Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - Feb 24, 2024
![](https://caucus99percent.com/sites/default/files/user%20images/open%20thread.jpg)
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso
First I want to thank each of you for taking the time to read my musings and collections of news stories I found interesting. The contribution of comments to share knowledge and opinions have been a Welcome addition.
Plan on remaining active in the community, simply dropping the weekly obligation.
And yes, I will increase prepping to address the single biggest challenge I foresee. Aging in place in a spot I choose, which is currently my home/ranch/farm, and living a life I enjoy. I have helped four generation of family stay in their homes after a physical decline and specialized in geriatrics for 20 years. Now it is time to find out if I really learned the lessons life presented.
Public Service Announcement
Cybercriminals Tampering with QR Codes to Steal Victim Funds Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public Service Announcement Jan 18, 2024
Businesses use QR codes legitimately to provide convenient contactless access and have used them more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, cybercriminals are taking advantage of this technology by directing QR code scans to malicious sites to steal victim data, embedding malware to gain access to the victim's device, and redirecting payment for cybercriminal use.
Cybercriminals tamper with both digital and physical QR codes to replace legitimate codes with malicious codes.
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Tips to Protect Yourself:Once you scan a QR code, check the URL to make sure it is the intended site and looks authentic. A malicious domain name may be similar to the intended URL but with typos or a misplaced letter.
Practice caution when entering login, personal, or financial information from a site navigated to from a QR code.
If scanning a physical QR code, ensure the code has not been tampered with, such as with a sticker placed on top of the original code.
Do not download an app from a QR code. Use your phone's app store for a safer download.
If you receive an email stating a payment failed from a company you recently made a purchase with and the company states you can only complete the payment through a QR code, call the company to verify. Locate the company's phone number through a trusted site rather than a number provided in the email.
Do not download a QR code scanner app. This increases your risk of downloading malware onto your device. Most phones have a built-in scanner through the camera app.
If you receive a QR code that you believe to be from someone you know, reach out to them through a known number or address to verify that the code is from them.
Avoid making payments through a site navigated to from a QR code. Instead, manually enter a known and trusted URL to complete the payment.
FBI Tech Tuesday: Building a Digital Defense Against QR Code Scams El Paso FBI Sept 19, 2023
In 2022, the FBI started receiving reports of people who were falling victim to QR code scams, including some who lost money. One area of particular concern—frauds involving cryptocurrency. Crypto transactions are often made through QR codes associated with crypto accounts… making these transactions easy marks.
The QR code scam has evolved much like all other scams. Now scammers are using QR codes and gift cards together. Scammers may call and say they’re going to send a QR code to your phone, so you can receive a free $100 gift card. In reality, the QR code may take you to a malicious website.
If you happen to sca
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n a scammer’s bad code, you could end up giving them access to your device. They can access your contacts, download malware, or send you to a fake payment portal. Once there, you can inadvertently give them access to your banking and credit card accounts. If you make a payment through a bad QR code, it’s difficult if not impossible to get those funds back.
Thai Land Bridge bid straddles a delicate US-China line Asia Times Feb 20, 2024
Thailand hopes China will help build a US$2.8 billion, east-west highway and railway “Land Bridge” across the kingdom, linking the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand as a short-cut for oil and other international cargo currently sailing further south via Singapore and the Malacca Strait.
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Inland southern China could then also use existing north-south roads and rails to enable Chinese overland access, for the first time, to southern Thailand’s two planned deep-sea ports on the Andaman and Gulf coasts, opening westward to the Indian Ocean and east to the Pacific.
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Bangkok plans to send “a Land Bridge megaproject roadshow” headed by Thailand’s transportation ministry to China in March in a bid to attract Chinese government and private investment to the 100-kilometer-long megaproject, which includes gas and oil pipelines, warehouses and other infrastructure.
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It’s still unclear how the US, including the Pentagon, views the proposed project from a military perspective, including its potential to provide China with an alternative shipping route in a potential conflict scenario where the US Navy bids to block Chinese ships in the Malacca Strait chokepoint to put economic pressure on Beijing.
The Axis of Asymmetry takes on the 'rules-based order' by Pepe Escobar The Cradle Feb 23, 2024
Ansarallah is absolutely relentless. They have downed a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper drone with just a $10k indigenous missile.
Ansarallah has captured one of the US Navy's ultra-sophisticated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), the $1.3 million Remus 600, a torpedo-shaped underwater drone able to carry a massive payload of sensors.
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Lula spoke in the name of Brazil, Latin America, Africa, BRICS 10, and the overwhelming majority of the Global South when he cut to the chase and defined the Gaza tragedy for what it is: a genocide. No wonder the Zionist tentacles across the Global North – plus its Global South vassals – went bonkers.The genocidals in Tel Aviv declared Lula as persona non grata in Israel.
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The menu, the table, and the guestsThat out-of-his-depth closet neocon, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, let the cat out of the bag when he actually defined his much cherished “rules-based international order”: “If you're not on the table, you are on the menu.”
Following his own hegemonic logic, it’s clear that Russia and the US/NATO are on the table while Ukraine is on the menu. What about the Red Sea? The Houthis defending Palestine against US–UK–Israel are clearly on the table, while Western vassals supporting Israel in a maritime way are clearly on the menu.
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The fact is we are already immersed in a World War that is both existential and civilizational. As we stand at the crossroads, there is a bifurcation: either escalation towards overt “kinetic military action,” or a multiplication of Hybrid Wars across several latitudes.
The destruction of hospitals in Gaza appear to have no purpose except to harass a vulnerable population. Is it possible the goal was to destroy medical records and research data. Electronic records are easy to transfer to other locations or legal entities. Paper records and personal notes of employees would most likely have been in the destroyed buildings.
Israel's population was dubbed “the world’s laboratory” by none other than Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla. Twenty percent of the population was vaccinated with the first dose of Pfizer COVID vaccine by the second week of January 2021. The vaccine rate and type of vaccine used was vastly different in Gaza.
Gaza’s vaccination rate is far below West Bank and half the Israeli rate Mondoweis March 7, 2022
According to the World Health Organizations, 61.7% of the target population is fully vaccinated in the West Bank, 32.3% fully vaccinated in Gaza, the majority of those vaccinated are females. There are 165 vaccination centers. [The share of Israelis fully vaccinated is 66 percent.]
Pfizer used Israel as “the world’s first laboratory” to study its Covid vaccine’s efficacy, NOT promote safety Biz News Oct 28, 2022
A bit of background: at the end of 2020, Israel was facing an empty trough. None of the aggressive measures taken by Israel against COVID – lockdowns, social distancing, school closures and attempts to cut off the chain of infection by means of quarantine – had succeeded in preventing the spread of the virus.
In addition, the then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced the threat of the disbanding of his government and the replacement of his leadership in the elections. All this was overshadowed by indictments pending against him. Netanyahu decided to bet on Pfizer’s vaccine as the strategy that could potentially allow him to solve the COVID problem, with the added benefit of substantial political gain.
In this way, in exchange for the privilege to be the first country in the world to roll out the vaccine among its population, Israel entered into two agreements with Pfizer: a production and supply agreement that was not made public at all; and “The Real World Epidemiological Evidence Collaboration Agreement,” which is discussed in this article.
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Why is the agreement with Pfizer so significant? Because it turns the state from a sovereign entity into an agent of a commercial pharmaceutical company seeking to operate in its territory. A role of the state is to protect the well being of its citizens and residents.
Prof. John Mearsheimer: US and the Unipolar Moment (41:28 min)
Begins discussion defining Unipolar and Multipolar. At 3:31 discusses Great Power requirements of wealth and size of population. Later mentions immigration needs to continue in US to maintain Great Power status. The wealth gap is decreasing between China and US, population size becomes a more significant factor.
Link to the livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current events Israel/Hamas/Gaza, expanded Middle East Conflict Zone and Ukraine/Russia conflict. The interviews are generally posted Monday through Friday.
What is on your mind today?
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Comments
Good morning...
Thanks for your OT shift. Much appreciated.
Speaking of mRNA vaccination...
11 min
Entire interview here
Enjoy the weekend!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning soe. Thanks for the Potluck/OT-
I can't recall if this is your last or not, but in addition to thanking you for all your columns, I want to wish you a very happy and enjoyable "retirement"
I start cooking mañana, so I've got to take farmers' market very seriously today, especially insofar as I only have one specific meal, tomorrow, more or less completely planned. Much will depend on what's available today, though it is not fully determinative since the chain retailers will also have "fresh" veggies from the Imperial Valley and even Mexico. Zukes, tomatoes, and peppers for example are simply never "out of season" here.
PSA's from the feebs need to have a cautionary PSA warning you about them appended thereto. They regularly grind out ludicrous carp with bulletins about this or that thing which maybe actually happened once or twice but also incorporates a lot of total misunderstanding such as when they had their big thing about "gang signs" a great many of which were old hobo markings and random graffitti, or their declaration that Juggalos were a dangerous gang and the infamous alert to cops everywhere to be watchful of the "Black Identity Extremists" in our midst. I suggest something of the form "(this and that) has been identified as a threat, risk or danger by the feebs. Based on real evidence from normal media and the presence or absence of internet communications and word of mouth you should maybe give it a (insert numeral from 1 to 10 here)."
Zo, breakfast beckons and I intend to make a sandwich, and ergo must go slice a loaf of bread because we finished off the old one yestidday.
be well and have a great one and a fun and fulfilling retirement.
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 --
My thought for the day is
de-criminalization of sexual abuse of children.
Now, France is leading the way. Great Britain is also making progress towards some societal understanding that pedophiles are not all that bad.
Some are very concerned about Mossad losing their honey pot blackmail income stream, and that the CIA will lose an income stream from the Cartels.
Certain promoters of de-population opine that little girls can't get pregnant, so it isn't really a bad thing for climate change.
Notice there is no concern about permanent injuries sustained by the children? At all?
Oh, well, I am glad I am childless and glad I am old, and a Texan, where we hammer down on child abusers, sexual or otherwise. Don't mess with Texas kids.
SOE, I am so happy for you being able to retire. I think about it often, just can't commit to a year. I am concerned about inflation ruining my fixed income standard of living.
Get some farming done, enjoy getting your hands in fertile soil, and enjoy all the fruits of your labor.
Your Potlucks will always be sorely missed, but much appreciated.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Gracefully aging along in your chosen homestead
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sounds like a great plan. Wishing you success!
It has been very generous of you to post the potlucks
and share your interests. Hope to see you around soe.
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Thanks SoE!
Hi all, Hey SoE!
I have not had time to comment much on Saturdays (biz work day) unfortunately, but have very much appreciated your OT's. They have been great! I am really going to miss them! Thank you very much for your hard work! Not easy documenting the madness of the runaway crazy train we got to be on. Sounds like you have a great plan! My two key mentors are both 84 and say gettin' old ain't for sissies, and they were both Marines! Look forward to still 'seeing you around'. Meanwhile, have fun at the farm!
take care all!
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
Bingo
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193 countries also did that and kept their deals with big pharma secret including America. And once the harms started coming out they ignored them and kept repeating safe and effective and left those harmed hanging in the wind. Remember that Israel was the first country that showed that the jab caused myocarditis and other problems.
Austin did a bait and switch on the military by telling them that the jabs had been FDA approved except it was the Pfizer Comamidty that wasn’t available here. One soldier just won his lawsuit against the military for being dishonorably discharged because of the lie and is upgraded to honorable. Austin also defied congress by mandating them to get jabbed or else after the anthrax vaccine debacle that also destroyed a lot of lives. I’m curious whether he and the other military brass took it or were they exempt like congress was as well as many other groups? Might be karma if he did.
But any lawsuit against big pharma will fall because the government has given them total immunity.
This doctor has been pro vax and encouraged her listeners to get jabbed and she did the same for her family and jabbed her kids and now she regrets it all.
Why does she regret it? She read Dr. McCollough's recent article.
COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Lessons Learned from the Registrational Trials and Global Vaccination Campaign
She learned that Pfizer only tested the jab on healthy people aged 19-55 and of course they never tested it to see if it blocked infection or transmission. Nor on the elderly or pregnant women. lately the wording has been changed to pregnant people.
Thanks again for all your OTs and I’ll see you down the road. It’s sunny and warm here and Sam has been outside all morning sun bathing.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
studentofearth Your previous contributions to this site are
greatly appreciated and look forward to future input. I am sure that your retirement will progress smoothly.
I usually begin my online day scanning the newswires to see how the masses are being misinformed. Typically I come across stuff like this.
But
It is not always a complete waste as I occasionally come across worthwhile things like this.![](https://caucus99percent.com/sites/all/modules/smiley/packs/kolobok/mosking.gif)
On bad days I like to watch puppies playing
On the puppy cam. there are 4 videos to choose from. Click on any and enjoy. Sometimes I have to click twice…
I guess from now on we should say that American backed Israeli troops murdered hundreds again in Gaza. So what if Iran backs the houthis? Or sells weapons to Russia or North Korea does too? How many countries have sent tons of weapons to Ukraine to kill Russians? Goose/gander.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
But the propaganda never stops!
The rest of the tweet:
2 things caught my attention.
First it is good that the US uses "environmentally safe" bombs when attacking the Houthis and if the ship is anchored how do they explain the shape of the oil slick?
This is who Caitlin is talking about
If you can look at the replies to the 2nd tweet.
Did y’all see the racist tweets I posted last night? These 2 examples are why Americans will never reign in the military industrial complex. They think that America is the good guys.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Somewhat related with the US military suddenly becoming
concerned about the environment. But absolutely silent with regards to the following....
Student of the Earth, thank you so much!
Your weekly columns have been so informative and compelling, a must read each Saturday here in France.
I know how much work goes into a weekly Open Thread and you have produced so many with current geo-political and important news focus.
No small feat.
Your life on the farm and focus on family and friends sets a bar for all of us and keeps us grounded in ways we so need today.
Many thank yous.
We are in a season where all the hedgerows are now manicured to a standard height and everywhere you look hedges are neat as a pin. It must be done before birds start nesting or it must wait until after end of summer.
It is also the season of 'gosh where do we put all the manure' from cows kept in barns from mid November to mid March. Large tractors (those not in Paris) trundle over roads to get to pastures where the manure can be spread with giant spreaders or just tipped into piles for future moving around. It can be quite intense oder-wise until a good rain melts it into the underlying soils.
Even though days are rapidly reaching eleven hours we see tractor lights in the dark working away. Farmers are never done with their jobs.
We have seen Cattle Egrets, Great White Egrets, Herons, many Hawks and this week two Stork sightings. All up from Africa and journeying to Spring nesting grounds in Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
WE've had an unusual period of warm weather above 15°C off and on, but maybe more Winter yet to come. We need to have more cold to keep birds from nesting too soon, insects from hatching too soon (I've seen three adult Butterflies so far) because the insects and birds are no longer in synch with each other.
There has been almost no snow at all in the Pyrenées and the Alps are very spotty, causing great distress in the skiing and winter sports geography.
LIfe is indeed chaotic nowadays.
We are homesteading as best we can while trying to secure our domicile from all kinds of tribulation. We have been successful in some arenas and not so much in others.
We have found more sources of bio beef, porc, chicken, eggs and are looking for non-pasturized milk maybe goat locally if we can find it. If it's there it's probably kept for cheese, which is wonderful.
Wishing you the very best in your retirement. You have certainly earned it and the grateful appreciation of your many readers. Again thank you.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Dawn...
what you describe in France right now, your life homesteading sounds really good. Yes, difficult, but really good in so many ways. I wish the birds and bugs could coordinate timing, and there was more snow in the mountains. Same thing is happening here in many ways.
You are doing very good work. It's good to hear about it!
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
Ukraine Aid Unsustainable
Great military commentary from Brian Berletic.
Pentagon Admits Ukraine Aid Unsustainable + Why Neutrality is Ukraine's Only (Good) Option
It's interesting that the Pentagon knows this isn't working.
Brian just nails the problem with "supporting the Ukraine war effort." I knew this would be a problem with any option to provide aviation assets to Ukraine. Aviation logistics, maintenance, operations, support and planning is a culture developed over decades of experience, one doesn't just learn how to fly and maintain F-16s or operate unfamiliar missile batteries effectively in a few months. I also made similar observations on, tanks, armor, trucks, etc. It isn't like delivering a new car from the showroom. For this reason after the initial tranche as it were of indigenous (older legacy Russian equipment) used by Ukrainian forces was destroyed, I expected Ukraine to enter an asymmetric warfare type posture against Russia after just a few months. Wrong. The US for some reason seeks to repeat the process. The DUMPEX is profitable for certain interests.
It seems as if things haven't changed from the cold war, when Russian military equipment had a reputation for reliability in the field, and yet still possessed sufficiently effective performance characteristics to compete in the battle zone. With less complexity they could be produced (and maintained) in great numbers with lower cost. My understanding is that military production was centered in Eastern Ukraine, the part that Russia occupies. So this was another Ukrainian disadvantage from day one. The US always bragged about it's technical superiority, but the associated complexity is a liability under the actual conditions of war and operations in the field. The introduction of different brands of tank, armor and trucks from different NATO allies is another shortcoming.
The Mi-17 vs. UH 60 Blackhawk example in Afghanistan is telling. It brought to mind the US Vietnam war effort. A sustainment effort for aviation or other technically complex equipment involves a huge expanding commitment like the US expansion of its effort during the Vietnam war. Fletcher Prouty pointed out in his book on the Vietnam war that eventually the US lost thousands of helos in Vietnam; bases and maintenance infrastructure to maintain them were primary targets of Vietcong, forcing the US to commit greater and greater ground forces to defend the maintenance and operations units on the ground from attack. Any large scale military infrastructure aimed at sustainment and logistics (the 85 percent Brian discusses), inside Ukraine would be similarly targeted by Russia, and would not be supportable. except from inside NATO countries. This means mechanized forces near the front would still just operating in a sacrifice zone. Sustainment from NATO would not be effective and yet increases the war's risks and costs by multiples as Brian points out.
Thanks for all your weekly Potlucks in the past SOE. I always looked forward to Saturday to read them. Enjoy your retirement!
(edited typos, grammar, omissions)
語必忠信 行必正直
Way past time…
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There are a few more old folks in congress that should be walking with them.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Telling the truth is anti semantic?
..
The UN rep from China said that Palestinians have every right to throw off their oppressors and Hamas is their representative. America and Israel tried to rig the vote against them, but when they won they were immediately called terrorists. Abbas rules the West Bank and pretty much lets Israel do whatever the hell they want. There are close to 10,000 Israelis illegally living there and they have destroyed numerous homes belonging to Palestinians and the fcking world has been silent about it.
Biden has been in government for 50 years and not once has he gone against Israel. Schumer, Pelosi and countless other Democrats have been there for 4-5 decades and are just as useless as Biden.
BTW, Pelosi just made over a million dollars in just days in stock trades. Anyone else thoroughly disgusted with our corrupt government? See my sigline.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
The Houthis are not only warriors but also shrewd diplomats.
The US will likely refuse the offer.
"Ukrainie WILL win"
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This is brilliant by Orf.
"If you tell a lie enough people will believe the lie"
Schumer guarantees that if Ukraine gets their $61 billion then they will win the war. If they don’t then they won’t win the war. He also said that if republicans don’t release the money then American troops will have to fight Russia. Yeah good luck with that. Ukraine had 7 years to get prepared to fight Russia and Advika had the most dug in defenses and don’t forget that they also had one of the biggest armies in Europe…Russia defeated the first army in months and then they defeated the 2nd army and now they just defeated the 3rd. If Russia hadn’t destroyed so much of their equipment then the little Z wouldn’t have spent the last 2 years going from country to country begging for more.
The big European poobahs were in Kiev laying flowers at one of the many Ukrainian cemeteries. Sadly almost 500,000 Ukrainians have been killed and many more have been wounded. And for what? Seriously why did all those men have to die?
Shoigu gave the figure as 2,400 casualties just in the final two days of the collapse:
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
The puppets make their pilgrimage to Ukraine to celebrate
Ukraine's supposed victory.![](https://caucus99percent.com/sites/all/modules/smiley/packs/kolobok/dash1.gif)
I wonder how many cemeteries they visited?
I’d think it’d take weeks or months to visit all the new graves. Just beyond sad that Biden, chicken hawks and shitlibs don’t value Ukrainian lives. But then they don’t value American lives either.
I’m betting all those leaders have stock in the areas that Zelensky gave to blackrock. That’s why they are willing for Ukrainians to keep fighting.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
I'm going to miss your weekly Potluck
... studentofearth. Thank you for putting that together for us.
Anytime you want to talk about Aging in Place, I'm all ears. I am a member of another group with the same name. It is a most interesting and creative topic. Someday it will be mainstreamed and incorporated in all home design.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
You have done such great work here...
Thank you. I'm so grateful for your Saturday Potluck and will miss it. But looking forward to learning more from you as you move into retirement and gracefully aging in your homestead. We are hoping to do the same soon!
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