Open Thread - 1/26/24 - TGIF Odds and Ends

Has everyone gotten their fill of rain? It is wreaking havoc in the vicinity. Evacuations, closed roads, closed lake, and a bit of history is now underwater. Conroe, Texas, never has the money to repair bridges, and now, they will never repair an iconic bridge, which you can read about below. They do have well-paid police, as cowardly as they were way back when.

The aerial picture in this article was taken by the older brother of a fellow law student with whom I remain friends.

Conroe's legendary 'Bonnie and Clyde' bridge collapses into flooded San Jacinto River

A metal bridge in Conroe made famous by Texas outlaw couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in the 1930s fell into the flooded waters of the San Jacinto River and hopes of preserving the structure may be dashed.

The washed-away bridge that was not in use was discovered Thursday morning by drivers reporting the bridge had fallen.

Montgomery County received three days of consistent rain that prompted the San Jacinto River Authority officials to open the Lake Conroe Dam and allow water to flow from the lake into the San Jacinto River.

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The structure has long been the subject of local lore as stories have been passed down from generation to generation about when gangster couple "Bonnie and Clyde" would hang out under the bridge when Barrow was in Conroe to visit his relatives.

“But they were never bothered by law officers because the gang had superior weaponry and had a reputation for killing law officers,” said Montgomery County Historical Commission Chairman Larry Foerster in a previous Courier article about the bridge. “Besides, Clyde reportedly never caused any trouble as it would have caused a problem for his Conroe relatives."

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I have a concern about the "kill switch" on cars manufactured after 2025. It is an attempt to curtail accidents caused by intoxicated drivers. Fact checkers are in unison saying anyone claiming it is a ploy to stop our travel, a la' WEF, is nuts. If you read the following article, you will notice the law was passed directing devices to kill an engine if a driver was demonstrating impairment, which can only be detected in a moving vehicle. If the car is moving, and the engine is killed, then what? They haven't figured it how it will work.

See what you think. This was the most unbiased article I read.

Here Are The Facts About The “Kill Switch” Mandate For Cars That’s Already Passed

In Texas, it is a defense against the charge of driving while intoxicated if the driving is a necessity. Driving a person out of harm's way is one example.

I will just drive my cars and trucks until they rust out from under me. Unless it is a necessity to get to the liquor store before closing time, I will be sober and legal at the rust out event.

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The last international tour I took was to spend a week in Morocco. Certain aspects of it took me completely by surprise. Yes, mosques. But a hidden synagogue? And lectures about how the financial class Jews who left for Israel were missed, how they were and are still begged to return? And day tours were offered to do Jewish tours? In fact, 3 New Yorkers in the tour group were staying over for a 3 day guided Jewish tour. Maybe this explains part of Morocco's hesitancy to bash the Israeli genocide in favor of their Arab brethren in Palestine?

I did see Macron's home from a distance, and George Clooney's home. By now, I suspect Zelensky has one.

Below are pictures from The Blue Mosque, Marabelle Gardens Museum established by Yves St. Laurent in Marrakesh, and, of course, some snake handlers.

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Each one of you has something to bitch about, something to laugh about, something that interests you.

By all means, share! This is an Open Thread, so let 'er rip!

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Some of you retirees no longer celebrate TGIF, but by golly, you spent years doing it, didn't you?
My luxury is closing at 2pm, unless I get stuck in a trial.
I may slip off Sunday and listen to a zydeco band, depending on the weather.
What are your weekend plans? I hope they include fun!

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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

QMS's picture

headline this morning:

ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza and allow in aid

The devil is in the details ..

However, it did not order Israel to halt military operations in Gaza, one of South Africa's key demands in the case it brought to The Hague earlier this month.

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Friday's ruling by the ICJ is legally binding, however there is little the Hague-based court can do to enforce compliance.

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For his part, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on social media: "Hague Schmague."

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-gaza-icj-ordered-allow-aid

Not exactly a 'cease and desist' order, but a step in the right direction IMO.

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@QMS I will read up, watch videos about this ruling, but I begin from the position that "something is better than nothing". Still, at first blush, bombing babies that have a full stomach is not genocide, whereas bombing babies who are starving is considered genocidal?
Anyway, I will study the ruling in depth after work this afternoon.
Please drop in any good links you come across.
Thanks, 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

QMS's picture

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It sounds like Texas is being flooded
not only by rain but also immigrants

I like your governor Abbot's stance against the fed.
Not sure if Biden's 24 hour notice is more than bluster?
Could be kicking a hornets nest there.

Good luck and thanks for the OT too!

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@QMS to start in Texas.
Often criticism of uncontrolled border crossings that are not racist, are nevertheless called racist. It is similar to criticism of Israel and Zionism being called antisemitism.
The overwhelming flow of illegals come from Central and South America, and their language is Spanish.
I know when a white person bitches about Texas "looking different", that they are making a racist remark. When a white person goes into a big supermarket, and all aisle signs are in English and Spanish, and all customers are Spanish speakers, and they are the only white person in the store, and the only English speaker, that this is a store full of recent migrants who have not been here long enough to learn to speak English.
We have had Hispanic Texans since Texas became an entity.
This is very different. I dropped in a comment in last night's ebs that gives everyone a little taste of what we are trying to live through.

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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

Lookout's picture

Rain, but no flooding here, I'm happy to report. Hope your homestead escaped without damage. I've got one little spot on the ridge to touch up next week when it dries out. One more dose due tomorrow, but at least we've had breaks between rains. Today is even sunny...at least for now.

The ICJ ruling though not what I had hoped, is better than it might have been, and the rulings were 18 to 1 or 17 to 2. Not only Israel, but France the UK and the US all said they would not abide by the decision...hey we make the rules and order YOU to obey. This of course will make the ICJ an international joke, but at least will provide some rationale for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions...if not by the west but by the rest of the globe (except those on the US Israeli tit). We'll see.
EDIT to add:
Craig Murray explains the ruling...

(25 min)

Take care. Hope last weekend's concert was a winner! Thanks for the OT.

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

@Lookout People then were shorter than now. The slope of the floor was slight and gradual, not the steep slope in modern auditoriums. The tall persons who sat in from of me and Dear One did obstruct our view. We did the head tilt thing for 2 1/2 hours. We were a bit sore in the neck and shoulder. Concert injury?
Also, the beautiful columns supporting the balcony obstructed the view on those seated behind them. We lucked out on that problem.
Lyle and his Large Band were on top of their game. These are some of the best set musicians on the planet. The music ranged from jazz to blues to country swing. Every song was a work of art.
We expect the T-storms and heavy rains to start in a couple of hours, and continue until 10pm this evening. It is causing a lot of damage to neighbors, but hasn't affected my acreage or office property. Fingers and toes are crossed to keep that good luck going.
Thanks for the video. I intend to dig into to the ruling this afternoon after work.
Well, don't get rained out, 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

snoopydawg's picture

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As Heidi Matthew, an assistant professor of law at Harvard remarks:

The ICJ's written order and separate opinions will be released shortly. But my first reaction is that this is a big win for Palestinian advocates. Some will be disappointed that the Court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. But...

... the fact that the Court ordered the measures it DID, including directing Israel not to commit or incite genocide, indicates it has concluded that it is (a) plausible for Palestinians in Gaza to claim protection from genocide, and (b) that the need for protection is urgent.

I think we can infer from this that *at a minimum* there is a serious risk that Israel will commit genocide. This is important because it puts *all states* on formal notice of the serious risk of genocide, which triggers states’ duty to take concrete steps to prevent genocide.

Among other things, this means that in order for states to fulfill their international obligations under the Genocide Convention they must *do something*. For e.g., states exporting arms or military technology to Israel must stop.

The short story: this order on provisional measures will have an important and immediate impact on how states are required to act under international law. It will also radically shift the global conversation about what is happening in Gaza.

Another related point: I need to read the separate opinions, but my intuition is that it's a massive win that Israeli ad hoc judge Barak sided with the majority in ordering many of the provisional measures. He may have judged his own legacy as more important than Netanyahu's.

He also includes what Pepe Escobar said about it. A ceasefire would have been great, but others have explained why they didn’t go that far.

I hope that the 148 republicans and 62 democrats who wrote the letter to Blinken found piss in their cereal this morning. See the tweet I posted last night…

Yesterday 2 Palestinians teenagers were murdered by Israeli soldiers. The oldest one came out with a white flag to see if it was clear to move his family as ordered and he was shot. His brother ran to him and he was able shot. Pictures on the Twit showed both of them lying in the street cuddled together. The soldier who shot them should be charged with war crimes according to the decision…,but will they? Place your bets.

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg @snoopydawg If that is even possible.
Those murderous mfers that supported Kirby and slammed SA should be charged as accessories to genocide. Let AIPAC pay for their defense attorneys.
Thanks for the info. I have a lot to study up on and assess this afternoon.
If you find something else about the ruling, please share it with us.

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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

soryang's picture

...when I was doing the five dolla a day thing as a mere yute. I had studied European history and art history, that was my wasted education in the humanities. In any case, met other young people there doing the Europe on the cheap thing, who convinced me it was "cool" to visit Morocco, it was only a ferry ride away. Ms. So is still obsessed with travel. I'm done with my travel adventures, I think I'm ready for shady acres.

What I realize in retrospect, is how this impulse to travel and learn about other cultures (for me) was influenced to some extent by the so called beat generation, although before my time. I didn't know then some iconic members of the so called beat generation group were influenced by post war contact with Asian culture in the fifties, mostly Buddhism and Hinduism. There were copies of DT Zuzuki and Alan Watts books lying around the house, books of Koans, some of which I read, along with Japanese silk paintings and watercolors, whose style I used to try to imitate in my spare time. I had left all that behind after college, but it was always there in the back of my mind.

One of the major influencers in this regard, affecting the beat icons, was Gary Snyder, (never heard of him before) who translated the poems of Cold Mountain 寒山 a Tang Dynasty poet (or poets) who often presents a strong Buddhist theme. According to Dr. Gao's colleague, the translator Gary Snyder, was a colleague of Jack Kerouac, and a part of the beat crowd including Allen Ginsberg. All three are characters in the Dharma Bums, one of Jack's books. I found a free pdf copy on the web. I started reading it. It's entertaining. The part about translating Cold Mountain seems to suggest that Jack could read Chinese. I learned his native language was French from the Wiki.

This is the trailer from Dr. Gao's presentation with her colleague on Cold Mountain.

The wikipedia entry on Jack Kerouac was very interesting. Which was more interesting? Perry Mason or Route 66? Both? Jack thought the Route 66 story line or theme if you will was lifted from his work, On the Road.

Kerouac and his literary works had a major impact on the popular rock music of the 1960s. Artists including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, The Grateful Dead, and The Doors all credit Kerouac as a significant influence on their music and lifestyles. This is especially so with members of the band The Doors, Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, who quote Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road as one of the band's greatest influences.[98] In his book Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, Ray Manzarek, keyboard player of The Doors, wrote "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written On the Road, The Doors would never have existed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac#Legacy

Kick the tire, light the fire...

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語必忠信 行必正直

@soryang @soryang in a book case. A must read.
I hope I can watch the video about Cold Mountain. Very interesting.
And an interesting comment all the way around, friend!
I ate a full bowl of the travel bug, but the airplanes and pilots of today just keep me grounded.
One reason I have not gone to Egypt is the horror stories about women being hounded by swarms of aggressive street vendors. Well, that type of men ruined my trip to Morocco. They would completely surround me and actually lay hands on me! Local men would run them off so I could walk away.

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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

soryang's picture

@on the cusp ...in Morocco. I was traveling with a young companion and the men in the urban areas just wouldn't leave her alone. She couldn't wait to leave Morocco. Didn't make it to Marrakech. She wanted out.

The incidence of aircraft accidents or incidents is rated by how many per 100,000 flight hour or something like that, if I remember correctly. So my views on flying are entirely subjective. There do seem to have been a higher frequency of airliner mishaps in the recent past but I haven't seen the actual statistics. Some have posted here on Boeing's problems. I have a serious fear of flying which I've mentioned before.

Dr. Gao and the younger Phd in the program are brilliant. She disclosed that she had been some kind of engineer before her academic career in philosophy. Her interest in translating poetry is personal. She said she is living in Australia.

I see there were some representative Red Pine translations of Hanshan (Cold Mountain) at wikipedia-
That might be more efficient than sitting through lengthy explanations of "Chinese chicken scratch" as I think Kerouac labeled it. Irreverence goes with the Chan/Zen territory according to Gao.
Hanshan (poet)

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語必忠信 行必正直

@soryang from a pilot forced to retire due to resisting the mandated vax. Can't remember if he was from NZ or Australia. It has been weeks, even months ago, so my numbers and times may be off.
He has the connection to international flight pilot signals. He said since 2022, "May Day" codes are like nothing seen in his decades of flying. I remember the signals were in the hundreds per month, maybe over 500 if memory serves. While he was putting this in the context of suddenly stricken pilots with strokes or heart attacks, what we are seeing nowadays is planes that are falling apart in flight.
At the very least, I would not fly in a Boeing, or in any plane without a co-pilot.
I hope your wife can go and do, remain safe and sound. I got to explore approx. 75 foreign countries. At least I got to do that. It made an enormous difference in my understanding of this complicated world.

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soryang's picture

@on the cusp ...in my area that teaches aeronautic science, trains flight controllers, engineers, pilots etc. If I run into any of the students over there again, I'd be interested to hear what they say about these issues. Not that I doubt what you're saying for a minute.

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語必忠信 行必正直

@soryang what you learn.
Just as I read that article, an emergency landing happened in the IAH, 45 minutes away. Solo pilot went unconscious, no co-pilot for a small plane. A passenger just happened to be a pilot, landed the plane safely.
Thanks!

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QMS's picture

@on the cusp

tech fix? Robots in the sky.
Hey, carless drivers is working out OK. Wink

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@QMS Saves $ on salary, benefits... Yeah, baby!

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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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Why is Bush, Obama, Clinton and Biden funding NGOs to help people come to America? If you want the answer read this.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cultural-replacement-why-immigration-c...

The military pushed out people that it thought were too red necked and they also pushed out anyone who refused to take an experimental gene therapy and then after the mandate was rescinded congress refused to allow them back in. And Hochul actually gave the game away when she said that if nursing levels got too low she would hire foreign nurses to take their place.
Y’all seeing the big picture yet?

Will the Texas situation become the new Fort Sumpter? Stay tuned…

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

@snoopydawg back Abbott, with 10 of them sending their state guards to the Texas borders.
Abbott cannot back down. Biden is toast if he does, probably toast if he foolishly declares martial law and suspends our rights, and suspends the elections.
This is a game changer, Missy.

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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

"Success without Victory".

The tepid ruling by the President of the ICJ who just happens to be an American.

The behind the scenes pressure exerted by the US and its lackies did the charm.

Get a load of this.The ruling just happened to coincide with "International Holocaust Remembrance Day" how convenient to minimize the impact

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/26/...

Statement from President Joe Biden on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

I won't bother to quote from the statement.

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@humphrey

salute!"

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QMS's picture

@humphrey

the world knows this is not about the right to self defense
they wore that sorry excuse out after the first week

genocidal killers have no moral ground to stand on
and yet US continues to support this. DC is fucked-up.

wrong side of history once again.

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@humphrey with no trade partners.
I fell in love with South Africa. I want that country and its' good people to thrive, get the respect from this world they have been denied for too long.
They outclassed Israel in every way.
Your tweets (xes?) are always great!
Thanks, always, humphrey.

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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

@humphrey shocked AND dismayed. s/

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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