“Almost none of the students in any major showed a consistent understanding of how to apply methods of evaluating truth they had learned in their own discipline to other areas.” ― David Epstein, Range
“There’s something about seeing Johnny Depp fail so badly that gives me strength.” ― There, there by Tommy Orange
—–
“During 10 years of follow-up”
“Each 1 mmol/L increase in total cholesterol corresponded to a 15% decrease in mortality”
“Mortality from cancer and infection was significantly lower among the participants in the highest total cholesterol category” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)04430-9/abstract
—–
“Retrospective cohort study of 642 patients with statin-associated adverse events evaluated”
The most common adverse events in list of prevelence were
Musculosketal
central nervous system
liver
gastrointestinal
peripheral nervous system
“The development of statin-induced rhabdomyolysis (life threatning muscle disease) occurs in
0.1% of patients; however, the occurrence of less severe symptoms is underreported and may be 1–5% or more.”
“as many as 25% of statin users who exercise may experience muscle fatigue, weakness, aches, and cramping due to statin therapy”
“It has been shown that statins can induce apoptosis (cell death) in a variety of cell types” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16885396/
—–
A 6 month randomzied controlled trial found:
On average statins caused 15% of users to develop fatigue
In a postmarketing adverse-effect surveillance study the most common side effects of statins were:
muscle pain
fatigue
weakness
85% of these patient reports “met literature criteria for probable or definite drug adverse-effect causality”
A dose dependent relationship was found with higher doses producting more adverse events.
Statins were found to worsen quality of life on various measures.
“QOL domain was negatively affected, with high statistical significance”
“The magnitude of effect was largest for pain (mean −6.0), recreation (mean −5.9), and overall QOL (mean −5.3)”
In the Acknowledgment section the study was partially funded by orgnizations with pro-statin conflcits of intererest such as “The American heart association”
So whatever he’s doing, it seems to be a threat to somebody powerful’s interest? We don’t know the motivation, obviously. Could be that some billionaire paid for an attempt to off him so they don’t have to “leave” to avoid like a 5% surcharge tax on the very wealthy? Or since some Islamophobic loser “influencer”, Jack Lang, was staging a protest at the time, could be a random Let’s Kill Muslims terrorist effort . . .
US is and remains a scary place. Right-wing terror barely gets you a slap on the wrist, peaceful protest against a genocide in some places gets you attacked or beaten up by cops. (Thankfully not in NYC anymore.) It will be interesting if more is learned from the suspects.
Oh, and we’ve had a discussion on LG&M’s lame stupidity somewhat recently. They’ve pivoted pretty quickly in the last 24 hours, I had a look today. I guess since it’s a Trump failed war, they see where things are headed, they’re no longer doing spittle-flecked rhetoric about how more Persians have to die. Sudden return to “Woke”, I guess, convenient, jump out in front of the parade.
Humans are social animals, pressure to appear Normie is subtle but strong.
What is the Epstein classes goals? In the files they discussed “how to get rid off all the poor”. Likewise, the oligarchs have been obsessed with reducing the population for over a century now. Don’t worry though their bought experts care so much about you and would never steer you astray.
Given all that the Iran war will likely be a huge victory in the eyes of our rulers. The Gulf states are cut off from food and water. The world is cut of from fertilizer and oil.
The oligarchs have their popcorn out for the party Hollywood never could give them.
A friend remarked that people around here are so polite and friendly and mean it when they ask, how are you? To which I replied, civility is a virtue. (Just as an aside the word friend is overused. Acquaintance is usually more appropriate. A friend would have your back though thick and thin and even give money along with other support if needed without being asked. Just saying.)
Anyway, my friend from LA who’s passing through said such friendliness is nonexistent where he lives. Phone messages are abrupt to the point of rudeness. No, hello I hope you’re doing well , and forget about public encounters.
It made me realize that everywhere I’ve lived in the past forty some years is anomalous in that regard. I’m accustomed to eye contact and smiles even with strangers, to please and thank you and those other niceties that lubricate social interactions.
The larger world seems accustomed and inured to rudeness, scorn and contempt and even worse, taking it for normal. No wonder meanness and petty vindictiveness is accepted along with war and hatred.
I’m guessing though that aside from the Puppy Killer Bitch and the Epstein Class most people love their dogs and mothers and children. I still believe in basic human goodness and compassion. Otherwise, just go slit your wrists and get it over with. Why not?
@Mago: the Russians are some of the most epically rude and abrupt people on the planet. It was very difficult for me to assimilate such abruptness when I lived there. When the phone conversation is over, the slam the phone down, no pleasantries, no good-bye, see ya laters etc. . . And you do not ever smile at people you pass on the street or say hi to them. They will literally think you are mad.
When I was there the mililtsa, ie traffic police, were rapacious. I got pulled over frequently. But I developed a galactically fool-proof method of avoid paying fines. In Russian, to say “i don’t understand” is “ya ne panimayau.” In Russian the word for Monday is remarkably similar to “panimayu.” It’s “ponidyelnik” so when I inevitably got pulled over and the militsa asked for my docs I would say, “ya ne panidyelnik.” Literlally, “I don’t Monday.” Drove the fuckers mad. I just repeated it over and over and over until they sent me on my way. Fucking grifting shitbirds.
@SPK. Regarding phone manners, kinda reminds me of when I lived in Spain. They would answer the phone with Diga! Something like Talk, or tell me. And when the loud and often obnoxious conversation was finished, there was no goodbye, just drop the phone in the cradle.
For the younger set, once upon a time there were land lines and phones with cords, some even wall mounted, and lest they be forgotten, phone booths. (I always remember my tai chi teacher saying you should be able to do your form in a phone booth, but I digress.)
In the loud and obnoxious rude department, I’ll repeat an anecdote I once relayed here about a Jewish religious studies professor who told me upon returning from Israel how everyone yelled at each other when talking on the phone. He found the culture rude and aggressive in the extreme and said he’d never return. The tonality speaks volumes about the mentality.
I remember reading that the Green Berets, which are/were different than Rangers or Seals, tended to wear sneakers or sandals rather than boots, depending on the mission. So an Administration could be exquisitely-technically truthful in saying “no boots on the ground” while sending in the Green Berets.
I don’t know if that works with the Rangers, though. Or the Seals.
Of the units mentioned there, we do know that the 82nd Airborne exercise was cancelled – it would make sense that they would want the ready brigade on heightened alert status. The 82nd is a subordinate unit of 18th Airborne Corps, so I guess it also makes sense that their HQ element would also need to be at a higher state of readiness. The mention of 3rd Group does not make sense to me – their primary AOR is Africa. For CENTCOM, one would expect 5th Group to be the unit involved.
Keep in mind, heightened readiness does not necessarily mean invasion – way back in the dim recesses of history, Desert Shield started with the ready brigade of the 82nd deploying to the northern border of Saudi, in case the Iraqis decided they were coming over the border.
Beyond that, although we certainly are hearing significant amounts of chatter about people getting warning orders and not being too happy about it, beyond the unit level data mentioned above we don’t know a lot – not even the branches involved. Given the op tempo, I would be very surprised if there weren’t reasonably significant Air Force deployments chugging through the system. We’ll know more over time.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Since I don’t know anything about these sorts of force details, all I could do was wonder whether this was some sort of code red siren in the far distance. Hopefullly it is indeed not all that just yet.
I have heard that some of our current service people are unhappy campers and are getting unhappier as developments develop.
It’s the last option in the leaked ‘Pentagon’ plan, after ground troops.
Sanctions, cyberwarfare and covert ops including the riots, and bombing.
Next is ground troops.
And then tactical nukes. Specifically mentioned are the B61-12 and the B61-13, though neither of these has the serious earth penetration ability of the B61-11. But all are bunker busters.
It’s reported that they only have intel on maybe half of Iran’s underground operations. It’s been alleged that there are ‘hundreds’ of these underground facilities though the true number is probably around 150-200. But no one really knows.
It has been suggested that they may also use these nukes to devastate Tehran.
I imagine they may skip the ground troops, aside from the proxy fighters – many of whom have no doubt been victims of MKUltra-type torture programs and what have you.
These proxies can provide some initial ‘force’ and then they’ll die in the radiated aftermath.
Perfect.
***
‘In 2014, critics said that a more accurate and less destructive nuclear weapon would make leaders less cautious about deploying it, while Schwartz said it would deter adversaries more because the US would be more willing to use it in situations where necessary…’
[H.A.S.C. No. 113-68] NUCLEAR WEAPONS MODERNIZATION PROGRAMS: MILITARY, TECHNICAL, AND POLITICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE B61 LIFE EXTENSION PROGRAM AND FUTURE STOCKPILE STRATEGY Octoer 29, 2013
‘What is the Epstein classes goals? In the files they discussed “how to get rid off all the poor”. Likewise, the oligarchs have been obsessed with reducing the population for over a century now.’
Listen to Maria Farmer. They hate blacks, but they don’t much care for anyone not them.
Header: favorable referrence to a Belle of the Ranch video. Why this header? So anyone who disapproves of Belle of the Ranch videos can stop reading right here.
Remember, God made a scroll button.
( Are they gone? okay . . . )
Here is a little bit of lighter political levity, relatively speaking, and an example of why I find Belle of the Ranch videos more watchable in the long run than I finally found Beau of the Fifth Column videos to be. It contains some good examples of blunt sarcasm delivered with a straight face.
”
Let’s talk about Trump hanging up the auto-pen talking point….”
Here is a somewhat “counter-intuitive” to initial expectations video made by Phillip Scot. I have offered Phillip Scott videos before. I would say his basic outlook is Black America First, sometimes to the point of beginning to approach Black America Only.
( MBAGA. Make Black America Great Again. ” MmmmBAGA.” Sounds almost “African” sounding, doesn’t it?)
Here is something from Ron(?) ” The Villain” Bishop. I have seen ( and offered some of) his videos before as sampled and re-offered on African content-aggregator/creator videos. But this is posted right onto You Tube by Mr. Bishop his own self. It is about what an ex-MAGA who is crying about not being right away welcomed by ” the Left” still does not understand at all.
“Ex-MAGA still doesn’t get it!” ( by Ghost Claw Productions Radio . . . which is Mr. Bishop’s vehicle in this case).
As a wise Native American elder remarked when told about Daylight Savings Time, that’s like cutting off one end of a blanket and sewing it onto the other end.
Another stupid white man construction. Not as bad as nukes, but insidious nonetheless.
Before a tsunami the oceans recede out to sea leaving behind a haunting drained coast. The worse the tsunami is the further out to sea the waterline goes.
Is that all we have seen so far of this war? Is that where our world is at them moment?
Because it is a strange sensation to see how little there in fact is to see after nearly a week of what one supposes has to be a rather high intensity war in the Middle East/western Asia, a war that some consider WWIII. Not saying there is nothing, only saying there is far less than one would expect.
The one-sided massive zionist media blackout and propaganda does not suffice as an explanation, not at all, the immediate short term physical ramifications are being almost completely ignored: everything that seems entirely unavoidable.
There is such a thing as normalcy bias but in this case the level of “normality” seems astounding and it is hard to believe that it is entirely manufactured and deliberate since that would imply a proficiency and excellency one can not see any hint of in the rest of global society. Widespread stubborn and positive and intransigent (and potentially panic-laced) delusion seems much more likely than any kind of hidden societal perfection.
If everything stopped right now the economic ramifications alone would still be monumental yet the true cost of what has already happened have clearly not yet struck home across the globe; the effects seen so far seem like they are positively minor compared to what ought to be.
you are correct, we could be hours or days away. the empire might send in the ground troops first just to see how well they perform. if any ground troops hesitate or refuse, they will get the ukranian treatment pronto.
north korea will nuke deigo garcia, Okinawa, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and the west coast.
that is why the bombers are going to the U.K. and not asia. only russia can take them out in the U.K., and they know russia will not. russia wants to join the club and be respected equals. not gonna happen.
I just had the experience of having someone reply to a comment I made on a Substack post with the news that ChatGPT considered the entire basis of my narrowly-focused comment, “pseudo-science”.
It doesn’t really matter what my comment claimed. The thing is — my sense is that the conversation stopped dead — there is really nothing I can say in reply. (Yes, I used a gratuitous em-dash there in imitation of AI slop.) A link to an anonymous ChatGPT query was provided, but what does that do for me? There were no source notes. Am I conversing with an AI? Is my interlocutor conversing with me?
“However, besides those who remained phobic about Russia’s long-term
intentions, there was also a plethora of policy advocates who feared the rising
influence of Iran and China.
Hence, planting the US flag in the Caspian Basin
was viewed as a strategic countermeasure to contain the regional power of these
two countries as well.
In the case of Iran, US policy has been more explicit. US
sanctions against Iran are designed to prevent energy companies from investing
in pipelines that would carry Caspian oil or gas to international markets.12
The US Government has worked behind the scenes with mixed success to thwart
foreign companies from joining with with Iran’s national oil company, NIOC, to
construct energy export outlets via Iran.
Were US sanctions against Iran to be eased in a rapprochement between Iran
and the USA, the attractions of various Iranian export routes from the Caspian
could be compelling.”
————
Iran cannot not afford to hold back now. the oligarchs are more than willing to kill off 90 million people to attain that goal of the caspian region, and the chance to surround china in the western region, and have nukes on subs on russia caspian border.
if the empire fails, they will no longer be viewed as a world power. the leeches and parasites will never allow that to happen, its why the empire is about to do the unthinkable.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations are considering to withdraw ~$6 trillion in direct investments from the U.S. and cancel ~$250 billion in defense deals with Washington:
I woke up inconvenienced by daylight savings time and popped off some flip comments. Then I read about the latest in Tehran, and realized that I sounded like some petulant retard.
There are no rules of engagement with USisreal. They’re worse than babaric. Things just got exponentially uglier and it’s certain to get worse.
Meanwhile, most of the people I know are oblivious. Maybe they’ll partially awaken when the economy tanks and radiation is drifting on the winds. Maybe.
I once read about an animal called the crab eating raccoon. I read that one of its crab-hunting techniques , after having selected a crab it liked, was to pat the crab on the back several tens or hundreds of times . . . enough to overwhelm and flood-out the crab’s nervous system through too much repetitive tactile input. After the crab was functonally paralyzed, the crab eating raccoon would kill and eat the crab at leisure.
The controversy over the prescribing of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, which Oakchair referenced, has become heated. I searched for “statins” on Substack and oh boy does that produce a lot of lengthy essays with theses ranging widely from “statins are a total scam” to “how to intelligently discuss the advisability of a statin prescription with your physician”.
I can see some people taking “trust the science” positions, that do not admit much nuance, as well as anti-statin positions that are just hostility to Big Pharma and sometimes to the exaggerated medical authority claims of physicians. A few try to thread the needle with careful, but still laymen-friendly interpretations of the evidence and theory basis for the official guidelines.
In my last job before retirement, I was engaged peripherally in educating nurse practitioners on various treatment guidelines, though not the statin guidelines. So, I have some familiarity with the political processes that produce medical guidelines. And, yes, they are political processes and I do not mean to disparage the processes by terming them that way — that is just the way it is. And, realistically, how it has to be. Epistemically, the physician in a clinical setting does not have either enough information in the single case before her (or the series in her practice, though specialists are very significantly advantaged by familiarity with treatments and diseases) or data-processing capacity to function adequately without the “best bet advice” guidelines represent. The long-term consequences of any treatment in an individual case cannot be known without the contextual grounding of population studies combined with some understanding of the biological mechanisms at work. Medicine is being practiced in a biological casino and doctors and their patients are playing the odds. (And, yes, death and disability hold the house odds — we mere mortals are fated to lose in the long-run with certainty. Again, just the way it is.)
I cannot claim any medical expertise of my own. I studied econometrics in graduate school and, frankly, was largely defeated in trying to master it. I think the majority of students are defeated, but do not necessarily know how thoroughly they sank into agnatology. Linear analysis of statistical data involves some very weak and untrustworthy methods. Routine failure to replicate is just one indication of how dubious econometric investigations can be. Just reading journalistic accounts does not reassure me that medical population survey research is conducted on a higher plane of sophistication or integrity.
So, long-winded way of saying I have an opinion I may not be entirely entitled to. I am skeptical about whether statins should be prescribed routinely and “by default”. There are some significant “tells” in the defense of statins by medical professionals. The statistics that relate various cholesterol measurements to age-adjusted all-cause mortality risk all describe U-shapes. These are not linear. Too low is always as much or more a risk than too high. And, “optimal” generally goes up with age. So, even in “short-hand” talking exclusively about reducing cholesterol measurements is suspiciously misleading, as is the progressive adjustment of guidelines to promote more prescriptions. Another “tell” is generalizing to the whole class. (“Statins” are a broad class of medications.) The evidence on side effects and interactions is wildly various.
The most common reported side effects are muscle pain or weakness. These are usually talked about as if these are “minor” issues — the implication being that they represent a mere annoyance or inconvenience to the patient often easily remedied by switching statins. This nonchalance is alarming. In any other circumstance, the onset of muscle weakness is an alarming symptom, because it implies other deleterious processes may be at work. So are some of the other common side effects, like liver and kidney function loss and memory loss.
The implied cost-benefit analysis in betting on a statin prescription is far more dubious than is being portrayed. It is true that having a heart attack is devastating to health, quality of life and longevity. So, it follows that preventing a heart attack is a big benefit, a big gain. Statistically speaking. The trouble is that cholesterol measurements are not that great at predicting heart attack risk. The “average” patient “over the next five years” represents some individuals who can be supposed to benefit a lot from something prevented — something that does not happen — and also whole lot of people who receive no benefit as individuals. Good luck collecting statistics confirming something that does not happen, by the way.
There are some extremely serious issues of general politics here, because of the generally well-founded distrust of elites and institutions, as corruption rots the foundations of the body politic.
I see some defenders of statins confound skepticism with anti-vax and RFKJr issues. On some level, I feel it is all the same undifferentiated noise on all sides, in part because I do not have the intellect or animal energy to engage. I definitely do not “trust the science” because the claims are insufficiently qualified to be legitimate science. People get alarmed by alarmism, which is stupid, whichever way you flow.
Guidelines for testing for cancer after you’ve had it before are “only if stage 2”. My previous doctor, where I had stage 1, tested me every year anyway. Found new cancer as a result.
I asked him why he disobeyed the guideline. “My responsibility is to my patients.”
Damn I miss him (new cancer wasn’t his specialty). He could be trusted and he gave a damn. He took every patient’s death personally. Never have a doctor who doesn’t if you can arrange it.
Good comments nearly all ’round today, and I hope y’all survived the “Spring Forward” idiocy if in the US. Well, if you’re in the rat race, it will really hit you tomorrow of course. Being retired, I sleep on my own schedule, I’ll get only 2nd hand blowback, people ruder and more short-tempered.
Thank you to Carborundum for that chart. Not in the least surprised that USians each other more negatively than in any other country listed. It’s been bred into them, & during my lifetime. I was born late 1950s, and the 70s was a pivot point. Everybody (nearly) pretty nice at that time, when I lived in the Chicago area. But the Powell Memo had just come out, our Betters (sic) decided to throw some toxins in the social fishbowl and turn everyone against each other. (When he was still relevant, Matt Taibbi wrote about the success of this recently in “Hate, Inc.”) The bipartisan duopoly pitted the arrogant PMC against the dispossessed working class (not just white, by any means) & the last President who seemed to have even a sliver of humanity, Carter, flushed his Presidency down the crapper on the sands of Iran, in a futile “rescue” mission of our Embassy spies and “little Hitler” functionaries (to quote Ward Churchill.)
Reagan was swept in by ignorant, retrograde, propagandized morons, guaranteeing their own future financial immiseration, (funny spell-check hates that word, deems it impermissible), a ramp-up of Nixon’s “War on Drugs” (actually a war on non-white people). Even Reagan had enough native sense to walk away from being the Zionists bitch when 350+ US troops got blown up, a level of restraint not really seen since. But he also started the tradition of senile, drooling morons in the office, Bush Jr. was only the latter, but Biden and then Trump serve for late Imperial instruments of corruption and Imperial disintegration more recently.
Bush Sr. also stood up to the Zionist entity, and for that reason got only one term, ousted by the Deep State for the fully compliant Bill Clinton; the first president (of many) to inaugurate the Epstein Class.
I agree, the chance these morons that actually run Trump will Nuke Iran seem high. George Galloway shared rumors that the Iranians have at least 170 POW’s already, they’ll need to do something to get their “manhood” back, show they are strong. Galloway and his guest, Anthony Aguilar, a high-ranking military Vet with an actual conscience, think that Russia will then place Iran under their Nuclear Umbrella.
Diff Clue, why worry about the next “elections” popularity contest when we might not even live that long? And Jasmine Crockett is political arsenic, from a very wealthy family and educated at the best Prep School as early as High School, she plays a tough street “Nigga”, talking all ghetto. Not smart to shit all over Latinos in Tejas, saying “We done pickin’ cotton, y’all!” Thinks the dirty wetbacks will do it.
Her political career is as dead as the entire planet might soon be.
@Bruce wilder
Am I conversing with an AI? Is my interlocutor conversing with me?
——
If someone refuses to engage in a topic and just ignores everything because “AI” says so it’s a distinction with little difference if they are an AI or an actual person. They don’t really have an opinion what they have is faith in what the AI told them to believe.
Though to be fair to AI it’s not like a variant of this wasn’t in common use before AI. It’s just that instead of ignoring because the AI said so it was because the “experts” or the “media” said so.
——
There are some significant “tells” in the defense of statins
——-
I’ve grown to distrust using rules of thumb, but I think if one is going to follow a rule of thumb one of the best one to follow would be that the person using a lot of “tells” is wrong. Frequent uses of insults, appeals to authority, bandwagon, refusals to discuss and engage being other “tells” beside the ones Bruce wilder mentioned.
—–
On some level, I feel it is all the same undifferentiated noise on all sides, in part because I do not have the intellect or animal energy to engage
—–
Be fair to yourself, you have the intellect. The limiting factor is we live in a dystopia which immerses us in constant misery, propaganda, and harmful chemicals. Even if time wasn’t an issue no one one can make it down every rabbit hole and if they somehow did they wouldn’t be able to escape.
I will keep right on thinking about the next elections because it is part of my duty to the possible future if there is one. I will also think and do about Separate Survival, to be sure.
Phillip Scott had a podcast offering thoughts somewhat in parallel to the thoughts offered on Jasmine Crockett just a little above. My memory of the broader context around the ” we done pickin’ cotton, y’all” comment is this . . . . large-to-huge numbers of various Black content creators were all noting that the “immigrants were taking the Black jobs”. White Farmers in Trump Country and Black listeners all understood this the same way . . . as a Doghorn Foghorn to the KlanMAGA farmers that Black people would all be forced back into the fields and KlanMAGA Farm Country would get its Black Slaves back. Black content creators were all saying ” we are not coming back to your fields and you can either get your own parents, grandparents, grandchildren, etc. to do the labor or you can all go bankrupt and lose your farms.” Jasmine Crockett may well have been saying the same thing in a less artful way.
Is her political career done? I don’t know Texas politics well enough to know.
Pardon me, I forgot to mention that it was Trump saying ” the immigrants are taking the Black jobs”. That was the Doghorn Foghorn heard throughout KlanMAGA Trump Country and throughout Black America at the same time and in the same way.
So the KlanMAGA farmers for Trump did not think they were voting “against their own interest”. They thought they were voting to get their Black Slaves back.
There’s a blue jay sitting on a branch
Squawking for peanuts indignant at my presence while juncos and chickadees think that I’m St Francis, but I don’t know Assisi from my ass. I put out water and suet, feeding embodied beings is what I do, and even the disembodied, there are ways for that, although the deaths from war are stacking higher than Mt Everest and I don’t know what to do anymore except feed the birds, it’s for the birds after all.
I bow down to the raucous jay who inspired this bit of self indulgent verse on a sunny lazy Sunday afternoon far from bombs and drones and everything that’s wrong with the world.
The man in this video does not look or sound like a beardsandal hippy. He looks like a good solid Mainstreamal Normie American from the heart of the heartland. And he is not a happy camper about the ongoing Iran War.
Sometimes people have fun with anagrams .. . scrambling letters of a word or name around to come up with another word. I used to think that the name ” Brian Eno” was an anagram of ” One Brain” and that the artist was keeping his legal name secret while sending some kind of message with the name ” Brian Eno”. I was very surprised to learn that “Brian Eno” really was Brian Eno’s real name. I wonder if anyone has ever offered him the ” One Brain” anagram just to see what he thinks of it.
Someone once claimed ( and I never tried it myself to see if it really works) that Ronald Wilson Reagan anagramizes to Insane Anglo Warlord, and George Herbert Walker Bush anagramizes to Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog.
But enough with the lighthearted levity in a humorous vein. Phillip Scott has brought out another podcast, longer than some, titled:
“Latina Says She Will Stand With Black Americans, White Voters Voted More For Crockett Than Latinos” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26DO36149P8
When he said a little way into the podcast that Black people are going to vote or not-vote however they damn please, I knew this would be an interesting podcast, agreeable-with or not. And since Scott is from Texas just like Talarico and Crockett ( sort of), he has the State Standing to talk about this. I imagine this will all be cussed and discussed at length in Texas over the months to come.
Here is a Parkrose Permaculture video called: ” You think you’re supporting a Black-owned business? Surprise, it’s an AI Scam. ” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9_I8mY7-t0
She shows a lot of clippage from some of the multi-second videos coming from whatever source these videos come from. She describes and analyses these videos and the favorable comments they get from real people who think this is a real person in these video bits. It shows that the AI engineers are getting better at their simulation of reality. She replays a little sequence from timepoint 1:17 to 1: 27 showing the AI still making some subtle but detectable visual mistakes. She then shows other technical AI flaws like the “woman’s” face having different skin-flaws over time, different types of teeth, etc. And the AI generated image of the antique treadle sewing machine “she” supposedly “uses” to make the crafts being sold in these little video-bits has some technological inaccuracies and even impossibilities which Parkrose Permaculture says she knows about based on her own pursuit of antique-sewing-styles hobby-practices.
This critique seems real to me, as a mere layman, and I suggest that it offers us some possible training tips or at least trail-markers as we try to play “spot the AI images and videos”.
As millions and then tens of millions of these metastatic AI sloponoma cells spread all over every screen , it becomes very important to at least try to learn how to spot them quickly and easily. Perhaps natural human people will have to start training themselves on tens or hundreds of hours of AI videos to become able to quickly spot AIs at a “subconscious” pattern-recognition level.
Time time time
Is our only friend
You can dream dream dream
But just don’t pretend
‘Corvids are irresistable. It’s hard to not enjoy their antics, yet be annoyed by their persistence.’
They display remarkable intelligence for their size.
I love squirrels. I think they’re really really smart.
And doves and pigeons cause they’re ain’t no shame in their game.
***
‘Jasmine Crockett is political arsenic, from a very wealthy family and educated at the best Prep School as early as High School, she plays a tough street “Nigga”, talking all ghetto. Not smart to shit all over Latinos in Tejas, saying “We done pickin’ cotton, y’all!” Thinks the dirty wetbacks will do it.’
Mark wins another round.
They no longer gotta sic dogs on ya
Long as the bodega turns Starbucks on ya
***
I got a kick out of James Carville back in the day before he became completely unbearable.
‘Because I’m a White male, I’m different than other people? Carville asked. He went on to blast how, in modern discourse, one of the great failures is that even non-White groups are collectively referred to as people “of-color” as if, even at the scale of multiple racial groups, they could all collectively be seen as a monolith.
All White people are not the same. All Black people are not the same. All Hispanic people are not the same, all right? And I don’t like generalizing about someone’s gender or their race or their sexual preference or anything else. All gay people are not the same. They’re very different personalities. They’re very different values, very different everything.’
We all bleed red Jimmy. Except maybe Thiel. Some excellent points nonetheless.
I know many laugh heartily at the idea that a person ever believed Donald Trump in the first place but her rage is real and I agree with much of what she says.
‘MTG’ has made some comments about blacks that aren’t too kind, no?
Why didn’t people just vote for Kamala Harris?
Her husband is a hollywood guy and her donors were all Zionists. They probably have kompromat on her too.
Oh, what could have been, unburdened by what may come. Or something.
I don’t think Harris was electable and that was most likely the point. She didn’t even win the popular vote so the electoral college can’t be blamed even though it should go away.
The electoral college!
Did we ever figure out if the voting machines are legitimate?
There continues to be grylloidea from the democrats on anything important.
Russia continues to submit its own sternly worded pronouncements threatening future UN activity…where the US vetoes everything.
Speaking of which: spud, if N Korea starts slinging nukes isn’t Russia obligated by treaty to defend N Korea against any retaliation?
Their 2024 comprehensive defense pact says as much, though they could just ignore it.
NATO continues to act as a bloc even after all Trump’s bluster and even given that there are no obligtions for any members to do anything. ‘An attack on one nation is considered an attack on all’ and that’s it. The famed article 5 doesn’t in fact compel anyone to do anything, militarily, economically, politically or otherwise. It’s left to each nation to decide.
But they act as a bloc and the military-intel commitments are structurally built-in and they run deep.
‘they know russia will not. russia wants to join the club and be respected equals. not gonna happen’
It seems indisputable at this point. Putin just spoke to Trump for an hour we are told. Trump represents an entity that recently tried to assassinate Putin.
Allegedly.
A couple comments pulled from the RT article entitled ‘ Putin and Trump hold phone call – Kremlin aide’
The presidents discussed the conflicts between the US and Iran and between Russia and Ukraine, Yury Ushakov has said
Comment:
‘Please President Putin, ask your American counterpart to try and distinguish the difference between ‘Israeli interests’ and ‘American interests.’
Tell him you were looking forward to working with him in the near future to end the Ukraine war, which was the former US supported proxy war against Russia but now you’re concerned the pro-war Democrats will unseat him in the upcoming 2026 November congressional elections and that if the Democrats win both the US House and US Senate, he will surely be impeached.
Tell POTUS that he has risked all of his political capital and his political life by blindly supporting the apartheid, genocidal ethno-supremacist European settler colony.
President Putin, tell your friend President Trump that his is facing all but certain ruin.
It lies directly ahead unless he seeks terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran and seeks to stop the war with a just settlement and security guarantees for Iran and ending the economic sanctions against it.’
Comment:
Israel bombed the House of Russian Culture in Nabatiya, southern Lebanon. Russia’s Rossotrudnichestvo has confirmed the strike and says an official statement is coming.
Israel has now attacked the cultural property of a UN Security Council permanent member. A nuclear-armed state. The same country whose technicians ran the Bushehr reactor that Israel also bombed.
Russia has shown remarkable restraint throughout this war, maybe too much.’
‘Iran is not responding fairly and strongly enough to avenge the death of its leader, and to avenge the mass-mµrder of the Iranian civilians, the environmental catastrophe and the destruction of Iranian infrastructure.
The day before yesterday, Israel destroyed Iranian refineries and chemical plants in and near Tehran, but Iran has not yet measured up to the circumstances to save the honor of the Iranian people and take revenge as its government has not yet responded accordingly. Why is this so? Well, Israel still has its prime minister alive, happy, and scheming more than ever;
Israel still has its airport and military airbases fully operating, as the power plants, such as Dimona, are still functioning, with its financial and banking system still working fine!
The reason for this, you will find in a sentence in the speech delivered by Putin during the last Victory Day parade: “…I will not tolerate ‘anti-semitism’…”
Yes, the Kremlin is Israel’s great protector, and this is the condition the Russians are imposing on Iran in exchange for a tiny insignificant piece of satellite information.
Meanwhile, the US Navy warships are still in one piece, with their crew happily launching combat aircraft to keep killing Iranian civilians.
You see, Russia is a lead lifebuoy; it will sink you and you will drown, like Slobodan Milosevic, Muammar Gaddafi, al-Assad, Nicolas Maduro did.’
Here’s an interesting little video exploring the ” Generation Jones” concept. Its the first video I’ve seen about that. ( I suspect it is basically AI because it is just voice and a series of still pictures. Still, it might be minor fun).
The so-called Baby Boomer Bracket lasts for too many years. People have tried dealing that by speaking of Early boomers and Late boomers. Two different names for the two different cohorts might be better. People have suggested Baby Boomers and Generation Jones. I would suggest basing the two cohorts’s names on the TV shows which were most iconic during the “wonder years” of the two different cohort-loads of people.
So I would refer to the Early Boomers / Boomers as Beaver Cleavers.
And I would refer to the Late Boomers/ Generation Jones as Brady Bunchers.
Oakchair
“Almost none of the students in any major showed a consistent understanding of how to apply methods of evaluating truth they had learned in their own discipline to other areas.” ― David Epstein, Range
“There’s something about seeing Johnny Depp fail so badly that gives me strength.” ― There, there by Tommy Orange
—–
“During 10 years of follow-up”
“Each 1 mmol/L increase in total cholesterol corresponded to a 15% decrease in mortality”
“Mortality from cancer and infection was significantly lower among the participants in the highest total cholesterol category”
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)04430-9/abstract
—–
“Retrospective cohort study of 642 patients with statin-associated adverse events evaluated”
The most common adverse events in list of prevelence were
Musculosketal
central nervous system
liver
gastrointestinal
peripheral nervous system
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27578118/
—-
“The development of statin-induced rhabdomyolysis (life threatning muscle disease) occurs in
0.1% of patients; however, the occurrence of less severe symptoms is underreported and may be 1–5% or more.”
“as many as 25% of statin users who exercise may experience muscle fatigue, weakness, aches, and cramping due to statin therapy”
“It has been shown that statins can induce apoptosis (cell death) in a variety of cell types”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16885396/
—–
A 6 month randomzied controlled trial found:
On average statins caused 15% of users to develop fatigue
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4285455/
—–
In a postmarketing adverse-effect surveillance study the most common side effects of statins were:
muscle pain
fatigue
weakness
85% of these patient reports “met literature criteria for probable or definite drug adverse-effect causality”
A dose dependent relationship was found with higher doses producting more adverse events.
Statins were found to worsen quality of life on various measures.
“QOL domain was negatively affected, with high statistical significance”
“The magnitude of effect was largest for pain (mean −6.0), recreation (mean −5.9), and overall QOL (mean −5.3)”
In the Acknowledgment section the study was partially funded by orgnizations with pro-statin conflcits of intererest such as “The American heart association”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4729295/
—-
“Even a question can be a lie if asked in the right way.” ― C.A. Fletcher, A boy and his dog at the end of the world
“Does what we try most to avoid come after us because we paid too much attention to it with our worry?” ―There, There by Tommy Orange
As always sc-hub can be used to get past paywalls and read the entire published study.
https://sci-hub.se/
Mark Level
Somebody who is not a Socialist and who hates Russians for having once long ago been Socialists loves to take potshots at Reform Mayor Zohran Mamdami of NYC. So here’s an interesting story from today, 2 “suspicious devices” left outside his residence, 2 people in custody: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gracie-mansion-suspicious-devices-rcna262237?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
So whatever he’s doing, it seems to be a threat to somebody powerful’s interest? We don’t know the motivation, obviously. Could be that some billionaire paid for an attempt to off him so they don’t have to “leave” to avoid like a 5% surcharge tax on the very wealthy? Or since some Islamophobic loser “influencer”, Jack Lang, was staging a protest at the time, could be a random Let’s Kill Muslims terrorist effort . . .
US is and remains a scary place. Right-wing terror barely gets you a slap on the wrist, peaceful protest against a genocide in some places gets you attacked or beaten up by cops. (Thankfully not in NYC anymore.) It will be interesting if more is learned from the suspects.
Oh, and we’ve had a discussion on LG&M’s lame stupidity somewhat recently. They’ve pivoted pretty quickly in the last 24 hours, I had a look today. I guess since it’s a Trump failed war, they see where things are headed, they’re no longer doing spittle-flecked rhetoric about how more Persians have to die. Sudden return to “Woke”, I guess, convenient, jump out in front of the parade.
Humans are social animals, pressure to appear Normie is subtle but strong.
Oakchair
What is the Epstein classes goals? In the files they discussed “how to get rid off all the poor”. Likewise, the oligarchs have been obsessed with reducing the population for over a century now. Don’t worry though their bought experts care so much about you and would never steer you astray.
Given all that the Iran war will likely be a huge victory in the eyes of our rulers. The Gulf states are cut off from food and water. The world is cut of from fertilizer and oil.
The oligarchs have their popcorn out for the party Hollywood never could give them.
mago
A friend remarked that people around here are so polite and friendly and mean it when they ask, how are you? To which I replied, civility is a virtue. (Just as an aside the word friend is overused. Acquaintance is usually more appropriate. A friend would have your back though thick and thin and even give money along with other support if needed without being asked. Just saying.)
Anyway, my friend from LA who’s passing through said such friendliness is nonexistent where he lives. Phone messages are abrupt to the point of rudeness. No, hello I hope you’re doing well , and forget about public encounters.
It made me realize that everywhere I’ve lived in the past forty some years is anomalous in that regard. I’m accustomed to eye contact and smiles even with strangers, to please and thank you and those other niceties that lubricate social interactions.
The larger world seems accustomed and inured to rudeness, scorn and contempt and even worse, taking it for normal. No wonder meanness and petty vindictiveness is accepted along with war and hatred.
I’m guessing though that aside from the Puppy Killer Bitch and the Epstein Class most people love their dogs and mothers and children. I still believe in basic human goodness and compassion. Otherwise, just go slit your wrists and get it over with. Why not?
Cheers!
Sean Paul Kelley
@Mago: the Russians are some of the most epically rude and abrupt people on the planet. It was very difficult for me to assimilate such abruptness when I lived there. When the phone conversation is over, the slam the phone down, no pleasantries, no good-bye, see ya laters etc. . . And you do not ever smile at people you pass on the street or say hi to them. They will literally think you are mad.
When I was there the mililtsa, ie traffic police, were rapacious. I got pulled over frequently. But I developed a galactically fool-proof method of avoid paying fines. In Russian, to say “i don’t understand” is “ya ne panimayau.” In Russian the word for Monday is remarkably similar to “panimayu.” It’s “ponidyelnik” so when I inevitably got pulled over and the militsa asked for my docs I would say, “ya ne panidyelnik.” Literlally, “I don’t Monday.” Drove the fuckers mad. I just repeated it over and over and over until they sent me on my way. Fucking grifting shitbirds.
Carborundum
Most interesting data of the weekend (at least thus far):
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad/pr_2026-03-05_international-morality_0_01/
mago
@SPK. Regarding phone manners, kinda reminds me of when I lived in Spain. They would answer the phone with Diga! Something like Talk, or tell me. And when the loud and often obnoxious conversation was finished, there was no goodbye, just drop the phone in the cradle.
For the younger set, once upon a time there were land lines and phones with cords, some even wall mounted, and lest they be forgotten, phone booths. (I always remember my tai chi teacher saying you should be able to do your form in a phone booth, but I digress.)
In the loud and obnoxious rude department, I’ll repeat an anecdote I once relayed here about a Jewish religious studies professor who told me upon returning from Israel how everyone yelled at each other when talking on the phone. He found the culture rude and aggressive in the extreme and said he’d never return. The tonality speaks volumes about the mentality.
different clue
Here from the TikTokCringe subreddit is an early warning heads-up type of video, if it is really accurate.
” Combat units are being given deployment orders says former 75th ranger ”
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1rnbdjz/combat_units_are_being_given_deployment_orders/
I remember reading that the Green Berets, which are/were different than Rangers or Seals, tended to wear sneakers or sandals rather than boots, depending on the mission. So an Administration could be exquisitely-technically truthful in saying “no boots on the ground” while sending in the Green Berets.
I don’t know if that works with the Rangers, though. Or the Seals.
Carborundum
Of the units mentioned there, we do know that the 82nd Airborne exercise was cancelled – it would make sense that they would want the ready brigade on heightened alert status. The 82nd is a subordinate unit of 18th Airborne Corps, so I guess it also makes sense that their HQ element would also need to be at a higher state of readiness. The mention of 3rd Group does not make sense to me – their primary AOR is Africa. For CENTCOM, one would expect 5th Group to be the unit involved.
Keep in mind, heightened readiness does not necessarily mean invasion – way back in the dim recesses of history, Desert Shield started with the ready brigade of the 82nd deploying to the northern border of Saudi, in case the Iraqis decided they were coming over the border.
Beyond that, although we certainly are hearing significant amounts of chatter about people getting warning orders and not being too happy about it, beyond the unit level data mentioned above we don’t know a lot – not even the branches involved. Given the op tempo, I would be very surprised if there weren’t reasonably significant Air Force deployments chugging through the system. We’ll know more over time.
different clue
@Carborundum,
Thank you for the detailed reply. Since I don’t know anything about these sorts of force details, all I could do was wonder whether this was some sort of code red siren in the far distance. Hopefullly it is indeed not all that just yet.
I have heard that some of our current service people are unhappy campers and are getting unhappier as developments develop.
Mary
They’re going to nuke Iran.
It’s the last option in the leaked ‘Pentagon’ plan, after ground troops.
Sanctions, cyberwarfare and covert ops including the riots, and bombing.
Next is ground troops.
And then tactical nukes. Specifically mentioned are the B61-12 and the B61-13, though neither of these has the serious earth penetration ability of the B61-11. But all are bunker busters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_bunker_buster
It’s reported that they only have intel on maybe half of Iran’s underground operations. It’s been alleged that there are ‘hundreds’ of these underground facilities though the true number is probably around 150-200. But no one really knows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B61-13-first-production-unit.webp
It has been suggested that they may also use these nukes to devastate Tehran.
I imagine they may skip the ground troops, aside from the proxy fighters – many of whom have no doubt been victims of MKUltra-type torture programs and what have you.
These proxies can provide some initial ‘force’ and then they’ll die in the radiated aftermath.
Perfect.
***
‘In 2014, critics said that a more accurate and less destructive nuclear weapon would make leaders less cautious about deploying it, while Schwartz said it would deter adversaries more because the US would be more willing to use it in situations where necessary…’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B61_nuclear_bomb
***
UFOs?!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B-21-in-flight.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-21_Raider
—
From May 7, 2024:
Evaluation of the Air Force’s Nuclear Certification of the F‑15E, B‑2, and F‑35A Aircraft to Carry the B61‑12 Nuclear Bomb (Report No. DODIG-2024-080)
https://www.dodig.mil/reports.html/Article/3769659/evaluation-of-the-air-forces-nuclear-certification-of-the-f15e-b2-and-f35a-airc/
[H.A.S.C. No. 113-68] NUCLEAR WEAPONS MODERNIZATION PROGRAMS: MILITARY, TECHNICAL, AND POLITICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE B61 LIFE EXTENSION PROGRAM AND FUTURE STOCKPILE STRATEGY Octoer 29, 2013
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg86075/html/CHRG-113hhrg86075.htm
***
‘What is the Epstein classes goals? In the files they discussed “how to get rid off all the poor”. Likewise, the oligarchs have been obsessed with reducing the population for over a century now.’
Listen to Maria Farmer. They hate blacks, but they don’t much care for anyone not them.
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=zqy782UxIpI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqy782UxIpI
Mary
When I wrote ‘perfect’ I meant from their perspective, not mine.
These people are not well.
different clue
Header: favorable referrence to a Belle of the Ranch video. Why this header? So anyone who disapproves of Belle of the Ranch videos can stop reading right here.
Remember, God made a scroll button.
( Are they gone? okay . . . )
Here is a little bit of lighter political levity, relatively speaking, and an example of why I find Belle of the Ranch videos more watchable in the long run than I finally found Beau of the Fifth Column videos to be. It contains some good examples of blunt sarcasm delivered with a straight face.
”
Let’s talk about Trump hanging up the auto-pen talking point….”
different clue
Oh dear . . . I forgot the link. Here it is . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNIRoNVOUA0
different clue
Here is a somewhat “counter-intuitive” to initial expectations video made by Phillip Scot. I have offered Phillip Scott videos before. I would say his basic outlook is Black America First, sometimes to the point of beginning to approach Black America Only.
( MBAGA. Make Black America Great Again. ” MmmmBAGA.” Sounds almost “African” sounding, doesn’t it?)
Anyway: “Latina Who Voted For Jasmine Crockett Says We Can’t Sit Out The Midterms Because Jasmine Lost ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nm_otSnpHM
different clue
Here is something from Ron(?) ” The Villain” Bishop. I have seen ( and offered some of) his videos before as sampled and re-offered on African content-aggregator/creator videos. But this is posted right onto You Tube by Mr. Bishop his own self. It is about what an ex-MAGA who is crying about not being right away welcomed by ” the Left” still does not understand at all.
“Ex-MAGA still doesn’t get it!” ( by Ghost Claw Productions Radio . . . which is Mr. Bishop’s vehicle in this case).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXXgp1kzGFg
mago
As a wise Native American elder remarked when told about Daylight Savings Time, that’s like cutting off one end of a blanket and sewing it onto the other end.
Another stupid white man construction. Not as bad as nukes, but insidious nonetheless.
Sunny Runny Burger
Is the world in some sort of “irreality daze”?
Before a tsunami the oceans recede out to sea leaving behind a haunting drained coast. The worse the tsunami is the further out to sea the waterline goes.
Is that all we have seen so far of this war? Is that where our world is at them moment?
Because it is a strange sensation to see how little there in fact is to see after nearly a week of what one supposes has to be a rather high intensity war in the Middle East/western Asia, a war that some consider WWIII. Not saying there is nothing, only saying there is far less than one would expect.
The one-sided massive zionist media blackout and propaganda does not suffice as an explanation, not at all, the immediate short term physical ramifications are being almost completely ignored: everything that seems entirely unavoidable.
There is such a thing as normalcy bias but in this case the level of “normality” seems astounding and it is hard to believe that it is entirely manufactured and deliberate since that would imply a proficiency and excellency one can not see any hint of in the rest of global society. Widespread stubborn and positive and intransigent (and potentially panic-laced) delusion seems much more likely than any kind of hidden societal perfection.
If everything stopped right now the economic ramifications alone would still be monumental yet the true cost of what has already happened have clearly not yet struck home across the globe; the effects seen so far seem like they are positively minor compared to what ought to be.
How much longer can this continue?
spud
Mary:
you are correct, we could be hours or days away. the empire might send in the ground troops first just to see how well they perform. if any ground troops hesitate or refuse, they will get the ukranian treatment pronto.
north korea will nuke deigo garcia, Okinawa, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and the west coast.
that is why the bombers are going to the U.K. and not asia. only russia can take them out in the U.K., and they know russia will not. russia wants to join the club and be respected equals. not gonna happen.
bruce wilder
I just had the experience of having someone reply to a comment I made on a Substack post with the news that ChatGPT considered the entire basis of my narrowly-focused comment, “pseudo-science”.
It doesn’t really matter what my comment claimed. The thing is — my sense is that the conversation stopped dead — there is really nothing I can say in reply. (Yes, I used a gratuitous em-dash there in imitation of AI slop.) A link to an anonymous ChatGPT query was provided, but what does that do for me? There were no source notes. Am I conversing with an AI? Is my interlocutor conversing with me?
spud
the empire has been foaming at the mouth for entrance into the Caspian since 1994 under bill clinton.
https://www.bakerinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2013-08/import/u-s-policy-towards-the-caspian-region-can-the-wish-list-be-realized.pdf
“However, besides those who remained phobic about Russia’s long-term
intentions, there was also a plethora of policy advocates who feared the rising
influence of Iran and China.
Hence, planting the US flag in the Caspian Basin
was viewed as a strategic countermeasure to contain the regional power of these
two countries as well.
In the case of Iran, US policy has been more explicit. US
sanctions against Iran are designed to prevent energy companies from investing
in pipelines that would carry Caspian oil or gas to international markets.12
The US Government has worked behind the scenes with mixed success to thwart
foreign companies from joining with with Iran’s national oil company, NIOC, to
construct energy export outlets via Iran.
Were US sanctions against Iran to be eased in a rapprochement between Iran
and the USA, the attractions of various Iranian export routes from the Caspian
could be compelling.”
————
Iran cannot not afford to hold back now. the oligarchs are more than willing to kill off 90 million people to attain that goal of the caspian region, and the chance to surround china in the western region, and have nukes on subs on russia caspian border.
if the empire fails, they will no longer be viewed as a world power. the leeches and parasites will never allow that to happen, its why the empire is about to do the unthinkable.
KT Chong
Previously…
Iran’s strategy is to destroy the US economy and petrodollar system — that is why Iran has been shooting at the GCC nations:
• Professor Jiang Predicts: US WILL LOSE Iran War:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ql24Z8SIeE
• Game Theory: The US-Iran War:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIS2eB-rGv0
.
.
.
Iran has started to target and hit desalination plants:
• https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/8/bahrain-says-water-desalination-plant-damaged-in-iranian-drone-attack
• https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/iranian-drone-damages-desalination-plant-bahrain-130872833
KT Chong
Also:
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations are considering to withdraw ~$6 trillion in direct investments from the U.S. and cancel ~$250 billion in defense deals with Washington:
• https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Economy/gulf-states-reconsider-us-investments-amid-war-driven-econom
• https://www.ft.com/content/ab7d597d-5e72-4cbf-8d3b-53815695d68f
• https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gulf-states-reassess-us-investments-iran-conflict-1783633
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/mayrarodriguezvalladares/2026/03/07/should-we-worry-about-gulf-countries-reducing-investments-in-the-us/
mago
I woke up inconvenienced by daylight savings time and popped off some flip comments. Then I read about the latest in Tehran, and realized that I sounded like some petulant retard.
There are no rules of engagement with USisreal. They’re worse than babaric. Things just got exponentially uglier and it’s certain to get worse.
Meanwhile, most of the people I know are oblivious. Maybe they’ll partially awaken when the economy tanks and radiation is drifting on the winds. Maybe.
different clue
@Sunny Runny Burger,
I once read about an animal called the crab eating raccoon. I read that one of its crab-hunting techniques , after having selected a crab it liked, was to pat the crab on the back several tens or hundreds of times . . . enough to overwhelm and flood-out the crab’s nervous system through too much repetitive tactile input. After the crab was functonally paralyzed, the crab eating raccoon would kill and eat the crab at leisure.
If we are the crab, who or what is the raccoon?
Here is a bunch of images of the crab eating raccoon.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrNPEOSy61pRAIA2V1XNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=crab+eating+raccoon+image&fr=sfp
kim pursell
I used to be able to share your (very insightful) commentary on FB and e-mail – no longer. What happened and can I recover sharability?
Ian Welsh
Kim,
what error message do you get? I can post my posts to FB, and I can send links by email.
bruce wilder
The controversy over the prescribing of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, which Oakchair referenced, has become heated. I searched for “statins” on Substack and oh boy does that produce a lot of lengthy essays with theses ranging widely from “statins are a total scam” to “how to intelligently discuss the advisability of a statin prescription with your physician”.
I can see some people taking “trust the science” positions, that do not admit much nuance, as well as anti-statin positions that are just hostility to Big Pharma and sometimes to the exaggerated medical authority claims of physicians. A few try to thread the needle with careful, but still laymen-friendly interpretations of the evidence and theory basis for the official guidelines.
In my last job before retirement, I was engaged peripherally in educating nurse practitioners on various treatment guidelines, though not the statin guidelines. So, I have some familiarity with the political processes that produce medical guidelines. And, yes, they are political processes and I do not mean to disparage the processes by terming them that way — that is just the way it is. And, realistically, how it has to be. Epistemically, the physician in a clinical setting does not have either enough information in the single case before her (or the series in her practice, though specialists are very significantly advantaged by familiarity with treatments and diseases) or data-processing capacity to function adequately without the “best bet advice” guidelines represent. The long-term consequences of any treatment in an individual case cannot be known without the contextual grounding of population studies combined with some understanding of the biological mechanisms at work. Medicine is being practiced in a biological casino and doctors and their patients are playing the odds. (And, yes, death and disability hold the house odds — we mere mortals are fated to lose in the long-run with certainty. Again, just the way it is.)
I cannot claim any medical expertise of my own. I studied econometrics in graduate school and, frankly, was largely defeated in trying to master it. I think the majority of students are defeated, but do not necessarily know how thoroughly they sank into agnatology. Linear analysis of statistical data involves some very weak and untrustworthy methods. Routine failure to replicate is just one indication of how dubious econometric investigations can be. Just reading journalistic accounts does not reassure me that medical population survey research is conducted on a higher plane of sophistication or integrity.
So, long-winded way of saying I have an opinion I may not be entirely entitled to. I am skeptical about whether statins should be prescribed routinely and “by default”. There are some significant “tells” in the defense of statins by medical professionals. The statistics that relate various cholesterol measurements to age-adjusted all-cause mortality risk all describe U-shapes. These are not linear. Too low is always as much or more a risk than too high. And, “optimal” generally goes up with age. So, even in “short-hand” talking exclusively about reducing cholesterol measurements is suspiciously misleading, as is the progressive adjustment of guidelines to promote more prescriptions. Another “tell” is generalizing to the whole class. (“Statins” are a broad class of medications.) The evidence on side effects and interactions is wildly various.
The most common reported side effects are muscle pain or weakness. These are usually talked about as if these are “minor” issues — the implication being that they represent a mere annoyance or inconvenience to the patient often easily remedied by switching statins. This nonchalance is alarming. In any other circumstance, the onset of muscle weakness is an alarming symptom, because it implies other deleterious processes may be at work. So are some of the other common side effects, like liver and kidney function loss and memory loss.
The implied cost-benefit analysis in betting on a statin prescription is far more dubious than is being portrayed. It is true that having a heart attack is devastating to health, quality of life and longevity. So, it follows that preventing a heart attack is a big benefit, a big gain. Statistically speaking. The trouble is that cholesterol measurements are not that great at predicting heart attack risk. The “average” patient “over the next five years” represents some individuals who can be supposed to benefit a lot from something prevented — something that does not happen — and also whole lot of people who receive no benefit as individuals. Good luck collecting statistics confirming something that does not happen, by the way.
There are some extremely serious issues of general politics here, because of the generally well-founded distrust of elites and institutions, as corruption rots the foundations of the body politic.
I see some defenders of statins confound skepticism with anti-vax and RFKJr issues. On some level, I feel it is all the same undifferentiated noise on all sides, in part because I do not have the intellect or animal energy to engage. I definitely do not “trust the science” because the claims are insufficiently qualified to be legitimate science. People get alarmed by alarmism, which is stupid, whichever way you flow.
Ian Welsh
Guidelines for testing for cancer after you’ve had it before are “only if stage 2”. My previous doctor, where I had stage 1, tested me every year anyway. Found new cancer as a result.
I asked him why he disobeyed the guideline. “My responsibility is to my patients.”
Damn I miss him (new cancer wasn’t his specialty). He could be trusted and he gave a damn. He took every patient’s death personally. Never have a doctor who doesn’t if you can arrange it.
Mark Level
Good comments nearly all ’round today, and I hope y’all survived the “Spring Forward” idiocy if in the US. Well, if you’re in the rat race, it will really hit you tomorrow of course. Being retired, I sleep on my own schedule, I’ll get only 2nd hand blowback, people ruder and more short-tempered.
Thank you to Carborundum for that chart. Not in the least surprised that USians each other more negatively than in any other country listed. It’s been bred into them, & during my lifetime. I was born late 1950s, and the 70s was a pivot point. Everybody (nearly) pretty nice at that time, when I lived in the Chicago area. But the Powell Memo had just come out, our Betters (sic) decided to throw some toxins in the social fishbowl and turn everyone against each other. (When he was still relevant, Matt Taibbi wrote about the success of this recently in “Hate, Inc.”) The bipartisan duopoly pitted the arrogant PMC against the dispossessed working class (not just white, by any means) & the last President who seemed to have even a sliver of humanity, Carter, flushed his Presidency down the crapper on the sands of Iran, in a futile “rescue” mission of our Embassy spies and “little Hitler” functionaries (to quote Ward Churchill.)
Reagan was swept in by ignorant, retrograde, propagandized morons, guaranteeing their own future financial immiseration, (funny spell-check hates that word, deems it impermissible), a ramp-up of Nixon’s “War on Drugs” (actually a war on non-white people). Even Reagan had enough native sense to walk away from being the Zionists bitch when 350+ US troops got blown up, a level of restraint not really seen since. But he also started the tradition of senile, drooling morons in the office, Bush Jr. was only the latter, but Biden and then Trump serve for late Imperial instruments of corruption and Imperial disintegration more recently.
Bush Sr. also stood up to the Zionist entity, and for that reason got only one term, ousted by the Deep State for the fully compliant Bill Clinton; the first president (of many) to inaugurate the Epstein Class.
I agree, the chance these morons that actually run Trump will Nuke Iran seem high. George Galloway shared rumors that the Iranians have at least 170 POW’s already, they’ll need to do something to get their “manhood” back, show they are strong. Galloway and his guest, Anthony Aguilar, a high-ranking military Vet with an actual conscience, think that Russia will then place Iran under their Nuclear Umbrella.
Diff Clue, why worry about the next “elections” popularity contest when we might not even live that long? And Jasmine Crockett is political arsenic, from a very wealthy family and educated at the best Prep School as early as High School, she plays a tough street “Nigga”, talking all ghetto. Not smart to shit all over Latinos in Tejas, saying “We done pickin’ cotton, y’all!” Thinks the dirty wetbacks will do it.
Her political career is as dead as the entire planet might soon be.
Mel
@bruce wilder
“ChatGPT considered the entire basis of my narrowly-focused comment, “pseudo-science””
:-/ What can we say? Takes one to know one?
ChatGPT, enabled by morons, is set to bury all communication on the Internet.
Oakchair
@Bruce wilder
Am I conversing with an AI? Is my interlocutor conversing with me?
——
If someone refuses to engage in a topic and just ignores everything because “AI” says so it’s a distinction with little difference if they are an AI or an actual person. They don’t really have an opinion what they have is faith in what the AI told them to believe.
Though to be fair to AI it’s not like a variant of this wasn’t in common use before AI. It’s just that instead of ignoring because the AI said so it was because the “experts” or the “media” said so.
——
There are some significant “tells” in the defense of statins
——-
I’ve grown to distrust using rules of thumb, but I think if one is going to follow a rule of thumb one of the best one to follow would be that the person using a lot of “tells” is wrong. Frequent uses of insults, appeals to authority, bandwagon, refusals to discuss and engage being other “tells” beside the ones Bruce wilder mentioned.
—–
On some level, I feel it is all the same undifferentiated noise on all sides, in part because I do not have the intellect or animal energy to engage
—–
Be fair to yourself, you have the intellect. The limiting factor is we live in a dystopia which immerses us in constant misery, propaganda, and harmful chemicals. Even if time wasn’t an issue no one one can make it down every rabbit hole and if they somehow did they wouldn’t be able to escape.
different clue
I will keep right on thinking about the next elections because it is part of my duty to the possible future if there is one. I will also think and do about Separate Survival, to be sure.
Phillip Scott had a podcast offering thoughts somewhat in parallel to the thoughts offered on Jasmine Crockett just a little above. My memory of the broader context around the ” we done pickin’ cotton, y’all” comment is this . . . . large-to-huge numbers of various Black content creators were all noting that the “immigrants were taking the Black jobs”. White Farmers in Trump Country and Black listeners all understood this the same way . . . as a Doghorn Foghorn to the KlanMAGA farmers that Black people would all be forced back into the fields and KlanMAGA Farm Country would get its Black Slaves back. Black content creators were all saying ” we are not coming back to your fields and you can either get your own parents, grandparents, grandchildren, etc. to do the labor or you can all go bankrupt and lose your farms.” Jasmine Crockett may well have been saying the same thing in a less artful way.
Is her political career done? I don’t know Texas politics well enough to know.
different clue
Pardon me, I forgot to mention that it was Trump saying ” the immigrants are taking the Black jobs”. That was the Doghorn Foghorn heard throughout KlanMAGA Trump Country and throughout Black America at the same time and in the same way.
So the KlanMAGA farmers for Trump did not think they were voting “against their own interest”. They thought they were voting to get their Black Slaves back.
mago
There’s a blue jay sitting on a branch
Squawking for peanuts indignant at my presence while juncos and chickadees think that I’m St Francis, but I don’t know Assisi from my ass. I put out water and suet, feeding embodied beings is what I do, and even the disembodied, there are ways for that, although the deaths from war are stacking higher than Mt Everest and I don’t know what to do anymore except feed the birds, it’s for the birds after all.
I bow down to the raucous jay who inspired this bit of self indulgent verse on a sunny lazy Sunday afternoon far from bombs and drones and everything that’s wrong with the world.
mago
Just as a frivolous aside, I’m pretty sure that miss jennings lives on as Mary. Same style, MO and content.
And the wind cries, Mary . . .
Sean Paul Kelley
@Mago: Corvids are irresistable. It’s hard to not enjoy their antics, yet be annoyed by their persistence.
different clue
Here, from TikTokCringe, comes . . . ” The War on Greed ”
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1rofsbp/the_war_on_greed/
The man in this video does not look or sound like a beardsandal hippy. He looks like a good solid Mainstreamal Normie American from the heart of the heartland. And he is not a happy camper about the ongoing Iran War.
different clue
Sometimes people have fun with anagrams .. . scrambling letters of a word or name around to come up with another word. I used to think that the name ” Brian Eno” was an anagram of ” One Brain” and that the artist was keeping his legal name secret while sending some kind of message with the name ” Brian Eno”. I was very surprised to learn that “Brian Eno” really was Brian Eno’s real name. I wonder if anyone has ever offered him the ” One Brain” anagram just to see what he thinks of it.
Someone once claimed ( and I never tried it myself to see if it really works) that Ronald Wilson Reagan anagramizes to Insane Anglo Warlord, and George Herbert Walker Bush anagramizes to Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog.
But enough with the lighthearted levity in a humorous vein. Phillip Scott has brought out another podcast, longer than some, titled:
“Latina Says She Will Stand With Black Americans, White Voters Voted More For Crockett Than Latinos”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26DO36149P8
When he said a little way into the podcast that Black people are going to vote or not-vote however they damn please, I knew this would be an interesting podcast, agreeable-with or not. And since Scott is from Texas just like Talarico and Crockett ( sort of), he has the State Standing to talk about this. I imagine this will all be cussed and discussed at length in Texas over the months to come.
different clue
Here is a Parkrose Permaculture video called: ” You think you’re supporting a Black-owned business? Surprise, it’s an AI Scam. ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9_I8mY7-t0
She shows a lot of clippage from some of the multi-second videos coming from whatever source these videos come from. She describes and analyses these videos and the favorable comments they get from real people who think this is a real person in these video bits. It shows that the AI engineers are getting better at their simulation of reality. She replays a little sequence from timepoint 1:17 to 1: 27 showing the AI still making some subtle but detectable visual mistakes. She then shows other technical AI flaws like the “woman’s” face having different skin-flaws over time, different types of teeth, etc. And the AI generated image of the antique treadle sewing machine “she” supposedly “uses” to make the crafts being sold in these little video-bits has some technological inaccuracies and even impossibilities which Parkrose Permaculture says she knows about based on her own pursuit of antique-sewing-styles hobby-practices.
This critique seems real to me, as a mere layman, and I suggest that it offers us some possible training tips or at least trail-markers as we try to play “spot the AI images and videos”.
As millions and then tens of millions of these metastatic AI sloponoma cells spread all over every screen , it becomes very important to at least try to learn how to spot them quickly and easily. Perhaps natural human people will have to start training themselves on tens or hundreds of hours of AI videos to become able to quickly spot AIs at a “subconscious” pattern-recognition level.
Mary
‘And the wind cries, Mary . . .’
Time time time
Is our only friend
You can dream dream dream
But just don’t pretend
‘Corvids are irresistable. It’s hard to not enjoy their antics, yet be annoyed by their persistence.’
They display remarkable intelligence for their size.
I love squirrels. I think they’re really really smart.
And doves and pigeons cause they’re ain’t no shame in their game.
***
‘Jasmine Crockett is political arsenic, from a very wealthy family and educated at the best Prep School as early as High School, she plays a tough street “Nigga”, talking all ghetto. Not smart to shit all over Latinos in Tejas, saying “We done pickin’ cotton, y’all!” Thinks the dirty wetbacks will do it.’
Mark wins another round.
They no longer gotta sic dogs on ya
Long as the bodega turns Starbucks on ya
***
I got a kick out of James Carville back in the day before he became completely unbearable.
‘Because I’m a White male, I’m different than other people? Carville asked. He went on to blast how, in modern discourse, one of the great failures is that even non-White groups are collectively referred to as people “of-color” as if, even at the scale of multiple racial groups, they could all collectively be seen as a monolith.
All White people are not the same. All Black people are not the same. All Hispanic people are not the same, all right? And I don’t like generalizing about someone’s gender or their race or their sexual preference or anything else. All gay people are not the same. They’re very different personalities. They’re very different values, very different everything.’
We all bleed red Jimmy. Except maybe Thiel. Some excellent points nonetheless.
And how about that crazy MTG?:
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=EvKcHHWhqvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvKcHHWhqvs
I know many laugh heartily at the idea that a person ever believed Donald Trump in the first place but her rage is real and I agree with much of what she says.
‘MTG’ has made some comments about blacks that aren’t too kind, no?
Why didn’t people just vote for Kamala Harris?
Her husband is a hollywood guy and her donors were all Zionists. They probably have kompromat on her too.
Oh, what could have been, unburdened by what may come. Or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cFBTN5Y0Cg
I don’t think Harris was electable and that was most likely the point. She didn’t even win the popular vote so the electoral college can’t be blamed even though it should go away.
The electoral college!
Did we ever figure out if the voting machines are legitimate?
There continues to be grylloidea from the democrats on anything important.
Russia continues to submit its own sternly worded pronouncements threatening future UN activity…where the US vetoes everything.
Speaking of which: spud, if N Korea starts slinging nukes isn’t Russia obligated by treaty to defend N Korea against any retaliation?
Their 2024 comprehensive defense pact says as much, though they could just ignore it.
NATO continues to act as a bloc even after all Trump’s bluster and even given that there are no obligtions for any members to do anything. ‘An attack on one nation is considered an attack on all’ and that’s it. The famed article 5 doesn’t in fact compel anyone to do anything, militarily, economically, politically or otherwise. It’s left to each nation to decide.
But they act as a bloc and the military-intel commitments are structurally built-in and they run deep.
Mary
‘they know russia will not. russia wants to join the club and be respected equals. not gonna happen’
It seems indisputable at this point. Putin just spoke to Trump for an hour we are told. Trump represents an entity that recently tried to assassinate Putin.
Allegedly.
A couple comments pulled from the RT article entitled ‘ Putin and Trump hold phone call – Kremlin aide’
The presidents discussed the conflicts between the US and Iran and between Russia and Ukraine, Yury Ushakov has said
Comment:
‘Please President Putin, ask your American counterpart to try and distinguish the difference between ‘Israeli interests’ and ‘American interests.’
Tell him you were looking forward to working with him in the near future to end the Ukraine war, which was the former US supported proxy war against Russia but now you’re concerned the pro-war Democrats will unseat him in the upcoming 2026 November congressional elections and that if the Democrats win both the US House and US Senate, he will surely be impeached.
Tell POTUS that he has risked all of his political capital and his political life by blindly supporting the apartheid, genocidal ethno-supremacist European settler colony.
President Putin, tell your friend President Trump that his is facing all but certain ruin.
It lies directly ahead unless he seeks terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran and seeks to stop the war with a just settlement and security guarantees for Iran and ending the economic sanctions against it.’
Comment:
Israel bombed the House of Russian Culture in Nabatiya, southern Lebanon. Russia’s Rossotrudnichestvo has confirmed the strike and says an official statement is coming.
Israel has now attacked the cultural property of a UN Security Council permanent member. A nuclear-armed state. The same country whose technicians ran the Bushehr reactor that Israel also bombed.
Russia has shown remarkable restraint throughout this war, maybe too much.’
https://unn.ua/en/news/israeli-aviation-struck-the-russian-cultural-center-in-the-lebanese-city-of-nabatieh
Comment:
‘Iran is not responding fairly and strongly enough to avenge the death of its leader, and to avenge the mass-mµrder of the Iranian civilians, the environmental catastrophe and the destruction of Iranian infrastructure.
The day before yesterday, Israel destroyed Iranian refineries and chemical plants in and near Tehran, but Iran has not yet measured up to the circumstances to save the honor of the Iranian people and take revenge as its government has not yet responded accordingly. Why is this so? Well, Israel still has its prime minister alive, happy, and scheming more than ever;
Israel still has its airport and military airbases fully operating, as the power plants, such as Dimona, are still functioning, with its financial and banking system still working fine!
The reason for this, you will find in a sentence in the speech delivered by Putin during the last Victory Day parade: “…I will not tolerate ‘anti-semitism’…”
Yes, the Kremlin is Israel’s great protector, and this is the condition the Russians are imposing on Iran in exchange for a tiny insignificant piece of satellite information.
Meanwhile, the US Navy warships are still in one piece, with their crew happily launching combat aircraft to keep killing Iranian civilians.
You see, Russia is a lead lifebuoy; it will sink you and you will drown, like Slobodan Milosevic, Muammar Gaddafi, al-Assad, Nicolas Maduro did.’
https://www.rt.com/news/634304-putin-trump-phone-call/
different clue
Here, for pure human-interest amazement, is a video from the Weird subreddit called:
“Samantha Ramsdell (USA) is the proud owner of the world’s widest mouth”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/1rr877t/samantha_ramsdell_usa_is_the_proud_owner_of_the/
( I am trusting that this is real and not AI).
different clue
Here’s an interesting little video exploring the ” Generation Jones” concept. Its the first video I’ve seen about that. ( I suspect it is basically AI because it is just voice and a series of still pictures. Still, it might be minor fun).
The so-called Baby Boomer Bracket lasts for too many years. People have tried dealing that by speaking of Early boomers and Late boomers. Two different names for the two different cohorts might be better. People have suggested Baby Boomers and Generation Jones. I would suggest basing the two cohorts’s names on the TV shows which were most iconic during the “wonder years” of the two different cohort-loads of people.
So I would refer to the Early Boomers / Boomers as Beaver Cleavers.
And I would refer to the Late Boomers/ Generation Jones as Brady Bunchers.
anyway, the video.
“Born 1954-1965? You’re Not Boomers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCQE0cC0r_Y