The leadership choices the Brits have are even worse than for the Americans. On one hand, a treasonous "Conservative" party that slow-walked solutions to illegal immigration and then chose a solution that they knew would be thrown out by the courts; on the other, a closet leftist who will open the flood gates and give the crazies in his party full rein.
<<The Prof points out that Corbyn was dumped after being smeared as an anti-Semite, and Keir Starmer will not want to repeat that.>>
Is he being disinegenuous? Starmer is so not going to repeat that. Brown-nosing the Israel Lobby has been more or less his sole raison d'etre throughout his 'leadership'. Anyone who so much as winces at this is marched out of the Party.
In much the same way as Biden may be misnamed Brandon or Zhou, Keir is deliberately (and highly annoyed by being) misnamed as Keith. Hence his nickname Tel Aviv Keith. There are several others e.g. Kid Starver, because of his contempt for poor families. Keef (satirising his pretence at dropped 'h' working class credentials) Queef... which I shan't explain in this family setting.
"Worryingly, when a reporter asked a senior member of Team Sunak as to why the election was called now, he said “Things have started to go wrong…that’s going to keep happening. You don’t want to be sat there in Downing Street all summer while they do”.
"Wow! If things are only just starting to go wrong now, after the things that have happened over the last decade, we are in big trouble."
The trouble has been big for a very long time. It's just that that realization has been slow in dawning on the subject population's consciousness. Here in the US the political class appears to largely remain in a state of denial.
Thanks Amanda, nice link. I don't watch/read news for the sake of my blood pressure/mental health (nor any television). The little I have seen of the Sunak announcement (stills/short clips) is highly reminescent of what might be called a humiliation ritual: soaking wet behind a podium that emphasises his lack of stature, etc. These awful optics were part of the design.
If he had any nous he might have preferred to wait until the evening news broadcasts kick off (I presume this is still at 18:00) and by then the weather may have improved. Vote wisely ;-)
I don't watch news either because it isn't news anymore. I don't pay my tv licence for the BBC either. The general feeling is Sunak was installed to bring down the Conservatives. Under him the party's traditional right wing arm has withered and even if they manage to reassemble themselves, it will be many years before the country will trust them - enough time for the global elite to do their worst. Sunak probably doesn't care: he is on the payroll of greater powers. He'll be back at his beach house in Malibu before the end of the year topping up his mysteriously appropriated 700 million pound personal
fortune now that he's sold the country that took in his parents down the river. He is loathed here.
Yes we've become an empire. The emperor is Joe Biden, Barack Obama is Darth Vader, and and Luke Skywalker has even gone over to the dark side as evidenced by his recent White House appearance.
I believe all empires eventually collapse due to corruption and the weight of trying to control everything and everyone.
I might be coming across as boastful, but many of the things I've predicted in my mind over the years, have come to pass. As you say, they're coming much faster than I anticipated.
I'm not all gloom and doom, as I'm a Catholic Christian and fully aware that the Lord can work mighty wonders.
* Just prior to reading your review of John Mearsheimer's analysis with Judge Napolitano, I watched Garland Nixon's very lively critique of the Professor as a true Neocon who speaks without declaring himself as such, but who actually endorses the imperial aims of ruling class America. His video is posted on Andrei Martyanov's web site: https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/
* I am making my way studiously through "Thomist Realism and the Critique of Knowledge" and very
much appreciate your comprehensible translation of the Foot Notes as much as the body of text . I had four full days to read while working at the Polls during Maryland's Early Voting and Primary Day Election (very slow with modest to low turnout).
* Lastly, it is wonderful that you live with a cat with your family! They are all angels who do earnestly look out for you and your loved ones, for goodness sake.
Thanks for the Winwood/Clapton version, I'm listening to it now. I don't follow pop music much but I did have an idea that they'd done a version--it didn't pop up on my initial search.
Re John Mearsheimer, I have in the past criticized some of his views repeatedly. Specifically, his view that China should be treated as a "threat" to the US which should--I believe this is his implication--be dealt with militarily. I have written more than once that I agree with Macgregor re China. I have also argued that his early analysis of the war on Russia was not well informed--he underestimated the strengths that Russia always possessed, even if the road has not been entirely smooth. Mearsheimer has changed his views in that regard. Is he a Neocon? I think that's not entirely fair to him, although I understand that his views could lead some in that direction. Briefly, I see Neocons as ideologically driven, whereas Mearsheimer calls himself a "realist". The distinction has some importance in that Mearsheimer does appear able to take account of new facts as well as to revise his analysis in light of new understandings of the facts, which is something ideologues generally are unable to do. His criticism of the Israel Lobby also sets him apart in a very important respect. He also does appear, in the last few months, to be "nuancing" his ideas re the desirability of American hegemony. As always, I try to deal with public figures as I find them. If their views and information are useful I will use them, while reserving judgment on other aspects or criticizing them when that is desireable.
Re Thomist Realism, I'm glad you're reading and enjoying it. Gilson did not authorize a translation during his lifetime because he was afraid his extremely pointed critique--and it is, beneath the measured language--would be what is today termed "divisive." Events since then have shown the importance and prescience of the book. Perhaps you could move on to his The Unity of Philosophical Experience next. It's a less technical read but takes a much wider historical perspective. Gilson's one weakness is, IMO, his unwillingness to directly criticize Augustine's Neoplatonic influence on the West. He hints at it at times but not directly, although he was fully aware of Platonism's strong influence on Patristic thought. Nevertheless, his critique of Bonaventure, Descartes, Kant and others can only truly be appreciated in its full significance within the context of Augustine's influence. As a faithful Catholic he was uncomfortable with the implications of following that out--or so it seems to me.
We've always had cats, although we sadly lost our little Burmese friend last year. Our remaining Cosmo is a hard worker around the house who does look out for, especially, my wife.
I'm a dog lover and a cat liker. I like to walk. I was blessed one time by a friendly cat, just like a dog, who insisted I pet him. Three times I knelt down to pet him. The third time I had to tell him, "Okay buddy, I have to be on my way."
Appropriate criticism of Mearsheimer’s stance regarding China notwithstanding, I don’t see how someone who is critical of the Israel lobby and willing to call what’s going on in Gaza a genocide can be called a neo-con. Those types are almost by definition tied at the hip to Israel. And you’re right to point out their ideological framework. Mearsheimer’s realism is explicitly and diametrically opposite. Here’s a video-lecture out there somewhere of him criticizing Liberalism’s woeful influence on American foreign policy, calling it the “Great Delusion.”
But then, how to explain his obtuse position on China? Perhaps he’s suffering from a Cold War hangover — China, unlike Russia, being nominally Communist. Perhaps he’s just ill-informed like he was regarding Russia’s potential at the start of its war in Ukraine. Regardless, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him eventually adjust his opinion about the China threat to fit realities.
To amend my comment above: here is Mearsheimer addressing the question “Can China Rise Peacefully?” His position is much more nuanced (and sympathetic) than the knee-jerk antagonism we see among neo-cons. He has a theory of Great Power Politics that is entirely consistent with his basic realism.
"Our remaining Cosmo is a hard worker around the house who does look out for, especially, my wife."
Oh my what a coincidence. I had an Orange tabby I dubbed Cosmo and he was a great companion. He was one of those kittens that came around the back door frightened, sick and scared. We took him in a nursed him back to health and loved him for 12 years. My Dad was famous for giving nicknames to all his children and I picked up on that carrying on the tradition so I began calling my Cosmo....wait for it.....Cosmo T Kat. There you go that's how I happened upon the name I use when posting to yours and other substack writers I read.
I was waiting for a response from you! We got our Cosmo from a shelter. Turned out he had been a feral cat. We didn’t know that at the time. Quite a wild streak when we first got him. Launched himself at the China cabinet and broke a couple of Waterford sherry glasses my mother had given us. But, he calmed down considerably mostly due, I’m sure, to the example of the aforementioned Burmese, Scout. Well, last time we had a window installed—about 7 years ago—I was still working and Mark took a walk. The workmen didn’t know he wasn’t a part outdoor cat, so Cosmo broke for freedom. Long story short, we got a call almost 2 months later. Cosmo was at a shelter in Evanston. He had been chipped at the original shelter and they traced him. He had been returned by a woman who found him in her heated garage, fed him, but then thought he should be turned in to an animal shelter. I pray for that kind woman on a regular basis. Cosmo was considerably calmer ever after. I’ve said it was like he went to finishing school. So, that’s Cosmo’s story. Indeed, cats are very special creatures.
Mary Ellen, Great story and thanks for sharing this with me and the readers here. When I wrote that my Cosmo was frightened it was due to the wild weather we had been having for a few days (thunder/lightening) and he was soaking wet. He was a mess the poor thing. My brother's daughter was going to take him as none of us wanted to turn him out, but her Mom said, "Now way!" So she left him behind and I took him. Every time we had thunder storms ole Cosmo disappeared and sometimes we couldn't find him How do these cats manage to disappear like that I have no idea, but they do. He was the ultimate lap cat and when we got two new kitties and both grew to be big boys and despite their much larger size, Cosmo remained Major Domo in the house until he passed. ;o)
Did you present him a bill for the sherry glasses?
We had litter mate male and female Labrador Retriever-Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs we got at six weeks of age. We got the best of both breeds. The friendliness of labs and the protectiveness from bad guys from the Ridgeback.
Our male chewed until he wad nine. He exacerbated me. One time I came home from work to find he chewed on the electric cable coming from the electric meter going into the basement. I asked him why he did it? He just looked at me innocently. The vet speculated that he got a tingle and quit. I told the vet if the electricity didn't kill him, I wanted to. It cost us $1,200.
They were the loyalist friends I ever had. I'm getting bummed now, just thinking of them both.
With the US knee deep in the Caucasus, Karabakh debacle, Azerbaijan and Georgia, one wonders what the strategic goal is here?
It’s not insignificant that the Iranian president’s crash was very close to the Azerbaijanian border, particularly given the sizeable Azerbaijanian population on the Iranian side of the border.
Don't forget USAID and Samantha Powers influence all over the globe. She's been rubbing Hungary the wrong way for some time and their tax payer dollars are another component that often floats below the water line.
Further, Israel is not imperialistic (IMO) the same was as America. Their areas of influence are much more targeted and focused on self-preservation. Oil from Azerbaijan for example. Countries where trade needs meet Israel needs. I don't buy into the "from the river to the sea" thing either as that was a way (after the attacks) to justify their existence.
If what the Prof suggests as "damaged" I assume he means our civil liberties. HOWEVER, with the advance of the Internet it also lays bare more opportunities to be more open-minded if one can get there AND opened our eyes to understand how our gov't has operated like never before. I know I became more "enlightened" just in the past decade.
@AC - I think the argument is that at the end of the day Israel depends upon US hegemony for its safety and survival. So Israel may not be directly imperialistic, but it depends upon US imperialism.
I think the $64 question is…how many degrees of separation? At one end of the opinion spectrum there is a school of thought (and of course you know this) that the ‘Lobby’ and the ‘Donors’ own the U.S. Government. At the other end it must be acknowledged that there are more than a few additional power players which influence our policies, the MIC coming foremost to mind.
Regardless, isn’t it a fairly damning indictment of our ‘democracy’ that we mere voters really don’t know exactly who is calling our shots.
Yes, and then there’s the “tail wagging the dog” analogy - which Mark quoted the Prof on quite recently: that Israel favors our meddling and interference around the globe for fear that if we weren’t getting ourselves “entangled,” as Gen Washington warned, we might not come to Israel’s rescue, or just generally be inclined to support Israel. That remark by the Prof was stunning! So there has developed this symbiotic relationship btw the US/Israel and in the current crisis we see it embodied in the well-groomed and polished, yet supine and hand-wringing Blinken. And as the Prof points out, our foreign imperial misadventures, pushed upon us through the Neocon Deep State, are now endangering our basic freedoms at home!
I completely agree. Perhaps Israel's greatest fear is a United States which turns inward to address its own problems and returns to some form of isolationism. Who would stop Iran...and China and Russia then?
I suppose this is (one of) the danger(s) that Donald Trump poses. Isn't MAGA, with its promise of an American renewal, a 'national' renewal, inherently isolationist? What happens if we simply walk away from our adventurism in Ukraine and Georgia and Armenia and 50 other places around the world where ordinary Americans have no business? What happens if we let the Europeans decide how to defend 'Europe'? And whether to buy Russian gas or not?
What happens if we let China and Taiwan settle their differences without our interference?
What happens if we withhold our billions of dollars of annual aid to Israel until the Israelis accept a two state solution? What happens if we shrink our 700 or 800 foreign military bases, start imposing tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods, and redirect some of our MIC spending into investments in rebuilding our broken cities, our failing infrastructure, and our non-existent manufacturing capabilities? What happens if we close the Southern border?
What if we shrink our regulatory state to re-enable small business formation and revise our tax systems and anti-trust laws to incent profit-making enterprise? And what if we began to seriously fix our public school systems?
I'll start at the end. Yes, of course. It can always be worse than where we are now.
The reason, IMO, that the ruling class can never reconcile itself to or make a deal with Trump is MAGA. They understand fully that MAGA is a call to national renewal--and that as such it is always poised to turn against the globalist agenda. MAGA as a guiding theme is always poised to ditch past commitments that are peripheral to American interests--commitments that are the guiding light of the ruling class. The problem with Trump, from that perspective, is that if he returns to the WH it will be as a result of the appeal of the MAGA theme. That MAGA theme could always provide him with a justification for a sudden policy volte face. Therefore, a deal just isn't possible, any more than it proved possible the first time around. Will Trump follow through on an understanding of MAGA as national renewal? God only nows. We're in the realm of hope here.
"a United States which turns inward to address its own problems"
Your next assignment, if you choose to accept it, will be to address that idea within the context of the quite determined assault on the First Amendment.
Who is that disgusting spokesmaggot for the NED? Nauseating !!! Oh man, that CIA democracy is just what you want, you know, mob rule is fine, as one's surroundings burn hotter & hotter.
Nat Cole's version of Stardust for me. I like the strings at the beginning.
Speaking of Georgia, it's really cool when an artist reinterprets a songwriter's own song and makes it his own. I'm thinking of Brook Benton and his version of Rainy Night in Georgia. I like both his version and the original by Tony Joe White. Of course there are multiple good remakes of that song.
I just listened to this song for the first time,. Outstanding and thanks for turning me onto it. Made exponentially better by listening via the official video, shot in gorgeous black and white.
Alan Jackson is a class act, from the little I know about him. A true throwback to country and western's past, bridging the present country sound, which has tilted heavily towards rock/pop. So many of the great country songs tell a story, which is terrific.
Watching it reminded me that I used to be sent down to Huntsville, AL, on business by the government. I was there during the hot month of August. In St. Louis, we have our humidity, which the South also has. It was a clear night with a full moon and I went for a walk on the outskirts of town, about 9:30 PM. I can't say why, but it was very powerful walking in the South with their humidity feeling somehow different from our humidity in the Midwest.
Thanks again, and it won't be the last time I listen to this song, complete with the video.
You’re welcome! I got as far south as Kansas City, but I remember the muggy summer nights! And the song of the whippoorwill evokes a timeless, long-ago past as we don’t seem to hear this poignant birdsong any more…tx for the ref to the video, and the tribute to another great, Hank Williams!
The leadership choices the Brits have are even worse than for the Americans. On one hand, a treasonous "Conservative" party that slow-walked solutions to illegal immigration and then chose a solution that they knew would be thrown out by the courts; on the other, a closet leftist who will open the flood gates and give the crazies in his party full rein.
Funny, if I skip your first sentence it just sounds like you're describing America.
America or the UK? Sounds like a choice of pick your poison.
I dunno, sounds very familiar.
True, but the only wildcard is that Trump might do a few good things. Neither of the clowns running the UK parties will.
<<The Prof points out that Corbyn was dumped after being smeared as an anti-Semite, and Keir Starmer will not want to repeat that.>>
Is he being disinegenuous? Starmer is so not going to repeat that. Brown-nosing the Israel Lobby has been more or less his sole raison d'etre throughout his 'leadership'. Anyone who so much as winces at this is marched out of the Party.
In much the same way as Biden may be misnamed Brandon or Zhou, Keir is deliberately (and highly annoyed by being) misnamed as Keith. Hence his nickname Tel Aviv Keith. There are several others e.g. Kid Starver, because of his contempt for poor families. Keef (satirising his pretence at dropped 'h' working class credentials) Queef... which I shan't explain in this family setting.
I'll go with Tel Aviv Keith.
On the British election:
https://open.substack.com/pub/nakedemperor/p/the-crisis-machine-has-gone-into?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ftcu7
Pretty dark--is that an understatement?
"Worryingly, when a reporter asked a senior member of Team Sunak as to why the election was called now, he said “Things have started to go wrong…that’s going to keep happening. You don’t want to be sat there in Downing Street all summer while they do”.
"Wow! If things are only just starting to go wrong now, after the things that have happened over the last decade, we are in big trouble."
The trouble has been big for a very long time. It's just that that realization has been slow in dawning on the subject population's consciousness. Here in the US the political class appears to largely remain in a state of denial.
Thanks Amanda, nice link. I don't watch/read news for the sake of my blood pressure/mental health (nor any television). The little I have seen of the Sunak announcement (stills/short clips) is highly reminescent of what might be called a humiliation ritual: soaking wet behind a podium that emphasises his lack of stature, etc. These awful optics were part of the design.
If he had any nous he might have preferred to wait until the evening news broadcasts kick off (I presume this is still at 18:00) and by then the weather may have improved. Vote wisely ;-)
I don't watch either. Karen, and for the same reasons. Maybe he was doing a Macron and trying to show how macho he is.
I don't watch news either because it isn't news anymore. I don't pay my tv licence for the BBC either. The general feeling is Sunak was installed to bring down the Conservatives. Under him the party's traditional right wing arm has withered and even if they manage to reassemble themselves, it will be many years before the country will trust them - enough time for the global elite to do their worst. Sunak probably doesn't care: he is on the payroll of greater powers. He'll be back at his beach house in Malibu before the end of the year topping up his mysteriously appropriated 700 million pound personal
fortune now that he's sold the country that took in his parents down the river. He is loathed here.
Yes we've become an empire. The emperor is Joe Biden, Barack Obama is Darth Vader, and and Luke Skywalker has even gone over to the dark side as evidenced by his recent White House appearance.
I believe all empires eventually collapse due to corruption and the weight of trying to control everything and everyone.
"Eventually" isn't too far off. Things happen much faster these days.
I might be coming across as boastful, but many of the things I've predicted in my mind over the years, have come to pass. As you say, they're coming much faster than I anticipated.
I'm not all gloom and doom, as I'm a Catholic Christian and fully aware that the Lord can work mighty wonders.
Good evening, Mr. Wauck,
Very briefly, I want to recommend one super fine performance of "Georgia" by Steve Winwood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fz3WIXfs_E
And, my notes on some other things---
* Just prior to reading your review of John Mearsheimer's analysis with Judge Napolitano, I watched Garland Nixon's very lively critique of the Professor as a true Neocon who speaks without declaring himself as such, but who actually endorses the imperial aims of ruling class America. His video is posted on Andrei Martyanov's web site: https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/
* I am making my way studiously through "Thomist Realism and the Critique of Knowledge" and very
much appreciate your comprehensible translation of the Foot Notes as much as the body of text . I had four full days to read while working at the Polls during Maryland's Early Voting and Primary Day Election (very slow with modest to low turnout).
* Lastly, it is wonderful that you live with a cat with your family! They are all angels who do earnestly look out for you and your loved ones, for goodness sake.
Sincerely,
Joanne Wasserman
Thanks for the Winwood/Clapton version, I'm listening to it now. I don't follow pop music much but I did have an idea that they'd done a version--it didn't pop up on my initial search.
Re John Mearsheimer, I have in the past criticized some of his views repeatedly. Specifically, his view that China should be treated as a "threat" to the US which should--I believe this is his implication--be dealt with militarily. I have written more than once that I agree with Macgregor re China. I have also argued that his early analysis of the war on Russia was not well informed--he underestimated the strengths that Russia always possessed, even if the road has not been entirely smooth. Mearsheimer has changed his views in that regard. Is he a Neocon? I think that's not entirely fair to him, although I understand that his views could lead some in that direction. Briefly, I see Neocons as ideologically driven, whereas Mearsheimer calls himself a "realist". The distinction has some importance in that Mearsheimer does appear able to take account of new facts as well as to revise his analysis in light of new understandings of the facts, which is something ideologues generally are unable to do. His criticism of the Israel Lobby also sets him apart in a very important respect. He also does appear, in the last few months, to be "nuancing" his ideas re the desirability of American hegemony. As always, I try to deal with public figures as I find them. If their views and information are useful I will use them, while reserving judgment on other aspects or criticizing them when that is desireable.
Re Thomist Realism, I'm glad you're reading and enjoying it. Gilson did not authorize a translation during his lifetime because he was afraid his extremely pointed critique--and it is, beneath the measured language--would be what is today termed "divisive." Events since then have shown the importance and prescience of the book. Perhaps you could move on to his The Unity of Philosophical Experience next. It's a less technical read but takes a much wider historical perspective. Gilson's one weakness is, IMO, his unwillingness to directly criticize Augustine's Neoplatonic influence on the West. He hints at it at times but not directly, although he was fully aware of Platonism's strong influence on Patristic thought. Nevertheless, his critique of Bonaventure, Descartes, Kant and others can only truly be appreciated in its full significance within the context of Augustine's influence. As a faithful Catholic he was uncomfortable with the implications of following that out--or so it seems to me.
We've always had cats, although we sadly lost our little Burmese friend last year. Our remaining Cosmo is a hard worker around the house who does look out for, especially, my wife.
I'm a dog lover and a cat liker. I like to walk. I was blessed one time by a friendly cat, just like a dog, who insisted I pet him. Three times I knelt down to pet him. The third time I had to tell him, "Okay buddy, I have to be on my way."
Appropriate criticism of Mearsheimer’s stance regarding China notwithstanding, I don’t see how someone who is critical of the Israel lobby and willing to call what’s going on in Gaza a genocide can be called a neo-con. Those types are almost by definition tied at the hip to Israel. And you’re right to point out their ideological framework. Mearsheimer’s realism is explicitly and diametrically opposite. Here’s a video-lecture out there somewhere of him criticizing Liberalism’s woeful influence on American foreign policy, calling it the “Great Delusion.”
https://youtu.be/jrE_RPNogG4?si=xouOF0aoll2LlNxi
But then, how to explain his obtuse position on China? Perhaps he’s suffering from a Cold War hangover — China, unlike Russia, being nominally Communist. Perhaps he’s just ill-informed like he was regarding Russia’s potential at the start of its war in Ukraine. Regardless, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him eventually adjust his opinion about the China threat to fit realities.
To amend my comment above: here is Mearsheimer addressing the question “Can China Rise Peacefully?” His position is much more nuanced (and sympathetic) than the knee-jerk antagonism we see among neo-cons. He has a theory of Great Power Politics that is entirely consistent with his basic realism.
https://youtu.be/uJ4xZuaisxA?si=3t5OXA3cDD9r4nbE
Thanks. I listened to both presentations but, with so much else going on, had forgotten them. I agree entirely with your analysis.
Dear Mark you wrote:
"Our remaining Cosmo is a hard worker around the house who does look out for, especially, my wife."
Oh my what a coincidence. I had an Orange tabby I dubbed Cosmo and he was a great companion. He was one of those kittens that came around the back door frightened, sick and scared. We took him in a nursed him back to health and loved him for 12 years. My Dad was famous for giving nicknames to all his children and I picked up on that carrying on the tradition so I began calling my Cosmo....wait for it.....Cosmo T Kat. There you go that's how I happened upon the name I use when posting to yours and other substack writers I read.
I was waiting for a response from you! We got our Cosmo from a shelter. Turned out he had been a feral cat. We didn’t know that at the time. Quite a wild streak when we first got him. Launched himself at the China cabinet and broke a couple of Waterford sherry glasses my mother had given us. But, he calmed down considerably mostly due, I’m sure, to the example of the aforementioned Burmese, Scout. Well, last time we had a window installed—about 7 years ago—I was still working and Mark took a walk. The workmen didn’t know he wasn’t a part outdoor cat, so Cosmo broke for freedom. Long story short, we got a call almost 2 months later. Cosmo was at a shelter in Evanston. He had been chipped at the original shelter and they traced him. He had been returned by a woman who found him in her heated garage, fed him, but then thought he should be turned in to an animal shelter. I pray for that kind woman on a regular basis. Cosmo was considerably calmer ever after. I’ve said it was like he went to finishing school. So, that’s Cosmo’s story. Indeed, cats are very special creatures.
Mary Ellen, Great story and thanks for sharing this with me and the readers here. When I wrote that my Cosmo was frightened it was due to the wild weather we had been having for a few days (thunder/lightening) and he was soaking wet. He was a mess the poor thing. My brother's daughter was going to take him as none of us wanted to turn him out, but her Mom said, "Now way!" So she left him behind and I took him. Every time we had thunder storms ole Cosmo disappeared and sometimes we couldn't find him How do these cats manage to disappear like that I have no idea, but they do. He was the ultimate lap cat and when we got two new kitties and both grew to be big boys and despite their much larger size, Cosmo remained Major Domo in the house until he passed. ;o)
Did you present him a bill for the sherry glasses?
We had litter mate male and female Labrador Retriever-Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs we got at six weeks of age. We got the best of both breeds. The friendliness of labs and the protectiveness from bad guys from the Ridgeback.
Our male chewed until he wad nine. He exacerbated me. One time I came home from work to find he chewed on the electric cable coming from the electric meter going into the basement. I asked him why he did it? He just looked at me innocently. The vet speculated that he got a tingle and quit. I told the vet if the electricity didn't kill him, I wanted to. It cost us $1,200.
They were the loyalist friends I ever had. I'm getting bummed now, just thinking of them both.
With the US knee deep in the Caucasus, Karabakh debacle, Azerbaijan and Georgia, one wonders what the strategic goal is here?
It’s not insignificant that the Iranian president’s crash was very close to the Azerbaijanian border, particularly given the sizeable Azerbaijanian population on the Iranian side of the border.
Cause as much hassle as possible for Russia and Iran, and warn Turkey to stay on board.
Don't forget USAID and Samantha Powers influence all over the globe. She's been rubbing Hungary the wrong way for some time and their tax payer dollars are another component that often floats below the water line.
Further, Israel is not imperialistic (IMO) the same was as America. Their areas of influence are much more targeted and focused on self-preservation. Oil from Azerbaijan for example. Countries where trade needs meet Israel needs. I don't buy into the "from the river to the sea" thing either as that was a way (after the attacks) to justify their existence.
If what the Prof suggests as "damaged" I assume he means our civil liberties. HOWEVER, with the advance of the Internet it also lays bare more opportunities to be more open-minded if one can get there AND opened our eyes to understand how our gov't has operated like never before. I know I became more "enlightened" just in the past decade.
@AC - I think the argument is that at the end of the day Israel depends upon US hegemony for its safety and survival. So Israel may not be directly imperialistic, but it depends upon US imperialism.
Which it controls through the Lobby and Donors.
America is Israel's proxy.
Yeah, I get that. Probably should have acknowledged that. I believe there are "some" degrees of separation though. Ridin the coattails.
I think the $64 question is…how many degrees of separation? At one end of the opinion spectrum there is a school of thought (and of course you know this) that the ‘Lobby’ and the ‘Donors’ own the U.S. Government. At the other end it must be acknowledged that there are more than a few additional power players which influence our policies, the MIC coming foremost to mind.
Regardless, isn’t it a fairly damning indictment of our ‘democracy’ that we mere voters really don’t know exactly who is calling our shots.
Yes, and then there’s the “tail wagging the dog” analogy - which Mark quoted the Prof on quite recently: that Israel favors our meddling and interference around the globe for fear that if we weren’t getting ourselves “entangled,” as Gen Washington warned, we might not come to Israel’s rescue, or just generally be inclined to support Israel. That remark by the Prof was stunning! So there has developed this symbiotic relationship btw the US/Israel and in the current crisis we see it embodied in the well-groomed and polished, yet supine and hand-wringing Blinken. And as the Prof points out, our foreign imperial misadventures, pushed upon us through the Neocon Deep State, are now endangering our basic freedoms at home!
I completely agree. Perhaps Israel's greatest fear is a United States which turns inward to address its own problems and returns to some form of isolationism. Who would stop Iran...and China and Russia then?
I suppose this is (one of) the danger(s) that Donald Trump poses. Isn't MAGA, with its promise of an American renewal, a 'national' renewal, inherently isolationist? What happens if we simply walk away from our adventurism in Ukraine and Georgia and Armenia and 50 other places around the world where ordinary Americans have no business? What happens if we let the Europeans decide how to defend 'Europe'? And whether to buy Russian gas or not?
What happens if we let China and Taiwan settle their differences without our interference?
What happens if we withhold our billions of dollars of annual aid to Israel until the Israelis accept a two state solution? What happens if we shrink our 700 or 800 foreign military bases, start imposing tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods, and redirect some of our MIC spending into investments in rebuilding our broken cities, our failing infrastructure, and our non-existent manufacturing capabilities? What happens if we close the Southern border?
What if we shrink our regulatory state to re-enable small business formation and revise our tax systems and anti-trust laws to incent profit-making enterprise? And what if we began to seriously fix our public school systems?
What happens?
Could it be worse than where we are now?
Impressive argument. You should send it to Trump!
I'll start at the end. Yes, of course. It can always be worse than where we are now.
The reason, IMO, that the ruling class can never reconcile itself to or make a deal with Trump is MAGA. They understand fully that MAGA is a call to national renewal--and that as such it is always poised to turn against the globalist agenda. MAGA as a guiding theme is always poised to ditch past commitments that are peripheral to American interests--commitments that are the guiding light of the ruling class. The problem with Trump, from that perspective, is that if he returns to the WH it will be as a result of the appeal of the MAGA theme. That MAGA theme could always provide him with a justification for a sudden policy volte face. Therefore, a deal just isn't possible, any more than it proved possible the first time around. Will Trump follow through on an understanding of MAGA as national renewal? God only nows. We're in the realm of hope here.
"a United States which turns inward to address its own problems"
Your next assignment, if you choose to accept it, will be to address that idea within the context of the quite determined assault on the First Amendment.
Who is that disgusting spokesmaggot for the NED? Nauseating !!! Oh man, that CIA democracy is just what you want, you know, mob rule is fine, as one's surroundings burn hotter & hotter.
One man’s mob rule is another man’s “democracy!”
He's the "wife" of some other ...
I should have known.
Kane Brown does a fine job, but I vote for Willie Nelson’s version of Georgia for very sentimental reasons.
My vote goes to Louis Armstrong and his version of the Globetrotters theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxrCttCcHg
Sweet Georgia Brown
and you'd think the hubby would've agreed with you instead of some no name. Go figure.
Oh absolutely, I can go with Willie. His Stardust album remains a favorite.
Nat Cole's version of Stardust for me. I like the strings at the beginning.
Speaking of Georgia, it's really cool when an artist reinterprets a songwriter's own song and makes it his own. I'm thinking of Brook Benton and his version of Rainy Night in Georgia. I like both his version and the original by Tony Joe White. Of course there are multiple good remakes of that song.
Speaking of nightimes in the South, do you know Alan Jackson’s eerily beautiful Midnight in Montgomery?
I just listened to this song for the first time,. Outstanding and thanks for turning me onto it. Made exponentially better by listening via the official video, shot in gorgeous black and white.
Alan Jackson is a class act, from the little I know about him. A true throwback to country and western's past, bridging the present country sound, which has tilted heavily towards rock/pop. So many of the great country songs tell a story, which is terrific.
Watching it reminded me that I used to be sent down to Huntsville, AL, on business by the government. I was there during the hot month of August. In St. Louis, we have our humidity, which the South also has. It was a clear night with a full moon and I went for a walk on the outskirts of town, about 9:30 PM. I can't say why, but it was very powerful walking in the South with their humidity feeling somehow different from our humidity in the Midwest.
Thanks again, and it won't be the last time I listen to this song, complete with the video.
You’re welcome! I got as far south as Kansas City, but I remember the muggy summer nights! And the song of the whippoorwill evokes a timeless, long-ago past as we don’t seem to hear this poignant birdsong any more…tx for the ref to the video, and the tribute to another great, Hank Williams!
No, but I'll check it out. Thanks for the song.