caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

Spring has Sprung, and
Change is in the Air

Did the petrodollar die this week? It is at least the beginning of the end, as oil is sold in yuan and countries like Russia are placing much of their wealth into yuan. The banking sector in the west is still feeling the shock of the bank failures last week, as other banks sit at the brink of collapse. Lula had planned a trip to China but caught pneumonia. I wonder what they plan to discuss, perhaps a Ukraine peace plan? Meanwhile things are not going well for Ukraine as Russian forces continue their advance.

Afternoon folks!

There's some cool stuff this week. Port Arthur bluesman, Phillip Walker leads off with an album, followed by Taj Mahal playing some fine acoustic blues. After that Doc Watson with Merle and some friends plays a bunch of fine bluegrass. Following that it's back to blues rock with The Flamin' Groovies, Roy Buchanan and Chicken Shack (featuring a fine, underrated guitarist Stan Webb and keyboard player Christine Perfect, later Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie). Some prog-rock follows that with Curved Air and we finish off rockin' with The Radiators.

Enjoy!

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

Happy Friday everyone, Hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

More rain and below normal temps again this week. Since the atmospheric rivers started flowing a few months ago we've had at least one day of rain every week, and while we do need the water it's starting to get a little old. Not as many sunny and 70° days that we normally get. On the up side the ground is so saturated I haven't had to water my orange trees in months.

For the last few months there has been a small flock of Red-crowned Parrots hanging out at Santee Lakes. I've seen them there in the past but this is the first time they have hung around this long. Normally they're only there for a day or two before moving on. Along with being colorful they are also very vocal and very loud. You can hear them squawking from a long ways away which makes them easier to find.

Whether it is the shock of inflation and the rising cost of necessities of life, or the prospect of losing retirement benefits, or whether it is trying to engage with fellow citizens with the correct pronouns, or no pronouns at all, we all are under pressure like never before in our lives.

Environmentalists protect and preserve nature, at least the ones that come from the tradition of conservation. And that's fine. But such a formulation of environmentalism does present a particular dilemma: what parts of nature should be protected and preserved? If we are really to understand which ones we'll want to protect and preserve, and which ones we won't, we'll have to examine, very closely, all of our social phenomena, something the conservationists haven't done.

The Internet Archive

The Internet Archive, also known as the Wayback Machine, is a 'non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more'.

Brilliant essay from someone who sees the big picture and I mean the big picture for why we set the Middle East on fire. It was just the start of the plan to conquer and control the world.

Making sense of the reason behind the Iraq war and other wars in the Middle East.

Many people are aware of the various disparate geopolitical events of the 1990s and their respective imports—from the dissolution of the USSR, to the rise of the American Neocon movement to center stage, which precipitated the imperialist military actions of the end of the 20th to the 21st centuries. But few recognize the essential teleological link binding these events with a direct causality.

When the USSR was brought to a controlled demolition in 1991, it set off a chain reaction that would change world history, and the global geopolitical landscape forever. But to understand these changes we must first start with an understanding of what the USSR represented specifically in terms of the global security framework.