Saturday Open Thread - 12/14/24: Odds and Ends
Good morning, good people!
Have you heard anything like this before?
"I need an attorney to help me get my new born baby out of Texas Child Protection Services possession. They took my baby from me as soon as he was born. The baby did not have meth in his system, but I did.
"You see, the man I was living with tried meth once, and some of it dropped onto the floor. I was going to vacuum it up.
"Well, as soon as I turned the vacuum cleaner on, dust was kicked up into my nose. This was the night before I went to the hospital to give birth."
Meanwhile, we seem to have cut quite a good deal with the head choppers in Syria. We keep our troops in the area with the oil and wheat. A good bargain, wouldn't you agree?
I am so curious to see if Israel is going to expend from the river to the sea, and if they turn on the US once we aren't particularly needed to prop them up?
I will do my damndest to maintain a decent diet, vitamin, and exercise regimens, because I want to live long enough to see it, see politicians grieve over taking all that AIPAC $.
I saw a list of the top 10 countries with the highest murder rates. Seems I have traipsed around 4 of them. S. Africa, Trinidad-Tobago, Honduras, and Peru (twice visited). I was so impressed with S. Africa and Trinidad that I thought they would be perfect for a visit completely solo.
Well, this is an open thread, folks. Ya got info to share? Opinions? Good news? Bad news? Survival tips?
Please share, good friends!
Comments
Happy Saturday mornin'!
Just as I was headed to bed last night, Simplicious comes out with a very interesting article about his theory that Turkey and Israel may be vying against each other for a Syria land grab. I didn't have time to give it a thorough read, but will today.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/pieces-begin-slowly-falling-into
Well, friends, it's your turn, so let 'er rip!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Alex Krainer has been suggesting Syria was set as a trap...
Interesting hypothesis. Much like we did in Afghanistan to destroy the USSR.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have another rain coming through tonight..or so they say.
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Certainly the timing of this regime change is worth discussing
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
Good afternoon, cass.
More info should be coming all day, every day. Let's keep on the lookout for it!
Have a great weekend, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Planned long ago in 1971 by Zibignew Brzezinski
Betrayal and double standards
Good rundown of the history and planning behind the fall of Syria. And it’s just skimming the surface of the players involved.
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
I encourage EVERYONE
Snoops, I knew LBJ was a bad guy, (think: fake, Gulf of Tonkin attack) but this is the first I had ever heard about him being a Jew who was only interested in Israel first, at the expense of "a few US sailors".
That video will lead me to a lot of digging around for more proof.
MUCH appreciated!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I am at the half way mark
I certainly hope he is correct.
Rains this afternoon, so that means house work. Yuck. It must be done, so I won't bitch about it. (too much).
Drones news has completely wiped out news about Mangione and the fall of Syria. Does anyone have some plausible theory that "something" is preventing the military from shooting down one of this drones from the ocean and determining what the hell it is and where is it from, and what harm can it cause? Aren't we told we have the most superior military force in the history of the world?
In the meantime, Big Insurance continues to kill us and Israel stealing a country is just not worth mentioning.
Oh, well, the same as it has always been, dear friend.
Thanks for sharing your time and efforts with us this morning.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hi-ya
.
.
Funny story. If it wasn't meth inspired, it sure sounds like it.
Haven't heard that version before, but many like it. Pitiful
what hard drug use does to the brain over time.
Just waded thru the Ukie energy grid retaliation strikes
by RUS over at NC. EU and Black Rock will also suffer.
Will survey Simplicius next.
Thanks for the OT otc!
question everything
I will give NC a good once over
Anyone stupid enough to think meth won't be addictive, that it will not destroy your body, that it will not destroy your brain, and that you will not be drug tested when giving birth, is not a client with whom I can cooperatively prepare a case. Move along, Crazy Sistah.
A brain damaged court-appointed client, with decades of meth use, hears voices from radios, tvs, and cell phones. His petty crimes, such as tresspassing, disturbing the peace, are always done because he was told to do them by the voices. He will gladly do his jail time for them.
Cap'n, the crazies are out there. Starting from the highest public offices, CEOs, all the way down to the homeless. My wish is that everyone was as perfect and sane as you and I, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Agree with the discordant insanity
.
.
but would not wish my version of relative
sanity on anyone left with a functioning
mind. Unless it is a better cope. YMMV
question everything
Awww, you have to be pretty damn sane
And, your writing class has imbued everything you post with wonderful, yet subtle, polish. I have been meaning to tell you haw I have been amazed at the change the class class has made.
You be a'learnin'!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Heading to Texas
Have my car loaded and ready to make the trip down to central Texas. The weather should cooperate until I get home. There is rain in the forecast but glad for no snow and heavy winds.
Have gotten my world atlas out to look at the areas of Syria mentioned by Simplicus in his article yesterday. Reading some history of the area to try to gain some understanding of the various issues within this county. Sooo glad to see the esteemed diplomat, Blinken is already trying to make a bigger and mightier mess than Syria already is.
Going to the Farmers Market to get some dried beans from the Pueblos to give as Christmas gifts.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
Good afternoon, chica!
gotta say, the gift of beans is a fabulous idea! I may have mentioned this before, but I eat pinto beans, and use them with several different meal plans.
I buy the best local brand of dried beans, "Casserole". As an experiment, my brother and I planted them in our gardens one year. It is impossible to describe the taste of those bens. It was like they were infused with hand churned butter. We dried some, planted them the next year, same remarkable results. May all the recipients of your pueblas have a similar experience!
Btw, do you enter through Amarillo? Lubbock? Or through west Texas? That route always scared me because of long stretches between places to re-fuel.
Drive safely and let us all know when you have reach home.
* edited to remove a couple of sentences meant for another reply. Damn computer!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Soryang may be able to fill in the details
.
.
South Korea assembly voted overwhelmingly to
impeach Yoon, removing him from power.
He overplayed his hand. Another setback for
the empire?
question everything
Yoon was impeached
Vote was 205 to 85, if I remember correctly.
The most popular radio host in South Korea, Kim Eo-jun, told an incredible story to the national assembly yesterday. I'm not sure what to think about it. The word was put out to arrest him, along, with the democratic party leadership, and Han Dong-hun, the PPP party leader. Ostensibly, there has been a rift between Yoon and Han since Han became head of the PPP. Han a former prosecutor, Yoon's justice minister, and all around hatchet man for years, was talking to his boss as a peer apparently, which changed their relationship. It was Han's minority faction in the PPP that put the impeachment vote over the 200 required to suspend Yoon from the presidency and refer his impeachment case to the Constitutional Court for a final decision. 60 days after that a presidential election.
So initially, the martial law order on Dec 3, was defeated in early hours of Dec 4 by the National Assembly vote. The opposition political leaders and also the PPP leader Han Dong-hun were to be arrested. So none of the aforementioned persons to be apprehended by the military were. Allegedly according to Kim Eo-jun's hearing testimony, there was going to be a false flag event, in which members of the counter intelligence command's anti-North Korean agent team, would seize the same group of people, allegedly kill Han Dong-hun, and "rescue" communist sympathizers, (jong buk) state enemies, like Lee Jae-myung, Cho Guk, Kim Eo-chun, etc. In the course of this unexecuted plan, US military personnel were to be killed; the special anti North Korean team, leaving behind their North Korean uniform disguise, providing a strong impetus for the US armed forces to go to war against North Korea. I heard Rep. Brad Sherman on Korean tv news yesterday in an interview, saying the US would not have gone to war, because, the US command there can tell the difference, between a genuine North Korean plot, and any alleged South Korean false flag attack in South Korea.
I'm not clear on the timing on when this attack was planned, if it was in fact, the alleged plan, for a 2nd martial law coup, after the first one apparently failed. In any case, when Kim Eo-jun was asked during his testimony where did he get this story, and who "protected him" from the plot to seize him and others, he said persons from "a friendly country embassy." Pending the plan for a second attempt at a coup d'etat, it is alleged that the US 8th Army Command in South Korea was placed on alert.
I really like Kim Eo-jun and listen to video outtakes from his program often. However I got the impression that Kim had either memorized a script while he was telling his story at the Assembly hearing or was in shock. Also, I have to note here that his easily recognizable colleague, whom I've seen often in his videos, an attractive woman, journalist and political activist, was video taped in a confrontation with an armed South Korean soldier outside the National Assembly building, on the night of the "first" coup attempt, in which she grabbed his rifle, and said something like, go ahead shoot me. The scene was broadcast in media around the world. fwiw.
I'm not buying the SK vibrant democracy meme. The republic of South Korea has profound structural problems, economically, socially, and politically. This drift into authoritarianism, the suppression of a free press, the institutional corruption of the press on behalf of the five major chaebol monopolies, the oppression of labor unions, etc., is a perennial problem, that lends itself to the emergence of dictatorship. This still isn't over. The now acting president, the prime minister Han Duck-soo, is a suspect in Yoon's plot to overthrow the republic. How can he function as the chief executive? Also, there is the recent final conviction of Cho Guk, an opposition leader, and reformer of the Justice system, which is one of the South's crippled politicized institutions; the rigged prosecutions of Lee Jae-myung aren't resolved yet. Then there is the forthcoming impeachment trial by the Constitutional Court, what will they do?
Martial law plans drawn up during the Park Geun-hye impeachment, were most likely, planned for execution, if the Constitutional Court, at that time, 2017, failed to impeach Park. There would have been massive demonstrations in Seoul and other cities, which would have potentially paralyzed the country. Luckily, this didn't happen. Will opposition leader Lee Jae-myung be convicted and disqualified from office? This is another destabilizing situation. Will the corruption of prosecutors and the chaebol run conservative press (unlawful prosecution-press collusion to facilitate politically motivated prosecutions 검언유착 ) be resolved somehow?
South Korea’s parliament votes to impeach president over martial law debacle
OTC, thanks for the odds and ends. I can't help but thinking of Clinton's "I smoked marijuana but did not inhale," along the lines of "I did not have sex with that woman."
I have to say that Ms. So and I find the new Christmas display at the corner park in our neighborhood, which the city obviously wasted large sums on, offensive, in circumstances where that that same neighborhood suffered tremendous losses from Milton. It's like a kind of political promotion for a corrupt and incompetent local government led by real estate developers. I admire the tenacity and survival instincts of my neighbors.
語必忠信 行必正直
Thanks for filling-in the blanks
.
figured you would have fingers
on the pulse. At least there is some
push-back against totalitarian rule.
Do not appreciate the gaudy holiday
displays. Blow-up Santa dolls and flashing
colored lights do nothing to persuade this
soul into a spending frenzy. Broke anyway.
Christmas cheer on credit? Bah humbug.
question everything
Really don't like being a scrooge
It's involuntary. I better not try that with my daughter. She'll say, "no it's not!"
Oops, 204 votes for impeachment. It's in the CNN article I linked to. I heard the Speaker say it in this video of the crowd reaction outside the assembly building at the time of the announcement. The women in the crowd bursting into song, singing along to Girl's Generation, Into the New World, after the news is moving...
Thanks QMS.
語必忠信 行必正直
Love the spontaneity of the crowd
.
there is hope for us yet.
question everything
Hmm!
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5040786-us-reiterates-support-f...
Hiya, humphrey!
Some funny drone memes are appearing. Bet you run across lots of them on X over the next few days!
That was a hint, pal.
Have a wonderful weekend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
This doesn't shed much light on the situation but it is true.
VERY true,
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good afternoon, soryang!
I have ran across a couple of articles about how a plan to murder the opposition leader was in the works.
To that I say, any leader approving having his opponent murdered should be in the docks. I want to add, no matter what country, including and especially mine.
I hate and despise the ridiculous way we put on those Christmas displays designed to remind you to go buy gifts.
Well, it is easier to hand a friend $5 so they can buy a doz. eggs, and pass along to them some free cereal, some box of spaghetti, some fresh fruit, that someone gave you. No goofy decor is necessary.
I just did this yesterday.
Hey, you forgot: "It depends on what the definition of "is" is."
Enjoy your weekend, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Nixon told the truth when he said "I’m not a crook"
I knew that about the watergate burglars, but not the other stuff. You might ask how could it be possible that a congressional committee could lie so boldly to the American people? They did it again with the J-6 investigation. They kept out the videos that would have told the truth and showed that it was a deep state operation.
There were 26 undercover FBI agents and 3 of them went into the capitol. Cops opened the doors and they just watched as people walked in. They could have told people that they weren’t allowed to go in. The 3 agents were not charged for entering the capitol, but most of everyone else was.
This is what Kash Patel is going to look into as well as everything about Russia gate…maybe. He has been involved with the government for years so hopefully he isn’t another deep state agent.
Stay tuned.
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
Good afternoon, snoops!
The secrets of JFK's assassination have been covered up and kept from us at any and all costs. Would we even have much of a government left if we, the people, knew the truth?
I hope my client is having a fun day, plenty of toys and treats. After all, she is neither spoiled nor pampered, but very deserving.
Have a great weekend, chica, and keep us informed of stuff being posted on X!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey there OTC, so many moving parts these days, it's hard to
keep up. I listened to the Nima Dialog Works interview Lookout recommended. To my mind, this is an excellent and nuanced take on what is going on in the geographical designation formerly of Syria or what might be going on. Well worth the time while cutting up vegetables for soup.
About the drones: my money is on Amazon and Walmart. pffftt!
Here is another song from le Petite Chœur de Viry-Charolles. We learned it in French but the John Rutter interpretation is closest to how we sang it. The organ has horn pipes that sound like oboes but this is with orchestre.
We might get snow or a wintry mix by Christmas, but I'm not holding out too much hope. Every little town is decorated for les Fêtes de Noël, oysters from coastline farms have been deployed throughout France in little white camions; Fois gras and sweet Bordeaux or Sauternes are displayed in every grocery store. Since we spent quite a bit of time in the shadow of the Pyrenées we have become fond of Jurançon a very local wine found in areas around Oleron in very small family vineyards. It knocked us out.
Tomorrow we go to listen to Le Petit Chœur de Viry-Charolles give their Advent/Christmas concert. In a wonderful church with a marvelous Baroque organ.
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.
Beautiful music Dawn
calming to these ears.
And the craftsmanship of the Baroque
organ framing is exquisit. Thank you for sharing
a bit of cheer from France! Music is
architecture for the spirit. Sing on sister.
question everything
Surveillance capitalism on steroids
.
Did a McDonald’s employee really turn Luigi in? Or did the kiosk camera capture his face which the NSA had AI looking at in order to find him?
Threadreader
The dark side of cameras everywhere that are watching us 24/7. I didn’t vote for this crap. Did you?
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
Luigi discussion continued
This video interested me:
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
Hola, otc. Cold, windy and rainy at farmers' market, reduced
number of vendors and of stuff for sale. Luckily I didn't need/want too much anyway. Trying to get things together, but stuff changes faster than I can find work arounds. I had a "home page" or "start page, gratis, on an old account that was a news and other info aggregator. Suddenly AT&T shows up as ruler of that account and eliminates that page and all my standing tabs. Blam! Stuff like that damn near every day really slows one down, especially if it is going on when one is trying to streamline, reorganize and get more efficient. Ah well.
Meanwhile, it looks like Erdogan is looking to claim all or almost all of the territory formerly known as Syria. Methinks there will be a lot to keep an eye on there.
Survival tips? Keep your head down is an old standard, but doing so withoug being complicit is a mother of a conundrum. Mebbe bo bettah da kine listen to good tunes and keep your head screwed on straight.
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 --
Meth and Insurance
The meth story is typical. It’s always the first time they tried it, or they only had two beers when they’re stopped for DUI. I'm sure you've heard all those stories. I though do live next door to someone who cooks meth. I’ve called the cops numerous times. He has been arrested 3 times. The last time he had 4 felony counts against him, and I just knew he was going to prison. Nope. He only got 3 years' probation. The same day he pled guilty, there was a big meth bust. Can you say snitch. I can tell when he’s cooking. It gets in my eyes, and I get floaters. Hopefully he’ll overdose before he goes completely nuts.
I also go to “Pain Management.” I told my worker there about living next to a meth house. She told me not to worry about it because I haven’t flunked a drug test yet and she’ll let me know if anything comes back funky. I can be banned if I fail so many tests.
Speaking about the Insurance Companies trying to screw people, I get my Medicare Part D from WellCare. They keep telling me that I should consider getting off my pain medication and instead try counseling or meditation for my pain. Meditation can calm you, but I really doubt it will cure my pain, and nobody wants to hear about how bad you hurt, even if they’re getting paid to hear it. Getting a new knee has helped tremendously though. Their rationale is that I am putting myself at risk for addiction. Not going to happen. If I was, it would have happened a long time ago.
Good afternoon, enchantress!
My brother has been going to a pain management dr. for years. He is drug tested each trip. He loses the protocol if he tests positive for cannabis, cbd, or hemp, all of which are legal and all of which are prescribed by drs. (Pot is legal if dr. prescribed, otherwise illegal.) So, his relief is highly addictive drugs. I did represent a PA when the feds got him for running a pain management clinic scam. He lost his license, did 18 months in a federal prison. Now, you can keep your guns and hunting license while taking handfuls of Vicodin, but medical marijuana will cost you your 2nd. Am. rights.
I see all the markers of your neighbor being a snitch, or what the drug world calls pimps. We had a meth house in town that neighbors constantly reported, and the local sheriff ignored the calls. When the neighbor called the SO in an adjacent county, the house was immediately busted, 4 people arrested, all in jail with high bonds set. See if you have a state level drug task force. We have one in TX. People just do not know about it. The head of the branch that covers my county is a client. I got him a divorce and won him custody of his children.
Meditation my ass, although the addiction can slip up on anyone one day. I firmly believe there are generic drugs out there that may be for a totally different problem that have a pain killing side effect. There is no money in it. Quite likely, the insurance provider is concerned about their increasing liability the longer you take pain killers. They must have long past their peak profit, and you are denting their profit margin.
Damned if you do, blah blah...At least your new knee is superior to the one you were born with, so good on you!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with meds and meth, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Not being a doctor I had to search for information with regards
to this type of surgery.
This is from what is considered a reputable site.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/hip-fracture
In older patients, these include:
A greater chance of death (about 20 percent of patients die within a year)A challenging recovery (only an estimated 1 in 4 patients fully recover)
A long hospital stay (1 to 2 week average), with possible rehab facility admission
Potential loss of independence, diminished quality of life and depression
>
couldn't have happened to a more deserving person
.
.
think she may be following Feinstein down the journey to hell.
Term limits anyone? There must be actuaries, if not doctors,
that can diagnose aging risks. Holding a position of responsibility
beyond the sell-by date is not good for our well being. Just look
at Biden for example. Even judges pondering his "admissibility"
say the keys to the White House should be taken away.
question everything
I think that there is a mistake in the tweet as it should read
"Israeli Secretary of State" as he seems to get his marching orders directly from Netenyahoo.
A few headlines
.
Syria asks the world for help against Israeli aggression
- ha, good luck with that
OpenAI whistleblower found dead -ruled suicide
- like the Boeing guy
Fashion billionaire falls to his death
- while on a hike with family, hmm
phrase of the day .. pathogenic geopolitics
rhymes with Blinkie diplomacy
question everything
Spreading Democracy the American way based on the Rules
Based Order.
The rest of the tweet:
This list does not include what previously happened in Venezuela and Belarus.
LOL