Open Thread WE 28 SEP 22

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 6:54am

~
All war is deception.
Sun Tzu
~

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
Albert Einstein

All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.
Francois Fenelon

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.
Omar N. Bradley

If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?
Joan Baez

There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it.
Havelock Ellis

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Jeannette Rankin

~

Grey Shrike Thrush by Andy Thomas
https://vimeo.com/user5362504

~
~

A Meditation In Time Of War
by William Butler Yeats

For one throb of the artery,
While on that old grey stone I Sat
Under the old wind-broken tree,
I knew that One is animate,
Mankind inanimate phantasy.

~

Which politician suggested a cabinet position for the Department of Peace?
Open thread, so post and share whatever you care

~
lewin-6-1227x1536.jpg

Nala by Paul Lewin, born in Jamaica now living in Miami
https://www.paullewinart.com

~
harmony.jpeg
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Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 7:07am
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When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein

You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.
Indira Gandhi

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Albert Camus

Wishing all our FL friends well as Ian rages across the state. Take care!

Thanks for the good quotes and OT, QMS!

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

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 8:24am
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@Lookout

095758_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

155 mph is pretty severe

Thanks for posting your quotes too!

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Submitted by Socialprogressive on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 8:14am
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We used to kill with sticks and stones. Now we kill with guns and drones.
Me

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I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 8:32am
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@Socialprogressive

on stones and drones!

per wiki ..

2001: Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced a bill to create a U.S. Department of Peace. A version of this bill was introduced in each session of Congress from 2001 to 2011. The bill was cosponsored by 76 members of Congress in 2007. In July 2008, the first Republican cosponsor, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) signed on.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 9:34am
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An interesting series of posts on the culpability of various actors in the Nordstream pipelines'
sabotage is to be found on the MoA site. A few facts ...

- NATO had declared the Baltic Sea was secure with their BALTOPS 22 operation in June
https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3066830/baltops-2...

- Off the coast of Bornholm, Denmark, is where the pipelines were hit. Just days ago the USS Kearsarge was in that area.

- In early September 3 Sikorsky MH-60S helicopters from the Kearsarge flew operations around
the area of the damaged pipelines.

nsdamage4.jpg

- Poland and Denmark have build a new sub sea pipeline which connects it to the pipeline that brings Norwegian gas to the Netherlands and Europe.

- The pipeline was opened yesterday, the very same day the Nord Stream system was sabotaged. (previously Poland had depended on Russian gas).
As to the why's, recent statements by Biden, Nuland and Blinken indicate stopping the flow of gas and the screwing of the EU have been in the news. Coincidence?

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/09/whodunnit-facts-related-to-the-sab...

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Submitted by doh1304 on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 9:25am

is Dennis Kucinich. also in that career:
In 2000 (?) some unremembered university devised a different poll. It asked 30 policy questions, then matched the answers to the candidates. From among 17 Democrats and 11 Republicans the winner - with over 50% of the "vote" - was Kucinich.
He also cast the deciding vote for the ACA in the House. He then immediately begged our forgiveness. (sorry, but no)
He admitted to having witnessed a UFO (years before the Pentagon admitted trying to reverse engineer UFO technology)
He was then redistricted out of his seat.

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On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 9:32am
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@doh1304

during their attempts at higher office. Early populists of a sort. Couldn't seem to get out of the
blocks.

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Submitted by kelly on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 11:34am

@doh1304 jesus. Even from where I was sitting, that was a living shit ton of pressure and subsequently managed threats against the only representative willing to stick up for WHAT WAS PROMISED.
Im pretty sure your forgiveness would not change much.

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Submitted by randtntx on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 9:39am

It looks like they will need monetary assistance immediately. That chunk of money...the $12 Billion on the way overseas to some corrupt bunch of folks who skim two thirds off the top before wasting the rest as intended, needs to be re-routed post haste to Florida. The people are going to need it here.

Thanks for the OT QMS. Yup, peace and harmony...or else.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 10:12am
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@randtntx

a state of emergency so that should free up monies from the fed.
FL called up the national guard, so that may help some. If recent
storms are any indication, FEMA will attempt some weak response.
But you are right. Our treasury needs to refocus away from the empire
wars and support domestic needs for sure.

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Submitted by randtntx on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 11:50am

@QMS , the governor et al. coordinate a brilliant, well-coordinated, masterful response and don't repeat the mistakes that have been made before.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 10:43am
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The problem reportedly stems from the structure of military production in Western nations, particularly the United States, which was tailored for peacetime and cannot sustain a protracted draw on stockpiles during a major armed conflict, such as the one in Ukraine.

This is peacetime production???

For instance, according to CNBC, the US arms industry can produce about 30,000 rounds per year for 155mm howitzers. The Ukrainian military consumes that amount in about two weeks. Another example cited is the Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile. US production of the weapon stands at around 800 units per year, but Washington has sent some 8,500 of them to Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/563666-weapons-ukraine-production-capacity/

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Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 10:55am
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behaves as if they do. Psycho-social unobtanium. Historically, our religious leaders have largely been those most prone to call for wars and persecution, conquest, and all the rest. But always, there is necessity "now we got weapons of chemical dust, if fire them we're forced to, then fire them we must.". Yah, sure.

Seriously, though, but one people, one nation, of them all has clean hands. The narrative history of the USofA is one of constant depredation, by others, upon it. The original colonists fled religious persecution (in truth, they but wanted to be the ones doing the persecution), and we have been under attack and/or threatened with attack relatively continuously since, from England and the Barbary Pirates and the Spanish and Mexicans, those dastardly Injuns, native Hawaiians, Filipinos and Moros, the Chinese, every nation in our South American "back yard" and more. Forced to defend ourselves continuously, if only "Preventively" (a Bushism, but true in that we have never been in a position to claim to be conducting a pre-emptive operation of any kind). Perhaps it is something in the water, and we should just abandon the place before its toxins take us out completely. In the meantime, to the perpetual victim belong the spoils, so let's get cracking:

be well and have a good one

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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 --

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 11:20am
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@enhydra lutris

since the US justifies its aggression on other evil doers
is it any wonder we are the downtrodden? It requires mucho
resources to protect the world from evil. Not sure becoming
a developing banana republic is worth it tho. Perhaps the
reason we never win any wars is the enemy within?

Thanks for posting!

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Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 11:23am
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@QMS

to exploit, hell, how many times has "tiny backward Somalia" attacked us? 3, 4, more? Lost track.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

Submitted by lotlizard on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 11:55am
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Remember her? Cindy Sheehan lost her son to the Iraq war.

She was anti-war before it was cool.

https://music.apple.com/de/album/god-bless-you-cindy-sheehan/168817324?i...

She blamed Bush the Younger and sparked the first serious protests against him and his administration.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2005/09/13/nypd-unplugs-cindy-sheehan/

That was way back when, before the Dem-voting half of the country decided Bush’s having given Michelle O. a cough drop and becoming her BFF wiped away any responsibility for torture, wars, and lies.

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

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 12:15pm
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@lotlizard

The BS by pinning a gold star on families with lost ones in another senseless war.
Proud to produce more cannon fodder for the empire? Tied right into the
yellow ribbons madness. Now we have Ukie flags to show our support.
Yeah, Cindy Sheehan showed some spine.

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 12:15pm

reality, where up is down and black is white.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/3664781-coons-nord-stream-pipel...

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines were likely “an act by Russia” to place economic pressure on European allies of Ukraine.

European leaders have said leaks that have happened on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, two pipelines that carry natural gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany and supply Europe, may represent acts of intentional sabotage by Russia to punish Europe’s support of Ukraine.

“We’ve seen over and over [Russian President] Vladimir Putin use energy as a weapon against the West to try and undermine NATO’s unity in the face of his brutal invasion of Ukraine,” Coons said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

https://thehill.com/policy/international/3665062-harris-recent-behavior-...

Vice President Harris on Wednesday called China’s recent behavior in the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait “disturbing” and accused Beijing of attempting to undermine the “international rules-based order.”

“China has challenged the freedom of the seas,” Harris said aboard the USS Howard at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. “China has flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors.”

Tensions between the U.S. and China have been high since Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a controversial trip to Taiwan last month, the highest-ranking American official to visit the disputed island in decades.

China responded to the visit with a series of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.

Harris, however, on Wednesday accused China of using Pelosi’s visit as a “pretext.”

Dementia Joe strikes once again.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3665136-biden-asks-if-lawmak...

President Biden on Wednesday asked if Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who was killed in a car accident last month, was in attendance at a White House hunger conference.

Biden was delivering a speech at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health when he recognized the lawmakers who helped make the event a reality.

“I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Rep. [Jim] McGovern (D-Mass.), Sen. [Mike] Braun (R-Ind.), Sen. Cory [Booker] (D-N.J.), Rep. … Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?,” Biden said, referring to Walorski.

Shortly after Biden spoke, White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice moderated a panel at the conference and acknowledged Walorski’s death.

Walorski was killed in an Aug. 3 accident.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 12:24pm
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@humphrey

Once these climbers get far enough up the ladder, they seem to lose self awareness.
Like a flock of flightless birds trying to achieve escape velocity. Scripted screwballs.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 5:16pm

@humphrey @humphrey How dumb are you if your position is that Russia bombed NSI or NSII?

American Idiot Stupid.

Green Days ditty lives in my head these days.[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI]

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NYCVG

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 12:47pm

On second thoughts there is likely no limits as to what the war mongers might do to keep the conflict ongoing.

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 12:58pm

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Submitted by on the cusp on Wed, 09/28/2022 - 6:43pm

in street violence, barroom brawls.
The idea our country, with outdated weapons, can when a war with anybody, much less Russia and China AT THE SAME TIME is the promotion of war profiteers who will not survive radiation fallout. All those obscene profits, but no real gain. Billionaires are not immune. I previously wrote that I do not represent vets in intense family law cases, where emotions run high.
This one vet I had to run off my law office property when he literally went nuts, had told me that his reason for joining the Army was that he wanted money, and would earn it if killing people paid. He actually told the recruiter, "I will kill for pay". And they recruited him immediately! Is it any wonder he went nuts after his tour and injury causing PTSD? Just a high school drop out from a small city in Texas, no jobs, a wife and child to support. I was, initially, sorry for his poverty, wanted to help. I soon realized, I was not the help he needed.

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

Submitted by Blue Republic on Thu, 09/29/2022 - 9:50am

was noticeably absent from the lists of candidates put forward for a woman to replace A. Jackson on the twenty dollar bill?

I'd have just stuck with Old Hickory but for Rankin - first woman elected to Congress - not to even be *mentioned* seemed seriously misguided...

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62348/15-women-who-could-replace-and...

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940. As of 2022, Rankin is still the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.[1][2]

Each of Rankin's Congressional terms coincided with initiation of U.S. military intervention in one of the two World Wars. A lifelong pacifist, she was one of 50 House members who opposed the declaration of war on Germany in 1917. In 1941, she was the only member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A suffragist during the Progressive Era, Rankin organized and lobbied for legislation enfranchising women in several states including Montana, New York, and North Dakota. While in Congress, she introduced legislation that eventually became the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting unrestricted voting rights to women nationwide. She championed a multitude of diverse women's rights and civil rights causes throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.

Source - Wikipedia

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