Open Thread - 11-17-23 - Make a Friend

When I was two, I was put on the Baptist preacher's podium, sang "Do Lord" for the congregation. I remember it like it was yesterday. People were so sweet to me and my family afterwards.

Now, neither I nor my family was particularly religious. This was a song my fanatic g'ma taught me. I do not remember the Amen aspect. I remember the friendship and goodwill, remember my Dad picking me up, taking me through the crowd, being delighted and so proud of me. Dad. My best friend forever.

I was two.

Some Dad's can instill great things into their daughters. He was, will always be, my hero.

Every day of my life, I walk through it with the view and the survival skills he taught me.

But he emphasized kindness, no matter that he fought in WWII, he loved peace, generosity toward the less fortunate, and always, even in battle, hoped we would all find common ground, work together.

Dear One ran across a Dad/Daughter thing that really brought back memories, and sort of jump kicked my commitment towards treating as many people as possible in a kind and friendly way.

Enjoy!

This is an open thread, so let 'er rip! Anything goes, and this is only a suggestion that there is a better way for us to exist.

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Lookout's picture

I had a friend who was just starting to play. His church invited him to play and sing for the congregation. He said when he looked out over the crowd he got so nervous he couldn't remember what he was going to play. All that came to mind was "little brown jug". He was never invited to preform for the church again.

"Do lord" would have been a better selection for the crowd. Y'all have fun on your trip!
Thanks for the OT.

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

@Lookout your friend didn't make the cut for gospel singing! Lol!
I remember getting started on the song, then paused to giggle hysterically, and everyone, including the preacher, all laughed with me. After I got the giggles out of my system, I finished the song.
I am on vacation, yet have spent 2 hours on the phone with my secretary. Let me leave town, and clients go into a spin, one fire to put out after another.
We are heading to town to buy groceries. My meal plan has Dear One doing the cooking while I lend moral support.
Take good care, friend!

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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

Sima's picture

@Lookout
Never heard it before, at least in the form. It was great! Thank you!

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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

I hope none of you have called anyone a dictator today. Should it become necessary, wait until you have thoroughly studied the definition. You see, when you have to later explain to a reporter what you meant, you risk being called demented.
What's going on in your neck of the woods?

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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

Cassiodorus's picture

@on the cusp is that they're so willing to take that risk, that Dementia Joe (now high-powered Genocide Joe) is their candidate, and that from all the looks of it he's going to be their candidate at least until the Soviet primaries are over. Such, I reflect, is the depth of the "complete atrophy of political imagination" that afflicts our society's elites.

Any reports yet on what happened in the closed-door meeting between Genocide Joe and Xi Jinping?

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“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

QMS's picture

@Cassiodorus

of the APEC summit. Only just speculation about the private conversation between
XI/Biden on their stroll thru the garden part. The highlight was apparently the dinner
attended by XI and the billionaire tech crowd. $40k for a seat.

Naturally, the western distilled it into a response Brandon made to a press question.
Blinken looked like a worried man.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/11/and-then-biden-blew-it-again.html#...

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question everything

Cassiodorus's picture

@QMS "maybe they won't notice Joe's dementia because we're all kind of that way." And such a response has been made the object of groupthink because they can't think of anything better to do.

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“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

@Cassiodorus suffering from dementia when he announced his candidacy, and the whole damn party voted him in anyway. That right there tells me elections are about the 1% getting richer. They result in great harm to the 99%. I almost feel as though I have been trained and conditioned to obey and comply with a phony system when I vote. I truly feel ashamed of myself that I allow myself to lower to the level of a herded animal gladly headed to slaughter. And now, we are headed for WWIII, and nukes.Gather your friends about you. You will need each other.
Take good care, friend.

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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

Cassiodorus's picture

@on the cusp @on the cusp

Biden was clearly
@Cassiodorus suffering from dementia when he announced his candidacy, and the whole damn party voted him in anyway.

In 2020 the Dems had a far more credible set of alibis than they do today. And they worked, but of course they worked because the "other side," Trump, made the election about himself, right there in the middle of the pandemic. "Do you want to re-elect a lazy asshole? Check one box: a) yes, b) no." And so enough people in the swing states checked "no" to win Biden a majority in the Electoral College. The circumstances of the 2020 election are not going to reappear in 2024 even if Donald Trump evades imprisonment long enough to get the Republican nomination.

As for Biden, it appears that his dementia is working more or less like the dementia of which my Mom died on the First of October 2018. In short, the symptoms can be credibly disguised at the beginning, but the disabilities intensify and compound as the sufferer approaches the end. Given that Biden's symptoms are plain and apparent to the whole world right now, the Dems, ALL OF THEM, appear as idiots for expecting that he will win next year. The election next year will therefore be about him. If it is this bad now, do not be surprised if Biden forgets some basic bodily functions -- perhaps toilet training -- in a few months, possibly before the primaries are over.

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“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

@Cassiodorus for you and your family. I am so sorry she left this world in that condition.
I know there is a video out there showing Biden in Delaware announcing his run for president during his run against Trump. It was his initial announcement. At the conclusion of his speech, he asked the crowd to vote for him for US Senator from Delaware. It was the kick off speech for his campaign.
Throughout his campaign, he forgot what state he was in, blurted out about the dog faced pony soldier, and he eventually was pretty much hidden.
He was demonstrably incompetent from the get go.
Voters who cast a vote for him are pathetic Americans. TDS is simply no good excuse.
I hope we get to experience a true democracy before we die.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

.

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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

QMS's picture

@snoopydawg

are the rest of the monkeys too blind to see this?
Glad she spoke out.
thanks

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question everything

snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

what America has been doing. Just as many of them know damn well that Israel has been using Gaza as a laboratory for its lethal weapons which after they are perfected they then sell to those countries. Again I’m having a hard time finding words to what Hedges exposes.

Israel is Shutting Down its Human Laboratory in Gaza

Israel also trains most of our cop forces and gets them to see us as the enemy and it’s of course done with government approval. Obama gave cops tons of military equipment and set them loose on Ferguson because people were appalled by another cop murdering an unarmed kid….

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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

@snoopydawg to smack us in the eye, did it?
Great catch, snoopy.
Uh, I thought we had been at peace for 16 years, but come see, come sah.
I am glad I am not waving my passport around in a foreign country at this time. I could get the Palestinian treatment most anywhere.
Glad you dropped the X in the thread.
You and Sam have some fun, ok?

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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

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

Good track record for the country that lectures other countries on human rights and says that it’s a Christian country.

See how many Israel weapon systems we buy from them to further our goals of full spectrum dominance. I just hope I live long enough to see us knocked off the top of the sand pile.

Sam says hi.

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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

@snoopydawg during this war. As committed to peace and justice as he is, this must be killing his soul. It never had to be this way. Torturing and killing people for profit is cause for high esteem and prestige, for God's sake. It is the damn truth that the military, terrorists, police, cartels, roaming assassins, and border patrols love these tried and tested weapons.
So what do our police have in common with the cartels? A lot.
We do need to be knocked down from our perch asap before we blow up the planet.
We were always a piece-of-shit country. We spent our 16 years of peace building up resources to go on to the next war.
Sam isn't low on her toy supply, is she?

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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

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

and especially the world’s leaders not lifting a finger to stop it. It’s especially damning after the way they reacted to the Ukraine war and their accusations against Russia and accusing Putin of being a war criminal when it seems clear now that Russia has been trying not to kill civilians. Very few countries are cutting ties with Israel. Why aren’t Russia and China doing that since they have been calling this a genocide.

Yes Sam has enough toys. She took a lot of them outside for the summer and she is now bringing them back in without me asking her to. Still being a bed bunny though. Strange dawg.

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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

enhydra lutris's picture

so I'll step up and give it a shot:
Julius Caesar was a dictator! There, that's done.

Today's promised rain ain't here yet. Our yard birds aren't either, which is mysterioso, because our yard is generally full of them.

Some mods to the heat pump install are supposed to get done today and the person is allegedly in transit for to do same, so ...

Today's action plan is, like yesterday's, seemingly preempted by life, which is cool, but that is going to lead to one or more frantic days later in the month.

I have been reminded recently that lots of people are running around saying "I think ..." when they really mean "I opine ... " and are but regurgitating some canned narrative based on some ideology or another. Something that we should start calling out,

gotta run

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 --

Sima's picture

@enhydra lutris
got done and are working well!

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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

There is a 2 person crew working on the water purification system here at the ranch. They are noisy, moving around outside, so we haven't seen any deer or wild turkeys today.
Once that heat pump is up and running, I think you will be very satisfied.
Now, don't you think the easiest way to sound smart and knowledgeable about current events is to quote Anderson Cooper? Come on, man!
Have a great day, my friend!

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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

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

both dictator and eventually dictator for life. It was a Latin/Etruscan term for a specific governmental office/position and Julie was legally appointed thereto.

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 --

earthling1's picture

at MoA:
Hua Chunying 华春莹 @SpokespersonCHN - 11:25 UTC · Nov 16, 2023
President Xi Jinping noted that there are two options for China and the U.S. in the era of global transformations unseen in a century: One is to enhance solidarity and cooperation and join hands to meet global challenges and promote global security and prosperity; ...
... and the other is to cling to the zero-sum mentality, provoke rivalry and confrontation, and drive the world toward turmoil and division. The two choices point to two different directions that will decide the future of humanity and Planet Earth.
Apparently, Joe took the low road.
His decision to reaffirm his remark of Xi being a dictator confirms the US regime cannot be negotiated with.
The really sad part is there is no one to talk to in this entire ruling class of tycoons, politicians, or military honchos bent on saving their rule.
We will all go down with this ship of fools.
Thanks for the OT, OTC.

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

QMS's picture

@earthling1

negotiations in his 5 point plank?

there is no one to talk to in this entire ruling class

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question everything

@earthling1 @earthling1 need a captain that won't run us into an ice burg at full speed.
You know, we 99% see how our country is becoming 3rd world, while our 1% still calls it exceptional. Nuts. Deadly.
I may not like the China surveillance and social credit scoring, it is similar to the US, our's just not as open and obvious. Our country likes China's methods, just not their gaining prosperity. We want it all, baby.
Have a great weekend, e1, and thanks for dropping in, my friend.

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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

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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