The Weekly Watch
Ebb and Flow
Life's patterns continue. It's been a time of harvest and processing this week. As summer heat encroaches spring greens will turn bitter. So it's been harvest, wash, blanche, and freeze while they are the tastiest. We had a few nice cabbages too which are fermenting to kraut. Crops come and crops go. So do empires. Not all is ideal. After 33 years we had to pump our septic system which involved digging up the flowerbed on top of it to pull the lid and clean it out. What a mess, but I've reseeded and mulched the bed and it too will flow (grow) back. Managed to put in a new gas tank on the tractor last week, but am still awaiting a reordered fan blade. One step forward, one step back. It's the nature of things.
Collapsing empires share patterns
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/patterns-of-civilization-collapse/
No civilization has ever been sustainable. Civilizations collapse when the human-ecological relationship breaks down far enough for the ecology to be unable to continue supporting the urban infrastructure and population. Cities are not a sustainable way to organize human communities and ecologies. When city-states are organized into empires, the civilization collapses unevenly. In some areas, life seems to continue in a way that would support the city continuing. In other areas, cities collapse and are abandoned earlier in the widespread empire’s collapse.
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During the early stages of an empire’s collapse, people flee collapsing cities and move to other cities that are not yet collapsing. Sometimes those cities collapse because of empire-related economic shifts (as in the “Rust Belt” cities of the US), sometimes because of ecological destruction (as in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or Paradise after the Camp Creek Fire). Regardless of the reason, the cities are not rebuilt because the ecological basis for creating true wealth (the capacity to meet human needs) is unable to support the rebuilding.
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Historically speaking, the average time it takes a civilization to collapse is about 300 years. Civilizations collapse in a stair-step pattern, with large-scale economic shocks followed by partial recoveries. In our recent history, collapse shocks happened in the 1970s (“Energy Crisis”), in 2007 during the sub-prime mortgage crisis (“The Great Recession”), and now during the Covid-19 Pandemic (“The Global Downturn of 2020”).
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It is reasonable to assume that we are in the early stages of our civilization’s collapse, and that we will continue to see stair-step degradations in physical and social infrastructure. Considering history, it is likely we will have a partial economic recovery after the pandemic ends. Considering climate change, we need to be prepared for further rapid down-steps as ecological shocks increase and spread. We may not live to see the end of our civilization, but we will see continued disorder, political circuses, domestic and international violence, and rapid economic shifts as a ‘new normal.’
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It is possible to see the current pandemic, economic collapse, and climate emergency as a fascinating challenge that will never stop giving us meaningful work to do. It is possible to feel satisfied that we are fulfilling our reasons for coming to this life, that we are giving fully of our gifts to our communities. Let us reach for each other, reach for full acceptance of ourselves at all stages of our lives, and reach for implementing our visions of a sustainable society in full communication with its ecological community.
Here's a different perspective...
Many on the left still cling to the hope that the COVID-19 crisis will translate into the use of state power on behalf of the powerless. But those in authority have never hesitated to harness government intervention to the preservation of oligarchy, and a pandemic alone won't change that. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/bleak-preliminary-history-o...
Commonalities of decline...
1. An undisciplined, overextended military.
2. A massive disparity between rich and poor.
3. A desire to live off a bloated State.
4. An obsession with sex.
5. A debasement of the currency.
6. A political class no longer serving the people but devoted to what they could syphon off the top.
7. Bread and circuses lulling people into moral lethargy.
8. Celebrity chefs---the best food etc. as a substitute for lost meaning.
9. A vast number of people who don't give a damn.
10. Immediate gratification and the desire for eternal youth.
Nice review of European and American imperialism and colonization, reaching now into space?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYfVla13dy4 (17 min)
Militarism
Great interview with Jimmy and Maj. Danny Sjursen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfmWC1bYUrc (47 min)
“Just as the coronavirus exposed much internal systemic rot, this moment also reveals how obsolete common conceptions of U.S. warfare truly are.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/05/memorial-day-combat-veteran...
This interview is well worth your time to understand how it is the US can bully the world.
https://moderaterebels.com/transcript-economics-american-imperialism-mic...
Text, video, or audio
MICHAEL HUDSON: The World Bank has one primary aim, and that’s to make other countries dependent on American agriculture. This is built into its articles of agreement. It can only make foreign currency loans, so it will only make loans to countries for agricultural development, roads, if it is to promote exports.
So the United States, through the World Bank, has become I think the most dangerous, right-wing, evil organization in modern in history — more evil than the IMF. That’s why it’s almost always been run by a secretary of defense. It has always been explicitly military. It’s the hard fist of American imperialism.
Its idea is that, we’ll make Latin American, and African, and Asian countries export plantation crops , especially plantations that are foreign owned. But the primary directive of the World Bank to countries is: “You must not feed yourself; you must not grow your own grain or your own food; you must depend on the United States for that. And you can pay for that by exporting plantation crops.”
...
in 2002, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, you wrote:“The Treasury bonds standard of international finance has enabled the United States to obtain the largest free lunch ever achieved in history. America has turned the international financial system upside down, whereas formerly it rested on gold, central bank reserves are now held in the form of US government IOUs, that can be run up without limit.
“In effect America has been buying up Europe, Asia, and other regions with paper credit, US Treasury IOUs that it has informed the world it has little intention of ever paying off.
“And there is little Europe or Asia can do about it except to abandon the dollar and create their own financial system.”
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Finance is basically backed by military, and domestically by force, by the sheriff, by the police department. It’s the force that are going to kick you out of the house.So the question is, is the only defense by the indebted people in America, your Virginia defense? Does there have to be an armed revolution here to cancel the debts? Do they have to eat the rich? That’s the whole question for the politics of America.
I don’t see it being solved. If it is not solved by the indebted people simply starving to death, committing suicide, getting sick, or emigrating, then there will have to be a revolution. Those are the choices in America.
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Well what makes China so threatening is that it’s following the exact, identical policies that made America rich in the 19th century. It’s a mixed economy.Its government is providing the basic infrastructure and subsidized prices to lower the cost of living and the cost of doing business, so that its export industry can make money. And it’s subsidizing research and development, just like the United States did in the 19th century and early 20th century.
So America basically says to the rest of the world, “Do as we say, not as we do, and not as we’ve done.”
So China has a mixed economy that is working very well. You can just see the changes occurring there. And it realizes that the United States is trying to disable it, that that the United States wants to control all the sectors of production that have monopoly pricing — information technology, microchip technology, 5G communications, military spending.
And the United States wants to be able to essentially buy goods from the rest of the world with overpriced exports, American movies, anything that has a patent that yields a monopoly price.
America, in the 1950s tried to fight China by sanctioning grain exports to China. You mentioned sanctions earlier, the first sanctions were used against China, to prevent them, trying to starve them with grain.
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MAX BLUMENTHAL: Right, going back to the JFK Seeds of Peace program. It’s big agro subsidies, and then you bomb the Third World with cheap seeds and cheap goods, and then you have a migration crisis.MICHAEL HUDSON: Seeds for Starvation is what the program is known as. Because by giving a low price of foreign aid to these countries, they they prevented domestic agricultural development, because no farmer could compete with free crops that America was giving.
The purpose of the Seeds for Starvation program was to prevent countries from feeding themselves, and to make them dependent.
In this interview with Reiner Braun, CEO of the IPB - International Peace Bureau, we examine recent developments in the field of militarisation that includes global military spending and technological developments. Furthermore we discuss the opportunity costs of militarisation and possible solutions that could be pursued to make our system more peaceful and cooperative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwhpg7haFgI (11 min)
Militarism isn't just for foreign wars, but also domestic control...
"Don't think for a minute that Derek Chauvin would have been arrested if people in Minneapolis weren't standing up and fighting." https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/29/after-days-protest-police-o...
Some 500 National Guard troops were sent into the city by Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat. They are guarding infrastructure and have not yet been deployed directly against the population. Walz, himself a retired command sergeant major in the National Guard, is the third governor in recent years to call out the troops to deal with unrest provoked by police murders, following Democrat Jay Nixon in Missouri (Ferguson) in 2014, and Republican Larry Hogan in Maryland (Baltimore) in 2015.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/30/floy-m30.html
Has the new civil war begun?
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/05/begun-the-civil-wars-of-2020-have-...
As Minneapolis Protests Over Killing of George Floyd Intensify, Trump Threatens to Send in Military With Green Light to Open Fire
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/29/minneapolis-protests-over-k...
US Border Patrol Denounced as 'Rogue Agency' for Using Predator Drone to Spy on Minneapolis Protests "This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/29/us-border-patrol-denounced-...
Think strikes are the way to reform? The garbage workers went on strike in New Orleans, so TPTB went to the local prison and 'employed' a captive labor force. Richard Wolff explains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAcKSfckRJA (6.5 min)
Professor Wolff discuss the definition of capitalism from the Marxist perspective. When the system of capitalism experiences dire crises, Wolff argues, it has been natural to question the nature of the system itself, just as the financial crises of the early 20th and 21st centuries have prompted reforms of capitalism to varying extents. Today, the path to better political democracy, says Wolff, lies in stronger economic democracy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1BF1xIz_SE (25 min)
One more from Rick Wolff...
Prof. Wolff examines the rise of China to the global economic powerhouse it has become. He discredits the argument that China's success can be attributed to the developments made by private capitalists within China and the foreign capitalists welcomed in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRe9uL0bg_Q (8 min)
"We Have Capitalism for the Poor and Socialism for the Rich" - Mark Blyth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVI1ZtgdXYI (full 50 min interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIyYijA0h-8 (5 min excerpt)
"The EU is a Shit-Show" - Mark Blyth
Follow the money...it's the cabbage, man!
Three Investment Banks Control More Wealth Than GDP of China – and Threaten Our Existence
https://theanalysis.news/commentary/the-lords-of-finance-own-the-media-a...
Chris explains the Fed money printing machine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mXPwNQc3lc&t=6m35s
The Federal Reserve’s finger in the dike won’t contain the economic storm; we need to think through the steps of achieving democratic central planning and public ownership. Leo Panitch with Paul Jay (video or text)
https://theanalysis.news/interviews/pandemic-shows-need-for-democratic-c...
...the degree of inequality is phenomenal. The ability of the poor people in these countries, and for that matter even the middle class to be able to resume consumption is much limited by the fact that so much consumption is debt-driven, by virtue of the fact that it depends on them being able to get credit since their wages have stagnated since the early 80s or late 70s, and they haven’t since recovered what they lost by way of many of the assets that they held, especially the houses they lost during the crisis of 2008. So they don’t then have the assets to roll over increased credit. So these are the enormous managerial challenges that capitalism is facing in this new crisis.
There are parallels between today's economy and 1929. Mike Maloney highlights why he devotes this new video to the Great Depression… because it can offer valuable insights into what could be ahead for us today. Though he is a big Milton Friedman fan, this is an interesting perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjWdAEh-EU&t=10m30s (25 min)
Trader and money manager Micheal Pento says make no mistake this is a depression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HgiBZEIfSI&t=1m40s (30 min)
This concludes with a bit of an ad for his money management services but is a worthwhile analysis.
Jimmy and Dylan discuss this article about the US predicament
https://eand.co/im-not-that-i-m-negative-america-really-is-screwed-13b47...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdeRF5KiUm0 (28 min)
They also discuss the on going depression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NomWXb1xhSk (16 min)
Max and Stacy red pill the economy. The last 15 min interview is a quite interesting discussion of bitcoin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI3nuvuqbuA (26 min)
Interesting comment in the thread under the clip...
Well done Stacy and Max, thank you for showing the charts. Look, June is named after Juno Moneta, the Goddess of the Roman Treasury. Moneta is the root of the word money, and money was minted outside of Juno Moneta's temple, known as the "Capitolium." Juno Moneta shared the Capitolium with her husband Jupiter, and her War Goddess daughter, Minerva. But please be wary of July 18th-25th when bad juju happens that coincides with Neptunalia. Neptunalia is when huge monetary changes have occurred for hundreds of years. Speaking of Minerva, you would be surprised how many recent wars were started by the U.S. on her festival date that she shares with Mars, The Quinquatria Festival, March 19th-23rd
Max and Stacy broadcast one episode this week from an alternate reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNT0RamLsDM (1st 15 min)
Richard Kozul-Wright is UNCTAD’s Chief Economist and Director of UNCTAD’s Division of Globalization and Development Strategies. Richard Kozul-Wright is lead author of Financing A Global Green New Deal: UNCTAD’s 2019 Trade and Development Report and co-author of A New Multilateralism for Shared Prosperity: Geneva Principles for a Global Green New Deal.
https://theanalysis.news/interviews/healthy-people-a-healthy-planet-and-...
video and text
I think the big question now is how are we going to reconnect a healthy people, a healthy planet and a healthy economy. And in a certain sense, the global financial crisis was a dry run for this, for the neoliberal tradition supporting footloose capital. And ensuring that it could make profits whenever, wherever and however it wanted was essentially the basis for the policy initiatives that came out of the 2009 crisis. Of course, with a little bit of help from the gargantuan expansion of central bank asset sheets. And with a huge piling up of debt: public, private, developed and developing countries. Now, I think COVID-19 has dramatically exposed the limits of that kind of agenda and the fragility of the runaway hyperglobalized world we have been subject to. And it has provided a dramatic reminder, I think, that the health of people and the planet rests on this provision of public goods and the protection of the global commons. And the Global Green New Deal, I think, offers an alternative way of reconnecting people, the economy and the planet around this idea of a massive investment push led by the public sector.
COVID mismanagement...
... if the United States had begun social distancing and other control measures just two weeks earlier, it would have saved the lives of 54,000 people. The implementation of such measures one week earlier would have saved 36,000 lives.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/22/pers-m22.html
The lack of integrity in hydroxychloroquine research
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUD_wvkNhnk (47 min)
There's so much more to say and speculate about the collapse of US empire... as well as the natural ebb and flow of life. The natural system dictates the limits of civilization and resource extraction. Despite the reduction in carbon emissions during the lockdowns, atmospheric carbon hit an all time high May 3 - 418 ppm.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/7/21251188/carbon-dioxide-breaking-recor...
The artificial manipulation of currency doesn't extend to environmental impacts. The natural system acts on its own laws, and I suspect will be a primary controlling factor in the decline of US empire. The challenges are many, and the oligarchs are actually few. Unfortunately their grasp on the levers of power are strong and enforced by their mercenaries. Max's description of our system as neofuedalism rings true to me. People are storming the castle so to speak. Reminds me of Watts and other riots of my youth. One step forward, one step back. Here's wishing you a wonderful ride in the ebb and flow of life.
I wasn't aware of this song, ebb and flow
Snowfall heavy, mountains
And smoke on the breeze
Wanna get back to those warm nights
Down in New Orleans
Hopped onto a freight line bound for Tenessee
Said he was a sailin' man born in Chesapeake
You can find you hollow shelter of stone
Anytime you get low
Some things follow
Anywhere you go
Sang myself to sleep last night under the canopy
Where the moonlight danced
With the silhouettes of the weeping willow trees
Caroline' I someday may find
My wings beneath your breeze
The current blows the ebb and flow
That's where I'm gonna be
You can find you hollow shelter of stone
Anytime you get low
Some things follow
Anywhere you go
But I've played this tune by Carl Jones for a few years.
Ebb and Flow
Have a great weekend!
Comments
Brother West
https://twitter.com/meaganmday/status/1266549289494274049?ref_src=twsrc%...
Stay Safe Everyone!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
he had a nice piece in commondreams too
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/30/cornel-west-says-neo-fascis...
Here's another version of the CNN interview. George Floyd murder...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9nZqvPv5Yg]
5 min
Dr. Cornel West shares his thoughts on the murder of George Floyd (May 30, 2020).
“We are witnessing America as a failed social experiment. ... Its capitalist economy could not generate and deliver in such a way that people could live lives of decency. The nation-state, its criminal justice system, its legal system could not generate protection of rights and liberties. And now our culture so market-driven, everybody for sale, everything for sale, you can't deliver the kind of really real nourishment for soul, for meaning, for purpose. ...
The system cannot reform itself. We've tried black faces in high places. Too often our black politicians, professional class, middle class become too accommodated to the capitalist economy, too accommodated to a militarized nation-state, too accommodated to the market-driven culture of celebrities, status, power, fame, all that superficial stuff that means so much to so many fellow citizens.
And what happens is we have a neofascist gangster in the White House who doesn't care for the most part. You've got a neoliberal wing of the Democratic party that is now in the driver's seat with the collapse of brother Bernie and they really don't know what to do because all they want to do is show more black faces ... But often times those black faces are losing legitimacy too because the Black Lives Matter movement emerged under a black president, a black attorney general, and a black Homeland Security [Secretary] and they couldn't deliver. So when you talk about the masses of black people, the precious poor and working-class black people, brown, red, yellow, whatever color, they're the ones left out and they feel so thoroughly powerless, helpless, hopeless, then you get rebellion.
We've reached a point now a choice between nonviolent revolution -- and by revolution what I mean is the democratic sharing of power, resources, wealth and respect. If we don't get that kind of sharing, you're going to get more violent explosions. Now the sad thing is in the neofascist movement in the White House, you have some neofascist brothers and sisters out there who are already armed. They show up at U.S. capitol and they don't get arrested, they don't get put down. The president praises them."
- Dr. Cornel West
Thanks for the CNN clip.
Have a good one.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Thanks. A ton to read/watch, and
absorb. I'm thinking that I'll drag the tablet outside and listen over breakfast in the patio and while puttering in the yard. Thanks again.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I love having speakers outside on the porch
I can get a clip going and putter around outside while I listen. Some clips require watching to see graphs and such, but most are just talking heads.
I thought of your column on time when I watch the Max and Stacy parallel universe clip. They turn the picture upside down and go negative. They are funny to me. I appreciate JS and Az. for introducing them to me.
Have a lovely day. Nice and cool here. After about 3" of rain this week, next week looks sunny. May even need to irrigate. Still have one bed of sweet potatoes to plant, but otherwise the garden is pretty well set (well need to put up poles for the beans...or as my old neighbors used to say...need to stick the beans.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good Sunday morning, Lookout ~~
Our world is changing and I'm so happy to be alive to see it. Never did I think I would get to witness such a transformation of our world. We are moving forward to a better place but we will have to struggle to get there. I've said this in many comments before and even been excoriated by someone for my perspectives. Oh, well. Many understand what is happening and will come to that place of love that we are moving toward.
The second half of this Kaiser Report is what I'm talking about. This fellow is enlightened - he understands what's ahead and I'm thrilled he has a platform to begin spreading that word.
[video:https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/489902-enterprises-money-launderi...
Sorry to hear about your septic tank. We have two. The older one is almost 40 years old, has never been pumped, but we know it's either almost time to pump or it's time to replace. We might try and tie it into the newer (19 years old) one.
Live presently and in love, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I like your positive take RA
I too believe things will unfold and reveal our path forward.
The worst part of the pumping was the destruction of a big patch of moss. It will grow back, but it is slow. Yet time marches on.
Let's make good use of the time we have. Be happy, healthy, and at peace.
Thanks for the visit.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning all ...
I don't have much to add this week, except maybe a heads-up.
Keep a lookout for new vids from Jimmy Dore.
He did about an hour live with Chris Hedges yesterday and then another segment about cops.
Are there any Good Cops ? Jimmy says no.
I thought this was funny:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFA0YdZfK8 width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Thanks!
I've gotten where I prefer the edited clips rather than Jimmy live, but the live version can be entertaining.
Saw the one where he announced Chris' bid for office. The interview ought to be lots of fun. I'll keep and eye out.
Jimmy comes from a family of police and has a good sense of the blue line ethic.
Local news...yeah right.
Have a good one. Our last breath of cool air here for a while I suspect.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I know what you mean.
It's boring watching Stef read super-chats and then they drink Negronis and Jimmy sings, badly.
All the YouTubers are doing those super-chats now.
I've never done a super-chat but I've thought about sending one: Hey Stef, will you read my take, no matter how lame it is, if I clip a fiver to it ?
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
The destruction of the world around us
A sad story. Think I’ll do some work in the garden today to get my mind off the sadness. Everything is in bloom and very colorful. Been using an organic fertilizer that my flowers seems to love. I have buds everywhere. May string up set of lights I bought the other day around the trunk of the fig tree. It’s solar powered so just as the sun sets, the lights go on. I have a few sets of lights that I’ve strung up around the front entrance to my house. Very inviting and charming. With the added benefit of keeping the sadness away.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Sounds lovely!
Nature is restorative.
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on Earth.
"God's Garden" lines 13–16, Poems, by Dorothy Frances Gurney (London: Country Life, 1913).
Much like your moving essay this week, loving each other, the natural world, and the country has both pain and reward. The river flows and we must ride the current. Be at peace my friend. We're all swimming to the other side.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thank you for that Lookout
I needed that more than you know.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Wait - celebrity chefs???
Who knew that Julia Child heralded the downfall of our civilization?
Actually, not all civilization must collapse, though they do evolve. China still exists. Though it has "risen and fallen" more times than I can count. Empires do not last. Competent leaders do not live forever and when someone much less confident follow them . . . well you have Venezuela as a quick example. Though in that case, dickish colonialism from the USA has made their situation much worse.
So I would boil things down to #1, #2, and #6 (necessary to keep #1 and #2 in place). The ruling elite tries to keep the masses in line with #7, leading to #9. At least until the facade crumbles.
As for the others, #4 (an obsession with sex) results from religious Puritan demagogues trying to suppress it. It works about as well as Prohibition. #5 happens after the fall, especially when caused by a bloated military. #3 walked in off the Rush Limbaugh show (or some Libertarian monkey island), and finally #10: who doesn't want eternal youth? Collapsing empire or not? As Granny Weatherwax said, "Being a witch won't keep you young forever. It may, however, keep you old longer."
not necessarily my list
Came from the fold below the video, but I thought they were interesting.
I would have included resource depletion and self absorption on my list.
No matter how you define them, the signs of US empire collapse are all around us. Sure hope war isn't the outcome...falling empires tend to precipitate them.
Thanks for the visit.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
And continue to fall it will
Until someone in a world power somewhere figures out how to stop it. At least, the destruction of the planet's ability to support life. I don't care one fig about American empire.
Chef Ramsey vs. the Kardashians? I might watch that.
Good evening lo
The day just flowed by. Got out of the house to visit a friend. They have an amazing garden. Plus she gave me a sweet potato start and showed me more about potato strategies. My garden is small but it will be perfect. Have taken a break from the protests today. Read on moa that the forces in afgan are being withdrawn at a greater speed now. Oy. Thanks for the long list of things to read and watch. Crazy times. We are in for a ride. Boy howdy.
Take good care and have a good one.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
My days seem to fly by of late...
After the lock down they seemed to drag, but have steadily picked up speed, and are now zipping by fast as ever. Some of it is the increasing demands of the garden, but mostly I suspect it is accepting the pandemic. Last week i emphasized that if you're in good health, chances are you will have mild to no symptoms after infection. Fear is a powerful ally of the oligarchs. I've been speculating that a low dose infection might be a solution for healthy folks in lieu of no vaccine. We know low infection dose results in milder cases. Not rushing for infection mind you, just speculating.
Enjoy your garden. Stay healthy and be happy!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
LO, 'thank you' for this excellent
compilation of news and info.
Look forward to reading it over the next couple of days. What you and Joe do with 'the news,' never ceases to amaze me.
That cabbage photo reminded me of our gardens in Alaska. With all the hours of daylight, we had to be careful, or we'd produce humongous veggies. (which sometimes, comprises taste) Ironically, we've never had a garden, except during our years in the Interior. Not sure why that is--except, that I despise hot weather. Obviously, the summer weather and daylight (there) was optimal--one of many things I miss about that place!
Stay safe as you go about your weekly trips to town.
Mollie
"Those who choose the lesser of evil, tend very fast to forget they have chosen the evil."
~~Hannah Arendt, Philosopher
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Thanks Mollie
Always glad for your visit. Alaska long daylight produce is amazing. That was just one of several cabbages we harvested. Today we're pulling the rest of the kale and some of the collards. Have to go a little at the time in order to process them. That really is half the job. The lettuce has been overwhelming this year. In addition to daily salads, I've been giving it away, making soup, and picking daily for months. Lots of bang for not much work. Summer heat is on the way and the lettuce will soon become bitter.
Joe is amazing with his daily news round up. Takes me all week to put together one collection.
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Ebb and Flow indeed
As always, the Weekly Watch is worth every minute it takes to peruse it. Even when there's bad news, even mad news, you manage to present it without my blood pressure hitting the stratosphere. I don't think that's easy to do and I appreciate it.
Nice to "see" you
Last week was wet for us, but it looked like buckets in Texas. I think I'm remembering that is your location.
It is difficult not to rage against the empire, but rational thought and analysis is a calmer and (perhaps) a better approach. I continue to think if China comes out with a better currency (a digital gold backed block chain) US empire may quickly fall before we have a chance to push nuclear war. Then all the other countries will do like us and say to the IMF we're not paying our USD debt to you. Obviously I'm no economist.
Have a great week and be well!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Scenes from the wreckage of empire
Thanks for this essay Lookout. I happened on this video of daily life in Berlin after the surrender from following one of the links above. It's a moving portrait of where the hubris of empire ultimately leads:
Video Link: Berlin in July 1945
I love those old clips
time in a bottle so to speak.
Sure does seem like history does at least rhyme.
1965
Hope you have a great week, thanks for the visit!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”