weekly watch

The Weekly Watch

Another Hot Week of News

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This has been our hottest week of the year. Cooler weather is expected as a front moves south and a tropical system moves into the gulf. It was also another very busy news cycle. The BRICS+ meeting had (and will have) a large ripple effect. Trump was indicted yet again, preceded by a widely seen interview with Tucker. The other republican candidates debated. The Ukraine proxy war grinds on as Russian artillery and air power dominates. Wagner's front man, Prigozhin, is presumed dead in plane crash. He's died in one before. DNA evidence has yet to be revealed, however it has been collected. [edit to add: His DNA was identified] The second plane is still a mystery. So, let's dive into these and other stories...

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The Weekly Watch

Growing Frustration

...and food for thought

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It seems there is a growing sense of frustration in the US and western world in general. People know the system is broken, and like me have no idea how to correct our course. Many are hurting, homeless, and hungry. This week there's been a viral song that has captured this spirit of frustration. Lots of people have discussed it but I'll let the song speak for itself...

Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North Of Richmond (3 min)

The Weekly Watch

Complete Corporate Capture

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Politicians, state and federal agencies, government regulators and inspectors, have all been captured by a multitude of corporate interests...Wall Street, big pharma, the MIC, oil companies, big food, commercial media and so on. The game is rigged and these various corporations hold all the cards. The government needs to re-boot with a new operating system, but the vested interest won't allow that to happen. We the people are mere pawns in the rigged game used for labor and as consumers...grease in the gears of corporate greed.

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The Weekly Watch

Constantly Escalating?

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More war, more indictments, more sanctions, more currency creation, more accusations, more coups...we're caught in an expanding aggressive cycle and all we seem able to do is double down on stupid. What goes up, must come down, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall...and an eventual fall is inevitable. My hope is we don't take the biosphere down with the empire's collapse. Notice how mention of nuclear weapons is becoming more common? Naturally we project the use of nuclear weapons on the Russians and Chinese, but not ourselves? My memory is that the US is the only nation to have used atomic bombs in war.

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The Weekly Watch

Dog Days

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According to the National Weather Service: The “dog days of summer” is a phrase used to describe the hot and humid days of summer. It can be traced back thousands of years to the days of the Roman Empire. It refers to the dates from July 3 through August 11, which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction with the sun. Sirius was known as the “Dog Star,” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).

The name Sirius comes from an ancient Greek word for “scorching” or “glowing.” Plus, Sirius is the brightest star visible from Earth, and it’s visible from both hemispheres. Also, it’s the brightest star in the evening sky during the Northern Hemisphere winter... Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Then, in late summer, it appears in the east before sunrise, near the sun in our sky. ... And then, it traveled across the sky with the sun all day. Thus, early stargazers might have imagined a double-whammy from Sirius and the sun caused the hot weather.

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The Weekly Watch

The Best Laid Plans Oft Go Awry

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The plans have long been laid, even wiki shines a weak light...
Wolfowitz Doctrine is an unofficial name given to the initial version of the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994–1999 fiscal years (dated February 18, 1992) published by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz and his deputy Scooter Libby. Not intended for public release, it was leaked to the New York Times on March 7, 1992, and sparked a public controversy about U.S. foreign and defense policy. The document was widely criticized as imperialist, as the document outlined a policy of unilateralism and pre-emptive military action to suppress potential threats from other nations and prevent dictatorships from rising to superpower status.

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The Weekly Watch

What the Folk?

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I'm off at a Georgia State Park with some music buddies. Our focus in this gathering is singing. If you know lots of songs, you have to play and sing them regularly in order to keep them resident in your mind. However, it is easy to lose some over the years, so our goal is to reclaim those songs and reinforce the songs we do know. People like to classify music based on genre. I've been called an old time, bluegrass, country, and folk musician. I prefer the folk label which is so broad as to include a variety of music.

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The Weekly Watch

Paris Burns and the West Wanes

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Seems to me the western system is in absolute collapse. The corrupt deep state has failed to control and rule the world despite their best (and continuing) efforts. The Ukraine grift machine keeps on churning...money in and paybacks out...the big guy gets 10% after all. New evidence of China/ Biden crime family payouts are mounting. Meanwhile Europe is in chaos with protests in many countries besides France. My guess is we'll throw Europe under the bus as we often do our allies.

Macron was actually dancing at an Elton John concert
rather than fiddling while Paris is burning.

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The Weekly Watch

Patriotism?

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What is patriotism? The standard dictionary definition reads “love of one’s country.” However, it seems that patriotism is often confused with nationalism.

Nationalism is about power: its adherent wants to acquire as much power and prestige as possible for his nation, in which he submerges his individuality. While nationalism is accordingly aggressive, patriotism is defensive: it is a devotion to a particular place and a way of life one thinks best, but has no wish to impose on others (Orwell 1968, 362)

Based on Orwell's definition, the US is full of nationalists rather than patriots. I like the idea of loyalty to place. I think America the Beautiful would be a better national anthem celebrating our natural beauty rather than our bombs bursting in air.

America
A Poem for July 4.
1904 version

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

The Weekly Watch

The Culture of Incompetence

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It seems to me that incompetence reigns supreme across the government, corporate, and economic spectrum...at least here in the western world. The sad state of the US with its crumbling infrastructure, the mass of homeless people camping on urban outskirts, overcrowded prisons swelled beyond their capacity, schools more concerned with identity issues than education, (and I'm sure you can add to the list)...all as we send our wealth over seas to feed failing war(s) and the unquenchable MIC. The post WWII industrial powerhouse has been shipped out of the country, a deal sealed by Clinton's NAFTA. Ross Perot was right about the "giant sucking sound" NAFTA would create. I remember just a couple of decades ago it was easy to find a carpentry crew, mechanics, welders, and other skilled trades people, but not today. It seems we no longer train craftsmen and women.

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