Lessons From Lucy Sapiens
Aztec Death Whistle Was Designed to Haunt the Mind, Brain Scans Confirm ZME Science
Private equity: vampire capital Michael Roberts’ Blog
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 arrives with a “full digital twin” of Earth Ars Technica
Climate/Environment
NYC issues first drought warning in over 20 years after record rainless streak NBC News
Water
NYU scientists create crystals to extract water from air without using energy Interesting Engineering
The Great Mediterranean Drain: How 70% of Its Water Vanished in a Geological Crisis SciTech Daily
When Rome’s fountains run dry The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Pandemics
A California child tested positive for bird flu. Here’s why this case is different Cal Matters
California agriculture faces significant losses as avian flu outbreak spreads. ‘It’s a mess’ Fresno Bee
***
COVID-19 winter surge expected to hit marginalized communities hardest, experts warn Copper Courier
China?
Taiwan, U.S. sign NT$10.7 billion deal for Air Force, Navy equipment Focus Taiwan
U.S. report suggests NATO Plus arms status for Taiwan TVBS Taiwan
Denial Without Disaster—Keeping a U.S.-China Conflict over Taiwan Under the Nuclear Threshold RAND
Old Blighty
British PM Starmer is taking a short break from supporting a genocide in Palestine, escalating a proxy war in Ukraine and arresting British people for mean tweets, to lecture China on human rights pic.twitter.com/yJnqEzHfPX
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) November 19, 2024
DWP admits winter fuel payment cuts will plunge tens of thousands of pensioners into poverty Big Issue
The Lucky Country
McBride Speaks From Prison at Australia’s Top Press Award Event Consortium News
European Disunion
The German army takes steps toward economic militarization Harici
Experts question Euro countries’ scare tactics hyping Russia threat Responsible Statecraft
New Taurus missile proposal for Ukraine will be set for Bundestag vote Euromaidan Press
Von der Leyen eyes major reshuffle to boost control over EU budget Politico
Syraqistan
WATCH: Israel is using facial recognition technology to organize how it conducts mass arrests and forcible displacement in Gaza. Some Palestinians say the technology is also being used to carry out field executions. pic.twitter.com/HDeQgElJez
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) November 19, 2024
***
Netanyahu Offers $5 Million Reward to Any Palestinians Who Free Israeli Hostages Asharq Al-Awsat
***
Turkish strikes in Syria cut water to one million people BBC
***
Yemeni Ansurullah Strikes Turkish Bulk Carrier Supplying Cargo to Israel Military Watch
Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Leaves Middle East, Vinson Carrier Strike Group Deploys USNI News
The Houthis Are In ‘Panic Mode’: The F-35C Has Gone Into Battle The National Interest
***
Israel Finds Large Troves of Russian Arms in Hezbollah’s Hands WSJ
Russia boosts presence near Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to help Syria ‘prevent escalations’ The Cradle
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine fires 8 ATACMS missiles at warehouse in Bryansk Oblast, Russia shoots down only 2 Ukrainska Pravda
Kiev fires ATACMS missiles at Russia’s Bryansk Region – MOD RT. MOD says five of six shot down.
US embassy in Kyiv shutters after ‘significant’ air attack threat Euronews
***
Our Sixty Days of Nuclear Chicken Have Begun Matt Taibbi, Racket News
Note On US Launch of Long-Range Missiles into Russia The Journal of Belligerent Pontification
What happens now, after the Ukraine’s ATACMS strike on an arms storage site in Bryansk oblast, Russian Federation? Gilbert Doctorow
Putin Signs Russia’s New Nuclear Doctrine As the US Crosses the Red Line Larry Johnson, Sonar21
***
Ukraine Needs More Missiles to Take Full Advantage of New Biden Policy Foundation for Defense of Democracies
A Trump peace deal needs European boots on the ground to secure Ukraine, Estonia says Politico
Biden approves anti-personnel mines for Ukraine, US official says Channel News Asia
***
Russia arrests German citizen on sabotage charges — reports Deutsche Welle
Germany says ‘sabotage’ presumed in damaged Baltic Sea telecom cables Al Jazeera
***
Poll: over 50% of Ukrainians support an end to the war ASAP Responsible Statecraft
The Caucasus
EU to send mission to Georgia to investigate electoral fraud OC Media
Georgian opposition reclaims protest site Bne Intellinews
Leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia resigns after protest deal AFP
South of the Border
Venezuela Condemns Erik Prince’s Involvement in Attacks on PDVSA Oil Facilities Orinoco Tribune
Spook Country
CIA Democrats and Other Party Hawks Win Races in 2024 Election Covert Action Magazine
Biden Administration
Biden’s AI Spying Rules Are A Last Gift of Power To Trump Forever Wars
Biden got Trump out of a Ukraine jam Asia Times
BIDEN MUSES THAT HE COULD BE SENT TO SPACE TO RESCUE STRANDED ASTRONAUTS Futurism
Astronauts found to process some tasks slower in space, but no signs of permanent cognitive decline Phys.org
Trump Transition
How the stock market could be last guardrails to corral Trump’s wildest whims The Independent
Trump and Allies Plot Cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps to Fund Tax Cuts for Wealthy Truthout
Trump Taps Dr. Oz to Run CMS MedPage Today
Trump plans to nominate billionaire buddy Howard Lutnick as Commerce secretary Minnesota Reformer
Trump picks former WWE executive Linda McMahon for education secretary The Guardian
Wall Street isn’t panicking with ‘known entity’ Jay Clayton as new top cop Yahoo! Finance
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The Promise of Trump’s Realist China Grand Strategy American Conservative
Hyperglobalisation, Big Government & Three Systemic Challenges System Change
2024 Aftermath
Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’? The Northern Star
Hate and harassment towards women spreads after Trump’s election Copper Courier
Democrats en déshabillé
DNC union blasts Dems for laying off workers without severance on one-day’s notice: ‘Betrayal of party values’ New York Post
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Data privacy experts predict some wins under Trump 2.0 The Record
Imperial Collapse Watch
Privatizing the VA: The Unseen Costs to Veterans and Taxpayers Alike HEALTH CARE un-covered
Ukraine, Middle East wars depleting US air defence stocks — US admiral TRT World
AMERICA’S LAST CHANCE WITH THE GLOBAL SOUTH Foreign Affairs
This is SO telling and absolutely hilarious.
As everyone knows, China funded and built a new $3.5 billion megaport in Peru which was inaugurated 3 days ago.
Blinken, in an obvious attempt to show that the US wouldn’t be outdone, announced the next day that “the United States… https://t.co/PY5Tb2dkEr
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) November 18, 2024
Our Famously Free Press
NY Times killed investigation of Israeli hooligans, internal email reveals The Electronic Intifada
Supply Chain
The U.S. Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homes Rest of World
Class Warfare
No raise for California’s minimum wage workers. Voters reject Prop. 32 Cal Matters
Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice The Saint Louis University Law Journal
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Netanyahu Offers $5 Million Reward to Any Palestinians Who Free Israeli Hostages”
This is what you do when you don’t give a rat’s but want to look like you are doing something for all those people protesting about the hostages. And I would reckon that any Palestinian who helps free any hostages would more likely get a bullet than a reward.
Where is Antony Blinken?
Remember back in June when cease-fire talks were “inside the 10-yard line?”
That Lucy plays a mean defense!
(Oh, wait, I meant Bibi … I must be getting early onset Alzheimers.)
Sports Desk:
Stung by Josh Allen’s epic 4th and 2 thunder run for a game-clinching TD, the Kansas City Chiefs have hired Benjamin Netanyahu as a defensive consultant.
Netanyahu’s resume includes successfully defending Antony Blinken from scoring a hostage release deal for over 5 months.
Hoo-ooh
Oh-oh
Mm-mm
Antony works in the diplomacy store
Savin’ his cease fires for someday
Bibi left a note on the door
He said, “Sonny, sell out your country”
Ah, but workin’ too hard can give you
A heart attack (ack, ack, ack, ack, ack)
You oughta know by now (you oughta know by now)
Who needs per diems when you don’t do anything
Is that what you get for your money?
And it seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
Bollocks, if that’s movin’ up
Then he’s movin’ out
Mmm, he’s movin’ out, mmm-hmm
Ooh-ooh, uh-huh, mmm
the IDF is walkin’ the beat
At night they become Golem tenders
They work at Mister Netanyahu’s
Down on the Gaza strip
Gonna blow up a medical center
And they’re tradin’ in a Merkava for a new line of attack (ac, ac, ac, ac, ac)
You oughta know by now (you oughta know by now)
And if they can’t drive them back
At least they can polish their genocide handiwork
And it seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
Bollocks, if that’s movin’ up
Then he’s movin’ out
Mmm, he’s movin’ out (oh, oh)
Ooh-ooh, oh-oh, uh-huh, mmm
You should never argue with a crazy mind (mi-, mi-, mi-, mi-, mi-)
You oughta know by now (you oughta know by now)
You can play Uncle Sam with the Zionists over time
Is that all you get for your money
And if that’s what you have in mind
Yeah, if that’s what you’re all about
Good luck movin’ up
‘Cause He’s moving out
Mmm, He’s movin’ out, mmm-hmm
Ooh-ooh, uh-huh, mmm
He’s movin’ out
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), by Billy Joel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJtL8vWNZ4o
Ha, nice effort there. I think Antony will be movin’ out of the State Dept, if he hasn’t already.
A-Blinken does have that gold rolodex with the optional non-extradition country extension.
Is the warranty any good? Asking for a fiend.
Who in the world would believe such an offer? Ridiculous.
That is significantly more than what Ukraine offered Russian pilots for bringing an aircraft. On the other hand, that one helicopter pilot did get significantly more bullets.
The Ukrainians tried that with a Russian helicopter pilot just a few short weeks ago. They contacted him via social media and the pilot was offered a lot of money. He was told how to kill his fellow crew members and was given a path to fly and coordinates for where to meet plus a date and time. Turns out that the pilot was working with Russian intel all along and the only thing that met those Ukrainian handles on the ground at the scheduled handover was a missile strike.
After the first one ended up not-so-happily-ever-afer, it’s ridiculous that Ukrainians thought that someone would be interested in repeating it.
They should have offered some cookies as a reward. I’m sure Victoria Nuland would be very happy to whip up a special batch…
I see Starmer’s vast and inspiring rhetorical skills were on display at the G20, leaving Xi cowering from his boots upwards. All in defence of human rights within Chinese territory. What a guy!!! Starmer really knows all about that from A to B. Just ask Julian Assange.
It was just the other day that Xi tore strips off Biden and his two-faced behaviour. To have someone like Keir Starmer try to dress him down was just downright insulting and it is only a matter of time until Xi will remind him what a great record that the UK has under Starmer’s leadership in the matter of human rights.
For the petite toffoisie like Starmer, it is always mid-Queen Victorian era when Britannia did, well, stuff.
Now Judy spoof her weight class and tries to punch.
It doesn’t look like anyone else in the room was even listening.
Luckily, someone captured his words for posterity.
From The Grayzone:
Leaks expose secret British military cell plotting to ‘keep Ukraine fighting’
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/11/16/uk-plot-keep-ukraine-fighting/
Opening para:
Leaked files show top UK military figures conspired to carry out the Kerch bridge bombing, covertly train “Gladio”-style stay-behind forces in Ukraine, and groom the British public for a drop in living standards caused by the proxy war against Russia.
(my emphasis)
Lol, the newest placard from the DNC, “I Starve With Ukraine”.
Keep calm and starve on.
> In 2021, The Grayzone revealed how the then-Prince of Wales, King Charles, enlisted Khan’s Valent Projects to astroturf a pseudo-socialist YouTube influencer to attack skeptics of the government’s ham-fisted response to Covid.
Dearest Chuck. Like father, like son.
The British Establishment are obviously unable to take on board the fact that we are now at war with Russia. It may be that Russia will negotiate and sign peace treaties with some NATO countries but it may well find it sensible to remain at war, and with good reason, in a form of semi-frozen peace with some of the less repellent members of NATO, whilst merely splashing about in the water while it waits for further provocations, however slight, from the UK.
The UK is incorrigible ! -a.v.
As Julian Assange said, these endless wars are not designed to be won, they are designed to go on as long as possible to suck as much money as possible out of most of the country and funnel that wealth upward. War is a profit center.
Need to catch up and stay up to speed…more equipment and supplies to stock and / or restock means a quarterly earnings beat for the Raytheon corps of the MIC complex…\sarc
I did like the ending paragraph from the Belligerent Pontification article. The closing thoughts with point 2 really seems to illustrate well what is, or it really seems to be, occurring in DC…”…cloistered.. functionaries making these decisions…”. And to add, well that Biden is most certainly almost gone, in a very real figurative sense.
Julian, utube, ~2+ minutes.
“The goal is to have an endless war, not a successful war.” | Julian Assange’s Interview 8.10.2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDx2O-mzP64
The domestic application is to have endless crises that can only be addressed, not resolved, by endless programs. Cue the PMC SES regulars to sign up most favored NGOs and X Studies Majors to facilitate the
democracy in actionhumanitarian good deedslooting, with that ten percent to, well, ya know.The list for DOGE action gets longer.
>”these endless wars are not designed to be won, they are designed to go on as long as possible”
Which is what Martyanov despite all his revengful wisdom doesn´t fully endorse in his analyses. Which I will never quite understand. On the other hand he is a military man and thinks as such. Once a soldier, always a soldier.
“Venezuela Condemns Erik Prince’s Involvement in Attacks on PDVSA Oil Facilities”
I wonder if this is all part of Biden’s plan to leave Trump with a basket of crabs to deal with when he becomes President in two months time. Cause trouble all around the world and then retire into comfort. And this is Biden’s lame duck presidency. So SecState Blinken has just ramped up tensions by saying that the US recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuelan ‘president-elect’. This is that old guy who is the puppet for María Corina Machado and who did a runner to Spain as soon as the election was called-
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/19/venezuelan-president-elect-edmundo-gonzalez-urrutia
I guess that Venezuelan ‘president-elect’ Juan Greedo, errr, Guaidó was unavailable for comment.
Incorrect, Mr. Kev. It is I, midtownwageslave, who is the one true president-elect of Venezuela.
Back when that idiot Juan Greedo came on the scene and the Collective West was saying that he was the actual president of Venezuela, I changed my handle to Prime Minister Rev Kev for a comment and said that by the same logic I had made myself the Prime Minister for Oz but the State Department didn’t give me any money so it didn’t work. Cheap b*******.
Perhaps the NED has some grant money sloshing around somewhere…
For cheap laughs:
https://www.ned.org/apply-for-grant/en/
“What Type of Programs NED Supports
NED is interested in proposals from local, independent organizations for nonpartisan programs that seek to:
Promote and defend human rights and the rule of law
Support freedom of information and independent media
Strengthen democratic ideas and values
Promote accountability and transparency
Strengthen civil society organizations
Strengthen democratic political processes and institutions
Promote civic education
Support democratic conflict resolution
Promote freedom of association
Strengthen a broad-based market economy”
Heading for a recount, PA race for US Senate. Or rather the recount is already begun, apologies if this was previously covered.
https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-us-senate-race-casey-vs-mccormick-recount/62948477
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/recount-allegheny-county-bob-casey-dave-mccormick-breakdown/
“Yemeni Ansurullah Strikes Turkish Bulk Carrier Supplying Cargo to Israel”
Well that can’t be right. It was only about a week ago that Erdogan was saying that Turkiye was cutting off all ties with Israel (though that did not include the oil transit fees that his family is pocketing)-
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241114-erdogan-turkiye-severed-all-ties-with-israel/
So maybe this was Ansurullah telling Erdogan that they can see what he is doing.
I’m continuously surprised nobody’s bombed that pipeline.
Or the Haifa refinery.
This surely won’t last much longer. According to “Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert,” the “Houthis are in ‘Panic Mode'” over the Coming of The F-35s. I’m sure they’ll be trembling in fear and begging for forgiveness any day now.
Yes, the novel experience of being bombed will surely transform the situation. Just as those F-16s darkening the sky over Ukraine have overthrown Putin and brought Navalny back from the grave.
There was discussion of Matt Stoller’s article “On the Democratic Party’s Cult of Powerlessness” but I only read it today and it’s so good it deserves another link anyway. There’s a lot in there that ties together very nicely but I just wanted to share one thought. Starmer’s government (that came to power because the right wing divided its votes) is the purest expression of this powerlessness. Starmer and the party have made clear for some years that when they take over they can’t fix anything. They will do what the Tories did but will less obvious incompetence, corruption, and embarrassment. They all but confessed to powerlessness in their election manifesto. They are being all Law & Order but that’s not, as Stoller puts it, really doing anything.
Starmer has still to persevere to reach Scholz’s disapproval ratings but he is doing quite well in this sense and with time he will manage. Powerlessness is almost certainly an important factor. The only thing he can do is lecture other leaders who on the contrary are quite powerful… err… authocratic.
This seems like a good time to re=post a story from last week.
Seymour Hersh, public excerpt:
THE ACCUSATIONS THAT COULD BRING BIBI DOWN
It’s a story out of the tabloids of the 1920s
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-accusations-that-could-bring
I top that with the news that Israel will annex West Bank, etc…
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/force-evacuation-and-smash-the-camps
ICC warrant for Bibi just gone public
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/icc-issues-arrest-warrants-israels-benjamin-netanyahu-and-yoav-gallant
Prop 32 – Minimum wage
I voted no for the simple reason that I’ve seen it all before in the California initiative process, where there are hidden nuggets in the proposition that are not revealed until the law is in force.
As noted in the article, the increase was already made irrelevant by an existing wage law that is cola-tied and of much larger wages already won by union bargaining. I was afraid that this law would remove the cola indexing as I had seen and heard no assurances from the Yes campaign that it would remain. So it got a No from me.
>>> in the California initiative process, where there are hidden nuggets in the proposition that are not revealed until the law is in force.
Such as the gun control initiative of Gavin Newsom that funneled all the money donated for it into his own private political pac? I used to believe Governor Newsom was sincere in his antigun beliefs until he put on the ballot a proposition that duplicated just passed state legislation and had a provision in it that put any funding donated for its passage into his personal PAC. I was skeptical when I first read about this, but I read the full proposition to check. Nice grifting.
Newsom is NOT to be trusted on any issues. The epitome of political corruption saturated with self serving ambition.
Newsom’s new $9 million mansion needs to be paid for. I find it interesting that media in California never question the source of Newsom’s money. A governor doesn’t get paid enough to afford a $9 million mansion. What are the sources of Newsom’s money? That needs a thorough investigation.
Californians must be so lucky to have crack newspapers and radio/television journalists on the case. Readers, listeners and viewers will be hopping mad.
Oh, wait. Never mind.
NY Times killed investigation of Israeli hooligans, internal email reveals , color me unsurprised.
In this article there’s an embedded video by Bender, a teenage Dutch journalist, who gives me some hope for the future. It’s well worth a watch.
Those foldable wingtips (not to mention the stronger tailhook) will surely make Houthis shake in their sandals.
Not to speak of the rust that is spreading across the entire surface of the plane caused by – well – sea salt. They say, it doesn´t impede with stealth capabilities… hm. Would like to talk to the pilot about that. (And the RU radar-specialist)
p.s. Carrier staff apparently hate F-35 because she is difficult to clean.
That whole piece read like a PR sales brochure. How great will those planes be when the ship they are on is at the bottom of the sea?
I mean really, why try to bring them down one at a time when you can take the whole kit and caboodle down at once?
the cost of each sortie is more expensive than the value of its targets. All the high-end missiles are well-hidden and/or mobile. anything above ground and static, like warehouses, likely are empty or are low-value to the Houthis.
The Saudis spent about 6 years training the Houthis on how to successfully carry on under continuous aerial bombardment. Now they seem to have a PhD in the subject.
Alex
I did a thing has an Aztec death whistle. If you need ideas for having fun around the house.
For whatever reason, my flighty dog was unmoved by the sound files in the article and disturbed by the teakettle.
“The Houthis Are In ‘Panic Mode’: The F-35C Has Gone Into Battle”
But what happens if the Russians give them an upgrade so that they can shoot F-35s down? I have lost track of how many multi-million dollar Reaper drones that they have shot down already.
Im not sure if that bold eagle just landed on the Bear’s patch of land, or is about to GTFO.
I imagine that even that bad-ass eagle is well aware that bears don’t care, so I’m going with GTFO.
If you watch carefully the pic is is clearly a GTFO position, not a landing position.
Bears and eagles are thick as fleas around the Juneau dump according to son-in-law.
Pro tip: Don’t go walking around with a sandwich or snack in hand!
The tweet about the train in Lima, Peru is a perfect metaphor for why the Democrats lost this election.
The Greater Quad-City Metro region (Davenport IA; Rock Island, Moline and East Moline IL + several other smaller cities) is located 3.5 hours by car west of Chicago — in the heyday of rail travel, it was 2.5 hours. There are 450,000 residents in this locality, and barely any mass transit service at all to Chicago.
How nice that Blinken is tooting a non-existent horn (small-bore project, small-bore money, small-bore vision) — for a project in a foreign country, while critical rail service in this country was left to die.
TrumpMusk will fix that, by making everyone drive EVs and promising a super train.
Another reason why the Democrats lose the election, “Sure we suck, but the other guys!”
Actually Obama promised the new line as part of his “shovel ready” program and IIRC, it was approved. Moline even built a new train station in anticipation of the service.
the station is now there. The train never materialized.
Massive Bomb Cyclone Explodes Off Pacific Northwest: Mariners Face Hurricane-Force Winds and 36-Foot Seas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a line of 3 atmospheric rivers about to hit NoCal hard with perhaps a dozen inches falling in the most affected locales, this is a no doubt about it storm and another missed opportunity to have set up hundreds of prescribed burns beforehand, and lit them up a few days ago, letting Mother Nature doing all the handiwork of putting them out.
We have to change the way we go about things during this era of Big Heat, as all we really do is react to wildfires and spend exorbitant amounts of money to put them out.
Just wait until private equity moves into the fire-fighting business. You know that it is coming. There is too much money on the table for them to do otherwise.
I just wonder how they will “improve” upon Marcus Licinius Crassus’s “firefighting services” in Rome during the 1st century BC.
The fire-fighting unions extract more money than does private equity.
One more like that and you will be banned. That is beyond the pale Making Shit Up. Tell me how many fire-fighter billionaire there are. PE has LONG been so successful at looting that it pays more than half the fees of Wall Street, top NYC law firms, and McKinsey, Bain and BCG. All their employees (except at very newbie firms) fly on private jets. Tell me how many firefighters have seen the inside of a private jet, let alone use them like Ubers.
Actually I am banning you now. You can go to hell for smearing people who risk their lives for scum like you.
Enjoy your new Central Valley lakes!
“US embassy in Kyiv shutters after ‘significant’ air attack threat”
I can imagine the atmosphere in the US Embassy after those missiles were fired at Russia. They would have been popping the champagne and playing dancing music. And when they went to congratulate the Colonel that fired those missiles, may have been surprised at his sourness. He probably turned to them and said-
‘You do realize that the US has just attacked Russia, don’t you? And that is as good as a declaration of war. I, for one, am now leaving this building as anything American in this country can now be considered fair game.’
And after leaving, the people gathered would have looked at each other and then they would have started to gaze up at the ceiling. The next day they shut the Embassy down and did a runner to the Polish border.
One day they give allowance to strike “deep in Russia” and the next they shut down the embassy in Kyiv. Mission accomplished! /end of sarc
U.S. Embassy special Chicken Kiev recipe:
Keep abreast of the situation and make yourself scarce.
I’ve been looking for a new recipe, and after my blue no matter who fam starts to eat it I’ll explain the inspiration for it all!
Run Awaaayyyy!!!
Chicken Kiev is very, very good.
If the Russians were anything like the Israeli’s, that embassy would have been bombed long ago. Just ask the Iranians.
Being like the Israeli’s, is what’s going to destroy Israel in the long term.
About the Nordic “survival instructions”:
I can’t say anything about the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish versions, but the Finnish site is here (https://72tuntia.fi/en/) and while the English version doesn’t show it, it has existed since 2019. Finland is a country with a potentially very adversary natural environment, and every storm there are tens of thousands of houses without electricity (because of trees falling on power lines). Even for me as a foreigner, it is normal to make sure you have enough water at home, food, blankets in your car, candles at home for light etc.
In the Netherlands as well as on the BBC at least these “survivor instructions” have been taken out of context. The Finnish brochure (neither in English nor in Finnish) mention war.
So it is again our great press quality that makes much out of nothing.
Who cares about Blinken, where is Antifa when we need him to lift our spirits with a little song? Until he returns here is a little ditty to sing along with the coming apocalypse. I call it Z’s Lament but some of you raisins may recognize it as a cheap and clumsy rip off of the song Help Me by Joni Mitchell.
Help me I thought that Biden
Was going to last
He had me hoping for a future
Now I worry ‘bout my past
‘Cause I’ve seen my hot hot fighters
Come down to smoke and ash
But we love our money
Waiting in offshore accounts
Help me I think I’m losing
This war too fast
It has to be the war
And not just last nights gas
I’m in trouble
Cause you’re a liar and a bully
And a hair sniffing girlie man
You don’t care who’s watching
But you hide your 10 percent
Didn’t it feel good
We were talking at G-7
Or lying there not talking
Didn’t it feel good
You dance with the one
Who brought you largesse
Didn’t it feel good
Didn’t it feel good
Help me I think I’m falling
In love with Trump
Is he going to put me on a shelf
Because the war has hit a bump
Both of us strutting around
bragging then sagging
Starting to slump
But we love our money
Waiting in offshore accounts
Very nice!
Yeah, I hope Antifa is doing okay….
re. Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) November 18, 2024, on the 40 yo California commuter train equipment bequeathed to Peru…
He misses some important additional facts. The railroad line this junk pile is supposed to operate is a single track freight railroad that requires significant work to support passenger trains. from Trains magazine:
So to clarify, commuter trains won’t be running anytime soon. And the sort of US corporations “building” the Bakersfield to Merced California HSR are going to double track the line, install advanced signaling and build stations. The line goes from sea level to 2821 feet ASL, which is a significant climb for railroads of 2.1%/mile. Recall the 40 yo junk pile operated from San Jose to San Francisco, which is flat-running. These trains are seriously underpowered. Plus 40 years is really end of service life for rail equipment and rebuilding such old stock is a seriously expensive proposition.
Anybody want to bet this is operating in 2025 as Blinken claimed?
What a superb but distressing comment. Thank you so much.
construction work planned is likely to generate up to $500 million for U.S. companies in exports of rail, track material, signaling systems, and protection equipment for crossings.
Do Chinese companies have compatible — and more affordable — equipment that they can offer — as well as the corresponding project planning and implementation services, of course?
well the Chinese did build high speed rail across the desert in Xinjiang and up the mountains into Chongqing and Tibet
I suppose they could do it if asked
Indeed, but the issue is whether they can ensure interoperability with that legacy equipment (rolling stock and infrastructure) from the USA.
Thanks. For some reason, the “We’re doing infrastructure!” theater disturbed the memory hole and out popped a bridge, so an opinion poll.
Which gets completed first, this or the Francis Scott Key Bridge (trick question alert).
We see “Gov. Moore vows persistent push for Key Bridge funds; thanks Biden for emergency request”, Fox Baltimore, Nov, 17. Mixed metaphors are still king, Gov. Wes Moore told reporters he will not “take his foot off the paddle” when it comes to pushing Congress on funding for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
We also see “Rep. Harris: ‘Not sure’ if full federal funds for Key Bridge rebuild will come soon”, Fox Baltimore, Nov 7. (Maryland U.S. House Rep. Andy Harris quote) “I am pretty sure ultimately it will be paid out of disaster funds, but right now there’s a lot of competition for those funds,” Harris said, referencing the destruction left behind in the South by Hurricane Helene. This guy seems sober, at least here.
What about the old BART rail cars. Does Peru want them too? Heck, Peru can have the BART board for free. Shipping included.
A new chapter in the ongoing editions of the John Perkins Economic Hit Man series. Set ’em up, make
’em buy American with mucho debt, rinse, repeat.
Bear in mind, also, that those commuter trains probably weren’t even built in the US.
In the San Francisco area, for example, the CalTrain cars were built in Japan. The Muni Metro cars were built in Germany, and the BART cars were built in France.
The plan for HSR in California was always to lay down the tracks and then buy the rolling stock from either Japan, France, or China, and I assume China is now off the list.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/world/us-ukraine-anti-personnel-mines.html
November 20, 2024
Biden Administration Approves Ukraine’s Use of Anti-Personnel Mines
The decision is the latest in a series of moves by the U.S. and Russia that have escalated tensions between the two.
By Andrew E. Kramer and Helene Cooper
The Biden administration has approved supplying Ukraine with American anti-personnel mines to bolster defenses against Russian attacks as Ukrainian front lines in the country’s east have buckled, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
The decision is the latest in a series of moves by Russia and the United States related to the war in Ukraine that have escalated tensions between the two…
And this —
Ukraine fires British Storm Shadow missiles into Russia
Move follows Kyiv’s first use of US long-range Atacms missiles on Russian soil
https://www.ft.com/content/3ed2033c-64d9-46e6-b5b0-4be7266e29ce
Morons will be morons.
“Biden Administration Approves Ukraine’s Use of Anti-Personnel Mines…”
“Ukraine fires British Storm Shadow missiles…”
The madness of such national leadership is beyond my understanding.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157216
November 20, 2024
United States vetoes Gaza ceasefire resolution at Security Council
The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution that demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Despite having secured 14 votes in favour, the draft resolution put forward by the 10 elected members of the Security Council (E10), failed to pass owing to the negative vote by a permanent member, the US.
The text also reiterated the Council’s demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
For a resolution to be adopted, it must secure at least nine votes in favour, and no negative votes – or vetoes – by any of the five permanent members.
Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility to uphold international peace and security…
It’s not normal for the East Coast to be on fire Grist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this best of all possible worlds we got going on, everything is gonna burn up, you get the feeling.
We’re always in need of a new adversary in our war game cleverly disguised as an economy, and why not take a new tack in that in lieu of deploying fire fighting planes and helicopters on a 1-by-1 basis for the most part and instead deploy 1,000 fire bomber raids ala WW2 on out of control conflagrations?
Unlike the heralded above F-35C fighter plane, you don’t need a whole laundry list of things for a firefighting plane or helo to do, they have 1 job essentially, and nobody is shooting back.
We’ll also need aircraft that can fight fires at night, pretty short on that now.
Reading the column on the fires in the Northeast, painting a pretty stark picture. Drought conditions are applicable to virtually all of the lower 48 !?!
October indeed was pretty dry ( I guess in hindsight ) and warmer, hereabouts in South Carolina. All of the precipitation from hurricane Helene must have been for naught unfortunately. The future is here, and the environmental Jackpot is most likely to be unevenly distributed. After all, everyone knows that the Zuckerberg or the Bezos of our capitalist society have their exits plotted out.
Current drought conditions for the U.S. can be found on the National Integrated Drought Information System‘s website:
CDC graphic How H1 Bird Flu Could Spread on a Dairy Farm
Top of the list:
INHALATION
https://x.com/CDCFlu/status/1858606126666805522
graphic at the link
One thing seems clear, if Russia just lies down and lets itself be hit without any real repercussions until Trump>’s inauguration, then Trump will not only be so boxed in that he can’t stop escalation, he also will no longer want to (if he actually wants to now).
As various commenters have pointed out, the only reason why Trump was nominally against escalation against Russia was because he perceived it as powerful and dangerous, which is what he respects.
If Putin continues to fold for 60 days without striking back, there will be nothing left of the respect that trump once had and he will be fully convinced that Putin is a complete pushover.
Andl he won’t be wrong either.
It is irrelevant if NATO armies are powerful enough to fight Russia when Russia doesn’t fight in the first place.
Even a weak army will always be superior to one that doesn’t or isn’t allowed to fight.
If Russia doesn’t get serious not only is it done for, but so is BRICS+, China, the multipolar world, everything.
And the whole planet will be turned into Gaza by a triumphant US.
If Russian collapses, as it will under these circumstances, nobody will be able to prevent the US from nuking everyone it wants without serious consequences.
Even China will not only be the first but an easy target considering how pathetically insufficient it’s nuclear detterence is.
Especially if the US gains control over Russia’s nuclear arsenal as well.
Right now Russia could restore deterrence, at least temporarily, very quickly by hitting Kiev hard with their “Father Of All Bombs” says Scott Ritter and I suspect he is right.
Wipe out the Kiev regime now or Big Z’s so called “Peace Plan” will become reality after all.
Two months from now NATO, the neocons and Ukro-nazis will have been so emboldened and runk on their success that nothing short of a nuclear strike will ever deter them again.
Today much less would suffice.
But if Putin won’t even do what is needed now, he never will six weeks from now when he will have to make far tougher decisions yet to achieve the same result and with Trump almost certainly firmly under Neocon control by that time.
Putin is on the way to turning himself into a traitor many orders of magnitude worse than Yelzin and Gorbi.
Those guys at least could be argued to not fully have known who they were really dealing with.
But perhaps that is why Putin recently defended Yelzin.
The only hope left is that the russian military won’t allow him to get away with it and will take the decision out of his proven to be incapable hands, as John Helmer recently implied they probably will if he were to sell out.
I read in the NY Post that those sabotaged military cables are going to take “up to 15 days to repair”. Maybe that’s a timeline for something.
Inflation everywhere, used to be only 14 days to stop the spread.
I suspect that both Putin and China’s Xi have no clear understanding of who they are dealing with. Both, especially Xi, think they can come to an “understanding” with the West. That thinking is fatal, as the West is predatory and will never stop going after both nations. Attempting to make nice with the West is a fools game. Punching the West hard in the face is what is required. I doubt that neither Putin nor Xi have the stomach for that. So both will be strangled by the necklaces of iron surrounding them.
You have not been reading Putin’s speeches for the last year. He does not think so. He talks about negotiations only as a gesture, to placate his economic allies. What he wants makes any negotiations sure to fail.
See Sun Tzu……
“Where you are strong appear weak…..
This would be a nice comment to revisit in a year or two.
Many hyperbolic hypotheticals here.
Apparently, the Russians have said they may retaliate “anywhere in the world”, so I would expect some far-flung bases to be the initial targets, and possibly not directly struck by the Russians themselves, e.g., the illegal US bases in Syria are suddenly decimated by a bunch of missiles that came from Yemen — a type of missile and warhead that they didn’t have last month. Or maybe RAF Akrotiri gets hit.
Then again, I’m not glued to Telegram channels and watching Scott Ritter every day, so what do I know?
In any case, I don’t see that a few missile attacks will avert the fall of the Ukraine (partition? DMZ? occupation of the whole country? Should we just start calling it “Novorossiya”?).
It will be interesting to see if the Russians hold war crimes trials, with Azov leaders or even a figure as high as Zelensky in the dock. Western media will downplay and ignore it, of course.
Russians also said they will make sure that everyone knows they did the hitting. I still stand by my prediction of a dozen hypersonics hitting RAF Waddington, which, if Russians feel humorous, they will refer to as Ukrainian base on an island west of Odessa.
One thing seems clear, you should have posted your impotent rage outburst to some other site. Not much audience for that here.
Also, general recommendation for all keyborad warriors eager for a fight, is to go outside and enlist, and put all that extra testosterone to use. A handfull of you could easily march on Moscow, and make Russia to your own liking.
https://x.com/witte_sergei/status/1859629466995261471
Due Dissidence. utube, ~19+ minutes.
Libs FLEE TWITTER After Trump Win, Advertisers RETURN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RxZiLD1MXc
Isn’t this the second round of libs fleeing twitter, heh heh. I should be selling pearls.
And yet Blinken used his X account to announce our recognition of the most current Venezuelan pretender.
Anyone who has ever written a resume for somebody that’s never had a job before will recognize the style of writing:
Translation: It flew through the air and dropped some bombs on land a few times.
Not bad for $2 trillion!
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c20726y20kvt/
Ukraine fires UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for first time
– Ukraine has fired UK-supplied long-range Storm Shadow missiles at targets within Russia for the first time, the BBC understands
– The UK government is not commenting on the reports but the defense secretary says “Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself”
RE: New Taurus missile proposal for Ukraine will be set for Bundestag vote – Euromaidan Press
How likely is it that those are already there as well and ready to go?
The Gilbert Doctorow article recommends and links to yesterday’s episode of Judge Napolitano. In that episode, Napolitano plays a video clip of Trump and shows a date in the video’s upper right-hand corner of November 18, 2024. This implies that Trump made and released the video in response to Biden’s ATACMS authorization for Ukraine. However, Trump released that video on March 16, 2023. It can be found on Trumps website at this link:
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-preventing-world-war-iii
“Hate and harassment towards women spreads after Trump’s election”
American Taliban here we come.
The Handmaid’s Tale as how-to manual.
Those high school girls were right to notice a change in the air. I don’t think men quite understand exactly how hypervigilant you have to be just to exist in this world as a woman. The only question now is “How will American women react?”
American women will react by joning 4B movement. American men will react by dating non-American women.
good old Hollywood Zionism:
‘Artwashing’: Warner Bros faces backlash over biopic of Israel air force founder
Social media users criticise decision to dramatise story of Al Schwimmer who smuggled weapons to Zionist militia and helped found Israeli air force now engaged in bombing Gaza
https://www.middleeasteye.net/trending/warner-bros-faces-backlash-over-al-schwimmer-film-israel-air-force-sorkin
“(…)
American playwright, director and screenwriter Sorkin, famous for creating the shows like The Newsroom (2012-2014) and the West Wing (1999-2006), has also been a focus of criticism.
In 2023, Sorkin signed an open letter from the “No Hostages Left Behind” campaign, along with 200 other Hollywood celebrities and media executives, expressing strong support for Israel amid its war on Gaza.
One social media user mocked the writer saying: “Aaron Sorkin x the Israeli military. These Hollywood execs truly do have their fingers on the pulse of the nation.”
A disillusioned fan remarked: “I’ve tried my hardest, but it’s becoming impossible to remain an Aaron Sorkin defender.”
Sorkin also previously severed ties with his agency, Creative Artists Agency, after his agent, Maha Dakhil, shared pro-Palestinian posts, including one using the word “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza.
(…)”
Sorkin did his best work outside “Newsroom” and “West Wing” which are both too much wanna-be-eloquent show-offs and betray the author´s vanity which is always to the detrimet of the product.