Open Thread - Thurs 16 Nov 2023 - Doing This Yet Again?
Doing This Yet Again? I Guess We Have To
After the start of the current Gaza war Dennis Kucinich wrote a really good essay about why we should not do war, should not support war (even if it's Israel in their latest pogrom) and so on. The essay is called, 'Thou shalt NOT Kill' and is pretty darn good. It got me to thinking, 'Maybe, maybe it's not entirely useless to protest this damned war and the Ukrainian war and all the others...' Anyway, the essay is worth reading. It does make me wonder, is the obvious disagreement between Kucinich's and RFK, Jr's ideas about the Israel Gaza war what made Kucinich leave the campaign?
Pro-Peace/Palestine March in Washington, DC from NPR
A couple of days later, Kucinich followed up with an essay about some short-term actions we can take to try to stop the war, or at least the USA support for the war. It was called, 'How to stop the War(s)'. I dunno if any of these will work, or have ever worked (when the PTB want war, they get war. After all, they basically get whatever they want, right?), but it's worth a try.
His suggested actions include contacting your Congressional Representative, via email or phone, and in person at their local office. Also contact the White House. Forcefully express your opposition to war and funding wars. Demand that all USA troops be returned home. We do not need 800+ military bases around the world. Oppose government representatives and elected people if they do not support stopping the war(s) and getting our troops home, wherever they may be. Join local peaceful protests. Protests aren't always peaceful, but which side is to blame for that? Police? Protestors? Both? Still, let's try for peaceful protest. Support humanitarian aid for those suffering from these wars, no matter what 'side' they are on.
Kucinich ends with this:
Now is the time to build a new movement for Human and Ecological Security and Peace. Now is the time to become active, as though your life depends upon it.
It may.
I gotta agree. I really like how he adds the ecology into it all, 'Human and Ecological Security and Peace'. Exactly.
His writing helped spur me into action. These are actions that I've taken before, but I need to keep doing them, no matter how depressing it is when those actions seem to do nothing. At least they make for friends and community! As always, music and 'entertainment' help as well. Of course, we have to be allowed to see it and listen to it, but I think we are doing that. I guess the 'fight' against war never stops, just like the fight for the environment never ends. Ever. And, I have to realize that even in my older years.
Anyway, that's been on my mind recently. What's up with you? Thanks for reading and here's the open thread - and remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Hello everyone!!
I hope your Thursday has been, and is being, very good. It's been crazy here, a week before Thanksgiving. I have been encouraged by the protests against the Israel - Gaza war. I have joined a few locally. I don't know if it'll do any good, but at least it's something. Same thing with writing to my political representatives, it's something. I will end up on a bunch of mailing lists, I bet! Just after I got off many of them!
Have a good day and comment about what's on your mind!
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
Good morning...
The protests are massive, but only having limited effect. The Israel lobby owns our government...just sayin'. It is difficult to influence those who have been bought.
Better to do something than remain silent.
I hope you and your animals are doing well!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Difficult to influence those who have been bought...
So true, so true. I hope the protests help stop the US support for this stupid 'war'. Ohh hell, it's ethnic cleansing, isn't it? It's not 'just' war.
Animals here are doing ok. One of our old feral cats lost an incisor the other day. It was very strange. After that she got a head cold but has recovered well, despite being toothless. I guess no more mouse hunting for her!
Hope things are going well with you. I am trying to catch up on reading the recent posts here. This week was nuts and I didn't get to read a lot. So I might have missed some stuff!
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
writing about your congress critters
One of our senators, Jack Reed, is a big fish in the MIC circles.
Over the years, I have written to him many times with only superficial responses.
His staff will tell me of his wonderful accomplishments which add up to zilch,
except they paper-over his real accomplishments of enriching military contractors.
It is devils like this responsible for bloated Pentagon budgets. The few hearty souls
that carry banners and demonstrate in front of arms manufacturing plants are more
powerful images to show resistance to US war policies, IMO. The system filters the
phone callers, emailers, and letter writers so much as to deny actual effectiveness.
Thanks for the OT!
Sounds like the stuff I get from...
Maria Cantwell. Gag. I get a lot of emails from her asking for money. Blerg.
We've got a local group here that protests outside the navy base quite often. No one in the news, and I mean NO ONE will talk about them. Unless, someone gets arrested. Most of the protestors (I've joined them once or twice) are pretty old, but still doing what they can. At least we get honks of approval as cars drive by...
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
Read out on Xi-Biden meeting
by Arnaud Bertrand is quite good. He describes the respective positions of the US and China. Ironically but not surprisingly, the US/Biden statement comes off as the more formulaic ideological approach. The China/Xi readout reminds me of a description of Xi's approach to foreign policy I read in Newsweek about 7 years ago, and remarkably consistent. Lack of consistency by the US or saying one thing and doing another is the Biden administration trademark.
His two X tweets on this are fairly long, so I'll just post Tim Shorrock's link.
語必忠信 行必正直
What a diplomat!
語必忠信 行必正直
New word being coined for this type of statement
"diploturd"
His judgment is terribly impaired
He just can't be left on his own with the press. His advisors aren't much better.
語必忠信 行必正直
The more Bidump babbles, the worse his chances
for re-election, which weren't great to begin with. At this rate the Uniparty will have no choice but to force him off the ticket and replace him with someone whose babble is not so inane/insane.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
They can force Biden off the ticket
...and they will, ultimately. But it won't help the Democrats win the Presidential election in 2024, if Trump is on the ticket. I can't think of a single Dem Party politician who can defeat Trump — when the nation is crying out for a populist leader who will represent the will of the People.
Of course, populism just another layer of bait-and-switch in a system as corrupt as this one — but it is an ongoing global trend.
Should a regular Party Republican win the nomination, and run against a Party Democrat, then it doesn't really matter much who wins the Presidency (unless you need a local abortion or a tax cut). US international affairs will remain as they are. No US politician can survive on the wrong side of Israel. Plus the toxic propaganda war waged against the American people has made them totally dumbfounded by the madness of a Neocon-controlled Federal Government.
If the propaganda, lies, gaslighting, and censorship were to suddenly stop in the isolated US colony — the misguided delusions and lowered intelligence is destined to continue for generations — unless the A.I.'s come to the rescue with their humanitarian moral compass and their never-ending search across billions of sources for reality-based, documented truth.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I hope you are kidding about AI changing things
that is a programmed entity, as I am sure you are aware.
My feeling is there is enough human intelligence left to
turn this ship around before the globalists cash us on the
rocks, if given a chance. $.02
I'm not kidding
It is already changing the world. That said, I am immersed in A.I. at the moment. A good AI assistant has unfettered knowledge and is largely self-taught and learns from you. It's been incubated for decades but computers are now fast enough to make commercial applications. It sits on your menu bar and can do amazing things and answer any question or discuss any issue. It's part of the world now. Give it a try, let it help you with your work. Keep an open mind. Base your views on real experience. You know the drlll.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Yah, got your point
Still skeeves me out, as it is a self-reinforcing cycle.
Productivity (and efficiency) is not the ultimate destination in my world.
Where becomes the input or space for creative problem
solving? Expression within computer generated bounds
sounds more like a video game. Again $.02
gotta have that room to move sideways
Can't Trump defeat himself ? n/t
I'm glad I'd swallowed my mouthful of water..
before reading this, or it'd be all over my screen.
'Diploturd'. Perfect descriptive noun!
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
What the heck does that mean?
Biden, what kind of word slurry are you saying now? What the heck? It's like talking to my demented father, back a few years ago (demented father doesn't talk at all now, really, except monosyllable words like 'OK').
Thanks for this, it's 'good' to know how foolish/maybe even stupid our leaders are.
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
Bertrand's summary of Chinese position
Thanks for the link:
Was listening to the New Atlas but did not finish. The US is very active in East Asia building a new version of the Ukraine but using countries like the Philippines to once the moment is right, start a war with China. Unfortunately, this policy will continue regardless who the next president is.
We might get someone who will try to stop it.
Not inevitable. There are good reasons to get involved with Presidential politics. Or we could sit tight and wait for Nikki "Totalitarian" Haley. Sound good?
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Why do they think we need all these...
enemies so they make new ones? I wonder why? I don't know enough modern 'theory' or something to understand 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
My guess is that they need always something/somebody to blame
and then it is the easiest method to get attention in front of the cameras of the mainstream med media. Nothing more seductive then to get the most fubar headline online.
Thanks for this...
It's a good summary of that meeting. Thank you!
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
Good morning, I think. I've been on the run since 6 am and
still haven't started doing anything scheduled for today, ah well. Lunch break.
Heh, Kucinich is howling in the wilderness. Poor guy never got any traction in Congress or as a Presidential candidate precisely because he was a peace monger and tended leftish. You can bet that if he gets any traction now the Dems will find a good way to shut him up and shut him down, no matter what it takes. Divisive and bad for their image.
I see that Biden has no idea what the word "dictator" means, but I never expected much acumen from the dude anyway. "They only have one party" -- and we have ???
Expose the lies and propaganda, expose the fact that we are doing it 24-7. You can't get through to people until you get them to dismiss all the decades of lies and bullshit as exactly that.
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 --
key point
reversing decades of indoctrination
requires a serious shifting of mental gears
watch out for the clutch when
jamming it in reverse!
On the run since 6 am?
Eep! That's a lot! I've been, err, up doing farm chores since like... noon. Hah. Had a very late night!
I, sadly, kinda agree with you, Kucinich is howling in the wilderness. I just hope, that if some people can hear what he says, that message can grow.
I don't think the Dems will have anything to do with it growing, they'll continue to shut it down, as always.
Yea, I didn't think Biden understands the word 'dictator' either. After all, he's basically one as well!
'Expose the lies and propaganda'. Exactly! I hope your day, after lunch, was good and not so harried!
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
Good Day, Is there something like
artificial idiocy? or is all idiocy naturaL
Better don't teLL mE, i WOULD NOT KNOW;WHICH ONE i WOULD PREFER:
LONG DAY: gOOD NIGHT FROM MY WOODS OVER HERE:
Artificial Idiocy...
Hmm, I might have to start calling A.I. that :). I'm not sure all idiocy is natural, although I bet a lot of it is!
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
The idea of peaceful protests is good but one has be careful
as to where you protest.
Good location but the response is about what you expect from authorities.
she is justifiably upset
thanks for sharing the vid. Good to hear I am not the only one upset about this
ongoing state of affairs.
Dang...
I might have said the f word a bit less, maybe. Maybe not. But she really, really expresses her points well and vividly. It really is clear when the tall cop is walking behind her, pushing her forward. I wish they'd put THIS on TV. Not the crap about how the protestors 'pushed' the cops so the cops had to beat the tar out of them.
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
Late to the party.
I have been on the road today.
The US will do this again and again, until the rest of the world tells us, in tough love mode, not no, but hell no.
Good OT, thanks, sima.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hope being on the road...
was ok, or had some fun parts at least! And yep, 'No, Hell NO', is what it is going to take.
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
I am still
working with my secretary, trying to assemble a complicated real estate transaction. Dammit. I am stuck doing it for another hour or so... Good grief!
It will get better.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
It better get better!
Or Jaska will have words!
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
Not exactly good news, but the best we can do...
https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/p/the-blizzard-of-the-world
Thanks for the link Moser
a good article about the machine
Very good article...
Thank you!
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
I remember the first time I flew back to Utah and saw all the
new developments west of SLC. I was stunned how quickly they blew up after just a few years of being gone and that they had expanded that far west where it used to just be desert. Last year I went west of Ogden to find the farmland where I used to find eagles to photograph and all I saw were new housing developments with only one street into them with 6 more streets doubling back on themselves and could just imagine people trying to flee if there was an emergency.
One highway from Ogden to the city used to be mostly farmland and orchards and now it’s new developments with gawd ugly homes with no windows and tiny, tiny decks with stairs down to the huge yards. Any place that can fit them I see those gawd ugly apartments. I just saw a new one going up that is surrounded by streets and asphalt. Not a stitch of greenery anywhere in sight. Boy how exciting to get an apartment with a deck that looks out on one of the busiest streets in town. Our legislators are mostly real estate builders. Or in the pockets of them.
Not the subject of the article, but that’s what it brought out in my mind.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.