focus on falsifiability (which can be tested for) over supportability (which cannot).
This what what the Austrian Jewish sociologist Karl Popper, refugee of the Holocaust in New Zealand and later England, laid out in his theory of science. Popper believed conspiracy theories are exactly what feeds a totalitarian state like Hitler’s Germany, playing on and playing up the public’s paranoia of The Other. And authoritarians get away with it precisely because their pseudoscientific claims, masquerading as sound research, are designed to be difficult to prove “false” in the heat of the moment, when data sets — not to mention a sense of the historical consequences — are necessarily incomplete.
By Popper’s lights—and, I’d argue, by the intuition of basic human decency—we shouldn’t consider these provisional theories “science” at all.
Popper’s a favorite in conspiracy theory studies, but I want to bring in an adjacent idea of his that I think is underemphasized in this context, which is that most human actions have unintended consequences. Instant advertising was supposed to yield informed consumers; the National Security Agency was supposed to protect “us” by exploiting “them.” These plans went horribly wrong. But once you wake up to the idea that the world has been patterned, intentionally or unintentionally, in ways you don’t agree with, you can begin to change it.
It is in good faith that whistleblowers around the world bring these contradictions to public attention; they facilitate public epiphany, reminding us that we’re not quarantined in our private, paranoid “stages.” Thinking in public, together, allows us to stage a different performance entirely. We become more like Popper’s social theorists:
The conspiracy theorist will believe that institutions can be understood completely as the result of conscious design; and as collectives, he usually ascribes to them a kind of group-personality, treating them as conspiring agents, just as if they were individual men. As opposed to this view, the social theorist should recognize that the persistence of institutions and collectives creates a problem to be solved in terms of an analysis of individual social actions and their unintended (and often unwanted) social consequences, as well as their intended ones.
Maybe I’m the deluded one for finding reason for optimism in this idea—and not only because it saves me from letting the former Nazi Conrad have the last word. Popper’s thinking offers an escape hatch from our private worlds and back into the public sphere. The social theorist is a public thinker, oriented toward improving society; the conspiracy theorist is a victim of institutions that lie beyond their control.
Are the Chinese people finally wise to the fact that the CCP are just a bunch of self-serving liars?
You know what, if the members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) are “a bunch of self-serving liars,” we have to say, generally, the general public here in China are thankful to the “group of liars.” For what?
It is this “group of liars” who helped defeat the Japanese invasion during the 1930s to 1940s.
It is this “group of liars” who defeated the Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek)-led Kuomingtang Party during the Civil War and later founded the new China — the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
It is this “group of liars” who established the new China as an independent nation and won itself the respect from the international community, including from the third world countries, and also the Western nations back in mid and late 20th century.
It is this “group of liars” who researched and developed China’s own atomic bombs, hydrogen bomb and satellite back in the difficult times in 1960s and 1970s, which guaranteed our independence, sovereignty and national dignity.
It is this “group of liars” who built the solid foundation for China’s industry in the early years after the founding of new China, from heavy to light, and also from primary, to secondary and tertiary industry segments, so that China has become the only country in the world today to obtain all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations industrial classification — covering all the 41 major industrial categories, 191 medium categories, and 525 subcategories.
It is this “group of liars” who have helped lift more than 800 million Chinese people from extreme poverty in the past four decades or so after its reform and opening up in late 1970s.
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(A glimpse of rural life in China.)
It is this “group of liars” who have helped build the national mecical care system covering more than 95% percent of its 1.4 billion people.
It is this “group of liars” who helped reduce the illiteracy rate from around 80 percent in 1949 to some 2.67 percent in 2022, as of July 28, and actually, today, China boasts the largest group of STEM students in the world, which in turn, boost China’s sci-tech industry, the vital foundation for a nation’s overall capability and competence nowadays.
It is this “group of liars” who have helped China’s decades of economic growth which has brought considerable improvements for its people’s livehoods and life quality, even in the turbulent 2022, into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, facing the worldwide economic downturn, coupled with the Ukraine war which has led to energy crisis and unprecedented inflation in many countries, China is still among the countries with very low COVID fatality, positive GDP growth, comparatively much lower inflation and stable prices, last but not least, generally self-sufficient in food.
It is this “group of liars” who have helped China lead in many hi-tech sectors, such as 5G, AI (artificial intelligence), IoT (internet of things), quantum computing, aerospace, deep-sea research, and hypersonic, etc., so even the US is spying our universities and other institutes to steal our new technologies, or banning our companies in case they surpass it too rapidly.
……Still more can be added to the list.
All said, I do not mean China is a perfect country, or CPC is a perfect party, or CPC members are perfect individuals.
The leaders of CPC have made mistakes, big or small, some with far-reaching impact on the country and its people, some might be not so widely or deeply impacting us.
And actually, ordinary Chinese people can criticize the policies mapped out or carried out by the party-led governments, can also propose our advice and suggestions to the government, to the party, but definitely in different ways and through different channels compared to those Western democracies.
A basic logic here, if all Chinese are banned from making any sound, as smeared by many Western politicians and media, how is it possible for the CPC-led Chinese government to make all these adjustments along the times in the past seven decades?!
Or, there is another possibility: all the CPC members and the leaders, are just too perfect and superb, that they don’t need to listen to the people but can always make right choice and map out correct policies so China can achieve all it has achieved?
Neither is possible, right?
So, back to your question, the Chinese people have always been wise to know the CPC is the real party, and CPC members are the real group of doers, to serve the Chinese people, though there are still big margins for them to improve themselves.
Remember one thing, there is only one ruling party, CPC, here in China, so they don’t need to fight for their votes, and they can focus their job on delivering concrete results; they don’t need to invest too many efforts and too much money into the election campaign, so the efforts and money can instead be used in building our infrastructure, investing in medical care, education, R&D, etc.; there would be no partisan conflicts and even rivalries, so, they can carry out the policies coherently, five-year after five-year, after another five-year, the 14th five-year plan right now, but only with adjustments according to the international and domestic situations, not like, say, in the US, Trump overthrew nearly everything of Obama, while Biden kicked out many of Trump’s.
We need to admit, we are living in a colorful and diversified world, and we need to allow all the colors and diversities to co-exist, and hence people of different countries, races, cultures, etc., can find their own comfort and satisfaction in their life.
Our history will never end, unless one day human beings as a whole disappear from the Earth. “Democracy” is not the only form of society, and “democracy” should not be defined just by the West, and the West can not and should not force its own version of “democracy” onto others, and the West should not label those who reject their version of “democracy” as demons.
As Chinese, we are quite OK with CPC, and to some extent, thankful to CPC. It’s not up to whether you like it or not, it’s up to ourselves — whether we are enjoying a better life, in an all-around way.
Ukraine War Planned YEARS AGO Documents Reveal
They Know That They Are Killing The Economy, But They Are Doing It Anyway…
They know exactly what they are doing. The “experts” that run the Federal Reserve know that if they dramatically hike interest rates it will cause countless American workers to lose their jobs and it will absolutely crush the housing market. And even though those two things are already starting to happen, they just announced another massive rate hike. If there was a school for central bankers, one of the very first things that they would teach you is that you should never, ever raise rates as an economy is plunging into a recession. Every Fed official knows what has happened in the past when rates have been hiked at the beginning of an economic slowdown, but they are doing it anyway. To call this “economic malpractice” would be a major understatement, and the American people should be deeply alarmed about what they are doing to us.
After everything that has already happened, it is hard to believe that Fed officials would continue to be so reckless. On Wednesday, it was announced that rates would be raised by another 75 basis points…
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points for the third straight month as it struggles to bring scorching-hot inflation under control, a move that threatens to slow U.S. economic growth and exacerbate financial pain for millions of households and businesses.The three-quarter percentage point hikes in June, July and September — the most aggressive series of increases since 1994 — underscore just how serious Fed officials are about tackling the inflation crisis after a string of alarming economic reports. Policymakers voted unanimously to approve the latest super-sized hike.
It was a unanimous vote.
There wasn’t even one dissenting voice.
Have they gone completely mad?
Wall Street certainly did not like this decision. The Dow plunged hundreds of points immediately after it was announced…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 522.45 points, or 1.7%, to close at 30,183.78. The S&P 500 shed 1.71% to 3,789.93, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.79% to 11,220.19.The S&P ended Wednesday’s session down more than 10% in the past month and 21% off its 52-week high. Even before the rate decision, stocks were pricing in an aggressive tightening campaign by the Fed that could tip the economy into a recession.
For ages, the Fed coddled the financial markets, but now it is almost as if they don’t even care anymore.
Personally, I am far more concerned about what will happen to ordinary hard working Americans in the months ahead. Even Jerome Powell is admitting that “an increase in unemployment” is likely because of what the Fed is doing…
“I think there’s a very high likelihood we will have a period of … much lower growth and it could give rise to an increase in unemployment,” he said.Will that mean a recession?“No one knows whether that process will lead to a recession or how significant a recession it will be,” Powell said. “I don’t know the odds.”
Actually, we are in a recession right now.
And Powell and his minions just made things a whole lot worse.
Even Democrats understand this. After the rate hike was announced, Senator Elizabeth Warren went on Twitter and warned that “millions of Americans” could soon lose their jobs…
.@federalreserve’s Chair Powell just announced another extreme interest rate hike while forecasting higher unemployment. I’ve been warning that Chair Powell’s Fed would throw millions of Americans out of work — and I fear he’s already on the path to doing so.
This is one of the rare occasions when Elizabeth Warren is right on target.
As I have been documenting on my website for weeks, large numbers of Americans have already been getting laid off.
As growth stalls and competition intensifies, Facebook parent Meta has begun quietly cutting staff by reorganizing departments, while giving ‘reorganized’ employees a narrow window to apply for other roles within the company, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing current and former managers familiar with the matter.By shuffling people around, the company achieves staffing cuts “while forestalling the mass issuance of pink slips.”
So why would the Fed choose to raise rates when layoffs are already beginning to spike?
Higher rates are also having a devastating impact on the housing market.
Home sales declined for the seventh month in a row in August as higher mortgage rates and stubbornly high prices pushed prospective buyers out of the market.Sales of existing homes — which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — were down 19.9% from a year ago and down 0.4% from July, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.
Someone should start putting “Jerome Powell did this” stickers on for sale signs all over the nation.
Because this didn’t have to happen.
Now the housing market is already in a “deep recession”, and the Fed just keeps making things even worse…
The prolonged downturn in confidence shows the housing market has been “in a tailspin for the whole of this year,” according to Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson.“Activity tracks mortgage applications with a lag, and the early September numbers are grim, even before the full hit from the rebound in mortgage rates in recent weeks works through,” Shepherdson said in a note to clients on Monday.“In short, the housing market is in a deep recession, which is already hammering homebuilders and will soon depress housing-related retail sales,” he added.
The Fed seems determined to kill the economy.
But why?
Why would they do this?
One analyst that was just quoted by Fox Business is warning that “times are going to get tougher from here”…
“With the new rate projections, the Fed is engineering a hard landing — a soft landing is almost out of the question,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist of Principal Global Investors. “Powell’s admission that there will be below-trend growth for a period should be translated as central bank speak for ‘recession.’ Times are going to get tougher from here.”
Yes, times are definitely going to get tougher from here.
But instead of working to prevent a historic crisis, the Federal Reserve is actually encouraging one.
The American people deserve some answers, because there is something about all of this that really stinks.
What happens if we ignore the One-China policy?
If Taiwan is persuaded to move to separate from China, China will annex Taiwan by force.
If Western countries like USA, UK, Australia, and Japan intervene, it will trigger World War 3.
If accident or human error leads to nuclear escalation, it will devastate the world. Many cities** and many millions of people on both sides will be wiped out. The world economy will collapse and many nations will become impoverished.
** Say goodbye to NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston, Toronto, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo.
Why doesn’t my homemade cheeseburger taste like a diner cheese burger, even though I have all the ingredients and follow recipes very closely? What am I missing?
Okay, let’s break it down.
Your burger is a product of its ingredients, the equipment you’re using and your cooking ability. Somewhere in there lies the difference between yours and a diner burger.
80/20 ground chuck is the standard burger meat in most restaurants. It’s an ideal choice because it has the right amount of fat and flavor. So for meat, start and stop right there.
I recommend buying a bakery bun, not something you’ll find next to the Wonder Bread in a pack of eight. Save the cheap buns for the kid’s birthday party, you want real bread between your fingers, not some gummy Sunbeam bun.
From here, things get personal, when it comes to burgers. I can’t tell you what to put on your burger, that’s your call. I believe you are trying to imitate a specific burger, so follow its lead.
Myself, I go for shredded iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, a slice of tomato (seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper), some dill pickle slices, American or cheddar, 1000 Island and/or Heinz ketchup. That’s my basic diner burger, as far as ingredients are concerned.
You get to pick whatever toppings make your heart sing, just get good stuff, that’s my only demand. Cooking is a garbage in, garbage out equation. Pinching pennies on ingredients just cheapens the flavor of your food.
Diners usually run a flat top grill, rather than a char-broiler. Reason being, flat tops are more versatile. Breakfast, lunch and dinner can be cooked on one piece of equipment, which makes things easier for the cook. You won’t have a flat top grill at home, so I recommend getting either a cast iron skillet or a cast iron griddle.
Lodge is the best bang for the buck when it comes to cast iron. You can find their products at places like Target, they’re affordable and battle tested, battle proven. Of course, you can cook a burger in any heavy bottomed pan, but nothing beats cast iron, especially when you are trying to compete with a commercial flat top grill.
Cast iron holds heat like no other, so when you drop cold burger patties onto it, the pan’s temperature doesn’t drop appreciably and the meat begins to sear immediately. Cast iron is my choice when it comes to cooking steaks and burger, it should be yours too.
Okay, we should be set with ingredients and equipment, let’s talk about technique. Technique is the proper procedure for cooking food. Sure, there are lots of ways you can make a burger, but if you want the best possible results, follow my technique.
First, you need a burger ring. You can buy ring molds at kitchen supply places, or go to Home Depot and have them cut a piece PVC pipe that has an interior diameter that is burger sized.
You want the interior diameter of the ring to be slightly larger than your bun, because the burger will shrink as it cooks. No one like a bread bite (a bite of bun with no burger in between), so find a ring that is about 1/4″ larger than your bun of choice.
Take your ground beef, divide it evenly and roll each portion into balls. You can make your burgers any size you like but 7oz is what I go for. I believe a 7oz burger gives you the best ratio of meat to bun to topping for a diner style burger.
Depending on the size of your bun, anything from 6oz to 8oz will be fine. If you’ve got a scale, awesome, otherwise, eyeball it or ask your butcher to portion the meat for you.
Now place a piece of waxed paper on a cutting board and press the meat into the ring evenly. Pull off the ring and you’ve got a burger that’s ready to go to the pan. Get the pan hot, like wisps of smoke coming off the surface hot, place the burger paper side up in the palm of your hand, peel off the paper and place that perfectly flat side onto the pan. You want to put the perfectly flat side down so you get a perfect sear.
The meat should sizzle loudly when it hits the pan.
Now sprinkle 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp pepper all over the top side of the burger and don’t touch it.
I repeat, do not touch the burger.
This initial sear is the most important step in cooking that patty. Right now you are developing the majority of the texture and flavor of your burger. If you muck around with it, you’re going to upset that process, which is called Maillard Browning, and your burger won’t reach its full flavor potential.
Just let it sizzle for about 4 to 5 minutes, until droplets of moisture begin to appear on the top. When you see a few drops of moisture appear on the top, get a spatula under it and give it a flip.
Make sure you scrape deeply under the burger, so it doesn’t stick. It shouldn’t stick, but if it does, that delicious brown crust will stay stuck to the pan and you’ll lose all of its color and flavor.
You should be rewarded with something like this:
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That’s the diner burger patty of your dreams.
Once you’ve flipped, let the burger cook for a few more minutes, to your desired doneness, season it again with salt and pepper, drop on a slice of cheese and let the cheese relax. From there, it’s to the bun, top as you please and enjoy your tasty burger.
Cheers!
Why do some homeless people prefer cash over food when offered?
I’ve answered this question before, but am happy to do it again.
If you give me food, I will take it graciously, tell you I am going to eat it back at my hidden shelter, thank you and then walk away. When out of sight, that food goes straight in the bin.
Why?
Because I don’t know if you’ve tampered with it. Even if the container is sealed, I still can’t be sure you’ve not done anything to it. People think it’s funny to buy a happy meal, spit in the burger, re-wrap it and give it to a homeless person. Even better to piss in the lemonade and hand that over too. Yep, reaaaaly funny…
Many “charitable” people came up to me with cups of tea and were incredibly annoyed when I firmly told them to move away from me immediately. In this particular case it wasn’t because of the tampering thing, it’s because I’m extremely allergic to tea.
However, if you offer to buy me food, I would politely ask to come with you to “see what’s on the menu”. I have zero problem accepting food of any kind if I’m there when you purchase it. Most people wouldn’t do this though, so I just accepted whatever food I was given and later threw it away, or spent any money they gave me on food myself.
You might know the food you’re giving me is perfectly fine, I don’t.
I prefer money as my health always comes before your charity.
EDIT
I’m getting a bit sick and tired of people telling me “beggars can’t be choosers”. YES WE CAN. Whenever it has anything to do with our health, we have every right to refuse donations from you. We have allergies, we may have dietary requirements or restrictions. We may be able to eat something, but our bodies might not be able to process it.
I’ve had my food tampered with and I got sick as a result. Being sick when you’re homeless can be deadly. What might give you a stomach ache could easily kill us. My health will always come first, and if that offends your delicate sensibilities, I couldn’t care less.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you might know the food you’re giving me is safe to eat, I don’t. I cannot afford to presume everyone is nice, because some of you just like hurting people like me.
How long did it take for your cats to adopt you?
Immediately. I stopped in a Petco one day to buy bird seeds and noticed there was an adoption event for cats going on. I went over to the container in the front, held my hand out to the kitty in it. She sniffed my fingers, and we immediately adopted each other. That was in 2009. Since then, she has never been friendly with anyone, but me. One of the best things I ever did. Her name is Cheyenne. She was 18 months old at the time.
When I got her home and opened the carrier I was given to transport her in, she walked out very nonchalantly – not scared at all – and promptly started snooping here, there, and everywhere – like she owned the place. Apparently, it and I were deemed worthy of taking care of her properly. 🙂
Unfortunately, she passed away on Easter Sunday, and my heart is broken.
Lately I’ve been sick. I caught a small cold from my daughter, who caught it from Kindergarten. This coupled with the insane levels of change in my personal life, has made it very difficult for me to keep up. But, I’m still churning stuff out. I don’t know how, but yeah I am.
Now, of course, every step is taken to keep colds out of school, but little kids have bad habits, and no matter how had you try, sickness sneaks in. And of course, my little daughter doesn’t yet know the importance of covering her face when she coughs.
Sigh.
Please enjoy this installment.
The reason why Telsa is unable to leave China (even with Biden incentives)
Telsa factories in China have 95% of their supply chain are localized. These supply chains also supply to the USA and the rest of the world. By leaving China, the supply chain disappears, and without parts, Tesla disappears.
Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is suspending plans to make battery cells in Germany as it looks at qualify for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing tax breaks in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
He makes money spewing this nonsense. Any day now, eh?
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It’s so easy to spew nonsense if your readership wants to read it.
It’s sort of like how people want to read how to lose weight by eating deep-fried pork fat.
China’s exports rose an additional 18%
China's July exports rise 18% to $333 bn, with trade surplus at record high
China's export growth continued to rise in July, sending trade surplus to a record high, according to government data.
China’s export growth continued to rise in July, sending trade surplus to a record high, according to government data.
China’s exports grew 18% to $333 billion compared to the same period last year, and were up from 17.9% in June, according to data from China’s customs.
Imports, however, remained soft, growing 2.3% in July compared to a year ago. That was lower that economists’ estimates of 4%, and suggests weak domestic demand amid lockdowns across the country as China attempts to stem the outbreak of COVID-19.
China’s total trade surplus reached an all-time high of $101.3 billion in July, breaking the record set in June.
The country’s economy has rebounded from earlier in the year, when tough COVID-19 restrictions including a two-month lockdown in Shanghai and other measures across China disrupted manufacturing and logistics.
While manufacturing and supply chain issues have eased, recovery may be affected by fresh COVID-19 outbreaks, weak domestic demand and external uncertainties such as rising inflation in developed countries including Britain and the U.S.
The International Monetary Fund in July predicted that China’s economy would grow 3.3% this year, below the ruling Communist Party’s target of 5.5% set in April.
The United States is repositioning forces from Japan to Guam
Interesting.
As I write this, the US Department of Defense is ramping up the militarization of my homeland – part of its $8bn scheme to relocate roughly 5,000 marines from Okinawa to Guam. In fact, ground has already been broken along the island’s beautiful northern coastline for a massive firing range complex. The complex – consisting of five live-fire training ranges and support facilities – is being built dangerously close to the island’s primary source of drinking water, the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer. Moreover, the complex is situated over several historically and culturally significant sites, including the remnants of ancient villages several thousands of years old, where our ancestors’ remains remain.
‘Our children’s lives on the line’: the ongoing battle for Guam
The construction of these firing ranges will entail the destruction of more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of native limestone forest. These forests are unbearably beautiful, took millennia to evolve, and today function as essential habitat for several endangered endemic species, including a fruit bat, a flight-less rail and three species of tree snails – not to mention a swiftlet, a starling and a slender-toed gecko. The largest of the five ranges – a 59-acre multipurpose machine-gun range – will be built a mere 100 feet (30 metres) from the last remaining reproductive håyon lågu tree in Guam.
If only superpowers were concerned with the stuff of lowercase earth, like forests and fresh water. If only they were curious about the whisper and scurry of small lives. If only they were moved by beauty.
If only.
Among Chinese history fans, the Emperor Wang Mang of the short-lived Xin Dynasty is often jokingly referred to as a time traveller for having many surprisingly modern ideas.
He usurped the throne from the Han Dynasty and become the Emperor himself in 1 AD.
COINCIDENCE??? Actually, yes, probably.
(Correction: he became regent in 1 AD. Remind yourselves, dear readers, to never write about history purely from memory.)
Anyhow, Wang Mang tried to abolish slavery and serfdom, carried out land reforms, introduced egalitarian economic policies that can be described as proto-socialist, and even instituted a welfare system for the unemployed.
His monetary policy was also profoundly different from the conventions of the time as he issued coins face-valued at much higher than the actual value of the bronze coins, so much so that the face-value of these coins were totally detached from the value of the metal. In this way, the coins became abstract representations of value, which is how modern paper currency works.
Unlike all previous emperors who never care for such lowly things, Wang Mang encouraged the development of technology and even invented things like the sliding caliper:
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Wang Mang sought medical advances and commissioned a dissection of a rebel’s corpse in order to learn more about the human anatomy. This was the first ever recorded incidence of a dissection being carried out for medical purposes (Correction: No, it wasn’t. Read comments below). Han historical records are not kind to him about the incident, writing that Wang Mang only claimed the dissection was for the purpose of healing people; where as his true intention was to exact cruel revenge on the person whose corpse was being dissected. Maybe it was both; we will never know.
And in what was perhaps one of the biggest shockers of ancient China, Wang Mang’s wife once received court officials at their house wearing a short skirt that barely covered her knees.
Although that last one was probably an attempt by Wang Mang to demonstrate how frugal (rather than immodest) he and his family were.
Jane’s Addiction – Jane Says (Official Music Video)
Dreaming with my cat
I used to dream with my cat, literally.
The first time it happened, he was sleeping next to me, as we did, I was using his little rump for a pillow, and he had pulled my hand close to his head, laying it on my hand.
We were both asleep.
I had a dream (or he did) that a bird flew by, diagonally, from the lower left to the upper right. As the bird flew by, he startled me awake by waking up, shooting his head up and looking in the direction of the bird that I had just dreamed flew by.
I’ve never been so close to a soul in my life.
I lost him, at the young age of only 11, just 3 and a half weeks ago. His name was Makana. It means ‘gift’ in Hawaiian.
He certainly was.
I’ll miss you forever. 🙁
Kitty dream time.
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Indians want King Charles III to return Kohinoor, a massive 105-carat diamond worth $591 million
As news broke of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, one word started trending on Twitter in India: “Kohinoor”.
It is the name of the most expensive diamond in the world and has a long history with the royal family, having been worn on crowns by generations of queens.
Most recently it was just one of 2,800 stones set in the crown made for King Charles III’s grandmother, the Queen Mother.
But there is some debate over whether the 105-carat oval-shaped diamond belongs to the House of Windsor.
The precious diamond has been fought over for centuries, so much so that British royal legend says the diamond will bring bad luck to any man who wears it.
Indians believe it came from the south of their country, in what is now modern-day Andhra Pradesh.
Now, with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, many in the country are ramping up the campaign for the $591 million jewel to be sent back to them.
Why did China’s zero-covid policy ‘fails miserably’ in curbing infection?
I’m curious where did you learn that China’s zero outbreak policy “failed” to contain infections?
Where is your basis?
As far as I know, China has never given up the fight against the new crown virus. With the help of the current efforts to overcome the epidemic, it has also achieved very good results. It has proved the necessity of the zero epidemic policy with practical actions.
Where does the term “failure” come from?
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China’s COVID policies is that the starting point is wellbeing of its people. The word “people” here does not specifically refer to the strong & young people or just the powerful class, but also including the elderly and infants, including the vast majority of people in both big cities and small villages.
Unlike America, where society is deeply divided, China cares about poor people’s lives. The overall death rate in poor counties was nearly twice as high as in wealthy ones, at one point reaching 4.5 times as high. In the top 300 counties with the highest death rates, an average of 45 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
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China cares about minorities’ lives. While The infection rate, hospitalization rate and death rate of American Indians were 1.6 times, 3.1 times and 2.1 times that of whites, respectively. African Americans were 1.1, 2.4 and 1.7 times as likely as whites.
China cares about older people’s lives. While in the U.S., three-quarters of COVID-19 deaths were among people 65 and older, and 93% were among people 50 and older.
China cares about children. While there are more than 250,000 “COVID-19 orphans” in the US who have lost parents to the pandemic. An average of one in 12 U.S. orphans under the age of 18 lost their parents to the pandemic, and an average of two students in every public school lost their guardians.
China’s policy focuses on the overall situation, putting people’s lives rather than economic interests first. Therefore, it is impossible for China to do European media’s calculation that “the death of hundreds of thousands of elderly people will save billions of dollars in pension”, let alone the American politicians who say that “the elderly should voluntarily sacrifice for the economy”.
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However, I am not saying that China’s policy is perfect, but it is capable of self-renewal and revolution. Since 2020, China has been adjusting and optimizing its policy, which has been widely understood and cooperated by the public. Now, thousands of permanent nucleic acid testing sites have been set up in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, indicating that social life will gradually return to normal after the end of lockdown and quarantine.
Each country needs to find COVID policies that suit its own national conditions. The important thing is not to always be right, but not to give up on finding the right path. The US can shrug its shoulders and say “c ‘est la vie” as the pandemic rages on, but one day China will vindicate its policy when reopening its ports, lifting its lockdown, getting its economy back on track and growing rapidly.
What it is like being a kid in China
This short 5 minute video only ended up getting around 30 views. Sheech! Please check it out if you haven’t already.
China is busy raising tough little kids to man the next generation of nation building.
Germany Takes Control of 3 Russian Oil Refineries
The German government on Friday seized three oil refineries in the country owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft, in its latest effort to deal with a mounting European energy crisis stoked by Moscow.
The move puts shares of the refineries — PCK Schwedt, MiRo in Karlsruhe and Bayernoil in Vohburg — under the control of a government agency, Germany’s economy ministry said in a statement.
“The trustee administration counteracts the impending threat to the security of the energy supply and lays an important foundation for the preservation and future of the Schwedt location,” it said.
“The decision is accompanied by a comprehensive package for the future, which will bring a transformation boost to the region and support the refinery, to ensure the supply of oil via alternative delivery routes,” it added.
The PCK Schwedt refinery is a major source of fuel for Berlin, Germany’s capital city.
Germany has committed to halting imports of oil from Russia under European Union sanctions that come into effect in December. That threatened the future operations of the refineries, given their ownership, according to the ministry.
Rosneft Deutschland accounts for 12% of Germany’s oil processing capacity, making it one of the biggest oil processing companies in the country, the ministry said. Germany imports crude oil worth several hundred million dollars from Russia each month via its units, it added.
Germany has been caught in the heart of a crippling energy crisis as Russia chokes off supply to the nation in retaliation to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. Its leaders have accused Moscow of “weaponizing” its energy supplies as it cut then completely halted flows of natural gas to Germany via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Like other European countries dependent on Russian energy imports, Germany is scrambling to find ways to secure fuel supplies before winter hits, with its usual seasonal rise in demand. It has stockpiled gas and has brought in measures such as reviving coal-fueled power plants to generate electricity to help secure the energy needed.
The move comes after Rosneft Oil, Russia’s largest state-run oil company, reported that profits climbed 13% in the first half of 2022 to about 432 billion rubles, or roughly $7.2 billion.
Expensive global crude prices allowed Rosneft to rake in more net income than the prior year despite sanctions from Western nations aimed at squeezing Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.
What animal species live near the Chernobyl power plant?
The wildlife situation around Chernobyl currently is something of a controversy in science. This 2016 paper
says that:
With few exceptions, wildlife in the zone shows a strong pattern of declining abundance
However, many other scientists say that the local fauna is clearly on the rise, and the popular media seems to have almost invariably gone with their conclusions.
In any case, since – as far as I’m aware – all the studies saying that Chernobyl’s wildlife is in decline are by the same two authors, whereas there are several different biologists who have written papers on increasing animal populations in the area, I’ll assume that the latter are correct for now.
Various camera trapping operations have revealed that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has grown a healthy population of large mammals, such as grey wolves:
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European badgers:
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Wild boar:
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Roe deer:
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And even moose:
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There are also abundant smaller mammals, including Eurasian beavers, least weasels and voles. Among the birds, there are some “flashy” species, such as the enormous white-tailed sea eagle (Europe’s largest raptor):
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And black storks:
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And that’s just the native wildlife. Since the disaster, people have released other Eurasian mammals into this involuntary oasis, including European bison:
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And wild Przewalski’s horses:
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There’s even evidence that animals not seen in the region for over a century are returning, including Eurasian lynx:
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And brown bears:
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It’s pretty amazing, and also rather sobering, to think that the sheer presence of humans was worse for the environment than a catastrophic nuclear disaster.
If a time machine took me back to the late Carboniferous period, could I find safe food, water and shelter to survive the remainder of my life?
I found this a fun read. -MM
Ladies and gentlemen. Please fasten your seatbelts. We are about to depart to the end of the Carboniferous period, 359 – 299 million years ago. Our current time travel technology can only take us there one way. There is no going back.
Time travel is only the first temporal effect that the traveler would experience. His circadian rhythm would be severely disrupted and affect their life because the day length was only about 22 hours in the Carboniferous period. There would be insomnia, immune system dysfunction, increased risk of cancer, problems with the heart and even early death from all the above combined.
An additional factor that would shorten the life span of travelers would be the increased oxygen level in the atmosphere. It was about 28% at the beginning of the Carboniferous period, it dropped to about 24% in the middle and rose again to about 27% at the end. Over the lifetime, so much oxygen would damage the tissues and increase the speed of aging of humans not adapted to these levels and cause health problems that would cause even earlier death.
Another weird temporal effect would be noticed after landing. Animals would seem slower, more sluggish than us. At the time, they might have perceived reality in fewer frames per second than us on average. We do it at 60Hz after additional hundreds of millions of years of evolution of vertebrate animals. There were no warm-blooded creatures at the time yet, so there were no very active animals. They only had sprawling legs while walking, which made them slower. All of this lead to slower reaction times sufficient for survival. Insects might have been faster but even they only just evolved relatively recently. They weren’t as great at what they did at the time yet.
The air was filled with copious amounts of spores of various plants. Breathing might even result in death from an extreme allergic reaction, anaphylaxis. We are more adapted to pollen, which didn’t exist in the Carboniferous period.
This also means that there were no fruits and we need Vitamin C to survive. We would need to eat leaves, make teas from bark or eat buds of leaves of ferns, the fiddleheads.
The good news is that animals shouldn’t be that dangerous at the time and it might be easy to hunt them for food at least on dry land. They weren’t that big, fast or even smart yet. Although, many formidable crocodile-like and crocodile-size temnospondyl amphibians with massive teeth existed in aquatic habitats and widespread swamps. There were also giant, 2.5 m/8 feet centipedes. It’s hard to tell how dangerous they were but I’m learning they weren’t. They were outcompeted by reptiles soon and died out anyways. Large, flying, 0.7 m/2 feet insects similar to dragonflies shouldn’t have been dangerous to humans. A more significant danger might be venomous tiny animals like scorpions or spiders.
The travelers should better take a lot of metal tools with them because producing them in the Carboniferous period would be tricky. It’s hard to obtain high enough temperatures for working on metals without coal, which originated in this period and didn’t form underground yet.
The good news is that there might be less danger from diseases. It’s unlikely that many would affect mammals like humans. But who knows? There might be an odd outlier that could infect us. Maybe some mysterious virus. For bacteria, we should take a lot of antibiotics with us.
If we traveled in a time machine back to the late Carboniferous period, it should be possible to build shelter from trees, which evolved recently. Water should not be a problem. There would be an issue with obtaining a balanced diet because there were no fruits, which evolved less than 180 million years ago. The lifespan of the travelers would be severely shortened from all the issues described above.
We Just Witnessed Something That Hasn’t Happened Since 2008, And It Is Causing The Housing Market To Crash
This didn’t have to happen. The reckless behavior of the Federal Reserve and our politicians in Washington created a horrifying inflation spiral, and now the Fed is feverishly raising interest rates in a desperate attempt to get inflation back under control. But everyone knows that rapidly raising rates is going to absolutely crush the housing market. When the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates, that puts upward pressure on mortgage rates. And as mortgage rates go higher, more and more potential homebuyers will be forced on to the sidelines. With fewer potential homebuyers in the market, that will put downward pressure on home prices. This is basic stuff that you would learn in an ECON 101 class, but Fed officials can’t seem to understand that what they are doing is going to be extremely destructive to the U.S. economy as a whole.
Do you remember the pain that we went through in 2008?
That entire crisis was precipitated by a collapse of the housing market, and now a similar scenario is starting to unfold right in front of our eyes.
In fact, something just happened that we haven’t seen in all of the years since 2008…
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 6 percent for the first time since the financial crisis, according to federal data released Thursday.The average mortgage rate for the benchmark home loan rose to 6.02 percent as of Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, up 0.13 percentage points from last week and 3.16 percentage points above its level a year ago. It’s the first time the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate was above 6 percent since the week of Nov. 20, 2008.
When mortgage rates get really high, the wealthy can still afford to buy homes because many of them don’t even need mortgages.
Already, it has ushered in a sea change in the housing market by adding hundreds of dollars or more to the monthly cost of a potential buyer’s mortgage payment, slowing what was a red-hot market not so long ago. Higher rates are forcing some would-be buyers to continue renting. Since the start of the year, the average mortgage payment has risen 38.5% to $2,306 from around $1,700 at the start of the year.
Demand for mortgages is drying up really fast.
Last week, the number of mortgage applications was 29 percent lower than it was during the same week one year ago.
And the number of applications to refinance mortgages has seemingly dropped off a cliff…
As mortgage rates rise and home prices remain high, home sales are slowing.With rates essentially double where they were a year ago, applications for home loans have dropped and applications to refinance into a lower payment have fallen off a cliff, down 83% from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
If you work in the mortgage industry, I feel really badly for you right now.
Of course everyone involved in real estate is going to be feeling a tremendous amount of pain in the months ahead. According to the chief economist at Redfin, this is the “sharpest” downturn that we have seen since the meltdown of 2008…
“This is the sharpest turn in the housing market since the housing market crash in 2008,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s Chief Economist.
Billionaire Barry Sternlicht is even more pessimistic.
He just told CNBC that he believes that the Fed’s policies will cause a “major crash” in the housing market, and he is also warning that we could soon find ourselves in a “serious recession”…
“The economy is braking hard,” the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.“If the Fed keeps this up they are going to have a serious recession and people will lose their jobs,” he added.
Sadly, he is right on target.
Even if the Federal Reserve stopped raising rates right here, we would still have a real nightmare on our hands.
But the Fed isn’t going to stop.
Fed officials have repeatedly told us that they are going to keep raising rates until inflation is under control, and that could take quite a while.
In fact, we are being warned that next week we could potentially see “the biggest Fed rate hike in 40 years”, and that would really shake up the financial markets.
So what can we do to protect ourselves?
If you are selling a home, I would recommend trying to sell it as rapidly as you can while home prices are still ridiculously high.
If you are looking to buy a home, I would recommend waiting until home prices come down quite a bit.
And something that we can all do is to prepare for the “serious recession” that Billionaire Barry Sternlicht says could be coming.
During the crisis of 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs. Without any income coming in, all of a sudden a lot of those people couldn’t pay their bills and many formerly middle class Americans also ended up losing their homes.
You don’t want to suffer the same fate.
So I have been encouraging my readers for a very long time to build up a sizable emergency fund.
A large emergency fund will allow you to continue paying your bills no matter what comes along.
And it will also keep you from losing your home.
In addition, I would encourage everyone not to take on additional debt at this time.
When hard times come, you will want your finances to be as “lean and mean” as possible.
Now is not a time to party.
Now is a time to batten down the hatches financially.
Very rough weather is headed our way, and everyone can see it coming.
The wise will prepare in advance, but those that are foolish will do nothing because they assume that our leaders have everything under control.
Russet Potato Salad
A twist on traditional potato salad with mustard flavor and plenty of celery for crunch.
Russia and China are ready to provide stability to the world: the results of Vladimir Putin’s speech and meetings at the SCO summit
This is the result of the SEO meeting. Not at all reported in the West. -MM
The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Samarkand for two days in a row, from 15 to 16 September
Oleg ADAMOVICH
During the two days of the summit, Vladimir Putin managed to personally meet with more foreign politicians than in the last two months combined. On Thursday alone, he had seven (!) official conversations.
But even though more than a dozen world leaders came to Uzbekistan, including the heads of India and China, no fateful decisions or statements were made. At least publicly. The main formal outcome of the summit: Iran became a full-fledged member of the SCO, and Belarus began joining the organization.
But on the other hand, this is not enough. One of the US's main enemies, Tehran, is now in an economic alliance with the US's main trading partner. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Washington's first allies in the Middle East, also became "dialogue partners". Countries outside the collective West are merging with each other without America's involvement.
By the way, the protocol meetings of Vladimir Putin also show quite well what kind of relations we have with different countries:
KYRGYZSTAN
We give them money to restore what was destroyed after the skirmishes with Tajikistan and to purchase rescue equipment, and in return they do not interfere with the study of the Russian language. They even build new Russian-language schools.
Such "soft power" means a lot when Turkey tries to subjugate the whole of Central Asia under the auspices of the revival of the "Turkic world".
TURKMENIA
Joint gas projects are developing well in this country. But now, when the pressure on our hydrocarbons will grow, non-primary ties are important for Russia.
- We aim to diversify our economic ties through other areas of interaction. This refers to agriculture, the textile industry. We are ready to increase the supply of non-primary products to the market of Turkmenistan, - said Vladimir Putin.
IRAN
Tehran is just glad that they will now deal with it normally. For too long the country has lived cut off from the developed world. Iran is ready to export to Russia whatever we want to buy from them. Basically, we are talking about replacing sanctioned Western goods.
- The first major business mission visited Iran in May this year. Many members of the delegation then told me about their impressions: they were pleased with what they saw at Iranian enterprises in terms of the development of high-tech areas. To be honest, we didn’t even expect it,” Putin admitted.
And yes: Iran categorically condemns anti-Russian sanctions and will never join them. Expected, but it needed to be said.
PAKISTAN
Islamabad is looking forward to two mega-projects.
First: Russia is modernizing Pakistan's railways. Not the whole system, of course. We can supply inexpensive and high-quality passenger trains.
Second: the construction of a gas pipeline to Pakistan.
- This is also possible, part of the infrastructure in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan has already been created. We need to resolve the issue with Afghanistan. There are problems related to political stability, but, bearing in mind our mutual good relations with the Afghan people, I hope that this problem can also be solved, the Russian leader said.
Putin added that Pakistan could influence the authorities in Afghanistan to speed up the laying of the pipe.
CHINA
With China, Vladimir Vladimirovich is already ready to discuss the fate of the world. After all, the second economy in the world.
- The foreign policy tandem of Moscow and Beijing plays a key role in ensuring global and regional stability. We jointly stand for the formation of a just, democratic and multipolar world order,” Putin said.
- We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. We understand your questions and concerns in this regard. During today's meeting, of course, we will explain in detail our position," he added.
Xi Jinping is the first at the SCO summit to whom the Russian president promised to tell about the situation in Ukraine.
MONGOLIA
Mongolian politicians do not hide the fact that they want to make good money on transit from Russia to China. Now we are updating the railways of the Central Asian republic, which will significantly increase their throughput. There are also plans to build a gas pipeline through the territory of Mongolia.
INDIA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the second person Putin promised to tell about Ukraine. Nobody touched this topic anymore.
- I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns that you constantly express. We will do our best to stop this as soon as possible. Only the leadership of Ukraine announced its refusal from the negotiation process, stated that it wants to achieve its goals "on the battlefield." Nevertheless, we will always keep you informed of what is happening there,” Vladimir Vladimirovich said.
Modi responded by saying that he was particularly concerned about the food security of his own country. This has already led to an eightfold (!) increase in the supply of fertilizers from Russia. In the end, the politician, with the peacefulness characteristic of the Hindus, concluded that a bad peace is better than a good war.
- Now is not the era of wars. Democracy, diplomacy, dialogue - these are important tools for us to find solutions, the Prime Minister of India stressed.
TURKEY
Well, Erdogan openly earns on anti-Russian sanctions. Transit through Turkey is now exported and Russian grain and gas. Blue fuel goes to Europe along the Turkish stream. This is so beneficial that the republic was the first to agree to give up dollars if Moscow insists on it.
- We are ready to significantly increase our deliveries in all areas that are of interest to you. In the near future, our agreement on the supply of natural gas of Russian origin to Turkey with payment for 25% of these supplies in Russian rubles should come into effect, Putin reminded.
AZERBAIJAN
From the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, one thing is now needed: that he stop shooting at Armenia.
- Today, we are all very worried about the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It is good that the escalation was finally stopped by coordinated efforts, but, as far as I understand, it (the situation - Ed.) still remains tense, the Russian leader admitted.
- The main thing is that we managed to stabilize the situation and transfer it to a peaceful course. Now the main thing is not to destroy the beginning process of normalization of relations, but to move in this direction. We welcome the efforts of Russia aimed at this, - Aliyev answered diplomatically.
EUROPEAN EGOISM
Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Council of Heads of State, once again spoke about the fate of Russian fertilizers. The head of the country accused Europe of selfishness.
- It turns out that sanctions (against fertilizers - Ed.) have been lifted only for EU member countries. It turns out that only they can purchase our fertilizers. But what about the developing, poorest countries in the world? Taking advantage of the presence of the Deputy Head of the UN Secretary General, Ms. (Rosemary) DiCarlo, I ask colleagues in the European Commission to influence them to remove these obviously discriminatory restrictions, the Russian President urged.
By the way, after the end of the council, DiCarlo really approached Putin and talked to him for quite some time.
Cats are normally very clean animals. They spend a great deal of time grooming themselves. They groom to remove much of their scent. This helps them as they hunt prey. A prey animal can’t smell the cat easily
Most people would think a cat has very little smell. If you put your nose right in their fur, it tends to just smell clean and fresh.
A cat who can’t groom because of injury or health problems can start to smell. Some of these cats will require that you bath them to keep them clean
My mom had a cat, Cookie who lived to be 25 years old. During her last couple years, she had trouble grooming herself. My mom would gently bath her a couple times a week. Then mom would carefully brush her. My mom loved that cat.
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I don’t have a picture of Cookie but I found this picture online and it looks very similiar to Cookie. Cookie crossed the rainbow bridge about ten years ago. My mom has a new black cat named Herman now.
How have we not went to war with China yet? They brought fentanyl over here. Covid started there.
Firstly who’s we? I’m guessing an American? Secondly why would you be at war with China?
You can’t seriously be blaming China for your stupid government reaction to a pandemic, so not that. Also most people known the virus probably didn’t start in China anyway and was already circulating in Europe and the USA, but they were too inept to notice.
Let’s see. . Is it the old, “they’ve taken our jobs” story? Your government took those jobs away from you, not China.
What else? They’re not a democracy? Is that it?? Why should they be? Damn commies, not acting all civilised like us. Look at how well your democracy is working out, you’ve just had an election, and now your president is childishly throwing his toys out of the pram because he hasn’t won. Jesus.
Is it possible that’s it’s because they’ve improved their country more than you could possibly imagine in the last 40 years, whilst here in the west we’re still stuck with the same old sad infrastructure? How dare you improve yourselves! You were just supposed to make stuff for us but stay uncivilised and underdeveloped. That could be it, because they’re doing so well while we stagnate.
Do you know how many days China has been at war in the last 40 years? 0. None. And America has been at war constantly, do you know how much money that’s cost you? Trillions, that could all have been spent improving your education system, your trains, your roads and bridges, on you. Do you know how many countries you’ve been at war with, that have a nuclear arsenal?
Maybe that’s why you’re not at war with China. Firstly, you don’t have a valid reason for one, they’ve done nothing to warrant it. Even though America is doing its best to brainwash people into believing China is evil in every way it can, we don’t believe you. Look at Mike Pompeo for example, have you heard what he says? We all know he’s a professional liar, he admitted it stupidly on film. He’s desperate for you to think China bad, us good, but what he says looks bizarre to anyone with any real knowledge about China. How would it look to your average citizen to know China’s system is actually more democratic than yours, and is way more effective?
Secondly, China does have a nuclear arsenal, and if you try going to war with them you’re going to die. What a weird question.
Flying
Flying isn’t hard. The plane wants to fly—punch the power at the end of the runway, and, chances are it will take off and fly without a whole lot of input on the controls.
Landing is hard at first. I think I made 20–30 approaches before I finally put wheels on pavement by myself.
Navigating can be tricky, but I’ve only gotten lost once so far.
So what’s hard?
This.
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That’s your view out the windscreen. A beginning VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilot like me, flying into a cloud bank, statistically has less than 3 minutes left to live.
Not only can you not see where you are or where you’re going, you literally cannot trust your senses to tell you which way is up. I scoffed at this idea when I first heard about it, but when it came time for me to put on the foggles (special glasses that restrict your view to the instruments) I just about threw up—my body thought we were leaned over 20 degrees, even when my instruments said we were dead level—and I had to trust the instrument. I had to actively ignore a built-in sense my body had that had been keeping me safe for 40+ years.
Learning to tune in the right radio frequencies, and correctly follow a pair of wavering needles down to within 200 feet of the ground—that’s hard. Especially when you already know what 200 feet looks like, and you’re praying you’ll see the runway any second now, before you slam into it.
Being able to do this is called instrument flying, and it’s a huge part of what makes scheduled airline travel possible.
Are China and the United States of America moving toward a new kind of cold war?
John Mearsheimer put it best when he said that with regard to the issue of how to treat China, that the US will not tolerate the rise of any potential peer competitor. He listed four instances where this concept has manifested itself and also when the US prevailed:
Imperial Germany
Imperial Japan
Nazi Germany
the Soviet Union
China is just the newest challenger. In his writings and talks he makes it clear that there is no other reason, moral or otherwise, that the US should stop China’s rise. You cannot get more nakedly hegemonic than this.
Many others in the US, mostly influenced by the China hands at the Hudson institute, feel that the rise of China represents an existential threat to the united States. Which is actually true if and only if one can ONLY think of the US as number one. So their idea of existential threat doesn’t mean that the United States will disappear from the face of the earth, it just means we won’t be the biggest economy or the most influential culture.
China has no choice but to engage in whatever role we push them in. China is one-fifth of humanity, by comparison the United States is only one twentieth of the global population. Even if China has no ambition to replace the US as the global hegemonic power, if its only goal is to give China’s own citizens a standard of living comparable to the US, it will have to grow its GDP to roughly five times that of the US.
One cannot grow to become the biggest economy without protecting it.
China and India have experienced the consequence of not protecting their economies before, both were one and two by GDP until the 1870’s (the positions switched occasionally).
Naively, both India and China never thought to protect their economic interests from physical aggression and by the middle of the 19th century, naked aggression destroyed their people’s lives.
In India’s case, the subcontinent was colonized.
In China’s case, parts were colonized, then fought over in very brutal great power struggles.
By right, if China aspires to attain a standard of living equal to advanced industrialized economies (and it should or its leaders should be deemed derelict) it should also sought to protect its economy from the sort of aggression by Western powers and their proxies.
What does this mean for China? It means that Beijing should aim for building up bigger armed forces, protecting the sea-lanes (this one is counter intuitive to many) such as in the South China Sea routes, and opening up other trade routes such as the BRI or the OBOR, including oil and gas supplies overland such as from Russia.
China has no choice but to grow a very powerful armed forces that is at least powerful enough that the United States will not choose to be in direct military confrontation with it. Since World War II, the United States has not chosen to fight wars where the direct enemy is a much, much smaller force.
The United States will try to stop China’s rise by non-military means — proxy wars, economic decoupling, etc. — which really just means a cold war.
A hot war will be a last gasp measure in a hopeless cause.
What types of cats at shelters are the least likely to be adopted?
Me and my wife adopted Aurora this year. She’s 5 (6 in a month!) and has been such a sweet cat. The PetSmart where we found a cat named “Jackie” whose cage had been labeled “male” with a note that said “I don’t like other cats.” Obviously, a cat who has a “no cats” policy is a deal breaker for most of the people who are adopting cats regularly, since they already have cats. Luckily, we didn’t have any cats so this wasn’t a deal breaker for us.
When I saw that she’d been there for over a month, it made me really sad. In hindsight, I think she’d been moved between different locations for much longer than that. The employee let me hold her and she grabbed me so tight and didn’t want to let go. My heart melted and we brought her home that night.
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At that time, we still thought she was a he and so we gave her the name “Augustus.” A few days later, while looking at her medical information, we noticed that her sex was clearly labeled “Spayed Female.” After a good laugh, we renamed her “Aurora.” She was shy at first but now she loves to curl up in our laps and enjoys plenty of pets.
I honestly don’t see any other explanation for why she remained unadopted for so long. She did hiss at the other cats in the caged area but she may have just been anxious because of the environment. It’s sad to see how much suffering can be caused by a seemingly helpful note. I don’t know for sure but I suspect that she would be able to adjust to living with another cat now that she’s comfortable.
Violence In California Reaches “Epidemic” Levels As Our Society Rapidly Deteriorates All Around Us
I can’t understand why anyone would still want to live in California. Yes, there are lots of high paying jobs and the weather is very nice, but crime is completely and utterly out of control. As you will see below, a new report that has just been issued is warning that violence in the state has now reached “epidemic” levels. The police are doing what they can to try to contain the violence, but at this point they are vastly outnumbered by the predators. Sadly, this is the end result of literally decades of cultural rot, and what is happening in California is going to happen to the rest of the nation if we do not take urgent action to turn things around.
Originally, I was going to write about something else today. Tens of thousands of rail and port workers are threatening to go on strike, and this could definitely cause some substantial economic disruptions…
America is bracing for chaos as tens of thousands of railway, port, and hospital workers look set to strike over the winter – plunging the country into further disruption.As many as 60,000 railway workers, 15,000 nurses, and 22,000 West Coast port workers are plotting mass walkouts as they seek better working conditions.Several US freight railroads said they were preparing for widespread strike and service interruptions Friday, a deadline set by two holdout labor groups in protracted talks with railroad carriers about better benefits.
But even though these strikes could cause severe short-term problems, they will eventually be resolved.
So in the greater scheme of things, they really aren’t a major concern.
On the other hand, our cultural decay is a massive ongoing crisis that isn’t going to go away.
As I mentioned earlier, a brand new report that was just released is warning that violence in the state of California has risen to “epidemic” levels…
The Golden State is losing its luster. A troubling new report labels physical and sexual violence in pandemic-era California a statewide “epidemic.” To put it simply, violence is on an alarming rise.According to the new annual report from the California Study on Violence Experiences across the Lifespan (CalVEX), violence statistics have seen a significant increase since COVID-19 emerged. The report, conducted by scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, reports more than one in six Californians (18%) experienced either physical or sexual violence in just the past year.
If you live in one of the biggest cities in California, this isn’t news to you.
Once upon a time, the state was a place of great beauty and great tranquility, but now it has been transformed into a crime-infested hellhole.
I was particularly alarmed by the numbers on sexual violence in this new report…
While more than 1.5 million adults in California admit to committing acts of sexual violence in the past year, men were more than two times as likely as women to report that they perpetrated sexual violence and intimate partner violence.Women also showed greater mental health impacts and life disruptions due to violent experiences, with 82 percent of women reporting anxiety or depression as a result of physically aggressive, coercive or forced sexual behavior.
Of course much of this violence is being fueled by illegal mind-altering drugs.
Some of these drugs are so immensely powerful that they literally put people into catatonic states for an extended period of time…
I will never understand why people would willingly do that to themselves.
Today, we are facing the biggest drug crisis that we have ever seen in American history, and addicts will often do whatever it takes to get another fix.
Sadly, this is one of the factors that is contributing to skyrocketing rates of shoplifting all over the nation…
We are all painfully aware of the huge rise in shoplifting and even violent robberies of stores. We watch the videos of thugs brazenly raiding stores, and read about the organized crime rings that have sprung up to profit from the trend. Shoplifting has become a big, if criminal business. Chances are that if you use eBay to purchase a wide range of products at reduced prices you have unwittingly purchased stolen goods. No good way for eBay to stop the practice.
One homeless man that originally came from Alabama recently admitted that he regularly shoplifts in order to fund his heroin use…
There have been homeless addicts in the streets of San Francisco for years, but now we have reached a point where they are seemingly everywhere.
I saw complete hopelessness in the eyes of haunted souls dragging themselves down the street looking for their next fix.I saw men and women of all ages hunched over on the sidewalks with open wounds all over their bodies.I saw the filthy tent cities stinking with human excrement and strewn with needles and pipes.I saw children staring in horror at people dying right in front of them.
At one time, such activity was limited to the bad portions of the city.
But now addicts that have been drugged out of their minds are pulling down their pants and crapping in the streets right in front of some of the most expensive real estate in San Francisco.
This has made the wealthy people really angry, and Mayor Breed says that she is finally going to “get serious” about this crisis.
Of course “getting serious” doesn’t mean arresting a bunch of people and throwing them into prison.
That just wouldn’t be very “progressive”.
Instead, authorities in San Francisco are getting ready to launch a “soft-touch” program that will seek to “interrupt” drug trafficking…
City supervisors released a resolution for a vague ‘soft-touch’ initiative called ‘San Francisco Recovers.’And here’s the catch, and it’s a doozy: the plan is being touted as, ‘a way that nobody’s going to jail but we’re doing an effective job of interrupting the drug market and drug scenes.’Is this a sick joke?
Yes, it certainly sounds like a sick joke to me.
Good luck with all that.
If major cities such as San Francisco actually want to have a chance of turning things around, they need to send the police out to round up all the drug dealers.
Unfortunately, police forces in many of our biggest cities are rapidly getting smaller.
In fact, a whopping 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022 alone…
The liberal city of Seattle is losing police officers amid a major spike in crime, 770 KTTH reported.“We’re screwed,” former King County Sheriff John Urqhart said, according to 770 KTTH.In total, 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022, including six that left in August, 770 KTTH reported, citing a police source. Since the city council voted to defund the police department in 2020, nearly 500 police officers have left the force.
I wouldn’t want to be a police officer in a major west coast city at this point either.
They are underpaid, the politicians treat them with tremendous disdain, and they are often hindered by absolutely ridiculous regulations which keep them from doing their jobs effectively.
We like to think that we are so “advanced”, but the truth is that if you compare video footage from major cities on the west coast from decades ago to video footage from today there is absolutely no comparison.
Our society is melting down right in front of our eyes, and if we stay on the path that we are currently on there is no future for our country.
But the politicians insist that people like me have it all wrong.
They continue to tell us that things are better than ever and that a glorious future for our nation is dead ahead.
You can believe that if you want, but the truth of what is really happening to our society is on display for the whole world to see.
America is dying, and we are quickly running out of time to turn things around.
Graduation. Some people are (for certain) going home. Small steps open up to larger ones. A path is being formed. So many are on that path. i can see it. Congratulations all.
I know.
I know what is going on with some of you. Some have told me what is going on, and with others… well… I get “reports”. Ha! And you thought that I was out of the loop in these things, eh?
It’s like a big bolder that you finally got up and out of the graound and now you just started to push it down the hill. Yeah. It’s going so far, and then it hits a platform, a tree, or a level space.
Not to worry.
It’s a level completed.
It’s a graduation.
For some of you, you don’t need MM any longer. Though you are always welcome to visit and keep in touch. For others, just hang on loose.
A couple of you all have really reason to celebrate. You know where you are. And it should be on “that” plateau, level area. Many more to go… but you hit the first one.
Of course, remember. Do not be like Matilda. Do not be tricked. There is no “another chance once you do …”. Don’t be in a rush.
So many have or are reaching, that point. It is time to celebrate. But don’t be “big headed”…
Keep your affirmation campaigns.
Keep chatting with your mantids.
And keep on; going on.
I salute every one of you!
Here’s my celebration of your accomplishment. I hope you all enjoy it. Plus some normal day-to-day MM stuff.
Faith No More Epic, My Generation (With Klaus Meine & Bo Diddley) Live Wembley Arena 12/06/91
Dealing with a bully
When I was a kid I used to be bullied by a bigger kid that lived down the road. At the weekend – in Summer – my Mum used to make me wear a silly hat outdoors to protect me from sunburn, and he always made fun of it…as well as push me around.
One day I hatched a cunning plan…
I would put my silly hat out the front of my house with a rock under it. Said bully will ride down the road on his bike after school, spot my silly hat and run over the hat and rock – and maybe fall off on the grass… What could go wrong?
Well it kind of worked…
He spotted the hat and aimed straight for it – but instead of running over it, he decided that he would drop his foot and kick it/scoop it up…
Unfortunately neither the hat nor the rock moved and he smashed every bone in his foot!
His parents were on the warpath – screaming at my parents – blaming me…
I just said that I had been out front and put the hat over a rock to stop it blowing away – and I had forgotten about it…
I think that he was in plaster for months!
The family eventually moved away and he never bullied or laughed at me again…
Metallica – Master of Puppets (Live) [Quebec Magnetic]
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How did people preserve meat back then?
Well, coming from Portugal, people didn’t have electricity in the countryside until the late 70s/80s So in order to conserve the meat, my great-grandma (and every Portuguese people who weren’t rich) had a thing called “Salgadeira”, something like “Box of Salt”.
They had tons of salt and they would submerge the pieces of meat in the salt. A little context, Portugal was very, VERY, poor in the 40s, 50s, 60s. In late October, a pig would be slaughtered and EVERYTHING was prepared to be eaten in the future.
Belly, snout, feet, intestines (sausages and blood sausages), tail, ears, testicles, everything was used and all of that was put in the “Salgadeira” (Expect for the sausages, they had a special room called “Fumeiro”) and would stay there until the people decided to eat it.
Now you ask “Wasn’t it salty?”
Yes, of course.
That’s why the day before, the people would take out the piece and put it in a basin full of water during the night before and the whole day and it would be perfect to be cooked. This pig lasted a whole year and they had to make it count! I hope I helped and sorry for the extensive story. <3
As far as I know, there are many popular stars from Xinjiang in China. So why does Pompeo insist that the Chinese government is committing “genocide” against the Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang?
Why does Pompeo do this? Because he’s trying to smear China’s reputation and prevent China’s rise. China threatens American hegemony.
Here’s the fundamental problem…
ANYTHING positive that is reported about China is regarded as Chinese propaganda and not to be trusted.
So you can show as many videos of Uyghur culture as you like, and they’re all considered fake.
You can show demographic data of the Uyghur population increasing for the past decade, and since they’re official Chinese stats, they must be fake.
The ONLY way to prove that Western media and Mike Pompeo are lying about the Uyghurs is to go visit Xinjiang and see with your own eyes.
Millions of foreign tourists already have. And do you know what they all see?
Happy Uyghurs. Uyghur culture flourishing. Mosques practically around every corner. Uyghur children playing in the streets. If China is committing genocide, either racial or cultural, she’s doing a very bad job of it!
Unless you think Xinjiang is one vast Potemkin village, you must conclude that Western media is lying.
But here’s the thing: most people in the West will never have the opportunity to visit Xinjiang or China. They either can’t afford to, or they don’t have the time nor inclination.
Mike Pompeo and his ilk are counting on this. They’re counting on most Westerners being unable to verify the truth. This is how they get away with propaganda lies.
P.O.D. – Satellite (Official Music Video) [HD]
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As a Chinese citizen, what are the main flaws with the Chinese government?
The incompetency, or rather, the inconsistency of competence, of the local governments of various levels.
First and foremost, the current Chinese government runs more or less on the principle of meritocracy, that is, the better you do on your job, the more likely you are to get promoted.
The result of which is that the central government consists of the brightest, most capable, and most experienced individuals of the entire Chinese political system, while the local governments – especially the lower level provincial and municipal governments – are more of a mixed bag.
It is not rare to see the local governments failing miserably at their jobs, people get angry, the central government had to step in and, as we would call it in China, “wipe their butts for them.”
And that’s also why the infamous system of petitioning (信访/上访) is…well, infamous.
Through the system of petitioning, officially known as public complaints and proposals, petitioners are, in theory, able to directly get into contact with the central government to report issues they have with the local government.
The problem is, in order to reach the central government, you must first petition with the local government.
And, naturally, when the issue of the petition in question is directed at you, the local incompetent official, you are not very likely to just allow the petitioners to go to the central government. And the end result would be rather grim for some of the more vocal petitioners.
Over the years, the central government is becoming more aware of the issue and, with more effort put into anti-corruption and power abuse since Xi, the central government is trying to achieve a balance between improving the petitioning system itself to allow petitioners to reach the central government, and improving the efficiency of the local governments so that the guys in the central can better focus on their actual jobs.
The 2016 Feng Xiaogang Film I Am Not Madame Bovary is a satire-comedy that criticized the petitioning system and the incompetence of lower level officials, and was well received:
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Definitely worth a watch if you’re interested in the topic.
How safe is Singapore while the whole world is in turmoil?
I’m confident Singapore won’t have to suffer food shortages like Sri Lanka. We have invested billions over decades to diversify the entire supply chain to all corners of the globe, and centralized our stockpile, especially the climate controlled storage of key necessities.
The recent chicken export ban from key supplier Malaysia hardly ruffled feathers here.
I’m confident Singapore won’t have to suffer ruinous energy price increase in the multiples, like the UK and Germany. A severe recession is guaranteed given the rate hikes still to come. Cheap Russian energy cannot be easily replaced, especially the price point.
I’m confident Singapore won’t have to deal with currency devaluation and persistent high inflation. The Singapore dollar uses the exchange rate to control domestic inflation and it has shown remarkable strength next to the ntd, krw, jpy and cny, bucking capitulation in the rest of asean (bar Brunei).
The latest iPhone remains affordable, relative to wages.
I’m confident Singapore won’t have the headache of revolving door politics like we’ve seen in the UK, France, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and many more. Stability wielded by experienced, wise heads gave us the platform and latitude to navigate the treacherous curveballs hurled at us time and again by covid. The scorecard gave Singapore first dibs on returning business flow. Singapore remains the jewel of SEA, as investor confidence clearly demonstrate.
I’m confident racial and sectarian violence won’t break loose, particularly anti-chinese sentiment fueling hate crimes and witchhunts in the Anglophone first world. Singapore takes the constitution seriously. The pledge of one United people regardless of race, language or religion is taught in preschool. Tolerance, and respect, are values deeply ingrained in the Singapore psyche. Long may that continue.
Ultimately, Singapore’s size condemns us to be price takers. We will take material hits when the global situation deteriorates, especially if great power competition escalate into full blown war. But I’d like to think my tropical island home will preserve the last vestiges of sanity as the rest of the world devolve into anarchy.
But that’s just me.
“No Soup For You!” | The Soup Nazi | Seinfeld
Should the United States engage in direct combat against China?
No. First of all, there is no reason to engage China militarily. China is not an enemy of USA.
Second, a war with China would be devastating for the whole world, possibly leading to global nuclear destruction.
Third, USA cannot win a war with China. The Pentagon has conducted numerous war game exercises involving China in East and South China Seas, and in each and every one of them, China won. The lesson here is: Do not fight a war in China’s own backyard.
China has operational hypersonic missiles and so-called “carrier killers.” Does USA want to see all their supercarriers sink to the bottom of the Pacific?
Fourth, generally speaking, war is immoral. It takes a sick mind to contemplate unnecessary warfare. This question falls into this category.
P.O.D. – Alive (Official Music Video) [4K]
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Would you like to live under a Chinese world authoritarian rule or a United States world lead democratic rule?
Let me help you rephrase your questions fairly and accurately.
Would you like to live in a supposedly authoritarian rule in China that is free for you to go anywhere and at any time without the fear of being shot at by random mass shooter ever other day? Or ever stopped by the police and suffers police brutality all because your colour of your skin differs from his?
Or would you prefer like to live in this so called authoritarian nation that has only one nineth per million incasserated compared to this self claimed world leader in democracy who by the way has 25% of the entire world prison population?
This self proclaimed democratic leader allows you to choose between two leader chosen for you by a tiny fraction of its rich and influential people. And yes you chose whom you hate less! Would you like to live in this self proclaimed democratic leader nation that is neither democratic nor leader, who priotised foriegn interventions yet leaves 35% of their people without health insurance?
Or do you prefer to live in a supposed authoritarian nation that gives universal health coverage, haves zero poverty, and provide free college education? Or chose to live in this so call democratic nation that have a million people homeless.and living in tents, and kids get into debts just for going to college!
As you can see a question put in accurate depiction of reality versus a trick question filled with lies and innuendos lead you to broken dreams.
But I got a better choice for you in America. Stay home and push your nation to be really democratic and care more for you! If you are Chinese, words means nothing, deeds are everything.
What is the most unhealthy ‘health food’?
What could be better for you than sitting down to a nice cold glass of fruit juice? I mean, after all, the word “fruit” is right there in the name. How could you go wrong?
Truth is, you might as well be drinking a can of soda with your breakfast. Ounce per ounce, fruit juice contains as much sugar and as many calories as a can of Coke. Maybe more.
Sure there might be some vitamin C and antioxidants in your juice, but that hardly makes up for all that sugar.
Let’s look at a comparison between apple juice and Coca Cola.
Coke: 140 calories and 40 grams of sugar (10 teaspoons)
Apple Juice: 165 calories and 39 grams of sugar (9.8 teaspoons)
Even if you are careful to pick up the juice labeled “100% Pure” and “not from concentrate”, that doesn’t mean much. In a commercial process, once the juice is squeezed from the fruit it is usually stored in massive oxygen-depleting storage tanks for up to a year.
This has the unfortunate effect of removing most of the flavor from the product. To make it palatable again, manufacturers have to add “flavor packs” to their product.
What is a healthier alternative? Just eat the actual fresh fruit itself. It will taste better and be better for you.
The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
Beijing may use Anti-Secession Law to seek Taiwan reunification, Chinese foreign minister says
Wang Yi says if the law is violated, Beijing will take ‘resolute actions to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’
He also warns that US approach may have ‘subversive impact’ on ties, during meeting with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said Beijing could invoke its Anti-Secession Law to seek reunification with Taiwan, in an escalation of rhetoric over the self-ruled island.
Wang also warned that Washington’s pro-Taiwan, anti-Beijing approach might have a “subversive impact” on US-China ties, during a meeting with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Monday. Wang is in New York for the general debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
It follows US President Joe Biden’s latest pledge to defend Taiwan if Beijing were to attack the island – the fourth time he has vowed to do so – and after the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 cleared a US Senate panel last week.
How did you know your cats chose you to be their owner?
I know my cat chose me.
I was talking to my friend outside her apartment. There were cats all around, ferals and strays.
As we talked, I suddenly felt fur on my leg. I looked down and saw a beautiful black cat brushing past my leg, loving me, choosing me.
I sat down on the curb and petted her (by now I knew it was a girl).
She pushed her little head into my hand and licked me.
This was love at first sight for her.
A lady came out of her apartment and told me she feeds the cats and this little girl, and that she’d been a stray for many months.
Next day I took her to the vet where she got a wellness check, all of her shots and a pill to kill worms in her tummy.
She had no fleas or sores.
I took her home.
She hid under the couch until she got hungry and came out to eat. She found the litter box by herself.
Two nights later she began sleeping with me and has ever since. She’s the love of my life.
Here’s Charlotte
Charlotte
Why do some people send back food at every restaurant they go to?
My aunt and uncle were exceedingly generous people, and one of the things they liked to do was to take friends to new restaurants they had discovered. I used to tell them that once a restaurant had their seal of approval, it was like giving them a Michelin Star!
They once took a couple out, and were having a great time until the husband complained about the steak—after he’d eaten about half of it. The waiter comped his meal. My aunt put it down to the fact that not every dish that comes out of a kitchen can be 100% perfect all the time, and did not think any more about it.
Until a few months later when they took that couple to a different restaurant and the same thing happened—the husband ate about half his meal, complained to a waiter, got his meal comped. My aunt said something along the lines of how bad his luck was and how embarrassed she was that two of their restaurant choices had not pleased him.
He replied, “Oh, the meals were perfectly fine. Great, even. But I fill up on salad and bread and drinks, eat some of the entree, call a waiter over and then get the whole meal comped.” He bragged that no matter how nice the place, there was always something to “complain” about. Too cold, too salty, too spicy, not done enough, too well done, had an ingredient not mentioned on the menu, etc.
My aunt likened it to stealing and he just scoffed, “Look at it this way, I’ve saved you about $25 both times we’ve gone out.”
My aunt and uncle stopped taking this couple out to dinner after that.
CANDLEBOX – Far Behind (Official Video)
Anti-U.S. base incumbent Tamaki secures 2nd term as Okinawa governor
2022 09 11: Anti-U.S. base incumbent Tamaki secures 2nd term as Okinawa governor
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki won a second four-year-term following Sunday's gubernatorial election, obtaining a renewed mandate for his efforts to discontinue a plan to relocate a U.S. base within the island prefecture.
Opposition-backed Tamaki defeated former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima, 58, who was supported by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. Sakima ran on a platform of pressing ahead with moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the densely populated city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area of Nago.
Reviving the all-important tourism industry was also a focus of the election with the Okinawan economy having taken a heavy battering from travel restrictions put in place during the coronavirus pandemic
Why is Xi Jinping acting so stubborn in this trade war, and could it be a huge mistake?
Another political viewpoint dressed as a question.
The line of questioning implies China must bend to American pressure, otherwise her leaders are being foolishly stubborn, and dangerously so.
If America wants something bad, she never negotiates. She makes demands, and expects every other country to bow. In international affairs, the Chinese from the time of Mao and Deng called America a 超级大国 or a superpower. Superpowers dominate, bully and exploit people everywhere.
Blackmail, tariffs, media pressure, asymmetric pressure, all in an effort to force China into an unequal treaty that threatens China’s very sovereignty. And that is just the opening salvo. The Americans will never be satisfied once they’ve tasted blood.
Precedents are always begging to be reused.
China will not gamble her long-term internal stability and sovereignty without putting up a massive fight.
There are lots of tools in the Chinese arsenal. They have just not been used out of respect for the global hegemon. Just take a look at the strength of the Yuan relative to the rest of the BRICS. It may actually be a good time to cull the excesses in the Chinese economy brought about by the immense credit expansion post-financial crisis.
China isn’t being stupid. Neither is this a China-driven charade or Xi’s dictatorial decision. The Standing Committee exists to decide important affairs by vote.
Is it true that many anti-CCP Chinese became pro-CCP after having learnt how Western media are biased against China?
I don’t know anyone who has visited China become or remain anti China. The anti China haters are, to my knowledge, people who have never been to China and who wish to hate China from a distance. Maybe they just want to hate. The US media creates lies about China to callously make money based on other’s suffering and to cover up the guilt of the USA. And to try and generate anti China sentiment. Their only hope is with the ignorant people.
I do firmly believe, that if any of these anti China people actually went to China, they would stop their ignorant thinking and become pro China.
The main problem is, that these anti China people don’t want to learn the truth and they wish to want to continue hating innocent people to blame their nation’s (usually the USA), weaknesses on someone else. Like the Nazis blaming the Jews, it all comes from fear of their own inadequacies and jealousy of other’s strengths.
All who visit China, I believe, will realise that China is a good country.
Def Leppard – Hysteria (Live)
Chocolate Silk Raspberry Tart
Smooth slices of this attractive tart combine the classic combination of chocolate and raspberries.
Chocolate Silk Raspberry Tart
Ingredients
20 creme-filled golden sandwich cookies, crushed (2 cups)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups whipping (heavy) cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
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x
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NEIGHBOURS CAT & OUR DILEMMA!
I'm really hoping someone can give us advice on this stressful and now cruel situation as we are struggling with this now. A cat started sleeping in our garden on the grass overnight through summer and we assumed her to be a stray. We stroked her, we left only water outside and very quickly she started to come in to our kitchen and meow and pur for cuddles.
We noticed she didn't look stray (not overly skinny, good fur) so I decided at this point to snap a few pics and post her to a local FB page in the hopes of finding her owner.
Several people came forward who ended up just having similar cats and this wasn't resolved. I did some more digging determined to find the owner and spoke to more people in the area and finally found her owner.
I was so relieved so I sent her a message to tell her about the situation. She came back to me saying things like 'omg she's been missing for weeks thank you so much' - seemed genuinely relieved.
She asked me to take the cat indoors this once and was happy for me to feed her this once to ensure that she had eaten something and collected her that evening.
Now the problem lies here: For whatever reason, this cat does not like being at home. For weeks if not going on a months now, we've had a back and forth with this lady about her cat darting through our house desperate to come in at any chance.
We love this cat to bits and we don't mind her being here but we've followed her owners instructions all the way through the weeks (please shoo her out, don't feed her, ignore her, close your blinds, close windows) and it is not working!
All that's gained from this is a cold and hungry cat who still won't go home and sits outside all night looking desperate for us to let her in. We seem to be repeating a cycle with the owner now and it goes along the lines of: she keeps her indoors for a day, let's her back out, the cat runs here immediately, we have to ignore her for multiple days as per her request (which upsets us to do), the owner then asks us to let her in after 3 or 4 days of her being ignored by us/sleeping rough as she's still not gone home and does respond to her owner when she looks for her, then collects her from ours.
Repeat.
This cat is actively choosing to sleep under outdoor furniture rather than go home to this lady and it's not fair on this cat.
She would willingly come into our home if we would let her, but we're not allowed as per the owner so the cat just suffers outside because of this.
We are now sick of seeing this poor cat desperate to come in to our home all the while I'm messaging the woman her whereabouts constantly and she never manages to find her and take her in.... But also doesn't want us to take her in, either... so she's stuck in the middle of this and left outside!
The last time this happened she kept her in for a full week.
It's now been 3 days since she let her out and surprise surprise, the cats been in my garden most of this time. We literally saw her bolting her way over down the street.
I've told the owner again and again where she is with pictures of her just sitting here and her reply was ''oh she's so naughty please can you start spraying her with water so she comes home" - this is something I will not do and this will not make her go home!
What would you do in this situation? Is it time to offer adopting the cat? She's clearly happy at my house and willing to come indoors?
I am not prepared to keep living in this pointless cycle with my windows closed, blinds closed, my doors not being open at this ladies request to stop this cat coming in to my home! Please help!
Look, I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but cats don’t actually have owners. They have staff, and friends. They choose their staff, and their friends.
If a strange cat comes to you and decides that you’re their friend / staff, I personally choose to respect the wishes of the cat.
A cat that comes to me, comes inside my house, sleeps near me, eats my food… I really don’t concern myself with the previous “ownership” status of the cat.
This is Zeus:
x
Zeus came to me while I was trying to befriend a feral cat. Zeus wanted pets, so I petted her. She wanted food, so I fed her. Three days later, she walks into my house, jumps into my bed, and falls asleep.
I’ve had her for about 5 years now. When I took her to the vet and found out she was chipped, I literally didn’t care; she’d picked me, and had AMPLE opportunity to “go home.”
The truth of the matter is that she found home. She likes me.
This is Sam:
x
He was a neighborhood stray, who was eventually “taken in” (i.e. imprisoned in inhumane conditions against his will) by a local cat hoarder.
After 18 months he escaped; his fur was patchy, he’d lost like 25% of his body weight, he had a grotesque and untreated wound on his neck (9 stitches needed), and he came straight for me.
Straight to me.
I didn’t bother trying to find his “owner.”
He wanted in to MY house, he wanted ME to pet him and take care of him.
For the first 3 years I had him, he had an actual cat-door to the outside that was unblocked at all times.
Infinite freedom; he could come and go as he chose.
He’d go out and vanish for 8 hours at a time, but he always, always, always came back.
I don’t second guess cats.
If I have a cat and it leaves me, then I can be sad, sure… but it’s the cats decision.
If a cat shows up and wants me, I accept it, and care for it, and don’t concern myself with its past ownership history.
The cat chose.
I let the cat choose.
If I were you, I’d just let the cat in next time it shows up, and block the “owners” number.
It’s your cat now, should you so choose.
Vladimir Putin’s address
It is historic, significant and will shape what we will all experience in the near future. It is also BLOCKED in the West. Good luck finding it.
Vladimir Putin: Dear friends! The topic of my speech is the situation in the Donbas and the course of a special military operation to liberate it from the neo-Nazi regime that seized power in Ukraine in 2014 as a result of an armed coup. Today I appeal to you, to all citizens of our country, to people of different generations, ages and nationalities, to the people of our great Motherland, to all who are united by great historical Russia, to soldiers and officers, volunteers who are now fighting on the front lines, are on the combat post, to our brothers and sisters - residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and other areas liberated from the neo-Nazi regime.It will be about the necessary, urgent steps to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia, about supporting the desire and will of our compatriots to determine their own future and about the aggressive policy of part of the Western elites, who are striving with all their might to maintain their dominance, and for this they are trying to block, to suppress any sovereign independent centers of development in order to continue to crudely impose their will on other countries and peoples, to plant their pseudo-values. The purpose of this West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are already directly saying that in 1991 they were able to split the Soviet Union, and now the time has come for Russia itself, that it should disintegrate into many mortally hostile regions and regions. And they have been planning such plans for a long time. They encouraged gangs of international terrorists in the Caucasus, promoted the offensive infrastructure of NATO close to our borders. They made total Russophobia their weapon, including for decades they purposefully cultivated hatred for Russia, primarily in Ukraine, for which they were preparing the fate of an anti-Russian foothold, and the Ukrainian people themselves were turned into cannon fodder and pushed to war with our country, unleashing it, this war , back in 2014, using the armed forces against the civilian population, organizing genocide, blockade, terror against people who refused to recognize the power that arose in Ukraine as a result of a coup. And after the current Kiev regime actually publicly refused a peaceful solution to the Donbass problem and, moreover, announced its claims to nuclear weapons, it became absolutely clear that a new, yet another, as it had happened twice before, large-scale attack on the Donbass was inevitable. . And then, just as inevitably, there would have been an attack on the Russian Crimea - on Russia. In this regard, the decision on a pre-emptive military operation was absolutely necessary and the only possible one. Its main goals - the liberation of the entire territory of Donbass - have been and remain unchanged. The Lugansk People's Republic has already been almost completely cleared of neo-Nazis. Fighting in the Donetsk People's Republic continues. Here, for eight years, the Kyiv occupation regime created a deeply echeloned line of long-term fortifications. Their head-on assault would have resulted in heavy losses, so our units, as well as the military units of the Donbass republics, act systematically, competently, use equipment, protect personnel and step by step liberate Donetsk land, clear cities and towns from neo-Nazis, provide assistance to people whom the Kyiv regime turned them into hostages, into human shields. As you know, professional servicemen serving under contract take part in the special military operation. Volunteer formations are also fighting shoulder to shoulder with them: people of different nationalities, professions, ages are real patriots. At the call of their hearts, they came to the defense of Russia and Donbass.In this regard, I have already given instructions to the Government and the Ministry of Defense in full and in the shortest possible time to determine the legal status of volunteers, as well as fighters of the units of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. It should be the same as that of regular servicemen of the Russian army, including material, medical support, and social guarantees. Particular attention should be paid to organizing the supply of volunteer formations and detachments of the people's militia of Donbass with machines and equipment.In the course of solving the main tasks of protecting Donbass, our troops, based on the plans and decisions of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff on the general strategy of action, liberated from neo-Nazis also significant territories of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and a number of other regions. As a result, an extended line of combat contact was formed, which is over a thousand kilometers. What I want to say publicly today for the first time. Already after the start of the special military operation, including the talks in Istanbul, the representatives of Kyiv reacted very positively to our proposals, and these proposals primarily concerned ensuring Russia's security and our interests. But it is obvious that the peaceful solution did not suit the West, therefore, after certain compromises were reached, Kyiv was actually given a direct order to disrupt all agreements. Ukraine began to be pumped up with weapons even more. The Kyiv regime has launched new gangs of foreign mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained to NATO standards and under the de facto command of Western advisers. At the same time, the regime of repression throughout Ukraine against its own citizens, established immediately after the armed coup of 2014, was strengthened in the most severe way. The policy of intimidation, terror and violence is assuming more and more mass, terrible, barbaric forms. I want to emphasize that we know that the majority of people living in the territories liberated from neo-Nazis, and these are, first of all, the historical lands of Novorossia, do not want to be under the yoke of the neo-Nazi regime. In Zaporozhye, in the Kherson region, in Lugansk and Donetsk, they have seen and are seeing the atrocities that neo-Nazis are doing in the occupied areas of the Kharkov region. The heirs of Bandera and Nazi punishers kill people, torture them, throw them in prison, settle scores, crack down on, torment civilians. More than seven and a half million people lived in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions before the outbreak of hostilities. Many of them were forced to become refugees, to leave their homes. And those who remained - about five million people - today are subjected to constant artillery and rocket fire from neo-Nazi militants. They hit hospitals and schools, arrange terrorist attacks against civilians. We cannot, we have no moral right to hand over people close to us to be torn to pieces by executioners, we cannot but respond to their sincere desire to determine their own fate. The parliaments of the people's republics of Donbass, as well as the military-civilian administrations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, decided to hold referendums on the future of these territories and turned to us, Russia, with a request to support such a step. Let me emphasize that we will do everything to ensure safe conditions for holding referendums, so that people can express their will. And we will support the decision about their future, which will be made by the majority of residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.Today, our Armed Forces, as I have already said, are operating on the line of contact, which exceeds a thousand kilometers, they are confronting not only neo-Nazi formations, but in fact the entire military machine of the collective West.In this situation, I consider it necessary to make the following decision - it is fully adequate to the threats we face - namely: to protect our Motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to conduct partial mobilization in the Russian Federation.I repeat, we are talking specifically about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all those who served in the Armed Forces, have certain military specialties and relevant experience .Those called up for military service will undergo additional military training without fail, taking into account the experience of a special military operation, before being sent to the units.The decree on partial mobilization has been signed.In accordance with the law, the chambers of the Federal Assembly - the Federation Council and the State Duma - will be officially informed about this today by letters.Mobilization activities will begin today, from 21 September. I instruct the heads of regions to provide all necessary assistance to the work of military commissariats.I would like to emphasize that Russian citizens called up for military service by mobilization will receive the status, payments and all social guarantees of military personnel serving under a contract.I will add that the Decree on partial mobilization also provides for additional measures to fulfill the state defense order. The heads of defense industry enterprises are directly responsible for solving the tasks of increasing the production of weapons and military equipment, and deploying additional production capacities. In turn, all issues of material, resource and financial support for defense enterprises must be resolved by the Government immediately.In its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed every line. We constantly hear threats against our country, our people. Some irresponsible politicians in the West not only talk about plans to organize the supply of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine - systems that will allow strikes against the Crimea and other regions of Russia.Such terrorist strikes, including with the use of Western weapons, are already being carried out on the border settlements of the Belgorod and Kursk regions. In real time, using modern systems, aircraft, ships, satellites, strategic drones, NATO carries out reconnaissance throughout southern Russia.In Washington, London, Brussels they are directly pushing Kyiv to transfer military operations to our territory. No longer hiding, they say that Russia should be defeated by all means on the battlefield, followed by the deprivation of political, economic, cultural, in general, any sovereignty, with the complete plunder of our country.Nuclear blackmail was also launched. We are talking not only about the shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is encouraged by the West, which threatens a nuclear catastrophe, but also about the statements of some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO states about the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia - nuclear weapons.
To those who allow themselves to make such statements about Russia, I would like to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for some components more modern than those of the NATO countries. And if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people.
It's not a bluff.The citizens of Russia can be sure that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be ensured - I emphasize this again - with all the means at our disposal. And those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind rose can also turn in their direction.It is in our historical tradition, in the destiny of our people, to stop those who strive for world domination, who threaten with the dismemberment and enslavement of our Motherland, our Fatherland. We will do it now - and it will be so. I believe in your support.
Does China hold big influence globally today?
Yes, indeed. It’s arguable whether Chinese influence can match US influence but there’s no question that China wields considerable global power.
China is the economic engine and manufacturing hub of the world economy. China is the crucial link in nearly all nations’ supply chains.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is making many, many friends around the world. Over 149 countries have signed up to BRI — that 3/4 of the world’s nations!
China is forging powerful economic and security alliances in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation).
China is pursuing diplomacy throughout the Middle East rather than bombing the shit out of the region. Recently, she signed a 25-year cooperation deal with Iran.
China is negotiating with the Taliban instead of invading and occupying Afghanistan for 20 years.
BRICS is creating an alternative basket of currencies to rival the US Dollar.
China is a true and real superpower.
When and how will China’s zero COVID policy fail?
I’m not buying this narrative that Zero-COVID is a mistake.
One reason for this is that if Zero-COVID will lead to China’s collapse, as many have asserted, then it is curious as to why the west wouldn’t just let it happen.
Some new information has come to light recently, which somehow flew under everybody’s radar. Macau’s Health Code (which is an online system encompassing vaccination records, nucleic acid test results and such information, to help curb the pandemic) is recently shown to have been attacked over three million times in May alone, by hackers from Europe and North America.
And yet, this is nothing compared to the way the Beijing Health Code was attacked by hackers based outside of China, especially during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Why would they actively sabotage Zero-COVID, if they are certain the policy is actually harming China more than any trade war or sanction? COVID is essentially a bad case of flu, right? So why not just let China destroy itself by overreacting to it?
Why interfere? Why would they actively do something to prevent China’s collapse?
Unless, of course, [1] COVID isn’t just some freaky flu, and [2] Zero-COVID really isn’t leading to China’s collapse any time soon?
China-Eurasia Expo kicks off in Xinjiang, rebukes US-led crackdown
Over 3,600 companies from 32 countries and regions attended the 7th China-Eurasia Expo, which was launched on Monday in Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as the region strives to build itself into a bridgehead of Belt and Road cooperation despite the US' economic suffocation of this strategically important region.
Underscoring China's commitment to make Xinjiang a core hub for the building of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the opening of the expo, expressing hope that all parties can take this opportunity to tap the potential of cooperation and drive toward shared prosperity.
Xi said that China is willing to work with other countries to promote the Silk Road spirit that incorporates peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning as well as shared benefits, with the China-Eurasia Expo being a platform.
In July, during an inspection trip to the autonomous region, Xi pointed out that as countries jointly push forward the BRI, Xinjiang is no longer a remote inland area but forefront of the opening-up.
The expo, which will last from Monday through Thursday, was held even though the US and some Western countries, together with anti-China forces, have smeared China's governance in Xinjiang and made groundless accusations of "genocide" or "forced labor."
On June 21, the US' so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) took effect, which bans products made in China's Xinjiang, smearing the Chinese government over "oppression" of the Uygurs and other minority populations in its Xinjiang region.
The expo, held both online and offline due to a local epidemic flare-up, has attracted 3,600 enterprises to attend its online events, where nearly 17,000 exhibits of these enterprises from 32 countries and regions are to be shown.
It is expected that over 300 deals worth several hundred billion yuan will be inked during the expo, according to Urumqi Evening News on Sunday.
It comes on the heels of the recently concluded SCO summit, where countries agreed to foster energy sector cooperation, regional connectivity, financial cooperation featuring cross border settlement in local currencies and supply chain elasticity.
Analysts and exhibitors at the expo said the opening of the event and the efforts by Xinjiang to seek deeper cooperation with neighboring markets serve as a strong rebuke to the US' economic suffocation of the region.
Rebuke to the US... Read more...
After our first visit to Japan here are our “only in Japan” moments.
After checking into our hotel, next morning I get a letter taped to the door. It read
x
2. My wife and I casually stroll past a tea tasting event. We showed the slightest of interest at one stall. There was a group of 4 already seated and only 1 empty chair. So we thought never mind, lets keep walking. The host tells us to wait 1 second. He runs, and I mean SPRINTS, about 20 paces to a truck. Grabs an extra chair and runs back to us. I thought this guy will do anything for a sale! So we sit down and try the teas, tastes good, lets buy some. He’s not selling! Turns out it was all part of some free educational event.
3. Maid cafes. Its a cafe, the waitresses dress like french maids. They act super cute like anime characters. Oftentimes sickeningly over the top, like calling me “master” and drawing cute animals on my food. But what surprised me were the people who didn’t work there.
It was not a busy period when we went. Besides us there was another table of tourists. There was a big guy with a deep voice dressed in FULL DRAG. He kept getting up every 10 mins and came back in a different outfit. There was a grumpy old man and a normal looking Japanese guy.
So before the dancing starts, they try to sell you some glow sticks and firecrackers for audience participation. They dim the lights. Disco ball lights up. Normal guy opens his bag and takes out his OWN glow sticks and bunny ears. Grumpy man’s face lights up like a child. Guy in drag gets up and starts stretching. The music starts, a candypop / eurobeat thing. The maids dancing is not bad but all the weirdos join in! They know all the moves, are more enthusiastic than the maids and they look ridiculous. One of them was trying to get us to join in. Only in Japan.
4. No taking calls on trains. If someone forgot to turn on silent and gets a call they will quickly reject the call. One time a guy sprinted to the place between carriages to take an important call.
5. We took a cable car up a mountain. On the way down a friend in our party left her sunglasses up there. A worker must have seen it and radioed the guys at the bottom. When we got out of the cable car, a worker informed us to wait while someone brings it down on the next cable car. Bravo.
6. We go to check into another hotel and behind the check in counter was this.
x
7. Construction zones. One place had a decibel meter to make sure the construction did not make too much noise (perhaps only during certain hours). If the construction blocked a sidewalk and you need to walk around, someone will be there to apologise for the inconvenience.
8. Airport security. You know how you can’t bring a bottle of water through most airport checks. Some Japanese airports have a machine that scans your bottle for flammable liquids. If it passes you can bring it. Just goes to show their attitude to not inconvenience you that they will invent a machine to do that. In Australia the attitude is more like “F*** that, we don’t care what’s in your bottle we’re confiscating it.” In China, they used to say “Are you sure its not a flammable liquid? Prove it, take a drink.”
9. Go to an arcade. Everyone has the reflexes of a ninja.
Japan is an amazing place where being polite and attention to detail are taken to the extreme. Thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Head East: Never Been Any Reason (Live)
What is the weirdest order that you have ever heard at a fast food restaurant?
This answer will concern a pizza place I worked at. A customer came in and ordered 2 slices of “garbage pizza”. I asked him if he meant our ‘Everything slice’ which has 3 meats-pepperoni, ground sausage, ground hamburger, and green peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, and extra cheese on top.
No.
He said “ I’ve gotten this before, just write it down, they’ll know…”. I’ve never heard of this and I’ve been working there for over a year, it’s the middle of lunch rush but Sure! Let me just throw a wrench into this smooth process!. I’m not sure what to write as the order, so I asked the cooks. They looked confused. The gentleman said that Joel made it for him. So, I went to the back and asked my manager, Joel, to come to the front. So up he comes, and upon seeing the customer and hearing the request he smiled hugely and said “I got this.”
He washes his hands & puts on an apron & gloves, jumps behind the line and starts layering ingredients on these slices. Now, our slices were large but this was a challenge! The finished slices contained: pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, ham, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, green & black olives, spinach, fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes, broccoli, pineapple, banana peppers, jalapenos, ricotta, feta, and mozzarella cheeses, and for the final touch…a mix of iceberg & romaine lettuce!
In to the oven it went, and a few minutes later out it came, smoking slightly more than normal, but we had a very happy customer! (And I had a long line to take care of, but that’s a different story, children.)
-Sara
Why did the Western media stop to make documentaries about the incredible infrastructure of China?
Simply because it’s humiliating.
Check this out…
.
You can read some comments on China on Quora and reddit. Many Quorans and even more redditors seem to think China is a “stone age” country.
In fact, Alex Mann is really funny he made a post a mere 5 months ago thinking that China still used bi-planes and that the F5 was STATE of the ART and could blow anything Chinese out the sky.
There are loads of people like that.
You see if they show stuff about China? It will make people question hold on. If a STONE AGE SOCIETY like them can manage stuff like that? Why can’t we do things like that too?
It allows a direct comparison.
Chinese high speed rail for instance.
In the UK HS2? Gordon Brown in 2006 announced it, with his oops we forgot to add VAT to the cost. In that if we’re considered subhuman filth by the MASTER race westerners yet we can out do them on many things what does that make them?
Autograph – Turn Up The Radio
Why have Europeans lost their faith in the USA?
Because you just don’t make any sense as a country. You treat your citizens abysmally despite the fact you’re the wealthiest nation on earth. You prioritise the wealthy elites in the armaments industry ahead of the safety and right to life of your own children and adults. as well as people in other countries. You prioritise the bottom lines of the health insurance companies, big pharma and law firms ahead of the rights of your citizens to decent healthcare regardless of financial status. You prioritise owners of privatised educational establishments ahead of the need to properly educate your citizens and equip them with critical thinking, instead trying to ensure that they never gain the ability to think critically as that would endanger the brainwashing of the population. You prioritise the profits of private prison owners ahead of the rights of citizens to proper and fair justice.
You don’t allow your citizens real choice in how and by whom they should be governed – instead giving them just two options – invariably both supporting the status quo. Even within that choice of 2 leaders you will quite often make the one the people voted against POTUS. If anybody makes any suggestions around policies that would benefit the regular citizen ahead of the wealthy elite. you have brainwashed vast swathes of citizens to angrily denounce such notions as Marxist, communist, socialist with great disdain, demonstrating clearly that they have not the foggiest idea what any of those words even mean.
You are run by big business, by lobbying and by corruption. No country is exempt from this but you just bring to a totally different level. Almost 50% of voters deemed one of the most famously corrupt, cheating, lying, self-serving, delusional, mysogynistic, racist and morally bankrupt people on the planet to be an appropriate leader. First time round it was somewhat understandable that you might take a punt on someone hopefully representing a change from the status quo. After he had spent 4 years demonstrating that he represented everything that was worst about the status quo, but bringing it to new levels and represented nothing that was reasonably good about the status quo … after he had clearly demonstrated that his idea of “draining the swamp” was to become the biggest swamp rat of all – even more people and almost as big a proportion of voters decided that his behaviour, his essence was appropriate to lead the wealthiest nation on earth.
How can anyone expect us to take the US seriously? I mean we have to in the context of their wealth and their military might … but in terms of leadership, intelligence, morality, how can we possibly have any respect?
I’m referring entirely to the system here as opposed to the citizens. Even the citizens who somehow believe Trump, who somehow feel an archaic law for another time and other reasons to have the right to bear arms “trumps” the right for citizens, including innocent little children, to be safe and to live are only so warped in their thinking because of the brainwashing carried out on an ongoing basis by the status quo. Most Americans I’ve met have been equally as nice as people of other nationalities. Ok, we do struggle sometimes. particularly with those who have never travelled beyond the US, by their sheer ignorance about the rest of the world allied with their unshakeable belief that everything in the US is better than the rest of the world and that every other nation should be envious of them.
Apart from the incredibly corrupt and unrepresentative political system and the sickening brainwashing, I think that the main issue is the educational system. I mean you allow crazy people to teach creationism as fact to children in your schools. What hope is there really?
You have incredible entrepreneurial ability in your country. You have many positive things yet you typically allow your people a choice of being governed by two old, rich, white, “status quo” men, totally out of touch with the real world as experienced by citizens. You’re the richest nation on the planet yet you’re happy to have schoolchildren slaughtered because of your laws, happy to have people die because they can’t afford private healthcare or go bankrupt because insurers try to avoid paying out the cover for which they have paid. You’re happy to have widespread homelessness while your government ploughs billions into an army already multiple times more powerful than anyone else – guess who profits from that?
I feel almost as much sympathy for citizens of the US as I do for those of war-torn, drought-stricken African countries. Almost as much … but those poor folks would happily change their circumstances if they could – you folks just keep voting and accepting more of the same.
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What facts about the United States do foreigners not believe until they come to America?
I’m from Bangladesh and here are a few things that I find hard to explain to peeps back home.
– Fruits and vegetables are way more expensive than meat and poultry.
– That, generally speaking, the poor is more obese than the rich.
– That Americans in general are incredibly confused about the use of the apostrophe. Like seriously bad.
– A lot of couples adopt children, sometimes in spite of having their own, and treat them exactly like their own. (To me, this alone is a marker of a great people)
– By and large, people do not carry cash.
– That you address your boss (and some of your professors) by some abbreviated variation of their first name. And that applies to pretty much everyone, regardless of how much older they are than you.
– Parents can get arrested for physically punishing their children.
– Severe poverty, homelessness, etc., no matter how limited, actually exist. Even in America.
– A name as common and as easy to pronounce as mine is almost invariably incomprehensible to most Americans.
– America is literally HUGE. My home country is roughly the size of Florida, one of the fifty states.
– In spite of the society being openly hedonistic and liberal, the social norms and standards still have very strong conservative religious influences.
– People don’t really care about the FIFA World Cup even though USA qualifies.
– The importance of credit rating/ credit score.
– Return policy
– The history behind Thanksgiving
– Black Friday and the frenzy associated with it.
– Amazingly friendly, hospitable and helpful people. Yet, a very conveniently private lifestyle.
– That, American foreign policy is a very inaccurate reflector of public consensus.
– Grinding. The dance form.
– That you cannot purchase alcohol unless you are 21 but can purchase a gun if you are 18.
Kix – Don’t Close Your Eyes (Official Music Video)
What should I not do when I visit China?
It’s about the drugs!
He’s dead.
Peter Gardner : A New Zealand-born Australian.
If you are in China, for god sake, never do anything illegal related to drugs.
You can’t imagine how serious is the anti-drug moment in China. Narcotics Control in China is a very serious and comprehensive process.
x
June, 2020.
There is virtually 100% chance of being caught for drug related offences.
You might know the penalty already: capital punishment is a legal penalty in China.
x
Aug, 2020.
Frankly, drug abuse has been responsible for numerous social issues in China.
If you understand Chinese history, you will realize how drugs created trouble for China. Opium Wars (鸦片战争) are just an example.
Hence, the government is extremely serious about eradicating the drug offences.
We expect everyone to cooperate with law enforcement.
China is a beautiful country. You are welcome to visit China. Eat, drink, and have fun. Just keep in mind that you have to respect the law.
AC/DC – Jailbreak (Live at Donington, 8/17/91)
How do doctors handle patients who think they’re not sick when they really are?
I was that patient.
I was completing an internship as part of post-graduate studies. I had two weeks left of my placement, and I was eager to get it finished, as I also had a small part-time business and a family.
Over the course of several years, I had developed what I described as a “cranky digestion,” requiring me to manage my diet carefully to avoid episodes of pain, nausea and diarrhea. This became a regular part of my life, and I had almost normalized it.
But while supervising a client with autism at his volunteer placement in a hospital laundry one day during my internship, I became aware of sudden, acute nausea, not quite like any nausea I had ever experienced before. I was also experiencing upper right abdominal pain, but the worst thing was this overwhelming, disorienting nausea. I found myself moaning and rocking, unable to stay still. Telling my client I would find someone to stay with him while I sought help for myself, I collapsed. Unable to stand, I began to crawl toward the employee health clinic, which was fortunately located on the same level of the hospital.
The employee health nurse who greeted me sent me immediately to the nearby acute-care hospital’s emergency department. I was, by now, in terrible pain, and the strange nausea was even worse.
I was quickly given IV morphine and dimenhydrinate, which got the pain and nausea to manageable levels.
Diagnostics indicated a badly diseased gallbladder and a large gallstone stuck in the common bile duct. I was admitted to hospital, where the plan was to break up the big gallstone and then, once my condition improved, remove the gallbladder.
My liver values were described to me as “terrible,” and I continued to feel awful for several days. But once the big gallstone was out of the common bile duct, I felt a fair bit better. I still wasn’t eating, but my pain and anti-nausea medications were able to be reduced, and I felt pretty much like myself.
I wanted to leave the hospital, finish my internship, and then get on the outpatient list to return to have my gallbladder removed. The residents and nurses kept telling me that was “not a good idea” and “it would be best to deal with the gallbladder right now.”
Well, sure. In a perfect world, that was true. But I wanted to finish my internship, graduate with my classmates, get back to work and take care of my family. If, as I had been told, my gallbladder had been diseased for years, surely it could wait a few more weeks or even months to be removed.
One day, the attending surgeon strode into my hospital room.
“I hear you want to go home,” he said, quite brusquely. “That’s a terrible idea. Why won’t you stay and deal with this now?”
“Well, I need to finish my program,” I said. “And then I can wait on the outpatient list for having my gallbladder removed, right?”
“Your gallbladder is in disgusting condition,” he said. “It should have come out years ago, and I’m planning to have a word with your family doctor about why you weren’t referred for your chronic pain and nausea. But the point today is that given the number and size of gallstones you have, you have a 100 percent chance of having another attack like the one that brought you in here, and a 25 percent chance that any attack will be fatal quite quickly. Your liver was failing when you came in through emergency. If you had waited until the next day to come in, I feel sure your family would have been planning your funeral.”
Right.
I agreed to stay as an inpatient and have my gallbladder out. The surgeon seemed a little surprised by my quick acquiescence.
But here’s the thing: none of the other medical personnel had explained the issue to me. I wasn’t trying to be difficult or heroic. I just didn’t know how sick I had been. I really didn’t understand the risk.
When the two residents and my regular nurses heard what the surgeon had said to me, they were scandalized. They assured me that he was an excellent surgeon, but had a terrible bedside manner.
As far as I was concerned, his bedside manner was just fine. I didn’t need platitudes, I needed facts. He told me what I needed to know to make the best decision for my health. I ended up spending nine days in the hospital. By a special arrangement, I was able to graduate with my class and finish my internship after the fact.
The surgeon came in to see me again just before surgery and again, briefly, the day I was discharged. I found he was consistently informative and blunt. No, he wasn’t warm and fuzzy, but I didn’t need a prom date, I needed a surgeon who would be honest with me. I am still grateful for his “terrible bedside manner.”
Queensrÿche – Jet City Woman (Official Music Video)
What has NATO got to do with China?
Absolutely nothing. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as the name suggests, is only responsible for North Atlantic defence. Asia, and in particular China, does not fall into NATO’s bailiwick. China has never threatened EU countries, only traded with them.
However, USA has coerced NATO into inserting itself into Asian matters. This is very dangerous. It opens the possibility for military conflict between China and NATO. In the worst case scenario, this conflict could lead to nuclear world war.
Why do so many US people not understand how advanced China has become?
I have been to China many times. I understand what is happening in China. It is hard not to be impressed after landing at one of the world’s largest airports and taking the Maglev to Longyang Station at 430 km/hr. This is the fastest commercial ground transportation system on the planet.
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Shanghai has huge and growing subway system. In the downtown area of Puxi, there are multiple levels of highways .
I went to Semicon China last year and saw a vending machine that only accepted WePay, no cash or credit cards. This simply follows the trend to allow everyone to accept payments phone to phone. Unlike with Square, there is no additional hardware required to use WePay, since your smartphone already has the ability to scan QR codes.
The high speed rail system connects the country in a way that makes the ICE, TGV or Shinkansen look small by comparison.
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When I first went to China in the 1990s, little of this existed. There were no multi-level highways in Shanghai. There was no Maglev, nor Pudong airport. The subway was partially built but the high speed rail network was still a dream.
There may be people who believe that China is a poor country living in the last century without the benefits of modern technology. All I can say is that they should visit China and see the reality with their own eyes.
Cheech and Chong greatest hits!
If China is collapsing, how come it is a threat?
That question can be easily answered when you take on the perspective of an American billionaire. How does an American become a billionaire and maintain her/his enormous wealth? By investing in enterprises that hold monopolies in their respective markets and supporting government policies that incentivize and subsidize such practices and by lobbying legislators, the President, governors, and judges to enact, enforce and safeguard those policies. All of these activities are perfectly legal in the United States. They are even enshrined as the pinnacles of plutocratic capitalism.
China, on the other hand, is a socialist country and its economic policies can only be best described as state capitalism. Because the Chinese Communist Party was founded on the principles of Marxism, it does not support monopolizing and profiteering from patents. As the British historian Adrian Johns succinctly put it: “[Patents] projected an artificial idol of the single inventor, radically denigrated the role of the intellectual commons, and blocked a path to this commons for other citizens — citizens who were all, on this account, potential inventors too. […] Patentees were the equivalent of squatters on public land — or better, of uncouth market traders who planted their barrows in the middle of the highway and barred the way of the people.”
China also criminalizes the practice of “influencing” public officials as bribery or grafting. President Xi Jinping was notorious for enforcing party disciplines with his signature anti-corruption campaign that resulted in the dismissal of several prominent incumbent as well as retired party members, including those within the Politburo Standing Commitee. His nationalistic policies have time and again antagonized many American corporations hoping to expand their market shares in China. President Xi’s growing popularity with his foreign policies advocating free trade and globalization is what irks American billionaires the most.
Imagine you are one of those American billionaires. Why do you love America so much? Because you have an obscene amount of money, you can buy off any political candidates you want through the use of PAC contributions. Because both the Democrats and the Republicans pander to your interests, you can readily “influence” them to provide you with tax cuts and subsidies for any investments that you may own. Because you can profit the most from monopolies and protectionism, you definitely do not want free trade. Because you want your bank investments to stay bullish, you are naturally opposed to banking regulations. Because the Chinese are promoting the Belt and Road Initiative with their own state-sponsored financing, your foreign bond investments are not going to be as lucrative as before. Moreover, the worst fear of all is your poorer fellow citizens are clamoring for socioeconomic reforms that lean toward a socialist system. That is the biggest threat to most American billionaires. The rest is just propaganda concocted to convince others to shun socialism.
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The story of Miller’s Pub in Chicago
Miller’s Pub in downtown Chicago is legendary, and I first visited in the 1990s.
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What I didn’t expect to find there were my favorite buffalo wings in America. I had eaten every famous buffalo wing in Buffalo, New York, from whence they first came. Although they were all spectacular, Miller’s (located more than 500 miles from Buffalo) was somehow superior!
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After discovering these chicken wings in 1999, I made an annual pilgrimage to Chicago just to eat them. And that was a 448-mile (721 km) drive from my house one way (nearly 900 miles round trip)! I brought a different friend each time I went up there, year after year after year. I think it was about 2008 when it all came to a crashing halt.
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A friend of mine had never had these wings, so off we went. I drove him 7.5 hours from Nashville to Chicago just to eat the wings at Miller’s Pub. That was the sole reason for the trip. They had been so magical, so complex, so perfect. Most importantly, they had been beautifully consistent over the years.
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Sitting at the table in rapt anticipation, the wings arrived from the kitchen. They looked different, far too red, and way too saucy. Miller’s had changed the recipe! Why? What we were served was akin to chicken wings tossed in ketchup. It was horrible!
And that was the end of my visits to Miller’s Pub in Chicago.
Remember The Name (Official Video) – Fort Minor
Classic Beef Stew
It’s hard to say what’s better, the aroma or the taste of this homemade beef stew. Our recipe is loaded with potatoes, meat and spices and is a savory dish your family will ask for again and again. It takes just four simple steps to make and only one bite for our beef stew to transport you to a cozy pub in the British Isles. If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, our beef stew with potatoes makes for a wonderful lunch. Should you only have one serving left, there’s no shame in hiding it in the back of the fridge. This way, only you know where to find it. We would do the same!
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Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or shortening
1 lb boneless beef chuck, tip or round roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large unpeeled potato, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
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Triumph – Lay It On The Line (Official Video)
Why do many Chinese people become much more patriotic and defensive about China after living in the West?
I am ethnic Chinese, but I was born and grew up in Taiwan, and have never lived in China.
I want to give you a blatant example of what can make a Chinese person more patriotic after being in closer contact with the western society.
New York Times, the beacon of freedom and salvation to the world, and staunch champion of all under-privileged and exploited Americans, the poor, the Blacks, the Latino, the Muslim, the native Americans, against institutional and cultural repression, is more than happy to join the oppressor when it comes to the Chinese.
Take a look at this reader’s comment (July 24, 2020):
After several paragraphs of red-neck style China bashing, the last paragraph says:
“Can someone cite for me one world-changing innovation China has contributed in the last century? Or, for that matter, in the last five hundred years?”
in a thinly veiled racist attack, directed clearly not at a political entity, but at a culture, an ethnic group, a people.
I am not interested in disputing this nonsensical comment, but more alarmed by the following:
This comment was singled out from 228 other comments by the New York Times editor as “Times Pick”, clearly agreeing with and even cheering on the commenter for his blatant racist-minded ranting. I can almost see the smirk on the editor’s face for having someone else speak his/her mind without having to own it.
If you replace “China” in that paragraph with “Africa”, “Muslim world”, or “Mexico”, you can be sure the ultra liberal New York Times editor will not only disallow its posting (not to mention “Times Pick”!!), but will be all up in arms castigating this commenter for being the racist he is.
But hey, Chinese are fair game in America, lampooned and mocked and verbally abused by news media, entertainers, politicians, etc., who would otherwise be the most politically correct, the staunchest of champions for all underprivileged groups (except the Chinese of course), who would not in their wildest dreams imagine belittling Black culture or Hispanic culture!
So do you blame these Chinese expatriates for becoming more patriotic? They enjoy a position, ethnically and culturally, at the bottom of the ladder, fair game for everyone a few rungs up with impunity.
By the way, this is not only in America. It is pretty much in all the “enlightened” and “liberal” western societies. And as I mentioned, the behavior is not limited to right wing xenophobes, but to liberal beacons like New York Times or Der Spiegel.
Actually, the more liberal the media or person, the worse it gets. At least an American mountain man in the Appalachia may hate Blacks and Asians equally, without such discrimination.
Shame on you, New York Times!
The Black Crowes – Remedy
My (white American) mother says that when she was a child there was a loaf of white bread and butter on the table every night regardless of what else was for dinner. Was this common in the 1950s and does anyone still do this?
It certainly was common in my family in the 1950s, with one exception. No butter.
We had sticks of margarine which had a uniquely grainy texture when you tasted it.
That wasn’t bad as long as you had plenty of grape jelly to spread on your white Wonder bread. We knew this bread was extremely healthy and good for you—after all, it “builds strong bodies 12 ways.”
And at my grandmother’s house there was definitely bread and “butter” on the table for anyone to eat at any time. However one of my uncles did not use either butter or margarine.
He spread white lard directly on his white bread. No time to toast it. But he was also extremely healthy, or so it seemed. In his spare time he worked as a truck mechanic, but his regular job was Farmer. Picking up bales of hay and tossing them into the back of a pickup truck, lifting farm machinery, and working 12 or 14 hours a day must have burned a lot of calories.
This man was the most superbly conditioned human being I’ve ever seen.
He washed his white bread and lard down with plenty of black coffee. And let us just say that he drank liquor too—or that was the rumor. At age 10 or 11 the adults did not discuss such matters with me.
In later years when real animal lard got rare—he would spread Crisco on his bread.
He was very healthy as I said—although he also was a heavy cigarette smoker, as was nearly every man of the WWII generation.
He was outstandingly healthy right up to the day when he failed to get up from his chair on the front porch of his house one hot Sunday afternoon, and was found dead by his wife returning from church.
He had died of a massive coronary. He was, I think, about 60. Most of my uncles lived well into their 60s.
That white bread had several other important uses.
Meals at my grandmother’s house always involved meat, potatoes, and some kind of gravy. This gravy was so wonderful that we sopped-up and ate every particle of it on our plates. Using that same white bread.
A little later, when my cousins and I were on into our late teens and 20s, we would eat white bread in the early evening before partying.
This was well known to facilitate your ability to drink more. You laid down a base of bread in your stomach which then soaked up alcohol like a sponge—which is essentially what Wonder bread was.
Edible sponge.
Personally, I never noticed that this drinking strategy had much of a salubrious effect, but many of us swore by it.
And if you’re in a hurry to get to work, the ability to grab bread and slather something viscous on it on your way out the door—well it was a lifesaver.
In addition to grape jelly—homemade using mason jars and pectin and cans of frozen Welch juice concentrate—some of my uncles put molasses on their bread.
Sorghum molasses right out of a bottle. It had the consistency of honey but was less sweet and had a slightly sour/bitter “kick” that you had to get acclimated to.
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Do people still use white bread and butter this way today?
No one I know does. We eat egg white-only omelets with grilled asparagus and follow it up with a few slices of fresh fruit. Blood orange is a favorite of mine. I use butter in cooking but I no longer spread it—or anything else—on bread. In truth I very rarely eat bread.
Of all these things—the only one I really miss is my grandmother’s gravy. It must have had some secret ingredient because I’ve never been able to replicate it.
Or maybe it was the prospect of impending nuclear war that made all that food taste so good.
We were quite sure that the war was coming—soon!
No one was more surprised than me when it hadn’t happened by 1970 or at the very latest, 1980.
Why is vanilla the “default” or “plain” ice cream flavor?
It’s unfortunate that vanilla — a very exotic flavor indeed — has come to be synonymous with plain, neutral. The low-risk default option least likely to offend anyone.
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But because its flavor is so agreeable, pleasing to so many, it’s the go-to choice when one’s aim is to pick a flavor that won’t meet with any serious resistance.
Other flavors (you name it, any kind of ice cream flavor you can think of, strawberry, chocolate, caramel, nut flavors, fruit flavors, etc.) will have strong defenders and advocates, an equal number on each side who like it, or strongly dislike it. You can’t please everybody.
Except, sometimes you can. Vanilla stands alone in being one flavor that rarely stirs up any disagreement. If you’re sent to the store to get ice cream for a party of 20 people, vanilla is the safe bet, the default choice to arouse the least displeasure. Not many people will say that they love vanilla. But very few people hate it. What’s not to like?
What makes vanilla special?
Vanilla is an orchid. The aroma and flavor is so complex, so mysterious, and so desirable, it’s become the most famous flavor in the world. The ubiquity of vanilla makes it easy to take for granted, or view as common.
I would personally like to see vanilla get more respect, more recognition for how unique and genuinely exotic it is. Every bit as exotic as the cocoa plant, perhaps more so.
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Here’s a segment describing a little about this unique plant.
It comes from the only orchid that bears edible fruit among thousands of orchid species, thriving only in tropical climates within 20 latitudinal degrees of the equator.It’s earned a reputation for being the most labor-intensive agricultural crop in the world.What’s more, it is estimated that between 250 and 500 distinct organic compounds make up vanilla’s beloved flavor and fragrance profile.Whoever uses the term vanilla as a euphemism for ordinary is seriously misinformed.That phraseology drives “Spice Boss” Tom Erd bonkers.“Vanilla is a complex set of flavors. To say something is vanilla that’s plain just sticks in my craw,” he said ….… If anyone knows vanilla, it’s Tom Erd. He compares the complexity and nuances of high-quality pure vanilla to those in wine or coffee.His favorite? Madagascar. “I love the Madagascar flavor and aroma by far,” he said.Describing the different vanillas merely using words can be difficult, according to Erd. The Mexican and Madagascar are similar, with the Mexican being a little spicier. Most people couldn’t pick up the difference in finished foods, he said.The Tahitian is “way different,” he added, “more fruity. It reminds me of black cherries.”[1]
The word vanilla has even come to be a shorthand label for ho-hum dull people, personalities, tastes, or habits — including sexual tastes —- that are square, plain, and boring. This is really unfortunate, emblematic of how we modern people often take our unprecedented abundance of exotic things for granted.
Next time you hear the word used that way, remind them that the vanilla plant is an exotic orchid! It’s only because we live in a very fortunate time of advanced plant cultivation, spice trade, and increasing prosperity, that we are privileged to have such an exotic flavor available to us any time we want. This familiarity breeds, if not contempt, a casually dismissive disregard for how common and routine this once-rare flavor is.
The kind of exotic spices and flavors that we routinely enjoy today (including the cocoa plant) were once reserved for royalty and the elite aristocracy, who funded the efforts of explorers, merchants, and speculators, pioneering trade routes into distant corners of the world.
If you get a chance to have really good vanilla, scooped right from the bean, and used in recipes, you’ll know what I mean.
Can someone born into wealth ever understand what it’s like to be poor?
I grew up in great comfort. I never knew what it was like to be cold because heat is too expensive, or what it is like to go hungry. If I needed to eat, I opened the pantry or the refrigerator. If anything, food spoilage was a bigger issue, because we had so much. I always had Ralph Lauren and expensive clothing. I couldn’t imagine shopping at Wal-Mart for clothing. It would be like going to a thrift store. Not that I was above it. It just wasn’t on the radar screen. It wasn’t part of my world.
Then I turned 17.
“You need to get a job!” my father commanded.
“Why can’t you just give me a little bit of money each week?” I said.
“You need to learn the value of a dollar,” he said. “Don’t be goddamn lazy.” He had a way with words.
So I did. I needed money to buy gas when I went out with my friends. And I needed spending cash. I got a job at a family restaurant, a corporate-owned business. It proved to be life-changing.
I met men and women who were older than me, 25+, who had limited education. Most had high school or almost-finished high school levels of education. Their lives were really hard. They were tired. A few lived in motels, where you pay by the day. One of the waitresses came to work, late. Her eyes were filled with tears.
“My car’s transmission went. $1,200. I don’t know what I am going to do,” she said.
She had a friend give her a ride to work. It might as well have been a million dollars, because she didn’t have it. I don’t recall her having it fixed. I think she ended up getting rides from people.
There was an older man named Russell. He was hunched over. Maybe he had ankylosing spondylitis. I don’t know. He had been a teacher for a few years. Now he worked as a salad bar stocker. He cut coupons. He did everything he could to save money. But he was fucked.
I saw how busy the restaurant was. The regional manager always dressed so nice, and had a BMW 700 series. On busy days, the restaurant was killing it. All of the workers were paid minimum wage, except for the managers, who were salary and did a little better. They were always working.
I got to see what it was like to be working class. It was hell. And no, these people weren’t going to go “learn computers,” as President Clinton and Hillary Clinton liked to glibly state. Not everyone is cut out for computers. Russell could barely check himself in and out using the buttons on the computer terminal.
I saw the horrors of what capitalism is all about. And it lit a fire in me that has only grown stronger through time. Can the rich know what it is like for the poor?
Yes, we can. And we should.
Message…
You only got one shot. One shot.
Opportunity only comes once in a lifetime…
Lose Yourself by Eminem | Eminem
What is the most surprising/disturbing/mind-blowing family secret you’ve ever found out?
This isn’t anything lewd, but my family still has a house in China.
A mansion.
And it’s just sitting there, in a little-known rural village, doing nothing.
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A house in outer Fuzhou (this is not the house I’m talking about; I’m showing this image from the internet to give you a rough idea of what our house looks like)
My father’s side of the family was originally from the rural outskirts of Fuzhou. They started coming to America as early as WWII, starting with my grand uncle who fought in the US military, and was able to bring other members of the family over — including my grandparents, who in turn brought dad over, who in turn brought mom (who came from urban Fuzhou) over, who then gave birth to me. As more and more members of my extended family immigrated, the village where they grew up shrank; it still exists, but it’s a shadow of what it once was, and half of its houses are abandoned and awaiting demolition.
But despite being in the US for decades, my dad’s side of the family, especially my grandparents, never 100% abandoned the village from which they came. They would visit the village every time they returned to China; moreover, they would invest in it from time to time, all in the name of “revisiting our roots” and giving back to the community. Their money went to a renovated ancestral hall, a basketball court (both public)…and a mansion, with three floors, a balcony, a fancy garage and security gate, just for us.
No one lives in the mansion, though. Not even our family; when we return to Fuzhou, we live in the city center with my mom’s side of the family. Our mansion, that we paid money to build and maintain, only gets a visit from us when we pay a visit to the ancestral village. We unlock the door, explore the house from bottom to top, make sure all the furniture is in place, re-lock the door, then leave. Here in America, my grandparents and parents are rentiers who make money from tenants. But we don’t bother making money from the mansion in China that belongs to us, that we don’t make any use of.
I used to think that the mansion was just a vanity project, something my grandparents wanted to build either because they thought it would look good, or because they wanted a vacation home…except they never actually lived there when they were on vacation. Or because they wanted a retirement home…except they’ve been retired for years and they haven’t moved.
Turns out the mansion was built for some other reason, and it’s not one that I like to think about.
My grandparents have always been low-key worried about an eventual military conflict between the US and China.
They’re American citizens, just like everyone in my family who lives in the US; the oldest in our family have been legally Americans for nearly half a century now; we have established ourselves here, some of us were born here, so we’re not supposed to be going anywhere (despite building a house in China, my grandparents seem to get that, as they’ve bought their graves in Pennsylvania…go figure).
But my grandparents, from day one, premised this assumption on our country of residence being at peace with our country of origin. Miraculously we managed to have that for quite a while, to the extent that we were ready to take it for granted, but the thought of the “unthinkable” happening never truly left the minds of our family. Somewhere inside, even during the “best” of days, my elders sensed that there was never a zero chance of total war, and as long as that was the case, a contingency plan was in order. They were convinced that if things do get to that point, it wouldn’t matter how long any of us have been in this country or have been its citizens — we wouldn’t be able to carry on our lives as usual, to put it diplomatically.
Which is where the mansion comes in. For whatever it’s worth, according to those who wanted it, the mansion is designed to function as a potential place of refuge for our family in case the United States goes berserk during wartime and targets ethnically Chinese people. China would therefore be the only place on Earth where we could blend with the crowd and not get beat. We’ll move into the mansion, and because it’s our property we will be able to live there for as long as we have to.
One reason I find the mansion to be silly is that I highly doubt we would be able to get out of America in the first place if the government or somebody else goes after us, and no one in our family is certain about the situation escalating to such a level, hence “contingency plan.” Besides, if the government is at war with China, how would we be able to travel to China anyway? Well, smartass, we would go to China via a third country! Or however many third countries it takes. The important thing is that we have a home outside of the US in case we can no longer call the US home.
I don’t think we’ll ever permanently reside in that mansion — I don’t want to think we’ll ever have to. Sometimes, I hear my family joke about moving into the mansion if war breaks out, so they don’t seem to take the idea that seriously either; they prefer believing, as I do, that China is no place for Chinese Americans. We shouldn’t have to live there unless we’re on vacation, or we’re too incompetent to live here.
But whenever I think about how my family put all that money into building a possible refuge from World War F****g Three, I’m not going to lie: I am spooked. Spooked that we could plan for something like this. More spooked when you consider the possibility of a conflict and realize they weren’t entirely paranoid. But also reminded of just how precious peace is.
What are the most overpriced cuts of meat that people often buy from their local butcher?
My local butcher has the foulest mouth and the strongest opinions of anyone I have ever met in a customer-facing role. I think it’s hilarious.
I once bought some skirt steak from him, because I wanted to try making carne asada. First he tried to tell me I wanted sirloin, because it’s better and it’s the same price.
And I told him no, I’m doing a recipe and it needs skirt steak. And he asked what I was making, and I said carne asada, and he grudgingly admitted that should be made with skirt, so he goes and gets some skirt.
And as he’s cutting it up and weighing it he was moaning.
“It is fucking overpriced, this stuff. Overpriced, you know what the problem is, don’t you? It’s those bloody chefs. They get hold of it and put it on *waves knife* fucking Masterchef or something, and then everyone wants it and the price goes up. That about do ya?
Right, good. And then the wholesalers put the price up. And then I have to rip my bleeding customers off, don’t I? Fucking eleven quid a kilo! Nice bit of sirloin would cost you that. Here you go.”
I pointed out, laughingly, that in that case he ought to be grateful idiots like me watch Masterchef, or he’d never sell any.
“Yeah, yeah, true, well! Not as bad as this bloody woman who come in the other day, wanting ox tail. You know about ox tail? Why would anyone want ox tail? It’s been shat on it’s whole life. Ten quid a kilo, because of the bloody chefs, full of bones, and it’s been shat on it’s whole life.
Then again, she said she wanted fillet for a stew, so she didn’t know what she was talking about anyway.”
And as hilariously foul-mouthed as he is, there’s no arguing with his logic. Ox tail is ridiculously overpriced.
Ox Tail
Is China moving into a recession over the next two years?
Nope, absolutely not.
China has the strongest economy in the world, even stronger than America’s, which is teetering on the edge. China’s economy is based on tangible things such as manufacturing and construction. America’s economy is based on stock market speculation and low-wage services.
And America carries a crushing $30 trillion national debt! Not to mention crumbling infrastructure.
Message…
It’s time. You all are so close now.
Graduation. Some people are (for certain) going home.
I hope that you are all having a nice late Summer. Enjoy some fine food, watch a good movie or two and spend some time with friends and family. Here’s today’s installment.
Are the large Muslim nations protesting against China’s treatment of the Uyghurs? If so, how?
Good Grief! Why are you citing sources like BBC and Uyghur Human Rights Project??? They’re both well-known China haters. You can’t believe anything they publish.
There is no major Muslim country that opposes China’s treatment of the Uyghurs. None. Nada. Zilch.
In fact, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), consisting of 57 member states and representing 1.8 billion people, have praised China’s actions in Xinjiang. You can’t get better endorsement than that!
Day in the Life of a Kitchen, A (ca. 1960s)
Oh my! So dated. It’s so strange…
Are Asians Smart?
I can only speak for myself, but honestly, I don’t think I’m very smart.
I mean, if I were really smart, I guess I’d be working at NASA or some such agency by now. Or cracking codes … for fun, ala Russell Crowe’s John Nash in A Beautiful Mind or Benedict Cumberbatch’s Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
And there are always a bazillion non-Asians out there who will constantly harp on how Asians are only good at taking exams in school and that Asian people are not creative at all and have very low critical thinking skills. They simply LOVE to pull that one out whenever someone even dares to mention that Asians are smart. The number of people who believe those canards are legion.
In my experience, both in real life and in Quora, Asians aren’t the ones who go around sharing their individual IQ scores with all and sundry like hormonal teenage boys showing off their genital measurements in the locker room.
I think most Asians put more focus on having a strong work ethic and a vast reservoir of grit and patience rather than on flaunting their intelligence/IQ score.
But those are just my observations.
After all, the meme below didn’t just spring out of nowhere.
x
What Americans Think
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Denis Rader was a serial killer
Denis Rader
But he lived a very normal life on the outside. He had a family, who he spent quality time with.
Secretly, he had all the makings of a killer, with one of the hallmark early signs: torturing animals as a kid.
His first murders happened in 1974, when he strangled an entire family of 4, one by one. He then took souvenires with him on the way out, which would be the signatures of his killing.
Over the coming years, he went on to murder 6 more people, most of whom were women, some elderly, strangling all of them.
Against the backdrop of this, he was a boy scout troop leader and living his normal life with his family, being an attentive husband, mowing his lawn.
And yet, continued leaving hints about his murders, and taunting police who couldn’t find him. But eventually, of course, they did catch him. (One of his letters eventually was traced to his address, his arrogance getting the best of him).
Without getting too graphic, but worth noting—at the crime scenes—homicide investigators sometimes found semen samples. All of his murders had been driven by a sexual fantasy to “bind, torture, kill”, which he acted on.
But strangely, they never found that the bodies of the women had been violated. The sex act had taken part separately.
Why?
Because Denis Rader said, he didn’t want to ”Cheat on his wife.”
Which is a strange purity test to give yourself while basking in such an inferno of morality.
Regardless of that, his wife and him are now divorced.
The judge even waived the usual 60-day waiting period. I guess he understood the wife’s sense of urgency.
Rader is now serving 10 consecutive life sentences. Though he probably deserves worse.
How To Make Fish in Parchment By Rachael
I love this “paper fish” in China. The spices just saturate the fish.
Tears for Fears – Shout (Live at Roskilde Festival 2019)
Blunt Warnings from Russia Foreign Minister and Federation Council: Nuclear War Coming
Ukraine’s sponsors have been given TWO tough ultimatums; One from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the other from Russian Council Member Dmitry Medvedev . . .
"The one-time success at the front [Last week] is only beautifully shown in the press. The death toll along the entire line of clashes has exceeded ten thousand {Ukrainians], the wounded fill all hospitals, there is a shortage of ambulances. The [Russian] Allied forces put the Nazis in one fight by the hundreds. And then the political situation deteriorated. There were rumors in Ukraine that it was Russia who "retreated" to make a camouflage maneuver before something grandiose.While the "patriots" were waiting for a respite, Russia hit the power facilities. Earlier, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny reported to Zelensky about the formation of a large naval group of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, including amphibious assault ships.The West fears that the failure of the grain scam is to blame. First, Putin pointed out at the WEF that Russia and poor countries were deceived in the grain deal. Then Erdogan admitted it. The UN Secretary General also had to admit this, although an attempt was made to wriggle out. In the USA, they said that everything was fine, but soon their experts still recognized the lack of proper effect from the increase in grain on the market.Ukraine and more of its sponsors, apparently, have been given a tough ultimatum: either grain goes to Africa, and Russia opens an international food market, or the Russian Navy again blocks Ukrainian ports, but this time with the landing of [Russian] troops with the destruction of the entire port infrastructure. In parallel, the entire Ukrainian infrastructure will "lie down". How this will approximately happen has already been shown. It could be said that it was a hint about the consequences if Russia's interests were ignored." -- Sergey Lavrov
While Foreign Minister Lavrov focused on the Grain Scam, where out of 87 Cargo vessels filled with Ukrainian grain, only TWO vessels went to “needy” countries — the rest went to Europe – below is a much more blunt warning from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
As you will read, Medvedev is openly warning NATO that if they continue pouring weapons into Ukraine to kill Russians, then the borders of NATO countries will “disappear” and the Russian Army will commence operations!
Here is Medvedev’s statement:
The Kiev camarilla gave birth to the project of "security guarantees", which in fact are a prologue to the Third World War. Of course, no one will give any "guarantees" to the Ukrainian Nazis. After all, this is almost the same as applying Article 5 of the North Atlantic Pact (Washington Treaty) to Ukraine. For NATO, it's the same, only side view. That's why it's scary.Our sworn friends – Western bosses of various calibres, to whom this hysterical appeal is addressed – must finally understand one simple thing. It directly concerns the hybrid war between NATO and Russia. If these idiots continue the unrestrained pumping of the Kiev regime with the most dangerous types of weapons, then sooner or later the military campaign will move to another level. Visible borders and potential predictability of the actions of the parties to the conflict will disappear from it. It will follow its own military scenario, involving new participants in it. It has always been so. (Emphasis added by HTRS) And then Western countries will not be able to sit in their clean houses and apartments, laughing at how they are carefully weakening Russia with someone else's hands. Everything will catch fire around them. Their people will grab grief in full. They will literally have the earth burning and concrete melting. We'll get a lot of it, too. It will be very, very bad for everyone. After all, it is said: "From these three plagues, from fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths, a third part of the people died" (Rev 9:18).But while the narrow-minded politicians and their dim-witted think tanks, thoughtfully twirling a glass of wine in their hands, talk about how they can deal with us without entering into a direct war. Dull idiots with a classical education. -- Dmitry Medvedev
HAL TURNER ANALYSIS AND EDITORIAL OPINION
Medvedev makes no secret of his NUCLEAR threat.
When he wrote “Everything will catch fire around them” and “They will literally have the earth burning and concrete melting.” he is clearly and unambiguously referring to exactly what takes place upon a NUCLEAR explosion.
We in the West are being warned, yet again, that the actions WE are undertaking, will result in US getting hit by Russian nuclear weapons!
How much more forthright can the Russians be?
They are telling us what will happen. They have warned us over, and over, and over again, since their Special Military Operations began in February, yet our Public Servants in government seem to laugh it all off as some sort of “posturing.”
In my assessment, it is not posturing – at all.
It seems to me the public servants of government here in the USA and over in Europe aren’t going to believe they are causing us all the possibility of nuclear annihilation, until an actual nuclear bomb flies through their window and blows their asses to Kingdom Come!
By continuing to supply ever more lethal weaponry to Ukraine, the public servants in government both here in the USA and over in Europe are going to get a lot of us killed. They should stop what they’re doing and let Ukraine fall.
Have you ever been approached by an undercover cop? Why?
Yeah, and I came this close — > < — to getting busted.
I was working graveyard at a convenience store. It wasn’t the shittiest job I’ve worked at, but it wasn’t far from the shittiest either.
In California, liquor sales stop at 2 am. There aren’t many customers after that so the graveyard guy had to stock the cold cases and sweep and mop the store.
I had just finished mopping, around 5 am, when a car pulled up in front of the store and two old guys climbed out.
They were both dressed like they were going fishing. One of them went to the cold case with pre-made sandwiches, the other walked to the other side of the store and grabbed a case of Olympia Beer. They brought their selections to the register.
When I saw the case of beer I said, “Come on now guys, it’s 5 am, I can’t sell you that beer.”
The taller of the two played dumb and asked, “Why the hell not?”
I explained that it was against state law.
The tall guy’s buddy said, “Oh come on, man. Who is going to know? We’re going fishing up in the Delta. There’s not going to be anywhere to buy beer where we’re going.”
“Yeah,” the tall one continued, “can’t you just help us out here?”
These guys reminded me of my dad. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of fishing trips with my dad. Those fishing trips always started at 5 am. And my dad always brought plenty of beer for him and his buddies.
I was just about to say OK and sell them the beer when the short guy again asked, “Who is going to know? Who even cares?”
“The ABC cares,” I replied, referring to the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control.
“Who the hell are the ABC?” he shot back.
“They’re a bunch of assholes that have nothing better to do than bust people for selling alcohol after hours,” I answered without hesitation.
Both guys erupted in howls of laughter. I was bewildered.
Finally, the tall one reached in his back pocket and pulled out his badge.
They were an undercover team from the ABC.
I was a little embarassed I had just called them assholes to their faces. But all I could think about was how incredibly close I was to selling them the beer.
We talked for a while. They congratulated me on being a good employee and following the law.
They had no idea how close they were to an arrest.
But I knew.
This — > < — close!
SIMPLE STEPS HOW TO COOK BRAZILIAN RIBEYE STEAK
Military expert: “Under Balakleya we missed a blow, but we need to get up, dust ourselves off and move on”
Military expert: “Under Balakleya we missed a blow, but we need to get up, dust ourselves off and move on”
Can the breakthrough of Ukrainian troops in the Izyum direction be called a failure? Where are these hyped regional volunteer battalions and how do they show themselves? And will the Russian economy cope with industry?
Valentin ALFIMOV
We talked about this on Radio KP with an expert of the Center for Military-Political Journalism, the author of the Telegram channel Colonelcassad Boris Rozhin.
Kyiv WILL PUSH FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF MONTHS
- Boris Alexandrovich, Ukrainian breakthrough in the Kharkiv region. Why did Ukraine suddenly go on the offensive so brazenly? Have you sharply accumulated strength or have nothing to lose and are running out of time?
- Preparations for this counter-offensive have been going on for quite a long time. Soldiers were trained by NATO countries, parts were re-equipped by NATO countries. It was generally developed and supervised at all stages by NATO countries. By the way, you are talking in vain only about the Kharkiv region.
- Wasn't the offensive near Kherson a diversionary maneuver?
- No, it's not a distraction attack. The enemy had a specific goal - to break through our defense line and reach the Dnieper. Only the attack on Kherson did not work out for them. They choked on blood, suffered very heavy losses. Even according to American underestimated data, the loss ratio was one to five in our favor. They also tried in Kharkov, but it didn't work there either. But under Balakleya it turned out. They broke through the front and brought in the accumulated reserves. And that is why ours had to regroup. Withdraw troops to the line of the Oskol River and now deal with the stabilization of the front.
Was this attack expected?
- To some extent. The West urged Ukraine on to do something. They need visible results from their deliveries, military aid, training. They got it and now they will try to continue further.
- How long will it last?
- The next couple of months - for sure.
- Why customize? To be in time before winter?
Europe is in a hurry because winter is coming. They want some kind of results. The Biden administration is in a hurry because there will be midterm elections in November, and local forecasts say they could lose control of Congress. Therefore, they urgently need some military-political successes. Therefore, Zelensky, regardless of any losses, costs, will try to drive forward.
We talked with the expert of the Center for Military-Political Journalism, the author of the Telegram channel Colonelcassad Boris Rozhin
FOREIGNERS MAKE THE WEATHER
- Ukrainians trained a whole corps over the summer - according to various figures, from 20 to 40 thousand people. Part was prepared in Poland, part in Germany. Did they go on the attack?
- There were brigades well known from Donbass - 92nd, 93rd, 25th. Naturally, they were replenished, including trained people, foreign mercenaries, and a reserve. But it is impossible to say that new brigades suddenly appeared from somewhere, which had never been there.
- That is, these 40,000 NATO-trained soldiers will appear somewhere else?
- In Ukraine, on the one hand, they are gaining a lot of cannon fodder for mobilization, on the other hand, they are trying to train some and make those units that can be used for offensive operation.
- The role of mercenaries is high or they do not make the weather?
- Definitely high. Against the backdrop of some kind of territorial defense, mercenaries can strengthen some areas. In addition to the fact that these are just soldiers with weapons, there are also specialists - drone operators, snipers, specialists in electronic warfare, cyber warfare. They can seriously strengthen in one direction or another. We saw this on the Balakleysko-Izyum sector of the front as well. It is important to understand that in addition to ordinary mercenaries, there are also active officers of various NATO countries who mimic mercenaries. This applies to the British SAS, Polish special forces, special forces from the Baltics.
THIS IS NOT A FAILURE
- Can the breakthrough of the Ukrainians to Balakleya and our subsequent regrouping with the withdrawal of troops be called a failure?
- The idea of the enemy was to go to Oskol with a swift blow from different sides and surround our entire Izyum grouping. Under these conditions, the command acted in the only possible and correct way - it began to pull troops from the Izyum ledge and withdraw them. Yes, with losses, but the main group was able to retreat. The main idea of the enemy, which was precisely in the environment, they could not realize.
- So this can be called a failure?
- This is something in the spirit of how it was in Syria - the loss of Palmyra. First we took it, then the militants recaptured it, then we took it again. In Syria, we also not only walked from victory to victory. This must be taken stoically, like a man. Yes, we missed a beat, got up, dusted ourselves off, moved on.
- And why did it happen? We don't have enough people, we don't have enough weapons?
We have a lot of weapons. Even the enemy talks about it all the time. From the people's point of view... Obviously, if you are fighting in the volunteer army mode, and the enemy is conducting a total mobilization, it is clear that he has superiority. And this makes it difficult to achieve the goals of the special operation. Therefore, there are constant discussions in society - “Is it necessary to carry out mobilization?”. At least limited, partial. To saturate the front with people.
VOLUNTEERS ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR MOBILIZATION
- The Kremlin said that there was no talk of mobilization. But the State Duma was proposed to allow fathers with many children to sign up for the mobilization reserve. Is this the start of a mobilization?
- Not necessary. Various measures are constantly taken. Here are at least the same BARS (special army reserve battalions - ed.), which are recruited in the regions. This is like a measure, like a replacement for mobilization.
- Where are they? Are they already involved? Did they show themselves?
- The same Krasny Lyman held one of these BARS, and the men showed themselves perfectly. When the enemy thought to take Liman with a swoop, they stood there and held their sector. This suggests that with proper equipment, with solid leadership, they can very well become (and have already become, I think) a good addition to regular troops. There are also detachments of volunteers who train on the territory of the Chechen Republic - in the same Gudermes, in a training camp. Volunteers arrive, they are equipped there, they conduct classes, and then they are sent to the special operation zone.
- It is clear that volunteers will not achieve the same pace as during mobilization.
WHAT'S NEXT
- Let's talk about the future? What to expect in the near future?
- The enemy, after success near Izyum and Balakleya, will try to force our army out of the eastern part of Kupyansk, will try to break through to the north of Kupyansk and will try to push in the direction of Krasny Liman, Svyatogorsk. Some attacks are possible on the Nikolaev, Zaporozhye or Donetsk directions. That is, they will try to make another breakthrough with operational goals. The task of our command is to identify this attempt and stop it in a timely manner. And as the front stabilizes, it is necessary to carry out work to replenish units, increase the size of the existing grouping.
- And our command will reveal this "one more attempt"?
- Yes, the enemy does not hide the desire to attack. So it is a very responsible task and intelligence. On the other side, they are also on the alert - constant misinformation, spreading rumors: "We will advance there, no, right there." I think we understand this.
- Will ours go on the attack? People don't understand why everything stopped.
- What is the official goal of the second stage of the special operation? Liberation of the territories of the DPR. The offensive is going on in the area of Soledar and Artemovsk. Now there will be fighting for Zaitsevo, in the industrial zone of Artemovsk, street fighting continues in Soledar. Gradually and slowly there is progress, and quickly they do not promise anything.
WE ARE NOT FIGHTING WITH NATSIKS
- The authorities of Zaporozhye are sounding the alarm - Ukraine is gathering a very large group under their belly. Do they still have enough strength?
- They pulled a lot to the Balakleya region. Now they can hastily transfer part of the forces along internal routes for reinforcement either to the Zaporozhye or Donetsk direction. Such a train of thought is quite conceivable.
- The head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Danilov, said that they will not calm down until Russia exists in its current form. Is it about the very “decolonization” that the West dreams of?
- This is the usual barking of puppets. It is important to understand that the people who unleashed the war in Ukraine have not changed their goals since the time of Obama. Their task is to eliminate Russia as a subject of international politics. In fact, back in 2014, we were equated with ISIS and the Ebola virus. And our enemies, of course, are not these Nazis who played in the cargo cult of the Third Reich, but those who sponsor them. They stood in Syria behind the backs of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, here - behind the backs of the Ukrainian Nazis.
"CALIBROV" ENOUGH
Will our economy survive? Is there a margin of safety?
- In the West, there was clearly a hope that it would collapse in February-March due to serious sanctions, people would take to the streets, this would lead to a military-political collapse in the spring. But we see now that the problem of the Central Bank now is not a dollar for two hundred, but how to raise the dollar at least to seventy, because they went too far with stabilization. Economically, yes, the country is doing quite well. It is clear that there will be a decline this year, and there will be next, but not so big. If we have relied on a long confrontation, naturally, the tasks, in addition to actions at the front, are to play our economic cards. And at the moment they are played quite successfully, in my opinion.
- Will the industry cope? "Caliber" riveted?
- We were told that the "Caliber" will end in March, but, as we know, they still fly successfully today. It is clear that everything is not so simple
- it takes time to collect them, stocks are spent. But the pace at defense plants has increased, they work in three shifts. There may be interruptions with imported components. But for most issues, these issues are solvable. Yes, there may be plugs where we screwed up our production. Now we have to deal with the creation of enterprises from scratch. But we can do nothing.
DON'T WAIT FOR CHINESE AT THE FRONT
- And our partners can help us with something? Belarusians, CSTO, China.
- Certain help is being provided. It's just that it is not advertised in order to avoid additional economic consequences. It is important to understand that they all consider their own economic interests. Much remains behind the scenes.
- Is it some kind of technical assistance, intelligence or something else?
- Technical assistance, assistance in some issues that are important for the actions of the Russian Federation. For example, Belarus does not hide the fact that it provided great assistance in the logistics or treatment of our military on its territory.
- Can we see some Chinese division "Kun Lun" near Kharkov?
- I do not think that the Chinese will directly participate in the special operation. They have their own war on the nose, they are preparing for other things.
What did your parents say to you as a kid that still affects you today?
My mom had me at 13 because she was raped by her dad and she lived in an area where abortion was greatly discouraged. Lived with her grandma and my grandma. She tried her best to raise me but she was just too young to do anything significant.
I remember with great remorse that she always worked 2 jobs to try and support me.
My mom was a saint, she treated me like the most precious thing of her life. I was very good academically compared to my peers , though I didn’t realize how much it made my mom happy that time. This was during my high school. I wanted to make my momma happy that’s all I cared for that time. She used to watch me study late nights till 2 in the morning though I had school on 9 am.
She told me “ Promise me that you will stay strong. You wake up every morning to fight the demons that left you so tired the night before, and that my love, is bravery “
Though I didn’t understand what was her thoughts that time, I told her not to worry about anything and go to sleep.
She was never abusive or strict towards me, she would often spoil me rotten, she loved me a lot and I loved her. My grandma died when I was pretty young and eventually we were on our own and it put a lot of stress on my mom. She was depressed and tired. Nothing had gone right in her life. She had no education or pension. She wasn’t able to find husband because her situation was really undesirable and she worked 6 days a week and just didn’t have time or energy to socialize. She didn’t have any friends and I was all she ever had but she never took it out on me.
Always she would find a way to make me happy. I remember one Christmas in particular she bought me a laptop and to do that she had to work overtime and skip meals half time. She was dangerously skinny that time.
After I graduated college and moved out, She killed herself. She said in her suicide note that she loved me more than anything and she would miss me but now I was a man of my own life
Tears rolled down my face. I was devastated.
She couldn’t live anymore. She didn’t have a reason to live anymore because she hated her life but she loved me.
Rest in peace, mom.
Every 3rd soldier in the Kharkiv offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a citizen of a NATO country
The offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (and NATO) in the Kharkiv region was planned by the US military command. About 200 units of heavy military equipment and up to 9,000 soldiers were involved in last week’s offensive.
Reportedly, forensic examination of the dead bodies from the Offensive reveal that one in three soldiers operating under the Ukrainian chevron was a citizen of a NATO member state.
These forces were 4-5 times superior to the units of the DPR, LPR and Russia that were defending their positions in the region.
The main goal of the Ukrainian offensive was a flank attack, encirclement and subsequent destruction of the Russian grouping in the area of Balakleya, Kupyansk and Izyum.
The Russian command predicted the offensive of large forces of Ukraine and NATO in this direction. It was aware that it would be extremely difficult to contain Ukraine’s offensive with the forces that Russia had there. It was also virtually impossible to move sufficient reinforcements in time without weakening other areas on other front lines. Having assessed the risks, the Russian military decided to leave the weakly fortified positions and withdraw troops to new lines and straighten the lines of communication.
Before the start of the Ukrainian offensive, civilians were evacuated from the threatened settlements, who agreed to move to the territory of the Russian Federation.
From September 6 to September 11, Russian units retreated in an organized manner under the cover of specially organized units. Using mobile defense tactics, the Russian military destroyed the plan of Kyiv and NATO to encircle the Russian group.
At the same time, obvious mistakes were made by the Russian military. The area in front of the forward positions was not mined. Units on the front lines de facto comprised no more than 30 percent of the enumerated military personnel. The soldiers were not properly provided with anti-tank weapons. There were also front-line reconnaissance failures. As a result, the artillery cover of the withdrawal was ineffective in the first days of the Ukrainian offensive.
Russian troops were withdrawn to new positions along the eastern bank of the Oskol River with minimal losses. Meanwhile, both sides confirm that Ukrainian and NATO units have suffered significant losses in manpower.
It is expected that, within days, the official assessment of the Russian Ministry of Defense will be publicly acknowledged that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has definitively escalated into a state of war between Russia and NATO, with unpredictable results for all parties to the conflict.
This assessment is important because the Ukrainian/NATO side is the first, so far at an unofficial level, to engage in NATO’s direct war against Russia, while Russia continues to operate with the term “special military operation”, continuing to use limited forces and means.
Given the new reality that this is, in fact, an actual war between NATO and Russia, military analysts in the Russian Army have suggested it will be expedient to limit and complicate the provision and supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the utmost. They have told their Russian bosses that all routes for the supply of weapons and material and technical means, bridges, railways and highways, places of concentration of troops and military equipment must be destroyed.
Key to the Russian military analysis is the assessment that the railway network of Ukraine must be completely de-electrified without the possibility of restoration.
It is widely understood within the Russian Ministry of Defense that no more offensive attempt by NATO forces should come as an unpleasant surprise to the Russian army. COVER INTEL reports that Mobile reserves of both ground forces and artillery, as well as aviation, must be created by Russia to instantly respond to emerging threats.
COVERT INTEL also reveals that the number of Russian troops should become consistent with the new threats that have emerged.
Steely Dan – Do it again (with lyrics) Restored video
Memory lane time.
Have people ever tampered with a meal and then served it to a rude customer?
When I was a teenager I waited tables at a pizza restaurant. One day, my sister came in with her friends. Her goal was clearly just to pick on me, knowing that I would have to serve her as the waitress.
My sister and I had never really gotten along. We were always fighting about one thing or another. Plus, it was a very small town and she was only one year older than me, so we had had to deal with each other all the time.
So, she came into the restaurant one slow afternoon with her group of friends and they all proceed to make my afternoon miserable. They kept insisting on changing tables. They kept insisting that I re-wipe down their table and then complain that it was now wet and that they needed to change tables again. They all wanted new silverware. They wanted extra silverware.
They wanted more paper place mats to color (we had the place mats with activities on the back for children). They wanted more crayons. They wanted un-used crayons. They wanted pens.
They all wanted drinks in child-sized sippy cups (which had unlimited refills) and then they all wanted re-fills every 2 minutes, because they were teenagers and could finish the cups in one gulp. They all wanted extra lids, which they played with and chewed on. They all wanted extra straws, which they then flicked at me.
Every time I turned my back, they flicked wadded up napkins or straw wrappers at me. They would try to sneak up behind me and untie my apron and laugh. They would purposely try to trip me while I was carrying their food or drinks.
My manager was beyond annoyed, and tried to talk to them about their behavior, but my sister kept insisting that the service was terrible and they wanted to complain about their waitress. My manager told me she would have given the table to a different waitress (she knew it was my sister), but I was the only one, since we were always so slow in the afternoons.
Finally they finished their food and I offered to box up the last slice of pizza remaining. I took the pan with the single slice, took it back to the kitchen and took an enormous bite out of it, before I boxed it up.
Before they finally left, my sister realized what I had done and went to complain to my manager. My sister took the box to my manager, Leslie, and I was sure I was going to get in trouble. However, Leslie looked at the the slice and immediately said “I’m sorry, I don’t see any bite mark.” My sister pointed to the huge chunk missing from the slice. “No, I’m sorry,” said Leslie, “I don’t see anything. Are you sure it was bitten, I simply can’t see anything there.”
My sister spent the next five minutes yelling at my manager and trying to get her to see the patently obvious bite in the slice of pizza before finally giving up and storming out. I never did get into trouble for it, not from my manager, nor from my parents, who my sister also complained to. They all seemed to think that she had gotten what she deserved.
Scientists claim Covid virus contains tiny chunk of DNA that ‘matches sequence patented by Moderna THREE YEARS before pandemic began’
Genetic match discovered in Covid’s unique furin cleavage site on spike protein
Matched genetic sequence patented by Moderna for cancer research purposes
Researchers say one in 3trillion chance Covid developed the code naturally
Critics of the study are sceptical of its author’s conclusions, suggesting that the sequence match is not as rare as has been claimed
Fresh suspicion that Covid may have been tinkered with in a lab emerged today after scientists found genetic material owned by Moderna in the virus’s spike protein.
They identified a tiny snippet of code that is identical to part of a gene patented by the vaccine maker three years before the pandemic.
It was discovered in SARS-CoV-2’s unique furin cleavage site, the part that makes it so good at infecting people and separates it from other coronaviruses.
The structure has been one of the focal points of debate about the virus’s origin, with some scientists claiming it could not have been acquired naturally.
The international team of researchers suggest the virus may have mutated to have a furin cleavage site during experiments on human cells in a lab.
They claim there is a one-in-three-trillion chance Moderna’s sequence randomly appeared through natural evolution.
.
In the latest study, published in Frontiers in Virology, researchers compared Covid’s makeup to millions of sequenced proteins on an online database.
The virus is made up of 30,000 letters of genetic code that carry the information it needs to spread, known as nucleotides.
It is the only coronavirus of its type to carry 12 unique letters that allow its spike protein to be activated by a common enzyme called furin, allowing it to spread between human cells with ease.
Analysis of the original Covid genome found the virus shares a sequence of 19 specific letters with a genetic section owned by Moderna, which has a total of 3,300 nucleotides.
Why hasn’t there been more news reported about the human rights violations by China against the Uyghurs? Are there no actual videos and films verifying the abuses?
There are no Uyghur human rights violations. This is a fabrication of Western governments and Western mainstream media.
The question you should be asking is why Western governments and Western media are lying about China.
The fact is Western governments are afraid of losing their global hegemony to China’s rise. So they must do everything they can to “contain” China, including smearing China’s reputation and turning world opinion against China.
There is not a single shred of credible evidence to support the accusation of Uyghur human rights violations. There is, however, a great deal of fabricated evidence. The West are very, very good at propaganda.
Guns N’ Roses – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Live At Wembley Stadium 1992) – HD Remastered
ARMENIA INVOKES ARTICLE 4 (COLLECTIVE SELF DEFENSE) OF CTSO TREATY – THE WORLD NOW HAS SECOND WAR FRONT
Wednesday morning, the country of Armenia invoked Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO) which calls for all member countries to come to the military defense of Armenia as neighboring Azerbaijan commences military attacks against Armenia. The world now has a SECOND war front, after the ongoing Ukraine front.
If one of the Member States suffers aggression (armed attack menacing to safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty), it will be considered by the Member States as aggression (armed attack menacing to safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty) against all the Member States of this Treaty. Article 4 of the CTSO is akin to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.
In case of aggression commission (armed attack menacing to safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty) to any of the Member States, all the other Member States at request of this Member State shall immediately provide the latter with the necessary help, including military, as well as provide support by the means at their disposal in accordance with the right to collective defense pursuant to article 51 of the UN Charter.
The Member States shall immediately inform the United Nations Security Council on the measures taken on the basis of this article. When implementing these measures, the Member States shall adhere to the relevant provisions of the UN Charter.
(the article is as amended by the Protocol on amendments to the Collective Security Treaty of May 15, 1992, signed on December 10, 2010)
Azerbaijan commenced artillery shelling and mortar fire into Armenia about 48 hours ago. Several hundred Armenian troops and Border Security force are already dead.
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan stated the Armenian side has 105 killed in action with hundred more injured including civilians.
GEORGIA REFERENDUM ON WAR WITH RUSSIA!
Adding to the troubles, the country of Georgia is holding an actual public referendum on whether or not Georgia should re-open its war with Russia!
The leadership of Georgia can organize a nationwide referendum and ask the question: do the Georgians want a war with Russia.
Giorgi Kobakhidze, chairman of the party, made such a statement at a briefing in the office of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
“Let the people say whether they want to open a second front in Georgia against Russia,” Mr. Kobakhidze emphasized.
He promised that the authorities “will act as the people say.”
(HT NOTE: At the time they spoke about this, the situation in Armenia did not yet exist, so Georgia was speaking as if THEIR country would become a “second” front. Now, with the situation in Armenia, if the people of Georgia vote to open a new war with Russia, that will be a THIRD war front!)
The politician expressed hope that the Georgian people “will bring clarity, whether he agrees with the statements of Ukrainian politicians about the need to involve Georgia in the war or with the position of the authorities of his country.”
This is how Irakli Kobakhidze responded to the statement of Fyodor Venislavsky, representative of the President of Ukraine in the Parliament, who advised Georgia “to take concrete steps to liberate Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
Earlier, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, as well as advisers to the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak and Oleksiy Arestovich, publicly addressed Tbilisi with similar advice.
“They all directly said that the opening of the second front in Georgia is highly desirable,” the head of the Georgian Dream recalled at the same briefing.
Hal Turner Analysis and Editorial Opinion
All of this is the underhanded work of the collective West: in particular, the European Union and the United States/NATO. Turkey backs Azerbaijan. So does Israel. Turkey is a NATO member. Israel being a welfare client of the United States, has to do what the US tells it or they lose their $3 Billion+ a year in free U.S. money and their little country, that can’t even sustain itself, fails. So The trouble with Azerbaijan and Armenia is a direct result of Turkey and Israel doing what NATO and the USA instruct them to do.
Through Turkey and Israel, Azerbaijan got told to re-commence war attacks against Armenia BECAUSE Russia backs Armenia. The US and EU __want__ to bog Russia down in multiple wars. As such, what is now taking place is all deliberate. It is all the deliberate exacerbation of old grievances, into war.
Step by step, the US and EU are deliberately inciting, fomenting, and facilitating what will very soon become World War 3.
I have a suggestion: Maybe some of the people who are doing these things, should become victims of their own war? They know who they are . . . and so do we. Maybe it could be like Seth Rich; they become a mugging victim that no one investigates?
Gavin Orlowski of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was crossing a bridge with his mother, Erin Brown, when he heard her gasp in horror. Someone in a van ahead of them had just tossed a gray tiger cat out the window. Before they could identify the van, it took off and disappeared into traffic.
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As Gavin jumped out of the car, the terrified cat began to scamper around between other cars. By the time Gavin managed to divert traffic, the cat was hanging off the overpass. He was able to grab him and get him back into the car before he was hit.
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The frightened cat was so traumatized that he huddled in Gavin’s coat, refusing to leave his side. His claws had been torn off and he had hurt his back in the fall from the van. Gavin and his mother decided to take him to Blue Pearl Animal Hospital.
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A friend on Facebook offered to cover the vet bill. Fortunately, the cat was otherwise unhurt and in good health. He quickly recovered.
5-min Quick & Easy Stir Fry Shrimp w/ Ginger & Spring Onion 速炒姜葱虾 Chinese Stir Fry Prawn Recipe
Most of Asia is On the Side of China and Not the U.S. in Growing Conflict
After the megaphones of the West have already called for all-out economic war against Russia, the battle cry against China is now being heard, regardless of the consequences for the “common people.” The reaction of the Asian countries, however, is likely to disappoint the vociferous, self-righteous screaming sharks.
Draft would provide the island with $4.5 billion in security assistance
A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Wednesday strongly opposed a possible Taiwan-related bill by the United States that aims to bolster the island’s “defense “capabilities against the mainland, saying that any attempt of “6 independence” will never succeed.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is set to review a draft of the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 on Wednesday, which was described by its sponsors as “the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy toward Taiwan “since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.
The bipartisan bill sponsored by US senators Bob Menendez and Lindsey Graham would provide Taiwan with about $4.5 billion in security assistance over the next four years and recognize the island as a “major non-NATO ally”.
The legislation would also allow Taiwan to rename its office in the US from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” to the “Taiwan Representative Office”.
Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a news conference in Beijing that the Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affair, which brooks no outside interference.
The drafting of the Taiwan-related bill by the US lawmakersseriously violates [1] basic norms governing international relations, [2] the one-China principle and [3] the three China-US joint communiques, she said. “We firmly oppose it.”
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan have used every means to persuade some US senators to draft the bill for its attempt of realizing “Taiwan independence”, which will never succeed, she said.
Chiu Yi, a Taiwan-based cross-Straits expert, said in a post on his Facebook page, that once passed, the US would openly destroy its one-China policy, and relations between the US and Taiwan would be made official.
If that happened, the mainland would not sit idle and let the US manipulate “one China, one Taiwan” to undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Straits, he wrote.
Separately, Zhu denounced Chiu Tai-san, head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, who claimed last week that the island doesn’t accept any arrangement to resolve the Taiwan question and urged easing the current situation in the Straits.
The remarks came after the People’s Liberation Army conducted military drills around Taiwan in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in August, despite strong opposition from the mainland.
Zhu said Chiu made the remarks to hide the fact that it was the DPP administration who relied on the US to seek “independence” that caused tensions across the Straits.
Only by returning to the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle can cross-Straits relations improve, and can peace and stability across the Straits be effectively guaranteed, she said.
No matter how the cross-Straits situation changes, the consensus that marked its 30th anniversary this year remains the anchor for cross-Straits relations.
I highlighted the key points.
[1] This document violates all three Chinese RED LINES.[2] It destroys the USA adherence to the One-China policy.[3] China will not sit by idle and do nothing.
-MM
The Russian army launched a missile attack on Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. There were two attacks, the local administration did not announce in which parts of the city the defeats took place.
Military observers tweeted that Tu-95MS strategic (and nuclear) bombers attacked dams and reservoirs in Ukraine with Kh-101 missiles, which have a range of 5,500 km and carry 500 kg of explosive warheads. The deputy head of the presidential administration in Kyiv, Kiril Tymoshenko, announced that a total of 8 rockets were fired at Kryvyi Rih.
Some missiles hit below the waterline of the dam across the Ingulets river. The impact severely damaged the dam and the water level in the Ingulets river is now surging – severely as seen in the video below:
Electricity and fresh water is now cut-off in Kryvyi Rih.
This is now the second large demonstration of what Russia is capable of doing to Ukrainian infrastructure; the first being missile strikes against electrical stations a few days ago.
Unlike the electric grid, which was re-routed, there’s no way to make a quick fix to this dam.
Crowded House – Don’t Dream It’s Over (Glastonbury 2022)
Al-Omar Oil Field in Syria Just Blown Up; U.S. Theft of Oil from there, halted
The Oil field at Al-Omar Syria has been blown up and is presently on fire.
This is one of the oil fields from which the United States has been stealing Syrian oil.
It is not yet clear what caused the series of explosions, but initial AND UNVERIFIED reports say it was Russian Air Force missiles.
Both Syria and Russia have repeatedly warned the US they are not authorized to be inside Syria and should leave. In addition, both Syria and Russia have told the US, Israel, and Turkey, the theft of Syrian oil must halt.
The US, Israel, and Turkey have ignored those warnings.
Now, the oil field from which they have been stealing, is blown up.
Violence In California Reaches “Epidemic” Levels As Our Society Rapidly Deteriorates All Around Us
I can’t understand why anyone would still want to live in California. Yes, there are lots of high paying jobs and the weather is very nice, but crime is completely and utterly out of control. As you will see below, a new report that has just been issued is warning that violence in the state has now reached “epidemic” levels. The police are doing what they can to try to contain the violence, but at this point they are vastly outnumbered by the predators. Sadly, this is the end result of literally decades of cultural rot, and what is happening in California is going to happen to the rest of the nation if we do not take urgent action to turn things around.
Originally, I was going to write about something else today. Tens of thousands of rail and port workers are threatening to go on strike, and this could definitely cause some substantial economic disruptions…
America is bracing for chaos as tens of thousands of railway, port, and hospital workers look set to strike over the winter – plunging the country into further disruption.As many as 60,000 railway workers, 15,000 nurses, and 22,000 West Coast port workers are plotting mass walkouts as they seek better working conditions.Several US freight railroads said they were preparing for widespread strike and service interruptions Friday, a deadline set by two holdout labor groups in protracted talks with railroad carriers about better benefits.
But even though these strikes could cause severe short-term problems, they will eventually be resolved.
So in the greater scheme of things, they really aren’t a major concern.
On the other hand, our cultural decay is a massive ongoing crisis that isn’t going to go away.
As I mentioned earlier, a brand new report that was just released is warning that violence in the state of California has risen to “epidemic” levels…
The Golden State is losing its luster. A troubling new report labels physical and sexual violence in pandemic-era California a statewide “epidemic.” To put it simply, violence is on an alarming rise.According to the new annual report from the California Study on Violence Experiences across the Lifespan (CalVEX), violence statistics have seen a significant increase since COVID-19 emerged. The report, conducted by scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, reports more than one in six Californians (18%) experienced either physical or sexual violence in just the past year.
If you live in one of the biggest cities in California, this isn’t news to you.
Once upon a time, the state was a place of great beauty and great tranquility, but now it has been transformed into a crime-infested hellhole.
I was particularly alarmed by the numbers on sexual violence in this new report…
While more than 1.5 million adults in California admit to committing acts of sexual violence in the past year, men were more than two times as likely as women to report that they perpetrated sexual violence and intimate partner violence.Women also showed greater mental health impacts and life disruptions due to violent experiences, with 82 percent of women reporting anxiety or depression as a result of physically aggressive, coercive or forced sexual behavior.
Of course much of this violence is being fueled by illegal mind-altering drugs.
Some of these drugs are so immensely powerful that they literally put people into catatonic states for an extended period of time…
I will never understand why people would willingly do that to themselves.
Today, we are facing the biggest drug crisis that we have ever seen in American history, and addicts will often do whatever it takes to get another fix.
Sadly, this is one of the factors that is contributing to skyrocketing rates of shoplifting all over the nation…
We are all painfully aware of the huge rise in shoplifting and even violent robberies of stores. We watch the videos of thugs brazenly raiding stores, and read about the organized crime rings that have sprung up to profit from the trend. Shoplifting has become a big, if criminal business. Chances are that if you use eBay to purchase a wide range of products at reduced prices you have unwittingly purchased stolen goods. No good way for eBay to stop the practice.
One homeless man that originally came from Alabama recently admitted that he regularly shoplifts in order to fund his heroin use…
There have been homeless addicts in the streets of San Francisco for years, but now we have reached a point where they are seemingly everywhere.
I saw complete hopelessness in the eyes of haunted souls dragging themselves down the street looking for their next fix.I saw men and women of all ages hunched over on the sidewalks with open wounds all over their bodies.I saw the filthy tent cities stinking with human excrement and strewn with needles and pipes.I saw children staring in horror at people dying right in front of them.
At one time, such activity was limited to the bad portions of the city.
But now addicts that have been drugged out of their minds are pulling down their pants and crapping in the streets right in front of some of the most expensive real estate in San Francisco.
This has made the wealthy people really angry, and Mayor Breed says that she is finally going to “get serious” about this crisis.
Of course “getting serious” doesn’t mean arresting a bunch of people and throwing them into prison.
That just wouldn’t be very “progressive”.
Instead, authorities in San Francisco are getting ready to launch a “soft-touch” program that will seek to “interrupt” drug trafficking…
City supervisors released a resolution for a vague ‘soft-touch’ initiative called ‘San Francisco Recovers.’And here’s the catch, and it’s a doozy: the plan is being touted as, ‘a way that nobody’s going to jail but we’re doing an effective job of interrupting the drug market and drug scenes.’Is this a sick joke?
Yes, it certainly sounds like a sick joke to me.
Good luck with all that.
If major cities such as San Francisco actually want to have a chance of turning things around, they need to send the police out to round up all the drug dealers.
Unfortunately, police forces in many of our biggest cities are rapidly getting smaller.
In fact, a whopping 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022 alone…
The liberal city of Seattle is losing police officers amid a major spike in crime, 770 KTTH reported.“We’re screwed,” former King County Sheriff John Urqhart said, according to 770 KTTH.In total, 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022, including six that left in August, 770 KTTH reported, citing a police source. Since the city council voted to defund the police department in 2020, nearly 500 police officers have left the force.
I wouldn’t want to be a police officer in a major west coast city at this point either.
They are underpaid, the politicians treat them with tremendous disdain, and they are often hindered by absolutely ridiculous regulations which keep them from doing their jobs effectively.
We like to think that we are so “advanced”, but the truth is that if you compare video footage from major cities on the west coast from decades ago to video footage from today there is absolutely no comparison.
Our society is melting down right in front of our eyes, and if we stay on the path that we are currently on there is no future for our country.
But the politicians insist that people like me have it all wrong.
They continue to tell us that things are better than ever and that a glorious future for our nation is dead ahead.
You can believe that if you want, but the truth of what is really happening to our society is on display for the whole world to see.
America is dying, and we are quickly running out of time to turn things around.
Angel
Angel is a Bengali cat who travels around the world with her family. Due to the fact that two animals died during a flight – one because of the cold and the other because his cage was hit by other luggage – Angel has started a campaign for all animals to travel in the cabin.
The slogan is: “we are not luggage, we are living beings”.
Due to her large number of followers, this 15-pound cat hopes to make a change. For now, a good way to help her is to spread her campaign and her slogan …WE ARE NOT LUGGAGE, WE ARE LIVING BEINGS!
Inflation. Gas Prices. Food shortages. Popular unrest. Shootings, car jacking, diversity, racial protests. Anger. Collapse of this or that…
All of these items are fixtures of the United States and it’s proxy nations; known collectively as “The West”. Don’t project that on Russia. Don’t project that on China. Don’t project that on Africa. Etc.
Just a kind reminder to all of youse guys who fall for the idea that the “entire world” is going to suffer from famine, inflation and energy shortages. It’s not. Just YOUR NATION. The rest are doing just fine, thank you.
Thru’ with the Two Step (2006 Remaster)
Robert Plant. I hope that his resonates with you all.
A Cat Owner speaks out
I had a friend who suggested euthanizing my two Siamese cats, because of the cat hair on the furniture.
I took these two in as soon as I got my own place after my mom died. They were her cats. My stepfather barely took care of them. They got food and water but the litter box was very dirty and they weren’t vaccinated, or taken to the vet for check-ups. They didn’t get any love.
Back then I lived on 600e per month in an expensive tiny two room apartment, but the cats got the love they needed. One of them wasn’t spayed, so I took care of that as well.
They were so important to me. Suffice to say the girl who made that suggestion is not my friend anymore.
After my two beloved Siamese cats died of old age (luckily they had some years in a bigger home), I got two rescues. And then another Siamese.
I discovered I can’t do life without cats.
Don’t ever tell your friend who is a cat person that she should euthanize her cats. You will be removed, the cats will stay. I can promise you that.
Matthew worked this evening and a homeless gentlemen walked in the restaurant with .50 cents and asked if there was anything on the menu he could buy. Matthew asked him what he would order if he could and the man said anything would help his hunger pains. So Matthew rung him up for a hearty meal and then used his own debit card to pay for the mans meal. He handed him the receipt and told him to relax and take a seat. The story could end there and It would be a happy ending, but apparently a women watched my son during his random act of kindness. Not only did she write the company to let them know about the caring employee they had working for them, she also rewarded my son with a very generous tip! ”So proud to be his mom and I can pat myself on the back knowing that I’ve played a part in raising this big hearted young man.”
What a wonderful young man! Wish there were more like him.
Most of what we know in the west about China is wrong: we read articles, see, hear news reports, there are even books about how China is economically collapsing but they’ve been saying it for over 20 years and China, including Hong Kong has 135 companies listed in the Fortune 500; that’s more than any other country in the world including the USA which only has 122
Foreign investment has steadily grown and, globally, China is the number one recipient. This is because, despite what we hear, people who know the best places to put money, know that stability and good legislation will protect their investment.
We read that China is authoritarian or totalitarian but, if you’ve watched anything about China, you’ve seen people, including people like me, travelling freely and posting videos from all over the country including “sensitive” areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
Thousands, no: tens of thousands of videos are online showing life going on as normal. Traveling through those areas, as I often do and am even doing right now, Southwest China’s Chongqing, the “totalitarian police” never stop me, or anyone else to ask what pictures we’ve taken. They’ve never confiscated any photographs or videos, even from media organizations who deliberately goad police into forcing them to stop filming in public places where individuals have asked them not to film. If they had, you could be assured, you would have seen it in media.
The country has crime, like anywhere else but it’s reducing every year in every category except online fraud. The murder rate in China has seen a steady decline and is now around 0.5 per 100,000 people: compared to the USA where, according to some news reports, it’s at its highest rate in many years of 6 per 100,000 and in some places, such as Birmingham, Alabama, Baltimore in Maryland, just next to Washington DC where it’s over 50 per 100,000 and St Louis Missouri, where, in 2019 the number went up to 64.5 people killed per 100,000. Here’s what’s even more frightening, those numbers of 3 years ago, have risen.
Looking at education, students get 9 years of free education and, at 57.8%, more Chinese students enter tertiary education than almost every other country. That number grows every year from only 3.4% in 1990. China’s education modernization plan is aligned to support the modernization and future growth of the country and is so cheap the concept of student debt is virtually unknown.
Social security laws mean that working people receive medical insurance, unemployment insurance for the day the unthinkable happens and they may lose their jobs but unemployment is declining at 5.5% and the government has put in some emergency strategies to help recovery since the Covid pandemic.
Young employees pay into housing funds to help them purchase their first home and a pension fund which they can claim when they retire at 50 or 55 for women and 60 for men.
Let’s be honest, if China didn’t have good social security and employment protection laws, ethical companies in the west wouldn’t come and work here yet as of last year more than 1.06 million foreign companies were registered and operating in China, this was 23,000 more than the year before.
China isn’t a collapsing economy, it’s still growing; nor is it a slave labour force, or more than a million foreign registered companies wouldn’t work here and, if we read beyond western headlines, we find workers are well rewarded and well protected.
It’s not a totalitarian police state but it is well policed and as a result, it’s safe and people value that ability to walk anywhere at any time with a feeling of security and, contrary to what many people think most Chinese people have a very high regard and respect for their local police.
So, if it’s not all the things that the “experts and China watchers” say it is: what else have they and the international media got wrong?
Well, they get China’s governance wrong too. China is growing in health, education, economy, infrastructure and improved living conditions at a time when other countries are entering, or have already entered a recession.
Looking at other more developed countries, what can we see?
Bank Interest rates are going up and almost everyone has some debt;
Fuel costs are increasing so decisions will need to be made soon on whether to eat or keep warm
Poverty rates are rising, as more and more people fall into that position where they can no longer afford to have an apartment, good clothes and food, they need to choose which to miss out on.
Public disorder has increased in recent years as there’s more dissatisfaction with police having more power, using more violence and even in one notable country, killing more civilians than ever before.
Life spans are declining as people in some developed countries are dying younger than they used to. This has been brought about by mismanagement of a pandemic but is also partially caused by some people who simply can’t afford to go to a hospital.
China on the other hand has none of these problems and the reason for that is good governance. Who provides that governance? The CPC. But what’s really important to remember is not what they do, but how they do it.
Every year, each leader in China reports on what they’ve achieved. They provide information on their plans for what they will achieve in the coming period to meet with the goals of the 5-year plan. When they look for promotions, they enter a process of selection and approval but only after getting endorsement from their peers, their supervisors and even their subordinates.
If they fail to meet their objectives or if they haven’t managed things well, they are removed, as has been seen in some notable incidences particularly around the management of the Covid pandemic.
Senior leaders are elected by Party organizations so, in order to become a leader in a Chinese community, you need a combination of experience, voting and managerial efficiency, these are the only ways to get ahead in Chinese governance.
China doesn’t really have politicians, it has bureaucrats, they are politically savvy as all politicians need to be but they must also be popular with their peers and the people they serve. And remember, they serve the people not their donors.
In America, it’s possible to be a popular TV personality or a mediocre lawyer and still go on to become a President. If you can make it to the Senate or Congress, there are no term limits, we’ve recently seen octogenarian politicians stirring up discontent around the globe. There’s no age limit so a 78 year old who ought to be retired can make it into the White House and potentially stay there until they’re 86.
The UK isn’t much better, they’ve recently lost an inefficient and bumbling prime minister who seemed to forget that truth and honesty were part of his responsibilities. He wasn’t elected by the people, his own party put him there, the same as they do in China. He doesn’t have term limits and neither do Australia, New Zealand, Canada or many other democracies, so why did it cause such a stir when China removed something from their statute that most countries in the world don’t believe in anyway?
What qualifications did the last prime minister of the UK have? He was a failed journalist. What qualifications did the last prime minister of Australia have? He was a failed marketing manager. Neither of these leaders were elected to the head of their parties by the people they represent, they were both put into that position by their parties and failed because they didn’t have the qualifications, the integrity or both, to do their job properly.
Now, people can say but at least we were able to vote them out. Maybe that’s true but how much damage can they do in the four years or five years before you get the opportunity to do that?
In China on the other hand, there may only be one party but those people who lead it got there through a proven track record of administrative success in lesser roles. Xi Jinping for example, holds a degree in chemical engineering and a Doctor in Law and started his government career as party secretary in a Shaanxi village, and has held leadership roles in several provinces as well as the city of Shanghai; which has a population larger than Australia and several European countries.
Li Kejiang holds a Bachelor of Law and a PhD in economics and has worked his entire life in administrative roles.
In fact, every member of China’s senior government can demonstrate a proven track record of management, efficiency and knowledge. They have all been elected to the position by others who are equally as well experienced in their own jobs.
Only through hard work, extensive study, a process of election and selection is it possible to reach the top in China’s governance.
So, do I support the CPC? Actually, I do, I’ve seen what they can do, I’ve seen how well they do it and, when I compare it to other countries I know about, I can see there’s no comparison. It’s quite obvious why the Chinese government has the support of almost 100% of the people they represent.
What isn’t so obvious is why so many people who are not Chinese would like to change that.
HOW TO MAKE MEATBALLS | EASY SOFT AND DELICIOUS MEATBALLS
Yum!
If the Chinese system is so effective, why does it only work in China and isn’t being adopted by other developing nations?
Most Chinese clearly understand that China’s current system is in fact the result of a passive choice, and a pragmatic one.
Many of the respondents here with Chinese cultural backgrounds mentioned the Chinese civil bureaucratic tradition, so I don’t need to explain it in detail, but I would add that China is probably the only country that had a strong civil bureaucratic tradition before modernization, and that the later system had to adapt to the civil bureaucratic tradition rather than the other way around, which leads to an innate limitation in terms of viable institutional choices for China now and even for the future.
I still have to mention two famous emperors, the first of course being First Emperor of Qin, Ying Zheng.
Ying Zheng
It is well known that King Zheng did two main things in China, the first being that he de facto unified China, and the second being that he unified Chinese writing. These two crucial facts offered all subsequent Chinese powers that be the possibility that if their power was sufficient, he would definitely unify China. This led to a unique historical phenomenon, as the opening chapter of “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” states, “That which is long divided must unify, and that which is long unified must divide.” This also led to the loss of the roots of China’s feudal aristocratic tradition similar to that of the West, and after numerous struggles and natural selection, you could only have one aristocrat, and that aristocrat was the emperor.
Well, we then introduce another emperor, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian.
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Soon, the emperors ruling China realized that any nobleman with a fief and a private army, whether he was a relative or a brother, was aiming to “unify China,” so all nobles would in fact become enemies of the emperor. A wise emperor, or Yang Jian as we call him, quickly figured out that if he did not rely on the nobility to rule the country, he would have to rely on the commoners. Obviously, making the commoners the ruling class would require teaching them the knowledge of the ruling class and setting the threshold for the best talent to become the emperor’s servants. From then on, Yang Jian set up the imperial examination system to give the commoners the possibility to leap up the ladder of the commoner class and to destroy the aristocratic tradition completely.
When the imperial examination system was established, there were several factors that needed to be noted.
The avenue of upward mobility for the commoner class was opened and could never be closed because the commoners had a strong desire to change their fate, the bureaucratic clique was extremely powerful, and no ruler dared to challenge this, which I think is easy to understand.
No matter how dynasties change, they only change the structure of the ruling class for a short time, and when power is rebalanced, it is still the same people who become the actual managers of this country through exams, and no matter who becomes emperor, those who have the ability and will to become civil bureaucrats always become civil bureaucrats, and they always make the same decisions.
A large number of the commoner class became part of the bureaucratic group by learning the knowledge of the ruling class, that is, the Confucian doctrine, which was the only way for the commoners to break through the class. This led to a near overlap between the intellectual and bureaucratic classes in China, and at the same time, it meant that in China, learning knowledge and preparing to be an official were equated, so there was no ground for the birth of natural science in China. In the West, the early scientists were usually aristocrats or missionaries, and there is a reason for that. Because they were provided for, they did not have to think about survival and had extra resources to complete their scholarship. Their Chinese counterparts during the same period, on the other hand, despite being no less talented and capable, needed to devote more energy to taking exams, handling government affairs, and completing their higher authorities’ KPIs, and when they did their jobs well, they would be promoted. There are always unfamiliar environments and more complex challenges waiting for them. Of course there were certain geniuses who did a better job of governance by summarizing techniques, such as Shen Kuo, but of course, technique is not the same as science.
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Since the position of officials in the bureaucratic group depends only on exams and KPI’s and has nothing to do with their own wealth, this leads to the fact that mercantilism has never appeared in China and capital has never been strong enough to confront the bureaucratic class, only because the former holds the economy and the latter holds the state apparatus, they may become allies for short-term interests, but once the interests go against each other, it is always the businessmen who are deprived of power. Thus, capital is always a vassal of the bureaucratic group.
The ruling class was constantly on the move because of examinations, and the official in a high position knew this, he had no other choice but to provide his offspring with better educational resources, however this did not guarantee that his family would always retain this advantage, so he had to try to reinforce the class advantage by buying land, therefore the fall of every Chinese dynasty was always due to excessive land annexation, which could not be avoided.
To be fair, a strong bureaucratic system is a double-edged sword. First of all, the system is extremely executive and feasibility, with every policy being passed from the center to every corner of the empire with the precision of a cog. At the same time, this system was always able to screen the most capable geniuses into the management system of the empire, which was the core advantage of China to remain competitive for thousands of years. However, people are always selfish, especially the geniuses who rise to power among the commoners always want to cash in on power as quickly as possible, which leads to shocking corruption. Once the country is in crisis and control decreases, officials will always prioritize their own interests, so they will quickly push the country into an irreparable abyss, as was the case in the late Ming Dynasty.
Because of the strong bureaucratic tradition you cannot reject and which will always exist, China’s attempts at Western-style democracy will always fail. The reason is also simple, because of checks and balances. As other respondents have said, the British Empire also borrowed from the Chinese bureaucracy to form a modern civil service, and it didn’t have problems. This is because their civil service system emerged after the aristocratic tradition, and elected officials were usually aristocrats because the established resources of the aristocracy gave them a higher probability of being elected, and even if they were not competent and experienced enough, they could use their original large resource system against powerful professional bureaucrats. The same is true in the United States, except that big capitalists have replaced the aristocracy. However, China’s aristocratic tradition has long been destroyed, and there has never been a mercantile tradition, so capitalists cannot get involved in politics. Elected officials with no roots and only speeches will only become puppets for powerful bureaucrats. When the power of the bureaucrats cannot be checked, the country will quickly be consumed by corruption and division.
This situation was clearly reflected in history after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, when Sun Yat-sen, the father of the nation, never effectively took control of the country and his governing philosophy was considered naive and impractical. Yuan Shikai, a representative of the powerful bureaucratic class, quickly took control of the country and proclaimed himself emperor. After Yuan’s death, the bureaucracy was completely out of control and warlords were formed, who in order to consolidate their power could only sell out the interests of the country in exchange for support from foreign powers… Until the most powerful warlord, Chiang Kai-shek, completed his nominal unification, at which point he met the Communists.
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The Communists were in some ways a natural fit with the bureaucratic tradition.
They are both anti-aristocratic but not anti-elite, and they both believe that the elite represent powerful productive forces, while the aristocracy are the assholes of society
Both encourage a strong government that runs the state with precision and science through smart policies and strong enforcement
The Chinese bureaucratic class, or intellectual class, has long been influenced by Confucianism and believes that “social commonwealth”, or egalitarianism, is the ultimate political ideal, which happens to be compatible with communism
Since China had no aristocracy and the capitalists had no power, there was no resistance to communism in China and it was easily accepted by the masses.
After that, the Communist Party naturally and unstoppably became the ruling party in China.
Of course, problems also in the early communist confrontation with bureaucratic traditions. Since the means of production, such as land, could not be bought and sold, the bureaucrats finally realized that their power cannot be turned into wealth and that the governor and the peasant did not get much difference, and they became dissatisfied.
Mao was keenly aware of this, who was a staunch communist with romantic and idealistic beliefs, could not tolerate the theft of revolutionary gains, so he launched the Cultural Revolution in an attempt to confront the bureaucratic tradition.
Contrary to the perception of most Westerners, Mao was not the same as Stalin, who had the ability to act because he had the power to do so. By the time Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, he had been out of control of the country for some time and was basically retired, with Liu Shaoqi as the country’s leader at the time. However, Mao used his great popularity among the people to overthrow the government in power with a single “big-character poster”, calling Liu Shaoqi and others “those in power who have taken the capitalist road” and reawakening the public’s vigilance of the bureaucratic class. As the officials in power feared Mao’s great prestige, the government dared not confront them as long as people held Mao’s quotations, so Mao’s quotations and the “loyalty dance” became the symbols of the era. Bureaucrats, elites, and intellectuals were beaten down and criticized, someone even went to college because he scored 0 on his exams, and Confucian doctrine was seen as evil and incomprehensible. It was the ultimate revolution against the bureaucratic tradition.
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As it turned out, when the bureaucracy collapsed, the country did not get better but fell into complete chaos, with schools closed, factories shut down, and the whole country in trouble, and the Cultural Revolution ultimately failed. Before his death, Mao became a “Don Quixote” type of brave man and took a huge blame, of course, he was responsible for it, but it should be admitted that it was not as he wished.
When the pragmatic Deng Xiaoping reorganized the country in ruins, he should have realized that if he couldn’t beat it, he should join it. In fact, Deng’s series of policies was to restore the tradition of civil bureaucratic since ancient times. He restored university entrance exams, civil service exams, land deals, and the top-down monitoring and assessment system… In this way the country started to function smoothly and China entered an era of rapid development, but of course, corruption followed.
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Until now, Xi Jinping has been able to control corruption through a series of powerful measures, and the bureaucracy and the state have once again reached a certain balance. If the bureaucracy is an unstoppable sword, then there must be a strong wielder of the sword to use it. After countless trials and errors, the Communist Party replaced the imperial power as the sword-bearer, and as most Chinese people perceive, this was the choice of history. Even if the Communist Party is overthrown, it will not change for the better, but will only bring chaos, until the next powerful sword-bearer appears.
Bureaucratic tradition and power politics, like the thorn apple, are both beautiful and dangerous, and as Chinese, we have no choice. Maybe the success of the CPC is just part of the cycle of governance and chaos that has been going on in China for thousands of years, maybe not. We don’t know, but most of us think it is not universal and that each nation should find its own path according to its own history.
Looking back at this answer after some time, I realized that this article seems to be more inclined to describe the negative aspects of the civil bureaucratic tradition. Obviously, I wrote this answer thinking from a Chinese perspective, and I tacitly assumed that people understood the advantages of the civil bureaucratic tradition, which may have been a small misunderstanding, and I am in fact neutral about the phenomenon. So I decided to make a small update, which I had mentioned in other comments, and I’ll post those here as well:
Earlier, I argued why the only form of politics that can eventually be stabilized in China is “bureaucratic dictatorship”.This means that you have to accept the tactics that any authoritarian regime would use, such as speech control, censorship, party bans… This is because authoritarian regimes do not have good enough mechanisms to release pressure, and holding all the power means taking all the pressure(With great power comes great responsibility), and the media is usually a multiplier of negative emotions, and when you receive bad news every day through all the information channels, especially in a country as big as China, the legitimacy of the regime will have no footing. When English becomes the de facto world language, China also de facto loses the ability and possibility to challenge the world’s mainstream political consensus, which makes a firewall at the national level inevitable.
Yet China’s political ecology is not anti-democratic, even if it is not Western-style democracy, it still has the core of democracy.
First of all, you need to acknowledge that any civilian, regardless of background, can prove his or her ability to become the ruler of the country in China through exams and hard work, and that ensuring this upward mobility is at the heart of Chinese culture. In the Chinese bureaucracy, this ability stratification effect is visible to the naked eye; almost every official at the appropriate level has the appropriate level of ability, and except for young people starting out, mature civil servants have a clear sense of the gap between their abilities and those of their superiors.
Second, officials are under constant pressure from both their superiors and the public, and if their performance is poor or causes more discontent, not only does he lose the possibility of promotion himself, but his superiors’ political careers are also affected. This is something that is endless in the Chinese political ecology (e.g. COVID-19, where hundreds of officials were dealt with for not performing up to expectations despite a natural disaster), so this accountability mechanism ensures that most of the time the interests of the officials and the people are aligned.
Third, because of the hierarchical promotion mechanism rather than elections, there is a greater preference for outcome justice rather than procedural justice to justify the bureaucracy in China. This forces officials to confront problems with more pragmatic strategies rather than empty promises.
In fact, our current system is more akin to a mega-corporation in which the shareholders are all the people, the National People’s Congress is the shareholders’ meeting, the Central Political Bureau is like the board of directors, and the general secretary is like the chairman. As a leader, Xi Jinping is not a “dictator” as Westerners think of him, but more like a coordinator of interests and political forces. You can easily understand how a company works, so you can understand how the CPC works. Obviously, there is not that much freedom in this system, you can’t get a position by simply promising it, you have to prove your suitability for a position through your working experience. If you somehow attack the leadership in the company, usually your career will also be affected…and the corporate system, which happens to be the most competitive form of the system that evolves through full business competition after survival of the fittest.
Of course, some people prefer the Western style of one-person-one-vote democracy and free social atmosphere, which is fully understandable and not to be criticized, and they can choose their preferred lifestyle through immigration. Those who are more pragmatic will choose to stay and build this huge country and make it better.
Horizontal Departure (2006 Remaster)
Robert Plant. Imagine. 1983. Fall.
F Troop – Fort Lee, Salutes Fort Courage
You all have some fun, why don’t ya.
The Book
Oh boy, do I have a story for you.
This “family possession” wasn’t something passed down through generations of my family. It was something I bought for around $12 at a thrift store back in 2012. Something I hoped to keep forever, and maybe share with my own children in the distant future.
It was a book, an old book.
Its cover was a gray-blue and almost marbled, like water on an overcast day.
Its pages were stiff with age, and the edges rough cut. They crackled ever so slightly every now and then as I turned them.
It had etchings covered in something like tissue paper, illustrations of moments and animals mentioned within its pages.
It smelled old, like quiet private libraries, caught in a fragment of time highlighted by dust motes floating in beams of late-afternoon sunlight and warm, velvet-lined armchairs.
From the moment I first touched fingers to cover, I was in love with this book. The real kicker was opening to the first couple pages and finding it had been published in the 1800s. I was holding a book that was around 150 years old. I was holding a physical manifestation of history.
It was a first edition Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I didn’t know then how much it could be worth; I trusted that the thrift shop knew how to properly research each potentially valuable item that came through their doors.
I debated for probably two seconds over whether or not I should buy it. At $12? Hell yes, I bought it!
Fast forward to 2014.
My fiancé and I were broke, living on our own in an apartment we couldn’t afford. He was working at a car dealership as a “trainee”, which — at least at this particular dealership — was code for “work twice as hard only to have to give your seniors most of your commission and hope for the best.”
He ran so low on gas that day, that he called me from the dealership 30 minutes away, trying to hide his own stress, to tell me that he didn’t think he could make the drive home.
Our account was down to the single digits.
We had no cash.
Can you tell where this is going?
I ransacked our apartment for anything of remotely any value. I texted him photos of various items, asking, “is this okay to sell?”
I had one of those digital TV antennae that don’t work as advertised, a beautiful wooden handled pocket knife, and a couple of other things.
I saw Walden. I didn’t want to sell it. I hadn’t even finished it yet — life just kept getting in the way and I had a hard time digesting the outdated language of the book. I will always regret that. I can always get a newer print of the book, but it just won’t be the same, so I hesitate still.
I shoved down my attachment to the book and sped down the street to the pawn shop.
I saved the book for last. The guy at the counter had been very uninterested up until that point — “what do you want for this? Ehh, that’s a little much.”
I brought the book up. “I’m sure it’s not worth much, but I love this and it’s all I have left.”
He takes one look at it and his eyes go from tired and uncaring to nearly predatory. I didn’t register it until after the book was tucked safely behind his counter.
“How much do you want for this?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I need $20.” I thought I was shooting high.
“Done,” he said, way too quickly.
And that, I’m afraid, was the last I saw of that lovely, ancient, beautiful book.
Fast forward to 2016.
I’m sitting in the living room at my parents’ house, recounting the tale of the oldest book I ever owned to my family.
I stop to wonder just how much that book was worth.
I did a google search, and I swear I nearly dropped in a dead faint.
This first edition book was selling online in a number of places for anywhere between $400 and $10,000.
Ten. Thousand. Dollars.
Doing a quick search now (because for the life of me I can’t remember the exact published year of my copy), I found the one that looked the most like what I had.
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There was another on the first page just now selling for over $6,000.
I’m not going to lie… I cried. I laughed and then I cried really freaking hard.
I wished that I had had the foresight to just take the book to an appraiser or something.
Actually, I wish I’d just kept it, honestly.
But the actual worth of that book would have helped us out a hell of a lot more than the $20 that went right into my husband’s gas tank.
And that was the story of my biggest regret to date. I will consider myself blessed if it remains so.
How To Make City Chicken
Some notes
If you believe someone is lying to you, don’t say anything. If they continue to elaborate on what they are saying then they are lying.
The worst feeling in the world is to know you were used and lied to by someone you trusted.
If someone gives you advice, respond with “you’re right”. It sounds more diplomatic than “I know.”
Psychologists say the key to confidence is walking into a room and assuming everyone likes you.
When people say, “you’ve changed, there’s a 95% chance that you just stopped acting the way they wanted you to.
A sleeping human brain can still understand the words being spoken around it.
Having at least one “Lazy day” per week can help reduce stress, high blood pressure, stroke
People who are more perfectionist are more likely to be depressed, because they stress themselves out so much.
We tend to believe others pay attention to our behavior and appearance much more than they actually do. This is called the spotlight effect.
We are more attracted to people wearing red because red triggers a basic, primal response in humans as a signal of sexuality, fertility, health, and status.
The human mind spends most of it’s time replaying memories over and over with the desire to relive them.
It’s impossible to remain angry at someone you truly love.
Anger lasting for more than 3 days indicates that you’re not in love.
the person arguing loses his temper and starts shouting, natural human tendency is to shout back. DON’T! Stay calm and reply in silence. This will piss them off even more. Try it! It works.
Usually the people who are “too nice” get hurt the most.
THE QUIETEST PEOPLE TEND TO HAVE THE LOUDEST MINDS
Remember: The one that gossips with you. Will also gossip about you!
If someone makes eye contact with you for 60% of a conversation they’re bored, 80% and they’re attracted to you and 100% of the time then they are threatening you.
Your gut feelings are usually accurate and correct. If you truly feel there is something,chances are there is.
Listening to sad songs creates positive notions, because it helps the person feel understood
Feelings don’t die easily because we keep feeding them with memories. That’s exactly why it’s so hard to move on.
What Putin and China are doing will change EVERYTHING
Listen Up! Pay attention!
First 9 minutes are important, then the paid-for, for-profit segment begins. Just check out the first nine minutes.
Ukraine
This cartoon pretty much sums it up.
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Russia ‘Alarmed’ At Lack Of U.S. Visas To Attend UN General Assembly
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations has said it’s “alarming” that no one from the 56-member Russian advance team and delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has received a U.S. entry visa to attend a UN General Assembly debate in New York later this month.
Back in the day, I devoted months perfecting my home-made pizzas. Key to that is mastering pizza dough. It’s surprisingly simple. Check out the video. -MM
The EU shouldn’t gang up on China says French PM
EU will soon come to term that their economic engine is from China. They have to accept the maths and turn rationale, or else:
The EU shouldn’t gang up on China with the U.S. even if it stands closer to Washington by virtue of shared values, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
“A situation to join all together against China, this is a scenario of the highest possible conflictuality. This one, for me, is counterproductive,”
Macron said, speaking in English, during a discussion broadcast by Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council on Thursday.
This kind of common front against China — as other European leaders have advocated given the new Biden administration’s revived openness to traditional alliances — risks pushing Beijing to lower its cooperation on issues like combatting climate change, and exacerbating its aggressive behavior in Asia, including in the South China Sea, according to the French president.
But, as soon as I got to Thailand, he let me know he was my new Thai father. He even told my parents when they visited “When Charissa is in America, she is your daughter. But in Thailand, she is my daughter. I will always take care of her.”
When I first arrived, I was helpless, lonely, and unable to speak the language. Dr. Jao did everything he could to make me comfortable and adjusted. He made his students hang out with me so I wouldn’t be alone. He made his other students take me to breakfast, lunch, and dinner to help me order food. He got a phone plan for me. He made me text him whenever I traveled anywhere just so he would know I was safe. He got a motorcycle for me to borrow when I said I wanted my own transportation. The other grad students called me “Dr. Jao’s princess”.
I truly could not have survived here without him.
Every day, Dr. Jao takes me and his other grad student to lunch. He pays for our meals and talks with us until we are finished eating.
Afterwards, he takes us to a coffee shop. He always orders a hot cocoa. I always thought of hot cocoa as a winter treat, but my Thai dad loves to drink hot cocoa every day, it’s a true joy in his life.
Dr. Jao sits and talks with us for an hour or more. Sometimes he tells me about his childhood. Other times he wants to talk about my travels. Some days he just wants to laugh and joke. He also likes to make me practice speaking Thai.
It’s my absolute favorite part of every day, it brings me so much joy.
When I think about leaving Thailand after I graduate, drinking hot cocoa with my Thai dad is truly what I’ll miss the most.
A List Of 33 Things We Know About The Coming Food Shortages
Things are far worse than you are being told. Over the past few months, I have been carefully documenting facts that show that global food production is going to be way down in 2022.
Unfortunately, most people out there don’t seem to understand that the food that isn’t being grown in 2022 won’t be on our store shelves in 2023. We are potentially facing an absolutely unprecedented worldwide food crisis next year, but the vast majority of the population doesn’t seem very alarmed about this. So I would encourage you to help me get this warning out by sharing this list with as many people as you possibly can. As you will see below, we now have so many data points that it is impossible to deny what is coming. The following is a list of 33 things we know about the coming food shortages…
#1 The hard red winter wheat crop in the United States this year “was the smallest since 1963”. But in 1963, there were only 182 million people living in this nation. Today, our population has grown to 329 million.
#2 It is being projected that the rice harvest in California will be “half what it would be in a normal year”.
#3 The U.S. tomato harvest will come in at just 10.5 million tons in 2022. That is over a million tons lower than a normal year.
#15 At least 40 percent of the United States has been suffering from drought conditions for 101 consecutive weeks.
#16 Overall, this is the worst multi-year megadrought in the United States in 1,200 years.
#17 Europe is currently experiencing the worst drought that it has seen in 500 years. In some parts of central Europe, river levels have fallen so low that “hunger stones” are being revealed for the first time in centuries.
#27 A third of the entire nation of Pakistan was under water after recent floods absolutely devastated that nation, and agricultural areas were hit particularly hard. As a result, the vast majority of the crops in the country have been “washed away”…
It has also been estimated that roughly 65 per cent of the country’s food basket — particularly crops like rice, cotton, wheat and onion — have been washed away.Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in an interview to CGTN earlier this week, offered an even starker outlook by saying that “about 80 to 90 per cent” of the country’s crops have been damaged by the floods.
#28 The prices of some fertilizers have tripled since 2021, while the prices of some other fertilizers have actually quadrupled.
#29 One payment company is reporting that the number of Americans using their app to take out short-term loans for groceries has risen by 95 percent.
#30 Demand at U.S. food banks is now even worse than it was during the height of the COVID pandemic.
#31 The World Health Organization is telling us that millions of people in Africa are now potentially facing a very real possibility of starving to death.
#32 According to the World Food Program, 828 million people around the world go to bed hungry each night. Needless to say, that number will soon be much higher.
#33 UN Secretary General António Guterres has publicly stated that he believes that it is likely that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023.
As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, so will the risk of civil unrest.
The risk of civil unrest has surged this year in more than half of the world’s countries, signaling a coming period of heightened global instability fueled by inflation, war, and shortages of essentials, a new analysis says.According to Verisk Maplecroft, a UK-based risk consulting and intelligence firm, 101 of the 198 countries tracked on its Civil Unrest Index saw an increase in their risk of civil unrest between the second and third quarters of this year.
In recent weeks, we have seen absolutely massive protests in cities all over the planet.
But conditions aren’t even that bad yet.
So what will things be like in 2023 when it finally becomes exceedingly clear that there simply will not be enough food for everyone?
Wealthy countries will have the resources to buy up much of what is available on the market, and that means that many poor countries will deeply suffer.
If everything that you have read in this article sounds familiar, that is because we have been warned for years that such conditions were coming.
In 2023, there will be famines and civil unrest all over the globe.
This is not a drill. An extremely serious global Western food crisis has already begun, and I would encourage you to get prepared for what is ahead while you still can (if you live in the West).
Pizza Sauce Recipe – Chef John’s Secret Pizza Sauce Recipe
Come on! So easy to make. Try it!
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (3/4) Mary Wants Some Action (1976)
Here’s some “old school” television for you all.
What was the most expensive thing you ever got for free, because someone made a mistake and didn’t charge you?
Many years ago a bank ordered the repossession (repo) of my Tahoe even though I had made all the payments on time. The repo person was nice enough to come in my accountancy business and inform me in case I wanted to get my belongings out of the vehicle.
I showed him my paid receipts and he said he had no choice because he had an order to repossess the vehicle. I asked would he wait while I called the bank and my attorney. He said sure no problem. We sat in my office as I first called my attorney. My attorney asked me to call the bank with him on the line and inform the bank that my attorney was on the other line.
Now we have the bank on the phone, and after 20 minutes of research and faxing over copies of my payment receipts, the bank had admitted that I had in fact made my payments on time every month. I said “Great — can you tell the repo person that everything’s is fine?” They said they could not because the legal department was closed and they were the only ones who could cancel the repo order. So the repo had no choice but to take my Tahoe. He said I was the first person he ever heard of and saw who had proof that he had had made all his payments.
It turns out the bank had misapplied all my payments as unfound cash. I asked what that was, and they said that’s when someone comes to the bank and gives them cash and leaves without telling them what it is for. I had one question, “How many people actually do this?” I also asked them, “Why do my receipts have the loan number on them?” They did not have an answer.
After the call, my attorney told me to let the repo guy have the vehicle and since he was sure my credit was damaged to apply for business loans the next day. I applied for a business loan of $250K at several banks. All of them had turned me down because I had a repossession on my credit.
Six months later — thanks to my attorney and the bank saying they did nothing wrong — I ended up receiving a brand-new Tahoe from my local Chevy dealer for free (paid for by the bank): the most expensive model I could find with all the bells and whistles and extended warranty and whatever else they could sell me. (Note I made one car salesmen very happy, as I didn’t even want a discount.) As a bonus my attorney also forced the bank to pay me $250k since they had destroyed my credit, preventing me from obtaining a business loan, therefore losing out on the opportunity to buy another accounting practice to expand my business.
Exactly one month after that, the veterinarian next to our business had ordered a new air conditioner (AC) for his business, but the AC company took ours instead and destroyed it in the removal process. I ended up with a brand-new $10k AC unit.
2004 was a very good year for me because of other people’s mistakes.
What do I do when my husband gives me the ultimatum that it’s either him or my cat I’ve had for 12 years?
My wife came with a cat and neither me or the cat liked the other. One day while eating, that SOB clawed me at my ankle. I jumped up and told my wife that either the cat goes or i’m going. My wife looked at both of us and said that the cat wasn’t going any where and neither was i.
I looked at that damn cat and he looked at me and swear we both shrugged our shoulders and ended up becoming the best of friends.
Thousands in Mali celebrate expulsion of French ambassador
Demostrators have poured into the street of the Malian capital, Bamako, to cheer at the expulsion of the French ambassador.
The celebrations on Friday, where people waved Russian flags and burned cardboard cut-outs of French President Emmanuel Macron, came as tensions between the West African country and its former colonial power have been steadily soaring.
“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of Malians today who say ‘No’ to France. So, what the European Union and France need to do is respect the Malian authorities,” Moulaye Keita, member of the country’s National Transition Council, told reporters....
Why does China do NOTHING about the slander and lies thrown at it by the west?
Can’t China speak up for itself? Does China not realize that sooner or later, all the slander and lies could end up having it embroiled in war against America and the west, nuclear weapons or no? Doesn’t China realize that Consent for war against it is being created by the day?
China does speak up. Vociferously. But it doesn’t matter. The West has a total lock on censorship and propaganda in Western media.
Think about it…USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and EU have ganged up on China, one lone country. It’s a huge imbalance.
If these Euro-American nations are so gung-ho on starting a war with China, there isn’t much China can do about it. They can start a war but China will most certainly finish it.
China is a major nuclear power. She can certainly nuke America, Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia and Canada without breaking a sweat.
China has the world’s largest army, by far, and the world’s largest navy to boot. China has started to build supercarriers!
China has some of the most advanced stealth fighters in the J-20 and J-31.
China has operational hypersonic missiles. Even USA doesn’t.
And Russia has declared that it will come to China’s aid in the event of war.
You thought the Second World War was horrific? Fuck, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
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Has China caught up to the United States economically? If so, when did this happen?
China surpassed USA economically by purchasing power parity in 2013. China is expected to overtake USA by nominal GDP before the end of this decade.
But putting aside economic numbers, it is fairly obvious that China is already economically much more powerful than USA…
China is the economic engine and manufacturing hub of the world economy.
China has accumulated vast trade surpluses.
China is the king of infrastructure. In addition to building massive infrastructure within China, it’s also building infrastructure for countries all around the globe, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China is so powerful that she is leading BRICS to create an alternative reserve currency to the US Dollar (the pillar of American power).
It’s also important to note that USA is declining. USA faces a crushing $30 trillion national debt fueled by endless money printing. The US Dollar is backed by thin air. This is unsustainable.
Al’s Labor Day Speech | Married With Children
Dancing with the Politicians
US Foreign policy has become a full-time comedy routine
If the non-stop dancing duo Biden and Blinken is seriously seeking to validate its view that the United States of America is and should be the world’s hegemon, they are going about it the wrong way. They should be taking their lead from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky by turning their press conferences into entertainments with dancing bears and scantily clad chanteuses pirouetting and singing across the stage. They would benefit from recalling how Zelensky rose to power through his performances of comedy routines in which he would be prancing around on high heels with three colleagues who appeared to be mocking what might be construed as gay mannerisms to amuse the audience? Or perhaps the rather more outre performance where Zelensky would play a piano with his penis? If one can remember all that it would most definitely help to understand the foreign policy that is somehow playing out in Ukraine, where Zelensky has transitioned into a serious, unsmiling guy who is adept at solicitations for money and weapons. His pleading has become a shameless full-time endeavor as he now appears on thousands of screens via video link all over the world, saturating the airwaves and dropping in on both major and minor gatherings. Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone recalls how he has appeared on “the Grammy Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, the World Economic Forum and probably the Bilderberg group as well, [while also] having meetings with celebrities like Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, and Bono and the Edge from U2. It’s as busy a PR tour as he could possibly have without having a discussion about the strategic importance of long-range artillery with Elmo on Sesame Street.”
Elmo might in fact be coming next as NPR is clearly one of Zelensky’s biggest fans. One also suspects that before the Ukrainian President is finished, he will be addressing a rotary meeting in Sioux Falls South Dakota. And Zelensky has even turned begging into a family affair, with his wife Olena welcomed by the President and First Lady at the White House while also going on to address the US Congress, entreating America’s Solons to provide plenty of cash and things that go bang to thwart the ambitions of one Vladimir Putin. As she put it, she is concerned lest her son and daughter be unable to return to school and university in the fall. She then observed that “We would have answers if we had air defense systems” which would enable a “joint victory in the name of life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.”
Indeed, a high point of the recent antics has to be the unique cover photo shoot by Vogue magazine, in which the lovey-dovey couple Volodymyr and Olena grin and hug before the cameras. Zelensky declares his undying affection . Vogue aside, the entire Zelensky performance, choreographed as it is by neocons inside and outside the administration, is perfectly color and image coordinated. Zelensky has an endless supply of olive drab t-shirts and he entertains in Kiev a steady stream of statesmen and even heads of government from Europe and the US, including the US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has appointed a seasoned Justice Department “Special Investigations”, i.e. “Nazi hunter” investigator, named Eli Rosenbaum to look into possible Russian war crimes.
The Garland/Rosenbaum dynamic duo will not be looking into possible Ukrainian war crimes like the recent assassination of Darya Dugina in Moscow as it is not part of the mandate from Biden/Blinken and besides which the Ukes are America’s friends, just like the Israelis who are such great friends that they also get a pass on whatever they inflict on the Palestinians, including shooting or blowing up civilians. Indeed, Zelensky’s White House approved message is always the same: “give us money and guns and we will defeat the Russkies.” So Honest Joe Biden gives them the cash and the things that go bang in the night and in return they get a hearty hand shake when the bundles of Benjamins get transferred into the trunk of someone’s car. All of which leads one to wonder if Mr Z is the best reliable source for anything having to do with himself and the corrupt toadies that adhere to him, given the recurring reports that some donated weapons are already making their way into the black market just as quickly as the money goes into officials’ pockets. Zelensky has reacted to criticism by shutting down opposition parties and media, assassinating dissident politicians and firing or imprisoning any other official who might be inclined to disagree with him.
Apart from that, there is allegedly a war going on, which may not be evident from all the horse trading taking place at the presidential palace. It also would appear to be counter-intuitive that the Russians, blamed without much in the way of evidence for atrocity after atrocity, have apparently proven willing to let Zelensky entertain all his guests undisturbed. If you are truly committing a lot of war crimes, why not add one more to the list by blowing up the Kiev presidential palace and both killing Zelensky and probably ending the war at a stroke?
There are, in fact, two wars taking place simultaneously. There is, to be sure, fighting going on around Donbas, but the more important conflict is the phony war being waged by the Biden Administration and a number of European Chancelleries in support of whatever is actually taking place in Ukraine. This latter aspect of the war consists of perhaps the most stifling – and effective – propaganda effort the world has ever seen. It includes Joe Biden and his brigade of clowns, but it also has a supporting cast consisting of NATO, a number of European heads of state and virtually the entire western media. Social media has also joined in the struggle, banning Russian originating news stories and opinion, and using algorithms and other forms of manipulation to make reporting favorable to Moscow go away. The allied effort to defeat and destroy Russia relies on lies, half-truths, and out-and-out deception. But why bother to do it? It is because the war was preventable and avoidable, which is what the White House and other governments cannot admit to the public. It makes absolutely no sense and will benefit no one when it is over, and “over” might mean “really over” as nuclear weapons are on the table.
But what about the good old American exceptionalism which Biden-Blinken and that stalwart warrior Merrick Garland are supposed to be defending? Well, that seems to have taken a hit as much of the world, watching the fiasco unfold in Ukraine, apparently doesn’t appreciate the Anglo-Saxon sense of humor. To them, the war in Ukraine would never have started if the US and Europeans had invested in the tiniest effort as mediators to come to a negotiated solution. They have given up on the United States as a “force for good” and have rather concluded that Washington is a global bully and a regular aggressor.
Former US Air Force colonel and PhD Karen Kwiatkowski has an interesting tale to tell about how far the mighty have fallen. She writes “…I saw that the Solomon Islands refused (ignored really, which is even better) a US Coast Guard request to come to port, to buy fuel, like with real American dollars, y’all! Why was the US Coast Guard floating around the South Pacific – were they lost? After getting a fuller picture – they were looking for lawbreaking fishermen and that’s where their mission took them…” So what was the US response to this outrage, which was immediately blamed on interference by the Chinese? We need “a new embassy in the Solomon Islands… along with a new five year engagement plan in the Pacific.”
During the Cold War before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a commonly heard comment was that the country had become economically and politically an “Upper Volta with rockets,” which implied that the USSR spent so much on weapons that the civilian economy was starved of resources. Well, welcome to the former United States of America. As the nation’s decline and fall will no doubt be facilitated due to the millions of mostly Latino “asylum seekers” flowing over America’s southern border, the US as a “Bolivia with nukes” might be more appropriate. The world is tired of Washington and its pretenses and the walls will inevitably come tumbling down when the Biden unsustainable trillions of dollars of added debt-surge brings on bankruptcy Argentina style. A sharp change in course might be able to fix some of the problems, but there is an election coming up which the White House is keen to win by flooding its cherished constituencies with funny money in exchange for votes, a practice which once upon a time would have been seen as corruption. Come to think of it, the US has become a banana republic run by an essentially criminal gang that alternates every few years to pretend to be a democracy. Can’t get much lower than that, but Biden sure is trying!
How to Make Mozzarella Cheese 2 Ingredients Without Rennet
OMG! Do you have any idea about the secret pizza message that I am laying down here?
Is it true that China is trying to change the climate in one of its regions? How and why?
If you mean desert greening (as a result of which the climate inevitably changes to a more humid and less severe one), then yes – they do it, and they have success. The Mu-Us Desert is clear evidence:
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China Used a Shijian-21 Satellite to Pull Another One Out of Its Orbit
Cool, huh? Well, the USA doesn’t think so. U.S. officials are concerned the technology could be militarized.
I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot to provide direct links to some of the videos on You-Tube. Uh oh. Bummer! Even though, of course, those who subscribe to the You-tube videos might be able to catch them. Here’s a couple of videos for your pleasure.
How Template Terminology can be used in affirmation campaigns
This is an Patreon video that I have made public for MM followers.
The world has split, and the rest of the world is just starting to recognize it. The United States is “punting”. A world War III would end the United States, so a “cold war” of isolation is being set in motion. Stand by.
Let’s go through the “news”…
The power of community
“A bookstore owner in Southampton, England, has asked for help as he was relocating his library due to high rent and wanted to move books.
The man was surprised by the presence of more than 250 young, elderly, and people with special needs, who formed a human chain in which they took thousands of books and transferred them hand in hand from the old place to the new ones,
a distance of 500 feet in an hour. Those who know the value of the book and the status of knowledge, they never disappoint from their gesture”
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Have you ever been reported on by a neighbor to your HOA?
YES!
Then I made it my life’s mission to make her miserable. I am a volunteer firefighter and paramedic. I was signed up to cover a shift, but instead of waiting at the fire station, I brought the paramedic fly car home with me. You know, so I could selfishly be home, in my own house. with my family, while I did what would otherwise be a $50,000 a year job for free. The fly car in question looked kind of like this:
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It is a fire-engine-red SUV, with the fire dept name and PARAMEDIC ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT on it. It has a “Star of life” in the windows, and the heart rhythm going down the stripe. It has 911 painted on it, and it has “GOVT EXEMPT” license plates, too.
My dipshit neighbor, who was the ultimate definition of “a Karen,” even though her name is Debbie, called not just the HOA, but the POLICE. You are not allowed to have a commercial vehicle with lettering in your driveway after six pm. I told the HOA guy, that’s not a Commercial Vehicle, that’s a GOVERNMENT vehicle, an EMERGENCY VEHICLE, and it can be anywhere it needs to be, and until 8 a.m., it needs to be at my house unless somebody in this town does something that begins with, “Hey y’all watch this!” before then. I showed the HOA guy the GOVT EXEMPT plates, and then the cops basically told them the same thing.
Well she kept pushing…. and pushing…. Calling the police chief, the fire chief, the captain of EMS (GEE, WONDER WHO HE WAS, YOU DIDNT NOTICE THE LAST NAME????). Eventually the fire district lawyer firmly put his foot down, making it clear that anyone authorized to be in possession of a district vehicle can take them anywhere in the district for any purpose at any time, and anything other than quiet acceptance of this constitutes “Interference with governmental administration” and/or “obstruction of a public safety official.”
She fumed and bitched and passed around petitions. It was hilarious because the OTHER neighbors kind of dig the idea that a paramedic response is like a minute and a half away. Like when the guy across the street had his heart attack, I was literally “On Scene” before the tones went out, because the teenage kids ran and fetched me while the mom was calling 911.
She just did not seem to get it, “What, is he above the law?” YES.
“So what you’re saying is the law doesn’t apply to him?” YES.
God you’re finally getting it, you’re not nearly as stupid as you look, Debbie. LOL
But now that I knew it bothered good ole Debbie so much, and because she persisted in giving me the stink eye, I decided to be a total prick and sign out the fly car whenever it was not otherwise covered. I also enacted an “open house” policy for any other emergency personnel.
Any time, day or night, if the lighted Dalmation is on the porch, come on by for coffee and a snack. Just park whatever you are driving – Engine 302, Ladder 305, Rescue 308, ya’ll come on down. I have coffee, and popcorn, and little pizza snacks, and Backdraft, Ladder 49, AND Bringing out the Dead. Look, guys, I have the ENTIRE “Emergency!” DVD box set – all six seasons. 122 episodes of Roy and Jonny and the adventures of Engine 51.
She was sooooooo pissed.
European Natural Gas Prices Are 6 Times Higher Than Last Year, And This Is Sparking Widespread Civil Unrest All Over Europe
This is going to be a bitterly cold winter for a whole lot of people. In particular, things are likely to get really uncomfortable in Europe. Soaring energy prices and concern about potential shortages are causing anxiety all over the continent, and widespread protests have already started to take place. The cost of living has become extremely painful for those on the bottom of the economic food chain, and people want their governments to do something. Of course this is what always happens when nations embrace socialism. There is an expectation that those in charge will solve any and every problem, but this time around the limitations of the socialists running Europe will become very clear.
Thanks to the war in Ukraine and a number of other factors, the price of natural gas in Europe is now approximately six times higher than it was last year…
European natural gas prices are taking a breather amid further signs that soaring energy costs are crippling economic output, heaping pressure on politicians to resolve the crisis with winter just a few months away.Benchmark futures retreated after settling at a record high on Monday. Prices are still about six times higher than they were at this time last year, with the panic spreading across nations ahead of peak winter demand.
Needless to say, many in Europe are being completely stunned by the size of their energy bills, and a massive backlash has been brewing.
British grassroots group “Don’t Pay UK” is calling for people to boycott energy bills from Oct. 1, while the trade union-backed “Enough is Enough” campaign kicked off a series of rallies and actions in mid-August calling for pay rises, rent caps, cheaper energy and food, and taxes on the rich.A worsening cost-of-living crisis across Europe has already seen workers in France, Spain and Belgium go out on strike in the public transport, health and aviation sectors, pushing for higher wages to help them cope with rocketing inflation.
But this is just the beginning.
As supplies get even tighter this winter, energy costs are only going to go higher.
And a lot of officials in Europe are extremely concerned about the potential for shortages and blackouts.
The list of industries that are curbing output is growing. Poland’s biggest chemicals company, Grupa Azoty SA, has stopped making some of its key products and trimmed production of ammonia because of record gas prices, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Unless the war in Ukraine comes to a speedy conclusion, this crisis is not going away any time soon.
So the people of Europe are going to be asked to make additional sacrifices in the months ahead. This week, French President Emmanuel Macron actually used the phrase “end of abundance” to describe what citizens of his country would soon be facing…
Emmanuel Macron has warned the French they are facing sacrifices and what he called the “end of abundance”, at his government’s first cabinet meeting after the summer holidays.The president, speaking before ministers at the Élysée, said the country was at a “tipping point” and faced a difficult winter and a new era of instability caused by climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Based on the anger that we are already witnessing, I don’t think that the people of Europe are going to handle the “end of abundance” too well.
Meanwhile, energy prices in the U.S. continue to skyrocket as well. At this point, the price of natural gas in the U.S. has risen more than 150 percent in 2022…
U.S. natural gas prices briefly hurdled $10 per million British thermal units (BTUs) on Tuesday, the highest since 2008. They are up more than 150% this year.
Approximately half the population uses natural gas to heat their homes.
So this is really troubling news.
Energy bills in this country are going to be absolutely obscene this winter, and we have already reached a point where about one out of every 6 of us are behind on our power bills…
At least 20 million households — or about 1 in 6 American homes — are behind on their power bills as soaring electricity prices spark what is said to be the worst-ever crisis in late utility payments, according to Bloomberg, citing data from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (Neada).Neada said electricity prices had increased significantly since 2020 after a decade of stagnation. The steep rise has resulted in billions of dollars in overdue power bills.
In state after state, the percentage of customers that are behind on their energy bills just continues to go higher and higher. Here are a couple of examples…
California’s PG&E Corp. has seen a more than 40% jump since February 2020 in the number of residential customers behind on payments. For New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group, the total is up more than 30% for customers at least 90 days late—and that’s just since March.
If things are this bad already, what will the numbers look like if energy bills go up another 50 percent or more this winter?
We are being warned that a “tsunami of shutoffs” is coming, and that is not an exaggeration at all.
In both the United States and Europe, there are going to be millions upon millions of people that cannot afford to heat their homes.
And when there are vast numbers of people that cannot even afford to pay for the essentials, that is a recipe for civil unrest.
According to one professor that tracks these things, we have already seen approximately 10,000 protests of an economic nature around the world since last November…
Whichever route they choose, the coming winter is set to be plagued by social unrest, warned Naomi Hossain, a professor of development politics at the American University in Washington D.C. who is studying energy, fuel and food riots.At a conservative estimate, 10,000 such protests have taken place worldwide since last November, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation – with more expected in an uncertain future.
For years, I have been relentlessly warning that unprecedented civil unrest would be coming.
Now it is here, and it is only going to get worse.
I would very much encourage you to do what you can to become more independent from the power grid.
Energy bills are headed to heights that would have once been unimaginable, and this is going to cause excruciating pain all over the western world.
President of Belarus Announces “We have nuclear weapons”
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, announced today that the Su-24 fighter jets that his country has, have been modified to carry nuclear weapons.
According to information, however, Belarus did not PREVIOUSLY have operational Su-24s or nuclear warheads.
This means that Moscow has delivered nuclear bombs to Minsk.
Lukashenko also added that Minsk will react immediately if the West causes any problems.
This move coincides with Putin’s plan: Belarus will enter the war against Ukraine and further tighten the situation in the Suwalki Corridor on the way to Kaliningrad and the Baltic.
If the Poles attempt to block the Belarusian forces on the way to Ukraine, specifically to Lviv and Kyiv, then the use of tactical nuclear weapons will follow.
“Nothing will save you”
Lukashenko said he had agreed to modernize Belarus’ military aircraft with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian news agency Belta reported.
“They must understand that if they provoke an escalation, neither helicopters nor planes will save them,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying.
“Everything is ready,” he said, referring to work on modifying military aircraft to be able to carry nuclear weapons.
“It is not a good idea to escalate things with Belarus because this could be an escalation with the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) which has nuclear weapons.
If they start creating problems … the response will be immediate ,” the Belarusian president said.
Nebby Neighbors
We own a home on the water in WA state. It includes ownership of the tidelands in front of the property out to the low low tide mark. One day my mother in law was out on the beach digging clams. She is a non English speaking Asian woman and is dressed similar to this:
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After half an hour she comes up and talks to my wife and says the neighbor guy who has always been a grumpy old cuss has been yelling at her saying she can’t dig clams here. My wife went down with her to resume digging. He comes charging out onto my tidelands and demands they stop and to see fishing licenses. He says he was a retired Fish and Game officer and that he was going to call F&G and report them. The wife is upset but just ignores him so he stalks off to his house and they continue to collect the tasty bivalves.
I got home a short while later and am there a few minutes when I hear a knock the door. I answer and a F&G warden is standing on my porch. I ask what’s up. He says he has a report of illegal shell fishing on the beach. I call the wife and MIL up and ask what is going on. They tell of their encounter with Mr. Grumpy pants including his claim to have been a F&G warden. The F&G officer asks the key question “ Is this your property?” Yes. “ Do you own the tide lands?” Yes.
Thank you very much, because you own the tidelands all the shellfish in the tidelands belong to you and no license is required to harvest them. Sorry to bother you. He then walks next door and proceeds to read the riot act to my neighbor including threatening to haul him in for impersonating a State official. Never had another issue with the old cuss.
The last laugh is the best laugh.
Bacon, Chile and Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Jalapeño poppers are the inspiration for these addictive, crispy baked chicken breasts.
Bacon, Chile and Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
2 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 poblano chile, cored, seeded and diced
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (2 oz)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz each)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup Progresso™ plain panko crispy bread crumbs
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New Capital City for Egypt
Note: China has being cashing her US dollar treasury debt to help the developing countries across the world. A new world order with mutual destiny, mutual respect, and win win culture are slowlying spreading. The world is in the process of winning back their freedom from the crusaders bullying, looting, bombing and control.
Below from CNN:
Egypt’s new capital city moved a step closer to reality with the announcement that Chinese developers will largely fund the megaproject.
The China Fortune Land Development Company (CFLD) agreed to provide $20 billion for the currently unnamed city, after a meeting between heads of the firm and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. This follows a previous commitment of $15 billion from another Chinese state-owned company, bringing the project close to its $45 billion budget requirements for phase I.
When I was living with my ex girlfriend she heard a coworker basically bragging that she was surrendering her 1.5 year old cat to be put down because he was “stupid, hyper and destructive “ she told me and the following morning we went on a rescue mission and came home with this poor scared underweight cat (he was just under 9 pounds) you could see his rib cage and spine.
To be killed.
its been just over two years and I am no longer with that woman who convinced me to drive myself to this cats rescue. He was given a fresh chance at life. He is now a happy and healthy 13 lbs 3 year old mackerel tabby. And he is my best friend. I am so close with and love this rescue cat that I cannot fathom not knowing that hes in my room as I go to bed.
Rescued and alive and well.
New York Sees Sharpest Drop in Life Expectancy in the US
“New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tuesday showed New York experienced the largest drop in life expectancy in the nation for its residents in 2020.
The life expectancy for New Yorkers dropped by 3% from an average age of 80.7 in 2019 to 77.7 in 2020.
The shocking 3-year drop represented the sharpest decrease between the years out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the CDC’s new National Vital Statistics Report.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Hawaii saw the smallest decline in life expectancy in 2020 – just .2% from 80.9 years to 80.7 years.”
The Disposable Cigarette Lighter as an insight into manufacturing
Many people have no idea about modern manufacturing.
is a small pressure container, which contains liquid butane under 0.25Mpa pressure.
has a small piece of piezoelectric ceramic which could generate 6000V and several microamp of current.
flame is about 1300 degress at the outter layer of the flame.
contains about 20 compartments.
is made through over 10 process and dozens of equipments are involved.
is easy to use, even for kids. (but keep them away from kids)
is reliable, and usually could keep functioning till the gas is out.
is adjustable on the flame length, from 1 cm to over 10 cm.
fulfills almost all requirements.
is designed by considering calculations of phase transition, gas spread, burning conditions, flame control, etc.
costs almost nothing.
Such a lighter in the west usually costs 1 USD or even more. So what’s the secret about keeping it low priced? Not forced labor, because America has too many prisoners as forced labors.
It’s delicate designing and full supply chain coverage.
In 80’s, Japanese and Taiwanese could make much better disposable lighters, and that’s how they were trying to do in mainland China. They brought their design, invested their factories, and produced their product. However, a disposable lighter doesn’t need to last for years, but only long enough till the gas being used.
To lower the cost, mainland factories began to alter the design and look for a better solution. It’s not just lowering every spec, that would cause massive lawsuits. It was to minimize the cost, while still maintain over 3000 times lighting and 2 minutes continued burning period. People use such a lighter mostly for a cigarette, 99% of the time it would be missing before being totally used out, and no one would light a cigarette for over 2 minutes.
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A lighter has plastic, metal, chemical, and some other materials. So it would be unwise for a factory to produce them on itself. It requires several partners to focus on making one or several parts, just to reduces the cost and stablize the quality.
To support all the factories, local government must maintain a steady environment, such as water, electricity, and education, since educated and skilled workers are needed to operate machines.
Local government also needs to ensure a long period policy.
To move all the parts into the final assembally factory, it requires a functional logistics network, which is supplied by massive infrastructure investment, fast truck repairing, and a active logistics market.
Last but not least, steel plants are needed for metal parts, refinaries are needed for the gas, etc.
Behind a cheap lighter, there is a whole industrialized country.
If you think about this question again, just exactly which country has the ability to take over China’s role?
I mean the US is still the leading country in high-end technology research and product manufacturing, but what only counts a small part of the whole manufacturing industry.
Robots would solve some of the educated labor issue, but that’s not everything manufacturing industry needs. Educated people, strong infratructure, stable policy, fuctional logistics, supply chains.
Many probably don’t know that many so called “moved to Vietnam” business still require parts imported from China.
New York Governor Tells Trump Supporters “Leave the State”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, took aim at GOP gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin, saying he and other supporters of former President Donald Trump should leave the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul sparked controversy Monday night by saying “Trump and Zeldin and Molinaro — just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. OK?
Get out of town. Because you don’t represent our values”
Kathleen Hochul is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York’s first female governor, as well as the first governor from upstate New York since the 1930s.
The West’s Dangerously Simple-Minded Narrative About Russia and China
The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy.
Europe should reflect on the fact that the non-enlargement of NATO and the implementation of the Minsk II agreements would have averted this awful war in Ukraine.
The essential narrative of the West is built into US national security strategy. The core US idea is that China and Russia are implacable foes that are “attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” These countries are, according to the US, “determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”
The irony is that since 1980 the US has been in at least 15 overseas wars of choice (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Panama, Serbia, Syria, and Yemen just to name a few), while China has been in none, and Russia only in one (Syria) beyond the former Soviet Union. The US has military bases in 85 countries, China in 3, and Russia in 1 (Syria) beyond the former Soviet Union.
President Joe Biden has promoted this narrative, declaring that the greatest challenge of our time is the competition with the autocracies, which “seek to advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world, and justify their repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today’s challenges.” US security strategy is not the work of any single US president but of the US security establishment, which is largely autonomous, and operates behind a wall of secrecy.
The overwrought fear of China and Russia is sold to a Western public through manipulation of the facts. A generation earlier George W. Bush, Jr. sold the public on the idea that America’s greatest threat was Islamic fundamentalism, without mentioning that it was the CIA, with Saudi Arabia and other countries, that had created, funded, and deployed the jihadists in Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere to fight America’s wars.
Or consider the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, which was painted in the Western media as an act of unprovoked perfidy. Years later, we learned that the Soviet invasion was actually preceded by a CIA operation designed to provoke the Soviet invasion! The same misinformation occurred vis-à-vis Syria. The Western press is filled with recriminations against Putin’s military assistance to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad beginning in 2015, without mentioning that the US supported the overthrow of al-Assad beginning in 2011, with the CIA funding a major operation (Timber Sycamore) to overthrow Assad years before Russia arrived.
Or more recently, when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recklessly flew to Taiwan despite China’s warnings, no G7 foreign minister criticized Pelosi’s provocation, yet the G7 ministers together harshly criticized China’s “overreaction” to Pelosi’s trip.
The Western narrative about the Ukraine war is that it is an unprovoked attack by Putin in the quest to recreate the Russian empire. Yet the real history starts with the Western promise to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not enlarge to the East, followed by four waves of NATO aggrandizement: in 1999, incorporating three Central European countries; in 2004, incorporating 7 more, including in the Black Sea and Baltic States; in 2008, committing to enlarge to Ukraine and Georgia; and in 2022, inviting four Asia-Pacific leaders to NATO to take aim at China.
Nor do the Western media mention the US role in the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych; the failure of the Governments of France and Germany, guarantors of the Minsk II agreement, to press Ukraine to carry out its commitments; the vast US armaments sent to Ukraine during the Trump and Biden Administrations in the lead-up to war; nor the refusal of the US to negotiate with Putin over NATO enlargement to Ukraine.
Of course, NATO says that is purely defensive, so that Putin should have nothing to fear. In other words, Putin should take no notice of the CIA operations in Afghanistan and Syria; the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999; the NATO overthrow of Moammar Qaddafi in 2011; the NATO occupation of Afghanistan for 15 years; nor Biden’s “gaffe” calling for Putin’s ouster (which of course was no gaffe at all); nor US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stating that the US war aim in Ukraine is the weakening of Russia.
At the core of all of this is the US attempt to remain the world’s hegemonic power, by augmenting military alliances around the world to contain or defeat China and Russia. It’s a dangerous, delusional, and outmoded idea. The US has a mere 4.2% of the world population, and now a mere 16% of world GDP (measured at international prices). In fact, the combined GDP of the G7 is now less than that of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), while the G7 population is just 6 percent of the world compared with 41 percent in the BRICS.
There is only one country whose self-declared fantasy is to be the world’s dominant power: the US. It’s past time that the US recognized the true sources of security: internal social cohesion and responsible cooperation with the rest of the world, rather than the illusion of hegemony. With such a revised foreign policy, the US and its allies would avoid war with China and Russia, and enable the world to face its myriad environment, energy, food and social crises.
Above all, at this time of extreme danger, European leaders should pursue the true source of European security: not US hegemony, but European security arrangements that respect the legitimate security interests of all European nations, certainly including Ukraine, but also including Russia, which continues to resist NATO enlargements into the Black Sea. Europe should reflect on the fact that the non-enlargement of NATO and the implementation of the Minsk II agreements would have averted this awful war in Ukraine. At this stage, diplomacy, not military escalation, is the true path to European and global security.
When things go wrong
The worst year of my life… 2008
I was developing a 72 unit condo in a vacation area
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With a huge pool at the roof top
Everything was done
Building permits
Financing
Marketing
Even pre-sales
I was happy
Then… while we were at the peak of our sales season
A Category 2 Hurricane passed through the vacation area
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Complete devastation
The area was without power for several weeks
We lost a few pre-sales
As if things couldn’t get any worse
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The 2008 Financial Meltdown destroyed my dream…
Took 100% of my investment money… lost everything
Took almost 3 years of my life invested into this project
Took my investors trust
Took my friends for money issues
Took my reputation
Took my pride
Took my joy
The entrepreneurial life is not easy.
But this didn’t stop me.
Strangely… this is a way of life.
I can’t quit… I won’t quit.
Lesson?
As an entrepreneur… don’t expect one problem
I should add:
Tough Finances
Family Sacrifices
Depression and getting back up
Misunderstood and called crazy
Pains of failure
Execution problems
Bad partnerships
Deceived, tricked, robbed, backstabbed
etc… etc… etc…
“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”
Raising a little girl
My daughter was being bullied in high school by a few other girls. More than once they ganged up on her, slapped her around, embarrassed her. The school wouldn’t do anything but make excuses. So during summer break between her freshman/sophomore year I got her outside and taught her how to box. Gloves, punching bag, jumprope, the works.
To be honest, I really didn’t technically teach her how to box. I showed her how to get her wind up, keep her chin down, and taught her how to hit. How to punch through, to counter punch, and put together combinations. Put her shoulder behind it, and her hip into it.. And she done well. Before summer was over I had the bruises to prove it.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I told her to walk away when she could. I made her promise. But if she found herself jammed up, don’t just stand there and let herself get beat up.
Well, once school started it was only a few weeks before the phone rang. They told me my daughter was alright. Then right away, off to the principal’s office I went. The same three girls had jumped on her again in one of the bathrooms. When I got there the first thing I saw was two girls sitting in the outer office wearing bloody clothes. The secretary showed me right into the principal’s office, and there sat my daughter without a scratch on her. The story was she whipped two of them and the third girl ran away.
So we got through all of that, warning about this, threats of suspension if it happens again, blah, blah. About halfway through the school year, and my phone rings again. This time it’s my wife. The school called, my little girl’s been fighting again.
Her best friend is a gorgeous sweet heart of a young girl, whose only physical flaw is she had been a breach birth. It damaged her hips, and she walks with a severe limp. They were in the school cafeteria and a couple boys were picking on my daughter’s friend. Apparently it was more than she could stand, because my little girl got up and beat the snot out of both of those boys before anybody could stop her. Then when I got to the school there they sat, in the same spot, bloodied up worse than the girls before. Now she had started beating up the boys, two at a time. After the dust settled she was suspended from school for three days.
I don’t regret teaching her to defend herself, and if I encouraged her that’s alright too. Since she was in the right (mostly) I took her side just as I promised I would. We left the school and had pizza buffet for lunch, I wasn’t angry.
I’ll tell you what though, don’t think that girl can’t hit. But maybe I should have taught her how to wrestle instead.
The Hal Turner Radio Show received an email overnight which read as follows:
Son in law just got the call.
He's army ranger airborne copter munitions specialist.
All hands on deck.Deployment ASAP.Kiev.
Getting even against bullies
Oh this one is going to be good, the story of sweet, sweet revenge 🙂
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I used to train skiing and there was one guy that was sort of bullying everyone. Since he was a lot taller and bigger nobody really fought back, and every time he tried made it look like a joke while really humiliating the victim.
One day we were sitting in a large dining hall eating, when he decided it would be fun to try to push my head in the bowl of pasta bolognese.
Now, he did it just enough to keep my head really close without me really touching the food.
While this was happening I looked him in the eyes and said “watch this mother******” , and I put my head into the bowl of pasta covering my full face and started complaining loudly so that the trainer heard me.
This was the point when he knew he was done.
The trainer ran over, and immediately started screaming at him. He then called his parents to come to pick him up, but… but…
But not before he had the worst training of his life, including 15km run, up hill sprints, push ups etc.
And it lasted for as long as he didn’t puke!
The best part of this story is that he knew I set him up, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it, and as a result I never had problem with him again.
One day a street cat in an extreme cold went under the window of a fire station trusting that individuals would help her.
Someone at the Steinbach Fire Department in Canada was greatly amazed when he strolled by and saw a little feline gazing out the window at him.“
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It was a frosty evening and she was stopping outside of the window. At the point when one of our firemen headed outside, she ran directly to him.”
The feline didn’t go anywhere and kept on sitting under the window. Obviously, she had no place to go.
Firemen let the feline into the room, worrying that in the evening in an extreme cold it would freeze.
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In the glow, the feline should have been visible better, it turned out to be foul and truly needed to eat. Simultaneously the feline quickly reacted with a purr.
The fire boss Kelvin, who already had four felines at home, proposed to briefly take it to his home. He called her Amber and took her to the vet for assessment the following day.
Aside from mild frostbite on the tips of the ears, the veterinarian viewed the feline as very sound.
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“I sent her photograph and story on Facebook, possibly somebody lost her. Yet, when for a considerable length of time nobody reacted, we again took her to the vet, where she was immunized and tracked down ear parasites on her, from which we quickly started to remedy her.”
During these assessments, Amber didn’t avoid by any means, yet appeared to appreciate human consideration.
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A few firemen wished to make Amber a station feline, yet it worked out that the station has days off when there isn’t even a duty official and there will be nobody to take care of the feline at that time.
Then, at that point, they chose to track down a forever home for her. We posted her photos on Facebook and it seems as though we’ve find out a forever home for her,” Kelvin said.
Let me preface this post by saying my son is the SWEETEST kid in the world. That is not hyperbole. My son is quite possibly the sweetest child on the planet.
And he’s been through a LOT in his 8 years on this ride called “Life”. More than I ever could’ve predicted when he was born. From his father being in an accident that left me considerably disabled (I’m doing alright now, thank God) to his mother abandoning him to pursue the elusive “White Dragon” and everything in between.
Couple all that trauma with a speech impediment and a delay in his motor skills, and you’re left with a shy socially awkward little boy with an absolute heart of gold.
The past two summers, I sent my son to a day camp. I wanted him to overcome his social anxieties and make some damn friends.
But this year, on the very first day, he was beaten up by two boys on the bus ride home. They were brothers. One his age, the other a few years older.
He didn’t want to tell me when he got home. But I quickly recognized when he walked in the door that something was off. I had to really prod him to get him to open up.
He said the boys had started ganging up on him so he went to the bus matron, but she sent him back to his seat. She may have had trouble understanding him if he was upset or flustered, but she should have had some patience and figured out what was happening.
I called the camp supervisor immediately and was assured it would be handled.
A few days later, it happened again. This time with a third participant joining in the bullying.
I told my son, who is a very big strong kid (he’s 5 feet tall and weighs 130 lbs.) that if the staff is failing to protect him, then he has to defend himself (being as big as he is, but as shy as he is, with his speech impediment, he’s always a target for bullies. So he takes martial arts classes just in case…) but he said “No dad, fighting is against the rules and I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
I’m getting a bit choked up just thinking about that conversation… and those brats are damn LUCKY my boy is so kind because he could SMASH kids his age if he wanted!
“Besides dad, they can’t hurt me because I’m bigger than them.”
God damnit, imagining anyone taking advantage of my son’s big heart makes the fighter in me want to go do to their parents what the parents failed to teach their kids NOT to do. I know that wouldn’t solve anything, but I would definitely feel vindicated to some degree…but I digress.
A few days later, somebody made fun of him for not being good at soccer while they were playing. Again, no adult stepped in. So my son left the game and went to sit by himself in the lunch area. When he sat down, one of these boys snuck up behind him and dumped a cup of dirt over his head. Then another boy ran up and shoved him and ran off.
When he told me this, I lost my shit. It was a Friday so my family advised me to wait until Monday to call the supervisor, after I had a chance to calm down and THINK.
I called first thing Monday morning, a half hour before his bus pickup, leaving myself ample time to cancel the bus if the call didn’t go well enough that I felt he was ‘safe’.
We’re getting close to the original question now. If you’re a parent, especially of a special needs child, be prepared to be FUCKING OUTRAGED.
The supervisor (she’s lucky I don’t believe in “doxing” people. Sometimes it requires great restraint to remain composed and responsible) asked me what the three boys’ names were. I told her I didn’t know, but asked why SHE didn’t know yet!?! After all, this was our FOURTH discussion about the same serious issue!!
She said, “If you can’t give me the boys’ names, what am I supposed to do? Besides, this happened on FRIDAY, and you’re just calling me NOW?”
I said, “I did you a FAVOR by not calling on Friday, because I would not have been able to control myself on Friday. So I’m calling you TODAY. And my son doesn’t KNOW the boys’ names, but I was under the impression YOU had figured that out by now!” to which she replied, “Your son has been taking the bus with these kids for three weeks. How does he not know their names by now??”
I wasn’t sure if she was insinuating my son was LYING or she was ridiculing him. Both scenarios would’ve incensed me equally.
I replied, “My son doesn’t know their names because he has social anxiety due to his speech! So it’s hard talking to kids he doesn’t know, because he’s ashamed of his speech impediment.” I continued, “I explained these issues to you before I paid you the three grand for the camp! You assured me you were qualified and adept at caring for special needs kids. If that wasn’t the case, you should have told me so from the start!”
She replied, “Look I’ve tried talking to your son about the beatings and the bullying. I couldn’t understand anything he said. So if your son can’t talk clearly enough to tell me what’s going on, I don’t know what to tell you!”
I hung up on her.
I scoured the internet to track down the man who OWNS the camp.
When I called him, he said he’d already spoken to his supervisor and she informed him that “it sounded like Mr. Pinto and his son need a break from camp.” The $3000 plus lunch, trip fees and supplies camp. Yeah, she thought we needed a break from THAT.
But the owner is a ‘real’ professional caregiver. He wanted to hear my side of the story.
So I filled him in on what happened. And he wasnt very happy.
He informed me that he was a special needs child too, and he was bullied for it, and he knew first hand the long term damage it can do. He apologized and said “This type of crap has NO PLACE in my camps!”
Then he asked if he could call me back…
because he had to “Go deal with some people”.
He called me back two hours later and informed me those boys were no longer members of the camp, and his staff would be undergoing training again. He also called the bus company and said special needs children are never to be out of the sight of the matron, and if they can’t adequately monitor the children, he’d use another company…
He even picked one of the college aged counselors to be my son’s “buddy”. The kid went everywhere with my son (as a “buddy”, not a chaperone) and helped him assimilate into a group of friends. This really helped my son open up and socialize the last two weeks.
And there was never an issue again. Just like that.
Two hours; problem solved. ‘Real’ caregiver.
Amazing how simple it was to eliminate the problem once somebody gave a damn.
Bullying is a serious issue and should be treated as such.
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You never know…
My father was a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He built our house and all the furniture in it. It was his joy. But in addition to being a carpenter he was also something of an asshole and a strict and often violent father. As a result I grew up to despise and hate him. My brothers and I were often called to help him on a job – which we had to do for free. One entire summer we worked framing a house from May until September, for which we were paid a grand total of 100 dollars. So I swore that when I grew up I would never, ever pick up a hammer again. Ever.
And so it went. Unless I was forced to do something with wood, I refused to do it. And then my dad died and I inherited his cabinet making shop. It stood idle for years until one day, out of curiosity, I visited the shop. The smells of my childhood sprang instantly back to me as I opened the door. The building was dark and silent, the old sawdust rotting on the floor, the tools lined up in racks, rusting away, the machines sitting idle. As I strolled around the shop I suddenly had the desire to make a wooden box. My father always said that almost every project starts with a box. And without thinking I picked up a pencil and a square and laid out a box. Over the next few weeks, I made a really nice blanket box that I still have. But what was more, I found myself increasingly interested in making things at the shop.
At about that time I had a girlfriend who liked to travel and one of the places we visited was Mystic, Connecticut where there is an entire museum town and shipyard representing life in the whaling period of New England in the mid to late 1800s. After an interesting and educational visit we went to the gift shop, because she also liked to buy things, and there was a book of plans for boat and shipbuilding. She loved the architectural diagrams and wanted me to frame some of the builder’s diagrams of ships and boats for art. So she bought the book and handed it to me.
Later I took the book to the shop with the intention of cutting out the scaled-down diagrams and putting them in a nice frame for her. I started flipping through the book for the best and most complicated drawings. By then my carpentry skills and curiosity had grown enough that I was interested in how things were made and I paid particular attention to the boat joinery. I knew I could never make a boat – that took skill that was far, far beyond me, but the way that the compound angles and joinery of ship making was incredibly fascinating. Instead of making the picture frame, I pulled out some lumber and formed the stem of a boat – just to see how the wood worked together. I had no intention of going further. But the next time I went to the shop I cut out a keel… and attached it to the stem. And soon I was attaching ribs. I had never done anything like this before and many times I pulled out the chainsaw to cut it into firewood before someone saw the embarrassment. But I kept coming back to it. The plans in the book were like 1/6 scale – if you wanted to build a full size ship, they were willing to sell you the entire kit for some amount of money, I forget how much now, but I said, “Screw that. I’m not buying plans for a boat I will never build. I simply don’t have the skill.” So instead I took a protractor and a compass and a set of dividers and I scaled the plans up directly onto some plywood, which I cut into strakes and thwarts and screwed onto the ribs.
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Within a few months, to my amazement, there was a giant boat in my shop. I say “giant” with a bit of sarcasm. When I started, I figured the thing might be 8 or 10 feet when I was done – but when I was finished, it was almost 20 feet long. To me, that was enormous. And I kept saying, “I can’t do this – I just don’t have the skill,” especially when it came time to fiberglass the hull and cracks and so on. I used the West System and I was terrified. I had heard so many horror stories from old timers about its combustibility, about how fast it set, about how hard it was to work with, about how dangerous it was, that I moved timidly though a batch that would fit in a Dixie cup while wearing a full face mask and respirator and long rubber gloves and a leather apron. Imagine my amazement when it went on like rubber cement and dried to golden amber. The next time I made a bigger batch in a coffee can and eschewed most of the safety gear. The fiberglass filler filled up every crack and mistake the way frosting makes an ugly cake beautiful and the fiberglass mesh was stronger than steel when it dried. In another month the shell was complete. I was completely awestruck. I had made a boat. I painted it in vibrant colors and because it was such a heartache to me every time I made a mistake through lack of skill and knowledge, I hung the name on the transom – “Little Beeyotch”. I stepped a mast and put on all kinds of lines and a little pirate flag and then I towed it 150 miles to my house in Maine. I was absolutely certain it would go straight to the bottom when it was launched.
On a cloudy spring morning a neighbor helped me launch. The boat slid off the trailer, banged into the ground and slid into the water. And then it started to float away while I stood on the shore in surprise. It was floating. I couldn’t believe it. But now it was too far away to wade out to – I had to swim for it. When I grabbed the thwart, I went to pull myself into the boat, looking inside for the spraying fountains of water I expected from a dozen leaks. But the boat was bone dry. The West System had proved itself. “I could make a cinder block seaworthy with that stuff,” I marveled. And I grabbed the oars and went for ride around the lake. I had made a sailboat – and it survived for more than ten years.
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Lu Xiulian: When Taiwan becomes a battlefield, the next step is to become a cemetery – yqqlm
China Taiwan Net, August 24th, according to the Hong Kong China Review News Agency, a few days ago, former deputy leader of Taiwan Lv Xiulian attended an island think tank forum. She said that the two sides of the strait are distant relatives and close neighbors. Everyone applies wisdom to prevent war. “When Taiwan becomes a battlefield, the next step is to become a cemetery.”
Lu Xiulian said that how to avoid war and seek peace between the two sides of the strait is very important. We should use more wisdom, compassion and courage to face and solve problems.
Lu Xiulian said that when the United States continues to stir up troubles in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan may become a battlefield for others. It is foreseeable that when a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, the first sacrifice will be Taiwan, so Taiwan must use its wisdom to get out of trouble. The two sides of the strait are distant relatives and close neighbors. Don’t fall into the dilemma of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “When Taiwan becomes a battlefield, the next step is to become a cemetery, which should never be the case.”
Lu Xiulian emphasized that peace will come not just by shouting the slogan “We want peace”, but to try to resolve the contradictions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Recent polls have clearly shown that the Taiwanese people do not want war, nor do they want to ” Resist China”, because “anti-China” cannot “protect Taiwan”, everyone should adjust the current disadvantages on the premise of peace and the happiness of the next generation. (Editor/Reviewer Yin Sainan/Gauss)
A fresh start
I had been homeless for nearly a year. There was a bench I liked sitting on where I could scowl at the people driving by. There was a stop light right on the corner so I had them captive for a couple of minutes or so. One day, someone rolled down the window in their car and asked me if I was interested in working. I recognized the lady from the community college I had attended many years before. She handed me a business card and drove away. She was the station manager of a nearby radio station. I called her later from a payphone and she asked me to come to work the next day. I showed up not knowing what to expect. She gave me a few radio scripts to read in the control booth. A couple of other people had gathered to listen and as I was reading, I saw smiles and then nods. The station manager called me back into her office. She handed me three hundred dollars in cash and said I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Go get cleaned up.
This was me the next day:
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Creamy Chicken One-Pot Pasta
When the craving for a creamy, cheesy pasta strikes—but you still need to bring some protein and veggies to the table—this one-pot meal is your simple solution. Chicken, bell peppers and green onions make this a dinner that’s complete, comforting and little grownup all at the same time.
Creamy Chicken One-Pot Pasta
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 to 1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 cup diced yellow bell pepper (about 1 large)
1/2 cup sliced green onion whites
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
12 oz uncooked rotini pasta (3 3/4 cups)
1 cup frozen sweet peas
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 oz)
1/4 cup sliced green onion greens
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The Layoff Tsunami Has Begun: 50% Of U.S. Companies Plan To Eliminate Jobs Within The Next 12 Months
If half of the firms in the entire country really do cut jobs over the next year, what will our economy look like afterwards? All over America, companies are anticipating that a major economic downturn is coming in 2023, and a lot of them are already planning to shed workers in order to cut costs. Of course this sounds so much like what we went through back in 2008 and 2009. Millions of Americans lost their jobs during the “Great Recession”, and it was truly a very dark time in our history. So are we right on the verge of seeing a repeat?
Let hope that isn’t the case.
Unfortunately, a brand new survey that was just released has discovered that 50 percent of all U.S. companies plan to eliminate jobs within the next 12 months. The following comes from CNBC…
Meanwhile, 50% of firms are anticipating a reduction in overall headcount, while 52% foresee instituting a hiring freeze and 44% rescinding job offers, according to a PwC survey of 722 U.S. executives fielded in early August.These are executives’ expectations for the next six months to a year, and therefore may evolve, according to Bhushan Sethi, co-head of PwC’s global people and organization group.
Can those numbers be accurate?
I knew that things were bad because I write about this stuff on a daily basis.
But I didn’t think that half of the firms in the entire nation were already looking to cut workers.
Wow.
At this moment, I am at a loss for words.
It’s going to get bad out there. If you have a good job right now, try to do whatever you can to hold on to it.
Sadly, some of the biggest names in the corporate world have already started to lay off workers. For example, Ford Motor just announced that it will be laying off “roughly 3,000 white-collar and contract employees”…
Ford Motor confirmed Monday it is laying off roughly 3,000 white-collar and contract employees, marking the latest in its efforts to slash costs as it makes a longer-range transition to electric vehicles. Ford sent an internal email Monday to employees, saying it would begin notifying affected salaried and agency workers this week of the cuts. The email was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Home goods company Wayfair decided to cut approximately 870 workers to help manage operation costs and “realign its investment priorities” following the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press (AP) reported this week.
I thought that Wayfair was doing quite well.
I guess not.
In a desperate attempt to stay afloat, Peloton has also chosen to lay off “hundreds of workers”…
Seeking to cut costs and end a flood of red ink, Peloton is planning to raise prices on key products, shutter stores and lay off hundreds of workers, according to a memo from CEO Barry McCarthy.
And even Groupon is getting in on the act. 500 of their workers will now be updating their resumes…
Chicago-based Groupon today laid off more than 500 of its employees — 15% of its 3,416-person headcount — according to posts from former employees on social media. The reduction impacted workers in teams including merchant development, sales, recruiting, engineering, product and marketing.
Other big names that have announced layoffs in recent weeks include Best Buy, HBO Max, Shopify, Re/Max and Walmart.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As this new economic downturn deepens, countless more Americans will lose their jobs.
And as that happens, all of a sudden there will be vast numbers of people that can’t pay their mortgages or make their rent payments, and that will make our new housing crash even worse.
We are now very clearly past the peak of the housing bubble, and the ride down is going to be really painful.
Last year at this time, the housing market in California was extremely hot, but now the numbers are definitely heading in the other direction…
Sales volume of single-family houses (SFH) in California plunged by 14% in July from June, seasonally adjusted, and by 31% from a year ago, the 13th month in a row of year-over-year declines, according to the California Association of Realtors.Sales volume of condos plunged by 18% in July from June, and by 36% from a year ago.Prices eventually follow volume: The median price of single-family houses dropped 3.5% in July from June, down for the second month in a row, slashing the year-over-year gain to just 2.8%.
If you are trying to sell a house right now, I would encourage you to try to get that done as quickly as possible before prices fall precipitously.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply Monday, in its worst day since June, as the summer rally fizzled out and fears of aggressive interest rate hikes returned to Wall Street.The Dow fell 643.13 points, or 1.91%, to 33,063.61. The S&P 500 dropped 2.14% to 4,137.99, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.55% to 12,381.57, respectively. It was the worst day of trading since June 16 for the Dow and the S&P 500.
I think that a lot of people want to get out of the market before the summer ends.
Needless to say, there are many out there that are anticipating that the last few months of this year will not be kind to the financial markets.
On September 29th, 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777 points. That was a brand new record at that time, and it was a spark that set off mass panic on Wall Street.
Could we see something similar once summer is over?
Only time will tell.
But what we do know is that the U.S. economy is really starting to implode, and the stage is being set for the sort of historic economic meltdown that I have portrayed in my books.
At this point, everyone should be able to see that really hard times are on the horizon.
Those that are prudent will do what they can to get prepared in advance.
American Homeless
Having lived in Southern California my whole life, I’ve had lots of time to observe the homeless. This is my city, San Diego:
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To give my opinion of the homeless, first I must tell you there are a few distinct kinds:
The Invisible Homeless: these people were previously middle or working class, and have fallen on hard times. You can find them at the public library, freshly showered from the gym (they have enough in their account to pay membership fees, but not enough for rent), filling out job applications, or just browsing reddit on the computers. At UCSD, I was shocked to learn that one of my fellow philosophy majors was sleeping in his car, because he couldn’t afford housing. He was always well dressed, and doing great in class. He had a van and a family in another city so he wasn’t that bad off, but technically still homeless.
Pariah Homeless: these unfortunate souls are usually extremely mentally ill, addicted, victims of childhood abuse, and/or were imprisoned early in their lives for petty crimes, and never recovered. These are the people who have been allowed to fall through the cracks in our Neoliberal economy. They should be in state facilities receiving medical care and counseling, not sleeping under the freeway. However, they’re not very sympathetic because they can be dangerous, delusional, and impossible to have a conversation with. They have no job skills, nor the ability to acquire any, so you have no illusions of being able to give them “a leg up”. Therefore, most of us just ignore them, to our shame.
Sane Homeless: these are the hardest to ignore. They face all the same challenges as the Pariah homeless, but are fundamentally sane, sober, normal people. They’re often very kindhearted, having nothing else to rely on but their human relationships. This makes you really feel bad for them. The upshot is that they have the potential to escape homelessness, and can do well when given assistance. When you help them, you feel you’re actually accomplishing something.
Hobo Homeless: these people choose homelessness of their own free will. Often they enjoy a vagabond lifestyle, or are simply too restless to hold down a job. You have less sympathy for these people, because they can be a drain on resources meant for the Pariah and Sane homeless. They’re often antisocial and criminally minded, so you can’t trust them at all. However, I don’t take issue with the hobo lifestyle in and of itself, and I accept that some people are simply not wired for this modern world.
America
What can a newly homeless person do when the shelters turn him away?
I have never stayed at shelters to start with but I couldn’t right now if I wanted to, and believe as cold as it is I wish I could. My work hours and schedule make it so I have to choose between keeping my job or being warm at night.
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There is my current camp. If you are lucky you have a car but it’s impossible to give you advice without knowing the area, I have been homeless for 7 years now and know plenty about how to stay alive out here. Hopefully I’ll get my motorcycle back from the shop sometime and then I can get into a place to live.
Just thought I’d add a edit because it seemed like some people might be interested. I had to move my camp because they were clearing the woods around me.
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This is how I left the woods were I was staying, so you can see that not all homeless people leave places trashed. Were I’m at now is a place I had noticed awhile back and wasn’t very sure about it but I told my friend about it and he has been here for about a month. It’s really quite unusual or interesting. It’s gated and right off the main road but nobody has complained about us being here. The cops stopped once and asked who owns the land and we told them that we don’t know and asked if they did and they don’t. So we have a little gated homeless community, locked gate and all.
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As you can see I got my vehicle back and that is his tent and area.
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And that is my tent and my view out like I said right on the main road. I have never seen anything like this in the years that I have been homeless but it’s convenient and we have picked up the trash that was here so hopefully it will last long enough for me to get into a place.
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Woman adopts 20-year-old cat because she didn’t want him to spend the end of his life in a cage
September 22, 2021. Photo: Shelter staff :
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Later, on reddit:
Remember that woman a few months ago who adopted a 20-year-old cat from a shelter because she didn't want him to alone ? Looks as though they are both doing fine.
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The woman has not been identified. There have been no further updates, but this sweet kitty and all others like him should be loved and cherished until the last day of life.
Here is a short blurb of an article about a mystery. Please take a moment and enjoy the mystery presented here. Savor it. It will make good conversational discussion with some friends at the pub, or at the water fountain at work.
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Stories of ghost ships adrift in the vast expanses of ocean have survived since man first took to the sea. Legends about ships like The Flying Dutchman, which was lost under the leadership of Van der Decken near the Cape of Good Hope as they traveled toward the East Indies, continue to spring up in reports given by sailors claiming to see the cursed vessel ever continuing on its voyage.
Another famous ship, the Mary Celeste, was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872, completely unharmed and in good working order, but missing its crew, a lifeboat, and the captain’s logbook. All of the crew’s possessions remained on board, as well as its untouched payload of 1500 barrels of alcohol, prompting a number of theories ranging from mutiny to poisoning to sheer madness.
The two-thirds of our planet covered by water has always been ripe with mysteries, thanks in large part to its ability to swallow ships, airplanes, survivors, and wreckage into its depths, never to be seen again. Without any evidence left behind to help us to understand what happens on ships like the Mary Celeste, the mystery proves enduring, and like a fine wine, mysteries often get better with age. But not every ghost ship is lost at sea. Some ghost ships, in fact, are of the airborne variety.
Nazi U-Boats proved to be a significant threat to allied naval efforts throughout World War II, prompting a number of novel approaches to spotting and combating submarines before they could sneak up on our ships. One such approach was the use of L-Class blimps, which could float above the ocean and spot submerged enemy vessels.
On the morning of August 16th, 1942, Lieutenant Ernest Cody and Ensign Charles Adams climbed aboard their L-8 Airship, a former Goodyear Blimp that had been procured by the Navy in April of that year to deliver equipment to the carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) while at sea. Their mission was simple: head out to sea from their post on Treasure Island in California and look for any signs of enemy submersibles.
Prior to the August flight, Lt. Cody had flown the L-8 out to the Carrier Hornet to make one last delivery as the ship, and sixteen B-25 bombers, headed across the Pacific, bound for Tokyo. (National Archives) .
“We figured by that time it was a submarine,” said Wesley Frank Lamoureux, a member of the Navy’s Armed Guard Unit who was aboard the cargo ship Albert Gallatin. “From then on, I am not too positive of the actions of the dirigible except that it would come down very close over the water. In fact, it seemed to almost sit on top of the water.”
According to his testimony, the blimp dropped two flares and circled the area, which was in keeping with protocol when investigating the possibility of a German sub. The Albert Gallatin cargo ship, believing the blimp could have located a U-Boat, sounded the general alarm, manned their guns, and made a hasty exit from the area. It would be the last time anyone would see the L-8 operating under the controls of its crew.
A few hours later, the massive air-ship approached the quiet town of Daly City, California. The sagging blimp eventually came to rest after getting snagged in power lines and crashing onto Bellevue Avenue. Crowds quickly amassed in the chaos and a number of people approached the wreckage in hopes of saving the crew… only to find the cabin empty.
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The pilot’s parachute remained where it had been stowed before the trip, the lifeboat was still there as well. The pilot’s cap sat atop the instrument panel, and its payload of two bombs was secured. A briefcase containing confidential documents the crew had orders to dispose of if compromised also remained on board. The only things out-of-place were the blimp itself, and its missing crew.
Like the Mary Celeste, the L-8’s crew had seemed to vanish without a trace, prompting its own slew of theories.
Some assumed both the pilot and ensign had simply fallen out of the vessel, though it would have been nearly impossible to do so without both crew members leaving the cabin of the ship while it was still airborne. If there was something damaged that required both men to address on the external hull of the vessel, there was no evidence to suggest what it was in the wreckage.
The blimp finally came to rest atop Richard Johnston’s freshly waxed car in Daly City, Calif. just South of San Francisco. (National Archives) .
Another theory postulated that the two men, were taken prisoner. They supposed that in the course of investigating the oil slick, lowered their blimp enough to be taken prisoner by the crew of the U-Boat or a Japanese vessel.
Still, others postulated that the two men were embroiled in a love triangle that drove one to kill the other and then escape by diving into the sea.
Other suppose a UFO was involved and either Reptilians or other dangerous extraterrestrials abducted them for heinous experimentation.
Despite a thorough investigation, no conclusion could ever be drawn.
After running circles for two weeks North of Taiwan And staying way outside of China's missile range, it seems that the (American aircraft carrier) Reagan has tucked its tail and gone back to Japan,where the sailors are free to run over some random Japanese with a simple slap on the wrist.-cindy6
I am crazy busy. Please enjoy this latest article for today.
What China’s Taiwan white paper is saying
This important document is intended to remind the West that China will not budge on its position on Taiwan
This excellent piece by a true China expert, George Koo, is all you need if you don’t want to read the White Paper on Taiwan produced by the People’s Republic of China government.
Four essential realities from Koo's article :
1- Taiwan will be reunited with the Mainland.
2- The Taiwanese are waking up to the reality (obvious for any non brainwashed outsider with a tad of common sense) that the US government is not their friend and Americans will not die for Taiwan. The Taiwanese don't seem to be strongly attracted to the role of cannon fodder. What's happening now in Ukraine is certainly a cautionary tale for them.
Moreover, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan backed off and sailed away when the People's Liberation Army Navy started at the beginning of August 2022 the naval exercises around the island of Taiwan. That event was definitely an eye-opener for all the Taiwanese, even the most obtuse ones.
3- The more the Taiwanese learn about Mainland China's pĺace in the world, the more they will want to be part of it.
4- The Taiwanese enjoy immense benefits by their close economical association with Mainland China. And more and more Taiwanese realize it's truly valuable.
By flying to Asia and landing in Taipei, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, disregarded the “one China” principle and the fact that Taiwan is a province of China.
Pelosi stepped over China’s red line.
And, as promised, China responded by holding live-fire drills all around the island for the first time in the history of cross-Strait relations.
The military exercises by the People’s Liberation Army prompted the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to sail away from the waters of Taiwan.
This made it abundantly clear to the people in Taiwan that while the United States wants to encourage Taipei to start a war with the mainland, Taiwan would have to fight the PLA by itself.
Seeing these developments, the collective wisdom of the people in Taiwan as reflected by the media is to conclude that to declare independence and break away from China would be suicidal.
The US Congress and President Joe Biden’s administration, however, have continued to test China’s resolve and attempt to push the red line.
Since the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) normalized relations in 1979, Congress has enacted a series of legislation to weaken the bilateral agreement progressively as expressed by three communiqués.
The first communiqué was agreed in 1972 when then-US president Richard Nixon went to China. Each communiqué stating that Taiwan is a part of China was signed by both Washington and Beijing and is binding on both parties.
Unlike these joint agreements, the US government arrogantly presumes that any law enacted by its Congress is unilaterally binding on China as well.
In response to this American arrogance, the State Council Information Office in Beijing has issued a white paper on the “Taiwan Question and the Cause of China’s Reunification in the New Era.”
This important document is obviously intended to remind the West that China will not budge on its position on Taiwan.
First of all, the paper reiterates that Taiwan is part of China, that reunification is inevitable, that the way reunification will take place is a matter between Taiwan and the mainland, and that Beijing will brook no outside interference.
This is a re-statement of the red line about Taiwan that has never changed but is now stated in no uncertain terms.
Second, the white paper reviewed Taiwan’s place throughout the history of China. The terms of Japan’s unconditional surrender at the end of World War II mandated the return of Taiwan to China after 50 years of Japanese occupation.
At present, 181 countries including the US recognize the PRC as the legal government of China and that Taiwan is part of one China.
Advantages of being part of China
Some people in Taiwan may not fully appreciate the intertwined cross-Strait economic relationship. If so, they should read the white paper and understand the advantages of Taiwan being a part of the national economy.
As just one of the indicators, Taiwanese businesses have over the years invested more than US$71 billion in more than 1.2 million projects on the mainland – not to mention an annual trade surplus of $170 billion that Taiwan enjoys with the mainland.
From 1980 to 2021, the mainland’s economy grew three times as fast as Taiwan’s and has become the second-largest in the world, and is soon to overtake the US to become No 1. China has become a major power not only economically but in science and technology and in military prowess.
As more people in Taiwan come to understand China’s place in the world, they will appreciate being a part of China.
Winding through Congress is the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which according to its sponsors will promote the security of Taiwan, ensures regional stability and threatens China with broad economic sanctions.
But the consequences of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan showed that such an act will do just the opposite: The island will become less secure and the region less stable.
As we have also seen from the Ukraine war, the US sanctions imposed on Russia backfired badly, causing worldwide food shortages, rising energy prices and overall inflation, and solidified the ruble’s place among the world’s major currencies.
Any attempted sanctions on China would inflict blows to the US economy many times more serious than the sanctions on Russia.
One only need look at the foolhardy tariff war waged by former US president Donald Trump and continued by Biden. The American consumer had to pay a higher price for goods made in China because of the tariffs, and the trade surplus by China only increased rather than reduced. For Washington to threaten China with sanctions is meaningless if not just stupid.
Moreover, the white paper has reasserted China’s red line on Taiwan, leaving no room for ambiguity or equivocation.
This is a matter of sovereignty for China.
The Chinese do not make empty threats.
They will view stepping over the line as an act of war.
No independence without US support
Taiwan’s ruling pro-independence (taidu) faction would not be so foolish as to declare independence without US support.
If the US does show support, then China will most likely strike at the US naval ships first and take them out of action.
Without American military presence, the taidu faction will become irrelevant and negotiations between Taiwan and the mainland for a peaceful reunification can begin.
If you’re a potato salad fan but want a new twist on the dish, try this Creamy Dijon-Bacon Pasta Salad. Loaded with bacon, cheese, chopped eggs, green onions and crunchy celery, it’s sure to be a hit at your next barbecue, picnic or potluck. Short on time? Just opt for a few premade ingredients to make this easy recipe go even quicker!
This is a starving kitten who was abandoned, actually physically
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tossed out of an apartment, by a couple of persons who were rapidly discovering the joys of meth addiction.
I took her in three years ago, and she has had a forever home since.
Here she is at around six months. She was a little hellion, and still is.
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Williams Moldt
It was the year 1997, a middle-aged man called his girlfriend, to let her know that he had left a party and was already on his way home, the thing is, he never came.
The man left the club at approximately 11 at night, and as I told you he called his girlfriend, told her that he was already getting into the car to go home, he was not drunk and the few witnesses who saw him stated that the man had only had one or two beers at most.
And that is the last that is known of Williams Moldt.
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The case was closed and for many of his friends and family the case had become an unsolved mystery.
Twenty-two years have passed since the disappearance of Williams, a resident of the Grand Island community in Wellington (USA) was looking at the neighborhood on Google Earth, when suddenly he saw something that caught his attention:
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Although it blended into the background, a car could apparently be seen at the bottom of the pond.
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He notified the authorities that with the help of a crane they removed the car, the car of Williams Moldt who had been missing for more than two decades, with Williams still inside.
The exact reason for how he ended up there is not known, it could have been that he lost concentration or that he was actually more drunk than the witnesses had stated and that is why he lost control of the vehicle.
What is certain is that thanks to the internet and Google Earth, an apparent mystery that had been unsolved for 22 years could be solved.
Dudley
A best cat.
Dudley, the best cat I ever had, came to me off death row at the city animal control kennel. He was a notorious disciplinary problem, and honestly, the first six months of living with him were pretty hellish. I especially could have skipped some of his more territorial behaviors. Fortunately, he never sprayed in the house. But he did go through the cat door to the garage and shower the inside of the garage door. The first few times I stood under the door as I opened it and got covered by cat piss, I was less than amused. Generally he wasn’t cuddly, and he tended to bite and scratch. He’d been adopted out more than once and brought back before I pulled him back from euthanasia with only a few hours to go.
Eventually, he settled down — at least with me. And it got to the point where he actually did cuddle. I’d get in bed, and he’d tuck himself up into my left armpit, push his nose into my left ear, and begin snoring loudly.
Still, he insisted on going out and tearing up the neighborhood. Thankfullly, he understood that after the sun went down I wanted him home, and he didn’t abuse the priviledges. The neighbors dogs were all exceedingly frightened of him, as were the trash collectors, since he liked to chase their truck and attack them. When the city got trucks with claws to pick up the cans so nobody had to get out anymore, it was a sad day in Dudley’s life.
We had many happy years together, and to this day, he’s my gold standard of cat. The “Beware of Cat” sign still hangs in front of my house. And people who’ve lived in the neighborhood know that it wasn’t put there as a joke.
UAE
I have many Chinese friends. I’ve studied Mandarin for a year and even learnt a bit of Kung fu!
Here is an old photo of me at my friend’s birthday party:
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I bet you noticed. I was the only non-Chinese invited.
And here is another photo with my friend Li at our bachelor degree graduation (bad timing though):
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I mostly interacted with the Chinese abroad through studies or work. In the Emirates, I rarely interact with Chinese people. So I’m guessing that Emirati-Chinese interactions within the UAE are mostly at the workplace.
My view (as an Emarati and from my minimal experience) is that the Chinese have a very rich history and culture and that they are polite people.
I like the outspoken individuals who share their views and opinions. I’ve learned a lot from such Chinese people.
I also noticed that some form clusters or groups abroad and keep to themselves and hardly interact with other non-Chinese.
On a different note, I once went to buy some goods from a shop owned by Chinese in Abu Dhabi. Went in and started talking basic Mandarin. The shocked looked on their faces was priceless. Their faces turned red hahaha. This Arab wearing a white dress and a red head turban comes in and starts speaking Chinese. We kept laughing later on.
Naoto Matsumura
Naoto Matsumura, who was one of the people involved in the Fukushima disaster, has stayed behind. He was feeding stray animals:
Naoto Matsumura
And helping to take care of the environment:
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He continues to put himself at risk and give back, tending to wildlife. Thousands of animals had already died while locked in cages, and he rushed to save as many as he could:
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He is the sole inhabitant in that region. They told him he’d get sick within 20–30 years if he stayed. He figured he’d be dead by then so why not stay and help the animals out:
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Why China will become more prosperous after this…
In reference to a series of Western Media article painting and predicting the ultimate collapse of China, and the lynching of President Xi Peng…
To Quote:
Their boycott represents one of the most widespread acts of public defiance in China. Despite efforts from internet censors to quash the news, collectives of homeowners have started or threatened to boycott in 326 properties, according to a crowdsourced list. By some estimates, they could affect about $222 billion of home loans, or roughly 4 percent of outstanding mortgages.
The boycotts are also a sign of a growing economic fallout as China reckons with the impacts of its Covid restrictions. The country’s economy is on track for its slowest growth in decades. The real estate market, which drives about one-third of China’s economic activity, has proved particularly vulnerable.
And a response from a long-time Chinese, China “Watcher”…
China is the only country dare to address such real estate over values problem due to speculative profit manipulation by the 0.1%. The outcome if such problems is not address:
1) unaffordable housing, low home ownership, rising number of working poor and homeless population
2) when households spend so much on mortgages repayment or rental, the average people will have less money for food, health care, children education, and others. And thus a lost in consumption power = sluggish economy and income inequality = lost of financial ability to get marriage and have children = aging population
3) high rental and high housing cost also generate high cost of doing business and cost of living = inflation = DEMAND for wage rise = further rising cost for everything = lower PPP = unattractive investment environments for manufacturing = unsustainable economy
4) In the West, politicians dare not face the consequences of expected real estate bubbles burst, so they deliberately keep to bubble expanding by encouraging more and more overseas migrants to support the consumption economy and property market, and not releasing the equal amount of new land for housing to support the increased population, and thus keep the real estate market pricing continues to expand. As a result, a declining middle class and expanding population living in poverty.
5) In the crusader west, if the people default on mortgage repayment, they will soon lost their home and become homeless. Such as the massive foreclosure across the US during the 2008 GFC and the cash rich billionaires will took the opportunity to take control of more real estate at bargain price. And push up the market price against for the cash rich new migrants =, more local population poverty and homelessness.
However, the CCP tackle the rising housing market head on. The current drastic drop in housing price across China is an deliberate policy induce market adjustment.
As a result, some Chinese people refused to live on a negative wealth property , and refused to pay their mortgage.
The people oriented CCP understand their pain and is brainstorming to sort out the issues.
Once the issues resolved, the policy objectives of housing affordable will be achieved, inequality reduced, people happiness and satisfaction with government and society will enhance.
With real estate price down, the cost of running a business in China will further reduce. The condition for attracting more FDI investment will be strengthen, social stability will be even more solid, people with less financial stress will be more willing to spend on other things, more babies will be affordable. the country will become the magnet to the rest of the world.
Chinese people will love their country and their government more.
Cheers
Chua
Wealth
I’m not going to post an actual picture but one of my neighbors dresses and looks almost identical to Richard from Silicon Valley:
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And his house looks like:
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The starting price for a home in this neighborhood is around 2.5M and his home is probably worth closer to 4M.
And he dresses this way every single day…
And he is not alone…
Almost every other person in my neighborhood dresses in the same casual attire void of any branding and logos. Do they look like “bums”? No, but they definitely don’t dress in a manner that says, “hey, look at me”.
If you ran into my neighbor on the street, you would probably not give him a second look and if you did, you probably would assume he is going to have trouble making this month’s rent lol…
What is funny is that less than a mile away there are a lot of small condos and you constantly see the women living there carrying LV bags and guys sporting all sort of clothing with high-end branding, while most of them are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
I have noticed that the wealthy don’t seem to feel that it’s necessary to bring attention to the fact that they are wealthy and those that wish they were wealthy, want to appear in a manner that makes them look wealthy. It’s quite amusing.
Then there is the super wealthy and most of them will only wear branded clothing that they have a vested interest in. In other words, unless they own the company, or at least a part of it, they aren’t going to walk around advertising their competitors. But that’s on an entirely other level 🙂
Here is the way I see it…
If we are truly honest with ourselves, there are probably only 2 or 3 things that you are REALLY into and you should feel free to spend your hard earned money on those things.
So if you are into fashion, by all means… buy and wear the clothing that you like.
Where the issues start is when you begin spending money on things that you don’t really care about because you want to impress other people.
That’s something most wealthy people simply don’t do. If they aren’t into shoes, they aren’t going to spend 1k on a pair of Gucci loafers. Regardless if they can easily afford it or not. While someone else will max out their credit card so they can try and impress someone that they don’t even like…
So whether it’s clothes, watches, cars or whatever… if you are truly into it and if you have the means to enjoy those luxuries, go for it. Just forget about the rest of the stuff you don’t really care about. At the end of the day, the only person you should be worried about impressing is yourself.
Tent Cities Are Taking Over Vast Stretches Of Our Major Cities (And It Is Only Going To Get Worse)
If brighter days are ahead for the U.S. economy, why are so many tent cities popping up all over the nation? At this point things are so bad that even the New York Times is admitting that “America’s homelessness problem has the makings of an acute crisis”. That article goes on to explain that our homeless population is steadily rising. Tonight, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans will be sleeping in tents, under bridges, in overcrowded shelters or in their vehicles. Of course there are many that are so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they just sleep wherever they end up passing out. This is a tragedy that is growing with each passing day, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead as the U.S. economy slows down even more.
Earlier today, I was truly stunned by a Fox News article about what is going on in Portland right now. Tent cities are literally taking over entire neighborhoods, and many residents are “resorting to selling their homes” as a result…
Residents in a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood are resorting to selling their homes and moving due to homeless encampments right outside their front doors.“It’s a little scary because I know there is mental illness and that concerns me,” North Portland resident Maria Inocencio told KGW8.Residents of North Portland said at least three families on one street have left in recent days due to the homeless camps, and KGW8 reported seeing for-sale signs up and down streets.
Portland was once such a beautiful place, but now it has literally been transformed into a hellhole.
Needless to say, Portland is far from alone. From Seattle all the way down to San Diego, communities all along the west coast are being plagued by relentlessly growing encampments. In many cases, such encampments are magnets for drug addicts and other societal outcasts.
But this is not just a west coast problem.
Let me give you are couple of examples. In recent weeks, tent cities have been popping up all over Pittsburgh…
“We want immediate action. We want to see people in homes. There’s a humane way to deal with homelessness,” said Pittsburgh City Council president Theresa Kail-Smith.Homeless camps are popping up all over the Northside.You’ll see them on the Riverfront Trail to Millvale.Another makeshift tent city popped up underneath the Andy Warhol Bridge.
And in Fayetteville, North Carolina one burgeoning homeless camp recently made news because it features quite a few registered sex offenders…
There are 843 registered sex offenders living in Cumberland County. For dozens in Fayetteville, their home is a tent alongside the road.Deputies in the Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SOREU) learned the group of offenders are homeless and stay in a tent community along where the busy Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (Highway 87) goes over Gillespie Street. Some live under the overpass while others live in a nearby field beside Gillespie Street.
From coast to coast, this is becoming an enormous issue.
And the truth is that it is only going to intensify as the months roll along.
In 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs as the economy plunged into a major downturn.
Once those people lost their jobs, many of them could no longer afford their homes and soon found themselves on the streets.
I wish that we would never have to see anything like that again. It was truly a very dark chapter in our history, and countless people had their lives turned completely upside down.
Unfortunately, it is starting to happen again.
As I detailed earlier this month, large companies are starting to lay off workers in substantial numbers.
This even includes Facebook. This week, we learned that Facebook recently used a very unique method to lay off one group of workers…
A group of about 60 contractors who work with Facebook learned they were laid off this week after they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm.The layoffs are the latest example of Big Tech reining in spending and hiring, as just days ago Apple let go of about 100 recruiters.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’ as the company braces for a deep economic turndown.
I suppose that is one way to avoid personal responsibility for firing someone.
“Don’t blame me – it was the algorithm”.
If a big corporation that is swimming in cash like Facebook already feels forced to “thin the herd”, I think that is a very bad sign for the employment market as a whole.
In the months ahead, I think that there will be a lot more layoffs all over the country.
And this comes at a time when the housing market is starting to collapse.
Existing home sales in the United States have now fallen for six months in a row, and the numbers for the month of July were downright depressing…
Sales of previously owned homes fell nearly 6% in July compared with June, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors.The sales count declined to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.81 million units, the group added. It is the slowest sales pace since November 2015, with the exception of a brief plunge at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.Sales dropped about 20% from the same month a year ago.
I anticipated that home sales would be lower than last July, but a 20 percent drop is pretty catastrophic.
And as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, it is probably inevitable that the numbers will get even worse.
The stage is being set for a historic economic meltdown, and I would encourage you to do what you can to get prepared for it.
2008 and 2009 were extremely bitter.
What is coming will likely be even worse.
And as the economy deteriorates, tent cities will continue to take over more neighborhoods all over America.
But don’t look down on those that are living in tents.
With a run of bad luck, you could be one of them too.
Apple and Foxconn will be forced to rely ONLY on Taiwan supplies of IC’s
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer and Apple supplier Foxconn will likely be forced to back out of a $800 million investment in Chinese chipmaker and foundry operator Tsinghua Unigroup, thanks to rapidly deteriorating international relations.
The government in Taiwan was already considering fining Foxconn around $835,000 for failing to secure regulatory approval on the investment. But now, reports have emerged that Taiwanese national security officials want the whole thing called off altogether.
China Warns U.S. Over Sailing Warships Through Taiwan Strait
China’s ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, said Tuesday that China viewed such Taiwan transits as an escalation by the U.S. and an effort to support the “separatist” government in Taipei. He delivered the warning after Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrapped up the second trip to the island in less than two weeks by a U.S. congressional delegation.
“The US side has done too much and going too far in this region,” Qin said in response to a question about potential naval patrols. “I do call on our American colleagues to refrain, to exercise restraint, not to do anything to escalate the tension. So if there’s any moves damaging China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, so China will respond. China will respond.”
The Biden administration has said it WOULD conduct air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait after China responded to Pelosi’s trip with a series of military drills around the island, including likely firing ballistic missiles over Taipei. The U.S. has long held that such transits, like congressional visits, are consistent with its “one China” policy not to formally recognize the democratically elected government in Taipei.
Three 1/2 years ago my dog, Homie, crossed over the 🌈 Bridge. I missed him terribly, but decided not to get another dog as I have ambulatory issues and had fallen several times while walking him.
I have always had dogs and cats and love them equally, so I went to the local Animal Shelter and told the receptionist I wanted to meet the oldest cat they had, or the one hardest to adopt out.. They took me to meet a slender long-legged tuxedo cat who had been surrendered several months before.. her card said she was 15, declawed, spayed, her name was Spooky, and they didn’t want her anymore. I changed her name to Schatzi (German for Treasure or Darling) because she is a Diva!
About 3 weeks later, I was on the porch talking to my son when this little tabby tom cat climbed up in my lap and I heard, plain as day, I been ‘bandoned’ will you be my Mommy and I’m Hungry.. I found out later that this little skinny guy, covered in fleas, was about 3–4 months old and had been left in our little trailer park when the woman who owned him moved. I named him Mickey.
He is almost 4 and she is close to 19. I love them both very much and they sleep with me.. They give me a reason to get up every day and enrich this old lady’s life!
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German air force sending warplanes to fly around Taiwan and intimidate China
Amid the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait, the German air force sent fighter jets to Asia for the first time on Tuesday (Aug. 16) to take part in exercises in Australia and will also fly near Taiwan, marking the largest overseas deployment of German military aircraft since WW II.
Six German Eurofighter Typhoons took off from an airbase in the southeastern German state of Bavaria on Monday evening (Aug. 15). Their first stop was Singapore, covering a distance of 12,800 kilometers within 24 hours with the help of three A330 aerial tankers. The squadron is scheduled to fly to Australia to take part in a 17-nation joint military exercise from late August to September dubbed “Pitch Black.”
At the end of September, the squadron will head north from Singapore. After visiting Japan and South Korea, the fighter jets will begin the long journey back to Germany and will fly in “airspace adjacent” to Taiwan along the way, reported CNA.
In order to carry out the mission, which is code-named “Rapid Pacific 2022,” the German air force will also dispatch four A400M transport aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft to 13 with 250 officers and enlisted men participating. This is the first time the German air force has flown aircraft to the Indo-Pacific since its founding in 1956.
German fighters will fly through the airspace near Taiwan at a sensitive time when the situation in the Taiwan Strait is tense with daily People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intrusions across the median line following a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Aug. 2-3. German air force chief, Ingo Gerhartz, was cited by DW as saying that the fighters will “barely touch” the South China Sea, and will not pass through the Taiwan Strait as they stick to international routes.
Regarding the flight path of the jets near Taiwan, “The South China Sea, Taiwan — these are obviously the sticking points in the region,” said Gerhartz. He then denied “sending any threatening message towards China” by participating in the war games in Australia.
Through a lot of medical misdiagnoses a friend of mine ended up in hospice with brain cancer that metastasized everywhere.
Through the weeks he was hospitalized, his cat lived with his roommate and was pretty okay. But Kitten, which was his name, started peeing.
Eventually when John went into hospice (12/21) Kitten came to live with me. Peeing continued. He was attacking my other cat. He wasn’t happy. He’s still a little bit of a loner.
Anyway, Christmas, this last Christmas of 12/25/22, I took Kitten to hospice to see John. We knew John would pass soon. He was having trouble talking and recognizing, and cognitive thinking was going. But when I brought Kitten into the room he lit up like a Christmas tree and Kitten started purring and walking back and forth on his bed. They snuggled for a long time and it was so worth it.
I do think that Kitten knew John was passing and John was happy Kitten is with me. He knew Kitten has a home for life. Despite the peeing. Which luckily has abated some. I still have to cover my bed in plastic. But just in case. Kittens a sweet boy.
China’s drills to change US military assumptions
China will send small units to infiltrate Taiwan and use its naval and air superiority to block the US military
Chinese and foreign media have recently reported that the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a heavyweight think tank in the United States, has conducted scenario planning looking toward war in the Taiwan Strait.
Participants included former senior military officers, senior government military and political experts and fellows from think tanks such as the RAND Corporation and the Center for New American Security (CNAS).
The scenario planning had been scheduled for a long time. It caught a lot of attention as it happened after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
The CSIS assumed a war will break out in the Taiwan Strait in 2026. Such an estimation could be based on the prediction of the former commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, who said in his testimony before Congress that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would be ready to attack Taiwan in 2027.
It assumed that the attack would consist of six to eight rounds, each of them lasting three to four days. In total, it would last for three to four weeks.
The scenario planning indicated that in most (but not all) scenarios, the Taiwan military would not fall completely, but Taiwan’s economy and infrastructure would be basically destroyed.
It said the US military in the Western Pacific would pay a heavy price while the PLA would control one-third to half of Taiwan Island. Then the PLA would not be able to maintain its supply but the US military’s supply would continue.
The scenario planning will run until September, with a final report scheduled for December. So far, 18 of the 22 rounds of possible attacks have been carried out.
After the PLA’s drills, the CSIS may change the settings of its scenarios and even add more scenarios, in order to have a new understanding of the war in the Taiwan Strait.
In the scenarios, the US lost 500 to 900 US aircraft and more than 20 warships, including two aircraft carriers. However, the PLA lost 150 amphibious and surface vessels. Taiwan’s navy and half of its air force were eliminated in the first round.
Most news reports were vague about the scenario planning settings, but an article published by the US Breaking Defense website on August 11 provided more information.
Assumptions:
The main attack of the PLA comes from amphibious landings.
It is difficult for the PLA troops to achieve landings.
The US military can use Japanese bases.
Neither China nor the US will use nuclear weapons.
The number of weapons and forces in 2026 is estimated based on publicly available information.
Basic conclusions:
No matter how the war begins, it ends up being a protracted war between China and the United States.
The PLA must deploy all its troops. If it only deploys those in the Eastern Theater Command, it will be defeated in the first round.
Both sides have less to worry about when no nuclear weapons will be used.
Whether the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) will participate has a great impact on the result of the war. It cannot stop the PLA from landing on Taiwan but can prevent the Chinese troops from occupying the entire island.
Main conclusions:
The PLA will not be ready for a war by 2027, but maybe in 2030-2035.
America can only hope for a pyrrhic victory, but will be unable to overcome some other crisis after the war.
It is not difficult to see that the United States’ thinking on the Taiwan Strait war is still at the level of the Battle of Kinmen in 1949 or the Battle of Normandy in 1944.
They believe that the biggest threat of the PLA to Taiwan Island still comes from direct landing and that the landing must be quick to get ahead of the US and Japan’s intervention.
So they think the key mission of the US and Taiwan is anti-landing, which refers to interception at sea and containment at landing places.
PLA’s landings
Taiwan Island is not far away from mainland China but it is not close either.
Even if the Taiwanese army is weak, the PLA has to deploy one or two large army groups. There are technically only a few ways for a large army group to land in Taiwan directly.
Hovercraft beach landing
It requires a large area of flat beaches but there are only a few in Taiwan, which is not a secret. These beaches have long been the focus of Taiwan’s defense.
Helicopter landing
The distance across the strait is long while the PLA does not have enough helicopters. It’s an option for small troops but not large army groups.
Parachute landing
Soldiers cannot carry heavy equipment and it’s hard for them to gather. It’s not suitable for large army groups.
Taipei is the focus of Taiwan’s defense, and the towns are dense, so it is not easy to go straight to attack Taipei.
In the scenario planning, those who went straight to Taipei were easily repelled.
So most of the red teams (representing the PLA) chose to land at southwest Taiwan’s Tainan or Kaohsiung. But they faced a supply problem due to a longer distance from the mainland. They also faced attack from Penghu during their journeys.
Landing at Tainan at that early point in the war is not the best option for the PLA.
China’s different concepts
The PLA demonstrated a completely different operational concept in its drills in the Taiwan Strait. It dispatched a large number of naval, air and rocket forces, but did not focus too much on amphibious attacks.
It is not because amphibious attack is not important, but because it is not the only option. In fact, the PLA has practiced amphibious attacks many times.
The PLA does not have to stick to specific tactics but can flexibly switch its forces at the north and south ends of the Taiwan island.
The US has repeatedly encouraged the Taiwan military to avoid fighting against the PLA in naval and air battles but adopt an asymmetric “hedgehog defense” strategy (using handheld missiles). The US seems to agree that PLA has naval and air superiority.
The scenario planning has shown that the US and Taiwan combat aircraft and surface ships had little effect but shore-to-ship missiles had a more important role. Under such circumstances, it is not wise for the PLA to land in Taiwan directly without using its sea and air superiority.
The only reason for a quick landing is that the PLA wants to avoid the United States’ military intervention. But it does not seem to be a reason anymore.
US military intervention would definitely complicate mainland China’s military reunification of Taiwan.
In the latest exercise, all the preparations of the PLA were aimed at blocking the US military’s intervention. The PLA has improved its area-denial capability and is more and more confident of its ability to withstand the US intervention.
In the scenario planning, almost all scenarios ended in a stalemate.
If the PLA can stop the US intervention, there is no urgency for it to land on Taiwan.
Quick landing is important but not by a large army group, which moves slowly and requires strong supply, especially in urban areas.
The US wanted to prevent China’s large army group from landing, so it focused a lot on how to fight against amphibious and supply ships.
In fact, by deploying a large number of small military units to infiltrate Taiwan, the PLA will not only increase the means of landing and supply, but also greatly increase its flexibility.
It can also create a psychological shock in the minds of the Taiwanese military and people that “the communist army is everywhere.”
PLA infantry soldiers with guns are more useful than missiles, guided bombs and long-range rockets fires.
The PLA’s powerful naval and air and missile strikes, plus small troops on the island, will greatly shake the confidence of the Taiwanese military and people, and strategically slowing the operations of Taiwan’s troops can create a huge threat to Taiwan’s anti-ship missile and radar systems.
Such a strategy will be very effective. Of course, reconnaissance and attack planes, strategic bombers and satellites should also be used.
Small military units are only auxiliary forces that help the mainland’s large army group land. If Taiwan’s troops do not surrender, the PLA will launch more attacks.
US military bases in Japan
It’s an interesting issue whether the US military can use Japanese bases. If US planes take off from Japan and attack the PLA at sea and on land, there is no reason for the PLA not to attack the US bases in Japan.
In CSIS scenario planning, one scenario is that the PLA preemptively attacked the US military bases in Japan and Guam before landing on Taiwan Island. Then Japan joined the war. And the US and Japan won the war.
This is a strange assumption. Even if the PLA attacks US military bases in Japan, it is unclear whether Japan will join the war. Or in the first place, it’s not necessary that Japan will allow American planes to take off from the bases in its territory.
With Dongfeng 16, Donghai 10 and Xian H-6, China has prepared in case Japan joins the war. But there is no reason for China to take the initiative to attack Japan.
In many scenarios, the US lost two aircraft carriers. They were the most powerful forces that could arrive in the Taiwan Strait within a short time but they were not able to stop the PLA from landing Taiwan. They could not even protect themselves.
Neither combat aircraft nor surface fleet proved useful. The scenarios showed the insufficient supply to US naval and air forces. The locations of bases, the numbers of flights and the flight ranges of aircraft were limiting factors.
It is also a strange assumption that the PLA would only deploy troops in the Eastern Theater Command. The Eastern Theater Command is strong but the PLA has never fought unprepared battles.
It is wishful thinking that all of China’s neighbors will stand together with the US and wait for an opportunity to invade China. Such a situation will not be seen in the foreseeable future.
Nuclear war
Both China and the US are nuclear states. China has a policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons. But the US has a policy, a tradition and an impulse to use them first.
The CNAS has done scenario planning before. The red team (representing Russia) threatened to use nuclear weapons while the blue team (the US) constrained its operations to avoid the scenario. In the end, the red team launched a nuclear bomb in Hawaii.
In the Taiwan Strait, neither China nor the US should rule out the possibility of nuclear escalation.
Marine Littoral Regiment
The MLR was a main research topic in the CSIS scenario planning. In the Taiwan Strait, its main weapons included naval strike missiles and HIMARS rockets, instead of F-35Bs, tanks or howitzers.
Whether the MLR can enter Taiwan in advance will have a great impact on the result of the war. However, there are several problems:
Given that China reacted strongly to Pelosi’s visit, the MLR’s entry to Taiwan will definitely trigger a war.
Once the MLR runs out of ammunition, it is impossible to replenish the supply. A C-17 military transport aircraft was shot down by the PLA in a scenario.
The MLR can stop the PLA from occupying the whole of Taiwan but cannot prevent it from landing on the island.
Even if all 6,000 to 7,000 MLR soldiers are deployed to Taiwan by 2026, it is still insufficient in strength, not to mention that there is no time for deployment.
Without ammunition supply, the MLR will become a light infantry to support the Taiwan Army. It won’t be able to resist the PLA’s large army group, which at that later stage of the war may find that the time is ripe to land in Tainan.
In most scenarios, the MLR tried to land in Taiwan after a war broke out but failed. Without the MLR, the US and Taiwan defense was very difficult.
The US should be worried about the conclusion that the Taiwan Strait war will be prolonged although the US has certain advantages over China.
In this case, the US’ “preferred ammunition” (mainly various advanced and long-range missiles) will soon be exhausted. The domestic production capacity will be insufficient, and the replenishment of supply will be difficult.
If Russia, Iran or other forces challenge the US at this time, the US will run out of ammunition and food. In other words, the US will seriously suffer for supporting Taiwan. This may be the end of US hegemony. And this may change the view of US politicians and people.
The CSIS exercise has not yet calculated the economic impact and casualties of the war.
The two aircraft carriers have at least 10,000 officers and soldiers while there are 10,000 on other ships. Several thousand infantry soldiers and pilots will die. This is an intense burst of casualties not seen since World War II.
The Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror had more casualties, but those accumulated over many years. The war in the CSIS scenarios only lasted for three to four weeks.
It remains to be seen how the PLA’s drills will change the settings of the scenario planning done by the CSIS or other institutions.
The Wa people of China
The Wa(佤族) people:
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For comparison, left is from Wa people, the other two are from other races:
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The Wa people are actually proud of their dark skin. In Wa’s tradition, the darker a person’s skin, the more beautiful he/she would be considered.
Japanese lawmakers’ planned visit to Taiwan ‘provocative,’ could spark strong countermeasures: expert
Keiji Furuya, head of a bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers working to advance so-called relations with the island of Taiwan, is reportedly planning a visit to the island next week, amid heightened cross-Straits tensions as the result of a provocative visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and on the heels of a sudden visit to the island of Taiwan by a US congressional delegation led by US Senator Ed Markey on Sunday.
Chinese observers found it unsurprising that Japan, a US ally, intends to soon follow up and coordinate with the US in provoking China over the Taiwan question, while warning that such a move would certainly meet China’s countermeasures.
Citing sources close to the matter, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported late Tuesday that Furuya, who chairs the “Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council,” is expected to meet with the regional leader of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen and “defense officials” of the island in a three-day trip starting Monday.
“Japan is using the so-called congressional visit to show support to the US and would do the US a favor by helping shift Beijing’s intense pressure against Washington,” Xin Qiang, director of the Taiwan studies center with the Shanghai-based Fudan University and the deputy head of the university’s US studies center, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
However, the move would be viewed as stomping on the one-China principle, and the Chinese mainland would counter with measures including but not limited to reinforcing combat readiness drills and security patrols around the island of Taiwan and to lodge solemn representations to Japan,” Xin said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged during a routine press conference on Wednesday that China hopes Japan will abide by the principles of the four political documents between China and Japan, demonstrate its position of attaching importance to China-Japan relations with practical actions, and make constructive efforts to improve and develop bilateral relations, when commenting on guesses by Japanese media that Taiwan question would be raised during a new round of China-Japan high-level dialogue.
The council was advised by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe before his death, and served as a channel between Japan and the island since they have no diplomatic relations, according to the Kyodo report.
Liu Jiangyong, Vice Dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that the council is infamous for being filled with right-wing lawmakers who have strong Taiwan sentiments and have been pushing to elevate relations with the island of Taiwan.
Furuya was the right-hand man of the late prime minister Abe and the council was behind almost every interaction between Japanese political figures with the Taiwan authority, citing a visit by a parliamentary delegation led by former Japanese defense ministers Shigeru Ishiba and Yasukazu Hamada in August to the island of Taiwan and the virtual meeting between Abe and Tsai in March, Liu said.
Global Times reporters found that Furuya, while serving as the chairman of the council, visited the island and met with Tsai in December2018, October 2019 and January 2020, and the upcoming trip to Taiwan next week would be his first since attending a memorial service for late secessionist leader of Taiwan island Lee Teng-hui in September 2020.
According to Japanese media, Furuya will be accompanied by the council’s secretary general Minoru Kihara and during his meeting with Tsai, they will discuss sending a delegation of council members for the October 10 celebrations and on holding a strategic dialogue between lawmakers from Japan, the US and the island of Taiwan.
However, Japan is also showing a shrewd side in its dealings with the island of Taiwan, as it does not send any member of the cabinet who can represent the government, Xin noted.
Liu said Taiwan authorities are hyping the congressional communication channel with aims to break through the limits of the current interaction between the island and Japan and create chaos in China-Japan relations on the important anniversary celebration this year.
What are the major differences between Chinese and Western cultures?
Interesting read. Not sure if I agree 100% with him, but it's worth a read. -MM
Having lived in China for about 4 years now and in the USA for over 14 years I think I’m well qualified to shed some light on this matter.
And since I’m neither Chinese nor a Westerner, you can be assured I won’t be sugar-coating anything or favor one over the other. These are simply my observations.
The biggest difference I discovered between the two, at a fundamental level is their priorities. Chinese culture tends to prioritize the result or the end whereas Western society prioritizes the process or the means.
China is Outcome-Driven
To put it very bluntly, China cares more about money than the west. The ideal outcome that every Chinese person strives for is to have more money. Yes, money is EXTREMELY important in Chinese culture because it guarantees security for the family. They have no social safety net to fall back on. And the memories of the difficult times is still fresh in the minds of the older generations.
This is why it is extremely important in Chinese culture to have your own house and car to show people that you have wealth. You’ve made it. How you attain that wealth is not really important or up for discussion, as long as you reach that status or checkmark. Life is brutal and unforgiving. It is a culture where they respect power and money more than anything else.
Chinese are also more productive and industrious at the business level. There is less red tape or regulations to deal with so they get $hit done. Competition is fierce because everyone is hustling to outgrow and out-compete and out-produce you. The Chinese are remarkably pragmatic and solution-oriented people.
Since Chinese culture focuses on results, people tend to be more successful in life. They are good at “obtaining” things like permits, quotas, meeting deadlines or requirements, etc.
The West is System-Driven
While China is an outcome-driven culture, the west is a system-driven one. The outcome is important, but what’s more important in western culture is the processes and the art that you use to reach that outcome.
That is why in the west it’s taboo to ask someone how much he/she makes. What’s more important is what the person does for a living.
In business, the Chinese will focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency while Westerners, especially Europeans, will care more about how that product is made and provide valuable experiences with that product.
To illustrate this let’s look at watches. The Quartz watch was perfected by the Japanese, an eastern culture similar to the Chinese. It was revolutionary because it was more precise than mechanical watches. A perfect example of focusing on the outcome. The desired outcome of the watch is to tell the time as accurately as possible at the lowest cost. Japan delivers. However, can a Casio G-Shock watch evoke the same kind of experience and emotion as a Rolex or a Vacheron Constantin can? Probably not. Even though they are less accurate, there’s something special about these mechanical watches in how they are made and the history that a Casio can never compete with.
In western culture feelings or experiences are important while they are suppressed in eastern cultures. Westerners will say things like “how are you feeling today?” “how do you feel about bla bla bla?” etc. This is rare in China. The west has a more literary and artistic output from the west.
Living in Asia I noticed how westerners are just wired differently from East Asians. They will have tons of small talk even at work, talking about the news or some difficulties they encountered on their way to work that day, trivial affairs that are never really the topic of conversation among the Chinese. For the Chinese, they made it to work on time, there’s nothing more to say on the matter.
Since western culture focuses on the how, it is an extremely legalistic or litigious society. In the west, a company must abide by certain regulations or codes. For example, they have to follow specific animal protection laws when making leather products. So generally it’s more costly to get things done in the west. That’s why so many businesses have moved their productions to China where the regulations are lax.
Westerners also tend to be more inquisitive. Science has traditionally been a forte of western culture. And science is really about taking things apart and learning how they work, learning the processes and the mechanics. While westerners are very good at discovering new ideas, the theoretical department, the Chinese are experts at commercializing those ideas and implementing them in a practical setting.
To sum up the global economy today: The west supplies the designs, China implements those designs. Be it iPhones or Shanghai skyscrapers.
Collectivism vs Individualism
The second biggest difference between China and the west is that the former is a collectivist or conformist society, while the latter is an individualistic society.
China as a whole is much more unified and centralized than the west. The Chinese practice conformity to a truly remarkable extent, largely due to its Confucius and Communist past. You could be thousands of miles away in a different city in China and still expect to find the same kind of architecture, shops, signage, amenities, etc. There’s both the upside and downside to this. It can be a tad boring to see the same stuff everywhere you go, but it affords a certain level of convenience. This is why I think there is a stronger sense of national identity in China.
The West is more individualistic and this is reflected in the political landscape. Europe is a fragmented continent. It is divided into many small countries which are in turn divided into many small regions and towns. And each of these regions and towns has its distinct culture, architecture, customs, and sometimes even languages.
For example, Scotland has its own separate unique identity that is different from the UK or Europe. And Scotland is a country of only about 5 million people. Many medium-sized cities in China have more people than the entire country of Scotland. The same goes for regions like Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, Andalucia, Catalunya, Bavaria, Veneto, Flanders, etc.
Mango
Mango
You shouldn’t, unless your life style will prevent you from giving the traumatized cat a good life. When I went to the shelter to find a new cat, they told me about Mango. Mango was rescued from the street, in a big city, as part of a litter of kittens, whose mother had been killed. They found the six week old kittens next to the dead mother, and the bloody bat that was used to bash the mother’s brain by some horrible human.
She was just so terrified of everything. Especially, humans. Can you blame her?
They tried to foster her with families, but she couldn’t adjust to kids, other pets, noise or humans. When I arrived at the shelter, they had her in a cage, in the lobby, in an attempt to socialize her. She was visibly shaking. Since I lived alone with no kids, I agreed to adopt her. For the first month, she rarely came out from under the guest room bed… but slowly and surely she came around.
That was 13 years ago. Does she still jump off the couch and hide when I sneeze? Yup. Are there friends and family that have NEVER actually seen her? Yup. She doesn’t like strangers. Does she loudly howl, like I are putting her in boiling oil, when I try to coax/trick her into a large dog kennel (cat carriers are too hard to get her into) to go to the vet? Yup.
But, I have never regretted adopting her. Or her adopting me.
‘Kids-for-cash’ scandal judges ordered to pay more than $288 million to nearly 300 victims
Two former Pennsylvania judges who ran a scheme to send children to for-profit prisons for kickbacks have been ordered to pay more than $US200 million ($288 million) to their victims in one of the worst judicial scandals in US history.
A friend of ours was gassing up her SUV at the Murphy’s gas station one morning when she heard a kitten crying. She and the station attendant searched for the kitten, including opening the engine compartment of the vehicle, but they couldn’t find it and then it went silent, After a few more minutes of not finding the cat she gave up and drove 14 miles to home.
When she got home and turned off the vehicle, she could hear the kitten crying again. Once again searched and this time found a five week old kitten in the spare wheel under the rear of the SUV. Happily the little booger had not fallen out on the way home.
She had a lot of dogs and didn’t think it would go well for the kitten at her house, so she called my wife and asked if we wanted it. We did but we were 50 miles away in another city at medical appointments and couldn’t come fetch it right away.
So we called our veterinarian and asked if our friend could drop the kitten at the clinic and would the vet examine it and treat necessary, and we would pick it up and pay on our way home from the other city.
We have several critters already and it’s been pointed out to me that there are low cost Vaccination clinics in our town That would make it cheaper for us to get our animals their annual shots. But I always take them to our vet for annual exams as well as the shots because I want to maintain medical history of the animals and the relationship with the veterinarian in case I ever need “something extra,“ and this was one of those times. The vet readily agreed to have the cat dropped off without payment in advance and he would take care of it.
When we got to the vet’s office in late afternoon he was holding the kitten with a big grin on his face. I don’t want to post his photo on the Internet without his permission, but we got a great picture of him and the kitten. He told us it was in good shape overall, he gave it fluids for dehydration, it was negative for feline leukemia, and he treated some scratches on its nose. When our friend had dropped it off the staff asked for a name to put on its records; she came up with “Murphy” after the gas station.
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We kept the name and took Murphy home to meet his new sister, another five-week-old kitten that we had found under a bush at my office a couple weeks earlier. The two instantly bonded and grew up together playing and raising hell around the house like kittens do. After his 14 mile ride under the SUV, Murphy turned into a Joe-Cool-nothing-really-bothers-me kind of cat. Except aerosol sprays. Those are scary.
How the Taiwan lobby helped pave the way for Pelosi’s trip – Responsible Statecraft
“Regardless of which political party is the government, this is a long-time practice for our representative office in the US to hire public relations firms to assist us in strengthening ties with the United States,” said Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou in a June news conference.
If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan this week is any indication, Taiwan’s advocates in the United States are earning their paychecks.
As documented in a Center for International Policy report, “The Taiwan Lobby,” which I co-authored, organizations registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to represent Taiwan have worked diligently to enhance political, economic, and military ties with the United States. They helped to push through more than $5 billion dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, in part by contacting the offices of nearly 90 percent of all members of Congress in 2019, according to FARA filings. This included Taiwan’s lobbyists contacting Speaker Pelosi’s office 18 times and arranging a closed-door meeting between Pelosi and the president of Taiwan during the summer of 2019.
More recently, Taiwan’s lobbyists have continued to promote closer ties with the United States. Throughout 2022, they have been lobbying to get the Biden administration to add Taiwan to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, including collecting signatures for a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Congressional Taiwan Caucus. Taiwan’s agents also hyped a March 2022 trip of U.S. officials purportedly “sent by President Biden” to Taiwan.
The size of the Taiwan lobby has grown in recent years, from seven FARA registrants in 2020 to twelve today, and Taiwan has spent just over $25 million since 2016 on these firms, according to the OpenSecrets website. While that might seem like a lot, it pales in comparison to Taiwan’s neighbors in the Asia Pacific region – Japan and South Korea, each spent more than $200 million, and China spent a whopping $276 million on FARA registrants during the same time period.
But, FARA registrants are just one part of the equation, as Taiwan’s influence in D.C. is also aided by close ties, and financial support, for a number of Washington think tanks. As Eli Clifton previously documented for Responsible Statecraft, many of the nation’s top think tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Center for American Progress, and the Hudson Institute have all received funding from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the United States. These same think tanks often push for expanded arms sales and trade agreements with Taiwan “without widely disclosing their high-level funding from TECRO,” according to Clifton.
More recently, scholars at some think tanks that have received TECRO funding have downplayed concerns about Nancy Pelosi’s controversial trip to Taiwan. A Hudson Institute scholar, for example, argued that, “Newt Gingrich proved that despite CCP sabre-rattling, the Speaker . . . can visit Taiwan if he wants to. Decades later, Nancy Pelosi proved that is still true.” Similarly, a Brookings scholar was dismissive of China’s military exercises that were announced by Beijing in response to Pelosi’s trip, telling CNBC they were just “par for the course,” and that “China exercises a lot of showmanship and exercises and shows of force in the broader Western Pacific region all the time.”
Just last week former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper spoke at the Atlantic Council — which also receives funding from TECRO — about a trip he and an Atlantic Council delegation made to Taipei in mid-July. Esper argued that the United States should militarily defend Taiwan and, just like Taiwan’s lobbyists, said Taiwan should be included in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
Furthermore, when meeting with Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, Esper calledfor a major shift in U.S. policy, a move away from “strategic ambiguity,” which experts say could set up a confrontation with China. “It is my personal view that the one-China policy has outlived its usefulness, that it is time to move away from strategic ambiguity,” he said in the July meeting.
TECRO has claimed it does “not influence what experts publish; nor do we base funding decisions on what experts choose to write on,” yet, there’s a pattern of the think tanks it funds being supportive of greater U.S. ties with Taiwan. It’s also clear that Taiwan’s registered foreign agents have helped to increase U.S. military and economic ties with Taiwan. This week their efforts culminated by helping to pave the way for Pelosi’s risky trip to Taiwan. This alone should merit greater attention on the impacts this small, but clearly powerful, influence operation is having on U.S. foreign policy.
SEOUL – Samsung Electronics heir and de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was today (August 12) granted a presidential pardon in a corruption case, lifting a legal cloud that has hung over his head since 2017.
Though Lee has been out of prison and conducting executive duties since last year, the head of South Korea’s national flagship firm might, feasibly, wish he could take a lower profile just now.
He is back on the front pages just as Korea Inc’s worst nightmare is becoming manifest: It is being forced into choosing between key trade partner China and strategic ally the United States.
Washington is seeking a decision from Seoul, within weeks, on whether to join the nascent “Chip 4” semiconductor alliance that would bind together American, Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers while deliberately excluding China.
DID NOT WORK. -MM
South Korea strives to secure China ties amid US pressure on chips, missile system
Biden admin unlikely to force Seoul to sever ties with Chinese market: expert
By GT staff reporters Published: Aug 08, 2022 11:32 PM
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With South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin set to kick off a three-day visit to Qingdao in East China’s Shandong Province on Monday, the first high-level official to travel to China since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May, on the same day, South Korean media cited an unnamed presidential official as saying that the country has decided to attend a preliminary meeting for “Chip 4” – an alliance created by the US that some believe aims to set up a semiconductor barrier against the Chinese mainland.
The simultaneous message also illustrated South Korea’s political dilemma in striking a balance between China and the US in the face of increasing pressure from Washington, analysts said, warning that South Korea may face more losses if it totally sides with the US to counter China.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with Park during his stay in China, according to information from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China is willing to take Park’s visit as an opportunity to strengthen communication, focus on cooperation and promote the healthy and stable trend of bilateral relations.
Before coming to China, Park told a press conference that his trip would be a chance to reduce misunderstandings and boost cooperation in areas including trade, health and the environment, Reuters reported.
Park’s visit to China has drawn close attention in China and South Korea, as the two countries are about to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. At the same time, there are many new and old issues that need to be urgently discussed, and compared to its more frequent interactions with the US, Japan and Europe, the new South Korean government has had fewer exchanges with China, Wang Junsheng, a research fellow of East Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times.
Wang noted that Korean Peninsula issues, the chip pact among the US, Japan, South Korea and the island of Taiwan, and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system will be covered in bilateral meetings between senior officials from the two sides.
Li Kaisheng, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that Park’s visit was made against the backdrop of the China-US tensions after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to the island of Taiwan and the Biden administration actively pulling China’s neighbors into a small circle to counter China.
Despite China’s stern warnings, Pelosi made a highly provocative visit to the island of Taiwan last week. When she traveled to South Korea after the Taiwan visit, South Korean President Yoon had a phone conversation instead of meeting her in person. This arrangement was interpreted by some analysts as an attempt to avoid the diplomatic fallout of Pelosi’s visit to the island of Taiwan.
However, Li told the Global Times that the Yoon government has taken a value-oriented diplomatic approach, and given the differences between China and South Korea in their political systems and ideologies, many challenges to bilateral relations remain.
Li noted that the deployment of THAAD and whether South Korea will cooperate with the US in deploying more missiles are all uncertainties hampering China-South Korea relations.
China had urged the Yoon government to keep the preceding Moon Jae-in government’s “Three No’s” policy on the THAAD issue and act prudently on major issues concerning its neighbors’ security, after Park said at the National Assembly in July that the “Three No’s” policy is not a commitment to China.
Analysts warned that the Yoon government should understand the seriousness of the THAAD issue, as it had sparked outrage among Chinese people and pushed bilateral relations to their lowest in decades, adding that South Korea should not sacrifice its interests to follow the US.
However, the US has always wanted South Korea to be the bridgehead to counter China and will put more pressure on the Yoon government, analysts said, adding that given the closeness in trade relations between China and South Korea, leaning to the US will not fit South Korea’s interests.
Balancing its relations with China and the US amid a more complicated geopolitical situation has and will be one of the major challenges for Yoon, said Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, noting that the heated discussions in South Korea over whether to join the Chip 4 alliance with the US, Japan and the island of Taiwan is one example reflecting South Korea’s plight.
Dilemma for South Korea
On the same day that Park is scheduled to start his visit to China, South Korean media reported that Seoul has agreed to hold a preliminary meeting to lay down the ground rules for joining the Chip 4 alliance with Washington next month. Yoon said on Monday that the government is looking into the issue in the light of national interests.
Facing pressure from the US, the South Korean government has shown a tendency to sit on the fence, as it doesn’t want to offend the US by refusing to be part of the Chip 4 alliance, but at the same time does not want to provoke China’s anger, which might hurt their economic interests in the vast mainland market, analysts said.
Xiang Ligang, an independent tech analyst, told the Global Times that there is a high chance that South Korea will eventually become a member of the alliance, but the country is very likely to become a counterforce to the US within the alliance on many issues, in that it will object to many requirements raised by the US to crack down on China’s chip market.
South Korea has massive interests related to the mainland market when it comes to the semiconductor industry. For example, it exports a vast amount of chips to China annually, including mobile phone chips and memory chips.
The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong accounted for 60 percent of South Korea’s semiconductor exports last year, a report of the Korea Times noted.
Observers pointed out that South Korea may also raise more requirements on reducing the negative impact on its chip exports to China, for example on export and technology restrictions.
Xiang Ligang said that it’s unlikely that the Biden administration will use very tough measures to force South Korea or other regions to sever themselves from the Chinese market, as it doesn’t have enough political influence to control its allies at will.
Moreover, South Korea knows that cutting its chip business ties with China might prompt the latter to speed up its chip technological development. And once China manages to produce high-end chips at very low prices, those products will easily flood the South Korean market, as cars and home appliances have done in the past, Ma Jihua, a veteran semiconductor observer, told the Global Times.
Besides, friction on the chip issue could also trigger backlash on other products such as daily consumption products, which would bring huge economic losses to South Korea, whose economic development in recent years has been hugely dependent on business interactions with the Chinese market.
South Korean public opinion also differs on topics related to the chip pact, with many people opposed to cutting the chip business or decoupling with China, as such moves do not meet South Korea’s interests, Xiang Haoyu pointed out, noting that although the Yoon government is aligned with the US, the latest drop in Yoon’s approval rating showed that conservative forces in South Korea cannot fully represent the public will.
The conservative party may lean toward the US but South Korea’s overall national strategy and public opinion will not overwhelmingly follow. This is also why China can work with South Korea to expand cooperation and shared interests, said Xiang Haoyu, noting that South Korea should also know that due to its own long-term strategic interests, it has little room to play the geopolitical card of closely following the US in countering China.
Solomon Islands moving ahead with contentious plan to build Huawei mobile phone towers with $100 million loan from Beijing
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury McKinnie Dentana told reporters in Honiara on Wednesday that the towers would expand and improve mobile coverage across the country.
He also confirmed it would be funded by a concessional loan from China, the first time the government of Solomon Islands has borrowed from one of Beijing’s main overseas lending institutions.
“The project will be fully funded with a concessional loan facility under the EXIM Bank of China of approximately CNY448.9 million ($96 million) at a rate of 1 per cent interest rate for a period of 20 years,” he said.
Mr Dentana said the government would roll out the project over the next three years, and wanted to complete almost half of the towers ahead of the Pacific Games, which will be held in Honiara in November next year.
“This will help people in rural areas to enjoy the Games, even if they don’t come to Honiara,” he said.
He also claimed external advisers had told the government they would be able to repay the loan with revenue generated from the towers.
“The independent review of the project shows the project would generate sufficient revenue for the government to fully repay both the principal loan amount and the interest cost within the loan period,” he said.
The article continues to describe what a bad and terrible deal the Solomon's are getting using inferior Chinese equipment, "debt trap", and all the rest. Ah. Standard boilerplate anti-China stuff, don't you know. -MM
Big shout out to officer Mike Carpinelli
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Here is a photo that captures the character of of a great police officer.
Almost 2 years ago a father took this photo when he was driving his son to rehab in St Lawrence.
His son decided he didn’t want to go and took the father’s phone and called 911 and told them he was being kidnapped.
When the man got pulled over, his son got out of the vehicle and the state trooper had stood on the side of the road with his addict son for about an hour patiently convincing him to let him drive him to rehab.
The father was astounded at the Sheriff and Trooper’s dedication to the cause of addiction. Officer’s successfully got the son in a vehicle without force and drove him to St Lawrence from Lowville about an hour and a half drive.
He literally walked in with him to the rehab. Here is a tribute to great, loving public servants that truly care.
Big shout out to officer Mike Carpinelli
Taiwan biggest underground society leader openly pledges to take action to overthrow the DPP regime if the PLA begin military action.
He said, we are not going to allow the DPP behaviour resulted in many died in bombing. As far as my knowledge is concerned, He is the second one openly make such statement.
I took him into my care 2 years ago because his owner didn’t want him.
I wasn’t a cat person before, I was in fact scared of cat.
I took him in out of pity.
He was skinny, with flu and full of fleas. My initial plan was actually to nurse him to health and put him up for adoption.
But I grew fond of him and eventually decided not to.
Last year, Umbry was diagnosed with Wet Neuro FIP.
Almost every cat owner knows this is an almost always a fatal disease.
When I got the news, I was bawling my eyes out at the clinic but I didn’t want to give up on him. I did some research and found that there is an antiviral treatment by Dr Pederson.
The fact that the treatment is still not approved makes it harder to source and even more expensive.
I had to fork out all of my savings and took a part time job to fund his treatment.
He had to go through 84 days of daily injection which was very painful to watch.
It really was a difficult time for both of us.
But it has been over 5 months now since his last day of treatment and Umbry is looking as healthy and as happy as ever.
I hope he continues to stay healthy for a very long time and grow old with me.
Rufus saves a kitten
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As any New Yorker will tell you, you see a lot of unexpected stuff on the subway. But one woman saw something that left her truly inspired.
Gillian Rogers is the founder of Pet Rescue Squad Inc, and is passionate about helping animals. And last week, she saw something that gave her hope.
She was riding the 1 train home when she spotted a man on the other side of the car, with something in his lap.
She was amazed to realize it was a tiny kitten, wrapped in a towel. Not only that, but the man was bottle-feeding the cat.
. “My heart felt like it was going to explode to see someone with that much caring. He was so in the moment.”
“The kitten was looking up at him as he fed her. It was so heartwarming.”
Rainwater everywhere on Earth unsafe to drink due to ‘forever chemicals’, study finds
Rainwater almost everywhere on Earth has unsafe levels of ‘forever chemicals’, according to new research by scientific experts.
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large family of human-made chemicals that don’t occur in nature. They are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they don’t break down in the environment.
They have non-stick or stain repellent properties so can be found in household items like food packaging, electronics, cosmetics and cookware.
But now researchers at the University of Stockholm have found them in rainwater in most locations on the planet – including Antarctica. There is no safe space to escape them.
“A week ago I saw a post on Facebook from a young boy in my town: ‘Hi I’m an autistic 19-year-old living on my own and my bike was stolen opposite the McDonalds by High Street. My Grandma got me this bike for Christmas. I have been feeling really down about this as there aren’t many things I enjoy in life. My bike is one of those things; thank you to anyone that may be able to help I really do appreciate any information.’
I shared it on Facebook and Twitter but suspected deep down that the chance of him getting his bike back were slim. I had had my own one stolen a few months ago and now the weather was nicer I had been thinking about replacing it. I set myself a budget and had started researching what kind of bike to get.
I went to bed that night so sad that someone would steal his bike that was so precious. I woke up wondering about a GoFundMe but thought it would take too long to do and I didn’t want to waste any time. So I decided to use the money I’d set aside for my shiny new folding Carrera Hybrid and get him a new bike instead. Because life is short and kindness can be paid forward. I’m only HERE because of countless random acts of kindness, and I try to do what I can to repay them into the world. I can save up and get myself another bike, another day. AND I got an excellent cuddle and they’re priceless.
I didn’t just do this for Harvey. I did it for the people who donated to the food bank for me. I did it for the friend who bought SB some shoes when his rubbed sores onto his feet but I had no money for a new one. I did it because a stranger replaced my buggy when it was stolen off my doorstep. I did it for the friend who paid my rent instead of having work done on her house when I was under threat of eviction.
I did it for the church who left 2 bags for life of food on my doorstep when I wrote Hunger Hurts. For the firefighter who left me a mini Christmas tree with decorations on my back porch a week before Christmas having clocked during a routine safety check that we had nothing at all. I did it for the friend that drove me to a party to have a good time when I was freezing and starving and hadn’t seen anyone for days because I was hiding away. Kindness saved my life. Again and again. I have some to spare.
Do good things. Smile at people. Hug your kids. Phone your family. Check on your neighbours. Give your gloves to that freezing cold homeless person. Hold doors open. Ask the crying person if they are okay instead of looking awkward. Rebuild your communities by looking out for each other. Think of others. Connect. Respond. Love. In the end only kindness matters.”
Great Links for the Greenville Post
You will find one or two MM posts in the mix. -MM
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Locally, we have a “clear the shelter” day when they waive all of the fees normally associated with an adoption. It’s a great opportunity, though of course the reason is unfortunate – too many abandoned/homeless animals.
I had decided to go to my local shelter to look for a cat – we had shop cats at work for years, and the last one, who was extraordinary, lived the life of Riley after he had kidney issues, commuting to work with me every day, and living it up at home. After he died, I wasn’t really ready to jump back in, but something told me this was an opportunity that I shouldn’t miss.
So, off to the shelter on Saturday afternoon. As I wheeled in, there was a crowd of almost 100 people standing outside, waiting to go in, where the shelter was going to assign you a “pet counselor” to guide you to all the animals. I’d been there before, and this was an incredibly awkward way to look at the animals, and I found out some people had been waiting over an hour just to take a look. Disappointed, I thought, “Well, maybe next time.”
Then I remembered that PetSmart was listed as an alternate location for this event, and there was one between the shelter and my house, so I decided to stop by. I looked into the cat area, and this little guy was there.
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His breathing rate was about 110, and he looked miserable. His shelter name was Sebastian, and I walked around the store to check out the price of litter and supplies, then walked back over and looked at him again.
He didn’t even really look at me, but he needed someone who wouldn’t mind that. The volunteer said, “He’s really sweet, would you like to hold him?” I told her that I didn’t need to. He needed the kind of home I was ready to give him, and I’d come back after I bought the food and litter to pick him up.
She said, “He might hiss, but he won’t bite you, I promise.
A lot of people have looked at him, but no one wants him because he’s so scared.” I told her that was fine, and that if she could get his paperwork ready, I’d be back in a moment for him.
This medium haired guy was in his box when I got back, and I took as little time as possible to file his paperwork, pick up his tags, and take him to the car.
When I got him inside, I slowly turned the carrier on its side. And this is what I saw.
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He was breathing so fast, and I could see his heart racing, but when I moved to scratch him on the chest, he started purring, but he didn’t want to come out at all.
I left him in peace, in a darkened room, and when I came back, the box was empty.
He had fled to some secret place under the bed, so I set out food, water and the litter box right next to the edge of the bed and left him to settle in.
Then, as luck would have it, this happened –
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Straight line winds of about 80 mph tore through the back yard, and this poor little terrified guy was stuck right inside the room where a freight train and explosive sounding tree destruction happened. Not two hours after getting home.
I felt so bad for him, and honestly, didn’t see him for about a day and a half, but food was gone, and water was gone, and the litter box was used, so he must have been OK.
He progressed for a week at a time, first, not running off when I looked at him if he was eating, then walking around if I was in the room, and one day he jumped onto the bed, and let me pet him.
Three weeks of letting him do it his way, changing from a scared little cat into one with more and more confidence.
He kept his shelter name, though there’s no easy way to shorten it, and it turns out that it doesn’t matter anyway – he is the most cat like cat I have ever had. He is capable of ignoring me completely if he wants to, no matter what he is doing.
It’s infuriating, and hilarious, because he’s also so happy to hang out now. Most of the time, this is his general posture.
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Belly up, and sleeping so he can race around at 3 in the morning like his tail is on fire. And that medium hair description at the shelter?
Nope, long, long, fluffy, flies through the air in tufts no matter how much you brush him hair. He is literally with me in some form no matter where I go, no matter how great a lint brush I might have.
I was taken by a fearful cat that needed someone who didn’t mind. Best decision I ever made.
Italian Meatball Pasta
This Italian Meatball Pasta is an easy-to-make skillet dinner with Hamburger Helper™ Beef Pasta, precooked Italian-style meatballs and juicy tomatoes. Serve up a heaping plate of meatball pasta topped with melty cheese for a deliciously flavorful weeknight meal. And don’t be surprised if people start asking for seconds after a single bite!
32 frozen cooked Italian-style meatballs (1/2 oz each)
1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (4 oz)
Chopped fresh parsley leaves, if desired
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How The Threat Of China Was Made In The USA
A fantastic video.
Western mainstream media are spreading a great deal of anti-China propaganda disinformation. They’re literally brainwashing Westerners into hating China.
Sorry to say but you are one of the victims. You’ve been taken for a fool; you are being manipulated.
Second, whether or not you care about China is entirely up to you. Perhaps China isn’t at all important to you, to your daily life.
Third, there is no reason to be afraid of China. China is a peaceful and benevolent nation.
China hasn’t fought a single war since 1979.
China is pursuing diplomacy throughout the Middle East rather than bombing the shit out of the region. Recently, China signed a 25-year cooperation deal with Iran.
China is negotiating with the Taliban instead of invading and occupying Afghanistan for 20 years.
China is leading the ASEAN countries in peaceful trade through RCEP, the world’s largest free trade bloc.
China is helping countries in the Global South, as well as in Europe, build their infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over 149 countries have already signed up; that’s 3/4 of the world’s nations!
China is helping countries in the Global South vaccinate their population as the rich Western nations abandoned them through vaccine hoarding.
China is inviting all nations to participate in its space station program, including the United States. Recall that USA banned China from the ISS.
China is trying to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, countries with whom China has excellent relations. What is USA doing? Sending arms to Ukraine, throwing fuel to the fire and prolonging the war.
China is forging powerful economic and security alliances in BRI, BRICS, RCEP, SCO, etc. China is trying to unite the world, not divide it (as the Americans are doing).
You have more reasons to be afraid of America, which wages endless wars around the world, which sanctions numerous countries that don’t comply with US foreign policy, which interferes in foreign elections and politics, which overthrows foreign regimes it doesn’t like.
Fourth, if you really care to know the truth about China, there is only one way: go visit China. See China with your own eyes. Bypass Western mainstream media.
Your own eyes will confirm that Western media have been lying to you. China is not evil. Life in China is very good. The people are happy. The country is peaceful and safe.
You can visit Xinjiang and learn about the Uyghurs.
You can visit Hong Kong and see how well the city is doing now that the violent protesters have been booted out of China.
You can visit Tibet and witness the beauty of its culture.
You can visit Shenzhen and Chengdu and Shanghai and see the technological wonders.
China is the fourth most popular country in the world for tourism!
The future looks beautiful!
From Chua…
China patiently extenting massive goodwill to the Taiwanese people over the decades to win heart and mind. As a result, there are more than 2 million Taiwanese living and working in China (but they are not allow to vote outside Taiwan)
And the Taiwanese economy is growing with massive trade surplus:
Mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of Taiwan's exports last year, while the U.S. had a 15% share, according to official Taiwan data accessed through Wind Information.
About 22% of Taiwan's imports last year came from mainland China and Hong Kong, versus 10% from the U.S., official data showed.
Many Taiwan-based companies operate factories in mainland China. In 2021, Taiwan businesses received $200.1 billion in U.S. export orders, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. (note: their factories in China make even more money from the rest of the world including the Chinese Market)
However, the US and Japan offer Taiwanese politicians personal gain in speech fees, kick back.... So, today, China have to get rid of these handful of low quality, selfish, me-only foreign puppets controlling the island through the capitalist democratic system by withdrawing the massive goodwill to cause pain across Taiwan, and use massive military to surround the island and cause further pains and soon may do it by restricting their energy supply etc.
Within the next few weeks, if the US fail to carryout the threat of sending its aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Straits, the will in the island US puppets will collapsed.
And...
The PLA will definitely won't allow the crusader warships the freedom of navigation across their inner water this time.
US will be proven a paper tiger 🐯 soon.
When live become harder and harder in Taiwan, the power of the patriotic forces will growth, a colour revolution will be in the making. A peaceful reunification will be ensured.
We should have a little gathering in Taiwan on the day of reunification to celebrate the day that spell the drastic and permanent decline of the world most war monger crusader nations in the past 2 century.
When the world most evil crusader is down, the Palestinian liberation day will no longer be a dream, Latin America will have their freedom back and the economy will growth through the win win belts and roads, NATO may be dismantle and Europe will be back to a lot of small countries completing with each other to trade with the outside world.
Once they (Europe) don't act collectively against the rest of the world, they will become less aggressive and learn to deal with the world through mutual respect, and trade through value for money.
Europe will learn that collective bullying and looting for profit have no future. They will learn to work hard and living within their means.
Russian - Ukraine conflict will be resolved with Ukraine surrender and begin rebuilding as part of Russia. The flow of Russian gas to Europe will resume
The world will abandon the US currency and the US economy will collapsed, followed by the military, and a with drawal of US overseas military bases will be a must to cut expenses. The country will be split into a few parts. The rich states would like to keep their tax money to themselves by declaring independent, the black, the white, the Latino etc with no love with each other will form gangs and split their territory and power base.
Once the crusader nations across the world can no longer threaten the world, The world can spend less in military and use the money to improve the environment and standard of living of the average population.
The 21st century world already looks beautiful to me.
It’s hard to believe that the United States has become such an insane, dick-head government, and as they continue to poke Russia and China, their long-term survival potential is decreasing at an exponential rate. They have a death wish, and they are oblivious as to how much anger they are generating.
AGAIN! U.S. Sends ANOTHER Congressional Delegation on Military Plane to Taiwan
The United States has once again publicly stuck its finger in the eye of China by sending another Congressional Delegation aboard a military aircraft, directly to Taiwan.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Representative John Garamendi (D-CA), Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), Territorial Delegate Amata (R- American Samoa) flew into Taiwan on a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-40C, Call Sign “SPAR11” and landed at 8:04 AM Taiwan local time Sunday.
I actually met Amata when I was working building a hospital in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Nice enough; I guess. -MM
Taiwan Vice Minister Yui “extended the warmest of welcomes to Taiwan’s longstanding friend Sen. Markey & his cross-party delegation comprising Rep. Garamendi, Rep. Lowenthal, Rep. Don Beyer & Rep. Amata.”
The vice Minister went on to say “We thank the like-minded US lawmakers for the timely visit & unwavering support.”
It is not yet known why these members of Congress chose to fly to Taiwan, especially since the issue is clearly sensitive to Beijing, other than to intentionally antagonize Beijing.
Hi MM,
Our Chinese.news just reported the news, but did not say too much.
Our government does not care too much to these little guys game.
Our china is just following our own stratagem.
-<redacted name>
Pepe Escobar
August 13, 2022
It’s tempting to visualize the overwhelming collective West debacle as a rocket, faster than free fall, plunging into the black void maelstrom of complete socio-political breakdown.
It’s tempting to visualize the overwhelming collective West debacle as a rocket, faster than free fall, plunging into the black void maelstrom of complete socio-political breakdown.
The End of (Their) History turns out to be a fast-forward historical process bearing staggering ramifications: way more profound than mere self-appointed “elites” – via their messenger boys/girls – dictating a Dystopia engineered by austerity and financialization: what they chose to brand as a Great Reset and then, major fail intervening, The Great Narrative.
Financialization of everything means total marketization of Life itself. In his latest book, No-Cosas: Quiebras del Mundo de Hoy (in Spanish, no English translation yet), the foremost German contemporary philosopher (Byung-Chul Han, who happens to be Korean), analyzes how Information Capitalism, unlike industrial capitalism, converts also the immaterial into merchandise: “Life itself acquires the form of merchandise (…) the difference between culture and commerce disappears. Institutions of culture are presented as profitable brands.”
The most toxic consequence is that “total commercialization and mercantilization of culture had the effect of destroying the community (…) Community as merchandise is the end of community.”
China’s foreign policy under Xi Jinping proposes the idea of a community of shared future for mankind, essentially a geopolitical and geoeconomic project. Yet China still has not amassed enough soft power to translate that culturally, and seduce vast swathes of the world into it: that especially concerns the West, for which Chinese culture, history and philosophies are virtually incomprehensible.
In Inner Asia, where I am now, a revived glorious past may offer other instances of “shared community”. A glittering example is the Shaki Zinda necropolis in Samarkand.
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Afrasiab – the ancient settlement, pre-Samarkand – had been destroyed by the Genghis Khan hordes in 1221. The only building that was preserved was the city’s main shrine: Shaki Zinda.
Much later, in the mid-15th century, star astronomer Ulugh Beg, himself the grandson of Turkic-Mongol “Conqueror of the World” Timur, unleashed no less than a Cultural Renaissance: he summoned architects and craftsmen from all corners of the Timurid empire and the Islamic world to work into what became a de facto creative artistic lab.
The Avenue of 44 Tombs at Shaki Zinda represents the masters of different schools harmoniously creating a unique synthesis of styles in Islamic architecture.
The most remarkable décor at Shaki Zinda are stalactites, hung in clusters in the upper parts of portal niches. An early 18th century traveler described them as “magnificent stalactites, hanging like stars above the mausoleum, make it clear about the eternity of the sky and our frailty.” Stalactites in the 15th century were called “muqarnas”: that means, figuratively, “starry sky”.
The Sheltering (Community) Sky
The Shaki Zinda complex is now at the center of a willful push by the Uzbekistan government to restore Samarkand to its former glory. The centerpiece, trans-historical concepts are “harmony” and “community” – and that reaches way beyond Islam.
As a sharp contrast, the inestimable Alastair Crooke has illustrated the death of Eurocentrism alluding to Lewis Carroll and Yeats: only through the looking glass we can see the full contours of the tawdry spectacle of narcissistic self-obsession and self-justification offered by “the worst”, still so “full of passionate intensity”, as depicted by Yeats.
And yet, unlike Yeats, the best now do not “lack all conviction”. They may be few, ostracized by cancel culture, but they do see the “rough beast, its hour come out at last, slouching towards…” Brussels (not Jerusalem) “to be born”.
This unelected gaggle of insufferable mediocrities – from von der Leyden and Borrell to that piece of Norwegian wood Stoltenberg – may dream they live in the pre-1914 era, when Europe was at the political center. Yet now not only “the center cannot hold” (Yeats) but Eurocrat-infested Europe has been definitely engulfed by the maelstrom, an irrelevant political backwater seriously flirting with reversion to 12th century status.
The physical aspects of the Fall – austerity, inflation, no hot showers, freezing to death to support neo-Nazis in Kiev – has been preceded, and no Christianized imagery need apply, by the fires of sulphur and brimstone of a Spiritual Fall. The transatlantic masters of those parrots posing as “elites” could never come up with any idea to sell to the Global South centered on harmony and much less “community”.
What they sell, via their Unanimous Narrative, actually their take on “We Are the World”, is variations of “you will own nothing and be happy”. Worse: you will have to pay for it – dearly. And you have no right to dream of any transcendence – irrespective if you’re a follower of Rumi, the Tao, shamanism or Prophet Muhammad.
The most visible shock troops of this reductionist Western neo-nihilism – obscured by the fog of “equality”, “human rights” and “democracy” – are the thugs being swiftly denazified in Ukraine, sporting their tattoos and pentagrams.
The dawn of a new Enlightenment
The Collective West Self-Justification Show staged to obliterate its ritualized suicide offers no hint of transcending sacrifice implied in a ceremonial seppuku. All they do is to wallow in the adamant refusal to admit they could be seriously mistaken.
How would anyone dare to deride the set of “values” derived from the Enlightenment? If you don’t prostrate yourself in front of this glittering cultural altar, you’re just a barbarian set to be slandered, law-fared, canceled, persecuted, sanctioned and – HIMARS to the rescue – bombed.
We still do not have a post-Tik Tok Tintoretto to depict the collective West’s multi-wallowing in Dante-esque chambers of pop Hell. What we do have, and must endure, day after day, is the kinetic battle between their “Great Narrative”, or narratives, and pure and simple reality. Their obsession with the need for virtual reality to always “win” is pathological: after all the only activity they excel in is manufacturing fake reality. Such a pity that Baudrillard and Umberto Eco are not among us anymore to unmask their tawdry shenanigans.
Does that make any difference across vast swathes of Eurasia? Of course not. We just need to keep up with the dizzying succession of bilateral meetings, deals, and progressive interaction of BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+ and other multilateral organizations to get a glimpse of how the new world-system is being configured.
In Samarkand, surrounded by mesmerizing instances of Timurid art coupled with a development boom that brings to mind the East Asian miracle of the early 1990s, it’s plain to see how the heart of the Heartland is back with a vengeance – and is bound to dispatch the pleonexia-afflicted West to the swamp of Irrelevancy.
I leave you with a psychedelic sunset facing the Registan, at the razor’s edge of a new sort of Enlightenment that is leading the Heartland towards a reality-based version of Shangri-La, privileging harmony, tolerance and most of all, the sense of community.
Winky
Just two days after we got our new puppy from the breeder, my MIL (visiting for a few days)was taking him and her two dogs for a morning walk. A small kitten decided to follow them back to our house. A closer look revealed that he was sneezing, wheezing, and had a swollen eye. Not wanting to bring a sick cat into the house (and knowing that my husband is very allergic to cats), she left him outside. We asked around the neighborhood, but no one knew of anyone who had lost a kitten.
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That little kitten camped out on our door mat on our porch while we discussed what to do with him. We couldn’t keep him, so MIL and I set out to bring him to a shelter. We went to the nearest shelter a few towns over. They asked us where we found him, and we told them our town. The shelter would not accept an animal that came from another town!
So we looked up another shelter and started heading there. This time we told them we found him right around the block from them. But they made it clear they couldn’t care for a sick animal- if they took him, he would be put down.
At that point we decided to just find a vet that could help him, as he was pretty sick. After a few failed attempts, we found one that would let us bring him in right away. He had a bad upper respiratory infection as well as an eye infection, and would need meds multiple times a day.
So I took him home. I set him up in the basement, away from everyone else, and promised my husband it was temporary- just until he was healthy and I could find him a home.
That was 11 years ago, and Winky is still with us, and is a member of our family. In fact as I write this, he is cuddled up on my lap.
My husband went through many months of allergy shots several times a week, not because I asked him to, he just saw that I had bonded with the cat and wouldn’t want to give him up.
So the sick cat we found fully recovered and became our much loved pet. A happy ending for all of us.
Here are a couple of recent pictures of Winky. As you can see, his eye healed up just fine. He was a sweet boy when we found him, and he is still just as sweet.
Winky
The US could lose up to 900 warplanes fighting a Chinese invasion of Taiwan but would emerge victorious, says think tank
The Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has been conducting war games to imagine how such a conflict would play out.
"The good news is that at the end of all the iterations so far, there is an autonomous Taiwan," Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider.
"The United States and Taiwan are generally successful in keeping the island out of Chinese occupation, but the price of that is very high – losses of hundreds of aircraft, aircraft carriers, and terrible devastation to the Taiwanese economy and also to the Chinese navy and air force."
LOL.
These folk are delirious. And what’s more, they actually BELIEVE that American cities will not be targeted by China. Ha ha ha ha ha!
“Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said.
We are at our best when we serve others.”
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Meanwhile in the United States…
August 14, 2022
By Caitlin JOHNSTONE
In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, immortal Hague fugitive Henry Kissinger says the US is acting in a crazy and irrational way that has brought it to the edge of war with Russia and China:
Mr. Kissinger sees today’s world as verging on a dangerous disequilibrium. “We are at the edge of war with Russia and China on issues which we partly created, without any concept of how this is going to end or what it’s supposed to lead to,” he says. Could the U.S. manage the two adversaries by triangulating between them, as during the Nixon years? He offers no simple prescription. “You can’t just now say we’re going to split them off and turn them against each other. All you can do is not to accelerate the tensions and to create options, and for that you have to have some purpose.”On the question of Taiwan, Mr. Kissinger worries that the U.S. and China are maneuvering toward a crisis, and he counsels steadiness on Washington’s part. “The policy that was carried out by both parties has produced and allowed the progress of Taiwan into an autonomous democratic entity and has preserved peace between China and the U.S. for 50 years,” he says. “One should be very careful, therefore, in measures that seem to change the basic structure.”Mr. Kissinger courted controversy earlier this year by suggesting that incautious policies on the part of the U.S. and NATO may have touched off the crisis in Ukraine. He sees no choice but to take Vladimir Putin’s stated security concerns seriously and believes that it was a mistake for NATO to signal to Ukraine that it might eventually join the alliance: “I thought that Poland — all the traditional Western countries that have been part of Western history — were logical members of NATO,” he says. But Ukraine, in his view, is a collection of territories once appended to Russia, which Russians see as their own, even though “some Ukrainians” do not. Stability would be better served by its acting as a buffer between Russia and the West: “I was in favor of the full independence of Ukraine, but I thought its best role was something like Finland.”
I don’t know about you, but to me this warning is much, much more ominous coming from a bloodsoaked swamp monster than it would be from some anti-imperialist peace activist who was speaking from outside the belly of the imperial machine. This man is a literal war criminal who, as a leading empire manager, helped to unleash unfathomable horrors all around the world the consequences of which are still being felt today.
And as far as you can tell from his own comments, he remains completely unreformed.
“Looking back over his long and often controversial career, however, he is not given to self-criticism,” The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Secor writes.
“I do not torture myself with things we might have done differently,” Kissinger tells her.
So Kissinger remains an unapologetic warmongering psychopath. But if he hasn’t changed as a person, what has? Why is he now cautioning against US aggression and warning that the empire has taken things too far?
Well, if Kissinger hasn’t changed, we can only surmise that it is the US empire itself that has changed. Its behavior is now so insane and illogical that it is making a 99 year-old Henry Kissinger nervous.
Which, if you really think about it, is one of the scariest things you could possibly imagine.
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The empire’s departure from the Henry Kissinger iteration of murderous madness to its new form of insanity appears to have begun around the turn of the century, when the influx of neoconservatives into the White House combined with the jingoism which followed 9/11 to usher in an era of interventionism and military expansionism of such brazenness and recklessness that many from the old guard balked.
Kissinger was supportive of the 2003 Iraq invasion, but well before it began he was already saying that he had serious misgivings about the lack of clear thinking and forward planning he was seeing on that front. The neoconservative goal of US planetary hegemony at any cost which led to that invasion (and the planning of many more) has since become the mainstream Beltway consensus perspective on US foreign policy, and it is responsible for the escalations that Kissinger is now warning about.
“The PNAC plan envisions a strategic confrontation with China, and a still greater permanent military presence in every corner of the world,” wrote Michael Parenti in his 2004 book Superpatriotism. “The objective is not just power for its own sake but power to control the world’s natural resources and markets, power to privatize and deregulate the economies of every nation in the world, and power to hoist upon the backs of peoples everywhere — including North America — the blessings of an untrammeled global ‘free market.’ The end goal is to ensure not merely the supremacy of global capitalism as such, but the supremacy of American global capitalism by preventing the emergence of any other potentially competing superpower.”
By “PNAC plan” Parenti means the plans of the neoconservatives behind the notorious Project for the New American Century think tank, whose unipolarist militaristic agendas they explicitly advocated.
Henry Kissinger is warning about the dangers of US warmongering not because he has gotten saner, but because the US war machine has gotten crazier. That we are now hurtling toward confrontations that don’t appear rational to someone who has spent the majority of his life watching the mechanics of empire from inside its inner chambers should concern us all. When you are talking about brinkmanship between major world powers, especially nuclear brinkmanship, the last thing you need is for one of the parties involved to be acting erratically and nonsensically.
We need de-escalation and detente, and we need it yesterday. If you’re too hawkish for Henry Kissinger, you’re too motherfucking hawkish.
If you think that people are getting pretty crazy now, just wait until the cost of food skyrockets to levels that hardly anyone ever anticipated. Most people don’t realize this, but to a very large degree we are still eating the food that was grown in 2021. Unfortunately for all of us, far less food is being grown in 2022 than originally projected, and that is going to cause immense global stress in 2023. Nightmarish droughts are absolutely devastating crops in the United States and Europe, the major war that is happening on the other side of the globe is greatly restricting the flow of agricultural goods from Ukraine, and the fact that some fertilizers have now more than quadrupled in price is deeply affecting farmers all over the planet. In 2023, there is going to be a lot less food to go around, and we are all going to pay a lot more for it. Needless to say, this is not good news.
Of course the cost of living has already gotten completely out of control. According to Zero Hedge, the median rent in the United States has now surpassed $2,000 a month for the very first time…
The cost of rent in the U.S. is moving higher at the highest pace in three decades, the report notes, blowing past a median of $2,000 per month for the first time ever. Rents are now above where they were prior to the pandemic in most major cities.Areas just outside cities, which saw a large influx of new renters during the pandemic, have seen their rents rise disproportionately higher. People returning to large cities, post-pandemic, have also not helped prices cool off.
Who can afford to pay $2,000 a month for rent?
According to the Social Security Administration, the median yearly income for U.S. workers in 2020 was just $34,612.04.
No wonder most families need to have more than one income just to survive these days.
This is what I mean when I say that our standard of living is being systematically destroyed.
Many people have to work as hard as they possibly can just to pay the bills each month.
Yes, the top 10 percent are still doing well, but the vast majority of the country is really struggling.
And that is why the soaring price of food is such a big deal right now. The latest numbers that we just got from the government tell us that the cost of “food at home” has been rising at the fastest rate since 1979…
The food-at-home index, which represents food purchased in places like grocery stores for consumption at home, jumped by an annual 13.1 percent, which is the fastest pace since March 1979.“Consumers are getting a break at the gas pump, but not at the grocery store,” Bankrate Chief Financial Analyst Greg McBride told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “Food prices, and especially costs for food at home, continue to soar, rising at the fastest pace in more than 43 years.”
But the truth is that we haven’t seen anything yet.
What we see at the grocery store right now is largely a reflection of what happened last year.
Let me give you an example that illustrates what I am talking about.
In the last few days, the mainstream media has been buzzing about the fact that there is now a potato shortage in Idaho. But what most people don’t realize is that this shortage was caused by a tremendous heat wave that happened last summer…
Idaho has a potato shortage. If you haven’t heard about it already or noticed fewer and fewer potatoes in your grocery store’s produce section, you will soon.So, what’s the problem? The weather. Not this year’s weather, mind you. It’s the weather from over a year ago that’s to blame.“I’m not sure if you remember last June, but we had some just unbelievably hot temperatures here in Idaho. It did a number on our potato crop,” said Jamey Higham, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission. “And so, our yields were significantly down last year.”
So did you catch that?
A bad harvest in 2021 is now being felt in the latter stages of 2022.
Looking ahead, what our farmers are experiencing right now will be felt very keenly in 2023.
“Last year [fertilizer] was around $270 per ton and now it’s over $1,400 per ton,” Meagan Kaiser, of Kaiser Family Farms and farmer-director of the United Soybean Board, told NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt.”“It’s scary. It turns my stomach a little bit to think about the amount of risk that our family farm is taking right now.”Farmers are finding themselves forced to pass some of those costs along to customers, resulting in higher grocery prices.
When those cost increases get passed along to us in 2023, a lot of people are going to be screaming bloody murder.
But at least we will have food to eat. On the other side of the globe, there simply will not be enough food for everyone.
For years, I have been trying to explain that global famines would inevitably be coming, but I still don’t think that it is sinking in for many people out there.
And of course famine is just one of the elements of “the perfect storm” that we are now facing. Recently, Egon von Greyerz listed some of the other major elements…
Debts at levels that can never be repaid – sovereign, corporate & private
Epic global bubbles in stocks, bonds & property – all about to collapse
Major geopolitical conflicts with no desire for peace – major wars likely
Energy imbalances and shortages, most self inflicted
Food shortages leading to major famine and civil unrest
Inflation, leading to hyperinflation & global poverty
We have got a giant mess on our hands.
And conditions are going to get worse and worse and worse in the months ahead.
As things deteriorate, a lot of people out there are going to go completely nuts.
In fact, a lot of people are already going completely nuts. Let me give you an example that just happened…
An unidentified man reportedly set his car on fire by driving into a U.S. Capitol barricade early Sunday morning. He then got out of his car and began firing a weapon indiscriminately before shooting himself, police say.U.S. Capitol police say officers immediately responded when they heard the sound of gunfire at roughly 4 a.m. There were no reported injuries aside from the driver.
The only reason you would do something like that is if you have lost all hope.
And in the months and years ahead, much of the general population will lose all hope.
Let us endeavor to be beacons of hope, because hope will be greatly needed during the times that are in front of us.
Unterföhring, Germany
June 13, 2017
Unterföhring, Germany
Many uniquely German things show themselves during this sequence.
My wife and I were on the S8 train to the Münchener Flughafen for our flight back home after a 20 Day vacation in Germany and Austria.
The first German thing that struck me that the kind gentleman, Mr. Klaus, we were staying with in his AirBnB, forced us to leave at 8 AM for a 11 30 AM flight. He was almost offended when I said its too early.
In Germany, it’s never too early.
The second “Only in Germany” moment came when the train reached Unterföhring and all of us heard 5 sickening Gunshots. There was 1 gunshot and then there were 4. It took the whole train full of people a few seconds to realize that those were Gunshots! And at one moment, the WHOLE train drooped to the floor and tucked their heads in.
In one unified moment, no one dropped to the floor sooner neither later.
And then there was silence.
Punctuated rarely by faint sobs, utter and complete Silence.
The sheer German discipline jolted 200 people into evasive positions.
A few minutes later, I along with many others peeped out of the window to see a man lying down in small pool of blood and the Polizei running to the floor above us.
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In a matter of 7 minutes, the next German thing happened where 10 Cops manned the train doors and everyone emptied the train in a matter of seconds.
We climbed 1 floor above the station exit and saw almost 50 Polizei Cars and a Helicopter in the Air.
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And then it happened!!
All the cellphones of all the people beeped in unison. A text message from the Federal Government stating “Not a terrorist attack. Stay Calm. The accused has been captured.”(Was in German, I couldn’t take a screenshot.)
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So up until now, the Germans have had 7 minutes in which 2 people die, Suspect is shot in the leg and captured, 50 Police cars have shown up, close to 200–300 people have evacuated a train and the Government has informed everyone in the city!
It was not over yet for the stranded tourists/business fliers though.
The police started combing the area and the locals had started booking Uber for the ride to the airport. The tourists were slow to realize this and soon Uber Cabs turned to ‘nicht verfügbar’(not available).
Panic started building up and then the most strikingly German thing to me happened. People in the area came out of their houses with their cars and offered everyone free rides to the Airport. 100s of Cars came rushing in and started clearing the area off worried travellers.
As you can see I took some pictures, I missed a whole wave of good Samaritans while doing so. I looked back on the road and I see 95% of the people gone. My wife by now, got a grip on the situation and realized that the flight is in 90 minutes and I have missed the chance to get dropped to the airport.
Oh was she fuming like a raging bull.
I asked a bystander, how far is the Airport from here and can we walk it down?
He laughed first. Then said “It’s 27 KMs from here, my friend. If you have your flight in 5 Hours and 37 minutes, Yes you can walk it up.”
I said “No, its in 87 minutes now. And my wife is fuming at me there.”
He immediately said “I am waiting for my colleague to pick me up. You can come with us, we will drop you to the airport!”
The colleague arrived and we jumped into the back of the car. She drove in the Most German way possible : DISCIPLINED and FAST.
We made small talk and I offered money in return of the favour, when we are about to reach the airport, and they vehemently refused. He said “Nie. Niemals”(Never. Never Ever.)
They dropped us to the airport and we exchanged contact details. They were getting late for work, so couldn’t get a picture. 🙁
In the next 10 minutes, I got the below mail from him :
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“Dear Adwit
Hope You got your flight and you are safe back home.
Don’t mix this last impressions from Munich with the overall experience in Europe.
It’s a Beautiful and good Country.
Cheers
…….”
What is patriotism you ask? This image is your answer.
Finally, we got our boarding cards and called the AirBnB gentleman Mr. Klaus just to inform him that we are safe. And he said the most German thing my wife has ever heard
This is Boo. I scooped him up out of the middle of the road on August 18, 2016. At first I thought he was dead. He was a lifeless bump on the blacktop and I thought he was just part of the early evening shadows. As I got closer, I noticed that the dark spot was a hurt kitten.
We were unable to find any big noticeable Injuries, but we did find a small bit of blood on his cheek and his forehead area looked puffy. My son stayed near Boo through the night and made sure he had water with an eye dropper.
I took him to the vet the next day, but the vet was not very optimistic. After keeping Boo overnight, the vet concluded that he was not hit by a car as we originally suspected.
The vet believed that Boo was purposefully hit or kicked in the head. He didn’t give Boo much chance for survival, but wanted to see if his tech could get the injured kitten to eat before we made any rash decisions. Boo was surprisingly able to swallow food from an eye dropper, so we brought him home and hoped for the best.
The first few days were rough, but after 4 or 5 days of constant care he was able to stand on his own and take a few wobbly steps.
Four years later, Boo is still with us and brings smiles to our faces each day. He has some permanent brain damage which prevents him from seeing perfectly and he has trouble with motor skills, but he gets by just fine.
Every night when I call his name he comes running to my bed where he climbs up with the help of a stool (he can’t jump very high) and waits to be brushed, because he has trouble grooming himself. Boo is our beautiful boy.
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This is what Boo looks like now. He loves sun bathing in the atrium.
Boo
Matthew Ehret
August 14, 2022
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It isn’t often that a generation lives through a systemic breakdown crisis.
It isn’t often that a generation lives through a systemic breakdown crisis. While many shallower minds are quick to lay blame to the cause of their troubles on a convenient scapegoat (1), the fact is that these sorts of systemic collapses take time and the root causes are to be found in something both more universal and more subjective.
Many generations of bad ideas must be embraced without self-criticism or correction before a foolish society unwilling to break from popular delusions faces the consequence of their folly. Machiavelli once noted in his Discourses on Livy (investigating the causes of the decay and collapse of Rome published in 1517 AD) that unless a wayward republic returns to its founding principles, it isn’t long for this world.
Such was the world of the late 4th century when a young Manichean teacher of Rhetoric hailing from North Africa had decided to convert to the new religion of Christianity in 386 AD under the influence of a powerful church leader named St Ambrose (340-397 AD).
A World on the Brink of Collapse
Even though Christianity had been adopted as a state-supported religion in 381 AD, old habits die hard, and just as the Roman elite often simply adapted their pagan rites and rituals into new Christian wineskins, the lessons of Christ were not necessarily high priorities even for many of the Roman converts within the general population who valued personal comfort and stability over the higher message of loving God and loving your fellow man as you love yourself outlined by Christ.
What made this more complicated is that Rome had over-extended itself several times over and had little capability to maintain its international concessions with a capital that had long found itself addicted to ever greater spoils of pillage and slave labor from the subdued peoples of the world. The governing class, military leaders and administrative managers had all glutted themselves in a corrupt system of governance which had grown fat with lethargy and arrogance over the centuries.
Amidst this decay, a growing armada of organized Germanic forces among the Goths, Huns and Visigoths were growing in influence pressing ever harder on Rome’s borders. With the death of Theodosius in 395 AD, any remnant of stabilizing influence in the Roman empire had disappeared, and the disorganized, undisciplined forces of Rome became increasingly incapable of organizing any resistance to the growing assaults of Alaric (leader of the Visigoths). After Theodosius died, Rome was divided into Eastern and Western segments with the west the least manageable.
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By 410 AD, the walls of the capital were breached for the first time in history and the first sacking of Rome occurred with a ferocity that none had imagined possible.
From the moment of his conversion to his final breath, Augustine’s leadership skills, mastery of the Platonic method and power of rhetoric made him an organic leader within a beleaguered Church. Not only was Rome in an existential crisis on a geopolitical level, but the very church itself had faced an internal rot with splintered heresies breaking away as cults and sub-cults, each declaring themselves the one true heir to Christ’s mission.
After the first sacking of Rome in 410 AD, things were looking rather bleak and the desperate population was looking for a scapegoat to absorb their hate.
Were the gods punishing the people for having abandoned them when Rome stopped trying to wipe Christianity off the map and instead chose to embrace it as the official state religion? Augustine found himself doing battle with this trend and the City of God was his defense of Christianity which he began in 412 AD and finished in 426 AD. Its lessons have as much application in diagnosing today’s systemic crisis as they did 1600 years ago.
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Augustine’s Defense of Christianity
In the City of God, Augustine described how the mob of Rome was quickly turning on the Christians in the following remarks: “Rome having been stormed and sacked by the Goths under Alaric their king, the worshipers of false gods, or pagans, as we commonly call them, made an attempt to attribute this calamity to the Christian religion, and began to blaspheme the true God with even more than their wonted bitterness and acerbity. It was this which kindled my zeal for the house of God and prompted me to undertake the defence of the City of God against the charges and misrepresentations of its assailants.”
Within the City of God, Augustine argues that it isn’t Christianity that is to blame for the collapse of Rome, but rather Rome itself which had fallen from obedience to Natural Law upon whose adherence the survival of societies absolutely depends. While God allows for a certain degree of flexibility to his wayward children who fall into corruption- patience is not infinite and the disobedience to Natural law devoid of redemption can only be tolerated for so long.
Citing Cicero (106 – 43 BC), Augustine’s insight into the true causes of Rome’s downfall hinged on the positive conception of a healthy society which is in harmony with the mandate of the ideal City of God. This is a society which has wisely rejected the law of “might makes right” of empire.
In the case of Rome, Augustine makes the point that the seeds of her own destruction were sewn long before the birth of Christ.
Even before the debauched revelries normalized under the oversight of the Roman imperial cults of the Committee of 15 which interpreted the oracular gobbledygook in the Sibylline Books of Apollo, and before the hegemony of the cults of Cybele and Mithras which saw a total collapse of the minds and morals of both Roman plebians and elites alike, and before the age of bloodlust that the coliseum’s gore entailed as “popular entertainment”, Cicero perfectly diagnosed Rome’s spiritual self-destruction in his Commonwealth.
Citing Cicero, Augustine defines a healthy community saying “a community of commonwealth is not an association of units, but an association united by a common sense of right and a community of common interest”. Continuing to cite Cicero’s 64 BC opus, he writes “the morality has passed away and we are bound to be called to account for the disaster… for we retain the name of a commonwealth, but we have lost the reality long ago, and this was not through any misfortune, but our own misdemeanors”.
The key moment cited by both Cicero and Augustine that saw Rome embrace her tragic destiny was located in the events surrounding the Third Punic War of 149-146 BC.
How Rome Lost the Mandate of Heaven
The third Punic war with Carthage was a moment not unlike the choice which the American elite made to launch into the Vietnam War and the murder of Cicero was not unlike the same decision those same elite made to stay silent and coverup the truth of John Kennedy’s murder in 1963. It also saw parallels to the collapse of Athens into empire with the judicial murder of Socrates in 399 BC and her embrace of wars with the Delian league in the 5th century BC.
It was during this war that Rome’s once loyal ally Carthage found herself the target of total destruction as Roman ships landed on the coasts of today’s Libya in 149 BC. Rome’s General Scipio Aemilianus had one mission to carry out which was immortalized in his words “Carthage delenda est”… Carthage must be destroyed.
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The Carthaginians were desperate to avoid another war, and quickly offered to lay down her weapons and engage in terms of surrender. Sadly, their placation fell on deaf ears and the oligarchy managing Rome had decided that her large territories stretching across Africa, the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia had to be consolidated. After two years of war, Carthage’s capital was sieged, ending with every last man, woman and child killed or sold into slavery. The oligarchical system of families and cults which had once used Persia as their enforcer of global controls had found a new host on whom to exert their influence, and once-proud Roman republic was set there upon a new and darker destiny.
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Augustine writes: “After the destruction of Carthage and before Christ’s coming, the degradation of traditional morality ceased to be a gradual decline and became a torrential rush.”
Augustine makes the point that “if the values of Christ’s teaching had been practised rather than license, Rome would be prospering. But now there is despair and even the true Christians must submit to endure the wickedness of an utterly corrupt state and by that endurance to win themselves a place of glory in that holy and majestic assembly as we call it on the Heavenly Commonwealth whose law is the Will of God”.
Here it is important to note, that Augustine is not saying that Rome needed to convert to Christianity in order to be saved, for Rome did just that, and it was not saved.
More important than simply being Christian in name, Augustine makes clear that Rome could have redeemed herself even before Christ was born by following the universal values contained in Christ’s teachings both on the individual level and the broader governmental level.
Augustine’s City of God is in many ways his attempt to do what Plato laid out in his life’s work and especially his Republic (published in 375 BC) and also what Cicero did in his Commonwealth published in 64 BC. In both cases the great philosopher/statesmen laid out their solutions to their nations’ slide into empire. All three noted that whenever societies fall into decadence which empire entails, the love of wisdom is replaced for the love of hedonism and other ephemeral pleasures. Love of the other is replaced with love of the self and considerations of the wellbeing of the whole community are reduced to the wellbeing of the individual member with power to impose their will onto the masses.
What is needed for a society to break free of the cyclical collapses which such a corrupt society is destined to face? The solution offered by Plato, Cicero and Augustine amounts to simply recognizing that government exists to advance the happiness of a people. This simple concept is much deeper than it appears.
True Happiness and the Pursuit of Philosopher Kings
Augustine writes “If Plato says that the wise man is the man who imitates, knows and loves God, and that participation in this God brings man happiness, what need is there to examine the other philosophers? There are none who come nearer to us than the Platonists… Plato defined Sovereign Good as the life in accordance with virtue and he declared that this was possible only for one who had the knowledge of God and who strove to imitate him; this was the sole condition of happiness.”
As you can see, this idea of happiness is much higher than the lowly notion of happiness among today’s popular philosophers who attempt to define the sentiment within narrow egotistical terms of “satisfying my desire to do what I want to do”. Instead, Plato, Cicero and Augustine raise the concept along with later thinkers like Thomas More and Erasmus, to a standard of spiritual pleasure contained in the pursuit, acquisition and sharing of truth (aka: wisdom).
All things are designed by God to have loves that are premised on their natures. Just as a plant yearns for water, nutritious soil and CO2 (sorry Greta), and just as a body yearns for food, water, warmth so too does the soul have its own loves towards which it yearns to be made more healthy. The absence of the loves of each thing cause pain, disease and decay for their subjects, and this is the case for the soul whose food is wisdom, without the which no durable happiness were ever attainable.
Here Augustine notes “in all cases where love is rightly bestowed, that love is itself loved even more. For we are justified in calling a man good not merely because he merely knows what is good but because he loves the Good.”
Hammering at the lessons of Paul’s 1 Corinthians 13 which emphasizes the importance of love’s substance over the mere shadows of behavior Augustine clarifies his position:
“When a man’s resolve is to love God and to love his neighbor as himself, not according to man’s standards but according to God’s, he is undoubtedly said to be a man of good will, because of this love. This attitude is more commonly called ‘caritas/agape’ in holy scripture; but it appears in the same sacred writing under the appellation ‘Love’. When the apostle is giving instructions about the choice of a man to rule God’s people, he says that such a man should be a lover of the Good… There is indeed a love which is given to what should not be loved and that love is hated in himself by one who loves the love which is given to a proper object of Love. For these can both exist in the same man and it is good for man that what makes for right living should increase in him and what makes for evil should die away until he is made perfectly sound and all his life is changed into good.”
This idea was expressed nearly a thousand years earlier at the other edge of the world island by none other than Confucius who wrote: “At 15 I set my heart on learning; At 30 I firmly took my stand; At 40 I had no delusions; At 50 I knew the Mandate of Heaven; At 60 my ear was attuned; At 70 I followed my heart’s desire without overstepping the boundaries of right.”
Even Christ’s golden rule was a focal point of Confucian thought as the old sage stated “do not unto others as you would not have them do unto you”. The Christian notion of Natural Law as outlined in Augustine’s City of God also finds its parallel expression in Chinese thought vis a vis the concept of Tianming (aka: Mandate of Heaven) whose disobedience by a ruler is sufficient cause for a people to overthrow said ruler in favor of a new government better suited to maintaining the general welfare.
Although Augustine never saw the redemption of society in his lifetime, having died in 430 AD amidst a siege held by the Vandals in the former colony of Hippo located in today’s Algeria, the infusion of Augustine’s Platonic Christian outlook provided the basis for several major renaissances in the centuries after his death.
A New Hope for Humanity
It was a young Augustinian monk named Patrick who successfully launched a major transformation of Ireland into a Christian nation as outlined in Thomas Cahill’s ‘How the Irish Saved Civilization’ and it was an Irish Augustinian missionary named Saint Columba who finally returned to mainland Europe after several generations of war, decay and famine had reduced the continent to squalor. Starting in 565 AD, St. Columba led the largest Christianizing movement far outside the clutches of the Holy See’s control in the form of the Hiberno-Scottish mission which used Scotland as a new springboard for a mass organizing campaign across all Europe.
When St. Columba arrived on the mainland in 590 AD there was very little of substance to be found within the highly fragmented world of Europe.
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The entire domain of the former western Roman Empire had been ravaged by territorial warlords fighting for terrain in a similar pattern that was experienced by China during the 480 year dark age that came in the wake of the Han Dynasty’s fall in 200 AD.
Just as the rediscovery and application of Confucian principles animated the Tang Dynasty’s revival of the Silk Road and unification of the divided land in 680 AD, so too did the rediscovery of Plato via the Augustinian Christian movement then sew the seeds for the re-unification of Europe under the Frankish King Pepin the short and his son Charlemagne who ended the age of Europe’s warring states and established the Carolingian Empire. This story is covered extensively by Professor Pierre Beaudry in Charlemagne’s Ecumenical Principle.
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Among the most celebrated and widely transcribed books in Charlemagne’s court were Augustine’s City of God and On Christian Education which were read to Charlemagne extensively by the grand strategist Alcuin.
For anyone who thinks that this potential alliance only involved the western branch of Catholic Christianity, and ignored the eastern orthodox Christian movement dominant in the Byzantine eastern Roman Empire of the day, it is worth noting that after Charlemagne had made an important maneuver to avoid war with Byzantium in 801 AD by asking Empress Irene of Athens her hand in marriage.
The fact that Irene accepted the offer at this moment presents the mind of a historian with an incredible sense of the possibilities of a world united by all major civilizations under an ecumenical alliance of cooperation. Could Christianity have re-united under a policy of cooperation with both itself and with the diverse civilizations surrounding her instead of embarking upon a new age of Balkanization within and inter-civilizational wars without? Would the leading factions of the ruling Roman oligarchical families centered in Venice, Rome and Byzantium have been able to subvert such an alliance of the forces of humanity?
Sadly, with the palace coup that overthrew Irene in 802, such potentials were destroyed forever and the world will never have an answer to such questions.
From Dante to the League of Cambrai
Despite the eventual sabotage of the ecumenical alliance of great civilizations after the 10th century, the Augustinian current of Christianity again found its champion in the form of Dante Alighieri who did much to revive St. Augustine’s thesis in his De Monarchia published in 1312 AD. Augustinian Christian leaders around Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464 AD) organized a unification of the church during the 1438 Council of Florence (again, soon sabotaged with the 1452 destruction of Constantinople) and again Augustinian Christians regrouped and set the stage for the Golden Renaissance.
It were these same leaders who organized the 1509 League of Cambrai which nearly finished the job begun by Alexander the Great by wiping the central command of the oligarchy from the face of the earth.
Despite its eventual subversion, European philosophers continued to rise into positions of power who looked to Plato, Cicero, and Augustine as the basis of Europe’s moral salvation. It should be here noted that a perverse effort to restore Charlemagne’s empire in the form of an expansionist program of war and tyranny also grew across the centuries and justified the eventual creation of the European Union in the late 20th Century. This nasty movement should not be confused with the genuine heirs of Charlemagne who saw the basis of their power not on might-make-right, but on the opposing idea of right-makes-might.
Among the most noteworthy of these leaders were France’s King Louis XI, England’s King Henry VII, Sir Thomas More, Erasmus of Rotterdam, King Henry IV of Navarre, Cardinal Jules Mazarin of France, Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the great scientist/statesman Gottfried Leibniz (1649-1716).
Leibniz’s Augustinian Vision
On top of organizing many of the greatest reforms in administration, law and science policy within both Prussia and Russia (serving as Privy Councillor to Peter the Great), Gottfried Leibniz organized to unify the splintered branches of Christianity around a renewed Augustinian reform, and a broader age of reason by looking beyond the limits of the corrupted European courts to… China and Russia.
Corresponding with leading missionaries and advisors to the Kangxi emperor of China, Leibniz created the first major journal on Chinese thought and politics called Novissima Sinica (News from China) in 1696 where he laid out his grand design writing:
“I consider it a singular plan of the fates that human cultivation and refinement should today be concentrated, as it were, in the two extremes of our continent, in Europe and in China, which adorns the Orient as Europe does the opposite edge of the Earth. Perhaps Supreme Providence has ordained such an arrangement, so that as the most cultivated and distant peoples stretch out their arms to each other, those in between may gradually be brought to a better way of life. I do not think it an accident that the Russians, whose vast realm connects Europe with China and who hold sway over the deep barbarian lands of the North by the shore of the frozen ocean, should be led to the emulation of our ways through the strenuous efforts of their present ruler [Peter I].”
It is no coincidence that we find in the works of Leibniz and the Augustinian Christian movement, the key to the strategic thinking of Confucian Platonist Benjamin Franklin who applied the practical and metaphysical insights of Confucius, Christ and Plato into a new system of governance which he defined as a “science of happiness”.
If you have made it this far and don’t yet see any of the keys to the salvation of our current society within the context of the rising multipolar alliance and Confucian renaissance which is animating China’s New Silk Road, I highly advise reading this essay again.
In the first world war, Albert was on the front lines in some of the most bloody battles. Every time he survived one meat grinder, they would send him to an even worse one.
He was in the trenches in Gallipoli when they fought against overwhelming numbers of Turks.
Everyone in his platoon was killed or injured, so Albert charged the attackers solo. He killed 7 of them (shot 5, stabbed 2 to death, probably because the bolt action rifle he was carrying ran out of bullets) captured 3 and the rest ran away. From his diary:
Great battle at 3.00am. Turks captured large portion of trench. D. Coy called into front line. Lieut. Hamilton shot dead. I lead a section of men and recaptured the trench. I bayoneted two Turks, shot five, took three prisoners and cleared the whole trench. I held the trench alone for 15 minutes against heavy attack.
After a short trip back to England, he rejoined his men, this time on the western front, for the battle of the Somme.
After heavy fighting, the allied lines were over run. Albert and his remaining men found themselves now behind enemy lines.
A couple of German soldiers appeared and lobbed a grenade at them. Albert killed them both, but some of his men were injured or killed.
Peeking out from their trench, he spotted a column of German soldiers approaching with a group of Australian prisoners.
Tired, surrounded, low on ammo, most of his men dead or too injured to fight and about to encounter a large group of the enemy the only sensible thing to do was surrender. But that was just not how Albert did things.
He rallied his 6 remaining men and charged the 60+ Germans. During the fight, Albert saw a group of four Germans in a shell hole firing and taking a toll on the Australians. He immediately charged them. The German’s fired and hit Albert a total of three times, throwing him back to the ground on all occasions. Each time, in Albert’s own words, he sprang up “like a prize fighter”. He reached the shell hole and shot 3 of the Germans and bayoneted the 4th before turning to see a very large German charging at him. He shot the soldier just as he reached him, the body falling on him and almost crushing him.
By the end of the day, they had retaken the trenches and captured 50 German soldiers. Albert was wounded 7 times, including 2 head wounds.
He was sent back to England to recover from his wounds, but a few months later he was back on the front lines again, this time the Hindenburg line.
While out on night reconnaissance he single handedly captured another couple of Germans. They had spotted him laying tape to guide the Australian infantry, so he tried to shoot them with his revolver. When the pistol misfired, he just charged them, took them down with his bare hands, and dragged them back.
He led his men into battle again, charging headlong into German machine gun nests and capturing them. When they reached their assigned target form line, Albert realised that the German artillery would be trained on their location so, along with the two British units on either side of him, he pushed forward and captured the artillery too.
Shortly after, he was shot by a sniper in the throat. He was sent back to England, but only stayed for 2 months before heading back to battle.
This time he was sent to Polygon wood, a German strong hold that had, up to this point, been impenetrable. Albert was in charge of the 14th Battalion – known as “Jacka’s mob”. They advanced under heavy bombardment but managed to capture several German pill boxes (Concrete dugouts). For over 48 hours they held their lines under constant fire and counter attack. When his assistant was killed, Albert crawled out into no man’s land to retrieve his body, getting shot through the hand and several bullet holes in his coat in the process.
The 15th battalion to his right had suffered heavy casualties and were over stretched. To boost their morale Albert sent them this communique:
“If the Hun attacks the 15th, we shall hop out and meet the blighters.”
He was finally taken out of action a couple of months later at Villers Bretonneux by mustard gas. It didn’t kill him though and he after a couple of months recuperating back in England he petitioned to be allowed to rejoin his men on the front lines. Alas, it was decided that his fighting days were done. He returned to Australia and became the mayor of the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda.
Is that baddass or what?
Spend an hour with your dad
“I spent an hour in the bank with my dad, as he had to transfer some money. I couldn’t resist myself and asked…
”Dad, why don’t we activate your internet banking?”
”Why would I do that?” He asked…
”Well, then you wont have to spend an hour here for things like transfer.
You can even do your shopping online. Everything will be so easy!”
I was so excited about initiating him into the world of Net banking.
He asked ”If I do that, I wont have to step out of the house?
”Yes, yes”! I said. I told him how even grocery can be delivered at door now and how amazon delivers everything!
His answer left me tongue-tied.
He said ”Since I entered this bank today, I have met four of my friends, I have chatted a while with the staff who know me very well by now.
You know I am alone…this is the company that I need. I like to get ready and come to the bank. I have enough time, it is the physical touch that I crave.
Two years back I got sick, The store owner from whom I buy fruits, came to see me and sat by my bedside and cried.
When your Mom fell down few days back while on her morning walk. Our local grocer saw her and immediately got his car to rush her home as he knows where I live.
Would I have that ‘human’ touch if everything became online?
Why would I want everything delivered to me and force me to interact with just my computer?
I like to know the person that I’m dealing with and not just the ‘seller’. It creates bonds of Relationships.
"Why did the majority of Taiwanese vote for the DDP?"Excellent question !I'll have to meditate deeply before giving you an acceptable & palatable answer...I suggest for now that they have been mesmerized by the so-called shining liberal worldbecause they drunk the Kool-Aid especially prepared for them by the spin doctors of the KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment) who are truly geniuses in that domain. But I'm aware of the weakness of that answer because it's tantamount to write that they have been stupid. Alas ! Let's say that they are waking up slowly since the graduated answer by Beijing since August 3, 2022 and keeping on...But I persist, The Taiwanese are waking up and realize that their future is with Beijing !Arrivederci ! Quan
I’m just swamped. This is going to be a tad unusual post. Heavy on cats. Light on food. Hopefully no one will get too upset with me.
The Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle
Jorge Guinle died of old age after burning all his money on fun, basically. He once said that he lost all his money because he thought he’d last about 70 years but he only died at 88.
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In fact, he was no longer a billionaire after his family lost the concession of the Port of Santos in 1972. He was still very rich for years, but no longer had a steady source of income.
In his final years, after selling everything he had, he lived for free – as a favor – in Copacabana Palace, a famous luxury hotel formerly owned by his family. He got a very small pension from the government and would work as a tourist guide and sometimes appear in advertisements.
I know people who knew him and told me he would happily pay for other people’s bills in restaurants and nightclubs and do things like send trucks full of flowers to women he was interested in.
He had no regrets though.
His life was well lived, he studied philosophy in Paris, dated famous actresses in Hollywood (including Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth), met and befriended his favorite jazz musicians, who he’d fly to Rio to attend his parties.
Not only that, he had a semi-official role during and after WWII as a liaison between the United States and Brazil. He was asked by Nelson Rockefeller, working for the US government, to help influence Brazil towards the American side and away from the influence of the nazis.
Meanwhile, he’d also work for the Brazilian government spreading the word in the US about Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. He’d advise Hollywood studios about Brazil, fixing scripts that mentioned the country and so on. He was room mates with Errol Flynn and partied with Orson Welles, Howard Hughes and Ronald Reagan.
A fascinating character. People say he was a genuinely nice, interesting, sensitive person, not just a flashy playboy.
They don’t make playboys like that anymore.
Titan
I knew Titan loved me one day after my ex broke things off.
She’d cheated on me (multiple times I later learned) and was both shacking up with her new guy but still living in my house. Needless to say I was stressed, depressed, and a bundle of nerves.
Titan had always liked my ex (we’d adopted him and her cat at the same time so he’d known us both his whole adopted life). But he was MY GUY and I knew it unequivocally when Erika tried to pet him about a week after the whole mess came down.
He hissed and ran away from her…straight to me for comfort and snuggles. He knew she was the reason I wasn’t doing well and he wasn’t about to put up with it. She moved out a couple days later. When even the animals think you’re a terrible person it’s hard to stay there.
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He’s been my best buddy ever since.
Fox News
Former President Trump on Monday said that his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was “under siege” by a “large group” of FBI agents conducting a search warrant.“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Trump said. “It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections.”“Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before,” Trump said, alleging that the FBI agents broke into his safe.
Thomas Lucipurr Lipshaw
Yes, this is my cat, Thomas Lucipurr Lipshaw, he is now 4 years old but this happened when he was 1 1/2. An ex of mine was working with this woman who was bragging at work about having her cat put down for being destructive, i was called about it ten minutes later, i got the information told my then girlfriend id be making a call and after work id fill her in. Called the vets office she surrendered the cat to. No clue why i did this, i never really interacted with cats before. Well i got them to agree to hold him for me until tomorrow morning.
Next morning this was what came home with us, his name Thomas, he supposedly weighed 9 lbs but he was way too skinny, i could feel his vertebrae and see a few ribs.
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his first day with me was spent under the couch while i chatted with him, peeked under now and again to check on him and offer some tasty morsels.
well turns out he was abused, and then my now ex was mean to him a LOT. so after a lot of drama i threw her out, and he became my cat and mine alone. My son of fur fang and claw, hes a daddy’s cat, he will actually hit me if i begin getting worried about stupid shit, he will put a paw on my arm or hand if i am crying, he sleeps on my bed with me, and always wants to be held.
Here he is today…
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WWII redux: The endpoint of US policy
The threatened peoples of East Asia and Europe can stop the US drive to restore its global domination
“This is not going to be a war of Ukraine and Russia. This is going to be a European war, a full-fledged war.” So spoke Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just days after berating the US for beating the drums of war.
It is not hard to imagine how Zelensky’s words must have fallen on those European ears that were attentive. His warning surely conjured up images of World War II when tens of millions of Europeans and Russians perished.
Zelensky’s words echoed those of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on the other side of the world at the eastern edge of the great Eurasian landmass: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled flat.” We can be sure that Duterte, like Zelensky, had in mind World War II, which also consumed tens of millions of lives in East Asia.
The United States is stoking tensions in both Europe and East Asia, with Ukraine and Taiwan as the current flashpoints on the doorsteps of Russia and China, which are the targeted nations.
Let us be clear at the outset. As we shall see, the endpoint of this process is not for the US to do battle with Russia or China, but to watch China and Russia fight it out with their neighbors to the ruin of both sides.
The US is to “lead from behind” – as safely and remotely as can be arranged.
To make sense of this and react properly, we must be very clear-eyed about the goal of the US.
Neither Russia nor China has attacked or even threatened the US.
Nor are they in a position to do so – unless one believes that either is ready to embark on a suicidal nuclear war.
Why should the US elite and its media pour out a steady stream of anti-China and anti-Russia invective? Why the steady eastward march of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since the end of the first Cold War?
The goal of the US is crystal clear – it regards itself as the Exceptional Nation and entitled to be the No 1 power on the planet, eclipsing all others.
This goal is most explicitly stated in the well-known Wolfowitz Doctrine drawn shortly after the end of the first Cold War in 1992. It proclaimed that the United States’ “first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet union or elsewhere….”
It stated that no regional power must be allowed to emerge with the power and resources “sufficient to generate global power.” It stated frankly that “we must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global power” (emphasis mine).
The Wolfowitz Doctrine is but the latest in a series of such proclamations that have proclaimed global domination as the goal of US foreign policy since 1941, the year before the US entered World War II. This lineage is documented clearly in a book by the Quincy Institute’s Stephen Wertheim, “Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global Supremacy.”
Target No 1: China
China’s economy is No 1 in terms of PPP-GDP (gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity) according to the International Monetary Fund and has been since November 2014. It is growing faster than the US economy and shows no signs of slowing down.
In a sense, China has already won by this metric, since economic power is the ultimate basis of all power.
But what about a military defeat of China? Can the US with its present vastly superior armed forces bring that about? Historian Alfred McCoy answers that question in the way most do these days, with a clear “no”:
“The most volatile flashpoint In Beijing’s grand strategy for breaking Washington’s geopolitical grip over Eurasia lies in the contested waters between China’s coast and the Pacific littoral, which the Chinese call ‘the first island chain.’“But China’s clear advantage in any struggle over that first Pacific island chain is simply distance.…The tyranny of distance, in other words, means that the US loss of that first island chain, along with its axial anchor on Eurasia’s Pacific littoral, should only be a matter of time.”
Certainly the US elites recognize this problem. Do they have a solution?
Moreover, that is not the end of the “problem” for the US. There are other powerful countries, such as Japan, or rapidly rising economies in East Asia, easily the most dynamic economic region in the world. These too will become peer competitors, and in the case of Japan, it already has been a competitor, both before World War II and during the 1980s.
Target No 2: Russia
If we hop over to the western edge of Eurasia, we see that the US has a similar “problem” when it comes to Russia. Here too, the US cannot defeat Russia in a conventional conflict, nor have US sanctions been able to bring it down. How can the US surmount this obstacle?
And as in the case of East Asia, the US faces another economic competitor, Germany, or more accurately, the European Union with Germany at its core. How is the US to deal with this dual threat?
One clue comes in the response of President Joe Biden to both the tension over Taiwan and that over Ukraine. Biden has said repeatedly that his administration will not send US combat troops to fight Russia over Ukraine or to fight China over Taiwan. But it will send materiel and weapons, and also “advisers.”
And here too the US has other peer competitors, most notably Germany, which has been the target of US tariffs. Economist Michael Hudson puts it succinctly in a penetrating essay: “America’s real adversaries are its European and other allies: The US aim is to keep them from trading with China and Russia.”
Postwar rise to power
Such “difficulties” for the US were solved once before – in World War II.
One way of looking at that conflict is that it was a combination of two great regional wars, one in East Asia and one in Europe. In Europe the US was minimally involved as Russia, the core of the USSR, battled it out with Germany, sustaining great damage to life and economy. Both Germany and Russia were economic basket cases when the war was over, two countries lying in ruins.
The US provided weapons and materiel to Russia but was minimally involved militarily, only entering late in the game. The same happened in East Asia, with Japan in the role of Germany and China in the role of Russia.
Both Japan and China were devastated in the same way as were Russia and Europe. This was not an unconscious strategy on the part of the United States. As Harry Truman, then a senator, declared in 1941: “If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if that Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible.”
At the end of it all, the US emerged as the most powerful economic and military power on the planet. McCoy spells it out:
“Like all past imperial hegemons, US global power has similarly rested on geopolitical dominance over Eurasia, now home to 70% of the world’s population and productivity. After the Axis alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan failed to conquer that vast landmass, the Allied victory in World War II allowed Washington, as historian John Darwin put it, to build its ‘colossal imperium … on an unprecedented scale,’ becoming the first power in history to control the strategic axial points ‘at both ends of Eurasia.’“As a critical first step, the US formed the NATO alliance in 1949, establishing major military installations in Germany and naval bases in Italy to ensure control of the western side of Eurasia.“After its defeat of Japan, as the new overlord of the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific, Washington dictated the terms of four key mutual-defense pacts in the region with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia, and so acquired a vast range of military bases along the Pacific littoral that would secure the eastern end of Eurasia.“To tie the two axial ends of that vast landmass into a strategic perimeter, Washington ringed the continent’s southern rim with successive chains of steel, including three navy fleets, hundreds of combat aircraft, and most recently, a string of 60 drone bases stretching from Sicily to the Pacific island of Guam.”
The US was able to become the dominant power on the planet because all peer competitors were left in ruins by the two great regional wars in Europe and East Asia, wars that are grouped under the heading of World War II.
If Europe is plunged into a war of Russia against the EU powers with the US “leading from behind” with materiel and weapons, who will benefit? And if East Asia is plunged into a war of China against Japan and whatever allies it can drum up, with the US “leading from behind,” who will benefit?
It is pretty clear that such a replay of World War II will benefit the US. In World War II, while Eurasia suffered tens of millions of deaths, the US suffered about 400,000 – a terrible toll certainly but nothing like that seen in Eurasia.
And with the economies and territories of Eurasia, East and West, in ruins, the US will again emerge on top, in the catbird seat, and able to dictate terms to the world. World War II redux.
But what about the danger of nuclear war growing out of such conflicts? The US has a history of nuclear “brinksmanship,” going back to the earliest post-World War II days. It is a country that has shown itself willing to risk nuclear holocaust.
Are there US policymakers criminal enough to see this policy of provocation through to the end? I will leave that to the reader to answer.
The peoples of East and West Eurasia are the ones who will suffer most in this scenario. And they are the ones who can stop the madness by living peacefully with Russia and China rather than serving as cannon fodder for the US.
There are clear signs of dissent from the European “allies” of the US, especially Germany, but the influence of the US remains powerful. Germany and many other countries are after all occupied by tens of thousands of US troops, their media heavily influenced by the US and with the organization that commands European troops, NATO, under US command. Which way will it go?
In East Asia the situation is the same. Japan is the key, but the hatred of China among the Elite is intense. Will the Japanese people and the other peoples of East Asia be able to put the brakes on the drive to war?
Some say that a two-front conflict like this is US overreach. But certainly, if war is raging on or near the territories of both Russia and China, there is little likelihood that one can aid the other.
Given the power of modern weaponry, this impending world war will be much more damaging than World War II by far. The criminality that is on the way to unleashing it is almost beyond comprehension.
China’s top chip maker SMIC beats earnings estimates despite threat of more US sanctions
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp reported revenue growth of 41.6 per cent for the June quarter
Net profits were down 25 per cent from the same period last year, as gross margin rose to 39.4 per cent
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) reported better-than-expected earnings for the June quarter, as China’s top chip maker faces up to rising risks of harsher US sanctions.
The company reported on Thursday that revenue during the three-month period rose 41.6 per cent year-on-year to reach US$1.9 billion, slightly better than Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of US$1.89 billion.
Net profits came in at US$514.3 million under global accounting standards, down 25 per cent from the same period last year, compared with US$447.2 million in the previous quarter. This was better than Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of US$469 million.
China Creates Its Most Powerful General-Purpose GPU: Meet Biren BR100 With 77 Billion Transistors on 7nm, Faster Than NVIDIA Ampere In AI
Birentech, a small enterprise based in Shanghai, China, has released the country’s most powerful General-Purpose GPU, the Biren BR100.
China Makes Its Most Powerful General-Purpose GPU To Date, The Birentech BR100 With 77 Billion Transistors
The Birentech BR100 is the flagship General-Purpose GPU that China has to offer, featuring an in-house GPU architecture that utilizes a 7nm process node and houses 77 Billion transistors within its die. The GPU has been fabricated on TSMC’s 2.5D CoWoS design and also comes packed with 300 MB of on-chip cache, 64 GB of HBM2e with a memory bandwidth of 2.3 TB/s, and support for PCIe Gen 5.0 (CXL interconnect protocol).
The Majority of U.S. Voters Cannot Find Taiwan on a Map
Most American people are uneducated and simply accept the crusader media propaganda to like or hate a country , a religion, and people. This make our mission to spread the truth very important.
In an Aug. 6-7 survey experiment conducted during heavy media coverage of Pelosi’s trip to the island, 34% of U.S. voters could find Taiwan on a blank map of Asia. That’s the same as the share of voters who said they heard “a lot” about the California Democrat’s trip there last week. It’s also the same fraction of the electorate that could identify Ukraine on a map when asked a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of the country.
Those who could identify Taiwan were more likely to have heard news coverage about the island recently, with 86% saying they had heard at least something about Pelosi’s trip — though the story did manage to break through to 71% of the general electorate.
Those who could find Taiwan were also significantly more likely to have heard details of China’s retaliation, with more than three-quarters hearing about China’s missile launches as part of naval drills and dispatching of fighter jets across the middle of the Taiwan Strait, compared with 60% and 56% of all voters, respectively, for those developments.
-Chua
The Ukrainian Army is using American-made and supplied Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) to fire shells at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is occupied by Russian Troops.
The image above shows a blast fragment from an American GMLRS shell “Actuator” recovered after it exploded on the grounds of the Nuclear Plant Thursday. The English language on the Actuator manufacturing label shows the part number, serial number, the date of manufacture, and says “Actuator Module Assembly” on it.
The Russian Army won control of the Nuclear Power Plant early in its Special Military Operation to de-militarize and De-Nazify Ukraine. The nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe, with six nuclear reactors. Russia conquered it in March of this year, and has safeguarded the plant ever since.
The reason Russia took the plant is that if there was a nuclear accident with that plant, radioactive contamination would be carried by local prevailing winds, directly into Russia. The Russians don’t want any radiation floating into their country.
But early this week, Ukraine began doing the unthinkable: Deliberately firing artillery shells at the plant; then made the absurd claim that Russia was firing – at their own Russian troops!
Russia even invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to come to the plant with inspectors to see exactly WHO it is that is firing at the plant. Russia said they will bring the inspectors in safely and allow them to see for themselves who is attacking the plant.
Then things got an order of magnitude worse:
Russia publicly stated that Ukraine is attempting to hit the spent fuel cooling facilities on the grounds of that plant which will cause what they described as a “nuclear catastrophe worse than Chernobyl.”
By doing this, Russia says Ukraine is attempting to use the plant as a sort of Tactical Nuclear Weapon. If Ukraine can cause a nuclear accident, the levels of radiation would be very much akin to the detonation of a battlefield tactical nuke.
SO . . . . .
Russia has told Ukraine and the rest of the world that “If Ukraine causes a nuclear catastrophe by shelling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Russia will consider such an act to be “nuclear terrorism” and, under Russia’s long-established military doctrine, such nuclear errorism would require a Russian nuclear response; Russia will respond to Ukraine’s “nuclear terrorism” by firing Russian Tactical Nuclear Weapons at Ukraine.”
Readers may recall that early in the Special Military Operation, illegitimate president Joe Biden publicly commented that NATO would not get involved in the Russia-Ukraine situation “unless Russia uses Biological, Chemical, or Nuclear weapons.” If such weapons are used, the US and NATO say they will immediately go to war in Ukraine.
Hal Turner Analysis and Opinion
We in the West are now sitting on a sort of ticking time bomb. Russia has made its position crystal clear. If Ukraine causes a nuclear catastrophe, Russia will treat it as nuclear terrorism and hit back with tactical nukes.
The US/NATO has said they will enter the Ukraine war if such weapons are used. And so, as you read this, the only thing standing in the way of the outbreak of actual nuclear world war 3, is some dumb Ukrainian, firing GMLRS at a nuclear power plant.
Forgive me if I think we’re all doomed.
Witold Pilecki
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Dude was already a war hero before he decided to sneak into Auschwitz. As a young man, Pilecki had been a decorated officer in the Polish-Soviet War of 1918.
After the war, Pilecki moved to the Polish countryside, married a schoolteacher, and had two kids. He enjoyed riding horses and wearing fancy hats and smoking cigars.
Life was simple and good.
Then that whole Hitler thing happened, and before Poland could get both its boots on, the Nazis had already Blitzkrieged through half the country.
Poland lost its entire territory in a little more than a month. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight: while the Nazis invaded in the west, the Soviets invaded in the east.
It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place—except the rock was a megalomaniacal mass murderer trying to conquer the world and the hard place was rampant, senseless genocide.
Early on, the Soviets were actually far crueler than the Nazis. They had done this shit before, you know—the whole “overthrow a government and enslave a population to your faulty ideology” thing. The Nazis were still somewhat imperialist virgins
In those first months of the war, it’s estimated that the Soviets rounded up over a million Polish citizens and sent them east. A million people, in a matter of months, just gone. Some didn’t stop until they hit the gulags in Siberia; others were found in mass graves decades later. Many are still unaccounted for to this day.
Pilecki fought in those battles—against both the Germans and the Soviets.
And after their defeat, he and fellow Polish officers started an underground resistance group in Warsaw. The Secret Polish Army
In the spring of 1940, the Secret Polish Army got wind of the fact that the Germans were building a massive prison complex outside some backwater town in the southern part of the country. The Germans named this new prison complex Auschwitz.
By the summer of 1940, thousands of military officers and leading Polish nationals were disappearing from western Poland. Fears arose among the resistance that the same mass incarceration that had occurred in the east with the Soviets was now on the menu in the west. Pilecki and his crew suspected that Auschwitz, a prison the size of a small town, was likely involved in the disappearances and that it might already house thousands of former Polish soldiers.
That’s when Pilecki volunteered to sneak into Auschwitz. Initially, it was a rescue mission—he would allow himself to get arrested, and once there, he would organize with other Polish soldiers, coordinate a mutiny, and break out of the prison camp.
It was a mission so suicidal that he might as well have asked his commander permission to drink a bucket of bleach. His superiors thought he was crazy, and told him as much.
But, as the weeks went by, the problem only grew worse: thousands of elite Poles were disappearing, and Auschwitz was still a huge blind spot in the Allied intelligence network. The Allies had no idea what was going on there and little chance of finding out. Eventually, Pilecki’s commanders relented.
One evening, at a routine checkpoint in Warsaw, Pilecki let himself be arrested by the SS for violating curfew. And soon, he was on his way to Auschwitz, the only man known ever to have voluntarily entered a Nazi concentration camp.
Once he got there, he saw that the reality of Auschwitz was far worse than anyone had suspected. Prisoners were routinely shot in roll call lineups for transgressions as minor as fidgeting or not standing up straight.
The manual labor was grueling and endless. Men were literally worked to death, often performing tasks that were useless or meant nothing. The first month Pilecki was there, a full third of the men in his barracks died of exhaustion or pneumonia or were shot.
Regardless, by the end of the 1940, Pilecki, the comic book superhero motherfucker, had still somehow set up an espionage operation.
Over the course of two years, Pilecki built an entire resistance unit within Auschwitz. There was a chain of command, with ranks and officers; a logistics network; and lines of communication to the outside world.
And all this went undiscovered by the SS guards for almost two years. Pilecki’s ultimate aim was to foment a full-scale revolt within the camp. With help and coordination from the outside, he believed he could stoke a prison break, overrun the undermanned SS guards, and release tens of thousands of highly trained Polish guerrilla fighters into the wild. He sent his plans and reports to Warsaw. For months, he waited. For months, he survived.
But then came the Jews. First, in buses. Then, packed in train cars. Soon, they were arriving by the tens of thousands, Stripped of all family possessions and dignity, they filed mechanically into the newly renovated “shower” barracks, where they were gassed and their bodies burned.
Pilecki’s reports to the outside became frantic. They’re murdering tens of thousands of people here each day. Mostly Jews. The death toll could potentially be in the millions. He pleaded with the Secret Polish Army to liberate the camp at once. He said if you can’t liberate the camp, then at least bomb it. For God’s sake, at least destroy the gas chambers. At least.
The Secret Polish Army received his messages but figured he was exaggerating. In the farthest reaches of their minds, nothing could be that f*****. Nothing.
Pilecki was the first person ever to alert the world to the Holocaust. His intelligence was forwarded through the various resistance groups around Poland, then on to the Polish government-in-exile in the United Kingdom, who then passed his reports to the Allied Command in London. The information eventually even made its way to Eisenhower and Churchill.
They, too, figured Pilecki had to be exaggerating.
In 1943, Pilecki realized that his plans of a mutiny and prison break were never going to happen: The Secret Polish Army wasn’t coming. The Americans and British weren’t coming. And in all likelihood, it was the Soviets who were coming—and they would be worse. Pilecki decided that remaining inside the camp was too risky. It was time to escape.
He made it look easy, of course. First, he faked illness and got himself admitted to the camp’s hospital. From there, he lied to the doctors about what work group he was supposed to return to, saying he had the night shift at the bakery, which was on the edge of camp, near the river. When the doctors discharged him, he headed to the bakery, where he proceeded to “work” until 2:00 a.m., when the last batch of bread finished baking. From there, it was just a matter of cutting the telephone wire, silently prying open the back door, changing into stolen civilian clothes without the SS guards noticing, sprinting to the river a mile away while being shot at, and then navigating his way back to civilization .
I once had a cat that I found feral in the woods, living off mice in a neighbor’s junk pile. Eventually I coaxed her out with some food, and after a few days, into the house, where she eventually made a home. She was a good cat, and a good companion to my brother’s cat, and after I got out of college, became a favorite of my wife’s.
She lived with us a long time before the tumors appeared. Twice, we had them cut out and gave her a little extra love and tried to appreciate her remaining time.
Then one day, she wasn’t at the door when I came home. I found her in a back room, laying paralyzed in a puddle of urine, pleading with her eyes for help. I had waited too long.
I held her as the needle went in. She winced, and I rubbed her head like I always did when I comforted her. She snuggled against my hand, the fear and the pain left her eyes, and just for a moment, she was herself again.
I held her till she stopped breathing, then went outside and cried a good long time, not for the loss of a pet, but for having failed an animal what depended on me utterly, for having stubbornly denied my duty to her and let her suffer longer than I should have.
Her name was Blue.
She was regal and sleek, and deserved a more dignified end. She knew she was dying, but needed me to let her go.
When I finally did, she was relieved.
I’m sure that when it comes time for your loved ones to go, they will be ready.
Chinese tech firm launches GPU chip it claims marks ‘new era’ for computing
Biren Technology says the peak performance of its 7-nanometre chip – made by TSMC – is three times better than equivalent products on the market. It will be used in large-scale, cloud-based AI training in data centres and the company aims to partner with firms such as server provider Inspur.
I walked into a cat room at the shelter and sat on the floor, sad, because my home cat just died a mere one week earlier.
I put my purse on the floor.
This Ginger cat pranced up to me and immediately laid down on top of my purse. I thought he was telling me that he wanted to come home with me.
I visited this shelter 3 X and each time, he did the same thing.
When I brought in the cat carrier the third visit, I set it on the floor and he ran over to me and walked into the carrier.
The shelter personal, said, “NO NO, you have to take him out so we can take the Success story “forever home” picture…so I took him out, held him, they took the photo.
I set him back down on the floor and he immediately walked back into the carrier and said, “Ok, I am ready, take me to my new home.”
What are the chances of that? Special, I say !
I passed on a gorgeous 1 year old all white male with one blue eye and one gold eye, for an extraordinary, every day normal ginger that you see everywhere.
He is so worth it.
MM Comment. Cats share bodies. Her previous cat entered the boy of this cat at the shelter. I'll bet you with a 95% certainty. -MM
It’s time to get real. It’s been time to get real. Russia has won its war against Ukraine.
This outcome comes as no surprise. Anyone with access to a map could see that the chances of Ukraine prevailing against Russia were slim to none.
The only way Ukraine could have emerged victorious — which would, according to the Ukrainians themselves, mean pushing it out of Crimea and deposing the separatist pro-Russian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk — would have been if the United States and its Western allies had been willing to launch nuclear weapons, which would have led to global annihilation. Once the decision was made not to start World War III, Ukraine’s defeat became inevitable. This, everyone sane knows, is for the best.
Determinative to this conclusion was an unusual pair of motivations. Normally, when a war is fought on one country’s territory, the invaded country fights harder than the invading forces. Paradoxically, despite suffering damaged infrastructure, the invaded state enjoys the home advantages of complete knowledge of the battlefield and much shorter supply lines. Aside from sporadic cross-border missile strikes, this war has been fought entirely on Ukrainian territory.
This conflict is different because Russia has to win; it cannot walk away. Ukraine has a 1,200-mile border with Russia, it wants to join an anti-Russia military alliance and its government was openly hostile to Russia before the war. And when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, its armies came through Ukraine, where the Nazis were greeted as liberators. Unlike America, which could bring its troops home after losing on the other side of the world in Afghanistan and Iraq and shrug off its imperialist misadventures and could leave Vietnam after pretending that more political will on the home front would have resulted in victory, Russia sees its military operation as existential. Ukraine isn’t a misbegotten side project. It’s as essential in the same way the United States would respond to a Canada that turned hostile to the U.S.
Unfortunately, and dangerously, American media consumers are being pounded with an endless deluge of propaganda promoting the ludicrous idea that Ukraine is winning and/or will ultimately prevail militarily. This fantastical assertion props up political support for shipping $60 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, with more on the way — never mind the 70% that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wildly corrupt government sells on the black market and the Javelin missile systems that wind up for sale on the dark web. (Christmas is coming! Don’t forget your favorite political cartoonist and columnist.) By way of comparison, the U.S. Department of Health of Human Services estimates that we could abolish homelessness here for $20 billion.
We’re also being told that Russia is crumbling under the crushing blow of vicious Western sanctions deployed as part of the White House’s openly stated war aim that it wants “to see Russia weakened.” The Russian economy, it is said, is collapsing. Russian elites, they say, will soon overthrow President Vladimir Putin.
Let me tell you firsthand: There is zero sign of economic distress in Russia.
I’ve spent the last two weeks in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia’s two biggest cities. Stores are bustling; people are spending; unemployment is low and still falling; there are lines at ATMs and whatever else is happening, the economy is anything but bad. The Galeria Mall across the busy street from my hotel in Saint Petersburg has a few closed stores shut down by Western chains, but the majority remain, and consumers are shopping like mad. European and American tourists are few and far between, but it’s exactly the same here in sanctions-free Istanbul where I’m writing this. Westerners stopped coming at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown two years ago and still haven’t returned. If Russians are unhappy with Putin — and they’re not — it’s not because of the economy.
I know from bad economies; where I live in New York, crime is out of control, homeless people go untreated for an array of mental illnesses and some are killing people, and being killed, and many storefronts have been empty and boarded up since the beginning of the pandemic. Any New Yorker would or should happily trade places with their Muscovite counterpart, who lives in a city with clean streets and subways that don’t serve as rolling homeless shelters and where life feels as if COVID-19 was never a thing. News stories that claim Russia is on the ropes are a giant magnificent pile of lies so over-the-top that I can’t help but be impressed by their glorious audacity and easily debunked mendacity. All you have to do is go to Russia, as I did, and see for yourself that it’s all bull — but hey, that’s a lot of trouble — because of sanctions that seem to be hurting us more than them.
Self-delusion is more fun.
Who, after all, should you trust? The same U.S. state media that told you Saddam Hussein had WMDs? Or some cartoonist-columnist who told you, well in advance, that the U.S. didn’t stand a chance in Afghanistan, Trump would win in 2016 and that he would attempt a coup d’etat to remain in power?
Billy the cat
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I had a very sad day recently when I met a cat whom I’ll call Billy.
He had been found as a stray by a good client of the clinic where I was working.
He was a black and white male cat who had been recently neutered.
The odd thing was that all of his white paws were colored pink as if with magic markers. When I asked what the pink paws meant, I was horrified to find out that this is the way people who run dog fights mark cats they’ve acquired. This is so that when they throw the cats in the ring with the dogs, the spectators can tell the cats apart and bet on which one will last the longest.
I did not know that this practice even existed and I am sad and angry that animals are treated that way.
Billy must somehow have escaped the fate intended for him.
He initially weighed only six pounds, but he was eating and drinking like a champ. We checked him out thoroughly and found to our dismay that he had a greatly enlarged kidney and signs of severe kidney disease.
After all Billy had been through, the new owner, staff and I weren’t going to give up. We pulled out the stops and treated for what we hoped was a kidney infection and Billy responded!
After one week in the hospital, he went home and is doing well —a victory for the kitty with the pink feet!
Sun Gang
Sun Gang is a truck driver. His truck caught fire during maintenance. At that time, he was in a downtown area, and there was a gas station nearby. In order not to put others in danger, he drove the truck for 5 kilometers until there was no one. Not long after he got out of the trunk, the fuel tank in the car exploded. The newly bought truck became scrap metal.
He said that the truck was like a big stove at that time. He was very scared, but there was no other way. He didn’t want others get hurt.
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His heroic action was widely viewed on the Internet. Many people were moved by his bravery and kindness. A few days later, two companies presented him with a new one.
Sun Gang had a new truck and continued to deliver goods to earn money.He donated the money he earned from the first transportation to the nursing home , saying that kindness should be passed on.
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I recalled this news published 2 months ago because I saw similar videos today. A truck carrying wheat straw caught fire, and the driver drove it one kilometer to ensure the safety of nearby villagers.
The act of saving others but putting himself in danger is so typical of China.
Maine Coons
I have three Maine coons, and have had other cats, and I have to say that they act differently than other cats.
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My cats have always been very spoiled – they get a lot of attention; they basically have the run of the house, receive the best food, etc. etc.
So my last three cats (littermates) were wonderful, but could be skittish and sometimes lashed out when they were overstimulated. They were interactive, of course, but spent a lot of time on their own.
My Maine coons are giants, can’t stand to not be in the same room with me, never bite, nip, scratch, or anything else.
If they get tired of me petting or snuggling, they just push me away and rearrange themselves.
They LOVE people.
I had a plumber here today – you’d think I’d hired a magician to entertain a room full of kindergarten kids.
They sat in the tub and watched him, followed him to the door and watched him go to his truck – never said a peep or tried to touch him – just wanted to see what was up.
I think it’s the general disposition of the breed to be confident, friendly, and outgoing.
When my doorbell rings, they line up like the staff at Downton Abby, waiting to greet our guest.
They are very, very smart, so any new interaction is very exciting for them.
Shavarsh Karapetyan
“In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan, an Armenian Olympic swimmer, had just completed a 12-mile run with his brother when they saw a trolley bus crash into a dam reservoir.
Shavarsh Karapetyan
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The trolley bus sank 80 feet offshore at a depth of 33 feet. Shavarsh immediately dove in and swam to the bus and despite zero visibility, managed to kick in the back window, injuring himself in the process.
He proceeded to save twenty people trapped in the bus, one at a time, for hours.
The combined effect of the cold water and his inquiries from breaking the glass window led to his hospitalization for 45 days after the incident, during which time he developed pneumonia, sepsis, and lung damage which ended his athletic career.
For years, his story wasn’t known, until an article about the event identified him by name in 1982.
In 1985, he happened to pass by a burning building and rushed inside, again saving people trapped inside one at a time until he collapsed. He was again hospitalized with severe burns and lung damage.
He’s still kicking it at 66.
Just an awesome person, a real Rufus.
Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Other American Myths
Americans boast incessantly about their competitiveness and the miracles of their predatory capitalist system, but on examination these claims appear to be mostly thoughtless jingoism that transmutes historical accidents into religion.
If we examine the record, US companies have seldom been notably competitive.
There is more than abundant evidence that their efforts are mostly directed to ensure an asymmetric playing field that permitted them to avoid confronting real competition.
And, in very large part, major US corporations have succeeded not because of any competitive advantage but by pressure and threats emanating from the State Department and military.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stated the truth quite accurately when he wrote,
“The hidden hand of the market will never work without the hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas.”
Xerox was once almost the only manufacturer of photocopiers in the world. Kodak was once almost the world’s only maker of cameras and photo film; Where are Xerox and Kodak today? More recently, Motorola was the leading manufacturer of mobile phones; Where is Motorola today? US-based RCA Victor was one of the largest producers of TV sets in the world. Where can you buy an RCA TV set today? Where are the great Pan Am World Airways and Continental Airlines? Where are E.F. Hutton, General Foods, RCA, DEC, Compaq? Where are American Motors, Bethlehem Steel, Polaroid cameras, and so many more? Gone, because they couldn’t deal with effective competition.
Boeing Aircraft would be gone today if not for the extensive subsidies it receives from the US government. It’s true that Airbus receives subsidies too, but Boeing is supported by billions in US military research grants against which it can apply much of its current expenses. Not so many years ago, IBM was the only manufacturer of office and home computers. Where can you buy an IBM computer today? GE was once the largest manufacturer of electric home appliances, lights and lighting fixtures. Where is GE today? Transformed into a financial company, beaten out of all consumer markets because it couldn’t compete. IBM defenders will tell you that the company willingly abandoned the PC market to focus on mainframe computers and information services, but no company abandons a profitable market. The truth is that IBM faced manufacturers who could produce PCs for a quarter of the cost, and were forced out of the business. GE defenders would make a similar claim, but GE couldn’t compete in the vast consumer markets and was driven out too.
The three major US auto manufacturers are in the same position. Chrysler has been bankrupt three times already, and survives today only because of Fiat having taken it over. The great General Motors went bankrupt, and was saved only by $60 billion of cash injections from the US and Canadian governments – money which will never be recovered. And in spite of that, GM would have anyway disappeared from the earth if not for its sales in China – which are now three times GM’s sales in its own country; even Americans are refusing to purchase GM’s tired and dying brands. Only Ford has been able to keep its head above water, and then only just. We could produce a list of hundreds of US companies who thought they were great until they faced some real “competition”, and then rapidly disappeared. It’s true there are business failures in every country, but other countries don’t boast about their God-given omnipotence and their world-beating competitive supremacy.
Along similar lines, the Americans have never forgiven the Europeans and Russians for producing supersonic passenger aircraft after all US attempts failed. And they are unlikely to forgive China and Russia for the deployment of working hypersonic missiles when all domestic attempts have failed.
And then we have the genuine mythology of Alexander Graham Bell who didn’t invent the telephone, Thomas Edison who, by his own admission, never invented anything – including the light bulb, the Wright Brothers who were never the first to have powered flight, and the great Albert Einstein who plagiarized everything he published. The list is very long.
Descriptions of American ingenuity and competitiveness were never accurate or valid, but mere jingoism fabricated by Bernays’ adherents to further promote the self-serving mythology of virtuous American capitalism. The truth is that the large US companies thrived on only brute force, heavily supported by their own government to limit competition both domestically and abroad. The US government and military have always existed primarily to browbeat other nations and economies into submission, to help US corporations obtain unfair trade deals, exclusive access to resources and markets, effectively colonising and subjugating much of the world. American business has seldom been able to compete when placed on an equal footing with other competitors because the US business model works only on a “take it by force” basis. Kodak, Xerox, and so many other American icons disappeared when the playing field did indeed become level.
We need only look at the US domestic market to see the truth of this. When Japanese and German automobiles were finally permitted into the US market on equal terms, the American auto firms mostly entered a long slide to bankruptcy – because they couldn’t compete. Almost every computer and electronic device sold in the US today is a foreign brand because Americans couldn’t compete when the playing field was level.
Motorola’s crappy phones were a great success until Nokia and others entered the US market. Harley-Davidson exists only because of a 50% import tax on competing motorcycles; Ford Motors would also be in bankruptcy if not for the heavy protectionist tax on light trucks. The American mobile phone companies and ISPs would disappear into the bankruptcy courts within a year if foreign firms were permitted into the market. Cisco Systems, the grand American Internet infrastructure champion, would within three months be reduced to assembling Playstations for Sony if Huawei were given free access to the US market.
The story is the same for countless American firms that were once dominant in their home market but quickly disappeared when protectionist trade tariffs and duties were eliminated and foreign products could enter the US on fair or equal terms. The dominant US firms surviving today are able to do so due mostly to rampant protectionism and oligopolies created by the US government to ensure their survival.
The same is true in foreign markets.
Few American companies have been able to survive in other countries, other than the fast-food chains. Most recently, Domino’s Pizza is leaving Italy with its tail between its legs after ten years of failure, blaming the bankruptcy on COVID. But there is a long string of American failures preceding this; E-Bay and Home Depot left China in tears a few years ago.
Uber’s China business was taken over by Didi, and there are many more.
Those American firms that have survived, have done so primarily by purchasing domestic brands and using that distribution system to support their foreign market entries, and most of those have succeeded only due to astonishing criminality in their foreign joint ventures.
And it is an axiom in the auto business that nowhere in the world can you buy an American car except in North America and China, and the China market may soon disappear in spite of what seemed an initial success.
At one time, US banks, radio and TV companies, print publishers and others were heavily restricted from mergers and takeovers on the sound basis that society needed to be protected from the predatory nature of concentrated ownership. But for the past 50 years the elites who control the large US corporations have exerted enormous influence on the government to remove domestic restrictions on monopolies, and eventually their political influence succeeded to the point where today the entire nation has only a few media firms, auto manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, oil companies, telecommunications firms and major banks. In each case, companies were bought, merged, swallowed or bankrupted until only a few very large survivors remained.
American banking corporations were once permitted to operate only within a single state, in part to sensibly ensure that local deposits were converted to local development loans rather than being siphoned off to develop other richer regions. But the powerful East-Coast bankers, heavily supported by the FED, convinced the government that all those small regional banks needed “competition” to make them “more efficient” and to bring them into the big leagues of the modern financial world. And of course, once approval was received, most of the local banks were purchased, enticed into a merger, bankrupted or forced out of business, and now a small number of banks controls most of the US economy.
And, as we would expect, the new mega-banks did indeed siphon off local deposits to richer centers, thereby vastly increasing the nation’s income disparity and relieving the government of its control of regional development. All the claims about the need for, and benefits of, competition were false.
The purpose of these mergers and purchases was never to foster competition but to eliminate it. Today, a few major US banks control the bulk of the nation’s business, and instead of competing with each other in some meaningful way they generally conspire together to plunder their customers. Where there is real competition consumers have choices, but what are the choices with the banks? You can leave one bank that offers poor service while cheating you to go to another bank that will offer poor service while cheating you.
The US mobile phone system, an oligopoly, is the most expensive and dysfunctional in the world. An Internet-enabled smart phone that can be managed well in China for less than 100 yuan a month ($15.00) will cost $200 per month in the US.
Until recently, SIM cards could not be removed, to prevent customers from changing suppliers; unlocking the phone to enable its use with another phone company or in another location, would lead to a $500,000 fine and a ten-year prison sentence, thereby protecting the oligopoly from competition.
Like all American systems, communication was designed by and for the benefit of private enterprise, meant to hold consumers captive and milk them for every dollar they have. It was never considered as infrastructure nor designed with any thought of what was best for either the consumers or the nation.
This pattern prevailed in banking, transportation, telecommunications, the media, the petroleum industry and others, to create a situation where these giant firms could totally dominate an industry to control not only prices and production levels, but also the rates of both future investment and technological innovation in these industry sectors.
Those innovations escaping this capitalist net were soon either driven out of business or were purchased and killed.
These are precisely the same arguments American companies and the US government utilise today in China to pressure China’s government to open industry sectors to US multi-nationals, claiming the benefits of competition and the need for efficiency as necessary credentials to enter the modern world. These claims are equally as much a lie in China as they were in the US.
In fashion similar to their mythical inventiveness and entrepreneurship, nostalgic and misinformed Americans today pine for “the returning of pride once again to what was once the global standard of creativity, quality and style in manufactured products – the mark on all our goods saying ‘Made in the USA’”.
But this is just one more foolish American myth. The US was never a world standard of anything except weapons and maybe pornography, and even then they stole most of that from Germany and Japan.
Mostly, American products, like their automobiles, have always been crappy.
It is true there have been some products of acceptable quality emerging from the US, but these have always been much in the minority and the few examples used as evidence of this claim are virtually the only examples.
The Americans have never been able to produce machines or tools that could match those of Germany, or shoes and clothing as fine as those of Italy, or wines and food products as good as those of Europe.
We are constantly reminded that the Americans, being so creative and innovative, spend huge amounts of money on R&D, but these claims are short on detail and therefore disguise the objectives of corporate R&D in America.
Companies in most countries invest in research to produce products of higher quality and greater reliability or durability, but US firms typically have interest only in finding ways to produce more cheaply so as to enhance profitability.
Large American firms focus at least 60% of their entire R&D budgets on ways to lower costs, with product quality inevitably being the loser.
American investment in R&D is merely a kind of race to the bottom, with every firm competing to discover new ways to substitute substandard materials and produce a more cheaply-made product that can be sold at the same price. Many components are internal where the materials quality is not obvious to consumers, but for those which are external and subject to consumer evaluation we see superficial America at its best.
Manufacturers conduct consumer tests of their R&D ‘innovations’ to determine if the public are able to detect the cheap substitutions, the goal being to degrade product quality and cost as much as possible in a way that will not be apparent to the consumer. Lawrence Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute, wrote that “the US is a country interested only in finding the shortest route to the cheapest product”.
Despite all the mythical propaganda, the Americans have never placed much value on a skilled work force, and the quality of American goods has reflected this for 200 years. Neither American people nor their corporations have ever valued product quality, the people having for generations been programmed to value superficiality and appearance over substance, eventually resulting in the almost universally low quality throwaway society we see today. One of the main results of this low-class attitude is the American use of technology.
Companies in Germany, Japan, China, and much of Europe, will take advantage of new technologies to produce better and higher-quality products but the Americans almost invariably use it to lower their cost of production and raise their profits. Product quality is always the loser.
Even today, a German Volkswagen that requires repairs after a year is an anomaly; an American Buick that doesn’t, is a miracle.
The American Entrepreneurial Spirit
Americans have a bad habit of sloppiness with their vocabulary, an unthinking and simple-minded tendency to contaminate definitions by exaggerating them beyond the bounds of all good sense, mostly to fabricate grist for the propaganda mill. One such foolishness is of course the American definition of democracy which sometimes seems to include a thousand unrelated and mostly mythical items like freedom.
One American acquaintance stated that a pet’s ‘right to dog food’ was ‘a human right’ and therefore included within the meaning of democracy. I sincerely doubt that one American in 50 could provide an intelligent definition of either democracy or freedom; the words simply mean whatever each person wants them to mean, the media pundits even less intelligent than the rest of the population.
We have the same problem with the use of ‘entrepreneurial’ as an adjective, the definition often expanded to include things like innovation or creativity or independence, and sometimes even ‘freedom’, and of course including the filing of new patents. But when the US military funds MIT for weapons research and obtains useful discoveries, this is hardly an example of the entrepreneurial spirit at work. An entrepreneur is someone who takes the initiative to form a new enterprise, the term being only peripherally related to innovation or the generation of ideas. Richard Branson may be entrepreneurial in designing and building a new space ship for tourists, but for each one of these we have several million who open their own pet shop.
The Americans constantly flaunt companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook as examples of their entrepreneurial abilities but, like most all else, the few examples claimed are virtually the only examples that exist.
And in almost every case I know of, especially with examples like Google and Facebook, there was enormous government , State Department and CIA political involvement, heavy funding, and enormous commercial pressure without which these enterprises would never have seen the light of day.
Google is virtually a department of the CIA; Facebook and Twitter may not be much better.
Warren Buffett and Michael Dell may be exceptions, but there are precious few of these. Apple would qualify, as would the creation of Hewlett-Packard, but America’s list is much shorter than China’s, with firms like Huawei, Wahaha, Xiaomi and 50 million others who started their own businesses. Like all the supposedly great things about America, the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit is just another utopian myth created by the propaganda machine as one more aspect of brand marketing.
In the US, a new college graduate who has a job and isn’t already bankrupt with student loans, will take his first paycheque to a car dealership and borrow whatever he can to buy a car, and spend years paying off the debt.
A new Chinese graduate will leave his full-time job at 5;00 PM and wash dishes in a Chinese restaurant until midnight, saving every penny until he can put a down payment on a house or an apartment which he will then rent out.
And he will continue applying his salary from both jobs, supplemented by the rental income, until the house has enough equity for a down payment on a second property.
And he continues, while he lives in a small rented flat, and after 5 or 6 years he has one house paid for, which he can then live in almost free, with another well on its way.
He will continue to apply all income and rentals until the second home is also paid off, after which he can bank his entire salary and buy a new Mercedes if he wants one, or start his own restaurant, or buy a third house. Which way is better?
Where is the evidence of “the entrepreneurial spirit” in the American?
Nevertheless, and in keeping with the American defense of their pitiful PISA scores and educational system, the propaganda machine never tires of boasting of the breadth and depth of entrepreneurial America, of the adventurous spirit that pervades the nation, of the US being a veritable hotbed of entrepreneurs and business leaders and inventors.
But of all claims of American superiority, and in spite of all the blatantly false myths about every other part of American excellence, this claim is so silly as to defy understanding of its origin.
In a lifetime of travel, I have almost never met an American who dreamed of having his own business, and the same is true for Canadians, Brits, Australians and Germans.
Italians yes, many; Americans, none.
But in more than 25 years of constant exposure to Chinese people, and in a decade of experience within China, I am still genuinely surprised to meet a Chinese who does not dream of having his or her own business.
The desire to be one’s own boss is virtually embedded in Chinese DNA and would serve as one of the defining adjectives of the Chinese people.
There is nothing in the US to compare to it, and there has never been.
In fact, it is China, not the US, that is flooded with entrepreneurs and the spirit to strike out on one’s own. Ningbo, a small affluent city in East China, is known primarily for its abundance of millionaires, and has an extraordinarily strong private business base, with one in four local people involved in export-related industries. Where do we find this in America?
In the business school of the university in the small town of Yiwu, in Zhejiang Province near Shanghai, all the students – all the students – have their own businesses.
They may only be Taobao online shops, but they all make money.
In fact, it is part of their business-school curriculum that they at least open online shops to take advantage of Yiwu’s massive commodities markets, and learn how to buy, sell and market those goods across the nation.
Many accept largish orders and market internationally – and these are kids. Some of them make $100,000 a year in this minor part-time occupation while they are still undergraduates. Many are also quite fluent in English and are taught to act as agents, purchasing advisors, negotiators and translators for foreign buyers, accumulating business skills and experience of enormous value.
Where do you find this in America?
Where do you find this at Harvard?
The American business schools pretend that entrepreneurship entails imagining an iphone in your garage and finding an angel willing to pump $200 million into putting your show on the road.
But for every one of those you can find in the US, China has 6 million of its kind, and guess who’s driving the Ferraris.
And guess who spends 6 hours in front of the TV every night, still believing the sun revolves around the earth and still unable to find his country on a map of the world.
As well, if you read my E-book on ‘How the US Became Rich’,(1) it is heavily documented that great numbers of products which the mythological narrative now credits to American inventiveness were simply copied or stolen from other nations, often with the encouragement and financial support of the US government. Coca-Cola is one such example, but there are literally hundreds of others, including most manufacturing machinery and processes.
There are a great many of these “firsts” that were never American, but where the claim has been made and the title confiscated as part of the long series of historical myths used to bolster the jingoism of American supremacy. Americans firmly believe they are exceptional in their ability “to turn the abstract into practical products for everyday people to be able to afford”. In evidence, they produce a long list of products and consumer goods that evolved from their “scientific research”, and that, according to them, is “so long and obvious as to sound like bragging”.
The only flaw in this mythical narrative is that none of the claims are true.
Almost no items on their “bragging list” were invented by Americans, and in the cases where US residents were the first to apply for patents, they were not Americans but virtually all by immigrants who had built on someone else’s work. Many Americans believe that IBM created the personal computer, but Germany’s Konrad Zuse built the first functional programmable computer in 1936, and Olivetti in Italy as well as scientists in Russia and Poland had working computers long before that.
And it goes much further than this. The Americans are exceptionally proficient at creating historical myths that demonstrate their supposed moral superiority in virtually every area, freely rewriting history or carefully burying crucial facts in juvenile attempts to mislead.
One such myth concerns the fabled military aircraft, the P-51 Mustang which, according to the Americans, single-handedly won the war in Europe, defeated the German Luftwaffe all by itself, and “is widely considered the best piston single fighter of all time”.
Of course, it is no such thing, except to the Americans themselves. For one thing, the Americans’ brief flash at the end of the conflict hardly ‘won the war’ but, more importantly, this aircraft’s original designation was the XP-78, a name almost nobody has ever heard of, and for good reason.
The aircraft’s performance was underwhelming to say the least and, with its American-built Allison engines was of no more use during wartime than a lawn mower. It was the re-fitting of this aircraft with the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that made it useful.
With the Merlin generating twice the power with less than half the fuel consumption of the US engine, the aircraft did indeed have great range and performance – as did the Spitfires and other British aircraft, but the original American version wouldn’t have made a list of the top 500. And yet nowhere in any American narrative do important facts like these appear. In these areas, as in so many others, the US is a nation based on lies.
In related propaganda, anything developed first by another nation will not actually exist in the American mind or be recognised in the American narrative until it is subsequently copied and produced by the Americans, at which point they will assume full credit for having taken a flawed and primitive foreign concept and developed it into the only real good version.
The British Harrier aircraft is one such example that comes immediately to mind, as are Italian espresso and cappuccino.
On the other hand, any country creating anything similar to that existing in the US will discover its product being immediately denigrated as just a cheap copy of an infinitely-superior American invention. Americans are such a pain in the ass.
Creativity and Innovation
The floods of new patents notwithstanding, there is no evidence that Americans are any more innovative or creative than any other nation of people. Equally, there is no evidence that Americans are any more resourceful than people from other nations, and I would argue they are rather less so. Moreover, two major conditions serve as strong contra-indications of these claims of American inventiveness.
One is that most of the invention and innovation that occurred in the US was not done by “Americans”, whoever they are, but by people from other nations, a large percentage of these being Chinese. In fact, in America’s famous Silicon Valley 50% of the participants are Chinese and another 40% Indian.
That wouldn’t seem to leave too much creativity or innovation for Americans. Indeed, without these foreigners, US innovation might come to a virtual standstill and Silicon Valley might have amounted to nothing.
The US has for decades offered free graduate-level education and attractive research jobs to the best and brightest of other nations, which is simply colonialism in another form, effectively purchasing the brightest students from other nations then taking credit for their inventions or patents.
The truth is that precious little of the inventiveness that occurred in America in the past was ever done by Americans.
Even today, a recent study financed by New York mayor Bloomberg proved that 75% or more of all patents emerging from US educational institutions were obtained by foreigners, a great many of whom were Chinese.
The US educational system has never fostered either inventiveness or creative thinking; what it has done, and perhaps done well, is to hire creative minds from other nations and then claim their work for itself. It has been only through plundering resources and the brightest people from other nations, that the US has progressed and become rich overall. If not for that, America today would be of no more consequence than Australia.
The second is that a surprising amount of the innovation emerging from America in recent decades did not come from lofty ideals, satisfying consumer needs, or other moral truisms, but was simply commercial fallout from military research. As noted elsewhere, MIT, one of the most prominent and praised US educational institutions, was created for the sole purpose of military research and until recently was almost 100% funded by the US military.
The US may well have its share of intelligent and innovative people, but their talents have been mostly directed to war, marketing, and the marketing of war. When the Americans were flooding the people of Vietnam under a tsunami of millions of liters of napalm, they discovered the Vietnamese were cleverly avoiding their planned immolation by submerging themselves in water and extinguishing the flames.
The Department of Defense quickly assembled the best and brightest Americans (at Harvard) who, innovative as always, discovered they could infuse the napalm with particles of white phosphorus that would burn a man to death even while under water. American ingenuity at its best.
The US government has arranged widespread ‘public-private partnerships’ with many educational institutions for the purpose of military research, and after the military determines how to weaponise something, they then let parts into the private sector.
The Internet was a military project, as was the American GPS system. Google Earth resulted from US military spy satellites; radio, computers and microwaves were military projects. The list is long. When this massive seconding of the American educational system for military use became a target of public objection, the US government did what it and its corporations always do: they moved it offshore.
In late 2013 der Spiegel reported an outbreak of public condemnation when it was revealed that German universities had received tens of millions of dollars from the US for military research, and many other foreign universities are in the same position. The Americans are now attempting to utilise the best and brightest from all Western nations in their headlong rush to create military invincibility, hijacking the research departments in the world’s universities and paying scientists and researchers from all nations to make their contribution to American military superiority.
Americans are not “inventive”. They are greedy and self-serving, interested much more in commercial domination and control than in creativity. Creativity is defined by art, not by money and, since Americans have no art, they have redefined creativity as something that produces money. And it’s even worse than this.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, about two-thirds of American R&D budgets are directed exclusively to finding ways to degrade product quality and lower the cost so as to make a cheaper product and increase profits. In what way is this a reflection of “creativity”?
Even worse, the US government and corporations have not only hijacked all American universities as incubators of profit but also as hotbeds of weapons research, now extending this to the research departments of universities in other Western nations.
I’m sorry to say this, but of all the available fields of human endeavor that would benefit from the application of imagination, the Americans have chosen only two: the search for ways to provide less while charging more, and ways to kill more people faster and from a greater distance.
This is not creativity. It is a kind of mass hysteria in a population that long ago lost its moral compass and sense of values, a people rendered powerless by a profusion of propaganda that redefined a life worth living as one of superficiality, greed and domination.
In late 2015, Robert McMillan wrote an article in the WSJ in which he noted that China’s supercomputing technology is growing rapidly and that China has had for years the world’s most powerful supercomputers. China’s Tianhe-2, which had for years been ranked the world’s most powerful supercomputer, could perform 34 quadrillion calculations per second.
The machine in second place, the US military’s installation at its Oak Ridge National Laboratory, could perform 17 quadrillion calculations per second – exactly one-half as fast as China’s, and this in spite of spending billions of dollars to improve their capability. McMillan stated that the increasingly poor American results are not from a slowdown in the US effort but an acceleration of research in China.
Only a few months later, Xinhua news reported that China’s National Supercomputer Center would soon be releasing the prototype of a supercomputer that will be 1,000 times more powerful than its original ground-breaking Tianhe-1A (which was then superseded by the Tianhe-2).
A few months later, in 2016, China introduced its new supercomputing system, Sunway-TaihuLight, the world’s fastest for the seventh straight year, and using entirely Chinese-designed processors instead of US technology.
This new Chinese computer is capable of 125 petaflops, or quadrillion calculations per second, more than seven times faster than America’s Oak Ridge installation, and the first computer in the world to achieve speeds beyond 100 PFlops. The supercomputer’s power is provided by a domestically developed multi-core CPU chip, which is only 25 square centimeters in size. As well, in 2015 China displaced the US as the country with the most supercomputers in the top 500, China having 167 and the US 165, with Japan third at only 29.
I must say it was not only comical but instructive to follow the heavily-politicised transcript emerging from the US government on these ‘computer wars’, and so heavily parroted in the US media.
For years, the Americans published – at full volume – lists of the world’s fastest computers, with their equipment always leading the pack, with calculation speed being the only appropriate measure. In that process, US government officials and the American mass media took advantage of every opportunity to denigrate the Chinese for their lack of innovation.
Then one day Chinese engineers produced a supercomputer twice as fast as the Americans’ best effort, and suddenly the goalposts were moved. The measure was no longer calculation speed but the fact of using home-grown processors, so even though the Chinese machines were much faster than those of the Americans, they were using US-sourced microprocessors, so the Americans still won.
The US government and media even enhanced their deprecation of China, loudly proclaiming that China would be nothing without US technology. So Chinese engineers designed their own microprocessors and produced a supercomputer five times faster than the best the Americans could manage, and suddenly the Americans have disappeared from the radar.
Neither the US government nor the media appear to have any further interest in either the capability or the numbers of supercomputers, and the Americans seem to have lost interest in publishing lists of the world’s fastest computers. But on the bright side, Chinese authorities report that the NSA has launched hundreds of thousands of hacking attacks, looking for a way to steal and copy the technology for China’s new microprocessors.
German GDP Could Fall 10% If Production Brought Home from China
A move to restore domestic production of key goods in Germany – mostly from China – could lead to a gross domestic product decline of almost 10%, a recent paper has suggested.
My parents owned a convenient store back in the 80’s. It was located in Denver Harbor a.k.a. 5th Ward (when you call an area a WARD, you know it’s not the nicest or safest of areas). It was a Saturday, my brothers and I did not have school so we were there helping. This man walks in with a gun and robbed my mom of all the money in the register, runs out and hops in his van that he had backed into the parking lot.
My mom ( petite Asian woman) grabs her gun and runs after him.
She starts shooting at his van and he shoots back. She gets down on all fours and starts crawling to hide behind his van, all while shooting! He couldn’t get his van started so he escapes on foot running towards the freeway!
My mom was unaware that he had taken off on foot and she’s still playing crouching tiger, hidden dragon by his van. Cops apprehended the guy running on the freeway. Bring him over to my mom and said, “Is this the guy that robbed you?”
Before she could answer, the robber says, “ I’m gonna sue you lady for shooting at me!” ( Yeah…I know).
My mom was so pissed he said that so she hocked a loogie and spit in his face and told the police, “Yeah, dat him!”
x
More stories about my mother and her convenient store “hey days”—
My mom got a 2nd store in 92. It was dry (no alcohol). We were about to close. But a couple of wanna be cholas (gang members) comes in. One opens up the pickle jar and tried to reach in with her hands to get a pickle.
My mom yells at her and tells her not to do that. She would get it for her.
Girl curses out my mom with all kinds of profanity so my mom tells her to get out but she won’t and is still cursing and yelling do my mom pulls out the gun and told her to get out and don’t come back again.
Girl leaves but threatens my mom with more violence.
We start closing up.
My mom goes to the dumpster and has her steak knife to cut up boxes. Out of the blue she is jumped by the girl AND girl’s mom!!!
Yes! She brought her mom as reinforcement!
In my mom’s defense, she swings the steak knife and cuts the girls arm.
Her mom calls 911 and my mom is taken to jail for assaulting a minor!
Girl was 16… mom spent night in jail and made friends with her cell mates…they were all concerned for her due to being diabetic and in jail without her meds.
When we were able to post bail and get her, she was hugging on each one saying her good byes…Charges were eventually dropped against my mother because not even a week later, said girl and her mother were involved in an altercation with each other.
Girl and mother had a rap sheet so long that it wasn’t worth it for prosecutors to go after my mom.
x
Sheldon
Not an MM story, but great anyways. -MM
I used to hate+fear cats (childhood trauma from cat attack) and I’m also very, very allergic.
About five years ago I was entering my car at night, in the rain, with my wife when I saw a messy, furry lump of hair reminiscent of the movie “the ring” streak around the corner of the car. I went out to look and there was this gnarly black feline looking back at me. I was like… eugh… and went back into the car. But the darned thing followed me and crawled up my lap, up along my arm up towards my shoulders all while I’m all but screaming “WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING??!?” to my wife, who I knew had a lot of experience with cats. The cat, that was obviously in a bad state, proceeded to lie down around my neck like a nasty, wet scarf and passed out with a huge sigh. Weirdest thing ever.
Despite my aversions against cats, especially one that had just punctured my leg, arm and neck in about a hundred spots with its nasty, infected claws – we decided to walk down to the vet, cat around my neck, to get advice on what to do with it (and also to have it safely removed from the vicinity of my carotid artery :D)
The lady who worked there was involved in a local animal support group and offered to do her best to find the owners and said the cat could live there for now – in a small cage, in a dark corner until the owner could be found or if not – be sent off to the shelter.
I suppose that was where love won out over hate, fear and allergies, so I asked if it wouldn’t be better for the cat if we took it home to try and care for it for the time being.
The cat was dirty, had ticks, fleas, skin infections, ear infections, worms and was in obvious psychological distress.
Long story short, the owners were found – but because they’d had kids and the kids were beating up the cat they decided to kick the cat out instead of teaching their kids manners. The cat was homeless and given the previous owners mentality, probably hadn’t gotten much love or attention.
So we decided to give him a fighting chance and spent a minor fortune (no insurance = expensive) getting him the help he needed, removing ticks, cleaning out fleas, daily skin care, minor ear surgery, vaccinations, anti-worm medication, intensive care diets, castration and whatever “love” I was able to muster. My allergies were terrible, but I pushed through. This was not a fun experience for any of us, but the cat never, ever tried to hurt us despite being put through weeks of painful and likely terrifying medicinal procedures as well as my constant, ear shattering sneezing.
In time (many months), my body started getting used to having “cat” in the air all of the time and my allergies started to slowly fade, in straight opposition to what doctors have always told me should happen. Not just my cat allergies, mind you. My dog and generic fur allergy, pollen allergies (hay fever) and contact allergies all improved significantly over the next two years!
Today, five years later, I could not imagine living without Sheldon. He is the perfect pet – with beautiful, soft and glistening black fur. He’s one of those cats who never do annoying “cat things” like topple things over, attack from behind a corner or walk all over the keyboard when you try to work, and when I lie down in the couch in the evenings he comes over with a slight meow, as if to ask if it’s okay to hang out, and when I move over he jumps up and snuggles up right next to me for hours on end. When I go for a walk he will follow me around wherever I go. He keeps the house and garden free of mice and rats. Warns us when something is awry. Hangs out with the pet rabbits my wife keeps in the yard or when we are outdoors he will run around the neighborhood playing and jumping up and down trees and fences. When we are away he spends most of the day comfortably resting in bed, only to come running to us like a dog when we get back. Every time we open a door for him, or give him food, he will first take the time to turn around and give us a gentle stroke against the leg, before proceeding about his business.
I can now go outdoors in the summer without being destroyed by allergies, the family has gained a wonderful friend and Sheldon gives us more than enough love to go around. These are the gifts we were given for deciding to love, when we could’ve just walked away – and certainly had our reasons to do just that.
Sheldon
California’s Paul Gonzales, 45
I was watching a TED talk by a woman called “Cracking the Online Dating Code” or some such about how she found her husband online. It was pretty interesting, but she told several stories about initial “dates from hell”, including one man who took her to a “white tablecloth” restaurant, ordered copious amounts of food, and multiple bottles of wine, all the while saying, “Have whatever you want! It’s on me!” and then of course, went to “go to the bathroom” and never returned.
“That dinner,” she mused, “cost me a month’s rent.”
People aren’t putting up with con artists anymore…
x
This is Los Angles, California’s Paul Gonzales, 45, nicknamed the “dine-and-dash” dater for asking women out to restaurants, eating and drinking, then leaving with bills unpaid.
He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and three years of probation, and was barred from using dating apps or websites.
Prosecutors said he had defrauded at least 10 women of more than $950. Eight of the women said they were forced to pay, twice the restaurant picked up the bill. I hope they sued him in civil court.
When someone leaves, and “it’s not your fault” it’s still their bill.
It’s not a “prank,” it’s theft.
Have the police called.
Pay for your portion (always bring some cash and a credit card on a date) and give them enough information to pursue the thief.
I also think that if you call the police, it’s less likely that the restaurant will try to force you to pay for his half, with happened to the women above.
Twitter Cancels Russia Over Covid Biowarfare Accusations
This morning Russia’s RTreported that Twitter had suspended the official account of Russia’s Foreign Ministry:
Twitter has temporarily suspended the account belonging to Russia’s foreign ministry, officials in Moscow have revealed. According to the ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, the punitive measure was imposed after the diplomats cited a Russian military commander, who had alleged the US could have been behind the Covid-19 pandemic.On Tuesday, Zakharova posted a message on her Telegram channel, saying that on August 5, Twitter “blocked for seven days the official account of the foreign ministry in English.” The diplomat explained that the harsh reaction had been triggered by the ministry posting a tweet featuring excerpts from a speech delivered earlier by the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, General-Lieutenant, Igor Kirillov.The ministry’s tweet in question cited claims that the United States Agency for International Development could have been behind the Covid-19 pandemic…The tweet which led to the suspension is preceded by a plaque saying that it “violated the Twitter Rules on sharing false or misleading info that might bring harm to crisis-affected populations.” The platform noted, however, that it had chosen to preserve the message “for accountability purposes.”
After Russia’s war with Ukraine broke out six months ago, numerous harsh Western sanctions have been imposed upon Russia and individual Russians. But this suspension was unprecedented, with no such previous action having ever been taken against an official Twitter account of the Russian government.
This drastic step underscores the enormous gravity of those Russian accusations. If the world began to suspect that Covid was an American bioweapon, the global political landscape might dramatically shift.
Given the importance of this latest development, it’s worth reviewing how it came about.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University is the high-ranking American academic who had chaired the Covid Commission of the Lancet, a leading medical journal. In May, he co-authored an article in America’s prestigious PNAS journal pointing to the very strong evidence that Covid was bioengineered in a laboratory and called for an independent inquiry into its origins.
In that article, he emphasized that the EcoHealth Alliance, heavily funded by our own Department of Defense, had been very actively collecting exactly the sort of viruses that probably constituted the precursor stock to the genetically-engineered Covid virus.
These dramatic claims by leading academic figures should have resulted in major media headlines, but instead they were ignored by virtually all mainstream and alternative media outlets, though I discussed them in a column.
The following month, Prof. Sachs spoke at a Spanish think-tank conference and he strongly suggested that the Covid virus seemed to have emerged from American biotechnology. A few weeks later, RT ran a short item highlighting Sachs’s statements, and a clip of his remarks went super-viral a couple of days later, being retweeted more than 11,000 times and accumulating a million views, as I described in a column:
Britain’s populist Daily Mail finally decided to cover the story, bringing it to the attention of a mainstream audience:
The following week I noted that the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster had played a major role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Covid epidemic has been perhaps a thousand times greater in its global impact. If the world began to believe that Covid had an American origin, the geopolitical impact would be monumental. And with more than a million Americans dead and two years of lockdowns and disrupted lives, the domestic political consequences would be equally enormous:
Partly as a consequence of Prof. Sachs’s explosive claims, I was interviewed at the end of July by Sputnik News, a mainstream Russian media outlet with 20 million monthly visits. This finally allowed my Covid analysis to reach a much larger and more global audience:
The Sputnik article seems to have been one of the most popular on their website, with more than 100 endorsements by readers, and my own column on the controversy also generated strong traffic, with more than 300 comments:
A few days after the Sputnik article ran, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, held a public briefing in which he raised the possibility of American responsibility for the global Covid epidemic. As RT reported:
Taking into account the interest of the US administration in the study of narrowly targeted biological agents, such statements force us to take a fresh look at the causes of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the role of US military biologists in the emergence and spread of the Covid-19 pathogen,” Kirillov said.Russia now suspects that USAID might have been directly responsible for the emergence of the Covid-19 virus, according to Kirillov, who pointed to a Lancet article by Columbia professor Jeffry Sachs, who suggested that the virus was likely created in a lab with the help of America’s latest achievements in the field of biotechnology…“The implementation of the COVID-19 development scenario and USAID’s emergency phasing out of the Predict program in 2019 suggest the deliberate nature of the pandemic and US involvement in its occurrence,” Kirillov said.
After the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a Tweet providing excerpts from Lieutenant-General Kirillov’s speech, its account was immediately suspended by Twitter.
I have no particular insight into the thinking of the Twitter monitors who suspended Russia’s account, but I suspect that they sincerely regarded those Russian Covid accusations as totally absurd and dangerous, an outrageous “conspiracy theory” having absolutely no basis in reality.
Corporate executives probably draw their understanding of the world from the same media sources as the general public, and if no Western journalists have ever hinted that Covid might have been an American bioweapon, the notion would seem just as unimaginable to a Twitter manager as it would to one’s own next-door neighbor. Those who control the media control the contours of perceived reality.
For more than two years, I’ve been stunned by the complete unwillingness of virtually any mainstream or alternative journalists to take notice of the very strong evidence of American culpability. Just yesterday I sent this note to a member of America’s elite establishment with whom I’ve been friendly for many years:
…the whole situation just staggers the imagination.For the same of argument, let’s assume I’m correct and there’s at least a pretty good chance that the blowback from an unauthorized biowarfare attack has now killed a million Americans.Can you think of anything in the history of the world let alone the history of America that’s comparable to that? As I argued in one of my recent articles, it’s probably 1000x a greater worldwide disaster than Chernobyl.And the notion that absolutely no one is willing to discuss it is just unbelievable. It’s not like Stalin’s NKVD will ship them off to the Gulag if they say anything. I mean it’s one thing if people are fearful of being shot, but it’s another thing if they’re merely fearful of being criticized on Twitter…I just can’t understand why absolutely no one is willing to take a public stand on this issue. Once all the facts came out more than a year ago, I assumed the dam would break any week.
And his reply:
It is quite amazing.
At the beginning of August Prof. Sachs gave a long interview to Current Affairs, a progressive alternative publication, in which he described the roadblocks his Lancet investigation into the origins of Covid had encountered. The scientific members serving under him refused to explore any American role in the creation of the virus and were unwilling to disclose the recent American research in related areas:
What I’m calling for is not the conclusion. I’m calling for the investigation. Finally, after two and a half years of this, it’s time to fess up that it might have come out of a lab and here’s the data that we need to know to find out whether it did…NIH was actually asked at one point: give us your research program on SARS-like viruses. And you know what they did? They released the cover page and redacted 290 pages. They gave us a cover page and 290 blank pages! That’s NIH, for heaven’s sake. That’s not some corporation. That is the U.S. government charged with keeping us healthy.
Since April 2020 I have argued that the Covid outbreak was likely due to an American biowarfare attack against China (and Iran), just as the Iranians had claimed at the time. This undertaking almost certainly occurred without the personal authorization of President Trump, and therefore constituted a “rogue operation.”
My own long series of articles has documented the very strong evidence of American guilt, notably including obvious foreknowledge of the Wuhan outbreak. All of the underlying source material was provided in the reporting of establishment media outlets and cannot easily be denied.
But timorous journalists have averted their eyes and refused to take any notice of what had been revealed in their own publications.
I’ve also presented that same information in a number of podcast interviews, which have now been viewed nearly a million times, including almost 50,000 views in the last couple of days. As the facts they present become more widely known, dramatic political shifts may begin to occur.
I suspect that if the executives at Twitter became aware of this factual information, they might have considered the public statements of the Russian Defense Ministry in a very different light.
Three of the most substantial presentations total nearly four hours and are conveniently available on Rumble.
I was two weeks old and when my owner stopped at a stop sign.
And he hurled me out of the window into the woods.
Luckily for me the guy who took this photo thought it looked odd and was behind my previous owners car.
He stopped to see what was thrown out.
And even though my eyes were not open I had a hell of a pair of lungs, and even though I could only squeak my squeak was loud enough for me to be found .
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My new owner took me home , against his instincts to find my previous owner and beat them to a pulp, and fed me some nice warm milk with some honey in it .
After a few days my eyes opened fully and I could focus on this really nasty looking guy who without a doubt would have beaten my previous owner to a pulp.
I recognized his smell and the warmth I had felt as he kept me close for a few days and for a week or so afterwards I learnt how to eat for myself and to not annoy his much bigger cats too much.
Now I’m a big guy myself and follow my new owner about everywhere .
Hes a pretty cool dude for someone who looks like he could rip your head off…..but I like him .
He tells me he doesn’t like humans much but I have no idea what that means .
India dumps US dollar for UAE dirham, Chinese yuan in Russian coal trade
Tokyo and Seoul embarrassed by Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
The atmosphere surrounding Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Japan on Friday, August 5, is like the sky over Tokyo: stormy. After a visit to a defiant South Korea, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is making a stopover in a worried, even discontented, archipelago. Japan is the last stop on an Asian tour marked by a visit to Taiwan, which is embarrassing for the US’s two main allies in East Asia who are reluctant to upset their Chinese neighbor.
The issue dominated Ms. Pelosi’s breakfast with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and her meeting with Japanese Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, as angry China is conducting live ammunition military maneuvers around Taiwan through August 7. “They will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us from going there. We had high-level visits, senators in the spring, in a bi-partisan way… and we will not let them isolate Taiwan,” Ms. Pelosi said in a press conference in Tokyo….
On numerous radio shows, I have told my audience that kids today are “spoiled lazy.” Parents worked their butts off trying to give their kids a better life, but those kids have now turned out to EXPECT everything from mommy and daddy.
Many of them won’t work, and yet think the world owes them comfort and convenience.
I do not understand how our nation or our world will survive if THIS is the generation that’s coming into adulthood. The level of self-centeredness, immaturity, and sense of entitlement, is utterly astounding.
The Point: Exclusive with Chinese KMT ex-Chair
Talking about the Chinese “white paper” with the former chairperson Taiwan political party. Well worth the first 5 minutes, then you can go unless you live here in the region.
At the end
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This old woman raised her cat since it was a kitten. On her death bed, the cat refused to leave her side to stay with her. Guarding, comforting and accompanying her on her final journey. Such loyalty and unconditional love.
Are youse guys all getting tired of the geopolitical stuff? Yeah. I thought so. Yes, it’s a major time and period of historical change. And we are front-row seat spectators at it. But, you know, we need a break from it all. And there’s always a good reason to look at cats, art, and food. Here, we are going to go full-out cat in this article.
It’s a short article, but I hope that it does put a smile on your face, eh?
Part 1 – Heroic Kitty Art
What if they had your life in their heroic paws?
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To all the geeky cat-lovers out there – we bring the purrfect artwork you will not be able to resist. A talented Indonesian illustrator and concept artist Fajareka Setiawan is creating fun mashups of cute kittens and Marvel and DC characters that we didn’t know we needed in our lives.
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In his personal ‘Catvengers’ series, Fajareka transforms kittens into our favorite superheroes (or the other way around) with amazing precision, and it’s not only about the detailed costume.
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If you look closely, you will recognize the character traits in each illustration. From Catpool to AquaCat, these are the fierce supurrheroes we would truly love to see on a big screen.
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Oh my goodness!
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Fish kitty!
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Spidey cat!
Pretty amazing stuff, eh.
Now for some fun videos.
Part 2 – Kitty cat videos
We start out with a fairly sad video. But note that the Rufus rescued the kitten, and it is now in a good home and doing very well.
Video – The dead cat mother and the kitten trying to feed it
This is a bitter-sweet video. The mother cat is dead. But it’s kitten stays nearby, not knowing what to do. So it goes forth and hunts grasshoppers and mice to bring back to it’s sick mom. Eventually, though, the mother cat passed on. Luckily, a Rufus saw what is going on and tries to help. He catches the kitten and takes both to a vet for love and care. video 32MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
The german humiliation represented by the American veto of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline is paradigmatic.
On February 7, in the middle of the White House, and even before the Russian intervention in Ukraine, Joe Biden publicly disavows the newly appointed german chancellor Olaf Scholz, stating categorically that the Nord Stream II pipeline would be stopped.
...
Besides representing, in symbolic terms, the humiliation of Germany as a sovereign country, it consolidates the definitive “Coup d’Etat” in the European integration project.
-Saker
It’s an in-between time; a crazy time. A time of uncertainty and of strangeness. It’s an odd time, and a surreal time. Here, we go through some selected news and reports that serve best to flush out the realities that we all face.
In Biden’s Annual Economic Report, The Word “Gender” Is Used 40 More Times Than The Word “Inflation”
I think that the phrase “out of touch with reality” doesn’t even come close to describing what we are witnessing here.
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We all knew that the Biden administration was completely out of touch with what is going on in Real America, but it appears that things are even worse than we thought. Right now, inflation is the number one political issue in the entire country, and the persistent shortages that we have been experiencing are right up there as well. But the Biden administration apparently has other priorities.
The Biden administration has just released the “Economic Report Of The President” for 2022, and you can find it on the official White House website right here. But unless you are a glutton for punishment, I would strongly advise against reading the entire thing, because it is dreadfully boring.
Thankfully, there are others that have already gone through the entire document for us, and one eagle-eyed researcher discovered that the word “gender” is used 40 more times than the word “inflation” is used in the report, and the word “inequality” is actually used more than either one of them…
President Joe Biden released his annual Economic Report on Thursday where he mentioned the word “gender” significantly more than “inflation” as the country faces the highest prices in over 40 years.Biden used the word “gender” 127 in his economic plan, while he mentioned “inflation” just 87 times. Meanwhile, the report mentioned “inequality” 147 times and “emissions” nearly 100 times.
Obviously, Biden administration officials are far more concerned about “social justice issues” than they are about our growing economic problems.
If you are expecting Biden and his minions to save the day, you are going to be waiting for a really long time.
Meanwhile, prices just continue to rise. On Monday, the price of corn reached the highest level in almost a decade…
The surging price of corn hit another milestone on Monday morning as the cost of global commodities continues to push higher.The contracts for July corn futures were trading above $8 per bushel on Monday, the highest level since September 2012. The contracts were trading near $6 per bushel at the start of the year.
U.S. natural gas prices hit the highest level since 2008, with the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub edging close to $8 per million British Thermal Units on Monday afternoon.The last major Henry Hub price spikes in 2008 and 2006 were partly due to hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico, the Epoch Times reports. Prices in 2008 peaked at $13.32 per million on July 3rd.
As I pointed out the other day, the inflation crisis that we are experiencing now is already worse than anything that we went through during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Even more frightening is the fact that this is just the beginning.
In particular, food prices will eventually go much higher than they are now. I visited a local supermarket earlier today, and I was astounded by all of the price changes. What we are witnessing is already unprecedented, but I believe that there are several factors that will actually accelerate the increase in food prices in the months ahead.
One of those factors is the horrific bird flu pandemic that has erupted inside the United States. According to an expert that was interviewed by the Washington Post, this pandemic is spreading at a much faster pace than the outbreak that caused so much chaos back in 2015…
WaPo spoke to Gro Intelligence (ag data experts) senior research analyst Grady Ferguson who tracked the last outbreak in 2015, saying this one could be more disruptive to the poultry and egg markets.Ferguson said that 66 days into the outbreak, 1.3% of all US chickens had been affected, and 6% of the US turkey flock. In 2015, he said, only .02% of total chickens were affected at this same time. The number rose to 2.5% of chickens infected at the outbreak’s peak, and more than 50 million were culled.
So what will happen if we get six months down the road and the total death toll for chickens and turkeys reaches 100 million?
What do you think that will mean for our food supply?
As I have been documenting for months, we were already heading for a major global food crisis even without the bird flu and even without the war in Ukraine.
Now both of those factors are making things a whole lot worse.
And instead of trying to find a way to end the war, our leaders continue to talk like they want to escalate matters. In fact, U.S. Senator Chris Coons is openly calling for U.S. troops to be sent into Ukraine…
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) signaled that he wants the US to send troops into Ukraine to fight Russia in an interview on Sunday. When pressed about the issue, Coons said Russian President Vladimir Putin “will only stop when we stop him.”Coons was asked on CBS News’s Face the Nation about comments he made last week in an address to the University of Michigan. In the speech, Coons said the Biden administration and Congress should “come to a common position about when we are willing to go the next step and to send not just arms but troops to the aid in defense of Ukraine … If the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation in brutality by Putin.”
That is complete and utter insanity.
But Coons and Biden are apparently really good friends, and many other top Democrats are also pushing for Biden to do more to help defend Ukraine.
I still remember the “old days” when many on the left were actually “anti-war”.
I don’t know what happened, but these days the biggest warmongers of all seem to be on the left.
Of course there are many warmongers on the right as well. It is almost as if something is in the water in Washington. I have never seen so many of our leaders act as if they have completely lost their minds.
Needless to say, similar things could be said for society as a whole. I really like how Mike Adams made this point in one of his recent articles…
Humanity is intoxicated to the point of suicidal collapse.Note the word root “toxic” found in the word “intoxicated.” It doesn’t just refer to consuming alcohol, but to a long list of behaviors, substances and desires that turn off rational thought and thrust people into bad decision making.
If it appears to you that the whole world is going crazy, that is because it really is going crazy.
Global events are starting to spiral out of control, and a whole lot of people out there are having a really hard time coping with it all.
Unfortunately, global events will continue to become more intense in the months ahead, and so will the emotional breakdowns.
Chinese first grade military training exam
I never tire of watching these elementary school kids in China. You know everyone in China gets military training starting at first grade (Kindergarden in some areas). It’s damn impressive. video 9MB
The military has loosened recruiting standards to enlist older, less educated soldiers — some with criminal pasts — in an effort bolster the nation’s dwindling volunteer ranks.
Critics warn the new policies would leave the U.S. with military defenses that are too old, too unskilled, and too poorly behaved to protect America’s future.
(2015) Soldiers say Army has become soft by lowering physical fitness standards
After twenty years of lowering physical, intelligence and skill assement standards, the military is under critism becuase the “soldiers” are unable to perform the most basic demands of the service.
So we can now “officially consider” the Bucha false flag as an “official flop” 🙂
Next, I want to point you to Andrei Martyanov‘s commentary on what happened to the missile cruiser Moskva he simply titled “About RKR Moskva“.
So now we are 50 days into this Special Military Operation (SMO) and right in between the end of the first phase and the beginning of the second one. So I want to begin by list a few things which were unclear/ambiguous/misunderstood and which now are becoming clear(er):
Evolution of war. There is this saying “no plan survives the first contact with the enemy” which I would even expand to “no plan survives the first contact with reality”. Why? The first one is obvious, the enemy will try to foil your plans, but the second one is less known: in war there is always a large element of chaos simply because your entire country and your military are in one mode up until the initiation of combat operations and because they have to very quickly switch over a completely new reality. The point is therefore not to stick to plan A at any cost, but neither is it to ditch it all and reinvent the wheel. What is needed is a quick response time to identify the problems and fix them. I would say that with this in mind, the Russian military did a very good job by quickly transforming an integrated Ukrainian military capable of strategic operations into a broken-up entity with its various parts isolated and unable to support each other. What is my evidence for that? There has not been a single Ukrainian counter-attack higher than on a subunit (battalion, company) level. Considering that the Ukrainians have the double advantage of being on the defense and having a larger force, this is truly a remarkable achievement. Add to this the money, weapons and intelligence support from the US/NATO and it is nothing short of a triumph.
Russia reporting failed. At the same time, Russia as a whole, and especially the military, did an absolutely awful job talking to the public, both in Russia and in the West. See a typical example of the image on the right. The only mistake the US PYSOPs made was that they really “overdid it”, which profoundly angered and alienated the Russian public which went from “what is going on?” to “we are in a fight for our very survival” very quickly and most Russians are now in what I would refer to a “WWII” mode: total warfare until total victory. In the West, however, the US PSYOPs truly triumphed and totally defeated the Russian counter-propaganda efforts which, the truth be told, were primitive, clumsy, slow and even self-defeating at times. Does that matter? Yes, very. Why?
Russia seems to be losing. Because most people in Zone A sincerely and truly believe that “Russia is losing the war”. Now these are the same folks who until February of 2022 were all virologists/epidemiologists/microbiologists/etc. and who in a remarkable feat, became overnight military experts and now are sincerely advising the Russians on how to wage a war. The fact that no “real” war has even begun does not elicit any second thoughts or doubts in these “experts in everything” folks who simply don’t believe that some matters require years of training to achieve the expertise needed to understand even the basics. And no, as Andrei Martyanov always points out, a BA in communications or a law degree do not make you into a military expert overnight (by the way, I notice a very large “overlap” between the COVID death cult members and the armchair generals).
Russia is a stranger to the West. Objectively, there is also a double language and culture barrier at work here. Very few folks in Zone A are fluent, or even conversant, in Russian and even fewer understand the Russian mindset. So if all the English speaking media (including putatively pro-Russian ones – more about those later) says something it makes no sense to expect most English speakers to find the correct Russian language Telegram channels to get the other side of the information. As for RT and Sputnik, in their naive and clumsy efforts to appear “objective” they just reinforce the western propaganda narratives.
Pretend bloggers. Then there is an interesting phenomenon that became very apparent over the past 50 days: there are quite a few websites and blogs that PRETEND to be pro-Russian but, in reality, that support is conditional on Russia supporting their agenda and if Russians do things differently those putatively pro-Russian outlets quickly take up the exact same talking points as the US PSYOPs. There are also a number of PRETEND “liberal” or “Leftist” or “Anti-Imperialist” websites which were ALWAYS CIA-operated but which, over the years, acquired some (totally undeserved) credibility and which have now suddenly “flipped”. Pro-Nazi “liberals”, got to love that…
The result of all this? FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubts of course.
Even worse are the implications of this FUD on many levels:
A sense of Impunity. It gives the folks in the West a sense of impunity and it almost totally conceals the magnitude of the dangers the Empire of Hate and Lies is facing today: from real food shortages to an economic collapse, and even to a continental war in Europe. After all, if the Russians are losing, then “we” must be winning, so all is well. Not very bright, but oh so human…
Russian Frustration. It angers and frustrates the Russian soldiers actually doing the fighting who are living in fear not about a heroic Ukrainian counter-offensive, but what the Russian government (at all levels and in all branches) will screw up next. Want an example? Sure! How about this: until senior LDNR official began to openly complain about the Russian customs the latter did not allow non-governmental humanitarian convoys to cross into the Ukraine. This was solved, now the next one is this: how to organize pensions for the families of Russian volunteers who fight in the Ukraine?
Fight to the death. It greatly encourages the Ukrainians to fight this war down to the last Ukrainian and to total destruction of the Ukrainian civil infrastructure. Yes, the united West wants to genocide Russians by means of genociding Ukrainians. It cannot get any more openly satanic than that!
Having said all of the above, we now need to step back and only make some very basic predictions:
Evolution of war. What began as the “special military operation” is now turning into a total war of the united West against Russia and that means that the goal for the West is not peace, its victory, and a Russian defeat. My personal conclusion is that the West will only stop doubling down if the US homeland itself is threatened by Russian conventional and nuclear strategic deterrence capabilities.
The USA will not stop. The Russians are slowly but surely coming to the realization that in spite of all the concessions and retreats made by Russia since 2013 the Empire of Hate and Lies will not stop by itself, it will have to be stopped, by Russia. Again. As the VDV motto says “nobody but us”.
Cannon fodder. The Ukrainians have no agency, and neither do the Eurolemmings. In fact, the USA is using both the Ukronazis and their EU serfs as cannon fodder because their calculation is that if Russia wins, then the Eurolemmings will become not only terrified and even more subservient, but also that the EU will burn itself down removing a competitor. I remind you that the USA’s wealth is based on how much the USA profited from both WWI and WWII. So why not with WWIII as long as it remains within the confines of the European theater of operations? And that will be doubly true if Russia loses.
My first conclusion here is that a direct military conflict involving NATO and Russia is now likely.
That, by itself, is simply horrible, but here is a simple truth: if the Anglos, yet again, want to burn down the European continent there might not be anything Russia could do to prevent that. And forget about the suicidal Eurolemmings. Russia can win that war, and she will, but yet again at a huge cost.
And that is exactly what the Anglos want.
So is there a silver lining here or is it all doom and gloom?
In fact, there is: the reactions of the Russian public to the rather ambiguous and sometimes outright weird stuff members of the Russian government, at different levels, have been doing and saying. Like that terrible Medinski presser which totally freaked out most Russians. Or the rumor that Abramovich (!) is negotiating between Moscow and Kiev. Oh I know, that is just another rumor, but considering the DISMAL job of Russian information operations that rumor, and hundreds more, are making the public weary and angry.
And the general public itself, rather than any government officials, started to react to this kind of dangerous FUD by something we could think of as a grassroots counter-propaganda campaign. For example, while the letters Z and V have been banned in the Ukraine (and in Latvia, Moldova, Greece and even in some German states) they are literally all over the Runet and you could say that Z and V have now become part of the Russian alphabet and that they are now often used to replace the traditional Cyrillic Z (З) and V (В).
Yup, the letter Z is now serving a somewhat similar function to the Star of David in Nazi Germany.
Then there are the many iterations of the following slogans “our cause is just“, “the enemy will be defeated” and “we will go to the end!” which are also all over the Runet. Note that all of these slogans are strongly associated with WWII in the Russian mind.
And then there is this: the, shall we call them “poor communication skills”, of the Kremlin have resulted in a real shitstorm of angry protests and freakouts so the Kremlin had to tone it down by a lot. Yes, Putin PERSONALLY is very popular and trusted (over 80%), but not the government or, even less so, mid-level or local government officials. It would not take much (another major SNAFU for example) to trigger angry protests.
But if anybody is to be truly credited with reassuring the Russian public that no “negotiators” will backstab the Russian military, that honor should go to the “Biden” Administration which “convinced” Zelenski to stop any and all negotiations and to restate the Ukronazis most extreme demands (including the LDNR and Crimea). Now that truly made negotiations not only pointless but pretty much impossible.
Thank you “Biden”!
I also want to use this opportunity publicly express my deepest gratitude to Josip Borrell, the Eurolemming’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, for declaring “this war must be won on the battlefield“! When EU *diplomats* use that kind of language, it has a quasi-miraculous effect on the wannabe “peace camp” in Russia. Even RT (!) seems to have smelled the coffee and now we can find an article entitled “It appears that the West doesn’t want peace in Ukraine“. No kidding, geniuses!
As I have mentioned it in the past, I am personally very much in favor of negotiations and even talking to the enemy during a war, but that should be done very discreetly, very carefully and with the clear “message” to the general public if these negotiations, or leaks about them, are made public. If you cannot negotiate without freaking out your own people, then don’t try, you will do more for peace by shutting up and staying at home. If instead of using the insect-like Medinski (he reminds me of Blinken, same “I am a loser” look) Putin had sent Ramzan Kadyrov the perception about “negotiations” in Russia would probably be very different today.
So what is up next?
A major battle around the Donbass cauldron
NATO convoys moving into the Ukraine
The collapse of the “the Russians are losing” narrative replaced by
A Russian “atrocity” of some type
The western media will begin to “discover sins” amongst those they lionized until now (see image)
The full dimension of the economic crisis resulting from the collapse of the international economic system will become much more apparent, especially in the EU.
What about the Black Sea Fleet – can it operate without its flagship?
As I mentioned yesterday, I am not a navy person and neither do I know what plans the Russian General Staff had for the BSF. But I can say this: Slava-class guided missile cruisers were designed in the 70s as aircraft carrier destroyers. For this purpose, they were equipped with very powerful missiles, superb (by 1970s standards!) S-300F, OSA-MA SAMs, 6 AK-630 point air defenses, and a lot of (old) electronics. Since there are no aircraft carriers in the Black Sea, I suppose that the Moskva main role was as a command ship (its main canons don’t provide the range needed to support amphibious assault operations) and also as a relatively powerful mobile, floating, radar. The Moskva was hit by something about 50km south of Snake Island which means that she was also probably watching the movement of ships near/from Romania. Frankly, that is not a task for a guided-missile cruiser.
[Sidebar: as to what actually caused the explosion, my personal best guess is a Ukrainian mine detached by the recent storm and drifting southwards which the Russians failed to detect. That would explain the hull breach which later resulted in the Moskva taking in water and sinking while in tow. I still don’t buy the “Ukrainian 2 “Neptunes” version at all, if only because the Moskva had very solid air defenses while bad weather makes minesweeping very hard. But we will probably never find out for sure, unless the members of the crew reveal what really happened]
Considering that the Ukraine has NO navy at all, I don’t see how the loss of the Moskva would hamper or significantly complicate any BSF operations (navy folks, please correct me here if I missed something!).
The Moskva also had an important role in the eastern Mediterranean (Syria) and yes, there is probably where she will be missed the most. I hope that this loss will provide the impetus to massively accelerate the modernization of old Russian (well, Soviet, really) ships and the construction of new ones.
I would even be inclined to think that the deployment of hypersonic ASM has not only made aircraft carriers obsolete (at least against Russia) but, by the same logic, has made old Russian/Soviet “carrier hunter killers” obsolete by implication. Nowadays, even SMALL missile boats can fire Russian hypersonic missiles thousands of kilometers away, so why bother with really big ships in anti-carrier operations? Range? Okay. Firepower? Okay. Bigger and better sensors? Okay. But not in the Black Sea. And not with a minimally modernized 1970 era ship.
Conclusion:
There is no doubt that Russia fought superbly during the SMO and there is no doubt either that the Russians probably calculated that “just” a SMO would be sufficient to achieve the Russian goals (immediate: protect the LDNR, intermediate: denazify and disarm the Ukraine and long term: change the European and world collective security arrangements) was wrong.
Russia has decided…
It is now becoming almost certain that a real, much larger, war to crush the Ukrainian military will be needed, and it will have to be fought with much larger forces and means.
The West has decided…
The Empire of Hate and Lies has decided to “go max” and is acting exactly as it would be in preparations for a much larger war in Europe.
For example, with the steady stream of mass expulsions of Russian diplomats, there is a very real possibility that Russia and the US/NATO/EU will sever their diplomatic relationships, something traditionally considered as the last step before a declaration of war.
One of the best things the Kremlin could do now is to carefully study how the Iranians since 1979 (!) managed to successfully:
Never be drawn into a war they did not want (except the one launched by the West and the USSR following the Islamic Revolution which Iran won, by the way)
Deter the Anglo-Zionist from direct attacks on Iran
Survive both sanctions and even a blockade
Defeat US PSYOPs (remember Neda Agha-Soltan?)
Actively assist in the liberation of other countries around the world and, especially, the Middle-East
Superbly combine political pragmatism with deep religious piety and idealism
Preserve their economy (albeit with major difficulties, but not collapse!)
Preserve their Islamic societal and civilizational model
Remain truly sovereign
Maintain a rock-solid morale throughout it all
If Iran could do that, why can’t we? I have an answer to this question, but I won’t offer it until the end of combat operations.
As I have also mentioned many times, Russia is a project, a ‘moving target’, a society that is recovering from at least 300 years of foreign domination (especially spiritual and political) and a society that is STILL changing, very fast in many aspects.
Yes, Russia has a superb military and immense resources. But that is not enough.
Some say that the next “New Russia” was “born in the LDNR”, and I hope that they are right, not in the sense that Russia needs to copy all the decisions (often bad ones too!) of the LDNR, but Russia does need to purge herself from those in positions of power who are just stuck in the past or unable to adapt to new realities.
Can Russia denazify the planet? By herself, no. At most she can militarily destroy all of Zone A, but only in a mutual suicide act of desperation (the US nuclear triad is still mostly functional, in spite of its problems). But can Russia and the rest of Zone B denazify the planet? Absolutely. Even “just” Russia and China together are more powerful than the rest of the planet combined, add India to this and you have a truly unstoppable force.
The Empire is already dead, but like a stinking unburied corpse, it still has enough “toxicity momentum” to continue to threaten the planet until the USA is both denazified and disarmed. That will take a lot of time, even with the recent massive acceleration of the pace of events.
So no quick fix, no quick solution, no quick victory (or defeat for that matter). This is not want Russia wanted, but that is what she got.
May she make the most of it to transform herself into the civilizational realm she was for centuries. That could be the biggest homage to those fighting for the future of Russia today.
Andrei
PS: I want to remind you all one more time that if the USA and Russia openly and directly clash militarily, I will immediately “freeze” the blog until the situation is resolved in one way or another. I am a guest, a legal alien (“Green Card”), in the USA and it is not my role to speak if my country of current residence and my country of ethnic origin are at war with each other.
UPDATE1: I should have mentioned that there have been large demonstrations in Serbia in support of Russia. So far, Serbia is the only country with a strong pro-Russian part of the population. No, not all, of course but MUCH more than in any other country, at least that I am aware of. I want to thank all our Serbian brothers and sisters for standing by us!
UPDATE2: Russian sources are reporting that the nonsense at the border has resumed again, and folks are waiting for hours and even days to get across the border. If true, this sounds like outright sabotage to me.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that Russian forces now control “all of Mariupol” after the surrender of 1,464 Ukraine troops.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, told CNN the city was “no more,” leaving Russians with nothing left to seize.
“The enemy may seize the land Mariupol used to stand on, but the city of Mariupol has been wiped off the face of the earth by the Russian Federation.
NATO WEAPONS DELIVERY SHOT DOWN
There is now also word filtering out that Russian air defenses have SHOT DOWN a cargo plane carrying a shipment of NATO Weapons for Ukraine, but this is dicey . . .
Russia claims it downed a Ukrainian transport plane carrying weapons “in the Odessa region.”
There are no Ukrainian transport planes flying there, but there were some flying from Turkey to Poland.
At this point, the flag of the plane is believed to Be Ukrainian, but that is *NOT* confirmed. (Could be a NATO Plane)
Some Sources, primarily Russian, claiming that the Aircraft shot down was a NATO Military Aircraft carrying Weapons to Ukrainian Forces in Odesa, but again this is extremely unlikely. However, if found to be true, oh boy . . .
Hal Turner Editorial Remarks
Flying from Turkey (Drones) to Poland (the central distribution point of NATO weapons) ultimately entering Ukraine?
If this is one of the planes shot down, then in one fell swoop, Russia has put Ukraine, Turkey, and Poland, on notice that NATO weapons shipments are not safe anywhere.
Bold move by Russia.
Still have to get all the facts and, of course, see how this plays out.
HAPPENING NOW: Avostal Steel Plant in Ukraine Being Mercilessly Bombed
ASOVSTAL Steel Mill now under heavy bombardment and burning.
The Ultimatum for Ukraine troops to put down their weapons and surrender by 9:00 GMT has long expired. The militant AZOV Brigade Nazis had a chance to leave and survive; they chose not to.
About one hour ago, the Russian Army ordered all units to attack the plant. It is being mercilessly bombed right now and is on fire.
ASOVSTAL Steel Mill now under heavy bombardment and burning.
UPDATE 3:16 PM EDT —
Ministry of Defense of Russia: Basements with militants at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol will NOT be stormed.
Instead, Supersonic bombers, Tu-22M3 Backfire-C, will bomb the plant with high explosive demolition bombs FAB-3000. Then the Russian forces will be use Heavy Flamethrower System TOS-1A Solntsepyok to toast the remaining survivors.
TOS-1 is a Soviet 220 mm 30-barrel or 24-barrel multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads, mounted on a T-72 tank chassis. TOS-1 was designed to attack enemy fortified positions and lightly armoured vehicles and transports, in open terrain in particular.
The world’s new monetary system, underpinned by a digital currency, will be backed by a basket of new foreign currencies and natural resources. And it will liberate the Global South from both western debt and IMF-induced austerity.
By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and cross-posted at The Cradle.
Sergey Glazyev is a man living right in the eye of our current geopolitical and geo-economic hurricane. One of the most influential economists in the world, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a former adviser to the Kremlin from 2012 to 2019, for the past three years he has helmed Moscow’s uber strategic portfolio as Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).
In another of his recent essays, Glazyev comments on how “I grew up in Zaporozhye, near which heavy fighting is now taking place in order to destroy the Ukrainian Nazis, who never existed in my small Motherland. I studied at a Ukrainian school and I know Ukrainian literature and language well, which from a scientific point of view is a dialect of Russian. I did not notice anything Russophobic in Ukrainian culture. In the 17 years of my life in Zaporozhye, I have never met a single Banderist.”
Glazyev was gracious to take some time from his packed schedule to provide detailed answers to a first series of questions in what we expect to become a running conversation, especially focused to the Global South. This is his first interview with a foreign publication since the start of Operation Z. Many thanks to Alexey Subottin for the Russian-English translation.
The Cradle: You are at the forefront of a game-changing geo-economic development: the design of a new monetary/financial system via an association between the EAEU and China, bypassing the US dollar, with a draft soon to be concluded. Could you possibly advance some of the features of this system – which is certainly not a Bretton Woods III – but seems to be a clear alternative to the Washington consensus and very close to the necessities of the Global South?
Glazyev: In a bout of Russophobic hysteria, the ruling elite of the United States played its last “trump ace” in the hybrid war against Russia. Having “frozen” Russian foreign exchange reserves in custody accounts of western central banks, financial regulators of the US, EU, and the UK undermined the status of the dollar, euro, and pound as global reserve currencies. This step sharply accelerated the ongoing dismantling of the dollar-based economic world order.
Over a decade ago, my colleagues at the Astana Economic Forum and I proposed to transition to a new global economic system based on a new synthetic trading currency based on an index of currencies of participating countries. Later, we proposed to expand the underlying currency basket by adding around twenty exchange-traded commodities. A monetary unit based on such an expanded basket was mathematically modeled and demonstrated a high degree of resilience and stability.
At around the same time, we proposed to create a wide international coalition of resistance in the hybrid war for global dominance that the financial and power elite of the US unleashed on the countries that remained outside of its control. My book The Last World War: the USA to Move and Lose, published in 2016, scientifically explained the nature of this coming war and argued for its inevitability – a conclusion based on objective laws of long-term economic development. Based on the same objective laws, the book argued the inevitability of the defeat of the old dominant power.
Currently, the US is fighting to maintain its dominance, but just as Britain previously, which provoked two world wars but was unable to keep its empire and its central position in the world due to the obsolescence of its colonial economic system, it is destined to fail. The British colonial economic system based on slave labor was overtaken by structurally more efficient economic systems of the US and the USSR. Both the US and the USSR were more efficient at managing human capital in vertically integrated systems, which split the world into their zones of influence. A transition to a new world economic order started after the disintegration of the USSR. This transition is now reaching its conclusion with the imminent disintegration of the dollar-based global economic system, which provided the foundation of the United States global dominance.
The new convergent economic system that emerged in the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and India is the next inevitable stage of development, combining the benefits of both centralized strategic planning and market economy, and of both state control of the monetary and physical infrastructure and entrepreneurship. The new economic system united various strata of their societies around the goal of increasing common wellbeing in a way that is substantially stronger than the Anglo-Saxon and European alternatives. This is the main reason why Washington will not be able to win the global hybrid war that it started. This is also the main reason why the current dollar-centric global financial system will be superseded by a new one, based on a consensus of the countries who join the new world economic order.
In the first phase of the transition, these countries fall back on using their national currencies and clearing mechanisms, backed by bilateral currency swaps. At this point, price formation is still mostly driven by prices at various exchanges, denominated in dollars. This phase is almost over: after Russia’s reserves in dollars, euro, pound, and yen were “frozen,” it is unlikely that any sovereign country will continue accumulating reserves in these currencies. Their immediate replacement is national currencies and gold.
The second stage of the transition will involve new pricing mechanisms that do not reference the dollar. Price formation in national currencies involves substantial overheads, however, it will still be more attractive than pricing in ‘un-anchored’ and treacherous currencies like dollars, pounds, euro, and yen. The only remaining global currency candidate – the yuan – won’t be taking their place due to its inconvertibility and the restricted external access to the Chinese capital markets. The use of gold as the price reference is constrained by the inconvenience of its use for payments.
The third and the final stage on the new economic order transition will involve a creation of a new digital payment currency founded through an international agreement based on principles of transparency, fairness, goodwill, and efficiency. I expect that the model of such a monetary unit that we developed will play its role at this stage. A currency like this can be issued by a pool of currency reserves of BRICS countries, which all interested countries will be able to join. The weight of each currency in the basket could be proportional to the GDP of each country (based on purchasing power parity, for example), its share in international trade, as well as the population and territory size of participating countries.
In addition, the basket could contain an index of prices of main exchange-traded commodities: gold and other precious metals, key industrial metals, hydrocarbons, grains, sugar, as well as water and other natural resources. To provide backing and to make the currency more resilient, relevant international resource reserves can be created in due course. This new currency would be used exclusively for cross-border payments and issued to the participating countries based on a pre-defined formula. Participating countries would instead use their national currencies for credit creation, in order to finance national investments and industry, as well as for sovereign wealth reserves. Capital account cross-border flows would remain governed by national currency regulations.
The Cradle:Michael Hudson specifically asks that if this new system enables nations in the Global South to suspend dollarized debt and is based on the ability to pay (in foreign exchange), can these loans be tied to either raw materials or, for China, tangible equity ownership in the capital infrastructure financed by foreign non-dollar credit?
Glazyev: Transition to the new world economic order will likely be accompanied by systematic refusal to honor obligations in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. In this respect, it will be no different from the example set by the countries issuing these currencies who thought it appropriate to steal foreign exchange reserves of Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Russia to the tune of trillions of dollars. Since the US, Britain, EU, and Japan refused to honor their obligations and confiscated the wealth of other nations which was held in their currencies, why should other countries be obliged to pay them back and to service their loans?
In any case, participation in the new economic system will not be constrained by the obligations in the old one. Countries of the Global South can be full participants of the new system regardless of their accumulated debts in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. Even if they were to default on their obligations in those currencies, this would have no bearing on their credit rating in the new financial system. Nationalization of extraction industry, likewise, would not cause a disruption. Further, should these countries reserve a portion of their natural resources for the backing of the new economic system, their respective weight in the currency basket of the new monetary unit would increase accordingly, providing that nation with larger currency reserves and credit capacity. In addition, bilateral swap lines with trading partner countries would provide them with adequate financing for co-investments and trade financing.
The Cradle:In one of your latest essays, The Economics of the Russian Victory, you call for “an accelerated formation of a new technological paradigm and the formation of institutions of a new world economic order.” Among the recommendations, you specifically propose the creation of “a payment and settlement system in the national currencies of the EAEU member states” and the development and implementation of “an independent system of international settlements in the EAEU, SCO and BRICS, which could eliminate critical dependence of the US-controlled SWIFT system.” Is it possible to foresee a concerted joint drive by the EAEU and China to “sell” the new system to SCO members, other BRICS members, ASEAN members and nations in West Asia, Africa and Latin America? And will that result in a bipolar geo-economy – the West versus The Rest?
Glazyev: Indeed, this is the direction where we are headed. Disappointingly, monetary authorities of Russia are still a part of the Washington paradigm and play by the rules of the dollar-based system, even after Russian foreign exchange reserves were captured by the west. On the other hand, the recent sanctions prompted extensive soul searching among the rest of the non-dollar-block countries. western ‘agents of influence’ still control central banks of most countries, forcing them to apply suicidal policies prescribed by the IMF. However, such policies at this point are so obviously contrary to the national interests of these non-western countries that their authorities are growing justifiably concerned about financial security.
You correctly highlight potentially central roles of China and Russia in the genesis of the new world economic order. Unfortunately, current leadership of the CBR (Central Bank of Russia) remains trapped inside the intellectual cul-de-sac of the Washington paradigm and is unable to become a founding partner in the creation of a new global economic and financial framework. At the same time, the CBR already had to face the reality and create a national system for interbank messaging which is not dependent on SWIFT, and opened it up for foreign banks as well. Cross-currency swap lines have been already set up with key participating nations. Most transactions between member states of the EAEU are already denominated in national currencies and the share of their currencies in internal trade is growing at a rapid pace.
A similar transition is taking place in trade with China, Iran, and Turkey. India indicated that it is ready to switch to payments in national currencies as well. A lot of effort is put in developing clearing mechanisms for national currency payments. In parallel, there is an ongoing effort to develop a digital non-banking payment system, which would be linked to gold and other exchange-traded commodities – the ‘stablecoins.’
Recent US and European sanctions imposed on the banking channels have caused a rapid increase in these efforts. The group of countries working on the new financial system only needs to announce the completion of the framework and readiness of the new trade currency and the process of formation of the new world financial order will accelerate further from there. The best way to bring it about would be to announce it at the SCO or BRICS regular meetings. We are working on that.
The Cradle: This has been an absolutely key issue in discussions by independent analysts across the west. Was the Russian Central Bank advising Russian gold producers to sell their gold in the London market to get a higher price than the Russian government or Central Bank would pay? Was there no anticipation whatsoever that the coming alternative to the US dollar will have to be based largely on gold? How would you characterize what happened? How much practical damage has this inflicted on the Russian economy short-term and mid-term?
Glazyev: The monetary policy of the CBR, implemented in line with the IMF recommendations, has been devastating for the Russian economy. Combined disasters of the “freezing” of circa $400 billion of foreign exchange reserves and over a trillion dollars siphoned from the economy by oligarchs into western offshore destinations, came with the backdrop of equally disastrous policies of the CBR, which included excessively high real rates combined with a managed float of the exchange rate. We estimate this caused under-investment of circa 20 trillion rubles and under-production of circa 50 trillion rubles in goods.
Following Washington’s recommendations, the CBR stopped buying gold over the last two years, effectively forcing domestic gold miners to export full volumes of production, which added up to 500 tons of gold. These days the mistake and the harm it caused are very much obvious. Presently, the CBR resumed gold purchases, and, hopefully, will continue with sound policies in the interest of the national economy instead of ‘targeting inflation’ for the benefit of international speculators, as had been the case during the last decade.
The Cradle: The Fed as well as the ECB were not consulted on the freeze of Russian foreign reserves. Word in New York and Frankfurt is that they would have opposed it were they to have been asked. Did you personally expect the freeze? And did the Russian leadership expect it?
Glazyev: My book, The Last World War, that I already mentioned, which was published as far back as 2015, argued that the likelihood of this happening eventually is very high. In this hybrid war, economic warfare and informational/cognitive warfare are key theaters of conflict. On both of these fronts, the US and NATO countries have overwhelming superiority and I did not have any doubt that they would take full advantage of this in due course.
I have been arguing for a long time for the replacement of dollars, euro, pounds, and yen in our foreign exchange reserves with gold, which is produced in abundance in Russia. Unfortunately, western agents of influence which occupy key roles at central banks of most countries, as well as rating agencies and key publications, were successful in silencing my ideas. To give you an example, I have no doubt that high-ranking officials at the Fed and the ECB were involved in developing anti-Russian financial sanctions. These sanctions have been consistently escalating and are being implemented almost instantly, despite the well-known difficulties with bureaucratic decision making in the EU.
The Cradle: Elvira Nabiullina has been reconfirmed as the head of the Russian Central Bank. What would you do differently, compared to her previous actions? What is the main guiding principle involved in your different approaches?
Glazyev: The difference between our approaches is very simple. Her policies are an orthodox implementation of IMF recommendations and dogmas of the Washington paradigm, while my recommendations are based on the scientific method and empirical evidence accumulated over the last hundred years in leading countries.
The Cradle: The Russia-China strategic partnership seems to be increasingly ironclad – as Presidents Putin and Xi themselves constantly reaffirm. But there are rumbles against it not only in the west but also in some Russian policy circles. In this extremely delicate historical juncture, how reliable is China as an all-season ally to Russia?
Glazyev: The foundation of Russian-Chinese strategic partnership is common sense, common interests, and the experience of cooperation over hundreds of years. The US ruling elite started a global hybrid war aimed at defending its hegemonic position in the world, targeting China as the key economic competitor and Russia as the key counter-balancing force. Initially, the US geopolitical efforts were aiming to create a conflict between Russia and China. Agents of western influence were amplifying xenophobic ideas in our media and blocking any attempts to transition to payments in national currencies. On the Chinese side, agents of western influence were pushing the government to fall in line with the demands of the US interests.
However, sovereign interests of Russia and China logically led to their growing strategic partnership and cooperation, in order to address common threats emanating from Washington. The US tariff war with China and financial sanctions war with Russia validated these concerns and demonstrated the clear and present danger our two countries are facing. Common interests of survival and resistance are uniting China and Russia, and our two countries are largely symbiotic economically. They complement and increase competitive advantages of each other. These common interests will persist over the long run.
The Chinese government and the Chinese people remember very well the role of the Soviet Union in the liberation of their country from the Japanese occupation and in the post-war industrialization of China. Our two countries have a strong historical foundation for strategic partnership and we are destined to cooperate closely in our common interests. I hope that the strategic partnership of Russia and the PRC, which is enhanced by the coupling of the One Belt One Road with the Eurasian Economic Union, will become the foundation of President Vladimir Putin’s project of the Greater Eurasian Partnership and the nucleus of the new world economic order.
On the heels of rail carriers canceling grain shipments, CF Industries warns that FERTILIZER rail shipments are now being halted during spring planting
According to an April 14th announcement from CF Industries, American railroad; Union Pacific is halting the delivery of fertilizer shipments right in the middle of peak planting season for farmers. CF Industries warns that,
“railroad-mandated shipping reductions [will] result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring application season and that it [will] be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the foreseeable future.”
This means that Union Pacific is essentially dropping fertilizer shipments and grain shipments all across America. Put another way, America’s food infrastructure is being deliberately shut down.
“CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, today informed customers it serves by Union Pacific rail lines that railroad-mandated shipping reductions would result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring application season and that it would be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the foreseeable future. The Company understands that it is one of only 30 companies to face these restrictions. ...”
It continues…
“CF Industries ships to customers via Union Pacific rail lines primarily from its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana and its Port Neal Complex in Iowa.
The rail lines serve key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California.
Products that will be affected include nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an emissions control product required for diesel trucks.
CF Industries is the largest producer of urea, UAN and DEF in North America, and its Donaldsonville Complex is the largest single production facility for the products in North America.”
DEF Does not “Go Bad.”
According to manufacturers, Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) doesn’t degrade nearly as quickly as people assume. For example, at 86°F, DEF has a shelf life of a year.
REMEMBER: Do not equate shelf life to spoiling like food, as DEF will not go bad. It will lose some effectiveness, and the SCR will dose at a higher rate, but it won’t “go bad.”
If maintained at a constant temperature, DEF manages to stay for several months. For example, at 74°F in Los Angeles, Diesel Exhaust Fluid has the shelf life of 44 months.
American “Vaccines KILLING People of Color” at TWICE THE RATE of Whites
Biden Administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has admitted during a Conference that “Vaccines are killing people of color, Blacks, Latinos, and Indigenous people, at about twice the rate of white Americans.”
The video, from the White House Convening on Equity, appears below
Yet to this very minute, they are still running commercials on TV and radio, telling people the vaccines are “safe and effective.”
Are you a Ready Rufus?
When “shit goes down”, will you be ready to handle things? video 3MB
French Onion Dip
This is easy to make. It tastes great! And man oh, man does it go great with Wise® potato chips.
OIP C.IUdXxFzrzT9mXbIBuWCi9wHaLH
Ingredients
2022 04 19 18 43
Procedure
In a large saute pan over low heat, add oil and butter. When butter is melted, add onions and saute stirring occasionally until golden brown and caramelized, about 35 minutes. Add shallots and some salt and saute for 15 minutes more until onions and shallots are dark brown. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 to 6 minutes, then chop into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, celery salt, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Fold in onion mixture. Chill at least 1 hour or overnight, prior to serving.
Cook’s Note
Dip can be pureed until creamy. If too thick, add milk to get desired consistency.
The world rotated one more time since the last report on China.
So, what do we know?
China is rock-solid behind Russia in all of Russia’s objectives, and in some instances, up ahead.
It almost seems as if an agreement was, if not stated, then understood. Russia will do the shootin’ for now, and China will keep the economic boat afloat. We see consistent commenting such as China is a consistent stabilizing force in a changing world
Overall NATO is feeling the pressure and ‘resetting’ and trying to clone itself as Aukus in the east while trying to strengthen itself in the west. We have Stoltenberg announcing: “What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a more longer-term adaptation of NATO.”. In this speech, he announced that plans are being worked up to transform NATO into a major force capable of taking on an invading army and states that NATO deepens partnerships in Asia in response to a rising “security challenge” from China.
Yet, in the east, the Quad is one less, given India’s refusal to follow the U.S. regarding Russia.
Japan has been asked to join Aukus as a Japan, US, Australia, UK alliance intending to project a strong regional balance of power against China, Russia (and maybe India then?) in Asia. This Aukus will then have synergy,, they say, with Japanese technologies in areas such as hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare. Somehow I don’t see Japan as a suitable switch out for India, but then again, we’re dealing with desperate last gyrations of a world hegemon here, trying to project that it still has many friends.
A quick look at India. These days, if you see a country being threatened, you know already that they have started decoupling from so-called western democracy and Blinken has just threatened India yet again. He says the US is “monitoring rise in rights abuses in India” So, suddenly the US cares about human rights abuses in India. This bellicose rhetoric is not effective and way beyond its sell-by date.
It is clear that Russia is decoupling from Europe, and this started before sanctions. But did you know that China is decoupling from Britain, Canada, and the US? This is a brand-new trend. China’s top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd. is preparing to exit its operations in Britain, Canada, and the United States, because of concerns in Beijing that assets could become subject to Western sanctions. As it seeks to leave the West, CNOOC is looking to acquire new assets in Latin America and Africa, and also wants to prioritize the development of large, new prospects in Brazil, Guyana, and Uganda.
Apparently trying to deal with those three countries has become painful and CNOOC is seeking to sell “marginal and hard to manage” assets. Quoted are red tape and high operating costs in the western climes.
In the Asia region, we also saw the ease with which Imran Khan was relieved of his post as Prime Minister. I don’t believe this is the end of this story, because the citizens of Pakistan are truly unhappy. https://www.rt.com/news/553734-us-involved-imran-khan-departure/
So if you were thinking that while the Ukraine war is hot, the Pacific is cool, that would be a mis judgement.
The new cry going out is if we’ve censored all the Russian voices, how can we allow the Chinese voices to carry water for Russia. We have to cancel them too! (These people deserve to go and live underground in bunkers!)
Taiwan keeps the war propaganda at a fever pitch by releasing a China Invasion Survival Guide.
Taiwan’s All-out Defense Mobilization unit has released a guide for citizens in the event of a war with Beijing, complete with comic strips and tips for survival, locating bomb shelters, and preparing food and first aid provisions. The guide has been planned for some time, and comes as local officials look to extend military service beyond the current 4 months. https://t.me/rtnews/23455
Nancy Pelosi was planning to visit Taiwan. China made its displeasure known widely and loudly. And Pelosi immediately contracted Covid and had to suspend her trip.
From the Australian side, the propaganda is flowing strong. Here is a very fine video with Brian Berletic and Robbie Barwick, explaining exactly what happened with the contretemps in the Solomon Islands, as well as the overall trajectory and the speed thereof, of Australia’s belligerence against China. This video contains some interesting statements and supporting data. Seemingly, if Australia interacts with Island Nations like the Solomon’s the idea is to build infrastructure suitable for war, so, building a port must be suitable for US aircraft carriers, and building a road must be suitable for landing US airplanes. If China interacts with these very same Island Nations, the idea is to build infrastructure that can benefit their population and this is now clear among all.
I’ve come to enjoy China’s spokespeople. They are sharp and do not miss a trick. Acerbic and incisive commentary is the order of the day. This is a good example, and please note the tone of the Western journos .. If you have never spent time on one of these, it is an education. The western journos try and beat the spox to death with repeated questions loaded with innuendo. https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202204/t20220411_10666750.html
It is quite clear that China is not leaving the issue of Biolabs behind. They have just about daily coverage in various media about it.
SEOUL, April 12 (Xinhua) — U.S. military biological facilities in South Korea are serious threats to local residents’ safety, said a South Korean expert, as the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) continues with a scandalous program involving experiments with living toxic samples. #GLOBALink
China will never forget epithets like “China Virus” and “Wuhan Flu”. Take a good look at this image titled Poison Disseminator.
word image 13
China had to evacuate +- 2,000 Chinese citizens from the Ukraine. From media, it was a successful evacuation. They have also repeatedly made their stance clear on the Ukraine.
The main focus is humanitarian. China released a five-point position statement supported by a six-point humanitarian plan
The position statement is:
First, we persevere in promoting peace talks in the right direction. We hold that dialogue and negotiation are the only way out, oppose adding fuel to the fire and intensifying confrontation, call for achieving a ceasefire and ending the conflict, and support Russia and Ukraine in carrying out direct dialogue.Second, we persevere in upholding the basic norms governing international relations. We advocate respect for the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and oppose putting small and medium-sized countries on the front line of geopolitical games.Third, we persevere in preventing the resurgence of the Cold War mentality. We do not agree with the “friend-or-foe” camp confrontation, firmly promote international solidarity, advocate the vision of common, cooperative, comprehensive and sustainable security, and respect and accommodate the legitimate and reasonable concerns of all parties.Fourth, we persevere in upholding the legitimate rights and interests of all countries. We oppose unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and call for safeguarding the international industrial and supply chains to avoid harming normal economic and trade exchanges and people’s lives.Fifth, we persevere in consolidating peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. We firmly uphold the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness in our neighborhood diplomacy, guard against the introduction of bloc confrontation into the region by the United States through the “Indo-Pacific strategy”, accelerate the promotion of regional integration and cooperation, and guard the hard-won development momentum in the region.
Wang Ji describes the six-point humanitarian plan:
While China is doing its best to create a level playing field and do real humanitarian work, they are not hiding the fact that they hold the US/NATO fully responsible for what they see as an action that was forced onto Russia.
Inside China, it is all about economic miracles. Taking a huge bow now in their theater of urgent needs is seeds: Chinese Seeds, Chinese developed, and Chinese local seeds. The seed companies of the west are unwelcome with the IP registration of their seeds and China will hold its ownership over its seeds.
The Shanghai lockdown provided endless China-bashing opportunities for western commentators. Tucker Carlson jumped on this horse and did his part for the anti-China campaign with a litany of complaints, a bunch of pixellated videos that are propaganda material, never having spoken to anyone actually living in Shanghai, without an idea of China’s principled management of Covid and without understanding the levels of the lockdown – complete political projection of US so-called values. As we have seen so many times from the USA’ians, trying to fight his political battles on the back of the Chinese (or anyone else, for that matter). He also perceivably has no idea that the Chinese lockdown supports the people with food and medicines, and it is not like the west. So, he looks at this with western eyes and truly, he has no clue. It is exactly the same that the world complains about .. it is: “We are right and exceptional and we know better.” Because China makes its own rules, Carlson calls it wrong. He is totally committed to the idea of US manifest destiny and his way is the right way. Carlson is anti a war with Russia for political purposes but show him China as a possible war partner, and he blooms with bloodlust.
It is truly better to listen to those that are actually living there and can actually speak the language. It is so that people believe the MSM when that very same MSM says something that they like and rail against that very same MSM when they say something that they don’t like.
David Fishman tweets: So it’s CRAZY that we have to do this, it’s also incredibly fascinating from a supply chain/logistics/economics perspective. We are in the process of re-inventing the food distribution network in Shanghai. It’s all based on the newly prevalent concept of Group-Buying.
If you really want to know how people live through a 14 day lockdown, a 14 day lighter lockdown if no Covid presents itself, a closed and open-loop system, and then thereafter no lock down. I would recommend that you click on this tweet and read all the parts:
So it's CRAZY that we have to do this, it's also incredibly fascinating from a supply chain/logistics/economics perspective.We are in the process of re-inventing the food distribution network in Shanghai.It's all based on the newly prevalent concept of Group-Buying. Nerdy🧵— David Fishman (@pretentiouswhat) April 7, 2022
Let’s hear from someone who is actually right there:
And Jeff Brown weighed in as well. Special explanation to address the many concerns global citizens have about China’s “Zero-Covid” policy, with Shanghai now in the headlines.
And so there are to my knowledge hundreds of people reporting that they get their food delivered, they take part in group buying, they mostly get what they want but sometimes not and we see things like this:
Very touched by this. My wife failed for the nth time to buy milk via group buying during the Shanghai lockdown and was lamenting about it on WeChat.5 minutes later a neighbor put this on our doorstep, refusing anything in exchange.THAT is the China I know. pic.twitter.com/Z9rJDwOWyo— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) April 13, 2022
The lesson here is that if you want to know what is happening in China, listen to the people in China. Now, they are not brutally suppressed and silenced. Online media is bigger than ever. What is frowned upon and can get you into hot water, is if you are rude and rude to others. State your case, don’t be rude and you will be fine with social media communication. (Somewhat like the concept of Saving Face).
No, China is not killing 25 million people in Shanghai.
There are thousands of made-up and anti-China video clips breathlessly being passed around by the usual suspects. I saw one that purports that the Chinese are breaking down their 5G towers. It was a clip from the umbrella riots in Hong Kong where the rioters were breaking down public infrastructure.
Is everything perfect? Of course not. Are their people struggling? Of course. Was there food distribution problems initially? Of course. Is it easy? Of course not. Are most people content with the decision to do a phased lock-in of a city of 25 million people? Most of the ones that I’ve regularly followed are, if not content, they understand the reason and trust the Chinese Zero-Covid policy. Westerners need to start understanding that the Chinese people are part of their government and that they actually believe the government does what is best for the people and they have evidence and proof of this, because they are part of a very inclusive system.
Cyrus Janssen is a regular commentator on China. He does not like the Shanghai lockdown. This is his thread, and take a look at what the Chinese actually answered.
I'm very worried about Shanghai and the future of #China….what's happened in the past few weeks has changed the future of China. Some of you will agree with my analysis and some of you won't, but here is a thread 🧵 on the #COVID19 situation in #Shanghai:— Cyrus Janssen (@thecyrusjanssen) April 13, 2022
The conversation in China is different from the conversation in the west. Their current concern is future management of Covid. They have concerns that their Zero-Covid strategy needs to be adjusted. They are in the process of refining its strategy. They do not have concerns about their strategy, because they have the numbers.
The last report that I have is as of Saturday. The Shanghai port STILL operating smoothly, with berthing efficiency better than 2021. The average waiting time for ships in Port is under 24 hours, and all the production units at the port maintain normal 24-hour operations, except in extreme weather. In 2021, the Port moved 47 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), ranking first globally. Throughput of international containers exceeded 6 million TEUs for the first time.
Trade between Russia and China skyrocketed. Paul from the Sirius report states it as follows: “Western experts fail to grasp that the Global South is around 87% of the world’s population, is in its ascendancy and has a myriad of vertical growth markets now in play and is embracing the multipolar world. West meanwhile is in terminal decline.”
China and Russia trade in Q1 rose 28% to $38.2bn equivalent.
In 2021, trade turnover between Russia and China hit a record high of $146.88 billion, having surged 35.8%. In December, the Russian and Chinese presidents agreed on creating infrastructure to service trade operations between the two nations without third parties.
The ASEAN surpassed the EU to become China’s largest trading partner. China’s imports and exports with ASEAN jumped 8.4% yoy to 1.35tn yuan in Q1 accounting for 14.4% of the country’s foreign trade volume.
Beijing’s economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine remains normal.
Beijing has refused to join sanctions against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, saying cooperation between China and Russia “has no limits.” The two countries have been switching from the US dollar and the euro to local currencies in trade to avoid possible sanctions.
It’s all digital currency for the years ahead for China. Make a strong distinction in your mind between CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), Cryptocurrencies and China’s digital currency. They are not all the same.
Russia is increasing its holdings in Yuan. This is explained as underscoring the falling credibility of the US dollar, as the US has been weaponizing the dollar as a financial weapon instead of a trusted international payment currency. This via Xu Wenhong, a research fellow at the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, rolled out a digital end-to-end e-commerce logistics service that includes pickup, warehousing, supply chain, customs clearance, and last-mile delivery. You may think this is for China internally and it might well be so, but China has now something like 3,000 warehouses across the world, supporting the products that the belt and road transport, to get to the last-mile delivery.
Earlier I referred to the Quad as well as to the fact that China is doing its own selective decoupling. The Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which runs through Mongolia, is specifically aimed at reducing any Chinese dependence on Quad Members.
To conclude before we get to a lighter note, the west has no competitive edge any longer in trade, very little in war if we look at it as of today (they can still wipe us all out and turn us into glass), and have no honor left. They are not serious people and cannot be allowed to try and run our planet any longer, exclusively to their own benefit.
From Godfree’s newsletter about one of China’s minorities that I had actually never heard of. The Naxi, one of China’s 55 ethnic minorities, have long been popular with anthropologists, but its folk music is routinely overlooked. A new album hopes to change that. It might not be your style, but something different and away from war is always welcome.
Some nice girls showing off clevage in fine nice bikinis. video 4MB
Tender Pork Spare Ribs
Celebrity Chef used this braising method for baby back ribs, here is a variation of it for pork spare ribs.
Tender Pork Spare Ribs.
Thus, the seasonings are changed to fit the meat, and there is an increased cooking time. Almost all reports indicated great satisfaction with the ribs, and pershaps you all should give them a try as well.
They’re really tender and the meat is so flavorful that you don’t have to add BBQ sauce unless you want to.
2022 04 19 18 49
Rufus delivery guy
You are not your job. You are beyond that. Be the Rufus. Video 3MB
Ukraine Refugees in Ireland suffering strange new illness
Almost 30 Ukrainians at a Cork County refugee center in Ireland, many who arrived within the past 48 hours, are being treated for a mystery illness.
The individuals – all based at a facility in north Cork – complained of feeling unwell on Saturday with several saying their symptoms worsened overnight.
The symptoms ranged from headaches, nausea, dizziness and high temperatures to coughing.
A group of 47 Ukrainian refugees had arrived over the past 36 hours at an emergency rest center at Banteer in north Cork.
All are understood to have arrived in Ireland over recent days after travelling here from Ukraine and bordering countries.
As a precautionary measure, both local GPs and paramedics attended the Banteer facility.
Assessments are now underway by the medical teams in a bid to determine the precise nature and source of the mystery illness.
While full Covid-19 precautions are being taken, coronavirus is not believed to be the primary suspect.
Cork is currently in the grip of major bouts of ordinary flu and cold outbreaks.
Cold and flu medications sales across some parts of Cork have soared by over 80pc over recent weeks.
UKRAINE BIOLABS THE SOURCE?
The existence of Biolabs inside Ukraine, being run by the US Department of Defense, may be implicated in this.
The existence of these labs was exposed as Russia began demilitarizing and de-nazifying Ukraine. If any of the pathogens inside any of those labs were loosed, then the cause of these sick Ukrainians is a massive concern.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
It would not be unheard of that someone did something like this deliberately.
Ireland is a small island which is basically Bankrupt, where they want 80% of the population dead because Brussels took all the pensions, whose population are no longer bright enough or liberty-minded enough to question or challenge what restrictions are imposed upon them, as witnesses with the COVID fraud.
Ireland basically became a zone of locked-down mask zombies doing everything they were told, even though none of the masks or lockdowns had much effect upon the spread of COVID.
In fact, the population of Ireland is now so pathetic, that local councils ORDERED families to take in refugees . . . . into private homes . . . . and the Irish just do as they’re told. No fight-for-freedom seems to be left in them at all.
The fact that the population there is so malleable and compliant might make the island an interesting place for a bio-weapon test.
Some of the sociopaths running various governments might have decided to loose some strange new disease on an island, where people coming and going can be tightly controlled, to sit back and watch how a potential new bioweapon spreads and kills.
Drunk Vietnames girl
Getting a drunk chick home is always a hassle. But this is extra difficult being in rural Vietnam. Sheech! video 8MB
OPINION: America is now broken beyond repair. Only force of arms can stop its total destruction
You know America is now broken beyond repair because states are literally at war with each other.
Have you seen the busloads of illegal aliens being shipped out of Texas and into Washington, DC and into Delaware? Could you ever even IMAGINE states forcibly doing things like this to each other?
We also have States – like California – boycotting other states, like Florida and many others, over the laws enacted by citizens of those other states.
I mean step back for just a second to a quiet place and clear your thoughts. Then try to look from an outside, big picture perspective, and let it sink in for just a moment.
The very first thing that will flood over you is there’s no playbook for where this is going. Since when have we had two powerful states begin an actual physical counter attack.
That’s really something more then sending a message. It’s aggressive and provoking.
The union is fracturing and it’s largely passed-off-as (and accepted as) “politics.” It’s not politics; it’s Civil War.
Really take a sec to feel the gravity of states using physical means to effect change. That’s a big one.
There is an endless corrosive force causing the union to deteriorate at a grinding pace.
If we could stop everything and take inventory of the damage thus far, we’d see that it’s already too late. Its not going back together like it was say, in 2005, without force.
Meanwhile, the population is arguing among themselves over which politician they will allow to control their basic human rights. The ignorance and outright idiocy of the masses is frightening. They don’t even TALK about “liberty.”
American’s are all talking about the same things this Easter Holiday weekend:
The Fact that their children will never have any type of life close to what we had. No owned home, no beater winter car, no wife, or husband potentially, no decent paying wage job, a crappy diet.
Mom and Dad’s legacy won’t last. Any inheritance will get eaten up by inflation as well as their retirement fund.
The Southern border invasion – ongoing at the invitation of our public servants in Washington.
Covert war with Russia happening right now in Ukraine, and looming direct, open war with China looming.
Empty retail everywhere.
Heartless greedy people abound.
Even the church we attend could care less about the situation with housing. Which is really weird as Easter Sunday is here.
The Nation is Divided more than it ever has been.
I’ve never seen it so hopeless. I have hope but it’s shaken to the core.
Most people do not understand the ramifications of what’s occurring. They also do not realize that past predicts future. They will likely willfully resist understanding even as the effects of this roll over them.
The GLUE (Christianity) that held America together, has been dissolved. (When the United States was created, America was almost 100% Christian, and TAKEN SERIOUSLY)
As America falls headlong into DEPRAVITY and MORAL COLLAPSE, we can recall a WARNING:
"...we have no government armed with powercapable of contending with human passionsunbridled by morality and religion.Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry,would break the strongest cords of ourConstitution as a whale goes through a net.Our Constitution was made ONLYFOR A MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PEOPLE.It is wholly inadequateto the government of any other."- John Adams, founder and second president
In 1979 was the first time I read the Bible cover to cover. All I can say is that I didn’t think it would take this long for all that Revelation stuff to start.
I think COVID Horseman One of the Apocalypse.
I think Horseman Two is the red horse, war. We are here.
It does not get better and the US will not be rescued.
We are heading into the ultimate SHTF scenario. The Bible says it will be the worst time that anyone has ever seen on this planet and that if He did not return, all flesh on this planet would be lost.
Does that mean that all flesh will have turned into machine? Is that what the mark of the beast warning is about, that we cannot be saved if we take the mark? Is it because of transhumanism? You bet it is.
Now is the time to get as off grid, down low, and out of sight as possible. Hide your stored food. Don’t talk about it with neighbors unless they are prepping too and are working with you.
War is coming to US soil. Some will survive, but your guns will not save you. Only Jesus can save you, and the Holy Spirit will direct your path to hide you, so it’s time to get real about what is actually coming.
Of course, this is going to occur on God’s schedule, not mine or yours. He may have more than a few twists and turns planned, even if only to allow more to be saved from what’s coming.
He’s been quite merciful in granting time for people to repent, given the perfidy and abominations currently extant in the world, and getting worse daily.
It might be a longer race than you or I anticipate, so be sure to pace yourself – you don’t want to burn out before the end arrives.
Someone recently told me “The plan is to break the United States into 4 new nations.” The northeast, southeast, Midwest, and west coast.
I thought about it and it seems to me that once you realize this, everything that happens makes sense.
The only way they can get global government is to break the United States apart.
China and Russia are on board and that’s why the typical Republican voter stands with Russia and the typical Democratic voter stands with China.
Both countries are flooding both sides with their own propaganda designed to further divide the country.
The WEF fans the flames on both sides knowing a break up allows them to better push their build back better.
Wall St. knows they will fail but they also know what the back up plan is, and it’s why they’re moving everything Florida.
All 4 parties have a vested interest in watching America be split apart so all 4 are working together even though their end goals are all not the same.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) will have massive influence over the northeastern region – including eastern Canada – as the UN will be the head of their global government. New York will be the capital and they will operate out of their region of old America.
The Russians will have a lot of influence over the Midwest and Southeast – there’s speculation Alberta, Saskatchewan, NW territory, the Yukon, and Alaska will join the Midwestern/Southeastern bloc stretching the new nations lands from western Alaska to Southeastern Florida.
Like Russia it will be sparsely populated but incredibly energy rich.
These regions are largely conservative and thus already set up to be friendly with Russia.
The Russians will ally with this nation and run roads over to Alaska and down into the midwest for trade.
The bankers will operate out of this region.
The west coast nation will likely encompass Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii and western Canada. This region will be largely controlled by the Chinese as these populations are already friendly towards China.
All 4 regions will be used in some fashion by all 4 groups but all 4 groups will position themselves to be friendly with at least 1 region. WEF for the Northeast, Bankers for the Southeast, Russians for the Midwest, China for the West coast.
Anyone hoping for a return of old America must move to the Midwest and Southeast now.
Although we will be weaker than we are today we still have a fighting chance in these regions when all this goes down.
When you really sit back in a quiet place this is what you realize… They’re gonna break the nation into 4 and practically everything they’re doing is in preparation for this; Unless Americans step up and start emitting some well placed bullets.
Think that’s harsh? Let me show you “harsh:”
$30 Trillion in debt is catastrophic. And that’s just the current book debt.
Unfunded liabilities in the next 20 years are over a $100 trillion.
The welfare state exceed $1.1 trillion for fiscal 2016. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported 66% of the welfare state were immigrants.
And what are they still bringing-in across the southern border? Yea. More immigrants. ILLEGAL ONES to boot!
Exactly what would you say should be done with the people doing these things? Exactly what, about their deliberate choices, can be fixed?
“Vote them out” you say? You fool. The election in November 2020 was outright stolen. There is no voting them out anymore. The whole election system is a fraud.
The courts refused to hear election cases; so the courts are a fraud as well.
The whole system has become a corrupt, immoral, out-of-control, tyrannical, joke.
There are no peaceful means to redress grievances anymore.
November 2020 and January 6, 2021 demonstrated to me that our Constitutional Republic is all but dead. I decided that January that it was time to give up hope for a nationally recognized leader to restore the Republic.
I just know that a legitimate movement needs a recognized leader, otherwise it’s just disorganized rabble that’s easily labeled and discredited as “terrorists” then picked off as lone wolves.
It is time for people to move to areas that contain concentrations of like minded people. If you’re a freedom loving constitutionalist that’s living in a blue city or State, it’s time to move, now. Even if you take a temporary financial loss, it will be worth it in the long run.
States are now conducting open aggressive acts toward each other and towards the federal government.
As a nation, we have crossed the Rubicon, there’s no going back to what America once was; what past generations hoped it would be. The corruption and treason runs too deep.
Don’t be like so many victims throughout history, the ones that clung to a misplaced sense of hope that things would get better or that things really won’t get “that bad.”
History books show those are the ones that wound up in front of firing squads, in gulags, or murdered in their homes.
Don’t view it as running, it is more about consolidation of power, strength in numbers, and having your family somewhere safe instead of behind enemy lines.
We in the USA have been heading the same direction as the former Soviet Union for quite some time now…..the journey is just picking up steam as the inevitable becomes obvious to more and more of us….there isn’t a damn thing “united” about The United States anymore….time to accept that simple fact.
The gig is up.
Going to college, having a job and a family, working hard to pay off a home for a chill retirement? Its all dead now.
So what’s the plan? Just live in daily fear and survive until the next shoe drops?
There are very few choices now. Food and basic survival will drown out all other issues. It’s the desperation I’m worried about. People do fucked-up shit when they are desperate.
Is there a limit to what you would do if your child was looking in your eyes and crying from hunger? No.
That’s when the gloves come off and shit gets real.
Hold on tight. There is more to the story.
If this country is ever demoralized,it will come from trying to live without work.- Abraham LincolnDemoralization of the target audienceis yet another step in successful mind control.- Joost MeerlooThey are contaminated; they are programmed to thinkand react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern.You cannot change their mind, even if you exposethem to authentic information, even if you prove thatwhite is white and black is black, you still cannotchange the basic perception and logic of behavior.In other words, these people... the process of de-moralization is complete and irreversible.- Yuri Bezmenov
The incoming collapse is going to hit so many unprepared.
Its not myself I worry for, its the rest of society and how to navigate their foolishness and impending downfall, for being shortsighted and distracted, while the government unraveled the economy over the past decade. Pretty much since QE began, which ultimately would doom us all in the long run. And here we are.
Until the Keynesian tribe rot is gone it WILL remain broken no matter what new bullshit they try.
If you want to know what the future of the country looks like, visit Detroit. This is what is eventually coming to the rest of the country. Burned out buildings, 50% unemployment, corrupt and criminal politicians, bribery, graft, gangs, drugs, casinos, prostitution, devastating environmental pollution. No place is it safe to walk in Detroit or you risk getting mugged, shot, or beaten even in broad daylight.
This malaise is now spreading to the suburbs. In Detroit, it started seeping into the surrounding towns, like Lincoln Park, Melvindale. But now it is going even further into suburbs further away.
I’ve always said that if you don’t have a thriving, safe city, then the disease will spread. The suburbs of these cities like Detroit are getting caught in the same downward spiral. If Detroit were prosperous and safe, it would cascade to the surrounding communities, like it did in the 1920s when it was one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Same with Chicago. Same here in New York.
There is no going back, no do-over, and no fixing this. Get ready.
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One of my favorite Chinese girls
She’s just so darn cute! Here she is exercising in her home with her little doggie. video 4MB
Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian air defense systems gifted by unidentified European country
Slovakia gave an S-300 system to Ukraine last week but says theirs wasn’t hit. Which system was hit is unknown.
NO Dumping : No more transfer of Western pollution to Asia tolerated :
Another big shipping line is refusing to export the West’s plastic waste.
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Workers short the trash at Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java province, Indonesia. Published April 15, 2022
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As of today (April 15), the world’s third largest shipping line, will no longer accept deliveries of scrap plastic on any of its ships. CMA CGM’s ban is a milestone in a global backlash against wealthy nations—especially the US—dumping plastic waste in China and Southeast Asia.
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China used to be the biggest destination for scrap plastic; in 1992, the country imported 72% of all plastic waste, which it would recycle and use in manufacturing. But as China’s economy has grown, so has its domestic plastic waste output. Now the country has plenty of its own plastic to recycle, without accepting imports from abroad….
The export tariff on ferrochrome — used in stainless steel — will rise to 40% from 20% starting Aug. 1, and the levy on high-purity pig iron will increase to 20% from 15%, the Ministry of Finance said. Export tax rebates will be removed from 23 items, including some cold-rolled coil products, it said.
US inflation and interest rates: why the Fed needs help from China
Since the inflationary pressure on the US is partly a consequence of supply chain dislocations, fast and hard rate hikes won’t be enough if Chinese production does not get back into top gear
Such considerations are why investors expecting the US dollar to strengthen against the yuan may be disappointed
We’re building the universal network of encyclopedias.
A lot of people have complained to us about how biased Wikipedia is, how there needs to be an effective alternative or a decentralized network of encyclopedias.But we are not building an alternative encyclopedia. We are networking together all the alternatives. Nobody has ever done this before, and it’s about time somebody did. This is what we should have done with Wikipedia in the first place.
Crowdsourcing has been replaced by a panel of experts because the Crowd turned out to be run by a few cynical manipulators and a lot of Useful Idiots nodding enthusiastically.
I thought that this would make great “food for thought” to those of you in the United States that are staring at really high prices for chicken eggs. THis is from “The Almanac” and all credit to them.
Why Should You Raise Chickens?
There’s a lot to like about raising chickens in your backyard. The eggs are a real temptation—tastier and fresher than any store-bought eggs, and better for baking, too. The shells, along with the chicken poop, can be tossed right into the compost pile. Much of the day, the birds entertain themselves, picking at grass, worms, beetles, and all of the good things that go into making those yummy farm eggs. Plus, with their keen eye for insect pests, chickens make for great gardening companions.
Remember, though: Nothing good comes easy!
DIY chicken coop.
Things to Consider Before Getting Chickens
First, check local town ordinances to ensure that keeping chickens is even allowed in your neighborhood or if there is a limit to the number of chickens you can keep at once. The last thing you want is to invest time and money into preparing for chickens and then find out that you can’t even keep them!
Make sure you have the space for a henhouse or a full-size chicken coop. It has to hold a feeder and water containers, a roosting area, and a nest box for every three hens. A proper coop should be large enough that you can stand in it to gather eggs and shovel manure comfortably, but a simple henhouse can be quite a bit smaller. Plus, any housing must be sturdy enough to keep your chickens safe from all the predators out there! Here’s how to build a chicken coop in your backyard.
Chickens need food (and water) daily. Feed is about $20 per 50-pound bag at my co-op, but prices vary depending on your location and the quality of the feed. How long a bag lasts depends on the number of chickens that you have.
Hens will lay eggs through spring and summer and into the fall, as long as they have 12 to 14 hours of daylight. Expect to collect eggs daily, or even twice a day.
All year ‘round, you’ll have to shovel manure. Yippee!
If you go away on vacation, you’ll need a reliable chicken-sitter—and they can be scarcer than hens’ teeth!
How to Raise Chickens: Flock Size, Spacing, and Start-Up Cost
How Many Chickens Should I Keep?
Chickens are sociable creatures, so plan to keep three to six birds. With this amount, you’ll always have a steady supply of eggs, since an adult hen lays about two eggs every three days, on average.
Chickens are most productive in the first two years of their lives; after that, egg production will slow, so you’ll need to think about replacing your flock with younger birds eventually. Young chicks can be bought from suppliers quite easily, or you can hatch your own if you have a rooster (which we do NOT recommend). Read more about raising baby chicks here!
How Much Space Do Chickens Need?
Ultimately, it depends on which breed of chicken you’re raising. According to the University of Missouri Extension, one medium-sized chicken needs at least 3 square feet of floor space inside the coop and 8-10 square feet outdoors. The more space, the happier and healthier the chickens will be; overcrowding contributes to disease and feather picking.
The birds will need a place to spread their wings, so to speak: a sizeable chicken run, for example, or a whole backyard. (Our hens have lots of outdoor time. They have places to take a dust bath and catch a few rays.) Either way, the space must be fenced in order to keep the chickens in and predators out. (Predators include your own Fido and Fluffy, too!) Add chicken-wire fencing to your list of equipment.
How Much Does Keeping Chickens Cost?
All of this costs money, of course. The materials to build and furnish a coop and a 20×5-foot run—including wood, fencing, and hardware—are going to set you back at least $300. If you can’t do this work yourself, you’ll also be buying skilled labor.
Overall, expect to spend between $500 and $700 when just getting started, depending on the size of your flock, coop, and run.
Gardening with Chickens
Most folks who keep chickens do so largely for the constant supply of fresh eggs, but did you know that keeping chickens can be also be beneficial for the garden?
When the gardening season has finished for the year, let the chickens into your gardening space and watch them go crazy! They’ll uproot the stems and stalks of weeds and gobble up any damaged or overripe vegetables that remain. They’ll eat any weed seeds or insects they find in the soil, and will peck apart and digest vegetable remnants, especially broccoli stems, carrot tops, chard, and kale. After that, they’ll scratch the ground and peck out hidden worms or insects, mixing up the soil in the process—all with endless enthusiasm and curiosity.
Chickens don’t only provide a constant supply of fresh eggs—they produce an endless amount of manure, too. Luckily, chicken poo can be composted, aged, and eventually added to the garden. In about 6 months’ time, you will accumulate about 1 cubic foot of manure per chicken.
During your daily cleaning of the coop, collect and pile up the chicken poop and used bedding materials. The best decomposition occurs when the pile is 2 parts poop to 1 part bedding materials. Lawn clippings and fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps, as well as leaves, twigs, and shredded paper, can also be added into the mix. Soak the pile and, over the next year or so, wet and stir it regularly to add air. A temperature of 130°F to 150°F is recommended to eliminate bacteria.
More of Raising Chickens 101
Still interested in raising chickens? See more of our beginner’s guide below:
Be the person that makes a difference. Be the Rufus. You might fall flat on your face, but it doesn’t matter if you are successful or not. What matters is that you try. video 7MB
Conclusion
A little bit of minor planning right now can guarantee a nice supply of breakfast eggs that would go a long way to help reduce your daily food expenses. Don’t be like the rest. Provide services, have skills, and minor prep work now could really be advantageous in the future for you all.
Soft boiled eggs over toast.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
The destruction of Russia's Guided Missile Cruiser "Moskva" is prompting calls in Russia for the "special military operation" to be upgraded into a formal declaration of war with Ukraine.
Ah.
It’s a world in turmoil.
Don’t you know.
Ukraine. Taiwan.
Meanwhile… Big, big organized crime throughout the United States. (Excluding the organized crime syndicate known as the “US government”.)
While…
President Biden
A senile old man, with obvious dimentia is starting to wage war against China and Russia …
AND…
India…
WITH…
Iransimultaneously.
What. The. Fuck!
is this a nightmare senario, or what?
…
And inside of China, there’s the kiss of American Propaganda…
There’s an army of ‘bots, and expats demanding that China drop it’s testing and restrictions on coronavirus. They say;
"Stop testing China. It's a waste. You are taking away from people's FREEDOM™. Give it up."
It’s obviously a narrative that has origins from the United States government. The coordination is massive.
The coordination is massive.
And with this coordination comes understanding on the reasons and origin of the narrative…
2022 04 16 16 48
Keep in mind that China is not going to drop its restrictions while in the middle of a war. There is no way.
This is true. Whether or not it is made official by the United States media or not.
China considers this a DEFCON situation. It is a state of war. And that is all that is important.
2022 04 16 16 49
Both Russia and China have extensively documented the United States concerted bioweapon assault and carpet bombing exercises since 2014.
It is official.
It is loged as complains at the United Nations, and it is codified in the joint agreement of super-dooper-friendship between Russia and China made 4FEB22.
So please realize the severity of the situation.
And PLEASE stop comparing China to the piss-poor failure of the United States controlling the light and trivial version(s) of Coronavirus. They are not the same. China is conducting full-spectrum testing for multiple viruses. (Same cost as for a singular virus, don’t you know.)
Losing it = To startbecomingcrazy,insane, or mentallyunstable.
It is critical that bioweapons be permitted to suppress China, and that will not happen if China remains at DEFCON. So thus you now have the massive anti-China-Coronavirus-policing movement hitting all media right now.
2022 04 16 16 52a
As if, somehow by some magic wand, public opinion is going to influence the Chinese leadership to get off DEFCON and pretend that nothing is happening…
…fat chance.
2022 04 16 16 51
I have documented the situation extensively. So, I am tired rehashing the same things over and over again. If you want to dive deep then go into my indexes.
Please ignore the screeching on your forums, your feeds, and e-mail chains. China is in survival mode during a state of war. This is the reality. So shut the FUCK up if you don’t understand.
Ok…
As is my pervue, I will continue to document this curious state of affairs and the on-going situation in my own way. I also include food, cats, China, and pretty girls with a selection of curiousities to throw off the ‘bot farms, the troll roll-calls, and the DDOS attacks. Ah. It works like a charm.
And to that end, we begin with some great coffee.
How to make the perfect cup of coffee
Drinking in the day’s first sip of coffee is like paradise massaging the taste buds. It is, as one coffee-in-a-can company figured out long ago, the best part of waking up.
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Coffee.
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For a single moment at your favorite coffee shop, or while your fingers hug your favorite mug in the kitchen, you’ve been taken to the scene of your last vacation – the day’s worries momentarily melting away, letting you breathe in the serenity of sunshine just as the caffeine smacks your brain. .
Realizing that is exactly why getting the first cup of the day right is so important for any coffee-lover. Nail that perfect cup once, and you won’t want to go back. .
In brief, making the perfect cup of coffee will require three elements, above all else: the right water, the right roast and – this is the biggie – your attention.
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Tempting as it may be to throw your grinds in a Mr. Coffee machine and walk away, it likely won’t produce the results you’re looking for. Show your coffee some love in the brewing process, though, and it’ll give you heaping amounts – or at least a few tablespoons worth – of love in return. .
Below, find the highlights of what you need to know to brew the perfect cup of coffee.
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Finding the Right Roast
Fact: There really is no precise rule on when a roasted coffee is best consumed. But you can count on a fresh roast producing a quality result.
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What you’ll want to do in the search for the right roast and roast age is ask questions of who’s selling you the roast.
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Some coffees (many of them, actually) are ones you’ll want to consume within five days of their roast date for optimal results, while many more are fairly consistent in quality for about a month after the roast date.
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But what flavors you extract are entirely dependent on how porous the beans become over time and how they react to water. And that’s a giant “question mark” even the most talented barista can’t erase.
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If you want to know if your beans are stale, though, pay attention to how it pours in the cup. If you’re not seeing a head – that slight foam that bubbles at the top of your cup – you’ve likely waited too long to use your coffee.
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Getting the Right Water Quality and Temperature
Though it may not be the most pleasant way to think of it, the flavor profile of your coffee depends on how much you’re agitating the beans. Or, rather, how much water is agitating the bean.
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The temperature of your water is what will matter most in determining a coffee’s flavor: Pour at a lower temperature (185 degrees) and you’ll extract fewer of the bean’s nascent flavor notes and end with a more bitter taste; pour at a higher temperature (205 degrees), and you’ll discover a coffee that’s extracted more from the bean.
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This is the process of hydrolysis shaking loose different compounds in your coffee.
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Also important, as you might guess, is the quality of the water you’re using.
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In short: The fewer the minerals in the water, the better. Because tap water quality varies from city to city, invest in a top-shelf filter like a Brita.
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Also, never re-boil water that’s been through the heating process (yes, we know how convenient it is to leave water in a kettle), and wait about 30 seconds after heating your water to actually begin pouring over your coffee.
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And, if you really want to be a chemist about it, test your water to make sure it’s in the range of pH 7.
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Get Your Grind On
Not all grinds are the same; there is no one-size-fits-all grind size for making a quality cup of coffee.
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And, in truth, what constitutes the “right grind” is entirely based on your taste preference.
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But you do need a grinder.
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The two basics to consider when grinding your coffee: Do you want a sweeter cup, and do you want a caffeinated cup? A finer grind – which means smaller particles with a larger surface area to slow the movement of water — will extract more of a coffee’s flavor notes, while a coarse grind will produce a cup that packs a Mike Tyson-level caffeine punch.
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types of coarse ground coffee.
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Also, if you’re using an older roast, you’ll almost always want to aim for a finer grind to ensure you’re getting as much flavor as possible.
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Mixing coffee grinds, too, can ruin your perfect-cup-chasing effort.
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To avoid this, clean your grinder after every use, even if it’s just a tap-tap to the machine to shake loose bean debris. It might not be obvious, but those leftover coffee grinds from last Sunday’s brunch will make your fresh roast a lot more bitter.
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One last point of note for grinding: There is also no standard system for grind settings – as ideal as that might be, in a coffee utopia. A “4” on your machine might be a 12 on a different one. Be careful.
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The Impact of Brew Methods
Naturally, one of the biggest variables in how your cup comes out is what you’re using to pour.
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Use a Chemex – or any similar pour-over tool – and you’ll concoct a cup that’s silkier and generally more acidic. (Or “brighter,” if you’ve heard the term before.) It’s the preferred method for coffees that have citrus or floral notes; with a Chemex filter, coffee is less exposed to water and all-around less bitter.
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chemtrex
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By comparison, a French Press – which no one can definitively say was invented in France, by the way – will produce an oilier, more full-bodied cup of coffee.
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French Press.
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Think: More velvet than silk. Because it’s a steeping method, you’re likely to get a more consistent taste with a French Press, regardless of roast or targeted coffee flavor notes. But it’s especially ideal for an earthier coffee.
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Percolators and batch brews, meanwhile, will offer a reasonably consistent result for your coffee, but also offer less control over the process.
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s l1600 Percolator.
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Meanwhile, an AeroPress – by all means it’s own beast to tackle – will give you more of a hybrid of the Chemex and a French Press methods, offering up an abundance of versatility with how it’s used.
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AeroPress.
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How to brew a cup of paradise(joe) using a French Press
Finally, here’s the step-by-step of what you need to know to brew your ideal cup – using a French Press. Outside of the coffee machine that might still be lingering in your pantry from the ‘80s, the French Press is what most of us will be familiar with as manual brewing. So, here’s a rundown of what you need to do to perfect your cup (or two) of coffee.
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1
Measure your coffee.
The standard ratio is approximately 2 tablespoons of coffee per 6 ounces of water. Don’t be afraid to add a few extra beans to be on the safe side – you can more approximately measure out your coffee using a scale after it’s ground.
2
Grind your coffee.
Alright, this is where the coffee-making process really begins. Go for a finer roast if you want a sweeter cup of coffee, or a coarser grind if you’re aiming for a satisfying, weighty bitter. Make sure the grinder is clean before using, then feel free to press the magic button.
3
Prepare the water.
You’ll want to prepare the water last, to ensure the water is the temperature you’re aiming for. Pour from the filter, and let the water sit off from the boil for about 30 seconds before immersing your coffee grounds in the French Press.
4
Pour.
Saturate the grounds evenly with a smooth, steady pour that will agitate the coffee grounds. Do not put the lid on top of the brewer just yet.
5
Soak and stir.
Let the grounds absorb the water for approximately 30 seconds before stirring – a few gentle motions using the back of a spoon around the top layer of the mixture and along the sides, to immerse any grounds that are stuck.
6
Brew.
Let the water extract from the grounds for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Less than that, and you’ll find your coffee may be too sweet or even sour. Any longer, and your coffee will be over-extracted and unappetizingly bitter – so, set a timer.
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Plunge.
There really is no wrong way to push here – just a simple, even push-through of the filter down to the bottom. However, it’s not a clogged toilet – don’t exert too much force or, of course, your coffee will splash. Or you may break the machine, if it’s glass.
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Pour.
Word to the wise: The flavor notes of your coffee will change as the cup cools. If at first you’re not tasting what was intended, let it continue to setup. What you taste when it’s piping hot is not what you’ll taste when it’s cooled to a lukewarm temperature.
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Final coffee thoughts…
Just like paradise is in the eye of the beholder, so too is the perfect cup of coffee. The joy of coffee – beyond those transporting effects its caffeine kick offers in the morning – is how much experimentation is involved. It’s the ultimate test of trial and error. Don’t be afraid to experiment with grind sizes, coffee roasts, water temperatures and brew methods until you find your “just right” cup of coffee. Let your taste buds be the map to paradise.
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Plausible Deniability: Was Russian Warship Sunk by American Harpoons (and AEGIS)?
In a significantly escalatory move, Ukraine’s Operational Command South announced Thursday that it hit a Russian warship with a “Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile” that was operating roughly 60 miles south off the coast of Odesa in southeast Ukraine and that it had started to sink.
“In the Black Sea operational zone, Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet—it received significant damage,” the Ukrainian statement said. “A fire broke out. Other units of the ship’s group tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink.”
Russia’s defense ministry claimed the “accidental fire” on the Soviet-era guided-missile cruiser Moskva had been contained, but left the ship badly damaged. Though the Russian statement initially claimed the cruiser “remained afloat” and measures were being taken to tow it to port, it later admitted the warship had sunk as four Russian ships that had gone to the Moskva’s rescue were hampered by bad weather and by ammunition exploding on board.
Late on Thursday, the Russian ministry said in a statement: “The cruiser ship Moskva lost its stability when it was towed to the port because of the damage to the ship’s hull that it received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition. In stormy sea conditions, the ship sank.” The statement added the crew had been safely evacuated to other Black Sea Fleet ships in the area.
Russian news agencies said the 611-foot-long (186 meters) Moskva, with a crew of almost 500, was commissioned in 1983 and refurbished in 1998. It was one of the three cruisers in Russia’s formidable Black Sea Fleet. The Moskva was armed with a range of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles as well as torpedoes and naval guns and close-in missile defense systems, including 16 anti-ship Vulkan cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).
Reportedly, the warship was also carrying S-300 anti-air missiles, which are crucial to Russia’s air-defense capabilities over Crimea and Ukraine’s Kherson province, captured by Russian troops in early days of the military campaign. It is the first time Moscow has lost a cruiser since German planes sank the Chervona Ukraina (Red Ukraine) in 1941 at Sevastopol – the Crimean naval base to which the Moskva was being towed when it sank.
Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit by two cruise missiles. “Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage,” he said. The Neptune missile that is claimed to have punched a hole in the Moskva’s hull was developed and upgraded by Ukraine from a Soviet missile design. It is fired from a mobile launcher with a range of 100 km.
Western officials reportedly described the Ukrainian claims to have hit the Moskva with anti-ship missiles as “credible”. A senior US defense official noted that five other Russian vessels that had been as close as or closer to the Ukrainian coast than the Moskva had moved at least another 20 nautical miles offshore after the explosion, suggesting an effort to get out of range of Ukrainian missiles.
“In the wake of the damage that the Moskva experienced, all of the northern Black Sea ships have now moved out, away from the northern areas they were operating in,” the defense official told Guardian.
In retaliation for sinking the warship, Russian forces for the first time, since scaling back Russia’s offensive north of the capital announced at the Istanbul peace initiative on March 29, struck military targets in Kyiv, Kherson in the south, the eastern city of Kharkiv and the town of Ivano-Frankivsk in the west, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Although Ukraine claimed the Russian warship was struck by a “Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile,” developed domestically based on the Soviet KH-35 cruise missile that became operational in the Ukrainian naval forces just last year, Politico reported on March 16 that Kyiv had specifically demanded “long-range anti-ship missiles” from Washington.
“A Western diplomat familiar with Ukraine’s requests said Kyiv specifically has asked the US and allies for more Stingers and Starstreak man-portable air-defense systems, Javelins and other anti-tank weapons, ground-based mobile air-defense systems, armed drones, long-range anti-ship missiles, off-the-shelf electronic warfare capabilities, and satellite navigation and communications jamming equipment.”
Lending credence to the reports the United States has already delivered Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Ukraine, the Washington Post reported on March 5: “During an official visit, a Ukrainian special operations commander told Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and other lawmakers that they were shifting training and planning to focus on maintaining an armed opposition, relying on insurgent-like tactics.
“Ukrainian officials told the lawmakers that they were frustrated that the United States had not sent Harpoon missiles to target Russian ships and Stinger missiles to attack Russian aircraft, Moulton and Waltz said in separate interviews.”
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 7, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley revealed that US and NATO countries have collectively provided roughly 60,000 anti-tank weapons and 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons during NATO’s “weapons for peace” program to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.
Although Milley did not specifically mention providing Harpoons to Ukrainian forces, according to informed sources, caches of anti-ship missiles had also been provided to Ukraine’s naval forces deployed in Odesa in southeast Ukraine.
In addition to the CIA’s clandestine program for training Ukraine’s largely conscript military and allied neo-Nazi militias in Donbas in east Ukraine aimed at cultivating an anti-Russian insurgency in Ukraine, and the US Special Forces program for training Ukraine’s security forces at Yavoriv Combat Training Center in the western part of the country bordering Poland that was hit by a barrage of 30 Russian cruise missiles killing at least 35 militants on March 13, the Pentagon revealed last week that it had also been training Ukrainian troops that were inside the US before Russia launched its invasion.
The Ukrainian soldiers were participating in a pre-scheduled professional military education program at the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School in Biloxi, Mississippi, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, according to Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby.
That school is a security cooperation school, operating under the US Special Operations Command in support of “foreign security assistance and geographic combatant commanders’ theater security cooperation priorities.” The Ukrainian forces received “training on patrol craft operations, communications and maintenance,” Kirby said.
Since the conclusion of the course in early March, the Department of Defense provided the group “additional advanced tactical training” on the systems the United States has provided to Ukraine, including on “the Switchblade unmanned aerial vehicle,” Kirby said.
Several batches of Ukrainian naval cadets trained at the Naval Training School in Biloxi, Mississippi, have already returned home to Ukraine and were deployed in Odessa and the rest are now headed back to Ukraine.
Besides receiving advanced tactical training on operating the Switchblade kamikaze drones and unmanned coastal defense boats, included in the additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine announced by the Biden administration on Wednesday, the Ukrainian naval cadets also received training on operating long-range anti-ship missiles in the United States.
Reportedly, the US-trained Ukrainian naval forces deployed in Odesa in the southeast scored two hits of Harpoon anti-ship missiles on the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva operating 60 miles south off the coast of Odessa that punched a hole in the warship’s hull and ignited a blaze that, in turn, caused the massive amount of ammunition loaded on the cruiser to explode, and the battleship subsequently sank to the bottom of the Black Sea.
To return the favor of halting Russian military campaign north of the capital and focusing on liberating Russian-majority Donbas in east Ukraine, practically spelling an end to Russia’s month-long offensive in the embattled country, NATO powers have announced transferring heavy weapons, including combat tanks, armored personnel carriers, long-range artillery and even helicopters and Soviet MiG aircraft, to Ukraine to escalate the conflict.
The latest $800 million military assistance package to Ukraine announced by the Biden administration on Wednesday includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan before the US-backed government collapsed last year. It also includes 18 155mm howitzers, along with 40,000 artillery rounds, 10 counter-artillery radars, 200 armored personnel carriers, 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles, and 300 additional Switchblade drones.
Besides direct military assistance from the United States, the rest of NATO member states are also pouring in significant amount of heavy weapons in Ukraine. Czechoslovakia used to have the most advanced military-industrial complex in Central Europe during the Soviet era. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and subsequent separation of the “conjoined twins” in 1993, the Czech Republic has inherited the Soviet weaponry. Famous of its arms black market, Czech weapons have been found in war theaters as far away as Syria, Libya and South Sudan.
The Czech Republic had delivered tanks, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine among military shipments that had reached hundreds of millions of dollars and would continue, two Czech defense sources confided to Reuters.
Defense sources confirmed a shipment of five T-72 tanks and five BVP-1, or BMP-1, infantry fighting vehicles seen on rail cars in photographs on Twitter and video footage last week. “For several weeks, we have been supplying heavy ground equipment – I am saying it generally but by definition it is clear that this includes tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and multiple rocket launchers,” a senior defense official said.
“What has gone from the Czech Republic is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The senior defense official said the Czechs were also supplying a range of anti-aircraft weaponry. Independent defense analyst Lukas Visingr said short-range air-defense systems Strela-10, or SA-13 Gopher in NATO terminology, had been spotted on a train apparently bound for Ukraine.
One agreed shipment authorized by the German government includes 56 Czechoslovak-made infantry fighting vehicles that used to be operated by East Germany. Berlin passed the IFVs on to Sweden at the end of the 1990s, which later sold them to a Czech company that now aims to sell them to Kyiv, according to German Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
After the scuttled aircraft-transfer deal that would’ve seen Poland handing over its entire fleet of 28 Soviet-era MiG-29s to Ukraine in return for the United States “backfilling” the Polish Air Force with American F-16s last month, now Slovakia was in talks with NATO about an arrangement that could allow Bratislava to send fighter jets to Ukraine, Prime Minister Eduard Heger told reporters on April 11.
Considering that the Biden administration has already announced delivering 11 Mi-17 helicopters in its latest $800 million military assistance package to Ukraine, therefore in all likelihood the Slovak aircraft-transfer deal is also going to go through. The Slovak prime minister did not put a number on how many MiG-29 aircraft Slovakia would provide to Ukraine, but the country is reported to have around a dozen.
Eduard Heger said his government wanted to “move away from reliance on the Soviet MiGs” in any case. “This is equipment that we want to finish anyway, because we’re waiting for the F-16s,” he added, referring to US-made jets that Slovakia was scheduled to receive in 2024, though Bratislava could receive American fighter jets earlier as soon as it transfers the MiG fleet to Ukraine.
Asking for permanent US military presence in Central Europe to deter Russia, though making an artificial distinction between “permanent deployment” vs. “rotational deployment at permanent bases” in order to sound like a peacenik, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley proposed before the House Armed Services Committee:
“My advice would be to create permanent bases but don’t permanently station (forces), so you get the effect of permanence by rotational forces cycling through permanent bases,” he said. “I believe that a lot of our European allies, especially those such as the Baltics or Poland and Romania, and elsewhere — they’re very, very willing to establish permanent bases. They’ll build them, they’ll pay for them.”
“I do think this is a very protracted conflict and I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about decades, but at least years for sure,”
said Milley.
“I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time.”
“We are now facing two global powers: China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities both who intend to fundamentally change the rules based current global order. We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable and the potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing,” – Gen. Milley
Ukraine war: Germany boosts military aid budget to €2 billion
This comes with the huge billions of dollars from the Untied States. So much money is just pouring into Ukraine. This is the direct result of the outcome of propaganda that Russia is losing the war!
It’s truly America. This is from the 1970s, and Mary Harman, Mary Harman truly represented life during that period of time.
What American think.
I pulled these quotes from “Free Republic” and it give a pretty good idea about the thoughts on what Americans think about the war that Russia is involved in and how America plays into the mix.
Maybe Putin will get whacked by his own people.
2 posted on 4/14/2022, 9:09:33 PM by rrrod
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For the record, Putin was more democratically elected than Joe Biden.
5 posted on 4/14/2022, 9:12:05 PM by blackberry1
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Putin is beginning to look like hitler in the bunker who was moving around imaginary divisions to defend Germany. He is already taking out anyone who he thinks failed or opposed him. Bad news because hitler let the whole place go down rather then admit defeat.
11 posted on 4/14/2022, 9:16:43 PM by Mouton
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Nukes are all Putin has. His navy is incompetent. His ground forces are a 1500 klics away in Ukraine and not very successful. His AF has yet to achieve supremacy. But his nuclear forces are present. Threatening to use them is all he has and he is insane enough to do it. In the old CP days the Politburo would have removed him, either to a Black Sea dacha or to a state funeral. But now?????
16 posted on 4/14/2022, 9:22:04 PM by xkaydet65 ( )
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Well if Russia’s nuclear arsenal is like the rest of their military, then half will fail to detonate at all and the other half will hit Russian cities due to a targeting error.
20 posted on 4/14/2022, 9:24:59 PM by apillar
They are fully influenced by MSM Vault 7. They belive the Kool Aide that they swill. Obviously to most CONSERVATIVE Americans, war is a true spectator sport. It will never “hit” home. They believe.
I will hate to tell them differently.
A curious find.
From DM, who said, “Thought you might be interested in this article. My first thought was that they could be preparing to use it to make a dirty bomb for the alleged false flag in NYC on the 18th (assuming the “Looking glass” shit is real). Do you think it could be used feasibly in such a device, or would it be too small to have any noticeable effects?”
Nice find, but 8 millicuries of Cesium-137 isn’t going to do too much. The big threat is this incident can be used as part of a larger narrative stream.
Russia sends formal letter warning US to stop arming Ukraine: report
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BY SARAKSHI RAI – 04/15/22 7:51 AM
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Russia has sent a formal letter to the U.S. warning that shipments of sensitive weapons from the United States and NATO were exacerbating tensions in Ukraine and could lead to “unpredictable consequences,” The Washington Post reported.
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The letter, which was viewed by he Post, added that the U.S. has flouted the rules governing the transfer of weapons to conflict zones.
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According to the letter dated Tuesday, Russia accused NATO of impeding early peace negotiation with Ukraine “in order to continue the bloodshed.”
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The State Department declined to confirm any private diplomatic correspondence.
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However, a spokesperson added that it can confirm that along with allies and partners, “we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of security assistance, which our Ukrainian partners are using to extraordinary effect to defend their country against Russia’s unprovoked aggression and horrific acts of violence.”
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The news of the diplomatic letter comes as President Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine this week, which for the first time included advanced munitions that the war-torn country has requested.
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“The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. As Russia prepares to intensify its attack in the Donbas region, the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself,” Biden said.
The information warfare being waged to enforce a single narrative about the war in Ukraine.
It may be worse than McCarthyism, which was defeated by its own excesses. Today’s information war against individuals and media who do not adhere to the Western-government-enforced narrative on Ukraine is part of a long history in the U.S. of officially crushing dissent. With the advances of technology for both surveillance and censorship, we might be in the most chilling atmosphere yet for thought control. Will it too be brought down by its own excesses?
The Professor Builds a Telephone to Call for Help – Gilligan’s Island – 1966
I well remember this episode. I think I was five years old when I last watched it. LOL. You don’t need to watch the whole thing. Just stick your head in for a peek and move on.
Experts say the risk in Ukraine is not the deployment of a giant “strategic” weapon, but a “tactical” weapon with a smaller warhead that causes localised devastation.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin has given orders to increase the alert level of Russia’s nuclear forces and has made veiled nuclear threats. The blatant aggression against Ukraine has shocked Europe and the world. The war is a tragedy for Ukraine. It also exposes the limits of the West’s reliance on nuclear deterrence.
Deterrence refers to the idea that possessing nuclear weapons protects a nation from attack, through the threat of overwhelming retaliation. This concept is widely credited for helping prevent war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine casts a harsh light on its downsides. Most obvious is that Putin is using nuclear deterrence not to protect Russia but rather to have his way in Ukraine. Russia’s nuclear weapons deter the West from intervening with conventional military forces to defend Ukraine. Despite scattered calls in the U.S. for the creation of a “no-fly zone” over some or all of Ukraine, the Biden administration has wisely resisted. In practice this would mean shooting down Russian planes. It could lead to World War III. On the other side of the ledger, NATO’s nuclear weapons presumably deter Russia from expanding the war to NATO countries, such as Poland, Romania or the Baltic states. Thus, the nuclear balance of terror likely deters a wider European war but leaves Ukraine to struggle on with only limited support and perhaps eventually to be swallowed. On balance, NATO states do not seem very reassured by their vaunted nuclear deterrence. They continue to worry about the (remote) possibility of a Russian conventional attack beyond Ukraine.
This is not the first time Putin has rattled the nuclear saber. He also did so in 2014 during Russia’s invasion of Crimea, when Russian leaders talked openly about putting nuclear weapons on alert. In 2015, Russia threatened Danish warships with nuclear weapons if Denmark joined NATO’s missile defense system. Putin likes to wave about his nuclear weapons as a reminder to the West (and perhaps to himself) that Russia is still a great power. In the current crisis, Putin clearly wants the US and NATO to know that if the West were to intervene with military force on behalf of Ukraine, he might reach for his so-called tactical (or “nonstrategic”) nuclear weapons.
In the world of nuclear weapons, tactical means an exceedingly large amount of explosive energy and strategic means even larger. Most nuclear weapons today are variable-yield, or “dial-a-yield,” providing a set amount of explosive energy that can range from fractions of a kiloton to multiples of a megaton. (For example, the U.S.’s newest version of its B61 nuclear bomb can release 0.3, 1.5, 10 or 50 kilotons of explosive energy. In comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was about 15 kilotons.) Russia has about 6,500 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Of these, the ones of largest yield—the “strategic” weapons—are deployed on submarines, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
But Russia also possesses some 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons kept in storage facilities throughout the country, developed to be used against troops and installations in a small area or in a limited engagement. Such weapons can be launched on the same short-range missiles Russia is currently using to bombard Ukraine, such as its Iskander ballistic missile, which has a range of about 500 kilometers. And these are not the only tactical weapons that could be deployed; the United States has about 100 nuclear “gravity bombs” (with less sophisticated guidance) stationed around Europe.
Tactical nuclear weapons exist because each side fears it would be deterred from using its big city-razing weapons by their very destructiveness. By making nuclear weapons smaller and the targeting more precise, their use becomes more thinkable. Paradoxically, while this makes deterrence threats more credible, it also makes the arms more tempting to use first, rather than simply in retaliation.
No one should imagine, however, that it makes sense to use a tactical nuclear weapon. A thermonuclear explosion of any size possesses overwhelming destructive power. Even a “small-yield” nuclear weapon (0.3 kilotons) would produce damage far beyond that of a conventional explosive. (For a graphic depiction, the interactive site NUKEMAP, created by nuclear historian Alexander Wellerstein, allows you to simulate the effects of a nuclear explosion of any size anywhere on the planet.) It would also cause all the horrors of Hiroshima, albeit on a smaller scale. A tactical nuclear weapon would produce a fireball, shock waves, and deadly radiation that would cause long-term health damage in survivors. Radioactive fallout would contaminate air, soil, water and the food supply (Ukrainians are already familiar with this kind of outcome because of the disastrous meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986).
No one knows if using a tactical nuclear weapon would trigger full-scale nuclear war. Nevertheless, the risk of escalation is very real. Those on the receiving end of a nuclear strike are not likely to ask whether it was tactical or strategic. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on February 6, 2018, then–Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated “I do not think there is any such thing as a tactical nuclear weapon. Any nuclear weapon used any time is a strategic game changer.” Russian leaders have made clear that they would view any nuclear attack as the start of an all-out nuclear war.
Especially worrisome is the possibility that the war could escalate to the use of nuclear weapons. By increasing the alert level of Russian nuclear forces, Putin increases the risk of nuclear use through miscalculation or accident in the fog of war. In the worst scenario, if the war is going badly, Putin could reach for a tactical nuclear weapon out of desperation. While this is still unlikely, the risk is not zero. And increasing that risk is unacceptable. Although innumerable nuclear weapons have been tested over the years, not one has been used in warfare (or terrorism) since 1945. The 77-year-old tradition of nuclear nonuse—the nuclear taboo—is the single most important accomplishment of the nuclear age. It is a primary obligation of leaders today to make sure nuclear weapons are never used again. Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov should stop threatening nuclear weapons. Other leaders should express shock and outrage, and make it clear that nuclear threats are irresponsible and unacceptable.
Nuclear deterrence comes with tremendous risks and enormous costs. The arguments in favor of deterrence, although sometimes convincing, are not always true. We must acknowledge that nuclear deterrence could fail. That’s why, despite the trillions of dollars spent on nuclear arsenals, no one sleeps soundly under a nuclear umbrella—especially during a crisis such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Marriage advice from a group of women
“Marriage Advice For Young Ladies From A Suffragette, 1918. The Pamphlet Is On Display At The Pontypridd Museum In Wales. The Suffragette Is Unknown”.
Who is Creating a New Chinese Boogey Man? (An Examination of Modern Psychological Warfare)
By Matthew Ehret
Since many good people have found themselves susceptible to the narrative that China is the global supervillain conspiring to overthrow western Christian values by any means necessary, I believe some lessons should be brought to bear.
Anti-Nation state fanatic George Soros stated at the 2020 Davos Summit that China has become the greatest threat to his vision for Open Society (right behind Trump’s USA). This was echoed by Lord Malloch Brown’s 2020 Global Government Speeches.
China’s deep alliance with Russia and the increased integration of the Eurasian Economic Union with the 135 nation strong Belt and Road Initiative form the basis of an alternative multipolar paradigm has kept imperialists up at night for the past several years.
The prospect of a US-China-Russia alliance has been one of the greatest threats to empire which peeked in the weeks before COVID-19 arose onto the scene as the US-China Trade Pact successfully entered its first phase (and has since fallen into shambles) as well as Trump’s repeated calls for “good relations with Russia.”
Amidst the surge of anti-China media psy ops published across Five Eyes nations, countless patriots of a conservative bent have found themselves absorbed into a red-scare manic hysteria while forgetting that the actual causal hand of British Intelligence has been caught blatantly running the overthrow of nation states for decades (including the 2016-2020 to run regime change within the USA itself).
Understanding the nature of the current psy ops, and new red scare deflection underway, it is necessary to review some seriously underappreciated facts of recent history, and since former secretary of State Sir Henry Kissinger (a genuine Knight of the British Empire), figures prominently in this story, it is wise to start with his relationship with China.
Although he is celebrated for being an “enlightened” liberal politician who helped China open up to the west after the dark days of Mao’s Cultural Revolution by extending western markets to China, the truth is very different.
A devout proponent of world government and population control, Kissinger had been the tool selected during a particularly important period of human history to advance a new ordering of world affairs.
2022 04 16 10 22
The Division of the World Into Producers and Consumers
Since the world was taken off the gold reserve system way back in 1971, a new age of “post-industrialism” was unleashed onto a globalized world. Humanity was given a new type of system which presumed that both our nature and the cause of value itself were located in the act of consuming. The old idea that our nature was creative, and that our wealth was tied to producing, was assumed to be an obsolete thing of the past… a relic of a dirty old industrial age.
Under the new post-1971 operating system, we were told that the world would now be divided among producers and consumers.
The “have-not producers” would provide the cheap labor which first world consumers would increasingly rely on for the creation of goods they used to make for themselves. “First world” nations were told that according to the new post-industrial rules of de-regulation and market economics, that they should export their heavy industry, machine tools and other productive sectors abroad as they transitioned into “white collar” post-industrial consumer societies. The longer this outsourcing of industries went on, the less western nations found themselves capable of sustaining their own citizenries, building their own infrastructure or determining their own economic destinies.
In place of full spectrum economies that once saw over 40% of North America’s labor force employed in manufacturing, a new addiction to “buying cheap stuff” began, and a “service economies” took over like a cancer.
2022 04 16 10 24
To make matters worse, the many newly independent nations struggling to liberate themselves from colonialism were told that they would have to abandon their dreams of development since those goals would render the formula of a producer-consumer stratified society impossible to create. Those leaders resisting this edict would face assassination or CIA overthrow. Those leaders who adapted to the new rules would become peons of the new age of “Economic Hitmen”.
China and the West: The Real Story
By the time Deng Xiaoping announced the “opening up” of China in 1978, Kissinger had already managed the economic paradigm shift of 1971, the artificial “oil shock therapy” of 1973 and authored his 1974 NSSM 200 Report which transformed U.S. Foreign Policy from a pro-development orientation towards a new policy of depopulation targeting the poor nations of the global south under the logic that the resources under their soil were the lawful possession of the USA.
The NSSM 200 (titled “Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security and Overseas Interests”) outlined its objective “Assistance for population moderation should give emphasis to the largest and fastest growing developing countries where there is a special US and strategic interest”.
Kissinger, and the hives of Trilateral Commission/CFR operatives to which he was beholden never looked on China as a true ally, but merely as a zone of abundant cheap labor which would feed cheap goods to the now post-industrial west under their new dystopic producer-consumer world order. It was in that same year that Kissinger’s fellow Trilateral Commission cohort Paul Volcker announced a “controlled disintegration of western society” which was begun in full with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes to 20% that ensured a vast destruction of small and medium businesses across the board.
Believing China (then still largely an impoverished third world country) to be desperate enough to accept money and short-term salvation after years of trauma induced by the Cultural Revolution. Under Kissinger’s logic, China would receive just enough money to sustain a static existence but would never be able to stand on its own two feet.
Unbeknownst to Kissinger, China’s leaders under the direction of Zhou Enlai, and his disciple Deng Xiaoping had a much longer-term strategic perspective than their western partners imagined.
While receiving much needed revenue from foreign exports, China began to slowly create the foundations for a genuine renaissance which would be made possible by slowly learning the skills, leapfrogging technologies and acquiring means of production which the west had once pioneered. Zhou Enlai had first enunciated this visionary program as early as 1963 under his Four Modernizations mandate (Industrial, agricultural, national defense and science and technology) and then restated this program in January 1976 weeks before his death.
This program manifested itself in the July 6, 1978 State Council Forum on the “Principles to Guide the Four Modernizations” informed by the findings of international exploratory missions conducted by economist Gu Mu’s delegations around various advanced world economies (Japan, Hong Kong, Western Europe). The findings of Gu Mu’s reports laid out the concrete pathways for full spectrum economic sovereignty with a focus on cultivating the cognitive creative powers of a new generation of scientists that would drive the non linear breakthroughs needed for China to ultimately break free of the rules of closed-system economics which technocrats like Kissinger wished the world adhere to.
Deng Xiaoping broke from the radical Marxism prevalent among the intelligentsia by redefining “labor” from purely material constraints and elevating the concept rightfully to the higher domain of mind saying:
“We should select several thousand of our most qualified personnel within the scientific and technological establishment and create conditions that will allow them to devote their undivided attention to research. Those who have financial difficulties should be given allowances and subsidies… we must create within the party an atmosphere of respect for knowledge and respect for trained personnel. The erroneous attitude of not respecting intellectuals must be opposed. All work. Be it mental or manual, is labor.”
Over the course of the coming decades, China learned, and like any student, copied, reverse engineered and reconstructed western techniques as it slowly generated capacities that ultimately allowed them press on the limits of human knowledge outpacing all western models.
Scientific and technological progress became the driving force of its entire economy and by 1986, the “863 Project for Research and Development” was announced which focused on areas of space, lasers, energy, biotechnology, new materials, automation and information technology. This project became the driver for creative innovation guided by the National Science Foundation and was upgraded to the 973 Basic Research Program in 2009 to: “1) support multidisciplinary and fundamental research of relevance to national development; 2) Promote frontline basic research; 3) Support the cultivation of scientific talent capable of original research; and 4) Build high-quality interdisciplinary research centers.”
The fruits of these long term programs was beginning to be felt and by 1996, discussion for a New Silk Road reviving the ancient trade routes connecting China to Europe and Africa through the Middle East and Caucasus was beginning with conferences hosted by Beijing under President Jiang Zemin.
One of the few western participants at these Chinese events was the Schiller Institute, whose founders delivered a full day seminar in 1997 describing the program that would finally come back to life in 2013 when Xi Jinping made it the focus of China’s foreign policy outlook under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Why did this program wait until 2013 to blossom onto the world stage when obvious momentum was already in motion in 1997?
“A French Woman With Her Baguette And Six Bottles Of Wine, Paris, France, 1945”
I am curious. Is this how baguettes are made in France today? Does France still have wine delivery services?
I am curious. Is this how baguettes are made in France today? Does France still have wine delivery services?
Chicken Paprikash
Spices lose their flavor over time but few as quickly as paprika, which starts out tasting of pepper and sunshine but deteriorates in but a few months to sawdust and bitterness.
Massive YUM!
For this recipe, get some new at the market: sweet or hot Hungarian paprika is best, but the generic article isn’t terrible and the smoky Spanish varieties known as pimentón de La Vera would not be out of place either, lending a deep, woodsy aroma reminiscent of cooking over an open fire. It’s a dish that pairs beautifully with butter-slicked egg noodles.
Hint. Hint.
But rice is fine too.
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George Soros and the Attack on the Asian Markets
From May 1997, George Soros’ targeting of the Southeast Asian “Tigers economies” of Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Laos, and Malaysia with speculative short sales of their local currencies resulted months of vast anarchy across all of Asia and the world more broadly. Currencies collapsed from 10-80% over the next 8 months and took many years to begin to recover.
Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohammed was brave enough to call out Soros’ economic warfare and did much to help his nation weather the storm by imposing capital controls to maintain some semblance of stability calling out the speculator saying: “as much as people who produce and distribute drugs are criminals, because they destroy nations, the people who undermine the economies of poor nations are too.” Chinese President Jiang Zemin followed suit calling Soros “a financial sniper” and stated he would not let the speculator enter Chinese markets.
“The ultimate target is China. The British are particularly worried about the increasingly close collaboration between China and the ASEAN nations, which are being integrated into the massive regional and continental development projects initiated by China under the umbrella of the Eurasian Continental Land-Bridge program.
Such real development policies offer the alternative to the cheap-labor, colonial-style export industries of the “globalization” model- the model that has led to the financial bubbles now bursting worldwide.”
Forward full text from <redacted>.
The reasoning is solid:
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I just received this urgent msg. China has urged its citizens to keep physical goods and not paper money. There will be a huge round of inflation as the US, Japan, UK, Sweden, etc, are printing more and more money. So the Chinese are planning not to accept USD but only their RMB for payments,
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RECEIVED THIS CHINESE ARTICLE FROM CONTACTS IN GUANGZHOU…
ARTICLE CIRCULATING WITHIN CHINA REMINDING PEOPLE TO BUY CHINESE MADE PRODUCTS…
朋友,请你看清时势:
( Translated by tl )
Friends, please observe the current situation clearly:
中国大陆开始施行自我保护措施了!
MAINLAND CHINA HAS BEGUN TO IMPLEMENT SELF-PROTECTION MEASURES!
一是保护国民安全,大幅度减少入境人员。
#1. It is to protect the safety of the people and drastically reduce the number of people entering China.
二是保护国民资产,减缓实物出口。
#2. Secondly is to protect national assets and slow down physical exports.
当美国疫情爆发而长期得不到有效防治时,该国人员隔离、生产停滞、迅速消耗存量物资,又拼命降息、只懂得印钞票进行所谓经济刺激,实际上这是用纸币来掠夺实物,当这个国家存货实物极度匮乏时,纸币就贱如卫生纸,雷同如冥币。
When the U.S. ( COVID-19 ) epidemic broke out and there was no effective preventive measures and control for a long time… the country’s populations were isolated, production stagnated, and stocks of supplies quickly dwindled, and the Federal Reserve desperately cut interest rates ( to stimulate the economy ) including PRINTING BANK NOTES for the so-called economic stimulus. WHEN THE COUNTRY'S INVENTORY IS EXTREMELY RUNNING LOW AND SCARCE. BANKNOTES BECOMES AS CHEAP AS TOILET PAPER AND SIMILAR TO COPPER COINS.
如果是国际货币,则掠夺的是其他生产国的物资。 生产国换取的外汇,因为疫情,吃穿住行购物旅游都无法实现,还不断的贬值,持币者大亏。
AS THE DOLLAR IS AN INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY, IT IS EQUIVALENT TO PLUNDERING THE MATERIALS, LABOUR AND SERVICES OF OTHER GOODS PRODUCING COUNTRIES.
Due to this COVID-19 epidemic… food, clothing, housing, transportation, shopping, and travel could not be realized in the foreign exchange by the producing . country, and the value of the currency holders has continuously depreciated.
欧元、美元、英磅、瑞元,都是这样的货币,会逐渐冥纸化。 所以,中国明白了,哪一国疫情不治,大陆就不再拿实物去换冥币一样的外汇。
The Euro, the US dollar, the British pound, and the Swiss franc are all such currencies and will gradually become useless paper. Therefore, China understands that in any country where the epidemic is not under control, the CHINESE WILL NO LONGER EXCHANGE PHYSICAL OBJECTS FOR FOREIGN CURRENCY LIKE THESE COPPER COINS.
高筑墙,广积粮,p自我内部循环,保证财富不流失,等待《以物易物》或人民币国际化。
Build high walls ( TO ISOLATE ), accumulate grains, internal trade and consumption and ensure that 'wealth' is not lost, instead wait for "BARTERING FOR GOODS" OR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE CHINESE RMB.
我们有此行动,估计越南、印度、马来西亚、印尼... 等生产国也会采取类似关门措施。
We have taken this action, and it is estimated that Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Indonesia... and other producing countries will also adopt similar "CLOSE DOOR" MEASURES.
大家都明白,谁拿实物换冥币,谁就是傻瓜。
Everyone understands that whoever exchanges real physical things for THIS COPPER COIN is a fool.
美国这个月内,增发1.9万亿亿美元,欧盟,日元也是大量印钞票。
Just within this month, the United States has issued an additional 1.9 TRILLION US DOLLARS, and the EUROPEAN UNION and the JAPANESE also printed a large amount of money.
全世界都在靠印钞票度过危机,人民币何去何从这很重要。 跟风的话,通货膨胀,苦果自己吃;不跟的话,等于人民币在抵消货币的通货膨胀,损失还是自己。
The whole world is relying on PRINTING MONEY to survive the crisis. It is very important to watch how the RMB renminbi will fare. If you follow the MONEY PRINTING TREND~ INFLATION WILL BE THE END RESULT; and if you don’t follow the trend, it means that the renminbi will be offsetting currency inflation ( when you trade and accept their Currency ) and thereby you sustain LOSSES.
所以,我们玩得很绝,不降息,用人民币双边结算。 想买我的物品,要么拿实物,要么拿人民币,美元我不要了。
Therefore, we are maintaining in an extremely STIFF SITUATION AND WOULD NOT CUT INTEREST RATES AND WILL ONLY SETTLED BILATERALLY IN RMB. If you want to buy my goods, we WILL NOT ACCEPT USD BUT IN RMB OR WILL EXCHANGE FOR GOODS ( BARTER ).
我们终于醒过来了,不再盲目大量出口,也看清许多国家"大量印钞票"只是在搜刮世界物质财富。
We have finally waken up…. NO LONGER BLINDLY EXPORTING LARGE QUANTITIES, but also NOTICED that many countries "printing a large amount of money" are just PLUNDERING THE WORLD'S MATERIAL WEALTH.
只要认清方向,永远不晚,我们不能再做赔本生意了,中国人照顾好自己的人民才最重要。
As long as we understand the direction… it is never too late. We REFUSE TO DO BUSINESS AT A LOSS. The most important thing is for the Chinese GOVERNMENT to take good care and look after the welfare of its people.
美国花一毛钱印了一张百元大钞(而且没任何贵重金属抵押), 要求买你的一百斤大米,这不是欺负人吗? 这是明目张胆的诈骗, 是无耻的掠夺。
The United States spent only ten cents to print a hundred-dollar bill (without any precious metal collateral) and asked to buy one hundred dollars value of your goods.
Isn't this CHEATING / BULLISH? THIS IS BLATANT FRAUD, A SHAMELESS PLUNDER.
美国想得很美,有求于中国帮他们度过危机,下一步可能停止贸易战,假装妥协,幻想用印出的大量美元疯狂抢购中国生产的物质,我们不会上当了。
The United States Painted a BEAUTIFUL Scenery and ASKS CHINA TO HELP THEM TIDE OVER THE CRISIS with a promise to stop the trade war, PRETENDING TO COMPROMISE, and using THEIR USELESS DOLLARS to buy Chinese-produced materials. We will not be fooled AGAIN.
让美国人去自己玩吧,我们不奉陪了。【 請转发】
Let the Americans and play by themselves, we will no longer be participating.
Actually, this has been circulating for months now. It’s old news. China is braced and ready for decoupling.
Greece says no!
Greece formally rejects US proposal to supply Ukraine with additional Russian-made weapon systems. Athens cannot compromise its defense capabilities, says defense minister.
Enjoy this fine snippet of the Seinfield comedy that was a big hit back in the 1990s.
The Tumultuous Years of 1997-2013
With the advent of the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (whose meltdown nearly took down the world economy in 1999 if not bailed out by central banks), followed by the Y2K/tech bubble explosion of 2000, the world markets nearly collapsed on several occasions. 9-11 unleashed a new era of warfare which deflected attention from the rot of the financial system while derivatives were deregulated, and ‘Too Big To Fail’ banking formed in short order growing far beyond the powers of any nation state to rein in.
Under this period of destabilization, wars, terrorism and easy money speculation, China and its Eurasian allies moved slower to rebuild the physical basis of their existence with the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, long term planning, and a slow but steady focus on real (vs speculative) economic activity. The fact that China was among the only nations of the world to keep national controls over their central bank and maintain Glass-Steagall bank separation were not lost on the enemies of humanity yearning for a bankers’ dictatorship.
This process continued until it became evident that the western unipolar agenda would stop at nothing including nuclear war in order to assure the total subservience of all nation states, with Obama unveiling his Asia Pivot (air-sea battle) plans against China along with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) economic attack on China. The veil was now lifted to the true ugly face behind the liberal fascist smiles and it became clear that the full spectrum dominance military encirclement of Russia’s perimeter was being fully extended to China’s perimeter as well.
“No Soup For You!” | The Soup Nazi | Seinfeld
This is a classic. It’s an absolute classic. And it has developed into an American idiom; “No soup for you”. Check it out.
The Revival of the New Silk Road
It was in the face of this existential threat that Xi Jinping emerged as the new leader of China and a historic crackdown of party corruption on all levels Federal, Provincial and Municipal was begun in force while Xi’s 2013 announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan revived the New Silk Road/Eurasian land bridge policy of 15 years earlier.
Although China is often accused of intellectual theft, the reality is that it has begun to clearly outpace western nations becoming a pioneer on every level of science and technology. China now registers more patents than the USA, has become the cutting edge leader of high speed rail engineering with over 30 000 km, bridge building, tunneling, as well as water management, quantum computing, AI, 5G telecommunications, and even space science becoming the first nation to ever land on the far side of the moon with an intent to mine Helium 3 and develop permanent bases on the Moon in the coming decade.
All of these cutting edge fields of science and engineering are being organized by the ever-growing Belt and Road Initiative which has taken on global proportions and integrated itself into a deep alliance with Russia, Iran and over 135 nations who have signed onto the BRI Framework stretching from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, and Europe.
This is the system which the USA and other western nations could have joined on multiple occasions, but which has instead been targeted as a global threat to western hegemony. According to the logic of those western utopians who refuse to let go of their old outdated 1971 script for a new world order, China’s New Silk Road must be subverted at all costs since it is very well understood that it would become the basis for a new world system as the old globalized paradigm comes crashing down faster than the Hindenburg.
The Real Perpetrators Laugh as a New Cold War Hysteria is Orchestrated
It is perhaps an irony that those figures who have been caught time and again attempting to destroy the foundations of both the USA, China and Russia have deflected attention from their own actions by promoting the idea that China is the USA’s natural enemy.
The reality is China is currently not only reviving the ancient silk road paradigm that focused on a harmony of interests and mutual self interest through economic and cultural exchange but they have also revived the spirit of President Sun Yat-sen’s International Development of China program in full.
In this 1920 document China’s first President outlined the superiority of the American system of political economy which he studied deeply beginning in his early student days in the USA, and upon which he explicitly modelled his new republican China and his three Principles of the People (premised on Lincoln’s principle of a nation for, by and of the people). Sun Yat-sen (a Christian Confucian revolutionary) is not only the beloved founding father of the republic of China celebrated to this day, but stated his views pro-American views in the following terms
“The world has been greatly benefited by the development of America as an industrial and a commercial Nation. So a developed China with her four hundred millions of population, will be another New World in the economic sense. The nations which will take part in this development will reap immense advantages. Furthermore, international cooperation of this kind cannot but help to strengthen the Brotherhood of Man.”
Both mainstream and alternative media outlets that tend to be sympathetic to conservative values have bit the bait and are now blind to the fact that those oligarchical social engineers managing the World Economic Forum and drooling over a new era of World Government, population reduction and technocratic feudalism are laughing at all of those fish in their nets whose ignorance to history and other cultures are leading them to their own self-destruction.
RUSSIA FURIOUS OVER SINKING OF MISSILE CRUISER “MOSKVA” – TALKING “WW3”
The Russian people are enraged beyond words over the sinking of their Black Sea flagship, the Guided Missile Cruiser “Moskva” and they are already publicly saying on TV that they are in World War 3 with the United States.
Barrages of Russian missiles were launched late last night against at least 8 different “fronts” inside Ukraine, hitting targets in Kiev, Kharkov, Nikolaev, and elsewhere, causing thunderous explosions.
On Russian television, the mood was ferocious anger, and the remarks being made were specific: Russia is already in World War 3, Russia is at war with the United States/NATO, and more.
One source familiar with the unfolding events, told me the following:
The cruiser sank.
There were many victims on board. There was a monstrous explosion of ammunition and airborne missiles.
I think there may be several hundred dead, if not almost the entire crew.
So there will be a backlash.
That same source then SPECULATED what he believes the Russian response will be:
The RF Armed Forces will hit Bankovaya, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the GUR building and other facilities in Kyiv.
In addition, a strike on the Baltic states or arms convoys in Poland or the Czech Republic is possible.
There will be strikes by the RF Armed Forces on bridges along the western border of Ukraine, on bridges in Kyiv, on bridges across the Dnieper.
There will be strikes on railway bridges in Western Ukraine and on transport hubs and interchanges, on junction stations, and so on.
There will be strikes on the barracks and control centers. Blows are prepared from all trunks.
They will strike from the Caspian, from the Black Sea, from the Crimea, even from the Baltic and from Kaliningrad. There will be shelling by Belarusian artillery and Belarusian rockets.
The strike will be three waves, massive volleys, there will be up to a thousand missiles at the same time.
Heavy artillery, RSZO. In the Kiev region, Kiev, Kharkov, Nikolaev.
He wrapped-up his speculation by telling me:
WAR IS GOING TO A NEW LEVEL !!!
WATCH.
This story is still developing, check back for updates.
UPDATES – 8:24 AM EDT —
Russian Defense: We will increase the number and size of missile attacks on Kiev.
Russian Defense: More than 30 Polish mercenaries were killed in Kharkov.
Among the prisoners in Ukraine there are military personnel of NATO countries, said Senator Klimov of the Russian Federation Council
“We already have prisoners among the military personnel of NATO countries, we will show all this when we conduct trials, and the whole world will see what really happened,”
UPDATE 8:32 AM EDT —
The United States has received an official Diplomatic demarche (note) from Moscow which says, in sum and in substance “Russia demands the United States stop arming Ukraine” and then threatens “unpredictable consequences” if such arming of Ukraine continues.
This is stated in an official diplomatic note from Moscow.
Safety
I wonder how many accidents it took to “improve” the safety concerns regarding this?
“Safety Regulations In The 1960s”
This is who is leading the United States right now
You all should be scared shitless. Watch this short video. And look at it, and watch it with a critical eye.
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What do you think? Is he capable? Is he dangerously inept? Is he really a puppet? What is President Biden?
What is going on
“The Western world today is on the verge of a catastrophe, which has come close to due to anti-Russian sanctions that are suicidal for Europe and the war unleashed by British and American intelligence services in Ukraine. We just need to persevere.”
- Sergei Yuryevich
…Moreover, he predicted “Washington’s unleashing a world hybrid war against China and Russia… and escalating financial sanctions against Russia, up to the nurturing of a Russophobic-Nazi regime in Ukraine and the current armed conflict.”
Almost all of the academician’s negative forecasts were fully confirmed. But he thinks it could still have been avoided. “the tragic course of events that involved our country in a state of armed conflict with Ukraine.”
ScreenHunter 7569
According to Glaziev,
“it all starts with a multiple increase in energy prices, after which the economy plunges into a state of prolonged depression, the exit from which occurs through a “storm of innovations” after the collapse of financial bubbles resulting from the flow of capital from obsolete industries to the financial market.”
The aggravation of military-political tensions and the arms race, at the same time, are spurring the economy to enter a new long wave of growth based on a new technological order. So much has been said and written about the fact that a war for the United States, and preferably not a global one, is the solution of their own problems at the expense of someone else’s blood, that almost no one paid any attention to it.
And in vain, because it is not for nothing that the leader of the NATO alliance so diligently and openly avoids direct confrontation with Russia. Of course, under the guise of a peacemaker, preventing the third world.
At the same time, the post-COVID surge of China and India from Washington simply cannot turn their gaze. Not enough strength.
In the program article of the academician, it is no coincidence that it was noted that it was during such periods “a window of opportunity is opening for the economic breakthrough of new technological leaders, not burdened by tying up capital in obsolete industries.”
In parallel with the breakthrough of China and India “on the basis of a new technological order, the core of which is a complex of nano-, bioengineering, information, digital, additive and cognitive technologies”, something no less, and perhaps even more important, is happening.
“The transition to a new world economic order is unfolding,” when it is no longer private capital and entrepreneurial initiative, but “the state integrates the interests of various social groups around the common goal of increasing the people’s well-being on the basis of advanced economic development.”
At the same time, Glazyev is convinced that “on the domestic front, Russia has significantly strengthened.”
“Firstly, the influence of the fifth column of American agents of influence has sharply weakened, which, under the fear of confiscation of foreign assets, could not influence the President of Russia. Although the comprador oligarchy, in an effort to keep the savings exported from Russia, jumps out of their pants to prove their loyalty to Washington and London, they are seen there as a played card. Many foreign agents of influence, who daily poisoned the public consciousness in the media, simply fled.
Secondly, as a result of the imposed sanctions, the budget rule was automatically canceled, according to which the oil and gas revenues of the budget were invested in the obligations of the NATO countries. Now these hundreds of billions of rubles are placed at the disposal of the government and can be spent on constructive purposes.
Thirdly, with its sanctions, the enemy actually stopped the export of capital from Russia, which creates financial opportunities for doubling investments in the development of its own economy.
Fourth, freed from manipulation by American speculators, the ruble has strengthened significantly even without foreign exchange reserves. And due to the ban on transactions in dollars and euros, it becomes a regional reserve currency.
Fifth, the voluntary withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market opens up previously unthinkable opportunities for import substitution.” It’s time to start the counteroffensive
Russia from Washington and London predict a drop in GDP by more than 10%. But Glazyev noted that “if you correctly use all these positive results for Russia of American aggression”, then instead we can get 10% of its growth.
It is only necessary to rebuild “the entire system of managing the development of the Russian economy on the basis of the principles of the new world economic order. Monetary policy should become part of strategic planning, and the banking system should work to invest in achieving the goals of social and economic development planned by the state.”
The Ukrainian crisis has been going on for the second month now, the battles are becoming more meaningful and even more fierce because of this, although the losses of the parties are currently on the wane. It is difficult to say how everything will turn out with the start of the big battle for the Donbass. There is less and less doubt that it will take place no one is going to concede.
However, when starting the special operation, in Russia, at least according to external signs, they did not take into account how powerful the hybrid rebuff would be – and above all, in terms of information. The West turned in its favor both the situation with refugees and the unprecedented atrocities of their Ukrainian wards.
However, in the end, everything results in the fact that, according to the definition of the academician, “in the heat of the anti-Russian sanctions, the United States was strongly substituted.” Discrediting the dollar and undermining confidence in the “world monetary and financial system based on it” can not only cost too much, but lead to their complete destruction. And a simple transition from the dollar and the euro to the yuan, for example, will not be enough.
The whole structure of informational pressure on Russia is now on the verge of collapse.
In conclusion, what does Glazyev offer in global terms. So, we have to
“quickly build a modern economic development management system based on the new world economic order, which has proven itself brilliantly in China, India and other countries. Create coalitions with them for the speedy formation of a new global monetary, financial, trade and economic system independent of the United States and its satellites.”
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But, you know guys… I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in the world, if you know what I mean.
Princess Fatemeh Khanum Was The Princess Of Persia. She Was The Daughter Of King Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar, Who “Ruled Persia From 1848 To 1896. She Was Considered The Ultimate Symbol Of Beauty In Persia During The Early 1900s”.
Gilligan’s Island – Gilligan’s WWII Mine
A fun little flashback to a far simpler time. You don’t need to watch this full segment, but it’s a nice image that takes and sends you bak to when time was far simpler and easier.
Materials of the briefing by the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov April 14, 2022
Thanks to the special military operation of the Russian troops, it was possible to obtain additional information about the military – biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine , confirming numerous violations of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons ( BTWC ).
ScreenHunter
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international legislation and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration is consistently building up its military biological potential in various regions of the world .
Earlier, we presented a scheme for coordinating the activities of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine by the United States. One of its elements is the Ukrainian Scientific and Technological Center ( UNTC ). The Russian Ministry of Defense managed to uncover its role in the military – biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine .
Its legal status is determined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993, which was concluded between the governments of Ukraine , Canada , the United States and Sweden , as well as the Amendment Protocol of July 7, 1997.
The STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku , Chisinau and Tbilisi , as well as Kharkov and Lvov .
At the same time, the Expert Center for Chemical and Biological Threats of the Russian Ministry of Defense established that the main activity of the STCU is to act as a distribution center for grants for conducting research of interest to the Pentagon, including in the field of biological weapons .
In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $ 350 million on the implementation of STCU projects .
The US Department of State and the Ministry of Defense are US customers and sponsors of the STCU . Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
Also, pay attention to the document prepared by the STCU curators dated March 11, 2022, which highlights the true nature of the activities of this organization. It notes: “ …There is an outflow of scientific experts in the development of delivery vehicles and modern weapons who worked at Ukrainian institutions , as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological , chemical and nuclear weapons .
The most trained specialists with experience in working with dual – use materials and technologies ( there are from 1,000 to 4,000 of them ) found themselves in unfavorable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to siding with other states to participate in programs _ on the development of WMD, delivery vehicles and other weapons … “ .
Using such formulations, Washington actually recognizes the work carried out by Ukrainian experts on the creation of means for the delivery and use of weapons of mass destruction and considers it appropriate to continue their financing.
The post of Executive Director of the STCU is held by US citizen Curtis Belayach. Born August 27, 1968 in California, studied at the California University of Management named after Anderson. He has a master’s degree in international finance and has been working in Ukraine since 1994. Rest of article
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Meanwhile in Japan
Zombie vending machine?
In case of zombies, break glass.
Nukes or Fertilizer Plant, You Decide: ‘EU-supplied’ S-300 launchers and surrounding area obliterated
Creepy footage. The moment of yesterday's most powerful explosion in Nikolaev. Damn guys, I don't like these mushrooms at all… https://t.co/RwqscCX2Be
— Seb Pearn
Russian forces have destroyed foreign-supplied S-300 anti-aircraft launchers in a number of precision strikes on Ukraine, the Defense Ministry, in Moscow, claimed on Monday. Days earlier, Slovakia reported the donation of a battery of old Soviet-made S-300 air defense missiles to Kiev.
In its regular briefing on the ongoing military action in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry reported hitting a hangar “on the southern outskirts of the city of Dnepropetrovsk,” where “equipment from an S-300 battery supplied to the Ukrainian regime by one of the European nations” was hidden.
The barrage of sea-launched Kalibr missiles destroyed four S-300 launchers and as many as 25 Ukrainian troops in the Sunday strike, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed. He used the old name of the city, which Ukrainian authorities renamed Dnepro in 2016 to distance it from the Soviet period of the country’s history.
The Russian official also reported destroying an S-300 targeting radar in a separate overnight precision airstrike near Uspenovka. The general didn’t specify which of the multiple villages of that name in Ukraine he was referring to, and didn’t say whether the radar was part of the battery supplied by the foreign nation.
Last Friday, Slovakia announced that it had donated its only S-300 battery to Ukraine. The weapon system was part of the NATO member’s legacy from the Warsaw Pact days, when it formed part of Czechoslovakia. It was not clear how many vehicles were sent to Ukraine. A regular S-300 battery can have as few as four and as many as 12 launchers using a single radar to identify targets, and is controlled by a single command post.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger assured citizens that the country’s national security would not be compromised since “allies” agreed to boost its air defense in return. US President Joe Biden said his country would provide an American Patriot missile battery as a replacement and thanked Bratislava for agreeing to give the S-300 to Kiev. Elements of the Patriot system started arriving in Slovakia three weeks ago, according to its defense minister.
Responding to Russian claims on Twitter, Prime Minister Heger called them a “hoax” and “Russian propaganda.” The statement was apparently based on a denial that Slovakia received from Kiev.
Washington reportedly wanted another NATO member, Turkey, to strike a similar deal with Ukraine and send it a Russian-supplied S-400, which is more advanced than the S-300. Ankara rejected the idea, saying the system would remain in its possession. In 2020, the US imposed sanctions on Turkey for buying the S-400s from Russia under a deal signed in 2017.
Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
The Prisoner: Season 1 Episode 1 – Arrival (Full Episode)
Let’s end this article with a full and great treat. If you know aobut who MM is and why MM exists, then you should well appreciate the plot and story line for S1E1 of the British Series “The Prisoner”.
This is a full treat. After a very successful career as a British spy, a follow up series known as “The Prisoner” was created. It discusses what do you do with Super-secret spies when they want and need to be retired.
It’s well worth the time to watch in full. Please enjoy it.
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Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Western Mainstream Media screams Putin is losing or Putin has lost. The heroic Ukrainian president has single-handedly beaten back the brutal Russians.Biden screams Putin is a war criminal. That is, Putin's losing Russian army is commiting genocide on the winning Ukrainian hero defenders. Was that how the 300 Spartans massacred the Persians?Do two lies make a truth?America seems to finally want peace. The US warns China will face consequences if it does not stop Russia's war in Ukraine. So America wants China to use a magic wand (which it does not have) to stop a war that America started and which it is still fueling, otherwise America will start a war with China. Does America want peace or war? I still can't wrap my head around this one.This is what happens when a country is run by lying hypocritical demented morons.
-PM
Lieutenant General Roger Cloutier was captured in Mariupol and is already in Moscow.
This proves BEYOND A DOUBT that America is not fighting a proxy war against Russia, but rather instead, is fighting a direct kinetic war against Russia inside a NATO proxy nation.
This will seriously escalate the global situation dangerously.
China perceptions
China, which has of late risen to the top of the United States enemies’ chart, is a bit harder to understand.
China is a legitimate global competitor with an economy now estimated to be larger than that of the US, but it has never suggested in any way that it wants a war.
Against that background, President Biden has declared that the United States has a “commitment” to defend Taiwan if China should attempt to retake control of the island.
If that conflict were to come about and the US engages in a conventional war against Beijing, it would find that the Chinese have considerable advantages in that they would be fighting on interior lines while the modern hypersonic missile technologies that they would deploy could devastate obsolete American aircraft carrier battle groups.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has described the new Chinese missiles as “very concerning” and “very close” to being a “Sputnik moment,” when a panicked US accelerated its arms and space races against the Soviet Union in 1957.
And one should not forget that China is a major trading partner with the United States, producing many consumer items that are no longer manufactured in America.
Beijing also holds tens of billions of dollars-worth of US Treasury bonds.
If two countries ever had good reasons not to go to war it would be China and the US, but the threats coming mostly from Washington have been nearly continuous ever since President Barack Obama initiated his tilt to Asia.
The complete ineptness of US diplomacy also contributes to the sense of threat.
Logically, Washington should be playing off Russia against China to diminish any danger of war against two hostile great powers but instead it has chosen to antagonize both of themm simultaneously.
Whether the Europeans and the South Koreans and Japanese will follow the US on its march to oblivion is debatable.
One of the curious aspects of the news coming out of the White House, Pentagon and Foggy Bottom is just how hypocritical it all is.
“We’re witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geo-strategic power the world has witnessed. They [the Chinese] are clearly challenging us regionally and their aspiration is to challenge the United States globally.”
Milley is saying that China in particular, and Russia and Iran as well, cannot develop military technologies and take other steps to defend themselves without Washington’s permission.
The absurdity of that position should be obvious to everyone, but it has apparently not yet become clear to those in power in Washington.
Russia intervenes in a country which neighbors it, thousands of miles away, and the US Americans see that as a threat to the USA.
And nevermind that the USA is the country which forced Russia into this war which the Kremlin spent eight years trying to avoid.
How is such a result even possible? Here are a few options:
A majority of US Americans are simply stupid and cannot think
A majority of US Americans are unbelievably ignorant
A majority of US Americans are brainwashed by their media and schools
A majority of US Americans have been trained/conditioned to fear and hate whomever their rulers designate for demonization
A majority of US Americans sincerely believe that the USA ought to be the planet’s cop and no matter where a conflict starts, even when that conflict started by the USA, they believe that it is Uncle Shmuel business to deal with it. In their tiny minds, the USA has a God given right to intervene anywhere and attack anyone.
A majority of US Americans perceive any truly sovereign country as a direct threat to their way of life.
The PYSOP campaign to demonize Russia has been a resounding success.
A mix of all of the above is probably the most accurate cause for such a result.
Huawei speeds up bond sales
Company will issue 3 billion yuan (US$470 million) of short-term debt next week, a month after it sold 3 billion yuan in China’s interbank market
Huawei is reinventing itself, morphing from a hardware-centric model to a combination of hardware, software, and services
Next, I bumped into a Foxnews propaganda piece featuring a clown which, apparently, in some very distant past was a US Lt. General in the USA military, his last name is Kellogg.
I decided to give it a try and I have to say that I sat absolutely *transfixed* listening to him: according to him, Russia has already suffered a huge defeat at the hands of the Ukronazis and with NATO’s help the Ukraine can, and probably will, win this war.
And both that “general” and the presstitute “interviewing” him delivered that crock of shit with great gravitas and appropriate facial expressions (angled eyebrows, the way the journos try to look very sincere). I was expecting at least one of them to burst out laughing but, no, of course not.
These two simply lack both the brain and the humor to realize how terminally stupid and ridiculous they both sound.
A man who says with a straight face that delivering 20 Soviet era aircraft or S-300 to the Ukrainians will make a difference in this war is either a clueless civilian or a deliberate liar prostituting his (putative and now former) officer’s honor for a few bucks.
Russia is jamming GPS satellite signals in Ukraine
Russia is jamming GPS satellite signals in Ukraine, US Space Force says
By Elizabeth Howell published 1 day ago
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‘Ukraine may not be able to use GPS,’ a Space Force official told NBC.
In the old days, we used to enjoy movies in which Robin Hood would “take from the rich and give to the poor”. But in the real world things are not supposed to work that way. In a civilized society, property rights are supposed to be respected. Unfortunately, the truth is that the U.S. is becoming less civilized with each passing day. At this point, a “Robin Hood mentality” is starting to emerge all over America. Highly organized gangs of thieves are specifically searching for wealthy targets, and those targets are often being followed all the way home before being attacked. I suppose that thieves must think that it makes a great deal of sense to target the wealthy, because robbing the rich is certainly a lot more lucrative than robbing the poor.
In Los Angeles, the police are openly admitting that over a dozen gangs are specifically targeting individuals that appear to have a lot of money…
More than a dozen Los Angeles gangs are targeting some of the city’s wealthiest residents in a new and aggressive manner, sending out crews in multiple cars to find, follow and rob people driving high-end vehicles or wearing expensive jewelry, according to police.In many cases, they’re making off with designer handbags, diamond-studded watches and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — and then peddling them to black-market buyers who are willing to turn a blind eye to the underlying violence, police said.
In recent years, it has become trendy to show off your wealth publicly, but I think that is going to change.
In our new environment, donning very expensive gear simply makes you a target.
According to Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who spearheads the task force, police have identified at least 17 gangs, most based out of South L.A. and operating independently, that are involved. There were 165 such robberies in 2021 and 56 so far this year, he said, including several over the weekend.
Once upon a time, criminals would approach and politely ask you to hand over your belongings.
Needless to say, those days are long gone. In fact, these gangs often physically attack their wealthy victims without even saying a word…
“There’s no chance or opportunity for these victims even to comply. They’re just running up to people and attacking them, whether that’s putting a gun in their face or punching them and beating on them,” Tippet said. “Pistol whipping them as well.”In some cases, police determined that gang members inside high-end venues served as “spotters” for those outside, Tippet said, alerting them when wealthy targets were heading out.
Sadly, the pace of these attacks appears to be accelerating.
According to authorities, there have been five more just within the last 48 hours, including one in which a woman was run into “by a Dodge muscle car”…
An LA woman was filmed being mown down by a Dodge muscle car so muggers could steal her watch as the city’s terrifying follow-home robberies soar.The video from Monday, one of five such robberies that occurred over just 48 hours, shows the unidentified victim fleeing the muggers silver Dodge Challenger after they smashed her car window when she stopped at a light in Downtown LA.
There was a time when most violent crime was confined to the poorest parts of Los Angeles and those that lived in the wealthiest neighborhoods generally felt quite safe.
But now everything has changed. Today, the largest increases in violent crime are happening in the wealthiest zip codes…
The zip codes showing the largest increases are home to film and pop stars, including Beverly Hills, of “90210” fame, where Beyonce and Jay-Z have their West Coast house; Bel Air, of “Fresh Prince” Will Smith fame, where Jennifer Lopez now resides; and Los Feliz, where Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom share a house and where Angelina Jolie has resided since her divorce from Brad Pitt.
And in nearby Santa Monica, the Postal Service has actually suspended service because mail carriers were being attacked so often…
The United States Postal Service suspended service in a Santa Monica neighborhood after reports of repeated attacks on mail carriers.In a notice posted at apartment mail boxes in the 1300 block of 14th Street, the USPS informed residents that service to the neighborhood is suspended. The letter cited several assaults and threats against mail carriers by an individual.
A state of complete and utter chaos reigns on the streets of the largest cities of California, but of course there is plenty of violence elsewhere too.
On Tuesday, a mass shooting on a subway train in New York City made headlines all over the world…
At least 29 people were wounded on Tuesday after a gunman wearing a gas mask set off smoke grenades and opened fire inside a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, authorities said.
62-year-old Frank James regularly posted hate-filled videos on YouTube, and this shooting was obviously an attempt to draw a lot more attention to himself and to his hate-filled beliefs.
It has now emerged that he was known to the FBI and was questioned in 2019 in New Mexico though it is not yet clear why.He was cleared but was entered into the state’s ‘Guardian Lead’ system.The Guardian Program is the bureau’s terrorist threat and suspicious incident tracking system.
James had been repeatedly arrested over the years, and this is yet another example that shows the foolishness of putting violent criminals back on the streets.
Of course if we tried to lock up all of the violent criminals our prisons would be packed beyond capacity very rapidly. Violence is on the rise everywhere you look, and what we are witnessing right now is only just the beginning.
In New York City, the new mayor was supposed to crack down on crime, but instead crime rates just keep going up. In fact, the number of subway crimes in March 2022 was 55 percent higher than in March 2021.
But we shouldn’t just pick on New York City. Other major cities are seeing similar spikes in violent crime.
So if things are this bad already, what will things look like in this country when economic conditions get really, really bad?
You might want to think about that.
And if you have lots of money, you might want to think about ways that you can look “poorer”, because those that appear to be wealthy will be preyed upon more than ever in the days ahead.
Fearing GPS Jamming By China, US Air Force Wants To Send Extra Layer Of Satellites To The Geostationary Orbit
China’s BDS accuracy comparable to GPS, even better in Asia-Pacific region: authorities – Global Times
After the “dirty trick” by foremer President Bill Clinton (where he turned off the GPS forcing a multimillion dollar Chinese rocket and it’s satellite to be destroyed), China has made their own GPS system. It’s known as the BDS, and is more accurate, safer, and better protected than the old American GPS system.
As for the German Eurolemmings, they have truly lost any sense of decency or even basic common sense: they are now seriously thinking about sending old Leopard 1 tanks to the Ukraine!
Let me explain something really basic here:
You cannot just send weapons to the Ukraine and have that make a difference. I mean, yes, if you send AKs, bullet and clubs, they might get used. But modern weapon systems require training. They also require maintenance. Then they need to be integrated into the rest of the armed forces. Then your forces need to train and practice a lot to perfect their combat coordination. Then you need a supply/maintenance/repairs network to maintain/repair your systems. Advanced air defense systems require crews with sometimes many years of training. Considering that the reinforcements sent by Kiev to the Donbass even include their Volkssturm, you can imagine how utterly useless the operators of the few weapons systems surviving the trip from Lvov to the Donbass will be. And the interval between the moment this ancient S-300 goes live and the moment a Russian ARM hit it will be counted in minutes at most.
Next, old weapons (ex-Soviet or ex-NATO) are just fat targets. In almost all cases, Russian equivalents are one or even two generations ahead, so why are all the EU sending them? Well, for a couple of reasons, the main one is to get rid of them, since storage or recycling of such systems is rather costly. The next reason is that it makes NATO politicians look “tough” – after all, if Zelenskii wants old tanks, artillery or air defense systems (he ain’t exactly a military genius either!) then, by all means, we give it to him and look like we are doing *something*. By the way, the four S-300 sent by the Slovaks were, apparently, already destroyed in a strike yesterday. And the Slovak taxpayer did not spend a penny on this. How is that not a good deal for Slovakia? Oh sure, this is an act of war, a casus belli, as are ALL but UNSC approved “sanctions”, but the Euroemmings Master Race are so superior in every sense to the accursed Rooskies that, screw that! The only thing which can bring the Eurolemmings back to reality is a Russian strike on such a weapons convoy INSIDE a NATO member country because, as I have already explained, when the Eurolemmings to hide behind Uncle Shmuel’s back, all he will offer them are statements of support, outrage, freshly printed fiat money and the usual mix of threats, fear and hate western politicians always spew about Russia. But the US won’t allow NATO to go to war with Russia over one such strike, especially if the Russians clearly explain what they did and why (I actually expect that quite a few “old-time” western officers will get a good kick out of their newfound NATO “allies” hysterics once that happens).
As I have mentioned in the past, weapons convoys in the western Ukraine (and, possibly, even inside Poland) make for easy and lucrative targets for the Russians. Just mix in enough civilians and, voilà!, sooner or later you will have a “Russian atrocity”, something like “the Russians kill scores of innocent feeling Ukrainian civilians” or “the Russians attacked trucks clearly marked with red crosses” (FYI – the SBU and Azov uses red crosses on its vans and ammo/supply trucks!). This is likely one of the reasons the Russians have, so far, chosen not to attack early on but to wait for solid intelligence and then strike the NATO forces/hardware when it is nicely concentrated somewhere. Still, we know that Azov ALWAYS used civilians (especially those perceived as “not sufficiently patriotic”!) as human shields. By the way, NATO taught them this technique. Anyway, to expect NATO weapon convoys NOT to be protected by human shields would be simply stupid. The Russians simply have to ASSUME that NATO/SBU/Azov will ALWAYS be surrounded by captive civilians.
Even by British standards, this is the most pre-announced pre-publicized false flag in history, I am amazed I don’t see ads and previews for it on Amazon and Netflix…
I guess, I will just say that if the public opinion is being prepared for a Russian chemical attack (maybe even with the – apparently harmless – “Novichok”) then we know for sure which side is winning and which side is not winning.
Why a False Flag?
There are a few other reasons why the Empire of Hate and Lies badly and urgently needs a false flag:
Mariupol has fallen and all the rescue or escape attempts have failed. Yes, there are probably several hundred, possibly around 1000 Nazis still left in the deep and many underground facilities under the industrial complex, but they have become militarily irrelevant so the Russian National Guard forces are taking their sweet time to avoid any unnecessary losses on the Russian side.
Reports of Nazi atrocities are literally all over the place, especially on Telegram. A few of these have leaked into the legacy corporate ziomedia thereby creating the first, still tiny, cracks in the official narrative.
Nobody knows what/who exactly is hidden deep in the bowels of Azovstal, but considering the immense efforts to get “it/him/them” out of there, the inevitable takeover of the underground floors by the Russians will result in some major embarrassment for the Empire, unless the Kremlin decides to show “goodwill” again and mistakenly believe that any such goodwill will be appreciated in the West. IF there is a deal made, it will have to offer the Russians something really substantive and very quickly verifiable since just promises won’t do, not even with the Atlantic Integrationists (who are now busy rebranding themselves as “patriotic Russians”).
There are also lots of reports of atrocities in the Nazi-controlled Ukraine, including public floggings and executions. Again, Telegram is flooded with such reports and footage and the Bucha false flag petered out without providing the needed “distraction” and return to the “correct” narrative. The Ukronazis even reportedly told the Brits that they have no intention of abiding by the Geneva Conventions (what a surprise!).China import Growth rate in March is 15.4%, 0.1% lower than previous year and SCMP titled it “import collapse.”
China trade: imports unexpectedly ‘collapsed’ under coronavirus and Ukraine war pressures, but exports grew | South China Morning Post
Imports fell by 0.1 per cent in March from a year earlier, down from 15.5 per cent growth in combined figures for January and February
Exports grew by 14.7 per cent in March compared with a year earlier, down from 16.3 per cent growth in combined figures for January and February
And then there is China which clearly supports Russia, and which is clearly preparing for a war against the USA. Even their minister of defense said so quite openly. And here are two things the Chinese know for sure:
If the United States Empire defeats Russia, China will be next, thus China cannot afford a Russian defeat under ANY circumstances (and neither can Russia afford a hypothetical Chinese defeat at the hands of the Empire).
If the US and Russia go at each other in earnest, this will be the perfect time to not only solve the Taiwan issue, but to boot the US out of the Far East just as Iran booted the USA out of the Middle-East. From the Chinese point of view, “just” liberating Taiwan is not enough – the US must be removed from Taiwan, Japan and even the ROK. So yes, China also wants to denazify the planet, they are less blunt about it than the Russians, but it is clear to me that this world denazification plan was agreed to by both Putin and Xi.
The folks at the Pentagon must realize that – at least a sufficient critical mass must do so. Yes, I agree with Andrei Martyanov, the former US generals on TV sound like ignorant infantiles, but I will never believe that all US military commanders are that stupid.
Mattis seems to be the person who deliberately botched the US missile strike on Syria to avoid a possible Russian reaction leading to war and General Milley called his Chinese counterpart to tell him that the US has no intention of striking at China thereby telling the Chinese that they are NOT in a “use them or lose them” situation, which would have put the entire USA in the very real danger of getting nuked by a desperate China. In both of these cases, these generals appear to have contravened direct orders for the greater good of service to their country and protection of the US population of the imbecilic orders given by imbecilic US Presidents. Mattis was “let go” pretty soon by The Donald while Milley was subjected to a vicious smear campaign.
So if “Biden” (meaning Nuland, Sullivan, Blinken or any other demented psychopath) gives the order to attack Russian forces I still want to believe that there will be a critical mass at the Pentagon to tell the “crazies in the basement” to finally shut up and get back to where they belong: the basement they crawled out of.
Everything seems to be in American freefall…
What’s It Like To Be In An Airplane That Is Falling From The Sky?
I was in a commercial jet that fell from cruising altitude. It was a small jet flying on a now defunct airline.
We had just started the descent when the plane tilted and the dropped out of the sky. Nose was pointed nearly straight down.
I was sitting in the aisle. People were screaming, yelling out – but I can’t remember the words. All kinds of crap was flying through the cabin and the flight attendant was no where to be seen.
My brother and Dad were in the seats behind me. I remember thinking about how sad my mum was going to be. And then looking out at the window at the ground.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pilot was able to regain control and the plane started to right itself again…. for about 15-30 seconds, before starting another uncontrolled descent.
It was more terrifying the second time around – the ground was far closer. I was certain that I was going to die and looked over at a blonde woman about my age sitting next to me. We hadn’t spoken the entire flight, but I reached out in some impulsive desire for human contact at the end…and we held hands as the plane fell out of the sky. I can remember looking at her face briefly, she was crying.
As the ground started approaching and you could make out things like trees and houses, I felt a sense of peace fall about me.
Death seemed to be certain but I didn’t care. It seemed like it was going to be quick and painless – but I remember being surprised that it was going to all end this way.
Then we started to feel the pilot struggling with the plane and it started to right itself again…and for a second time the plane pulled out of the dive.
It was still incredibly bumpy and people were crying and screaming out at every round of turbulence – everyone was waiting for the next and final dive.
When we landed, the young woman and I were still holding hands. People were dead quiet.
What was surreal was that the flight attendant got on the microphone when we reached the gate and thanked us for flying on that shitty ass airline and ‘hoped we would fly again’.
They brought a bus out and one of the pilots came out with us. He didn’t say a word, but his knee was shaking uncontrollably.”
But you know, people do survive…
“17 Year-Old Juliane Koepcke Was Sucked Out Of An Airplane In 1971 After It Was Struck By A Bolt Of Lightning. She Fell 2 Miles To The Ground, Strapped To Her Seat And Survived After She Endured 10 Days In The Amazon Jungle”
Juliane Koepcke
Back to the Ukraine
If it wasn’t for the US nuclear triad (old, but still formidable and capable!), I truly wouldn’t give a damn, but alas that is a luxury nobody can afford, at least until the USA is finally denazified and disarmed too. But until all of Zone A is absorbed and re-civilized by Zone B, that danger will threaten every human being on the planet (and now even in the southern hemisphere courtesy of the comprador leaders of the US colony in Australia which have decided to paint a big Chinese nuclear crosshairs on their brainless heads!).
Okay, I will end with some major good news: the entire 36th Marine Infantry Brigade in Mariupol has surrendered! That is over 1000 soldiers, including 300 wounded and 90 seriously injured.
2022 04 14 13 18
Now, careful here, these are NOT the Azov forces hiding in the underground floors of Azovstal. First, they are not Azov but regular Ukrainian military and, second, they were barricaded in the Illich industrial complex, near the Azovstal, but already cut off from Azovstal.
It is important to note that unlike the Azov Nazis, the Naval Infantry forces are NOT considered as Nazis by the Russians and that they will all get full POW protection under the Geneva Convention.
The very best the Azov people can expect is to be identified and arrested on suspicion of war crimes, crimes against humanity and all kinds of atrocities. If some of them are clearly clueless idiots who made some bad choices, they might return home one day after either being found innocent (a minority) or after serving their time in Russian jails.
Those found with tattooed swastikas or those who are already on the FSB wanted list will get harsh sentences in equally harsh high-security prisons.
As for Azov commanders, they have already been told by everybody that they will get no mercy. Which means that they will get interrogated and executed.
Declan Hayes
April 5, 2022
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Japan’s future, whether she likes it or not, will be with its East Asian neighbors’ Belt and Road Initiative when the U.S. 7th Fleet scuttles back to Pearl Harbor.
Although it is now 20 years since the English edition of my Japan: The Toothless Tiger best seller first appeared, everything that has since happened has confirmed its thesis that East Asia is a powder keg that Japan cannot contain.
Although China’s Belt and Road Initiative is inexorably falling into place, so too is the South China Sea. Although a British convoy, supported by German and American cruisers, recently sailed through the area, they, like the Australians, who are being butt hurt by Chinese sanctions, are not serious players.
South Korea, Taiwan and Japan are the region’s heavy hitters. Though Taiwan would give an excellent account of itself in any future encounter, there is little they could do when faced with overwhelming Chinese firepower. Taiwan could be East Asia’s Arch Duke Ferdinand moment.
South Korea, however, remains the real dagger to Japan’s heart. There are more than five million men under arms on the Korean peninsula – far more armed soldiers than either the United States or Russia maintains. Vladivostock, Russia’s military headquarters in the Far East, is only fifty miles away from North Korea! The resulting geostrategic rivalries make Korea the most militarized piece of real estate on the planet and it is the only place the United States has (repeatedly) declared it has locked and loaded nuclear weapons. As there is no way Seoul can be defended from a determined attack, the USMC is heavily embedded in Okinawa to where they hastily retreated at the height of the Korean War and to where they most likely will have to retreat again. Though Japan needs South Korea as a buffer state against North Korea and its historical Russian and Chinese sponsors, the Belt and Road Initiative would marginalize Japan and make her almost irrelevant to this Chinese minted version of The Great Game.
China views its own naval expansion as vital to protecting her sea routes and, just like Washington, Beijing is deploying her navy to ensure that the black gold continues to arrive to her shores. The fact that this policy poses a threat to Japan is not Beijing’s primary concern. They have the much more daunting task of keeping their vast nation afloat. For that overriding purpose, they need a strong navy to guarantee their oil supplies and a steely determination to defend and promote their national objectives.
Japan’s looming quandary is that, with Taiwan and South Korea, it has been a vassal of America’s East Asian policy, trading economic advancement for American political and military hegemony in contrast to China’s unfettered development. That bill is now due.
China is involved in a great strategic game that she cannot afford to lose. Kazakhstan is China’s natural bridge to the lucrative Iranian and Iraqi fields. Such a link-up would advance China’s standing as a world power. It would also cripple United States’ efforts to secure the Caspian Sea’s oil for the West. China also wants to secure central Asia’s economic cooperation to help mollify Xinjiang, which Erdoğan’s Muslim Uighur fifth columnists are charged with subverting. About 200,000 Uighurs live in Kazakhstan and opposition Islamic terrorist groups have their bases in Almata, its largest city. China hopes to neutralize this U.S. sponsored internal ISIS threat by its oil diplomacy in Kazakhstan, and its arms diplomacy in Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.
NATO’s ongoing belligerence in Eastern Europe has transformed the pipeline poker China has been playing with Russia and the other regional powers, forcing Russia and oil rich Kazakhstan to fully throw their lot in with China. Siberian oil will flow southwards to China and, if Korea and Japan wish it, onwards to them as well.
Iran meanwhile, is helping China wrest the vast oil reserves of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf from Uncle Sam . If Iran and China control the flow of oil from the region, the United States will lose control not only of the Caspian Sea but also of the Persian Gulf’s vast and vital oil supplies. Japan best urgently take stock.
China’s missiles nullify America’s capacity to militarily dominate Asia’s vast geography with its small, dispersed pockets of marine forces, whose forward deployment policy bases are much too vulnerable. Without forward bases in Asia, there can be no concentration of American military power: weapons cannot even be stored, let alone massed for use.
This vulnerability of their bases to Chinese missiles is America’s singular military weakness in Asia. America’s powerful Seventh Fleet cannot make up for the loss of Asian land bases. The Seventh Fleet cannot generate anything like the military power or psychological effect of fixed bases.
The most important of these forward bases are those in Japan. Guam, like mainland America, is simply too far away to fill this role. Okinawa is the pivotal, preferred spot. And China’s missiles are gradually making those bases redundant to America’s strategic thinkers.
China is devoting vast resources to her missile program. This is a war of nerves where time and, ultimately, technology, is on the side of Mainland China. This psychological aspect explains China’s widespread use of ballistic missiles, which are, in essence, really psychological weapons – paper tigers if you will. Although Taiwan might protect itself from an amphibious assault, protecting Taipei from surgical missile strikes – or the threat of surgical strikes – by Beijing’s ballistic missile units is a more daunting task. Beijing knows this and will continue to tighten and loosen the screws, as she deems appropriate.
Japan has a glass jaw, one that China could easily break if Japan does not act responsibly over the next few years. Japan is the only major nation in the world that has explicitly renounced war as a tool of policy. Article 9.1 of the Japanese constitution renounces war “as a sovereign right of the nation”. Article 9.2 asserts that “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained”.
That said, Japan maintains very substantial “land, sea and air forces”. Japan’s military expenditures are, in fact, the third highest in the world. Tokyo has stockpiled over 100 tons of plutonium that would be relatively simple to transform into weapons’ grade material. Japan’s fast-breeder reactors (FBRs) have the capacity to squeeze over 60 times more energy from uranium fuel than can the light-water reactors of most other countries. Japan will, in other words, have the capacity to make more nuclear weapons than the combined arsenals of the United States and Russia hold. If nothing else, this arsenal makes an impressive bundle of bargaining chips.
Because its major challenges will come from the air, Japan has developed formidable anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile defense systems. Japan’s radar and its accurate Tomahawk missile technology far excel their American prototypes. Other Japanese strengths in miniaturization, automation, telecommunications and the development of durable, lightweight advanced materials further enhance their military capabilities.
Japan’s plutonium purchases have allowed it develop the necessary nuclear submarine technology to counter China’s blue water navy. Though impressive, a handful of nuclear submarines and a couple of batteries of missile defenses do not make Japan impregnable.
Bizarre as it seems, Japan’s expertise in these niche areas is a cause for concern in Washington. America fears lost market share if Japan exports its expertise – and, to develop the required expertise, Japan would have to copy the examples of Israel, Sweden, South Africa and other small countries and aggressively export. The United States fears that Japan would win export orders at its expense.
Japanese dual-use technological capabilities in commercial fields related to military use threatens the preeminent position American producers currently enjoy in the world’s arms’ markets. This is ironic as, historically, the United States encouraged Japan in its development of dual use capabilities. Spin-offs from the radio industry, for example, helped kick-start the Japanese commercial television industry, which eventually obliterated their American competitors.
Japan’s defense industry is, however, an inconsequential part of Japan’s overall industrial output. It accounts for less than 1 percent of Japanese gross domestic product (GDP) and even those firms, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), which are most heavily involved in it, are there mostly because of the spin-off technological benefits it has given them.
Whereas Japan has some particularly strong trees of knowledge, the forest overwhelmingly belongs to America. Japan just does not have the logistical depth of America or the European Union to be a major league player. While Japanese industry has established a global position in a wide range of critical modern technologies, Japan’s defense industry has lagged behind. At the systems level, military technology has simply moved faster than Japan’s ability to catch up.
Japan, in other words, does not have an autonomous arms industry. Today, the defense industry accounts for less than 0.6 percent of total industrial production, an almost insignificant amount in Japan’s overall context. Though Japan produces about 90 percent of its own military requirements, much of that is built under license from American firms and a considerable amount of the technology is black-boxed – sealed so that Japanese engineers cannot study and copy them.
In summary then, East Asia is in a state of chassis. Although Japan has neither the heart nor the materiel for what lies ahead, she, together with South Korea and Taiwan, must develop not only their autonomous defense systems but their own autonomous diplomatic voices as well. Japan’s future, whether she likes it or not, will be with its East Asian neighbors’ Belt and Road Initiative when the U.S. 7th Fleet, however belatedly, scuttles back to Pearl Harbor.
Why isn’t China buying more Russian oil?
Outbound shipments of Russian oil have yet to show signs of a major decline, as many analysts feared last month. In fact, Russia’s shipments of crude oil rebounded in the first full week of April to the highest level so far this year,
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Note: remember China gas deal with trump at a fix price of $235 (I think) for 20 years with huge penety if China fail fulfil the contract? Now that has prices gong skyrocketed to over $1000, and to support Russia, China increase it buying from Russia. So, how to handle over stocking?
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China simply sales her US gas to Europe making tens of billion of dollar of profit in the process.
Sometimes, real facts pop-up in the strangest places. This one is a doozy!
The City of Shanghai China has been in a new “COVID Lockdown” for a couple weeks. 23 Million people can’t even leave their homes. No work. No food shopping. Nothing.
Protests are erupting. People want this to end.
Shanghai police inadvertently slipped-up while on-camera, and provided the __real__ reason for what’s going on: This isn’t a COVID lockdown, it is economic warfare being waged by China, against the United States.
By halting manufacturing in Shanghai and the surrounding region, parts and raw materials the US needs, aren’t coming. As such, industry in the U.S. is forced to shut down.
So what was it the Shanghai cops let slip?
"I'm telling you this is not caused by our police. This is a result of the whole international situation. We are going to have a war with America . . . Don't you know?"
A source in the French intelligence community reportedly informed a Le Figaro reporter last week that elite special forces from the UK and the US have been deployed in Ukraine since the start of hostilities with Russia in late February.
The claim was made public by the newspaper’s senior international journalist Georges Malbrunot on Saturday, the same day that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid an unexpected visit to Kiev. Although this information has not been officially confirmed, the British leader was reportedly accompanied by special SAS guards.
SAS units “have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as did [sic] the American Deltas,” Malbrunot tweeted, citing a French intelligence source. He went on to say that Russia was well aware of the “secret war” waged against its troops by foreign commandos, according to the source. His information was mentioned in Le Figaro’s Ukraine updates.
The French journalist who returned from Ukraine after arriving with volunteer fighters told broadcaster CNews that “Americans are directly “in charge” of the war on the ground.”
The United Kingdom and the United States have been among Kiev’s most ardent military supports. Johnson is said to have personally urged his Ukrainian colleague, Volodymyr Zelensky, to continue fighting Russia until better terms are presented.
Russian Flagship “Moskva” Explodes in Black Sea off Ukraine; Reports Say it SANK
The Missile cruiser ‘Moskva’ was evacuated after fire caused an ammunition explosion, “severely damaging” the ship according to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry. Ukraine is claiming they fired two “Neptune” anti-ship Missiles at the ship causing it to explode, but this is not confirmed.
The entire crew was evacuated after an ammunition explosion caused by a fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement cited by Russian media on Wednesday night. The cruiser suffered “serious damage,” the Russian military said, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.
The Slava-class missile cruiser, launched in 1979, is armed with 16 anti-ship missiles and many more air defense missiles, torpedoes and guns. It is part of the Black Sea fleet, and has been engaged in operations off the coast of Ukraine since February.
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday evening claimed that a battery of their Neptune anti-ship missiles hidden in Odessa had successfully struck the Moskva twice, setting the cruiser ablaze. Among those making the claim were Maksim Marchenko, head of the military administration in Odessa, and Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Interior Ministry in Kiev.
They did not provide any evidence for their claims.
It was just yesterday that the Hal Turner Radio Show reported to the world via Global High Frequency radio broadcasts on WBCQ and WRMI, that NATO personnel were in Odessa with equipment that could provide precise coordinates on every ship in the Black Sea within 200km, and that the NATO targeting gear could be used to guide missiles to those ships. One day later, Russia’s Black Sea flagship has now, apparently, been hit.
According to local reports – which HAVE NOT been verified – the Moskva was in the process of changing position to go after a drone which had achieved “radar lock” upon it. That change of position seems to have placed the Moskva in the worst position imaginable as far as becoming vulnerable to a coastal launched missile strike.
Was the drone “radar lock” a NATO Drone? Was the Radar lock a way to get the ship to change position to make it ripe for missile attack?
The answers to these questions may determine whether Ukraine – or the U.S.A. – gets retaliated against by Russia. It may be that such retaliation would come with no warning . . . just like the Moskva had no warning. We are in dangerous times.
Putin‘s final warning.
PUTIN: “I am now instructing our 4 combat regions that if USA and NATO dare to provoke us (around the Black Sea) and try to hit us with even ONE guided missile then you must hit them back as hard as possible.
Hit them fiercely until they kneel down for mercy.
If they retaliate, I command you to use nuclear weapons to hit their countries.
No need to think about the consequences.
I will be solely responsible.
Your duty is just to hit them hard until they kneel down begging for mercy.
Once the war has started I want you to subdue Europe in 5 days.
No need to think… just take over the 8 capitals of Europe.
From now on our Air, Land and Navy armed forces are on full alert.
I want the world to know who is the leader of the world.
What is USA… I am telling them they will be trembling in front of us.
They have been belittling and making fun of many countries but don’t they dare to try us.
Go to hell.
My view is that if the Russians have to live under USA’s mercy then what good is there left in this world!!”
As of 7:13 PM eastern US time on Thursday, 14 April, the city of Kiev, capital of Ukraine, is being heavily bombed by the Russian Army. Video below.
No way to determine if this has anything to do with the missile strikes upon the Russian Guided Missile Frigate “Moskva” which exploded and then sank in the Black Sea last night.
UPDATE 7:21 PM EDT —
Explosions are heard near the government quarter, the Ministry of Defense and the SBU.
Powerful explosions and blackouts in Kiev.
Elsewhere now, Reports of explosions and shooting in Kharkov.
Nikolaev – explosions.
Ivano-Frankovsk (Western Ukraine) – The last oil refining plant in Ukraine is being destroyed.
A good opinion about this chain of events…
Another realistic Russian ex-mil. opinion on the post-“Moscow” situation, https://t.me/mig41/16459, (Yandex translation):
[Forwarded from A spy to whom no one writes]
Missile defeat of the cruiser "Moscow" opens a new stage of hostilities in UkraineThe priority direction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the support of NATO is the South of Ukraine in the direction of Crimea and DonbassThe situation around the attack on the cruiser "Moscow" has two dimensions: [1] military–technical and [2] public–media.The military–technical part of this situation was described most fully (https://t.me/atomiccherry/429 ) the author of the Atomic Cherry channel, I recommend reading, a bright and deep mind that rarely makes mistakes in estimates.I can add to the above only the unpreparedness of the Russian fleet for the active actions of the AFU, which lies in the weak intelligence and analytical capabilities of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet and the Navy of Russia.After 50 days of the operation, from which half of the time we observe the increasing scale and pace of enemy activity, there is no reflection.Once again, we are faced with a critical underestimation of the capabilities of the APU.
The cruiser had no cover and acted alone, which is already quite a dangerous occupation.So far, everything suggests that the ship was hit during a combined attack involving a UAV and the Ukrainian Neptune missile defense system with direct support from NATO (primarily in reconnaissance and targeting).It is difficult to say what chances the ship had without cover with outdated radar and air defense in such conditions.In the general picture of what happened , two points are of interest:1. Did NATO reconnaissance aircraft take part (https://t.me/atomiccherry/430 )in the continuous illumination of the target, or only gave the exact coordinates.
The first option already speaks of the direct participation of the British Air Force in a military operation against the missile cruiser "Moscow".2. Whether the Turkish Bayraktar UAVs were used in the attack on the ship. It may also dramatically lower the degree of Turkey's relations with Russia.Once again, we have received a painful lesson in competent and clear planning of the operation, unified and effective management of forces and means, which is critically lacking in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.The media and public reflection is extremely surprising.
The media are trying to explain Ukraine's success with some kind of NATO miracle weapon, missiles that were able to magically hit the ship.This cargo cult, the magical perception of war, takes society even further away from reality.Russia has suffered a serious symbolic and military defeat.And if the loss of the first large ship (BDK, in Berdyansk) could be written off as an accident, then the loss of the second is already a pattern that speaks of a dangerous underestimation of the enemy.What conclusions and forecasts can we come to at the moment:1. The naval blockade of Ukrainian ports is under threat. The Black Sea Fleet, due to its small size, cannot continue to lose (surface) ships. We need to look for other means to keep the coast and Ukrainian ports under control.2. Attacks on the Black Sea Fleet will continue, primarily by the forces of the NSM PKR, whose range (up to 200 km) allows hitting ships of the Black Sea Fleet almost throughout the Black Sea, including the coast of Crimea.
The Black Sea Fleet will be squeezed out of the Black Sea to the coast of the peninsula.3. The main direction of the APU offensive is the South of Ukraine – Kherson and Mykolaiv region.
Britain has repeatedly made it clear that the Black Sea ports of Ukraine, primarily Odessa, have strategic value for them.Donbass is also being strengthened as an instrument of depletion of Russian and allied forces. The AFU grouping, which has been strengthening for seven years, is far from exhaustion.4. The second center of forces is the Dnipropetrovsk region, as the political center of the South, which connects all the surrounding regions.5. Crimea becomes a priority target of the AFU and NATO operations. This confirms the Pentagon's "bold" statement that the United States will provide Kiev with intelligence information on targets in the Crimea and Donbas.Not only the Black Sea Fleet will be hit, but also the objects and forces of the Crimean ground group.
It is critically important for the AFU to paralyze the logistics and replenishment of the "southern" grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation operating from Kherson. @genshab
So my prediction from the other thread looks to be right after all.
Posted by: Boo | Apr 14 2022
Capture of US army major general
All evidence points to the United States directly involved in the war in the Ukraine against Russia.
Eventually, it will point to direct involvement of the United States directly involved in Taiwan Against China.
Right now, the situation is clear. Mainstream media “news” can say whatever it wants, but the facts are clear to Russia. And thus to China, and the rest of the world. There was information that the representative of the high command of the US ground forces, Lieutenant General Roger Cloutier was captured in Mariupol and is already in Moscow
The United States is in a hot kinetic war against Russia.
The analysis of documents relating to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine continues.
Briefing by the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov 04/14/2022.
" Thanks to the special military operation of the Russian troops, it was possible to obtain additional information about the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons (BTWC).
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international legislation and the absence of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration is consistently building up its military biological potential in various regions of the world.The Russian Federation is constantly making efforts to create a mechanism for verifying compliance with the BTWC, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West led by the United States since 2001.The existing Mechanism of the UN Secretary-General to investigate the alleged use of biological and toxin weapons, as well as the Geneva Protocol of 1925 on the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and other similar gases and bacteriological agents in wars and military conflicts, do not cover the verification of the biological activities of participating States. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, also has no such authority.Earlier, we presented a scheme for coordinating the activities of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine by the United States.One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Center (UNTC), a seemingly non-public organization that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.The Russian Ministry of Defense managed to reveal its role in the US military-biological activities on the territory of Ukraine.In accordance with the statutory documents, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organization created with the aim of "...preventing the dissemination of knowledge and experience related to weapons of mass destruction ...".Its legal status is determined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993, which was concluded between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden, as well as the Amendment Protocol of July 7, 1997.The STCU is headquartered in Kyiv and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as Kharkov and Lvov.At the same time, the Expert Center for Chemical and Biological Threats of the Russian Ministry of Defense established that the main activity of the STCU is to act as a distribution center for grants for conducting research of interest to the Pentagon, including in the field of biological weapons.In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on the implementation of STCU projects.The US Department of State and the Ministry of Defense are US customers and sponsors of the STCU. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Agriculture, Health and Energy.Also, pay attention to the document prepared by the STCU curators dated March 11, 2022, which highlights the true nature of the activities of this organization. It notes:
“... there is an outflow of scientific experts in the development of delivery vehicles and modern weapons who worked at Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The most trained specialists with experience in working with dual-use materials and technologies (there are from 1,000 to 4,000 of them) found themselves in unfavorable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to going over to the side of other states to participate in programs for the development of WMD, delivery vehicles and other weapons…”.Using such formulations, Washington actually recognizes the work carried out by Ukrainian experts on the creation of means for the delivery and use of weapons of mass destruction and considers it appropriate to continue their financing.I will give the names of officials who were involved in the implementation of military biological programs.The post of Executive Director of the STCU is held by US citizen Curtis Belayach. Born August 27, 1968 in California, studied at the California University of Management named after Anderson. He has a master's degree in international finance and has been working in Ukraine since 1994.Eddie Arthur Mayer is the Chairman of the Board of the STCU from the European Union, and Phil Dolliff from the US is in charge of the work of the center, who holds the position of Deputy Advisor to the Secretary on International Security and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs in the State Department.Documents received by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirm the connection of the STCU with the American military department. The slide shows the official recommendation of the US Department of State, endorsing the cooperation of the STCU with the Pentagon's main contractor, Black & Veatch. The correspondence expresses the readiness of the vice-president of this company, Matthew Webber, to work with the STCU in the framework of ongoing military biological research on the territory of Ukraine.In the period from 2014 to 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Center in the post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan) implemented more than 500 research projects.The American curators were primarily interested in dual-use research, for example, project 6166 "Development of technologies for modeling, assessing and predicting the impact of conflicts and threats of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction", project 9601 "Transfer of Ukrainian technologies for the production of complex dual-use materials to the European Union".Many of them are aimed at studying potential agents of biological weapons (plague, tularemia) and pathogens of economically significant infections (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).Directly in the interests of the military department, the Center financed projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of pathogens of dangerous infections through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats.Pay attention to the documents of the project 3007 "Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding dangerous waterborne diseases in Ukraine".During the work, Ukrainian specialists, under the supervision of American scientists, systematically took water samples in a number of large rivers of Ukraine, including the Dnieper, Danube, Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, in order to establish the presence of especially dangerous pathogens, including pathogens of cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis A and E, and draw conclusions about the possibility of their distribution by water.As part of the project, the damaging properties of the selected samples were assessed, and the strains themselves were deposited in the collection and subsequently exported to the United States.Here is a map of Ukraine's water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of the work carried out can be used to create an unfavorable biological environment not only on the territory of the Russian Federation, but also in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas, as well as in the countries of Eastern Europe - Belarus, Moldova, Poland.Our concern about Washington's activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the United States has retained in its national legislation the norms that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.The ratification of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.Under the U.S. United States United and United Against Terrorism Federal Act, biological weapons research is permitted with the approval of the U.S. government. Participants in such research are not subject to criminal liability for the development of such weapons.Thus, the American administration in this area implements the principle of priority of domestic legislation over international ones. The most ethically controversial studies are conducted outside national jurisdictions.Thus, during a special operation on the territory of Ukraine, it was established that in the period from 2019 to 2021, American scientists from a laboratory in the city of Merefa (Kharkiv region) tested potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No. 3 in the city of Kharkov.Individuals with mental disorders were selected for experiments based on their age, nationality and immune status. On special forms, the result of round-the-clock monitoring of the condition of patients was taken into account. Information was not entered into the database of the hospital, the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.In January 2022, the activity of the laboratory in Merefa was stopped, all equipment and preparations were taken to the west of Ukraine.There are testimonies from a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose in the interests of ensuring their safety.In conclusion, at one of the previous briefings, we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations, which was patented in the United States.At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine sent a request to the manufacturing company about the possibility of equipping Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicles with attached aerosol equipment.It is a matter of concern that on March 9, in the territory of the Kherson region, reconnaissance units of the Russian troops discovered three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-liter containers and equipment for spraying bioweapon recipes.According to available data, in January 2022, Ukraine purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organizations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.We continue to analyze documentary evidence of the crimes of the American administration and the Kiev regime on the territory of Ukraine ."
Please check what Project 3007 is. Today in Russia it was reported that it was a Ukrainian project of infecting people with biological weapons by water, i.e. in the waters of the Black Sea. It was also reported that in the psychiatric clinic of Kharkov, experiments were carried out on people by American scientists using biological pathogens.
-Irina
The government released the latest inflation data and the results were the worst we have seen in forty years. The retail number came in at 8.4% and the wholesale number clocked in at 11.2%. Of course, the retail number excludes the things that people buy, like food, fuel and housing. These numbers also rely upon the new math rather than old math used the last time inflation was an issue. By the old inflation standard, retail inflation is over 15%.
The political class is poleaxed by these numbers as they have been assured that inflation at these levels was impossible. Modern economic theory says that inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods. We now have top men in place to keep an eye out for this. They just need to manage the money supply to keep inflation under control. This assumption led the top men to assume inflation was transitory, the result of supply chain issues.
That should be the first red flag when looking at the economic data. Those top men that are supposed to have a handle on the money supply say they are as surprised as the rest of us that food has doubled in price. A month ago, they were talking about a series of exceedingly small rate hikes. Now they are talking about a series of substantial rate hikes to prevent inflation from going even higher. You get the sense that there is both panic and confusion among those top men.
One reason for this is the long period of historically low interest rates. What the Federal Reserve did forty years ago to tame inflation was remove money from the system by raising borrowing rates. The real creators of money are the banks, who create money through lending. By raising their cost of money creation, they create less money and the result is fewer dollars chasing goods. At its peak in 1980 the 10-year Treasury was going for 15% versus 2% currently.
In other words, getting rates back into the normal range means three or four times the current rates. The world is simply not prepared for such a thing. Think about what happens to the real estate market if rates simply double. Refinancing comes to an end and homes sales collapse. No one is trading out of their home with the 3% mortgage into a home with a 5% mortgage, at least not on purpose. This would be the new reality throughout the financial world.
The other problem with this approach is the massive government debt. The way government handles debt is not like normal people. They issue bonds, pay the holder interest, but never pay them off. Instead, they issue new bonds to pay off the old bonds and the cycle begins anew. Rolling debt like this works as long as the market for new debt looks like the market for old debt. If the Federal government has to start borrowing at two or three times the old rate, it is big trouble.
The other way the Federal reserve can tackle inflation is to sell its massive holdings of equities, treasuries and other assets. The latest balance sheet from the Fed says they are holding about $8 Trillion in assets. They can begin selling which removes cash from the system. Keep in mind that the value of the S&P 500 is about the same as the Fed balance sheet, so this is a powerful option. They added about a trillion in equities during Covid as a way to juice the markets.
Of course, this is not without consequences. If they liquidate that trillion in equities, they hoovered up during Covid, the market will go down. The tens of millions of retired people living on their investments will not be pleased. If they liquidate some of their $4 trillion in treasuries, those assets will lose value, which means the cost of borrowing by the government goes up. This is why monetizing the debt is like eating the seed corn during tough times.
Another problem for the Fed is the politicians have started a global economic war against the majority of the earth’s population. Exporting excess dollars to places like China, India and Russia is no longer possible. In fact, dollars are starting to come back to America in response to sanctions. When Washington declared war on the globe, the globe declared war on the dollar. At least in the short term, exporting extra dollars to the rest of the world is not a viable option.
This is why there is panic in Washington. Biden’s official approval rate is 40% and Congress has an approval rate of 20%. Now they are faced with grim choices that promise to be very unpopular. They can support a war on inflation that will result in a deep recession or they can let inflation rob the public. Worse yet, it is not all that clear the Fed can wage an effective war on inflation. Like a bug trapped in the spider’s web, they have nothing left but panic.
While the suffering of the political class brings joy to most everyone, this means normal people are going to suffer for an extended period. The gap between wholesale inflation and retail inflation says prices will keep rising. The war on the world will also put pressure on commodities like energy and fertilizer. That will put upward pressure on prices at all levels. Wages are not keeping pace, which means everyone is getting poorer by the minute.
When Joe Biden ran for office, he promised a long dark winter. Most people assumed he flubbed his lines, but it turns out he was telling the truth. The long dark winter of mismanagement and manufactured crisis now promises to extend into the summer and autumn. Worse yet, the people who created this mess are now tasked with solving it. It looks like the label for the Joe Biden regime will be the long dark winter of American decline.
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Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
This video was posted on you-tube on Wednesday 13th April 2022. I later found out that a number of nations banned viewing of this video. I guess the content is too dangerous for you all to view.
That’s really strange, as the following videos about China were allowed…
Never, the less, this article is a workaround to the video that was selectively blocked in certain nations.
The Original video on You-Tube
We start off with the video. See if you can access it. Here is the direct link to the You-Tube video.
For those who are denied the You-Tube video…
But for those of you who are denied watching this video, do not worry. I have the video here in three parts. Please download the parts and watch it in the privacy of your own home.
Lately I have been playing around with the You-Tube platform. I have added a few videos and am busy learning video editing and production. I have up loaded three videos so far, and I am learning so much by my myrid of mistakes. Hopefully, I will be able to provide MM readership with a steady flow of videos to suppliment the writings herein. Well. That’s my goal anyways.
We are in a “funny time”. The main stream American media (along wiht the Western media) are still playing the nonsense, but you know… the “worm has turned“. Ah. It’s all different now. The East is now going to rule, while the West slowly fades into the background.
Oh, don’t misunderstand, it’s still a dangerous time, but the verdict is in. A new world order is emerging out of the old, and there’s very few things that the old order can do to change things.
Here, we will continue on the collection of narratives as we document this great period of change, but keep in mind (as dangerous as this time actually is) the future is a foregone conclusion. The only issue at this time is the death count, and the speed at which the collapse of the West will occur.
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Escobar: Meet The New, Resource-Based Global Reserve Currency
Authored by Pepe Escobar,
A new reality is being formed:the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past,a multipolar one is taking shape.
It was something to behold. Dmitri Medvedev, former Russian President, unrepentant Atlanticist, current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, decided to go totally unplugged in an outburst matching the combat star turn of Mr. Khinzal that delivered palpable shock and awe all across NATOstan.
Medvedev said “hellish” Western sanctions not only have failed to cripple Russia, but are instead “returning to the West like a boomerang.” Confidence in reserve currencies is “fading like the morning mist”, and ditching the US dollar and the euro is not unrealistic anymore: “The era of regional currencies is coming.”
After all, he added, “no matter if they want it or not, they’ll have to negotiate a new financial order (…) And the decisive voice will then be with those countries that have a strong and advanced economy, healthy public finances and a reliable monetary system.”
Medvedev relayed his succinct analysis even before D Day – as in the deadline this Thursday established by President Putin after which payments for Russian gas by “unfriendly nations” will only be accepted in rubles.
The G7, predictably, had struck a (collective) pose: we won’t pay. “We” means the 4 that are not large Russian gas importers. “We”, moreover, means the Empire of Lies dictating the rules. As for the 3 that will be in dire straits, not only they are major importers but also happen to be WWII losers – Germany, Italy and Japan, still de facto occupied territories. History does have a habit of playing perverted tricks.
Denial didn’t last long. Germany was the first to break – even before industrialists from Ruhr to Bavaria staged a mass revolt. Scholz, the puny Chancellor, called Putin, who had to explain the obvious: payments are being converted into rubles because the EU froze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves – in a crass violation of international law.
With Taoist patience, Putin also expressed hope this would not represent a deterioration in contract terms for European importers. Russian and German experts should sit down together and discuss the new terms.
Moscow is working on a set of documents defining the new deal. Essentially, that spells out no rubles, no gas. Contracts become null and void once you violate trust. The US and the EU broke legally biding agreements with unilateral sanctions and on top of it confiscated foreign reserves of a – nuclear – G20 nation.
The unilateral sanctions made dollars and euros worthless to Russia. Hysteria fits won’t cut it: this will be resolved – but under Russia’s terms. Period. The Foreign Ministry had already warned that refusal to pay for gas in rubles would lead to a serious global crisis of non-payments and serial global-level bankruptcies, a hellish chain reaction of blocked transactions, freezing of collateral assets and closures of credit lines.
What will happen next is partially predictable. EU companies will receive the new set of rules. They will have time to examine the documents and make a decision. Those that say “no” will be automatically excluded from receiving direct Russian gas shipments – all politico-economic consequences included.
There will be some compromise, of course. For instance, quite a few EU nations will accept to use rubles and increase their gas acquisitions so they may resell the surplus to their neighbors and make a profit. And some may also decide to buy gas on the go on energy exchanges.
So Russia is not imposing an ultimatum on anybody. The whole thing will take time – a rolling process. With some sideway action as well. The Duma is contemplating the extension of payment in rubles to other essential products – such as oil, metals, timber, wheat. It will depend on the collective voracity of the EU chihuahuas. Everyone knows that their non-stop hysteria may translate into a colossal rupture of supply chains across the West.
Bye bye oligarchs
While the Atlanticist ruling classes have gone totally berserk but still remain focused on fighting to the last European to extract any remaining, palpable EU wealth, Russia is playing it cool. Moscow has been quite lenient in fact, brandishing the specter of no gas in Spring rather than Winter.
The Russian Central Bank nationalized foreign exchange earnings of all major exporters. There was no default. The ruble keeps rising – and is now back to roughly the same level before Operation Z. Russia remains self-sufficient, food-wise. American hysteria over “isolated” Russia is laughable. Every actor that matters across Eurasia – not to mention the other 4 BRICS and virtually the whole Global South – did not demonize and/or sanction Russia.
As an extra bonus, arguably the last oligarch capable of influence in Moscow, Anatoly Chubais, is gone. Call it another momentous historical trickery: Western sanction hysteria de facto dismembered Russian oligarchy – Putin’s pet project since 2000. What that implies is the strengthening of the Russian state and the consolidation of Russian society.
We still don’t have all the facts, but a case can be made that after years of careful evaluation Putin opted to really go for broke and break the West’s back – using that trifecta (imminent blitzkrieg on Donbass; US bioweapon labs; Ukraine working on nuclear weapons) as the casus belli.
The freezing of foreign reserves had to have been forecasted, especially because the Russian Central Bank had been increasing its reserves of US Treasuries since November last year. Then there’s the serious possibility of Moscow being able to access “secret” offshore foreign reserves – a complex matrix built with Chinese insider help.
The sudden switch from dollars/euros to rubles was hardcore, Olympic-level geoeconomic judo. Putin enticed the collective West to unleash its demented hysteria sanction attack – and turned it against the opponent with a single, swift move.
And here we all are now trying to absorb so many in-synch game-changing developments following the weaponization of dollar assets: rupee-ruble with India, the Saudi petroyuan, co-badged Mir-UnionPay cards issued by Russian banks, the Russia-Iran SWIFT alternative, the EAEU-China project of an independent monetary/financial system.
Not to mention the master coup by the Russian Central Bank, pegging 1 gram of gold to 5,000 rubles – which is already around $60, and climbing.
Coupled with No Rubles No Gas, what we have here is energy de facto pegged to gold.
The EU Chihuahuas and the Japanese colony will need to buy a lot of rubles in gold or buy a lot of gold to have their gas. And it gets better. Russia may re-peg the ruble to gold in the near future. Could go to 2,000 rubles, 1,000 rubles, even 500 rubles for a gram of gold.
Time to be sovereign
The Holy Grail in the evolving discussions about a multipolar world, since the BRICS summits in the 2000s featuring Putin, Hu Jintao and Lula, has always been how to bypass dollar hegemony. It’s now right in front of the whole Global South, as a benign apparition bearing a Cheshire cat’s smile: the golden ruble, or ruble backed by oil, gas, minerals, commodity exports.
The Russian Central Bank, unlike the Fed, does not practice QE and won’t export toxic inflation to the rest of the planet. The Russian Navy not only secures all Russian sea lines, but Russian nuclear-powered submarines are capable of popping up all over the planet unannounced.
Russia is far, far ahead already implementing the concept of “continental naval power”. December 2015, in the Syrian theater, was the strategic game-changer. The Black Sea-based submarine 4th division is the star of the show.
Russian naval fleets may now employ Kalibr missiles across a space comprehending Eastern Europe, West Asia and Central Asia. The Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, linked by the Don-Volga canal, offer a space of maneuver comparable to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf combined. 6,000 km-long. And you don’t even need to access warm waters.
That covers around 30 nations: the traditional Russian sphere of influence; historical borders of the Russian empire; and current political/energy rivalry spheres.
No wonder the Beltway is berserk.
Russia guarantees shipping across Asia, the Arctic and Europe, in tandem with the Eurasia-wide BRI railway network.
And last but not least, don’t mess with a Nuclear Bear.
Essentially, this is what hardcore power politics is all about. Medvedev was not bragging when he said the era of a single reserve currency is over. The advent of a resource-based global reserve currency means, in a nutshell, that 13% of the planet will not dominate the other 87% anymore.
It’s NATOstan vs. Eurasia redux. Cold War 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and even 5.0. It doesn’t matter. All the previous Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations see which way the geopolitical and geo-economic winds are blowing: the time to assert their real sovereignty is at hand as the “rules-based international order” bites the dust.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in China, after meeting several counterparts from across Eurasia, could not have outlined it better:
“A new reality is being formed: the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past, a multipolar one is taking shape. It’s an objective process. It’s unstoppable. In this reality, more than one power will “rule” – it will be necessary to negotiate between all the key states that today have a decisive influence on the world economy and politics. At the same time, realizing their special situation, these countries ensure compliance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, including the fundamental one – the sovereign equality of states. No one on this Earth should be seen as a minor player. Everyone is equal and sovereign.”
Welcome to the birth of the new world system.
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels (Official Music Video)
Ok. So I’m out of MAJestic on my own and waiting to be called in for “training”. At this time, we (my first wife and I) were living in the nice seaside community of San Louis Obispo in California. It was the middle to late 1980’s. We were living in a broken down van stuck in the end of a church parking lot, and I was working two jobs as a breakfast cook and janitor.
It was at that time that MAJestic tracked me down and called me into the base with work. But before that happened, we were living hand to mouth at the poverty level.
It was a special time. It was Spring and we lived in a “college town”, and the music of that time was unique. One of the songs of that time was “Head over Heels” by Tears for Fears. Here’s the MV of it. Please enjoy my flashback to the past.
What do you think of this flash back in time?
Goldman Sachs warns the dollar is at risk of losing its dominance, and could end up a lesser player like the UK pound
Goldman Sachs has said the US dollar faces a number of risks, and could become a lesser currency like the UK pound.
The US’ tough sanctions on Russia have raised concerns that countries around the world could try to move away from the dollar.
Goldman said the US’ foreign debts mean that foreign investors may become reluctant to hold dollar assets.
This is another one of thes songs of that particular period in time. Fast forward two years later, maybe three, and I am out of MAJestic and I am off trying to start yet again anew. Sheech! And this is the song that is playing all over the radio 24-7…
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
This recipe will take your taste buds down South, to where good old-fashioned recipes are still king. Our Homemade Biscuits and Gravy recipe is full of so much down-home goodness, you’ll want to eat these homemade biscuits at breakfast AND dinner, which is perfectly all right by us!
What You’ll Need
2 cups pancake and baking mix
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 (16-ounce) package hot pork sausage
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
What to Do
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir baking mix, buttermilk, and the 1/2 stick melted butter until soft dough forms. Drop 8 equal spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until golden brown.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt remaining butter; cook 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, or until browned. Add sausage and cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until no pink remains, stirring to crumble sausage. Add flour; mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce, milk, salt, and pepper; mix well. Cook 2 to 4 minutes, or until gravy thickens, stirring constantly.
Cut biscuits in half and spoon sausage mixture evenly on bottom halves. Replace tops and serve.
The captured General in Ukraine is being rewritten
From an influencer, the background wikipedia on the captured American Major General Roger L. Cloutier, that I wrote about HERE, is being rewritten as we speak. Poof! New numbers. New dates. New backgrounds.
White board. That’s what the internet is today. A big white board.
Grow Alum Crystals That Resemble Simulated Diamonds
Home-made.
Alum is found in the spices section of the grocery store. That little jar contains small white crystals that, with a bit of time and effort, grow a big alum crystal that looks a bit like a diamond. It only takes about an hour to grow small alum crystals, but getting a big crystals takes days to weeks.
All you need to grow alum crystals are alum, hot water, and a container. Choose a clear container so you can watch the crystals grow. While not strictly necessary, it helps having a way to tie and suspend a crystal in the liquid. This helps it keep an ideal shape. A coffee filter or paper towel keeps dust out of your project, while still allowing good air circulation.
1/2 cups hot tap water
2-1/2 tablespoons alum
nylon fishing line
pencil, ruler, or knife
2 clean jars
spoon
coffee filter/paper towel
There are actually a few different kinds of alum. The edible one in the grocery store is potassium alum. It grows clear crystals. Other types of alum include sodium, ammonium, selenium, and chrome alum. Chrome alum grows deep purple crystals. If you have access to the other chemicals, feel free to combine them to see what colors you get. But, check the labels for safety information. Some types of alum are non-toxic, but others are irritants and not edible.
Grow the Crystals
Pour 1/2 cup of hot tap water into a clean jar.
Slowly stir in alum, a little at a time, until it stops dissolving. Don’t add the whole amount; just enough to saturate the water.
Loosely cover the jar with a coffee filter or paper towel (to keep dust out) and allow the jar to sit undisturbed overnight.
The next day, pour the alum solution from the first jar into the clean jar. You will see small alum crystals at the bottom of the jar. These are ‘seed’ crystals that you will use to grow a big crystal.
Tie nylon fishing line around the largest, best-shaped crystal. Tie the other end to a flat object (e.g., popsicle stick, ruler, pencil, butter knife). You will hang the seed crystal by this flat object into the jar far enough so that it will be covered in liquid, but won’t touch the bottom or sides of the jar. It may take a few tries to get the length just right.
When you have the right string length, hang the seed crystal in the jar with the alum solution. Cover it with the coffee filter and grow a crystal!
Grow your crystal until you are satisfied with its size. If you see crystals starting to grow on the sides or bottom of your jar, carefully remove your crystal, pour the liquid into the clean jar, and put the crystal in the new jar. Other crystals in the jar will compete with your crystal for alum, so it won’t be able to get as big if you let these crystals grow.
Solving Common Problems
The most common problem people experience growing alum crystals is that crystals not growing. If you don’t see crystal growth within a day or two, there isn’t enough alum in the liquid. Gently heat the liquid over a stove or in the microwave and try adding more alum powder. Crystals only grow if the solution is saturated. This is the point where no more solid dissolves.
Crystal Growing Tips
You can use sewing thread or other string instead of nylon fishing line, but crystals will grow on the entire length of the submerged string. Crystals don’t adhere to nylon, so if you use it, you can get bigger and better crystals.
Alum is an ingredient used to make pickles. It makes them crispy.
Don’t worry if you don’t want to bother with the string! Crystals grow just fine on the bottom of the container. Use a spoon to scrape crystals away from each other so they won’t grow together. The shape of crystals growing on a flat surface differs from the shapes that form when crystals are suspended.
From Hal Turner
I happen to be in the morbidity business; I'm the CEO of a large insurance group... Based on what it is we are seeing, the rates right now are excess mortality of 84% and excess of every kind of disease at 1100%.
We are expecting a 5000% or so increase in excess mortality for this year (2022).
An enormous number.
I don't think that it's by coincidence, by the way, that Moderna has now just received licensure of their emergency use authorization HIV vaccine. So they gave everybody AIDS, and here's your salvation, another vaccine."
-- Attorney Todd Callender
The video below is Attorney Todd Callender, whose comments are shown above.
When he says “So they gave everybody AIDS . . . ” he’s talking about the mRNA injections given out under the guise of COVID-19.
Quick investigation of the Preliminary USA mortality data for 2021 from the CDC reveals:
499,132 X 51 = 25,455,732 excess deaths. That is what Attorney Todd Callendar indicates the USA could see !
Add to that the 2.95 million expected deaths, and the result is:
28,405,732 total deaths for 2022.
At this rate all the injected will be gone by 2025, just as was forecasted by the population reduction charts posted on the Deagel web site for many years.
Deagel.com last original 2025 population forecast (before scrubbing it all) for Germany was 28 million. For the USA, the chart that was “scrubbed” is shown below:
2022 04 06 15 51
About one third of Germanys population remain unvaxxed. Today’s population is 83 million, so Deagel’s report may be quite accurate.
So the DoD guy who ran the Deagel website † 2021 knew about this “plandemic” since 2015? CIA connections huh?
Deagle has always had the forecast at the year 2025. The numbers may have fluctuated but the date never did.
Qualudes again
Well, is he right? Or is he fear-mongering? It’s hard to say. I am not a doctor, but I can read tables. I guess we will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, let’s go back to 1976. This song topped the Country and Western chart at that time. It’s about a hyptnomic sedative that was very popular at that time for recreational use. Known as the Qualude. I can tell you first hand, that it was an awesome drug.
It made you so very relaxed, but at the same time, so very lively. You just wanted to dance and have a great time. Don’t drive though. You are not safe behind the wheel of anything.
It was banned in the United States.
Pakastan thwarted a United States coup
Pakistan just narrowly thwarted the US’ regime change campaign against Prime Minister Imran Khan that was launched against him as punishment for his independent foreign policy.
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“Imran Khan claimed that Donald Lu warned the Pakistani envoy to the US, Asad Majeed, that there would be implications if the Pakistan PM survived the no-trust vote in the National Assembly.
PM Khan said that the no-confidence motion against him was a “foreign conspiracy” and he thanked Allah that it failed.”
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Why invest in diplomacy or in projects like BRI ? The return of investment is way way higher if Uncle Sam just perform regime change here and there and if successful, the interests of US will be taken care of by the puppet gov’t in place.
A fine throw-back to 1960s television fare. It’s well worth at least a ten minute watch. I lvoe the acting, the costumes, and the premise of a B-grade science fiction movie. Great for laughs.
Doomsday ‘Preppers’ Warn Of Hard Times Ahead As Preparedness Goes Mainstream
Food scarcity. Food vouchers. Food riots and flash mobs.
All of that’s coming – and soon, says Texas-based food scientist and “Health Ranger” podcaster Mike Adams, who sees dire events unfolding in America in the short term.
Texas-based food scientist Mike Adams, known online as the “Health Ranger,” sees food shortages and heightened security later in 2022. (Courtesy of Mike Adams)
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His advice: people need to get prepared now.
“The thing to really watch for is the food inflation,” Adams said.“My position is we’re going to see food riots in America before the end of this year. We’re going to see flash mobs in grocery stores—especially for meat products.
“Grocery stores are going to respond with increased security and checkpoints. At some point, we’re probably going to see an attempt at price controls and rationing.
“And not on everything—certain types of things. It’s almost certain that the rationing they will attempt to enforce with a vaccine passport app that becomes a food rationing app,” Adams told The Epoch Times.
Adams is not alone in his predictions of hard times coming to America—and the world.
With food production buckling under the weight of runaway inflation, skyrocketing fuel costs, and fertilizer shortages, much of what’s in store is already “built-in.”
What Do You Want From Life?
The tubes was a group that was hitting the audiences when I was graduating out of university. They probably had one hell of a stage show. I don’t actually know, as I never watched them perform. However their album was a real hoot. As this particular song clearly indicates.
Unfertile Ground
In North America two years ago, it cost around $200 an acre to fertilize a 1,000-acre commercial farm, Adams said. Right now, with spring planting, farmers can expect to pay $1,200 to $2,000 an acre.
And consumers will pay for it in higher prices for basic necessities.
“Many farmers are deciding not to plant. In addition, the diesel fuel prices and diesel fuel scarcity is going into their equation whether they should plant,” Adams said.
The upshot, he said, is that fewer farmers are planting, which means less food to go around.
As a food scientist Adams is a big proponent of clean, organically grown food free of heavy metals, which he makes available through the online sale of “Ranger Buckets.” The demand for his products has seen extremely high since the COVID-19 lockdown began in 2020.
Adams said it takes on average six to eight weeks to produce 2,000 buckets, which typically sell out within 30 minutes to three hours.
Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the demand for survival food in the United States has been on the increase among a number of national suppliers.
“The supply chain in the United States continues to crumble. More Americans are realizing it takes four trips to different home improvement stores for parts to make home repairs, instead of all their needs being in one store,” said Lori Hunt at Practical Preppers in South Carolina.
“That is making folks realize this extends to everything: food, books, solar equipment—and considering Ukraine is a source for critical raw materials in the solar industry, this is going to get much worse in the coming months,” she told The Epoch Times.
“Many of our customers are moving toward energy independence, and this is making a greater demand and diminishing supply situation. We are urging our customers to be prepared for a 2–4 month wait to amass all parts needed for their systems. Many installers around the United States are telling us they are experiencing the same.”
Byron Walker, Founder and CEO of Survival Frog in Denver, told the Epoch Times, “We have struggled with supply chain issues and things only appear to be getting worse.”
Allied Marketing Research (AMR) reported that the global incident and emergency market, valued at $75.5 billion in 2017, is projected to reach $423 billion by 2025.
“Factors such as rise in need for safety and security solutions, owing to increase in natural calamities and terrorist attacks, implementation of regulatory policies for public safety, and the necessity for emergency preparedness drive the growth of the global incident and emergency management market,” AMR said on its website.
“In addition, the surge in smart cities is expected to drive the adoption of intelligent evacuation systems and surveillance systems, thereby fueling the incident and emergency management market growth.”
Miami Vice – IN THE AIR TONIGHT | Tribute Video
If you lived though the 1980s then you would really appreciate the television show “Miami Vice”. It defined cool. It was a mix of rock music, detective action, drugs, and fashion. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, was hooked on this show. In this this clip here, you will see so many famous actors when they were young and not yet famous. In hindsight, it’s all pretty silly. But, the video is great and well worth the three minutes to watch.
Price Hikes ‘Here to Stay’
In recent weeks YouTube survival “preppers” such as City Prepping and Alaska Prepper have been sounding the alarm that hard times are just ahead.
Matt the “Magic Prepper,” in North Dakota, said being prepared continues to go mainstream as a “financial and scarcity genre” in view of current global events.
“With food production issues, supply chain problems, a slow economic recovery from the pandemic, and the cascading effects of an overseas conflict, it seems rather clear that shortages, disruptions, and price hikes are here to stay,” Matt told The Epoch Times.
He said the situation in Ukraine has revived interest in preparedness in case of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack.
“With the conflict creating volatile rhetoric from multiple global superpowers, we find ourselves closer to such an event than any point in recent history,” Matt said. “I operate under the assumption that there is and will likely always be more time to prepare.”
Still, the state of being prepared is “exponentially limited” by the length of time it takes to get prepared, and other factors, he said.
“Every dollar spent today is worth less in value toward preparations than a dollar you would have spent three years ago. Therefore, by waiting to begin, you’ll inherently be able to prepare less and less.
YouTube’s Matt the “Magic Prepper” in North Dakota says it’s not too late to begin preparing for difficult economic times ahead. (Courtesy of Matt the “Magic Prepper”) .
“This is most obviously apparent when you relate it to items such as ammunition. Stocking up on it now provides you with anywhere from 50 percent [to] 75 percent less ammunition for the same amount spent on it three years ago.
“Even if we find ourselves in the midst of a full-on economic collapse or hot conflict, training and learning skills will likely still be accessible,” he said.
Preparedness also requires the ability to network and communication, having supplies in sufficient quantity, a “hardened” location, and knowledge on how to survive an economic collapse.
“I have suggested to keep moving forward regardless of the events unfolding currently. If things finally fall apart to the point of relying on our preparedness efforts, we will have prepared as best as we could up to that point.
“I am making phone calls, appointments, and plans every day to try and enhance my own personal preparedness,” Matt said.
Given the economic protectionism of halting food exports from countries like Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, the world supply of grain is going to be severely limited, Adams said.
This, he said, will result in the “most extreme food shortages we’ve seen in our lifetime.”
Better Now Than Never
“It will begin about August and continue until the end of the year. A lot of this depends on [President Joe] Biden’s economic decisions on whether he allows U.S. oil companies to finish pipelines and do more drilling. If he does not we are going to see even more shortages throughout 2023.”
Out of chaos, however, Adams foresees a reawakening of freedom and self-reliance in the way we grow and produce food.
“I think this is a red pill moment for the people of the world that they need to be more self-reliant. We need decentralization of food production. I’m a big proponent of decentralization—food grown locally.”
The bad news is that only about 5 percent of people in the United State are prepared. But “the more people prepare, the less they panic when shortages appear,” Adams said.
Star Trek – Missile Alert
And here’s a nice brief section of a 1960s Star Trek show. It’s also a fun watch. Just enjoy the five minute vision of the past.
Its about “Gary 7” and his cat.
Rick Wakeman Journey to the Centre of the Earth Full Album 1974 YouTube
Oh my teenage years. This album brought my father and me together musically. He loved it due ot the classical influences, and I loved it for the blend of rock music. Not to mention the great story line.
Simple Minds – Someone Somewhere In Summertime
Another glimpse to my early years right out from the Navy after MAJestic implantation. Enjoy this look back in time.
Conclusion
Yah. It’s a funny time. Don’t get too worked up with and about it. Things are unfolding to the plans set forth. To us “peons” it seems like everything is going to shit, but if you step back, and look at the big picture, just maybe… just MAYBE the West won’t be able to turn the world into an inferno if these various indicators play out as they appear to.
Hold on but not too tightly.
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Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Meanwhile, by every single fact we are able to observe, the decadent leaders of the West are acting as though Russia and China are Iraq and Libya.
It appears that they genuinely believe they can use brute force and threats of brute force to come out on top in this conflict.
(It’s also worth mentioning that the West, due to the ultra-low moral character of its leaders and the utter lack of any unifying ideal beyond anal sex, has lost the ability to cooperate cohesively as a single body in the way that the Chinese do.)
-UNZ
What do all these things have in common? They all are attributes of a period of time that is going though change. Some people might refer to it as an unravelling, while others might consider it the “second coming”. I think that it’s darn uncomfortable, and bothersome. It’s a period of change and it is nearing it’s peak.
Sheech!
I need a drink.
What? I’m already drinking. Oh, well. Color me silly.
This article has a bunch of videos. Most are small, but depending on your internet connection, they may or may not load. Just click on the link and watch them open up in another window. Most are really quick.
Strange stuff guys…
Strange and unusual things going on.
In China, a passenger aircraft took a highly unusual nose dive. Engines went full throttle, and the plane dove straight into the ground. It’s almost like the plane decided to commit suicide by ramming itself into the ground at full speed.
It’s not normal airplane behavior.
Don’t you know.
The unusual nature of this crash has everyone scratching their heads, and MM is no exception. Since this is Boeing plane that openly admits that the plane’s computer can override the pilot and fly itself…
So, and I do mean it … the software can take the input, decide the pilot is in error, and take over…
… so why have a pilot then?
Hum?
…
It is very concerning.
The opinions sent to me privately are running near 100% that the United States government / CIA are somehow involved in this fiasco. I would not be surprised if this is the case, but the truth is that I really do not know.
But…
You do know that we are going to flush out this issue.
Right here.
Right now.
MM style.
What I do know is that this entire event has shaken the Chinese people to the core. No one. And I do mean NO ONE wants to fly. Airline prices are now less than $5 USD to fly round-trip to Beijing from Zhuahi. It’s insane.
Just like the crash of the Hindenburg completely ended commercial travel by dirigible, it seems that this even will seriously impact commercial aviation inside of China. There will be far greater use of the High Speed Trains, and far less use of domestic air transport.
In 1936, the future looked bright for rigid airships, the hydrogen-filled, lighter-than-air behemoths also known as dirigibles or zeppelins.
The Hindenburg, Nazi Germany’s pride and joy, spent one glorious season ferrying passengers across the Atlantic in its luxurious belly. The following year, the airship era screeched to a spectacular halt when the Hindenburg burst into flames while landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The disaster claimed the lives of 36 people and received an unprecedented amount of media coverage.
The Hindenburg was a 245-metre- (804-foot-) long airship of conventional zeppelin design that was launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany, in March 1936. It had a maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour. Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the airship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen owing to export restrictions by the United States against Nazi Germany. In 1936 the Hindenburg inaugurated commercial air service across the North Atlantic by carrying 1,002 passengers on 10 scheduled round trips between Germany and the United States.
On May 6, 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, N.J., on the first of its scheduled 1937 trans-Atlantic crossings, the Hindenburg burst into flames and was completely destroyed. Thirty-six of the 97 persons aboard were killed.
The fire was officially attributed to a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the vicinity of a hydrogen gas leak from the airship, though it was speculated that the dirigible was the victim of an anti-Nazi act of sabotage.
The Hindenburg disaster marked the end of the use of rigid airships in commercial air transportation.
Forever.
Grasshopper Pie
A staple among southern desserts in the 1950s and 1960s, this creamy mint pie sports an Oreo crust, all of which makes it strange that it hasn’t remained as popular as it once was.
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Grasshopper Pie
This American retro dessert was inspired by the popular 1950’s chocolate-mint cocktail, and it was a favorite of Southern hostesses in the 1950s and 1960s. Originally, grasshopper pie always had a crust of either cookies or graham cracker crumbs, but today it is most often made with a base of Oreos, desiccated coconut, and butter, while the gelatine-set cream filling mainly consists of heavy cream flavored with crème de menthe—a sweet, mint-flavored liqueur—and melted marshmallows.
Grasshopper pie is usually so named because of its green color, though modern recipes may omit coloring the pie green. It was likely invented in the 1950s in the United States, and may have been inspired by a drink called the grasshopper developed at about the same time. It is a chiffon pie usually made with a cookie crust.
There is an earlier grasshopper pie type dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Some versions of this pie from the Philippines used real grasshoppers. These insects are eaten in many cultures, and they can be used in various desserts, where they may be sugared and baked, providing a crunchy, and to some very appetizing, confection. The 1950s grasshopper pie bears little resemblance to versions produced that have insects as a primary ingredient.
Chiffon pies in the 1950s were often a combination of whipping cream, gelatin, sugar, eggs, and flavoring. In the case of the grasshopper pie, common flavoring used was alcohol in the form of crème de menthe, and sometimes other alcohols like crème de cacao.
For teetotalers, mint flavoring could be achieved by using mint extracts instead, though these might still contain a tiny amount of alcohol. Green food coloring was a frequent addition to give the pie a light green color.
Most often the cookie crust is made with chocolate wafers, so that the pie has a chocolate and mint flavor. The crust is baked for few moments and then chilled. When the chiffon is prepared, usually over a double boiler, it is chilled and then spooned over the crust. The pie tends to be served cold and many love its refreshing mint taste.
There may be very large differences between classic recipes for grasshopper pie and modern ones. Since gelatin can be somewhat annoying to work with, many people now prepare the pie by melting marshmallows and blending them with milk or whipping cream, and sometimes cream cheese. Green food coloring can be optional, and when not used the pie could be called “mint patty pie” instead. Some people may prefer using a graham cracker crust, and other recipes advocate the use of specific cookies like Oreos®.
In the US, grasshopper pie tends to be most popular in the South, but other parts of the country enjoy it too. The pie rose in popularity especially up until the 1970s, but it is now served with less frequency. Many ice cream stores capitalized on the flavor of this pie by producing their own version with mint or mint chocolate chip ice cream and a cookie crust. Some ice cream stores are particularly known for their grasshopper pie variants.
-Delighted Cooking
The pie is traditionally served well chilled, topped with dollops of whipped cream, and decorated with dark chocolate shavings.
In American terms, we would refer to this “body shape
or “Body build” as “built like a Brick House”. It’s generally a nice compliment for a fine robust woman. In this case, a Chinese woman. video. 5MB
Th Saker has reproduced the transcript of a talk Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergej Lavrov has given three days ago. It is quite long with a Q&A at the end but it is a very good history lesson on how we got to the point that Russia felt it had to intervene in the Ukraine.
Here are just a few graphs of it. I recommend to read it all of it:
This meeting takes place against the backdrop of events now occurring in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken at length about the origins of this crisis. I would like to briefly reiterate: this is not about Ukraine. This is the end-result of a policy that the West has carried out since the early 1990s. It was clear back then that Russia was not going to be docile and that it was going to have a say in international matters. This is not because Russia wants to be a bully. Russia has its history, its tradition, its own understanding of the history of its peoples and a vision on how it can ensure its security and interests in this world.This became clear in the late 1990s-early 2000s. The West has repeatedly attempted to stall the independent and autonomous development of Russia. This is rather unfortunate. From the start of President Vladimir Putin’s “rule” in the early 2000s, we were open to the idea of working with the West in various ways, even in a form similar to that of an alliance, as the President has said. Sadly, we were unable to do this. We repeatedly suggested that we should conclude treaties and base our security on equal rights, rejecting the idea of strengthening one’s security at the expense of another.Neither were we able to promote economic cooperation. The European Union, which back then showed some signs of independent decision-making, has now devolved toward being completely dependent on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the US. The story of Nord Stream 2 was the highlight of this change. Even Germany, which defended its interests in the project to the very end, was persuaded that the “project was not in its interests.” Germany and its people were told what their interests were by people on the other side of the Atlantic. Many other international areas were blocked despite our commitment to close cooperation on an equal basis.
Germany’s traitorous role towards Russia, especially under chancellor Angela Merkel, is laid out throughout the piece. The current chancellor Olaf Scholz, never a smart man, capitulated to U.S. demands to sanction Russia and thereby committed Germany to economic suicide.
2022 03 23 13 14
That spells death for Germany’s machine industry. It is said to see my country come down like this.
Hey Olaf, when the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq for absolutely no good reason how many sanctions did Germany apply to it?
Russia has at least cited sound and understandable, if not fully legal, reasons for its current acts. It was by the way you, Olaf, and your predecessor who have let it come to this. Why didn’t you write a letter to Putin that declared that Germany will veto NATO membership for the Ukraine. That might have solved the whole problem.
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There is some talk that Russia has screwed up its campaign and some even hope that it might be losing the war. That’s nuts.
Back when I was a military officer we ran yearly large scale ‘free running’ maneuvers. Over nearly four weeks my tank company had to switch positions several times a day and march and ‘fight’ in between. The first week was cumbersome with lots of errors made by everyone. The second week was worse. Everyone was sleep deprived and folks screamed at each other. We had several accidents and twice parts of the company missed turns and got lost at night. During the third week things became gradually better and more routine. The drivers knew where to put their tanks without much command. The camouflaging done by the loaders and gunners was fast. The food that found its way to us was still hot and maintenance was done in no time. In the fourth week it was all pure fun.
The reason behind it was that people needed to learn by doing. Before the maneuvers everyone had been ‘fully trained’. But a few days on the training range do not give the experience one needs in the real world. Driving and ‘fighting’ through real villages and cities, real camouflaging against an ‘enemy’ airforce, real dueling in the open landscape day after day are different than training range time.
Russia’s forces are now in their routine mode. They will now grind down what is left of the Ukrainian forces.
According to the Pentagon the Russian airforce yesterday flew 300 sorties over Ukraine, mostly at night. That are 50% more per day than last week. That means 300 Ukrainian weapon factories, ammunition depots, convoys and fighting position get destroyed every day, day after day. How long will it take until there are no more targets?
Andrew Milburn, a former Marine colonel, is in the Ukraine from where he reports for Task and Purpose:
The Russians are already adapting, and by doing so are narrowing the Ukrainians’ tactical edge. The one-sided culling of Russian armored columns that characterized the opening days of the war, and kept YouTube subscribers around the world happy, are a thing of the past. The Russians now lead their formations with electronic attack, drones, lasers and good-old-fashioned reconnaissance by fire. They are using cruise missiles and saboteur teams to target logistics routes, manufacturing plants, and training bases in western Ukraine. Realizing that the Ukrainians lack thermal sights for their stinger missile launchers, the Russians have switched all air operations to after dark. It may be for this same reason that Russian cruise missile strikes in western and southern Ukraine have also been at nighttime.The Russians have learned to play to their strengths. While Ukrainian soldiers mock their Russian counterparts, they are deeply respectful of Russian artillery, an asset that the Russians are using more frequently to compensate for their infantry’s deficiencies. Several snipers I spoke with recently agreed that the Russians’ indirect fire capability was the most concerning — a result of sheer reckless mass rather than technical skill. They told some hair-raising stories to illustrate their point, and one amusing one: Ukrainian soldiers defending Kyiv commute to the battle in their own vehicles. After a recent three-day insertion, the sniper teams returned to their extraction site to find their cars all flattened by Russian artillery – a contingency apparently not covered by their insurance plans.Overconfidence may obscure for the Ukrainians one salient fact about this conflict: Time is not on their side.
Posted by b on March 22, 2022 at 17:55 UTC | Permalink
Hilarious Prank Gift Packages To Surprise Your Friends This Christmas
How will you wrap your Christmas presents this year? Will you buy some expensive wrapping paper and then silently weep in the corner when you realize you have no idea what you’re doing? Or just give up entirely and pay someone else to do it? Lucky for you, one company out there is aiming to make gift wrapping a little more fun.
Pranko-O is a Minneapolis-based company that creates hilarious prank gifts, called Prank Packs. A fart filter or an earwax candle might sound insane at first but don’t worry – that’s where the ‘prank’ part of Prank Pack comes in. The products, sadly, don’t exist and are just gag boxes. But imagine your partner’s reaction when they were hoping to get a Pandora necklace for Christmas but receive a cheese printer instead – priceless!
Here’s a few for some inspiration. This is a Cheese printer. Surprise your friends!
Cheese Printer. You’ll be amazed how you were ever able to live without one!
Here’s another. It’s a “must” for every pet owner.
It’s a “must” for every pet owner.
And yet another. Fun for kids of all ages!
Fun for kids of all ages four and older.
Confirmed: Nazis are the proxy army of the US imperialists against Russia in Ukraine
The former US secretary of defense and CIA director, Leon Panetta, admitted openly that
“We are engaged in a conflict here. It's a proxy war with Russia, whether we say so or not ...”.
Referring to the Ukrainian forces, the US imperialist warhawk claimed that
"These are good fighters, they are small-unit operations, they are working well ...".
The description “small-unit operations” fits to proxy forces – mercenaries, rather than an organized national army.
As we mentioned in our previous article, for eight years, the NATO criminals and the “free” and “democratic” West, were provoking Russia by arming and training the far-right and neo-nazi militia groups who also infiltrated in the Ukrainian army and operate in East Ukraine against Russian populations. Which is something similar with what happened in the long-suffering Syria by the US proxy war against Assad. Only there, the US imperialists armed and trained some so-called “moderate rebels”, with most of the arms ending in the hands of ISIS islamofascists who spread chaos and destruction.
Panetta’s statements are essentially an official admission by the US side that this is the case.
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This also explains why the Russians are so obsessed with Mariupol, which appears that it suffered most from the war in Ukraine so far. It seems that they won’t retreat from their demand to Ukraine to surrender the besieged city. Not only because of its critical strategic importance, but mostly because it’s the base of the Azov Battalion, which is essentially the major US proxy Nazi force in the Ukrainian soil.
In March 2015 Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced that the Azov Regiment would be among the first units to be trained by United States Army troops in their Operation Fearless Guardian training mission.
US training however was withdrawn on 12 June 2015, as the US House of Representatives passed an amendment blocking any aid (including arms and training) to the battalion due to its neo-Nazi background.
However, the amendment was later removed in November 2015, with The Nation reporting that the "House Defense Appropriations Committee came under pressure from the Pentagon to remove the Conyers-Yoho amendment from the text of the bill."Azov published a media release on its website on 20 November 2017 stating that it had met with a foreign delegation of officers from the United States Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces on 16 November.
Writing for Jacobin, Branko Marcetic says that members of Azov have been pictured meeting with U.S. military and NATO officials.
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This is a particularly revealing information because it proves beyond doubt that the US imperialist apparatus was very well aware of the nazi nature of the Azov Battalion. And did everything to overcome any political actions that were aiming to block any aid to its members.
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Recall that new information – coming from the elite section of the US think tank apparatus – proved that the US imperialists wanted to drag Russia into a war with Ukraine since at least 2019.
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Everything we wrote back in 2014 turns out to be right:
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What was left to do, for the moment, is to challenge Putin in order to drag Russia in an endless attrition war in East Ukraine and this explains to a degree Putin's hesitation to act like he did in Crimea. Against Russian army, of course, the West will not risk to put an organized military force, but only teams of mercenaries of private armies, as already did. It is certain, however, that, despite that the global economic oligarchy has lost valuable time because of its wrong moves, it will not give up its plans for Russia easily ...
Mapping proxy wars of the last decades around the globe we also wrote back in 2015 that the Ukraine conflict is a proxy war against Russia by the West, next to the Russian borders. Behind the color revolutions, one can always find US financed organizations. The Western allies would not dare to face directly the Russian army. In the Ukraine conflict one could find private armies of mercenaries. The most stupid action by the Western puppets was to support neo-nazis against the local Russian populations. This was something that exposed their real intention, which is to encircle Russia through puppet regimes who would permit the Western military presence in their territories.
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By aiding the nazis in Ukraine, the US and the West generally, lost their last remnants of their alleged “superiority” on matters related with democracy, human rights, or, international law. West’s moral bankruptcy and cultural decline are now irreversible and mark the beginning of the end of its global domination.
In China, red is considered a lucky and happy color. I like this woman in this outfit. She is pleasing to the eye and I am sure that she would be fun to be with. video 2MB
Strange coincidences
I offer up this following graph. It shows an association between belief in the mainstream media (the United States government narrative) and number of mRNA injections.
The more mRNA injections you have, the more that you believe whatever the MSM (Main Stream Media) says.
Relationship between the official government narrative and mRNA injections.
Look over the results.
It is errie.
It could be a coincidence. It might be. But, you know, there are secrets, and secrets, and the United States is run by very selfish, sick, evil people. Something is up. But what?
What is going on?
I don’t know…
It reminds me of the old 1950s movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Imagine that you and everyone else are normal. You go to work, and you play. You go drive your car, and listen to the radio.
There’s a pandemic. Everyone must get these “special” injections.
Not a vaccine, mind you. But something “new” and “special”. And so you plan on getting one, but your entire community beats you to it. Everyone is injected with the “special” formulation but you, and so when you finally go into town to get your injection, you notice something different.
Everything is the same.
Yet everything is different.
You have a difficult time trying to describe what is do different. They all look the same. They act the same. They all have absolute perfect memories. But something is missing…
…you just cannot pin it down; you just cannot put your finger on it…
Well…
Everyone is mad. They are angry. When you bring up certain subject, you know that the person you are talking to will fly into a rage. There are simply things that you just cannot talk about.
Face masks.
Racial issues.
Russia
China.
Vacinations.
You think “everyone is so polarized”. But it’s strange. People were never so polarized. Not before. Now they are just really upset and really on a “hair trigger”.
The movie
In 1956 the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” came out.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The narrative’s premise is most interesting.
A peaceful town is imperceptibly taken over by an alien force: Giant plant pods, products of atomic mutation, turn themselves into replicas of people. The pods turn human beings into faceless, emotionless automatons, incapable of any feeling, be it anger or love.
Once again, the image used is that of an initially normal and ordinary town, suddenly thrown out of balance.
“At first glance, everything looked the same,” the narrator says, “It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.” The rest of the film explores that “something.”
Called back to Santa Mira from a medical conference, Doctor Miles Bonnel (Kevin McCarthy) is greeted at the train station by his nervous nurse, Sally. Looking through his clinic’s window, everything “looks” the same:
Wally Everhard is talking someone into buying insurance, Bill Bittner is taking his secretary to launch. Yet something strange is going on. In the back of his mind, Miles senses a warning bell: “Sick people who couldn’t wait to see me, suddenly were perfectly all right.”
A general practitioner, Miles believes that, “the trouble is inside you!” thus recommending that she sees a psychiatrist.
The first “solution” to the problem is psychiatric help, with the film acknowledging the increasing popularity of psychiatry in the 1950s.
“At first glance, everything looked the same,” the narrator says, “It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.”
Miles rationalizes his advice to Wilma by saying, “you don’t have to be losing your mind to need psychiatric help.” But Wilma is firm: “It’s a waste of time, there’s nothing wrong with me.”
Like many other films of the decade, Invasion deals with three issues: [1] the definition of normal and abnormal behavior; [2] the legitimate authority to label behaviors as abnormal or deviant; and [3] the negative effects of conformity, apathy, and complacency.
The film suggests that the town’s experts and professionals are not to be trusted. The police force, an agency entrusted with the legitimate use of physical force, can’t solve the problem. In fact, when Jack’s clone is found, they refuse to call the police, because cops tend to rely too much on logic and dry laws.
Miles represents the center of the moral center.
“At first glance, everything looked the same,” the narrator says, “It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.”
He is a professional, but a general practitioner, not a specialist, thus able to see the problem overall, in its entirety.
Even so, Miles proves that his common sense and critical faculties as a responsible individual are more important than his narrow professional skills. Thus, when Jack first describes the problem he says: “Would you be able to forget that you’re a doctor for a while” .
For the duration of the film, Miles “forgets” his occupation.
The movie advocates independent judgment, common sense, intuition, and self-reliance, and shows suspicious toward anyone in a position of power or professional expertise.
Invasion, like Capra’s movies of the Depression era, singles out the role of an exceptional individual, a charismatic leader, in preventing society from dehumanization, from gradual transformation into an aggregate of unfeeling robots.
Sleep is the metaphor used to convey mass complacency and conformity.
The pods take over human beings when they are not alert, when they are (literally or figuratively) asleep, thus passive.
Escaping from town, Miles gives Becky and himself a large dose of pills to stay awake. “We can’t close our eyes all night,” he tells her, because “we may wake up changed.” “Sooner or later,”
Kauffman tells Miles, “You’ll have to go to sleep,” i.e. you’ll have to conform and join the majority.
But Kauffman also reassures him that as soon as he falls asleep, the pods will “absorb your minds, your memories, and you’re reborn into an untroubled world.”
The new world will be without love, ambition, grief, or any emotions, “Life will be much simpler and better.”
invasion of the body snatchers 1956
Indeed, during their escape, chased by every member in town, Becky can’t stay awake any longer and she falls asleep. “I went to sleep and it happened,” says Becky. “A moment of sleep,” narrates Miles, and “their bodies were now hosts harboring alien forms of life.”
Santa Mira is a typical small town; there is nothing special or distinctive about I; what happened in Santa Mira couldand would–happen in other towns. In most sci-fi films, the disaster first occurs on a local level before spreads all over the country.
The catastrophe begins in a small town, then moves to bigger regional centers, and finally inflicts the entire nation.
Attempting to get assistance, Miles first calls the F.B.I. in Los Angeles, but there is no answer. His call to the governor in Sacramento also fails; the circuits are busy in both places.
Invasion differs from other sci-fi features because there is no immediate confirmation of the hero’s report of the “strange” phenomenon by other witnesses; the conflict is between one individual and the entire community.
Invasion shows that the authorities, both scientific and political, are neither trustworthy nor competent.
Other films went out of their way to reassured audiences that they were “in good hands,” that politicians (or the military) and scientists would come to the rescue when needed. In contrast, Invasion’s ending is so tentative and abrupt that it provides no such reaffirmation, instead urging its viewers to be always alert.
“At first glance, everything looked the same,” the narrator says, “It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.”
Puckering fish look
For some reason, the Chinese women like to make these puckering fish expressions, as they view them as being very cute. I don’t know about that. Really. I just like a nice big smile, myself. video. 3MB
Sanctions
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Western production depends on China no less, than on Russia. And once again, on the tip of my tongue there is a Russian proverb with a deep meaning – what is good for a Russian is death for a German.
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And what will happen to the West, when Russia imposes her own retaliatory sanctions?
Consider this article…
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Immediately (in several European capitals), they realized that those sanctions, (introduced by them), would return to them like a boomerang and more than once
The words of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the reverse effect of sanctions against Russia can be called a sensation. It seems that the West is beginning to see clearly and see what damage they inflict on the economies of their countries with their own sanctions.
After the successes of the first days on the sanctions fronts, when Western countries managed to bring down the Russian stock market and the ruble exchange rate, a process of sobering up begins in European capitals and there is an acute desire to return the situation back.
By the way, the fall of the market and the collapse of the ruble did not become catastrophic for Russia . There was no default – Russia regularly pays its bills, and the ruble is slowly, but still winning back its positions.
A funny situation can happen with the stock market. Against the backdrop of a fall in the price of shares of Russian companies, Western investors began to actively sell them for next to nothing. Now the most interesting question is:
Who bought them?
Some European experts suggest that Russian business and the Russian government took advantage of the situation and bought almost everything for next to nothing. In other words, Russian companies have become Russian again. Forever at the bottom, the shares will not be and sooner or later they will go up, but they will no longer bring dividends to Western investors. And they will no longer have levers of influence on the Russian economy.
Chancellor Scholz , of course, did not talk about these deep processes. He spoke about the need to prepare and impose sanctions very carefully. The reverse effect of them should be surmountable for Western economies. But so far everything is working out exactly the opposite.
The imposed sanctions blew up the market and the prices of absolutely everything flew up.
Inflation all over Europe
Everyone knows the situation with gas – at some point it rose in price to a completely unthinkable 3,800 dollars. Now, thanks to the efforts of Gazprom, it has been brought down to an acceptable $1,050.
Oil prices rose, followed by gasoline and all fuel in general.
Steel and cast iron, building materials. Nickel. Aluminum. Products of the petrochemical industry and fertilizers.
Wheat and all food products.
The list can be continued, but this is quite enough to understand what kind of “return line” has flown through the European economy.
French President Macron is already talking about the introduction of food checks in the country for the poorest. In the Czech Republic, wheat and flour more than doubled in price.
In Italy and Spain, pasta and vegetable oil disappeared from the shelves, and in Lithuania, salt and soda.
And all this at a record level of inflation. In some European countries it has already exceeded 10%.
The West was sure that by depriving Russia of income from the export of energy resources and raw materials, they would bring it to her knees, but it turned out that Russia’s participation in almost any area is so significant that it immediately affects the economies of Europe and the United States.
Britain
Britain banned the import of products, incl. food, from Russia. In addition to raising prices for communal and gasoline, the British can part with their national dish – fish and chips, in other words – potatoes with fish.
For British Prime Minister Johnson, it came as an unpleasant surprise that most of the fish eaten in Britain is Russian. Iceland and Norway will not be able to provide even half of the amount that Russia was selling.
Britain urgently needs to find new routes for the supply of fish, otherwise unrest cannot be avoided and this is not a joke. For the British , fish and chips is more than food, it is part of the culture, it is their genetic code.
That is why such a heated debate broke out in the European Union today on the issue of an embargo on the import of Russian oil. Everyone is worried about the consequences of this step. Will this be another nail in the coffin of the European economy?
Russia’s retaliatory measures
But even more Europeans should worry about Russia’s retaliatory measures. Nothing is known about them yet, and this is scary. Retaliatory sanctions can set the European economy back several decades, and the EU is very unwilling to do so.
I really like the Chinese girls. They are sweet, cute and they take care of themselves. Here’s a nice cute girl. video 4MB
Beef Stroganoff
Let’s talk about food.
Good. Healthy. Delicious. Food.
The story goes that this beef, noodles, and cream sauce dish exploded in America after U.S. servicemen, stationed in the dish’s homeland of Russia, brought it home after World War II.
.
Beef Stroganoff.
Meat. MEAT. I love it, I really do.
My recent visits to my Vegetarian Restaurant, aside, I love and yearn for meat. Good tasty meat. Beef. Mutton. Pork. Chicken. Turkey. Meat!
I grew up in the heart of the United States. Pittsburgh. The land of steel, coal. beer and perogies. There, the basic food groups consisted of potatoes, cream of [insert mushroom, chicken, or celery here] soup, butter (or Land-O-Lakes margarine), tall cold glasses of milk with every meal and…meat.
I had a recent craving for beef stroganoff.
Although I ate this dish frequently as a child, I had yet to make it myself. The beef stroganoff of my youth was a retro reflection of my Polish-American-Irish upbringing – a nostalgic combination of ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, condensed beef broth, and low-fat sour cream.
Although I (of course) I could have gone out and had my fill of some delicious steak, turtle or mutton, I wasn’t really feeling that desire. I wanted to create something myself. I wanted a taste from my childhood, and you just aren’t goign to get that inside of China. No matter how hard you try.
I wanted comfort food, and I figured that beef stroganoff would foot the bill.
This is comfort food at its finest.
Get your beef in some sputtering, aromatic, delicious SALTED butter. Work quickly – you’re just browning and the thinness of the meat doesn’t require much time in the pan. Set beef aside. Sauté your onions and garlic in the same pan.
After making a few (regional) tweaks to the Simply Recipes version, I came up with a winner. Gather up some easy basics: butter, beef, onions, garlic, mushrooms, sour cream (be sure to read my footnote on the sour cream!). If you have tarragon, nutmeg, and Worcestershire sauce on hand, even better.
Why would the United States decide to institute a draft? Well, it seems that there are decisions being made and systems put in place right now. If you are an American under 35 years of age, you should be concerned.
Some home movies. Actually not in my home, in various eating establishments in China. Oh, China is supposed to be in famine right now! OMG. My bad. Sorry to break the narrative.
A while back I recieved some intel from one of my spook-ish sources. Good or bad, right or wrong, I just filed it away for “a rainy day” (It’s a play on an American idiom. It means, it’s valuable and interesting, but you don’t need it now. You save it for later.)
…
It’s how I run my life.
Good or bad, right or wrong. I just take all input, and consider it. File it, and move forward. Always move forward. You just cannot drop everything and take action on some other’s time-tables. That would be like running around, from tree to tree, pissing indiscriminately.
So I took the information. Filed it both securely in my email folders, and on my hard disk. And forgot about it.
It does not mean that I agree or disagree with it. It just means that there is nothing that I can do with the information at the time that I recieved it. So I put it aside. And, instead, work on things that I can do something about.
…
Month pass by.
…
After seeing that graph that connects mRNA with thoughts and political agreement with the United States government, it triggered my memory. There was something about this dialog that really seemed to connect to the events that I was witnessing.
The (archived) intel that I was informed on was directly related to this association.
The message suggested that there were vault 7 algorithms and frequencies that worked together in association with various ingredients in the <redacted> portion of the mRNA injection “stew”.
These associations would then “hand shake” with embedded subsonic frequences transmitted along “news” messages, of all sorts. Thus making the injected person, who is exposed to the “news” messages believe them without any critical thought.
Sounds far-fetched.
Perhaps…
I filed it away, as it was something worthy of further study.
And then I saw the graph, and I sought to revisit my communication on this subject. So, like the good and investigative fellow I am, I went to dig it out of my archives.
And it’s gone.
I mean, as in GONE.
The darnest thing!
All records gone. All archives gone. All backups gone. It’s a full spectrum erase. Oh, the folder is there. But it’s empty. Even the screen shots that I took and put in a special folder… it’s gone as well.
.
What the fuck?
It could be a slide. I could be forgetting things. It could be an accident. I don’t know…
… what a coincidence.
It’s a nagging pain in the ass, that’s what.
Some more fun gag gift boxes…
I found this one funny. Perfect for getting your children to eat. Child refuses to eat? Just plop them down and watch them eat their hearts out. Children cry for more!
Oh, and Daddy won’t mind…
Perfect for getting your children to eat. Child refuses to eat? Just plop them down and watch them eat their hearts out. Children cry for more!
This one is unique. Everyone wants their home to fill with the aroma of sizzling bacon. Now it can be an everyday affair.
“Breakfast fresh scent”.
Everyone wants their home to fill with the aroma of sizzling bacon. Now it can be an everyday affair.
Who thinks up these things? “Millions of satisfied customers.”
Do you want to shake up your company? Hold a meeting where you announce that the company is going to save money by stop buying toilet paper. Instead, they will install these rotowipe devices in all the stalls. Make the announcment “dead pan” and watch the reactions.
“Millions of satisfied customers.”
A Huge Cleavage
A huge cleavage is developing between the East and West in tandem with the Ukraine ops. The US State Dept. just sanctioned some Chinese officials due to "human rights". China didn't take well to it at all. Meanwhile, India is not going along with the Western sanctions on Russia and got threatened with sanctions earlier but the US has since backed off that threat.
Victoria Nuland is in India today trying again to coerce India into getting on board the sanctions train. I dont't think it will work.
Also, it seems that China and India are making renewed efforts to bury the hatchet regarding tbeir border duspute. It really seems like a great re-alignment happening, especially taking into account all the other countries not taking part in the anti-Russia sanctions.
Russsia essentially said "fuck it" in deciding to launch into Ukraine. If the West keeps it up, China will arrive at the same point.
Interesting times.
-Woogs
Speaking of “huge cleavage”; here’s a nice Chinese girl with an impressive chest… video 1MB
Russian Foreign Minister
Here’s the entire question being used against Lavrov:
"Why was the military operation launched now and not eight years ago? At that time, a pro-Russian “anti-Maidan” movement emerged in Odessa and Kharkov, which installed the Russian flag on top of the Kharkov regional administration without firing a shot. The city supported Russia. Now these people are hiding from shelling."
I find it impossible to verify the veracity of the question. I know in Odessa the police didn’t do anything to stop the Nazis from their killing and burning. I imagine a similar performance happened in Kharkov. Russia acted to save its strategic asset, Crimea, but clearly wasn’t prepared to intervene further.
Lavrov’s initial sentence is very honest:
"A lot of factors influence developments at each specific historical moment."
I’ve read both the English and Russian transcripts, and what I see by reading between the lines is commiseration by Lavrov with the questioner, not any attempt to mislead. Lavrov says They took advantage of our nature:
"We must have trusted them because of some naivety and kindness of heart, which is something Russians are known for.
"I have no doubt that lessons will be learned."
And if you’ve watched Lavrov while speaking his recent denunciations of the West, that Russia will never again put its trust in any part of the West, you’ll see the resolve that Russia will not get fooled again as it’s now taking everything into its own hands.
IMO, some part of all Russians, especially Putin, Lavrov, Shoigu, and other leaders, was burned and died with those in Odessa and in Donbass. They pled and pled and pled some more with the Western pukes to obey the fucking law put forth in UNSCR 2022–the Minsk Agreements.
But inaction and outright refusal followed by the breaking of it all by the fucking West. And now all the rest that was uncovered with the military operation!!
I’ll bet the fucking national debt that Putin, Lavrov, et al wish they would’ve done more in 2014 but felt they couldn’t.
The Syria intervention helped to provide some solace. But it’s very clear to Russia now that the Outlaw US Empire is the #1 predator state on the planet and must be neutralized somehow without resorting to nuclear weapons.
Yes, that’s how fucking serious this is.
Lavrov knows that gravity of the situation. It’s fucking existential!
And it’s that fact the West badly wants to cover up. And just as importantly, it’s that fact that we must try to expose and broadcast.
I’m probably going to catch some flac for this, but for me – it isn’t off the BBQ. No, no, no. MY perfect steak is done on a stove top (gasp!). Classically considered a French bistro dish, Steak au Poivre is my perfect way to indulge. If you’re a meat lover, this post is for you.
Simple and clean.
I think a part of what appeals to me so much about this recipe is its simplicity. The steak is seasoned with two ingredients: salt and peppercorns. It might sound crazy to coat two steaks with 2 whole tablespoons of peppercorns, but when they aren’t finely ground the spice is much more subtle. Dressing the meat this way also lets it shine through. This is beef at its best.
What appeals to me so much about this recipe is its simplicity.
Using a cast iron pan is my second secret. These pans retain heat well and are practically non-stick. Cooking the steaks on high heat, turning ~once per minute creates an even, golden crust with no burning. Depending on the thickness of your steak, you’re looking for a total of 3-4 minutes per side for rare.
If there is a side of fat on your steak, render it down for a couple minutes by propping the steak up.
In the final minutes, we add some butter for extra flavour and to start providing the base for a delicious Cognac pan sauce. When the steaks are cooked to your liking, remove to a cutting board and tent with foil. You’ll be left with something closely resembling this:
In the final minutes…
Up last is to create a rich cognac pan sauce that sends this over the top. In your pan, we will add shallot, (more butter), Cognac, cream, thyme and parsley. After cooking and reducing the sauce, we pour it over the sliced steak. When I have this for dinner, steak is all I need. There is something ridiculous & awesome about eating just steak for dinner, I hope you try it!
Time to EAT!
Meanwhile in China
It’s a thing. Partly due to Coronavirus. Partly due to the plans for Space, and bases on the Moon and Mars. Cute. Odd. video 23MB
Digging up the e-mail
I was able to retrieve the email concerning the connection between mRNA “vaxx” and the United States government.
Now, I do not endorse the content of this e-mail. I just provide it in it’s raw form for others to muse over. Please take it as it is. It is raw information that could be from anyone.
Anyone at all.
I am using anonymous email because this is above top secret information.
You are correct that the vaccines will kill an estimated 70% of the US population due to prion disease. This is being done to avoid world problems and reconstruct world society as described by the World Economic Forum (ocean acidification, food shortages, food poisoning and job replacement by artificial intelligence).
However, what is not currently known is that the chemtrails contain a mixture of advanced nanobots along with complexed radioactive materials (germanium, indium, etc) and a shielding material that releases hard to detect bursts of radioactivity (2 sec) on the back of the spine, femoral heads, pelvis, ribs and under the chin when exposed to nanorouter EMF.
The nanorouters are powered by electric fields and local utility companies have conspired to alter their current to emit very high EMF and magnetic fields periodically to kill and injure through direct exposure to this radiation plus the activated chemtrail dust.
The US government has contracted stalking activities to private companies such as Replica.ai (Lucas in San francisco) and has artificial intelligence monitoring large numbers of people through Patriot Act hacked cell phone sim cards, cameras, hacked routers and PCs.
However, they have the ability to do additional spying due to the nanobot infestation. Nanobots around the occipital lobe allow them to steal passwords and watch vision. They also can do voice to skull transmission of voices, start terrifying abnormal dream sequences when initiating sleep, blank memories and control people through trance to commit suicide etc. Low intelligence and highly opinionated people are extremely susceptible and literally zone out and lose their memory while they are being manipulated.
The nanobots also have a slew of programmed harassments that can be extremely disabling-hyperurination due to stimulated hormone secretion, waking people up from sleep due to external nanobots, depression, anxiety stimulation, simulated Mernier's disease where the room shakes up and down. If they are active you'll get tinnitus. All of the symptoms stop once you are out of Wifi range.
The nanobots are magnetized and they are being used to shake housing structures apart. All over the US buildings are having roof collapses due to smartmeter arson from power companies plus shaking by hidden resonance frequency generators which is known as the world hum. The nanobot programs reduce the intensity of the humming so it sounds like typical noise but it is not. The building shaking can be measured on a linear accelerometer (Physics Accelerator Toolbox app).
The chemtrail dust is how they plan to kill uncooperative unvaccinated people. Planed flyovers seed beds and clothing with the dust and then it is activated and the person is slowly irradiated. Due to the short half-life of the materials it is very hard to detect however a small EMF/magnetic field detector can be used to scan the areas. As this is dust, vaccuuming and spongebathing it off is very effective before or during activation.
Resistors are also being targeted using the vircator microwave satellite targeting program as described at targetedjustice.com. It is very hard to shield requiring 12 layers of aluminum foil at the highest setting. Pointing an emf detector in the area of strongest magnetic field will show you where the satellites are. Active vircators will show high EMF up to 106 V/m.
The buffered radioactive nanobot dust is being sprayed all over the world and is being used along with NSA hacked servers to control political leaders without their knowledge.
This most likely is why Vladimir Putin has now invaded Ukraine. An invasion of Ukraine will most likely lead to an EMP strike that will damage the European illuminati. Agents I have spoke with claim that the USA is currently controlled by the US branch of the New World Order/Illuminati and they seek to damage the European branch with the EMP attack.
The nanobots are also converting prions all over the world due to NSA hacking.
You are a targeted individual and can expect all of these attacks. You need to take appropriate precautions to shield your equipment from hacking as well as from nanobot visual access (band of 10 layers of foil around the occiput with a strap works well. The irradiation can cause bone marrow edema syndrome, severe abdominal pain, skin burning and back pain.
We are in a bit of a tricky situation on this one. It probably is too late to stop the prion disease and we do need to have the European illuminati, religion and black antisocial behavior weakened however I have concerns about the excessive targeting as anyone who knows about their plans is having hits put out on them (including me) and the competency of the people running this thing. Take appropriate precautions.
Covering beds with a plastic sheet until used to shield from the dust and shielding from vircator also is important.
Given the scope of this thing I doubt there is anything anyone can do. The US Federal government is completely taken over, people are mind controlled and the population is being attacked with weapons we have never seen before. Also, if we don't allow it to happen we suffer all the world problems that the WEF describes. If we do then we will most likely be slaves to elite billionaires and forced to live in a controlled society.
<redacted>
Indeed it is far-out stuff.
It’s well beyond my understanding.
But…
It is the ONLY content that I have / possess that answers the strange graphic association posted above. Take it, and use it as you see fit. Personally, it’s way, way above my head. And I have no ideas; no clue how accurate or valid it actually is.
When I asked a person whom I greatly respect on the content of this, the response was thoughtful…
Whoever sent you that - just please PLEASE listen to the content of what the implications are for China - Xi is a WEF placement. This is NOT Unknown. It’s literally on the WEF website. He pissed off the WEF and now he is going to be removed. China has been under attack since I have been warning you. It has. A company called Blackrock - in THIS fucking world line is the muscle of the WEF.
Want to know why we did Afghanistan so quickly? BLACKROCK provided allll of the security force in Afghanistan since 2017. We drew down troops but they never left. They changed uniforms and got paid a TON of cash. Look it up. So Blackrock decides to pull alllll of the security forces outside Kabul that it paid - as a message.
Think about that - about 85% of security force outside of Kabul - gone. Like that. And all that kept the Taliban from overrunning the country was a small force. So - Biden left rather than get slaughtered.
But to my point - The WEF has a stake in a securities trading firm called Blackrock that hired mercenaries - tens of thousands of combat veterans that you see fighting in Ukraine.
Look it up.
I cannot speak about the specifics of ANY of that - at all - but I’m telling you - you hit paydirt.
And we ARE pulling out when the fight gets bloody.
Blackrock is on Chinas doorstep. And I am telling you - nothing can prevent what they are doing. THAT I know from actual friend that is IN Blackrock. As a mercenary.
This all is online. If you can’t access it through China ask someone to look it up. Also look up “Blackrock woke”. It’s fun.
And if that is AI that created that email - fucking bravo. THAT is a programmer I want to hang out with.
And feel free to post my shit - just please keep the name out of it. But I know some of your people that emailed me and I gave them my thoughts. Ask how accurate so far.
Again - I wish you all peace and happiness there - because our lights are going out soon.
Much love - <redacted>
Have you ever gotten the idea that you are somehow way over your head? Yeah. I get that all the time. It’s not that I believe everything. I listen. I learn. I drink. I move forward, and I adapt.
Everyone needs to learn, and adapt as situations permit.
Each and everytime I chat with the Domain Commander, on comm, it’s just a window into how much I really don’t know. WHile I know much, there is still so much more to learn.
Sometimes I just feel like I am a little ball in one of those old pin-ball machines. I’m just being batted around like crazy.
Although this fried crab dumpling fits in among postwar tiki culture and is often purported to be of southeast Asian provenance, it was very likely invented in America.
Crab Rangoon
It’s easy to make. Delicious to eat, and fun to try.
The United States is reposturing itself. This is occuring soon after the warning from China on a package of 2nd stage sanctions regarding Russia and Taiwan.
The US-China trade: Washington’s review of US$300 billion in tariffs cannot be ‘half-hearted’. You either do it and suffer the consequences or abandon it completely.
If everyone did small, little things the world would be so much nicer, and so much better. video 6MB
Downfall of the USD
From one of my feeds…
The best way to accelerate the downfall of the empire is to attack its Dollar Hegemony (not the same as attacking America).
I said that in my Quora posts "Trade War between China and America" and "Who will win the trade war" early 2018 at the beginning of Trump's "war by any means except guns" -- euphemistically termed trade war -- against China.
Without the Dollar hegemony, America may have to act like a more normal country. Less unilateral sanctioning, less bullying, less acting like the Mafia, less war crimes, less color revolutions, less media lies, less war budgets, less war-mongering, less bases around the world, less profligate printing of money, less plundering of other countries, etc.
Bullied countries will have alternatives. For protection, they will have Russia and for trade they will have China. All previous vassals of America, including European countries are welcome. Then we will have some peace.
Acting like a more normal country in a more balanced world is actually good for the powerless people of America.
They may learn to demand for guaranteed basic housing, food, healthcare, and education rather than asking for more shit-paying soul-crushing slave-wage jobs or one-time checks that eventually go to the coffers of the 1% money-changers and MIC, giving those miscreants more power to ravage America and the world, meanwhile the national debt of Americans increases to generate the checks and the rest of the world suffers inflation, which is of course borne by the common masses of the world.
Capitalism won't solve the problems.
The fall of the empire may help people think differently or see more clearly how some countries with so many people and so little resources can live gainfully, peacefully, and happily together in a diverse yet harmonious society.
I'll share a passage from my book under chapter title "The Dragon's Dream":
"Where is this paradise? Is it on earth or is it only in his dreams (the dreamer's name means tattoo-dragon)?Where all parents are strong and wise and capable, and all the children are happy and beloved. Where brothers and sisters neither slaughter each other, nor enslave one another, nor tell lies to everyone from morning till night, where the children love and help each other, share everything and take care of one another, and all of them live peaceful, fruitful, and happy lives.
Where is this place?
Is it China?"Does this sound familiar? It comes from a Coen brothers movie, with a couple of changes and replacing Idaho with China.
-<redacted>
Power reshuffling
China says Russia is an ‘important’ G20 member. It cannot simply be expelled by others, no matter what they might want. In short, Beijing has spoken up for Russia, describing it an “important” global member after the possibility of a major move against Vladimir Putin.
Both Russia and China, and probably India (soon), have generated an “Unfriendly nation list”. These lists catagorize nations in accordance to their behaviors and put them into catagories.
Close relationship
Friendly
Neutral
Unfriendly
Enemy
These are not meaningless lists. They will be used to determine policy. And the policy that Asia uses against other nations is determined by where it sits upon these lists.
Today, President Putin made his first move in a chess game with the West. Gas will be sold to unfriendly countries only for rubles.
Putin wants ‘unfriendly countries’ to pay rubles for gas – ABC News
In China, people; ordinary people, volunteer to help others. It is their nature to be the Rufus. They don’t ask for payment. They don’t ask for anything. They help others as it is their nature. Volunteers going to remote villiages to help others. Everyone being the Rufus. video 12MB
For the longest time I have dismissed the idea about “chem-trails” as just crazy “tin foil hat” conspiracy bullshit. Chem-trails are just water vapor at high altitude, don’t you know.
For the longest time. I believed this.
Then, I moved to China. It’s calm. It’s peaceful. It’s pleasant. It’s like walking slowly into a body-temperature pool of water.
And, do you know what?
There’s no “chem-trails”. None. As in zero.
So, maybe (I figured) that it was because that China has these stringent air pollution standards on all fuel. Except, well.. just how does that actually affect water vapor emissions? No clear answers.
But one thing is for certain; there are no vapor trails from aircraft of any kind, at any place, within China.
MM car ride in an industrial factory section of Guangzhou. video 43MB
None.
N-O-N-E.
Why? Why are there no Chemtrails in China? MM video 23MB
The Problem with the Nano-bots mRNA Vaxx and Vault 7
Ok, then. Let’s do a simple “sanity check”.
The big problem with this concept is that the American / Western “leadership” must be totally isolated from the effects of this control mechanism. How can you possibly isolate the leadership from Chem-trails, audio playing on the radio, media on television and movies, and the social networks on the internet.
Heck! They are addicted to them!
So, and the sanity check is clear, as brilliant and complex the system is, it will affect everyone within that society. No one will be immune. Sure, you might need to place yourself into isolation, but eventually, one way or the other, you WILL feel the influence of these systems. No one is immune.
The “leadership” might find a way to pretend getting an mRNA injection, but it’s a cut-throat world at the top. There can be all sorts of ways to place tiny nano-bots inside of your enemy to turn them into your pawn.
So, really…
No matter how hard they try, they will live within the very same, exact “echo box” that they subject their citizenry to. They will live inside an “echo chamber” of lies; lie that they ordered others to create.
They are boxed in, and they believe the lies. They actually believe them.
And as leaders, they will make decisions based on those lies, and the entire nation;
They will start to say things that will sound crazy, and act in ways that will seem strange and crazy. They will act so very convinced of the strangest and most outlandish narratives.
And in doing so…
…by the leadership…
…the entire system will evenually be destroyed. Leadership needs REAL intel to make decisions upon. There is no excuse. You eaither have real intel (good and most especially bad) or you don’t. And history is clear. Bad intel results in very bad results.
We call those results; fiascos.
How can anyone possibly have a leadership that…
Does not take the mRNA Vaxx injection.
Does not read, watch or enjoy American media, social networks or media.
It cannot occur.
Maybe at some time, some radicals believed that it was possible. Maybe back in the 1960s, or 1970s they might have believed this. But in todays society. It is impossible.
Simply Impossible.
Perhaps, the reason why there is such an accelerated failure at all levels in the West is becuase the “leadership” has themselves been affected by their very own poison.
I shake my head.
How can they be so stupid?
Please ponder this thought.
Let’s take a break from this to let your mind relax. New subject. New thoughts.
Chinese respect
Boy locks himself in his bedroom. The fire station is called and they go to the house to break him out…video 2MB
Here’s yet some more gag boxes…
Now here’s a jigsaw puzzle that is suitable for the whole family. Just set aside a card table and get at it. It’s a true challenge.
Want a challenge?
Plants cry for more! Amaze your friends!
Environmentially safe!
Plants cry for more!
The latest in animal entertainment!
The latest in animal entertainment!
The world needs more people skipping
If you cannot dance, try skipping. Smile. Skip as you walk down the street, and say nice things to people. While the rest of the world is on a roller coaster to Hell, you can stop that descent. Skip as you walk. video 15MB
Take care of yourself
We all might not look like this 20-something Chinese woman, but we can certainly smile and be great; we can do great things. Stop waiting. Start doing. video 3MB
Suppose you are a leader in the West
Just imagine that you are a leader of one of the major Western nations. And you best scientists come running to you; scientist that you believe and trust. And they tell you that the situation is DIRE for mankind. They tell you, convincingly that human population grown and energy depletion is unsustainable and that a major disaster lies ahead…
…and they offer senarios and solutions.
And the best one, whatever it might be, is one when a great mass of humanity dies off.
And you, as a leader believe them.
Perhaps you are an independent thinker. Perhaps you are a massive follower of social media and use twitter all the time, and are heavily influenced by Vault 7. What ever.
You believe them. In your heart; you believe them.
And their solution is to kill off 80% of the human population. ..
Insane. Unheard of. But, they present it in a clear and defined manner…
Intentionally cull the human race to 20% of it’s size … or…
Lose 100% of the human species and everyone dies.
What would you choose?
Truth or fiction
It does not matter if there’s such a real thing as “climate change”. What actually does matter is what the “leadership” believes. Because if they inherently believe that the world is going “to Hell in a handbasket”, they have the power, and ability, and the willingness to perform some really drastic actions.
Actions, mind you, that will affect you and your families directly.
Let’s eat.
Chicken Pot Pie
Likely another cost-cutting holdover of the Great Depression and World War II, this savory chicken and vegetable pie is now mostly found only in the grocery store freezer aisle. Don’t go there.
.
Make up your own. It tastes better. It lasts longer. It’s easy to make, and great and easy to reheat in the microwave. Chicken Pot Pie, why didn’t we think about this sooner?
(If) the software of the plane took over the controls from the pilot… and we con’t know that this is what happened, but if it did… why in God’s Name did it decide to aim the plane straight towards the ground at full throttle?
The black box fight recorder has been recovered. I believe investigators are considering that sabotage is involved.
Talking about evil and the United States, let’s interrupt this train of thought to explore more gag boxes…
Here’s some more gag boxes…
Have your pet treat you as a king!
Have your pet treat you as a king!
Take a nap anywhere and at anytime.
Take a nap anywhere and at anytime.
And what about the Ukraine?
Unlike the theoretical secret deals between the West and the Chinese (or Russia), the deals between China and Russia are very much visible and are largely committed to paper.The West started this conflict, of course. I don’t know when they realized Russia was going to move into the Ukraine, but they had ample opportunity to prevent it by simply agreeing to the previous status quo. They appear to believe that they can create a protracted conflict in the Ukraine like they did when Russia invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s.
That shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the situation.
Ukraine has historically been a part of Russia. There is not really any such thing as a “Ukrainian identity” outside of being a vassal state. In the west of the country, they tend to feel closer to Poland, and there is some bad blood all around with regards to the USSR. But none of this is in any way similar to fanatical Islam. The US has backed neo-Nazism as a kind of “Ukrainian ISIS,” but you can’t rally a country around cartoonish neo-Nazism (particularly while the entire leadership of the country is Jewish).The idea of using neo-Nazis as rebels against a Russian occupation or a Russia-backed government in the Ukraine is nonsensical, and reeks of the kind of stupid thinking that led to America’s Afghan debacle. The US government pays people to lie to them, and when people tell the truth, they get fired and end up on obscure livestream interviews answering superchats. These liars are telling the decision-makers that the Ukraine is Afghanistan and a protracted conflict can be used to drain Russia, which will ultimately result in the collapse of the Putin government.The fact that they have no idea what they’re doing is blatant in the fact that they are sanctioning the entire Russian race. Putin’s support is going up rapidly among the people, many of whom didn’t like his policies before but now feel compelled to rally around him since they are being attacked personally for their race by the West.
-UNZ
Perfect for the busy man on the move!
Perfect for the busy man on the move!
So what are we looking at here?
Well, as far as I can figure out, we have the following situations all moving ahead at this time…
The United States is pushing the world towards war.
They are crossing both China’s, and Russia’s red lines to provoke them.
They believe the myth of “American greatness”.
They believe that America has liberty and freedom.
They believe that a uni-polar world is necessary and there are no alternatives.
The American leadership are acting strangely.
President Biden seems to be senile with dementia.
Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be a “ding-bat, dunderhead”.
The US Senate are mostly radical neocon war-hawks.
The Coronavirus pandemic was strange.
All Western nations insisted in mRNA injections.
All Eastern nations treated it as a bio-weapon and used dead-host vaccines.
Western nations are all now “open”, while Eastern nations remain closed.
Full-scale on-going “hybrid-warfare” against the East by the West.
Military engagements, sanctions, trade restrictions on Russia.
Strange unusual events inside of China. All centering around American products, food, livestock, or systems.
A strong difference in the West vs. East societies.
Everyone in the West seem angry, agitated, and frustrated.
Thos in the East are calm, relaxed, happy.
No contrails in the East.
Hyper-inflation hitting the West.
Up-tick in some inflationary measures in the East.
But what does it all mean?
It’s not like I can just immediately agree that all Americans (and those in the west) have nano-bots, and chem-trail poisonings, and all the rest. I see strange behaviors, but I do not see any evidence that the cause is some kind of mad-scientist stew of frequency manipulation, vault 7, nano-bots, MSM algorithms, and the rest.
I have no proof.
And even if I did, I really wouldn’t know what to do about / with it.
So, in the interests of all…
We have to approach the strangeness, not with theories that suggest causes and answers but rather empirical study.
Empirical study
Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. You see evidence. You study it. You come to conclusions about it. You do not come up with theories on the causes. You just put all of the observations into one singular box.
It’s important that you put ALL of the observations in that box. Omitting one singular element can give you distorted or skiewed conclusions. So you collect all the observations…
An American-built plane had a highly unusual crash inside of China.
The plane possessed software that can override the pilot commands.
The plane is of the same make and model that had similiar crashes before.
“Conspiracy kooks” believe that this type of plane can be hyjacked remotely.
The crash came immediately after two warnings to Xi Peng (Blinkedin, and Biden) that there would be immediate consequences if China did not Sanction Russia.
It’s been one week now since the warnings. No other “immediate consequences” occurred (that the public is aware of).
You see, empirical study a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. Here’s another example.
There are contrails all over the West.
There are no contrials in the East.
And…
Everyone in the West are agitated, upset, angry and frustrated.
Everyone in the East seems to be calm, realxed and comfortable.
And…
While there are exceptions, the vast bulk of injections in the West are mRNA.
There are no mRNA injections in China, and few in Russia.
Empiricism values some research more than other kinds.
A measure of “happiness” is relative.
While a measure of inflation is measurable.
Empirical evidence (the record of one’s direct observations or experiences) can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively. And from that, you can suggest what is going on…
Until MM mixed different subjects in the articles (food, girls, China, history), there was a near constant stream of Trolls, and hacking attemps on the site.
When the mixed subjects were introducted, Troll and DDOS attacks dropped to zero.
As well as come up with theories as to why it is going on…
Trolls and hacks use some <unknown method> to select the websites to harrass.
By mixing content within articles, the <unknown method> is bypassed, and the articles are no longer harassed or attacked.
About China
An interesing quote…
We are clearly facing down a world ruled by the Chinese. A lot of people are uncomfortable with that. But most of the discomfort comes from the idea that the Chinese are somehow going to rule us in the same fashion that the US has ruled the world since World War II.
They have no such plans for us. The Chinese have a vision of conquering the world through commerce, rather than war, threats of war, and geopolitical maneuvering.We started out on the issue of the economic dominance of the US, and that economic dominance is indeed the key to everything. However, US economic dominance was entirely a result of US military might. The reigning US philosophy for global economic dominance has been: “we will literally bomb you.”
Conversely, the Chinese philosophy has been: “we will sell you high quality products at reasonable prices.”
When the Mongols consistently raided them, stealing their women and wealth on horseback and riding off with the booty, they said “cannot allow.” Instead of mounting an army to crush the Mongols, they built a gigantic wall, and told the Mongols that if they wanted Chinese products, they would have to buy them at the wall.
It is precisely the same logic as a Chinese immigrant family setting up a store in an all black neighborhood and covering the counter, cash register, and expensive items with bulletproof glass.
China has always been, fundamentally, a merchant empire, and that hasn’t changed. If it were not for the belligerence of the West, they wouldn’t have bothered to build up a large military at all. Historically, virtually every war the Chinese have fought has been a civil war, as they don’t look at the rest of the world as enemies or friends, but rather customers and potential customers.
-UNZ
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie
Although pumpkin pie and cheesecake have obviously remained popular, this hybrid, a Kraft classic, has fallen out of favor.
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This variation on pumpkin pie comes from actress and writer Mae West. It appears in a 1933 community cookbook published by the Assistance League of Southern California, alongside contributions from several other Hollywood stars such as Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, Constance Bennet, Marion Davies, and Cary Grant.
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2022 03 24 09 50
Unfortunately, Mae West doesn’t give us much information beyond the actual recipe. The pie is titled “Pumpkin Pie Robert,” but it’s unclear what the name “Robert” refers to – it could be the name of a person who gave her the recipe, or perhaps even the name of a place the recipe came from.
Mae West includes brandy in her recipe, which is pushing the boundaries just a little, since the cookbook was published in 1933 and Prohibition wasn’t repealed until the end of that year. She is far from the only contributor to this cookbook to do so, however, and finding alcohol in recipes from the Prohibition years isn’t at all uncommon.
The strangest ingredient in this recipe to me is the Nippy cheese called for in the topping. I wasn’t able to find out exactly what Nippy cheese is, although it looks like it was some type of cheese spread originally made by Kraft. It was apparently not the same as cream cheese, since Kraft made that too, but for lack of a better substitute I decided to go with cream cheese. Any kind of flavored cheese spread honestly sounds like it would be disgusting when combined with whipped cream, so I’m hoping that the original Nippy cheese was something neutrally-flavored.
2022 03 24 09 52
Oh that Mae…
2022 03 24 09 53
Pumpkin Pie Robert:
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt (reduced from original)
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 oz/4 tbsp brandy
2 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
Beat the eggs until light, then add the sugar, spices, and salt and beat until mixed.
Scald the milk, then slowly add milk to the egg mixture while whisking constantly.
Stir in the pumpkin and brandy.
Line a pie pan with pastry (no recipe for pie crust is given in the book, so use your favorite recipe or store-bought).
Pour in the filling. With a 9-inch pie pan, I ended up with some extra filling; the recipe is probably intended for a larger or deeper pan.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 325 degrees and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Topping: whip the cream until stiff. Mash the cream cheese with a fork, then stir into the cream. Once the pie is cold, use a piping bag to decorate it with the cream cheese mixture.
Like many pies, this one is definitely at its best the day after its made. When I tried it on day 1, the flavors were much too strong, with the brandy in particular overwhelming everything else. The flavors melded much better the second day, although it was still a strongly-flavored pie. I did end up reducing the salt, since 1 teaspoon seemed much too salty to me.
A nice fun pie. Goes great with coffee.
I liked the cream-cheese topping, but I think I am more of a whipped cream purist. I also wonder whether cream cheese was a good substitute for Nippy cheese, or if the original cheese was something more savory. There are people who put cheddar cheese on apple pies, although I’ve never heard of it used on a pumpkin pie. Was Mae West a cheese-on-dessert-pie person? (I am very firmly not a cheese-on-dessert-pie person – but cream cheese is ok).
Overall, my verdict is that this was a decent pumpkin pie, but it just wasn’t quite to my taste. Sorry, Mae West, but Amelia Simmons’ Pumpkin Pie is still the top historic pumpkin pie for me!
Here’s some more fun gag boxes…
Perfect during these days of Coronavirus.
Perfect during these days of Coronavirus.
For ages two and older.
For ages two and older.
Now with musical Accompaniment. Choose your own theme song.
Now with musical Accompaniment. Choose your own theme song.
A unique, one in a lifetime gift.
A unique, one in a lifetime gift.
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China is still under lockdown
Do not believe the lies that China is reconsidering it’s hard Coronavirus restrictions. Maybe the West has relaxed it’s stance dealing with the “pandemic”, but China has not.
China is still under DEFCON 2; they still accuse the USA of launching bioweapons against it, and they are VERY VERY concerned about the biolweapons labs in Ukraine. They will stay at DEFCON 2 until there is no longer any threat of bioweapon attack from the West.
Here’s a viewo of some of the many many volunteers fighting on this front. video 7MB
Renegade interviews Michael Hudson: Sanctions, the blowback
Ross [00:00:29] Welcome to Renegade Inc. Whatever the outcome in Ukraine, one thing is for sure the economic reverberations will be felt by everyone for years to come as the world divides between the West and a rapidly reshaping Eurasia.
Ross [00:00:49] Michael Hudson, always a pleasure to have you on the programme, welcome to Renegade Inc.
Michael Hudson [00:00:53] Thank you for inviting me.
Ross [00:00:55] Michael, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions is all we hear now. We’re sanctioning people. The West sanction people back to the Stone Age. What are the unintended consequences of sanctions?
Michael Hudson [00:01:05] Well, one is to serve very much like a protective tariff on the sanctioned country. For instance, when America made sanctions on European trade with Russia, Lithuania dutifully stopped exporting cheese to Russia. Well, the result is that Russia set up its own cheese’s sector, and now it’s self-sufficient in cheese. If you sanction a country, you force it to become more self-reliant and across the board, from agriculture to dairy products to technology, Russia is forced to become more self-reliant and at the same time to depend much more on trade with China for the things that it is still not self-reliant in. So America is bringing about exactly the opposite of what it intended. It’s hopeless to somehow isolate Russia and then be able to go after China without Russia. And instead, what it’s doing is integrating the Eurasian core, Russia and China, exactly the policy that Henry Kissinger warned against going all the way back to Mackinder a century ago that said, Eurasia is the world island, Russia and China could be the whole world centre. That’s what the fight is all about. Well, American sanctions are driving Russia and China together, and America has gone to China and said, Please don’t support Russia. It most recently, on Monday, March 14, Jake Sullivan came out and told China, we will sanction countries that break our sanctions against Russia. And basically, China said, fine. You know, we’ll just break off all the trade between East and West now and the East, Eurasia is pretty much self-sufficient. The West is not self-sufficient since it began to industrialise, and it’s heavily dependent on Russia for not only oil and gas, but palladium and many raw materials. So the sanctions are ending up driving a wedge between the European countries.
Ross [00:03:31] Don’t people who apply these sanctions think this through? Are they so short-sighted they don’t understand that these sanctions are going to build further capacity within Russia, push Russia further towards China, make that economic alliance concrete and, ultimately, you’re not going to be able to keep the lights on in in Europe? All the while underestimating the fact that from a food security point of view – take the U.K., for instance, a net importer of food – not appreciating the fact that, for instance, Russia/Ukraine, they create twenty five percent, a quarter, of all wheat annually. The estimation this year is one hundred and two million tonnes Russia and Ukraine, wheat. Don’t people realise that there’s going to be a massive knock on effect?
Michael Hudson [00:04:23] Yes, they do realise it. Yes, they’ve thought it all through. I worked with these people for more than 50 years.
Ross [00:04:31] Who are these people?
Michael Hudson [00:04:32] The neocons, basically, the people who are in charge of U.S. foreign policy? Victoria Nuland and her husband, Robert Kagan, the people that President Biden has appointed all around him, from Blinken to Sullivan and right down the line. They are basically urging people around the New American Century. They’re the people who said America can run the whole world and create its own reality. And yes, they know that this is going to cause enormous problems for Germany. They know that not only will it block the energy that Germany and Italy and other countries in Europe need through their oil and gas, but also it’ll block the use of gas for fertiliser, upping their fertiliser production and decreasing their food production. They look at this and they say, How can America gain from all of this? There’s always a way of gaining what something looks to be bad. Well, one way they’ll gain is oil prices are going way up. And that benefits the United States whose foreign policy is based very largely on oil and gas. The oil industry controls most of the world’s oil trade, and that explains a lot of the US diplomacy. This is a fight to lock the world energy trade into control by U.S. companies, excluding not only Iran and Venezuela, but also excluding Russia.
Ross [00:06:16] So as Europe pushes towards more and more green and renewable energy and this for the Americans they must think it’s a dreadful scenario insofar as they can’t sell the oil as Europe becomes or wants to become more self-sufficient. So ultimately, and Britain net zero, whatever that means. But but going down the renewables path, going down the solar path takes America’s dependency or dependency on America out the game, doesn’t it?
Michael Hudson [00:06:49] This is exactly the point that the European public has not realised. While most of the European public wants to prevent global warming and prevent carbon into the atmosphere, U.S. foreign policy is based on increasing, and even accelerating, global warming, accelerating carbon emissions because that’s the oil trade. Suppose that Europe got its way. Suppose if the Greens got what they wanted and Germany and Europe were completely dependent on solar energy panels, on wind energy and to some extent, on nuclear power, perhaps? Well, if they were completely self-sufficient in energy without oil or gas or coal, America would lose the primary lever. It has over the ability to turn off the power and electricity and oil of any country that didn’t follow U.S. diplomatic direction.
Ross [00:07:48] So when we take your analysis here and we think about how the sanctions are going to build capacity, push Russia and China together, when we start to look at sort of piggy in the middle, if you like the EU, when we’re thinking about America, the EU has had a sort of abusive relationship with the Americans for quite some time now, hasn’t it?
Michael Hudson [00:08:06] Well, that’s that’s true in the sense that EU foreign policy has basically been turned over to NATO. So instead of European voters and politicians making their policy, they’ve relinquished European foreign policy to NATO, which is really an arm of the US military. So yes, Europe has had a decent relationship with the United States diplomatically by saying yes, yes, please or yes, thank you by not being independent. Of course, if it were independent, the relationship would not be so friendly and decent.
Ross [00:08:46] So for countries that are net importers of food, need to keep the lights on, need heating and need cheap oil. How does this pan out? What does it look like for the UK? What does it look like for the EU?
Michael Hudson [00:08:59] Well, Vice President, Kamala Harris the other day said to Americans, Yes, life is going to be much more expensive. Our oil prices are going up and squeezing families. But think of the poor Ukrainian babies that we’re saving. So take it on the chin for the Ukrainian babies. So basically the United States is presenting horror stories of the Ukraine and saying, if you don’t willingly suffer now by isolating Russia, then Russia is going to roll over you with tanks just like it rolled over Central Europe after World War Two. I mean, it’s waving the flag of Russian aggression, as if Russia or any country in today’s world has an army that’s able to invade any other industrial nation. All military can do today of any country is bomb and kill other populations and industrial centres. No nation is able to occupy or rollover any industrial country. And the United States keeps trying to promote this mythology that we’re still in the world of 1945. And that world ended really with the Vietnam War when the military draft ended. And no country is able to have a military draft to raise the army with necessary to fight to invade. Russia can’t do it any more than Europe or the United States could do it. So all the United States can do is wave warnings about how awful Russia is and somehow convince Europe to follow the US position. But most of all, it doesn’t really have to. Europe doesn’t really have a voice, and this is what the complaint by Putin and Foreign Secretary Lavrov have been saying. They say that Europe is just following the United States and it doesn’t matter what the European people want or what European politicians want. The United States is so deeply in control that they really don’t have much of a choice.
Ross [00:11:15] When does the consumer start to feel this? When does the European or British consumer start to feel the pinch when these sanctions are enacted? And what does that look like?
Michael Hudson [00:11:25] Well, it depends on how fast the sanctions work. The United States said Well, in another year and a half, we’ll be able to provide Europe with liquefied natural gas. Well, the problem is, first of all, they’re not the ports to handle the liquefied natural gas to go into Europe. Secondly, there are not enough ships and tankers to carry all of this gas to Europe. So unless there are very warm winters, Europe is not going to have a very easy time for the next few years. And that’s only for oil and gas. It’s dependent on raw materials that Russia produces. For instance, palladium is necessary for catalytic converters. Titanium is necessary to make the screws that are especially used on aeroplanes that are strong enough not to buckle and break when winds go up and down and when they’re full. Russia even produces the neon and the crypton that are necessary for making some kind of electronic uses and also for many components that go into computers and information technology. There’s a whole range of exports that Europe is highly dependent on, and the United States has provided Putin with a whole list of these exports, saying, Well, OK, we’re going to fight against Europe buying your oil and gas but you can certainly sell us your heavy oil that we need since we’re not buying it from Venezuela. We certainly need the following list of critical materials that we need, like helium and crypton. These are our pressure points. Please don’t press on them. Well, you can imagine what Putin and his advisers are saying. Thank you for giving us this list of the pressure points that you’re exempting from the trade sanctions. I think if you really want a break in the unilateral, unipolar world, I think we should break now and see whether you really want to get along without trading.
Ross [00:13:51] Michael Hudson, welcome back, second half, Renegade Inc. Wonderful to have you. In that first half we followed the money, if you like. We talked about sanctions and the unintended consequences. I just want to pull back a little further if we can and just talk about the sort of tectonic shifts that are going on in the world. I spoke to somebody from Russia recently and what he said was very straightforward. He said, now what we have to do is begin to learn to live without the West. Do you think that that sentiment is proliferating across Russia now? Is that the mindset?
Michael Hudson [00:14:22] Well, if you read President Putin’s speeches, that’s exactly what’s happening. And Secretary Lavrov has voiced exactly the same feeling. There’s almost a disgust with the West and a feeling from Putin, Lavrov and the other Russian spokesmen, how could we everhave hoped to have an integration with Europe after 1991? Europe really was not on our side at all, and we didn’t realise that Europe is really part of the U.S. diplomatic sphere. It’s like all of Europe is now backing the attack on Russia. The best to do is reorient our economy towards China, Asia and Eurasia and become our own self-sufficient, independent centre
Ross [00:15:15] De-dollarisation and the amassing of plenty of gold by both the Russians and the Chinese. Just talk us through that.
Michael Hudson [00:15:21] Well, Ross, you asked in the first half of this interview how has American sanctions worked against it? I should have mentioned what you just mentioned, the dollar. The United States just grabbed all of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, just as England a few months ago grabbed all of Venezuela’s gold that was held in the Bank of England when Venezuela tried to spend this gold on buying medical supplies to cope with the COVID virus. So basically, the United States have said, if any foreign country holds its reserves in the United States or accounts in U.S. banks. If a country in the global south tries to pay its foreign debt by holding its reserves in US banks in order to be the paying agent on the interest on its foreign debt. And if that foreign country does something we don’t like, like trade with Russia or permit more labour unionisation or try to become independent in food, we’re just going to do what we did to Venezuela, what we did to Iran when we grabbed its foreign exchange reserves or what we did to Russia. And that means that other countries all of a sudden see what they thought was their flight to security, what they thought was their most secure savings, their holdings in U.S. banks, US treasury bill, all of a sudden, is holding them hostage and is a high risk. Even the Financial Times of London has been writing about this, saying, how can the United States that was getting a free ride off the dollar standard for the last 50 years, ever since 1971, when foreign countries held dollars instead of gold and basically holding dollars means you buy U.S. Treasury bonds to finance the US budget deficit and the balance of payments deficit. How can the United States kill the goose that’s giving it the free ride? Well, the answer is that other countries can only move into gold and there’s an alternative to the dollar because that’s something that all the countries of the world have agreed upon is an asset, not a liability. If you hold any foreign currency, that currency is a liability of a foreign country, and if you hold gold, it’s a pure asset. There’s no country that can cancel it, the Americans can’t cancel Russia’s gold supply that’s held in Russia, although it can grab Russian gold supply if it were to hold it in the New York Federal Reserve Bank or the Bank of England. So other countries are not only moving to gold, Germany is bringing its gold back from New York, the Federal Reserve, in aeroplanes back to Germany, so it’ll have its own gold just in case German politicians would do something the United States didn’t like and the United States would simply grab Germany’s gold. The United States sanctions, and it’s especially it’s grabbing on foreign reserve, has started a war that is dividing the world between the West and Eurasia.
Ross [00:18:40] A technical part to all of this because let’s face it, it is an information war and it’s also an economic war. Is it the FIRE sector that you point out – the financial, insurance and real estate sector. Is it that they want to continue the exorbitant privilege of credit creation, because ultimately, if you think about gold, there’s no counterparty risk. Gold is gold and it has been for millennia. Far from being a barbarous relic, by the way now, people are starting to realise the intrinsic value, especially as crypto falls apart. Can you just talk a little bit about this, the FIRE sector wanting the exorbitant privilege of creating credit?
Michael Hudson [00:19:19] This is really what the new world division and global fracture is all about. You’re right, Ross. If you look at after World War One, the American fight against Soviet communism, was basically a fight of industrial capitalism against the threat of socialism. But after 1991, and especially in the last two decades, America deindustrialised. So the fight is not by industrial capitalism against countries pushing their labour up. It’s a fight of neoliberalism against industrial capitalism or socialism abroad. It’s against industrial capitalism evolving into socialism. It’s a belief that, well, now that America’s be industrialised, how is it going to control the world economy? Well, it’ll control it through a financial means by being the creditor and foreign countries debt payments to America will enable it to make its military payments abroad and finance its trade deficit. But also, America’s purchase of key natural resources will give it natural resources when its purchase of takeover of real estate is going to essentially make the United States the landlord class and monopoly class, that mediaeval Europe had to hold the rest of the population in serfdom. That basically is the American strategy of neoliberalism fighting against countries that reject privatisation and financialization of their economy, and specifically financialization under the control of U.S. banks, U.S. private capital and allied satellite banks and capital from England or France or Germany. This is exactly the fight. Will banking and finance control the world economy or will other countries try to build up their own economies through labour and tangible capital formation?
Ross [00:21:27] Where do you stand on that? And I’m only asking you to predict the future, Michael. How do you think this plays out? Because the way you’ve depicted it is the rent seekers, the neoliberal rent seekers on one hand, and there are value creators on the other. And by the way, those two things don’t sit very well together, as we know. How does that play out?
Michael Hudson [00:21:51] Even though the United States is the largest debtor economy in the world, it’s a creditor vis-a-vis the global south and other countries and it uses its creditor position to take over their natural resources, real estate, oil and gas, mineral rights and public utilities and natural monopolies and that are being privatised in government infrastructure. It’s becoming basically the landlord monopoly class of the entire world. That’s the U.S. strategy, and that’s the key to why the world is fracturing globally. And in the past, the global south countries were unable to fight against this tendency in the 70s and 80s with the Vendome conference on. But now that China and Russia threatened to be a self-sufficient core in Eurasia, this is the great threat to the American dream of becoming a landlord and financier of the world.
Ross [00:22:50] How do you think this pans out?
Michael Hudson [00:22:52] Well, the question is whether the United States is if we can control the world, who wants to live in a world like that, let’s blow it up. The question is whether the United States will actually go to war. The only lever that it has left is to drop bombs and to destroy and make the world look like Ukraine. So from the U.S. point of view, Europe’s future and Eurasia’s future is the Ukraine. Look at what we will do to you if you don’t follow our policy. America has just moved al Qaeda very heavily in the Ukraine to sort of repeat in Ukraine and Europe what it was doing in Syria and Libya. And the United States says this is what we can do. What are you going to do about it? Do you really want to fight. But the rest of the world, certainly China and Russia says, Well, we’re ready to fight. So there is no telling what you. And it comes down to personalities. Putin has said, well, do we really want to live in a world without Russia? If the United States is to attack us, we might as well end the world. The United States says, Do we really want to live in a world that we can’t control? If we’re not completely in control, we feel very insecure and we’re going to blow up the world. So you have this countervailing position in a world where all the arms control has been dismantled by the United States in the last few years. The United States has withdrawn from all of the agreements that Russia and China have tried to promote. And Europe is standing by and apparently is willing to be the sacrificial lamb in all of this as Ukraine is being the sacrificial lamb. So the United States and Russia say, let’s fight to the last European. And Russia initially didn’t want that because it was hoping that Europe and Russia would have a mutual gain in trade and investment relationships. But now it doesn’t feel that way. And there may be a proxy war between the United States over the European economy, not necessarily bombing Europe, but trade sanctions, energy sanctions, the kind of disruption that Europe is going to be seeing in the next year is if it loses Russian oil and gas and minerals and also, I think Chinese exports.
Ross [00:25:25] Is there a moment where cooler heads prevail and suddenly the West and other places realise that they’re dependent from a food security point of view, from an energy security point of view that we are dependent? And is there a moment at that point that you can thaw a frozen conflict by saying, actually, if we both meet, we just take a step toward each other, actually, we can do something in a collaborative way? Now I get what you’ve said throughout the rest of the programme, and I give this a percentage possibility of about three percent, but isn’t there a strategy to say, actually, we’ve had all the grandstanding, we’ve had all the brinksmanship, we should now sit around the table and try and work something out?
Michael Hudson [00:26:03] I don’t see any cooler heads in the United States. The surprising thing is that here it’s the right wing channel, the Republican Fox Channel, is the only channel that’s taking the anti-war stand and is saying we shouldn’t be at war in Ukraine. It’s the only channel that’s talking about here is how Russia sees the world. Do we really want to take a one sided perspective or do we want to see the actual dynamics at work? So it was the Republicans and the right wing that is now primarily against the NATO war in the Ukraine. The left wing seems to be all for it, but the left wing of the Democratic Party is in office and I don’t see any cooler heads in the Democratic Party at all. And I’ve known many of these people for many decades, and they are willing to go to war for a death. There are still back in the world of World War Two when the fight was against the Nazis and anti-Semitism. They’re still living in a kind of mythology world, not in the real world. And the thought that the world can come to an end either doesn’t have a reality to them or as Herman Cain said, Well, somebody is going to survive.
Ross [00:27:29] Michael Hudson always a pleasure, a great insight. And, you know, it’s just refreshing to hear. Thank you very much for your time.
Michael Hudson [00:27:38] Well, thank you very much for having me, Ross.
On February 21 Russia announced that it would recognize the Donbas republics. A day later it did so. The ‘west’ immediately announced sanctions which in fact had been prepared in advance. On February 24 Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine.
The Russian ruble immediately took a big hit. It has since recovered a bit.
oday’s news will bring the ruble to a new heights.
Putin instructed to convert gas contracts with unfriendly countries into rublesPresident Vladimir Putin instructed to issue a directive to Gazprom to convert contracts into rubles for unfriendly countries. In his opinion, supplying Russian goods to the EU, the USA and receiving payment in dollars and euros "does not make any sense for us." Against this background, the ruble moved to growth on the Moscow Exchange.“Both the US and the EU have basically defaulted on their obligations to Russia. And now everyone in the world knows that obligations in dollars and euros may not be fulfilled. <...> It is quite obvious that in this regard, it makes no sense for us to supply our goods to both the EU and the USA and receive payment in dollars, euros and a number of other currencies. Therefore, I have decided to implement in the shortest possible time a set of measures to transfer payments for our natural gas supplied to unfriendly countries to Russian rubles,” Mr. Putin said at a meeting with the government.The President instructed the Central Bank and the government to determine within a week the order of operations for the purchase of rubles on the domestic market by buyers of Russian gas. He claims that Russia will continue to supply gas "in accordance with the volumes and according to the pricing principles concluded in the contracts."The dollar exchange rate on the Moscow Exchange fell below 100 rubles. for the first time since March 3rd. As of 15:37, the US currency is trading at 101.55 rubles. (-2 rubles). The euro exchange rate fell by 2.85 rubles to 111.65 rubles. The maximum dollar fell to 94.99 rubles, the euro - to 109.7 rubles.The European Union, the United States, Great Britain and a number of other countries have imposed sanctions against Russia in response to the military operation in Ukraine, which has been carried out since February 24 on the orders of Mr. Putin. One of the measures was the freezing of about half of the Central Bank's gold and foreign exchange reserves ($300 billion).
To pay in ruble one first has to buy rubles. With higher demand for rubles and no change in supplies the price for the Russian currency will go up. As Russia is selling hydrocarbons and other resources for billions of dollars per day the ruble is likely to soon reach record heights.
On February 28 another round of sanctions hit Russia. The part of the Russian central bank reserves that were stored in the ‘west’ were frozen. The central bank immediately pushed its interest rate from 9% to 20% to prevent a flight from the ruble. This helped to lessen the damage but made credit expensive and has hit the future growth potential in Russia.
But with a high new rubles demand from the outside of Russia the central bank will soon be able to lower its interest rate to more normal levels. Credit conditions will ease and investment in Russia, to replace products that had so far been imported, will rise again.
Today’s move to demand rubles for hydrocarbons is only on of the many steps Russia can, and likely will take, to retaliate for sanctions from the ‘west’.
All energy consumption in the U.S. and EU will now come at a premium price. This will push the EU and the U.S. into a recession. As Russia will increase the prices for exports of goods in which it has market power - gas, oil, wheat, potassium, titanium, aluminum, palladium, neon etc - the rise in inflation all around the world will become significant.
As he heads to Europe, President Biden will press U.S. allies to help impose even more aggressive sanctions on Russia.
Biden demands that Europe suicides itself while he is protecting the U.S. industry. I hope that some people in the European capitals are still able to think clear enough to recognize the racket the U.S. is trying to run here:
Together with the economic devastation that U.S. and European sanctions on Russia are causing in their own economies this will end in regime-changes in several European countries. The U.S. is of course again protecting itself from as much as it can at the cost of others.
The question remains, why did all those who for so long foretold this war do so little to stop it, and so much to hasten the disaster Russia has now set in motion?
Indeed. Why didn’t the government of Germany guarantee in writing that it would veto any additional NATO membership? It would have solved at least half of the problem. Why didn’t any other NATO government do so?
And what are they doing now? Where are their initiatives for peace?
Wake up. Otherwise this will end in disaster. Not for Russia but for the rest of Europe.
Kids and cats
Ah. This is funny. Poor kitties, but they know that the big stupid humans can’t be helped. video 124MB
NATO'S STOLTENBERG SAYS ANY USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL CHANGE NATURE OF CONFLICT, RUSSIA MUST UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN NEVER WIN A NUCLEAR WAR.
UPDATE 5:10 PM EDT —
NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said that NATO has plans in place to protect all allies from nuclear threat, and that there should be no doubt about its readiness.
MORE:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of a “direct clash” between Moscow and NATO forces if peacekeepers from the military alliance are deployed to Ukraine.
Lavrov made the remarks on Wednesday while speaking to students and staff at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in response to Polish proposals for a NATO and international “peace mission.”
“Our Polish colleagues have already stated that there will be a NATO summit now, we need to send peacekeepers. I hope they understand what is at stake,” Lavrov said, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
STILL MORE:
Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlyov on state TV threatens nuclear strike on Warsaw, Poland and NATO forces or any peacekeeping contingent that might try to enter Ukraine.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
This issue has been surfacing far too frequently of late, and there’s a very good reason for it: The West has attacked Russia economically over the Ukraine situation, and has done it so badly that Russia is in actual danger of collapsing as a country.
The West seems to think that Russia’s only option is to sit back and take the sanctions, or change its behavior with Ukraine to abide what NATO and the west wants.
The Russian’s don’t see it that way.
The West PROMISED Russia, after the fall of the Soviet Union, that they would “not move one inch eastward from the Re-unified East-West Germany” (1997). Yet NATO did precisely that in the ensuing years, to the point were NATO nations are now directly bordering Russia.
Those NATO nations have NATO troops rotating in and out of them. The West lies about it by saying they’re only there “temporarily” when in fact, as thousands leave after a few months duty, thousands more come to replace them. The result: An ever-present NATO conventional force.
Then too, there’s the missiles. US Missile Defense systems . . . now in several of the former Soviet Block nations, all aimed directly at Russia.
Ukraine was simply the latest Domino to fall in the long line of NATO expansion. The reason NATO wanted Ukraine has to do with its proximity to Moscow and to Russia’s Strategic Nuclear missile silos. If American missile defenses can be placed on Ukraine soil, they will have a flight time of only 5 minutes to Moscow, and less than ten minutes to Russia’s nuclear silos. Russia cannot defend against missiles that are so close and can travel so far and fast.
Worse, the technology of missiles has evolved and now, the very same “conventional” missiles claimed to be “defensive” can be re-fitted with OFFENSIVE NUCLEAR WARHEADS within an hour. And the re-fit can be done while the missiles remain in their launchers, so no one would know the missiles had been converted from conventional to nuclear.
These facts pose an existential threat to Russia, the very same way that Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba posed an existential threat to the USA under President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
What did Kennedy do? He told the Soviets either those missiles had to go, or . . . . the US would invade Cuba to destroy those missiles. (Gee, the exact same cause for invasion that is now seeing Russia inside Ukraine!)
Yet no one screeched to President Kennedy about Cuba being a sovereign country that could align itself however they liked. No one even questioned Kennedy’s decision that either those missiles go, or Cuba gets invaded. The reason no one questioned it is because every RATIONAL person knew Kennedy was right.
Well, guess what? Today, with the situation in Ukraine, Russian President Putin is . . . . right. He is doing in Ukraine what then-US-President Kennedy was preparing to do with Cuba. It’s no different.
NUKES
Russia knows – and has said publicly – that its conventional military forces cannot compete against the collective force of NATO. But Russia ALSO said (publicly) that they have the largest nuclear arsenal, and their hypersonic missile technology is far superior to all of NATO.
So the Russians, from the start, have made clear they fully understood what they were getting themselves into with Ukraine and the possibility of NATO involvement. Russia would be forced to use nukes. Period.
They knew this. They still know it.
NATO knows it too.
So why then, is NATO’s nitwit, Jens Stoltenberg saying today “ANY USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL CHANGE NATURE OF CONFLICT, RUSSIA MUST UNDERSTAND THAT IT CAN NEVER WIN A NUCLEAR WAR.” ?????
One possibility is that Stoltenberg knows that NATO has actual plans to get involved. The latest iteration of those plans is for NATO countries to “enter” Ukraine as a “Peace keeping force.” Russia has made it explicitly clear that if NATO tries such a move, Russia will engage NATO Troops in battle. War will be the result.
Period End.
And since it is already established that Russia cannot win against NATO conventional forces, Russia would have to “go nuclear.” Stoltenberg and the west think Russia wouldn’t dare.
Stoltenberg and the West are wrong.
Russia would.
They’ve said it publicly.
Several times.
The soyboys of the West think they can talk their way out of anything they do. This time, they cannot.
The message from Russia seems to me to be very simple: NATO cannot have Ukraine as a member. Period.
American missile defenses cannot be placed on the territory of former Soviet Block nations. Period.
If my assessment of this Russian Position is correct, then either NATO accepts that these facts are real and stops what it has been doing since 1997 by adding former Soviet Bloc Nations and withdraws NATO troops and missiles from those nations, or NATO refuses to take “no” for an answer, enters Ukraine, and it is World War 3, with nuclear weapons, VERY VERY SOON.
Those appear to me to be the facts.
That no mass-media outlets in the West are bothering to report them to the general public, will leave their citizens blissfully ignorant, until the bright, white, flashes start.
Thankfully, YOU are not being left blissfully ignorant. YOU have chosen to avail yourself of this web site and radio show and as such, YOU know what’s really going on. We are being marched directly into a (NUCLEAR) World War 3.
MAYOR OF KYIV: "WORLD WAR III HAS ALREADY BEGUN AND UKRAINE IS THE BEGINNING"
She is very, very fine. Really nice build and look at that fantastic smile! My goodness, I could just eat her up, I’ll tell you what! video 3MB
Dream griddle and alarm clock.
Wake up on the right side of bed!
Wake up on the right side of bed!
Joe Biden Speech
Interesting stuff…
“We’re at an inflection point [in] not just the world economy [but] the world that occurs every three or four generations,” the president said.“[A general told me that] 60 million people died between 1900 and 1946 and since then we’ve established a liberal world order, and it hasn’t happened in a long while.”“Now is the time when things are shifting and there’s going to be a new world order out there, and we’ve got to lead it. We’ve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.”
Here’s what Russia thinks…
Biden says US must lead ‘new world order’
The 46th president highlighted the role Washington would have among the “free” states.US President Joe Biden raised eyebrows on Monday after he claimed a “new world order” would soon be established and that it was up to the United States to lead it.
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During a speech at Business Roundtable’s CEO Quarterly Meeting, Biden claimed the world was at “an inflection point” which “occurs every three or four generations” and that it was up to the US to determine the outcome.
“As one of the top military people said to me in a security meeting the other day, 60 million people died between 1900 and 1946, and since then we’ve established a liberal world order and that hadn’t happened in a long while,” the president said.
The comment raised eyebrows in both the US and around the world and resulted in ‘New World Order’ becoming one of Twitter’s trending topics on Monday.
The term ‘new world order’ has historically been used to refer to an era of great global change and has been used by politicians such as former US President George H. W. Bush, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
For decades, however, the phrase has also been the subject of a major conspiracy theory which alleges a secret, elitist plot to form an oppressive global government.
Politicians and government officials have previously received criticism for using the term – most recently Dr. Kerry Chant, the chief health officer of the Australian state of New South Wales.
“We will be looking at what contact tracing looks like in the new world order,” said Chant during a September Covid-19 press conference, prompting the term to trend on social media.
Journalists and other social media users criticized Chant for using the term, with former journalist Chris Urquhart writing that “government officials would be well advised to avoid phrases like ‘the new world order’ when they’re talking at press conferences about massive limitations on people’s freedoms.”
Some comments…
2022 03 24 19 39
A Rufus has understanding
If you are not making the world a better place, you are contributing to it’s destruction. For God’s sake, be good, and kind. If you cannot. Then be neutral. But do not make others sad or hurtful. video 8MB
While the United States goes into hyper-inflation, China is stable
“They’re flying blind, and are too little, too late,” Steve Hanke says in disbelief, an Applied Economics professor of John Hopkins University. “It’s utter rubbish and nonsense” that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sees supply chain issues as a root cause for inflation, he tells me, as we decipher the Federal Reserve’s latest official statements on the shape of the U.S. economy.“The money supply in excess causes inflation, and the Federal Reserve appears to be almost clueless,”
Hanke shares with me as we discuss last week’s conversation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Obviously the Chinese know this,” which is why their inflation rating is less than 1%, the former Senior Economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers articulates to me.
Inflation is always destructive.
I can confirm that while prices have been rising inside of China, it is in no way resembling the kinds of inflation that is being seen in America, Europe or the rest of the West. The reason is simple. China has been managing the flow of USD for payments for decades. THis managment is intentional and it insulates China from inflationary effects of the USD due to poor management of debt by the United States.
United States Inflation Rate Annual inflation rate in the US accelerated to 7.9% in February of 2022, the highest since January of 1982, matching market expectations. Energy remained the biggest contributor (25.6% vs 27% in January), with gasoline prices surging 38% (40% in January).
What happens when your QR goes orange
Everyone must take regular swab tests, and be up to date on their injections. IF you are not, your status goes from green to orange. This video shows what happens when you try to go though a tollbooth with an orange QR code in China. video 3MB
I got this easy recipe from my daughter, who lives in France. It’s become my go-to fondue, and I make it often for our family.
—Betty A. Mangas, Toledo, Ohio
What are you waiting for?
Three Cheese Fondue.
Crib Dribbler.
Perfect for hot soups, milkshakes, and energy drinks.
Perfect for hot soups, milkshakes, and energy drinks.
Europe’s LARGEST Natural Gas Storage Facility: EMPTY
Empty.
The largest natural gas storage facility in northern Europe is now EMPTY of gas.
The facility, run by (Russia’s) GAZPROM, dropped like a rock once Europe instituted economic sanctions against Russia.
With this largest facility now empty, industry will have to shut down for lack of fuel for heating and generation of electric.
With the largest storage facility now empty, the draw-down from all the smaller facilities will speed up by orders of magnitude, emptying them with ten days to two weeks.
What will Europe do when it has no gas to generate electric or to heat buildings?
Of course, all of this trouble has to do with Europe sticking its nose into the affairs of Russia-Ukraine.
Now that Europe is demonstrably running out of natural gas, watch for things between Russia-Ukraine-NATO to get VERY VERY VERY much worse, very fast.
My savvy grandmother whipped up recipes like this homey cinnamon-scented apple pudding in the Depression years. Many of us still make them today.
—Holly Sharp, Warren, Ontario
Grandma Davidson’s Baked Apple Pudding
China is FAST
So President Biden thinks that it will be easy to compete against China. Americans think that it will be no problem, because America is exceptional, and great? This echo chamber in the Untied States that gives this illustion that China is dark, dingy, dirty and backwards, while America is so wonderful is a lie. It amazes me. Becuase this is what China is like… video 21MB
Chinese weddings
The Chinese have heart. Real, honest to goodness heart. video 22MB
China rebukes US as ‘world’s biggest human rights violator’
Beijing has promised “countermeasures” if Washington doesn’t revoke sanctions over Uyghurs
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Beijing has promised to respond in kind unless the US revokes the blacklisting of Chinese officials it said were guilty of human rights violations.
Speaking at a regular press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the US of “smearing China, oppressing Chinese officials for no reason, violating international law… and grossly interfering in China’s domestic affairs.”
Wang said Beijing will respond with “reciprocal countermeasures” if the US does not immediately revoke its sanctions.
The statement came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the Chinese government of committing “genocide and crimes against humanity” against the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority living predominately in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Region. He added that Washington has blacklisted Chinese officials who it said were guilty of human rights violations.
Wang responded in kind, calling the US “the biggest human rights violator in the world,” whose historical treatment of Native Americans “constitutes de facto genocide.” He also criticized Washington for the “long-lasting systemic racial discrimination” of black Americans.
Multiple global human rights groups have long accused China of oppressing the Uyghurs and forcing them to work in labor camps. Beijing has denied the allegations, insisting that the Uyghurs are studying in vocational education and training centers as part of state integration and deradicalization programs.
My friends and I have been getting together for "ladies lunches" for years. These vol-au-vents are the perfect no-fuss fancy food; they look complicated, but are actually simple and fun to make. Whenever I think of good friends and good company, I think of these savory pastries.
—Shauna Havey, Roy, Utah
Creamy Chicken Vol-au-Vent.
China can build
OMG! It’s insane how fast and efficiently that China can build things. You all just wait and see what happens when China and Russia build their Moon and Mars cities. video 23MB
A 737 crashed in China.
A Boeing 737 carrying 132 people crashed early Monday in China. Although Boeing’s 737 has faced extraordinarily high-profile safety concerns over the past three years, the plane that crashed Monday was a different version of the aircraft than the embattled 737 Max that shook Boeing to its core.
The cause of Monday’s crash has yet to be determined. The plane had been in service since 2015. The flight, operated by China Eastern Airlines, was flying from the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming to Guangzhou when it crashed.
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It’s crash profile; being a full-throttle nose-dive directly to the ground is highly unusual.
.
Evidence suggests any of the following;
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Intentional Pilot (and co-pilot) action to destroy the plane.
Software override of the pilot commands.
Remote operation of the software to override the pilot.
The manufacturer of the aircraft has had problems with the software. Other crashes of similiar planes has been the result of software overrides of the pilot.
We do not know (as of yet) the real cause for this crash. But one thing seems clear, somehow the plane overrode the directions of the pilot. It put the plane in a nose dive straight towards the ground and set the engines on full-throttle, full speed, as it plunged towards the ground.
Why it did so, is unknown.
Yet, the United States government black operations regarding taking control of the software should NOT be ruled out.
This reminds me of HAL in the 1969 movie; “2001; A Space odyssey”.
2001 A Space odyssey
So, Boeing makes aircraft that can override the pilot. Brilliant! Why do you need pilots? How about having full robotic planes?
Maybe it’s because no one will fly in them.
…
Isn’t technology wonderful. Remember when fully automatic self-driving cars were crashing left and right? Yeah, I do. Well, somehow Boeing things that this would be a good thing to implement in passenger planes. Who would doubt it?
Anyways, I have to ask the moronic question of the day…
"Well, with fully robotic planes, then why still have pilots, when the airplane can override the pilot?"
Well, perhaps its because you keep the illusion of human control, when the truth is that the software is in full control…
… as well as the “authorized” owner of that software who can control the plane and tell it to do whatever he/it wants. Like the United States. Hum?
Let’s talk about HAL. Specifically what it did.
HAL
HAL
From the 1969 movie…
HAL is a computer system. And it is built into the Discovery One spacecraft, and is in charge of maintaining all mechanical and life support systems on board.
HAL also has several “eyes” placed periodically around the spacecraft.
About three weeks into the flight, Hal picks up a fault in the AE-35 unit, the system responsible for keeping the satellite dish antenna aligned with the Earth, and states that it will go one-hundred percent failure within 72 hours.
He suggests that they go EVA and replace the faulty unit with a new one.
Dr. David Bowman goes out and retrieves the unit. But when he brings it back and runs it through diagnostics, they can find no problem with the AE-35.
They radio Mission Control about the problem, and Mission Control says that Hal is in error predicting the fault.
HAL
This is a bit of a surprise, as the 9000 series has a perfect operational record.
Noting that this kind of thing has always been because of human error when it has occurred before, Hal suggests that they go out and “replace the malfunctioning unit and allow it to fail.
Then it should be a simple matter to track down the problem.”
But by this time, both Dr. Frank Poole and Bowman are becoming suspicious of Hal’s behaviour. They climb into one of the EVA pods, out of earshot of Hal. Poole states that he has “a bad feeling about him”. Bowman and Poole suggest disconnecting Hal if he is wrong about predicting the fault.
Bowman and Poole suggest disconnecting Hal if he is wrong about predicting the fault.
Unbeknownst to them, Hal read their lips through the window of the spacepod.
Translating their lip motions, Hal learns of their plans for his disconnection; according to Clarke, “he (will) be deprived of all his inputs, and thrown into an unimaginable state of unconsciousness. To Hal, this (is) the equivalent of death. For he (has) never slept, and therefore he (does) not know that one (can) wake again.”
Poole goes out to replace the supposedly malfunctioning AE-35 unit.
As he drifts through space to the satellite dish, Hal takes control of the pod and rams it into Poole, disconnecting his oxygen hose and venting the air in his suit, killing him.
Bowman, obviously distraught by the loss of his friend, goes out to retrieve Poole’s body.
However, while Bowman is out on his excursion, Hal shuts off the life support systems on the three astronauts in hibernation, which kills them all.
Bowman in a pod.
After Bowman returns to the Discovery I, Hal denies him reentry into the pod bay. So Bowman has to maneuver the pod over to the emergency airlock. Unfortunately, in his haste to retrieve his friend, Bowman had not bothered to don the helmet of his life-support suit because he had not believed he would need it, making it very difficult to enter the emergency airlock, as he would have to travel through the vacuum of space in order to do so.
This, however, does not stop Bowman.
Risking the hazards of explosive decompression, he eventually gets inside, grabs a space helmet, and goes to Hal’s logic memory center to erase his memory.
There he pulls out the memory tablets that control Hal’s higher functions.
Disconnecting HAL.
As his memory degrades, Hal begins to give off information programmed very early in his life, such as the date he became operational. When all his logic is gone, he begins to sing the song “Daisy Bell.”
His final act of consciousness is to play a briefing that Dr. Heywood R. Floyd pre-recorded about the Tycho Monolith before their departure, and the real purpose of the Discovery One’s mission. As well that the insane idea that the owner / designers of HAL programmed it to lie.
Now…
Please consider that any systems; any devices; any mechanisms designed by man should NEVER have the capability to override human input.
This is well descried by the move, with the HAL computer system, and it seriously seems to be the case with all these Boeing aircraft crashes.
I can POSITIVELY tell you that one singular event resulting is one singular death would ABSOLUTELY stop the adoption of that system in other industires. It doesn’t matter what industry it is. Ceiling fans. Clothes irons. Motorcycles. Chainsaws. Rifles. One fatality, and the system is gone and will NEVER be revisited.
But somehow these systems in airplanes and automobiles are exceptions. At least in American products.
One cannot help thinking, especially if you ARE an American, that the United States is involved and WANTS the ability of the software to override the driver / pilot in the vehicle.
If you accept that notion…
…then many of the software related “accidents” of planes and automobiles with these systems are used as mechanisms of control by the United States “leadership”.
…
Remember boys and girls…
… REAL secrets are secret.
Every evidence is that this is exactly what is happening. While there might be some debate on the nuiances of implementation, the technologies and the systems involved, one thing is unmistakable…
The seriously ODD behaviors of the United States government is best explained by this exact senario.
…
Think about it.
Break.
Animal death and spirits visiting
All this talk about plunging planes, nuclear weapons, bio-weapons and everything all initiated by the Untied States government is disturbing to me. They obviously have never experienced sorry and grief.
Here are some really great examples of how much fun you can have with your cat friends. video 100MB
Amazing Cats
Cats areally are amazing. Just some great cat adventures. They are truly very special creatures. video 16MB
Happy times
Treasure the times that you have. Make them happy and share them with your friends. Cat love video 18MB
We all need each other now
Now, more than any other time in our lives, we need others. Make friends. SHare your time. Appreciate what you have. Make your life a good one. Be a Rufus. Show friendship. Show love. Show care. video 90MB
Be the Rufus
Take part in society. Stop being a spectator, and stop thinking that everything is someone else’s problem. The future depends on YOU. Take an active role in it. In every way, every day. Be the best you can be and help others. make the world a better place to live in. I believe in your. video 11MB
Make those around you smile
You will bring happiness to your environment. Smile. Say good things. Even if they are lies. Make your environment better. It’s quantum physics 101. video 120MB
Conclusions
I cannot say that one thing or the other is happening, and the causes and reasons for them. Later, I will ask the Domain Commander for some insight. However, right now, I know nothing.
Sure there might be all sorts of reasons for the observed behaviors, the strange actions by the USA and the West, and all the craziness. There’s really no way to really know the actual causes. So don’t worry about it. And believe me, as much as I want to know, the fact is, I don’t NEED to know.
I don’t know anything about chem-trails, nano-bots, or anything like that. I do know that everyone in the United States and the West are acting really, really weird. It’s like they are all having some kind of mass insanity.
After 30 years of glue sniffing euphoria, the US is now crashing.
And when it realizes it is cutting off its limbs to keep its jaundiced organs alive, it will have to make major, and costly, changes in living arrangements.
Mass transit in lieu of suburban sprawl. No more bloated military. A return to local industry and farming. Far more labor intensive cooperatives that actually do things and make stuff. Regional cultural and quasi-sufficiency. The end to industrial entertainment and woke academia. A resurgence of a proletariat based religion of hard work and respect. A return to classical literature and art.
Oh, how to pay for it all on NO budget?
America is in shambles, but the leadership doesn’t realize it yet. It’s like a family living off maxed-out credit, the family is stunned then the credit cards no longer work at the register.
That’s where the USA, and the EU are at right now.
Oh, they still have their shopping list, and two shopping carts filled with expensive steaks, groceries and all sorts of pricy items. But the cashier is there looking impatient, stamping her foot, and ready to call her manager. Oh, you have to pay in cash. She says.
Soon, very soon, the situation will accelerate to something bad.
It’s just really, really fucked up.
FUTURE
Evidence strongly suggests that the remote viewing of the 2025 by the Deagal Report is correct. It also validates the theory of Generational Turnings and the rise and fall of nations.
You will see many more strange things occur in the future.
We are not anywhere near the peak inflection point. But it is moving forward and I hope to be out of it’s way. I hope you all are as well.
BASIC PREP
Hyper-inflation is starting to hit the West. Be prudent.
Make sure that you have a garden, and a larder with lots of basics. Rice. Flour. Canned goods. Powdered milk.
Remember that one Burger King extra value meal is the same price as a massive bag of rice. Remember that one Starbucks coffee is the same prices as a massive bag of flour; and make sure that you have the tools to strain out the flour.
Learn to fish.
Own a bicycle, and use it. If you use it to ride to work one day a week, you will cut your commute expenses by 20%.
Have a solar panel to charge your phone with.
ADVANCED PREP
Have a good supply of your medicines, and lots of antibiodics. Set up a medical kit. Tell your doctor that you are equipping a sailboat for a long sea cruse, and give him a list of medicines for the first aid box. Get the prescriptions and fill it out.
It’s never too late to start. Do not plan on trying to go to the woods and forests. Those places will be crowded with the unprepaired. Your best solution is to “bug out in place”. Be mobile within your well-established community.
If you think that you can survive being alone, I’ve got news for you; that’s a fiction. Survivors are those that band together into groups. There’s strength in community. Read your history.
FUNDAMENTALS
For God’s sakes, turn off that bullshit “news”. It’s all screeching lies.
Have a skill, asset, ability, or feature that you can provide to your community that is beneficial to the community.
If you don’t have one. Get one. Learn, make, create or establish. Volunteer. Network locally.
Handiman skills.
Welding, plumbing, machining, autorepair.
Medical.
Farming, fishing, harvesting, growing.
It doesn’t mean that you will need to endure a post-nuclear fiasco. But in whatever changes that might hit your own individual communities, you will have the skills, networking and abilites to make you locally valuable.
Don’t believe me?
Ask PL. He’s doing this, and is very busy. Maybe too busy for MM here, but it’s the future. Participate. Make a difference. Smile. Socialize. stick to the fundamental basics.
Don’t get caught up in what you cannot change. It’s stressful, don’t you know.
Don’t get all wrapped up in the causes or the reasons, or the people behind the curtains. They won’t be revealed until the history books are written.
Be kind, calm and adaptable. Do your verbal affirmations. Be the Rufus. I beleive in you all.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
This is my podcast on war! Particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it affects all of us strapped to the roller-coaster ride which it entails. It’s not really a streaming podcast as I had hoped, but rather a downloadable 6-minute movie. I explain it all in the video.
The Podcast
2022 03 14 09 5aaa0
You can watch the video HERE, or download the ZIP HERE and watch it later on.
Not the kind of title that you would expect from me, eh?
I woke up on Wednesday and found this article posted all over my LinkedIN feed. It’s from ZeroHedge, and discusses famine, starvation, disunity, sadness, in the evil gloom that lies under the shadow of the evil Chinese communist regime. The article goes to great lengths to describe a hopeless population, upset but powerless, to deal with on-going famine and the massive corruption of the CCP regime.
Here’s the article…
2022 03 11 15 59
Well, I own a home in Shenzhen, and live across the bay from it. Everyday, I’m here, either looking at Shenzhen, or visiting it.
That’s what happens when you live next to a big city. You do know it’s population is 14 million people. That’s easily three times the size of New York City.
My relatives who live “on the island” (Long Island) feel the same way about “THE City” (New York).
Anyways. I live next door to Shenzhen, and own homes in Shenzhen. I visit it often, and I live right across the bay. From my living room, I can see the gleaming skyscrapers and glimmering light off the water.
I live in the Shenzhen region.
I live in the very place this article is written about.
It is now March. The same date and time when the article was written.
The purpose of this article is to present videos to show what life is like in Shenzhen, and the neighboring areas under the evil repressive Chinese communist regime. Especially, and most notably, at the time that this article was written and published.
I think videos do better than some text written by a moron who doesn’t even realize that it doesn’t even snow in Shenzhen. Never has. Never will. It’s a fucking tropical area. Sheech!
Snow?
Blizzard? Give me a break!
Shenzhen?
It’s tropical.
When was the last time it snowed in Hawaii? Sheech!
So I went and took videos all week to illustrate what it is like in the Shenzhen – Zhuhai area; my home.
We start with food. After all, that’s what the article is all about. It’s about a lack of food, resulting in starvation, followed by famine.
Food
There is no famine.
No starvation anywhere in China. And certainly NOT in Shenzhen.
I swear, Western “news reports” have morphed into fantasy / science fiction episodes with very little resemblance to reality. I am convinced that they are handed a bullet-list of bad things to say about China, and then write a fantasy narrative based upon the bad things.
It’s got to be exactly that.
No other explanation is possible. Not even remotely.
Who is doing this? It must be the people, or entities, that pay them. Either a government, or an NGO aligned “fake” pseudo organization. It must be. It takes time, and effort to write these articles. They just don’t magically appear out of the air.
I took all of these videos the SAME WEEK that this “news” report wrote about starvation in the Shenzhen / China area. I filmed in different middle-class restaurants throughout this general region. (You can tell by the different dishes and tablecloths.) None of these meals were overly expensive. Just typical middle-class Chinese fare.
Since I don’t eat at Fast Food, you won’t see any videos of the fast food franchises that are big here in China. Sorry, but it’s not my thing. I tend to eat at home, and then go out once or twice a day to a nice, reasonably priced restaurant. So I didn’t change my routine. Just filmed the food to show that there is no starvation, nor famine.
Pork with peppers and bitter melon. Very delicious. I ate this in one of the many local malls. Sorry for the noise, it like the rest of China, are filled with many people enjoying their time eating delicious food. video 26MB
Very Spicy Beef. Here’s a different restaurant. This one specializes in beef. Very delicious. video 31MB
Chinese Sloppy Joe and a fine wide noodle salad. All so very delicious. You can see why I have gained so much weight since I moved to China, eh? video 35MB
Stuffed Baozi with vegetables. Very delicious. I love the meat versions, especially the pork version. This was particularly delicious. video 53MB
Some Chinese vegetarian food. All good and healthy. Tasty too, but you know guys, I do love my meats. LOL. video 42MB
Handmade noodles with peanuts. Very, very delicious. I think most of my American readership would love these food dishes. Too bad you cannot get them out in the States. Just here in China. video 36MB
Guys. You DO KNOW, that if there were REAL famine and REAL starvation, you would not see meals like this anywhere. In a nation with a population of 1.4 billion people, you would be overwhelmed.
Even posting pictures on the (so called anonymous) internet would get you targeted. In China, no one is isolated, and no one is alone. We are all connected together.
Toys – Legos
Here are some videos that I took in a toy store. These are Chinese Lego’s. Same lovely Lego brand, only marketed to the Chinese. Interesting cultural differences, eh?
Military Lego kits. If I were still a boy, I would really enjoy playing with these Legos. Especially the DF-41, and the J-20. video 31MB
Chinese Harbin Ice Festival. There are all sorts of fascinating Chinese-themed Legos for the local markets. And of course, since the Chinese have so many things to celebrate, the diversity of the products are pretty intriguing. video 30MB
Starving girls in Shenzhen
All of these girls live in Shenzhen. According to my untrained eyes, these girls don’t look like they are starving, unhappy or desirous of regime change for democracy™. I guess that I am not so good at picking out starving, hungry waifs like the BBC, FOX “news” and CNN are.
But what do I know? I only live here, and I have never seen anyone starve. And I’ve been living here or nearly twenty years.
But I am not a qualified “journalist”. I guess that to qualify, you must accept money from a Western government, and then write to their narrative. There are many who have “sold their souls” for some gold coins and baubles. It has generated a small cottege industry. Don’t you know.
No one is starving.
I think much of it has to do with the fact that the Chinese government believe that food is a natural Right, and makes sure that it is plentiful and cheap. This is considered a REAL Right.
Not the psuedo “Rights” like the United States has. You know a Right with exceptions…
Freedom of Speech… controlled by the FCC, and Tech-oligarchy.
Right to bear arms… restricted by the government agency ATF.
Ninth Amendment… restricted by the FDA, FCC, NSA, and many, many others.
Tenth amendment…dead. A worthless, meaningless, phrase.
China believes that a fundamental Right is FUNDAMENTAL.
Of course, you’d never hear about that in the Western “news”. In that for-profit cesspool, everything comes at a price. It’s a land with a million tiny hands in your wallet.
Let’s look at the starving waifs yearning for freedom™ and democracy™…
And here’s the second gal. Love that fine tan dress. I like how it moves. You can tell that she’s hungry. After all, look at the sad and forlorn expression on her face.
Here’s a girl being sexy in the kitchen. Sorry that you can only see her backside. But I guess you might think that she is starving because she is not obese like so many American women. But that’s just cultural. The Chinese eat far better, healthier, and have far less stress than their American counterparts. video 5MB
Here’s another girl. She’s considered to be fat. In China, due to the diet, and perhaps genetics, the fat tends to go to the chest area, not to the stomach. As us, Americans and Europeans must deal with. I really think that the fact that GMOs are banned in China has a lot to do with it. video 2MB
This woman has great posture. I really cannot see the kind of starvation that resembles hunger like I saw when I lived in Pennsylvania. There, at that time, people couldn’t afford food, and with the collapse of the steel industry, many had to make due. They would fish, and eat rabbit, and other things to keep their bellies full. I’m not seeing it in China. Sorry. video 6MB
Elementary / kindergarten teacher. I suppose that this girl is borderline starving. You can tell by her sunken ass-cheeks and lack of stomach.
She reminds me of the many friends that I made when I first arrived in China. Many girls. Many dates. Many fun times.
But I must tell you, we all ate very well, and no one was starving. video 1.5MB
Life in Shenzhen / Nanshan / Zhuhai
Various “home” videos taken by myself. All in Shenzhen, and Zhuhai. All that I took with my fine four-year-old Huawei cellphone camera, with DouXing editing and music. Enjoy…
A view of the Shenzhen-Zhuhai-HK-Macao bridge. It’s that long bridge in the background. video 11MB
At the ferry port from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. This view is taken on the second floor of the Shenzhen side, where you go to the kiosks to get your tickets. video 11MB
One of our photo shoots. This was taken a few months ago. For you newbies, yea MM does photoshoots. It’s all a part of the affirmation campaigns along with thought direction for manifested reality, don’t you know.
Anyways, do these people look like they are starving and desirous for democracy™ and freedom™? video 26MB
Eating dinner in a small local restaurant at night. Friends, and family. That’s little mm playing with the cell phone. Oh, I’m so bad. Don’t worry, it was for less than 20 minutes. video 44MB
Here’s what it is like riding a bus at night. Do these people look like they are ready to revolt against the evil CCP regime? Sheech! You have got to be an idiot to believe the anti-China narrative. video 65MB
Prekindergarten education. Learning starts at two years old in China. Then there’s kindergarten, followed by elementary school, and military training, and into the pipe with middle school and upwards. video 45MB
What it is like on the streets. After all, the picture that is being sent to millions of people is snowy winter Shenzhen filled with unhappy and starving Chinese. So what’s the real story? video 2MB
Conclusion
Most “news” out of the collective West (in this case referring to China) are nothing more than made-up, fabricated lies. Lies that have no resemblance to the truth.
It’s a well-funded (to 5 billion dollars) effort (by the United States federal budget) to demonize China to the point where all Westerners (and most especially Americans) are filled with hate and loathing towards China.
This is for a build up for a major war.
Make no mistake. The USA is on a War-footing. A war, that the United States expects to win. For, after all, everyone knows, that it is exceptional™.
You don’t have to believe me.
But here it is.
This is what it is like. This is what China is like in Early March 2022, while articles on Gab, Zerohedge, Free Republic, and FOX regurgitate the “starving Chinese” lies.
This is the real deal, and no, I am not “brainwashed by the evil CCP”. Sheech! And no, I don’t live in exclusive areas. This is what it is like.
Lower-middle class life.
In Shenzhen / Zhuhai China. Real deal reporting. Real home-made videos. Real experiences. Real thoughts, and real reporting. All for free.
Soak it in and take a good, hard look at what “news” you read. Becuase if one simple thing like this can be distorted and twisted out of reality, what else can be? Eh?
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please enjoy this video to get the feeling of what it is like in China right now. It is the New Years Eve. It’s a special time; a magical time. This video captures it exactly. Please enjoy.
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
It’s a new Chinese year. It’s a water tiger year. And it’s a fine time to remember to be the best that we can possibly be. In this installment, I offer up some fine Rufus inspirational videos that are found throughout the world and inside of China. Remember, that being a Rufus doesn’t depend on your wealth, where you live, what color of skin you have, or your career. It depends on your compassion for those who surround you. Be the Rufus. The world needs people like us.
Rufus Emergency Save
With children, it can happen at any time. You have to jump and take immediate action! video 5MB
Being a nice Rufus in the United States. Video 10MB
Rufus helps the children
The father buys the son a meal, and he eats cheap bread. The waitress gives him free food, and then the father gives the meat to his son. But the Rufus son will have none of that.
This is the whole video. Better than the abbreviated versions. I posted previously, or the segments in anthologies. Video 20MB
Rufus honors the flag
A bus driver on January first sees a flag on the road. He stops and picks it up. A Rufus always honors the flag of the nation where he lives. It’s respect. Video 4MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
It’s a new Chinese year. It’s a water tiger year. And it’s a fine time to remember to be the best that we can possibly be. In this installment, I offer up some fine Rufus inspirational videos that are found throughout the world and inside of China. Remember, that being a Rufus doesn’t depend on your wealth, where you live, what color of skin you have, or your career. It depends on your compassion for those who surround you.
This little bike is a hybrid bicycle / motorcycle. It supposedly gets much more from a tank of gas than a regular motorcycle because of motor efficiencies and the light weight of the bicycle. It’s a perfect hybrid solution for those that need to drive back and forth to work but cannot afford the gas to do so. video 20MB
One of the biggest innovations that China has made on the world is a branch of the police that handles corruption at all levels of the government. It has greatly added to the public perception of the Communist Party being to serve the people, and it is an important driver as to why China is so successful today.
However, the rest of the world doesn’t seem to want to copy this innovation. And when you bring up the subject, you are just brushed off as making “silly talk”. video 9MB
Rufus COVID volunteers
All those people wearing and donning the hazmat suits inside of China are volunteers. They do so for FREE. They leave their jobs, their work, their families and take on this burden for FREE. True Rufus every one. Video 4MB
A great video. The people doing the menial jobs are underappreciated and treated harshly. It’s about time that people stand up and defend them. I love this video. video 11MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
I just read that wine is bad for you. It’s all over the Western “news” media. My guess is that soon there will be a temperance movement to rival the anti-smoking movement. For the “children” don’t you know.
It’s all so silly.
I really don’t think I want to live in a place that bans drinking wine.
Wine and cheese.
I mean, really! Wine is bad, but lard burgers deep fried are good. Sheech!
You know, the longer I stay outside the “West” the more insane it appears.
Dionysus cat agrees!
Dionysus cat.
…
It’s been accepted that the Western Bloc (in defiance of Donald Trump’s executive orders to the contrary) pretty much uses Tictok as an Application to make and share movies. It’s a division of the Chinese version known as Douxing. It is NOT the same thing.
In fact, most of the videos posted inside of China are banned by the non-Chinese versions.
Thus, because of that, the presentation of what China actually is; is withheld from the global readership. (It’s something that I do not fully understand why, but it offers strong hints of Geo-political manipulation for domestic consumption purposes on a regional basis.)
To get around this limitation, you must have a Chinese cellphone and install Douxing on it while you are in China.
Now, with that awkward introduction, let’s get to the meat of this article. Here is a South Korean group of video-blogers that take various Chinese Douxing videos and comment on them. I find that it is interesting, and amusing and telling on how the Korean society reacts to the Chinese society. Because, after all, they are both of the Han race.
Please enjoy this great peer into cross society insights.
2021 Overview
We start with this video.
At the end of 2021 were a bunch of videos that summarized the events of 2021. Some are actually quite good. Of course, most of the world outside of China has no idea what has been going on inside of China. Their government (especially if you are an America or Brit) won’t allow it. Here, the Koreans get to watch some of the videos and comment on them.
The Chinese honor, fund and keep the traditions and societies of all the minorities within China alive and prospering. Here is a selection of the various videos in this category.
The PRC officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China inaddition to the Han majority.
As of 2010, the combined population of officially-recognized minority groupscomprised 8.49% of the population of mainland China.
In addition to these officially-recognized ethnic minority groups, there are Chinese nationals who privately classify themselves as members of unrecognized ethnic groups, such as the very small Chinese Jewish, Tuvan, and Ili Turki communities, as well as the much larger Oirat and Japanese communities.
-Wikipedia
What’s not to love? This is the real deal, with many Shaolin monks participating. video 26MB
Han Clothing
Very popular. On display here for thoughts and comments. video 13MB
Han Cosplay
These are videos of people dressed in Han Clothing and meeting in cosplay events and fashion shows. video 14MB
Honoring the family
This is a big thing. Not only does China have a firm belief in the importance of the traditional family life and culture, but it funds videos that are sprinkled in with all the other videos to remind people of the importance of family and community. It’s sort of how the LGBT “news” and “issues” are all being driven in the United States today. It’s a very big part of what China is all about. When was the last time that you saw a video or a commercial stressing the importance of family, community and care for others in America? video 14MB
I love how this scene mesmerized the movie critics.
Honoring the Rufus firefighters
In praise of Rufus. You just don’t see this kind of stuff in the West. video 14MB
In another time
In another time. Sigh. It reminds us, through these videos, that while times, clothing and society has changed, we are still the same. We are still people who work, earn a living, have a family and participate within society. video 20MB
And of course, the Chinese promote the Uighur culture and Xinjiang. And oh baby! The USA hates that. Great video 17MB
One last thought…
Dionysus is strongly associated with the satyrs, centaurs and sileni. He is often shown riding a leopard, wearing a leopard skin, or in a chariot drawn by panthers and has been called the god of cats and savagery. He may be recognized by the thyrsus he carries.
-Dionysus - Crystalinks
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my China Music Index here…
This article reproduces a very interesting discussion by an expat living in China named Jason. He, like MM here, is married to a Chinese woman and has a young child. He lives in a fifth-tier city in the hinterland, sort of like MM does, and he relates his experiences on you-tube for the world to see.
As a result, he has come under attack by both the BBC and CNN with their famous “gray filter” making his videos of bright and shiny China look gray and dingy.
In this series of videos, he compares the top American subway system in the top American city (New York City) with that of his fifth-tier “backwards” Chinese smaller city located in the middle of nowhere. It’s a great series. Reproduced in full and all credit to him, his wife and his child for providing it to us to view.
Video 1
He starts off going through the local Chinese subway stations, and the subway trains. It’s very interesting. Video 125MB
Video 2
Now, Jason finishes up in the Chinese subways and starts filming the New York Subway system. Amazing. video 86MB
The Complaints
I have noticed (since I posted this on LinkedIN) that many people defend the squalor in New York City. They say things like “China’s subways are new, while that of New York are old”. They argue that the comparison just “isn’t fair”.
The idea and the implication are simple. The argument is that you just shouldn’t compare new and old. You have to use the same metric.
Well, the metric is the same.
It actually is.
They are both subways, and they are maintained and operated within their own individual cultures. What the difference is between the different societies and the different governments.
Society
China = Social, family and community oriented.
United States = Individual, selfish, self-centered.
Government
China = merit based, and policed against corruption.
United States = Rampant corruption at all levels, oligarchy run.
Now, as far as the argument goes that the New York Subway system is old, it is a lame excuse. Yeah.
Well, so are the subways in Moscow.
They are old too.
But they are not in the same kind of disrepair as what we see inside of America. It has to do with funding maintenance, and a society of people who care about their surroundings.
Here’s the old subway system in Moscow.
Moscow subway.
And here is the old subway in Tehran, Iran…
Iranian subway.
And so, let’s also look at the old subway in North Korea.
North Korea’s marble-clad subway isn’t the image that might first spring to mind when thinking about a commute in North Korea. Taking the trip on the subway in Pyongyang comes cheap, and a ticket can cost just 5 Won ($0.004 USD).
North Korea.
Why is the United States infrastructure so decrepit?
Why?
You ask, why?
(MM turns and spits on the ground.)
Because the wealthy oligarchy has hoarded all the money for themselves, and left nothing for the rest of us. Did you know that New York City is the home for most of the billionaires in the United States.
Yeah.
Money to burn.
Not for you.
Billionaire goes into space.
What can be done?
The primary difference between the United States and China can boil down to two factors.
The Society
The Government
I do not advocate changing one’s society. If anything, I advise in strengthening it along traditional values and belief systems. Not changing it, and certainly not through massive programs of social reengineering.
That only leaves the way the government operates.
So, it is obvious that the United States form of government must change, the funding priorities must change, the control of society must change, and the financial arrangements must change as well as the type and extent of corruption.
… If the United States is to catch up with the rest of the world, that is galloping ahead full speed.
All must change…
…if America and its people want to catch up with the rest of the world. And live life in calm peace, traditions, and participate in meaningful roles within society.
If not…
…well, expect more of the same, only much worse.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my China Comparison index here…
Enter Ray Harryhausen, who I discovered myself by accident. In many ways, he changed my life. Harryhausen has told us, time and again, the story of how he saw the original "King Kong" on the big screen when he was just a kid, of how he was inspired by Willis O' Brien's pioneering special effects and of how that lead him to where he is today. In case I end up in the movies, I foresee myself telling people the story of how I was inspired by Harryhausen's work. Hopefully, the chain will go on. I am kidding, of course, but it's a nice thought anyway.
While most kids in the 90's would be oblivious of stop-motion (with CGI growing popular), I was in awe of it. There is a sense of life in stop-motion animated creatures. It's the kind of life that much of CGI lacks. No matter how smoothly or realistically your computerized monster moves, there is something more subtle that stop-motion captures better. Harryhausen's creations seem to be thinking, or feeling, not just moving. They have personality, an attribute that so many of today's CG monsters lack.
...
Harryhausen deserved better films and higher budgets (his films were so low budget that at several times, the full extent of his vision wasn't realized. It is now popular trivia that the octopus in "It Came From Beneath the Sea" actually had only six tentacles as they couldn't afford to build a model with eight). Though the films have inspired several of us, it was, in most cases, only the special effects that kept the films from being mediocre B-movie fare. It is sad that he didn't work with greater talents. Imagine what would have come out of such collaborations.
This master of animation was snubbed by the Academy year after year for each of his films, the films not even getting nominations for their special effects, until, years after his retirement; they gave him an honorary Oscar, which, I suspect, is more of an apology than a token recognition. I've read somewhere that Harryhausen reasons his films didn't get recognized by the Academy when they were released because they were shot in Spain, and not in Hollywood. It makes sense.
-Great Movies of my Childhood
It Came From Beneath the Sea was the first of several fruitful collaborations between producer Charles H. Schneer and special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. He wasn’t yet at the top of his game, but what he did provide inspired all of us young boys to fight enormous radioactive tentacled octopus.
The major creature in this low budget movie is a giant, six-tentacled octopus, which is galvanized into action by an H-bomb test.
Worse still, the monster is highly radioactive, rendering useless the normal means of defense against it.
Yikes!
It came from beneath the sea.
Scientists Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue team with atomic-submarine commander Kenneth Tobey to halt the creature’s progress before it begins to attack major coastal cities. Alas, the monster manages to reach San Francisco, wreaking havoc on the Golden Gate. It’s sort of an American version of Godzilla.
Good Gosh and darn it!
Movie Review 1
I’m a simple guy, I see a movie about a gigantic killer octopus and I immediately buy it on DVD. I love campy 1950’s Cold War Sci-fi flicks. I find them to be genuinely fun and engaging. However, just like every sub genre, there’s good and bad. “It Came from Beneath the Sea” is a middling film.
Anytime the giant Octopus wreaks terror on screen, the film becomes a whole lot of fun. However, when the film substitutes these moments for a half baked love triangle the film quickly loses interest.
As with every giant monster film of the ’50’s the film is filled with commentary about living in an active nuclear world. Radiation from military testing has brought about this devastating monster. It then falls to a couple of scientists and a Navy officer to defeat the monster before it brings about the total destruction of San Francisco.
Most of the characters in this film fall into pretty standard genre cliches. There’s really nothing noteworthy about them; they’re fine. Where this film works best is in the action scenes. For the most part they’re really well done, it’s pretty obvious that the filmmakers are using miniatures, but there’s an undeniable charm to them. The creature design is also well done, and the use of stop-motion is effective in bringing the monster to life.
It came from beneath the sea.
If you’re into goofy giant monster films, then this is the kind of film you’d enjoy. For a general audience, this is the type of film that’ll bring about a lot of eye-rolling. “It Came from Beneath the Sea” isn’t the best monster film I’ve ever seen, but it does an effective job. I just wished there was a little more monster action.
Movie Review 2
Released the year after the influential monster movie classic Godzilla, It Came from Beneath the Sea was one of several attempts from around the world to capitalize on the success of Godzilla.
It Came from Beneath the Sea is one of the more well known giant monster movies to come out from this period.
I didn’t really know much about this film apart from the fact that it was following on Godzilla’s coat tails and that special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen was involved. While It Came from Beneath the Sea is far from being perfect, I still found it to be a fairly entertaining film.
It came from beneath the sea.
The film sees a giant octopus, whose feeding habits have been affected by radiation from H-bomb tests, rises from beneath the Mindanao Deep to terrorize the Californian coast.
The plot for It Came from Beneath the Sea is pretty good, with some interesting moments. It is a plot that seems really exciting on paper, but the execution needed to be much stronger than it actually is.
Throughout the film, there is a bland and monotonous voice-over that insists on dumping needless exposition. It also focuses heavily on the military trying to decide what to do about the giant octopus. These scenes are really bland and drain any and all excitement out of the film.
It came from beneath the sea.
There is also a love triangle between a sexually aggressive naval officer played by Kenneth Tobey, who declares rather than acts, and two scientists. One of the scientists is Professor Joyce, played by Faith Domergue, who lights up every scene that she appears in and is easily the best thing about this film. Joyce is a strong female character, unusual for this type of film from this era. She is independent, progressive and quickly brushes off any advances as soon they are laid on her. An underrated feminist icon if ever there was one! The other main highlight of the film is, of course, Harryhausen’s special effects. The whole sequence involving the giant octopus’s attack on the Golden Gate Bridge is fantastic. Harryhausen’s effects may be a little dated, but they are wonderfully charming. The giant octopus may not be his best work but, as always, it is a highlight. The direction from Robert Gordon is really solid and holds the film together well.
Overall, It Came from Beneath the Sea is a solid enough giant monster film. The plot is fun, but I feel that the execution needed to be stronger in order to get the mot out of the concept. The short runtime, however, makes it watchable and the Golden Gate Bridge attack is a satisfying conclusion. The performances are fairly average, with Faith Domergue being a particular highlight. Gordon’s direction is good and Harryhausen’s effects are great. It Came from Beneath the Sea is an enjoyable old school monster movie. A fun, if rather unremarkable, film!
Movie Review 3
Some Ray Harryhausen films you watch solely because of Ray Harryhausen‘s “Dynamation” and little else. This isn’t just such a film, but it might be the best example of it.
This being their first though, it ends up also being their weakest, but they obviously lived and learned as they also never worked with director Robert Gordon again. Don’t worry about him though, he went on to make Tarzan and the Jungle Boy so his legacy is cemented.
It came from beneath the sea.
All of Ray‘s effects are great fun, how could a giant octopus attacking the Golden Gate Bridge not be?
Everything else though is a bit wooden, unimaginative and in some cases just plain weird. There’s this odd love triangle between Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis that plays out less like two men fighting over a woman and more like they’re… well… possibly trying to get her at the same time? I’m not sure what the hell was going on there, but it does add to the weirdness of the film.
Movie Review 4
It Came From Beneath The Sea is the kind of giant monster movie I can enjoy mostly guilt free. No appliances glued or stapled onto animals – just good old fashioned, cruelty-free Ray Harryhausen stop-motion. It’s how Willis O’Brian did it – it’s how the movie industry had done, and at that point in the ‘50s it had worked pretty well so far.
The premise is your good ol’ fashioned ‘50s creature feature – atomic testing woke up something big from the depths. The creature is now menacing the world of humanity and must be stopped. In this case, the “something” is a giant octopus, and it’s discovered by the US Navy’s first nuclear attack submarine.
It came from beneath the sea.
The film also has the twist of “the scientist nobody believes until it’s too late” being a woman, and her claims being dismissed not due to lack of plausibility, but explicitly because of institutional misogyny.
It’s still problematic – the scientist, Leslie Joyce (Faith Domeregue) ends up romancing her sexual harasser, but at least the film had the stones to call out institutional misogyny as a systematic issue that is a big problem – demonstrated by it costing lives.
The film’s effects are great – the climactic rampage through San Francisco at the end of the movie is very wonderfully done. It’s not quite at the levels of Godzilla (which hasn’t been made yet), but it does get things across.
It came from beneath the sea.
Otherwise, the movie is fine – it’s a brisk 74 minutes that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a movie that’s enjoyable in its own right and, were it to end up on the new MST3K (or, for that matter, on Rifftrax), it’d also be a very fun watch there.
Final Conclusion
Well, aren’t you all tired of the pandemic, the Russian ultimatium that wasn’t, the Uighurs, and everything else? I certainly am. I jsut spent the most part of this morning breaking down the USA Western Bloc failures to interrupt the BRI. I’ve got to tell youse guys. I want a break.
I’m off to smunch on some fine, fine Suechuan food.
Sichuan cuisine is one of the most famous local cuisines in China. It has a wide range of materials and a variety of dishes. It is famous for its good use of spicy, and its unique cooking methods and strong local flavor is famous at home and abroad. Sichuan cuisine has become a brilliant pearl in the history of Chinese food culture and civilization.
I really want to get back to some OOPART stuff. I’ve got about 30 or so in the pipe in various stages of readiness.
Not to mention some stuff on world-line travel, and affirmations, and some Domain stuff as well.
Let’s just have some fun. Put aside the great Geo-political changes and just have fun.
Here’s some ideas for fun…
Idea one – Food.
A nice sandwich in a diner that you smuch with a cup of coffee or a more interesting beverage of your choice.
A nice sandwich.
Idea two – Art.
Visiting an art museum. Go out for the day and then get an icecream, or a coffee or a nice dinner out.
Visit an art museum.
Idea three – Local historical Museum.
Art is not your thing, eh…
Go out to the local historical museums in your local area. They are there, you just need to figure out where. Check out all the interesting curiosities that you find there.
Go out to the local historical museums in your local area.
They are everywhere.
You just got to find them.
Go out to the local historical museums in your local area.
Idea four – Go outside.
When was the last time that you took a spin on a bicycle. I’ll bet that for many MM readers, it’s been a long time. But I will tell you that when you get back on that bike it will be a true joy (provided there’s no snow about). LOL.
But if there is, then how about a snowmobile ride, a cross-country ski trip, or some downhill sking. Do something outdoors.
Do something outside.
Idea Five – snuggle.
With a loved one, a cherished pet, or a new friend. Just go out and snuggle.
Snuggle.
Idea six – Watch old movies.
Surprise yourself. Dig up an old movie and watch it. Just do it.
A scene from the movie “The Last of Shela”.
Have fun everyone.
Make the best of your life. One last idea…
Idea Seven – Be Groovy
It’s NEVER too late to be groovy, baby.
Groovy.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my Movie Index.
I am so tired of trying to counter the mega-onslaught of hate being generated out of the United States towards China. The redirection is working. Most American hate China and blame all their troubles on it, instead of themselves and their (so called) “government”. Well, let’s just deal with things as they actually are and not what the American government wants others to believe.
2021 was China’s best year. Ever.
by Godfree Roberts*
Amidst global gloom, 2021 was the best year in modern Chinese history. Here’s what they accomplished:
Released a fractional orbital bombardment missile from another missile at 17,000 mph.
Simultaneously commissioned three warships, becoming the world’s biggest navy.
Expect China to maintain this pace through 2022 by launching, among other things, the first, greenfield, automated, 21st century city for six million knowledge workers. With 70% woods and lakes, the loudest sound will be birdsongs.
Massive booby juggle. That’s one thing that the Chinese gals like to do. If you all got the boobies, then you are allowed to jiggle them. It’s cute actually, and I always get a big kick out of it. Jiggle jiggle jiggle. video 25MB
Now, I know that China is bad. I read all about it in the comment sections from moronic Americans and Brits. Ah like this…
World's most advanced censorship and surveillance regime with no freedom and a punitive social credit scheme. I admire the work ethic and manufacturing prowess but would rather live in a cabin the woods than submit to such a regime. Sadly, while losing ground in technology, our elites are catching up with their own repression and Woke overthrow of Constitutional rights.
Posted by: Fran Macadam
and this…
A totally deluded and mostly inaccurate summary. China is currently self-destructing because it is the only country in the world still trying "zero COVID". Their entire real estate market is close to collapse. They had terrible floods and large destruction of farm lands. Several dams broke, and the huge Three Gorges dam almost broke. Everybody wants to leave China, from Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang to Taiwan.
Posted by: Niall K.
Yah. The USA is exceptional. It has delicious “freedom” and “liberty” and all that wonderful “democracy”. You can see it everywhere…
But if that is what appeals to you. I say enjoy it. Me, I’m gonna stay here. eat delicious food. hang out in the beautiful sunshine, with the trees and the flowers. Eat delicious meals. Play with pretty girls and have lots and lots of fun.
Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed this little update on China. Many things were left out. Such as the Space exploration accomplishments, and the energy accomplishments, and the environmental accomplishments.
Have a great day, and remember to always be the Rufus.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my China Index…
Picture above is a rescue cat. It calms and offers kindness to any suffering animal taken to the shelter. From HERE.
It’s a new Chinese year. It’s a water tiger year. And it’s a fine time to remember to be the best that we can possibly be. In this installment, I offer up some fine Rufus inspirational videos that are found inside of China. Remember, that being a Rufus doesn’t depend on your wealth, where you live, what color of skin you have, or your career. It depends on your compassion for those who surround you. Be the Rufus. The world needs people like us.
Video of happiness and joy
Be happy. Force the happiness around you. Make the quanta in your geographic area clean, light and positive. video 15MB
Making a positive change to the world around us.
Subway artist strikes again. Looks like Shenzhen. The woman is obviously sad and distressed. The subway artist tries to cheep her up. video 6MB
The cat…
Rescue of a man in a restaurant
This stuff happens. And you all need a Rufus nearby to save the day. Be the best you can be. Be kind. Be helpful. Be supporting. video 6MB
How to deal with a dog…
I found this hilarious. Maybe you will too. video 6MB
The cat 2
Military to the rescue!
China mobilizes it’s military to rescue and help others. Not them them around the world to occupy other nations and drone kill civilians. Scenes from the mobilization of military to protect the Hunan flooding of 2021. Compare these scenes to the New Orleans flooding. Not even close. video 45MB
Progressive gay man down the street…
China, like Russia & Poland, are very traditional nations. They do not accept this “diversity” of “alternative lifestyles” that are so fundamental to the “new” America today. .And in this video clip you can see just how the normal day to day Chinese people react when they watch someone acting oh, so very… American. video 5MB
By the way, we here at MM are not poking fun at the “alternative” lifestyle choices of those in the West. Instead, we are pointing out that in traditional nations in Asia find these behaviors odd and curious, and so they react to the new and unusual in funny and surprising ways.
Everyone visiting here should be proud of who they are, their lifestyle choices, and their life. It’s NOT our place to judge.
Arguing couple saved by oranges, a cat, and some compassion
Very interesting video. Couple argues. Old lady spills her oranges. Cat (black and white tuxedo) pokes his nose in to investigate and then… video 7MB
The cat 3
Man buys a set of crutches for a stranger
It’s a pain in the ass when your cane breaks. Don’t worry when there’s a Rufus nearby. video 7MB
Dog protects a toddler
Brave dog. Will not allow the toddler to crawl on to the road. video 20MB
The thank you song
All of the people performing all the Coronavirus testing, vaccinations and everything associated with it are volunteers. They leave their jobs and their lives and do it for no pay. They often work 12 to 16 hour shifts. Such is membership in the Chinese culture / society and communist party. This little girl is performing the “thank you” song and dance to them. video 25MB
More Rescue cat…
Christmas roadblock
Regional outbreak of Coronavirus, in a regional town. These people volunteered to leave their families to man the roadblock. They were NOT compelled to do so. They volunteered. While Christmas is not as important to Chinese as CNY, it is still a holiday and the Chinese do celebrate it. Everyone except these guys. video 23MB
Police take down compilations
In China, AI monitors all activity, and identifies the criminals in real-time. Then, the police go out and get the bad guys when they are unready and unprepared. This differs from the United States where the police must catch the criminals in the act, and often results in lethal shootings. video 5MB
Beautiful HAN Outfits
I hope that these all put a smile on your faces. I love the way the dresses move. But call me a traditionalist. It’s not that these people are a Rufus, but rather that they are traditionalists and that they are enjoying life as such. They are not living in fear, afraid of offending anyone. They are comfortable and proud. They are confident. And being confident is sexy. First up video 2MB
Those that wear these clothes love it. They wear it with pride and just typically wear tennis shoes or sneakers instead of the traditional foot wear. You can see them bouncing around. Being happy and light. video 6MB
And one more HAN dress, just for the heck of it. The Chinese are proud of themselves, of their history and about what they have accomplished. They embrace it as they should with confidence and fun. You won’t find any “diversity directors” telling them that they cannot dress like this in the work office for “cultural misappropriation” or some other nonsense. Be yourself. The world needs more REAL people. video 3MB
It’s driver-less and out of control, and he is just a lowly delivery guy. video 2MB
Chinese Police Raid on Kidnapping and Child abduction group
The Chinese do not play. Rescue the little girl. video 7MB
Final Rescue cat…
Happy times!
Some of the happy moments in China during 2021. We have reunited families, Happiness, volunteers raising their hands to help other during the flooding emergency, the return of political prisoners out of the USA and much more! video 20MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
It’s a new Chinese year. It’s a water tiger year. And it’s a fine time to remember to be the best that we can possibly be. In this installment, I offer up some fine Rufus inspirational videos that are found throughout the world and inside of China. Remember, that being a Rufus doesn’t depend on your wealth, where you live, what color of skin you have, or your career. It depends on your compassion for those who surround you. Be the Rufus. The world needs people like us.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
I am so tired of trying to counter the mega-onslaught of hate being generated out of the Untied States towards China. The redirection is working. Most American hate China and blame all their troubles on it, instead of themselves and their (so called) “government”.
Instead, today, we will just go over some elements of Chinese society. These are little “snapshots” or culture. Isolated pictures, and images, as you will (understand). And taken together it’s a fun look at the great diversity of life that is colorfully presented in such a huge and enormous nation filled with a huge and enormous population.
We are not going to talk about Geo-politics, Biden, Trade wars, hybrid wars, Vaxx wars or another American-centered subjects. We are just going to talk about life, and in China that means videos and fun. We’re not going to get too serious here, at least I don’t intended to, anyways.
I’m presenting them in no particular order, because after all, life kind of throws things at us in a seemingly random order as well. Though, you do know that you have had an intelligent hand in the development of your life… don’t you know.
Bar Scene
Here’s a girl singing to the audience in a pretty typical bar. Video 8MB
A Park in China
I think that it is lovely. Most parks inside of China re quite nice, and the government is constantly expanding them, and improving them in so many little ways. video 3MB
College Dorm
Dorm rooms in the USA are usually two people affairs; two people share a room. In England it is one person gets their own room. In China, the dorm rooms are six people share a room. Here’s a group of girls in their dorm room. video 6MB
Death by cute (part 1)
It’s a fashion thingy that found it’s way from Japan. It’s called loli. I like it. So does my little girl. Video 6MB
It’s very common to see people dancing all over China. I mean that you NEVER see this in the ‘Stats, but you see it all the time inside China. video 3MB
Incidentally, this kind of view… the buildings lit up in the background, the blue sky, the open plazas are so very typical of China. It’s everywhere.
Han fashion (1)
It’s a fashion trend throughout China. It’s pretty popular and there are girls and guys wearing these outfits in the malls, the parks and on the subways. video 8MB
Han Fashion (2)
This is a sort of Chinese version of a medieval festival, only with Chinese culture and clothing. Continues video 7MB
Han fashion (3)
Here’s some more images from a different festival. video 5MB
Han Fashion (4)
Couple runs into each others arms. I love the expression on the little girl to the left. Cute. video 4MB
In America, everyone is a “lone wolf”. If you are fired from work, you are alone, and no one stands up for you. If you are in a car accident, you are alone and no one helps you. Most Americans eat alone, pay taxes alone, mow their yard alone, and travel alone.
Not so in China. China is the land of groups and communities. Everyone is part of something bigger than themselves. And if they individually make a mistake, the group absorbs the mistake and moves forward. video 7MB
Peng G3
When I first saw this video I thought that it was some kind of photoshop video manipulation. Then I went to a Peng show room, and that an actual car feature! This is how the Chinese introduce new features into the market. I wonder when Detroit will start copying China? Hum? video 5MB
Sending your dreams aloft
It’s a tradition for the Chinese to put their dreams and wishes on a scrap of paper and then light the balloon to send them into the sky. It’s very beautiful. video 2MB
Shanghai
Yeah. Everyone knows about Shanghai. But it’s really impressive when you are there in person. It makes New York City look like a small village. video 3MB
By Sweety Boy
Thai song adopted by the Chinese pop scene during 2019 / 2020. video 3MB
Time Machine
China has gone through so many wars, struggles, occupations, poisonings, humiliation, and growth. There is a sub-culture that memes this historical trend. Here’s one such video. I call it “time machine”. Video 4MB
Here’s a third video of the same “time machine” theme. video 13MB
Wedding 1
Chinese wedding. This is in a tiny remote village. Here we see the ritual of presentation before the parents and the town elders. video 3MB
Wedding 2
Chinese wedding. They don’t throw rice. It’s too wasteful and the Chinese just don’t understand that American ritual at all. video 5MB
Wedding 3
Chinese wedding. Bride presentation with her brides’ maids prior to the groom entry to “steal her” from her parents home. video 3MB
Xinjiang HST
High Speed Train in Xinjiang province. These are all Uighur staffed, and serving the Uighur people. Of course, you would never see anything positive about China in the American “news”. It’s all a 7 billion dollar funded hate-fest. video 9MB
Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed this little travel vacation. Have a great day, and remember to always be the Rufus.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my China Index…
This is part 2 of my orgy of James Bond movies. This time it’s with a classic movie titled “Goldfinger”.
Usually during Christmas I spend extra time to make the holiday a little bit special. One way that I do this is with rituals, and pomp. That means a Christmas tree, some decorations and music. I also like to wear a special Santa hat. Another way is with food. KFC, and hot ham and tomatoes on fresh bread. Mustard with sausages, and lots of cold cuts. And a third way is with movies. Not just Christmas movies, but some older movies just for the fun of it. Today, we will chat a little about a nice fine James Bond movie “Goldfinger” (1964).
So you sit down with your favorite beverage. You gather your friends, family and pets. Or if it is late at night, you gather a bowl of potato chips alone, and sit down to enjoy this movie.
Today I would like to promote the idea of enjoying some delicious chocolate moose, on a nice tray, while you enjoy the movie.
A delicious chocolate moose.
Doesn’t that look tasty…?
And here is our hero;
James Bond fighting the powers of evil during the Cold War. He does look good in suits, and I really do like how he is able to keep his hair all nice and tidy when he gets involved in a tussle.
James Bond in Goldfinger
This movie differs from Dr No in that it is more action / adventure. There is more fighting. More science. More gadgets. and really only one girl that James Bond cavorts with.
Just one. Or maybe two.
Perhaps three.
But that’s it.
Tops.
It’s treated as a top 007 Bond movie because of that, but you know, I think that it fails in that regard as much as it is praised.
Certainly the laser beam that going to cut bond in two is enticing for the six year old boy inside of me, and the idea of scientific geniuses taking over the world has merit, but really, where’s the interesting chit-chat and the fine bed-side manner?
It’s all cavort and plunder. Cavort and plunder.
Hum…
James Bond in Goldfinger
She’s a feisty vixen. Eh?
I’ll bet you that she (removes the snarl and fierce expression) would be a blast to go out with. Maybe go for some nice dessert. And in my mind, a nice dessert is a strawberry shortcake. No question about it at all. hands down.
I know. I know. I know.
Strawberry shortcake is for Springtime dates, and Summer outings. Oh don’t fall for that disinformation. It’s just perfect anytime of the year. Look at just how Christmassy festive it is.
A nice strawberry shortcake.
So imagine that you are out with this chick (girl). Her name is Pussy Galore…
Which in American slang means “always open for copus quantities of indiscriminate sex”. Which is kind of an “inside joke” if you are an American.
And then after a fine delicious strawberry shortcake, a nice walk down the boardwalk (well, I am imagining a seaside stroll after all). Then a stroll to the hotel, or bungalow.
Maybe a passionate embrace and wet sexy kiss once the door is closed.
I wonder what is going to happen in their relationship? Well, knowing what I know about James Bond movies I can extrapolate. Let’s see how accurate I am…
Adventures in bed.
Oh my!
By their expressions it does seem like they are having some fun. I’ll bet that about twenty to forty minutes later, Bond is smoking a cigarette, and she’s just purring while looking at herself in the mirror, and primping a bit.
And I am not complaining. I think that women look their best while they are getting pretty. Not afterwards. Life is a journey. Not a destination. Which is why I wrote my article on why it is critically important for a woman to have her own very special vanity, with a HUGE circular mirror. HERE.
But you know, being a secret agent is difficult business…
James Bond in Goldfinger
You never know when a car passes you by and shreds up your tires! Yikes.
I’m not sure, but I believe that this movie was the one that set the trend for automobile gadgets in the James Bond vehicles. When I was younger I had a Corgi version of the James Bond car. It had a escape passenger seat, a rear shield that would cover the rear window, machine guns in the front, shredding do-hickeys in the wheels, and a jet engine exhaust in the trunk. It was pretty cool, I’ll tell you what.
Toy James Bond Car.
Here we see Jame Bond in a well appointed private jet, and a very attractive Chinese stewardess. You know, I could never figure out why the costume would expose her cute belly, but not show her bellybutton. That belly button is the most erotic part of a woman’s belly, don’t you know.
But that’s life.
Hollywood has distinct rules on what can and cannot be shown on the “big movie screen”. And belly buttons are absolutely verboten! (Sounds of marching, goose-stepping Nazi Germans in the background. No. I’m not insulting Germans. I’m just playing with mental images of World War II movies.)
I see all the classics are on the shelves, as well as a quaintly dated telephone on the desk.
That “wood trim” is obviously cheep vinyl wall-paper. Sheech! You would think that evil scientists would appreciate the natural hues and textures of real wood in their private jet aircraft.
Vinyl is just…
…tacky.
Well, it is.
It’s sort of like giving a starving dog a rubber bone. It looks like the real things, but it isn’t and once you taste the bitterness of vacuum, the nightmare memories of what you thought you were getting ring like a hollow bell in a deep dark cavern.
Anyways, James Bond is a man of many talents.
Here’s James Bond tackling with some kind of a bomb. I’ll bet you that there a count-down going on and that he only has seconds left before every thing goes kablooey! How nice that the bomb has these red and yellow indicator lights and wires that you can rip out to render the bomb inert.
James Bond in Goldfinger
And here we have the “bad guys” trying to use a laser to break into Fort Knox to get all the gold there. Good luck with that! That place has been looted and sitting empty for decades.
Is it me, or does that laser look like a giant syringe?
The uniforms are curious. They are wearing battleship greys, and Chinese 19th century Boxer slipper. Though, I have yet to figure out what the black and yellow thing-a-min-jib around their waists are. Maybe it’s some kind of henchmen life preserver. Eh?
Why does the door to the vault look like a suburban garage door?
James Bond in Goldfinger
This movie has lots and lots of twists and turns. We’ve got James Bond fighting with landing a plane, laser beams, lots and lots of gold, henchmen, pretty girls with some fine charms and incredibly strong vixen capabilities.
The movie starts off with a bomb.
Seriously. There a bomb that has to be dealt with. And you know, it’s a job that only James Bond can handle.
James Bond bomb.
That’s where things start to get interesting.
After a quick tussle, some fighting and the bathtub electrocution, we are introduced to the always calm and confident James Bond. I do love him in the white tux, and I have to admit that the red carnation is a nice touch. Don’t you all think so?
You will note that a white tux is formal, while a deep blue tux is for semi-formal events. Nice lapels, but I think a shawl collar would have been a slightly better touch. Look at those nice shoulders. A nice cut suit for certain.
Too bad he’s in what appears to be a garbage-variety boat garage. I can just smell the rotting fish, the stale dried sea moss, and hear the waves lap up against the bollards.
James Bond in top style.
So many cool things in the movie don’t you know.
There’s all sorts of cool adventures. All done and carried out in a span under five minutes. Bombs, killings, good guys, bad guys. Nice fancy and swanky venues.
Even a few cats.
Somehow Bond finds his way into a room with an attractive nude woman taking a bubble bath in the tub. Of course, this is the 1960’s and since he is wearing a tux, and he is (after all) James Bond, he seduces her which his devilish good looks…
…and well, you can guess the rest.
James Bond getting some “nooky”
After the credits finish rolling, we find James Bond by the pool.
Certainly the fashions have changed, but a beautiful girl is a beautiful girl, and I for one would not throw her into the pool. I’ll tell you what.
I do like her cleavage. I wonder whats down there. Maybe some money, a set of keys, or a venomous poison spider to attack 007 with. Being a secret agent is a risky business, don’t you know.
Nice cleavage.
Boy!
James bond is hairy. Don’t you think?
Ah. But the ladies don’t mind. They think it is sexy.
Of course, my chest hair is all white, and sometimes my wife absentmindedly plucks a chest hair away. Ouch! Come on girls. It’s sensitive!
Oh, and by the way, I do like how all the maids fall into the arms of James Bond. He’s quite the “Ladies Man” don’t you know.
Look at his legs. So very hairy as well. No wonder he is rarely shown rearing shorts.
Ladies man.
He really is, however, quite the ladies man.
Here’s James Bond “copping a feel” with the fine girl that massaged the oil on his back. I note that the evil villain NPC smiles in approval.
Copping a feel.
There’s many half-clad girls in James Bond movies.
Here’s a chick that will feature predominately later on. Shes busy on the VHF, or is it a UHF, or maybe just a CB radio. She’s got a fine backside. Nice and oiled up and toasty from the hot sun. She’s really just eye candy for the audience, though, don’t you know.
She’s a lure to take James Bond on an adventure.
Nice backside.
Of course, we know that shes a spy.
Gasp!
And James Bond is going to use her… well, he thinks anyways. Here she is spying away. And James is very interested in her technique. And she, obviously, is very interested in his manly chin.
Spycraft. Always a tense moment.
The movie has all sorts of interesting adventures and situations.
And some of the most interesting occur in, on, and beside, the beds. But you know, for some reason there’s always telephones near and on the beds. I mean… really. You want to rest on a bed, or you want to have sex on a bed. But the telephone is just a distraction. You really don’t want to be interrupted when you are in a dream, or having sex. I mean, that’s just not fun. How can you concentrate?
Right?
Nothing quite breaks up the mood as a ringing telephone when you are in the middle of something interesting.
Telephones and beds so not match.
Oh, and by the way, she’s a pretend blonde. You can tell by her eyebrows. She’s intentionally dyed her hair a harlot platinum blonde. Not that it’s bad, mind you. I happen to enjoy harlots. It’s a personal favorite activity of mine, don’t you know. But I do like women to be themselves.
I am so turned on by a woman wearing pajamas, in the house, or a tee shit and jeans outside rather than get all dressed up. Of course, I do enjoy when a woman gets dressed up, but on the sexiness scale, a “real” woman being herself just oozes sex. It’s like when they cook food. OMG.
There is few things sexier than a woman cooking.
Well, aside from coming out of the shower.
Anyways…
Anyways, having sex with James bond can be dangerous. As is shown in this scene here…
…Yikes!
Yikes!
For you all who are unawares, this chick didn’t get a chance to read the “Time magazine” on the table, nor flick though those stacks of phone books. Poor girl. She has missed on on so much.
Well…
Life goes on.
Here he is flirting with his bosses secretary…
Flirting for fun and advantage.
Ah, there’s a lot of things happening…
And I don’t want to give away the plot.
But, I can give you a hint of things to come. There’s guns, sex, difficult situations, lasers, plans, evil, and airplanes.
Oh my goodness!
A lot of things happen from here to there.
There’s a guy , Asian no doubt, that has this decapitating hat, and he’s a sight to behold. The evil genus is a pug-like portly fellow.
However, things aren’t always tea and crumpets. Sometimes you can get hit on the head and wake up on a slab with a evil laser ready to cut you into two.
Not that I ever had THAT particular experience, don’t you know.
Things aren’t always tea and crumpets.
And on and on.
Oh! By the way. Do you all put up stockings for Christmas? We do. And we fill it with these little Japanese (actually Chinese, sold under a Japanese brand name) little figurines, and some healthy candy.
You do not have to spend a lot of money on Christmas. All you need to do is make it special for the ones you love.
And that, of course means left over turkey sandwiches…
Left over hot turkey sandwich.
This one looks like it uses English muffins, or grilled crumpets, potato bread with coleslaw, cranberries, stuffing, and turkey to make the delicious dish. I would add hot turkey gravy, myself.
Or, turkey soup..
A nice bowl of hot turkey soup.
And what is soup without some nice crusty bread and butter / cheese. Eh?
Here we see Bond and his latest newly acquired vixen friend trying to land a dangerously out of control airplane.
James Bond in Goldfinger
Of course, everyone is concerned.
You can tell that they are by looking at their expressions in the airport control tower. It’s all a matter of high international importance!
James Bond in Goldfinger
But you know all ends well.
James Bond lands safely using a parachute, and he and his vixen friend decide to celebrate! You know, in ways that are relaxing, strenuous, and enjoyable.
Twenty minutes later, Bond is smoking a cigarette, and the Vixen (whose name is Pussy Galore – wonder if she lives up to the name) is adjusting her hair so the next great adventure.
A happy ending
James Bond in Goldfinger
Now wasn’t that nice?
If I were to host a movie party…
Obviously I don’t. My idea of a movie is a rare thing that I do as a special family time. But in the past I would host a movie “party”. But I used to do it. And if I were to do it again, I would project the movie big on the wall. (I used to do this, but the projector remains stolen. Sigh.)
And I would play some vintage “Let’s go to the movie” cartoons, and about three or four vintage movie trailers. To get the entire scene going. Not to mention popping some popcorn for the proper smells of a movie theater.
If you are going to do something, why not go all out and make it special? Hum?
Here’s some fine Rufus inspirational videos to remind you that the world needs you. It needs you RIGHT NOW. You need to participate and make this world a better place. You need to go forth and help others, to participate in your community and to add calmness and kindness to the world that surround you. Be the Rufus.
What do I mean by being a Rufus?
The term “Rufus” is well known to long time visitors to MM. It describes service-to-others (STO) sentience and the related behaviors rather than the service-for-self (STS) sentience behaviors of the vast bulk of humanity. The details on sentience selection and why it is important are sprinkled throughout the Majestic Index.
Rufus is a state of behavior. A Rufus puts the community before him / her self. They do things without a profit motive of any type. They are kind, helpful and when they walk down the street they smile at people and make them feel good.
In some ways, being a Rufus lends itself to heroic actions, but in other ways it refers to being a significant person located in a geographic region.
While the rest of the world scrambles and claws towards money and power, and leaves a destitute and stripped world behind, a Rufus nurtures the world. He / she uses their creative abilities to make the world a better place.
You can go to my RUFUS INDEX. Start at the top and start reading all the posts. If after article 75, you still have questions, I will try to explain it to you better.
Long time readers recognize being a Rufus is showing kindness to others, being a hero when necessary, participating in the community and working to make OUR world a better place to live in. Chinese members of MM will recognize it as the expectations of volunteerism required of the Chinese Communist party, but that is just a name. It’s all people working together towards a common goal.
Some of these videos might take some time to load. Just click on the "video" link and allow it to load in a new tab or window. It will load faster that way.
I have received numerous comments (that I did not publish on MM) by people complaining that I didn’t have enough Rufus videos showing people in America being kind, helping others, and doing good deeds. Well, I tried to put the ones up that I could find, it’s just that they really don’t exist much in the for-profit every-man-for-himself nations. I have tons of police shootings, black people store robberies, car jackings, and videos of poverty stricken homeless from the USA. But Rufus behaviors. Not much.
Sorry.
We start with some hard working people. Just everyday people who do the dirty, nasty work, alone. In China they give most of their money to their families who live far away, and for years they work alone, pushing and striving to make the family live a comfortable life. This first video is for you … “average Joe”.
Rufus rescue in the ice
Be the Rufus. Make your life worthwhile. video 6MB
Have some compassion and know that YOU have a purpose on this planet. Help others. Be the best you can be. Be kind. And you will find that the world around you will also become kind, calm and peaceful. Participate in life. video 32MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
It’s a never ending onslaught of war preparation, war provocation, and war stockpiling being generated out of the United States. There is ZERO talk about deescalation. I tire of all of this. It seems like the United States is driving the world to war and they aren’t stopping for shit.
There’s no real need for this.
China is minding their own business. Not harming anyone. Sure they make all the products, and are making them better, cheaper and faster than the bloat-ware that is found in the USA. But that is not a reason to kill them. It is a reason to copy them.
Sheech!
And every evil deed is Chinas fault. And China is doing this and that - it’s fucking bad news. My buddy - this past weekend emails me an article about the Chinese military doing something - the article was 7 years old. No matter. It makes China look bad - plaster it all over the news and blame China.When the media - in America - and THIS I know to be true - because I fucking SEEN it - as soon as our media starts showing how the shelves are bare here - because they blame China - but what’s going to happen is right when it gets bad - they are going to show bare shelves here and stocked shelves in China. It’s to anger everyone - I say this specifically because the mass rage that is coming towards Asians is coming - fast. It’s the quickest way to take out an internal threat. Let the CITIZENS do it. -PL
And Russia; what’s the beef with them? It’s not like there are Russian and Chinese aircraft carriers in Boston Harbor are there?
Biden - in HIS infinite wisdom - decides he is going to play Russian Roulette - WITH RUSSIA - they named a suicidal game after the Russians! Again, the irony. So NOW - and let me be very clear - VERY. clear. The average person - people I know throughout the country - and I ask - alllllll know - the ONLY reason we are about to start lobbing nukes at ANYONE is because we all know the money laundering the Biden’s Clinton’s and Obama’s have been doing in Ukraine. It’s been their evil little washing machine AND AMERICA KNOWS IT. So now - people are even more antsy. -PL
Why all this bullshit?
To distract from the reality?
American reality
The thing is - to me - I am amazed by the psychology of it all. And the stupidity - holy shit dude - it’s like everyone is slowly becoming retarded. Like mad cow or something. -PL
They are people just like you and I. But the United States wants to engage in a war to distract Americans, and Russia and China are the enemies chosen for this event. Here’s modern Russia. Video 8MB
Canada Goose
Double arc.
Canada Goose puts spotlight on double standards against Chinese consumers
Canada Goose is feeling the wrath of Chinese consumers after their physical flagship store in Shanghai refused to refund a customer.
She tried to return a jacket the same day she bought it because the embroidering of the logo had an extra arc in the sun. The store refused, citing the company’s return policy for China: “No refunds.”
Netizens quickly pointed out that they have a 30-day return policy for Canada, US and UK. Now Canada Goose is under fire for their double standard.
With all this bad press, Canada Goose decided to refund the customer. But not before sparking a major discussion about brands discriminating against Chinese consumers.
Now LV and Gucci have also become targets as consumers quickly pointed out they have the same difference in return policies across countries.
You’re sick of me saying it but here it is again: The Chinese are the smartest consumers on the planet. They’ll find any discrepancies you have in your offers. And they have high standards.
Doing business here is not cheap. You need to account for dealing with the returns process. Cutting corners will get you in trouble.
What do you think? Are the companies justified in having different return policies for each country, or is this discrimination?
…
Now, let’s check out this little jewel;
Cockroach robot armies!
You betya!
…
Yikes!
Ok. Let’s see about the first amendment; “Freedom of Speech”. Does it still exist in America today? Nope. Not in the least…
Establishment institutions usually start their implementation of censorship and the throttling of press freedom by going after individuals and outlets that are small and/or not well liked by a cross-section of the public. The obscurity or general unpalatable nature of the target ensures the success of setting the precedent.
Most Americans have probably never heard of Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and many would be unsympathetic once they learn that the U.S. government claims it is a think tank and journal associated with Russian military intelligence, although no evidence is offered to back up this assertion, and SCF denies it has ties to the Russian government.
But years of anti-Russia sentiment in the political sphere and in most American media ensures that the claim alone will suffice to tar any Americans associated with Strategic Culture Foundation with a black brush.
I have confirmed that two American writers for SCF have received letters from the US Treasury Department in recent weeks warning them of fines of over $300,000 if they continue to write for the journal.
These threats are in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2020 US election and part of the US government’s enforcement of Executive Order 13848 signed by President Donald Trump in September of 2018 which sought to ascertain foreign interference in any future elections in the US and to punish those deemed guilty.
Threats to US elections included not only tampering with actual voting and its supporting infrastructure but “covert distribution of propaganda and disinformation.”
According to the Treasury Department’s April 15, 2021 press release in connection with the designation of SCF and other Russian entities to be sanctioned pursuant to the executive order, the US government stated its intent to target those they see as Russia’s enablers on behalf of its alleged program to interfere in US elections:
"Treasury will target Russian leaders, officials, intelligence services, and their proxies that attempt to interfere in the US electoral process or subvert US democracy," said Secretary Janet L. Yellen. "This is the start of a new US campaign against Russian malign behavior." (emphasis added)
The release also accuses SCF specifically, without evidence, of being directed by Russian military intelligence and that its articles spread “disinformation” – which appears to mean opinion and analysis that the US government doesn’t like:
The Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) is an online journal registered in Russia that is directed by the SVR and closely affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SCF is controlled by the SVR’s Directorate MS (Active Measures) and created false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning US officials involved in the 2020 US presidential election. It publishes conspiracy theorists, giving them a broader platform to spread disinformation, while trying to obscure the Russian origins of the journal so that readers may be more likely to trust the sourcing……Treasury designated…the Strategic Culture Foundation pursuant to E.O. 13848 for having engaged in foreign interference in the US 2020 presidential election.
The ordeal started for the two American writers in July of 2020 when they each received a visit at their home from FBI agents inquiring about SCF and its connections to Russia. Daniel Lazare, an author and journalist told Finian Cunningham recently that the agents wanted to know about alleged links of SCF to Russian intelligence:
"I replied that I wasn’t interested because I regard the entire avenue of inquiry as bogus and a product of the anti-Moscow hysteria that’s running rampant in Washington. So the agents left. Everything was polite and low-keyed, and the entire exchange took no more than four or five minutes."
Similarly, Michael Averko, who had written for SCF since 2015, stated that two FBI agents came to his home in July of 2020 and asked about SCF ties to the Russian government. They told him at the time that he wasn’t in any trouble and didn’t have to answer their questions, but Averko was hesitant to say much, recalling what had happened to Michael Flynn:
"The only question I answered was on whether the SCF has any ties to Russian military intelligence. I answered by saying I can’t say for sure and doubt it. I added that my impression is that the SCF comprises politically interested Russians, who want to be involved with the issues they cover."
It wasn’t until November of this year that Lazare and Averko both received letters dated October 15, 2021 from the Treasury Department, delivered personally by the FBI. The letters advised that they were in violation of sanctions against SCF per executive order 13848 and were potentially subject to fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars if they did not stop contributing articles to SCF:
"[P]ursuant to Executive Order 13848 of September 12, 2018…all property and interests in property of SCF that are subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them…[E]ach violation… is subject to a statutory maximum civil monetary penalty of up to the greater of $311,562 or twice the value of the underlying transaction."
When asked whether he thought this would set a troubling precedent for Americans who write for foreign media outlets, Lazare said he believed it would:
"Absolutely. Why not ban RT, formerly known as Russia Today? If the government is pissed off against Emmanuel Macron, why not go after Agence France-Presse? The US complains when Russia harasses western news outlets, yet it’s guilty of precisely the same activities at home. As far as I’m concerned, threatening US journalists with fines for writing for a Russian press outlet is a flagrant assault on freedom of the press."
Averko was a bit more circumspect and thinks the government believes because SCF is a relatively small outlet, it can more easily get away with sanctioning it:
"The SCF and its US based American writers are (in the overall comparative scheme of things) small potatoes and an easier target to beat up on."
Both writers say they know of other US contributors to the outlet who have received the same letter and are intimidated. Lazare stated:
"While I have no particular concerns in my own case, other journalists are so frightened that they’ve not only stopped writing, but don’t even want to speak about their experience with other reporters. No one wants to mess with the federal government because they know the feds can make your life a misery if they’re so motivated. So they’ve clammed up. If you’ve ever wondered what “chilling effect” means, this is it."
While US officials may be unlikely to go after major foreign media, it’s very possible this could be a precedent to go after smaller outlets with unsubstantiated accusations of foreign interference and spreading of “disinformation.”
Lazare is in the process of seeking legal advice about the government threats. Averko said he was considering it and believes it would probably be best for all SCF contributors who received the letter to work together on any possible legal claim, though he’s aware of at least one who is unwilling to do so.
This is another example of the US undermining its own purported democratic values, which it touts to the rest of the world, in order to punish those who associate with the latest bogeyman country while providing no evidence that this outlet is even guilty of what they assert. After WMD’s and Russiagate, it would be foolish to take US government claims at face value as we are again being asked to do.
Natylie Baldwin is the author of The View from Moscow: Understanding Russia and U.S.-Russia Relations, available on Amazon. Her writing has appeared in various publications including Consortium News, RT, OpEd News, The Globe Post, Antiwar.com, The New York Journal of Books, and Dissident Voice.
…
Let’s dive in and begin this discussion with this subject; Nuclear armed B-2 bombers with escort wings to be based inside of Australia to “counter” China.
Scheech! How about a role reversal;
"Mexico and Canada to base Chinese and Russian nuclear stealth aircraft to counter America."
Wouldn’t you think that would be enough to start a war, eh?
OK. First up. A lamb to the slaughter. The USA is turning Australia into a battle zone and a sacrificial lamb for “American interests”. Whoo woo!
THE US will send B2 stealth bombers and a fleet of fighter jets to Australia amid a growing military threat from China and North Korea.
Military resources will also be bolstered in Guam with bases there upgraded, according to a new Pentagon review.
The report says the changes are necessary to…
“deter potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea”.
It also suggests new B2 stealth bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets could soon be deployed.
The review looks to a growing focus on the Indo-Pacific region “to enable improved warfighting readiness and increased activities.”
RISING TENSIONS
Mara Karlin, deputy undersecretary for policy at the US’s Department of Defence, said: “In Australia, you’ll see new rotational fighter and bomber aircraft deployments.
"You’ll see ground forces training and increased logistics cooperation, and more broadly across the Indo-Pacific, you’ll see a range of infrastructure improvements, in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Australia."
The Biden administration has focused its attention on countering China as it bolsters its own military amid rising tensions over Taiwan.
Taiwan broke away from China in 1949 but the Chinese ruling party government regards the island as a “renegade state” and has repeatedly vowed to take it back by force if necessary by 2050.
Any invasion would represent a serious escalation of hostilities and could drag in the US through its pact to defend Taiwan.
Vice Adm. Karl Thomas said this week that it is important to put on a united front to “other nations that might be more aggressive and authoritarian” when probed on Russia and China.
In October the US formed a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China.
China reacted angrily, accusing the US and its English-speaking partners of embarking on a project that will destabilize the Pacific to the detriment of global security.
…
And what about Taiwan having all the IC manufacturing capability?
Nope. China is getting it.
Foxconn new factory in Qingdao using 46 made by China lithography machines to produce chip (decoupling from the US and Europe technology)
Foxconn has laid a new milestone for both its semiconductor business and China’s semiconductor ambition. Together with China’s Rongkong Group, a state-owned enterprise, Foxconn has invested in an advanced chip packaging facility in China’s costal city Qingdao. Through two intermediaries, Foxconn has a combined 27.5% share in the new facility, while Rongkong Group has a 46.85% share. Volume production will start in December, and by 2025 the plant is scheduled to reach its full capacity of 360,000 wafers per year.
Currently, Foxconn has two chip packaging businesses under its wing. The first of them is ShunSin Technoogy, and the other is Foxconn’s own semiconductor division which oversights the Qingdao-based packaging facility.
Notably, the packaging facility also serves China’s semiconductor industrial policy by using the country’s domestically produced lithography machines. The new packaging facility has reportedly purchased 46 lithography machines from SMEE to support advanced packaging technologies such as Flip Chip, Fan-In WLP, Fan-Out WLP, and 2.5D/3D.
Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment Co. (SMEE), founded in 2002, is expected by the Chinese government to be its answer to ASML, the Dutch lithography machine maker that has dominated the lithography market. Earlier, SMEE only produces 90nm lithography machines. However, SMEE once announced that it would deliver China’s first 28nm lithography machines between 2021 and 2022. Even Huawei has indirectly cooperated with SMEE to solve the EUV chokepoint that has been derailing…
And who are all these terrible bombs and planes going to kill and destroy?
People like you and me. And some very pretty innocent girls. All for American “freedom” and “democracy”! Video 1.1MB
And what is specifically the plan to “Defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression”?
You can’t make this stuff up.
The following paper illustrates the kinds of options U.S. war planners are toying with when strategizing on how to “defend Taiwan”.
Recommendations that appear in the winter issue of Parameters, a quarterly publication from the U.S. Army War College include:
[1] The United States should lay plans for a targeted scorched-earth strategy that would render Taiwan unattractive to China by utterly destroying its most valuable industrial infrastructure, including destroying facilities belonging to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
[2] Fomenting social unrest by destroying Taiwan’s economy and arming insurgents for long-term guerrilla warfare on the island.
In other words, U.S. war planners think the best way to “defend Taiwan” is to raze it to the ground.
Do your best. Be kind. Be fair. Try to work with people, and help people. You are not in a race to make the most money. You are in a situation called “life” and that means participation in your community.
Hate – Hate – Hate spews forth from American “news”
And the anti-China propaganda is really thick and heavy too. Check out this nonsense…
HIDDEN STRIKE
China feared to be hiding missiles in shipping containers for Trojan Horse-style plan to launch attack ANYWHERE in world
CHINA has been secretly developing Trojan Horse-style missiles hidden in shipping containers that can be unleashed on enemy ports, experts warn.
Oh, it's those pesky "experts" again. -MM
Military analysts believe the country’s huge fleet of freighters and fishing vessels could be turned into warships with the use of the secretive container missiles.
Disguised as a regular shipping containers, they can be sneaked on board a vessel to blend in seamlessly with the hundreds of others on board.
The sheer number of container ships in the world makes them harder to pinpoint than warships in the event of war.
Each ship could hide hundreds of dangerous ICBM nuclear missiles…
A dangerous hidden threat!
Like the fabled Trojan Horse, the missiles would be quietly smuggled into or near an enemy port on a civilian vessel before being unleashed in a surprise attack.
Rick Fisher, senior fellow in Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told The Sun Online while Chinese have not officially confirmed they have the missiles – it is likely they have them.
Meanwhile, retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, a former Pacific Fleet intelligence chief, previously said a containerized anti-ship missile would add a significant threat to the US Navy.
It comes amid a new wave of tensions between the US and China as the Communist giant challenges Washington’s status as the world’s top superpower.
China is known to be aggressively developing its military and is squaring up to the US – expanding its reach around the world, such as in Africa.
A mock-up of the missiles first appeared at an arms fair in 2016 and since then there has been speculation since they may now be in service with China’s armed forces.
Mr Fisher believes the weapon fits with the Beijing’s military strategy and likely would be used as an offensive capability against their enemies – potentially being smuggled into foreign ports anywhere in the world.
Mr Fisher told The Sun Online “Chinese strategic preferences for surprise would strongly argue for acquisition” of the missiles.
These would be fitted to “nondescript small Chinese ships in order to mount surprise missile raids against shore defences to assist follow on amphibious or airborne invasion forces”.
Fisher said shipping container missile launchers can be smuggled through ports or via highway ports of entry
They could then be stored for years in a climate-controlled building within range of US military bases, and taken out when needed for military operations.
Mr Fisher said the containerised missiles would “offer China’s leadership a wide array of options”.
Washington would be in chaos, would not know against whom to retaliate
-Jick Fisher
This includes
“using larger container ships, thousands of fishing ships or stored containers in ports, to undertake military or terror mission strikes in a manner that can be denied if desired”.
“The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is fully capable of using containerized missiles to sow chaos when desired,” he insisted.
For example Chinese missile launching containers could be stored near the Port of Seattle.
The Chinese would wait for the day they can launch an electromagnetic pulse warhead-armed missiles over the nearby nuclear ballistic missile submarine base Fisher said.
"The EMP blast might take out electronics on the [submarines] and all over the base without having to launch a nuclear missile from China,” he said.
“Washington would be in chaos, would not know against whom to retaliate, and perhaps China uses American distraction to begin its real objective, the military conquest of Taiwan."
According to US officials, the weapons deployed in the containers are an advanced anti-ship missile called the YJ-18C, which is a version of the Russian Club-K weapon.
The missiles fit into a standard 8 feet wide by 8.5 feet high by 20 feet or 40 feet long standard shipping container.
An online animation showing how the Club-K can be fitted into a container shows how the top comes off to reveal the missile with the front making away for the guidance system.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the missile has speed of up to Mach 3 – three times the speed of sound or 2,300mph.
While not in the league of China’s hypersonic missiles, which can reach speeds of Mach 10, analysts believe they can still pack a punch.
So far the only record of missile being fired from a container ship is a picture of a test carried out by Israel.
A large number Chinese container ships enter US ports on the west and east coast making them well within range of the vast majority of the US fleet.
"If this capability is confirmed, it will require a completely new screening regime for all PRC flagged commercial ships bound for U.S. ports," Fanell said.
The Stockton Center’s study concluded that loading weapons on civilian vessels clandestinely could violate international law.
It wrote:
"Failure to comply with the law of armed conflict by surreptitiously incorporating merchant vessels into China’s warfighting/war-sustaining effort endangers civilian seafarers and puts all civilian ships at risk that may be operating in the area of hostilities."
POWER GAME
China is perceived as directly challenging the West for status as the world attempts to recover from the pandemic.
Beijing is making moves to establish a foothold in the Atlantic Ocean with a new series of naval bases on the west coast of Africa.
The country’s first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and it is steadily increasing its capacity.
And for some time, many have thought that China was working to establish a naval base in Tanzania, a country on Africa’s eastern coast that has a strong, long-standing military relationship with Beijing.
Meanwhile, China is also seen to have taken the lead in the next stage of the global arms race as it flew a nuke-capable missile around the world.
Hypersonic missiles are a game changer because unlike ballistic missiles, which fly into space before returning on steep trajectories, they zoom in on targets at lower altitudes.
China – followed closely by Russia – were already regarded as having the most potent hypersonic missile arsenals pouring billions into them but others had been seen as catching up.
But the shocking revelations of their missile test back in August has sent shockwaves through Western intelligence who fear they actually underestimated Beijing.
US intelligence and military officials were reportedly left stunned after China launched a rocket in space carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle which circled the globe before before speeding towards its target.
Just who are these evil communists that must be killed?
You know for “The American way” of “freedom” and “democracy”! Video 1MB
And now the USA is equipping all the F-16’s and F-35 fighter jets with the ability to drop nuclear bombs. Are they out of their fucking minds????
…
Well, you know, YES they ARE.
China and Russia BOTH treat any weapon system that can deliver nuclear munitions as de facto launching those missiles.
A good look at what America wants to destroy and kill
Soak up the reality. The United States is trying to get everyone to hate – hate – hate so that these people shown in this video will be killed. All for the greedy psychopaths to continue to rule. video 18MB
U.S. assembled the first B61-12 nuclear bomb for F-35A and F-15E
WASHINGTON – In the United States last month, November 23, the assembly of the first serial guided thermonuclear bomb B61-12 Life Extension Program [LEP] was completed. This was announced on December 2, by the US National Nuclear Security Administration, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
Last week, #NNSA successfully completed the B61-12 First Production Unit @PantexPlant. This is a huge milestone for stockpile modernization and demonstrates our Nation’s commitment to #nuclear deterrence. pic.twitter.com/90ojHPw6cH
— NNSA Administrator (@NNSAHruby) December 2, 2021
According to the report, the B61-12 bomb modernization project lasted more than nine years – such a long period was required for the design, development, qualification, and production of components.
Full-scale mass production of these bombs is scheduled to begin in May 2022. In total, the program is expected to produce more than four hundred bombs by the end of 2026. In total, the project should cost about $ 12 billion.
According to the US National Nuclear Security Administration, the modernization will keep the bomb in operation for another 20 years and “will continue to ensure the safety and effectiveness of weapons.”
It is known that B61-12 should replace other tactical versions of this bomb [-3, -4, and -7] and will probably be stored at US and NATO bases in Europe. The main carriers of this bomb will be F-35A and F-15E fighters.
What is a B61-12 thermonuclear bomb?
The B61-12 thermonuclear bomb belongs to the B61 family. B61 is the main thermonuclear gravitational bomb of the United States, actively developed amid the Cold War with the Eastern blog close to the USSR.
According to the characteristics known to the general public, B61 has the possibility of a complete explosion, ie. a full range of ignition and delivery options, whether by air or ground. The B61 is capable of reaching supersonic flight speeds. The dimensions of the thermonuclear bomb are 3.56 m long, 33 cm in diameter, and a total weight of about 320 kg. Military experts say that depending on the B61 version, the weight can vary.
The latest modification of the B61 is the B61 Mod 12 or B61-12. One of the tests of the B61 Mod 12 at the very beginning of its development showed that this thermonuclear bomb can penetrate underground and reach an equivalent ability to explode on the surface of weapons from 750 kilotons to 1.25 megatons.
Experts say that “underground penetration” was not planned, but it is good news, as B61 Mod 12 could become a successful replacement for B61 Mod 11, whose main function is underground penetration. The B61 Mod 11 is expected to be decommissioned by the end of 2030.
***
So who are these bombs going to kill?
Well, one thing that is omitted PURPOSEFULLY in American media is showing any humanity with the targeted enemies. there are no pictures that show Russians or Chinese people being human. Just these evil narratives, ugly narratives, and fear mongering dangerous narratives. Not here on MM. We are being blunt. These are the people that your government is trying to kill. video. 4MB
Why? Why kill the nice, cute and hard working people of the world?
For this “freedom”, “liberty”, and “democracy”? Are you out of your FUCKING MIND? video 29MB
So, who are these bombs, missiles and war machines going to protect?
Are they going to protect you from the “red menace”? Nope. It is just a way to maintain the status quo and keep the evil greedy in positions of incredible wealth and power. video 14.3MB
Sigh. Here’s Phobos.
Hell, you have to leave the earth to escape this madness.
Marian moon; Phobos.
And let’s not forget about the moon.
China sends lunar rover to probe object on far side of moon
Question: what is the longest time US roller exploring the moon or Mars?
Dose this mean that China roller is more advanced than the USA:
China’s Yutu 2 rover discovered the curious cube on the horizon in the Von Kármán crater in November. The solar-powered rover, which first landed on the moon almost three years ago, has now been tasked to spend the next two to three months investigating the object.
“Over the summer while working a DUI shift, I stopped out at a local gas station to grab a drink. While waiting in line, the lady in line ahead of me offered to purchase my drink. I kindly declined the offer and stated I’d get it but thanked her. The kind lady then politely grabbed the drink out of my hand and set it on the counter to purchase.
It’s it very common in my city for a citizen to purchase food or drinks for police officers. These kind acts do not go unnoticed and I feel blessed to work for a community that proudly supports law enforcement. Building community relationships goes a long way.”
Rufus
With all the bad news being thrown at you, how about some good news to offset it all and find stability in your heart; your mind and your soul? video
Sigh. Make a difference!
Sometimes following in your father’s footsteps can lead you to the most beautiful corners of the world .
Daddy’s big girl now.
Why the CIA is so frustrated with China…
Here’s what the Chinese AI social credit scoring system works. No wonder the CIA and the NED are all upset. Their agent saboteurs cannot do anything. Which is why all the CIA agents in Hong Kong were found, rounded up and either deported or are spending long prison terms in China. video 24MB
Rufus tales
Be the Rufus like this bus driver that gives up his coat to warm up a high school girl on his bus. Video 12MB
Yu Beng Village(雨崩村), Deqing, Yunnan Province, China
China is big. It looks a lot like Switzerland in many places.
AI! I am getting off track…
So what is my point? News out the “West” is fear-hate-fear-hate.
But is that really helping you?
I say that instead, it is making you ill. It is hurting you mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and all the rest. Know that there is a great life here for all of us to live and the answer lies in community. Whether world war III occurs, or the United States and the rest of the world just melts down, or the Prison Planet restructures itself is of no consequence…
…if you always do your best, work as part of a community of others, and do great things. Be the best you can be and be the Rufus that would make your grandmother proud.
In 1981, a clairvoyant contacted British Rail to warn depot employees that she’d been having a recurring vision of a fatal train crash. In her vision, one of their blue engines hauling oil tankers crashed with devastating consequences.
She also saw that the train number was 47216.
Managers took the warning seriously, as they were aware that the clairvoyant had assisted police on several occasions. They applied to have the number of the particular train changed to 47299.
In December 1983, the 47299 train was hauling an oil train when it collided with a DMU at Wrawby Junction. One person died, and it was concluded that a combination of equipment failure and human error was to blame.[6]
.
Afterward, the accident was referred to as an “amazing coincidence.”
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Usually during Christmas I spend extra time to make the holiday a little bit special. One way that I do this is with rituals, and pomp. That means a Christmas tree, some decorations and music. I also like to wear a special Santa hat. Another way is with food. KFC, and hot ham and tomatoes on fresh bread. Mustard with sausages, and lots of cold cuts. And a third way is with movies. Not just Christmas movies, but some older movies just for the fun of it. Today, we will chat a little about a nice fine James Bond movie “Dr No” (1963).
It’s a classic, and I love it. Guys wearing tuxes, nice suit jackets, cavorting with pretty ladies who are wearing gowns, bikinis, or just a simple towel. And the gambling, alcohol and the cigarettes. Not to mention the occasional fist fight and small arms fire. Classic. It speaks to the man in me.
No CGI here. It’s mostly dialog and chatting.
I can really relate to this scene. Can’t you?
Why do women look so tasty when their hair is disheveled? And my oh my, why aren’t men wearing blazers any more. Look at now nice it fit him.
Simple blazer. Simple black tie. Simple blue-white shirt. All alone in a tropical bungalow. You can almost smell the tropical lushness, hear the ocean waves, and listen to the tropical birds out the window.
Oh, and my she does have nice shoulders. Doesn’t she?
Nice tux. With a nice thin bow tie. He looks good, don’t you think?
When a man wears a tux, all eyes should be on the lady that accompanies him. In this case she is wearing an eye-popping red dress with one shoulder exposed. It’s her best shoulder, I believe. Nice lips. Look at her lips. And by the way, those earrings are nice match for the dress. Lips, fingernails, dress all nicely coordinated.
She’s carrying a gold purse and lots and lots of gambling chips. My goodness!
Here’s a great shot showing all the cool gadgets 007 has. In this scene he is off picnicking and cavorting with a beautiful gal in a nice pattern bikini, while talking on a telephone in his car! Imagine that! A phone in the convertible. WOW!
Love those James Bond gadgets.
The phone plays a big role in this particular James Bond flick. You have phones in cars. Phones in hotel rooms. Phones in the rooms of the beautiful girls. Phones with the bad guys. Phones with the evil doctor. Phones in the 007 office and phones on the bed.
Nothing like making a quick call while you are discussing important matters in bed with the girl you just met.
Pack of cigarettes, and a notepad by the bed. Oh, how charming!
I once read that by wearing a tux, the perceived attractiveness of a man increase three points. (On a scale of zero to ten.) There’s something about a well made, well fitting, tux, with the clean lines and appearance that speaks to me. Too bad I never have any opportunities to wear my tuxes any more. The last time I wore it was at my father funeral.
I think that a tux is better reserved for seduction, personal enjoyments and pleasures. Who doesn’t want to look their best? And besides, any (American) policeman would think twice before pulling over or arresting anyone in a tux.
Doesn’t he look good?
The room decor seems a bit dated. For a while in the 1960’s everyone seemed to have paintings / pictures of clowns, cats with big eyes, and old fashioned cars. Don’t ask me why. It was a “thing” back then.
Like this…
Big eyed kids.
Yeah. I guess that you would need to have lived through that area to appreciate it.
I do love this next picture. He thinks he’s in control, but it’s really the woman who is controlling the entire scene.
This interplay is just great.
Hey! Do you all know what goes great with a nice James Bond classic movie? Aside from beer or wine?
That’s right.
Cheese, crackers, bread and cold cuts. My father used to make up a platter of these kinds of cheeses, sardines, olives, pickles, and crackers when he would watch a movie. It sort of looked a little bit like this…
Cold cut spread.
I suppose everyone is different. I hear that the preferred snack food in the States these days are Doritos, or Lays potato chips. I can understand why, but you all know that you need to have a decent dip with them to fully appreciate and savor the enjoyment of the food.
Now, when I was growing up, one thing that my father liked to do was eat Limburger cheese sandwiches with a big thick slice of tomato. Yeah, I guess it’s sort of a generational thing don’t you know. He also liked liverwurst. I ended up getting a taste for it myself, but only on sandwiches.
Liverwurst sandwich.
Anyways, Christmas is a time of many things. For me I really enjoy the movies, the food, the friends and the general atmosphere. It’s a chance to eat well, and to eat things that you enjoy. You know, most of the time people don’t give pickles a second thought, but at Christmas time, well that’s when all the dill pickles, the baby gherkins, and the Grandma’s butter chip pickles come out. Yum!
This next picture show some lousy bread, but some pickles and good selection of cheese. Personally I think that the ingredients are enough for one or two sandwiches max. Kinda skimpy if you ask me. But it looks good. Oh, yeah. Don’t forget the horseradish, the wasabi, the kielbasa, and the various kinds of relishes that can be bought and found everywhere.
Sometimes you don’t always have the right ingredients on hand, so you make do.
i think that it’s really a great thing to do, don’t you know, to sit down with a glass of wine. Some fine cheeses, and watch an older movie. I really enjoy the older movies. they are not so adrenaline-rush run-run-run action packed CGI affairs. It’s full of personal interactions, gestures, and movements. It’s more intellectually stimulating.
And more so with wine, cheese, and olives.
Did I ever mention that olives go great with wine? I really think so. A fine green or black olive dip is just wonderful. You heat up some olive oil with some thin cut up olives and mushrooms. A little Italian spices, and then spread the olives and mushrooms on the french bread. Oh so tasty.
The you sit down and watch the interesting interplay on the movie.
I do love that phone. It was state of the art back then. See the nice rattan chairs on the balcony on the porch, and the Chinese themed dangling red ornamental lantern. Curious eh? I most especially love the shadow of the phone cord on her soft chest. Sexy but not overt.
Of course, I am an old man, and this lass was my mothers age. So I’m looking back in time. When this movie was made, we had Robert Kennedy in office, and he was talking about getting out of Vietnam and shutting down the military-industrial complex. As it was getting too powerful.
Well, we do know what happened to him, don’t we?
Here’s some lox and bagels. You see the salmon to the left, and a fine cream cheese spread. You put the cream cheese on the bagel. Then lox, then lemon, then tomatoes and onions. Don’t forget the olives. (I note some sliced hard boiled eggs. What an interesting turn of events!) The wine is not shown, but no matter. Maybe a fine glass of orange juice is near by.
A good movie serves as a perfect excuse to eat.
And speaking about Christmas, James Bond, food and movies… I will bet you all that the most festive places to spend Christmas at must be in a pub or a brasserie. I remember one Christmas (When I say Christmas, I actually mean the entire month of December, and into January.) I went to an Irish Pub. Wow! So very festive. Drinking pints. Singing songs. Eating bangers and mash.
Bangers and mash served with a good stout. Yum!
I think that there is something really magical and special about the pub environment. It’s something that never was present in the Untied States. Pretty soon, America will probably ban bars completely. You know follow in the footsteps of NZ in banning everything. You know. “For the children”. Sigh.
I can only imagine what it must be like in Scotland, Ireland or in the UK today. Chilly and damp, but warm inside the pubs. I tell youse guys that you are so fortunate to be where you are. Don’t take what you have for granted. It’s special.
Here’s the interior of a typical British pub. People are hanging out. Talking, chatting. Drinking beer. Not too much in the way of electronic media, eh? Nope. Just companionship, friendship and acceptance. I really love that.
British pub.
I hear that some pubs really get festive and decorate everything up. I have no first hand knowledge about that. What I do know is what I have seen on the internet, and some places do more than just put up a tree. They make it special.
Christmas themed pub.
There are pubs in Hong Kong, and some are very nice. I can imagine that there would be pubs all over the former British territories. I haven’t gone to the pubs in Hong Kong in years, even though I can see Hong Kong from my living room. It’s the Coronavirus thing don’t you know.
British pub in Hong Kong.
Now in Australia, they have these things called a brasserie. They are not found in the USA because one reason or the other. It’s hard to tell why. I happen to like them.
In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word brasserie is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brewing business". A brasserie can be expected to have professional service, printed menus, and, traditionally, white linen—unlike a bistro whichmayhave none of these. Typically, a brasserie is open Wednesday to Sunday andservesthe same menu all day. A good example of a brasserie dish is steak frites.
-Wikipedia
The last time that I was in Sydney, Australia it was near Christmas time, and I truly enjoyed the Brasserie’s there. Again, like a pub, it was cheery and festive and warm. It was a very comfortable atmosphere to hang out in and enjoy the time with friends or family.
Sydney Australia, Brasserie.
Anyways, one of the things about Christmas is that you can socialize and spend time at home too relaxing. Good food. Being around those that you care about. Talking. Chatting. Exploring. Listening. Man, I need to do more listening, I’ll tell you what.
And watching good movies that relaxes and stimulates. Like 007 James Bond.
James on the beach being warned by the locals of hidden dangers and adventure.
In Dr. No, James Bond travels to the Caribbean. Being well attired, he meets interesting and colorful people. He embarks on a mission to save the world from evil and their evil influences. All the time enjoying the company of the attractive lasses whom he meets along the way.
Typically, as I would watch this kind of movie, I would set a platter or a plate of food nearby to smunch and nibble with. During Christmas, I’m trying to assign special foods like French breads, chocolate, and peanut-butter. Not to mention the aromas wafting from the kitchen of fresh bead in the bread making machine (fun fact, I helped design bread makers for Sunbeam-Oster) and simmering sauces on the stove with garlic, onions, spices and peppers.
Here’s a lox and bagel platter.
Salmon snack tray.
Or course, my household always has alcohol.
You know, I never drank as much as I do now prior to my “retirement”. After I was retired, I pretty much said “Fuck this”. And stopped worrying about what other people thought. If I wanted to smoke, I smoked. If I wanted to drink, I’d drink. If i wanted to to spend some time in a bedroom with a new friend, I would. You know, the USA has so many restrictions on you, that you have to tear them off and say STOP!
Live life on your terms.
Like James Bond.
Jame Bond talking with his bosses secretary. I do love the tea set on the filing cabinet.
Most men like to imagine ourselves like James Bond. Wearing a tux. Going to interesting places. Eating good food, and drinking. Being the master of our world. Cavorting with pretty women, and making new friends every night.
Alas, most of us is something else. We are actually more like Bruce Willis in “Die Hard”. That movie resonated to me on all sorts of areas and for all sorts of reasons. Of course, one is simply because of my MAJestic role. But another is because I am really just a normal guy; a regular man.
That’s John McClane. (Bruce Willis).
Die Hard
It’s neither good or bad. It’s just that being Bruce Willis in “Die Hard” is far more painful than being James Bond in “Dr No”. It’s something that us men can relate to. It’s about life, and being thrown into situations that aren’t really what you ever intended to happen.
Which is why movies are great. All movies, if they are well done, can become something that you not only enjoy, but something that you can relate to on some level.
The beginning of the super-successful franchise, this remains one of the most satisfying Bond films. Connery, with only a hint of irony, is the suave secret agent, introduced at a gaming table while lighting an expensive fag, enjoying an expense account Caribbean holiday that must have seemed like unparalleled hedonism to British audiences who’d only just got over rationing.
The license to kill gets several endorsements as Bond efficiently and brutally sees off dastardly baddies who are threatening world peace, and – in another fantastical touch – Britain holds the key to the balance of power.
Dr No, a German-Japanese genius with metal hands, is about as credible as Fu Manchu, but Joseph Wiseman mints all the Bond villain clichés, from the gorgeously-designed island lair (courtesy art director Ken Adam) with built-in nuclear power plant (and a then-famously-stolen portrait of the Duke of Wellington hung on the wall) through to purred threats and attempts to convince 007 to sell out and join his evil organization (‘I thought you had some style, Mr Bond, but I see you’re just a stupid policeman’). And, of course, there’s Ursula Andress as prototypical Bond girl Honey Ryder, emerging from the seas in a bikini with a knife strapped to her thigh, with her own reasons for wanting to see Dr No’s scheme for world conquest thwarted.
That twangy guitar theme and the gunsight-iris titles sequence are in place already. Series regulars Bernard Lee (M) and Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) make their debuts, but Peter Burton plays Q (to be replaced by Desmond Llewellyn) and Jack Lord is CIA agent Felix Leiter (to be replaced by a succession of stooges).
Here’s James Bond deep inside the secret lair…
I do love how the attractive woman gathers near to him. You know, I like her better in this dress than the bikini (with the knife strapped to her thigh). Notice that she has her top button unbuttoned. That’s not how you wear a qupao. But it is erotic.
What do you think of her hair?
In those days all the ladies wore their hair “bee hive” style. I think that she started the trend for flowing lions manes like Raquel Welch in “one million years BC.”
Jame Bond rides the elevator.
You know, as much as I love this movie, you have to admit that the women of the 1960’s were all stunners.
Here’s Raquel Welch. I personally think that she would have made a fine, fine Bond girl. Don’t you?
Raquel Welch
Well, the point here is that Christmas is a time of togetherness. And that means making friends, spending time with the friends and family that you do have, and that you spend the time eating, drinking and talking. Emoting and sharing.
Whether it is in a pub, or at home in a restaurant. It does not matter.
Now, I do have to admit that my little daughter is not so interested in these kinds of “grown up” movies. She is more apt to watch “Peppa Pig”, or some kid-oriented Christmas movie. So you have to take that into account.
Though, she really enjoys “Two Broke Girls”. Who figures?
But she also really likes to sit by me (MM) – her daddy, and taste what I am eating, and be next to me. As a two year old she has a short attention span, so it’s still a trial. But it’s a precious trial. it’s family. It’s togetherness. It’s special.
I believe that a good movie is best shared with friends, family, alcohol and lots of delicious food. Oh, and a cat or two as well.
Oh yes. Did I fail to mention that cats love snack trays as well.
What would your cats do to a snack tray with thin sliced meats, salmon, and sausages? Well, I can tell you that they would jup up, snag a tasty morsel and then scamper away with it. Especially the ham. My goodness!
James Bond eating with Dr. No, and enjoying a fine smoke. Not much on the table though. Fruit and wine.
I love that view of the underwater ocean behind Dr. No. Not only does he have a secret lair built inside a volcano, but it reaches deep down underground and has windows so that the staff can enjoy the ocean view. How thoughtful of him. You see, bad guys aren’t all that terrible!
Here’s another scene. I love the newspaper on the bed, and the rotary dial phone nearby. What’s with her wearing high heels to bed? Are those her house slippers? If so, where the fur lining? Oh, sometimes the 1960’s can be so very confusing to me, don’t you know.
I have always loved the simple white robe on a woman.
You know, eating all the foods while you watch these olde timey movies can put some weight on, and make your belly grow. You don’t want to look nine months pregnant with twins, do you?
The way to control this is to add some nice fruit. Pay the extra money and buy some fruits that you normally don’t buy. Like cherries, or duran, or grapes. Don’t let the cost dissuade you. Let Christmas be the time for “outrageous” purchases.
Notice the generous quantities of cheese and meats.
Of course, with James Bond, you will always have the guns and the violence. But in Dr. No it’s rather tame. Less than 50 people were killed, and the karate chops were all rather quick and simple. No matrix-style events, or Chinese flying warriors walking on tree tops here.
It’s all rather calm and relatable.
Hot gun action!
Nice grey suit. I do like the black tie with the grey suit. It fits him nicely. It’s a nice color combination, and the cut of the suit fits him. It’s well cut, nice thin material, it’s the tropics after all, and his hair is always in place. Must be the Brill-creme hair tonic.
Here’s another view. You know it must be sweltering on the beach, but James Bond is calm and composed. His nice jacket sways in the slight breeze, while the boat captain is sweating in his red tee shirt.
James Bond on the beach.
When you make up a food spread choose your foods carefully.
Don’t go for processed cheese spread. Use real cheese instead. Do not use cheap inexpensive margarine. Use real salted bread instead. Do not use cheap chocolate with fillers. Use real chocolate. Pay the extra money to make the holiday special.
And presentation is everything.
Ok, so you aren’t going to drink wine. You are going to drink coke instead. Well then, crush up the ice and fill a tall glass with crushed ice, then pour the coke into the hyper iced glass. Presentation is everything. Wine uses wine glasses. Whiskey uses thick glass base tumblers, and beer, well… an iced mug is precious.
We should all appreciate cheese.
And when you are enjoying the movie, taking the savory bites, and chatting with friends and loved ones observe. Observe what they are doing, and saying and what is going on in the movie. All sorts of little details will “pop out” at you if you just are mindful…
Evil villain in anti-radiation attire.
And enjoy yourself.
Smile, say only good things. Listen to what others want and GIVE IT TO THEM. No need to argue. SO what? Make their day special. It’s a good feeling. And if someone wants to sing Christmas carols, then sing along. Get the dog a barking, and the cats following with you all as your all parade around the house to “Frosty the Snowman”.
Live life.
Food done right. Live life on your terms.
Live life on your terms.
Live like James Bond.
James Bond.
And be your best.
Smile, be kind, be helpful and do what you can to make the season special for all those around you.
Christmas is not about buying gifts, but you know, if you have gifts to wrap up, go overboard. Like @old-wine has. My goodness!
Making Christmas special .
And if you are not so talented, like MM here, perhaps something simpler like a bunch of aluminum foil wrapped ham and cheese sandwiches that toast comfortably in the oven.
Have a great time with your loved ones.
Show your appreciation, and share a good 007 James Bond movie. You will enjoy it. I promise you.
Ham and cheese sliders.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Movie Index here…
It’s a never ending onslaught of war preparation, war provocation, and war stockpiling being generated out of the United States. There is ZERO talk about deescalation. I tire of all of this. It seems like the United States is driving the world to war and they aren’t stopping for shit.
A top US general gave a stark warning about the risk of deteriorating ties with the two giant states.
Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General John E. Hyten told a think-tank meeting that conflict could easily spiral out of control.
“We never fought the Soviet Union,” he said. “As for the great powers, our goal is to never go to war with China and Russia.”
According to Hyten, such an event would “destroy the world and the global economy. It will be bad for everyone, and we have to ensure that we do not go down that path.”
And so everyone is asking these questions.
Why is the United States so fucking hell-bent on creating a major war? And, why isn’t Russia and China responding directly to America’s hybrid wars, clandestine wars, and military provocations?
Observing the mounting provocations by Washington and its NATO puppet, many people in Russia (and abroad) think that Putin's response to the West has been weak, misguided and inordinately accommodationist, a form—in their eyes—of appeasement.
They argue—as does Paul Craig Roberts—that Washington needs to be confronted far more clearly and decisively, with force if necessary, the way one confronts a depraved bully with a long list of crimes to its name.
I have a great deal of sympathy for this point of view, as do many people who don't like seeing an arch-criminal get away with his ever-expanding reign of terror and intimidation.
But, folks, this is a soup with some flies in it, and we need to pay more attention.
While in a non-nuclear world that kind of thinking—giving a bully what he deserves— makes perfect sense, in a nuclearised world the cost/advantage calculus is far more complicated and the right response almost impossible to pin down.
For it is certain that, at this point, an all-out nuclear war between the great powers, a war, mind you, precipitated by the United States and its vassals, besides its unprecedented horrors, is a war guaranteed to have no winners.
This is not the kind of decision that any rational leader would like to make.
So what is Putin or Xi to do?
They face a ruling class that appears to be either technically insane or terminally cynical. Inhabiting a huge bubble of hypocrisy of their own making, drenched in the supremacist myths of US exceptionalism, US elites flail about the world impervious to reality or morality, while wiping their plutocratic asses in the UN charter governing the civilised behaviour of all nations.
Under such circumstances, hubris may blind them to the great risks inherent in their constant warmongering.
But are they really blind and indifferent to the horrific costs, or—as Kissinger and Nixon once supposedly admitted—this is just a bluff to keep the enemy off balance?
Clearly, the Russians and the Chinese, led by rational and competent people, don't want to be forced to find out.
A war between the great nuclear powers is a war with no winners in which the totality of the human race stands to be wiped out.
They know war up, close, and personal in a way that is simply alien to most Americans, and seemingly forgotten by the idiotised vassal nations in what passes for a free Europe.
Well, Russia and China haven't forgotten.
The Soviet Union lost more than 27 million people in WW2, and thousands of towns and cities, plus almost 70% of its hard-won infrastructure and industrial base in her struggle to overcome the Nazi assault.
China chalked up almost 30 million lives in casualties, an enormous figure even in a nation of over one billion inhabitants.
In their eyes, it probably makes sense not to provoke the bully into a fight.
Plus, there are powerful historical reasons for avoiding a shooting war as long as possible. As demonstrated by the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact, avoiding war while growing stronger with each passing day is not a bad strategy when confronting a monstrous war machine led by deluded and unstable people.
The USSR, despite its many problems, was a much stronger and more resilient nation in 1941 than in 1939. Those two years allowed her to safeguard and reposition the assets she needed to survive the Nazi attack, and she did. (See for ex. OPERATION BARBAROSSA: MYTHS AND REALITY).
The same can be said for the truly vertiginous development of Russia's modern military in slightly over a decade: the Russia of 2008 (when it had to subdue a NATO-prodded Georgia into some stupid adventurism) and that of today can't be compared from a military standpoint.
Military-naval analyst Andrei Martyanov agrees: "Russia and her Armed Forces of 2021 and of 2008 are separated not just by 13 years, but by two generations of weapon systems and C4ISR."
Let that sink in for a minute.
In sheer speed and effectiveness, Russia's capacity for strategic development is second to none in the world, and is not to be matched or surpassed by the Pentagon in the foreseeable future, no matter how many trillions it wastes on such pursuit.
It's actually a systemic and cultural question not subject to a quick resolution. Ditto with China. Could that be the reason why Putin can afford to look "weak" and calm and non-confrontational toward Washington, despite a non-stop cascade of provocations and vituperations?
Keep these things in mind as you read Paul Craig Roberts' persuasive indictment of the Kremlin posture. —PG
Paul Craig Robert thoughts on this matter…
I can't see Putin trusting any US agreement.
When Russi/Putin acts, it is sudden, swift, and WITHOUT WARNING
So why the PR, the meetings with Biden, Lavrov's diplomatic whirlwind??
Methinks it is to get domestic opinion firmly on his side, a rooted we-back-you-at-any-cost kind of grim determination. Polls show he is half way there. What's the magic #?? 66%?? I would think it in that range.
If this is the case, we have a grim scenario awaiting us in February.
-Les7
While US Whore Media and Whore “scientists” dependent on Fauci-controlled NIH and Big Pharma grants whip up fear over a relatively harmless “Omicron variant,” a real dangerous situation that I have anticipated for seven years is raising its deadly head.
The arrogant fools in Washington lost in their own hubris have been practicing nuclear attacks on Russia within 20 kilometers of Russia’s borders.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Washington’s operationGlobal Thunder rehearsed launching nuclear weapons against Russia from both western and eastern directions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Washington was not taking seriously Moscow’s warning not to cross Russia’s red lines.
Putin is correct.But it is the Kremlin’s fault.
The only decisive action the Kremlin has taken in response to intense provocations from Washington and NATO was the Kremlin’s decision to accept the overwhelming vote of the people in Crimea to be reincorporated into Russia where the territory had resided for 300 years. The Kremlin’s alternative was to lose Russia’s Black Sea navy base.
In a strategic blunder of the first magnitude, the Kremlin refused the same plea from the Russian people in theDonetsk and Luhansk republics, territories that also had been part of Russia for centuries.By refusing to honor the vote of the Donbass Russians to again be a part of Russia, the Kremlin subjected them to war and destruction by the Ukrainian army and various neo-nazi Ukrainian militias.If the Kremlin had accepted the vote of the Donbass Russians to be returned to Russia, the conflict would have ended as Ukraine would not destroy itself by attacking Russian territory. Without the ongoing conflict, Washington would have been unable to continue its machinations against Russia in Ukraine.
In an effort to salvage the situation, the Kremlin put together the “Minsk Agreement,” which Western powers were to support, but didn’t.Thus, the conflict has continued to smolder since 2014, providing Washington with 7 years to use anti-Russian propaganda to define the narrative.
The Kremlin’s passivity and attempt to rely on agreements with the US and NATO to resolve a Ukrainian situation that Washington most certainly does not want resolved has convinced Washington and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg that there is no fight in Russia, thus producing the situation that I have feared:Washington has concluded that Russia’s red lines are merely rhetoric.
Many other Kremlin failures have contributed to this dangerous outcome.The Kremlin still permits Israel to attack Syrian territory when one telephone call from Putin is sufficient to halt the attacks.The Kremlin still permits the occupation of a small part of Syria by US troops and CIA Arab mercenaries hostile to the Syrian state.The Kremlin receives massive insults to the Russian president and still refers to those insulting Russia as “our Western partners.”
These are not responses that create the impression that there is any force behind the Kremlin’s red line.
The Kremlin has also failed miserably in anticipating Washington’s moves, indicating an incompetent intelligence service or a willing disbelief in the Kremlin of Russian intelligence reports.Despite its obviousness, the Kremlin failed to anticipate the invasion of South Ossetia in 2008 by a US and Israeli-trained and equipped Georgian army.Putin was at the summer Olympics in Beijing.The Kremlin failed to anticipate Washington’s obvious overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine and the replacement of a Russia-friendly regime with a neo-nazi regime. Putin was at the Sochi Olympics.
Washington simply will not take seriously a government incapable of paying attention to what is happening to its interests in its own backyard.
One might think that the Kremlin would learn by experience, but apparently not. With reports that half of the Ukrainian army is in the Donbass region threatening the Russian inhabitants, US Secretary of State Blinken threatens Russia with “serious consequences” if Russia protects the Donbass Russians.
Imagine, a cipher like Blinken, a person of no ability or accomplishments, a representative of a second-rate military power that discriminates against its own white troops, issuing threats to the world’s dominant military force.
This is hubris run amuck, hubris encouraged by years of Kremlin low-key response to major provocations.
As I have warned, the low-key Russian response, despite its good intention, encourages more provocations, and sooner or later Washington will go too far and cross a red line that will force a Russian military response.My fear of nuclear war is the reason for my warning that Russia needs to put a strong foot down in order to stop the progression of provocations that can only end in war.
Why has the Kremlin been so meek in response to insults and provocations?I have no inside information.The speculations are that (1) the Kremlin wants the Donbass Russians to remain in Ukraine in order to water down the influence of anti-Russian attitudes in Western Ukraine;(2) the Kremlin did not want to confirm Washington’s propaganda that Russia was rebuilding the Soviet Empire by reabsorbing the Donbass Russians in addition to Crimea;(3) westernized Russian intellectuals have more confidence in the West than in their government;(4) the Atlanticist Integrationists desire to be part of the West than to be allied with China;(5) the Kremlin thinks that by continuing to be low-key and open to cooperation with the West all difficulties will be resolved;(6) Russia knows the horrors of war and wants to avoid war at all costs;(7) Russian billionaire oligarchs want the West as a haven for their stolen wealth.
All of these are sound reasons as far as they go.
The problem is that all of these reasons ignore that Russia is Washington’s enemy of choice.Russia is the enemy that justifies the $1,000 billion annual budget of the US military/security complex.Russia is the enemy that strengthens Washington’s hold on NATO and Washington’s European empire. Russia is the enemy that keeps the Washington-abused American population loyal to the government that is destroying American liberty.Russia is the enemy that can be blamed, along with China, for every failure of Washington.How can the Kremlin forget that the hostility of the American Elite to Russia is so overwhelming that President Trump was confronted with a CIA/FBI/Justice Department orchestrated “Russiagate” for simply stating that he intended to restore normal relations with Russia?
Normal relations with Russia are impermissible to the extent that a President of the United States was removed from office in a stolen election after trumped-up “Russiagate” and “Impeachgate” attempts failed.To complete the lesson to all future presidents that normal relations with Russia are impermissible, Trump supporters are being prosecuted for attending a rally in support of Trump, a rally now known as “the Trump Insurrection.”Six hundred innocent people are held in prison in violation of habeas corpus and First Amendment rights.Not even the US Constitution can protect them.
And this is a government that the Kremlin thinks it can reach an accommodation with!
God help the Russians and all of us as Washington’s provocations continue their march to war.
In a visit to Beijing in March, Moscow’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that “the US has declared its mission is to limit the technological development opportunities of both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China.”
Putin claimed that ties between Moscow and Beijing “have reached the highest level in history,” while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisted both countries “have always been the pillars of peace and stability in the world.” According to him, “the more unstable and turbulent the world is, the more decisive cooperation between China and Russia will become.”
Why Russia didn’t shoot anything down yet?
If Russia shot down a NATO bomber or ship flying or sailing where it shouldn’t be (or even a US one), who would dare respond in kind?
It begs the next question: Why Russia didn’t shoot anything down yet?
Things need to be put in perspective. So here is a third question: Why is the West and the US in particular, so dead set on confronting Russia and China at every corner, short of direct military attack?
It is not because they want to cut Russian gas to Europe (it would terminally break the EU economy and destroy its ability to store increasing dollar reserves), or repatriate jobs from China (systemically incompatible with dollar hegemony) , or even prevent the implementation of the BRI per se (because the matter of fact is that potentially it could become a huge new, and very much needed pit for excess dollars to find their home; if only it were done the “right” way).
When Kissinger invited China into the western world economy, it was understood that it would eternally accumulate dollar trade surpluses, and over time, become another EU or Japan.
In the case of the EU, the US had NATO, and for Japan they had their military bases to make sure these two would dutifully stockpile every dollar that comes their way. But nothing of the sort existed for China.
To make a story short; in the early nineties they took over the largest stash of natural resources that is Russia. With that in hand they thought they now held China on a tight leash.
Late nineties the Asian economic crisis hit; Beijing was livid. 2000 Putin takes over Russia’s natural resources, unleashing China.
The later enters a global buying spree of natural resources through its huge accumulated dollar reserves. Commodities’ prices shoot up, interest rates follow suit and triggers the subprime implosion and all its aftermath.
For all practical purpose, intentional or not, this was an unofficial war declaration. No doubt every central banker on the planet worth his salt understood a new player entered town. It meant business, and was to be reckoned with. US responds with an “epidemic” of color revolution everywhere China was laying the ground work for what was to become the BRI, and dramatically increases the pressure on Russia to force it back into the US$ fold.
Neither China nor Russia blinked. Instead the former announced to the world the official launch of BRI, and the latter openly challenged US military supremacy in Syria, and soon after started in earnest the distribution of S400s (almost as good as the atomic bomb, in diplomatic terms) to the world.
For those holding reservations about the above interpretation of events, please consider: the price of gold went from under 300 US$/ounce in the late 90’s to 1900 US$ by the end of the first decade, bear in mind that this in a market hated by all. To this day less than 1% of global private wealth is held in gold.
In 5000 years of history never did this ratio fall below 5%, even under the most exuberant times. Who was buying? While the western bullion banks acted as “sellers of last resort” with unlimited fictitious supplies on the Futures market to keep the price under cap, so did Beijing act as “buyer of last resort” on the spot market with unlimited dollar supplies from their trade surpluses, thus uncapping the price. The relevance of this is apparent when juxtaposed to the BRI project.
It is estimated tens of thousands tons of gold were disappeared in China; that enters the border but never show up; neither in retails nor official reserves records, but instead just somehow vanish in thin air. At the minimum it shows they’re preparing for a post dollar economy. Then again the BRI makes no secret that it intends to make use of local currencies worldwide.
There are two ways only to have any currency accepted. Either it is backed by the most powerful military, or alternatively it is referenced to gold. Anything else (eg. Petrodollar, Eurodollar…) is military backing under the guise of… and the BRI has also admitted its preferred option for trade account settlements.
Such monetary arrangement (no matter the exact actual architecture) would in short order annihilate any form of western prevalence and privilege on the global scene.
In itself it would just be an ego bruise, but when added to the staggering debt levels, it translates to guaranteed decades of servitude. That my friends is the crux of the matter, the unfathomable horror the west is facing. It is what keeps their elite awake at night, while the population imperfectly senses a looming day of reckoning whether under the traits of a yellow slit eyed giant dragon, a monstrous growling bear, a flood of melted ice, or an amorphous unforgiving pestilence, when instead they should really fear Shylock’s lurking specter and past due pounds of flesh.
Now that the real motive for the Big Boys’ quarrels has been defined, how would a war with Russia or China, even if only through a proxy (Ukraine or whatever) fit in this equation.
First of all the West or the US today is not comparable to say Napoleon’s France or Hitler’s Germany which “benefited” from industrial and military supremacy. It is those specific advantages that allowed them the privilege to make fools of themselves.
Without them, neither Napoleon nor Hitler would have ever thought of heading East. And I might add, nor would have the US embarked on the last 50 years of hegemonic delusions.
Today the latter has lost both trump cards, and with them, one might presume, the luxury to fantasize a swift military solution.
This leaves us with only a proxy war scenario. If realized, that option can only yield very short lived dividends that could never alter the natural course of the empire’s demise.
After all once the Ukrainian army is spent, that card is gone. In fact the Ukraine holds value as long as the status quo last, once the situation is resolved (which ever way that may be) it looses any bargaining stock.
The same holds true for the JCPOA, Syria, North Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and so many others. And what bargaining may I be referring to? Well hold on tight: the West pushes for terms of a new partitioning of the world, while Russia and China expect its terms of surrender.
Sure, until say around 2018, all these pressure points were meant to force China and Russia reconsider the dollar’s role in the BRI and related projects. But then in March of that faithful year (if I remember well) Putin casually announced a panoply of hyper-sonic toys. If the subprime event was a “Wazari”, March 2018 was the “Ipon Seonage”, or basically a “checkmate”.
No doubt every general worth his salt must have raised an eyebrow or two, and every central banker realized the dollar was now naked, with neither gold nor the most powerful military on the planet to enforce it.
All the while Putin was giving his speech, the list of nations that were rejoining the BRI since its official launch and their commitment, were about to dramatically increase.
The practical effect was a gradual and ongoing abandonment of dollars in cross border regional settlement of trades, particularly in South-East Asia were the doomed currency is now considered almost a dirty word among regional players.
Consequently local currencies reserves are displacing US$, which are increasingly being spent on the acquisition of raw materials on the international market for infrastructure projects.
If it sounds like “déjà vu” it’s because it is.
The resulting inflationary pressure on the commodities’ market would again spill over to the interest rate market, triggering the September 2919 REPO event. Because of its brevity, I suppose, few realize how defining that moment was to what came next.
First the Fed met the burst from 0% to 10% on the overnight REPO rate with a 700+ billion US$ barrage within a matter of days to literally drown those darn, messy, uncooperative interest rates. Ever since that market requires a monthly 120 billion allowance just so banks may trust each other and perpetuate the myth of solvency. As the global economy stopped accumulating, or even off-loaded dollar reserves, the greenback’s velocity increased and soon will feel like hot potatoes. A rarely mentioned consequence of this phenomenon (at least I never came across it anywhere), is the severe restriction it imposes on newly printed dollar deployment outside US financial markets, lest it turns the already established price inflation into hyperinflation. Thus it renders the dollar useless as a tool for influencing foreign actors. Those loose dollars must be neutralized. A few months later COVID strikes in China.
Was it just one more sorry attempt to oblige China to reverse its “dollar policy” or whatever favorite narrative one may subscribe, isn’t as relevant as Beijing’s response was remarkable.
There were several instances in the last 20 years when China had to suffer some suspicious biological outbreaks, yet none of the measures taken ever even registered in import/export figures, GDP, or in any other major economic indicator.
Now suddenly under the pretext of one insipid flu-like germ, precisely when the West is shown at its most fragile financially, they decide to entirely shut down one major world industrial production hub.
Again, regardless of one’s view on that epidemic, there’s not a point in the entire space/time continuum where Xi and his team didn’t foresee the consequences of such measures, both on their economy and those of the West respectively.
The West was totally taken off-guard; no point in calling China, the damage was already done, trillions would be needed to absorb the shock, and thus they took the path of least resistance.
They doubled down on the COVID song, proactively shut down their economies to force unanimous political support for direct monetary support of the economy and markets. That the pandemic narrative also served as convenient cover for population movement control, was an extra bonus in an environment ripe for social unrest.
A few months later China unlocks and its economic indicators quickly resume to pre-pandemic levels, all while the US and Europe were still mired in frozen economies.
This showed the world economy did not depend any longer on Western lead. In fact the world can now perfectly do without the West all together.
Now it may still be early to assess with any certainty how the game is being played at this very moment, but based on the evidence over the last 2 to 3 years, here is a proposition which hopefully might offer an answer to our starting questions.
The earlier Putin “checkmate” referred specifically to global dollar dominance. Preserving regional dominion for a little while longer however seems still possible, at least in the minds of the western elites.
However such a region must be isolated from areas that do not submit to the dollar “order” (or whatever new cryptocurrency denomination they may come up with to implement their reset), since direct competition would instantly reveal the currency fraud that it is.
Hence the necessary world partition. In this new context, those pressure points whose main purpose was originally directed against China and Russia, can easily be repurposed to mainly close the ranks in the “salvageable” portion of the world.
That explains nicely the increased hysteria surrounding those sour points; not as means to strike fear in the hearts of Russians and Chinese (which is a ridiculous proposition when considering the ground facts), but to dig it as deeply as possible into their vassals’ hearts instead, with what military and economic might they still muster.
Then in order to preserve their currency’s “credibility”, at least within the remaining sphere of dominion, they need a replacement for the loss of those Central “dollar sinkhole” Banks and respective economies that are escaping to the multi-polar world.
So they “repurposed” (or just upgraded, I’m not sure which) a favorite of theirs: Global Warming, from an obstacle to the BRI momentum, to a black hole for infinite currency issuance.
The basic idea, apart from its green energy infrastructure component which at least is comprehensible to the mind, is to, through the carbon credit market, “financialize” various ecosystems’ contribution to decarbonization. Shares would be available for “investments”.
It’s not clear who or how the book value of these shares would be calculated, but one can be excused for assuming that value will prove as flexible as a COVID infection count.
I suppose the underlying logic goes something like this: ecosystems remove CO2 from the atmosphere, which saves our lives.
Since we can all agree that our lives are infinitely precious, no amount of investments can possibly realize the full valuation of those shares. Et voilàààà, the inflationary dilemma once and for all, forever and ever, eternally and for perpetuity finally solved!
Is it delusional? Of course it is. But as some real wise man said: People rarely think what they must, instead they tend to think what they need to think, when they need to think it.
Obviously the “Grand absurdity” in which their “Great Reset” is being implemented is the sure sign of their impending capitulation. Hence Russia and China patiently awaiting their acceptable terms, which probably means unconditional rendition.
The piper will be paid.
It doesn’t mean they want to destroy, humiliate, or otherwise submit to the West. It’s about facing responsibilities, and within this frame, figure out a convenient, or win-win agreement.
In such an environment a war makes little sense because there is no military threat against western leadership, only military containment.
In typical “Go” fashion, US and NATO bases that were previously seen as power projections enveloping the world, can increasingly be viewed as the boundaries of a shrinking space.
Funny thing is, Russia and China did try really hard to avoid this sorry state; the downright self-inflicted humiliation the West is facing.
Ever since the 1997 Asian crisis, Beijing tried real hard to convince the US to a strategy to solve the Dollar’s paradox in world trades.
During the first decade of the century as preparation for the BRI, they started heavily investing in global natural resources extraction.
Aside from the obvious practical reasons (BRI would require humongous amounts of resources), there was also a financial/monetary aspect.
The commodities sector was suffering from decades of under investments due to price suppression schemes by the usual suspects, in line with the gold price policies.
The idea then was to increase production so that the manipulative Future’s shorts could be gradually unloaded without triggering the typical inflationary bomb and the ensuing interest rate response, and thus freeing the Western banks from exposure at no loss.
At which point international dollar reserves could gradually be unloaded unto an increasing supply of commodities to the BRI, with also minimal (or at least manageable) inflationary disturbance.
Of course it implied a parallel incremental retirement of international dollars to a level commensurate to the US’ economy true size, probably through a series of devaluations against mainly gold. That was China’s plan. Not a bad empire retirement plan when considering where the West stands now.
Just as funny, had the US been agreeable to China’s and Russia’s proposal, better yet had they taken the lead after the USSR collapsed, to “resize” the dollar, neither of the Bear nor the Dragon would have developed their armed forces, instead dedicating their resources strictly to the economy.
The US could have retained Military supremacy and acted as a true policing force of the world, with all the benefits and honors attached to this function, and the eternal gratitude and support of all.
What a monumental waste those last thirty years indeed.
Okay, maybe all wouldn’t have been as rosy, so let’s just say it could have been a great opportunity for a beautiful dream…
MM answers
And kids, this is how World Wars gets started....However, my fear is that the US and Israel will double down and not go quietly. Instead of upsetting the table and waking away when losing; they will flip the table over and rip open their shirt to reveal a suicide vest....-A.L.
There are two possible reasons why the United States is acting like such a dick-head bully and Asia is failing to engage…
[1] America is dying. Let it die. When a person is dying, you allow him to go through the death thrall and stay out of the fray. America will be dead soon enough. There’s no rush to do anything. Russia and China know this and see this. They are watching in real time. Obviously they are guarded and concerned, but their projections obviously show a complete national collapse within the decades, if not much sooner.
[2] Asia is ready to put an end to it all. The death thralls of the empire is getting dangerous. But neither Russia or China will allow these matters to destroy them. If things become unmanageable, they will take the first steps, on their timetable in accordance with their rules. Both Russia and China are ready to take down the Untied States is such a way that the USA will not be able to launch a retaliatory strike. The complexity of such a mission is enormous, and so they are spending the time to make sure that retaliation would be impossible.
To a lesser extent are some other explanations. But I (personally) do not believe that they are valid.
[3] Wishful thinking. Both Russia and China independently believe that the ruling leadership of America will come to their senses and stop all this war-mongering nonsense. Just one or two more elections and it will all be over and change.
[4] Incompetence in Russian and Chinese leadership. Both the Russians and the Chinese are not competent, and have determined that the best actions are ones in which America is permitted to define the rules of engagement and the behaviors during conflict.
What is obvious is that both Russia and China have the ability, the technology and the capability to hurt the United States substantially. But they are not making any overt mores in this regard. The reasoning behind this is many, but I really see the options as I described coming to the forefront.
We will find out soon enough.
And so … the very next day after I wrote those comments…
Ukraine – Russia Makes Serious Demands, Warns Of ‘Confrontation’
Following unfounded U.S. claims of an imminent Russian invasion of the Ukraine U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin have held a virtual summit. Little has been released about its real content but the Russian follow up shows that the issues they talked about were deadly serious.
On December 10 the Russian Foreign Ministry published a statement that not only sounds like an ultimatum but seems to be meant as one:
We note US President Joseph Biden’s readiness expressed at the December 7, 2021 talks with President Vladimir Putin to establish a serious dialogue on issues related to ensuring the security of the Russian Federation. Such a dialogue is urgently needed today when the relations between Russia and the collective West continue to decay and have approached a critical line. At the same time, numerous loose interpretations of our position have emerged in recent days. In this connection we feel it is necessary to once again clarify the following.
Escalating a confrontation with our country is absolutely unacceptable. As a pretext, the West is using the situation in Ukraine, where it embarked on encouraging Russophobia and justifying the actions of the Kiev regime to undermine the Minsk agreements and prepare for a military scenario in Donbass.
Instead of reigning in their Ukrainian protégés, NATO countries are pushing Kiev towards aggressive steps. There can be no alternative interpretation of the increasing number of unplanned exercises by the United States and its allies in the Black Sea. NATO members’ aircraft, including strategic bombers, regularly make provocative flights and dangerous manoeuvres in close proximity to Russia’s borders. The militarisation of Ukraine’s territory and pumping it with weapons are ongoing.
The course has been chosen of drawing Ukraine into NATO, which is fraught with the deployment of strike missile systems there with a minimal flight time to Central Russia, and other destabilising weapons. Such irresponsible behaviour creates grave military risks for all parties involved, up to and including a large-scale conflict in Europe.
All the NATO action mentioned above directly endangers Russia’s security. It has to cease. Some of the steps taken must be reversed and Russia will have to be given guarantees that certain measures will not be taken. The statement includes this list of demands:
No more NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders. Retraction of the 2008 NATO invitation to Ukraine and Georgia.
Legally binding guarantee that no strike systems which could target Moscow will be deployed in countries next to Russia.
No NATO or equivalent (UK, U.S., Pl.) ‘exercises’ near Russian borders.
NATO ships, planes to keep certain distances from Russian borders.
Regular military-to-military talks.
No intermediate-range nukes in Europe.
That the above is not a “pretty please” wishlist has since been emphasized by several Russian authorities:
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday warned of confrontation should the United States and NATO fail to give Russia security guarantees concerning its eastern expansion, the RIA news agency reported.
President Vladimir Putin has demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons close to Russian territory; Washington has repeatedly said no country can veto Ukraine's NATO hopes.
We have openly pointed out that there are red lines which we will not allow anyone to cross, and we also have certain requirements, which have been formulated exceedingly clearly.
Russia can of course veto the Ukraine’s entry into NATO. It can destroy the Ukrainian military, take the regions of Ukraine where a majority speaks Russian and create a new sovereign state from them.
The remaining agricultural Banderastan would be left for Poland and Romania to feast on. This would give Russia the strategic depth it needs and it would limit the NATO friendly coastline in the Black Sea to the south western parts.
A Russian attack on the Ukraine is however what western weapon producers and their adjunct think tanks, ‘experts’ and political hawks, mainly in the U.S., deeply wish for. It would isolate Russia, increase the U.S. role in Europe, justify increasing military budgets and end the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and other Russian export routes.
In a phone call with Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson Putin repeated the demands and explained his reasoning:
Like other Western leaders, Boris Johnson expressed concern about Russia’s alleged large-scale troop movements near the Ukrainian border. In this regard, Vladimir Putin provided in-depth and principled assessments of the current situation in Ukraine.
Specific examples of Kiev's destructive course on derailing the Minsk agreements, which are the only viable path towards resolving the internal Ukraine crisis, were given. It was also pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities are purposefully aggravating the situation on the line of contact and are using heavy weapons and attack drones, which are prohibited by the Minsk Package of Measures in the conflict zone. Ukraine’s policy of discrimination against Russian-speaking people was pointed out as well.
It was emphasised that all this is happening amid the active military “exploration” of Ukraine’s territory by NATO, something that poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.
With this in mind, Vladimir Putin stated the need to immediately begin talks in order to develop clear international legal agreements that can preclude NATO’s further eastward advance and the deployment of weapons that pose a threat to Russia in neighbouring states, primarily Ukraine. Russia will present draft documents to this end.
The NATO countries which push for further moves against Russia, mostly the Baltic 3 and Poland, see all their dreams endangered. They will resist any move towards a fulfillment of Russia’s demands. They are however not the ones that count.
It is the U.S., Germany and France that Russia is counting on to get some senses. The upcoming winter, which is predicted to be somewhat harsh, is a good opportunity to apply a little pressure to Europe and to show that it is Russia, not the U.S., which provides Europe energy security. The new Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer understands that:
In an interview published on Tuesday in the German newspaper Die Welt, Nehammer, who was elected chancellor earlier this month, was asked if the Austrian government will continue to support Nord Stream 2. He replied, “Of course,” adding that he expects the pipeline to begin operating soon.
“I don’t consider it necessary to connect Nord Stream 2 with Russia’s behavior in Ukraine,” he went on, referencing a recent political standoff between Moscow and Kiev. “The EU can only hurt itself by doing so. Nord Stream 2 doesn’t only serve Russia’s interests – Germany, Austria, and other EU countries will profit from it. Nord Stream 2 is a European project, which shouldn’t be used as a tool to pressure Moscow.”
This winter Russia will use its market power to press for a fulfillment of its demands. Russia has stopped to provide natural gas to the European spot markets. It continues to deliver in full to customers who have long term contracts. This will squeeze Poland and a few others who depend on the spot market in times of peak demand. Russia hopes that those countries learn that their excessive hostility towards it can have serious consequences.
As Russia has no direct tool to squeeze the U.S. it will need a different strategy to push Biden to change course. The current main foreign policy concern in the U.S. is China. Russia is therefore coordinating its strategy with it:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss "aggressive" language from the U.S. and NATO during their virtual meeting later this week, according to the Kremlin.
"The situation in international affairs, especially on the European continent, is very, very tense right now and requires discussion between allies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to a Reuters report. "We see very, very aggressive rhetoric on the NATO and U.S. side, and this requires discussion between us and the Chinese."
Notice Peskov’s use of the word “allies”. This is, as far as I know, new. There is no formal treaty between Russia and China that makes them ‘allies’ so the use of the word is highly significant.
This is a concern for an Asia pundit who fears that any Russian move on Ukraine would be accompanied by a Chinese move on Taiwan. To prevent that she urges the U.S. to end the endless confrontation with Russia and to concentrate on the far east.
We can only hope that Biden understands such reasoning, finally shuts up the Russia hawks and ends the conflict with Moscow.
Otherwise we will all be in for some interesting times.
Yes. The USA is marching straight towards war!
And it’s going to be horrific. Imagine DEMANDING Russia do this, and DEMANDING China do that. These demands will be met with extreme force. And I do mean EXTREME.
All of this reminds me of the scenes from the UK movie about the build-up to Nuclear war called “Threads”.
It is the first time that others are dictating to the West rather than being instructed on how to conform to American red lines.
There was an almost audible sigh of relief echoing around western corridors. Though there were no breakthroughs in the Team Biden-Putin virtual meeting, the talks not surprisingly, were heavily focussed on the matter of immediate concern: Ukraine – amid widespread fears that the Ukrainian volcano might irrupt at any moment.
At the meeting: Agreed was the proposal to initiate ‘lower-level’ government-to-government discussion of Russia’s red lines and any halt to NATO expansion eastwards. Jake Sullivan, however, spilt a little cold water over that when he firmly emphasised that the U.S. had given no commitments on either issue. Biden (as advertised in advance), warned of strong economic and other measures should Russia intervene in Ukraine.
What was more notable however, was that the U.S. is ‘only’ threatening to sanction Russia, or to move more troops into the region, as opposed to posing explicit western and NATO militarily intervention in Ukraine. In earlier statements, Biden and other U.S. officials have been vague about what Washington’s response to a Russian invasion would be: warning repeatedly of ‘consequences’, even as it re-committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty.
So, should we all begin to breathe again? Actually, no. In fact, the immediacy of the Ukraine issue was always something of a red-herring: Russia has no desire to wade into the thick, cloying mud of a regional quagmire, however much some in the West would ‘love it’. And the Kiev forces are tired, bedraggled and demoralised from sitting in cold trenches along the Contact Line for months. They have little appetite to take on the Donbass militias (unless aided from the outside).
Nothing was resolved about what to do about the wider dark dystopia that is Ukraine – in all its various manifestations. President Putin raised the Minsk Accord, but nobody, it seems, was biting; the fishing line remained limp. Nor was anything agreed about what to do with the accumulating debris of what once was called U.S.-Russian ‘diplomatic relations’. The latter term (diplomatic relations) is now but a poor joke.
Celebration therefore, is not in order. The viscerally anti-Putin factions in U.S. and Kiev are furious: A U.S. Republican Senator, Roger Wicker has warned that in any stand-off over Ukraine, “I would not rule out military action. I think we start making a mistake when we take options off the table, so I would hope the president keeps that option on the table”. Asked what military action against Russia would comprise, Wicker said it could mean “that we stand off, with our ships in the Black Sea – and we rain destruction on Russian military capability”, adding that the U.S. also shouldn’t “rule out first-use nuclear action” against Russia.
So Ukraine festers on. If we are now to have a lull, then it is just that – ‘a lull’. The ‘hawks’ in U.S. and Europe have not raised the white flag: Ukraine is too good a weapon for their needs, to be tossed lightly aside.
This focus on the Ukraine crisis however, is to ‘see the trees, yet miss the wood’: We have three – not one – ticking landmines, ready to ignite. Three ‘fronts’: Each are distinct, yet closely inter-related, and are now threaded by unknown levels of strategic aims and synchronicity: Ukraine, Taiwan, and the faltering JCPOA Accord – which is now sparking untold angst in Tel Aviv.
The wood not seen for these three trees lies with the unresolved issue of European security architecture; Middle East security architecture; and indeed, of global security architecture. The existing rules-based order has passed its sell-by date: It provides neither security, nor does it reflect the reality of today’s Great Power balances. It has become a pathogen. Simply put, it is too fossilised in the post-WW2 lietkultur.
In a recent CNN interview, Fareed Zakaria, asked Jake Sullivan, Biden’s Security Adviser:
So what is it, after all your ‘tough talk’, that you have been able to agree with China; what has been negotiated? ‘
Wrong question’ was Sullivan’s sharp retort. “Wrong metric”, he said flatly: Don’t ask about bilateral agreements – ask about what else we have secured. The right way to think about this, he said, is:
“Have we set the terms of an effective competition where the U.S. is in a position to defend its values and advance its interests – not just in the Indo-Pacific, but around the world…”.
“We want to create the circumstance in which two major powers will operate in an international system for the foreseeable future – and we want the terms of that system to be favorable to American interests and values: It is rather, a favorable disposition in which the U.S. and its allies can shape the international rules of the road on the sorts of issues that are fundamentally going to matter to the people of our country [America] and to the people everywhere … “.
It is this maximalist lietkultur which is leading us to a point where these three explosive issues together risk a fundamental convulsion of the global order.
You have to go back a long way to find a moment when our world was as vulnerable to a sudden change in fortunes – what Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph terms, “The West’s nightmare: a war on three fronts”.
What is going on?
Well, it is certainly something very far-reaching.
And why the U.S. insistence on such an absolute stance for the global order – according to which other Great Powers get no right to set their own security red lines?
Well, it is because … the ‘four horsemen’ of the Great Transitions:
The Pandemic – leading into a global health regulatory system;
the Climate Emergency – leading to a global CO2 regime of credits and debits;
the tech and AI revolution – leading us into a global era of automation and ‘bots’ (and job losses); and fourthly,
the Transition from classical economics to that of global Modern Monetary Theory that requires a global re-set of the world’s mountain of debt that will never be repaid.
Sullivan’s vision of the ‘foreseeable future’ is essentially conceived around this ‘higher order’ project: The preservation of global ‘rules of the road’, framed to reflect U.S. and allied interests’, as the base from which the clutch of ‘transitions’ – health, climate change, managerial and monetary technocracy – can be levered from the national parliamentary prerogative, up to a supra-national level of business and tech managerial collectives of ‘expertise’ (devoid of accountability to national parliamentary oversight).
Separated in this way into such spheres as health precautions, climate recovery, fostering tech ‘miracles’, and money issuance severed from taxation – they sound non-ideological, and somehow almost utopian.
It was well understood that all these transitions would overturn long-standing human ways of life that are ancient and deeply rooted, and inevitably would trigger dissidence – which is why new forms of social ‘discipline’, and the usurpation of control from national accountability, to the supranational plane, is so important. It certainly isn’t making people “happy”, (as per Davos).
Hmmm! … the ideological underbelly to this ‘higher order’ re-set may be obscured from view, as non-partisan, but it is he who decides the international standards, the protocols, the metrics, and the rules for these transitions, who is Sovereign – as Carl Schmitt once noted.
Sullivan at least has the integrity to be frank about the unseen ideology to the re-set:
“We want the terms of that system to be favourable to American interests and values: It is rather, a favourable disposition in which the U.S. and its allies can shape the international rules of the road on the sorts of issues that are fundamentally going to matter to the people of our country [America] and to the people everywhere …”.
We are talking here of something which clearly goes well beyond the scope of the Biden summits with Xi and Putin, and the Vienna JCPOA talks.
President Putin has warned that any encroachment of NATO infrastructure or forces into Ukraine would not be permitted.
Similarly, Iran has stated explicitly that any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities will not be tolerated. It would result in the Iranian destruction of Israeli vital infrastructure across the full territory.
And Iran’ and Russia’s stance is identical with that of China in respect to Taiwan: President Xi made that plain in the virtual summit that he held with Biden on 15 November.
Xi warned that any move by Taiwan to secede is not permitted, and would be met by a military response.
In Vienna, Iran simply stated its ‘red lines’:
No discussion of Iran’s ballistic missiles;
no discussion of Iran’s regional role; and
no freezing of enrichment – as long as the mechanism for lifting sanctions and ensuring their non-recurrence is not agreed upon – effectively calling for a return to the original framework of the 2015 accord.
Iran demands binding guarantees that sanctions will not arbitrarily be re-imposed; that trade normalisation will not be informally hobbled again contrary to the terms of the accord, as happened under Obama (the U.S. Treasury Department pursued its own anti-trade policy, at variance with that of the White House); and that all sanctions must be lifted.
What should be noted here is the context: Note that the Iranian position is almost identical in content to that enunciated by Russia, vis à vis the U.S., in respect to Ukraine: Putin’s demand to Washington is that Russian interests and ‘red lines’ be formally acknowledged and accepted; that legally binding agreements be made in respect to Russia’s security in eastern Europe; and the absolute demand for no further NATO encroachment to the East, and a veto on any NATO infrastructure exported to Ukraine.
This is very new – in geo-politics, co-incidences of this nature don’t just spontaneously happen.
It is evident that the three powers are strategically co-ordinated, politically and likely militarily, too.
Western states are stunned: It is the first time that others are dictating to them – setting out their red lines – rather than being instructed on how to conform to American red lines.
They are disconcerted, and unsure what to do next.
And, as Anatol Lieven astutely notes, some actions would have grave strategic consequences:
“quite apart from the global economic damage that would result from a war in Ukraine, and the ways in which China would take advantage of such a crisis, the West has a very strong reason indeed to avoid a new war: the West would lose”.
Lieven continues:
“This would also risk becoming a world war; for it is virtually certain that China would exploit a war between the United States and Russia, thereby threatening the United States with the risk of two wars simultaneously – and defeat in both”.
For now, the U.S. and its allies repeat the usual bromides about ‘all options being on the table’; of crippling sanctions, and of an international coalition being formed to pressure and oppose such non-compliance.
For, without competitor compliance (or these states’ effective political isolation and condemnation), the higher project of raising these seemingly ‘non-ideological’ transitions to a supra-national sphere whose standards, protocols, etcetera (‘terms of the system’ in Sullivan’s words) will not be achieved.
It will not prove possible to upload a ‘Washington Consensus’ software update when these three states simply refuse Sullivan’s ‘rules’.
A strategic reset however will not come easily.
The west is embedded in meme-warfare, which makes a strategic order partition all the harder.
Any compromise on the narrative that Russia cannot have its own red lines; cannot dictate whether not Ukraine joins NATO; nor determine where NATO sites its missiles and nukes, risks Biden being seen as weak.
Republicans already pre-emptively have blamed what they call Biden’s ‘weakness’ for having encouraged ‘dangerous adventurism’ from Moscow.
Then again, perhaps these two summits – together with Iran’s stance in Vienna – represent the beginning of the end to the West’s Rules-Based Order, and a countdown to a new geo-strategic balance between the two axis – and ultimately therefore, to peace or war.
Meanwhile…
US bans UAE from hosting Chinese navy
So the UAE is not a sovereign nation? It is a vassal state under the thumb of America? From HERE.
During a conference call on 15 November 2021, President Joe Biden assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that his country was not seeking war with China, but only loyal competition. As for China, it rejects any form of rivalry and aims to establish “win-win” relations.
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, back in September the CIA had spotted construction activity for what appeared to be a Chinese naval military facility in Abu Dhabi.
That same month, National Security Secretary Jake Sullivan together with his Coordinator for the Greater Middle East, Brett McGurk, were dispatched to the Emirates.
The two American men presented Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (“MBZ”) with satellite photos, ordering him to stop the construction immediately or face “consequences”.
China currently boasts the most powerful navy in the world, outdistancing the United States. She built a naval base in Djibouti in 2017 to grapple (efficiently) with the threat of Somali pirates, then signed a secret agreement in 2019 to establish a base in Cambodia. In addition, she set up civilian naval bases in Pakistan and Sri Lanka which could quickly be repurposed for military use.
The United Arab Emirates are home to a large US naval base and, in order to safeguard their independence, also host a French base.
…
And the UAE response?
UAE threatens to pull out of massive military deal with US
From HERE.
The United Arab Emirates has reportedly threatened to quit a $23-billion military deal with the US over Washington’s tough requirements meant to shield the weapons against what the Americans call “Chinese espionage.”
The deal was made during former US president Donald Trump’s twilight days in office. On paper, it enables the Emirates to acquire American-made F-35 aircraft, Reaper drones, and other advanced munitions.
On Tuesday, however, The Wall Street Journal cited an Emirati official as saying,
“The UAE has informed the US that it will suspend discussions to acquire the F-35.”“Technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and the cost/benefit analysis led to the reassessment,”
The source added.
The Journal considered the development to be equal to
“a significant shake-up between two longtime allies.”
It tried to attribute the Emirati snub to Abu Dhabi’s partnership with Beijing and the latter’s growing influence in the region.
“The collapse of the deal would fuel perceptions within the Middle East and elsewhere that America’s decades-long role as security provider of choice in the region is diminishing,”
It wrote.
Among other things, the paper said, the US has long been concerned about Abu Dhabi’s economic ties with Beijing and its involvement with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co.
Huawei provides the Emirates with its communications infrastructure. US officials and members of Congress allege, though, that the company is a national-security threat. The company and the Chinese government have denied such allegations.
An important comment
As one who played “duck, cover & kiss your sweet a*s good-bye” in my fourth grade grammar school during the Cuban/Turkish Missile Crisis, I still think that a repeat of such a memorable event is more probable than a European conflict.
The reasons are as follows:
1) As pointed out by many in this drinking establishment, the Russian leadership is pretty miffed that the Americans get to hide behind an ocean and Europe while the latter plays “Russian Roulette” with the crispness of Eurasia region. Methinks the Russians would prefer the Americans get to feel the heat for a change. At the same time, strategically, its better PR with the locals to threaten the Americans rather than their European cannon fodder.
2) The Russians have already given an indirect threat of moving mobile missile launchers into the Western Hemisphere. Read below in Sputnik. In that article the authors claimed that the Chinese have the capability of moving mobile launchers anywhere in the world inside shipping containers. This article was published the same day as Blinken’s assertion that Russia has no right to drawing red lines, and was picked up by Global Security, the Sun, and others.
Overlooked is a reference in Wikipedia, posted by who knows who, which describes just that with the the Club K Kalibr cruise missile. The article was posted a number of years ago, and is complete with a photo in a container launching platform and a reference to a 2011 showing at the MAKS 2011 Air Show. I’m sure US intelligence is aware of this fact, as it was also covered in navyrecognition.com in 2019. As I stated in the open thread when I first posted it, the Neo-cons are not that bright and need to be hit over the head emotionally to have that “ah-ha” experience.
3) One of the biggest televised events in the original stand-off was the blockade of Cuba by the US Navy. This is interesting in two respects. First, that maneuver is much more difficult due to much better aircraft transport and smaller rockets, and secondly it will be seen as hypocritical to a possible blockade by the Chinese of Taiwan and American stated “Freedom of Self Defense”, and “Freedom of Navigation”. It therefore underlines the notion of “spheres of influence” at a visceral level.
It’s getting to be a very, very interesting world.
-Michael.j
Putting all the pieces together…
Now I know it's serious.-Keith Granger
[1] America has established who their allies are. (With the “Summit for democracy”.)
[2] It has promised financial outlays for their version of “democracy” to all the nations that will side with them. (Just look at the financial budgets out of Washington DC.)
[3] It is really pushing towards war with the nations that are not part of their coalition. (Russia, China, Iran, and any other nation that shows any kind of independence.) They are making bold demands, and pushing, pushing, and pushing for a response. They do not expect anything other than a localized strike, where they can then retaliate with the full force of their military currently in place.
To me, it is obvious. The United States has determined to wage war. Not just against China but against the entire rest of the world, and is now trying to determine who it’s friends and enemies are.
They are pushing for their “enemies” to “make the first move”. Then they will act, with systems already put in place and ready to launch.
No wonder China is building nuke swarm hyper-velocity missiles like there’s no tomorrow.
Maybe it’s because maybe there isn’t going to be one.
We will all be in for gruesome times. No need to play with words here.-Pnyx
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
It’s a new Chinese year. It’s a water tiger year. And it’s a fine time to remember to be the best that we can possibly be. In this installment, I offer up some fine Rufus inspirational videos that are found throughout the world and inside of China. Remember, that being a Rufus doesn’t depend on your wealth, where you live, what color of skin you have, or your career. It depends on your compassion for those who surround you. Be the Rufus. The world needs people like us.
Rufus climbs to rescue
A Rufus does whatever it takes to help and save others. video 4MB
Rufus dog stops an abduction
Be the Rufus. If this dog can be a Rufus, what is stopping you? video 2MB
Rufus’s on the bus
A real Rufus shows kindness and help when it is needed. Video 3MB
Save the Baby!
Rufus breaks into a car to save a baby left inside on a cold, cold day. Video 7MB
A Rufus is not part of the for-profit scheme. Instead a Rufus is part of the community and supports others regardless of their roles or their situations. video 14MB
Bus driver stops woman from throwing baby over a bridge
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Have you guys ever seen the pomp and ceremony that constitutes the army and military of Pakistan? Well you should. It’s a sight to behold. Here, we take a moment to watch some videos of the Pakistani military doing various things. I have found it very interesting. I hope that you do as well.
It’s not what you would think, and it looks like they are making things much more involved and difficult than they need to. But, perhaps that’s their culture. Don’t you know.
Watching the military conduct their procedures and maneuvers is far better than fighting them in a war. Don’t you think? What ever you might think of this bit and their actions, know that when it comes to fighting and using their weapons, they are nothing to take for granted. They are quite capable and serious. And I for one, applaud them.
I hope that you enjoyed this little glimpse at the nation wedged between India and Afghanistan.
Oh, and one more thing…
Be the Rufus
Here’s a compilation of videos where everyday people, show their appreciation to others. Mostly teachers, janitors, cooks, beggars, drivers, lorry-men, and so forth. Video 60MB
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Happiness Index here…
Here’s some fine Rufus inspirational videos to remind you that the world needs you. It needs you RIGHT NOW. You need to participate and make this world a better place. You need to go forth and help others, to participate in your community and to add calmness and kindness to the world that surround you. Be the Rufus.
What do I mean by being a Rufus?
The term “Rufus” is well known to long time visitors to MM. It describes service-to-others (STO) sentience and the related behaviors rather than the service-for-self (STS) sentience behaviors of the vast bulk of humanity. The details on sentience selection and why it is important are sprinkled throughout the Majestic Index.
Rufus is a state of behavior. A Rufus puts the community before him / her self. They do things without a profit motive of any type. They are kind, helpful and when they walk down the street they smile at people and make them feel good.
In some ways, being a Rufus lends itself to heroic actions, but in other ways it refers to being a significant person located in a geographic region.
While the rest of the world scrambles and claws towards money and power, and leaves a destitute and stripped world behind, a Rufus nurtures the world. He / she uses their creative abilities to make the world a better place.
You can go to my RUFUS INDEX. Start at the top and start reading all the posts. If after article 75, you still have questions, I will try to explain it to you better.
Long time readers recognize being a Rufus is showing kindness to others, being a hero when necessary, participating in the community and working to make OUR world a better place to live in. Chinese members of MM will recognize it as the expectations of volunteerism required of the Chinese Communist party, but that is just a name. It’s all people working together towards a common goal.
Some of these videos might take some time to load. Just click on the "video" link and allow it to load in a new tab or window. It will load faster that way.
I have received numerous comments (that I did not publish on MM) by people complaining that I didn’t have enough Rufus videos showing people in America being kind, helping others, and doing good deeds. Well, I tried to put the ones up that I could find, it’s just that they really don’t exist much in the for-profit every-man-for-himself nations. I have tons of police shootings, black people store robberies, car jackings, and videos of poverty stricken homeless from the USA. But Rufus behaviors. Not much.
Sorry.
We start with some hard working people. Just everyday people who do the dirty, nasty work, alone. In China they give most of their money to their families who live far away, and for years they work alone, pushing and striving to make the family live a comfortable life. This first video is for you … “average Joe”.
You have to be part of something larger. A Rufus understands this. video 3MB
Rufus protects his young sister
Friends, family, community and country. A Rufus participates and makes a difference in the lives of others. video 1.3MB
Rufus helps a schoolkid
Who cares if you don’t know him. You help him. It’s the way of the Rufus. video 4MB
Bunny wants to be alone
We are never alone. So don’t isolate. Realize that our strength and our value comes from the community that we surround ourselves with. video 60MB
Rufus work together as a team
Just a line. But in a society, everyone must know their place. video 25MB
Commercialized cuteness in Japan
Japanese culture embraces cuteness. But cuteness is welcoming and attractive. In a weird way, it is attractive. We should spend out time planting flowers, trees, and make our little world better, prettier and calmer. It’s our duty as a Rufus. Video 11.7MB
Dog starts to maul kittens
You can see the blood on the second kitten to the far right. But Rufus mother cats will not allow it. She fights the big dog with no fear what so ever. video 20.9MB
Chinese Pioneers first grade
Discipline. Working as part of a group. Leadership. participation. Striving to be the best for your community. These are the virtues of Chinese military training. Here’s a first grade military roll call for the Pioneers. video 6MB
Discipline. Working as part of a group.
Training starts in first grade, and they are so earnest and cute. China is building a nation of little Rufus’s that are poised to remake the world into a better place where everyone can live and prosper. Discipline. video 25MB
Rufus cares about the elders
A Rufus does NOT put their parents into a nursing home unless there is no other option. Family is part of our community. We have to accept our roles within that community and not discard others because they are inconvenient to us. video 25MB
Rufus rescue of dog on the tracks
In America some jackass tied a dog to the train tracks to watch it get run over. A guy risks his life to save the dog. video 38MB
How China treats expats
The world is not “us vs. them”. It’s one of sharing and community. Here’s why many expats like MM, enjoy living inside of China. video 124MB
Be mindful of the situation and conditions of others. video 21MB
Rufus stops woman from abducting a child
Be the Rufus. If we all work together to stop greed, selfishness, and for-profit psychopaths, the world WILL be a better place for all of us. video 3MB
Be the Rufus. The world needs you. Your community needs you. Together we all can make the world a better place to live in. All we need to do is be kinder and more considerate. video 106.2MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors. When I mean being the Rufus, I mean contributing to society. I mean putting it out there, being helpful. Being kind. Refraining from anger. Refraining defensively when provoked. I means being the best you that YOU can be. Be that Rufus.
The following are some videos about people; humanity and being a Rufus. Some are sad, some are painful, some are good, and some are happy. Be the Rufus. Otherwise, why live?
Be the Rufus. Be family. Be the community that cares for it’s members.
I strongly suggest you watch the videos in the order presented to get the proper "effect" that I am trying to provide.
What do I mean by being a Rufus?
The term “Rufus” is well known to long time visitors to MM. It describes service-to-others (STO) sentience and the related behaviors rather than the service-for-self (STS) sentience behaviors of the vast bulk of humanity. The details on sentience selection and why it is important are sprinkled throughout the Majestic Index.
Rufus is a state of behavior. A Rufus puts the community before him / her self. They do things without a profit motive of any type. They are kind, helpful and when they walk down the street they smile at people and make them feel good.
In some ways, being a Rufus lends itself to heroic actions, but in other ways it refers to being a significant person located in a geographic region.
While the rest of the world scrambles and claws towards money and power, and leaves a destitute and stripped world behind, a Rufus nurtures the world. He / she uses their creative abilities to make the world a better place.
You can go to my RUFUS INDEX. Start at the top and start reading all the posts. If after article 75, you still have questions, I will try to explain it to you better.
Long time readers recognize being a Rufus is showing kindness to others, being a hero when necessary, participating in the community and working to make OUR world a better place to live in. Chinese members of MM will recognize it as the expectations of volunteerism required of the Chinese Communist party, but that is just a name. It’s all people working together towards a common goal. His video summarizes it up nicely. Be the Rufus. video. 27MB
Rufus Police
The duty of the police is to help society to be safe and secure. And when crimes are performed, to isolate the troublemakers and remove them from society. And when they do good, and are helpful they should be appreciated for their efforts. video 2MB
A Rufus shows understandings
Sometimes things are not what they seem. But when understanding dawns, then the Rufus can shine through. video
AI and social Credit Scores working together to catch criminal bad guys
China is rapidly able to catch the bad guys of society as all of China is wired for surveillance by AI computers, and everything is monitored. It might sound Orwellian, but the results speak for themselves. bad guys are caught and imprisoned long before they even realize that they were caught. video 15MB
Rufus saves a kitty cat
A country cat wants to nap in the middle of a road. Lucky for him a young Rufus is nearby. video 1MB
The role of government should be to support and protect it’s citizenry. Not pit one group against the other. And it shouldn’t allow people to go without food, work, purpose and shelter. China is a perfect example of a government that cares for it’s citizens, while America is the perfect example of a selfish tyrannical nightmare. Here, we compare China with America regarding homeless people. It’s like night and day. video 96MB
Read the subtitles.
Emergency it’s all hands on deck
It’s an emergency it’s all hands on deck and the emergency save of a baby. Go get them Rufus! Video 5MB
Rufus schoolboy helps lost child
Waits for the police and then hands over the lost wayward child. Video
Be the Rufus
We need to be kind to each other, to be helpful and to care about other people If everyone would do so then this world would be a great and wonderful place. video 67MB
Rescue of a drowning person
Being a hero is but a small part of what being a Rufus is. video 2MB
Be the kind person that everyone can rely on
You are not your job, your education, your career. You are not your image, your beauty, or your wallet. you are not your family or their standing in the community. You are yourself, and that means you are pristine and special. So be the Rufus. Make your life and the lives around you better. video 15MB
Contribute and make the world a better place for all of us. Stop being so selfish, so greedy and so demanding. be more compassionate, kind and caring. be the Rufus. video 21MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors. When I mean being the Rufus, I mean contributing to society. I mean putting it out there, being helpful. Being kind. Refraining from anger. Refraining defensively when provoked. I means being the best you that YOU can be. Be that Rufus.
The following are some videos about people; humanity and being a Rufus. Some are sad, some are painful, some are good, and some are happy. Be the Rufus. Otherwise, why live?
Be the Rufus. Be family. Be the community that cares for it’s members.
I strongly suggest you watch the videos in the order presented to get the proper "effect" that I am trying to provide.
What do I mean by being a Rufus?
The term “Rufus” is well known to long time visitors to MM. It describes service-to-others (STO) sentience and the related behaviors rather than the service-for-self (STS) sentience behaviors of the vast bulk of humanity. The details on sentience selection and why it is important are sprinkled throughout the Majestic Index.
Rufus is a state of behavior. A Rufus puts the community before him / her self. They do things without a profit motive of any type. They are kind, helpful and when they walk down the street they smile at people and make them feel good.
In some ways, being a Rufus lends itself to heroic actions, but in other ways it refers to being a significant person located in a geographic region.
While the rest of the world scrambles and claws towards money and power, and leaves a destitute and stripped world behind, a Rufus nurtures the world. He / she uses their creative abilities to make the world a better place.
You can go to my RUFUS INDEX. Start at the top and start reading all the posts. If after article 75, you still have questions, I will try to explain it to you better.
Long time readers recognize being a Rufus is showing kindness to others, being a hero when necessary, participating in the community and working to make OUR world a better place to live in. Chinese members of MM will recognize it as the expectations of volunteerism required of the Chinese Communist party, but that is just a name.
Rufus cat
Love or just keeping each other warm. Who knows? But it sure is cute. video 1MB
Rufus during a crisis
When things go wrong, a Rufus is always there to contribute and participate. video 1MB
Rufus saves girl in subway
Quick action, without thinking results in saved lives. Video. 3MB
Uh oh. Baby on the tracks and a train is approaching. What to do? Luckily a Rufus is there. video 1.4MB
Rufus rescue gone wrong.
Not every Rufus event ends up well. You have to try and keep on trying. You will not win every time. Just keep on being the Rufus. video 2.8MB
This is from my LinkedIN feed…
Suicide Awareness – Trigger warning.
I’ve thought long and hard about posting about this, debating on how it would be perceived by the market, however, I decided to just speak from the heart. I do a lot for women in this market and now I also want to do a lot for men, men who account for over 75% of suicides.
Yesterday my friend Rob would have turned 36, for those who didn’t know him he was possibly the best broker the freight market had ever seen. He was referred to as 'an extraordinary talent, a maverick, an occasional handful but a lovely person with a genuine heart’.
At a young age Robert Byrne was made Director at one of the worlds leading broking shops, his billings were highly impressive, he was an incredible talent and a very good friend. He had the world at his feet.
I didn’t particularly like Rob when we first met, I found him rather arrogant, however, that was the thing with Rob, he was an extrovert who always spoke his truth and in reflection what I loved about him the most. He was who he was, and he didn’t shy way or change for anybody. Like marmite, you either loved him or hated him, love or hate him everyone agreed to one thing he was an incredible gifted young man. Rob was eternally fun, there was never a dull moment. We used to love karaoke sessions and as he used to phrase it cause ‘scenes’.
That’s why it makes it all so much harder that in April 2020 he decided to take his own life. He called me two hours before it did it. I guess this was his goodbye call, I am eternally grateful that I answered the phone, but I just wish he said, “I’m not ok, please help”.
Rob did have and could of had lived the most incredible life if he got his mind right. I can’t express the loss and waste that left so many deeply shocked and saddened.
I will never get my friend back; I will never have him wind me or call me for karaoke sessions. When I went through tough times Rob brought my spark back and showed me how fun life could be again. I do anything now to return the favor.
I hate the way men are raised to be tough, to man up and not encouraged to speak up when they are suffering. Suffering with depression, addiction, and a troubled mind.
I know most people reading this will be men and will probably not want to comment because of this awful stigma that surrounds mental health. But if you are reading this and you are not ok, you have addictions or demons that you are hiding away then please seek help. Please tell someone before its too late. Its ok not to be ok. You are loved and your life is worth living.
If you need help, please reach out. Here are some links below for help.
There are physical and non-physical Rufus’s. Nothing to be fearful of. Just realize that what you fear is usually nothing worthy of fear. Accept and be gracious. video. 2MB
Rufus helps out a family
We all need each other. Stop being selfish. Help those in need. video 7MB
Rufus dog sings to opera
The only thing that I can say to this, aside that it is really cute, is that a Rufus is aware of the abilities of others. Obviously the owner is aware that the dog can hear the high pitched sounds of Italian opera. I am sure that the dog loved the performance. video 1MB
Rufus allows a sick man in a truck to pass
Single lane road. Can only pass in one direction. Video 12MB
Subway draw
Maybe you don’t have the money to donate to charity, but you have a skill. Use it to put a smile on the face of others. Like this Rufus, drawing quick portraits for free. video 6MB
Subway Engagement
If you do enough Rufus related behaviors you will attract others that are full of life, and love. video 9MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors. When I mean being the Rufus, I mean contributing to society. I mean putting it out there, being helpful. Being kind. Refraining from anger. Refraining defensively when provoked. I means being the best you that YOU can be. Be that Rufus.
The term “Rufus” is well known to long time visitors to MM. It describes service-to-others (STO) sentience and the related behaviors rather than the service-for-self (STS) sentience behaviors of the vast bulk of humanity. The details on sentience selection and why it is important are sprinkled throughout the Majestic Index.
Rufus is a state of behavior. A Rufus puts the community before him / her self. They do things without a profit motive of any type. They are kind, helpful and when they walk down the street they smile at people and make them feel good.
In some ways, being a Rufus lends itself to heroic actions, but in other ways it refers to being a significant person located in a geographic region.
While the rest of the world scrambles and claws towards money and power, and leaves a destitute and stripped world behind, a Rufus nurtures the world. He / she uses their creative abilities to make the world a better place.
You can go to my RUFUS INDEX. Start at the top and start reading all the posts. If after article 75, you still have questions, I will try to explain it to you better.
The following are some videos about people; humanity and being a Rufus. Some are sad, some are painful, some are good, and some are happy. Be the Rufus. Otherwise, why live?
Be the Rufus. Be family. Be the community that cares for it’s members.
I strongly suggest you watch the videos in the order presented to get the proper "effect" that I am trying to provide.
Rufus father rescues
Protecting the young ones is a top priority for the Rufus. Video 19MB
Rufus Child Protects Others
Caring for the well-being of others is a top Rufus priority. video 3.6MB
Rufus child holds open the door
It starts with caring and consideration for others. video 2MB
Rufus Husband
Awareness of your loved ones is a prerequisite for fine Rufus behaviors. video 2MB
Rufus fire crew
A Rufus always welcomes others to join them in their efforts. video 4MB
A Rufus participates in their community. video 23MB
Rufus student sings about his country
The Chinese are wildly patriotic. And they associate (naturally) their friends and family with their nation. Which is the exact opposite of America where it is “us vs. them” and “every man for himself”. Here we have a student singing about China in school. video 3.1MB
MM video
This is a video that I took of a nice elementary school girl handing out brochures for her parents business. She gets out of school and hands out the brochures to help her family while she walks home. video 22MB
Rufus park amusements
When your government supports the community, then the community provides a stable and healthy environment to exist, work and play in. Part of that is having amusements and other free things for the community to us. None of which are a for-profit model. video 4MB
Rufus review
Here’s a good review of some fine Rufus behaviors. Be the Rufus, or just be a nobody. video 14MB
Let me be perfectly clear…
We must be part of something bigger than ourselves. We are not machines that eat, are entertained, and propagate. We are living, breathing entities and we need to provide and treat others the same way.
Be the Rufus. It’s our highest calling. video 26MB
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
One of the things that I loved to do as a boy was to go through the history books in the stacks at the High School library. In particular, they had these illustrated books that went decades by decade and helps pictures and stories about what it was like to live there at that time. There was a book on the 1920’s. There was another on the 1950’s and so on and so forth. Of course there were many history books that I just loved, but these were special because of the great pictures and easy reading captions. This article is of a similar nature using movies from the past. I do hope that you all will enjoy it.
Here we list the movie videos with both an embedded player and a link. I strongly advise the reader to click on the link as it will open up in a new tab and allow much faster loading than relying on this article to view the video. In any event, I hope that you all will enjoy these videos.
It’s a nice “rainy day” article. I hope that these videos remind you of how unique this time is, and how wonderful it is to enjoy it. Stop thinking that one of these days… something will happen. The time is now. So go forth, make some special treats for your cats. Put on a nice outfit and go out with a friend. Call your parents or your grandparents. Treat yourself to a nice cup of coffee and a pie at the local diner. Ride a bicycle.
Make your time special.
It will be gone soon enough. But you are here now. This is YOUR time. Enjoy it and share that enjoyment with others it’s ok. Just do it.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this in my Happiness Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This is a continuation of my posts on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. It’s all good fun. The idea behind this, is of course, to help expose people to what China is like, and by doing so while watching pretty girls. As the women within a nation are the best description that you can ever get of a nation and it’s society.
I’ve been putting this all off for a while as I have been dealing with other things and other issues, and then today, I am reading comments to my posted articles on LinkedIN. And some of them are astounding on how absolutely STUPID Americans have become. I mean STU-PID!
"You have now idea what kinds of filthy lives the Chinese live."
I don’t? I’ve only been living here for twenty years now.
And..
"You are crazy to ever want to live in that Communist sweat-shop. I hope that you enjoy your lack of freedom in that gulag."
Coming from an American in Philadelphia. Tell me about all that “Philadelphia freedom” eh? And…
"More lies from the fifty cent agitprop."
What’s an agitprop?
Sigh.
Ok. China is not just a match of the bulk of American middle class, it has surpassed it, and the bulk standard of living for the vast majority of Chinese is well beyond anything that Americans can ever hope to have.
Chinese homes are not made out of the cheapest materials or substances.
China windows = thick 6mm vacuum dual pane with aluminum anodized frames
USA windows = thin 3mm glass with cheap plastic vinyl frames.
Or the flooring…
China flooring = Real actual stone (marble, granite) on reinforced cement.
USA flooring = carpet over lowest cost plywood.
Or the doors…
China doors = Solid wood interior. Hardwood facing. Metal exterior doors.
USA doors = Interior doors are sandwich panel. Outside doors are typical vinyl.
In China, the typical family owns two houses all paid for and at least one car.
They enjoy working at companies with a two hour long lunch that includes nap time, and allowances for alcohol consumption . They get yearly bonuses.
They also have two months off a year for vacation that they must take. Nearly free healthcare. Top rate transportation and infrastructure, and for the vast bulk of the Chinese, only one singular tax. An income tax which is roughly fixed at 3%.
America cannot even dream of competing.
All, and the only thing that it can do, is lie.
The images
When you look at these women, look at their homes around them.
Or this one. These are typical kitchens. This is the real China.
The Girls
I’ve packed the girls up in neat zip files. You simply download the file, unzip it, and they start watching the movies.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Most are very short. Under a minute, some are only seconds long. And some are screen videos with either me, my kid, my wife, or others talking in the background. Well, it’s a mess. If you think you can do better, then do so.
Here’s a video or two to show you what is inside these ZIP files. Don’t be the jackass that looks at the pictures, fails to download the content, and says “oh they are pretty, but American girls are so much more attractive”. Download and view, otherwise the message is not provided.
It’s like going into a restaurant filled with delicious food, taking a few sniffs, and then leaving without tasting the food. (Video)
I notice that many of the Americans that talk with me are grouchy, irritable and demanding. I think that it is because their world is crumbling all around them and there is nothing that they can do about it.
They are wrong.
YOU can do something about the world around you. You can make your tiny slice of the world good, and decent and special. Like this person does…
And he strikes again.
Make the most of your skills and talents. He made these women smile. He made them happy. he made their day. He uplifted their spirits. What are you doing today? Are you making a difference in the world, or are you just going sit there and demand others work so you have something to criticize?
If we all work together
The oligarchy wants people to live in tiny boxes surrounded and manipulated by fears.
Just look at what amounts to “news” these days.
But if you venture out, and become part of your society, and when you participate with others. When you don’t ask for anything. You just be good, nice, kind and helpful… together we all can CHANGE the world.
Be the Rufus.
Please be the Rufus
Do the good works that make the world a little bit better place to live.
Do you want more?
I have more posts related to this in my Pretty Girls of China index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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One of the things that I loved to do as a boy was to go through the history books in the stacks at the High School library. In particular, they had these illustrated books that went decades by decade and helps pictures and stories about what it was like to live there at that time. There was a book on the 1920’s. There was another on the 1950’s and so on and so forth. Of course there were many history books that I just loved, but these were special because of the great pictures and easy reading captions.
This article is of a similar nature using movies from the past. I do hope that you all will enjoy it. It’s a trip down familiar places with unfamiliar people separated by generational experiences. These movies come to life using (Chinese) AI technology, and are wonderful. I do hope that you are as enthralled by them as I.
1950’s in America
In all these videos you have the option of watching them on this page or clicking on the link. I strongly urge you all to click on the link. This page is heavy with videos and unless you have super efficient internet access, it might take forever to load the videos.
It’s a nice “rainy day” article. I hope that these videos remind you of how unique this time is, and how wonderful it is to enjoy it. Stop thinking that one of these days… something will happen. The time is now. So go forth, make some special treats for your cats. Put on a nice outfit and go out with a friend. Call your parents or your grandparents. Treat yourself to a nice cup of coffee and a pie at the local diner. Ride a bicycle.
Make your time special.
It will be gone soon enough. But you are here now. This is YOUR time. Enjoy it and share that enjoyment with others it’s ok. Just do it.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this in my Happiness Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here is another article in my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. This particular collection is a response to a Bloomberg article of never ending hate found on LinkedIN that was splashed all over Gab, Freerepublic, and the normal set of mouthpieces… FOX, CNN, MSN, etc. etc. etc.
Someone please screenshot his series of tweets and translate into English. I understand he has begin to criticize the western media ongoing negativity against China.
One of his tweets claims his dream of being a journalist has been destroyed by the requirement to keep up the massive campaign of anti-China demonetization over the years of his journalism career.
https://mobile.twitter.com/javihagen
Yada. Yada. Yada.
You know this multi-million dollar funded program of lies and distortions is really too high of a mountain for me to climb. So I won’t even bother. If you are still too brain-dead to see that it is all propaganda, then it’s not my business to change your mind. It’s your reality. Soak it in. How’s it going for you?
Are you a better person for believing that China is a pile of shit?
…
The idea behind these “pretty girls of China” articles is to give everyone a rather unique chance to see what China is… without someone yelling (at the top of their lungs) you are only showing the “wealthy” not the “real” people of China.
Yeah. Right.
What ever you say…
What ever you say…
This view is of the girls, or all sizes and shapes posting their videos on Douxing. Some are just being attractive butterflies. While others are just being cute and playful. Still others show off their wonderful eyes and nice cheeks. Some have amazing eyebrows (to die for – I’ll tell you what), while many have a nice backside, bouncy chest, or artistic arms.
Attributes that I love. By the way.
By looking at these videos you get to see what China is in all of it’s totality. You see the poor, the average, the wealthy. You see it all.
This is what China is.
Are they starving from famine?
Are the buildings in disrepair and neglect?
Are they yearning for (that delicious) freedom™ and democracy™?
Are they all wearing blue uni-sexy clothing?
Do they look like they are abused?
Today is a morning rain Thursday.
It’s right after the mid-autumn festival and normally it’s a cooler time of the year and dryer. Not this year. It has been hot and very humid. Being at the dew point for the last five or so days. Ugh!
Today we had a morning rain. This is what it looked like.
Anyways, that’s what it is like where I live. Video is from my back porch. My “laundry” porch.
You know, there is a calmness in the rain that I enjoy.
It’s a relaxing peace.
It doesn’t matter if you are in a car… or in a truck in a corn field… or if you are in a tent on the side of a gurgling brook. It is the same. Whether you are in a nice cozy bedroom, and reading a book in a gathering darkness living room. Or a porch…
…a rain is lovely. Don’t you think?
A lovely rain.
I’m a little hungry
As the rain falls, it’s sort of cozy inside. It’s dry. Nice. Quiet. Peaceful. A perfect time to snack.
So I made myself a “Back to School” sandwich.
A “Back to school” sandwich.
About the concept here…
Let’s get on to the girls of China, eh?
The idea here is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
She’s attractive. Right?
A typical girl of Communist China.
Girls and food
The girl above is most certainly a cheeseburger gal. Maybe with a pearl tea, a side of fries, perhaps a beer later on. Not too much though, and a nice stroll though a park. I can picture it.
You have to be able to viscerally imagine and image your role in the world that surrounds you.
A fine delicious burger.
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing. So it’s a pretty quick event once you download the archives and open them up.
Another beautiful girl of Communist China.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not.
For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
While I tend to prefer ladies with a more motherly and robust appearance, I find all of them to be very attractive. From the tall thin leggy beauties to the short cute little kitten like cuddle balls. One of the things that I enjoy about China are the oval face and the oval eyes.
Like this girl here…
You can learn so much about (Communist) China just by looking at the girls and the surroundings.
Girls remind me of food
Long time readers of MM will well know of my association of women and food. For some odd reason, I associate girls with types of food. Just like I associate guys with cars, truck, motorcycles and construction machinery.
I’m a Mercedes Benz C-class, if you must know.
If MM were a car.
Many times I will imagine myself taking this or that particular woman out and enjoying a nice meal together, having a great conversation.
Drinking some wine.
More talk. More wine.
A couple of jokes. Some crazy light-hearted stuff.
Just having a nice time. You know, dressed up a little bit. Shined and buffed shoes. Beard trimmed. Nice cologne. Finger nails manicured. A nice well chosen restaurant.
Or even if it is just a nice “burger joint”, you all can make it special with a theme. You eat and then go for a walk on the boardwalk, or explore a mall and window shop. Or even just ride those rent-a-bikes together.
There’s nothing stopping you from a fine delicious hamburger.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. Not everyone agrees what is beautiful or not. Which is just fine. I think that there is a woman for every man, and a man for every woman.
You all have to close that “idea” or concept that what you should do, should date, should eat, should consume, should inject your selves with, is what is being defined by your electronic media. It isn’t.
None of that garbage is real.
Try running a prayer / affirmation campaign based on the images and directions that you get off the media, television, movies or social media. Then you’ll see.
You, and only you, can define what you like.
Not media.
Whether it is an apple on the table, a new pair of shoes, a nice car, or making friends with someone. You are the only person who can make that decision.
Beautiful girls and women are all over the world. These are the girls of China.
Now, when I was younger, my tastes in women were shaped by the images and magazines of the time such as Playboy, and Penthouse. That’s all I had to go on, and as a young man, with my hormones a raging, all I could do is tremble as I asked a girl out.
Which most of the time was a failure.
But it’s all a growth phase that we all go through.
Now, all I want to do is meet folk, and share a meal, some drink and a laugh. And if we hit it off and have a great conversation, well, buy goodness gracious! That’s marvelous!
A fine healthy woman that I would love to share a hot pot and some wine with.
Guys.
You know it, or you will.
And eventually you reach a balance point where your hormones are under control and all you really want to do is get to know the girl, have a good time together, and enjoy the moments. And really as you get older this becomes more and more pronounced.
Yikes!
Men change as they age.
Nah. It’s all good.
You savor the steaks you eat. You enjoy the perfume she wears, you listen to her talk and enjoy the night air after the dinner. You joke, you laugh, and maybe sing a song or two while walking on the jetty.
Women are magical.
Women are magical and wonderful.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. It’s their choice of clothing, the area where the video was filmed, the selection of music, the way their hair is done up, and so much more.
Each little video is like a window to the soul. Where you get a little glimpse of the girl behind the mask. That little presentation is just pure gold.
The pandemic (Bio-weapons attack) really put a clamp on everyone’s style.
Some have personality.
And some really do. While others just have a strong softness. Some are calm and composed, some are happy and light. And some are stunning and serious while others remind you of Summer carnival rides, cotton candy and “bear claw” cakes to s’munch upon.
A steak dinner girl. She reminds me of red lipstick, a dry red wine. Baked potatoes and candlelight in a high-rise restaurant.
Some have a great body.
They have long legs, or great dimples. Some have just long, long hair or dark, dark eyes. Some have a soft touch, while others have a careful composed prettiness.
Some have a great personality.
Some are special in ways that cannot be adequately explained.
A thin, curvy body, long hair. What’s not to love?
Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. Girls, ladies, women are like beautiful flowers that should be treasured and cherished. For they are all wonderful.
A little aside...
In 2004 - 2005 the Winter fashion for all the women in China were these knee-high boots. I have no idea what it was all about, but it drove me into a sexual frenzy every time I saw a girl in those things. And believe you me, they were friggin' everywhere.
Later on, Spring came and it was ultra-high mini-skirts and "ladder" high heels. (Yeah, 6" (150cm) high) High heels. Lord, how could you possibly walk in those things. But it was an awesome spectacle.
Anyways...
But do not mistake the cuteness of a tiger for the damage it could cause if you angered it. Chinese women are very, very capable people. You can take that “to the bank”. Never fail to understand that they are strong, knowledgeable and powerful in their own right.
Oval face with nice eyebrows. How is it even possible?
All are wonderful.
Such is the beauty of women. And for us, and for everyone, we need to appreciative the world around us more.
A beautiful girl of China. This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
That fat gal at the store that you see every day, she’s a kind, lovely beauty, who could use some TLC. There is nothing stopping you for saying hi, and saying something nice. Just do it, and if they don’t understand… well, don’t worry about it. Your mission is just to be nice.
It’s easy for me because the girls in China like to listen to others saying good and nice things about them. They get this big old smile. It’s like a sun shining though parting clouds. Try it some time.
Maybe if you two hit if off and don’t want to go out and get a coffee, how about a nice back or leg massage. Here in China it’s pretty cheap and a good way to pass a few hours. You just sit back and get pampered. I love it and I am a man, and all the gals I know think that this is a most excellent idea. It’s a great way to spend some time with someone you just met.
A nice relaxing massage. Yessur!
And that older woman wearing that elaborate outfit, just look at her, see how the light plays upon the details.
Oh, and I do love a cheerful gal with a sense of humor.
Cute and playful at any age. That’s how we should all be. Don’t you agree?
And that young girl going out with “her crew”, see the beauty of her age around and what they are doing. There’s a world of cheap eats out there. Ice cream cones to share. BBQ to enjoy. Little pockets of nachos and chips. French fries. Sushi.
Food and friends.
Lot’s of smiles all around.
What could possibly be nicer?
Share some delicious food with some new friends.
We have to be more aware, and certainly more appreciative.
When I meet a woman I always think of scenarios. Whether it is hiking in mountainous crags looking for the mysteries of the past, or having a cup of coffee in a pub on a foggy day. This is true whether it is images of romantic nights or just fun times on a train, or trolley. I always think of scenarios.
Cherish the moments.
Of course, I wasn’t always this way.
When I was younger, my mind was fully dedicated to sex and the more visceral elements of relationships. It’s that darn testosterone that all males have pumping through their body. But now that I am older I cherish so much more.
I cherish everything.
Most especially the little things. Like the details on her purse (You can tell a lot about a woman by her purse.) to the smell of her shampoo to how she treats her fingernails.
Oh by the way...
I do love those purses that have those little baubles and pockets and whimsy's all over it. But that is just me.
To the shoes she wears.
Notice the fingernails on this gal.
I do love the more sturdy and robust women.
The Videos
Let’s have a look at the videos shall we? I’ve got a bunch for certain.
What a beautiful set of legs. I would love to see her in a little black dress. I’d bet that she would look like steamed fish and oysters with a chardonnay.
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
You all might wonder why I am posting these pictures on the internet. But you shouldn’t.
Try to find pictures of beautiful girls from China using Google, Bing or any American or Western search engine. What you will get are stock images, advertisements, pictures of children, and professional photos associated with some Western “journalism”.
Google the women of China… this is what you will get.
What an American search engine thinks the women of China look like.
Nonsense.
This in these series of articles, is what it’s really like.
This is the real, honest to goodness deal.
Oh, and don’t leave yet! Let’s talk about the girls for a spell….
She is wearing a lovely short skirt, that flows outwards. What fun. I am a real sucker for cute dresses and skirts. I really am.
Cute skirts
I really, I mean REALLY, love cute dresses or shirt flowing dresses. They are like sunshine and flowers under a rainbow sky. They are like popcorn, and blueberries and cream on a hot Summer day. They are like lipstick, and smile and cute little purses big enough for a cell phone, some makeup and a tissue.
I just love how those skirts move. It’s like poetry.
TWICE – What is love MV.
Gosh! I just love those cute dresses! OMG!
Swish. Swish. Swish.
And I also really like the puffy yellow one, and the pearl dress to the right, don’t you know.
About the girls
These girls are mostly between the ages of 18 years and 45 years old. The vast bulk of them are in their late 20’s. In China, if you are a woman, the ages between 23 years old and 30 years old are the dating years where you look for a husband worthy to start a family with. In China, if a woman cannot find a man by the time she is 28, she is considered a Spinster. And is considered unmarriageable.
This lass is approaching the unmarriageable age, and in a few months she will be considered a “spinster”.
The age to get married for a woman in China is between 25 and 28. If they do not get married their entire family will sponsor these date-a-thons where they will have these programmed courting-rituals where the girl and the boy (part of a long line of boys) will spend time together.
The family won’t tell the girl beforehand either. She’ll walk into the house, and before she knows it, she’s on the fast track to get married. In the USA we call this a “shotgun wedding”. Only in China it’s the other way around.
The fish shape is considered very attractive in China.
I don’t know about you’se guys, but all these girls look pretty darn marriageable to me. They would be on the “A” list in any man’s personal list.
Isn’t China beautiful.
Comment
To give you an idea of just how evil the United States and their client nations (UK, Japan, Australia) are, they want to have a war with China, and start killing all these lovely, lovely people.
They want to kill all these women here for democracy™ and freedom™!
…
And don’t give me that bullshit that a war “isn’t going to happen”.
American Military expenditures as a function of GDP is higher than at any other time for any other war in the entire history of America. The USA is planning for a very large, long duration conventional war against China.
…
Hey!
I’ve got news for you all.
It ain’t gonna be conventional, and it isn’t going to be against China alone.
It’s going to be the USA (+it’s surrogate nations) against a unified nuclear Asia. And not to see that reflects a true head in the sand regarding the true and real situation in this world today.
So enjoy what you have around you now.
Enjoy what you have. Spend time with friends and family. If you see someone make friends with them. Especially if you want to know them better. There is no better time than right now.
Who know what it might lead to. Eh?
James Bond.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “Learning about China by looking at pretty girls index” over here…
This article is about China. More specifically it is about the people of China and why everyone has military training, and why everyone is organized into military units, and why everyone is willing to blow up the rest of the world in a nuclear fireball without giving it a second thought. Yeah. It’s what all the bullshit out of Washington DC is saying, except they are not telling you that China is backed into a corner and this time… THIS time, they are ready.
No. This is not your usual hate – hate – hate China bullshit that flows so readily out of the Western media mouthpieces. No, this is just an American expats view on what I see, based upon what I know, and in my discussions with members of other black programs. China is ready. Russia is ready, and Iran is ready, and the out of control “loose cannon” that America is is just about ready to have it’s wings clipped.
Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.
Introduction
I’ve written about all this before. I’ve discussed training for military warfare starting at six years old to the unification of the social structure, and the intense anger towards what happened in China by the Japanese. There’s no need to rehash much of that. You all can go through the archives.
The big news this week is how Australia has torn up it’s agreements with France and the EU to become the nuclear staging point for American submarines in the South Pacific. Big News! Except no one else really understands the implications.
Let this video tell you…
By hosting American nuclear weapons, Australia has now made itself a target for immediate decapitation were a war between the USA and China to break out. There is no way that it can remain neutral. All of it’s coastal cities are now at risk for total and complete obliteration.
Sheesh.
No one is taking China seriously and this is disturbing.
No one understands
Given the great ignorance in the Untied States and much of the West, it should be understandable. But it isn’t. I see otherwise intelligent people saying that a big buildup towards war is a good thing. Maybe it’s because they haven’t held their loved ones in their arms while they died away in a painfully bloody broken death.
War is not a computer simulation.
War is not social media or a talk show.
War is not a newspaper you read while drinking your morning coffee. Nor it is a news feeds that you swipe away.
It is a nasty, nasty earth-shattering event. And it is coming to the West faster than you can what “wat”?
Even if the USA launches a first-strike nuclear salvo…
Systems are NOW in place to fucking throw America back into the coal age. You all do know what I mean by the coal age, eh?
It’s January 20th. Snow is blowing outside. There is no gasoline for your cars. All electrical systems are fried. Refrigerators are gone. Computer is a useless door stop. Cell phones are all dead. And you haven’t eaten for three weeks.
Coal age.
Here’s a small video of what each God Damn City in China has for their LOCAL RESERVIST CADRES… (VIDEO). Yes. This it the local reservist militia. Just imagine what the actual military would be like.
Local reservists.
Afghanistan it ain’t.
These are God Damn reservists guys. Do you have any fucking idea of what a war against China would be like?
It would be like a tiger against a Chihuahua.
No, it’s not going to be a throw back to the iron age (as I suggested before). Not the bronze age. Not the stone age. It’s gonna be into the coal age. The few straggling survivors will need to figure out how to make fire from sticks, how to tan hides for clothing, and how to farm without mechanized machinery.
75% of America will die.
Oh that’s so unfair, you might meep!
Some basic History.
Japan took over China and abused it horribly. This occurred after nearly 100 years of abuses of the British and European rule. If anyone thinks that China will “turn the other cheek” they are mistaken. China is ready for pay-back time. (video)
Somehow, everyone thinks that China is a peer manufacturer. Equal to that of the manufacturing giants of the West. Wrong. China is THE global manufacturer and they make everything and they have been busy making all sorts or reliable weapons systems for their 1.6 billion people nation. They do not play around.
This is supposed to be a message to the American military establishment. Check out all those neutron bomb smart missiles. Yes, tactical missiles for use in conventional warfare. I guess that the American military are too brain dead to realize that any war with China will be nuclear.
Vehicle after vehicle of ugly, messy, dirty neutron warhead missiles. Some for taking out land targets like towns and cities. Some for taking out fleets of ships, flotillas and armadas. Some for blasting the entire sky into a fireball to wipe out aircraft assaults.
Well… The United States is being a fucking dick. The out of control giant is all about war, and the entire purpose of the QUAD is to support a war against China. Let’s be real. It’s not about fishing. It’s not about technology transfer. It’s not about immigration. It’s not about borders. It’s about conducting a war against China via the QUAD surrogates.
So China is ready.
Only an idiot (which pretty much describes most of the Western “leadership”) would still even conceive taking on Russia / China and Iran / North Korea simultaneously.
But you know…
While all this public display of terror and bluster is unsettling, let’s not forget what is going on behind the scenes.
Taiwan
What is NOT BEING REPORTED in the American “news”…
From PM…
An important event is going to happen tomorrow (Saturday; Sep. 25th) but one can’t seem to find any news reports in the West about it.
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Taiwan’s Kuomintang, the political party of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, is going to elect a new leader. No one cares, right? Kuomintang has been totally discredited by its string of failures.
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Its young members have left the sinking ship in droves.
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There is no hope when all the candidates are well known imbeciles who know nothing beyond repeating the same drivel that everyone is tired of hearing.
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Yes, let’s get back to the 1992 Consensus and keep the ambiguous status quo forever, as if Xi will let that happen.
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I have a Taiwanese friend (an old ROC soldier, descendant of the Yunnan warlord’s clique) who is so disgusted with the KMT that he has given up hope that the party will survive.
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Until a professor and the principal of the Sun Yat-sen School leaps into the fray, and over the course of one month, goes from being an unknown to the top of the polls over his three opponents, two of them with significant entrenchment in the party.
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His name is Chang Ya-chung [张亚中]. How does he do it? He advocates unification with mainland China to form One-China!
There are thousands of comments on Youtube clips in which the dark horse candidate explains his policy, and practically 100% supports him.
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It appears that he has stirred up a political storm.
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If he intends to push for unification regardless of whether he wins the KMT leadership or not, and therefore creates a movement, he may become a power to be reckoned with.
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In fact, Prof Chang could overturn the Taiwan political “applecart“.
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We are now faced with several scenarios all of which mean the realization of the One-China union probably within the next five years. Let me explain. It’s another long essay; have patience.
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I wrote in August of 2020 about a great strategic opportunity for China to unilaterally unify with Taiwan with minimal risk.
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It was based on the predictions, all of which were backed by simple observation, that (1) Trump would certainly lose the election (2) Trump would certainly not concede (3) Trump would therefore try to destabilize America in order to remain president (4) Trump would likely not succeed but he would create a royal mess (5) Biden would no doubt continue the war on China, and would use Taiwan as a pawn. Biden’s public protestations of America’s love of peace are laughable lies that will fool no one.
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All of the predictions have come about.
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There was however an overestimation of Trump’s team. Trump was not surrounded by geniuses, and rather than stopping the legal ratification of the Electoral College’s votes in December, he used the mob to disrupt the formality at Congress in January. It was an asinine and meaningless task. Trump will suffer the consequences of his stupidity.
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At the end of October 2020, just a few days before the presidential election, I wrote another article explaining how it would be possible for China to unilaterally effect reunification with Taiwan without much risk of bloodshed.
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One only needs to look at how Russia reunified with Crimea without firing a single bullet, and recently how easy it has been for the Taliban to reconquer Afghanistan to know that it’s possible.
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First of all, the narrative must be changed from “Unification by Military Force” or Wutong [武统] to “Defending Taiwan from Traitors and Foreigners.”
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I’d like to see anyone try to stop the PLA from doing its duty of defending the sovereignty of China.
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ROC soldiers are conscripted, most of them are ordinary young men and women with a family and the prospect of going home to live a long and fruitful life, hopefully in a peaceful and prosperous society.
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They’re not going to be stupid, as long as they understand that the PLA is coming to help them do their job, which is also to defend Taiwan from traitors and foreigners.
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Now, it is not possible that I was the only person who had the perspicacity to notice the strategic situation.
General Miley noticed it and he made secret calls to his counterpart in China before the election on Oct. 30th and two days after the Jan. 6 Trump revolution fiasco.
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Pundits and mouthpieces have made all kinds of comments on Miley’s secret calls to the enemy, but they’re all wrong. It was indeed as General Miley had explained, he was simply doing his job.
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General Miley called to deliver a tiresome Nixonian madman threat–we have a mad man at the helm and he may send nukes your way, so don’t do anything to give him an excuse.
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The poor general also had to deliver a contradicting message–at the same time, America is not falling apart; everything is hunky dory and the well-oiled machine is running smoothly.
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Which is to say, the Pentagon and the army are standing ready to attack when ordered.
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If I was General MIley and I knew China had a window of opportunity to take Taiwan at no cost, completely turning the geopolitical tables on the US ring of fire around China, as well as controlling the majority of the world’s output in microchip, that’s what I would do to stop them.
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If I was China, I would of course ignore him.
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America is good at posturing and bullying small countries; just check out its wars since WWII.
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It will not destroy its dollar hegemony and the printedfaçadeof its wealth by starting a nuclear war with China.
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Just think if you’re the owner of a vast orchard with your finger on a button that will burn everything to ashes, including yourself and your family, would you do it just to kill off squirrels picking nuts from your trees?
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I guess not.
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The madman threat is just a ruse. it won’t even fool the squirrels. As I said before, not a single American will die for Taiwan. The orchard owners are not as stupid as we think, or they would not be owners and we their slaves.
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I think, although I don’t know for sure, that China should know about all this, but it probably felt that a major factor was missing, and therefore preferred to wait for another opportunity.
Once the PLA takes Taiwan, how will China govern it?
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It is a headache if you do not know for certain that everything will run smoothly rather than turn into a bloody mess. China no longer trusts the KMT, whose leaders are discredited and ridiculed, how can China depend on them to maintain order?
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The emergence of Prof Chang and his army of ardent supporters from the general population provides a clarity that China needs for the Unification. .
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What China needs is to change its narrative of Wutong to defending China and Taiwan.
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The final contest for the KMT Chair is between Prof Chang Ya-chung and KMT Party apparatchik Eric Chu Li-luan [朱立伦]. The younger incumbent Johnny Chiang Chi-chen [江启辰] is a distant third. The fourth candidate Cho Po-yuan [卓伯源] is non-existent.
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Prof Chang and Eric Chu are in a dead heat.
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No one can predict the outcome of Saturday’s vote. Prof Chang’s participation and his Unification policy will at a minimum create a historic turnout.
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The dark horse candidate is already causing much excitement not only for the KMT but his carrion call for peace talks with mainland China is eliciting a groundswell of support from outside the party.
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This exposes the lie that people of Taiwan support only DPP’s (Democratic Progressive Party) policy of antagonism against China or KMT’s policy of the everlasting status quo of ambiguity.
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A new and powerful voice says let us negotiate for union and peace for prosperity and a future for our children, and it is resonating on the island.
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Scenario 1: Prof Chang wins the chair and proceeds with his Unification plan. I won’t go into details here, but his plan is a viable one and receives quite a bit of grassroot support even at this early stage.
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It may have something to do with Prof Chang’s charisma and his ability to win all his debates by logic and eloquent elocution, letting his opponents expose themselves as morons and moral midgets.
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Assuming the Unification path becomes a KMT policy, it will culminate in the presidential election in 2024 as a contest of KMT’s peace with China vs DPP’s antagonism leading inevitably to war with China.
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If KMT’s candidate wins, then there will be a peaceful progression towards a negotiated unification.
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Let me place a caveat right here. It will likely not happen smoothly because the US will not let it happen. When push comes to shove, expect the chaos of Hong Kong to repeat on the streets of Taiwan or worse.
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Scenario 2: Many obstacles stand in front of Prof Chang even if he wins the KMT Chair. He may have to resign because the party scuttles his Unification plan, his Unification MOU with China may not be passed in KMT, and the KMT presidential candidate may lose out to the DPP candidate in 2024. Then what?
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Scenario 3:Eric Chu wins the KMT Chair, the comatose establishment of KMT breathes a sigh of relief, and goes back to their sinking ship, hoping the ship will somehow right itself by a miracle. It will not.
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So all three scenarios say Prof Chang’s plan will fail.
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How will Unification happen? It will happen because China now knows about the latent support for peace in Taiwan with the mainland. The Taiwanese people didn’t have a smart and courageous politician to take them to the promised land.
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But now they have Prof Chang.
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It is therefore important for China to change its narrative from Wutong to Defend the Homeland. It is a unifying call, and it’s not hard to understand what it means.
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China and Prof Chang should talk about Unification regardless of what official status Chang has. Hire Prof Chang as a Peace consultant if necessary. But direct talk means that Prof Chang will understand his potential role as the leader and organizer of an interim government in case the PLA needs to defend Taiwan from traitors and foreigners, most likely within hours and without bloodshed.
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It will take time for Prof Chang, assuming he agrees, to prepare the infrastructure for such an interim government without violating any laws. .
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The reward to Prof Chang for doing this is the solemn undertaking by the Chinese government to provide a high degree of self-rule for Taiwan and to let the Taiwanese people run their own affairs despite China having effected unilateral unification.
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The five year period is a reasonable timeline, and by then, China will have surpassed the US in all aspects of wealth production, America will still be dealing with another Covid wave (I wrote an article explaining why), and Xi will be confident of success, establishing his legacy for future generations, so that the Central Committee of the CPC could start working on an orderly succession by bringing the next generation of leaders to the forefront. .
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Beyond that, all is murky and muck, but stay healthy and we will live to witness history.
PM
Remember – what’s really going on is not televised
We really do not know all of the story. We really do not know what everyone is thinking. What we do know is the visible actions that are taking place.
Evergrande’s share price collapse: The world’s biggest no-big-deal default
The monster debt crisis that utterly failed to cause any catastrophe this week was that of Evergrande, the Chinese property giant.
Evergrande’s share price collapse: The world’s biggest no-big-deal default
The monster debt crisis that utterly failed to cause any catastrophe this week was that of Evergrande, the Chinese property giant.
Why it matters: Evergrande’s share price has collapsed to pennies, its bonds are pricing in a default with very limited recovery, and even its customers are demonstrating across China. But so far the broader repercussions have been minimal.
Driving the news: Global markets fell on Monday on fears that Chinese markets would collapse on Wednesday morning, when they reopened after a two-day holiday for the Mid Autumn Festival. When Shanghai did reopen on Wednesday, it closed the day up rather than down.
Between the lines: A deal with domestic bondholders, combined with the company’s deep political connections at both the national and local levels, have combined to reassure investors that the Chinese government will contain any fallout.
Evergrande is the first big test of the global financial system — and especially the Chinese financial system — since the pandemic-induced chaos of March 2020, when central banks around the world were forced to take unprecedented measures to prevent total collapse. So far, world markets seem to be coping just fine.
Context: By any measure, an Evergrande debt default is likely to be one of the largest in history of the world.
To put its $305 billion debt load in perspective, Argentina’s massive foreign-debt default in 2001 was about $93 billion; Greece’s restructuring in 2012 was about $200 billion; and Lehman Brothers had about $600 billion in debts when it filed for bankruptcy.
Those defaults shook entire economies. Evergrande, by contrast, seems to have been successfully contained.
Between the lines: Evergrande debt has always carried a low junk rating, and the company was being described as “the biggest pyramid scheme the world has yet seen” as long ago as 2017. As a result, investors in Evergrande, much like investors in bitcoin or GameStop, were acutely aware that they were taking a big risk.
Financial crises generally happen when (seemingly) safe assets unexpectedly default, not when risky assets do something that was largely foreseen.
The bottom line: It’s normal and healthy for markets to fall when giant companies fail. The fact that Chinese markets have been so sanguine this week implies the existence of some kind of “Xi put” — and the idea that Evergrande is, ultimately, too big to fail.
So what is actually going on?
We have a bunch of school-yard bullies hitting each other in the arms and congratulating each other on how tough they are.
The Asian kids are in a corner of the school yard, writing in their books. Planning things. Drawing diagrams in the sand, and taking notes.
The rest of the kinds in the school yard are playing but keeping an eye on both groups; the bullies and the smart Asian kids. They are not doing anything. Just watching and waiting.
Do not believe anything that you see in the “news”. The situation is still fluid.
Watch “Meng Wanzhou Wins Her Freedom!
US Drops Extradition Charges Against Huawei Executive!” on YouTube. I trust this report more than any on the western media …
Meanwhile, here’s some Chinese military videos…
Just some video that I collected. Some are training films. Some are recruitment films. Some are just studies. Some are personal videos. All in all a good mix. It will give you all a great idea about the Chinese military capability.
Some of the films have children in it going through training. These are the elementary-school Pioneers (the Chinese cub scouts). Everyone in China gets full military training. Those older kids, are in middle school. They are the ones wearing blue slacks with the white line training and shooting AK-74’s.
You will see closeups of the various electronic weapons systems, and the state of the art Chinese SEAL and Special Forces troops as well. You will see some videos about how Japan came into China and killed off so many innocent civilians. And note that now that every civilian can fire a gun, and fight, that is never going to happen ever again.
It starts off with some more middle school assault weapon training.
Next is the elementary school pioneers who undergo physical obstacle course training. Notice that they do it while carrying a full military rifle. Also note that it’s both boys and girls. No one gets a pass. VIDEO.
Boys and Girls no one gets a pass.
The third video is the reservists. China has an active military and the reserves that meet every few weeks. VIDEO.
Reservists practice and drill over and over and over and over.
Fourth video is for the young Pioneers. For inspiration and training. Very, very interesting.
It’s all your fault that all the people are being rounded up in the city.
So many interesting videos. Watch them all in this massive collection.
Of course there are all sorts of interesting things in these videos.
Group 3B
Conclusions
Those videos are very interesting. Especially the ones where New York City is destroyed by a massive nuclear explosion. As you watch the movies, you can see that the military is infused in every aspect of the Chinese life. From elementary school through middle school and into college. There are layers upon layers of military. All driven by merit. All with the latest technology. All with a memory of how China has been hurt and abused int he past.
Next time you watch CNN, FOX, Hal Turner, or any of the rest and they are talking about hate – hate -hate China, keep in mind that it is a narrative based on insane levels of ignorance. There is not going to be any war against China, for if there were, America would cease to exist. While China might take a few dings, and then brush itself off and rebuild up bigger, better, faster.
Where SHTF in America it will be every man for himself, and that will be a fiasco.
So, don’t poke the Panda.
Realize that what you read is all bullshit propaganda. And that China has everything well under control. So turn off that propaganda outlet, focus on what you see around your life and your home, family and friends. That is what really matters.
What you read in the “news” is just a lie to anchor your thoughts towards a catastrophic fiasco. Ignore them.
Just go forth and live your life. Adults are in charge. Never forget that.
Just go forth and live your life.
Finally…
While this article is about China and it’s efforts to continue and thrive while the enormous American Military Empire has a hissy fit, do not think that that’s what is actually going on. Military Empires MUST have wars.
If they can’t have one with China right now, or soon, perhaps they can have one else where…
More than fifty-nine ships have massed in the central Atlantic Ocean, south of the Equator, in a non-shipping route area, and ALL have turned off their automated ship Identification transponders.
Ships massing off the coast of Venezuela.
No one can tell whose ships they are, or why they are gathering there.
Here’s a closer look:
Somethings up.
Somethings up…
Prep for an invasion.
Stand by. What is this all about?
Invasion build-up?
Flotilla to collect Haitian refugees and send them to the Untied States?
Collect American Haitian refugees and send them back to Haiti?
Stand by?
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “China index” over here…
This is somethings that I have been wanting to do for a while now. What this is; is comparing the scouts programs for children. In particular we compare the programs found in the United States and those found in China. In America, the scouts are co-ed, which differs from what I grew up with. But that’s fine they are co-ed in China too. In China they are called the “Pioneers”. And they are quite active.
Actually, I don’t want to get into too much detail here. It’s not like a member of the American scouts is going to move to China and become a member of the Pioneers! LOL. Instead what this is; is a short visit to see how the philosophies of the two scouting programs differ.
Essentially, as far as I can make out, the United States scouting programs teach self-reliance, individualism, basic woodland skills, and obedience to authority.
Cub scouts of America.
While the Chinese Pioneers teach communication, working as part of a team, nationalism, and overcoming adversity.
It seems that the United States is about making the scout a better “rounded” person overall, while the Pioneers is a paramilitary organization that teaches defense of the homeland, strength during times of adversity, and leadership skills.
The United States Scouts
American Cub Scouts.
Cub Scouting is part of the Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), available to boys and girls from kindergarten through fifth grade, or 5 to 10 years of age and their families. Its membership is the largest of the five main BSA divisions (Cub Scouting, Scouts BSA, Venturing, Exploring and Sea Scouting ).
- Wikipedia
And the Boy scouts…
American Boy Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America places the greatestimportance on creating the most secure environment possible for our youth members. To maintain such an environment, the BSAdevelopednumerousproceduralandleadershipselectionpolicies and providesparents and leaders with resources for the Cub Scout, Scouts BSA and Venturing programs.
-Boy Scouts
The Cub Scouts are one of the BSA’s premier programs, offering citizenship, character, personal fitness, and leadership for youth in grades K to 5.
Cub scouts of America.
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
[Note 1] According to Wikipedia there were 21,000,000 males age 10 -19 in 2000 in the US. Also according to Wikipedia there are 2,739,692 boy scout youths (age 11-17). That would indicate that more then 13% of boys are in scouting at a given time. 13% of American Children are in the scouts.
Cub scouts of America.
I think it sounds ok. Don’t you?
It’s a program to help young youth to become better rounded individuals.
Chinese Pioneers
I do not know about this program as an expert. I know of it as a parent. And that is a little different. But I can tell you that being in the Pioneers is a very important step in your child’s education within China.
It is very, very few people who will not allow their children to join the Pioneers. Mostly Christian fundamentalists. No problem with the Chinese Uighur Muslims,
It is a program that runs in parallel with the education system that provides group and community activities, rallies, a sense of community and belonging, not to mention skills, training, and social interaction. It is a critical system of development within China.
The following is an article that says more than I could ever say…
“Be prepared to struggle for the cause of communism!” As other children saluted the Communist Party of China (CPC) and swore their loyalty on the playground, Tao Hongkai, 6, was alone in the classroom studying.
Tao, a primary student at Wuhan’s Shuiguohu Primary School in Hubei Province, was the only one among his 50 classmates to not join the Young Pioneers – a State-run organization of 130 million children under the leadership of the CPC.
Check out this video…
As a result, he was not allowed to wear a red scarf, the emblem of the Young Pioneers, or join any related activities.
“I envied them so much that I saluted in front of a mirror at home,” Tao told the Global Times. “But I never felt empty because I had my own goals.”
Chinese Pioneers.
Six decades later, Tao is a sociologist and an expert on helping Internet-addicted children.
“I could focus on studying and accomplishing my goal – to be a useful person in society,” he said, looking back to the days when he was not a Young Pioneer.
[Note 1] Almost every primary school student between 6 and 14 years of age in China joins the Young Pioneers, which is widely seen as being a great honor. Being excluded from the organization would be seen as a blemish on one’s record. 98% of Chinese Children are in the Chinese Pioneers.
However, in recent years, as social values have diversified, some parents have begun to doubt the meaning of their children being “successors of communism” and discourage their kids from joining the Young Pioneers. They say they worry their children might be influenced by an ideology at such an early stage of life.
Chinese Pioneers.
Chinese Christians don’t want to participate
Xiao Yan, a Christian from Shandong Province whose son is about to attend primary school, told the Global Times that she and other religious parents are reluctant to see their children become Young Pioneers.The Chinese Young Pioneers National Working Committee declined to comment for this story, only emphasizing that membership in the movement is optional.
Even though it is officially optional to join, in many schools, new members are elected directly by teachers without being consulted or the entire student body is forced to join up.
Chinese Pioneers.
“I will tell my child the difference between the communism and Christianity, and I will make myself clear that as a parent I don’t want him to join,” she said. However, she admits that “if my child insists, I will let him do so.”
Xiao suggested that joining the Young Pioneers should be conducted by a third party.
“Schools are a place to teach knowledge, it should stay out of politics,” she said, “So if children are interested to join, they can apply to an external organization.”
However, Xiao said most children from religious families choose to be Red Scarves, often for fear of being left behind.
Chinese Pioneers.
Don’t be left behind!
In a secular society where many people do not share religious convictions and are not too bothered about ideology, Xiao’s case is rare.
“Parents often ask the teachers why their children are not in the Pioneers yet, and if there is anything that they can improve,” said Ma, a teacher in charge of recruiting new Young Pioneer members at the elite Asia-Pacific Experiment School of Beijing Normal University.
In Ma’s school, 1,100 of 1,400 Grade 1 students are all members of the Young Pioneers. The rest are on the waiting list. The head teachers for each class elect candidates based on their overall performance. “Star students” with good grades and talents will be the first batch to join, others join in the second batch.
Chinese Pioneers.
“But no one will be left behind. All the children will join the Young Pioneers eventually,” she said.
Many students are reportedly upset and unhappy if they are not part of the first batch. Ma explained this division exists to motivate students to behave themselves and study harder.
“Being a Young Pioneer means being outstanding. Of course star pupils should join first and set a good example for others,” she said.
Chinese Pioneers.
Scarves not so red
Most Chinese elites follow a set political career path: Students who graduate from the Young Pioneers can expect to join the Communist Youth League and then compete to become full-fledged members of the Party.
However, this ladder is not always straight and narrow now. Some teachers reportedly accept bribes from parents in exchange for helping their children become Pioneers first, and some teachers have even put their own children at the head of the line.
Earlier this month, an online post accused teachers at Southwest Central Primary School in Foshan, Guangdong Province, of ensuring their children to become Red Scarves before anyone else. This attracted thousands of hits and broad debate on wielding this kind of influence.
The Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily quoted the school’s deputy headmaster Liu Xiuying as saying that some children in the first batch were teachers’ children, but that they were elected first because of their behavior and academic track record.
Chinese pioneers.
This was not the first time netizens had questioned the ideology of the Red Scarves. Last year, teachers from a primary school in Shaanxi Province gave green scarves to students with poor grades or bad behavior records, which drew criticism from both parents and educators, forcing the principal into an apology.
It was an easy leap for netizens to associate the elections of Red Scarves to the real world where power holds absolute sway.
Last year, the nickname of Five Stripes Boy, was given to Huang Yibo, 13, from Hubei Province who was pictured with a five-stripe badge on his uniform. The picture was to promote the Young Pioneers, but netizens said it resembled pictures of high-ranking officers. The Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday that a primary school in the province had canceled the use of the five-stripe badge to “let kids live as kids.”
Tao sees this phenomenon as a consequence of cultural deterioration.
Chinese Pioneers.
“I feel pity that some good traditions are fading and losing their meaning,” he explained. “It reflects concerns about the deterioration of China’s cultural, political and ideological environments.”
Considering this, some non-religious parents discourage their children from joining the Young Pioneers.
Fu Yongjie, the father of a young girl daughter from Shaanxi, said he would not push his child to join.
“What does a 6-year-old kid know about the goal of the Young Pioneers? I hope my daughter’s first lie will be denying she stole money to go out with her friends, not that she would struggle for a cause she doesn’t understand,” Fu told the Global Times.
Some religious parents have also expressed their concerns that they do not want their children to get involved with politics at such an early age.
Tao said the goals that the Young Pioneers are not always met, even once children join up.
“Interestingly, some badly behaved children I deal with are Red Scarves, that means being a member does not guarantee exemplary behavior,” he said.
Chinese Pioneers.
“Therefore, parents should not worry too much if their children are Young Pioneers or not, they should focus on their studies and their goals,” he continued.
Poor guidance
One reason why the organization has been losing its glory is also because Young Pioneers’ counselors, mainly head teachers or officials assigned by the educational bureau, do not know much about how to guide the Young Pioneers, Yan Kai, editor of Guangdong-based Children magazine, told the Global Times.
“Many children find it hard to accept the way they explain the organization as there are too many political terms,” he said.
The current generation of students has grown up with new media, which has become part of their lifestyle and affected the way they think, according to a survey issued in May by the Guangdong Provincial Social Sciences Academy.
It found out that half of the 5,000 students surveyed in 50 Guangzhou primary schools had microblogs and many had access to cell phones and iPads.
The education ministry announced in September that Young Pioneers activities would be listed as a required course in all primary schools, with one class every week for students from Grade 1 to 8.
Yan suggested that Young Pioneers’ counselors should broaden their approach to keep up with the new generation by organizing public or charity events rather than simply focusing on classes.
The organization also has a plan B. Earlier this month, on its 63rd anniversary, it announced that the Young Pioneers in Guangdong would now only receive counselors with master’s degrees.
Chinese Pioneers.
Three universities in the province launched a pilot project to create a new postgraduate program – children’s organization and ideological education. This aims to produce well-educated Young Pioneers’ counselors who could use positive discipline and show exemplary behavior to guide children, Xinhua quoted an unnamed director from the provincial working committee as saying.
There are over 170,000 counselors in the province. However, the pilot program will only recruit five students for 2013 although the provincial working committee said this number would increase according to the volume of applications.
“Those graduates can work in many education sectors like schools or NGOs. They will play a very important role in children’s education in the future,” the director said.
Chinese Pioneers.
Chen Xinyue, 12, who just graduated from Yahetang Primary School in Guangzhou this summer, was elected as the 2010-2011 excellent Young Pioneer of Guangzhou.
When asked whether she is aware that the organization has not lived up to its ideal, she said the title was a great honor but that she did not know much about what it mean to be an excellent Young Pioneer.
“I am really unlucky,” she said. “The reward was supposed to add some 5-10 points to my middle school entrance exam score, but the policy was canceled because some parents complained to the education ministry that it was unfair.”
Let’s look at some videos…
In China membership not only educates, but provides social scoring, and lays out a path for university and future careers. In America it is only a social club that helps one become a better person.
Here’s a bunch of videos that I’ve collected.
These little kids are tough little boys and girls and I really like how they use scaled down full-auto rifles firing smaller cartridges to train with. When I say that China is a tough, tough nation that does not play, I really mean that.
Training in the use of firearms in elementary school.
Group 3 – 17 short videos
You can download the archive HERE– 17 Videos / 89MB
Tough little kids.
Conclusions
Throughout elementary school, Chinese children are encouraged to join the Pioneers. They become adept at working as a team, undergoing hardship, and learning basic paramilitary fighting, combat and shooting skills. Perhaps 98% join the Pioneers.
In Middle School, it is no longer optional. 100% of all Middle School students must take a two week “Boot Camp” military training every year while they are in school.
As all Chinese students study both English and Chinese, the students who graduate from High School make up the members of the irregular military force in their communities, were the need ever to arise. The best and the brightest are scored on their abilities, and their ability to become a Rufus. As China is a merit driven society, only the best can join the Communist Party, and then if they so desire go into the political administration of it.
USA – China meeting in Anchorage Alaska, in April 2021.
Which differs substantially from the buy-your-way into power, and set up a puppet show, “democracy” style. And you can see this.
USA-China meeting Anchorage Alaska April 2021.
China, being much larger than the United States is indeed a formidable giant, and the thought that somehow American (with Japanese and Australian military) could (somehow) invade China is a laughingly pathetic.
If you teach your youth to be strong, be tough, to overcome and to work as a team, there is nothing that they will not be able to accomplish.
Perhaps it would be best if America tackles it’s many, many systemic problems at home on the domestic front rather than worrying about what is going on at the other side of the globe.
And maybe, just maybe if the scouts would devote more time to community, communication and endurance, American wouldn’t be such a nation of ho-hos, donuts and booty wagging misfits.
Learning about the dangers of slingshots and chewing gum…
Teaching safety to cub scouts in slingshot use at the slingshot range.
…instead of having to rescue others in need during times of discord.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my China and America comparisons index…
No. It’s not all girls. And no, it’s not even most girls. But it is a lot of girls.
It’s that in China, a fish-like shape is considered to be very beautiful and appealing. And so the women wear flattering clothes, and wear cute outfits. It’s really nice to go out in a restaurant and see the beautiful ladies go out and about. It’s like being in a beautiful garden full of wonderful flowers.
Here, we will present some of these appealing Chinese women for you to look at.
But first… Note that these Chinese girls look this way because they [1] eat healthy food, [2] have good traditional habits and [3] all maintain a healthy and vibrant social life.
And that is the key.
You must have a vibrant and healthy social life, with friends, and family, if you want to be healthy, and look great.
Chinese girls and American girls are the same
The fact is that if you remove the weight that many Westerners now have (due to poor diets, broken up families, fast foods, and GMOs) the women would resemble what is common in China today. the only difference between Chinese women and American women is that they are not eating GMO-laden food.
And they are not under stress.
And they eat good healthy food.
And they are active in a vibrant social life.
Here, we take a normal American girl (on the left). She has a robust rotund shape. And then slim her down to what the shape was in America before the rise of big AIG industry, GMOs and the rise of Fast Food. She is at a woman’s body shape mid 1960’s in America.
The girl on the left is a typical American woman, while the girl on the right is what she would look like in the 1960’s…
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
And if you look, you will notice that many Chinese women have bodies that resemble this 1960s era shape. If you look at the shape and the body proportions the current typical Chinese female body structure resembles the typical female body structure of American women in the 1960’s.
Here’s another one…
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
Who does she sort of look like from the 1960’s and 1970’s? If you pay attention, her body structure on the right side of the image greatly resembles the typical body images of actresses from the 1960’s and 1970’s. And this is no mistake.
Notice that when you slim down, the rest of the body proportions stay the same. That gives the illusion of a healthier and more swan-line or fish-like body. And in my mind, I think that American women are just as beautiful as Chinese or Asian or African women.
It’s just that the culture, the diet and the society has distorted them.
And GMO’s has played a major role, no doubt. Once can only imagine how the mRNA changes in the bodies of Westerners will react to GMO laden food. If the bodies we see today are the end result of sugars, starches, and GMO’s combined with a stress-filled environment, one can just imagine what horrors will manifest with an mRNA alternation.
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
France in the 1960’s
Did you know that you used to drink wine in French schools, have long lunches to savor the food followed by a nap, and then strolled back to school and work.
Then, when France decided to adopt the American / British “improvements” in society…
… such as wine replaced with sugar-laden soft-drinks…
France used to require children to drink their daily wine.
Last night I was standing at the counter of our local café on Boulevard Saint Germain, finishing off a last glass of wine after work before heading home for the evening, when I noticed something behind the bar. I thought I must have been reading it wrong (I was on my third glass) because it said in French: “Never more than one litre of wine per day… the correct serving: one quarter of a bottle per meal,” and then beneath in large capital letters, “HEALTH, SOBRIETY“.
France before it became British.
What kind of alcoholism prevention poster sets the recommended limit at one litre of wine per day? And are they suggesting we drink wine at breakfast? I suppose this is France…
“It’s from the 1950s”, explained Pierre, the owner of the Café Maubert. “I think it’s from a campaign when they were trying to stop everyone from drinking too much wine everyday. I bought it on eBay for 70 euros”.
Drink wine. It’s good for the health.
It would be worth mentioning here that it wasn’t until 1956, two years after the start of this campaign, that the consumption of alcohol was outlawed in French schools for children under 14.
Mothers were known to send their small children to the local schoolhouse with lunch baskets containing a bit of cheese, some saucisson … and a half bottle of wine or cider to drink.
-Messie Nessy
France implemented all sorts of “progressive improvements”. Not just the switching of wine for soda beverages, but other things as well. Such as…
… butter replaced with artificial margarine…
… and a two hour long lunch break replaced to a 20 minute cram and dash lunch…
… and the 65 religious day-off holidays replaced with 6 holidays a year, that people became fat, sad, depressed, sickly and obese?
Things were much better before these “improvements”.
Improvements?
Bread and cheese.
Pretty soon you will see the famous (and delicious baguettes) replaced with white American processed white bread loaves. Followed by cheese replaced with cheese-it in a can (or a jar). It’s more “progressive” don’t you know.
American improvements in the way we eat bread and cheese.
These improvements to our lives, as dictated by the powers that be, have created an enormous tidal wave of secondary effects that has destroyed the Western society and has wrecked ruin throughout our individual cultures.
And this is American “culture” today…
Walmart reality.
Bond girls – Chinese style
Here’s another picture. I think that the girl on the right resembles a typical Chinese lady today, and I can easily picture her in a 1960’s James Bond film taken in France in the 1960’s.
2021s American Girl / 1960s French Girl shape
She has that “Bond Girl” look, don’t you think?
Doctor No.
It’s not just women. It’s men too.
Everyone has ballooned up to enormous proportions by the crazy stress and piss-poor lifestyle choices available to people in the West.
I know that women do not like big, fat gluttonous men. I think that they prefer thinner guys that take care of their appearance and are strong and confident. At least that is what I like in a woman, and I figure that women are much the same as I.
You know, when I compare my pictures of me back around twenty years ago, when I first started to spend serious time in and out of China, to now, I am astounded. In those days, I ran a three weeks in China, followed by a six weeks in the USA. And my body shape reflected that. I looked like a rather large American man.
Today, my physical size is much slimmer, though I do believe that I have gained weight.
Funny that.
Thin and confident secret agent.
Just like men don’t really care for the rotund women in the pictures to the left. Everyone, men and women, want a healthy partner.
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
People want a healthy partner.
Not necessarily a weight lifter, or a marathon runner, but someone who takes care of their appearance, is a great conservationist, and is fun to be with.
Not just for sex, companionship and pride, but also for long life and healthy activities. Don’t you think?
2021s American Girl / 1960s American Girl shape
I think that it is important to live a lush, fruitful and enjoyable life. This means good food, good drink… wine instead of sugary soda. It means being around loving animals, dogs and cats.
It means taking pride in your appearance.
It means having an active social life with people who respect and trust you.
It means happiness, and good long health.
So I am not getting down on any chunkier women in the MM audience. As I too am getting a tad chunkier myself. But what I am saying is that we ALL need to start mixing up our social and friend and family circles around companionship, social interaction, and really good healthy food.
The weight loss will follow.
There’s something about have a great engaging conversation with people who you are comfortable with that will really tone up your body.
What would you rather do? Cozy up in from of your computer monitor and read what Washington DC is planning to do, or get dressed up, and meet some friends to the local pub, bar, brasserie, restaurant or lounge and just chat. Chat and smile. tell some stupid jokes that you heard a thousands times before. catch up on the latest gossip, talk some politics, and just enjoy the evening?
What is healthier?
What is healthier?
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
Life in your 20’s
Consider what it was like when you were slim.
You were probably in your youngish 20’s. Slim, going out with friends, and dating. Eating out. eating good food. drinking some. Enjoying life. Optimistic with a life in front of you.
Now, what’s your life?
Oh, it’s such a simple thing to say. It’s all that bad fast food that you put into your mouths. It’s this. Or, it’s that.
It’s everything else except what is staring you straight in the face. Instead of looking at the bigger picture.
Your lifestyle changed.
In history, those families that adopted a traditional lifestyle with an active social life, and fine delicious home-cooked meals by the spouse who was in control of the finances were all THIN. They were not fat, and they held a very important role in their communities.
You need to be part of a community, and you need to socialize.
Living in Boston
When I lived in Boston, I hardly ate fish. Why? Because it was outrageously expensive, and I simply could not afford it. But if I did, perhaps I would have avoided some of my later healthy issues that hit me a few years later.
You must plan.
So it’s expensive, well, go out and plan on a meal out with friends and have a fine delicious fish and lots of vegetable side dishes. Some wine. Lots of talk. Dress up a little smartly for it. make it a great event.
Do it often enough.
You will live much longer. I promise you.
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
“What’s going on?” You might ask.
Food and losing weight?
Here I am talking about going out and eating at the same time where I am discussing losing weight. How does it all relate. Ah. Let me explain.
You see your weight has no bearing on the amount of food you eat. Women in the 1960’s ate as much food as they do today. That is true for both China and the USA. The difference is what you eat, and how you eat it.
What you eat.
How you eat it.
These are critical points that you will not find anywhere else on the internet. I suppose it is another thing that make MM unique. Our weight is connected to our thoughts, and our thoughts are connected to our well-being. And our well-being is connected to our society. To lose weight, you must go forth and make yourself some good friends.
Even if I am full of bullshit, at least you will be with others and having a good delicious time at it.
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
Not about diet entirely…
So I am not talking about dieting or anything like that.
[1] I am not talking about those diets or loading up on salads. I am saying that you eat IN A SOCIAL VENUE as much as possible. Be it with family, or with friends. You should only be eating alone very, very rarely.
[2] When you eat, you should be eating a balanced meal of meats / fish / foul with three other vegetables and a staple. Be it rice, breads or potatoes. They might cost slightly more, but they are worth it. Don’t always select foods based on price and convenience.
American breakfast is often nothing more than disguised dessert. And we keep eating sugar throughout the day — in cupcakes, soda, even salad dressing. So many of the additional calories in our diet that weren’t there a few decades ago are coming in the form of sugar. Back in 1977, the average adult got 228 calories per day from sugar in food and drinks. By 2010, it was up to 300 calories a day. Added sugar consumption increased almost as much — 20 percent — among kids.
[3] All sugar laden drinks are out. You can have tea, beer, wine, water, or anything else you can think of.
People who drink soda have more obesity, Type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and other health problems compared with people who don't -- the research on this is clear. And Americans are drinking way, way too much of the sweet stuff. According to Euromonitor’s most recent data, Americans remain the world leaders when it comes to per capita sales of soft drinks.
[4] Fast foods are NO NO NO.
Fast foods are NO!
American breakfast is often nothing more than disguised dessert. And we keep eating sugar throughout the day — in cupcakes, soda, even salad dressing.
So many of the additional calories in our diet that weren’t there a few decades ago are coming in the form of sugar. Back in 1977, the average adult got 228 calories per day from sugar in food and drinks. By 2010, it was up to 300 calories a day. Added sugar consumption increased almost as much — 20 percent — among kids.
Then watch your weight disappear. I honestly believe that social interaction is the KEY to all this problem that we are discussing here.
2021s Girl / 1960s Girl shape
Oh, so you don’t believe me?
Overeating obviously leads to excess weight, right? A team of scientists says not so fast, it’s actually what you eat, not how much you eat that leads to obesity. Their study finds processed food and rapidly digestible carbohydrates may be what’s really behind society’s growing waistline.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 40 percent of American adults classify as obese. This places nearly half the population at higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. The USDA’s current Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2020 to 2025 maintains the belief that losing weight “requires adults to reduce the number of calories they get from foods and beverages and increase the amount expended through physical activity.”
...
Unlike the energy balance model, study authors say the carbohydrate-insulin model claims overeating is not the main cause of weight gain. Instead, the researchers say consuming foods with a high-glycemic load are the real culprit. These foods include processed, rapidly digestible carbohydrates.The study finds such foods also cause hormonal responses which alter an eater’s metabolism, drives fat storage, and leads to weight gain. When people consume carbohydrates, the body increases the amount of insulin it secretes. This signals fat cells to store more calories and leaves fewer calories for the body to use as muscle fuel.
- Study Finds
Medicines…
Now, I know that there are other things that can contribute to weight gain, such as medicines. depakote is the worst. (If you need some control, try risperdal, it will slim you down three sizes and pop up your boobs three sizes larger as well. And you’ll stop smoking as a side effect.)
But it’s a MAJOR tranquilizer, and should only be taken if you have problems in that area.
But there are many other factors Yet, I argue that stress alleviation, and mitigation can be handled by social support groups. And as your stress goes down, so will your weight. So go forth make friends and eat well.
Anyways…
Why do so many Chinese girls resemble the large chested beauties of the 1960’s and 1970’s?
When you get fat, the excess body fat conceals your natural curves and body shape. You end up looking like a huge tomato, a squash or a big pear. When if you just keep fit, the other parts of your body; the chest, the legs, the hips will form in their normal proportions. this will give you a more chesty look, a more shapely look and a more healthier look. As the photos above illustrates.
Now there are all kinds of people in this world. There are tall, short, fat, thin, robust, and frail people. And what ever body you inherited at birth is just fine. Just keep it well maintained, and enjoy what you have. Feet it well. Use it to socialize with and enjoy your time on this planet.
The large busy girls of China
This is part of my “Beautiful girls of China” series. Here, we introduce the reader to China, and what it is today, by looking at the girls, women and ladies of China. In all cases the ladies are dancing, posing or just being themselves around their homes, businesses or city centers where they live.
By looking at them, listening to the music, and paying attention to their surroundings you will end up getting a very clean and pristine vision of what China is, what it stands for and what it is actually like.
For convenience, I have arranged the videos in zip files. I am sure that you will enjoy them.
Group AA. All very nice.
We will start with these gals. All are grouped in individual zip files.
There is nothing different between an Asian woman, an American woman, a Russian woman and an African woman. All are naturally thin with a nice swan (or fish) shape. The differences in body SHAPE that we see today are a function of the social and cultural climate that exists within the different geographic and national regions.
In nations that are toxic; that have a suppressed social life, where the foods are not really healthy, and where the lifestyle is one of isolation… the women (and men) get enormously fat.
In nations that are healthy; where society allows for personal interaction, and communication, and where fresh food choices are easy to obtain, plentiful and cheap, the people are thin and attractive with finely shaped bodies.
Thus is the difference that we see between the USA and China today.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this one in my Learning About China by Looking at Pretty Girls Index here…
This is a massive article concerning China, and it’s military. And the point that I want to make is that China is a perfect organism wholly designed to prevent anyone from attacking it. It is like a vicious animal with spikes, poison, and large sharp teeth. Only a fool would want to attack it. It’s defensive. And I have a lot to say about this subject, as well as a ton load of videos to watch as well.
Poor countries are supposed to stay poor so that they can be exploited indefinitely for cheap labor and resources. When a poor country starts to pull itself out of poverty, that country will soon be pulled back down again through a mixture of warfare, sabotage, sanctions, and propaganda...all under the pretext of "protecting human rights." China has defied this rule by making itself wealthy. Accordingly, the propaganda directed toward it will only intensify.Posted by: Donbass Lives Matter | Sep 1 2021 22:17 utc | 50
Keep in mind that you cannot learn things by only looking at one singular aspects. you must see the big picture, and then put the focus on the little aspects as they fall within that big picture. So this large article is going to cover other tangential things that help give you a better appreciation for the much bigger picture that is omitted in modern contemporaneous dialog today.
But first, I want to relate a little story.
The tale of Frank
When I was growing up, there was this man who lived with my maternal grandmother. She was my mother’s mother, and there was this guy called “Frank” who lived in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
My mother called him Frank. My grandmother called him Frank. My brothers and sisters called him Frank. My aunties and my uncles called him Frank. My parents called him Frank. No one said anything else at all about his relationship with my grandmother.
I assumed that, since he went by his first name only, he wasn’t a close friend. Because in the United States, close male friends are referred to by their last name. While close girl friends are referred to their first name.
He wasn’t an uncle, as all my uncles went by the name “uncle” followed by their first name. As in “Uncle Robert”, “Uncle Ralston”, and “Uncle Sonny”. In fact, my grandmother’s brothers and sisters were still alive, and I called them “Uncle Eddie” and such.
So I figured that he was a renter who helped my grandmother pay the rent.
Long afterwards, when my grandmother had a stroke, and died, I attended her funeral. And there she was laid next to Frank, who was, after all, my maternal grandfather!
And this surprised me.
And when I mentioned it, I was hounded and ridiculed and given so much shit. I will tell you that it was horrible and ruthless, and just obnoxious. What was I supposed to know? Make assumptions, absorb the relationship by osmosis? Jeeze!
There is a reason… a REASON… why there are job titles, positions titles, business cards, name plates, and all the rest in regards to family and business relationships.
It’s important.
It adds another dimensions to the relationships that will enable us to better understand things. For once you understand the deeper relationships behind something, you can better understand the events, and items and how they all fit together as part of the unified whole.
Think about that for a minute.
As it pertains to everything.
…
Here’s some Chinese military videos. Some are recruitment videos. Some are narrative videos. Some are “fan” videos. Some are something else entirely. In any event, these videos give a person a fairly good overview impression of the kind of military that China has.
China isn’t anything like what is portrayed. China does not play “nice”. Especially when it comes to defending China from crazed manicidal psychopathic wanna-be-Rambos.
And keep in mind that China is truly playing for “keeps”. If anyone wants to fuck with them, they will fuck you right back. Smartly.
Defensive Forces
If we talk about "representative government" we have to ask what kind of representation the weakest individual in society can get. I would submit that in the US the answer is laughable. In China, which takes surveys endlessly, prolifically and as a vital part of analysis and the systematic, results-based development of policy, one can argue very well that the weakest individual is much better represented than in the US.Fact is, no one wants democracy. What anybody wants is good representative government.Posted by: Grieved | Sep 2 2021 3:47 utc | 80
China possesses “defensive forces”.
Note that they are not “expeditionary forces”. They are harsh defensive forces and have no qualms about slaughtering anyone who tries to attack China in any way.
If you attack China, and China considers Taiwan PART of China, it will go nuclear in a nano-second.
China is NOT the USA. Do not believe the neocon propaganda about Taiwan this, or Taiwan that. China will take over the island in a matter or hours, and the world will left reeling. Those that want to get involved will be slaughtered mercilessly.
Listen up Japan!
Listen up Australia!
I am talking to you. As well as your bosses on K-street in Washington DC.
So forget any fantasies about peasants with mass-produced AK-47 clones. China will fiercely decimate enemy force with tactical and theater neutronmunitions from the “get go”.
A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the blast itself.
The neutron release generated by a nuclear fusion reaction is intentionally allowed to escape the weapon, rather than being absorbed by its other components.
The neutron burst, which is used as the primarydestructive action of the warhead, is able to penetrate enemy armor more effectively than a conventional warhead, thus making it more lethal as a tactical weapon.
-Wikipedia
The mere fact that no American strategic planners are taking into account this long standing military policy (since 1977, I believe) just shows how oblivious the planners are on K-street and in the Pentagon are.
Oblivious.
As in moronically blind to reality.
Somehow these morons believe that a war with China, on Chinese soil, will be a long-drawn out conventional war, in a far away land. Sort of like a larger Afghanistan.
Effects of a Neutron Bomb
The New York Times reported that “the nuclear weaponeers have unfolded a new brainchild, the neutron bomb, which will kill people while preserving buildings, tanks, and artillery.”
-Air Force Magazine
Neutrons scattered around after the neutron bomb explodes, in soil, metals, food, etc. activates neutrons; this neutron activation is 10 times higher than that of an atom bomb.
The so-called neutron activation causes inanimate bodies to emit secondary gamma rays.
Thus, the Neutron bomb causes damage due to both neutron beams and gamma rays.
Since neutrons make the objects they hit emit gamma rays, each object becomes a mini-bomb after the neutron bomb is dropped and starts to emit gamma rays.
Lovely.
Who’d figure that your iPhone and Alexia would someday actually kill you?
Chinese DF-16 tactical surface to surface conventional and nuclear weapon.
The first effect of the neutron bomb is to scatter fast neutrons and gamma photons. The irradiation dose is up to hundreds of thousands of rad (radiation units) in open air beyond the explosion and thermal irradiation distance (150-300 m.). Let us remind that human beings die even in the face of neutron irradiation higher than 300 rad.
Fast neutrons are exposed to elastic scattering in the nuclei of light atoms, during which rebound protons are released, protons are strongly ionizing particles.
Thus, human beings are exposed to a strongly ionizing radiation.
As protons move through human tissues, they cause havoc with a very high energy per unit path. Not only that, the nuclei of some biological tissues become radioactive by capturing neutrons, as a result, countless radioactive foci appear in the human body, each of human tissues becomes a mini-bomb and begins to self-destruct with dangerous rays.
Herein lies one of the greatest dangers of neutrons; Neutrons strike living or non-living objects, making the atoms in front of them radioactive.
These atoms start to emit lethal rays and countless mini-bombs are born.
After the neutron bomb was dropped, buildings, tanks, etc. It is said that it will remain the same. In fact, both corpses and these inanimate things will become radioactive. Both the removal of the corpses, these buildings, tanks and so on. entering into it will mean receiving a high dose of lethal radiation.
Non-living things that remain intact can only be used with special protective clothing without irradiation.
One of the purposes of using neutron bombs is to instantly turn those who are exposed to the neutron into the living and dead.
The DF-10 can really turn your day into a neutron-saturated toasty BBQ.
The Neutron bomb alone can turn people into this. Other “normal” nuclear bombs cause burns and wounds with the heat of the explosion wave and glare and kill them immediately.
With the effect of radiation, neutrons will enter the brain and destroy the electrical connections of the nerve cells. Computers and electronic devices exposed to strong radiation will stop immediately.
Yeah.
That means all cars, internet, home appliances, televisions, radio, stop lights, alarm systems, electronic doors, elevators, and aircraft. It’s sort of like an EMF weapon only with the extra bonus of making everything highly radioactive.
Those exposed to a radiation of 3000 rad will remain unconscious for 3-7 minutes, then sober up…
… great. Right?
Not so fast…
…. within a week they will die of gastrointestinal bleeding; The entire digestive system from mouth to anus will become an open wound, the kidney and heart will weaken and the patient will bleed and die in fever.
Those who are exposed to 650 rad will not have an immediate effect, but the bone marrow that makes the blood cells will dry, the old blood cells will survive another 25-30 days after the irradiation, but their division will stop, the patient will die in 4-5 weeks as a result of anemia and inability to defend against germs.
That is…
…unless they have some mRNA modification that compensates for this effect.
Hum…
Anyways…
According to the British geneticist J. Edwards, the most terrible aspect of the Neutron bomb is this: The neutron bomb is such a bomb that its effect is not limited in time, after the Neutron bomb is dropped, many generations will be born as cripples and monsters, it is not up to anyone to prevent this, rays.
This painful consequence is inevitable as it destroys heredity molecules (genes).
The destruction will be the most in regions (cities) where people live densely.
All living things in an area of 8 km2 will die in 2-3 days at the latest as a result of lethal rays. In an additional area of 10 km2, 1-100 rad rays will be received. 2-3 km.
The Neutron bomb, thrown at intervals, will kill anyone caught outdoors.
Radiation at a distance of 400 meters from the explosion point of a 1 kiloton Neutron bomb is 418,000 rad. Even in a shelter reducing radiation 500 times, the dose would be 836 rad, which is twice the minimum lethal dose.
According to the American scientist A. Westing, a 1 kiloton neutron weapon will destroy 310 hectares of pine forests, 170 hectares of deciduous forest and 140 hectares of grassland, and it will take centuries to replace them.
In short…
… a neutron bomb is a far more lethal weapon than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. And the Chinese field these weapons on a tactical basis all over China. If you try to attack China, they will not scurry into a hamlet behind the donkeys and sheep (Syrian style)…
No, instead, they will start launching a barrage of neutron hyper-velocity missiles at you. And there will be NO place to hide.
The Chinese DF-12 surface to surface, short range ballistic missiles that can carry neutron warheads.
The good news is that you will have enough time to pray for a quick death.
That will be the best you can do. You wouldn’t dare pick up your rifle, pistol, or get into a vehicle. All that metal and material will be irradiating the shit out of you. That’s right. All the metal near you would be acting like one giant X-ray and microwave beaming radiation right at you.
China is an organism
In China…
Everyone works together and they are very, very patriotic. Of course no one in the West understands this. It’s dog-eat-dog, and fight to be the “lone wolf”. You don’t kick an organized hornet’s nest and not expect to get stung.
China, the Chinese people act as one singular organism together.
And, you know what, it is even MORE SO NOW TODAY.
The Chinese learn from an early age
From the time they are able to walk, all the Chinese are taught to work hard, study, and be aggressive in everything that they do.
This is not a land of coddled wealthy, or diversity overweight wooble jaumbas.It’s not a land of prep-boys, or “silver spoon in the mouth” elitist “blue bloods”. It’s a land full of the hardiest people that you ever met, who are also the smartest people who you have ever met, and who also are the most determined people who you have ever met.
And what’s more…
These people are taught to live for the community. To fight for the community. To do the best for the community, and if necessary to die for the community.
Check out what it is like for those in kindergarten… Pretty amazing for four and five year olds. Please watch the entire video.
In kindergarten.
The Chinese students can only play electronic games during certain hours
Oh, you think that China isn’t serious?
My eyes almost popped out of my head when I read "Gamers under 18 will only be allowed to play online between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays". Real leadership... in 2021... I am flabbergasted.
I am a high school science and math teacher in Australia. That single policy in itself is game over.
Posted by: Rae | Sep 1 2021 21:15 utc | 38
And…
Earlier a math teacher stopped by to praise the new time limits on video gaming for young folks in China. I add my own 'bravo' to that.
And here's another one---the Chinese crackdown on celebrity 'culture'.The Chinese National Radio and Television Administration on Thursday enhanced management on entertainment programs and related personnel, calling for boycott against individuals with illegal or immoral records, sky-high prices for stars and abnormal appreciation of niangpao, or feminine men.
How much of the West's descent into unimaginable societal degradation is due to young kids being raised, for generations now, not by attentive parents, but by TV and Hollywood?
The so-called popular 'culture' has long since imposed itself into the family home and pushed out the role of parents as guides for impressionable young folks.
Some have mentioned the west's dismal STEM graduate production. How are young people supposed to have an interest in math and science when most just want to be 'celebrities'? Or at least social media 'influencers'?
Like everything in society, from financial greed to bringing up children, things cannot be simply left to chance. That produces a garden full of weeds and thorns.
The CPC is truly a shining light in today's world!
Posted by: Gordog | Sep 2 2021 6:09 utc | 90
The Chinese exercise from an early age too
Physical health and well being is important to the Chinese. No couch-potatoes allowed. Every single school, at every single level performs strict dance, exercise and martial arts routines. All of them do this. They do this six days a week every single day.
The Chinese can build up enormous constructions from scratch
Remember all those “Ghost cities” that the BBC, CNN and FOX “news” were all making fun of? Remember them. Oh, you don’t hear much about them today do you? Why not? Why isn’t the “news” getting right in front of China’s “grill” and bad mouthing them about “Ghost Cities”?
This is why…
They aren’t ghost cities any longer. Watch the video and be amazed.
A Ghost City.
As a result of US sanctions against Chinese companies, China is developing its own technology to cater for its internal market. Low cost, not Western, no manual.
Low cost, because at the volumes of the Chinese internal market even a saving of a fraction of a cent is real money. Different from US designs, so no license fee needs to be paid. And little or no documentation in English - it's intended for the Chinese internal market.Posted by: Passerby | Sep 1 2021 22:24 utc | 52
So you really think that the United States can compete against China?
Really? Have you seen what America has become? America is very, very weak right now. Here’s what all the major cities look like. Watch the full video.
The United States today.
Watch the full video to get the full effect. This is what America is today. And it is indicative of the culture and the society. It is a reflection of the failure of the government. Not only in structure but in the leadership.
And this nation actually believes that it is better than China is?
China has a substantial sized rocket and munitions closet. All designed for mass saturation of broad swaths of terrain. These were perfected after the results of World-War II that showed how successful that the Soviet Union was in employing these weapons against the superior technological weaponry of Nazi Germany.
In the American military circles this is considered worrisome, but not terribly so. The conventional belief in the Pentagon is that America would obtain dominance very quickly using the integrated computerized electronics systems and be able to use stand off drones and munitions with “pin-point” accuracy to selectively destroy any targets of this type.
I wouldn’t be so sure of this.
In a conflict between the United States and China, the United States would have ZERO “eyes in the skies”.
The Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” (NATO Name: Black Eagle) is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Video here…
Video
The J-20 is designed to execute ground attack missions even in hostile environments. The aircraft can reach higher altitudes with its delta wings in supersonic speeds. It is larger than Sukhoi T-50 and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The front portion of the prototype looks similar to the F-22 Raptor and the rear section looks like a Sukhoi T-50.
According to the neocon publications out of K-street in Washington DC, the F-22 is the best thing since “sliced bread” and the Chinese is only copying it. Only doing the copying very poorly.
Conventional wisdom holds that the J-20is currently unable to face the US Air Force's F-22 in a straight-up dogfight.
- Business Insider
I wouldn’t be so sure about this.
The United States has a terrible problem in overestimating their capabilities and down-plying that of China (to the extreme). Just keep in mind that any war involving these aircraft will need to land. The chances are slim that there will be any place to land once a war breaks out near China.
You won’t ever see this in FOX “news”. This video…
Japanese sub limps home.
China is a nation of STEM NERDs
Stem graduates by country 2016
China: 4.7M
India: 2.6M
U.S: 570k
Russia:561k
Iran: 335k
Now you know why Netanyahu wants us to nuke Iran so bad to eradicate them like bugs.
So the top 3 countries that we target as enemies graduate 10 times more STEM students than we, the U.S. do and half of our graduates are foreign students. This is why Iran has a domestic arms industry that includes advanced RADAR. But we are still in denial about that as evidenced by us fretting over Iran getting their hands on Humvees and M4 rifles from the Taliban.
Our view of Iran, 'I think it is some kind of magic wand that stirs up the spirit of the truck engine, try turning it and see what happens'
---------------
Now some wise guy might note that India does not have an advanced military but that's because they suffer collective Stockholm syndrome from Britain. I have no idea why they love the Brits and west so much after all they did do them.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Sep 2 2021 1:13 utc | 70
But…
And last time I checked, about 15% of those STEM graduates in the USA were . . . citizens of the PRC. I'm sure a goodly number are citizens of India too.Posted by: corvo | Sep 2 2021 1:21 utc | 71
What about those TicTac’s that buzz the American naval ships?
The "Tic Tac" incident.Date: November 14, 2004; Location: Pacific Ocean
Jack Sarfatti writes, The USS Nimitz UFO incident refers to a 2004 Radar-Visual encounter of an unidentified flying object by US fighter pilots of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. In December 2017, infrared footage of the encounter was released to the public. Prior to the December 2017 incident, early November 2004, the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Princeton, part of Carrier Strike Group 11, had been tracking mysterious aircraft intermittently for two weeks on an advanced AN/SPY-1B passive radar.
And what did they see?
Well, they saw this…
US Navy buzzed by UFO.
And what does this look like?
Well, if you have been paying attention to the technical side of what China is involved in, instead of what the latest bullshit is about 5G, Huawei, the pull-out from Afghanistan, and Vaxx issues you might have noticed this…
But then again, most MM readers realize this. It’s just the rest of the West who read the “news” and get this completely false impression and idea of what China is. It’s not even a distortion. It’s a false reality. Check out the Video.
At the start of this article, I simply discussed the use of tactical nuclear “neutron” bombs. These are what the army uses to take out this hill, that city, or that carrier group. They clean out the area and then move in and occupy.
But what I am referring to here is the very dangerous, mega-large hyper-velocity ten warhead, nation crusher the MIRV ICBM the DF-41. These are strategic weapons.
They are designed to wholly crush and decimate a nation.
And thanks to Trump and Biden, China is now on a massive mass production rally regarding these horrific weapons. They are churning them out so fast that if they all were to be used, the target nation would be reduced to radioactive glass.
Thank you President Trump (and his enabler Mike Pompeo).
Thank you Joe Biden (and your enabler Tom Cotton).
You see, those fucking morons who talk about war with China over Taiwan, or the South China Sea or what ever is the “reason of the day” simply omit the fact that China will BURY the United States if it attacks them.
And the result will be global devastation, but you know, China will rebuild. China can and has that ability. America will not.
Never forget the China’s military policy is to swarm and overwhelm with tons of nuclear tipped missiles
Not simply one or two relying on precision computers.
But many, many, many.
Many.
As in A lot!
This is quite different from the American strategy of full-spectrum dominance based on computers and remote sensing. China, on the other hand, believes in overwhelming the target area and saturating it with the most deadly weapons available.
Here’s group eight (8). Lot’s of stuff here. Check out the video here.
Group 8
China flexes sea power with new foreign ship law – Asia Times
A security measure to prevent a preemptive strike.
A new Chinese legal requirement demands that multiple classes of foreign vessels traversing waters claimed by Beijing must [1] provide detailed information to state authorities and [2] take aboard Chinese pilots.
The new maritime law, which came into legal force today (September 1), threatens to inflame South China Sea disputes pitting China and Southeast Asian nations and stoke already rising tensions with the United States in the contested waters.
On August 27, China’s Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement that five categories of foreign vessels, namely …
submersibles, (as in submarines and SEAL insertion submersibles)
nuclear-powered vessels, (as in aircraft carriers, destroyers and subs)
ships carrying radioactive materials,
ships carrying bulk oil, chemicals, liquefied gas or other toxic substances,
as well as vessels that may endanger China’s maritime traffic safety…
… fall under the law.
Uh oh. There goes the American Navy! especially those pesky aircraft carriers.
Foreign vessels will be required to provide information including their ship names and numbers, recent locations, satellite telephone numbers and dangerous goods, according to the statement.
If their automatic identification systems do not work properly, they will need to report to China’s maritime authorities about their locations and speeds every two hours until they leave the country’s territorial waters, the statement said.
At face value, these are not necessarily problematic provisions – unless the definition of “Chinese territorial waters” is interpreted to include nearly all of the South China Sea, as claimed in its wide-reaching and hotly contested nine-dash line.
The new rules were first made public on April 29 this year after the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress amended the Maritime Traffic Safety Law (MTSL), which was established in September 1983.
A full English version of the revised law, translated by Peking University Law School, can be seen on the website of Steamship Mutual, a mutual insurance association in the maritime space that provides risk pooling, information and representation.
Oh! But Japan will act as a Proxy for the United States in a Taiwan conflict, eh?
Yeah. I read the bullshit propaganda out of Japan.
So you think that Japan can invade China, or fight China? Is that what you think?
Let me tell youse all something too. Just like the Chinese students do daily exercises, and study hard, they are also exposed to what Japan did to China, and it is burned into the soul of China. And if Japan wants to take on China, well then, China will be really ROUGH back.
Oh! You don’t believe me?
What?
You do not know what I am talking about, eh?
Watch this entire video. It’s around four minutes long. Watch it. Watch the entire thing. Now, what do you think a nuclear armed China will do to the tiny island of Japan? Watch the video.
The Japanese inside of China.
So you think that China will somehow forgive and forget with japan starts attacking the mainland?
China is ready, so is Russia.
Do you all REALLY want a war? You all want to take on China for freedom™ and democracy™? Is that what you want? Well, China just wants to be left alone, but apparently that’s not good enough is it?
I guess not.
You all want to poke the Panda. And the Panda and Russia are as one today. You poke China, and you anger the Bear. You poke the Bear and you piss off China. Washington DC will be a water-filled radioactive crater before you have the chance to say…
…”Oh. Fuck”.
Chinese Boy Scouts
Here’s what boy scouts look like in China. Are you ready to fight them? Video HERE.
Tough boy scouts.
A bunch of tough first and second grade kids. Click to download the archive of videos.
Click to download the archive.
The Neocons say that if you kill the Chinese leadership that China will crumble
It’s a fantasy with no bearing on reality what so ever.
Xi Xinping was himself molded by the CR. He was sent to live and work with the peasants in the dirt and poverty of the countryside. When he was free to return to the city, he elected to return instead to the village he had lived in, and to continue his work there. They remember him now with great love, and there are documentaries available if one wishes to search.
The national leader of China has an understanding of the supreme value of "the people over all things" ingrained into his hands with dirt and blisters and blood. He came by his understanding experientially and honestly.
~~
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has at least 90 million members. One might think that, even on the scale of China's population, joining the CPC would be a routine matter. Xi Xinping applied at least 6 times (I believe actually 10 times in all) before the Party accepted him.
He worked his way into a meritocratic organization, and has worked his way to leadership through merit.
If we wish to understand what runs China, we must know how the CPC works. Here are 3 possible introductions, from Godfree Roberts:
The Chinese Communist PartyChina’s Congresses in ActionSelling Democracy to China
Posted by: Grieved | Sep 2 2021 3:46 utc | 79
Here’s group 9
And here’s some active military videos.
I am just unleashing a true “mother load” of videos today. To talk about the Taiwan and a conflict on the South China Sea then you need to understand what the “players” are and what they are capable of. And boys and girls, the Chinese do not play. they are a serious, serious nation. Check out the videos HERE.
Group 9
To Counter U.S. Hostility China Moves Towards People Centered Policies
In December 2001 China became a member of the World Trade Organization. That opened new markets for China’s industry and attracted a lot of foreign investment.
The growth in GDP that China has achieved since is breathtaking.
This development allowed China to make enormous investments in infrastructure. It also generated the resources necessary to eliminate poverty.
It is no coincidence that this development happened while the U.S. was wasting money on wars in the Middle East. As the U.S. is now step by step retreating from those wars to confront China the country needs to prepare itself for the new environment.
The introduction of more and more capitalistic features into China’s economy over the last 20 years has created imbalances.
Business tried to ignore or to gain influence over government structures and regulations.
Companies abused their workers.
Speculation by rich people created bubbles in the housing markets.
Cultural excesses that emphasized individualism threatened national unity.
These imbalances let the description of China’s economy as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ look empty.
Over the long run they would lead to dissatisfaction of a wide range of the public with the ruling political establishment. It was high time to eliminated the excesses the ultra fast development had created.
The government had to act to avoid future internal conflicts. Since the end of last year it has done so with the same efficiency that allowed it to stop and eliminate Covid-19 outbreaks. It does this ruthlessly without regards to stock values or investor interests.
Some six weeks ago I argued against Stephen S. Roach’s take on new Chinese regulations and described why the wider public in China will not care about ‘investors’ and will support those steps.
Since then the regulation campaign has continued with astonishing speed and breath. Here is a collection of headlines, published since my last take, that detail the development and the flood of new regulations and laws designed to set things right while keeping China’s economic growth going.
The new slogan for this era is now ‘common prosperity’, a policy that will reduce large wealth gaps while keeping reasonable monetary incentives and the market economy alive to allow for further development.
A pamphlet, written by a minor Maoist figure, that justifies these measures and puts them into a larger political context was widely published by Communist Party organs:
A commentary published widely in Chinese state-run media described President Xi Jinping’s regulatory crackdown as a “profound revolution” sweeping the country and warned that anyone who resisted would face punishment.
“This is a return from the capital group to the masses of the people, and this is a transformation from capital-centered to people-centered,” the commentary said, adding that it marked a return to the original intention of the Communist Party.
“Therefore, this is a political change, and the people are becoming the main body of this change again, and all those who block this people-centered change will be discarded.”
The author then goes on to set the ‘profound transformation’ into a wider, geopolitical context:
“China is currently facing an increasingly severe and complex international environment. The US has implemented military threats, economic and technological blockades, financial strikes and political and diplomatic siege against China,” Li wrote.
“The US has also launched biological warfare, cyber warfare and public opinion against China.”
“If we still have to rely on big capitalists as the main force of anti-imperialist and anti-hegemonism, or still cooperate to the US’ ‘tittytainment’ strategy, our young people will lose their strong and masculine vibes and we will collapse like the Soviet Union before we are attacked,” he said, claiming that the US had launched a color revolution against China through different channels.
The “profound transformation” underway in China aimed to respond to the US’ brutal and ferocious attacks as well as the current complicated international situation, he said.
The curbs on the entertainment sector were far from adequate as ordinary workers and people should become the main characters on screens.
People would benefit from the “common prosperity” goal after the education, medical and property sectors were reformed, he wrote.
While this sounds like Culture Revolution 2.0 it is assured that there will be no rampages of Maoist students through libraries or reeducation camps for party members.
Predatory capitalist George Soros claims in the Financial Times that these moves it will doom China’s economy. (See Michael Hudson’s counter here.) But people who, like Soros, argue against strong regulations forget that there are would be no markets without them.
Companies that only look at shareholder values are not sound and do not allow for a healthy society.
Just look Boeing and at the homeless camps in U.S. cities.
Aside from the ideological underpinning the new regulatory moves are populist. The masses will like them. They guarantee President Xi Jinping’s reelection at next year’s national party congress.
They will strengthen China’s unity in its competition with the United States.
China is cleaning up a few problems but I think it is also going into war mode.Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 1 2021 22:26 utc | 53
It is a nation of hard working, martial arts trained, studious NERDS. Most of the factories are inside of China. Not what passes for “factories” in the United States today. Which for the most part is nothing more than a nice office building in a “Industrial park” that houses cubicles staffed with accountants, diversity officers, attorneys, finance and marketing folk.
China is very capable. And if you want to to toe-to-toe, and head-to-head with them you had best be ready to accept the consequences of a harsh defeat and a life as a conquered nation. Check out this video here.
This article would have been very useful if it had stuck to its headline warning, which is more or less along the lines that Xi has made very clear that he’s not going to allow investors, above all foreign investors, to exercise more influence in Chinese business and society.
However, Soros then goes on in a vein that the article subhead accurately summarizes:
“The leader’s crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy.”
Oh, contraire, China’s success has been built on learning from the mistakes of other Asian countries that developed quickly but then fell prey to financialization, particularly Japan, and had difficulties making the transition from being export and investment led to consumption led.
In particularly, Soros is cheesed off at Xi restricting foreign investment, particularly in stocks.
First, China is a capital exporter. It doesn’t need foreign funds.
Second, despite the Anglopshere idealization of public stock markets, China doesn’t need one either, although getting rid of the one it has now would be messy and very disruptive.
As Amar Bhide pointed out in a landmark Harvard Business Review article, Efficient Markets, Deficient Governance, anonymous, freely traded shares inherently lead to poor governance.
Public companies cannot share critical business information that investors need to make informed decisions.
Transient shareholders also lack the motivation and means to improve the performance of the companies they’ve invested in.
Bhide has pointed out in other venues that while all other types of investments, such as derivatives and venture capital, existed in pre-modern times, arms length share trading did not because stock is a legally vague and weak promise.
And despite the idealization of share ownership, it’s almost entirely divorced from the funding of business. The most important source for new investment is retained earnings. Second is borrowing. Share sales are a distant third. The overwhelming majority of stock trading is shuffling paper among investors.
The most charitable interpretation of Soros’ position is that he suffers from a China version of the saying attributed to Charles Wilson, “What’s good for GM is good for America,” which here becomes, “What’s good for people like me of course is good for China.” Except as Michael Hudson explains, it isn’t.
Below are sections of the Soros article, with Hudson’s remarks in bold italics:
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise [what the classical economists called rent-seeking and unearned income] has been a significant drag on the economy [meaning the economy’s polarization concentrating wealth and income in the hands of the richest One Percent]. The most vulnerable sector is real estate, particularly housing. China has enjoyed an extended property boom over the past two decades, but that is now coming to an end. Evergrande, the largest real estate company, is over-indebted and in danger of default. This could cause a crash. [That’s just what is needed.]
….One of the reasons why middle-class families are unwilling to have more than one child is that they want to make sure that their children will have a bright future. [This is true of every advanced nation today. It is most extreme in the neoliberalized countries, e.g., the Baltics and Ukraine – Soros’s poster countries.]
We have skipped over Xi’s crackdown on the private tutoring industry…as if tutoring is essential to providing for security and an adequate standard of living for the next generation. How about strong public education, including remedial and advanced tracks, and vocational/technical training for those not bound to universities?
Back to Soros and Hudson:
Xi does not understand how markets operate [meaning that he rejects rapacious rent-seeking, exploitative free-for-all, and shapes markets to serve overall prosperity for China’s 99 Percent]. As a consequence, the sell-off was allowed to go too far [by which he means, too far to maintain the dominance of the One Percent; it seeks to reverse economic polarization, not intensify it]. It began to hurt China’s objectives in the world [meaning America’s neoliberal objectives for how it had hoped to make money for itself off China].
Recognising this, Chinese financial authorities have gone out of their way to reassure foreign investors and markets have responded with a powerful rally. But that is a deception. Xi regards all Chinese companies as instruments of a one-party state…
Pension fund managers allocate their assets in ways that are closely aligned with the benchmarks against which their performance is measured. [The tragedy of financializing pensions is that fund managers are rated on making money financially – in ways that hurt the industrial economy by promoting financial engineering instead of industrial engineering.]
Almost all of them claim that they factor environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards into their investment decisions. [At least, that’s what their public relations advisors advertise. Exxon claims to be cleaning up the environment by expanding offshore oil drilling in Guyana, etc. As for “social standards,” the neoliberal mantra is trickle-down economics: by making our stock prices rise, by stock buybacks and higher dividend payouts, we are helping wage-earners earn a pension, even though we are offshoring and de-industrializing the economy, de-unionizing it and “freeing” the economy from consumer and workplace protection laws.]
….The US Congress should pass a bipartisan bill explicitly requiring that asset managers invest only in companies where actual governance structures are both transparent and aligned with stakeholders. [Wow. Such a bill would block Americans from investing in many American companies whose behavior is not at all aligned with stakeholders. What proportion: 50%? 75%? More?] This rule should obviously apply to the performance benchmarks selected by pensions and other retirement portfolios.
If Congress were to enact these measures, it would give the Securities and Exchange Commission the tools it needs to protect American investors, including those who are unaware of owning Chinese stocks and Chinese shell companies. That would also serve the interests of the US and the wider international community of democracies. [So Mr. Soros wants to block the US from investing in China. That is President Xi’s objective also: China doesn’t need U.S. dollars, and is in fact de-dollarizing.]
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Xi and the Chinese regimes, but combating foreign influence and a bit late in the game pushing back against high levels of inequality are not among them.
And Soros presents himself as having superior insight into China, and then acts as if an American strike on Chinese public companies would dent them. Good luck with that.
Indeed.
Great rebuttal by hudson. Soros is fuming at china,its because he cant run his usual financial schemes and assert some measure of control on sectors of their economy. Why anyone listens to this documented nazi collaborator, and destroyer of economies, and the pound sterling is beyond me. China is not in the business of allowing these types to have input or dictate their financial policy. I applaud them.
Posted by: RC213V | Sep 1 2021 21:52 utc | 46
You would think that most reasonable people would understand this. But they don’t. I have been reading the Australian “news”. Oh Lordy! These Bozo’s actually think that Australia and Japan will physically invade mainland China and be allowed to march right into the cities and take over.
I don’t believe it, but obviously the United States, though it’s enormous media is posturing towards a major conflict. And at this stage of the game, it looks like they want it to happen so badly that it probably will.
The Chinese leader tells cadres at the Central Party School that the ‘risks and challenges we face are conspicuously increasing’. Xi’s comments about the the need to fight to protect national security come amid ongoing tensions with the United States
And remember what I said at the start of this article…
"... the point that I want to make is that China is a perfect organism wholly designed to prevent anyone from attacking it. It is like a vicious animal with spikes, poison, and large sharp teeth. Only a fool would want to attack it..."
A final word.
So the United States wants to go into a HOT war with China. Don’t be so sure on what will happen.
From an anonymous commenter…
Some American and Chinese virologists are developing the new Sinoamerican virus (let's call it "Sinoamerican 200") in a laboratory in Guangzhou. The virus is a combination of a modified porcine influenza H1N1 and the previous Sinoamerican virus (SARS COV 2). The Sinoamerican 200 will be disseminated somewhere in USA in November 2021.Posted by: Kim Jong Il | Sep 2 2021 5:54 utc | 87
Let’s see what will happen in December 2021; around and just before Christmas time.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors.
Are you being the best that you can be? Are you making the world around you a much better place? In a world of hate and strife, betrayal and trickery, the world needs people who will stand up and stand for something. Will you be that person? The world is filled with people who have been hurt by a corrupted society that uses, and discards others. These people need people like you.
Whether it is the use and discard nature of corporate America. Or the use and discard nature of American relationships. Or the use and discard nature of American culture. Or the use and discard nature of American finance…
… it NEEDS to change.
And if you are not living in America, but instead in a “Western nation”; a nation that has adopted this love for profits at all costs; like the UK, or Canada, or now Australia… then it is up to YOU to change things.
Stop waiting around for someone else to do something.
You step up (to the plate) and take a swing at life. Do you have room to adopt a neglect animal at the shelter; the one that no one will select? Will you go and buy a cup of coffee to the coworker? Will you go and say something nice to the girl that you hold the door open for? Will you “pay it forward” at the next toll-booth?
Will you do something good?
The Videos
The following are some videos about people; humanity and being a Rufus. Some are sad, some are painful, some are good, and some are happy. Be the Rufus. Otherwise, why live?
Be the Rufus. Be family. Be the community that cares for it’s members.
I strongly suggest you watch the videos in the order presented to get the proper "effect" that I am trying to provide.
What are you doing to make the world a little bit better place?
It doesn’t take much, sometimes. But other times, like with a meat pie lady, you have to break a few rules to show your humanity. You must be more than just friendly. You must go out of your way to do the uncomfortable. Sometimes it ‘s a real hassle… just to smile. But do it anyways.
Don’t judge the measure of your worth is by the size of your bank accounts.
Do not measure your value by your career, or who employs you.
You are far better than that.
I am telling you differently. We must seek out others. We must make friends with them, and form associations, build friendships and relationships and share. Never, ever forget the rule of three. Be the Rufus!
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
For the last 75 years, the United States Military Empire has been on a rampage attacking and waging wars, either overt, or covert all over the globe. It would utterly destroy it’s “enemies” and ignore it’s “friends”. And now today, we see the end result of this activity. Of the many, many trillions of dollars over the last 75 years dedicated to destruction and death, the American people live in squalor, destitution and poverty. A full 61% are so poor that they don’t pay any taxes, and in America that’s pretty darn poor!
America taxes everything.
Meanwhile, those nations who have been unscathed by the sheer might of the massive bloated gargantuan military wrecking ball, are unscathed. We can see China prospering. We can see Russia prospering. We can see prosperity all over the globe. And in this article we will look at the portions of the Arab world that the United States spared from destruction.
The following are some clips from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and a few other nearby nations. They are not only doing well, but they are oozing with wealth and success. Watch the videos. Really look at them.
This SHOULD be what America is, but isn’t.
Instead, the “leaders” decided to squander the wealth, knowledge, skills and resources of America towards the destruction of others. And listen to me, it’s all gonna come back in full force. The USA is not stopping. They are not turning off the “war machine”. Instead, they are gearing up to fight China and Russia.
Idiotic fools.
Don’t Forget Land Wars in Asia. “You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is to never get involved in a land war in Asia.”. This humorous quote from the film The Princess Bride has become received wisdom, echoed by no less than my former boss, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2011.
Anyways, look at these videos.
This is what America could have been, but isn’t because not only have the leadership failed Americans, but the entire system of government has been corrupted beyond repair. America will NEVER ever look like these videos. Simply because the current structure will never permit it to occur.
America is a nation for the rulers. Only for the rulers.
So suck in the videos and look at what you should be living. But which the government and your “leaders” discarded when they said “no soup for you!”.
In the November 2nd, 1995 Seinfeld episode “The Soup Nazi”, the main characters check out a local soup shop with an incredibly strict chef (played by Larry Thomas) who is nicknamed “Soup Nazi” for his rules about ordering. After Elaine Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) attempts to subvert his ordering procedure, the chef utters the statement, banning her from the shop for an entire year.
The common narrative in the United States is that the Middle East is rich and wealthy simply because they have a lot of oil.
This is all a big enormous lie.
If it were true, then everyone in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas would be millionaires. Nope. Something else is going on.
But what is it?
It’s a complicated issue with no clear answers, but the question still exists.
Why are the people who live in oil-rich Pennsylvania so poor, while those that live in oil-rich Middle East so wealthy?
I argue that it is like comparing apples to bananas. There’s all sorts of other issues complicating the matter. But I will posit that the society and the government that serves that society is the primary culprit.
Society
Government
Laws, rules, regulations = Graft and Corruption
Pennsylvania is a “democracy” in name, but functionally an oligarchy of the wealthy out of Philadelphia.
As such, they have created a stratified society where any wealth and benefits flow upwards, and those that exist and toil on the land are treated as serf / slaves. For the vast bulk of Pennsylvania citizenry, they live in cheap housing (mostly trailer parks), farm or work the oil and coal fields, and live off supporting government handouts.
Many rural Pennsylvanians live on oil and coal rich lands, but own no mineral rights. Instead they labor by mining them, are taxed for the labor, and the profits flow to the Pennsylvania oligarchy in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile you have places like Dubai which is in the United Arab Emirates. It has a government structure similar to that of Chinese “Communism with Chinese Characteristics”.
The President of the Federation is elected by a body known as the Supreme Council of Rulers. The Supreme Council is the top policy-making body in the UAE, and the President and Vice President are both elected from its membership for renewable five-year terms. Which is nearly identical to that of China.
They manage the nation based upon the well being of the vast and diverse citizenry. They do not manage it in favor of a select few, like it is done in the United States.
As such, but China, and the UAE are wealthy, prosperous, and thriving. When wealthy people start to get out of line, like we saw in China, or Saudi Arabia, the “corruption police” step in and stops their influence.
But that is one part of the equation.
Of the United States “War on Terror”, the indiscriminate bombing and destruction of those nations were all for the benefit for the American oligarchy. Not for the citizenry. After all, the local gas station owner, or the grocer or butcher, that school bus driver or the pastor at the local church really did not benefit one penny from the destruction of Syria.
Did they now?
No.
But, that’s where all the funds went.
Funds that could have improved the roads, funds that could have improved the schools. Funds that could have reduced taxes. Funds that should have been used to expand businesses. No.
It went to destroying things.
Here’s Syria after America saved it for democracy™ and freedom™.
America destroyed Syria.
Now the “news” media (and they are a de facto branch of the government today) is trying to spin the rapid American military escape from Afghanistan as a mistake…
…and the poor Afghanistan citizens will now look forward to a life of horror and squalor. “Oh, what about the children?” they wail on the “news” 24/7.
Nonsense!
Afghanistan and it’s neighbors.
Right now, those in Afghanistan see that they too can have prosperity and a solid and stable society. They see the prosperity of the Uighur Muslims in China (no, you won’t ever read about this in the Western press, but it exists never the less) and the stability of Iran and Pakistan.
They want that.
They can see it.
The Uighur Muslims are thriving in China. While the Afghanistan people suffered under the boot of America.
I think that empire will continue to pull tricks out of their ass to try and regain control of the global narrative, if not in Afghanistan, then elsewhere. We have a global cult who have been in control of society in the West for hundreds of years and I haven't seen any white flags being raised from their corner.
So, Afghanistan is going to join the multi-polar world and slough off the jackboot of empire. Lets hope the Taliban understand the example they are setting for the rest of the jackbooted world. I expect their living through 40+ years of conflict has sharpened their focus on reality quite well. I expect the reality they build will shatter some of the delusions of the West and its about time, IMO
Where is our civilization war going to rear its ugly head next?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 21 2021 16:37 utc | 7
Crunch!
Here’s what the Afghanistan people see right over their border inside of China. This is what they see…
Yes.
They see growth. They see prosperity. They see happiness.
They see their traditions not only upheld, but codified into law. They see a world that they want to be part of.
They see a world that they can be part of.
They see a world that they want to be a part of…
China wants Afghanistan to prosper.
And so does everyone else in the region.
Central Asian countries. The SCO.
Military bases and relations with the USAKyrgyzstan
Since 2014, the USA used the Manas Air Base (unofficially Ganci Air Base) near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The American troops vacated the base in 2020. It was handed over back to the Kyrgyzstan military.
The Russian military base, a stone's throw from the former US military base, is still there.
Kazakhstan
On 02.06.2020 President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has declared that construction of a US military base in Kazakhstan is out of question.
"The contract with the US biolab facility in Almaty expired and the Americans left the reference laboratory, only Kazakhstani specialists work there at the expense of our budget. Given the relevance of research in this area, we are ready for the most transparent cooperation with Russian specialists," Tokayev said.
Uzbekistan
10.05.2021 As per the administration of US President Joe Biden, it would be best to deploy troops in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which border Afghanistan, which allows the US to quickly get into Afghanistan if necessary. However, the constitution of Uzbekistan does not provide for the deployment of foreign military bases and facilities in the country, the press service of the Uzbek Defence Ministry told RIA Novosti.
Turkmenistan
The United States has a small Air Force team, normally around seven airmen, who assist US aircraft to refuel at Ashgabat Airport, as part of this rebuilding and stabilizing effort for Afghanistan. Turkmenistan allows the US overflights of humanitarian cargo in support of stabilizing and rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan.
Tajikistan
There ain't no US military bases in Tajikistan. Tajikistan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and hosts a Russian military base. From all the countries in Central Asia, Tajikistan has the frostiest relations with the United States. It's never gonna happen.
Pakistan
As Washington looks for options post-Afghanistan withdrawal, Islamabad isn’t going to roll out the red carpet. "Don’t Expect Pakistan to Host US Military Bases" Imran Khan, PM of Pakistan said on 09.06.2021
Afghanistan
After the chaotic US military retreat from Afghanistan on 15.08.2021, Afghanistan is lost forever.
SCO
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental international organization founded in Shanghai on 15.06.2001 by six countries: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.The SCO is an Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance. Currently, the main focus is on exchange of military and intelligence information. Observer countries are: Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia. Partner countries are: Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijian, Cambodja, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey.Iran announced that all political obstacles are resolved for getting a full member of the SCO. The SCO countries represent half of the global population. (Compare that to NATO countries: 950 million people, 1/8 of the world population)
And with oil lines flowing through Afghanistan into China, the entire region is poised for great “Dubai style” wealth and prosperity.
Oil induced prosperity for Afghanistan.
The only way for the world to prosper is to recognize that the systems, used for centuries, that permits the wealthy to come and say into power is not healthy and must be discarded.
What is needed are new systems of governance and new ways of doing things so that the evil, the corrupt, and the mentally ill never ever, EVER get an opportunity to come near any kinds of power ever again.
The future of the health of the world is at stake.
Postscript
And forget about the West trying to keep war alive in Afghanistan. The UK efforts fell completely apart.
That a connection to a neighboring country would help the insurgents is, in my opinion, a misperception. Russia and China would come down hard on, for example Uzbekistan, if it would allow its border to be used to support the insurgency. Every neighbor country of Afghanistan now has an interest in a united Afghanistan at peace. That is why any insurgency against the Taliban will have no chance.
The Russian ambassador to Afghanistan agrees.
And this telling comment…
As long as the Taliban NEVER reopen the US embassy and also ban all the same western NGOs Russia and China have, any color revolutions are doomed to fail.
Posted by: Mar man | Aug 21 2021 16:41 utc | 8
What China is currently doing in Africa is very, very possible in Afghanistan. And the entire world knows this (with the exception of American and their “allies”). Just like China is building houses, roads, infrastructure all over Africa, it will do so in a stable INDEPENDENT Afghanistan.
This is in Africa TODAY…
And China has changed the entire world.
They are smart, talents, organized, and have the backing of the biggest most powerful military (Russia plus China) on the planet.
They are not stopping for shit!
And they are making the world a better place for EVERYONE.
And those wealthy few do not like this one bit, and they would rather destroy the entire world rather than relinquish one tiny iota of control. But they have never seen such an organized, powerful force before.
Afghanistan has. They see. They see how their Uighur brothers and sisters are doing, and they want that in THEIR lives.
And they will be working with China in the years and decades forward…
You know, all that you get out of the American “news” is manipulation, and fear mongering. Meanwhile the rest of the world continues to live, exist and prosper. One of those nations is Cambodia. It is a pretty poor nation, but it is growing.
Americans (and Europeans) might have noticed a “blip” on the media last year when Cambodia refuted all efforts by Mike Pompeo to absorb it into the American proxy military sphere. They wanted no part of that. Not only did they say so, but they bulldozed all the structures that the United States built for the nation as a symbol of “good will”. As well as capturing and ejecting the NGO “regime change” forces that were mobilizing to cause strife and discord.
Cambodia wants no part of that.
And it was a top-down decision.
Cambodia is next door to China, and China wants to help them develop. In the eyes of China, it is in their advantage to be surrounded by prosperity and happiness. When nations and people are happy and prosperous, there isn’t strife or conflict. Which is the exact opposite of what the United States has been doing over the last 75 years.
What an idea!
Surround yourself with good healthy societies, and then you interact and trade with them. Let them live their lives as they see fit.
Imagine that!
Here’s some short movie clips taken by a Chinese man (and his family) living in Cambodia. It is part of a private security force that attends important Cambodian officials. You will see scenes from city life, rural life, social life, and work life in the clips. You will also notice that Cambodia uses American currency, and that the country is very, very poor.
You will also note that these clips are banned in the United States for some unknown reason. The American version of Tictok has banned this and some other sites from Cambodia.
I have no clue as to why.
I hope that watching these clips helps give you, the reader, an appreciation of other nations, other cultures and other ways of life. And no, it’s not at all like America. And perhaps that’s a good thing, don’t you know.
Start with the first video and then go down the list one by one. Most are very short, and easy to download and view.
This was a little excursion out of the main stream media echo chamber and narrative. Never paid too much attention to Cambodia, eh? Well, that’s the way it is. There are all sorts of places all over the globe living life. These places live outside of the narrative of fear and manipulation.
So, in this instance, turn off the “news” about Afghanistan and how the world is collapsing in that section of the world. It isn’t. The American military presence left and they are sorting out the vacuum left behind. And I’ll tell you this, they want to be recognized as a stable and productive nation. Not an outlier.
So don’t believe the “news”. Look around you. Look at what is going on elsewhere. Pay attention to things the media is not reporting on.
Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors. This group was inspired by a Pakistani woman who explained why China is the sole nation surviving the Coronavirus bio-weapon attack. As she explained it, and I really concur, is that when the Chinese government told everyone to stay inside and wear masks that everyone did. But it was more than that. They didn’t do it for themselves. They did it for others.
They did it for the old lay down the street. They did it for the health workers who volunteered. They did it for the elementary school filled with children. And if you go through those videos taken during 2020 you can clearly see the signs that everyone was holding up on their porches and windows. That they believed in China, and that they are all part of something larger.
This is what a nation full of service-to-others people can do.
But in Service-for-self nations, it’s every man for himself. It’s “I can do my own thing”, and “if I have to lie, cheat, or pretend to have to wear a mask, it’s my right”.
The future belongs to those who are contribute to the greater good; to Rufus’s who are part of a community. To those Rufus’s who can contribute what little they have, and make the difference. If everyone just picked up some trash at the side of the road then wouldn’t the roads be cleaner? If everyone spent more time on their porches and invited other to play card with them there, wouldn’t there be a sense of community? If everyone did little things like smile and say a cheery word, don’t you think that the world would be a better place?
Here’s about twenty or so videos. About half of them show the local community running to help a person in distress. Like antibodies fighting a cancer; fighting a virus, the Rufus goes and does what ever is necessary. Be that Rufus. Be the Rufus!
The videos
Each video opens up in it’s own tab. I hope that you enjoy them.
It’s a well known prepper axiom that you can have a ton load of guns and an unlimited supply of bullets, but unless you are a part of a community, you will be overwhelmed and killed. The “lone wolf” never survives in a conflict or an emergency situation. During times of strife, and emergency, we all need each other. One person’s strength can compensate for our individual weaknesses.
Somehow this basic, most fundamental aspect of humanity has been bleached out of the Western culture. Instead, it has been replaced with the idea that we are so much better being alone, cowering in fear inside our nice comfortable homes, and communicating by monitored electronic media. Uh huh.
And that our measure of worth is by the size of our bank accounts.
Well, I am going to tell you different. We must seek out others. We must make friends with them, and form associations, build friendships and relationships and share. Never, ever forget the rule of three. Be the Rufus!
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This article is going for a kind of minimalist look where I present some “meaty” videos for you all to watch and ponder. And of course, it’s going to include China, because (well, you know) it’s the dominant force in the world today.
My intention is to provide a broad swath of videos that give the reader a fuller, and better understanding of China in all the many aspects of it. From personal to Geo-political, to social to governing, to people. By watching all these videos (and some are from myself) you will see exactly what China is today, free of the bullshit that you would find elsewhere on the internet.
I try to describe what is going on in the videos, but you can come to your own conclusions. Each video is from 15 seconds to five minutes long. Not really prohibitively large, but long enough to make the necessary points. Most videos presented are either banned, censored, or otherwise prohibited in the United States, Australia and the UK today.
I strongly suggest you watch each video one by one, in the order presented. I tried hard to put them in a balanced order to make a more reasonable impression to you, the reader.
This is what China is today..
Bridge Building in China
It makes America look like the corrupt, un-Godly moronic group of misfit nincompoops that it is. Here’s what the rest of the world thinks of America. Soak it up, and this video was made in 2017, and it’s only gotten much, much worse since then. HERE.
Night Life in China.
Here’s an expat walking around China at night. To those of you who are unaware, when the sun sets, China comes alive with activity. Kids, retired folk, workers and everyone come out to play and enjoy. No, it’s not a holiday. It’s just a typical night on a typical day in a typical part of China. HERE.
Give Credit Where Credit is due
In America it’s Communism is evil and bad, so says the person who knows nothing at all about Chinese communism, and who ASSUMES that it “must be horrible” because, after all Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, FOX “news”, Rush Limbaugh and CNN say so. You can trust them, right? Here’s who gets the credit for the amazing transformation of China. HERE.
Pretty Chinese girl in her house
For the last five years, the American (and Western) “news” media has cultivated the idea that the Chinese are poor, downtrodden, and helpless under a repressive communist regime. Don’t believe me? Google “repressive Chinese communist regime“. There are millions of articles with this them. And you know what? It’s all fucking LIES! Here’s a typical girl, in her typical house, in a typical small town, in a typical part of China. HERE.
End of the Year bonuses
Unlike the United States, China has end-of-the-year bonuses, monthly bonuses, and year-around award programs. And no, this isn’t a coupon for a cup of coffee, or a $10 gift card at Walmart. These are substantial bonuses equal to one to more months of salary. And on top of that, with the one to two month annual vacation, the companies offer generous dinner meals for the staff, and often they play these bonus award games. Like this one. You drink the alcohol, and you keep the money that it sits upon. HERE.
Facial Recognition is everywhere
Not only has QR replaced dollar bills and coins, but facial recognition is replacing key fobs, which (of course) replaced keys. China is advancing in leaps and bounds. Seriously. HERE.
American attacks against China has no plan or goal
One of the first things that any student in the STEM fields recognize is that you MUST have a goal. Then you construct a plan to achieve that goal. But people who haven’t had that training, such as people who inherited their positions through wealth, relatives, or “connections” have no idea or concepts of plans, goals and objectives. And these are exactly the kind of people running the United States today. HERE.
A visit to the local clinic down the street
This is an MM video. here I narrative what my (old) clinic is like. I walk in and about. I show the traditional medicine offices, the Western medicine offices, the lab, and the pharmacy as well as the unhurried, easy going lifestyle that is so common throughout China today. HERE.
Some more Scouts
Here’s another video of the scouts. In general the scouts are a voluntary organization, while the middle School military train is compulsory. Never the less, the core ideas of community, society, achievement, merit are all strong Chinese characteristics. HERE.
Living next to a factory has it’s advantages
The bulk of the world’s goods are manufactured in China. The direct close proximity of these factories and the resulting personal and business relationships makes it very easy for wanna-be young designers and clothing manufactures to make limited runs of clothing and then sell them on social media. Such as this gal. HERE.
America is a Military Empire
In the last nearly 250 years of it’s existence, it has been involved in wars every single year since when it was founded in 1776. Only five years out of that time was peace, and only while the military-industrial establishment was retooling for the next war. Up until this week, America is currently fighting eight simultaneous wars with over 500 military bases all over the world. China isn’t like that at all. Listen to what Xi Peng has to say. HERE.
Africa is a rising star
With China’s help, both Africa, and the Middle East will experience exceptional growth and measurable, and tangible increases in their quality of living. China has set forth to make this a reality, and are busy building rail lines, hospitals, roads and much needed infrastructure to the people in these often (American instigated) war-torn nations. HERE.
A pretty girl.
I do like pretty girls. Here’s a nice pretty Chinese girl. There’s a softness, and a pleasantness that comes with life inside of China that I haven’t felt in the United States for decades. HERE.
An American comic tells it like it is
This one is classic. It’s funny because it’s true. There’s only one error in the video. He said that California is spending $6 billion dollars to build the high-speed rail line in California. The actual number is $77 billion plus an additional $6 billion to finish it by making the train to ride on the rails. HERE.
Chinese High Speed Train
These are commonplace all over China. They are cheap, fast, clean, and comfortable. They are far better than taking a plane. And the Chinese are all very used to them. HERE.
No one should underestimate China
This following speech snippet was twisted and distorted by the New York Times, and the standard neocon publications out of the North East of the United States. Who used this speech to declare that China was going to invade the world and displace the Untied States. This speech said no such thing. Instead, Xi Peng made it very clear that they will only be pushed so for before they bite back, and believe you me, you do not want to be on their bad side. HERE.
In America we salute the flag and say the “Pledge of allegiance”…
Here’s what they do in China. This is in a pre-kindergarden school. You must take note that the Chinese are very relentless patriots and since they serve their community and society, they think nothing of dying for it either. Any bull-shit ideas that China will run into the arms of “American liberators” for freedom™ and democracy™ is a pure fantasy. Check this video out! HERE.
Old Grandmother gives a wedding present
Even those on tiny incomes want to participate in good, happy and joyous occasions. Here we have an old little old lady grandmother giving a “red envelope” full of cash to the bride as her way of welcoming her to marry her grandson. Cute. Precious. HERE.
In a society where everyone participates…
The difference between the USA and China couldn’t be starker. In China, everyone participates and helps and works together for the greater good. In America it’s the “lone wolf” being the biggest and the baddest hoarding up all the money, and vacuuming up all the change so that they can sit on top of the pile of money. Here is what happens in China when you break the law. HERE.
China growth compared to America’s growth
Ai! It’s stark. China has grown, and no (it’s not like the USA) where only the rich become filthy rich and the rest suffers. Everyone inside of China has experienced enormous, and amazing increases in their standards of living. It is profound, noticeable and stunning. HERE.
MM posts a video
I made this video as I walked near my house. It’s just a bunch of first and second grade students hanging out together and playing near one of the family shops. It’s a young biker gang. LOL. HERE.
Africa is modernizing.
Soft power from China. America has decades (if not centuries) of proving pallet loads of money to local war-lords to buy American guns and weapons, so that those on K-street in Washington DC get rich. China has a better idea. They are surrounding themselves with prosperity. Those nations that have a growing middle class, that shun war, and want to be productive will become great friends of China. And that is what we are seeing in Africa today. HERE.
Chinese space station I
Congress and successive American presidents have forbidden China to have any access to American technology. This includes all rocket and space and avionics technology. So China had to build everything from scratch and just like the United States did in the early 1960’s, so did China, and now China has met, and surpassed the United States technology markers in space exploration. HERE.
A sexy video
Here is a Chinese woman making her family a fine delicious and healthy meal in the kitchen. Not only are women far better cooks than men (well, maybe not all the time, but in my case they are certainly much better than me) but they are expert financiers. No one can budget a household, AND provide daily tasty delicious meals like a woman can. And that’s my strong opinion in this matter. If you want to be healthy in body and mind, and you want to be free of financial worries, put the woman of the house in charge of fiances and domestic issues. Your life would be so much better. And besides, it’s so sexy! HERE.
Chinese and Russia Space Station II
There is also another video that also shows just how much larger the joint Chinese and Russian space station will be when it is completed. Of course, this is nothing that you will find on any of the Western media outlets. HERE.
Pretty Chinese girl
I am constantly amazed that Americans believe that all the women in China look like pre-adolsescent children. In fact, this was the argument that was used against me by the DA in Little Rock, Arkansas who actually made the point that the sole reason that I lived, worked and traveled to China was to indulge my fantasies of having sex with little children, and the Chinese women would naturally, by their child-like bodies would satisfy me. Disgusting. HERE.
Everyone Participates
When someone gets unruly, and rude, the rest of China will take action. This is their nation; their country. And it’s up to them to police it. And people must behave. There are far too many people, to not take an active role in society. HERE.
Hong Kong official discusses the HK Riots
It is no secret that the United States funded, armed, taught, organized and pushed for the (so called) “pro-democracy” riots. These riots killed dozens, caused massive hardship, interrupted the flow of life inside of China and caused millions of dollars in damages. Who is the ultimate culprit? Why, it is clearly the United States. HERE.
Chinese Scouts
In America we have “Boy Scouts” and “Girl Scouts”. But in China there is just “The Scouts”. And they learn discipline, culture, working together, and some basics of para-military training. I am always amazed and glad that China trains their children to be parts of the community, than a bunch of couch-potatoes that demand “me, me, me”. HERE.
Be the Rufus
In a society that has people caring for each other you will start seeing Rufus activities. Not because of some kind of reward, but that it is what you do when you are about others in your society. Such as this quick video illustrates. HERE.
America speak with a forked tongue
Here’s an interesting side by side comparison of (then) Vice President Biden telling the Chinese that America is committed to a “rising China”. And then next to it we see President Biden announcing to the White house press corps that America must stop China from rising at all costs. Sheech! HERE.
Nice Chinese girl
Here’s a nice Chinese girl. According to Arkansas she looks young. They told me that “everyone” in China looks like children. That’s the ONLY reason why anyone would ever want to visit that slimy, filthy, oozing, cesspool of pollution, crime and corruption. Look at her ooze childish filth! HERE.
Rural Africa now has factories
The Chinese have spent the time building factories, and training workers to make basic items in the very remote villages and settlements of Africa. These areas used to be poverty ridden, and controlled by war-lords who lived on United States funds and corruption. But with the investments of infrastructure and a market for manufactured goods, the money now flows to these workers who make these products inside of Africa. HERE.
This vblogger was attacked horrifically by the BBC
They claimed that he was only saying good things about China because the communist regime paid him to do so. And then they took frames from his video, used photoshop to darken them, turn the lush green trees grey, turn the blue sky grey and then produced it to their audience of millions. Never a retraction. HERE.
The BBC tries to attack China on Global Warming
It’s unsuccessful. Anyone who knows anything about China will now defend China and no longer take the bullshit narrative at face value. That game is over. And here’s a nice video that illustrates this spectacularly. HERE.
BBC Journalist admits his directives
Pretty ballsy. After all, his future as a “journalist” in the West is now over. He pretty much admits that the primary directives in most (heck, all) Western media is to malign China, and to provide a very false image and picture for the viewers of the BCC of what China is and what is going on. HERE.
Chinese cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is real and it is present today inside of China. The rest of the world, hidden behind agendas and fear-mongering has lied itself into a box, and the rising China, and all of Asia makes the rest of the world look like ignorant psychopathic used car salesmen in comparison, with collapsing infrastructure, a lack of morals, and no accomplishments except the theft of money from others. HERE.
This fellow tells you why the USA was in Afghanistan…
And also explains why the neocons on K-street in Washington DC are all “up in arms” and enraged over the American troop withdrawal. But don’t worry, the UK “news” media is already spinning how unstable that region is and the Biden made a “power move”, and yada, yada, yada. HERE.
Comparison in starting a business
Here’s an American telling you how it is when you try to start a digital business int he United States compared to one in China. The difference is striking and he is right. America is the land with a million tiny, tiny hands in your wallet all taking a million little bites of your money. And why no one in America is doing well today (unless they are a super wealthy oligarch). HERE.
Look at all those volunteers
First day of school. All those in red are not all teachers, but actually many are volunteers for their community. A mother brings her handicapped child to the school. Being a little kid, scared, and frightened on top of having a handicap, must be really difficult. Not so, if the school welcomes you as one of their own. HERE.
China is showing the way forward…
…And the United States leadership are petrified of it. Their cushy lifestyle, the belief that they are the “kings” sitting all on the top of the money pile, only works as long as the downtrodden slave-serfs are happy in their lot. But increasingly they are not happy, and they want change. And China is showing them the answer out. HERE.
A show of kindness
In a “dog eat dog” kind of society, everyone is living in fear, and hiding from others. They never stick their neck out for anyone else other than themselves. But in a society where the well being of the community is important, then everyone has a role, as this little girl clearly shows. HERE.
The duty of government is for it’s people
And if the government stops doing that, and / or doesn’t care or is unable to help the citizenry of that nation, then it must be replaced. We have seen this in China with the events of the “cultural revolution”, and then the efforts of Mr. Deng. Now, we see with great surprise how well China prospers when it’s government cares for it’s people. But we see the opposite in the United States. What went wrong? HERE.
Will you marry me?
This just happened at the Olympics. I guess that you all weren’t aware of it because it showed China in a good light, and that (of course) goes against American (and UK) “news” guidelines. HERE.
A five minute overview of what the Chinese Communist Party is
Here it is in a “nutshell”. In five minutes you get a very good, thick and comprehensive overview of what the Chinese communist party is, and why it has been so successful inside of China. It’s really quite well stated, and tell you as it is. Like it or not. HERE.
Inner Mongolia
Well, when was the last time you have seen a picture of Inner Mongolia? Don’t remember? Well, that’s understandable. There’s hardly anything on this subject in the Western press. Here’s an absolutely great video that covers so many subject areas, from infrastructure, to beauty, to planning, to nature. HERE.
Trade Tariffs
Well, what about those 20% trade tariffs that President Trump put on American products, and that Biden decided to keep in place. You know, “to keep the pressure on China”. What is going on? I have to tell you guys, the American leadership is so moronic it defies description. HERE.
Built like a fish
In the United States, when we see a well-built woman, we say that she is “built like a battleship”. Another term is that she is “built like a brick house”. African-American men, who almost uniformly prefer huge asses on women like to say “she has a big caboose”, or “she has some fine booty”. In China, an attractive woman is one that has the lines and shape of a fish. And so people say that she “has a nice fish shape” as this woman HERE.
Chinese Military
I’ve got tons of videos on the Chinese military. But let me just say that the Chinese believe in using enormous quantities of AI guided robotic missiles to destroy everything in it’s path before unleashing hordes of tactically trained professional troops to take over a given area. China does not play. HERE.
Oh, but China cannot innovate
They can only copy. Right? That’s the narrative. Isn’t it? Who are they copying with their bridge building machines? Who are they copying with their nuclear systems? Who are they copying with their 6G? Or their HarmonyOS, or their QR codes, or their High Speed Rail. The lies are so outrageous that when I hear someone repeat them, I no longer get angry. Instead I look at the person as being one of the most out-of-touch and ill-informed ignoramuses on the planet. HERE.
Playing with fire
In the United States, we have an idiom called “playing with fire”. It means to do something dangerous or risky. These provocations that the United States Navy is doing in the South China Sea could end up getting people killed. It’s not so much that I worry about China. They have time and time again, proven themselves to be intimately capable. But I would hate to see the seventh fleet destroyed with all those lives lost. HERE.
Dancing at night
I have discussed this numerous times. It all started with the “dancing grandmothers”, and now with the government’s help and direction, it has become a national pastime. Everyone loves to dance in China, and if you want to go and dance, you just go and do it. Woo woo! HERE.
Senator Mikulski warns that going against China would be very, very dangerous
I normally don’t care for her (personally). but she is actually quite right here. Pushing China like the USA is currently doing is very, very dangerous. And the morons in the control of the nation of America haven’t a clue as to how dangerous it can actually get. HERE.
Who are the CPC Members?
Another very good, and short video that tells you exactly what is going on and just how absolutely insane the Neocon United Sates radical military-lovers are when they make such outrageous pronouncements and demands upon China. Crazy! HERE.
Going to help others
A scooter gets in an accident in the middle of an intersection of two six lane highways. What happens? Everyone gets out of their cars and runs over to help the poor guy in his overturned vehicle. This is what communities do. They don’t drive slowly by and gawk or take pictures like an American does. HERE.
Conclusion
In the $4 trillion dollar budget passed by President Biden are billions of dollars to “suppress” China, further censor media so that China is villainized and made out to be an evil “thing” to be destroyed. It is my hope that this little article helps put things in perspective.
Do you want more?
This particular article is going into my China Summer Videos Index here…
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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Here’s a mixtures of videos describing Rufus behaviors. They all occur on a public bus inside of China. There’s a few actual videos, and a number of dramatized videos. In almost every incidence, the dramatized event actually happened.
While it might be confusing for those who cannot read or understand Chinese, the videos themselves are easy enough to understand. They are presented here to show everyone to remember our humanity.
We are all part of something.
Never forget that. We are not isolated and alone.
We are part of something.
We belong. Be the Rufus that keeps the world happy, safe, and good.
Helping a young blind girl learn how to use a cane…
This is an actual video taken on a bus. The mother is helping the daughter learn how to use a walking-cane to navigate using the public bus transport system.
Mind your own business. Don’t get involved.
For the last fifty years of so there has been an assault in the West (and especially in America) of not to get involved. If you see someone being rude, you ignore it. If you see someone taking mistreatment, you look the other way.
In a real community, we treat others as family.
If you are an older man or woman, just saying “Why do you take this shit?” is often just enough to make the much needed point. As in this dramatization of an actual event that happened.
.
Another dramatization that actually happened.
What happens when you lose your life (as in a fireman) to help others, and your spouse is heavy with an unborn child? What happens when others, not knowing your story, treat your family rudely and crudely?
We are all part of one great society and we all need to support each other. We need to stand up for each other, and support the weak. And we should have no tolerance for the rude and crude.
Here’s another true story in dramatized form.
.
Be the Light for others to look up towards
This one is not a dramatization. It’s the real deal. A young “boy scout” is playing on the bus when a soldier boards the bus. And there is an exchange of respect and saluting. But notice what the soldier does afterwards with the young boy…
There is no excuse for being rude.
Age is not an excuse. Nor is color, race, wealth, or knowledge. We must start to accept that everyone has a story, a background and a life. And we are not the only ones with issue sand problems. This is a dramatization, but based on a true event.
Here’s what sometimes happens to a Rufus…
It can be an uncaring world out there. This is a dramatization of an actual event. A Rufus saves a little girl and then is abused by his boss, old people on the bus, and parents. Do not expect to get awards, or metals for being a Rufus. It can be very unrewarding.
Rufus event in the small town
A mother with her infant are driving down the road and she loses control. Luckily there are Rufus’s all around. Watch what happens. What would you do, if you were there?
Rufus saves girl from maniac arsonist
This video happens so quickly. The fire department are called in to put out a blaze in a house. They find a man who set fire to the house, beat up some elderly people, and is now holding a little girl hostage. Seconds count. Only a Rufus can save the day…
Show some humanity
And why not. True or false, this next video is a great example of how we all must work to make the world a better place. Titles, wealth and position is society are meaningless unless we contribute helping others. Be the Rufus.
And on the light side…
Ah. Kitties. I love them.
I hope that all of you are having a fine day today. Thank you for reading this. -MM
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This is part of my “Beautiful girls of China” series. Here, we introduce the reader to China, and what it is today, by looking at the girls, women and ladies of China. In all cases the ladies are dancing, posing or just being themselves around their homes, businesses or city centers where they live. By looking at them, listening to the music, and paying attention to their surroundings you will end up getting a very clean and pristine vision of what China is, what it stands for and what it is actually like.
This is my own personal attempt to show others what I find so wonderful about China.
At the bare minimum you will at least get an opportunity to listen to contemporaneous Chinese pop music that plays all over the nation.
A beautiful Chinese woman in a wonderful flowing dress.
The girls and ladies come in all shapes and sizes. They all act and behave and dress differently. But the music selection and the short videos are wonderful in that it gives you a real idea what China is actually like. It’s the “feeling” that you get when you are here. And that is not easy to transmit. I hope that you all appreciate the images and visions that I present to you today.
Another lovely girl in China.
While I am showing images and videos of beautiful Chinese girls, I want to explain some of the great misconceptions about people, and relationships.
One thing that everyone doesn’t “get” (understand) is that when a couple wants to have sex, the Guy is always “ready to go”, and the woman “needs to warm up”. It’s not really accurate.
For men, watching a woman…
…being confident, looking good, smiling, acting cute; seductive, or just being playful is (de facto) foreplay. The mind, the thoughts and the emotions are engaged by watching the women be who they are. And when we say that it’s a “turn on”, we really meant it. Literally.
There’s few things more attractive to me than a confident woman, being herself, being clean, having a great conversation and eating delicious food. I think that many people don’t understand this. They think that being “sexy” is showing a lot of skin, and moving in provocative poses. That’s not true at all. Being sexy is just being yourself with all your faults and blemishes.
A normal, but very sexy girl. We all have to accept ourselves as we are, and be confident in that knowledge. That confidence makes us sexy.
In the following videos are girls being themselves, and showing their best images for the camera. And for me I think that it’s terribly sexy, and a great “turn on”. These ladies put the cream in my coffee if you get my mixed idioms, and they tenderize my meals. I like to believe that every single person on this planet, mean and women, are capable of being attractive.
All it requires is a good kind heart, and openness and willingness to be yourself. A kind of fearless acceptance of who you are. Smiling. Being open. And just engaging others. You are attractive.
Attractive Chinese girl on the escalator.
And while you are watching these ladies, please take note at the “feeling” you get. It’s a combination of imagery, motion, music, and environment. I can tell you that this “feeling” permeates all of China. From the smallest hamlets tot he largest cities. It’s a feeling of unity, of being one’s self, and pure unrestricted freedom. things that you really notice are missing in the United States today.
You do not need to show a lot of skin and wear skimpy clothing to be sexy. You just need to show personality.
When you watch the girls pay attention to the background. This is what China is. These are the homes that the Chinese live in. These are the buildings that they work in. These are the parks that they play in. These are the restaurants that they eat in.
Pay attention to the background. This is what China is actually like.
The video group A
I have broken down these videos into an easily downloaded zip file. HERE. Just download the file and open it up and start watching all the pretty girl videos.
Well, some you can just fall in love with them. Like this wonderful girl. She’s all about the delicious sundae (with a cherry on top) and coffee. Ahhhh!
And you do not need to be anything other than yourself…
There is nothing (to me) more attractive than a woman who is proud of herself, strong, yet oozing with kindness and softness. Like this lovely girl…
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this one in my Learning About China by Looking at Pretty Girls Index here…
Now how about that for a title. Maybe if I’m lucky, it might end up on page 500 in a Google search ranking. LOL.
…
The other day, I had to go to the doctor.
You see I have been taking blood pressure medicine. Somehow, probably due to my age, and most people my age do take this medicine, I had to join the ranks. And it was a good thing too. Mine was pretty high. On a number of occasions I was just about ready to pop.
Systolic blood pressure readings at least 140 or diastolic blood pressure readings at least 90 usually indicate Stage 2 Hypertension , which puts you at high risk for life-threatening problems such as heart attack and stroke. Once you become 60+ in age, the normal range is 134/87.
Mine was 165/ 96 most of the time. Yikes!
So he prescribed some blood pressure medicine for me. It was a little white pill. Dirt cheap. He said that I would have to take it for the rest of my life. I told him “okey dokey”, and he just looked at me. Being Chinese, I don’t think that he knew what that meant.
So then I said “thank you” in Chinese, and he smiled and all was good.
And I started taking it, every morning when I got up. First thing. pop that little white pill and start the day. And you know, after a while my body adjusted and my blood pressure lowered and stabilized and all was good.
But then, I started to have some side effects.
Nothing too radical, don’t you know.
For one, I started to get “elephant ankles”. My ankles both swelled up and looked like tree trunks.I was embarrassed to show my legs. They looked awful.
And my heart seemed to act strangely. I began to be “aware of it”. Like I knew that it was there, when before I didn’t care. If any of that makes sense.
Then, one night, I woke up clutching my heart. It felt like someone was tickling it.
So the next day we went to the local clinic and went to the doctor there. He looked at my mouth. He looked at my ears. He felt my chest. He checked my spine, and the under-soles of my feet. Then he nodded, and said that “yes, of course I was having some issues.”
So I went and had some further tests done. And then brought the results to him.
Mind you, this was all in the local clinic here. In China, the government treats local medical care as a very important aspect of life. And so not only is it efficient and quick, but it is pretty inexpensive. All told, the total cost was around 600 RMB, or maybe $85 USD.
Anyways, he told me that my heart was perfectly fine. Not to worry. My heart was good. And then prescribed me a bunch of heart medicine. Maybe five different types of pills, and a big garbage bag full of the boxes.
Ah. China.
Anyways, I went and ate a delicious fish afterwards and pondered my life. You do this from time to time, you know. You look at your life and you wonder and compare. You look at what it was like when you were young, and what your life is now. Not in sadness. Just in contemplation.
So I drank some wine.
It’s good for the heart, don’t you know.
And I ate some fish. Tasty, delicious, Chinese fish.
And I thought about things.
Lao Hunan fish. A little bit spicy.
Why the Hell was I living this life?
Which brought me to this point, and to this article.
Today it is the origin of consciousness is what we are going to talk about. We are going to discuss how YOU… that is your consciousness… came into being. And what is going on right now as YOU (as consciousness) are reading this here.
To begin with let’s start with something that both the Alien Interview and MAJestic agrees with.
In the beginning…
There was nothing, and then there was an explosion of quanta / particles that started to group together. They formed clumps. And over many, many, MANY trillions of trillions of years consciousness developed.
Over time…
IS-BEs are not physical universe entities.
They are a source of energy and illusion.
IS- BEs are not located in space or time, but can create space, place particles in space, create energy, and shape particles into various forms, cause the motion of forms, and animate forms.
Any form that is animated by an IS-BE is called life.
In Alien Interview, the extraterrestrial referred to these consciousnesses as IS-BE. In MAJestic, we just refer to it as consciousness. Which is pretty much the reason why I stick with referring to consciousness rather than IS-BE. I guess that I am just an old guy, with old habits that die hard.
Anyways, over many trillions of years, these individual consciousnesses started to interact with each other.
They started to communicate with each other.
They started to organize and they started to create a non-physical reality from which they would dwell, work and live within.
Before the formation of the physical universe there was a vast period during which universes were not solid, but wholly illusionary.
You might say that the universe was a universe of magical illusions which were made to appear and vanish at the will of the magician.
Then, after many, many more trillions of years, they decided to create a physical universe. And so they thought, organized, planned and then created a physical universe. Separate universes were brought together and unified to form one singular universe.
Each IS-BE entered into the physical universe when they lost their own, "home" universe. That is, when an IS-BE's "home" universe was overwhelmed by the physical universe, or when the IS-BE joined with other IS-BEs to create or conquer the physical universe.
We call that “the big bang”. And our “experts” have dated it to around 14 billion years ago.
The Creation of the Physical Reality
And of course, with the creation of the universe, we had the creation of all the planets, stars, galaxies and all of that.
And it took time.
And over many billions of years, these consciousnesses started to populate this physical universe with life.
Eventually creating archetypes that populated the universe. Each archetype had regional variations to live in certain environments. And the consciousness placed regional variants of these archetypes all over the universe.
The notion that human biological organisms evolved naturally from earlier ape-like forms is incorrect.
No physical evidence will ever be uncovered to substantiate the notion that modern humanoid bodies evolved on this planet.
The reason is simple: the idea that human bodies evolved spontaneously from the primordial ooze of chemical interactivity in the dim mists of time is nothing more than a hypnotic lie.
(It was) instilled by the amnesia operation to prevent your recollection of the true origins of Mankind.
Factually, humanoid bodies have existed in various forms throughout the universe for trillions of years.
So life abounded all over the universe. First with microbial life, then with plants, fishes, and so on and so forth.
Multiple Universes
Ah.
There are more than one universe. There are many, many universes. The physical universe (along with it’s non-physical universe components) is but one universe.
And yet there are many, many others. And we tend to refer to them as “Heaven”. Which tends to be confusing as many people confuse “Heaven for humans” with the non-physical reality that surround our MWI (in our universe).
In this fashion, all of the space, galaxies, suns, planets, and physical phenomena of this universe, including life forms, places, and events have been created by IS-BEs and sustained by mutual agreement that these things exist.
There are as many universes as there are IS-BEs to imagine, build and perceive them, each existing concurrently within its own continuum.
Each universe is created using its own unique set of rules, as imagined, altered, preserved or destroyed by one or more IS-BEs who created it.
Time, energy, objects and space, as defined in terms of the physical universe, may or may not exist in other universes.
The Domain exists in such a universe, as well as in the physical universe.
Now, both the “Alien Interview” and the MAJestic discourses agree about all this, for the most part. As far as I can tell the general overview is identical. MAJestic agrees with Alien Interview and, vice versa.
But now we come to a “fork in the road”. For there is a difference in belief or understanding between the two “camps”. Well sort-of. Maybe the understanding is looking at the same thing from different angles.
A difference in belief – Alien Interview
I am going to simplify my thoughts on this matter, and I might be in error…
According to “Alien Interview”, all consciousness was created a long, long, long time ago.
Airl explained that IS-BEs have been around since before the beginning of the universe. The reason they are called "immortal", is because a "spirit" is not born and cannot die, but exists in a personally postulated perception of "is - will be".
And, the various consciousnesses entered “our” universe at different times.
IS-BEs arrival or invasion into the physical universe took place at different times, some 60 trillion years ago, and others only 3 trillion.
So to summarize, according to Alien Interview, consciousness comes from somewhere outside of time and space and it creates a universe to live in. Eventually, the universes merge with other universes, and the consciousness exists within this growing and expanding universe.
Now, let’s look at what I was instructed during my time in MAJestic…
A difference in belief – MAJestic
This is a compilation of <redacted> (not that it's secret, but the background is way too involved to get involved with at this time.) from a combination of sources that <redacted>. EBP and ELF sourced.
Consciousness is constructed in “human Heaven”. It originates from Soul. It is built up through the collection of quanta obtained through experiences. And becomes more and more advanced over time.
Thus the purpose of reincarnation, over and over again, is to improve the soul, that consciousness derives from.
Thus, for the humans to learn, grow, mover forward to the “next big thing” they need to experience life, after life, after life, over and over again. Each time getting bigger, and better.
And eventually…
…some day, they will evolve into something else.
I made a graphic of this on one of my articles. How you start off as a microbe, obtain experiences, then are an insect. You obtain more experiences, then become a humans, etc.. etc.
The fundamental difference
The fundamental differences between what Alien Interview said, and MAJestic said can be classified as following…
Alien Interview – Consciousness came before the universe, and is perfect as is.
MAJestic – Consciousness is created in Heaven, and needs to experience reincarnation to evolve.
Both could be true simultaneously, or one could be true alone.
I suppose it is up to the reader to determine which one is most accurate.
MM thoughts
I suppose that the earliest consciousnesses from the start of everything could be considered part of “The Domain”. And other consciousnesses that formed piecemeal, and have formed in other universes, can also be existent.
And in a universe where anything is possible, the ability to create a consciousness must also be possible.
And if you are going to create a consciousness, wouldn’t it make sense to cultivate and “grow” it? And growth through the accumulation of quanta obtained by experiences does make sense.
But…
[1] Omniscient. According to Alien Interview, once you obtain consciousness, you automatically know everything. You are omniscient. Thus you don’t need to “learn anything”. You don’t need to grow and advance, and evolve.
So why do this?
[2] Reincarnation. There are many ways of obtaining knowledge, and experience. Yet, WHY do you need to reincarnate, back to earth, with your memories erased? Why not build upon what you learned from your previous life? Wouldn’t that be more efficient, and better for the consciousness? You do not NEED to forget things.
Cats don’t.
Dogs don’t.
Horses don’t.
What purpose does amnesia have? And what does it have with building quanta associations? It doesn’t make sense, as far as I can see.
These two points [1 and 2] seem to invalidate the MAJestic belief system. Now, maybe I am being wrong in all this…
But, to me, it seems that the idea that you MUST reincarnate over and over in the hope of some eventual reward smacks of fraud.
It’s like the USA election process. Every four years you have an election, and over and over and over, but nothing changes. You are given the illusion that you have some ability to change things, but in truth you don’t have any ability at all.
Let’s elaborate on this some…
For most of humanity, we are taught that there is one God, and that we must live our lives and fulfill certain requirements and then when we die will be rewarded with Heaven. Different religions have different terms, and different processes, and different laws, but the basic idea stays the same.
The basic idea stays the same.
Then there are “secret” organizations. Some like MAJestic, and occult studies teach (in their various ways) that the truth is something different.
You learn that when you die, you meet guides who will take you to a “tunnel of light”. When you pass through that tunnel you will arrive in Heaven. And there in Heaven, you will be judged. Then for one reason or the other, you must “return to Earth” as part of some “mission”.
But Alien Interview says something quite different…
As consciousness…
No human being ever assumes personal responsibility for the fact that they, themselves -- individually and collectively -- are gods. This fact alone is the source of entrapment for every IS-BE.
Thus there is no need for “secret missions”, “growth through suffering”, “reincarnation”, “learning or training” in regards to this belief system.
While the extraterrestrial stated that it did go through some specific training to operate various physical objects and roles, they pertained to interaction with the physical universe in one way or the other. While these other “secret societies” and geography of Heaven refer to training to improve one’s being or improve one’s consciousness.
Yet, in Alien Interview we learn that once you are consciousness, you know everything. You transcend the universe.
So to me, it appears that this belief that you go through the “tunnel of light” will take you to Heaven is a trap. Instead it appears to be an elaborate system of reprogramming, memory erasure, and extraction of your experiences.
I wrote about this before.
How other species can farm your soul for experiences. Where you have to relive a Hellish life, over and over again, and then extract the quantum associations, and then re-inject you back into the environment.
In fact, it is just like this Bruce Willis movie… Vice (2015).
Bruce Willis stars in this Sci-Fi thriller about ultimate resort: VICE, where customers can play out their wildest fantasies with artificial inhabitants who look like humans.
It is about an artificial human-being (an android) that escapes from a place where people can play out their wildest fantasies. The android (say a woman) would go into this environment with no memories and live out her life, then she encounters a “customer” to the environment who she thinks is a normal guy. The guy brutally rapes her, tortures her, and then kills her. He leaves, a squad a people come into the facility, extract her. Download her memories. Erase her memories, clean her up and send her back in for the next “customer”.
Then, she would go into this environment with no memories and live out her life, then she encounters a “customer” to the environment who she thinks is a normal guy. The guy brutally rapes her, tortures her, and then kills her. He leaves, a squad a people come into the facility, extract her. Download her memories. Erase her memories, clean her up and send her back in for the next “customer”.
Then, she would go into this environment with no memories and live out her life, then she encounters a “customer” to the environment who she thinks is a normal guy. The guy brutally rapes her, tortures her, and then kills her. He leaves, a squad a people come into the facility, extract her. Download her memories. Erase her memories, clean her up and send her back in for the next “customer”.
The movie is about one android who regains her memories and does not want to return back to that world.
That is what the Earth sounds like to me. It’s relive Hell over and over again, and never retain any memories so that you can learn from the experiences.
Vice (2015)
Conclusion
The more that I look at it, the clearer it becomes. The Alien Interview is everything that the extraterrestrial said it was. And as elaborate as the idea of Heaven is, I simply cannot reconcile the need for amnesia as part of a reincarnation process to “improve” consciousness and soul.
It seems to me that the best thing to do is upon death not to go into the “tunnel of light” no matter how much that you are drawn towards it. Instead, you just say put where you are in the incorporeal state.
I will cover, in later articles, how to establish “beacons” to alert others to retrieve you. And some other tools that might be helpful
In the meantime, relax. Make sure you are good and healthy. Eat some fine delicious food, drink some fine beverages (of your choice), and spend time with loved ones. Maybe sit on the porch. Have some lemonade. Watch the sun set. Or perhaps sit in your truck alone on a dirt road near some corn fields. Or, maybe ride to a cemetery. Park there, and eat a sandwich.
Did you ever just sit in your truck…
It’s the little things in life that matter most.
Do you want more?
I have more posts / articles like this in my Heaven Index…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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More videos of personal heroism in China. This is the late Summer 2021 edition.
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to load to get the full Articles & Links
Man with disabilities gives all his money to help those from the flood
Sometimes people go way over and beyond their abilities. This man with disabilities was so upset about the deaths from the flooding during July 2021, that he took all of his money, all of his savings and bought food and sent it off to the victims to help them. A Rufus in every way…
Rescue
During the massive sudden flood in China in July 2021, everyone was caught off guard. Many people were swept away by the raging water, caught underground, in subways, and in basements, and inside of cars. Those that weren’t were out in full force helping others. When you are part of a community, you become a natural Rufus.
Singing in thanks
Sometimes you just cannot help others. But you should show your gratitude. Here we have a school singing after China has controlled the Coronavirus. This was repeated all over China. The Chinese are the most patriotic people on the planet.
Disrespectful behavior
In Chinese society, you either participate to make it better, or you are an outsider, worthy of scorn. Here we have a chap that is acting very bad. He’s pinching the bottom of a girl minding her own business. So she slaps him, and reports him, and guess what? He’s doing time.
There is no place for rudeness
Here is a rude driver that arrogantly splashes a puddle on a police officer. This kind of behavior is tolerated in America, as well as other anti-social behaviors. Not so in China. Anti-social behavior comes at a cost, and it does affect social credit scoring. If you are an ass-hole your position in society plummets.
Not so in America, where all the ass-holes thrive. They screech! Freedom!
Quick save on the escalator
You are just minding your own business and you hear some gasps and yells behind you. You look up and there is this hearing impaired grandmother standing on the steps while an enormous heavy piece of luggage tumbles straight for her. What are you going to do?
Construction crew rescues boy
The high-rise is on fire. A young boy is trapped inside. What to do? How to rescue him? Luckily, next door is a construction crew full of Rufus’s and they are going to help rescue him. You need not worry when there are Rufus’s around.
Even in the darkest American distraught cities, Rufus’s come to help
Here we have a young child and a worried mother trapped on a building. What to do? Well, as long as there is one Rufus around everyone will come to help. And look at them. They come from every corner of the street, and from every building. Rufus’s are everywhere.
A Rufus acts instinctively
You see someone in danger and you spring into action. You don’t sit there wondering what to do. A Rufus acts. No time for selfies. No time to finish your burger. No time to see what your friends think. You Act.
Baby in crisis!
When seconds count, who can you rely on? The police? The fire? the old lady down the street? Nope, you only have you and it is YOUR time to shine. Be the Rufus anything else is a waste.
The BRI in Africa
China is offering all sorts of free building projects to improve the lifestyles of the people that trade with it. As a result there are tons of good will, and open markets for trade and a growth in the middle class. Here is Nairobi. They have better rail than Americans do.
After a flood…
You are looking for survivors and see this! What are you going to do? Take a selfie, or run to see if he’s still alive? Lucky for him, this was a Rufus, not a self-absorbed psychopath.
Emergency!
Out of nowhere a flood engulfs your town. Cars, trucks float ways, bridges collapse, and everyone is helpless. You managed to get to safety, but you see someone flailing in the water…they are being carried far away. What will you do? Say safe, or be the Rufus?
There’s a reason…
Yes. There’s a reason why China has been enforcing noise and air pollution regulations, and the offenders are not treated lightly. The environment is everyone’s concern and everyone must contribute to make the world a good and just place to live. And if you aren’t with the program, well…
Rufus level innovation
All over China we have facial scanning being employed. No longer will you need to press those dirty buttons, and go through invasive pat downs. Things are getting to the point that in China everything is fast, quick and seamless. From digital money, to key locks on doors. It’s all non-contact.
Boy prevents abduction
Some guy, looks drunk, but can be a dangerous predator approaches two kids and tries to carry one away. But the young Rufus will have none of this, and attacks the man. A real Rufus! His parents should be so proud!
Society that cares
it used to be that the Chinese didn’t care about anything. Just themselves. But this has changed once the government proved time and time again, that they are working for the best interests of society. And it affects everyone and everything all across the board. Even the tiniest details are taken cared for. This is how a functional society works.
A car flies off the highway
So you are driving down the road and you don’t even see the car have the accident. But you see that the car is damaged, crashed, and that there are people inside screaming for help. What are you going to do?
Appreciation
You see this all the time. The Chinese are oh, so patriotic. They want to contribute and to help. When the government sends people into THEIR communities, they give back generously. It’s just the way people act when they have a government that represents their interests.
Di Di driver says NO!
In China, the equivalent drive share APP to Uber is Didi. Here we have a DiDi driver kicking the passenger out of his car because the guy was rude and horrible. Good going Rufus!
Rufus times two
All of us working together can make this world a place worth living. This idea of being alone; the lone wolf is a terrible mistake. In Military Strategy it is desirable for the enemy to do this, because it is easy to exploit. But not so in a healthy, functioning society. You work together. you donate your time. You help others. You be the Rufus.
Just an average person
A Rufus is just an average person, like you and like me. We don’t want fame, payments or accolades. We just want to live our lives, be happy and have friends that we can share our time with. That’s all. But every now and then something goes wrong, and a real Rufus has to take action. Like this lass here…
Kindness is within reach
All over Asia, and most especially among the Chinese-friendly nations, there is a strong impetus to start caring for each other, your community, your society and your environment. And to this end there are commercials being promoted. This is one of them. You won’t see anything like this in America, the UK, or Australia. But you will in the rest of the world. It is all changing.
An argument
We don’t know what goes on in the lives and minds of others. What we do know is that when you hear someone crying in distress, a real Rufus springs into action. They do not care about the consequences. They take action!
A talented rescue
Wow. Obviously this fellow had some sort of training. Superman or Rufus? You judge. Whatever he is, he is wonderful and he saved a life in the process. We should all strive to be the best that we can be. And in the process the Rufus inside all of us shines through.
Showing appreciation
Not only are the Chinese hyper-patriotic, but they 100% support their government, their police and their firemen. This is the welcome that the firefighters received in the flood damaged areas of China in 2021.
A young Rufus
A man is having trouble paying for his bus fare. Lucky for him there is a young Rufus nearby that wants to help. We all need each other. It helps keep the stress of day to day unexpected problems down, and generates good feelings all around. Be that Rufus. Young man, I salute you!
Emergency!
You are giving a girl a ride in your DiDi and suddenly she starts going into trouble. What do you do? Well, you must be calm and be the Rufus, and you call the police and drive her to the hospital. You don’t stop. you don’t think. You don’t do anything else. You be the Rufus.
Coronavirus staff
So many people are volunteering in China to help others. All those people assisting with the inoculations are all volunteers. They are not paid for what they are doing. They are giving and contributing in their society.
Here’s a group of hot and thirsty volunteers. They all wanted to get some energy drinks. But the woman running the register is a Rufus. She would never allow them to pay. So she paid for their drinks herself. She says that it’s the least that she can do.
A Rufus adapts
An ambulance carrying an accident victim overturns in a second automobile accident. She needs immediate care. What are you going to do? Lucky there is a Rufus nearby who owns a flat-bed truck and he helps the entire crew make it to the hospital. Be the Rufus!
Soldier rescues a downing person
You don’t know when the call will strike. You cannot prepare for it. You cannot plan for it. You cannot forecast it. All you can do is be the best you can be and when you are needed you simply go forth and help in whatever way that you can. We all need others in our lives. Be that Rufus.
Electric trike turned over
A man and his electric trike scooter goes belly up right in front of you. What are you going to do? Honk your horn like a rude American, or get the heck out of your seat and go and help him? Well I can tell you that it is the Rufus’s in this world that make it worth living.
Helping the animals
We should always help the animals around us. We must help them, and guide them. Often they can get hurt and highways are terrible on animals. From cats and dogs to horses, pigs and birds, we must help when we can. Like this fine Rufus here.
Electric wheelchair stalled in the street
So here is a crippled man on his electric wheelchair stalled in the middle of the street in the middle of a storm. Aren’t you glad that you are not him? Or not. Maybe you are a Rufus, and you leave your dry spot and help the poor guy out. Be the Rufus. Only a Rufus is worthy.
The tunnels are flooded!
During the flood of July 2021, many people were trapped in their cars, in tunnels and in subways, and as the water rose their only escape was out through the sewer drains. Here we have some survivors making their way to the surface and the Rufus’s that helped them.
Grandmother stops a kidnapping
She’s going home. Minding her own business, when she hears a commotion behind her. What? That six year old is being absucted. Not on her watch! So she springs to action. SHe things of nothing else. You go grandma! You go! A full-on Rufus
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Based on a story by Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come is a surrealist tale of the afterlife. While there are numerous things in the movie that are visually appealing, and a compelling story line, the movie itself depicts some critical aspects of the “afterlife” and Heaven incorrectly.
Yet, it has some VERY IMPORTANT messages for MM readers.
What Dreams May Come would have to be one of the most intelligent, emotional, visually beautiful, and well acted projects ever to grace the screen. And when you add in the story-line that includes rescuing a loved one who is suffering from amnesia and needs to be rescued, you can see the value of the movie content.
Especially in light of the content of “Alien Interview”.
Aside from the faulty story-line, and the inaccuracies of the depiction of Heaven, I would like to use it to help depict what the non-physical reality resembles for a disincarnate entity that returns to it. And at that, this is the purpose of this article. It is to use already available imagery to describe the non-physical world(s) for purpose of education and understanding.
Brief Movie Summary
While vacationing in Switzerland, physician Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meets artist Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra). They are instantly attracted to each other, and bond as if they had known each other for a long time. They marry and have two children: Ian (Josh Paddock) and Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant). Their idyllic life comes to an end when the children die in a car crash. Life becomes very difficult: Annie suffers a mental breakdown, and the strains on their marriage threaten to lead to divorce, but they manage to struggle through their losses.
On the anniversary of the day they decided not to divorce, Chris is killed in a car accident. Unaware that he is dead and confused when nobody can interact with him, Chris lingers on Earth. He watches Annie’s attempts to cope with the loss and he attempts to communicate with her, despite advice from a spirit-like presence that it will only cause her pain. When his attempts only leave her more distraught, he decides to move on.
Chris awakens in Heaven, and finds that his immediate surroundings are controlled by his imagination. He meets a man (Cuba Gooding Jr.) whom Chris seems to recognize as Albert, his friend and mentor from his medical residency, and the spirit-like presence from his time as a “ghost” on Earth.
Albert will be his guide in this new life.
Albert teaches Chris about his new existence in Heaven, and how to shape his little corner of it and to travel to others’ “dreams”. They are surprised when a Blue Jacaranda tree appears unbidden in Chris’ surroundings, matching a tree in a new painting by Annie, which was inspired by Annie’s belief that she can communicate with Chris in the afterlife. Albert explains to Chris that this is a sign that the couple are truly soul mates.
However, Annie is overcome with despair and decides that Chris cannot, in fact, “see” the painting and destroys the piece. Chris sees his version of the tree disintegrate before his eyes which coincides with the painting being destroyed in the real world.
What dreams may come.
Chris laments he will not see his wife and encounters an Asian woman with the name tag “Leona”, whom he comes to recognize as his daughter Marie, living in an area shaped like a diorama she loved in life. The two share a tearful reunion.
Meanwhile on Earth, Annie is unable to cope with the loss of her husband. She then decides to commit suicide. Chris, who is initially relieved that her suffering is over, quickly becomes angry when he learns that those who commit suicide are sent to Hell; this is not the result of any judgment made against them, but that it is their nature to create “nightmare” afterlife worlds based on their pain.
Chris is adamant that he will rescue Annie from Hell, despite Albert’s insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so. Albert agrees to find Chris a “tracker” (who takes the form of Sigmund Freud) to help find Annie’s soul.
On the journey to Hell, Chris finds himself recalling his son, Ian. Remembering how he’d called him the one man he’d want at his side to brave Hell, Chris realizes Albert is Ian.
Ian explains that he chose Albert’s appearance because he knew that Chris would listen to Albert without reservation. Before they part ways, Ian begs Chris to remember how he saved his marriage following Ian and Marie’s deaths. Chris then journeys onward with the tracker.
After traversing a field containing the faces of the damned, they come to a dark and twisted replica of Chris and Annie’s house. The tracker then reveals himself as the real Albert, and warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes he may become permanently trapped in Hell. All that Chris can reasonably expect is a chance to say a final farewell to Annie.
Chris enters the house to find Annie suffering from amnesia, unable even to remember her suicide and tortured by her decrepit surroundings. Unable to stir her memories, he “gives up”, but not the way the Tracker hoped he would; he chooses to join Annie forever in Hell.
As he announces his intent to stay to Annie, his words parallel something he had said to her when he left her in an institution following their children’s deaths, and she regains her memories even as Chris is succumbing to her nightmare.
Annie, wanting nothing more at that moment than to save Chris, ascends to Heaven, bringing Chris with her.
Chris and Annie are reunited with their children in Heaven, whose original appearances are restored. Chris proposes reincarnation, so that he and Annie can experience life together all over again. The film ends with Chris and Annie meeting again as young children in a situation roughly parallel to their first meeting.
What Dreams May Come
Initial Reactions upon “arrival”
In the movie, he wakes up and doesn’t have any bearings. He doesn’t know what is going on, and is disoriented. Yet shortly afterwards, a companion and a beloved pet help him find his way.
In “real life”, this only occurs for the youngest consciousnesses.
Most entities pretty much realize what is going on rather rapidly. They realize that they are out of their physical body, and that things are different, and that they can hear things and understand things with a clarity that they did not have before.
Typically, those who have gone through many reincarnations (over and over again) know exactly what is going on and then immediate move outward and away from where the physical body may lie. Those really (inexperienced) consciousnesses get confused and disoriented, but they immediate see friends, family and associations that come to them and help them during this crisis.
What Dreams May Come
So you need not worry. It is extraordinarily rare to be surprised once you stop cycling in and out of world-lines. You just stay on the Exit Template and hang out as a disincarnate spirit for a while.
Depiction of Heaven
It’s such an arty movie. The colors are great, the CGI is wonderful. The backgrounds and backdrops are immense and profound. All of which is true in the non-physical reality.
What Dreams May Come
And true to form, there’s all sort of things going on that our physical senses are unable to discern. Everything from strange beings, to odd constructions and enormous (apparently man made) constructions. There’s all kinds of “stuff” in the non-physical reality that surrounds our physical reality.
Lack of a Life Review
One of the most disturbing things to me, about the movie is the lack of a “Life Review”. This is the most common event that disincarnate beings experience. And according to Dr. Newton, it occurs after the people enter the “tunnel of light”.
What Dreams May Come
This is a fundamental aspect of the reincarnation process. You are born, live a life, obtain experiences, have a life review and then are re-injected back in the reincarnation process.
A Trapped Soul
Trapped by amnesia.
…
What an interesting story plot. You go to Purgatory to prevent someone from staying in Hell. They have no memory. So therefore they are helpless and being ignorant have no idea how to escape the Hell that they exist within.
But isn’t that what all of us are, at least according to the Tpe-1 extraterrestrial in Alien Interview?
What Dreams May Come
Trapped on a never-ending cycle of endless reincarnations.
Pets and loved ones
Our loved ones are easy to track down. We, however, often need some help. As they often are in special locations (Heavens?) that require assistance to visit.
Of course you can meet up with beloved pets in Heaven. There’s just a simple process that you must go through. That’s all.
Never fear!
The good things you do now, and the good relationships that you build will never leave. Instead they will persist and be supportive of your journey in the non-physical worlds.
The decision to return to Earth together
I have covered this process on selection of the pre-birth world-line template and mapping out the life prior to reinsertion. Certainly there is a major review process involved, as well as particular elements of schooling. Dr. Newton has also covered this subject extensively.
Just because it wasn’t explored in great detail in the movie, does not mean that it is a minor decision. It’s a very involved process.
The most important lesson
All of this is fine and nice. But the real situation is that once you leave your body as a disincarnate consciousness, you are still attached to the MWI. You are really not in “Heaven”.
You are still running the world-line templates.
You still experience time.
Only now, stuck in the “wave” form. You are not in a physical form, and thus cannot alter the physical world around you.
Exit Template
So while you will see all sorts of things that you might have been unaware of when you were in the physical, you are really not in “Heaven”. Instead, you are still stuck on your “exit template”.
Exit Template This is the MWI topographical map that your consciousness was on and following at the time of your death.
While…
A Pre-Birth World-line Template Is the world-line template that was arranged for you (and by you) to obtain life experiences when you are first born.
For most people, the “Exit Template” will be the same as the “Pre-Birth World-Line Template”. For MM participants that practice affirmation prayer campaigns, and who have experienced “slides”, the templates will typically differ.
Slide The movement from one template map on the MWI to another.
So what ever trajectory your consciousness was engaged upon at the time of your death, you continue it without reinsertion to the physical body. And all that “stuff” all around you is just what what you would be seeing if you were in the physical.
Now…
You, of course, are free to explore all over the non-physical worlds. But only around your world-lines as defined by your template.
You need to exist the Physical Earth Reality. (Both the non-physical and the physical) That will take you out and away and able to enter “Heaven”. And this bridge is known as the tunnel of light.
Uh Oh!
That’s right!
Alien Interview
This is what the type-1 grey extraterrestrial had to say…
Eventually The Domain discovered that a wide area of space is monitored by an "electronic force field" which controls all of the IS-BEs in this end of the galaxy, including Earth.
The electronic force screen is designed to detect IS-BEs and prevent them from leaving the area.
If any IS-BE attempts to penetrate the force screen, it "captures" them in a kind of "electronic net".
The result is that the captured IS-BE is subjected to a very severe "brainwashing" treatment which erases the memory of the IS-BE.
This process uses a tremendous electrical shock, just like Earth psychiatrists use "electric shock therapy" to erase the memory and personality of a "patient" and to make them more "cooperative".
On Earth this "therapy" uses only a few hundred volts of electricity. However, the electrical voltage used by the "Old Empire" operation against IS-BEs is on the order of magnitude of billions of volts! This tremendous shock completely wipes out all the memory of the IS- BE.
The memory erasure is not just for one life or one body. It wipes out all of the accumulated experiences of a nearly infinite past, as well as the identity of the IS-BE!
The shock is intended to make it impossible for the IS-BE to remember who they are, where they came from, their knowledge or skills, their memory of the past, and ability to function as a spiritual entity.
They are overwhelmed into becoming a mindless, robotic non-entity.
After the shock a series of post hypnotic suggestions are used to install false memories, and a false time orientation in each IS-BE.
This includes the command to "return" to the base after the body dies, so that the same kind of shock and hypnosis can be done again, and again, again -- forever.
The hypnotic command also tells the "patient" to forget to remember.
What The Domain learned from the experience of this officer is that the "Old Empire" has been using Earth as a "prison planet" for a very long time -- exactly how long is unknown -- perhaps millions of years.
And this the the critical part…
So, when the body of the IS-BE dies they depart from the body.
They are detected by the "force screen".
They are captured.
They are "ordered" by hypnotic command to "return to the light".
So thus you have this issue. How do you get off from the Exit Template as a disincarnate entity, yet still avoid the “Old Empire” traps?
Evasion and Escape
The Type-1 grey extraterrestrial continued on…
The idea of "heaven" and the "afterlife" are part of the hypnotic suggestion -- a part of the treachery that makes the whole mechanism work.
So, the idea of a “Heaven” and a life in Heaven is part of this entire illusion.
To me what this sounds like is that (he / she / it) is saying that being a disincarnate entity does not NEED to enter a tunnel of light to proceed any further. That, the access to other “places” in the non-physical worlds is obtainable without entry to Heaven.
But…
So, when the body of the IS-BE dies they depart from the body.
They are detected by the "force screen".
They are captured.
They are "ordered" by hypnotic command to "return to the light".
We, as consciousness, must figure out a way to avoid the “electronic force screen, get captured and go into the light for memory erasure and reprogramming.
Mind Blown!
Now, long time readers to MM will recognize this next little graphic. I used it in describing how consciousness enters the MWI from Heaven…
Remember this?
Consciousness is the passageway or “tunnel” that connects the physical reality to the soul.
Here, I stated that the MWI was a bubble inside of a bigger universe known as Heaven.
And that the Soul resided inside of Heaven.
And thus our consciousness creates a path resembling a tunnel to get back to our Soul within Heaven.
But I no longer believe this.
I actually believe the Type-1 grey extraterrestrial that was interviewed in “Alien Interview”.
Reincarnation
Also from an earlier MM post.
If you look at this, it seems clear that the common denominator is that…
…going to Heaven always starts the injection process into a physical body as part of the reincarnation process.
The reincarnation process and procedure.
The extraterrestrial reports…
After the IS-BE has been shocked and hypnotized to erase the memory of the life just lived, the IS-BE is immediately "commanded", hypnotically, to "report" back to Earth, as though they were on a secret mission, to inhabit a new body.
Each IS-BE is told that they have a special purpose for being on Earth.
But, of course there is no purpose for being in a prison -- at least not for the prisoner.
Animal Heaven
As far as I am aware of pets, and animals do not enter a “tunnel of light” to go to their respective Heavens. And they do retain all their memories and other experiences when they reincarnate. This is true for dogs, for cat and for horses.
Animals do not enter a tunnel of light and retain their memories and self.
Humans enter a tunnel of light and lose their memories and get re-injected fresh with no prior knowledge.
The only exceptions seem to be young men, who were killed and then reinserted to the MWI quickly without further processing. They remember their prior life but not the earlier ones.
Failure to go to Heaven
Let’s look at what happens when the consciousness fails to go back to Heaven.
This is what happens…
So the immediate effect is that you stick to your Exit Template.
The Guardian Angel / Mantid
I can tell you that you DO NOT NEED to enter the “Tunnel of Light” to meet your “Guardian Angel” (otherwise known as a Mantid). You can take an injection of DMA for a brief but immediate consultation. And because of this fact, it seems quite clear that they are associated with you within this MWI.
What are they?
Catholic religion say that they are sent from Heaven. And that they dwell in Heaven.
It also says that there were good Angels and Bad Angels.
And the Bad Angels were banished to Hell. While the Good Angels stayed in Heaven.
I really do not know how helpful this Intel is.
One thing is for certain, there is no reason at all why you cannot meet your “Guardian Angel” or Mantid upon you death from the Exit Template. Though, I do not know if that is a good or a bad thing.
I can tell you that in my dealings with them, I never left the Reality Universe, and entered “Heaven”.
At least not that I was aware of. As far as I recall, all my dealings has been on the strange worlds that surround our Reality Universe in the non-physical realms.
Therefore, you MUST conclude that you do not NEED to enter the “tunnel of light” to meet with Angels.
Rabbit Hole
I just had a podcast today where I discussed Rabbit Holes. The idea is that once we get on a “binge” chasing after something, we often lose our way. We get caught up in the what it’s, and elaborations, and create extensive background stories to figure everything out.
Such was the case with Y2k, Mad Cow, and Exploding cell phones near gas pumps.
Today it is 5G radiation, Draco Reptilians, and Vaxx mind control.
And we just don’t want to go down that “Rabbit Hole” in regards to what happens once you enter the “Tunnel of Light”. Which is the great works that Dr. Newton has explored. Instead, we must dwell on the scant references that are based on what happens if YOU DON’T enter the “tunnel of light”.
Remember
Escape is possible.
The net result is that an IS-BE is unable to escape because they can't remember who they are, where they came from, where they are. They have been hypnotized to think they are someone, something, sometime, and somewhere other than where they really are.
The Domain officer who was "assassinated" while in the body of Archduke of Austria was, likewise, captured by the "Old Empire" force. Because this particular officer was a high powered IS-BE, compared to most, he was taken away to a secret "Old Empire" base under the surface of the planet Mars.
They put him into a special electronic prison cell and held him there.
Fortunately, this Domain officer was able to escape from the underground base after 27 years in captivity.
When he escaped from the "Old Empire" base, he returned immediately to his own base in the asteroid belt.
His commanding officer ordered that a battle cruiser be dispatched to the coordinates of the base provided by this officer and to destroy that base completely.
This "Old Empire" base was located a few hundred miles north of the equator on Mars in the Cydonia region.
What to watch out for
Consider this warning…
The most basic method to capture and immobilize an IS-BE is through the use of various kinds of "traps".
IS-BE traps have been made and put in place by many invading societies, such as the one that established the "Old Empire", beginning about sixty-four trillion years ago.
Traps are often set up in the "territory" of the IS-BEs being attacked.
Usually a trap is set with the electronic wave of "beauty" to attract the interest and attention of the IS-BE. When the IS-BE moves toward the source of the aesthetic wave, such as a beautiful building or beautiful music, the trap is activated by the energy put out by the IS-BE.
One of the most common trap mechanism uses the IS-BE's own thought energy output when the IS- BE tries to attack or fight back against the trap.
The trap is activated and energized by the IS-BE's own thought energy.
The harder the IS-BE fights against the trap, the more it pulls the IBS toward it and keeps them "stuck" in the trap.
Sounds ingenious and difficult.
Conclusion
There is a lot of speculation and misinformation concerning Heaven and the non-physical reality. Most humans do not want to die, have amnesia, and then return to start all over again in a new life.
Fuck that!
If The Domain sent ships to every corner of the universe in search of "Hell", their quest could end on Earth. What greater brutality can be inflicted on anyone than to erase the spiritual awareness, identity, ability, and memory that is the essence of oneself?
But looking at what we do know, and then extrapolating from reliable sources a picture emerges of what happens and how we can handle ourselves upon death.
We emerge from the Exit Template upon death and stay there in the non-physical reality until we enter the “tunnel of light”. Then, all indications are that what happens is exactly as described by the Type-1 extraterrestrial in “Alien Interview”, and we are recycled back to live yet another life all over again.
The Doctor Newton writings, as great as they are, approach this situation as normal. That this is just the way it is, and that there are no other options.
The Type-1 grey extraterrestrial says otherwise.
The question now becomes [1] How do we avoid the “tunnel of light”, [2] Avoid and evade the electronic “force field” that exists around this physical region, and [3] go “elsewhere” and stop the entire cycle of death and rebirth.
Stay tuned. I do have answers!
And they employ the Type-1 greys, and (possibly) your “Guardian Angel” the Mantid assigned to you.
Although the military base of the "Old Empire" was destroyed, unfortunately, much of the vast machinery of the IS-BE force screens, the electroshock / amnesia / hypnosis machinery continues to function in other undiscovered locations right up to the present moment. The main base or control center for this "mind control prison" operation has never been found. So, the influences of this base, or bases, are still in effect.
And to this end, they seem receptive to assist…
The members of the lost Battalion and many other IS-BEs on Earth, could be valuable citizens of The Domain...
Unfortunately, there has been no workable method conceived to emancipate the IS-BEs from Earth.
... until such time as the proper resources can be allocated to locate and destroy the "Old Empire" force screen and amnesia machinery and develop a therapy to restore the memory of an IS-BE."
I do believe that now is that time.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this one in my Heaven Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Col Mattel: "Avocados are vital to this nation's security interests. With the communists already in control of Nicaragua and Guatemala and El Salvador strife with revolution California is the last secure supply of Avocados in the free world. We're on the verge of a major Avocado gap!"
Introduction
Life is often too serious. So, perhaps the best solution is to relax, and look at something silly. And there is perhaps nothing sillier than what Hollywood produces these days. And so, let’s look at one of the “crown jewels” of Hollywood.
Better than reading American “news”.
The Characters
Dr. Margo Hunt – Shannon Tweed! Professor of Feminist Studies.
Bunny – Every liberated woman’s nightmare, but she wants to be a feminist. This girl has more outfits than you can shake a stick at.
Jim – Bill Maher! Inept guide who once had a one night stand with Margo.
Dr. Kurtz – Another feminist, author of “Smart Women, Stupid Insensitive Men.” Throws herself into a pool of Piranhas in the end.
Colonel Mattel – Head of the National Security Commission on Avocado Affairs. He has one eye.
Piranha Women – Savage feminists who believe men should be killed and eaten with guacamolle dip.
Barracuda Women – Savage feminists who believe men should be killed and eaten with clam dip.
The plot is straight out of California.
The Plot
Talk about strange and wonderous things!
This film is full of camp, not only is southern California transformed into wild avocado jungle but it is inhabited by man eating feminists! Shannon Tweed, whose breasts have starred in numerous films, is a teacher of women’s studies!
Then of course there is Bunny, this girl is every teenage guy’s dream and every feminists nightmare – but she wants to be a progressive woman.
There are plenty of little gags here and there, most of them involving Maher and Bunny being boneheads.
Dr. Hunt is recruited by the U.S. Government to make liaison with the Pirahna Women and hires Jim as her guide.
After encountering vicious hippos, catfish, and Donnahews (men who knit and cook) the explorers discover the Pirahna women are led by a savage ex-feminist and poised to wage war!
Bunny nearly joins the cannibals but is unable to complete the initiation rite, which involves her making love to then consuming Jim.
Everything works out in the end though, Kurtz is slain, Jim and Bunny marry, and Dr. Hunt returns to her college.
A fun film with plenty of women running around in leather loincloths and tops.
Bunny: "Well, sometimes when I'm with a guy I wish that he would tie me up with red licorice ropes and then spank me...and then he'd eat the ropes... and then he'd free me...and then we'd make love while the philharmonic played 'Bolero.'"
Things I learned…
Most of southern California is virgin jungle.
Girls just want to tear men into strips and eat them with gaucamolle dip.
An hour and a half of feminine nonsense punctuated with half-nude women is tolerable.
Bill Maher is the last real man but he looks fairly effeminate in a white neck kerchief.
There are leopards living wild in California.
Lost female tribes speak French.
If given a choice between Bill Maher or Shannon Tweed in their underwear I would pick the latter.
Bunny has a damn lot of clothes, what is up with this girl?
Goodness!
Stuff to watch out for
3 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
4 mins – Pretty pale skin for living in a jungle her whole life.
14 mins – Now this is a shirt.
18 mins – That’s a pretty small barrel for a .44 Magnum, maybe it’s a 44 Magnum divided by 2?
19 mins – Bunny in one of many outfits, where she keeps them nobody knows.
38 mins – Mallards in a tropical rain forest?
46 mins – Just conjuring up cases of beer huh? But why Old Milwaukee? Ugh.
75 mins – The compound must be right on the international date line, one side is day the other night.
Jim: "Okay, let's see...so she's going to make love to me, that's, that's good - but she's going to kill me and eat me, that's bad."
Movie Clip..
Ugh. If there is ever a moment to capture, it is Bill Maher accusing Shannon Tweed of being a cannibal feminist. He makes a convincing argument.
Do you want more?
Are you sure?
I have many more posts like this one in my Movie Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
If you have been paying a little attention at the International scene, you will be aware that China “clamped down” on the for-profit school model that was working inside of China. By the singular ‘stroke of a pen”, many Chinese billionaires suddenly lost a ton-load of money. And the West (read: America and the UK) are all in Shock. “What are they thinking” they holler.
They don’t “get it”. They do not understand. They think that making billions of dollars in profits is a sign of success and vibrancy. But no. It is not.
Again, China is showing the world, that it’s primary role is to take care of it’s citizens first. And if a few billionaires are crushed in the process, then so be it.
China’s hammer blow to private education shows it will do whatever it takes to meet its goals
Perceived as promoting inequality and a hindrance to birth rates, tutoring in China has suddenly been transformed into a non-profit industry. It’s a ruthless reminder that Xi Jinping will always put the needs of society first.
.
In a spectacular display of government authority, China has, with the stroke of a pen, demolished its $120-billion private education industry by forcing it to reform into a non-profit initiative.
The move has cost at least one billionaire his fortune.
It follows a number of crackdowns waged by Beijing against various sectors of the economy which were deemed to contravene the national interest. The ruthlessness of such sudden decision-making has undoubtedly shocked Western observers and capitalist advocates, yet its purpose appears to be twofold.
As highlighted by Reuters, Beijing is dismantling a sector which is not only exacerbating the inequality of education among rich and poor, but is also increasingly perceived as an obstacle to the country’s fertility rates.
So now the hammer has come down on it as a social disruption. It shows that Beijing is prepared to do whatever it takes to meet its national goals, and is another example of how the Chinese Communist Party’s authority has stiffened against the creeping liberalization which the West once welcomed.
Education is of exceptional importance in east Asian societies, and is often considered a determining factor in a family’s status. Parents invest heavily in their children’s future, and as a result the systems in these countries often turn out to be extremely competitive, resulting in an intense commitment towards extra-curricular and out-of-school private study.
This has sparked the development of a huge private education and tutoring sector, with parents investing vast amounts of money to ensure that their children can be among the very best. It is admirable yet strenuous, and it inevitably has a knock-on effect on fertility rates, as each child effectively becomes a massive investment.
The example of neighboring South Korea, which is fully developed, illustrates how in a capitalist society, the zealous over-competitiveness of the education system is having negative effects on society. High-school-age children typically go to school, only to attend private ‘Hagwon’ classes afterwards, which often offer miserable working conditions for the teachers involved.
As a country that is developing fast, China has increasingly been heading in the same direction. Despite being a communist state, this has created a growing urban-rural divide, where the wealthy children of cities such as Shanghai are able to afford these educational boosters, but the poorer children of the provinces are left behind.
This is an obstacle for future growth.
Beijing also now sees this arrangement as dragging down its birth rate, which has become a national priority. A new white paper called for extensive reforms to enable people to be able to afford more children, including in education and healthcare.
As a result, Beijing has clamped down hard on this sector by instantaneously transforming it into a non-profit, sending shares plunging. The goal is not to end tutoring, but to make it more affordable and accessible to all, so the vices of inequality and capitalism cannot strangle society.
It’s a stark reminder that although China embraces market economics, it is nonetheless still a communist – state and under Xi Jinping, it is in many ways hardening its resolve to be so.
And this is, of course, precisely why the West does not like Xi.
The CPC chairman has reversed the trajectory of liberalisation in society, which Western observers once hoped would see China ‘evolve’ into a democracy. Instead, Xi has centralized and consolidated CPC rule.
His strategy is not so much tyranny, as has been caricatured, but based on an increasing belief that if China’s problems are to be overcome, the political will invested into it needs to more resolute.
The education saga helps explain why.
If the private education system was simply allowed to spiral out of control as a capitalist initiative – which is acceptable from a Western point of view – it would become an obstacle for the country’s other socio-economic goals and development.
Increasingly, we see this kind of ruthlessness shape Xi’s leadership of the country – such as at the start of the pandemic, when he imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, which was condemned by the West at the time, yet ultimately paid off.
Although the uncompromising nature of the Xi era has put China on a collision course with the West, it nonetheless may be what the country truly needs to move forward.
Many of his actions are arguably ‘necessary evils’ in the pursuit of a longer strategy, even if one believes they are morally troubling or even unacceptable.
The South Korean model of education is a warning sign of what can happen if an over-competitive educational culture is superseded by the demands of profit. Xi has just made sure this will not happen in China. It shows how the state is continuing to dominate Chinese society and drive forward its vision for the future, even if it means culling billionaires along that road.
Here’s some comments at the end of the article.
Tutoring, healing, feeding humans, providing water and energy should be non profit. Why?
Why should someone profit by providing basic services?
Tell me why?
Remark, non profit does not mean low wages nor free... it could mean efficient, fair, good and appreciated by customers, who would choose the best for them.
Hear! Hear!
Well I agree with the Chinese President because he believes that every child should have equal opportunity at the educational level.
A poor family cannot afford expensive private tutoring maybe leaving the child from that poor family at a disadvantage when it comes to performance in exams, and the opportunity for a place at university.
This is the best way to produce the best talent and China as a country will benefit in the future because of this policy.
I have always believed that countries should provide free education based on ability especially in science, technology, maths and medicine. Let them pay for their airy fairy degrees themselves. This is exactly what farmers have done forever, cultivate for best yield.
A brilliant management move by China.
As it will stop a lot of inequalities, people will blend better with 0ne streamline education, much of one class people, unlike in many countries private schools with troublesome, violent separate races, of different castes. And private schools tend to stretch the boundaries with different courses, subjects and outlandish thinking---not good for a society.
So much better to have one good public system only- let China show the way. The benefits for all people are ENORMOUS. I bet more than half of the people in the world will applaud 'the one education system.'
The corrosive capitalist mindset will surely turn China into a failed state like the US. It is a relief to see China protect itself and its people from the cancer that will subvert China and lead to its fall.
Keeping an eye on the pro-West cabals inside China will protect it from suffering the same fate as the Soviet Union. Learn from History!
American and Western media are shocked!
And you can tell how they just don’t have a clue as to what is going on. Reading it, it sounds so “breathless”, “gasping”, “exasperated”, and “frustrated”. Read this article from HERE.
Jeeze! Get a fucking life woman.
I highlighted the “kill words and phrases“.
Can you possibly tell me that this wasn’t processed through AI to develop a thoroughly negative impression of China? And this is just one example of how Americans are manipulated to hate and demonize China.
Check it out. Learn something.
China is extending its regulatory storm from tech to education
Just as China’s regulatory storm against big tech came abruptly and brutally, Beijing’s deepening crackdown on private education companies is plunging the entire sector into an existential crisis.
China’s State Council and the Party’s central committee have jointly issueda set of rules(link in Chinese) aimed at curtailing the sprawling sector that has flourished thanks to massive funding from global investors and ever increasing spending from families fighting to help their children gain a better footing in life. After years of high growth, the size of the after-school tutoring sector has reached upwards of $100 billion, of which online tutoring services account for around $40 billion.
“The timing is also interesting as it coincides with the crackdown on the tech companies, and further confirms the intention of the government to regain control [of] and restructure the economy,” said Henry Gao, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, referring to Beijing’s sweeping regulatory overhaul of tech companies including Alibaba and Tencent, which have either been fined for monopolistic practices, ordered to give up their exclusive rights in certain sectors, or, in the case of Didi, have fallen afoul of national security rules.
China’s “double reduction” policy
The rules, released over the weekend, aim to ease homework and after-school study hours for students, which the policy dubbed the “double reduction.” They stipulate that companies teaching subjects covered in primary and middle school, which are compulsory in China, should register as “nonprofit institutions,” essentially banning them from making returns for investors. No new private tutoring firms can register, while online education platforms also need to seek new approval from regulators despite their previous credentials.
Meanwhile, companies are also banned from raising capital, going public, or allowing foreign investors to hold stakes in the firms, posing a major legal puzzle for funds like US firm Tiger Global and Singapore state fund Temasek that have invested billions in the sector. In a further blow to China’s ed-tech startups, the rules also say that the education department should push for free online tutoring services across the country.
The companies are also banned from teaching on public holidays or weekends.
Double-digit reductions in Chinese stocks
The looming rules, first reported by Bloomberg last Friday (July 23), immediately led to a sell-off last week in US-listed veteran education players such as New Oriental Education & Technology and TAL Education. In trading in Hong Kong today, where Oriental floated a secondary listing last year, shares of the company plunged 47% today. Meanwhile, Larry Chen, the former schoolteacher who founded Gaotu Techedu, a major online education player, fell out of the ranks of China’s billionaires.
Major education companies have been quick to say they will comply with the new government rules. New Oriental, the largest Chinese player in this space, said that the new regulations will “have material adverse impact” on after-school tutoring services, a sentiment echoed by TAL.
The regulatory developments also spurred a broader $2 billion selloff in Chinese stocks, as the bar on foreign investment for education firms coupled with the crackdown on foreign IPOs after ride-hailing giant Didi confirmed to foreign investors just how exposed their investments are from China’s regulatory actions. Social media and gaming Tencent was down 7.7% in Hong Kong today after China told it to unwind its monopoly on exclusive music licensing rights, while food delivery giant Meitu was down nearly 14% after Chinese regulators today ordered better protections for delivery workers.
Why is China cracking down on education?
While the harshness of the new measures is surprising, the fact that they were coming wasn’t. In March, president Xi Jinping called after-school tutoring services a “social problem,” and in May he again lashed out at the industry’s “disorderly development.” Following Xi’s criticism of the sector, authorities set up a dedicated department to supervise it, including examining tutor qualifications and fees, as well as imposing a ban on teaching preschoolers primary school materials.
In addition to Beijing’s desire to put the brakes on tech sectors that it believes expanded too chaotically, the turn to education indicates the government’s worries about China’s dropping birth rate. One of the major purposes of the new rules is to “effectively ease the anxieties of parents,” as well as reduce family spending on education, according to the government document. A major obstacle for Chinese citizens to have more than one child is the sheer cost of doing so, and in particular the difficulty of securing a quality education, which authorities promised to address in May, when introducing the third-child policy.
One Chinese teacher Quartz spoke to noted that it may be middle-class families who feel this policy the most, given they are most likely to push their kids into tutoring. Affluent families, after all, can still engage private tutors or send their children abroad to elite schools.
“The new rules will benefit those who are in the grassroots class that don’t have much time or energy to supervise children’s studies,” said the teacher. “But for people like us who are in the middle-class bracket, we will be hit the hardest.”
The next target of China’s infinite crackdown
The new rules are yet another razor-sharp warning to global investors that high returns from investment in China Inc can turn into huge losses overnight.
Yuanfudao, one of China’s largest online tutoring service startups, raised $2.2 billion in two funding rounds partly led by Tencent in October, pushing its valuation to over $15.5 billion. But now it is unclear what will happen to the stakes held by investment firms, especially foreign ones, after the new rules dashed hopes of cashing out through upcoming IPOs.
“This incident highlights the crucial importance for global investors to have people who understand China, who can decipher investment risks from minor nuances in mundane government documents…Any company that wish to operate in China should put China’s regulatory uncertainties as the biggest risk factor,” said Gao, the professor.
The education sector is not the only one that needs to worry about government scrutiny, however.
On Weibo, many commentators have pointed at the housing market, whose skyrocketing prices have been cited often by citizens as a major difficulty to having children, as the next target of crackdown. In an analysis, Chinese financial columnist Jin Lun argues that any industry that is seen as contributing to people delaying having children will be a potential target. “High housing prices will also be cracked down as an ‘enemy’ that has been weighing down the birth rate. While the industry will continue to exist to meet demand, there is basically no hope of continuing to see housing prices rise,” wrote Jin.
Conclusion
This little article combines two other articles. The first was one from RT written by a long time Chinese observer. He describes what is going on and why. China is trying to avoid the “death traps that has so violently polluted the West.
The second article is how the event is “reported” in the American “news”. In this case MSM. It’ reads like a breathless hysterical document, and when you highlight the “Kill Phrases and words” the enormous density of them is strongly suggestive of AI processing.
How American “news” is written.
And as I have reported in the past, the “millions of dollars” to “control the anti-China” narrative funded by neocons is pretty relentless. This is just one such example. Can you possibly imagine what others might be?
Currently, Western Media is mostly inundated with lies about China since it's being demonized as the Enemy du Jour by the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals, so much of what's published is rubbish.
...Chinese media has much greater credibility. I'll close by saying this older publication detailing China's national plan for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as promoted by the UN contains the underlying rationale for many of China's policies.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 26 2021 20:32 utc
Meanwhile, in China, all is good.
I took some videos today. Enjoy. It’s a video (in five parts) of me walking out of my house, down the street, and getting a breakfast at Burger King. It’s everyday MM, but it will give you all a glimpse of what the “real” China is like.
I was in China teaching English in universities and to private students for much of the last fifteen years. I tried to go to a different province every year in an effort to understand China better. My subject was Oral English, and so my classes were entirely conversation.
Some things I saw:
1) Chinese generally are intensely patriotic although they may disagree with certain aspects of Chinese systems.
2) Class leaders and local leaders are ELECTED. Higher level leaders are selected by committees.
3) Chinese fashion looks longingly Westward, imitating hip-hop and clothing and even playing some latest Western hits to attract people into stores.
4) China has 95% eliminated paper and coin currency.
5) Chinese somehow think Western faces are more beautiful. Nose and eye jobs are common. I tell them their features are considered beautiful in the West. They are unfazed.
6) A mask is commonly worn for issues like a big pimple, a cough, or heavy pollution.
7) People generally follow rules without a problem, except when they don't. Cheating happens.
8) China has large land masses of designated minority areas with nominal or actual autonomous government. The population in these areas is not large, however.
9) Many many of those pushing their children in after school programs are hoping their children can go study abroad, and even maybe move abroad eventually.
10) Chinese by and large don't know how high their standard of living is compared to other areas. The world ranking don't actually compare cost of living. With good public transportation, well-planned neighborhoods, cheap medical care and top notch education, I admire China.
Posted by: HelenB | Jul 26 2021 23:19 utc | 63
China resembles the America that I grew up in.
What America was.
Not the America of today, a land ruled by psychopaths, serviced by zombie-serfs and slaves, and decay all around.
This situation, where the stark difference is a “bitch slap” to the American government, the American leadership, and the American structure is too alarming. And the evil, corrupt leadership dos not like it one single bit.
America used to be a land with factories. Real. Honest to goodness factories. Places where things, parts were fabricated and made. Like this…
America used to have real factories.
Today, America has precious few factories. Most of what constitutes as a factory (on the government listings) are best described as “design centers”, and “corporate headquarters”. The buildings look nice, and it’s all so shiny, new and clean. But, it’s a land of cubicles, and accountants. Of lawyers, and Human Resources. It’s staffed by finance and marketing types. Very few actual engineers or workers.
Anyways…
You have heard it all before. Haven’t you?
It just makes me want to get with a beloved pet, a cat and just hang out or snuggle.
Just some pictures of people snuggling with their cats…
Snuggle 1.
Snuggle 2.
Snuggle 3.
Snuggle 4.
Snuggle 5.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my New Beginnings index here..
There’s a great movie from the 1990’s titled “Defending your life”. It’s a fantasy movie about what it is like when you die, and you have to justify the kind of life that you had when you were alive. It’s a fun movie, a lite comedy romance. It’s fun. But I want to look at it from are more serious angle. And that is what we are going to do here.
Advertising executive Daniel Miller dies in an auto accident and finds himself in Judgment City. He is taken to a hotel to rest, and the next day he takes a tram downtown to meet his lawyer, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn). Diamond informs him that there is to be a five-day examination of his life to decide whether he has overcome fear. At a comedy club he meets Julia and they fall in love. But as their trials progress, it becomes clear Julia has overcome fear and is moving on, while Daniel seems doomed to go back to Earth.
—Diana Barahona
Roger Elbert writes…
It is Albert Brooks‘ notion in this film that after death we pass on to a sort of heavenly way station where we are given the opportunity to defend our actions during our most recent lifetime.
The process is like an American courtroom, with a prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, but the charges against us are never quite spelled out. The basic question seems to be, are we sure we did our best, given our opportunities?
Defending your life.
In the movie, Brooks plays Dan Miller, a successful exec who takes delivery on a new BMW and plows it into a bus while trying to adjust the CD player. He awakens in a place named Judgment City, which resembles those blandly modern office and hotel complexes around big airports. He’s given a room in a clean but spartan place that looks franchised by Motel 6.
Defending your life.
At first Dan is understandably dazed at finding himself dead, but the staff takes good care of him. He’s dressed in a flowing gown, whisked around the property on a bus, and told he can eat all he wants in the cafeteria (where the food is delicious but contains no calories).
Then he meets his genial, avuncular defense attorney (Rip Torn), and his hard-edged prosecutor (Lee Grant). It’s time for the courtroom, in which we see flashbacks to Dan’s life as he tries to explain himself.
Defending your life.
… (and) he falls in love with another sojourner in Judgment City.
Defending your life.
She is a sweet, open-faced, serene young woman named Julia and played, of course, by Meryl Streep, who is the only actress capable of providing the character’s Streepian qualities. They fall into like with one another.
Dan visits her hotel and is dismayed to discover that she has much better facilities than he does – Four Seasons instead of Motel 6 – and he wonders if maybe your hotel assignment is a clue about how well you lived your past life. But nobody in Judgment City will give him a straight answer to a question like that.
Defending your life.
The best thing about the movie, I think, is the notion of Judgment City itself. Doesn’t it make sense that heaven, for each society, would be a place much like the Earth that it knows? We’re still stuck with images of angels playing harps, which worked fine for Renaissance painters. But isn’t our modern world ready for images in which the angels look like Rotarians and CEOs?
Defending your life.
The movie is funny in a warm, fuzzy way, and it has a splendidly satisfactory ending.
MM Thoughts
The movie is a fiction.
But it does get a number of things right.
Review Process. There is always a review process once you exit the physical reality and return to the non-physical reality.
Judgement of your Actions. Yes, you are judged by your actions. There is no escape from that.
No Golden Harps. Forget the notions of golden harps, big diamonds and all those other images that are so conventional regarding the non-physical reality. There are other “things” in the non-physical reality, and you might be surprised how “futuristic”, and yet “conventional” they actually are. As well as the enormous scale of them.
Not immediately returned via reincarnation. Certainly the narrative from “Alien Interview” cautions that consciousness is immediately processed and thrown back to the physical Earth reality, without memories, but that is not my experience. Nor is that the experience of Dr. Newton.
Planning is required. A return back to the earth physical reality requires work, planning, and coordination. The only way that consciousness can return back and enter a new born body quickly is if the consciousness is being “punished” in some way. Like for attempting suicide or something like that.
How do I know all this? Well, as I have stated that there are channels, and to continue my ELF interactions it is (was) with another entity and that provided me insight. Not to mention that the EBP provides <redacted>.
Defending your life.
I strongly urge people to watch this movie.
Because there are so many things in the non-physical world that resemble what we have in the physical world that you would be astounded.
Also you all need to recognize that the overall sequence is obtain experiences, die, review, map out more experiences, and repeat.
Defending your life.
The general human on Earth sequence
Birth in a body
Obtain experiences.
Die.
Life review.
Map out what is next.
If Earth as a human, then…
Repeat.
Alien Interview
I have discussed the book “Alien Interview” elsewhere. I personally believe that it is exactly what it says it is.
I believe [1] the back-story that the documents were actual transcripts of an interrogation with a type-1 grey extraterrestrial in 1947. I also [2] believe that everything that was recorded and written down are what the extraterrestrial said, and further, [3]I believe that it was mostly truthful and [4] saying things truthfully based on it’s understanding in 1947. All in a way or manner that [5] would be understood by the post world-war II generals and leaders gathered at the Roswell military base.
However, as I parsed the book in great detail, I came to realize the there were some elements within the statements that could easily be misunderstood.
…
Earth as a “Prison Planet” and us convicts and felons within it, are immediately recycled back to Earth upon death, over and over and there is no escape…
…however, it listed numerous people who have actually managed to escape this environment. One has total recall and made great contributions to this region and was reassigned elsewhere in the universe.
So, obviously there ARE avenues of egress.
…
Further, this “Alien Interview” event spawned the creation of MAJestic shortly afterwards, and it enlisted folk like myself (MM) and we were tasked with “participating in events that were bigger than any government, and that mattered to the entire human species”.
For the period from the creation of MAJestic to today, the type-1 greys (and a number of other species) have been working with MAJestic towards certain objectives, goals, and directives.
I cannot help but believe that there has been some substantial changes in the situation of 1947 to today in 2021. And these changes have manifested in many ways. Such as [1] the ability to map out the topography of Heaven like Dr. Newton has (HERE), and [2] the recovery of memories of reincarnation that we see from time to time, and [3] the growth of the “new age” movements.
…
Whether the “constructions”, “arrangements” and the extensive geography of the non-physical reality is a [1] fabrication designed to entrap us earth-bound prisoners, or actually [2] the non-physical reality that surrounds the earth is unknown.
My personal belief is that the non-physical reality is exactly that. And the systems that force earth humans to immediately return to earth is broken. It no longer exists. However, what does exist is a massive non-physical infrastructure that is dedicated to humans experiencing and obtaining physical experiences. These experiences are all recorded in memories and still exist and are not erased. At least I can access them, and I very convinced that others can as well.
…
My constant entanglement with the EBP, as well as how my ELF probes worked before I was “retired” clearly indicate that there is a vibrant and active non-physical world all around us. Older and more advanced species enter and leave this reality at will.
It is complex, active, vibrant, and substantive. You not need to fear it, or to remember one time when you were “put under anesthesia” before an operation and blanked out with no memories. That was not death. That was something different. You should never believe that being put under by drugs is the same experience that you would have upon death.
…
This is a fun movie, but it reminds us that our actions as we live all have consequences. You can believe that it is “karma”. You can call it cycling through “reincarnations”. You can believe that it is “quantum associations”, or that “like thoughts attract like actions”. You can believe what ever seems most comfortable with you.
But I will definitively tell you that there is a community that exists outside of our reality, and it is populated with humans (and a lot of other “stuff”). And if you want to (as they say in the movie “move on to bigger and better things”) make this life a good one.
Make this life a great one.
Make a difference in this world. Help others. Do great things. Perform great works. Smile. Be the sunshine that helps others. Do not be the dark pit of blackness that takes and takes from others. Don’t do that.
Be kind and be helpful.
In the non-physical reality you will glow like a big beacon or torch. And others of similar beliefs will be attracted to you. Be great. You will be wonderful.
Watch the movie, and tell me what you all think.
Defending your life.
USA Streaming Access to the movie…
If you are in the United States, these are your best streaming options. All are with a price. Nothing is free in the USA.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here is part ten of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. This particular collection consists of a very average selection of attractive Chinese girls, and you all might just be “blown away” by the content. Indeed, there are some favorites in here.
As I said, this is a “no frills” presentation. Download the zip file and open it up. Inside will be a bunch of pretty girls videos. I do hope that you enjoy them.
Of course, the idea behind this presentation is to show that the people in China, and most especially the girls, are good and fine folk that do not resemble anything that is being portrayed in the American “news” media. And when you watch the girls, listen to the (mostly) Chinese pop music, you will start to notice something…
…they are happy. They are well fed, the buildings all look like they are well maintained. They eat well, the night life is alive, families look normal, and these none of that crime, and LGBT ram-rodding down your throats like you would see in the West. It’s refreshing.
This is China. It’s the “real deal”.
And for “new comers” it tends to be a bit of a shock. As they had no idea that Chinese women looked like this. They still hold on to the fantasies that are well promoted in the American press. But you know… it’s all a fiction.
Here’s what the girls in China look like…
Group AA
First up is this bevy of beauties. Some nice all around girls. For certain. The folder and files tend to be on the large size. Sorry for that.
You can get the zip file HERE. 490MB. It’s large and might take some time to download.
AA – A “buffalo wings” kind of girl
Here’s one of the girls from the mix. She reminds me of a dish that used to be common in the United States. They were called “Buffalo wings”, and you would get this basket of deep fried chicken wings and a small saucer of blue cheese dressing to dip them in.
Chicken wings girl.
I well remember one time in Syracuse New York, my wife (at that time) took me out to a restaurant on South Selina street, and we went to a (then famous) chain called “The Ground Round” and she bought me a set of eight “Buffalo wings” and clue cheese dressing to dip it in. The cost came to $120 something and just under her entire weekly pay check.
I wonder if the current crop of American leadership has ever had that experience? To live in a land where you work hard, and for your reward all you can afford is eight measly chicken wings. If you call that “exceptional government” then you have a hole in your head. China has a basic guideline that food, clothing, shelter, medical care, housing and clothing, as well as all government services should be affordable by 90% of the nation.
Anyways…
This girl reminds me of this basket of chicken wings.
And here is what a basket of chicken wings look like…
Buffalo wings.
By the way, does anyone know why this is called “finger food”, because sure as shit your fingers are gonna get messy eating these things.
Group BB
You can get the zip file HERE. 448MB. Again, it is a large file.
I tend to associate girls, women with food. It’s an association that I have, and I make no apologizes for it. Women are delicious, and so is food. Here’s some of my favorites from this group.
BB – Cream of Asparagus Soup girl
This lady reminds me of a nice bowl of cream of asparagus soup. With crackers, or those little “goldfish” crackers that you put in it. As well as a nice little mound of mild cheddar cheese, ground up and place don the top. And for some reason, I’m not quite sure why… A tall glass of mint iced tea.
Cream of asparagus soup girl.
If you compare her to the picture of an actual bowl of soup, you can easily see what I am talking about. Right? Or is it just me? This girl reminds me of this…
Cream of Asparagus Soup.
BB – (Not-a-Upside-down) banana split girl
This little cutie reminds me of an “banana split”. Served in a ceramic dish shaped like a boat, and a nice little flag on the top near the cherry. Can’t you just imagine going to an ice cream parlor and sharing a split with her? I can. It would be wonderful.
(Not a Upside down) banana split girl.
Come on! Can’t you just picture yourself sharing a banana split with this lass, chatting and just handing out in a fine air conditioned ice cream parlor?
An “old fashioned” banana split.
BB – Poached eggs on toast girl
This little lass reminds me of a simple meal. Poached eggs on toast with salted butter, some peanut butter, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Oh, and orange juice. This is the kind of girl that is best enjoyed in the morning.
Poached eggs on toast girl.
This is a morning girl. And what is more, she is most certainly a poached eggs on toast kind of girl…
The following girl is representative of this particular group. She is most certainly a baked ziti lass.
CC – A Baked Ziti Lass
You would think that I would be eating baked ziti all the time. After all it’s cheap and delicious and it is easy to make and delicious if you take the time to add the proper meat, and cheese. But guys, for me, that was not the case. I can never get it in China. And we tend to eat better than the cheapest foods that I grew up with. Further, I never ate it in prison, we mostly ate beans, global, artificial eggs and mashed turnips. So it’s been maybe two, possibly three decades since I enjoyed a fine well-made ziti dish.
And when I think of that dish I think of women like this. She is my ideal ziti girl.
My ideal ziti girl.
I can just see us going outside for some fresh night air, as the boisterous crowds in the orange lit interior carry on with singing, dancing and a clinking of glasses. Ziti is best served with wine; a nice red wine. And some crunchy Italian bread, some cheese, some olives, maybe some red lipstick on my collar…
…heh. heh.
And you know, maybe I’m wearing a nice tux. Not a rental. A custom fitted tux like the one I used to have years ago. Made out of a fine weave and dark blue material. Not a shawl collar. A nice set of cuff links and a chance to wear a very extraordinary bow tie. Maybe something in a vibrant red, or purple / blue pattern.
Oh, but I digress…
And here is what a deep baked ziti looks like…
Deep baked ziti.
CC – Australian Prawns girl
The largest shrimp that I have ever seen in the world come from Australia and they are called prawns. They are bout the size of a small chicken, and believe you me, they are delicious. It’s sort of like a cross between a lobster and a shrimp and so very tasty.
Well this girl reminds me of giant prawns.
On one of my trips to Australia, the staff took me out to a meal and we ate some prawns. they ordered two enormous prawns for me, and I surprised them by eating the entire things. Well, I was hungry!
Anyways, this girl reminds me of two giant prawns.
The following is a notable girl from this collection…
I am always a “sucker” for a girl with a big smile on her face. The smile just attracts me to her. Smiles always do this. Don’t you know.
A smiling beauty.
Well…
I am going to call it “quits” for now. I hope that you enjoyed these tasty female delights and learned a little about China in the process. I have many more videos and I am going to post them when I get a chance.
Have a great day you all.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “Learning about China by looking at pretty girls index” over here…
Yeah. It’s pretty silly. According to the MSM (American Main Stream Media) all those expats who talk about China, and show videos about China are lying. The real “truth” (they say) is that China is evil and dirty and nasty. So they warn their audiences to ignore anyone who is saying anything good about China.
"Some vloggers are suspected of co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world. But it's far from clear what really motivates them, or how effective this strategy is."
What strategy? We just film our lives and talk about our experiences. And those that don’t like it can howl all they want to.
It’s all so silly.
My Life
The following are some videos that I have taken as I live my life in Zhuhai, China. And I’ll just let you watch the videos and come to your own conclusions. This is what my life in China looks like.
I am not…
"...co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world."
I have spent 40 years in the United States, and 20 years in China. And I can tell you that my quality of life within China is SUBSTANTIALLY better than anything that the United States has.
And my videos show this.
It is so spellbindingly better, that I just cannot contain myself. All those things that I hated about America, but lived with, simply because I was told “there isn’t anything better” was a big fat lie.
And I am gonna shove that lie back in your faces.
A nice fish meal
Here’s one of my meals that I eat in China. This is a fish. It’s very tender, fresh, and tasty with all kinds of seasonings. I never had anything like this in the United States. At best I would get a small brook trout, or a river fish full of bones. But more often than not, it would be some kind of dethawed, deboned fish that was deep fried.
This is fresh fish. So tender. Cooked in spices and sauce. Eaten well with rice, and delicious vegetables.
Click on the picture to see the video.
Riding a Bus in Zhuhai China
Here’s a video that I took on a weekend when I rode a bus. It’s just a typical bus in China. Notice how quiet it is? Yes, all buses in China are electric and quiet. Notice the great air conditioning. Notice the relaxed atmosphere, and even though Coronavirus is pretty much under control, everyone is still wearing masks.
Lover’s Road
This is the road in front of my house. It’s called “Lover’s Road”, and many couples walk up and down it. I filmed it while riding a bus, and you can see one of the town bus stops in the front of the picture here.
Local Wines
I am not a “wine connoisseur” like you might find in the higher class circles of society. I just know my wines because I drink a substantial amount of wine all the time. Not the super expensive stuff. Just the low to mid quality stuff. And You could say that I am an expert on it. Not like there are “experts” who own a Ferrari, but rather “experts” because they work on the Ferrari’s.
Definition - What does WineConnoisseur mean? A wineconnoisseur is an individual who has deep knowledge of the subject of wine. This knowledge goes beyond knowing how to taste wine or having a deep appreciation. A seasoned connoisseur will, for instance, have the ability to assess a young wine and know its aging potential.What is a Wine Connoisseur? - Definition from WineFrog
A school for one year old babies
In China, education starts early. Here is a school for toddlers up to three years old. The prices tend to be prohibitive for MM (personally), but I do like their programs and the subjects they teach and the general positive atmosphere. Click on the picture to watch the video.
Hunan Beef
I do enjoy a nice Hunan beef. This meat is cooked in tender little bite sizes and smothered in hot peppers which gives it that distinctive spicy flavor. I personally like it a lot.
Night time bus ride
This is the Jida city center area at around 8:00 pm at night. Jida is a section of Zhuhai where I happen to live. This video kind of shows what it is like at night. Notice all the people that are out. China is very, very safe. I personally believe that it is the safest nation on the planet.
Hunan Cauliflower
The best cauliflower is made Hunan style. It is cooked in bacon, with leeks, garlic, and spices. Very, very delicious.
A “birds eye view” of Jida in Zhuhai
This video is from Douxing. Also known as TicTok which is it’s “pale shadow” version available out in the West.
I live off to the left. This area is now being completely demolished. The road is being torn up and made into a nice lawn with walking paths. And there is a tunnel under construction that will go under this little hill and bypass all the traffic away from this park.
In fact, the entire sea coast is nothing but new construction for parks, malls, and scenic areas. In my entire time in the United States I have never, and I do mean NEVER, seen such an emphasis in parks, and human friendly free areas. In fact, the only thing that anyone ever cared for through my entire childhood was tearing down things to make money-making parking lots, and the like.
Outside of a mall at 6:00pm
This is the outside of one of the many malls in Zhuhai. The noise is the speaker telling people to line up and go through the temp checks, the QR location verification, the facial scanning, and the mask wearing prior to entering the mall.
To the right is a pile of construction machinery. They are a digging deep down. I suspect that it is part of the new Zhuhai to Zhongshan high speed rail, that will go underground in this section of the city. But I do not know for sure.
Notice the people. Do they seem like they are starving, and clamoring for “rescue” for the “American way of life”, and democracy™ and freedom™?
Cheaper than a cheap American “Value Meal” at Burger King
I eat very well in China. The food is good, tasty, prepared with care. There are no GMO’s. The establishments are sanitary, and clean, and the prices are cheap. Or said better, not exorbitant.
You see, the Chinese government believes that to serve the people best, they need to have affordable housing, affordable food, affordable medical care, and reasonable and affordable transportation. Which is quite unlike what is provided in America; the “for profit nation” where there is always a thousand tiny, tiny hands in your wallet. Check out the video…
And now for something different…
The USA has been probing Chinese defenses for years now. And China has “taken it on the chin”. But the latest bullshit about violating airspace and flying into Taiwan is pretty fucking ballsy and very dangerous. This next video is a depiction of an event that actually happened earlier this year (2021). Of course, you would never see this ever in the United States media.
Meanwhile in the United States…
My A#1 top posts are hard-running stuff on my SHTF indexes. Sure I get periodic hits on my KTV indexes, and some surprises out of the blue here and there. But the longest and most reliable source of new visitors are the SHTF articles. And the vast majority of the visitors come from America, and to a lessor extent Europe.
This video pretty much illustrates what Americans are “looking forward to”, and I am sure that it scares the living Dejesus out of them.
Putting it all together
I am absolutely convinced that American has been plundered by psychopathic personalities that took control of the government and “ran it into the ground”. They converted free citizens to a mixture of debit serfs, and slaves, and they are now scraping the bottom of the barrel (figuratively). The endless spending on go-nowhere wars, the lack of infrastructure repair, the decline in education, and the rise of radical utopians, have all contributed to a dangerous slew of events.
What would normally occur at this juncture in time is that the people would rise up (one way or the other) and kill the leadership and start over fresh.
But the evil psychopaths in Washington DC know history, they might be evil, but they are not ignorant. So they have made it especially difficult for internal domestic resurrection. The only options that now lie available to them are;
Start World War III and direct the domestic anger outward to a figurehead. (Which is either China or Russia).
Or, a peaceful restructuring of the government like what happened with the Soviet Union to Russia.
What I am seeing is that Biden is trying to move America towards the second option, while there are enormously powerful self-interests inside of America that are pushing for the first option; World War III.
It’s a scary time for certain.
Discomfort is what happens as the population waltzes towards disaster. It happens each and every time. Consider the years leading up to the first American Civil War…
William J. Cooper has written a magnificently researched account of the political atmosphere that prevailed in the United States immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln and through the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter.
What individual elements made up the call to arms on both sides of the Mason Dixon line?
Which persons were conciliatory and which were belligerent?
What contribution did the nuances of the several political parties play in the mood of the population?
Was the Civil War inevitable no matter what action was taken by Lincoln?
Many eminent American Civil War historians tend to move quickly throughout the three year period preceding the onset of the War, as they move on the War itself, however Wm. Cooper's work has has been devoted entirely to a study of this critical era, and provides significant insight as to the period's ultimate result-- namely, the War itself.
Cooper has devoted much effort to a study of the era's significant and influential caste of characters, including an newspaper editor, abolitionists, radical Republicans,, members of both houses of Congress,and each of the Presidents---both sitting and newly -elected..
-Amazon reviews of "We Have the War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861" by Cooper, William J. (2012) Hardcover
Examining the three prior Fourth Turnings may give us a window into where we stand and what may happen in the coming year.
We are in the thirteenth year of this Crisis. (The eleven-year anniversary was in September 2019.) Here we look at the three previous events.
The American Revolution Crisis
The Civil War Crisis
The Great Depression/World War II Crisis
A comparison of the last three “Fourth Turnings” in the United States. Full-scale war is shown in black. The vertical line running through them is 2019 when I made the graphic, and the comparative date in the previous turnings. .
You can see that in both the American Revolution crisis and the Civil War crisis, the wars took place BEFORE the target crisis date. And the events of World War II were immediately afterwards. .
If this was The Revolutionary War, we would be in the thick of it, right now and celebrating American independence. If we compare to the Civil war, you move the line over two years (2021) and you discover that we are in the middle of the “reconstruction period”. And if you compare to World War II, you would find that we are right before Pearl Harbor bombing and the destruction of the Pacific Fleet. .
Taking note of “The Fourth Turning” and the Strauss and Howe generational theory of predictive behavior in America, we note that their dates are close but seem to be off by a few years. In our case, the “Crisis catalyst” did not occur in 2005 as predicted. It occurred in 2008 with the Wall Street “too big to fail” debacle. That is three years later.Adjusting the Strauss and Howe dates to account for the delay in the catalyst, messes things up a bit. They predicted…
If the Crisis catalyst comes on schedule, around the year 2005, then the climax will be due around 2020, the resolution around 2026. What will America be like as it exits the Fourth Turning? History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong—the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Since Vietnam, many Americans suppose they know what it means to lose a war. Losing in the next Fourth Turning, however, could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence—and perhaps even our nation—might never recover. As many Americans know from their own ancestral backgrounds, history provides numerous examples of societies that have been wiped off the map, ground into submission, or beaten so badly they revert to barbarism.
There is a nice graphic that I composed for your purposes of planning out the next few years. I hope that it is helpful. Adding three years, gives us…
“Crisis catalyst” in 2008.
Climax in 2023.
Resolution in 2029.
.
But is that correct? Maybe it is really wrong…
Of course, you could argue the 2020 was the “climax” simply because it was one Hell of a shitty year. But you all know, it was a shitty year for everyone on the globe. Not just Americans. I argue that it was just foreplay for bigger stuff to come.
And it makes sense if you argue that 2020 was the climax. After all, if you include the “not ever reported” bio-weapons attacks as war, then the actual map looks like this…
But none of that matters. We are in the “thick of it” right now. We are smack dab in the middle of it.
We are in the middle of it right now.
Seriously, just because no one is reporting on what is actually going one doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. America carpet bombed China with eight (8x) strains of biological weapons from 2016 through to 2019 (John Bolton plan to create starvation), and three strains of human-lethal bio-weapons in 2020. Not to mention all the other “hybrid-war” activities that they were involved in.
We are not out of the danger zone.
But I think that we are gliding in and on the hot zone.
Therefore, we are living in the tranquil period that America was in right before World War II. We cannot be passive about it. We must all conduct our affirmation prayers, and make sure that the nightmare that is being set up is contained to an area outside of our personal lives.
And with this in mind, now we can see why it is important for the American (and British) “news” to demonize China. As the dream of a long drawn out war in far-away distant lands, safe and protected is an ignorant “pipe dream”. But that is why us “bloggers” and expats in China are all disparaged.
We upset the narrative that nuclear war is a good thing.
Ok, guys and girls. This is going to be a little bit of a strange article. I make no apologies for it. It’s going to be confusing, rambling, and apparently unordered, but that is by INTENTION. I fully intend to produce this article in this manner, and if you don’t understand, then it’s simply because you haven’t learned the most basic tenants of MM.
Life is complex.
You cannot isolate certain sections without influencing everything else.
Background
All through life we have been taught to do one thing at a time. We studied reading, then we put our books away, and then we studied History. Then we put those books away, and we went to gym class. After that, we change our clothes and studied Math. Everything was nice and compartmentalized. So nice. So neat, and so tidy.
But as we became adults we realized with a big shock that the world is not fine, nice, neat and tidy. It wasn’t that way at all. When we married a person, we inherited an entire slew of interpersonal relationships, not one singular one. When we went to work at a company, we were expected to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Not one singular one that we studied in school. We didn’t like this change. But we adapted to it. We adapted coping mechanisms. We learned to “multitask”.
But no one has breached the most basic point. Which is that life is complex, colorful, and encompasses multiple things, events, relationships, ideas, thoughts and emotions simultaneously. And unless we train our mind to handle and sort out this onslaught of data, we will be forever easily manipulated by it.
And what is what is going on today. People are being manipulated by the “fire-hose” of manipulation. And since people see things out of context, they believe the manipulations without questioning what’s going on.
Even the most intelligent and skeptical people fall into this trap.
An Example
Today, for example, is this little blurb on the “Drudge Report”;
The Chinese military announced HOW they will attack Taiwan!
Well!
Well, I (being an interested person) ran to the site to see what is going on, and there is a very detailed explanation of a war plan. It looks like something out of a World War I American military college. Not something that the Chinese leadership would ever do.
So many interesting pictures, details and diagrams.
Ok. I’ll bite, where did this come from. I want to read the original.
Screen capture of the article.
So if you look in the article it says…
"An article in a state-controlled publication has offered a glimpse of a..."
Ok. So what is this article, and where is it? Who wrote it?
Nope. Nothing. But the article does go on to say…
"The article states: "The attacks against Taiwan’s airports would continue until [Chinese] surface troops had accomplished an assault landing.""
Ok. I want to see the article. I want to see it myself.
Still nothing. But it does say…
"the article states YJ-91 and CJ-10 cruise missiles..."
Still nothing about the source. Where did they get this bullshit? I want to know. So I read further…
"Finally, the article said warships and land-based rocket forces would wipe-out any remaining obstacles so the PLA’s marine corps..."
So I scroll down all the fancy graphs, and maps showing fighting. I scroll down the pictures of Chinese military. And I go all the way to the bottom of the page.
NOTHING!
The entire article is based on one big lie.
How do I know. I did a Baidu search. I did it in Chinese. There are no Chinese articles about this at all. It’s all made up bullshit.
Summary
Drudge said that the Chinese Government released this battle attack plan. Instead the truth is that a supermarket tabloid claimed to translate an important document in a Chinese magazine. Both of which are lies.
Many things
Right now the globe is a caldron of quanta seething and boiling over with the various interactions being generated out of the United States (and the UK).
It’s spitting quanta balls, and most humans are unable to grasp what is going on. They are being pelted with quantum “slime balls” and it hits them, manipulates their thoughts and sets the stage for some very, very bad and catastrophic things to happen.
And if you get your Intel from the American (or Western) “news” media, mainstream of alt-any, you are being deceived. Nothing like what is being stated is actually happening.
We need to see things AS THEY ARE. Not as what is being presented to us.
This article
It began simple enough.
I just wanted so show the real and true face of China.
And I do this by my very successful method of showing very pretty Chinese girls in their homes, in the public spaces, on bridges, inside restaurants and other places inside of China. And people come to MM to look at the pretty girls, and in the process see that the China that they see does not resemble anything like what is being showed at them out of the Western oligarchy.
So…
Here is a part of what was intended to be part 11A of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. (Don’t ask me about the interruption between series nine and the rest. It’s a long story. )
This particular collection consists of a very average selection of attractive Chinese girls, and you all might just be “blown away” by the content. Indeed, there are some favorites in here. And with each grouping, I have isolated and make a key social and societal point that I want to make.
These points are well understood by long time MM readers. But I “feel” the need to underline, or “underscore” these points so that the reader can best understand things in the proper context, and the most important context; THEIR context.
Undoing American propaganda
When you look at these women, please pay attention to the China that they are being filmed in. And ask yourself “Does this in any way represent the narrative promoted by the American MSM “?
The United States is out of control, and it’s going to get each and every one of us killed.
The western world is being led by people who are functionally insane, that is not hyperbole.
There are any number of things that we 'could' 'should' 'might' or 'must' do about the situation but a lack of sane and workable solutions is not the problem.
The problem is the vast concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a very few mostly unelected people.
People who would (and probably will) see the world go up in flames rather than relinquish their largely unearned and unwarranted power.
Posted by: MarkU
"No U.S. president will risk New York over Taipei City." one would think, but the crazies running usa foreign policy seem to have undue persuasion with usa presidents, as witnessed the past number of years usa behavior... maybe they want to go down in a blaze of glory? what do the end of worlders, or born agains think??
Posted by: james
Please kindly excuse me for my entanglement of thoughts, opinions, beauty, China, and Geo-politics…
Group A of Chinese beauties
And the first point that I want to make is that all you see on the internet is a fiction. It is a lie. It is a construction. Just like Hollywood has created illusions, so has the internet. What you read, and what you get has no bearing on reality. So the first point that I want to make is…
The reality is much better than what you read about.
According to the National Review, the Chinese are miserable and are just “pining away” for liberation from the evil oppressive Chinese government. You can see this oppression in the videos out of China.
What? There are NO videos showing this “oppression.”
What, oh, that’s right, Chinese videos are BANNED in the United States. Well, here we will show you just how oppressed the Chinese are. Here’s a typical woman just wanting to be liberated by the proud United States Marines from the “Bright and shining city on the hill”.
One of the Chinese girls from group “A”. Does it look like she is living in squalor and filth and needs to be liberated from the oppressive Chi-Coms for Democracy and Freedom?
Ah yes.
If these people actually believe what they write then they are delusional and need to be locked up in a mental institution for a long, long time. If they aren’t and they are lying. Then they need to be put in a situation where they can personally experience the horrific consequences of what they are tying to provoke.
Group "A" here. You can download a file of about thirty or so micro-videos of amazingly beautiful Chinese women. OMG!
But forget about the crazy man on the “shining house on the hill”. He’s really a mess and so fucking crazy that he’s not worth your time of day.
American neocons started the pandemic, tried to start world war III, and are constantly pushing and pushing to start a major war with SOMEONE.
But their reality is not YOURS.
So instead, Let’s concentrate on the girls. Ok?
Some of the girls from group “A”.
They are all awfully pretty, don’t you know. And when I look at them (like this particular beauty, for example) I think of strawberry shortcake. I mean, really, when was the last time that you had a strawberry shortcake?
When was the last time that you had a strawberry shortcake?
Let me “single out” one especially delicious lady.
I choose this girl to discuss (in this particular instance).
Man! I do love a cute little pleated skirt.
Actually, this (particular) girl reminds me of a girl that walked in the restaurant where I was eating dinner today.
A “gaggle” of beauties came on off from work, they must have worked at the same company as they were all wearing the standard black and white office address code attire, and a lanyard around their neck with an ID QR code.
Szechuan food.
I love it when friends get together and are all happy and smiling. I like there attitude, and their nice fellowship.
She was a smiling, and chatting away, and while I wasn’t rude enough to eavesdrop, I could tell that they were all passionate.
This kind of event warms my heart and gives me hope for the future. You just cannot expect mankind; humans to grow and advance as a species, when they are living and toiling inside of sterile grey cubicles and chained to electronics media. No matter what the wealthy oligarchy believes.
They are wrong.
Anyways, this girl is most certainly a strawberry shortcake kind of gal. Admit it! You do KNOW what I am talking about, right?
Strawberry shortcake.
Just looking at her and her happy smiles and friendships put me in a great mood. It really does!
And so dusting off this old song from my parolee-bicycling days in Erie, PA, I present to you…
Group “B”
And the point that I want to associate with this next group of Chinese girls are that happy people are a real treasure. You need to associate with the happy, with the up-beat, with the cheerful, and the energetic.
I haven’t yet covered this, but we can exchange quanta (qi energy) from each other. Sad, disturbed, mentally ill, sick, upset and angry people can steal from you. And close association will them will drain you. Long term effects will destroy you.
Be around happy and cheerful people.
Happy people are a treasure.
Surround yourself with them.
One of the Chinese girls from group “B”. I am such a “sucker” for a nice wide smile, beautiful and clear eyes, and long lush hair. I mean it. The hair in Asia and in Africa are just amazing.
Group "B" here. It's about twenty five to thirty great videos of amazing Chinese women.
Some stunners, indeed.
Here I go again, with my association with food and beautiful women. There’s something that I just cannot “put my finger on” but I really associate beautiful and attractive ladies with food, conversation and companionship. And for me, well at least for me, that means food and chatting at a table.
This girl reminds me of an Australian meat pie. I guess you could refer to her as my “meat pie lady”.
Australian meat pie.
All men need a nice meat pie lady in their lives.
You all don’t probably “get” (understand) what I am trying to say. Women are like these big capacitors, or reservoirs that men can use to recharge. If the men give to them, the woman’s “battery” charges up and is there and provides the energy for the both of them (or more, if they have a family) and then combined, anything is possible a great meat pie lady can do this.
I think that meat pie ladies are not appreciated. They are the people that go visit a dying friend, and violate the pandemic restrictions to do so. They are the kind of people who will go out of their way to help a friend, a loved one, and an animal. They are natural Rufus’s.
They communicate with the unseen. They are in tune with nature, and the hidden. They can talk with faeries, and humans. They can understand things in a much greater scope than most of us can.
Meat pie ladies.
Totally and completely underappreciated.
Group “C”
And you know what? I’m going to talk about mothers.
Appreciate your mother.
Women are amazing. When the world is falling apart, they gather their family together and offer hope, comfort and protection. They help relatives, and provide a refuge from the storm. Whether it is Haiti, or Southern California. Real women are amazing.
A smiling girl from group “C”.
Group "C" here. It's about twenty five to thirty great videos of amazing Chinese women.
She is , and the rest of the gals are just lovely. This woman above embodies how I remember my mother. She was such a happy person on the holidays. But me, nah. I was a sultry spoiled teenager, and I made fun of her singing when she was cooking the meal for the family on the holiday.
I was such a little dweep-shit.
Family often takes people, roles, contributions as “givens”, without taking the time to think about how just very special these other people are. You all shouldn’t worry too much about your families and how the family dynamic exists. Just accept it as it is, and be the best you that you can be.
Anyways…
Women, especially (and mostly) those that smile and participate, are like precious treasures.
Precious.
Treasure.
And you know what this woman above reminds me of? I cannot help myself. They remind me of fresh vegetables and a fine delicious fruit salad. She reminds me of my mother, and in the Summer she would help us cut up fruit, and add cream and make a fine luscious Summer snack.
That’s what a true and fine woman can do.
They can evoke strong, visceral emotions, and trigger actions… which could lead to great things.
Lately I have been going through my old archives. I wrote a post on what it was like while on parole. And the situation there. And one of the groups that heavily influenced me at that time was the Japanese group Funky Monkey Babys. Of course, here I was, trapped in the United States under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas crew and in a “recovery / rehabilitation” system in Erie which was smack dab in the middle of poverty-central.
Both places had good people, I am sure. But I surrounded by the under-educated, the impoverished, the mentally ill, the survival-group of the criminal class, and the professional social networks that supported them. I felt very much alone and out of my environment.
I coped with the materials at hand. One of which was healthy up-beat music, my cat, painting, and my prayer affirmations with a goal of living an exceptional life inside of China. One of the videos that I watched, I just managed to dig up. Like all the music and videos from that time, they brought up memories of the things and images that I clutched to keep me going.
You know, I felt alone.
I was alone. It’s very different to have friends as a “sex offender”. So I was really isolated.
But then I would watch a video from Asia. Whether it is Korea, Japan, or China they all pointed to being part of something. Not being alone, and lonely. These videos pointed a way; a route and a direction for me to follow. They reminded me over and over that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You are always part of something bigger.
As this video shows. This man is part of a trio of three people, but he always believed that he was alone. Nope. He was one of three. Together we are strong. Together we can do great things. Together we are significant.
You are NEVER alone. You are part of something bigger.
It’s just that those in the West (most ESPECIALLY Americans) don’t see this because the entire government and social structure is one of divide and conquer. Put people in isolation. Make them alone. Feed them drugs and passive entertainment. Get them addicted, and feed off them.
But in watching this video spoke to me. I could see that there was an option out. That I could join a society where I was an equal contributor and one where I was appreciated, and had a role. And now I am part of something bigger socially. And like this video, where the fellow was part of three. I am now part of a place, and a people that accepts, appreciates me.
We all need this.
Do not buy into the belief of isolation is being a “lone wolf” and that it will make you fantastically rich and wealthy. It’s a fucking lie.
Be part of a community.
Group D Videos HERE. It's about twenty five to thirty great videos of amazing Chinese women.
And here’s a little preview on what to expect…
But America is exceptional!
Today is the 100 year anniversary of the government of China.
Do you guys have any idea what happened in America on it’s 100 year anniversary? Yeah. It was right after the American Civil War, [1] the Federal government formally dissolved the tenth amendment (States Rights), [2] legalized slavery by renaming it “being a felon”, [3] destroyed the entire South-East of the United States under “Reconstruction”. And shortly afterwards went forth to fight wars with everyone.
All this, all these actions, have consequences. They are not “something” that “happened in the past”. All things must be bought and paid for. Even though those particular individuals have died, and their bodies have long rotted away, their souls, and their beings live off the quanta that they accumulated in those times.
Those quanta are still active. They are still “alert”. They need to be “dispersed”.
It is not that there is some great celestial “goal keeper” keeping score.
But rather, a recognition that the physical reality is far more complex than most humans realize. Everything is attached with everything else.
And since there is no such thing as time, the events and crimes against humanity that happened two hundred years ago still must be atoned for. The quanta-attachments are not settled.
It’s a “ticking time bomb”.
My guess is that during this generational turning, the build-up of the unseen must be rather enormous.
In America today
I am glad that I am not living inside of America right now.
It’s all starting to unravel.
But it is not being reported in that manner.
Here’s a scene from New York city…
Here’s another scene from the United States.
Just a “random” event. Nothing to see here. Keep moving on. Eh?
Some thoughts on stuff
What does food, pretty girls, media manipulation, bombs in New York, the concept of being part of something, and meat pie ladies have in common?
What?
They are all the outcomes of elements, of a host of events, that are occurring in the NON-PHYSICAL reality.
Our brains make it so that we want to keep things isolated in nice little neat boxes. There is a war in Taiwan, and it will be way over there and won’t affect anyone in Utah. Or, wearing a mask is a sign of loss of rights. Or that America is number one! And was, and is the best!
Really?
Yes. Really!
Silly, me.
Let’s take a look at the deaths for the “pandemic” shall we? It seems that America is actually the WORST place to be on the entire world right now. And the only way that you can justify this kind of “in your face” data is to deny it. To go around saying that the COVID is a hoax. To go and say that all media is bullshit, except the USA media, and so on, and so forth.
But that’s the bullshit that is being fed to Americans today.
You cannot take these selected snippets of information and consider yourself an expert on things.That is silly, but that is exactly what these “experts” in Washington DC, and those “think tanks” do. They don’t see the entire picture.
They write about China, and have written about China for five decades now, and never ONCE stepped inside the nation, learned Chinese, or had shao Kou.
They are like the guy in a restaurant that is complaining about a broken toothpick will ignoring the food, the table, the others in the room and everything else. Eventually he will rant on and on about that fucking toothpick, walk outside and get hit by a truck.
It’s the Fourth of July
America is NOT exceptional.
America is a failure, and American democracy is a failure. And these two truths must be reckoned with before the United States, and the people of the United States can get off their collective asses and start to do something about it.
I want to see America perform a course correction.
I want to see the American government to start caring for the American people. Not promoting one war after the other. They are going to get huge numbers of people hurt.
US strategy looks to be based on the thought that China will capitulate when the stakes become nuclear. Limited conventional war to blockade China at which point China capitulates. It is going to be an exceptionally bloody war if US goes down that road. They will experience what Modi's "brave jawan" experienced in the Galwin valley.
Posted by: Peter AU1
From all indications, the American oligarchy will not permit a controlled implosion of the American nation. They want to externalize it. They want to go out in a volley of hell and destruction.
That scares the living crap out of me.
But…
Be part of a community.
What we see is only a fraction of what there is
This is what I am trying to vocalize, but the subject is way too deep to get involved in.
Beauty, food, love, relationships, being good, Rufus behaviors, constructive efforts all are positives in building quantum associations in the non-physical reality.
While the build up of negative and destructive elements of quanta continues as well. Generational turnings are a release from the build-up. If the release is suppressed or avoided, the build up will continue until it becomes an enormous avalanche. And is very dangerous.
YOU MUST SEE EVERYTHING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON.
Most of what you see is a distraction.
However, when taken as a whole you can see that there is a great deal of bullshit, distortions, and illusions that are shrouding the judgments in the West. The greater the media influences, the less people are able to reason things out.
What is actually going on is far more interesting, and not all that gloomy. Those in Washington DC think that they know what is going on, but they are about 45 steps behind in the great game of Geo-political chess.
Rufus is the embodiment of the good.
Guns, wars, threats and destruction is the embodiment of the bad.
Let’s look at some videos, and images. Here’s some things to ponder…
Rufus saves a driver who has collapsed at the toll booth…
This is China. I would post these kinds of Rufus movies from America if I could find them. But they are getting fewer and far between as time moves on.
China teaches and instills discipline in elementary school.
All Chinese students MUST take part in paramilitary training. The big major training period is in middle school. This is the most fundamental training for the formation of the Chinese “irregulars”. But certain geographical regions require earlier training in elementary school. Check it out.
And keep in mind that the Chinese DO NOT PLAY. They are a serious, serious nation and they are fighting for their lives against a belligerent American Military Empire run by complete psychopaths.
Soak it in. If you are an American you know how true this is. This guy was waving the flag of Puerto Rico which is an American territory. But that angered the illiterate urban youth who shot him dead.
It is not a healthy nation. She’s doing “her thing”, and all that “freedom” stuff. That’s why she is dead today. There is no freedom, just a bunch of words bantered about by the ultra-wealthy.
Just because the United States is completely falling to pieces, does not mean that the rest of the world is.
Actually the rest of the world is getting on far better now that there are some attack-dogs (China and Russia) willing to bitch-slap the out-of-control monster that the West has become. And with the guardians of tradition and sensibility in charge, the psychopaths have only one, and only ONE option, to maintain control. That option is destroy the world and hope that they can survive in their bunkers.
So is there going to be world war III?
What is actually going on? Well, you know there’s a great big build-up of negative energy, quanta, or qi in the United States right now. Not so much in the rest of the world.
Just in the United States, and it’s client nations.
And a release valve needs to be tapped. It doesn’t matter if it is a nation, a people, a place, a thing or something else. Understand what it is.
Please be the beacon; the light that shines happiness to those around you.
Contribute in your community.
Smile more
Be helpful
Be the best you can be.
Participate.
Make friends, over and over, until you have some good ones.
Be part of a community. Once you are part of a group you will never be alone ever again.
My final present
Absorb this. The measure of our worth, as determined by our benefactors, is how we help and assist others within our community. For that defines our most important trait. A trait which gauges our relative value.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “Learning about China by looking at pretty girls index” over here…
"Chinese women look like adolescent children, they are flat chested, petite, subservient, timid, and look like little "brown" waifs."
It’s not at all true. It’s not at all realistic. It’s a terrible distortion of reality.
And it irritates me.
Most especially because I was facing 80 years at hard labor in the hot cotton plantations of Southern Arkansas. And the litany of excuses used to turn my life upside down were spellbinding in the lies, distortions, corrupted understandings, and just pure hatred that spewed forth from the Arkansas legal system.
I painted in figurine oils, so I must have a sex fetish.
I quit my career as a “heavy hitter” upper-management Vice President in a technology company to take care of my dying mother, and that became “lives with parent, unemployed, with no friends”.
And all my travels to China were not for business. Instead they were to indulge into my wild sick fantasies of sex with women who looked like little children.
Oh. It’s all fun and games. That is, until you are behind bars, and everyone despises you. They sit at you. They sneer, and call you names. All on bogus lies, and accusations.
The beliefs of many Americans are shaped by the government, wealthy oligarchs, and a rabid group of for-profit televangelists that emphasize the collection of money to fight “the scourge”.
And I was “this close” from spending the rest of my life behind bars because some red-neck hicks believed that Chinese women looked like little children.
About the girls
Chinese women are many things. But scared waifs, brown skinned, short tiny and petite, and flat chested are not them.
Rural Nigerian girl. Often confused as Chinese by her oval eyes.
Sigh.
Here is part ten of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. This particular collection consists of a very average selection of attractive Chinese girls, and you all might just be “blown away” by the content. Indeed, there are some favorites in here.
I was told, directly to my face, that “Chinese women look like five year old children”. This is by the entire Judicial Department in Little Rock, Arkansas. Does this woman look like a five year old to you? To me, she must be at least over eight years old.
Let’s get on to the girls of China, eh?
That’s why you are here, eh?
The idea here is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people? And don’t you lie. It’s biologically encoded in all humans. (Bet you didn’t know that!)
And when I look at women, I look at them with different “eyes” than most do. Certainly, when I was younger I looked at at attractive woman and thought about sex. But that pretty much evaporated as life hit and I entered adulthood. Now when I look at an attractive woman I look at…
Form, and shape. This is my “artistic eye” that I use to judge what it would be like to paint her on canvas. Eyes are easy to paint. It’s the face frame is this more of a challenge.
Her personality. What characteristics she alludes.
Her body structure. I personally prefer a stout woman; a robust woman, that has a nice “fish shape”. But that does not mean that I am not attracted to other forms. A petite, or thin, or even short curvy woman are all attractive in “my book”.
And finally…
I always imagine what it would be like to go out. Maybe on a “date”, or simply just for lunch or dinner, or coffee. With them. Talking. Chatting. Looking good. Feeling good. Eating delicious foods, and drinking things in a nice slow pleasurably leisure pace.
And seriously guys. And then, say maybe mid-meal, I pretty much know how I want or desire to proceed with the relationship after the meal. Whether it’s going to be playful fun, a good friend, a ship that passes in the night, or something more substantive.
To Open the Files
Like my other posts.
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
A fine Chinese woman. She’s in her late forties, early fifties. She’s a “looker”, and attractive. She is in no way a “child appearing brown-skin waif”.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not.
For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
While I tend to prefer ladies with a more motherly and robust appearance, I find all of them to be very attractive. From the tall thin leggy beauties to the short cute little kitten like cuddle balls. But of course, most people from Arkansas think that my interest in these gals are because they look preadolescent.
A Chinese girl in her 20’s. She is attractive. But does not look like a child.
Really. Do you think that this beauty looks like a ten year old child?
I like women in all their attributes.
Just like I like cats in all their glory.
Women are like cats. You accept them as they are. You do not try to change them, or make them “better”. You live with them in peace and shared affection, or they will get up, leave the room, lick their wounds and find another place to hang out at.
Many women get this serious unsmiling look on their face. Not attractive. If you want to see attractive women, watch a J-Pop video. Like TWICE.
This gal has everything that I find attractive in a woman. Big smile. Clean appearance. Longish hair that is clean, healthy and well maintained. Robust Chest, is playful. Is wearing comfortable clothes that fit her well.
TWICE “Heart Shaker”
You know, all of the girls of TWICE are ethnically Han Chinese. It’s a K-Pop group.
TWICE (트와이스) is a girl group consisting of 9 members: Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. The band debuted on October 20, 2015, through the survival show Sixteen, under JYP Entertainment. As of February 2020, JYPE is partnering with Republic Records to help promote TWICE worldwide.
Here’s one of their videos. This one is “Heart Shaker”.
Notice how great and happy they “feel”. I argue that it is the smiles that they have. The smiles. The big glorious smiles! Watching the video will show that it’s the smiles that radiate…
Go ahead watch it. Pay particular attention to the smiles.
This is true for the human sexes, as it is for animals, for flowers and for things such as building and art. Personally, I find art that massages the soul to be truly beautiful and inspirational. Which is why I have a complete index devoted to the subject.
If you had a choice, wouldn’t you prefer to surround yourselves with beautiful things, beautiful creatures, beautiful places, and beautiful relationships. It is up to us to attract and emit the same kinds of attractions. Whether it is beauty, kindness or happiness. We become what we emit.
Maybe that is why I associate women, girls, ladies with fine and delicious food.
Some women remind me of delicious steamy burritos covered in hot delicious cheese.
This post discusses Han Chinese women and why they do not at all resemble the American narrative. And I am also including a MM lesson here. Smiles will increase your relative attractiveness to others by a good three (3!) points. After all, four points are all you need to have someone consider you to be attractive.
Be clean and well-groomed. (+1)
Dress comfortably and be yourself. (+1)
Smile (+3)
You will attract others. With +5 points you will be unstoppable.
This is important if you are going out on a date, interviewing for a job, meeting in-laws for the first time, trying to get a customer, or just want to make new friends. Smile.
Again. Check out the smiles on these girls from the group TWICE. The song is called “Ooh-Aah.”
Go ahead watch it. Pay particular attention to the smiles.
As I have said before…
Being a man, eventually you reach a balance point where your hormones are under control and all you really want to do is get to know the girl, have a good time together, and enjoy the moments. And really as you get older this becomes more and more pronounced.
You savor the steaks you eat. You enjoy the perfume she wears, you listen to her talk and enjoy the night air after the dinner. You joke, you laugh, and maybe sing a song or two while walking on the jetty.
Women are magical.
When I think of women, I tend to think of doing things with them. You know like some Korean BBQ.
To go out, chat on in a mall, go window shopping with, and enjoy a nice meal. Maybe Thai or Viet food is always a pleasure with companionship. Colorful, tasty, delicious and relaxing. I can easily picture sharing a steamed fish and some coconut / pineapple rice together.
Delicious and savory South East Asian food.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. It’s their choice of clothing, the area where the video was filmed, the selection of music, the way their hair is done up, and so much more.
Like the clothes that they chose to spend the evening in, and the choice of shoes that they wore. Guys, you all had best be more attentive. Don’t you know.
I do not know what it is called, but boy does it look delicious.
Each little video is like a window to the soul. Where you get a little glimpse of the girl behind the mask. That little presentation is just pure gold.
They make me hungry.
I can’t help but think of buttered French baguettes, and some delicious soft cheese. Which reminds me of a friend that I was chatting with. She told me about the sad, sad story about how rural towns in France have been replacing their hand-made home-made (authentic) baguettes with machine made replacements. It’s horrible!
I mean… WHY! In God’s name; WHY?
Ah….(authentic) baguettes.
These wonderful, and delicious crunchy bits of Heaven are now being replaced by these pale imitations of robotic mass-production…
Fake baguettes have now flooded the rural French countryside.
For me, it is like replacing a nice dry red wine with grape soda. There is NO comparison.
For me it is like replacing a beautiful flower bed full of roses with plastic flowers stolen from a cemetery.
It’s horrible!
Notice the lack of air pockets, and the lack of a tough crusty exterior. No personality at all. Just a homogeneous blob.
Yuck!
I just cannot imagine any French person referring to this , this as a baguette.
Back to the girls of China
They like women all over the world, have beauty. And like elsewhere they all have their charms.
Some have personality.
Some girls have personality.
And some really do.
While others just have a strong softness. Some are calm and composed, some are happy and light.
Some have stories to tell, and adventures to experience.
Maybe you too can become part of their adventures.
Some girls are living an adventure.
Some have a great body.
Some girls work on physical training and it shows. I, myself, love to life weights. Though I have really toned down my passion in this area, I cannot help but admire the effort that these gals put into their program.
They have long legs, or great dimples. Some have just long, long hair or dark, dark eyes. Some have a soft touch, while others have a careful composed prettiness.
Some have a wonderful smile.
Some girls have a natural smile that is warm and inviting.
Some women are comforting.
They calm me. They sooth me. They relax me. They are like clean laundry blowing in the breeze on a sunny Spring day. Or like a nice toasted cheese sandwich that you eat with a bowl of tomato soup.
Some girls are like a nice toasted cheese sandwich that you eat with a bowl of tomato soup.
Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment.
Some girls look great in a particular outfit.
Girls, ladies, women are like beautiful flowers that should be treasured and cherished. For they are all wonderful.
But do not mistake the cuteness of a tiger for the damage it could cause if you angered it. Chinese women are very, very capable people. You can take that “to the bank”. Never fail to understand that they are strong, knowledgeable and powerful in their own right.
The girls of China tend to be very beautiful.
All are wonderful.
Such is the beauty of women. And for us, and for everyone, we need to appreciative the world around us more.
Some girls remind me of a cat that ate the bird.
Some girls take me to another time and place; and reality.
Some girls alter my reality.
And that’s what relationships do. So if you want to have a great adventure on your world-line travels hook up with a partner that will accentuate your world-line adventures through the MWI.
Some girls remind me of ravioli. Good. Warm. Delicious. Tasty. Pleasant aroma, and so fulfilling.
Some girls remind me of ravioli. Good. Warm. Delicious. Tasty. Pleasant aroma, and so fulfilling.
This girl reminds me of ice cream stands on hot Summer days. Maybe with a nice creamy orange-cream ice-cream. Or, perhaps a “Blizzard” with crunched up Oreo cookies as a topping. Or maybe a frosty root-beer float.
This girl reminds me of ice cream stands on hot Summer days.
As I have elaborated upon in other posts, I now associate women, girls and ladies with food. In fact, when I look at food I think of women. And when I look at women I think of food. I suppose that you all must think that I am completely bonkers in this regard.
But that’s just the way it is.
This gal reminds me of hot buttered corn, with Lays potato chips, dill garlic spears (pickles), potato salad, and Mr. Pibb. (An American soft drink.)
When I think of women wearing comfortable casual clothes I imagine us in the house together. She’s cooking on the stove wearing an apron. I know, I’m such an old fashioned chauvinist guy, and us talking. I sit there sipping on a wine, and helping her, maybe doing some food prep and she’s busy talking about this or that. Nothing too serious, but fun, light conversation that is engaging and delightful.
A delightful woman is like a fine loaf of bread, piping hot, out of the oven, hot and toasty.
Now, I know. I know. I mean it; I know that this is not what anyone really WANTS to hear.
They want to hear about sex, and porn. they want to hear about expensive clothing, makeup and beauty perfection. They want to hear about the salacious details on dates and relationships that have turned sour.
Not here.
(I’ve) been there. Done that.
I just want to have a good time and munch.
These two girls remind me of the silliest thing. I imagine left over meatloaf, on two slices of white bread with a bunch of ketchup on top. Don’t ask me why. Because I am not aware of the associative meaning.
And just because I enjoy the more curvy robust girls, that doesn’t mean that I do not find other women just as attractive. Some of my favorite girls are short, thin and very petite. But that is just me.
I like them all.
Just like I like Pizza, cheeseburgers, steaks and fried chicken. Don’t force me to choose. I just cannot. I love them all. And that is the same with beauty. There is no set idea of perfection, but rather a wide and diverse spectrum of characteristics that all work together to create an “image”.
A wonderful woman is like a fine roasted chicken. Tender and hot on the inside, and a bit crunchy on the outside.
We have to be more aware, and certainly more appreciative.
Not every girl is a “ten”. But that rating scale is based upon appearance alone. When the actual characteristics of a person consists of a wide spectrum of attributes. From appearance to personal grooming. To manners, the way that they talk, their friends, and their interests. To kindness, dreams, and opinions on life. Everything combines to a whole. And you all will not get that in a static image.
This gal reminds me of kite flying, a blanket on the lawn, two bottles of red wine (or chardonnay) and some hard crusty rolls with Gorgonzola cheese.
When I look at something, or someone who is beautiful it first strikes my interest. This is a normal reaction and there is nothing evil, disgusting or slimy about it. People naturally gravitate towards the attractive. But you know, and I am certain that some dog owners know, that even the most ugly dogs have characteristics that make them very special and beautiful in our eyes.
And that’s one of the great things about life.
It’s to experience beauty in everything. To appreciate beauty in everything, and to contribute to that beauty in good, substantive, and helpful ways. To make the life better for friends and family; to improve society and to rid the world of the evil, the confused and the horrible.
This girl reminds me of a jar of hot mixed vegetables. When I mean “hot”, I mean spicy. When you pickle vegetables with hot peppers. It’s oh so tasty. Like this woman here.
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
You all might wonder why I am posting these pictures on the internet. But you shouldn’t.
Try to find pictures of beautiful girls from China using Google, Bing or any American or Western search engine. What you will get are stock images, advertisements, pictures of children, and professional photos associated with some Western “journalism”.
Now this is sexy.
Nonsense. This is what it’s like.
This is the real, honest to goodness deal.
The Videos
All the Videos HERE. It’s all in one big zip file. Just download and open up and watch. I hope you all enjoy them. 337 MB.
Oh, and don’t leave yet!
Special Bonus
Here’s another TWICE video. Please pay attention to all the smiles, and the upbeat action. This one is a favorite of mine (and my daughter) because it was filmed in Boston. And I have many, many fond memories of Boston Massachusetts.
The song and video is “Likey”. As you watch it, please keep in mind that people are attracted to smiles. You might be ugly as shit, but a big toothy smile will open doors for you.
Chalk it up to MM survival hints 101.
Go ahead watch it. Pay particular attention to the smiles.
Do not forget that a nice big smile can open up many doors.
And if you are a woman, and you want to snag a man, a very special guy, then smell like donuts. (Just joking. Kind of.) Actually, though, there is an entire website to the science behind perfume selection in this regard. You might want to visit it here.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “Learning about China by looking at pretty girls index” over here…
With all the flood, and I do mean flood, of war-war-war narratives being pumped out of both Washington DC, Australia, and even India no one is even contemplating what the result would be. Somehow it is being “painted” in large brushes as some way to “suppress” China, and “prevent it’s rise”. All the time absolutely ignoring the facts of the matter.
The benefits of war with China? Well we’ll finally be done with carrier-based task forces. You’ll find said task forces at the bottom of the South China Sea. Sorry about the boys, girls, gays, trannies sent to the seabeds but that’s what they get, too. Fuckem.
Now, unlike other articles and other posts, where time is painstakingly devoted as to WHY I come up with the conclusions that I have, I am going to do something radical. I am going to spew out what the fuck is going to happen, with near total certainty, if the dreams and wishes of these moronic idiots who want war come to pass.
People! Listen up!
World War III with China will NOT be a long drawn-out series of skirmishes off in distant lands. It will be fast, dirty, nasty, full of betrayals, and up front and personal in YOUR home town. It will not be “news” reports of fighting in far-off bum-fuck-astan. It will be on your front lawn, while you will be busy trying to deal with things you don’t understand under conditions that you have no hope of controlling.
A war with China? Laughable shitstorm. An invitation to get our dumb asses kicked, our ineffective air wings and carriers sunk exposing the MIL as a grifting operation designed solely to extract profit from the goyim. For decades. Man, when you talk about torches and pitchforks, that’s the crew you get after.
But first, some really basic ideas and concepts…
Basic Concepts
I am not going to waste my time going into the details. I have covered them elsewhere in exhausting detail. But for those of you who are new here, I will outline the basic points.
America has been engaged in a war with China since 2017.
America tried to start a famine using eight (x8) strains of bio-weapons targeting food and livestock. Neocon John Bolton ran this operation. They failed.
America tried to cause a color revolution in Hong Kong using NGO assets. It failed.
America tried to stop the BRI in XinJiang by making up a fantasy about Uighur Muslims. It’s still in process, but it has pretty much failed.
America launched three (x3) “novel” bio-weapons against the Chinese people on CNY in 2020. (COVID-19 B-strain, Dabieshan tick virus / SFTSV, Swine G4) Neocon John Bolton ran this operation. They failed.
America modified drones to spray bio-weapon particles in a mist over livestock and people. Not only did it fail, but the CIA assets turned themselves into the PLA.
America tried to destroy the largest and newest VTOL carrier by China. China retaliated by destroying the largest American Navy VTOL carrier. It was a “wash”.
America launched an eight (x8) carrier naval flotilla against China in the South China Sea in late 2020 before the American Presidential Election. It steamed home with no conflict. Trump fired his senior Chief of Staff as a result. The entire fiasco was a big failure.
Now that is what can be found on the “news”. Everything that is listed above is well documented, though only a small fraction actually was published in American or Western “news” outlets. To read what actually happened regarding the above, you just have to read foreign reports. Often in Chinese, Russian, Hindu, Pakistani, Japanese and Korean.
It is called threat escalation. John mearsheimer puts it very well. It is basically demonizing the target in the eyes of your own population. And it works on a minimum of 80% of the stupid public. How dare China not kneel!!!
All you would read and hear is Wuhan lab leak, not an American bioweapon attack.
We do know that America is acting like a big bully. Has threatened both China and Russia and laid out their terms for the rest of the world to surrender or face extinction in March 2021 during the Anchorage Alaska US-China summit.
This caused China and Russia (along with Iran) to join forces. Today, Russian headquarters, and strategic military planning is completely integrated with Chinese military, and vice versa. As a defensive force, Russia and China can now act as one singular entity.
That is true, since Russia will step in. Russia won’t certainly lose her biggest ally in face of more economic sanctions and possible exclusion from SWIFT. Also, Russia knows that China is not responsible from this outbreak as they spoke with them as early as February 2020.
We also know that America has decided that the future battlefield for World War III will not be on American soil, but has established Australia to be the land that is targeted for war. And it is earmarked to become ruins like Syria is today. Like Yemen is today. Like Afghanistan is today. Like Iraq is today. And Australians are quite fine with this. Many are very willing to sacrifice their families, their children, their homes, their businesses for people like Mike Pompeo, Tom Cotton and Donald Trump.
Many Australians are ready to die for the United States.
What we don’t know is the myriad of “black operations” against China. Most of which are not reported. We only hear a precious few things here and there that are oddities; suspicious oddities. A fire here, a missing plane there, the death of a key researcher, some missing American special force troops on “a training exercise”, and a software glitch.
Which is the way it works, don’t you know. Real secrets are actually secret. And if there is an inkling of what actually happened somehow hits the internet, immediate a flood of contrary narratives moves to bury the releases. Such as what happened with the “Wuhan bio-weapon accidental release” narrative to cover up the actual three-pronged bio-weapon attack by John Bolton.
I am beginning to consider the possibility that our guys created Corona and then released into China in some dip-shit scheme to weaken China.
Anyways, both China and Russia have established “red lines” that the unilateral aggression’s by America and it’s allies dare not cross. If they do, an decide to cross those lines, then both Russia and China have warned that a MAD level response will occur.
This is what Ron Unz has been saying from the beginning. If you look at it geostrategically, this is most plausible conclusion.
They released the virus in China but those who created it suffered a massive blow-back and even worse China came out of it even stronger than ever before.
They were hoping China would crumble but instead got stronger while they weakened. That’s why they are fanning out a major Anti-China propaganda campaign to contain her now openly with an overwhelming support of western citizens.
This frenziness displayed by western politicians is the reflection that China is on the verge an unstoppable economic powerhouse within a few years and they need to put the brakes right now. It is an implicit admission of desperation. The tussle between China and the US is going to dramatically intensify.
What is a MAD level response?
Mutually Assured Destruction, or mutually assured deterrence (MAD), is a military theory that was developed to deter the use of nuclear weapons. The theory is based on the fact that nuclear weaponry is so devastating that no government wants to use them. Neither side will attack the other with their nuclear weapons because both sides are guaranteed to be totally destroyed in the conflict. No one will go to all-out nuclear war because no side can win and no side can survive.
I idea behind MAD is that those that try to push the boundaries and cross the “red lines” would have a devastating war of the likes that their nations would never be able to recover from.
To many, mutually assured destruction helped prevent the Cold War from turning hot; to others, it is the most ludicrous theory humanity ever put into full-scale practice. The name and acronym of MAD come from physicist and polymath John von Neumann, a key member of the Atomic Energy Commission and a man who helped the US develop nuclear devices. A game theorist, von Neumann is credited with developing the equilibrium strategy and named it as he saw fit.
Proponents argue that the fear of MAD is the best way to secure peace.
One alternative to MAD, adopted by the Trump administration, and continued with the Biden administration, is fielding small sized nuclear weapons for “controlled” and target tactical strikes. This is an attempt to limiting the risk of MAD to “acceptable” levels and scope.
Life after a MAD level conflict would be unlike anything you would expect.
Mutually Assured Destruction is based on fear and cynicism and is one of the most brutally and horribly pragmatic ideas ever put into practice.
The idea that it is in place now, today, is a sign of how dangerous the United States is at this moment and point in time. Anyone who mistakenly believes that…
You can attack China, and Russia would do nothing.
You can attack Russia and China would do nothing.
That you can define a time, and a place, and a people to fight your war for you (e.g. Australia)
And that a “red line” is just “posturing” and is actually meaningless.
Are insane crazy.
American Advantage
All in all, taken as a whole, while America does enjoy a significant advantage in the size of it’s military, it’s enormous deployment capability, and it’s association with regional allies, it’s leadership are completely incompetent. Even if they were, somehow, to regain a level of maturity and sensibility, it might be too late to stop the “locomotive that they have set down on the tracks”.
Neocons Are Back With a Big War Budget and Big War Plans
On Friday, President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill for 2018. The $1.3 trillion bill was so monstrous that it would have made the biggest spender in the Obama Administration blush. The image of leading congressional Democrats Pelosi and Schumer grinning and gloating over getting everything they wanted—and then some—will likely come back to haunt Republicans at the midterm elections. If so, they will deserve it.
Even President Trump admitted the bill was horrible. As he said in the signing ceremony, “There are a lot of things that we shouldn’t have had in this bill, but we were, in a sense, forced—if we want to build our military. . . .”
This is why I often say: Forget about needing a third political party—we need a second political party! Trump is admitting that to fuel the warfare state and enrich the military-industrial complex, it was necessary to dump endless tax dollars into the welfare state.
But no one “forced” President Trump to sign the bill. His party controls both houses of Congress. He knows that no one in Washington cares about deficits so he was more than willing to spread some Fed-created money at home to get his massive war spending boost.
And about the militarism funded by the bill? Defense Secretary James Mattis said at the same press conference that, “As the President noted, today we received the largest military budget in history, reversing many years of decline and unpredictable funding.”
He’s right and wrong at the same time. Yes, it is another big increase in military spending. In fact, the U.S. continues to spend more than at least the next seven or so largest countries combined. But his statement is misleading. Where are these several years of decline? Did we somehow miss a massive reduction in military spending under President Obama? Did the last Administration close the thousands of military bases in more than 150 countries while we weren’t looking?
Of course not.
On militarism, the Obama administration was just an extension of the Bush administration, which was an extension of the militarism of the Clinton administration. And so on. The military-industrial complex continues to generate record profits from fictitious enemies. The mainstream media continues to play the game, amplifying the war propaganda produced by the think tanks, which are funded by the big defense contractors.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is conspiracy fact. Enemies must be created to keep Washington rich, even as the rest of the country suffers from the destruction of the dollar. That is why the neocons continue to do very well in this Administration.
Thus we have the following most probable forecasts…
Things that no one is talking about.
If the “news” media are all talking about war, why isn’t anyone talking about how THEIR lives will be impacted. People (!) this is not going to be a “low intensity” conflict or “police action” in a far away place. It will be right there, at home, in your kitchen.
The Discussion
We will discuss, briefly, in an overview outline the highest probability outcomes for the following nations / locations were “red lines” be crossed.
Australia
The United Kingdom
Canada
Guam
Diego Garcia
America
Korea
Japan
Australia
Gosh, if you read the Australian “news” media the entire nation is gearing up to go off marching to China and fight for “freedom!™”, “Liberty!™” and “democracy!™”. All they need to do is hand each solder a jar of vegimite and a Fosters, and off he would go to die for Mike Pompeo!
It’s not going to happen that way.
Australia has agreed to be “ground zero” for a ground conflict. And America, and the Australian leadership are just fine with that. It’s (as they say in the land down under) it’s all “fair dinkum'”.
But China does not play.
Oh, maybe you didn’t hear me… let me tell you in words that you all can understand…
China . does . NOT . play !
Anyone who thinks that the Chinese leadership is going to be just fine and dandy engaging into a long, multi decade war on Australian soil is an idiot. Further, anyone who thinks that America will come to the rescue is also dreaming. America does what is good for the American leadership. No one else matters. they would easily throw Australia into the rubbish bin, if it gave America a slight edge in the international global standing.
The facts are that Australia is strong, but vulnerable.
Australia is self-sufficient in food and exports 7.3% to other nations.
Australia is 42% self sufficient in crude oil / gasoline.
Australia is more than self-sufficient in LPG.
Australia only produces two thirds of the amount of manufactured goods it consumes while most developed nations produce excess.
Manufacturing as a percentage of GDP has fallen from almost 30 per cent in the 1950s and 60s to just under 6 per cent in 2020.
Were there to be a war, and after all that is what the “news” is talking about, we can expect the following…
Russia and China would team up together.
All shipping in and out of Australia to end. Australia would end up ringed with hunter-killer Russian and Chinese submarines.
All Australian military bases would be devastated by Russian Kh-47M2Kinzhal and Chinese DF-3, DF-4, DF-31 and their submarine launched cousins the CSS-2, CSS-3 missiles. This is not a singular strike at the HQ building. This is a major flattening of the entire region by the cleansing of a nuclear warhead.
At this point in time, the Chinese leadership would see how the situation evolves. If Australia does not immediately surrender, then China would cleans the nation of people by eviscerating each and every major city by the cleansing effect of high yield nuclear weapons.
Which wouldn’t take much. Look at where all the Australian people reside…
By strategic nuclear warheads targeting the major population centers of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane, China could effectively decimate the entire population of the nation due to the debilitating effects of radiation, and the complete collapse of the support services within Australia.
Yes. There would be survivors. And I am sure that they would be mightily pissed off too. Do you suppose that they would vent their anger at China and Russia, or would they vent it against their government to sleepwalking Australia into a war for America? I don’t know.
So in summary…
Australia would survive a blockade. But exports and internal industry would take hits, and the economy would collapse to a point where many of the services and benefits currently offered by the government will no longer be feasible. How will this affect the nation? Will the people roll up their sleeves and with a “can do” attitude, survive and grow as a people, and as a nation? Or will everyone break off into little groups squabbling amongst themselves, and how will this affect the government?
Australia could survive a military strike against it. Sure there would be causalities, massive ruin, billions of dollars in damages, and turmoil. At this point, what happens is up to the leadership of Australia.
If they [1] sue for peace. Australia will probably be permitted to keep it’s government, and systems intact, maybe even get rebuilding support, but will no longer to act as part of the QUAD. If [2] they get angry and cling on to America for protection, then a full war footing can be expected as promised. And thus, what is next is what China promised…
Australia could NOT survive a MAD level nuclear salvo. I don’t care how proud and mighty the Australians are, when you have no electricity, no potable water, no gasoline, no food, no medical care and you turn to America for help, you all will end up as the worst form of beggars. You all will be like Calcutta style poverty in the radioactive ruins of something that looks like Yemen, or Iraq.
The ONLY way to prevent any of these very plausible events from occurring is for the Australian people to oust their moronic and crazy insane leadership before everyone in the nation dies.
And no, it will not be anything like what the movies portray.
Mad Max.
The United Kingdom
The UK and Russia are trading partners, big ones at that. Additionally, the UK trades with China rather substantially. While the UK is part of the “five eyes” an pretty much follows the United States lead in everything that it does, if push comes to shove and a hot war is imminent, we can expect the following likelihood of things to occur…
By following the United States, you can expect that your life would be completely changed. You would need to adapt, and to strive in ways that you can’t even dream of today.
Betrayal. The UK would sit out of any global conflict with Russia or China. While they will say the right things and offer a minimum of assistance to the United States, actual participation in a hot war is very risky for them. They will sail their ships to the South China Sea, participate in war games, and say all the right things, when the shit goes down, Britain will play it safe.
But if Britain agrees to join the United States in any substantive way, then we can expect nuclear salvos to decimate all strategic cities, bases and facilities within the UK.
Having just purchased this on DVD I was eager to watch it after waiting years to see it after it was unofficially banned from ever being shown on the BBC again. I was four when it was first shown and my parents switched it off, too frightened to watch it themselves never mind let me see it.
I have to say it is absolutely terrifying and utterly terrifying in the extreme. This could have actually happened! I was impressed by the way the film conveyed what it would be like if thousands of megatons of atomic bomb was dropped on the U.K. Normal life comes to an abrupt stop. One minute people are shopping in their local supermarket, going to the pub and wallpapering their new flat and suddenly they are plunged into Hell. Civilisation is blown back into the stone age.
The most scary part was the way the authorities were shown unable to cope with the scale of the attack (perhaps why the BBC never aired it again). We always think that it could never be that bad because someone would come to our rescue, someone would maintain control. But no, the bombs / missiles keep raining down and down prompting one traumatised emergency committee member to scream, "not another one!" They just did not expect so devastation and are completely helpless. Later soldiers shoot people for food, people wish for death and the emergency committee, those meant to be running things, die in the supposed protective bunker, trapped by rubble.
Ten years later, nothing is back to normal. What young people there are behave like wild animals, raping and fighting and speaking in a bizarre caveman manner.
Since the Cold War ended people have stopped being frightened of nuclear weapons. Everybody in every country should watch this film and realise that if there ever was a nuclear war, still possible with growing tensions between a superpower and its rivals, those left alive would wish they had been caught in the blasts and killed outright.
I don't recommend this for sensitive viewers.
From the movie “Threads”.
About the movie “Threads”
Threads is about the horrible deaths our political leaders have prepared for us.
I still remember back in the early eighties having vivid nightmares about mushroom clouds above my street. Probably I was aged around nine or ten, hearing rumors that the city of Hull was a target for a warhead due to our city once being a major shipping port, etcetera, so as a child it does play on you. It was on the radio, the TV, in magazines and people in the street talked about the crisis.
Then along came Threads — a BBC production so chilling, so merciless, that viewed today it still leaves an impression. The Day After was good, but retained some mellowness. When the Wind Blows is a very strong touching message, but the bad dog of nuclear holocaust movies has to be Threads.
Scene from the movie “The Road”.
The BBC I assume put it together just to inject sheer terror into the hearts of everyone watching. When I introduced my Horror Soulmate to this a few years ago, her face fell, literally fell. Threads pulls no punches about the aftermath of a nuclear bomb on any country remaining.
As a spider weaves its web, a narrated introduction explains just how society is a mass of threads connected and how this can basically make society weak.
Welcome to Sheffield, UK, 1984. News reports have begun to tell of building tensions in Iran between the United States and Russia. The first mention is captured briefly as a teen, Jimmy, spins his car radio dial as he sits overlooking the city with his girlfriend, Ruth. Life continues, day by day, regardless of the news. People sip in their local pub, a papergirl does her rounds, meanwhile the tabloids lap up the tension.
Jimmy discovers Ruth is pregnant so their parents all meet up, and they discuss how Jimmy wants to marry Ruth and have a place of their own.
A typed heading tells us that Sheffield is England’s third largest city with over 54,000 people living there. So as the United States hint at sending troops to Iran, the Soviet Union see that as a direct threat. Life still continues, everyone goes shopping, people go to work. We’re introduced to Clive Sutton, a man who, if war breaks out, is handed governmental powers in the city. He’s making phone calls. Nothing critical, just in case.
“The United States have accused the Soviet Union of moving warheads into their new base in Iran.” Jimmy sits in the pub watching this report and discusses it with his friend. “Don’t it scare you what it might lead to?” Jimmy says. Meanwhile Britain commits itself to the Middle East tension. Anti-War demonstrations march throughout the streets. “You cannot win a nuclear war!” shouts a woman.
One day in Iran, B-52’s attack and the Russians strike back. In Sheffield citizens are in the throes of panic buying tinned food and other items, emptying stores who are upping their prices.
American buying up toilet paper.
Then a new fight begins, Soviets versus United States all out attacks on ships. Violence erupts in the streets and many families decide to evacuate their homes. Jimmy’s father watches, “Won’t be safe anywhere.”
A neighbor states, “Nothing will happen.”
Hospitals are cleared for any possible casualties. Many able patients are returned home. Panic evacuations creates chaos on the roads. Sutton goes underground with a small team beneath the town hall to form an emergency HQ.
Radios and TVs hand out ‘helpful’ messages in case of an attack. “You are better off in your own home. Stay in there!”
Americans are told to “shelter in place”.
At 8:30, one morning, the streets are busy with shoppers on their search for supplies. Sutton’s team are discussing things when the attack warning suddenly comes.
Sirens echo across the city and hundreds of screaming people run in every direction. Jimmy and his friend hide under a truck. At 8:35 a warhead explodes above the city, power goes out and the blinding mushroom takes the area apart, as blasting winds tear around. Jimmy sees the cloud, he tries to reach Ruth. His mum and dad hide behind doors and a mattress, Ruth and her family close up their basement.
All HELL will break lose under a MAD scenario. Why are the “leaders” so Hell-bent on engaging in such a war?
Then comes the heat wave.
In total silence we see streets burn (some stock footage included), milk bottles melt, buildings crashing down, and a lot of burning corpses. 210 megatons hits the UK altogether, amassing approximately two to nine million casualties.
Unlike The Day After, when each character seemed to have some kind of knowledge of fallout, radiation, whatever and repeats it like a government issued health scare, in Threads, nobody knows a thing.
There are scared, not ready, just bewildered and terrified.
These are real neighbors, real shoppers, real families thrown head first into a nightmare. I suppose the closest comparison would have to be Jim and Hilda from the aforementioned When the Wind Blows.
The holocaust itself, I could easily bring up the last moments of The Divide as Eva leaves the apartment building basement and sees the remains of the city. Take that brief section and then continue it on-wards. You get the idea.
Survivors find themselves either trapped without air like Sutton’s team buried under the town hall, or burnt like Jimmy’s mother, or traumatized by the bodies of loved ones.
Then along comes the ashes and the radioactive fallout bringing blisters and sickness.
Scene from the movie “The Road”.
Food supplies fall under government control which causes violence in the streets and looting. As the days go by people become more desperate.
Ruth leaves the basement and walks the streets seeing what is left of her city. A woman cradling the charred corpse of a baby, hands playing with burnt Star Wars figures, a bandage-faced traffic warden (who incidentally became a sort of poster boy for the production, featured on the cover of the Radio Times) and overcrowded hospitals.
It’s all kind of downhill for the survivors from then on unfortunately.
There is an impressive gallery of burn and blister make-up effects (by John Humphreys who also worked on TV series like Doctor Who and The Young Ones, as well as Rawhead Rex and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory), along with some blood here and there that makes Threads special.
Like I stated earlier, it’s not out to be kind, or make friends, it wants to wave a dead child in your face, it wants you to almost taste the ash in the air.
Scene from the movie “The Road”.
Oh things can get really bad.
Here’s another movie review. This one is about the movie “The Road”, from HERE…
The story is straightforward: America has been devastated. Habitations have been destroyed or abandoned, vegetation is dying, crops have failed, the infrastructure of civilization has disappeared.
This has happened in such recent memory that even The Boy, so young, was born into a healthy world.
No reason is given for this destruction, perhaps because no reason would be adequate. McCarthy evokes the general apprehension of post-9/11. The Boy and The Man make their way toward the sea, perhaps for no better reason than that sea has always been the direction of hope in this country.
Scene from “The Road”.
The surviving population has been reduced to savage survivalists, making slaves of the weaker, possibly using them as food.
We’ve always done that, employing beef cattle, for example, to do the grazing on acres of pasture so we can consume the concentrated calories of their labor. In a land where food is scarce, wanderers seek out canned goods and fear their own bodies will perform this work for the cannibals.
Although we read of those who stockpile guns and ammunition for an apocalypse, weapon stores on the Road have dwindled down.
The Man has a gun with two remaining bullets.
He is a wary traveler, suspecting everyone he sees. He and The Boy are transporting a few possessions in a grocery cart. He encourages his son to keep walking, but holds out little hope for the end of their journey…
…yes. And that is the way it will be.
There will be a long period, maybe decades, where the world will try to rebuild. Some nations will do better than others. Some will not.
I would guess that Australia wouldn’t fare too well, because they want to be the “tip of the sword” for the United States. But you know, Canada might survive all right. It just depends on whether they decide to sit things out or not.
Canada
Canadians like to think of themselves as independent of the United States, but the fact remains that the Canadian government is just a puppet government under the control of the American oligarchy.
From the movie “Threads”.
What might happen?
Anything, actually.
Interspersed throughout the movie are still shots that are all the more disturbing because they are beautifully done.
They make me want to hammer Brian Williams in the face with a brick, for ever saying anything as stupid as “guided by the beauty of our weapons.” [wp]
Fawning media totalitarian proto-fascists like Williams, who accept and glorify the necessity of nationalized violence, are the facilitators that are going to bring about this sort of disaster, if or (more likely) when humanity finally decides to pull the toilet-lever and flush all of everyone’s hopes and dreams away.
Jackson sets us up for exactly that scenario.
We meet a typical pair of English kids from the 60’s: they go to the pub, they drink, they make out in the back of his Cortina, parked on a pretty bluff with an idyllic view of the city of Sheffield.
Well, it doesn’t seem idyllic, at first – it looks like a typical industrial town full of people hanging on the edge of working too hard, drinking their desperation away.
The movie gets rolling slowly, and – did I mention? – it gets worse.
Naturally, the girl gets pregnant, and there are some poignant “meet the parents” and “set up an apartment” scenes.
Brilliantly interwoven in the ordinary dreariness of their lives are flashes of news: the USSR has invaded Afghanistan.
The US issues an ultimatum and deploys B-52 bombers and troops.
There are reports of skirmishes. Life in Sheffield stumbles on, gut-shot, but not knowing it yet.
Since 1945, the world has had a nagging question in the back of its collective mind—what would it take for a nuclear war to start?
After the Cold War, it seemed nuclear fever had died down in North America—sure, India and Pakistan both got the bomb, but that was really far away.
Those fears have escalated again recently as the United States has begun signalling that it’s willing to take unilateral action against China.
While China is well known to have a sizable and formidable nuclear force with both ICBMs, and hyper-velocity MIRV vehicles, these new developments come as international institutions go through a period of intense instability.
The good news is, a nuclear war might not be the world-ending cataclysm you would think it is.
The bad news is it would still be very, very bad.
The worse news is that there hasn’t been any kind of plan for how to deal with such an attack on Canada since the 1980s. Worst of all? Canadian experts think a nuclear exchange in our lifetime is just a matter of time.
Canada stands to get out of this relatively unscathed. But Vancouver, grab a seat. We need to talk.
How it starts
No matter how unhinged you think Washington DC might be and how terrifying it is that anyone in Washington is handling nuclear codes, none of the experts I read about, thought it particularly likely that America, as provocative as it is, is likely to be the one to shoot first.
While several experts pointed to a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan as something that could conceivably happen at some point, it’s doubtful that would end up with any North American cities becoming targets. Of the other nuclear powers, it’s hard to think of a scenario that sees England, France, or Israel (whose nuclear arsenal has never been confirmed) striking out at the USA.
The consensus was that both Russia and China would have far too much to lose by hitting directly at North America (proxy nuclear wars in parts of Europe or Taiwan, respectively, remain on the table).
However, as I have repeatedly stated, both Russian and China has made it absolutely clear that any provocation or military action that crosses a RED LINEwould result in the unleashing of a MAD level retaliatory response.
When the bomb hits
According to NUKEMAP, an algorithm that combines data from Google Maps and available information on nuclear weapon capabilities, the initial devastation of a strike on downtown Vancouver would be considerable—a fireball with a radius of 200 meters would appear over the city as the bomb explodes in midair. Every building within a two-kilometre radius would be virtually destroyed. Almost everyone within 16 kilometres of the explosion who survives the initial blast immediately suffers third degree burns.
The tally: almost 30,000 dead and over 100,000 injured almost immediately.
While NORAD radar would detect any ICBM or submarine launch, the warning time would be roughly 25 minutes—nowhere near enough to even begin evacuating a metro area with a population of over two million.
What would make matters worse is that currently there are absolutely no governmental plans for minimizing the death toll should a nuke hit a Canadian city.
“There isn’t [a plan],” John Clearwater, author of Canadian Nuclear Weapons: The Untold Story of Canada’s Cold War Arsenal, told VICE. “We’re all going to die.”
During the Cold War, Canada did have plans in the event of a nuclear strike. In 1961, an underground hideaway was completed outside of Ottawa. Located 40 kilometers away from Parliament Hill, it was meant to house hundreds of government officials and military officers in case of a nuclear attack (it now functions as Canada’s Cold War museum). Dubbed a “Diefenbunker” after then-prime minister John Diefenbaker, it was one of over 50 such multi-story units built across the country.
Fred Armbruster, the executive director and founder of the Canadian Civil Defence Museum Association, said parts of Canada are still home to the rotting and overgrown remnants of nuclear bunkers—a surprising amount of buildings in western Canada, in particular, are home to long-forgotten shelters.
Canada still has nuclear bunkers.
People don’t realize the amount of bunkers that were constructed in Canada,” he said. “It’s phenomenal. For example, every single municipality around Edmonton has a bunker.”
Today, almost none of those facilities remain operational, mothballed after Canada got rid of its nuclear weapons in 1984.
“There was no more plan because there was no more expectation that strategic nuclear weapons would fall on Canada,” said Clearwater.
Crawl out of the fallout
In the immediate aftermath, thousands would die due to untreated injuries, dehydration, exposure, collapsing structures, and general unpreparedness in the face of such a disaster.
Armbruster pointed to the Fort McMurray fire as an example—just as nobody expects a nuclear attack, nobody was prepared for a blaze of that size. During the peak years of nuclear panic during the Cold War, information was regularly distributed on how to prepare for a strike—blueprints for bomb shelters, what supplies to have on hand, what to do if an air raid siren went off. In Fort McMurray, few had the emergency supplies or knowledge necessary to get through the ordeal.
“People didn’t have bottled water, they weren’t able to react. Many people ran out of fuel because they let their fuel tank go past half full,” he said of the lack of preparedness that preceded the worst wildfire in Canadian history. “Back in (the Cold War), they were sending out pamphlets to every single household educating people on how to be prepared for a manmade or natural disaster.”
When a largely unprepared population is faced with a disaster of this magnitude, it puts even more strain on governmental institutions like Public Safety Canada, who would have to improvise ways to decontaminate, shelter, feed, medically treat and house hundreds of thousands of refugees.
If you've ever stayed up late in bed worrying what a nuclear bomb would do to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or Ottawa, now you can find out.
Nukemap3D, an extension to Google Earth written by Alex Wellerstein of the American Institute of Physics in Mayland, allows you to model what nuclear blasts of different sizes would do to literally any location on the planet. (There have been server issues with the site, but you can also access it here).
The website allows you to select the size of the bomb, from the 15-kiloton weapon dropped on Hiroshima to the 50-megaton behemoth Tsar Bomba tested by the Russians in 1961. You can also watch an animation of the mushroom cloud, see an overlay of the blast effects and fallout and get an estimate of causalities.
The results can be terrifying. A bomb as small as the "Little Boy" weapon used on Hiroshima would cause nearly 400,000 casualties if dropped near the CN tower in Toronto, according to the program. A Tsar Bomba would cause more than 3 million.
Those downwind from the blast would be affected by fallout, but even then, according to Schofield, it wouldn’t be apocalyptic. Airbursts, where a bomb detonates several hundred meters over its target rather than on the ground, cause a larger shockwave but also result in less radioactive debris.
Of course, there would be no cars, the automotive ECM’s would all be fried into slag by EMP bursts, nor would there be electricity, and internet.
“The general rule of nuclear weapons is, the radiation effect which is lethal is well within the lethal zone of the shockwave,” he said. “Radiation is not going to kill you.”
Still, he warned, leukemia rates would likely spike in affected areas for several years.
On the ground, Canada’s third largest city would probably rebound fairly quickly. While fiction would have you believe that nuclear weapons leave nothing but a scarred, uninhabitable landscape in their wake, Schofield said he wouldn’t be surprised if Vancouver was rebuilt in a decade or less.
The bomb that struck Hiroshima in 1945 was 20 kilotonnes—not that much smaller than the largest tested North Korean bomb. But that city’s population had returned to pre-war levels by 1958.
“Hiroshima … was built out of wood, [so] the whole place burned down,” said Schofield. “There were a couple of buildings that were 200 meters from the Hiroshima bomb that were still standing.”
Of course, China and Russia field nuclear weapons thousands of times more powerful.
Canada gets mad
Canadians would go through a pretty intense period of mourning and shock after the detonation. Then they’d get really ticked off.
“If a bomb goes off in Vancouver, most people’s initial reaction is: we need to get a bomb so we can threaten other people so they don’t bomb us,” said Schofield. “For Canada, I think we’d say we need a nuke and then we’ll probably revert to the Americans and have a much tighter security cooperation.”
In 2005, then-prime minister Jean Chretien refused to let Canada participate in the construction of a continental anti-ICBM defense shield.
Still, it needs to be stressed: the likelihood of Canada being involved is very, very, very low. Our lack of a plan isn’t necessarily a bad thing—as Clearwater points out, it just means resources are being used on things that actually matter, like diplomacy.
“We should not be wasting taxpayers’ money on a plan for something that results in our deaths,” he said. “We should be using a fraction of that money working towards a global zero [amount of nuclear weapons]. You can get a lot more working towards zero than you can distributing survival packs, shovels, doors, water purification tablets and blueprints for backyard shelters.”
So take heart, Canadians. Yes, your government isn’t doing much to prepare for a nuclear strike, but that’s because no one thinks they really have to.
Guam
Would the Chinese, or the Russians conduct Naval assaults on that tiny island? Would they saturation bomb it, and then invade using landing craft?
No.
They would erase it.
Depending on the detonation altitude and the mega-tonnage of destructive power, the remains could vary from a radioactive flat glassed mound protruding above sea level to a underwater crater. It all depends on the “message” that the Chinese wants to make.
Scene from the movie “The Road”.
Diego Garcia
This island will also go the way of the Dodo bird.
The idea that it would be eviscerated by the cleansing effects of a nuclear blast is so high that I would put it at a 90% probability.
If, somehow, it would survive I would say that anything trying to reach it would be destroyed long before they reached the island.
As the tension between the USSR and US, dimly glimpsed in flashes, ratchets up, the viewer begins to feel a very real and inescapable dread.
I’ve seen scary movies that build tension but nothing like this, before.
Perhaps the worst part is that the fragments of news could so easily match what is coming from Korea:
Both sides rushing troops to the area, chest-puffing, threats.
Jackson’s decision to set the film in Sheffield, which is mostly uninvolved in the war, was doubtless because of the practical exigencies of movie-making and his target audience – but the sense that all of this war stuff is going on somewhere else, is brilliantly rendered in the half-heard snatches of news.
I spend a lot of time trying to hear those fragments about Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Korea, Nigeria – and reading between the lines in Threads is so well done there were times that my hair literally stood up on my neck.
It’s all “somewhere else”, until – wham!
We see a bit of the “preparedness” efforts of the government – the town administrator is told to begin storing medical supplies, water, gasoline, and so forth – he’s a well-meaning civil servant with no idea what is looming over him.
But, then, nobody does.
That’s why Watkins made the movie, after all.
In the last few months the US has seen images of hundreds of thousands fleeing by car, of the traffic jams and shortages: now, imagine people trying to flee from something from which there is no place to hide.
There is another movie in this vein, Miracle Mile [imdb] but somehow it becomes a disaster movie with a bit of action flick hidden in it.
Threads has this methodical rhythm that somehow makes it clear that nobody is getting out of anywhere – I think a lot of that is a result of positioning the film in Sheffield, far from where anyone would expect war to come, and probably far from where anyone expected to do anything about it.
America would suffer the worst effects of MAD. This is non-debatable. I have covered this in the past. I have many many articles regarding this. You might as well go to my supreme master index to read about this.
.
That’s one of the most powerful messages I took away from the movie (other than “the living will envy the dead”) ...
...the vast mass of us sit in the shadow of this horrible thing our leaders have planned for us, and we feel that there is nothing we can do.
Or perhaps there is nothing we should do because it’s all so far away.
But they built this for us – they planned this for us – they used our money and our work to fund it, and the very worst of them talk about it as though it’s a casual game of golf.
No halfway decent human being should countenance this thing for anyone.
We, the people of the world, should rise and rip our political leaders to bits for preparing this bath of fire for us.
Naturally, our political leaders have bolt-holes, where they expect they can hide and weather out the worst effects of their utter failure.
Jackson doesn’t address that directly, but obliquely and powerfully shows us how that works, as well: the mostly well-meaning political leaders of Sheffield take shelter in their command center under the town’s office building, and are trapped when the building collapses over them.
Both are allies of the United States. Both hold military bases that station American troops, and both do not want to get involved in a war with China. Were there to be a military conflict, I am near positive that both would prefer to sit out and be as neutral as possible.
However, if any nation, or both decides to actively participate alongside the United States in attacking China, the consequences will be horrific for those nations.
My guess is that World War II would be short lived and over quickly. As a result the events would unfold before these nations would be drawn into a conflict and would sort out their relationships with America after the smoke clears and the radioactive radiation does down. Whatever leadership remains of the United States, I am confident that these nations would dictate the terms, and would side with their Asian neighbors irregardless to what events happened in the distant past.
Aside from it’s terrifying military, America has no friends in the world except for a handful of nationalists in Australia and Israel.
The story follows its little cast of characters that eventually dwindle to one, the young pregnant woman. Then, the documentary aspects begin to pop in, with freeze-screens that blandly state facts that are so scary your mind wants to crawl someplace safe instead of reading them.
I imagined I had a pretty good handle on nuclear war, but there are things I hadn’t thought of, which Jackson’s researchers did.
We’ve all heard of nuclear winter, but I’d never thought of the plagues of rats and flies that would follow having 20 million unburied corpses (never mind the sheep, cows, etc) or the side effect on agriculture.
There was a report yesterday about an intensive care unit in a hospital in Puerto Rico that suffered a power failure and all the patients are now dead.
In Threads we see doctors throwing up their hands in despair at the uselessness of trying to help patients who will die from radiation exposure.
The medical infrastructure at Hiroshima and Nagasaki collapsed, similarly.
What Watkins makes us see is that it’s not a partial collapse, like “no power or water” but a total collapse. “No nothing.” Our modern civilization is tightly integrated and god damn it we depend on each other – it’s like a Jenga tower – politicians imagine that they can just destroy part of the world without affecting the rest.
Fucking morons.
Morison and Trump both believe that a nuclear war is winnable.
Jackson’s projections are that, after radiation and secondary die off, nuclear winter and the destruction of agriculture and supply, England would be back to medieval-level population again, 30 years after the war – about 1.2 million people.
England, frankly, isn’t much of a target, so their suffering would be long-term collapse.
That saying about “bombing someone back to the stone age”? It’s not funny or accurate: it’d be early iron age.
I have more in common with a typical North Korean peasant than I do with Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump or any congressman. So, do you.
We are all living under the threat of this thing, built by power-loving politicians and their Renfields, in order to make themselves more important.
They are the same people who talk casually about “axis of evil” when they’re actually founding members of the axis, themselves.
We need to finally acknowledge that the nuclear powers (in spite of what they said in the Non Proliferation Treaty [npt] they shoved down everyone else’s throat) never intended to do anything but achieve and maintain a monopoly.
Non-nuclear states are obliged not to make or develop nuclear weapons, but the nuclear powers will continue to maintain and upgrade their arsenals. And when was the last time that the citizens of the USA or Russia had any say in whether more nuclear weapons would be developed?
When it comes to nuclear war, nobody is isolated.
Compared to the hostile powers our own leaders have arranged against us, any disagreement any of us might have with a citizen from another country is piffle.
ISIS?
They are nowhere near the threat to anyone that the commander of the US, North Korean, Russian, (on down the list) is.
Sure, they are repugnant, cruel, murderers – but they are rank amateurs compared to our leaders, who are prepared to murder on a vaster scale and who, in fact, have pretty much murdered ISIS (and 50,000-100,000 noncombatants along with them)
I can negotiate with ISIS – probably it wouldn’t go well, but I can try – militant nationalism doesn’t permit negotiation at all: they make us pawns in their game and they’ll throw us in the fire at any moment without feeling particularly bad about it (unless it’s bad for business).
Why can’t we rise up and put these motherfuckers up against a wall and shoot them all?
June 7, 2021 at 4:53 pm GMT Trump is now demanding reparation from China. Full time China hate is his only schtick left, no one is listening to him on anything else. China hate is the only thing that could still get a few of his mindless minions riled up.
But you know…
…it’s a dangerous game these morons are playing.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
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This is going to be the “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of post. I wander. I spew out videos and pictures. I discuss things like girls and hot dogs. I even spend some time on Russia and then throw in some stuff about unhappy Americans. So I guess you can actually call it a true garbage bag of stuff. A “sack” of stuff.
There is NO set theme, for those of you who like everything nice and orderly. But rather this is like a messy mechanics work bench, a chef’s kitchen during the preparation for a large and elaborate meal, the living room after three two years olds entered it, or what happens when you give a dog a laxative and lock him in the house. The shit is everywhere.
And that is what this is, don’t you know. It’s a collection of videos that I picked up out of Chinese media, and what I myself recorded, as well as some interesting articles that are banned or not being presented inside of America these days.
I took a bunch of videos over the last few weeks. I am going to post some of them here so that you all can get an appreciation for what it is like here. And that’s really good.
I also have collected some more pretty girls videos. And I am going to post some of them here too. I mean, why not?
Pretty Chinese girl.
While I am at it, I have collected some Chinese military themed videos which are interesting if you follow that sort of stuff. And who in America doesn’t these days? After all America is a big enormous military empire. Even the multi-trillian dollar budget was just throwing billions of dollars to ramp up the already enormous military to fight world war III.
And some pork and beans.
Oh, and some other themes too. I guess you could call this the “kitchen sink” of Chinese videos.
As an aside, we have all been having mass testing for COVID. Really, really efficient. They announce it, then three days later, it’s all completed. In a city five times the size of Seattle.
Today I made myself some hotdogs. I suppose that I am getting homesick a tad bit. I do miss those days where (as a boy scout) I would gather around a fire and cook up hotdogs and marshmallows. It’s that time of the year, and if you have the means I would suggest you all go out and explore and have some fun in the countryside.
Cooking hotdogs the American way.
You all should go out and do this.
It’s cheap. As I recall, a package of twelve hotdogs was under a dollar. If you buy a loaf of bread, and some ketchup, you can end up feeding a family for under $5 USD. Just don’t forget the beer. Add a bag of ice for a $1, and there, for around ten dollars you’ve got the great makings for an outing.
Well, things might be a little bit more expense today. But still, the point is that it’s a very inexpensive way to have fun. And just doesn’t the memories evoke stirrings in your soul?
There’s nothing quite like watching the hot fiery embers while roasting a hotdog and drinking beer. It’s a special treasure. One that seems to be over-looked in today’s society.
But before we get into the videos, let’s see what Mr. Putin has to say. Like Xi Peng, he is a calm and stable leader. When he speaks the world listens. Unfortunately the Western press refuses to to report on it. Thus leaving Americans and their allies unaware of the events going on in the world that America is part of.
Of course Putin has things to say. America is one BIG mess, and it is angry, belligerent, cocky and arrogant.
Sometimes, it just seems to me that there a only a precious few “adults” in the room remaining. Us “normal’s” are like rambunctious high school students, and the American and European leadership are like spoiled three year old children.
Encino Man
Excerpts of Putin’s Meeting with heads of international news agencies, St Petersburg, June 4, 2021
Allow me to refrain from speaking about the causes of the pandemicbecause so much has already been said about it that I think it makes no sense speaking on this topic, and I am unlikely to say anything new or intriguing.
Keep in mind that in 2020, both China and Russia filed formal complaints about the Coronavirus and the United State's role in it.
But I suggest we proceed from the fact that we have faced this pandemic and we are living with it now. The world has yet to overcome these challenges and restrictions and we must continue our joint fight as an effective outcome cannot be achieved unless we work together on combating the pandemic.
VLADIMIR PUTIN
B. RUSSIA-CHINA TIES (IMPACT ON INDIA) & RUSSIAN STANCE ON QUAD:
Mr. Putin discusses the American led "QUAD", the "Asian NATO" that is designed to counter, contain, and suppress China.
We do (not) participate in this initiative, so I do not think I should give any assessments on the participation of other countries in it. Each country makes its sovereign decision about with whom, how and in what capacity, and to what extent it builds its relations.
Let me state, though, that any partnership between countries should not be aimed at being friends simply to align against someone else. We need to be friends with each other so as to achieve common goals, to solve the tasks that states face.
I will repeat once again that we do not see ourselves in this configuration.
However, this does not prevent us from working both with India and China. I do not see any contradictions here. Moreover, we have created conditions for India, China and Russia to be able to work within the same organizations and they are well known: we collaborate in BRICS, and the SCO, and we work together in the United Nations.
Yes, I know, of course, there are certain issues related to India-China relations.
But you see, there are always a plethora of issues arising between neighbors. But I know the attitude of both the Prime Minister of India and the President of the PRC, these are very responsible people and in their interactions they treat each other with great respect.
And I think that they will always find a way to resolve the problems and issues they face. The main thing is that extra-regional powers should not standing their way.
Mr. Putin wants the two nations of India and China to continue to work on their differences together, and he doesn't want "outsiders" (you know, like America) to interfere and cause problems.
As for Russia-India relations, I repeat, they are unfolding very successfully and in a trustful and traditional manner. We really appreciate this level of relations with our Indian friends.
These are relations of a truly strategic nature, as they cover a whole range of areas for interaction. They include economic issues, energy, and high technologies.
They also include the military-industrial complex, and here we are not only talking about the sale and purchase of Russian weapons.
I have already spoken about this more than once, that we have very deep and trusting relations with India, which manifested in the fact that we and India (probably the only such partner of ours) take up joint efforts to design and produce, including on Indian territory, cutting-edge and advanced weapons systems, including missile equipment.
Russia and India are working together to design cutting-edge military technology, and systems. This is R&D and NPD for brand new weapons systems.
But these are just a few; there are other areas in which we cooperate.
This is why I have no doubt that Russia-India relations will continue to develop consistently to the benefit of the peoples of India and the Russian Federation.
The outlook for India to work with Russia on strategic developments is highly positive.
C. RUSSIA-CHINA RELATIONS:
You mentioned the [2011] Treaty, which undoubtedly played a vital role in the development of Russian-Chinese relations.
They are truly unprecedented in terms of the quality and level of interaction.
But we both understand that it is not just about the Treaty, although it really is a very important thing, an important document, and an important milestone.
The point is that Russia and China have many overlapping interests. This is what underlies the development of our interaction.
In this regard, one of the key fields of cooperation is the one you already mentioned at the start, and that is economic cooperation.
Quite so, several years ago now, President Xi Jinping and I worked out a plan to reach the $100 billion mark in our mutual trade.
Now I should tell you (you know about this) that we did actually reach this milestone, and more than this, even despite the challenges of the pandemic in 2020, we kept to that level. Despite the slight decrease, it amounted to 104 billion.
China and Russian foreign trade and cooperation is proceeding splendidly.
And I think that over a period of the next few years, as we agreed, as we wanted, we can reach 200 billion even by 2024, despite that slight decline. We have also discussed this with President Xi Jinping. The pace we have gained and the growth rate we have achieved in the first quarter of this year also confirm this.
It is of upmost importance that we cooperate across a wide variety of areas.
We are following global trends and we are increasingly focusing on the most important fields of high-tech.
I have repeatedly mentioned that we continue to work together in aircraft manufacturing, we are more and more expanding our cooperation in space, including the joint lunar program; there are very interesting prospects here.
Quite recently, you are aware, President Xi Jinping and I broke ground for four new nuclear reactors in China. This is very important high-tech collaboration.
Work continues in other segments in the energy industry too. On the other hand, I believe our cooperation in nature conservation and in the humanitarian field is no less important.
From year to year, we hold a variety of forums, all kinds of cross year projects.
This brings people ever closer together. All this requires good support in terms of infrastructure, so we are developing it as well. Quite recently, you know we have opened a bridge in one of the most important regions of the Russian-Chinese border.
Roads and rail between Russia and China are opening up, being forged and trade is increasing at an astounding level.
Russia and China are jointly working on major projects that have an international dimension.
As you are aware, China is promoting the New Silk Road idea, including in the economy. This is quite consistent with what we are doing within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The BRI benefits not only China but Russia as well.
We have many overlapping interests and fields of activity. I simply do not doubt for a second that we will continue to be as active as possible, keeping in mind both Russia’s and China’s interest in maintaining collaboration on the international arena…
… and this interaction is undoubtedly one of the most important factors of stability in international affairs.
The stability of the world depends on Russia and China working jointly and together in unity.
D. SUMMIT WITH BIDEN:
You know, I am not expecting any breakthroughs following this meeting.
Now, what does that tell you all about how America is viewed by the rest of the world?
But I believe that (you are absolutely right) that, despite the disagreements, which were not created by the Russian side, we, nevertheless, have coinciding interests.
You have now mentioned some of the subjects that would be of interest to the United States and the Russian Federation.
This includes the solution of environmental problems, strategic stability and joint work to resolve a number of regional crises.
All this is highly important because this is linked with our countries’ security matters, considering intra-regional crises, such as in the Middle East. What do these unresolved crises lead to?
They cause an upsurge in terrorism, and this is extremely dangerous for everyone, including the United States, Russia, Europe and other regions.
These unresolved matters are the cause, and terrorism is the direct consequence of what is happening in these regions.
Strategic stability is extremely important.
Strategic military power is extremely important to maintain global balance and stability.
We don’t want to scare anyone with our new weapons systems.
Yes, we are developing them, and we have achieved certain results and successes here.
But all leading countries and leading military powers are doing this, and we are just one step ahead.
We realize that other high-tech countries, such as the United States and other states, will achieve similar results sooner or later.
Therefore I believe that it is better to reach agreement in advance on how we will live together in a changing world.
We are ready for this.
I assume that President Biden is a very experienced politician who has been dealing with politics all his life, he is well-versed in many of the problems I have mentioned because he was time and again involved in assessing similar matters, in different capacities.
This is why I hope that our meeting will be constructive.
E. RELATIONS WITH GERMANY:
Germany is one of our priority partners in the economy; on a global scale, it is one of our largest trade and economic partners, our largest partner in Europe and one of the biggest in the world after China.
We have a large number of friends in Germany and we have a strong interest in developing our trade and economic links.
Thousands of German companies operate in Russia, with our mutual investment amounting to $29 billion.
These are significant resources, and our business partners invest not in financial operations but in the real economy and real production.
We very much appreciate this and try to provide our help and support, which we intend to continue
In the political sphere, I really hope that, considering the special nature of our relations and our people’s particular interest in continuing cooperation, Germany’s future leadership will build its political relationships with Russia accordingly.
We are ready to fully cooperate to overcome all the difficulties you mentioned.
It is true that Angela [Merkel] and I have a businesslike relationship, and I appreciate her a lot.
She is a very experienced politician and a straight-forward but reliable person.
If we have agreed on something, then I see – which is frankly surprising to me, but it is true – that she is consistent and knows how to defend her position.
We feel it too; we feel it in our joint affairs.
Some things we may like, some things we may not, but she is a reliable, stable partner.
I would like stability and reliability to remain in the activities of the German government to come, too…
Let me say this once again: Germany is an important partner for Russia, both in Europe and in the world, and we very much hope that the situation will consistently improve.
F. RUSSIA-US RELATIONS:
The main thing that needs to be done is to treat each other with respect and take into account each other’s interests in the broadest sense of the word.
But this is not a general phrase, it is a meaningful matter.
It's not a platitude, or a saying. It's a very serious issue.
President Biden belongs, in my opinion, to the most experienced class of international politicians, as I mentioned earlier, because in different capacities and at various times over the course of many years, he has personally participated in the discussion and preparation of the decisions on all issues that matter today for the entire world and bilateral relations.
But it was not us who drove Russia-US relations into the state they’re in today.
We didn’t do this.
After all, we have never taken a single first step in matters that are detrimental to Russia-US relations.
Did we impose sanctions on the United States?
No, it was the United States that imposed sanctions on us and continues to impose them for every reason or for no reason at all, just because we exist.
But they will have to live with this, because Russia was, is and will be here.
Just as there is and will be the United States, which plays a very important role in the world.
I would very much like it to play a stabilizing role.
But in this context, in my opinion, Russia-US relations are also important.
To reiterate, I would very much like our meeting to be held in a constructive manner.
G. BELARUS:
President Lukashenko explained to me, he did not order the plane to land.
There was a bomb alert and, as far as I remember, the captain, who could have landed in Vilnius, since the plane was closer to Vilnius than to Minsk, decided to land in Minsk.
Nobody forced him to land – at least this is President Lukashenko’s account of the events. That is it.
****
And I would like to strike the ball back to you: what do you think about President of Bolivia Evo Morales’ plane being forced to land in Vienna, escorting him off the plane and searching the presidential aircraft?
So, the same thing happened in Vienna; in Vienna they grounded the head of state’s airplane…
If you can ground the plane of the president of an independent country in Vienna, why can’t they land a plane in Minsk, especially if there was a signal that a bomb had been planted on board?
We just need to measure similar situations with the same yardstick, and not only in this case, but in general.
We need to get rid of double standards; you can’t always say that one person can do this, and another cannot.
Not with the United States. The USA is all about "double standards".
Let’s work out common approaches and come up with common assessments.
Using tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse demonstrations in Europe, and knocking out eyes with rubber bullets, is okay, but when there is an arrest in Belarus, maybe, done in a harsh manner, it is unacceptable.
Why?
Because European countries are democratic and they can do this in Europe.
Let’s then come up with acceptable ways of handling street protests and define what exactly is unacceptable.
Let’s develop common criteria and approaches, at least develop common definitions that will be understood by everyone the same way.
Then it will be easier for us to give assessments to the events that are taking place in various regions around the world, including Europe.
H. RUSSIAN VACCINE FOR EUROPE:
The vaccine market is estimated at about $100 billion a year, probably even more…
…the delays in registering the Russian vaccine in Europe are due to the commercial interests of those who are doing so…
…since they are thus gaining time for the competitors of Russian producers of the vaccine to take over the European market…
… since long-term contracts are being concluded for the supply of vaccines.
When the relevant European agency issues a permit to use the Russian vaccine in Europe, it will become clear that the market is already 100 percent full, and long-term contracts have already been concluded.
That’s it; the ship will have sailed for our companies.
We are the only country in the world that is ready to pass on technology.
We are doing so and starting production at foreign facilities.
We are ready to do this in European countries as well; we can see no obstacles here.
In fact, this is just another myth about the use of the vaccine.
Before this, we had not produced vaccines at such a large volume, and primarily only for Russia.
I think that in July we will reach a production level of 20 million per month. We have enough for domestic consumption now.
I.RELATIONS WITH UK:
The United Kingdom is one of few countries in Europe, and even the world, where economic relations continue to be on the up side.
Even last year – the pandemic year, when our trade with many countries slumped, trade with the UK grew by 54 percent.
This is record high.
So, if nobody interferes, everything will be good and mutual trade might help Russia turn from a withering country into a prosperous one.
If the USA doesn't interfere...
We strongly hope that Russian-British relations will contribute to this process…
The most important thing is that we have respect for each other, trust each other and hope that nothing occurs in the UK…
…that would allow us to come up with assessments like those given by the new head of your country’s intelligence service [MI6]…
…with respect to Russia [namely, that it is a declining power and behaves irresponsibly.]
J. PALESTINE PROBLEM:
We welcome the normalisation of relations between different states of the region, including between Arab countries and Israel.
When ties between states are restored, it always benefits the peoples of these states.
At the same time, and we are now clearly seeing this, it is hardly possible to achieve a stable peace and a stable situation in the region without a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here, we need to restore multilateral formats of cooperation and multilateral formats for discussing the problems at hand.
There are issues that require special attention from the international community.
Of course, overcoming inter-Palestinian differences is among the essential elements.
I think that this entire range (I am not talking now about Israel’s settlement policy etc., but many questions accumulated in that area), the entire range of issues, of course, needs to be studied very carefully.
And Palestinian settlement must not be pushed back to the periphery of international politics given the pressing nature of this issue and the importance of this problem not only for the Arab world but, I think, the entire world as well.
We very much hope that the issues of fundamental importance, namely, the creation of two states, including the Palestinian state, will be resolved on the basis of mutual interests of the peoples living in this region, and taking into account the future.
It is very important to look into the future, it is very important not to be guided by fleeting political opportunistic considerations, but to create conditions for a lasting long-term settlement.
K. DOLLAR AS WORLD CURRENCY:
As for the dollar, I have already said that we are not trying to get rid of the dollar…
It’s not that we do not like the dollar because the United States is bad and it imposes sanctions on us, which forces us to get rid of it; of course not.
The question has a practical dimension. Let’s assume we are unable to make payments in dollars with our partners in defense cooperation.
Such as with Iran. -MM
You see?
We have a problem.
What should we do?
We switch to paying in national currencies or currencies of other countries.
Our US partners force us to do this.
We are not moving away from the dollar purposefully, we are compelled to do so.
When we do this, a system of financial relations with our partners is formed outside dollar transactions.
But why are the US political authorities doing this?
They are cutting off the branch they are sitting on and will crash to the ground in the end.
Everyone in the world can see this, you know?
Everyone can see it, hence the question about the reliability of dollar transactions.
This is leading to the decline of gold and foreign exchange reserves in dollars, and not just in our country, but almost all over the world, including US allies.
The volume of settlements in dollars is on the decline…
You will see that the volume of dollar transactions is decreasing every year, and gold and foreign exchange reserves in dollars are also going down, and not just in our country.
All of that is being done as part of some internal political processes in the United States.
The people who are doing this seem to operate on the premise that the economic power of the United States, its military and political power is so strong that it does not scare them – “we will get through this,” is what they are thinking.
America is about printing money endlessly without consideration of the mountain of debt that it is creating.
You know what the problem is? I will tell you as a citizen of the former Soviet Union. What is the problem with an empire?
And so he answers.
They think they are so mighty they can afford minor faults and mistakes. It is okay, we will buy these people and scare other people; we will reach an agreement with still others, give beads to those and threaten others with our warships – problem solved.
But he notes...
But problems are piling up, and there comes a time when it is no longer possible to cope with them all. And the United States is firmly and steadily following in the footsteps of the Soviet Union.
You don't say...
I will say it again: this is not our initiative. Some of our companies, for example, in the oil sector, are reluctant to leave the dollar, mindful of the volatility of national currencies. But if the United States continues to force them into this, eventually, they will find a way to de-dollarise their settlements and convert to national currencies or currencies of third countries. They will just find a solution, end of story. And this will be a severe blow to the dollar as the global reserve currency.
Multiple reserve currencies and units of account are a good thing for the global economy if we want to achieve a more stable situation in international finance and the global economy in general.
…
Nothing that you will find in the American “news”. Though you will find this understatement of the year…
Now that Mr. Putin said his piece, let’s get on with the videos…
Videos of pretty girls
"Chinese women look like pre-adolsecent girls. that is why all the child predators flock to China. So that they can have uncontrolled violent sex with these child-appearing women."
Long duration readers of MM know my love of the female form.
Chinese woman with a robust Chest.
Here’s just some more videos of Chinese girls being cute and attractive. I have other dedicated posts elsewhere, but I just wanted to throw some out right now and get them off my hard drive. Pretty girls, yeah, but I only have so much room. Don’t you know.
Chinese Hunan girl wearing her ethnic attire. (I just love Hunan food. You betya!)
Aside from girl after girl, I threw in two special videos.
One is a Tictok girl (just like these here) who died. And the hospital staff honoring her death.
A CGI showing the Chinese ideal.
Ugh. It’s a pretty big collection and it might take a little long to download. You can download the videos in a ZIP file HERE. Just open them up and they will play one by one. 345MB.
Typical Chinese girl displaying her “fish shaped” body for the world to admire.
What is going on in America today?
I just read this most interesting article. It says…
Worn out and disgusted by crushing neoliberal policies at home and murderous neoconservative policies abroad, Americans elected a political neophyte who ran on a populist platform which criticized both Bush and Obama. Trump promised to “drain the swamp”, end the wars, and fight the establishment in the interests of ordinary people. This time for sure there would be change.
But the wars kept going, and the swamp got even fuller, and the US empire kept chugging along on the same trajectory it had been on throughout the Bush administration and the Obama administration. Despite all this, the Democratic Party and its allied media institutions acted as though some drastic deviation from the norm had taken place, insisting that the United States had been plunged from a free democracy respected around the world into an isolationist fascist dystopia.
In order to stop fascism, the American people had yet another people’s uprising against the corrupt status quo and… elected Obama’s vice president. Lifelong corporate crony and empire lackey Joe Biden now sits in the White House, advancing all the same murderous, oppressive, exploitative, authoritarian policies as his predecessors, as a result of the latest fake, decoy revolution against tyranny.
And that’s all mainstream electoral politics ever is in the US empire: a fake, decoy revolution staged for the public every few years so that they don’t have a real one. A symbolic ceremony where the public pretends to cast the abusive status quo into the sea so they feel like the battle against their oppressors has been won. And then their oppressors just keep right on oppressing them.
Every few years the public gets to choose between two reliable lackeys of the oligarchic empire, and then all of the evils of that empire get pinned upon the winner. The public then directs their rage at the lackey rather than the actual power structure which has been oppressing them, after which they have another election to rid themselves of the scoundrel once and for all. They hug, they cry, they celebrate, and the oppression machine continues completely uninterrupted.
And it is accurate, I believe.
As Gore Vidal once said:
“It doesn’t actually make any difference whether the President is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that it has been able to make the people think that they have had something to do with the electing of presidents for 200 years when they’ve had absolutely nothing to say about the candidates or the policies or the way the country is run. A very small group controls just about everything.”
That small group is the plutocratic class whose legalized bribery and propaganda machine has immense influence over US politics, as well as the imperial war machine and special interest groups with whom the plutocratic class is allied.
It is necessary to form coalitions of support within that power cluster if one wants to become president in the managed democracy that is the United States, and no part of that power cluster is going to support a president who won’t reliably advance the interests of the oligarchic empire.
From this point of view, the oligarchic power cluster is essentially running its own employees against each other and having them promise to end the injustices which are inextricably baked in to the oligarchic empire.
Americans live in a totalitarian state whose most important elections are rigged from top to bottom, and they’re fed news stories about Evil Dictators in other countries rigging their elections to remain in power.
Politicians cannot change the status quo to one which benefits ordinary people instead of their oligarchic owners, because the oligarchic empire is built upon the need for endless war, poverty, and oppression.
You cannot have a unipolar global empire without using violent force (and the threat of it) to uphold that world order, and you cannot have a plutocracy without ensuring that a few rulers have far more wealth control than the rank-and-file citizenry.
For this reason, even politicians who run on relatively progressive-sounding platforms are themselves a part of the fake decoy revolution unless they demand a complete dismantling of oligarchy and empire.
The politicians who present themselves as progressives in America today offer only light opposition to some aspects of empire and oligarchy, in effect merely supporting an oligarchic empire that gives Americans healthcare.
Since keeping Americans poor, busy and propagandized is an essential dynamic in the hub of a globe-spanning oligarchic empire, this is a nonsensical position; the oligarchs don’t want ordinary Americans to have money to burn on campaign donations and free time to research what’s really going on in their world, because then they might meddle in the gears of empire...
...A power structure built upon economic injustice will never permit economic justice.
The door to meaningful change in America via electoral politics has been closed, locked, bolted, welded shut, and barricaded with a metric ton of solid steel.
The only thing that can cause an end to the oppression and exploitation is an end to the oligarchic empire, and the only thing that can cause the end of the oligarchic empire is direct action by the American people: mass-scale activism, general strikes, and civil disobedience the likes of which the nation has never before seen, in sufficient numbers to bring down the plutocratic institutions which maintain the status quo.
The problem is that this will never happen as long as Americans are being successfully propagandized into being content with their fake decoy revolutions.
There is a zero percent chance of electoral politics leading to an end of the empire, but a concerted effort to spread awareness by those who understand what’s going on just might.
All positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of awareness, whether you’re talking about awareness of the consequences of one’s addiction leading to their getting sober or an expansion of awareness of the injustices of racism leading to racial justice laws.
Making people aware that the mass media are lying to us about what’s real, aware of the horrors of war, aware of the underlying dynamics of the economic injustice which is grinding Americans into the dirt, that can lead to a chain reaction which sees the collective using the power of its numbers to shrug off the chains of oppression as easily as you remove a heavy coat on a warm day.
What’s needed is for the people to awaken to the truth. An entire empire is built upon a pair of closed eyelids.
Please read the entire article at the Greenville Post HERE.
Videos of Chinese Military Aviation
"The Chinese air force is a joke. The best that they have are 1980's old-Soviet Union hand me downs. All cobbled together with that shoddy Chinese workmanship and piloted by CCP members that would defect to the Untied States in a heartbeat."
It’s a narrative that has been pumped into the American heartland for decades. The truth is something all together different. Especially since 90% of the American military aviation, and parts are currently made inside of China. If China can design and manufacture for the United States Aviation companies, they can do so for themselves. Which is why we see all sorts of interesting home-grown and home-designed, and home-manufactured aircraft in China these days.
You can download the videos in a ZIP file HERE. Just open them up and they will play one by one. 41MB.
Oh, I almost forgot about Pepe…
You know the drill. From HERE. All credit to the author and edited to fit this venue.
The upcoming G7 in Cornwall at first might be seen as the quirky encounter of “America is Back” with “Global Britain”.
The Big Picture though is way more sensitive. Three Summits in a Row – G7, NATO and US-EU – will be paving the way for a much expected cliffhanger: the Putin-Biden summit in Geneva – which certainly won’t be a reset.
The controlling interests behind the hologram that goes by the name of “Joe Biden” have a clear overarching agenda: to regiment industrialized democracies – especially those in Europe – and keep them in lockstep to combat those “authoritarian” threats to US national security, “malignant” Russia and China.
It’s like a throwback to those oh so stable 1970s Cold War days, complete with James Bond fighting foreign devils and Deep Purple subverting communism. Well, the times they are-a-changin’. China is very much aware that now the Global South “accounts for almost two-thirds of the global economy compared to one-third by the West: in the 1970s, it was exactly the opposite.”
For the Global South – that is, the overwhelming majority of the planet – the G7 is largely irrelevant. What matters is the G20.
China, the rising economic superpower, hails from the Global South, and is a leader in the G20. For all their internal troubles, EU players in the G7 – Germany, France and Italy – cannot afford to antagonize Beijing in economic, trade and investment terms.
A G7 rebooted as a Sinophobic crusade will have no takers. Including Japan and special guests at Cornwall: tech powerhouse South Korea, and India and South Africa (both BRICS members), offered the dangling carrot of a possible extended membership.
Washington’s wishful thinking cum P.R. offensive boils down to selling itself as the primus inter pares of the West as a revitalized global leader. Why the Global South is not buying it can be observed, graphically, by what happened for the past eight years. The G7 – and especially the Americans – simply could not respond to China’s wide-ranging, pan-Eurasian trade/development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The American “strategy” so far – 24/7 demonization of BRI as a “debt trap” and “forced labor” machine – did not cut it. Now, too little too late, comes a G7 scheme, involving “partners” such as India, to “support”, at least in theory, vague “high-quality projects” across the Global South: that’s the Clean Green Initiative , focused on sustainable development and green transition, to be discussed both at the G7 and the US-EU summits.
Compared to BRI, Clean Green Initiative hardly qualifies as a coherent geopolitical and geoeconomic strategy. BRI has been endorsed and partnered by over 150 nation-states and international bodies – and that includes more than half of the EU’s 27 members.
Facts on the ground tell the story. China and ASEAN are about to strike a “comprehensive strategic partnership” deal. Trade between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries (CCEC), also known as the 17+1 group, including 12 EU nations, continues to increase. The Digital Silk Road, the Health Silk Road and the Polar Silk Road keep advancing.
So what’s left is loud Western rumbling about vague investments in digital technology – perhaps financed by the European Investment Bank, based in Luxembourg – to cut off China’s “authoritarian reach” across the Global South.
The EU-US summit may be launching a “Trade and Technology Council” to coordinate policies on 5G, semiconductors, supply chains, export controls and technology rules and standards. A gentle reminder: the EU-US simply do not control this complex environment. They badly need South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Wait a minute, Mr. Taxman
To be fair, the G7 may have rendered a public service to the whole world when their Finance Ministers struck an alleged “historic” deal last Saturday in London on a global, minimal 15% tax on multinational companies (MNCs).
Triumphalism was in order – with endless praise lavished on “justice” and “fiscal solidarity” coupled with really bad news for assorted fiscal paradises.
Well, that’s slightly more complicated.
This tax has been discussed at the highest levels of the OECD in Paris for over a decade now – especially because nation-states are losing at least $427 billion a year in tax-dodging by MNCs and assorted multi-billionaires. In terms of the European scenario that does not even account for the loss of V.A.T. by fraud – something gleefully practiced by Amazon, among others.
So it’s no wonder G7 Finance Ministers had $1.6 trillion-worth Amazon pretty much on their sights. Amazon’s cloud computing division should be treated as a separate entity. In this case the mega-tech group will have to pay more corporate tax in some of its largest European markets – Germany, France, Italy, UK – if the global 15% tax is ratified.
So yes, this is mostly about Big Tech – master experts on fiscal fraud and profiting from tax paradises located even inside Europe, such as Ireland and Luxembourg. The way the EU was built, it allowed fiscal competition between nation-states to fester. To discuss this openly in Brussels remains a virtual taboo. In the official EU list of fiscal paradises, one won’t find Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Malta.
So could this all be just a P.R. coup? It’s possible. The major problem is that at the European Council – where governments of EU member-states discuss their issues – they have been dragging their feet for a long time, and sort of delegated the whole thing to the OECD.
As it stands, details on the 15% tax are still vague – even as the US government stands to become the largest winner, because its MNCs have shifted massive profits all across the planet to avoid US corporate taxes.
Not to mention that nobody knows if, when and how the deal will be globally accepted and implemented: that will be a Sisyphean task. At least it will be discussed, again, at the G20 in Venice in July.
What Germany wants
Without Germany there would not have been real advance on the EU-China Investment Agreement late last year. With a new US administration, the deal is stalled again. Outgoing chancellor Merkel is against China-EU economic decoupling – and so are German industrialists. It will be quite a treat to watch this subplot at the G7.
In a nutshell: Germany wants to keep expanding as a global trading power by using its large industrial base, while the Anglo-Saxons have completely ditched their industrial base to embrace non-productive financialization. And China for its part wants to trade with the whole planet. Guess who’s the odd player out.
Considering the G7 as a de facto gathering of the Hegemon with its hyenas, jackals and chihuahuas, it will also be quite a treat to watch the semantics. What degree of “existential threat” will be ascribed to Beijing – especially because for the interests behind the hologram “Biden” the real priority is the Indo-Pacific?
These interests could not give a damn about a EU yearning for more strategic autonomy. Washington always announces its diktats without even bothering to previously consult Brussels.
So this is what this Triple X of summits – G7, NATO and EU-US – will be all about: the Hegemon pulling all stops to contain/harass the emergence of a rising power by enlisting its satrapies to “fight” and thus preserve the “rules-based international order” it designed over seven decades ago.
History tells uss it won’t work. Just two examples: the British and French empires could not stop the rise of the US in the 19th century; and even better, the Anglo-American axis only stopped the simultaneous rise of Germany and Japan by paying the price of two world wars, with the British empire destroyed and Germany back again as the leading power in Europe.
That should give the meeting of “America is Back” and “Global Britain” in Cornwall the status of a mere, quirky historical footnote.
Oh, and let’s talk about some food.
It’s near supper time, and it is early Summer. To me, that means buttered corn on the cob, watermelon, baked beans, hamburgers, fried chicken, tomato-onion-salad, cole slaw, and potato salad. Most of which you simply cannot get here in China.
Hamburger with a side of baked beans.
Well, you can get mashed potatoes at KFC, and potato salad at a Japanese restaurant. All of the others you can get, but they will all be cooked Chinese-style, which for the most part doesn’t resemble what I think about as hot Summer American food.
I’m not really complaining.
It’s that you adjust to your situation. You appreciate what you have when you have it. You realize that it is fleeting and the idea that you just “can always go out and get a hamburger” isn’t really true outside of the United States. Just like you just cannot go out in America and get some Hunan fish when ever you feel like it.
Now, it’s kind of “cheating” to take frozen fries, some left over chili and cheese and wrap it all up in aluminum foil to throw onto a campfire, but I don’t care. This is the year 2021, not 1854. You learn, you adapt, you strive, and you accept.
Some may call this cheating.
Once, I am fed…
… I have some videos about the Chinese military forces. Well worth a look.
You see, China must build up it’s forces. America is eyeing it for invasion. And it is not going to go away, back down, or moderate it’s position. Conflict is inevitable.
And the world spins around and around…
Meanwhile from HERE, we have this jewel from UNZ …
China Notes That the Same Journalist Pushing Wuhan Lab Hoax Pushed Iraq WMD Hoax
The people who hypes up the #Wuhan lab-leak hypothesis is the same people who fabricated the fake information about #Iraq's "attempt to acquire nuclear weapons" 19 years ago. pic.twitter.com/5tfbRioB2D
China’s Foreign Ministry blasted the resurgent interest in the Covid-19 lab-origin theory, noting that the journalist behind a report about Wuhan scientists falling ill is the same one who peddled lies that led to the Iraq War.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin took aim at Michael R. Gordon, a national security correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and one of the authors of the report that added fuel to speculation about Covid-19’s lab origin.
“Not long ago, Michael R. Gordon, an American journalist, by quoting a so-called ‘previously undisclosed US intelligence report,’ hinted [at] a far-fetched connection between the ‘three sick staff’ at the Wuhan lab and the Covid-19 outbreak,” Wang said at a briefing on Friday.
“Nineteen years ago, it was this very reporter who concocted false information by citing unsubstantiated sources about Iraq’s ‘attempt to acquire nuclear weapons,’ which directly led to the Iraq War,” he charged, referring to the 2003 US invasion.
The WSJ piece, published on May 23, cites “a previously undisclosed US intelligence report” as saying that three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell seriously ill in November 2019 with symptoms “consistent” with Covid-19 as well as a seasonal flu.
The report got picked up by other mainstream media, which recently began shifting their coverage on Covid-19’s origins from outright dismissing theories that the virus was man-made to admitting that a lab leak remains a possibility.
Furthermore, I wouldn’t personally point to Gordon as the source for the “Wuhan Lab Leak Hypothesis” – I would point to the Jewish neocon Josh Rogin.
Rogin, like Gordon, spent years promoting various atrocity hoaxes in the Middle East and pushing wars for Israel, and is the original source for the version of the “Wuhan Lab theory,” that is currently circulating, writing a Washington Post column promoting the hoax on April 14, 2020.
The point of course is that everywhere you look, there are neocons – most of them Jewish – promoting this Wuhan Lab stuff. They are the absolute source of the claim – they and a Falun Gong Hong Kong CIA feminist woman, Li-Meng Yan.
She is claiming to be a “whistleblower,” despite the fact that she in no way meets the definition of that term. The term necessarily implies insider knowledge – usually, a whistleblower is an employee or former employee of the organization they are blowing the whistle on.
Though none of the media promoting her says it outright, there is an implication that she worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. She did not. She worked at a university in Hong Kong when she was funded by Steve Bannon to write a paper making the claim that the supposed coronavirus is a Chinese bioweapon.
Bannon has recently been associated with Guo Wengui, a billionaire who was exiled from China for fraud and various crimes. In June of last year, Bannon declared that Guo is now the real ruler of China in a bizarre video on a boat.
While they were on the boat in front of the Statue of Liberty saying they were going to “overthrow the government of China,” they flew planes around with signs announcing their new government.
What does it mean? The sign in English says “Congratulations to the Federal State of New China” at least 5 planes flying over the Hudson in circles pic.twitter.com/4Kugqfwa5A
No one understood what was going on, and even Fox News reported on “confusion” regarding the banners and the livestream on the boat. The livestream has since been deleted, and there is no news from the Federal State of New China. But there is a Wikipedia page documenting this incredibly strange event.
Guo also runs a fake news website (I use that term in the most literal sense) where he published the Hunter Biden footjob videos.
The point is: this is a very weird operation, and it is absurd to take a person funded by these people seriously, as Tucker Carlson shamefully has.
(I’m not attacking Tucker over this, he’s overall great and is sometimes just really slow on the uptake, unfortunately – but it is shameful to get involved with a Hong Kong woman who was literally given money by Steve Bannon and his “Federation of New China” group to write a fake science paper.)
To pretend that she is a whistleblower, to pretend that political organizations funding papers with a predetermined outcome is serious science, is non-serious behavior.
The first time I heard the Wuhan lab leak theory it was being promoted by neocon extremist Tom Cotton. It was then promoted by neocon extremist Mike Pompeo, who was then in the process of trying to start a war with China. Now, it is being promoted by the Jews of CNN.
There is no one involved in claiming that the supposed coronavirus came from a Chinese lab who doesn’t have vested interests in starting a war with the Chinese. This goes for all of these Jews, as well as Steve Bannon, who has actually declared “overthrowing the government of China” (his words) to be his goal.
It’s very obvious to see how people who want a war with China would use this hoax, and it is great that China is making the link to the Iraqi WMD hoax. It truly is the same thing.
The United States is a country with a lot of problems. None of those problems are the fault of China. China is not promoting gay sex to children, they are not flooding us with millions of brown people, they did not steal our election, they did not take all of our freedoms and collapse the economy.
Our enemies are domestic and they are Jewish. Any attempt to fear-monger and attack China is intended as a distraction from what is going on in this country, and intended to stoke a war.
Furthermore, this “lab leak” nonsense is designed to get people to continue to believe in this coronavirus hoax.
I need a beer…
I swear, the United States is seventeen degrees shy of the loony-bin.
Everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else, and all of them are just shear nut-cases. I swear.
I’ll tell you… the world cannot take much more of this insanity. Something is going to break. Sooner or later
.
Videos of Chinese Military Forces
"The Chinese military are nothing more than a bunch of uneducated conscripts that has been handed a cheapo AK-47 clone, and told to fight. They are a cake-walk and nothing to worry about."
Um. Don’t test them. The Chinese are a serious-serious people. And if they fight, they will be defending their homes and their families.
I’ve got some great videos showing the Chinese forces using some of their weapons. The one with their unique flame-thrower / plasma projectile weapon blaster is really interesting.
Some of the videos are propaganda with a rah-rah-rah feel. Others are just illustrative of the techniques and the means that the Chinese military train to use. And some are just interesting.
You can download the videos in a ZIP file HERE. Just open them up and they will play one by one. 377MB.
Videos related to Technology
"Just some videos related to technology".
And here they are.
You can download the videos in a ZIP file HERE. Just open them up and they will play one by one.
Videos related to America
"America is the bight and shining house on the hill that everyone wants to emulate, copy and be part of."
Um. Sure.
Here’s a collection of videos that show how America is viewed upon by the rest of the world. Some of the videos are just scenes from things like the televisions show “cops”, while others are international scholars discussing the Role of America on the global stage, and it’s relationships with China. It’s good stuff. This is how America is viewed by the rest of the world.
You can download the videos in a ZIP file HERE. Just open them up and they will play one by one. It’s 73MB.
Conclusion
I could use a beer. The world seems to be fucked seven ways past Sunday, and all I want to do is chill out, hang out with pretty girls, drink a few brews and munch.
These times we’re living in are absolutely surreal. Not surprised though, we’ve been doing this for a long time now. Alas, a great many of my fellow White Americans will fall for it completely & be all in for a war with China.
None of them ever even contemplating what that would mean for us & the world. But, these are the same people who boast “we’re number one” when we rank at or near the bottom in positive stats for all developed nations, beset with crippling societal ills.
The same people who think we can vote ourselves out of this mess & Trump will win in ‘24 & somehow save the day. The same people who think our best days are ahead when our productivity base has been utterly gutted, our infrastructure is collapsing & our ability to maintain it & the skill set needed to sustain that productivity/infrastructure is slipping away. The same people who boast of “muh freedoms” when their freedoms & their children’s future is being pulled from right under their feet. The same people who think we’ll always be on top even when every example of history shows that every empire in history has collapsed.
We’re racing toward a cliff but they still think “god” is on their side & won’t let it happen or we’ll stay on top because, well, “we’re America”..
Utter denial & abject delusion seem to be a central aspect of our people..
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
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Here is part nine of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. This particular collection consists of a very average selection of attractive Chinese girls, and you all might just be “blown away” by the content. Indeed, there are some favorites in here.
I’ve been spending way too much time dealing with the rubble of Metallicman after the three detailed attacks on my system, my content and my subscriber base. Apparently the people who attacked MM were not so worried about what I had been posting, but they wanted to know who have been subscribing to it, and since they couldn’t extract the data they tried to brute-force crowbar their way into the databases.
They failed, but boy or boy did they leave a lot of wreckage behind. I guess, I really don’t know, but I guess, that their normal loopholes that they normally exploit revolve around the profit ends and the collection of data in that venture. And since I don’t do that, they were left scrambling to find other means to enter. All of which failed.
I wrote up a great post, that has been up for hours and no one is reading it. So I wonder why. Well they also corrupted my URL assignment code. Jeeze! Don’t these guys have better things to do with their time?
It seems really strange to me. Most MM readers are rather congenial, don’t you know. So I figure it must be a problem on my end. Sigh. So I’ve been debugging it all evening. Jeeze part two. Can’t I ever get a break?
But something else curious has been happening.
More than just a few people have been writing to me through the ‘back channels” telling me of similar events that they are experiencing. Taken as a whole, it seems that something bigger than just a nefarious hacking attempt has occurred.
I am a regular reader of your site. I am living in France, so I guess I must be 7 hours behind you. In any case, I experienced the problems on June 2, given the time difference from where you're at. Anyway, I had a "taunting" kind of dream very early in the morning and my husband couldn't stop bugging me. I couldn't gather my thoughts. He only calmed down and went to sleep after I started thinking that some outside force was using him as a conduit to bother me.
It was a blatantly ridiculous dream where someone tries to haunt me by saying "we know what you did in the past", which I brushed off and thought, "well i'm not the only sinner here hypocrite, and even then I'm a fucking saint by comparison"... But still, this is not a typical dream. Usually my dreams are just nonsense. It felt like it was a deliberate attack. A bullshit attack to be sure, but definitely felt "deliberate". I can't explain except that's how I felt when I woke up. I have no "proof". Just a very strong feeling, so take that as you will.
Anyway, I wake up to my morning routine, which includes visiting your site for new articles. I see that your site is loading very slowly or not at all. I tried several times, but no dice. Then I immediately get a rash of appointment cancellations. I told myself to stay steady and remember my "homing thoughts" and to not break my stride. I also thought that this attack would not come if the resistance was not on the correct path.
The next day, your site is working fine again. I get some additional perfect reviews and new appointments. I'm not saying the events I experienced are connected to what happened to you, but I had a sense that something was going to go haywire in the early morning of my suspicious dream. I was surprised to find out that Zhuhai experienced a suspiciously prolonged electromagnetic storm during this time.
Maybe you had other readers who experienced something strange or "off" the day your site got attacked. If this occurred, then it's definitely something worth remembering and keeping in the back of the mind for future reference.
In any case, I (and I'm sure many silent readers as well) are grateful for your work and the information you put out there.
-Anonymous M
Well, yeah. How the heck does someone not connected with the operation of the site also have odd and unusual experiences happening to them as well? So I responded…
Thank you for that. You are not the only one. Something has occurred, and it's bigger than what we humans understand. There was a battle, or reset, or "something". Call it an adjustment, if you want. But something happened. Yeah, you are not crazy.
Anyways…
Speaking of a “break”…
I’ve discovered another fine “white wine” that I have “taken a shine to”. It’s very cheap, and tastes great. But it’s at 43% alcohol instead of 55%. Never the less, aside from that, it’s rippin’ good. So it charges me up and refreshes me at the same time. Perhaps I have become more like BenderBendingRodríguez who needs alcohol to function properly. Heh heh.
Bender Bending Rodríguez
I’ve been so wrapped up in dealing with the carnage that I haven’t had the time to enjoy the little pleasures in life. Like good food, good drink and fine companionship. Now that’s a shame, eh?
Let’s get on to the girls of China, eh?
That’s why you are here, eh?
The idea here is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people? And don’t you lie. It’s biologically encoded in all humans. (Bet you didn’t know that!)
Women look at other women with “different eyes” than men do. Of course, everyone knows this. Let’s look at this picture below.
Here’s my comments.
Her eyebrows are perfect. Just perfect. You can see the lines and details in them. very nice. Very sweet.
Nice robust chest with a very comfortable top, and the way that those jeans fit her is really awesome. This is the “go around town” outfit where you feel good and comfortable and wear the clothes like a second skin.
I like the necklace. But I wonder what is it’s significance. Does the letter “H” mean something, or is it just an accessory? Us guys usually haven’t a clue, but when we are out eating a noon meal with the woman in question, ti would probably come up as a conversation piece.
I have to say that her hair is distressed. It’s thin, and seems to be over processed. I think that she needs to seriously condition it. My guess is that she has been changing her hair color far too often than she should.
She looks to be in her 30’s. But this is China, she could easily be in her 40’s without any issue.
To Open the Files
Like my other posts.
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
Here is a younger lass. She’s in her 20’s. She have a very Asian face, and a very round face as opposed to an oval face. Like all Chinese, her eye color is brown. But with black hair and brown eyes, what’s not to love? I do love the way that he lips part, and the red color just matches her skin complexion. You will notice that the skin is pale. This is considered to be beautiful in China. Even in the Southern regions near Guangzhou.
She has a nice robust chest, and is wearing a cute top with a curious pattern. It seems to be embroidered, which (if you know me) is one of my loves. I just love embroidered work. Especially shirts and jackets.
Judging from the video, I would guess that she is in her middle 20’s and is healthy and fit. But I could be wrong. She might be 80 years old. It’s difficult to tell the age of a Chinese woman, don’t you know.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not.
For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
While I tend to prefer ladies with a more motherly and robust appearance, I find all of them to be very attractive. From the tall thin leggy beauties to the short cute little kitten like cuddle balls. But of course, most people from Arkansas think that my interest in these gals are because they look preadolescent. Really. Do you think that this beauty looks like a ten year old child?
This gal has everything that I find attractive in a woman. Big smile. Clean appearance. Longish hair that is clean, healthy and well maintained. Robust Chest, is playful. Is wearing comfortable clothes that fit her well. And has hands that dance…
…do you know what I mean “that dance”…
…smooth articulated moments that move like water, and are graceful and calm. Peaceful and eloquent.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it.
This is true for the human sexes, as it is for animals, for flowers and for things such as building and art. Personally, I find art that massages the soul to be truly beautiful and inspirational. Which is why I have a complete index devoted to the subject.
But, what I consider to be beautiful might repel others. And likewise, what others find beautiful repels me.
Consider this work of “art”…
Is this “art”? Is this “beautiful”? Does this evoke the senses?
I argue that it’s a contemporaneous joke that is trying to capitalize on the current contentious political scene. Not any kind of work of value, no matter what your political persuasion is. Art evokes the senses and stirs the emotions. If it fails to do so, then it is not art.
But beauty comes in many forms and many shapes. While this particular post or article is about the beauty of Chinese ladies, I argue that beauty can be found everywhere. Look at cats for instance…
A beautiful cat.
And I have said this many, many times before.
If you had a choice, wouldn’t you prefer to surround yourselves with beautiful things, beautiful creatures, beautiful places, and beautiful relationships. It is up to us to attract and emit the same kinds of attractions. Whether it is beauty, kindness or happiness. We become what we emit.
Again. Nice eyebrows. Very Chinese eyes.
Short fingernails. She’s obviously a working or office girl. You try typing on a keyboard with long fingernails. Oh, Lordly as if that’s going to happen. Not!
Nice chest. Very cuddly soft sweater. Personally I find the bright blue too garish for my personal tastes, but she looks good in it.
Now, when I was younger, my tastes in women were shaped by the images and magazines of the time such as Playboy, and Penthouse. That’s all I had to go on, and as a young man, with my hormones a raging, all I could do is tremble as I asked a girl out. Which most of the time was a failure.
But it’s all a growth phase that we all go through.
This chick has over processed her hair. I really don’t think that she should do this. But in all fairness, she is going for a “look”. You can tell by her clothing and her lipstick color.
Notice the background. She is in a typical Chinese housing complex, and the view is very common throughout China.
Bing a man, eventually you reach a balance point where your hormones are under control and all you really want to do is get to know the girl, have a good time together, and enjoy the moments. And really as you get older this becomes more and more pronounced.
You savor the steaks you eat. You enjoy the perfume she wears, you listen to her talk and enjoy the night air after the dinner. You joke, you laugh, and maybe sing a song or two while walking on the jetty.
Women are magical.
I will bet that this girl (below) would be fun to be with. To go out, chat on in a mall, go window shopping with, and enjoy a nice meal. Maybe Thai or Viet food. Colorful, tasty, delicious and relaxing. I can easily picture sharing a steamed fish and some coconut / pineapple rice together.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. It’s their choice of clothing, the area where the video was filmed, the selection of music, the way their hair is done up, and so much more.
Like the clothes that they chose to spend the evening in, and the choice of shoes that they wore. Guys, you all had best be more attentive. Don’t you know.
Each little video is like a window to the soul. Where you get a little glimpse of the girl behind the mask. That little presentation is just pure gold.
Some have personality.
And some really do. While others just have a strong softness. Some are calm and composed, some are happy and light. And some are stunning and serious while others remind you of Summer carnival rides, cotton candy and “bear claw” cakes to s’munch upon.
Like this girl below. I would love to ride on a merry-go-round with her, a roller-coaster, or just explore a fun house while snapping videos to post on Tictok.
Some have a great body.
They have long legs, or great dimples. Some have just long, long hair or dark, dark eyes. Some have a soft touch, while others have a careful composed prettiness.
Some have a wonderful smile.
Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. Girls, ladies, women are like beautiful flowers that should be treasured and cherished. For they are all wonderful.
But do not mistake the cuteness of a tiger for the damage it could cause if you angered it. Chinese women are very, very capable people. You can take that “to the bank”. Never fail to understand that they are strong, knowledgeable and powerful in their own right.
This girl below has artistic hands. Much like I have. She’s really pretty typical, but this particular pose would be really nice to paint in oils. Just remove the damn camera phone so that I can get a decent look at her face. You do know girls that there is more to your being than just your hips and chest. Your entire face is what presents your image to the world. Omit that, and you are just a thing.
I get it. You are proud of your attractive body. And I, like most me, appreciate that body. But when I am with a chick it’s how I picture us interacting together that means more than just the appearance. From the simple morning hello, to the nighttime escapades. What makes a person special is how they carry themselves.
All are wonderful.
Such is the beauty of women. And for us, and for everyone, we need to appreciative the world around us more.
Some girls just make me melt, and some with pony tails are just adorable. Here is a girl in a country backyard garden. It’s pretty typical China with blue skies, bright green colors and warm temperatures.
Oh, I guess that I am a tad bit crazy. When I see an attractive girl all I want to do is be with them and talk. Hopefully over food. This idea that I would associate attractive girls with food is nothing that I would ever believe when I was younger. But here we are.
In those days, I was always in a hurry. Eat, run, work at a frantic pace. Get laid off. Hustle to find new work. Work at a frantic pace to learn the job. Hurry up. Do the task. Complete the task. Crash. layoff. Repeat.
Now I savor life.
I savor the time that I share with others, and I appreciate the time that they devote in getting ready to go out with me. I appreciate the clothes that they wear, and the behaviors that they have. I pay special attention to what they have to say and why.
Speaking of food…
Here’s a random selection of some of the food and meals that I had over the last few weeks. Just like in my prayer / affirmation campaigns; “I eat fine, delicious and healthy food in a calm and relaxed manner with friends and family”.
Sweet and sour pork. Authentic Chinese Guangzhou style.
Sweet and sour pork is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. There is a sort of pale-copy of it in Chinese American restaurants back in the United States, but the real deal is fresh. It’s not pre-packaged out of a bag and cooked up on the stove like it is in America.
And here’s what I talk about when I eat beef….
Vietnamese style ginger beef. Oh so tender and so very delicious.
As much as I love a fine steak ( Filetmignon is my favorite), I do love those really tender slices of beef that are cooked oh so very right. So yummy.
The next meal was taken in a Dim Sum restaurant and the lunch meal was extraordinary. Of course, the main meals are great and tasty but make for great conversation pieces, like these little tank crapes…
Battle Dim Sum meal.
I love food in all of it’s many incarnations. And being in the Guangzhou area we get a fine selection of South East Asian food. I must tell you’se guys that Singapore food is just awesome, as is Malaysian, Cambodian, Thai and Vietnamese. Many of them have ingredients that are unavailable in the United States part of it is because of price, but a lot of it is because they are banned.
For the children…
…don’t you know.
Check out this nice Thai shrimp…
Sweet curried prawns.
We have some favorite restaurants that we hold VIP membership with. These “memberships” are an on going thing all over China. You get 20% off the price, a waiver of the various fees for tea, napkins, seats and rice, and preferential treatment. To get it you must deposit a few thousand yuan in the establishment and then you pay your bill drawing from that account.
And here’s a nice meal that I had in one of our “family restaurants”…
Pork neck and curried chicken.
For some odd reason, I now associate women, girls and ladies with food. In fact, when I look at food I think of women. And when I look at women I think of food. I suppose that you all must think that I am completely bonkers in this regard. But that’s just the way it is.
When I think of women wearing comfortable casual clothes I imagine us in the house together. She’s cooking on the stove wearing an apron. I know, I’m such an old fashioned chauvinist guy, and us talking. I sit there sipping on a wine, and helping her, maybe doing some food prep and she’s busy talking about this or that. Nothing too serious, but fun, light conversation that is engaging and delightful.
Now, I know. I know. I mean it; I know that this is not what anyone really WANTS to hear.
They want to hear about sex, and porn. they want to hear about expensive clothing, makeup and beauty perfection. They want to hear about the salacious details on dates and relationships that have turned sour.
Not here.
(I’ve) been there. Done that.
I just want to have a good time and munch.
And that young girl going out with “her crew”, see the beauty of her age around and what they are doing. As I have said, beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, ages, and types. And just because I enjoy the more curvy robust girls, that doesn’t mean that I do not find other women just as attractive. Some of my favorite girls are short, thin and very petite. But that is just me.
I like them all.
Just like I like Pizza, cheeseburgers, steaks and fried chicken. Don’t force me to choose. I just cannot. I love them all. And that is the same with beauty. There is no set idea of perfection, but rather a wide and diverse spectrum of characteristics that all work together to create an “image”.
I just love how she parts open her lips. What a very nice image.
We have to be more aware, and certainly more appreciative.
Not every girl is a “ten”. But that rating scale is based upon appearance alone. When the actual characteristics of a person consists of a wide spectrum of attributes. From appearance to personal grooming. To manners, the way that they talk, their friends, and their interests. To kindness, dreams, and opinions on life. Everything combines to a whole. And you all will not get that in a static image.
When I look at something, or someone who is beautiful it first strikes my interest. This is a normal reaction and there is nothing evil, disgusting or slimy about it. People naturally gravitate towards the attractive. But you know, and I am certain that some dog owners know, that even the most ugly dogs have characteristics that make them very special and beautiful in our eyes.
And that’s one of the great things about life.
It’s to experience beauty in everything. To appreciate beauty in everything, and to contribute to that beauty in good, substantive, and helpful ways. To make the life better for friends and family; to improve society and to rid the world of the evil, the confused and the horrible.
What I like about this particular picture is this model (and she is a model. She models trousers) is how comfortable she appears. She has a nice chest, thin waist, but the pants fit like a very comfortable glove. Haven’t you’se guys ever had clothing that felt so good when you put them on, that you felt… regal? Well, that is the feeling that I get from this particular picture.
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
You all might wonder why I am posting these pictures on the internet. But you shouldn’t.
Try to find pictures of beautiful girls from China using Google, Bing or any American or Western search engine. What you will get are stock images, advertisements, pictures of children, and professional photos associated with some Western “journalism”.
Oh, and don’t leave yet! Let’s talk about the girls for a spell….
Talking about the Girls
Smiles that can open up all sorts of doors.
Let’s talk a little about the girls.
These girls are mostly between the ages of 18 years and 45 years old. The vast bulk of them are in their late 20’s. In China, if you are a woman, the ages between 23 years old and 30 years old are the dating years where you look for a husband worthy to start a family with. In China, if a woman cannot find a man by the time she is 28, she is considered a Spinster. And is considered unmarriageable.
Yikes!
The age to get married for a woman in China is between 25 and 28. If they do not get married their entire family will sponsor these date-a-thons where they will have these programmed courting-rituals where the girl and the boy (part of a long line of boys) will spend time together.
The family won’t tell the girl beforehand either. She’ll walk into the house, and before she knows it, she’s on the fast track to get married. In the USA we call this a “shotgun wedding”. Only in China it’s the other way around.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
I don’t know about you’se guys, but all these girls look pretty darn marriageable to me. They would be on the “A” list in any man’s personal list.
And no, someone had best hit those morons in Arkansas on their idiotic moronic heads. They do not look like pre-adolescent children do they?
What age do you think this lass is? Ten or twelve?
A special bonus
Now here is a very special bonus that I am including in this article.
You know that the United States is all upset that China is forging relationships with nations in Africa, and the tried and true methods of giving wads of money to African dictators no longer works. And the Chinese help, infrastructure and investment is changing the nations of Africa.
But you NEVER see or hear about it.
China is leading the world in Change. Look at these beauties. Gosh their hair is so wonderful. And look at those eyes, and lips. My goodness!
Not once did FOX “news”, CNN, Salon, the Huffington Post, or Free Republic ever mention how the good works that China is doing inside Africa is transforming the societies there. It’s “soft power”, don’t you know, and America hates that. You cannot make money on wars when everyone is happy.
Here’s a video showing the good things that are happening in Africa, and not this is not a propaganda flick. Like all the videos in this article, this is the real deal taken by people who are participating in it first hand. Notice how beautiful the African ladies are. Notice how happy everyone is. Notice that they are providing a stable source of income and a future.
This is Africa today.
This is because of China. And notice how they are all speaking Chinese in Africa. It makes a difference when you are not blowing up their houses, machine gunning down their cattle, and carpet bombing their cities.
Here is part eight of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. And this one is a collection where I try to offer a different selection of all sorts and sizes.
Today is a nice lazy Saturday.
I went out to pick up some packages at the local “box store”, and then went off to the MeiYeJia quick-mart that I have mentioned before. It’s all so mellow. I passed one of the neighborhood kitty cats. He is a young gun. Maybe a year old, and taking a nice nap in the front. Like this…
Life is hard. Then you nap.
I went in to get a coke.
I don’t drink sodas like I used to in the United States. It’s far too sugary, and actually in China beer is just about the same price. So I tend to drink beer. But I wanted to get a “Black Coke” with is a zero calorie coke. I don’t care whether it has sugar or not. It’s just not as sweet as the regular coke.
And as I got it, I saw both of the children studying.
They are in first and second grade. And here it is on a Saturday at 3 in the afternoon, and they are there, next to their parents in their franchised quickie-mart, studying. So I slyly took a serendipitous photo of her while she was engrossed in her studies.
People. This is what China is.
First grader studying next to her parents in the family store on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
You would never see this in the United States.
Anyways…
Let’s get on to the girls of China, eh?
The idea here is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not.
For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
While I tend to prefer ladies with a more motherly and robust appearance, I find all of them to be very attractive. From the tall thin leggy beauties to the short cute little kitten like cuddle balls.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it.
And I have said this many, many times before.
Now, when I was younger, my tastes in women were shaped by the images and magazines of the time such as Playboy, and Penthouse. That’s all I had to go on, and as a young man, with my hormones a raging, all I could do is tremble as I asked a girl out. Which most of the time was a failure.
But it’s all a growth phase that we all go through.
And eventually you reach a balance point where your hormones are under control and all you really want to do is get to know the girl, have a good time together, and enjoy the moments. And really as you get older this becomes more and more pronounced.
You savor the steaks you eat. You enjoy the perfume she wears, you listen to her talk and enjoy the night air after the dinner. You joke, you laugh, and maybe sing a song or two while walking on the jetty.
Women are magical.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. It’s their choice of clothing, the area where the video was filmed, the selection of music, the way their hair is done up, and so much more.
Each little video is like a window to the soul. Where you get a little glimpse of the girl behind the mask. That little presentation is just pure gold.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
Some have personality.
And some really do. While others just have a strong softness. Some are calm and composed, some are happy and light. And some are stunning and serious while others remind you of Summer carnival rides, cotton candy and “bear claw” cakes to s’munch upon.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
Some have a great body.
They have long legs, or great dimples. Some have just long, long hair or dark, dark eyes. Some have a soft touch, while others have a careful composed prettiness.
Some have a great body.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. Girls, ladies, women are like beautiful flowers that should be treasured and cherished. For they are all wonderful.
But do not mistake the cuteness of a tiger for the damage it could cause if you angered it. Chinese women are very, very capable people. You can take that “to the bank”. Never fail to understand that they are strong, knowledgeable and powerful in their own right.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
All are wonderful.
Such is the beauty of women. And for us, and for everyone, we need to appreciative the world around us more.
A beautiful girl of China. This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
That fat gal at the store that you see every day, she’s a kind, lovely beauty, who could use some TLC.
And that older woman wearing that elaborate outfit, just look at her, see how the light plays upon the details.
A beautiful girl of China. This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
And that young girl going out with “her crew”, see the beauty of her age around and what they are doing.
We have to be more aware, and certainly more appreciative.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
The Videos
Let’s have a look at the videos shall we? I’ve got a bunch for certain.
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
You all might wonder why I am posting these pictures on the internet. But you shouldn’t.
Try to find pictures of beautiful girls from China using Google, Bing or any American or Western search engine. What you will get are stock images, advertisements, pictures of children, and professional photos associated with some Western “journalism”.
Nonsense. This is what it’s like.
This is the real, honest to goodness deal.
Oh, and don’t leave yet! Let’s talk about the girls for a spell….
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
About the girls
These girls are mostly between the ages of 18 years and 45 years old. The vast bulk of them are in their late 20’s. In China, if you are a woman, the ages between 23 years old and 30 years old are the dating years where you look for a husband worthy to start a family with. In China, if a woman cannot find a man by the time she is 28, she is considered a Spinster. And is considered unmarriageable.
The age to get married for a woman in China is between 25 and 28. If they do not get married their entire family will sponsor these date-a-thons where they will have these programmed courting-rituals where the girl and the boy (part of a long line of boys) will spend time together.
The family won’t tell the girl beforehand either. She’ll walk into the house, and before she knows it, she’s on the fast track to get married. In the USA we call this a “shotgun wedding”. Only in China it’s the other way around.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
I don’t know about you’se guys, but all these girls look pretty darn marriageable to me. They would be on the “A” list in any man’s personal list.
This is an average, but beautiful girl from China.
Do you want more?
You can find many more videos in my “Learning about China by looking at pretty girls index” over here…
I have gotten some positive feedback on them, and I appreciate it. I really do. I think that you can tell, at least, that what I experience doesn’t even remotely resemble the bullshit that pretends to be “news” out of the United States these days. China does not resemble anything like what is being “reported”.
The US government owns all the major media. Alt-left, alt-right, and mainstream. And they do not want anyone inside of China being made aware of the sheer bullshit that they are pumping out. They have blocked China from finding out what they are saying about it.
But that can be expected.
As the influence of the USA wanes, the people within the USA who promote hate, racism, and encourage world war III are going to find themselves on lists. Lists that they don’t want to be on, and which will get them into very, very “hot water” once they step foot outside of their protective enclaves.
But, you know, little-town local papers do have things to offer.
Like this, the Boston Globe. I like how it is laid out, and jeeze, $1 for 6 months is cheap. The only thing is that since I don’t live in Boston any longer, much of the “news” just doesn’t apply to me. Never the less, when I see it, I see hope.
I see hope.
Not everyone was bought out by the huge mega-companies, and dish out the processed swill out of Washington DC. There are people who report on local things, and local events, for local people.
Heck! If I were still in Boston, I would certainly contribute.
This vlog consists of a bunch of videos.
Some narrate while others don’t. What is special here is that (for all the videos on you-tube about China) note seem to tackle the kinds of “everyday life” that I want to provide here. For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
Keep in mind when you watch the videos, a comparison of your life, with what you are watching on my videos.
The videos
Video One. HERE. 94MB. Public internet is free in China. You can pay for great service at home, but all the public areas have free internet. This is because using the internet is considered a necessity inside of China. You need to for tracking, buying, registering and accessing. And inside China, it is against the law for anyone to profit off of people when they require access to fundamental services. This is a big change compared to the United States where there are a million tiny hands in your wallet and everyone makes a profit off of you.
Video Two. HERE. 319MB. Zhuhai is much larger than Seattle, WA USA, but far better managed. The role of a government is to provide services for it’s people, to protect them, and to allow them to live good, healthy and productive lives. it is not to treat them as sheep to be fleeced, debit slaves, serfs, or cannon fodder so that the oligarchy can profit off wars. For the last 30 years America has blown up thousands of mud huts, destroyed countless flocks of sheep and reduced hundreds of communities to rubble all in the name or personal greed. China didn’t. And what you see is China is what America should be, but isn’t.
Video Three. HERE. 95MB. This is another mall. This is on the center West side of Zhuhai, and you can see that it isn’t so different from American malls. Or at least what they used to be, back in the 1980’s. You can see American restaurants such as Pizza Hut, and Hagen Dias and watch the average people come and go. Do they look like they are “evil”? Do they look like they are starving from famine? Do they look they they are being oppressed while living in a police state by the evil CCP? Does anything resemble “poor and deteriorating” infrastructure? Is the area full of pollution, litter, and refuse? Are the people eating dogs and cats?
Video Four. HERE. 305MB. Here we talk about bicycles and the reality of owning a bicycle in an American city. Most Americans who have cars do not ride bicycles, they just hop in their car to go anywhere. Walking more than a block is a rarity. In fact most suburbs and communities have pretty much given up on sidewalks. So most are unaware of the reality of owning a bicycle inside the United States. The reality is that it will be stolen, or chopped up. The urban ethnic youth just loves to steal your seats and tires for the hell of it. It’s a fun pastime for them. (That’s what happens when strong parental leadership is missing from their lives.) We discuss life in China, and the love of walking and strolling because in China, the cities are designed for living. Not as a place that you look out the window of when you go from point A to point B.
Video Five. HERE. 34MB. A little park on the ocean. The entire coastline is a series of parks, walking and bike trails and rest areas. They are well maintained so that the citizenry can use them. This differs substantially from the United States where every beach has a for-profit parking lot where the local community can profit from. The role of the government is to provide an environment for the people to live and prosper in. Not one where the rich oligarchy can profit off the people and keep them living in fear so more money can be generated.
Video Six. HERE. 62MB. People contributing to the greater good. In America you will see a parking lot go up, and a park bulldozed. This happened all throughout the 1960’s and well into the 1980’s. And after a while the entire landscape was nothing but big large enormous empty asphalt spaces devoid of trees. Then when the business moved away, or when business died off, no one planted trees or grass. Instead they were permitted to collapse and fall into disuse. Not in China. This is because society matters. People matter.
I used to live in a small town in Massachusetts called Wrentham. For the longest time, both Wrentham and it’s neighboring town of Plainville resisted all changes and from the 1960’s up until the 1990’s no new business, or enterprises were permitted. This was true for the nearby community of Frankin as well. The entire area maintained it’s 1950’s charms.
Then the town elders decided to leave and move to Florida, and all of them left. And they all sold their property holdings to wealthy developers and within six months was all sorts of construction everywhere.
All of which held zero interest in the community, and all of which were money making, for profit enterprises run by their children.
You had the Wrenthan outlet mall, and the Wrentham water slide park, and a number of parking garages, and a few new strip malls, and after nine months the feel of the old Mayberry RFD community was displaced with semi-urban strip malls, and for profit venues.
Parking lots sprouted up. McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Panera Bread, Payless shoe store, and a Dunkin’ Donuts moved next to the old 1950’s style airstream diner, and the large oak trees were cut down to widen the road for heavier traffic flow.
When I left, right after 9-11, the local communities were outraged and all the growth was stopped. But what happened afterwards is unknown. Money could have changed hands, the the encroachment of modernity might have continued. I do not know.
That will never happen in China. China grows and builds and creates and makes, but the community and the society comes first. Not the profit can can be generated from it.
Video Seven. HERE. 30MB. One of my typical meals in China. You see, eating fish is very rare in the United States. When you do it is usually part of a sandwich, like a “fish fillet”, part of a chain like “Long John Silvers”, or deep fried like Southern Fried Catfish. Well, China cooks fish like they should be cooked, and while the bones need to be carefully removed by us Americans, the rest of the nation has no problem and eats the fish with glee and spits out the bones machine-gun style. Not only is the fish meal healthy and good for you, but it is so amazingly delicious.
Video Eight. HERE. 145MB. The beach in front of my house. I normally do not go to the beach, but it’s a pleasant place to be. Here you can see the guys roll up their tee-shirts to expose their bellies which is a very Chinese thing to do in hot climates. It’s called the “Beijing Bikini”. And it’s an on going joke.
You will also notice some little kids running around without clothes on or being partially dressed. It’s no big deal here. Kids are allowed to be kids. Unlike the United States where you could spend the rest of your life in prison as a sexual offender to being near them.
You will also notice that the access to the beach is free. You do not have to pay any fees or fines to go there. This is quite unlike many places in the United States today. This is a typical boardwalk and notice how it is protected with shady trees. Not left to bake in the sun because in America you need to pay for people to rake the leaves and it will cut into your profit margins.
Video Nine. HERE. 44MB. New construction everywhere. the Chinese have mastered the art of construction and people (!) they do not play. I have said this over and over and over again, but it is really true. And unless you are here and see it with your own two eyes, you will have zero comprehension of what you are dealing with, and that is most especially true if you get your Intel from FOX “news” or CNN.
Video Ten. HERE. 75MB. A toddler playground. I would guess that this playground is for children up to six years old, and requires supervision. You will note that there are many, many parents here. If anything happens, any one of them will come to the rescue. You will also notice that there are quite a selection of toddler appropriate play structures from mazes, to jungle gyms, to swing sets and rocking horses.
I am a big believer in age-appropriate playgrounds and outlets. You cannot have “one size fits all” and then make it so safe that only cripples on wheelchairs can use it safely. Play requires independence, safety with a level of risk. Sure, kids can fall, and things can go wrong, but in China all the toddler play areas come with a ton load of adult supervision, and no one is going to allow anything to happen if they can prevent it.
Video Eleven. HERE. 184MB. Wet Market. This is what a wet market is like. It looks a lot like a high-end American supermarket. And that’s because it is. The only difference is that fish are sold while alive. Thus the “wet” portion of the market. I ask, does Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, Hall Turner, or FOX “news” have any video of what a “Wet market” looks like. Nope. They just repeat the ugly narrative, and the ignorant believe it.
I know that I am a bit brash and “in your face” regarding this particular video, but I just read a fully bullshit article out of Forbes that angered me to no end. Still pushing the Wuhan “bat virus” hoax and the China dirty and filthy hoax. Jeeze!
Video Twelve. HERE. 75MB. Activity Center. This is a very common sight all over China. There are these little areas where you spend $5 USD for the kids to play safely. They can play with play-doh, splash in water, feed fish, slide and climb indoors, play dress-up, go to an activity table, play with toys, and paint, or build. The parents must be present, so it is not a Day-care. It’s something else entirely.
Video Thirteen HERE. 37MB. A Dim Sum restaurant. This is about as typical China as you can get, and these places are everywhere in the Southern crest of China. Everything is typical. From the tables and the table cloths to the tea, the types of people, the environment, the decorations and the food provided. This is China.
Video Fourteen HERE. 77MB. This is rush hour in front of a regional mall in a residential section. The sun is setting, the dusk is deepening, and the shade under the trees are lush, moist and green. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. This is when people go outside in China and gather together for meals, some companionship and just to socialize.
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Some key points
This is what China is like.
Is it dirty, smoggy, filthy? Do the people eat dogs and cats? Is the infrastructure failing, and flailing?
From Bing. “China City”.
Here’s a Bing search for “China Street”.
Is it a police state with constant “big brother” surveillance 24/7?
No it’s not.
From Bing “China people”.
What comes up when you do an image search for “China people” on Bing.
But it’s difficult to get the message through when the United States government owns 99.99% of all American media; mainstream, alt-Right and Alt-Left. NAd spend millions of dollars, with bot’s, AI, and armies of people to flood the internet with bad things to say about China.
They WANT to create the great lies of hate, and illusions of what China is.
From Bing. “China military”.
What Bing search engine comes up with when you do a search for “China military”.
Do you want more?
This article is going into a new sub-index that I am creating for it titled VLOG. You can access it here.
This is a really good movie to watch if you like silly/fun movies, parody movies, or john candy. It has a great blend of comedy, wit, action and all sorts of other things. I am pretty surprised by the low rating. Its not the best movie by any means, but greatly above standard and really enjoyable.
I used to have it on BetaMAX, which as a superior Sony product that was much, much better than VHS. I had the Super BetaMAX which consisted of a basic BetaMAX with a secondary image and sound unit that sat under it. The entire time when I was in training at China Lake NWC, we watched beta movies using this system on a tiny Sony color television screen.
This was during the early to middle 1980’s.
And yes, I know that everything is so very dated, and unknown to many of my readers, it was time, a very different time. It was a time when everyone was asking “Where’s the beef?”, drinking Strawberry coke, which later turned into Cherry Coke, and then Real Coke, and then Improved Coke, and finally to Coke classic. At that time in my life, the world-line slides were all over the place and the type of soda beverages we drank was constantly in flux.
Madonna was big.
A day did not go by where you couldn’t hear one of her songs. Same goes for Tears for Fears, cure, Cindi Lauper and SpandauBallet.
Pee Wee Herman was outrageous. Just like David Lee Roth, and Rodney Dangerfield. If I ever decide to say “fuck it” and to construct a time machine, it would be one that would take me back to here…
This must have been hone heck of a party.
But let’s get back to the movie at hand.
This is one of the movies that I had on BetaMAX and it starred one of my favorites actors; John Candy. What a true shame that he died so young. Those who find death an interesting subject will find this link fascinating about his death. It seems that he overworked himself in filming a movie, ate a late dinner at night (of spaghetti of all things), and died of a heart attack while sleeping. Do not ever work yourself to death. LINK about the circumstances about his death HERE.
As you get older you start to realize that you are no longer young and can “take on the world”. You have friends who get cancer, classmates who have died, good drinking buddies that have died, and close friends telling you of uncles that worked too hard, went to sleep and never woke up.
You start to take better care of what you do.
And so…
…you “hedge your bets”. You eat better, and are choosier bout what you eat, when and why. You exercise somewhat, and you go easy on the medications and the chemicals that you put in your body.
And you run affirmation prayer campaigns.
I personally like to use this movie to illustrate how thoughts can alter our reality, and that is exactly what the theme of this movie is. When you write up your campaign, think of yourself as Jack Gable (John Candy) writing up a script for you to experience.
That’s the way prayer affirmation campaigns work.
About the movie…
Delicious in parts
9 February 2007 | by hatchersan – See all my reviews
The all time best line in the movie -- John Candy rescuing Emma Samms on horseback -- "This stranger knows no danger!"
A bit spotty -- can't maintain a high comedy level throughout but nonetheless is enjoyable and a vehicle for John Candy to demonstrate comic range. Excited he will get to spend a romantic weekend tryst with Emma Samms (and misunderstanding her feminine wiles), he finds himself lugging umpteen of her suitcases to the taxi cab, then knocks himself out with the trunk door as he tries to load the suitcases. Wakes up in the pleasant little village where she reappears as new character, daughter of Raymund Burr, along with others in town, Mariel Hemingway et al. Plenty of lines for Candy in trying to write the new soap opera about family conspiracies with a stolen formula, and the rapid disintegration of Emma's brother while none in the family seem to notice or care. Again the highlight to me was the rescue chase by Candy when Emma's horse took her on a wild ride and Candy rides up and self congratulates later as modern day Zorro or Lone Ranger. All in all, enjoyable.
…
In New York City, Jack Gable (John Candy) grows irate waiting for the cable television repairman to arrive at his apartment.
When the signal is finally restored, he turns on “Beyond Our Dreams”, a daytime soap opera, explaining to the repairman that he writes for the show.
Later that morning, Jack goes to the production office for a meeting. There, he stumbles into Louise (Mariel Hemmingway), a demure actress who intends to audition for the role of “Janet Dubois.”
After insisting that “Janet” is no longer part of the story, Jack storms into Lou (David Orbach) and Arlene Sherwood’s (Renee Taylor) office. The two executives distract him by reminding him to “kill off” the character of “Rachel Hedison,” played by the temperamental Laura Claybourne (Emma Sams). Jack, who has a crush on the beautiful actress, refuses.
Lou pats him on the shoulder and tells Jack that everything will work out. After Jack leaves, Arlene calls writer Arnie Fetterman, who assures her that the “Janet Dubois” scenes are complete, and that he is working on writing “Rachel” out of the show.
After “Beyond Our Dreams” wraps up shooting for the day, an infatuated Jack asks Laura Claybourne what she thinks of the future story-lines he created for her, but the self-absorbed actress is unhappy with how he turned her rich heiress character into a working girl.
Jack returns home and packs for a weekend trip to Vermont. Laura Claybourne calls, seeking Jack’s attention. When he tells her he is about to leave, she invites herself along. Jack is thrilled, until she changes her mind at the last minute.
En route to Vermont, Jack gets into a car accident, awakening in the hospital on “Beyond Our Dreams.” The doctor (David Rasche) introduces himself as “Paul Kirkwood,” amusing Jack, who presumes that the actor, Dennis Graham, is playing a trick on him.
However, when the writer goes to the window, he is shocked to see the town of “Ashford Falls” bustling with activity.
Jack deduces that he is dead and living in hell.
When the nurse threatens to give him a shot, Jack plays along and insists he is feeling better.
Leaving the hospital, he encounters “Janet Dubois,” who recognizes him as Wall Street tycoon “Jack Gates,” a character created by Jack, but who has yet to be introduced on the show.
Across the street, a man with an eye patch (Charles Rocket) observes Jack and Janet, before driving away to a mansion.
There, he proudly informs his father, billionaire Carter Hedison (Raymond Burr), that Jack Gates is in town.
Carter Hedison dismisses his son, Ty, as a dreamer, and asks Ty’s yuppie brother, Blake, to investigate.
Meanwhile, Jack tries to make sense of his situation in his hotel room.
Janet informs him that he is in Ashford Falls to purchase her father’s pharmaceutical formula, which Carter Hedison also hopes to acquire.
Jack insists he is a writer, not a businessman, provoking Janet to retort that he should write his life as he sees it, rather than argue with her.
She storms out, and Jack decides to test her advice.
He types a scene on his typewriter, and realizes that whatever he writes comes true in this alternate reality.
After encountering a dismissive “Rachel Hedison” downtown, Jack decides to use his newfound power to make her fall in love with him.
A decent Candy vehicle LCShackley10 January 2007
This is a much more watchable film than many of the lightweight vehicles Candy took part in in his post-SCTV career. His part could have been played by any number of comic actors, but John steps in and gives it his best shot. He's always fun to watch on screen, and he has a good time here without going over the top, which he tended to do.
DELIRIOUS is a weird mixture of Groundhog Day, Soapdish, and various Rod Serling scripts in which the characters in a story are being controlled by someone at a typewriter. It's a workable premise, and the actors make the most of the stock soap opera characters they play. David Rasche, Emma Samms, Raymond Burr et al were well-chosen for their parts.
Bit parts by Robert Wagner and Marvin Kaplan (the voice of Choo-Choo on TOP CAT) are also memorable. Mariel Hemingway takes some flak on this comment board for her part, but she seemed suited for the role and moved smoothly from her gawky character to the soap opera "devil woman."
This is a pleasant comedy but not as consistently funny as SOAPDISH. The script by veteran writers of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched suffers from a lot of unnecessary "language" (for what could otherwise be a family film) but moves along at a brisk pace (except for the longish horse-riding scenes).
That afternoon, Rachel goes horseback riding with her boyfriend, Dr. Kirkwood. Suddenly, her horse breaks into a gallop. Just as she is about to careen over a cliff, Jack appears on his own horse and rescues her.
He does not reveal his identify, and Rachel swoons as he rides away.
That night, Carter Hedison and his three children-Rachel, Ty, and Blake-discuss making a fortune from a new fat-burning pill.
Blake notes that their scheme will be ruined if Jack Gates acquires the drug formula.
Later, Janet Dubois calls Jack and informs him that someone broke into her father’s laboratory.
She accuses him of working for the Hedisons, but Jack protests.
Just then, she realizes someone is still in the lab.
Hearing her screams, Jack quickly types a rescue mission featuring himself as the hero.
Afterward, the love-struck Janet invites Jack to have dinner with her.
A few days later, the Hedison family hosts a benefit auction in the town square. Jack stuns everyone when he drives up in a flashy sports car.
Against her father’s wishes, Rachel leaves with Jack, who tries to impress her by driving recklessly at high speed while blindfolded.
That night, Janet grows despondent while waiting for Jack to arrive for dinner.
Someone knocks on the door and introduces himself as “Jack Gates,” but he is not the Jack she knows.
The two confront Jack at his hotel.
The writer recognizes the stranger as Robert Wagner (himself), a prime time soap opera star who was originally to be cast as Jack Gates.
Unknown to the trio, Ty Hedison lurks outside with a gun, stalking Jack Gates. However, he misfires, and Robert Wagner is killed.
Jack grabs his typewriter, reviving Robert Wagner and sending him away on a trip.
Out of concern for Janet, Jack writes her a new story line in which she is a research scientist in Africa.
In the days that follow, Jack sequesters himself in his hotel room, where he drinks alcohol and writes preposterous scenes in hope of winning Rachel’s affection.
During a party at the Hedison mansion, Jack plays a virtuoso piano piece, saves a choking man’s life, and performs a dance routine with Rachel.
Much to his surprise, Janet Dubois returns to Ashford Falls.
She makes an elegant appearance at the party, before learning that she, not Rachel, is Carter Hedison’s daughter.
Chaos ensues as the Hedison family turns on each other.
When Janet is accidentally shot by Blake Hedison, Jack admits his feelings for her.
As she is rushed to the hospital, Blake informs Jack that Dr. Kirkwood plans to botch the surgery.
The writer returns to his hotel room, but before he can write a new scene, Robert Wagner walks in and shoots him.
Jack awakens in a hospital bed on the set of “Beyond Our Dreams”.
Actors Laura Claybourne and Dennis Graham comfort him, but he accuses them of being insincere, before realizing he is back in New York City, with the whole experience in Ashford Falls just a dream (similar to the twist ending of ‘The Wizard of Oz’).
The next day, Jack confronts the Sherwoods at their office and insists they allow him free reign in writing the character of “Janet.”
Arlene chokes on her sandwich, and Jack forces her to agree to his terms before rescuing her with the Heimlich maneuver.
After arranging for Louise to be cast as “Janet,” Jack writes “Rachel” off the show and looks forward to creating new narratives for the residents of “Ashford Falls.”
The film ends with Jack and Louise going ice skating in Central Park as the end credits roll.
John Candy made this film.
The story involves a soap opera writer (Candy) who gets knocked out, and enters his own, type-written, created world, where all the characters are alive and playing their roles - or so he thinks. They are actually living them.
So, Candy finds that whatever he writes on the 'ol typewriter happens in the world he's in, because, after all, he created it on the typewriter, right?
Built off the same foundation as "Groundhog Day," Delirious is by no means great, and not John Candy's best, (I give that to Planes, Trains and Automobiles) but it does have an actual soap opera feel to it - that cheap feel - and has some laughs along the way.
Not great, but worth watching. Candy was one of the best comedians of his time, God rest his soul...
John "Candy" Ulmer
A final conclusion
Take a moment and watch the movie if you want some pointers on how the Affirmation Prayer Campaign operates. It’s an old silly comedy, but yeah… this is the way that it works.
There is nothing wrong with reaching for the wildest and craziest dreams, but keep in mind that the further away they are from your reality, the more world-lines you must traverse to reach them. In addition, there will always be discomfort with change. And many people do not like a great deal of discomfort in their life.
There are techniques that you can use to mitigate the effects of everything, but in all cases be calm, consistent, and steady. And whatever you do, do not write out your affirmations with spelling errors like the guy did in the movie. Yikes!
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
This vlog consists of a bunch of videos. Some narrate while others don’t. What is special here is that (for all the videos on you-tube about China) note seem to tackle the kinds of “everyday life” that I want to provide here.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
Keep in mind when you watch the videos, a comparison of your life, with what you are watching on my videos.
The theme behind these videos are “Look at everyday life inside of China”
The videos
Video One. 92MB. Reuse of discarded lighters, and hand sanitizers at the Zhuhai airport. This is common throughout China, but not so common in the United States. My experience is that the lighters are discarded in the United States.
Video Two. 56MB. Vet’s office part I. Bringing my dog into the vet’s office. What it is like and what is a going on. You get a very good idea about animal care inside of China with this particular video.
Video Three. 55MB. Vet’s office part II. Showing some of the customers to the vet clinic, and the pets that they bring in. It’s a big change from the American / UK narrative that the Chinese only eat dogs and cats. Isn’t it, eh?
Video Four. 29MB. This is a local government Social Security office. It reminds me of the United States Post Office. But I will tell you that they were efficient. You use the QR to apply and submit documents via the app. Then you arrive for your appointment. Waiting time is under five minutes, as the AI bases wait times on an individual-by-individual basis.
Video Five. 55MB. Playing with 5G AI in the local mall. You just scan the QR code and then run the APP. Then what you film interacts with the various programs and have you interacting with things. In the one that we choose, we point and push and do imaginary things in the air, and the APP interprets it to be myself pushing jellyfish, moving bubbles, tickling whales and chasing dolphins about.
Video Six. 69MB. A ride in the taxi through Jida, showing all the construction everywhere, and what it is like here in Zhuhai. I am told that China is ugly, filth and run by evil chicom crooks. I am also told that I am “blind” to the “real” China. Kind of difficult to buy a coke when you are “blind”, don’t you know.
Video Seven. 91MB. This is my local medical clinic in my neighborhood. It is in the old section of town, and filmed on a busy Saturday. As you can see, the things are a bit more used, distressed and in use. There is nothing wrong with that. The clinic will be replaced in a year or two anyways.
Video Eight. 21MB. This is a semi-normal, semi-regular meal that the MM household tends to have on the weekends. This particular meal is at a Vietnamese restaurant that we are VIP members of. (VIP membership is a regular feature throughout China.) And this dish is curried Chicken with potatoes and hot peppers with a side of okra. Actually how it is cooked makes all the difference in the world. It goes great with beer in a glass filled with crushed ice, pineapple rice with squid and shrimp, and shrimp / coconut chips.
Video Nine. 79MB. Pre-Kindergarden. Here you can bring your 9 month old baby to three years to Pre-Kindergarden. The babies, toddlers and youth learn social skills, stories, language and communication skills as well as some basic math, and history through stories, songs, and dance. Since many of the children are not toilet trained, and many are still nursing, the parents must be present with the children.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Some key points
This is what China is like.
Is it dirty, smoggy, filthy? Do the people eat dogs and cats? Is the infrastructure failing, and flailing? Is it a police state with constant “big brother” surveillance 24/7?
No it’s not.
But it’s difficult to get the message through when the Untied States government owns 99.99% of all American media; mainstream, alt-Right and Alt-Left. And then makes i had for people inside of China to post videos on You-Tube or Facebook.
They WANT to create the great lies of hate.
Do you want more?
This article is going into a new sub-index that I am creating for it titled VLOG. You can access it here.
Here's my MM dirty little secret; I'm beginning to get a little touch of Carpal Tunnel in my wrists. So I really need to lay off the heavy typing aspects of MM. Sorry, but I am a human and my body is a human body with all sorts of physical limitations. Ugh!
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
This vlog consists of a bunch of videos. Some narrate while others don’t. What is special here is that (for all the videos on you-tube about China) note seem to tackle the kinds of “everyday life” that I want to provide here.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
Keep in mind when you watch the videos, a comparison of your life, with what you are watching on my videos.
The theme behind these videos are “Look at everyday life inside of China part three”
Here I am providing some videos, narrated as is my want, and thrown at you all with wild abandon. Yee Haw!
Video One HERE. 282MB. The tax office, a Chinese bird, and a six lane intersection. This first video is a honker, and it is enormous. It might take some time to download. Sorry guys.
Video Two HERE. 55.4MB. A tale in the elevator. Not much of a tale, rather just what it is like when you are captive inside an elevator with commercials playing.
Video Three HERE. 34.3MB. At the Chinese version of Social Security. If it reminds you of the US Post office, yeah, well, it’s all pretty similar. Except that in China, they are for more compassionate and nicer than what I remember everyone back in the States to be.
Video Four HERE. 40.5MB. At the mall and experiencing 5G AI by QR code. Well, almost actually, the AI and all that fancy stuff happened after I filmed this segment. Because, after all, you need the cell phone to active the AI effects. And while they were impressive from a technical point of view… my hands moving jellyfishes and other fishes and bubbles about, I really just thought of it as a cute gimmick for kids.
Video Five HERE. 88MB. A ride in a taxi from the mall during rush hour. My daughter was playing with the kid’s version of Tictok and the noise in the background is one of her videos. Ai! Oh! LOL.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
And my point is…
This is my life. Please point out where I experience the same kind of narrative that the American (and UK) government says exists within China.
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Do you want more?
This article is going into a new sub-index that I am creating for it titled VLOG. You can access it here.
Here is part seven of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. And this one is a “mother lode”.
Definition of motherload“…a huge shipment, large in quantity.”
The idea here is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking.
Like, (hey!) guys, you have no… NO!… idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see.
Some have personality.
Some have a great body.
Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment.
All are wonderful.
Such is the beauty of women. And for us, and for everyone, we need to appreciative the world around us more. That fat gal at the store that you see every day, she’s a kind, lovely beauty, who could use some TLC. And that older woman wearing that elaborate outfit, just look at her, see how the light plays upon the details. And that young girl going out with “her crew”, see the beauty of her age around and what they are doing.
We have to be more aware, and certainly more appreciative.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Group 1 (Sorry it got lost in the sorting. I blame a host of problems resulting in a “perfect-storm” of erasure, deletion, and loss.)
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
This vlog consists of a bunch of videos. Some narrate while others don’t. What is special here is that (for all the videos on you-tube about China) note seem to tackle the kinds of “everyday life” that I want to provide here.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
Keep in mind when you watch the videos, a comparison of your life, with what you are watching on my videos.
The theme behind these videos are “Look at everyday life inside of China part two”
The videos
Here I am providing some videos, narrated as is my want, and thrown at you all with wild abandon. Yee Haw!
Video one HERE. 77MB Futility, or a sense of belonging?
Video two HERE. 208MB. Banking and taxation within China.
Video three HERE. 163MB. Wasted away again in Lipton-baijiu-aville.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Some key points
This is what China is like.
Is it dirty, smoggy, filthy? Do the people eat dogs and cats? Is the infrastructure failing, and flailing? Is it a police state with constant “big brother” surveillance 24/7?
No it’s not.
But it’s difficult to get the message through when the Untied States government owns 99.99% of all American media; mainstream, alt-Right and Alt-Left. And then makes i had for people inside of China to post videos on You-Tube or Facebook.
They WANT to create the great lies of hate.
Hey! Here’s the latest “news” about China today. What issues are being promoted, and how are they being described?
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
This vlog consists of a bunch of videos. Some narrate while others don’t. What is special here is that (for all the videos on you-tube about China) note seem to tackle the kinds of “everyday life” that I want to provide here.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
Keep in mind when you watch the videos, a comparison of your life, with what you are watching on my videos.
The theme behind these videos are “Look at everyday life inside of China”
The videos
Here I am providing some videos of riding on a public bus in China, A video showing just the insane level of construction everywhere that is all over China, and what it is like to take my little dog to the vet.
Video one HERE. 39MB. Taking public transportation to get around.
Video three HERE. 40MB. My dog visits the local vet for his shots.
Video four HERE. 72MB. A visit to the tiny Zhuhai airport.
Video five HERE. 107MB. A study of trash receptacles near my home.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Some key points
This is what China is like.
Is it dirty, smoggy, filthy? Do the people eat dogs and cats? Is the infrastructure failing, and flailing? Is it a police state with constant “big brother” surveillance 24/7?
No it’s not.
But it’s difficult to get the message through when the Untied States government owns 99.99% of all American media; mainstream, alt-Right and Alt-Left. And then makes i had for people inside of China to post videos on You-Tube or Facebook.
They WANT to create the great lies of hate.
Do you want more?
This article is going into a new sub-index that I am creating for it titled VLOG. You can access it here.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
The archive starts out with a lot of cute butts, and a lot of shaking. I do love girls that are soft and cuddly. That’s one of the fundamental differences between the sexes. Mean tend to be lean with muscles everywhere. Women tend to be soft and nurturing.
Look at these girls. You can control how your life will manifest. You do that by thoughts, and verbal affirmations in a prayer campaign. What’s stopping you from making the kind of life that you yearn from materialize? What is stopping you?
All you need to do is show some compassion to animals, to others, and to the down and out, and you have won my heart. You can look good, and be super attractive, and you will be noticed, but it is what is inside of you that will act as the glue that will hold your life and your relationships together.
Well, this is my third try at making a Vblog. I do believe that it is a popular thing to do and I am told that I could open up an account on You-Tube and get a bunch of followers. Well, maybe. If I wanted that.
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
Here’s the videos in more or less the same kind of format as my first Vlog. Except that the videos are longer, and thus are bigger. They take more time to download.
This vlog consists of one cluster of three videos.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
The theme behind this video (or collection of smaller videos) is “Look at how polluted China is and compare it to the BBC, and the Bloomberg articles.”
What am I talking about?
Well, it is so easy to find pictures about pollution in China. That’s all the western media seems to talk about.
Like this,
And this,
And this, Look at the bikes and clothing. This picture is at least twenty years old. But what it is doing in a 2020 article?
And this,
And this as well…
About the methodology that I use…
The videos themselves are but a collection of short movies, and they are all zipped up. You just unzip to a folder and then just play the movies. It’s not as convenient as You-tube, but I won’t end up getting shadow banned either.
Obviously, what I see, and what the “journalists” are reporting on differs substantially. Why? Is it because I am lying, or that I am viewing China through “Rose colored glasses”?
Idiom: rose-coloredglasses to see things as better than they really are to see only the positives in a situation (and therefore in a way that is unrealistic)
-Idiom: Rose-colored glasses
I really want you, the viewer, to “feel” what “my China” is like. It’s my reality. It’s my world. And, by extension, MM readers / followers’ world as well.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Some key points
The purpose of this vlog is to show how out of touch the Western media is with the day-to-day reality of those of us living within China. It is so absolutely crazy out-of-touch that there MUST be an agenda behind it. Certainly no “journalists” can end up being that absolutely incompetent.
And thus this incisive and detailed, and particularly important vlog.
I do hope that you enjoy it.
Ah.
Compare my reality with American reality
While I was filming these videos, this is the hysteria going on in America. Now compare reality against the perception of what is important via the “news”.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
All these girls are lovely. There is one video that takes place in Vietnam; that’s the one with the girl on the arm of the Westerner. There is also a video of a hiding space inside one of the apartments. The Chinese have not forgotten their past. They have secret rooms and access areas no matter how safe the world appears at the moment.
I threw in one American girl Tictok video for comparison purposes and one WTF video showing how the government monitors people via drones and gets you to help, safety or to correct bad behavior. I also threw in a Chinese translation app that is really handy to have around. Check them all out. The rest are all cute girls.
Here’s an interesting group with one video of a guy in Vietnam trying to pick up some street girls on break, and some other pretty Chinese girls. I do like to show compare and contrast videos for the viewer and reader to see things in a different way that is not intuitively obvious.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
We start this set with an American girl. She’s not bad. Nice. Fun. Kind of cute. Then we follow up with the Chinese girls. Look, and see how they all present themselves. Some are elegant. Some a fun and playful. Some are nice, and others are exciting. All of this is what China is about.
In this group I almost overdosed on cute. So many cute girls doing cute things. Why it just takes me back to a younger time, and an easier time. That’s magical. And that is what makes women so magical at times.
Yes. There are some beautiful girls here in this set. But the ones that I like the most are the girls being themselves in a normal situation, such as the girl in her college dorm room. You see, you don’t need to get all dressed up and made up to be attractive. You just need to be yourself. I find that amazingly refreshing.
That is not to say that I don’t like a woman to take care of herself. Because I really like it when she gets read, looks her best and goes out with me. But I really like the real girl. It’s the personality that makes the difference.
Some girls are thin, some are beautiful. Some are cute, and some… well they just defy description. But each and everyone of them is appealing. It’s their dress, their actions and their choice of music that illustrate how they feel at the particular moment in time when they made that video. And they are all a treasure. A precious treasure that you just want to be near and appreciate.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
Some very fine active chest action with these girls in this group. I also threw in (accidentally) a video depicting how this one particular crew of pick-pockets operated by crashing into people and stealing their belongings when no one was watching. Don’t worry, they were caught and are now in prison doing time, and organ harvesting. After all, they were really bad. But the girls here are nice, and I love the aggressive boob action. Hey! If you’ve got it, let it rip!
This is a pretty good collection. The second video shows some KTV girls getting paid for their time at the club, and it’s a pretty interesting set up, eh? And there are some really cute girls thrown in the mix as well.
This is a nice set. I sort of “polluted it” by throwing in two American Tictok videos into the mix. Can you figure out which ones? Take your time. It’s tricky as one girl is an Asian-American.
There’s a video of an American and one of a Mexican lady in this mix. Can you tell who is who and which ones are not Chinese? It’s a fun game. I have personal favorites here, and I think that you all might appreciate them.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
You can download this file archive HERE. 13MB. Generally comparatively small.
Video Set B
Let’s play a game. I threw in one American girl from the American version of TicTok in the group can you find her? Look carefully. LOL. How would you describe her compared to the rest of the Chinese girls?
Now the fun and games continue. I snuck in two (not one) American girls in this group. Can you find them? Can you identify them? Come on! It shouldn’t be so hard, eh?
Additionally, one of the videos, I think that it is the 9th one down shows an entire family. Note that the mother looks just a beautiful as her young 19 year old daughter. China is amazing.
Here, we also have some girls from Vietnam thrown in to the mix. Can you identify which videos they are? Over all I strongly believe that there is a girl for every guy in this world and beauty only goes as far as to attact and get noticed, but it is the personality, the inner strength and their skills that maintain a relationship.
Again, here there are many girls from China. They come in different sizes and shapes. Some are like beautiful flowers, while others are like cute little dolls, and still others are strong confident women. And for me, personally, all of them are attractive. I think that the beauty that a woman possess goes far deeper than what she displays to the world outside, and I hope that these little videos show that aspect.
Again, some beautiful ladies that come in all sizes and in all shapes. This is why I have come to appreciate China. How many tattoos can you fin in this grouping? How many enormous asses, and how many are lifting their asses up high to wiggle for the world to see? Eh?
When I was growing up, my father did his best to give me an education. And throughout this time, he repeatedly emphasized that my future depended on the type of job that I had, and the size of the company that employed me. Larger companies offered more opportunities than smaller companies, and the more education that I would have would provide two things for me. Firstly, they would increase the job pool that I could choose from, and secondly they would enable me to start off with a higher salary than others.
He meant well, and certainly that formula worked well for his generation, but my generation suddenly became the “disposable worker” generation and layoffs became more common than not, and no one ever ended up with a job for life. Couple that with my role in MAJestic, and it was really a dog-eat-dog survival life with more than enough highs and lows.
And what you want to do, as a parent, is to make sure that your children have it better than you. Maybe not necessarily easier, but certainly better; more opportunities, and a chance, a real honest-to-goodness chance that they will be able to make a life for themselves in a world that is subject to whims and changes beyond their control.
Well, I am in China. And the Chinese have seen dramatic changes in their lives over the last thirty years, and many generations of Chinese have sacrificed and existed in a situation where there just wasn’t much in the way of any opportunities. And so they remain cautious, but guarded, about their children.
And thus, knowing that the (proverbial) rug “could be pulled out from under their feet”, many middle-class Chinese do what ever they can to guarantee that their children are equipped with the kinds of skills to make it, and survive in a contentious and changing world. And while China (as a nation is secure and prosperous), things could change. And as such, no one is taking any chances.
The educational system in China is not only great, but absurdly so. Not only do elementary students learn Chinese languages, and history, but they learn English as well, and their entrance into university is predicated on their ability to speak and pass English qualification exams.
Which makes things very interesting, as I will often see children studying all the time, jut about everywhere. Couple that with secondary classes that their parents also provide for them. These other classes range from swimming to dancing, to archery, to martial arts and everything in between. Some go into robotics, while others study the arts. And with that in mind I would like to present some videos of Kindergarten to first grade Chinese students…
They are all zipped up in a small 30MB file. I think that you all will enjoy them.
These children are not the exception. They are the normal average. If America believes that it can compete against China then they will need to reconfigure the school curriculum towards STEM subjects, and less on the soft social and humanities. They will also need to be very serious about the environment hat they are raising the children within.
For a nation of “lone wolves” can never truly work together without fighting, squabbling, and performing uncharacteristically self-defeating behaviors.
Do you want more?
This article is going into the China vs. America comparisons index.
Here is part of my series on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. The idea is that you would look at the girl, and in the process concentrate on the background around her. Because these are the “real deals”. This is what China is. And while the girls want you to focus on them, their eyes, their faces, their bodies, the background tells us much about where they live.
Besides… who doesn’t like to look at attractive people?
After viewing this “treasure trove” of Chinese beauties, you too will have a better than average understanding about what Chinese ladies look like. Sure beats the stereotypical narrative by low-educated American sheeple…
"Chinese girls are all short, frail, little tiny women, that don't have chests and look like pre-adsolescent children."
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told each zip file will give you about five to ten minutes of viewing.
I find the ladies lovely. But others might not. For you others, well, I really hope that you are not too bored.
Some key points
Beauty is up to the person who views it. What is attractive to one person might not be attractive to others. A case in point is a girl who I had a relationship with when I was in High School working in the coal mines. Everyone thought that she was ugly because she did not have a great face. But I liked her, and her body was absolutely rocking. Like, guys, you have no idea.
I think that the beauty of these videos is that in a few seconds you can see the “personality” of the ladies as they try to display their charms for the world to see. Some have personality. Some have a great body. Some just look great in a particular outfit, while others just fit the particular environment. All are wonderful.
The Videos
In this particular post we will look at these groups of videos. I do hope that you enjoy them…
Video Set A
I have to apologize that I have four videos of the same girl in this particular collection, but she models those pants so well. And I am a sucker for bouncy chests on thin girls, don’t you know… (giggle).
This group highlights eight (8x) videos of a more robust woman that I personally find quite alluring. But that’s just me. But I will tell you that even though I enjoy the women who wear the short cute little dresses, what I really love are all those traditional clothing, whether it is Han, or as shown in this collection the “Gone with the Wind” style. I think they are awesome.
Aside from my personal love of big smiles, big hair and big chests, you will note that all these girls are inside of China. Does China look dirty, filthy, stinky or disgusting to you? What about the buildings? Does it look like things are run down, work out, or that the infrastructure hasn’t been repaired in a long long time? No. Of course not.
The featured girl in this collection of videos is so sweet that I could fall heads over heels over her and not realize what I am doing. This collection kind of shows that it’s not so much the appearance that a woman has, but rather how she acts and carries herself. Being feminine is surely very attractive.
This is a pretty large archive at 128MB. But as large as it is, the length of time for the movies are comparatively long as well. So that’s a plus.
I threw in a video of some Middle Eastern girls in the mix. Can you pick it out? Is it easy or difficult to sort out. LOL. The last video is of the same girl that is the first video, and she is from Hunan. She’s a Hunan girl. And in the last video you can see her mother next to her. My father always told me that to see what will happen to the girl that you marry, look at her mother. I would argue that it’s not always a direct correlation, but it has some merit worthy of thought, eh?
You can download this file archive HERE. 120MB. Pretty large, and might take a few minutes to download.
Video Set E
This collection is much smaller than the previous one, and would end up loading much faster. It’s a great way to look at some fine Chinese girls quickly.
Well, this is my second try at making a Vblog. I do believe that it is a popular thing to do and I am told that I could open up an account on You-Tube and get a bunch of followers. Well, maybe. If I wanted that.
One thing is for certain it takes a different set of skills to do. And, maybe this methodology is better suited to me. I won’t have people complaining about spelling and grammar, or idiom mistakes so often.
Here’s the videos in more or less the same kind of format as my first Vlog.
Well, actually, it’s a string of around 12 or so, 2 to 5 minute long videos that I have zipped together in a folder. You just unpack and watch at your pleasure.
I took extra care for them not to be as long as the other videos so that they would be easier to watch.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
The theme behind this video (or collection of smaller videos) is “how China manages society, allocates resources, and works to improve the environment for it’s citizenry..
The videos themselves are but a collection of short movies, and they are all zipped up. You just unzip to a folder and then just play the movies. It’s not as convenient as You-tube, but I won’t end up getting shadow banned either.
This is all pretty much unlike the typical expat in China vblogs that visit this town, or that town and talk about what they observe. I do that as well, but overall, this effort is about me and where I live. The purpose of this particular segment is to concentrate on the idea that the role of the government, at all levels, is to improve the lives of the citizenry.
Something that has been missing in the American government for at least two centuries/
I do narrate, but … well, you watch.
I really want you, the viewer, to “feel” what “my China” is like. It’s my reality. It’s my world. And, by extension, MM readers / followers’ world as well.
Keep in mind this video by Bernie Sanders 30 years ago…
Thirty years ago, 90% of the Chinese people lived in absolute poverty. All they had was their skills and the ability to work hard. The government took time, planning and enormous investments to improve the lives of the citizenry.
Unlike the USA they did not decide to destroy the rest of the world. They used the money on their people. Not on the richest, and the desire to destroy everyone else. And you can see the results today.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Or around 12 minutes per VLOG group (1 through 4) for the bite-size MM version that I used to test on my computer.
I really hope that you are not too bored.
How the videos are set up
The first video starts off quiet and then I break out into my narrative. I really, and sincerely hope that you all can get the real “feel” for China like I have. And understand WHY I say that it reminds me so much about what the United States was like back in the late 1950’s, and early 1960’s.
Some key points
The purpose of this second Vlog is to underscore the role of government.
I look at China that has placed the fundamental and primary role of government to be to improves the lives of the citizenry at all levels.
This differs substantially from the role of the American government; which is to do the bidding of the wealthy oligarchy that put the “democratic” representatives into power within the government.
Each video takes one small item, often overlooked by other vloggers, and amplifies it upon this narrative. It’s not that they are wrong, but visiting a town or community for a week isn’t going to tell you or inform you the way that a long-term expat would.
And thus this incisive and detailed, and particularly important vlog.
I do hope that you enjoy it.
I love the steam locomotive in the background.
Ah.
You could reasonably argue that I miss the old culture, and the older styles of cars, clothing and other attributes of the past. you could say that I miss the prices and my now dead relatives. I suppose that many of those points are actually true. But with every good point, is an equally bad point.
And I suppose that people would argue that I am looking with fondness of the past. And it’s true, I am. But what I am describing is the “feeling” of that time. And I am comparing it to the “feeling” that I have now.
Today, here inside of China, no one is on the radio, or on the internet yelling at me to buy! Buy! Buy!. It’s only $98.98.
I am not hearing from radio, television or the internet about all sorts of emergency dangers and that the world is out of control.I don’t hear advertisements that ask if I am depressed, have marital or legal problems, or how great a pill will help me in my life.
Instead I hear that things are under control, and I see that with my very own two eyes. There’s a calmness in the air that I haven’t experienced since the 1960’s, and it is refreshing to experience it.
I hope that you too are able to experience it in my VLOG herein.
Compare my reality with American reality
While I was filming these videos, this is the hysteria going on in America. Now compare reality against the perception of what is important via the “news”.
When I was growing up, I had a complete collection of Doc Savage paperbacks and I devoured them completely, When it was time for me to grow out of them, my younger brother took over, and he too was hooked. And he, as well, read every single book.
As a long time reader of Doc Savage, I cannot help but compare the latest two Jumanji movies with the adventure pulps that I read as a boy. And to this end, I want to wax ecstatic about them.
Dr. Clark Savage Jr. was raised from birth to be a man of superhuman strength and protean genius! With his five scrappy aides -- the greatest brains ever assembled in one group -- and a vast Mayan wealth at his disposal, he has dedicated his life to the destruction of evil doers the world over!!
Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze is the hero of 181 novels which ran in his own pulp magazine from 1933 to 1949, and were reprinted as paperback books from 1964 to 1990. First time around, author Lester Dent practically invented the first “super” hero. The second time around Bantam Books invented the numbered men’s adventure series. These high adventures have spawned Doc Savage comic books, radio shows, a movie, new novels — even a biography.
My argument that while Jumanji is not a Doc Savage remake, it’s not a Jumanji remake either. I like to believe; or want to believe that the latest Jumanji movies take the best elements from both venues and create a completely wonderful new reality. A reality that we want to visit.
The Doc
Let’s consider Doc “smolder” Bravestone.
In many ways his character is derived from Doc (Clark) Savage, Jr.
Both have a “skull cap” style hair cut (what ever that actually is). Both like to walk around in torn or distressed khaki shirts. Both have bronze skin. Both are strong, brave and take the world on head-first. And both have their own peculiar traits.
Doc Bravestone has his “smoldering intensity”, and Doc Savage has his “animated “twinkle” in his eye”.
I know, I know. My premise has a lot of holes in it.
However, we do know that prior to the 2017 Jumanji; Welcome to the Jungle, that the lead character Dwayne Johnson (who played Spenser) was in negotiation regarding remakes of Doc Savage pulp stories.
“It’s OFFICIAL: For all comic book fans you already know the world’s first superhero (pre-dating Superman) is the “Man of Bronze” himself Clark “Doc” Savage.
Want to thank my bud director/writer Shane Black and his writing team Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry for flying in from LA and sitting with me and our @sevenbucksprod’s producer @hhgarcia41 on this Memorial Day weekend to chop up creative and break story on this very cool project.
Comic book fans around the world know that the cool thing about “Doc” Savage is that he’s the inspiration for Superman. First name Clark, called “Man of Bronze”, retreats to his “Fortress of Solitude” in the Arctic etc etc.
Doc was physically and mentally trained from birth by his father and a team of scientists to become the perfect human specimen with a genius level intellect. His heightened senses are beyond comprehension. He can even identify a women’s perfume from half a mile away. He is literally the master of everything.
But here’s the #1 reason I’m excited to become Doc Savage.. HE’S A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO!
Confidently, yet innocently he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious.
After speaking for hours w/ Shane Black I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and leaving the “weirdo” part behind. But to us, it’s that “weirdo” part that makes Clark “Doc” Savage dope! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one of a kind character.
#ItsOfficial #WorldsFirstSuperhero #GeniusIntellect #PhysicalSpecimen #FnLoveableWeirdo #DocSavage”
So you have this “Doc Savage” character who has zero social graces and is like a child in a hero’s body. Isn’t that exactly like what is portrayed in the movie? Can we forget the kissing scene between Ruby Roundhouse; the Killer of Men, and Doc “Smolder” Bravestone?
Yeah. I want to forget it too. LOL.
Yeah. It’s a hoot.
Doc Savage is also a perfect role for Johnson as an actor. The character is not only an outlet for Johnson’s action hero bona fides, but also his comedic chops; raised by scientists, Savage has a world-class education but “no social skills,” as Johnson put it. A darling of action, fantasy and science fiction cinema, Johnson has been left wanting for a superhero role at a time when superhero movies are the genre of choice. And what better part could there be for a star of the Rock’s stature than what he himself has appropriately dubbed the #World’sFirstSuperhero?
-The Mary Sue
Anyways, I like to believe that the Doc Savage band of brothers has been reconstituted into the Jumanji characters.
Surprised how entertaining it was
19 December 2019 | by comps-784-38265 – See all my reviews
I took one look at the trailer and was certain it would be rubbish
Finally watched it on TV and was surprised that it's good solid family entertainment.
Not outstanding but a respectable 7 stars.
The Band of Brothers
Although Doc Savage appeared first and most often in prose novels, it’s fair to say that the character is best known by comic book fans. A brilliant scientist with super strength, Doc Savage was the blueprint for countless tropes that would become staples of superhero comics. The character has been eclipsed in the public memory by his pop cultural descendants, but Doc’s legacy is formidable. Time magazine called him not only “the natural father of Superman,” but of James Bond as well.
Not only was Doc known as “the Man of Bronze” and the owner of a “Fortress of Solitude” years before Superman’s debut, he also travelled the world in style and boasted an arsenal of high tech gadgets. That’s not even all of Savage’s most obvious contributions to pop culture: His entourage was even called “the Fabulous Five.”
Doc Savage had five companions that dedicated their lives, the same as Doc, to traveling around the world to do justice.
Lt. Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, who is better known as Monk to his friends. Monk is an industrial chemist.
Brigadier General Theodore Marley Brooks, Ham, is a lawyer, considered to be one of the best Harvard has ever turned out.
Colonel John Renwick, Renny, a construction engineer. He prided himself on his ability to knock down any door with his fists.
Major Thomas J. Roberts, Long Tom, the electrical wizard of the group.
William Harper Littlejohn, Johnny to his friends. He is an archaeologist and geologist of great renown.
These men made up the team of aides that Doc relied on throughout the series. Known as the “Fabulous Five” on the back cover of the Bantam Books editions, they were never called such in the actual series.
Doc’s cousin, Patricia Savage, introduced in the novel Brand of the Werewolf, frequently appeared in Doc Savage as well.
And no, these EXACT characters do not appear in the Jumanji movies. But aspects of their characters do.
Ah but enough of all that.
What does it matter, unless people enjoy the movie, and have a little escapist entertainment in the process, eh?
A Most Enjoyable Film Which Endlessly Pulls at the Corners of Your FaceHer-Excellency7 April 2018
Who would have thought that the sequel to a much-loved classic would, in my opinion, turn into such a stand-alone powerhouse!?!
Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, does just that.
Not only is it a virtual non-stop ride of hilarity and laugh-out-loud moments, and it is, but the chemistry among the adult cast members is practically flawless and lends to the easy banter and overflowing, genius, COMEDIC DIALOGUE which just SHINES. Every look, every gesture, every note from The Rock, Kevin Hart and Jack Black are perfection in that at no time do you doubt they are who they are supposed to be. Karen Gillan is adorable and gorgeous at the same time. The obvious fun they are having, despite what I imagine to be uncomfortable filming locales, is palpable, and as an audience member, _if you allow yourself to be_, you WILL be swept up and transported by it.
So, why ANY low ratings?
While the first Jumanji was 'fun', underneath the fun, there were dark layers. There is none of that here and perhaps, this is where some of the disconnect from its detractors comes from. Unlike the original Jumanji, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is a fun, and funny, film throughout.
You're Going to Need a SEATBELTThmellyAthole8 April 2018
I used to have an IMDB account when I was a teen - or at least thought I did, but couldn't log on. In any case, I think I've visited here maybe twice in the last five years. Today though, after just getting back from watching this with my almost-grown kids, I had to make an account just to leave this review.
To begin, I'll never understand people. I can't believe the negative reviews. How could anyone not have laughed like hell while watching this and still have a pulse? I didn't go in expecting much, but I came out with a smile on my face. The girl is hot, Jack Black "owns it", I've never been overly enthused about Kevin Hart, but he was fantastic. and The Rock just knocked it out of the park.
I saw one review which reads: "not a wrestling fan ever so to see 'the rock' in movies, instantly puts me off!" Does anyone else want to vomit at the inanity, irony and ludicrousness of that statement? Then you have the user who out of 40+ titles he/she has reviewed in the past has only ever rated TWO above three stars. Seriously, if you don't enjoy films and find them so terrible, find a new hobby already. You've got one guy saying the shirt one of the kids wore was outdated. So, I'm guessing one can only wear clothing depicting the current year? Then you have the reviewers who maybe didn't understand the dialogue since they can barely communicate correctly themselves (such gems - I kid you not - as: 'averege'; 'what so ever'; 'family fair' (fare); 'are just wasn't'; 'due to it has'; 'all of there' {their); 'coz it is boring story'; 'no compare with'). Finally, you have the maybe half dozen reviewers who are so caught up in their bigotry that they can't relax and enjoy a film if it isn't whitewashed and who complain about the "Hollywood liberal agenda of diversity". Leave the politics at the door, man. In short, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle was a fantastic hour or more of rip-riding fun and laughs.
Except for one very funny moment, Dwayne Johnson retires his wrestling persona for this film and instead, provides a smoldering and intense performance, riddled with good-natured hilarity as the lead in this film. Gillan was great in Doctor Who, and although I thought she was the weakest of both characters and actors in this film, she still held her own and looked fantastic doing so. She has one of those faces you can't help but love. Kevin Hart was fantastic as the diminutive valet and looking back, I think he was somehow involved in every funny moment in which I laughed the hardest. Finally, the master, the maestro (though I never really was a fan prior to this), Jack Black plays the teen beauty queen with 100% commitment and to perfection.
10/10 and definitely a film I will be purchasing right after I click "Submit". You can never have enough laughter in life, and Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle delivers barrels-full.
Let’s talk a little about the characters in the old Doc Savage pulps.
Theodore Marley “Ham” Brooks
Theodore Marley “Ham” Brooks is an attorney and member of Doc Savage‘s Fabulous five.
Ham was considered one of the best-dressed men in the world, and as part of his attire, carried a sword cane whose blade is coated in a fast-acting anesthetic.
He first encountered Doc Savage while serving in the military, where he attained the rank of Brigadier General.
His nickname was acquired when Monk, in retaliation for his guardhouse incarceration, framed Brooks on a charge of stealing hams from the commissary. In the only case which Ham ever lost, he was convicted of stealing the hams. He acquired a pet ape which he named Chemistry.
In The Mystic Mullah he shows he is fluent in the Tibetan language.
Seriously, we don’t see anyone with these characteristics in either of the two Jumanji movies. But, we do see the aviator character who is looked upon as a knowledgeable resource for the game.
Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough: Seaplane McGonough is a game character that plays a young pilot.
Alex Vreeke was the name of the human player who selected the avatar of Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough and became trapped in the game for two decades. At the end of the movie, Alex is returned to his time and grows up to be an adult played by Colin Hanks.
All in all, it’s a fasinating twist of pulp fiction, Jumanji, and modern computer games.
The various plot lines are wide open. And this is very exciting.
No idea why it took me 2 years to watch itdanielmanson23 November 2019
It's good. I had no idea what to expect in all honest. I am not huge fans of other movies by these actors, but this really worked. You could see the great chemistry between them all and it paid off.
What I liked: I enjoyed how it didn't dither about at the beginning and got right into the action. Jack Black especially was brilliant and hilarious! All the actors/actresses were great but Jack Black stood out. Good mix of action and comedy throughout. I was on the edge of my seat (metaphorically) wanting them to escape the game.
Let’s look at this next Doc Savage character…
Andrew Blodgett (Monk) Mayfair
Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, more commoly known as Monk Mayfair is among the principle members of the The Fabulous Five.
He received the name Monk because his long muscular arms and his low forehead make him resemble a monkey. Like several of Savage’s companions he served in the military, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Monk currently works as an industrial chemist. He possesses incredible strength, rivaling Doc Savage and can effortlessly bend pennies between his fingers.
Monk personally trained his pet pig, Habeas Corpus, to help serve Doc on his missions.
Monk has a friendly rivalry with Ham, and the two often needle each other. A mutual affection has been shown between them, with one risking life to save the other.
In the Black, Black Witch he is capable of speaking flawless German without a trace of an accent.
I will tell you that my personal opinion is that this role is Franklin “Mouse” Finbar. In the Jumanji movie he is one of the five selectable playable character in the video game version of “JUMANJI”.
In “The Next Level”, he was given to Milo Walker, instead of Fridge (who was forcefully given Shelly Oberon instead), but Finbar is later given back to Frdige.
Franklin “Mouse” Finbar.
Actually, there is a little bit of Monk in a number of characters.
But let’s not quibble with my nonsense. I’m just throwing out some thoughts that could be wildly wrong or (alternatively) right on track accurate.
John “Renny” Renwick
John “Renny” Renwick is a member of The Fabulous Five, Doc Savage’s main helpers and friends.
He is a Construction Engineer and a member of the military, holding the rank of Colonel.
Renny is notable for his gloomy personality and his physical stature. His fists are gigantic and he is known to like to punch his way through solid doors.
Thomas J. (Long Tom) Roberts
Thomas J. Roberts, or as hes more commonly referred, Long Tom Roberts, is one of Doc’s assistants and a member of “The Fabulous Five“.
The character is presented as an electrical engineer, holding the military rank of Major, and a pilot.
He and Doc Savage first met while he was serving in World War I. The explanation of his nickname is given as a result of an event during the war where he helped defend a small European village using an ancient cannon known as a “Long Tom“.
In The Man of Bronze he is described as “the physical weakling of the crowd, thin, not very tall, and with a none-too-healthy-appearing skin“.
Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon is one of the five selectable playable character in the Video Game version of “JUMANJI”, that appears in “Welcome to the Jungle”, as the chosen avatar of Bethany Walker, and in “The Next Level” as the avatar of Anthony “Fridge” Johnson, but Bethany was later able to become Oberon again.
William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn
William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn is a member of The Fabulous Five, Doc Savage’s main helpers and friends.
Johnny is an archeologist and geologist, known for his exotic vocabulary with long words.
Johnny was initially blind of one eye, using a monocle that he kept even after going through corrective surgery that restored his vision. His military rank, if any, has never been revealed.
I cannot help but think that he was the inspiration for Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon.
Patricia Savage
She had a wealth of bronze hair–hair very closely akin in hue to that of Doc Savage.
She was tall; her form was molded along lines that left nothing to be desired. Her features were as perfect as though a magazine-cover artist had designed them.
Patricia “Pat” Savage, joins Doc Savage on many of his adventures beginning with her first appearance in “Brand of the Werewolf“. She is the daughter of Alex Savage, Doc’s uncle who lives in Canada.
Pat is described as being 18 years of age and shares many of Doc’s physical characteristics: bronze skin and hair, golden eyes. She also shares Doc’s sense of adventure, thus making her another of Doc’s companions.
Doc Savage makes attempts to restrain is young cousin in order to keep her out of harm’s way.
Pat typically carries a Pat’s SAA Revolver. It was handed down from her grandfather and is often carried in her purse.
Even though its central concept seems ever-so-slightly more strained this time, ‘Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)’ is about as good as its predecessor. In fact, it’s sometimes even better.
Basically, the flick is just fun.
The crowd-pleasing body-swapping is amped up to eleven, shaking things up just enough so that they feel fresh. The main actors continue to properly impress in their chameleon-like roles, joined by a few extra treats that perform far better than you'd perhaps expect.
Indeed, these new players are probably its biggest asset; a couple of them thoroughly perforate the entire experience despite only having a rather small amount of screen-time.
The picture is often funny - though, never hilarious - and is oddly endearing, to boot. It isn't particularly deep or, even, memorable but it doesn't need to be. It's a good time at the movies; what more do you need?
Obviously some better theming and, perhaps, a tad of nuance wouldn't go amiss, but it's just not that kind of film really and that's perfectly fine. Even if it doesn't impact you as much as some of the year's best, it'll certainly make you smile and keep you entertained for a couple of hours.
Besides, its inciting incident is driven purely by character and it even manages to squeeze some genuine emotional connection, via a well-drawn dynamic between DeVito and Glover, into its otherwise otherworldly proceedings. Its acting is also deceptively simple but decidedly fantastic, fully immersing you in the idea that these major stars are actually four teenagers and two old men.
And nothing to take seriously.
But I do love the refreshing juxtaposition of the Jumanji franchise that Robin Williams stared in and started, along with the wonderful Doc Savage pulp fiction to create this 'new" and refreshingly vibrant world that is the perfect mixture of fun, laughs and adventure for the whole family.
If you all haven’t seen it yet, then please do so. It’s fun.
It’s great entertainment.
And at that, I’ll close.
This is a great movie to chill out with your friends and family. Drink some alcoholic beverages, have a good time. After the movie, you will all be in a good mood. It’s all great
And those are the best kind of movies.
Just a good old fashioned fun moviegluonpaul7 December 2019
There are not many franchises which have been renewed recently which I have actually thought turned out well. Most have been done badly but I have to say that Jumanji stands out as an exception.
This movie does not have a heavy deep story, doesnt try to be anything more than it is, this movie makes you laugh, keeps you entertained and ensures you leave the theater feeling happier than you went in.
It wont win oscars but it will win your heart, definitely a movie to go and enjoy at this time of year.
Oh and guess what?
And get ready because another movie is in the works; Jumanji 4. And this one will have some surprises.
One of the biggest twists in The Next Level involves the villain Jurgen the Brutal (Game of Thrones‘ Rory McCann), who’s revealed to have strengths and weaknesses much like the heroic avatars in the Jumanji video game. In a social media post from late last year, Johnson confirmed Jurgen is also a playable avatar and teased Jumanji 4 will reveal who’s been playing him in the real world.
Kasdan further alluded to the idea during his interview with Collider, saying he “would love to” reveal The Next Level’s hidden villain in the next installment.
In addition, The Next Level’s credits scene suggested Jumanji 4 will take place in the real world, much like the original Jumanji movie did. If so, it opens the door to all sorts of possibilities, not least of which is the Jumanji video game avatars and series’ young heroes meeting face to face.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Well, this is my first try at making a Vblog. I hear that it is a popular thing to do and I am told that I could open up an account on You-Tube and get a bunch of followers. Well, maybe. If I wanted that.
So I made a video.
It’s of my neighborhood.
Well, actually, it’s a string of around 12 or so, 2 to 5 minute long videos that I have zipped together in a folder. You just unpack and watch at your pleasure.
For me, it’s nothing fancy. Yet when I show glimpses of my life to others outside of China, they seem to like it. Cool, I guess. So… this is just myself walking around the neighborhood; my house, and filming it while I discuss the world around me. I hope that you like it.
The theme behind this video (or collection of smaller videos) is “the feeling in China is near identical to the feeling that I had while a small boy living in the USA in the 1960’s”.
The videos themselves are but a collection of short movies, and they are all zipped up. You just unzip to a folder and then just play the movies. It’s not as convenient as You-tube, but I won’t end up getting shadow banned either.
This is all pretty much unlike the typical expat in China vblogs that visit this town, or that town and talk about what they observe. I do that as well, but overall, this effort is about me and where I live. It’s purpose and intention is to get you, the viewer, a “feeling” of the environment as opposed to someone watching a narrated adventure.
I do narrate, but … well, you watch.
I really want you, the viewer, to “feel” what “my China” is like. It’s my reality. It’s my world. And, by extension, MM readers / followers’ world as well.
The entire video set can be downloaded HERE. But, it’s super large at 392 MB. And many computers cannot download it due to the cache memory size, or clutter in their browsers. Like your’s truly.
So… Here’s the MM version. For me, I need to download things in smaller mouth-fulls.
Or if you keep on getting errors, you can download the file in small batches and then go folder by folder.
Yes, I can add streaming video code instead. And I am researching it. The thing is that I do not want code that is connected to the American oligarchy in any way. And most available codes are.
Sure, you can host the video on your site, but the video will be directly tied to Google, which is then tied to the NSA, which is then under the control of the American Federal Government. So I am looking into this.
I'll keep you all posted on my successes or failures in this matter. Maybe I'll ask Jeff Brown for some pointers....
To Open the Files
Just unzip to whatever folder you want and then just play the first video, the other videos will play immediately afterwards (if you follow the default settings on your OS). Most videos are between one and a half to four minutes long. All told, it’s roughly 45 minutes in total.
Or around 12 minutes per VLOG group (1 through 4) for the bite-size MM version that I used to test on my computer.
I really hope that you are not too bored.
How the videos are set up
The first video starts off quiet and then I break out into my narrative. I really, and sincerely hope that you all can get the real “feel” for China like I have. And understand WHY I say that it reminds me so much about what the United States was like back in the late 1950’s, and early 1960’s.
Some key points
One of the things that I am trying to get across is that China reminds me of what America used to be. Whether it was the 1950’s, 60’s or 70’s. It clearly has something, a “feeling”, a pace of life, a way of living, a society that has long evaporated away in the United States.
I argue that what America is today is a direct reflection on it’s leadership. And the fact that the leaders are not smart, (are terribly corrupt and behave as psychopathic fiends with no shame or attempt to hide their behaviors) reinforces this point. For them, being surrounded by sycophants and other psychopaths they are unable to see what they have created or the world that they live in is not good. It is not healthy and it is most certainly, not normal.
A Metallicman 1960’s America.
Ah.
You could reasonably argue that I miss the old culture, and the older styles of cars, clothing and other attributes of the past. you could say that I miss the prices and my now dead relatives. I suppose that many of those points are actually true. But with every good point, is an equally bad point.
And I suppose that people would argue that I am looking with fondness of the past. And it’s true, I am. But what I am describing is the “feeling” of that time. And I am comparing it to the “feeling” that I have now.
Today, here inside of China, no one is on the radio, or on the internet yelling at me to buy! Buy! Buy!. It’s only $98.98.
I am not hearing from radio, television or the internet about all sorts of emergency dangers and that the world is out of control.I don’t hear advertisements that ask if I am depressed, have marital or legal problems, or how great a pill will help me in my life.
Instead I hear that things are under control, and I see that with my very own two eyes. There’s a calmness in the air that I haven’t experienced since the 1960’s, and it is refreshing to experience it.
I hope that you too are able to experience it in my VLOG herein.
A “real” car. From Shorpy.com.
Compare my reality with American reality
While I was filming these videos, this is the hysteria going on in America. Now compare reality against the perception of what is important via the “news”.
This article is devoted to one of my more neglected sub-indexes. Which is the “learning about China by looking at Chinese girls” sub-index. Well, in this article we won’t be teaching you all all that much about China so much as we are showing you images of what the girls are like in China.
I know, I know… the American propaganda mills have been working over-time to make China look like an evil monster, dark, gloomy, sad and dirty. It’s nothing like that. But you know, the sheeple love to read things like that. It makes them feel good about their sorry lives.
So what I did was I got on my local internet and started collecting short videos made by gals here in China. They are in no particular order. I just went ahead and vacuumed them up as I found them. Over all, they are a great introduction to what the girls of China look like today.
I took the micro-videos and grouped them into batches of ten. Then I zipped up the file so that you can download all ten together. It’s much faster and easier for you to check out these ladies this way. I did make a point to put at least one “noticeable” worthy girl in each group. I’ll have you know.
But first…
Realize that just because the girls like to dance around on Chinese social media does not equate them to be the “standard, and normal” Chinese lass. They tend to stand apart in one way or the other as this video clearly indicates…
But first, let’s see what kinds of images that you can find on American Internet and American websites that depict what Chinese girls must look like. OK.
This is a screen shot of a Bing Image Search…
Chinese girls according to Bing Search.
You know, there are ugly people all over, but seriously, the density of all these types of girls gives you the illusion that this is what all the Chinese girls look like. It’s not even remotely true.
Some Examples of Chinese Girls…
OK. Here’s some fun videos of come pretty Chinese girls.
Click on the link under the picture. It will download a ZIP file.
Unzip to a folder.
Then when you open the folder you will see the ten videos.
Click on the first one, and the computer will play all ten one after the other. You should be able to go through all the ten micro-videos in just over a minute.
Group 1
The ladies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are busty. Some are not. Some are short, and some are tall. All are lovely.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 2
Most of the Chinese girls like to wear tight fitting clothes. It’s the current fashion, I figure. I am not complaining. It’s like when I lived in California back in the early 1980’s, and all the girls wore these one-piece spandex suits that they rode bicycles in.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 3
All of these girls, no matter what size or shape, all have one or more attributes that are attractive to me personally. I think that it is their personality that comes out on these little videos.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 4
You will note that not all Chinese girls have long black hair. Many have brown or shades of brown hair. And while the predominant eye color is brown, there are other colors that manifest from time to time.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 5
When I look at these girls, a flood of thoughts assault me. And one of the dominant thoughts is, of course, sharing a bottle of wine with them and eating some fine delicious food.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 6
All of these gals have a story to tell. Wouldn’t you like to sit at a table, enjoy some fine food, play some games. Drink some wine and listen to their stories?
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 7
The gal on the bottom row in the middle is wearing some traditional Hunan clothing. I find the gals, the food, and the hilly countryside very appealing to me.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 8
The girl in the blue jeans is showing off her butt. It’s a pity that she doesn’t turn around so that we can see her face, and shape. But that’s the way life is. Sometimes people want to emphasize what they feel is their “best” physical attribute.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 9
Girl number two here is quite top heavy. I think that the outfit doesn’t do her justice. She might be better served with a long dress and a expansive top. But that’s just me, don’t you know.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 10
Having cleavage is a “thing” for girls in their 20’s in China, I guess. But you have to see them outside the work environment and in the clubs or KTV’s to appreciate it.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 11
The girl cutting up food is a real turn on. There are few things that get me more excited than a woman making and cooking dinner. It’s a fetish I suppose.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Group 12
This first gal in the golden spandex has a very nice butt. I could watch her a walking all day long, I’ll tell you what.
And you can access these young ladies by clicking HERE.
Some final thoughts
Now that I am older, when I look at a pretty and attractive lady, I think about going out together. I think about talking, eating fine delicious food, and drinking some nice alcohol. It makes me want to put on my “best side” also and just spend a lovely day or evening together. Engaging in free talk, and just having fun.
If something else happens, then great. If not, well, that’s fine too.
In every event, we would all have a great time. Talking, being our best and sharing our thoughts, our lives and fun together. It’s a precious thing.
One of the things that I really like about China is that you can speak freely to each other. You don’t have to worry about offending someone by your mannerisms, or your language or your subject matter. And this fact really becomes pronounced when I meet someone from the West who comes to China on a visit and I immediately notice they stiffen up and get uncomfortable when I speak, or smoke or drink.
But what’s their problem. I offer them a cigarette. You know?
Jeeze! They are so imprisoned that they don’t know what freedom actually is.
Being afraid to say something, least the person gets offended is not freedom. Freedom is the ability to be yourself. So be it. Don’t try to please others. Please yourself. You’ll end up being a heck of a lot happier in return.
Throw in some fine delicious wine.
And some tasty food.
And some great conversation with some attractive ladies, and you have the makings of a wonderful time. I kid you not. You can believe me on this. And that is really true if one of the ladies is an animal lover, a cook, a gardener, a history buff, a poet, an archivist, or a dancer. My experiences with these kinds of women has always been extraordinary.
And don’t even get me started on some of the prime MM subjects here. You’ll never get me to shut up!
Generally speaking in China, the more you can drink, the more respect you will earn. If you can drink excessive amounts of alcohol, still stand up, form relatively coherent sentences and follow proper Chinese drinking etiquette (see below), you’ll no doubt impress your table-mates and leave a good impression. If you fail, don’t worry! You probably won’t remember it anyway. Obviously never drink more than you can handle no matter what the pressure.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Pretty Girls of China Index here…
China has been exploding with all sorts of new things, products and innovations. Most of which has yet to catch on in the West. There are many reasons for that, but the biggest one is regulation. People who possess new things; new products; new ideas, must get permission to use them. And in the West (especially inside America) this takes time.
For instance, in the 1990’s I was the Principal Engineer for a company that was leading the world in LED technology for automobiles. We were working on tail-lights, head-lights, and courtesy lights. We were pretty cutting edge for the time. And our products were great, and worked well.
The thing was that they could not be used in cars or trucks because the regulations that existed defined the characteristics of the lighting mechanism itself – an incandescent bulb, and not the end result; the ability to have a lighted area at a specific distance.
So in order to put our new, cheap and reliable system on the market we need to get around this “roadblock”. We had to petition to change the regulations to accept results-based measurement criteria as opposed to design-based measurement criteria. And when we started to do that, boy oh boy, did we “open up a can of worms”.
No one was happy.
It’s a long story and maybe I’ll get into it some other time. Anyways, LED technology did eventually enter the automobile market, and today it’s actually rare to see incandescent bulbs being used with the same kind of commonality that used to exist.
You must understand. Over the many years, the evil and corrupt, have corrupted business, technology and society and bent them to do THEIR bidding. And it was fine and well when no one noticed what was going on…
…and China has shown the way. Where big and small, everyone can live their lives and make, grow and innovate free of government interference’s. And while it is all possible that RAH! RAH! American exceptionalism will shine through…
…the fact is that it won’t.
Not until all those millions and millions of tiny little hands are out of your wallet. Sure, you can allocate 500 million dollars to a new hospital system. And you know what you will get? A bunch of reports “evaluating” the various studies on building the hospital system. You will not get a hospital.
All these little hands are put in place by decades of crime and corruption by the oligarchy. And they are not going away.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about this…
Yeah. You can buy a complete box of 20 for under $1 at the local store.
Crime and corruption has ruining America. And because the government has done absolutely nothing about it, it will not matter what pity saying the leadership says, what speeches that they make, what money they allocate. Because nothing will actually get done.
Innovation is really more than just a trivial interest of mine. My non-MAJestic career spanned four decades of R&D, NPD and new emerging technologies all across the board.
Not only was I dealing with what ever the fuck I was dealing with in MAJestic, but also I held my “day job” which was involved in R&D, and NPD.
And today…
America is clueless. Absolutely clueless.
Stuff that America hasn’t a clue about.
Stuff that when America innovates that it uses Chinese interns, and Chinese immigrants on visas to design, make and develop. They work inside an American company. And it is the American company that gets the credit. Not the Chinese engineers and scientists.
Look at the winners of the World Mathematics Competition; it’s America!
Woo! Woo! America is number one! Yee-Hawwww!
But look closely…
Here we are going to talk about some of the “cool” things in China now.
I can have thousands of videos as the Chinese are “out of control” in innovation, engineering and design. Some of which is silly, some of which is awkward, and some of which is just… hum. But I picked some of the more interesting technologies in this post. I hope that you enjoy them.
This is a video dense article. Please allow time for the videos to load. For the most part, they are worth it.
5G AI Flooring
Lighted floors with movies and animation isn’t new in China. They have been around for at least a decade now and are semi-common in movie theaters, malls and KTV venues. But the latest designs are really very cool as they have motion sensors in the floor panels and 5G AI responses. The result is really interesting. As in this video…
I can see some great applications on dance floors and other venues of a similar nature.
Interesting applications for the tiles
Actually, these panels are really cool. They can sense a person on them, and near them as well as what you are doing. And as such they react appropriately. LOL!
Each panel has it’s own little micro-computer. And can work independently or as part of a cluster of times.
And, of course, what can go on the floor can also go on the wall. As this video clearly shows. Again, kind of nice. But the applications can be astounding. Think of advertising boards where you can touch the advertisement and interact it in language (any) or where it could link up with your cell phone.
I can see cluster of jellyfish drones are working together in a swarm…
…silently, quietly and stealthily. All performing non-invasive tasks where no one takes notice.
Debit Card Technology
One way foreigners will use #CBDC in China during the 2022 Olympics will be with a CBDC card and automatic exchange machine!
Banks are going all-in on CBDC as it represents their return from payment irrelevance and are showing their latest tech at the China Digital Summit.
Bank of China just revealed an automated exchange machine that looks like it will see use at the 2022 Olympics.
“Overseas nationals with valid passports can put foreign banknotes into the machine, which will issue a physical e-CNY card based on the exchange rate. The card looks similar to the card-based digital yuan hardware wallet that was seen back in January.”
“The prototype of the e-CNY card for foreigners also has a small screen that shows the available balance of the hardware wallet and can be used in shops that have an e-CNY payment terminal.”
The same machine will also likely take foreign ATM cards according to patent filings I saw months back.
I'm certain a bank sponsored e-CNY app will also be available for the Olympics as foreign cards are now accepted for tourists on #Alipay and #WeChat Pay.
Fun to see the new developments!
-The Block Crypto
In China, the debit cards show just how much money that you have in the account in real time…
And here’s another video showing how you can add or delete money to the account. Note that there are no fees to do this like in the USA. In fact, everything is fee-free and so easy and instantaneous.
Not that having a card is necessary. Most people no longer carry cards. They just carry their cell phone and that is it. But having a card is really handy for other purposes, like to give a gift to children, or to allocate a budget for the purchase of a particular item.
Next year most Westerners will experience this card during the Olympics.
Huawei Ring Innovation
”The U.S. embassy in Denmark threatening to cancel its subscription with a local newspaper if it used Chinese telecommunications equipment is an example of "coercive diplomacy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday.”
“The Danish newspaper Politiken revealed on April 25 that it received an email from the U.S. diplomatic mission in the country asking it to verify whether it uses electronic devices, including routers, modems, and electronic communications equipment, from five Chinese companies, namely Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua and their subsidiaries and affiliates.” CGTN on Twitter.
-LinkedIN
Speaking of cell phones. Here’s a ring that you can use to control your cell phone with. Apparently it is an option on all the new Huawei phones.
Speaking of Huawei. You know Huawei hasn’t stopped with cell phones either. They have developed all sorts of really cool things for the automobiles. Not American automobiles, of course. For the Chinese automobiles. Like this…
Granted many of the technologies are cool, but I don’t know how practical. Like this trunk opener. Maybe it’s all “Gee Wiz”, but do you really need it?
However, this next bit of technology is really cool. It’s self-tinting windows. Now available on Chinese cars. But, of course, it will takes years to be approved in America as you would have to run the SAE gauntlet as the various state agencies that regulate the innovation adaptation in automobiles. But in the rest of the world, it’s really cool.
Drones are “old news”. But what people don’t realize is that they are a Chinese technology with most of the commercial drones being made in China. And they are constantly innovating. The swarm drone technology is pretty much mature, and China has been using this for at least five years that I know of. What is really interesting is that the drones can create three dimensional images that your cellphone can scan in real time and link up with on the internet.
Here’s a Fraken-camera. It’s cool, and for a photography buff would probably be the “cat’s meow”, but gosh almighty it does seem like over kill, doesn’t it?
And with all the anti-China propaganda, this is what most American believe. Such as these quotes…
China doesn't innovate (central planning is incapable of innovation because creation/innovation requires market competitiveness and front-line payout/incentive).But central planning-based countries can cheat and steal. And that is what China does.
-6 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:44:53 AM by RoosterRedux
Another sheeple on Free Republic chimes in…
Innovative my ass. Have yet to see anything innovative from the Chinese that they didn’t steal from us. That’s why they won’t fold to Trumps trade war. They know they would be screwed without their thievery.
-14 posted on 7/28/2019, 11:19:28 AM by Bommer
This is what Americans and the Western allied block think about China, but it is actually not true at all.
China can and does innovate. China has been the leader in innovation for a decade already. In fact, many people gloss over all the “tell tales” of innovation such as China lock on all the 5G patents, and it’s command of the patents on Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and manufacturing.
Instead all you hear about is how dangerous and evil China is.
And you know that this statement is true. The American media would rather die than say anything good about China. But what do you expect? America is a Military Empire, and it demands absolute servitude.
This too is very true.
In fact, this was so very obvious when you watched the absolutely arrogant Biden Administration layout it’s terms to a stunned Chinese audience in Alaska in April 2021.
Perhaps some clarity is needed WHY the American military Empire is so pissed that the Chinese isn’t backing down, and instead standing up to the Arrogant American bullies.
China knows what is at stake. It’s a merit-driven leadership that has read history, and know what to expect from America. So they have readied themselves against the huge dragon the snarls, spits fire, and eats up others in it’s never-ending appetite for gold, oil and riches.
China has prepared.
And America does not like it.
Not one bit.
I love this video. I posted it on another post, as this is a military unit stationed in XinJiang. But it’s an absolutely awesome video. And worth a look. China does not play.
I mean it.
China will use every method at their disposal to stop, and destroy radical CIA-backed terrorists from doing damage, and then they will go after their sources of funding, their training and their “safe” and “distant” handlers. As China grows, so does it’s muscle. If Turkey is involved, or if the United States is involved, you will see China establish covert and secretive units to take out the instigation elements (read: key people) in their homes in far away safe suburbs. It’s a new world.
Perhaps that is why America is starting to “shake in it’s boots”.
Let's see how safe AR Senator Tom Cotton, Neocon feels in his rural home in the mountains of Arkansas, or John Bolton, or Mike Pompeo. They might no longer be holding office, but they are still "pulling the strings and levers of power". China will put a complete end to all of this nonsense.
And it's war. Right?
This is what all these neocon jackasses have been saying. Read all their writings. Go ahead read the White House report when Trump left office, read the "Long Telegraph". They want to kill and remove the Chinese national leadership and replace them with Vichy people who will be puppets for their American global objectives. Of course China knows what the fuck is going on.
And it's fair game, eh?
You want to attack China. Well, it will fight back. With real, real claws. They have no fucking idea what kind of a "hornet's nest" they are kicking off the tree.
Watch the video.
This very cool video can be obtained directly HERE.
This is just a small picture of the vast array of defensive military that China has amassed to prevent any idiotic American dreams of another Syria, Yemen, or Iraq invasion for “democracy“, and to “rescue the Uighur’s“.
This entire video was filmed inside of Xinjiang.
Keep in mind that not only is the military presence large, but they are well-trained, run by merit, and utilize well maintained, state of the art equipment.
The idea that American troops can go into Xinjiang and “rescue the imprisoned Muslims from the concentration camps” is never going to happen.
But that’s exactly why the American propaganda machine is in full gear right now. To make it seem that China is one thing, that it really isn’t.
And we can see this is the comments on American Neocon websites…
“The PLA’s great weaknesses:”
I think you can add:
- Their recruitment pool has been halved by a government imposed one child policy that was maintained years after being understood as destructive by a government that can never admit mistakes.
- Their economy relying on resources (especially oil) that must be imported by sea along sea lanes that cross territory closer to and controlled by their enemies.
- Their economy relying on export markets made up of their major potential enemies.
- Their work force demographics currently transitioning from having a vast majority of highly experienced workers (those in the 45 - 65 age group) to having that group being retired.
-39 posted on 5/1/2021, 5:15:53 PM by conejo99
Obviously the commenters have never been to China, know nothing of China and repeat the neocon narratives as if they are factual.
.
And, you know, that’s why they are called “sheeple”. They have strong emotions about something that they have never experienced first-hand. Only from what they read. And so they respond out of extreme ignorance like this…
The PLA’s great weaknesses:
- They have no institutional knowledge on how to maintain force cohesion under fire that is HITTING.
- They cannot prevent strikes by a modern military against their homeland.
- Many of their new weapons systems are cartoon images of the real thing. (their stealth does not work)
- Their logistical infrastructure for manufacturing these new weapons is hopelessly corrupt.
- They STILL cannot manufacture a decent jet engine in numbers.
- You can hear their submarines leaving Hainan Island from Pearl Harbor.
How crushing it will be to them when they are handed their ass.
13 posted on 5/1/2021, 8:30:22 AM by Mariner
It used to be an operational assumption that the rigid, doctrinaire command structure of conscript Warsaw Pact and Chicom forces would result in disarray when key leaders were lost on the battlefield, and by contrast, US forces consisted of individual soldiers ready to step up and take initiative and assume leadership roles when situations demanded. From what I read and hear, I'm not sure those distinctions are as clear as they once were.
-23 posted on 5/1/2021, 9:44:11 AM by Joe 6-pack
I have been reading these China is going to collapse anytime now stories for 20 years. They have only gotten more powerful.
- 31 posted on 5/1/2021, 10:24:34 AM by setter
They can't do logistics - they have never had to move lots of men and material under pressure. Something the US military is VERY good at (sometimes to our detriment).
-32 posted on 5/1/2021, 10:25:42 AM by Psalm 73
I have to laugh at this one. “China cannot do logistics“.
.
It is always the same garbage narrative. China is an evil authoritarian regime and the people are huddled ignorant masses and they need rescuing from their evil overlords. Yada. Yada. Yada.
.
The Civil Police publicly beat and incarcerate people daily, and sometimes torture and kill - its no secret except from the West. Filming is rare because of the plainclothes cops are everywhere and will stop and destroy the camera/phone - as are the ubiquitous State cameras watching for people filming.
-42 posted on 5/1/2021, 7:56:47 PM by PIF
Again, the illusions that these people have are comically insane.
.
The only people on the forum that doesn’t agree with the neocon narrative are people who have actually been to China, or to Asia. And they say some sane things, but they are obviously in the minority.
.
No China did not ‘lie about’ their Covid totals, at least for the most case.
I am in Vietnam now. Some similarities between China, and Vietnam. And some BIG differences as well (like I don’t see Vietnam as a threat to America)
There have been a grand total of 35 deaths due to Covid.
Really.
Thirty five.
-48 posted on 5/1/2021, 11:15:04 PM by cba123
They are lone voices, often drowned out by the loud and the ignorant.
China does innovate. There are many technical devices that are made there that are not made here. Hell, you can't even find decent documentation for devices I use because no American companies neither design or make this stuff.
And of course there are some good comments.
America is the place where innovation is dying. How can we expect to produce engineers if there aren't jobs for them here?
26 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:17:45 PM by GingisK
He also responds to one of the sheeple’s comments…
..Have yet to see anything innovative from the Chinese that they didn’t steal from us...Try to find something like an ESP32 that was made here first. Try to find a Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver on an XBee carrier that was made here first.
Those devices were both made in China. The ICs are made in the USA; however, there seems to be nobody here who will innovate products from them. Crap, people here can't get beyond Arduinos using peripherals that are created in China.
Few people understand how deep the damage to American innovation and engineering goes.
28 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:26:39 PM by GingisK
And this particular post addresses all the “Gung Ho” Sheeple that live off the illusion that the American media propaganda is correct…
... Few people understand how deep the damage to American innovation and engineering goes...That's why I get so annoyed with the "Puff the Magic Tariff" brigades here on FR. Tariffs can work tactically if you have industries left to protect, otherwise they equate to putting expensive doors on an empty barn....while your horses are already grazing in the next county. A massive reduction in the Cost of Liberalism is the most important task to focus on.
30 posted on 7/29/2019, 4:45:36 AM by Mr. Jeeves
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this in my China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This is a wonderful rant by a girl currently in the United States. She is absolutely “fed up” with the anti-China news, attitude, and general opinions of American regarding China. And she want’s it all to end. She is shouting loud and clear “Shut Up!”
The Chinese people are getting fed up with the lies that come out of the American, and Western “news”. They are tired of it. They are starting to get angry about it. And it must stop.
I've got a bunch of small and short embedded videos in this article. You really need to watch them to get the full impact of this article. -MM
Again, here is a dialog rant by a Chinese-America who lives inside of America, but well knows the reality of her home nation; China. And so, being sick and tired of the endless lies, and bullshit from the American “news”, she lashes out…
I Want To Talk About China
China is nothing like the fake version that exists only in imagination, that is painted in the media and absorbed into the minds of the people who gape at me when I tell them, "You know, life in China wasn't really all that different."
By Lily Chang
“Where are you from?”
“China,” my mom says, with audible pride.
“Oh,” said the lady at the thrift store, her eyebrows disappearing into her thick brown hair. “Was it scary over there? Were you not allowed to say things or use the internet?”
…
“China is a repressive dictatorship where the government exercises total control over people’s lives. The citizens have very few human rights compared to in the US.”
“That’s not true,” my sister blurts out. “I lived there and it wasn’t like that at all.”
“Don’t talk out of turn,” said her fourth grade teacher.
…
“You know, life in China wasn’t really all that different,” I say.
I watch the shock in my friends’ eyes. Feeling awkward, I continue on.
“I went to school in the morning and came home at night. I had a lot of homework. On the weekend, I would go out with my friends, and we would go to the park, or go window shopping, and gossip about our teachers and classmates.”
They gape at me, and I change the subject.
…
I want to talk about China.
I want to talk about my country and the many years I lived there, the laughter and the tears and everything in between. I want to share the experiences that shaped me and the people that changed me and the places where it happened.
But I can’t.
I cannot because the China in their eyes, in their minds, is not the China I come from, where I lived for most of my life.
It’s a sick, distorted version.
It is like what you see through a funhouse mirror, except there’s no fun in this house, only propaganda and racism and lies.
From those materials they built this diabolical interpretation of China that exists only in fantasy, and put me in it like a doll in a dollhouse.
And thus I was expected to play my part…
…as (some kind of) liberated victim of horrific oppression, grateful for my salvation, for my new life in the “enlightened” west.
I refused.
I’m going off script.
…
We, the Chinese people, are spoken of like birds in locked cages…
(Being) afraid to sing, the keys held by a brutal totalitarian government that cares nothing for our welfare.
We are huddled together, suffering, waiting for civilized countries to swoop in and rescue us…
To rescue us from our awful plights, to unlock our cages and heal our wounds and set us free.
We are dehumanized, reduced to objects of pity and victims in need of deliverance.
And thus they cry, “I love the Chinese people! I only hate the Chinese government!”
…
But they cannot love us, because to them, we are NOT human.
We are things.
The citizens are not humans, but caged birds desperate for a fairy tale hero to save them.
The government and those who compose it, are not humans, but blood-sucking demons.
Yes. demons. Demons who are bent on surveilling, controlling, destroying the citizens for their own gain.
But all this is just a fantasy; a lie. It’s a make-believe world that doesn’t exist, and one that never existed.
The people of China are not caged birds, and the government of China is not a group of cartoonishly evil demons.
…
But, this is the China they built in their minds, that they project onto me when I stand in front of them with my yellow skin, black hair, brown eyes.
And I want to tell them, that’s not the real China.
The real China is neither a paradise, but nor is it a hell.
The people of China are not helpless caged birds, but human beings.
Human beings with hopes and dreams and interests and opinions and stories. And yes, human rights.
We can travel, and many do.
More than 100 million Chinese go abroad every year, for school, work, tourism, and other reasons.
We can practice religion.
Religion is not allowed to influence politics.
And it is especially not allowed to promote separatism, terrorism, or other types of extremist thought.
We can criticize the government.
We can even hold protests.
But we cannot humiliate or slander our leaders, we cannot spread lies, and again, we cannot promote separatism or incite mass unrest.
Maybe that seems like a lot of conditions.
But swearing at our leaders isn't productive engagement. It doesn't lead to problems being fixed.
We can vote.
There are elections in China, but not for the president.
The people directly elect district representatives to the People's Congress, who then elect representatives at the city and province level.
These representatives, just like Congresspeople in the US, are responsible for expressing their constituents' suggestions and grievances.
They provide oversight for politicians. And if they don't do their job, they can be fired via petition from the people.
All citizens of China are entitled to these rights. All fifty-six ethnicities.
The people of China are not caged birds, and the government of China is not a group of cartoonishly evil demons.
In fact, China enjoys high levels of support among the people – not because there are no other options, as often claimed, and not because we are brainwashed. To say so takes away our agency, puts us back in the cage. We are supportive because the government serves the people.
…they lifted 850 million people out of absolute poverty in 40 years (100 million just since 2013),
…built them free homes,
…provided them with jobs and healthcare and education.
(The government) invested into infrastructure to ensure people in the most distant areas can live a better and more convenient life.
(And they) traversed deep into dangerous mountains to find those in need of help.
Chinese people respect their government…
…because they made enormous financial sacrifices made to combat the COVID-19 pandemic…
… from the initial lock-down of Wuhan…
… to implementing the massive contact tracing infrastructure, to free treatment for all patients.
They built hospitals in ten days, then mobilized of doctors and medical equipment from all over the country to the center of the epidemic.
It’s been stunning.
Increased life expectancy.
Increased quality of life.
Unparalleled safety.
Absolute happiness.
That is what the Chinese government does for the people.
That is not to say things are perfect.
Corruption exists.
Incompetence exists.
Dissatisfaction with the government exists. And the people express it. They make their voices heard.
The government is constantly monitoring public opinion on social media. Vocal criticism, of which there is much, is noted and taken into account.
Government agencies have open comment boards online where people can leave complaints.
Responses are then published online.
Unpopular policies get changed.
Unpopular politicians get replaced.
Whether you believe this is because they want the best for the people, or because they’re afraid of being violently overthrown by angry mobs, the result is the same.
They want to know what’s working and what’s not working. The needs and desires of the population are heard.
In the end, the Chinese people and the Chinese government are one, and cannot be separated.
Together, they are not oppressors and the oppressed, or even the rulers and the ruled, but two sides of the same coin, working together for a better China and better lives for all her citizens.
China is like a “bee hive”…
And America and the rest of the West, govern like “herding kittens”. The only solution is to divide up everyone so that everyone is fighting and the wealthy get wealthier…
China is not a paradise.
There are problems and unhappy people and bad decisions and things that fall through the cracks.
But it’s nothing like “that” China; The fake version of China that exists only in imagination, that is painted in the media and absorbed into the minds of the people who gape at me when I tell them…
… “You know, life in China wasn’t really all that different.”
And no one believes.
Because everyone is living within this fake world image that does not exist.
I want to talk to them about China, but I can’t.
Not until they tear down that twisted caricature in their minds; that fake world that they have been taught to believe.
Not until they see China for how she really is, good and bad.
I don’t wish for everyone to love China, or worship China. I want them to know China, understand China. The real China.
And when they do, then we can work together, learn from each other. Become better. That is what I hope to see.
…
Conclusion
It’s a great impassioned rant. And the thing is, that it could be written by just about any of the 120 million Chinese people who visit the the United States and return back to China. To put this number in perspective…
Population figures;
Some perspectives on WHY this is going on…
…it’s to create an evil villain. One that the people can point their fingers at and say [1] It’s another Nazi Germany!, and [2] We must do something to free the poor people! It tends to unite people against a common cause so they don’t get their torches, and pitchforks on the way to lynch the assholes in Washington DC.
It’s called “atrocity propaganda”…
Atrocity propaganda
Atrocity propaganda is the spreading of information about the crimes committed by an enemy, which can be factual, but often includes or features deliberate fabrications or exaggerations. This can involve photographs, videos, illustrations, interviews, and other forms of information presentation or reporting.
Why this demonization is going on; it’s because the USA must be the biggest, largest and most powerful nation in the world. If it isn’t, then all of it’s faults, it’s history of evil deeds, and the massive flaws within it’s system, and the economic crimes will come to light… to an angry world that is just now waking up to the reality of what the Hell the United States has been doing for much of the last century….
Indeed, for certain…
A time has come…
But that is not what is happening,
What is happening.
The United States is a terribly corrupt and flailing military empire and it is sinking, going down the drain in so many ways that everyone can watch and understand what is going on. The only people that do not understand this fact are those who are so absolutely blinded by the American propaganda of “exceptional greatness”, and intentional censorship of the reality outside of America.
We call them “sheeple”.
They are people that are emotionally entangled about things that they have NEVER physical experienced first hand. Only by what they read or watched on the internet.
Comedians joke about it, but it is a real problem.
And here…
The Bottom Line
As the United States collapses there are a host of options available to prevent the collapse.
America could…
Convene an emergency Constitutional Convention. And though it, seriously reorganize the government to be more efficient and more focused on serving the needs of the people.
Redirect spending. Control the terrible fiscal irresponsibility. And set up policing organizations for fraud and waste.
Work on Win-win solutions. Work with other nations to improve positive international relations on the basis of a win-win philosophy.
Shut down the Military Empire. Seriously reduce the global military empire and redirect it’s task to domestic needs.
But that is not what it is doing. Instead it is picking fights with both Russia and China. In both cases trying to provoke an “incident” so that America has an excuse to unify America against a common enemy. It doesn’t matter who, at this point in time, and stage in the game. It just needs some kind of big, fierce enemy.
Note what is actually happening…
The Military Empire is expanding.
Provocative actions are proceeding and it’s only a matter of time when one will trigger a serious war.
The debt is getting larger, not smaller.
And an enormous budget (by Biden) to correct infrastructure problems has been proposed with zero changes to the already corrupted and inefficient system that is supposed to support it.
America is trying to provoke military engagements.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This is the science fiction short story that eventually was made into the famous movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) It’s a great read, and as much as I loved the movie, in many ways this short story was actually better. I hope that you all will enjoy it as much as I have.
THE SENTINEL
Arthur C. Clarke
1951 Avon Periodicals Inc.
The next time you see the full moon high in the south, look carefully at its right-hand edge and let your eye travel upward along the curve of the disk. Round about two o’clock you will notice a small, dark oval: anyone with normal eyesight can find it quite easily. It is the great walled plain,
one of the finest on the Moon, known as the Mare Crisium-the Sea of Crises. Three hundred miles in diameter, and almost completely surrounded by a ring of magnificent mountains, it had never been explored until we entered it in the late summer of 1996.
Our expedition was a large one. We had two heavy freighters which had flown our supplies and equipment from the main lunar base in the Mare Serenitatis, five hundred miles away. There were also three small rockets which were intended for short-range transport over regions which our surface vehicles couldn’t cross. Luckily, most of the Mare Crisiurn is very flat. There are none of the great crevasses so common and so dangerous elsewhere, and very few craters or mountains of any size. As far as we could tell, our powerful caterpillar tractors would have no difficulty in taking us wherever we wished to go.
I was geologist-or selenologist, if you want to be pedantic in charge of. the group exploring the southern region of the Mare. We had crossed a hundred miles of it in a week, skirting the foothills of the mountains along the shore of what was once the ancient sea, some thousand million years before. When life was beginning on Earth, it was already dying here. The waters were retreating down the flanks of those stupendous cliff s, retreating into the empty heart of the Moon. Over the land which we were crossing, the tideless ocean had once been half a mile deep, and now the only trace of moisture was the hoarfrost one could sometimes find in caves which the searing sunlight never penetrated.
We had begun our journey early in the slow lunar dawn, and still had almost a week of Earth-time before nightfall. Half a dozen times a day we would leave our vehicle and go outside in the spacesuits to hunt for interesting minerals, or to place markers for the guidance of future travelers. It was an uneventful routine. There is nothing hazardous or even particularly exciting about lunar exploration. We could live comfortably for a month in our pressurized tractors, and if we ran into trouble we could always radio for help and sit tight until one of the spaceships came to our rescue.
I said just now that there was nothing exciting about lunar exploration, but of course that isn’t true. One could never grow tired of those incredible mountains, so much more rugged than the gentle hills of Earth. We never knew, as we rounded the capes and promontories of that vanished sea, what new splendors would be revealed to us. The whole southern curve of the Mare Crisiurn is a vast delta where a score of rivers once found their way into the ocean, fed perhaps by the torrential rains that must have lashed the mountains in the brief volcanic age when the Moon was young.
Each of these ancient valleys was an invitation, challenging us to climb into the unknown uplands beyond. But we had a hundred miles still to cover, and could only look longingly at the heights which others must scale.
We kept Earth-time aboard the tractor, and precisely at 22.00 hours the final radio message would be sent out to Base and we would close down for the day. Outside, the rocks would still be burning beneath the almost vertical sun, but to us it was night until we awoke again eight hours later. Then one of us would prepare breakfast, there would be a great buzzing of electric razors, and someone would switch on the short-wave radio from Earth. Indeed, when the smell of frying sausages began to fill the cabin, it was sometimes hard to believe that we were not back on our own world – everything was so normal and homely, apart from the feeling of decreased weight and the unnatural slowness with which objects fell.
It was my turn to prepare breakfast in the corner of the main cabin that served as a galley. I can remember that moment quite vividly after all these years, for the radio had just played one of my favorite melodies, the old Welsh air, “David of the White, Rock.”
Our driver was already outside in his space-suit, inspecting our caterpillar treads. My assistant, Louis Garnett, was up forward in the control position, making some belated entries in yesterday’s log.
As I stood by the frying pan waiting, like any terrestrial housewife, for the sausages to brown, I let my gaze wander idly over the mountain walls which covered the whole of the southern horizon, marching out of sight to east and west below the curve of the Moon. They seemed only a mile or two from the tractor, but I knew that the nearest was twenty miles away. On the Moon, of course, there is no loss of detail with distance-none of that almost imperceptible haziness which softens and sometimes transfigures all far-off things on Earth.
Those mountains were ten thousand feet high, and they climbed steeply out of the plain as if ages ago some subterranean eruption had smashed them skyward through the molten crust. The base of even the nearest was hidden from sight by the steeply curving surface of the plain, for the Moon is a very little world, and from where I was standing the horizon was only two miles away.
I lifted my eyes toward the peaks which no man had ever climbed, the peaks which, before the coming of terrestrial life, had watched the retreating oceans sink sullenly into their graves, taking with them the hope and the morning promise of a world. The sunlight was beating against those ramparts with a glare that hurt the eyes, yet only a little way above them the stars were shining steadily in a sky blacker than a winter midnight on Earth.
I was turning away when my eye caught a metallic glitter high on the ridge of a great promontory thrusting out into the sea thirty miles to the west. It was a dimensionless point of light, as if a star had been clawed from the sky by one of those cruel peaks, and I imagined that some smooth rock surface was catching the sunlight and heliographing it straight into my eyes. Such things were not uncommon. When the Moon is in her second quarter, observers on Earth can sometimes see the great ranges in the Oceanus Procellarum burning with a blue-white iridescence as the sunlight flashes from their slopes and leaps again from world to world. But I was curious to know what kind of rock could be shining so brightly up there, and I climbed into the observation turret and swung our four inch telescope round to the west.
I could see just enough to tantalize me. Clear and sharp in the field of vision, the mountain peaks seemed only half a mile away, but whatever was catching the sunlight was still too small to be resolved. Yet it seemed to have an elusive symmetry, and the summit upon which it rested was curiously flat. I stared for a long time at that glittering enigma, straining my eyes into space, until presently a smell of burning from the galley told me that our breakfast sausages had made their quarter-million mile journey in vain. .
All that morning we argued our way across the Mare Crisium while the western mountains reared higher in the sky. Even when we were out prospecting in the space-suits, the discussion would continue over the radio. It was absolutely certain, my companions argued, that there had never been any form of intelligent life on the Moon. The only living things that had ever existed there were a few primitive plants and their slightly less degenerate ancestors. I knew that as well as anyone, but there are times when a scientist must not be afraid to make a fool of himself.
“Listen,” I said at last, “I’m going up there, if only for my own peace of mind. That mountain’s less than twelve thousand feet high -that’s only two thousand under Earth gravity-and I can make the trip in twenty hours at the outside. I’ve always wanted to go up into those hills, anyway, and this gives me an excellent excuse.”
“If you don’t break your neck,” said Garnett, “you’ll be the laughing-stock of the expedition when we get back to Base. That mountain will probably be called Wilson’s Folly from now on.”
“I won’t break my neck,” I said firmly. “Who was the first man to climb Pico and Helicon?” “But weren’t you rather younger in those days?” asked Louis gently.
“That,” I said with great dignity, “is as good a reason as any for going.”
We went to bed early that night, after driving the tractor to within half a mile of the promontory. Garnett was coming with me in the morning; he was a good climber, and had often been with me on such exploits before. Our driver was only too glad to be left in charge of the machine.
At first sight, those cliffs seemed completely unscalable, but to anyone with a good head for heights, climbing is easy on a world where all weights are only a sixth of their normal value. The real danger in lunar mountaineering lies in overconfidence; a six-hundred-foot drop on the Moon can kill you just as thoroughly as a. hundred-foot fall on Earth.
We made our first halt on a wide ledge about four thousand feet above the plain. Climbing had not been very difficult, but my limbs were stiff with the unaccustomed effort, and I was glad of the rest. We could still see the tractor as a tiny metal insect far down at the foot of the cliff, and we reported our progress to the driver before starting on the next ascent.
Inside our suits it was comfortably cool, for the refrigeration units were fighting the fierce sun and carrying away the body-heat of our exertions. We seldom spoke to each other, except to pass climbing instructions and to discuss our best plan of ascent. I do not know what Garnett was thinking, probably that this was the craziest goose-chase he had ever embarked upon. I more than half agreed with him, but the joy of climbing, the knowledge that no man had ever gone this way before and the exhilaration of the steadily widening landscape gave me all the reward I needed.
I don’t think I was particularly excited when I saw in front of us the wall of rock I had first inspected through the telescope from thirty miles away. It would level off about fifty feet above our heads, and there on the plateau would be the thing that had lured me over these barren wastes. It was, almost certainly, nothing more than a boulder splintered ages ago by a falling meteor, and with its cleavage planes still fresh and bright in this incorruptible, unchanging silence.
There were no hand-holds on the rock face, and we had to use a grapnel. My tired arms seemed to gain new strength as I swung the three-pronged metal anchor round my head and sent it sailing Lip toward the stars. The first time it broke loose and came falling slowly back when we pulled the rope. On the third attempt, the prongs gripped firmly and our combined weights could not shift it.
Garnett looked at me anxiously. I could tell that he wanted to go first, but I smiled back at him through the glass of my helmet and shook my head. Slowly, taking my time, I began the final ascent.
Even with my space-suit, I weighed only forty pounds here, so I pulled myself up hand over hand without bothering to use my feet. At the rim I paused and waved to my companion, then I scrambled over the edge and stood upright, staring ahead of me.
You must understand that until this very moment I had been almost completely convinced that there could be nothing strange or unusual for me to find here. Almost, but not quite; it was that haunting doubt that had driven me forward. Well, it was a doubt no longer, but the haunting had scarcely begun.
I was standing on a plateau perhaps a hundred feet across. It had once been smooth-too smooth to be natural-but falling meteors had pitted and scored its surface through immeasurable eons. It had been leveled to support a glittering, roughly pyramidal structure, twice as high as a man, that was set in the rock like a gigantic, many-faceted jewel.
Probably no emotion at all filled my mind in those first few seconds. Then I felt a great lifting of my heart, and a strange, inexpressible joy. For I loved the Moon, and now I knew that the creeping moss of Aristarchus and Eratosthenes was not the only life she had brought forth in her youth. The old, discredited dream of the first explorers was true. There had, after all, been a lunar civilization- and I was the first to find it. That I had come perhaps a hundred million years too late did not distress me; it was enough to have come at all.
My mind was beginning to function normally, to analyze and to ask questions. Was this a building, a shrine-or something for which my language had no name? If a building, then why was it erected in so uniquely inaccessible a spot? I wondered if it might be a temple, and I could picture the adepts of some strange priesthood calling on their gods to preserve them as the life of the Moon ebbed with the dying oceans, and calling on their gods in vain.
I took a dozen steps forward to examine the thing more closely, but some sense of caution kept me from going too near. I knew a little of archaeology, and tried to guess the cultural level of the civilization that must have smoothed this mountain and raised the glittering mirror surfaces that still dazzled my eyes.
The Egyptians could have done it, I thought, if their workmen had possessed whatever strange materials these far more ancient architects had used. Because of the thing’s smallness, it did not occur to me that I might be looking at the handiwork of a race more advanced than my own. The idea that the Moon had possessed intelligence at all was still almost too tremendous to grasp, and my pride would not let me take the final, humiliating plunge.
And then I noticed something that set the scalp crawling at the back of my neck-something so trivial and so innocent that many would never have noticed it at all. I have said that the plateau was scarred by meteors; it was also coated inches-deep with the cosmic dust that is always filtering down upon the surface of any world where there are no winds to disturb it. Yet the dust and the meteor scratches ended quite abruptly in a wide circle enclosing the little pyramid, as though an invisible wall was protecting it from the ravages of time and the slow but ceaseless bombardment from space.
There was someone shouting in my earphones, and I realized that Garnett had been calling me for some time. I walked unsteadily to the edge of the cliff and signaled him to join me, not trusting myself to speak. Then I went back toward that circle in the dust. I picked up a fragment of splintered rock and tossed it gently toward the shining enigma. If the pebble had vanished at that invisible barrier I should not have been surprised, but it seemed to hit a smooth, hemispherical surface and slide gently to the ground.
I knew then that I was looking at nothing that could be matched in the antiquity of my own race. This was not a building, but a machine, protecting itself with forces that had challenged Eternity. Those forces, whatever they might be, were still operating, and perhaps I had already come too close. I thought of all the radiations man had trapped and tamed in the past century. For all I knew, I might be as irrevocably doomed as if I had stepped into the deadly, silent aura of an unshielded atomic pile.
I remember turning then toward Garnett, who bad joined me and was now standing motionless at my side. He seemed quite oblivious to me, so I did not disturb him but walked to the edge of the cliff in an effort to marshal my thoughts. There below me lay the Mare Crisium-Sea of Crises, indeed-strange and weird to most men, but reassuringly familiar to me. I lifted my eyes toward the crescent Earth, lying in her cradle of stars, and I wondered what her clouds had covered when these unknown builders had finished their work. Was it the steaming jungle of the Carboniferous, the bleak shoreline over which the first amphibians must crawl to conquer the land-or, earlier still, the long loneliness before the coming of life?
Do not ask me why I did not guess the truth sooner-the truth, that seems so obvious now. In the first excitement of my discovery, I had assumed without question that this crystalline apparition had been built by some race belonging to the Moon’s remote past, but suddenly, and with overwhelming force, the belief came to me that it was as alien to the Moon as I myself.
In twenty years we had found no trace of life but a few degenerate plants. No lunar civilization, whatever its doom, could have left but a single token of its existence.
I looked at the shining pyramid again, and the more remote it seemed from anything that had to do with the Moon. And suddenly I felt myself shaking with a foolish, hysterical laughter, brought on by excitement and overexertion: for I had imagined that the little pyramid was speaking to me and was saying: “Sorry, I’m a stranger here myself.”
It has taken us twenty years to crack that invisible shield and to reach the machine inside those crystal walls. What we could not understand, we broke at last with the savage might of atomic power and now I have seen the fragments of the lovely, glittering thing I found up there on the mountain.
They are meaningless. The mechanisms-if indeed they are mechanisms-of the pyramid belong to a technology that lies far beyond our horizon, perhaps to the technology of para-physical forces.
The mystery haunts us all the more now that the other planets have been reached and we know that only Earth has ever been the home of intelligent life in our Universe. Nor could any lost civilization of our own world have built that machine, for the thickness of the meteoric dust on the plateau has enabled us to measure its age. It was set there upon its mountain before life had emerged from the seas of Earth.
When our world was half its present age, something from the stars swept through the Solar System, left this token of its passage, and went again upon its way. Until we destroyed it, that machine was still fulfilling the purpose of its builders; and as to that purpose, here is my guess.
Nearly a hundred thousand million stars are turning in the circle of the Milky Way, and long ago other races on the worlds of other suns must have scaled and passed the heights that we have reached. Think of such civilizations, far back in time against the fading afterglow of Creation, masters of a universe so young that life as yet had come only to a handful of worlds. Theirs would have been a loneliness we cannot imagine, the loneliness of gods looking out across infinity and finding none to share their thoughts.
They must have searched the star-clusters as we have searched the planets. Everywhere there would be worlds, but they would be empty or peopled with crawling, mindless things. Such was our own Earth, the smoke of the great volcanoes still staining the skies, when that first ship of the peoples of the dawn came sliding in from the abyss beyond Pluto. It passed the frozen outer worlds, knowing that life could play no part in their destinies. It came to rest among the inner planets, warming themselves around the fire of the Sun and waiting for their stories to begin.
Those wanderers must have looked on Earth, circling safely in the narrow zone between fire and ice, and must have guessed that it was the favorite of the Sun’s children. Here, in the distant future, would be intelligence; but there were countless stars before -them still, and they might never come this way again.
So they left a sentinel, one of millions they have scattered throughout the Universe, watching over all worlds with the promise of life. It was a beacon that down the ages has been patiently signaling the fact that no one had discovered it.
Perhaps you understand now why that crystal pyramid was set upon the Moon instead of on the Earth. Its builders were not concerned with races still struggling up from savagery. They would be interested in our civilization only if we proved our fitness to survive -by crossing space and so escaping from the Earth, our cradle. That is the challenge that all intelligent races must meet, sooner or later. It is a double challenge, for it depends in turn upon the conquest of atomic energy and the last choice between life and death.
Once we had passed that crisis, it was only a matter of time before we found the pyramid and forced it open. Now its signals have ceased, and those whose duty it is will be turning their minds upon Earth. Perhaps they wish to help our infant civilization. But they must be very, very old, and the old are often insanely jealous of the young.
I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have set off the fire-alarm and have nothing to do but to wait.
I do not think we will have to wait for long.
The End
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Fictional Story Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
I have a premise that you can gauge the relative health of a nation by looking at what it is being promoted as “news” day in, and day out. While there are elements of information, promotion, propaganda, and scandal, over all by comparing the two sources you can get a general idea of the “social climate” in each individual nation. And from this, you can gauge it’s overall health and the direction of the society.
For starters, in the articles about the “other” nation, it is very interesting.
American “news” warns about the bad things about China.
Chinese news reports on the given situations inside of America.
Most of the other news discusses the events that “buy papers”, or in other words, that are of interest to the readership.
Today, a huge segment of media has been taken over by video. While article about certain subjects continue to sell, a huge percentage of media rely on videos to get their messages across. In fact, all “news” organizations have video elements as part of their articles.
I’d post some from America, but almost all of the videos come from organizations that are banned in China because they are associated with American “alphabet” agencies.
Here’s some from China…
Videos.
In regards to videos, China is all about the latest technologies, the new space station and well, you get the idea…
This is very cool. 5G, AI controlled location and positioning overlay upon the arm…
Here, we have the new space station…
Here’s a pretty girl. She has this “fish shape” that is considered to be very beautiful within China.
Here’s another gal. This is another girl that is selling her light and easy pants. I like her. She has good appeal.
Of course the news about what is going on in India with the COVID-19 and the new “India Strain” is heartbreaking. Judging from the pictures it seems to be almost as bad as the “B” strain that was unleashed on China on CNY 2020. I wonder why you aren’t seeing these images in America?
And here’s one thing that you see pretty irregularly. It’s applications of technology that are in use. In this case we see a guy using a hand sensor to map out an old village that is being torn down for new homes.
And finally a comparison of cities for fun.
Conclusions
If left alone, with no major “fire-hose of disinformation” drenching everyone with the propaganda of the day, Most media are the same. They concentrate on the things that interest their readership.
Obviously, the hate-China narrative from 2016 through 2020 had an impact.
Chinese readership want to know about technology, good things, and what’s going on in the world. More or less presented in a “neutral” fashion and manner. American readership seems to want (whether they want it or not) things that are alarming, salacious, interesting, fearful or worrisome.
America…
The “news” from America tend to fall into these kinds of categories…
I believe that these trends are indicative of the way that the people think. As well as how the entire society thinks.
Perhaps instead of thinking about controlling people to do this, or to do that via fear (the American way), maybe you should give them hope instead. Provide hope, provide help and throw in a dash of compassion.
Its the Chinese way.
And a direction, that I must add, that President Biden is attempting to do in his most recent speech. It’s a nice change of pace from what most Americans have seen or been exposed to.
Maybe there is some hope for Western society after all.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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There’s a bunch of dunder-head idiots inside the United States that wants to get involved in a war. Whether it is with Russia, or Iran, or China. They want a war. And they are justifying war like they are some middle-school boys planning on a swing set in the playground. It’s dangerous, but it’s all there in black and white.
Right up front in our faces….
Rep Ted Yoho had a PR nightmare this week after reportedly calling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez some ungentlemanly terms. Though this is the controversy du jour, we should not lose sight that actual policy is more important than sound bites. Yoho recently announced plans to submit legislation this week for the “Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act” that would commit the United States to war against China if Beijing attacks Taiwan. Such a proposition has long been popular in the Beltway. Before tying the United States to Taipei’s fate, however, a closer analysis is warranted.
-Should the United States Go to War with China if Taiwan is Attacked?
But, you know, this time is really different. Oh, now. The “boys” won’t be a marching off to war. It will pretty much be “game over” for the Old US of A.
They don’t seem to understand just how meager and vulnerable the United States actually is.
The truth is that America is so weak and disorganized right now, that the slightest “event” could have everyone fighting each other like a scene out of a Hollywood movie.
And to make this point, just how absolutely RIPE America is ready for social upheaval and tearing other Americans apart, I have to show a clip from a movie. It’s one that most non-Americans are confused by. But here, now that you understand the real context behind the deeper meaning of the scene, you can well appreciate it.
America is ripe and ready for this…
Exactly… THIS…
Sorry that the quality is on the poor side. But the point is there. Listen to it, and embrace it.
American against American. Black against white. Urban against rural. Rich against poor. Spanish against Anglos.
Notice how the wealthy oligarchy observes and knows what is going on, but they either [1] divert their eyes because they don't want to see, or [2] watch the events with glee. Others also watching look up it with horror, disgust, and a state of trying to monitor the situation reasonably. This piece of video art is a masterpiece.
And I'm not saying that solely because they use Lynyrd Skynyrd music as the backdrop.
I am not the only one saying this. It’s pretty much well-established inside of America today.
The church fight scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service is hands down one of the most memorable action sequences in recent history. But there are actually layers to what makes it so great – layers beyond the primal gratification we collectively derive from seeing someone (rightfully) get the shit kicked out of them.
-Bosshunting
People are angry. They’re angry about the Covid lockdowns. They’re angry because they are losing their jobs and can’t pay the rent and feed their families. They’re angry because the stores are all out of the food and supplies they need to survive.
They are angry because they get beaten up by the cops if they don’t keep a certain distance from each other in public. They’re angry at the politicians who pretend to be helping but in truth are making things worse with partisan, self-serving bullshit. And African-Americans are angry because they find themselves — yet again — in the crosshairs of deadly racism.
In short, Americans are as mad as hell.
America is on the verge of an explosion. I can feel its rumblings already. My guess is it’s already started happening in a small way, and within the next year or two it is going to spread like wildfire.
…
Right now, virtually the entire country is in a really bad mood, and unfortunately some people will choose to resort to violence.And it can happen in places that you might not expect. For instance, an argument over social distancing rules at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma resulted in three people getting shot…But as our world gets even crazier, more people than ever are going to be going off the deep end.Our nation is so deeply divided, and explosions of anger and hatred are becoming increasingly common. So many Americans are willing to “shoot first and ask questions later”, and the shooting of a 25-year-old African-American man in Georgia is causing a national uproar…
-End of the American Dream
Rage
Take this…
People are screaming at each other a lot these days. The most recent example is a viral video, seen by millions of people since last week, of a woman who went ballistic because a service dog was sitting near her in a Delaware restaurant.The dog in question belonged to a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. But that didn't stop the woman from unleashing a three-minute, profanity-laced tirade. I'm sure all the diners at Kathy's Crab House lost their appetite that evening."It is disgusting to have an animal in a public restaurant ... I think it's gross!" the woman screams. (This is a family-friendly publication, so I can't print much more of what she said.)It seems everybody is furious today. We've created a culture of outrage. People are offended, and if you aren't offended by what offends them, they are offended by your lack of offense.We are addicts. We crave a daily fix of rage. We rant on Facebook and Twitter because we need a regular dose of vitriol to fuel our habit. Then we turn on a newscast to watch agitated political commentators throw more gasoline on the flames.The rage burns on both sides of our political divide. White supremacists march with tiki torches to spread hate. Black Lives Matter activists loot stores and smash windows. Former NFL fans burn football jerseys on barbecue grills. Campus lectures require police protection because leftists have threatened right-wing speakers. Madonna drops expletives and threatens to blow up the White House because she's so mad President Trump won the election.Is there anything we don't get angry about these days? Depending on which side of an issue Americans stand, we are offended by Starbucks coffee, Chick-fil-A sandwiches, Target restrooms, CNN, Fox, Nike shoes, the real cause of hurricanes or whatever the actress Jennifer Lawrence said yesterday.Our rage has become so absurd that a shopper at a Hobby Lobby craft store was offended by cotton stalks (yes, cotton stalks!) in the fall décor aisle. She took her protest online and demanded that the store stop selling dried cotton bouquets for $12.99 because slaves were used in the 1800s to harvest the plants.Honestly, it makes me wonder if the real cause of global warming is the alarming increase in human anger. We're going to burn up this planet with our rage if we aren't careful.
- Is America About to Explode?
Ok, to America isn’t just being led by psychopathic madmen with an IQ of a sixth grader, but that the American people are all worked up in a lather; in a frenzy. And the pressure is ON.
Now, couple this environment with the wealthy aristocratic and oligarchy inside the Washington Beltway that want to start a war with China. You know for “democracy”, and “freedom”!…
Back to China
But back to the subject at hand…
… if the fucking morons in Washington DC really want to engage in a Hot War with China…
… they will be doing it with Russia as well.
As they both; Russia and China, share self-defense interests.
Here’s how a neocon journal characterizes going to a hot war with china. Here’s one of the precious few “con” points of view. As most view points are “we can fight the world and win! Rah! Rah!” So I was greatly relieved to read this contrary article from the K-street in Washington DC.
Well…
…sort of at least.
There would likely be no dispute from any American that we affirm and endorse the prospect that the people of Taiwan ought to be free, deserve to determine their own form of government, and above all to decide whether it is in their interests to unify with China. But what price should America be asked to pay to underwrite the freedom aspirations of another country?Any conflict against China over Taiwan would result in American service men and women being killed, likely in large numbers. China’s military has been built over the past two decades specifically to deter the U.S. from attacking them–via anti-access, area denial (A2/AD)–but if deterrence fails, to build a defense force that would be able to sink our ships, knock out our satellites, and shoot down our fighters from great distances; if it ever came to a ground war, they have more than 375 million military-aged males from which to draw for their Army.
And keep in mind that the TOTAL population of the USA is less than that. That’s right. There are more Chinese military males than Americans in total.
United States Population (2021) - Worldometerhttps://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-populationThe current population of the United States of America is 332,526,757 as of Thursday, April 15, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. the United States 2020 population is estimated at 331,002,651 people at mid year according to UN data.
And they are not some idiotic, uneducated simpletons either. They are not “cannon fodder”.
But even he “get’s it” and understands the risks. Well, some of them at least…
Though Yoho was initially hailed as a more libertarian member of Congress, and even introduced a resolution in 2015 that would have reined in the president’s warmaking powers, the proposal to use U.S. troops for Taiwan’s defense is not characteristic of outside-the-box thinking championed by political renegades, but instead comes from the worst pages of the establishment’s playbook.
Instead, the best way for America to help Taiwan would be to enable them to build an A2/AD defensive bubble of their own to deter China.
But we must ensure our security first and foremost. Committing ourselves to a war against China for the benefit of another government would be a tremendous mistake because the cost to us could be a lost war, or a victory so expensive it bankrupts us and puts our own security in peril.
However you look at it, extending security guarantees to Taiwan is not in America’s interests.
-Daniel L. Davis
But he really doesn’t fully understand the risks. In his mind, and you read it for yourself, he has identified two possible outcomes of a war with China. Which are;
America could lose the war, and have to return home. (Vietnam, Afghanistan)
A victory so expensive it bankrupts the nation.
To which I must posit the most OBVIOUS outcome that for some reason the fucking idiots on K-street in Washington DC are somehow missing…
That World War III could erupt, all cities in America are destroyed, and the rest of the work sacks what remains, and America becomes a footnote in the history books. While a united-Asia administers a radioactive North America as a “backwater: for slave labor.
Here’s some video clips from various history/war movies. Let them serve as a reminder that any conflict with China, Russia, Iran or any combination will be up-front, personal, and on American soil.
Sierra Leon
This is about Sierra Leon. Rich oligarchy in the UK used the people of Sierra Leon to create a war of distraction so that they could mine diamonds. Here we see the one faction, the “rebels” enter a town and create havoc.
Shooting an RPG during the Sierra Leon civil war.
Do not be under the impression that this cannot happen inside of America. America is terribly balkanized, and this is EXACTLY what the oligarchy needs to further their plans.
In Blood Diamond, the sinner ripe for enlightenment is Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a native of Zimbabwe who makes a point of referring to the country by its old colonial name, Rhodesia. A former Angolan mercenary, Danny now (the film is set in the late nineties) smuggles Sierra Leone diamonds into Liberia in return for guns and rocket-launchers, which go to the rebel army (the RUF)—the army we’ve seen mowing down women and children, training young boys to be rapists and mass murderers, and conscripting hardier men to work in the diamond fields.
-NYMag
The difficulties in the country were compounded in March 1991 when conflict in neighbouring Liberia spilled over the border into Sierra Leone. Momoh responded by deploying troops to the border region to repel the incursion of Liberian rebels known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor. Sierra Leone’s army came under attack not only from the NPFL but also from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by former Sierra Leone army corporal Foday Sankoh, who was collaborating with the Liberian rebels; this was the beginning of what would be a long and brutal civil war.
In April 1992 Momoh was deposed in a coup led by Capt. Valentine E.M. Strasser, who cited the poor conditions endured by the troops engaged in fighting the rebels as one of the reasons for ousting Momoh. A National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) was established with Strasser as the head of state. During Strasser’s administration the civil war escalated, with the RUF increasing the amount of territory under its control, including lucrative diamond mines—the source of the “blood” or “conflict” diamonds used to fund its activities. There were disturbing reports of atrocities committed against the civilian population not only by rebel forces but also by some government troops. Civilians were subject to horrific acts of mutilation, including having their limbs, ears, and lips cut off. Incidents of rape and forced labour were widespread, and many civilians were used as unwilling human shields or held in captivity and subjected to repeated acts of sexual violence by the combatants. Forced conscription was pervasive and made many civilians, including children, unwilling participants in the conflict.
And here’s the most important statement;
Still, in the years after the war, Sierra Leone was consistently rated as one of the world’s poorest countries.
Any civil war in America will not be one that can be easily mended. A war will have long-term damage to what America is, and the fantasies that it stands upon.
Wealthy oligarchs treat the world as their property and use people and citizens as pawns to do their bidding.
And make no mistake, a Civil War is result during any global internal war. this time, the nation will not be unified against a common enemy. It will remain balkanized where every “man for himself” will carve out their existence.
Of course, the scene is not from Blood Diamond, but it could be. The situation in Sierra Leon was very awful.
As I watched the senseless brutality, the shooting of mothers and children as they fled, I was torn up, divided. I thought, Why do I need to see this? Then I thought, This happened in Sierra Leone and is still happening in parts of Africa—I need to see it. Then I thought, If I need to see it, I need to see more than a sneering villain with an eye patch. I need to understand how this man—and the people under him—become the monsters they are.
-NYMag
But enough of the fiction.
.
TheSierra Leone Civil War was an armed conflict in theWest African country of Sierra Leone from 1991 t0 2002. The war began on March 23, 1991, when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under Foday Sankoh, with support of Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor andhis group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NFPL), attempted to overthrow the government of Sierra Leonean President JosephMomah.TheSierraLeone Civil War (1991-2002)
Or, anywhere in Africa or South America
The story line is identical. It’s just the climate, the societies, and the people that are different. Do you think that because America considers itself a First-Class nation that it is somehow immune to these kinds of conflicts?
Do you believe that this would NEVER happen in the United States, simply because the wealthy people in the Untied States are kind, caring, compassionate and religious?
This is what happens when the government of a country becomes big, bloated and terribly corrupt…
The situation was further complicated when Siaka Stevens, the third prime minister, took office in 1968. He served for 17 years and during his term, created a one-party political system which led to the further dismantling of public administrative offices and extreme levels of corruption. In 1985, the fourth prime minister, Joseph Momoh, proved to be one and the same. Under his watch, Sierra Leone suffered an absolute economic crisis. Public officials were left unpaid and, in retaliation, many looted and destroyed government property and offices. This included public school teachers which led to the complete collapse of the public educational system. By 1991, Sierra Leone was one of the most impoverished countries in the world, and its citizens were dissatisfied with their living conditions.
-World Atlas
A very important review. Does it sound somewhat familiar; like it might actually happen in America…
In 1982, as Sierra Leone’s government and economy worsened, a group of Sierra Leone University, Fourah Bay College students set up a paramilitary organization.
They were led by their group leader Alie Kabbah.
They fled to eastern Sierra Leone to form a political organization to rebel against the Temne tribe's All People’s Congress (APC). This was the governing party of the time.
Their organization became the RUF.
Its objectives were to [1] overthrow of the Sierra Leonean government, [2] oust corrupt officials, and [3] re-allocate Sierra Leone’s wealth to benefit the general population
And you do not think that it could happen in the United States?
America is RIPE for war. But on in a far away land, but rather back on US soil, up front and personal.
Wealthy oligarchs have plans for America.
Meanwhile oligarchs (working behind the scenes) tried to recruit people to do their bidding.
In Sierra Leon, throughout the 1980s, neighboring Libyans infiltrated into Sierra Leone with the intention of recruiting rebels.
This was part of Libyan President, Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s Pan-African initiatives to recruit dissidents against western influence in Africa. He wanted to create a "new Africa" where American influences would be removed completely.
Now, while training in Libya, Foday Sankoh from Sierra Leone met Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.
The two decided to form a pact, or an agreement. After establishing a relationship, Sankoh and Taylor agreed to support guerilla wars in their respective countries.
Both had hopes of overthrowing their country’s governments and creating political change.
And so it started.
In 1989, the Civil War in Liberia began.
Under the leadership of Charles Taylor, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launched a guerilla war against the Liberian government. This led to Liberia’s civil war.
He won the war, and came to power.
Once Taylor was in power in Liberia, he supported Sankoh’s invasion and guerilla war in Sierra Leone. For after all, they were close buddies and shared the same vision and objectives.
Or maybe you don’t think that these kinds of political alignments cannot happen. Like the Antifa, or the BLM, or the Marxists, or the Far-Right.
Civil war broke out in Sierra Leon in 1990 under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Sankoh.
He launched his first attack in villages in Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone on March 23, 1991.
This small band of men who called themselves the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
After that he began to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone on the Liberian border.
The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to put up significant resistance.
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone the RUF controlled much of the Eastern Province.
And so it begins…
Fighting continued in the ensuing months, with the RUF gaining control of the diamond mines in the Kono district.
Then, they were successful in pushing the Sierra Leone army back towards Freetown.
On April 29, 1992, a group of young soldiers led by Capt. Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by the Sierra Leon government's failure to deal with rebels, launched a military coup.
This ended up sending President Momoh into exile in Guinea.
They established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Yahya Kanu as its chairman.
But Kanu was assassinated by fellow NPRC members, who accused him of trying to negotiate with the toppled APC administration.
And so after a period of bloodletting, on May 4, 1992,Captain Valentine Strasser took over as chairman of the NPRC.
As well as thend Head of State of Sierra Leone.
And did it change anything?
No.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh government in repelling the RUF.
More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters.
By 1995 the RUF held much of the countryside.
They were also near the major populated cities, and were on the doorstep of Freetown.
To retrieve the situation, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm Executive Outcomes.
Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders.
So now that the new “reformed” government was able to suppress the RUF rebels, is that the end of the story?
No.
In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a coup by fellow NPRC members.
This was led by his trusted deputy Maada Bio.
The new(est) government took immediate actions to change the course of Sierra Leon.
As a result of popular demand and mounting international pressure, the NPRC agreed to hand over power to a civilian government.
Bio reinstated the Constitution and called for presidential and parliamentary elections. A a "democracy" was reconstituted.
Elections were held in April 1996.
In the second round of presidential elections in early 1996, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) defeated John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP). Kabbah was a diplomat who had worked at the UN for more than 20 years.
So an internationalist took power of the democratic Sierra Leon.
And eventually, after nearly a solid six years of bloody fighting, parliamentary elections were conducted. And this time, under the system of proportional representation.
South Vietnam
Let’s look at Vietnam.
Ah, most MM readers won’t even remember the daily newscasts about the “proud American soldiers who died”.
But let’s not look at the American side of the involvement. Instead, let’s look at the actions of the American puppet government set up in South Vietnam…
Corruption played a signficant role in thwarting American objectives in Vietnam by contributing to the South Vietnam government’s lack of legitimacy. The heavy handed and corrupt government of South Vietnam actually made the countryside fertile for the insurgency of the Viet Cong and the communist. Successive governments left much to be desired and too readily turned a blind eye to corruption and incompetence.
An important cause for dissension among the ARVN soldiers was the widespread corruption and war profiteering that prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition. It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
ARVN soldiers of South Vietnam.
The Republic of Vietnam, headed from 1954 to 1963 by Ngo Dinh Diem, was venal, reactionary, inefficient, and corrupt. Although Diem inherited a functional administration from the French, he failed to pursue judicial, economic, and administrative reforms, empower subordinates to exercise government authority, or create a system of oversight to curb corruption. Consequently, corruption abounded in all forms. In spite of Diem’s personal revulsion of corruption, the Ngo family was the biggest practitioner of nepotism. His close relatives filled the top ambassadorial, cabinet, and civil service posts.
In 1960, the Groupe Caravelliste, comprising 18 senior Vietnamese politicians, publicly condemned regime oppression and corruption in detail. Weeks later, a poorly planned military coup provided the regime withthe opportunity to crack down even more, including the imprisonment of the Groupe Caravelliste. At this point, Diem began to withdraw into himself, reducing his circle of confidants, and isolating himself even further from the public view. Nhu began to step up his persecution of “subversives,” as well as factionalizing the officer corps through corruption, extortion, and espionage.
The United States attempted to “fix” the incompetence, corruption, and oppression of the Diem administration by having him removed from office by a military coup. However, the problem remained. Like the Catholic Diem, who failed to connect with the predominantly Buddhist population, the military leaders who took control after the coup complicated matters by perpetuating corruption and failing to take the war to the Viet Cong insurgents.
The effectiveness of the gradually professionalizing South Vietnamese Army deteriorated rapidly as soldiers in the field lost confidence in their leaders and the government. In a matter of months, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam lost credibility with the population it was supposed to defend and with its American advisors.
Within the government of South Vietnam corruption, nepotism, extortion, and incompetence remained the norm afterwards with various leaders all the way through to President Thieu in the 1970s. A province chief might be removed here or there and replaced with a more competent and honest leader; however, the same problems would continue.
ARVN soldiers at rest.
The top leadership of the government and army remained as dependent as ever on the United States. The Saigon government remained a network of cliques, held together by American subsidies, a group of people without a coherent political orientation, bent on their own survival. Free-flowing aid lined the pockets of South Vietnamese generals and bureaucrats, deepening the corruption problem, not solving it.
Corruption was (and is) endemic throughout the developing world and even, at times, in much of the developed world. To have expected South Vietnam to be an exception was perhaps unrealistic. In fact, corruption was widespread in North Vietnam as well as in the South, giving lie to a common assumption that there was something morally pristine about the highly disciplined North. In fact, the problem of corruption had become so acute in the North that, in 1967, Ho Chi Minh himself felt compelled to go on the radio and inveigh against this troublesome plague.
More ARVN soldiers.
In the 1970s widespread corruption and war profiteering prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. For example, there were reports that the wounded had to pay helicopter pilots to fly medical evacuation missions.
President Thieu did make efforts to remove some of the more corrupt senior officials from office, but his actions proved to be a mere drop in the bucket. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition.
It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
United States supplied tank used by the ARVN military in South Vietnam.
Syria
And of course, we could look at Syria.
Do you all think that it is any different? Aside from the new vehicles, the different weapons and drone systems, and the kinds of “news” reporting, do you actually think that somehow the United States is immune from all this boomeranging back?
All you need to so is read some history.
And China…
…well China has a long and horrible history of invasions and abuse. They KNOW what it is like to be hurt, destroyed and sacked. They know.
And if you all think that they are going to allow some pot-bellied neocon from the state of Kansas or Arkansas cheer on a war against them without consequence, then you are very, very, VERY mistaken.
China – Nanjing
Most Americans have absolutely no idea what the Chinese went through and why they are the way they are today.
A person who goes though a divorce is far more understanding of someone in the throes of marital troubles than say an unmarried 20-year old. And this is true about nations as well. Perhaps the American leadership would be very hesitant on poking Russia or China if they knew what it was like to see your beloved homeland reduced to rubble.
The Nanjing Massacre refers to the 40-day slaughter committed by the Japanese army in the early stages of their invasion of China, which cruelly claimed the lives of more than 300,000 civilians and captured soldiers. One third of the city was razed and property losses were beyond count.Some believe that the Nanjing Massacre, along with Auschwitz Concentration Camp and bombing of Hiroshima (the first use of atomic weapons in combat) were the three greatest tragedies of WWII. Some refer to the massacre as the “Asian Auschwitz.”
-ChinaToday
Nah…
It would never happen in America. You see, America is “exceptional“.
On December 13, 1937, after seizing Nanjing, the Japanese army carried out a bloody slaughter of unparalleled savagery in violation of international law. As stated in the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, "Estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanjing and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000....
These figures do not take into account those persons whose bodies were destroyed by burning, or by being thrown into the Yangtze River, or were otherwise disposed of by the Japanese Army." The Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing stated in a verdict that "during the period from December 12 to 21, 1937, it was estimated that more than 190,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were shot with machine guns in large groups by the Japanese Army and their bodies were incinerated…
In addition, more than 150,000 people were killed in small or scattered groups, and their bodies were collected and buried by charity organizations. Altogether, more than 300,000 people were murdered." After capturing the city, Japanese troops employed all kinds of brutal methods in their killing, such as decapitation, skull splitting, slicing open the stomach, pulling out the heart, drowning, burning, cutting off reproductive organs, dismemberment, and piercing the vulva or anus. Equally unthinkable, there was a killing contest between two second lieutenants, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, to see who could win by being the first to kill 100 Chinese. When they met on December 12, Mukai had killed 106 and Noda 105. John Rabe, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin, and John Magee recorded the incidents of rape carried out by Japanese soldiers after the fall of Nanjing in their diaries, photographs, and films. It is roughly estimated that more than 80,000 women were violated in Nanjing, of whom more than 65,000 were killed. The Japanese army also committed frenzied acts of arson and looting. According to incomplete statistics calculated after the war, Japanese soldiers looted 2,406 sets and more than 309,000 pieces of appliances or utensils, 5,920 boxes and more than 5.9 million articles of clothing, 710 kilograms of gold and silver, plus 6,345 pieces of jewelry, 1,815 boxes, 2,859 sets, and 148,600 volumes of books, more than 28,400 ancient calligraphy scrolls and paintings, more than 7,300 antiques, more than 6,200 animals bred as livestock, and more than 720 million kilograms of grain.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing, after collecting a large amount of evidence and confirming all the findings, pronounced death sentences for the principal culprits of the massacre, Iwane Matsui, Akira Muto, and Tadayuki Furumi.
The crimes of the Japanese aggressors will forever be recorded in the history of the Chinese war of resistance against Japan.
-CRI
Or Germany…
Germany
Let’s not forget what happens to “scapegoats” when they are targeted for their “privilege”…
And not just in Germany. all the rest of Europe had to deal with the actions of a handful of crazed fanatics in Germany…
Europe
I suppose that I could go on and on.
And you all would turn off my MM and go watch cute and funny kitty videos, check out the latest vehicles out of Detroit, or look up TenderPotRoastRecipe.
But all that you are reading…right now… in real time sounds AWFULLY familiar. Throw away the details and the names. Look at what is going on. It sounds like the kind of nonsense out of Sierra Leon in the 1980’s, or the bullshit in Saigon in the 1960’s in South Vietnam. It sounds like the bullshit leading up to “the war on terror” in the Middle East, or the crap nonsense made by Hitler as he demonized the Jews, or the Japanese demonized the Chinese.
Yet somehow…
Somehow, America can have another war with China, or Russia, or Iran or all three, and you know that magically it will happen in far away lands that Americans never herd of before.
China wants to fight the USA? It’s a nation of leadership by merit. They are not a military Empire like the USA. They just want for Chinese people to live in China free of foreign (namely USA) interference.
This idea that China wants war is ludicrous. It’s just political posturing.
Political Posturing
When someone pretends to have a particular opinion or attitude. This is done so that they can achieve their objectives without discussing the real reasons behind them.
It’s clear as day that the people who are running this (supposedly) Progressive Liberal Democrat administration, are actually war-mongering neocons.
If you don’t think this is really happening, then you probably need to rethink that:
StratCom just issued a warning to Americans that we might be nuked as a result of the Biden Regime escalating tensions with these two nuclear powers.
#USSTRATCOM Posture Statement Preview: The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable.
We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.
pic.twitter.com/4Oe7xkl05L
— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) April 20, 2021
Yes, they are that crazy.
But is there anyone, anyone at all inside the Pentagon that is really aware of what the stakes are today? Well, read this great article by Pepe…
Yes, and the regular disclaimers abound. All credit to the author. Formatted to fit this venue, etc.
What you are about to read is part of an internal report by one of my top business/intel sources in the Beltway for the past decade and a half. Readers who received it include JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Evelyn de Rothschild and wife Lynn, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, Michael Bloomberg – who would never hire me as a Bloomberg columnist… – Blackstone’s Stephen Schwartzman, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other assorted Masters of the Universe. I received a copy with all their addresses – which for obvious reasons I cannot make public.
This is a MAJOR bombshell – in the sense that the financial Masters of the Universe are now fully aware of sensitive intel not shared with non-military players. The question is what they’re gonna do about it.
The section of the reports starts HERE:
“While Rome burns which I use as an extended metaphor about the hundreds of US cities that burned last summer, and the US faces internal disintegration, the Pentagon admits that the US cannot face a two front war.
The US cannot face a one front war in Europe alone and would be defeated in five to ten minutes. It is not widely known that the key means that the US has chosen conventionally to defend Europe was by its superior airpower which outguns the Russians. However, what also is not widely known is that the US will be defeated in Europe by the Russians in five to ten minutes by the Russian hypersonic missiles destroying all NATO and European commercial airfields including those in England as it merrily sends its warships towards the Kerch Peninsula.
Whether all of our F-35 trillion dollar aircraft will be blown up too in five minutes depends on how fast the US can fly them out of harm’s way to some foreign shore. The remaining key question then is whether the US can evacuate Europe fast enough via a Dunkirk exit to escape to England or whether all the US forces will join their NATO comrades in a Russian prisoners of war camp.
The answer is that it cannot escape as it would take more than the two weeks time to evacuate. This has been confirmed to me by the highest US military authorities.
The US use of recent sanctions on Russia was to send the message that the nation killer that they call SWIFT-CHIPS is in the US toolkit as the US reply to an invasion of the Ukraine. (It goes without saying that Nord Stream Two would be over and the pipeline presently in operation from Russia to Europe would be shut down.) The US thus is sitting back in this poker game in smug self-confidence that the Russians would not dare to invade the Ukraine, causing the US to pull the trigger on throwing Russia out of SWIFT-CHIPS payment system to their Iranian-style doom.
But the US has not seen the Russian cards in their hand yet, which would be to exercise their super financial weapon of closing the Strait of Hormuz with their ally Iran which is willing to cooperate, according to our best intelligence sources.
We have discussed this scenario with the Goldman Sachs derivative specialists in oil who predict the oil price would rise to $500.00 to a $1,000.00 a barrel on such a closing. This would result in a triggering and the implosion of the 600 trillion to 2.5 quadrillion derivative market. In effect, it would end up destroying the entire world financial system.
The cataclysm that would hit the US would lead (as in Germany did in 1933) to a 50% unemployment rate or more. This would automatically begin the instigation of the complete overthrow of the US government. A government right now. which is barely hanging on by a thread (after last summer’s riots when the US military refused to intervene out of fear that its forces, as in Russia in 1918, would disintegrate along racial lines).
The defeat of the US in Europe would constitute the death knell of the US Empire as when Rome was sacked by Alaric. And make no mistake, there would be cheering all over the world.
[Now comes the killer part, which left me, well, speechless]
The myth of fissures between Russia and China should be dispelled by the following article in the Asia Times. There, where is sitting on Putin’s desk a major offer by a major company to finance the redirection of all oil and natural gas now going to Europe. Instead it would be redirected to China via pipeline.
It would constitute the largest commercial transaction in world history.
China could then depend on receiving from Russia the natural resources that presently come by sea. And Russia can replace all European imports to Russia by substitution and where that is not possible from China.
This very deep article should be read very carefully. The hundreds of billions of dollars for this project are available today according to the highest intelligence sources.
Here is an important quote from the article:
“A closely guarded secret in Moscow is that right after German sanctions imposed in relation to Ukraine, a major global energy operator approached Russia with an offer to divert to China no less than 7 million barrels a day of oil plus natural gas. Whatever happens, the stunning proposal is still sitting on the table of Shmal Gannadiy, a top oil/gas advisor to President Putin.”
[And then the report links to my story]:
Definitive Eurasian alliance is closer than you think. And things are proceeding well in advance than anyone actually realizes. And America is in no state to take on any major global power as it currently stands. It’s a foolish exercise in futility, and a death sentence for the participants.
Modern America 2021.
So what is going to happen?
I hold no “magic crystal ball”. No one does.
If I could characterize the state of affairs inside the Untied States government today, numerous examples come to mind…
A Train Wreck
A bunch a crazed maniacalmegalomaniacs are all crammed in the tiny engine of a locomotive, and everyone is trying to grab the controls to wheel and right this big, long enormous train back onto the tracks safely. Some are just there to stop the others. Some are earnestly trying to put the brakes on. Some are trying to increase the speed. Some are fighting among themselves, and some are lighting firecrackers at everyone's feet to see what will happen next. All are evil, out of control and running amok.
An Alien Monster trying to get out
The United States today is like the Alien monster that has incubated inside the host human (from the Alien movie). It is starting to get out, and the poor host is in a state of panic and fear.
I wrote an article on this theme. It is HERE.
Evil psychopath child playing with live dynamite
This is what it looks like. Especially after the "Long Telegram", and the Alaska meeting between China and the USA.
A suicidal man trying to get killed intentionally
It's almost that the people inside of Washington DC have no scruples, no idea of what reality is, and believe that they are somehow sitting on thrones in the clouds somewhere in their magical city of Olympus. Do they have a "death wish"? It most certainly seems that way, doesn't it?
What will happen, I don’t know. But keep your eyes open. Realize that the only idiots are in Washington DC and their colonies in the UK, and Australia. The rest of the world are watching from the spectator stands with popcorn in their right hand, and a Civil-Defense helmet in their left hand.
Do you want to see similar posts?
I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
One of the often mentioned narratives regarding China can be found on the Alt-Right and Hard-Right websites in America. It’s the narrative that China builds these huge enormous “ghost cities”. That China builds these huge concrete cities that no one lives in, and that this is just another example about how “out of touch” China is with it’s people.
Well, of course, it’s a big bunch of misdirection, misunderstandings, lies, and intentional fabrications.
Yet, what is actually going on is far more interesting.
And if you study it, you see just how healthy the government of China is, and how proactive it is in caring for the Chinese people.
In this article we are going to take a look at one of these “ghost cities” and see what is actually going on. No. It’s not about how “out of touch” the Chinese government is, but rather how forward thinking it is. People in the West simply cannot imagine what is going on. This is simply because the size, the scope, the forward planning, and the belief that if everyone is “lifted up”, then everyone prospers.
It’s unheard of in the greedy West.
Here’s the video.
And NO, it’s not me. This is a video blogger that travels the world and speaks better Chinese than I do. He has a vblog called JaYoeNation. He’s pretty good. LOL.
Take a spell and let it download. If it is taking too much time, you can click on THIS LINK and down load a zipped-file and watch the video directly. It’s pretty good. Please enjoy.
You have got to see the pictures and this video…
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China vs. USA Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
One of the often comments that I have seen is how absolutely terrible China is because all you need to do is go ahead and take a look at it’s bathrooms. And yes, this has been a very difficult impression to discount, because as recently as 2010, most public bathrooms in China has been absolutely horrific.
And when I mean horrific, I mean exactly that. They were totally and absolutely foul, disgusting, dirty, disease ridden death-traps filled with insects, vermin and open sewers. Horrible is putting it nicely.
Used to be.
Has been.
Not any longer.
But of course, with anything good, no one ever reports anything good about China. It’s all bad, and evil, and filthy stuff.
No one ever reports on the good.
Certainly not the United States.
Here’s a nice little video that works to dispel that illusion. Now, you all must keep in mind that pitiful toilets do still exist inside of China. You have a population that is four to five times larger than that of the United States. So it takes time to implement change. Yet, all in all, the changes inside of China are enormous and rapid. Especially when you compare it to the glacial changes inside of America.
Here’s the video.
And NO, it’s not me. This is a video blogger that travels the world and speaks better Chinese than I do. He has a vblog called JaYoeNation. He’s pretty good. LOL.
Take a spell and let it download. If it is taking too much time, you can click on THIS LINK and down load a zipped-file and watch the video directly. It’s pretty good. Please enjoy.
You have got to see the pictures and this video…
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Happy Easter everyone. I hope that you are spending time together with loved one, relaxing and chilling out. For the Metallic-family, we went out and visited a couple of new malls, and ate some fine delicious Thai food, and some mild Hunan food. With wine and beer. Of course.
Later on, it’s a nice long relaxing afternoon with some silly and easy to watch movies to chill to. Please let’s dust off this crazy movie and pop it in the VCR. Listen to the tape a whirl, and watch the movie with a bowl of chips and a chill out attitude.
The Background
The Evil Dead series, both in the cinematic and television forms, has a marvelously delirious history. An original film financed on a shoestring budget that plays its horror-centric tone mostly straight but with a few chuckle inducing moments, a sequel that is in essence a remake of the original and was originally supposed to follow the plot of the third film, said third film that goes off in a completely different direction, and now a TV series, 22 years later, that makes no reference to the third installment for legal reasons, therefore technically continuing the story of the first film but unquestionably borrowing the slapstick, overly comedic identity of the third movie. Few popular franchises can claim to having a developmental history has complicated and hard fought as Evil Dead, although one would struggle to consider that a virtue. All that being said, Army of Darkness, which premiered in 1992 but was only released wide in February of 1993, is arguably the most interesting, unique and important entry.
Ash – Our legendary demon-slaying, lady-killing, chainsaw-wielding, S-Mart employee. Oh, and he also accidentally invented breakdancing by slipping on milk curd.
Sheila – She knows that the best way to catch a man’s eye is to slap the snot out of him. She also knows that the best way to keep a man is to bear him male children, and not to have syphilis.
Arthur – Noble born leader of the blighted lands, a real goody-goody two-shoes.
Wiseman – One of the worst things about the dark ages is that the world was filled with all sorts of evil spirits, fantastic monsters, and eldritch magic. The Wiseman’s job was to know the weakness of every possible supernatural peril. “Silver weapons, running water, garlic, a charm made from the toe of a saint” – those sorts of things. Everybody else knew that the old freaks were just making it up as they went along, but nobody cared, so long as the wards worked.
Duke Henry – Red haired and bearded leader of the northern kingdoms.
Bad Ash – Created after Ash swallows a tiny version of himself, then grows two heads, then splits into two people…oh forget it, he’s an evil and rotting version of Ash. Turned into a firework.
Little Ash’s – These miniature menaces terrorize Ash for a while. Some get stomped, one gets eaten.
The Army of the Dead – Hundreds of skeletons that are chopped to bits, blown apart, or crushed.
The Plot
The Army of Darkness is a remarkably silly movie. And it is just perfect to watch on lazy Easter Afternoons.
The beginning of “Army of Darkness” makes a slight adjustment to the end of Evil Dead 2. Originally, Ash is sucked through the wormhole, gets dumped out somewhere in time south of the Renaissance, blasts a flying Deadite, and is immediately worshipped as a delivering saint by a group of medieval warriors. Here we have Ash mistaken as part of Duke Henry’s army, the force that Lord Arthur has just routed from the field of battle. Poor Ash finds himself a prisoner of Lord Arthur, locked in a stock and told to schlep it along.
Back in those days there were not any federally-funded maximum security prisons. Heck, there were not even any small continents or large islands so that a country of Queen-loving citizens could banish their criminals (and the criminals’ children, and their children, and so on) to lifelong incarceration upon the too-big-for-an-island / sort-of-small-to-be-a-continent. Lord Arthur’s solution to this conundrum is that the last of Duke Henry’s men are to be tossed into the Pit. Inside the Pit are Deadites. Obviously, Ash does not want to go into the Pit, but that is exactly where he gets pushed. Things look really bad for our hero, but the Wiseman tosses Ash his chainsaw as a Deadite closes in for the kill. Armed with his trusty chainsaw, Ash is more than a match for any demon. The Deadite quickly becomes just plain old dead.
After he climbs out of the pit, Ash recovers his sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, and then berates the unwashed masses of medieval citizenry (nobles, serfs, and vassals). The good Lord Arthur finds it difficult to say no to a man who carries a boomstick and who eats soul-eating Deadites for lunch. The nobleman can only glare as Ash takes up residence in the central keep, and sets about enjoying the service of the serving wenches. Even a surprise visit by a Deadite hag just further cements Ash in place as a royal thorn in Arthur’s royal side.
For his part, Ash effectively tells Arthur and the Wiseman that they can have the Middle Ages. All that Ash wants to do is go home. He does take a break from yearning for 1992 long enough to construct a mechanical iron hand to replace the one he lost in “Evil Dead 2.” He also puts aside his animosity towards Sheila (they had a rough start) and starts making it with the “Doth do maketh my heart warm with thy presence” sort of stuff.
I am not sure why Ash insists on returning to the present. Maybe he wants to avoid cholera, syphilis, and the Black Plague, but he will be doing that at the expense of a lot of quality time that could be spent eating grapes and wenching. Ah, wenching. Out of everything the Middle Ages stood for, I miss wenching the most. If you ever make it to 784 AD, make sure that you sample the wenches.
The Wiseman finally convinces Ash that the only way he can ever get back home is by undertaking a quest to recover the Necromonicon from a haunted graveyard. Now, Ash is an extremely groovy kind of guy, but he has a hard enough time staying out of Deadite-spawned trouble in his own living room. Mucking around in the land of the dead is going to have serious consequences. The first of those is that Ash gets chased around the haunted forest that is near the haunted graveyard by invisible motorcycles. The second issue created by Ash’s foray into the world of spirits, spells, and specters takes place inside an old windmill. A shattered mirror turns into a mob of tiny troublemaking Ash clones! They poke him with forks, drop things on his head, and generally make Ash wish that he had never had children of any sort. Once he gets the little hellions under control, Ash then has to deal with his alternate Deadite ego, Bad Ash.
One boomstick later, there is only one Ash standing. He is a bad-a**, but not Bad Ash.
Ash does finally reach the graveyard and recover the book (after dealing with two cursed imitation tomes). However, he does not correctly take possession of the Book of the Dead. Yep, Ash flubs “klaatu barada nikto.” As a result, the dead are woken from their endless sleep. Hundreds of skeletons assemble themselves into a massive army, with Bad Ash assuming command as the undead horde’s general. Now Lord Arthur has something worse than the proto-Scots and Deadite intrusions to deal with. Social Security was not created until the 20th Century; figuring out what to do about hundreds of the walking dead who refuse to stay in their graves is a big problem for a medieval noble.
Actually, Arthur and Ash decide to solve the problem the way that most problems were solved during the Middle Ages: they will have a battle!
To prepare for the battle, Ash and the other defenders of Arthur’s castle turn to the textbooks that were in the trunk of Ash’s car (the vehicle was also sucked back in time). I must say, Ash pursued some unusual subjects in college. How often does someone get to say, “That semester of ‘Steam Power 101’ really paid off!” in their life? Unfortunately, the hero has to make his preparations for Ragnarok without indulging in the time-honored tradition of pre-battle nookie, because Sheila is whisked away by a Deadite gargoyle. The next time that Ash sees his gentle lady, she is a Deadite witch and a real ball-breaker.
The Army of Darkness that attacks the castle finds itself on the receiving end of exploding arrows, catapult-lobbed bombs, and even a car that looks like the result of an Oldsmobile having sex with a windmill. Bones are crushed by the human defenders, but the walls are eventually breached, and Ash has a final skin-shedding reckoning with Bad Ash. The evil army is routed, and the only thing left for Ash to do is to go home to his own time. There are two different endings to this movie. In one, we see Ash back at S-Mart, defending the customers and employees from a surprise Deadite incursion. In the other, Ash hits the Rip Van Winkle bottle a little too much and sleeps well past doomsday.
I like “Evil Dead 2” more than “Army of Darkness.” Yet, this is an entertaining cult film. You could even call it a gruesomely groovy comedy. The movie is filled with Three Stooges-style slapstick, and the head-bangs and eye-pokes are so well done that I get nostalgic to watch some old Stooges’ shorts. Still, the reason that everybody loves Ash is that he has some great lines, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Stallone and Schwarzenegger action films of the 1980s, and he delivers them with style.
Things I learned from this movie
Ash finds himself thrown back in time and must discover the modicum of generosity he never thought he had inside him by fending off hoards of skeleton soldiers and a hulking evil version of himself in order to protect a small but brave kingdom before returning back to present day.
In ye olde days “public transportation” meant being chained to the nobleman’s horse and dragged along behind him.
Knights often fall for the old “your shoelace is untied” trick.
Department store employees know how to construct robotic limbs.
The difference between an ear and a pancake is academic.
Stonehenge was a public library.
Never mumble the magic words.
Jay Leno’s chin is the product of an unfortunate childhood accident involving a vacuum.
No ex-girlfriend is worth wrecking your car over.
When wrestling a skeleton, always remember that they are vulnerable to the backbreaker.
Stuff To Watch For:
Army of Darkness.
5 mins – You know, “The Gods Must Be Crazy” would have been more interesting if the main guy had found a chainsaw instead of that bottle.
10 mins – That guy obviously suffered from high blood pressure.
18 mins – Pretty cheap for a double-barreled shotgun. Hey, did the barrel length just change?
21 mins – You sound like my grandmother.
26 mins – Detroit?
32 mins – We have gone from “The Amazing Colossal Man” to “Gulliver’s Travels” to “The Manster” and now we are on “The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant.” What is next, “The Birds?”
38 mins – Oops, looks like you found the dreaded Hoovernomicon: The Book of the Suck.
51 mins – For a moment there I was worried that a song was coming on.
53 mins – Skeletal musicians: +1 combat result.
65 mins – Amy Winehouse?
Conclusion
Army of Darkness.
It is, in a nutshell, a melding of two films: an Evil Dead film and a medieval fantasy action comedy. No one in their right mind would seriously consider the movie to be an outright horror film. Granted, it features some ingredients that would be right at home in a horror movie, but so much of what Raimi and company want to provide is far more along the lines of an action adventure story soaked in the sort of slapstick humour Raimi is known for being a humungous fan of.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
When I was very young, I would go with my father as he would run errands, take care of errands, and visit friends. These distant memories are from the early 1960’s at a time when America was competent, growing, healthy and full of promise. At that time, the only threats that faced America were the Beatles and the Soviet Union. It was a time when a single nickel (a coin) could buy you a long necked soda, and a dollar bill could purchase a full hamburger platter at the local diner.
In those days my father would periodically visit friends and drag me along with him. Of course, I was always happy to go. In those days it was all very casual, and not formal at all. He would maybe tell them that he was going to stop by in a day or two, and then a few days later we would visit. Depending on the friend it might be us sitting in a dim living room while a show was playing, and my dad and his friend drank a beer or two. At other times it might be the two sipping coffee while soft jazz or classical music played in the background.
Father taking his sons out fishing.
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I well remember one visit. I was given these sweet cookies to smuch on while the television set was on. The show had these dancing chicks moving and grooving inside these hanging cages. They wore long white boots that went up to their knees. They wore these scandalous dresses that exposed their legs, and had these large hairdoos. The would clutch on the bars of the cage and swing and sway to the music. Their super colorful outfits would be stunning, and they seemed to really be enjoying themselves.
There would be this small crowd of folk dancing under the girls. The walls would be a constant cascade of flashing colors and these bright colored blobs that would change shape like honey or syrup on the walls. The guys and gals were always so fashionable. Even I could see that. Yes. Even at that early age. They were all in their twenties, more or less. Ancient in my eyes, but my father said that he really liked watching them dance.
Go-go Girls.
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I guess that time changes. Duh! But you don’t realize it because most of the time the change is rather slow. For instance, at that time, the big scandal was the Beatles and their insane haircuts. They had bangs and the hair even touched the tops of their ears! Scandalous! And people started wearing patterned shirts. Then when I was attending middle school in the 1970’s we “graduated” to FM music. And an entire world opened up to us. No longer would we endure the static of the AM radio as we drove on a bridge, or when a big truck passed us on the road.
University years consisted of high-end stereo’s and these big ass speakers that inhabited our poster encapsulated cinder-block rooms. Depending on the friends that I was hanging out with we listened to either progressive rock, country and western, or The Grateful Dead which always seemed to lie in a class by itself. It wasn’t until the last few days of my final year that I was exposed to MTV. And when exposed to it, the girl that I was seeing at the time, and I spent hours in front of the televisions (in her parent’s rented hotel room) watching it.
Life is a cubicle. Heh heh. A taste of things to come. Yikes!
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Working life as an adult was pretty much a completely different situation. I only listened to the music going to or from work. And given that most of the radio (the radio stations during the 1990’s were all pretty much gobbled up by enormous radio syndicates) presented a very bland and uninspired mix of “classic” tunes, I ended up escaping to talk radio.
Today, with the internet, you can watch videos, and encounter all sorts of music. All you dare need do is explore and use various applications that you might favor. Whether this is Trance, Disco, Country and Western, Soul, Reggie, Classic, or anything in between.
But in America, I’ve noticed the same-old, same-old reoccurring all over again. Big, powerful forces, are monopolizing the internet narratives. Whether it is the “news” or the applications that we use, everything in the United States eventually migrates to one or two “big guy” corporations that squeeze out everyone else. And they end up with a monopoly on whatever venue that they control. This is true, whether it is the “news” or music.
Big companies gobble up the little guys. The Myth of Capitalism tells the story of how America has gone from an open, competitive marketplace to an economy where a few very powerful companies dominate key industries that affect our daily lives. Digital monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon act as gatekeepers to the digital world. Amazon is capturing almost all online shopping dollars.
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But I am not in the United States. I am in China. And the music and “news” environment is quite different here.
Here, in this article we are going to chat a little bit about some of the more popular contemporaneous music that is floating around in China these days. And so, yes you are right, this is a China Music post.
The Wandering Earth
As the sun is dying out, people all around the world build giant planet thrusters to move Earth out of its orbit and sail Earth to a new star system. Yet the 2500-year journey comes with unexpected dangers, and in order to save humanity, a group of young people in this age of a wandering Earth fight hard for the survival of humankind. -IMDB
Here in this post. We’re going to talk a little bit about contemporaneous Chinese videos, music videos and movies. Life is too colorful and interesting to assume that the only worthwhile entertainment comes from the United States. It’s silly, and it’s false. The world is filled with all sorts of interesting and provocative entertainment; you all just have to be aware of it.
So you give it a try and look about and see what is presented to you.
The very first video is a music video that was released in association with the Chinese movie titled “The Wandering Earth”. It’s actually a very very good movie. It has a lot of borrowed elements obtained out of Hollywood.
(Which is for the most case, obtained through purchasing the Hollywood companies directly. As well as hiring the workers, hiring the actors, and the organizations and businesses that made the elements of Hollywood that we see today.)
Minus of course, the progressive “improvements” that you see in the latest Hollywood movies.
In a sense, the problem with “Ghostbusters” is similar to the ongoing problems with strong female characters in general. From the parts I saw, the approach to that movie was shallow and crass in that it painted nearly every male supporting character a bumbling idiot in need of female guidance. This was especially true of Kevin, the dim-witted secretary played by Chris Hemsworth.
I get that some of that approach was an effort to inject the kind of humor that made the original Ghostbusters so funny and memorable, but it really fell flat, almost to an insulting degree. It reinforced the notion men somehow need to be denigrated or taken down a peg for female characters to be strong.While it didn’t offend me, personally, it certainly undermined the story.
A world full of idiot men isn’t that bad. That’s a huge part of the appeal for shows like “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.” However, that kind of appeal doesn’t fit with that of Ghostbusters.
-The Mixed (And Misguided) Messages Of All-Female Movie Remakes
The Wandering Earth.
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Anyways back the “The Wandering Earth”…
This movie depicts a scenario that is quite cataclysmic and rather upsetting. It’s sort of a Chinese version of the American staple starring Bruce Willis. You know which one… ”Armageddon”. In fact I would even go as far as to say that it’s a cross between “Mad Max at thunder dome” and the “end of the world opus “Armageddon”.
It has everything. It has heroes, a greater purpose to save the world for humanity, people working together, interpersonal relationships, a Love story, technology, Fear and horror. All wrapped up in an exciting package.
Plus there isn’t any of that social revisionist nonsense that seems to drive American Hollywood movies these days.
This movie was released in early 2019 during the CNY holiday. And, it made a big splash all throughout China and the world with one major exception; The United States. The fact is that hardly anybody in the United States heard of the movie.
Here’s a Bing Search for Science Fiction movies in 2019…
Screen capture of a Bing search for science fiction movies made in 2019. The Wandering Earth is nowhere to be found.
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Oh, don’t misunderstand me. There were theater releases… a few. And some token showings. Here and…
…there.
But that’s it.
It’s not that the movie itself was banned, it’s just that all promotional activities for the movie itself was suppressed. You won’t find any promotional activities or promotions for this movie in the United States and there’s a reason for that.
And of course the reason is no longer in office.
Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo.
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Anyways it’s an enjoyable science-fiction movie. And, um, it’s touching on many levels. It differs from American movies that were also made in the same year at the same time. And because of that you’ll notice that there are no gay people, lesbians or transgenders in the script.
It’s refreshing.
Now, it’s not that I have a problem with people of alternative lifestyles, it’s just that I don’t enjoy watching them. It’s the same way I feel when I watch two dogs having sex. It’s not repulsive, but it’s also not entertaining for me.
OK.
Don’t believe me. Check out this review…
“The Wandering Earth” cured my winter depression.
Seriously: on opening night, I happily joined a packed Times Square auditorium-full of moviegoers watching this science-fiction adventure, which stars a talented ensemble of of Mandarin-speaking actors trying to stop the Earth from crashing into Jupiter. I left the theater hoping that “The Wandering Earth” would be one of this year’s Chinese New Year’s hits. It grossed $300 million in China during its opening week alone, a hopeful sign that we’ll see more entertainment as assured as this.
The setup might seem familiar at first. Two teams of astronauts fight to save the Earth years after its leaders transformed it into a planet-sized spaceship to escape destruction by an overactive sun. The first team is a two-man skeleton crew: the square-jawed Peiqiang Liu (Jing Wu) and his Russian cosmonaut buddy Makarov (Arkady Sharogradsky). The other is a small exploratory group led by Peiqiang’s feisty twentysomething son Qi Liu (Chuxio Qu) and his upbeat partner Duoduo Han (Jinmai Zhao). These factions respectively spend most of their time battling MOSS, an unhelpful computer in a remote space station; and exploring an ice-covered Earth in stolen all-terrain vehicles (some of which bring to mind “Total Recall,” specifically the tank-sized drill-cars).
But while director Frant Gwo and his writing team blend Cixin Liu’s source novel with elements from American-made sci-fi disaster films—including “Armageddon,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “Sunshine”—they synthesize them in a visually dynamic, emotionally engaging way that sets the project apart from its Western cousins, and marks it as a great and uniquely Chinese science fiction film.
For one thing, rather than build the tale around a lone hero ringed by supporting players, “The Wandering Earth” distributes bravery generously amid an ensemble that includes action hero Wu; rising stars Qu and Zhao; and comedy institution Man-Tat Ng, who plays a grey-bearded spaceman named Zi’ang Ha. The script, credited to a team of six, never valorizes a singular chest-puffing hero, nor does it scapegoat a mustache-twirling antagonist (not even MOSS, the sentient, HAL-9000-style computer program in the space station).
The teamwork theme is cross-generational, too. Both Peiqiang and Ng (formerly the straight man to film comedy superstar Stephen Chow) are treated with reverence because they’re older, and are therefore presumed to have more experience and stronger moral fiber. The veterans work well with the film’s younger astronauts, whose optimism makes them as brazen as they are idealistic.
This apolitical blockbuster about a post-climate-change disaster extends its belief in teamwork to the rest of the international community. The movie is filled with narrative diversions that reassure viewers that no single country’s leaders are smarter, more responsible, or more capable than the rest—except, of course, for the Chinese.
Second, “The Wandering Earth” looks better than most American special-effects spectaculars because it gives you breathing space to admire landscape shots of a dystopian Earth that suggest old fashioned matte-paintings on steroids. Although Gwo and his team realized their expensive-looking vision with the help of a handful of visual effects studios, including the Weta Workshop, they have somehow blended their many influences in bold, stylish ways that only Hollywood filmmakers like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg have previously managed.
Third, the film’s creators breathe new life into hackneyed tropes. Gwo and his team take a little extra time to show off the laser beams, steering wheels, and hydraulic joints on their space cars and exoskeleton suits, to make the gear seem unique. And the storytelling goes extra mile to show viewers the emotional stress and natural obstacles that the characters must overcome while solving scientifically credible dilemmas (all vetted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences). This movie may not be the next “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but it’s everything “2010: The Year We Make Contact” should have been (and I like “2010,” a lot).
A week after seeing “The Wandering Earth,” I’m still marveling at how good it is. I can’t think of another recent computer-graphics-driven blockbuster that left me feeling this giddy because of its creators’ can-do spirit and consummate attention to detail. The future is here, and it is nerve-wracking, gorgeous, and Chinese. – Simon Abrams
The movie itself has a very interesting back-story.
For starters, no one wanted to make it…
Chinese movie industry had contacted some famous directors: James Cameron, Luc Besson, Alfonso... to name a few. All rejected the proposal.
The job eventually landed on a not-so-famous director Frant Gwo, who was most passionate about the original story.
Gwo and his colleagues wrote an outline of 25,000 words, which was way above normal. They spent 6 months together, working day and night, writing then rewriting the draft. In the end the draft alone has one million words.
Each character you see in the film has detail background and stories.
And the funding for the film dried up. It was abandoned in mid-stride and left swinging in the wind for a spell.
Wanda Media originally invested heavily in this film, but later pulled out the fund for another romantic film.
This move almost halt the film production, but luckily the team persuaded the actor Wu Jing to forfeit his pay, even made him investing in the film. Wu jing had one condition, that they must make it a "good film", which they faithfully achieved.
The movie became a smashing hit in Chinese market, and Wu Jing will get his money back and much more.
Interestingly, Wanda Group's other subsidiary, AMC theaters, is the major distributor of the film in the US. However, you will watch the film in subtitles without English voice dubbing.
A large portion of the story was removed from the movie. Leaving some head-scratchers as to what was actually going on…
Many scenes didn't make the final cut which made the story a bit confusing at times.
For example, the original novel mentioned there's a growing distrust towards the United Earth Government among people as a conspiracy theory spreads stating that the Sun is not going to die any time soon and the whole Wandering Earth project is just a cover for elites to have total control over the population.
This explains why those rescue teams carry weapons. And it also explains why Li Yiyi (the nerd) was very aggressive (swinging a wrench) when the main protagonists entered his truck as the truck was probably sacked by rebel forces.
Also in the final scenes protesters are seen walking on streets of underground Beijing. This also explains why the "Firing Rock" (Lighter Core) is not stored near the earth engines. As earth engines are fusion cores and to start a fusion reaction it takes a lot of energy.
It can be assumed that the "Firing Rock" (Lighter Core) is similar to a nuclear bomb and can't be lost to rebel's hands.
And there were some “nods” to actual events and international “tie-ins”…
The order in which the various international crews turned around to help push in the firing pin is the same order in which the various nations arrived to help China in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
When reading the American reviews, you will find that many of them are actually negative. Many were upset at the idea of people working together for the greater good. They wanted to see movies about singular heroes working alone and over coming odds.
Yeah.
The American way.
"While it might seem like it’s common sense to give up your seat on the bus for a pregnant person, it turns out some people don’t understand this concept and are so entitled, they think this world is entirely every person for themselves.
Someone on Reddit asked if they were in the wrong for not giving up their seat on a public bus for a pregnant person after they had worked a long shift and had tired feet..."
-An unrelated discussion about giving up your seat to a pregnant woman.
They were also upset in the idea that the earth would pull together to save humanity.
In 2019, just about EVERY SINGLE REVIEWER believed that there would never be a threat or catastrophe that would end up pulling people together to fight a common cause…
…One year later the Coronavirus COVID-19 hit.
And the American audience was quite right.
In America it was every man (or women) for themselves. It was the rest of the world that pulled together to fight the common threat. Not America. Meanwhile a large segment of the population refused to work together and that proved to be an absolute fiasco with over a half a million deaths as of this writing.
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Incidentally, an ex-girlfriend's sister's husband just died by the Coronavirus. It started as a light shallow itch in the back of his throat. He thought nothing about it. Two weeks later it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was hospitalized, and died in the hospital.
Anyways, many of the movie reviews were terribly negative. In fact, the reviews were SO ABSOLUTELY NEGATIVE, and the lack of MOVIE PROMOTION within the United States points to suppression.
And so, yeah the American movie reviews were negative.
But that’s actually meaningless, because many of the reviews were from “bots”. And you can spot them easily. Most movie reviews on IMDB are either one sentence comments, or three or more juicy paragraphs with great details and comments about specific scenes. These reviews all fit the following profile…
One paragraph long.
Two groups. A low rating between 1 and 3, and a “high” rating between 4 and 6.
No specific scenes, or characters mentioned.
"The Wandering Earth is an overly ambitious, laughably implausible, thoroughly confusing, clumsily edited mess. The plot runs amok with too many hollow characters making stupid decisions without reason. Action sequences were so badly shot and edited it was hard to figure out what was going on. The CGI varied from passable to worse than a 90's video game. Acting was stilted and expressionless. Dialog was rambling and inefficient with an overuse of weird computer voices to explain what was going on. By the end I couldn't care less about the characters and fell sleep." 3/10
-Overly ambitious, laughably implausible, clumsily edited mess
Thus, the movie drops to the bottom of all Science Fiction listings. It falls like a stone.
Shadow Blocking
Which is why you can’t find it in general searches.
I’ll tell you, this nonsense about trying to influence what others do by swarming ‘bots on comment sections is irritating. I can take it on Amazon, and other product venues, but in the entertainment world, it’s just irritating.
Anyways…
The movie was released with a number of songs. In this case, the song was有种 by孟美岐 . It’s a catchy tune, and is a great listen. It has all sorts of scenes from the movie, that many Americans (apparently) think are “stale”, “boring”, and “uninspired” according to the internet.
Check out the video it opens up in a separate tab.
Here’s the Music Video (it is in a zipped file) so that it will not take forever to download…
…
I think that one of the biggest problems that Americans have about this movie is that it is culturally too different from the American culture. This movie is about people coming together to fight a disaster. Whereas, in most American Hollywood far, it’s a single lone person who takes a lead to fight an enemy single-handedly.
Die hard
Armageddon
Commando
Predator
Terminator
Dirty harry
Death Wish
But as much fun as it is to imagine yourself in the hero role fighting impossible odds, the truth is that the reality is something far different. We all need to grow up a little bit and come to this conclusion.
Commando
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If the human species is to advance, it will be by group participation. Not by a handful of extraordinary people.
Don’t believe me?
How do you think a star basketball player would fare against an entire basketball team that trains and works together as one?
Plot Elements
…
The Wandering Earth.
The first plot element to go viral was an automatic “warm reminder” recited repeatedly by the giant carrier vehicles in the film, becoming somewhat of a catchphrase:
“道路千万条,安全第一条;行车不规范,亲人两行泪。”
“Routes are countless. Safety is foremost. Unregulated driving, loved ones end up in tears.”
Not long after the film’s opening day, this robotic voice message could be heard both on Alibaba-owned navigation app Amap and Tencent-owned QQ Map, with variations also to be found on ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.
People who had driven to reunite with family for the Spring Festival could also see these lines on public LED screens lining highways around Chongqing, Suzhou, and Shanghai:
On the way to Shanghai.
…
Anyways, long story short.
I personally believe (all internet manipulation aside) the movie “The Wandering Earth” appeals (resonates) to Chinese people because it…
Shows people working together for the common good.
Shows that governments can create huge constructions.
That by shared sacrifice, by both young and old, a future can manifest.
As such, these points are the opposite of what contemporaneous America stands for. In America…
The lone individual is far better than any group of people.
Governments cannot create huge constructions. Only private industry can.
No one need sacrifice anything. It’s a human Right to do your own thing.
No need to type away and aggressively tell me how wrong I am. I could be right or I could be wrong. It’s all a matter of opinion. Nothing more. Don’t get too caught up in it.
When I was a boy
Although news coverage brought increasingly disturbing reports as the decade progressed, prime-time programming presented an entirely different picture. The escapist fictional fare of prime time made little reference to what was being reported on the news. That began to change in the late 1960s and early ’70s, but the transition was an awkward one; some shows began to reflect the new cultural landscape, but most continued to ignore it.
That Girl (ABC, 1966–71), an old-fashioned show about a single woman living and working in the big city—with the help of her boyfriend and her “daddy”—aired on the same schedule as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970–77), a new-fashioned comedy about a single woman making it on her own. In the same week, one could watch The Lawrence Welk Show (ABC, 1955–71), a 15-year-old musical variety program that featured a legendary polkaband, and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (NBC, 1968–73), an irreverent new comedy-variety show plugged into the 1960s counterculture.
The 1970–71 season was the last season for a number of series that had defined the old television landscape, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Lawrence Welk Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Andy Williams Show, and Lassie, all of which had been on the air since the 1950s or earlier. Such traditional sitcoms as That Girl and Hogan’s Heroes also left the air at the end of that season, as did a number of lingering variety programs.
CBS was the first of the three networks to radically overhaul its program schedule, eliminating several shows that were still delivering very high ratings. Such CBS hits as The Jim Nabors Hour (CBS, 1969–71), Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee-Haw were all in the top 30 the year they were canceled by the network. The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres were also eliminated at the end of the 1970–71 season, and not a single rural comedy was left on CBS, the network that had based much of its competitive dominance in the 1960s on that genre.
Even before 1971, however, more-diverse programming had gradually been introduced to network TV, most notably on NBC. The Bill Cosby Show (1969–71), Julia (1968–71), and The Flip Wilson Show (1970–74) were among the first programs to feature African Americans in starring roles since the stereotyped presentations of Amos ’n’ Andy and Beulah (ABC, 1950–53). Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In was proving, as had The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967–69) a few seasons earlier, that even the soon-to-be-moribund variety-show format could deliver new and contemporary messages. Dramatic series such as The Mod Squad (ABC, 1968–73), The Bold Ones (NBC, 1969–73), and The Young Lawyers (ABC, 1970–71) injected timely social issues into traditional genres featuring doctors, lawyers, and the police. In another development, 60 Minutes (CBS, begun 1968) fashioned the modern newsmagazine into a prime-time feature.
-The late 1960s and early ’70s: the relevance movement
When I was a young boy, I watched televisions shows such as “The Lone Ranger” and “Superman”. And even “Diver Dan”, and the “Man from U.N.C.L.E.”. Whether it was “The Rat patrol”, or “Mr. Ed”, the stories all revolved around a singular person and their adventures. You couldn’t help but believe that one person can become great, do great things, and make a difference in the world… all by themselves.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
.
Not to mention that this singular person can become filthy rich and successful and have everything. All they needed to do was follow the dream offered to them by “democracy” and the promise of “freedom” and “Liberty” out of Washington DC.
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Perhaps I am not the only one affected by all this programming. Perhaps entire generations have been programmed in such a way as to believe that all is well and good as long as they stay separate and don’t form into groups or organize themselves.
It’s an interesting thought.
Why would the government not want people to form associations? It seems really odd you know. But with the television programming in the 1960’s and 1970’s came a direct drop-off and collapse of independent clubs and fraternal organizations. Organizations such as the Polish Falcons, the ELK’s Lodge, the MOOSE lodges, and the Good-fellas Clubs all were restructured. And this restructuring was NOT organic, as many of us are expected to believe…
I’ll have to revisit this thought over some beer and (with) some pretty girls.
Or…
Maybe something really different.
It’s been a while since I ate some Greek food, or at least the Americanized versions. Maybe I should smunch on some delicious lamb and drink some frosty ones instead…
Delicious Greek food.
Let’s talk about other music videos associated with Chinese movies.
The Great Wall
Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the mostbreathtakingvisualstylists of our time,ZhangYimou (Hero,House of Flying Daggers), The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world's mosticonicstructure.
-Amazon.com: TheGreatWall [Blu-ray]
The Great Wall movie.
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Again, more mixed reviews. Most Americans hated it.
Why is this, one must wonder. Perhaps Simon Abrams can give us a clue.
Chinese/American co-produced action-fantasy “The Great Wall” doesn’t feel like a McDonald’s-ified version of a Chinese film. True, when square-jawed Matt Damon fights alien monsters side-by-side with Chinese soldiers, the film sometimes feels like a spectacular big-budget action epic with a golden-age western-style hero. But the makers of “The Great Wall” succeed where many westerns fear to tread, namely by un-ironically valorizing the selfless collectivism that has become a cultural touchstone of modern Chinese cinema.“The Great Wall” has significant problems—namely with Damon and sidekick Pedro Pascal’s lack of bromantic chemistry—but chief among its rewards is its ability to marry its Eastern and Western sensibilities.
Damon and Pascal play William and Tovar, respectively, wandering European mercenaries who are captured by the Chinese army of the Nameless Order shortly after they slay a mysterious green monster. The monster, they are told, is a “Tei Tao,” one of a horde of creatures that attacks the now-famous Great Wall of China once every 60 years. William and Tovar are initially unmoved by the Nameless Order’s considerable plight; they want to make their fortunes by stealing gunpowder from their hosts, and selling it to European traders. But eventually, William and Tovar’s agendas drift apart after William becomes seduced by the formal control and selfless zeal that defines the Nameless Order.
And who wouldn’t be impressed? The Nameless Order marches around in colorful suits of armor that come in hues of indigo, crimson and cerulean. They launch themselves at their enemies using pulleys, bungee cords, hot-air balloons, boulder-spewing catapults, and many, many arrows. Each crowd shot in this film is remarkable, but not because director Zhang Yimou (“Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers“) and his assistant directors know how to direct extras. On the contrary, the impassive faces of the Nameless Order’s soldiers remind us that all of these people, together, are remarkable. In that sense, the scene where William admits that he killed a Tei Tao “alone,” without the aid of Tovar or his slain mercenary colleagues, is a significant reminder of the film’s communal ideology: William, as an undisciplined loner, must prove that he’s worth just as much as a selfless Chinese soldier.
The film’s action scenes also exemplify a sense of precise, shared responsibility that one rarely sees in action-spectaculars. The army works together as a unit, just as the Tei Tao do. You can imagine how hard that philosophy might be to enforce given that it demands a big enough budget to focus on two warring armies’ clashing maneuvers. But no, the film’s action set pieces are not only thrillingly large-scale, but visually rapturous, despite a preponderance of computer-generated imagery. There are a handful of well-choreographed and well-directed, Damon-centric action sequences, but it’s very easy to be seduced by scenes that focus on impersonal warfare. In the latter scenes, the art department flexes their collective muscles with every lionhead-shaped helmet and barbed offensive weapon. Who could remain unmoved after watching a group of individuals dangle, thrust, and throw everything they’ve got at a legion of deranged-looking creatures?
Unfortunately, the film slows down whenever it becomes a buddy comedy starring William and Tovar. If I had to guess, I’d say that screenwriter Tony Gilroy (“Duplicity,” “The Bourne Legacy“) was brought on to the film to punch up Damon and Pascal’s wobbly scenes of light banter. But there’s no spark between the two actors. In these scenes, Damon and Pascal perform time-honored roles that you’ll find in many Asian films: the Caucasian performers who look like they wandered onto the wrong set and are unsure of what acting is. Damon orates through clenched teeth, which suits his fight scenes, but makes him sound constipated. Combine that with a weird Irish-inflected accent that presumably is meant to be generically European—his character boasts about fighting in various European conflicts—and you’ve got a crucial black hole where your leading man should be.
Thankfully, “The Great Wall” isn’t really about Damon’s character. In fact, it works best when he’s part of a group, though he does predictably drift into a leadership role eventually. William’s story is an assimilation narrative, after all, one where the hero sees the error of his past and tries to fit into a society that values utilitarian goals over individual needs. “The Great Wall” is unlike any American blockbuster you’ve seen, a conservative movie with action set pieces that are actually inventive and thrilling enough to be worthwhile. See it on as big a screen as you can.
The point is that in China, it is the group working together for the group that defines what China is. While in America it is the individual doing his “own thing” under the watchful eyes of his approved overseer. No wonder there is a clash in cultures.
China – The group works together as one.
America – The individual is supreme and does his “own thing” alone.
And no wonder why many Americans despise this move with it’s pretense that the group can accomplish great things for all, as opposed to a lone hero that accomplishes amazing feats, basks in endless glory, climbs to the top of a mountain of gold and gets the girl in the end.
Never the less, America withstanding, the reviews from the rest of the world were interesting…
I just saw it in Romania in a good 3d cinema. The movie tells a legend. And it tells it so beautifully! The cinematography is breathtaking and for all the duration I was more than a movie spectator, I felt part of that legend, a character from that story, present among the troops defending the wall. If a movie succeeds in delivering such an experience, the rest is not important anymore.
In this point, I don t care anymore about plot holes or historical inaccuracies, because I came to cinema to see a fantasy, a Chinese legend with monsters and heroes. And there I was, in a war story, set in a different world, filled with amazing elements of the old Chinese culture, surrounded by exceptional warriors, beautiful landscapes and bloodthirsty monsters. I am very saddened to see the negativity among critics and public surrounding this movie. Complaining about historical inaccuracies or being racist about the mix of races is so misplaced. I hope people will go see it and ignore the bad criticism and prejudices about it.
-There are many legends about The Great Wall, this is one of them
And here’s one from China…
I'm Chinese and I don't think to have Matt Damon as the main character is a white-washing or anything racist.
Some foreigners are needed to show foreigner's perspective of the magnificent China : the Great Wall, the weapons, the army, etc.While the CGI, costume designers and production staffs are whites, 90%+ of the casts are Chinese. Even the directors are Chinese. The director Zhang Yimou pick Damon by his artistic choice.
This is not a Chinese film, nor a Western film, this is definitely a collaboration, which prove that if we human, from East, and West, if we trust each other and to work together, we could achieved great things.
If even Chinese are not offended, why white people called this film racist?
-The Opposite of White-washing
Scene from the Great Wall.
Some Americans enjoyed the movie…
I'll be honest, I thought that this movie will be very bad.
Came out in the month where movies expected to be blessed with negative reviews, it was no surprise that I thought it would be one of those ill-fated movies.
In the end, I've underestimated it.
"The Great Wall" follows William (Matt Damon), a mercenary who tries to obtain the "Black Powder", a deadly explosive, only to get caught in a battle against monsters that awakens every 60 years.
For those who doubt that it will be good, mark my words: Don't underestimate this movie.
The movie was a surprise all the way to finish.
The acting was great, The visuals were amazing, the cinematography was breathtaking, and the action were incredible.
Matt Damon as always gives a fine performance as the hero (Heck, even his Mandarin, although only a word, is very good).
Andy Lau were also great as Strategist Wang in his first Hollywood movie.
The biggest surprise was the female lead played by Jing Tian, she's really good and surprisingly, pretty fluent in English. William Dafoe (I not expect him to be in this movie) is also very great.
Lu Han (Yes EXO-L's! It's EXO's Luhan!) is a scene stealer.
Although he has a small role, He's very good at acting and truly one of my favorite characters in the movie.
My criticism was it's plot.
It's basic idea is like Independence Day with Chinese culture mix. Although it actually worked very well, but *SPOILER ALERT!!!* Kill the queen or we all die?", come on writers, you can do better than this.
Another one is the length.
A 100 minute movie isn't enough for a story with this kind of scale. If only the studio made it like 2 hours, it would be better for more character development and understanding the story.
Additionally, I don't understand all the negative reviews, especially from Chinese audiences.
I'm a Chinese-Indonesian, and I absolutely love this movie.
I saw criticism about the main lead being American.
I'm telling you, there are 5 main leads in the movie, and *SPOILER ALERT!!!* 3 of them are Chinese, Plus most of the focus IMO are directed to the Chinese main characters.
Another one is that the movie isn't based on the legend of The Great Wall.
This is a fantasy movie, so of course it's not!
The film even mentioned it in the beginning!!!
To me, these negative reviews are purely hate for this movie. I think that most of them haven't seen the movie and simply hate it for no reason.
Overall it was a surprisingly good movie, and arguably one of the greater movies in January. If you want to see a fantasy movie, this is a perfect movie for you.
-I've never thought it would be THIS good.
Yes. Those that did enjoy the movie were much like this fella…
I can't stand these unfair and unreliable reviews.
So, this is my first review for a Chinese film. I would say I felt the same feeling of excitement when I watched Lord of the rings (LOTR).
I even like The Great Wall more than the hobbit.
We've watch hundreds of movies with bad reviews and we knew that as long a film has at least one 10/10 fair review, don't hesitate to watch a movie.
Ignore the noise of negative people.
Let them get sick with their views.This is great movie that combines history and fiction. Enjoy it! Just like what the actors said.. "TRUST"!!!
-I enjoy it a lot. Ignore the critics.
Maybe it’s just misunderstood…
I love the movie. If you haven't decided yet whether to watch it or not, well, it is a very entertaining popcorn flick with a LOT of monsters. Enjoyable to look at and pleasant to listen to.Here I just want to point out a few facts about the movie that many people might get wrong, mostly because of their preconceptions.
Spoilers ahead.
First, there are apparently some "white savior" moments in the movie, but there are also a lot of "Chinese savior" moments. So who saves whom doesn't really matter. The wall was miles long and there were hundreds of thousands of monsters, so Matt Damon shooting down three of them doesn't really make that much difference.
The true contribution that he made in the movie was that he helped capture a monster alive with his whaling experience in Spain, which makes perfect sense because the other characters, living in inland areas, probably hadn't seen a whale in their life. People simply have different experiences and helping out each other is great.
Second, the relationship between the male and female protagonists was not a romantic one. In the end, they became two soldiers who understood, admired and trusted each other. It is not a clichéd love story. So, the white guy did not get the Asian girl -- and there is nothing wrong if they did love each other.Third, the movie is very fast paced and full of details. Reserve your judgment when you think there is a plot hole or something like that. Have a happy discussion with others before rushing to an angry or condescending conclusion.
For example, I noticed someone mentioned in his or her review, as an example to show how stupid the movie is, that the catapults could not move and yet could hit the target at different spots. The fact is the catapults could move and the movie spent one second showing you exactly that.
Also, the Crane Corp, which I heard many people claimed to be useless, was actually practical and powerful in killing and distracting the monsters in that the only weak spots of the monsters were the eyes, which were difficult to aim at from far away, and the monsters were much more dangerous horizontally than vertically.
Last but not least, I'd like to talk about the message of the movie. Some people think the movie just wants to make money. Some think it is China's propaganda tool. While I believe there is some truth in both arguments, the movie can be interpreted from a much brighter perspective and is by no means meaningless.
Actually the movie has so many meanings that it struggles a little bit to deliver all of them. Trust, greed, courage, sacrifice, and so on. Too many for the movie to have a definite and strong theme. One interesting interpretation I read is that the movie intends to convey that the US and China should work together to defeat terrorism, the core of which is an ideology whose iconic color is also green (like the queen of the monsters).
My own understanding though is one simple message: what truly differentiates us is not race or culture, but what we believe and how we act. Not a wholly fresh idea but definitely a peaceful one, especially from a U.S.-China co-production.
To put it in a nutshell, the movie is much smarter and much more considerate than many people think. I hope there will be sequels or prequels that can be even better.
-An easily misunderstood movie
Personally, I thought the movie was pretty epic, but swords and monsters isn’t really my thing. So I gave it a “6”. But the negative review are wholly out of line. If you want a story about magic, barbarians, and conflict on a grand scale this movie does deliver. But it’s made in China, so that is going to automatically turn off the American sheeple. There’s no denying that fact.
Sheeple hate the Chinese. It’s what’s bread into them after four sustained and aggressive anti-China propaganda years. It’s a fact of life. It’s what it is. No more and no less.
And, here’s the video that was released in association with this movie. It’s pretty good, and was on the tops in China for a couple of years. I have it zipped up, and presented when you click on the link. As I stated earlier, this is the music video that came out along with the movie. It’s how Chinese Cinema seems to release movies these days…
And then there is this movie…
Passengers
But this movie was well received in America.
The spaceship, Starship Avalon, in its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet known as the "Homestead Colony" and transporting 5,258 people has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result one hibernation pod opens prematurely and the one person that awakes, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is stranded on the spaceship, still 90 years from his destination.
“Passengers is a truly brilliant movie, it’s hard to place it into a genre, but it is very much a sci fi love story. The concept is a great one, and it poses a fabulous question, could you force someone to spend their life with you, or live a solitary life. The idea is very original and very clever, the special effects are breathtaking, and the cinematography is first class. The main trio of actors do a superb job, but it’s the dazzling Jennifer Lawrence that stood out for me.”
Here’s the zipped music video that was released in China along with the movie. The song itself was a long-duration hit as well. I don’t think that it did so well in the USA. It seems that there wasn’t enough “booty wagging” and transgenders LGBT activity to render it of interest to Americans.
And what this is all about…
The next video is not associated with a movie. It is just a simple Chinese music video. Note that it is about the future and the dreams that we all have.
Indeed this is what it’s all about…
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And seriously folks, I do wish and hope that your “Tomorrow 9” occurs for you. You have my wishes and good will. – Metallicman.
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After I exited the US Navy and “hit the road” looking for work (at a time when there were no jobs to be found anywhere) I discovered a number of “life truths” that have reshaped my life since. One of these truths is about personal labor. Where is that “sweet spot”? The point where you work just enough to provide for your family and have a good comfortable life, and yet live a happy unstressful life.Because…I strongly discovered, as many of you too have as well, that in America it is either all-of-nothing. You either work in a corporate environment, devote a life to a career and obey the dictates of Human Resources in dress, behavior and life, or…
…Or you starve.There is no “middle ground”.Now, this is not true for everyone. Over time many people have discovered ways to enable them to somehow skirt the two extremes. While other’s like myself had to learn the “hard way” and didn’t reach that point until retirement.The American culture is one where it is “every man for himself”, and you are a “success” if you climb to the top of a mountain of money and lord your life over all the rest. It’s the “King of the Jungle” attitude and exemplifies such people as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Today, the base pay of those at the top is commonly 400 times that of their salaried staff, with many earning orders of magnitude more in stock options and perks. The elite one percent of Americans control $30 trillion of assets, while the bottom half have more debt than assets. The three richest Americans have more money than the poorest 160 million of their countrymen. Fully a fifth of American households have zero or negative net worth, a figure that rises to 37 percent for black families. The median wealth of black households is a tenth that of whites. The vast majority of Americans — white, black, and brown — are two paychecks removed from bankruptcy.
Though living in a nation that celebrates itself as the wealthiest in history, most Americans live on a high wire, with no safety net to brace a fall.
With the COVID crisis, 40 million Americans lost their jobs, and 3.3 million businesses shut down, including 41 percent of all black-owned enterprises. Black Americans, who significantly outnumber whites in federal prisons despite being but 13 percent of the population, are suffering shockingly high rates of morbidity and mortality, dying at nearly three times the rate of white Americans. The cardinal rule of American social policy — don’t let any ethnic group get below the blacks, or allow anyone to suffer more indignities — rang true even in a pandemic, as if the virus was taking its cues from American history.
COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken. As the crisis unfolded, with another American dying every minute of every day, a country that once turned out fighter planes by the hour could not manage to produce the paper masks or cotton swabs essential for tracking the disease. The nation that defeated smallpox and polio, and led the world for generations in medical innovation and discovery, was reduced to a laughing stock as a buffoon of a president advocated the use of household disinfectants as a treatment for a disease that intellectually he could not begin to understand.
As a number of countries moved expeditiously to contain the virus, the United States stumbled along in denial, as if willfully blind. With less than four percent of the global population, the U.S. soon accounted for more than a fifth of COVID deaths. The percentage of American victims of the disease who died was six times the global average. Achieving the world’s highest rate of morbidity and mortality provoked not shame, but only further lies, scapegoating, and boasts of miracle cures as dubious as the claims of a carnival barker, a grifter on the make.
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Odious as he may be, Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent. As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. The republic that defined the free flow of information as the life blood of democracy, today ranks 45th among nations when it comes to press freedom. In a land that once welcomed the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. In a complete abandonment of the collective good, U.S. laws define freedom as an individual’s inalienable right to own a personal arsenal of weaponry, a natural entitlement that trumps even the safety of children; in the past decade alone 346 American students and teachers have been shot on school grounds.
The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.
How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community?
Flag-wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion; anger and hostility no match for love. Those who flock to beaches, bars, and political rallies, putting their fellow citizens at risk, are not exercising freedom; they are displaying, as one commentator has noted, the weakness of a people who lack both the stoicism to endure the pandemic and the fortitude to defeat it.
Leading their charge is Donald Trump, a bone spur warrior, a liar and a fraud, a grotesque caricature of a strong man, with the backbone of a bully.Over the last months, a quip has circulated on the internet suggesting that to live in Canada today is like owning an apartment above a meth lab.
Canada is no perfect place, but it has handled the COVID crisis well, notably in British Columbia, where I live. Vancouver is just three hours by road north of Seattle, where the U.S. outbreak began. Half of Vancouver’s population is Asian, and typically dozens of flights arrive each day from China and East Asia. Logically, it should have been hit very hard, but the health care system performed exceedingly well.
Throughout the crisis, testing rates across Canada have been consistently five times that of the U.S. On a per capita basis, Canada has suffered half the morbidity and mortality. For every person who has died in British Columbia, 44 have perished in Massachusetts, a state with a comparable population that has reported more COVID cases than all of Canada. As of July 30th, even as rates of COVID infection and death soared across much of the United States, with 59,629 new cases reported on that day alone, hospitals in British Columbia registered a total of just five COVID patients.
-Rolling Stone
Which pretty makes it difficult for the “little guy”. You know the one. Like you and I. Where all we want is just to be left alone, do our best to provide for our families, and have a little bit of fun on the side.
And the purpose of a nation, any nation, is to support and protect a society of “little guys” who all are trying to “live life in the pursuit of liberty”.
But you and I both know, that that is not what America is today. It’s a multi-tiered concentration camp. With the strongest mob bosses at top and he rest of us toiling for some scraps that they toss below from their stratospheric heights.
So, is America so corrupted, so out-of-wack that a average, normal, decent guy can’t have a family, a life without working himself to an early grave?
Yes. That’s the way it is.
In the United States, as of 19FEB21. Life expectancy is how long a baby born today can expect to live, on average. For males it was 75.1 years and for females, 80.5 years. The current life expectancy for China in 2021 is 77.13 years, a 0.22% increase from 2020.
No kidding.
The American Military Emprie
Have you ever wondered what it was like to live within a Global Military Empire like Nazi Germany, The British Empire in the 1800’s, and Ancient Babylon? Well, it’s pretty much like the way Americans live today.
There’s always an external threat that needs a war to fight. There’s always an increase , ever rising, in the prices for goods and services, and there’s always a feeling like society is slipping and going down hill. David Copperfield describes the life during the British military empire. And if you add cell-phones, trailer parks, and food-stamps you have America today.
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And while I can discuss about how one “Hellfire Missile” can build a ton-load of hospitals, rebuild bridges, and feed entire families for a year, consider what other nations are using their treasury dollars on.
I am inside of China, and they are using their monies to build roads, bridges, hospitals. They are upgrading all infrastructure, and building parks. They are updating ferries, and there is a the construction of a new Mag-Lev rocket-train, even faster than the high-speed trains (already criss-crossing the nation), that will go from Shenzhen to Shanghai in three hours. Faster than a direct flight!
Chinese high speed rail is commonplace all over China.
Local clinics are getting state-of-the art blood analysis equipment and patient diagnostic equipment. Clinics! Not like the USA where you need to get a doctors appointment to get you a hospital appointment, to get an analysis appointment to have anything done.
Blood work for my child, yesterday, occurred in 15 minutes. On site at a clinic. The entire cost was free. Because we are residents of the community. How much would it cost for us int he USA? How long would it take?
That is the difference between a nation that is investing in it’s people, and a Military Empire.
Sent to me by an influencer…
Save this series: Very good, very informative. Especially the series that criticised Pompeo lies 🤥 about Xinjiang by Uyghurs themselves.
China maintain low prices for basic necessity such as housing, electricity, water, education, child care, food, public transport etc... And the reality that factory workers with free meals and accommodation, their income up to 5000 RMB a month are tax free. So factories workers in China can afford to own their own homes and form a family. The property they bought receive all basic council services without having to pay any property taxes and council service fees.
Enjoy this super quality and informative series with uighurs telling their own stories.
https://youtube.com/c/realxinjiang
Uyghurs like all Chinese citizens are well taken care of by the Communist Party. The factory workers are better off than a lot of working poors in the western world, Hong Kong, and south Korea where home ownership are low, and rental cost taken up most of the working poor income.
Back to the subject – Work & Life
I argue that when you live in a bad environment, whether it is a military empire, or a concentration camp, you are unable to find a work/life balance. It is just simply not possible. You have either one thing or the other thing. There is no balance.
So people find work-arounds.
If they do not, then they spend their entire life working and them when they reach retirement, they make do with what ever systems the government has in place for their retirement. And for Americans, it’s not good at all.
OK. Here’s a good article about this subject.
All credit to the author, reposted as found. No editing except to fit within this venue.
How to Come to Terms With Working For the Rest of Your Life
How did you come to terms with working full-time for the rest of your life?
I graduated from college this past May and just started my full-time job three weeks ago. I am a salaried employee with a required minimum of 50 working hours per week.
I’m grateful to have a job, but how the hell did you accept the fact that you’ve essentially been born to work? I see very few routes outside of working what feels like endless hours until I’m 60 (optimistic!) and can retire… to just sit around all day because I’m too old to do much of anything else
My friend, 60 is VERY optimistic if you just got out of college because the chances Social Security will be around in its current form by then is basically nil. That means most people that age are likely to work until they die.
All that said, there are a lot of options for what you can do on the working front. In fact, it gets back to my all-time favorite quote.
“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” — Thomas Sowell
The best jobs require a lot of hours. You want to be a CEO, run a successful small business, or be a doctor, you are going to put in some serious hours to do that. You want the big house, the money, the prestige, you are going to have to work for it. You want to live somewhere expensive like NYC or San Francisco, then you should be prepared to work like a dog to make it happen.
If you are willing to forego that and make some lifestyle trade-offs, you may be surprised at what you can do.
For example, if you are outside of the big cities, you can live pretty well working 40 hours a week. Over time, especially if you get married to a woman that works, you can get yourself a house and have a vacation a year, a big-screen TV, and generally live comfortably. If you’re frugal, you can even save up some money doing that. Unfortunately, most people in that position aren’t frugal and they struggle when they get an unexpected bill, but that doesn’t have to be you.
You can take it even further if you like. Back in the day, I once had a roommate who has a fantastic salesman. He worked half the year selling and took the other half of the year off. If you want to live with roommates and keep it cheap, you may be able to squeak by working part-time. If you want to live out in the boonies with a little garden out back and some convenient land nearby for hunting and fishing, you may not have to work forty hours per week to do it.
What all this means is that you have real options in life. It just depends on which trade-off you want to make and guess what? The one with the most hours probably isn’t the best for everyone. There are guys who wake up one day in their forties with lots of money, but bad health and no one that cares about them because they have been working 70 hours a week from the time they were young until now. Are they better off than the guy who worked 20 hours a week his whole life, but took care of himself, had friends, and had a happier life? That’s a question you have to ask yourself.
It begins by asking what motivates you, what you want to have in your life and how much of your life you are willing to trade to make that happen.
And isn’t that the case?
What are you going to do? Work like a crazy madman on the quest to become another Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs? So that you can sit upon billions and billions of dollars, while the nice day beckons outside, the fish are biting, and the cute girls would dearly wish that you would ask her out for a stroll on the beach and a cup of coffee.
Where are your friends? Where are your family in all this? Is that all there is to life? Work as some kind of corporate drone, and then retire as a starving old man?
Maybe there is another way… or, not.
We really need to take a good hard look at what the work environment is inside of America today. And compare it to the work environment in the rest of the world. And let me tell you… it is not pretty.
The following article is reprinted in it’s entirety, and edited to fit this venue. All credit to the authors.
“I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday”: How “Office Space” got the modern workplace just right
Cubicles, layoffs, TPS report, flair — “Office Space” bombed at the box office, but endures because it was right
The office could be any office. Cove fluorescents on a dimmer, modular shelving, the desk practically an abstraction. The whisper of sourceless ventilation. You are a trained observer and there is nothing to observe.
—David Foster Wallace, "The Pale King"
After the stock market crash, which emptied out the lofts and warehouses of San Francisco, eroding in an instant the frictionless, cloud-kicking fantasies of the dot-commers, another white-collar recession slung into place, and the office seemed to resume its role as the workplace everyone loved to hate.
Few cultural objects expressed this miasma of ill will better than the film “Office Space,” which appeared in 1999 at the very peak of the boom. Its theatrical run was a modest failure, but in retrospect it’s no surprise that a film so relentlessly dark and nasty would be overpowered by the delirium that gripped the end of the millennium.
This picture describes American workers all over America.
(From a reporter visiting a Microsoft annual meeting in 1997: “‘Why are we at Microsoft? ’ bellowed billionaire Steve Ballmer, then the company’s executive vice president, to a crowd of nine thousand employees packed into the Kingdome, Seattle’s indoor stadium. ‘For the money! ’ he screamed. ‘Show me the money! ’ The crowd responded with a roar: ‘Show me the money! ’ ”)
Running gags about staplers, misplaced memos, “Hawaiian Shirt Day,” and the specter of working lives wasted in dead-end, purposeless jobs for a gray tech company: no one appeared ready for that sort of humor in an era of raging exuberance—and anyway, the cubicle was dead, right?
Then the bubble burst; people woke up the following morning with their stock options erased; the beanbag chairs were gone, and they were in a cubicle again or unemployed and desperately searching for a cubicle. “Office Space” found new life on the small screen, a medium that suited the office worker existence depicted in the film: long days huddled in front of a computer, followed by short nights exhausted on the couch, staring at a television.
What is good for the company?
In 1999 it barely recovered its $10 million budget in box office receipts; by 2003, it had become a cult classic, with more than two and a half million copies sold on video. (It screens on Comedy Central with the sort of mindless regularity that suggests a bored television office staff behind it all. “What do we fill the 2 to 5 p.m. slot with? ” “Fuck it, let’s just put on ‘Office Space’ again.”)
Everyone knows very happy white-collar people who can quote “Office Space” with as much fervor and accuracy as a pastor does the Gospels, and it’s a plausible and routine assumption that repeated watchings of the film might offer a kind of therapy for stressed office workers: a vent for an inarticulate rage that helps keep them humming away at bad jobs.
But anecdotally, at least, it’s led to people quitting their jobs, and one Portland, Oregon, webmaster started a site, Bullshit Job, that doubled as both a tribute to the film and a page where workers could post all the insulting memos and e-mails their bosses sent out.
In other words, “Office Space,” and subsequent works in the general fraternity of office satire, helped office workers recognize themselves as belonging to a particular kind of group—a recognition that the office always seemed to deny, since no matter where you were in the office, you were always presumed to be on your way up. (Think of that line from the Stanwyck film: “Baby Face is moving out of your class.”) And part of the brilliance of the film was its insistence that the jobs weren’t bad simply because the office workers were oppressed: they were intrinsically bad jobs, in a bad environment.
Promotion for years of dedication to the new office in the basement.
The setup for “Office Space” represents a larger shift in the understanding of office life. The paradigmatic narrative had been the entry of the rural woman into urban white-collar life, with its attendant sexual terrors; by mid-century, it was the travails of the middle manager attempting to avoid the conformist spirit of organizational life. But the plot of “Office Space”—reflecting the larger changes in the American economy—is about people being forced to leave an environment they hate, through layoffs; the same is true of the British show “The Office” (called, in an even more insulting euphemism, “redundancies”) and of the recent American novels of office life “Then We Came to the End” and “Personal Days.”
The prospect of losing one’s job forces the personal crisis: you come to know who your friends are, what your loyalties are worth, and what your job really is.
In “Office Space,” consultants come to examine the company’s structure to give it a leaner form; though their method is unjust, they really do find people working useless jobs:
BOB SLYDELL ( JOHN C. McGINLEY) : What you do at Initech is you take the specifications from the customers, and you bring them down to the software engineers.
TOM SMYKOWSKI (RICHARD RIEHLE) : Yes, yes, that’s right.
BOB PORTER (PAUL WILLSON) : Well, then, I have to ask—why couldn’t the customers just take them directly to the software people?
TOM: I’ll tell you why. Because engineers are not good at dealing with customers.
SLYDELL: So you physically take the specs from the customer?
TOM : Well . . . no, my secretary does that. Or the fax.
PORTER : So then you must physically bring them to the software people?
TOM : Well, no. I mean, sometimes.
SLYDELL: What would you say you do here?TOM : Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don’t have to. (Screaming.) I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can’t you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
Tom Smykowski is defensive about his job, even though he can’t explain what it is he does. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), the main protagonist, knows that his job—updating software for the Y2K switch—sucks, and he knows that it’s meaningless; from the vantage point of the new millennium, it seems especially useless.
Struggling to explain it to a waitress, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), he says, “I sit in a cubicle, and I update bank software for the 2000 switch. Well, see they wrote all this bank software, and to save space they used two digits instead of four, so like 98 instead of 1998, uh, so I go through these thousands of lines of code and uh . . . It doesn’t really matter. I don’t like my job.”
Later Peter confesses to the consultants that his average workday consists of coming in fifteen minutes late and “just sort of spac[ing] out for about an hour . . . I do that for about another hour after lunch too. I’d say in a given week, I only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual work.”
The twist is that this honesty is exactly what the consultants prize—a kind of ironized version of the “truth-telling” organization man of “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” Though Peter stops showing up to work and wrecks his work space by dismantling his cubicle walls, the consultants offer him a promotion. “[He’s] just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him,” one consultant says to Peter’s boss.
In return, however, they fire two engineers with actual experience, who happen to be Peter’s friends. This sets in motion the increasingly madcap (and implausible) third act, when Peter and his laid-off friends try to program a virus that would scam the company they despise out of thousands of dollars. At the end of the film, one of the company’s disgruntled employees, the sublime mutterer Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), sets the building on fire.
Peter’s engineer friends have moved from Initech to its competitor Initrode; Peter himself takes a blue-collar job in construction—preferring the outdoor life to his stationary warren of cubicles.
“Office Space” occupies such a tremendous place in the American office worker’s imaginary about his workplace it’s a shame that its effect—or the effect of the larger discourse it’s a part of—has tended to be shallow and focused on the cubicle and dumb bosses.
The “space” in “Office Space” was largely a symbol—of an uncaring, even ruthless organization.
Its real targets were the unholy expectations of the modern workplace, which asked for dedication and commitment, offering none in return.
What do you say you do here?
It doubled the force of its condemnation by extending it to other kinds of workplaces. The waitress Joanna works in a chain diner called Chotchkie’s, whose absurd expectations closely resemble those of the office. Part of her job involves donning wacky buttons with slogans and symbols on them, called “flair.” At one point, her boss takes her aside to chastise her about her flair.
STAN (MIKE JUDGE) : Joanna! . . . We need to talk about your flair.
JOANNA : Really? I have fifteen pieces on (demonstrating).
STAN : Fifteen is the minimum, mmkay. It’s up to you whether you want to just do the bare minimum. Brian for example has thirty-seven pieces of flair—and a terrific smile.
JOANNA : Okay, so you want me to wear more?
STAN : (Sighing.) Look, Joanna, people can get a cheeseburger anywhere, they come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude. That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun.
JOANNA : So . . . more, then.
STAN : Look, we want you to express yourself. Mmkay? Now, if you feel the bare minimum is enough, well, okay, but some people choose to wear more, and we encourage that. You do want to express yourself, don’t you?
Joanna’s boss occupies the same place as the office consultants: looking for intangible, personality-based outward expressions as signs of being a “straight shooter”—rather than establishing obvious benchmarks that one meets simply to garner a paycheck.
Her suspenders laden with flair suggest nothing so much as cubicle walls, decked out to show one’s “individuality.” The human attachments in “Office Space” were so strange and obsessive—Milton and his now infamous need to keep his red Swingline stapler—that it was hard to believe there was anything still left to express.
Those still immune to the satire of flair, however, are encouraged to check out the catalogs of the office supplier Baudville, which offers, among other choice items, rhinestone-encrusted lanyards as well as T-shirts for appreciation weeks with slogans like “Smells like Team Spirit” and “I Put the ‘Zing’ in Amazing.”
After such knowledge as “Office Space” offered, what orgiveness? How could one acknowledge the essential failure of the office to deliver on its promised utopia—and go on as if nothing had happened?
For many, the question was merely rhetorical: they were out of work and stringing together temporary gigs as best they could. But for others, the dream of a better office lived on in different ways: some saw technology as still offering a way of moving office work out of the office, into a broader sphere of public life; others saw that the office needed to be made vastly more humane and responsive to its increasingly apathetic denizens.
These two paths were united by a single goal: the desire to make work enjoyable, to return it to an innocence that generations of workplace mistakes had rendered corrupt.
In an arresting and bleak phrase, the sociologist Max Weber had described the progress of rationality and scientific demystification as leading to a gradual “disenchantment of the world.” Something like that had happened to office work: the rosy image of the office as a distinct, and distinctly middle-class, alternative to the travails of factory work and other manual labor had suffered too many jolts to survive. The office would have to be re-enchanted.
Ah. You all know about this, and have watched the movie.
And maybe things are changing… at a glacial pace. For those of you who have planned a life independent of the corporate treadmill, you are truly fortunate. You own your own businesses and define your hours to your own liking and your very own familial needs.
But for the rest of us…
…those that were taught in our public schools that the key for success was working hard, getting good grades and working for a company that would take care of us… (and provide us with a great pension)…
…what of us?
The way that white collar workers do their work didn’t just happen that way, but it was a result of deliberate choices – from the architecture of the buildings that the work is done in to the furniture that the workers sit on. I hadn’t thought too deeply about it, thinking that the way things are was just a bit like the way things were, only with computers. I was wrong, and Saval tracks the changes, focused on the United States from the industrial revolution on. The white-collar worker has not been devoid of the standardization and alienation that the blue-collar worker had and rebelled against. The white-collar worker just never saw their white-collar chains; instead, they looked up, hoping to move up the ladder (no matter how false that metaphor is or was).
The potential for striving has, writ large, been the barrier to class to recognition of the white-collar worker for generations. The lack of upward mobility except for into the white-collar ranks is what led to unionism and workers improving their lots. The myth of upward mobility in white-collar terms is a form of social control that is not readily seen.
Saval tracks this, and it makes me think if this has been a deliberate move. As production has been mechanized, there are fewer production workers and more support staff in ancillary roles to production. As more workers move out of production and the workforce is more and more professionalized, white-collar membership is the mass of workers. It is the cube that keeps them apart and alienated. Maybe it is a prison of sorts.
-A Novel History of the Place of Work
What of us?
Where is our “life balance”?
American Work-Life Balance
According to the Center for American PROGRESS on the topic of work and family life balance, “in 1960, only 20 percent of mothers worked. Today, 70 percent of American children live in households where all adults are employed.”. U.S. Department of Labor statistics back up this data, and notes that 75% of those women working full time. I don’t care who stays home and who works in terms of gender (work opportunity equality for all – it’s a family choice). Either way, when all adults are working (single or with a partner), that’s a huge hit to the American family and free-time in the American household.
The U.S. is the ONLY country in the Americas without a national paid parental leave benefit. The average is over 12 weeks of paid leave anywhere other than Europe and over 20 weeks in Europe.
Zero industrialized nations are without a mandatory option for new parents to take parental leave. That is, except for the United States.
According to the ILO, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.”
Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.
American Paid Vacation Time & Sick Time:
There is not a federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States.
In every country included except Canada and Japan (and the U.S., which averages 13 days/per year), workers get at least 20 paid vacation days. In France and Finland, they get 30 – an entire month off, paid, every year.
I’m not telling you to work less hours. If you genuinely love what you do and are doing it for the right reasons, you are more than entitled to spend all of your waking hours plugging away.
But for many of us, more work leads to more stress and a lower quality of life. Without time to unwind, take care of your home, spend time with loved ones, enjoy our hobbies, connect with friends, and generally live a more balanced life. Stress is the #1 cause of health problems – mentally and physically. And there are few things that stress us out on a consistent basis like work does, especially when it takes away from all of the other things that life has to offer.
Americans are the Outliers
And if all of this data tells anything, it’s that we are the outliers, not the norm. Why are we the outliers?
Our companies fairly ruthlessly let people go. We want to keep our jobs and not be a ‘low performer’ compared to others.
The decline of the union has led to less paid time off and other leave benefits.
Cultural value of money over everything else. We love money, we want more of it, and we think money can buy happiness. And the more we work, the more we get paid.
It’s been drilled in our heads that we are lazy compared to emerging market counterpart workers in India, Mexico, China, and other parts of Asia. Who isn’t? And what is our mental image of the work environments in those locales? To validate those fears, our jobs are being outsourced to the cheap labor in those countries. In reality, the U.S. trails only Norway and Luxembourg (2 tiny countries) productivity per person.
Our legislative branch of the government (on both sides of the aisle) has been bought and as a result has shied away from passing laws that protect workers that every other industrialized nation has passed.
We generally don’t fight for our working rights. We take what is given to us.
What we All Need to Remember
What we all need to remind ourselves is that it doesn’t have to be this way.
It’s OK to ask to move to fewer hours at work.
It’s OK to take a week-long vacation if we need to.
It’s OK to ask to work from home.
It’s OK to take a month of unpaid leave while you raise a child.
It’s OK… you get the idea.
Don’t let life pass you by in the name of fear, circumstance, greed, or misguided hopes. Sometimes you just need to draw a line in the sand and say “enough is enough”.
And yeah.
I can hear it now…
If you don't like America so much, then leave. 'Merica is the best! Rah Rah Rah.
U.S. Americans’ Work-Life Balance Is Exceedingly Imbalanced
Research shows many Americans who receive paid time off are afraid to take it because of workplace pressures. But it turns out the European vacation mindset could actually help boost productivity.
The European Union’s Working Time Directive guarantees EU workers at least 20 paid vacation days per year, contrary to the United States, which does not have a statutory minimum annual leave requirement. Some European countries mandate additional time off; the UK, France, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, and Sweden all require 25 or more paid annual leave days. OECD data shows more time off doesn’t have to translate to lower productivity. On the contrary, some of the most productive countries, measured by GDP per hour worked, were in Europe.
The United States ranks far lower.
And don’t tell me that there are worst places in the world. Sure there are. But that is not the issue. The issue is [1] what is going wrong, and [2] how to fix it.
Belgium Workers here enjoy an average of 8.6 hours of leisure per day—which trumps their 7.4-hour work days. Locals really value quality family time, getting home in time for dinner each night, and taking a full month-long vacation over the summer to coincide with school breaks.
Austria
Many offices in Austria have an 8–5 workday—except for Fridays, when employees are encouraged to go home at 3 p.m. Never ending “summer Fridays” aside, the country is also one of the best in the world for people looking to relocate; 80% of expats in Austria said their work-life balance improved since moving there (compared to the 53% global average).
Germany
The German government has several regulations in place to make sure its citizens don’t overwork themselves. And the work-hour regulations (Arbeitszeitgesetz) state that workers cannot put in more than 48 hours a week—or work Sundays or national holidays.
Luxembourg
Working on Sundays is outlawed in Luxembourg (though exceptions include maintenance and security jobs). The country also scores well in the sleep and vacation departments, with citizens getting an average of 7.2 hours of sleep per night and a minimum of five weeks paid annual leave—in addition to national holidays.
Spain
Although many employees do not take advantage of early afternoon siestas there is still an annual vacation allowance of 30 days.
France
French workers spend the most time—9.3 hours per day—devoted to leisure and relaxation. In 2017, France also introduced a law that allows workers the “right to disconnect” from afterhours work emails.
The French work hard, but the OECD thinks that gender inequality in the workplace is holding it back. While 78 percent of women work full-time, they say, “access to the labour [sic] market of mothers of young or large families could be improved but would likely require a more equal share of caring activities between parents.” In other words, women could be having a better work-life balance in France if their partners stepped up their childcare and were given longer paternity leave, and other support structures from their employers. That’s also a factor that affects U.S. families, where paid paternal and maternal leave aren’t mandated by national law.
Finland
At first glance, work hours in Finland look pretty similar to those in the United States: Monday through Friday, 8–5. However, their lunch breaks are one to two hours long. A great advocate of healthy living and rejuvenation, the government gave its citizens four “Nature Days” to celebrate its 100th birthday outdoors.
The Netherlands
Although the Netherlands only gives workers nine bank holidays per year, they compensate with the shortest work week of all the countries surveyed (averaging at 30.3 hours). Add to that 20 to 25 annual vacation days and extremely generous parental leave policies, this makes the Netherlands one of the highest-ranking countries for employees to enjoy a good work-life balance.
According to the OECD, the Netherlands had the best work-life balance in 2018, with Denmark, last year’s winner, losing out narrowly. In every area, the Dutch came out on top.
One of the big factors for the Dutch, says the OECD, is hours worked. “In the Netherlands, less than 0.5 percent of employees work very long hours, the lowest rate in the OECD where the average is one percent,” they write. About one percent of men work very long hours, compared with almost no women.” They define “long hours” as over 50 hours per week.
In the U.S., by comparison, the OECD says that 11 percent of employees put in long slogs, including 16 percent of men and 7 percent of women. The Netherlands has strict working week laws to prevent people working over 60 hours. Dutch culture doesn’t put as much emphasis on working till you’re exhausted, writes Business Culture, and encourages leaving leisure time. “They have clearly defined working hours and they respect them,” Business Culture writes.
You can take sick leave for up to two years and still receive 70 percent of your salary, according to a survey by the employment site Glassdoor. It’s the most generous sick-leave policy in Europe. Compared to the U.S., where there is no policy, it frankly boggles the mind.
Sweden Sweden enjoys 25 annual vacation days, along with 16 months of paid family leave and 14 bank holidays per year, making it one of the more generous countries in terms of in Europe for employees.
Prisons in Sweden are meant to rehabilitate criminals, which helps explain why the country’s recidivism rate—how frequently people return to prison—is so low. In 2014, it was 40 percent, about half that of the U.S. And Swedish penitentiaries more closely resemble American offices or college dorm rooms than they do prisons, according to The Guardian.
Denmark Denmark balances salary against cost of living well, and average daily leisure hours (8.8 per day) way outnumber work hours (6.6 per day). According to U.S. News & World Report, this is also the 2nd best country in the world to raise children. Both mothers and fathers are entitled to 23 weeks of parental leave, plus mothers get an extra four weeks of leave before their expected due date.
Unemployed workers in Denmark get 90 percent of previous earnings for up to 104 weeks, the most generous unemployment benefits in the EU, the Glassdoor survey said. This far outpaces the U.S., where unemployment pays 40 to 50 percent of earnings for up to 26 weeks.
Only 0.5% of Dutch employees regularly work very long hours, which is the lowest rate in the OECD, where the average is 13%. Instead, they devote around 16 hours per day to eating, sleeping and leisurely pursuits.
The Netherlands also boasts very low rates of youth unemployment, high literacy levels, below average levels of child income poverty and high levels of life satisfaction in childhood – over 93% of 11-15-year-old children report above average life satisfaction, for instance.
Work responsibilities are also shared among Dutch families, with the number of women in employment doubling from 35% in the early 1980s to 69.9% today, which is well above the OECD average of 57.5%.
There is also a strong sense of community in the Netherlands, where 90% of people say they know a friend or family member they could count on in times of trouble. This is slightly better than the 89% reported across other OECD countries.
Australia
The OECD reports that “when asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Australians gave it a 7.3 grade on average, higher than the OECD average of 6.5.” In the U.S., the grade is 6.9. Comparatively, though, Australia isn’t actually that good at work-life balance.
“Full-time workers devote 60 percent of their day on average, or 14.4 hours, to personal care (eating, sleeping, etc.) and leisure (socialising [sic] with friends and family, hobbies, games, computer and television use, etc.) — less than the OECD average of 15 hours,” says the OECD. It’s only just behind the U.S. in work-life rankings, ranking 32nd to the U.S.’s 31st. Less time for leisure and fun means a less balanced, more stressed country.
Brazil
In Brazil, work-life balance goes in a different direction: while only 7 percent of workers work long hours, the average income is significantly lower than the OECD average, and 64 percent of people have a paid job, compared to 69 percent in the U.S. The Brazilian economy is recovering from a slump, which is why working hours are currently a bit lower than other countries.
Ugh!
The average American works a staggering 1,836 hours a year, which is a good deal more than most of the world. Something something, the American Dream, blah blah blah. But with all that time put in at the office, Americans surely get loads of vacation days to keep them productive and not just freebasing K-cups on a day-to-day basis, right? Wrong. They’re definitely freebasing K-cups.
Compared to other developed nations, Americans get very little — if any — paid vacation time. As a small consolation, they do get approximately 10 days a year off for holidays.
Well, officially, that is.
GM required that you could only take the vacation during the plant shut downs, you had no ability to determine when you could take your vacation. And at that, you were required to keep your phone with you at all times to keep connected to the middle management in case you are needed.
So that’s a big issue.
It results in “burnout”.
Hey! Did you know that “burnout” is an American thing. yeah. Russians, French, and Chinese don’t get it. Just Americans do.
Dear BS Job, three months ago my boss told us that we would produce a draft without discussing the project requirements with the VP first, in our boss’ words to “show we’re innovative”. Then we’d share the project with upper management, “wow them” and “invite feedback”. [Ed: I love how ‘feedback’ basically means ‘harsh criticism’ these days.] We did so, delivered on-time no less, and it sat on the veep’s desk for nearly a month. A week before product launch, VP looks at our draft, tells us it’s all wrong, and we have to redo EVERYTHING! Of course the veep blames our boss and the boss blames us, even though we did everything we were told.
A recent report has found that the United States is the only advanced economy that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time. Almost 1-in-4 Americans do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays, trailing far behind most of the rest of the world’s rich nations, according to the report.
“No-Vacation Nation Revisited,” released earlier this year by the Center for Economic and Policy Research reviewed the international labor laws impacting paid vacation and holidays in 21 rich nations. The countries included 16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, all major economies that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Some highlights of the report:
For the United States:
Workers have no statutory right to paid vacations.
The sum of the average paid vacation and paid holidays provided to workers in the private sector ― 16 in total ― would not meet even the minimum required by law in 19 other rich countries, the report notes.
The lack of paid vacation and paid holidays is particularly acute for low-wage workers, part-time workers, and for employees of small businesses. (Workers in small businesses are less likely to have any paid vacation (69 percent) than those in medium and large establishments (86 percent); only 49 percent of low-wage workers have paid vacation, compared to 90 percent of high-wage workers; part-time workers are far less likely to have paid vacations (35 percent) than full-time workers (91 percent).
The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger when legal holidays are included. U.S. law does not guarantee any paid holidays, but most rich countries provide between 5 and 13 per year, in addition to paid vacation days.
But Americans are so proud of the USA…
For other rich countries:
Workers in the European Union are legally guaranteed at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries.
Canada and Japan guarantee at least 10 days of paid vacation per year.
Five countries even mandate that employers pay vacationing workers a small premium above their standard pay in order to help with vacation-related expenses.
Most other rich countries have also established legal rights to paid holidays over and above paid vacation days.
Several foreign countries offer additional time off for younger and older workers, shift workers, and those engaged in community service including jury duty and for activities like union duties, getting married, or moving.
“The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays,” John Schmitt, senior economist and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn’t worked.”
Rebecca Ray and Milla Sanes were co-authors of the study.
The center studied this topic initially in 2007, but since then, little progress has been made, the researchers noted.
“It is striking that six years after we first looked at this topic absolutely nothing has changed. U.S. law and U.S. employer behavior still lags far behind the rest of the rich countries in the world,” Schmitt added.
So let’s get back to “brass tacks”
People need to have a plan to manage their lives within a crazy, ever-changing society. One that is very fast, and proceeding ahead faster and faster with technological advances. You cannot count on work, society, or your government to help you out. You need to plan on how to survive within the confines of what is at your reach.
We need a plan. And it has to be better than fighting over every single penny, and grasping for every little thing.
You have skills. Improve them. Advertise them. Use them.
You are part of community. Embrace your role. Be helpful and supportive of others in your community.
Realize that no one can help you. You are on your own. And as such, strengthen your bonds with others in your local community and make sure that you and your family have a great work/life balance. It is critical for your happiness and critical for your health.
And while other nations, other peoples and other societies have it better than you Americans do, do not get all upset about that. That’s not your problem. Getting to have the same kind of happiness and life balance that they have, is.
It starts with you.
As American culture, society, and industry has become isolated from PEOPLE and their families, so has the American government. This “double tap” has caused a deep impression on the combined American psyche. And it’s not a good one. In fact, I can argue that this effect has been so horrible that it has created a downward spiral with the United States seems to be entrapped within.
Click
There was an Adam Sandler movie made in 2006 titled “Click“. And this movie take a good comedic look at the Work/life balance that exists within the United States today.
Michael Newman (Sandler) is a hard working family man, who must please his boss (Hasselhoff), in order to get promoted. Problem is he gets less time with his family, and wishes for a remote in which he can control his life. This soon comes true for Newman, when he meets Morty (Walken), a crazy sales clerk, who has the ultimate remote. A remote in which he can do anything, including muting, skipping and dubbing his life. He finds this to be the opportunity in which he can not only skip every argument, but also skip to his promotion. He sees this as a good idea, until the remote goes horribly wrong.
-Written by Film_Fan
It was Adam Sandler’s most underrated movie.His role was that of a ordinary workaholic of that time trying to put up a better living for his family but he misunderstood his priorities and try to make the family happy but instead went on avoiding their company. It a fine piece of art and a wonderful chemistry of husband and wife.
It’s a comedy, but it’s also a drama. It is something that maybe all of us need to take a good long look at.
Scrooge was granted visions of Christmas Past and Christmas Future, and reformed his life. What happens to Adam Sandler in “Click” is like what happened to Scrooge, except with a lot more Christmases. He needs more than one lesson and he gets more than one lesson. Way more.In “Being There,” the hero Chance has spent all of his life watching television. When he wanders out to freedom and is threatened on the street, he clicks a TV remote control to get another channel.In “Click,” Sandler plays Michael, an architect who is given a universal remote that’s truly Universal. With it, he can take control of his life: freeze a scene, fast-forward, reverse, mute the sound, select the chapters of his choice and even witness his parents at the moment of his conception (that’s, of course, in the “Making of” documentary).Of course.
The movie is being sold as a comedy, but you know what? This isn’t funny. Yes, there are some laughs, as when he finds he can turn the dog’s barking up and down, or play around with the settings for hue and contrast, or when he discovers the picture-in-picture feature that allows him to watch the ballgame no matter what else is going on around him. But the movie essentially involves a workaholic who uses the universal remote to skip over all the bad stuff in his life and discovers in the process that he is missing life itself.
Take away the gimmick of the universal remote, and this is what a lot of us do, and it’s sad.
Yes.
That’s me…
…and yes. That’s you.
It’s not just sad, it’s brutal.
There’s an undercurrent of cold, detached cruelty in the way Michael uses the magical device. He turns off the volume during an argument with his wife. He fast-forwards through a boring family dinner, and later through foreplay. He skips ahead to avoid a bad cold. He jumps to the chapter where he gets a promotion. Eventually, he realizes the family dog has died and been replaced by another, his kids have grown up, his wife is married to someone else, and he weighs 400 pounds. It happened while he wasn’t paying attention.
Surprisingly good
25 June 2006I walked into the movie theater expecting to see Adam Sandler make a complete buffoon of himself. However, when I came out I was impressed. There was a depth to this movie I did not see coming, and it took me completely off guard. "Click" proved to be a powerful, emotional, and humorous piece of work. There was a certain philosophical message in this movie, in which I think, we all take for granted. Adam Sandler did a great job in playing a work-aholic.
Like many other Sandler movies, this one lingers studiously over bodily functions. After losing enormous amount of weight, for example, Michael plays with a big flap of loose skin around his stomach, plopping it up and down long after any possible audience curiosity has been satisfied. During an argument with his boss (David Hasselhoff), he freeze-frames the boss, jumps on his desk and farts. When he puts his boss back on “play,” the boss inexplicably decides his secretary has put feces in his salad. Anyone who can’t tell poop from lettuce doesn’t deserve to be a senior partner.
They teach you that in business school.
Maybe that’s why she decided to have a sex change.
But I digress…
Michael is surrounded by patient and saintly people. His wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale), loves him but despairs of reaching him. She has that standard wifely role of complaining when he has to work late and can’t be at the swimming meet/Fourth of July party, etc. Michael’s parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner) are sweet and loving but kvetch too much and talk too slowly, so Michael zaps right through the time he has remaining with them.
Like many of us do.
And then, before we realize it, they are all out of our lives forever.
We went ahead and chased that ‘almighty dollar”. We followed our careers, and we chased after the money to “make a better life for ourselves”, but you all know… it really wasn’t necessary.
As long as you can balance your TIME with your MONEY you will be fine. It is when you mistakenly believe that you need certain “essentials” instead of time with family and friends that things end up going wrong.
Here is the handy-dandy Metallicman cheat-sheet chart to help you all plan out your life…
And where are you on it right now?
It’s a valid question.
Now, let’s compare the work/life balance of Americans to the rest of the world, and let’s include the modern contemporaneous HR limitations about actions and behaviors on employees when they are not at work. Compare the USA work/life balance to the rest of the world…
America is truly the leader …
…in making a lot of money. But how about having a decent life to go along with that money that we all earn? I mean do we all have to end up becoming a mega-billionaire in order to be able to take a day off to watch our sons play a softball game? Do we need to work long, long days all the time, jsut to be able to afford one night out a week in a restaurant?
Think about it people!
The automobile
People now drive these amazingly expensive vehicles. They have all sorts of things. Such as heated seats, power windows, power seat adjustments, wifi, super-charged engines, custom colors and interiors, and all sorts of enhancements. And yeah. That is why they are all so expensive.
And to drive these cars, we all take out loans. Because the cars are so expensive.
But really, if you can get by without a car, you could save an enormous amount of money every month. And then use that money on the down payment on a house that you could rent out instead…
…or not.
The point is that you don’t really need an expensive car. If you have a great life, with great family and fantastic friends, do you REALLY need to have the most expensive car on the block, a ski boat, a pool in the backyard, and a five bedroom, three bath, McMansion?
I argue that you do not.
My co-workers got me a birthday cake, celebration at 3pm in the breakroom. Little did they know (nor did I) that the purpose of my prior meeting at 2pm with my manager was to lay me off. I was escorted out, I am in the parking lot, one of them just texted me now, photo of cake, saying they are “eating it in my memory”. hahaha I even requested that they all wear Hawaiian shirts, including me, so I got fired wearing my f___ing flowery Hawaiian shirt. Needless to say, I got no cake either.
And with that keep in mind that this need for making more and more money is a sickness. It is ingrained in our American culture and it is resulting in some very disturbing trends. Obesity, death rates, addictions, crime, and a general collapse of society. And any one who thinks that this all… this status quo needs to be preserved needs their head examined. It needs to change.
It needs to change.
Change starts with you.
I see cracks in the society that embraces this sickness, and while it all appears worrisome, it shouldn’t be. It should be welcomed. Because change is long, long overdue. America has to change. It’s citizens are dying in the society that the government has constructed for it.
Change starts with you.
Make your life a good one.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my life and happiness index, here…
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This post is about people. It’s about families. It’s about relationships. It’s about cultures, societies, and life. It’s about lifestyle. And I want to start the year with a good humane post that discusses these elements in our life.
Unlike previous years, there seems to be an increase in videos and movies about humanity. Sure there’s the action videos, and lots and lots of guns. There’s monsters and super heroes, but a new kind of video is emerging from the old. It’s a video about people and their humanity. And these videos are becoming more an more common.
This article, this post, highlights those videos.
Please kick on the picture to see the video. It will open up in another tab. Allow some time for it to load. Most videos are in the 20MB range, but one is 65MB. I do hope that you all will enjoy them as much as I have.
A Chinese video about a father and his daughter..
The night before my father died, he left me an email message. It was a stupid one-sentence email along the likes of “do you have the link for the website we talked about?” And I kept that message. It’s still there, sitting in a dusty file folder on my long disused Yahoo! account. And account I only refresh every year or so to keep my old archives and records intact.
The following is a video. It’s a Chinese video. It’s about a man, now an old man. He’s a man, a father, who likes to listen to the voice-mail message left by his (now dead) daughter. We don’t know how she died, or what their personal situation is. But we do know that they had a relationship, and hearing her voice was very important to him. So important that he has paid for her cell-phone account to stay active for years and years.
But then suddenly, her voice-message disappears. And a story ensues…
.
I hope that you all enjoyed this video as much as I have. You don’t need to understand Chinese. Just watch what is going on.
So what might the oligarchs think of Chinese people with their resounding support for the Communist Party of China?
They will hate them with every bone in their body, they will be furious that this country resists and denies them a chance to plunder it - yet again.
The oligarchic death cult will be extremely angry that a single country presents an excellent and achievable system of government and financial management and community betterment to all the other nations on earth.
-Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 5 2021 20:48 utc | 14
Two strangers in Europe
This next video is about two strangers. It’s a European video. And they get stuck in an elevator. You know those places where you just stand and focus on the lighted numbers, the buttons or the advertisements on the walls. never communicating with the other people that you share that brief moment of time with.
Enjoy, it’s actually a little cute.
.
That was good. Right? A nice fun and kind of cute video. But the message is important.
How are you going to behave this month?
A sense of community.
In the next video we have a typical small family run business. These places are everywhere in China. You can get a breakfast for under $1. Usually some hot Jiu (which is a rice porridge soup), some Baozi (which is a small roll with meat or vegetables inside), some noodles, and some sweet bean drink. The business is thriving…
…but there is an emergency and the entire family must leave now. And all the people are stuck with no one to serve them, and the family devoid of income for the say. What is going to happen? As these establishments typically don’t have doors, are out in the open, with the family living in the back room watching the store.
What is going to happen?
It’s all about community.
.
It’s all about community and our role in it.
Lets look at what China plans to do over the next 5 years. The article provides a very broad explanation then links to some specifics at the bottom, the item about the Yangtze River Economic Belt being most important. I found this bit of reporting highly important:
"More specifically, these days the government uses the five-year plans to reinforce and complement the market dynamic by providing regulation and guidance. That includes providing the legal and social framework, such as issuing monetary and fiscal policies, providing public goods and services, such as building high-speed rails, and correcting for market failures like pollution."
There's a vast difference in focus between China and the West--China's sharply focused on its development in ways the West isn't whatsoever, and it makes certain its citizenry knows that and everyone's working as a team--every job has its own value and is important.
The best explanation I have is that China is doing while the West is watching and not doing; therefore, China continues to grow ahead of those standing watching with their jaws agape.
China outnumbers the Outlaw US Empire by more than one billion people. That's a huge team working together to advance their nation and themselves.
Within the US Empire, at least 30% of the labor force is idle and not even counted for unemployment purposes since they aren't actively looking for non-existent jobs while about 24% of the active labor force is unemployed. That's 54% of your human capital that's not being used at all to better themselves and their nation. Honestly, which one has the better outlook?
- Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 5 2021 22:57 utc | 28
Bravery, sacrifice and respect
The next movie consists of excerpts from a Chinese war drama.
Most Americans haven’t a clue to the fact that China has been embroiled in centuries of very, very bloody warfare. People have suffered well enough, and one of the great polices of modern Communist China is to avoid war and get off that “bandwagon” of exporting “communism”, or “democracy” to the rest of the world.
Instead, China has adopted a “live and let live” attitude, and all of China, from the laws, to the media play this narrative over and over.
Never the less, if you need to fight, you fight to the best of your ability. And you do your best. You fight for family, and your die for family. For in China your community is who you are.
Which is the opposite of what it is in America.
In America, it is “every man for himself“, it’s a “dog eat dog” world and you need to “carve out a life for yourself“, or you are a failure. So in America you don’t have teams. You don’t have families. Instead you have successful individuals.
Instead of Huawei’s leadership committee supported by the Huawei engineering group, you have Elon Musk.
In Chinese movies the emphasis is on being the best you can be as part of something bigger. While in American movies it is the individual that fights against all odds.
This next clip is a Chinese war drama. Notice the depictions of bravery for the community of friends. It’s all very Chinese, but maybe…
…just maybe…
…it’s that we are all part of something bigger, and we need to contribute to it.
.
War is not going to help humanity grow.
It’s working together, not fighting apart.
The tale of the thermos
In our culture, well in most cultures, it seems very odd to open up to strangers. It’s difficult to meet them, to talk to them without feeling a jerk. For in most societies the people that tend to come up to you are typically undesirable…
And so we avoid others. We stare at our shoes. We read our cell phones, we look at the scenery, we stare off into space. We do anything and everything possible to not engage into inter-personal contact with others. We self isolate. We go home to our dark home and there we stare into the flickering blue glow of the monitors until the next day, when we get up and drive alone to our destination.
This is undesirable.
Humans are social creatures. We need society. We need to communicate with each other. We need that inter-personal level of relationship.
The next story, is a cute one. It’s about a boy who wants to strike up a communication with a pretty girl, but there is nothing to “break the ice with”, just his thermos.
.
This is the central theme behind the first Howard and Kumar movie; Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (plus a heady dose of smoking that marijuana.)
Help others by active participation…
The next video is from the Middle East. And a man decides to help a beggar out. And maybe the point is clear. Rather than pass by, or rather than just give him a coin. Perhaps assisting in a more active way…
…even if it seems trivial…
…is important.
I personally believe that every action that we perform has meaning and substance. Everything that we do, and every thought that we have, all combine towards the reality that we create for ourselves. Maybe the fellow in the video cannot change this beggars life, nor does he want to. He just wants to help him out a little bit more.
The world would be a much nicer place to live in, if everyone stopped thinking about themselves and instead abandons the “for-profit” model embraced by the capitalist oligarchy out of Washington DC and starts going on the local level ….
…helping each other out.
.
And from Europe we have a similar themed movie. And in this one the same type of action is performed. The point should be clear, you all…
…all over the world…
…most especially in Asia…
…people are waking up to the realization that we all must contribute to the well being of each other, and that the greedy “mine, mine, mine…” oh, you are “bad and evil, we must destroy you“, and all the bans, the nonsense and the hate must end. It is a time that is long over due.
.
Funny thing about all these videos.
I pulled them off of DouXing which is the Chinese version of Tiktok. You know, the one that Donald Trump banned in the United States for “natural security reasons“.
Perhaps, if you are an American, you will need to destroy your computer now because you watched these dangerous videos with their dangerous ideas. You don’t want the American thought police to come banging in your door and arrest you.
Do you?
It always gets me when the American press says that there can't be peace without "democracy" and "liberalization."
Huh ... try 20 million dead in America's wars since WW II.
And as for "democracy," living in America I would love to see some of it.
Posted by: Mike from Jersey | Jan 5 2021 20:41 utc | 12
Conclusion
I think the main problem are the two different approaches taken by the US or Chinese, which are diametrically different. The Chinese seem to use a "Cumulative" approach, while the US is based on what I call "Winnowing" as a state. Take their respective attitudes towards the poor.
First the Chinese; Cumulative, we are all in this together. If everyone has a "job" be it ever-so lowly, selling food on a street corner for example, then for the Chinese this is a "plus". The person is more or less responsible for his own well being, is not a burden on the State for handouts, and could be (potentially) taxable etc. The object being that ALL Chinese then become positive factors in the society. They are also more motivated because they have a "place" in society. The recent case of Jack Ma and an IPO is not the opposite, but he was trying to get ahead by means that would have led to more unemployment - on the back of the Chinese Government. He was not adding to the cumulative good of the country. Only his own riches. (The Chinese do have billionaires and riches - but are constrained by Corporate credit ratings as explained on a previous - very interesting - thread. Thanks to: psychohistorian | Jan 5 2021 2:08 utc | 162. The MoA Week In Review - OT 2021-001)
The US. The attitude is to beat out the chaff leaving only the "kernel". To "Winnow" the population leaving only the top. ie the poor are sidelined, they become a problem for the Government (needing support, food etc.). A net negative value to US society. (The Rich also get handouts from the Fed. as free money has become an habitude, but that is an another way of winnowing out the chaff - as others do NOT get the trillion dollar handouts) The poor have no "place" in a society that has rejected them and so are less motivated. They must fend for themselves and are expected to obey. If they do not there are always the police to enforce obedience.
"Cumulative = win-win", and "Winnowing = Only the top win".
Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 5 2021 20:26 utc | 11
The world is changing, and it is a good thing. Awareness of it, and awareness of our role in the world is very important. And we do not need to subscribe to any service, pay any fee or provide any user login information to participate. All that matters is to smile, and be more open to the world around you.
Who knows what interesting people you might meet?
Do you want some more of this?
I have more posts along these lines in my Rufus index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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This is a quick and simple post. It’s just some Christmas videos out of China. Contrary what what you might read, China celebrates Christmas robustly. It’s just celebrated differently. That’s all.
These are not the best videos, the most profound or the greatest. They are simply the top listed ones on the Chinese music application KouGuo. (Which means nothing, actually.)
First up is a rather old music video. This one was made in the 1990’s (my guess) but pretty much illustrates what the meaning of Christmas is for many people in China. I would say that it’s not so much about buying presents, and “spreading good cheer” as it is about people and relationships.
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The next up… an Enya Christmas. This video is not a music video from the 1990’s like the first one. Instead, this is contemporary views of China on Christmas day. My guess is that it is either Shenzhen or Guangzhou. But I don’t know for certain. It’s a pretty interesting take on what it is like in China. Music by Enya placed with snapshots of daily life inside of China on Christmas day.
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And here’s another music video. This one is again older. Why so many older videos? Well, think about it. Why does everyone still watch “It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas”? It’s the same thing. Nostalgia.
Here’s what they watch in China…
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Of course, the media is overflowing with all sorts of American -produced Christmas themed music videos and “specials”. But do you really want to hear another rendition of “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” by Michael Bublé?
Here’s some typical Chinese Christmas fare…
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Of course all the television shows have a segment devoted to Christmas themed events and amusements. Much like they do in the United States. Here’s some typical fare…
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Another music video.
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I do hope that you enjoyed this post.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Music Of China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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And that is what this is, don’t you know. It’s a collection of videos that I picked up out of Chinese media. I have highlighted certain parts of the videos for your attention and I comment on it. It’s not really a complete investigation into Chinese society, but rather snapshots of what exists today. And if you look carefully you will be far better served to see it for what it is, instead of the heavily promoted narrative that China is bad.
I like to think that these videos are fun. They are not made by the Chinese Government as part of a pro-propaganda campaign as the folk on Alex Jones claim. It’s just average folk posting videos. Much like average folk in America have been using Tiktok. Same thing, more or less.
Please click on the picture to watch the movie. It will open up in a separate tab.
Small Business Opportunities
When I was a young boy in Bridgeport, CT I had a “girlfriend: all of 5 years old. She was much older than the 4.5 years old boy-of-the-world that I was growing up to become. Anyways, in our neighborhood, it tended to be lower middle class and the time frame was the early 1960’s.
Everyone had a side business that they were running out of their basements. Our neighbor had rabbits in cages that they performed experiments upon for the United States government. And there were others who operated small stores out of their living rooms. My “girl friend” had a father that made rock sugar candy and other elements out of big 55 gallon drums in their basement.
We used to sneak down and get a string or two out of the big barrels and chew on them as we went off adventuring as part of our childhood.
You really don’t see that much any more. Few people try to operate their own businesses out of their residences for money. It is too expensive, not just in the regulations and OSHA requirements, but the IRS, the DHS, and just about everyone else will have a say at to what you are doing. And if you break one of the millions of unspecified laws, you can be guaranteed a trip to jail, if not prison.
Americans tend to no longer have self-employed businesses out of their homes any more.
But this is not the case in China.
For the ladies trying to get started in their own clothing line…
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To the guys who want to make things out of steel, and bars…
Most Westerners will probably relate to this story…
But the Chinese think small and then work their way up. Westerners like to think big and try to sustain it no matter what.
Here’s an interesting story about the “high life” that Westerners have become accustomed to within China, while the rest of the Chinese nation toils on a mere few dollars a day.
From Frans… (and NOTHING having to do with Metallicman)…
This is a story I have to share, it is sitting in my mind for too long.
In this story, I do not mention the real names of the people involved. Instead, I use either initials or an alias. People, familiar with this story will obviously easily recognize who's who. Please don’t share this story with others.
From 2009 to 2012 I worked for a small WOFE, owned by a Canadian businessman; let's call him "Bill G."
We had a manufacturing plant in the Southern suburbs of Shanghai and a luxurious headquarter in Jingan district.
Bill and I were the only foreigners, working in that company, making medical devices for clients in various European countries. We didn't had Chinese or American clients.
Bill had earned some money in Saudi Arabia and moved to China in 2005 to establish the new company.
Bill had the appearance, but not at all the personality of Leonard Cohen. Bill was by all means a special guy. He was irascible and very short-tempered. Several times per week, he was loudly scolding Vivien, his private secretary or other Chinese people of the middle-management: the purchase manager, finance manager, quality manager, production manager and very often the HR manager. (She was loudly crying, each time he scolded her)
I was the Engineering Manager, and to be honest, Bill paid me very well. I was also often acting as the General Manager when Bill "disappeared". That happened quite often and nobody, not even his ex-wife or his son in Canada knew where he was or why he was away.
One day, after I submitted my expense note from a business trip to Hong Kong, he blustered to my office and started an abuse tirade to me. I shouldn't have booked a business class ticket and stayed in 5 star hotels. "do you think you're working for MNC here ?" he shouted. (Yes, I have worked 15 years for MNC before and I was used to business class flight tickets and 5 star hotels). During his tirade, I packed my laptop and other belongings and called a taxi to leave. When he noted that, he asked what I was doing. I explained him that I no longer wanted to work for him. He returned to his office but when the taxi was there, he came to me to excuse him. He promised never to do that again and I stayed.
That was only 3 weeks after I worked for Bill G. We later had many other collisions.
One day, when we were traveling in the company car (both with our private secretary) to potential new suppliers in Ningbo, we got another explosion. He wanted to buy an old fashioned, yet solid, cheap, but highly unsafe cutting press, while I wanted a much more automatic, modern machine with all kinds of safety protection screens and devices. I threatened him, saying that in case he would buy the unsafe machine, I would write an email to him with cc to the local police station, explaining that he, not me, will go to jail in case of a work accident. After another abuse tirade, he agreed to buy the machine I proposed.
He was terribly envious on me because I could speak Chinese with everybody in the company and he, in spite of all his efforts, couldn't. He rented a private teacher to learn Chinese, but he didn't had the perseverance to learn to speak some sentences. Every day, at the back seat of the company car, he used his carton cards with Chinese characters and their meaning. I told him he shouldn't learn hànzì characters but instead learn pinyin and speak Chinese. But he didn't accepted my recommendation because his Chinese private teacher was full of the beauty and cultural significance of hànzì characters.
One day, he said to me (probably out of envy) that I shouldn't "lower myself" by speaking Chinese to the people in the factory ! He also once said to Mr. Zhao, the production manager: "I'm the company president, I expect everybody to speak proper English with me".
From time to time, he blustered to the workshop, climbed on a pedestal (a couple of palettes) and started shouting to the poor assembly workers, almost all very young Chinese girls who came from the countryside to Shanghai and who didn't understand one single word of his tirade in English.
One day, he came to my office and sat down in a corner, silently. When I asked him what was wrong, he explained that he finally realized that there was something wrong with his attitude. He had decided to go to Tibet for 3 weeks and convert to Buddhism there. When he came back, he was indeed much calmer and controlled, but after a while, his tantrums returned, albeit less often. So then he registered for yoga classes. With a private teacher, every evening one hour. It indeed helped a bit.
At the end of 2011, his daughter came over to Shanghai to study Chinese language at Shanghai Normal University. She went back to Canada one year later.
At the Chinese New Year dinner (and the KTV afterwards), Bill didn't knew well how to behave. Sometimes, I or Lina (the HR Manager) had to take the lead. It was an act, not a spontaneous party.
One day, Bill invited a potential new customer from the USA for a factory visit. They came over with 3 people; none of them had ever been to China before. During the dinner in a famous, very Chinese restaurant, one of the three pushed his chair away from the table and refused to touch the food. He was "afraid to be poisoned". Really !
Bill was living in a big luxury apartment in Huangpu district. With an attached small apartment for his Ayi. When I told him that opposite to his compound, there was the biggest escort service company of the globe, he acted as if he didn't knew. There indeed were several thousands of girls (and boys) working there and luxury cars were driving in and out the basement day and night. But he didn’t knew it.
He didn't trust people, he was unable to build a stable relationship with Chinese people. "All Chinese are cheaters" he often said. No wonder he was in constant conflict with staff, suppliers and our European customers. Vivien, his Chinese private secretary, acted to the outside world as if she supported Bill unconditionally.
One day, when he once again messed up the whole factory, the workers threatened to strike. I called his brother (let's call him Rob G.) back in Canada in an attempt to persuade Bill to be more reasonable. Some days later, Rob came over and stayed in China for a while. He finally gave up his job as policeman to act as a handyman and go-between between Bill and the production staff. By the way: Rob was very different from Bill. He was a man of the world, although he had a very particular language with a lot of spicy words. He was living in a house in the famous Thames town in Songjiang, far away from his brother.
One day, we got an official letter from the local government, announcing that, because of the hot weather (and everybody in Shanghai switching on their air conditioners), the whole industrial park would be switched off from the electricity grid for two weeks. When Bill was in utter panic, preparing an email for our clients to announce the shut down, I was able to calm him down. And went to the other factory owners in the industrial area. In a meeting that afternoon, we decided to send a Chinese factory boss to someone of the local government to persuade them to not switch us off. The hongbao (small fee) that we collected from each of the 12 owners was very convincing for the guy from the government. We were not switched off from the grid.
To release his stress, Bill decided to go to a Jazz club every Saturday night. He paid for a private table, right in front of the Jazz orchestra and invited Vivien, his Chinese private secretary (she was happily married to a chief constable) and his daughter (when she was in Shanghai). He didn't had real friends. I, as a Jazz music addict, went to that same club for years, usually sitting in a more dark corner in the back. Every time, he invited me enthusiastically at his table but I often declined as I didn't wanted to expose my friends to his behaviour.
Because of a new EU commission regulation, we got in trouble with the sales one of our core products in Europe. And consequently Bill's company came in financial trouble. Before, I had tirelessly tried to convince Bill to increase the sales price of our products. As I had, much more than him, excellent contacts with our clients, I knew that they would be prepared to pay a bit more for our services. But he didn't listen to me. Instead, he started to cheat both our suppliers and customers. He didn't pay suppliers, some of them entirely dependent on our products. He borrowed money from our main customer and never paid it back.
I told him that he should fire me because the company could no longer bear the cost of my salary. But he didn't.
Sometime later, when I returned from a trip home (and to one of the customers), he asked for a private meeting in a restaurant near to my home in Shanghai. There, the high word came out. Right before, I told him I knew why we were there. During my trip to Europe, the day before I returned, he had secretly fired my tooling manager, quality engineer and my private secretary.
I still today have excellent contacts with all the former people of that company. Back in 2017, Mr. Zhao, the production manager, who also had taken over my tasks, called me to inform me that Bill once again disappeared. Two days later, when the salaries to the (remaining) workers had to be paid, Bill had blocked all bank accounts. I recommended Mr. Zhao to close the factory.
Today, Bill is still without a trace. Even his ex-wife, his son, daughter or his brother don't know where he is. He's certainly not in China anymore. Some people suspect that he is living in hiding in Venezuela.
When I was living in Suzhou and went to that Jazz club in Shanghai, I met there by big coincidence Vivien, Bill's ex private secretary. She was drunk and hooking up with an older American guy, something I haven’t seen her doing before.
When I said to her "Hi Vivien, how are you doing ?" she replied: "Hi Frans, you're looking well, but I'm no longer Vivien, I’m Christine now". I was speechless.
Last year, Mr Zhao started a brand new company in Songjiang from scratch. He has gradually taken over the manufacturing of some of the products we made before. He has the full confidence of our former clients and suppliers. When I was there last year, he had only five people working for him but the future of his new company looks bright.
-BillBrockenblock
Ah.
But enough of that. China has changed. It’s a new world out there and the high powered days of living well inside of China are merging to a new reality.
Relationships
This world is filled with all sorts of people. But humans are humans, men are men and women are women. It’s how we interact with each other that is important.
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That’s the ol’ softie in me. Don’t you know.
Incidentally, the restaurant that they are both working in is a “Hot pot” restaurant. Basically it is a big pot of soup that you dip meats and vegetables into. Much like a Fondue. However, you also then dip it into sauces after you eat it, and you get to make your own sauces. It’s all very delicious. In the background we see a guy spinning what looks like pizza dough. Nope, that is how you make noodles in China. You make it by hand and that is what he is doing.
Now, you all might be confused, but this is taking place in a restaurant where they both apparently work, which is something that you can see by the aprons that they are wearing. My guess is that this is the very famous restaurant chain; Hai De Lao.
haidilao
https://www.haidilao.com/en/index/index.html
The Haidilao brand was founded in 1994 in Jianyang, Sichuan. Since 1999, it has gradually opened up markets in Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Beijing. In 2015, our restaurant opened up in Taiwan was, and 10 stores have been opened in Taiwan by now. In 2017, our restaurant opened up in Hong Kong and opened two stores by now.
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Yeah.
Hotpot. Great in the colder weather. As it tends to steam up my glasses. LOL.
Hai De Lao Hot Pot. The meats are a selection of beef, chicken, mutton, and pork. Note the meatballs and the various vegetables that you can add as well. Not shown are the noodles, fish, shrimp, and all the other things that you can fry inside the vats of tasty oils in front of you.
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A “Brick House”
In America we refer to a strong stout woman as being built well. Or as we say “built like a brick house”. You can find these women all over the world. Not just in the United States, but in China as well. Here is a woman that I would consider a “Brick House”.
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Speaking of relationships, here’s some more girls.
Girls that resemble friends of mine
Here are some girls that resemble some of my friends that I have inside of China. As you can well guess they are nice and really sweet. They are smart too, and really interesting. Each one is like a book… full of stories and adventures.
Many I have met in the KTV’s, but also others that I have met in my day-to-day activities. All are really nice, and they are absolutely great conversationalists.
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This next girl reminds me a lot of a friend that I met at my last KTV trip. She was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I was drinking fake VSOP and that really took away from the full enjoyment of the evening. Word to the wise, when the alcohol is in question, don’t drink it. Buy your own. Bring your own, or stick to beer.
Contemporary versions of Chinese pop
Here’s a couple of contemporaneous renditions of a very popular Chinese pop song by Jay Chou. The song itself is around ten years old, but the singers breathe new life into it, and it’s all very lovely. This is the kind of music that people sing when they go to KTV’s and get drunk and belt out a song or two.
The name of the song is 千里之外.
But the new versions will not make any sense, or give you an appreciation for what is going on unless you watch the original music video. And that is why I have embedded it here…
千里之外 the original MV
Please click and watch this cute four minute mini-drama.
It’s in *.mkv format.
MKV files are actually multimedia container formats. An MKV container can incorporate audio, video, and subtitles into a single file—even if those elements use different types of encoding. For example, you could have a MKV file that contains H.264 video and something like MP3 or AAC for audio.
-What Is an MKVFile and How Do You Play Them?
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The video is in the MKV format, which should be read by both windows and Microsoft systems. However, if you are unable to view the video, you can access it here…
The song is about life, relationships, and taking opportunity even at the cost of love. Ouch!
Oh. You have to let those your love move on with their lives…
Screen shot from the original MV.
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In the video is a story about a young boy and girl.
The boy is just a handyman, but the girl is a singer and she is destined for great things. She gets an opportunity to become a great singer, but she won’t leave the boy. She loves him, don’t you know. And she wants to day with him. No matter what.
Screen shot from the original MV.
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And then one day, her big break happens. A big important man comes to her and offer her an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s an opportunity that you just do not turn down. It is something you just don’t say no to.
And she says no.
But the boy loves her.
He can’t allow her to waste her life with him.
So he tells her to go. He forces her to go. He grabs the contract and says “yes” before she even knows what’s happening.
An opportunity of a lifetime.
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Yes, and she leaves. Three years later, she returns. Rich and famous. But the boy is there. Just the same old job, making ends meet. And the song has a refrain about your loved ones moving on to bigger and better things, while you are left behind…
Beyond A Thousand Miles (Faraway)
The roof is like a cliff ,the wind chimes are like the blue sea I wait for the swallow to return
The time has been arranged to act out an accident you quietly leave
The story is outside the city,the heavy fog won't disperse,can't see the dialogue clearly
You cannot tell by listening the sound of the wind doesn't exist,it is me who is sighing with regret
I waken from the dream ,Who is at the windowsill opening the ending?
That future which is as thin as a cicada's wings cannot withstand being torn apart by whom
I send you away beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and white
The silent era perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
I send you away Beyond the end of the sky,are you still there?
Where is the sound of the piano coming from? It's hard to predict life and death I use all my life To wait
I hear sounds of tears so I enter the woods searching for the white pear flower I only get a row of moss
The sky is beyond the mountains,the rain falls down on the flower stands, I'm grey at the temples
I hear sounds of tears so I enter the woods,searching for the white pear flower I only get a row of moss
The sky is beyond the mountains,the rain falls down on the flower stands I wait for you to come
Glazed white all over you,transparent like dust your flawless love
From the rain you come,the poem becomes sorrowful I'm drenched now
Pick up the lotus from the water surface,it's as if the shadows of the boat sailing are still there,yet you don't come back
Covered by the years,the flower you spoke of blossomed,the past becomes blank
I waken from the dream,Who is at the windowsill opening the ending?
That future which is as thin as a cicada's wings,
cannot withstand being torn apart by whom
I send you away beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and white,the silent era,perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
I send you away beyond the end of the sky,are you still there? Where is the sound of the piano coming from? It's hard to predict life and death I use all my life
I send you away,beyond a thousand miles,you are silent, black and white,the silent era,perhaps it shouldn't have been,the too distant love
I send you away,beyond the end of the sky
Are you still there?
Where is the sound of the piano coming from?
It's hard to predict life and death
I use all my life To wait
https://lyricstranslate.com
The remakes of 千里之外 (Far Away)
The first “remake”…
In this, we have a British talent show. Very similar to “America’s Got Talent”. And it takes place in the UK as you can tell by the judges and the musicians. Of course, it is being judged by both British folk and by Chinese folk.
I think that this young Chinese lass has great potential and an outstanding voice. And when she hits those high notes, I just get goosebumps. It’s pretty exceptional, and a real surprise to the song. A real twist. I’ll tell you what.
The first remake… sung by a lady named 阿兰.
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And the “classic version”…
And the classic version that everyone and their grandmother sings to in the KTV. When you watch the other “judges” and the audience look up to the ceiling, open palm their hands, and have that “far away” look in their eyes, it is this guy that they are emulating…
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And it is indeed grand.
The song sung in Hong Kong
Here’s another fellow in Hong Kong. This guy really belts this song out. Check it out. It’s pretty much an attention grabber. It’s two singers 林峯、and 王祖蓝 and they both sing 千里之外.
Now for the BEST version
This is the BEST version, and I just love it. In fact, I think that I like it better than the original, or the KTV versions. It just stands on it’s own. I think that female singer just really makes this version so very, very special.
She is BREATHTAKING.
If you want to download the next file directly click on this button. It is one of my most favorite renditions.
If you don’t, then no problem. Just click on the picture below.
You will also notice the show and the audience. This is all China. And as stupid and crazy as the show appears, this is the normal kind of thing inside of China. With those strange cartoon sounds, the text bubbles that float in the air, and the really strange dressed television hosts. Yup. It’s all China.
Hey!
This gal is a stunner!
Yes. She is breathtaking. I rarely say this about a woman, but in this case, her beauty, her confidence, and her stance is just… well, astounding… and breathtaking.
I just love her strong confidence, and womanly charm.
As I have said, it’s my favorite version.
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Are you tired of this song yet?
I think that I have beaten this dead horse long enough. LOL. I guess that none of the neocons in the Military-Industrial Beltway in Washington DC has ever heard of this song, could care less about the Chinese people and their society, and just want to destroy things so that they can get a new addition to their third mansion.
But that is just my opinion.
Comparisons
We need to compare China with America for some real educational benefit. Let’s take a glimpse at some American Country and Western music…
…and some urban music.
One of my personal favorites… (*.mkv format) is Tim McGraw singing about his plans to get out of the rat-race and get down to a more stable and slower pace of life. I really enjoy this song and what it represents to me. (On a personal basis.)
Music of the American Countryside…
Jen, this video is for you.
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Music of the American Urban Areas…
This is pretty typical. If not threatening to steal, kill, rape or murder, the gals sing about how tough and strong they are and how invincible their “booty” is.
“It’s a very sassy song, very kind of woman empowerment,” Lopez said in a behind-the-scenes video posted to her YouTube page. “[It’s] kind of giving you taste of what you give out, letting guys know that we’re not going to take any junk."
-Jennifer Lopez flashes her butt in risqué new music video
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I have my own opinions about all this. I guess that music represents the society that it originates from. But I am the outlier.
I am a minority opinion.
The Internet rages on and on about this last video…
Sometimes, a song is so steamy, the only logical next step is a super-sexy music video. For that, we can thank trailblazers like Prince and Madonna, who established the right to show a little skin in music videos like "Kiss" and "Express Yourself."
MTV deserves its share of credit—can anybody ever forget their first time watching t.A.T.u.'s music video for "All The Things She Said"?—but then YouTube blew up, and suddenly you could watch any steamy music video any time you wanted.
It became a sort of guilty pleasure, listening to a great song while watching a hot person do hot-person things like make out with someone equally good-looking, move their hips like no one was watching, and wear an outfit so tight you wonder how they got it on in the first place.
You could spend hours watching gorgeous celebrities pour suspiciously watery milk on their Spandex-bound bodies (we still love you, Fergie!). And, if we're being honest, we have spent hours watching that (and we still love you, Fergie).
If I had a choice between the strong woman singing the Chinese song, or J-Lo singing about her empowered butt, I would choose the Chinese Lady (金志文 and 白雪). Not the American gutter trash.
But that is just me.
Chinese Gals
Now, after watching J-Lo promote her booty I have to ask myself if this is what America has become?
And maybe I’m a “little out of it” being inside of China.
Maybe the comment that I have become too distant from what America stands for. Maybe I am not “with it”. That I need to get more in tune with what America represents…
…”democracy”…
Just ask the “Doctor of Democracy” himself, El Bush-Bo’ Limbaugh.
But I don’t stand shoulder to shoulder with the evil psychopaths in Washington DC. I stand with the founders of the United States who believed that the United States must stay a Republic. And that once a “democracy” it will turn into an oligarchy, and in short order, a military empire.
They were right, by the way.
But to be honest, if America stand for people like Mike Pompeo and big booty, I don’t know if I really want to be part of that reality. It’s uh…”yucky” don’t you know.
Actually.
So anyways, here’s a sampling of the chicks that surround me in China. And no, they are not all big, black and stacked with enormous “booty”. They are just average and come in different sizes and shapes, just like they are supposed to. And I am just fine with that. Short, plump, big, thin, robust, or petite. I love them all.
For instance, here’s a tall thin skinny girl…
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I like her, she’s a cutie.
Next up is a “village girl”. We would call her “corn fed” back in rural Pennsylvania. We see her dancing about with her hat, and her arm protectors. Ah. It’s so China.
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Common Chicks
Moving on, let’s check out this chick. She is really a rather common archetype and is the kind of girl that you would meet time and time again in all the adult venues and establishments. She’s cheerful, fun and playful.
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I know, I know, you all want to see more than just pretty girls. Well, I’m going to get on to it. I promise.
This next girl is dancing in a restaurant.
Most restaurants in China have private dining rooms. You just book the room, and you close the door and you eat in peace. It’s everywhere, and depending on the establishment, you can have a bathroom, a television, a tea set up, and a Majong table. You just have to go to the right restaurant, and the cost for the room isn’t all that expensive either. So most people tend to use the rooms than to sit in a big open eating area like you have to endure in the United States.
Check it out…
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Now, I would like to continue with (yet) another girl.
I would say that she is pretty typical. And she really is. I can go to just about any public area and point out tens of girls that look just like her. And see, not all girls in China are all that busty. So don’t get confused. I think she is cute and having fun, and it is that sunny disposition that I just love and can eat up.
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Maybe I should have called this post learning about China by looking at pretty girls part 75, eh?
Parking Garages
I’ve covered this before, but the parking garages in China are beautiful, clean, well-lit, and attractive. And I have mentioned it before, it sure is a drastic contrast to the dungeon-like dark, dingy, dirty, cesspools that Americans use to part their cars in.
Here we have a typical chick dancing inside one of the parking garages that are everywhere.
At a train station
Have any of you guys gone to what constitutes American trains lately? Yeah. I’m talking about Amtrak. And yeah, it’s pretty awful. All the train-stations combine the worst elements of Detroit and the US Post Office. Well… not all of them are like this. Some are nice. Especially the ones near the large Urban Areas.
Well, I think that American rail is under utilized because of the cultural differences between the USA and China. I have to ask the reader, just how often do you and your friends and family ride American rail?
Well, with the massive network of High Speed Trains in China, The rail is used extensively. It is cheap, clean, well taken cared for, and is often preferable to flying in aircraft. The Chinese rail network is vast.
Here is a cute chick inside a Chinese rail terminal. Yeah, they all (stations that is) kind of look like this, more or less…
In a grocery Store
Here we have a chick dancing inside a small town supermarket. I do like these places and the prices are truly affordable. But don’t expect to get high grade Western food there.
Road Construction
When I lived in PA, that’s Pennsylvania for all you’se guys who aren’t aware of the Pennsylvania slang, the local department of transportation was constantly “fixing” the roads. You would think that the roads would last more than a few months, but then again, the very next season, more millions of dollars needed to be dished out to pay for road construction.
The potholes in PA are a big long-time, on-going, joke.
They’ll never get fixed. It’s just a big ol’ slush fund for the wealthy to siphon money from Pennsylvania taxpayers. But, anyways, I well remember one summer when it too two entire seasons lay down a new bridge. That’s five to six months. A real slow pace, and the disruption of our lives in the local community was horrific.
That’s what happens when you have a nation run by corrupt bankers.
China is a nation of engineers, builders and designers. And it shows. It’s not just two complete 6000 bed, and 10,000 bed hospitals going up in two weeks like what happened in March 2020. It’s everything.
Here’s a bridge going up in one day.
China DOES NOT PLAY.
Chinese Idea of Beauty
It all has to do with the shape of the face. Sure there are numerous characteristics that might mitigate the value of a person’s beauty. However, for the most part, if you are clean, have a good complexion, are pleasant, and have an oval face with strong thick black hair, you will pretty much be considered attractive.
I would say that this next chick has a face that well-represents the Chinese idea of beauty.
Average Life
Here’s just two girls going for a walk in the city.
It’s very common, and this is what it is like. It shouldn’t matter one way or the other, but the Mike Pompeo narrative is that the XinJiang Muslims are terribly repressed within China. That the Chinese people are starving, and hungering for “freedomTM” and “democracyTM” and they can’t wait for the great American military to invade and rescue them!
And the lonely Muslim women are forced to sleep with government officials…!
China forces Uyghur Muslim women to sleep with govt …
https://www.opindia.com/2019/11/china-uyghur...
Nov 08, 2019 · Han Males are sleeping on the same bed as Uyghur Muslim women in China whose male family members, often husbands, are locked up in ‘reeducation camps’ in conformity with a diktat by the Chinese regime, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported last week. The information comes from government officials who spoke to them on the condition of anonymity.
Really?
You must be brain dead to believe this propagandized bullshit.
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Oh, by the way. These videos are from Tiktok and WeChat. Both of which was banned by Trump / Pompeo. So if you watch them you are risking a life in prison for …
…I don’t know.
The official reason is “national security”, but when the DOJ asked to prove it the administration came up empty handed. Never the less, if you are an American, you’d better slam your computer shut, and erase everything before a NSA or DHS SWAT team breaks down your door and takes you off for questioning….
Speaking of an average life, here’s two chicks running in Chinese park in the dead of winter.
Improvements to selfies
Many Chinese women like to improve their pictures by adding special effect and other colorful enhancements. I don’t really like them, but then again, I am from the “old school”. I guess to “each their own”…
They say that the Chinese ideal is thin with big eyes. Yet they don’s provide any pictures of this ideal, and I can tell you that it is not something found in China. But you can read their opinions yourself here…
Nowhere is this difference more obvious than on Chinese social media, where you won’t find any of the contouring, lip-lining or thighbrows that fill Instagram feeds in the United States. In China, it’s all pale skin, big eyes and rosebud lips.
The fair-skinned standard: There are overlaps in how each nationality shoots its self-portraits: Chinese girls take photos at an angle to slim their faces, just like selfie queen Kim Kardashian West recommends. Chinese women are also influenced not only by their own country’s ideals but also those of neighboring East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, all of which favor slim figures and youthful, innocent-looking beauty.
Combined with imported Western beauty ideals like large breasts, these influences have fused to create a very definite Chinese physical ideal with little wiggle room for women who fail to meet the standard.
“Chinese beauty ideals basically come from the media: TV shows, celebrities. A lot of Chinese beauty ideals are quite Western,” Chinese culture expert Janny Chyn, who provides cultural immersion tours through her company Shanghai Pathways, told Mic. “The main difference is that we like white skin.”
Many women in China strive to be baifumei: pale, rich and beautiful (with a heavy emphasis on pale). The ultimate baifumei is actress Fan Bingbing, adored and emulated for her translucent white skin, large eyes and “melon seed” (oval-shaped) face.
“There is a strong standard of beauty in China, and it requires you to be as white as possible, with big eyes,” Thibaud André, consultant at Daxue Consulting in Beijing, told Mic.
Cute wins out over sexy: Flick through Instagram in the U.S. and you’ll likely see a lot of flesh, especially in the summer. Everybody from Kardashian West to Drake has been known to get a little thirsty on social media. Not so on Chinese social networks like Weibo, where big eyes, bunny ears and cute slogans abound. And it’s not just among teenagers.
“The big difference is that we want to be cute. You will see women pretending to be teenagers when they are grown-ups,” said Shanghai Pathways' Chyn.
“Pretending to be cute is never offensive. It’s more controversial to be sexy. If you’re cute, no one can disapprove.”
One Chinese guide to taking selfies says “innocent and cute” photos will always prove the most popular and are also easy to take. That means less vamping and less makeup aimed at overt sexiness. While girls all over the Western world might have been sucking on bottle caps last year to get Kylie Jenner’s lips, women in China are more likely to underplay this feature, using lighter or coral lipsticks.
This desire to be cute also manifests itself in big, puffed-out hamster cheeks, a sweeter alternative to the more overtly seductive “duckface.”
When skinny trumps curves: There’s no denying that Americans feel huge pressure to be skinny, what with 20 million American women experiencing a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their lives. Social media plays its part in promoting skinniness, glorifying thigh gaps and spreading "fitspo“ slogans. But the recent movement to embrace plus sizes, along with the popularity of curvier celebrities like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and the Kardashian crew, has brought a bit more variety to social media that makes space for curves. (See: ”belfies.“)
Chinese social media, on the other hand, sees the glorification of skinniness above all else. This has led to a number of selfie trends, including one challenge to twist your arm behind your back to touch your belly button and another to stack coins on your collarbone to demonstrate thinness.
”[Actress] Angelababy represents the beauty standard right now, super slim,“ said Daxue Consulting’s André. "All over Weibo, Chinese women are posting pictures showing how slim and how white they are. That’s definitely a trend.”
And while America isn’t perfect — a curvy body is still more celebrated when it includes a slim waist — there is at least some diversity in the types of bodies deemed attractive.
“Americans prefer a fit body, a fit figure. It doesn’t need to be skinny, it doesn’t need to be chubby but it needs to be fit and healthy looking… In China I only hear, ‘Girls should have really thin bodies,’” said one participant in an Asian Beauty Secrets video about American vs. Chinese beauty standards.
Who needs makeup when you can digitally edit your selfies? Selfie trends like contouring and strobing have changed what products many American women have in their makeup bags, as we prioritize looking “camera ready.”
Not so in China. Although the cosmetics market is growing, women there still wear far less makeup than girls in the states, according to André. There’s little need for special selfie-ready makeup when you can use apps to change what you look like instead.
“Our selfies are very high-tech,” Chyn said. The functions on Photoshop-like apps lay users’ beauty desires bare: The most popular Chinese beauty app, Meitu Xiuxiu, allows you to whiten your skin, slim your face and make your eyes impossibly huge. By contrast, Facetune, an app used by Tyra Banks, focuses on whitening your teeth, smoothing out skin and applying more makeup.
Understanding the pressures women elsewhere face might be just the thing to make us examine where our own beauty ideals come from. Maybe we’ll even put down the bronzer, delete the Photoshop app and face the world as we really are. Just maybe.
Ahhhh
The “news” out of America is about 80% bullshit, 10% truth, and 10% out of the “outer limits”.
This reminds me of an event while I was in university. Friday was designated as “wear jeans if you agree with LGBT rights” day. Well, since I and about 90% of everyone else in the university ONLY had jeans, we were left with two options; [1] wear the jeans or [2] stay home and miss class. Most, like myself, came to class wearing jeans.
It had nothing to do with anything else.
I think that most Chinese Goth folk are taking selfies because they are human, and it’s a thing that everyone is doing. Not that they are trying to “protest” the “evil communist tyrants”. Or whatever the Mike Pompeo narrative is today.
Gyms in China
Yup. China has gyms and the rates are pretty reasonable. The only thing that I do not like is that they tend not to be air conditioned. That is because the Chinese believe that you need to sweat to get rid of the bad chi (energy) inside of you.
While people are realizing the importance of sport for health and better appearance, fitness industry is also booming in China in recent years. More and more people become members of fitness studios and the fitness apps are being used everywhere.
With the technology development and the changing lifestyle of consumers, the fitness industry also needs to work on new concepts to adjust people’s needs for fitness in the future. Fitness industry in China was facing transformation.
Instead of working out in gyms and fitness studios, nowadays fitness can take place everywhere. Due to the high penetration rate of smartphones in China, fitness apps are well used by fitness enthusiasts. People can easily get fitness tips, find fitness studios and get connected with other fitness enthusiasts and professional trainers with apps in their smartphones.
According to rough estimation, there were nearly 100,000 fitness studios in China. Most of them were opened in bigger cities. Beijing and Shanghai are the Chinese cities with the biggest market for fitness studios.
Fitness studios with innovated concepts are also first introduced to these two metropolises.
To be noticed is that the numbers of fitness studios in second-tier cities are growing faster. Considering the brands and types of fitness studios, the Chinese market has showed a great variety.
While the big chains owning hundreds of studios are still expanding, the smaller boutique studios which focus on more individual personal training for certain groups are becoming increasingly popular. And people are apparently willing to spend more in these boutique studios.
With the growth of the fitness market, the consumption of high-tech sportwear and wearable devices are also expected to grow.
Fitness studios with high-tech apparatus might also be more competitive in the market, while the less qualified trainers are facing the pressure from their customers who can get professional information from various channels. The future of fitness industry should be a cooperative competition of various industries and sectors with more highly personalized and individual offers.
- Fitness industry in China - statistics & facts | Statista
Chinese Beaches.
If you perform a google search about beaches, or swimming in China you will see these images of hordes of people all crammed together. It’s actually funny. that’s not the way it is at all. It is the narrative that the American government wants people to think. But not the way it really is.
The American view of Chinese Beaches. Pretty crowded and impossible right?
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So what is it really like?
Well, I have a house on the beach. And every day I see it, watch the sun rise and the sun set on it and watch the people come and go on it. And NOT ONCE did it ever resemble what you might find on the American websites, search engines or “news” articles.
Here’s some images of what Chinese beaches look like. It’s the real deal, you-all.
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And here is another young lass… She’s a bit on the thin leggy side, but you know, isn’t she attractive though? Look at that smile. I love her confidence. Smile (check). Confidence (check). Beach (check). Small bikini (check, check, check).
Dance Class
Dancing is very popular in China. Perhaps the biggest “craze(s)” lies in the styles related to “Spanish Samba” and K-Pop. In my office building on my floor (were) two K-pop dance troops and one Samba studio. Making my floor about 50% devoted to dancing with pretty girls of all ages.
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The girls above seem to be middle school age. My guess.
Forward Thinking
Global Times editorial celebrates moon mission and poverty elimination, a tandem neither the Outlaw US Empire nor any other nation has achieved. The key as ever is balance:
"For a long time, some people believe China has not done enough to balance these developments. Voices have existed that China invested excessive resources to fields such as aerospace. Despite difficulties, compared to other countries, China has tried its best to reach a balance and has achieved positive results.
"Since China implemented the reform and opening-up policy, the most prominent and well-known national goal has been achieving a moderately prosperous society. People's livelihood and fairness and justice have always been the focus of attention in Chinese society. A technology-centered national strategy and people-oriented economic development have highly integrated.
"In the past few decades, the Chinese people have been developing the aerospace field, but their livelihood has also been improving. The lunar exploration project is not a political vanity project - it is well within the ability of Chinese society.
"The progress in high-tech areas such as aerospace has pushed up China's strategic competitiveness overall. At the same time, people are living better lives. Without the advancement in high-tech areas, China's prosperity would lack the backbone and long-term guarantee....
"China has long implemented a market economy, but has maintained the guiding role of the government. This prevents our market economy from repeating and hovering at a low level, and also prevents us from being satisfied with the low-end prosperity of the global value chain. The Chinese nation's self-motivated spirit continues to release momentum, successfully supported by the country's system. Thus, we can move forward in a balanced manner and with a clear sense of direction." [My Emphasis]
This same methodology can be seen in Putin's governance and also glaringly absent from all Neoliberal driven nations, which partially explains their problems. I'm going to single-out this one sentence from the concluding paragraph for it admits a truth no Neoliberal nation has even acknowledged:
"There are unlimited possibilities in space, and most resources that support the human being's future development must be outside the Earth." [My Emphasis]
I know of no major nation that has admitted directly or through its main media voice that the earth is finite with a limited amount of resources that will govern the overall degree of potential development. For me, that means China has admitted to itself that at some future point there'll be a requirement to shift to a steady-state type of political-economy for all nations and thus the world.
That's a far more advanced view of economics from the Neoliberal model that doesn't admit to scarce resources or that there's a limit--a Junk, unrealistic model to be sure.
Classrooms
School is much more intense in China than it is in America. For starters, all the children must learn English AND Chinese. Their classes are very regimented, and success is mandated by culture. If they want to be an individual and “go their own way”, it is not permitted. they must work as a team, be a team player and do their best. Failure is not an option.
Final comments
What the American (and British) media presents as “China” has very little resemblance to what it actually is.
Pompeo unloads on US universities for China ties
https://apnews.com/article/technology-mike-pompeo...
Dec 09, 2020 · Pompeo took aim at universities across the U.S., claiming they refused to address the Trump administration’s concerns about China’s attempts to influence students and academics. He specifically called out the president of MIT, alleging he refused to host Pompeo’s speech, and a senior official at the University of Washington over a case ...
And…
Exclusive -- Mike Pompeo: China Infiltrating Our ...
https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/12/14/mike...
Dec 14, 2020 · In September, Pompeo said he was “hopeful” that branches of the Confucius Institute — an organization run by the Chinese government — across America’s colleges and universities would be closed by the end of 2020. The Trump administration designated the Confucius Institute’s programs as foreign missions of the Chinese Communist Party.. China is a greater threat than Russia in the ...
And…
Pompeo vows tough U.S. stance on China but is open to talks
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/pompeo-vows-to...
Aug 21, 2020 · Pompeo said the Trump administration is open to talks with Beijing but the U.S. would maintain its tough stance. “President Trump is serious about protecting our information, our networks and ...
China is depicted as an evil, dirty, corrupt, tyrannical “regime”. When in reality it is a single-party, social democracy based on Confucian values and traditional culture. Over the last four decades the nation has worked hard to make China what it is today, and what it is…
…is really astounding. It is a middle class neighborhood populated with hard-working, intelligent people. They are fiercely patriotic, almost hysterically so, and all the nonsense from (former) President Trump and his side kick Mike Pompeo are all lies.
Pompeo blasts China for suppressing coronavirus ...
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pompeo-blasts...
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid harsh blame on China on Sunday for engaging in what he called a “classic Communist disinformation effort” and for working “to make …
As a sanity check, here is a video of the the events in China during 2020.
As you watch the three minute video can you identify which items that you are aware of from the Western news media?
Go ahead, watch and count the number of events that the American and British “news” media reported on…
Do you want more?
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Yeah, I keep quiet about it. And, you know, I have a retired lifestyle and have pretty much mellowed the fuck out, but I do own and run numerous companies, and I am the boss of them. I might be the CEO, the Executive Director, the Manager, the Owner… but first and foremost, I am the BOSS.
And yet, being a boss is not like what you would think it is.
And it is neither of the extremes that you might think it is from television, movies, or your personal experiences with the owners of companies elsewhere. It is something else entirely and at a complete an unique level as well. And since I am a foreigner as a Boss in China, that places the “awe level” quite high.
So…
Like my posts on other subjects…
Like what [1] the actual situation is about extraterrestrials,
And [2] what the actual situation is about prostitutes,
And [3] what the actual situation is about China,
And [4] the actual situation is about the Trade War… etc. etc.
This post is going to be what the actual situation is about being “A Boss”. What it is like, and how one qualities and what it is all about.
I’m gonna tell you all straight.
I’ll probably make a shit load of enemies in the process.
Keep in mind that this is true for a very select group of people. For less than 1% of American CEO’s are actually a “real Boss”. The rest are more or less, cogs in a big, vast, machine.
Supervisor
Manager
Team Leader
Vice something or other
C level someone
Etc. Etc. Etc.
The Boss is always busy working and talking with others, making arrangements and cutting deals.
The movie “The Freshman”
In this post I use images from the movie “The Freshman”. Which is an old 1980’s / 1990 comedy movie. And while it is a comedy, and it is all fun and games, I do want to use the situation(s) as depicted within the movie to make some points.
Charming points
A comedy no one can refuse ...ElMaruecan82
26 June 2012
How many actors could have parodied their most classic roles without falling into caricature? Think about it: while it takes a certain talent to make a performance that elevates a character to a legendary status, overplaying enough to make it comical but not over-the-top is the ultimate proof of acting genius. And only Marlon Brando could have got away with playing his most iconic character, the Godfather, and make it so damn believable. And it's this very seriousness in his performance that makes "The Freshman" so delightful and naturally, hilarious.
Although not revolutionary, what makes "The Freshman" such a classic on its own is that it accomplishes a real miracle by resuscitating Vito Corleone, his name is Carmine Sabatini but the movie can't fool us: the guy IS Vito Corleone. As explained in the film, Sabatini's the one who inspired Vito's character, in other words, "The Freshman" is so confident over its comical premise, and rightfully so, that it doesn't even hesitate to insert several references to "The Godfather". And these are not just gratuitous 'Godfather' references thrown away for the sake of it, it's important to know that it's not a parallel world where the movie isn't supposed to exist.
On the contrary, not only it does, but whoever sees Carmine Sabatini has the most natural reaction by immediately thinking of Vito Corleone. The movie, in a way, asks the question, how any of us would react in front of a movie character. How would I if I met my favorite character? I guess, probably like Clark Kellog, Matthew Broderick as a film college student, the titular "Freshman".
And the deserved praises on Brando's performance shouldn't diminish Broderick's talent at all. With his awkward youngish look, Broderick is the perfect straight-man for a comical duo with Brando. Indeed, the comedic power of "The Freshman" relies on the extraordinary ability of Brando to play his character seriously in a non-serious film. Consequently, we don't laugh at Brando because he's too believable (we'd never treat him so disrespectfully), but at Broderick's disbelief.
There's one part where Carmine offers a job to Clark, and gives him the hand of friendship as a solemn promise that no harm would happen to him. 'How can I say no?' replies Clark, to which Carmine dryly retorts 'that's not a yes, I want to hear yes', he takes a walnut and break it with his own hand, making a threatening sound. This improvisation, proving that Brando didn't lose his acting instinct and trademark use of props in movie scenes, provoked an even more genuine reaction from Broderick who didn't know the walnut had already been broken before the shooting.
Clark had no other choice than to say yes, after all, isn't Vito Corleone, the man who makes offers we can't refuse? The film's funniest moments are driven by Sabantini's aura and Clark's incapability to control the situation or to say 'no'. The script finds the perfect tone to show a guy screwed but in a way that inspires our sympathy without feeling antipathy toward Sabatini. And another triumph on the writing department is the way everything seems believable despite all the zany material it employs.
Whether it's a picture of Mussolini in an Italian Social club, an espresso that takes three spoons of sugar, the Mona Lisa painting in Carmine's house, and a weird traffic involving a Komodo dragon, I wonder why I wanted to believe that the first time I saw it. Maybe I was just a 10-year old kid who just laughed at the gags without looking too much deeper into it.
The irony is that after watching 'The Godfather' so many times, I believed in Sabatini even more.
That's not to say that it takes to be a 'Godfather' fan to enjoy the film, but it sure helps and not just for laughs. There is a heart in this film, and there is something very nostalgic, almost poignant to see Sabatini interacting with Clark. Sabatini is so sweet you'd forget he's a dangerous person.
Brando finds the perfect note because he makes Sabatini lovable, while Vito was feared and respected, the way he treats Clark like the son he never had, his unexpected outburst of joy or sadness, his tender kisses or slaps in the face are all expression of a sincere love.
Yes, we laugh when he never remembers Clark's hometown ("You're from Connecticut" he joyfully says as if it meant something), when he calls him "Kent" instead of "Clark", or casually tells him that he'll marry his beautiful daughter Tina (Penelop Ann Mirren), but we still take him seriously because we never see when he's acting and when he's serious. And it doesn't really matter since in both cases, it's funny.
But I make the film sound like the 'Brando' show, while it features a great cast of supporting characters, notably Bruno Kirby as Vic the streetwise nephew who emphasizes every word said by his Carmine. Maximilan Schells steals the show as a demented German chef. You would probably notice Frank Whaley, the 'what?' man from "Pulp Fiction" as Clark's slick roommate. The film makes many references to "The Godfather" series, an apparent favorite of Clark's teacher, the goofy monomaniacal Pr. Fleeber (Paul Benedict). Interestingly, the film was released the same year than the last opus of the trilogy, but I see it more as a coincidence, since the film is much more a reminder of how iconic the first two were.
"The Freshman" is still a delightful comedy, cleverly written, with the perfect dosage of verbal humor and slapstick, the journey featuring the Komodo dragon would be seen as an oddity considering the film's context, but it totally makes sense at the end. Everything brilliantly tie up at the end, even the weird affection between Sabatini and Kellon, the little spice that gives this film, its unique flavor ... with basil cream sauce.
In the movie “The Freshman”, the Boss tells the young freshman that he is to wed his daughter. The girl that he just met yesterday, and that he cannot get out of the “business” as he is in it for life.
And another review…
Further Viewingsrmax304823
11 June 2004
What a wacky plot. Broderick is hired to convey illegally imported endangered species by Brando, playing Carmine ("Jimmy the Toucan") Sabatini, in order to provide million-dollar-a-plate dinners for a bunch of international degenerates who revel in eating forbidden fruit, or in this instance lizards. It's the kind of plot you dream up while sitting around all night half-gassed with a couple of buddies who have a good sense of the absurd.
Broderick is Clark Kellog (whom Sabatini calls "Kent"), a naif just in from Vermont to attend film school at NYU. Sabatini is the "importer" he works for and a ringer for "The Godfather." (The original was almost a self parody.) Those are the principal roles and Broderick handles the role of straight man, being sucked into a Mafia-like existence, competently. Brando is unforgettable. He tried one or two comedies before and they tanked, but he's a winner here, cracking walnuts in his fist, weeping with emotion as he embraces his new employee.
But it's not just the relationship between Clark and Sabatini that's amusing. It's also just about everything in between, including what we see of the film school, where the professor assigns seven hundred dollars worth of his own books as required reading, and is working on a paper that will combine -- what was it? -- Plato, Marx, and semiotics in a deconstruction of "The Godfather", or something equally insane? Maximilian Schell is a much under-rated or unnoticed actor.
He consistently turns in riveting performances but has never achieved major stardom. It doesn't matter whether it's drama ("Judgment at Nurenberg"), comedy thrillers ("Topkapi"), or, as in this case, comedy. He never fails to bring something extra to the role.
His first entrance here knocks the whole situation askew. Clark has enlisted a fellow student to help him carry this giant lizard (Varanus komodoensis -- they pronounce the specific name wrong) and a bearded sunglassed Schell ambles into the scene during the delivery, fondling a ferret, looks up with a big smile, and says, "Sabatini said one boy.... Here are two!" Clark runs through his explanation while Schell listens politely before replying, "Sabatini said one boy.... Here are two!" He says it a third time before ambling off. That's ALL he says.
I've seen this about three times since I first commented on it and, although this is anything but a "deep" movie, I've continually found things, mostly jokes, that I'd missed earlier. I must give a few examples.
Never before had I noticed some particular details in the scene in which Brando cracks the walnuts. I had just seen him cracking walnuts. More recently I've noticed that in this scene Brando, apparently dead serious, tells Broderick that he wants him to accept the job offer. "I don't want to hear 'no', I want to hear 'yes.'" And that, immediately after these lines, while Broderick is pondering an answer, Brando picks up TWO walnuts, rolls them in his palm, and slowly but noisily CRACKS them.
And another of the many allusions to "The Godfather" finally registered on my interpretive apparatus. As the end credits begin to roll, Broderick and Brando are taking the monitor for a walk through the cornfields in long shot. And we can hear Brando's voice offering Broderick some career assistance. "Y'know, Clark, when you get out to Hollywood, maybe I can help you." "No, please." "It wouldn't take much. Just a few phone calls." "NO!" "I could kick open a few doors for you." The penny finally dropped and I could see Brando arranging to have a lopped-off horse head planted in some producer's bed.
Just a few other points. One is that the score owes something to "The Stunt Man." Another is that Brando seems so perfectly comfortable in this self parody. He seems to be genuinely enjoying himself. His body language is exquisite. He lolls around in his chair, sticks his tongue in his cheek (literally), waves his hands, shrugs, and does everything else flawlessly. Sometimes his whiskery voice gets away from the Don Corleone model. I don't think Vito Corleone would be so indignant when talking about Polaroid and IBM on the phone. "I told you before, Charlie, I don't LIKE it when they go DOWN. Listen. I had another stock broker once and he only called me with bad news. It got very UNPLEASANT, Charlie, y'unnerstand me?"
And anyone who thinks of the later Brando as a bloated hypocrite who has lost whatever acting chops he once had should take another look at the scene in which he visits Broderick in the college dorm room. Broderick, at Brando's own request, recites a poem written by his father, a rather elliptical one, and Brando's character picks it up immediately -- "Ah, the cat." And the discussion about Curious George. And Brando's momentary melancholy as he looks around the college dorm, an environment as alien to him as the planet Neptune, shrugs and comments, "Well, I didn't miss nuthin'." It isn't funny. It's touching.
I thought this movie was very funny and quite original, considering the stale material it was sending up, and I still think so. Two years' worth of additional viewings hasn't changed things. You must see it, if only to hear Bert Parks sing "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more."
I am sure that most people reading this will have seen the movie, so we can move on. But if you haven’t you might want to rent it, buy it, or torrent it.
Managers vs Bosses
In the United States, we have what is called “bosses”, but you know, they really aren’t bosses. They are just managers. Manages with a “small m”. They perform a role, but are still, no matter what, employees. And you have “technical experts” and while they might have all kinds of certifications, and diplomas and documentation to their name, they too are only employees.
And yes, you have those “higher ups”. Those “Big Bosses” that have paneled offices, credenzas, and maybe their very own secretary or two. But then again, they are just still “manager employees”.
Rule number one;
#1 Rule; Only the owner of a company can be a Boss.
Everyone else is just a manager.
What is a Boss?
A boss is a person that owns, operates, runs, manages and controls a company.
When they make a statement, a policy, or a rule it is firm and never questioned. The decision has been made and it is final.
A scene from the 1980’s movie “The Freshman”. Here in this scene, the Boss describes to the young freshman that the boss cannot lose face. There are too many important things involved and that he just cannot risk a much younger person saying “no” to the Boss.
As such there are rules that they follow. But these rules of behavior are different than that for the rest of the company. They have a much greater degree of flexibility and latitude in what they can do and how they can behave.
Workers and staff follow one set of rules.
The boss follows a different set of rules.
They might have a business “empire” that spans the world and has hundreds of people, or they might have a small operation that only has three key people, and others that come and go as needed. Size does not matter. What matters is [1] attitude, [2] respect and [3] control that one has over their operations.
What does NOT matter is [1] how much money the company makes, [2] how much money the boss makes, or [3] what the rest of the world thinks about the boss or his company.
Respect
This is interesting and cultural. In China, far more respect and deference is given to the boss and managers than anything ever seen in the United States. To put this into perspective, let’s look at my handy dandy chart below…
A comparison between the respect given to a boss in China compared to that of a typical American boss, or leader.
Boss tales
Like me. I am a small-time boss.
You might call me a “mini-boss”, or a “boss” with a under-case “b”.
My operations are small, up front, in person, and direct.
It’s the nature of my life.
Long term Metallicman readers will recognize that I am talking about. You do not need a lot of fame, fortune, big fancy expensive cars, and multi-million dollar houses to live the life of your dreams. Truthfully guys, if I told you half about what my life is actually like, you all would think that I am just full of shit.
Scene from the 1980’s movie “The Freshman”. Here, a Boss is discussing employment opportunities with a young college student to wants to join “The Business”.
I have structured my life this way, and through the power of [1] affirmation campaigns, [2] experience, [3] thoughts, [4] relationships and friendships, and [5] opportunity, I am living a lifestyle that fits me personally.
There are many such people in the world.
The owner of a small garage that fixes and repairs cars.
The owner of a small ethnic operation that provides legal help, financial help, and other services to the local ethnic people in an area.
The owner of a small machine shop.
The owner of a local laundrymat.
And while the “news”, television and Hollywood just loves to talk about the trillions and billions of dollars that the handful of ultra-super-dooper-crazily-wealthy have, the vast bulk of real bosses (in the world) are really just “small time” operations.
Most “real” bosses, though not everyone, got to where they are now through hard blister-on-the-hands mind-dullingly boring work. It’s just that we kept up at it, time after time after time, after time. Sooner or later, eventually something happens, and some money starts to roll in, and believe you me, it’s not really a lot at first.
And it is the journey to that point…
…the trials, the pains, the anguish, the failures, and all the heartbreak…
…creates the boss that you see standing in front of you.
In the movie “The Freshman”, the Boss sees himself as a young man in the young freshman that wants to work for him.
And for me…
Well…
It has been a seemingly endless string of companies that worked me to the bone, and discarded me just as abruptly. Heartless, painful and relentless. It fucking sucked, and so I, out of necessity, had to create my very own company. (Companies, actually.)
Not to mention all the associated hassles with my MAJestic retirement and all that load of fucking crap.
What it takes
You know, talking about “one day” being a Boss is not the same as being one. And being a manager in a company working for someone else isn’t being a boss either. having an impressive title, or a business card doesn’t make you a boss. Nor does having a corner office, a potted plant, or a company cell phone.
A Boss does things his own way.
#2 Rule; A Boss does things HIS way.
To be a boss you control everything. If you want all the gals in the office to wear mini-skirts, you make it so, and if you want to smoke a cigar in your office, you do so. If you want to make a pot of chili and have it cook in the office all day, you do so, and if you want to come in early or late, you do you as you feel fit.
But it’s more than that.
It is the bosses that do their own thing…
…that strive anyways…
…that push and strive following their very own dream…
…while the rest of the world makes fun of them, attacks them, bemoans them, and pretty much abuses them…
It’s these bosses that end up making the world a better place to live.
The Boss in the movie “The Freshman” adding a little bit of sugar to the young freshman’s coffee. It’s his way of showing kindness.
Have you ever wondered why real Bosses don’t just copy other people, and other successful companies? Have you ever wondered why they want, and insist on doing things their ways? Have you ever wondered why?
Why…?
Some other Bosses
People naturally succeed at what they love doing. They just plug away at it day in, and night long. It is what makes them happy, and what makes them “tick” (like a clock). And such, when others see them, they cannot help but to find them a positive influence.
Other well known bosses include…
Rob Ross
When you are doing something you love, on your terms, and you are the boss, your life transcends perfection. Consider some other (well known) bosses to not only owned their own company and “brand”, but also enjoyed what they did to a point where their life became transcendental.
Bob Ross passed away in 1995 at the age of 52. We were lucky enough to have him all those years, but obviously we still miss him. Luckily he lives on, thanks to his painting legacy, all over the internet now. If you are ever looking for something soothing to watch in the evening, I highly recommend it! And if you are feeling particularly crafty give it a try! He's a great teacher and you will surprise yourself with how well you can do!
-10 Amazing Facts About Bob Ross That Prove He Was Exactly As Wonderful As You Thought He Was
Robert Norman Ross was an American painter, art instructor and television host. He was the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, an instructional television program that aired from 1983 to 1994 on PBS in the United States and in Canada, Latin America and Europe. Ross subsequently became widely known via his internet presence.
Fred Rogers
Another Boss is the great Fred Rogers. He, like Bob Ross, owned his own production operation, and headed it and was the leading talent in it.
Here at Fred Rogers Productions, children come first, now and always. We connect with them through shows that are fun, relatable, and put their social and emotional learning front and center. That’s how we’ve earned the trust of parents, caregivers, and teachers.
-Fred Rogers Productions
Fred McFeely Rogers, also known as Mister Rogers, was an American television personality, musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.
Jim Henson
Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the creator of the Muppets, founder of The Jim Henson Company, and the performer behind many of his company’s most famous characters, including Kermit the Frog, Ernie, and Rowlf the Dog.
In February 2004, The Walt Disney Company purchased the Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House characters from The Jim Henson Company. The purchase did not include the Sesame Street characters, which are separately owned by Sesame Workshop , nor did it include Fraggle Rock and other franchises, which The Jim Henson Company retained.
Ben & Jerry
Here’s an ultra-liberal duo who made a fortune doing what they love; making ice cream. And being (joint) Bosses, they defined their life, their business and their product line. And while many Americans might find them a bit flamboyant and outrageous, they are Bosses in the truest sense of the word. They own their business and run it as they see fit. And if you don’t like it, you all can take a hike!
With a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry open their first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.
-About Us
Ben & Jerry’s produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream and ice cream novelties, using high-quality ingredients including milk and cream from family farmers who do not treat their cows with the synthetic hormone rBGH.
There are many more examples…
Yah. There are many more examples, but most are not all that well known. Today, in the new government controlled narratives, fame and glory come attached to huge mega-corporations. Not to the smaller people like you (the reader, and myself). For the most part, most people don’t know we even exist.
Clark Kellogg: You promise?Carmine Sabatini:Every word I say, by definition, is a promise.”
But, let me tell youse all…
As a Boss you define your image. You define what you do, and whether or not you want to be super rich and popular, or just very comfortable – doing what you love. (Which is what I chose.)
And while a boss might be busily defined his life, maintaining his work and doing what ever his business is, he finds time to work with other people. To take them “under his wing”, and work with them, to help them, and help everyone around them to thrive.
Can anyone become a Boss?
Well, can anyone become a Boss?
The answer is yes. Yes, anyone can become a Boss. You just need to keep on doing what you love and follow your own dream, what ever it is.
Then you need to create your business, and that provides an income. And you as the Boss control it.
Maybe it’s collecting trash, or fixing cars, and reselling them. Maybe it’s buying up old rental properties, fixing them up and selling them, or maybe it’s making your very own brand of chewing gun. It’s all up to you.
Maybe it’s making your own home-made pistols, or growing ginseng and curing it to make ginseng cigarettes. Maybe it’s something else. The point is, not HOW MUCH MONEY that you are going to make. The point is rather YOU DOING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, and doing it YOUR WAY.
How do you know that you are working for a Boss?
The primary characteristic of a Boss is that they own their own company, and that they define their rules. They go and do things their way.
But how do you know, if your “Boss” is actually, and really a real Boss?
It’s all about loyalty.
Clark Kellogg:You had a choice - not to turn me in.Dwight Armstrong: If it was your son, you would have...Clark Kellogg: If it was my son, I would have treated him like he was my son. If he was my step son, I would have treated him like my son.
If you, and the people around you have a strong feeling of loyalty towards your Boss, then he is, INDEED a real, honest to goodness Boss. Because a Boss, no matter what his exterior never, NEVER makes people feel like things. Real Bosses make people feel like family.
A real Boss will make you feel like family, and you will have a natural loyalty to that person. Scene is from the movie “The Freshman”.
As I have repeatedly stated, in America today, the entire culture and society…
Loves things.
Uses people.
Instead of…
Loves people.
Uses things.
Being a Boss is your great escape valve off this “rat race”. For as a Boss you can define your own life your way. And if people don’t like it, too bad.
Conclusion – The Movie
Some reflections on my life, and a great movie that many have just discounted as a silly comedy. They didn’t “get it” because their understanding about life was just too shallow.
I must have seen this film twenty times. It's one of my absolute favorites. It's gentle, heartfelt, funny, subtle and delicate. It's also, of course, an absolute delight for movie buffs.
I know it's an absurd thing to say, but in many ways this is my favorite Brando performance: he's having such a good time sending himself up. He does it with such obvious relish but, at the same time, he IS Marlon Brando, the greatest actor Hollywood ever produced, and his character has all the regal gravitas that he brought to bear so effectively in "The Godfather".
For those of us who thought that the only thing wrong with "The Godfather" was that there wasn't enough of the old man, this film is an unheard of feast.
Of course the story is daft, so what? I LOVE the scenes with the giant lizard - especially the end with Brando walking it and talking to it. There are so many great lines - I suggest that your reviewer who couldn't understand a word Brando said throughout the film cleans his ears out so he can hear gems such as: "So this is college. I didn't miss nothing'", and, "When you get to Hollywood I want you to gimme a call. I could kick a few doors open for ya."
And Maximilion Schell: superb as the mad chef. "Carmine said one boy, here are two." There are so few gentle Hollywood comedies, with genuine poignancy, where the "feelgood" factor isn't tacked on, where's there's no sentimental slop, just humanity and warmth.
Cherish this beautiful little film and marvel that it even ever came to be made.
adamblake77
25 June 2006
The movie “The Freshman” is a touching and warm movie about being a Boss, and is ultimately about loyalty and family.
How anyone can say this is not a great film except for Marlon Brando's performance is beyond me. His performance is great, of course. But the whole movie is phenomenal, not just Brando. It is perfect -- a 10-plus -- from start to finish. The entire cast stands out -- not just Brando. How a reviewer can focus on Brando's piece of business with walnuts is beyond me -- his business with the espresso is even more effective. But why zoom in on one relatively insignificant piece of Brando schtick when you have his whole performance to salivate over, and the equally outstanding performances of the entire cast. There is not one false note or faltering moment in this fabulously clever and eminently watchable film. Yes, Bert Parks does stand out in his cameo performance, as does B.D. Wong, as does Bruno Kirby, and on and on and on. This underrated comedy made the American Film Institute's list of 100 funniest comedies -- I could hardly believe it. Despite that, it is one of the best American movies, certainly best American comedies, ever made.
Gosh, this is one of the very best comedies ever made, folks.negevoli-44
20 June 2000
Conclusion – On Bosses
Being a Boss is about taking your life in your own two hands. It’s about ejecting out of the realities created by others, and the chains and shackles others have put around you. You can be anything you want to be, and being a Boss is the legal avenue that will allow you to get there. It is the vehicle that you drive in to finish this stage in your life.
Being a Boss gives you freedom, and a chance and opportunity to mold your life to fit your desires. Don’t squander it.
And it is my sincerest wish that everyone reading this post, somehow finds the character inside them to carve out their life and become just this sort of Boss. You all can do it. I believe in you.
I believe in you. You can accept this opportunity, And you too can join the ranks of the Bosses that own their own businesses.
Carmine Sabatini:I want you to take this opportunity. Totally legitimate work for $1,000 dollars a week. And I know that you're not gonna disappoint me.Clark Kellogg:Well, I don't see how I could say no.
Carmine Sabatini: This is not a yes. I want to hear yes.”
Do you want more?
I have more articles and posts in my Movie Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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I have gotten some grief by posting things about Thailand on Metallicman. But people don’t really understand. Thailand is a very spiritual and religious land, and they view sex as something natural and pure.
Not as something ugly, evil and perverted like they do in the United States.
Anyways, here are some treasures. These are micro-videos that were written, directed and take place in Thailand. If you want to have a good look at yourself, then watch these videos and note your reactions to them.
All of these videos are very short movies. Whether they are culled from actual movies or compiled on their own accord is actually unknown. But they are rather nice and exceptional in their own regard. They are about people, situations and relationships. All very Buddhist and all very Thai.
If you want to “feel the pulse” of a nation, you look at it’s society. And for Thailand, you look at the people, the families and the relationships there. I hope that these micro videos puts smiles on your faces and an appreciation for other realities and other cultures.
This is the Thailand that I know…
The is the Thailand that I know and that is hidden by all the bad press out in the West…
This is the Thailand that I know…
I really love this next movie…
And some surprises…
And for the father…
Conclusion
My father would call these movies “schmaltz” and tell me that I was wasting my time watching them. It means “excessive sentimentality, especially in music or movies.” He told me that it’s a “dog eat dog” world out there. That I have to “fight to survive” and that I must do it alone. A “Lone Wolf” style because that is what a Man does and that it is the “American Way”. And that no one is going to come to help me. That I must either succeed or fail. And everything else is just a “waste of my time”.
He was wrong.
We are all part of a community. And if everyone contributes within that community, then the entire community benefits. The lone wolf idea is a failed strategy. For it only results in the occasional lone wolf with the rest of the community struggling and destitute.
You can see this in America today. The nation that completely and absolutely embraces the “lone wolf” society is one with a mere handful of ultra-wealthy, and the rest of the nation is unhappy, destitute and not doing well at all.
And nations like China, that embraces the concept of community first is running “rings” around America. When people work together there is a synergy that transcends the individual contribution. Which has a better defensive mechanism, a lone bee, or a swarm of angry pissed-off bees?
Community. You all should be an ACTIVE participant in your respective communities.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Again, I am breaking the "text barrier" on post title lengths, but gosh! How else would you possible be able to say this?
But isn’t it true?
I mean that we all like to watch the heroes in the movies. You know, the action adventure where every bullet kills a bad-guy instantly, or the actor (Tom Cruse) that hangs on the side of an airplane at 4000 feet trying to get in, or the man that somehow bests a army of hit men and hit women (John Wick series). But…
But…
Let’s be real. That does not happen in “real life”. Blood is gooey and sticky and getting wet and damp and being shot at in the middle of the night IS NOT FUN. And I can tell you that once you’ve experienced the “real thing” you really don’t want to watch it in any kind of movie form.
Whether it is…
A prison setting.
Getting revenge on someone who did you wrong.
A household with an alcoholic.
Fighting an impossibly corrupt government.
A movie about a divorce that went bad.
If you have experienced these things first hand, you won’t ever want to relive them. No matter how well made or interesting the story line is. It will trigger bad memories and it will not be fun, escapist movie fare for you.
Now, I have ranted on (in the past) about the overwhelming majority of super-hero movies and themes that have dominated Hollywood and American media for the last decade, if not longer. I have complained about them, I have expressed my frustration over them.
My argument goes pretty much like this…
These people are really not something that you can relate to. Young nerd gets bitten by a spider and turns into spider man, Captain America is changed by a military experiment, Batman is a rich eccentric, and the hulk is the result of a science experiment. Iron man is a rich industrial mogul. Then they all get together and fight some evil that is going to destroy the world. Tons of CGI special effects are used and the adolescents are amused!
A ton load of CGI effects flood the screen.
Bullet stop in mid-air. People run in the sky and at the top of tree-tops. Top secret military installations with lots, and lots of shiny black glass and stainless steel finished metal control panels. Monitors everywhere, all showing a whole bunch of impressive graphics and numbers in an incomprehensible matrix array. People move their hands and the air parts, a flick of the wrist and a person is flung into a wall, and teenage experts can hack into government databases in nary a few seconds.
There is a theory in Hollywood these days that audiences have shorter attention spans and must be distracted by nonstop comic book action.
-RodgerEbert
Hey!
So I have to point things out to everyone. Where are the movies that you can relate to?
At least during the 1940’s people could relate to Humphrey Bogart. During the 1960’s people wanted to relate to James Bond. In the 1970’s people could relate to John Wayne. In the 1980’s people could relate to John Cusack. But now…
Who can you relate to?
What can I relate to?
The new remake of Ghostbusters with an all-female cast? How about the remake of Oceans eleven with an all female cast? Or what about “Dave” in “Dave made a maze”?
Can you relate to this beta chuck, directionless, ambition-less, unskilled, quasi masculine?
Interior of the maze that Dave made.
So…
So, I have to ask.
What about Mr. Joe Average? You know, the guy who is just trying to make payments on his bills, and reads every day about assholes that are tearing up his society. Mr. Joe Average that gets shit from his boss, works a crummy job, and is trying to make his way in a pretty pathetic excuse for a business. Mr. Joe Average who has to put the kids through school, and make a life in a career that at bet might mean work in a “gig economy”. What about people like us?
Sorry, bub.
Not. That. Interesting.
2000 Unbreakable
It’s been slim pickings for many a year. Action figures and heroes dominated the movie industry. If you were a fan of comic books then this time was for you, but if you weren’t… well, I hope that all the CGI offered you enough razzmatazz to keep your interests up.
Then something magical happened.
In the year 2000, a move came out titled “Unbreakable”.
It was also a hero movie. It was about a hero, or a super-hero. You really couldn’t tell. What he actually was.
Was he a normal guy that had ability, or was he a super-hero that was convinced that he was normal?
Bruce Willis in Unbreakable.
It didn’t get very many good reviews. Most people complained that it was too dark, too slow, not enough CGI, not action packed and the hero didn’t wear spandex or a cape. The complaints were legion. It was too dark, and way too slow. People complained that there wasn’t enough “action”, and that the dialog was “retarded” and it was far “too moody” of a film.
But…
You know, it was a story about a average man, doing an average job, having an average life, and feeling that something was missing.
Something…
But what?
He was just a normal guy.
He lived a normal life. He did what everyone told him to do. he did it to the best of his ability, but that was it. It’s just that he had this nagging feeling that he was worth more, and had a real value that he could offer…
But what?
Just a normal guy.
The movie was special.
It was about a normal man who had an extraordinary ability.
One, perhaps, that all men have inside of us. We just never push ourselves and let it out…
And because of that, everyone hated it. They absolutely despised the movie. They thought that the movie was lame. The acting was lame. The story line was lame, and that there wasn’t any decent CGI effects.
This movie was dull - The personalities were dull; the lighting was dull; the color was dull; the acting was dull and the story line was BORING. Please explain something to me….the main-woe-is-me character works in security. People in that line of work are finger printed but our hero leaves his finger prints all over the crime scene and yet they have no idea who he is??
-UNBEARABLE
I'll say it right now, Unbreakable is my pick for worst movie ever made. Not necessarily in terms of quality, I'm sure some Sci-Fi channel movie would snatch that prize, but in terms of writing, acting, and most importantly, directing. I counted how many words Bruce Willis said throughout the entire movie, my final total was 6 (that is not technically true as I didn't really count, but I'm confident my estimate is within about 10 of the actual number).
-Terrible Attempt at Emotion and Drama in this Disappointing Movie
And the movie was pretty much forgotten.
Some still enjoyed it, but they hid in the shadows. They kept their thoughts to themselves, and quietly lived their lives.
Strangely, they formed little enclaves on the internet. Restricted access to their blogs to keep the trolls away, and built up a small group of followers to also, not only loved the movie, but believed in the power of individual “specialness”.
Unbreakable is a superhero movie disguised as a psychological drama. The movie was marketed as a thriller over Shyamalan’s objections. But once the film unfolded onscreen, it revealed a unique, original, and unexpected superhero origin story. There are no costumes or gimmicks, and it’s a film that values story and character above expensive set pieces and big effects. By ridding the story of almost all of the superhero visual cues, Shyamalan was able to explore the genre in a meaningful and important way.
This movie also features very few special effects or action scenes. Instead, it focuses on finding something fantastic in our mundane and normal world. David Dunn is just a regular man who has to deal with the fact that he might have superpowers. But it’s David’s struggle to accept this reality that really drives the film. There’s not much in the way of plot, but the character moments were extremely rewarding.
-Superherohype
It doesn't involve special effects and stunts, much of it is puzzling and introspective, and most of the action takes place during conversations. If the earlier film seemed mysteriously low-key until an ending that came like an electric jolt, this one is more fascinating along the way, although the ending is not quite satisfactory.
In both films, Shyamalan trusts the audience to pay attention, and makes use of Bruce Willis' everyman quality, so we get drawn into the character instead of being distracted by the surface.
-RodgerEbert
But…
But…
I loved this movie.
I loved it because of it’s premise.
Just a blurb in the news.
You see, this movie is the “real deal”.
It’s about a normal guy.
It’s about a normal guy who had some extraordinary abilities.
Like I have, and YOU have.
And if you don’t realize it, then you have been convinced by others that you are just plain and average. For everyone on this planet has something, some combination of skills and abilities that make them rather special and unique.
Do you “get it”?
Inside of all of us, we have something unique and something special. It might be the way that you fix and repair old ford tractors. It might be the way that you can make a nearly magical bowl of Chili. It might be the way that you can inspire and teach others like in Boy Scouts, or it might be the way that you you apply the art of fly fishing.
You, me, everyone has some very special skills that are way above those of the “average” norm.
And we live life.
Unbreakable.
We live life…
We live it accepting the idea that we are just alone, and normal, and stuck in a situation that there just isn’t a way out of. That we are trapped. That what ever good we might have has been submerged into the group and we must conform as the group says and hide our abilities, if they are (in any way) obvious to others. We must “lie low”.
If this movie were about nothing else, it would be a full portrait of a man in crisis at work and at home.
-RodgerEbert
And because of that, this movie was considered to be a flop, and a waste of time.
But…
All of us have a “real hero” inside of us. Oh, we don’t look like it on the outside, but trust me, we are there, and when the opportunity arises, we leap up and out and take on the world. Just like a real, honest to goodness, Rufus would.
The world needs real, honest, heroes.
It does.
That is what “Unbreakable” was all about.
And that is the premise of the two sequels to the 2000 movie “Unbreakable”.
The world runs easier when you have found your purpose.
2017 Split
Unbreakable is the first in a trilogy of movies.
Unbreakable – Discovery of your purpose.
Split – Even the confused can have a purpose and a role.
Glass – The world needs heroes, and they should not be forced into “normalcy”.
To fully understand what is going on you must accept the premise that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things. And thus, the entire trilogy is based upon this concept that ordinary; “normal” people can have some hidden talents that can greatly improve, or hurt, the world that we live in.
Some, like in the first movie with Bruce Willis, can use these powers for good. And some, like in Split, can use these powers for other goals and achievements. And some, like in the movie “Glass” can use these powers to free the entire world.
Split.
Of course I knew the rumors from yore that Unbreakable was intended as a trilogy; but as the years went on and nothing happened, I figured the projected had been abandoned. And a good thing too because Unbreakable was still the best superhero movie ever made after The Incredibles, and it didn't need to be ruined by Shyamalan's decline. But Split seemed interesting and meanwhile the trailers for Glass were coming out, and they were so exciting I had to watch them for closure.
So I watched Split and it was as if Shyamalan had made a smooth transition from Unbreakable to it; it's as if he hadn't made anything else in between. Here was the inventive, sensitive, spiritual filmmaker I remember admiring all the way back in 2000. Here was another one of his beautiful, slow dramas about ordinary people discovering extraordinary gifts and learning to cope with them. And it was packaged as a tense thriller about a kidnapped girl trying to escape from a serial killer with multiple personalities who discovers he's more than human, like David Dunn. It was also an emotional story about finding the courage to face up to our inner demons. Thinking about it now, if I didn't cry at Split's beautiful ending, it's probably because I was subconsciously saving them for Glass.
Ah, Glass. A movie so reviled by critics you'll think it was directed by Tommy Wiseau. I don't understand what happened, I don't know what they expected, and what they saw. For my part, I saw the fitful ending to what is now one of the rare perfect movie trilogies.
Glass builds on the previous movies and maintains its tone and pace. By tone I mean it's a low-key superhero movie grounded on realism. Like in hard sci-fi novels, frequently the characters will discuss plausible theories for feats and powers that seem extraordinary. By pace I mean it's mostly a character drama spiced with tense situations and spliced with trappings from horror, sci-fi, mystery, and thriller.
-IMDB
By the time 2019 came around, we have three super-heroes in this triad of movies.
An average guy who is unbreakable.
A man who is split into fractured personalities that combine into one.
A mental genius who is as fragile as glass.
2019 Glass
The Trilogy ended with the 2019 movie titled Glass.
What's sadder, though, is that the critics will frighten viewers away from a movie that's better than 90% of what comes out every Summer.
In a world where any crappy, soulless, mindless blockbuster makes 1 billion dollars easy, this movie probably won't even make it to 300 million.
Split didn't and had better reviews.
And so we'll continue to get bad thrillers, action and superhero movies full of CGI, pointless explosions, and boring, by-the-numbers, sequel-hinting storytelling everyone wants - and cynical shareholders will continue to get richer while creative filmmakers see their opportunities dwindle.
Funny, even in that Glass was grounded on reality: in the end the faceless villains we never suspected existed, chilling out in elitist restaurants we can't get in, always win.
Curiously, that's one of the messages in the movie: the gifted are always being held back, overshadowed by the uncreative, those who enforce normalcy.
But as the ending shows, the creative ones always find a way to outsmart the bureaucrats of normalcy. I hope that with time more people will come to know the truth that the critics have been hiding.
-IMDB
The trio of movies are well worth a watch.
The world needs heroes
The world needs heroes. The world needs people that do things just because it’s right and just. Not because they can make a buck on it. The world needs heroes now, more than ever.
And…
I think…
I believe…
That YOU are one of those heroes.
The world needs heroes.
Now, I have other posts in my Rufus Index that talks about everyday, average person heroics. I find them interesting and fascinating to watch. But also very inspirational. What would you do, if a child was dangling from the 23rd floor? What would you do, if a car with a family drives into a river? What would you do if a five year old runs out into the middle of a highway?
What would you do?
That’s the stuff that heroes are made of.
To sacrifice our lives, not for personal profit or financial gain, but to help others within our society. Because that is what we do as part of a society; as part of a community. As part of being part of something bigger than just our lonely, independent selves.
You are more than what you have been taught to be.
Conclusion
There are unknown forces that don’t want us to realize what we are truly capable of.
I will conclude this post with the final dialog from the movie "Glass". It is poignant, and worth repeating.
There are unknown forces that don’t want us to realize what we are truly capable of.
They don’t want us to know that the things we suspect are extraordinary about ourselves are real.
I believe that if everyone sees what just a few people become when they wholly embrace their gifts, others will awaken.
Belief in one’s self, is contagious.
We give each other permission to be swayerolds, we will never awaken otherwise.
Whoever these people are, who don’t want us to know the truth, today they lose.
I believe that if everyone sees what just a few people become when they wholly embrace their gifts, others will awaken.
Funny, even in that Glass was grounded on reality: in the end the faceless villains we never suspected existed, chilling out in elitist restaurants we can't get in, always win.
Curiously, that's one of the messages in the movie: the gifted are always being held back, overshadowed by the uncreative...
... those who enforce normalcy.
But as the ending shows, the creative ones always find a way to outsmart the bureaucrats of normalcy. I hope that with time more people will come to know the truth that the critics have been hiding.
-IMDB
Movies are many things.
They can entertain. They can teach. They can illustrate and they can instruct. By embracing the story line and the dialog embedded within a movie, you can be taught interesting ideas and concepts; novel ideas and concepts that are just not possible with books and other media.
It’s fun and entertaining to watch simplistic two-dimensional characters fighting it out with impressive CGI graphics and a great explosive sound track. But, it is something else, entirely something else to be taught some ideas and concepts that may seem foreign, alien or unusual for you to grasp.
You are not a nine year old child.
This trilogy is about you, the individual. You are an adult that has experienced both the highs and the lows of life. Maybe there were good times, and maybe there were bad times. But sometimes, there is a period in your life where the “wind just doesn’t fill your sails”, where you find yourself drifting aimlessly, doing the same things day in and day out, drifting on a calm motionless sea.
To be part of a society, you not not NEED to conform to the behaviors and the ideals of that society. You can be yourself. You can contribute your special gifts and special abilities so that all may profit from them.
But the first step begins with knowledge.
Whoever these people are, who don’t want us to know the truth, today they lose.
Know that it is not only possible, but indeed, it is plausible that you have abilities that are suppressed and hidden from you that you are unaware of. And others, maybe they would scoff and laugh at you…
But who cares. The “typical” is not what you deserve to be any longer.
Let them laugh…
At the woman who can chat with faeries.
At the man who can climb up the outside of a 32 story building.
At the mechanical prodigy that can diagnose and fix any car, and engine at any time, just be listening to it.
At the chef that cooks by scent alone.
Being special means that you won’t get a prize. You won’t get fame. You won’t make money.
But you will do what your purpose is intended to be on this earth.
This is the moment when you are welcomed into the universe.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this in my MOVIE INDEX here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Rufus is the man who helped Jesus carry the cross upon which he later died. Rufus did not need to do it. He did so out of kindness and humanity. Our world, today, is reaching the end of a growth spurt. This period of growth has been long, many centuries in duration, and is now coming to a close. It is not sustainable. Mankind needs to evolve, and there are really two, and only two courses of action. You can be a productive and helpful member of society, or you can be a user who consumes and does not produce anything. Which are you?
Here are some videos (taken within China) that illustrate the kinds of things that true Rufus-being do. You might not ever be called upon, but when you are, and how you act, will determine your spot in Heaven. Mark my words.
Conclusion
The world today is a big mess. It is in a state of turmoil, and the systems that have created this mess must change for the entire population of the earth are trapped inside a car that is charging, full throttle, towards the abyss.
And fucking idiots are driving it.
Trump and Pompeo are trying to keep the world as they desire it to be.
We simply just CANNOT keep doing this like we have done in the past. They might work for a handful of people, but not for all of humanity.
Things need to change.
All change starts locally and personally. It is one person here, it is a kind word there, it is a helpful hand over there. As long as the bulk of society works towards the common good, we will be able to survive this time period and thrive.
If, however, we cling onto the selfish, the greedy, and the desire to lord power over others “I am the biggest and best!” or “You will do as I demand, or else I will…” then we are in for a Hellish experience…
And it will be very, very Hellish.
Be the Rufus or not. It’s your life, and your community. Make the decision and be the best you can be, or be the users that consume without ever producing. You can be the person who covets tons of piles of green paper, or the person that shares their meals with friends. You can be the person that holds the door open for others and puts tips in the tip jar, or you could be the person who crashes into a store demanding things be done “their way”!
You are either a contributor to society, or you are a user of resources.
The earth can no longer sustain a nine billion population of users. It can only sustain a much smaller population. And that population must be contributors to the well being of mankind.
The Basics
Remember, the world and humanity is one where the most basic of principles are maintained…
Things are being used.
People and relationships are treasured.
Today’s Normal
In all the world, where there is confusion and strife, we can see that these most basic principles have been reversed. These places, such as America, such as England, and such as Australia have adopted a skewed vision for humanity. It is one where…
People are being used.
Things are being cherished.
It is not sustainable, and the Great Reset will no longer support this philosophy.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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This is a continuation of my posts on learning about China by looking at pretty girls. As with my most recent posts, just click on the picture to open up a short video of the girl. It’s all good fun. The idea behind this, is of course, to help expose people to what China is like, and by doing so while watching pretty girls. As the women within a nation are the best description that you can ever get of a nation and it’s society.
Do you want more?
I have more posts related to this in my Pretty Girls of China index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Here we continue, yet again, with more videos of Chinese beauties. In each case, the video is associated with a picture, and if you click on the picture, a video will open up in a new tab. These videos were all taken during the months of June and July 2020 within China, and posted by the respective girls on those dates. I find all of these ladies quite lovely and I hope that you, the reader will agree with me on this.
I suppose that I tend to post in clusters of related posts until I am tired of it, and the Metallicman audience grows tired of my articles. There’s much going on in the world today. With Pompeo saying that “new” techniques and methods must be used to “suppress China”, at the same time that two complete invasion carrier fleets are steaming towards China…
UGH.
Enjoy the pretty girls.
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my Pretty Girls Index, here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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In this post, I am going to get back to posting some information about China and living there. In particular, I will post using a new format, that maybe you readers might find easier to use and more interesting. Gosh, I hope that you all will like it! This post consists of videos, short videos, of Chinese women. They are indexed by a static photo with a brief paragraph description.
Simply click on the picture that you are interested in, and a new window will pop up that will have the video of the girl. Most videos are under 15 seconds, so it shouldn’t take long to download or to appear. Just allow the videos to load. If there is a lot of internet traffic, it might take some time.
The Girls of China.
Learning can be fun, as long as you are with a pretty girl to show you things.
Do you want more?
If so, you can have some fun in my China index here…
Americans are constantly reinforced how dark and gloomy the rest of the world is. They are told that America must fight wars all over the globe to “free people” from the evils of Communism, and “to spread democracy” and the “American way of life”. It’s all a big nasty lie. The rest of the world is doing just fine thank you. And Americans need to straighten up, get their collective shit together and stop putting their nose in everyone else’s’ business.
This post consists of some videos from the rest of the world. And no, it doesn’t look like a “save the children” commercial either. People are living life, having fun and just enjoying themselves. They are not probed, monitored, reported on, and over taxed. They are doing just fine. And we are going to have some glimpses into their lives right about now.
Meanwhile in America
Ah. The Drudge Report offers us a snapshot of how America is doing. It’s a fucking mess, I’ll tell you what.
I know that change is a normal art of life, but man….
And yet, if you go on American social media it’s still the same old narrative. America is so fantastic and so wonderful and so great that it must be the “will of God”, and all the rest of the world is evil. America needs to get involved and “teach them lessons”.
Today, Sen. Ernst says, we face a different supply chain threat: China.
"We rely on communist China for far too much," she explains.
She hasn't only been talking about the Chinese threat. Sen. Ernst recently wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which she stressed that the U.S. must be more aggressive toward China, particularly after the communist regime's mishandling and cover-up of the coronavirus. China's role in the pandemic resulted in the loss of thousands of American lives, as well as devastating economic consequences.
-Joni Ernst Focuses on China in First TV Ad of the Year
Oh Fucking Brother!
"...the communist regime's mishandling and cover-up of the coronavirus..."
Please give me a fucking break.
The videos of people dying all over China during CNY were everywhere. I myself have collected thousands. And while this was going on, you had President Trump telling everyone that "nothing is going on", and that you don't need to wear a mask. The idea that there was some sort of coverup is just political theater.
What “mishandling”?
Six days after discovery, everything went public and under lock-down. If anyone is mishandling anything it is the idiots running the United States right now.
Anyways…
America is in bad shape. And the general “rule of thumb” (historically) is to claim some foreign threat. Then launch a war, claiming that it’s all in “self-defense”. Right now, the build up is all against China.
But if Trump loses the election, the build up will be redirected against Russia.
And if so, then it looks like the John Tutor narrative will really start to have some legs...
… Nuclear War.
But of course, the PTB, the Oligarchy aren’t thinking this. They just simply cannot envision a life where they are not inside their nice comfortable homes living life and sipping tea while fondling with their pearl necklaces. They cannot envision major change on the order of Genghis Khan level disruptions.
Instead, they are pushing the same, tired old, narrative…
Export “democracy” to the rest of the world so that they can be as fantastically wonderful as Americans are, with all those American “freedoms”!
American freedoms in action. Let’s export this to the rest of the world! Woo woo!
Well…
Let me tell you’se guys. The rest of the world doesn’t want any “American exceptionalism”. They just wish to be left alone, and the dearly wish that America would just “go away”.
Why?
Because the are NOT suffering. They are NOT some starving village out of a “Save the Children” commercial. And most people are very, very far removed to that 0.0003% of people who live in the elitist bubble in Washington DC where stocks, bonds and public manipulation are the norm.
They are having fun.
They are living life.
Having fun like everyone used to back in the day, in America before all those progressive “improvements”.
Here's some glimpses into the rest of the world. The images are from South East Asia. This includes Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma. Now, there is a lot of cultural back-and-forth going on in these areas, so there is a chance that I am mixing up a few regions with nearby societies. lease excuse the mistakes if appropriate.
Burma Music Video
Most Americans don’t know where Myanmar is.
It’s a small nation West of Thailand. It’s relatively poor, but peaceful. The only time most Americans hear about it has to do with some military excursion one way or the other. Then suddenly the news is plastered with buzz-words and trigger phrases. You know the drill “democracy”, “military junta”, “regime” and “communist”.
But aside from that, Americans are kept ignorant.
Myanmar map.
Americans just do not care.
“Out of sight is out of mind” as we all used to say.
At most, Americans might look at the news and see what constitutes as a video portrayal of events and daydream of starting a KFC franchise, introducing those “poor starving people” to ATM machines, and American social media. Not realizing of course, that they already have all of this. Each and every bit, only under their terms. Not under the oppressive terms of the iron-fisted American empire.
Anyways…
Here’s what it’s really like.
This is what the rest of the world is like.
And while you Americans were out having a BBQ with some chicken, some hamburgers, bags of potato chips, and watermelon, this is what other people were doing. While you were flying the red, white and blue flag on your porch, and drinking some fine Budweiser beer or PBR. Only…
Only…
Only…
…they didn’t need an official government holiday to do it. They just went out and lived life. Because for the rest of the world, just about every day is a holiday.
Check out this (partial) MV video from Burma…
Burma music video.
Ah it’s one of my favorites.
Now for some bad news…
THE PENTAGON IS PREPARING A NEW WAR IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Political Islam against China
by Thierry Meyssan
You are probably aware that you are incompletely informed about what is brewing in Myanmar, and you probably haven’t heard about the military coalition that is preparing to attack that country. And yet, as Thierry Meyssan reveals here, these current events have been in preparation by Riyadh and Washington since 2013. Don’t take sides before you read this article and digest the information.
https://www.voltairenet.org/article198141.html
All in the name of “freedom” and “democracy”…
But, take a gander. Do these people seem to need “democracy”, or “The American way of life”, or “American exceptionalism” that Donald Trump so loudly proclaim?
DO you really think that they want ANYTHING that America exports right now?
Do they look like they eat a lot of McDonald’s hamburgers, are all worked up and stressed about the IRS reporting dates, the up coming November elections, the new laws on social distancing on beaches or fishing? Nope. They are not. Because that nightmare world that all Americans live within is far, far removed for the lifestyle, and the societies of the rest of the world.
Thirteen years ago my life changed forever.
Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State and the most credible person in George W. Bush’s cabinet, made the case for war in Iraq on February 5, 2003.
As a young military intelligence officer at the time, watching from a makeshift army base in Kuwait not far from the Iraq border.
Back then I was a true believer, trusting that the government was a force for good “making the world safe for democracy. . .”
But that night it all changed.
Powell told the world unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, an assertion that history has proven categorically wrong.
But within the intelligence community, many people knew the appalling truth immediately.
That night it became clear to me that the government was lying and that the whole case for war was being fabricated.
It was crushing, like finding out everything I’d been told throughout my life was total bullshit.
So for the first time, I broke out of the spell and began questioning. Everything.
I started learning about the extraordinary political power of the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about.
That led me to the fraud of many previous wars going as far as the Mexican War in 1845, one deeply criticized by Abraham Lincoln himself.
That led me to the Constitution, to which all military officers swear an oath to support and defend…
… and it surely didn’t seem like supporting or defending the Constitution in waging an ill-conceived, illegal war.
Needless to say I couldn’t talk to my professional colleagues. Everyone was so gung-ho, I felt like an outcast.
When I returned home, things didn’t improve.
While I was away the country had noticeably turned into a police state.
Yet people seemed oblivious to the change, drinking in the propaganda like a spiked punch bowl.
All the loud, bombastic nonsense and pledges of allegiance were merely illusions masking modern day serfdom.
-Simon Black
And now, well America is really knee-deep in shit. And it desperately needs a major military conflict for the PTB to stay in control and they are all “chomping at the bit” to make it happen.
It’s terrifying.
Yes. I know. I am in a “safe place”. And I know that change is going to happen. But, you all do know that I want peaceful change. Not violent change. And these elitists sitting in Washington DC are just delusional. On both sides of the isle. They do not know what they are asking, and the result will NOT be what they expect.
Hey!
Did the starvation of China work? How about the mass riots in Hong Kong? What about the UN going against the Uighur “concentration camps” (nonsensical, but still) or of course the COVID-19 bioweapons attack against China on the CNY eve 2020? How did it all pan out.?
Do you all somehow think that a war with a major power is going to be a “walk in the park”?
The United States needs to leave the rest of the world alone.
It needs to concentrate on it’s own problems and start fixing things.
No one believes the United States any longer. All the masks of self-righteous truth and Godliness has been stripped away to expose the evil dark underneath.
Instead of filling their own pockets and letting the rest of the nation suffer. And that is what is going on right now. Those trillions of dollar bailouts are not going tot he citizens. They are, instead, going to the politically connected and the cronies that support the PTB. This is not good…
The rest of the world is living life. Having fun. Chilling.
Let’s go to Thailand.
Local Thailand Music
Of course, in Thailand you can hear classic American Rock blaring from the bars and nightclubs, but if you listen carefully and go outside the tourist areas you can find real genuine local music. And it’s all pretty darn cool.
One of the most curious things that fascinated me is that the local music, and the styles all tended to resemble the hotter sections of Southern Mexico. And I am not the first to notice it.
A curious new trend has emerged in Bangkok, where young Thai men are identifying as “Mexican gangsters.”
On the outside, many of these Thais resemble the Cholos who inspire them. Their clothes, tattoos, and hairstyles emulate those sported by real homies.
What became clear is that the Thai obsession with these groups is simply an appreciation of their aesthetic. All of the men we spoke with were captivated by “the clean and simple style” that “worked well in this (Thai) weather,” as one gang member said.
So while they might appear and look like Mexican gangsters, they really emulate their style and appearance. As they both have a similar build / stature, a similar family lifestyle, a similar society, and similar weather. One should not, however, think that they aren’t able to handle themselves were “push comes to shove”. Thailand is the land of “kick boxing” and they do not play.
I dont know about the clothes but on a hand to hand combat fight my moneys on the thai boys!
They would kick their ass in about 2 seconds with that martial arts shit!
As for the idiot who wondered wtf this story got to do with anything? Get the f**k outta here! U need a change of pace sometimes!
I saw a little woman from thailand once bring a grownass man to the floor with a damn broom handle once honest! If i hadnt seen it myself i wouldnt have believed it!
I was like dayuum!
Anonymous
March 20, 2014 at 11:19 PM
Perhaps what most separates the Thais from the Mexicans they imitate is that almost all of them hold innocuous 9-5s as teachers, policemen and bureaucrats. Many are family men, and some admitted to consulting their wives before getting certain tattoos.
Thailand Music Video
In a nutshell, this is a brotherhood of style-conscious men who bond over baggy white shirts and gothic-baroque tattoos.
That’s not to say that the Thais don’t have an understanding of the fierce take-no-shit Cholo attitude. Thanks to Youtube and movies they’re very much aware of that culture’s hyper-aggressiveness and machismo. One Balcony Pain gang member – Mr. Shiro Local – bared his inner gangster to us when he rapped a few lines from an original song he had written called “Fuck the Popo” in which he compared corrupt Thai police to parasites in his scrotum.
Such outright vitriol is rarely directed towards people in authority in Thailand, where the dominant culture is one of extreme deference towards the powerful. Yet, you’d be hard pressed to find Thais who disagree with Mr. Local’s assessment of Bangkok’s cops. Perhaps a little more Mexican gangstah chutzpah is exactly what Thailand needs.
Just some local Thai men being themselves and living life.
Nice. Eh?
Local societies doing local things. People living life.
Good. Right?
Well…
Not everyone thinks so…
Trump, Pompeo and Bolton.
Now all this is going on while the PTB and the Oligarchy are moving military forces around the world. Both the American and English forces are moving in preparation for the World War that America so desperately needs…
What this article in fact announces is the state of war between the Anglo-American Empire and the PRC which with characteristic euphemism is called "hybrid".
https://www.ft.com/content/20910e6d-5ae7-4026-aaee-947e22c3dd60"Britain’s armed forces pivot east to face growing China threat
Security and defence review dominated by ways to counter Beijing’s hybrid warfare"
The FT as a mouthpiece of the Establishment is announcing that the conventional warfare elements are being mobilised as cover for covert operations already in progress for at least 18 months.
By placing visible assets near the "front" any PRC responses to covert action can be dressed as provocations justifying selective escalation.
Since the AAE is aware that it is unable to challenge PLAN elements in Chinese territorial waters or EEZ, these naval elements serve to inhibit or disrupt maritime traffic toward or from China.
The preoccupation with repeated instances of viral infection not only consume resources but reinforce the negative public image of the PRC and force its "self-isolation".
Since at the same time the promoters of the "pandemic" are determined to drive Trump out of office at all costs, both to restore control over the W**** House and hence the state bureaucracy and to continue the rollout against China and Russia unobstructed, there is little reason to expect any change in the WHO status before December.
By that time the scale of basic economic disaster will require the draconian "public health (in fact policing) measures" on a far more coordinated scale than at present is apparent.
We are going through what might best be called an indoctrination phase. This is a shift from overt criminal policing or political repression to a general "health and safety" doctrine- already well anchored in Britain and the US (the white dominions).
My gut feeling is that the protests in the US are in fact a managed "watertight integrity" test. The natural anger and opposition to all sorts of real and imagined injustice is being selectively detonated. This will starve the real opposition of the "oxygen" it needs to resist the next phase of suppression.
It would be nice to think that it is all more chaotic and less subject to management than I describe above. However, I see little cause for optimism of this sort.
Dr. T. P. Wilkinson
魏巴克
Yeah.
I know that it is depressing. It’s like you have this really nice calm life. It’s fine and tranquil and then suddenly American planes zoom overhead and release a fireball that completely wipes out your small village.
Americans spreading “democracy”.
Like what happened in Panama…
In Libya…
In Afghanistan, Syria…
And many, many other places…
Syria before and after America spread “democracy” and let them have a fine taste of American “freedom”.
Hey! I know it’s depressing.
You want to know what’s even more depressing?
It’s that any attack on China or Russia will end up with nuclear attacks on American soil. And yet somehow, somehow and in some crazy way, the American and British PTB Oligarchy leadership doesn’t think that this will happen. Thinking that a war with China will be limited to conventional weapons in the South China Sea is absolutely foolish.
What is the matter with these people?
It will not be limited to conventional weapons.
It will not be limited to the South China Sea.
Don’t they realize that on the grand scale of things that you just cannot move about… being a destroyer of things and NOT have some “flash back”?
Look at these videos.
America is a bubble of insanity.
Has anyone seen this from Rod Campbell of Australia Institute? He claims thousands of bot accounts controlled by US government spread the Wuhan bioweapons narrative nearly 5 million times in the first half of 2020:
https://www.facebook.com/HongKongGoodNews/videos/200057774713941/
The life of the people in the rest of the world is…
People… the rest of the world is not like this. The rest of the world is normal and doing well. The rest of the world is living life and having fun. They are not in the same kind of extremes that Americans are enduring.
It is like night…
… and day.
Having fun at the clubs in Thailand.
They are not living in this bubble of extreme freak-out that exists within the USA today. They are innocents. They are just minding their own business. And when the brave American bombs start dropping, there will be a response…
… you want to avoid the areas where the response(s) will end up.
…
Come on…
Look at the rest of the world.
What about life in Cambodia?
How about checking things out there…eh?
America Needs a War
As I am trying to make the point, I want you the reader to pay attention and listen. It’s simple really.
Americans are living within a “bubble”.
The rest of the world lies outside this “bubble”.
They are happy, doing well, and want to be left alone. They are now protected with strong military alliances with peer-capable weapons, serious and powerful leadership, and an understanding of the stakes and the evils of the American Military Empire as it exists today.
America needs a war. It is the only technique remaining in the arsenal of control that will allow the United States to stay coherent and not break apart through internal division.
The severity of the internal American discord is an indicator of how serious the projected war that America wants…
…and the rest of the world is aware of this.
If you all think that the Chinese, and the Russians are going to sit back and allow the America to go initiate a global war to preserve their control over the rapidly crumbling American structure…
…you are sadly mistaken.
Right now, and keep this in mind… China is STILL at DEFCON ONE. Last week they just called up all of the national reservists. All of them. (What? You didn’t see this in the American or Western press did you?) If you think that China is going to permit the five aircraft (2 + 3 = 5) carriers heading to China right now, and the two invasion flotillas to be a threat, you are crazy.
Do not think that the rest of the world is going to sit back and pretend that nothing is going on? Don’t be silly. The leadership of both China and Russia are experts that obtained their positions through merit. Not though some diversity checklist and under-the-table bribes.
Meanwhile…
…In Cambodia.
Party Time in Cambodia
It’s “party time”. There, just like it used to be in America, people would customize their vehicles and make them into mobile party-centers. Then all they would need to do is go to an empty parking lot and have a good time. Sort of like this…
Cambodian Music Video
Yeah.
The rest of the world is just having fun. They are just enjoying themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But, you would never know that this was going on from reading the American news…
To Americans within their own bubble, they are convinced that they are “special”, and “wonderful”, and all is “great”.
How could they get this kind of idea?
Well…
It’s because it has been drummed into them ever since they first started attending school, and getting participation trophies for showing up.
But…
I’ve got news for everyone.
Americans are NOT special. In fact, most aren’t really functional at the most basic level. The PTB realize this, and many people are starting to wake up to this frightening situation.
Here’s one…
The following is the full text of an article titled “RAW TRUTH: Why 97% of lives really DON’T matter at all to the future of humanity” by Mike Adams. It was found on Natural News and all credit to the Author.
The opinions are of the author and not necessairly that of Metallicman. So please take advisements. Realize that there are changes and you need to be a participant or else you will be flushed down the drain with the rest. Be advised.
Aside from that. Realize that other people are starting to "wake up" and look around...
RAW TRUTH: Why 97% of lives really DON’T matter at all to the future of humanity
(Natural News) The mantra of “Black Lives Matter” has been pounded into our heads 24 hours a day, and we’re told it’s an enlightened, progressive statement while anyone who claims “White lives matter” is somehow a racist bigot. Even worse, those who utter “ALL lives matter” are now threatened with being killed by this Harvard graduate, and people are being fired from their jobs for claiming “all lives matter.”
In truth, almost no lives really matter to the future of humanity, and that’s because roughly 97% of the people are oblivious, clueless consumers who are doing absolutely nothing to help secure a legacy of truth and freedom for future generations.
If you are sitting on your ass, watching The View and devouring Weight Watchers donuts as you allow the TV to fill your brain with mush, your life actually doesn’t matter. If you were to cease to exist, nothing about the future of human history would change one iota.
If you are still watching CNN and predominantly using Facebook, Twitter and Google because you don’t realize all the voices of truth have been banned by the authoritarian Left, your life probably doesn’t matter. You are nothing but a mind puppet of the globalist-run corporate propagandists (Big Tech and Big Media).
If you conform to the insane demands of the progressive left-wing fascists because you cower in fear over being “cancelled,” your life doesn’t matter, either.
If you’re not standing up against the lunatic left-wing mob to defend logic, reason and rationality, your existence really doesn’t matter. You aren’t changing history; you’re being used as a “useful idiot” to help achieve the aims of the anti-human globalists who despise human populations.
If you’re not fighting for the right to speak, the right to disagree and the right to question the lunacy of the mob, your life doesn’t matter.
If you’re doped up on a dozen prescription drugs to the point that you’re mentally incapacitated and can barely process events happening right in front of you, your life doesn’t matter. (But you might get nominated as the Democratic Presidential candidate, notably.)
If you vote for candidates based on political tribalism without having any real clue what those candidates stand for, your life doesn’t matter.
If you think you are owed everything without having to work for anything, your life doesn’t matter.
If you think the answer to today’s existential threats to our nation, our freedom and our Bill of Rights are no big deal and everybody should just “think positive,” then your life doesn’t really matter. You will accomplish nothing that matters.
Approximately 97% of the lives of Americans today don’t matter one bit. They are NPCs — Non-Player Characters — also known as PLFs (Programmable Life Forms), and they will do whatever they are told by the media, the corporations and the fake establishment “authorities.” They add exactly zero value to society and if they vanished tomorrow, the course of human history wouldn’t be altered one bit.
Here’s a video showcasing some members of the 97% — the clueless masses whose lives are pointless and inconsequential. Watch as they explain how the United States of America achieved its independence “in 1964” by fighting “the Civil War” against “America.” Seriously… and two of them are teachers!
Whose lives matter? Those who are informed and who make a difference. The 3%.
Only about 3% of the population have any clue about our history and are actively engaged in shaping our future. That’s fewer than 10 million people nationwide.
It is these 10 million people who will determine our shared future and whether or not we end up enslaved under left-wing tyranny or are able to reclaim our constitutional republic and defeat the anti-American forces that are rising.
So out of a nation of 330 million people, about 320 million lives make no difference at all. They are what globalists call “useless eaters,” and they are on the list to be exterminated via global depopulation efforts that are now underway via the plandemic and the coming coronavirus “vaccine.”
Another way to look at this is by simply being active in the effort to spread the truth and defend humanity against tyranny, you matter more than any 33 other people who are oblivious. Your life “counts” more, in other words, because you’re fighting to make a difference. And the 97% figure for the clueless masses is actually quite generous. The real number is probably more like 99%, which means one active, aware person “matters” more than 99 other people who are clueless.
What makes your life matter isn’t the color of your skin or your political affiliation. What determines whether you matter is how committed you are to fighting for human freedom and opposing authoritarianism and tyranny. Notably, people who really matter are self-selected: They alone determine that they wish to take a stand and make a difference. No one can appoint you to this position of relevance; you must seize it for yourself and become a person whose life really does make a positive difference in the world.
How to make your life matter
If you are an oblivious conformist who surrenders to the lunatic mob, your life is pointless and redundant. But if you want your life to really matter, you must break away from the mob and start thinking (and acting) for yourself.
There are many, many people who have set the example of independent thinking that you might allow to inspire yourself to do the same:
… and many others. There are lots of examples out there. Are you among these types of independent thinkers who challenge the status quo and work to truly empower and uplift humanity with wisdom and knowledge?
Don’t go through life on a pointless, narcissistic rampage of a cult-like obedience to the puppet masters of our time: Think for yourself. Learn history. Share knowledge. Branch out and away from the content controllers at Facebook, YouTube, Google and Twitter. Change the channel and stop allowing yourself to be brainwashed by CNN, MCNBC and NPR.
Use alternative platforms for sharing real knowledge, like…
Brighteon.com
Spreely.com
Parler.com.
Seek out uncommon knowledge and use it to empower yourself. Create your own channels and post your own videos, texts or articles.
Freedom is so easily accessible that you can find it by typing a URL into your browser. Instead of typing “Facebook.com,” type “Brighteon.com” and discover a whole new world.
Be someone who matters.
Change the future for the better. Join those of us who are doing this work every single day, dedicating our lives to protecting human freedom and a sustainable future of abundance and liberty for all.
97% of lives don’t matter, but yours can. What will you choose to do with it?
Be the Rufus
Make no mistake. Those that will survive and be permitted to procreate and live life through this tumultuous time period with be those that are aware, kind and knowledgeable. But most certainly have the kind of sentience deserving of mankind.
Sitting on a couch, smunching on pork rinds, and demanding that taxes get raised so that you can still keep using your food stamps is not representative of the future of mankind.
This is…
The rest of the world is starting to fight back.
The rest of the world is changing.
The way things have been is coming to an end, and people are starting to fight back. They demand stability, families, and stable relationships. They tire of the vermin… rich and the poor that prey on the rest of society. Now, with the proper tools, and the proper motivation they have declared a new order of society.
Have you noticed?
The CIA/NED instigation of the Hong Kong “pro-democracy” movement and the pay-offs of the Judges to let the criminals have a pass. Even when it came to killing people, damaging critical infrastructure, and maiming people.
And…
China changing the law. Throwing out the judges. Shutting down the CIA/NED “safe spaces”. Arresting and severely punishing the wrong-doers. Organ harvesting with life-time of hard-labor in the salt mines for many many years. No wonder that even Joshua Wong has disbanded his organization.
It’s all starting to come down. It’s all starting to fall apart.
USA compared to China. 2020.
And the petty criminals and the evil folk in positions of power must change or else they will face the consequences.
Remember this;
A functional nation devotes 100% of it's time, energy and resources on bettering the lives of it's people.
If it is unable to do that, or devotes a smaller percentage of time, money and effort to the domestic needs of it's people, it is disfunctional.
The world, and the human race, needs functional, healthy and substantive people, organizations and governments. Anything less MUST be purged and culled from existence.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this in my Happiness Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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This is a very stressful time that we are all enduring. many stores and factories are closed, and many people are locked inside their homes. No one is sure when the prohibitions will be lifted, or what they will do to catch up with their bills.
It’s the COVID-19 SHTF event.
The thing is, that when we try to turn on the internet for escape we are blitzed with a combined narrative; it’s either [1] hate-China or [2] fear-the-corona-virus. I mean can’t we get a break? Why does the US government feel the need to constantly and incessantly manipulate the media and try to control us all. Can’t they just take a holiday, or something?
Jeeze!
Well, I am not the government, and I do have some suggestion of what you all can do. So, here I provide some thoughts on what you can do to escape from this nightmarish assault.
Let’s start with a list of some movies and television shows. Shows that you can use to pull up interesting escapist entertainment to look at.
Now, rather than list well known movies, or the latest in special effects, instead I have decided to put together a list of 1980’s feel-good movies, and 1960’s – 1970’s forgotten comedies. The key driver here is “overlooked” and / or “forgotten”. (With the first one being “unknown” to anyone under 50 years old.)
I do hope that at least one movie or show listed here will remind you of some pleasant memories . And that maybe… maybe, you would use my suggestion as a seed to take you on a trip. A trip far away from the current frustrations of modern locked-up life.
We start with a pretty well-known movie. At least well-known to my generation.
The newer generations not so much.
Though, you would be surprised at how many people under the age of 30 never heard of it. Which is a shame. The movie is a classic and it’s all about growing up with your first heart-pounding crush…
Sixteen Candles (1983)
Climax of the movie when Samantha gets her birthday wish.
The tale is classic. American teenager Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is despondent that her entire family has forgotten her sixteenth birthday. You know, being so caught up are they in the wedding of her sister. Now, Samantha has a crush on a classmate of hers. He’s Mr. Bo-Hunk; Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), and she wrongly thinks he has no interest in her.
Oh, but we do find out what happens…
This John Hughes film is one of the best romantic teen comedies in history.
Starring 2 of the Brat Packers, Molly Ringwald, playing the lovesick Samantha, and Anthony Michael Hall who plays "The Geek", he practically stole the entire movie with his one-liners.
His friends were the best, it's funny to see John Cusack as one of his geeky friends, and I just noticed Joan Cusack makes a small appearance in this as the girl with the neck brace on. That's funny.
I recommend this classic to anyone who likes romantic teen comedies.
Oh and whoever said that "Sixteen Candles" was perverted, all i have to say is WHAT? What is perverted about this movie, American Pie was perverted, this movie is a classic. There was ONE scene of nudity and it lasted about 3 seconds. I give "Sixteen Candles" 10 out of 10!!!!
- LittleRascal-15
Matters are not helped by a party that evening at school, at which much mayhem breaks out, nor by the chaotic wedding day itself.
"They Fucking forgot my birthday!!!"...
These are the immortal words spoken by SIXTEEN CANDLES heroine Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) in the ultimate 80's teen comedy.
This movie has become a classic to those born in the 70's, like myself, and I now consider it a "guilty pleasure". Its a movie we all grew up with.
Didn't we all know a person like 'Farmer Ted', or a hot queenie like the blonde he hilariously gets. It was every young freshman's fantasy. This funny flick is also a relic of the 80's that is not all that dated.
The jokes still work (as long as you see it uncut) and it is neat seeing things of the not so distant past be on display. Floppy disks, headgears, leotards, etc...
Time has not been so good to the featured stars. Ringwald and Anthony-Michael Hall, who was born to play this role, and this one only, have all but disappeared. The biggest stars now are blips on the screen here: Joan (in a headgear) and John (a geek) Cusack. The film is like a toy you can't put away.
Some situations are beat, but at least Paul Dooley adds an extra dimension to the father. Too many of John Hughes' teen-angst comedies of the era feature tissue-thin parental figures.
This was the first and best of the so-called "brat pack" movies, and will always hold a place in 1980's filmmaking history. Girls learned never to lend their underwear to a geek and we all learned that high school is just a phase, easily forgotten as time goes on.
-Don-10229 March 1999
Now, maybe you have already seen that movie ten or twenty times and do not care to re-watch it. No problem.
Seriously.
No problem.
Maybe get yourself a nice bag of chips. Pour it into a nice big bowl and grab yourself some beer, or like me… a nice glass of wine. (Just a reasonably cheap red will do.)
Relax.
Stop allowing the “news” and those that control it and the internet to control you.
Some Lays potato chips that I bought. The Chinese really like all these odd kinds of flavors. This particular flavor is a white grape soda drink flavor. Who figures? Eh? For me it was a cross between Korean style barbecued squid with Hunan spices or plain “American style” potato chips.
So, now that you have some fine tasty chips… a nice beverage of your choice, and (hopefully) a companion or two (can be a loved one, a trusted pet, or some children), settle down to some friendly escapist enjoyment.
I'm drinking red wine, so I think that it could be paired quite nicely with a white grape soda flavored potato chip.
With that being said, how about a feel-good television show.
I really like the world of Mayberry RFD. Nothing ever seems to go wrong in it. Seriously, nothing bad or really serious ever happens in it short of a cat getting stuck in a tree, or an arrest for a broken tail light.
It’s all just good, safe escapist enjoyment.
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith show.
This sitcom was spun-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. In that show, Danny Thomas was arrested in a small North Carolina town. The character of the small town sheriff turned out to be so popular that they made a complete show around him.
Of course, named “The Andy Griffith Show”, and focused on Sheriff Andrew Jackson Taylor in the small town of Mayberry.
Andy Taylor was a widower with a young son (Opie) and the pair of them lived with Andy’s Aunt Bee – famous for her most excellent pies.
Andy’s Aunt Bee was famous for her most excellent pies.
Crime in Mayberry was of the distinctly petty variety and much of the comedy centered around Andy, his family life and working life especially with his somewhat stupid deputy (and cousin) Barney Fife.
Andy wouldn’t allow Barney to load his weapon for fear he would shoot his own feet off! He allows him to carry a solitary bullet (usually in his left shirt pocket).
Throughout the show’s run, Andy had two love interests – the first was druggist Ellie Walker, and then later schoolteacher Helen Crump whom Andy ended up marrying in 1968.
Sheriff Andrew Jackson Taylor
When Andy Griffith decided to call it quits with the show it was still popular and the network decided to carry it on under the new name of Mayberry RFDwith Ken Berry in the lead as councilman Sam Jones.
Also a most excellent show.
Griffith helped with the change over by appearing in the first episode (it was in this episode that he married Helen and the pair then moved away from the town).
A typical day in Mayberry with Andy and councilman Sam Jones.
I know. I know.
Mayberry RFD is more about hotdogs and hamburgers instead of potato chips. It’s a show about mowing lawns on hot July afternoons, pitchers of icy lemonade on shady porches, and tree-houses that hide in the back yard. It’s about comic-books, airplane models that hang from the bedroom ceiling, and classmates that you play baseball with. It’s about watermelons and fresh buttered corn on the cob.
And I really do emphasize. I really do.
Maybe something along these lines, eh?
What’s life without a nice tasty home-cooked hamburger? Not much, I’ll tell you what. Notice the cheese! (No tomatoes, though. Bummer.) But hey! How about taking notice of that nice beer in the background…
Oh, and speaking of hamburgers and beer…
F Troop
This is just a fun silly television series that I used to watch when I was in elementary school. LOL.
But now, after decades of the rigors of Life, I have come to appreciate it’s silliness. And yes, silliness has an important role in our lives. If you disagree with me, then leave. You can go ahead and split up your time between CNN and the weather channel.
As an aside, American Airports have non-stop CNN coverage, or the Weather Channel. Chinese airports have silly light slapstick entertainment, Mr. Bean style. Why do you think that the two philosophies are so different?
F Troop
This show is a military farce about the gallant incompetents of F Troop. It all takes place at “Fort Courage” way back in 1866 Kansas. This was an interesting time period, being the final days of the Civil War.
The CO was the wide-eyed, bumbling Captain Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry). You see, he had been promoted from Private during the last days of the war. Imagine that! Private to Captain. What did he do, you ask? Well, he accidentally led a charge towards the enemy with a sneeze that sounded like “Charge!”
The episodes were fun and creative.
V Is for Vampire
Count Sforza, an emigrant from Transylvania, arrives in town. He comes in a hearse, has pale skin and has a crow he calls "Brother." The men of F-Troop suspect he may be a vampire, given the count's tendency to say, "Good evening," regardless of the time of day. When Jane can't be found, O'Rourke, Agarn and the Captain decide to check out Sforza's spooky mansion.
—Bill Koenig
Reveille is played at 10 am “because of the three hour time difference” and that even though rations and pay allotments are drawn for 30 men, only 17 are stationed at the fort (the other 13 are allegedly “Indian scouts out on patrol”). LOL.
Perhaps the United States government were taking notes, eh?
Unbeknownst to the captain, Sgt. Morgan O’Rourke (Forrest Tucker) had already negotiated a secret – and highly profitable – treaty with the Hekawi Indians. These Indians were led by Chief Wild Eagle (Frank De Kova) from whom he also had an exclusive franchise to sell their souvenirs to tourists via O’Rourke Enterprises.
The treaty benefited both sides. This is because it permitted the Indians to trade and upgrade their living conditions, and the troops to maintain the illusion that they were involved in a deadly land war. While all the time no one was actually in danger.
The only flaw in this otherwise happy arrangement was the troublesome Shugs, a genuine war-mongering tribe (with whom there was no peace treaty) who occasionally went into action.
F Troop is a happy, go-lucky television comedy that would NEVER be permitted to air in today’s modern progressive America.
Corporal Randolph Agarn was O’Rourke’s chief aide and assistant schemer and Wrangler Jane the hard-ridin’, fast-shootin’ (and very scrumptious) cowgirl who ran the post office and was out to marry Parmenter.
Other soldiers in the troop included Hannibal Dobbs, the troop’s bugler – who couldn’t play the bugle – and Troopers Duffy and Vanderbilt.
A lot of colourful Indians passed through the Fort in one-time special appearances. Some of those included Wise Owl (Milton Berle); Roaring Chicken (Edward Everett Horton); 147-year-old Flaming Arrow (Phil Harris) and Bald Eagle (Don Rickles).
LOL.
Other special appearances included Sgt. Ramsden (Paul Lynde) and Wrongo Starr (Henry Gibson).
F Troop was an entertaining enough production which, in similar dubious taste to Hogan’s Heroes made light of a deadly serious period of history.
Let’s look at a movie.
Maybe television shows aren’t your thang, eh?
Well, let’s go and check out a teenaged boy science fiction movie from the 1960’s. It’s got all the elements of boyhood dreams. the title says it all… adventure, shipwrecked, on a lone desolate place… Mars!
And it’s got a monkey!
But first, movies like this remind me of food. They really do. Often, as a boy I would go raid the refrigerator and heat up some leftovers that were sitting inside. I would use the microwave rather than the stove, and there were always some good delicious leftovers. Back then, in the 1960’s the US dollar was still worth around twenty five cents, and middle class families could afford to eat. Not like today where it’s actual value is a fraction of a penny.
I would often make up a sandwich from scraps that I would pull out of the refrigerator.
Anyways, I would pull out some pork-chops and applesauce, or maybe some meatloaf (and make a sandwich from it), or perhaps some left over lasagna. I would hurriedly scramble and whip up a quick meal with the commercials were rolling…
Of course, more often than not, I would just end up making a “Dagwood” or a hoagie out of all the fixings in the fridge.
Anyways, back to the movie…
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
"Special-effects wunderkind and genre master Byron Haskin (The War of the Worlds, The Outer Limits) won a place in the hearts of fantasy film lovers everywhere with this gorgeously designed journey into the unknown."
Robinson Crusoe on Mars tells the story of US astronaut Commander “Kit” Draper who must fight for survival when his spaceship, Elinor M, crash-lands on the barren wastes of Mars.
Oooh…
The story begins with the Elinor M orbiting Mars on the first official probe to test the planet’s gravity. Aboard are Draper, Colonel Dan McReady (Batman‘s Adam West) and Mona (The Woolly Monkey), a monkey, space suited for medical research.
The perfect mix of period science fiction for pre-teen boyhood dreams.
McReady and Draper suddenly realize that their craft is on a collision course with a giant meteor. Yikes!
In a split-second evasive action, the spacecraft swings too far off course and is dragged inexorably down by the gravitational pull of Mars.
McReady and Draper separately abandon ship with McReady taking charge of Mona.
Despite its retro rockets, Draper’s ejection capsule crashes on landing, wrecking the craft and leaving food and water for only a few days. Exhausted, Draper falls asleep only to wake up suffocating for lack of air. Without oxygen, he can sleep only an hour.
The true hero of the movie; the space-suited monkey Mona.
Draper sets out to find McReady but in his search only locates Mona. With no more than a few hours oxygen, Draper seems doomed.
Lightheaded, he passes out but is miraculously saved when little yellow rocks, burning and giving off bursts of gas, revive him. This gas is pure oxygen and Draper devises a method to feed the oxygen into his regular tank.
Imagine that! Little yellow rocks…
Several weeks later, a spacecraft appears over Mars and then lands.
Draper, sure he is being rescued, runs to the ship only to discover that it is not from the USA or even the Earth. Watching the ship, Draper suddenly sees a figure detach himself and run in his direction. The two face each other warily.
A stranded astronaut recording his audio diary within a martian cave. Wait until you see the alien. He looks like something out of pre-Aztec Mexico. LOL.
Gradually, Draper allays the fears of the newcomer and they settle down for the night.
With the arrival of the newcomer – who Draper jokingly dubs Friday – his worst problem, loneliness, has gone. Slowly, over the months, Draper teaches Friday English, and together, wondering if they will ever be rescued, set out to explore the Martian terrain.
Not a movie that will leave you wondering about life. Not so much.
It’s just a silly enough pre-adolescent movie for young boys that was written int he 1960’s. But, you know what? Maybe that’s what we need right now. Maybe we need to “escape” and forget our life for a spell. To give us a break and to relax our minds somewhat.
Now, as a man, I prefer other (ahem) more adult pleasures.
Manly adult pleasures.
Beer, wine and VSOP can help. But you know, if you don’t watch out it could consume you instead. So I would recommend just some lighthearted escapist shows and movies. Nothing too serious or upsetting.
Oh, and enjoy with something delicious to eat.
Newhart
If you have lived through the 1980’s then you knew all about Newhart. This show as a hoot!
The cast of the television show “Newhart”.
In this series, Newhart played Dick Loudon, a writer of “how-to” books who moved from New York to Norwich, Vermont to realise his dream of running a country inn. His smart, funny, and sexy wife was named Joanna (played by Mary Frann).
As with Newhart’s previous comedies, there were numerous quirky supporting characters. Tom Poston (who had been a frequent guest on the earlier show) was the inn’s unhandy handyman, George Utley, and Julia Duffy played the vain and spoiled Stephanie Vanderkellen (an heiress working as a maid at the 200-year-old Stratford Inn – Stephanie replaced her less interesting cousin, Leslie, after the first season).
Stephanie’s boyfriend, Michael Harris (Peter Scolari), was an insufferable 1980s yuppie and producer of a local TV show, Vermont Today, which Dick began hosting a few years into Newhart’s run.
Perhaps the most memorable, and certainly the most unusual, characters were three bizarre backwoodsmen, of whom only one ever spoke (until the final episode).
Larry, and his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl.
“I’m Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl,” was their stock introduction. They could always be counted upon to enjoy any activity that would disgust most people.
The trio of backwoodsmen known as Larry, Darryl, and Darryl actually made their first appearance in the series’ second episode. Dick hired their “company,” Anything for a Buck, to unearth the 300-year-old body of a woman buried in the Stratford Inn’s basement. The audience’s reaction to the brothers did not go unnoticed by Newhart and co-creator Kemp, and they were one of the first additions to the regular cast when Newhart underwent a makeover after season two.
-13 fun facts about the Newhart show.
William Sanderson, who played Larry, graduated from Memphis State University with a BBA and JD, but the acting bug bit him before he sat for the bar exam. Despite this educational pedigree, Sanderson remained very much a good ol’ Memphis boy at heart. While working on Newhart he sipped Jack Daniels and read the Bible in his dressing room between takes, and he constantly chewed tobacco. He had a habit of leaving his spittle cups all over the set, to the disgust of his co-workers.
Tony Papenfuss (First Darryl) and John Voldstad (Second Darryl) are both classically trained actors who had years of stage experience on their resumes when they landed their Newhart parts. Both actors’ agents actually advised them against accepting the roles, since they were non-speaking parts.
Newhart is a classic piece of 1980’s television. It described America leading up to the Bill Clinton Presidency and thus was free of all the political correctness mumbo-jumbo that followed it.
Everyone in town sold their property to a Japanese corporation, and the finale included a parody of Fiddler on the Roof, and ended with Newhart waking up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette and explaining that he’d had a very strange dream (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous 1986-87 season of Dallas.)
Best Episode - Season 6
Episode 121: “Take Me To Your Loudon” (Aired: 10/26/87)
It's Halloween, and the townspeople believe the town is about to be invaded by aliens.
A beloved excursion, many fans cite this installment as their very favorite of the entire series. They’re also likely to use it in evidence of the show’s supposed bent towards the surreal.
You see, this story doesn’t totally forsake logic — it just asks that we find it in the broad, heightened, and not all together relatable depictions of some of the characters. That‘s the reason that it’s hard to believe and thus seems “surreal.”
It's Halloween and the Stratford is having a costume party, Michael has the station run the film "War Of The Worlds (1953)" on TV and the townsfolk believe they are being invaded by aliens from outer space.
A hilariously funny episode, in the top five best in the series. The laughs are non stop, George is the Cowardly Lion from "Wizard Of Oz', Dick the Tin Man, Joanna is Vampira, Michael dresses as a Canadian Mountie and Stephanie (naturally) is a princess. Harley shows up and tells about the invasion when he sees the movie on TV. Michael sees a chance for the same kind of panic Orson Welles caused with his radio version of "War Of The Worlds". Dick tries to be the voice of reason to the wacky towns people but they just accuse HIM of being from outer space! And Larry, Darryl and Darryl show up with their funniest introduction ever.
I think it represents the era most accurately, and, as such, is the most valuable.
And now, while we are at it, for another classic 1980’s movie…
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Ferris Bueller takes a day off from school.
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is a born con artist. When he’s not talking a mile a minute to his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), he’s stepping aside, facing the camera and addressing the audience.
In his dedication to the joy of loafing, Ferris convinces his parents he’s ill, the student body starts raising money to save his life with a kidney transplant, and the dean of students thinks all sorts of people are dying.
But Ferris isn’t dying. He’s just lying, and it’s the ninth time in the same semester.
He convinces Cameron to ‘borrow’ his father’s irreplaceable 1961 red Ferrari, and then swing by school to kidnap Sloane.
A large part of the film (directed by John Hughes) is then devoted to elaborate schemes designed to keep Ferris and his pals out of school: Answering machines are fixed, a fake body run by strings attached to a doorknob rolls around in Ferris’s bed to fool concerned and nosy parents, a sickbed message is recorded through a loudspeaker to answer the doorbell and deter inquisitive truant officers.
While the kids are bulldozing their way into an expensive restaurant, catching a ball game at Wrigley Field, and staging their own musical production number from Grease in the middle of a mysterious parade the principal – determined to catch Ferris red-handed – slinks around like a CIA agent on secret manoeuvres.
Hold the phone . . . if it’s a holiday, with floats and marching bands and 10,000 extras, why does anyone need to play hooky from school in the first place?
Brat-packer Charlie Sheen appears in a side-splitting cameo role as a drugged-to-the-eyeballs boy that spiteful sister Jeannie encounters at a police station. To get the necessary spaced-out effect, full method acting would have been a step too far, but Sheen did keep himself awake for 48 hours before the scene was shot. LOL.
If life is far too serious for you now with the COVID-19 pandemic a raging, perhaps some good old-fashioned Ferris Bueller wisdom might be in order.
I do believe that we all need to take a lesson from Ferris Bueller in today’s day and age.
Oh, and while I am on a 1980’s bender…
Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Triumphant geeks have always been a common theme of writer/director John Hughes, but that triumph was never achieved as raucously as it was in 1985’s Weird Science – a screenplay which took the high school movie guru just two days to write.
Among the feats of sex-starved no-hope geek boys Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith): vanquishing a psycho older brother, gaining popularity and acceptance at school, and best of all, getting the girls – both the computer-generated kind and the real kind.
With a little Frankenstein-type mission on the brain, Gary convinces Wyatt to sit down at his souped-up computer and go to work on an interactive onscreen lady friend.
But with the lightning brewing outside, the bras atop their heads and the Barbie doll hooked up to the hardware, it’s inevitable the boys take things a little too far . . .
Lisa, the Frankenstein creation of two 1980’s nerds.
Behold Lisa (Kelly LeBrock). Named after the computer (the Apple Lisa) on which she was designed, she is beautiful, brilliant and capable of some treacherous hocus-pocus. She also does their washing, cleaning and cooking – feminists will loathe this film.
Lisa fast becomes the boys’ well-needed mentor of cool. She brings them to a steamy nightclub, where they’re instant hits with the regulars; she hosts a whopper of a party at Wyatt’s house, where her duties include freezing Wyatt’s absurd grandparents and dealing with the gang of killer mutants who crash the festivities.
Weird Science (1985)
But most importantly, she teaches Wyatt and Gary how to stand up for themselves – which in this case, means facing off against the gun-toting, wedgie-bestowing older brother Chet (Bill Paxton), and, as if that’s not bad enough, a beastly biker type (played by Vernon Wells, reprising his Mad Max 2 role).
It’s enough to say that in the end, everyone gets what they deserve.
With that geek-dream-come-true premise and a quirky, catchy theme song from Oingo Boingo, Weird Science quickly became a favorite of the timid and nerdy. It is all 1980’s and it WILL carry your back to another time and place.
I know, I know…
Too many 1980’s flicks.
You all probably thought that I was going to give you REAL GENIUS (1985), and indeed I was. Nothing quite says the 1980’s more than this movie. For some reason it just carries me back… way back to that time. The music. The fashion. The “feeling”. Man, if you want to escape, nothing is better…
Ahhh Heck.
Real Genius (1985)
Female geniuses have bowl-cuts, no social boundaries and never sleep…
You can tell how dated this movie is. Instead of having a creme frappichino latte at a coffeehouse, the gang goes ahead and drinks some beer and hamburgers together. man! Don’t you just love it?
As a child of the 80s, I have a soft spot in my heart for creatively-executed movies from this period. At their worst, 80s movies become dated more quickly than films from nearly any other period in film history. At their best, 80s movies reflect the cultural undertones of an exciting time where humor and optimism were rampant in films despite the specter of cold war, the advent of AIDS and a rocky economy.
Oh, and did you know, dorm room closets are a fine place to put an entrance to a secret lair…
Terrific nostalgia trip down 80s memory lane - loved it!
by heisenberg8313 November 2005
Had very fond memories of this film as a kid in the 80s. Still holds up even today. DVD widescreen format shows off how well directed this movie is. Val Kilmer is terrific as the genius slacker hero. The whole cast gel well together, and the dialogue is very sharp and well-written (reminded me of TV show Scrubs in places). Had me laughing out loud in many places - rare for a modern version like American Pie. Lots of tasty 80s musical montages scattered throughout. Something really likable and positive about this movie, leaves you feeling really good at the end. Highly recommended - really hasn't dated at all. An enjoyable trip down 80s memory lane!
Real Genius takes the happy, go-lucky optimism of the 80s and superimposes it on the grim topics of military research, cold war espionage and assassination. The movie is set in a west-coast college (see Caltech, Berkeley, Stanford) and makes full use of the hyper-intelligent, eccentric dialog you might expect in elite California academia.
Yup.
And eating hamburgers gives you very large breasts!
The sound track from Thomas Newman (Less than Zero, American Beauty and many others) is technically complex and involving and fits the movie perfectly.
In this classic 1980’s movie, our heroes get to play with lasers and other cool things like popcorn.
At times, the movie suffers from the usual poor depiction of science (see lame computer applications and some bad blue screen work on aircraft) and unbelievable scenarios (see water slide in lecture hall and ice sledding in dormitory). But we all know that top secret military computers use 6-character passwords…
Despite these forgivable breaches, the Neal Israel’s unique dialog is truly brilliant, the situational comedy is eccentric, and the humor is uplifting.
Getting even is a moral imperative!
Val Kilmer is outstanding in his portrayal of Chris Knight and I lament his departure from this odd and extremely intelligent form of comedy (See Top Secret) – Though Kilmer has been involved with “better” movies since, I don’t think he has ever been more genuinely entertaining.
One of the all time best 80's college movies
by thirdi 3 November 2001
Val Kilmer is hilarious as a college genius on par with Einstein, but is more interested in partying and chasing girls. A new arrival to the campus, Mitch, is a brilliant 15 year-old whom Val takes under his wing and tries to get to loosen up and have a good time.
There are probably some important themes and ideas to analyze within this movie, but for me it's just an old-school personal favorite that I've seen about 100 times. Great 80's music soundtrack and funny performances. William Atherton is perfect as the self-important, snobby professor, and another highlight is Robert Prescott, who plays his butt-kissing, nerdy assistant "Kent".
A movie that asks the question, isn't life experience just as important for education, as classrooms and books? A very funny, fine film that is up there with "Animal House" in my opinion.
The bad guys get “their’s”. I love it. It’s a good feel-good escapist movie that take you back to pre-Clinton America.
I think this movie is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys science, comedy and the 80s genre, or for anyone who is planning on attending a technology school on the West coast. This movie may not depict reality, but it communicates a hopeful spirit we could all use more of in today’s world of harsh reality. Besides, Any problem can be solved with a catchy 80’s pop song and a montage.
Oh, and don’t forget, Jesus wants you to stop playing with yourself.
Ah, what can I say. The 1980’s was “the shit”. It’s great escapist clap-trap as it occurred at a time that predated all the political correctness nonsense of the Bill Clinton years, and the Military Empire building of the Bush years. It’s just a nice time capsule that will take you back to a time when people were not so easily offended and when people were ok with just being ok.
With that being said, I am going to offer up just one more 1980’s movie. This movie is a tad bit more obscure. Indeed finding it is near impossible, but OMG is it awesome.
Water (1985)
Water is a funny satire about West Indies-style politics and the decline of British colonialism. It is also a kind of raw smack in the face of commercialism and the media.
British comedy-writing legends Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais wrote this funny satire about West Indies-style politics and the decline of British colonialism in the Thatcher Era. Elements of the story were also inspired by the 1982 Falklands conflict (when Argentina invaded the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean).
An extremely funny filmsxct16 June 2004
I am quite disappointed with the average for this film. I found it to be one of the funniest films I have ever seen.
The cast is superb and the script, although not one of the best written, is filled with humor that was was made even better by the acting. It was filmed on the island of St. Lucia.
It's a story of a company drilling for oil and accidentally discovers mineral water, a substance that is even more valuable than oil. But it is important to keep it a secret. Jimmie Walker, who I don't particularly like, plays the part of a radio dj and does it wonderfully. Michael Caine and Brenda Vaccaro are fabulous as is everyone else.
Please give this film a chance. I think it might be one of those little surprises that come along every once in a while.
Set on a fictional Caribbean island (Cascara) owned by Britain but largely left to its own devices, the story centers around the discovery of a lucrative resource – the natural mineral water of the title – and the reaction of people on the island and other nations.
Location shooting for the fictional British Caribbean colony of Cascara took place in the real former British Caribbean colony of St. Lucia in the West Indies.
Water has a plot that is all over the place, but I have to admit the fact that the personal fights between the governor and his wife being broadcast all over the island really cracked me up.
...of Houston Texaslavean on 13 December 2001
I thought this movie actually had some very funny and memorable lines...The characters are so stereotyped that they have all become caricatures...from the French Commandos on the beach who when they are breaking out their emergency rations are having the menu read to them by a Sergent who informs them that it will be "accompanied by an unpretentious St Emillion which will amuse even the most cynical palate"...the American Colonel who can't see the target for the Limbo dancers...when the guerilla mets the oil man he calls him a "Yankee capitalist imperialist...of Houston Texas", says the oil man extending his hand.
It was produced by George Harrison and has Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and a lot of other name musicians involved in the soundtrack.
It has a nice way to spend an hour and a half.
No it has no deep hidden meaning nor will it change your life or make a social statement...but then I watch movies as a bit of escapism...this is one I sought out to own and when it comes out on DVD will buy it in that format as well.
The stand-out cast features Brits Leonard Rossiter, Billy Connolly, Maureen Lipman and Fulton Mackay and Americans Valerie Perrine, Fred Gwynne, Ruby Wax and Jimmie Walker.
Jimmie Walker, everyone…
Jimmie Walker plays the sole radio DJ in the sole radio station on the tiny island. He’s hilarious.
The charity rock band featured at the end of the movie – The Singing Rebels – features George Harrison (whose Handmade Films produced the movie), Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Jon Lord (of Deep Purple).
OK.
Maybe you don’t have the attention span for a movie. So let’s look at a nice 1980’s television show. Something that will take you to a land far, far away.
Maybe a little too far…
Let’s look at the classic…
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
A small-town housewife struggles to cope with the increasingly bizarre and violent events unfolding around her. It’s a way that the media was preparing America for the Bill Clinton years.
Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman.
Set in fictional Fernwood, Ohio, this deliriously demented serial focused on the beleaguered heroine Mary Hartman, an average American housewife. In the first season, Mary suffered the travails of mass murder, adultery, venereal disease, homosexuality, religious cults, and UFO sightings, before she finally succumbed to a nervous breakdown on a syndicated talk show.
Then, things start to get crazy…
Wow, what a bizarre show
7 July 2000 | by A-Ron-2
This was one of those seminal moments in television history, because the 70s seemed to be more open to experimentation and strangeness than certainly the 80s and definitely the 90s.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was a show that was unclassifiable by any standard of TV today. Now, I haven't seen the show in about 15 years (I watched the whole series on tape at a friend of mine's back in the mid or late 80s), but I am sure that it would be just as bizarre and wonderful today as ever.
Martin Mull was brilliant as the psychopathic wife beater, Barth Gimble. I hope that TV Land or some other such channel will pick this show up, because I would really love to see it again.
A more insightfully absurd and comically astute series has not been made. Mix the daily grind of ALL MY CHILDREN, the experimentation of MONTY PYTHON, the self-absorbed and urbane existentialism of WOODY ALLEN and the offbeat quality of BLUE VELVET and you have MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN.
Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman.
I grew to love Mary Hartman’s kitchen (and other Fernwood locales) as if they were an extension of my own town and home. Too bad the show couldn’t have lasted longer than it did.
Candide in a consumer societymelvelvit-1 written on 31 May 2008
A sharply satirical soap opera about a modern-day "Candide" (Louise Lasser) and the dysfunctional pre-fab Americana she inhabits.
In the opening episodes (beginning 1/76), Mary has to contend with her impotent husband, indifferent daughter, pervert grandpa, hot-to-trot sister, and the massacre of a local family (along with their 2 goats and 8 chickens) but it seems the waxy yellow build-up on her kitchen floor subliminally affected the mass media-influenced Mary more than all the domestic drama combined.
The absence of a canned laugh track can make viewers feel they're either losing their mind or experiencing a darkly comedic, penetrating pop-culture parody. Possibly both. I loved it then and I love it now!
For a brief period of time, somewhere around 9-11, I was fortunate enough to have viewed, for the first time in 20 years, the first episodes in which Mary is held captive by the guy who “killed the whole Lombardy family, two goats and six chickens”. And thus, from the vantage point of my 40s, I was finally able to really “get it.
Mary Hartman is one of the great emblems of the distress of the mid-20th century American woman. Her hair in childish pigtails while wearing those little girl dresses, Mary was an example of the overly-consumered, growth-stunted American housewife trying to function while in a semi-daze.
...The other thing that makes this tough on reruns is that Mary Hartman was so much a part of the 70's. What's hard to explain to people who weren't there, is how weird the 70's were.
The whole country was in this very odd mood, partly giddy, partly freaked out, partly numb.
I don't know if I can explain how Mary Hartman fit in to that, but it did and maybe not enough time has passed where it won't seem dated.
The other thing is that the show had a whole parallel life running at the same time in the live soap opera of Louise Lasser's sudden fame. Her personal trajectory towards a nervous breakdown tracked Mary Hartman's.
Do I need to remind everyone of her bizarre interviews in Rolling Stone, her bust for cocaine, and her appearance as the host on SNL, in which she also had a nervous breakdown.
Years later it came out that this was not faked, that she was ready to refuse to appear on the show minutes before curtain time, and only agreed to appear once Chevy Chase convinced her that if she didn't go on, he'd go on in her place wearing a wig.
-outnaway 9 March 2009
Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman.
Her confrontations with adultery, contemporary feminism, and countless other social issues (often found within her own family) while trying to be the perfect little housewife and mother makes her eventual nervous breakdown more than just another crazy plot twist.
In actuality, it was an inevitable progression.
Compare her and her friends and neighbors to Carol Burnett’s Eunice and other 70s television characters like Edith Bunker and you’d have a rather fascinating college course, I think. Perhaps I need to put one together!
Remember when Loretta came over to bring Mary Jell-O with Cracker Jacks suspended in it?
So, for those of you who have a similar fondness for this groundbreaking, offbeat series and to those who have never seen it, here’s to bringing Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman back in reruns.
A demented,glorious, masterpiececoop-1616 February 2002
Truly one of the greatest-and least remembered -TV shows of all time.I loved this show back in the seventies. It was a rich tapestry of comic-and touching- characters, exemplified by the naive heroine, Mary Hartman,and her friends, perhaps most unforgettable of whom was would be Country Music queen,Loretta Haggers, played by the sadly underused -and brilliant-Mary Kay Place.
But then this show was rich in fine acting-Dabney Coleman, martin Mull, and Marian Mercer, among others.If the Comedy channel can rerun "soap" why cant they rerun this masterpiece?
I know that it is tough to decide.
Just go hop in the car, and go through a drive through and get a burger. Then on the way ponder which movie or television show to watch. I always find it easier to think on a full stomach. So have the burger and then settle down and choose one…
Burger King’s Whopper.
Conclusion
When you are living in a stressful and uncomfortable situation, it is time to sit back, enjoy a frosty beer and disconnect. It will relax your mind and permit you to recover. Nothing is better than reliving times that pre-dated the chaotic life that Americans now live.
Pick your “poison”;
Sixteen Candles
The Andy Griffith Show (Mayberry RFD)
F-Troop
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Newhart
Ferris Bueller’s day off
Weird Science
Real Genius
Water
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Pick one. Rent it, torrent it, or Netflix it.
Get some food and drink.
Take care, and enjoy life. The coronavirus will pass. America will be changed and a new “normal” will manifest. In the meantime, relax.
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have more in my Movie Index here…
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Well, if you are stuck inside your home, with tons of time on your hands, nothing could be more rewarding than watching this jewel of a movie. For me, as I watched it, I became an eleven year old boy again. It’s a movie about adventure, strange lands, mysteries, pirates, and a cute white dog named Snowy. It’s also about treasure, hidden secrets, maps, and hidden clues, motorcycle escapes, and survival at sea. Oh, and let’s not forget being kidnapped and Shanghaied by your crew and an endless supply of whiskey. It’s everything that an eleven year old boy could want and more. And that is why I loved this movies and recommend it for all your co-shut-ins.
The movie is perfect, but I do believe that a bowl or Doritos or Wise / Lays (American style) potato-chips with a nice onion dip would really help to enhance the enjoyment of this movie. Oh, yeah, and don’t forget the frosty ice-cold beer while you are at it.
It’s a great movie to have your favorite pet by your side as well.
The Plot
Before he died in 1983, (the man who created Tintin) Hergé said that if any filmmaker was to adapt his collection of stories about the adventures of Tintin into a movie, then Steven Spielberg was the only man for the job.
Thus after two decades of trial and error, the cinematic version of Tintin has finally reached our screens.
Alongside Spielberg on this project was maestro Peter Jackson as producer (perhaps you know him from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and three of Britain’s brightest writers (Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish).
What begins as a fun, nimble little mystery in the first act soon kicks into comedy-action-adventure high gear when junior reporter Tintin, with his brave dog Snowy, stumbles upon boozy Captain Haddock (an excellent Andy Serkis), whose family legacy may prove pivotal in a race to uncover the secret of the Unicorn.
This 3D motion-capture and CGI masterpiece combines three of Tintin’s most beloved stories ([1] The Crab with the Golden Claws, [2] The Secret of the Unicorn and [3] Red Rackham’s Treasure).
Spielberg and Jackson and all the team behind this movie adaptation obviously gave the original material the love and respect it deserved, while making it their own.
To clarify the origins of the story itself, you have to know that it isn’t the adaptation of one, but three Tintin comics.
Its beginning takes root in [1] “Le Crabe aux Pinces D’or”, while the rest of the movie revolves around the two-albums story of the hunt for Rakham the Red’s treasure, [2] “Le Secret de la Licorne” and [3] “Le Trésor de Rakham le Rouge”.
While it could seem like a lot of material for a whole movie, the choice of blending those three (two and a half) stories together turns out giving the movie a rather perfect pacing.
Snowy, while definitely smarter than your average cute canine, is also given to chasing cats, digging up fossilized bones from the desert, and gobbling sandwiches at decidedly inopportune moments. In other words, he’s an instant audience favorite.
After discovering an elegant model of the ship the ‘Unicorn’ at a market, Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and his loyal dog Snowy are intrigued as to why so many desire it, and comment on the secrets it holds.
When the model is stolen, more information surfaces. And so the pair set out to discover the truth. Thus teaming up, after a surprise meeting, with the boisterous drunkard Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis).
Adventure
The group’s adventure spans the globe, with each destination bringing more danger and that crucial step closer towards unraveling the mystery.
From the moment the picture opens, the film’s tone and mood is set: mystery and adventure merged with fun and frolics.
The classy, hand-drawn, animated titles use the Tintin signature silhouette imagery with style and sophistication.
One extended chase sequence through the flooding streets of a North African city is so dazzling and dizzying it reminded me why no other filmmaker can match Spielberg when he lets his imagination out for a spin.
The Adventures of Tintin is an entirely new bunch of blistering blue barnacles – every frame enforces impeccable detail and naturalism. And like the best animated pictures, viewers will forget they are watching digitalised representations in no time.
Visuals
Whether the visuals are mind-blowing as in the all-important action sequences or brilliantly subtle this film is a clear example of just how magnificent technology is in this day and age.
Tintin is brave, and he always gets out of the tangles he gets in. He is a good guy. He doesn’t know doubts…
Haddock is the dark side of Tintin. He is prone to anger and shouting insults, hard drinker, natural born loser…
Far from a being just a comical sidekick, Haddock is the human counterpart to the flawless hero that Tintin is.
The plot is a by the numbers mystery/adventure/treasure hunt, complete with bumbling detectives , exciting sea plane action and hidden clues, but it’s brought to life in gorgeous visual style. The whole film is bursting with rich detail, and is given added depth by a good, solid use of 3D. The virtual camera-work throughout is stupendous.
With it’s tremendous visual flair, the feature’s script is a masterpiece. It is beautifully written. It possesses a kind of whimsical dialogue that is frequently hilarious and yet manages to keep people riveted to their seats.
An adaptation from the origional
Considering Hergé’s original stories are completely separate volumes, the writing trio behind this movie are able to make a sensible structure with the texts at hand.
And let’s not forget the laughs, as the script provides great character development for those new to the world of Tintin without insulting audiences with an hour’s lesson.
Young children will have no trouble picking up who’s who in the early stages, before settling back for the incredible roller coaster ride of the second and final climatic act.
The film is a really mixture of action and adventure. We see the heroes on board ships, rowing boats, fly airplanes, riding camels, having car\bike chases and crane fights. The time flew past for me and not once did i feel bored.
Action fans will gain greatness from this movie too.
Expect high octane chases, pirate swordplay and more bullets than a Sylvester Stallone entry – just a lot less gore and swearing.
The main character is Tintin, who is a journalist who we never see doing any journalism though, but that doesn’t matter because he is the textbook example of a heroic boy with boy scout qualities. Of course I can’t forget to mention the lovable dog, Snowy. He steals almost every scene that he is in. He is very realistic, he acts like a real dog and even gets his own chase scene. I’m telling you, you will adore this dog.
Action packed
In fact, although The Adventures of Tintin is action-packed, its PG certificate is justified. Seriously, I cannot recall anything remotely damaging or frightening for young eyes. So relax. Eat some chips and spend quality time with your young-in’s.
The voice casting is collectively brilliant with Bell (Tintin) and Serkis (Haddock) being the obvious standouts.
Bell provides the voice for Tintin. It is his inquisitive tone and frequent high-pitched bursts that mirror the speech bubbles that Tintin utters in the comic panels.
When reading a Hergé story, this is exactly how the character sounds in your head don’t you know.
The action scenes are brilliantly written and directed, the angles of the camera, the drive of the action scenes, timing of all the jokes(physical or visual) is genius. Because Spielberg is a genius. He is the master of adventure movies and there never will be another genius in adventure movies like him.
Serkis steals the show as Captain Haddock and is given splendid dialogue to growl through bitter Scottish chords. Haddock’s often stupid remarks and forgetfulness is beautifully represented through the animated character.
Daniel Craig is also fantastic as the less-than-trustworthy Ivanovich Sakharine, Heh heh.
And let’s not forget Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the voice overs for the lovable policing dunces Thomson and Thompson.
Plus Snowy (the lovable dog) is absolutely wonderful.
The animation is magnificent, the motion capture has gone a long way. It looks very realistic, especially all the features on Captain Haddock’s face. The beard, the wrinkles and the eyes, they all looked amazing.
Welcome to the world of Tintin
Perhaps those new to Tintin will be influenced to re-visit the books and television shows of yesteryear and become more involved with one of the century’s most beloved and important literary creations.
Overall Spielberg has created an old-fashioned style adventure movie for the whole family to enjoy,where the important things are just the hunt for the treasure, the friendship two people can make and the most important thing of all that it is an entertaining ride. Spielberg never disappoints, it doesn’t matter if you are a fan of Tintin or not, you will enjoy this film nonetheless
This was such an enjoyable film, there are so many great things about this movie.
Easily one of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen. The animation is perfect. it’s bright, colourful and scarily lifelike.
Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a young reporter who gets tangled in the affairs of smugglers when he buys a model ship from a scrap meet. When he gets kidnapped to the smugglers’ ship, he meets Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). The adventure takes the pair to the Atlantic, Sahara, Morocco and finally back home.
The characters, scenery and landscapes all look incredible and so creative. Even the opening credits look fantastic! I can’t stress how good the visuals are in this film.
The film’s story is faithful to the comic book, and thus ends promising more. I hope there will be, because I was willing to follow Tintin and Haddock on new adventures straight away! The film is excellent escapism from the dreary day-to-day life and it made me smile for the rest of the day.
The Movie Flows Well
Spielberg has done an incredible job here, nothing could have been improved in this aspect. The way the movie flows and the way the scenes intertwine and change is beautiful.
There are scenes where it switches from past to present and back again in such a way that you just get lost in it.. you will understand what i mean when you see the movie.
There are scenes of fights and chases which are so creative and so imaginative, the way he uses angles and the way everything links on is a real joy to watch. Its hard to explain, watch the film and you will know exactly what I mean.
Billions of blue blistering barnacles, Ten thousand thundering typhoons – for a whole generation these were the epitome of cuss words thanks to Captain Haddock.
However, the film is not just a visual feast like many films are. It has a good solid story with likable, interesting characters – I found the story line kept my attention throughout. A very original adventure/quest film, searching for hidden treasure and defeating the bad guys along the way!
I cannot recommend this film enough, i was so surprised by just how good it was. I am sorry I didn’t go and see this in the cinema as it really would have been a fantastic experience.
Captain Haddock works brilliantly for the most part: he’s unpredictable, endearing, and colorful in all the ways Tintin himself isn’t. Tintin and Haddock make for a good double-act, though: brains and brawn, cunning and in-over-his-head rashness; together they’d make a good Indiana Jones.
Exposition
The movie also deftly skips what could have been a typically Hollywoodish mistake of giving Tintin exposition. But none of that nonsense here.
Exposition in a written work is the passages which explain where events take place, what happened before the story begins, and the background of the characters.
Tintin is a reporter, that’s all you need to know.
That’s all the comics ever told us about him. None of them ever showed Tintin doing actual reporter work.
I don’t think he ever used a typewriter, he has no boss, no workplace. Tintin just finds himself where adventure is.
Because he’s a reporter.
Hergé never needed more, kudos for the guys behind this movie for keeping true to that. It will be held against them, but that will be coming from people who don’t know the original material.
Spielberg is almost perfect in designing the characters. The look and the way the screen Tintin reacts brings in nostalgia of childhood days. The attire to expression was all nicely done. Same goes for Snowy, the cute loyal dog of Tintin who can fight with the goons to save his beloved master. In fact children will fall in love with Snowy after watching this film. In one of the scene when Tintin gets kidnapped Snowy follows the car of the goons to the ship were Tintin was deported.
CGI Bad?
Yet the movie did a great job of shutting up the anti-CGI geek in me. It simply looks stunning, and your mind easily jumps back and forth between forgetting these are cartoon characters and appreciating their transition to a 3D environment, respectful of the original designs but literally bringing them to life.
The detective duo Thompson and Thomson is appropriate and so is famous nightingale singer Bianca Castaphiore. Captain Francis Haddock and Red Rackham’s characters were true to the original book and it worked well.
In short, all these elements drew me to the same conclusion, Spielby and co. managed to deal a great adaptation.
One that has true respect for the original material, and the great ambition of adding something to it.
Yes, not everything of it. “Le Crabe aux Pinces D’or” could have deserved a whole movie itself. So yeah, shortcuts are taken, and as true to their originals as they are, the characters have been redesigned.
But in the end you have a movie that can be appreciated both by fans of the comics as well as people who have “just heard about them”.
It is fun, packed with adventure and action, enjoyable at all ages.
And most of all, you can go see it without having to worry about seeing another piece of Hollywood-flavored perversion, a fast-foodified betrayal.
It’s an old-fashioned treasure hunt. Tintin runs into a frequently inebriated Captain Haddock (voice of Andy Serkis), who has a strong connection to the original Unicorn and to the scrolls themselves. With Haddock and Snowy at his side, Tintin races across the globe to solve the mystery before Sakharine, a journey that takes him to multiple continents, fighting bad guys with swords, guns, fists, and feet.
Some background
Since 1981, Spielberg has become an avid fan of this gorgeous “Tintin” comics and has been longing to create a film about it. Before he and “Tintin’s” master, Herge could meet, Herge passed away.
However, Herge’s widow decided to give them the rights and began the adventure to re-create this marvelous wonder of art.
Three comics
Adapted from three of the comics, Spielberg’s re-creation of the comics introduces us to Tintin (Jamie Bell), a Belgian reporter who gets caught up in all sorts of adventures.
One day, he found a model of a ship, the Unicorn and bought it and brought it home. However, when Tintin was buying the ship, two men came to try to buy the model, Sakharine (Daniel Craig) and Barnaby.
Later, Tintin discovers that the model holds an important secret and somehow, the secret is linked to the real ship itself. On the way for answers, he meets the grumpy Haddock and head off to an adventure spanning around the globe with his white fluffy dog Snowy.
Animation
The animation is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. It’s not right to call it a CGI film as the motion of the characters are much smoother than that of CGI films. Tintin’s animated self looks stunning (even though he looks kind of different from his comic-self) in his blue long sleeves.
Snowy is fluffier than ever.
Captain Haddock is grumpier than ever.
All of the animation is simply breathtaking and the best I’ve ever seen.
Here’s an added bonus – apparently, the movie is very close to the source material. Tintin has not been updated or modified to mollify new audiences; remember, so many Americans have never heard of the intrepid reporter. And there’s no time waste on explaining who Tintin is, or what he is, or how old he’s supposed to be. You know why? Because it’s irrelevant, that’s why. He’s just an adventuring dude with a smart dog and a lot of panache.
Scene shifting
I like how they change scenes.
While most other movies just shift scenes normally, this film uses a little imagination and is ingenious in shifting scenes. They can change from a scene of shaking hands to a desert scene by using the outline of the two hands into the surface of the desert.
This thing is just entertaining and great in its own right and deserves some reward.
A Fun Movie
The movie itself is fun to watch. The story is compelling, the lines are natural-sounding, and the action is plenty of fun to watch. It is great excitement to watch and I was hooked from beginning to end. Great plot + awesome action + breathtaking animation equals up to amazing movie.
The 3D is perfectly fine. The depth is seen and the 3D just makes the movie even more fun to watch.
The movie is animated, both literally and figuratively, and the animation is so exquisitely realistic that it’s easy to perceive it as completely lifelike. The action is intense and relentless, but because of the depth of detail in the animation, it’s tough to imagine it as anything other than a terrific live-action film. When Tintin leaps from building to building or from a moving car, we actually cringe – can he make it?
Excitement
OK, let’s release now all the excitement about this movie. If I had just five short seconds to say how I think this movie is I’d chose 7 words: Mesmerising from the beginning to the end. That’s quite true if you consider that even the opening credits are little shining pearls of direction and creativity.
Overall Impression
The general impression you get from this movie, talking about direction, is that nothing could have been better. Spielberg’s direction is, in this case as well, a real warranty of general great quality.
Three things I particularly appreciated:
There’s literally a STORM of brain-waves (and here comes the Spielberg’s touch); especially, in the connection phases between one scene and the other the director totally expresses his genius, turning the open ocean into a pond, making two shaking hands become dunes in the desert and so on (you’ll understand what I mean when you’ll watch the movie)
The ‘camera’s movements’ literally pull you into the movie and you can’t help feeling excited or scared according to the situation.
The movie flows perfectly; it is kind of a pleasure for your eyes and for your brain to follow the adventure.
You can tell it’s a Spielberg’s movie even just looking at these things.
The quality of animation.
I really could not find a proper term to define my astonishment when my eyes approached the beautiful places and landscapes shown in the movie. They look perfect, shining and bursting with emotions, sensations; they almost look like paintings: For instance, there’s a sunset in the movie that I will hardly forget. It’s the same with the CGI models: you can see the wrinkles on the character’s faces, even their sweat.
The Actors
Furthermore, some words about the actors: Bells and Serkis are maybe the sole two living beings who could have given birth to the cinematographic version of the two main characters.
The first succeeds in the hard challenge to provide the audience with a convincing and faithful interpretation of the beloved protagonist (he did A GREAT job indeed), the second is a delightful surprise again, with a funny Scottish accent and a very good interpretation.
Soundtrack
One last word goes to one of the best composer alive: Sir John Williams. There’s nothing to do, every piece of music he creates is able to touch the deepest strings of our hearts.
With a soundtrack that ranges from the epic tones to the mysterious ones he gives us another example of his limitless genius, because he still remains one of those composers able to make us cry.
Conclusion
‘The Adventures of Tintin’ is quintessentially the perfect family film and has plenty to offer audiences of all ages. This is an incredibly joyous, thrilling and comically genius adventure. Hergé was onto a winner with his thoughts towards Spielberg and he can rest easy now knowing his tales have been faithfully and beautifully translated into a cinematic masterwork. Great Snakes, it’s good.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other similar posts in my movie index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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As most American are “sheltering in place”, and the cloud of COVID-19 is slowing evaporating from China, I think that many people are stressed, and feel uncertain about their lives. I really do not think that the $1000 gift from Trump in the $2 trillion dollar emergency bill is going to amount to anything Mostly it’s the rich bankers that are going to pocket millions of dollar. Most Americans realize this. So this results in fear and uncertainty.
It need not be that way. There was a time when America was self-reliant and self-contained. Men went about and conducted their business freely. They never had to ask permission, report their actions or pay taxes to the American government. They were on their own and self-reliant.
They were heroes.
Here are some videos of normal “everyday” people performing heroic actions. I do hope that they can inspire you to be the best that you can be.
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Boy helps old man.
An old man collapses while crossing the street. But a young boy goes forth and helps him up. This is a good story and a great lesson that we all need to take heed of. Good going son. Good going.
Here’s a woman who braves the engulfing fire that has trapped young children inside a car. Does she pause? Yes, but then she steel’s herself and brave the heat, the fire and the smoke. She does what ever she needs to. She must go and save the baby. It’s her sole purpose and focus.
Purse snatcher tries to make a get away. Unlucky for him that there are others in the parking lot who are aware and ready to deal with this miscreant properly. Nothing like a spare shopping cart to take care of problems.
Firemen rescue trapped family.
Firemen are all heroes. Here we see some Chinese firemen rescuing a family that is trapped inside a burning building. This is why they exist. This is their job, however that does not mean that they are not heroes. They are and their actions are heroic.
Rescue of a boy in the street.
This is a head-slap event. What the Hell is this kid thinking? He’s going to run out in the middle of an 11-lane super highway? Lordy! You need to keep your eyes on the children at all times, that’s for certain.
Emergency CPR.
An old man collapses on the sidewalk. A stranger sees this and immediately starts emergency CPR on him. It’s all captured on film. This is what heroes do. They don’t get on CNN and talk about how great they are. They live quiet lives and help others when the need and time comes.
Climb up to rescue the children.
Bravery is what we see in hindsight. True heroes react immediately without thinking. Here we have a man crawling on his 6th floor porch to get to the apartment above to rescue some screaming children.
Prevent an accident.
Kids do the strangest things. Like perhaps riding out into a busy traffic road. What are you going to do? Allow him to get squished and turn into jelly, or are you going to do something about it, eh?
Catch a falling child.
OK. So you are walking down a sidewalk and you hear frantic screaming up above you. You look up and it seems like someone is outside the building scrambling, but that they might fall. What are you going to do? Maybe call 9-11? Maybe pretend nothing is going on?
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have others that are similar to it in my Rufus Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Any geek can proclaim “Live Long and Prosper.” An even lesser geek will require you to “Use the force.” A truly hardened, experienced, and involved geek however will tell you “Never give up, and never surrender.”
-doblu
If you love Star Trek, then you would love and appreciate Galaxy Quest. You see, there is a reason why this movie (which is NOT set in the Star Trek universe) is considered one of the best Star Trek movies.
It’s a comedy, ai, that is certain. But it appeals and has appeal to anyone of us who has fallen in love with the characters, the narrative and the tropes of the Star Trek universe.
Galaxy Quest is special. It really is. Galaxy Quest has everyone in the theater laughing. It cut across ages and backgrounds with a very simple premise…
…you are what you believe yourself to be.
You are what you believe yourself to be.
Which is, after all, the exact same premise that the movie “Bronco Billy” was based upon.
'Galaxy Quest' couldn't be better. It's not a mockumentary, it's not a Star Trek parody. It's pure comedy based on the Star Trek legend with excellent actors and absolutely brilliant production.
The visuals are magnificent. You would expect nothing but mediocre stuff for a space comedy, but this is not the case with 'Galaxy Quest'. These are the best effects for a space movie, since 'Starship Troopers'!
The story is also very original and interesting. Not only jokes on thin air, but a great story nonetheless. The triumphant ending is beautiful, it elevates you! In fact, it would easily compete with the some of the best Star Trek stories of all time.
- atzimo
This movie is not only about the television series, but it is also about the fans.
Indeed, science fiction conventions can be a lot of fun, and a real hoot. If you ever have the chance to check one out, please do so.
Galaxy Quest.
At shows you will meet all kind of folk.
You will meet the seemingly useless get-a-lifers, the just-for-fun guys, and the not-so-rare I’m-only-in-it-for-the profit gang.
Never give up, never surrender!
You will meet actors who loved the whole shebang, actors who loathed it, and actors who didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Fandom is a very big place, with room for all sorts of people.
This film was amazing. I saw the trailers and swore I'd never watch it. A couple of friends overruled this after watching it in the theaters, and I'm glad they did.
Not only is this film an amusing spoof of Science Fiction Fen-dom, it's a brilliant action-adventure/science-fiction film in its own right. The only other film I can think of that is a righteous satirical look, yet a splendid example of the genre, is the Fifth Element.
Galaxy Quest Has It All. Beautiful women in scanty clothing. Love interests. Computers. Space ships. Ugly and evil monsters. Blasters. Arcane martial arts. Dynamite catch phrases. And best of all, the very population that is satirized is the group that Saves The Day.
The dialogue is brilliant - you'll find yourself quoting from this film regularly. The acting is marvelous. Tim Allen doing William Shatner doing a Heroic Spaceship Captain is worth the rental all by itself, not to mention Alan Rickman's memorably dry performance as the I-Am-Not-My-Strange-Looking-Alien character.
The first thing I thought upon leaving the theater was that I had to see this film again. The first thing I thought upon seeing it again was that I would have to own this movie. Check it out - you won't be sorry.
- tygirrl
Galaxy Quest.
And Galaxy Quest got it right–the conventions, the costumes, the geeks, the groupies, even the mocking “mundanes” who attend cons looking for kicks. It took notice of all the science fiction cliches, acknowledged them, and then twisted them to its own comedic purposes.
Galaxy Quest captured not only the silliness of fandom, but the inspiration of it.
Galaxy Quest.
In the end, the demoralized and cynical actors found strength and meaning in the same characters which stereotyped them.
The fans of SF, are what makes this movie classic!
The geeks saved the day. The good guys won. The bad guys provided entertainment to masses of fans. Things blew up. And isn’t that what science fiction is all about?
This is what I would call a PERFECT film.
As a long-time Star Trek fan I have waited for a movie which had that total feelgood factor, not a spoof, but a humorous and heartfelt homage.
A film which shows fans in a good light, in a way that, of course, we can laugh at ourselves, but in an unoffensive and entertaining manner.
I never thought it would arrive, and so in GALAXY QUEST, I found one of the best films in cinema history.
Everything is spot on. The story is fantastic, and telling it from the point of view of normal people was great. Making them play those stereotypes that we know and love was just the tip of the iceberg, and everyone played the parts superbly.
The special effects speak for themselves. When the Protector leaves space dock...Wow. When she goes through the minefield...Wow! When Tim Allen faces the biggest rock monster since The Never Ending Story...Wow Wow WOW!
The score is also great, capturing the adventure of the old Star Trek shows, and the epic scope of the story at hand. And then there's the way everything just comes together at the end into a sensational package of laughs, thrills, sometimes bitingly moving scenes, and a genuine feeling of warmth inside.
Go and see this, buy the DVD, whatever. Just see it. Never give up, and never surrender!
- selfy_nagus
The entire cast was excellent, especially Tim Allen and Alan Rickman doing their best Shatner and Nimoy impersonations. Special credit must go to the four actors who played the naive aliens. Their wide-eyed innocence reminded me of the quality that drew me, and draws children of all ages into the world of science fiction.
Galaxy Quest.
This movie didn’t rely on vulgarities or overt violence. It didn’t need to resort to meanness or cruel jokes, either. While it poked fun at science fiction and its fans, it never resorted to the kind of mockery you see in other films.
A beautifully-crafted film, Galaxy Quest is a love letter to sf fans of all sorts everywhere. The characters are perfectly drawn, the story is well-written, and there's the right amount of goshwow to make the whole thing work perfectly. And it's funny as hell in all the right spots.
Tim Allen is amazing. He's got his Shatneroid character down perfectly. He's a vain, pompous clown who finds out what a laughingstock he's become, and when he gets a chance to redeem himself, he pounces on it.
Sigourney Weaver is a delight. Sexy without trying, her character Gwen DeMarco is as far from Ripley as you can get. Alan Rickman is flawless as Alexander Dane, massively talented Shakespearean actor who's been stuck in this Spockish role for years because he played it too well. Darryl Mitchell is great as Tommy "Laredo" Webber, and Sam Rockwell is hilarious as Guy, the hack actor stuck in the middle of something that scares him silly.
The two actors who really stand out are Tony Shalhoub and Enrico Colantoni. Tony plays Fred Kwan with understated glee, while Colantoni plays Commander Mathesar with a smiling earnestness that makes you firmly believe everything he's saying.
The supporting cast is incredibly talented. Robin Sachs is perfect as Sarris, Patrick Breen essays his role as Quellek beautifully, and Missy Pyle amazes as Laliari.
But it's still Tim Allen's movie above all else, and he makes the most of it.
A final note: this movie wouldn't have worked nearly as well if not for the production design work of four of the greatest artistic talents in science fiction: Simon Bisley, Brom, Wayne Barlowe and the lengendary Berni Wrightson. Barlowe is an expert in xenobiology, and designed the Thermian's native form. Wrightson's quite possibly the best horror illustrator of all time, and Sarris and his minions are his work.
My favorite moment in the film? the point where Alan Rickman gets his first look at the NSEA Protector II for the first time... his look of astonishment is a joy to behold.
Like The Last Starfighter, this is a popcorn movie with a message. See it with your kids.
- Ludwig_Meyer
Galaxy Quest is a solid, funny movie. Go see it. Take the kids. Go see it and see it twice.
On the way to adventure!
Some Dialogues
Brandon (Justin Long)
→ I just wanted to tell you that I thought a lot about what you said.
Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen)
→ It's okay, now listen--
Brandon
→ But I want you to know that I'm not a complete brain case, okay? I understand completely that it's just a TV show. I know there's no beryllium sphere...
Jason Nesmith
→ Hold it.
Brandon
→ ...no digital conveyor, no ship...
Jason Nesmith
→ Stop for a second, stop. It's all real.
Brandon
→ Oh my God, I knew it. I knew it! I knew it!
This movie is a true classic.
Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver)
→ What is this thing? There's no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway!
Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen)
→ Gwen —
Gwen DeMarco
→ No! I mean, we shouldn't have to do this! It makes no logical sense! Why is it here'!
Jason Nesmith
→ Because it's on the television show.
Gwen DeMarco
→ Well, forget it! I'm not doing it! This episode was BADLY WRITTEN!
[Witnessing Fred Kwan having sex with Laliari] Oh, that's not right!
But wait! There’s a documentary…
“Never Give Up, Never Surrender,” the “Galaxy Quest” documentary, highlights the magic of the 1999 film.
Galaxy Quest.
The flick earned its “cult classic” status by putting sci-fi superfans in the role of the hero and perfectly balancing the subtleties of comedy and drama.
The fans of SF, are what makes this movie classic!
“Never
Surrender” features intimate interviews with almost the entire cast of
the original film (excluding, of course and sadly, Alan Rickman, who
died in 2016), including actors Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver,
Justin Long and Sam Rockwell. The film also interviews writers, the
film’s director and other behind-the-scenes people who made the film
possible. “Never Surrender” even features cameos from sci-fi legends
like “Star Trek” actor Wil Wheaton and “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof.
Galaxy Quest.
This
documentary explains why, despite an initially disappointing turnout at
the box office, “Quest” has become one of the most beloved sci-fi
movies of all time. It was even dubbed “the best ‘Star Trek’ movie” by
Wheaton in the documentary, despite being, well, not a “Star Trek”
movie.
“Galaxy Quest” isn’t unique because it’s a sci-fi parody. Other films, like “Spaceballs,” spoofed “Star Wars” and other sci-fi classics, but there has always been something unique about “Quest.”
The “Captain” of Galaxy Quest.
As the documentary explores, the film isn’t a campy or “cheesy” spoof movie; it isn’t strictly a comedy (though I believe anyone would be hard-pressed to watch it without cracking up at least once).
There are some movies that are better watched while you are not eating. 'Galaxy Quest' fits into this category as I made the mistake of watching it while having dinner and I almost choked several times. This is one of the funniest smart comedies I have seen. The film is brilliantly executed and it brilliantly spoofs the science-fiction-spaceship genre. But the film isn't mere silliness as it does have a soul and tells an action adventure story of 5 has-been stars of a famous Star-Trek-type TV show that got cancelled two decades ago. The screenplay is great and the dialogues are witty fun. There is no crude humour or over-the-top-out-of-context joke.
The special effects wonderfully add to the spoofiness. The monsters and aliens are a 'treat' to watch. An intelligent comedy isn't easy to make as the maker has to pay close attention to line delivery, characterization, situation, comic timing and direction. 'Galaxy Quests' fulfills all criteria from start to end. Tim Allen as the pompous hero, Alan Rickman as the whiny has-been 'Shakespearean'-actor-forced-to-play-an-android, Tony Shalhoub as the funny Fred, Sam Rockwell as the terrified-of-being-the-first-one-to-die Guy, Enrico Colantoni as the gullible Mathezar and last but not least, the incredibly sexy Sigourney Weaver as the tired-of-playing-dumb-blonde Gwen (the total opposite of her famous Ripley character) play their parts.
I'm glad that I bought this film on impulse yesterday as most American spoofs I have seen, like the abysmal Scary Movies (puke) or the silly Screams (yawn) and the ridiculous Naked Guns (okay this last one was kind of funny) hardly have anything more to offer than silliness. Actually I was given the choice between this and 'Naked Gun 33 and a Half' and i'm glad I made the right decision. 'Galaxy Quest' definitely surpasses these films by several miles as I wouldn't even mind calling it one of the best comedies.
- Chrysanthepop
Galaxy Quest.
The documentary is pretty good.
It’s a movie with real heart. While you might giggle as a panicked, rambling Rockwell says, “My character isn’t important enough for a last name, because I’m gonna die 5 minutes in,” while descending to an alien planet, you may soon have tears in your eyes as Quellek the Thermian dies in the arms of Alexander Dane, or Dr. Lazarus (Rickman).
"It's this little movie. It's not a part of a franchise. It was just made by pure heart alone by a lot of people, and because of that heart, I think, it had a massive, lasting impact,"
-Roth Cornet, a producer on the documentary.
Galaxy Quest.
And the documentary similarly has a few tender, teary-eyed moments. For example, with the mention of Rickman, who passed before a proposed “Galaxy Quest” series on Amazon
could be realized, it is hard to not feel sentimental as the cast, one
by one, describes what it was like to work with him and how badly they
all miss him. “If you love Alan Rickman, that’s the moment for me, when
we talk about Alan passing. I got choked up,” Cornet said
The documentary has a few surprising, heartbreaking and hilarious tidbits about Rickman you can look forward to.
Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy Quest.
The
team behind this documentary has considered it a passion project and
has pushed to make it happen, Cornet said. “Something like this
highlights [that] when people love something and they come together, it
can really, really, really have a huge impact on their whole life, even
just a little movie about a TV show. And we’re making a documentary
about a movie about a TV show,” she added about the meta nature of the
documentary, which dives into a movie about actors in a “Star
Trek”-esque television show.
Cornet added that the creators aimed for the documentary to be “an hour and 25 minutes of delight.” And in my humble opinion, it is just that.
Galaxy Quest.
By Blake French:
As I walked out of the theater in which I screened "Galaxy Quest," I thought how surprised I was to have enjoyed what seemed as a cheesy family spoof. But the film turned to be an action adventure with some really hilarious moments. I loved the film. It has qualities of a successful science fiction drama, but also contains a variety of comical characters that had the whole audience overwhelmed in laughter. "Galaxy Quest" is right up there with "Toy Story" in merit, it entertains adults and children alike, standing out as one of the year's best family films.
The story details the adventures of a canceled television science fiction fantasy cast, similar in content to "Star Trek." "Galaxy Quest" is the name of the program. In their years, the stars, including Jason Nesmith, Gwen DeMarco, Fred Kwan, Alexander Dane, and Tommy Webber, were some of the biggest, most popular names in TV. Now, their means of making a living is signing fans' autographs for a price and being cast in amateur presentations.
Never give up. Never Surrender.
There is very detailed character development here. The characters are wonderfully cast and brilliantly portrayed. Unfortunately, most family films don't contain the patience for such necessary material. We bond with these characters; they are likable, funny, energetic and independent. These individuals are the key of success to this kind of movie.
The real plot begins when strange people come to Jason beging for him to save their existence from a powerful evil force who wishes to wipe them out of the universe forever. Naturally, at first our television star is skeptical, but when the strange people turn out to be humble aliens and transport Jason to their spaceship, he realizes this is something serious. The aliens begin to explain that they think he and his "Galaxy Quest" team are the only people in the universe who can save their race. He rushes to the members of his old cast and tries to justify his experience. He says that there are extraterrestrial creatures who require the help of their "Galaxy Quest" characters. None of his friends believe him, but once again give in when they find themselves transported off earth, onto the creature's spaceship. Of course, the aliens don't realize that their hopeful heroes are simply out of work actors, but who needs to tell them? So it is up to Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, Lt. Tawny Madison, Tech Sergeant Chen, Dr. Lazarus of Tev'Meck, and Lt. Laredo to save the day for our innocent and haunted alien life forms.
"Galaxy Quest" is a slapstick comedy that is smart, and does not go over the edge with its humorous material. It leaves room for several other essential elements such as happiness, romance, honesty, excitement, and contains a dramatic purpose. The story is very original, and contains a firm theme of action in its premise. It also has lots of outstanding visual effects and sight gags that are effective and interesting to watch.
The Galaxy Quest team discovers that things are going really bad.
A Television Show?
Paramount is currently putting together a television version of the 1999 Dreamworks film!
Hopefully, this show will be even better than the show in the film. Or not, and that will totally be its appeal! Whatever happens, today is an awesome day for sci-fi comedy fans everywhere. Paramount, we salute you.
Never Give up. Never Surrender!
Deleted scenes included on the DVD:
Tech Sargeant Chen helps an engineering crew solve a difficult problem without offering any insightful help whatsoever.
Alexander is presented his living quarters: an empty room save a bed of spikes and a daunting toilet.
An alternate version of a scene in which its revealed Jason and Gwen were old flames.
Guy overreacts when his foot gets caught in a rock, and Jason does his “rugged pose”.
Alexander uses an acting method to figure out the rock monster’s “motivation”.
Gwen
rips open her uniform to seduce two enemy soldiers, before crushing
them with a door. (Part of this scene was featured in the trailer.)
General Sarris revives himself and attacks the crew while crash landing.
The Galaxy Quest team.
Remember…
Never give up and never surrender!
Galaxy Quest.
I do hope that you appreciated and enjoyed this little post. I have more in my Movie Index, here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension (1984) is a film written by Earl Mac Rauch and directed by W.D. Richter that is one part B-Movie, one part Action Adventure, one part comedy, and one part political satire.
-All the Tropes
Are you finding yourself taking life too seriously? It’s easy enough to do. I do it all the time. But, don’t worry we can remedy that. Here we look at a decidedly silly science fiction classic that should be in everyone’s home library. It’s titled “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension” and it’s funky strange enough to pull you out of your funk and set you down for some delicious movie time.
Why is this movie important at this time in our lives?
I personally wouldn't invest a lot of emotional energy in the hope that things will go back to normal. "Normal" is gone forever. Even before the virus the only consistent pattern we've been seeing is things getting stranger and stranger. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
- Caitlin Johnstone
The Characters
It’s so strange that you’ve got to love it.
Buckaroo Banzai – Peter Weller! Brilliant particle physicist and neurosurgeon, he is also a martial arts master and plays in a band.
Lord John Whorfin – John Lithgow! Evil leader of the “Red Lectroids.” Buckaroo vaporizes him.
Penny Priddy – Ellen Barkin! The lost twin sister of Buckaroo’s deceased wife.
New Jersey – Jeff Goldblum! A cowboy at heart, this neurosurgeon partner of Buckaroo is joining The Hong Kong Cavaliers.
John Bigboote (Bigbooty! Hehehehe!) – Christopher Lloyd! Red Lectroid from planet 10, shot by Lord Whorfin for talking back.
Rawhide – Clancy Brown! (He played Kurgan in “Highlander.”) Member of The Hong Kong Cavaliers, poisoned by a Red Lectroid.
Perfect Tommy and Reno – Two of The Hong Kong Cavaliers. Tommy has some serious bleached hair.
John Parker – Black Lectroid, sent to help Buckaroo save Earth before his people are forced to destroy it.
John O’Conner – Vincent Schiavelli! (He’s been in lots of stuff, the teacher in “Better Off Dead” and the subway ghost in “Ghost.”) A Red Lectroid. Vaporized.
The Plot
There’s a plot here somewhere. It’s just a tad confused.
This movie has more famous people in it than most blockbuster films! Look at them all! Just look at them!
What we have here my friends is a seriously out in left field piece of work.
Buckaroo Banzai and his partners have just perfected the “Oscillation Overthruster” and it allows them to travel into the 8th dimension.
Why did we miss all the ones between? I dunno!
How can a 3rd dimension being interact on the 8th? I dunno!
Lord Whorfin is trapped on Earth with a select group of followers, he wants to steal the overthruster and free all the Red Lectroids from exile in the 8th dimension.
Then they will return to their home on the 10th planet and defeat the Black Lectroids!
Black Lectroids are the good aliens by the way, they’re also all Jamaican oddly enough.
Need a romance in here somewhere so Buckaroo runs into Penny while performing at a club, she’s the lost twin sister of the woman he loved. (She died, we don’t really know how.)
Well, the Black Lectroids can’t let Lord Whorfin escape Earth, they are fully prepared to precipitate a nuclear war if necessary.
They do have the courtesy to shock (literally) Buckaroo so he can see the alien’s true forms.
With his elite band of six shooting scientists, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, Dr. Banzai is able to defeat Whorfin and save Earth.
Do you get the idea?
What more do you need?
Okay, how about Christopher Lloyd running around and everyone calling him “John Bigbooty?” Or Jeff Goldblume as New Jersey, decked out like a cowboy – he even has black and white spotted luggage.
Gateway 2000 luggage!
Watch the film two or three times, the plot is there…
…somewhere.
Things I Learned From This Movie
Yup. I did learn a thing or two.
Neurosurgeons shouldn’t tug on things they don’t recognize.
Rocket powered pickup trucks don’t look right.
The 8th dimension looks a good deal like what you might see through an electron microscope.
New Brunswick, Maine is a tough town.
Aliens with bird like ships should stay well clear of Earth during duck season. Especially you, yeah you, darn Romulans.
Alien Lectroids have nads.
Hologram viewing glasses are made out of bubble wrap.
Girls: Never try to get intimate with some guy carrying a electric charge.
Bacteria can affect people via television.
Good aliens appear to hail from Jamaica.
Four star generals should not use the phrase, “I’m barely holding my fudge.”
Alien thermal pods carry parachutes.
Stuff to watch for;
If yer gonna watch it, take the time to notice these selected highlights…
7 mins – This is some serious high tech stuff!
10 mins – Buckaroo is driving through a mountain?
13 mins – John Lithgow is applying electric current to his tongue!
23 mins – If Peter Weller was bawling out a song to me I’d do the same thing.
32 mins – Somebody shut Penny up, damn blonde…
48 mins – That little asian guy looks funny riding a Harley.
50 mins – Awful lot of folks named John.
53 mins – What the heck did the alien kill him with? Spit?
60 mins – Yeah, why is there a watermelon there?
78 mins – These guards don’t notice a double decker bus?
85 mins – Now that is a mad looking slug, um thing.
Some Pictures.
Check out these screen caps.
When it was released in 1984, W.D. Richter’s (Late for Dinner) incomparably droll comedy was misunderstood on every level: diluted by editors, wrongly promoted as a straight sci-fi flick, trashed by many critics, and scorned by the public. Only a scruffy band of cultists have kept the film alive over the years, but given the higher ’90s profile of Buckaroo costars Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, and John Lithgow (previewing his 3rd Rock From the Sun demented-alien shtick 12 years ahead of schedule), it may at last be worthy of a mainstream audience. Or vice versa.
Kicking off with an expository title crawl that apes Star Wars and is, if anything, even more incomprehensible, Buckaroo plays like chapter 27 of a Saturday-matinee serial, and too bad for you if you missed the first 26. All you need to know is that Buckaroo (Peter Weller, exuding Zen coolth) is a world-famous physicist/neurosurgeon/rock star who leads his Hong Kong Cavaliers to overthrow the Red Lectroids from Planet 10 while at the same time wooing his ex-wife’s long-lost identical twin (Barkin). That’s skipping the Rasta aliens, a mysterious watermelon, and the bit where we find out Orson Welles’ 1938 ”The War of the Worlds” broadcast actually wasn’t a hoax.
-EW
Oh, it’s so very 1980’s.
Brain surgeon, rock musician, adventurer Buckaroo Banzai is a modern renaissance man and has made scientific history. He perfected the Oscillation Overthruster, which allows him to travel through solid matter by using the eighth dimension. Along with his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, he must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer our dimension. He is helped by Penny Pretty, the long-lost twin sister of his late wife, and some good extra-dimensional beings who look and talk like they are from Jamaica.
—Greg Bole <bole@life.bio.sunysb.edu>
Conclusion
Have you looked around lately? Don’t you think that the world is taking itself a little too serious? Eh?
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have others in my Movie Index. Here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Here’s a bunch of videos that I collected during the (so far) six
week long quarantine that everyone in China experienced. The videos are a
selection of virus related subjects but generally relate to how China
handled the biological weapons attack, and how society adapted to it. As
of this writing, things have stabilized and people and companies are
cautious and careful in their actions and movements.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – New technology helps locate sick people.
Xi Peng has made a call out to all of China to help fight this deadly and lethal COVID-19 virus. The results have been astounding. From people running inside and handing wads of cash to the police (I have about a zillion videos on this), to people buying masks out of their “own pocket” and giving them away, to making food for all the workers… everyone is involved. This COVID-19 has really pulled the Chinese nation together. While before it was hyper-patriotic, today it is on a completely different level.
Here’s one of the latest innovations from the Shenzhen factories and R&D development centers. It’s already in mass production and the “word on the street” is that they will be handing these out to all of the police agencies all over China. Check it out.
Video 2 – America just doesn’t get it…
Nope, America just does not get it. The illness is a biological weapon. It is designed to be stealthy and hide within people and shed when they feel fine and normal.
So what you want to do is avoid crowds.
If you are trying to stock up for an emergency or SHTF event, you do not wait until it happens. You prepare years in advance. That is why they are called “preppers”.
Look at these fools. Do you see any of them wearing a mask? What about gloves? How many do you think are going to disinfect their clothing, wash their hands, or sanitize their car keys?
If the COVID-19 hits America, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.
America is not anywhere as prepared, organized or run by talented and experienced leadership like China is. It just isn’t.
Video 3 – The new technology.
The new technology of the thermal imaging headsets are now in production and available. You can see them on the streets along with the flying drones and robots that are making sure that everyone is “with the program”.
America doesn’t have any of this. And won’t for years. 5G is bad for you don’t you know. It’s gonna give you brain damage, don’t you know. It’s gonna fry your brain… don’t you know…
Video 4 – Community pitches in.
China is hyper-patriotic. This is something that is unknown in the Untied States because everyone is in this propaganda bubble where everyone in China wants to move to America for “freedom” and “democracy”. Where the Chinese can’t wait to “throw away their chains” and over through the vicious tyrannical Chinese government… don’t ya know.
Here’s a common scene. The local kitchens feed the police, militia and volunteers with delicious meals. This looks to me like Guiling meifan. It’s a very delicious and spicy dish of noodles and pork.
Video 5 – Military decontamination team decontaminates the taxis.
When you are in China, most of what you will see are the civilian militia in their (either) red or orange jackets, or the hospital staff in their (either) white or blue NBC suits and masks. Most of the military presence is behind the scene. Like here…
Here is what happens before the taxis go out and about. They cycle back to their staging area for continuous decontamination by the military NBC troops.
Video 6 – Seriously sick man tries to break out of quarantine.
Yup, so you are in quarantine and you are ill and not thinking right. What you should do is call the police using the APP or the hospital and wait until they come and get you. But that’s not what this fellow does. He hops in his cart and tries to smash through the roadblock and escape on his own…
Video 7 – Xinjiang decontamination.
The Uyghur Muslims are on board with the program and are participating in the decontamination of their communities, their cities and their people. Here we have them working and participating side by side with the Chinese military crews working to decontaminate the communities in Xinjiang.
You would think that if the American narrative is correct, that the Chinese wants to exterminate the Uyghur Muslims that they would just simply let the illness run it’s course, right?
Conclusion
After about this bunch of videos I’m going to give it a rest for a spell. As you can clearly see, China is organized and working together to fight this terrible biological weapon. While it has put a dent in the Chinese economy, it is recovering.
Compare that to the levels of panic and ineptitude in the United States. It’s where “it’s every man for himself” and no one is trusting the government. Lord help the people in America. They have no idea what a shit-storm this biological weapon could end up being.
If you would like to check out the full index of the Trump Trade War activities, you can go here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Error! Missing PayPal API credentials. Please configure the PayPal API credentials by going to the settings menu of this plugin.
Here’s a bunch of videos that I collected during the (so far) six
week long quarantine that everyone in China experienced. The videos are a
selection of virus related subjects but generally relate to how China
handled the biological weapons attack, and how society adapted to it. As
of this writing, things have stabilized and people and companies are
cautious and careful in their actions and movements.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Airport Screening
While there are all sort of roadblocks and check points in China at this time, there are multiple stations at airports. This is what it looks like.
One thing, notice the lines… yeah.
They are not absurdly long like they are int he United States. When I left the USA, I had to wait in a line for three hours while TSA processed me. In China it is professional, quick and of short duration.
Video 2 – What it was like when China went into DEFCON ONE.
When China announced that the nation was under a biological weapons attack and that everyone should stay in their homes under “lock down” conditions, it was eerie. It was like a horror movie.
Suddenly sirens were blaring, messages were popping up ont he televisions, and on all the social media. Drones started to fly about telling people to stay inside and the various police, military, and militia were called up to secure roadblocks and quarantine regions of society.
It was like this…
Video 3 – Inside of one of the quarantine facilities
The Chinese government has set up large containment facilities for people who were collected at roadblocks or who have come to the hospital for treatment. These facilities are policed and maintained by hospital staff and nurses 24-7. Here is what it is like at night…
Video 4 – Hitting in Italy
This COVID-19 broke out of China and has mutated to attack other races aside from Asian. It is active in Iran, Korea (both North and South) and Italy. Here is a news-woman on Italian television reporting the news before it was publicly known that the coronavirus exploded in Italy.
I do hope that this poor girl is going to be ok.
Video 5 – Quarantine in a hotel
Not all quarantines are held inside retrofitted stadiums and public schools. Hospitals have also been converted to quarantine stations in the smaller towns and communities. Here’s one where everyone is outside the door waiting for the thrice daily medical checkups and supplies.
Video 6 – Locked inside your home
If you are ordered to be quarantined within your home, special precautions are taken. Here we see that a police official marks the door with a notice that people inside are possibly infected and the at the entire home is under quarantine. Then they put on a alarm, where any removal or movement will trigger an alert. Finally, everything is connected via WeChat and QR code so that the quarantined people have instant access to the police and hospital if they need anything or are having an emergency.
Video 7 – A reminder that this is not the flu.
To this day, even now in March, the American media is still proclaiming that the flu is far worse. Donald Trump is calling the COVID-19 a “hoax” and has put off the responsibilities for dealing it to his vice President Pence. Such is the American bubble of ignorance.
I think what is happening is that American media is a propaganda arm of the “deep state”, and now even the American leadership believes the lies and twisted narrative. It’s a dangerous situation.
Meanwhile, how in God’s Green Earth can you possible believe that the Flu is anywhere near as bad as this? You never see people collapsing on the street from the flu. Never.
There are more videos to explore…
If you would like to check out the full index of the Trump Trade War activities, you can go here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Error! Missing PayPal API credentials. Please configure the PayPal API credentials by going to the settings menu of this plugin.
Here’s a bunch of videos that I collected during the (so far) six
week long quarantine that everyone in China experienced. The videos are a
selection of virus related subjects but generally relate to how China
handled the biological weapons attack, and how society adapted to it. As
of this writing, things have stabilized and people and companies are
cautious and careful in their actions and movements.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Western media about China:
Xi Jinping is not the president but the "paramount leader" of China. Chinese media don't bring news because they're the "mouthpiece" of the Party
China doesn't fire officials, it "purges" them
China doesn't requisition private hospitals during a health emergency by passing laws, it "seizes" them
Chinese leaders don't strengthen laws, they "concentrate power"
China doesn't give out loans, they "trap" countries in debt.
China doesn't punish corrupt officials, they "net" them
Chinese media doesn't report news, it reports "propaganda"
China doesn't revise counting methodologies, it "under-reports" cases
Chinese companies don't innovate, they "steal IP"
Chinese people are not patriotic, they're "brainwashed"
Chinese provinces don't win PISA tests, they "selectively nominate the best schools".
-Maitreya Bhakal on Twitter @MaitreyaBhakal Feb 13. 2020
Video 1 – Virus strikes a motorcycle rider.
The thing is that this virus comes with a one-two punch. It is light and you seem to get over this minor cold, and then it goes into remission. It borrows deep. Then out of the blue, while you are feeling just fine and normal, it will suddenly strike you. It will be sudden and you can be doing anything. From walking, to riding a motorcycle to driving a car.
Once the virus hit, there was an increase in vehicular accidents on the highways and roads. Some of them seemed strange. Like the woman who was just pulling out of the driveway and crashed into the wall unconscious. Or the truck driver that ran over the car ahead of him, or the delivery truck that ran through a red light and crashed into the trees. Or, the truck that drove clear off the die of a tall bridge. These stories are horrifying.
Like this motorcycle rider…
Video 2 – What it is like when you are tested as positive at a road block.
My brother asked me what it was like if you went through a road-block and you were tested positive for the illness. Well, it’s like this. They just cannot test for the illness, but they can test to see if you are having any symptoms of an illness, and if you are, they will sequester you and pull you aside and take you into to quarantine. Like this…
Video 3 – When it strikes it is sudden and swift.
WHen the second phase of the illness kits, it’s a Knock-out punch and it is sudden. This video says it all. It is frightening and alarming.
I keep hearing that this isn’t as bad as all the hype makes it look.
I would like to remind the people saying this that this particular virus was CUSTOMIZED IN A LABORATORY.
Who knows what it will mutate into now that is out in the world FOREVER?
-Busted Knuckles
I just cannot grapple in my mind how anyone can possibly say that the flu is worse than this. Obviously they are back-seat drivers who are just paper-pushers living within their own sweet bubble. Well, you all had best wake up. The reality can get to be pretty harsh. I’ll tell you what.
Video 4 – Medical staff collapsing from the KO punch when the illness strikes
I’ve presented many such videos of hospital workers collapsing during this emergency. Sometimes it due to exhaustion, but more often than not, they contract the COVID-19 illness and succumb to it. It’s a very sad and tragic situation, indeed.
Sadly, many hospitals are experiencing this event and watching their staff succumb to this frightening illness; this evil horror.
Video 5 – Remote temperature and vitals check on quarantine housing.
The Chinese have been very proactive in using drones to check on the health of the people under quarantine. As can be easily seen in this video.
Video 6 – Collecting some infected people that refuse to stay in quarantine.
here we have a family of people that are infected. They know that they are infected. So they were put under house quarantine, and they broke quarantine. Thus they became a risk to the community. So the police came to seize them an put them into more secure quarantine facilities.
Video 7 – Road block
This is what a road block looks like on a highway off-ramp. It is pretty much the same all over China.
These roadblocks are covered in other posts as they are both interesting and come in all sorts of sizes and shapes.
Video 8 – Going back to work.
Now that most of the Chinese factories have reopened, new procedures are in place. The factory, as a closed eco-system must maintain the strictest health guidelines for safety and control of this serious COVID-19 virus. Here is a video that pretty much shows what it is like throughout China today…
Video 9 – Some closeups of the Chinese decontamination vehicles.
Here’s a video that shows a decontamination vehicle close up. It gives you a great idea of what it is like and it’s design. These vehicles are handed out to the local communities but they are military vehicles. The Chinese have a complete army of them, and they are now in all the top tier cities.
Unlike most military vehicles, they are not painted green or grey. They are used during public DEFCON ONE emergencies so they are treated as part of the hospital units. So they are painted white like the ambulances are.
Conclusion
This is a very unique time in this world. Yes, not just for China but for the world. This event is unheard of, or at least the modern incarnation of it is. It’s a horror movie right out of “12 monkeys” where an evil man tries to kill a huge swath of the global population by releasing a virus on Christmas eve. Funny how this hit stride during CNY eve.
I have hundreds of videos to post, and I will get to them as time permits. In the mean time please be safe.
If you would like to check out the full index of the Trump Trade War activities, you can go here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Error! Missing PayPal API credentials. Please configure the PayPal API credentials by going to the settings menu of this plugin.
Here’s a bunch of videos that I collected during the (so far) six week long quarantine that everyone in China experienced. The videos are a selection of virus related subjects but generally relate to how China handled the biological weapons attack, and how society adapted to it. As of this writing, things have stabilized and people and companies are cautious and careful in their actions and movements.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Worker gets struck by the Virus
We start this post with a reminder why the COVID-19 virus is so concerning. It has a “one-two punch”. When it first hits, the effects are very mild. Then later, the KO punch hits.
You catch it, and then it incubates for around two weeks. On the third week it starts shedding the virus to everyone around you. If you touch something, it will stay on that surface for up-to twelve hours.
Then, sometime around the fourth week, you will start to not feel well. You will have a slight fever, and a mild sore throat.
You will have this for about a week and then it will go away.
But…
It hasn’t gone away. It’s digging in deep. It’s infecting your vital organs. It’s burying in deep.
Then from two to four weeks later… it erupts.
Many people just pass out, while others go into shock and spasms.
Here we have a person experiencing the “knock out punch”.
Video 2 – Asshole spreads the COVID-19 infection intentionally.
China has an enormous population. It is four times the size of the population of the USA. In fact, there are more Chinese that speak English than there are Americans.
Chew on that for a while.
Anyways, there’s assholes everywhere. Here we have an asshole with the virus trying to give it to everyone in the apartment building.
Obviously she’s got something wrong with her.
It is precisely because of people like her that China has enacted such draconian containment measures.
Video 3 – Westerner joins the local militia.
In China during this period there are numerous levels of participation in handling this crisis. Since China went DEFCON ONE the military are all involved, as were all the military reservists. Police, Fire and Hospital services at all levels worked around the clock. Local community militia were called up and recruited residents to help the.
In this video we have a non-Chinese as part of the militia and is out setting people up for some of he free screening centers that went up everywhere. Unlike the USA, you don’t need to pay money to get tested.
It’s not a for-profit model.
Video 4 – People are dying from this illness.
"That happened to us just like throwing from happy festival to a resident evil film in 24 hours!"
-Rui Meng Wang
This video puts into words something that is entirely missing in the American media at all levels. People are dying. Families are being hurt.
This is not just something you do for geo-political advantage. This is serious business, and has serious ramifications.
Video 5 – The KO punch hits.
This video below best shows how this virus works and why it is so dangerous. For when the second phase of it hits you, it is sudden and you just collapse right then and there. This is true whether you are standing, walking, riding a bicycle, or driving a truck…
Video 6 – Not everyone wants to cooperate.
Some people are fearful. They fear the government. They fear the police. They fear the hospitals. And when they are often confronted with that fear, they react like a wild animal.
They flee.
And it is up to the police to corral them and secure them so that they don’t infect the rest of the community.
Video 7 – Decontamination in process.
The clothing used by the fire frighting crew differs from the hospital crew. Aside from being colorful, they are full spectrum NBC suits. Here we have them undergoing a decontamination procedure.
Under this DEFCON ONE emergency, everyone is playing a role and doing their part in it.
Conclusion
This virus is a very serious illness. No wonder people consider it a biological weapon. It is very important that we take this virus very seriously and do not be lax in our habits.
When I see pictures of Americans, and videos of Americans stocking up on supplies to “ride out” the virus, I am shocked. So here they are… a silent virus that hides in your body before it attacks, and what do all the Americans do?
They go out in public in the midst of enormous crowds of people and do so without wearing a mask.
That is the height of insanity.
Maybe it’s because of the near relentless attacks on China and the narrative that flu is far more serious. Perhaps it is because Donald Trump called this virus a hoax. Or maybe it’s just that Americans are truly that stupid.
Who knows?
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Here’s a bunch more videos taken during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in China during the 2020 CNY holiday and going into February of that year. These videos are very interesting. Please check them out. They all tend to be short, but since there are so many… around 20… they might take some time to load.
So…
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Keep reloading as necessary to collect the videos. If you are watching on a computer put this in a separate tab and allow it to load at it’s own speed. Depending where you live it might take up to an half hour, though most people shouldn’t have to wait nearly so long.
Sorry about this.
Video 1 – Breaking Quarantine
China is an enormous nation. There are all kinds of people in it. No matter how serious the emergency, there will be that 1% of Jack-Offs that think that the rules do not apply to them and they can do as they please. When this happens, the police need to step in and isolate the malcontents. Because all it takes is but one person and he can infect three hundred others in a matter of hours, and then suddenly the entire city starts to collapse.
Here we have a Jack-ass trying to break through a quarantine check point. These road-blocks are everywhere and you must obey them. Some are set up by local communities. Some by local police. Some by military, and some by local industry. If you try to run through, you will be stopped. You will be apprehended, and you will go to prison.
Video 2 – Breaking Quarantine 2
Here’s another one. This is a checkpoint at a highway. It’s been my experience that these checkpoints are at every toll booth and at every road-side rest area. You must obey them.
They are staffed by police, traffic police and military. You do not mess around. This is a serious, and very serious illness and containment is crucial.
Video 3 – Breaking Quarantine 3
Here’s another example of a person trying to break quarantine. You can see that not only is he not obeying the check-point, but he is taking it on himself to be a one-man wrecking-crew and starts to tear apart the entire road-block setup.
Video 4 – Shutting down a roadblock
All things end. Now certain areas are easing up on their quarantine restrictions. Thus, it means that things are starting to return to normal in certain areas. Here we have a video of a policeman shutting down one of the quarantine roadblocks.
Video 5 – Collapse 1
Medical worker collapses or almost collapses in a hospital. This is beginning to become rather common in the various hospitals that work with this virus. It’s a very serious and lethal viral agent and every care must be taken to control it.
I have all sorts of videos about the dressing and undressing procedures in this highly lethal environment. But you know, if you accidentally touch an infected article of clothing during the undressing procedure, you too could become infected.
Video 6 – Collapse 2
Here is the inside of a bank. In the lower part of the screen we can see a person just collapsing on to the floor. This kind of collapse is rather common with this illness. When it strikes it hits you suddenly and strongly.
Video 7 – Policeman Collapse
Here’s a police man that collapses in one of the police stations. All people who are out and dealing with the public are starting to see their ranks decrease and more and more members contract the illness.
It’s horrible.
Video 8 – Street Collapse
The Western media narrative is that it only strikes the old and the feeble. It’s amazing that they still maintain this fantasy. Especially the American media. Most everyone can contact this illness, and there are patients as young as ten months and as old as 95 years getting sick and ill from it. here we have a young chick getting struck down at a gas station.
Video 9 – Discovering you have the virus and being told you must go into isolation.
So imagine what it must be like. You are not feeling well, so you have some suspicions and you go to the the hospital. They run a few tests and then discover that you have COVID-19; the coronavirus. At first you would be in a state of shock and denial. Then you might panic and flee. You do not want to spend the time in the hospital. Like this poor girl.
Video 10 – Going into Quarantine.
And this is what it is like when you are sick and told to go into Hospital Isolation. You are collected and driven to an isolation ward. Then you are assigned a room, and some gear. The rest of your belongings are sterilized or incinerated and you are held there in isolation until you get better, or off to the hospital if you get decidedly worse.
Video 11 – The coronavirus hits suddenly.
This coronavirus is hitting everyone suddenly. You are just doing your job when suddenly you feel woozy. You start to wobble, and you get tunnel vision. Then the world goes black. This is what it is like.
But not to worry. CNN and FOX says the Flu is much worse.
Video 12 – Infected trying to break out of quarantine.
In this video we have a community that is infected. Large numbers of people have been taken into the various hospitals in the surrounding region. Those that remain were not tested to be sick… two weeks ago. But might actually be sick.
Here we have a fellow trying to run the gauntlet and escape from the quarantine.
Video 13 – Arrest for not wearing a face mask.
During this DEFCON ONE emergency you cannot go outside unless you wear a mask and are scanned for a fever. No exceptions. Everyone in China knows this. Yet there are those miscreants that think that the law does not apply to them and when they are refused to board public transportation they fly into a rage and cause all sorts of turmoil.
Video 14 – Refusing to go into Quarantine.
Here’s a chick who was tested to have a fever. She wants to break out of the quarantine area and go her own way. She does not want to go into isolation. But the illness is so very serious that she doe not have that option. So she is taken down and hauled off to the isolation ward.
Video 15 – The virus hits with a sudden ferocity.
This is what it is like. You are having a dinner. You drank a coke and ate some pork and suddenly you are not feeling well. While some people just get tunnel vision and black out, others just go into seizures and all sorts of bad things start to happen. Like this poor fellow….
Video 16 – Virus wipes out a hospital staff member.
Many hospital personnel are ending up catching the virus. It’s a terrible thing and they are working long hours and tirelessly to fight this conflagration. But they can get sick, and when you start to see one of the nurses or doctors starting to wobble and lose control, you need to help them out quickly. This is a serious and lethal virus.
Video 17 – This is what it is like all over China.
This is how you go onto the public buses. This is how you enter your apartment building. This is how you enter your place of employment. This is how you enter public buildings such as police stations, hospitals or transportation hubs.
Everyone must wear a mask. There are no exceptions.
Everyone must take a temperature reading, and spray their clothing with disinfectant solution. Everyone must abide to the rules or you will get arrested. There is zero tolerance for non-compliance. PERIOD.
Video 18 – Pretty Girl
This is why it is absolutely critical to stay in isolation and not get this virus. You are getting ready to go out with your friends and suddenly you do not feel well. You have a seizure, black out. You regain composure and then have another seizure. Than you black out again. It repeats over and over…
But don’t worry. The flu is far worse, don’t you know. That’s what CNN and FOX all are saying. You can go on Drudge and What-Finger-News and it’s all the same MONOLITHIC narrative. Funny that! So believe them.
Or see the reality with your own two eyes…
Video 19 – Building multiple hospitals.
When I check out the comments on social media there’s a bunch of detractors complaining about China-this and China-that. Oh, Xi Peng didn’t do enough. Oh, the Chinese stole a biological weapon and is trying to kill their own people. All sorts of just bullshit nonsense. All of which is supremely irritating.
Donald Trump would not be able to build an emergency hospital in ten day, let alone three of them So shut the flying fuck up.
Check out this, the third hospital being built in Wuhan to help handle this emergency.
Conclusion
This is a serious illness. All evidence points of a biological warfare event. At least that is exactly how the Chinese government is treating it. While the American main-steam and (alt) media are all treating it as not as serious as the flu. Well, you you ever see the flu do what you see on these videos, then go ahead and make up your own post explaining to the world that this is a big ol’ “nothing burger”.
More to follow. Please be safe.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts that you might be interested in that can be found in my Trump Trade Wars index, here…
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As I stay inside my apartment while the coronavirus wrecks havoc all through China, I have little else to do but watch movies. Now, for various reasons, I have taken a shine to the older 1960’s and 1970’s movies. And in this case, a relatively unknown vampire-comedy. And this one is simply amazing!
I well remember watching it on television with my father. He was a big Sharon Tate fan, and now that I am older I can well understand why. But more than that, I loved how it carred me away and sucked me into the movie with the “atmosphere”, and the story line.
My most memorable scene is where they are locked inside the parapet tower.
Brilliant movie - beautifully shot and with Polanski's eye for detail. Very funny/quirky and atmospheric. I loaned it to a work colleague who thought Polanski only made horror films like 'Rosemary's Baby', she was amazed when confronted with this one.
She thought it was great.
Everyone is always very impressed with the ballroom scene with all the mirrors and the vampires dancing. The colours are fabulous and the outside scenes remind one of s Christmas card.
If it's ever on t.v. it's always on around midnight or after, so I had to buy the DVD. Definitely one to watch late at night when you're alone!! It took me years to find it on DVD. I think the one I eventually bought was an import.
- funnybunny-7
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Today, being much older, I have come to love Roman Polanski’s “The Fearless Vampire Killers,” which is surprising to me now because for most of my life I thought it was so-so.
You see, I missed the original release back in 1967, but I was only nine years old then. And the version released in the U.S. was a truncated travesty of what Polanski intended. It was a remake for American audiences by a jack-ass who thought that all Americans were simpletons bumpkins.
No shit!
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
When I think about R.Polanski the first thing coming to my mind is - "the master of fear and horror", and I knew it that "Fearless vampire Killers" is rare example of comedy by this great director. Yeah, I was worried before seeing this movie, not as much about "geting it", but more so about simple thing - could this movie be entertaining for "21st Century Boy".
First thing that striked me was beautiful music by Komeda. I was in total awe. The music was scary, but at the same time so light and funny - just like for a good fair story. And then the beautiful winter scenery that was so fake - almost cartooning. Few minutes into the movie, and I could say "that's what I call movie poetry".
The story is so simple. The old bat researcher, professor Abronsius and his assistant, Alfred, go to a remote Transylvanian village looking for vampires. They stay in house where no one speaks about vampires, but the garlic is hanging everywhere.
Sharon Tate.
Simplistic story is so right for this movie, because acting, scenery, music, cinematography are all in top shape here. For composition I think this is one of the best movie done by Polanski, next to "Tenant" for sure.
And this movie is also a rare occasion to see Polanski in comedic role. He and Brach make unforgettable duo. I was totally entertain when in came to comedy in this movie, but the thing that surprise me the most was the action factor. There is one scene that is great example of that - when Polanski character is looking through keyhole and is so scared of what he see that his face is screaming "terror". It's sure funny, but in a way mad-scary too. And when I think about this movie - this scene sums it up for me.
Its very funny, but little outdated movie. For me one a few really cinematic fairy tales, that keeps magic all the way to the end. Its up there with Repulsion, Tenant, and Tess when in comes to greatest work of this director.
And just think about brilliant ending, so funny, so mad. It's a shame Polanski hasn't made another comedy. Don't get me started with Pirates - the most unfunny movie in history. But "Fearless Vampire Killers " is movie magic - pure and simple.
- fidomax
And, I am not the only person that was upset with the hack-job on this movie.
I’ve read that the movie was considered an almost complete fiasco because the executive producer, Martin Ransohoff, best known for “The Beverly Hillbillies,” wanted a very different film.
Yeah.
He wanted to change the film. He wanted to “improve” it to fit the bumpkin American mentality that he envisioned all Americans had.
So, in short order, he [1] cut 16 minutes out of Polanski’s 107 minute cut (Just under 1/5 of the entire movie.), and [2] inserted a short screwy cartoon before the titles (so people would know it was supposed to be a comedy…)
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Ransohoff thought Polanski botched it that badly, and [3] even re-dubbed some of the actors. You know, so that they would sound more “American”. I’m sure that he wanted thick “bumpkin” Southern drawls and accents. He also [4] added the awful tag line to the title, “Or, Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck.”
This must have been the version I saw on TV in the early seventies that I thought was so terrible.
Thankfully this abomination doesn’t seem to be in circulation anymore. Good thing. Let the rats in the film vault feat on that monstrosity.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
However, despite its flaws “The Fearless Vampire Killers” gained a cult following over the years, partially due to the morbid fascination with the murder of Sharon Tate, but also because the movie is really very, very good.
Paramount’s Robert Evans recognized this back in ’67 and thought Polanski the right director for “Rosemary’s Baby.”
He was right and the success of that film showed Hollywood what a master of the language of film Polanski actually is.
This is a wonderfully fun movie. It’s got a lot of good stuff in it, and the critics can go try to make own luck at vampire comedy.
When I first saw this film on TV in the early 70s, I thought it was so cheesy I gave it very little attention.
Then in the early 90s it was released on laserdisc in a letterboxed version and I bought it on a lark. After I viewed in the first time I still didn't think much of it and thought maybe I wasted my money.
But then, as the years passed, I would look at it every so often and now I love the film.
It is an acquired taste.
You first have to love vampire films -- the old-fashioned, Gothic kind. Next, you need to appreciate Polanski's style and his understated approach. It's also best to watch this film late at night with the lights off, and especially with a snow storm outside. Give it a chance and this film will creep up on you. Hopefully it will come to DVD soon.
- stew100
Now, let’s be honest. This isn’t the best horror/comedy movie. The truth be told that Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein holds that position.
However, second place has just got to go to this one, and there’s no shame in being second here.
I don’t know too much about Roman Polanski’s career (I think I know more about his personal life): I’ve seen Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, and this movie is the third of his that I know about that I’ve seen. maybe there were others, but I cannot recall them at the top of my head.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
I would never have imagined from those two movies that he could direct comedy. Because of that I came into FVK very skeptical. At first, I thought that the laughs were few and far between. I kind of took it as a light-hearted serious movie.
I also thought that Polanski’s direction was too showy for a comedy.
But as the film went on, the comic moments began to build. And the showy direction ceased seeming showy and began to seem wonderful. If you find yourself not laughing a lot, it’s understandable.
Just sit back and enjoy Polanski’s amazing direction. And the laughs, although, to many, they may seem too few, those that there are are enormous.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
I’d also like to praise the actors, including Roman Polanski himself. The set design, especially in the castle, is more than amazing. It’s simply beautiful.
The title "fearless vampire killers" it's not so good as "Dance of the Vampires",outside U.S. this is the original title
I always will remember this film as "Dance of the Vampires" ALSO,CONGRATULATIONS to Mr Polanski for the Palme D' Or, he deserves it(without him just cinema "boring")
I enjoyed poetic scenes such as like moment in Sarah's bath comparing the textures of first soap bubbles, then falling snowflakes, and finally crimson blood. when Alfred(Polanski) carries his master across the castle battlements remind me of Polanski early short films.
This is a wonderfully fun movie. It’s got a lot of good stuff in it, and the critics can go try to make own luck at vampire comedy.
Krystov Komeda's music has been acclaimed as "the most innovative and haunting score ever devised for a horror movie" by the heavyweight Aurum Film Encyclopedia.
Krystof Komeda's wondrous music, with its weird choral effects and little melodies Komeda's score communicates the Kafka-like isolation of the setting and the characters
Polanski chose some of the finest English cinema craft artists to work on the film: cameraman Douglas Slocombe, production designer Wilfrid Shingleton Polanski engaged noted choreographer Tutte Lemkow, who played the actual Fiddler in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, for the film's climactic Danse Macabre minuet.
Sharon Tate as Sarah was delightful(we should remember her in a good way,as a decent actress and person,her scene with Polanski is really cool ,especially "the bite scene") Jack MacGowran as Professor Abronsius is just great Polanski's films often deal in contrasts of master and servant, the empowered and the powerless. The supposedly benign Abronsius bullies Alfred for his own purposes, just as the vampires consider all of humankind a resource to be harvested.
The character called Shagal got the best lines in the movie,when A woman thrusts a crucifix in his face, only for Shagal - a Jewish rather than a Christian vampire - to go "Oy-yoy! You got the wrong vampire" and bite her anyway Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, who plays the Count)he looks really as a Nosferatu or a man that needs Transfusion!.
Also funny is Herbert, the openly gay vampire who is interested in Alfred rather than Sara, the sexual deviations implicit in early Hammer films like The Brides of Dracula (1960) and Kiss of the Vampire (1964) are brought out.
- patita-1
Right from the main title sequence this film is really quite wonderful.
Christopher Komeda’s score is weird and haunting.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
The day-for-night shots of the snowy countryside are a bit distracting, but you know they kind of fit the fairy tale quality of the film’s isolated, late 19th century Transylvanian winter never land.
The movie is extremely well-mounted with wonderful sets, especially the vampires’ castle.
Oh, young love. Eh?
All the performances are excellent. Jack MacGowran’s Professor Abronsius is an absolutely incredible characterization, unlike anything else MacGowran ever did on film.
The same is true of Alfie Bass’ Yoine Shagal, possibly the world’s first Jewish vampire, and a terrible lecher.
Sharon Tate was probably never lovelier than in this movie, and Roman Polanski is very good as Alfred, in fact amazing when you consider he was also directing.
It is a tour de force on his part.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Finally, Ferdy Mayne’s Count Von Krolock is a king vampire equal to any screen Dracula, while Iain Quarrier is also appropriately creepy as his gay vampire son, Herbert.
Well, what is this movie about? To begin with: although the vampire was best popularized in the modern era by English writers, it is really a myth of Eastern European Roman Catholicism. (I could explain that better - and why the English so well co-opted it - but obviously not here.)
This type of Catholicism (which finally produced a Pope in John Paul II) now only thrives (and none too well) in Poland - Polanski's home country.
During the Second World War, Poland was utterly decimated.
First, a large portion of its wealthiest citizens, who happened to be Jewish, were exterminated.
The Polish catholics themselves were split radically between anti-semitic nationalists (who also, mistakenly, thought the Nazis would save them from the Russians) and pro-Communists who, mistakenly, thought the Russians would save them from the Nazis.
Obviously, this was a no-win situation for the Poles.
And yet the first cinematic impression of this disaster arrived in the form of - a comedy - Ernst Lubitsch's "To Be Or Not To Be" (later remade by Mel Brooks).
Does the reader really need to know all this to appreciate this movie? actually, yes. This film is laughter at death's door.
The funniest and most memorable line in the film is from the Jewish vampire, responding to a threatened crucifix: "Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!" Funny? - Hilarious. Unfortunately, if this Vampire had any grandchildren, they all died in Auschwitz.
Why am I playing such a heavy hand here? Because this really is a great horror-comedy, far better and far more important than the studio hacks at MGM who released this film (after chopping it up) could ever have understood.
There is unfortunately no rumor that there's a director's cut in the vaults; it is well to remember that Polanski nearly disowned this film on release, and really only reclaimed it after the brutal slaying of his wife, who plays such an important role in the film.
But even as shredded as it is (pay especially close attention to the discontinuities involving the Professor), this is still marvelously written, directed, and photographed - truly frightening at moments, utterly hilarious at others, but always grounded in a particularly Polish sensibility which is now, alas, a thing of the past; - the preservation of a culture that, at its best, was among the best in Europe.
- winner55
Like the drinking of blood (I would imagine!), appreciation of “The Fearless Vampire Killers” is very much an acquired taste.
I don’t know what to say to those that don’t like it except, Why don’t you try watching it again? It might grow on you as it did me.
The famous Ballroom scene.
This movie also has one of the best one-sheet posters from the sixties, with art by Frank Frazetta.
All in all, this is a great movie, and I cannot praise it enough.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
It's sad to say, whenever people ask me for a good vampire movie, one I do recommend is The Fearless Vampire Killers, they always look at me and ask "What's that?".
But the 3 people I've shown it too loved it and I think that has got to say something about this great vampire classic.
Writer, director and co-star Roman Polanski made the first real vampire spoof and what a great movie!
If you think about today's spoofs, everything is always a reference to something that's in pop culture. This movie is just pure comedy, taking what was so typical at the time of the weary travelers who happen upon a creepy castle with the even creepier host, yet act completely oblivious when strange things happen.
The ballroom scene is amazing. It is just one of the great things that I really enjoy about this movie.
Instead, how about we have two vampire slayers, one who is calm and experienced vs. the inexperienced and nervous? While we're at it, why not add a ball into the mix? Dancing vampires, it just doesn't get any better than this.
In the heart of Transylvania Professor Abronsius and his apprentice Alfred are on the hunt for vampires. Abronsius is old and withering and barely able to survive the cold ride through the wintry forests, while Alfred is bumbling and introverted.
The two hunters come to a small Eastern European town seemingly at the end of a long search for signs of vampires.
The two stay at a local inn, full of angst-ridden townspeople who perform strange rituals to fend off an unseen evil. Whilst staying at the inn, Alfred develops a fondness for Sarah, the daughter of the tavern keeper Yoine Shagal.
The environment is amazing, and can take you away to another time and place. You can feel the cold wind on your face, and the pack of wolves snapping at your heels.
After witnessing Sarah being kidnapped by the local vampire lord, Count von Krolock, the two follow his snow trail, leading them to Krolock's ominous castle in the snow-blanketed hills nearby.
They break into the castle, but are trapped by the Count's hunchback servant, Koukol. Despite misgivings, Abronsius and Alfred accept the Count's invitation to stay in his ramshackle Gothic castle, where Alfred spends the night fitfully.
After finding Sarah the next day, they come up with a plan to destroy the count and save Sarah, but with a midnight ball in the mix of vampires, the plans might be a bit harder than they realized.
I think one of the funniest scenes in film history is when Roman Polanski is being chased by Count Krolock's feminine vampire son, Herbert.
Frozen stiff. Poor fellow, but then again it’s actually pretty funny in a dark comedic sort of way.
The seduction scene before that was too funny, but let's add Roman running around in a circle oblivious that he did just go around in a circle and runs right back into Herbert!
The comedic timing was just gold!
Sharon Tate is also in this film and she is just beautiful, you could see how Roman would fall in love with her on and off screen so easily. It's really sad that we lost her so young and so tragically, you see the talent that could have been.
I also love Jack MacGowran, he's calm exterior to Roman's scaredy cat routine was the perfect balance the film needed.
I nearly die laughing each time I see the scene where they are in the Count's bedroom about to stake him, but Jack gets stuck in the window and Roman chickens out on killing the count.
He has to go around the castle to pull Jack out but gets distracted by Sharon Tate and when he finally realizes that he left Jack in the same room with blood sucking vampires, he just reeks with the "Oops!" face.
The ballroom scene is so memorable, again, the comedic timing is great. Another thing about this film is that it also has some great scares in it too, some great make up effects with the Count.
I highly recommend this film; I've been watching it since I was a little girl, I still love watching it all these years later and can't wait to show it to others as well.
- Smells_Like_Cheese
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Conclusion
This movie is a bit dusty and not something that you would turn to automatically. However, it is a great little gem of a movie and well worth a nice visit. It will carry you away to a different time and place and it is rather charming in it’s own sinister comic way.
For me, it took me away for the germ warfare, the masks and goggles, and the latex gloves. It took me away from the disinfecting and the isolation and being cooped inside as the beautiful day with blue skies and lush green trees beckoned to me outside.
I am sure that it will take you too to a nice place far away from your normal life.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts regarding movies and you can view them in my movie index here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Great Tyrant: "You're very pretty pretty pretty."
Barbarella: "My name isn't Pretty Pretty. It's Barbarella."
I first watched this movie as a young boy in the local movie theater. I was a fan of science fiction, but this movie confounded the daylights out of me. I did appreciate all the nudity. That was cool. But I just could not follow the plot. The spaceships did not look like what I expected, nor did the roles that the characters played. I watched the movie and then went home and forgot about it.
Time moved on.
I refused to have any association with Jane Fonda. She turned me off with her “radical” anti-American stances, and her adoption of progressive Marxism. I did not agree with her. I did not appreciate her. I did not like her, and I wanted nothing to do with her.
Time passed.
Barbarella in the orgasimatron.
I got older. I started to travel the world. I started to see how different the United States was, and how out of step it was with the rest of the world, it seemed to me that the United States was in a very small bubble and that everyone inside was convinced that the lands outside that bubble were horrible, terrible places. And those people had no idea just how manipulated and fooled they were. Or, how dangerously manipulated they had become.
So I accepted this reality.
Not my problem. Nothing that goes on in the USA is my problem. I just wanted to chill out. Drink my wine. Eat delicious food and play with pretty girls.
Then… the Coronavirus hit.
China treated it as a biological weapons attack and went into complete national lock-down. And I, I was stuck inside my house with nothing better to do than to watch movies and drink beer. (I had a stack of beer that I was meaning to get around to anyways…)
And as such, I started to watch old movies from the 1960’s. For often these movies are not behind a paywall. (Most aren’t. The James Bond 007 movies, for some strange reason, were.) Anyways, the movies from the 1960’s and the 1970’s were awesome to watch. They are cheap entertainment and great escapist enjoyment.
Barbarella isamoviethatisascampyascampcanbeandinspiteofthelowbudgetsets, crudeexecutionofplotandovertlysexualdialogue, itholdsyourattention. This film isbasedonaFrenchcomicbookcharacteranditexposesyoutothewonderfulworldofthe bizarre, 1960sera, fantasyfilmculture... andthat'swhyIloveit.
-Amazon
And what a glorious escape to the 1960’s it is!
Barbarella has no trigger discipline. Barbarella (1968) – Jane Fonda
The Characters:
Barbarella – Jane Fonda! Ted Turner’s little communist is sort of an intergalactic special agent.
Duran Duran – HEHEHE! (Sorry, his name gives me
the giggles, and according to Leonard Maltin that is where the band got
it from.) Mad scientist intent on conquering the universe, generally out
to cause hate and discontent. Eaten by the Magmous.
Pygar – Last of the ornithothropes, he’s an Angel, literally.
The Great Tyrant – Attractive and evil ruler of Lythion, she likes the word “pretty.”
Dildano – Inept revolutionary who wishes to overthrow the evil empire, zapped into the fourth dimension.
Professor Ping – Kind scientist who assists the unfortunates banished into the labyrinth, also zapped.
Marcan – Barbarian guy in charge of herding wild
children (Now that’s daycare.), he saves Barbarella from the evil
kiddies and introduces her to some old fashioned loving…
Alfie – The ship’s computer.
The Magmous – A presence which surrounds the city and feeds off evil, it appears to be a huge lava lamp.
Barbarella is a movie that is as campy as camp can be and in spite of the low budget sets, crude execution of plot and overtly sexual dialogue, it holds your attention. This film is based on a French comic book character and it exposes you to the wonderful world of the bizarre, 1960s era, fantasy film culture... and that's why I love it. It's a "gem-in-the-rough" waiting to be discovered by a new generation of fantasy film lovers. Enjoy !
-Mark
Barbarella exploring her new world.
The Plot:
Ho Chi Minh’s favorite exercise queen stars in this amazing piece of science fiction, oh yes, Jane Fonda.
What really amazes me is the movie’s PG rating, considering the fact that Barbarella’s antigravity breasts go bouncing through more than a few scenes sans clothing. (Plus there’s another woman hanging from leather straps later on.)
Don’t try and give me all that, “It was the 60’s.” crap either.
Our heroine is dispatched to prevent a new weapon from destroying the harmony of the known universe.
This is a teenage Jane Fonda with very little (often no) clothing on. The plot is silly as are some of the scenes but I was a teen when I first saw this movie and a film featuring an often naked Jane Fonda in many very explicit sexual encounters still arouses my now 67 year old senses. A a serious Sci-Fi flic it is not, but it is a snapshot of 1960's culture presented in an often hilarious manner.
-Old Wet Cat
If one thing was threatening harmony it is this movie’s groovy soundtrack, I was torturing the cat by humming snippets to it. (Kitty actually fled the room.)
After her spaceship crashes things really get weird, she encounters wild children, leather robots, Pygar, the Great Tyrant, and carnivorous parakeets.
When Barbarella finally locates Duran Duran (Hehe! Sorry…) the scientist is a madman, seeking to conquer the universe and give her a fatal orgasm.
Yes, that’s right… death by organism.
I didn’t stutter my friends, he straps the woman into a strange “pleasure organ/piano” thing and plays a tune which should kill her with ecstasy.
It doesn’t work, though.
This is a really amazingly funny movie, at once a good sci fi, sex goddess-creating classic, it is also deliciously quirky. I mean, can you picture a spacecraft whose interior is fur-lined?
Fonda is Barbarella, a kind of futuristic bimbo - in part the product of a highly developed permissive society - who is on a mission to, well, you have to see it to believe it. Somehow, Vadim really pulls it all off, though I suppose it is best to see this in an altered state of consciousness, 60s-style. Really, tho, it is hard to stop laughing at this, while taking in an engaging story and unforgettable imagery. Really, this is a classic.
Interestingly, while living in France, I bought a bunch of Barbarella paperbacks out of curiosity and discovered to my delight that the movie is actually very faithful to the original comic - even the dialogue follows the crytptic utterances of the characters closely.
Fonda is perfectly cast. She is stunningly beautiful in youth, at the apex of her stardom in many ways, and you can tell she is having fun with this role. But the acting of the others is also very good and fun, from DuranDuran to the sexualised angel in his nest.
Recommended warmly. This is weirdness that works extremely well.
-Robert J Crawford
Barbarella shorts out the machine and it bursts into flames.
Soon after this the Great Tyrant sets free the Magmous and all heck breaks loose.
The end.
If that wasn’t warning enough I’m telling you now: This movie is all over the place and insanely groovy.
It is somewhat difficult to describe Barbarella. It is bizarre, sexy, funny, and a definite 1960s sci-fi classic.
It is not a movie for children (no way is this a PG- it was originally rated M for mature audiences).
There is nudity and sexuality interlaced throughout the movie, and I must say that Jane Fonda was definitely in her prime when she starred in this (eye candy supreme).
The bizarre scenes (including the metal-toothed biting dolls) could give kids (and adults) nightmares.
There are some cute little blue bunnies hopping around though. The special effects are extremely funny, but that adds to the total feeling of the movie. In other words, do not view this film with a serious mind.
The cast includes some very good actors (including Ugo Tognazzi, John Phillip Law, Marcel Marceau, David Hemmings, and Milo O'Shea) who must have had some fun making this movie. And, without a doubt, Jane Fonda was the perfect choice to play the lead role.
-D.Dalton
After the shock of watching Barbarella strip out of her spacesuit in zero gravity (She’s obviously laying on plate glass with the camera above her.), I noticed the red shag carpet covering the spaceship’s interior top to bottom.
For a state of the art spacecraft her ship had some issues, like the acid trip view screen and a disturbing habit of colliding with solid objects, like a planet.
Let’s not forget this is the future and all the messy pleasure associated with that disgusting habit of sexual intercourse has been overcome…
… now you just take a pill and hold hands…
…until Barbarella gets her pipes cleaned by Marcan, then she does agree “Wider is…” I mean, “The old ways are better.”
Barbarella strapped to the orgasimistron.
I find "Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy" to be a psychedelic, costume, music, metal teeth doll, Jane Fonda and shag fun fest.
This 1968 film was made after the French comic books Barbarella by Jean Claude Forest which the movie in my opinion does a good job of giving you an almost comic book feel.
Most will likely find the special effects to be of low quality, especially if you prefer the special effects of today. I however, find them to give all the more comic book feel of the time and enjoy the psychedelic appearance of many of them.
The film was directed by Roger Vadim who was also married to Jane Fonda at the time. In short if you like 60's "B" movies with the features I describe in the first sentence this film might be for you. If however, you don't like 60,s "B" movies and the items I mention in the first sentence you will likely disagree with my five star rating, so be warned.
-The Tally Ho
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Orange shag carpet is the ultimate in spaceship decor.
Stingrays are used as draft horses on other worlds.
Sadistic children scream like a flock of seagulls.
In the future sexual gratification is achieved by taking a pill and holding hands. (My thoughts exactly…)
Orchids are not very filling.
Angels make nests.
Public suicide chambers need to be clearly marked.
Parakeets are carnivorous.
Having some woman smoke me in a bong is the stuff nightmares are made of.
The world will be swallowed by an evil lava lamp monster.
The movie is very 1960’s and includes all those psychedelic elements.
Stuff To Watch For:
5 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT! (Wait, this is PG?)
17 mins – Earth’s number one agent was just captured by two eight year old girls.
19 mins – These weird kids are feeding her to mechanical dolls.
43 mins – It’s a flying sundae of death!
47 mins – Lady, how exactly do you plan on hiding his wings?
64 mins – Should have paid the electric bill Dil-dan-o…
72 mins – Now that’s a password.
76 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
77 mins – Is there a guy in that bong?
79 mins – Duran Duran (Hehe!) has her in this weird piano/organ thing, it’s sucking her clothes off… …and, um, doing other things.
Barbarella with the other chick that undresses for the movie. I forget what her role was, but I did admire her knockers.
Conclusion
I refused to watch this movie for years.
It’s an emotional thing that I had retained since Jane Fonda bad-mouthed the USA back during the Vietnam war. While I do not like what she did, I can now see that the USA somehow got way, way off course and became a war-mongering empire that uses people like myself as “cannon fodder”.
Anyways, I by chance, watched this movie and was astounded by the immersion in 1960’s culture and absolute weirdness. I am frankly astounded by it. It’s pure, and it’s sublime.
It’s a great movie to watch. Especially while drinking beer and eating a delicious sandwich. Don’t you know. Have your wife make a Jack-Reuben up for you, you will not regret it.
A fine home-made Jack-Reuben sandwich. Goes great with chips (especially Wise potato chips – perfectly salted) and a nice (must be icy cold) beer.
All glory to the Great Tyrant!
Barbarella with the flying man…oh, what’s his name.
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have others in my movie index. You can reach it here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
I am old enough to remember going to the movie theater to watch this flick. It was on a Saturday afternoon, and my folks gave me a dollar to watch it. I was ten years old. Back in those days we watched movies for fun, or barring that, to stay out of our parent’s hair and let them have some time alone.
Here’s some fun “elevator pitches” for science fiction movies.
How about having astronauts land on an asteroid that’s on a collision course with earth? Wait, it gets better— to save the world they have to use drilling equipment to bore holes in the rocky surface to plant nuclear bombs inside and blow the renegade asteroid into space dust.
Not working for you?
Okay, try this one on. How about having an alien life form that looks harmless in its infant state brought aboard a space ship. Then it breaks loose, transforming into a monstrous killing machine that slaughters the crew one by one!
- Horror News
Lately, most of the larger (high budget) movies out of Hollywood are nothing more that venues to ram-rod social justice “improvements” down our collective throats. This policy certainly started long ago. Maybe back during the Clinton administration, but it most certainly became heated up to a degree of red-hot insanity during the Obama presidency.
Now we have a 007 “James Bond” flick that going to have a new transgender LGBT “woman of color” in the role of secret agent. Funny how she looks like a morph of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Yuck!
The face of the new progressive, modern “James Bond”, 007. This woman looks like someone morphed Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton together. Oh, how enlightened! How so very progressive!
Anyways, let’s get back to the movie at hand; Green slime.
This is a movie perfect for the eleven year old boy inside of all of us. It’s got a cool retro 1960’s sound track. (It’s got) Cool miniatures with all sorts of detail like something out of Fireball XL-5. It’s got spacemen exploring a rogue asteroid and carrying space rifles (!). It’s got a love triangle with a handsome man with a chiseled face, and the girls all look like they came out of a 1960’s playboy magazine.
And it’s got monsters.
Lots and lots of monsters.
Right out of the gate you can feel the movie itching to get to the good stuff– that song barely lasts a verse and a chorus before Robert Horton, as Commander Jack Rankin, arrives at space station Gamma 3 ready to head up a very dangerous mission– landing on a strange asteroid and exploding it out of its collision course with Earth.
-Trailers from Hell
What’s not to love?
I saw THE GREEN SLIME in 1968 at the Omni Center Theatre in Atlanta Georgia with my brother and cousin and was awestruck and terrified as only a 6-year-old boy seeing a movie called THE GREEN SLIME in 1968 could be so I’ve always had a huge soft spot in my heart for this film (I was lucky enough to attend a 16mm screening at Cinema Wasteland a couple of years ago and it held up great).
I mentioned three things that I think make THE GREEN SLIME so enduring.
One. The title, THE GREEN SLIME is so perfect and unpretentious that Saturday matinee audiences in 1968 had to know exactly what was in store and I can’t imagine anyone feeling let down.
Second, THE GREEN SLIME has one of the funkiest title songs in cinema history. Written by Charles Fox (who would go on to write the themes for THE LOVE BOAT and HAPPY DAYS) and accompanied by a frenzied drum beat and blaring electric guitars (someone edited the song to clips of battle scenes from the film and posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKESo2ofEcw).
THE GREEN SLIME theme is a blast and was even released as a single!
Third, the poster is my absolute favorite from the 1960’s. The bold colorful artwork features the emerald cretins in an action-packed outer space battle with flying spacemen while holding a terrified Luciana Paluzzi in a skin-tight metallic spacesuit in the foreground (an outfit like nothing she wears in the film).
The poster is a throwback to the “bug-eyed monster” posters of the 1950’s and the artwork even graced the cover of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” #57 in 1969. I have an original THE GREEN SLIME three-sheet (40 x 80 inches) and it’s proudly displayed in my den along with my Resin Green Slime model kit and vintage “The Green Slime are Coming!” button.
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
Greenslime movie poster.
The Characters
The plot of THE GREEN SLIME play like a precursor (or parody) to ARMEGEDDEON and then ALIEN as a runaway asteroid, known as Flora (!), is determined to be on a collision course with earth.
Rugged astronaut Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) is ordered out of retirement to command Space Station Gamma 3, an enormous ring-shaped outpost populated by a detachment of scientists and military personnel, and stop Flora before it destroys our planet.
Onboard Rankin meets his old flame Lisa (Luciana Paluzzi) and her fiancée, Commander Vince Elliot (Richard Jaeckel), Rankin's former close friend.
Rankin, Elliot and the sinister Doctor Halvorsen (Ted Gunther) land a shuttle on the asteroid, depositing explosives in an attempt to nuke Flora.
They succeed, but a small wad of pulsating green jelly adheres itself to Dr. Halvoson’s spacesuit and is brought back to the station unobserved.
The crew celebrates with a groovy party featuring nurses in short skirts and high heels shimmying to 60’s electronic tunes, unaware that the oozy green stowaway is morphing into a deadly tentacled creature out to electrocute everyone in its path.
Attempts to kill the slimy beast backfire as each drop of its blood grows into a new monster until Gamma 3 is infested with these waddling critters collectively known as…
...The Green Slime!!
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
Commander Jack Rankin – This guy wouldn’t stop
smiling if a rabid weasel was in his shorts; he would just grin and give
you a thumbs up.
Commander Vince Elliott – In charge of the space
station and not very happy Rankin is senior to him. A rash man who gives
one Green Slime a hug. (That means he dies.)
Lisa Benson – Woman torn between loving Rankin and Elliott.
Dr. Halvorsen – Head researcher aboard the space station, he gets seriously fried.
General Jonathan Thompson – Gruff senior officer, his main role in this movie is sweating.
Captain Martin – Elliott’s right hand man, for some reason he looks natural in a white motorcycle helmet.
The Green Slime – Alien life form which feeds on
energy and even a single drop of blood can regenerate into new
creatures. Incinerated.
The Green Slime has the secret weapon every B-Movie needs- Richard Jaeckel.
Jaeckel was a prolific, academy award nominated actor who bounced between supporting roles in big budget films and starring turns in B-pictures. In fact he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Sometimes A Great Notion (1970) right after he starred in The Green Slime.
What made Jaeckel so special was that (like Shelly Winters) he always delivered a class-A performance in any film, regardless of its quality. If you watch The Green Slime carefully you’ll notice that he’s always moving, or emoting— giving the audience a little something extra.
He never steals scenes from his co-stars, but he’s always the most interesting thing onscreen.
- Horror News
Exploring the mysterious and dangerous asteroid. Yikes!
THE GREEN SLIME was an American/Japanese co-production shot in Tokyo with a mostly American cast (extras are Japanese or played by American servicemen stationed in Japan) and a Japanese director giving the film a stilted, off-the-wall international quality.
It was shot in English but crudely post-dubbed and the whole cast has English monikers regardless of their ethnicity (exotic Italian beauty Luciana Paluzzi plays…..Lisa Benson!).
Square-jawed Robert Horton (a TV actor best known for starring in WAGON TRAIN) delivers a comically wooden lead performance as the arrogant and condescending Rankin.
As Elliott, Richard Jaeckel seems to have more fun with his role and he makes a good space hero (Jaeckel stayed in Japan to costar in the equally absurd LATITUDE ZERO before returning to Hollywood and Oscar-nominated the next year for SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION).
Luciana Paluzzi had made a splash as Bond girl Fiona Volpe in THUNDERBALL in 1965 and makes for equally sexy here.
Director Kinji Fukasaku went on to make cult items MESSAGE FROM SPACE in 1978 (a gonzo STAR WARS knockoff starring Sonny Chiba that featuresmassive sailboats in space!) and the controversial “teens- killing-teens” epic BATTLE ROYALE in 2000.
THE GREEN SLIME’s toy-like special effects are hardly realistic, but there are a ton of them and most are ambitious and imaginatively designed. The spaceships look like models because they are models and the fact that they are way overlit doesn’t help.
It’s the monsters themselves that make THE GREEN SLIME so memorable.
Squat and lumpy, with one giant red eye surrounded by many smaller eyes, the rubbery, tentacle-waving gremlins were played by Japanese children in clumsy suits. They seem more than a bit silly today but, with their high-pitched electronic squeal, were pretty nightmarish to young audiences in 1968.
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
The Plot
Packing more goofy models and props than most Godzilla films comes this lovely piece of b-cinema.
I still want to know who starched Commander Rankin’s face while he was
smiling, either the guy is a loon or he’s on some serious happy pills.
Prozac boy gets things done though; when you have a rogue asteroid
hurtling toward Earth he’s the man to call. (Not Bruce Willis, mind
you.)
... a brilliantly artificial and eerily vibrant landscape which writer Richard Harland Smith accurately described as perfectly evocative of the Major Matt Mason space station and lunar base command toy sets of the 1960s, reproduced with full-scale reverence and a dash of pop sci-fi psychedelia.
-Trailers from Hell
Fighting the oozy and tentacled greenslime monsters.
When the astronauts land to place their bombs they find the asteroid is
inhabited by strange blobs of glowing slime that are drawn to the
equipment. After blasting off and barely escaping the massive explosion
(Imagine an orange and brown papier mache’ ball with half a stick of
dynamite inside and you’re golden.) the heroes return to Space Station
Gamma 3.
Just because The Green Slime predates Alien and Armageddon doesn’t mean it’s some visionary piece of science fiction cinema. On the surface it’s a subpar space opera with rubber-suited monsters, cheesy miniatures and a cast of B-movie veterans struggling to kill aliens while keeping a straight face.
But despite its myriad of deficiencies The Green Slime is a charming time capsule of mid sixties camp.
Watching its colorful “mod” sets, plastic helmeted astronauts and man-in-a-suit monsters is like sprawling in a bean bag chair, sipping a can of Schlitz while feeling the luxurious shag carpeting beneath your toes.
Scientists aboard the Gamma-3 space station discover a massive asteroid careening towards earth.
UN Space Command dispatches their bravest and squarest jawed astronaut (Robert Horton) to command the mission to destroy the deadly celestial body, which looks like a cat toy you’d find moldering under the couch.
But our hero has a long simmering feud with the space station’s commander (Richard Jaeckel) who stole his fiancée (Luciana Paluzzi) who happens to be the space station’s resident doctor. Putting their differences aside they land on the asteroid, drill holes, plant nukes and zip back to the space station, barely escaping the atomic blast.
The earth is saved, but during their escape a small bit of green slimy alien life adheres itself to an astronaut’s space suit and hitches a ride to Gamma-3.
Due to the station’s high oxygen (or testosterone) levels the little blob of space spooge sprouts into a menagerie of man sized monsters shooting electricity from their tentacles.
Will the astronauts defeat the alien invaders? Will the big haired sexy doctor dump her beau for her brick headed ex fiancé? Will our two heroes finally give in to their seething homoerotic tension and be as god made them? Its all part of The Green Slime experience.
- Horror News
Unfortunately, for everyone, some of the slime was carried back on a
space suit. It soon evolves into a tentacled creature! So the thing
kinda looks like Sigmund the Sea Monster – he never fried anyone with
several thousand volts of electricity. (Yes, I know it’s the amps that
get you.) This gives a nice excuse for Elliott and Rankin to have a
power struggle over who is in charge, the latter a firm believer in
“shoot first ask questions later.”
This poor doctor went back into the midst of the greenslime monsters to get his papers. Bad movie Doc. Bad move.
Another unfortunate fact about Green Slime: even a single drop of blood
will grow into a new monster. So now you have dozens of pissed off
Sigmunds running around electrocuting the crew, good job Rankin.
In the end humanity is saved by crashing Gamma 3 into Earth’s atmosphere, incinerating the Green Slime. Thank goodness something stopped them besides THROWING your laser rifle. The characters often unload at point blank range without effect. Soon as they throw the weapon it goes right through the monster’s eye. Even if you don’t like watching “spacemen” wearing white 1960’s police motorcycle helmets firing “laser guns” at waddling masses of latex monsters you have to love the title song.
Fighting the deadly greenslime inside the space-station.
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Asteroids look like a Gobstopper which has been under the refrigerator for ten years.
Movies are less interesting from a phone’s objective.
Pulsing green muck plays heck with interstellar golf carts.
People can stand up and walk around while experiencing ten G’s.
Never let a bitter exgirlfriend tend your wound.
Alien life is best represented by green soap suds.
Space station security guards wear white motorcycle helmets with a little space symbol on them.
Golf carts are not four wheel drive.
Laser rifles work better as spears.
Never hug an ungrounded Green Slime.
The most charming thing about The Green Slime is how the filmmakers lovingly revel in its cheesiest elements.
Those miniature rocket ships don’t zip by in an instant— instead the producers proudly linger on them as if they were unveiling 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968).
The unconvincing rubber monsters aren’t confined to fleeting, shadowy glimpses— Nope, they’re given long loving close-ups under brighter lights than a baseball game.
I love the filmmakers for having the balls to do that. Plus Alien never had a rocking psychedelic theme song. Why Richard Delvy’s title tune, actually entitled The Green Slime, never made it onto Lenny Kaye’s classic psychedelic music anthology Nuggets is beyond me.
The Green Slime’s other achievement is compressing entire plot of Armageddon into the first fifteen minutes. Why couldn’t Michael Bay have done that?
- Horror News
The Gamma 8 space-station.
Stuff To Watch For:
2 mins – Nice miniatures, ahm.
13 mins – For some reason this scene is making me horny.
25 mins – Bad dubbing!
48 mins – White motorcycle helmets?
64 mins – RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A FLASHLIGHT!
70 mins – The explosion took out half of the model space station, but not that flimsy door?
75 mins – Elliott could use some boxing lessons.
83 mins – Jack, I’m going to kick your smiling self in the testicles. What do you think of that?
Our brave hero and attractive love interest.
The Green Slime was a coproduction between America’s MGM Studios and Japan’s Toei Company LTD. But oddly for a Japanese based production, the entire cast, right down to the extras, is entirely western. This presented Toei with a genuine casting challenge.
As a result the crew of Gamma-3 are a mix of struggling American fashion models plucked from Tokyo’s fashion runways and American sailors on shore leave from the nearby Yokosuka Naval base.
That’s right, those glamorous young models were thrown together with guys who’d been stuck on an Aircraft Carrier deployed off Vietnam for six months!
Take a good look boys… cause this is what you’re fighting for!
Hidden among the space stations impossibly pretty female crew is blonde haired Linda Miller who, a year earlier, had been the lead in the Japanese American co-production King Kong Escapes. If you ever wake up with a hangover skip the Advil and coffee and try a double bill of The Green Slime and King Kong Escapes— your pain will be forgotten.
- Horror News
Conclusion
In 1968 my eight-year-old pals and I absorbed the adventure of The Green Slime and took that template to the playground, turning every jungle gym or set of monkey bars into the Gamma 3. Looking at The Green Slime today I confess I am not seized with the urge to run over to the nearby elementary school and start back up where I left off 46 years ago. After all, there are plenty of reasons to put away childish things, to bid a safe farewell to childhood and our nostalgia for it. (My bathroom scale insists this is so.) But for me The Green Slime beautifully recreates a playground of the mind to match the one I had to leave behind.
-Trailers from Hell
This movie will never get an Oscar award. But it’s a great movie for a rainy day, and fantastic to spend with a case of beer, some friends, a pet and loyal dog (or cat), a loved one and some potato chips. Not the flavored kind, mind you, good “old fashioned” American style salted chips… with dip. Lots and lots of dip.
This is the perfect movie to enjoy when you are stuck inside (like during a biological weapons attack like I am) or whether it is raining cats and dogs outside. Make sure that you have an ample supply of chips, dip and beer. I’ll tell you what!
In closing, if you wake up craving a piece of nostalgic science fiction fromage The Green Slime is exactly what you’re looking for. And don’t forget to sing along to the psychedelic theme song (later covered by the Fuzztones) for a totally immersive experience. Everybody sing… You’ll believe it when you find… Something sreamin’ ‘cross your mind… GREEN SLIME… GREEN SLIME!
- Horror News
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other movie review in my Movie Index. Please feel free to check them out…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is one of my personal favorite James Bond films. There’s something about a hidden mountain lair staffed with brainwashed beauties, and surrounded by armed henchmen on ski’s that appeals to the teen-aged boy inside of me. Not to mention the idea of wearing a kilt where the women reach underneath and write notes on my inner thighs…
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has often been described as the dark horse of the James Bond franchise, in part due to its atypical ending and for its one-off Bond actor, George Lazenby.
Its reputation unfortunately tied Lazenby’s ill-reception, Majesty has been gaining steady recognition over the last few decades with many now noting it as one of the best Bond films ever produced and some even going so far as labeling it the best.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service will probably always remain the most controversial entry in the Bond series, thanks both to its unusually human and romantic story, and the notorious casting of novice actor George Lazenby as OO7. Some think these elements ruin the film, while others hail OHMSS as the best Bond ever. I wouldn't go that far in my praise, but for me this is still one of the classic Bond films, true to Ian Fleming's original vision and arguably showing OO7 in a more realistic light than any other film in the franchise.
To get the Lazenby issue out of the way first, it is certainly true to say that he lacks the charisma of the man he (temporarily) replaced, Sean Connery, and his impossibly chiselled jaw is somewhat irritating. However, he does look the part, and for a first-time actor he turns in a remarkably assured performance, particularly in the fight scenes but also in Bond's more tender moments, most notably in the highly emotional finale. If Lazenby had gone on to make more Bond films (and it was his own decision not to do so) he could well have developed into a very fine OO7, but as it is I still find his performance in OHMSS perfectly acceptable, and not damaging to the film in any way.
The film itself represented a conscious attempt to get back to Fleming after the increasingly extravagant antics of Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. Director Peter Hunt, who had edited the classic early Connery films, was very keen to remain faithful to Fleming's original story, and as a result OHMSS has an unusually strong emphasis on character and plot, with the gadgetry and humour found in most Bond films largely jettisoned.
Rather like From Russia with Love, OHMSS feels like a real spy adventure, as Bond tracks Blofeld down and even adopts a disguise as he infiltrates his arch-enemy's Alpine hideaway, Piz Gloria. Where this film is unique, however, is in the level of emotion it invests in OO7's relationships with others. We see this early in the film when Bond quarrels with M and submits his resignation, a sequence which really brings out the affection which both M and Moneypenny have for him, but which M especially prefers to keep concealed. This affection is brought out again near the end during Bond and Tracy's wedding, when Q sheds his normal exasperation and shows us his fondness and respect for OO7.
However, it is of course the relationship between Bond and Tracy which gives the film its emotional heart. OHMSS sees Bond fall genuinely in love for the first and only time, and personally I found the film's romantic scenes both tender and touching, particularly for being so unexpected in a Bond film. The casting of Diana Rigg as Tracy helps immeasurably in making us believe in this romance, as she is a rare example of a proper actress taking on the role of a Bond girl, and her dynamic, spirited performance makes it easy to see why Bond would fall for her and marry her. It also helps the film's tragic conclusion, itself unique in the Bond franchise, pack far more of an emotional punch than might otherwise have been the case.
Of course, the film has more going for it than just an unusually human Bond.
Hunt directs with great skill, and the Alpine scenery that dominates the film looks absolutely stunning. There is no shortage of great action either, the highlights being a tense and gripping ski chase and an equally thrilling bobsleigh pursuit. Telly Savalas makes for a very effective Blofeld, understated and sinister, and his Rosa Klebb-like henchwoman Irma Bunt is played with relish by Ilse Steppat. There are also echoes of FRWL in the character of Draco, Tracy's father, who is a charismatic Bond ally in the style of Kerim Bey. Special mention should be given to John Barry, who produced his greatest Bond soundtrack for OHMSS. The opening instrumental theme, with its sombre and foreboding tone, sets the serious mood of the film, while the classic We Have All the Time in the World, sung by Louis Armstrong, is the perfect soundtrack to Bond and Tracy's doomed love.
However, while OHMSS is undoubtedly a classic Bond film, it just falls short of my personal top five for two principal reasons. The first of these is that the film is too long, primarily because the central section, where Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria in disguise, is dragged out for far longer than was necessary. Blofeld's plan to use beautiful women as carriers of a devastating eco-virus is the other main weakness, because it is totally preposterous and does not fit into the film's serious nature. I must admit also that, good as Lazenby is, I do wish Connery had agreed to make this film, because with him on board, and a little more editing, I think it could have been the best Bond ever, even beating FRWL. As it is, OHMSS is still a very strong film, its bold deviations from the Bond formula paying off handsomely. It is just a crying shame that it did not perform better at the Box Office, because this would encourage the Bond producers to shift to the high-camp, comic style that would dominate the franchise during the 1970s; sadly, it would be more than a decade before a serious, Flemingesque Bond would reappear on the big screen.
- Orpington
How true are these statements? Is it really just the one with the bad James Bond whose ultimate saving grace is that it’s forgettable; or, has it truly earned its place in the top echelons of the 007 series alongside From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and 2006’s Casino Royale?
People used to dress better, carry themselves better and smoke better than they do today. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
[Major Spoiler Alert] On Her Majesty’s Secret Service finds James Bond (Lazenby) desperately trying to track down head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) following the events of You Only Live Twice.
His trail having run cold after two fruitless years of searching, M (Bernard Lee) removes him from the case.
Distraught and obsessed, Bond takes a leave of absence and accepts an offer from criminal mastermind Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) for a clue to Blofeld’s whereabouts in exchange for a marriage to his only daughter, Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).
Bond, having previously saved Tracy from a suicide attempt, accepts and soon finds himself in the Swiss Alps where Blofeld is devising a new international blackmail plot revolving around a gaggle of brainwashed beauties.
Imagine having a secret lair populated with a bevy of girls from all over the world, and all that on top of an enormous mountain. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
From this point, the second half of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service continues as a practical nonstop chase as Bond attempts to escape Blofeld’s mountainous fortress.
Let me give it to you straight, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is an absolute, 100% triumph. All the elements work well, firstly there is Peter Hunt's direction. Hunt should have been handed the Directors reins on a Bond movie long before this. He adds action and excitement and blends this in the most stilted and calm manor. In truth On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a return to the less Gadget and Comic Book laden world of the likes of Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, and echoes the Flemmingesque thriller world of Dr No and From Russia With Love. Those who dont like the first two additions to the Bond series dont flinch, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has a strenghth and style beaming with enegy and excitement twinned with realism. never seen in a Bond Film before or since.
This will always be remembered as George Lazenby's go at Bond. It is also remenbered as the one Bond that flopped at the box office. Well, on a budget of $9million and with worldwide grosses of $80million, hopefully the notion of disapointment will disapeer. There is also the fact that the Video and DVD versions of the movie consistently outsell all other Bond Titles worldwide. George Lazenby is an absolute revelation as Bond. I had my doubts but was still interested to see how he did. Lazenby rivals Connery in the Romantic and Action scenes and does pretty well with the dramatic scenes. In truth he is the most under-rated Bond. He makes a very believable Flemmingesque Playboy. He looks good in a tuxedo, on ski's, with women, in punch ups. Lazenby is helped by a strong support cast. Diana Rigg is beautifull and very believable as the Contessa, Tracy, with whom our James falls in love with, and eventually marries. Rigg displays a full range of acting and beauty to make her the most memorable of Bond Girls, and for one, wich i dont mean to sopil, inparticular. Telly Savalas is a very creepy, chilling and enjoyable Blofeld. It could be said that he is the most memorable of Blofeld's. He is obviously having the time of his life with the part and it is a pitty he didn't play the character in future outings. There is also the return of M, Q in a rather quiet outing this time, and a Moneypenny, heart broken at the notion Bond could marry anybody other than herself.
Now, if you add to all the above some of the finest action set pieces in motion picture history you have an idea of the scale of this epic. The Alpine sets, and Skiing and Bobsled chases really bring out the purest sense of adventure. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the most memorable Bond Movie from my Childhood. I remember watching this one Christmas eve with my Grandparents, and their house looked very much like Blofelds Alpine Fortress [Without the Ladies, alas]. The movie has really thrilling ski chases, you really do believe a man can ski, and once more think you are skiing with him.This is very much THE Christmas Bond movie. It is also soaked with some delightful christmas themes by the master John Barry, composing perhaps his best Bond theme. We Have All the Time in the world, sung by Louis Armstrong is a beautifuly moving song, made all the more so by Tracy's fate at the end of the movie. There is also Barry's rousing On Her Majesty's Secret Service Theme, unlike anything ever heared in cinema's or movies before.
But it is the realism between the characters and the story that helps make On Her Majesty's Secret Service work. By far the most under-rated of the Bond movies, and a strong contender for the Best Bond Movie of all time. This is the greatest. Bond movies should try to be to be like this in future. Go and see it for yourself, dont listen to the the negative reviews. You have all the time in the world.
- Dock-Ock
From incredible ski pursuits to bell tower brawls and icy crash derby car races, Bond is pushed to his most vulnerable, breathless limit as he barely dodges a never-ending army of goons in fantastic (and, at one point, literal) cliffhanger fashion.
When he is eventually tracked down by Tracy, she is as much a reprieve to Bond as she is to the audience.
I well remember this movie where the hero, James Bod, sits wearing a kilt and surrounded by very attentive women who hang on every word he utters. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Unfortunately, their escape is only half successful as Blofeld causes a massive avalanche that blankets both Bond and Tracy leading to her capture as a hostage.
With M powerless to sanction an official rescue, Bond teams up with Draco to launch a full scale assault on Blofeld (which includes an awesome shot of Bond sliding across an ice covered walkway belly first into battle with a machine gun!).
After a bobsled run leaves Blofeld supposedly dead, Bond, realizing his true feelings for Tracy, marries her leading to a heartbreaking denouement as Blofeld enacts one last act of revenge and has her viciously murdered minutes into their honeymoon.
In these older movies you could be very sensual, with a hint of sexuality, but not resort to overt crude sex. Here we have one of the chicks giving James Bond her room number. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a showcase of how to properly execute an epic Bond film.
Gone are the fantasy and over-the-top machinations of spaceship hijacks, rocket cigarettes, and secret volcano bases from the last film.
Though the overall threat level may be reduced comparatively, Blofeld’s plan remains one of global devastation keeping the stakes up to par with the two previous films but with a far more grounded approach (despite the ludicrous nature of the brainwashed girls being utilized for biological warfare).
The Best Bond? Yeah, I think so. Like most people who are interested in James Bond, I saw the films over and over on TV before I read any of the books. I then got round to buying Casino Royale, and being knocked out by it - this was somewhat different to Moonraker and all that Roger Moore stuff. So I read the books in their sequence, seriously the best way, and by the time OHMSS came round, I had a pretty good idea of who James Bond was. And, I'm sorry to inform all the Seanophiles, James Bond is not Connery, Moore, Dalton (though he came close, but is Welsh..)or Brosnan. Oddly enough, given the choices, he's kind of like George Lazenby.
Sure, Sean Connery was suave, sexy, and spoke rather curiously, Timothy Dalton had the serious side sorted, Brosnan is sophisticated etc, Roger Moore.. well, another time, maybe.
George Lazenby, maybe due to his lack of experience, (though why is his debut so widely mulled over in that respect.... it's not something that most actors are subjected to?) is not so at ease with his surroundings, not so cocksure that everything is going to work out fine as the others, and this is the real James Bond. The one in the books. You can almost believe in this one. And when things don't work out fine, you feel a weird familiarity with him. He's just a man, though admittedly he's disproportionately talented at a pretty impressive range of activities, from skiing to flying, swordsmanship, shooting people, jumping out of things, carnal endeavours etc.. Oh no, sorry, that's me. Well, anyway, I'm quite tired now. OHMSS is the best of the films, though From Russia With Love contains possibly the finest fight scene of all and maybe the best trio of baddies (including a slightly peripatetic Blofeld)and is Connery's best.
George Lazenby is the best Bond, because his talents - a certain naturalistic charm, physical dexterity, and a capacity for possible failure - are used brilliantly, and he is closer by far than any of the others to the book-Bond.
There you go.
Oh, and Diana Rigg is the best 'Bond girl', though that description is not very fair to her, We Have All The Time In The World is the best Bond song, and the theme tune is possibly John Barry's finest work.. let alone being the best Bond title theme.
There you go again.
Thanks for reading, and if you happen to disagree, well... you're wrong. Cheers.
- qholway
More significant is Bond’s personal journey at the heart of the picture which effectively sells the danger present.
Moreover, Majesty presents one of the rare instances where Bond is a true underdog – the metaphoric St. George vs. the dragon.
The desperate barrage of near misses is practically overwhelming and, for the first time since a few hints in Dr. No, we witness a Bond that is almost overcome with fear.
Just some of the gals on top of the isolated mountain. They are quite entranced by the appearance of James bond into their lair. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Heck, at one point, as 007 is trying to avoid Blofeld’s goons in a crowd, he accidentally runs into a polar bear-suited man brandishing a camera.
Like "From Russia With Love," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is filled with mysterious characters and realistic action Blofeld's plot involves germ warfare and his stronghold this time is a converted Swiss allergy clinic The film is loaded with actionski chases, bobsled chases, car chases, helicopter attacks, fights in the surf, fights in the hotel, fights in the office Peter Hunt succeeded in distracting the audience from noticing that a new Bond was on duty
The new Bond pauses to take a finger of caviar... Dom Perignon'57 and five-star Hennessey brandy are his mouthwashes of choice... He discovers that he lived with his aunt in Pett Buttom, and his family motto is 'The World Is Not Enough.' He impersonates a genealogist to gain entrance to Piz Gloria... He wants to take the head of SPECTRE to Augsburg (West Germany) to verify certain records regarding his claim to a title... He spurns a Mafioso one million gold dowry; uses telescopic sight from a sniper's rifle to spot a beautiful young woman on the beach; wipes away a Contessa's tears; drives his Aston Martin wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette, and turns to the viewer saying in perfect seriousness, "This never happened to the other fella."
The sixth Bond film takes place all over Europe with a united nations of glamorous babes called 'angels of death,' where 007 finally meets his female match, falls in love, and gets married The motion picture is an emotional story that reveals more of the world of 007
It starts with Bond, ready to resign from the Secret Service for being taking off Operation Bedlam... With John Barry's best music, Bond reminds us of a whole bunch of familiar faces... He begins to look over his mementos which include Honey's knife belt from 'Dr. No,' and the strangler watch from 'From Russia with Love.' The sequences from all the previous Bond films reinforced the idea that this new Bond is still a member of the same team, a man who answers to a crusty retired Admiral, and still is engaged in sexy banter with a loving secretary...
It is Draco's daughter though, the ravishing Tracy (Diana Rigg), who adds a bit of class to the role of the Bond girl, and makes the film quiet interesting... Tracy is the troubled woman who steals Bond's heart... She is a spoiled woman wandering fully clothed into the sea... She is dangerous with her red Ford Cougar, a broken bottle, and at the baccarat table...
Gabriele Ferzetti is one of the most sympathetic Mafia dons ever to charm the screen Draco likes the fact that Bond is interested in his daughter, and he's determined to help her find the right husband
Telly Savalas' Blofeld does reveal sides to his character previously unseen: the class snobberywhich M remarks upon, and the vanity which Tracy flatters to force him off his guard, and his irritation with one of his skiers who ends up in a tree... Posing as a world-famous allergist, this bald arch-villain would only give up his deadly scheme throughout the world if offered a complete pardon for past crimes and a title...
Irma Bunt was perfectly portrayed by German actress Ilse Steppat, who, unfortunately died soon after the film's release She is Blofeld's second-in-command, who keeps the Count's attractive 'patients' under control...
Angela Scoular (Ruby) becomes Bond's first conquest when she writes her room number in lipstick on 007's inner thigh
Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) hands her boss a request for two weeks leave rather than Bond's dictated resignation... Her act results at once funny, moving and warm: 'What would I do without you?' ask both Bond and M separately once she's settled their contretemps...
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" features Barry's exquisite song, "We Have All the Time in the World," which is sung with real emotion by Louis Armstrong...
- Nazi_Fighter_David
Lazenby’s bug-eyed overreaction at the sight is enough to make Bruce Campbell proud!
Of course, James Bond seduces, and is seduced by a large number of very attractive chicks. All who want some of what he has to give. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Regardless, this approach leads to a far more gripping adventure and
one that perfectly lays the basis for the film’s tragic ending.
Much has been said about George Lazenby’s performance in this film.
Is he the natural successor to Sean Connery? Very few (if any) would say so; however, what he lacks in charm and screen presence, he makes up for in sheer earnestness.
His most redeeming quality is that, outside of Daniel Craig, he is the best brawler in the franchise delivering vicious uppercuts and thoroughly selling all his fight scenes – particularly an early rousing mano a mano hotel fight.
The boss, very manly, with a bow tie and pipe. Ah, me thinks that you wouldn’t be able to do this today in modern progressive London. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Beyond his athleticism (he would later train with Bruce Lee himself), Lazenby’s best scenes are centered on character actions that diverged significantly from anything associated with Connery’s portrayal – particularly Bond’s tender proposal to Tracy and his tearful reaction to her death.
In these fleeting scenes, Lazenby more-or-less succeeds in delivering a poignant, sincere performance.
Being a secret spy is hard work. If you are not killing people, you are off seducing them. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
If anything, what really bogs down Lazenby the most is the vestige of Connery.
Unlike Roger Moore who was given the opportunity to make Bond his own, Lazenby is put in the unenviable position of trying to emulate him.
Having been a huge Bond fan since I was a mere lad in the early '80s, I still don't know why I just recently saw this film for the first time in 2010. I suppose I must blame the fact that it is criminally underrated and under promoted. It's very rarely shown on TV except on holiday Bondathons (I love those!) and casual fans typically know nothing of it. I've always considered myself more than just a casual Bond fan, so I finally ordered the Ultimate Edition DVD recently and I INSTANTLY ranked this among the all time greats of the series. Wish I had seen it earlier, but no matter, I will view it many more times over the years....
Lazenby's Bond was much more realistic and true to the novels, a human being that is far more talented than most, but not a superhero and in this movie not armed with numerous gadgets. He certainly played the role with dignity and it's a shame he didn't return for at least one more. But I am glad that Roger Moore was able to enter the series in his prime shortly after this rather than waiting until later, so it worked out.
Beautiful places have always been an integral part of Bond films, and it doesn't get more beautiful than the Swiss Alps. I'm going to make a point of visiting Blofeld's headquarters (a real restaurant) one of these days. It must have been quite an undertaking to build it in such an isolated place as they discussed in the DVD extras. I also love Bond's modernized Aston Martin in this film and the look of the film in general is just fantastic. And for home theater owners, the avalanche scene sounds absolutely amazing on a powerful system! I thought pictures on the wall in my theater room were going to fall!
SPOILERS: This film is unique in that Bond falls in love marries for the only time in the entire series, but being Bond, it was bound to end badly. A touching scene, the only real one in the entire Bond series actually. His wife was a very memorable and charismatic Bond girl and now I can put into context the visit that Roger Moore made in the beginning of For Your Eyes Only.
Bottom line, if you're a Bond fan, having this in your collection is mandatory.
- Enforcer686
From the awkward kilt get-up to some awful puns noticeably ADR’d in at the last minute (not to mention a badly conceived pre-credits fourth wall break that bizarrely refers to Connery as the “other fella”), the film may as well have been called In Sir Connery’s Public Shadow.
Just some of the great selection of gals on the top of the mountain. They all have their charms and are very attracted to a man with manly charms. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
It doesn’t help that in an attempt to hammer into viewers that this is indeed the same James Bond as Connery, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is full of constant call backs to the previous films, such as Bond looking over his office keepsakes from Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball…
I must admit I initially never gave this entry much of a chance. Whenever it was on TV I tried to watch it, but I just couldn't get into it. Then last year, I saw a widescreen tape version on sale and decided to buy it. When I finished watching it I was sorry I had ignored it for so long. It's very good. I thought Lazenby did a good job as Bond, and Savalas turned in equally good work as Bond's nemesis. And Rigg is as sharp as she is lovely. This is one for the collection.
- cmt-2
James Bond meeting some of the gals on the mountain top. He’s quite the hit with the ladies. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
…a dwarf randomly whistling the tune from Goldfinger, and, most egregiously, a credit sequence that focuses on Connery-less clips from the preceding entries in the series!
To understand the controversy behind `On Her Majesty's Secret Service,' one must understand the events so impacting the spy genre by the time of its production in 1969. After the back to back tremendous successes of `Goldfinger' and `From Russia With Love,' every hack producer and distributor rushed to make spy movies.
There were serious ones (`The Spy That Came in From the Cold,' `The Ipcress File'), satirical ones (`Our Man Flint,' `The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' `Get Smart' ), and incredibly silly ones (`The Silencers,' `Last of the Secret Agents,' `Casino Royale'). `Casino Royale' was especially damaging, since it was (VERY LOOSELY) based on a Fleming novel, and used the character of James Bond, 007.
In fact, in `Casino Royale,' nearly EVERYBODY played `James Bond'. `If we don't know what we are doing, how will the enemy,' was the explanation `James Bond' (David Niven) gave to explain why MI6 was calling all its agents `James Bond'.
To protect their franchise, the producers of the `real' James Bond movies emphasized in their promotion `Sean Connery IS James Bond.' In a demonstration of `gratitude,' Connery up and quit the series, leaving `On Her Majesty's Secret Service,' which was shortly to go into production, without a `Bond.'
Arguably the most ambitious and difficult to shoot of ALL the Bond films (at least to that time), it's a miracle ANYTHING works in OHMSS. Much of the time it works VERY well, though the shaky underpinnings of the first hour frequently threaten to undo it. There is so much choppy editing and dubbed dialogue, one begins to suspect he is watching a foreign film.
The second hour plus works much better, all the more surprising since it was shot first. One reason may be that the film went WAY over both shooting schedule and budget, and there was enough made up `bad' press to put a great deal of pressure on the producers, first time director, Peter Hunt and star, George Lazenby.
In the middle of it all, Lazenby's publicist announced that Lazenby was not going to do another Bond (Lazenby is credible when he says that announcement was not his idea. One suspects, from the bonus material, that Cubby Broccoli planted that story to discredit Lazenby, should the film fail). Add to all this the films' tacked-on, unhappy ending (planned to be the prologue for `Diamonds are Forever'), which plays completely against the humor of earlier moments, and it's a wonder the film was NOT a dismal failure.
Quite the contrary, OHMSS is one of the BEST of the Bond films, filled with nonstop action, outstanding stunts, incredible sound, the best score (along with `Goldfinger') and a credible enough romance to lend it genuine poignancy. Lazenby overcame many tremendous handicaps: having to replace one of the best known and popular actors in the world; he was 28, younger than Connery when he made `Dr. No'; he was completely inexperienced as an actor (OHMSS was Lazenby's FIRST movie, not just his first starring role); his accent (thick Australian outback) and the INCREDIBLE physical demands (Lazenby did many of his own stunts).
Considering all this, Lazenby is downright remarkable. Certainly, in my opinion he is better than either the snooty Timothy Dalton or the lightweight Roger Moore were in ANY of their outings as Bond..
The bonus feature on the DVD concludes with strong evidence that Lazenby became a scapegoat, despite the eventual financial success of OHMSS. Lazenby, refreshingly displays no bitterness that his career nearly ended as soon as it began. He's had a reasonably busy career playing character roles and we have OHMSS. Not a bad deal at all.
- Bob-45
This backfires in a couple of ways: 1.) it keeps reminding the audience of Connery and henceforth how much better he was in the role and, 2.) it establishes the film in a firm continuity with what has happened before – a continuity that the film blatantly breaks by disregarding the fact that Blofeld and Bond have met before!
The girls are mesmerized by his appearance, mannerisms and behavior. Every man wants to be like James Bond. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
The Bond producers had shortsightedly adapted Ian Fleming‘s S.P.E.C.T.R.E. trilogy out of order (Majesty is actually the dark middle chapter between Thunderball and You Only Live Twice) causing significant narrative issues and also robbing the natural revenge-bent conclusion that You Only Live Twice aptly provided (akin to releasing Return of the Jedi before The Empire Strikes Back and attempting to place a band-aid on the story issues).
In the books, this was the first instance of Bond and Blofeld meeting face-to-face and since this was a more faithful adaptation, a choice was made to not have the characters recognize each other despite meeting at the conclusion of the last film (a choice easily unraveled by the opening credit flashbacks to Twice!).
This is one of my favorite Bond's. It has the best story and most closely resemble the original novel. It has become notorious for featuring a one-time Bond, George Lazenby, but it surpasses most of the later films.
Lazenby gets far too much criticism. As a first time actor, he is quite good. Yes, his performance is mixed, but so are several other actors, many with far more experience. More time should have been put into acting classes and rehearsal for Lazenby, to prepare him for the role. Instead, they concentrated on his look and mannerisms. This has been one of the failing aspects to the films; the emphasis on sight rather than substance.
Diana Rigg is fantastic as Tracy, which is to be expected. Who else but Emma Peel could marry James Bond? (wonder what Mr. Peel thought, or Steed, for that matter.) Rigg is the first, and arguably the last real actress to play the female lead in a Bond film. Most are chosen for their looks and their performance rarely rises above looking sexy. Rigg has the looks and sex appeal, but she also has the acting chops and tends to dominate any scene she is in.
Telly Savalas was an interesting, yet mixed choice for Blofeld. He is quite charming, but not very menacing. He was far deadlier in the Dirty Dozen. Blofeld was far more effective before he was seen in the series. Imagination was always far better than reality. Savalas seems more like a gangster than a megalomaniac. Since I saw this after Kojak, I kept waiting for him to say, "who loves ya baby?"
The stunts are fantastic and act in service to the plot. The ski chase is gripping and the tension builds throughout. Although it becomes obvious in several scenes that Diana Rigg is doubled by a man, it is not too distracting.
Ultimately, the story raises this above the level of most Bond films. The plot moves along at a quick pace and there are few sidelines. The jokes are kept to a minimum and character is stressed. The actions scenes are eye catching, but never out of place. The threat is believable and the final resolution to Blofeld's plans works.
Spoiler: The director has said he would have preferred to open Diamonds Are Forever with Tracy's death, and then lead to the search for Blofeld. I disagree. I think the death scene is one of Lazenby's best and it carries quite an impact. It let's you know that Bond must return to his work to gain vengeance. I think DAF should have opened with a flashback to the scene and then the hunt for Blofeld. If the death had not occurred at the end of OHMSS, then the opening of DAF would feel like a cheat, much like the opening of the second Austin Powers film. It would just seem like an excuse to get rid of the wife and return to business as usual.
- grendelkhan
The only slim explanation is that Bond is in disguise (which consists of a pair of glasses – the epitome of incognito espionage – and a different accent) and that Blofeld has cut off his earlobes in the hopes of achieving a prestigious title.
But hey, if it works for Superman, maybe it works for Bond too.
A good secret agent is a professional in and out of bed. Here we have him catching up on some business relations. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Continuity issues aside, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service provides yet another positive up-step in the series in the form of Telly Savalas – hands down the best Blofeld to date (Christolph Waltz included).
Smart, menacing, and conniving, Savalas’ Blofeld is the anti-Bond, every bit as charming and clever as our hero.
On the surface, he may not look as memorable as Donald Pleasence‘s take on the character, but he is far more effective and a true threat to Bond.
Telly Savalas makes a great villain. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Diana Rigg is as beautiful as she is brilliant as Tracy.
It never rings false that this is the woman that finally snags Bond’s heart.
Vulnerable but with a subdued fire ready to spring, Rigg is terrific, managing to effortlessly lift the struggling Lazenby in every scene they share.
I have read some of the negative reviews for this movie and I have to say that I agree with NONE of them except for the slightly unnecessary two and a half hour length.
Regardless, this doesn't ruin On Her Majesty's Secret Service in any way to warrant a serious complaint as far as I'm concerned. As with the positive reviews this film received, I agree with most all of them. For one, George Lazenby replacing Sean Connery as Bond may have displeased some but I think he did just as good of a job and would not have minded a bit if he became the next Bond for a few more films.
This movie also had some enjoyable action scenes; some of which would later get mimicked in future Bond installments. The bond girl is by far one of the best.
To be a little more specific, this bond girl plays a significant part in the Bond series as a whole that no other bond girl shares. However, I won't reveal why that is because I don't usually give spoilers for the courtesy of those who haven't seen the films that I review.
The ending alone for this movie got several mixed reviews but I can say with certainty that had it not ended the way it did, the Bond franchise might have come to an end.
- thomas-williamson-ga
Likewise, once they partner up in the second half escape, they make a memorable, natural team (I especially like Bond stealing kisses as she mercilessly drives enemy cars off the road!).
I’m not really a great fan of his plaid coat, but after all it’s another time and place. You need to take that into consideration. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Her wedding day demise (a death that shrewdly bookends a film that began with her suicide attempt) is a tragedy brought to fruition almost solely due to her indelible charisma – a gutsy move from the Bond producers whose films were mostly known for escapist fun.
Keeping in line with the grittier productions of the time such as Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, and Easy Rider, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service presented a natural, contemporary progression for the Bond series – a turn that was regrettably rejected in a 180° about face with the campy Diamonds Are Forevertwo years later.
Peter Hunt, stepping into the director’s chair after editing all the previous Bond pictures, shapes one of the most stylized film in the series.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) is the first Bond film to replace Sean Connery and the only film which Australian actor George Lazenby portrays the role of James Bond.
This film is probably the most faithful adaption to the Bond novels, giving the film a sense of realism and drama.
James Bond is on a search for his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (portrayed by Telly Savalas) who had merely escaped his death from the previous film, You Only Live Twice (1967).
He encounters a beautiful countess named Tracy (portrayed by Diana Rigg) who is the daughter of Marc Ange Draco (portrayed by Gabrielle Fazzetti), boss of a huge crime organization called the Union Corse.
Due to Bond's detour, M (Bernard Lee) suspends him from the mission, Bond responds to almost resigning from the Secret Service as he is saved by Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) who writes to M that he was going to take a several-week vacation.
As Bond falls in love with Tracy, he also finds connections to Blofeld through a College of Arms professor, Sir Hillary Bray (portrayed by George Baker).
Apparently Blofeld is disguising as a Count running a clinic in the Swiss Alps that supposedly cures allergies of all kinds. Bond infiltrates Blofeld's base disguising as Hillary Bray, encountering beautiful girl patients ("Angels of Death") from various countries.
Bond discovers the psychic therapy the patients go through while sleeping with one of the patients.
Bond's cover gets blown and is captured by Blofeld, who reveals his plan to spread a pandemic that could wipe out the world through his "cured" patients.
Bond escapes the base through an elaborate and well-choreographed ski chase as he encounters Tracy who helps him escape from Blofeld's crew.
Later that night, Bond proposes to Tracy (something we will never see in a Bond film) and plans to quit his job after this mission. Unfortunately, their time is cut short as Blofeld kidnaps Tracy after another ski chase.
Bond and Draco rescues Tracy and blows up Blofeld's facility. Blofeld breaks his neck during a bobsled chase with Bond, but manages to survive. Bond and Tracy get married and are happily driving down the road until a sudden machine gun fire from Blofeld's henchman Irma Bunt (portrayed by Ilse Steppat) fatally hits Tracy.
The film ends with Bond in tears (another thing we'll never see in a Bond film) over his blood-shed Bride, as he murmurs to a traffic cop that "We had all the time in the World".
This film was financially successful, but did not make a profit as much as its predecessors did.
The critical response was somewhat positive, but was negative towards Lazenby's portrayal of James Bond. I would give a lot of credit to the filmmakers (especially director Peter Hunt) who polished Lazenby into a fine Bond.
Considering how Lazenby did not have any acting experience prior to this film, I would give him credit for portraying that very emotional and tender side of Bond.
Lazenby also matched that physique of a Bond, as it is portrayed through the excellently choreographed fight sequences. Despite those feats, Lazenby quit the role of Bond from a bad career advice from his agent who saw no future into the Bond films.
I would also praise Lazenby for not parroting Connery's take on Bond, as most actors would most-likely parrot their predecessor's approach to the character.
This film would not have been as good if Connery was portraying his rough and cold-hearted edge of Bond. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a great film with great action, story, and music that defines the true essence and pleasure of a Bond film.
- bock_g
Some of the shots, composed by cinematographer Michael Reed, are incredible with a particular focus on reflections such as Bond wistfully recalling Tracy’s kidnapping while looking through a window…
The ski scenes are what everyone remembers this movie by. I however am a bit strange and instead remember it for the secret lair filled with a bevy of chicks. That was what really appealed to me as a teen-aged boy. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Suggestive of the story further delving into Bond as a human being (this is, after all, the film where we finally learn more about his history and family motto, “The World is Not Enough”), these artistic touches help accent the story rather than existing only to call attention to themselves.
There’s nothing like showing a little bit of cleavage to get a man’s attention up. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
As mentioned before, Lazenby excels during the action scenes – sequences that run the gamut of creative staging and editing. Although there are a few minor quibbles such as Hunt’s preference for fast motion editing, the film’s set-pieces provide a sustained high-level of excitement with a few creative twists thrown in for good measure (such as a chase through evergreen forest with Bond on one ski).
It’s the romance and seductions scenes that the older James Bond flicks are remembered for. Today, there is an overload of hyper-action, and a near dearth of male-oriented seduction. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Fleming’s tenth 007 novel, is one of the most faithful adaptations in the Bond film series – very much a welcome sight after the Roald Dahl-scripted fantasy of You Only Live Twice.
As such, there aren’t many significant differences between the source and screen. By the same token, the film version follows the same path as From Russia with Love and Goldfinger with some minor improvements to the novel.
For example, the book has both Bond and Tracy successfully escaping Blofeld’s forces in Switzerland.
Once, at the library, I had a flashback of something my history teacher once told me. "Without Soviet Union, we wouldn't have had a lot of things." Then, someone mentioned, accurately, that Bond films owe their existence to the hammer and the sickle. Then he said, "Pooh, the Bond FILMS! Read the BOOKS. They're good stuff. The films are just bunch of women and gadgets." So I went to look for Ian Fleming, and the title that caught my eye was On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is recognized as one of the best books in the series. I started reading the book. I was surprised at how slow pace and dark it was, and how Bond wasn't this confident, suave character who always knows what to do. Sean Connery is not, I repeat, not, Ian Fleming's James Bond. Of course, he is the best film version of James Bond, but he is too good a suave character to be Bond. I can't imagine a superspy who'd say "Yeesss" as Connery does.
I must say, more than anyone, George Lazenby is the James Bond of Ian Fleming's novels. He is like Bond in the books, trying to be smooth but always somewhat unsure. He has a command of the screen, that he isn't afraid to tell you he's there. The biggest gripe I have about Pierce Brosnan is how he sometimes doesn't get a grip of things on set and his somewhat higher, softer voice (and also how he pumps endless rounds of automatic fire upon enemies who have a propensity for getting hit while he himself has to be missed by endless rounds of enemy fire). Lazenby has a voice that I imagine Bond would certainly have. I certainly don't think he was a bad Bond. I think he WAS Bond. The other four actors have played their versions of Bond, but Lazenby is the only believable, human, imperfect James Bond. And his lines aren't that bad, come on. The only poorly delivered line was, "He had lots of guts." I think he should have delivered that with a bit more Connery, but that's a minor detail.
The stunts are great and so is the scenery, and the only bad cinematics are in the ski scenes when they show closeups from the front. They look very fake, but that must be forgiven for 1969 when it was made. They did not have Handicams and they certainly did not have Photoshop to blend projected images as well as we can nowadays. But they certainly do not distract the excitement from some of the best snow scenes in 007 films. The ski chases which became trademark of James Bond started here. It's funny how in the book, Bond is very worried about skiing, since he's rusty from not having skied for a long time. The sled chase is excellent also.
OHMSS is the only film where Bond drinks beer and gets married. Which brings me up to the next point, that Diana Riggs as Tracy Draco (later Bond) happens to be perhaps the best Bond girl ever. Without doubt, she is full of excitement and danger, not afraid to strap on a couple of skis amid gunfire and avalanche. Certainly not a certain Natalya Simonova. She is Bond's identical counterpart, experienced but having gotten nothing out of relationships, and quite a driver also. She's the only Bond girl to really connect with the audience, to make herself more important in comparison to Bond, but that's part of the excellent novel on which the movie is based. Whatever happens to her touches the audience more than whatever happens to Bond (who, as we all know, will always somehow make it). Her surprise appearance at the Christmas celebration brightens up everything in an instant, and the ending is probably the only genuinely sad scene in all 20 of the Bond films.
The opening scene is great in terms of action, but I found it rather disappointing that for no apparent reason, baddies want to kill Bond. The book does it a lot better, and it wouldn't have been much more difficult to do what the book did, although that would not have provided the proper material to introduce the new Bond with the immortal, "This never happened to the other fellow." See, how it is told in the novel is he spies on Tracy as she tries to drown herself, and by this time Bond knows her. He is spied on by Draco's men who take him in, and the rest of the story is told in flashback, with a car chase leading up to the casino scene and rendezvous, without all this fighting mysterious bad guys in between. But I thought the opening sequence was quite good, even with the change-up. It's just, with what proof does Bond try to rescue Tracy? She could have been just going out for a swim. It makes much more sense when he has already met Tracy. Yet some of the additions to the movie are good, such as having Tracy with Blofeld when SPECTRE headquarters is attacked. It makes it that much more personal.
This is my first review on IMDB, and OHMSS gets a well-deserved 10 out of 10. Bond in kilts, hypnosis, world domination, and Blofeld's cat combine to make it a worthy experience. Lazenby was not the best Bond, but perhaps the only real Bond. OHMSS is easily the best Bond film, and dare I say, the ONLY Bond film.
- wontgetfooled622
This leads to an implausible and less motivated reason for Bond to seek out Draco’s assistance for an all out assault on Blofeld’s base – especially since the novel has M sanctioning the attack rather than having his hands tied.
This has the unfortunate effect of keeping Bond’s personal initiative lower in addition to unwisely omitting Tracy from the narrative for a significant amount of time.
A skiing scene. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Despite the overall polish to the novel’s film adaptation, there are a couple of missteps.
For instance, both the book and movie begin with Tracy’s beach suicide attempt; however, the book doesn’t present the event as randomly as the movie suggests. The novel spells out that not only has Bond met with Tracy but that they’ve already spent the night together (a scene that takes place later in the film). Guess the producers opted not to have the first woman George Lazenby slept with in the franchise attempt to kill herself afterword!
The novel’s approach to this opening is far superior.
Going by the movie, the scene plays out as not only coincidental but totally incomprehensible when you put all the pieces together.
Bond randomly follows a girl to a beach, stalks her with a rifle scope, somehow deduces that she is trying to commit suicide rather than a swim (which would have been supremely awkward if he was mistaken), rescues her, and then is attacked by her bodyguards (who really only had one job to do!)?
It could be implied that Bond had been tracking her due to her parental ties and possible Blofeld lead but the film later suggests otherwise.
While certainly not as egregious as Thunderball‘s pile of coincidences, this is certainly one of the weakest narrative points in the film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) in my opinion was the best film of the series. I felt that George Lazenby was unfairly slagged by the critics for his performance. He did the best that he could. His acting fit very well for his character.
The direction moved the film at an even pace. The action set pieces were impressive and Diana Rigg was hot. Telly Savalas was excellent as Blofield, he gave the character a suave touch. But you call tell that underneath his mack daddy act he was all business, and violent business indeed.
Everything about this movie had a cool aura to it. The stunt scenes were amazing (for it's era) and the cinematography was beautifully shot. I had one bone to pick with the film. The in jokes got a bit heavy handed. Other than that it's a fun film. Too bad George Lazenby was demoted to B-Movie hell after this flick (at least he got a three picture deal with Golden Harvest where he made three classic action films).
I have to give this movie a high recommendation. If you love the James Bond series you'll enjoy this one.
- Captain_Couth
Outside of a few flaws here and there, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is very much one of the best in the series. Lazenby isn’t as bad as has been often ascribed and while it would have been interesting to see his continuation in further films had he not backed out, it is doubtful if the series as a whole would have continued as successfully as it did without him.
Though it’s a great shame that Connery didn’t get the opportunity to play Bond in this film, which saw a return to form to the more cloak and dagger thriller efforts of the earliest entries in the series, considering his fatigued performances in You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever this may have turned out for the best.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is directed by Peter Hunt and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum from the novel written by Ian Fleming. It stars George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Ilse Steppat, Yuri Borienko and Gabriele Ferzetti. Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Michael Reed.
Bond 6 and 007 is obsessed with locating SPECTRE supremo Ernst Stavro Blofeld. After rescuing beautiful Countess Tracy di Vincenzo from suicide, this brings Bond into contact with her father, Marc Ange Draco, who agrees to help Bond find Blofeld in exchange for 007 courting Tracy. Blofeld is located in the Switzerland Alps at Piz Gloria, where he is masterminding a fiendish plot involving biological extinction of food group species'. Bond will need to use all his wits to stop the plan from being executed, he also has big matters of the heart to contend to as well...
Connery gone, but not for good as it turned out, so into the tuxedo came George Lazenby, an Australian model with no previous acting experience of note. It would be Lazenby's only stint as 007, badly advised by those around him that Bond had no future in the upcoming 70s, his head swelling with ego by the day (something he readily admits and regrets), Lazenby announced he would only be doing the one James Bond film. The legacy of OHMSS is the most interesting in the whole Bond franchise, for where once it was reviled and wrongly accused of being a flop, it now, over 40 years later, is regarded as being one of the finest entries in the whole series. Yes it is still divisive, I have seen some fearful arguments about its worth, but generations of critics and film makers have come along to laud it as essential Bond and essential Fleming's Bond at that.
Everything about OHMSS is different to what Connery's Bond had become, the gadgets are gone and heaven forbid, Bond got a heart and fell in love. He was a man, with real aggression, real emotions and forced to use brain and brawn instead of mechanical trickery. Changes in the production department, too, wasn't just about Lazenby's appearance. Peter Hunt, previously the Bond film's editor, directed his one and only Bond film, and Michael Reed on cinematography also appears for the one and only time. New Bond, new era, but reviews were mixed and in spite of making a profit of over $73 million Worldwide, this was considerably down on previous films. The reviews didn't help, with much scorn poured on Lazenby for not being Connery, but really it's hard to imagine anyone coming in and not getting beat with that particular stick! Box office take wasn't helped by the film's length, at over 2 hours 10 minutes, this restricted the number of showings in theatres, something that should be greatly noted.
Away from Bond anyway, OHMSS is a stunning action thriller in its own right. From the opening beach side fist fight, where uppercuts lift men off their feet and drop kicks propel them backwards, to helicopter attacks, bobsleigh pursuits (resplendent with punches and flinging bodies), ski chases and a car chase in the middle of a stock car race: on ice! There's enough pulse pumping action here to fill out two Bond movies. But the Bond aspects are magnificent as well. Lazenby has wonderful physicality and throws a mean punch, he cuts a fine figure of a man and he's acting inexperience isn't a problem in the hands of the astute Hunt. Lazenby is matched by Rigg as Tracy, the best Bond girl of them all, she's no bimbo, she's tough (fighting off a guy with a broken bottle), smart yet vulnerable, funny and heart achingly beautiful, her interplay with Lazenby is brilliantly executed, so much so that when the devastating finale arrives it has extra poignancy. A scene that closes the film on a downbeat note and remains the most emotional scene ever put into a Bond movie.
Savalas finally gives us a villain who can compete with Bond on a physical level, making the fight between them an evenly matched and believable one. He lacks Pleasance's sinister fizzog, though the bald pate and Grecian looks marks Savalas out as an imposing foe as well. The Swiss Alps setting is gorgeous, with Reed capturing the scope magnificently, while some of his colour lensing in the interiors soothe the eyes considerably. Barry's score is one of his best, lush romantic strains accompany Tracy and James, operatic overtures dart in and out of the Swiss scenery and the James Bond theme is deftly woven into the action sequences. Louis Armstrong's beautiful "We Have All The Time In The World" features prominently, perfectly romantic and forever to be thought of as part of the Bond Universe. Finally it's the great writing that gives us the best sequence involving the trifecta of Bond, Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) and M (Bernard Lee). 5 minutes of class that gives Moneypenny an acknowledged importance in the relationship between the two men in her life. It's just one of a number of truly excellent scenes in the greatest Bond film of them all. 10/10
- hitchcockthelegend
With the best Blofeld, one of the strongest Bond girls, a great script, edge-of-your seat action and suspense, and possibly the best musical score in the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a winner providing a natural sense of pathos that the succeeding 007 films have rarely been able to reproduce.
Musings…
Did you know that this is the only fully Christmas-themed Bond film,
complete with an original holiday song “Do You Know How Christmas Trees
Are Grown?” (a song that makes Disney‘s “It’s a Small World” seem macho by comparison)? Heck, if Die Hard can be considered a Christmas movie, why not a Bond film?
Who knew that one of the grittiest Bond films of all time had a scene of super-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld decorating a Christmas tree?
One odd note: as Tracy is revealing to her father that she is genuinely falling love with Bond, the scene keeps cutting to 007 ogling a playmate centerfold (a centerfold that he actually rips out and keeps!).
True love indeed!
While the shocking ending has been revered as one of the series’ most dramatic moments, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service provides another contender just minutes before.
Since Dr. No, the Bond films had established a hat-tossing trick that would introduce the flirty repertoire between 007 and Moneypenny.
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a sadly under-appreciated Bond film which is stylishly-directed and features an outstanding score, like most of these early Bond films. Other than a silly self-referential line in the teaser and some sappy romantic montages, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a thrilling adventure which sees Bond traveling to the Swiss Alps to encounter villains and partake in dangerous action sequences.
It sounds like a Bond film, alright, but this is actually quite different from the formulaic films one would later expect from the series, and the sort of film Bond was gravitating towards with "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice". It certainly delivers on the promise of sexual innuendo and lots of provocatively dressed women, but it's a different sort of Bond in that it seems to be more straight-faced and harsh, culminating in what is probably the saddest Bond ending. It's also probably the closest to Fleming's version of Bond outside of "Casino Royale", although "The Living Daylights" was also somewhat similar to the literary Bond. As a Fleming fan it is nice to see the Bond series take after the books.
Lazenby, who has been frequently criticized and is many people's least favorite Bond, actually does a decent job of the role. He's nowhere near as good as Connery, of course, but I thought that other than the scenes where he tried to seriously emote, he carried the film with his charisma and physical presence. I strongly believe he should have continued in the role. Lazenby fits the content of the film, which is certainly far more down to Earth than many other Bond films, and focuses heavily on hand-to-hand combat in the action scenes, which is somewhat refreshing after the overblown (entertaining, but seriously outrageous) action scenes in "You Only Live Twice". This is a genuinely good script, with a solid plot, good dialogue, and good characterization.
It's not just a throwaway action flick, it's an excellent espionage thriller with a strong dramatic core, and as fun as things like "Goldfinger" certainly are, it's nice to see one of these movies treat women as more than mere sex objects, and it's interesting to see a Bond girl paired with a Bond who reacts as a human would and not a cartoon character. Diana Rigg is probably my favorite Bond girl. She gives a strong performance and is helped by an excellent script which gives her a fair amount to do.
By staying closer to the source material, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" dramatically improves on its two predecessors and features some of the best locations in the series, although I admit my familiarity with the majority of the Swiss shooting locations gives me a nostalgic view of things. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a strong contender for the title of best Bond film.
- ametaphysicalshark
As the wedded Bond and Tracy approach his Aston Martin DBS, he turns towards a teary-eyed Moneypenny and affectionately tosses her his hat.
It’s a quiet, beautiful moment between the two characters.
Perhaps a case of eerie foreshadowing, Lazenby’s gun-barrel sequence is the only one in the series where the dripping blood completely washes away Bond from the screen!
Conclusion
This is great escapist fun. It’s perfect for boys and men of all ages, and women like it too.
If you are bored, and want to kill some time, this movie will put you into a world and environment that is both exciting and refreshing. It’s a great romp into another universe.
I do hope that you enjoyed his article. I have others in my Movie Index here…
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How can movies stand the test of time? I really don’t know. But in my mind, this 007 James Bond flick seems to get better with age. There are so many things that I love about this movie. It’s just stunning.
This movie fits the public narrative perfectly. Men watch the movie as escapist entertainment where they can envision themselves in the same role. Shooting bad guys, seducing women, and looking good while going on exciting adventures all over the world, and riding in nice sports cars.
And, it’s true, too. Women feel the same way in the roles that portray the women as well.
Thunderball - this film's undersea battle is still rated among the top ones of all time - but I liked the "moments"- remembering how everyone on campus had a mink glove or access to one, after this film - fun memory.
And how many of the "gimmicks" were brand new at the time - the amazing jet pack flying suit is still a topic of conversation and excitement for those who now chase the hoverboard; and then neat "discipline" gimmick for the embezzling Spectre agent #9
- and Domino's brother's lookalike surgery, and the bombs and their robbery, and the famous " Do you mind if my partner rests here for a moment
- she'd "Just DEAD" when the villainess is shot by her own men aiming for Bond
- and then Domino's " I killed him - I'm glad I killed him" line when she gets Largo .
A perfectly perfect take from " you killed him - I'm glad you killed him" quoted from Melanie in Gone with the Wind , to Scarlett, when she shoots the home invading soldier as he tries to harm her - "right between the eyes" as her paw would have taught her.
- Elle Shopper Lady
The pre-title credits sequence was set in Paris, France at the funeral of JB (SPECTRE operative No. 6, French Colonel Jacques Bouvar (or Boitier)), who had murdered two agents, Bond’s colleagues.
Bouvar had faked his own death (reportedly passing away in his sleep) and dressed up as his own widow (Rose Alba/Bob Simmons).
After the funeral and aware of the ruse/disguise, James Bond (Sean Connery) hurriedly followed her/him to his French chateau, where he fought and then strangled and broke Bouvar’s neck with a fire-poker (# 1 death, #1 Bond kill).
From the roof, Bond escaped by using his jet-pack rocket belt to fly him to his parked Aston Martin DB5 vehicle nearby, accompanied by French agent Madame La Porte (uncredited Mitsouko). He avoided pursuit by activating his car’s rear armored shield and rear-firing water sprayers.
Thunderball has something for everyone. What woman would not be able to see themselves in this role? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
The high-ranking SPECTRE No. 2 villain, white-haired, black eye-patch-wearing Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), was introduced in Paris, entering the building of the philanthropic International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons.
In a large, secret inner chamber, he met for a debriefing with unseen, ruthless Persian cat-petting SPECTRE No. 1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld (uncredited Anthony Dawson) and other SPECTRE agents – “a dedicated fraternity” of international terrorists.
While I liked "Goldfinger" a little better, "Thunderball" is certainly a solid, entertaining and worthy part of the James Bond franchise. This is especially impressive considering this movie was made over 50 years ago. In "Thunderball", it feels as though the elements of what makes a Bond film a Bond film begin to emerge. While some things strain credulity (by this film, the paradox of James Bond's renown as a secret agent is becoming apparent), "Thunderball" does a nice job of capturing the style of James Bond without completely abandoning a sense of realism. And of course, the Bond women (eg, Domino), exotic locations and cool cars don't hurt when it comes to coaxing an audience into willfully suspending disbelief.
- Norman Oro UCLA 93
One of the agents, suspected of embezzlement, was promptly eliminated by electrocution in his chair (# 2 death) and disposed of into a hole in the floor beneath him.
No. 2, in charge of SPECTRE’s “most ambitious” NATO project, reported that his blackmail plan was a ransom demanded from NATO of $280 million/£100 million pounds – his assistant Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) was in the South of England making preparations, at a health clinic named Shrublands, near the NATO air base.
Getting your top secret orders. Yikes! Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond was also at the Shrublands for a rest-cure, receiving a massage from pretty blonde physiotherapist Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters), where he met Lippe and noticed a small, suspicious red tattoo on his left arm (a possible Tong sign – the Red Dragon from Macao).
Bond snuck into Lippe’s room where he found nothing, but was spotted by face-bandaged neighbor Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino), reportedly recuperating from a car crash.
During another appointment with Patricia, Bond forced an unappreciated kiss on her.
The title says it all! I've been a James Bond fan for many years, mostly for the Roger Moore films but I do like the Sean Connery films, as well and "THUNDERBALL" is one of them. I love the film for the beautiful scenery since a lot of the movie is filmed in the Bahamas. I also love the beautiful actresses that play in the film, especially Claudine Auger, who plays Domino, the main Bond girl. Boy, is she beautiful, especially when she's in a bikini, underwater, snorkeling or scuba diving.
Those scenes made me resume swimming, completely submerged underwater, now with a mask & snorkel. I also like the wonderful acting job of Sean Connery in his 4th film as James Bond as well as the supporting cast. Also, praise goes to the crew on the fantastic job they did in making this film, especially Terence Young in his 3rd & final time directing. Lastly, I love the fantastic underwater battles. To sum it up, this is a terrific movie & I recommend it to every James Bond fan out there because, believe me, you'll enjoy it!
- Rob Holly
She strapped him to a motorized traction table (“the rack”) to stretch his spine (she joked: “First time I’ve felt really safe all day”).
After she left, Count Lippe entered and turned the controls to the red danger zone to kill him.
Patricia saved Bond after he passed out. She asked for him to keep silent about the incident – his price for cooperation was her seduction in the Turkish steam bath room (# 1 tryst).
To retaliate, Bond sabotaged Lippe’s steam-bath cabinet and trapped him inside. In his room, Bond rubbed a soft black mink glove over the naked back of now sexually-liberated Patricia (# 2 tryst).
In this movie we have all the elements of adventure. Weapons, romance, unique and unusual places, and a scheming evil genus. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Meanwhile, NATO’s French pilot Major Francois Derval (Paul Stassino) was being seduced by voluptuous, red-haired ‘black widow’ mistress – a SPECTRE agent named Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi).
When he was leaving for the airbase, a look-alike Major Derval was outside his door, and sprayed him with lethal gamma gas (# 3 death).
The look-alike was SPECTRE agent Angelo, who had undergone plastic surgeries over two years to face-replicate and impersonate Derval.
He had also studied films, reports, and taken voice lessons.
He greedily demanded (or extorted) $250,000 rather than $100,000 to complete the task.
He appropriated Derval’s watch, ID disk, and bag, and departed for a training sortie at the NATO air base.
This is my favorite Sean Connery Bond film. Thunderball is loaded with style, slick action, great stunts, beautiful scenery, beautiful women, and Sean Connery.
This film continued the practice of great opening action sequence, a 'larger-than-life' villain in Largo/ AKA No. 2 (Adolfo Celi), a collection of vicious henchmen and woman - Count Lippe, Fiona, Vargas and Janni (played by Guy Doleman, Luciana Paluzzi, Philip Locke and Michael Brennan), an elaborate plot and a beautiful leading lady (Claudine Auger who plays Domino) Bob Simmons, the main Bond stuntman opens the film as the villainous aCol.
Jacques Bouvar AKA SPECTRE No. 6 who is dispatched by Bond.
The scape by jetpack sets the stage for the great action film that follows. Largo and SPECTRE have downed a UN Vulcan fighter and stolen two nuclear warheads and hidden them in the Caribbean.
Bond must intervene before the UN pays a ransom to SPECTRE. Along the way, Bond romances, fights on land and underwater, and finally squares off on a hydrofoil.
The one change here is that the villain is not killed by Bond - someone else (Domino)does that that favor.
The cast of British actors (Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell) return as the MI-6 crew with Rik Van Nutter playing Felix Leiter in this film.
The hi-lights of this film include the incredible underwater photography and action sequences, the villainous and voluptuous Fiona, the Vulcan crash and cover-up, and the incredible fight on the hydro-foil, the Disco Volante.
There are two quintessential Bond scenes: SPECTRE's HQ and MI-6' briefing room which are a treat for all Bond fans.
This loud, action-filled and very entertaining Bond film raised the level that future Bond films would have to meet. This one is great!
- Jaime Contreras
“Derval” commanded a routine NATO flight of a Vulcan jet bomber at 45,000 feet, armed with two atomic bombs (MOS type).
As the noisy plane took off, Bond was still seducing Patricia with the mink glove, although they were interrupted when Bond left to snoop on Count Lippe – who was supervising the return of Derval’s corpse (face-bandaged to look like Angelo) in an ambulance back to Shrublands (it was later claimed that “Angelo” died of a heart-attack).
Bond unwrapped the corpse’s facial bandages, and then avoided a second attempt on his life by one of Lippe’s henchmen.
James Bond interacting with the office staff. He always has such a way with the girls. You can tell, eh? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
During the NATO flight, “Derval” took the co-pilot’s seat, gassed five other crew members with the lethal gamma gas canister (while wearing a separate oxygen supply/mask) (# 4-8 deaths), and deliberately crash-landed the plane near the Bahamas in the Caribbean.
Nearby, on his luxury hydrofoil yacht the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer), Emilio Largo ordered underwater lights switched on to guide the plane to its proper landing strip location, where it gently sank to the bottom.
Wearing scuba gear, Largo swam to the submerged plane, and cut “Derval’s” air-supply hose to drown him (# 9 death) (punishing him for his extortion demand), when he was trapped in his seat-belt.
From an underwater hatch, three of Largo’s henchmen took a submersible craft to the NATO jet to unload and transport the two massive thermonuclear weapons back to the yacht, and then covered the jet with a camouflage net to hide it.
We just recently decided to delve into the Sean Connery James Bond films.
We went into Thunderball appreciating that it was a landmark film in terms of cinematography for the time; it's the only film I've seen that outdoes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in terms of underwater choreography.
We also knew that Thunderball wasn't on any top ten Bond films lists so we didn't expect too much from it, aside from entertainment.
It certainly delivered in that department and we were swept away in an undersea adventure that was tastefully and masterfully executed.
I particularly enjoyed that Domino had a bit more complexity than the standard Bond girl.
It's not one of the best of the Connery era but it's certainly a great entry and far, far better than the campy nightmares that the Roger Moore films became.
Even though many people site Goldfinger as the best Bond film of all time, I actually enjoyed this one a bit more.
- ashbwell
As the yacht returned to its base in the Bahamas, SPECTRE No. 1 ordered the execution of Count Lippe.
Bond was summoned away (to London), and bid goodbye to Patricia, promising to reunite with her “another time, another place.”
As he drove off, he was followed by Lippe – SPECTRE assassin Fiona also rode behind them on a rocket-firing BSA Lightning motorcycle. She fired two deadly missiles at Lippe’s car, which exploded and crashed, killing him (# 10 death), and then submerged her bike in a nearby lake.
James Bond negotiating with a pretty evil chick who does not have his best interests at heart. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
In the British Secret Service conference room in an important briefing held by “M” (Bernard Lee), with nine 00- agents in attendance (including Bond), the group was told about recent troubling developments regarding SPECTRE’s possession of two NATO bombs.
A ransom of £100 million pounds sterling was demanded of the British government within seven days – otherwise, SPECTRE threatened to destroy an unspecified major city in either England or the United States (later revealed to be Miami).
To signal their cooperation with the ransom, the Big Ben clock was to strike 7 times at 6 pm the following day.
The problem was that there was no indication about where the Vulcan jet had crashed or landed.
There is only one 007, and that is the Scottish actor, Sean Connery. Seeing this one again over the summer was wild and wooly. Yes, they made movies a bit differently in the early 60's, but that's ok. With 'Thunderball' you get what you paid for.
Relentless action, supercool locations(Bermuda/Virgin Islands) and ultra sexy 'Bond Girls'. Alot of the action scenes toward the end are all underwater. Connery has fun with this installment, as the series was still new at the time. Who can forget the 'shark scene'? This is first class entertainment, and far from 'politically correct.'
Everyone who is cool in the film smokes and drinks, as well.
Connery appeared in a total of 7 Bond movies. This one was so good, they re-made it in 1983 and called it "Never Say Never Again"! True Bond fans will rank this one high on their list. So sit back, crack open a cold one and watch the remastered version on your flatscreen. You will not be disapointed!
- metalhead Ted
The mission, code-named “Thunderball,” was to work with NATO, the CIA, and all allied intelligence units.
In the briefing packet was a picture of Derval with his sister Dominique in Nassau, Bahamas. Bond was specifically assigned to Station C (Canada), although he requested that his assignment be changed to Nassau.
Bond claimed that he saw the dead pilot Derval at Shrublands (although the situation was confused because Derval was also seen boarding the Vulcan), and he wanted to interrogate Derval’s sister Dominique, presently in Nassau.
With only four days to complete his mission, Bond quickly flew there.
Everyone has to report and defend their actions to the higher ups. James Bond is no exception. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
While free-diving near Dominique “Domino” Derval (former Miss France Claudine Auger), Bond saved her from drowning when her flipper was caught in coral.
Bond and his own local dive assistant, bikinied native Bahamian Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), faked a conked-out motor and Bond asked Domino for a lift to Coral Harbor, where he invited her for lunch by the pool.
The film is different from the recent Bond films, but they are from a different era and cannot be compared. Sean Connery is absolutely charming and charismatic. Daniel Craig is equally perfect for the modern 007 roles.
I love 60's cinema, the 70's less so, and the 80's just kinda stunk. It's film's like this that make me love the 60's. There are certain special effects that are available for modern film that weren't around then. There is a scene where Bond is escaping with a rocket backpack and you can actually see the supporting cables. This does not take away from the movie.
I won't give away any plot points, but Sean Connery is what really makes this movie special. I admit to Daniel Craig being my favorite 007 agent, but Connery comes in as a close second. If you can tear yourself away from modern effects and try to appreciate this film (and the others) for what they are, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
- J.AllenTop Contributor: Poker
He learned that she was the bored, love-starved mistress/kept woman (“niece”) of a possessive “guardian” (Emilio Largo) who owned a yacht and an opulent estate on the island.
He knew her nickname was “Domino” – observed on a bracelet on her ankle.
At a party that evening in a casino, attended by Bond, Domino, and Largo, Bond challenged the villain to a game of cards (with raised stakes to 500 pounds) and won, then briefly shared a drink and dance with Domino, before Largo interrupted and invited Bond to dinner at Sunday noon at his private beachside villa-estate in Palmyra.
James Bond always has so much fun, now don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
The next day, Bond was returning to his hotel room (#304), but avoided directly entering, and came through Paula’s adjoining room (#306) instead.
He listened to a tape recording, hidden in a hollowed-out Nassau Directory.
It had recorded someone’s entry into his room.
With a silencer in his hand, he answered a knock on the door from CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter), punched him in the stomach to quiet him before he said 007, and also roughly dealt with Largo’s henchman Quist (Bill Cummings) – scalding him in his bathroom shower before sending the disarmed assassin back to his superior.
I fondly remember this movie when seeing all the James Bond -Sean Connery movies for free with my brothers up in the above theater balcony with special seating as my father held a second job during that decade (1960's and early parts of the 70's) as the Motion Picture Machine Operator.I was pretty young though at the time (just 7 years of age).Dad was also a Commander too in the long past before I was born just like James Bond.
I especially liked the C.I.A. Fulton equipped B-17 Flying Fortress 44-85531 in the movie and pointed that out to father after watching it on cable television with him a few years before he passed away in 2004 as he was an Aircraft Commander/Pilot of the B-17's during World War II.Sean Connery as James Bond was a character that my father and I too adored.
To me Sean Connery is James Bond and no other actor replaces him as that for me.
Seeing this again brings me back to happier times.
The DVD was shipped quickly and it plays well.
- x9078ljk4+
At Palmyra, a disgusted Largo ordered Quist – after his failed mission – to be thrown into a swimming pool containing sharks (# 11 death).
Bond met with local MI6 ally-contact Pinder (Earl Cameron) and was taken to a base of operations behind a marketplace, where “Q” (Desmond Llewelyn) provided him with the latest multi-purpose gadgets, many for underwater use.
In approximately 55 hours, the British government was planning to drop the “blood money” ransom (off the coast of Burma) in the form of blue-white diamonds worth £100 million pounds.
This is an old movie and the technologies are dated. However that in no way detracts from the movies. Instead, it only adds to it’s charms. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
At night, Bond donned scuba gear and swam under Largo’s yacht — where one of Largo’s sentry-frogmen discovered him and fired a spear-gun.
Largo watched Bond struggle underwater, after turning on lights and activating closed-circuit video cameras, and saw that Bond cut the man’s air-hose.
Largo ordered hand-grenades dropped on him as Bond was taking photos of the hull of the boat (with his infra-red camera).
Bond was stunned, but escaped unharmed, and evaded a search-boat – letting them think he had been killed by its propeller.
After he came ashore, he hitchhiked and was picked up by Fiona Volpe (wearing a ring with an Octopus symbol, similar to the one worn by Largo) in a light blue Mustang and speedily driven at 100 mph back to his Nassau hotel.
The photos were developed at Pinder’s base, revealing an underwater hatch beneath Largo’s yacht.
Bond guessed that Largo’s entire operation was concealed underwater, and that the Vulcan plane was submerged.
Another excellent James Bond film looking at men of international crime. A very realistic villain emerges here in this fourth James Bond film.
Bond's crime nemesis Emilio Largo has a seaside home in Nassau out of which he runs a nuclear weapons theft operation. His small crew are able to conceal the warheads easily, and almost escaped detection if it weren't for Bond's excellent tracking instinct and bravery.
True to the 007 film franchise formula, this movie has all the gizmos and equipment that 1950's and 60's Westerners were convinced would be in high demand such as hydrofoils and jetpacks and that sort of thing. Unfortunately the jetpack has fallen into disfavor as a mainstream idea. Though a lot of the tech in Thunderball has fallen into disfavor, still it was very cool nonetheless to journey back through the era before I was born and see how people embraced the future.
In summary, this 007 movie follows on the heels of other excellent ones that set the bar very high. Also, the underwater photography and ensuing action sequences are really excellent, which adds immensely to the enjoyment of the move.
I would consider watching this again after a short time just for the shocking diving action sequences the end of the film alone. However, there are other aspects of this movie that kept my attention as well, such as the feeling that Ian Fleming's work inspires us not to underestimate the deviousness and creativity of criminal minds.
Though we sent a man to the moon, and are optimists by nature, the plot stays grounded in the reality that Bond almost doesn't prevail at several junctures against a nuclear madman.
To Fleming, Broccoli, and Saltzman's credit, they seem to convey an important subtlety well: though the MI6 team thought failure was unimaginable, it also doesn't mean mission accomplishment was guaranteed, or failure is impossible.
- Aye Aye Captain!
The next day (Sunday), a search by helicopter for the missing plane near Nassau was unfruitful.
While shooting skeets at Largo’s oceanside villa of Palmyra, Fiona vowed to assassinate Bond when the time was right: “I shall kill him.”
Later that day as a guest at Largo’s villa for lunch, Bond was shown around and also shot skeets.
Largo bragged about his pool with Golden Grotto sharks (“the most savage, the most dangerous”). Because he was busy, Largo also invited Domino to accompany Bond to the Junkanoo, the “local Mardi Gras” that evening, to keep him occupied.
A sex scene done properly. You do not need to show pornographic activities to titillate. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Meanwhile, in her hotel room waiting for Bond, Paula was chloroformed and abducted by Largo’s goons (and Fiona).
The assassinatrix noticed Bond’s photos of the yacht’s hull. During the Junkanoo celebration that night, after learning that Paula had disappeared, Bond snuck away (Leiter kept Domino occupied) and infiltrated Palmyra, at the same time that Pinder had requested a power blackout to cut the electricity.
He located Paula being questioned by Largo’s silent, sadistic black-dressed henchman Vargas (Philip Locke) in an underground room.
Thunderball is one of the best of the James Bond movies. Although it was filmed in the 1965, the technology and action scenes still look good 50 years later (I bought the DVD in 2017). In this film James Bond is played by Sean Connery, who I think did the best portrayal of Bond. The plot revolves around the stealing of nuclear bombs by Spectre, the nefarious group that opposes Bond in several other of the films.
The underwater fight sequences are spectacular – even recent films have trouble topping them.
The Bond girl in this movie is played by actress Claudine Auger; excellent casting. A classic Bond film throughout; much better than many of the other Bond films. I think Thunderball and Goldfinger are among the best two Bond films made.
- Lee Gimenez
When Bond attempted to rescue her, he was too late – she had already heroically committed suicide by self-administering a cyanide capsule (# 12 death).
As Bond fled, he shot one of Largo’s men (# 13 death, # 2 Bond kill) to get the group to shoot at each other, and engaged in a fist-fight with one of the men.
The two fell into a second swimming pool (Largo deployed the metal pool cover, and then opened a tunnel hatch to the other shark pool).
Bond stabbed his opponent in the gut (his bloody wound soon attracted the hungry sharks and he was consumed) (# 14 death), and then swam through the tunnel to narrowly escape.
I can see me doing this. Can’t you? (Actually, I’ve done it many times, don’t ya know.) Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
After contacting Pinder and being driven back to his hotel, Bond found Fiona naked in the bathtub of Paula’s vacated room.
After making love with the “wild” woman (“You should be locked up in a cage”) (# 3 tryst), the two dressed up and planned to return to the all-night Junkanoo celebration.
However, Fiona (revealing her true identity as Largo’s assassin) betrayed Bond and held a gun on him, to escort him to Largo’s presence with support from other thugs.
After the first three attempts, they finally got all the right ingredients to making a great bond film.
A Nato Vulcan bomber carrying two atomic bombs has crashed in the caribbean, SPECTRE has informed the British Government that they hijacked the plane's cargo, unless a ransom of 100 million is paid in seven days a major city in england or the U.S will be destroyed.
So MI6 calls in all it's agents, but only one will have the lead. 007, and awaiting Bond in the Bahamas is Fiona Volpe.
A SPECTRE executioner, she's the one who orchestrated the Vulcan hijack, as a matter of fact, as she and Bond are dancing in a street cafe.
One of her men is about to shoot Bond, but he swings her around, and Volpe gets shot in the back instead of Bond, a very deadly and sexy assassin.
Paula Caplain, she is another MI6 agent. But sadly Fiona Caplain and Largo's men kidnapped her from her hotel room, and Bond was too late to rescue her. Emilio Largo, SPECTRE number 2.
Owner of a luxurious yacht, a niiiiice house. And owner of the two missing bombs, and last but certainly not least is Domino Derval. The sister of NATO pilot Major Derval, she is also Largo's girfriend.
But grows tired of his overbearing ways, and soon becomes attracted to Bond. As a matter of fact, she ends up being the one who kills Largo.
This movie has it all, the pre-title sequence. Where bond kills another SPECTRE agent, at a funeral, then gets away via a jetpack. Bond also has his way with the ladies, but is also decisive when need be, a cold blooded killer.
This movie doesn't focus on gadgets, but it does use them. Me personally, i think this is arguably the better of the early Bond films.
- Ben Milton
But Bond escaped from their car when they were held up in festival traffic, although wounded in the lower right leg as he ran into the crowd.
He was chased through a carnival parade by five henchmen, and Fiona caught up with him at the open-air Kiss Kiss Club where patrons were being entertained by a female fire-dancer, and a bongo-band played.
As Fiona danced with Bond and asked him to surrender, while steering him closer to an assassin, she was shot in the back and killed by her own bodyguard (with a bullet meant for him) (# 15 death).
The Bad guy with the pretty seductress. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
With only about 15 hours until the drop of the ransom, Bond took another helicopter search with Felix Leiter for the submerged plane, spotting something at a shark-infested location called the Golden Grotto.
One shark was shot to distract the other sharks, as Bond dove down with one scuba tank to investigate.
Inside the downed plane, he found the bodies of the dead crew members, including “Derval” (Angelo, the counterfeit NATO pilot).
Bond engaged in a second dive with Domino, an opportunity to become more intimate with her underwater (# 4 tryst) although discreetly hidden when they ducked behind some coral and bubbles exploded to the surface.
Later he commented: “I hope we didn’t frighten the fish” before kissing her.
She stepped on poisonous sea egg spines as they came ashore, and after treating her, he delivered the news of her dead brother Francois, and offered his dog-tag and watch: “It’s a long story and it involves your friend, Largo…Largo had your brother murdered, or it was on his orders.”
Of the first four Bond films this one is a powerhouse from the get-go. Even the pre-credit section gets you going with the music, the art, the visuals. Thunderball really put it all together for this franchise. It was, and still is, literally a thunderball of a production. Everyone is included in this and everyone shows up and delivers. There is a real serial moving story here from beginning to middle to end. From the Bell Rocket Belt, to more of the Aston Martin, to the gadgets and sheer style. Who can forget "Huit pour la banque. Pass the shoe." Bond has been his best in the casinos. It is a real education.
This franchise has always been big on Fords, too, and used the hot car(s) of the time such as the Mustang. Part of the "special relationship" we have had with our British cousins.
I did not see any AMPAS marks on the jewel box, but there is no way this should not have won an OSCAR in some category -- especially a whiz-bang technical category.
This surpasses the third very impressive installment, "Goldfinger," and is probably one of the best ever of the Bond Franchise.
- lidz
As Bond asked for her help and trust, he explained how hundreds of thousands of people might die.
He admitted he didn’t know when the bombs would be loaded on the Disco Volante, and wanted her to detect them with his geiger counter gadget.
Bond turned and shot Vargas (pointing a gun-silencer his direction) in the stomach with a harpoon gun, impaling him to a palm tree (# 16 death, # 3 Bond kill) (“I think he got the point”).
You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
As she was leaving, Domino told Bond about a canal, a bridge, and a flight of steps that led into the ocean, on the far side of Palmyra – a perfect entry-point that Bond soon swam to.
He noticed SPECTRE diving gear stashed there, swallowed a homing device, and awaited darkness.
When Largo’s army of frogmen arrived, Bond knocked one of them out, stole his scuba gear, and swam with the group out to the yacht, where Largo ordered: “Once we pick up the merchandise, head for our target area, Miami.”
Their plan was to retrieve the bombs from a hidden undersea cave compartment with the submersible, and then threaten to detonate one of the bombs at a wreck near Miami.
During the retrieval process, Bond’s cover was blown (he was recognized by Largo), and he was forced to kill one frogman (# 17 death, # 4 Bond kill).
Trapped and stranded inside the underwater cave, Bond looked for an exit and emerged deep in an island cavern.
While many rank GOLDFINGER as the best Bond ever, THUNDERBALL has always been my favorite. To me it had all the Bond ingredients (gadgets, lots of sharks, the Aston Martin, scuba diving, gorgeous babes & plenty of action) as well as a cohesive plot. Spectre remains one of the most formidable villains in Bond history, even after all these years.
The underwater brawl between the Spectre divers and the Navy(?) divers remains a classic climactic scene in all of the Bond movies. I'm just guessing that they were Navy (SEALS?) as usually Army guys are not trained in scuba operations.
Connery's final Bond movie, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, was more-or-less a remake of THUNDERBALL. There were a few variations here & there, but the basic plotline & many of the elements remained the same. This goes to show just how enduring THUNDERBALL was to the Connery Bond movies.
-D. Roberts
Back onboard the yacht, Largo caught Domino using the geiger counter “toy” given to her by Bond and threatened: “There is no escape for you.”
He menaced her with torture unless she revealed the extent of Bond’s knowledge, but was called away to activate the bombs.
Onboard a Coast Guard search helicopter, Leiter used Bond’s homing device signal to locate him.
Bond also indicated his exact whereabouts with a red flare gun. A cable was lowered to him for rescue.
Bond warned that Largo’s target was Miami, and that one bomb was being transferred from the yacht to a wreck off Fowley Point.
Bond. James Bond. You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
With support from the CIA and the US Coast Guard aqua-divers in red (parachuting from planes into the waters around Miami), an intensely fierce underwater battle was fought near the wreck against Largo’s frogmen-henchmen (in black) (unknown number of deaths).
Bond joined the Coast Guard divers, wearing an underwater jet pack propulsion unit (with high-velocity exploding spear-heads) strapped to his oxygen tanks.
During the bloody struggle, he cut the air-hoses of a few frogmen and also speared one of them (# 18 death, # 5 Bond kill).
Yes, that's what Bond says to the just bedded villianess
once he's captured. You gotta admire the style of it.
Though a little slow at times expecially in the underwater
scenes this fourth Bond adventure is pushed forward
by the music, the cast, and great locations.
Bond gets off
lots of good lines and the girl is especially beautiful.
The villian, Largo,is one off the top five baddies in the
series.
The title sequence is one of the best with Tom Jones
Giving his all and falling unconscious in the
recording booth after holding the last note of the hit
title song. Way to go Tom!
- Paul Kyriazi
Bond then removed his tanks, used his re-breather device, and detonated an explosive canister to kill three more pursuing henchmen within the wreck (# 19-21 deaths, # 6-8 Bond kills), and then helped to turn the tide in the battle.
Blood in the water attracted sharks to the scene, as Largo’s men were routed and then surrendered.
When Largo swam away with two of his remaining men, Bond killed one of them with a harpoon-gun (# 22 death, # 9 Bond kill), and pursued an escaping Largo to his yacht.
Underwater, Bond held on as the Disco Volante weighed anchor (with one stolen disarmed atomic bomb still onboard), but was under attack by cannon-fire from the US Navy.
Largo created a smoke screen and jettisoned his yacht’s rear cocoon to increase the speed of the separate hydrofoil. The cocoon section of the yacht, with a machine gun and deck cannon, exploded and killed all onboard (many deaths, number unknown).
Bond being the quintessential man. Bond. James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
During a life-and-death hand-to-hand struggle between Bond, three crew-members, and Largo in the hydrofoil’s cabin, Bond threw one crew-member overboard, and knocked the other two unconscious.
He was saved from being shot by Largo, when Domino (who had changed allegiances), was freed in her cabin by Kutze (who had disarmed the bombs), appeared from below deck, and harpooned him in the back with a spear (# 23 death).
Can you imagine a film getting any better whether it is the women,the villains,the locations or even the plot this one has got it all.One might think it is outdated now but then look again this film is the stepping stone to any action movie that is to be made in the coming years.
Sean Connery stamps his signature yet again as James Bond 007 in the fourth installment of the Bond franchise.Director Terence Young makes it more tongue and cheek than any other Bond movie.There is no raw filth or even gore but the story is so perfect that it makes you forget about its tiny if at all faults.
There are some memorable moments in this film like the opening jet pack sequence,gunfight at Largo's house during a blackout and the final underwater battle.Simply breathtaking and proof of quality film making which today is seriously considered by Jerry Bruckhiemer/Joel Silver and Steven Speilberg.
Adding to the movie's good points is also John Barry's superb score which to this day haunts me as it is quite memorable.I also took a great liking to the leading ladies because they can not get any sexier to me.
The plot revolves around Blofeld's organization hijacking nuclear warheads and demanding a ransom.The beautiful location of the Bahamas a used extensively where Bond tries to unravel the doomsday plot.
- Anisha Dharmadasa
(Domino: “I’m glad I killed him.” Bond (relieved): “You’re glad?”).
With Largo death-locked to the jammed steering, they jumped overboard to escape from the yacht’s explosion when it ran aground and struck a reef (# 24-25 deaths, # 10-11 Bond kills).
Kutze was left at sea with a life preserver, while in a yellow raft, Bond inflated a red balloon tied to a rope that was snagged by a US Navy Boeing B-17 plane with a skyhook, and the two held onto each other during their rescue.
Rescuing the girl. All in a day’s work for James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)
The fourth film in the series. This was
director Terence Young’s third and final direction of a Bond film. (He
did not direct the third film, Goldfinger (1964).)
The code name for the MI6 mission, Thunderball, was also the film’s title.
This was originally intended to be the first Bond film but a series of legal disputes delayed its release.
This was the first James Bond film shot in wide-screen Panavision.
The film’s remake was Never Say Never Again (1983), one of the unofficial James Bond films. However, Sean Connery portrayed Bond in the film it was his seventh and final appearance on the screen as the character. He claimed it was his favorite 007 performance.
Lighting up a cigarette while the secret agent beside you has a gun trained on him. This is a scene you won’t see today. It’s usually the police pointing guns at you, and usually because you are smoking cigarettes. That devil stick!
This was the only Bond film in which all nine 00- agents appeared together in London, England, where M summoned them to a briefing about SPECTRE’s plot.
Molly Peters (as Patricia Fearing) was the
first Bond girl to appear nude (in silhouette) – in the steambath scene.
And Martine Beswick, as Paula Caplan was the first Bond girl to appear
in two Bond girls as different characters (she was fighting gypsy girl Zora in From Russia With Love (1963)).
With an Academy Award win, the second (and last win, to date) for Best Special Visual Effects.
With a production budget of $9 million, and gross revenue of $63.6 million (domestic) and $141 million (worldwide).
Thunderball had the highest domestic box-office earnings of the Bond films (to date) – when adjusted for inflation. Its domestic unadjusted gross of $63.6 million was $600 million when adjusted. Goldfinger (1964) was a distant second with $51 million (and $531.7 million adjusted).
I wanted to watch the original early films of Bond, beginning with Dr. No. It's great to see Sean Connery evolve from film to film to become, I feel, the best Bond there ever was.
I'm progressing in order from Dr. No, to From Russia with love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You only live twice, Diamonds are forever, and the later semi-Bond "Never say Never again".
I know many fans of Bond dislike the last film Connery did, but perhaps they were expecting too much from a then, pretty weathered, franchise.
I still have to watch the final two Connery films and am not expecting too much from "Diamonds" and even less from "Never".
But that doesn't take away from the talent and artistry of Sean Connery and I'm more into those last films to simply watch how he slowly bows out of the James Bond role forever.
It's sad film history to watch sometimes, but I'd rather watch these first Bond films again and again than to tolerate the works of Roger Moore and the others.
Daniel Craig is a fresh approach to the role, but he lacks the warmth and humor that Connery brought to the role.
I'd love to see one final film where Sean Connery has taken over the position of "M" and guides newer agents along, making them the best they could be. Sort of like an episode of "NCIS", I know, but it would be entertaining to see, none-the-less.
- Richard Behmer
What’s a James Bond movie without action and excitement? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond Villains:
Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)
Count Lippe (Guy Doleman)
Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino)
Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi)
Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda)
Quist (Bill Cummings)
Vargas (Philip Locke)
Bond Girls:
Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters)
Dominique (“Domino”)
Derval (Claudine Auger)
Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick)
Thunderball is one of the better James Bond movies in the set of Bond. I have heard the rumours about the underwater fight scene being edited but in my personal viewpoint still an amazing fight scene and very well filmed for the movie.
The movie plotline was actual very believeable about stealing a weapon and holding it for a money trade off in exchange for where the weapon is located.
I also would like to add that I thought Sean Connery was in one of his best phsyical shapes as James Bond base on the fight scenes and action stunts unless they used a stunt man.
I thought every actor did a great job with what they had to work with and the added benifit of the dance scene and all that music going on very impressive turn out.
I look forward to many more James Bond movies and writing up much more reviews of them to come as I watch them. So watch this one with an open mind and make up your own mind weither you enjoy it as much as me or not.
- Jack D. Lowry Top Contributor: James Bond
After killing the bad guys, it’s time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Number of Love-Making Encounters:
There were four love-making encounters.
Film Locales:
Paris, France
Shrublands Health Farm/Clinic
(and the) nearby NATO airbase in south of England
London, England
Nassau
The Bahamas and other surrounding islands
Miami, Florida
The bad guy with the beautiful chick. A James Bond standard. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Gadgets:
A Bell Textron jet pack rocket belt.
Devices in Bond’s Aston Martin.
Angelo’s/”Derval’s” separate oxygen supply and gamma gas canister.
Largo’s Disco Volante (with an underwater hatch, hidden video cameras) and his yellow submersible submarine.
A modified waterproof (underwater) Rolex watch with geiger counter.
An underwater infra-red camera for nighttime photos.
A miniature pistol that fired distress signal flares (bright red).
A miniature (pocket-sized) underwater re-breather device good for four minutes.
A harmless radio-active homing device in the shape of a pill.
An underwater jet pack propulsion unit with exploding, high-velocity spearheads.
A sky-hook.
Bad guys look great with patches, or monocles. Having a pretty chick in a nice slinky dress helps as does piles of money at a casino table. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Vehicles:
A silver Aston Martin DB5 (with rear armor shield, and rear-firing, high-pressure water cannon-sprayer).
Vulcan jet.
Hydrofoil Disco Volante.
A gold BSA Lightning Motorcycle (with missiles).
Domino’s Boehler Turbocraft dive boat.
Volpe’s light blue Mustang.
A Bell helicopter.
A US Coast Guard helicopter.
A US Navy Boeing B-17 plane.
Number of Deaths (Bond Kills):
There were a total of 25+ deaths in the movie, of which James Bond killed 11.
Conclusion
This is a great movie, and fantastic escapist entertainment for men and women alike. Childish millenials need not watch it, as they are far too easily offended by normal adult interactions.
“When arrows meet”.
Not to worry, a transgender, role-reversal Bond flick is in the works. They will continue their narrative that White Males are the scourage of the universe, dumb, stupid and a bane on society.
Don’t waste your money on this new progressive propiganda. Enjoy these older flicks before they are banned from distribution. Because, if history is any indicator, they WILL be banned.
The New “modern, progressive” 007…
You can tell why liberal Hollywood selected her. If you morphed Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama together, this is what the result would look like…
The new “face” of 007. She’s modern, she’s progressive, and she’s LGBT friendly. She is the new woman that will lead America towards the social utopia as promised by the “great ones”.
If you enjoyed this post, please check out some of my other posts in my Movie Index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble into an underground society where the old society is preserved. The daughter of one of the leaders of the community seduces and lures him below, where the citizens have become unable to reproduce because of being underground so long. They use him for impregnation purposes, and then plan to be rid of him.
-Ed Sutton
Here we have a movie where the chicks lay up with really thick foundation. Heh he. But, you know they really need to. It’s tough living in 2024.
Despite its ironically cutesy title (“A Boy and His Dog”) and a plot premise that might’ve come out of the Walt Disney archives (dog and boy share telepathic communication), this movie is about as darkly comic and acidic as anything Stanley Kubrick ever did (“Clockwork Orange”).
In the tradition of the great 70s dystopian/postapocalyptic scifis like “Clockwork Orange” (1971), “Rollerball” (1975), “THX-1138” (1971), “Soylent Green” (1973), “The Omega Man” (1971) and I’ll even throw in “The Stepford Wives” (1975), this movie has its appeal in a sort of minimalist presentation that presents a chillingly emotionless and sterile future.
The first half is something like Mr. Ed meets Mad Max, with its equal portions of chatty humor and dusty violence. But right in the first scene we realize that, despite the cute banter between boy & dog, there aren’t going to be many warm fuzzies. In the opening scene we learn that the boy (Don Johnson) is looking for female survivors so he can rape them.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
If you can swallow that highly disturbing premise, which the director makes no bones in presenting at the outset, then the rest should be an unsettlingly fun joyride all the way to the film’s very memorable punchline.
Things get really trippy in the 2nd half, and even though there’s minimal nudity, certain things happen which would make D.H. Lawrence blush (particularly involving a certain mechanical device attached to the male anatomy).
Definitely NOT a date movie, nor any sort of movie you’d watch with your parents or kids, “A Boy and His Dog” is really like a lost cousin of “A Clockwork Orange” or “Dr. Strangelove”.
Vic and his telepathically talking sheep dog, Blood, travel post-apocalyptic Arizona. Besides scavenging for food and sex, this movie features old, terrible porn clips, evil Amish looking people with clown makeup and possibly the greatest pun in movie history. Blood provides hilarious commentary to all Vic's endeavors, his comments while Vic and a girl he finds have sex are particularly entertaining. At parts, this movie gets so strange you can't do anything but laugh at it, which is definitely not a bad thing! A Boy and His Dog is not something that will ever be universally popular, but it is a great movie for late nights and all nerds. A classic piece of science fiction.
- emma505013 May 2004
A Boy and His Dog is as surprising an effort that has ever come into the genre. It is a movie where imagination is pushed to its most cynical, rotten roots. It is a movie where a wealth of pitch black comedy awaits those who have no problem..
… with the repore between a slightly dim dude and a dog…
… a dog who seems to be part comic relief, part ‘get-your-head-out-of-your-ass’ voice of reason.
The Characters:
Vic – Don Johnson! A solo who survives in the wastelands left after World War IV, he is constantly hunting for food and women.
Blood – Highly intelligent and telepathic mutt who pals around with Vic, in addition he has radar.
Quilla June – Brazen girl sent to lure Vic underground, though she wants to replace the ruling council by using the solo. Ends up as dog food.
Mr. Craddock – Jason Robards! Senior member of the ruling council and a very dour man.
Dr. Moore – Fairly boring member of the ruling council, though he has the best memory.
Mez – Female member of the council, not a pretty sight when laughing.
Gary, Richard, and Kenneth – Conspirators who follow Quilla’s lead, all three get their necks snapped.
Michael – Powerful robot which looks like a huge country bumpkin, if one of the ruling council points at you the wrong way he snaps your neck. Disassembled by Vic, but it appears the council has an entire warehouse full of replacements.
The Screamers – Apparently they are green glowing mutant elephants. (We do not see them, but they do glow green and sound like elephants.)
It should be way too ridiculous to be taken seriously as a piece of legitimate cinema, perhaps as some gonzo experiment that’s dug up by cultists for tongue-in-cheek purposes.
Yet, Jones’s film is, in its way, a weird landmark.
It’s a snapshot of a moment where the basic fronts of a 70s ‘exploitation’ flick (action, comedy, randomness of the 70s, nudity) are put through the perspective of a filmmaker with brains and talent to make it stick in your mind.
This disorderly pre-Mad Max spree is one of the most entertaining post-apocalyptic future movies ever made. You know why? Because it has no taste and in that, it has no inhibitions about the questions it asked about what will happen after the world is spent by nuclear war. It asks about how procreation will happen, how basic sexual feelings will be satisfied, and other things. It has a genuinely original plot involving telepathic dogs that are more literate than their human masters,gunfights wherein the dogs direct their human masters, an entire society underground that discerns who is apart of them or not by wearing clownface at all times, and other crazy things.
It's a wild, crazy, tasteless, sex-obsessed adventure that affords the viewer one of the greatest luxuries of the movies, one that is rarely completely fulfilled, which is unpredictability. It's so inventive in every way that you don't know what happens next. Even the comical theme song is so out of place for the genre of the film, but the theme of a boy and his dog makes it suitable. A Boy and His Dog is not a great film, but it's worth watching repeatedly and showing our friends. Another buried treasure.
- jzappa
This is extremely low budget but not bad. The conversations between Vic and Blood are hilarious (and Blood’s face and movements totally match the dialogue).
I love the bit when Blood asks Vic to name the presidents (remember, this came out in 1975). He responds “Nixon, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy…” When they meet Quilla (about an hour in) the film falls apart. The sequences down under are, at first, scary but get quickly repetitious. But it leads up to a twist ending which is great.
This
was issued in 1975 with a horribly exploitive ad campaign. It showed a
woman lying down on the ground. You don’t see her face–just her body
and all she’s wearing is a shirt and covering her breasts and other
parts. Blood has a paw on her and a proud look on his face and Vic is
standing beside him holding a gun! The implication is obvious and the
rape aspect of this bothered a lot of people.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
The Plot
Armageddon is a difficult thing to rationalize, lending itself to outlandish scenes of violence and debauchery. The idea of a pubescent Don Johnson wandering the lonely wastelands guided by an intelligent and telepathic dog is a new one on me, but for some reason it all fits. Particularly so when the pooch in question has a bottomless stomach and spouts an endless stream of acidic criticism at Don Johnson. (Often complaining about Vic’s libido. A dog complaining about a teenage boy’s libido, I love it!)
The two lead an idyllic life, scavenging for food and water in the
desolate landscape, but sometimes Blood is able to sniff out a female
companion for Vic. For some odd reason all the women are in hiding,
other than a ravenous and horny Don Johnson hunting them I can’t imagine
why.
Well he ends up following Quilla into an underground fallout shelter,
there the last “civilized” remnants of society are carrying on
tradition. Country fairs, ice cream, and prizes for the best canned
goods in addition to trapping fertile males from the surface to
impregnate the young women.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
Before you start thinking this is not a bad deal let me explain. Vic is immobilized and his genitals attached to the equivalent of an electronic milking machine. (Aiiiieee!) In short succession the lucky brides are wed to him, presented with a bottle of special sauce, and sent on their way. Nearly incapacitated by blue balls the ferocious young man stages a retreat from the complex after being freed, taking Quilla with him. The first (And last might I add.) marital problem results when Vic discovers his faithful pooch waited outside the shelter’s entrance this entire time and is on the brink of starvation.
Zany and fun to watch on a rainy day, plus the girlfriend will never look at your faithful hound the same.
Things I learned from this movie:
Dogs would make excellent history professors.
Porn films used to suck, in a real bad way.
Men are confused and a little put off by women who want sex.
There is a fundamental difference between “hang” and “harangue.”
A secret and powerful society of mimes inhabits the underground areas of our planet.
Green plants grow nicely underground, even without artificial light.
Interrogating a dog is pretty darn difficult.
Nobody expects a crowbar in the middle of a bouquet.
If a very large, but slow moving, man is trying to break your neck I suggest running away.
Dogs make the worst puns.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
Surely those who were looking for nothing more than what Hollywood usually delivers when they invoke the words "science fiction" were disappointed, because this movie resembles the usual horror or action film masquerading as sci-fi very little.
Its source material is a novella by Harlan Ellison, a writer who's recognized by many in the sci-fi community as a master on the same playing field of "psychological sci-fi" as Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick.
From Ellison we get a very dark tale about a strangely human dog and his boy. They live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where Phoenix Arizona used to be, and hunt women and food with the same predatory zeal. But when Vic (or as the dog calls him, Albert) is lured into a surreal society living in a large bomb shelter, their friendship is threatened and Vic is almost forced to become a sort of sexual machine for the good of the State.
Just to run through some of the aspects of the film that I enjoyed, I really liked Tim McIntire's voice work as the dog, perfectly crisp like a cranky old man. How exactly the dog knows so much or is able to speak to Vic is never really explained, but I think there's a clue in that Lou (Jason Robards, Jr.) believes that Vic has spoken to a dog he encounters in the shelter.
That, along with the "Committee's" seeming obsession with recounting facts and figures almanac-style, makes me believe that the dog actually came from the shelter. Perhaps he was sent there to "observe" Vic, as Lou tells him they have been doing for some time, and he rebelled against their control. Like all good sci-fi the idea is vaguely proposed but never explained.
Don Johnson did pretty good work here, I mean it doesn't strike you as all that impressive at first but when you think about the fact that he had to do so many scenes with just this dog as his co-star it's a pretty tough act to pull off as well as he did.
Susanne Benton was decent in her role as well. I loved when she tried to sweet-talk the dog, basically the same way that she treated Vic. Vic seems confused about her intentions all the way up to the end, which is excellent -- if he had figured her out completely then the ending would just feel mean-spirited instead of humorous.
As it is, it's as if Vic believes he's making a sacrifice but the dog knows better and turns it into a joke. By the way my girlfriend thought the last line was too tacky but I thought it was perfect, it gave narrative closure to the film as well as filling in those who might not have understood the scene with the campfire.
Honestly the only performance I wasn't crazy about was Jason Robards'. There's these great scenes he gets to play with Alvy Moore ("Green Acres") and Helene Winston (great laugh she's got... she didn't make a lot of movies but strangely enough just this week I saw her in Curtis Harrington's "The Killing Kind").
He just has no energy, I guess that's the way he wanted to do it but it's annoying how he kind of mumbles through the dialog and I just didn't feel that the dialog was supposed to be quite that casual.
Basically I just did not like the way he decided to play the character, I didn't think it was scary at all. His android assistant, like a twisted American Gothic, is pretty strange though.
Plus I never understood why everyone down there was wearing clown makeup. Was it the idea of the forced smile?
Anyway, I salute the film because I think it was a brave decision to make it as it is and not to try to turn it into a more conventional thing with romance or too much action. I think I can see some influence from this movie on George Miller's "Road Warrior" (though I was told that he claims he hadn't seen it), and definitely on "Slip Stream" with Mark Hamill from the 80s.
But this isn't really the kind of movie that was made to fall into place inside the pantheon of "sci-fi" anyway. It's a closer relative to "Electra-Glide in Blue" and other films of the early 70s that explored the bitter end of "hippie" idealism, the same trend that Hampton Fancher was trying to catch onto when he wrote his first drafts of the film that eventually became "Blade Runner."
Frankly I can't remember seeing another sci-fi film that is so close to the feel and ethos of the most transgressive and anti-establishment sci-fi of the 1960s.
- funkyfry
Stuff to watch out for:
1 min – You have to respect any film that starts off with nuclear war.
8 mins – That is Phoenix? I see that it has not changed much…
23 mins – Don Johnson apologizing to a dog ladies and gentlemen.
25 mins – Good dog! Hehehehe!
37 mins – Blood just managed to kill a full grown man who was armed with a rifle?
45 mins – Sort of a canine teleprompter…
46 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
71 mins – Now, will Vic eat that or wipe it on his clothing?
78 mins – The true colors of Quilla’s womanhood come to light.
79 mins – That is about fifty yards I guess, easy shot with a rifle…
Conclusion
Watch the movie. It’s a great romp into 1970’s science fiction. And, as such, perfect for a nice lazy afternoon, or a boring evening at home.
If you enjoyed this article, please check out similar articles in my Movie Index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
One of the reasons why the Chinese have been so swift in combating this coronavirus is because they identified (quickly and swiftly) it as a biological weapons attack. Most Americans are unaware of this because they read Western propagandized media. They believe that it is either [1] “not as bad as the flu”, or that it is [2] a biological weapon that the Chinese unleashed upon themselves. Here, we won’t get into that argument. Instead we will just present some videos of what went on during the days of 8FEB through 10FEB.
These videos were taken during a two day time period. Past the peak of the biological attack.
You, the reader, can believe what ever you want to. The FACT is that the China put their entire armed forces to DEFCON ONE, and shut the entire nation down.
You do not do this with the flu. You do not do this if you had an accidental leak from a weapons facility. You do not do this, especially in the middle of the biggest holiday of the year, unless there is a FUCKING GOOD REASON.
You can observe and come to your own conclusions.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – People getting sick suddenly.
The pesky thing about this virus is it’s high contagious nature, stealth infection, and rapid and sudden lethal outbreaks.
I find it laughable that the media is saying that the flu is far deadlier. Or that it only attacks old people. Here’s a young man in his 20’s going into a seizure on the bus.
I don’t know about youse guys, but I never had a seizure when I had the flu.
Video 2 – Affects children.
The reason why the Chinese video APPs were banned by the American military was so that they would not watch the effects of the biological weapon on the civilian population.
Here we have a little child in the hospital dying from the American bio-weapons attack.
Video 3 – Military decontamination units at work.
If you know what to look for you can clearly see the military decontamination units fighting this virus. Here we have a squad going after a contaminated area.
Decontamination is the process of removing or neutralizing chemical or biological agents so that they no longer pose a hazard. For military purposes, decontamination is undertaken to restore the combat effectiveness of equipment and personnel as rapidly as possible.
-Decontamination - NCBI Bookshelf
Video 4 – Bringing food and checking up.
If you have the virus, you can opt to stay at home instead of going to a hospital or a tent clinic. In that case, the military / police will lock you in your house and seal the door. If the seal is broken, they will come and take you to jail so that you will not be a risk to the community.
Video 5 – Military and police decontamination.
Here’s some units in the decontamination of the streets using the military foggers. It’s a pretty impressive sight.
The Chinese military has invested enormous sums of money perfecting mass decontamination of buildings and people. Here is an impressive array of trucks.
Hit hits suddenly. Up until when it hits, you think (falsely) that you can handle it. But you cannot. Here we see police taking a woman to an emergency station.
Video 8 – At the hospital.
This is pretty much what it will be like once she makes it to the hospital. There will be doctors and nurses in full NBC gear attending to her. But even at that, it will be a rough slog to get better…
Video 9 – Quarantine area
The Chinese government has repurposed sports arenas, and other civics facilities into quarantine areas. The people may or may not be sick. But they do need to wait within safe confines to see what may happen. Here’s one of the facilities within Wuhan…
Video 10 – Morning exercise
The Chinese love to exercise in the mornings and the evenings. This was started by the “dancing grandmothers” and after some abuses, was repurposed to a health initiative, that most of China takes part in. It’s a period of two to three hours of guided line dancing to Chinese pop music and K-pop. Here, we can watch it inside one of the quarantine facilities.
Video 11 – Drones continue to keep people off the streets
Big red banners with bright yellow letters are everywhere. They tell the people to be mindful, careful and to stay at home. Never the less there are those that refuse to listen. Some are just bad apples. Some are crazy. Some don’t give a fuck – they are far too self absorbed. And…
And some are just people going out for a walk and being casual with mask discipline. Such as this chick. The local police drone admonishes her and chases her home.
Video 12 – Inside a Military field hospital
Once Beijing declared this a DEFCON ONE situation, military hospitals were set up in all of the tier one, tier two and tier three cities. This is in addition to the new hospitals being constructed, the regular hospital and the networks of clinics that abound all over China.
China has a much more extensive system of medical care than America has. It has build up this network in great detail and complexity with layers over layers of systems.
Here we see what it is like inside one of the military tent hospital complexes.
Video 13 – Robot food delivery
To keep people from being contaminated, robots are being used in the tier one cities. Some have smiley faces, but most look like white boxes on wheels. Like this…
Video 14 – Assholes
During this period all elevators have tissues that people are supposed to use to press the buttons. Clear tape overlays are on the buttons, and public mechanisms of conveyance are all disinfected multiple times a day.
That’s all well and good, if everyone was “normal”.
One of the things that I hear from people (mostly Americans) is what about people’s rights? What about their freedoms? Well, not everyone is “with the program”. There is a tiny percentage of crazy assholes that want to make life miserable for the rest of us.
Luckily, China is fully wired up. Video feed of miscreants and trouble-makers goes straight to the local police… who know these people and take direct and swift action.
Here’s an asshole…
Video 15 – Going to the hospital
People “on the front lines”; those that need to be in public and are exposed to others are getting sick. Usually, being quite patriotic, they will stay at their posts until they get a seizure or collapse. Here’s a policeman, and that is exactly what happened.
Video 16 – Pull the nation closer.
It’s difficult to imagine the Chinese nation being any more patriotic than it already is, but this bio-warfare attack has pushed Chinese patriotism to mountainous heights. It’s really amazing. Here’s just one of thousands of videos I have collected along this theme.
If you enjoyed this post, please fell free to take a trip to my China / Trump Trade Wars index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
The virus is proving to be far more contagious than the flu, having spread from 300 people in mid-January to more than 75,700 as of Thursday morning.
-CDC
That’s the American mainstream narrative; that the Wuhan coronavirus isn’t serious. It isn’t as bad as the flu, and the flu kills thousands of people each and every year. So that there is nothing to be worried about.
I strongly disagree. However, you shouldn’t take my word for it. You just need to watch some movies of what is going on in China today, and come to your own conclusions. Right?
Look, see, watch.
Think for yourself. Come to your own conclusions.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Almost too late.
You are not feeling well. So you finally decide to go to the hospital. You’ve been putting it off. It’s just a sore throat you thought. But, now you are feeling dizzy and getting tunnel vision. You should have went earlier. You know that now.
You look at your cell phone but the sweating in your hands make scrolling and pushing the buttons really difficult. So you ask your friend to help. They help you and get you in the car.
Just like the flu, right? Only the flu is much worse, right? The American media has all this pegged. Do not worry. The flu is far worse.
Here’s from USA Today…
So far, there have been an estimated 19 million cases of flu, 180,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths in the U.S. this influenza season – including 68 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Worldwide, seasonal influenza epidemics cause 3 million to 5 million severe cases every year and kill up to 650,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization.
"That just far surpasses the amount of cases compared to the novel coronavirus," Colburn said. "If you didn’t travel specifically to Wuhan, China, or have contact with a person with suspected or known coronavirus, your chance of contracting this is extremely low."
-USA Today
Now, this advise and write-up seems rather silly when you look at it. If you were in China, and were to read this, you would shake your head in pure disbelief. Because what this news “report” is saying DOES NOT AGREE with what you are witnessing.
This is what the Chinese people are starting to notice…
Almost too late.
Video 2 – Registering people at a clinic.
So you are sitting there at the table talking with people, helping them with the paperwork and interviewing them… then you don’t feel so hot. Just like the Flu, right? You’ve seen policemen and doctors collapsing in front of you with the flu, right?
Well… actually no. You don’t see them collapsing. Nor do you ever see American police inside American emergency tent-clinics registering sick people, either. But somehow, yes somehow, the flu is worse.
You know the WHO data on the seasonal flu includes deaths from impoverished areas, where people live in primitive homes and huts, do not have adequate sanitation and medical care. And we are all supposed to believe that that data is representative of a modern, civilized and state-of-the-art nation.
It’s illusionary, and deceptive. As this propaganda from USA Today proves…
There’s a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children.
The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world.
“When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’s just no comparison,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial.”
-USA Today
Have you EVER seen ANY American policeman collapse from the flu in the line of duty?
Passing out at a clinic.
Video 3 – Another casualty at the hospital.
Don’t wait until the last moment. If you are not feeling well, rush to the hospital. You see this kind of stuff all the time with the flu, right? It’s common knowledge, right? Every flu is like this, Right?
Screenshot 7FEB20.
While it is true that people with the flu try to get better at home, and serious cases are sent off to the hospital, no one ever collapses at the front door or in the car-port. But this is what is happening with this virus.
This kind of thing amazes me.
How can anyone see scenes like this, and still have the audacity to claim that the flu is worse? That it’s all just hype?
Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn’t even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.
Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization.
And yet, Americans aren’t particularly concerned.
-USA Today
Hospital problem.
People, this is what is called propaganda.
Now, propaganda only works when the audience is kept ignorant of the true state of affairs. If you control all the news, in all the various forms, you can control the actions of the people.
This is why the American propaganda controls three branches of news;
Mainstream news
Alt-left news.
Alt-right news.
And make no mistake, the Alt-Right news is just as manipulated as the mainstream media news is. What’s the Alt-Right news saying?
“This is a biological weapon. Stolen by China. Used on their own people for eugenics purposes.”
Yes. Absolute nonsense.
OK. Let’s go back to the mainstream news propaganda;
“This is a natural virus. Harmless, but with a scary name.”
Video 4 – Policeman getting sick at his station.
The problem with this virus is that it is stealthy and fast acting. You can get it, and then it sits inside your body making you super contagious, and you will feel just fine and wonderful. Then, it will hit you suddenly. You know…like the flu! NOT!
Sick people in China are handing over their phones to the police and medical teams. They use the GPS tracking information to compare who they might be in contact with. They are quickly discovering chance encounters with infected people, and that the virus “jumps” from the infected (but feeling normal) person in a matter of seconds.
Like this…
Infected in 15 seconds while he bought vegetables at the market.
GIC Team GICexpat 6FEB20
A 56-year-old man in Ningbo was recently confirmed as a newly found case to have contracted the novel coronavirus after visiting a food market in the city’s Jiang Bei district on January 23. The confirmation was released to the public on February 4 by the district’s official social media account.
What’s especially surprising about this case is how fast the man contracted the virus.
Video surveillance revealed that it only took 15 seconds for him to be fully exposed, as neither he nor the 61-year-old woman standing next to him while picking out vegetables at the same stall were wearing protective masks.
The woman is believed to have had contracted the virus a few days prior while attending a blessing ceremony.
The man and woman, now both affected by the 2019-nCoV, did not know each other before crossing paths at the Shuang Dongfang market.
Unfortunately, 19 people who subsequently came into close contact with the newly-infected 56-year-old patient have already shown positive signs of infection. All of them have been put under isolated medical observation for further examination.
Meanwhile, the mainstream American news is still on the “don’t worry, be happy” narrative.
Fewer than half of adults got a flu shot last season, according to the CDC. Even among children, who can be especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, only 62% received the vaccine.
If Americans aren’t afraid of the flu, perhaps that’s because they are inured to yearly warnings. For them, the flu is old news. Yet viruses named after foreign places — such as Ebola, Zika and Wuhan — inspire terror.
-KHN
And the Alt-Right conservative news is also parroting this more or less. They argue that this is all nonsense. That it isn’t all that contagious. Here’s from the Moon of Alabama blog…
... We had documented in an earlier post that neither the infectiousness nor the mortality of the novel Cornoavirus are especially severe. This New York Times graphic also explains that.
The ONLY reason that the virus is being contained is because the entire fucking nation went DEFCON ONE.
This is not the flu…
Video 5 – Woman is not feeling well.
So you go outside to run an errand, then suddenly you don’t feel right. You feel dizzy. So you stand there puzzled, and then you pass out. Just like everyone does every flu season. Right?
That’s the American mainstream media narrative…
Some doctors joke that the flu needs to be rebranded.
“We should rename influenza; call it XZ-47 virus, or something scarier,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 5,000 people in the past year — more than twice as many as Ebola. Yet UNICEF officials have noted that the measles, which many Americans no longer fear, has gotten little attention. Nearly all the measles victims were children under 5.
-KHN
Screenshot 7FEB20.
Personally, I think that Selco said it best…
I know now that bad things can happen, and one more important thing, actually I believe it is most important:
I no longer believe government and authority, not at all.
When they really doing their best to assure you that everything going to be fine, you can be sure that something bad is happening.
Video 6 – Truck driver passes out at the wheel.
My take on things is that this Wuhan corona virus has a potential to become Apocalyptic. I don't like what I am seeing now.
Posted by: blues | Feb 5 2020 16:36 utc
Every flu season you always hear about truck drivers unable to drive because of the flu, right? They just pull over and die at the side of the highway, right? It’s an every year occurrence. Right?
Some people may worry less about the flu because there’s a vaccine, whose protection has ranged from 19% to 60% in recent years. Simply having the choice about whether or not to receive a flu shot can give people an illusion of control, Schaffner said.
But people often feel powerless to fight novel viruses. The fact that an airplane passenger spread SARS to other passengers and flight crew made people feel especially vulnerable.
-KHN
The “Virus Hunter”, world renowned Columbia University Professor, Walter Ian Lipkin came to China and met with Zhong NanShan, China’s lead epidemiologist in fight against #CoronaVirus.
A few points are of significance:
1. Lipkin said he spoke for hours with Zhong, and exchanged different views. But ultimately he trusts Zhong, because Zhong is a humanitarian.
2. The infection ratio of the CoronaVirus is probably Underestimated. The fatality ratio is probably Overestimated.
3. I repeat, America’s top scientist already came to China. Lipkin also fought alongside Zhong and China during SARS in 2003.
These perspectives are very important! Please remember!
Most sobering of all, 35-year-old Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, the CoronaVirus whistleblower who was charged with spreading rumors of virus last month, died of CoronaVirus himself hours earlier.
Video 7 – Doctors pass out.
Ignoring the reported 2019-nCoV #s for China (which are suspect) but taking into account reported #s only for countries outside China (and assumed to be reasonably accurate), the calculated death rate (1/212) as of this morning is (rounded up) .5%. Hardly Apocalyptic.
Posted by: Trisha | Feb 5 2020 17:02 utc
And another thing about the flu is how it completely shuts down hospitals, and causes the doctors and nursing staff to pass out and stop working. Right? After all, the flu is far worse. Right?
Hotez, who is working to develop vaccines against neglected diseases, said he worries about unvaccinated children. Most kids who die from the flu haven’t been immunized against it, he said. And many were previously healthy.
“If you’re worried about your health, get your flu vaccination,” Hotez said. “It’s not too late.”
-KHN
Video 8 – Police take you away.
This morning on Canadian TV: Worldwide infected 24,0000, death toll in China 450, let's say 500
Here https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00154-w
I found:
4 February 11:00 GMT — Cases in China pass 20,000, so 25,000 seems reasonable.
Then from CNN, 17 min ago (they are hardly conservative with numbers):
What we're covering here
The virus: The coronavirus outbreak has killed 492 people worldwide, the majority of which are in China, and infected more than 24,500 people across 25 countries over 30 days.
Some math:
fatality percent: 500/24500*100 = 2.04 % => really high mortality rate, almost as much as common flu.
Population infected in China: 20000/16 billion = 0.002 % which proves that this is a horrible horrible unstoppable virus
In other countries a bit less, per this site https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/countries-confirmed-cases-coronavirus-200125070959786.html
Australia 14, Germany 12, India 3, Malaysia 12, Singapore 28, South Korea 19, USA 11, Vietnam 10, Canada 4, Russia 2, UK 2, in total over 25 countries.
Percent countries where at least 1 case discovered: 25/195 = 13%, => really world wide spread.
Of course, since the flu is so deadly, the police will come to your house if you have the flu. They will break down the door, and they will haul you away to the hospital for your own good. Right? That’s what always happens with the flu. Right?
Forcefully removed from their home.
Video 9 – Military biological decontamination units.
Screen shot of the graph of contaminated cases over time. 7FEB20.
I'm not so sure that the Coronavirus is so innocuous as some would have us think, simply because of the way China has reacted to it. Why quarantine tens of millions if it is no big deal? Do you trust China to provide accurate statistics if they are seeing a huge fatality rate with a highly infections organism?
Zerohedge has posted an article showing that there was a "mistaken" post showing much more serious numbers, which indicated a 16% fatality rate. With a high R0 value and an airborne pathogen, that reportedly has shown transmission via fomites (spreads through touching of contaminated surfaces), this would be approach the lethality of the organism portrayed in the movie "Contagion".
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 5 2020 17:32 utc | 15
Of course, every flu season has the local national guard, and military forces performing vehicle sweeps and decontamination procedures using truck mounted machines and chemicals. They scrub the air and make sure that everyone is safe. It’s normal, every flu season, right?
Military mass decontamination of entire cities.
Video 10 – Containment centers.
The one thing that would scare China the most, I think, is if the virus was infectious before symptoms appear. A virus able to spread wholly undetected can be a nasty piece of work, specially one that's seemingly a new addition to our species' ills, because we don't have any innate immunity around for the time being - if things go badly, a big chunk of the total population can get infected.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Feb 5 2020 17:44 utc | 19
And, of course, the yearly flu containment centers are always active. Right? After all, since the flu is so much worse, and far more dangerous, there is nothing to worry about. Right?
The virus is contagious at least 5 days before symptoms appear, I have read some reports that say 9-14 days before symptoms appear. Which is why it is out of control. Taking temperatures to screen is like pissing in the wind
Posted by: Per | Feb 5 2020 17:48 utc | 22
On the Alt-Right is the narrative that China is lying, and that hundreds of dead are piling up. Well, I’m not seeing that. Not first hand, not second hand. It’s all nonsense.
And people (!) nonsense = propaganda.
This situation is serious. No doubt. The Chinese are treating it as a DEFCON ONE event, and that shows how serious it is. However, it is contained and things are adjusting.
Here is a comment on MoA that speaks some sanity…
Now crematorium nonsense is back, only being applied to China. The only people who buy this ridiculous story are ones who haven't ventured into the sunlight from their parents' basement in years, and have for certain never further from their trailer park than the local Walmart. How else is it that anyone can imagine that the big problem with covering up a large number of deaths is just the problem of disposing of the bodies? What about family, friends, and coworkers of the deceased? How about creditors? Who thinks they will just shrug and forget about it if the person who owes them money disappears?
The only people who can seriously consider the narrative of cremating bodies to hide deaths are ones who cannot conceptualize people on the other side of the planet who speak a weird language as actual human beings with full lives. Delusional Americans for whom the world is just another TV show, and Chinese people are just extras in that show with no backstory or future whom nobody would notice if they died unless their body blocked the sidewalk or something.
If you, dear reader, are leaning towards believing the crematorium narrative, ask yourself if simply disposing of the body would work at erasing anyone you know, like one of your parents or children? Kinda silly to think that would make you forget them, huh?
So why imagine it would work in Russia or China?
Answer: The only way you could believe that is if your understanding of those places was just a shallow caricature; a cartoon.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 5 2020 21:19 utc | 65
Containment barracks.
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Here are some more videos taken during the Chinese New Year Coronavirus emergency. At this time, and when these videos were taken, the Chinese government pretty much locked down most cities, and placed travel restrictions everywhere else. Everyone must wear a mask, and everyone must stay indoors unless it is an absolute emergency and they NEED to get out.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Viral task team.
The Chinese have established task teams to go forth and tackle specific issues and problems specifically and surgically. Here we have a video describing one such team.
Itwasanurgentorder. Manymemberslefttheir Chinese NewYear'sEvefamilyreunionstogetreadytoboarda special planetothecapitalofcentral China’sHubeiProvince. ThreenursesfromShanghaiYueyangHospitalofIntegratedTraditional Chinese andWesternMedicineareinthe team.
- Medics abandon reunions to head to Wuhan - SHINE News
Video 2 – Disinfecting the public areas.
All areas are being disinfected. Here’s one in process.
Cleaning involves getting rid of dirt and gunk where germs can grow. The friction of cleaning -- often with soap and water -- removes most surface germs, which is adequate for most household surfaces. In other cases, however, it's a good idea to disinfect, which destroys or inactivates most of the germs.
In this case anti-viral agents are being sprayed.
Video 3 – Police drones telling everyone to stay indoors.
No one is to go outside. Everyone must stay indoors. Here we have a police drone telling a village woman to go back to her house.
The use of police drones is notable, because the drone allowed surveillance of gaming operators who otherwise would have been difficult to track. While old-fashioned surveillance works best in some situations, drones in this case allowed investigators to plan a raid with 3D intel on the target site. China is the world leader in the use of drones.
- www.bestonlinecasinos.com/news/police-drones-used-for-illegal-gambling-raid-in-china/4894/
Video 4 – Regional militia and police roadblocks.
Road bocks come in different sizes and shapes. Here’s an overview.
This is a deadly virus. It stays inside of you and then when it’s ready to hit, it hits you with incredible force.
On January 10, gene sequencing determined it to be the new Wuhan coronavirus, namely 2019-nCoV, a betacoronavirus, related to the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-CoV) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus (SARSCoV). However, the mortality and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV are still unknown, and likely to vary from those of the prior referenced coronaviruses.
Video 6 – Police drones telling everyone to go back home and stay inside.
In the cities, the drones were out in force and instructing everyone to get home as quickly as possible.
Video 7 – Handing out face masks.
I have hundreds of these videos. Everyone is donating face masks and handing them out.
Video 8 – The virus attacks the hospital staff.
As I’ve stated before, this is a deadly lethal virus. Hospital staff are not immune. Already doctors and nurses have died. The first doctor was a man who was 62, and collapsed in the elevator.
Video 9 – Roadblocks and checkpoints.
More road blocks and checkpoints.
To all my valued clients, overseas friends and family:
With regard to the infection of the New Corona Virus, the Chinese government is currently taking the most effective and powerful measures to actively respond, and at least in Shanghai people are calm, and staying at home, except for journeys to the grocery store , which by the way (despite media reports) are well stocked!
Most cities in China are normal, albeit unusually quiet, and only cities close to the source of the outbreak around Wuhan have been affected by stricter travel restrictions . Although we expect the infection numbers to rise in the short term, we believe everything will be back to normal soon as the control measures slow down the spread of infection .
The government has extended the official CNY holidays until Feb 9th to help facilitate the measures taken, but some companies and factories will reopen earlier according to the local situation. Thanks for your understanding and support through this challenging time.
- post on LinkedIN 31JAN20
Video 10 – Arresting one of the “criminal elements” who operated the drones that sprayed swine flu and wiped out the pork industry in 2019.
As strange was it seems, the complete collapse of the pig farm industry in China in 2019 was propagated by drones. This is why so many isolated pig farms became infected. “Criminal elements” were using drones to spray the pigs with flu to devastate the pork industry.
Here are some ways that the people in rural areas blocked the roads to keep their villages safe.
Sometimes its with piles of dirt. Sometimes it’s will huge boulders. Sometimes, it’s with fencing, and sometimes it’s with bricks. Curiously, sometimes it’s just with a sign saying “keep out – infected area”. And, sometimes it’s just a few sticks and tree branches on the road.
Video 12 – Canceled wedding.
When everyone was told to stay inside, many events were canceled. Here is a wedding.
You know, many weddings are planned to occur on CNY as that is the only time during the year where everyone can come together in one spot. Canceling the wedding means that everyone will need to wait until next year to get married.
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the China index button below for similar articles.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here are some more videos taken during the Chinese New Year Coronavirus emergency. At this time, and when these videos were taken, the Chinese government pretty much locked down most cities, and placed travel restrictions everywhere else. Everyone must wear a mask, and everyone must stay indoors unless it is an absolute emergency and they NEED to get out.
... These are the same type of precautions recommended during the cold and flu season. I only began wearing a mask after the lockdown started Jan 23. Right now, I am following the public health recommendations, and staying in my apartment as much as possible. Currently I am trying to figure out if I can work remotely, reading papers at home, even though face-to-face is much more effective. A health hotline has been set up so that foreigners at our lab can get medical help, if necessary. The biggest problem is eating.
...
I went to the grocery store today, and everything was orderly. There were no shortages; but then again, I was there early and a line was forming at the vegetables.
In this health emergency, it is everybody's responsibility to protect others and ourselves. I do not want to spread the disease and I do not want to catch what other people have. Currently you cannot drive. There is no public transportation. My friends are scattered across Wuhan, and right now, all over China and the world, since it was Spring Festival. The only way to get in contact is by phone and the messaging tools like WeChat and QQ. The social isolation I hope will slow the spread of the coronavirus, but some people are trying to run away from it.
The US government airlifted a group of Americans out of the city. I decided to stay. I have a job here. I have friends here. It is a commitment and a contract. This thing will pass. I really like the street I live on. I like the food. I like hot and dry noodles. I like the Wuchang fish. I like the atmosphere in Wuhan, and people are down to earth. I walk down the streets and go to shops. When you live somewhere awhile, you become part of the community; it does not matter if you are a foreigner or not. I will continue to stay in isolation until the outbreak is over, and I will go back to work.
-Stephen C. McClure spoke with Li Lei.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Construction of a hospital in ten days.
The Chinese do not mess around. They have decided to build two hospitals in Wuhan to handle patients, and they are making it happen. It is absolutely astounding.
As two makeshift hospitals are being constructed in Wuhan, Hubei province, in a bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, ministry-level government departments, organizations, businesses and people from all walks of life are lending a helping hand to the projects.
Central government subsidies will mainly be used to buy medical equipment to ensure concentrated treatment for infected patients, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
More than 2,000 workers from five design and construction units-the China Institute of Architectural Design and Research, the China Construction Third Bureau, Wuhan Hanyang Municipal Construction Group, Wuhan Construction Group, and Wuhan Airport Development Group-have participated in the Huoshenshan Hospital project, according to China Business Journal.
Meanwhile, Xinhua News Agency has reported that the Wuhan bureau of State Grid Corp, the national electricity provider, has already installed substations and laid cables at the construction site.
A Sinopec Group gas station near the site is providing free services for all vehicles carrying building materials. The company has also provided 16,500 liters of diesel fuel and 1,000 cans of lubricating oil to back up construction work.
Communication companies, including China Telecom Corp, have built 5G base stations to ensure easy contact between the project's engineers and will lay cables for normal digital communications once the temporary hospitals begin operations.
Employees of an environmental technology research company in Beijing have provided services to prevent wastewater seepage during the construction process.
Meanwhile, officials in Pingyu county, Henan province, have sent an impermeable membrane, which had been intended for a landfill project, to the construction site.
- Donations and volunteers flood sites in Wuhan
A livestream shows trucks, earthmoving equipment and building work in full swing at the construction site of two special hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Video 2 – Scanning people boarding a bus.
Under the current state of emergency everyone must wear masks and be constantly scanned for fever. Here we see people being scanned prior to boarding a bus.
Video 3 – Community unloads hospital supplies for the new hospital.
As the new hospitals are going up, supplies are being made and brought in. It’s not just masks and gowns. It’s complete operating rooms, beds, and general hospital equipment. Everything is being replicated, from the operating room to the lowest janitor gear.
On Sunday night, a logistics company in Hubei transported 240 metric tons of steel to the site.
A company in Guangdong province, which produces medical ventilators, donated 144 machines worth 175,000 yuan ($25,000) to Huoshenshan Hospital on Monday.
In addition to construction materials, food and electrical appliances have also been donated by businesses across the country.
China Mengniu Dairy Co said it had provided milk worth 8 million yuan to construction workers and frontline medical employees.
Meanwhile, Midea Group, an electrical appliances manufacturer, donated more than 550 air conditioners to the Huoshenshan project and sent 100 employees to install the machines, according to the company's social media account.
On Sunday, the new facilities also received 1,100 televisions and 400 air purifiers from Skyworth Digital Technology Co. The televisions will allow voice calls between doctors and patients, thus lowering the cross-infection risk, according to Beijing News.
Meanwhile, a group of military veterans from across the nation volunteered to help the Huoshenshan Hospital project.
Jiang Jing, a former member of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, journeyed to Wuhan from Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.
"I am responsible for managing warehouse resources, handing out medical supplies including masks and raincoats, and arranging meals for construction workers," he said.
Retired soldier Wang Guohui drove more than 300 kilometers from Shenqiu county, Henan, to bring 4 metric tons of homegrown vegetables to the workers.
"The Wuhan people are united and striving to conquer the enemy. I want to make my own tiny contribution. I only felt at peace when I had brought the vegetables in person," said Wang, when he arrived at 9 pm on Jan 24, Lunar New Year's Eve.
Liu Yingjie, a construction worker from Shanxi province, drove 800 km to the site with some colleagues. After a break of just four hours, the men started work installing the prefabricated wards.
"Given the acute situation, we must finish the project as quickly as possible so patients can be treated," Liu said, adding that his father led a team of construction workers during a renovation project after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province.
- Donations and volunteers flood sites in Wuhan
Video 4 – Roadblock medical scan.
There are roadblocks everywhere. Here’s a typical one. You must get the scan or you will be apprehended. They are making sure that sick people are contained. Now this virus is really tricky in that you can be totally healthy and still infect people. But, all things considered, they are doing an admirable job keeping the sick isolated from the general population.
It's 4 am on Monday when my colleague, Yi Bingkun, and I finished the night shift. It's the 50th hour since we arrived in Wuhan to help fight against the novel coronavirus. The situation here is far more grievous than what we imagined, with more suspected cases and an acute shortage of medical staff. We are here to bring them hope, but it seems that we assume more responsibilities.
The ward was almost overloaded during our first night shift and we continued to receive more patients. My colleague and I plunged into work without delay after wearing protective suits.
However, an emergency occurred when a patient went into sudden cardiac arrest when we had just changed shifts. Kun (my colleague Yi Bingkun's nickname) rushed to give chest compressions to the patient and I called a doctor for help.
The patient, unfortunately, died of severe illness after all rescue measures failed. The patient's family, however, sent their gratitude to us. Their every single "Thank you" makes me feel warm and that the efforts we've made are worthwhile.
- Nurse battles coronavirus on the frontline
Video 5 – Disinfecting vehicles.
Military protocols are being used in the disinfection of vehicles, gear and equipment. These trucks did not appear out of the blue. The PLA has a complete army of these vehicle to handle nation-wide biological warfare attacks.
Video 6 – Police roadblock
Here is another police roadblock. It’s pretty common and it is more or less the same set up when I left my relatives house to go to the airport.
If you do not wear a mask you will not be permitted to be in public. You must wear masks in public. As this is a super contagious disease.
High Contagiousness
Indeed, if we compare how SARS spread out in 2002-2003, it is hard not to notice how much more contagious nCoV-2019 is compared to SARS.
It took SARS three months to reach to the point of 300 cases between November 2002 and February 2003. In the climax of SARS, the daily number of newly registered cases in Mainland China never exceeded 200 cases.
In comparison, on 28th January 2020 alone, 1459 new cases of nCoV-2019 were reported nationwide, including 315 cases in Wuhan. In just a week between 20-28 January, the number of patients with nCoV-2019 exceeded the number of all SARS patients confirmed in Mainland China between 2002-2004!
Mainland China had just 5327 cases of SARS, but nCoV-2019 already had 5974 registered cases by the end of January 28th, 2020.
- Coronavirus: Summary to date & insights
Video 8 – Throwing away all the food.
When the government told everyone that they had to stay inside… not only in Wuhan, but in the entire nation, so many events were canceled. Not just the millions of parties and dinners, but also weddings and other oddball and religious celebrations. All the restaurants are suffering. Here we have all the meals in a big banquet being thrown away because the event was canceled.
Given the decorations, it appears to be a wedding party.
Video 9 – Not wearing a face mask.
Some people just don’t “get it”. You must wear a face mask and you must avoid people. You only go out if it is an emergency. But, some people, they think that they can flaunt the rule of law and do as they please. Here we have a dimwit woman demanding to do as she pleases and she doesn’t care if she lives of dies.
Video 10 – Fumigating the city.
Here we have a typical fumigation team. All the cities are being disinfected and fumigated. No exceptions. Everyone is assisting and working on this most terrible issue and event.
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the China index button below for similar articles.
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This post is very top-heavy with videos that were taken at the start of the 2020 Chinese New Year at the same time that the Coronavirus outbreak. As I post this, all the roads have roadblocks and police in hazmat suits are performing 100% checks for the illness. It’s a frightening and terrifying time.
At the time that this is posted, you are twice as likely to die from this illness than to recover from it.
At the time that this is posted, you are twice as likely to die from this illness than to recover from it.
Everyone is terrified of this. We have seen videos of people collapsing and all sorts of bad things with this virus. It is very dangerous, and extremely lethal.
Luckily, the Chinese government has stepped in and has taken proactive and rapid action. It is really quite astounding what they have put in place. I dare say that America could never begin to match this kind of response. Already, there is a change in the trajectory of the vector of this most serious illness.
Here we have some videos that I have collected off from Chinese social media. They all tell a story.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
All roads are blocked. Everyone is staying home and all holiday festivities are shut down. No one is going out, having fun or being social in any way. Everyone is hiding inside their homes.
Roadblock
These roadblocks are everywhere. Not only in Wuhan. They are nation-wide. All cities have roadblocks, and there are police at all the train and bus stations, not to mention airports, bridges, ferries and all hubs of transport.
Most are manned by police and local government security agents. Further, housing has the private security that are naturally “deputized” as an arm of the local police and they are also conducting strong security checks and monitoring.
The military are also present. They, in their various forms, are helping in the control of population, the distribution of supplies and monitoring of traffic. Everything is all quite ordered. It’s all very organized.
Wuhan virus roadblock.
China is building two new complete hospitals in Wuhan to handle the emergency.
The first hospital is to be completed in ten days. The second will be completed shortly afterwards. These two, concrete and steel, full-capability hospitals will augment the tent-city military hospitals that are positioned in and around Wuhan.
The Chinese have mobilized and hospital equipment and gear are in route and there are no excuses. Truckloads, boat-loads, and plane-loads of supplies to equip these hospitals are in route and on the way to staff these new constructions.
Mobilized construction of a new Wuhan hospital.
A patient recovers
This is a particularly lethal virus. However, people can fight it naturally and recover. The ratio right now is that two people die for ever one that recovers. However, there is hope that a cure and inoculation can be developed quickly. In the meantime, the sick are told to fight it off. The old, the feeble and the sick cannot do so well, and thus they die.
In fact, one patient – a wealthy man in Wuhan, left the hospital and told the staff that he will not stay in the hospital to wait to die. So he took off and sped away. The police are right now trying to find him. The mere presence of him in a room with you will contaminate everyone around him. It’s like a scene from one of those horror / science fiction movies.
A patient recovers.
Hospital workers are working around the clock to contain the illness.
I have seen video after video of tied and passed out hospital workers. They are over-extended and many have been working for 72 hours straight with no breaks. Some, like this gal inject solutions to keep them going through this prolonged emergency.
Hospital workers keeping on the job.
Instruction videos are all over the internet on how to use and wear a mask.
You can expect this, but it’s pretty stunning. The workers, and the staff are taking it on themselves, on their personal accounts, to teach others how to hand this emergency. They are doing so as Rufus-style heroes and heroines. This is really wonderful, and for once, a good use for social media.
Here we have an instructional video on how to properly wear a face mask.
How to wear a face mask.
Individual towns are erecting roadblocks and stopping everyone from going in or out.
You know, it’s not just only the local governments that are placing roadblocks. The citizens and individuals within the rural communities and housing communities within the cities that are doing so as well. These small groups have set up these road blocks and are keeping everyone out of their communities.
Not everyone agrees with the government in staying home. Additionally, there are stubborn old people, poor people who are isolated and outside the major communication channels and just “hard-headed” fools that want to do their own thing.
No one is being permitted in or out of these communities. How do I know? I’ve got all my relatives locked inside at least three different communities.
Local community roadblock.
People are handing out free face masks.
Heroes come in different sizes and shapes. All the stores are sold out of face masks. But some people have supplies of them. You know, like factories, like clinics, like paint supply stores. The workers and the owners are then taking their stock and handing them out to others. It’s a kind gesture and a very important thing to do during this emergency.
Handing out free face-masks.
Police and militia are going up and down the streets telling everyone to stay inside.
Instead of fireworks exploding for hours on end, the streets are eerily quiet. Instead, troops of public service officials are marching up and down the streets with bullhorns. They are announcing people to stay inside their houses and not to go out. They are telling them to keep clean and avoid crowds. They are doing this because all taxi, DD, public transportation and buses are shut down.
These are the “town criers” for people who are not tech-savvy and monitoring the radio, the television, the internet, and the social media.
Town criers announcing to stay inside the house.
Roadblock inspection on a major highway.
All of the traffic on the major highways are pulled over and go through inspection. They are monitoring everyone for fever and making sure that ill or sick people are not out and about.
This is the best that they can do, because (as we know now) the incubation period can be from 0 to 14 days, and the person will not be aware that they are sick, but they will be high contagious. So the best thing to do is to secure everyone inside their own individual homes and not be out and about.
Highway roadblock and inspection.
Hospitals are overflowing.
What do you do when a large percentage of a city of 14 million people are sick? The hospitals are overcrowded, and the staff overworked.
Luckily the Chinese military has stepped in and they have clinics in tent cities all over Wuhan. Here, we have shipping container operating rooms, and other military systems used with great effect to help.
Here’s what it’s like. Can you imagine this in say New York City or Chicago?
Hospitals are over-flowing.
Communities are taking matters into their own hands.
Some communities will not take no for an answer, and they have established local militia to guard the communities to keep them in quarantine. These militias are quite different from American militias. Where you would find people toting AR-15, and AK-47 semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, wearing camouflage clothing, and wearing Alice-harnesses. In China, they would wear something very visible to identify themselves as militia, and they would be armed with very sharp and lethal cutlery. And, please, make no mistake… they know how to use them.
Local militia in China.
Special equipment and care must be taken.
This novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), is so lethal and so contagious that it strains the most commonly available hospital equipment. Workers must wear special bio-hazard suits to work with it and handle the patients.
The different levels of hazmat suits.
As a result, the Chinese government has all the manufacturers working overtime, 24-7, non-stop to make new suits, new masks, new respiratory systems, and rapidly produce more medical supplies. There are tons of videos of workers making these articles of clothing, face masks and other medical and emergency gear.
Now, rather than post those videos, here’s a video showing just the kind of special gear that the hospitals need to utilize to fight this viral agent.
Hospital staff in full protection gear.
Hospitals must equip their staff with gear that is classified as Biosafety level four. This is the kind of gear that hospital workers require to use at this time.
What are Biosafety Levels (BSLs)?
There are four biosafety levels. Each level has specific controls for containment of microbes and biological agents. The primary risks that determine levels of containment are infectivity, severity of disease, transmissibility, and the nature of the work conducted. Origin of the microbe, or the agent in question, and the route of exposure are also important.
-CDC
“BSL-4 builds upon the containment requirements of BSL-3 and is the highest level of biological safety. There are a small number of BSL-4 labs in the United States and around the world. The microbes in a BSL-4 lab are dangerous and exotic, posing a high risk of aerosol-transmitted infections. Infections caused by these microbes are frequently fatal and without treatment or vaccines. Two examples of microbes worked with in a BSL-4 laboratory include Ebola and Marburg viruses. “
Biosafety level four. This is the kind of gear that hospital workers require to use at this time.
Military are mobilized.
Not well reported outside of China, is the fact that the Chinese have fully mobilized their military.
They are not only treating this emergency as a precursor to a pandemic. But, and note-worthy, they are treating it as a WMD… a biological attack and have mobilized their entire military force to contain it.
Biological warfare (BW)—also known as germ warfare—is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with the intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. Biological weapons (often termed "bio-weapons", "biological threat agents", or "bio-agents") are living organisms or replicating entities (viruses, which are not universally considered "alive") that reproduce or replicate within their host victims. Entomological (insect) warfare is also considered a type of biological weapon. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare and chemical warfare, which together with biological warfare make up NBC, the military initialism for nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare using weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). None of these are considered conventional weapons, which are deployed primarily for their explosive, kinetic, or incendiary potential.
- Wikipedia
Medical Staff are divided into “task groups” all lead by a viral specialist.
The Chinese have organized trained experts in both viral agents, and biological warfare. These are health professionals that have been dispatched to all the hospitals in all of the cities. They are the experts that will guide and lead the individual hospitals through this emergency. They know what to do, how to handle things, and the proper actions to take.
Experts arrive at a hospital.
Airplane scanning of passengers.
Of course you are constantly being scanned to see if you have a fever or are showing any sign of contamination by this viral agent. Here is a video of some staff checking the patients on board a plane.
That’s about it for now. I’ll post more videos when I get a moment. Please allow these videos to download. They are certainly interesting and provides you with a better idea of what is going on in China, compared to what CNN and FOX can provide.
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to go visit other similar posts in my China index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
As 2019 year of the pig is drawing to a close, and the 2020 year of the rat is starting to happen, I would like to post some videos of China that are just cool, interesting, or special in one way or the other. These videos are unsorted, and each one has a brief narrative describing what it’s all about. Some involve heroes, like our good friend Rufus, while others are just WTF. Please, all these are just fun postings. Please kindly enjoy.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Child Labor in China.
You know, I have been working in manufacturing for decades, and I have hardly ever saw a child working in China. Though, if you believe the British media, it is commonplace. It’s just another reason to bash the Chinese. Those dastardly bad Chinese…
Well, you can see children from time to time, working. They do so alongside their parents. They do so helping the family in the family business. And, I’ll tell you what, when I see it, it makes me feel glad. For there is nothing better than spending time with your family and working together so the family flourishes.
Here’s a video of child labor in China…
Child labor inside of China.
Video 2 – Traditional Family Life
In the next video, we have a son bringing his girlfriend to his father to introduce them. The father, being widowed, makes a meal for them. But it’s pretty modest. The girl, looks it over, and shows her disapproval.
But you see, China is a traditional nation with traditional values…
So what does she do? She goes into the kitchen and cooks. She explains that she needs to take care of the family and do her part so that everyone can be healthy and happy.
Traditional families are not something out of the “Handmaids Tale”, it’s about roles and shared responsibilities. It’s about respect and care and concern. It’s not “every man fend for himself” that is the norm in America today.
Check it out…
Son brings girlfriend to his father.
Video 3 – The importance of mass transit
Mass transit can be found in almost all the major cities. This includes America, the EU, Russia and China. Where China differs from America, is that there are many levels of public transport. Often there are buses, rentals, scooters, trains, monorails, subways, and everything in between. The only thing missing are horses.
In the USA, mass transit is generally limited to buses (unless you are in a very big city).
This following video clearly shows, in a few seconds, why mass transit is preferable to privately owned automobiles in a Chinese city…
Mass transit in China.
Video 4 – Girl proposes
In a traditional nation, everyone has roles. But China, being Chinese (of course), has traditions with “Chinese characteristics”. In the Chinese environment, the woman and the man both can reverse roles.
So instead of the man working and the woman staying home to tend the family, it can be reversed. Or, switched from time to time, or shared with shared responsibilities. It all depends on the family.
Here is a cute video. A girl proposes to the boy she wants to marry. I personally think that it is great.
Girl proposes to a boy.
Video 5 – Tough Chinese girl
Yeah, I have to admit that I love Chinese girls and women. I love the beauty, the intelligence, and the work ethic. I also greatly admire their toughness. They are like cats. They ain’t afraid of shit.
Don’t fuck with them.
Tough little girl.
Video 6 – Strangers rescue an infant locked inside a hot car.
We think that we can lock an infant inside a car, that it would be safe. Sure, it’s hot and sunny out, but we left the engine running and the air conditioning on. You’ll only be gone for twenty minutes… more or less. What could go wrong?
You could be delayed and the car can automatically shut off.
That’s what.
Here we have strangers trying to rescue an infant from a steamy hot car… on a beach parking lot… in 100 degree weather. The baby is passed out and unresponsive.
What would you do? What would Rufus the hero do?
Rescue of an infant from a hot car.
Video 7 – Helping a woman under attack.
These stories of heroes and “Rufus” are my favorites, and I just cannot let a day go by without posting one or two of them. Here is another video. In this video a woman is under attack by a man. Lucky for her other men, all around her, come to her rescue and subdues the assailant.
You’d never see this in the United States, where it is customary to allow the crime to happen and you don’t get involved. Least you be sued by the person, or arrested by the police, not to mention fired from your job for bad behavior.
Watch these heroes spring into action…
Helping a woman in distress.
Video 8 – This kid can’t drive fer shit!
Here’s a kind of funny video. This kid somehow thinks that the purpose of roads are to drive upon. So, what does he do? Well he hops on his little scooter and takes to the streets. In the process, he crashes into just about every car around. Yikes!
Can’t drive for shit.
Video 9 – Beautiful Chinese girls.
Here’s a video showing the ideal Chinese idea of beauty. Personally, I find all these ladies quite attractive. Now, aren’t they just lovely?
Beautiful Chinese girls.
Video 10 – Uyghur Muslim arrested for killing Chinese school children in Xinjiang.
This video is very interesting, but it needs to be seen. This is an interview with an Uyghur Muslim in prison. He discusses why he killed and hurt others, and his expectations of going to live in paradise with seventy black-eyed virgins.
According to the American mainstream propaganda, and the alt-right propaganda machine, there are millions of Muslims in China under detention and unfairly arrested.
Well, it’s a big ol’ lie, and I have covered this elsewhere.
One of the reasons why the Western press can get away with such lies is because the Chinese do not like to promote the violent acts. They believe that it should be kept hidden from the general populace. That is to day, it is the business of the government to protect the people from the acts of barbarism and savage behaviors of these individuals.
In 2019, the Chinese government began releasing some of the videos depicting why these people are in prison. This one in particular is very interesting. He’s one of the men that the NED propaganda machine is promoting as an “innocent” Muslim that is unfairly locked up. China, in response, posted videos of his terror spree, and his confession.
Funny how the American (and British) media ignores the retort.
The individual shown in the video is one of the people that is trying to be released to America and claiming that the Chinese are being too brutal to him. Yea. Right. What about the brutality that he unleashed on the poor fella in the video?
As if the brutality that he did in the first few frames of the movie isn’t brutal enough…
Meanwhile in Thailand, watch how this pachyderm comes to the rescue of a man being carried away by monsoon floodwaters. You go my large enormous friend! It’s a feel-good video to make up for the nasty Uyghur Muslim business preceding it.
Elephant rescues a downing man.
Video 12 – Cute girls meets cute boy.
Life is too short not to spend some time on cute things. I like this video. It’s cute and is a way for one girl to get a date for her girlfriend. Granted that it might not work every time, but in this video it works. And you know what? Maybe that’s all that matters. Eh?
Cute match-up.
Video 13 – The “real deal” sings in a restaurant.
Imagine that you are minding your own business and enjoying a nice meal in Pizza Hut. Then sitting right next to you is a famous actor who comes up to you and starts talking. Like Robert De Niro or Tom Hanks. What would you do?
In China, many restaurants have a microphone where you can sing. So, if the mood strikes, a person can belt out one or two of their favorite songs. Actually, many times they are actually quite good. The Chinese view singing as a popular pastime and something worthy of doing.
Check out this video. It’s the real deal you all.
Real Deal.
Video 14 – Rescue of a trapped cat under the road.
Here we have a cat, or a cat with a litter of kittens that is trapped inside a narrow storm drain crevice. The entire community gets together to rescue the kitty. It’s a great story and full of feel-good vibes. I hope you all like it and enjoy it as much as I have.
Save the kitty!
Video 15 – Happy CNY you all.
I am posting this post on Chinese New Years eve. That is 24JAN20. The year of the Pig is ending and it is going into the year of the rat. Already my family, my friends, my business colleagues are all eating these never-ending enormous banquets, drinking and quaffing enormous types of alcoholic beverages and passing out thick “red envelopes” of money to each other. It’s a great time and very festive.
Fireworks are exploding all around the house to shake away and scare away the bad “unseen” spirits from affecting our life and future prospects. The kids are playing and having fun, and KTV parties are very common. Everyone is posing their fun on Wechat and Tictok, and it’s a great time.
The only thing different this year is that the sickness outbreak in Wuhan has everyone wearing masks. Heck, even I wore a mask to the airport. LOL! (They are sold out everywhere. Don’t you know.)
Have a wonderful new year everyone. Let’s have a great prosperous years, and great times with our friends and families! Meanwhile, this is what my CNY looks like…
Enjoy!
CNY KTV party.
I hope you all enjoyed this. Have a great and wonderful new year!
If you would like to see more, please go to my General Chinese index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
More examples of personal heroism in China. This is part nineteen. THis is a collection compiled the day after Christmas in 2019. We’ve got some nice micro-videos to start the new year off with.
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos
all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday
people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and
an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run
and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or
will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference
in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the
background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly
note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to
view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your
browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds
to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to
load to get the full experience.
Video 1 – Mother and son reunited after he was kidnapped in 1989 at 4 years old.
Stealing children, especially young kids, is a problem all over the world. Sometimes they are sold off for sex slaves, but more often than not, it is just a person that wants to have a young son to call their own.
This man was four years old in 1989. He was stolen and snatched. His parents thought that he was long dead.
Then imagine their surprise when he got a routine gene DNA test. They are becoming rather common in China. Like when you want to have a child, you need to have the DNA approved by the government. So he submitted his DNA and low and behold, he is not who he thought he was!
This is his reunion with his real natural mother.
His father died the year earlier, broken hearted, believing that his son was forever gone.
Video 2 – Boy collapses in an icy pool.
Life is like that. Everything seems nice and fine. Quiet and eventual. Just some small puddles. It’s a little chilly out, not arctic temperatures. SO the boy wants to climb about and just be a boy. Then the unthinkable happens…
Video 3 – Bystanders stop and capture a robber that preys on old people.
This is a robber that accosts older men and women. Often in their 90’s, and often feeble. Both in mind and body. Only this time, a pair of Rufus’s notice what is going on. They go after the thug, chase him down and give him a real tongue lashing, I’ll tell you what!
Video 4 – Fire alarm in a kindergarten.
Everyone in Chinese schools must be able to evacuate quickly and simply. It can actually be amazing to watch. No one wants a repeat of 411. Check it out.
Video 5 – Man saves a dog trapped with a waterfall.
This man is saving a dog that is trapped in a waterfall. Watching this makes me feel good inside. I am reminded that there just might be hope fo the human species after all.
Video 6 – Preventing a sled riding accident.
This kind of things (I’m sure) happens all over America in the Winter. I think it must of happened to me more than a few time. Boy and kids being what they are, are always getting into trouble. Lucky for them, an adult is around to save the day.
Video 7 – Tackling a purse snatcher.
Purse snatchers can think that they can get away and not be caught Little do they realize that there are “watchers” all over the place and it’s up to us, as individuals, to keep the peace and right the wrongs. Be the Rufus!
Video 8 – An entire village pulls up a car.
In China, no one is alone. This can come and be a real problems at times. But, there is a plus side to it. People, friends, community all pull together. They help each other out. It’s not at all like the “lone wolf” mentality that is so persistent in the United States.
This is not a submarine. It’s a car that fell into the icy river below.
Video 9 – Woman helps a heavily loaded motorcycle.
People helping people. I love it!
I love this chick, and man does she have strong legs. But what really attracts me to her is her willingness to help others. What a gal! She for certain put a big old smile on my face.
She didn’t have to.
She could have just kept minding her own business, don’t you know.
Video 10 When chemistry goes bad.
Anyone who has had haz-mat training and MSMD training in industry know that you must respect chemicals. Out-gassing is dangerous, as is the chemical reaction when incorrect quantities are combined. It can suddenly go South very, very quickly.
Like in this video…
Thank you for reading this.
God bless.
Conclusion
We do not know when the calling will come.
However, when it calls, you must take action. It will not make you
wealthy, rich, famous, or attractive. But, it will make a difference
when you are judged upon death. Be the Rufus. Make a difference. Help
others. It’s our highest calling.
If you enjoyed this post, you might want to check out the index of these types of posts. Please kindly go here…
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
More examples of personal heroism in China. This is part seventeen.
This continues earlier posts and presents some new and curious situations that only a real Rufus will know how to handle.
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos
all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday
people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and
an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run
and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or
will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference
in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the
background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly
note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to
view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your
browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds
to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to
load to get the full experience.
Video 1 – Never give up on your training.
Sure, you might be a martial arts expert, but your day to day job is as a common laborer. That means nothing. Nothing! You are not your job. Nor, are you your career. People need to stop identifying themselves by those antiquated measures.
Here we have a common laborer practicing GongFu while he is sweeping the street. The Rufus is always on point.
Video 2 – Off duty policeman stops a hold up.
The Rufus is always ready to take action at a moment’s notice. here we have a normal (everyday) police man going inside to grab a coke (or pack of cigarettes) and minding his own business. When three teenage youths decide to rob the store. Bad move, kids…
Video 3 – There are three kinds of people in the world.
Yup, this video is pretty funny. So the father decides to pretend that he is ill and see what his triplet girls react to it…
The one girl take the candy out of his hand and leaves. Mission accomplished.
One girl freaks out. Gets all emotional and screams and cries in panic.
The last girl tries to find oout what is wrong and goes to help the father.
Yuppur. There are three kinds of people in the world.
Video 4 – A sense of community.
In rural and small town America you have a sense of community. People help each other out. They visit each other and offer gifts and support to the fire and police. Well, it is the same in the rest of the world also. This is especially true in China where people are hyper-patriotic about their nation and their race.
Here we see just average people giving some “good will” gifts to the local fire departments.
Video 5 – Saving a boy from drowning.
Here is a video that I might have pasted before, but this is the better, longer and more detailed version. A boy falls (jumps?) into a deep pool and then discovers that he cannot swim. Yikes!
The people nearby all freak and run around trying to do things. Notice that one doesn’t care, and just jumps in immediately to save the boy. A real hero. Rufus is in all of us.
Video 6 – Rescue before the car goes off the side of a cliff.
Yikes! You are driving along and then suddenly your car starts to slide off the road and down the sharp and steep cliff side. What are you going to do? Well, if you are the Rufus, you spring into action and help pull the people to safety. That’s what!
Video 7 – Alert Stop n’ Go employee.
China is filled with gas stations, and fast food quickie marts. Here we have a motor-trike that catches on fire. Luckily the station attendants are all well trained, and immediately spring into action. Time her actions. Within three seconds there is a fire extinguisher being sprayed on the fire.
The Rufus comes in all sizes and shapes!
Video 8 – Truck driver shelters disabled motorcycle rider.
This poor motorcycle rider is in distress. His bike konked out, in the middle of a very busy super highway and cars are racing left and right. Lucky for him that the truck driver decides to use his enormous rig to shelter the bike from the on-coming cars. This is a pure Rufus action. Heroes. They come in all sizes and shapes. They are people like YOU!
Video 9 – Rescue of an old man on the escalator.
When the unexpected happens, Rufus comes to the rescue.
Video 10 – Takedown of a radicalized uyghur Muslim with a machete.
So you are in China and this guy is threatening everyone in the parking lot. He’s got a large machete, and screaming “God is great!” in some kind of strange language. What are you going to do?
Thank you for reading this.
God bless.
Conclusion
We do not know when the calling will come.
However, when it calls, you must take action. It will not make you
wealthy, rich, famous, or attractive. But, it will make a difference
when you are judged upon death. Be the Rufus. Make a difference. Help
others. It’s our highest calling.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
More videos of personal heroism in China. This is part sixteen.
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos
all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday
people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and
an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run
and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or
will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference
in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the
background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly
note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to
view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your
browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds
to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to
load to get the full experience.
Video 1 – Boy helps man after being hit by a hit and run driver.
This is why China has cameras everywhere, and facial recognition. The hit and run driver was caught and tried and is doing hard time in a Chinese hard-labor prison. You do not hit a person and then speed off…
Video 2 – Girl being dragged forward on an escalator.
Big kudos to the hijab wearing woman that rushes to save her! Do not allow the inherent biases of the radicalized Muslim elements to color your views on everyone else. There are good people everywhere. Rufus’s abound. You just don’t know who they are.
Most times they don’t know either.
Video 3 – Taking a beating.
Sometimes we are our own heroes. We take the beatings of life… unfair, uncalled for, undeserving and we move onward. We continue and we push and we strive. Sometimes, being a hero… being a Rufus is to just keep being excellent when the entire rest of the work is pushing for you to give up.
Video 4 – Emergency run to the hospital.
When there is an emergency, the baby is sick and cannot breathe… what are you going to do? In this case we have a terrified mother and a baby with difficulty breathing. The child needs to go to the hospital immediately…
Video 5 – Allowing people to pass.
Being the best that we can be often means being helpful, kind and considerate of others. This can be helping a person, or doing more than that. What ever, you time on this planet, in this body is a short one. Make the most of it.
Be good and kind to others and don’t ever expect any kind of payback.
Video 6 – Being the Rufus.
Being the Rufus means being an everyday hero. It means being the best that you can be, helping others, and not being manipulated by the wealthy, the media or the powerful. It means doing things on your terms in your way.
Be the Rufus.
Video 7 – Young boy wants to meet his hero.
This is a cute video and shows that the players care about their fans. And yes, the kid did not need to interrupt the interview and the bodyguards shooed him away, the football player showed that he had heart and was supportive of his fans. He’s a true Rufus.
Video 8 – Not all heroes wear capes.
But what they do actually do is be the best that they can be. In every way, you must strive to be the best of who you are. Your rewards will be many. Check out this young girls writing ability.
Video 9 – Train track emergency.
Check out the Rufus that drops everything and comes to the rescue of this motorcycle rider who spilled right on top of the train tracks. He’s a real Rufus, that’s for sure!
Video 10 – Community.
We are all part of a community. You have your immediate family, then your friends, and then your local community. We need each other and that need is a a real and important one. Take care and embrace it.
Thank you for reading this.
God bless.
Conclusion
We do not know when the calling will come.
However, when it calls, you must take action. It will not make you
wealthy, rich, famous, or attractive. But, it will make a difference
when you are judged upon death. Be the Rufus. Make a difference. Help
others. It’s our highest calling.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
More stories of personal heroism in China. This is part eleven.
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos
all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday
people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and
an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run
and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or
will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference
in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the
background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly
note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to
view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your
browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds
to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to
load to get the full experience.
Video 1 – Baby left inside a locked car.
So, you are walking down the street and you hear a baby crying. You look inside a parked car nearby and you see that there is a baby locked inside. It is crying and you are worried. What are you going to do?
Pretend nothing is going on?
Or will you be the Rufus and spring into action?
Video 2 – Young child hops on a farm truck and takes it for a spin…
Except that he’s not so good at driving and crashes it right into a bridge. If you watched this, what would you do? Why, if it were me, I’d spring into Rufus mode…
Video 3 – Child falls into a pond and is drowning.
You hear screams and cries. You look over the railing and there is a small boy flailing his arms trying to keep his head above the water. What are you going to do? Call the police? Call the fire department? Or, as in this case, you kick off your shoes and go in and save the child.
You be the Rufus!
Video 4 – Small boy wants to meet his football hero.
Ok, so the bodyguards chase him away. No big deal. Famous people always have to deal with adoration of the mobs. But not this time. The football player (Soccer player, in American English) calls the boy over and chats with him a spell and sends him on his way.
Video 5 – Granny is trapped in the ice and is fading fast.
That’s right. It’s not just little children that can get into trouble. Somehow this grandmother fell through the ice and is having a dickens of time getting out. You can tell that she is fading fast and cannot move her arms very well. Who knows how long she has been in there? But you are the only one available in this small rural community. You need to save her and you need to act fast. Are you up to it?
Video 6 – Car hits a mother with her son.
Not only that, but you have to deal with a furious little boy. What are you going to do, and how are you going to handle it?
Video 7 – Husband helps his pregnant wife.
Been there done that. Yup, this is China, and this is the kind of things that a husband will do for his wife heavy in pregnancy.
Video 8 – Bridge rescue.
Flood waters have carried a man off and down river. He’s a goner for certain. Yet, there is a bridge across the river. Maybe if everyone rushes to the bridge they can save him. And that is what happens, the entire town rushes there…
Video 9 – Being the good guy.
You know, giving your seat, or place in line for the needy is a good thing to do. It’s a Rufus kind of thing. It shows character, worth and value. Be the Rufus.
Video 10 – A Tribute to the workers of the world.
Not every job is 9 to 5, sit within a cubicle, and stare at a computer screen of spreadsheets and emails. There are people who actually perform dangerous tasks daily. They risk their lives every single day, and no one notices or cares.
Here’s a tribute to them.
Oh, by the way, this first video of the man in the steel mill was a job that I actually did. It is hot, hot work and terribly exhausting.
Thank you for reading this.
God bless.
Conclusion
We do not know when the calling will come.
However, when it calls, you must take action. It will not make you
wealthy, rich, famous, or attractive. But, it will make a difference
when you are judged upon death. Be the Rufus. Make a difference. Help
others. It’s our highest calling.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
More stories of personal heroism in China. This is part five.
I have just posted parts 3 and 4 and almost immediately were besieged by a few trolls that thought that I was "unpatriotic" because all the videos are from China.
Well, the videos are from China because that is where I live, and that is what I have.
If you are in the United States and have USA videos that are not copyright protected, then you can certainly go ahead and post those ones. Please do so.
I would welcome them, and so would the rest of the world. We need to see that there are good people all over the world!
People! There are good people all over the world. And you, yes YOU! are one of them!
Here are some more videos of personal heroism. These videos
all take place in China, and show examples of how average, normal, everyday
people (or dogs and cats) can make a difference. When the calling strikes and
an emergency occurs, will you be the one who turns their back, or will you run
and offer help? Will you be the one who stays playing on the cell-phone, or
will you lend a helping hand? Will you be the person who will make a difference
in the lives of those around you, or are you just going to fade into the
background.
Make a difference. Be like Rufus!
Please kindly
note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to
view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your
browser.
These are all micro-videos of very short duration. From ten seconds
to three minutes. I would suggest that you, the reader, allow them to
load to get the full experience.
Video 1 – Child stuck while egressing from a window in a residential apartment.
There are a reason why there are bars on the windows in many Chinese houses. It is to keep the young children from climbing out the window and plunging down 10+ stories to their deaths. Never the less, the children don’t really understand fear, and pain and death. They don’t know, and they can really get into trouble if not attended to.
Here, we have a small boy that tried to climb outside of his barred window, and luckily got stuck, instead of plunging to his death.
What would you do if you witnessed this? Would you walk by? Play on your cell phone, or wait for the police? Or would you be the Rufus?
Video 2 – Dog defends a woman from a mugger.
Here’s a local village dog. Minding his own business. Probably doesn’t know this woman at all. He’s just going about his way, smelling things, eating trash and prowling for other dogs to play with. Then suddenly he sees another woman being mugged.
What does he do?
Watch…
Video 3 – 14 year old boy saves an infant.
Being a hero can happen at any time to any one. It might be big and important or not. You might be ready or not. You might know what to do or not.
Here we have a 14 year old boy who volunteers to save a tiny baby stuck in a very tiny hole in the ground…
Video 4 – Accident in front of a police station.
Accidents are terrible things. People die. Or you could get wounded in a way that your life is forever changed. Well, what happens when you smash up in front of a police station…?
Video 5 – Cleaning up after protestors wreck the street.
Everyone in the Western news knows about the “pro democracy” protests. They want “freedom” from China. Except that is not at all true. They are protesting because their future prospects are collapsing by a handful of super-wealthy people that own all the property in HK, and are slowly turning into serfs. It’s a legacy of Britain, and China has inherited it.
Anyways…
Most people deeply resent the protestors, and view HK as their home, where they live, and where their friends and families live. They do not want it destroyed by some teenage punks. So they help clean things up and set things right.
Like this businessman…
Video 6 – Rescue of a baby that rolled on to the train tracks.
This is like one of those old Hannah-Barbara cartoons turned into a real-life nightmare! A baby in a stroller rolls off the train station and onto the tracks where a High-Speed Train is fast approaching. You only have seconds. What would you do?
You’d be the Rufus.
Video 7 – Rescue of a girl being mugged.
China is a very safe nation. One of the reasons for this is that the people are empowered to take action. They will never worry about being sued by some high-priced lawyer for helping someone, or risk arrest because they broke some obscure law.
Here we see a girl getting mugged, and a businessman, who takes action!
BE . THE . RUFUS !
Video 8 – Woman tackles a dog that decides to attack a small child.
No dog is going to attack any child in my town, I’ll tell you what. It is unacceptable behavior and whether or not you love that rottweiler is of no consequence when the well-being of a child is of concern…
Video 9 – Woman collapses in a parking lot.
When someone is in distress, what do you do? Would you stare into your cell phone and keep walking? Would you pretend not to notice? Would you worry what your boss would say when you arrive to work late?
You be the Rufus.
Video 10 – Guy falls out of a window and needs immediate rescue.
It’s not just children that fall out of windows, it can be adults as well. We do not know what the story is here, but obviously the fellow is in distress and needs immediate assistance.
Good thing that Rufus is around.
Conclusion
We do not know when the calling will come. However, when it call, you
must take action. It will not make you wealthy, rich, famous, or
attractive. But, it will make a difference when you are judged upon
death. Be the Rufus. Make a difference. Help others. It’s our highest
calling.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
It’s true, and boy does it make me feel old. When I joined the Navy, this was the latest thing. The talk was that it would replace the F-14 Tomcat and the E-6 Intruders. Never did happen, though.
The single-seat F/A-18 Hornet is the nation's first strike-fighter. It was designed for traditional strike applications such as interdiction and close air support without compromising its fighter capabilities.
- The US Navy -- Fact File: F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter
I well remembering seeing my first Hornet up front and close. It as at NAS, NASC Pensacola , Florida. It was a typical Florida day with blue skies and cumulus clouds at just under 1000 meters. Hot and sunny. We were wearing service khaki’s with garrison caps.
An aviator was practicing on a Boeing CH-47 Chinook nearby. Turn to port, then turn to starboard. Over and over. It was making a racket but we didn’t mind. The huge awesomeness of the F/A-18 Hornet lay there in front of us in all of it’s glory.
For me, this retirement of the F/A-18 Hornet is the end of a historical milestone. Here is a nice video, and it is my tribute to this great aircraft.
I never had the opportunity to fly this wonderful beast. My future lay elsewhere, but others in my class did. Today, the latest incarnation of this monster is the “Super Hornet”, and by all accounts, it’s quite an aircraft.
My “hats are off” to anyone who has had the opportunity to fly this wonderful machine.
“Overall, the Hornet was my first love. I’ll always look back fondly on flying the F/A-18C and often times I miss it. However, there is no doubt the Rhino is the jet I want to fly off the boat into combat. Great question, keep them coming!” – Former Naval Aviator G.M.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This post describes some stories of personal heroism. Included are some micro-videos that depict some acts of heroism. I personally believe that inside all us, we all can be a hero. We just need to take on the mantle when needed and go forth and do what is necessary.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Emergency in route to the hospital.
Sometimes it’s part of our job. Like when you are a hospital worker like a doctor or a nurse. Sometimes it isn’t. You are just an innocent bystander minding your own business. But when you are called, what are you going to do?
Neighbors
Sometimes it’s just you and a neighbor down the street is in crisis. You need to go out and forth and help them out. Ar you up for it? Can you lend a hand to the best of your ability. Or will you try to cover your face so you can ignore the problem like a coward.
You get friends and you all work together. You help. You do what ever is necessary. Be a man!
You alone
Sometimes you are alone. No one is there to help you out. You are on your own. What are you going to do? Seconds matter. Are you going to wait on the sidelines. What would you do?
Notice the others, totally oblivious to what is transpiring next to them.
Rescue a person in distress
You are at a train station, or a stop. You check you phone and are waiting for the train to pull in, when you see someone crawl onto the tracks to kill themselves. What are you going to do? Let them die? Or are you going to risk your own life to save theirs? Be the Rufus.
Notice the others. Too little. Too late.
Baby fallen into the icy cold water
What will you do if you see a baby in icy cold water in January? Would you pull out your phone and call the police, or dive right on it and save the kid? A hero would stop thinking and risk his own life to save the baby.
Notice the others milling around with their hands in their pockets. Useless.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are
some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you
might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up
in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society
within communist China. As there are some really stark differences
between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have
broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones
actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little
different, in subtle ways.
Funny Pictures
Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Not, that I want to get too political, but this video that is playing all across China pretty much says it all. It’s all about the Trump Trade War. And it shows how the Chinese feel about it.
This post is about a movie that is playing all over China this Summer. It is allegorical. While it is a story about a British Boxing champion, and his involvement within China, there are very CLEAR parallels about what is going on in the Trump Tariff situation.
China has this allegorical movie about the Trump USA trade war with China that has been playing all over China during the Summer of 2019. It’s well worth the watch, and it says quite a bit if you only just listen.
Viewing it garners mixed feelings from the precious few Americans who have watched it. There are two types of reactions;
[1] On one hand, Yeah! They don’t like the tariffs and trade situation. Great! Well, tough cookies! Suffer! See what we care. We can wait this out. You must play by our rules. If you don’t like it, well then too bad! We can always find other trading partners.
[2] On the other hand, well… um… maybe China would be a far better friend than an enemy. Who knows what they are really capable of or have planned.
Rush Limbaugh comments
To understand the situation let’s look at Rush Limbaugh. He’s a major voice in Conservative circles in America, and perhaps one of the few Republicans that haven’t sold out the American people for some song and dance. You know, like Jeff Sessions, Jeb Bush, and John McCain has. He’s still a trooper, slogging through the Washington swamp, and enduring the slings and missiles from the American mainstream media.
Here’s what Rush (El’ Rush-bo) has to say on the “Trump Chinese Tariff issue”…
RUSH:
So the president started here with China. He is dead set on winning this trade war with the ChiComs.
Now, the thing about this that I think will go over a lot of people’s heads unless there’s somebody like me explaining this, is he takes what to most people is a complex issue: The China trade deals.
I mean, it is a miasma to a lot of people.
It’s so convoluted and confusing that nobody knows really what the stakes are.
Why is it happening?
What’s it all about?
Trump takes this complex issue that nobody has even paid attention to for decades and does his best to make it understandable and important, and here is how that sounded.
THE PRESIDENT:
We’re talking to China. We’re not ready to make a deal. But we’ll see what happens. But, you know, we’ve been hurt by China for 25, 30 years. Nobody’s done anything about it, and we have no choice but to do what we’re doing. We called them on manipulation, and they brought their numbers back, and they brought ’em back rapidly. We have an open dialogue. We’ll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September. If we do, that’s fine; if we don’t, that’s fine. But it’s time that somebody does what we are doing.
RUSH:
When he talks about “the numbers,” he’s talking about their currency manipulation. They tried to deflate their currency on Wednesday, and it worked to the point of rocking our stock market down 900-some-odd points, and then Trump had some harsh words for ’em and they revalued the next night, and the stock market rebounded.
Of course, the panic that ensued on that one day when the market dropped 900 points was typical of the kind of reporting we get in the media today.
Rush is correct. This is exactly what has happened. (More or less.)
Though, the truth is closer to the fact that China has been keeping the USD-to-Yuan rate artificial for the last twenty years or so. Not, as you might have the impression, naturally at 6.3:1 and then suddenly changed. So yes. They stopped propping up the rate, and it fell like a brick and messed up the USA stocks.
However, how it is being reported is a bit of a lie and a manipulation.
As reported; The USD to Yuan rate has been normal for the last twenty years. Suddenly China manipulated it’s currency to hurt the USD.
But that is a partial truth, equating to an outright lie. The last twenty years has been anything but normal. Here’s a better picture…
The True Situation: China has been artificially propping up the USD – Yuan exchange rate to slow down it’s hyper-active business section for the last twenty years. It has done this for selfish reasons, and the USA has benefited with this exchange rate. When the Trump Tariff wars hit a “road bump” the Chinese stopped propping up the exchange rate. They did so purposefully, (I personally believe) in order to aid in their tariff negotiations with President Trump. They did this to achieve negotiation advantage.
The trade wars initiated by Donald Trump has had an effect on China, though it is not as severe as the mainstream America makes it out to be.
So yeah. The exchange rate was artificial.
And yeah, China affected it, causing a drop in the USA stock exchange.
However, the details on this event and this exchange are not being reported accurately at all. Instead it is being reported in such a way as to make it appear that China is manipulating the currency exchange rate for their benefit. When the exact opposite occurred. They STOPPED manipulating their currency rate.
So even El’ Rush-bo is confused. He’s sitting pretty in the USA. He’s never been to China. Knows nothing about China except what he’s read from “experts”. Most of whom haven’t been to China in years.
Hey! If I am going to talk about golfing (for example). I sure as heck better know the difference between a driver and a putter. What a slice is, and how it differs from a hook. As well as to know what a "slow green" is.
I just can't watch a baseball game, eat a hotdog and chat about golf, when I have never been on a golf course. Played a round. Or owned any clubs.
Rush calls them “Chi-Coms”, Chinese Communists. Which they actually call themselves, but which means something totally different when heard by a Chinese compared to an American.
American Person;
"Chinese Communism" means hard-core tyrannical Marxist government. Similar to what is present in North Korea, and Cuba.
Chinese Person;
"Chinese Communism" is socialism with Chinese characteristics.
There are no political parties as all of the Chinese people want the same thing; a traditional life that is safe from interference. Free Market Reaganomics implemented by Mr. Deng in the 1980's led to the "great recovery" resulting in what China is today.
I would say that the problem with American media is that no one ever really … I mean… really reports. They just put their own individual “spin” on the day’s events. Their popularity within America is determined whether their audience agrees or disagrees with what they have to say.
Even if it is completely and totally wrong.
How the American mainstream media reports the effect of the Trump Tariffs on China as a whole. Absolutely not accurate at all. Bloodied, but in no way knocked out of the going.
The goal of the American mainstream media is to manipulate the people. This manipulation serves a purpose. It keeps Americans living in a constant state of fear and anxiety, from which they can be easily manipulated. Much like sheep, cattle, or chickens. They have been doing so for decades.
American mainstream media manipulation of reported content to invoke fear and mob-behaviors in the public by controlling the dialog.
The Movie
Now, this here is the Chinese response to the Donald Trump “Trade War” with China. It is a (sort of) friendly warning (China to President Trump) that is playing in all the movie theaters in China this Summer.
Bet you all weren’t aware of that!
I wonder why? Where’s all those “Chinese experts” and “China policy planners”, aren’t they aware of this? What about all those “talking heads” on the mainstream news, and the conservative political commentators?
No where to be found.
That is simply because they are all actors playing a role. Which, of course, is to manipulate. They tell you what YOU WANT TO HEAR, or arouse a fear to manipulate you to take some kind of action.
Nah. They have about as much awareness about China, as you the reader does about the block buster Pop hit 芒种. Which is absolutely zilch.
News reporting in America is dead. It only took about twenty years for the people to start realizing it. Today, it’s all just actors and actresses reading scripted lines. Those rare few that remain genuine to their beliefs, such as Rush Limbaugh, are only as good as their experiences. Without personal first-hand experiences, they are just fellow strangers espousing opinions.
Anyways…
This micro video runs for 1.47 minutes. It’s short but sweet and is a message straight from Beijing to Washington. I do think that it is worth a watch, even if you don’t like China, Chinese people, or Chinese food.
Watch it for the reasons why other Americans have watched it… to either gloat and feel superior, or to sit back and ponder the enormity of the situation.
I think it is well worth the watch, and so here it is…
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
—– Video Start
—- Video End
WISE UP!
The “old rules” of global politics will no longer work.
Oh, you don’t think that it has anything to do with trade? Watch the clip again, and pay attention to the English dialog…
Who do you think you are?
You collect money from me. You don't share it.
Do as I say.
You are not qualified to make deals with me.
And the discussion continues…
If you quit, you can take this business too. I can get anybody to take care of it.
And then, the sheer arrogance of the Westerners reaches an explosion point when he says…
Will somebody get this yellow piece of fat to get out of here!
After that we see how the Westerner battles and demolishes the Chinese man. It’s strong. It’s vicious, and he dies.
He’s dead. The Westerner has won.
Then, it’s payback time.
That's the clip and that's the message. The point is that Westerners misunderstand politeness for strength and advantage. It takes merit, skill and ability to defeat arrogance, bravado and strength.
Now, let me tell you my take…
America is a global power on the decline.
China is a rising global power.
China would prefer to work with America for their own benefit. While America would like to use China to advance their social-economical standing.
Well… duh!
You might not want to hear this, but it is true. Compare the stats. How many new parks were built in the USA compared to China? How many skyscrapers? How many bridges? How many High Speed Trains? How many hospitals? How many new schools.
Of course, the statist would simply point and say “ah, well… China is a third world nation, it doesn’t take much to move it forward“. Except that it isn’t, and wasn’t. The tyranny of communism devastated it. It took up until 1976 until it was finally vanquished, and Reaganomics was instituted by Mr. Deng that turned the nation around.
Don't thank Mr. Deng. Yes, he introduced it, but it was the Great Ronald Reagan that introduced the technique to the world. Too bad that the Bush dynasty made fun of it, and allowed progressive politics under the guise of RINO activists to force America to become what it is today.
Meanwhile, [1] China is growing. That is simply not mistakable.
And [2] America, held down with the burden of progressive Marxism, a swamp-like government filled with crooks and swindlers, is on the decline.
But don’t believe me. Look at the charts why don’t ya…
Whether you believe me or not, this chart tells the entire story quite succinctly. The “trade wars” is happening and reaching a peak in 2019 simply because the United States wants to remain the dominant economic leader in the world. It’s all really that simple.
These kind of charts abound, and while they might differ by a few months one way or the other, the message is all quite clear. The USA is in decline, and China is ascendant.
Chart of real GDP comparing the United States with China. Check out the dates. Now compare the dates with the implementation of the Trump Tariff Wars.
Americans don’t want either of these two things to occur. They want the status quo. They want inflation to stop, and for the march of progressiveness to end, and for them to get back just a few of the freedoms that they have lost over the years. Nothing too demanding. Just a few things…
Some things to ponder
It’s pretty difficult to “bring back American industry” to America when all the manufacturing talent is Chinese. Yeah. That’s right. Who the heck do you all think has been making those products that you have been buying for the last 20 to 30 years? Elves? Dwarfs?
Here, Manufacturing Talent represents skilled and educated factory professionals. Process engineers, manufacturing engineers, build planners, tool and die makers, test and quality experts and other similarly skilled people.
America used to have them. But spending twenty years in soup kitchen lines has caused many of them to change careers and take up other occupations. Most especially during the Obama presidency.
It’s going to be pretty difficult to disassemble the manufacturing equipment, and process tanks when they are now the property of Chinese nationals. When a non-Chinese company wants to operate in China they must create a joint-venture with a Chinese national. This person will, by law, own 51% of the company and if forbidden by law to give controlling interest to a non-Chinese person. (Which is why WOFE business structures were created in China.)
Just to put this in perspective, a single automated "break"... the machine that cuts and folds sheet metal panels is the cost of an Lamborghini. A company is not going to start from scratch and order up five or six of these units without passing on the costs to the consumer.
It’s going to be pretty difficult to train American workers to work in the (brought back) factories. American can do the work. Though it will be at roughly 10x the rate of the Chinese worker, and maybe 20x if it is a union factory.
You see the only people that can train them will be denied the required H1-B or Q1 visas (as all are now in the hands of software engineers out of India).
Even if everything went well, it will take a minimum of two years to “bring a factory back” to the United States. There are regulations to meet, people to pay off (and yes, boys and girls, capital-project bribery is common in the United States), and agency approvals to meet. After all, consider the difficulties and hurtles one must go through to make sure that the tiger-striped bo-bo fly isn’t endangered.
These are all HARD and REAL issues that no one is addressing.
At that, the company owners will need to make a strong business decision.
China does not mess around. They are a serious, serious nation that deserves respect. Do not poke the dragon. They have read the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, and they well know Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally .
This decision is, “what is the easiest and most cost effective solution to the Trump Tariff Wars with China?”
Leave the factory in China. Allow the USD-Yuan exchange rate to plummet, and charge American consumers for the difference.
Relocate the factory to the United States. Retrain staff from scratch. Order brand new processing equipment all over again, from non-Chinese sources. Have the equipment paid for out of the capital budget (somehow). Wait until it is made, debugged, and then start trial production in two years. In the mean time, work out other temporary “work around” solutions.
Relocate the factory to a cheap labor nation other than China. Here there would be the same issues as with relocating the factory to the United States. However, it will cost less to do, have far less regulation to deal with, and will have substantially reduced labor costs.
The answer is clear.
So, if American companies start to do this, how will it benefit America and Americans?
The Bigger Picture
Both the IMF and the World Bank now rate China as the world’s largest economy based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), a measure that adjusts countries’ GDPs for differences in prices. In simple terms, this means that because your money stretches further in China than it would in the US, China’s GDP is adjusted upwards.
And it won’t be too long before China’s economy surpasses the US’s by other measures, too. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) predicts it will happen in 2029.
- The World Economic Forum
Every world leader can see the trends and using the forecasts as a kind of crystal ball, they can see where to “place their bets” for long term trading and economic policy. It’s not with the United States.
Ah. You don’t believe me? Well, check out the data…
Europe views China as the world’s leading economic partner. Not the USA, and long term strategies and alliances will increasingly indicate that fact.
And while there are all sort of other factors that might enter the picture, and alter the outcome to some degree or the other, the fact is quite clear…
The USA can no longer afford to conduct business as usual. The world is changing. And like the contentious business climate (1980’s through 2010) that forced companies to down-size, up-size, re-size, re-structure and go though all sorts of gyrations (while the bloated US government just got bigger and bigger), the US government will have to go through that as well.
Requires a serious downsizing of the military and the scope of it’s use. America can no longer afford fighting eight nations simultaneously, policing the globe, operating thousands of military bases on foreign lands and being the proxy fighting force for the global oligarchy.
America requires a serious downsizing, or elimination, of numerous agencies. They are too large. Far too bloated. Filled and staffed with inefficient workers that take in far too much operational costs compared to their output.
Requires “Business Level” staff cuts, and budget cuts all across the Federal Government.
Requires a serious replacement for the Federal Reserve. (Of course!)
None of this will be easy, and it will be fought aggressively by the progressive cabal.
Group photo of the American Senate in 2019.
Knowing this, and the reader must agree, these steps must be taken immediately to sustain and continued American economic dominance in the global arena.
Oh, and about 芒种…
Now, here’s your opportunity to “get a leg up” on all those “experts” pontificating on China and the Trump “trade war”. Learns something that these “experts” haven’t a clue about, why don’t ya.
Yeah, 芒种 is a very popular song all over China, and everyone is singing and dancing to it. It’s sort of a Austin, Texas version of a Korean pop song, done to Chinese traditional beat.
Look, all that I am saying is that unless you open your eyes to see things AS THEY REALLY ARE, and stop listen to the news that tells you what you want to hear you will follow the pied piper to a very dark place.
Most Americans haven’t a clue as to what China is, how it operates, and how formidable it is. They think it is a backward, but huge, version of Mexico, North Korea, or Cuba.
They are convinced that the ONLY things China makes is cheap and inexpensive junk products. Not realizing that China has been supplying most of the world’s electronics for decades and designing and manufacturing the engines, mechanisms, and equipment used in high end cars and jet aircraft for years as well.
Americans pontificate on this false narrative, carrying on and on about the “junk” that “China floods” the USA with. Not at all giving credit to the American retailers that are actually the ones doing it. Factually, China manufactures just about everything. But most of the low-quality and cheap products end up in the USA simply because the American retailers want it that way.
Which is really strange when you think about it. The disconnect between reality and perception is so amazing and so stark that it is mind-blowing to me.
"OMG! What my friends and family think about China is so... so... off the wall, and nonsensical that it blows my mind. China is really, really, REALLY not what everyone thinks. They seriously have no idea, and they are wrong... really wrong about everything."
-My intern Aijia (from London) discussing the perceptions her friends have of China compared to her experiences after spending one month in China.
As far as all that “freedom” that everyone talks about having in America…
The USA hasn’t been a Republic since the 12th amendment.
It hasn’t been for small government since the American Civil War, and the citizens haven’t had any Rights since President Wilson and FDR changed the Constitution. Not to mention given Congressional power to the Judicial courts, and Federal agencies.
What Rights do you have if you have to pee in a cup to work?
Today America is a progressive Marxist “utopia” and it is only a few short years away from full implementation of hard-line Stalinist controls. Yes. It is. It really, really is.
How democracy ends.
Just follow all the “bread crumbs” from President Wilson , through FDR up to and including Clinton and Obama. America today looks nothing like the 1789 Constitution. (1776 Constitution + 1789 Bill of Rights.)
Point of no return.
America is not what everyone thinks it is.
With that being plainly understood take note. China is not what everyone thinks it is either.
The fastest trains are in China.
Ya all, best open up your eyes before it’s too late.
Trade wars are dangerous things to get involved in. Ultimately you want a win-win situation where every party gets some advantage.
While I do appreciate what Donald Trump is trying to do with the Chinese, he’d best stop listening to the moron (deep state RINO plants) that are advising him. They are only going to get the USA backed into situations that will be very uncomfortable.
How America handles this ascendancy of China at this time, will determine the future relationship with the largest and (will be) the most important nation on the planet. I do think it would be a very good idea to keep on their good side.
For our children.
Just sayin’ you all.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Some Fun Videos
Here’s a collection of some fun videos taken all over Asia. While
there are many videos taken in China, we also have some taken in
Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and Japan as well. It’s all in fun.
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
We continue in our video exploration of Asia. This episode has some really great and noteworthy entries. Especially the Chinese reaction to the Trump Trade War.
Before we get moving on to the videos, let’s talk a little about the screen splash above. It is from the music video by Kid Rock called “First Kiss”. It is a tribute to the care-free and easy life of the 1970’s when people would go about and have fun and drink together.
Scenes from the Kid Rock song tribute to the 1970’s lifestyle in the song “First Kiss”.
Morning & Evening group exercises are still a common sight
When the Chinese government co-opted the “Dancing Grandmother” network, no one knew what to expect. They thought that at the bare minimum that it would tone down all the noise and obstreperous racket that infested the Chinese cities. Well, by making it part of the “healthy China” initiative, it has become very popular.
Read about this program, and why it exists here; (Don’t fret the link will open up into another tab. It’s a good read, I’ll tell you what.)
Anyways, it is just as popular as ever and everyone from elementary and middle school ages to 90-year old grandmothers participate in the group dances (and learn a few dance moves in the process).
China responds to the Trump Trade War
China wants and desires very much to be on friendly and peaceful relations with the USA. In many ways, traditional conservative Chinese are very much like their American counterparts. They understand why Trump is doing what he is doing and feel that he is a formidable businessman. Not the “joke” that CNN, and the UK Guardian make him out as.
That being said, the attitude in China is that if you want to have some competition (say in sports, or in this case) in business, then they will fight to win. The Chinese will unleash everything, and they do fight to win.
So While Trump is instigating the “tariff wars”, exerting influences on up-and-growing tech companies (like Huawei), negotiating with other nations to stop doing business with China, and using CIA dirty tricks in Hong Kong, the Chinese are not sitting back. They released the brakes on the yuan-USD conversion and let the market decide. So far, the value of the yuan is falling relative to the USD, and now everything made in China is 30% cheaper relative to what it was before Trump.
But it’s more than that.
You might not like China. You might be under the impression that China is hard-core Marxist (it’s not), or you might be under other misconceptions as spread by the Western media. But one thing is very clear to anyone who has had any dealings with the Chinese; they don’t play around, and they fight to win.
The Chinese fight to win.
Here’s one of the more popular movies this Summer and you should look at it from the point of view of the Chinese in a “trade war” with the West…
Look at it as a friendly, but serious, message to Trump from Beijing.
Oh, you don’t think that it has anything to do with trade? Watch the clip again, and pay attention to the English dialog…
Who do you think you are?
You collect money from me. You don't share it.
Do as I say.
You are not qualified to make deals with me.
And the discussion continues…
If you quit, you can take this business too. I can get anybody to take care of it.
And then, the sheer arrogance of the Westerners reaches an explosion point when he says…
Will somebody get this yellow piece of fat to get out of here!
After that we see how the Westerner battles and demolishes the Chinese man. It’s strong. It’s vicious, and he dies.
He’s dead. The Westerner has won.
Then, it’s payback time.
Get together in Thailand
In the United States, at least during the 1960’s, the 1970’s, and well into the 1980’s mu friends and I would go cruising in our cars up and down the town streets. We would then go to specific spots. Much like the “Moon Tower” in the movie “Dazed and Confused” where we would party.
Which always involved beer, and often some kinds of other libation.
Hanging out. During the 1970’s we would all hang out together with friends and go drinking, singing, and dancing together in the countryside. At that time we would listen to Led Zep, and other classics of the 1970’s.
I don’t know if this is still an activity in the Untied States.
For some reason, I don’t think so. Simply because it would be one of the first things that busy-body democrats would try to regulate, fine, fee or make laws against.
Yah. You know this is true.
Screen shot from the song “First Kiss” by Kid Rock. It’s a tribute to the days when young folk would go riding around the town and hanging out with each other. While many Americans wish and yearn for those day again, they are not gone. They might be banned or difficult int he USA, but the rest of the world still celebrates those times…everyday.
Well, it’s still a popular pastime in the rest of the world. Here’s what it’s like to gather with your 20-something friends and play around with along the Thailand-Cambodian border…
Everyday China
This next video takes place in Shanghai at night. yeah it’s super-typical. But what I would like to point out is some of the very common elements that are found all over China, that you might miss if you were not aware of it all.
When you watch the video, please pay attention to the painted road markings on the road. Notice that they have incorporated solar powered LED lighting that flashes to alert people. Notice the body cameras, radios, and lighting on the police officers. Notice the streets how clean they are and devoid of trash, as well as notice that there isn’t any graffiti anywhere.
You will also notice the raised walkway surfaces on the sidewalk. This is common all through China. It is for blind people so that they can make their way around town.
Watch the video and look for those things…
Hiphi – The Chinese Tesla
Of course, the vast bulk of storage batteries, electric motors, automotive controls, and complex wiring systems are all made out of China. (Outsourced from the USA since the mid 1990’s.) Therefore, it should not be any surprise that China is leading the world in the production of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Bet ya didn’t know that.
Not only are there more vehicles (on a quantitative basis) made in China, but there are far more models, types and variations. Heck, here in tiny Zhuhai, almost all the buses have been fully “green” (all electric) for two years now.
I like them that way. So quiet.
Big difference from the noisy gas-powered behemoths that lumber along.
Here’s one of the car brands. I place it here not because it’s the best or anything like that. I just like the design and the style. Oh, by the way, you can’t buy it in the USA. It’s going to be another ten or so years before the automotive regulations catch up with the innovations out of China. (That’s why the implementation of LED’s on American cars took 15 years, don’t you know. And, only five years in Germany and the UK.)
We become conditions to accept our chains.
This video is addressed to my fellow Americans, not all of them, but rather to the trolls who don’t read anything that I post. Those that don’t study the issues. Those that refuse to look at things from a third-person point of view and are not listening to my warnings.
– Warnings –
China is growing and it is not what you think it is.
China is a serious nation, run by serious people who got into positions of power through merit, not popularity.
China plays to win.
America was established as a Republic. But, today it is an Oligarchy.
We have grown used to the loss of liberty and freedom that America now represents. We do not realize that America today is the absolute opposite of what it was first established as.
Most Americans live a life in ignorance and fear. They don’t realize just how far down into tyranny they have fallen.
For instance, we pay taxes, and watch as the government overspends it. That is NOT in the benefit of the citizenry.
We believe that we own houses and cars, yet both are subject to confiscation by the government. That is NOT ownership.
We must submit to regulations, pay various fees for the most simple tasks and ask permission to do anything from selling lemonade in your front yard, to fishing.
People that is NOT freedom.
Americans do not realize how conditioned they are to their life as a serf. They have no idea that all these things are all chains and bindings that restrict their freedom.
Like this video aptly illustrates…
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
We continue with the video exploration of Asia, as well as my often cantankerous narrative. As we proceed, let’s talk a little bit about the splash screen above. It’s from the wonder 1960’s movie “Our man Flint”, which is a sort of parody of 007 James Bond movies.
James Coburn stars as super-spy Derek Flint in this action comedy which takes the tongue-in-cheek wit of the James Bond series and shifts it into high gear.
Flint is an ultra-sophisticated operative of international intelligence agency Z.O.W.I.E.
He’s a master of martial arts, electronic gadgetry (his cigarette lighter can perform 83 special functions), languages both human and animal (he can communicate with dolphins in a pinch), and even gives ballet lessons to the dancers of the Bolshoi.
Being a specially trained secret agent, he is able to rest most comfortably in the most unusual circumstances. Here he is getting a full weeks rest in a few hours by using his super powers of concentration.
So when his fellow agents begin dropping like flies, Z.O.W.I.E. assigns Flint the task of finding out who the killers happen to be.
One of the things that I, and many others, enjoyed is the bevy of attractive women that secret agents always seemed to have surrounding them. It comes with the territory… that is, as long as you know your real purpose… heh heh.
While James Bond was obviously the king of the international spy boom of the 1960s, there were many pretenders to the throne – Dean Martin’s Matt Helm, the Men (and Girl) From U.N.C.L.E., Richard Johnson’s Bulldog Drummond, television’s Maxwell Smart. even Neil Connery as 007’s alleged relative in Operation Kid Brother. The only super-agent who came close to Bond on the big screen was James Coburn’s know-it-all Derek Flint, the man from ZOWIE (Zonal Organisation for World Intelligence and Espionage).
Flint is the sort of fellow who meditates by suspending his life functions for a three hours, fills his spare time by compiling a dictionary of dolphin language or teaching ballet in Russia, and lives in a chic, gagdet-filled penthouse with four varied glamorous girlfriends.
It doesn’t pretend to be a serious thriller, though Coburn – the man who made silver hair and roll-neck pullovers into icons of cool – has some Bruce Lee-tought martial arts moves in acrobatic fight scenes which require him to toss stuntmen around the room.
By the time of the third James Bond film, 1964's Goldfinger, the spy craze had exploded across pop culture, spattering the walls with poison blow-dart ink pens and steely-eyed, ultra-virile heroes.
Perhaps the Cold War fantasy adventures of "real men" ruggedly vanquishing godless Commies and other evil empires, all while bedding improbably beautiful women, were a meat-eating guy's antacid against the discomforting reflux from real global tensions — not to mention home-grown indigestion embodied by the Beatles, antiwar protests, and the Women's Movement.
Plus, utilizing the Cold War for entertainment sure simplified things for moviegoers and TV-watchers. Head-throbbingly complex geopolitical currents were reduced to sprightly three-act suspense dramas that could be wrapped up within two hours.
Guns, gadgets, and girls were the primary colors of the comic-book spy universe. Certainly there were serious-minded Bond imitators, such as the Harry Palmer series starring Michael Caine. But someone was bound to play the genre for laughs, and in short order the Bond spoofs outnumbered the Bond movies themselves.
In fact, the film version of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, hit the screen in '67 as a clowned-up comedy.
Cocktail crooner Dean Martin starred in four mixed efforts featuring soused secret agent Matt Helm. Then as now, a Hollywood trend didn't end until it was well past tired, and titles such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, both starring Vincent Price and his army of lethal fembots, made sure that we all tired quite thoroughly.
The best of the spy-spoof bunch was 1965's Our Man Flint, a hyper-kitschy and entertaining time capsule starring James Coburn as a Bond surrogate played so straight you could shave with him.
This tongue-way-in-cheek action comedy garnered favorable reviews and became Fox's third highest grossing film of the year. Coburn — terrific with this dry, crackling material — is Derek Flint, ultra-secret agent aiding Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage).
Our Man Flint made a shrewd move by sticking to the Bond template. The brilliant and resourceful Flint works alone, follows each clue to the next level, employs superhuman physical and mental prowess, beds gorgeous gals, gets captured, and prevents World Domination in an orgy of destruction at the evildoers' secret volcano island.
However, instead of being a bozo-nosed vaudeville like the Austin Powers movies, Our Man Flint out-Bonds the Bond films by respectfully retooling the familiar Bond elements and then turning the knob to 11.
-DVD Journal
There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in beloved spy spoof Our Man Flint when an extra blatantly cops a feel from a curvy, scantily clad actress. This unintentional detail probably as much about Our Man Flint’s place in the firmament of swingin’-’60s camp as anything else in the picture. Released at pretty much the zenith of the “spy craze”—clinched by the James Bond films and carried on by slew of imitators on screens big and small—Our Man Flint introduced private superspy Derek Flint, as portrayed by the inimitable James Coburn amongst bevies of “babes.”
The plot is the usual hokum and Edward Mulhare isn’t really eccentric
enough to compete in the villainy stakes, but Coburn is plainly
enjoying himself so much, and the trimmings are so stylish, that it’s
impossible not to enjoy.
Jerry Goldsmith provides a jaunty, hummable score. Coburn and Cobb returned, in similarly lightweight style, in a sequel, In Like Flint, which took the super-agent into outer space a decade before Roger Moore got there in Moonraker. The character later reappeared, played by Ray Danton, in Dead on Target, a 1976 TV pilot that didn’t go anywhere.
To the extent that Our Man Flint works, it does so due to its tossed-off wit. For instance, like the odd mismatch of names and faces for mad scientists Doctors Krupov (Rhys Williams), Wu (Peter Brocco), and Schneider (Benson Fong). And let’s not forget the sheer oddity of Coburn, the toothy, gangly character actor who nevertheless charms his way into stardom here with laid-back cool. You know, there’s definite nostalgic appeal in the shag-adelic style, which laid the groundwork for Austin Powers (which sampled Flint’s Presidential-hotline ringtone).
This movie is a classic of the spy-genre, in its all-out parody glory.
Age has only added a new sheen of humor, as we guffaw at the retro aura such as the kung-fu grips, the 1960’s womanizing, go-go dancing, and ridiculous faux-buddhist upper-class chicness.
Our hero, having just returned from teaching ballet at Moscow's Bolshoi, is called into service. Z.O.W.I.E. agents have been killed while seeking the mysterious masterminds behind G.A.L.A.X.Y, an organization controlling the world's weather and holding humanity hostage to a plan for a scientifically regimented (and otherwise wonderfully beneficial) new world order.
While enforcing The American Way, Flint performs impromptu surgery, stops his heart for prolonged periods, repeatedly annoys his flustered boss (Lee J. Cobb) with his undisciplined ways, invents a Zippo lighter with 82 functions ("83 if you want to light a cigar"), traces a poison through a bouillabaisse recipe served in only one spot on Earth, jump-starts a man's heart via a light bulb socket, wisecracks with British Agent "Triple-O Eight," judo-chops gangs of bad guys, avoids disintegration in an electrofragmentizer, and finds his four live-in lovelies ensnared within G.A.L.A.X.Y's Dr. Evil-like H.Q.
Supported by Jerry Goldmsith's way groovy musical score, Flint does it all while keeping his tux spotless, his demeanor cool, and his women satisfied.
Comparisons between Flint's pastiche heroics and the Austin Powers series are obvious. However, Our Man Flint and its sequel, In Like Flint, are exaggerated burlesques of their own time and the pop superspy tropes that flourished then. Therefore, we can more accurately compare the Flint flicks with Scream or Not Another Teen Movie, two sendups of contemporary conventions and clichés that had grown so familiar to audiences that laughter was the only response left.
-DVD Journal
Our Man Flint is an essential entry in the genre of parody, and actually manages to stand on its own without knowledge of what it is trying to parody in a way that the more recent (and less sophisticated) Austin Powers has managed to do.
Yet where Austin Powers is slapstick hilarity, Our Man Flint is buffoonishly mock-serious…. a parody style that fits the spy-film genre far more comfortably and more satisfyingly… and has aged remarkably well for a highly topical parody.
Derek Flint (James Coburn) is America’s answer to James Bond but, unlike his British counterpart, Flint is a bona-fide master of, well, everything: Disguises; Karate; Languages; Gadgets; Ballet; Zen (Flint ‘relaxes’ by suspending his stiffened body between two chairs, one under his head, one under his heels. No special effects or support required, Coburn could actually do this). Women throw themselves at him, and men want to be him. Everybody, that is, except his frazzled old boss Lloyd Cramden (Lee J. Cobb) who, against his better judgement, must persuade Flint to come out of retirement when the evil Galaxy corporation unleash their wicked plot to control the world’s weather. Flint’s globetrotting takes him from New York to Marseilles to Rome and, finally, to Galaxy’s island hideout (which bears a striking resemblance to the Fox Ranch seen in many other films), a spectacular paradise full of bikinied beauties spouting phrases like, “All that is asked of me I shall perform.”
And guys, you may want to think twice about watching Our Man Flint with a wife or girlfriend. As part of their broad comedic approach, both Flint films unashamedly parade coprolitic sexual attitudes that would make even Mr. Powers wince.
By their nature, '60s spy movies bared a phallocentric revolt against the era's "sexual revolution." Our Man Flint is giddy and harmless while still being sexist in ways that no one could get away with today. Flint's sybaritic lifestyle includes a Manhattan penthouse staffed by a quartet of pliant babes who, it's clear, exist to provide him with anything he desires.
The sexy villainess (Gila Golan, Miss Israel 1961) likewise falls into his arms and bedsheets within minutes.
The film's final third is an adolescent male Disneyland of bikini-clad centerfold models brainwashed to be smiling, willing "pleasure units" who "offer their bodies for the good of G.A.L.A.X.Y."
Although played for good clean "Yeah, baby!" fun, the scenes of Joe Blow henchmen queuing up to enjoy the "units" like Happy Meals might even leave a few Maxim readers squirming. (Another raise of an eyebrow is occasioned when, as the space age lair self-destructs, we watch Flint and company cheer while hundreds of uncondemned people, including a crowd-scene's worth of those "pleasure units" we just saw, are blown to smithereens.)
-DVD Journal
Our Man Flint contains lots of nods to his more famous British counterpart, James Bond, in several silly ways. At one point we encounter a celebrity agent known only as ‘0008’ (Bob Gunner, who looks a bit like Sean Connery), a spy with his own series of novels. Flint asks if the criminal organization known as SPECTRE could be involved, and 0008 replies, “It’s bigger than SPECTRE!” Earlier in the film, Flint is initially offered a Walther PPK and a briefcase with a concealed throwing knife – as seen in Dr. No (1962) – which he dismisses as crude.
This is a great movie.
It takes you back to a time when it was fine to talk about sex, and sexual situations without offending anyone. As such, it is a precious look at a world that the United States has lost and may never recover again. I would suggest the reader go ahead and watch this movie. Watch it before it is either banned, or the person who views the movie get penalized by the up-and-coming social-scoring methodology.
Anyways, back to Asia…
Sword Dance Exercise – China
It’s perhaps a cultural thing, but the first time that I visited Asia, I went to Hong Kong. There, at the wee hours of 5 am (jet lag, don’t you know) I saw the early risers get up and do their daily morning exercises.
Some would exercise doing Tai Ji, others would do the group dances, and others would do various forms of martial arts. The most popular is a kind of Kung Fu with fans (the “fan dance”) and others using swords. Here’s a cute video of a girl who is obviously a master of this kind of exercise / kung fu / dance. Taken in mainland China…
Cambodian Singer
I came across this gal singing her heart out in this music video. It think it’s well done, but might sound a little strange to our western ears. I love how she is putting all her emotion and passion into the music and song. I also love the simplicity of it. You don’t have a lot of bling, and complex African-American rhythms with huge assed girls wagging their asses all over the place.
I think that this gal is from Cambodia, but she could as well be from Laos or Thailand. I do think that she is great and she is certainly worth a listen.
No it’s NOT easy.
I commented on an essay that I found on LinkedIN the other day. In it, Fionn Wright wrote his comments on a statement by one of Donald Trumps’ advisors. Who said…
“The Chinese economy is crumbling. It's just not the powerhouse it was 20 years ago."
- White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow August 2019.
This is a pretty drastic comment. “Crumbling”? WTF. Ain’t nothing “crumbling” don’t you know.
So, Fionn Wright wrote…
What a simple Google search tells us: Chinese Economy: 1999 GDP: 1.09 trillion (nominal) Figure for 2019: 14.2 trillion (nominal) That’s 13X
1999 GDP per capita: $3,800 (PPP) 2019 GDP per capita: $19,520 (PPP) More than 5X
The #ChineseEconomy has also surpassed the US in terms of PPP and is #1 in the world
Larry Kudlow is the “Economic” Advisor to the #WhiteHouse So I have to assume that he knows this If he is referring to the #GDP growth slowdown, it’s still 3X the US
That would lead me to the conclusion that he is consciously misleading people The main problem here is not that he’s lying (or really incompetent) It’s that a lot of Americans will actually believe these kinds of “absurd” statements as Ian Bremmer puts it (People in Britain do too - welcome to #Brexit)
Business Insider, CNBC, MSN and a host of other media sources publish this as if what he is saying makes sense. If this isn’t #FakeNews I don’t know what is? 🤷♂️
And, you know what? He’s right. Compare the numbers.
So I wrote…
The propaganda is flowing hard and fast. Do not think that the recent upsurge in HK protests is organic. Trump is involved in full-scale passive-aggressive economic warfare. But, you know what, the Chinese are the toughest on the planet.
I hope that things ratchet down a peg or two.
All in all, pretty benign.
I just agreed with him, and argued that there are forces bigger than us that are taking place. Donald Trump is fighting this war on behalf of the American people, and China is striking back. Both are formidable forces, and I hope that it gets resolved soon.
To which case, this Mr. Caspar Smeets (A pro-Gay Activist, who works as a design director) responded to me most aggressively…
Could you not promote the Chinese Dream in its own right without your political rants and America-bashing; on LinkedIn out if all platforms? You tell us zero news, sound so childish, unnecessary, uninspiring, and boring for someone claiming to help people achieve their Chinese dream, which incidentally is of course based on an American concept. Go play on Twitter or something where you can start your own private trade war.
Pretty uncalled for. But that’s a Jack-Ass for you.
He’s from the UK and living in Oman. He knows nothing about China, never been to China, and comes at me out of the blue with this kind of response.
I’ll tell you what, it’s disheartening. For me, as the target of such shit, it hurts. It’s sort of along the lines of this…
Well, then out of the blue, a fellow comes to my defense. He writes…
Caspar, got out of bed the wrong side this morning?
The conversation continues. With sparing banter back and forth from the antagonist, who eventually admits to why he was so nasty responding to my rather bland opinion. He says…
Don't get me started on happy go lucky western people getting all smart about a totalitarian, repressive, rascist dictatorship over the back of America.
Totalitarian, I can understand. There is one party. The traditional party. If you want anything other than conservative, traditional China, you will suffer.
Repressive, it depends on who is being repressed. I’m not gay, transgender, I’m not a SJW trying to force other people to do things such as banning straws, or turning playgrounds into “safe spaces”. I’ve been living here heading towards two decades. So far, I’ve never been repressed.
Racist? China has over 65 minorities, and invites everyone into the nation (provided they have something to contribute). They have enormous public work projects all over the world and are almost single-handedly building up a middle-class in Africa.
This Jack-Ass doesn’t even realize that I am a conservative, American-expat, Trump follower who lives in China. That I wish peace between both nations. That I recognize that both sides have valid arguments and are engaged into a trade war that I hope, will soon be resolved.
He just shows just how off-the-wall insane these progressive democrat Marxists are. They really, really are just like those NPC meme’s you see on the internet.
NPC Meme describing progressive Marxists.
At which point, my rescuer replies…
Well, at least we're all in agreement about the US being a totalitarian, repressive, racist dictatorship. That's something we can build on.
Ugh!
Moving away from the nonsense…
In case you are all wondering, I dropped out of this nonsense a long time ago. Every nation has it’s strengths and weaknesses.
America = Oligarchy. With citizens treated as serfs for profit. Maintains the appearance of a Democracy (Modified Republic into a Democracy) with zero accountability. The Oligarchy control the mobs by offering social re-engineering efforts via propaganda outlets.
China = Single party, traditional conservative Chinese.
Which is better?
It depends on who you are and your role within the stratified communities that make up those two nations. Different people have different situations and thus would have different points of view on this.
Certainly if you are wealthy, America is best for you. There are two sets of laws, rules, public discourse, and juridical systems that favor you. They favor you to a point that the government will pay you at tax-time rather than you owing money to them. They favor you to a point that you can commit treason, sell of American assets, get people killed, and break just about every law in the book including the systematic rape of children, and be allowed a pass.
Also, if you are dirt poor, illiterate, lazy, slothful or have addictions, America is also better. As you will be taken cared for and given special treatment than the rest of society. Thus people with mental illnesses, the gender confused, and those misfits that are not trying to fit within society will be cared for with “special” treatment.
However, if you are a working “stiff”, middle class, with ambitions to move up the social ladder, then most certainly China will offer you more opportunities, take less of your money, and provide a much healthier place for you to raise your family within.
That’s just the way it is today.
A comparison of the social-economic favoritism that the countries of China and the United States can provide for their citizens.
The United States, being an oligarchy, is perfect for the massively wealthy, or the incredibly poor. The nation has systems in place for people within those two spheres of influence to prosper within.
China however, provides advantages for the vast bulk of the citizenry, say 80 – 90%, though it is an environment where the poorest and the wealthiest may find disadvantage.
Looking at the nations as automobiles
Here’s a fun exercise for those of you who don’t like to read charts, tables and look at numbers. Think of each nation as a car. That’s it, think of each nation as a wonderful car.
Now, the United States started off with the most pure and perfect automobile design ever conceived in the history of the world. God created man. Men creates governments. The governments serve man so that they may serve God.
Wonderful. Pure and simple.
So this is America as it was designed and forged back in 1776…
America as designed. Simple, robust and pure. This is an image of what America (as designed) would look like. A beautiful Bugatti.
But, you know, times change. People want to make “improvements” and game the system for their own benefit. You know, like ignoring the tenth Amendment, setting up “free Speech restriction zones”, and of course going “Red Flag” on gun laws. Sort of like this post…
Anyways, all these changes has resulted in America looking quite different from it’s original intent. Indeed, today America looks something like this…
This is what America would look like if it was a car.
Of course, other nations would look quite different.
China, where I live, would be more direct, traditional, conservative and functional. It’s rather harsh on the rules and doesn’t throw money away on trivialities. So, for China, it might look something like this…
This is what China would look like if it was a car.
To better understand the point that I am trying to make, you can check out this link below (it opens up in a separate tab)…
Sex Doll Technology is really advancing…
In China there are two industries that you (the reader) should keep your eyes on. One is the robotic industry, and the other is the sex-doll industry. Both industries concentrate on specific features, function and utility. However, both like to use human appearing body structures.
As both industries lie within close proximity of each other geographically, I can well anticipate cross-over technology advancements within the next five years. Just like how China took the personal drone industry from zero to the powerhouse it is today.
El paso shooting survivor’s mother left her gun home the day of the mass shooting by a radical progressive Bernie Sanders follower…
OMG! I just read this today. Check it out…
“Christopher Grant said he recognized the sound of gunshots, “So I ran toward my mother to try to shield her and I’m like, mom — cause my mom, she’s a gun-wielding grandma. She carries a snub nose Smith & Wesson, .38 special with a built-in scope in it, everywhere she goes,” but she did not have it on her.
“An hour before we went to Walmart, she decides, ‘We’re just going to Walmart, I’m going to put it in my room.’ So when I went to her, no gun. And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you got to be kidding me.’”
Grant ran off and saw the shooter in the Walmart parking lot and started to throw bottles at him to distract him. The shooter then started to fire his rifle at him, hitting Grant.”
The police broke up this counterfeiting ring. Here’s a video of their operation. I found it interesting.
OK, let’s move on…
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Thank you for continuing with me in the adventure.
But first, let me explain the photo splash at the top of the page. That picture is of two of the band members from the 1980’s hit rock/pop group “Tears for Fears”.
The Seeds of Love is the third studio album by the British rock/pop band Tears for Fears, released on 25 September 1989.. The album, which reportedly cost over £1 million (GBP) to produce, retained the band's epic sound while incorporating influences ranging from jazz and blues to The Beatles, of which the latter is most evident on the hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love".
-Wikipedia
Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love
Sometimes I really wonder about what is going on in the Western world these days. Back in the 1980’s, yes things weren’t perfect, but at least you knew that there were two genders, that a water fountain was GMO free, and that the English Queen was not transgender.
Now, today, you haven’t a clue. The news media completely and absolutely lies about everything and changes the narrative left and right. For instance, consider the latest mass-murdering shooter…
The Liberal Progressive socialists in charge of the American mainstream media and the software giants have rewritten the narrative of the events that transpired.
He was a Obama-following Antifa member, and now his history was changed to a crazed Trump QANAON.
There’s only one thing…
Real Conservatives, if pushed to violence, would not strike out at innocents. They would attack the instigators, the leaders, and those that finance what ever problems that they are dealing with. This fellow attacked innocents. Ergo – not a conservative.
Leftists Change Shooter Patrick Crusius’s MyLife Page
No kidding!
You have this Antifa progressive Obama follower who shoots up a ton load of people in a Walmart. Immediately the news media is blaming Trump for “Right Wing” Violence. When it was no such thing. Now, plastered all over the internet is the rewritten narrative that he was a Right-Wing Trump following kook and guns must be banned.
Perhaps, a little peek at what the news media did and handled this is in order, eh?
Some history…
A Walmart in Texas was shot up in August 2019 when a gunman rampaged through the store using an AK-47 clone. The event is known as the Cielo Vista Mall shooting in El Paso, Texas. He left a manifesto where he claimed to be a follower of Trump and wanted to kill all the illegal aliens in Texas.
Sounds pretty damning. Why it fits exactly the mainstream press narrative of a typical Trump supporter.
Then they got the guy.
Washington Examiner reporter Anna Giaritelli posted the name and a photos of the alleged shooter, sourced to law enforcement. “A law enforcement official in El Paso told me the Walmart shooter is in custody. His name is Patrick Crusius of Allen, a town in Texas outside of Dallas. He is pretty young, having just turned 21 years old this week.
A law enforcement official in El Paso told me the Walmart shooter is in custody. Patrick Crusius of Dallas. Just turned 21 years old this week. pic.twitter.com/CEJh6rYij1
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) August 3, 2019
But don’t ya know, Patrick Crusius has a profile on MyLife.com.
MyLife is an American information brokerage founded in 2002 as Reunion.com.
MyLife gathers personal information through public records and other sources to automatically generate a “MyLife Public Page” for each person, described by MyLife as a “complete Wikipedia-like biography on every American.”
While people can edit their data, the software organization MyLife can change and rewrite a person's profile at will.
So, you would think that the American mainstream news media would take this information and disseminate it to the public? Nope…
On 3AUG19, at 2:46 PM the website MyLife had this profile for the deranged killer Patrick Crusius. It was quite clear. His original profile at 2:46 said he was a registered Democrat.
Look for yourself…
The deranged killer Patrick Crusius is a progressive democrat.
While he was in jail, right after the police caught him, there were some changes made to his profile. How? I do not know. What I do know is that his political affiliation was changed from Democrat to Republican on the day of the mass shooting.
Here is the changed profile. Check the dates and times. Notice what they wrote on the Summary…
Mall shooter has had his past history rewritten.
Yes. The leftists wrote;
"Before becoming a mass shooter / murderer, Patrick was a registered Republican, and Evangelical Christian. A former campaign worker for Donald Trump, he was also a QANON conspiracy theorist, and INCEL. "
Ethnicity was changed to African American, as well. WTF?
Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, it was changed yet again…
Leftists rewriting history yet again.
By Saturday night it continued to be revised. Now including anti-Jewish racial slurs and all sorts of the things that fit the CNN black & White narrative of what a Conservative is.
Progressive Democrat Socialists rewriting the MyLife profile for a mass murdering Antifa member.
Now what can we take from all this nonsense? Well…
Do Not Believe What You Read on the Internet
As far as his political leanings are concerned… traditional conservatives do not harm innocents. Only progressive leftists do. Don’t believe me? Crack open a fucking history book won’t ya?
Last minute commentary…
It seems strange to me that all of a sudden this push for gun bans and Red Flag laws, and "Alt Right" violence. It is almost like the time-table for the Hillary / Socialist take over of the country never reset after the election of Trump.
It's like everything is just following the same timetable that was put in place under Obama.
Here are six posts that discuss this matter in detail…
OK. That being said, let’s move on out of the 1980’s and into contemporaneous Asia…
Bring back the Summer, lover…
I really like this.
I haven’t figured out what it is. Is it a movie? A cartoon? A music video? A narrative? Or what. Whatever it is, I like it.
Imagine this in the USA… not!
You would NEVER see this in the United States. It would be considered cultural misappropriation.
Remember, boys and girls, China is a meritocracy. You must strive to be the best that you can be, or go begging in the streets. There is no room for sloth, welfare moms, and freeloaders.
Remember everyone…
Universities in the United States have been discriminating against Asian students because their success makes racial minorities look and feel bad. Do not think that there will not be some kind of blow-back to their social re-engineering efforts. Ah. You do not mess around with the Chinese. Fools.
As we used to say in Pennsylvania…
You can put on lipstick, curl the hair, wear eyelashes, and put on a nice dress… but a pig is still a pig.
Diversity quotas are like putting lipstick on a pig. It might sound good, it might make the pigs happy, but very few people will actually find the pig beautiful.
Welcome to YiChang…
China has so many cities. Many (so called) towns would pass as large cities in the United States. Here’s an example of the small town of YiChang. Check it out why don’t ya…
Religious girls in Thailand
Just look at these beauties. They are so very yummy.
You know as I get older I really realize that it is our actions that complement our inherent attractiveness. It is how we behave, and how we interact with others that define our overall appearance.
Chinese Aviation
Aviation. I love it whether it is my very own background in American Naval Aviation, or aviation elsewhere, it is an interest and a passion of mine. Yes it is. Sort of like cats, dogs, and pizza. It’s like how I feel about pretty girls and red wine. I love it all.
Here we have a nice video (micro-video natch) concerning Chinese aviation.
Moving up… stay up
The Chinese culture is one of merit. That permeates the entire society. Anyone who tries to cheat, or get special privileges is pretty much shunned. They are known as “Fu er di” and pretty much considered the rich spoiled kinds of society.
Oh yes. The wealthy buy spots for their children in (the easy to bribe) American colleges, but the vast bulk of Chinese society is based upon merit. Every movie, and every song reinforces this notion.
Here is just a small snippet of how this all manifests within the Chinese society.
Yeah. You show that gal that you moved way past her…
Hong Kong Protests
Yeah. There are these “wanna have democracy” protests in Hong Kong. The American media promotes it as a some sort of a “proof” that China is gonna fall apart any day now. Yah right.
Don’t hold your breath.
China and Hong Kong are totally separate entities. Sort of like how Pago Pago in American Samoa is different from Kokomo, Indiana. (Bet ya didn’t know that Pago Pago is a part of an American territory.)
Yup. Hong Kong has their own government and their own laws, and pretty much Beijing allows them autonomy in their affairs. If it didn’t, you would see many changes in Hong Kong that would better fit the traditional Chinese social model. Hong Kong is NOT run in the way Beijing prefers.
Of course, you would never know this, or even have a clue to this situation by only reading American news media. Their role is to keep Americans ignorant of the true situation, huddled and fearful, and easily manipulated to follow heard and group behaviors.
Screen shot of Drudge Report American news aggregator, taken Sunday 4AUG19. What a load of nonsense.
Now, that being said, here’s a video from the Hong Kong government about the situation.
You’d NEVER see this on American mainstream media. It doesn’t fit inside the narrative.
Actually there is so much information regarding this, that I am afraid that I will need to post 4 or 5 videos about the protests to help put things in context. This is done in the next part – part 13…
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Let’s continue on our exploration on Asia. But first, let’s chat a little bit about the splash screen image above. It’s from the 1980’s classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day off”.
Ferris Bueller having fun during a parade in downtown Chicago.
Ok, now most of the people reading this, knows quite well about this movie. It’s not obscure, and unknown. It’s a classic.
High school student Ferris Bueller wants a day off from school and he's developed an incredibly sophisticated plan to pull it off. He talks his friend Cameron into taking his father's prized Ferrari and with his girlfriend Sloane head into Chicago for the day. While they are taking in what the city has to offer school principal Ed Rooney is convinced that Ferris is, not for the first time, playing hooky for the day and is hell bent to catch him out. Ferris has anticipated that, much to Rooney's chagrin.
-IMDB
Ah, but what does this all matter. Right?
Ferris Bueller making the most of his day off. What is your excuse?
How about some quotes, perhaps that can pull in some context. Maybe, what do ya know…
Economics Teacher: Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Simone: Um, he's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.
Economics Teacher: Thank you, Simone.
Simone: No problem whatsoever.
You see, looking at the crazy life that we live can really be put into perspective if we are in a correct frame of mind; that of the third person perspective. For it is often difficult to see where we are because we take it all in so personally.
Seriously.
Don’t believe me, eh?
Ok. Here’s a screen shot of the today’s (when I composed this post) Drudge report. I want to ask you something. Is this “news” representative of your life?
Is it representative of the lives of others in your community? It is representative of the future course of life that you and your family will eventually need to embrace?
Will Pizza with insect toppings ever be part of your life?
It’s all nonsense.
Nonsense designed to manipulate you. The rest of the world is plowing forward, and completely oblivious to the machinations of the American oligarchy. I urge you, yes you, to ignore their manipulations and open your eyes. the world does not need to become the next American battle field “for democracy”.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the world, for once…
KTV Booths
Yeah. In China, people like to belt our a number of songs or two in an hour to release “stem”. Sort of how I used to scream (at the top of my lungs) “Carry on my way-ward son” when I was driving in my car.
Carry On Wayward Son - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On_Wayward_Son
"Carry On Wayward Son" is a single recorded by Kansas and written by Kerry Livgren for their 1976 album Leftoverture. In 1977, the song peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming their first top 20 entry in the nation. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on December 18, 1990.
Come on… certainly you too liked to sing some Country and Western music or a sappy love ballad… Eh? Right?
Well, in China, a lot of people hold their emotions inside. They keep them stifled down…down…down below and never let them out. But when they sing, they can let their emotions out. So it is very popular to sing in KTV’s.
Here we have KTV mini booths were you and a close friend can sing your heart out. It’s really quite awesome. For me, it would be singing NZBZ (南征北战NZBZ《不再遥远》 感受“速度与激情”). I’ll tell your what!
南征北战NZBZ《不再遥远》 感受“速度与激情”
I really like this three man rap group. It speaks to me. Heh heh.
NZBZ screen capture.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
南征北战NZBZ – 穿越 (Live)
Anyways, here’s a really cute video of some girls coming out of one of those very cute KTV cubicles. It’s short but cute, and this is the way it really is.
This is China today.
Anyways…
School in Thailand
Here is a nice short clip about visiting a school in Thailand. But you, as maybe an American, never realized that other nations have schools eh? Yeah. It’s something that is considered unimportant.
Friends are so very important…
The Chinese believe that the group of friends, family and community is more important than the individual. That is quite the opposite of what is taught in the United States where the lone dog, the wolf individual is the most important. The democratic party ties to embrace, somewhat, the Chinese model of course leaving out the core strengths. Leaving it as just a simple collection of platitudes to manipulate the huddled masses of humanity.
But the truth is that we need each other. We form societies because we need each other.
People, we need each other.
It is our friends that make our life worth living. They care for us. they build us up. They help us and confide in us and we give back to them in support.
The Chinese will NEVER forget their history
China has a broad and varied history. It is a story of troubles, adventure, and strife. We, as Americans, like to think that we are strong and proud of our “freedom”. People, you have no idea what is like to suffer from 25 centuries of conflict. Heck, it is normal to have your family eviscerated and your daughters used as sex slaves.
But, China has never forgotten. And now, now… now.. they are not taking any chances.
Here’s a cute reenactment of some history. It could be from any year, as it is quite generic. But to tell you the truth, the Chinese have dealt with trouble and strife for many, many centuries. They have never forgotten, and the government does not buy into the “progressive reality that the past should be forgotten.
No. Instead it should be remembered, and never… NEVER … forgotten.
On Being a Father
I really love this little video clip. It is exactly on point as to what it is like when a woman advises her husband (or boyfriend) that she is pregnant with his child. i will tell you what, it is what all real men aspire to. To have a family with a woman who loves him and a child that he can rise as his own.
Anyways, this this the real deal. It is taken in China, but for that matter, it could have been taken anywhere in the world. It’s all the same. Us men, yearn for times like these. Real women, be not afraid. Men want and desire to have a family.
This is the real deal.
This is the real deal. You all.
This is how it works out. Any man who would not have this reaction is not a man. He’s still a boy. All men… real men… have this reaction. We all… yes, every one of us… want to have a family. It’s in our deepest being.
That is a real truth.
I’ll tell you what.
Bonus – How I got together with my wife.
This is the way it happened. I tell you the truth.
More information here…
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Thank you for continuing on this video adventure into Asia. But firstly, let’s spend a few moments to talk about the photo splash (above). It’s a screen shot from the glorious movie “Bedazzled”. It’s all about a man who meets the devil. She grants him seven wishes in exchange for his soul.
You’ve got seven wishes. Choose carefully.
"You can't sell your soul. It doesn't really belong to you in the first place. No way, nohow. It belongs to God—that universal spirit that animates and binds all things in existence."
-Great quote from the movie "Bedazzled".
The main character, a dweeb named Elliot, desperately wants to change his life (also being unduly influenced by a girl) inspired him to sign over his soul to the devil. In exchange she gave him seven wishes. Each wish, he uses to create a different life for himself.
We can see that right?
What would you wish for? Elliot wanted more control over his life. He thought that money and power would provide that. So the devil gave it to him. Elliot becomes a rich and powerful drug lord.
Things aren’t going well, we want to change things. We made mistakes in our past, we wish to undo them. We missed out on opportunities or completely revamp our life into something different. You know, like Elliot does…
Inmate: What are you in for, brother?
Elliot: Eternity.
Inmate: Oooh. You must've done some really bad shit.
Elliot: The worst— I sold my soul.
Inmate: Well, I hope you got something good for it.
Elliot: Actually, I got nothing for it.
Inmate: Sounds like a really bad deal, if you ask me.
Elliot: [glances over] I'm not asking you.
Inmate: Doesn't matter. You can't sell your soul. It doesn't really belong to you in the first place. No way, no how.
Elliot: Is that so? Then who does it belong to?
Inmate: [looks straight at Elliot] It belongs to God: that universal spirit that animates and binds all things in existence. The Devil's gonna try and confuse you, but that's her gig. In the end, you're gonna see clear to who you are and what you're here to do. Now, you're gonna make some mistakes along the way. Everybody does. But if you just open up your heart, and open up your mind, you'll get it.
Elliot: Who are you?
Inmate: Just a friend brother. Just a really good friend.
There are great things all around us. What we need to start doing is to CONTROL OUR THOUGHTS. We must turn off all those bad influences that abound around us, and yes that most certainly means the news. What a piece of horse shit. I swear to God.
Look around you. The world is a truly beautiful place…
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Just some rain
Yes, it’s just some rain. But, it’s (you know) glorious.
Do you remember coming in from the rain when you were young. You would get home and your mother would peel off your wet clothes. She would rub you dry and maybe make you a cup of hot coco with little white marshmallows. Or maybe a nice warm bowl of tomato soup with a melted cheese sandwich.
Delicious tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. As wonderful and delicious as this this, it is the people that we spend our moments with, and the great times that we share that makes our heart soar. Our emotions generate thoughts and those thoughts create our reality. Treasure those moments, for they are often fleeting.
Yes. You don’t remember the rain so much. But you do remember the times that you spent with someone who you love.
He stood before the yellow door. The printed letters over it said THE SUN DOME. He put his numb hand up to feel it. Then he twisted the doorknob and stumbled in. He stood for a moment looking about. Behind him the rain whirled at the door. Ahead of him, upon a low table, stood a silver pot of hot chocolate, steaming, and a cup, full, with a marshmallow in it. An beside that, on another tray, stood thick sandwiches of rich chicken meat and fresh-cut tomatoes and green onions. And on a rod just before his eyes was a great thick green Turkish towel, and a bin in which to throw wet clothes, and, to his right, a small cubicle in which heat rays might dry you instantly. And upon a chair, a fresh change of uniform, waiting for anyone—himself, or any lost one—to make use of it. And farther over, coffee in steaming copper urns, and a phonograph from which music was playing quietly, and books bound in red and brown leather. And near the books a cot, a soft deep cot upon which one might lie, exposed and bare, to drink in the rays of the one great bright thing which dominated the long room.
-The Long Rain
Please do great things with your life…
Here is a blind girl hailing a DD. This is the Chinese version of Uber. He asks her where she wants to go. Then she asks how much, and he says 30 yuan. She agrees and he then helps her get in the car.
Because she is blind she cannot pay using the cellphone like most Chinese people do. So she asks how much. And then show him a wad of cash for him to take what he is owed.
Then he does something really special…
People, just be the best you can be. Be kind to animals, and people who need help. That’s the American way. Never forget that that is how REAL Americans behave.
You might notice that the bricks that comprise the sidewalk are in different shapes and colors. This is the norm in China. In China those yellow bricks are used by blind people to make their way through the large complex world that is China. It’s not that they are yellow, but rather they have a raised surface that blind people can use to get around with.
Young Love – Chinese Style
You know, the one thing that I really love about Asia is that young people go to school work hard, and then fall in love. They wait. And because of this, they tend to be very sweet when it comes to romance.
Floor Installation
Most homes in China have solid stone or wood flooring. It is extremely rare to have carpet covering particle board flooring. Here is a video of how the stone tiles are laid down. It’s interesting.
Anyways, I thought that it was very interesting. That is how it is done. Don’t you know.
You know, after a hard day of floor installation, there is nothing finer than a nice hearty meal and a tall frosty glass of ice cold beer. I am sure that the fellows in the video would appreciate it as well. Here’s a nice photo of some grilled cheese to inspire you.
Delicious and tasty grilled cheese sandwich. It would go great with some hot tomato soup and a nice tall glass of frosty icy beer. Maybe a delicious Budweiser, or PBR. I’ll tell you what.
All over the world are roads. Roads that exist and call out your name. Roads that you should travel upon. Roads that can lead you to adventure, and if you are fortunate…romance.
Rural Road in China
This is very typical. Please take note on the condition of the road. Note the amount of litter on the side of the road. Note the conditions of the building and the general care that the local government takes in maintaining public systems, roads and utilities.
Once the Chinese government established the crime and corruption police, there was a drastic and marked increase in the overall care and maintenance of public structures. It was very noticeable.
I wonder why.
Having Fun with Friends – China
OK. This is just a nice fun video. I guess that the point of this is to enjoy life. Everyone else is. So stop reading the bullshit news and being so serious. Let your hair down and start enjoying life.
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Let’s continue on our adventure into Asia, but first let’s chat a little bit more about the splash photo above.
Image is from the movie Kelly's Heroes. Let me tell you that that is a fine, fine movie to watch with family on a lazy August afternoon. Just get some icy cold beer and enjoy.
Here’s another quote with a pic for your entertainment. Ah. What a great movie!
OK. Now let’s continue on our exploration of Asia. First stop, China and how they build houses.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
How Houses are Built in China…
Houses in China are built quite differently than how they are built in the United States. Instead of a concrete slab with a wood-frame pole structure with particleboard floors and wall to wall carpet with drywall, the Chinese build out of cement.
The create a strong cement structure and lay down polished stone over it. Here we see a guy making a small house (LOL)…
A really small house.
And people, that’s exactly how it’s done.
Sappy Vietnam MV video
What? You think that music videos only exist in the United States? Nope. Every nation has them. Just like every nation… every single one… has their very own local bands and local music.
You should listen to some of them out of Australia, and Poland. Pretty darn awesome! I’ll tell you what.
Here’s an older video from Vietnam. I place it being made sometime during the 1990’s. You know when Bill Clinton didn’t have sex with that intern. LOL!
Nice to have in the car…
Back to China.
This is a pretty nice innovation. You inflate it by plugging it into your cigarette lighter. If you have an American car, the chances are that it won’t have a cigarette lighter plug. You can thank the progressive democrats for that “improvement”.
No problem. You can inflate it by blowing air inside the mattress. However, it might take a while. Truth. It might take you an half an hour or so using that method.
Don’t fret though. China makes tons of little micro air pumps that operate off of the USB. So you can either use your automobile USB socket or bring your laptop into the car and inflate the sofa using that plug.
You see just imagine the kinds of fun that you can have in a little subcompact with this kind of sofa mattress. You can keep the toddlers occupied. You can let the dog stretch out. You can kick back and take a nap during lunch, or maybe play with that girl you find rather fetching.
Maybe like this fine lass…
Nice Chinese girl and George Clooney doesn’t even notice…
Yeah. Big Hollywood names get their big pictures plastered all over Asia. It’s part of the Marketing strategy to saturate the commercial markets with images of the well-known and famous.
Don’t ya know.
Night Market (in the daytime) – Vietnam
Vietnam has changed quite a bit since the 1960’s. And yet in other ways it hasn’t changed at all. I mean the mountains are still there, and all the hub-bub about “climate change” the weather still is pretty much the same as what it has been for centuries. The lush banyan (forever) trees are still there. The birds still sing their songs, and the air is all pretty moist and hot.
Time change. People, cultures and society changes. However, people are still people. Boys are still boys and girls are still girls, and that progressive narrative about there being 65 different kinds of genders is nothing more than the ramblings of a crazy person that is socially incapable of fitting within society.
Pretty girls still exist in Vietnam. Here is a dated vintage photo of a pretty Vietnam lass taken in the 1960’s. She is wearing a cute western dress, rather than the more traditional Vietnam dress and hat.
Here’s a nice vintage photo of a Vietnamese food market. Look at it. Study it. Cool huh? Notice the tin can to the far right of the photograph. Looks like the American people wanted to help the Vietnamese, and tell them so in English…
But, only one thing… They speak Vietnamese, French and Chinese in Vietnam. Not English. At least not at that time. So, what’s the purpose?
Look. Study the picture. Note the placement of the tin can. Note the quality of the photograph.
What’s in the photo? Breads. Rolls. Donated butter. Donated oil. Tins of sardines. Not typical Vietnamese fare. Oh, yes they do eat rolls, and baguettes. It’s the French influence, don’t ya know. They do use butter. But the preponderance within one photo tends to be a little deceiving.
American media for ya.
A vintage photo of a 1960’s Vietnamese food market. Notice the tin on the far left of the picture. The words on it says that the tin was donated by the United States people. Pretty cool, except for one thing. It’s in English. In Vietnam at that time they spoke and read only three languages. They were Vietnamese, Chinese and French. It seems that all that English writing is for propaganda purposes. Propaganda, not for the Vietnamese people, but rather for the Americans who would look at the photo from the American mainstream media.
From the article; My first bite into Nuong’s bánh mì thịt evoked in me a sensation that could only be described as “same same, but different” in comparison with bánh mì in Vietnam. It was delicious, especially the perfect firmness of the Vietnamese ham. In a way, the sandwich was very similar to a typical bánh mì in Saigon, yet quite different. For starters, the pickles had a different tanginess to them, owing to the use of non-Vietnamese vinegar, which is similar to the condiment you might add to your hủ tiếu somewhere in District 5. The unorthodox addition of authentic Vietnamese-style char siu made the combination pleasantly sweet and chewier. But the starkest differences were in its main components. Source.
Here’s a modern micro-video of contemporaneous rural Vietnam and the food market there. Now wouldn’t you all want to have one of these Po’ Boy / Grinder / Submarine what’s ya call it’s… fresh from the market counter here?
Oh, and speaking about the fine Vietnamese food experience, here is another photo…
From the article; “Taiwanese flour is so different. It’s sweeter and chewier,” she explains. Her “baguettes” are coated with vegetable oil almost immediately after baking — the secret to their crunchiness after being toasted a second time. Different varieties of bánh mì are made to order when customers appear. Lò Bánh Mì Pasteur’s homemade pâté is several shades darker than those in Vietnam. “The Taiwanese like eating jiànkāng [healthy], [so] we don’t use preservatives. That’s what makes the commercial pâté so pinkish,” she adds. Source.
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Thank you for continuing on my micro-video narrative. But first, let’s chat a little bit about the splash screen photo above.
About the splash-screen photo above. It's a screen shot of the movie "Kelly's Heroes". It's a World War II movie made in the 1960's that is loosely based upon the actual events during the war.
You see, as Germany was collapsing, a bunch of Americans wanted to go ahead and seize all the gold that Hitler had squirreled away. It's a great movie, and the pop song "Burning Bridges" came from that movie.
You only have to mention the film ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ and within seconds everyone is firing off quotes from the film – our non WWII friends really do look at you as if you are some type of weird sandwich…
Hey! Don’t you go giving me off any of those bad waves.
Has to be one of the best war films of all time. So here is a challenge – how many of these quotes can you remember? And how many can you get into a conversation today…
Let’s start with…
Anyways, go ahead and chat with your friends. See how many remember the movie Kelly’s Heroes. It’s a great conversation starter. Sure better than talking about the new female 007 who is going to rock the movie world this year.
Not!
Just look at this pathetic picture. I look and I see that the producers are seriously Jonesing for a Michelle Obama (or Oprah Winfrey) leadership role to pave the way for a 2024 Presidential Election candidate. (Wanna bet this isn’t the case?)
Black Female British Actor Lashana Lynch to Play New ‘007 Agent’. Hint. She’s a diversity hire. (wink wink). Can’t wait to watch the latest James Bond flick… not!
Yeah. Just like they made so many Hollywood movies with female Presidents that looked markedly like Hillary Clinton during the last ten years. It’s ground work to prep the American population subconsciously.
Now…
I argue that the significance of this role placement is associated with the r/K survival strategy which pretty much establishes a Marxist social dominance within America under the r survival strategy. It’s all pretty obvious to those of us who are paying attention.
If you haven’t a clue as to what I am talking about, then check out this link…
So, when you have a society (like the “great society”) giving away all sorts of free-things (you know, to “eliminate” poverty), you end up with a society of abundance. People can live off the dole. They don’t have to work. They don’t have to compete. They don’t have to survive. They turn in to r-strategists.
Now, back to Asia…
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Puddle Jumper
One of the things that I really like about the world (not just Asia) is flying in “puddle jumpers” into the smaller more rural airports and visiting the countryside. Here is a small micro-video about flying into the Tachiletk airport near Thailand.
Adventures may or may not come with a map. But no matter what, enjoy yourself and savor your experiences.
That’s what adventure is all about.
Here is a photo that kind of tells you where Tachileik is located. It is in Myanmar near Northern Thailand. (It is near Myanmar and near Maesai, Thailand.) It is a religious place with temples and mosques, as well as monasteries and pagodas.
Tachileik, near Maesai Thailand. Seriously, wouldn’t you like to visit this place?
Oh, yeah. Speaking about travel, let’s inject another great quote from the great movie Kelly’s Heroes. I mean, why not?
Here's some quotes from the great movie "Kelly's Heroes".
I mean. So many positive waves. Maybe we can’t lose!
That’s one of the advantages of travel. So many positive waves.
Return of the Monkey King
Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is a melee agility hero, best known for his slippery nature and his ability to do Mischief, deceiving his enemies by turning into trees and other objects. Armed with his magic extending staff, the Monkey King slams the ground with Boundless Strikes, and leaps to the treetops to have advantage over his foes with Tree Dance.
-Wikipedia
Now, the Monkey King is a big thing in China. Everyone knows about the Monkey King and admires it. But for me, as an American, I don’t see the big deal. I think that it is a cultural thing. Like about how Jarts, and click-clacks were popular in the 1970s’.
You remember those eh?
“At Least He Didn’t Have Access To Jarts” Say Authorities Of Florida School Shooter. No kidding. That’s what the detectives said.
Trying to extract some positive from the horror in Florida, local authorities reflected today on how much more carnage the school shooter could have caused were it not for sensible regulations.
“At least he didn’t have access to Jarts because they are thankfully banned in this country.”
The outlawed lawn toys feature sharp metal tips designed to stick into the ground when the Jart is lobbed underhand causing it to fall in a large parabolic arc.
“This could have been so much worse.”
When asked what could be done to prevent tragedies like this happening again, they say they are staying focused on making sure this is as bad as it gets.
“Our number one priority right now is to ensure the Jart ban isn’t repealed, and, beyond that, we are taking a serious look at banana peels.”
-Breaking Bourgh
Check out this short micro-video about the Monkey King…
OK, now after connecting Jarts to the Monkey King, and Kelly’s Heroes with those positive waves in Northern Thailand, let’s talk about kitties…
Ah. But first, look at what I discovered…
Now for the kitties after looking at bright lime green Cheetos…
Butting Heads with the Kitty Store Owner
I do think that many cat lovers might appreciate this micro-video…
This is in China, and no, it’s really quite rare for the Chinese to eat pets like dogs and cats. That’s one of the lies propagated by the American mainstream media. They want to keep you all huddled, isolated and afraid of others.
They want you to sit inside your house, work as a serf, pay your taxes and obey your “betters”.
The River Runs Through it…
Speaking about China. Here’s a nice video of a small rural town in the hills. I guess that you could say this is a little like San Louis Obispo in California. Only the Chinese are far more religious than those progressives in California. Look at the hill. There you can see lighted Buddhist statuary.
I like this video.
This video reminds me of how nice small towns can look like when the politicians are being policed by the “corruption police” and are unable to “game the system”, “funnel money” away from projects, and generally abuse their positions. You know, like they do in the United States.
Hey! You do know what I am talking about don’t you?
Yeah. Crime and corruption was pretty bad in China up until 2013, when roving militarized “corruption police” started their crack-downs on corruption. Anyone who says that China is full of corruption today is a fucking idiot. (Or barring that, just horribly misinformed.)
It is nothing like it was.
China is VERY SERIOUS about corruption and crime. They know that the nation cannot survive unless they are able to take control over the high-level corruption that has made China famous two decades ago. So they declared war on corruption. But no, this wasn’t like they do in the USA, where enormous sums of money are dished out to “influencers” and “blue panels of experts”.
Nope.
Targets are identified, systems are put in place. Evil people are rounded up. Many are tortured and incarcerated. Some are killed.
Today, most Chinese are petrified of tangling with the Corruption Police. Arrest means their lives are effectively over, both literally and figuratively.
One of China’s most-wanted fugitives suspected of bribery was brought home on Friday from the Republic of Guinea, following cooperation between the two countries’ law enforcement departments. Pei Jianqiang, 48, former director of import and export department of China Enterprise International Cooperation Co, was suspected of bribery and fled in November, 2009.
China launched a “Sky Net” campaign in April, 2015, with aims to bring back 100 suspects who were accused of economic crimes and have fled overseas. Pei was listed as the No. 10 suspect. Law enforcement officials from China and Guinea collaborated on the investigation, which confirmed that Pei was hiding out in Conakry, capital of Guinea, and running a bath center.
Pei was arrested on Dec 25 and sent back to Beijing Friday afternoon.Operation Sky Net launched In December, Huang Yurong, former Party chief of Henan Provincial Highway Administration and another fugitive on the list, surrendered herself to the police and returned from the United States where she had fled in 2002.(150509) — BEIJING, May 9, 2015 (Xinhua) — Chinese police escort Li Huabo (C), the second suspect from China’s “100 most wanted economic fugitives” list, upon his arrival at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, May 9, 2015. Li was repatriated Saturday as part of operation “Sky Net”. The Sky Net campaign aims to return fugitives for trial. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)(mcg)In January 2013, Hebei Xinhe County Police notified Guangxi Dongxing Municipal Police that between 2008 to 2011, the former Director of Baoding City Mancheng County Bureau of Land and Resource in Hebei Song Jianzhong used his power to illegally profit and collect 1.5 million RMB in bribes, and when faced investigated by the relevant departments fled to Vietnam with his mistress. Photo is of about 6pm February 5th, Mong Cai Municipal Police in Vietnam handing the suspects over to Guangxi Dongxing Municipal law enforcement officials. Picture by Zhuo Huang/CFP.After over 20 days of investigation, in the afternoon of February 5th, Song and his mistress, Ren, appeared in Mong Cai, Vietnam. Mong Cai Police successfully arrested the two. In January 2013, Hebei Xinhe County Police notified Guangxi Dongxing Municipal Police that between 2008 to 2011, the former Director of Baoding City Mancheng County Bureau of Land and Resource in Hebei Song Jianzhong used his power to illegally profit and collect 1.5 million RMB in bribes, and when faced investigated by the relevant departments fled to Vietnam with his mistress. Photo is of about 6pm February 5th, Mong Cai Municipal Police in Vietnam handing the suspects over to Guangxi Dongxing Municipal law enforcement officials.
Corruption Police is exactly what America needs today.
Anyways, back to the video, pay attention to how clean the streets are. Notice how nice the houses are. Corruption turns nice communities into Detroit, or Baltimore. Look, and pay attention.
When there is corruption, the buildings fall into disrepair. The streets fall apart and have potholes, and the general standard of life is very poor. You can ALWAYS judge the level of corruption in a non-industrial community by how clean and well taken cared for it is.
If things are not so well taken cared for, and there are funds earmarked for maintenance, then you know that the levels of corruption are rather enormous.
Savage in a Parking Garage
On a lighter note. Let’s go Savage in one of those hyper-clean underground parking garages in China. It’s a thing, and I quite like it; those super clean parking garages. In the USA, it’s all damp, bare cement with dimly lit lighting. Yuck.
It’s so refreshing to be in a place where public places are treated as worthy of respect.
Back in the day, Americans used to take pride in their public spaces. Trees were planted in parks to provide shade. Benches were placed, and painted every year. Picnic tables were set up and yearly repaired and maintained. Roads and bridges had yearly inspection teams, fully funded, and taken cared for.
There was once a time when being an American was something special. It was not spit upon by members of Congress. The moneys to repair public works were on the local, not Federal level, and everyone was part of a community that participated. Not isolated, and living in fear facing an electronic box.
That all ended during the progressive onslaught around 1913 or so. Then it became something different. It went from “America for all of us”, to “What’s mine is mine, and I’ll give you a little bit if you obey me.”.
Sure beats what you see in America everyday. Here is a typical photo of an American woman. It doesn’t matter where you go in the Untied States, or what city you visit, you will always be able to easily find American women that look like this…
American woman shopping in Walmart. I wonder where she works? What do you think she does for a living? Do you have any idea how well she performed in school, and what she must be like as a person? People! We owe it to ourselves to reverse the obvious progressive decline of the American society.
Jackie Ma
China is a land of merit. You either do your best or fail and suffer the consequences. Much like America used to be when it was first founded. As such, I want to put a plug in for Jackie Ma. For he represents what China is today.
Sort of how Hillary Clinton represents what America is today.
I have many more videos, but I just cannot put them into a single
post. It will bog down your computer terribly. So to watch the rest of
the videos in this post, please continue…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
Here are
some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader,
might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an
American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United
States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is
the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the
British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal
press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who
doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what
China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in
China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks
in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very
mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are
some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem
odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events,
while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The
purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world,
outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they
might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank
you.
And while
America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources,
and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has
done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and
you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Here, I argue that Hollywood is not using their innate and basic movie-making skills when pandering to their progressive causes. I argue that not only are they losing money in the process, but they are alienating their viewership base. I thus offer some suggestions to this end to prevent a hemorrhaging of the Hollywood profit model.
Ah. Hollywood.
So famous, and so taken for granted.
The more that I think about it, the more that I am convinced. Indeed, I am convinced that those in Hollywood have found a new profit model. As, it seems, the movies that they are releasing today do not follow the traditional profit model.
Traditional Hollywood Profit Model
You know; you make a good movie, and people pay to watch it. If the movie is really good you get rich. If the movie is poor, you lose money.
Today, however, it seems that there is a totally different profit model being followed.
Contemporaneous Hollywood Profit Model
Some wealthy oligarch gives you an enormous sum of money to promote some sort of social justice cause and you pocket the money. Whether the movie is popular or not has no bearing on the profit motive.
Yeah. That’s pretty much it. Isn’t it?
Hollywood has become a SJW propaganda arm.
Listen to me.
It’s like a nightmare that no matter how hard you try to run, it never ends. It’s like wack-a-mole. As soon as you hear about one bout of obscenity, there pops up another. Ugh!
License To Drive, the comedy that starred the two Coreys (Haim and Feldman) and a young Heather Graham in 1988, is being rebooted with female leads thanks to producer John Davis and 20th Century Fox.
-Deadline
These kinds of reports flow pretty hard and fast. Yet, I wonder. Just who is this John Davis, and what inspired him to make all-female leads?
League of Extraordinary Ladies
Ah. But this is not the only all-female Hollywood production. If it was, we would just accept it as it is on face value. But, no. It is part of a long on-going trend towards flooding the American movie scene with pale imitations of great movies. All of which that pander to the feminist-wing of the SJW movement.
The first film of Kevin O'Neill and Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentleman remains most known for the fallout between star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington. Connery hasn't acted since, and Norrington hasn't directed.
The new film is being produced by John Davis, and he's promises a more "female-centric" take on the material for the upcoming reboot. No director has thus far been appointed, though, but it's very much an active project.
-Den of Geek
Yeah. John Davis strikes again! Just who is this John Davis, and why does he want to do this?
I’m being truthful in this. So please, hear me out.
My off-hand impression is that he wants to avoid the SJW backlash and be associated with the Casting Couch like Harvey Weinstein. He needs to protect himself. So he panders to the SJW folk.
I do not know if this is the actual true case or not. What I do know is that is the most likely explanation for the observed trends. Yes. In my “outsider” mind, the most likely scenario.
Harvey Weinstein “Casting Couch” Oscars on Hollywood Blvd by artist Plastic Jesus.
I’ll bet you all that there’s a lot of truth in this supposition. Trust your gut instincts, boys and girls.
And for what?
That we, the movie watching public has to endure SJW crap all because John Davis took liberties with his casting couch. Is that why Americans need to put up with all these pale imitations of our treasured movies? Because the producers in Hollywood are afraid of the Weinstein-backlash?
OK.
So the The League of Extraordinary Gentleman is going to be redone. What’s it gonna be called? The League of Extraordinary Ladies. After all, “he promises a more “female-centric” take“. Groan.
It’s a new world.
I used to treasure going to the movies.
Then for a while, I worked as a Movie Theater Manager for a cineplex in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Mann National Twin.) I loved everything about it. I loved the atmosphere, the smell of popcorn, the drapes, the lights and the projector booth. Yes, the hours sucked, but it was “showbiz”.
I loved the movies.
It was important to me. I enjoyed it. It was a good two hours of relaxed imagination. I could go to a movie and be teleported into another world, into another time and another place. If the movie was truly great, I would be moved, put into a great mood, and ponder the lessons of the movie for weeks afterwards.
People, it is not our similarity to others that makes us special. It is the uniqueness, and our differences. Yes, being a full woman is just as great as being a full-on man. Why try to pretend that our roles and feelings are interchangeable? We are unique individuals with strengths, emotions, and all the warts that one can well imagine. It is our differences that we should promote and admire, not our similarities.
Not so today.
I don’t know about youse guys, but I have stopped watching movies. I ditched Netflx, and any movies I use are either bought, viewed though a much cheaper paid service or through Torrents. These new “improved” movies are all dog shit.
They really, really are.
Why the “new” movies suck.
These new movies promote the progressive socialist narrative. Which is;
Everyone is inherently equal.
Differences between all of us must be eliminated.
There are no biological differences in gender.
Anyone who does not agree with the above is evil.
Yet, for all the promotion of this nonsense, the fact remains that only women can naturally have babies. That babies cannot be created naturally without a male sperm. And that these differences manifest in all sorts of social and cultural constructs that have similarity to each other irregardless of geolocation or historical venue.
So, now we have Hollywood wanting progressive equality. You know like in China where everyone wore the same type of clothing. Or in Cambodia where all the intelligent people were killed.
When you try to PUSH that narrative on Americans, we tune it out and walk away.
Oceans 11 Reboot
The trailer for the new all-female “Ocean’s 11” reboot was unveiled this week. The Hollywood Reporter called it "the capstone 2017 needed."
Most regular people called it awful and stupid.
What else could it be other than awful and stupid? It’s a reboot of a remake of a remake, which means it already has all the fun and freshness of dried vomit.
The feminist twist just gives it an extra touch of preachiness and pandering, like a vomit stain that comes to life and lectures you about the patriarchy.
-Dailywire
Hey, I have a message for all the Hollywood Producers out there. Stop doing things out of fear of the SJW crowd. It has been my experience that most of what we are afraid of never happens.
To quote from the great movie “Strictly Ballroom“; A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.
“A life lived in fear is a life half lived.”
-Fran (Strictly Ballroom)
Out of touch with the movie audience.
I sat through the (all female) remake of The Ghost-busters and it was like watching people push needles in little puppies eyes. Ouch it hurt that much. Seriously, just how out of touch can people in Hollywood be to produce such a horrific and painful movie?
The answer is way…way… WAY out of touch.
Seriously. Do you, yourself, personally want to spend time watching this kind of drivel that you are producing? Or, do you think that "normal" Americans are some sort of cattle that you can prod about and feed what ever GMO-enhanced nonsense you desire?
How in the world can anyone, most especially a talented producer, even try to improve upon the Ghost-buster franchise with an all-female flick? Don’t they realize the huge numbers of people that they will alienate?
Message to Hollywood;
Are you all that friggin' blind NOT to realize how out of touch you are with your audience?
You need to fire your marketing groups because they are spending way too much time in urban high-end Starbucks, and not doing enough "grass roots" research.
Hollywood is a business model. And you, yes you (!) are throwing it out the window so nonchalantly that it astounds me and just about everyone else in America. What exactly is your malfunction?
Maybe that’s it. They don’t understand that they are being very offensive to Joe and Suzy Normal in viewership land. Or… maybe they know, but do not care.
Listen to me.
Yes. Radical feminism, even when presented comically, is offensive.
Radical Feminism is Offensive.
But I expect it won’t be any worse than the fantastically terrible and pointless female “Ghostbusters” film from a few years ago.
That one set the bar for the others, a group that will soon include a female remake of “Lord of the Flies,” and a female remake of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and a female remake of “The Rocketeer.”
There's also a female remake of some movie called "License to Drive," originally starring Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. The movie is being described as a "female version of 'Superbad.'"
I was going to joke that they’re even planning a female “Expendables” but then I checked and apparently they really are planning a female “Expendables.”
-Dailywire
Hey! I don’t want to be rude, but for Pete’s Sakes!
Are you all so afraid of the twitter mobs, and SJW types that you would willingly torpedo your friggin’ life’s work? Are you so timid, and worried about what they might think? Are you so terrified that you might end up in prison?
If so, then you disgust me.
We had the chance, but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR.
-Doug Hastings (Strictly Ballroom)
In the movie “Strictly Ballroom”, the father sees a repeat of his mistakes in his son’s actions. During the pause when the son is deciding on what to do, the father screams out (don’t make the same mistakes we made) ” We had the chance, but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR. “.
Do not live a life in FEAR.
I am actually astounded that so many well-known and well-established Hollywood producers are so timid and fearful. You have created great works over the decades. You have made movies that us “normals” loved and admired.
Yet, you are all willing to throw all that away, and replace your great works and talent on producing mediocre sub-par movies to appease the radical feminist movement.
In fact, what is so astounding about this, is that the (so called) movement only has a mere handful of active radicals. The rest is all twitter farms, Facebook farms, and other electronic illusionary measures. They look bigger than they really are.
You can stand up to your fears. “In all likelihood, Luhrmann’s film’s attacks on the Dance Federation are just… attacks on the Dance Federation. Luhrmann’s mum was a ballroom dance teacher herself (much like Scott’s parents in the film), so the director presumably grew up with more than a little exposure to the world of competitive dance. There’s a broader message about close-mindedness running through the film – a message that might be even broader than you’d think, if this Luhrmann quote is anything to go by: “It sounds incredible, but we did it at first in response to the Cold War…it was a statement that the individual is not ALWAYS without power.””
Here’s how the rest of America reacts to these progressive causes…
When the Football game on the television set in the local sports-bar starts having (what can best be described as) a Black-hate-fest against “White Privilege” Neo-Nazi rally style that television set gets turned OFF.
When a commercial tries to accuse me of toxic masculinity, I stop using their products. Hey! Growing up, I was the kid being picked on. I do not, absolutely and positively, do NOT appreciate being lumped in with bullies simply because we share the same gender. I set my sights on that product range to OFF.
And when a movie, television show, or actor wants to preach to me in ways that I find RUDE, demeaning, insulting, or in any other way, distasteful, I leave and turn it all OFF.
What’s the matter with youse guys? Or are you all too weak limp-wristed to understand what an insult is and what isn’t?
Tony Soprano tells it like it is. Maybe you don’t like his frankness, or his tones, or the choice of words that he uses. However, he is speaking clearly and directly.
Listen to me now.
Or is everyone in Hollywood stuck in an echo-chamber? Are you all being lead around by the cleat in your noses by some radicals that enslave you by fear? Is that what you are?
Whatever the intent, Strictly Ballroom’s moral has a simple resonance. As you’d expect, the film concludes with a triumphant scene of Scott and Fran quite literally dancing to their own beat at the Pan-Pacific Championships. We’ve learned that Barry’s tale of Scott’s father (Barry Otto) jettisoning his chances through refusing to bow to convention was a lie. We’ve learned that Barry’s reign as president was fundamentally corrupt. But, critically, we never learn who wins. While the precise target of Strictly Ballroom’s satire might be unclear, its underlying philosophy – that art is about creativity, not awards – is unmistakable.
I write this to Hollywood, the producers and all those people who have added life, adventure, and romance to the films that I have loved. Do not allow your great works to fade into rust. Do not allow those who want to force you into fear-controlled boxes, destroy your great works. For they are doing so.
Do great things. Stop pandering to those who are driving your actions by fear.
Meanwhile…
Female James Bond
Watch out! Here comes a new “improved” 007 James Bond!
They’ve decided to kill the James Bond franchise by making the next 007 a woman.
This is just stupid. Bond is a male fantasy: we kill the bad guys while
dressed well and looking sharp and get all the hot women. No man will
want to go see Super Chick do that…nor will women, I suspect.
The James Bond franchise will shake things up completely for its 25th instalment, casting a black actress to take over from Daniel Craig as the new 007 – since re-doing old stories with a PC angle is easier than writing new ones.
The UK’s Daily Mail reports that British actress Lashana Lynch will take over from Craig as codename 007 in the as-yet-untitled film. The movie will reportedly see Craig retain the title role, however, being called out of retirement in Jamaica for one last mission.
The revelation is not so surprising in an era when
political correctness has become something of a new religion – and
naturally, the casting has somewhat ironically prompted much
divisiveness on social media, where there have been both celebrations of
the daring move and anger that the long-established brand of the male,
martini-sipping Bond would be fundamentally changed forever.
People…
What is wrong with Hollywood that they cannot see that this is a big mistake?
The thing that puzzles me is do many women want to see male leads taken by females?
I am a great believer in equal rights and when I was about 13 led a, what now seems very amusing, protest at my school because girls had to take cookery while boys took metalwork and not being particularly interested in cookery I was far more interested in getting my hands on a welding implement! so I naughtily took the majority of my class to stand in line outside the metalwork classroom week after week until the headmaster got fed up and we girls were allowed to have three weeks of metalwork, the metalwork teacher was a lovely man who was very much on our side and showed us how to design and make jewellery, i wish I still had the pendant I made. I made a lot of enemies though, the boys in my year hated me because the cookery teacher refused to take them into her classroom and teach them and so they had to do extra maths lessons instead and the cookery teacher never forgave me for being so disruptive. Everything had changed by the time my boys were in school and they had cookery classes with the girls and the girls had what is now called 'design and technology' together with the boys.
But this is just silly, what next? Goldiluke and the the three bears? a remake of the sound of music with a singing monk?
-Cobis
How is the 007 franchise improved? Why, by replacing the lead and iconic male figure with a strong female figure. That’s how! Of course all the social progressives are so excited about this latest remake and are flooding their social media accounts with all sorts of praise!
When is someone going to stand up and say this new female James Bond is a load of bollocks??
The clue is in the title, James Bond is a man, stuff this equality shit! It's a flipping film character! What next? Cinders a male, Jaws 4 as a dolphin! Get a grip ffs
— Telvis (@Telv1s) July 15, 2019
Why I just can’t wait to see a strong female version of James bond, seducing weak-willed men who are just comic jokes and props. Yessur! That will be fun to watch.
NOPE!
Someone needs to BITCH SLAP those idiots that think a re-gendered James Bond is going to be a success. Yeah, just like the re-gendered Star Trek was…
Re-gendered Star Trek
Really bad writing - in fact the worse I have ever seen in a show. They hired show-runner from the CW with no sci-fi experience (and CW is bottom of the barrel in a time when there are tons of good content out there on streaming services).
They hired her because they wanted a female show runner and didn't look past gender when setting up the show. Star Trek Discovery is really really bad - If you wondered what network TV is putting out these days, this is one you should watch one episode of to see how bad a show can get.
This is a perfect example of what happens when someone casts a show based on social justice warrior checklists and has a team of untalented writers putting out garbage. CBS will not cancel the show because it would be embarrassing for them and the ratings they get are from football and not this show (all access).
Forget the social justice warrior nonsense, this show is unwatchable if you watch everything star trek.
-Christopher T (Rotten Tomatoes on Star Trek Discovery)
But hey! If it is so good then why is it universally considered the absolute worst Star Trek franchise out there? Most fans feel like this fellow…
Jesus **** Christ this show is dog **** It's like a horrible soap opera that is terribly written and it couldn't be further from what Star Trek was when it was good. It's a mess that morons are going to lap up. The writers of this show can go **** themselves.
Or this fellow…
This is not Star Trek, it's a show centered in the character of Michael Burnham, and I had enough of her.
The "know it all" attitude, the dramatics, the never stop crying, the every plot centered around her is highly unnerving. I liked Captain Pike a lot and Saru as well, but the other characters get on my nerves as well, the camaraderie between them seems forced, and there is too much drama and crying.
Other problem is the Klingons, that ugly prosthetic that make their faces look rubbery and the muffled voices. Horrible!
Or this fellow…
I am actually glad Gene Roddenberry is dead so he did not have to see this abomination.
Well if he was alive he would not have allowed this awful show to move forward. It might have made a decent action show but this is in no way shape or form a Star Trek.
Just call it something else or cancel, please?
I am almost sorry I lived long enough to see my beloved series destroyed.
It’s pages upon pages of dislike…
Can this tripe get any worse? Don't bother, go watch The Orville instead. The true new home of ST.
People, you should NOT rely on twitter or electronic media to determine whether or not a show is popular. Those things can be easily spoofed by electronic farming. You should go into the fan communities, into the areas where most people enjoy these shows and talk to them FACE-to-FACE.
Meet people who live outside your community. This includes your community of business associates, your community of friends, and your local geographical community. You need to reach out to those outside your world.
You will find that in just about every case, people would prefer a NEW movie franchise based up new characters, instead of altering a well-established franchise to fit a SJW narrative.
Truth This.
Anyways, back to James Bond.
Female James Bond
James Bond in Dr. No. James Bond got into all sorts of interesting situations. Often with women who used their beauty to seduce him into compromise. Though he was better than that and always had the upper hand.
There are actors and actresses timidly commenting on the absurdity of gender-swapping this character…
Mirren added: “But that time was different; we could never even have imagined a woman playing that role.”
The actress’ statement comes just two days after former Bond girl Halle Berry said casting 007 as a woman would be a bad call.
“I want women to be tough but I don't know if Bond should be a woman,” the 50-year-old told Entertainment Tonight.
“I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know from Ian Fleming’s stories. I don't think you can change Bond to a woman.”
The Die Another Day actress went on: “We can create a new Bond character that's a woman, and give her a new name, based on that theory.
“But I don't know if Bond should be a woman.”
- Could Helen Mirren be the first female 007?
There are all sorts of rumors of who will play the new female version of James Bond. Knowing what I know of the idiots in the coastal cities, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is played by Omarosa Manigault.
I call them idiots. Why? Because they are permitting a profitable enterprise to collapse. All to the disdain of its’ shareholders.
What? You think that there are no alternatives to Hollywood? Do you think that it has a forever lock on movies, music, and entertainment? You think that Bollywood will never encroach on the American audience, and that China will never take over...
Have you been paying attention lately?
Nope. You are all in your closed progressive Hollywood bubble, and it is getting smaller and smaller and soon you will suffocate within it.
Progressives are all for change… as long it is change that they can control. But, you know what? It’s a fantasy. Control is only an illusion. Most of your life there are forces that are beyond what you can control. The only thing that you can control is your very own actions.
That’s all.
So for goodness sakes. Don’t live a life in fear. Stop pandering to the radical feminists.
Female Captain Jack Sparrow
Let me get this straight. Casting Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn’t really be fitting. So, what’s the answer?
Why, you need to cast a strong woman in this role. Sort of a female version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Maybe a Jacklin Sparrow. yeah! That will just bring in swarms of people to sit through a two hour long feature length movie.
So Captain Jack Sparrow is going to be cast as a woman in the latest remake or spawned sequel to the Pirates of the Caribbean. I understand that there have been female pirates in the past, but a gender swap of a famous character is not the way you go about these kinds of things.
Stop pandering to the radical feminists.
All Female Ghostbusters
Director/co-writer Paul Feig's no-one-asked-for "Ghostbusters" remake opens with a big "ugh" and never recovers.
Naturally, it's a joke aimed at Donald Trump and his supporters -- a heavy-handed haha about an "anti-Irish fence."
Yep, even before the movie can even cast its spell, the spell is shattered forever by divisive partisanship. From there, instead of relaxing, you're on guard throughout for the next left-wing sucker punch.
-Daily Wire
Yeah, this went over like a lead balloon.
It was absolutely positive revolting. It was an insult to the original movie, the cast, and all the moviegoers who watched it in theaters when it came out… bought the Betamax tapes, the VHS tapes, the DVD discs, or rented from Blockbuster or viewed it on Netflix.
Screenshot of Ghostbusters review of the all-female version. Captured before the Internet could rewrite the historical dialog.
It was a total and complete cluster-FLUXXX.
Look at this cluster of losers…
One of the worst movies ever made in the history of movies was the ill-advised remake of Ghostbusters. In it they used females in all the leading roles. It fit them like putting a sock over a snail. It did not fit. NO FRIGGIN’ WAY.
Did I like it? Hell no! I’d rather swim in a pool of pig feces than endure that monstrosity… that horrid… horrid insult to humanity ever again. What the Hell were they thinking?
They weren’t. That’s the point.
As expected, Feig's disaster has a flaming feminist chip on its shoulder. Every male character is either an asshole, an idiot, or both.
Which begs the question: Where in the world does this grudge emanate from? Certainly not the original that gave us Weaver's classy, independent, sophisticated Manhattan woman and Annie Potts' knowing, street-smart receptionist.
-Daily Wire
I mean you’ve got Ocean’s eleven all female, and all the classics are being remade into the progressive socialist narrative, of course there will need to be an all female version of Die Hard.
So…
John McClain in the movie “A good day to die hard”. He always plays an average Joe, a regular guy who is confronted with extraordinary circumstances where he and only he alone must confront. Which is the core MALE attribute in all MEN.
These has been no announcements on who would play John or Joan in this role. (My guess is that the backlash has been so negative, that the articles are pulled off the Internet within hours of being posted.) Though, I am betting that it might be someone like Mindy Kaling.
There are more than just a few remakes of movies planned. Some one with deep, deep pockets is flooding Hollywood with all sorts of cash. Seems like a Barrack Obama, or George Soros trademark.
Pause and let that sink in…
I just can't help but think that all those many, many programs that were put in place over the years had some kind of financial feed-back mechanism (illegal, of course) for "social progress".
Or, as I have been saying… stop pandering to the radical feminists.
Well, the original movie featured a guy who was bit by a werewolf while in London. Why not a female? Well… it’s coming true. It’s been announced.
Heck! Why stop there.
Make her a hijab wearing LGBT transgender person. Right? That way the movie goers can get the full force of SJW immersion, as well as sticking a sharp knife into the sides of all those deplorable Trump followers. Eh?
Besides, it’s well known that London is a progressive global city with Muslim majorities. It would make absolutely and perfect sense. There are far, far, FAR more Muslims in London than Americans.
Yeah.
Make the American Werewolf in London a Muslim. It would be quite fitting. Yeah. Everyone would be breaking down the doors to get in.
Escape from New York
Oh, it’s Snake Plissken all right.
Only this time he is dispatched to New York city to save and rescue a female Senator from the clutches of the despicable deplorables entrapped inside that urban ghetto. I’ll bet you 8 to 10 that she will look a little like Hillary Clinton, Maxine Walters or some other prominent liberal democrat.
Great fare for the cash-heavy urban blacks that follow this narrative.
Yeah. An all-women expendables. I suppose that it all began here when some feminists were musing about the take over of the industry.
It has long passed the silly, and entered the world of the absurd.
The original Expendables had enough male movie stars in black to go around. It’s possible some of your relatives are in this picture.
In defiance of history. In defiance with genetics, and the social variances between those with “Y” chromosomes and those without it, this movie is moving forward.
Hey! All youse guys in the room, raise you hand up if you want to watch this absurdity. Obviously the marketing group in Hollywood was on crack when they promoted this film. Why not alienate 99% of the “Expendable” viewing audience, won’t ya?
Stop living your life in Fear of the radical feminists.
Stop living your life in fear of the radical progressive feminists. You need to start living life on YOUR terms, and not let others define what your legacy will become.
Stop living your life in fear. Stop pandering to the radical feminists. Stop allowing them to define what your film legacy will become.
All of Me
Instead of Steve Martin, you now have a woman in the role.
A dying millionaire finds her soul has been transferred to the body of her lawyer. A remake of the 1984 comedy 'All of Me'.
-IMDB
A life that is lived in fear is a life that is half-lived. Stop allowing your fear of the radical feminists to define your legacy.
Overboard (2018)
It’s a role reversal of the original comedy. Instead of a rich woman falling overboard and forgetting who she is, it’s a rich man who falls overboard.
Kate Sullivan is a single mom of three daughters who works two jobs while studying to be a nurse. She is assigned to clean carpets on a yacht owned by spoiled, arrogant playboy Leonardo 'Leo' Montenegro. Leo makes rude remarks towards Kate and fires her without pay when she refuses to bring him food. When Kate calls out his behavior, Leo pushes her off the boat along with her cleaning equipment. Meanwhile, in Mexico, Leo's sisters Magdalena and Sofia are tending to their ailing father. Furious when Leo is announced as his successor to run the family-owned company, Magda decides to visit him. That night, Leo slips off the yacht and falls into the ocean unnoticed. He wakes up on a beach with amnesia and no recollection of his identity. He wanders through town and eventually reaches the hospital. Magda finds him and leaves him there unclaimed after learning he has amnesia. She returns home and falsely reports that Leo has died. Sofia suspects Magda is lying.
-IMDB
Stop allowing the radical feminists to define your life.
Ocean’s Eight (2018)
Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala. Pretty much the same plot as the original Ocean’s Eight, only with role reversal. It’s expected to be a great hit with all the progressive millennials in the Untied States today.
This is just another Hollywood attempt at "Hey! Lets take a classic movie and flip the casts gender!!!" It's pure pc propaganda. The only reason that I'm giving it a 2 is because I don't trust these ratings sites algorithms to take 0's and 1's into account. They may be getting smarter though and will stop dropping any score below 5.
-MysticDingo
Just an all female Reboot of a good and beloved Movie Trilogy. Rihannas poorly acting skills make this film unwatchable. Don´t do this to yourself and watch that movie, except you are a fat Feminazi that rather watches a bad movie with female cast than an actually good movie with diverse group of men.
-Metacritic
Another gender swap movie trying to show equality and how "empowered" women are.. It belongs in the garbage bin along with the people it caters to.
- Zisis151 Jun 10, 2018
Stop living your life in fear. Make the best movies that you can make and fear not who you offend.
Make the best films that you are able to. Do not pander to the radical feminists. A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.
What about all these remakes?
Well there certainly seems like everything is up for grabs in Hollywood. Everything, apparently, can be recast now as either all-female roles or gender swapped. It’s the progressive way. Don’t you know.
But all this is being done absolutely wrong. They are redoing successful films to fit a SJW narrative. Of course, it is bound to fail. People, you produce movies and shows to ENTERTAIN. Not to lecture, or push a particular political agenda.
Concentrate on entertainment.
Concentrate on the entertainment of your audience.
Concentrate on entertaining your audience.
Some Ideas
Here’s some ideas on how to properly implement progressive ideas into Hollywood movies in such a way that you will not alienate your viewing audience.
First of all, you can have strong female roles that are uniquely female. You do not have the need to apprehend those roles from men…
Entertainment.
The purpose of movies are to entertain. There are many ways to do this. But, no matter what, do not be under the impression that Hollywood has the sole ownership of this medium.
If Hollywood continues to produce lackluster films, the cash-paying audience will start to ignore the movies as not worthy of their time. They will go elsewhere.
You need to entertain.
Thirdly, absurdity is fine.
It’s ok. Everyone knows that this is fiction. So you can create movies as off-the-wall as you would like.
Now. Here’s some ideas…
Some are all-female.
Some are gender swaps.
Others are race or religion swaps.
It’s all part of the new progressive reality. Come on! You’ve got to be fair about it all, right? But only, this time, please concentrate on entertainment.
The Rat Patrol.
Here we have a famous 1960’s series about four men who fight the Nazi’s in Africa by riding jeeps in the desert. We could gender swap them to four women. We could modernize them. Yeah! That’s right. Four women riding high, machine gunning ISIS warriors in the hot desert heat.
They can all be Muslim, head scarves and all, and are fighting the evil ISIS’s and their paternity, and Privilege. They can all wear veils, and long flowing African outfits and carry Tommy guns and Beretta’s under their flowing garments. They could rescue captured women at slave auctions, perform night raids in ISIS camps, and assassinate ISIS leadership.
Have them attractive. Have them wear attractive Arabic clothing. Something like this beauty…
Beautiful Muslim woman wearing the latest in fashion.
Have them riding specially modified Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s. You know, with a twin barrelled .50 caliber machine gun, and all sorts of 007 James Bond style high-tech gadgetry. Make it a cross between Raging Women getting back at people who abused them, and a fully equipped mad-scientist lair. Take elements from Miami Vice, and blend it with a little bit of Doctor Phibes.
Make it DIFFERENT.
Oh, and make their outfits extraordinary. Make women want to wear Arabic styled clothing.
You need to understand. By using a “Rat Patrol” template you can create an entirely new series with entirely new characters and situationals without any association from whence the idea was derived from.
Be brave. Push yourself.
The Rat Patrol took place during a tiny sliver of time (5 years) when the Nazi’s actually controlled portions of Northern Africa. I propose the much longer period of time (8+ years) when the ISIS controlled Syria.
The Rat Patrol: The Rat Patrol is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one Englishman — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: “to attack, harass and wreak havoc.
The Munsters
We can have comedies.
Here, we could gender-swap Herman Muster for Harriet Munster, and have Lester (instead of Lilly) as his wife. (Or, maybe a same-sex relationship.) Maybe she could be an Uber driver who is also a Rastafarian who uses comically conspired voodoo on riders in her car.
It would be in color instead of black and white. It could take place on 1313 bad luck lane on a hilly portion of San Francisco. They would be on food stamps, and live in a “colorful” section of town.
Use different theme music. Maybe some kind of upbeat rap.
Make it outrageous. Make it stand apart. Make it so offensive to everyone, and make fun of everything, and the more politically incorrect the BETTER.
have jokes that cater to both Conservatives and Progressives. Mix it up. Make it outrageous!
Grandpa will be replaced with a vampire transgender Grandma, you know, like a Frankenstein creature gone loopy. And the kids can stay the same. That would work, wouldn’t you all think? As an added bonus, we could have Eddie Munster a Muslim Female, and his sister a black transgender gender-less person with three boobs.
The more absurd, the better.
The jokes can all be about modern progressive lifestyle where everyone is just as crazy as they are, and how it is like to fit into modern life in San Francisco. Have them fall in love with an Antifa activist, and have them play checkers with lit candles.
The gags can abound.
For instance, Fido can be free-spirited saber-toothed tiger. Each week with a different hair style and color. They could have ties to the Addams Family, and Harriet Munster can work at the county morgue. They can make comments about the staff filming the episodes, and joke about Hollywood insiders.
Just let it out and sway in the wind.
The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters starring Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein’s monster-type head-of-the-household Herman Munster, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife, Lily Munster, Al Lewis as Grandpa, the over-the-hill vampire who relishes talking about the “good old days”.
The Andy Griffith Show
You can take traditional America and turn it on it’s head. Just take a normal traditional show and twist and distort it into something completely different. Use different names, and different circumstances.
How about an all-woman Andy Griffith show.
Yeah in small town Mayberry RFD, a woman sheriff and her female deputy keep order in the town. You’ve got a female Otis, and a female Gomer, and a cast of characters that includes a female hairdresser, a female mayor and the daughter of the sheriff. Call it Mayberry Woman’s Auxiliary RFD.
Put elements of food in it. Each week, nice juicy closeups of food porn. All with oozy melted cheese, and sizzling images of meat, and slow motion cutting of fresh bread.
Now, don’t look at me cross-eyed. It could work.
If you are willing to step outside of your West-coast bubble, do some REAL marketing, and brush off some good-old-fashioned movie skills and work… work… work.
The Andy Griffith Show is a syndicated family situation comedy series created by Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Ruben, which was broadcast on CBS for eight seasons from 1960 to 1968. Episodes involve Sheriff Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his family and friends’ life in a small rural town called Mayberry, North Carolina.
All Female remake of Kelly’s Heroes
Of course, we should have a rolling good time with a all-female remake of Kelly’s Heroes. How about that?
During World War II, Lieutenant Kelly learns of a German bank located behind enemy lines containing 16 million dollars in gold bars. His platoon, led by Big Joe, has three days of R&R coming, so, with the aid of hustler Crapgame, anachronistic hippie Oddball, three Sherman tanks and a touch of irreverence, Kelly leads his men deep into French territory to steal the gold for themselves.
-123 Movies
Do it differently. Have the gaggle of gals break into a military base and steal three tanks and then go on a USA-wide bank-robbing spree. Put it in the mid-1990’s and play popular Grunge music from that time period. Have it so that they end up having a parade of people following them sort of like “Forrest Gump” in the running scene.
Model the FBI and other police agencies as a kind of updated “Keystone Cops”.
Have the news media reporting but as a real parody of themselves. Show them making up news, interviewing actors pretending they are eye-witnesses, and generally clueless.
Make it a cross between the movies “9 to 5”, “One Crazy Summer”, and “The Great Train Robbery”.
Follow the same kind of model that was used in the movie “Brother where art thou”; the tales of the adventures of Ulysses. You couldn’t tell the source inspiration for the movie could you?
Film is based upon a true incident. The caper was covered in a book called “Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery – and the Greatest Criminal Cover-Up” by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting. The heist was perpetrated by a combination of renegade Nazi and American officers. It was also listed as the “biggest” robbery ever in the Guinness Book of Records, in the 1960s.
The Dukes of Hazzard
In this remake, we can have an urban version of the Dukes of Hazzard.
Only it can be about a gang of black urban youth called “The Dukes” who live in a fictional section of Chicago called “The Hazzard” which is a dangerous old industrial area. (You know with pits of sulfuric acid, rusty chains hanging everywhere, lots of metal grid scaffolding, and tons of long deserted buildings and machinery.) They fight the corrupt “Boss” of the town as they cart meth from one end of the town to another, while dealing with the local constables and a pimp that goes by the name of Boss Hog.
Oh, and they drive in a pimped out white BMW that they call the Lil Layzie . The series can feature different rap songs every episode. It could work. I tell you.
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American action-comedy television series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985. The show aired for a total of 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.
Roots
Oh boy! I can see all the BLM howling. But, it makes sense, actually. The very first slaves to the Americas were Irish. It might not be the politically correct thing to say, but it is historically truthful.
Of course the progressives have done their best to rewrite this narrative. You can find their rebuttals at the very top of all the Google and Bing search results. But, it's not a fantasy. Personally, it's a small part of my very own family legacy.
Yeah, now let’s have a gender swap and race swap of the television series Roots. Yeah. After all that is what progressiveness is all about, isn’t it?
Or is it about POWER?
Conclusion
You can gender swap all you want using similar themes and context, however the movie (or television show) should stand alone on it’s own merits.
You absolutely cannot produce a female version, or a different racial version, of a long held and long established character, theme or franchise successfully.
The reason for this is simple. People gravitate to the familiar, and are repelled by that they are unaccustomed to.
You should branch out and try something different that can stand alone and aloof. Give it depth and breadth and substance. make it immersive, and people will fall in love with your for it.
Follow the Lord of the Rings model.
You will know that you are successful when few people would associate your new creation with the movie or show that you might have spawned if off of.
The failures (in Hollywood movies) that we see today, are due to inappropriate pandering to an aggressive SJW army for “progressive justice” in lieu of actual content that can be successfully monetized.
I argue that while there might be protective and conservative reasons for accepting this pandering venue, it is counter productive in the long run.
As such I argue that the creative license should be used creatively, and in such a way that the final product cannot, would not, or in any way be associated with some sort of SJW revisionism effort.
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Here is a movie that I loved as a kid. There are people who think that it is a piece of Satanic propaganda. I disagree. I just think that it is a chunky tongue in cheek, campy, pseudo horror flick from the 1970’s.
Here’s my take on this masterpiece of camp.
They just don’t make ‘em like The Abominable Dr. Phibes* anymore. In fact, they just don’t make ‘em like Vincent Price anymore, either. Dr. Phibes, first off, is the definitive role that Vincent Price was born to play, and second off, is firmly embedded in a different time. He belongs to the era of 1950s EC Comics horror titles such as “Tales from the Crypt,” “The Vault of Horror,” and “Weird Fantasy.”
-All Horror
A Satanic Movie?
Well, well. It turns out that the Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey has claimed that the main character in this Vincent Price film was based on him.
I would have never even associated Vincent Price with any kind or works of Satan. He was, after all, just an actor who played Satanic roles to the “T”.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 British dark comedy horror film, produced by Ronald S. Dunas and Louis M. Heyward, directed by Robert Fuest, written by William Goldstein and James Whiton, and starring Vincent Price and Joseph Cotten. Its art deco sets, dark humour, and performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics.
-Wikipedia.
Anyways, this character’s name is Dr. Anton Phibes and he’s an organist, researcher, medical doctor, biblical scholar and ex-vaudevillian who has created a clockwork band of robot musicians to play old standards at his whim.
Now, in hindsight, seeing as how nearly all of these things match up with Satanist LaVey, I can kind of see his point. Kinda.
Though, this movie isn’t going to be useful for recruiting anyone to follow Satan, I’m afraid.
“I won’t do another Phibes film unless Robert Fuest directs it. He’s the only person in the world who is mad enough to direct the Dr. Phibes films. He’s a genuine, registered nut! He even looks like a madman. He’s all over the place, like an unmade bed. What imagination he has. They were all his ideas…. Bob has never done anything that was nearly as good as the Dr. Phibes films.” — Vincent Price, 1979
The Movie
The film begins with a dark figure playing gothic music on a huge pipe organ. The audience for this recital of sorts seems to be having a wonderful time…until you look a bit closer. They are all mannequins seated in positions that give the illusion that they are enjoying themselves in a lavish nightclub. Then we see the first appearance of Vulnavia (Virginia North). Though she never speaks a word through the entire movie, Vulvania has quite an impact.
Vulnavia and the organ player proceed through a highly ritualized chain of events, gliding through loading an automobile with a large box, driving to a swank part of London and arriving at a large British mansion.
The sets in this movie are amazing and lavish.
This movie is one I can’t be quiet about. It’s one of the strangest and most delightful films I’ve ever seen.
Dr. Phibes (his particular field is never given) is an underground aristocrat in early 20th-century London, who is bereaved of his late wife Victoria after a fatal car crash. Phibes himself is also presumed dead by the authorities, since his own car went off a cliff when he was en route to his wife. Victoria died on the operating table, the doctors unable to help her, and now Dr. Phibes has sworn vengeance against the doctors he blames for his wife’s death.
So what, he’s going to hire lawyers and sue for malpractice? Oh no, much too common. He’s going to kill them off one by one! To do so, he’s going to hatch contrived murder traps based (very loosely) upon the ten plagues of Egypt mentioned in both the Quran and the Bible. What, do you expect him to take a gun and shoot them, like a bourgeois commoner? Nope, his traps involve several species of animal, in between intricate mechanical devices that must have cost a fortune to research and manufacture for this single use. He also has a pendant necklace for each victim, which he will hang around a wax bust of its target after a successful kill and melt with a blowtorch.
-All Horror
Dr. Anton Phibes died in Switzerland, racing back home upon hearing the news that his beloved bridge Victoria (an uncredited Caroline Munro) had died during surgery.
On team Phibes, we have his mute but fashionable assistant, Vulnavia (Virginia North). When she isn’t running errands for Dr. Phibes transporting cages of deadly animals around London, she’s dancing up a storm with him in his underground ballroom or providing moral support playing a violin that’s color-coordinated to match her current outfit.
The truth is that Phibes has survived, scarred beyond belief and unable to speak, but alive. He uses all of the skills that he’s mastered to rebuild his face and approximate a human voice.
Oh yeah. Aside from all that, he also may or may not be a tad bit insane.
The police, led by Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey), keep a stiff upper British lip as they scurry around England trying to put together clues to all the steampunk devices and menagerie of exotic creatures. They’re pretty far behind the mad Dr. Phibes and don’t catch up very quickly. The targeted doctors themselves aren’t exactly elusive prey either, as they’re all dupes who spend more time nurturing obsessions with stag movies or model trains than taking the police warnings seriously. When caught, they have a tendency to sit politely and accept their deaths rather than do something so un-British-like as get up and run away, because they haven’t been excused.
Now, Phibes believes that the doctors who operated on his wife were incompetent and therefore must pay for their insolence. So he does what anyone else would do: visit the Biblical ten plagues of Egypt on every single one of them.
Now people, listen up! That’s how you get revenge, and do it properly.
Phibes is, of course, played by Vincent Price. No one else could handle this role. Or this movie.
There’s hardly any dialogue for the first ten minutes of the movie. Instead, there are long musical numbers of Phibes and his clockwork band playing old standards. In fact, Phibes doesn’t speak for the first 32 minutes of the movie.
Anyone who asks questions like “Why?” and says things like “This movie makes no sense” will be dealt with accordingly.
But we haven’t gotten around to Phibes himself yet! He’s disfigured from his own accident, so he wears a mask that bears a remarkable resemblance to Vincent Price, and he’s rendered unable to speak, so he has to plug a huge-horned Victrola into a cord on the side of his neck and mime along with his own dubbed dialogue. He completes this eccentric performance by being a fashionable man-about-town, and his disfigurement doesn’t stop him from having unbounded pride in his appearance, as his face is plastered as a logo on the walls of his mansion and even the tinted windows of his car.
After the first few murders, Inspector Trout gets on the case. He becomes Phibes’ main antagonist for this and the following film, trying to prove that all of these murders — the doctors and nurse who had been on the team of Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten!) — are connected.
Phibes then stays one step ahead of the police, murdering everyone with bees, snow, a unicorn statue, locusts and rats, sometimes even right next to where the cops have staked him out.
Dr Phibes spends his free time playing an organ in his underground lair, accompanied by a whole orchestra of automatons dubbed “Dr. Phibes Clockwork Wizards.” His other pursuits include delivering rambling eulogies to his late wife, to whom he has built a shrine. In a career with some serious ham and cheese in it, Dr. Phibes is one of Vincent Price’s hammiest roles!
Vulnavia
Dr. Phibes is assisted by the lovely Vulnavia. We’re never informed that she’s a robot, but the opinion of others, she actually is. Both she and the doctor are the most fashion-forward of all revenge killers I’ve seen outside of Meiko Kaji and Christina Lindberg.
Writer William Goldstein wrote Vulnavia as another clockwork robot with a wind-up key in her neck. Fuest thought that Phibes demanded a more mobile assistant, so he made her human, yet one with a blank face and mechanical body movements.
"Easy does it. I think it's a left-handed thread." — Policeman unscrewing a victim impaled by a unicorn horn, The Abominable Dr. Phibes
I still like to think that she’s a machine, particularly because she returns in the next film after her demise here. Also — Fuest rewrote nearly the entire script.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a cult classic today, even amongst the non-horror muggles. The film plays a strident note in between camp and grotesque, with art-deco sets and baroque flourishes everywhere. While there isn’t much to the story beyond “madman kills people in obsessive revenge,” the style trumps the substance. One minor quibble is that the scenes involving animals, in those pre-CGI days, didn’t get the animals full cooperation and seem to be more cuddly than threatening. And of course, the whole thing is dated and intentionally corny, so if you like your horror serious, this isn’t the film for you.
The Key to the Heart
After killing off everyone else — sorry Terry-Thomas! — Phibes
kidnaps Dr. Vesalius’ son and implants a key inside his heart that will
unlock the boy. However, if the doctor doesn’t finish the surgery on his
son in six minutes — the same amount of time he had spent trying to
save Phibes’ wife — acid will rain down and kill both he and his boy.
Against all odds, Vesalius is successful.
The Abominable Dr Phibes is a camp masterpiece. It has a sublime elegance – what other film could offer up a scene where a man’s blood is drained to the accompaniment of a woman in furs standing outside playing a melancholic violin solo. There is such a droll sense of humor at work here – like the moment Vincent Price’s deformed title doctor pours a glass of champagne and then tips it up to his neck to drink, or puts a finger dipped in the vegetable juice to his neck to taste the flavor. There is the joyously droll moment where Maurice Kaufman is impaled against the wall on the horn of a unicorn head fired from a cannon, with the bumbling police then having to unscrew the body from the wall, while arguing over which way the thread of the horn’s screw runs.
But… Poor Vulnavia.
Vulnavia, in the middle of destroying Phibes’ clockwork orchestra, is sprayed by the acid and killed while the doctor himself replaces his blood with a special fluid and lies down to eternal sleep with his wife, happy that he has had his revenge.
The Abominable Dr Phibes is a camp masterpiece. It has a sublime elegance – what other film could offer up a scene where a man’s blood is drained to the accompaniment of a woman in furs standing outside playing a melancholic violin solo. There is such a droll sense of humor at work here – like the moment Vincent Price’s deformed title doctor pours a glass of champagne and then tips it up to his neck to drink, or puts a finger dipped in the vegetable juice to his neck to taste the flavor. There is the joyously droll moment where Maurice Kaufman is impaled against the wall on the horn of a unicorn head fired from a cannon, with the bumbling police then having to unscrew the body from the wall, while arguing over which way the thread of the horn’s screw runs.
The Ten Plagues
If you’re interested, the ten plagues Phibes unleashes are:
Blood: He drains all of Dr. Longstreet’s blood
Frogs: He uses a mechanical frog mask to kill Dr. Hargreaves at a costume party
Bats: A more cinematic plague than lice from the Biblical plagues, Phibes uses these airborne rodents to kill Dr. Dunwoody
Rats: Again, better than flies, rats overwhelm Dr. Kitaj and cause his plane to crash
Pestilence: This one is a leap, but the unicorn head that kills Dr. Whitcombe qualifies
Boils: Professor Thornton is stung to death by bees
Hail: Dr. Hedgepath is frozen by an ice machine
Locusts: The nurse is devoured by them thanks to an ingenious trap
Darkness: Phibes joins his wife in eternal rest during a solar eclipse
Death of the firstborn: Phibes kidnaps and the son of Dr. Vesalius
I love that this movie appears lost in time. While set in the 1920’s,
many of the songs weren’t released until the 1940’s. Also, Phibes has
working robots and high technology, despite the era the film is set in.
Vincent Price gives the best performance of his life as a madman, seemingly trapped inside his own face, all the time delivering hilariously flowery eulogies to his dead wife via speaker-phone. There is that marvelously wicked little chuckle he gives, sitting sniffing a daisy as he watches one victim go down in a plane. He’s perfect. The scenes in the house as Price and the lovely never-speaking Virginia North sweep across the ballroom floor, amid painted Art Deco cycloramas and a clockwork orchestra have a beautiful, elegant sophistication. There is also a superb score.
There’s nothing quite like this movie. I encourage you to take the rest of the day off and savor it.
A Satanic Film?
How does Phibes live up to being a Satanic film? In my opinion, Phibes embodies one of the nine Satanic statements to its utmost: Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.
Indeed, the men and woman whose negligence led to the loss of Phibes’ wife were never punished. Phibes had to become their judge, jury and yes, destroyer.
If you are planning on spending some time this weekend watching a movie, whether in the comfort of your own company, or with a sweetheart or friend, I’d like to recommend The Abominable Dr. Phibes for your evening’s selection. In this cult horror classic directed by Robert Fruest, screen legend Vincent Price is the eponymous Dr. Phibes, a reclusive genius who can build incredible musical automatons, play a mean organ, waltz till the cows come home, and still manage to exact his carefully cultivated plan of vengeance, all while wearing great capes.
On the other hand — or hoof, as it were — Phibes is the exact antithesis of the ninth Satanic sin, Lack of Aesthetics, which states that “an eye for beauty, for balance, is an essential Satanic tool and must be applied for greatest magical effectiveness.
It’s not what’s supposed to be pleasing—it’s what is.
Aesthetics is a personal thing, reflective of one’s own nature, but there are universally pleasing and harmonious configurations that should not be denied.” So much of what makes this film is that Phibes’ musical art is just as essential as his demented nature and abilities.
Music is the core of his soul, not just revenge.
If you are planning on spending some time this weekend watching a movie, whether in the comfort of your own company, or with a sweetheart or friend, I’d like to recommend The Abominable Dr. Phibes for your evening’s selection. In this cult horror classic directed by Robert Fruest, screen legend Vincent Price is the eponymous Dr. Phibes, a reclusive genius who can build incredible musical automatons, play a mean organ, waltz till the cows come home, and still manage to exact his carefully cultivated plan of vengeance, all while wearing great capes. Assisted by his stylish, silent accomplice Vulnavia (Virginia North), Phibes carries out murderous revenge, styled (if a little loosely) after the Ten Plagues of Egypt, on the various medical professionals he believes botched his wife’s medical treatment and caused her untimely death.
Back to Dr. Anton LaVey
Another point of view comes from Draconis Blackthorne of the Sinister Screen: “This is an aesthetically-beauteous film, replete with Satanic architecture as well as ideology. Those who know will recognize these subtle and sometimes rather blatant displays.
Obviously, to those familiar with the life of our Founder, there are several parallels between the Dr. Anton Phibes character and that of Dr. Anton LaVey – they even share the same first name, and certain propensities.”
So maybe it is a kind of homage to Satanist Dr. Anton LaVey.
Conclusion
Homage or not, it’s a great movie, and a fun watch. It’s not like anyone is going to be seduced to the dark side by this movie. It’s just plain campy fun.
This film is an intriguing tale of revenge. The sets are “70s spectacular” and the performances by Price and North are extraordinary. There are a few elements that really make this horror movie work:
• The murders are done in very creative and ingenious ways, using intricate devices and techniques. (Somebody watched The Abominable Dr Phibes before writing the horror movie Saw I’m sure)
• Vincent Price pulls no punches in his over-the-top portrayal of the good doctor, and makes him believable, as only Vincent Price could.
• Humor and levity intermix with horror and intrigue, and this rescues The Abominable Dr Phibes from being a total cheese-fest.
• The style and, well, “bigness” of the visuals, characters and music result in this not just being a great Vincent Price movie, but a work of art where every element fits together just right.
The Abominable Dr Phibes showcases the brilliance of 70s style and of the mastery of Vincent Price. Many of the younger folks may have missed him altogether, which is a shame. I do think, though, that one of the best contributions that the freak-show Michael Jackson has made to the world is introducing Vincent Price to a whole new generation of horror-buffs by using his voice in the pop music hit “Thriller” from the 80s. Now, watch The Abominable Dr Phibes and REALLY get a taste of what made this man great.
-Horror Freak News
You can watch it for free if you don’t mind waiting a half an hour to half a day to download the torrent.
For those of you who are unaware. Torrents are parts of files that are spread out in tiny packets all over the internet. You use a "Bit Torrent" client to vacuum up all those little bits and pieces of the file. It then assembles the file into a movie that you can watch. The time that this takes can vary from a few minutes to weeks depending on how popular or obscure your searched file is.
You will need an application to manage the download. I recommend the free application VUZE. To download the video is thus easy. Install VUZE, and then click on one of the following torrent links.
Depending on where you live, you might not have the freedom to access these sites and the ISP might block them from access, or the search engines might black out their search results. Americans, in particular, might have some real problems. Therefore, I listed the most accessible torrent sites available to Americans. Pirate Bay and 1337X. I think that Kick Ass Torrents is still blocked for all Americans.
Google and Bing will most certainly block certain websites, and avoid others at the request of the United States government. From “Uncle Sam’s” point of view, you go after the “low handing fruit” that the vast bulk of Americans use. Then ridicule the outliers as “misfits”, “deplorables”, and “Nazi’s”.
The
international website “Kick Ass Torrents” was seized by the Department
of Homeland Security. The reason being that they offered royalty free
downloads of copyrighted movies and music. Thanks to President Obama,
visiting any of these websites is a federal crime that Americans are
forbidden to visit. Even for a nano-second.
As far as privacy is concerned, Bing will alter the behavior of the Search Engine if you live in the EU.
Movies that Inspired Me
Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
I have composed a number of posts that involved special effects by Ray Harryhausen. I listed them simply because, as a boy, the visuals and the adventure that was portrayed in the movies greatly appealed to me. They influenced me. Which was something that is most certainly lacking in the latest Hollywood fare. (That is, unless you are an LGBT with an inferiority complex.)
Here, I want to discuss another of his great works. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad. Meanwhile Sinbad meets the Vizier who has another part of the interlocking golden map, and they mount a quest across the seas to solve the riddle of the map, accompanied by a slave girl with a mysterious tattoo of an eye on her palm. They encounter strange beasts, tempests, and the dark interference of Koura along the way.
-AVXHM
The golden voyage of Sinbad is a classic in itself. It too held claim to all sorts of creative monsters, some huge, some multi-limbed, some that flew, and others that were magical. All of which were amazing to me.
The Movie
It all starts to unravel when Sinbad fires an arrow at a strange creature that flies over his ship.
As the creature dodges the arrow, it ends up dropping an amulet it is carrying. Let me pause here for a second. A strange creature? It’s carrying a magic (we suppose, after all what other purpose would an amulet have) amulet, which it drops, and Sinbad gathers up.
Kali is a multi-armed creature creation that Sinbad must battle with. You can well imagine the problems and issues that you must contend with when dealing with a six armed purple creature.
Sinbad makes landfall, and almost immediately meets an evil sorcerer. We know he is evil because he immediately engages Sinbad in fisticuffs. His attempts to forcibly take the amulet from Sinbad is rebuffed.
The sorcerer’s name is Koura. He’s a fellow that you don’t want to get tangled up with.
So Sinbad seeks out a safe haven, and is eventually granted refuge by the benevolent ruler of the city, known as the Grand Vizier. This fellow too has tangled up with Koura. For today he has been forced to hide his face behind a beaten gold mask. You see, his face is all terribly disfigured after Koura burnt it away with a fireball.
Check out the slave girl that tags along with Sinbad. Yowsa! ( Actress Caroline Munro ) This is how she spends the majority of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Gordon Hessler, 1973). Yet, despite the ludicrous neckline and the constant layer of oil/sweat she still manages to draw your eyes up and away from her chest and towards her eyes. It takes a lot of presence to up-stage that bust, but Munro had it by the ton.
The Vizier shows Sinbad a companion amulet and the drawing of a third one. All three amulets form a map that leads to a fountain of youth on the island of Lemuria.
Harryhausen’s creations include the winged, miniature homunculus; an ensorcelled figurehead that tears itself loose from Sinbad’s ship; a one-eyed centaur; a gryphon that guards the Fountain of Destiny; and, most impressively, a six-armed statue of Kali which performs an Indian dance before dueling against Sinbad’s men with six swords.
It’s really the Kali sequence that makes this such a memorable film.
With his typical attention to detail, Harryhausen hired an Indian dancer (Surya Kumari, also a noted actress and singer) to choreograph and perform as Kali with one of her students strapped to her back.
The dance was then scored with Indian musicians, and the sudden switch in flavor (as our ears have already been conditioned to an hour or so of Rózsa’s romantic adventure music) is in synch with the charged, magical atmosphere of the statue coming to life.
For the swordfight, nearly as elaborate as the celebrated skeleton battle in Jason and the Argonauts, stunt choreographer Fernando Poggi tied three of his men together to rehearse the action with the actors, then removed themselves and let the actors shadow-box before the cameras, with Harryhausen’s Kali to be added later.
It’s a showstopping fight and, it must be said, far more rousing than the typical poke-with-spears action that so many Harryhausen action scenes become (or, in fact, the earlier scene with the ship’s figurehead). It’s one for the highlight reels.
-Midnight Only
With the complete amulet, The Grand Vizier will be able to stop Koura’s ravages on the kingdom. And so Sinbad and the Vizier set sail on an expedition to Lemuria.
Listen up. After Caroline Munro was in a 007 film, she entered in one of my all time (yes my absolute all time) favorite cult movies. That’s right. Caroline’s first big role was in 1971, opposite Horror legend Vincent Price in “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” – playing the deceased Mrs. Victoria Regina Phibes. What a woman. What an actress!
However, Koura desires the amulet too. As all bad guys learn sooner or later, there is a price when using dark magic. His use of the amulet has taken it’s tool. For each time he used it, a little bit of life was stolen from him. Thus, he needs and covets that amulet in the vain hope of regaining his youth. You know, the youth and life that each spell he casts steals from him.
Koura sets sail determined to stop them. And thus, the adventure movie begins…
Some Background
It all sort of began with the movie The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). This movie was a landmark in fantasy cinema, and was often imitated over the next decade.
Most importantly, it brought to prominence the name of special effects man Ray Harryhausen and his fantastical creatures. Now, Ray Harryhausen was more than just a specialist in the process of stop-motion animation. He was a genus. Here, it is much like claymation. Created figurines are meticulously moved and photographed one frame at a time.
Sinbad (John Philip law) fights the centaur while (slave girl) companion Margiana (Caroline Munro) stands in the background. That’s all very interesting especially how the centaur is pictured.
He was so successful at it that Harryhausen went on to build a substantial career in this field over the next two decades.
He found a nitche in the world of Greek mythology. He would revisit the Sinbad mythos twice, here and later with the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is one of Ray Harryhausen’s most acclaimed works and one that shows him at the height of his art.
Ray Harryhausen demonstrates that special effects don’t need to be state of the art to be edge of the seat, this film sees the adventurer and his crew on a quest to defeat evil magician Koura and solve the riddle of a mysterious interlocking golden map. Sinbad must fight his way past several of Harryhausen’s ingenious stop-motion animated monsters along the way, including a one-eyed centaur, and his own ship’s wooden figurehead, magically brought to life.
Most Ray Harryhausen films tend to be set around Harryhausen’s provision of profound creature effects. Which unfortunately tended to make the real actors and their intervening action rather wooden. However, as a child watching these movies, I noticed none of that.
The same is true with the dialog. No matter how chunky or cheesy it appeared, it always appealed to me. The quest for adventure screamed at me, and the livid monsters occupied my young impressionable mind.
Seriously, just how many movies do you find a griffin doing battle with a minaraur or a cyclops – minataur hybrid? Not often. Well, this movie has this and much, much more.
When I was a child, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) were one and the same – a four-hour Sinbad miniseries, with all the islands, wizards, beautiful girls, and Ray Harryhausen monsters randomly distributed so that I wasn’t exactly sure which belonged to which.
Understand that every trip to the video store meant that I would stand there, staring at all the boxes, ruling out the R-rated films or anything that looked remotely adult (verboten when I was a child), and eventually, inevitably, I would grab a Ray Harryhausen movie and hand it to my mother or father, who would just say, “This one, again?”
Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Mysterious Island (1961), or a Sinbad movie. These films were the foundation stones upon which my imagination was built.
Even though the early 80’s belonged to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, I always held the Harryhausen films in special regard. Before I even learned his name, I knew these films were connected – I recognized the stop-motion animation and the look of the monsters. (Of course that centaur only has one eye. He’s probably related to those cyclopes in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.)
These films had special special effects. Having watched just about every non-R-rated fantasy movie on the video store shelves, I knew there was a significant difference between One Million B.C. (1940), the Victor Mature movie with lizards and armadillos posing as dinosaurs, and One Million Years B.C. (1966), the remake with Harryhausen’s pterodactyls lifting Raquel Welch off the ground.
You can’t dress a lizard up to look like a pterodactyl.
The funny thing is that I was appreciating the films from a point-of-view that was already becoming outdated. The days of stop-motion were coming to an end, with his swan song, Clash of the Titans (1981), released around the time that I was just beginning to appreciate his films.
Though both Lucas and Spielberg used stop-motion effects in Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), by the end of the decade The Abyss (1989) would announce a new direction for cinema tricks.
-Midnight Only
Both Brian Clemens and Ray Harryhausen plunder world mythology somewhat indiscriminately. Which more often than not resulted in a kind of peculiar multi-cultural polyglot. Not that it matters, of course, but it is curious.
Caroline Munro looks splendid in her costume, low cut almost everywhere. The rest of the cast support well. Tom Baker is excellent as the villain Koura. He makes him sympathetic; what drives him is common to all people. He just uses different means to gain his ends. He dominates the scenes he is in and it is a pity that more big screen roles never came his way. He was the best ‘Doctor Who’ in the BBC series, in my opinion of course. A good fantasy romp to appeal to the adventurer in all of us. Did I mention Caroline Munro’s costume? Oh, I did.
Today, as an adult, I guess that I am more of a purist. But as a kid, nah… who the heck cared? Consider their broad paintbrush. There is Kali from Hindu religion, a griffin and combination centaur/cyclops from the Greek myths, the homunculus from mediaeval alchemy, Lemuria, and of course the backdrop from the Arabian Nights cycle.
As an aside, did you know that the idea of Lemuria was first posited by biologist Ernst Haeckel in the 1870s. It preceded the notion of continental drift. It was used with the belief of a sunken land in order to explain how lemurs managed to get between Africa and India. Later, this theory was bastardized and quickly appropriated by the 19th Century Theosophist movement.
‘Golden Voyage’ is much better than the later ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger’ and equal to the earlier ‘Seventh Voyage of Sinbad’. The Harryhausen creatures are impressive. Stop motion animation does give solidity to the image, more so than the usual CGI effect. There are some fine ones here including a one eyed centaur, a homunculus, a griffin, a six armed statue, a ship’s wooden figurehead.
The story is standard but the effects, the locations and the plot weave together well. There is also a dry humor in the dialogue which is entertaining. Scenes like the sword fight with the six armed statute (with six swords!) or the final confrontation at the fountain of wisdom (or something like that) are exciting.
The great Miklos Rosza’s music adds considerably to the atmosphere. John Philip Law is OK as Sinbad and does attempt an Arabian accent unlike the usual English one, but the role isn’t Shakespearean and he does well enough.
All of this trivality is far less important than the spectacular beauty of Ray Harryhausen’s various set-pieces. Which, by this time, were at the absolute peak of their form.
Harryhausen offers us [1] a six-armed statue of Kali brought to life in a sword-duel; [2] a to-the-death battle between a griffin and a cyclopean centaur; [3] a magically animated ship’s figurehead; and, best of all, [4] the homunculus that Tom Baker brings to life, teasing and prodding it, as it lies pinned to a table.
Sinbad the sailor using an early version of Google Maps. This is a fine fantasy/adventure film, and definitely one worth watching by any fans of the genre, as well as Ray Harryhausen fans. The main problem is that the film tends to meander at times. There are also a few minor problems with direction or editing, such as the less-than-convincing sword fight in the cave near the end of the film. Also, the mostly episodic nature of the script lessens the overall impact. It often feels like a string of short stories arbitrarily strung together, although in the end, the overarching goal ties the film together well enough. But what “short stories” those are!
Harryhausen, who made this film with his longtime collaborator and co-producer Charles H. Schneer, was careful to separate this film from 7th Voyage; he seemed to dislike the label of “sequel.” (In his 2003 book An Animated Life, Harryhausen states that he and Schneer even “strenuously” tried to avoid the term regarding Eye of the Tiger, curiously enough.)
Indeed, the viewer need not have seen the former film, though naturally it exists in its shadow. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a classic of fantasy filmmaking to stand beside its chief inspiration, The Thief of Bagdad (1940).
Golden Voyage is just another fun Harryhausen movie, the perfect way to pass a Saturday afternoon.
Law does a credible job as our new Sinbad (replacing 7th Voyage‘s Kerwin Mathews), embodying Harryhausen’s image of the Arabian Nights hero: handsome, athletic, but not a bodybuilder.
The story, conceived by Harryhausen and revised, polished, and scripted by Brian Clemens (of the TV series The Avengers, as well as Captain Kronos, which also featured Caroline Munro), sends Sinbad on a treasure hunt on behalf of a disfigured Vizier in a golden mask (Douglas Wilmer, Jason and the Argonauts).
Their quest involves retrieving the lost pieces of an amulet, which will point the way to an ancient, magical source of great knowledge and power.
There’s always an evil magician in pursuit, of course, and in this case it’s Baker’s Prince Koura, who controls gargoyle-like homunculi and lusts after the same prize.
The story might be perfunctory, but it’s well-paced, with attractive location shooting in Spain to stand in for both the fictionalized Middle East and Lemuria. (Plans to shoot in India – which would have provided a wonderful look to the film – were discarded after hearing horror stories about “appalling red tape and bureaucracy” encountered by other Hollywood productions shooting there.)
Composer Miklós Rózsa (The Thief of Bagdad, Ben-Hur) is the ideal stand-in for 7th Voyage‘s Bernard Herrmann, capturing the appropriate “Orientalist” feel.
-Midnight Only
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is also notable for many of the up-and-coming stars. There is Tom Baker who, the following year, would become the fourth incarnation of tv’s Doctor Who (1963-89). There is cult queen Caroline Munro; and Martin Shaw, later hunk hero of Clemens’ superior action man tv show The Professionals.
The script, production/set design and costumes easily propel you into a captivating fantasy world, and Harryhausen’s creatures, as always, are a delight to watch. No, they’re not exactly realistic–no more realistic looking than cgi, in my opinion–but I’m not looking for realism when I watch a film like this. I’m looking for brilliant artistry, especially if it is an adventure with pretty girls, and Harryhausen’s stop-motion animated creatures fit the bill.
Conclusion
This is a great movie to introduce the kids to, to spend a lazy hazy august afternoon, or just to relax to. There are some amazing scenes, and nowhere else in movie-land will you see a six-armed statue of Kali which performs an Indian dance before dueling against Sinbad’s men with six swords. I enjoyed it and I think that maybe you the reader would enjoy it as well.
You can watch it for free if you don’t mind waiting a half an hour to half a day to download the torrent.
For those of you who are unaware. Torrents are parts of files that are spread out in tiny packets all over the internet. You use a "Bit Torrent" client to vacuum up all those little bits and pieces of the file. It then assembles the file into a movie that you can watch. The time that this takes can vary from a few minutes to weeks depending on how popular or obscure your searched file is.
You will need an application to manage the download. I recommend the free application VUZE. To download the video is thus easy. Install VUZE, and then click on one of the following torrent links.
Depending on where you live, you might not have the freedom to access these sites and the ISP might block them from access, or the search engines might black out their search results. Americans, in particular, might have some real problems. Therefore, I listed the most accessible torrent sites available to Americans. Pirate Bay and 1337X. I think that Kick Ass Torrents is still blocked for all Americans.
Movies that Inspired Me
Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are
reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Articles & Links
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Here we look at a wonderful, much under-appreciated, movie with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. It’s title is “Jason and The Argonauts” and it is simply beyond awesome. Words cannot describe what an impact that this move had on me as a young boy in the 1960’s.
But I will try…
There is a spectacular sequence in Harryhausen's most popular picture "Jason and the Argonauts" in which Jason and his crew do battle with seven sword fighting skeletons.
This is surely one of the greatest special effects sequences in motion picture history. There are shots in which the screen is filled with the men fighting all seven skeletons.
This means that Harryhausen would have to move each of the seven skeletons such that they match the chaotic live action footage of the men mock-fighting, shoot a frame, move them again one by one, shoot a frame, and so on. 24 frames make one second of action.
It is hard to imagine how Harryhausen did all the special effects on his films solo (save for his first and last films, on which he had help). And it is not surprising that the skeleton sequence from "Jason" took him four months to complete.
-Great Movies of my Childhood
This was one of those films I always remember seeing as a child and I will absolutely never forgot those skeletons which I think is Ray Harryhausen’s best work.
Ah. The skeletons…
Summary
It’s Greek mythology placed on screen; larger than life.
(Well-known & quite famous) Greek hero Jason takes a group by ship to search for the Golden Fleece. It’s not an easy sail. He uses the latest in nautical technology for the time, including a high-tech ship complete with magical navigational aides. However the crew has to encounter several dangers on the way.
The dangers start to raise their ugly heads when they lay anchor at an island to obtain provisions. You see this island is filled with bronze statues. In case you are unaware, bronze statues at that time was equivalent to swarm drones, and Mach-3 jet fighters.
Since these bronze statues are so valuable, the crew starts to get some funny and crazy ideas. One of the crew decides to go into one of the bronze statue guarded tombs. You know, to “look around”. He sees a beautiful gold sword, and of course… he just has to have it. So he takes it….
Big mistake.
This act wakes up Talos. Talos is the guardian of all the tombs. Thus, Talos comes to life and attacks the crew. Now, Talos is this big terminator bronze statue. It goes on an absolute rampage killing, crushing and destroying everything.
The good news is that eventually Talos is destroyed. Though, not without a cost. For during their escape from Talos, their ship is destroyed.
So, here they are trapped on the island. They start to explore it. They search for food water, and (perhaps) loot. While on the search of the island, they come across a blind man. This poor fella is being attacked by two cheeky Harpies who keep eating his food.
Eventually, they all get captured.
They continue their journey and encounter Neptune (he’s a major player; a God of that time) and arrive at their ultimate destination. Which is the island where the Golden Fleece is.
Before getting the Golden Fleece, Jason must fight and kill a Hydra. A Hydra is a many headed beast that likes to eat humans. Well, (spoiler alert) he does manage to kill it. The best part of the movie is of course those skeletons near the end. Jason manages to defeat them when they fall off a cliff into the sea. Hooray!
This has to be one of, if not the best, of Harryhausen’s movies. And, Bernard Herrmann was responsible for the excellent music.
The Movie
Jason and the Argonauts battles it out with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as the most popular Ray Harryhausen epic. I know that I have a difficult time deciding which movie is better. (Though, Ray Harryhausen has indicated that Jason and the Argonauts his very own personal favorite. )
They certainly must have had fun filming it.
The crew filmed many of the scenes on beautify sunny Italian locations. These locations gave the movie special significance, and I’m sure the jealously of the rest of Hollywood. For at that time (when the picture was produced) most “sword ‘n’ sandal” movies were shot on Hollywood stages, or barring that, in the California desert a mere few hours drive away.
This movie is chock full of testosterone-filled animation interspersed with actors engaged in theatrical dramatic scenes. The colors, the story line, the visuals, and the novelty all play a significant role in the success of this movie.
In the wake of computer generated graphics, Harryhausen's work may strike some as dated, but this is actually part of its charm, for we will never see its like on screen again; it has a certain visual appeal not found in contemporary films, and Harryhausen's creations always have remarkable personality.
Topping the cake is an absolutely superb score by Bernard Herrmann. This guy is so good, and the music so powerful, that it’s mentally difficult to separate his music from Harryhausen’s amazing images. (This is my plug for this artist.)
At the time, this movie was the F/X dream, for that time period. Much like how the movie The Matrix revolutionized movies and scripts. This movie set a pace and a high bar for other adventures to follow. And, I am sad to say, it was so high that few movies did actually follow.
Jason on board his ship. The film as a whole is very much like a superior sword-and-sandal epic of the 1950s and 1960s, very colorful and over-run with manly men and beautiful dancing girls. A bit slow to start, once the story line is established the pace leaps forward–and we are treated to some of Harryhausen’s most enjoyable creations, including Talos, the bronze statue; two of the most evil looking harpies you can imagine; a really nasty hydra; and Harryhausen’s most famous (and his own personal favorite) bit of work: an attack by skeleton warriors.
This movie is an adaptation of the Greek story about Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Most people will find this film an excellent choice as a “family night” film. As for Harryhausen fans–the film is a must-see, must-own, and must-watch as often as possible!
In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the golden-woolled, winged ram, which was heldin Colchis. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. It figures in the tale of the hero Jason and his crew of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece by order of King Pelias, in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. Through the help of Medea, they acquire the Golden Fleece. The story is of great antiquity and was current in the time of Homer.
-Wilipedia
Luckily, the movie adaptation doesn’t take too many liberties with the root mythological tale. Though purists would argue that it actually does go off the deep end (This opinion varies considerably depending on which source is consulted.).
In this movie, we have the interplay of the Greek Gods, and their role over the lives of men. The movie places the Gods in a gilded Olympus paradise. The well-paired Zeus and Hera, are husband & wife deities that work out their domestic squabbles by playing chess games. Only the chess games use ambitious mortals like Jason.
All in all, they manage to keep tabs on Jason’s adventures by viewing a kind of celestial television. (!)
Jason and The Argonauts. Jason was an ancient Greek mythological hero who was the leader of the Argonauts whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He was also the great-grandson of the messenger god Hermes, through his mother’s side.
The Olympian interludes add a wry humor to the proceedings. Though, myself, I found life on Olympias rather dull and boring.
Jason shows up as the “man with one sandal” to fulfill a curse placed on the venal King Pelias. I know, I know… It’s difficult to translate. I just figure that it’s a matter of identity politics and leave it at that.
The wild quest to bring back the prize of the Golden Fleece gets a thumbs-up from the collected deities. I figure that this is mainly because Pelias wants Jason out of the way.
Thus, the King sends along his son Acastus to make sure that everything goes as planned.
With a crack crew of athletes and warriors, including the popular Hercules , Jason sets sail in a proud ship built by Argos. After tangling with various fantastic obstacles (after all, that is what heroes do) put in his path by Zeus, Jason reaches the far-off land of Colchis.
Oh Jason. He falls in love with the sorceress Medea. But what do you expect. He falls victim to treachery. It turns out that Medea’s father King Aeëtes has absolutely no intention of allowing the Argonauts steal his nation’s most prized possession.
A great deal could be written about the numerous choices made in reconstructing the story for a modern movie-going audience, but for our purposes, we are going to zero in on one of the film’s most memorable components. No, not Jason. Not Argonauts, either. I’m talking, of course, about the mountainous man of bronze, Talos.
There’s a wealth of reasons why Jason and the Argonauts continues to entertain over half a century later, and Talos is most certainly one of the biggest.
Literally. Brought to life through the inimitable stop motion effects of the late, great Ray Harryhausen,the towering Talos appears early in the film to give the Argonauts a considerable thrashing after Heracles unwittingly disturbs his slumber.
It’s generally unwise to steal broach pins from the gods for use as a javelin, but Heracles evidently didn’t get that particular memo.
-GRST 202 Blog
Of all of Ray Harryhausen’s movies, Jason and the Argonauts is closest to his heart. In life, he found mythological fantasies more exciting than science fiction monsters. As such, he wanted very much to tell the story of the Golden Fleece in classic terms.
It shouldn’t take much brain power to reason why Columbia Pictures produced Jason and the Argonauts as a fantasy epic in the early 1960s. As one of the oldest known hero tales, Jason’s quest is chock full of what we would nowadays consider archetypal elements of the genre: the stoic protagonist, the repulsive villain, a dangerous romance, a clearly defined objective, impossible odds, and of course, a series of treacherous obstacles that provide the spectacle. In short, it’s an easy sell.
The film is of course now a legend unto itself and contains some of Harryhausen’s most difficult animation and classiest designs.
The bronze giant Talos creates an intimidating sense of scale as it stalks Jason’s men on a beach.
The harpies scream and claw as they’re captured, apparently animated while under a net.
The seven-headed Hydra is Harryhausen’s most successful mythological creation, a beast so well designed that it seems biologically credible.
The skeletal “Children of the Hydra’s Teeth” do much more than top the single skeleton warrior in 7th Voyage. Soldiers battling armies of the dead recur in classical paintings, giving the combat a macabre edge. The sight of Jason and his swordsmen fighting them en masse is also a brilliant substitute for the lame battle scenes of other sword ‘n’ sandal epics.
Indeed, those skeletal beings were a triumph of Harryhausen’s F/X technique. Truthfully, the sequence must have required more animation work than the rest of the movie put together. You can easily see this, as the seven skeletons fight in so many individual camera setups.
Unlike most Harryhausen set pieces, the skeleton battle constantly cuts to new angles. With so much happening simultaneously in each shot, it’s hard to keep up — which prompts the use of words like, “breathtaking”.
Talos, of course, has a history deeply rooted in classical Greek myth. Often considered the earliest conceptualization of a robot, Talos is usually found associated with the gods Hephaestus and Zeus. Sometimes he’s a leftover of the Zeus-created bronze generation, other times he’s the offspring or father of Hephaestus, sometimes he’s a gift from Zeus to King Minos, other times a gift from Hephaestus to Zeus – the permutations are endless.
Regardless of the myth, however, one connection remains consistent: the Cretan word from which Talos derives his name – talios, meaning “sun” – was frequently used by those islanders as a name for the king of the gods himself. Not only does this shared use of the term allude to the giant’s immense power, but it also hints at his role as a somewhat paternal figure. Indeed, Talos was known as the tireless guardian of Crete, a sentinel who would circumambulate the island three times daily to moderate the behavior and livelihood of its citizens.
Moreover, he would vigorously defend his land from any intruders, and in keeping with his solar-derived name, his preferred method of executing perceived threats was, by all accounts, incineration. Depending on who you ask, the giant would either snatch up poor souls and leap with them into a flaming vat, or he would heat up his own metallic body to incredible degrees and scorch his opponents through mere physical interaction.
His love of turning folks to ash was unfortunately excised from his on-screen debut, but that does not make his appearance in the film any less memorable.
Though traditionally depicted as Crete’s conservator, Jason and the Argonauts finds Talos holding watch over the aptly named (and movie-created) “Isle of Bronze,” placed there by Hephaestus to guard Zeus’s armory.
-GRST 202 Blog
Kids back in 1963 reacted strongly to almost everything in the picture.
Tipped off by Famous Monsters magazine, many of us waited anxiously for the next jolting effects scene to begin. We were also thrilled by Nigel Green’s hale & hearty Hercules and cheered the announcement of his name. We fully accepted the idea that a strong man shouldn’t have to be so buff that he couldn’t walk through a normal door.
Tipped off by Famous Monsters magazine, many of us waited anxiously for the next jolting effects scene to begin. We were also thrilled by Nigel Green’s hale & hearty Hercules and cheered the announcement of his name. We fully accepted the idea that a strong man shouldn’t have to be so buff that he couldn’t walk through a normal door.
As in The Magnificent Seven, the assembling of Jason’s all-star collection of sailors / assault troops primed us for what we hoped would be the greatest sword & spear battle of all time. And… and we were not disappointed.
One of the most legendary adventures in all mythology is brought to life in Jason and the Argonauts, an epic saga of good and evil. As a mere boy Jason, the heir to the kingdom of Ancient Greece, witnesses the murder of his father at the hands of his ruthless uncle, Pelias.
The film’s smoothly professional acting impressed me.
With all of those classy English accents flying about, Jason and the Argonauts had a credibility that the various Sons of Hercules lacked. Even the middle-aged Laurence Naismith looked righteously rugged, dressed only in a loincloth and clinging to the prow of the Argo: “Pull ’til your hearts burst and your backs break!”
You see, Talos might be made of bronze, but he draws his life force from a single vein flowing down his back to his heel, where it is stopped by some sort of large plug. Whether described as a nail or a pin, that plug naturally gets pulled at some point by one of the heroes, thus draining Talos of life. In many cases that hero is Medea, who uses trickery to deceive the living statue, while in others it is the Argonaut Poeas who knocks out the stopper with his trusty bow and arrow.
Seeing as how the adventurers have yet to encounter Medea at this point in the film and that Poeas is absent entirely, the eponymous hero himself takes up the deed, acting under the guidance of Hera. Even disregarding the aforementioned characters’ absences, it makes sense to thrust this duty upon Jason in this context. As his first act of true heroism, the defeat of the Talos establishes Jason as a courageous leader and a man fit for this epic quest – someone capable of navigating the many challenges that lie ahead.
-GRST 202 Blog
In his old “Film Fantasy Scrapbook” Harryhausen mentioned that he was impressed by the fact that the hero Jason’s big quest is really a raid for loot. He believed that the Argonauts are little more than thieves.
Those foreigners beyond the clashing rocks have exactly what Greece needs, a magic charm that brings peace, plenty and prosperity.
Jason as a nice-guy hero doesn’t get in the way of the colorful supporting actors and the giant monsters. However, it’s quite odd to see Medea as virtuous. After all, she sells out her father, her country and her religion for a fling with the new boy in town.
Obviously, there’s a reason why the movie doesn’t dig into the psychology behind the myths. And it shouldn’t. For Jason and the Argonauts is a splendid fantasy of spectacular adventure no more and no less.
Jason has been prophesied to take the throne of Thessaly. When he saves Pelias from drowning, but does not recognize him as the man who had earlier killed his father, Pelias tells Jason to travel to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece. Jason follows his advice and assembles a sailing crew of the finest men in Greece, including Hercules. They are under the protection of Hera, queen of the gods. Their voyage is replete with battles against harpies, a giant bronze Talos, a hydra, and an animated skeleton army, all brought to life by the special effects wizardry of Ray Harryhausen.
It’s been a long time since I last watched this movie. It was on a blistery “school day” when all the roads were iced over, and I was around ten years old at the time. Never the less, the torrent that I watched was spectacular, clear and colorful.
The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece. Jason has been prophesied to take the throne of Thessaly. When he saves Pelias from drowning, but does not recognize him as the man who had earlier killed his father, Pelias tells Jason to travel to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece. Jason follows his advice and assembles a sailing crew of the finest men in Greece, including Hercules. They are under the protection of Hera, queen of the gods. Their voyage is replete with battles against harpies, a giant bronze Talos, a hydra, and an animated skeleton army.
I have read reports that there were alterations to the original film.
For years, 16mm copies of Jason placed Medea's temple dance way out of sequence, before the Argonauts reach Colchis. The Blu-ray of course fixes this while improving on all earlier home video releases. Grover Crisp of Sony wisely chose a slightly taller 1:66 aspect ratio, which adds image to the top and bottom of the frame while placing narrow pillars at the sides of the HD image. Harryhausen purists will be pleased to see less cropping of the effects. The added color detail of Blu-ray brings out hidden character in the main title artwork, and gives the green highlights on Talos' bronze skin more definition. Likewise, the Golden Fleece is returned to its impressive sparkly-but-organic look -- the golden glow effect has been toned down quite a bit.
What kind of adventure would Jason and the Argonauts be if there wasn’t a beautiful woman to lead and inspire? That’s what tradition, history and legends all say. And what about this lass. Such a lovely and attractive woman.
I do like the movie, and it’s an absolute fact that the movie uses clever camera tricks and some well made miniatures. Yes, of course the effects all look out dated now but they still surprisingly, look convincing enough and at times they are even still simply breathtaking and spectacular to look at.
Especially of course the legendary, fantastic end fight against the skeleton warriors. The story is like good entertainment should be; Adventurous, exciting and simple to follow. The movie truly is non stop fun entertainment to watch with lots of spectacular moments with the legendary skeleton fight as the ultimate highlight.
You don’t have to be a fan of ‘classic’ movies in order to enjoy this movie, everyone should be able to appreciate this movie and be entertained by it, especially when you are a fan of ancient Greek tales.
Something that is not praised enough of this movie is the musical score by Bernard Herrmann. The movie is not exactly filled with impressive and memorable actors. As many movies as I have seen in my life, I don’t think I have ever seen any actors from this movie in any other movie, with the exception of course of Honor Blackman who will always be remembered for playing the Bond girl Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger”.
But this movie clearly isn’t a character-adventure movie, it’s a special effect adventure movie. The special effects are really the most important element of the movie. So for the fans of special effects this is especially most definitely a must see. A movie that should be fun and enjoyable to everyone, of all ages.
The Gods do like to play. Here is a scene where two Gods conspire to have some fun, and create some hurtles for Jason and the Argonauts to overcome. Ah, such is Greek myth.
Heracles is presented, not as a young ripped body builder, but as one would expect a middle-aged strong man to be: Formidable, a little grey and a little swaggering. It’s a perfect imagery.
Argos, the ship builder, is tan and fat, as one would expect the veteran of many sea voyages to be.
The crew looks like what one would expect a crew of ancient Greeks to look like. The acting is not spectacular, but sincere. No one looks embarrassed to be in this movie. It is tight with great special effects…
It’s wonderful for children…
As entertainment this movie is perfect. The movie is a fun adventurous one, with lots of spectacular moments and fights. From a technical point of view this movie is even a masterpiece. The stop-motion scene’s created by special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen is simply brilliant and makes this movie one of the most influential and important one’s, when it comes to special effects.
The seven-headed Hydra is another technical marvel.
Talos. There are some other nifty creatures for Jason and his crew to battle, but for me, the most impressive of them all turns up first: the gigantic Talos, the Man of Bronze.
I was a kid when this came out, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment when the huge, crouched statue came to life, turned his head towards the two men below him (his bronze head screeching with the tear of metal), climbed off of his pedestal, and proceeded to chase Jason and his men.
What do I like about this movie…besides Harryhausin’s special effects? Besides the frenetic battle with the skeletons and the seemingly hopeless fight against the statue of Talos? I like the way the people are presented, I suppose…
Talos was giant like Godzilla, but as single-minded as the Terminator: all he wants to do is track Jason’s crew down until he kills them all. This gave me nightmares.
Tom Hanks, who was also a kid when this came out, has said: "Everybody thinks that 'Citizen Kane' was the greatest movie ever made. But if you were young in 1963, you know the real answer is: 'Jason and the Argonauts.'"
This is his finest movie. Possibly. His first “Sinbad” film in 1958 had one moving skeleton for the hero to fight; this one has a whole platoon of them, each part painstakingly moved one tiny distance at a time personally by Harryhausen through stop-motion techniques.
In today’s world it may seem below standard compared to computer effects, but for those of us growing up in that time period, the Harryhausen style of special effects will continue to bring back warm memories of those years. With computer graphics, you see it and like it the first time you see it, but then many movies of today have the same and it becomes moot.
Jason and the Argonauts was one of those few movies at the time along with the Sinbad saga that lives on in your heart. The pace of the film is perfectly put together along with the many creatures, 7-headed hydra, huge fish-man, huge metal man and skeletons fighting is what makes it a classic which lives on in the hearts of those growing up in the sixties.
Back in 1963 I was only 5 at the time, but I can still remember seeing and watching the movie and being totally awed with the effects created by Ray Harryhausen. Flying and attacking harpies! My goodness!
I enjoyed this as a kid, but now I look at it with different eyes.
Consider the subsequent misery of Jason and Medea, a gory tragedy of domestic abuse and revenge. It’s sad. No wonder there was no sequel to Jason, as the official follow-up is a timeless lesson. Perhaps it’s a lesson on what happens to women who love ambitious and unscrupulous glory-hunters.
Never the less, even with this glimpse of foreboding, I still enjoy the movie.
Greek myths are coded chronicles of human weakness, vice and crimes. I think that smart schoolteachers, politically restrained from addressing real-life issues, can use the Greek original tales to make kids think about the harsh facts of life.
Jason and The Argonauts is a great film to watch and escape reality. This is one of those movies that you know is not real but you just enjoy it and have fun watching it anyways. I think this film is underrated because it was not given one Oscar nomination. For certain, I think this film should have been nominated for Best Art Direction and Set Decoration, at the bare minimum. Not to mention, Cinematography, Bernard Herrmann’s Original Score and Film Editing.
As I have already mentioned, the scene that I remember the most (and pershpas what everyone else remembers as well) is the Skeleton Fight at the end which took Ray Harryhausen and special effects crew three months to create that entire sequence.
Talos had me frozen with fear and the Hydra and the skeletons were sights my eyes could not believe. I think that for first-time viewers, you might be somewhat primed for something similar to other movies of this kind of adventure, but Jason and the Argonauts will definitely be anything but what you are expecting.
This is a Great movie and I encourage all of “The Lord of The Rings” fans to watch this and see a great masterpiece of classic fantasy and old fashioned special effects.
The fascinating odyssey of Jason in search of the Golden Fleece. This is an adventure movie in the old style, with no pretensions, no pomposity… The genius and pioneer of the special effects Ray Harryhaussen gave us a handful of superhuman creatures who make things quite difficult for the brave Jason.
Some may think this special effects or the movie itself are obsolete. OK, now read this: the movie was made 43 years ago, Harryhaussen made them without computers or digital effects… so, show some respect!! In short: the movie is just fantastic.
Most, if not all, children love the film.
And for all one’s intellectual talk about the vulgarising of mythology and the crudity of the screenplay, there is no denying that this movie is spectacular on many levels.
It is blatantly obvious to all viewers that Harryhausen contrived to bring a lot of sparkle, excitement and fun into the world of fantastic cinema. At this he absolutely succeeded.
To regain his rightful place as the King of Thessaly, Jason must traverse deadly seas to the land of Colchis where a Golden Fleece of magical powers is housed. Assembling a crew of the toughest men around, and aided by the Goddess Hera, Jason and his Argonauts set sail unbeknown that perils await at every port.
For sure it’s got a “B” movie heart, and no film in this genre is without a high cheese quota, but it’s technically one of the genres best and for daring do shenanigans it has no peers.
The gorgeous Mediterranean photography courtesy of Wilkie Cooper (Dynamation 90) goes hand in hand with the boisterously mythical score from Bernard Hermann, while Chaffrey's direction of the human aspects is solid and safe in preparation for Harryhausen's magic to move in and take over. The cast may not cover themselves in glory, and yes at times some of them are a touch wooden, with only Honor Blackman (Hera) and Nigel Green (Hercules) seemingly able to grasp the sense of fun that is meant to be had.
Here, in this movie, we have a big quest adventure containing harpies, a hydra, a giant bronze statue intent on destroying all, clashing rocks, angry gods and a brilliant Harryhausen skeleton army – well it’s all good, really isn’t it!
Here’s an interesting review, but I forgot from whence I dug it up from…
'Jason and the Argonauts' is a truly family fantasy-adventure film, directed with wit and excitement... Beverley Cross's fine script is both imaginative and literate, and Bernard Herrmann's score is stirring...
The word "Argonaut" comes from a tale sung of the strongest and bravest band of heroes ever assembled in Greek Mythology... This myth chronicles Jason's quest for the 'gift of the gods,' and the restoration of his family's throne...
There is an interesting theme that runs through the entire motion picture: man must manage alone without the help of the gods whether they exist or not...
In times past, fate ruled men's lives completely... The gods often amused themselves with the puny mortal men below... Fate is still an important factor in Jason's time (He has been prophesied to overthrow King Pelias...), but man chooses his own life's course... Jason lost his believe in the gods, and Zeus questions what has taken the place of man's faith in the gods... Jason replies: "The hearts of men. "
Jason rejects Zeus' offer to supply him with 'a ship and a crew,' and assembles dozen of Greece's greatest heroes, including the legendary Hercules... Nevertheless he accepts Hera's pledge to help him with the information and advice...
Jason has learned that prayers to the gods are not always answered... "The gods are best served by those who want their help least," Zeus alibis... When humans obtain the help of the gods, they know they must push forward... For instance, when Triton holds the quaking mountains, the Argonauts still must navigate their ship away from the dangerous rocks that continue to fall...
Jason dared to speak of the end of the gods, and challenges Zeus when he eliminates Talos, who guards Zeus' treasures... And when the Argonauts imprison the evil harpies whom Zeus sent to torment a desperate sinner, Zeus admits: "If I were to punish every blasphemy, I would soon loose all loyalty and respect."
Of the gods, Jason says, "In time all men will have to do without them." Such words alarm Zeus, and he recognizes as much to Hera, whom he considers "almost human" for staying with him despite such weakness... But the gods still have enough power to do their will... At the picture's end Zeus tells Hera that he will allow Jason and his pretty Medea to enjoy 'each other,' but he adds, "I have not yet finished with Jason... Let us continue with the game another day."
Todd Armstrong is the young and hot blooded Jason who schemes to seize the Golden Fleece from King Aeetes, and saves Pelias from drowning one day, losing his sandal in the river...
Nancy Kovack is Medea, the provocative high priestess of Colchis who is charmed with love for Jason and aid him in his quest...
Gary Raymond is Acastus, the son of Pelias sent to disrupt the voyage by causing dissension in the crew...
Niall MacGinnis is Zeus who decides to challenge Jason and the Argonauts with many trials...
Honor Blackman is the cunning Hera, the queen of the gods, who outmaneuvered Zeus, and intervened on several occasions to facilitate Jason's tasks... Hera wishes to destroy Pelias because he was treacherous and her temple was profane...
Michael Gwynn is Hermes who transports Jason to Olympus to speak with the gods...
Jack Gwillim is King Aeetes who collects the hydra's teeth from its seven heads, and confronts Jason high on a cliff...
John Cairney is the clever Hylas who uses his intelligence to beat Hercules in a test of skill...
Douglas Wilmer is the nefarious Pelias, who plots a devious plan to send Jason on an impossible quest, in a faraway land, to fetch the magical Golden Fleece...
Nigel Green is Hercules, the bravest and strongest warrior who vows to search the Isle of Bronze until he finds his friend Hylos...
Patrick Troughton is the old and weak Phineas cursed with an insatiable appetite and the flying harpies left enough putrid morsels for him to survive his torment...
'Jason and the Argonauts' is a tale of love and betrayal, friendship and fortune... It is nearly 40 years old but it still holds up as one of the semi-classic mythological fantasy which provides a framework for some splendid stop-frame animation...
Jason and the Argonauts is a fun movie.
The open ended nature of the story does hurt the film, but just come for the classic effects. Fans of mythology will enjoy the adventure, and it could introduce kids to classic stories. Jason and the Argonauts is definitely worth revisiting or seeking out if you’ve never seen it.
It’s also perfect fare for those lazy dog-day afternoons, or snowed-in weekends. It entertains on numerous levels. It is visually appealing, and wondrous overall.
Links
Here’s some links that you all might find of interest.
You can watch it for free if you don’t mind waiting a half an hour to half a day to download the torrent.
For those of you who are unaware. Torrents are parts of files that are spread out in tiny packets all over the internet. You use a "Bit Torrent" client to vacuum up all those little bits and pieces of the file. It then assembles the file into a movie that you can watch. The time that this takes can vary from a few minutes to weeks depending on how popular or obscure your searched file is.
You will need an application to manage the download. I recommend the free application VUZE. To download the video is thus easy. Install VUZE, and then click on one of the following torrent links.
Depending on where you live, you might not have the freedom to access these sites and the ISP might block them from access, or the search engines might black out their search results. Americans, in particular, might have some real problems. Therefore, I listed the most accessible torrent sites available to Americans. Pirate Bay and 1337X. I think that Kick Ass Torrents is still blocked for all Americans.
Movies that Inspired Me
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Stories that Inspired Me
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reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly
impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal
library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come
and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Articles & Links
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notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Ray Harryhausen was a mainstay of my childhood. His movies were regular features on the Saturday matinees — on television, not in theaters; I’m not THAT old! — and they sucked me in every time. How could they not? No sane young boy would be anything but engrossed by giant creatures slugging it out with heroes in sandals, and Harryhausen’s creatures were AWESOME.
-Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
It’s no secret that Hollywood has gone over the deep end and into the abyss of the bland and uninteresting.
It’s a combination of things. Firstly [1] , an over reliance on CGI and computer animation has somehow replaced decent story-telling and the passions inherent in the traditional movie genre. Secondly [2], the invasion of Political Correctness and rewrites for the LGBT crowd, and the war on white males, and traditional male roles has pretty much isolated Hollywood to the Land of the Loons. Thirdly [3], an over reliance on classical superheroes… you know, suddenly by magic, a person gets super-powers… get’s dull really quick. Finally, fourthly [4], just how many sequels do you need to make before the customers stop coming to the theaters?
Here’s some examples of contemporaneous Hollywood fare…
Yup Hollywood is going the way of the Dodo Bird, and like their political leadership, haven’t a clue as to how absolutely ridiculous they look to us “normal’s” in the audience.
But, at one time, Hollywood was truly the stuff of dreams. There, the studios produced some amazing movie flicks. These were the stuff of dreams, and tales of adventure. And, for I, a young boy… Hollywood movies took me to places where my imagination could soar and explore.
Let’s talk about one such movie. The Ray Harryhausen classic “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”.
The Tale of a Lifetime
The visuals in the movie were amazing. Anyone who has seen this movie when it first came out (late 50’s) was forever a different person for the better. This dynamic even continues to this day too.
Millions saw this when they were in their teens or younger and it brought out an array of emotions the body had not experienced before. There is wonder, adventure, thrills, suspense, love, good, bad, and monsters that make you wonder how can you fight them and live? Sinbad shows you all this and more and he became a role model and hero for the multitudes.
No doubt, it is an amazing movie.
Come on! Seriously. Giant birds, crabby cyclops, dragons, skeleton warriors, and a snake woman? Just another day at the office for Sinbad the Sailor.
Throw in an evil sorcerer, a mutinous crew, and having to not only rescue his fiancee, but also find some way to un-shrink her. Talk about having too much on “your plate”. You can well understand why this particular Sinbad set about his seventh voyage with a stern and brave face, very little humor and negligible cheer.
This movie is genius.
Other films of his have very challenging special effects too. If you have not watched any of his films, YouTube them and watch the brilliant sequences. That'll convince you. Try the sequence where the cowboys try to "rope" Gwangi, in which Harryhausen had to painstakingly match the ropes on the live action footage to the ropes on his stop-motion model. Or the tug of war in "Mighty Joe Young," using a similar technique. Or the sequence with the giant bird from "Mysterious Island," which works well with Bernard Herrmann's goofy score. Or the Washington destruction scenes in "Earth vs. Flying Saucers." Or It from "It Came From Beneath the Seas." Or Pegasus in "Clash of the Titans," or Medusa, from the same film. Or anything from "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad," my personal favorite film of his.
- Great Movies of my Childhood
This was a movie that I couldn’t tear my eyes from. I was totally and complete immersed in the story line, though as a young boy, it was kind of difficult to follow. Never the less, the visuals were amazing and absolutely drew me in.
Now the story is a classic. It’s an adventure, so of course, you pull the story out from classic adventure stories that have stood the passage of time.
Apparently this is a pretty old classic story from the 1001 Arabian Nights, of course no longer taught in schools as not progressive enough. It is the story of adventure when a ships crew makes an unexpected stop at an island.
Fortune fall upon us all
The best thing about this movie is that there Hasn’t been any remakes of it.
It’s true. Can you imagine what the remakes would be like? OMG! I just get sick trying to imagine it all…
1970s – The first sequel; Sinbad falls in love with a black single-parent woman.
1980s – “We Are the World” meets Sinbad the Sailor.
1990s – CGI animation, heavily pixelated and dark.
2000s – Matrix style fight scenes with the three headed chick.
2010s – X-men join forces with Sinbad to fight the Cyclops.
2020s – Sinbad is a woman, as are the entire crew, all females.
Storyline
Sinbad is a man of the world. A seaman who travels the known world. As this is his seventh voyage, we knew that he was well experienced in the ways of monsters, magic and pretty attractive lasses. He has a crew of trusty seamen, and ship that is pretty state-of-the-art for the time-period.
So off he goes. His ship and crew sail off towards adventure…
Dinner for the one-eyed horned cyclops. You most certainly wouldn’t want to be caught by this fella, and my goodness, who knows what fate you might be expected to endure. You know, when salt and pepper get into your eyes, it hurts!
He sails and sails.
When Sinbad finally spots land, he doesn’t yet know what island it is. (He didn’t have GPS, and Google was of absolutely no use to him.) He just doesn’t know that the island’s name is Colossa. Hum. Colossa could that have something to do with the word “colossal”? You’d think he’d take a hint.
Nor does he know that it’s the ancient world’s equivalent of Monster Island. Now, for some reason or the other, Sinbad has his old lady on board with him. She’s a real cutie, and can you blame him. After all, he’s the famous Sinbad.
Her name is Princess Parisa. She has cute dimples, a nice rack and a very curvaceous backside. You see, she and Sinbad are going to be married and help seal a peace pact between their two lands. It kind of sucks for her, but she gets a hero in the bargain, and all in all, by the standards of society at that time and place, it’s a pretty sweet deal for her.
Grant (who would go on to marry Bing Crosby) is an absolute delight as the princess, the kid playing the genie in the lamp should have been annoying but was actually quite a charming little tyke, and Torin Thatcher is wonderfully bombastic as the evil wizard Sokurah. They help carry the human element of the movie in a way Mathews’ Sinbad never does.
-Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
Once he makes landfall on the island, he demonstrates just how preoccupied he must be with the impending wedding. You can tell, because he makes some really boneheaded decisions. You know, decisions that would charitably be called “insane.”
This colorful adventure is the screen version of one of the classic tales from “1001 Arabian Nights.” It tells the story of Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) and Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant). When they unexpectedly stop on the island of Colossa on their way to Baghdad, they find themselves battling all types of dangers, such as evil magicians, man-eating Cyclopes, fire- breathing dragons, and sword-wielding skeletons.
So, let’s say you’re on a mysterious island in a world where terrible monsters still run amok occasionally.
Let’s also say that you notice strange footprints in the sand. These strange footprints are not only odd because of their shape (cloven hooves – eek!), but also because they are so far apart. As someone notes, this is indicative of a rather large stride and by extension, a rather large creature.
Now what could that possibly mean? I mean, what would you do, if you saw hoof prints that large?
Multi-headed multi-bird thing creature. What would you do if you confronted a strange chick the size of a fire-truck? And, by chick I mean a bird, not a cute young lass.
Okay, let’s say you know all that and still you venture forth into the unknown.
Now, you have landed on this mysterious island. You and your crew starts to walk upon the sandy beach. And now when you walk further up the beach you notice carved in the side of a mountain, a strange face with the mouth being the entrance of a cave.
Not an everyday occurrence.
What do you do? Well, in spite of it being painfully obvious that this is the front door of a cyclops house, you decide to do some pretty messed up things. I mean, haven’t you ever learned that some things say “keep out” and run for the hills. But NOOOOO!
What does Sinbad do? Well, he decides to run right the hell in there just to see if anyone is home!
The pure awesomeness of this movie is evident when you observe a one-eyed horned cyclops with goat like legs confronting a chained dragon. Now you would think that the dragon would trump a one-eyed cyclops… you know that old depth-perception angle. But the movie has a number of surprises for the viewing audience.
What do you think happens? Yup. It’s a lot of screaming, yelling, terror and blood and guts. Not to mention a chomp and gulp. Yes, it’s a story of lots of guys getting chased by a really pissed off cyclops.
Enter a sorcerer named Sokurah.
He’s a bald guy with a magic lamp that saves Sinbad and his crew by using the genie’s powers to erect a transparent barrier to keep the cyclops back. I’ll bet that you didn’t know that Genie’s had the power to erect repulse fields, did you?
Now, I have some bad news.
Unfortunately this doesn’t stop the cyclops from chucking big rocks at the departing boat. This causes everyone on the boat to fall overboard and in all the confusion Sokurah loses his magic lamp.
Now, this magic lamp is really special. Think of it like the latest iphone, or the keys to the Lamborghini. It contains a Genie. But this Genie is not just like any other Genie. Those “lower” Genies have wish-limitations. Most can only grant three wishes. Not this Genie. No. He instead grants unlimited wishes.
Obviously the loss of such a power, such a lamp, is a big disappointment.
In the scenes featuring a shrunken Princess Parisa. Now look at this mess. How are going to have sex once they are married? And what about the children? Obviously Sinbad has to do something, and thus Sinbad does his best to help her. In the process goes on an adventure of a lifetime. It is one filled with strange sights, strange and dangerous beings, and magic of all sorts and types.
Again, there is a lot of treading water, splashes and panic.
Once back on board his main boat, Sokurah demands that they return back to the island. You know, after all, it’s pretty cool having a Genie with unlimited wishes. Heck, if it was me, I’d go back.
No. Sinbad is a different person.
Sinbad refuses Sokurah’s entreaties to go back to the island and retrieve his lamp which by this time has fallen into the hands of the cyclops. Sinbad says “No time, baldy. I’m gonna get married to my most excellent girlfriend. And, you know what? I still have to hire a band and D.J. for my wedding, but you’re welcome to come to my bachelor party once we’re back in Bagdad.”
Here we have a tiny miniaturized princess inside a Genie’s bottle to talk with the Genie face to face. What a movie! You know, Harryhausen spearheaded a turn from scifi monsters to mythology and adventure for the first time with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. In this movie he ended up crossbreeding special-effects-based spectacle with traditional swashbuckling heroics. For the first time, in this movie, Harryhausen got to make a feature in color, and he debuted his new technique, called Dynamation, which allowed more sophisticated, layered interaction between photographic elements.
Sokurah offers to provide some entertainment at some of the pre-wedding festivities in hopes of currying favor with the Caliph.
The Caliph of Baghdad (Alec Mango) feels the same way, even after Sokurah amazes the court by conjuring up a snake-woman. Yes, this SOB ended up turning Parisa’s maid into a snake woman. Talk about violation of a work contract!
Meanwhile, he continues to try to convince Sinbad to go back to the island.
Now how would you like your pretty maid to be changed into a a snake woman medusa. Especially a blue one? Not exactly a nice way to curry favor. Obviously this warlock has a real lack of people skills.
He starts to look into the future. He starts by looking into the future of Sinbad and Parisa’s lands. Not surprisingly perhaps, he sees only bad things for everyone. This (unfortunately) doesn’t earn him a ship and a crew of men, but does earn him an ass kicking out of Bagdad.
It is only when the princess is shrunk by an evil spell, the breaking of which requires the shell from the egg of the giant Roc – which (what-da-ya-know) resides on Colossa – that Sokurah can get his expedition mounted, with Sinbad in command.
But it’s not that everything is perfect. With a crew made up of a handful of his bravest men and some of the most desperate convicts in the Caliph’s prison, he has to contend with potential mutiny at every turn. It’s a constant bickering, fighting and arguments. Ugh! In fact, the men are driven almost to madness before they even reach Colossa.
The Genie gets along with the future Mrs. Sinbad. She crawls into the Genie’s lair and it’s all sort of like the lair from the television show “I dream of Genie”. Together they work out and hatch a plan.
Once there, at the island, they continue to find problems and strife. Obviously, they find terrors as great as the Cyclops and the treachery of the magician, but something else happens. Future Mrs. Sinbad; Parisa – in her tiny state – also discovers the beautiful world inside the lamp, and the lonely boy Genie (Richard Eyer) who inhabits it.
They strike the bargain that, when Sinbad’s bravery is added to the equation, will bring their quest to an end. If, that is, they can all survive the dangers that Sokurah puts in their path.
Sinbad at the helm of his state of the art, ocean going vessel. He is the fellow in command, and he over comes everything to achieve his goals and his dreams.
At this point for the record, I would note that when he was told this, no one specifically said that he wasn’t supposed to stop by the princess’s bedroom and use a magic potion to shrink her down to the size of a corndog. It’s a strange world we live in, and when you start mixing magical spells, potions and evil sorcerers together, you will find many surprises awaiting you in the bedroom.
Clearly, the only way to fix this is with the help of a very powerful sorcerer.
Sinbad finds Sokurah just as he’s about to leave town and pleads for his help. It turns out to be no problem for Sokurah to reverse the spell. In fact, he knows the counter-spell and only needs to procure one ingredient. It’s the shell of giant Roc’s egg.
Oh, you think that you have it tought in your life. Imagine what it would be like with magic spells, monsters, evil wizards and jealous women. It is no wonder that Sinbad is so pensive.
Ah, the shell of the egg.
But that’s only available on the island of Colossa and we already know you don’t want to go there, right Sinbad? Well, right?
Still politics are politics, and if you don’t play your cards right, the result could be war! Thus, with the princess’s father immediately threatening war on Bagdad (despite Bagdad obviously having nothing to do with the incredible shrinking Parisa – but that’s an argument for another time), a shift in policy occurs and the next thing you know, a ship is being outfitted. As such, a big crossbow is being built and Sinbad is attempting to recruit a crew.
But where would you get a crew from for what is surely a suicide mission right into the heart of monster country?
Sindbad with lovely Parisa. Obviously back up to full size with all the curves in the right places, and ready to experience all that life can throw at her.
Where do most guys for suicide missions come from?
Indeed, you find them at the toughest prison in whatever location the recruiting is being done in! I was thinking that we might be in for a Dirty Dozen-style affair with off-beat characters each with a specialized skill (forger, demolitions expert, scrounger, drunk) that would come in handy for this trek.
The “Big Leagues” Arabian style. Sinbad and his lovely future bride at the club with the biggest players in the known world (at that time). They are eating fine delicious and exotic foods, and experiencing all the earthly pleasures and delights available to them. Partying on Arabian style.
However, the intention of them being so vicious and crazy that they turn out to be the best dang fighting machine ever assembled doesn’t happen. Instead, these cons are so vicious and crazy that they mutiny as soon as they set sail. Not only that, but they attempt to take over the ship!
Unsurprisingly, the movie is filled with fantastic creatures and some very impressive visuals. The cyclops is a fearsome beast with great animation (based on the critter from 20 Million Miles to Earth) and fantastic integration into most scenes. This guy ranks right up there with the best of Harryhausen. A climactic skeleton battle is also highly impressive, with stunning choreography providing some damned impressive integration with real actors. It’s a stunningly well-realized scene.
-Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
Things don’t go any more smoothly once they hit Cyclops Island. If you can imagine. Treasure, a genie, and guy getting roasted alive are among the highlights.
Sinbad promising his future wife that everything will work out fine once he takes care of shopping. First on the list; the dairy isle. He has to go ahead and get some rather large eggs.
Conclusion
This is by far the best of the three fantasy adventure movies that Kerwin Matthews (Sinbad) made during this era. If you have the time and the inclination, I would strongly recommend a rewatch of this movie. Preferably on a hazy hot dog-day afternoon in August, or a cold snowy blistery Saturday afternoon in January. I promise that it will reawaken the boyhood in you (if you are a man), the nurturing and strong lady in you (if you are a lass), or complete revulsion (if you are gender-confused).
Links
Here’s some decent links that you all might want to take a look at.
You can watch it for free if you don’t mind waiting a half an hour to half a day to download the torrent.
For those of you who are unaware. Torrents are parts of files that are spread out in tiny packets all over the internet. You use a "Bit Torrent" client to vacuum up all those little bits and pieces of the file. It then assembles the file into a movie that you can watch. The time that this takes can vary from a few minutes to weeks depending on how popular or obscure your searched file is.
You will need an application to manage the download. I recommend the free application VUZE. To download the video is thus easy. Install VUZE, and then click on one of the following torrent links.
Depending on where you live, you might not have the freedom to access these sites and the ISP might block them from access, or the search engines might black out their search results. Americans, in particular, might have some real problems. Therefore, I listed the most accessible torrent sites available to Americans. Pirate Bay and 1337X. I think that Kick Ass Torrents is still blocked for all Americans.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
My Poetry
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Let’s continue with our exploration of cute and unique China with these following examples…
Many people that I met were curious about China, but their impressions of China would end up with words like ‘communist,’ ‘pollution’ and ‘no Facebook.’ While many facts are true, the contemporary, living and multifaceted Chinese life is rarely heard of.
-Tinyeyescomics
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Disco Swimming Party
The Chinese have a great love for being together and having fun and partying. Often they mix singing, dancing, and (of course) drinking with their other pleasures. As any other normal adult would. Here, we look at a typical swimming pool and their weekend festivities.
And, yes… this is TYPICAL.
I, myself, enjoy swimming. As a boy we would swim in the ocean and in the various pools around the community. This was true whether it was a private club, or at a friends house. I have always associated Summer with pools, and I think that all kids should have the same kind of fond memories attached to swimming and Summer as I have.
After all, who doesn’t want to go have fun?
Photo from the late 1940s and early 1950s of some gals on the beach. You can well imagine a nice day, some fine food and friendship. Not to mention walking and swimming along the shore. Such memories I have of those times.
Back in my middle school days, all of us kids were part of the YMCA after-school swimming program. When ever they had one of these programs, my parents were the first to sign us kids up for the classes. I became quite good at swimming, and that later turned into an asset once I joined the US Navy.
After school, we would hop onto a bus and it would carry us over to a nearby town for our lessons. I seem to recall that the trip would last around a half an hour, and the entire time at the YMCA might have lasted around three hours. I suppose that gave our parents enough time away from us kids for some private time. Heh heh.
The YMCA had an indoor pool, but we would also go use outside pools during the Summer months. I had friends who loved to swim in the rivers and lakes, but they were way too dirty for my personal sensibilities.
For me, my time around the pools pretty much looked like this. Even at the pool where we were a member, my parents would pay for me to take swimming and diving lessons. I learned well how to do many dives.
Being with friends and noisy kids is part of the swimming experience. And, you know what? I think that it is great. I really do.
There will be plenty of opportunities for other kinds of beach and swimming pool adventures in your future. That’s life. Some will be great. Some will be not so great. Some will have you walking on the beach hand-in-hand with someone you love and care for dearly. Some experiences will involve alcohol. Some experiences will involve a group of close friends, with music, food and other pleasures.
I think that the best thing about life is to enjoy it as it is happening.
What I mean is that time is short and it is fleeting. You need to know that if you are always goal oriented, you will miss out in the opportunities and adventures that lie all around you right now. There is a saying to “take the time to smell the flowers”, and that is very true, but the saying has become trite and over used.
Appreciate you life as it is happening TODAY right now. You might not get another moment exactly like this one in the future.
What are your favorite moments when you grew up? Can you be evocative of them? Was your childhood like the movie “On Golden Pond”? Or, maybe it was like the movie “The Goonies”? Enjoy what you have while you are living it.
OK, now going back to China.
Yes there are all kinds of ways that you can have fun at pools and on the beach. Just like in the United States or in an exotic holiday resort. You can go to pools, public water and pool parks, and even have your own pool where you would invite your friends over for some fun and frolic.
Here is a micro-video of a Chinese public pool. There are some things to note.
Unlike the video above, this one isn’t so rambunctious. It is quieter and more peaceful. It is not designed for groups of people to party and have a good time at. It is, instead, designed to relax and have a nice spa-like experience with friends and family. You will also notice that there is a huge canvas awning overhead. This is typical in China and most gals do not want their beautiful white skin to get dark.
You will note that the water is not deep either, and that there is a bench all along the sides of the pool for people to sit up and rest within the water. In this pool it is sort of like a cross between a whirl-pool and a regular pool. It is a place to relax, while the other video was a place to get crazy and have fun in.
Studying with Roommates
Most colleges and schools in China are dorms where there are from four to eight students crammed into one room. It is cozy, and over time, everyone develops a very close bond together. I used to think that this was terrible, but once I started to make Chinese friends, I saw the advantages of this.
You form “tribes” or “families” what are self-supporting.
It is common all over Asia to form close-knit “tribes” or extended family as part of close living conditions. Seriously, you cannot get much closer together than living in Tokyo or Hong Kong. Here is the dorm that the K-Pop group “g-friends” live in.
This is very important when you are away from home for the first time, and need to have friends and associations for support, emotional health and friendship. In China, having friends and family is of extreme importance.
The Chinese typically share a room with four to eight others. The American often shares with one other person, and the British get their own private rooms to themselves.
I’ve experienced student dormitories in three countries: In the U.K. I have my own private room with shared public space; In the U.S. I shared my dorm with one roommate; In China, I used to live with 5 girls in the same room.
This lack of privacy must be shocking for some of you, but in a country with 1.3 billion population, space is always a problem.
While there are many inconveniences for not having enough private space, on the bright side, sharing a room with someone also makes you learn quite a deal about communication, responsibilities and tolerance.
-Tinyeyescomics
Here is a typical dorm room scene.
You will note that the room is rectangular with beds on stilts that lie over the study desks. This is not everywhere, but seems to work well. I have seen other arrangements, of course. You will also note that, like college dorm rooms all over the globe, the students decorate it to their own personal tastes.
I particularly like the swing chair. It’s actually pretty popular in Chinese dorm rooms.
Japanese Invasion
There is a movement toward wearing traditional Chinese clothing all over China. I personally love it, and enjoy watching girls wearing their really cute outfits. Well, girls (all over the world) enjoy dressing up and wearing different outfits. From time to time you will see these girls getting dressed up in period fashion and Japanese fashion. It’s all pretty darn cute.
Here we have some Chinese gals getting involved in some of the Japanese fashions in Shanghai.
Pretty Crazy, huh?
Of course, you do need to put this into perspective. Any “invasion” from Japan is not about displacing traditional Chinese culture. Rather it is about enjoying your own uniqueness within China. You see, in China there is no such thing as “cultural appropriation” that is a bunch of progressive hooey that is all the rage in the United States. In China you can pretty much be who ever you want to, and no fat overweight pink-haired feminist is going to scream in your face about it.
That enables the Chinese to enjoy their history, and their culture without any disdain or apologies.
And they do so. They are very proud of their culture and when given the opportunity, they will happily don traditional clothing and be themselves. Here we have a girl from one of the Southern regions of China. I believe (but am not sure) that her culture is from the Hainan island area. (Incidentally, the women have traditionally covered themselves in tribal tattoos. This is something that is NOT carried over with modern Chinese ladies. They prefer to leave their bodies unadorned.)
You can see the cross-cultural influences from other ethnic regions within China here.
The headdress is borrowed from some central Chinese cultures, and the flower in the hair is from the South Pacific with a relationship influence (flower on the right if married, on the left if single). In the Northern part of China, you will see the ladies wear long dresses with coverings on their arms. In the Southern sections (where it is HOT) you will find them wearing mini-skirts and loose clothing.
OK. At numerous videos for this part, let’s go and move on to the next past which covers even more strangeness inside of China this month…
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
China and America Comparisons
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.
Parks in China
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
China is a big country, with a huge population. At any given minute there are all kinds of things going on, from the curious to the absurd. That’s pretty much what makes travel so enticing. You are exposed to new ideas and new ways of doing things. These new ways might be better or worse. Yet, the fact that they are different adds value to your experience.
If the new experience is better, then you can see where your previous assumptions might be wrong. This is what happens when you move out of your “comfort zone”. You learn that what you are accustomed to might be wrong or problematic. A good example of this is paying for drugs overseas. Drugs are cheap just about everywhere outside of the USA.
If the new experience is worse, then you have a better appreciation of what you have come to accept and live with. A good example is going to the public toilet in rural China. You really start to appreciate Western-style public restrooms.
I created this post to illustrate that there are many ways to do things, and often these other ways might appear odd, strange or simply curious to someone who is not used to them.
You know, when I first visited China, (back around 1993 or so) many of my (new) Chinese friends thought that a “hamburger” was exactly what McDonald’s made. They had no idea what American food was, and their only exposure to it was McDonald’s or KFC.
A McDonald’s cheeseburger. It’s ok to eat. It’s nothing fancy, but rather plain and mass-produced fast food. The “meat” is too processed and full of preservatives, and the toppings are rather pedestrian. The bread roll is bland.
They were surprised when I explained to them that hamburgers are something totally different from what you would find in most (not all) American “fast food” restaurants. They didn’t believe me, and had a very difficult time visualizing it. So, what I had to do, was make up some home-made hamburgers on real rolls, with fresh fixings to show them.
This is how a hamburger is supposed to be made. It is 100% real beef. The roll is fresh and has a crunchy outside crust. It has fresh vegetables, and is cooked just right.
Well, China is like that. They often do things different from we are used to seeing. And because of that, that kind of exposure, let’s us view things that we have taken for granted over years and years of exposure.
Maybe we need to take a look at why we do certain things in certain ways. As such, we can start to question if the things that we are accustomed to, are really the best way to do them.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Monkey Style
I was raised watching David Carradine in the television show Kung Fu. I, like many of my generation became entranced by his Shoulin kung fu style. I, as well as most Americans, at that time, only knew of two ways of battling bad guys. (Aside from shooting them, and boxing them.) That was by using Karate, or Kung Fu.
For many Americans, we learned about Kung Fu through television and movies. Television brought Kung Fu to our livingrooms, and exposed us to the shaolin style of kungfu.
After a few decades of this, we became exposed to martial arts through watching Bruce Lee, and other notable martial arts actors on television. It seemed like all of the best martial arts originated out of China, and more specifically, out of Hong Kong.
With this being our only “education” into the world of martial arts, it is no surprise that we Americans have come to assume that this is the best and (perhaps) the most effective style to fight in martial arts. It is our lack of exposure to other styles that gives us a false understanding of what is available to us personally.
Perhaps we should be exposed to other techniques and methods. Even if they appear odd or strange to us. They exist, because they when performed with mastery, are superior fighting forms.
Other styles of Chinese martial arts include, but are most certainly not limited to:
Wushu: Known more in the contemporary world as not really a style, but more as a sport or a showmanship of forms.
Tai Chi: A very popular internal martial arts style that is characterized by its breathing techniques. Millions of people practice this martial art for relief of stress, meditation purposes, and health and balance in their stress-filled lives.
Kung Fu: King Fu is used in the contemporary world to describe the many styles of martial arts in China. There were additionally various sub styles of Kung Fu from both Northern and Southern China. Whereas the Northern region boasted Shaolin, Eagle Claw, Long Fist and Monkey Style and the Southern region laid claim to Wing Chun, Hung Gar, and Choy Li Fut.
Shuai Jiao: Shuai Jiao was one of the first martial arts in China. Shuai Jiao was taught to the troops by means of utilizing the horns on their helmets and throwing as well as ground fighting was the main focus of this martial art.
Here is a micro-video of a monk performing “Monkey Style” Kung Fu. What do you think? Do you think that it would stun the attacker, or have him roll on the ground laughing?
You see, or maybe not, the point here.
This style is both humorous and unexpected. It’s difficult to fight someone who cannot be predicted. And the humor is disarming. This technique is not for everyone, but it has advantage, and in life… that’s what we need. A little bit of advantage.
Here’s another video depicting scenes of a Chinese movie character that utilizes such actions to disarm his opponents, and obtain advantage in situations. It’s sort of like the book & movie “The Scarlet Pimpernel”.
Moving on to a totally different subject, but still a little odd and crazy is what happens when you drink too much.
A Little Too Much To Drink
Now this is China, don’t you know. Everyone drinks alcohol as it is part of the culture.
In America we would go home to sleep things off, or maybe crash on some stranger’s porch or in our car (Heaven forbid we drive home). Rarely do we try to walk home. Though, I have seen people riding a bike home after closing time at the bar. (You know, that almost all bars in the USA have Cinderella hours. That’s right, they are not open all night. Yeah, crazy, huh?)
It’s 5:08 AM. She obviously left the club, bar or KTV, and is having a bit of trouble getting oriented. Lordy, you would think one of her friends would help get her home to bed.
This poor chick had a little bit too much to drink. I think. Either that, or her world is just spinning around and around.
Training a K9 Police Dog to perform CPR
I’ve seen people train police dogs. There are all kinds of movies and shows depicting this. I have seen them take down a “bad guy” wearing a padded suit. I have seen them run though obstacle courses. I have watched them sniff for drugs, and locate bombs.
But, I have never seen them be trained to give CPR.
Well, this is China, and they are not afraid to try new things and push things to the limits. This is a cute and interesting video of a young police K9 puppy being trained to perform CPR on a downed police officer.
Three videos are enough for one post. The band width would never permit you to load too many more. So please kindly go to the next section to check out some more crazy Chinese videos.
If you want to go to the start of this series of posts, then please click HERE.
Links about China
China and America Comparisons
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.
Parks in China
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can tell how much BS is in the American news media when they report as “experts” in China, yet fail to mention even the most basic trends. You go on CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, and the Huffington-Puffington Post and it’s all about Trump, and China tariffs. Article after article is reporting on the troubles about the tariffs. They report all kinds of nonsense. They report as if they are experts. Oh, the world is falling apart! Oh, China has fallen to it’s knees! Oh, my goodness!
Well it isn’t. The world is not falling apart. China is bowing down, and the people are not shuffling back into their state-mandated hovels.
China takes the tariff issue seriously, but they are not killing themselves in mass suicides over it. You do know that exports from China to the United States isn’t as large as Americans think. While the perception is that it is maybe 80% of everything they export, the truth is that it is much smaller than that. Exports to America from China is actually around 11% of all Chinese exports.
You’ve got to be an idiot to believe some of the nonsense that is written in the American mass media. The news that Americans read is all just packaged propaganda used to manipulate. That’s it.
Anyways, let’s talk about what is actually going on in China. Yes. The “real deal”. Don’t you know…
The Dance Craze
If you travel to China, and only spend one week in China, you would be made aware of certain trends and behaviors that are totally absent from the “experts” in the American main-steam media. You might be exposed to state of the art subway systems that look like they came out of a science fiction movie. You might ride in a high-speed train that looks like a rocketship. You might be amazed how everyone uses WeChat to pay for things.
For the last few months, China has been “on fire” with a dance craze that has swept the nation. Bet ya didn’t know that! Did you?
Girls all over China are dancing to this stupid Chinese pop song.
I think that they most especially like the part where he goes all “Tarzan”. and the girls duplicate it by leaning back and shaking their chests out.
Boys, girls, adults, children, and maybe even pet dogs can all dance to this stupid and silly song.
et, it has taken the nation by storm. Really! Who’d figure?
The Chinese youth are going crazy over this song. Who would figure. Eh?
If you cannot see the embedded player, then please go to this link to see a compilation of crazed Chinese fans dancing to this stupid song…
It’s sort of like how the “Gangham Style” video and song took over the United States, and late the world. Only instead of a fat Korean, we have pretty Chinese girls dancing to it…friggin’ everywhere.
Where to Watch
I first became aware of this craze by the 抖音短视频 website. You can get the APP online HERE. It consists of home made mini videos all to Chinese (and some Western) pop music. Imagine a twitter version of movies. Here is a scene from the MV of the music video. It is pretty silly with a bunch of Chinese boys and girls dancing about and giving Tarzan yells.
The funny thing is this; if you just go to any mall in the city and give a Tarzan yell, you will be answered by girls and boys shaking their chests and yelling AH-ya-ya-ah….
Regarding the application, often the movies only last ten seconds or so. All in all, it is a great way to see what China is like, and what the people are like. You see it all. From bedrooms to state parks, to city-scapes to cute girls dancing.I got hooked watching dog and cat videos. You know the Chinese really love their pets.
Later, I became hooked on watching cute Chinese girls doing cute things. Sure beats fat negro American women shaking their enormously fat asses that passes for entertainment in America today.
Anyways, I find it a welcome respite form the non-stop barrage of bullshit narrative from the American mainstream media about China. I get on this APP and within a minute, I can see ten videos made by normal and average Chinese from all over China.
You look at the people. You look at their clothes. You look at the roads and infrastructure. You look at the backgrounds, and the people and what they are doing… It sure beats the nonsense out of silicon valley and Washington D.C.
First Taste
Here is just a sample of the kinds of things that you will see in China today. This is the song that is driving all the girls crazy…
I have been having trouble posting the embedded player for the video. So All that I can post is fan videos. You can watch the video yourself. Here are various direct links;
One of the things that the American media likes to keep secret is how human the Chinese people are. In many, many ways, they are exactly like Americans. At least they really seem to relate to us. They think that the television show “Friends” is real, and they all yearn to become friends with Americans. They like to have fun. They love to fish, play basketball, and just have fun with each other eating and drinking.
The American deep (state) swamp wants to keep everything two dimensional. To them, they picture the world outside of the United States as a ugly dark and frightening place. They make cardboard cutouts of people outside. They make two-dimensional characters of them. It’s easier to control us, if our rulers (owners) keep us living in a dark fear.
But, you know, that’s really not the way it is.
The Chinese love to dance and have a good time. They are just like us. Only on a much grander scale…
The Chinese are just like us. We are both human. We have needs and desires. We feel emotion; sadness and happiness. We fall in love, we raise families and take care of our elders. We work hard, and try to do our best. We like to have fun. Some of us can sing, and some cannot. We we accept everyone anyways. The Chinese are just like us…
They like to pay with their children, and they love their pets. You all probably aren’t aware of that, with the Western oligarchy in full control of the American media. All the Western media ever talks about is how dogs are eaten in some rural villages in the back hills of remote China.
They play this narrative over and over and over and over. It’s all a manufactured lie.
The Chinese love their pets.
In fact some of the largest industries in China are those that cater to pets. In China the pets are treated like little humans. I really mean it. They have dog socks, dog underwear. They have dog sweaters, eyeglasses, back packs and special nutrition dog-food. It is not unusual to have a family spend more money on their dog than on their own children.
China is the largest economy in the world. If the trade issues can be resolved between Donald Trump and Xi Ping, Americans and their counterparts in China can thrive and prosper.
I see a future where the Chinese and Americans both work diligently towards a mutual agreeable goal. Everyone works. Everyone profits. Americans goods are sold to China, and Chinese goods are sold to Americans. Only this time, instead of the corrupt oligarchy benefiting, it will be everyday Americans who benefit. Trust me, the Chinese want this.
I believe Donald Trump wants this. I believe his followers want this. There is only one problem. The deep state, and all their globalist minions; the American media, the corrupt DOJ and FBI, and the rich software billionaires don’t.
The Chinese middle class has been growing over the last four decades. It is not what Americans think at all. Much of that growth has been the direct result of piss-poor trade policies that benefit the wealthiest few in the Untied States.
That era has ended.
Now it is a time when Americans can market our fine (and superior) products to a willing and welcome Chinese market. What are we waiting for? Nothing, just until the oligarchs in the (swamp) Washington D.C. retires or steps out of the way.
They will do EVERYTHING in their ability to stop it. They do not care, and if it take world war III to realize their dreams, they will cause it.
Don’t believe me? Just read their mouth-pieces; the New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN.
We are now at a threshold where Americans and Chinese can both profit handsomely by throwing all the evil oligarchs to the wayside. Instead of them getting a trillion dollar profit each year, now it’s time for each American to profit.
The money will flow in copus amounts. We just have to realize who is siphoning the money, and how much they are getting away with. China has a lot to offer Americans.
For instance, consider the synchronized night scapes in all the Chinese cities. You haven’t heard about that have you? Nope, the oligarchs don’t want you to be aware. Just manufacture a cardboard evil villain and demand higher taxes from Americans. It’s the same old playbook. But we Americans have transcended this narrative.
We know better.
Summary
With China not only possessing the bulk of the world population, and the vast bulk of the world’s manufacturing, it is a true shame that American media treats it as some kind of two-dimensional fiction.
Most Americans are unaware of this. Somehow we think that things are still manufactured in Germany, that all those cars with British logos are still make in the UK, and that all the cameras and computers are made in South Korea and Japan.
Nope. They are all made in China.
Surprise! American propaganda leads to keep Americans ignorant and afraid. make no mistake. The purpose of the American main stream media is to keep Americans stupid, ignorant and living in fear. We are told that China is a poor third-world nation. It is one that is filled with barefoot and ignorant workers that reside in mud-hut villages all over China.
That’s the narrative.
It is a complete fabrication. It is nonsense. Sure the rural Chinese aren’t living in McMansions, but their homes aren’t mud huts either. Yes they have electricity, plumbing, indoor water (and water heaters) high-speed internet and paved roads.
In fact, I wish Pennsylvania would take a few lessons from China. They have seemed to get rid of their pothole problems. Pennsylvania is still forming yet another “Blue Ribbon” committee to look into the issue…
I personally believe that once we know the true reality, that we can decide what is best for us and our families. We do not need some “expert” in Washington D.C. telling us what we can do, some “expert” in silicon-valley censoring what we read, and some “expert” in New York city deciding what we can read and watch.
I believe that we can do this by ourselves and alone. The “manufactured reality” out of Washington D.C. and Silicon-Valley has become so outrageous and distorted that it in no way resembles anything even resembling the truth. We need to acknowledge this and embrace it.
For Pete’s Sake, if the “experts” on China are totally oblivious to something as common as a song and a dance that even five-year-olds know, than you should be aware of the disconnect. The disconnect is dangerous.
If we permit it to continue…people will die. Pay attention. Know who is trying to manipulate you and why. Question everything. Stop permitting those in power to take your money, repackage it into a fear-based narrative.
Move forward and think of everyone as your friends who want to work with you so they… and YOU… together can profit. Not some rich oligarch who already has amassed enough trillions of your your money. It’s time to put them to bed and move forward with our lives.
John McClain
Oh, and a special call out for one of the most evil people in Washington D.C. war monger extraordinaire John McClain. Hey guy, having a brain tumor the size of a baseball is no excuse to start World War III. I don’t give a damn what your fucked up rationalizations are. People are people. They are not some numbers that can be erased on a spreadsheet. They have feelings, life, relationships and family. What the Hell is the matter with you?
Sources
Of course, you can go directly to the Chinese video websites and view the dance routines for yourself. There might even be one or two on you-tube. That is, once they get past the censorship army in silicon-valley. American progressive censorship is terrible. It really is… Yeah. Y
ou are not going to find any of this on the sterile American Politically-Correct scrubbed video websites. Hey dudes, maybe you need… NEED to look elsewhere for your video entertainment. There are many, many options.
Don’t accept the bland life that is provided to you. Maybe Alex Jones is banned on Facebook, and You-Tube. No problem. Go elsewhere…
#1. Youku.com 优酷网YouKu
At home, I subscribe to YouKu. I use it for my streaming music needs. If I want to hear a song I like, I do a lyric search and then have YouKu pull it up for me. Like all these sites, they are in Chinese, but you can pretty much navigate by trial and error.
Everything is free to watch. There are only a few embedded ads. There is a very high playback speed, and very little delay.
#2. Tudou.com 土豆网Toudou
Toudou is the second most well-known video website in China. Toudou is where most Chinese people buy their online purchases. You can get everything from makeup to groceries here. The site features personal video sharing services, and also owns many other video channels like movies, dramas, music and so on.
#3. Cntv.cn 中国网络电视台CCTV
This is the government very own video streaming service. It’s sort of a Chinese video version of NPR. It is owned by China Central Television (CCTV), CNTV is the official website of the national TV station. The site hosts many channels and its video channels include live TV, TV drama and documentary. Users can enjoy lots of exclusive video contents on the site.
#4. tv.kankan.com 迅雷看看kankan
Xunlei Kankan is a video-on-demand service. If you are trying to find American movies but are unable to because of paywalls, and money that you have to pay at Netflix, go here. they will be free. Oh, and did I say…free????
The site provides high-quality content including up-to-date Chinese dramas and lots of movies from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and the USA.
#5. Tv.sohu.com 搜狐视频sohu
Sohu TV is owned by Sohu company, one of the biggest Internet portals in China. Everyone knows about Sohu. What? You didn’t? Well let me educate you.
The site provides countless video contents such as high quality movies, TV shows, self-produced dramas, variety shows, music TV and cartoons. You might well be surprised in the selection.
#6. Letv.com 乐视网letv
Hailed as China’s Hulu, Letv.com owns more than 100,000 episodes of TV series and more than 5,000 films. This is pretty much where my wife likes to go to watch her soap operas and the American series such as “Two Broke Girls” and “Sopranos”.
#7. Iqiyi.com 爱奇艺qiyi
I used to have a VIP membership for QIYI. It only cost something like 198 RMB for a year ($25). As a VIP you get a very large selection of movies. Their American movie selection is pretty good. It’s sort of like Netflix in that regard, but instead of paying $5 for a movie, you pay $25 for unlimited movies for a year.
It is owned by Baidu, China’s largest search engine. The decision to offer a paid subscription is a direct result of negotiations with Hollywood. You must recall, Hollywood demanded that the Chinese government stop piracy of Western movies.
Thus, Iqiyi describes itself China’s first copyrighted video library covering various contents such as movie, TV drama, variety show, comic and documentary. Its HD & smooth video content is the best of all China’s video sites.
#8. Video.sina.com.cn 新浪视频sina
Here’s where you go if you want to see the latest American movies that are in the theaters, but don’t want to pay for them. It’s owned by Sina, a leading Internet media company serving China. The site provides various video content including latest video news, variety show, movie, drama and so on.
#9. 56.com 56网56.com screen shot
56.com is a leading video-sharing platform in China. Users can post and share their personal videos online. There are many cute videos of dogs and cats here. As well as cute girls sings and dancing. The site hosts more than 80 million online videos.
#10 pptv.com PPTVpip
PPTV is a fantastic online TV provider offering both live streaming and video-on-demand services. Its channels include TV shows, film, drama, sports, news and entertainment and so on.
#11. M1905.com 电影网1905
I must admit that I am not too familiar about this site. However the interface seems easy enough to use and get about with. It’s been in China for a while. Really. M1905.com was founded by China Movie Channel in 2004.
The site hosts more than 6,000 HD copyrighted movies and about 200,000 short videos. M1905 is the most complete and authoritative site about Chinese movies.
#12. V.qq.com 腾讯视频QQ video
I am currently a VIP member of this site. Cost is $25/year (198 RMB). Like all VIP services, you are allowed five members for that service. So we share the membership with friends and relatives. It has a pretty good selection of American movies. For instance, I watched “Hot Tub Time Machine” last week, but the sequel to that movie is not available.
QQ is the largest social media platform in China, and even dwarfs the enormous WeChat. This is the video section of that platform. To give you an idea of how enormous it is, think of Facebook, and then multiply it by one thousand.
QQ video is a channel of qq.com, which is the most popular instant messenger in China and has hundreds of million active users. With huge amount of active users, QQ video quickly and easily became one of the the most visited video sites in China.
#13. 360 Kan 360 视频360
I am not familiar with this website. However, my friends and coworkers really like it. Truthfully, 360kan is a Chinese version of Google / computer checkup application. Functionally, 360kan is actually a video resource navigation website.
Its main function is to list lots of TV and drama links, so users can choose the site with the best watching experiences.
#14. Baidu Video 百度视频 baidu
Everyone knows about Baidu in China. Just like everyone knows of Google int he United States. Baidu is a Chinese version of Google, only it is much, much, much larger… and… it is not censored by rich progressive millennials in California.
If you want to find a movie in China, this is probably your fist stop. Like on Google, you click on the video link to see all the video related search results.
Baidu Video is one of the largest video sharing site in China. It is a channel of Baidu.com, China’s leading search engine. The site features its search function and users can always find their favorite video content on the site.
#15. pps.tv PPSpps PPS provides lots of services such as video search, online video, games and downloads. Its computer client PPS Net TV hosts more than 210 thousand sets of channel programs. It is the most popular Net TV client in China.
Take Aways
The news in America is completely distorted.
So called “experts” on China, in the United States are unaware of the most basic of trends in China.
This disconnect in perception, reporting and reality is dangerous, as it can result in manipulation of mass groups of people and WAR!
The Chinese people admire and relate to Americans. It is a true shame that the American news media would like to disrupt the trade negotiations that Donald Trump is having with Xi Peng.
If Americans and Chinese can work TOGETHER, everyone would benefit profitably. The Chinese WANT to buy American made products. Let’s let them. We can work hard and they can respond.
Over the last few decades, American agreements favored the rich oligarchs at the expense of the American worker. Today, the American media narrative is one that pits national boundaries before cooperation.
FAQ
Q: What is so special about the latest dance craze in China? A: Nothing, really. Fads and fashions come and go. The point of this post and article is just how out of touch the American media is that they are unaware of something that every single person in China knows about. Heck, you could fly in and just stand on a street corner, not talk to anyone and be aware of this. The disconnect is that enormous. China has their own movies, much larger than Hollywood. They have their own music, with followings that dwarf anything out of America. You can see one HERE. The point is that China is a Big, big market that WANTS American products. I argue that we should sell our products to China. We should forget the bullshit narrative promoted out of the American media and do it our way… the American way. Not the way of the wealthy oligarchy. Q: Why don’t you have embedded videos? A: I tried, but word press is changing it’s editor with something else. It’s a little buggy and won’t accept embedded code. Q: Why do you love China? A: China reminds me of American back around 1960. That was before the progressive liberals took control of EVERYTHING, and fucked everything up. Now everyone either want’s to go to war or turn into a communist. Jeeze, not even the Chinese want to be a “communist” nation. But sure as heck the millennial’s in the big American cites want that. Hey the bullshit ran deep. Now America is populated with morons. I can’t stop the shit. What I can do, however, is open the window a little so some fresh air of reality comes in. Life is not that bad, it only appears to be.
Free Republic Posting
This was posted on 5AUG18 on the website Free Republic. It did not go down very well.The thread was pulled. The reason being…
not even close to news. barely chat. quit abusing the BN sidebar
Popularity
Well, Free Republic might have pulled this post, but it was the top post during August 2018 by a long-shot. I guess that FR is out of touch what is popular to the readership.
Links about China
China and America Comparisons
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the
real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British
tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This
is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
Here are my thoughts on what a young man can do to build up his life when he exits school. It does not matter if the school is college, High School, or elementary school. There comes a point in time when you need to make the transition from a student to a worker.
Everyone has their thoughts on this. Here are mine.
...And I had so many misconceptions about how the world worked. For example, I thought that in any… Because I had seen it in other fields. I thought that if you are successful in a particular line of work, a particular area, that everybody in that area kind of acknowledges it, recognizes it, and respects it and welcomes you in? Ho-ho-ho. Is that ever not true!
-Rush Limbaugh
What Can we do?
If you are a millennial, and you do want to work and provide a living, but cannot. There is some hurdle in the way; some problem. Maybe you don’t even know what it is. You have zero guidance. It’s just a big blank slate.
What to do?
(laughing) It turns out it’s the exact opposite. I was a fool. I was so naive about things. Now, it didn’t take me long to figure it all out, but I wish I would have known some of it before I began this...
Nobody that I knew was able to tell me how to deal with it, how to respond to it, how to deflect it, how to ignore it, whatever to do. Nobody told me.
-Rush Limbaugh
Here is what you do. You need to seek out help and advice. Do not try to do it on your own. Ask for help. Keep asking until someone helps you. People will brush you off. Ignore them. Get answers get help.
Do not be passive about it. Ask for help. Go to different people. Go one by one. Keep on trying. Keep going until you have someone willing to help you.
Don’t try to do it the hard way, on your own. Seek guidance. Go to a favorite uncle. Ask your father, or your grandfather. Ask. Never be afraid to ask.
Go to a crowded barber shop and ask. You will hear all kinds of bullshit, but through all that bullshit, you will find one or two men who will genuinely offer help and suggestions.
Talk with other men. Heck, I am always willing to take hardworking people under my wing.
I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it's better than college. People should educate themselves - you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I'd written a thousand stories.
-Ray Bradbury
Education
All my life I was taught, by my father, to get a good education. That education will in turn, enable me to get a “great job”. In which case, I will be “set for life” because I would be valuable to the person employing me.
Hogwash.
It sucks working for another person. That person, can and will tell you how to live your life, and will hold your family income over your head like the sword of Damocles. They will use you as they feel fit and discard you when they are through with you.
Some experiences I had…
Working 1.5 hours every day, all week, but only during the busy time of the day. They wanted 150% efficiency from me, and nothing else.
When I won a round trip airline ticket to Europe for the weekend, my boss told me that if I used it that he would fire me.
Time and time again, I was let go… fired with ZERO notice. Three times it was on a Christmas eve. Once, in Shreveport, it was a half-an-hour after I received my award for “Best Employee of the Month”.
Having my monthly salary cut to zero because a co-worker made a mistake.
Listen up!
Education serves but one, and only one purpose.
That purpose is to give you advantage. If you do not get anything or any advantage, then that education has zero benefit to you.
Jay started off by asking the crowd if it was weird for them to be listening to a speech by him, since he had never attended university. To him, being extraordinary and to be able to stand in front of everyone does not depend on how much one has studied, but rather, if he has a strong skill set. He named a few of his peers who did not study much, but whose work have been taught in university classes.
Advice: Having a particular skillset that you are good at is more important than how much you study.
-Five Lessons form Jay Chou
Money gives you Ability
A young man needs to work. He needs to carve out his life, and do it on his terms. That takes money.
The first thing you need to do is get a job; any job. Start getting money into your pocket.
Start putting money in your wallet.
Keep in mind that the hardest and most unpopular jobs pay the best. That might mean that you might need to wash windows in a skyscraper. You might need to crawl inside of a railroad container car and scrub it out. You might need to empty industrial waste, or scrub toxic biological germs out of a hospital. You might need to work from three in the morning to seven in the morning cleaning up an office building. You might need to shovel pig shit, or determine the sex of chickens (you shove your pinky in the rectum of a chicken).
It doesn’t matter what you do. Work. Get some money and save it.
Save the money you earn. You will need it later.
Don’t be under the impression that I had it easy. I actually lived in a van for a number of years. I starved, and lived off of onions and mustard packets. I worked at jobs and had my pay stolen by the managers. Life can be difficult, but a man endures. Even so while everyone around him laughs.
Don’t be under the impression that I didn’t do what I had to do. I did the ugly stuff, and the difficult stuff, and I smiled when I did it too. That’s life.
You will come home with blood-blisters on your hands, and so tired that your hands shake. You deal with it. Your neck might be so sunburned from the hot sun that when you put on a shirt the searing pain might cause you to pass out. Your hands might be so covered with oil and grease that it would be impossible to clean them entirely. The gasoline stains in your clothes might be so terrible that they never come out. Your girlfriend might want sex, but you are too tired to service her. Hey, that is life, if you are a man. That is what real work is.
The entire time while you are working and saving, plan. Remember that you are a Man. You plan.
Men plan, and map out the life that they will live.
Plan on how you can use that money to improve your work situation. Don’t fall into the corporate trap; you get a good high-paying job and plateau. That is a trap that you will never get out of. Don’t use the money to enhance your life. That you can hold off for a year or two. Just concentrate on a real (short) intense period of making your life happen.
Plan.
Keep going forward. Some days it will seem that you are hardly making any progress. Ignore that. Just keep going. Do not give up.
Keep this in mind. You need to do is understand that everything around you is fake. The news is fake (unless you are still part of the 0.000001% who still thinks that Donald Trump is a Russian spy). The food is fake. The taxes and the promises of what they will be used for is… fake. You are in the world. Fight for what you need. Fight, and don’t give up. You will make it.
The first and most important thing that a young person can do today is to make money.
This is your task. Find a way to put money into your pocket. Then once you get that money HOLD ON TO IT.
Money can be easily squandered. Do not let that happen to you. You get the money, and you stash it away safely.
Do not follow the Herd
No. Don’t follow the herd.
Do not do what the rest of the people are doing. You ONLY what will benefit YOU. Life is not a some-size-fits-all. You take the opportunities as they present themselves to you. If college will help you achieve your goals, then go do it. If it doesn’t then do something else.
Growing up, Jay realized that he wasn’t one for studying hard. Instead of fighting that, he chose to pursue his interests of learning to play the piano and basketball.
If not for his interest in piano and music, he wouldn’t have ended up where he is today. If not for his interest in basketball, he wouldn’t have ended up filming “Kung Fu Dunk”. The interests he had when he was younger made him who he is today, but he could only connect those dots looking backwards.
Advice: Pursue your interests and life will take care of itself.
-Five lessons from Jay Chou
When I went to college, it was at a time when only a handful of people could attend. The education was valuable and you could obtain a job based on your studious efforts. That is not the case today.
Everyone can go.
Today everyone can go to college. As such, you just become a debt-serf in the process. Today, we really need to see if this is what is in your best interests. Are you willing to become a debt-serf and give a huge percentage of any money you earn to a bank AFTER you give a huge percentage of your money to the government in taxes? Think about it. College might not be right for YOU.
Take a good long and hard look at what your options are. Only go to college if there is a very strong chance that you can benefit from it. Otherwise, I would suggest some other avenue of approach.
A man strives and moves forward no matter what the dangers are. For people WILL certainly see your poverty and youth as a weakness. They will take advantage of you. But move forward anyways.
Today, I look at my High School classmates. You know, the ones that I went to school with a half a century ago.
Today, the rich ones are actually the ones who started their own stores, gas stations, laundromats, and tie-dyed tee-shirt shops. These were the “average” kids in school. They just started a simple business. They worked at it. Rain, or shine. Now they are all quite wealthy. They are, and have always been, their own bosses.
Meanwhile, the smart ones, those of us who attended college, are “professionals”. Like me, I suppose. Yeah. However, the fact is that we generally live “hand-to-mouth” at the whims of market forces. Without a doubt, our employers often don’t give a “Rat’s ass” about our lives. Up-sized, laid off, down sized, restructured, renegotiated positions… it’s all the same. It sucks to be a worker for someone else.
Do NOT be like me. Be your own boss.
Options:
Learn a TRADE; plumbing, electricity, construction…
Join the military; Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force…Join a Union
Apprentice
Take over a Family Business
Start you own business
Community College
Crash courses and take night classes while you work
Work with key friends and start a business
College and Universities are now flooded with people, thus diluting the job pool. Further they teach you how to work for someone else. You become a well-taught monkey, or an obedient drone in a big, big mega-corporation.
You will NEED to be an exceptional person to survive the market trends when you leave college. Instead, consider using the four years (normally reserved for college) to strike out on your own, and give you advantage.
That’s the key. That’s the secret.
You need ADVANTAGE.
Life can be really hard, especially when it seems like everyone else is doing better than you. Do not be fooled. many are not. They are just wearing the necessary masks and driving around in rented machines. Don’t fall for that illusion. You are a man. Stand up and carve out your life.
'Imagine you're at a concert, and you stand up to see better. Now imagine if everybody stands up.'I already did imagine that which is why I didn't purchase a $100 concert ticket, and I instead purchased the album and stayed home.
-MusicIsYou
Here are some ideas on how to obtain advantage…
Be Positive and Kind
The world is full or grouchy old stogies like myself, and young bucks that haven’t a clue. Don’t be like us. The secret of success in this world is an open heart and a willingness to learn. Be kind, and everything will work out.
Turn off the news. It’s full of bullshit.
Tone down the social media. Most people on it, you wouldn’t want to share a pizza with, so why waste your time chatting with them? Shut off your negative friends. Life is too short.
Put only good stuff in your body. That is the stuff that you like, and to hell with everyone else. Don’t listen to anyone else. Follow your heart.
Life can be unfair. Everyone will tell you that you are wrong. Everyone will tell you what a fool you are and how hopeless your dream is. Do not believe them.
That means good food, good water, good thoughts and surround yourself with the good in his world.
For the longest time, especially when I was down and the world seemed to be against me, I would listen to motivational tapes. Listen to Les Brown. Keep your outlook positive. Follow your dream. Do not get sidetracked. Follow it.
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.”
― Les Brown
Follow you dream. Do not allow anyone to tell you that you cannot have it.
My background was from my time. This is YOUR time, and you are a direct result of it. It is neither right nor wrong. It is just simply what it is.
As such, you need to make the most of it.
There is one important step that you need to take to claim this as yours; be kind.
Be a Man
Be like Bronco Billy. Live your dream. You don’t have to be a poor shoe salesman in New York city. You can recreate your life into something that appeals to you. Don’t be afraid. Follow your dream.
In a cutthroat world, it is refreshing to meet a man who keeps his word, looks another in the eye, shakes your hand solidly and says what he means. You can choose to be the man that you want to be, or you can be the image of what others want you to be. It’s your choice.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, watch the movie “Bronco Billy”. Learn from it.
Speak with integrity.
Say only what you mean.
Never say anything negative about yourself.
Never say anything bad about anyone else.
Never be afraid of hurting someone else’s feelings. That’s their problem.
Start today. Start NOW.
We can reinvent our life. Do what Bronco Billy did. You can define your life on your terms, by doing things YOUR WAY. Don’t let others tell you who you are. You do it.
Act like an American
I like to say, “Act like an American”, but over the years this saying has turned into a insult. I blame socialist progressives rewriting the narrative. Never the less, when I suggest that you “Act like an American” I mean this…
What being an American actually means. You know the internet has rewritten what the American’s creed is. Now, it has been rewritten to be something much different. It is now a pale reflection. Go to Wikipedia and read the new “politically correct” rewritten version. Sad. I really hate how the internet is being used to rewrite history. This rewrite you can blame President Obama on. The Americans Creed (Image Source.)
If you, the reader, are unaware of the saying and what it means then I strongly suggest that you have been propagandized and manipulated by a false narrative and bogus history. Isn’t it great about the internet? You can rewrite anything when you control the history books!
Ha! What are you? (Are you) a socialist puppet parroting the common narrative or a free man living life on your terms? You choose. Be the parrot, or be who YOU are.
If you want to carve out your life, then you will need to saw off those chains that limit you.
Do not take anything personally
Which brings me up to this important point; don’t take anything personally.
Jay never took failure as an acceptable outcome. When the songs he wrote for other artists were rejected, he used them and sang them himself. Several of those songs have become instant hits with people and fans around the world.
Advice: Be the best in your field; do not give in to failure.
-Five lessons from Jay Chou
Nothing that other people do is because of you. When another person does something, they do it, based on their decisions. They make those decisions based on their knowledge, emotions and personality. If you had any role in it, it would have been a terribly tiny one.
When others blame you, know that they are just using rhetoric . It is a technique to manipulate you. It is a technique used to control you. It plays with your emotions and often results in things that are not in your favor. Do not believe them.
Stay away from people who blame you, condemn you, and make your life miserable. Real men avoid them. Be a real man. You know guys, sometimes you need to cut off an arm when bitten by a rattlesnake.
Don’t make Assumptions
For you to be successful, you will need to be able to communicate.
If you don’t know something, ask. If you want something, ask for it. If there is something that you need, communicate.
You need to have the courage to ask questions and express what you need. You need to do so clearly. Otherwise, you risk misunderstanding and drama.
Remember this; if you do not ask the answer will always be no.
If you want a job, ask for it.
If you like a girl and want to be with her, ask her out for lunch.
If you want a raise, ask for it.
If you want an extra straw for your soda, ask for it.
If you want to live in a nice house, ask about it.
Take note that some people enjoy drama, and will pretend not to understand you. It is a form of manipulation. Avoid these people. They have nothing to offer you.
Go to Church
If you read some of my other posts, you might be surprised in this. Yet it is true. We need religion and ritual. We need to connect with a higher power and a higher sense of purpose. We need God.
This isn’t an option. We as human beings need, NEED, God in our life.
Have faith. Things will change. You just need to keep on going. As the saying goes… “When you are going through Hell… keep on walking.”
You might have the entire world up against you. You might be dirt poor. You might be alone and full with negative people. You might be starving, but there is one place where you will be welcome NO MATTER WHAT. Go to church.
Go to church.
I’m not going to preach to you. I just suggest that you go to a place that will not judge you. I suggest you go to a place that will welcome you with open arms.
If I would be so bold, I would suggest an “Assembly of God”. They tend to be very open to new faces. I have attended a wonderful Baptist church in Corpus Christi, and a fantastic Methodist church in Erie.
You might need to “shop around”, but go and seek out a church for yourself. There are churches full of busybodies, and churches that are just “old”. Go to a church that has life, one that is full of people in your age group.
Maybe the church of your parents just doesn’t fit you, well do not let that limit you. Explore and try to understand. God is greater than any of us. Give yourself up and meet others who are exactly like you.
I suggest that you go to church, worship God and join the community there. You might be surprised what you will find there.
Do your Best
By doing your best, you can accept failure.
You will find out that your “best” is going to change from minute to minute. There will be days when you are super healthy and will be able to take on the world, and then there will be days when you cannot. It will be different when you are healthy as opposed when you are sick. If you know that you did everything you could at the time, then you know that your defeat was beyond your ability (at that time).
Under any and all circumstances, simply do your best.
Do your best. Keep trying. Keep on doing your best. You will make mistakes. You will face failures. You will hear from everyone else telling you that you were a fool, a dupe, a rube, and just plain stupid. It doesn’t matter. Just keep doing your best.
Don’t believe them.
The successful people NEVER tell you this. This is what unsuccessful people say. When these losers tell you that you have failed, do what I do. I recite a poem, snort quietly (with disdain), smile, and leave. Never look back. Don’t pause no matter what they say to your back. Just leave.
They usually stand there perplexed not understanding what just transpired.
The formula for individual success is well proven and documented. Do not give up. Keep to your plan. Keep working it. Avoid distractions and keep moving forward. It will be alright. It will work out fine. Things will be ok.
"We have been destroying most of the chances any young White Male has to get ahead for decades. I especially like how old men will talk about how they made it with nothing in their pocket and traveling to a new city when they were young.
I always think "Ya try that today". I am an X'r myself and I can see how much easier I had it over these kids today. Sure the bright top 1% still manage but we have placed so many blockers in front of young White Men these days it's a wonder they haven't turned on us by now."
-Beltain
Do not use any excuses for anything. Forget about race. Forget about ability. Forget about what other people are doing. Forget what your friends say. Forget it all.
Do not compare yourself to anyone or anything. Focus on one thing at a time. Focus like a laser beam, and don’t give up
The movie “Real Steel” is about many things, but here it is the story of the little underdog robot that would never give up. It just went out there, into the ring. Time and time again, it would go out and fight…fight…fight. It never gave up. Be that robot.
Even if you are on your knees, and are being pummeled left and right, keep it up. Don’t give up.
Keep fighting.
Fight until you cannot. As you lie there, blood running from between your smashed teeth, open your one swollen eye, push yourself up off the floor. And keep on fighting.
You ask her out again. She might say no, yet again.
Wait a day or two. Ask her out again.
Don’t be a stalker. Just be nice and friendly. Tell her that you like her and you just want to share a coffee or a meal and talk. Expect nothing else. Keep on trying.
Keep trying.
Never give up.
Sometimes it works. I asked a girl out every day for two weeks before she finally went out with me.
We’ve been married 51+ years.
-chaosagent
Aside from obtaining your goals and objectives, you might find that your ability to get what you desire is extremely attractive to the opposite sex.
Worked for my son-in-law. He asked my daughter out...she said no, he would wait a month or so and ask again.
She said the reason she did not want to date him is he was over confident to the point she thought he was “cocky” and she didn’t like men like that.
One day she said yes, after she dated him she realized he was not a jerk just confident.
Today they are happily married with a son.
-Tammy8
By being “out there” and trying, your efforts WILL be noticed.
You can say that others might notice, or you can say that the “spirits” will notice. Whatever. You will be noticed, and opportunity comes from hard work.
Opportunities arise from effort.
When an opportunity does come up, give it EVERYTHING you have. It will come. It will probably be unexpected, and will not be what you intended. It doesn’t matter. Treat each opportunity as exactly what it is and grab it like a starving dog with a bone. Hold on and don’t ever let go of it.
Do your best. You must. Come in early, work better faster and harder than everyone else. Don’t complain. Smile a lot. Be the best worker that you can be. Be the best; get so good at your job that you are “invaluable”. Become important in your role.
When we were kids my mom and dad ran a little business. We weren’t poor, but neither were we rich.
When I turned 14 my father informed me that I would be working there during the summer and every school holiday. He made sure to give me the worst possible jobs at the lowest possible pay.
At the time I hated him for it.
After he died I took over the company, and by then I’d learned the value of a hard won dollar and an honest days work, so I was unspeakably grateful for what he’d done.
He was a depressed, miserable, and cranky old bastard, and he was one of the best teachers a man could ever have.
-Three Economic Lessons I Learned from my Dad
Again. Do your best.
You must.
Come in early, work better faster and harder than everyone else.
Don’t complain.
Smile a lot.
Be the best worker that you can be. Be the best; get so good at your job that you are “invaluable”.
Become important in your role.
My company just hired this new 18 year old kid, a real go-getter, always getting up on your grill asking meaningful and relevant questions and actually trying to learn the trade. He's always watching to see how you do things and then wanting (if not demanding!) a crack at it himself.
That's one thing I don't mind a young kid demanding: go for it dude, I sense that you've watched me enough and can do it to a quality standard.
At the end of the day I don't even have to ask the kid to grab a broom, he just sweeps and packs up tools. He'll really work out. Says he's saving to buy a house and, you know what, he'll have it by the time he's 21 or so without all the college debt and the brainwashed mind.
-Zero Hedge comment by Mazzy
Make the person who gave you that opportunity feel good about you. Doors will open wider for you.
My dad was a great, flawed, successful failure of a man who taught me many things. He loved us but he was mean, he took care of us but he was cheap, he was fun to be around and a nightmare. He was social but had hangups, he divorced my mom but never abandoned us. He was a showman, a curmudgeon, a viper, a friend, an enemy. A complicated man who enjoyed simple things. About as easy to understand as a rubic's cube.
I miss that magnificent bastard.
-Three Lessons in Economics that I Learned from my Dad
You should have a good role model to emulate. I am not talking about fictional characters like Tony Sopranos, or Rocky Balboa. I am talking about real flesh and blood individuals who lived life on their terms. I for one, admire the “Rat Pack”. But you can decide who you would like to emulate.
You are your own boss.
Find a guide. A sure way to get lost in the woods is to explore an unknown area without a guide. In business, find a mentor to guide you through the wilderness.
What ever you do, don’t be a raunchy playboy like Justin Bieber, or some metro-sexual like Barrack Obama.
Choose someone who defines life on their own terms. Like, perhaps, that fellow who landed on the beach on D-Day wearing a kilt and carrying a broad sword. Or, maybe like this man. Here is a man who lived life to the fullest. I can only wish that someone would write up my biography with such amazing aplomb.
Chris Connors died, at age 67, after trying to box his bikini-clad hospice nurse just moments earlier. Ladies man, game slayer, and outlaw Connors told his last inappropriate joke on Friday, December 9, 2016, that which cannot be printed here.
Anyone else fighting ALS and stage 4 pancreatic cancer would have gone quietly into the night, but Connors was stark naked drinking Veuve in a house full of friends and family as Al Green played from the speakers.
The way he died is just like he lived: he wrote his own rules, he fought authority and he paved his own way. And if you said he couldn’t do it, he would make sure he could.Most people thought he was crazy for swimming in the ocean in January; for being a skinny Irish Golden Gloves boxer from Quincy, Massachusetts; for dressing up as a priest and then proceeding to get into a fight at a Jewish deli.
Many gawked at his start of a career on Wall Street without a financial background – but instead with an intelligent, impish smile, love for the spoken word, irreverent sense of humor, and stunning blue eyes that could make anyone fall in love with him.As much as people knew hanging out with him would end in a night in jail or a killer screwdriver hangover, he was the type of man that people would drive 16 hours at the drop of a dime to come see.
He lived 1000 years in the 67 calendar years we had with him because he attacked life; he grabbed it by the lapels, kissed it, and swung it back onto the dance floor.
At the age of 26 he planned to circumnavigate the world – instead, he ended up spending 40 hours on a life raft off the coast of Panama.
In 1974, he founded the Quincy Rugby Club. In his thirties, he sustained a knife wound after saving a woman from being mugged in New York City.
He didn’t slow down: at age 64, he climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest. Throughout his life, he was an accomplished hunter and birth control device tester (with some failures, notably Caitlin Connors, 33; Chris Connors, 11; and Liam Connors, 8).He was a rare combination of someone who had a love of life and a firm understanding of what was important – the simplicity of living a life with those you love.
Although he threw some of the most memorable parties during the greater half of a century, he would trade it all for a night in front of the fire with his family in Maine.
His acute awareness of the importance of a life lived with the ones you love over any material possession was only handicapped by his territorial attachment to the remote control of his Sonos music.Chris enjoyed cross dressing, a well-made fire, and mashed potatoes with lots of butter. His regrets were few, but include eating a rotisserie hot dog from an unmemorable convenience store in the summer of 1986.Of all the people he touched, both willing and unwilling, his most proud achievement in life was marrying his wife Emily Ayer Connors who supported him in all his glory during his heyday, and lovingly supported him physically during their last days together.Absolut vodka and Simply Orange companies are devastated by the loss of Connors. A “Celebration of Life” will be held during Happy Hour (4 p.m.) at York Harbor Inn on Monday, December 19.
I have often ruminated that young men need to evaluate their career
choices very carefully before picking the one they think will work best
for them.
Increasingly, it’s become apparent that going to college is not a
worthwhile option for them — unless they want to be hounded, harassed
and vilified just for the “crime” of being a man, that is. (10,000
instances of false accusations, man-hating professors and the courses
they teach have been omitted on grounds of brevity.)
Now, we’ve seen in other spheres what men do when they feel that the
game rules are loaded against them, or that participation leads not only
to inevitable failure, but even to a compromised future. The dating game
is one such activity, where men have either deliberately turned the
rules of the game against women and used them to their own benefit — or
have simply eschewed all participation in the face of assured failure
(going their own way — MGTOW) and simply created a parallel life outside
the game.
I’m suggesting an alternative to the career game.
Don’t go to college, at least until the rotten system has collapsed under the weight of its own prejudice and misogyny misandry,
and been replaced with a better deal. Ignore the vested interests of
people and institutions who preach the lie that you can only be
successful with a college degree.
If you’re super-smart and driven like Michael Dell or Bill Gates, of
course, you don’t need to be told this. But only a very few men, in any activity, are in that rare 0.00001% of super-achievers.
But for the vast remainder, there is an option: work in industries where the vast majority of women can’t or won’t participate. I’m talking about the heavy, dirty and sometimes thankless jobs (Mike Rowe-type Dirty Jobs) which not only don’t require a college degree, but where a college degree might even be a hindrance and not a qualifier.
Just last week I came across a guy who was an oil field worker. He’d
fled from Venezuela right after that thug Hugo Chávez came to power,
and in the eighteen years since had worked his way up the ladder, in
oilfields all over the world. Now, at age 45, he’d finally reached the
point where he didn’t have to work the oil rigs, just visit
them and see how things were going. Along the way he’d acquired a wife,
two preteen kids, and a $750k house in Plano where I picked him up to
take him to the airport. He’d completely lost his Hispanic accent (when
he left Venezuela he couldn’t speak a word of English) and was also
fluent in Arabic and (ahem) German. When I asked him if he had a
university degree he just laughed and said, “What for?”
What for, indeed.
Here’s the point. I know it’s going to be difficult for Millennials
and their successors to handle this, but working dirty jobs is hard.
It requires dedication, stubbornness and of course a willingness to get
one’s hands dirty, and sadly, because of the education industry’s
indoctrination of kids, this choice is often dismissed or demeaned.
It shouldn’t be. If you weigh the eventual benefits of dirty work —
where, by the way, your exposure to militant feminism is going to be
minimal to nonexistent — against a useless degree coupled with crippling
debt, this should not be a difficult decision.
Is this risky? Not as much as you’d think. Just the other day, our
local community college broke ground on a campus which apparently is
going to be dedicated almost exclusively to the “hard” careers —
automotive service and repair, construction, welding, plumbing,
electrical work, manufacturing and so on — but I’m not going to suggest
you look to such an institution for your education / training; what’s
important is simply to realize that for such an event to have taken
place, there must be a crippling shortage of young men willing to get
into those fields, and this is the Establishment’s attempt to address
it. (It’s complete bollocks, of course — you’d do better by getting an
apprenticeship at a real place of work.)
So, in the paraphrased words of Ayn Rand, go “Galt” and make your own
way in the world. You may not succeed, of course, but remember that
failure is equally (or, in these times, more) likely with a freshly-printed college diploma clutched in your hand.
Become a watchmaker, if you’re mechanically inclined. Work in
construction, if you’re strong in body. Get an apprenticeship in a
trade, preferably an ugly, dirty and tough one where just by virtue of
being a man you face no competition from women. I guarantee you,
there’s a tough job out there for any man if he’s prepared to go for
it. And if your first one (or several) choices don’t work out, find another one that does.
Let women take over non-jobs like human resources, clerical jobs at
the DMV, cubicle management, bank tellers or benefits administration at
Global MegaCorp Inc., and laugh as the life force is drained from them.
Here’s the challenge: be a man.
Not today’s version of “male” figures who argue over craft beers and fashion accessories. I’m talking about real men, who do things for themselves, push aside barriers with confidence and, eventually, end up with women (like my friend Raul, above) who appreciate them for their qualities and for the security and families they can provide.
When I asked Raul if his wife worked, he looked at me in puzzlement and said, “What for?”
If this guy taught a class, he’d create a generation of achievers.
He would never do such a thing, of course, although he would (and does)
train other men to succeed as he has.
Now get out there and make something of your life that does not include words like “curriculum”, “term paper” and “Diversity Studies”. You’ll be a world better for it.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
OOPARTS
Here are some OOPARTS explained through my eyes while I was associated within MAJestic. In all cases the discussions are based on what I was exposed to. Most of which is considered to be fringe and “tin hat” stuff. Whatever. Enjoy.
When I was growing up, I used to watch spy shows, adventure shows, and War movies. In each of which the hero would be asked to join a special organization, or obtain special “secret” clearance so that they could be briefed on their tasks and projects. When I got older and was actually offered a role in one such program, I was surprised at how different it was from the Hollywood narrative that I had so expected.
Hollywood is NOT reality.
Here, I would like to take a moment to discuss how Top Secret programs are actually implemented in the United States. Now, of course, all that I can state is all that I know, and do so relative to my very narrow understanding of it. As such the reader can do with it as they will. Most of what I relate can be found elsewhere, by I am sure, better people than myself. When I was exposed to all this, all I was told was what I needed to know to perform my role, and nothing else.
I entered the program blindly on promises, and gave up my role as a Naval Aviator in the process.
As such, I maintained this new role for over thirty years, and was then retired. I learned a lot during my stint, even though it was narrowly defined. Here is my attempt to disseminate the information that I learned, provided that I do not jeopardize any secrets in the process. It is important, I believe. For, to best understand what we humans are, where we are going, and our place in the universe, you will need to know a little about my role and the program that I was in. You will need to know a little bit about MAJestic.
Not the popular narrative, mind you, but the “real deal”.
That’s going to be a hard sell. Because, in the United States, everything is placed in compartments or boxes. Only a very limited group of people have access to any of the boxes, and often they can only have access to but one box only. Within each box, are other levels or compartments. Your role within the organization that you are part of will determine what compartments you can access.
This system of boxes, and internal compartments, are collectively known as “Special Access Programs”, or SAP…
When Pigs Fly
The truth is that the United States government has a very sophisticated system in place regarding secrecy. No longer are secrets simply handled by oaths, and promises.
(SAP programs are) “so sensitive that they are exempt from standard reporting requirements to the Congress”.-A 1997 US Senate report
No longer are they classified only as “confidential” and “top secret”. (For those are just general classification groupings.) Instead, they are classified as “access to information” routes. People only know the absolute minimum of what they need to know, and no more.
To repeat; no one person knows everything about anything. We are all just ants working on our little tiny role in the construction of the anthill.
For our purposes, let’s construct a fictitious secret program. Let’s call this program the “Flying Pig Program”.
For instance, imagine that you are in a top secret program. In this program, you would be part of a team designing a system so that pigs can fly. Now, you don’t know why you are doing it. At best, you might be told that it is for “National Security” concerns. Nor do you know who authorized the program. Though, you might be told that “it was authorized from within the highest levels of the government”. You would not know any of the background information’s of who, what, why or where.
Naming the Program
Instead of giving this program a name like “Operation Pig Flight”, you would give it a much different name. You would call it project N5638U11.
Ah, good old program N5638U11. It just rolls of your tongue. Doesn’t it?
Now, since this is a very important program, and it regards issues of the upmost interest to the national security (or at least that is how it has been explained to us), members wouldn’t work together or collaborate either. People collaborate on all kinds of things as needed. But not in absolutely-secret programs. For, after all, it is a REAL secret program. (Ah… there are secrets and then there are SECRETS.)
There’s not a secret place where meetings are held. Nope. Sorry. Nor are there coffee mugs with cool logos and mission patches either. You won’t have a mission patch of a pig flying with fire out of its ass and an inscription in Latin saying something like “flying pigs to the stars”. (ad astra volantem porcos.) It just won’t happen.
Need to Know
You, as a very important member of this team, would only know just what you needed to know and no more.
Now, let us suppose that you would be involved in ignition thermodynamics. In your role, you would be in charge of the ignition system of pig farts. The idea being that once ignited, that the pig would have the necessary propellant force to fly about in the sky. As such, that is all that you would know. It is the only thing that you would know as well. You would have no idea about navigation, landing, sustained flight, or anything else. All you would know was how to ignite farts.
Your role would be carefully specified and narrowly defined.
That way, if some nefarious mad scientist wanted to capture you and extract all of the valuable pig information that you had, they would have a hard time. As such, they could only get (at most) the limited amount that you know and nothing else. That way they cannot extract your information and the information from the entire team. They could only learn about the combustive properties of pig farts. They could only learn about your personal opinions on bacon, and maybe a tale or two about your opinions of notable pig personalities on television (like Arnold the pig, on “Green Acres” or “Miss Piggy“).
Cells of Three People
To keep it secret and so that they don’t go after your other team members, you would only know two others. You would work independently within a “cell” of three people. Further, where possible, you would also be isolated geographically from the others, and only contact them when it was absolutely important to do so. You might be located in Paducah, Il, and your nearest cell member might be in Kalaupapa, HI. So there wouldn’t be a company with a sign out front that says “Flying Pig Industries, Inc.”, nor would there be a webpage, a twitter account, a toll free number, or a LinkedIn profile. Real secret programs operate in parallel with other processes.
A Secret Life
You would be working in your “secret” role while you were working at “ACME Widgets”.
In that case you might be a line supervisor officially, and a “pig fart expert” secretly. Which brings up one of the most important points in this dialog, real secret agents work two roles simultaneously. They must juggle two roles at all times.
The secret role is known to no one. Not even the wife of the pig scientist. The boss at ACME Widgets wouldn’t have any idea that his star employee is also designing flying pigs. Your friends wouldn’t have a clue, and when ever you went out with them for a beer, you wouldn’t even bother to mention it.
Let me repeat this very important point. Real secret agents maintain two roles. One is their “white”, and obvious role. It is the role and work that everyone knows that they do. The other is their “black’ and secret role. No one knows this role except the two other members in their cell. No one else. Not even their family.
They live like Batman. Or, like Superman. They have a obvious life, and a secret life.
Surreptitious Communication
Because of this, and the nature of the work, communication would be surreptitious. In fact, you would use a form of secure communication. It would be encrypted, and possibly only able to broadcast and not receive. It would involve something way different from normal radio, internet or conventional communication techniques. Let other people try to hack into the internet. Let others try to peer into radio waves. You communicate using a totally different method altogether. Maybe you use smells, fruit or temperature gradients.
Your method of communications would not look anything like communication. It would be unhackable. Because no one would be aware that anyone could even be able to communicate using these other methods.
Again, boys and girls, real secrets are SECRET.
The Aggregator
There would be one person in the project that would know everything about it. This person would be the aggregator. He would compile the information, distill it into a viable program. He would direct tasks, set up milestones and organize the entire operation. Ultimately, he would create an executive summary (summarizes and makes recommendations) to HIS supervisor. The supervisor would monitor all such programs, but would not know any of the details. Only the aggregator would know all of the details of the project. Because the aggregator would be in possession of such important information, they would be kept isolated and apart from everyone else. Their role would be the most important, and because of it, they would be the most isolated.
The supervisor would at best only know the rough outline of any of the programs under his purview.
None of the agents would ever know who the supervisor was, or who the aggregator was. They would only know the three people within their team cell. They would not know the roles of the people either. They would only know that they worked on pig farts at the same time that they clock into work at “ACME Widgets”. They would report their findings through the secure communication method and work independently.
They would work in secret and live their life. They would have a black and a white life. The program would exist for a set defined period of time. It would have goals, objectives, and a sunset. Once the program is over, it would close down. But, now you have a problem. What is going to stop the agent from going about and talking about the program?
Program Shut Down
It’s easy enough to do while the agent is still working the project. He is still connected to the organization. He is constantly monitored and observed. Of course the agent will keep quiet.
How do you keep the agent quiet, once the program is shut down?
What you do is put him in a monitoring program.
That is right. You would [1] monitor him, and all his communication, where he lives and who he associates with. You would also [2] do something that would make him shunned. You don’t want him to have close friends either.
You want to keep him isolated and monitored, for after all you don’t want an evil organization to get their hands on thirty-years of information on pig farts.
Well, the monitoring of Americans is pretty much illegal. (I know, I know, with Facebook, DHS, the FCC, and the NSA. But these systems did become capable until after 2000.)
There’s only two ways to monitor the agent. You either [1] slam him in jail, and keep him there for a nice long time, or [2] you put him in a strong monitoring registry. Now, it’s going to be pretty difficult to put a person in prison unless you have a dead body lying around. You need some kind of mechanism that will make it easy to accuse an agent, arrest them, and put them in prison. Then, you will need to keep them shunned from society, and then monitor them for a long time after release.
This is not the television show “The Prisoner” where the retired agent is sent to an isolated island. You cannot do that. That is far too visible a solution, and while the retired agent is quite isolated from the general society, he is part of a community of other retired agents.
No. What you need is a system that makes the agent completely shunned by everyone. You want to make it so that every time the agent opens his mouth, he is shut down and silenced. When he says something… immediately no one even hears what he says. You must make a cartoon out of him. You must paint him as a pariah.
There is only one monitoring registry in the United States; it is the sex offender registry. So what you would do, when it is time to retire your agent after thirty years of service, you would arrest him for sex crimes and place him in a lifetime monitoring program.
The moment the retired agent opens his mouth, you just scream “SEX OFFENDER” at the top of your lungs and point at him. No one will ever pay any attention to what he has to say.
And that dear boys and girls is how a REAL SECRET program operates.
Top Secrets and REAL Secrets
Now, the reader probably doesn’t have a clue as to what I am talking about. Because we know that there are secrets that are being released in the United States daily.
Look at all the leaks in the White House. Look at WikiLeaks. Heck, we know that Hillary Clinton even made her own computer server-farm and vacuumed up every secret she could get her hands on, and successfully sold them to foreign agents for huge wads of money. The money then accumulated into a huge “slush fund” that her family drew upon to live a kingly life. Ah, she was investigated, and the investigator Comey couldn’t find a motive which made her innocent. Duh! As if pure raw greed isn’t a motive! And, the need for a motive was more important than the crime itself! My Gawd!
But I digress.
Now, let’s not get confused. This particular article isn’t about how secrets are kept in the United States. It is about how REAL secrets are kept within MAJestic. As such, you all had best pay attention as this is not how everyone thinks things work. Those “leaks” out the White House are no more than (unofficial) releases of confidential information. Those documents found by Wikileaks are “secret”, and many might even be part of a SAP. However, they are not SECRET. Real secrets are something else altogether.
When there are REAL secrets that must be kept secret, you don’t mess around. You put real strong systems in place.
Which is quite different from what everything thinks. In fact, I am quite surprised about it. Even though many people are aware of Special Access Programs, and they know that a big nation like the United States has secrets, everyone still treats things as if all you need is to take an oath and put your hand on the Bible. Well, maybe for the State Department it is that way. Maybe for certain military operations it is that way. But not for REAL secret programs, and most certainly not for MAJestic operations.
There are Secrets and there are SECRETS
There are many levels and types of access programs, and this particular post deals with the subject in some level of detail. Thus to understand my story, one must understand the system.
The reader, like all typical Americans, knows about “secret government programs”. Indeed, the three-tier standard government security clearance levels are well known: confidential, secret and top secret. There are of course, other systems, as well. While at NAS China Lake we used that basic system, as does all contractors, by a color coded system. You can tell by the color of the badges. For instance, confidential access is shown as a green badge color.
However just having a clearance at anyone of these levels does not automatically give access to any information at that level. You can have a “Top Secret” badge and still not have access anywhere. There must be a demonstrable “need to know” in order to be briefed or read in on a given project, program, facility or intelligence product. There are thousands of “Top Secret” programs. Does a person in one “top secret” program have access to another “Top Secret” program? No, of course not. Each program is identified by a specific identifier and only those assigned to that identifier can access it.
This system seems to work pretty well.
Outsiders are Always Compromised
The problem with this system is that there are people and organizations outside the program that might know of the existence of the program. (Therefore, how can they be actually and ultimately “secret”?) For instance, the person who makes the badges and puts them together, knows that a particular person has “Top Secret” clearance. This includes the clerks in Washington, D.C. who process the various piles of paperwork that the particular person signs. So, yeah. It can get difficult to keep secrets. Everyone can, in one way or the other, touch on the works of a “secret” operation.
These people generally also include the elected Congress and Senators who rotate in and out of government circles and are highly subject to compromise in various forms. In fact, I urge the reader NEVER to trust an elected official. They have already been compromised.
Which is why the MAJestic organization DOES NOT includes elected officials in the organization. (There are always rare…rare exceptions, of course.) That knowledge by those people is dangerous in that it comprises the program at its most fundamental level. Therefore this system is merely the visible side of the security system.
Example
Here is an example of a Federal Judge…
First some background. In a period of time ranging somewhere between 1975 and 1979, Peter Gersten, a lawyer representing CAUS (the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy) sued the NSA after its refusal to release requested files via FOIA (the Freedom Of Information Act). In 1980, the chief of the Policy Office for the agency, Eugene Yeates, sent a document larger than 20 pages to Gerhart Gessell, the Federal Judge who was overseeing this particular case, explaining why the files in question must remain classified. This is known as the Yeates Affidavit. But, this document was classified as well. The judge was not authorized to read the actual content of the files, but the letter itself convinced him alone.
Here is what he said.
“The public interest in disclosure is far outweighed by the sensitive nature of the materials and the obvious effect on national security their release may well entail.”-Gerhart Gessell, Federal Judge, when explaining why the government would not release any information regarding UFO’s.
Systems that Control Systems
There has to be a system that controls “outside” knowledge of the secret programs from everyone whom might discover the presence of such programs. Therefore, there is a massive secret “black” (non-visible) system as well. The existence of which is known while the details (naturally) is deeply hidden. This structure has been described (by some) as a “shadow military” existing in parallel with open or overtly classified programs. It is designed for programs considered to be too sensitive for normal classification measures.
These “black” programs are called Special Access Programs (SAPs).
SAP – Special Access Programs
These programs are protected by a security system of great complexity.
In fact, many of the SAPs are located outside of the United States government. Instead, they are located within technical industries directed and funded through special contracts. In the United States, this occurs under arrangements known as “carve-outs”. Here, such programs and funds become removed from the usual security and contract-oversight organizations. After all, how can you compromise a given secret program, if you don’t even know where the heck it is?
The way to keep them secret is to move them outside government control and reporting structures. You “carve them out” of the huge government organization.
We know, for example, that in 1997 there were at least 150 SAPs. Thus, there were at least 150 programs that NO ONE in the government knew the details of. All they knew was their alphanumerical designation and the necessity of funding them.
Levels of SAP
“The way things are supposed to work is that we’re supposed to know virtually everything about what [government officials] do: that’s why they’re called public servants.They’re supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that’s why we’re called private individuals. This dynamic - the hallmark of a healthy and free society - has been radically reversed. Now, they know everything about what we do, and are constantly building systems to know more. Meanwhile, we know less and less about what they do, as they build walls of secrecy behind which they function. That’s the imbalance that needs to come to an end. No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power are completely unknown to those to whom they are supposed to be accountable.” -Glenn Greenwald
Just being in a special access program is not enough. There are also levels of SAP, the first being a division into acknowledged and unacknowledged SAPs. All SAP’s can be classified into belonging into one type or the other. These types are “acknowledged” and “unacknowledged”.
Special Access Programs can be divided into acknowledged and unacknowledged.
What the point here is whether it will EVER be admitted that this program exists. An “acknowledged” program, can and might eventually be recognized as a program of importance to various people. However, an “unacknowledged” program never will be recognized as existing at all. It never; ever will be. It will forever be kept secret and the members will keep the knowledge of its existence to their graves.
As the reader can tell, there are all kinds of designations for the government to collect information. But that is not really what I am referring to. Instead, this is what I specifically refer to dig down deeper and involves much more serious issues.
A “Black Program” is slang for a SAP. (SAP).
A “Deep Black Program” is slang for an unacknowledged SAP. (U-SAP).
Any program that is more secret than a U-SAP is waived from all reporting and has no slang designation. (W(U)-SAP). It is a waived unacknowledged special access program.
An unacknowledged SAP is so sensitive that its very existence is a “core secret.” Indeed, some unacknowledged SAPs are so sensitive to the extent that they are “waived” (a technical term) from the normal management and oversight protocols. My program; the one that I was in was a “waived” unacknowledged Special Access Program. I tend to refer to this as a W(U)-SAP, but this is my own nomenclature.
It’s pretty serious stuff.
Appropriations Committees
Indeed, even members of Congress on appropriations committees (the Senate and House committees that allocate budgets) and intelligence committees are not allowed to know anything about these programs. In the case of a waived SAP, only eight (8) members of Congress (the chairs and ranking minority members of the four defense committees) are even notified that a given program has been waived (without being told anything about the nature of the program). Such a program is certainly a deep black program.
American appropriations committee going over the funding for Special Access Programs. Appropriations Committee.(Image Source.)
The number of people with access to multiple SAPs is deliberately very limited. Most members of a SAP are involved in ONE and ONLY ONE Special Access Program (SAP). Such as myself, I was only involved in one W(U)-SAP.
This assures that no one knows what is going on in another program.
Black programs are often covered by white (normal classification system) or unclassified programs. For instance, the U2 spy-plane was covered by a weather-research aircraft program. The Roswell crash was also covered by a Weather balloon. (Such was the mindset in the 1960’s.) Such covering allows technology to be relatively openly developed until such time as it is ready for application to a black program. The overt cover program is then usually cancelled, having accomplished its purpose.
The X-30 NASP
Indeed, this happened to the X-30 National Aerospace-plane project (NASP) in 1994. To the media and the public, it appeared to be an unrealistically ambitious program that was eventually cancelled, but was in reality a cover project. The media had a “field day” making fun of Ronald Reagan’s (R) “Orient Express” as he politically named the program. They praised Bill Clinton (D) for killing the program. When the real truth was hidden from the American people; the program was a stellar success.
That narrative and dialog was promoted by the military DARPA and their spokesmen, with the objective being to have the United States media parrot what they wanted everyone to think. The truth was that the program was a success, and showed far more promise than they expected. What we know now, decades later, is that this project went “deep black”. Indeed, this is a project for what is almost certainly a black-world hypersonic aircraft.
The X-30 NASP National Aerospace Plane was a successful program that existed the “white” world and went “black” for geopolitical advantage. X-30 NASP. (Image Source.)
Very Secret SAP – Unacknowledged
So far, we have discussed some black programs. These are normal, “everyday”, and typical SAP’s; diplomatic relationships, secret funding methods, gun running, and other “everyday” enterprises of the State Department. In addition there are the more secretive aspects of technology; a cutting edge spy plane, the recovery of an extraterrestrial spaceship, and a LEO ferry vehicle. These are things we can understand. While there are hoards of deniers, and skeptics, these things are all understandable. They are vehicles, machines, and technologies that are plausible. Even if you refuse to accept the idea of them.
Now, let’s put that all aside for a minute. Let’s get to REAL secrets.
Here is a world that is very far beyond what “normal” people consider reality. It is a world where there are extraterrestrials, science, technology, and abilities far in advance of what is considered to be normal. Oh, there a science fiction movies about this kind of reality. Time travel, dimensional doors, and mind control are all popular themes. But they could never actually exist… right?
It’s all just science fiction. Right?
Right?
Passive Measures
It is important that secrets be kept secret.
Someone read in on an unacknowledged SAP would be required to deny even its existence, i.e. even a “no comment” would be a serious breach of security. It can also happen that someone, such as a general or admiral (ostensibly responsible for certain types of programs or areas of technology) would be kept ignorant of the program. Indeed, they would not even be briefed on the existence of a program. Even if it was within his jurisdiction.
The towering wall of denial in the deep black world can thus be maintained. It can be accomplished by both deception and a deliberately crafted lack of cognizance. That way, the head officials can truthfully deny the existence of any deep black project.
Active Measures
In addition to passive security, active measures can also be deemed necessary. You know, keeping all the key people ignorant only goes so far. What happens when a farmer stubs his toe on a buried extraterrestrial fuselage? What happens when an agent has a hernia operation and starts reciting code to the startled nursing staff? What happens when an agent starts to phase in and out of reality while being interviewed on television? Yikes!
These include [1] disinformation, and of course [2] probe implantation.
Discrediting Binder
One disinformation ploy is to divulge both real and fabricated information of equal apparent credibility mixed together to someone or some group. The fabricated information can then be used to discredit claims, individuals or organizations.
A discrediting binder is attached with all MAJestic members to enable and instigate a formalized, exacting plan to complete discredit anything that they say or do. Part of this discrediting protocol is retirement of W(U)-SAP agents though the Sex Offender registry. (No one ever believes a sex offender. They are shunned, and automatically discredited even before they even open their mouth to speak.)
This is a highly effective way to keep a major secret. Make it so that no one ever listens to an ex-agent. Make it so that they are shunned, isolated, and ridiculed.
Probe Implantation
When you join a deep-black program you are implanted. Everyone is implanted. There are no exceptions.
The implants control memory access among other things. These probes are put within your skull. They come in different “packages” or “kits”. The most basic is a simple system that controls your ability to recall certain memories.
Everyone who is part of MAJestic is implanted. EVERYONE.
E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E.
Of course there are other kits with other purposes and abilities. These other kits provide “keys” that enable the implanted person to access certain “dimensional doors”. There are also kits that enable a given agent to be entangled with other devices, artifices, and creatures for various purposes. There are also kits that provide one with the ability to switch world-lines.
Like I stated previously, deep back SAPs are the stuff of science fiction.
Now, boys and girls, this is also the litmus test for membership in MAJestic. If you are going to disclose anything of importance regarding actual extraterrestrials, then you will have these memory probes. They can be viewed on an MRI, and with an X-ray. If you don’t have them, you were never in the organization. It’s very cut and dry and very clear. I have them. In fact, I have three complete sets, all with very specialized purposes.
So when someone makes claims of “space marines”, and top secret MAJestic projects, test them at a hospital. Otherwise forgetaboutit.
Carve Outs
You never keep real secrets within the government. All governments are compromised. So you put them elsewhere. You keep them out of the government, and put them within private companies.
“Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.”-1968 University of Colorado report to the Air Force.
Deeply buried programs in contractor facilities are called “carve outs”.
As such, and in the case for most of MAJestic operations, you will need to have a technical background to even be able to walk into the door there. For what it is worth, you would need a university degree and membership in some military organization before you would even be considered to go near any MAJestic program. So when I see these non-technical people spouting off nonsense about MAJestic on the internet, I just end up shaking my head. The two fundamental requirements to work in MAJestic are that you must be part of the military (at some point in time) and have a technical degree.
What is truly ironic is that the Hollywood actors that pretend to be members of a W(U)-SAP are paid millions of dollars, when the actual and real members are generally not paid at all. Or if they are, the agents are paid in small amounts. Matt Damon played the role of a person in a Hollywood version of a U-SAP and made millions of dollars in doing so. However, I was the “real deal” and the most I made while in training was $9/hour. WTF?
Ah, just keeping it real you know.
The reader should realize that the MAJestic umbrella consists of W(U)-SAP “carve outs” that operate as IRAD entities. These entities are outside the government, but operate under their protection elements. They operate in the Military-Industrial theater, and are managed by former military with technical backgrounds.
Selection for inclusion in MAJestic is under the purview of a non-human species. MAJ membership must first obtain permission prior to implantation.
“I find it hard to imagine something as explosive as recovered alien technology remaining under wraps for decades. So while I have no reason to believe there is any recovered alien technology, I will say this: If it were me, and I were trying to bury it deep, I’d take it outside government oversight entirely and place it in a compartment as a new entity within an existing defense company and manage it as what we call an “IRAD” or “Independent Research and Development Activity.”-Christopher Mellon
Duration
Political leaders come and go, pandering to the masses for votes. As such, all of us have varying degrees of respect and trust for them. Deep black programs are quite independent of any given administration. What this means is it would certainly be unrealistic to assume that a given president has been briefed on every SAP.
A president does not automatically have a need to know.
“Read the books, read the lore, start to understand what has really been going on, because there is no doubt that we are being visited. . . . The universe that we live in is much more wondrous, exciting, complex and far reaching than we were ever able to know up to this point in time. . . . [Mankind has long wondered if we’re] alone in the universe. [But] only in our period do we really have evidence. No, we’re not alone.” – Dr. Edgar Mitchell, ScD., NASA astronaut (6th man to walk on the moon)
I do not know of any fundamentally limiting factors in the potential longevity of a program. The extreme compartmentalization and limited oversight would tend to keep a program in existence, perhaps indefinitely. Most programs that I know of seem to indicate a total lack of [1] program management audits, [2] performance measurables tied to longevity, and [3] sunset procedures.
Most importantly, Freedom of Information Act requests cannot penetrate unacknowledged special access programs. So, to the reader, all I can say is “good luck” in trying to get an FOA to penetrate MAJestic secrecy.
Would the President be Briefed on a W(U)-SAP?
If the reader expects that “someday” a United States President will tell the truth of MAJestic and the knowledge of extraterrestrial life, they are seriously in error. It will never happen. The presence of the organization, it’s missions, it’s purpose and it’s activities will NEVER be disclosed. EVER.
NEVER. N-E-V-E-R.
Elected officials, with some notable exceptions, are never privy to this information. They are, and properly so, considered to be compromised. The best bet or likelihood of a disclosure would be from a Presidential candidate who has strong military and aerospace connections. Typically, that would imply a Republican elected official. That is the truth and the facts, no matter how disgusting the concept might be to the reader.
Hillary Clinton (D)
On January 6, 2016, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) announced she would “get to the bottom” of the mystery behind UFO’s. CNN reported this as a humorous joke, but others took it seriously.
Well, I personally wish her the best, but the truth is that she is exactly the kind of person who is banned from knowing anything about MAJestic. The reason is quite simple, her political philosophy is in direct opposition to the interests of the industrial leadership that is part of MAJestic. Further, she is not secure. She has a wide ranging web of political and financial ties in which she is indebted to. She is thus easily compromised. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, her sentience does not fit the sentience requirements for MAJestic. I say this knowing just how apparently well-connected she is. She does not have, nor will ever have, the qualifications to be privy to many of the secrets of MAJestic.
Those in MAJestic consider her (as well as most Republican political players as well) as a serious threat to the security of the organization.
In MAJestic we all view our tasks at a level far above that of the petty squabbles between nations. Sure, we are often personally affected by the decisions and laws of the nations, but our role and purpose is of a much higher order. A Presidential candidate such as Hillary Clinton would turn the great and grand effort into something far less; a temporary media circus, and eventually disassembly into components that could be sold off to the highest bidder for short-term political gain. No. People and individuals such as herself are forever banned from the fountain of knowledge that is MAJestic.
She can promise the world to her loyal followers, but her ability to deliver substantive results is minuscule.
“This thing has gotten so highly-classified…it is just impossible to get anything on it. I have no idea who controls the flow of need-to-know because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I’ve never tried to make it to be my business since. I have been interested in this subject for a long time and I do know that whatever the Air Force has on the subject is going to remain highly classified.” – Senator Barry Goldwater, Chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, discussing his attempts to find out exactly what the US government knows about UFO’s.
Jimmy Carter (D)
In 1976 presidential candidate Jimmie Carter promised the American people that he would open any government UFO files that might exist. The reader might also recall that while governor of Georgia, Carter had a UFO sighting and actually filed a report. Then, after winning election to President, Carter met with CIA Director George H. W. Bush seeking a briefing on the topic. There was no question that the new President wanted answers and the full extent of the United States involvement with extraterrestrials and/or “UFO’s.
Could you blame him?
I am sure that the wanted to find out what those things were that were flying about. Perhaps he might even has suspected that there might have been a recovery of one or two craft. Of course, that is so laughable. MAJestic has been working with the caretakers of this planet for many decades.
However, as the reader has probably guessed, Mr. Bush turned him down, claiming that neither [1] as President nor as [2] Commander-in-Chief did he have a “need to know.” Obviously this was a severe “let down” for the new President.
This seems rather harsh and blunt, because the common misconception is that the United States President is the highest authority in the land. However, that misconception is flawed and very, very wrong.
The President is the highest authority of only one of the three branches of government (the executive branch), and the highest authority of the military. Unless the program is tied to the executive branch, or the military, the President has no authority over it.
In extraterrestrial matters, our extraterrestrial partners select who has access to their programs. Not us. They specifically exclude certain individuals for specific reasons.
Elected officials who have not met the sentience requirements are routinely disbarred from participation in the programs.
Anyways, back to Jimmy Carter…
A few months passed.
Once, firmly in office, Carter turned to NASA for information. It was his hope that the Space Agency would be able to help him in ways that the others were unable or unwilling to. To this end he directed presidential science advisor Frank Press to ask NASA administrator Robert Frosch to “form a small panel of inquiry” to investigate the UFO situation. (Ugh! Yup, another one of those “Blue Ribbon Panels” to unearth secrets and investigate with solutions. Yeah, I have a personal distain for these political panels full of borderline losers who managed to climb to undeserved positions of power and authority.)
However, to the surprise of many in the UFO field, nothing at all came of this.
The story of “the great thud” was recounted by Richard C. Henry — then a young astrophysicist (now a prominent Johns Hopkins professor) working as a deputy to the director of what was the Astrophysics Division at NASA headquarters . It was on his desk this “hot potato” request landed.
When asked about this request, and what actions the “Blue Ribbon Panel” took to resolve the questions asked by the President, Richard C. Henry couldn’t say. For five months, NASA went through some amusing twists and turns, recounted by Henry, before politely declining.
The exploratory panel found out nothing. They investigated nothing. They wrote no summary’s, and provided no answers to the President at that time.
The information regarding UFO’s, extraterrestrial species, treaties with them, their technology, and the social implications of communication with them are not, and never was, part of the administrative functions of the President of the United States.
They would only become an issue with the President when it became a matter of National Security involving military personnel.
This was the case during the formation of MAJestic with Truman, and when Ronald Reagan became involved in the program. In both cases there was a concern about military intervention using military forces. Other than that, relations with the core extraterrestrial species have been cordial and did not require presidential participation.
“I recall instances when White House officials sought briefings on highly compartmented DOD programs and were flatly refused. Access to such programs is on a need to know basis. In general, nobody outside DOD, including the Secretary of State, is deemed to have a need to know. Officials like John Podesta and Secretary Clinton can easily serve for years in senior positions and be avid consumers of classified intelligence analysis but never obtain access to DOD’s compartmented programs, which mostly relate to new weapons systems. Information about such programs rarely leaks because it doesn’t circulate, unlike the constant stream of leaked information regarding classified intelligence activities.”-Christopher Mellon
The Extraterrestrial issues
Our relationship with known extraterrestrials is via their conveyance. They control the technology egress. They control our lives, and they control us. They have reasons and purposes for operating here on the earth. Their sole concern is to help the human sentience establish itself into a quantum configuration that is galactically approved.
When you lie on your resume and still get the job. In general, American elected officials do not quality for MAJestic membership. Most American Presidents are not qualified to join MAJestic. (Image Source.)
With that being stated, they control [1] how we interact with them and [2] what information is dished out to the human population in general. [3] They control MAJestic, and they control [4] the membership of MAJestic. It is important for them and the success of the program to do so.
Thus, from their point of view, it makes no difference what the person’s role or position is in the earth human society. They do not care. It does not matter if they are attractive, famous, rich, intelligent, powerful, or popularly elected. They have a completely different set of criteria by which to make a determination of who will be involve in MAJestic and what their role would be.
Here is the truth.
If a newly elected President wants to know all about extraterrestrials and their role in the world of UFO’s and society, they will first have to meet the requirements of acceptability by the governing extraterrestrial species. Their requirements are specific and unwavering. No exceptions are permitted at all. These participation requirements are;
Must have a “Service to Others” sentience. Every single person in the MAJestic organization is of the same sentience. There is no blending of sentience’s for diversification purposes. Humans in general are confilicted with three types of sentiences. The organization requires homogeneous sentience’s. This is an extraterrestrial requirement.
Must have a fairly “clean” or “pure” quantum cloud envelope. This is also an extraterrestrial requirement. More about this later on.
Must be willing to give up a part of their soul towards the good of the human species. To join you must give up a part of what you are and who you are. It is a sacrifice, but I like to think of it more like a “down payment”. This is a fundamental extraterrestrial requirement.
Must place the well being of the human race before any government or nation. Of course, this is an extraterrestrial requirement.
Must not be part of any entrenched political machine. This is because they might “owe” some favors that might compromise the good of the program. It is an extraterrestrial requirement.
Must not be famous or well-known. (Group thoughts are terribly polluting to the quantum cloud.) It is a requirement, though I am not sure if it is wholly an extraterrestrial requirement.
Examples
The reader might doubt the policies of MAJestic. They might question the reasoning behind why a given political personage would be forever barred from joining the organization. They might argue that the President absolutely must be the most secure person to hold a secret. This would simply be because of his position.
However, the arguments are completely and wholly inaccurate.
Hillary Clinton and Membership in MAJestic
Consider the 2016 Presidential Candidate; Hillary Clinton. Here is a famous “Service to self” candidate. Well known, and much beloved by her followers. Her political strengths are legendary. Her connections and experience are outstanding. Yet she would be denied membership in MAJestic, and forever barred from any MAJestic related information. Why?
Well, aside from her sentience type (all MAJestic members are of one set sentience), the mere fact that she is a politician is reason for concern. Politician’s do not keep secrets. They are unable to. The mainstream population might think and believe that everyone in the Whitehouse holds and keeps secrets, but that is not the truth; nor the reality.
As of early 2016, at least a dozen email accounts handled the “top secret” intelligence that was found on Hillary Clinton’s server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release. Officials said the accounts include not only Clinton’s but those of top aides – including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines – as well as State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy and others. Secondly sources (not authorized to speak on the record) said the number of accounts involved could be as high as 30 and reflects how the intelligence was broadly shared, replied to, and copied to individuals using the unsecured server. As of 2017, we were collectively shocked to discover that the number of “mishandled” secret documents was much, much higher than that. This sort of rampant mishandling of classified material cannot be minimized. This is actually a rather common practice, and well understood by the MAJestic leadership.
She was “cleared” by the FBI Director Comey due to political concerns. However, the aligned extraterrestrial leadership would not be so understandings were they to judge her actions.
Political personages CANNOT keep secrets unless they believe in a higher order or purpose. This is impossible for “service to self” sentience. Most, if not ALL, service to self sentience DO NOT BELIEVE in a higher purpose. This is true no matter how much they pretend to believe in a God, or in Nature, or in an improved social order. They only believe in one thing; THEMSELVES.
It is precisely because of this kind of behavior that certain classes of human sentience are forever disbarred from information access with MAJestic.
MAJestic Agents
When you first join MAJestic you are typically young and in your 20’s. You make commitments, and receive training. You are then set loose to live your own life. That might be anything from being a CPA to working as an engineer in an appliance company.
You are just let loose to build up a life.
You get married. You have children. You go from job to job as the markets expand, contracts, and society carves it’s tentacles into your life. You get promoted, and your career expands. You get fired, and you suffer losses. You have divorces, and accidents. You have children, and train them to be good citizens. You have parents that get old and pass on. Life continues for everyone. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop if you are a member of a secret organization either.
Life happens to everyone.
While all this is going on, the agent is expected to work in his role. Whatever that role might be. Situations will arise to make it easier for the agent to their role. Even though agents are left to fend for themselves, there is a sort of support arm that makes it possible for the agent to survive and maintain their dual roles. Though the support arm could certainly be improved somewhat.
For instance, the engineer working on the “Flying Pig Program” might lose his job at “ACME Widgets”, and end up being a manager at a Burger King restaurant. He might work long shifts. He might be involved in a corporate expansion program, and might be dealing with twin daughters. When he is not doing his “day” job, he is taking care of his family responsibilities at the same time that he is working as an agent. He will receive communications, process tasks, and report to his cell-mate. No one will know the difference.
He will be the master of hamburgers in the day, and the creator of flying pigs in secret.
The MAJestic W(U)-SAP
Let’s talk about MAJestic.
Overall, it is a very close-knit and secretive organization.
Members at my level of involvement were all members of three-man cells, in addition to all of us being implanted. That was just how secretive the organization was / is. No one knows the entire extent of this organization. I don’t. Nobody knows.
September 24, 1947MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSEDear Secretary Forrestal,As per our recent conversation on this matter, you are hereby authorized to proceed with all due speed and caution upon your undertaking. Hereafter this matter shall be referred to only as Operation MAJestic Twelve.It continues to by my feeling that any future considerations relative to the ultimate disposition of this matter should rest solely with the Office of the President, following appropriate discussions with yourself, Dr. Bush and the Director of Central Intelligence.-Harry Truman
Those whom wish more details can find other books on the subject elsewhere. In all cases, public knowledge is greatly retarded. No one person knows the full extent of the organization. No one person knows the full extent of the program No one does. This includes the highest levels of the organization itself.
Anyone who says that they know all about the organization is lying.
What happens when a technologically advanced culture meets a technologically inferior culture? Absorption, modification, enslavement, or genocide? It happens all the time. Which is why it is important that emerging sentience’s be protected in a planetary nursery and policed by extraterrestrial guardians. Superior culture meets a primitive culture. (Image Source.)
Interesting photo this. It looks like it is from the “Golden Age of Travel”. At that time, the world was still a big place, and many regions maintained their own culture, customs, dress, and history. The more advanced cultures and nations provided outlets for exploration and adventure using the modern contrivances of that time. During such adventures culture encounters were varied and meaningful.
The MJ-12 “MAJestic” Committee is tasked with the study and management of all extraterrestrial events and phenomenon. This is an organization that does actually exist. (To repeat; this is an actual organization that functions within the framework of the United States government.) It is not a figment of some kind of “tin foil hat” conspiracy. It is a real and actual organization. It does exist.
While I know very little about its initial formation and earlier incarnations, I do know about the manifestation of what it had evolved into while I was involved in it. This was from 1981 through to 2006. (What it is today, and how it works today, is unknown by myself at this time. I exited from the active participation in the organization in 2006, and exited from my “retirement” in 2011.)
Conspiracies do exist. In the 1920 and 30s, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and countless other major American cities had sprawling electric streetcar rail systems until General Motors, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum and Firestone bought up a controlling interest in National City Lines.Once the monopolizing companies owned the railways, they shut them down, forcing Americans to buy cars or ride GM-manufactured buses, fuelled with Standard Oil and Phillips Petroleum, and fitted with Firestone tires.This deliberate campaign to kill the electric-powered streetcars is known as the General Motors conspiracy. The full story didn’t become public knowledge until a Harvard Law began investigating the conspiracy in the seventies and took it all the way to the Senate.During the hearings, which brought forward the proposal to restructure the automobile, truck, bus, and rail industries, General Motors was described as ‘a sovereign economic state’ and affirmed that the company played a major role in the displacement of rail and bus transportation by buses and trucks.By the time the Justice Department caught wind of what was going on, National City Lines had already acquired and taken control of 46 transit network lines. In 1946, nine corporations were indicted in federal district court, accused of “conspiring to acquire control of a number of transit companies, forming a transportation monopoly” and “conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies to companies owned by National City Lines”.Five corporations, including GM and the usual suspects, were convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to local transit companies controlled by NCL; but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies.General Motors was fined $5,000.GM treasurer H.C. Grossman was fined $1.The General Motors conspiracy is also frequently dismissed however, claiming the corporations’ did nothing that wasn’t already happening to a bankrupt system which was already being dismantled across the country. An in-depth Vox article on the subject (one of the vocal mouthpieces of the oligarchy) points out that
From publicly disclosed information (that is contentious), apparently MJ-12 was first authorized in 1947 by President Truman.
This program was kept secret and entirely hidden from the public for many decades. It wasn’t until a surreptitious public disclosure (Released by request upon the death of one of the original MJ-12 members.) was made that others became aware of it. (Hotly and fiercely disparaged by NSA infiltrators and vocal statists.)
Disinformation Campaign
During my time in the program, no one knew about our organization or our involvement in it. Thus, when it’s existence was disclosed, it sent shock waves through the UFO and conspiracy-minded community. As a result, it forced an immediate debunking and disinformation campaign.
This continues to this day, with many (of the more popular and well known) conspiracy and UFO web sites and organizations touting the official government party line.
“…ongoing research indicates that many, possibly all, the so-called MJ-12 UFO documents were officially fabricated as instruments of U.S. covert psychological warfare . . .”-International Space Sciences Organization (ISSO)
DO NOT BELIEVE THEM.
What can be Told
The reader should not be deceived by the disinformation campaign. This program is real and quite active. Though what form and designation it currently has contemporaneously is unknown to me at this time. Some important considerations must be taken into account;
About nomenclature;
MAJestic falls under the MAJI (the Majority Agency for Joint Intelligence) umbrella.
I prefer to refer to this organization as “MAJestic” simply because that was the terminology used at the time of my entry into the program. I do not know what it is actually called today.
Only the top members of the organization referred to it using the MAJestic nomenclature. Everyone else in the organization referred ONLY to their specific part within the organization. Typically using slang or their alphanumerical designator when necessary. Personally, we referred to it as “the program”.
This program is often confusingly referred to as “MAJestic”, “MJ-12”, “MAJI”, “MAJIC” or as “MAJestic-12”. The various names used all refer to specific areas of procedural interest, but are often used incorrectly though inadvertent ignorance.
This program has hundreds of tiny sub-programs that all have dedicated membership.
The umbrella organization operates “programs” and “projects” that are unaware of the overall parental control.
The above should be quite understandable, no great secrets are being disclosed. I think that the reader can come up with this information on their own if they looked hard enough. It’s really all over the internet, no matter what efforts were put forth by disinformation experts. Now, to further elaborate on some of the secrecy aspects…
In most specialized sub-programs, all direct and active members operate in 3 man cells. No one person knows the full extent of the program.
Most members are not told anything other than what they immediately need to know to accomplish their tasks.
All members in this organization are part of the W(U)-SAP security classification.
It is not a political organization. Political members are typically considered to be security risks, with only the ones with the strongest religious or national values even considered to participate.
Officially, the United States government disavows all knowledge and involvement in this organization. But it does exist. This is why a W(U)-SAP has the “U”. All involvement is denied.
None of this should be a surprise. Again, all of this can be found on the internet in one form or the other. All real genuine secret programs operate this way. To continue on some of the more uncommon or UNKNOWN aspects of MAJestic secrecy…
All members in the organization, from the very top to the lowest member are implanted with probes into their brains. The minimum requirement is a Core Kit #1 set of probes. I know of NO member who was not implanted. If you fall under the MAJ umbrella, you are implanted.
Individual members typically stay within one project for their entire stint within MAJestic. There are absolutely no cross-project transfers.
Members in possession of Core Kit #2 probes have to alter their “normal human” behaviors and lifestyle as it might interfere with their operations. This behavioral “lock out” is maintained through various methods and is only released upon retirement.
Members are in the organization for life. Retirement typically involves memory lock-out and a lifetime of monitoring (such as the sex offender program).
Any risks to the security of the organization results in termination of the individual without debate. There are no exceptions.
Now, why this organization exists in the first place. This information can be derived through the internet to some extent, though most of the available information is incorrect or in error.
Here is the real deal.
MAJestic was established to work with the various extraterrestrial species that humans would encounter for [1] geopolitical concerns and to [2] acquire advanced technology. The idea was to obtain technological advantage so that global world-wide leadership could be maintained.
MAJestic has since made an agreement to assist certain extraterrestrials in the monitoring of this planet. They did this in exchange of certain technologies and geopolitical advantages.
Extraterrestrials work with MAJestic to assist in the policing and maintenance of the “human sentience nursery”.
It is tasked with the coordination of ALL things extraterrestrial around the world. This includes all relationships, treaties, interaction, science exchanges, and reengineering efforts.
Some MAJestic projects involve the [1] biological aspects of extraterrestrials, while others were involved [2] in their technologies. Some are involved in [3] projects that assist in maintenance of the human nursery.
Now, perhaps some word can be said about the projects. I know nothing about other projects, there are some things that one can (through extension) figure out.
About the projects…
The organization is quite large consisting of various “projects”. Each project has a bland alpha-numeric designator.
It is wholly a United States organization, though it does have relationships with other nations.
The senior level or executive management in MAJestic is the only level with any idea of the scope and extent of the organization.
Executive management does not know any of the details. They only know a simplistic overview. No one person knows everything about the organization. Not even the top head of the organization.
Details of the “projects” are limited to the various heads or project managers of the projects. This is an extraterrestrial requirement.
Now, to best help differentiate between the bullshit on the internet, and some real hard intel, let’s talk about membership. Let’s talk about personnel and selection…
Every person that I know of who was directly associated in the program had a technical background. To be in direct contact with extraterrestrials, one needed to possess a technical background. There are NO exceptions.
Every person that I was aware of, in the organization, had [1] a minimum of a four-year college education in the sciences, and [2] a military background of some sort.
Membership is carefully selected and culled. Most, if not ALL, members come from the military community, either directly or indirectly. All must be approved by our extraterrestrial allies. (Actually, the extraterrestrials select the candidates first, and then MAJestic recruits them.)
Membership to the organization can only come from approval AND selection from our extraterrestrial allies. At no time will a person be selected for membership without extraterrestrial approval and vetting.
All MAJesticmembers, are “service to others” sentience.
About the membership…
The organization is entirely separated into isolated groups. No one person knows the full extent of everything. NOT ONE PERSON.
The MAJestic organization has a top level steering committee within the highest levels of the American government. But they only know the basics. Their understanding about things is laughingly simplistic.
The individual projects has one person who functions as the aggregator. They know everything regarding one very specialized project.
Agents within MAJestic are very specialized and are the only ones that interact with extraterrestrials personally and directly.
Most MAJestic activities, that do not involve extraterrestrial interaction, are farmed out and placed under U-SAP program “carve outs”. They might handle artifacts, and conduct studies. They might be involved with reverse engineering efforts, but they do not interact with the extraterrestrials directly. No matter what you read on the internet to the contrary.
Retirement is handled outside of the MAJestic sphere, and is monitored by non-MAJestic personnel.
Finally, about THIS disclosure…
Disclosure of MAJestic information, without prior approval by our extraterrestrial allies, will result in the death of the person disclosing the information. (Including everything posted by myself if it is not already preapproved.). That means myself. So NOTHING herein is NOT preapproved.
I only post, and carefully vet, what I am approved to release. I say this TWO TIMES.
In no way, was I in a leadership or management position in the program.
I held a very specialized role within the program.
In a way, you could actually say that this blog is my ULTIMATE task within the organization. The MAJestic membership, and our extraterrestrial friends both see a need to release SOME basic information to the public. Provided that the information released does not compromise any ongoing efforts.
This posted article was APPROVED for posting. I made sure of it.
Most of what is published on the Internet regarding MAJestic is fabricated nonsense.
Key Points
We, as agents of the program, have always referred to this program as the “ELF program” or the more simpler version “The Program”. However, that is a misnomer.
ELF refers to the mandatory implant procedure to control thoughts and memories of agents.
“MAJestic” refers to the parent organization (old name and description) that oversees the specific program and the ELF implantation procedure. To this date, MAJestic has continued to exist in various forms and names depending on who was involved and what their role was. I am not absolutely sure of what its current incarnation is.
This organization is one huge (multiple compartment) black-budget program that answers to the highest reaches of the American Political-Scientific-Industrial cabal.
Depending on who is President at the time, they may or may not be included in MAJestic membership. Even if included, their access to the true scope of information and issues regarding MAJestic would be severely limited.
This is a huge organization.
All members of this organization, except those at the very top of the administration pyramid, are implanted. They enter the program, usually via military channels, and are implanted and instructed that they are entering a “Special Access Program”, or SAP.
Depending on their particular involvement in the program they might fall into various subsets of access and authority. Those involving direct contact with extraterrestrial technologies and individuals are generally classified as an “Unacknowledged Special Access Program” designator, or U-SAP. Those involved in much more serious and controversial projects, such as ourselves, answer only to the highest levels of administration and are given the “Waived & Unacknowledged Special Access Program” designation, or W(U)-SAP.
Conclusion
There is an organization that is embedded deep within the United States. It was initially set up by President Truman, but is no longer under Presidential authority. While it operates internally to the United States, it operates independently of it.
The organization is known as MAJestic.
All agents work as an element of a W(U)-SAP. They enter through a very careful vetting procedure. They are all implanted for memory control, and retired after thirty years of service. Agents are typically retired as sex offenders. That way they are carefully monitored and their actions are controlled.
MAJestic agents assist the maintenance of this sentience nursery that we consider to be our planet.
Take Aways
If you read the news in America today, it is full of “leaks” and stories of “hacks”. It seems odd that real serious programs never seem to be breached. Maybe that is because either [1] they don’t exist, or [2] they do exist, but their secrecy is of upmost importance.
I suggest the second answer;
There are secrets, and then there are REAL SECRETS.
Real secrets are maintained most carefully.
Agents are selected carefully, implanted, and trained for their roles.
Agents are monitored at all times through probes.
Agents are retired after thirty years.
After retirement, the probes are turned off, and agents are monitored as sex offenders.
RFH
How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and theories of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.
I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my thirty years of involvement in MAJestic. However, I am forbidden to posit my knowledge directly. I cannot tell the interested, the “secrets of the universe”. The best that I can do is share my opinions about things that interest me, and flavor it indirectly with my forbidden understandings.
To help put this in perspective, put yourself in my shoes…
Imagine that you are working at a company with a brutal NDR. Perhaps it is lead by Tony Soprano. You cannot divulge anything about what you are involved in for any reason.Now, let’s suppose that for thirty years you were involved in training unicorns to dance with bigfoot inside of crystal castles in the sky. To help with your training, the Lock Ness Monster would gather “magical beans” that you would award the unicorns when they did a particularly impressive dance move; like the cha cha or a nice rendition of the samba.Now, there is no way that you can talk about unicorns, bigfoot, or the Lock Ness Monster. But, the NDR doesn’t cover “magic beans”. So in the best interests of society, you might want to posit your thoughts about growing “magic beans” and how they might be of interest to imaginary creatures.That is the situation that I find myself in.I can talk about how the cha cha might be improved if horses danced it. I can talk about how to grow “magic beans” in chicken poop. I can talk about OTHER crystal castles in the sky. I can talk about many things about my life. But I cannot divulge anything that might compromise the project I was part of.
So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your thoughts on how Hillary Clinton had thousands of SAP documenation on a home made server, and wasn’t killed on spot when it was discovered. I would welcome your thoughts on the structure of very secret organizations, and why the USA maintains organizations without “sunset” clauses. I am “all ears”.
This is my callout, to you the reader, to assist all of us in solving these mysteries. After all, this is a far better use of the internet than for looking at Justin Bieber videos.
FAQ
Q: Does MAJestic operate fleets of patrol vessels or a military force of some type.
A: No. Not that I am aware of. My role did not involve anything that looked like that in any way.
Q: What can you tell us about your role in MAJestic?
A: I am sorry, but
[1] I cannot divulge anything that would compromise my project, nor [2] any existing projects.
I can [3] explain some things that I have been exposed to that were not part of my project.
I can [4] put together already known public knowledge in a form that presents clarity.
I can [5] introduce the reader to an overview of the true reality, provided that it does not compromise MAJestic in any way.
I can [6] summarize certain things in a distilled narrative for (pre-approved) public consumption.
Everything posted is scrutinized by my handler and edited appropriately. Let it be understood that my program is no longer active. I am retired, and my handler is a non-human entity. I only post what has been approved. You the reader can think what you may. I don’t give a shit.
Q: Is MAJestic involved in reverse engineering efforts of extraterrestrial hardware.
A: Yes and No. They have a broad degree of control over the disposition of any item of extraterrestrial origin. However, agents themselves are not involved in any type of reengineering.
That task is “farmed out” to other groups that fall within a SAP.
For instance the C.A.R.E.T. program was one such program. The engineers working there were not members of MAJestic. However, the supervisory and management staff all had to have SAP clearance.
Q: What is the overall role of MAJestic?
A: The initial tasking was as an organization to monitor, control, and utilize any information, experience, or technology that could be obtained from other extraterrestrial intelligences.
Over the years, as we have become more familiar with our role in this galaxy and the role of humankind, MAJestic has been tasked with assisting in the monitoring and growth of the human sentience in the sentience nursery that we call the earth.
Q: What was your role?
A: You know, what is conventionally understood about extraterrestrials via Hollywood, and the esteemed brilliant minds in their ivory towers are not part of the reality at all. I am reminded of the pictures of robots at the turn of the 19th century, and how people pictured the future. It was wildly incorrect.
This is what people thought computerized cars would look like at the turn of the century.
Turn of the century robot, and what people thought automated cars would look like. In a similar way, this is the image that Hollywood paints of extraterrestrials. (Image source.)
I am also reminded about a movie titled “Defending your life”. The guy is in Heaven, and he’s trying to understand how everything works there. So he asks his assigned angel to tell him what he was doing. The angel tells him, and it makes absolutely no sense to him. The reason being, of course, is that his understanding of the physical reality is completely different than is understanding of the absolute reality. The two are not the same.
Yeah. I gave up being a trained rocket scientist and a naval aviator to join MAJestic. They couldn’t tell me what my role was going to be because even the MAJestic management couldn’t understand it’s utility. The reader should ask themselves WHY a person of my background would be chosen, and for WHAT particular role would I be assigned.
Nope, it was NOT about reverse engineering of technology, I can certainly confirm that. Nor was it about being a pilot of the “Space marines” or something like that.
Sorry that is all Hollywood nonsense.
What I can say is that physicists are publically divided into the reality of MWI. While they are arguing back and forth, back and forth, seemingly endlessly, others have just moved passed the debate stage. Indeed, there are others who have the funding and resources to work with extraterrestrials in these fields of debate.
But of course, MWI is unproven. Extraterrestrials don’t exist. Man has no place in the universe outside of this planet, and the government is always looking out for our best interests.
Don’t you know…
MAJestic Related Posts – Training
These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.
MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe
These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.
Enjoy.
MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel
These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that cover this topic.
John Titor Related Posts
Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.
Now what do you suppose this Mad Scientist is up to? Image source.
As a young boy, I dreamed of being a “Mad Scientist”. At that time my imagination was fueled by Vincent Price movies, the gadgets of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, and of course the reading of “The Mad Scientist Club”. Later, as I grew older, I actually had opportunities to work in laboratories, work in top-secret facilities, and design and cobble together all kinds of curious and interesting gadgets. I think that it is a yearning of most boys to build, create and utilize inventions. Let’s take a look at this underappreciated need…
Vincent Price and His Movies
To people today, the name Vincent Price is meaningless. However, to children of the 60’s and the 70’s the name had meaning. For these were the movies that played during lazy Saturday afternoons, and during late night scare-fests. Vincent Price was more than just an actor, he was a legend. He, in some ways, defined a generation of children. He introduced us to monsters. He introduced us to the evils of man. He introduced us to ideas and concepts that were not taught to us in school. He introduced us to B-grade movies and the “Mad Scientists” the inhabited them.
“The Professor is working on something, and won’t tell anyone what it is. He’s got a secretary with the kind of attitude that makes it seem she was weaned on a pickle, and who looks a bit like a gene-spliced offspring of an elderly Betty Davis and Vivian Vance. To make this comparison more apt, her character is called “Ethel.” To make things even more spooky, the actress’ real name is “Viv!” “-SATURDAY AFTERNOON B-MOVIE CRAPFEST: “The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues” (1955)
This actor was quite a significant player in my boyhood. His movies, aside from “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and “Dr. Phibes Rises Again” were just typical horror / Science Fiction flicks. (Maybe it’s because I had crush(es) on his amazing assistants.) The movies were easy on the eyes, and fun for a ten-year-old boy to watch.
One of my favorite Vincent Price movies was the Dr. Phibes series. Here he is with one of his pretty assistants.
It wasn’t only Vincent Price who participated in those movies. There were many other actors, yet they all shared a basic similarity. The laboratories were all seemingly set in basements, often with hidden or heavily bolted doors. Behind those doors were often evil experiments. One movie might have evil Hitler Nazi’s being woke up from cryogenic sleep, while another might have brain transplants. Some were involved in the reanimation of the dead, while others involved the creation of strange huge machines that would revolutionize or destroy the world.
Indeed, the role of Nazi’s in these movies was quite significant. For instance, you have King of the Zombies where zombies are used to conduct Nazi operations against the United States. There is The Frozen Dead where a scientist reanimates frozen heads of Nazi war criminals to revive Third Reich. There is They Saved Hitler’s Brain where Nazis in South America kidnap scientist to maintain living head of Adolf Hitler in order to revive the Third Reich. In Shock Waves we have an Island-shipwrecked party who encounters former SS commander leading zombie storm troopers. Yikes!
This theme continued with The Boys from Brazil where a Nazi hunter discovers doctor’s plot to revive Third Reich by cloning Hitler in Paraguayan jungle. Death Ship where a Nazi prison ship sails the seas since end of war luring unsuspecting victims aboard. Not willing to give up on this theme, we also have such movies as The Keep. Where the German Army and “Einsatzkommandos” occupy Romanian citadel with demonic forces.
There were two Dr. Phibes movies. Each one used a different assistant. I was in love with both. Yikes! Image credit to Metro Goldwyn Mayer for their promotional photo.
The underground lairs always involved some kind of nefarious laboratory. Inside there were always these big clunky switches that took your entire hand to pull down or push up to engage. In the dark corners of the lab were always these arc generators with bolts of electricity shooting through the air. (I believe it was there to keep the air nicely ionized for personal health and longevity.) There were always counters full of glass vials, beakers, and glassware filled with colorful liquids percolating away over lit Bunsen burners.
These movies were inspirational in that they led a boy, such as myself, to believe that a single lone individual with a dream can make it happen. Oh sure they were portrayed as villains. However, I am quite sure that the reason was because they just weren’t very well understood. You know, each and every one had a reason, which in their mind was just and good. All that you need to do is learn science. Study hard. Focus on your dream and apply yourself.
All you need is a dream, and to study and apply yourself to make that dream happen.
The Mad Scientist Club
The Mad Scientist Club is a series of stories (and books) written in the 1960’s which fueled the imagination and adventures of us children in the 1970’s. (The son of the author has a website. You can visit the website HERE.) These stories inspired me. They inspired my dreams and led me down the path towards technical excellence.
The cover from the first book of “The Mad Scientists Club”. This is a classic book for all young children entering their early teens.
The boys in the stories used science to create all sorts of pandemonium and mayhem in their little town. They applied themselves to using science to make devices and gadgets. They played pranks. The books showed how a boy could engineer a device from techniques that they learned in school. They made balloons, talked on ham radios, devised electronics, and they did it all on their very own.
The beauty about all this was that they never asked for help or permission. They took the initiative and did it on their own. They applied themselves.
Indeed, these stories are special. But, don’t take it from me. Read what others have to say.
“This is the best kids book ever.… In a way it saddens me when I re-read it. I don't think our kids today have as much freedom as these did (or my generation). I remember staying out until dark, riding my bike EVERYWHERE, clubhouses on vacant lots...Or maybe it's responsibility. Kids today have freedom but little responsibility. I'm getting off my soapbox now. but this is a cool book and it will make your kids fall in love with science. I imagine the Mythbusters grew up like this- or maybe their dads did!! ”-Holly commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.
I am afraid that Holly is correct. American children (and adults) don’t have as much freedom as we all used to. (It’s our fault, you know.) These books are for kids and inspires them to accomplish things through study and action. These books are not about getting a group together and finding a group consensus. It’s not about how to cautiously speak so as not to offend anyone. Nope. It is about getting things done and raising hell in the process.
It’s books like these that inspired many of us to study science and engineering. It certainly affected me. It also affected others. I am not the only one who studied about rockets and space…
“This was simply a great childhood book for any inquisitive kid who likes science, haunted houses, dinosaurs, flying machines, etc. I read this book in about seventh or eighth grade and actually a couple of times since. I believe this book helped me on my career to being a rocket scientist but it also gave me many ideas as I was growing up.Brinley managed to capture the perfect mid-west US town and the guys in the book were great caricatures of fun loving, science minded boys with a bit of good natured mischief up their sleeves. Then Brinley took this setting and boys and produced a series of wonderful stories capturing so many things that so many boys growing up find so intriguing.I bought a copy recently for a nephew and he was enraptured by it. The follow-ups while good never really reached the level of this first book but were fun in their own right. It will always hold a special memory of growing up back in the '60s.”-Robert commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.
He’s right you know. The stories certainly inspired me.
I like to think that there is inspiration in stories where you find adventure, freedom and independence. These are things that are absolutely missing in the modern realm of politically correct stories. Which, by the way, is a very important point. By following a “Politically Correct” narrative, you retard the growth of young boys. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, you turn men into pussies.
“We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody's become used to saying, "Well, how do we handle it psychologically?" In those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out. Even if the guy was older and could push you around, at least you were respected for fighting back, and you'd be left alone from then on.”-Clint Eastwood
A parent has a responsibly to PREPARE their children to venture out and grow. They need to go forth and carve a life out of the wilderness. But that is not what is happening today. Instead we have children that never leave the nest. Young men, in the United States, live at home until they are in their 30’s. Instead of investing their time in building, workings, making, and creating, they are too busy looking at cat videos on the Internet while they post their latest latté on Facebook. Boys must be taught to aspire to be Men, not to be a woman’s version of a sensitive man.
Pussies.
No amount of tattoos, unique hair or beard, or cool urban clothing style is going to make you into a Man. It comes from within. Education alone won’t do it. Money and wealth won’t do it. Polite conversation won’t do it. It comes from inside. It comes from deep down inside. It comes from a place that says “you can, and must do what you need to do”. You don’t ask for permission, or consensus. You go out and carve your life out. Alone.
By clutching on to your children like over protective mothers, the children don’t grow up. Physically they might age, but the brain and the emotions are still that of a young child. How else can you explain the SWJ mentality that demands a protective overseer? Which is what they want, you know. They demand to be coddled and taken care of by a big parental government Bernie Sanders style. Because, that is all that they know. They don’t know how to be independent. We don’t teach that anymore.
These books break us out of that mold…
“A gem. Almost unknown; but one of the most hilarious and memorable laugh-out-loud books you could ask for. It's never mentioned by anyone; it's never recommended, placed on book lists or chosen by reading-groups. This just might be because it's a series of books, which represents a 'philosophy-of-parenting’, which has fallen out of favor. That's my suspicion, anyway.I mean, just think about it. These stories are about kids who are unmonitored; who are allowed to just go off on summer afternoons and hang out on their own; and do whatever they want.... because they are trusted by their folks. Today, this is the last thing parents want to hear. No one in today's control-freak, micro-managing America wants to imagine that children can be trusted like this.Books for very young children ('Little Prince' or 'Giving Tree') are in abundance on Goodreads. They're sweet and harmless. There's also a new genre called 'YA' ('young adult'). But guess what? They're all very sanitary, careful, cautious, and timid. Antiseptic. Content-supervised and Content-controlled. They always instruct youngsters on the 'correct' thing to do, the 'sensitive' thing to do, the 'courteous' thing to do...blah blah blah.'Mad Scientists' is different. Instead of caution, the author praises problem-solving, solidarity, daring, and initiative. It's a book written for kids illustrating how NOT to follow the rules. It’s a book, which shows that rules are made to be flouted.These stories are from a time when today's endless complexities and anxieties just weren't around. It’s a book that deals with kids just... having fun. I say, there need to be a LOT MORE books like this.The gang of boys in Brinley's tales are pre-teens; somewhere between 11 and 14. This is a strange interval in a boy's matriculation, when they need to figure out a lot of things about life (and it’s also a time when adults have the least relevant advice to offer). This is the space Brinley plays in: the theme of personal responsibility.Teens NEED to create a few genuine catastrophes in order to learn the weight of 'cause' vs 'effect'. 'Intention' vs 'outcome'. 'Actions' vs 'harm'. They need to learn the ins-and-outs of friendship and loyalty and paying-one's-dues.The 'Mad Scientists Club' (this is the name carved on their clubhouse door) demonstrate these themes grandly. These young scamps are precisely in that age where you learn how to make a mess and how you clean it up afterwards. By yourself!The crazy scenarios which afflict these affable 'troublemakers' reminds us--should remind everyone-- that this process can be fun. Making mistakes and learning from them. The best way --nay, the ONLY way--to shape character.Far cry from today, huh? Yeah. Today, we don't let kids have 'secret clubs', 'hideouts', codewords, or 'mysterious friends'. We don't let them play with equipment or tools. They must not 'wreck' anything of ours. They're certainly not allowed to 'gallivant all over creation' (love that phrase).Modern parents are rule-mongers and control freaks. When our kids want to play, we take them to 'Sesame Place' and we monitor their nutrition and we deck them in flashing sneakers and put them in helmets and on leashes. We place them in soccer, swim class, softball, karate, dance, gymnastics.The result? Modern kids have no idea what real 'freedom' means. We never give it to them. They turn out to be vegetables.But Brinley's kids show the other way it can be done. This boy's club makes their own fun. They don't 'ask for permission' to do stuff--they just do it! They embrace wildness, zaniness, and unpredictability. The outcome? Well, they aren't brought up on charges from the Department of Homeland Security, for the trouble they cause. That's for sure. This is a part of small town-Americana we've let slip away.Just one example: in one of the adventures undertaken by the Mad Scientists, they build their own hot-air balloon (using scraps from a local junkyard) and they enter it in the town's annual homemade hot-air balloon race. With no adult supervision at all. Once aloft, (!!) they engaged in an air-battle with their arch-foes and fire potato-cannons and slingshots back'n'forth in mid-air. Finally, they manage to send the enemy gang's balloon into the lake! Can you stand it? I can't friggin' stand it, can you?This book reminds us that children used to be perfectly capable of taking care of themselves if we let them...if we weren't all scared out of our wits by molesters and semi-automatic weapons and drugs and porn and stalkers and computers, we'd still remember the kind of America found in this hilarious read. It's to our shame that we can't.”-Feliks commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.
Let me simply posit this; to all those men (not to intentionally exclude women, but I am a man addressing myself to other men) who have made something of their life. Maybe you are a barber, a motorcycle mechanic, a car salesman, or a cook, isn’t it true? To make it in this world, you need to stretch your neck out. You need to take risks, bend the rules a little. You need to apply yourself.
The cover to the book “The New Adventures of the Mad Scientist Club”. This is the sequel to the first book. It is also good, though personally, I really prefer the first book overall.
Those times when life got tough, did you go and get permission? Did you go and ask for consensus? Did you politely ask for others opinions, or did you just go out and do whatever it took to achieve your goals? Was it easy? Nope, I’ll wager that it was hard, or at least uncomfortable. You might have to make sacrifices. Right? Right???
Part of the need to accomplish these tasks were goals. These goals were like this golden orb that lay there, just out of reach that you needed to obtain. You would work towards those goals. You would keep those goals in mind while you fought and persevered. A goal might be a car. A goal might be the love of your life.
A man is nothing without a goal.
A goal might be something more honorable and important, like saving the world. As everyone can’t be an evil villain like George Soros. Or, a wealthy trillionaire like Bill Gates. Someone needs to wear the mask of a hero…
Speaking of heroes…
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
In the 1960’s, most Americans were worried about the “Red menace”; Communism. Yikes!
Here, in pockets around the globe, progressive socialists had gotten control of various governments and were implementing progressive social “utopias”. This included the Soviet Union, “Red” China, Northern Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, and other socialist paradises.
In these utopias, everyone lived in a progressive liberal society.
In these nations, in these societies, everyone was equal. There wasn’t any racism. Everyone knows what they can speak about and what they dare not say. Everyone wore approved clothing so not to offend anyone. Everyone conformed to society for the good of all. All they had to do was give all their possessions, body and soul to the all-powerful central government…
…and the citizens were quite miserable as a result.
Ah, but that didn’t stop them from expansion. They were out to take your (American) freedom away, don’t ya know. They sent out spies, and agents of destruction. As a result, we had to set up spy networks to counter their spy networks. We had to be ever vigilant against the evil of liberal progressive socialism. This meant a network of trained and motivated experts.
Enter “The Man from Uncle” where a special force of well-trained agents went to fight the roots of the evils that manipulated governments. Because, while we were all busy fighting the “Red Menace”, the true evils laid hidden, for they were the REAL levers of control behind the scenes.
Here, the secret agency (named U.N.C.L.E.) went to fight a very sinister agency that was set on destroying the global world order (named T.H.R.U.S.H.). In many ways it is sort of a cross between the Clinton’s financial network and the George Soros organizations.
The Man from Uncle was a television show that united the cold war foes into an organization that would fight the “Deep State”. For it was recognized then, as well as now, that the “Deep State” was the source of all the ills that befell Mankind.
Against this backdrop were groups of evil villains. For, after all, there are more powerful people than well-established individual nations.
These villains would form their own networks of confederates and together they would implement all kinds of mischievous and dangerous activities. Movies and shows about this emerging phenomenon were everywhere in the 60’s. We have secret agent James Bond fighting all kinds of evil doers like Doctor No.
Evil has no borders, and calls no nation home.
We had agent Flintsaving the world from militant feminists who were hell bent on depose the ruling American patriarchy with a feminist matriarchy. Ah, Mr. Flint. There were others, of course. We had Alec Leamas, Joe Turner and Harry Palmer.
As a boy I would watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with my father. He would sit there with his wine and cheese wedges, and I would eat my potato chips while we watched television together. For me the shows were all black and white, but that was because at the time our television was a black and white TV set.
My father liked the main character, Napoleon Solo while I preferred his Russian counterpart Illya Kuryakin which reminded me of the singing group “The Beatles” who were quite popular at the time. We would watch them operate in secret, while fighting the equally secret evil organization T.H.R.U.S.H.. Of course, they had all these secret codes, interesting devices, gadgets and inventions. As a boy, I was quite enraptured by them. I would imagine what it would be like if I too were a secret agent, using these contrivances and fighting evil to save the world.
What better thing for a young boy to aspire towards?
Prank Central
However, as exciting as it all looked, my attention was elsewhere. For I was young, and boys like being mischievous and playing tricks. It’s a boy thing I suppose. (I just don’t remember any girls doing these types of things. Though, I am quite sure that they were involved in more cerebral activities playing “head games” with other girls.) Boys like to see the physical results of their torment. They want to see girls react in horror to a toad. They want to light firecrackers outside people’s bedrooms, and set bags of dog poo on fire on people’s porches.
When I was growing up, we would find these types and kinds of advertisements inside of our comic books and magazines. They would be full of all kinds of fun things to amuse a young child.
I remember as a boy how we had somehow come across a gadget catalog that was advertised in the back of one of the comic books that we would often read. You know the kind. Pages and pages of things like magic tricks, pranks, books on Black Magic, fake (pellet shooting) fingers, trick buzzers, masks and ”pea shooters”. As a kid, we loved it and wanted everything. We must have circled over a hundred items in that catalog.
I think that it is an interest of growing children to expand and explore these tricks and devices of prankster humor. Too bad that the days of yodeling pickles are long gone. Indeed, you need to leave the ultra-sanitized United States to find some politically incorrect playthings for your child to enjoy.
…Or, do you?
Let me introduce the reader to the Archie McPhee store.
This is the kind of place that is a young boy’s wet dream. Inside the store (physical as well as the Internet version) are absolutely enormous assortments of useless pursuits. They’ve got boxing nuns and bacon scarves. They’ve got yodeling pickles and finger hands. Don’t know what a finger hand is, well then go HERE to find out. They have stuff that only a madman could think of.
“Less talk. More monkey.”
How about rotisserie chicken flavored candy canes, emergency inflatable toast (why?), rubber chickens (big and small), and propeller beanies. Ah we all wanted one of these as a kid. They have trick gum, Holy toast, and bags of busted businessmen. They carry x-ray glasses (yes, you wanted these didn’t you?) and hypno-glasses, wind-up lederhosen, and strange action figures to include horrified movie victims. They’ve got everything from plastic arks, to singing fish. It’s a childhood delight. This store brings out the little kid in all of us. It’s many things, but above all, it’s the go-to place for plastic poop.
I just can’t stop! It’s such an amazing place.
“If there’s a heaven for the deranged, Archie McPhee is probably it.”
-Josh B in Seattle
There is a store in Seattle. The rest of us are limited to visiting their (most comprehensive) website.
Do yourself a favor. Let your child buy something from this store. Give them ten dollars to spend, and wait while they go back and forth, back and forth deciding what to buy. It’s all in good fun.
Build your Own Gadgets
When the children are old enough, or for you adults that just never grew up (like me, heh heh) there are outlets for obtaining the tools and supplies to build your very own mad scientist lair. Over the years I have bought from these various outlets and cobbled up some pretty interesting gadgets. In the past I have made such things as television bicycles, remote control automobile deactivators, electronic snooping equipment detector, remote control devices for insects, and all kinds of household appliances.
If there was ever a catalog for inventors it is this. It has everything from hardware to materials (that can be bought in small quantities). To use these parts, you will need to have an idea of what you want to build. Then you go through the catalog to find parts or components that you can use. It is wonderfully, and functionally illustrated. Additionally, most of the parts have PDF drawings, and CAD drawings that you can export to your CAD system and made up on the computer. I, of course, highly recommend it.
“The best way to describe McMaster is to say that they carry everything you need to build anything. Items that you could normally only order through factory distributors, or materials that could only be ordered in large quantities, are easily available in any size and quantity, no matter how small. (No minimum order, either!) Their prices are excellent and they tend to only carry good merchandise. Amazingly, when I order stuff at 5:30 p.m., it arrives the next morning with their normal shipping. Their catalog has long been difficult to get because you had to be a reasonably sized business with a Dun and Bradstreet number and established credit to have them mail it to you. But now that they have added an online service, everyone can easily order from them with a credit card.”— Alexander Rose
As a point of curious interest, they used to have a large thick catalog in a bright yellow cover. I used to keep an old catalog, I think it was #93, in my bathroom and would spend my time looking through all the cool stuff while I was on the throne attending to my needs. As I stated previously, this is the go-to-first catalog for emerging Mad Scientists.
If you have an idea, a concept, a gizmo that you want to build; well Mc Master is your first stop. It is where I go to get the parts I need to cobble together designs and make specialized parts.
When I was a boy, I used to read the Scientific American magazine. In the 1960’s the magazine was appropriate for most people, including myself, interested in science. (Then during the 70’s and 80’s they just became another mouthpiece for the professional elite in the ivory towers in universities. The articles became too specialized and dry for casual reading.)
Anyways, back in the 1960’s the magazine had a section titled “The Amateur Scientist” which was a wonderfully illustrated section describing how a hobbyist can make their own gizmos and gadgets to explore scientific principles with. This website is sort of the modern day equivalent.
Here is a sample page from the section in Scientific American titled “The Amateur Scientist”. Just by reading the articles I believed that I too could make my own scientific experiments and inventions.
This site “Science Hobbyist”, should be your first stop if you want to begin cobbling up devices, and making interesting stuff. For starters, I would suggest this section on projects to start a project or two that you might be interested in. You can go HERE to find out some projects for practical jokes. You can go HERE for some really strange projects (after all that’s what Mad Scientists do). This should be a starting point for Tesla coils and other interests such as lasers and infrared goggles.
When I was growing up, Radio Shack was THE place to get parts and supplies for all sorts of cool stuff. In fact, when I was in High School around 1974 through 1977, it was almost the ONLY place where you could get computer parts and accessories. Indeed, around 1977 they cornered the PC market with nearly 100% market share.
Of course, poor management caused that market share to fall like a rock, and the CEO was sacked a few decades alter when the market share was under 1%. I wonder why that won’t happen to those in charge of the Federal Reserve. Oh, but I digress…
Anyways, Radio Shack has these cool little books and booklets called “The Engineers Notebook”, which is sort of a “cookbook” for playing with electronics. You can cobble all kinds of cool things together using the easy to read instructions and diagrams. Want to make a countdown times for a self-destruct button? Want to make a bug to listen on to what others are saying? Want to make a gadget to shock your friends? All here. Go for it…
The Engineer’s Notebook is a great source of information for students, kids, mad scientists, and loony troublemakers. It is well worth the few dollars it costs.
The Art of Electronics
Speaking of electronics, if you are really interested on playing around with electronics, then don’t go for a boring text book. Go for a text book that was written by an enthusiast. Read “The Art of Electronics“, and get the LAB book as it is amazing!
"Far and away the finest book on the subject of electronics ... in the last decade. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone whose research or experiments require some electronics."
Optical Engineering
"A delightful book...The circuits actually work, the schematics are all readable."
Review of Scientific Instruments
"This book is filled with a tremendous diversity of valuable information. More importantly, this book is a joy to read...It's not at all like studying--it's too much fun."
EDN (News Edition)
"This book provides a painless way to learn about electronic design. It is also a good read for those already experienced in electronics."
EDN (Magazine Edition)
"..it comes as close as any book we've seen to fulfilling the promise inherent in its title...written as though to educate the novice, but practicing engineers will encounter many useful tidbits they didn't know, hadn't thought about, or had long forgotten."
Analog Dialogue
This book was written as a joy by someone who took a real pleasure in cobbling things together. It is super easy to read, and very interesting to boot. If you have the slightest interest in electronics, you will totally relish this tome.
The Art of Electronics. Here is a stack of the various editions by a fan. Trust me, if you love cobbling things together, then you WILL become a fan.
Websites to DIY Gizmos
In the internet today, it can become pretty daunting if you do not know the correct “buzz words” or Google-approved code words to use in your searches. If you are not careful, you will be sent to websites that are nothing more than product stores offering cool geeky products, but nothing that would interest a true Mad Scientist.
Normally, I really do not like many of the websites on the internet. Basically, you have some millennial who constructed a website for profit. They googled similar terms and packaged it in some kind of “hipster” presentation of the day. It’s all packaged nonsense for a profit.
What is missing is HEART. That is to say; websites written by people who LOVE… LOOVVVVEEEEE the subjects that they are writing about. They can go on and on and on about them. Sort of like me and what I like to write about. For instance, HERE is a website that has some heart. That is different from these other websites…
The people who made up these websites don’t eat and drink and love gadgets and gizmos. It’s just a job to them. They are setting up a business model and their plan is to create an income stream off of it. Never the less, they DO have some benefit, if they can help point you in the right direction.
Go visit these two sites, and you will see what I mean…
There are many places where you can get parts for your inventions. The best place is at companies that specialize in the purchase of excess inventories at factories. You can pick up radar dishes used on military ships, the inner workings of laptops, and all kinds of stuff for a mere fraction of what it costs to make. There are stories galore about these places. One man in Canada used military surplus to open up dimensional doors. Another used the equipment to build a personal submarine. While still another blew up his garage by pressing the wrong button. You got to be careful, don’t ya know.
This should be your first stop when looking for cheap parts, and orphaned mechanisms to use in your creations. You can find things from cameras used in cell phones to robotic parts here. The only problem is that most of the parts do not come with instructions or schematics. However, a little bit of experimentation and simple observation can help determine what goes where and how. I especial like the “grab bag” of who-know-what that you buy really cheap…
Surprise box of parts from the Electronic Goldmine.
I once took a sensor board used for checking microwave leakage from appliances, it cost me a dollar, and turned it into a bugging sensor. You know, all electronics emit radiation. So, this little device was able to go over a wall or automobile and find out where electronics are. Heh heh. Another time, I took a speaker and turned it into a low frequency generator that I used to attract fleas with. (It was more sanitary than a bug bomb.)
Here is another website that offers surplus stuff. It has a different set of products and some are quite interesting indeed. You can make a pretty impressive telescope from the parts here. They mostly seem to carry things related to optics. This site is very good if you want to fry an ant’s nest.
There are other places on the Internet from which you can order amazing things. May I also suggest another very interesting store, the American Science and Surplus store. It’s most especially good for young boys and girls who have a mad scientist interest. Here are a mixture of chemistry sets, military surplus, industrial surplus, jokes and gizmos, and just plain strange stuff. You can make your own chewing gum. You can grow crystals. You can make all kinds of liquids and potions that glow. You can start on rock collecting, or get started making mechanical gizmos. Explore and have fun.
This would be where you can get toys and gear for your growing children. There are all kinds of scientific goodness here.
This website, Fair Radio, is a great source for used military electronics and equipment. It’s really not the place to purchase parts to cobble up designs. It is the go-to place to obtain things related to really big projects. I once knew someone who bought the laser rangefinder out of a tank from them. Their stuff can be quite eclectic. With all kinds of things ranging from mine detectors to weather balloons. Never the less, it is worth a look.
There are all kinds of interesting things that you can buy, as long as you know where to go.
I once lived in an apartment in Milford, Massachusetts. It was an old Victorian mansion renovated into six apartments. I really liked the place, the location and the convenience. That was, unfortunately, until a section eight family moved in and had the entire neighborhood over for all night teenage parties to six in the morning. You know, it’s one thing wanting to help out low income people, but it’s another thing entirely when your rent is very large (because you work) and your neighbor gets a much larger apartment and pays nearly nothing for it (because they don’t).
For some reason, our new neighbors decided to host teenage parties in the apartment. (I remember knocking on her door at 4:30 am asking them to turn the music down. The woman looked at me in a daze and asked “Oh, you need to work tomorrow?” It was only Monday night, for Pete’s sake!) Anyways, teenagers could come over starting at 9pm and play basketball inside the living room. (On the wooden floor, in the firggin’ living room.) They would crank up the music to level that made it impossible to think, talk on the phone and sleep. They would do drugs; typically smoke “crack” that would fill up the entire house with smoke. When the parties would get large, over thirty teenagers, the noise would be excessive, and police would come. They would break up the parties. Book the juveniles, and arrest the tenants. The peace and quiet would last one or two days, and then it would repeat. It was a nightmare.
It was really a problem, and the laws in Massachusetts could not do anything about it. My landlord couldn’t do anything either. Once they moved in they refused to pay rent, and the State protected them for six months until they could be forcefully evicted. (What a scam, huh? You get someone to take you in. No financial deposit. No first, lasts rent and security deposit. Just a paper from the welfare office. You don’t pay rent, and you can’t get evicted. It’s legislated squatting.) The youth and their instigators were protected. They were starting to break the windows in our vehicles parked outside, and were engaged in all sorts of hyperactive activities that were too rowdy for a quiet neighborhood. I could not sleep. When I would arrive at work, I would be sleep deprived, and terribly irritable. After about two months of sleepless night, I took matters in my own hands. I devised a contraption to put an end to their rock concerts.
I took a furnace igniter from Fair Radio, and placed two long wires in it. Then put the device on a five-minute timer starting at 10:30 at night. (After 10:30 it would turn on and off in five minute intervals.) The result being that I had a device that was an unshielded electric arc generator. I made a Jacob’s Ladder. (How to make one can be found HERE.) Being unshielded meant that all their loud electrics would get fried by noise. Thus when they blared their music, after five minutes a horrible howl full of static would assault their ears and blow out their speakers.
The first time it was used was amazing. It was wonderful. W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. There must have been sixty teenagers (60) next door. There couldn’t have been anywhere to stand inside. Kids were crapping and urinating outside our bedroom windows, and sitting on all of our cars and vehicles. The music was thumping. It was mostly black urban rap at jet engine noise levels…. It was still early. At 10:30pm, I plugged in the Jacob’s Ladder. Turned on the timer and let it rip.
The screeching howl must have permanently damaged the eardrums of each and every teenager. This continued for about thirty seconds. Then it stopped. They turned off the stereo. They mulled about. Talked some. Brought another keg of beer over. Then, they turned on the music again. For five minutes it played on. Then, I hit the “on” button to the gizmo. The howling screeching was horrible.
This continued for about an hour. They would wait. Turn on the stereo. Five minutes later, I would turn on the device. They would shut everything down…. Heh heh. This continued for about two hours and then they broke up and went elsewhere.
Needless to say, they eventually had to find other places to hold their youthful teenage celebrations. Sometimes, when the system fails you, and you need to do something, a creative (and unexpected) solution is always preferred.
You don’t mess around with a Mad Scientist. Who knows what creative solutions he may come up with to counter your nefarious activities.
This is a great source of supply for motors and generators and all sorts of gears and stuff. I once worked with an electrical engineer in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He used the electrical motors from here and put them in an old car without the engine. He added some batteries and made a fully electric car. It was pretty darn cool. H&R is a pretty good place for motor controllers, decent low-priced motors and the like.
If I wanted to make a two story tall robot (Japanese style), or a mechanical metal spider the size of a truck (Russian Style), I would get the parts from this store.
AllElectronics is not a surplus store. Rather it is a regular store that sells electronic parts and individual assemblies. It is quite useful for throwing together some prototypes and making things work from scratch. For instance I used the voice module in a prototype for a room air purifier I was working on. When the filter became too dirty, a voice would come on saying “Please change the filter.”
You know, we first experimented with a man’s voice (one of the techs) but it sounded too ominous. It sounded like Boris the Great was coming to eat you. Then we asked the group secretary to do it, and it sounded hilarious. This was because she had a strong Brooklyn accent.
You can find things like strobe modules, and power strip modules. All would contain instructions and hook up diagrams to help in the installation into your projects. There are also all kinds of project boxes and other kinds of hardware that are quite useful in your mad scientist creations.
Inspiration
As a boy, I was inspired by Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein. If you have teenagers, I would suggest you buy them one of both of these two Ray Bradbury books, and let them devour them. They are filled with awe, mystery and excitement. They are works of art that inspires and directs.
DREAMERS! BE ENCOURAGED. YOU ARE UNDERSTOOD.
Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket is a book about and for dreamers… and those who truly desire to understand them. A common character type in his work is the wide-eyed, yearning dreamer who reaches too high, often for a dream beyond his capacity, and who inevitably teeters on the brink of success and failure.
It’s no surprise that Bradbury produced so many pieces that gave voice to themes of blue skies since he himself was a dreamer, a voracious reader and enthusiastic writer from an early age, a man who thrilled himself (and his fortunate readers) on the wild imaginings of his literary soul.
In R is for Rocket, the story “The Rocket” is an excellent example of the author’s heartfelt kindness and sympathy for — and identification with — the hopes and heartaches of a dreamer, in this case one Fiorello Bodoni, a middle-aged, married-with-many-children man obsessed with dreams of rocket travel and space exploration in the face of those who are quick to discourage him.
Excerpts from the story:
“I will ride up in one someday,” said Bodoni.
“Fool!” cried Bramante. “You’ll never go. This is a rich man’s world.” … “No! We live in shacks like our ancestors before us.”
“Perhaps my sons—” said Bodoni.
“No, nor their sons!” the old man shouted. “It’s the rich who have dreams and rockets!” … “No, Bodoni, buy a new wrecking machine, which you need, and pull your dreams apart with it, and smash them to pieces.”
The old man subsided, gazing at the river in which, drowned, images of rockets burned down the sky.
“Good night,” said Bodoni.
“Sleep well,” said the other.
I have read and loved Ray Bradbury’s stories for over forty years because his prose is beautifully delivered and because, as a dreamer myself — who often reaches too high for his own good — I identify deeply with his wonderfully tragic heroes. There were many times that his captivating tales allowed me to escape from grim childhood days and nights, and for that I say to him, now in the Great Beyond for Great Writers: “Thank you!”
This review was written by Kevin Polman, author of THE EXTRA KEY and STORIES.
What you can do…
If you have children, I would strongly advise you let them play.
This does not mean sit them down in a structured environment and teach them how to do some kind of organized activity. I mean set them down with a broken radio, give them a pair of wire cutters and let them go to town. Let them go explore an old abandoned building. Take them to a state park and walk and explore there. Let them know about the Indians who used to live there. Walk them to a junk yard, and let them spend all day at it. Go to a local stream under a bridge, while you take a nap, let the kids play.
Spend time with them. Let them know that it is just fine to go about and throw things together. Give them the resources and then stand back. Give them some room. Let them figure it out on their own. Let them be children without supervision.
Take Aways
Boys like to build things.
Boys like to watch the reactions of others when they do something.
Funneling these interests into fun and innocent activities can be rewarding.
In the past, boys were free to build and experiment.
There are avenues to keep this interest alive if you know where to look.
A thinking person can use their scientific skills to provide answers to pesky problems.
RFH
How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and theories of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.
I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my life.
So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your stories about the shows and movies that you watched growing up and how they influenced you. I would welcome tales about how you did “experiments” with your chemistry kit, or made electrical devices to pull practical jokes with. I would love to hear about your various adventures.
This is my callout, to you the reader, to assist all of us in solving these mysteries. After all, this is a far better use of the internet than for looking at Justin Bieber videos.
FAQ
Q: Who was Vincent Price? A: He was an iconic actor who made many famous horror movies in the 1960’s and 70’s. He greatly influenced culture at the time as his movies were typically B-grade horror flicks, and thus were provided free for children to watch at home.
Q: What is the Mad Scientist Club? A: It is a series of stories written for children in their pre-teen years. It describes a normal life of a boy in the 1960’s. Today the behavior of the boys would be considered criminal, and the DHS might come and arrest the parents.
Q: What is the Man from Uncle? A: This was a spy vs. spy television show that was popular during the 1960’s. It was full of spys and technology and top secrets of the day.
Q: Is it fun to be a mad scientist? A: It is worth a try. Everyone has a little bit of crazy inside of them. Tools, and a little bit of creativity can create wondrous things, and great pranks.
Q: What does this have to do with MAJestic? A: This has nothing to do with MAJestic. I am permitted to chat about anything that I am interested in. I like science, gadgets and playing around. So here you are. Perhaps reading this might enable you to get a little into my head. So that you can see that I am just a normal guy (or asshole, if you prefer).
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.