Sound of the Chang,
an ancient Persian musical instrument known as a vertical angular harp, which was widely used during the Sasanian Dynasty
pic.twitter.com/2areglfDWZ— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) June 7, 2025
The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered Quanta Magazine
Can a robot help you age better? The Conversation
15,000 Light-Years Away, Something Is Blinking – And It Might Rewrite Physics SciTech Daily
COVID-19/Pandemics
The pandemic generation: How Covid-19 has left a long-term mark on children BBC
Calls for RFK Jr. to Resign Grow Louder MedPage Today
Kash Patel claims ‘breakthrough’ in Fauci COVID origins probe The Hill
New COVID variant NB.1.8.1 spreads across continents amid calls for vigilance News Medical< A New COVID Variant Is Here, And It’s More Transmissible — Here Are The Signs And Symptoms Huffpost
Climate/Environment
From Media Darling to Persona Non Grata: Greta Thunberg’s Journey ScheerPost
The United States’ climate credibility crisis East Asia Forum
Climate change threatens banana exports, key to the Latin American economy El Pais
China?
A 100-year-old 7,500-ton Shikumen building in Shanghai is being moved back to its spot by 432 walking robots after making space for a new underground mall 🚶♂️🏙️
— Tansu Yegen (@TansuYegen) June 5, 2025
Taiwan Condemns China’s ‘Provocative’ Patrol The Defense Post
This Could Be Our Best View Yet Of China’s J-36 Very Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet The War Zone
On board the driverless lorries hoping to transform China’s transport industry BBC
China eases stranglehold on rare minerals in welcome news for GM, Ford: report NY Post
South of the Border
Supreme Court tosses Mexico’s $10B lawsuit claiming US gunmakers have fueled cartel violence AP
Trump & Rubio Tighten the Noose on Cuba ScheerPost
Argentina’s Debt Trap Phenomenal World
European Disunion
Baltic states issue statement supporting Ukraine’s membership in EU and NATO Ukrainska Pravda
EU’s von der Leyen ‘has to be held accountable’ for vaccine texts: Senior MEP Aubry France 24
EU Commission paid environmental NGOs to target Germany, report says Euractive
Old Blighty
£127M wasted on failed UK nuclear cleanup plan The Register
Russia is already at war with Britain and we can no longer rely on Trump, defence adviser warns The Independent
Israel v. The Resistance
Children in Gaza have only 245 calories per day!
Forced starvation is an act of genocide. pic.twitter.com/CSjjwsdKxe
— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) June 7, 2025
Israel orders evacuations in 2 Gaza neighborhoods on Eid’s 2nd day Andolu Agency
Israel Army Announces 4 Soldiers Killed in Gaza, Thousands More Troops Needed The Defense Post
UNRWA slams Israeli ban on international journalists reporting on Gaza, calls to allow it to work Andolu Agency
Netanyahu confirms Israel arming clans opposed to Hamas in Gaza BBC
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia Strikes Back as Ukraine Bets House on Asymmetric ‘Terror’ War Simplicius
🇺🇦🇷🇺 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:
“Units of the 90th Tank Division of the Center Forces Group have reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and continue to develop the offensive in the territory of the Dnepropetrovsk region.”
— Ministry of Defense of RussiaSo Russia… pic.twitter.com/ag99MAatvC
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 8, 2025
Military intrigues Events in Ukraine substack
Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of seeking to delay prisoner swap France 24
Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web redefined the front lines of war Asia Times
Kharkiv hit by ‘most powerful attack’ of entire war, mayor says, as Russia pounds Ukraine again CNN
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Infomaniak’s Surveillance Shift Sparks Privacy Clash Web Pro News
US Supreme Court Grants DOGE Access to Social Security Data Amid Privacy Concerns News X
Privacy concerns swirl around HHS plan to build Medicare, Medicaid database on autism CNN
University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters Guardian (Guardian)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Deep State Is Still Sabotaging Presidential Policies Moon of Alabama
FAA will restrict flights at Newark airport through end of year NJ.com
Trump 2.0
The End of Silicon Politics Yascha Mounk substack
How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect Reason
Climate change threatens banana exports, key to the Latin American economy El Pais
Trump is trying to defang the Endangered Species Act The Hill
Musk Matters
Maher advises Democrats to ‘win’ Elon Musk ‘back’ The Hill
How the U.S. became highly reliant on Elon Musk for access to space NPR
Democrat Death Watch
Jean-Pierre triggers Democratic fury with public split from party The Hill
The Great Un-Awokening Politico
Immigration
After 2 days of clashes over immigration raids, National Guard will be sent to L.A., official says Los Angeles Times
Trump’s immigration, trade policies could cost tourism industry $12B: report NY Post
‘A complete sea change’: Trump’s immigration crackdown goes into hyperdrive Politico
Our No Longer Free Press
Free Speech Organizations Pen Open Letter Sounding Alarm on Press Freedom Under Trump Meidas Touch News
Mr. Market Is Moody
Weekly Commentary: Uncertainty Squared Credit Bubble Bulletin
Dollar poised for weekly loss, hurt by economic weakness and trade limbo Reuters
Should investors be preparing for a US stock market crash in 2025? The Motley Fool
AI
A knockout blow for LLMs? Gary Marcus
OpenAI Wants to get College Kids Hooked on AI Gizmodo
“Meta Is Redefining Warfare”: U.S. Army Adopts AR-AI Headset That Turns Soldiers Into Real-Time Combat Intelligence Hubs Sustainability Times
A professor testing ChatGPT’s, DeepSeek’s and Grok’s stock-picking skills suggests stockbrokers should worry Market Watch
This dude create an AI video “interviewing” people from the 1500s and it’s hilarious 😂 pic.twitter.com/89wxf80HPq
— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) June 4, 2025
AI analysis of ancient handwriting gives new age estimates for Dead Sea Scrolls CNN
The Bezzle
The furniture fraud who hoodwinked the Palace of Versailles BBC
Guillotine Watch
The Suashish Necktie: $220,000
the world most expensive Tie ever madeThe man behind it is Indian fashion designer-Satya Paul.
Tie is made of pure silk, using 150 grams of gold for the pattern and 271 sparkling-77carat diamonds.
This Tie can cost you Lamborghini Gallardo!! pic.twitter.com/dL4CMtfc15
— The Worlds Most Expensive (@twmeofficial) August 21, 2020
Good Evening X Family ✨✨✨
The most expensive pen in the world is the Fulgor Nocturnus by Tibaldi which sold for $8 million dollars at auction. Translated from Latin, Fulgor Nocturnus means “night glow” which seems appropriate given the black diamond bling on this precious… pic.twitter.com/8WilzCdLor
— Nandini (@69Nandini) September 12, 2024
Class Warfare
Sacramento County to use drones to track homeless people on probation CBS Sacramento
We mapped 18,000 children’s playgrounds and revealed inequality across England The Conversation
Antidote du jour (via)
And a bonus:
Cat meets baby boy for the first time and this happened 🥺 pic.twitter.com/d3srpG0sY3
— Cats That Make You Go Awww (@CuteAdorableCat) June 7, 2025
These most expensive items of clothing seem to be so not out of any quality of craft or making or skill, but because someone sticks a lot of gold or diamonds on it, which is pretty the definition of tacky, there is no notion of what intrinsic quality, what’s to stop someone making a sock out of a cheque for a trillion dollars and calling it “the most expensive sock in the world?” Reminds me of Damien Hirst’s Diamond skull; ‘for the love of’, he boasted in an interview that his favourite thing about it was he effected the global cost of diamonds, thus showing he fetishised crude market dynamics “numbers go up, number go down” over and above the infinite potential and power of art itself for non-linear symbolism, which says a lot about Hirst’s the artist and his values.
At NC, we were already introduced to the most expensive strawberry, the most expensive cognac, the most expensive car (I do not even remember the brand), the most expensive ice-cream…
A sign that we are near the end of an epoch/civilization?
Epic levels of stupidity and gauche on the most splendiferous tie ever designed and made by hand ! Get them while supplies last….
By sheer coincidence I read this week about different generations and retirement planning. If memory serves that featured tie runs about or above the average retirement balance for the average Generation X individual. Unreal.
Doesn’t matter if I was rich enough to afford that tie ten times over, I would still dribble coffee or spill some food on it. Why bother.
All of those items have one thing in particular, exclusivity.
It’s in a Illionaire’s DNA, that’s why they have escape plans to Hawaiian & NZ bunkers, you see, the thought is they are going to live forever.
I can buy a flat of strawberries for $4
I can buy a non vintage cognac for $40
I can buy a car for $40,000
I can buy an ice cream cone for $4
p.s.
I’m not gonna wear a tie again if I can somehow pull it off…
Jim, I Wore a Tie Today, by the Highwaymen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxNOAit5fo
I want to see someone do a video on the Most Expensive Politician.
It comes with surgically added alligator skin implants-along with conscience removal, a rich Corinthian leather-like tan, digitally aided in using all 10 of them to seek contributions to the point where they can comfortably hobnob with the haves-not the have nots.
Only the best of our serving politicians ever reach their fullest potential.
Former Sen Bob Menendez must feel pleasantly surprised at donning an orange jumpsuit…look Ma I really made it(!)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-us-senator-robert-menendez-sentenced-11-years-prison-bribery
Best idea ever.
For politicians, as the saying goes, if you have to ask you can’t afford it/him/her. But for the cost of that tie I think you can get six run-of-the mill state legislators or perhaps three freshman congressmen.
@vao I would prefer to see more coverage of say Africa in place of coverage of guady expensive items, just my opinion
Agreed. Especially since Africa seems to be just a background of indistinct convulsions and smouldering conflicts, but lots of very relevant things are happening there, of which we only get episodic glimpses.
We must be close to running out of gaudy spendy items, although I feel a $600k fur sink is not out the realm of possibilities.
Wait, wait. That would be the ultimate Sink Cost Fallacy, wouldn’t it?
You win!
Middle ground would be coverage of guady expensive items in Africa.
they are not for functional use.
my nephew’s BFF is a scion. their family’s thing is art; and have a 2nd tier university-level art collection in their house cum fieldhouse cum gallery.
there definitely are (say) 1,000 men who have the money and intense interest re. $MM pens. it’s part pride, part collectible, part hoard-ism
These sort of gaudy individual pieces are never the guillotine watch items that really get me. It’s the insane real estate developments that seem designed to be instagram’d (and invariably are) but that you can’t fathom a person or family actually living comfortably in. It’s the unhinged tourist attractions that had to be built from the ground up (or down, in the underground cases) with the idea of getting the superparasites of the world to take selfies there for 5 figures daily. Those are the things, more than the comically bedazzled and marked up small goods, that demonstrate the bizarre economie complete of the gigarich.
“China eases stranglehold on rare minerals in welcome news for GM, Ford: report ”
They may have eased rare minerals going to car manufacturers to show Trump that they are flexible, but I note that they are not shipping rare minerals to go to the Pentagon for weapons manufacturing. And can you see Trump begging them to do so lest the US military stops being able to make new weapons – to be pointed at China?
“Sound of the Chang, an ancient Persian musical instrument known as a vertical angular harp, which was widely used during the Sasanian Dynasty.”
Is it really something people do not know about nowadays?
It is well-known in Europe, if less used compared to other instruments, and each language seems to have its own term to designate it (thus, it is called a “Maultrommel” in German, and a “guimbarde” in French).
For instance, it appears prominently in the Yugoslav movie “Ko to tamo peva – Who’s Singin’ Over There?”.
Commonly called a mouth harp or in more colloquial parlance a ‘Jew’s harp’, widely played and known around Europe until more recent times. Sassanid times, who could possibly have guessed that. This kind of TikTok distortion for self promotion is something we definitely don’t need. On the other hand the TikTok AI film about medieval England is a good laugh.
If you’re ever in Phoenix, in particular during their torrid summer, but anytime really…
The wonderfully air conditioned Musical Instrument Museum is a must!
They seemingly have every instrument from every nook and cranny in the world. I think I counted around 10 sets of non-Scottish bagpipes, to give you an idea.
A good deal of it is hands on, and more, Go!
https://mim.org/
I wrote another post before seeing this one. It’s down below, with links, if anyone’s interested.
I was tickled to see the jew’s harp tied to the Sassanid dynasty of Persia. So they brought it back from the Babylonian Captivity. Cool. The tweet was unusually learnedly stupid.
Ahem, the Sassanid dynasty rose to power at least 750 years after the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews.
That tiktok video about the morsing/chang is indeed stupid — AI-level stupid.
Oops, glad I’ve only got human-level stupidity–thanks!
> Russia Strikes Back as Ukraine Bets House on Asymmetric ‘Terror’ War Simplicius
In which Simplicius presents a “video shows Russian Kh-101 missiles firing off flares before hitting Lutsk Repair Plant”. Why does a cruise missile fire off flares like that? For what purpose?
I would assume to draw air defense fire.
Missile interceptors in terminal mode shift to infrared (IR), if they are not solely IR.. Flares “confused” the homing mechanisms.
The most recent versions of IM ( Sidewinder) and AIM 120 (AMRAAM) have multi-function seekers.
There are other “low tech” techniques to spoof IR seekers.
pre-emptive counter-measures. also possible with the flare (ie heat) are metallic chaff…to confuse any radar or missile homing-in
too slow?
Wiki suggests: Mach 0.6-0.78
as Yves suggests, diversion
They think that Ukraine still has a few Stingers left (or some other heat seeking missile protecting the target).
^^ This. These flares are a smaller version of what low flying aircraft routinely use to evade IR missiles*. You may have seen footage like this. You want the missile to be attracted to the decoy rather than its intended target.
A cruise missile like the Kh-101 can only be fitted with a few, small, short-duration flares in contrast with the larger and more numerous aircraft flares from the clip above. It looks like they save them for the last phase of flight near the target where air defenses are likely to be concentrated.
Modern missiles are increasingly good at avoiding simple decoys like flares and chaff, but they’re still used because: it’s worth a try, they don’t take up much space or weight, you might be lucky enough to be facing an older missile.
AFAICT Russian cruise and ballistic missiles in the SMO are the first widespread combat use of munitions that drop decoys to deter air defense: Kh-101 flares and fancy Iskander radar decoys come to mind **.
Russia is also said to routinely use large, powered decoys as well: drones and missiles designed to attract air defense attention away from the warhead carriers during large strikes.
* Stinger/Strela/Igla, Sidewinder, the long-ranged Houthi/Iranian IR SAM that’s been taking out Reaper drones, etc.
** There’s even been some speculation that the Oreshnik payload was a weaponized version of what were originally non-explosive ICBM/IRBM decoys–or perhaps more prosaically just dummy test warheads.
I found it interesting the bit on desertions. Not that the numbers provided should be taken seriously but this is one of the signs suggesting that the Ukrainian might not be that far from collapsing. Given the way this war is being driven i guess that all of a sudden and unexpectedly Z’s regime will collapse and the war will change dramatically. How and when is quite unpredictable but it seems to me Ukraine will fall like a house of cards at some point.
Some other items of Russian “hybrid influence” on the precariousness of the Kiev regime are the 6000 bodies laid on the Ukrainian doorstep waiting for somebody to pick them up, and the new from today that apparently (video evidence) the Russian 90th Tank Division entered the Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
It’s becoming harder and harder to maintain the fantasy that Ukraine stands a chance.
Those 6000 bodies are also billions of hryvnas to be paid to their families. Hryvnas alread spent on hookers and blow.
This is a German paper´s perspective on the problem of forced recruitment if reported at all:
Today´s BERLINER ZEITUNG.
It´s a very rare exception.
Abuse and corruption in recruitment: Fear of “human traffickers” is spreading in Ukraine
In Ukraine, the average age of soldiers on the front lines is high. Men of military age are forced into military service, sometimes using violent methods. A report.
https://archive.is/7ZOcT
Still a bit you get the fuzzy impression it´s sort of not organized and not systemic and only a problem as of late. Since it´s brave, heroic and democratic Ukrainians.
How many “desertions” are actually KIA, I wonder…
“Jean-Pierre triggers Democratic fury with public split from party”
I suppose that you can reword that title to say that a party, which loves to stab people in the back, is surprised when one of their own does it to them.
But wasn´t she insufferable in those press meetings?
I scarcely watch those but I remember thinking, what a nice name for someone with that awful behaviour.
Omission Accomplished
We know you have a choice of political parties, thanks for choosing the Donkey Show! (brays uncontrollably)
Eh, it’s part of her book tour. They should at least respect the grift.
Tonton M’loot
Re: Should investors be preparing for a US stock market crash in 2025? The Motley Fool
The fake AI productivity gains should juice it for a while. The problem is how long will it take for the fundamental weakness of the Western economies to manifest? Anything which exists as code is essentially worthless as it can be freely copied. Bitcoin, which has no actual value and is trading at over $100k, is the perfect emblem for such a system. China has a lead in most areas and will eventually overtake in all areas. I get the real impression that all it takes is a tug on one thread and the whole tapestry unravels. It is already frayed in too many places to hold together.
“The problem is how long will it take for the fundamental weakness of the Western economies to manifest?”
What about a year of truly bad crop failures?
With climate change and biodiversity woes (e.g. bees collapse, pests spreading around, etc), a really poor harvest would have a lot of knock-on effects — food inflation, bankruptcy of food-related business (agro-transformation, restaurants, etc), diversion of disposable income to the detriment of every other economic sector than food, agricultural trade surplus turning into a deficit for affected countries… and ultimately a possible stock exchange crash and plenty of disastrous consequences for currencies, state budgets, and banks (starting with those very much involved in financing agrobusiness, such as the French Crédit Agricole).
Somebody asked yesterday, how do I know Hunga Tonga is effecting things? …and a lesser volcano named Laki in Iceland blew up real good in 1783, and these things take years to manifest in terms of what they do, and in France in particular, wheat harvests were bad over a number of years, leading up to being the prime mover for revolution, hunger is quite a motivator. The price of bread was double that of a Frenchman’s wages, when the good women of Paris descended on Versailles and King Louis XVI…
Laki was a 4 on the Volcano Explosivity Index, Hunga Tonga was a VEI 5 to 6, with it also being a rare Submarine Volcano which spewed tons of vapor into the atmosphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles
Ahh!
The three Norn at the base of Yggdrasil one has a sheer over the threat of the S&P 500 speculative run…..
Is Motley Fool like Jim Carmer?
I always thought of Jim Cramer as a malevolent Soupy Sales, only Soupy wasn’t selling anything.
The best advice I’ve heard from pros is to avoid anyone who pitches stock tips or “analysis.” Do research yourself or buy index funds.
Motley Fool started out okay providing general market info but long ago moved on.
Before today, I don’t ever remember seeing a link from The Motley Fool on NC.
Tread carefully…
The article was also a shill for a UK real estate fund. Stopped taking it seriously at that point.
What’s the actual value of a $, considering that it can be virtually printed ad infinitum? Gold has also increased its value in $ lately, by some concidence.
“Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of seeking to delay prisoner swap”
I’d have to say that it was Zelensky spiking this swaps as he has also been spiking the return of the Ukrainian dead. He actually went ballistic when he heard about this and called the negotiations idiots. So of course the Russians decided to put the boot in over Zelensky’s refusal to receive back their dead-
‘The governor of Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, Evgeny Balitsky, published the first six pages containing 97 names, identification documents, and places of death on Saturday evening, after Ukraine reportedly refused to receive the remains of thousands of its troops.
“We are beginning to publish lists of identified bodies so that relatives can find their dead,” he wrote. “We understand that Kiev has this data, but they are deliberately hiding it from the public.” ‘
https://www.rt.com/russia/618791-ukrainian-soldiers-names-list/
‘Tansu Yegen
@TansuYegen
A 100-year-old 7,500-ton Shikumen building in Shanghai is being moved back to its spot by 432 walking robots after making space for a new underground mall 🚶♂️🏙️’
Rumour has it that the Chinese flew in 10,000 Mormons for this operation because of their experience-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc6IT5L3ZSk (21:45 mins)
I must say that Shikumen ain’t no Shinkansen, if you are in a hurry.
Rev,
Those are Amish in your video. Very competent carpenters, cabinet makers, wheelwrights and coopers. Mormons are…different.
Pax
The description resembles the one from Wikipedia, for a differen looking instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_(instrument)
The one on the video looks and sounds like mouth harp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_harp
Bonus Trivia
In the Balkans, the mouth harp is widely known for its use by a couple of Gypsy musicians in a movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obo9afw7AZw
“The description resembles the one from Wikipedia, for a differen looking instrument.”
People start hallucinating just like AI!
If wikipedia is to be trusted, apparently the x post used a shortened form of morsing, or morchang, which is a mouth harp – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsing. Chang does appear to be a larger stand up harp.
According to Wikipedia, both the Jew’s harp/mouth harp and the morsing are “heteroglot guimbardes”. They look like variations of the same instrument architecture.
That’s preposterous! International rule-based World order is full of rules that are strictly against blatant violations of the regional status quo.
Since when does ‘status quo’ have agency?
When it is a convenient placeholder word for the various and sundry elites who make the decisions for a polity.
At least they don’t call Formosa the Republic of China. That is what Taipei claims.
Status quo is that there is one China. But the US thinks Taiwan can be free like the Donbas.
Oh, US wants to cram Donbas back in to Stalin’s revenge.
Status quo is who has the more guns, missiles and ships…….
Formosa certainly not!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7WuDYwvCFw
…
Hand grenades flying over your head
Missiles flyin’ over your head, if you wanna survive
Get out of bed
You’re in the army now
Oh, oh you’re in the army, now
Shots ring out in the dead of night
The sergeant calls: “Stand up and fight!”
You’re in the army now
Oh, oh you’re in the army – now
You’re in the army now
Oh, oh you’re in the army – now
…
Taibbi and Kirn, America This Week, 30 minutes public excerpt about the current Dem party’s efforts to woo back men voters.
America This Week, June 6, 2026: “The War Party that Can’t Talk to Men”
https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-june-6-2026-the
Democrat Party: ‘We hate men, they are the cause of all the trouble in the world and they should just go off and die. By the way guys, you’ll still vote for us in the next election, right?’
lol. good luck.
yes, Barnard/Evergreen State grads….the cis, white dude who’s working his arse at the auto repair shop (or is a line man, etc.), trying get everything done by 6p, and just wants to go home and see his kids is the face of the Patriarchy and the source of your opression…not the literal scions-cum-state-governors in the Dem. party (and their backers)
thanks Flora.
and at the very end, Kirn gives me an idea,lol…the part about a dude getting gussied up and wandering around, and nobody notices him…as opposed to a dude, not necessarily gussied up, out in public with a woman, and chicks are of a sudden innerested.
lol.
sadly, all the chicks i got that would do lunch with me platonically are people like my Suegra and my Eldest’s girlfriend…Tam’s Tia’s, etc.
ie: everybody around here knows our relationships implicitly.(4500 in whole county…everyone knows everyone)
and, if i were to find a woman who would assent to do lunch with me platonically to further such a hairbrained scheme, i’d prolly end up pursuing her,lol.
and with a will, at this point.
“Trump is trying to defang the Endangered Species Act ”
Looks like Californian Condor is back on the menu again, boys. So why is Trump doing this? Partly, I guess, to make happy those wealthy hunters who want to go after big game which you mostly can’t at the moment – usually because they are endangered. That way they can get bragging right by collecting a rare trophy for their lodge in front of their wealthy friends. But I suspect that it is mostly to enable construction of infrastructure or projects going ahead and not having to worry about driving some species into extinction. Nothing personal little guys, it’s just business. For those interested, here is a list of some 1500 species now under the gun-sights of the Trump regime-
https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/ad-hoc-species-report
E.O. Wilson wrote a book a decade ago called Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, where he postulated that we ought to leave half the world alone, and aside from the DMZ in Korea and Chernobyl, National Parks in the USA are the closest thing we have to such an ideal.
You’re not going to see it in the 1% of the NP that 99% of the visitors typically go to-such as Yosemite Valley, but just a few miles away from that over loved locale are places no human ever goes and nature rules, and so it extends all the way to the Yosemite NP borders.
add in much of texas, west of I-35.
generally…mostly…privately owned…and yes, people run cows and whatnot.
but it still looks a lot like it did before white folks got here(including the spanish)…get 50 miles west of 35, and everything dramatically empties out.
freaks out my kinfolks from houston, etc…who are not used to such non-human environs….as in my little county, wherein 4000 out of the 4500 population is concentrated in the one incorporated city…that model extends, to greater and greater degrees, the further you move west. the only other house i can see from my place is my mom’s.
the other widow’s, in winter…but only from certain spots.
related, perhaps:80 years ago, there was a dentist…not only in Mason, proper…but in Pontotoc, Fredonia and right over that there hill in Katempcy, Tx.
and i have heard tell from people who were here, back then(i met my wife working in a nursing home), that they took chickens and soup and canned green beans for services.
Russian Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Scissors beat …
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1931403647683870925
P.S. Legend says that German WWII Goliath tracked mine could be disabled by hitting its controlling wires with a shovel.
crazy
Hilarious.
Apple computer pioneer Bill Atkinson has died.
https://www.wired.com/story/bill-atkinson-apple-engineer-dies/
And today, June 8th, is the anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty.
https://radbodslament.substack.com/p/remember-the-uss-liberty
Thank you for the note about the anniversary of the Liberty attack. I am sure the Sunday talk shows will cover this exhaustively. /s
Thanks from me as well. There are many who will never forget USS Liberty, and still hope for truth and justice.
Russian Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Scissors beat …
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1931403647683870925
Also, legend says that Goliath, German WWII remotely controlled demolition charge, could be disabled by cutting its wires with a shovel strike. No GoPro footage available, though.
Sorry for the double post. The initial one went into the void, not the moderation queue, so I did a repost in an attempt to fight the gremlins. It turns out, gremlins are unpredictable.
Are Kaija Kallas, Merz, Starmer and von der Leyen fibreoptic reptiles? If so, get your scissors out.
They are reptile sock puppets (image), though Macron could be a marionette (video).
File under European Disunion/The Bezzle: Bulgaria could break the euro. The EU would only have itself to blame.
Something The Telegraph is too polite or reluctant to say out loud is that the Euro isn’t just a currency, it’s also a geopolitical instrument. That’s the primary reason why Bulgaria is being granted entry: to shore up the South Eastern EU/NATO flank against the perceived Russkie menace. This is not to say that Russia isn’t heavily involved in propaganda, disinformation and subversion in Bulgaria – it is. However, it seems to me and most thinking people that the biggest danger to the EU comes from within and this move is yet another in a series which attempt to wish those problems away. The Convergence Report for the Euro accession itself makes an interesting reading as it lists most reasons why people like me are against this rushed entry, though it hides them behind the use of the very diplomatic “potential problems/mistakes to avoid” language.
As my banker friend said when I estimated 5 to 7 years before Bulgaria entered a Greek scenario, “You Americans are such optimists. I give it 3 to 4.”
OIFVet: Aha. The Bulgarians must be the Italians of the Balkans. This is thoroughly Italian: ‘As my banker friend said when I estimated 5 to 7 years before Bulgaria entered a Greek scenario, “You Americans are such optimists. I give it 3 to 4.”’
The euro was presented, like so many neoliberal devices, as a simplification and rationalizing — in this case, of currency, valuta. Who wouldn’t like a common currency so that having to change currencies would go away? Yet it turns out that an independent national currency allows independent economic planning: Here in Italy, the Italian governments have been eager to accommodate the Europe Project because it seemed to offer political stability to Italy.
It offered economic stagnation, as Conor Gallagher has detailed so well in several articles.
So Bulgaria enters the Eurozone, and the decline in population will likely accelerate. I’ll see you here in Italy.
Well, some of the same people who are jubilant over the accession into “the rich countries’ club” in one breath complain in the next about how decent gelato is more expensive than in Italy. That about sums up the intellectual depth of most proponents of the Euro.
I definitely have the Chocolate City on my “To visit” list. Will let you know when the time comes :)
I always thought that the Bulgarians were the Germans of the Balkans.
15,000 Light-Years Away, Something Is Blinking – And It Might Rewrite Physics SciTech Daily
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nuclear powered VCR flashing 12:00 repeatedly?
Members of the Intergalactic Department of Transportation left an orange barrel.
Be careful taking one of those orange barrels, you never know what’s in them….
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3a8qla
The Great Un-Awokening.
What the Democrats, and liberals, are doing is jettisoning some annoying habits that they were hardly committed to anyway. Everyone and their corporate marketing department wanted to insert a float into the gay pride parade, until it turned out that one might have to do something besides making up slogans. Latinx was enforced cleverness of academics. Land acknowledgments are the emptiest of gestures — I have sat through a few stumbling land acknowledgments, and they are downright embarrassing (to the listeners).
Note this: “Searching for a path out of the political wilderness, potential 2028 candidates, especially those hailing from blue states, are attempting to ratchet back a leftward lurch on social issues some in the party say cost them the November election.”
What the hell is a leftward lurch on social issues? A leftward lurch on social issues would be lowering the retirement age, raising minimum Social Security payments, repealing Taft-Hartley, and eliminating the Department of Homeland Security.
No where in the article except for a certain Adam Frisch is economics mentioned. Class is never mentioned. The problem of continuing racism is never mentioned.
I won’t even mention that Social Security, the minimum wage, union organizing, Medicare for All with Mental/Dental, the Ukraine proxy slaughter, and the proxy genocide in Palestine are not mentioned. Nor is the incompetence of Mayor Pete as Transport Secretary or the continuing grifting of Nancy Pelosi.
Hakim Jeffries and friends (like Big Mama Hillary) can keep twiXting about terraristses Hamas and terraristses Putin and so on. Which is what liberals want.
They were using various minorities: “Vote for us, or the Republicans will kill little Sage, the nonbinary track star of Tennessee.” Oh.
Frisch again: ‘Adam Frisch, the former congressional candidate and director of electoral programs at Welcome PAC, said his party is “out of touch culturally with a lot of people.” ‘
Yes, the culture of neoliberal greedheads, lady warmongers, grifting business types, malfunctioning home pages, scraping of e-mails, vulgar slogans like “I’m Speaking,” and a foreign policy politely described as the banality of evil are out of touch with most USonions.
And “moderates” don’t want to change. Believe me. Here in Italy, the moderates / centrists are not-so-amusing clowns like Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi. They are two overgrown boys with all of the moral compass of Hillary Clinton although with a certain roguish / jailbird charm.
Might as well change the title of the article to “The Great Redefinitioning of What is ‘The Left’,” though to be fair, that process has been ongoing ever since the Third Way took firm control of the Democrat Party.
Yes, it’s a bipartisan redefinition of what is Left to avoid anything to do with class. But that’s what allows Trump to rail about Radical Leftist Democrats and Obama to be called a Marxist (and Muslim, while he was waging war on about 5 Muslim nations at once) and Biden to be called a Communist because of his bills funneling public monies to private sector companies. Right is Left, War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery, etc., etc. And the Democrats’ lurch from their non-left positions even further to the right will be called centrism. Again. “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
yes. Hillary and Biden rendered as Far Left Communists is the part of this stupidest of timelines i find the most difficult to manage.
i made some headway, in the feedstore parking lot…and the feedstore, itself, at times…during Bernie’s first campaign…but all that is gone…buried under woke and trump and assorted other bullshit.
(the kind thats contaminated with persistent herbicides, and that one shouldnt apply to the tomato plant’s root zones)
Epic rant. Every bit of it correct.
I’m going to the Pride Parade in a couple hours. Because I remember what it used to be like and don’t want it to go back to that. But that’s not a “left social issue”, that’s just civil rights. Also glad to see that a few of the usual suspect corporate sponsors are Gone Daddy Gone this year. Good riddens.
Bugs: When I lived in Chicago, for several years, I was on the float of a theater company.
Most of those years, we got placed in the line between, oh, Accenture and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. Who were there to drum up business.
Some peeps older than I am would say: The parade should go back more toward what it was, because it was attracting too many hangers-on who would be happy to dump gayfolk, just as they had in the past. Which may also explain all of the rainbow kitsch.
I also learned a rule for living: It is always better to be in the parade than to be on the sidewalk with the spectators.
PS: Have a good time. Don’t do any jell-o shots.
Latinx was enforced cleverness of academics.
Of clueless, racist, anglosupremacist academics…
“This Could Be Our Best View Yet Of China’s J-36 Very Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet”
It occurs to me that you could seriously mess with another country’s intelligence services here. All you would have to do it to make up a plywood mock-up of a plane with ‘interesting features’ and wrap it in very, very thin metal sheeting. You could put in a few light and bells and whistles and give it a paint scheme resembling what the real ones would have. Put some rocks in it too so it doesn’t blow away. Then you could have some fun with it. Take a picture of it with a very, very long-range camera so that it looks like the real deal. Then one day, when you know that the satellites will be overhead, feign a “accident” to make it look like the front nose-gear collapsed giving the impression that they could not get in under cover in time. Hell, maybe drop it vertically from a high-flying helicopter but have a camera tilted sideways filming it so that it looks like it is zooming through the air. Cost of a dummy mock-up? Thousands. Cost of making it look real in the field? Ten of thousands. The cost to foreign intelligence services? Priceless.
It seems like we hava a Very Heavy Stealth Tactical Jet Gap, not to be confused with Bomber Gap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomber_gap
One design feature of a fighter aircraft is weight; another is volume inside the aircraft around the aerodynamic structures. Weight is important to operating costs, fuel and gravity/inertia stresses. Volume is needed for weapons, electronics, ejection seat and cooling all those computers and energy spiking power “amp IC’s, has similar operating cost penalties.
In case of F-35 there is no space to install auxiliary power units so the big engine gets stressed to run chillers, etc.
Maybe Chinese figured out you need weight and volume more than you need to worry operating costs, while in F-35 quality and reliability drive operating costs and readiness.
Bigger is sometime beautiful.
F-22 is a fairly big for USA fighter!
It’s funny that you mention it being done on purpose because it has certainly happened by accident. More than one Chinese movie set aircraft has set the OSINT people (if not intelligence agencies) abuzz. Pretty silly scifi mockups at that. Millennium 7 has more than one video about this.
This particular photo does look like China’s actually flying 3-engined stealth prototype. I assume a heavy fighter… or maybe anti-air missile truck would be more accurate, but I’m speculating there.
Ocasio-Cortez faces test of her political power The Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antoinette of Color…
‘Don’t cry for me Queens, the truth is I never left you!’
‘Dudes Posting Their W’s
@DudespostingWs
This dude create an AI video “interviewing” people from the 1500s and it’s hilarious 😂’
As much as I dislike how AI is being used, I will admit that this is a very good film clip using lots of imagination. Very much a win here.
…if I were a witch, you’d already be a frog…
yup
there’d be lots of frogs…
Quick. She needs to be tested. Who’s got the duck?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf71YotfykQ (3:16 mins)
Always luved those guys…
Edgy but never mean spirited.
… lots of frogs, and lots of kissing. 🐸
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUF5ssVpopE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inXxsoiOAO8
gravitas, mi compadre, gravitas
My wife protested that there were particular women garments taken alongside the dress that did have pockets.
In the past, pockets were not what is meant today.
> … this is a very good film clip using lots of imagination.
Rev, you would probably enjoy a late-70s series by Steve Allen called Meeting of Minds. Seriously good, compared to this lightweight Tik-Tok fare.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075536
The Capitalists are still wrecking the planet, the Zionists are still starving the Gazans, and people are looking at a $220,000 necktie. FUBAR
“Trump & Rubio Tighten the Noose on Cuba”
The same way that they helped Al-Qaeda take over Syria, people like Rubio won’t be happy until the Mafia is once more running Cuba and turning it into a Gangster Paradise again. You’ll have casinos, money laundering, drug shipments, hookers and all the rest of it. Then Rubio will proudly proclaim that he brought Freedom to Cuba once again-
https://www.cubamafia.com/history-of-mafia-in-cuba.html
Good cigars!
Soy Cuba
Joint 1964 Cuban-Soviet film by Mikhail Kalatozov. An amazing film.
The Cubans required a revolution and they, like the Haitians, are never to be forgiven.
International Coalition Of Worker Unions Declares Emergency Over AI Use In Animation:
“A collective of international animation unions, federations, and organizations are calling for action over the usage of artificial intelligence, citing its destructive impact on the craft and business of animation, as well as on industry workers.”
That’s a good thing and hopefully unions representing more professions will follow suit. Still, it begs the question whether the “creative class,” which animators certainly are, will finally realize that blue collars and white collars both face the same threat and ought to work together to resist it.
There is an even larger cadre of those who should be concerned, even alarmed. The vid with the AI generated interviews in the 1500s has amazing detail in the background, not just the credible foreground presence. I watched it a half a dozen times.
If this vid is completely synthetic, then that cadre of the concerned should be all of us.
Nothing is real. Unless you are there.
You’re as cold as ICE
You’re willing to sacrifice our servers of beans & rice
You never take advice
Someday you’ll pay the price, I know
I’ve seen it before
It happens all the time
You’re closing the door
You leave the world behind
You’re pining for deportations
Yet throwing away
A fortune in feelings
But someday you’ll pay
You’re as cold as ICE
You’re willing to sacrifice our immigrants
You want some sort of 50’s Paradise
But someday you’ll pay the price
I know
I’ve seen it before
It happens all the time
You’re closing the door
You leave the world behind
You’re pining for deportations
Yet throwing away
A fortune in feelings
But someday you’ll pay
Cold as ICE, you know that you are
Cold, (cold) as, (as) ICE,
As cold as ICE to me
(Cold, cold cold) (as, as, as) (ICE)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, cold as, cold as ICE)
(You’re as cold as ICE)
You’re as cold as ICE
(Cold as ICE),
Cold as ICE I know
Cold as Ice, by Foreigner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP8Rbct_50Y
“15,000 Light-Years Away, Something Is Blinking – And It Might Rewrite Physics”
Somebody needs to contact the Galactic Council. Their navigational beacon needs re-calibrating again.
Every night, before sleep, I’ve been hoping for a visit from the Galactic Council; wiser minds must come sort this sh¡t out.
Sorry, but ethical xenoanthropologists never interact with the subjects being studied. Those close encounters we hear about are just drunk graduate students having some fun on a Zeepsday night.
“Hey Glurt! Watch their auras explode when I blink the hull lights at them!”
“Oh wow! Look at them run! I hope the professor doesn’t find out about this.”
“Not to worry. He probably did the same when he was perfecting his craft.”
“Yeah, hey, got any more of that whiskey stuff?”
“No problem. I’ll give these primitives credit where credit is due. They know how to get irrational!”
Brandy is my preference for aghastitudeness… glup…
I’m looking for rogue intervention!
politico…
we’ll double down on identity, no we”ll triple down on identity…no, we’ll quadruple down on identity……no, actually after a poll of critical insiders we will quintuple down on identity.
The dims are lost in a fog of grift and mendacity. Can the centrist (read that as right wing) dems please just join the republican party already? They have a better chance of getting dick cheneys vote than they have of getting mine…
“Meta Is Redefining Warfare”: U.S. Army Adopts AR-AI Headset That Turns Soldiers Into Real-Time Combat Intelligence Hubs Sustainability Times
That extra-hype press release was allegedly written by a graduate of NYU’s Journalism Institute.
Allegedly “written by” and allegedly “journalism”.
https://www.sustainability-times.com/meet-the-team/
“Through investigative features, expert commentary, and global perspectives, the editorial team ensures Sustainability Times remains a vital platform for readers who care deeply about the planet and its future.”
Because nothing says one cares about the future like hyping war. 🤣
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/07/rod-stewart-cancels-us-tour-dates-with-glastonbury-legends-slot-weeks-away
Rod Stewart cancels US tour dates with Glastonbury legends slot weeks away
Singer tells fans he is recovering from flu after various health setbacks this year including strep throat and Covid
Maybe as a follow-up we can finally cancel the ’70’s.
I expect the Trump administration to continue escalating repression until they provoke a violent response, at which time we will see Martial Law.
Bringing in Palantir and the tech pioneered by the Zionists will presumably allow total control of the populace and a new Golden Age for our Oligarchs.
Climate change and the results of ignoring an ongoing pandemic might complicate things, along with ignoring critical infrastructure when not actively destroying it.
It’s going to be a very interesting year.
I expect the Trump administration to make a public show (because Trump is a showman, not a politician) of deporting people while continuing to let the business leaders off the hook who profit massively from knowingly hiring illegal workers. Then, after backing down after some protests, business will continue as usual for the oligarch/donor class that supports both parties.
While Trump has increased contracts with Palantir, the company’s alliance with the US government is not new, and has continued for nearly two decades under both Republican and Democrat administrations.
I found a channel yesterday evening that was showing live footage with minimal interruptions/commentary and watched it for a few hours. There were two distinct phases of the events yesterday:
– the community reaction to the ICE raid at the Home Depot: ICE was using the Home Depot parking lot as a staging area for raids and a combination of local community angry at what they were witnessing and ICE having far too much militarized gear and not enough sense resulted in a really shocking situation where the ICE guys were doing stuff like shooting tear and chemical rounds directly at people stopped in traffic who weren’t participating in the protest. At least one person was rammed by an ICE SUV. At one point it seemed like the ICE group was cornered by the protesters for hours and LAPD/SD were refusing to go in and assist them. This is the phase where the pics/footage were taken of people lying face down on the grass (chemical round reactions because so much was being fired) and the ICE agents massed at the end of a driveway with their rifles out and firing on protesters with tear gas. The protesters, by the way, seemed extremely unorganized – lots of utterly fearless skater kids! – it absolutely was not an NGO-organized event.
– a riot a couple blocks away across a freeway bridge in Compton: after a few hours the cops began blockading/kettling the protesters into the area around the Home Depot and on the other side of the freeway (710) at the intersection of Atlantic/Alondra a riot broke out. There was also a lot of tear gas/smoke rounds fired here, or possibly fireworks being thrown by the rioters, it was pretty unclear. This looked like actual LAPD, not ICE. This is where the footage of the burning car is from. This stage seemed more like a party than a protest, car burning and gang signs at the news helicopters aside, I mean there were people standing in line at Dale’s Doughnuts watching the car burn while it was all going down.
Within an hour of the car burning I saw right wing influencer types screeching for insurrection act and shooting a hundred protesters to ‘bring order’. Later there was conflicting info about 2000 national guard members being mobilized. I don’t think 2000 NG is enough to maintain martial law in South Central. I don’t think 2000 marines are enough to do that, honestly! I think we’re going to see stuff like this all summer and beyond if they don’t dial back the ICE raids. The admin might think this is quality red meat for the base but there are a lot of unanticipated consequences they clearly haven’t thought through, like what happens when they call in 10000+ military just for LA and can’t stop the riots or protests?
Hickory, Dickory, DOGE
A tangled web we’ve wove
The clock ran out on Elon
And down he run
The King struck one
US Supreme Court Grants DOGE Access to Social Security Data Amid Privacy Concerns News X
creditbubblebulletin weekly roundup is good sunday reading…
Citadel June 5
‘The United States’ fiscal house is not in order. You cannot run deficits of six or 7% at full employment after years of growth. That’s just fiscally irresponsible,’ he said.”
Ahem,,If it please the court may i introduce the speculative opinion that maybe 6 or 7% deficits signal that in spite of claims to the contrary there has been no full employment a falsehood that i consider fiscally irresponsible … just more lies, damn lies, and statistics
correlation not being causation, it’s just a thought
farther down there are some real howlers that had me rolling on the floor laughing my tail off
“But Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs data struck a bond market nerve. Labor markets don’t appear to be weakening sufficiently to restrain elevated wage growth – or to engender Fed concern.”
I see a route to “we have to burn the village to save it” by the larry finks and jamie dimons of the world
Watching coverage of the LA protests last night I couldn’t help wondering if this is an initial skirmish in Civil War 2.0. I’m glad that the mayor and LAPD are both insisting that the protests are non violent and further escalation is unwelcome. Small mercies.
But the outlook is grim. Is LA the next battle of Phillipi?
ICE is the only tangible Trump apparatus that voce populi can express their displeasure to, and instead of acquiescing, Benedict Donald ratchets up the action even more.
You can be sure he’s @ 1600 Pennsylvania cheering on our men in uniform as he watches the screen play.
Great diversionary stuff to get our minds off of his myriad of failures.
p.s.
Roman Civil War or American Civil War?
To quote that great American Philosopher Dr. John:
It was the wrong place at the right time…
Cali is occupied territory…
Hegseth, Miller, and Noemi posted comments on X late yesterday calling this insurrection, civil war, and a challenge to federal sovereignty. Hegseth has vowed to use the national guard and marines from Camp Pendleton to restore order. To me it looks like escalation is the point, maybe on both sides.
Doug McGregor on X is calling for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. That would be legal justification to deploy the military within the US,
This is not about California. This is about Trump entertaining the maga rubes by beating up on the liberals.
I dunno, Benedict Donald really hates El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula, is the feeling I get.
Civil War 2.0–I doubt it.
BLM 2.0 perhaps.
I dunno, I am not OK with Government kidnapping squads grabbing legal residents off the streets and disappearing them.
Which is, effectively, what has happened to Khalil and others.
The US has been doing this overseas for years, but I suspect that a lot of Veterans who participated in these actions in Iraq and other places are not happy about seeing this at Home.
I’m certainly not happy about it, but beating up an ICE agent with my walker won’t change anything.
Civil War 2.0–
I’m going to climb out on a limb here. Trump may feel he let the BLM protests get way out of control, and he might also suspect that there was a color revolution component to BLM. Will he and his administration regard any substantial protest as engineered by his enemies in government?
As for the nature of the BLM protests, I have my impressions from what happened in Cleveland. In 2012, Occupy never did anything harmful beyond maybe creating some extra trash downtown. Nevertheless, the U. S. Attorney and the FBI sicced an informant on a couple of drifters and three boys, all of whom were homeless or quasi-homeless, who the woke libs who took over Occupy found annoying. The informant ended up convincing these kids to blow up a bridge in a nearby national park (federal crime), and the feds helpfully supplied the “bomb” free of charge, even the transportation since none of the defendants even had a car. The kids were busted the night before May 1. We were scheduled to have a march that day, but we got calls that the libs had canceled it because of the busts. The Cleveland Five received sentences ranging from 6 to 11 1/2 years for doing nothing more than pressing a fake button in a diner after repeated urging from the fed informant.
Forward to BLM in ’20. I was not at the march, but this local TV news outlet (sorry for the annoying ads) provides a very complete, minute-by-minute account of an afternoon of confrontation downtown during which protestors surrounded the Justice Building and threatened to break in a free those jailed inside, blocked traffic at the main downtown intersection, burned cars, smashed windows, etc. A Cleveland business association claimed $6.3 million in damage was done, including loss of business.
So compared to peaceful little Occupy, what would the authorities do? How many hundreds of people would end up doing years in prison? Well, two bad-sounding dudes from Erie, PA came to Cleveland with a Glock, ammo and Sterno firestarter. They were charged, but the case was dismissed on a motion from the prosecutor, in part because the federal judge ruled the Cleveland mayor’s curfew unconstitutional. By the end of the year, nearly half of the 112 state criminal actions had been dismissed, mostly on the ground of the curfew ruling. A few individuals did prison time, none more than 4 years as best as AI and I can determine.
So why the disparate treatment?
My theory is that the Occupy encampment was threatening the centre of the financial power in America, Wall Street.
Cleveland was, and probably still is a burned out former industrial city. Nothing really of financial value left there.
Follow the money.
Bourgeoisie Civil War maybe.
How about we all as a collective NC community try our best and deescalate our fellow neighbors and citizens and forge an alternative American Future free of murdering each other?
K thanks.
Immigrant tug-of-war has been added as a medal event to the 2028 LA Olympic Games, National Guard in uniform are admitted free.
thug-of-war, thug-or-war
A recent observation in my area:
Several locally owned stores and businesses are now adding a 3%-3.5% surcharge to the total bill if paid by credit card, but are also now happily accepting cash or check without adding the cc surcharge. I recently saved many dollars by writing checks.
Credit card companies have pushed the vendors’ cc-machine charges so high that the cc companies are making cash and checks great again. Maybe the cc companies think it’s only a matter of time until cash is completely eliminated and so they can charge whatever they want. Maybe they are wrong on both counts. / ;)
In recent months, I’ve gone to more cash in hand and at the till.
We here in the North American Deep South have been seeing this for several years now. I first noticed it at the auto license tag office. The State was adding the processing fee on top of the main bill. It spread from there.
We too are returning to cash at point of sale. The fun part is ‘helping’ the cashier to figure out the change. I do it in my head quickly and sometimes get that “what are you” look. Sadly, my experience suggests that the younger “generations” are innumerate to a great degree. Do they even teach the times tables in grade school today? I realize that it is rote learning, but it does have a value in daily life.
Oh well, get off of my lawn and be safe somewhere else!
From The pandemic generation: How Covid-19 has left a long-term mark on children
This sh1t is just mind bending; We’ve had homeschooling since forever, and those kids don’t have these issues. Schools being closed for a semester or half a year broke kids?
This is the stupidest timeline.
But not because a COVID infection can lead to diabetes, which it can.
The kind of aggressive, willful denialism doesn’t bode well for dealing with the actual issue of repeat SARS-CoV-2 infections. Any theory is acceptable for what is happening, except any that considers the emergence of a brand new virus, for which infection confers no immunity, and that is now proven to damage the vascular, neurological, and immune systems.
Willful denial will rule it seems. I used to wonder what it would take to break it. Now I wonder if anything can.
And now that the “Bird Flu” is airborne…..