The Weekly Watch

Every Empire Falls

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It is a long litanty of fallen empires including Greek, Roman, Mongol, Spanish, Dutch, and British. Now, it is the US turn to experience the loss of it primacy. It is easy to see the decline of America in the last couple of decades. Some historians point to patterns of decline. This author suggest seven common signs: fixation on their ideology, absorption in amusement and entertainment, government corruption, degrading public health, nutritional stratification and food challenges, over expansion, and constant war.

rome falls.jpg

This writer suggest similar symptoms of collapse...
- Political factions are polarized
- A large wealth gap divides the haves and have-nots
- Laws and traditions are replaced by lawlessness
- Cities and states defy the government
- Communities tolerate and ignore crime
- Police are prohibited from enforcing laws
- The educational system is used to indoctrinate students
- There is censorship of words and ideas one side doesn't like
- Anyone who disagrees is demonized
- Violent thugs attack opponents in public and with impunity
- Speakers with opposing views are banned or shut out from public events
- Corrupt media spreads propaganda and reports lies as truth
- Religion is banned, punished and eventually outlawed
- Longstanding traditions are ridiculed and abandoned
- History is revised to suit current political opinions
- Public officials and their families abuse their positions to get rich

Chris Hedges wrote an article describing the Collapse of the American Empire
Some of his major points include:

America's defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire...
Imperial ineptitude is matched by domestic ineptitude. The collapse of good government at home, with legislative, executive and judicial systems all seized by corporate power, ensures that the incompetent and the corrupt, those dedicated not to the national interest but to swelling the profits of the oligarchic elite, lead the country into a cul-de-sac...
All we really make anymore are weapons. Once this is understood, perpetual war makes sense, at least for those who profit from it...
The worse it gets at home the more the empire needs to fabricate enemies within and without. This is the real reason for the increase in tensions with Russia and China. The poverty of half the nation and concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny oligarchic cabal, the wanton murder of unarmed civilians by militarized police, the rage at the ruling elites, expressed with nearly half the electorate voting for a con artist and demagogue and a mob of his supporters storming the capital, are the internal signs of disintegration...
The loss of the dollar as the world's reserve currency will instantly raise the cost of imports. It will result in unemployment of Depression-era levels. It will force the empire to dramatically contract. It will, as the economy worsens, fuel a hyper-nationalism that will most likely be expressed through a Christianized fascism. The mechanisms, already in place, for total social control, militarized police, a suspension of civil liberties, wholesale government surveillance, enhanced "terrorism" laws that railroad people into the world's largest prison system and censorship overseen by the digital media monopolies will seamlessly cement into place a police state.

What got me on this train of thought was an interview with Dr. Wilmer Leon on the Duran in a conversation titled "Great duel between great powers"

The Duran also had an excellent conversation about the Winter offensive with Patrick Lancaster & Alex at Reporterfy Media. Patrick discusses his on the ground experience in Ukraine for the first 30 minutes after which Alex begins discussing "The World's Greatest Washing Machine" in Monaco...quite interesting link with the Ukrainian grift.

Caity suggests NATO Exists To Solve The Problems Created By NATO’s Existence

Russell speaks with award-winning journalist Aaron Maté, who explains why peace talks were stopped between Russia & Ukraine. Additionally, how the US is using Ukraine to weaken Russia without a direct conflict.
Russell like many others has moved to Rumble where you can here the entire interviews live.
Additionally Scott Ritter is now putting all his work on his new website.


WINTER IS COMING for Ukraine and Taiwan
with Garland Nixon and Margaret Kimberley.
Garland is insightful to my mind.

The dollar is quickly losing it's dominance...
In this video, Robert Kiyosaki discusses the importance of the BRICS countries and how they are so crucial to the world economy. Robert Kiyosaki discusses how the BRICS countries are key to the future of the world economy. Sounds like gold might be a good investment.

George Galloway explains how US NGOs are avenues for coups, China hypocrisy, and more...

George does a good job pointing out many aspects of the West's decline.

The Duran discusses the Elections in Taiwan, ruling party suffers massive defeat. Sounds like the people are not interesting in a US proxy war against China taking place in their country.

However, Malaysia didn't fare as well. They elected a past IMF chairman. Brian explains.
Malaysia's New Prime Minister: The Impact on US-China Tensions in Asia

Screenshot 2022-12-04 at 06-20-58 Stop and Smell the Apocalypse - scheerpost.com_.png

Mirroring US foreign policy, domestic conditions are degrading also.
USA: The world’s largest prison population

The United States has a contingent of 2.3 million prisoners, making it the first in the list of nations with the largest prison populations in the world. In Texas alone, there are 141,661, which makes it the No. 1 state with the largest prison population in the United States. Capital punishment (death penalty) is a legal penalty in Texas.

To get a better idea, there are more Americans behind bars than in college dorms. According to research data compiled by the ICPS, for every 100,000 people in the United States, 698 are watching the sunrise through prison window bars. Each year 7,000 people die inside an American prison; many are killed or commit suicide.

Many prisoners are being used as slave labor...

The United States, which has the world’s largest prison population, aimed to abolish slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865. But the Thirteenth Amendment echoes the ILO’s definition by allowing involuntary servitude—in the form of forced labor—“as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Meanwhile, American labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act exclude those incarcerated by classifying their working relationship as penal, not economic. Incarcerated people are thus unprotected from forced labor. Activists have further pointed out that mass incarceration and racial profiling in the United States has led to African Americans being incarcerated at far higher rates than their white counterparts. With forced labor remaining legal as punishment for a crime, the legacy of slavery and racism persists in the U.S. industrial prison complex.

Labor whether imprisoned or not isn't treated well in the US...

Senate Votes OVERWHELMINGLY To Screw Over Rail Workers
Earlier this week the House voted to force an agreement favorable to railroad operators on front line rail workers, and on Thursday the Senate followed suit in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 80-15 vote. This epic betrayal of the rail workers was led by Joe Biden – you know, the most union-friendly President in history. And virtually all the progressives in Congress went along with it, demonstrating yet again that between the owners and the workers, Democrats of all stripes will side with the owners every time.
Jimmy and Jackson Hinkle discuss the lack of a progressive movement that might have stood up for the workers and challenged Biden, Pelosi and Schumer not to force this deal down the workers’ throats.

At least the New York Slimes FINALLY printed a somewhat positive story about Julian Assange.
New York Times Defends Julian Assange
When Julian Assange broke the shocking story about US war crimes in Iraq, his media organization, Wikileaks, partnered with major global news outlets like the New York Times, El Pais, Le Monde and Der Spiegel to share the news with a worldwide audience. Now, just a decade later, those news outlets are coming together to defend Assange and, in a joint open letter, call for the charges against him to be dropped. Jimmy and The Convo Couch’s Craig “Pasta” Jardula discuss the case against Assange and how pathetic it is that the Times is only now coming around to expressing support for a fellow journalist who has been targeted by the full brunt of US state power.

The Twitter files were big news this week.
Journalist Matt Taibbi reported a massive scoop regarding Twitter's internal handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story in a long Twitter thread on Dec. 2 after receiving documents from Elon Musk.
This is just his first installment...

There is much more to come, including answers to questions about issues like shadow-banning, boosting, follower counts, the fate of various individual accounts, and more. These issues are not limited to the political right.

 
At the link you can read Matt's explanation of twitter's political bias.

I hope you'll give other examples of the fall of empire in the comments below.

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Lookout's picture

from Daniel Dumbrill...
I fired up my camera to have a quick impromptu chat about my thoughts and feelings on China's covid-zero, the protests and the incoming reforms from the perspective of someone who's been on the ground since day one.
16 min
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wN0OALoj6M]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout were of little to no interest to DC until this week.

Why?

Because last Saturday the last little bit of light was snuffed out on the Independent Taiwan fiasco.

I'd written about that last week on wotb and I think at c99 also and had a big hearty laugh along with Alex reporting from Monaco on the Duran tape you've posted as he laughingly pointed out my exact thoughts.

Penelope at wotb pointed out that the protest pix in China gave no numbers of crowd sizes and could have been taken at anytime.

Which I agree with.

The goal was to cover up the real story. China will not be influenced or moved by the fading USA. Easily defeated and humiliated in Taiwan. Brushed aside.

New world coming into focus.

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NYCVG

Lookout's picture

@NYCVG

Nice to "see" you today. Yes, the China spin machine is well oiled.

I wish Alex at reporterfy had written up his Monaco reporting. He even speculated Monaco might be 'elensky's ultimate home...
Ukraine graft_1.jpg
Ukraine is the grift machine and FTX was one of many laundries funneling money back to the states, but Monaco sounds like the go to giant laundry (along with the Caymans?)

Your stories of NYC devolution is also some evidence of the collapse of the US.

Thanks for coming by!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

lotlizard's picture

… has died. Suddenly. Already back on November 16.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/zbmcgu/passing_of_a_legend/

https://www.reddit.com/user/veganmark

Mahalo an’ aloha, brah. R.I.P.

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Lookout's picture

@lotlizard

Wonder how old he was?

Sudden heart attacks have become very common especially in young folks

The spikes in heart attack deaths have tracked with surges of COVID-19 infection—even during the presumed less-severe Omicron phase of the pandemic. Furthermore, the data showed the increase was most significant among individuals ages 25-44, who are not usually considered at high risk for heart attack.
...
In the year before the pandemic, there were 143,787 heart attack deaths; within the first year of the pandemic, this number had increased by 14% to 164,096.
The excess in acute myocardial infarction-associated mortality has persisted throughout the pandemic, even during the most recent period marked by a surge of the presumed less-virulent Omicron variant. 
Researchers found that although acute myocardial infarction deaths during the pandemic increased across all age groups, the relative rise was most significant for the youngest group, ages 25 to 44. 
By the second year of the pandemic, the “observed” compared to “predicted” rates of heart attack death had increased by 29.9% for adults ages 25-44, by 19.6% for adults ages 45-64, and by 13.7% for adults age 65 and older.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout that he was 60.
He is gone too soon.
RIP, veganmark.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

Someone asked about it on wotb but I couldn’t post it there for some reason. It was the emijorehongkong guy if anyone wants to post it for me.

Vegan Mark's work

Mark wrote excellent and detailed essays and it’s sad that his voice is gone. Very sad news.

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

sad to hear of his young passing. Thanks for the link to his essays.

@on the cusp
Too young indeed!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

dystopian's picture

@lotlizard Thanks for posting this LL.

I saw it this morning and was saddened. He was a very sharp dude. He was a real scientist, with many published papers. And seemed to me to be very well balanced and objective, and knew what he was talking about. Fly high brother!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

Over the years I've seen many variations of the list of hallmarks of declining or failing empires. I particularly recall one that refined absorption in amusement and entertainment into specifically fascination with things culinary, with sports, and with fashion, all of which are hallmarks of the modern USA, cooking shows and food and restaurant reviews are all over tv, as are sports and fashion oriented stuff.

Celebrities with their dedicated followers are another such indicator that I recall.

Meanwhile: I'm not sure that this Religion is banned, punished and eventually outlawed is really a symptom, it certainly wasn't for Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia and all that group. I suspect that this inclusion is agenda driven.

Also, while this: Longstanding traditions are ridiculed and abandoned may or may not be historically symptomatic, it is not, it itself a bad or dangerous thing, imho. Saluting and pledging allegiance to the flag, declared days of prayer, opening sporting events with the national anthem, and many other longstanding traditions should be ridiculed and abandoned if you ask me. They may be hallmarks and drivers of empire, but, again, I smell an agenda here. Again, look at Rome and some of its predecessors.

Thanks for the WW

be well and have a good one

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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 --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris
And banned Paganism as I recall. Spanish empire had the inquisition and banned Jews. Not sure there's an analog in the US today. Hedges refers to Christian fascists as our current religion in the states.

Whatever the symptoms, the signs of US decline are clear to my mind....may be sooner rather than later. Interesting times alright.

Glad y'all had a good trip!

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11 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

adopt xtianity and outlaw paganism, but I'm not at all convinced that that change was a driver, except to the extent that it probably impacted the quality and quantity of mercenaries.

The Spanish Inquisition pre-dated the Spanish Empire. Spain became a country with the merger of the separate kingdoms of Ferdinand and Isabella (Castile and Aragon). They (really Isabella) then launched the Inquisition and financed Columbus' voyages, which led, in time, to the Treaty of Tordesillas and the growth of a Spanish Empire.

be well and have a good one.

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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 --

snoopydawg's picture

Meryl Nass has a great essay on the attack against food for us and the absolute crack down on farms across the world and especially in the Netherlands. 70% of farms there are being told that they must stop farming and it’s happening in other countries. Monsanto and other wicked organizations are going to be in charge of what we can eat.

There have been protests in numerous countries across the pond whilst we continue to fight amongst ourselves about which party is trying to screw us. As mentioned here we have the most number of people in prison and many for minor crimes whilst those who have done heinous acts are still walking free. And little by little states are trying to take our guns. Credit card companies are tracking who buys which type of gun. Colorado passed some type of gun law that restricts what people can have. Canada has outlawed all guns. We know what happens when people and countries lose their gun rights.

Another good essay

People shouldn’t be afraid of their government; Their government should be afraid of the people. - V

The last chance is gone! What Is America’s Tipping Point and What are You Prepared to Do When it comes? (Our government has stated that they can imprison anyone without cause for an indefinite amount of time.)

We have seen in recent events, by now almost too numerous to mention, the effects of a rising frustration with the way things are. It isn’t necessary to go into all of the individual reasons, but as a society there are more and more outpourings of frustration on a global scale. There are increasingly tightening restrictions against people. There is a manipulation of markets and the economy. There is a great increase in the loss of freedom and there is a more open antagonism and almost outright animosity by Government towards their people.
(The patriot act took away many of our freedoms and congress just told railroad workers that they have to work according to their owner’s demands.)

Governments exist either because they have come to power through force and violence or they have been elected and given power by the people.

When governments will steal money outright from the citizens in order to pay bills that were not incurred by the people we have a problem. When government spies on its people and uses that information against them punitively we have a problem. When Government uses the force of the military that was supposed to defend the people that was paid for by the people, for the purposes of killing the people, we have a big problem. When someone brings to light crimes by the government and is labeled as the one who is a danger, we have a problem.

Our government has stated that they can imprison anyone without cause for an indefinite amount of time.

Can you seriously argue that we aren’t headed down the same path as others have in our not too distant past?

Biden Signs Legislation To Avert Crisis Of Treating Rail Workers Like Humans

“We were only a week away from a nationwide catastrophe in which we would have been forced to acknowledge the basic rights of these employees,” said President Biden, applauding lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who ensured rail workers would continue to be denied a benefit as humane as paid sick days. “So much of what Americans rely on is delivered by train—from clean water to food to gas—and the last thing we want is for the people responsible for transporting those goods to be able to stay home when they’re seriously ill. Thanks to this law, we can guarantee that no engineer driving 20,000 tons of freight across this great nation will be able to access healthcare without having their pay docked.” Biden went on to express confidence that next year, bipartisan legislation would be passed to ensure rail workers were no longer allowed to eat or sleep between shifts.

Will this get people off their buttocks and walk out on their jobs nationwide or will we just take another clubbing to our rights and freedom? One way to tell government that this is unacceptable is for millions to walk out in strike. People are hoping that the rail workers do just that and they will support them monetarily, but why should they take the risk others aren’t willing to? People have the power. The government should be afraid of it. Instead we have Powell doing everything he can to low wages, throw millions out of work and take people’s power away from them and give it to the oligarchs. I hope people see that the window for doing something is closing fast.

Boy things have changed in the last year when instead of being told to stay home if sick to fck that and go to work anyway and make sure that they infect as many others as they can. Biden took 17 days off when he got the Rona again. But us peons? Nope.

Btw Italy’s court just said that yes the government has the right to make people take an mRNA against their will.

Biden is going to sign us up for vaccine passports that anyone who wants to travel internationally. He is also going to sign on to letting the WHO run the next pandemic that will nullify whatever is left of the constitution. It might just start with having to have a passport to travel, but that’s not the end game. There are already plans for digital money and not only has Biden signed on for it, but many states are working on implementing it. Banks will get to run our lives?

Halt Vaccine Passports and Stop Genocide 2030 - Every Human Being Must Fight For Freedom NOW

So again how much longer are we frogs going to enjoy our sitting in the pot of increasing hot water? Dunno but really thought I’d be dead before this shit happened.

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snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

How many is that now just here in the states? More than 10. Probably many more. Plus how many oil refineries are closed down right now? Gawd things turned ugly fast didn’t they?

Yup!

BBC63F7B-AC5C-4458-8660-F31E03DF124F.jpeg

And we’ve been re-electing them for the last 30-50 years while they promised us that things would get better if we only gave them a big enough majority. Welp A-hole Obama not only had a majority, he also had a mandate from we the people and everything he did was for his owners and the military industrial complex. Trump actually did more for us than Obama did.

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

They used to pandemic to make people obedient and subservient. Jimmy expands on that idea...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaozxCZ0A7w]
All about control. I don't think our citizens will fight back. We've been trained.
And here we are back at required (ineffective) vaccinations and passports. When will we ever learn?

Control the food, control the people. I'm glad I know local farmers. Consider getting to know some around you...https://www.eatwild.com/index.html Sad to see food processing plants burn repeatedly, but processed foods are not good for us, but I prefer to make my own decisions rather than have them imposed.

Thanks for all the info!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@snoopydawg has come as a very hard knock on the noggin to me. I knew things were dire but this!?!

The Government and the Corporations blatantly ganging up on the workers and our unions?

It is gobsmacking and it leaves us with very few options.

My first idea is a nationwide stoppage of all union dues. What is the point of that pretense, if the unions cannot protect its workers. IDK how well this would work, but it is easier to organize than a strike and the workers who opt out will have more money in their hands as they fight. I expect the unions to fight very hard against this.

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NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

Stop paying union dues since the leadership has long ago sold out to the owners and congress. And quit voting for democrats for gawd’s sake since they continue to screw them. Obama promised them something big but never did it. It just wasn’t important to him.

Our government is okay with cops beating the crap out of people who protest but they are now lecturing China for cracking down on theirs. It’s none of our business what China or any country does regarding them. We supported the ones in Hong Kong and Ukraine and Libya and Syria and wherever else we are trying to meddle in so it’s hypocritical for us to pick and choose.

Trudeau cracked down on the ones in Canada but he’s fine with the ones in China? SMDH!

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bipartisan-group-us-senators-warns-c...

Also interesting discussion on the digital dollar. Some states are taking precautions against it happening. I don’t understand much about it except I don’t want it to happen. It’s too controlling. Maybe someone can write more about this?

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soryang's picture

Alex, Alexander, Alex, Patrick, and Daniel Dumbrill. I've missed Daniel's videos lately. We like Alex of reporterfly too.

There is a lot of news breaking in South Korea which is pretty much off the radar screen because of the preoccupation with Russia, China, and Ukraine and Taiwan respectively. I had taken the trouble last night to write a an account of the creeping eclipse of democratic government in South Korea as a result of President Yoon's complete capitulation to US and Japanese foreign policy goals. He's basically adopted the anti-China so called Indo-Pacific policy. Meanwhile, his unpopularity in South Korea continues to rise. Unfortunately, I pushed the wrong button, and lost it; will try again.

In the last few months, the public prosecutor's office has caused the three leading national security figures of the prior Moon administration to be arrested on fabricated charges. The former National Security Advisor was ordered jailed on Friday under a warrant approved by a judge after a ten hour hearing. The former Secretary of Defense and the former Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) were arrested as well during the summer. There was an incident in September 2020 during the prior Moon Jae-in administration in which a marine patrol officer was shot and killed by North Koreans in North Korean waters during an attempt to defect.* In June 2022 the NIS and MOD findings related to the defection and killing were disputed by the Yoon administration and the arrests and McCarthyite witch hunt began. It is believed that imprisonment of the former democratic president Moon Jae-in is the ultimate object of this series of arrests, and investigations. Dozens of search warrants of private property and government offices were issued in connection with these investigations of the highest level national security officials.

*South Korean Seaman killed attempting to defect,
September 28, 2020
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/09/south-korean-seaman...
As a former sailor, I found this story interesting at time and took the trouble to interpret the reports.

Meanwhile investigations of the current leader of the democratic party and former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung are underway. This is not the first such effort at prosecution of Lee Jae-myung in continuing attempts to eliminate him from the political field. In its usual modus operandi Yoon's clique in the Public Prosecutors Office has been threatening people already incriminated in the Hwacheon Daewoo/ Daejangdong land development scandal to change earlier courtroom testimony to incriminate Lee Jae-myung. Ironically, Yoon (as a prosecutor) in the past was in charge of an investigating team that covered up the Pusan Savings Bank scandal that financed corrupt businessmen investing in the Daejangdong project.

At the same time, similar tactics against former Justice Minister Cho-guk, have been ongoing for at least two years. His wife was already convicted of "college entrance corruption" on behalf of her daughter and sentenced to more than four years in prison. I read the closing argument of the attorney for the college professor who allegedly conspired with Cho Guk to award his daughter a college scholarship, characterized as a "bribe" by the confabulating prosecutors. It was brilliant and powerful, and made the point that the reviewing court not let itself be used as an instrument of political repression destroying the lives and families of innocent people when the prosecution cases are based on false testimony, and fabricated evidence submitted by politically motivated corrupt prosecutors violating their oath of office and public duty.

President Moon released a rare public statement concerning the disputed findings of the September 2020 incident near Yongpyeong Island in the West Sea near the Northern Limit Line. He basically said the investigation and prosecution of former national security officials acting within the scope of their duties was harmful to national security. He also said that it was he who made the ultimate determination of the nature of the homicide in North Korean waters of the South Korean maritime official. I doubt if the Yoon government has the nerve to prosecute Moon at this point. It seems Yoon's clique is trying to see how much they can get away with. If they succeed in getting rid of the ministers and Lee Jae-myung, I'm sure they think Moon will easily fall into their hands.

In other moves aimed at creating a state of martial law inside South Korea, Yoon's office has prepared a reorganization of the Presidential security guard chain of command which enlarges it from the former Blue House contingent of 700 guards committed to presidential security to expand it by inclusion of approximately 1300 Yongsan police and 1000 military police. There is blowback from those organizations informally as they note they are under their own institutional command chains and that police and military organizations are constitutionally established by law. This move follows an earlier edict placing the formerly independent National Police Agency under the direct control of the Minister of Interior and Public Safety, as it was during the dictatorships.

The public safety minister is now trying avoid blame for the disaster in Itaewon on October 29 which resulted in the deaths of over 150 young people. This minister has attempted to deflect blame by claiming the victims may have died because they may have been taking illegal drugs. There is no question, the minister had diverted Yongsan police forces away from Itaewon October 29 and that the lack of police in the area directly led to the disaster. The government has further enraged the surviving families and the public generally by exempting the Minister's office and the Presidential Office from investigation. To add insult to injury the government is obstructing efforts of the survivors to obtain condolence payments or organize in their own interest.

Prosecutors who were unable to stop a South Korean reviewing court (post election) from dismissing an injunction filed by Yoon's attorneys just before the election campaign are being retaliated against by Yoon clique prosecutors currently. One of the prosecutors who worked on the court review process which ultimately led to the upholding of the independent disciplinary committee findings against Yoon as Prosecutor General, is now being prosecuted in turn for abuse of office and leaking confidential court documents. The charges are absurd. The retaliation against the career prosecutor won't change the disciplinary board's finding that Yoon violated the political impartiality of his office, intervened in a case in which he had a personal interest, and investigated sitting judges unlawfully. The was the second adverse disciplinary board outcome in Yoon's legal career with the prosecutors offices. It was the delay in the legal review of the injunction which enabled Yoon to be elected.

Demonstrations in Seoul took place downtown and in Seocho next to the PPO building Saturday evening. They apparently weren't coordinated. One from Namdaemun to Myongdong was about 30,000 and the one in Seocho was only a few thousand. I think the organizers were disappointed in the turnout, but the weather was cold about 28 degrees F. The trucker's strike has been broken by the government, with a few of the leaders jailed. In the videos I watched it didn't seem that the labor or farm unions were present at the main demonstration. Coats, scarves, gloves and masks were worn by most demonstrators.

The legal retaliation by the Yoon administration against unions, the independent media, and opposition is taking its toll. It's looks like the Lee Nak-yon DINO faction in the National Assembly and democratic party organization are separating themselves from the plight of Lee Jae-myung the party leader, and the former top officials of the Moon administration. How long traditional conservatives will stick with the Yoon faction remains to be seen, as his popularity and the approval rating for the conservative party (PPP) have hit their 30 percent base.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

Sounds like Ukraine style oppression. Eliminate the opposition. Have they gone after media too. That's typical with these authoritarians. I'm sorry for the people who will ultimately pay the price.

As to losing essays, I like to use the "save as draft" option prior to publishing. I've screwed up before and forgot to save and hit publish, which will delete your current edit work. I'm happy to help. PM if you want.

Thanks for the Asian update. I was nice to see Daniel again.

Hope you're adapting to your storm devastation, and things are looking up!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

soryang's picture

@Lookout thanks. It's hard to adjust to apartment life. We're having difficulty facing the project of rebuilding the house. It's difficult to find contractors with everyone rebuilding at the same time in the neighborhood and around the state.

Some of the neighbors have skilled construction workers in the family. One of my neighbors is rebuilding himself. He had been a carpenter and had done free lancing as a finishing carpenter for the last several years. One or two neighbors had this same thing happen in 1994, and knew how to proceed. They are "ahead" of everyone else. I've had wind damage to my home before from hurricanes but nothing like this flood. We're very thankful for the support from friends and family.

We are recovering fairly well, maybe work will get started in a week or two. Writing about Korean affairs helps me feel things are getting "back to normal," although things there are anything but normal currently.

(edit) I should have mentioned that there are a lot of defamation lawsuits being filed against independent media and journalists by Yoon's party. MBC is one of the public media outlets that break a lot of investigative reports and I relied, in part, on their program Straight above. They are getting discriminatory treatment from Yoon, and I think they've been kicked out of the presidential press corps. It was a major story before he went on the diplomatic trip to Southeast Asia.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

Well wish you the best in your housing rehab. We built our house, but it was 35 years ago and I ain't got it in me these days. I have a small project where I can't find carpentry help.

Again best of luck with your project. Do you have a "go fund me" or some other donation site where people might help?

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8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

soryang's picture

@Lookout will cover much of the losses. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford the premium the last few years. Some of my neighbors don't have it. When I first read the terms of the standard National Flood Insurance Policy (after the flood) which many private flood insurance companies use, it really upset me. I won't go into the details, it looked like it was written by insurance lobbyists to screw people.

After more than a month of agonizing over it, (I hate insurance), I finally found out that there was a FEMA press release which waived many of the onerous conditions of the standard policy. Now, I think that for those who have this insurance, things will work out for them for the most part. I could be wrong, this is anecdotal not legal advice. The competence of the federal agency in making this move frankly was a surprise. I think they would have saved people affected a lot of anxiety had they publicized their waiver policy better. I met so called professional adjusters that didn't know about this, and complained about the policy terms to a congressional staffer who obviously was unaware of it as well.

What I learned from this experience so far, is that money isn't everything. Having the money to fix things still doesn't resolve many of the issues that you can't anticipate. Also, you don't appreciate what you have, no matter how modest it may be, until its gone.

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8 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

and I'm in total agreement with this approach...

you don't appreciate what you have, no matter how modest it may be, until its gone.

I featured Joni's song a couple of weeks ago with that line...
you don't know what you got till its gone
they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Sounds like you have it well under control. Take good care and keep good heart.

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8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Pluto's Republic's picture

@soryang

...your generous and timely insights about S.Korea's political drama... or shall I say, palace intrigue. Although I've spent time in all three cultures, in many places, I find myself far more familiar with the modern politics of China and Japan. Now, as I watch the US planning its clumsy, flat-footed, tone-deaf Pivot to Asia — with the full intention of unleashing NATO-esque Murder and Mayhem across the region — I can see a wide gap in my grasp of the situation where S.Korea is concerned. Your accounting of the internal political conflicts taking place in South Korea — is fraught with unknown geopolitical potential.

There is a lot of news breaking in South Korea which is pretty much off the radar screen because of the preoccupation with Russia, China, and Ukraine and Taiwan respectively. I had taken the trouble last night to write a an account of the creeping eclipse of democratic government in South Korea as a result of President Yoon's complete capitulation to US and Japanese foreign policy goals. He's basically adopted the anti-China so called Indo-Pacific policy. Meanwhile, his unpopularity in South Korea continues to rise. Unfortunately, I pushed the wrong button, and lost it; will try again.

.
Ouch. Thanks for persevering. Lookout made a good guess at what the problem was. I've made that mistake, as well, and now save often as I am composing or editing. Meanwhile, I find it amazing that we have a private corespondent reporting the real politik of S.Korea at this historic time. If the prescient mental sketching of global events composed at c99 should fall silent while the US is engaged in a monumental act of self sabotage by provoking China — we will have gained depth and accuracy from the clarity and timeliness of reports such as yours.

I did not see clearly until now how Westernized the Korean political hive-mind has become. There is an uncanny synchronicity between the existential dilemma that currently grips US politics and S.Korea's unfolding political and legal power struggles. The political outrages in S.Korea happen to precisely mirror the recent and unresolved political turmoil that occurred in the US, when legal subterfuge, fake investigations, spying and covert sabotage, corrupt warrants, expensive cover-up operations, and a deep-state psy-op of media propaganda drowned out rational thinking in the US. This took place at the highest levels of the Federal Government, both before and after Donald Trump won the US Presidential election. These events triggered an ongoing nationwide frenzy of censorship, which is performed from an array of corporations, public non-profits, and at hastily-founded NGOs.

In my informal anthropological view, Korean art has always struck me as 'fierce', compared to Japanese or Chinese art. I've also thought that Korean expat communities seem to adapt and merge more completely with Western civilizations — the US, for example — than do Japanese and Chinese expat communities. Of course, these are stereotypes and assumptions. But the open hypocrisies and fearless corruption that's taking place in S.Korean politics is a surprise to me. When I see Leaders who have normalized acts of blatant corruption, I assume they regard their their people as too clueless and gullible to understand, or too disenfranchised and powerless to act. It's true in the US, where Federal level politicians represent the predatory capitalists who make them all millionaires, and their cynical gun-ownership policy is deliberately designed to get the organizers of revolution in the US quickly killed. If I recall correctly, the US signed is a Patriot-Act-era treaty with Canada that allows Canadian troops to enter the US, who may be more willing to participate in the clean-up of such "acts of terrorism."

South Korea appears to mirror the blatant political corruption of the US, but are the people politically powerless as well? The situation in South Korea may open the door to new speculation about both the viability of the US attack on China and the political future of S.Korea. Of course, the reunification of Korea will remain completely off the table, until S.Korea can remove the leash around its neck, held taut by the US. In the end, it could be North Korea's global view that will prove to be the correct one.

Again, thanks for the great, informative post.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
soryang's picture

@Pluto's Republic said his was the only US web site the examined South Korean domestic politics regularly. I have to admit he's a pretty good analyst. He's a little too conservative for my taste. He is Korean-American and a lawyer. At one point he revealed he was a certified court translator in Korean. With this background I think he is often reluctant to admit the corruption in the South Korean legal system. His new web site, theBlueRoof.com is very well done. I respect his weekly reports on the situation there. His writing and editing are much better technically than my own. I was trained as a geopolitical analyst before I became an attorney. I'm sure he's a better translator. I usually don't read his work before I look at the Korean news reports and commentary myself. Sooner or later he has to admit that things are screwed up there, and does, but he still has a tendency to minimize what is wrong there. I get his weekly newsletter.

The geopolitical potential of South Korea is great. Generally speaking, the people are very politically active. If they don't like something, they start acting. Demonstrations at the community level up to the national level are much more common. The innate national character of the people is to resent and oppose imperialism and any kind of government oppression. This is to be expected considering their history.

Colonialism was imposed on Korea by force by the Japanese (the Japanese absurdly deny this). The South Korean legacy conservative media were always censored by Japan to control the population. The media and government continued this role under the US occupation and South Korean dictatorships. After the dictatorships, media continued to play the reactionary, pro-authoritarian role even after the protests in the streets forced them to step back and forced the government to introduce democratic reforms.

The legacy conservative media are part of the legacy elite families, the chaebol, who control South Korea. There is a similar phenomenon in Korean educational institutions many of which were founded during the Japanese Imperial administration or founded afterwards by families from the collaborator class. Most of the wealthiest families today are descendants of the former collaborators of the Japanese Imperial Government. Their legitimacy is always tainted by this. If they are not heirs of the collaborator class, they have received patronage from Japan in the post war period or otherwise became wealthy during the dictatorships.

Nationalism in South Korea is progressive in nature. It is always being restrained by the elites favoring Japan and the US. Therefore, during the "democratic period" after the dictatorships, the instruments of media and state power are always aiming to check South Korean nationalism in favor of the US imposed cold war framework that protects them politically. A return to authoritarian rule is always threatening. Everyone is aware of the blacklists from the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. People in the arts, writers, journalists, actors, screenwriters, etc. in the thousands were ostracized from government and media circles. During the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the Defense Security Command, historically the instrument of martial law during the dictatorships, again planned to implement martial law to avoid her impeachment. The plan was never executed, perhaps because the prime minister and acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn didn't want to rip South Korean civil society apart again. For this reason Hwang a conservative was abandoned by the right in South Korea. The general responsible fled to the US.

I had lived in South Korea for about three years a long time ago. Right about the time of the fall of the Chun Doo-wan dictatorship during the Roh Tae-woo administration. I tried to study Korean but it was too difficult to master besides the rudiments. I harbored a desire to return to the language and culture the rest of my life. I made an expatriate friend online who was living in Australia, after I retired. I began telling her about the news stories I was translating into English about the candlelight revolution and the impeachment of Park Geun-hye. Before she died, she encouraged me to write online. I've been following Korean affairs on a daily basis ever since. I've had ties to the Korean-American community since before I was stationed in South Korea.

I've followed the work of the other "Korean experts" for years. Most of them are "ex-CIA" and get their regular appearances on VOA Korea. For the last few years I've ignored their work because their role is to maintain South Korea's subordinate position to the US, and to control their policy toward North Korea, and to control the South's considerable military resources on the peninsula. They hated the former democratic president Moon Jae-in.

I see Han Dong-hun, the current Justice Minister, and President Yoon's hatchet man for years in the public prosecutors offices as potentially the major backdoor connection to the US. I mean this insofar as the legal scheming and machinations to get rid of political rivals, critics, journalists, etc. Yoon's wife often participates in coordination with Han's "revenge politics." I heard a left leaning independent investigative journalist comment recently "who among you could have predicted Yoon would become president two years ago?" Not to toot my own horn but I recognized that Yoon and Han Dong-hun were apparently unstoppable and a threat to South Korean democracy more than two years ago. My wife has been saying for more than two years, "why are you obsessed with Yoon?"

I wrote this on my blog in March 2020 about the prosecution of former minister Cho Guk's family:

The similarity in nature of the two family scandals, those in Yoon's family, and Cho's family has already been noted in this blog. In theory, the two politically potent scandals are antipodes in ongoing power struggle where the driving motivation is immediately to evade prosecution while driving the opposite party out of power in the larger political struggle. Yoon had said in his own behalf while undergoing hearing by the national assembly in respect to appointment as supreme prosecutor, that he bowed to no one, regardless of power in the pursuit of justice. Was this a statement of ethical dedication to justice or the language of arrogance from one approaching the pinnacle of political power?

Yoon took the bar exam eight times before he finally passed. Had to mention that.

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4 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

There seems to be no limit by those in power to attempt to use Russia as the scapegoat for everything that has gone wrong with their failed policies.

https://inews.co.uk/news/nhs-strikes-action-nadhim-zahawi-angers-nurses-...

Union bosses have dismissed Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s comments linking strike action to the war in Ukraine, calling it a “new low for this Government” and “disgraceful”.

Mr Zahawi used his media appearances on Sunday to urge nurses not to strike and “send a very clear message” to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he said rising prices were being driven by higher energy costs due Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This is not a time to be divided. We have to come together to, I hope, send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he can’t use energy as a weapon in this way,” he said on Sky News. He repeated the same message in later appearances on the BBC and Times Radio.

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8 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

@humphrey

in just this decade it was both the pandemic and Ukraine. The UK has really been abusing their people with US pushing them to hollow out the NHS. How did all of Europe seem to buy the Ukraine lie? They are shooting themselves. Mind blowing.

Thanks for the link!

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7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

You have to work as slaves or Putin will win. But I’m betting that’s all it will take for some people to fold. Oh noes..Putin wants us to strike. Well I’m not gonna! Take that Putin!

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6 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

ggersh's picture

Jimmy and Jackson debunk the state propaganda about China
and the protests happening over there. Yes protests happen
in China daily but not nearly to the degree our state media
claims it to be.

Everything our "pravda" puts out about any foreign govt is
pure 100% BS

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjMVIEk4tEw]

Why do the elites want power? "They aren't alright inside"

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBMEaBP7ohs]

up
9 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Lookout's picture

@ggersh

The Dumbrill clip at the top of the comments is good too.

Looks like y'all are cold and snow is likely? We're getting rain tomorrow but 70F. Weather weirding. Looked at our rainfall for last year and this year. 2021 we had 79" of rain. So far this year we've had 69", but they're calling for rain most of next week. We'll definitely get over 70" total.

You were the first to introduce me to https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2022/12/debt-rattle-december-4-2022/
Where today's menu is interesting...
• How’s the War on Truth Going? (Jim Kunstler)
• The Trumpification of Elon Musk (RCP)
• “A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi (Turley)
• ‘Twitter Files’ Make It Impossible For Democrats To Deny Their Censorship (RT)
• “Damning”: The Twitter Files And The FBI (Techno Fog)
• New Zealand Admits It Has Direct Access To Facebook Takedown Portal (RTN)
• Apple and China Want to Delete Apps on Your Phone (Flynn)
• Macron Talks Security Guarantees For Russia (RT)
• Russia Forms ‘Shadow Fleet’ To Bypass Oil Sanctions (RT)
• Germany ‘Sleepwalking’ Into New Migration Crisis – Top EU MP (RT)
• UN Ignores Abuse Of Ukrainian Women In Sweden – Moscow (RT)
• In The End The $ Goes To Zero And The US Defaults (Von Greyerz)
• Not Even N95 Masks Work To Stop Covid (Miller)

Hope all is well with you and yours!

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7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

ggersh's picture

@Lookout The temps are have been pretty much seasonal so far which
is in the low 40's as of now. Yes we've had a couple of cold snap
days with high's in the 20's which isn't unusual. As far as the
white stuff we've had our first measurable snow, maybe a 1/2 inch
so nothing to get excited about. What's a bit weird is that we
don't have any snow forecast in the next 2 weeks, though that can
change in a heartbeat.

As far as AE isn't that what we all do here? Bring info that we
can all use that help's us inform the world of what can possibly
be besides what is happening b in the world courtesy of the
US/UK govt/WEF/Oligarchs/etc.etc.

up
4 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Lookout's picture

@ggersh

weather wise. Rainy and 70's this week here. Garden is doing well, so no complaints.

Take care and be well!

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4 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@ggersh

It’s # 5 on my daily sites to read. It brings a lot of different topics in one place to read. I love that they link to the Saker and there is one from yesterday about why Russia is taking its time to finish the war in Ukraine. Goes into detail about all the other issues and problems countries are having mostly because of the sanctions.

Thanks ggersh!

Here’s a very interesting essay about how the smallpox epidemic parallels the current Rona epidemic by IM doc. If you haven’t subscribed to his substack yet you’re in for a treat. He writes very detailed and interesting essays.

The smallpox pandemic response was eerily similar to COVID

What is currently happening with the COVID mandates and protests is nearly identical to what happened 135 years ago with the smallpox vaccine campaigns, where the vaccination made smallpox epidemics worse, the vaccines killed a lot of people, the public refused them and governments responded by harsher and harsher mandatory vaccination laws.

Eventually one of the largest protests of the century broke out in 1885, vaccine mandates were scrapped in one area in favor of alternative management of smallpox, and this is what actually ended smallpox.

The smallpox vaccine had many of the same problems as the Rona one does and one town ended its epidemic by quarantining the infected and making their sanitation better.

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6 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

ggersh's picture

@snoopydawg I'll check it out after Sam get's that scratch!!!

up
4 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey LO! Hope its all good out there!

Great roundup of the slow-motion train wreck LO. Bunch of great stuff in the comments too, thanks all!

Must be about winter by now in northern bamy? It is just getting here, a Mulberry and some Hackberries are bright yellow in the yard, the Pecans have finally dropped, the Cypresses along the river (creek) are the brightest rusty orange and looking great. Been mostly gray and drizzle in 50's for a couple weeks now here. We got some rain later Nov. and are all the way up to D2 drought level. Due to the drought the fruit, nut, and seed crops are nil and the birds simply pass through in general continuing on to winter elsewhere.

Once upon a time, I saw it written, on whatever it is they write it on, that the downfall of every empire, could be traced to the empire succumbing to believing their own bullshit. I thought it a great way to see it. Of course you have to, to sell it, and eventually it eats you up, you become BS. All hubris, and a vacuous lack of understanding of 'the people'. This can be seen in nation, and political party, empires. How lucky we are to live when it is our places turn to melt down, crash and burn! Wink

Don't forget to stop and smell the wet forest floor.

be well all!

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7 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Lookout's picture

@dystopian

Cleaned off the roof onto tarps hauled down to the garden for future use. Large leaf crop this year. We had a wet cool spring and summer, but fall turned dry. Color was lovely this year...plugged in bright. What a pleasure.

We've had enough rain to keep the lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, greens and so on doing well. Give you a sense of food security. Plus nothing like harvesting and eating veg the same day.

I've got a wren building in the tire on the back of my Geo Tracker. We have all the regulars, phoebes, nuthatch, titmouse, chickadee, the piliated and other woodpeckers, but nothing special. However numbers seem down. It is a bit concerning.

As to the empire, I see our issue as projection. I keep thinking we are becoming as corrupt as Ukraine. What we dish out boomerangs back. Where's my fiddle? It isn't my main instrument, and as bad as I play it would fitting for our collapse.

Thanks for the visit!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

...focused on Ukraine. about 20 min
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7om28Bdc4&t=71m35s]

up
6 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

Not me.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A0TaiHr3tc]
"Now it's time to say goodnight
Good night. Sleep tight
Now the sun turns out his light
Good night. Sleep tight
Dream sweet dreams for me
Dreams sweet dreams for you."

I'm signing out tonight and will "see" you tomorrow.

up
7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”