Don’t take my word for it. That’s what WH Spokes for NatSec said the other day: “You don’t want to be trying to bake in long term support when you’re at the end of the rope.” That’s an assessment that’s strikingly similar in tone, if not in simile/metaphor, to the Polish comparison of Ukraine to a drowning man who could drag down anyone who tries to save him. If one thing is clear at this moment it’s that “We stand with Israel” has trumped “Slava Ukraini.” Oh, sure, Zhou’s keepers are talking of putting together a package deal of bucks for Ukraine with bucks for Taiwan and Israel. That looks pretty flimsy:
“Israel was subjected to an attack of unprecedented brutality and has the right to protection. The only peaceful solution to the conflict is the creation of an independent state of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem”
Such a cure for a sore heart reading MiH lately, sound common sense, compassion, clear separation between fact and opinion, broadly sane comments for the most part. Just about everywhere else is so utterly toxic it restores my faith in humanity (sorry to gush but its from he heart).
The Duran is pretty good too. Alex M likes the sound of his own voice, but he has good reason to. He's what good journalists used to be like: presents and discusses the evidence rationally and without hysteria, reveals his sources and discusses their reliability, and admits when he doesn't know something. He also apologises when he is wrong.
This thread contains photos of the effect of white phosphorous:
Eva Karene Bartlett @EvaKBartlett
My cover photo I took in January 2009 in Gaza, when Israel rained White Phosphorous down onto innocent, trapped, Palestinian civilians with no where to flee to.
This is what you "I stand with Israel" people really stand with.
Just in the last few weeks the US has announced that they are downsizing special operations due to recruiting issues and now they’re cutting back on systems maintenance. Things are going well, clearly.
Quote
Task & Purpose @TaskandPurpose
Army plans to cut ‘unnecessary maintenance’ on vehicles and firearms https://trib.al/lYU0Rta
The timing is convenient to the Iran-apologists/not involved/responsible agenda. Likely a good deal more to the truth, but the indication is a lot of deep state in-fighting. An attempt to make the path to a wider war harder to pursue. Laudable, but the hounds have already been let slip.
I've never quite understood the drive to make certain kinds of death into a hierarchy. Sure, I guess I'd rather be shot than have my head sawed off but killing a baby is killing a damn baby. Hamas members are evil devils who deserve to be put down. How they kill is irrelevant.
That's a bit circular in terms of logic, T. Hamas terrorists who behead innocent people are evil and deserve everything they get. But the kids and babies who die unseen under the rubble of their homes after they are hit by an Israeli bomb are just as dead, and the act is just as evil. The fact of the matter in this situation is that a hell of a lot of innocent people on both sides are going to die and their lives are of equal value. Meanwhile the maniacs on both sides who are running this whole thing and their various backers will probably live to ripe old age.
The neocons will suddenly discover that Ukraine is a province of Israel and seamlessly switch funding to the latter. The propaganda and hysteria is off the charts now. I've stopped reading Citizenfreepress because it's actually worse than the Daily Mail. What's the point of having an "alternative media" if it's no more objective than the worst tabloid rag? Meanwhile, the propaganda itself is following the usual well-worn cliches so familiar from August 1914: murdered babies story - check; indomitable female heroine story - check; our enemies are "animals", "uncivilised" - check. All we need to complete the set are raped nuns. The human race has learned nothing.
Hi jo b - echoing SMH & Steghorn21 - we are unlikely to be impressed with the speakership outcome. That position is the House control point for the agenda of bills allowed on the floor for votes, control of house rules, leadership spots, et enchilada: the money focus point, the place where the Uniparty unis. Given that the current govt/MIC state in the US is one of money/debt musical chairs, a great deal of focus will be placed on controlling the person in charge of the music = the Speaker: the power players do not want to get stuck without a seat when the crash comes, but our politics are now so obviously corrupt that the risk of a blow-out loss is concentrating corrupt minds, so they fight for their Lead Zero. If you aren't compromised, you can't be Speaker. An indicator is the maddening lack of action on J6 - I'll make a coffee bet that the deep state has made clear the destruction that awaits House members that seek J6 justice and fairness. It is my guess as to why only a very few members fight in this area: they are the un-corrupted ones
Jo, here's my input, FWIW: a) the worst possible choice, b) No. As the Marketticker guy, Karl Denninger, points out in his usual pithy way, the measures needed to restore the US republic are drastic and ruthless, and there is no-one on the political landscape who is willing to implement them. The system won't be saved; it will go on till it crashes. Then we can start again at a smaller scale.
Love that guy, despite feeling depressed every time I read his posts. Even he is getting sick of telling people the same damn thing yet nothing changes.
Agreed. Debt is out of control and government bonds are indeed in deep do. That's my bone of contention with Tom Luongo. The Fed is not in control of anything; it is chasing events. Sure, Powell can raises rates, destroy the Eurodollar and give the big US banks a few more months of dominance, but it will be a pyrrhic victory. Raising rates will destroy the US economy and won't even control inflation. It will push us further into a stagflation nightmare.
Yes and no, Castel. I think that no matter how insane things get, it will be alright in the end because this is not our final home. However, I also get irritated when I hear Christians say "leave it to God" because it too often serves as an excuse for inaction. God gave us free will to fight the great evil on this Earth - including the evil in ourselves. We hope to win that fight, but if we don't, it is not the end. Those chaps like Thomas Aquinas probably said it a lot better!
Jo, my sense is that at this stage of the game it just won’t make a lot of the kind of “difference” that you and I, as well as all the folks just like us, want to see. I don’t have much confidence in the crowd that’s up there now, lotta politicians not many statesmen. The citizens of January 6 that are being abused by a DOJ that is completely corrupt and hounded by an equally corrupt FBI, should have already been a priority for the House and Senate to correct, but all we get is hot air and crickets. Merrick and Wray should already be history instead of still in office lying to and flouting Congress every time they are called to testify! So no, I don’t think that it will make 2 cents worth of difference who is elected Speaker.
I heard today on Brian Wilson's afternoon radio program that Scalise only achieved the majority threshold in the Republican conference due to the votes of otherwise non-voting delegates from Guam, Samoa, and Puerto Rico. That didn't sit well with many GOP congress critters.
Zerohedge also has a story where John Kirby says that financial support for Ukraine is coming to an end isn’t infinite! What happened to “as long as it takes”?
Either one would do the bidding of the Uniparty. Don’t think Jim Jordan would be an upgrade to McCarthy. He’s what Sundance refers to as the anger manager. He gives off a whiff of dissent, but the he’s just another puppet who will move according to how TPTB pull the strings.
I have no illusions about RKF Jr - or Trump, for that matter. I have no faith at all that either will change the system. At this stage, I'm supporting them for purely negative and nihilistic reasons: they are pissing off all the right people and driving the uniparty insane.
Many Israeli’s have become quite wealthy as a so-called friend of the USA. We don’t buy loyalty, but rather we buy people/nations to act as friends and bully them with threats of taking away their allowance if they fall out of line. I agree stop funding the wars of others and let your citizens enjoy the fruits of “our labor” instead of subsidizing the affairs of others who pretend to be our friend.
Maybe we should all stop paying federal taxes. Even here in deeply conformist Switzerland, there is a growing movement of people who are refusing to pay taxes to central government.
Putin:
“Israel was subjected to an attack of unprecedented brutality and has the right to protection. The only peaceful solution to the conflict is the creation of an independent state of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem”
Such a cure for a sore heart reading MiH lately, sound common sense, compassion, clear separation between fact and opinion, broadly sane comments for the most part. Just about everywhere else is so utterly toxic it restores my faith in humanity (sorry to gush but its from he heart).
Am heading off to Simplicius now at this link https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/israeli-ground-forces-get-cold-feet ... the one embedded in the post has been gremlined by SubStack.
The Duran is pretty good too. Alex M likes the sound of his own voice, but he has good reason to. He's what good journalists used to be like: presents and discusses the evidence rationally and without hysteria, reveals his sources and discusses their reliability, and admits when he doesn't know something. He also apologises when he is wrong.
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1712560544971198862
This thread contains photos of the effect of white phosphorous:
Eva Karene Bartlett @EvaKBartlett
My cover photo I took in January 2009 in Gaza, when Israel rained White Phosphorous down onto innocent, trapped, Palestinian civilians with no where to flee to.
This is what you "I stand with Israel" people really stand with.
3:07 PM · Oct 12, 2023
·
Thank God they're the "good guys"! :)
The_Real_Fly
@The_Real_Fly
THE VIEW HOST COMPARES HAMAS TO PROUD BOYS — JAN 6ers AND HAMAS ARE THE SAME!
Big Serge @witte_sergei
Just in the last few weeks the US has announced that they are downsizing special operations due to recruiting issues and now they’re cutting back on systems maintenance. Things are going well, clearly.
Quote
Task & Purpose @TaskandPurpose
Army plans to cut ‘unnecessary maintenance’ on vehicles and firearms https://trib.al/lYU0Rta
And on Thursday Eve comes this bit of old supposition, now corroborated by the principal agency:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cia-publicly-acknowledges-1953-coup-backed-iran-was-undemocratic-revis-rcna120154
The timing is convenient to the Iran-apologists/not involved/responsible agenda. Likely a good deal more to the truth, but the indication is a lot of deep state in-fighting. An attempt to make the path to a wider war harder to pursue. Laudable, but the hounds have already been let slip.
Have SFs been making recruitment ads with transgender flags as well?
I've never quite understood the drive to make certain kinds of death into a hierarchy. Sure, I guess I'd rather be shot than have my head sawed off but killing a baby is killing a damn baby. Hamas members are evil devils who deserve to be put down. How they kill is irrelevant.
The concern as to how I think applies to those still living (hence, the methods used to induce fear and resignation)
That's a bit circular in terms of logic, T. Hamas terrorists who behead innocent people are evil and deserve everything they get. But the kids and babies who die unseen under the rubble of their homes after they are hit by an Israeli bomb are just as dead, and the act is just as evil. The fact of the matter in this situation is that a hell of a lot of innocent people on both sides are going to die and their lives are of equal value. Meanwhile the maniacs on both sides who are running this whole thing and their various backers will probably live to ripe old age.
Hamas hides behind kids; Israel hides behind "precision" weapons. Same result.
Does that work both ways? And what do you do when one side has pretty much a monopoly on power and narrative?
Ignore it and fight for survival.
The neocons will suddenly discover that Ukraine is a province of Israel and seamlessly switch funding to the latter. The propaganda and hysteria is off the charts now. I've stopped reading Citizenfreepress because it's actually worse than the Daily Mail. What's the point of having an "alternative media" if it's no more objective than the worst tabloid rag? Meanwhile, the propaganda itself is following the usual well-worn cliches so familiar from August 1914: murdered babies story - check; indomitable female heroine story - check; our enemies are "animals", "uncivilised" - check. All we need to complete the set are raped nuns. The human race has learned nothing.
Mis - dis - mal . . .
information; administration; distribution
In . . . justices; sanity
All of the above are being suffered because we the people are mostly a bunch of stupid sheep, a few judas goats, and jackasses too.
Instead of shooting off my big mouth, I have a question (well, two, actually) for Mark or anyone else who wants to chime in:
Who will get the Speaker's job AND will he/she make any difference whatsoever from the 'same ol'-same ol'?
If my disdain for this dog & pony show is evident, mea culpa.
Hi jo b - echoing SMH & Steghorn21 - we are unlikely to be impressed with the speakership outcome. That position is the House control point for the agenda of bills allowed on the floor for votes, control of house rules, leadership spots, et enchilada: the money focus point, the place where the Uniparty unis. Given that the current govt/MIC state in the US is one of money/debt musical chairs, a great deal of focus will be placed on controlling the person in charge of the music = the Speaker: the power players do not want to get stuck without a seat when the crash comes, but our politics are now so obviously corrupt that the risk of a blow-out loss is concentrating corrupt minds, so they fight for their Lead Zero. If you aren't compromised, you can't be Speaker. An indicator is the maddening lack of action on J6 - I'll make a coffee bet that the deep state has made clear the destruction that awaits House members that seek J6 justice and fairness. It is my guess as to why only a very few members fight in this area: they are the un-corrupted ones
All I can say watching this display the repubs are putting on is " we have met the enemy , it is us".
How many sugars with that coffee?
Very kind, but my reply doesn't win any bets. Nonetheless, espresso with heavy cream please, no sugar!
Jo, here's my input, FWIW: a) the worst possible choice, b) No. As the Marketticker guy, Karl Denninger, points out in his usual pithy way, the measures needed to restore the US republic are drastic and ruthless, and there is no-one on the political landscape who is willing to implement them. The system won't be saved; it will go on till it crashes. Then we can start again at a smaller scale.
Steg21,
Love that guy, despite feeling depressed every time I read his posts. Even he is getting sick of telling people the same damn thing yet nothing changes.
Agreed. I'm amazed he hasn't died of apoplexy or spontaneously combusted! He's usually right on the money, though.
" When all else fails, they take you to war"
Agreed. Debt is out of control and government bonds are indeed in deep do. That's my bone of contention with Tom Luongo. The Fed is not in control of anything; it is chasing events. Sure, Powell can raises rates, destroy the Eurodollar and give the big US banks a few more months of dominance, but it will be a pyrrhic victory. Raising rates will destroy the US economy and won't even control inflation. It will push us further into a stagflation nightmare.
Yes and no, Castel. I think that no matter how insane things get, it will be alright in the end because this is not our final home. However, I also get irritated when I hear Christians say "leave it to God" because it too often serves as an excuse for inaction. God gave us free will to fight the great evil on this Earth - including the evil in ourselves. We hope to win that fight, but if we don't, it is not the end. Those chaps like Thomas Aquinas probably said it a lot better!
Jo, my sense is that at this stage of the game it just won’t make a lot of the kind of “difference” that you and I, as well as all the folks just like us, want to see. I don’t have much confidence in the crowd that’s up there now, lotta politicians not many statesmen. The citizens of January 6 that are being abused by a DOJ that is completely corrupt and hounded by an equally corrupt FBI, should have already been a priority for the House and Senate to correct, but all we get is hot air and crickets. Merrick and Wray should already be history instead of still in office lying to and flouting Congress every time they are called to testify! So no, I don’t think that it will make 2 cents worth of difference who is elected Speaker.
I heard today on Brian Wilson's afternoon radio program that Scalise only achieved the majority threshold in the Republican conference due to the votes of otherwise non-voting delegates from Guam, Samoa, and Puerto Rico. That didn't sit well with many GOP congress critters.
Scalise has dropped out. The GOP still isn't getting the message: no Swamp creatures need apply!
Zerohedge also has a story where John Kirby says that financial support for Ukraine is coming to an end isn’t infinite! What happened to “as long as it takes”?
As long as it takes...to transfer the money to Israel.
Ukies gotta learn how to take a joke.
Gallows humor, my favorite.
Seems like they really meant “as long as it takes for us to lose interest “
Or “as long as it takes to figure out how to get ourselves out of the mess we created without it making us look like a bunch of incompetent
buffoons”. You wanna tell them or should I? :-)
Zerohedge re the Speakership:
Scalise, 58, is a longtime member of House leadership favored by centrists and neocons. He needs at least 217 lawmakers to support his candidacy. ...
The big money donors and lobbyists want Steve Scalise as Speaker.
The voters want Jim Jordan as Speaker.
So naturally, the Republican Congress goes behind closed doors on a secret ballot and screws their voters over again, AS USUAL.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) October 12, 2023
Either one would do the bidding of the Uniparty. Don’t think Jim Jordan would be an upgrade to McCarthy. He’s what Sundance refers to as the anger manager. He gives off a whiff of dissent, but the he’s just another puppet who will move according to how TPTB pull the strings.
He's Trey Gowdy with better control over his hair
The GOP won't save America. Trump should have the guts to do a RFK jr and go independent. Or even make a marriage of convenience with him.
I have no illusions about RKF Jr - or Trump, for that matter. I have no faith at all that either will change the system. At this stage, I'm supporting them for purely negative and nihilistic reasons: they are pissing off all the right people and driving the uniparty insane.
Breaking. Says Scalise stepped aside.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/steve-scalise-struggles-to-build-support-for-house-speaker-post-99be48e6
Representatives. Just depends upon the definition of who they represent.
Or pushing those nations into wars that the US expects to benefit from...but rarely does.
Many Israeli’s have become quite wealthy as a so-called friend of the USA. We don’t buy loyalty, but rather we buy people/nations to act as friends and bully them with threats of taking away their allowance if they fall out of line. I agree stop funding the wars of others and let your citizens enjoy the fruits of “our labor” instead of subsidizing the affairs of others who pretend to be our friend.
Maybe we should all stop paying federal taxes. Even here in deeply conformist Switzerland, there is a growing movement of people who are refusing to pay taxes to central government.