Yves here. You got more links than usual due so a super-sized Our No Longer Free Press section. Even so, we neglected some topics, so please do not hector us but add those stories as you see fit in comments.
10-foot python found ‘abandoned’ in vehicle, California police say USA Today (Robin K)
Record labels forgot these songs existed. One man rescued them BBC (Kevin W)
The hunter-gatherers of the 21st century who live on the move aeon (Anthony L)
India’s lunar lander unearths evidence the moon once had a magma ocean Washington Post (Robin K)
#COVID-19
Climate/Environment
Gene editors are modifying cow guts to stop their planet-warming burps Washington Post (Dr. Kevin). This seems like overkill. I thought feeding them a certain type of seaweed would do. Is there a scale problem with that?
Texas city flooded with mountain of plastic recycling that hasn’t been touched in a year Daily Mail (Kevin W)
The Coming Pollen Storms Nomea (Micael T)
China?
‘Turn the dial up’: Kevin O’Leary calls for bringing the heat against China to ‘blowtorch temperature’ Fox News (Kevin W). This is not the way a secure or serious country talks.
China Gains Secret Access to Nvdia Microchips by Renting Computers Michael Shedlock (BC)
China slams U.S. for adding firms to export control list over alleged support for Russian military CNBC
China’s ghost stations show a nation haunted by debt The TimesHow China’s growing unemployment has given rise to ‘rotten tail kids’ First Post
Almost 70,000 Japanese people will die alone this year and with the population rapidly aging it could become much worse ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Myanmar
China steps up armed patrols on border as Myanmar conflict deepens Aljazeera
European Disunion
Quite an incredible move in French politics today that might reveal that we're in fact witnessing nothing less than a coup by Macron.
Let me explain 🧵
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) August 24, 2024
And now a communiqué by La France Insoumise ("France's unbowed"), the main political force in the New Popular Front coalition, in reply to Macron's decision.
They announce they're moving ahead with an impeachment procedure against Macron.https://t.co/8Yv7GcU7g2
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) August 26, 2024
Soros pays for the fight against the BSW and ZDF helps Anti-Spiegel (Micael T). BSW = Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance
SJ was destroyed for purely ideological reasons Aftonbladet. Micael T: “SJ = Swedish Railways. Sosse = pejorative for Social Democrats.”
Old Blighty
‘A bad winter would finish me off’: The pensioners facing fuel poverty Independent
The coming collapse of Britain Alex Krainer (Micael T)
The meaning of depoliticisation The Critic (Anthony L)
South of the Border
Quelle surprise:
The United States government declared that it will not comply with the ruling of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice regarding the last elections on July 28, where the victory of Nicolas Maduro as elected president of the country was confirmed.https://t.co/2KxXNvhYzm
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) August 25, 2024
Gaza
Ben-Gvir’s call to build synagogue at Al-Aqsa ‘to drag region into religious war’: Palestine Anadolu Agency
Cabinet ministers warn Ben Gvir endangering Israel with ‘reckless’ Temple Mount moves Times of Israel
Patrick Lawrence: “The End of Days” Scheerpost (Anthony L)
* * * Freed Israeli captive Noa Argamani says she was wounded by Israel, not Hamas Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
Jonathan Freedland rewrites history to hide an ugly truth about Israel Jonathan Cook. Kevin W: “The cited link to the Electric Intifada piece: https://electronicintifada.net/content/guardians-zionist-gatekeeper-rewrites-holocaust-history/48441“
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia strikes Ukraine’s power grid in ‘most massive’ attack of war Reuters (Robin K)
Powerful Russian Strikes Usher in Season of Ukrainian Discontent Simplicius
* * * Ukraine conscripts ‘refusing to shoot at Russians and abandoning battlefield’ Irish Star (Li). Means Ukraine is running short of neo-Nazi anti-retreat forces.
Ukraine’s Troop Losses Top 5,800 in Kursk Region Sputnik (Robin K)
* * * Ukraine Develops ‘Its Own’ Cruise Missile Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Russia claims US preparing to organize ‘color revolution’ in Georgia Anadolu Agency. Not a hard call.
Syraqistan
More than 70 killed in multiple armed attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan Aljazeera
Imperial Collapse Watch
No, the world isn’t heading toward a new Cold War – it’s closer to the grinding world order collapse of the 1930s The Conversation. Not the sort of thing you expect to read at this venue.
Global race for nuclear weapons at record high, warns UN Financial Times
Trump
RFK Jr., environmental warrior, backs the ‘drill, baby, drill’ ticket Washington Post (Kevin W)
BREAKING: Declassified Susan Rice Email Confirms Michael Flynn Was Personally Targeted In Oval Office Meeting Federalist (Chuck L)
2024
Is this thing on? Harris and Trump battle over hot mics at debate. Politico. I hate to concede that Breitbart has a point: Trump Campaign Opposes Harris’s Attempt to Abruptly Change September 10 Debate Rules. It seems, as Lambert noted, that the Harris and Biden campaign are one in the same when it comes to taking money raised for Biden, but not when the Harris campaign finds it inconvenient. Li adds: “So he can look mean to a woman.”
Democrats sue to block new GOP-backed Georgia election certification rules CNN (Kevin W)
For Over 150 Years, Democratic Party Operatives Have Infiltrated, Coopted and Destroyed Independent Political Movements in the U.S. CovertAction (fk)
Our No Longer Free Press
US orchestrated Durov arrest – former spokesman RT
Informative:
Just got booted from the @MarioNawfal space so I’m gonna speak my peace here: what’s behind today’s arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov pic.twitter.com/FexLvJZK92
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) August 25, 2024
“#FreePavel”: Telegram CEO Becomes Latest Target of European Censors Jonathan Turley
Alex Christoforu argues with some detail that the action against Durov was likely also against Telegram’s coin and payment platform: Telegram Durov arrested as plane lands in France. Zakharova, NGO hypocrisy. Starmer Ukraine video YouTube
It seems you're lying through your teeth
The investigation came from OFMIN, an office created less than a year ago
And which reports through your executive branchhttps://t.co/bhoWxjZuhS
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) August 26, 2024
The CEO of Rumble has fled Europe after the arrest of Pavel Durov as France also threatens their platform pic.twitter.com/GYTqatBbHl
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) August 25, 2024
* * * Mark Zuckerberg Says White House Was ‘Wrong’ to Pressure Facebook on Covid Wall Street Journal (BC)
Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things:
1. Biden-Harris Admin "pressured" Facebook to censor Americans.
2. Facebook censored Americans.
3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Big win for free speech. pic.twitter.com/ALlbZd9l6K
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024
Woke Watch
When a Department Self-Destructs Chronicle of Higher Education (Anthony L)
Falling Apart Boeing Airplanes
Two days that led to Boeing’s near midair disaster Seattle Times (Kevin W)
NASA Decides to Bring Starliner Spacecraft Back to Earth Without Crew NASA (Kevin W)
Big Cannabis behaving like Big Tobacco Anandamide
Post-pandemic global supply chain turmoil might still ruin Christmas South China Morning Post
The Bezzle
‘Don’t Trust Google for Customer Service Numbers. It Might Be a Scam.’ Washington Post
Sam Bankman-Fried Didn’t Have ‘Character of a Thief’, Argues Author Michael Lewis Decrypt. Hoo boy.
Class Warfare
NYC public hospital doctors ordered to shorten appointments to see more patients Gothamist (Dr. Kevin)
‘Barely surviving’: Some flight attendants are facing homelessness and hunger Yahoo! News (Kevin W)
The thing that will surprise a lot of people is how low Intel pay is in the USA. Hacker News (Paul R)
“Proving them wrong”: After raising minimum wage, California has more fast-food jobs than ever Salon (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour (Cheryl K):
And a bonus (Chuck L):
Once in a lifetime shot. Park ranger uses a shotgun to separate (and save) two antler locked bucks pic.twitter.com/gAB2WWdwsR
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 23, 2024
A second bonus:
So relatable 🤗 pic.twitter.com/2eNrLiggr5
— Cats That Heal Your Depression (@Catshealdeprsn) August 27, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
124 comments
Comments are closed.
ORANGE
Nothing rhymes with orange!
No, it doesn’t either
That rhyme cannot adorn your verse
What say we take a breather?
No word to rhyme with orange?!
That’s not your job—you know it
It’s 4 AM by candlelight
You sure you are a poet?
But rappers rhyme with orange!
They make up words to fit
They rush and crush whole syllables
To hurry through their skit
So who invented orange?
The Tamil folk of Inja
It spread to Rome to France to England
Snuck in like a ninja
For sure no rhyme for orange?
There isn’t—there’s no way
The sun lights the horizon—
Can we please please hit the hay?
My son when he was 7 years old said that ‘orange’ (the fruit) rhymes with ‘orange’ (the color). The Joker (in some Batman cartoon or other) argued that ‘wh_re binge’ rhymes with ‘orange’. So there you have it.
I like your son’s answer. There’s also “sporange“, and “door hinge”.
Anyone have a rhyme for “month”?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chrysanth
The Flaming Lips disagree ;)
.Forage for an orange?
“Ukraine calls on Belarus to pull back forces from border”
‘Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Aug. 18 that Ukraine had stationed more than 120,000 troops at the border with Belarus, and deployed nearly a third of its armed forces along the entire border.’
This being the case and after what happened at Kursk, why would Belarus trust the Ukrainians not to do something stupid to widen the war? Maybe make an incursion into Belarus and seek to have countries like Poland come to the Ukraine’s aid. After all, Israel is thinking about invading Lebanon to widen the war so that the US/UK & France will come to their aid. Desperate countries often do stupid things.
Good questions. Particularly since Belarus’ population (9 mil) and it’s active duty army (40-50k) are small. So if there are really that many Ukrainian troops on the border, they seem a bigger threat to Belarus than vice versa.
If there was a provocation as you say, it would presumably be aimed at forcing Russia to divert forces to defend Belarus.
Ukraine wouldn’t, because those 120,000 paid good money to be positioned on Belarus border. And also have friends in high places.
120,000 troops, probably consisting of cops, border guards, firemen, and mobilization press gangs. I wonder how many tanks and howitzers do they wield, not to menton the ammo that they would shoot in a potential firefight.
Since those 120,000 troops probably outnumber the Belarus forces 2:1, Belarus would be crazy to pull back. As it is, with troop concentrations that high, you have to wonder why Russia isn’t bombing the living daylights out of them. Not only are they threatening an ally of Russia, but they’re in position to join the attacks from Sumy into Russia. Unless they are exceptionally well-camouflaged, they should be a prime target.
I wonder if that troop concentration is real, then. Firstly, Lukashenko is not known for his staunch adherence to the truth. Secondly, neither are the Ukrainians. Thirdly, maybe they really do have those troops spread across the border, but only on paper.
Re Antidote de jour
Is that a Western Politician? A booby? Todays headlines could be summarised as: The West is sliding down the crapper; the ROTW are winning bigly. God, I love fresh schadenfreud in the morning. So good, thanks!
Yes, that’s a Booby.
It’s a blue-footed booby. Here are some more images of the blue-footed booby.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrNOVfuBtFmeiQCw2FXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=blue+footed+booby+image&fr=sfp
Where I live the health care providers shortened appointment times to 20 Minuit 3 years ago. It happened when the two health care systems bought out all of the private practices. There are no independent providers. They are all employees of the two corporations. It has resulted in many older providers retiring and younger ones moving on to greener pastures.
A local doctor told me that he had to fire one of his insurers due to the shortened appointments. He said that there was no way to practice medicine when told to allow only six minutes per patient. Other insurers had not yet begun that downward spiral, only 22 short years ago.
Now it can seem a luxury to have a doctor listen and review thoroughly with less pressure to diagnose according to a reimbursement coding schedule. The Hippocratic Oath can live on.
While not sitting in front of an EHR typing notes and clicking boxes in a workflow.
re: Gene editors are modifying cow guts …
It might be more cost-effective to permanently edit the cow genome than to be harvesting seaweed, then shipping it to where the cows are …
More money to be made from a patented gene than from seaweed.
Income streams starting with the accompanying vet visits to check on and update Bessie’s shots. Which politicians will ruminate on the potential side effects?
Yves asks “Is it (seaweed provision) a problem of scale?
Yes and no. Red seaweed, the most potent ‘anti-burp’ of the genus is prolific in shallow waters all over the world. Harvesting the natural growth is the main hurdle – it cost labour. It can be harvested from farms, but they need to be shallow water structures that are not suited to the other species that require deeper waters, and that commersial aquaculturists prefer to farm for profit. You could say that this is one of the many examples of the identified hurdles that we most modern humans face when considering the guardianship of our planet. How do we get everyone to get together and steer a funded course of action that will save us all?
A fine initiative by a Swedish startup here –
https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2021/05/21/Methane-emissions-focused-Swedish-startup-secures-more-funding
They also seek to address the funding issue – in Sweden!
I don’t think seaweed would be at all affordable.
I find this, like most national elections, very hard to take seriously. The media, who really seems to be focused more on clickbait, eyeballs and sideshow stories (i.e., making money as opposed to journalism) continues the endless churn of stories and headlines about stuff that doesn’t matter. Take for example the current kerfuffle over debate rules. It fits perfectly. They can breathlessly talk about it for a day or two then move on to the next story that threatens democracy and the planet as we know it. Meanwhile, the vast percentage of citizens aren’t paying any attention, they actually have lives to lead, and the debate will happen and no one will care or remember this story.
Of course, the bigger story is that on the positive the neoliberal consensus is toast, and not just in the US, no matter how hard both parties try to keep it on life support. One could argue that what Trump has done is advance the Republican Party to something new much faster than the Democrats, even if stylistically he is not really focused on a replacement and building a coalition that can run for several decades.
Many years ago there was alined article on NC about how the consensus comes about and a number of variables that once satisfied signifies a “revolution”. It defined revolution as a change in the prevailing way we organize society. We satisfied all the conditions something like twenty years again. They point out that you cannot determine in advance the trigger that will cause the change, whether it will be peaceful or violent, and whether the new principles will come from the left or right. It really strikes me that that is where most of the West is now. (Neoliberalism replaced the New Deal coalition, etc.) I have searched for the article and, of course, can’t find it. But it does seem to explain well what we are seeing.
A quick Reading of ‘The True Believer -Thoughts on the nature of Mass Movements” by Eric Hoffer Pub. 1951 may offer some insight into what we are seeing.
Also, ‘Rumor, Fear and the Madness of Crowds’ by J.P Chaplin pub 1959 helps.
Finally, ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ by Sinclair Lewis Copyright 1935 – I also like the Signet Classics version with intro by Michael Meyer and Afterword by by Gary Scharnhorst.
Gives a feeling that they was published as current events to explain what we are seeing now.
It sounds like Harris, who proudly proclaims herself Brat, wants to make sure the debate can be turned into an argument should things not be going her way. Meanwhile the rest of us have doubts whether either one of them will have anything meaningful to say and open mics will merely reinforce that fear–generating a desire to turn them off all the time.
Venue control is how the Dems hope to put their unlikely candidate over the line. If she agrees to any further debates other than this one that would be very surprising.
Someone, I think it was on Rising, half jokingly suggested that the harris campaign is trying to set up a debate situation in which she can lay one of her “signature” lines–“I’m speaking”–on Trump.
No can do if he’s muted while she’s “speaking.”
Since the harris campaign is pretty much all about gimmicks, I wouldn’t put it past ’em.
The PMC class really identifies with “I’m speaking”, to be sure. You’d hope for better from our elected representatives, particularly when it comes to an ongoing US-sponsored genocide, but here we are.
‘Nature is Amazing ☘️
@AMAZlNGNATURE
Once in a lifetime shot. Park ranger uses a shotgun to separate (and save) two antler locked bucks’
What else can you say?
‘That’s good shootin’, Tex.’
Although he has ruined the mating chances of the buck whose anters were blown off.
There’s always next year.
Not like that buck had much of a mating chance when he was stuck together either though. “Uhh…you mind if my friend watches?”
There is a taxidermy of two bull moose who succumbed from locked antlers, it travels about New England on occasion.
The shot was well taken. The pattern of “shot” and the concussion is abut 6 inches in diameter at 10 or 15 yards. The ranger had to shot high!
Good shot!
>There is a taxidermy of two bull moose who succumbed from locked antlers, it travels about New England on occasion.
That would be this
https://nhwildlifeheritage.org/forever-locked/
>Sam Bankman-Fried Didn’t Have ‘Character of a Thief’, Argues Author Michael Lewis Decrypt.
“Sam was always encouraged to think of himself as special — first by his parents and finally by Jane Street, the trading firm where he got his start,” said Lewis, adding that, “The situation was complicated by the fact that he was special.”
Oh, he was special alright, just like most of the oligarchs who are really running not only the financial system but the U.S.’s foreign policy. But hey Michael Lewis, it’s not all that complicated, moral depravity in its various manifestations has been around a long time.
New career for Lewis as expert witness in white collar corruption trials?
Plenty of book material there.
Maybe tag team with Grisham for a new franchise, and screenplays, too. /s
>‘Barely surviving’: Some flight attendants are facing homelessness and hunger – Yahoo! News
Reminds me of the news story of Margaret Mary Vojtko, a 25-year adjunct faculty member at Duquesne University who died in poverty. Jobs may carry a certain desirable social status/glamor, but they don’t protect you in this country from starving. This, in contrast to restaurant wait staff in Italy that manage fairly well on their wages, or at least they did when I last visited.
https://www.npr.org/2013/09/22/224946206/adjunct-professor-dies-destitute-then-sparks-debate
Don’t let anything interfere with brunch or cocktails!
On the Covid ‘Off-Ramp’: No Tests, Isolation or Masks NYT archive
Sorry gasping grandma, but it just like a cold!
Saw it. Couldn’t read it. What a testament to the complete destruction of Public Health under Joe Biden and The Democrats. They’ve completely normalized repeat infection with a dangerous virus for which we now have overwhelming evidence that it causes disability with repeat exposure.
Public health is an interesting public resource, because it is largely built on trust. No quantity of material resources and personnel resources matter, if citizens reject public health messaging. So like the rest of the public commons under neoliberalism, it’s been thoroughly and completely destroyed, exploited until it no longer functions meaningfully at all.
And that trust flows through all messaging; lie about one thing, and no one trusts you about anything. Who’s going to take any public health messaging seriously about Mpox now? What about H5N1? We’re in an era of negative trust at this point, because for example if the CDC says it isn’t airborne, we know they’re probably lying.
What’s particularly pernicious is, if someone rejects public health messaging, that has follow-on effects on others. That’s why it is public health. This is the “not testing” nonsense in the NY Times article.
It really did take a Democrat to destroy public health. No more testing. No more metrics. No more reporting. Kind of astounding.
>Alex Christoforu argues with some detail that the action against Durov was likely also against Telegram’s coin and payment platform
Christoforu adds context to Pavel Durov’s arrest I had not read anywhere else. Thanks for posting, this is an important story to follow.
Haven’t got to Christiforou yet, but the Russians with Attitude guys said he was in France in the first place to avoid be arrested by the Russians for refusing to turn over user info.
He was living in the Middle East (forgive me for not remembering where, maybe UAE?). Christoforu reports he even asked the pilot not to land in Paris, you can see a short diversion on the flight path. Dunno why he realized so late in his plans it was a bad idea. It was reported that he had AVOIDED going to France for quite a while.
Maybe he did a deal?
Do a quick term of comfortable incarceration (let’s call it a “Thaksin”), play ball, his liberty is restored.
Unlike the figure you mentioned, Durov does not seem to have any deep attachment to the nation that has captured him. As a child, he lived in Italy, not France. So there’s no reason for him to capitulate easily. It’s clear the French are trying to come up with charges and are not having an easy time finding ones that might stick.
Dubai. It has partly replaced European options like London as a magnet for Russian capital and sometimes its owners in recent years.
UAE seems to take this seriously; apparently they just froze the purchase of 80 Rafale fighters from France.
No wonder no one believes the WP
Last year the US produced the most oil and gas in its history according to every metric I could find.
Hard to believe a Trump could out drill what’s been happening.
which is why US natgas is <$2, and ironically the unsung *linchpin* as why inflation has been relatively reined-in since 2022.
but natgas is is too important and useful a resource to sell @<$3.50 (feedstock, heating, etc)
There will be a reckoning when the US wells start ageing out and the US will have no more road to kick the can upon.
Jimmy Dore said years ago that when the Washington Post talks of how ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’, that that is not a motto but a mission statement.
“‘A bad winter would finish me off’: The pensioners facing fuel poverty”
Now here is a scenario to think about. As soon as Keir Starmer took power, he announced that his first priority was the Ukraine. Now the past day or so the Russians have been hammering a lot of what is left of the electrical grid which means that the Ukrainians are in for a freezing cold winter this year. So what happens if in December, Starmer announces that the UK will be sending billions of pounds worth of heating equipment, blankets and oil heaters with supplies of oil for the poor people of the Ukraine? I could very easily see this happen.
And his second priority is ensuring Israel is able to continue to ‘defend’ itself. Starmer recently claimed he will need 10 years to turn Britain around. That pressupposes Labour will win the next election within the next 5 years. The way he is going that will never happen. Farage must be rubbing his hand with glee.
UK per capita growth has been less than half-a-percent a year since 2007:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1tamc
August 4, 2014
Real per capita Gross Domestic Product for China and United Kingdom, 2007-2023
(Percent change)
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1tamL
August 4, 2014
Real per capita Gross Domestic Product for China and United Kingdom, 2007-2023
(Indexed to 2007)
England gets its turn in the barrel, now becoming the latest
sickfreezing man of Europe. When 25% are reported as likely being heating-insecure this winter there will be stiff upper lips and more to consider. Parliament and Downing Street seem to be reduced to reactive policies that amount to whistling past the icy graveyard of Empire.“A bad winter would finish me off…”
The policy was that Labour would become Conservative when a government change was actually voted, and that is just what has happened. All that surprises me is the coarseness of UK political leaders.
“Access to” healthcare is being redefined. I have become used to a waiting period of 8 months to see a specialist MD. Now I hear from my grown kids on the east coast US that you can’t easily see an MD for your PCP (primary care physician) in their area of New England. To see an MD for PCP you wait one year. To see a PA (physician’s assistant) you wait 6 months. So one of my kids sees an RN regularly as their “PCP.” The other one just goes to an urgicare for anything that comes up. This is shocking to me as they live in major cities known for their prestigious hospitals.
I realize some medical staff took early retirement since the beginning of Covid, but this seems like a huge change. I live in the MidWest and can still get an appointment with my MD PCP about 2-7 days ahead. What has happened in the greater Boston area? Is this common where you live?
Not for those with a concierge doctor!
Which I would consider if I had the $$$.
Personally, for minor sick visits or annual physicals, I’m happy with a 15-minute appointment with a PA because I actually have a doctor who knows me and I like the PA and have (pretty) good insurance.
A PA or some flavor of nurse is only reasonable for a person who has regular, routine medical care from the same office. Which is not many of us.
On top of that, I have doctors in the family and know a few. Im a call or text away from a free second opinion for a few specialties. (And war stories from the front lines.)
I cannot image what it’s like to have an elderly parent in the house and three kids with little “access” to healthcare for yourself and dependents.
My husband and I are elderly and our kids want us to move near to them in the Boston area. This access problem gives us pause about that. Our options for medical treatment would be so limited there. Basically go to an urgicare or the ER (terrible wait times) for many issues. As our health issues increase so will the pressure from our kids to move there. The amount of time we have to put in for our medical care now is more than we want to put on our kids who have so little time due to demanding jobs and children to take care of. It’s looking like a tough situation all around.
Access in UK has become horribly variable. When my mental health improved enough to turn me back into my old bolshy self who knew how to work the system I started getting the backlog of scans etc done….. But the point is I shouldn’t have had to “game the system” to achieve this.
It’s horribly unfair.
My husband and I have learned to game the US system a bit by finding providers of tests that are not “in the system” of our local mega hospital corporation. We make sure these independent providers take our insurance, but we can get appointments for tests in about a week rather than the usual month if using hospitals “in the system.” We often spend about 5 hours a day coordinating this with our doctors in the system who ordered the tests. We often have to physically take CDs of previous tests to the doctors who will compare them. We are able to coordinate all this at our present age and with no mental deterioration (knock on wood), but there will come a time when we will not be up to this. And we cannot in good conscience expect our kids to take on that kind of effort. We will get to the point where we will have to resign ourselves to not getting competent and timely care. It will be as Lambert says time to “go die.”
I live in New England and yes, this is common. I’ve had a PCP for many years and often can’t see him – I get an appt with the PA instead. I mostly go in for routine visits, and whoever sees me is usually visibly rushed.
But at least I have a PCP. Heard recently from an older acquaintance that they have been unable to get any PCP in the area at all, and rely on going to the ER if they need someone to take a look.
Greatest country in the world!
There is a lack of doctors here on CA Central Coast, and furthermore we are designated as “country” so Medicare pays them even less. I couldn’t even find a Primary care doctor who could see me under 9 months. So when I turned 65 I signed up with my spouse’s concierge doctor. The care I’m getting now is great, easily accessible, and personalized. To live well in this oligarchy you need a lot of money.
This is what they said would happen if we got “socialized medicine” like in Canada or Europe. So we get the long wait times for care but with the high costs anyway. It just keeps getting worse. No politician dares to touch this issue because of their financiers/bribers.
I have a Nurse Practicioner for my PCP(erson). I get quite a lot more attentive care from her than I ever remember getting from any MD in the past. Whenever she deems an issue to be outside of her scope she promptly dispatches me to a specialist. That waiting time is usually 4-6 weeks. So far, quite good!
The Mike Benz explainer on the attack on Telegram puts even more context to the campaign against TikTok. Not just the psychological defense of projection — “we’re worried about what the Chineses government might do with all that TikTok data”, but also an expression of a powerful drive to dominate the planet’s information space…
Given the geopolitical alignments at the time, the Indian government probably couldn’t have blocked the sale of WhatsApp to Facebook the way the Chinese government is threatening to do with TikTok’s proposed sale to a USG approved entity. But Modi was only elected that year (2014), and his crowd would probably now love to get a do-over…
Perhaps in our Orwellian world, having your own social media platform to keep your population herded and on stand-by for 2 minutes of hate will be de rigueur as a signifier of superpower status…
Seems to be more a case where they want every major social media platform under their control. Not only do they want access to all those files but also secret back-doors built in. And like with pre-Musk Twitter, they want to be able to station scores of their own people in their offices so that they can censor, suspend or banish users that disagree with the narrative and the EU wants to do this as well. It got so bad with old Twitter that you had direct connections with Twitter and the White House according to the Twitter Files. With all major social media being under central control, where can dissidents gather to swap information and opinions? How can they come together and formulate plans. The answer? They wouldn’t be able to.
The curtain is really being yanked back on the realities of power in the West. It is chilling that “insufficient moderation” could be used against the execs of media platforms. Beyond the many problems with identifying such “dangerous” content (such as: who does the identifying?), planting incriminating material to trigger such a “crackdown” would also be ridiculously easy. Then there is Macron simply rejecting the results of the French elections. What the hell?? Zappa’s “brick wall” quote is really looking prescient.
Frankly, on any large enough and free enough platform, planting anything would be unnecessary. It shouldn’t be too hard to find something objectionable, spin it as illegal (easy enough with flexible French-style speech laws), and attack.
They got tired of robbing Peter (Thiel of Palantir fame) to pay Pavel?
“BREAKING: Declassified Susan Rice Email Confirms Michael Flynn Was Personally Targeted In Oval Office Meeting’
Frankly I hope that Flynn takes Rice, Obama and Comey to court and sue the hell out of them because of what was done to him. To me, it sounds like there was a conspiracy at the highest levels and though Obama may skate free, Comey and/or Rice may be stuck holding the bag. I note that his Wikipedia entry reads like a character assassination-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn
Character assassination has been one of the main tools in the DNC arsenal ever since they retained David Brock as a consultant back around 2015. That was also when I saw a video of Donna Brazile shmoozing like besties with Karl Rove in the background of an interview. Wish I could find a link to that interview, but I don’t recall who was in the foreground as I was too distracted by the pair in the background.
In my opinion.
Add that to Zuck’s revelation yesterday about Admin censorship pressure on Meta and that could open up many cans of worms. What a dirty business. Ugh.
Since it was memory-holed about 15 seconds after it happened, it’s worth recalling why Flynn made that phone call to Kislyak.
In furtherance of the “Russian election interference” narrative, birthed after hillary’s loss and that dogs the nation to this day, obama expelled 13 Russian diplomats with great flourish and outrage.
As the incoming national security adviser, Flynn called Kislyak to urge restraint in any contemplated retaliation, since a new administration with different sensibilities would be taking over in a few days.
The call was appropriate and diplomatic and exemplified responsible behavior on Flynn’s part. That it was morphed into some sort of criminal activity is pretty much beyond the pale, but exactly what we should have expected from the truly diabolical obama administration.
“China Gains Secret Access to Nvdia Microchips by Renting Computers”
I can’t see what the problem is. The Chinese are hardly using those servers for top secret military research as they are in another country and the spook agencies probably watch that traffic to get an idea of Chinese work on things like AI.
https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2024/article_0009.html
July 3, 2024
China-Based Inventors Filing Most GenAI Patents, WIPO Data Shows
Geneva – China-based inventors are filing the highest number of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) patents, far outpacing inventors in the US, Republic of Korea, Japan and India that comprise the rest of the top five locations, a new WIPO report shows:
The top 10 GenAI patent applicants are:
1 Tencent ( 2,074 inventions),
2 Ping An Insurance ( 1,564),
3 Baidu ( 1,234),
4 Chinese Academy of Sciences ( 607),
5 IBM ( 601),
6 Alibaba Group ( 571),
7 Samsung Electronics ( 468),
8 Alphabet ( 443),
9 ByteDance ( 418),
10 Microsoft ( 377).
Again, I wonder what Edward Zitron’s views are on China and “AI”. Would his views be any different on the subject?
I wonder what Edward Zitron’s views are on China and “AI”…
[ Interesting question, to which I will try to “imagine” an answer. ]
I would think everything he says about it now applies no matter where it rears its head.
But I haven’t seen a specific article from him about AI and China.
With all these so-called “hostages” “claiming” they were treated well by Hammas and harmed by Israelis, I’m surprised the “discourse” isn’t full of some wacky conspiracy theory to discredit them.
A coupla days ago several dead hostages were retrieved and it was found that the Israelis had accidentally killed them with CO2 poisoning if I remember correctly. Point is, the very first story I heard about them was that they had all been shot dead by Hamas. The Israeli media just makes up stories from time to time as does the government. But is anybody listening to their lies anymore?
Bug or feature?
Regarding “Record labels forgot these songs existed. One man rescued them ”
They write that “Twenty years ago, your music collection consisted of whatever CDs or records you could cram into your bedroom.” and promptly forget to add “and every single song some weird fan was uploading to Kazaa. Which probably was way more songs than can be bought online today.
I guess including that would make the story about malevolent – instead of indifferent – record companies who rather make sure music isn’t availble then availble in a form they are not directly profiting off.
~Jonathan Freedland rewrites history to hide an ugly truth about Israel Jonathan Cook
Author of the Electronic Intifada piece, Tony Greenstein’s book: Zionism During the Holocaust: The weaponisation of memory in the service of state and nation Hardcover – October 28, 2022 (ISBN-13: 9781803693040, but don’t buy it from Googlazon)
I’ve just almost saved up enough to buy Ilan Pappé’s latest but I might get that from the Michigan networked libraries and no one has Greenstein’s book (and probably won’t?), it’s important, so…
Anna’s Archive might have a copy, Alice, if you’re into that sort of thing:
https://annas-archive.org
Thank you! They have it, if I can understand what the prompts mean.
No, the world isn’t heading toward a new Cold War – it’s closer to the grinding world order collapse of the 1930s – The Conversation. “Not the sort of thing you expect to read at this venue.”
Until they also put neoliberalism under the extremist and authoritarian banners, it’s exactly the kind of spin on the era I’d expect from academia these days.
‘Cats That Heal Your Depression
@Catshealdeprsn
So relatable 🤗’
Absolutely relatable as far as black cats are concerned, We had one that was a master of camouflaging itself on even black patches of blankets. He was originally called Midnight because of his colour but we quickly started to call him Spooky. You would be sitting on your lounge slowly having the feeling that you are being watched. Then suddenly in the shadows of the cabinet interior on the other side of the room two eyes would open up in the darkness. Spooky. One of the best cats we ever had.
My tuxie was a void at heart most of the time. He became expert at curling up so none of his white markings could be seen and loved fading into the shadows, especially if there was a camera around. I also think he enjoyed the heck out of watching me look for him. Still miss him almost two decades later.
Our blackie likes us, she hails me in the dark for passing pets. ‘Shadow’ doesn’t say it–my wife calls her ‘the Void.’
I had no idea that black cats realize they have a superpower and exploit it.
What does that say about cat intelligence?
‘teleSUR English
@telesurenglish
The United States government declared that it will not comply with the ruling of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice regarding the last elections on July 28, where the victory of Nicolas Maduro as elected president of the country was confirmed.’
Does anybody in Venezuela care what the US State Department thinks at all? These were the same jokers that told Venezuelans that Juan Greedo was absolutely their President not that long ago and that he had to be obeyed.
Was worth a shot. For my next trick, look into my eyes… you are getting sleepy…
Big cannabis becoming like big tobacco. You betcha! There is no way as a many years experienced toker that the THC a levels are what the “tested” result says they are, on the pkg. they are puffing up the numbers. I stopped paying huge amounts of money for these higher THC level weed products. After experiencing several times where it just didn’t ring true. These are frequently just average jars of weed and not worth the price. This was bound to happen as soon as it was legalized. Which is why most of us were against it.
Amen!
Agreed – I’ve tried several of differing potencies and they all smoke the same to me. I’m also treated like a potential criminal every time I go to a store, being forced to show my papers before being allowed to enter, whether I’m buying anything or not. Also, despite there being more weed stores in existence than anybody could possibly need, they all sell their product for about the same price, which is generally just about the same rate as when it was illegal, or a little more.
Capitalism ruins everything. Wish they’d just criminalize it again.
~Wish they’d just criminalize it again.
I would be for criminalizing Capitalism.
Leafly and Weedmaps enable sellers to collude on pricing and lie about quality with impunity. Both those sites should be regulated and only available to consumers.
For once, I’m happy to use the word consumer.
Late in the day so I don’t know how many will see this, but here goes.
I’d be curious what part of the country you all are in? I’m in Ohio, we just legalized recreational. I haven’t bought any here (too expensive) but I have been going to Michigan for several years. A few observations;
1) Michigan pot THC percentages seem to matter. The higher the THC, the higher the price, naturally. In this case I can tell a difference between the 20% and 30%. The 20 costs about $100 an oz, while the 30 will run you around $130.
2) Ohio just started selling rec, but not all locations that were medical only have the go ahead. I checked prices at ones close to me. 23% going for $145 and 32% going for $250. Not a deal over Michigan.
3) In Ohio, before it was legalized, black market was about $300 an oz. Had no idea what you would get.
4) We can grow up to 6 or 12 plants if you have a one or two adult household. That’s the way to go IMO. Finding seeds/plants are the next question.
In ME, prices seem to vary based on brand, not potency, at least in the places I’ve been to. Prices have not dropped after legalization – they have stayed about the same or maybe a little bit higher I smell a cartel. Edibles are WAY more expensive than buying flower. I believe 100mg of gummies goes for around $25, and that would be about two “attitude adjustments” for a regular user. By contract, a 1/4 oz of flower for around $60-$70 yields about 20 or more “adjustments”.
ME also allows for about the same amount of plants to be grown for personal use.
Here in Outer Pentagonia, I can grow my own. Only four plants, not in public view. Not enough to breed, and dependent, therefore, on seed vendors (another story), but 4 per year is enough for 2.
Back in ’20 I grew my allotted six plants, big and bushy they were, and vacuum packed it all in quart jars. Gave them a lot of attention, and was well rewarded for my efforts.
Four years later it’s still as fresh as when I packed it, and the best s#!t around, better than anything commercial me or my friends have tasted. But it’s almost gone (I might make it to Halloween or T’day), and it’ll be next spring before I plant the next crop, so I’ll be at the mercy of the market for a while.
‘Don’t Trust Google for Customer Service Numbers. It Might Be a Scam.’ – Washington Post
Years ago, I figured I’d better find an old bill for the number or go to the company’s site. Various numbers popped up after a query. No way was I simply going to click on the one that appeared at the top. The scammers have been running this scam a long time.
If anybody calls you about a credit card or bank account, hang up and call the number on the back of your card or on a statement to verify if there really is an issue.
Sheesh….
I rarely read the Guardian anymore since their slide into centrist Establishment warmongering cheerleader was completed, but I wanted the Oasis reunion news from the horse’s mouth, as it were, and I came across this:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/27/germany-mainstream-politicians-far-right-afd
Libeling Sahra Wagenknecht and the BSW as “far right” is frankly, just vile. How do these people live with themselves?
They can sleep because they have a mission and they will write whatever as long as it is fine their objectives. Don’t ask them about “truth” or “real things”. It is war time.
“Trump
RFK Jr., environmental warrior, backs the ‘drill, baby, drill’ ticket Washington Post (Kevin W)”
Why do Americans insist on playing this game? The only difference is the left pretends to care about climate change, but does nothing about it. It’s the same in other western nations too. Am I missing some data that shows left leaning people all ride their bikes to work, never fly or eat meat and shun mass consuming?
~November 28, 2018
Obama takes credit for U.S. oil-and-gas boom: ‘That was me, people’
https://apnews.com/article/business-5dfbc1aa17701ae219239caad0bfefb2
Actually it’s an entire planet half full of pretend climate change fighters.
2023 Set Records in Global Fossil Fuel Use and Carbon Dioxide Emissions
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/international-issues/2023-set-records-in-global-fossil-fuel-use-and-carbon-dioxide-emissions/
~~~~
This is why I listen to data, it tells the real story, not the BSing humans. You can view some of the many climate consequences, every other day, here:
27th August 2024 Today’s Round-Up of Climate News
https://climateandeconomy.com/2024/08/27/27th-august-2024-todays-round-up-of-climate-news/
Climate change is blameless. Why? Because humans are not the authors of human behaviour – evolution under the dictates of thermodynamics is. You and me and the MPP.
The Venezuelan government announced today that they will not comply with the rulings of the US Supreme Court in two election cases. The first case, Citizens United, allows unlimited spending in US federal elections, allowing billionaires to buy candidates and elections. The second case, Shelby v Holder, gutted the voting rights act.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained
https://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/shelby-v-holder/
Because of these two Supreme Court cases, the Government of Venezuela has no confidence in the outcome of any US presidential election.
RE: Mark Zuckerberg Says White House Was ‘Wrong’ to Pressure Facebook on Covid Wall Street Journal (BC)
So, the creepy little jerk finally comes clean. It should be noted that he held his tongue while the “supreme” court
This story will undoubtedly not get the attention it so deserves. While the emphasis in the piece seems to be primarily on facebook’s election interference, to my mind a more important aspect is its role in the covid “pandemic.”
This little shit has the suffering and blood of millions of americans on his hands. facebook suppressed and delegitimized alternative treatments like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, and relentlessly smeared and silenced those medical professionals genuinely trying to offer safer solutions than an experimental “vaccine,” the adverse consequences of which are only beginning to emerge. Same goes for “twitter” by the way.
This puny little mea culpa does not begin to ameliorate the extensive damage zuckerberg and his “platform” have done to this country IMNSHO. I’d further speculate that he would not have “confessed” at all if there wasn’t something in it for him. Kirn/Taibbi have speculated that it may have something to do with the Telegram founder’s arrest, and Patrick Bet David has speculated that z. needs to make some “friends” in a potential Trump administration post haste. Dunno. Suffice to say he would have kept his mouth shut if he didn’t think there was something in it for him, and more importantly, he’ll never be taken to task for the damage he and his multi-billion dollar “business” have done.
Rant nowhere near over.
“…he’ll never be taken to task for the damage he and his multi-billion dollar “business” have done.”
The rabbit hole just goes deeper until there is accountability in many areas.
Why should any of them give a rat’s ass what happens to this country and others when they will never be held accountable or suffer consequences?
I’m with you 100%.
I hate FB. There is little good about it, but while he tries (we’ll see) cleaning it up – how about going after the posts that expose you to viruses. I have picked on quite a few posts that look legit until it sets off my security software telling me to get out. Police that stuff Zuck for Pete’s sake.
Same with porn.
He is a little shit and not to be trusted.
I hate FB and the little sh!t too, but as I remember, he stepped up and called bullsh!t showing that ‘Putin’ had only spent like $40,000 on FB to ‘steal’ the 2016 election.
To his shame, he learned his lesson.
re: Jonathan Freedland rewrites history to hide an ugly truth about Israel Jonathan Cook.
The situation was much, much worse than what Cook is describing. He only really hints at things.
I would recommend this for the details:
https://www.palestineremembered.com/images/Zionist-Relations-with-Nazi-Germany-Faris-Yahya-PS.pdf
Pre-war, as anti-Semitism was ramping up in Germany, the Zionists, against the wishes of the World Jewish Congress, did various things.
The WJC wanted to impede and disrupt the rise of the Nazis by organizing a boycott of the party and of businesses supporting the party, the Zionists were paid by the Nazis to brick that, which they did.
The WJC launched a media/education campaign against the Nazis and against anti-semitism, the Zionists were paid by the Nazis to disrupt that, which they did.
In 1933 the Zionists came to an agreement with the Nazis, known as the Ha’avara Agreement, whereby the Zionists were paid to remove Jews from Germany and used the payments to purchase land and businesses in Palestine.
A key tenet of Zionism was the belief that Jews should NOT be allowed to assimilate within ANY population other than Palestine, so Zionists informed the Nazis, in exchange for payment, of any Jews attempting to do so, funds which were then also used to purchase land and businesses and enrich the Zionists.
I’m not familiar with Vrba’s story but he may never have known at the time that the Zionists not only knew about the camps and the gas chambers, but had reached secretive formal agreements with the Nazis to exterminate non-Zionist Jews in exchange for payments.
This is an interesting theory about the Durov arrest, comparing it with an earlier situation with the RIM Blackberry:
https://www.oblomovka.com/wp/2024/08/25/pavel-durov-and-the-blackberry-ratchet/
Thank you for that, also for the trip down memory lane. And I think it’s a good theory.
Has Kamala Harris actually been seen since Thursday? According to NBC News, Walz has no campaign events planned as was the case yesterday,. Warren & Emhoff supposedly stumping for her today.
Is Harris following the 2020 Biden playbook to a tee? Or did she get Covid after last week’s superspreader event … I mean, DNC? Just wondering.
NY Times from last Friday says it was always the plan for her to “decompress” this week until some unspecified point.
Due Dissidence provides a humorous takedown of TYT’s, and by extension the liberal progressive’s, scheme to vote them in and then hold ‘em accountable:
https://youtu.be/O_aNGAfS8f0?si=3VRNUZaEu9HBpq1G
Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧
https://x.com/DefenceHQ/status/1828404600002449718
[video]
🚱 Russian units are running out of water in Ukraine.
Re: US Tragedy
I appreciate Patrick Lawrence’s sentiment, but I must protest his exempting the two world wars from the US tragedy.
WWI was a creation of SIS {MI6). Without Wilson’s entry to secure booty for US arms & materiel merchants, there would have been no WWII.
It has all been a tragedy.
It will be interesting to see exactly which country’s weapons are aboard this ship. If the Namibians know its cargo and destination, the Yemenis certainly would too which makes it likely that it is rounding the Cape of Good Hope and coming from a country with a coastline along the Indian Ocean. Australia, perhaps?
Namibia blocks Israeli weapon-carrying vessel
that cow methane story includes a lot of unfounded bullshit about the role ruminants play in global warming…humans have raised such animals for over 10 thousand years, and wild species had covered the planet long before that…
pull up a graph of atmospheric methane, and notice how it started to spike in 2008…that year did not coincide with a global increase in cattle…
Cow methane emissions would be fine, if it wasn’t for all the other methane sources that humans have created. Unfortunately there is only a finite amount of OH molecules in the atmosphere that react with methane to remove it. Thus the higher the methane concentration the longer the lifetime of a methane molecule.
Heres a link to the math(s)
The WaPo article ” Gene editors are modifying cow guts to stop their planet warming burps” is very interesting. I would quibble with the title. The gene editors are not modifying the cow guts. They are modifying the Archaea-type microflora which live inside those guts. Is this a distinction without a difference? I don’t think so. I would offer the following analogy to make the difference clear. When Coca-Cola modified ” Coke” into “New Coke” , they did not modify the bottle. They modified the coke-product inSIDE the bottle. Same thing here.
I suppose the special seaweed solution could scale if there were a way to grow enough special seaweed and distribute to every domestic ruminant animal everywhere ( sheep, goats, water buffalo, etc.
not just cows). And as the article wonders . . . how to distribute all the necessary special seaweed to livestock on pasture?
Where an internal part of the article takes a wrong-path diversion is here . . . ” But only about 1 in 10 cattle in the United States — largely those producing milk — are fed every day by humans. The ratio is similar globally. The rest, mostly beef cattle, range free on pastures, surviving on grass and forage.” Range free on pastures for their whole lives? That is only true for the cattle of nomadic pastoralist societies and the elite grass-fed cattle for elite grass-fed beef in high and middle income countries. ( And perhaps cheap-@ss jungle beef grown on the arsonised and burned-down corpse of the Amazon and other tropical forests.) Most of the cattle, especially in America, only begin their life on pasture. They live out the the later part of their life eating corn/soy/etc. in feedlots. How much of their lifespan-methane comes from when they were on grass? How much of it comes from when they were on feedlot feed?
I think that is a very real question. The article isn’t even aware that question exists.
But as to the main body of the article, it reads interesting and hopeful.
The problem described in ” The Coming Pollen Storms” seems easier to mitigate-for than the cow-belch methane problem.
Since the problem is one of being allergic to the storm-smashed bits of certain kinds of airborne windblown pollen, people and societies can be alert to the start and stop of each species-release-times of its windblown pollen and can be further alert to any thunderstorms happening or going to happen during these airborne pollen windows. When a thunderstorm is happening, or about to reach people, they can all put on their Thunderstorm Pollen masks till the thunderstorm has gone and the post-storm air stops moving its pollen-frament load around.
Of course, to really solve the root cause of the problem, we would have to de-warm and re-cool the global and get the whole earth back to the climate regime we had before the onset of man-made global warming.
But in the meantime . . . . incoming storm pollen? Masks up!
Patrick Lawrence notes that . . . ” the policy cliques in Washington and Tel Aviv seem committed to going from one failure to the next without changing anything.” So many critics of Israel refer to ” Tel Aviv”. This is understandable as a verbal nod to the fact that most governments in the world consider Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem as an improper action to be reversed, and certainly not recognized. And so , thinker-writers keep referring to Israeli government as being ” Tel Aviv” in order to not surrender to premature pretensions of Jerusalem-as-Israel’s-Capitol”.
But sometimes the best analysis is provided by recognition of actual fact. The actual fact for now is that Israel’s functioning capital and seat of government is in West Jerusalem. The rhetorical device of saying ” Tel Aviv” obscures the fact that the actual city of Tel Aviv is the residential headquarters and homebase of whatever semi-liberal and semi-secular-ish Israeli population may still exist in that country.
The Tel Avivians are certainly not the primary cultural-political drivers of Likudiform Kahanaziism in command of Israeli governance today, so far as I know.
Or am I wrong?
Apart from that little quibble, this article is intensely valuable in facing up to the danger of the Red Heiferists, Kahanazis and Likudians in Israel, and the Rapturaniacs and Armageddonites in America today.
It might also open a brain-way forward to posit the existence of a possible American Ordinarianism to oppose and eventually undermine and bring down American Exceptionalism. An ” American Ordinarianist” America might at least be able to say: “The time has come for DILABH” ( rhymes with skylab). ( DILABH is an acronym. It stands for Dropping Israel Like A Bad Habit.)