Open Thread WE 20 SEP 23 ~ moccasin telegraph
It is a running joke among the Métis that they often heard rumours through the “Moccasin Telegraph”. In the past, when the Métis traveled on foot, wearing moccasins, this metaphor bore truth since this was the main form of transmitting information.
Welcome this edition of the C99 open thread. The theme today was inspired by the ability
of indigenous peoples to secretly convey ideas and information during the colonization
period of North America by the Europeans.
It is a fascinating story of cultures, language and self preservation during the genocidal
conquest of this land. There may be some things in here that have contemporary
applications. What I found interesting while researching this essay is the quantity of
sites heralding social media as the 'new moccasin telegraph'. It is not in the spirit of
quiet sharing of ideas, as this new medium is anything but secret. Unless they are
speaking in code?
Some definitions:
Métis - Denotes a group of tribes with mixed heritage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9tis
Michif - One of the languages of the Métis (French and Cree)
Bungee, Bungi or Bungay is an English Creole spoken by Metis of Scots/Orkney and Cree and Ojibway heritage. An example ..
http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/148202
Nineteenth-century European American telegraph writers often conceive Native telegraph systems, not as primitive, merely metaphorical precursors to their own superior technology, but as in some ways differing, in some ways equivalent, always valid, and potentially threatening real telegraphs. Crow chief Plenty Coups and Crow medicine woman Pretty Shield tell of Native telegraphs that combat U.S. technologies throughout the Indian Wars and especially at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, with surprising national divisions and results, to show the extent to which perceptions about Native telecommunication systems potentially influence nineteenth-century and current understandings of telegraphy.
https://academic.oup.com/book/12385/chapter-abstract/161976234?redirecte...
Further reading -
https://www.enotes.com/topics/moccasin-telegraph/in-depth
https://themoccasintelegraph.com/2023/03/30/episode-1/
Alrighty then, opening it up to all takers.
Share your stories, ideas and observations.
Comments
Good morning
Today is national gibberish day although if one is a politician, so is every other day.
Historically ..
1737 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony (what a rip-off)
1870 - Mayor William "Boss) Tweed accused of robbing NY treasury
(they used to prosecute political crooks)
1873 - Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure) NY shut banks for 10 days due to a bank scandal (some things never change)
1926 - Bugs Moran attempts to assassinate Al Capone in a drive-by shooting but fails (oops)
1932 - Mahatma Gandhi begins a hunger strike against the way Hindu untouchables are treated
1951 - Swiss males votes against female suffrage (but of course they would)
1963 - JFK proposes a joint US-Soviet voyage to the moon
1970 - Jim Morrison found guilty of "open profanity and indecent exposure" after allegedly exposing himself at a concert in Miami in 1969
2001 - In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, US President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror"
2015 - Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, confirms raising the price of toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim by 5,000% (cause overhead)
and that's the way it is
question everything
In other news
Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh Agree on Ceasefire Through Coordination of Russian Peacekeepers
Guess Armenia doesn't need the US military after all?
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230920/azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-agree-on-c...
question everything
What was the US doing there in the first place?
Good morning...
Fall is in the air here. In the 50's this morning.
Got some lettuce, greens and cabbage in yesterday. Mowing some more today, and a bit of carpentry work tomorrow. Always something.
I heard most of Biden's hypocrisy at the UN yesterday. He criticizes Putin with no awareness of our destruction of Afghan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, etc. Willing blindness runs rampant in America.
Hope everyone has a good day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
A beautiful day here also
On the UN front, apparently the Israel ambassador was bum-rushed out of the chamber
while acting like a clown. Guess he has an issue with Iran or something?
Good to hear of your gardening success!
question everything
Guten morgen QMS, et. al. A very nice analogue of the
Moccasin Telegraph arose back in the early days of the spread of personal computers, desktop workstations, desktop pcs and the like, right down to the name. "Sneaker Net". You have data, information, files, pics, a database, or source code that is not approved of or worse, you loaded it onto a diskette and walked it to its destination or, depending on circumstances, the next link in the chain. If encryption was deemed wise, one could generate a password protected .zip file and communicate the password verbally upon delivery or separately, over the phone.
I personally don't see social media as remotely analogous to either, fwiw. I guess that within some platform, if it permitted closed and private areas, such could serve as something similar, but you are running on somebody else's platform, so it's open.
Something in the air:
Last night for a while San Francisco allegedly had the worst air quality in the country or world, I forget which. Winds were moving, collecting and then holding in place smoke from many fires up north. Here in the east bay it was palpable and our personal stand alone air filter was working its ass off and displaying outrageous values for incoming air. It was definitely visible. Currently, local air is "unhealthy" with an index ranging from 160 to 163.
Lingo:
Yesterday, lotlizard posted the following headline from one of the British news sources:
. I immediately thunk to myself "really, worse than the ukies?" which set me to wondering if the media and perhaps chunks of the populace are conflating "Europe" and "The EU"?
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 --
Forest fires out northeast of Eureka
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
This gives me hope
Nature wins. I love it. There is also a great Bannyan Tree on Maui on a lot I think that got sold. Sadly so. I was sitting in his shade, may be 10 to 12 years ago. It was a little north of Paia and had several buildings on it, which had some historical meaning. Unfortunately I lost contact to the man who owned all of it.
Have to ask my son, he might remember the details.
Hope you all do not lose hope and grow some beautiful trees .
Be well all. And always thanks for work you all do on C99p.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Replying late but...
Thanks for this news. It made me cry in hope. Thank you!
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
Here is Lindsay Graham declaring war on Putin
.
along with McCain and Klobuchar showing that this is a bipartisan effort. Lavrov recently said exactly that. America is at war with Russia. Here’s the proof.
https://twitter.com/iwaslabour/status/1658371143756128256
Someone feel free to embed this for me. The Twit is still blocking me from doing it!
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
Why single out Russia?
The US neocon consortium is at war, in some fashion, with 70% of the world.
Economically, militarily, ideologically and environmentally. A losing battle.
Just asking to get spanked, like a belligerent child.
question everything
(raises hand) I know this one!
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
Probably had something to do with the planned war
against Russia that had been in the works and why they were speaking in Ukraine to the people who would be doing the fighting for the trio. Unless this is a trick question?
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
OK snoop.
Thank you for posting it
Heh…I would have loved being in the room with Graham when he found out that the Hellabitch lost to Trump and saw his dream of arming Ukraine ended. Trump’s win also postponed the war for 4 years, but democrats eventually shamed Trump into sending lethal weapons to Ukraine. Even Putin said that Trump was harsher on Russia than Obama was. It’s one of the reasons why Hillary and democrats ran their Russia gate scam on him.
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
9.19 was the anniversary
...of the Pyongyang summit declaration of Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un. I was tied up yesterday, so I missed it.
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Kim Jong-un at Baektusan in September 2018 during their summit. South Koreans in recent history must visit from the Chinese side.
(Source-AP youtube)
Former Moon Jae-in gave a speech yesterday, to civil foundations and politicians interested in resuming what is an on again, off again tradition in South Korean politics of trying to maintain a dialogue with North Korea in order to provide a peaceful political environment conducive to economic prosperity. Moon noted that efforts to promote dialogue with the North by South Korean presidents were associated with periods of economic and trade growth, in contrast to cold war hostility. A balanced foreign policy facilitated good trade relations with neighbors. Moon said he was very disappointed in the approach taken by the current Yoon administration and noted that economic contraction, a record trade deficit, a falling won, and lower per capita income all characterized the Yoon administration. It is disappointing and regrettable that Moon's diplomatic efforts in this regard, and those of several of his predecessors have descended to an unimaginably low level. It's time for South Korea to return to a balanced foreign policy directed toward peace and economic prosperity rather than the undesirable state of affairs during the cold war.
On communications I think-
‘I couldn’t believe the data’: how thinking in a foreign language improves decision-making
David Robson Sep 17
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/17/how-learning-thinking-in...
This is a Guardian article on the benefits of learning another language. Unfortunately the first example of an experiment purportedly showing more effective decision making considered in another language is the current popular meme often used to justify killing people in foreign policy contexts, "oh we did it to save more people later." I hear or read propaganda variants all the time, from "humanitarian intervention" to "appeasement" arguments (more people will die later if we don't intervene militarily now), to "fight em over there so we don't have to fight em over here." The defect in the experiment is that one has the authority to judge when homicide is necessary in order to prevent an event anticipated in the future. What if the fact situation as presented is false, a deliberate deception? What if the fact situation is simply an incorrect estimate? What if the future outcomes are misjudged? Is history on rails like a train track? Don't we have brakes? Aren't there any rail switches? Is killing people the only alternative? Weird experiment isn't it?
I found some of the observations interesting, such as recovery from trauma, risk taking, etc.
(edited for clarity)
語必忠信 行必正直
got a chuckle out of this
RT’s ‘threat’ to US national security exposed
It was a satire vid on RT from while back.
Like snoopy, I can not imbed twits.
https://www.rt.com/news/583301-rt-satire-us-threat/
question everything
I think that this is the one that you were referring to.
Yes, thanks
that's the one. Guess the national security apparatus will have to
ban the site for spreading misinformation? Or maybe they just don't
possess a sense of humor.
question everything
Listed as RBN but really Sabrina Salvati
Here's her take on RFK Jr.:
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
The drug addled corrupt chihuahua lays out his latest demands
at the UN.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/4214187-zelensky-humankind-no-l...
Yeah right
Elensky and his sponsors don't have a clue. He really doesn't get the notion probably at least 2 thousand years old, that the smaller country is unwise to provoke its much larger and more powerful neighbor. The US in its hubris also apparently doesn't get the ancient principle that imperial powers shouldn't overextend themselves. It's a costly mistake.
語必忠信 行必正直
Nations are voting on canceling national sovereignty today
.
This is huge and it will cancel whatever is left of the constitution and give the WHO power over what every country involved has to do during the next planned pandemic. They will tell every person in the countries that signed on to the treaty that they have to get jabbed and follow all other protocols that they come up with. Biden of course has already been involved in this and helped design the protocol and got his amendments in the treaty.
Link
This is not only a bad treaty, but it’s evil and it’s being pushed by the sociopathic globalists who want a one world government. I think there may be some republicans who are pushing back against this, but of course big pharma also wants it passed and 2/3 of congress is on their payroll…I’m mean they take campaign donations from it.
The treaty will cancel human rights which they don’t understand are INALIENABLE!
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
More
JAMES ROGUSKI has been covering this from the beginning This article is a must read. The treaty hasn’t gotten any traction from the corporate Pfizer sponsored media of course.
Let’s hope the 11 countries don’t bow to the pressure that I’m sure they are under.
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
Axis of War
Yoon Seok-yeol is another dirtbag psychopath. That the Kennedy organization is going to give him an award reflects on them. Yoon and his wife individually spend over 3 grand regularly on lunch and evening get togethers. Yoon has been trying desperately to hide his expense accounts on the government taxes, both as a chief prosecutor and prosecutor general and also as president from public scrutiny. He's as corrupt as the day is long. Many of his office appointees are either family related or close friends. Others have proven to be corrupt as well. Yoon is incompetent and vulnerable as leader because of his corruption. The CIA has already proven they can tap the presidential offices requiring the highest security. He's a puppet. Some polls current show his support as low as 28 percent, and disapproval as over 60 percent.
From Simon Chun's article-
Axis Of War: The Japan-Korea-US Alliance
BY SIMONE CHUN Sep 20
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/09/20/axis-of-war-the-japan-korea-us-a...
Recommend the entire article.
A lot of the contemporary commentary on Japan characterizes it as the innocent peace loving dupe of US hegemony. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ruling right wing LDP is anything but. Many of the people of Japan may be peace loving but I think Japan poses similar risks to Taiwan, which was also a colony of Japan from 1895 until Aug. 1945. And even the Philippines.
Yoon said once during the campaign that he could envision circumstances where Japanese forces could be invited onto Korean territory. He's out of his mind. I don't know how any East Asian country could even consider letting Japanese soldiers on their territory.
語必忠信 行必正直
Great Ot Q
I am in a motel in Amarillo. Of all things, some couple were out in the court yard, likely in their 60s, had some video playing on a cell phone. All French. They spoke French to each other. The concierge asked if they wanted lights on in the court yard, the man had to translate it for the woman. Unexpected, to say the least. It's Amarillo.
Take care, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981