Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - Sept 16, 2023
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso
Farm update - its been a while. Lots of changes, yet very much the same - a dance with natural cycles.
Officially calling the property a farm not a ranch since the last of the cattle left in January. Only have a couple of old sheep, donkeys and too many roosters for the hens. The last 3 years been focusing effort on a transition to more vegetative production and less winter responsibility of livestock.
Several of the fruit and nut trees planted 5 years ago yielded their small first crop; apricots, peaches, almonds and pears. The older trees are keeping by busy processing fruit; transparent apple, asian pears and 2 varieties of plums. The greenhouse fig, lemon and lime trees also did well.
Fresh berries started out with strawberries in June. The season has moved through black caps, raspberries, blue berries, blackberries and the strawberries are blooming again.
Planting edible perennials has minimized the problem of guessing the best time to plant. Egyptian onions are available 10 months of the year to clip to add to a dish. Sunchokes do not freeze are left in the ground until ready to use. Always ready for the fresh asparagus shoots in the spring. The patch is large enough now can select one or two plants to harvest past normal range and let them have a year off to recover. Mushrooms showed up again this year. Herb garden includes 3 varieties of sage, chives, garlic, savory, chrysanthemums, a few mint varieties, a self seeding parsley bed, saffron crocus, stevia and thyme. This partial list is getting longer than I realized.
Most of the annual vegetables planted range between 30 to 70 days to harvest. If a frost hits provides time to replant. summer and winter squash, lettuce still harvesting, radishes several small plantings, egg plants, brussel sprouts, kale and beans. This year did not plant those few seeds requiring a longer grow time for a special treat.
Some of the coppiced trees are ready to harvest. Once the weather cools down and comfortable to work in long sleeves will start on wood fuel and fence posts.
Next year the irrigation redesign should be completed. It has taken a little longer than planned. To keep costs controllable bought used equipment and modified. Daily routine of moving irrigation pipes across fields is becoming history.
A thoughtful discussion on viewing history from the viewpoint of agricultural knowledge vs urban university study. Then morphs into discussion of modern US issues. Since not a regular watcher of Fox did not realize Victor Davis Hanson is a contributor to the channel. It does not change the thoughtfulness of his ideas.
A Classicist Farmer: The Life and Times of Victor Davis Hanson | Uncommon Knowledge
Hoover Institution (1:07:02 min - starts at 26:30)
Good News
California To Drop 'Medical Misinformation' Law After Judge Blasts 'Dramatic Examples' Zerohedge Sept 14, 2023
California has quietly announced it's ditching Gov. Gavin Newsom's draconian 'Covid-19 medical misinformation' law, which would threaten the licenses of doctors who don't agree with "scientific consensus" on various issues.
The law, AB 2098, was signed into law by Newsom last year. In response, five doctors alleged it to be unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US constitution.
...
Younes, the lawyer in the Hoeg case, told JTN that it's not clear whether the repeal provision is related to a 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals hearing in a different lawsuit that went 'very badly for the state.' Five days before that hearing, the provision to drop the law wasn't in a July 12 version of the bill.
Kim Jong-un 2019 visit to Russia included a 2 hour meeting with Putin, with discussions of nuclear disarmament and an extra day as a tourist visiting the local aquarium. This time was very different.
Kim Jong-un inspects Russia’s hypersonic weapons Russia Times Sept 16, 2023
Kim arrived in Russia by train on Tuesday for his first visit since 2019. He toured the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Region with Vladimir Putin and held a round of talks with the Russian president. On Friday, the North Korean leader visited military and civilian aviation plants in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Khabarovsk Region.
On Friday, the North Korean leader visited military and civilian aviation pants in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Khabarovsk Region.
In Vladivostok, the Russian Far East rises The Cradle by Pepe Escobar Sept 14, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin opened and closed his quite detailed address to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok with a resounding message: “The Far East is Russia’s strategic priority for the entire 21st century.”
...
The development possibilities of what is in effect Russian Asia, and one of the key nodes of Asia-Pacific, are literally mind-boggling. Data from the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic - confirmed by several of the most eye-catching panels during the Forum - list a whopping 2,800 investment projects underway, 646 of which are already up and running, complete with the creation of several international Advanced Special Economic Zones (ASEZ) and the expansion of the Free Port of Vladivostok, home to several hundred small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).All that goes way beyond Russia’s “pivot to the East" which was announced by Putin in 2012, two years before the Maidan events in Kiev.
...
In his speech, Putin stressed how the rate of investment in the Far East is three times the Russian region average; how the Far East is only 35 percent explored, with unlimited potential for natural resource industries; how the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipelines will be connected; and how by 2030, liquified natural gas (LNG) production in the Russian Arctic will triple.
...
All that transpired in Vladivostok connects directly to the much-ballyhooed visit by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. The timing was a beauty; after all the Primorsky Krai region in the Far East is an immediate neighbor to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).Putin emphasized that Russia and the DPRK are developing several joint projects in transportation, communications, logistics, and naval sectors. So much more than military and space matters amicably discussed by Putin and Kim, the heart of the matter is geoeconomics: a trilateral Russia-China-DPRK cooperation, with the distinct outcome of increased container traffic transiting through the DPRK and the tantalizing possibility of DPRK rail reaching Vladivostok and then connecting deeper into Eurasia via the Trans-Siberian line.
May have watched this when highlighted in an Evening Blues this week. This is the best summary I have seen on Professor Sachs' personal experience with US government bureaucrats and politicians.
CIA Manipulation of Public Opinion w/Jeffrey Sachs (27:32 min) July 13, 2023
Now we are getting to the real issue of multiple intelligence agencies, not just the CIA. It provides opportunity for competition, deniability and continual deflecting "bad behavior" to the other agency.
More US Intel Errors - Intel Roundtable w/Larry Johnson & Ray McGovern (27:20 min) July 15, 2023
The livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict. The interviews are generally posted on Monday through Friday if would like to view them in a more timely manner. The link opens in the LIVE column, occasionally an interview only appears in VIDEOS section.
What is on your mind today?
Comments
That sounds like quite the operation you maintain
I hope you have a couple good hands to help you with the chores.
I can't see that as a solo venture. Good luck with the harvest!
Thank you for the open thread. You covered many interesting topics.
question everything
Sounds like
an excellent growing
year for you
ours has been so-so
Gravensteins are ready
and abundant this year had
to cut the rot out of it about
five or six years ago last year it produced
minimally and the Hell i caught for
the cutback was ridiculous
vindication is Sweet
asian pears are about to break
some branches if i dont unweight
them soon
broc is about done as
well as three types of peas
mini tomatos are starting to ripen
finally spinach still going as are
the brussel sprouts
bumper carrots though
with Wall O’ Beans
garlic was good
still waiting on potatos
As far as intel agencies
there are No ‘mistakes’
they just promote the Agenda
theyre lying liars who Lie
Aaaand i just stepped on
a bee barefoot
I suck
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
Good morning soe, glad that your production is keeping you busy,
Here it is raining apples, but still far from harvest and what I planted after harvesting my garlic and shallots is not looking like it will produce anything, except maybe the carrots IF I get out there and thin them rsn.
Generally, tons of projects and chores suficiently that running as fast as one can baarely keeps you from slipping backward.
Off to do stuff.
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 --
Hurricane Lee
.
Awesome photos of the hurricane from above and some of the homes in danger from it.
Yowzer that’s a big storm. I’d love to be there now to see the waves and then find somewhere safe to ride it out.
Hey Q how much risk are you in from it? Stay safe! Keep us updated.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Yeah, we were on the fringe
Lost a couple big maple branches from the winds, some heavy downpours
overnight, but mostly mild here. I think northern Maine and the eastern
providences of Canada are getting the brunt of it at this point.
The surf at the beach is pretty big, maybe 15 foot swell-driven rollers.
The winds are against, so it's good for the surfers. Not breaking as much.
Thanks for checking!
question everything
How far inland are you?
I think some of the homes pictured here are not going to make it. Hopefully their insurance company hasn’t pulled out of the state like some are in others prone to disaster.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
We are well inland, about 3 miles from the beaches
Codes require hurricane structuring and the insurance companies are playing
their usual 'jack the rates' game. It is the waterfront properties that catch hell.
I'd rather ride my bike down there than listen to the angry ocean constantly.
cheers!
question everything
headed right for
my old stomping grounds in midcoast Maine
those waves could roll right over some
of the islands guarding bay entrances
I wonder how squirrel island is doing
time to check in
with old buds there
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
Why is the CDC saying this now
.
and with the new jab being released? It seems very strange.
It’s a confusing article because it only says the above is just for young people and then lots of might could do this because it has been effective….
Why aren’t they addressing all age groups?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
From RFK Jr's
twitter/X feed (unable to embed):
"I’m very grateful that alert and fast-acting protectors from Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA) spotted and detained an armed man who attempted to approach me at my Hispanic Heritage speech at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles tonight. The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. He identified himself as a member of my security detail. Armed GDBA team members moved quickly to isolate and detain the man until LAPD arrived to make the arrest. I’m also grateful to LAPD for its rapid response.
I’m still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection. I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection."
His security team was good and saved the day, but this guy's macho appearance should have been an easy one to spot in the crowd, especially if his open carry was blatantly obvious.
So far I don't see the major MSM outlets carrying this rather important story. Nothing at cnn.com or msnbc.com or latimes.com.
edit: also, LAPD has not yet released the name of the man they arrested. Why would they not do so immediately as is normally done?
It is true that I have a warped sense of humor. But this made
me smile.
Ouch….
You left a huge mess behind in Afghanistan, just like your husband did with that dress.
That left a huge mark.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Cause ------> Effect!
Looks like someone has decided they want Russell Brand cancelled
Did he finally step on the wrong toes speaking out on political topics? All of a sudden the video blogger has been hit with several sexual and/or emotional abuse allegations.
From NPR (“National Propaganda Radio”):
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/16/1199987459/russell-brand-allegations-rape...
This is how it goes.
Good evening, Soe
Do you miss your cattle?
Great your irrigation system will be an improvement that will not be so labor intense.
It will rain a couple of hours this evening. A surprise change in the forecast. Good thing we had not planned to grill anything for dinner.
We had to do some shopping, and I now have time to watch the Hanson and Roundtable clips.
Escobar is a really excellent journalist. The hegemony of the US is slip sliding away. About time, I say.
RFK Jr. being denied secret service protection just might make one think somebody in the DNC will sleep better at night if something bad happens to him. Takes cancellation to a whole 'nother level.
Thanks so much for the variety of topics. Great OT, as is your way.
And, Newsom sucks.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Surprisingly, yes more than expected.
My folks moved from town to a farm when I was two and started a small herd. The local milk co-op could purchase extra milk and cream from small operations at that time in history. Shifted to a cow-calf operation when he changed jobs which had overtime opportunities and I was still to young to take over milking.
The dynamics of the place is different without cattle.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Just watched 2 videos,
Hanson and the Roundtable. Both good at least, great at most. Hanson's was great. It caught me completely by surprise. Hanson hammered Reagan, all Democrats, was correct in his assessments consistently.
Political parties are just not the answer.
His take on migrants, both legal and illegal, is spot on.
Not everyone here is near a border with Mexico, and not everyone here is in a state with farm and ag.
I am. I am living through it right now.
Thanks so much, Soe. I would have never run across Hanson but for you.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
So everyone knows
this already. Some people knew it four years ago. Biden is too old. Morning Joe said it. This guy said it.
Top Washington Post columnist urges Biden to drop out of 2024 race
https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/wapo-columnist-david-ignatius-urges-biden-...
I don't have access to this WP article referenced below, but it looks like another big mucky-muck pundit is blaming Biden for the royally AFU situation in Northeast Asia.
I guess one could just look at the colossal failed policy and think, we gotta get rid of this guy. We'll blame it all on him. Then maybe they could find a replacement but keep the same team in there to keep the money river going for their war contractor clients, and the other usual suspects.
According to the former NIS Director of South Korea, Park Jie-won, he's looking at this "new" relationship between Kim Jong-un and Putin, and thinking that their mutual objective is make sure Biden doesn't become president again. They think they'll be better off with Trump. To make sure Park says that Kim will time a nuclear test explosion at some critical point during the campaign. I think him just saying this publicly has an impact. In Pyongyang, I mean. Park is a Moon Jae-in appointee nobody in the US establishment gives a crap what he or anyone else in former president Moon's diplomatically able cabinet thinks. The US did their best to get them out of office because it looked like peace was breaking out.
My point is that if Kim and Putin didn't think of this already, they'll be thinking about it now. I worry about what the US or Japan, or stupid Yoon or all of them together might do, just to interfere with a satellite launch, or a straight up ICBM test. What would they do before or after a nuclear test in North Korea? I mean besides look like complete fools. If the shoe fits.
I have to comment on the fact that Ray McGovern is persisting in pushing this Ted Postol thesis that Russia already gave its advanced Topol ICBM to North Korea. There is no corroboration anywhere in the North Korea punditry including in CSIS itself that this is true. Ray doesn't even address the well documented rebuttal to Postol's claims.
I also have to comment on Ritter's claim that Putin is always transparent. That simply isn't true. If he means he's more transparent than what we have here, yes, that's a low bar. Putin articulates his perspective and Russian objectives better than anyone we have here. I'm not down on Russia or Putin, I just think it's naive to think that Putin doesn't hold some cards close to the vest. No one really knows what he and Kim talked about, it's a secret. That meeting shocked people who were too complacent about what has been in my mind a provocative and delusional US policy in the region, similar to the provocative and delusional characteristics of our Ukraine policy, and even potentially worse if that can be imagined.
語必忠信 行必正直
Thank you for the analysis on the region
I was saddened by the update in Sunday's Weekly Watch on CEO Lee Jae-myeong's condition. Nothing has shown up in the sources I regularly monitor.
Ray generally corrects any information he does not consider accurate, seen it many times over the years. There has been adequate time for a clarification. Three potential possibilities 1) protecting a source which would be revealed with further discussion, 2) using the information to meet an objective by watching its dissemination or 3) it is accurate. Time may show us the answer.
the video in today's weekly watch with Ray and Scott there is further discussion of transparency of Putin. It was mentioned when reviewing past transcripts they have noticed Putin had said what he is going to do. Neither of them seemed to to indicate they always notice the transparency at the time it is happening.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Lee Jae-Myung, etc.
Except for reporting on the fake charges brought against him by Yoon's gang of thugs in the prosecutors' offices, the msm don't report on what Lee does, especially in the English language media.
Prosecutors are now seeking to jail him even though he's an in patient at the Green Hospital.
The administration is seeking to distract from the conviction of Yoon's mother in law for real estate fraud, lying on deposit certificates to get millions in loans, etc. She was sentenced to a year in prison. Yoon said during his campaign that his mother in law, never defrauded anyone of even one dime. That's an offense that justifies removal from office. It's still possible that the conviction against her could be reversed on appeal. She's been released on bail, as I understand it.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/south-korea-opposition-leader-lee-j...
I saw one video where they noted Kim Young-Sam, the first really democratically elected president in South Korean history, went on a hunger strike 40 years earlier. I actually attended a reception for him once. Hwang Kyo-ahn's hunger strike during the Moon administration only lasted about 8 days if I remember correctly.
As for Ray's undue confidence in Postol's conditional thesis, both assertions cannot be true; either Putin is lying about respecting the UN sanctions on North Korea particularly with respect to ballistic missile technology and nuclear weapons, (which I don't think he is) or Ray's contentions on the Topol missile, warhead, and decoy technology transfer to North Korea are false. Note that Putin does not consider assistance with satellite launches a UN resolution violation, and a Topol missile technology transfer is definitely a violation of UN resolutions. The Topol missile is completely different from the space launch vehicle used for the satellite launch attempts.
The fact that Postol is recommending a new ICBM defensive system and other measures is bothersome. Frankly I felt the report was uncharacteristic. On the other hand, if there is classified evidence that the advanced ICBM missile/warhead/decoys tech was directly transferred, delivered, etc, to North Korea, then Putin and Lavrov are not being transparent.
Thanks for your comment SOE. I think observations this important need to be viewed critically. Thanks for the Potluck as well.
語必忠信 行必正直
Let's see
Edit: it worked.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Excellent - a fuller picture with nuisances is now
being seen by more people.
Thank you - It is time I relooked at the subject. I still have the answers needed for personal life. The 2 years post public release of a therapy is a good time to review new information and compare against assumptions which had to be made with limited information.
The gene manipulations to a bat viruses were probably done at or with the personnel from the lab in China. The next stages of development, including adding the ability for community spread of infections in humans was probably done elsewhere. The worldwide coordinated media campaign adds to questions to source of outbreaks.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
SMH! Is this the best that Brandon has to offer?
The actual tweet.
France likely won't like this.
Good move. Banding together avoids getting the Gaddafi treatment
from the Golden Billion / NATO / EU-Borrell’s “garden” / the West.