OT WED 8 MAY 24 ~ Doing the math

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 5:00am

In a world of outsized influence on global policies by a few large nations,
consider the balance of power if two of the three superpowers join forces.

Rather than joining into the stronger alliance, it seems the US, ISR and EU
prefers to fight assimilation, much to the detriment of the ROW.

The smaller nation states can see which way the winds of change are blowing.
Iran and friends in the Middle East, Central European countries, many African
countries, as well several Central and South American countries understand the
potentials of hitching their wagons to the stronger alliance. BRICS + is a good
example of geopolitical decision making which have improvement of economies
and cultures at the forefront. Cooperation ahead of competition.

In the spirit of open threads, chime in with what you have on any topics.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 7:08am

Hi, good morning

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Looking ahead to heavy rains today. Oh well.

Found this interview with Chris Hedges and Dennis Kucinich.
It was the reason Chris was de-platformed from The Real News.

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-chris-hedges-report-with-independent

Deals with the corruption of the two-party monopoly on electoral politics.

I get a lot of the text, but the video doesn't play. Can you figure it out?

ETA: didn't work in Safari, but did in Firefox ..

Cheers!

—

question everything

Submitted by usefewersyllables on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 10:22am

If we had a sane government,

which we don't, it should be planning a for very isolationist foreign policy. Because we are *going* to be isolated by the rest of the world, assuming that we aren't all vaporized first. We'd better figure out how to pump, manufacture, and grow all we need to be self-sufficient: because it won't be long before the rest of the world decides that they can play the weaponized-economic-sanction game on us.

Once the might-makes-right bubble finally pops, and the overprinted fiat dollar becomes essentially worthless (on the global stage), it won't be pretty. We'll have to invade a bunch of countries to keep the Kardashians on the teevee, and the bucks flowing to the MIC oligarchs.

Ain't living through the end of empire fun?

—

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by Snode on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 10:25am

Mostly agree

@usefewersyllables All that will rain down on us 99%. The one thing that the world depends on is Wall Street, the ultra wealthy high rollers casino. Only in the U.S. can this degree of corruption and disdain for it's citizenry co exist with the casino capitalism and worship of the wealthy we espouse. Other countries wouldn't put up with it, so here we are.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:24pm

Turn about is fair play

@usefewersyllables
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The 'rules based' ruse will not protect us from a
global reaction. Sanctions cut both ways.

Hope the big flash is not the answer.

—

question everything

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 10:50am

Lots of people think Obama is running Biden

from his basement like he once said he would love to do. Maybe they are right since Biden is violently breaking up the Gaza protests just like Obama violently broke up OWS.

Biden yelled at the ~~clouds~~ college students again last night and scolded them for not saying that Hamas started the war on 10/7. That is all Biden, his cabinet and Israel talks about. Hamas, Hamas, Hamas and totally leave out what Israel has been doing since 2006 Or its 75 years history of slow genocide and land theft.

Cops violently broke up the U of U protests and they are now a thing of the past. Most of the comments are against the protests and they want the students punished severely. If the media doesn’t cover something it never happened just like a tree falls silently in the woods if no one is there to hear it fall. And I doubt there were any protests at BYU.

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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

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 10:50am

A part of this is the competition fetish that it inculcated

in USians from earliest childhood and continually and continuously reinforced. Competition good, cooperation bad, ot at least severely inferior. Thus it isn't even thought about or consciously assumed, it is just part of the USian mindset and unconscious/subconscious weltanschauung.In the west, those who can, dominate, and those unable to do so align and ally with those who do do so. This is a bit less entrenched in Europe due to history and historical forces, but even there, cooperation is largely negotiated, with each party looking out, first and foremost, for their own interest and benefit.

How do you undo generations of cradle to grave brainwashing and propaganda? More importantly, how can we do that in a hurry?

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 --

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:06pm

Good questions enhydra

@enhydra lutris
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unless there is some kind of mass enlightenment
it is hard to envision erasing engrained indoctrination

thanks for adding to the mix

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question everything

Submitted by Bring Back Civics on Thu, 05/09/2024 - 3:25pm

Competition

@enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris Enhydra Lutris - Competition

I agree with your "inculcated competition" comments wholeheartedly. I especially notice that in sports, which I have always loved and participated in (and still do). The emphasis on winning at all costs and being the "GOAT" have become the pervasive narrative of all team sports. Teamwork and cooperation are rarely even part of the narrative nowadays -- its all about the stars. When I grew up in the '70's, the phrase "There is no "I" in "Team" was a widely accepted cliche'. You never hear that anymore. The players acknowledge the team aspect of their sports, but the media focuses only on the individuals. My kids were and are competitive athletes, and they regarded losing as the biggest shame in the world despite my efforts to promote sportsmanship. In my view, the "GOAT/emphasis on the individuals" narrative is part and parcel of the capitalist propaganda promoting "win at all costs" and in the end there can only be one GOAT.

Submitted by QMS on Thu, 05/09/2024 - 3:48pm

Team sports

@Bring Back Civics
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encourage camaraderie
depending on the coach
it varies between excel and
draw blood.

Management groups are not
dissimilar in some ways.

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question everything

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:06pm

American mercenaries to control Rafah crossing

https://news.antiwar.com/2024/05/07/report-private-us-security-firm-to-t...

So American boots on the ground after all. What happens if they get fired upon? And is American taxpayers picking up the tab for this too? Can this timeline get any more stupid?

Maybe Gawtz will ask some questions about this.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:12pm

Sounds like a dumb plan

@snoopydawg
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who controls the mercs? If it is IDF, the aid will not come thru.
Mere posturing IMO.

thanks for the link

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question everything

Submitted by usefewersyllables on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 12:49pm

This provides

@QMS

plausible deniability; so that when they load 1k Palestinians on a barge that just accidentally happens to sink on the way to Someplace Better, the USG can wash its hands of it. Just a rogue mercenary, you know. that'll work for at least for the first 5 or 10 times it happens...

—

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 05/09/2024 - 12:26pm

And then there is the war on populations here

@snoopydawg

This guy, with absolutely spot on answers. Genuinely surprised this even aired. pic.twitter.com/3TwDDLpkha

— missymarxist ☭ (@missymarxist) May 7, 2024

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“Those who make Bernie Sanders impossible will make Luigi Mangione inevitable." - Dan Berger

Submitted by Sima on Fri, 05/10/2024 - 5:40am

Wow

@Cassiodorus
That was a great interview with that student.

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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

Submitted by on the cusp on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 2:11pm

Good afternoon, QMS, et al!

I can understand why countries are joining BRICS. The US needs to accept and adjust to the power shift, although, our government is a bunch of arrogant, stubborn f*cks. I expect us to go down swinging.
I spoke with a tree service guy who was off work today, finally able to get home in a flooded subdivision. During the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, he raised his home 2 ft by putting it on stilts. Last week, it collected 1 1/2 inches of water. FEMA is not stepping up to help this time.
This is a local disaster. The people bought their property with the understanding it was a 100 year flood plain. That was magical thinking.
I wish I could help them.
Well, more rain for the upcoming week. Good grief.
Hope everyone is high and dry.
Thanks for the OT, my friend.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 2:32pm

It looks like she is auditioning for a trip to the Hauge.

LIKUD OFFICIAL: “The US is threatening not to give us precise missiles . Oh yeah? Well, I got news for the US. We have imprecise missiles. I’ll use it. I’ll just collapse ten [in Gaza]. Ten buildings. That’s what I’ll do” pic.twitter.com/tVlKk4xaZs

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 8, 2024

Of course it will be ignored by Genocide Joe and Blinky.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 3:03pm

Not a good look for our BFF in west Asia

@humphrey
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of course it only adds to the already ugly sinking ship
the US has tied its moral failure to. Bombing and starving
innocents without compunction for the world to see.
Someone should explain to Blinky that not everyone is a
terrorist in spite of the zionist cover story.

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question everything

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 05/08/2024 - 3:01pm

Another thing that Genocide Joe will likely ignore.

@humphrey

He might even call them anti-Semites.

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4651826-jewish-professors-biden-a...

A group of nearly 700 Jewish college faculty signed a letter to President Biden on Wednesday encouraging him not to back the controversial Antisemitism Awareness Act.

The academics took issue with the act’s use of the International Holocaust Awareness Alliance’s (IHRA) definiton of antisemtiism, which has raised concerns that legitimate criticisms of the state of Israel could be seen as antisemitic under the bill.

Criticism of the state of Israel, the Israeli government, policies of the Israeli government, or Zionist ideology is not — in and of itself — antisemitic,” the letter to Biden and Senate leaders reads.

“We accordingly urge our political leaders to reject any effort to codify into federal law a definition of antisemitism that conflates antisemitism with criticism of the state of Israel,” it continues.

By using the IHRA definition in federal law, the letter claims, the bill could “delegitimize and silence Jewish Americans — among others — who advocate for Palestinian human rights or otherwise criticize Israeli policies.”

“By stifling criticism of Israel, the IHRA definition hardens the dangerous notion that Jewish identity is inextricably linked to every decision of Israel’s government,” the letter continues. “Far from combating antisemitism, this dynamic promises to amplify the real threats Jewish Americans already face.”