The Evening Blues - 8-10-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features songwriter Otis Blackwell. Enjoy!
Otis Blackwell - Don't Be Cruel
“In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war.”
-- Senator Robert M. La Follette
News and Opinion
Fresh off the Guardian propaganda catapult:
Ukrainian forces cross Dnipro River in bid to breach southern frontline
Ukrainian forces have made an attempt to cross the Dnipro River dividing liberated and occupied Kherson, in a potential breach of what has for months served as the frontline in the south of Ukraine. Russian military bloggers reported that up to seven boats, each carrying six to seven people, had landed near the village of Kozachi Laheri, east of Kherson city, on Tuesday and broke through Russian defensive lines.
It was claimed that the Ukrainian soldiers had advanced up to 800 metres after getting to the riverbank, though it appeared Russian forces had had some success in fighting them back. The Russian-imposed head of the occupied part of the Kherson oblast, Vladimir Saldo, claimed the Ukrainian raid had been repelled.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank in Washington said, however, that it appeared that a “limited raid” may have had more success than Saldo had acknowledged. ...
“Hotspots on available Nasa Fire Information for Resource Management System [Firms] data from the past 24 hours in this area appear to confirm that there was significant combat, likely preceded or accompanied by artillery fire,” the ISW said. “By the end of the day on 8 August, many Russian sources had updated their claims to report that Russian forces retain control over Kozachi Laheri, having pushed Ukrainian forces back to the shoreline, and that small arms skirmishes are occurring in shoreline areas near Kozachi Laheri and other east bank settlements.”
Saudi peace summit fails. Zelensky warns Russian navy
Horace Campbell on Opposing Military Intervention in Niger & Disastrous U.S./French Role in Africa
US voices fears for Niger’s ex-president, who is ‘running out of food’
The US has expressed deep concern for Niger’s deposed president after his party said he and his family were running out of food and living under increasingly dire conditions. ... He has not been seen in public since the coup, although sources close to him say that has refused to resign. The family is living without electricity and has only rice and canned goods left to eat, according to a close adviser, who said Bazoum remains in good health for now.
This week, Niger’s new military junta took steps to entrench itself in power and rejected international efforts to mediate. On Wednesday, it again accused former coloniser France of trying to destabilise the country, violate its closed airspace and discredit the junta’s leaders. France has dismissed the allegations as unfounded.
On Monday, the junta named a new prime minister, civilian economist Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine. He is a former economy and finance minister who left office after a previous coup in 2010 toppled the government at the time. Zeine later worked at the African Development Bank.
“The establishment of a government is significant and signals, at least to the population, that they have a plan in place, with support from across the government,” said Aneliese Bernard, a former state department official who specialised in African affairs and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group.
The junta also refused to admit meditation teams from the United Nations, the African Union and the West African regional bloc Ecowas, citing “evident reasons of security in this atmosphere of menace”, according to a letter seen by the Associated Press.
France Is Bombing Niger & The U.S. Is Ready To Join!
Biden bans range of US high tech investments in China citing national security risk
Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors.
The long-awaited order authorizes the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
Biden said in a letter to Congress he was declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries like China “in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities”.
The proposal targets investments in Chinese companies developing software to design chips and tools to manufacture them. The US, Japan and the Netherlands dominate those fields, and the Chinese government has been working to build up homegrown alternatives.
The move could fuel tensions between the world’s two largest economies, although US officials insisted the prohibitions were intended to address “the most acute” national security risks and not to separate the two countries’ highly interdependent economies.
SECRET Cable Shows Biden State Dept Pressured Pakistan TO REMOVE Khan For CHALLENGING NATO: Report
Argentina election campaigns suspended after 11-year old killed in robbery
The death of an 11-year-old girl in a drive-by robbery caught on grainy security footage in Buenos Aires has shocked Argentina and prompted all major candidates to cancel their closing campaign rallies ahead of national primary elections on Sunday.
Morena Domínguez was attacked by two robbers who were riding a motorcycle when she was about to arrive at school early on Wednesday morning in the Buenos Aires district of Lanús. The attackers snatched her mobile phone, and she fell to the pavement where she was left unconscious. She later died in a hospital, Lanús’s security minister, Diego Kravetz, said.
The death led to protests in Lanús, and put crime at the center of the country’s political discussion ahead of Sunday’s vote. Political campaigns that had been in full force largely came to a standstill. ...
The 11-year-old’s death received immediate, wall-to-wall coverage on all of the country’s news channels, claiming center stage in a campaign that had been dominated by talk of the economy in a country with an annual inflation rate of more than 100%.
Opinion polls regularly show that inflation and crime are voters’ two main concerns.
Alito Urged to Recuse From Case That Could Preemptively Ban Federal Wealth Tax
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is facing growing calls to recuse himself from a case that could hamstring Congress' ability to enact a federal wealth tax, a policy that progressive lawmakers and economists say is needed to rein in out-of-control inequality.
Late last week, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter urging Chief Justice John Roberts to "take appropriate steps to ensure that Justice Alito will recuse himself" from Moore v. United States, which the Supreme Court recently agreed to take up.
The lawmakers' demand was prompted by a friendly interview that Alito gave to The Wall Street Journal's opinion section, which in June allowed the right-wing justice to get out in front of a ProPublica story on his luxury trip with billionaire hedge fund titan Paul Singer.
The interview late last month was conducted in part by David Rivkin Jr., an attorney who is representing the plaintiffs in Moore v. United States. The case, which is mentioned in passing in the Journal's write-up of the Alito interview, concerns whether unrealized gains such as stock appreciation can be subject to federal taxation.
Unrealized gains are currently untaxed in the U.S., allowing billionaires such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk to accumulate massive fortunes while paying little to nothing in federal income taxes.
Supporters of the Moore plaintiffs, who are specifically challenging an obscure foreign earnings provision in the 2017 Republican tax law, have encouraged the Supreme Court to explicitly address the constitutionality of wealth taxes in its ruling.
"This case presents the court with an ideal opportunity to clarify that taxes on unrealized gains, such as wealth taxes, are direct taxes that are unconstitutional if not apportioned among the states," the right-wing Manhattan Institute argued in a May amicus brief. (Proponents of a tax on unrealized gains, such as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), have expressed confidence that such a tax is constitutional.)
The Manhattan Institute is chaired by Singer, whose private jet flew Alito to an Alaska fishing trip that the justice did not disclose.
"Alito needs to recuse himself from the case deciding the constitutionality of a wealth tax," Americans for Tax Fairness, a progressive advocacy group, said Wednesday. "First he accepted lavish gifts from billionaires and failed to disclose them. Then he gave a buddy-buddy interview to one of the case's anti-wealth tax lawyers. Enough."
In their letter last week, Senate Democrats argued that Alito violated the Supreme Court's narrow ethical principles by agreeing to sit for an interview with an attorney with business before the court.
"Mr. Rivkin's access to Justice Alito and efforts to help Justice Alito air his personal grievances could cast doubt on Justice Alito's ability to fairly discharge his duties in a case in which Mr. Rivkin represents one of the parties," the senators wrote. "Recusal in these matters is the only reasonable way for Justice Alito to prevent further damage to public confidence in the court."
It is unlikely that Roberts or Alito will agree to the lawmakers' demands, given that both justices have cast doubt on Congress' power to oversee and regulate the Supreme Court.
"This episode again illustrates why legislation establishing stronger, enforceable ethics standards for the court is of paramount importance," the senators' letter concludes. "The court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making, yet its only response has been a weak statement on ethics that Justice Alito has apparently ignored. It is unacceptable for the highest court in the land to have the lowest ethical standards, and because the court has abdicated its responsibility to establish its own standards, Congress must act."
RIP:
Robbie Robertson, member of the Band, dies at age 80
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson, best known as a member of the Band, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 80. He had suffered from a long illness, according to a statement released by his management. ...
Born in Toronto on 5 July 1943, Robertson learned music from his mother’s side of the family, who were Mohawk and lived on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve. As a teenager, he linked up with Ronnie Hawkins and his band the Hawks on the bar circuit in Toronto.
In 1965, a year after their split with Hawkins, Robertson and his fellow bandmates – drummer Levon Helm, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson – were recruited by Bob Dylan as a backing band during his pivot to non-acoustic music, including his famed “electric” set at the 1965 Newport folk festival.
Renamed “the Band”, the group released their debut album Music from Big Pink in 1968 and followed up with such hits as The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek and It Makes No Difference. Music from Big Pink as well as subsequent albums The Band (1969) and Stage Fright (1970) combined barroom rock with the American new folk revival, and became critical and commercial successes. The Band’s music influenced such contemporaries as Eric Clapton and George Harrison as well as a generation of American roots musicians.
Feds SEARCH Trump's Twitter Account
US special counsel obtained search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account
The US special counsel who is investigating Donald Trump obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account, and the social media platform delayed complying, a court filing on Wednesday showed. The delay in compliance prompted a federal judge to hold Twitter in contempt and fine it $350,000, the filing showed.
The filing says the team of US special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant in January directing Twitter, which recently rebranded to X, to produce “data and records” related to Trump’s Twitter account as well as a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting Twitter from disclosing the search warrant.
The filing says prosecutors got the search warrant after a court “found probable cause to search the Twitter account for evidence of criminal offenses”. The court found that disclosing the warrant could risk that Trump would “would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior”, according to the filing.
It’s unclear what information Smith may have sought from Trump’s Twitter account. Possibilities include data about when and where the posts were written, their engagement and the identities of other accounts that reposted Trump’s content.
Twitter objected to the non-disclosure agreement, saying four days after the compliance deadline that it would not produce any of the account information, according to the ruling. The judges wrote that Twitter “did not question the validity of the search warrant” but argued that the non-disclosure agreement was a violation of the first amendment and wanted the court to assess the legality of the agreement before it handed any information over.
Hunter Biden’s $20 MILLION Payday EXPOSED, Joe Biden LOSES IT On Reporter: 'LOUSY QUESTION!'
Cornel West slams AOC, Bernie Sanders for refusing to 'tell the truth' about Joe Biden
Marianne Williamson Confronted Over Ukraine War Support!
President Pants On Fire strikes again:
Climate activists outraged over Biden claim he ‘practically’ declared US emergency
Joe Biden has said that he has “practically” declared a national emergency on the climate crisis, despite not actually taking that step, vexing climate campaigners.
“I’ve already done that,” Biden said when asked if he intends to declare a climate emergency in a Weather Channel interview aired Wednesday.
He went on to say that under his leadership, the US has protected more land, rejoined the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, and “passed the $368bn climate control facility” – a reference to the $368bn in climate and clean energy spending included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act spending bill.
Asked to clarify if he has declared a national climate emergency, Biden said: “Practically speaking, yes.”
Yet the White House has not yet announced such a declaration, despite years of pressure from climate-focused advocates and lawmakers. Doing so would unlock a host of new powers for the president, including the ability to speed the energy transition and block fossil fuel projects without congressional approval. Biden’s statement outraged climate activists, who noted that it came amid a summer of record-breaking extreme weather events.
More than 1m acres of Indigenous land flooded by dams, new study finds
More than a million acres of tribal land – an area larger than the state of Rhode Island – have been flooded by dams, compounding centuries of land seizures and forced displacement by settler colonials and the US government, new research has found.
Land has always been central to Indigenous culture, sovereignty and prosperity, while land dispossession has been a mainstay strategy used to divide and disempower communities, by depriving Indigenous people of clean water, traditional food sources, spiritual connections and economic opportunities.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, is the first attempt to calculate the amount of land lost by Indigenous Americans due to the construction of dams that re-engineered America’s rivers and lakes to store, divert and control waterways.
By overlaying geospatial data on tribal land boundaries with the reservoirs created by 7,900 major dams, researchers at Penn State and Arizona university found that 1.13m acres of tribal land – an area larger than Great Smoky Mountains national park, Grand Teton national park, and Rocky Mountain national park combined – has been submerged underwater. The true figure is likely significantly higher, as reservoir data for tens of thousands of smaller dams is not available.
Land submerged by dams is in addition to more than 2bn acres – the equivalent of 97% of tribal territory taken through treaties, laws, purchases, violence and coercion since the arrival of colonial settlers more than 500 years ago.
Climate change: High ocean temperatures harming Florida coral reef
‘Nature needs money’: Lula tells rich countries to pay up and protect world’s rainforests
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has told developed countries to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to protecting the world’s remaining tropical forests, as major rainforest nations demanded hundreds of billions of dollars of climate financing and a greater role in how those resources are spent. “It’s not Brazil that needs money. It’s not Colombia that needs money. It’s not Venezuela. It’s nature,” Lula told journalists on the second day of a major environmental summit in the Amazon city of Belém.
For two centuries, industrialized nations filled the world’s atmosphere with pollution, Lula declared, “and they now need to pay their bit to restore part of that which was wrecked”.
“It’s nature that needs money. It’s nature that needs financing,” added the 77-year-old leftist.
Lula’s appeal came after hours of meetings between the leaders of the Amazon’s eight nations and representatives of fellow rainforest nations, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Indonesia. Brazil, Indonesia and the DRC are home to 52% of the world’s remaining primary tropical forests, vast carbon sinks which play a critical role in efforts to control climate change.
In a declaration entitled “United For Our Forests”, the governments of those countries reaffirmed their commitment to reducing deforestation and finding ways to reconcile economic prosperity with environmental protection. They also voiced concern at the developed world’s failure to meet mitigation targets and fulfill a pledge to provide $100bn a year in climate financing, calling for that to rise to $200bn by 2030.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Craig Murray: The Silence on Imran Khan
NATO Training Leaves Ukrainian Troops ‘Underprepared’ for War
78 Years Ago in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: What Oppenheimer Wrought
Ellen Brown: War By Other Means: Short Selling JPMorgan Chase
Amazon Nations Reject Colombia's Call to End Oil Extraction, Fail to Agree on Deforestation Goal
Six people killed in unprecedented Hawaii wildfires fanned by hurricane winds
World’s oldest moss could go extinct as a result of climate crisis
The Simplest Thing You Need To Understand About Climate Change
A Little Night Music
Otis Blackwell – All Shook Up
Otis Blackwell – On That Power Line
Otis Blackwell – Paralyzed
Otis Blackwell – Great Balls Of Fire
Otis Blackwell – Return to Sender
Otis Blackwell - Daddy Rollin Stone
Otis Blackwell - Handy Man
Otis Blackwell - Hey Little Girl
Otis Blackwell - What a Coincidence
Otis Blackwell - Breathless
Comments
Hi bluesters
Hi all, Hey Joe, Hope it's all good!
Otis was a stellar songwriter. The Midas Touch. He had it sorted in his head just right. What a list of hits he wrote!
That Jimmy Johnson was great last night... He was a great player, and those bursts of speed out of nowhere are dazzling. That is a wonderful awesome People Get Ready. Thanks!
So Victoriastein Nuland went to Niger. RT had a headline today about it. Karen goes to Niger and demands to see manager, or somesuch. ROFL. Actually she just showed her picture handing out cookies in Ukraine, and told the new leadership that if they didn't do what America said, she was coming back with cookies, and look what happened to Ukraine. She then reminded them she said F the EU right before the EU was F'd and suggested they not make her say that about Niger. Then she told them the Imran Khan story... stop me anytime...
My fear is we and France are so stupid, and need a win so badly, we will gladly go up against another Panama or Grenada, to show our strength and might, and arrogant ignorance.
Marianne Crystals, Bernie and AOC all support the Ukraine War, and certainly the latter two have already endorsed Biden. Because party before people for them, being such progressive free thinkers.
Us coral people think the corals in FL are cooked. The fish can go deep and get to water of a temp they can stand, that has ox in it. Hun F water is almost ox free. But everything that is not motile is done for at 100F. Deeper there is way less food and way more competition for it, and fish eat fish so when you crowd them together, even as a result of a thermocline, predation is heavy. This is a game changer for reefs that get this hot. As if the Lionfish were not bad enough.
Back to the salt mine... gotta fly!
Thanks for the great soundscapes Joe!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
evening dystopian...
yep, otis was a hit-writing machine. it's incredible how many songs he's written that most people think of as some other musician's song.
i am concerned about this, too, but mostly because it is an existential issue for france. they cannot easily afford to lose the resources that their african colonies produce for dirt cheap.
yep, it looks like the reefs in florida are destined to exist only in books going forward. with any luck the reefs can be reinstated further north where the weather suits their clothes, so to speak. i have been picking up suggestions in stuff that i've been reading that there is already ongoing a redistribution of ocean life as it seeks supportive habitat conditions in new places. hopefully that will work for the sea life that used to be able to inhabit the area around florida and the gulf.
Orville Redenbacher's stock price might skyrocket if this were
to actually happen.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4147617-house-gop-will-subpoena-biden...
evening humphrey...
hmmm, thanks for the tip. i think i might start stocking up early before the price shoots up.
Following stuff is posted for reference
Constitution :Article 1 Section 2
Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution:
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year
by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the
Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State
Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five
Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when
elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which
may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, ...
Article 1 Section 9, Clause 4
Clause 4 Direct Taxes
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
In 1895 the court ruled an attempt to impose an income tax unconstitutional based on the above passages in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co..
16th Amendment (permitting Income tax
ARTICLE XVI. The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
It is likely that assorted disputations regarding these bits of the constitution willbe recurring for a while now.
edited to add some emphasis
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 --
evening el...
thanks for the citations. i would imagine that they will come in handy soon.
have a great evening!
good news.
From Ukraine: The Ukraine declared a major victory Monday, as a Russian soldier, attempting to take cover from Ukrainian fire, tripped and skinned his knee.
In other news The Biden administration declared a practical state of emergency on the climate. Vowing to do all that is practically possible to defeat the climate, Biden approved Alaskan oil drilling expansion so that oil may be shipped to Europe to be sold at huge profits and weaken the unprovoked climate's aggression.
On to Biden since 1973
evening doh...
i'm sure that the ukrainians were overjoyed to be able to increase the russian casualty numbers.
It finally happened!
.
And just like that Sam started swimming like she was born to do it like every Lab that has ever lived. Now if she will start playing ball with me…. Surprisingly there was very little shore available at the place where I had to walk over a 100 yards to the water last year. I tried another spot and as soon as Sam saw a place she could get in the water she went for it. Sadly there was a guy fishing there and she jumped right in front of his fishing pole…luckily he was good natured and said that dawgs have to cool off. But I found another spot where there was no one around…until another group decided to fish there. Boy did she have a great time.
One of the worst things about Obama’s Libya F-UP was that Gaddaffi had good control of the borders there and after Libya turned into its failed state status terrorist organizations were able to move freely into Africa and other countries close by. Remember when we suddenly started hearing more about Boko Harem and other new terrorist organizations in Africa and then we got to send our military into those countries and build that $100 million drone base.
Great job you murdering psychopaths!
I’m old enough to remember when Trump said things like this that Democrats accused him of attacking the press.
The press also bitched about Trump speaking to journalists in front of the helicopter, but like so many, many things now that Biden is doing the same GD no one says anything about it. I wonder how many kids are in cages during Brandon? Ahh not important again like during Obama.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
evening snoopy...
glad to hear that sam has discovered a love for water. fetch can't be far behind.
yep, the destruction of libya as a functioning state has been a bonanza for successive american dictators as it has given them a "reason" for continuing to maintain and expand military activity in the region.
Imagine that the usa does everything in it's power
to stop homelessnes....oh wait, it's Russia
https://open.substack.com/pub/karlof1/p/first-manufacturing-now-construc...
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
evening ggersh...
heh, here in the u.s. we have a special program that allows banks to own houses which they can then let sit and decay. fortunately we have people working out how to live well in cars, vans and rvs.
Seems a bit sarcastic but it is justified.
It appears that the image was cropped by twitter so here is the image.
From the naked capitalism article
.
There is no way either side can sneak up on the other side because of all the surveillance capabilities they both have. This is the 2nd video I’ve watched on how Russia keeps its eyes on Ukraine troops and blows them away. But instead of Biden admitting that Ukraine cannot win the war he is asking congress for another $13 billion.
Big pharma can’t supply hospitals with many drugs and IV solution because many have to come from overseas. Plus there has been a shortage of many other drugs for over a year and no one seems concerned about the people who rely on them.
Damn good thing we should have done long ago, but war takes precedent over American's needs.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
At some point we are going to have to ask how much of this
is deliberate? There are almost 50% less hospital beds now than there were 10 years ago and many hospitals were either closed or bought out by hedge funds and after being loaded up with debt they too closed, but people got screwed out of their pensions and then their homes because social security isn’t enough to pay all the bills. Doctors and nurses are leaving their profession because practices have been bought up and their workload is just too much to handle.
Joe posted the Hedges article on the striking nurses in jersey and that’s what is happening across the country and of course not just to nurses, but to many industries.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
of course it's deliberate...
it's the predictable result of the deliberate pursuit of profit.
And in an "unrelated" story
the estimated cost to end homelessness in America - $20 million.
Biden's latest request of money for Ukraine - $24 million.
On to Biden since 1973
heh...
ukraine is running a study into how to reduce the need for large housing units by building hundreds of thousands of 6 foot long boxes ...
Huge quote explaining Ukr right now from link
In the comment section of Naked Capitalism link is this quote from somebody with handle of Aurelien.
In earlier comments he says some of this is due to anti-Slav "racialism".
evening mr w...
that seems like a pretty fair comment. it seems to me that the u.s. has been doing everything it can to avoid considering russia a peer. surprise!
Shryver expands on this
Last Stop Before Willoughby
It took a year for us to move all our military assets into the theater for the Iraq War and I doubt that Russia would just sit back and watch us start bringing our assets closer to Ukraine or any eastern country. A lot of people who support Ukraine thinks that we can create a no fly zone over Ukraine and Russia will be defeated in 3 days. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people say that. Besides the Russian weapons for air defense they have their signal jamming devices and who knows what else? I don’t know where we are on the signal jamming devices, but Russia has proved that theirs work rather well.
Last week Russia was reporting that 43,000 Ukrainians had died and just in the last few days another thousand have been added to the toll. It’s long past time for anyone still sending Ukrainians to fight should be charged with crimes against humanity for the unnecessary death toll. Add in the number of wounded…it’s beyond criminal and cruel.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I have found that AURELIEN provides excellent insight
into the situation facing us in the USA. That is, the rise of the PMC (prof mgr class) that forces their world view (as if) on operations.
A day or so before Gaius Baltar's treatise on high competence individuals (WHY IS THE WEST SO WEAK (AND RUSSIA SO STRONG)? https://gaiusbaltar.substack.com/p/why-is-the-west-so-weak-and-russia versus the PMC individuals, Yves Smith did a piece that presented the same viewpoint:
More on the Collapse of Operational Capabilities in the West: How Did We Get Here
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/more-on-the-collapse-of-operatio....
In Yves piece he pointed me to Reality Would Like A Word, https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/reality-would-like-a-word? which provided more insight into this problem facing us.
I believe the consensus of these very wise people is that we are pretty much f'ed. We are looking at humpty dumpty and turning our nation into a functional society will require a herculean effort and a total revamping.
Excellent reading. It continues to keep me involved.
Thanks...
(added on edit) Aurelien's current piece is also very good:
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/so-where-do-we-go-from-here
Thought provoking links
Thanks!
The purge of competence is something I've observed in various government institutions first hand. I will say that I encountered many intelligent people but the ideological/subjective bent was always present. It's an unwritten policy but you can see it in recruitment, training, personnel, and advancement practices. You need to go along to get along, they say. If you don't fit or comply you're out. Obviously, telling people what they don't want to hear is a big no no.
I'm not big on the kind of analysis that fits in subjective peeves on wokeness or other culture war issues. I also don't believe that there is that much "stuffing." The "when I was younger stuff, blah, blah, blah..." has little probative weight, and isn't really necessary to more objective and insightful observations that are present in these linked discussions. I don't think psychology is useless. Yes, it's a problem when scientists and engineers are underpaid and face limited opportunities. We are living with the consequences. It's a huge problem.
What I really don't understand are the people, who have the technical competence and general competence, who still make all the wrong moves, or at least advise them. These are the "international relations" experts, the area experts, the military-industrial leadership, etc. Hannah Arendt I think would say it's venality. Jung would say it's the overly simplistic "good vs evil" paradigm, which forms the basis for denial of our own leadership's
potential forevil, requires a denial mechanism, and allows projection onto the enemy du jour and critics."When I was a youngun," I studied Russian military doctrine, and OOB extensively. I wanted to study Russian, but the government wouldn't have it (this is part of the purging mechanism). What I did learn about was those characteristics of Russian technology, production, and engineering that made them aerospace leaders, as well as a having a capable armaments industry and military, that was a formidable threat. They overextended themselves, got bogged down in bureaucracy and imploded. Now they're back. I told people in the nineties they'd be back, and when this military confrontation began I had no reason to think the Russians would lose a conventional conflict on their doorstep. For this reason I expected a more or less guerilla war strategy from Kiev and Washington. Although, I'm not any economic expert, I thought, if Russia, has energy, natural resources, and food production that generates a surplus, and they can go to China for any manufactured goods they don't have access to, how are they supposed to lose to Ukraine in a conventional conflict?
Saw this referred to in wiki about A Stop at Willoughby - recognized this tune right away, my mother played it often on the piano. I'm probably repeating myself, but I ran into Rod Serling one night on the street in downtown State College, in the wee hours. Loved those shows.
語必忠信 行必正直
Thanks very much,
I think you've hit the crux of our situation with this:
"What I really don't understand are the people, who have the technical competence and general competence, who still make all the wrong moves, or at least advise them. These are the "international relations" experts, the area experts, the military-industrial leadership,"
The people I reference present the argument as 3 tiers of intelligence/competence based on a "smartness" curve. While that seems to describe the distinctions, I don't think it's really smartness so much as versatility/flexibility. For discussion's sake the mid-tier, the technically competent, the PMC/MBA group, that I worked with tended to be the least flexible. For them (as described in a recent Larry Johnson piece) they tended to have no plan B. They approached a challenge, decided on an approach and then proceeded. They tended to not play the "what if" game.
I believe this is the level where ideology becomes important. Their ideology defined the solution and they fail to consider any alternative. They may be technically competent but that third level escapes them.
I'm sure there are historical situations where this group became predominant but never at the level we are currently facing and in our case, never for this long.
To continue on a personal note, I found the deplorables (as termed by one of our PMCs) to be so much more productive. There were times when I was facing a very serious situation, alone, except for them and they helped me work thru it by offering a suggestion that they could see that I had never seen. OTOH, the "managers" in my organization were nowhere to be seen. At least until the photo-op.
Thanks again.
Good evening Joe, thanks for the evening blues.
So the Jeddah summit failed, surprise, surprise. Tons of people come together at the US' instigation only to be told laughable horseshit. Biden prematurely counting chickens again. And France, really slow to give up and we'll dodder along behing. Lemmesee, French Indochina, ha, Algeria, Libya, now Niger. What a farce.
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 --
heh...
the funny thing is that the u.s. government doesn't have anybody on staff that has the horse sense to know that they have been shut down.
it should have been a clue that after the event, the ukies had their spokesdroid say that they didn't agree to anything and that their elensky proposal was the only "peace plan" that they would entertain.
Macron has a plan.
If you’re gonna boycott CNN because it has started telling
the truth about how the war is going then you have to boycott the WaPoo and other corporate media sites that are doing it too.
We know that journalists working for corporate media are nothing more than stenographers for the pentagon and they are being told to let the truth slip out. But boy are the shitlibs mad at those who are doing it.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
heh...
perhaps ukraine will cut off news feeds to the west to hide their losses more efficiently.
Devastating pictures out of Maui
The death toll is now 53, but it’s expected to rise even higher. The author was just there hours before the fires started and he thinks that instead of sending tens of billions more to Ukraine that money could be better spent on the thousands there and I suggest every city in America.
How many trillions have been spent on wars in just the last 20 years? During the Covid scam a hundred people became billionaires while thousands of people became homeless or saw their lives decline in countless ways. And still there is no anti war protests anywhere in the country outside a few powerless groups. Nor is there much of a protest against the vast amounts of money being sent to Ukraine and elsewhere while this country further declines into the crapper of a 3rd world country. Meanwhile unions are attacked and destroyed while hundreds of thousands of people are joining the unemployment line. The Biden job report is beyond bogus and most jobs being created are gig jobs without any benefits.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Oh, snoopy
The devastation and magnitude of loss is felt by much of the world, especially Americans. I’d think that a great number of Americans will have some real or imagined connection with Hawaii and its people.
So sad, but thank you for the link.
In the comments on any article about a
I see so many people saying that they have been there and have fond memories of it. You’re right that this hit home for a lot of people. I’m trying not to think about the animals there…that’s what is breaking my heart. It’s a karmic whammy that I can feel.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Hi snoopy
It reminds me of the Fire in Paradise, Ca. five years ago. So much loss of human and animal life. I wonder how hecate is doing these days.
Born and bred in Hawai‘i, I’m shocked by the sad fate of Lahaina
and the people who live there. Fire + 130 mph wind gusts = total devastation
Hi lotlizard
It must be especially difficult for you. I hope you find solace wherever you are.
Not sure if this was the teleprompter's fault or Brandon was
adlibbing?
He has been know to spread malarkey.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/biden-fears-china-is-ticking-time-bomb-posin...
heh...
or, biden is a demented old man who rambles on about things he knows nothing about but loves it when people pretend he is saying something profound. if only we could convince him that there are millions of clouds out there that desperately need somebody of his experience to shout at them.
Biden
often blurts out the truth, and even if he thinks he's criticizing China here, he's telling the truth about our warmongers.
Blinky is everywhere whacking the hornet's nest.
An interesting screenshot ...
By my count that is 24 countries, a few bombed multiple times. That is 8% of the entire countries of the world. That doesn't even include Hiroshima or recent proxy wars. Wow, Whoa.
Yep America has been at war in one place or another
for most of its existence. Something like 10 years or so that it wasn’t bombing or interfering in any country in the world. But Blinken is bitching about returning the Niger government to its rightful elected government…now that’s funny because we’re supporting Ukraine to fight Russia after we overthrew its rightful elected government! How is he not embarrassed to hell by all the hypocrisy he spouts. I bet world leaders get on a conference call and laugh their asses off every time he speaks.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.