@QMS
what could be done with that money to help the people of the USA (and the world)? But no, we need to 'defend' ourselves *eyeroll*. There should be a common understanding, it's not the department of defense, it's the department of aggression. So we are 'aggressing'. Heh.

Thank you for hosting today's OT. The subject of war is worth ranting about. It seems the only
people in this country that are not anti-wars are the ones making bucks off of them. Which, I
believe, is a minority of the population.

The majority of folks would rather see military expenditures re-directed to repairing the
social fabric domestically, yes? It would appear that is not an option in the minds of the
ruling class. The latest evidence is in the $770 billion requested by the present
administration for 'national defense'. If the US wasn't so busy making enemies the world
over, then perhaps it would not be so costly to 'defend' the country. Just a guess

Cheers!

edited to correct number

@Lookout
weapons still in the USA. USA!! Of course, errrmmmm, some of the parts come from, errmmm, *whispers* China or East Asia. But we Americaines aren't supposed to know that, right??

When we hear people say, "we don't make anything in America anymore", we need to remind them that indeed we do. We (the US) is the largest manufacturer of weaponry, the largest seller of arms, and the primary proponent of war and sanctions (the modern day siege) in the world.

The MIC/CIA/deep state has manipulated the US into an evil empire.

Thanks for the OT!

@Enchantress
I live. In the Puget Sound, on the Kitsap Peninsula. We've got a huge naval base, one or two submarine bases, nuclear weapons storage on an island, the army base down by Tacoma, air force and naval bases up north of Seattle... I figure if the big ones drop, I'll be melted in seconds, if not minutes.

In my area, (Florida panhandle) there are somewhere between 10-20 military installations. There are also 10-20 military contractors. People have retired on Friday and gone right back to work on Monday at the same job, same place, but civilian employer. A lot of people here depend on the military for their money.

I though agree with you. Instead of relying on the military, the area should have invested in jobs which this country really needs. I've seen more than once when one contractor loses a certain contract, and the entire place gets laid off.

@usefewersyllables
And that concert was just awesome. I love their song 'Rose Tattoo'. Gotta admit, at times it makes me cry.

Great music you posted. I was gonna post 99 Luftballoons as well, but I thought I was getting a bit long winded. Thank you for featuring it! I was surprised to be reminded that one of my favorite new wave, pop, whatever bands from back then, Duran Duran, also did antiwar pro-green songs. I never paid attention to the lyrics much, I guess. Their first hit, Planet Earth is anti-war and pro-green.

are the finest of the fine. We love the hell out of 'em. Their recent concert to a completely empty Fenway Park was one of the high points of our quarantine...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQNddVafpM width:400 height:300]

And yes- the eternal buildup to war is exhausting, and cost a lot of us greyhairs a lot of the joy of our youth and young adulthood. Once again, I was amazed and pleased to wake up "not dead" this morning, but the dreams still come- and they always will.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY width:400 height:300]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo width:400 height:300]

@randtntx
Exactly. I too would go visit Russia, would love to see it, and learn about it, sit down with everyone and eat and drink and then dance and have fun!

you posted. It just goes to show you, people know how to have fun. Look at the beautiful landscape in that video, the fine colorful costumes, the awesome musical instruments, the artists. This is what most people want to do. It's flat out gorgeous. I'd go there in a heartbeat if I were invited. Who wouldn't want to sit down to a meal with those people and a then a post meal party with music and dancing?
Most people would choose that experience.

Instead we have demented people choosing the way of misery and destruction. We are caught in this recurring loop of stupidity that we didn't choose.

Thanks Sima, hope you are well in your part of the world.

The Fiddler has a notion about all this:

@studentofearth @studentofearth
isn't it? Started as street musicians in St. Petersburg, I think. I've watched a lot of their videos and concerts on youtube, bought some of their albums too. Even though I can't understand most of the lyrics. Here's another vid:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1d1Fpg-sFE]

Edited to add: I've no idea if they are singing that French folk song with a strong Russian accent or not. Doesn't sound that way to me, but what do I know?

Enjoyed the sound of the new band

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACCo4agtt60]

@enhydra lutris
is pretty realistic. As our wars have gotten stupider and stupider, without any justification at all, most people just turn their heads and look away. 'Who cares?' everyone seems to say. 'It ain't hurting us'. Except if it's your kids going to war... Still something like only 13% of Americans want a war in Ukraine. So, there's that.

Lest we become (more) complacent, I suggest that the US populace is not so largely anti-war as we'd like to believe. I recall family friends and neighbors, teachers and fellow students being somewhat militaristic, jingoist, and often pro-war, believing that we had the answers and needed to re-make the globe in our image, lots and lots of them. We peaceniks were not looked upon with great fondness.

When I escaped to college, I found this sadly true in the Berkeley/Oakland/San Francisco area as well, though perhaps a bit muted as we reached the late sixties. We all heard our own voices loudly, but if one listened closely, one heard those others too. Worse yet, there came a time when the campuses werre full of "generation Reagan" and our own voices, especially in the streets and on college campuses were greatly diminished.

The military adventures of George I Bush, aka CIA Bush, drew some limited protests and surprise, same old cadres from my college days supported by a crop of very young idealists. Time marched on and we all moved on and Bill( William-Jefferson-Reagan-Thatcher) Clinton's war crimes and interventions barely raised a stir. Soon George II, the shrub, was raching toward war and there was anti-war outcry large and loud. The government, however, did what it wished to, and from out of a large population, there was an large undercurrent of support, lot's of volunteers and denunciations plus boycotts of good ol' CW favorites like the Dixie Chicks and others who chose to speak out.

Obama began breaking his real and implied promises the second he took office, and finally, on the day scheduled by the Bush Admin for withdrawal from Iraq had to be thrown out of the country kicking & screaming with hardly a peep here at home. Wis drone wars, surges and pivot to Asia met with very little objections, while Trumps attempts to shut down wars were bemoaned by far, far too many of the populace.

In reality, there is but one Barbara Lee and one Tulsi Gabbard. There are a handful on both the right and left who object to our warmongering, militarism, ludicrous MIC budgets and the like. Far too many are far too quiet and far, far too many are hypnotized by the flag, the military, the national anthem, war, Russia, Russia, Russia and those no-good Chinese for any of us to be comfortable with. We all need to spend as much time proselytizing "them" as we do bemoaning the situation among ourselves.

be well and have a good one

@snoopydawg
for Biden. Certainly, it fits! And oil prices? Exactly. And prices of everything else. I think that's why the war drums, to distract us from the economy.

Tomorrow never comes.

Biden is still saying that Russia’s gonna invade soon and the attack on Ukraine is imminent even though Psakiopath said that she has stopped saying the word ‘imminent'.

One gift from this ‘imminent' threat is what it’s doing to the oil market. Pushing prices higher and keeping them there is making lots of people lots of money. Hew ra!

@gjohnsit
meeting? That is so... I haven't words. Just no words. It's the mandatory part that gets me.

Amazon

An Amazon union avoidance official told employees at JFK8, Amazon’s largest New York City warehouse, that if they unionize, certain workers could see their salaries reduced to minimum wage, or that negotiations could start with minimum wage as a baseline, according to leaked audio from the mandatory anti-union meeting that took place Wednesday and was obtained by Motherboard.

When describing the collective bargaining process, the union buster explains to workers that “The negotiation phase of the process is called collective bargaining, and in the negotiation, there are no guarantees … you can end up with better, the same, or worse than you already have.”

Who 'noes? Your legs could get broken. I'm just sayin'.

@peachcreek
always read his stuff, as a lurker. I agreed very often with his pov, especially anti-war.

I saw Threads because I was in England at the time, a year or two after it was released. That movie, and the American 'The Day after' were played in Russia. And all over the world! Apparently Reagan was shown them, and they actually changed his mind and made him back off some.

Saltatio Mortis and Eric Bogle, so different and yet... yea, I cry. I can't help it. I cry with the Dropkick Murphys' video too, but differently. As you said, there is hope. That pic near the end of the girl putting the flower in the soldier's gun always gets me. Hope. Can we stop this stupidity?

As I get older, I'm discovering I like more and more folk music from most any country at all. Finding Russian folk music was really fun! I'm glad you enjoyed it too!

And what a righteous rant! War is such a racket, you'd think a simple RICO suit would clean up the mess, but it keeps going on, and on, and on. The rant also made me think of OPOL and his "I'm already against the next war" byline. Miss him still.

I have not seen the "Threads" movie. I'll look it up. It apparently came out around the time I was in the throws of grad school. I missed almost all cultural happenings around then, except for some music, so that's not too surprising. From the preview, it looks like it ought to be shown worldwide. It seems that the warmongering anti-Russia/China folks, whether the Ted Cruz or Rachel Maddow sorts, really might need a refresher on what nuclear war might look like..

The Saltatio Mortis and Eric Bodley left me sad and a little maudlin, but the Dropkick Murphey's are an antidote to that. Yes, I know, still a strong in-your-face sad war song with mayhem and violence, but somehow the Irish take says to me: we aren't powerless, we don't have to keep doing this idiocy. So, it is violent as hell but hopeful too?

And then, holy hell, the Russian farm folk music! Hilarious and fun and ever so slightly instructional. Community music with a bit of self deprecation and friendly ribbing all round? Good stuff. Does every farm have a Timineo? Every good farm does, I'd think. And, you can't take yourself so seriously (as in Blinken and Ukraine) if you know, in your heart, that you are *powerless* to the weather and happenstance--so you may as well dance. Uproariously and with abandon.
So, Thanks. Again.