Once, when I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, my cat (a cute but smallish Maine Coon) named Phelie jumped on my bed at 4am. She took out her claw, and carefully… so very carefully… opened my eyelid. She wanted to see if I was alive.

I guess that (then, at that time) I must have slept deep.

Cats and dogs; our little buddies. Our pals. Well, they care for us. They worry about us. And if we have the opportunity, we should take care of them too.

…

Today, this article is going to be heavily laden with “reaction videos”. People listen to a song that they never heard before, and you listen to their reactions. You would be surprised how many of the younger folk (20s and so on) have never heard of the music that we all grew up with. And it’s a treat.

I suggest that you watch all of them, but if you are busy, then just watch the very first one, which is a compilation of reactions to an Opera, and the last one which is a reaction by an African woman to “Zombie”.

Enjoy today. And if you have the time, I strongly recommend watching all those videos. Most especially those with a “@” at the front.

First Reaction To Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody THE BEST BY FAR!

How would you stop people from walking across your lawn?

There was an older woman on my block growing up who disliked that a bunch of older boys kept walking on her lawn and garden. One day I watched as she called the biggest boy over. He was menacing and we all walked in fear of him. She said, “Son, I have a problem I am hoping you can help me with. I have all these kids who walk on my lawn and garden and I am trying to grow things. Do you think you could make sure no one tramples them since you are clearly such a leader in the neighborhood?”

From that day on not one person touched her grass or garden. That boy defended her turf like it was his own and with every fiber of his being.

All it took was a frail 80 year old woman with some wise rhetoric.

“Rebels beheaded, instigators arrested”? And this is not Prigozhin

From HERE

An audio recording appeared in one of the telegram channels of the Wagner group. Someone describes the situation with Prigozhin’s rebellion, prefaced his speech with the following words: “I ask you to put this on your information resources.” This person introduced himself as an officer of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet “from the Kherson direction.” He says that a unique KGB-style special operation was carried out – “lightning fast and deadly for the enemy.” And explains what it is.

The entry with the “officer’s” story, of course, may be stuffing and intrigues of enemies. And the fact that it was posted on the resources of PMC “Wagner” is not a guarantee of authenticity. First there was a recording, then its textual transcript. This “military” says that allegedly a group of rebels from the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and the National Guard were going to remove Putin, but they did not succeed:

They are beheaded and destroyed. All the instigators, organizers, performers were handed over to the authorities that should deal with this. And they are already doing it hard.

He explains the role Wagner played in this:

Vladimir Vladimirovich turned to his loyal soldiers and his most trusted person, Prigozhin Evgeny Viktorovich. Special thanks to him for saving the country and people from the coup. He is a true patriot and deserves a second Hero star.

Next, the listeners are explained why the PMC units occupied Rostov-on-Don in the first place:

Because the headquarters of the Southern Military District is located there. The instigators-generals were sitting there. Some managed to escape to Moscow. In a panic, they gave orders to attack the Wagner columns with aircraft. But it did not bring results.

The narrator drew attention to the fact that the buildings of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were not occupied by the “Wagnerites”, but only cordoned off – because there was no need for this.

The generals who fled to Moscow could not believe that an uprising had been raised against them. They were really scared, because they don’t have combat-ready troops, everyone is involved at the front. They ran to the president: what to do?

Who is with the president?

Then there was Putin’s appeal to the people, in which he spoke about some rebels, but did not name “Wagner” and did not mention the name of Prigozhin. It was about the rebels, “who will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.” And the narrator emphasized in this regard that it was “precisely about the group of generals of the Ministry of Defense.”

Vladimir Vladimirovich is waiting after the appeal. The Federation Council speaks out for the fact that they are devoted to the Supreme Commander. Mayors, governors – too. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko calls Prigozhin: “Zhenya, hang up.” Wagner divisions are leaving for their permanent locations.

Here a hint is made that we did not hear such assurances from some leaders of the army, and by this they betrayed themselves:

That says a lot… That’s what “Wagner” did. The most unique operation. The rebels are completely beheaded. The grouping has been destroyed. According to some information, the leaders have been arrested. I don’t know for sure, but we’ll know tomorrow.

Quick “palace coup”

The narrator also answers the question: “What would we expect if this operation did not take place?”

“Wagner” was going to be disbanded the other day, depriving the president of such a power lever, because everyone is at the front. There would be regular regroupings like Kharkov, Kyiv. Only already in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Something would have happened in Crimea. Then the people would get excited. Here the generals would make a quick palace coup, taking their place (Putin. – Approx. ed.).

Also, according to the author of the entry, as a result of the coup, Russia would pay indemnities to everyone and “would go to hell”, and the new rulers would rule “this decaying and dying” country.

And, of course, our president, as always, was on top. Grandmaster!

Will the Tula governor go for a promotion?

Wagner also reports in its TG channels that the Prosecutor General’s Office allegedly found procedural inconsistencies in the FSB’s decision to initiate a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, and it was closed (later, a message appeared in Telegram channels, without any reference to specific sources, that Yevgeny Prigozhin remains under investigation in connection with the rebellion):

Prigozhin, Lukashenka and Dyumin will meet in Moscow. You will learn about the results, detentions with resignations from the media.

Also, according to the “Wagner” channel, soon the governor of the Tula region, Alexei Dyumin, will begin work at the headquarters of the Southern Federal District of the Moscow Region, where he will be presented in a new position. And he will bring to the final the goals and objectives of the special operation:

Surovikin will be the chief of staff, some of the PMC fighters will enter a separate structural unit of the Russian Defense Ministry. Only Alekseev and Yevkurov will retain their positions. Prigozhin will be engaged in a new large project on the territory of Belarus.

The public also “promises” that a part of defense enterprises and strategic projects will be withdrawn from the structure of Rostec . Some of the design work and enterprises will be taken away from Roskosmos to strengthen the satellite and aerospace group of forces. And they will appoint a new minister of industry.

As for all PMCs, the Ministry of Defense signs a contract with them, and they cease to be structures of state corporations. And the Wagner structure will receive a unique legal status, which “will allow it to be a subject in a dialogue not only with the authorities in Russia, but also with the governments of other states.”

These are the plans voiced by the anonymous speakers of the Wagner Group. How true they are, time will tell. If this is the case, then we will see the results very soon.

The word “throw” immediately comes to mind.

The political observer of Tsargrad Andrey Perla expressed the following opinion about the conspiracy theory voiced in this material:

I think that such texts do not improve the situation, first of all, for Wagner himself. Because these texts are an attempt to prove that although you retreated in front of everyone, in fact you achieved everything and won everything. There is a public in the world that can believe this, but this public is always in the minority. And can never influence the decision makers.

The second point that Andrei Perla drew attention to is that these words were not spoken on behalf of the PMC, but were expressed by an anonymous person who calls himself a marine, but does not disclose not only his name and rank, but even his call sign. This, of course, does not inspire confidence in him , but adds doubts about the authenticity of the text. And the word “throw-in” immediately comes to mind.

In any case, very soon we will understand how great the consequences of the “mutiny”. I think they are quite large. But the content of these texts has nothing or almost nothing in common with everything that happened.

– considers the observer of Tsargrad.

@ Black Reactors First Time Listening To Luciano Pavarotti Singing Nessun Dorma Pt 2

I was once driving my car from Indiana to visit my family in Pennsylvania. On the way, we had our three (x3) cats riding with us, when we hit this massive traffic jam near the “Liberty Tubes” outside of Pittsburgh.

It was hot. Miserable, and traffic was slow. All four lanes were at a standstill.

We were listening to public radio, and they put on an Opera. And as we sat there, I watched the hair stand on end on all my cats simultaneously. They all arched their backs and their ears perked up, and they stood frozen for the climax of the music.

Then one by one, they got down and came up to me and kissed me on the face.

Music. Universal.

‘Give War a Chance’ – A ‘War That Even Pacifists Can Get Behind’

Alastair Crooke

June 5, 2023

The West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order, Alastair Crooke writes.

More than a year into Russia’s Special Operation, the initial burst of European excitement at western push-back on Russia has dissipated. The mood instead has turned to “existential dread, a nagging suspicion that [western] civilisation may destroy itself”, Professor Helen Thompson writes.

For an instant, a euphoria had coalesced around the putative projection of the EU as a world power; as a key actor, about to compete on a world scale. Initially, events seemed to play to Europe’s conviction of its market powers: Europe was going to bring down a major power – Russia – by financial coup d’état alone. The EU felt ‘six feet tall’.

It seemed at the time a galvanising moment: “The war re-forged a long-dormant Manichaean framing of existential conflict between Russia and the West, assuming ontological, apocalyptic dimensions. In the spiritual fires of the war, the myth of the ‘West’ was rebaptised”, Arta Moeini suggests.

After the initial disappointment at the lack of a ‘quick kill’, the hope persisted – that if only the sanctions were given more time, and made more all-embracing, then Russia surely would ultimately collapse. That hope has turned to dust. And the reality of what Europe has done to itself has begun to dawn – hence Professor Thomson’s dire warning:

“Those who assume that the political world can be reconstructed by the efforts of human Will, have never before had to bet so heavily on technology over [fossil] energy – as the driver of our material advancement”.

For the Euro-Atlanticists however, what Ukraine seemed to offer – finally – was validation for their yearning to centralise power in the EU, sufficiently, to merit a place at the ‘top table’ with the U.S., as partners in playing the Great Game.

Ukraine, for better or worse, underlined Europe’s profound military dependence on Washington – and on NATO.

More particularly, the Ukraine conflict seemed to open the prospect for consolidating the strange metamorphosis of NATO from military alliance to an enlightened, Progressive, peace alliance! As Timothy Garton Ash effused in the Guardian in 2002, “NATO has become a European peace movement” where one could watch “John Lennon meet George Bush”.

The Ukraine war is portrayed, in this vein, as the “war­ that even former pacifists can get behind. All its proponents seemed to be singing is “Give War a Chance””.

Lily Lynch, a Belgrade-based writer, argues that,

“…especially in the past 12 months, telegenic female leaders such as the Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, have increasingly served as the spokespersons of enlightened militarism in Europe … ”

“No political party in Europe better exemplifies the shift from militant pacifism to ardent pro-war Atlanticism than the German Greens. Most of the original Greens had been radicals during the student protests of 1968 … But as the founding members entered middle age, fissures began to appear in the party – that would one day tear it apart”.

“Kosovo then changed everything: The 78-day NATO bombing of what remained of Yugoslavia in 1999, ostensibly to halt war crimes committed by Serbian security forces in Kosovo, would forever transform the German Greens. NATO for the Greens became an active military compact concerned with spreading and defending values such as human rights, democracy, peace, and freedom – well beyond the borders of its member states”.

A few years later, in 2002, an EU functionary (Robert Cooper) could envisage Europe as a new ‘liberal imperialism’. The ‘new’ was that Europe eschewed hard military power, in favour of weaponising both a controlled ‘narrative’ and controlled participation in its market. He advocated for ‘a new age of empire’, in which Western powers no longer would have to follow international law in their dealings with ‘old fashioned’ states; they could use military force independently of the United Nations; and could impose protectorates to replace regimes which ‘misgovern’.

The German Greens’ Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has continued with this metamorphosis, scolding countries with traditions of military neutrality, and imploring them to join NATO. She has invoked Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s line: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”. And the European Left has been utterly captivated. Major parties have abandoned military neutrality and opposition to war – and now champion NATO. It is a stunning reversal.

All this may have been music to the ears of the Euro-élites anxious for the EU to rise to Great Power status, but this soft-power European Leviathan was wholly underpinned by the unstated (but essential) assumption that NATO ‘had Europe’s back’. This naturally implied that the EU had to tie itself ever closer to NATO – and therefore to the U.S. which controls NATO.

But the flip-side to this Atlanticist aspiration – as President Emmanuel Macron noted – is its inexorable logic that Europeans simply end by becoming American vassals. Macron was trying rather, to rally Europe towards the coming ‘age of empires’,hoping to position Europe as a ‘third pole’ in a concert of empires.

The Atlanticists were duly enraged by Macron’s remarks (which nonetheless drew support of other EU states). It could even seem (to furious Atlanticists) that Macron actually was channelling General de Gaulle who had called NATO a “false pretence” designed to “disguise America’s chokehold over Europe”.

There are however, two related schisms that flowed out from this ‘re-imagined’ NATO: Firstly, it exposed the reality of internal European rivalries and divergent interests, precisely because the NATO lead in the Ukraine conflict sets the interests of the Central East European hawks wanting ‘more America, and more war on Russia’ up and against that of the original EU western axis which wants wanting strategic autonomy (i.e. less ‘America’, and a quick end to the conflict).

Secondly, it would be predominantly the western economies that would have to bankroll the costs and divert their manufacturing capacity towards military logistic chains. The economic price, non-military de-industrialisation and high inflation, potentially, could be enough to break Europe – economically.

The prospect of a pan-European cohesive identity might be both ontologically appealing – and be seen to be an ‘appropriate accessory’ to an aspiring ‘world actor’ – yet such identity becomes caricature when mosaic Europe is transformed into an abstract de-territorialised identity that reduces people to their most abstract.

Paradoxically, the Ukraine war – far from consolidating the EU ‘identity’, as first imagined – has fractured it under the stresses of the concerted effort to weaken and collapse Russia.

Secondly, as Arta Moeini, the director of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, has observed:

“The American push for NATO expansion since 1991 has enlarged the alliance by adding a host of faultline states from Central and Eastern Europe. The strategy, which began with the Clinton administration but was fully championed by the George W. Bush administration, was to create a decidedly pro-American pillar on the continent, centred on Warsaw – which would force an eastward shift in the alliance’s centre of gravity away from the traditional Franco-German axis”.

“By using NATO enlargement to weaken the old power centres in Europe that might have occasionally stood up to [Washington] such as in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Washington ensured a more compliant Europe in the short-term. The upshot, however, was the formation of a 31-member behemoth with deep asymmetries of power and low compatibility of interests” – that is much weaker and more vulnerable – than it believes itself to be”.

Here is the key: “the EU is much weaker than it believes it to be”. The outset of the conflict was defined by a cast of mind entranced by the notion of Europe as a ‘mover and shaker’ in world affairs, and mesmerised by Europe’s post-war prosperity.

EU leaders convinced themselves that this prosperity had bequeathed it the clout and the economic depth to contemplate war – and to weather its reversals – with panglossian sanguinity. It has produced rather, the converse: It has put its project in jeopardy.

In John Raply and Peter Heather’s The Imperial Life Cycle, the authors explain the cycle:

“Empires grow rich and powerful and attain supremacy through the economic exploitation of their colonial periphery. But in the process, they inadvertently spur the economic development of that same periphery, until it can roll back and ultimately displace its overlord”.

Europe’s prosperity in this post-war era, thus was not so much one of its own making, but drew benefit from the tail-end of accumulations hewn from an earlier cycle – now reversed.

“The fastest-growing economies in the world are now all in the old periphery; the worst-performing economies are disproportionately in the West. These are the economic trends that have created our present landscape of superpower conflict — most saliently between America and China”.

America may think of itself as exempt from the European colonial mould, yet fundamentally, its model is

“an updated cultural-political glue that we might call “neoliberalism, NATO and denim”, which follows in the timeless imperial mould: The great wave of decolonisation that followed WW2 was meant to end that. But the Bretton Woods system, which created a trading regime that favoured industrial over primary producers and enshrined the dollar as the global reserve currency – ensured that the net flow of financial resources continued to move from developing countries to developed ones. Even when the economies of the newly-independent states grew, those of the G7 economies and their partners grew more”.

A once-mighty empire is now challenged and feels embattled. Taken aback by the refusal of so many developing countries to join with isolating Russia, the West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order. These trends are set to continue. The danger is that economically weakened and in crisis, western countries attempt to re-appropriate western triumphalism, yet lack the economic strength and depth, so to do:

“In the Roman Empire, peripheral states developed the political and military capacity to end Roman domination by force… The Roman Empire might have survived – had it not weakened itself with wars of choice – on its ascendant Persian rival”.

The final ‘transgressive’ thought goes to Tom Luongo: “Allowing the West to keep thinking they can win – is the ultimate form of grinding out a superior opponent”.

Interesting!

What are your thoughts on the U.S. and China’s failure to restore military-to-military contacts?

There are a number of critical steps that occur before two nations engage in open warfare.

All of these steps have already been taken by China in response to American aggression and provocations.

China has taken the necessary steps. It’s all public knowledge, though you would have to perform some pretty deep sleuthing to find anything about any of it in the Western “news”.

• Publishing a Casus Belli.
• Dumping the other nation’s currency.
• Stockpiling of precious commodities.
• Military mobilization.
• Severing military lines of communication.
• Severing diplomatic lines of communication (touch and go presently)

It’s pretty “cut and dry”. Obvious to everyone.

China already has provided the “due diligence” and set up the “rules of engagement”. World War 3 will be on the Chinese timetable, following Chinese defined rules of engagement, and China will dictate the terms of Western surrender.

The United States is being run by ignorant idiots that have no clue as to what they are fucking with.

China’s time line is running HOT. And the “stop watch” is ticking.

Brace for impact.

FREAKING SHOOK!| FIRST TIME HEARING Faith No More – Epic REACTION

Why is the US blaming China for its fentanyl crisis? What’s the cause of America’s drug abuse?

In the rest of the world, fentanyl is a controlled and regulated substance and is used as medication. In the US, fentanyl has been turned into a recreational drug inspite of the obvious dangers.

There is no effective government in the US. It is that simple.

It is obviously stupid to blame China or any other country. Other countries do not run the US government.

Only US citizens can run and manage the US government.

CAMEO CANDY VIDEO REACTION

Can China survive on terms enunciated and dictated by the US and her allies?

Well, if you distill the terms presented by the United States and it’s proxy “allies” you have this…

• All Chinese must die.
• Chinese culture must be erased.
• All history books must be rewritten to avoid any mention of China.
• China to be broken up into parts.
• China to be looted until nothing is left except junk and stone.
• The surviving Chinese are to be used as slaves, servants, and sex toys.

Can China survive under these conditions?

Personally, I actually think that China can.

But it will not want to, and it will flatten the United States into a radioactive wasteland of ruin if the United States continues it’s moronic march towards “suicide by cop”.

SO CATCHY!… | FIRST TIME HEARING Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen REACTION

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

HEATHER KAISER, ANYA PARAMPIL AND MAX BLUMENTHAL

·JUNE 27, 2023

President Joe Biden travels to Kyiv, Ukraine Monday, February 20, 2023. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

During a recent discussion with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, touted her organization’s push to guarantee transparency for US taxpayer funds sent to Ukraine.

“We are involved in funding efforts at ensuring judicial integrity, which is intrinsically important to building Ukraine’s democracy and its integration plans to get into Europe,” Power declared, adding USAID’s work in Ukraine was “also really important in terms of assuring the taxpayer, the American taxpayer, that they’re resources are well spent.”

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While innocuous on the surface, Power’s comments revealed a great deception the US government is currently waging against the American public. In the roughly 16 months since Russia’s February 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the US government has approved several multi-billion dollar spending packages to sustain the Kiev military’s fight against Moscow.

Though many Americans likely believe that US dollars allocated for Ukraine are spent directly on supplies for the war effort, the lead author of this report, Heather Kaiser, conducted a thorough review of Washington’s budget for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year and discovered that is far from the case.

US taxpayers may be shocked to learn that as their families grappled with fears of Social Security’s looming insolvency, the Social Security Administration in Washington sent $4.48 million to the Kiev government in 2022 and 2023 alone. In another example of bizarre spending, USAID paid off $4.5 billion worth of Ukraine’s sovereign debt through payments made to the World Bank — all while Congress went to loggerheads over America’s ballooning national debt. (Western financial interests including BlackRock Inc. are among the largest holders of Ukrainian government bonds.)

Though it is nearly impossible to calculate the total sum of US tax dollars sent to Kiev, Kaiser was able to perform an independent audit of Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine through a careful search of open source data available on the US government’s official spending tracker.

Kaiser reviewed all the funding allocations in which Ukraine was listed as the “Place of Performance” for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Additionally, she discovered supplementary funds were sent to Kiev by listing Ukraine as the “justification” for spending, rather than the location where the money was physically sent.

Calculating the total dollar amount that the US has given to Ukraine is incredibly challenging for multitude of reasons: there is a lag in reporting expenditures; covert money given by the CIA (Title 50 Covert Action) won’t be publicly disclosed; and direct military assistance in the form of military equipment is not calculated in the same manner as raw cash. The Pentagon recently admitted to an accounting error revised up to 6.2 billion dollars. Despite this, Kaiser submitted a request to the Department of Treasury asking them to disclose the total dollar amount of US taxpayer support for Ukraine. Treasury has not responded at the time of publication.

Though Kaiser was able to search through pages of reported spending, the US government has yet to conduct an official audit of its funding for Ukraine. What’s more, there is currently no limit to how much Washington can send to Kiev.

In the absence of dedicated official scrutiny of Washington’s spending in Ukraine, The Grayzone has produced an independent audit of US tax dollar allocation in the country.

Among the many troubling contracts we discovered was a $4.25 million payment from the Pentagon to a military diving contractor that a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has described as a “fraudulent company.” The US government asserts the payment covered the company’s delivery of explosives equipment to Ukraine.

So how exactly was that money put to use? And why has Congress so far refused to implement any program to track these shady weapons deals?

Unfortunately, the “justification” for contracts like these often consists of just a brief paragraph — or worse, a single sentence. Little little information is available that documents precisely how the funds were spent down to the dollar and item.

Beneficiaries of USAID’s Ukraine aid: Polish NATO lobbyists, a private equity firm, rural Kenyans, a TV station in Toronto

USAID awarded $21.8 billion

to Ukraine throughout fiscal years 2022 and 2023, roughly 41 percent of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period. Mysteriously, a portion of USAID funding earmarked for Kiev was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia via other agencies, with the award description stating projects in Africa were “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine supplemental funds.”

USAID sent $4.5 billion to Ukraine via the World Bank to pay off Kiev’s debt and fund various social programs, including government pensions. USAID made a total of $21 billion worth of direct payments to the World Bank in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (9.1 Billion and 11.9 Billion respectively), more money than all of the funding Washington sent to the bank between fiscal years 2008 and 2021 combined. The $4.5 billion allocated for Ukraine funded programs directed by the bank’s International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

USAID supplied a $1 billion grant to the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to subsidize projects “Ukraine cannot fund at this time.”

USAID has supplied $20 million to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish think tank called the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, a Toronto-based Ukrainian TV channel, a collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, and other groups listed in the screenshot below. These awards were issued on top of $26 million worth of funds USAID sent these groups between 2016 and the February 2022 war escalation.

USAID allocated $500,000 for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advanc[ing] U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance” in Ukraine. The funds were earmarked “to strengthen the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) initiative in implementing international advocacy campaigns to keep high levels of international solidarity with Ukraine.”

USAID’s support arrived on top of a $74,788

subaward the State Department granted to the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in June 2022 to “build capacity and policy formulating capabilities of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) and assisting Ukrainian civil society based in Poland.”

According to their own so-called “Peace Manifesto,” the ICUV’s top priority is to admit Ukraine into NATO, a move that former US diplomats from George Kennan to Jack Matlock to Henry Kissinger and even current CIA director William Burns have described as a major provocation against Russia.

USAID sent $3 million to the World Health Organization

(WHO) in 2022 “to improve health outcomes in drought affected areas in Ethiopia.” The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds.”

USAID sent 30.9 million to Chemonics International, Inc. for the “Ukraine confidence building initiative (UCBI) 4. A private, for-profit aid contractor, Chemonics’ founder said he launched the company to “have my own CIA.” The Grayzone has documented Chemonics’ role in delivering US government funding and supplies to the Syrian White Helmets, which served as the propaganda wing of the Al Qaeda-tied armed opposition. Chemonics previously reaped a massive windfall

from the US occupation of Afghanistan, raking in as much as $600 million from USAID.

USAID sent $20.7 million to PACT, INC. for “USAID Ukraine’s public health system recovery and resilience activity and will strengthen the Government of Ukraine (GOU) capacity to address COVID-19 and other public health threats, sustain health services during a crisis, and protect the health of all Ukrainians including vulnerable and marginalized populations. According to its 2022 impact statement [PDF

], “In Ukraine, Pact’s work empowers citizens to push for transparent and democratic governance, advances gender equality and human rights for women and girls, and accelerates efforts to achieve HIV epidemic control.” The contractor’s work contributed to “172 people increas[ing] their net income,” according to Pact.

USAID sent $25 million to Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV

, a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, via the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”

USAID sent 7.6 million to UNICEF IDA

for emergency nutrition response in ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) in Kenya. The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds”

USAID sent $1.2 million to University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

located in Atlanta, GA to “support humanitarian information management through geographic information systems, data analytics and visualizations”. Ukraine was listed as the place of performance.

The Pentagon sponsors diving contractor with “history of fraud” to send mysterious explosives to Ukraine

The Department of Homeland Security sent 5.48 million to Gravois Aluminum Boats LLC

on June 8, 2021 for the following purpose: “PROCUREMENT OF TWO 38-FOOT FULL CABIN RESPONSE BOATS, FOUR 38-FOOT CENTER CONSOLE RESPONSE BOATS, TRAILERS, SPARE PARTS, AND TRAINING AS REQUIRED UNDER FMS LOA DB-P-LCL FOR THE COUNTRY OF UKRAINE.”

The Department of Defense has transferred 4.75 Million to Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc. as of February 3, 2023 for “PRO SAPPER AND EOD EQUIPMENT [CONTRACTING SQUADRON] UKRAINE” and “Marine lifesaving and Diving Equipment.”

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and sapper equipment is exclusively used to blow things up or clean up explosives. And Atlantic Diving Supply

is a military contractor originally founded to provide tactical gear to Navy SEAL divers.

When a company like this is tasked with a highly specific delivery of explosives gear to any foreign nation, including Ukraine, it should prompt questions about the mission, particularly when US intelligence is blaming Ukraine’s military for attacking the Nord Stream pipelines without the knowledge of President Volodymyr Zelensky. (The payment date does not necessarily correlate with the date of delivery from the vendor; in other words, the equipment could have been delivered at a prior date.)

Luke Hillier, the founder of Atlantic Diving Supply, paid a $20 million settlement in 2019 to resolve charges that he defrauded the Pentagon by falsely claiming his company was a small business. Atlantic Diving is consistently listed as one of the top 25 largest military contractors in the country.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1362433588793380871&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fchinaworldleader.quora.com%2F%3F__ni__%3D0%26__tiids__%3D116011215%252C116010521%252C116010501%252C116010292%252C116010014%252C116007326%252C116007097%252C116006641%252C116005874%252C116005798%252C116004988%252C116002755%252C116002739%252C116000677%252C116000421%252C115999767%252C115998252%252C115994358%252C115993793%252C115993338%252C115992454%252C115991652%252C115991143%252C115991033%252C115988169%252C115985403%252C115984456%252C115984461%252C115982693%252C115982038%252C115980841%252C115979472%252C115978751%26__filter__%3Dall%26__nsrc__%3Dnotif_page%26__sncid__%3D41161125960%23anchor&sessionId=6a56fa8f326c7cdea064dc1c4393ff29b07cd102&siteScreenName=Quora&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

In 2021, Hillier raked in a massive $33 billion contract under the same program, prompting fresh accusations of fraud. This pattern of malfeasance prompted a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to bluntly denounce Atlantic Diving as a “fraudulent company.”

Hillier currently owns a $13 million mega-yacht in the Cayman Islands, $24 million worth of beachfront property in Hawaii, and two Bahamas-based companies with murky operations, according to the Project on Government Oversight

.

Atlantic Diving Supply founder Luke Hillier living his best life

The Department of Defense has paid 4.9 Million to BAE Systems GCS International as of September 12, 2022 for “UKRAINE LCS LW 155 SPARES” and “guns over 155mm through 200mm”. In Navy terminology, LCS means “Littoral Combat Ship,” while LW refers to the lightweight gun. And “155 SPARES” refers to the gun mounted on the ship’s main battery off the bow.

So what is the exact purpose of the LCS LW 155mm gun spares, why were they given to Ukraine, and where are they now? Is there a tracking mechanism in place to know where they are and how they’re being used?

Washington funnels cash to a private equity firm, Georgian finance corporation, a ‘private entrepreneur’ via Ukraine aid

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) sent $25 million to Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV , a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) sent $1.5 million to the Gazelle Fund LP, another private equity firm, to relocate Ukrainian businesses to Georgia. Georgia does not border Ukraine, nor is it a primary location for Ukrainian refugee resettlement.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent $882,291 to a single individual described as an “private entrepreneur” in exchange for “overseas technical assistance program support services.” The private entrepreneur listed, Igor Lavreniuk, serves as the Program Coordinator for USAID’s Competitive Markets Program according to his LinkedIn.

The National Science Foundation sent 1.3 million to University of Illinois for faculty and curricular development in remote sensing. The place of performance is listed as Ukraine.

The Department of State has paid 8.3 million to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to help “refugees from Ukraine meet their essential needs during initial displacement.” According to SpendingUS.gov, Catholic Relief Services is listed as having received a total of 657 million from the State Department in 2021, 5.7 billion since 2008 and 670 million during the last 12 months

.

Sponsoring “democracy” at Americans’ expense

Along with the blowback from their government’s gratuitous sanctions policy against Russia and other official enemies, Americans are feeling the impact of this overseas spending spree at grocery stores, gas stations, and everywhere in between. Meanwhile, rising generations are not only struggling with historic inflation, but concerns that Medicare and Social Security will be insolvent in the near future.

Washington and Europe have insisted that the flood of aid to Ukraine is essential to defending democracy against the existential threat of an authoritarian Russia. This framing is designed to shut down all debate by casting anyone who questions the ballooning price tag as fundamentally anti-American — if you are against funding the West’s proxy war with a nuclear power, you oppose the very ideals that define our nation.

Yet our inspection of US government spending in Ukraine demonstrates that Washington has prioritized its supposed fight for “democracy” abroad over the well-being of the American people.

As the war drags on, lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham have marketed military aid to Ukraine in increasingly grim terms. As the senator boasted

during a recent trip to Kiev, “The Russians are dying…it’s the best money we’ve ever spent.” Meanwhile, Congress has rejected any mechanism that would guarantee transparency on the billions sent to Kiev, and shunned a war powers debate over the US military’s presence on the Ukrainian battlefield.

President Joseph Biden, for his part, has pledged that official Washington will support Kiev “as long as it takes.” As the potential for blowback grows from Western pressure to push Ukraine into NATO, and a nuclear-armed Moscow is backed into an existential fight for its survival, while economic powers including China gradually decouple from the Western financial system, Americans can only wonder how much will this war cost them when it is finally over.

FIRST TIME HEARING Brad Paisley – He Didn’t Have To Be *TEARS*

Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter

Ingredients

• 3 quarts sweet cider
• 8 pounds ripe, well-flavored apples
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 2 teaspoons cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Cook cider over high heat, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until it is reduced to half.
2. Wash, quarter and core unpeeled apples. Add to cider, and cook over low heat until very tender. Stir frequently. Work apple mixture through a sieve, returning the puree to the kettle. Stir in sugar, all the spices, and salt. Cook over very low heat, stirring almost continuously, until mixture thickens.
3. Pour into sterilized pint jars and seal securely.

Makes 4 jars.

First Time Hearing Jay Chou (feat. Fei Yu-ching) “Far Away” Reaction

How To Plant Propaganda: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”

On Sunday the U.S.Secretary of State went on four morning shows to play the same distinct melody over and over again:

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Margaret Brennan of CBS Face the Nation

SECRETARY BLINKEN: And it was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks. We can’t speculate or know exactly where that’s going to go. We do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for in the weeks and months ahead.
…
SECRETARY BLINKEN: These create more cracks in the Russian façade, and those cracks were already profound. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of those things have been dramatically diminished by Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. He’s managed to bring Europe together. He’s managed to bring NATO together. He’s managed to get Europe to move off of Russian energy. He’s managed to alienate Ukrainians and unite Ukraine at the same time. So across the board this has been a strategic failure. Now you introduce into that profound internal divisions, and there are lots of questions he’s going to have to answer in the weeks ahead.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Chuck Todd of NBC Meet The Press

SECRETARY BLINKEN: … So I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there. But certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead.
…
This is just the latest chapter in a book of failure that Putin has written for himself and for Russia. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of things have plummeted. We have a united NATO that’s stronger than ever before, a Europe that is weaning itself off of Russian energy, Ukraine that Putin has managed to alienate and unite at the same time. Now, with trouble brewing from within, this, as I said, just adds more questions that he has to find answers for.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Dana Bash of CNN State of the Union

SECRETARY BLINKEN: But we can say this. First of all, what we’ve seen is extraordinary, and I think you see cracks emerge that weren’t there before …
…
We’ve seen this aggression against Ukraine become a strategic failure across the board. Russia is weaker economically, militarily. Its standing around the world has plummeted. It’s managed to get Europeans off of Russian energy. It’s managed to unite and strengthen NATO with new members and a stronger Alliance. It’s managed to alienate from Russia and unite together Ukraine in ways that it’s never been before. This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jonathan Karl of ABC This Week

SECRETARY BLINKEN: But I think we can say this much: First, we’ve seen some very serious cracks emerge.
…
But we’ve seen, I think, lots of different cracks that have emerged in the conduct of this aggression, because everything Putin has tried to accomplish, the opposite has happened. Russia is weaker economically. It’s weaker militarily. Its standing in the world has plummeted. It’s managed to strengthen and unite NATO. It’s managed to alienate and unite Ukrainians. It’s managed to get Europe off of dependence on Russian energy.

In piece after piece, issue after issue, what Putin has tried to prevent, he’s managed to precipitate. And Russia’s standing is vastly diminished as a result. Now, add to that internal dissention. Again, we can’t speculate on where this goes. We have to remain and we are focused on Ukraine, but it certainly raises new questions that he’s going to have to address.

The very same (false) talking points, repeated over and over again, are a sure sign of lies and an organized propaganda campaign.

For the record. Progozhin was all alone in his mutiny attempt. Not one element of the Russian government or civil society joint him in his ride. So where are the cracks? There are none. Also Russia’s military is now larger and better equipped then before the war. Russia’s economy is fine and growing. Its standing in the world has increased.

But Blinken’s propaganda works well because the U.S. media are trained to pick up any sheet of music an administration hands out and to sing its tune over and over again.

I could quote dozens of participants in that game to make that point. But the Washington Posts has made it easier for me when it asked eight of its columnists to comment on the issues. All but one, a neocon who wants to see more action, repeat Blinken’s message: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”

Opinion What happened in Russia — and what happens next? Our columnists weigh in.

David Von Drehle: Even failed coups have consequences

Putin evidently had no more confidence than Prigozhin as to the outcome of the clash. Rather than test the loyalty and strength of government forces to crush the uprising, the Russian leader grabbed the first exit he was offered — a sign of weakness that might invite another attempt. … The bad news: A weakened Russia has weakened leaders and is spinning out of control. Putin has taken his country into a disaster, and there is no one in sight to save it.

Max Boot: Prigozhin has made Putin’s weakness clear to everyone

Putin, has now had his own legitimacy undermined by the revolt of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group mercenaries. Whether the damage is fatal remains to be determined. … Even if Prigozhin is gone, the discontent he has revealed will remain an Achilles’ heel for Putin.

David Ignatius: After dodging the bullet, Putin will need to show he’s in control

Putin’s vulnerabilities were vividly on display last weekend, but so were his uncanny survival skills. He got inside Prigozhin’s conspiratorial plot and stopped it. … Putin will need to show that he’s in command now, after this near-death experience. That’s the bad news for Ukraine and Russia both.

Eugene Robinson: Putin is likely to survive this crisis

The revolt by the mercenary butcher Prigozhin did reveal Putin’s regime to be more brittle than it had appeared from afar.

Charles Lane: Prigozhin is the only Russian to publicly speak the truth

Vaclav Havel insisted that truth still exercised a mysterious, but latent, power.

It can unexpectedly “issue forth … in something visible: a real political act or event, a social movement, a sudden explosion of civil unrest, a sharp conflict inside an apparently monolithic power structure, or simply an irrepressible transformation in the social and intellectual climate,” Havel wrote. “And since all genuine problems and matters of critical importance are hidden beneath a thick crust of lies, it is never quite clear when the proverbial last straw will fall, or what that straw will be.”

Spy, oligarch, warlord — Prigozhin was an unlikely candidate to confirm Havel’s prophecy. But in a way, he did.

Jason Willick: Chances for escalation in Ukraine have gone up

Some observers might be overstating Putin’s weakness — he did suppress the mutiny quickly, after all — but the spectacle has clearly dented his image of control.

Josh Rogin: Prigozhin’s failed gambit is an opportunity for the West

Now that the Kremlin can no longer pretend Wagner is a separate entity, Russian government and defense officials must also be held accountable for Wagner’s worldwide crimes, which include credible allegations of mass murder, torture, rape and other atrocities.

Megan McArdle: Turmoil in Russia shows the fragility of illiberalism

Nominally, Putin controls a massive army, a substantial police force and a population that returned him to office in 2018 with a resounding 77 percent of the vote. But when push came to shove, those same folks were indifferent between him and a murderous warlord — or, at least, didn’t care enough about the distinction to risk getting shot. Putin survived, but the risk to his regime has risen now that it is clear how little actual support he has.

The overall tone: Putin did not fight the loon Prigozhin but found a peaceful solution. This shows that he is weak.

This bears a question. If eight columnists at one paper come to the very same (but false) conclusion, just issued in different words, why hire and pay all eight of them? Clearly, one would suffice.

Oh, that would show a lack diversity? The religious believe in individualism where all humans must differ – but for the opinions they are allowed to espouse?

Posted by b on June 27, 2023 at 15:43 UTC | Permalink

Rap Fans React to The Cult- She Sells Sanctuary REACTION

Having participated in the 2019 Hong Kong riots, can I still go to mainland China?

Use of your HK residency card might cause some problems for you. You will not have the same kind of treatment that you have grown accustomed to.

Oh, of course, the Chinese will smile and be so very polite. But, a “black mark” is a interruption of normal process, and will require an override by upper management.

Of course you can apply for a visa.

[1] If you are denied that visa, accept that reality. That reality is one of a perpetual “outsider” that will not be given the chance for redemption. If so, then you fucked up BIG TIME. Nothing worse than “missing the bus” for the global future.

[2] If you are granted that visa, you must accept the reality that you will be monitored absolutely. The duration of the monitoring will be at least ten years, and if you apply for work, there will be limitations on your applications. Certainly the housekeeping, and janitorial professions will probably be open to you, but forget about any skilled positions.

You made a very BIG and BAD MISTAKE.

But there’s always hope for redemption. If you can prove that you are reformed, you have a chance.

Finally…

If you do enter China, and you decide to break a law, or participate in NED sponsored color revolution activities, your fate will sealed (and very horrible). Ask the two-timers from HK that participated in the Shanghai protest last year. They will never leave China.

Don’t be like them.

FIRST REACTION! Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music SHOCKED! THEY WHITE?

How can I raise a bilingual baby that speaks both Chinese and English?

Answered by MM. -MM

I have a young daughter in Kindergarten.

• I speak English to her.
• My wife speaks Chinese to her.

She speaks fluent Baby-Chinese, and completely understands my English. However, the only time that she uses English is when she is MAD. When she is angry, that is when she spouts off in English. And lordy, it’s a sight to behold.

At home, she watches a mix of Chinese and English age-appropriate shows. And she attends Kindergarten, Dance, and boxing classes all in Chinese.

Yes. She is absolutely bilingual.

Jay Chou – Fearless Official Music Video|Reaction

What is your opinion on China’s more militarized coast guard?

Starting last night and into today, Beidu is reporting that China has laid out defined rules on violation of Chinese air space and sea lanes. No longer will China issue a verbal warning to planes to leave, or for ships to exit.

They now are authorized to fire weapons with the intent to kill and destroy the intruder(s).

My opinion is that…

• This follows the North Korean model of engagement. Which is why the United States avoids flying into to North Korea, but happily pushes into China’s.
• This is a direct result of [1] the Canadian / USA naval transit in the Taiwan strait, and [2] the Spy Plane violations of air space. Now, if those events were to reoccur, there would be two sunk Naval vessels, and one destroyed spy plane.
• Never the less, the rules are going to be violated by the United States. The American “leadership” are just itching for a war. Like I have repeatedly stated, “stupid beyond comprehension”.
• People are going to die. No way to avoid this result.

WOW!| FIRST TIME HEARING Tears For Fears – Sowing The Seed Of Love REACTION

How serious is Western propaganda against China compare to China‘s propaganda?

Western media and political propaganda works very much to China’s advantage.

Chinese strategy ever since the time of Sun Tzu is based on deception, and namely on making the enemy underestimate China.

This means that the more the west thinks that they are ahead of China, the more they underestimate China, and the more China hides its true strength, the better it is for China.

This means that if the Americans think that they will defeat China in the end because of American exceptionalism, and because the US is the city on the hill shining the bright light of freedom and democracy, the better it is for China.

This means that in the end, if China strikes, it will strike to kill.

There will not be any of that Russian pussyfooting around in Ukraine in the early stages of the war which Russia did, and which ended in failure.

@ A MASTERPIECE!!! Emotional Reaction to CRANBERRIES – ZOMBIE | Difficult to Get Over This

What are the unexpected and interesting travelling experiences you have had?

Back in 2007 I had gone to Russia. Being an African American woman in braids, I pretty much stand out over there. I even had a police officer ask to see my passport because, well, there’s not a lot of black people there, and those that are there are usually European and African descent.

So we were visiting a type of flea market in Moscow to shop for souvenirs. I only know three or four Russian words, so I did my best to bargain (but it helped to have Russian students in our group translating for us).

This vendor suddenly stared grabbing my hand joyfully and kissing my hand and arm! He was saying something like “krasivaya” or something like that.

He was pointing to my arm and I realized he was enamored with the color of my skin.

One the students (or another vendor helping him, I’m not sure), knew English and translated for me, “He says, “You’re beautiful.”

It dawned on me he had never seen a black woman before.

That actually amused me —- I mean, who knew that, considering all the crap black people have put up with because of our skin color, having dark skin would elicit such a positive response?

@ THIS IS FIRE!!! THE CULT – FIRE WOMAN (REACTION)

Should we congratulate EM Jaishankar for his honesty? He recently said that India is inferior to China in every way.

Yep

Absolutely

His message was simple

China is too strong for India

It’s a simple message but 90% of Indians won’t agree

They simply won’t admit what Jaishankar admits

India can’t pick fights with China

---

Stupid to say India is exactly like China

That’s coping and it’s embarrassing

Stupider to say China manipulates it’s GDP and in reality it’s much smaller

That’s worse coping and it’s even more embarrassing

Jaishankar simply gave a dose of reality

That China is impossible to take on today by India in any sphere

Education, Technology, Diplomacy, War, Economy, Industry — They dominate in every one of these over us.

---

Nothing embarrassing here

China once was exactly like this compared to the US

They saw the US as advanced and ahead and decided to build themselves and develop themselves to reach that goal

We should do the same

Jaishankar did

Others?

Nope

The Average lunkhead still thinks somehow India is a superpower and that India can do this and that and Modiji is a god in disguise

---

Just read Quora answers and see how many people even acknowledge China is ahead of India without a “But…”

The Realist says

China is way ahead of India

India must slog and slog and stop lying, see their weaknesses and identify them and rectify them

How many Realists do you see?

Every one adds their own “BUT” that includes Tiananmen Square and a bunch of lies about the CPC gleaned from Western media

---

Jaishankar is a realist and that’s good

THIS WAS SO GOOD!.| FIRST TIME HEARING Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World REACTION

Have you ever purchased a home from an owner who left their belongings behind?

My parents built a cottage on Loon Lake in Ontario in 1965, Mum and I spent many happy summers there while Dad came up on weekends. Mum died in 1983 at age 60. Dad couldn’t stand going there anymore because “there was too much of Mum in it” so he sold it (with my knowledge and blessing) in 1986 fully furnished to include dishes, linens, two boats – everything. Apparently this is quite normal in that marketplace and situation.

Fast-forward to 2004; I took my wife and four sons to a rental cottage a couple lakes away. We took a boat trip to show the boys where I grew up. Fortunately the owner was there so we moved the boat over toward the boathouse (both boats were still there) where I turned off our boat and said, “My parents built this cottage when I was 10 years old.” His immediate response was, “Oh, you’re a Kuhs!” I was amazed. Not only were he and his wife the purchasers but they had owned the cottage – still named Cry of the Loon – for 17 years and he came up with our fairly odd name so quickly. They gave us the “grand tour”, Mum’s cottage was over 90% unchanged from the last day I saw it over 20 years before. Not a dry eye in the house!

We have lived on the upper Chesapeake Bay for 35 years so there’s no animosity.

Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive FIRST TIME HEARING THIS!

What does the U.S. have that China doesn’t to become a superpower? What can China do to surpass the U.S. as a superpower? How long will this take?

China isn’t in a race to be better than the US or to surpass the US.

The Chinese are in a race to become the best version of themselves after being poor and politically divided for so long.

The problem is that when Chinese say this to Americans; US politicians and western politicians tend to think that the Chinese are lying to them, when in fact, the Chinese are not.

This means that the fate and destiny of the US is in the hands of the Americans themselves, not in the hands of the Chinese.

Americans have done great things in the past, and if they work hard and apply themselves, they can do great things again, such as landing men on the moon, and defeating diseases like polio.

To do this, Americans would have to give up some bad habits, and apply themselves the same way the Chinese have in the past forty years.

If the US competed with China this way, the world would become a better place because all of humanity would benefit.

Reaction To “Simple Minds Someone Somewhere In Summertime Live 1983” THE WOLF HUNTERZ Jon and Dolly

How do you interpret Secretary Blinken’s statement on re-establishing dialogue with China?

I don’t. I don’t interpret it at all because it is not sincere, either way. No sooner than Blinken met with Xi Jinping, Biden called Xi a dictator and Blinken quoted more foolishness trying to justify arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not capable or interested in following China’s conditions. There is no sincerity. It is always speaking with a forked tongue out of both side of the mouth with my country. Don’t be surprised. His visit was all an elaborate show on the world stage.

On a positive note, China chewed him a new backside, so I’d say it was a win for China.

WERE SHOOK! | FIRST TIME HEARING Patsy Cline – Crazy REACTION

UPDATED 10:39 AM EDT — Russian Presidential Fleet Plane Enroute to Washington DC – Evacuating Diplomats?

World Hal Turner 27 June 2023

An aircraft from the Russian Presidential fleet is presently on its way from Moscow to Washington, DC.  It is now feared this plane is coming to evacuate Russian Diplomats prior to . . . well . . . what __could be__ the start of a war.

As of 6:16 AM Eastern US Time, the aircraft has left air space which is tracked by radar, and is now over the Atlantic Ocean being tracked by Satellite:

@ I DISCOVERED THE BEST SONG EVER! | Ram Jam – Black Betty (REACTION!!!)

All Sources inside Russia Have Gone “Dark” – Largest Submarine Sails with Poseidon Nuclear Torpedo

World Hal Turner 26 June 2023

A very troubling situation has developed inside Russia this morning, Monday, June 26, 2023.  All my intel sources have either gone dark or told me they have to go dark immediately.  Apparently ANYONE who expressed support for the Prigozhin Rebellion is being rounded-up and/or turned off violently.

More interestingly, Russia’s largest submarine, the “Belgorad” (K-329), set sail from its Arctic port in Severodvinsk, along with a support ship “Akademik Aleksandrov.”

This Support ship is associated with testing the “Poseidon” Intercontinental Nuclear-Powered Nuclear-Armed Autonomous Torpedo.

The sailing of the two vessels, together, plus other signs observed, may indicate that a Poseidon test launch is imminent.

The question becomes, is it a test or will it be live?

The Poseidon torpedo is autonomous.  It can be pre-programmed to travel almost anywhere in the world, silently, take up position off a coastline at a depth of 1-2 miles, and wait, undetected and undetectable.   

At the pre-programmed time, it can detonate its scalable 100 MEGATON nuclear torpedo, creating a radioactive tsunami that takes out the entire coastline of an adversary.  In some areas, the tsunami would come ashore as a 1500 foot tall wave of radioactive water, knocking down entire cities, and leaving them covered in a radioactive flood that would make the area uninhabitable for decades.

The submarine carries SIX such Poseidon torpedos.

It could place one off each coast of the UK, travel across the Atlantic, place one or more off the US East Coast, the travel down to the Gulf of Mexico, place another, and leave the US West Coast to typical Russian submarines.

None of us would have any idea at all that anything was wrong and then, suddenly, BOOM, all of them go off at once.  The US and UK would be completely crippled immediately, wiping out NATO.

Bad Company – Rock Steady REACTION

What steps can the US take to protect its research and intellectual property from being stolen by China through civilian research partnerships?

Don’t worry. The US Government and its loyal allies are already doing an absolutely fabulous job of this.

Chinese universities ranked above Oxbridge, Caltech in quality research

Xie Xiaoliang is latest Chinese scientist to give up US citizenship

China overtakes United States on contribution to research in Nature Index

British chair professor joins China’s hypersonic programme

Award-winning Chinese mathematician returns to Peking University from US

Chinese researchers in US ‘eyeing medical teaching jobs at University of Hong Kong’

China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology: study

China trounces U.S. in AI research output and quality

meanwhile back home…

Half of Americans think young people don’t pursue STEM because it is too hard

The Best Reactions to Black Sabbath “War Pigs” Compilation

A world where China is Number One

Kerry Brown’s new book notes folly of projecting Western values and a Manichean worldview onto China’s very different civilization and tradition

by Scott Foster June 28, 2023

The three key things about China we need to keep in mind are that

• it is strong, not weak;
• it has become a sea power; and
• its values are both different from those of the West and not necessarily what Europe and America think they are.

“When we are discussing anything to do with the People’s Republic of China in the contemporary context, therefore, these three factors are good places to start,” writes Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London, in the first chapter of his new book, “China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One.”

The title reminds us of Japan Inc, the words used to describe Japan’s combination of industrial policy and mercantilism since the 1980s; and “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America”, the popular book by Ezra Vogel published in 1999. Brown’s book even has a chapter entitled “The Enigma of Chinese Power,” which echoes Karel Van Wolferen’s “The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation,” published in 1990.

But the book does not explain Chinese industrial and trade policies; it does not tell us what the West can learn from China’s rapid modernization; and it is certainly not about what the writer imagines is the hollow political center of a great economic power.

Rather, Brown examines the more important issue of how Western misunderstanding of Chinese thinking about the role of government and international relations has magnified the problem of dealing with a different civilization that has grown big and strong enough to reject our criticism and push back.

The misunderstanding has historical, cultural and political roots but fundamentally it can be attributed to the universalist, Manichean (good vs evil) worldview of what Brown refers to as the Enlightenment West – and the projection of that attitude onto a civilization that doesn’t share the same history.

“The distinctiveness of the intellectual and cultural history of inhabitants of the space now occupied by the People’s Republic of China is undeniable,” Brown writes. “In terms of language, modes of governance, economic behavior, and fundamental view about how the world operates and how society should be shaped, the Chinese tradition is a long, complex and sometimes (but not always) contrasting one to that which has created the Europe and North America of today.”

He continues, “The Western European proclivity has been to maintain the conviction, at least until recent decades, that there is a final, truthful, unifying vision of the world.”

On the other hand,

In the Chinese world where a notion of harmony in the abstract was privileged, the focus was on accepting different kinds of views and convictions for different spaces and occasions….

A syncretic worldview is the result – one that in the twenty-first century continues to puzzle and fascinate because of the ability of modern Chinese to place capitalism next to socialism while seeming under Xi Jinping to be proud of Confucianism as well as having as many as 200 million Buddhists in various sects and about half that number of Christians.

That description runs head on into democratically elected politicians’ abhorrence of one-party dictatorship and American alarm over perceived or potential subversion by Confucius Institutes, Huawei or any other Chinese organization under the sway of the Communist Party.

Brown does not dwell on the nature of the Communist Party, but points out that Confucius Institutes have often been their own worst enemies and that Huawei, due to its leading position in the telecommunications industry and the legal environment in which it operates, will never be free of suspicion.

After all, China’s National Intelligence Law stipulates that “all organizations and citizens shall support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with the law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.”

Combined with the rapid growth of its military power, including the ever-longer reach of its navy, the globe-spanning infrastructure investments of the Belt and Road Initiative, allegations of hacking and the hot-button issues of the South China Sea, Taiwan and Xinjiang, this makes China for “a large number of American and European politicians … not just a problem, but the problem.”

The problem with this problem is its ambiguity. The Chinese military has never used more than a fraction of its power. No clear evidence of surveillance via Chinese telecom equipment has been publicly provided. The motives and capabilities are there, but there is no smoking gun.

As for the Belt and Road, which critics regard as a combination of debt-trap diplomacy and strategic threat, Brown asks, “How much longer do we have to wait till we see Beijing’s hand fully exposed? What if, in the end, it really was all mainly commercial?”

For centuries, the West has been working to remake the world in its own image. Its Enlightenment mind finds it logical to conclude that the Chinese are trying to do the same, regardless of China’s doctrine of non-interference in the affairs of other countries (rejected as duplicitous on the one hand and as unprincipled support for dictators on the other) and its cultural exclusiveness.

Western military and national security officials default to the worst-case scenario, while many politicians favor a simple narrative of evil communists oppressing the good Chinese people. But, as Brown writes, “one thing stands out – the complexity of the issues China poses, just being itself, and doing the kinds of things it does as an actor of its size and reach.

“Complexity alone is a vast problem, and one the Enlightenment West in particular, with its love of orderly frameworks and all-embracing tidy theories, clearly abhors. China upsets the epistemology of the West – it violates notions of universalism being universal.”

If economic prosperity either is contingent on the existence of multi-party government and Western style rule of law or inevitably brings these in its wake, this leads to:

• China explanation number one – We are right; China is undertaking a huge con, and
• China explanation number two – China has to democratize.

Otherwise, China will collapse. But it hasn’t collapsed since Gordon Chang’s book “The Coming Collapse of China” was published in 2001 and Brown now doesn’t expect it to collapse anytime soon. Rather, within a decade, “the world’s largest economy could well be an Asian country under a Communist government.”

If and when that happens, the West is likely to be a sore loser, angry and frustrated. In fact, it already is doing everything it can to slow China down and prevent that outcome.

At the same time, China

is certainly more frustrated and irritated than ever before at the outside world. This has reached such a level of intensity that there has been a formal policy response: “Dual Circulation” – a strategy in many Chinese people’s eyes to simply get whingeing, moaning, sore losing Westerners with their toxic social media, their crazy political systems, their moralizing and ignorance and arrogance, off China’s back.

Dual Circulation is an economic policy that puts priority on domestic consumption (internal circulation) while remaining open to foreign trade and investment (external circulation). Dependence on exports is to be reduced while technological independence is achieved through innovation. It is an answer to Western sanctions and protectionism, a sort of reverse decoupling or de-risking that is less ideological and more pragmatic.

Brown hopes that pragmatism will also take hold in the West. He states that, “Whether we embrace or have distaste toward China as it is politically today, we have no choice but to recognize that it is there and that it is as it is. We will not all wake up tomorrow, like protagonists in some fantasy film, and find China is no longer there, or that it has magically transformed to become somewhere we actually like and feel close to. We can console ourselves with the associated thought that exactly the same in reverse applies to China.”

There is a lot more to this book, which is informed by the author’s 30 years’ experience of life in China, where he has worked in education, in business and as a diplomat. He is the author of more than 20 books on China.

WHO DEY!!.. Guns N Roses Welcome – To The Jungle | FIRST TIME HEARING REACTION

China is ready to turn the tables on the US

32 Billion Chip Orders Canceled, Chinese Enterprise Installs First Domestic Lithography Machine!

The Chinese chip market is undergoing a transformation, and under US chip restriction rules, China has embarked on a self-sufficient development path. Not only has it set a goal of achieving a 70% self-sufficiency rate in chips and producing more chips domestically, but Shanghai Microelectronics is also increasing its research and development of lithography machines, and Chinese enterprises have moved in the first domestically-produced lithography machine.

China is the world’s largest chip market and spends a considerable amount on imports in the field of integrated circuits each year, especially for high-end chips imported to meet the needs of a range of consumer electronics products such as smartphones, computers, and tablets.

Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC is vigorously expanding its 12-inch wafer capacity for mature chips and significantly increasing its 28 nanometers chip shipments since China has its own domestically produced chips, its dependence on imported chips is not as great.

In the first quarter of this year China’s Imports of integrated circuits totaled 108 billion pieces a year on year, a decrease of 22.9 percent equivalent to a reduction of 32 billion chip imports from last year, a total of 32 billion chip orders were canceled, making it harder for overseas chip Giants to make big profits, more signs indicate that China’s chip industry’s self-sufficiency ability is constantly improving in the first quarter of this year.

In the 1st quarter of this year Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine the advanced packaging lithography machine from Shanghai microelectronics was moved in by Chinese Enterprise conscience for a production line project.

Shanghai microelectronics is the only company in China that has mastered the production of complete lithography machines in the front-end lithography machine field.

Shanghai microelectronics has excellent capabilities and can produce 2.5 D to 3D Advanced packaging lithography machines perhaps many people do not know that there is a difference between front end and back end lithography machines.

The front end and back end lithography machines are two different steps in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process. Front-end lithography machines are mainly used to make lithographic masks in the chip manufacturing process that is to project the design chip patterns onto the Silicon wafer to form a pattern. While the back-end lithography machines are used to etch the patterns on the Silicon wafer to form the chip circuit component.

Front-end lithography machines usually require higher resolution and precision while back-end lithography machines require higher processing speed and stronger etching ability.

Relatively speaking the manufacturing difficulty of front-end lithography machines is greater, in that they require High Precision Optical systems, Precision mechanical systems and high stability control systems and require knowledge in multiple disciplines such as physics, Optics and Mechanics.

ASML can achieve high-end processes of five nanometers and below in the front-end lithography machine field and the most advanced EUV lithography machines are in short supply. The mass-produced process of domestic lithography machines in the front-end field is 90 nanometers and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future.

The domestically produced lithography machine moved in by Chinese Enterprises belongs to the back end and is mainly used to meet the demand for chip Packaging.

Nevertheless advanced packaging is still of great significance for domestic chips this is because advanced packaging technology can improve chip performance power consumption and reliability while also reducing chip size and cost.

The use of advanced packaging technology can enhance the market competitiveness of chips attract more customers and partners and promote the development of China’s domestic chip industry therefore doing well in advanced packaging is of great significance for the development of domestic chips.

The frequent restrictions on Chinese Chips by the United States will only accelerate China’s self-sufficiency. China canceled 32 billion chip Imports and Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine which is the best proof some foreign media have stated that Bill Gates is right.

Bill Gates has long said that the United States can never stop China from having powerful chips and restrictions will only make China self-sufficient while the United States will also lose many high-paying jobs.

The fact is indeed as Bill Gates said China’s chip industry shows signs of self-sufficiency while the U.S technology industry laid off 130 000 people from January to may this year with more than 410 000 layoffs nationwide, if the United States does not stop its restrictive measures it will only affect the profits of U.S companies and the number of layoffs will continue to swell.

Last week:

Go China go!

Baby Metal- Catch Me If You Can || Goth Reacts

This chip genius returned to China from the U.S. and created the “Starlight China Core Project!”

In today’s Information age the importance of chips is beyond doubt but as the crystallization of the world’s top technology the technical difficulty of Chip research and development is also very high.

China started late in the field of chips and many core Technologies and underlying Technologies are in the hands of the United States.

If China wants to independently develop chips it must start from the basics in addition to the difficulty of research and development the supply chain of the chip industry is also a problem just because chip manufacturing requires multiple steps such as photolithography etching cleaning and precipitation more than 10 kinds of semiconductor equipment are needed as well as chip design chip packaging and testing and other links.

The US just wants to slow down the development of Chinese Chips by excluding China from the world supply chain it’s just that this move by the United States is undoubtedly an invalid behavior and it will only lead to Market chaos in the semiconductor industry.

In any case if you want to develop Chinese Chips you need to rely on Independent research and development only by mastering the core technology can you avoid being stuck.

Many Enterprises and talents in China have devoted themselves to the field of chips and have made many important progress for the development of chips in China among them Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project are an important part of the history of China’s chip development.

It can even be said that China’s first self-developed chip came from Deng jonghan.

The young genius Deng jonghan left the US and returned to China. Deng Han who was born in 1968 not only founded vimicro group but also is an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and the commander-in-chief of the Starlight China chip project.

He has contributed a lot to the development of China’s chips and developed China’s first chip with independent property rights.

Since he was a teenager Deng Han has been full of curiosity an exploratory Spirit towards the world after he was admitted to the Department of Earth and space science at the University of Science and Technology of China Deng Han’s Talent was gradually discovered when he was in college Deng Han also pointed out the professor’s thinking deviation in solving problems and because of this he was favored by the professor and joined the project team after Deng junghan entered the University of Barkley he successively obtained a master’s degree in physics a doctorate in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in economics and management after graduation Deng Han founded an integrated circuit company in the Silicon Valley of the United States

Entrepreneurship was a great success and the market value of the company he founded once reached 115 million U.S dollars however at the invitation of chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Deng Han resolutely gave up his company in the United States and returned to China to engage in chip research and development.

After returning to China Deng Han founded vimicro and started the Starlight China chip project officially entering the field of Chip research and development the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips has begun during the chip research and development process Deng Han’s conditions were very difficult and he could only conduct research and development in the warehouse and once faced the risk of capital chain rupture but in the face of many difficulties Deng jonghan did not give up lightly but faced up to the difficulties and solved one problem after another.

On March 11 2001 under the unremitting efforts of Deng Han and his R D team vimicro launched China’s first chip with independent property rights Ching Guang number one Starlight number one is a multimedia chip and it is also a large-scale integrated circuit chip.

After that vimicro launched the Starlight series chips into the market and successfully listed them in the United States which made the reputation of Chinese Chips and opened the Prelude to the rise of Chinese Chips himself became an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and a foreign academician of the American Academy of engineering it is not difficult to see from this information that Deng Han has provided a major boost to the rise of China’s chips.

With the development of time many top Chinese technology companies have entered the chip track one after another according to statistics from 2019 to the present the total of 40 000 companies in China have entered the chip related field it can be said that China’s chips are developing flourish and gradually rise with the support of national policies and the large investment of some top companies Chinese Chips have gradually made major breakthroughs in many fields such as huawei’s self-developed Korean chips and EDA industrial software which are also at the advanced level in the world.

Shanghai microelectronics has gradually come to the Forefront of the world and semiconductor Fields such as etching machines and lithography machines and can reach the top five in the world in terms of market share now China’s chip industry can be said to be flourishing and the entire chip industry chain has a Chinese layout but China should always keep in mind that it was Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project that opened the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips.

SQUEEZE – Tempted (By The Fruit Of Another) REACTION

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?

I was going to a conference in Las Vegas to attend a huge convention. Hotel rooms were scarce, but I had made my reservations far in advance.

I got to the hotel after midnight after a long flight, and had just unpacked and was about to get ready for bed when the door opened. A weary-eyed man glared at me and showed me his room assignment. Same as mine. We had been double-booked by accident.

The man got on the room phone and started screaming at the assistant manager, demanding that he be given the room. The intruder then gave the phone to me, and the manager asked if I minded being moved. I did, of course, but given the white-hot rage of my accidental roommate, I said gently, “I understand. These things happen. I’ll take another room.”

I repacked my clothes and soon the manager arrived, full of apologies, and took my bag. The man who had “won” the room smiled triumphantly.

And then the manager took me to one of the hotel’s biggest suites, which had four bedrooms, a kitchen stocked with liquor and fruit, and a killer view of Vegas. It was worthy of Sinatra or Elvis, and it was all mine for the week-long stay, at the same price as the standard room I booked, the manager said.

I was dazzled. When I asked the manager why I was being given such a glorious upgrade, he explained that it was the only room left in the hotel. He had to make a quick decision as to who would get it, “and lady,” he said, “you were the nice one.”

The 70’s were a VIBE! 💃🏽🕺🏽| KC and the Sunshine Band – I’m Your Boogie Man [REACTION!]

What have you found on the Internet today that made you smile?

I’ve always had this almost irrational dislike for influencers. They’re just about the most self-obsessed, vain, terrible and entitled crowd of creatures alive on this earth. So whenever one of them gets his or her comeuppance, I’m quite pleased.

Apparently there’s some law where if someone steals just a small amount, you get a warning of a ‘slap on the wrist’ style of punishment. And that’s all they do to you. Whereas if someone steals a larger amount of value, a store can actually press charges and get the thief in serious trouble. Hence the store waited, patiently, as they wrote down all the things the little kleptomaniac was taking. Compiled a nice, neat, comprehensive list of all items stolen over the years…

…and called the cops. Who sent her to jail. These are the same entitled influencers who demand to eat at a discount in restaurants “because they will give a shout out on their channel” and act offended when the bill comes in and they have to pay the full amount. Nothing puts a smile on my face quicker than seeing such a person get arrested.

Rainbow “Gates of Babylon” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer

Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?

Are you ready to hear a story about a friend I had for 32 years and would have done anything for, whom I met when I was 5 years old?

When I was about 5 I was walking around the corner of my street, it was only 3 houses down, to my friend mark’s house which was right after the culdesac immediately after the corner. As the further of the two end houses came into view, in the yard I saw a boy my age getting beat up by a slightly older boy, so I immediately ran to defend the boy. Next thing I knew, I was on my back on the asphalt with the older boy on top of me strangling me and bashing the back of my head against the asphalt. I remember the mother of the boy I tried to save yelling and the kid beating the crap out of me ran off.

next I’m scream crying as I run to my house and my mom sees the blood on the back of my head and we head over to the house of who beat me up and my mom verbally bitch slapped that woman and her kid. Never had any issues with him again.

anyway, the boy I tried to save became my best friend. As time went on, I started to notice that his mother was awful to him, constantly telling him “why can’t you be more like Joey?” and every time I went over there, his mom always made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Peter Pan peanut butter and a glass of milk, always. I still love that peanut butter.

A short time later, my friend started calling me asking “Joey, can you please come over to my house and ask my mom for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” my friend did this because his mom would punish him by not feeding him when he got in trouble and my friend knew that his mom would always feed me, and so I would give my friend the sandwich and milk so he could eat.

This is just the beginning of the absolute madness that was this kid’s life.

His mom hated him and he knew it and she constantly told him that she wished he was like me, I was super polite and calm because I had to be or I got my butt whooped at my house. For our entire childhood I was always trying to suggest to my friend how he might want to try behaving because I thought that if he started acting like me, his mom wouldn’t hate him so much… my friend never listened and, in fact, he always did the opposite of what I suggested and he would cause chaos and get in trouble that I would always be there to help him out of.

I was always there for him, failed relationships, finding out that his mom was his adopted mom, when his real mom died from cancer, when he was homeless after becoming a methhead, the birth of his daughter, when the mother of his daughter left them… I was there for every single trauma he suffered, I was there for him…

I had been married 12 years and my son had been showing symptoms of autism and my then wife couldn’t handle that her son had autism so she left our boys and I and for the first time, I desperately needed a friend.

My friend ignored my phone calls for almost two months before he finally answered his phone and agreed to meet me so I could talk to him.

when I get to my friend’s girlfriend’s apartment, he was out of work and living with his girlfriend, I was devastated still and after I walked into the apartment and asked my friend what he has been doing that was so important he couldn’t answer my phone calls…

my friend said “I’m glad your life is falling apart, because now we are even.” He then walked outside on the porch to smoke and closed the glass door behind him.

I was shocked. I looked at his girlfriend who was right there when he said it and I asked “did he just say I’m glad your life is falling apart because now we are even?”

his girlfriend, who was also shocked said “yeah” after staring at me, or through me for a few seconds.

at this moment my friend was on his phone outside and that’s when I realized, that for my entire life, the friend who I was always trying to get back on his feet, the guy who I believed had an awesome potential, the guy I tried to train to become a martial arts instructor at my school but he quit before he became a black belt and he’d been trying to get me to quit, this entire time he had been hoping that my life had gone wrong because he was so envious of what I had… turns out, what my friend was doing on his phone was messaging my soon to be ex wife and trying to hook up with her…

for the entire 32 years I knew him, I never once wished harm or misfortune, in fact, this is the moment I realized that I’ve never once wished ill on anyone, despite the explosive drunken abuse I suffered from my family… I always wished that they would get better and stop destroying their lives and everyone’s lives around them. It was this moment that I have ever felt true hatred towards someone, this was the first time that I felt like if I ever see him again, I will beat his face in until he is mush.

I still wish him the best, I would never wish harm upon someone, but to this day, I know that if I see him, I won’t be able to stop myself…

I hope that answers your question… it was rough writing this, it brought up some seriously painful feelings. I’m getting tears…

Singer Reacts to BABYMETAL – Gimme chocolate!! (OFFICIAL) (ギミチョコ) *FIRST TIME*

Netanyahu set to visit China next month, likely to annoy Biden

Biden has made clear he won’t invite Israel’s premier in the near future.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit China next month, signaling growing impatience with Washington, as Beijing increasingly throws its weight around in the region.

While there, the premier is slated to meet with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders. Advanced contacts have been held in recent days between the two leaders’ offices to arrange the visit.

No dates for the trip were given and no plans for a visit have been announced by Jerusalem or Beijing. The Prime Minister’s Office said it had “no comment at present” when contacted. The Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Netanyahu is seeking some kind of assurance from Chinese, sort of an unwritten agreement on the similar lines as Russia with which Israel has strategic understanding involving Iran.

Israel does not want China or North Korea sell Nukes to Iran. It is Israel’s only and a prime concern because Israel is known as one bomb country.

But I think Iran should have nukes, this way there would be peace in the middle east. As it is, Israel has several (nukes) warheads of its own. Deterrence is the name of the game.

AC/DC – Highway to Hell – (REACTION!)🤟🏽🔥WE CAN’T BELIEVE IT WAS THEM THE WHOLE TIME‼️

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

Back in 1990, I was a Sales manager at a car dealership and was one of the winners of a sales contest for Sales Managers of all the dealers of that make in the Boston District. The bar was pretty low to win this contest and there was no big payoff for winning because I guess they just wanted to show some recognition and get the Sales Managers together to socialize, build communication, and cooperation between the dealerships which were located all over New England.

So we got to spend one night in a nice hotel in Boston, had a nice meal, and everyone received some recognition during the after dinner ceremonies.

But then came the after dinner fun. They gave us about two hours for a “Vegas Night”. Tables were set up just like in a casino: Blackjack tables, Roulette tables, and one Craps table.

The rules were they gave each of us $200 in chips that we could use to make bets. Whatever amount of chips that we had left at the end would be cashed in for real money.

Now, In the few years previous to that night, I had been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City a few times and found that Craps was my favorite game. I had played it enough and studied it enough that I was very familiar with the odds for every bet on the table and knew how to play the game.

So as soon as I got my $200, I headed for the craps table. Surprisingly, I was the only one who went to the Craps table.

And then, even more surprisingly, the person who was in charge of the tables came over and said to me and the dealers, “Just to make things simpler, we’ll pay out 2 to 1 on all the numbers bets.”

I don’t know why he said that. Maybe the dealers were inexperienced and he was trying to make it easier for them so they wouldn’t have to try to figure out the different odds for the different numbers, or maybe he figured that there was only one player at the table so not much damage could be done.

But as soon as he said that, I knew what he meant . . . and bells went off in my head . . . I knew immediately what I was going to do!

A Numbers bet is where you put a bet on one of the numbers: 4–5–6–8–9–10. You are betting that when the dice are rolled, they are going to add up to the number you bet on before they total 7. If the dice total 7, you lose. Different numbers normally pay different odds.

For instance, the 6 and the 8 have the best odds of coming up, but they normally pay the lowest odds because of that. Normally if you make a $6 bet on the 6 or 8, and you win, you would win $7.

What happened here was they changed the payout on that very same bet to $12. . . . Which drastically changed the odds in my favor. All I had to was make a pass line bet, roll the dice, then keep betting on the 6 and 8. The odds were in my favor!

What I didn’t do was say anything out loud. I didn’t want anyone rethinking that decision to change the odds.

So I started winning right away. But it didn’t look like much at first because I started with just $200. But as the money started coming in, I slowly raised my bets and the money started coming in faster.

After awhile, I was still the only player on the table when one of the other Sales Managers walked up and stood next to me at the table. I had previously talked to this guy a few times on the phone at work but didn’t really know him other than that. And then he decided to be chatty. He was started asking questions like, “Do you know how to play this game? I don’t know anything about it. Can you teach me how to play?”

Well, the last thing I needed right then was someone disturbing my concentration on the game. I knew that I only had a limited amount of time to take advantage of this unexpected loophole.

So I turned to him and said, “Listen, put your chips right up here and do exactly what I tell you to do. Don’t ask any questions. Just do it. I’ll explain it all to you later.”

He was kind of taken aback at that and I could see the confusion on his face while he was contemplating what I had just said . . . but then he said, “Okay”.

So I continued doing what I had been doing and started telling him where to place his bets, how much (how many chips) to bet, and what to say to the dealer when he placed a bet. He caught on pretty quick and followed my instructions very well, so I wasn’t slowed down too much, and he started getting more excited when he saw the money starting to roll in.

When the time was up, almost all of the players who played the other games were broke. They had lost their seed money. Very few players had any money left at all.

We were the big winners!

I won just over $3000 and my new best friend won just over $1500. Needless to say, he was ecstatic!

The funniest part was when other Sales Managers that he knew came over and asked him how he did it. His answer was, “I don’t know! All I did was do what he told me to do!”

It was a fun night!

I am so mad I haven’t heard this tribute until now: AC/DC – Back In Black (Official Video)

Where did the term “money laundering” come from?

From laundromats.

A 1920s laundromat

Back in 1920s, gangsters needed some way of showing their money came from legitimate sources. The solution was to invest into laundromats and show them as highly profitable enterprises. The bookeeping standards of the day made it quite easy to show 127 customers used their facilities in a single night, even though they only had 1 paying customer at the time. I will hazard a guess and say the term “money laundering” probably started as a joke.

The term stuck and now the process of showing illicit profits as coming from legitimate business is called “laundering money”.

I legitly cried😭| FIRST TIME HEARING LUCIANO PAVAROTTI – NESSUN DORMA REACTION

Watching these reactions, and reading the text really underlines THE MESSAGE.

What things should I never do?

• Never (ever) touch someone’s laptop screen with your fingertip.
• Never do this with someone’s book.

Please use bookmarks. Please.

• Never take too much interest in someone else’s life, mind your own business.
• Never believe on these types of Instagram quotes, “People having extraordinary creativity tend to have less sleep at night.” You’ll have less capacity to learn, you need deep sleep for deep insights.
• Inspiration isn’t imitation. Don’t be a sheep, just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it works for you.
• “Never deduce that attraction is love.”
• Never do something stupid just to fulfill your desire, know difference between desire and dream.
• Don’t speak bitter words when you are angry, regret is unbearable.
• Don’t rush. Never. If you’re late for office or college, it will make difference of a few seconds at most. Your life is far more valuable.

WHAT A SHOW!! Mötley Crüe – Home Sweet Home REACTION

What are some unknown psychological tricks?

Here are a few psychological tricks that you may find interesting:

1. The Power of Mirroring: Mirroring someone’s body language, gestures, and tone of voice can create a sense of rapport and connection. It can make the other person feel more comfortable and receptive towards you.

2. The Contrast Principle: When presenting options, strategically place a less desirable option before the one you want the person to choose. By comparison, the preferred choice will appear more attractive.

3. The Zeigarnik Effect: This effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. If you want someone to remember something, provide incomplete information or leave a task unfinished.

4. The Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Start with a small request and once the person agrees, follow up with a larger request. People tend to be more likely to comply with the second request if they have already agreed to the first one.

5. The Anchoring Effect: When making a negotiation or presenting a price, start with a higher number to anchor the person’s perception. Subsequently, any lower numbers will appear more reasonable and favorable.

6. The Halo Effect: People tend to associate positive qualities with someone who possesses one admirable trait. For example, if a person is physically attractive, others may assume they are also intelligent or kind.

7. The Primacy and Recency Effect: People tend to remember the first and last items in a list more accurately than those in the middle. When giving a presentation or conveying important information, place key points at the beginning and end for better retention.

8. The Ben Franklin Effect: Ask someone for a small favor or advice. This can create a sense of investment and liking, as people tend to rationalize their actions by thinking they must like the person they helped.

9. The Scarcity Principle: Highlighting limited availability or scarcity of a product or opportunity can increase its perceived value and desirability. People tend to place higher importance on items that are rare or in short supply.

10. The Power of Framing: The way information is presented or framed can significantly influence perception and decision-making. Presenting the same information in a positive or negative light can elicit different responses.

Use these psychological tricks responsibly and ethically, focusing on building positive relationships and improving communication.

@ Dio “Don’t Talk To Strangers” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer

“I can’t get enough Ronnie James Dio. I hereby further profess that he is my vocal crush, and we’re digging into your next highest requested song “Don’t Talk To Strangers.” This is by far one of my favorite songs of all time. Its message, the vocal runs and how flawlessly Dio brings out that emotion is insanely captivating. He is a god.”

Can the US become a manufacturing power again, or is that just an unrealistic dream?

At the height of the United States being a “Manufacturing Giant”, there were clusters of industrial centers scattered throughout America. This is a fact that most Americans know, but few others understand. The United States was NEVER a homogenized Manufacturing Colossus. Instead, it was a nation that contained “manufacturing areas”.

A “Manufacturing Area” had the following characteristics…

• Easy access to raw materials (Rail, roads, and canal, or ports)
• Uninterrupted supply of electricity.
• Access to water (to cool the machinery)

As these “Manufacturing Areas” evolved, they developed…

• A series of suppliers (small industries) that served the major factories.
• Housing for the workers.
• A network of outlying communities.

Over time, These “Manufacturing Areas” would come and go as technology advanced. For instance, one of the first “Manufacturing Areas” was the Blackstone Valley in Massachusetts. They were big on Buggy Whips, and Corset Hoops. The canals in the Blackstone Valley delivered the products to the ports up and down the New England coastline for distribution to the population centers.

For our purposes, we will omit Blackstone Valley, and instead concentrate in the most recent clusters of “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States. These clusters are all that remains of the industrial might that the United States once was. These clusters were active from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s, with some migratory egress lasting into the 1990’s to places such as “Silicon Valley” and “Industrial Parks” located in the Southeast states.

At that time, the United States had (perhaps) five major “Manufacturing Areas”, and around twenty or so smaller “Manufacturing Areas”. They are all gone now.

The video tours of these areas are very telling…

• Video tour of Pine Bluff AR (Clothing Hub) found HERE

.Video tour of the supporting towns surrounding Pine Bluff found HERE.Video tour of Jackson, MS (Household and commercial goods) found HERE.Video tour of Gary, IN (Automobile, heavy Industry) found HERE.Video tour of Chester PA (General goods, minor industry) found HERE.Video tour of California in 2023 (Western migration of Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Shreveport, LA (Oil, and light manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pennsylvania (Steel and hard Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Kenningston PA (steel and manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pasadena CA (High Tech Hub) found HEREVideo Tour of Steubenville OH (steel, automotive, and household) found HERE

I can provide many other videos. You take a camera and film yourself driving through these “Manufacturing Areas”. There are many of them, and they all look the same. Zombie empty cities. Ruined buildings, decayed infrastructure, crime, drugs, and many, many abandoned shopping carts.

The very few remaining “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States are very well dispersed. They are in these stand alone mini-clusters called “Industrial Parks”. Most American Industrial Parks house from five to up to twenty companies, and typically consist of an office building and a warehouse. Of those that provide any kinds of manufacturing, they tend to be primarily final assembly stations with people who unpack 40′GP shipping containers, re-box foreign-made items, and slap a “Made in the USA” sticker on them.

For the United States to regain ANY kind of major manufacturing role, it must focus on the basics.

• Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.
• laws and regulations that make it easy to create a supplier base to support manufacturing.
• An educational system that encourages talented, and hard-working personnel.
• A society that praises merit, fidelity, and an attention to detail.

I argue that of what remains in the United States today, the United States has a long, long way to go towards regaining it’s long lost industrial base. Do not be fooled by charts and figures that say otherwise. Anyone can lie and create bogus nonsensical charts and figures. Go outside yourself and look around.

American industry is dead.

What remains are either “soft industries” such as “Customer Service stations”, “Computer software coding centers”, or a handful of military and high-tech specialists. These types of industry are not providing “much needed” products and services to the United States domestic requirements.

Compared to China…

There is no comparison. China (which is large enough to house five complete United States inside of it) has over 2000 “Manufacturing Areas” supported by an amazing network of perhaps 10,000 smaller communities that provide first and second tier supply. All with everything needed to make, design, ship quality products globally.

So to answer the question; “Can American industry be revived to a point of serious competition against China?”

The answer is YES. But it will require a complete turnover of the American leadership class, a discarding of the American method of governance, a revamp of the American educational system, and a complete rebuilding of America’s infrastructure from the ground up. If the United States were to come to a full and complete screeching halt right now, and focus on this objective, you can see major changes in the “proper direction” with the next twenty years.

Otherwise, forget-about-it.

Ram Jam “Black Betty” Best of Reactions Compilation

Pennsylvania Dutch Brownies

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup light molasses
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
2. In a 4-quart saucepan, melt butter with chocolate over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat. With wire whisk or fork, stir in molasses, then eggs.
3. With spoon, stir in flour, ginger, cloves, baking soda, salt, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon just until blended. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted 2 inches from edge comes out clean.
4. Meanwhile, in cup, combine remaining 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon; set aside.
5. Remove pan from oven; immediately sprinkle brownies with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cool brownies in pan on wire rack at least 2 hours. When cool, cut brownies lengthwise into 3 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 5 pieces. Cut each piece diagonally in half.

Source: Good Housekeeping Christmas Joys – Hearst Books

@ A Masterpiece! Cranberries – Zombie

So many Africans have been “moved”by this song and video. I guess all the wars in Africa really strike home.

U.S./NATO HQ in Kramatorsk Reportedly “Hit” by Russian Missile(s) – Conflicting Claims and Blame

World Hal Turner 28 June 2023

Late yesterday, June 27, 2023, reports began FLOODING out of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, that a Hotel/Restaurant had been brutally hit by “Russian” Missiles, and NUMEROUS American-English Speakers — and troops with American Flag patches — could be heard and seen in the aftermath.

Photos and video proved there was, in fact, a missile strike.  Those photos and video also PROVED American troop-type people were hit, some injured, some killed.

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Within an hour, Ukraine publicly claimed that innocent children and “American tourists” were the victims. 

“Tourists?” In military uniforms? 

 In an area 30 or so miles from the active front lines that is being shelled almost daily now, after the loss of Bakhmut??

Then, some damning pictures came out showing the remnants of a missile trail in the sky over the hotel, and worse, missile debris on the ground PROVING the missile was a British Storm Shadow missile.    Russians don’t use those . . . .

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This morning, the story has changed quite a bit – TWICE !

First there was a claim that the Ukraine Air Force “accidentally” targeted the hotel.  Well, that might certainly be possible and would explain the Storm Shadow missile debris.   It would also explain the extensive damage – it could, in fact, have been a Russian missile and then a Ukrainian missile by mistake.

But wait, the story changed yet again. 

Word is out this morning that officials are “looking for the people who betrayed the secret meeting taking place, to the Russians.”

Secret meeting? 

With Americans and other NATO troops, under arms and in military uniforms? 

Inside the war zone of Ukraine?

Pass the peas Marge…

China had banned Google, Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Whisper, and pretty much every single major US website. Then made a Chinese knockoff that gives the CCP complete access. Why should anyone defend TikTok?

China has banned nothing in China and in the world.

Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Whisper, and pretty much every single major US website refuse to follow the Chinese laws to operate their operations in China, thus they have not been approved by the Chinese laws for these businesses to operate in China.

It is the US who has blocked all the free international media and internet such as the free Russian international media and internet.

As a result, all Americans have been living in their totally isolated, completely censored and lying media. Americans know nothing about the free world, but the US style of democratic nonsense and disinformation.

@ LUCIANO PAVAROTTI sings NESSUN DORMA (Reaction)