The US’ humiliating exclusion from the centre stage of West Asian politics constitutes a “Suez moment” for the superpower, comparable to the crisis experienced by the UK in 1956, which obliged the British to sense that their imperial project had reached a dead end and the old way of doing things—whipping weaker nations into line as ostensible obligations of global leadership —was no longer going to work and would only lead to disastrous reckoning. <

-India Punchline

When I was in High School, I worked in the coal mines, and did other work as a Forest Fire Fighter, steel mill roustabout, and worked as a clerk in the local grocery store. I needed to earn enough money to go to college.

One of my coworkers; a Dan <redacted>, quit his job working minimum wage and got a job in a town called Petrolia.

Nice short video of this town…

Drive though the town (sorry too jittery)

There, for an extra dollar an hour, he would put on this deep-sea-diving-suit, and crawl into the rail cars that carried toxic chemicals from the processing plants there. His job was to scrub out the interiors. And he did so for a couple of Summers…

A few decades later, say four decades, I’m talking with his Aunt who attended my mother’s funeral.

She told me that Dan had “somehow” gotten a rare form of cancer, and was really having a hard time at it.

I felt bad. But I didn’t tell her my suspicions.

We look at things and life with the eyes of age and experience. I do hope that Dan is doing better, but cancer is a bitch.

Take care people…

…

Jesus H. Christ. Watch this video…

Putin and China just launched the GREAT RESET on the west with this move

Comment

3 cheers for Caitlin!
3 cheers for b's Twitter sketch comedy about Oz spending $400 Billion to protect Oz's trade routes with China, from China, for the Evil Stupid Yankee psychopaths.

What's REALLY stupid about all this submarine malarky is that if AmeriKKKa believes its own bullshit about wanting a war with Russia + China, and that daydream comes true, then AmeriKKKa will be glowing in the dark before construction of the subs has STARTED.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 12 2023 16:18 utc | 15

Talking Heads – Wild Wild Life (Official Video)

Grilled Chili Cheese Fries Foil Packet

Fries topped with chili, diced tomatoes and cheese wrapped in foil for a grilled foil packet recipe to serve as an easy side with no messy dishes.

Ingredients

• PAM Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 (15 ounce) package Alexia® Yukon Gold Julienne Fries with Sea Salt
• 1 (15 ounce) can Wolf® Brand Chili with Beans
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Hunt’s® Diced Tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Heat gas grill for medium-high heat. Overlap by three-fourths two 18 x 20-inch pieces of heavy foil on counter; spray with cooking spray.
2. Place fries in center of foil.
3. Stir together chili and drained tomatoes in medium bowl.
4. Spread mixture evenly over fries; top with cheese.
5. Double fold top and ends of foil, leaving space for steam to gather.
6. Carefully place packet on grate; cover grill.
7. Grill for 25 minutes or until fries are tender and cheese melts.

prep time 5 min | total time 25 min | Yield: 6 servings

Hack chip Bags into Clean & Easy Snack Bowls

If you don’t like fishing blindly for the perfect chips, you can either keep cutting down the opening for more visibility (which ultimately gives you less leverage for resealing) or turn it into a bowl using the “roll up from bottom” method (which retains the leverage you need for proper sealing later).

This also had the added benefit of keeping your forearms and hands cleaner, and is easy to straighten back out for storage. The only downside is that you’ll have a few more crushed chips than usual (see #7 below for help with that). To see how it’s done, check out Grant Thompson’s full guide here on WonderHowto.

Biden’s Zugzwang

Despair or Extinction?

With only bad choices left, Washington has chosen total extinction. In a national version of suicide by cop, the US is rushing towards a war with China it cannot possibly win.

From an historical perspective, this is normal, even predictable.

Rich, powerful people, especially those whose wealth and power are unearned, sincerely believe that God wants things this way and they will fight to the last employee and farmhand rather than surrender a tax break.

Spain’s Philip IV squandered billions maintaining his country’s prestige in the Netherlands and lost the empire.

Japanese politicians, often scions of great warrior clans, went to war rather than accept the vassalage that American embargoes entailed after the Imperial Japanese General Staff correctly predicted the course, duration and outcome of the Pacific War.

Will proud American politicians go to war rather than accept Chinese equality?

Can we avoid war?

Events like these are shaping the battlefield, winning without fighting:

• China’s Iran-Saudi coup dented White House self-confidence, writers need time to weave a new narrative, of thinner thread, delaying Armageddon by weeks or months.
• 500 Chinese billionaire Party members hobnob with the Rothschilds, Windsors, Krupps and Wallenbergs, endow their charities, research centers, universities and hospitals, attract Old Europe towards prosperous, non-interfering China and away from impecunious, meddlesome America.

• Russia’s victory in Ukraine soon after America’s loss in Afghanistan means a further loss of face and confidence. The US must provide hundreds of billions of dollars for Ukraine’s postwar support and spend more replenishing equipment and supplies, delaying Armageddon 2 years.
• Taipei and China Coast Guard announce joint patrols, forcing White House speechwriters to rework the “defend Taiwan” meme.
• The possibility of dying a noble death in a distant battle has some appeal. The certainty of being fried alive within minutes has none. The 46-minute interval between pressing a button and seeing the first flash is insufficient time to board the chopper.
• At the BRI’s 10th birthday party in Beijing this summer, 151 heads of state will announce the new reserve/settlement currency. In it, the dollar will be fairly weighted, as will commodities like gold and corn that anchor it to the physical world. It will erode the dollar’s privilege slowly and organically.
• The US took six months to prepare for the Iraq war while in full control of the land, sky and seas. China completely controls the land, sky and seas 1000 miles from its borders – and deep space.
• China’s missile defense system beats America’s by the same margin that China’s health defense system beats America’s: 100:1.
• Though fleets win battles, economies win wars. China’s productive (wartime) economy is three times bigger than America’s and growing three times faster.

America the humble?

Rome declined for a thousand years, Spain took a century, the British Empire was gone in forty. America has two years to adjust to its real status or initiate a nuclear war¹.

Humility footnote

We got a foretaste of America’s forthcoming humiliation after Nicholas Burns, US Ambassador to China, told Beijing expats that China must accept America’s leadership.

Questioned about his claim, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman quipped, “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t”².

This is Reality…

Disasters Strike Egypt – The Ten Commandments 1956

Uh oh…

The US Navy researchers invented a new explosive with formidable capabilities in 1987, named China Lake Compound No. 20 (CL-20), after the Southern California base where it was developed.

The CL-20 had 40 percent greater penetrating power and propellant range than the US military’s mainstay explosives, first produced during World War II (WWII).

However, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union (USSR), the Pentagon’s sense of urgency to field new and advanced weaponry declined, which stunted the effort of perfecting CL-20 and designing weapons to use it.

China, however, understood the potential of the CL-20 and developed its version of this explosive material which began mass production in 2011.

Most of the long-range missiles fielded by China to prevent the US warships and non-stealthy aircraft, such as refueling tankers, from intervening if the Chinese military attacks Taiwan, are believed to be propelled by CL-20.

“This is a case where we could potentially be beaten over the head with our technology,” Bob Kavetsky, head of the Energetic Technology Center (ETC), a nonprofit research group that works for the US government, told Forbes.

For years now, Kavetsky and other experts in the field of energetics have been warning that the US, which was once a leader in explosives, has fallen dangerously behind China.

To worsen matters more, the US depends on China as a primary source for about a half dozen chemical ingredients in explosives, propellants, and other hostile foreign countries for another dozen.

If the US decides to intervene in a conflict in Taiwan Strait, the US military will face a greater number of Chinese missiles, including some with better range and power, made possible by Chinese advances in CL-20 and technology to make fuels burn more efficiently.

Also, the Chinese have invested heavily in developing and producing larger missiles than US forces can bring to the conflict by either air or sea.

China Overtakes The US

Meanwhile China appears to be trying to position itself as a world leader in energetics. As per the data from Georgetown’s Center for Strategic and Emerging Technologies, over the last five years, Chinese researchers in energetics materials have published nearly seven times as many papers as their American counterparts.

Due to the dangers of handling explosives, and limited civilian applications of the materials involved, military explosives have been almost entirely developed and manufactured in US government facilities.

While some American military researchers have developed new explosives and propellants over the past few decades, none have been put into mass production.

As for the production, almost all US explosives are produced at a single US Army plant in Holston, Tennessee, that goes back to WWII and is run by UK-based defense contractor BAE Systems, as the production processes are just as old, with explosives being prepared in 400-gallon vats resembling cake mixers.

It is impossible to produce CL-20 and many other advanced energetic materials using these processes, as they are synthesized in smaller amounts in chemical reactors.

Regarding the production scale, it is possible to produce 20,000 pounds of CL-20 annually with current amounts of precursor chemicals. However, large-scale use would need 2 million pounds a year, which could take three to five years to step up.

A thought

CrazyTrain @57--Asks:

do people really foresee a benevolant world governance being successfully implemented and led by China? Don't people think the fallibility of human hubris and overreach will eventually corrupt their system as well?

The world governance being discussed is based on the principles contained in the UN Charter and would be led by all nations as zero hegemony is to exist. My answer is based upon what Russia, China, and their RoW partners have and continue to say and put into daily practice over the past five years at minimum. Russia's been espousing the need to follow/enforce the UN Charter since Putin came to power and his team plus the vast majority of Russian's endorse that view, and the same goes for China. China and Russia formed a Friends in Defense of the UN Charter organization almost three years ago that contains the rest of BRICS, SCO and other nations while slowly continuing to grow. I insist you read the Global Security Initiative forwarded by Xi Jinping along with the 4 Feb 2022 Joint Declaration made by Russia/China. Furthermore, while following Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, meetings globally for many years now, in most every review of his talks it's mentioned that it's agreed by the host nation that the principles of the UN Charter must be followed, or that there's no substitute for those principles. Putin in almost every speech aimed at an international audience for many years now has emphasized the principle of sovereign equality between all nations regardless of size or "geopolitical weight." The need to further democratize the UN is voiced by both Russia, China and their partners and echoed by all others except the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals. And yes, it's admitted that the current UN is corrupted by the Empire and thus doesn't obey its own principles thus requiring reform.

And then there's the international financial system that's mostly controlled by the Empire which has also proven its 100% untrustworthiness though its actions over many decades. That is currently in the process of being altered into the fair, just system demanded by the RoW.

I often emphasize that the war that's happening IS global as the RoW has finally banded together to defeat the Empire's hegemony. That may not be readily apparent but it's true nonetheless. Russia's December 2021 security proposals are based on the same principle as Xi's GSI and the UN Charter. Several years ago at the UNGA, Iran proposed a very similar plan for the Persian Gulf Region, which was based largely on a previous proposal made by Russia. The reality is despite the longstanding Establishment Narrative voiced by the Outlaw US Empire it is the semi-totalitarian entity responsible for the vast majority of human conflicts since 1945 that include several genocides. The current goal is to contain it, force it to retreat, then strip it of its vassals until most of its bloc has melted away. Perhaps by that time the many great contradictions that exist within the Empire will have finally forced a complete political overhaul; otherwise, it will retain and exploit its continental empire until revolution alters its nature.

So, my answer to your query is no, humanity will evolve beyond conflict to cooperation, and this is already very visible. The main entity restraining that evolution is the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals. No, it won't be instantaneous, and conflict will be a part of the process as the Empire will contest its containment and retreat; and within the Empire, there'll be suffering as the parasites continue to kill the host. But to prompt the required rebellion, economic suffering will be required as nothing else seems to be a motivating factor.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 12 2023 23:05 utc | 90

TALKING HEADS – Psycho Killer (1980)

Keeping up with the “news”

Last week’s post on Moon of Alabama:

• Mar 6 – Why Bakhmut Is Falling
• Mar 11 – Ukraine Is Lying About Casualty Ratios To Justify Holding Of Bakhmut
  Related:
  – Defending Ukraine’s ‘highway of life’ — the last road out of Bakhmut – Washington Post
  – I Teach International Relations. I Think We’re Making a Mistake in Ukraine. – Max Abrahms – Atlantic
    The U.S. risks provoking Russian aggression.

• Mar 7 – Nord Stream Attack – White House Counters Hersh’s Reputation With Weak ‘Intelligence’
• Mar 8 – Nord Stream Attack – ‘Officials’ Throw More Chaff To Hide The Real Perpetrators
  Related:
  – A global mystery: What’s known about Nord Stream explosions – AP
  – Nord Stream mystery: the tanker Minerva Julie spent 7 days idling near the attack site – Business Insider
  Note: AIS can be faked so it may have been a different ship.

• Mar 10 – Mediated By China Iran And Saudi Arabia Restore Ties – There Are Winners And Losers
  Related:
  – Chinese-Brokered Deal Upends Mideast Diplomacy and Challenges U.S. – New York Times
  – Saudi Deal With Iran Surprises Israel and Jolts Netanyahu – New York Times
  – China-brokered Iran-Saudi deal raises red flags for US – The Hill
  – China steps up, a new era has dawned in world politics – Indian Punchline

> The US’ humiliating exclusion from the centre stage of West Asian politics constitutes a “Suez moment” for the superpower, comparable to the crisis experienced by the UK in 1956, which obliged the British to sense that their imperial project had reached a dead end and the old way of doing things—whipping weaker nations into line as ostensible obligations of global leadership —was no longer going to work and would only lead to disastrous reckoning. <

—
Other issues:

Silicon Valley Bank:

• SVB Chief Pressed Lawmakers To Weaken Bank Risk Regs – Levernews
• Silicon Valley Bank employees received bonuses hours before government takeover – CNBC
• Silicon Valley Bank Used Former McCarthy Staffers to Weaken Regulations, Lobby FDIC – Intercept
  Two senior aides to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the top lobbyists for the bank at the center of a new financial crisis
• Fed Hawkishness, Crypto Implosion, and Private Equity Subscription Lines of Credit Imperil Silicon Valley Bank and Freak Out Bank Stock Investors – Naked Capitalism
• Saturday Night Thoughts on the Need for a Lender of Last Resort – Brad DeLong
• Bailout talk roils Washington after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse – Washington Post
  Government help for large depositors could ignite a political firestorm — but failing to act could crush some tech start-ups
• US weighs new fund to backstop deposits if more banks fail, Bloomberg News says – Reuters

Aukus:

• Caitlin Johnstone: Spreading War Fever in Australia – Consortiumnews
• Concern eye-watering cost for Australia to go nuclear could lead to higher taxes – News.au
• To Protect Itself From U.S. Hostility Australia Decides To Buy U.S. Submarines (Sep 16, 2021) – Moon of Alabama
  See also this and this MoA piece.

Twitter Files:

• 1. TWITTER FILES: Statement to Congress – Matt Taibbi
  THE CENSORSHIP-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
• EXPOSED: America’s Secret Censorship-Industrial Complex – Michael Shellenberger
  U.S. government officials, agencies, and contractors are violating the First Amendment
• FTC Twitter Investigation Sought Elon Musk’s Internal Communications, Journalist Names – WSJ
• Hearing Brings Attention To US Agency’s Effort To Compel Twitter To Identify Journalists Working On ‘Twitter Files’ – Dissenter
• Jim Jordan Leads Hearing Targeting Govt Suppression Of Free Speech On Twitter Feat. Matt Taibbi (video, 140min) – Forbes
• With the Twitter Files, Democrats Support Government Censorship of Lawful Speech – Bracing Views
• Post-decency politics: House Democrats use a hearing to attack free speech and a free press – The Hill

Cleopatra (1963 ) Elizabeth Taylor Entrance into Rome Scene (HD)

Unemployment Insurance History Of The World

This is so darn funny!

Don’t Open potato chips Bags Using Hands Only

For most of us, opening a bag of chips is second nature. You grab each side and pull it apart. If it sticks, you use one hand to pull on the vertical flap for more leverage. Occasionally, though, you’ll get a stubborn bag that would rather disfigure itself than give you a clean opening.

Making the bag easier to open at home is not the main concern with snack manufacturers, it’s making sure they don’t prematurely open on the way to the store. Most bags are heat-sealed with adhesive polymer, which is usually done at low temperatures with high pressure to speed up the bond and keep production lines moving fast.

But chip makers don’t all use the same ratios, making some brands easy to open and others impossible. To make sure you always get a clean opening, which is important for resealing, always use a knife or pair of scissors.

Chicken Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches
with Tomato and Arugula

Chicken Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches. Chicken bacon, eggs, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and arugula are piled inside toasted English muffins.

Prep: 5 min | Cook: 10 min | Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (3 ounce) package Al Fresco Uncured Original Fully Cooked Chicken Bacon, 8 slices
• 4 whole wheat English muffin, sliced in half, toasted
• 4 eggs, large, raw
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar, distilled
• 4 slices tomato, thinly sliced
• 4 slices cheddar cheese, lower sodium
• Small handful arugula

Instructions

1. To poach the eggs, fill a deep skillet with 2 inches of water, add vinegar, and bring to simmer over medium heat.
2. Crack each egg into separate custard cups. Gently slide 1 egg at a time into simmering water in skillet. Cook just until egg whites are set, about 3 minutes (yolks will be only partially cooked).
3. Place 8 slices of chicken bacon on a microwave safe plate and heat in the microwave for 30 to 50 seconds, or until desired crispness is achieved.
4. To assemble, place 1/2 of the toasted English muffin on a plate and top with a slice of cheese.
5. Use a slotted spoon and carefully transfer the egg on top of cheese, add chicken bacon followed by the tomato slice and arugula.

Keep Your Hands Clean with Chopsticks

No matter what method you’re using above, you’re still going to get your hands dirty when you finally dive in. For some, it’s all part of the job, and leads to the even more delicious salt or cheese flavored fingers. But if you want to avoid Cheeto fingers while you’re playing Call of Duty 18—just use chopsticks.

This trick also works well with other finger foods like chocolate, sour candies, and popcorn.

Borg Queen Is Aware Of Q | Star Trek Picard S02E02

"The change in the time-line originates in 2024."

Lordy!

Talk about forecasting the future through fiction!!!!

Some racist remarks in this excellent commentary. Do not be upset by the words. -MM

In a rare bipartisan signal of unequivocal support to India, three powerful Senators introduced a resolution on Thursday in the United States (US) Senate that reaffirms that the state of Arunachal Pradesh as an “integral part of India".

It supports India’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”, and condemns China for the “use of military force” to change the status quo at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and its other provocations, and lauds the government of India for the steps it has taken to “defend itself” against the “aggression and security threats” from China.

USA trying to stir up trouble again

Secret Life of Walter Mitty – Space Oddity scene

One of my favorite films. A wonderful scene.