Saturday Open Thread - 11/30/24: Odds and Ends
Good morning, good people!
I am back home, sounds of loud trucks rattling the walls, and hungry birds at the feeder that was put away for 3 days. The birds can't blame us. They must blame the squirrels.
I watched a Due Dissidence video about the military being used to deport illegals. They talked about the bad look of dragging away kids and grannies on TV. Obviously, it would be traumatizing to decent Americans.
What they didn't really touch upon is normalizing Military presence in our communities, conditioning us to accept it. Nothing to see here.
Anyways, see what you think.
Just under 13 minutes.
The "truce" between Lebanon and Israel is to me, some cover for a great, big, pack of lies and subterfuge. If it looks like bulls shit, smells like bull shit, it is bullshit. What doesn't lie? No fighting, no fighting! (If I make it back to Columbia one day, I will die happy!)
What happened to our kids in the 60s is maybe gonna happen to kids again, since history repeats itself. I remember like it was yesterday when Bo, a guy who graduated a year ahead of me, known as borderline "retarded", as it was called then. No doubt his IQ was not more than 80. Drafted, basic training, sent to Nam, killed on Day 1. We must not continue the madness. We must learn, must improve, must survive. I can't listen this song without crying, but listen I must.
Travel tip: When you are in an asshole-ish hotel that doesn't allow ice coolers, try this: put your beer (or food that needs to stay cold) in the bathroom sink. Place beer (or food) in first, cover with free ice from the hotel ice maker. Now, this is a caveat: I have heard it works with food, have only used it with beer.
Lots of stuff going on, particularly with Erdogan and Turkey. Turkey was recently secular, awesome, then in he came. He fights a bit here, but not enough to piss off a "friend", and so on and so on.
Not sure why I am shocked that a Muslim would be as underhanded as a Christian or Jew. Deceit is across the board, friends.
Except with us. We have integrity.
I will turn over the comments to you, friends. Say what is on your minds, in your hearts, as it is an open thread.
Let 'er rip!
Comments
More about Bo
Sometimes kids who are sort of physically misshapen and mentally challenged are the butt of jokes and the object of harassment and bullying. My classmates, hell, my entire school, was just not that way. We liked Bo. We all went out of our way to help him, and his ability to make passing grades and graduate was done by teachers looking the other way. When he was drafted, we were horrified. When his body was returned for burial, the turnout for the funeral was massive.
He was the first casualty of the Viet Nam War in the county.
We need a peacenik President! ASAP!
Your turn folks.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Don't count on a peacenik President
any time soon. The last one we had caught a bullet to the head. There's to much money to be made from endless war for TPTB to allow a peacenik President. Ain't capitalism grand.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Good morning, Sp!
I see these young kids getting involved in high school ROTC, marking time until they get to speak with a military recruiter. Conditioned by public education, The Girl and Boy Scouts, getting them ready to go kill someone in a foreign country they can't pronounce nor locate on a map.
They have no grasp of why we fight, much less for whom.
I was 15 when Bo was buried. We were such a small community, there were no Scouts, no ROTC. Only 1 high school teacher had fought in a war. War was a shocker, peace protests were a positive community action.
Those days are gone. Mass murder to enrich people we can't name is the game.
Enjoy your weekend, Sp. Take some photos of the clear skies while they still are, friend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey now
glad you made it back in one peace
sure the birdies are happy too
moved a 1600 pound cherry tree trunk
which was a cut-off from the tree service
yesterday using a gantry into a 13 foot trailer
the guy is bringing it to a sawmill, eventually
the basis for the furniture he makes
traded for the use of his log splitter later
sounds like Putin has put Ze on notice with
a major infrastructure raid with another to
follow. Hell to pay. Will the west back-off?
Anyway, thanks for the OT and welcome back!
PS. maybe misheard, but a rift on "my country 'tis of thee" sounded like 'my country
Tel Aviv' (who are we fighting for?) Axeing for a frienenemy.
Good morning Q!
1600 lbs? Pretty damn manly man work project, sir!
I have considered buying a wood splitter. One might come in handy.
One project we are planning this week is to install a 3-car car port. It will save both time and money to buy a package, have it erected by the dealer, than to do it ourselves. Building projects might interfere with some concert somewhere, since we spend our spare time looking for them.
I get the biggest kick out of that video/song you posted! Thanks!
I haven't read any war news, still drinking coffee, watching the birds at the feeder. After lunch, I will check out the latest on the 2 war fronts, see if Russia has had enough of the bs.
Enjoy your outdoor projects, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
YouTuber has been to Pennsic
or Estrella or one of the other major SCA "wars". Those are definitely SCA-type fighters, duct-taped rattan weapons and all.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
How about Aleppo?
Assad, Putin, Iran, all not doing so well of late.
There used to be an IQ floor for being accepted in the armed forces, they get killed a lot quicker. Dangerous stuff wars.
Interesting data coming out of the election, of course the data is far from being definitive or complete.
Hmmm….let’s see
Iran just showed that Israel can’t defend against its missile attacks. Plus it derailed Israel’s attack on them. Russia is gobbling up territory in the Donbas and it just shot a rocket that America has no defense against. Syria just killed 400 terrorists in Aleppo….you were saying?
ETA: Oh yeah….Zelensky is setting out terms for a ceasefire.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Good morning, ban nock
Different sources give very different news about the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the ME. I always check several before coming to any conclusions about who is kicking who's ass.
I have lost interest in the election details, as the matter amongst TPTB is settled, over, done, move on to the next distraction.
The Democrat party has moved further to the right than the traditional righties. As an individual with fairly leftist inclinations, I am out in the cold either way. Hence, I get away from it all whenever I can. Music doth soothe the soul.
Have a nice day, ban nock.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Interesting factoid
I could never be an engineer…my brain just isn’t cut out to be one. I can barely goggle the facts here. Gotta admit though that the guys who figured out how to build the dam were very smart.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
that was an AI generated presentation
.
interesting, but containing many
errors (as is the way of AI)
happy Saturday!
You will have to explain the errors
It still looks like an amazing piece of work. And way over my head.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
did you notice the doubling of script?
said over and over
also, the use of terms
like blowing up the cliffs
It really was an engineering marvel
but the presentation started with the
concept of 'most dangerous dam ever'
which is silly - all dams are dangerous
in the battle between man and nature
nature eventually wins
PS. happy birthday Jimi Hendrix
I have visited the damn twice,
flew over it in a helicopter once, and while I am the antithesis of an engineer, it does look dangerous as all get out.
Just once in a while, folks in the US do something right. Hoover damn, Hoover vacuum cleaner...
Hope you and my client are having a fun day, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@snoopydawg Interesting video. Just
Interesting video. Just passed over the dam 4 days ago and will pass over it again tomorrow. The water is very low on Lake Powell so don’t know how much electricity is being generated.
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
Heh, welcome back and thanx for da OT.
Since I am inclined to use the bathroom sink for its intended purpose, I used to ice my beer in the trashcan provided. They usually even have a plastic bag inside, waterproofing them.
Muslims, like Christers and Jews are "people of the book", same damn book, more or less with different editors, and hence it should be no surprise that they act just like the rest.
Integrity must be absolutely valueless if we have some and haven't sold it. Just sayin'.
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 --
At college parties,
we filled up the bath tub. Heathens, we were and still are.
It was at Baylor Univ. when taking the required course in The Old Testament, now called Old Bible, I first got educated on transliteration and translation. Native tribe speak, call it slang, spoken not written, into another similar slang, also not written, becomes a transliteration of the best guess of what was meant, then translated into another actual written language. Lots of ways to see that what we read in English bears no resemblance to the origin of the first Bible, and the slang long since gone. Moreover, what chapters and verses were left out, and who made the decision on what to include? I daresay, the New Testament has the same iteration. We have no idea what the Books were about, yet they are the sacred tomes of the majority of the world.
I was 16 when I took that course. The professor held a Doctorate, was an ordained minister, and he stressed one must just have faith that it is a Good Book, as there is no proof.
Two more days of escape form the office! Hope you have an escape from the chores, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good afternoon...
Running a bit late here. It was 30F this AM, but warming to about 50F later.
I skipped trade day, but took the recycling, picked up some wheat straw, and ran by the grocery.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday that is continuing to be so. Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It dropped to 34 deg.
here. Given the forecast for the upcoming week, winter may have arrived. A quick mail box check, a quick trip to the local grocery store, the rest of the day will be waiting for dinner time cooking, tacos on the horizon.
I haven't done my usual surfing for news since arriving home yesterday afternoon. I am always curious to see the latest news from the ME.
I must say, Erdogan causes me severe head scratching. Sucking up to Putin and BRICS, except for funding a war with Putin on the other side. Way more complicated than I can comprehend.
I know the solution! Tomorrow's WW! Ok, dear friend?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
So two Americans tried to assassinate Trump, but…of course
Putin is blackmailing and threatening Trump.
Also too shitlibs are not only supporting the terrorist violence in Syria, but they are cheering our attempted color revolution in Georgia. Any bets that they would have supported the Nazi Maiden coup?
This is what 8 years of Russia Russia Russia has wrought. Brain dead, brainwashed fools.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Seems ther's nothing Russia can do
to get shitlibs to understand that they are a democratic country with a capitalist economy. Communists are elsewhere.
Russia big, has natural resources, a population capable of producing a growing and continuing population. It trades fairly. For Russia, war is simply not the first resort, but the last resort until the last Russian.
Russia today is what Americans think America is.
The CIA must be congratulated on their extraordinary propagandizing. Nobody does it better than those murderous bastards. That is our most successful government policy.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Just a side note on Putin's comment
What Putin has described in terms of political prosecution of Donald Trump and family members, is exactly how South Korea is run today. I can say that with certainty. So if this video is what it appears to be, I can imagine what his opinion of South Korea's Yoon must be.
Yoon has bought into the US agenda way beyond what was necessary. He wants to support NATO, he buys into the Taiwan, South China Sea, Indo-Pacific agenda, etc. He has a team from NIS going to Ukraine now to do a "survey," whatever that means. It appears he's looking to provide some sort of military support, whether just ammunition, weapons, or more, is not known. He's been warned by the National Assembly controlled by the opposition, that he doesn't have the constitutional authority to send even one active duty soldier to Ukraine, without their approval. I don't think he has legal authority to send ammunition to South Korea either, although he's already done that.
There was an editorial in Hankyoreh recently to the effect, we don't care what support North Korea provides to Russia, it doesn't matter to us; what matters to us, is what support is Russia providing to North Korea.
語必忠信 行必正直
It appears as if Trump's panties are in a twist.
This is how bullies act but I doubt that the Global South is impressed.
I think that his inflated ego is about to receive a rude awakening.
waving bye bye to the US hegemon
.
.
only makes sense as the dollar tanks
Saudi Arabia is already using the Yuan
to sell oil to China and other countries are already not using the dollar. And I would think that tariffs work both ways. Why can’t countries just decide not to sell things to America? America is the stupid sucker for allowing its industry to be offshored just to keep the banks happy. Guess who will be the biggest loser if T does this? Russia already showed that it didn’t need to sell its gas to Europe and Biden…. ***** has been buying Russian oil the whole time it hasn’t allowed Europe to do so.
Economics aren’t my strong suit, but America shot itself in the head with NAFTA.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Pepe on this
I haven’t watched it yet. But it’s getting good press.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Idiocracy
writ large, humphrey. In re hegemony:
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Cyrus has a video related to this
US trade with China is still going up, regardless of all the anti-China rhetoric. So increased tariffs, sanctions etc., will only hurt US interests and US consumers.
語必忠信 行必正直
This just doesn’t make sense
.
After the ceasefire Israel is allowed to invade Lebanon? It gets to take territory that has been denied them by Hamas?
Instead of Israel withdrawing they have moved weapons, equipment and troops into S Lebanon. But Hezzbolah is expected to destroy all its weapons and equipment for making them? Seems like a one sided ceasefire.
Read more
https://globalsouth.co/2024/11/30/ceasefire-israel-lebanon-the-good-the-...
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
You have given us all
something to watch, read, and consider. This whole "cease fire" makes zero sense to me.
Maybe these links will help me and all of us get a better grasp of the situation.
Many thanks, snoopy
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Maybe this has a little to do with the one sided ceasefire.
https://www.newarab.com/news/who-jasper-jeffers-us-general-observing-leb...
The US military has appointed Major General Jasper Jeffers to oversee the implementation of the Washington-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon, which took effect in the early hours of Wednesday, CENTCOM announced.
The head of the Special Operations Command Central will carry out his mission alongside US Special envoy Amos Hochstein, who helped broker the truce between Israel and Hezbollah over the past few weeks.
Jeffers arrived in in the Lebanese capital earlier this week as part of his mission to monitor the ceasefire’s implementation, CENTCOM said.
He met with Lebanese armed forces commander Joseph Aoun on Friday, where they discussed the coordination mechanism between the involved parties in the south, the Lebanese army said, as cited by the The New Arab’s Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah will be chaired by the United States and include the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Israeli army, the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), as well as France.
Lisa Johnson the ambassador to Lebanon
has been threatening the government and the people unless they get rid of Hezzb. The army has been neutered for decades even though we have been supporting it. How? We give them outdated weapons and planes that can barely fly. The army is using M-16s from the Vietnam war. Hezzb was the power there and it too just got neutered…but we’ll see how long the ceasefire lasts. The reason why Israel signed it was so they could rearm and turn their attention to Syria and Iran.
Erdagon stabbed Putin in the back again and Putin has to know Israel’s role in supporting the terrorists. Sometimes I think Putin is either the biggest patsy or just pretending that he is the opposition.
One other thing. Iran is an ally of Syria and it was invited in to help Assad keep control of the country as well as Russia. And yet Russia has been letting Israel bomb targets in Syria including the Iranian embassy. Russia was rumored to have given Syria air defense systems and yet they rarely use them against Israel. Why? Iran is now an ally of Russia and they either have or will soon have a defense agreement…so then what? Will Putin still let Israel continue to bomb both its allies?
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Well he is not complete patsy.
Preferencing this since there is plenty of misinformation about the evolving situation in Syria.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241130-north-korea-s-kim-russian...
Plus Russia is deeply involved in the Sahel region in Africa
I know Russia is bombing the terrorists
but this stuff doesn’t address my other concerns about what Putin does. Putin will never let terrorists have free rein in Syria and a few other countries because they are a direct threat to Russia itself.
I’m following the conversation on MoA and some people bring up great points and questions. If you have time…
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
It is a complicated situation in Syria
.
difficult to figure who are the "good versus evil" terrorists
and who are being armed and financed by which states and
for different purpose. IDF, RUS, Iran, US, regional groups of
various affiliations such as Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
Another proxy conflict. You almost need a diagram and a program
to sort out the mess. Think the Ukies are getting involved too.
Perhaps it is an obfuscation to thicken the fog of war?