Saturday Open Thread - 4/18/26: Odds and Ends
Good morning, good people!
I hope everyone is hanging in there, and actually enjoying your weekend.
Although the country is in a drought, we have only had a few consecutive weeks here and there without rain in my area. Too bad we don't have a garden, but there are numerous reasons that make it sort of a waste of time and labor.
Meanwhile, does anyone think we will declare the war over soon? I think it will kick off in a spectacular fashion the day after the cease fire concludes. (If not before.)
I figure all of us will be posting stuff in the comments today as news is reported. I will be checking RT, Middle East Eye, and Moon of Alabama, and will post anything of interest.
Meanwhile, I ran across a meme.
"One great thing about Texas heat...You can guarantee no one is waiting in your back seat to kill you."
There's other things to like about Texas.
This is an open thread, and that means you can go your own way to post any comment content about anything you believe is worth sharing with your friends here.
Your turn, friends!
Comments
Hey, good morning!
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Trying like hell to sort out some of the conflicting reports
coming from West Asia. Contradictions abound and the
story changes constantly. One thing is certain, it is damn
dangerous having a deranged president. Perhaps the silver
lining of this storm cloud is his advisors are feeding him bunk?
Sure Donald, we are winning bigly. Want another bag of burgers?
The scary part is the trumpet doesn't seem to realize that two
opposite statements are mutually exclusive. And insulting the
intelligence of the audience to cover the ploy of insider trading
and, and .. The trick is to not melt down with him.
Thanks for the odds and ends!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning, Cap'n!
Let's see if our good luck can hold on for a little while.
My lap top opens up initially with a Google news page. I glimpse at US and world headlines, actually read local news articles. Before the first US headline swept away to a different one, I caught the madness. Top headline said the Strait of Hormuz was open! The next 4 said, The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Just as you think chaos won't happen, you know it will.
Sometimes I question if I am being manipulated to do or not do something. Did I make a mistake buying too much coffee at higher price, or did I not buy enough before it is even available? Same thing about my sports car. Do I sell it, or will I have regrets if my 2 remaining vehicles stop running and parts to repair them or shops to take them to for repairs are gone? Well, thanks for the tune, friend! I wish you smooth waters this weekend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning!
It was a pleasant stroll around trade day. Visited with several buddies. Bought lemons, limes, and four cabbage plants to replace a few we lost probably to a rabbit when we left the gate open one night.
I also suspect the Iran war will resume next week. Plan on more economic chaos as we move onward.
So thanks for the OT, and everyone have a good day. We may get a rain tonight, about 0.3" is predicted. Not a drought buster but a dust and pollen settler.
Much of the nation is in drought...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, LO!
That dirty rabbit! At least you replaced the lost cabbages.
We will get some rain this afternoon. Didn't check how much. What we experienced yesterday was high winds for the better part of the day. We missed the tornadoes. Let us ask ourselves, how is it that our government can spray their magic seeds in the clouds and cause rain where they want it, when they want it, but they can't do it for us right now when we desperately need it?
Silly me! I keep forgetting! Our government has no concern for we useless eaters, and so on, and so forth...
I am glad you got it some buddy talk, and hope your weekend is pleasant, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
"Richard's theory"
I had always considered that the objective of the wars against Iraq and Libya were to take their oil sources off line particularly when Saddam and Qaddafi had openly spoken of taking oil payments in currency other than US dollars. In fact, Qaddafi wanted to create a Libyan sponsored pan-African currency for trade purposes. Libya also insisted on changing terms with multinational western energy giants, for a Libyan interest over 50 percent. The industry wouldn't accept it.
Yet, the strategy's miscalculation insofar as the Iranian war/ blockade is concerned is that it threatens to take the adherents of the petro-dollar system, the Persian Gulf states largely out of the petro dollar markets if continued for any sustained period of time. I don't think this would be supportive of the dollar at all. The cost of all this warfare in support of the banking-energy coalition isn't accurately assessed either, as it is in the trillions for a sustained period of warfare.
I remember years back when I used to read articles by oil market analysts that the US shale production investment was too costly and couldn't pay off at under 55 dollars a barrel. In fact, there were predictions that some of the exploration/drilling companies would go bankrupt. That was quite a few years ago, wonder what that figure is now?
Enjoy the weekend! Thanks for the odds & ends, OTC!
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Speculation
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your theory is a bit understated in that
changing the currency from dollars to yuan
will have a much larger impact on the hegemony.
Every dollar not filtering thru the US financial
system decreases investment and lessens the
ability to service the federal debt. Fighting for
Wall Street is not a popular cause for the working classes.
Insolvency will severely effect the value of the dollar.
Couple that with isolation from our 'allies' and we will be flapping
alone in the winds of change.
Amazing how China is defeating the US without the use of arms.
Invest not contest. Greed is not a viable strategy.
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning, soryang!
That is an interesting video. I had assumed we were doing the bidding of Bibi by getting into this war, and had not considered the idea that the US needed some fake reason to justify it as a cover for retaining oil supremacy and the petrodollar. Obviously, the petrodollar is the major objective, but making it a less obvious reason to cause death and destruction is cleverer as our strategy to retain dominance than we typically demonstrate.
Thanks for bringing us a new point of view of Mid East affairs.
Have a wonderful weekend, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The objectives and motives behind the unprovoked attack
.... on Iran are completely obscured. Commenters offer excellent insight into the tactical weapons, the damages to Iran, and the causalities. They describe Iran's counter attacks on the Gulf States that facilitated the US attack, and Iran's counter attacks that closed all nine US military bases in the Middle East. But no one can explain why the attack took place.
There appears to be a cover-up of US injuries, and a total news blackout (in the US) on the destruction in Tel Aviv. I don't know if it made US news yet, but Iran said they have mounted their Hypersonic missiles (the first time those weapons have been mentioned) and they would finish with Tel Aviv tonight in response to Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon.
The Hormuz Strait had been opened for many years, when the US attacked Iran. It's a war with great risk and a 'secret' upside. Typical for a classic psychopath. A war that NO US ally would join, or provide backup. Trump is smart enough to know that China has the potential power to assume Hegemony over the world. But China is vulnerable. It depends on Oil from Iran to power its industries. Did Trump strategize that if he seized control of Iran's oil (like he did in Venezuela) he could then gain control over China, and Rule the World?
It's hard not to notice that China is riding high on a statistical wave of global popularity. Much higher than the US, or any Western nation. Primarily with people under 50 years old. People who had fewer years of anti-communist brainwashing.
Ben Norton (Editor, Geopolitical Economy Report) delivered a 15 minute keynote address this week entitled "Socialist Chinamaxxing: How China’s achievements are a product of its socialist system."
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I was trying to remember
Some old research I had done years ago on Talisman energy. This was a Canadian oil company that had an investment in Sudan. Due to the civil war and genocide there, there was a lot of pressure on them to get out and they did. It was alleged they were "complicit."
China took a stake there in 1995, and invested quite a bit of money. Due to the interminable civil unrest there, which is dependent on foreign influences, the Chinese gave up their investment and got out last December.
saved this more than five years ago:
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Comment at MoA:
Good afternoon, LW!
Check out MoA's 114th comment in that thread, which I mentioned below in my reply to el.
The MoA commenters spend more and more time calling other commenters bots. That is sort of a new thing there. At least it is more noticeable.
There are lots of calls from lots of places for Iran to bomb all US bases in the requion, and bomb Israel so as to encourage them to head elsewhere. Somaliland, perhaps?
Have a great weekend, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc, thanks for the OT. Ihave scanned/skimmed
the Guardian, Asia Times, South China Morning Post, Sputnik and RT. As a result I am confident that I have no news to report. Can anything over 20 minutes old be trusted. Can anything from any US official source be trusted. Yesterday, or possibly the day before (I read it yesterday)Estonia was intimidated out of borading/seizing a Rus or "shadow fleet" tanker by the presence of a RUS warship in the area (Gulf of Finland iirc). They whined about it, iirc. There are some international rules about inspecting vessels at sea, but I think they can and should be challenged. Those rules presuppose good faith and that commodity is very scarce these days. The other day China expressed an opinion that one needs to abide by the whole of international law if one wishes to rely on some particular little piece of it. I'm sure that was aimed at the US, but it would seem to apply to much/most of the EU + the Brits as well.
That got me thinking about all these so called sanctions (the non-UN ones). Their real goal is pretty much openly almost always political. They are enforced by force or threat thereof? They almost always immediately as well ad indirectly impact civilians and civilian infrastructure. That makes most of them, especially the secondary ones, use of violence or threat of violence against civilians or property, to induce fear, intimidate governments, or coerce societies in order to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives. . It would seem to me that all of that shit is, by definition, terrorism and hence beyond the pale sufficiently far that nbody participating inany of it has any real rights or authorities under international law. By law, nation states and governments cannot be brigands, but they sure as shit seem to otherwise qualify and, accordingly, "every man's hand should be raised against them".
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 --
Good afternoon, el!
I think we need to have a standard disclaimer on our linked and posted articles and videos, something to the effect: "Consider this article or video as a historical document recording the reality of the world for a span of 20 minutes after being originally published."
Still, if you want to check out something interesting, go to MoA's Iran thread to comment 114. So, a hardliner lawmaker said Aragachi's announcement of ceasefire was part of the agreement to make the Epstein Class insider investors Big $. Last thing you want is an enemy getting rich off of war against you. Sort of like treason if you help make it happen.
Well, I am making progress on my retirement. A dozen or so criminal and family law cases to finish, and all probate pending cases should be finished by August or September.
I can't imagine trying to justify going clothes shopping in the future unless I gain or lose a lot of weight. I am entering a new world!
Enjoy your weekend, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Rachel Maddow, of all people, delivers the most astute
.... commentary on the Oil Blockade in Iran and how it impacts the world — and sets the emerging outlines for a new global order. Maddow (or her AI avatar) touches upon the only possible coherent conclusion.
It has been my view from the beginning that the unprovoked US attack on Iran was actually a proxy attack on China. Many of the commentators we listen to here, are also arriving at this conclusion. It is essential to see the the Big Picture, and the real motives behind the attack, in order to make wise decisions and responses in your own affairs pertaining to sweeping changes, that we may soon see, in governance and economics.
Things are not going to "get back" to normal. Normal is gone. We cannot yet see the repercussions and consequences to the latest murder and mayhem of the United States. We will know more in six weeks. It all depends on how this administration reacts to new realities that impact the US economically and politically. I'm guessing global attitudes toward the US may also spark a national identity crisis.
Good afternoon, PR!
Many commentators posted on c99 have said from the beginning that this whole war/blockade thingie is to do harm to China. Period.
It would be amazing if this video was Rachel finally coming to her senses and not AI, as some of the commenters to this video suggest on Youtube.
Btw, I read your comment in yesterday's ebs about preppers and the practice of prepping. 5 weeks ago, I bought a package containing 3 shucked ears of corn for $1.45. Yesterday, unshucked corn was $1.23 per ear. I didn't even look at the price of more costly pre-shucked corn. I just want to stay somewhat ahead of inflation and scarcity, both of which are coming if this conflict goes on another month.
If Trump gives the order for our navy to board a Chinese ship, we should all understand China will unleash Hell, with justification! CHINA IS NOT AN ENEMY.
Enjoy your weekend, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I'm a fantasy prepper.
I even make fantasy lists. But do keep me in the loop on your prepping insights.
Prepping looks normal compared to how many crazies are running around DC making trouble.
Some of the Youtube commenters don't seem to mind at all that their images are being used. It doesn't seem to bother them. Maybe they are flattered. Most of the personalities seem to be on the political left. So are the speeches, for the most part. They monetize the videos through Youtube.
It seems to me that everyone everywhere assumes the unprovoked US attack in Iran was about Israel. That Israel set it up. That the US war machine came to the Middle East for Israel. Although, when I think about it for awhile, I realize that taking control of the world is the AshkaNazi aspiration of the Greater Israel Empire. The US doesn't have the brain power. The US culture is largely delusional and divided. We are the Grunts, paying for their bloody ambitions.
When I was a child,
my wish list for birthday and Christmas gifts was always books. Or, to take piano lessons. Or take ballet classes. Accordingly, since I had no urge to learn how to cook, clean, do women 1950s things, I was marked for years of my life as having no common sense. Book smarts only, and it was not a compliment. It took a while, but eventually my family started taking advice from me about common sense precautions and solutions. Even where to shop, where to bank, etc...
I got caught in the mass layoffs in the late 70s. I and my friends, jobless, shared food, common goods, in order to survive. I know what it is like to have no food, no money, no gas at the pumps.
To wash clothes in a bathtub when money can't be spared for coin operated Ws & Ds.
I will be prepared for that event.
Some commentators we see all the time here are complaining about AI videos claiming to be them. I am now watching a video, then reading every comment below them, just as a precaution. Scott Ritter has raised hell about it. The AI guys are the ones making bank.
I read every day that Israel is using us to achieve their world dominance. Something to ponder...
Here's a tip: We do not produce coffee or tea in the US. It is shipped to us. For now. Stock up!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I thought y'all might find this ineresting
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Bigger things
If anyone wants a different problem to worry about, here’s the headline from a Zero Hedge article which might (or not) distract:
“The Universe Is Expanding 'Too Fast' And Nothing We Know Can Explain It“
You have to read a ways to discover the universe may end in only 11 billion years rather than the 18.5 billion years previously predicted. Something to think about if you don’t have enough to worry about in this lifetime and want to worry about future reincarnations.
Anya
I checked it out.
We need a new calculus formula!
While I was looking around Zerohedge, I was reminded Trump announced yesterday the UFO Files will be released. Ya know, I never visited the UFO museum in Roswell. I just added that to my travel bucket list.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Michelle Steel nominated for US ambassador to Seoul
The excerpt below is from Simone Chun's substack-
Trump Nominates a Far-Right, Anti–North Korea, Anti-China U.S. Ambassador to Seoul.
Former Amb. Harry Harris had strong ties to Japan, personally and professionally as a senior naval officer before he retired from the Navy. His tenure as ambassador to Seoul was troubled to say the least. His official residence was overrun by demonstrators. There was plenty of media commentary also about his blatant public interference in South Korean domestic issues at one point. Simone thinks Steel will be worse. I see the Blue House released a tepid polite and hopeful statement about her nomination.
While I'm at it, I'll just mention that Hosaka Yuji, a commentator on Japanese affairs in South Korea, reported that PM Takaichi of Japan, had some sort or argument with a senior LDP adviser who used to be a cabinet official close to Abe. He apparently is a former METI bureaucrat with expertise in Japan's energy sector. The report was taken from a weekly "tabloid" which has some credibility according to Yuji. The PM Takaichi was making some statements about considering some sort of military support to the US concerning the Iran blockade issue. The advisor named Takaya was heard raising his voice and expressing committed opposition to any direct military support of any kind to US for anti-Iran operations.
Here's his resume from some sort of thinktank.
Takaya IMAI
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Well,
that sucks, soryang.
How is it that we have done business with the commies in China ever since Nixon, but make it impossible for NK and SK to have any positive relations of any kind?
Hell, even Japan is open to shaking hands with China and showing no enthusiasm to to advance tensions with NK?
Locals have stormed US Embassies in their countries before, haven't they?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
14 days in a row my tech ETF has gone up
I'm not sure how much, maybe 18% or 20%, biggest rise in a long time. Mostly I read the stats for the NASDAQ, my Tech is outperforming the nasdaq.
Of course it's a big gamble, but no one gets shot and killed for gambling on the market, no one will come around to break my arms and pistol whip the wife.
I figure all those weapons systems need to be upgraded to run on newer hard and software. Many systems, most systems, are obsolete. People in mud huts are shooting self directed drones with GPS and chips.
Heavy frost got the grapes. Spent half of last night in brand new suburban mega hospital emergency room. Pretty impressive big medicine. Even have a device that automatically takes blood pressure every 15 minutes or so. Tubes and monitors galore. Nice folks working too.
Good evening, ban nock!
Good news on your market gaming! I never had any luck with it, gave up enriching my brokers who got my money for every trade. Lots and lots of trades.
Bad news about the grapes. Dammit. Just so you know, muscadines grow everywhere here. On my yard fence, for example, if the deer do not come and get them. Lots of locals make jelly and wine out of what grows in they yards. No fertilizers or insect killers used. Just go pick some and start the processing.
Sorry you had an er experience! At least you appear to have been well-attended! After all, you are here, alive and well and mentioning it!
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
CBDCs coming our way!
The EU is following Russia's lead in surveillance.
https://slaynews.com/news/european-union-ready-deploy-digital-id-multipl...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981