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How about this for privatizing luxuries. I mean, breathtaking mountain vistas are a luxury for most, right? So let’s privatize them while socializing the misery needed to bring the masses the necessities like EVs. I apologize in advance if this is a shallow take borne of my pathetic prejudices.
If Trump, and I suppose the Dems who greased the skids for his return to power by virtue of their strategic fecklessness, has his druthers, there will not be one square yard of public land left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ENdX6wmb8A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEMKVFbO5V0
Mark Level
So Electronic Intifada reports that though 17 of 27 EU countries wanted to honor the EU charter and limit support for Israel and its ongoing genocide, the NeoCons in the EU, Kaja Kallas and Ursula von der Lyin’ won, and the support by the EU for the Zionist state and its endless wars will continue!! One EU leader lauded the “robustness” of EU support for the Israel genocide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_RAqVEwRSI
Germany was central in continuing its 3rd Holocaust (Namibia in the colonial era, the Jewish/ Communist/ Gay/ Freemason/ Disabled Holocaust from 1939-45, and now this one.) I used to have a German last name (fluke on the paternal side) & have said for years that is a nation of evil, robotic martinet fascists. They prove it every day. Obey!! We prove we are moral by murdering Untermenschen and arresting anyone whose not on board . . .
The Irish are about to openly oppose the Israeli government, and the best the insane religious fanatic Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel could do was smear them with a 19th century racist brand: “They must have fallen into a barrel of Guinness!!” To criticize war crimes by Israel is “anti-Semitism” (Right wing Wokeism) but others can be smeared en masse with childish, hateful stereotypes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In lighter news, Lawyers, Guns and Money has shut down all their comments. I went over there to see if important news like the above was being reported, and of course its not. Just the tearing of hair and rending of garments over the Orange Man. I wonder what that “community” did to get comments shut down?
As I shared previously, LG&M members ratioed the site-runner when the brief, partial Cease Fire Trump & Witkoff forced onto the Zionist entity to burnish his Inauguration and few weeks afterward was ended by Netanyahu with Trump support. A post was issued saying “Waah!! Trump supports genocide, unlike the Bidet crew.” At least 2/3 of the respondents said, wait a minute, Trump stopped pausing the genocide of the prior 15 months loudly supported by Biden and Kamala. A similar rebuke to the Israel support? Who knows.
In other entertainment fare, I lamented on the last thread the Google Corp labeling the area south of USA and east of Mexico as “The Gulf of America” when I used it. But the Trump attacks on “enemies” sometimes have (accidentally, of course) salutary outcomes.
After Trump somehow won 2 judgments against the press for merely reporting on his past sexual predations, fairly large judgments also, CBS cancelled Late Night with David Colbert for claimed “financial reasons.” It’s doing okay ratings and audience-wise reportedly, unlike Senior Friskies catfood like “Morning Joe” on MSDNC which doesn’t make money but evidently will never go away, but it’s over in a few weeks time.
Colbert hasn’t had anything trenchant or relevant to say about politics since around 2003, is a totally CIA-owned influencer, so good riddance, for whatever reasons.
Due Dissidence did a nice piece when Claire Danes of “Homeland” was on Colbert in T’s previous term, she shares that the cast met with “Spooks”, Intell to learn about real tradecraft, and when she says the Intell “Community” had differences with Trump, he freaks out, throws a hand back over his hair to the crown in clear discomfort, and diverts to an off-topic question, “When did you start shooting this season?” to steer away from radioactive content of the Spooks’ interference in electoral politics. Start just before 7:00 in if interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6mBbyb-vIA
Rare for empty entertainers to share actual news, Colbert definitely couldn’t have that.
And as Mago referenced, consistent with the recent Mercury retrograde, the dead man walking Andrew Cuomo has desperately re-entered the NYC Mayors’ race. Like Russell Dobular joked, Cuomo has no hope in the race because in 2020-21 initial Covid Andrew callously killed off the senior base in Elder Care who would’ve voted for him if still on this planet. Gotta love the irony.
Oakchair
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” -Upton Sinclair
“Never trust someone who tells good stories, not until you know why they’re doing it.” –C.A. Fletcher
—–
“in a Long-term Prospective Longitudinal Multi-Center Study”
“statin use was associated with more than double the risk of converting to dementia”
Statins caused “posterior cingulate metabolic decline”
https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/62/supplement_1/102
—–
“We conducted a 12-week prospective, nonblinded
study using a 6-week withdrawal phase followed by a
6-week rechallenge phase with statins”
A prospective study tested the cognitive effects of statins. It used a designed that tested cognitive function while on statins, after withdrawing from them and after reinitiating their use.
Conclusion: “found an improvement in cognition with discontinuation of statins and worsening with rechallenge. Statins may adversely affect cognition”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22921881/
——-
Conflict of interest disclosures:: The various authors had received funding and were employees of half a dozen different drug corporations.
Methods:
“A retrospective cohort study compared new users of statin medications with unexposed individuals”
“In addition, a second control group of patients receiving nonstatin LLDs”
“A secondary case-crossover study was undertaken to eliminate confounding… (using) intermittent exposure”
The study looked at acute decline in memory, and memory loss.
Results:
Statin users compared with matched nonusers of any LLD’s had an increased OR 1.23 (1.18-1.28)
In contrast nonstatin LLDs users had a statistical insignificant .96 OR
Statins with stronger strengths had “increased OR associated with the most lipophilic statin”
There was a dose dependent relationship with higher doses following more memory loss “A dose-response relationship was observed”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5487843/
——
“In a wicked world, relying upon experience from a single domain is not only limiting, it can be disastrous.” ― David Epstein, Range
“The average expert was a horrific forecaster. Their areas of specialty, years of experience, and academic degrees, made no difference. They were bad at short-term forecasting, bad at long-term forecasting, and bad at forecasting in every domain.”—David Epstein, Range
Richard Holsworth
More cowbell, less Springsteen.
Springsteen singing for every Democratic hopeful since Bill Clinton hasn’t staunched the bleeding of working class allegiance. Trump dislodged whatever hold Bubba had on the white working-class because Democrats have abandoned serious challenges to deepening inequalities.
”While the timing aligns with a period of increased commercial success, according to Ideastream and NPR, Bruce Springsteen has stated that his ‘everyman’ persona was not solely a strategic move to boost his career.…”
“Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa hang on David Geffen’s luxury yacht.
Geffen’s yacht routinely hosts celebs like the Obamas…”
Mark Level
Thank you, Richard H. Springsteen wanted to be a Working Class Hero (like John Lennon spoke of) & the “next Dylan.” He approximated that on the surface for some time early in his career. The last time he wrote and performed anything remotely politically relevant was the song “41 Shots” (believe I got that title right) about the cop murder of Guinean student Amadou Diallo in NYC for the crime of holding his wallet up over his head.
There’s a lot of deranged millionaire Shit Libs who falsely imagine themselves SJWs, maybe they were for a New York minute, but now they’re just gaslighting phonies. I mentioned Colbert above, Springsteen for sure, Robert DeNiro is big time deranged, even made a movie where he plays the former President as a good (though brain-damaged) alternative to Trumpy. The Lincoln Project guys, completely, blood-soaked NeoCons but imagine themselves morally superior. They did a good takedown of DJT viz Epstein recently, but they are every bit as faithful to the Palestinian Genocide and to massive, endless invasions of every Mideast and independent of the US country worldwide as Cheney, Nuland et al were. Of course in that case Trump gestured he was anti-NeoCon, but he is not allowed to be (beyond verbal gaslighting) & never will be.
I just saw reports yesterday about Donald having badly swollen legs, his shit diet and lack of exercise are catching up to him at age 79, no surprise. Mentally he’s lost a lot of clarity in the last decade since starting his political career, but is not (yet) in Brain-Bleed Biden territory. He will get there in due time though. 2 years? 5? Who knows. I’d put even odds on his finishing out his term, though he’ll be nearly universally hated when/if he does.
Oh, and the Grubstakers podcast, Is there such a thing as a good billionaire? Spoiler answer, no, covered David Geffen in Episode 14. Accd. to them (& others, Chapo Trap House also covered this) whenever David breaks up with one of his 4 decades younger gay lovers they “commit suicide” soon after by jumping off of skyscrapers!! Entirely credible, I guess, no foul play obviously. Link is here—
https://www.grubstakers.net/episode/14-david-geffen/
It should link to SoundCloud. If not just do further search.
bruce wilder
Tucker Carlson, in his rant about Epstein, gave a kind of dishonorable mention to Bill Ackman, a billionaire famous for his self-regard. Tucker asked, how did Ackman get $9 billion dollars?
https://x.com/acyn/status/1943832729529069767?s=61
Ackman wrote a lengthy defense of himself. His explanation, summarized: 1. Good genetics; 2. His parents paid his college tuition; 3. “compounding”.
https://x.com/billackman/status/1944245408751894631?s=61
Warren Buffet titled his autobiography, “Snowball”, so I don’t necessarily discount “compounding” entirely, but it does seem rather empty of substance. I do not know what “explains” Ackman’s fortune. Ian sometimes notes in passing how the very rich have consistently benefitted in recent years as most ordinary people have been buffeted by economic winds and storms. $9 billion is an unimaginable fortune. It does seem like there ought to be more of an explanation to hand than, “compounding”.
KT Chong
This is a movie recommendation from someone who has not watched any Hollywood movie in about two years.
I used to be a huge moviegoer. For about a decade, I subscribed to MoviePass and then AMC Stubs A-List, watching an average of 1–3 movies in theaters each week—especially every MCU movie during its opening weeks, as a diehard fan. However, a couple of years ago, I stopped and unsubscribed from AMC A-List because I could no longer stomach Hollywood’s hypocrisy—blacklisting actors like Melissa Barrera for speaking out against the Gaza genocide, after decades of making countless movies about the Holocaust to lecture people about how evil genocide is, while staying complicit in the Gaza genocide. I haven’t watched a single Hollywood movie since then.
(And I didn’t even like Melissa Barrera or any of her movies—like In the Heights or the new Scream reboots/sequels—but I recognized that she was a rising star whose career effectively ended after she publicly spoke out against the Gaza genocide.)
I also grew sick and tired of the MCU and other superhero movies, which are all about American exceptionalism. Americana just feels toxic now, and I can’t watch them without feeling negative and wrong.
That said, I’ve broken my personal boycott for the Superman movie. I initially had no interest in the film (or any Hollywood movie), but then I came across political discussions about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doj3sjZePYc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31X_ZBQ_GHw
In-depth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5AMoCdYh5U
So, I would recommend people see the movie. Hollywood loves Israel and Zionism—but Hollywood loves money more. If Superman makes a lot of money, then Hollywood will concede: we may actually start seeing more and more big-budget tentpole movies that speak up and speak out about the Israel–Palestinian situation—not just as a sidenote, but as a central plot point, like in Superman.
DMC
Ron “30 pieces of silver” Wyden, doing something that might implicate his Zionist masters in the many nefarious schemes of Jeffery Epstein? We’re through the looking glass here, people. Or is his investigation a smoke screen, where he’ll conclude Epstein was being run by the Russians or Iranians or Hamas?
Mark Level
Thank you to KT Chong for the movie recommendation. If I’m not too busy, I may actually see it. Hollywood is almost entirely opportunistic viz politricks, but a development like this shows which way the weather-vane is pointing, and that is good news. The Zionist Entity may exterminate half (or more) of the Gaza populace as of Oct. 8, 2023, but there are millions of Palestinians in the surrounding states and across the Global South so when the economic boycotts and social collapse hit, they will (with good fortune, no “God” needed) be as unsuccessful as the Deutsche who tried to exterminate them.
Bruce, Bill Ackman is indeed a vicious, self-righteous Zionist clown, and his wife was very close pals with Jeff Epstein, created some major art work for him, but he is at least a great source of inadvertent humor. Due Dissidence covered that he paid some Tennis great to take him on as a 63-year old partner in a major tennis tournament. They got slaughtered, Ackman did not hit even one ball back over the line, or serving, etc.!! I guess that tennis pro preferred to just take a payout to competing in a tournament he may not have won anyway.
Digby
@ Mark Level
As far as I am aware, and while this won’t excuse its actions then and now, today’s Germany is a puppet state of the US, having been hijacked in 1945 to serve US interests even if it harms German interests (the Chancellor Act, those US military bases, the whereabouts of Germany’s gold reserves and NSA wiretapping of Merkel’s phone come to mind). And with the US being in bed with Israel (if not controlled by it), I wouldn’t put it past US coersion to be a major factor, if not the only factor, in German support for Israel.
I don’t believe in cancel-culture, so if I had a German surname I wouldn’t bother changing it. Let alone for an English name, because if I wanted to go that far, I’d consider whether the Five Eyes alliance is any worse. Or the fact that (Soviet-controlled) East Germany was relatively sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and demonstrated a clear separation between German society and the Nazist elements that, now that I think about it, originated in the same USA.
mago
Don’t know what’s my problem with ancient song lyrics stuck in my head, like those from the band Love’s album Forever Changes.
They’re locking them up today and throwing away the key. I wonder who it will be tomorrow you or me.
We’re all normal and want our freedom
All of god’s children gotta have their freedom. . .
different clue
I don’t get around much, so I have never had a real meatspace face-to-face conversation with anyone where the subject of what the Gulf of Mexico is called ( hint, it is called “Gulf of Mexico”). But I have tried to make myself ready by rehearsing a hypothetical conversation about it in my mind. It would go something like this: I would happen to mention ” Gulf of Mexico” in passing because it would be entirely relevant to whatever conversation I was having. If my conversation partner turned out to be a MAGA and presumed to correct me by saying ” its real name is Gulf of America”, I would reply ” Gulf of America? Oh . . . you mean Gulf of Canada.”
I remember talking to a Turkish student once about that Gulf between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Did the Turks call it Persian Gulf or Arabian Gulf? He said ” We call it Basra Sirte ( which is Turkish for Gulf of Basra). Maybe we could call it the Persiarabian Guld of Basra.