Open Thread WE 23 MAR 22


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“The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of.” —Charles H. Perkhurst

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Welcome to today's edition of the C99 open thread.
Anything goes, so share your ideas freely ..

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I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.
Vincent Van Gogh

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Credits -- Tiny Heart by Kiva Ford
https://www.kivaford.com

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Lookout's picture

Gonzalo is being targeted by the Daily Breast. They want him silenced.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-GHmbAGh2E&t=50s]

No reporting allowed, only doublespeak pro-war drivel.

I hope Russia wraps this up soon. I know we're trying to run this war for as long as possible AND drag China into it as well.
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2022-03/23/content_78123634.htm

"The worst human rights violator in the world is the United States itself," Wang said, noting that it should repent for butchering the Native Americans and reducing their population to 250,000 at the beginning of the 20th century from 5 million in the late 15th century.

In the face of nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths, over 40,000 gun violence victims each year, and tens of thousands of victims of racial discrimination, the United States should reflect on its own human rights deficit, Wang said.

The spokesperson added that the United States should beg for forgiveness from the international community for waging war in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan and causing 330,000 civilian deaths and over 26 million refugees, rather than lecturing others on human rights.

He urged the United States to face up to and resolve its own systemic and chronic human rights problems, instead of undermining the human rights of other countries in the name of protecting human rights.

That is all happening as US ally Saudi Arabia beheaded 80 something people in one day.

I simply fail to understand how Americans are so blind. I know we've been propagandized but jeez can't anyone get 2 brain cells to fire? Are we all as demented as our leadership? Evidently.

Thanks for the OT and opportunity to rant this AM. We had a pretty wild storm last night, 2.4" in the gauge this morning. Have not been out to see how well the gravel road held, or if any trees are down across it. Had a dead pine across it a couple of days ago. The joys of country living!

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19 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Got my morning chuckle when I searched for the “Daily Breast

Where my areolae go, I will follow.
-The Miss

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12 users have voted.

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49

I was going to let it slide, but it is funny.
The Daily beast ate my breast. Arrgh.

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8 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

@Lookout @Lookout everything is blooming, I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

This shit though is bad on another level

I simply fail to understand how Americans are so blind. I know we've been propagandized but jeez can't anyone get 2 brain cells to fire? Are we all as demented as our leadership? Evidently.

The simple answer is yes, and this clip explains to a T

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQd6FuB8qc]

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10 users have voted.

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

lotlizard's picture

@ggersh  
and I have lived for a good three-quarters of a century.

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10 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

@lotlizard this is american exceptionalism on steroids. If she were
my daughter I'd give her a zetz in cup!!

Urban Dictionary: Zetz
[Search domain urbandictionary.com] https://www.urbandictionary.com › define.php?term=Zetz
Urban Dictionary: Zetz Zetz V. To smack an individual upside the head ( yiddish) don't make me give you a zetz! by utopus June 15, 2010 Flag Get the Zetz mug. Zetz To poke at, or ridicule someone. Usually when they are not expecting it. Why did you zetz me for nothing ?? by einkerem September 3, 2015 Flag Get the Zetz mug. Zetz

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5 users have voted.

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

@lotlizard the intense Russophobia and fierce anti-Putinism coming from our top leaders and their mouthpieces in the MSM over the past 10 yrs or so, the anti-China noise has been rather muted, except for a few months in early Covid as the knuckledragging far right looked for a culprit. Too important a trade partner perhaps. And, if I haven't missed something, Biden and his predecessors haven't called the top Chinese leader a "thug", "killer" or "war criminal" yet as Joe has called Vlad.

That is language I don't recall hearing from our elected leaders, or at least the president, in all the 45 bad yrs of the first Cold War. Even Reagan stopped short of personalizing it, and referred only to the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union, which was considered almost beyond the pale at the time.

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@ggersh

Since people have a problem calling HerHeinous the B word…..but seriously why don’t people who get interrupted like he was just say "are you interested in my answer or should I just sit here and let you talk?" Or call out the rudeness? Sheesh don’t be a doormat.

It’s going to be close to 80 this weekend. That’s gonna wreak havoc on the remaining snow and boy that’s gonna hit the ski resort’s pocket. Good! It used to cost $8 to ski at my local resort. Now it’s $135. Locals can’t afford it anymore nor can people who work at the resorts find affordable housing.

Think inflation is bad now? Russia making countries buy gas with the rubble is going to make it escalate straight up. But don’t worry the PTB wants us to stop driving on Sunday to save gas. Sure we can all use our wonderful mass transit that oil companies have done their damndest to destroy. But here’s a better idea. Bring our military home and stop the wars of aggression that uses more gas than all of us we little people use. Stop the jets flying all damn day cuz 1 hour of flight time uses more gas than a family of 4 uses in a month. Let’s sacrifice that instead.

I’m being told to let my lawn die to save water. Let’s not let Farcebook build their huge fusion center in a desert state that is in the worst drought in 1,200 years. Let’s also get rid of the NSA fusion center and who’s bright idea was that to build it in a desert that was already in a 20 year drought at the time?

I’m not sacrificing shit!

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10 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

mimi's picture

@ggersh
I don't watch any US TV media anymore. I remember well, when I had to do it on my job from 2007 to 2014.
I am so glad it is over and I don't have to watch it anymore.
It is disgusting, in my opinion.

I despise it.

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10 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

@mimi I've quit watching MSM for quite some time now. They're
nothing but hyena's(sorry hyena's) scavenging for a paycheck.

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6 users have voted.

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

@Lookout exchange yesterday on The Hill as the liberal voice tries to make a subtle, somewhat difficult point about Putin being wrong to invade but also left with no alternative. Notice how the center-left guy, Ryan Grim, repeats unexamined MSM talking points about Russia "leveling" Ukraine on a "scale of Biblical proportions"(!), and how later in the clip he does seem to try to paint the liberal into the Putin Apologist corner, which she aggressively rejects. Grim also lets drop some virtue signaling about "negotiating", but isn't really called out sufficiently on this, as Russia for yrs has tried to negotiate about Nato coming close to its borders, and continues to this day to try to negotiate with Ukraine on a settlement to the crisis. Iow, it takes two to negotiate.

A little more homework from all on the background to today's crisis would have made the conversation better, and so would an additional 10-15 minutes to flesh out some points, but still it's also true as noted at the end that this sort of discussion is completely absent from MSM cable outlets. Imagine how much better such a debate would be given 20-30 minutes and maybe an actual Russian expert or two to debate it, such as John Mersheimer, rather than 3 political opinionators.

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@wokkamile

Which country has thrown Julian Assange in prison for 3 years even though he hasn’t been found guilty of any crime? Which country gave the Saudis a pass for killing the journalist and chopping up his body and just murdered 81 people by chopping off their heads? And which country is paying people to spread Russian disinformation on social media? Which country is supporting Nazis that their grandfathers once fought against? Which country is responsible for over 20 million deaths from their resource wars? I could go on all day. Nope we ain’t any better than Russia.

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11 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

ggersh's picture

The empire is running on fumes. If possible start hoarding necissity's, JMHO

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russia-demand-hostile-states-pay-ruble...

Russia To Demand "Hostile States" Pay In Rubles For Gas
teaser image

Vladimir Putin said that Russia will demand that countries it has labeled “unfriendly” (which includes U.S., U.K., and European Union countries) must pay in rubles for Russian gas.
WED MAR 23, AT 7:46 AM
538

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10 users have voted.

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

usefewersyllables's picture

to fill in status. Our involuntary journey to become asset-free became complete over the weekend when our house burned. We got all the critters and a few things out, but pretty much everything else is gone. We’re doing okay, and are staying with friends until our insurance gets its poop in a pile. Will be largely absent here until we find a place to land for a while. We did have decent insurance, so we aren’t totally SOL- but spring cleaning this year will be accomplished by bulldozer.

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14 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables I hope your insurance company doesn't try to go off the rails trying to prove arson! That happened to me when my law office went up in flames.
I hope you and your family will recover from this trauma quickly. I wish there was something I could do to help.

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13 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@usefewersyllables

I did notice your absence and wondered if you had relapsed, but horrible news. Hope your insurance company just pays up without any dickering.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables

and doing so quickly.

be well and have the best day you can

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9 users have voted.

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 --

ggersh's picture

@usefewersyllables hopefully all turns out well on the flipside

up
9 users have voted.

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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@usefewersyllables

I've so sorry and very sympathetic.
Please keep us informed about how you are doing. This has to be a big shock.

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7 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Lookout's picture

@usefewersyllables

I've lived through a house fire and it ain't fun. We did manage to rebuild but it wasn't fun...way back in the 70's, but house fires are what they are. Best of luck with your recovery. We'll be wishing you well!

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7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Sima's picture

@usefewersyllables
I'm so, so sorry this happened to you! Please take care and I hope everything can get restarted and sorted out with minimal trouble.

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4 users have voted.

If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so

usefewersyllables's picture

@usefewersyllables

kind thoughts and words. We’ll be settling into temp housing on Friday, and then we will get to decide where we want to live moving forward- there’s nothing keeping us here, and moving is gonna be really cheap and easy….

However, for the next couple of days, I’ll be spending some quality time with insurance muckitymucks and the people from Serv-Pro who will be trying to salvage whatever they can (hopefully at least our cast-iron cookware). Really appreciate the support!

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4 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

CB's picture

Putin Orders Europe to Pay Rubles for Russian Gas
Move is seen as a bid to get Europe to roll back heavy sanctions on Moscow.

Russia will force Europe to start paying for gas supplies in rubles, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday in televised remarks.

“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payments for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles,” Putin said, ordering the changes to be implemented within a week.

The measures are part of Russia’s response to the West’s unprecedented sanctions leveled on Moscow in response to the attack on Ukraine.

Russia deems all countries that have hit it with sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine as “unfriendly.”

Europe imports around 40% of its natural gas from Russia, with contracts typically priced in euros. Russia’s gas exports to “unfriendly” countries came in at around $50 billion in 2021, according to an estimate by Loko Invest.

“It doesn’t make sense to deliver our goods to the EU or U.S. and receive payments in dollars or euros,” Putin said in the meeting with government officials.
...
In sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, the West has frozen almost half of Russia’s international reserves — some $300 billion that Moscow had seen as its anti-sanctions insurance policy, huge funds that could be used should it be cut out of the financial system.

If Putin’s order is implemented, Europe would have to buy hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of rubles every day to pay for its substantial gas deliveries. From Russia’s perspective, that would provide an inflow of much-needed hard currency and boost demand for the beleaguered Russian currency.
...

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10 users have voted.
CB's picture

In this update on Russian operations in Ukraine at week 4: the US Department of Defense itself admits Russia’s combat power allotted to Ukraine is still around 90%.

Russia uses its hypersonic missiles for the first time.

We compare Russia’s operations in Ukraine to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the numbers.

US propaganda continues to prepare the ground for a conflict with China, which will almost certainly follow on the heels of the current conflict in Ukraine.

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8 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

to the American people:
"We are not the ones who raised, nurtured and allowed to seize power and hostage an entire nation. We did not arm them and send them to kill Donbass and teach them to hate Russians. Criminal indifference and complicity are also a punishable act. Not by us, by life itself."
Colonel General Vladimir Chirkin - March 8, 2022
The American people have failed for the past 50+ years to stop the takeover of our government, our military, and our 5th estate, the MSM itself.
Our prodgeny will pay dearly for this failure.
I am so, so sorry.

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12 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

CB's picture

dressed like women!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuHg_JmBn7Y]
Turn on CC. Under Settings - set subtitles to English.

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4 users have voted.

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6 users have voted.

@humphrey Rumor is going around we are due for diesel scarcity. Lots of truck-free highways ahead, grocery-free grocery store shelves looming.
I did post a couple of essays for some practical prepping ideas. I hope everyone lands on their feet when the economy turns upside down.

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8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

about to hit Russia during his European trip.

Oops they had better reload the teleprompter.

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2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

RT has the story on how they thought paying 2,000 somethings for it was bad just wait till Russia hits back on the sanctions. It might just crash the dollar and I can’t believe that hasn’t been the plan for the global oligarchs.

Leon Panetta said that we have been in a proxy war with Russia since 2014 when Obama overthrew its president and started supporting Nazis there.

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8 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

is likely what you will believe.

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8 users have voted.

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11 users have voted.
Pricknick's picture

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11 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Pricknick

Biggrin

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1 user has voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

Here.

She was responsible for pushing to expand NATO after the Cold War ended instead of pushing for peace on earth. She was 82 years old which was a hell of a lot older than many Iraqis and others who she war mongered on. Sure would love to hear her thoughts on the millions of kids in Yemen who have and are now starving to death. Would she think it’s worth it? Worth what for gawd’s sake? Why are they dying?

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9 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

Look at who is lamenting her death. History is being rewritten the longer people get from the events that should have seen them in The Hague. Bush 1 is a great man now because he said something mean about Trump. David F-ING Frum and the others who pushed for the Iraq, Libya and Syria wars are now treated like their words should be taken seriously just because they said something mean about Trump. Good lord I just do not get it. How can they excuse this?

Stahl: 500,000 Iraqi kids died because of our sanctions. Was it worth it?

Albright: I think it was.

Me: Rot in hell with the other warmongers who have so much blood on their hands!

I’d name them, but apparently that’s dancing on their graves. Lots of others want to take a leak on them.

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10 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
piss on her grave if it isn't swallowed by the evil that proceeded her.
Madeleine the murderer.
Useless bitch.

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4 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

@Pricknick

what with all the war criminals entering it? I wonder if Albright still thinks that it was worth it?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

earthling1's picture

Pretty much, anything the western political class, the MSM, and all pundits claim, speak, or leak is the exact opposite of reality. As in poverty is affuence, war is peace, slavery is freedom.
Orwellspeak.
They have become so predictable interpretation has become easy.

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9 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.