‘@feelgoodtale
FeelGoodThoughts
@feelgoodtale
An elderly man living alone in Manchester wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, since the ground was hard. His only son, Paul, who used to help him, was in prison (strange ways)’
That’s like the story of the old farmer who told his sons that there was a treasure buried in their fields – but that they would need the plow to dig it up.
Reply ↓
-
anne warren The same joke made the rounds in Northern Ireland during the Troubles (1968-1998). The elderly farmer writes to IRA son who was imprisoned about his potato field. Son writes back “On no account dig the field. Arms are buried there” Police and British Army dig it over perfectly! Farmer seeds his potatoes!
PS if you want to know about the latest anti- Catholic, anti-Irish activities of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland, have a look here https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2026/09/06/drumcree-2-0/Reply ↓
-
Ignacio Puff! They cannot help themselves. Could in proper English be said that “the time has come to turn the page” or am I translating from Spanish in a too literal fashion?
Reply ↓
-
anne warren no, not at all Ignacio.
Others have said “Let sleeping dogs lie” – after 28 years relative peace and no more deaths, that’s all the local residents want
Makes no difference to the Orange Order/Unionists/Loyalists in Northern Ireland. They have to be “top dogs” Or Else . . . They’ll threaten to huff and puff and blow the house (the GFA Agreement) down!Reply ↓
-
-
re: Economist, Covid deaths in the US.
No mention of early treatment (or lack of same) or of treatment in general.
Odd.
Reply ↓
“ the covid-19 vaccine—was highly successful and helped save millions of lives,” declared the committee created by the House to investigate covid in 2024, summarising two years of work. The very next sentence reads: “Contrary to what was promised, the covid-19 vaccine did not stop the spread or transmission of the virus.”. Both statements are true. Fauci and many others oversold the vaccine’s ability to prevent infection and stop the spread. Remember “breakthrough infections”. They knew or should have known (“follow the science” right?) that the vaccine was non-sterilizing, which means it does not stop infection. This became abundantly clear during Omicron. The number of American deaths due to Covid will remain unknown, as each local jurisdiction had a different way of determining whether a death was due to Covid. There is plenty of blame to go around but most of it belongs to Biden, who promised an intelligent and robust program to fight covid and rebuild public health infrastructure. He had a mandate and an opportunity, but squandered it, then prematurely declaring the pandemic over and redirecting funds for public health into law enforcement in time for the 22midterms
Reply ↓
-
flora Birx came out and admitted they knew when they released the vax it wasn’t sterilizing, but they still “hoped it might work.”
What was successful?
Reply ↓
-
lyman alpha blob Despite all the jabbing, the US still had arguably the worst results in the world with millions dead. I’m still waiting for an explanation as to why this did not happen in Africa, where a much lower percentage of the population was vaccinated.
Reply ↓
-
The Rev Kev Nothing to do with the fact that the drug that must not be named was already in widespread use in Africa for the treatment of several parasitic infections so was readily available.
Reply ↓
-
objective ace There’s probably a myriad of reason, but surely telling people they can’t get infected (because of the jab) encouraged reckless that wouldnt be seen elsewhere
Reply ↓
-
The Rev Kev Of course. But if you remember back in 2020, there were far too many people that wanted to go back to eating in restaurants, to go to concerts, to travel overseas again, to keep their businesses open. The same sort of people that objected to wearing masks or even other people to wear masks. So they took the jabs and believed government assurances that they were golden now.
Reply ↓
-
flora Also, back in 2020 in my opinion there was no reason for most people in the US to doubt the govt when it said it had a working vaccine. After all, the govt had the polio vax and other vax that proved effective. (Few noticed the govt had changed the definition of vax effectiveness just prior to the c19 vax rollout.)
People believed the govt and acted on that. There was no reason not to, as so many thought then. / my 2 cents.
Reply ↓
-
-
-
-
Screwball To this day I know a bunch of people who think if they got the jab they are protected. If you told them the jabs did not stop the spread they would call you an anti-vaxxer and science denier. Go figure.
Reply ↓
-
flora Someone I’ve know a long time called me a Trumper. wth. The pr or propastuff was effective.
Reply ↓
-
-
-
ilsm “Highly successful” against what specification and what are the beta and alpha risks about that “inference”?
I was compliant and even volunteered for a vax trial….
My position since 2022, “statements” in print about “effective” response are false until proven!
Has FDA “approved” any mRNA jab?
Now I am a cynic!
Reply ↓
-
dave -- just dave According to a web search, full approval – not just Emergency Use Authorization – has been granted to 2 COVID vaccines, from Pfizer-BioNTech and from Moderna, and most recently, a flu vaccine – “mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010, Moderna) – Received FDA approval in August 2026 as the world’s first mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine. It is approved for adults aged 50 and older (with regular approval for ages 50–64 and accelerated approval for ages 65+).”
Reply ↓
-
Safety First It was highly successful in 2020-2021, when clinical trials were conducted, albeit at an accelerated rate, and when the difference in hospitalization and death rates between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated was literally an order of magnitude (almost exactly 10 times).
When Biden came in, three things happened. One, the virus continued to mutate. Two, clinical trials of anything (either vaccine boosters or Paxlovid/Molnupiravir) stopped entirely or did not make it past Phase 2, which, coincidentally, means no real effectiveness data except as some post-facto studies by the Cleveland Clinic or whatnot. Three, all other protections were proactively removed (except at places like Davos).
So instead of building on the initial success, we actively flushed it down the drain, while also completely debasing vaccines in general (not just Covid) in the eyes of a big chunk of the population. It did not help that vaccines turned into a tribal badge between republican and democrat voter bases. The end result is that significantly more people died in the Biden phase of the pandemic than should have done, had we actually done a robust anti-epidemic response, including, yes, clinically tested vaccines to the extent these produced actual results rather than more transfers of public money to Pfizer/Moderna.
Reply ↓
-
marcyincny Thank you.
Reply ↓
-
Old Jake Novavax. It’s hard to find. I recall that some studies tend to show longer-lasting resistance (I would say “immunity” but that’s not what we get), and my wife and I both had less soreness and lethargy in response. Several of the usual commentators such as Eckhart Tolle have opined it should be favored, or at least strongly considered, when going for Covid vaccination.
Aside: neither I nor my wife have ever been diagnosed with C19. Subclinical cases aside, and we both are retired and in a semi-rural area, we are always vaccinated, mask in public places, and (maybe significant) keep our vitamin D levels up. Plus I’m on metformin. So it is avoidable…so far.
Reply ↓
-
amfortas the global population was the 3rd trial phase cohort.
Reply ↓
-
-
-
Jason Boxman Indeed, Biden’s Winter of Death is squarely on Fauci and public health, and Biden, and Walensky.
Getting people killed is sure a funny way for Fauci to earnestly want to save lives.
The problem here is, as usual, Republicans don’t care about facts, so they have one of the right targets, but the wrong scent.
Reply ↓
-
.Tom ” They knew or should have known (“follow the science” right?) that the vaccine was non-sterilizing,”
We knew here in NC Comments. Minutes of the EUA approval meeting noted that Pfizer was asked if the vax was sterilizing and answered that it wasn’t designed to be and therefore that wasn’t tested.
Information i had from being an NC reader that made some of what happened next infuriating.
Reply ↓
Due Dissidence guys interview Dennis Kucinich.
Interview: Dennis Kucinich on PRESSING FOR ANSWERS on 9/11
Reply ↓
‘@_ZachFoster
Zachary Foster
@_ZachFoster
The universe has served up more justice to Apartheid Israel than all international legal institutions combined. 5 out of 6 desalination plants in Israel have been shut down due to a sudden, massive algal bloom in the Mediterranean Sea.’
The best reply to this tweet was immediately below when it said-
‘The dildo of consequences rarely arrives lubed.’
Reply ↓
-
mrsyk That comment is still featured at the top, lol.
Sadly, Israel is not the only country with a government more than willing to shit the bed if it facilitates remaining in power.
Happy Labor Day all.
Reply ↓
-
chris So now more people will suffer and the occupying forces will probably move to take or destroy more Palestinian wells. What an awful situation. Using a natural consequence of stupid violence to drive more violence is consistent with the insanity of everyone involved on “our” side though.
Huckabee is so crazy I can’t even think of a sane way to ask him why he believes what he says he believes. I guess it makes sense from the perspective of someone who governed in a place called Arkansas but had nothing to do with native peoples. But then no one when he was governor suggested that the citizens of the Natural State return to living under indigenous law from several thousand years ago.
Have we heard any one from the current Zionist administration propose where this ends? Can we ask Zionists what kind of APR they got on the mortgage for this land? Who was their title company? If artifacts from another religion turn up when excavating mass graves for dead Palestinian children, does that mean another people have a better claim to this land? And have any observers compared the behavior of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank to the 90s gangs who would claim territory? Because when I see videos showing settler teens going around with sticks and dead stares threatening people, I’m reminded of the kids who were trying to be hard a$$ g’s back in the 90s when some one they were told not to like stepped up on their street.
Reply ↓
Here’s a humble Labor Day brag. I’m being paid by two employers not to work today – once by my current employer and a second time by the company that laid me off a few months ago and is still paying me severance. After being laid off at least in part for refusing to use the clanker, it feels pretty good today!
Instead of working for the man, I’m helping my elderly folks out, splitting some wood with my dad and cooking up a storm for my mom, who’s been laid up recently. The most valuable and meaningful work is often that which we aren’t paid for.
Happy Labor Day everybody. And Solidarity!
Reply ↓
-
Martin Oline Chopping wood warms you twice. When it also warms your heart you win the trifecta!
Reply ↓
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
216,000,000 Spy TVs | The LG Smart TV Problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA
Reply ↓
Really appreciated the links on AfD victory and ECOWAS/AES. “Autocratic democracy” is a term we will be hearing more often.
Reply ↓
-
vao What happened to the term “muscular democracy”?
Reply ↓
-
hemeantwell Russia Today had a surprisingly leftish critical piece on Afd yesterday. ‘They support plutocrats, not the working class,’ etc.
Reply ↓
“Jared Kushner can’t conquer the Balkans”
After thoroughly reading through that article, I think that there is an obvious connection to be made between such two disparate countries like Albania and Serbia – both of them hate Jared Kushner’s guts and everything that he represents. And who am I to disagree with them?
Reply ↓
re: Hunter may have to run for pres in 2028 “because the crime syndicates need better protection”…. Wait, that’s NOT what he said. (Where’s the copy editor?) / ;)
Reply ↓
-
The Rev Kev We all know who Hunter Biden is and all about his past but it should be said that, compared to the current and previous President, that as a President himself he would bring more dignity to the office in comparison. And if you have a bunch of hookers and snow going in and out the White House, at least he would be more honest about it.
Reply ↓
-
flora Looks like the GOP is getting ready to retire T and install JD for much the same reasons you mention: “bring more dignity to the office in comparison.” Not that a single thing will change. Another pol talking out of both sides of his mouth. / ;)
From Due Dissidence:
Is JD Vance Getting Ready To REPLACE TRUMP After Midterms?
Reply ↓
-
Ben Panga I’ve been predicting a version of this since December ’24 (although I expected to be a kinetic exit)
We should be nervous of more competent fascists getting the keys.
Reply ↓
-
flora Yep. James Li segment about JD.
JD Vance Isn’t Who You Think He Is
Reply ↓
-
Ben Panga Thanks flora.
I’ll be honest and say that video is kinda low quality to my ear. It has a bunch of basic JD Vance stuff (e.g. he’s Thiel’s creature) cut up with short out of context audio clips.
Then it jumps into Protestant apocalyptic Christianity. Vance is a (weird) Catholic. The history of Dispensationalism is irrelevant to the Vance theme.
The only link is Vance answering a question about The End Times (“maybe it’s in a few months maybe a thousand years”). This clip has been widely sprayed on social media but I can’t see what’s controversial about it (I say as a non-Christian).
There are many reasons to be wary of Vance, but nutty Protestantism isn’t one of them. His version of Catholicism may be, but that’s outside my scope of interest/knowledge.
His far more concrete leanings towards Nazis, fascists, and Thiel; his belief in Straussian and Girardian scapegoating; his ability to disseminate convincingly like a sociopath; his extensive links to dark tech – these all worry me more.
IMO his role is to be the avuncular post-democratic leader that can sound reasonable as he explains why your neighbour had to be droned to death.
Reply ↓
-
Ben Panga Adding: to be clear I suspect his Catholicism is nutty – he is co-investor with Thiel in a Catholic prayer app and we know Thiel loves antichrist chat.
The tinfoiliest idea I sometimes toy with is that Vance killed the last Pope. He flew to visit him in Rome for unexplained reasons and the next morning the Pope was announced dead.
I suspect the Pope died of non-Vance causes but it’s always been curious to me that Vance would seek (and be granted) a private audience with a dying Pope.
Reply ↓
-
-
-
-
The Rev Kev The only way that Trump would leave the White house would be bellowing and screaming as his Secret Service detail carried him out to a chopper. The plan might be to install JD but you can be sure that there would be a lot of people in Trump’s Cabinet who would try to grab his job – like Hegseth or Bessant or Rubio, Constitution be damned.
Reply ↓
-
ambrit “…would be bellowing and screaming as his Secret Service detail carried him out to a chopper.”
By “chopper,” would you mean Madame La Guillotine, the head chopper?
Just asking for about 200,000,000 friends.Reply ↓
-
tet vet One thing we know for sure – T will not be proclaiming “I am not a crook” like Tricky Dick.
Reply ↓
-
ThirtyOne “You won’t have Donald J Trump to kick around anymore.”
And in your dreams
You can see yourself
As a prophet
Saving the world
The words from your lips
(I am not a crook)
I just can’t believe you are such
A fool
I just can’t believe
You are such a fool
I just can’t believe
You are such a fool
I just can’t believe
You are such a fool
I just can’t believe
You are such a foolSon of Orange County
Frank Zappa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_mlHMOqkMAReply ↓
-
-
-
-
-
Carolinian He probably still has some cached in the building somewhere. Not the hookers.
Reply ↓
-
ambrit Come on now. We all know that the coterie of “advisors” surrounding the Chief Executive in the White House are mainly shameless “persons of negotiable affection.”
Honest whores work on their backs while political whores work on the backs of others.
Stay safe. Remain upstanding.Reply ↓
-
-
-
Screwball I know quite a few people who are thrilled about this. They wanted him to run a long time ago.
I don’t get it.
Reply ↓
-
Mikel The establishment hates the idea of mass voter representation. They want to stop all this serving the interest of the public.
They will continue to put forth vile criminals, conmen, dunces, alleged “reformers” that will not ultimately challenge the system, etc until the desire for democracy is drained from the last citizen. They don’t want ro continue having to define “oligarchy” as “democracy”. That’s too much kow-towing for them.
The establishment does not have to kow-tow anymore because they have no sustained conflict or resistance to looting and neo-liberal economics. No friction.Reply ↓
-
Mikel It’s especially of note that it’s the Pres race. The executive branch. Foreign policy.
They also are matching a global criminality that is out of hand.Reply ↓
-
jonboinAR Because he carries himself as though he might not be a complete blithering idiot? It’s a low bar, I know.
Reply ↓
-
jonboinAR Wait a minute. I’m talking about Vance here, not Hunter Biden! I may have gotten my sub-threads confused.
Reply ↓
-
-
-
chris Have you heard Hunter talk about his love for crack? It’s almost enough to humanized the wasted princeling. Anyone who can say he loves a thing that much is at least capable of emotions I can potentially relate to.
Of course, it also means he would be even easier to manipulate than Trump. With Trump, his handlers had to work on his ego, money, and likely compromising information from various sources over the years.
With our dear prince, our leaders would only need to get him back on the train and tell him what to do to secure his next fix. So much more efficient…
Reply ↓
-
Dr. John Carpenter Yeah since he’s been making the rounds, I’ve been waiting for the announcement. Please do, Hunter. I’m sure it will be entertaining. (And since I’m long past expecting anything from electoral politics, I can already least ask to be entertained.)
Reply ↓
-
Lefty Godot The Democrats would be better picking a random homeless person off the street to run for president than any of the names floated by party shills of one faction or another (including ancien régime family members). Seriously: Newsom, Buttigieg, anyone named Biden (or Obama), Pritzker, Shapiro, Antoinette Of Color, Mark Kelly, Kamala Harris V. 2, Rahm Emanuel ffs! These people are repulsive, a whole political generation of fake, corporate, pro-war stooges with an occasional throw-in spouting odious identity politics for supposed variety. Go to a union convention and grab the first person you see who has had an actual job doing real work and you would be way better off.
Reply ↓
Who is more delusional, Hunter Biden or Scott Bessent?
Reply ↓
-
t Hunter Biden spent a lot of time being the most drug addicted drug addict ever and now he’s the most sober former drug addict ever because he’d always the most.
It’s a type I have no stomach for.
Reply ↓
-
jonboinAR Hey, I’m an ex-druggie. Someone wanna back my race? Oh, wait. My dad wasn’t the elected president strapped to a padded chair while me and my mom ran the White House for awhile.
How could this presidency be more frightening than that one? Yet somehow, it is.
Reply ↓
-
I was asked to write a report on how we could use AI in my department (Technical Publications).
I wrote that we need to hire 2 more people to make our content AI-ready, and that the best comparable implementation so far is 68% reliable, according to trade journals.
Higher costs for less reliability, what’s not to like?
Reply ↓
-
mrsyk 68% confidence rates are the new black.
Reply ↓
-
ilsm If I were writing tech manuals for the army, I would have to spec the LLM to produce content that is engineering data correct for eigth grade reading level, English..
If I needed tech manuals for an ally I would need the LLM programmed for English as a second language.
We had been decades spec ing automated engineering data linked to CAD and structured on system specs.
30 odd years ago we had text systems to assure writers used the data.
AI would be slightly relevant if the data were organized.
Which is the problem. AI is dumb over data….
We called them Intgrated Electronics Tech Manual spec were developed over 30 years ago.
I did not see their benefit over tech writers, and the system to update them with engineering changes was not efficient.
As an aside I can see AI validating tech procedures to be done by robots……
The DoD cost budget manual are 6000 pages Iwould like to see the training cost for the LLM, and how to deal with 68% confidence.
Reply ↓
-
rowlf As a person that often finds and reports errors in technical publications at work I am sceptical of AI being able to be trusted. We already have the challenge of people making quick reference documents and failing to check if current technical publications have been updated before doing brain-dead cut-and-paste. I’m afraid a lot of people trust computers too much.
Then there is the challenge of using AI on human imputed data in repair orders, which has large numbers of errors if the reader does not know the subject.
… muffler bearings have a 93% final fix rate…
Reply ↓
-
hunkerdown In the UNIVAC days, programmers were advised to check that the result of extracting a 3-bit field did not exceed seven…
Reply ↓
Re nonprofits having their data disappeared in the MS Office cloud–uh, Linux and open source, hello? Beware Bill Gates bearing gifts. Why would you trust Microsoft for anything?
There was a time in computer history when Microsoft seemed necessary, but that time is long gone. Why are they even still around other than to make a lot of money on video games and rent extraction via their antique office products?
Reply ↓
-
The Rev Kev I think that it was Google cloud that deleted all the files of a major superannuation company here in Oz, including all the backups. Luckily their IT guy was smarter than the average bear and already had those files back up to a different company altogether so was able to quickly retrieve and install them. But your files are not safe in any cloud as corporations will want to clear space for more AI operations.
Reply ↓
-
flora The high cost of nearly free cloud storage. / ;)
Hey, we got rid of our IT department personnel and hardware costs.
We gave our data to the cloud to manage. Big savings!aannnd it’s gone. / ;)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jEBnrzNuUSAWonder if MS AI trained on the data then ‘shredded it’ like a book? / ;)
Reply ↓
-
TimH It continues to amaze me how many people and orgs have their important data stored only as a single copy on someone else’s computer.
Reply ↓
-
-
Carolinian The pathetic gist of this story is that MS has trained the non computer public to see the web as a jungle with great white hunters like the tech giants needed to protect them.
Whereas–correct me if I’m wrong–you are more likely to be hit by ransomware because of some bug in Windows. The techies sell a protection racket from them.
Of course that’s easy for me to say since I refuse to do financial things on the internet at all. I even get my bro to order on Amazon although I could do it myself.
But surely people don’t really have to have MS Office at this late stage.
Reply ↓
-
ambrit I do order items online but do so using a dedicated account at the bank. Initially I had to go down to the bank in person and demand that this account be firewalled off from the rest of the accounts.
“No! I do not want the ‘convenience’ of overdraft protection. If I cannot continue to personally keep track of my income and expenses, then I will close the account. Period.”
“But, but, it’s best practices Sir.”
“Best practices for who? Not for me.”
“It makes your life easier Sir. Everyone says so.”
“Easier is not automatically better.”
“Well, all right, if you insist on doing this.”
“Indeed I do. Thank you.”
“Have a nice day Sir.”
“Thanks again. Things are already looking up.”Reply ↓
-
-
Es s Ce Tera Back before the cloud was even a thing I used to build or buy RAIDs (redundant array of inexpensive drives) for my data backups. They weren’t difficult or expensive, the whole point was if one drive failed, you simply replaced it with no loss of data. The data was housed on your own premises. It was usually sitting on my desk.
I suppose one risk might be if my desk caught fire or was caught in an earthquake or flood, or if our building lost power. I recall that was the argument for using the cloud – that data centers were built and located to address these concerns.
But with so many companies now losing their cloud data like it’s the most normal thing in he world, it seems the math around that risk should be revisited and reconsidered.
Reply ↓
-
Lefty Godot I thought companies that were audited (by official auditing people, I mean) had to have a disaster recovery plan for just this contingency, destruction of their main servers and all data. A plan that would usually involve taking backups maintained at a geographically separate location and standing up new servers at a different data center to restore the backups to. And the plan had to be periodically tested to be sure it would work (I participated in one such test almost forty years ago). Does using the cloud somehow absolve the corporate IT department from a duty to be able to continue operations in a disaster scenario?
Reply ↓
-
-
Dr. John Carpenter It’s debatable how much money they’re making on video games. Between high profile studio purchases, a tumultuous subscription service and a disastrous last generation, there’s a lot of speculation that MS might need to move to just publishing games to try to keeep up.
Reply ↓
-
t It’s debatable how much money they make from any personal use sales.
Found out last week that a giant clunky tool we use, which I thought was a unique 3rd party, is also part of MS. Which I suppose explains why it’s so badly integrated into the MS environment we have for basic office and intranet and web stuff.
Reply ↓
-
-
Jason Boxman Indeed, Microsoft only got Fedramp approval through outright corruption.
Federal Cyber Experts Thought Microsoft’s Cloud Was “a Pile of Shit.” They Approved It Anyway.
In late 2024, the federal government’s cybersecurity evaluators rendered a troubling verdict on one of Microsoft’s biggest cloud computing offerings.
The tech giant’s “lack of proper detailed security documentation” left reviewers with a “lack of confidence in assessing the system’s overall security posture,” according to an internal government report reviewed by ProPublica.
Or, as one member of the team put it: “The package is a pile of shit.”
Meanwhile this should be provided as part of the public commons; Not through a rapacious capitalist enterprise.
Reply ↓
-
vao I read an article a while ago — which might well have been referenced here at NakedCapitalism — written by one of those elite software engineers who became a member of one of the core Azure development teams at Microsoft.
My recollection is that he reported about a top management with erratic, inconsistent priorities, quality in steep decline with maintenance teams unable to catch up with the growing number of bugs, his proposals for re-engineering some important modules being largely ignored, experienced, veteran Microsoft developers throwing the towel and leaving — as he eventually did. It left me with the impression of an organization in disarray, with its main product slowly becoming ever more brittle under the lack of a coherent development strategy and because of incompetent leadership.
Given that information, I am not surprised those federal cybersecurity evaluators were put off.
That they rubber-stamped Microsoft’s offering highlights other problems. Since both the government and the corporations just devolved into faking it, not even minimally bothering to do their job, I expect a big IT-meltdown at US agencies in the medium term.
Reply ↓
-
RE: The Israelization of International Relations
Well worth reading that one in full. The way “leaders” debase themselves for this tiny, vicious and genocidal country is truly astounding. From Macedonia’s foreign minister quoted in the article –
‘There are many things that we can learn from you. There are many common values that we share, both on a domestic as well as international level. And in that sense, since the formation of our government, we have made the bilateral relationship with Israel one of the priorities of our foreign policy.’
Is there anything the Zionist entity could learn from the rest of the world?!!?? Why the bootlicking? Must one be an abject masochist to become a Western “leader” now?
The author also notes 19 daily flights between Athens and the Zionist entity and adds –
“It is fair to say that the Israeli tourists are not quite welcomed these days. Incidents and protests by local populations are increasingly reported, with people openly waving Palestinian flags to signal that Israeli tourists are not welcome.”
I’ve mentioned before that when I was in Crete last year, a series of bridges over the highway were tagged with anti-Zionist slogans. Protesters have blocked Zionist tourists on cruise ships from disembarking. And yet Greece continues to make military partnerships with the Zionists despite this being extremely unpopular with Greek citizens .
If Greek politicians really think the Zionist entity will protect them from Turkey, maybe it’s time for them to brush up on their Aesop.
Here’s hoping the Greeks show Mitsotakis the door in next year’s election. I’m also quite sure the usual suspects will be hard at work to give Greece the Romania treatment should any opposition candidate arise who does not support the EU genocidal status quo.
Reply ↓
-
Mikel “Must one be an abject masochist to become a Western “leader” now?”
No, they also have the option of choosing sadist.
Reply ↓
-
Mikel Sidenote: The “West” can only continue to move in the world the way it does as long as they have cooperation around the world.
They have plenty of that cooperation with pockets of governments and regimes struggling for legitimacy often being confused with opposition to the overall Western global structure.Reply ↓
-
-
vao This article expresses a feeling I have had for quite a while, whenever I read the assertion that “Israel is becoming a pariah state”.
On the contrary, ever since October 2023, a growing number of countries have been seeking closer relations with Israel: boosting trade, acquiring Israeli weaponry, inviting Israeli advisors to train security services, welcoming an Israeli military basis even, or the summum: embedding the Israeli security apparatus in the national military (see USA).
Photo shooting with Netanyahu? Of course. A speech about shared values? Naturally. A visit to the Wailing Wall complete with kippa wearing? Obligatory. Sneering at the IJC and the ICC? Obviously. Transferring the embassy to Jerusalem? Why not?
Argentina and Greece. Azerbaijan and Chile. India and Ecuador. UAE and Macedonia. Morocco and Columbia. Somaliland and Hungary.
All the while, long time traditional partners have gone full zionist goon squads, crushing any kind of dissent about Gaza while selling as many weapons, and sending as much military they can to prop up Israel: Germany, the USA, the UK, France…
Obviously, countries all over the world are actually thrilled by the “best practices” Israel has developed to reduce rebellious populations to abject submission (which is of much interest to Morocco because of the Sahrawis, or India because of the Kashmiris), or to deploy full-spectrum surveillance of a restive populace (of interest to everybody).
Dockers may refuse to load ships bound to Israel, restaurants may deny service to Israelis — so what? Dissenters will later feel the full might of the State when they get hauled in front of a court for antisemitism.
Israel is not becoming a pariah state, but rather the new darling of authoritarian and would-be-authoritarian states all over the world.
Reply ↓
-
Ignacio Globalist authoritarianism? Now, imagine when Israelite tools start to be applied more massively in an AfD-governed Germany or a RN-governed France against the “other populaces” hmmmm I can see people salivating. When nationalists turn globalists in some aspect.
Reply ↓
-
ciroc This is purely speculative, but I wonder if Jewish billionaires like Epstein serve as unofficial diplomats by creating secret pro-Israel networks within various governments.
Reply ↓
-
NN Cassandra We should make distinction between ordinary citizens of state and the elites running it. For elites, especially the western ones, who are running their own states into the ground and are seeking refugee in total war and overt authoritarianism, Israel variant of fascism is the perfect model.
Reply ↓
-
amfortas yeah, this.
even out here in hard red central very rural texas, i have heard zero about some love of the nascent gestapo state…rather, actual utterances against it.
given, these folks think it will come from the “commies”, but still…Reply ↓
-
-
Re: “Almost Anyone Can Make Money Selling Electricity With AI and Batteries“:
Well, sure, although that perky Bloomberg article doesn’t mention the upfront costs of battery storage, grid connection hardware, and computing. Curious to see what his total investment cost really was, along with the period to recoup it. Also, the entire setup is reliant on a cost / payment arbitrage, which, as that trade becomes more crowdedm will narrow if not outright disappear.
Reply ↓
-
Jason Boxman Sounds like a complete hellscape, we can all become our own electricity wholesalers! As long as you can afford the computer equipment and understand how to manage your arbitrage risk.
No thanks.
I could do this if I had the equipment and don’t even want to bother. What a giant step backwards. Maybe we can all start managing our own generation equipment too.
Reply ↓
-
Mikel Ideas to make money through arbitrage are a pathway to various ponzi schemes and fraud.
Reply ↓
“You Don’t Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules”
‘A Trump-appointed judge also said Americans have no “constitutional right to truthful information” during a public health crisis.’
If that Trump Court found that a government does not have the duty to inform it’s citizens that their water is seriously contaminated with lead and was not liable for advice that made the situation even worse, then that ruling has set a precedent. So a governemt can authorize a vaccine in future that has known serious side-effects including early death but that citizens would have no “constitutional right” in a public health crisis to know this and can take no action against the government over this. I can see how the next pandemic will play out.
Reply ↓
-
TimH 2. Go die.
Reply ↓
-
Jason Boxman That may be true in Mississippi—but on the state level in at least nine US states, and in more than a dozen other countries, clean drinking water is in fact a protected right. In countries including Uruguay and South Africa, a right to clean water is enshrined in the constitution. New York’s state constitution, as of a 2021 amendment, states that “each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” So too in Massachusetts, where “the right to clean air and water” has been constitutionally protected since 1972.
So, that does mean in NY there’s an opening to sue the state, for not providing a healthful environment by repeatedly infecting NY residents with COVID.
That would be a fun case; The science is overwhelming.
Reply ↓
This looks like it is going to be a very interesting El Nino Winter, will we get an ARK storm in California?
That would liven things up quite nicely…
Reply ↓
-
The Rev Kev It could be a disaster of biblical proportions. Real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes, The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
Reply ↓
-
LilD We might look back on 2026 as the last summer with any kind of positive vibes
I think it’s pretty sh!tty overall right now but am resigned to it getting worse…
Politics, weather, economy…Reply ↓
re: Germany architecture – historic preservation in Saxony
There is much coverage of AfD´s campaign against the Bauhaus heritage in the FRG.
I haven´t looked into it. So I can´t judge.
(This Bauhaus conflict is an important talking point in the general Anti-AfD stance of the cultured class in Germany. They drop it often to prove the menace AfD poses to culture. And as Russian Centre in Berlin showed, we LOVE culture…)
I can only assume that AfD contentions over Bauhaus are different to the one´s I would have and others here on NC who too articulated critique when it came to architectural histories.
But fwiw today BERLINER ZEITUNG brought a piece about the dangers to architectural heritage in Saxony (NOT Saxony-Anhalt!) due to a new provision by the CDU.
Not the AfD. It is of however likely that AfD will or would pick up on it.
The interesting thing is that while Bauhaus is pictured under attack in the MSM – it is in fact among the most caressed items in German cultural heritage funding and public cheerleading (which is pretty annoying.)
By comparison GDR buildings have been regularly torn down and destroyed with almost no (West) German legacy media smartasses give a shit (sorry my French) for 35 years now.
Historic preservation in Saxony: Planned legislative change jeopardizes cultural heritage
A planned reform introduces new categories and responsibilities. There are concerns that the protection of valuable historical monuments will be weakened.
machine-trsl.
Reply ↓
A great piece about playing with lego, her grandson and labor, for Labor Day, from Anne Lamott, who I had not known until someone sent this to me today. (it is on her Substack, so I don’t know if the link will come up for you, but worth tracking down, it will make you laugh, in a good way).
Reply ↓
-
Hastalavictoria Just a day late comment on Witkoff and Kushner.
Witkoff an’ Kushner = WanK .Wank is a very common British noun,verb or noun adjective used to describe the useless mess created as the result of an act of male onanism.
Thus, the ultra dismissive colloquial term much used on British factory shop floors in analysing an idea -“That is a load of wank” is not a compliment,but very helpful – especially when you remember who the wanker is.Mnemonics work really well sometimes.
Reply ↓
-
ChrisFromGA Seriously, what did these two jokers accomplish, beyond racking up the frequent flyer miles?
Is there an award for “idiots of the year?”
Reply ↓
-
I’m seeing a lot of criticism of Israel and the IDF these days and I can assure you that when the Israeli’s destroy hospitals, universities, water and sewage treatment plants and so on that they are doing so in the most Moral way possible.
It’s God’ Swill.
And the IDF?
When they deliberately shoot small children in the head or use dogs to rape prisoners it is simply more evidence that they are the “Most Moral Army in the World”.
Anyone who disagrees with this is clearly a Terrorist Sympathizer or worse, a socialist.
Reply ↓
This is a fun post.
Reply ↓
Taking a 2″ square of duct tape, sticking it to my shirt. Fashion accessory or political statement? Let the viewer decide.
Reply ↓
Just logging off for the night but before I do. Has anyone seen the Trump approved new designs for the US Space Force uniforms? The image actually says ‘Inspired by the discipline and functionality of the Starship Troopers uniform.’
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-mocked-over-design-space-235508175.html
It’s got that Nazis in Space vibe to it.
Reply ↓
-
.Tom It’s got that Nazis in Space vibe to it.
Totally.
While Starship Troopers is a hilarious parody of fascistic Hollywood US Empire worship, I doubt these uniforms are intended ironically. Trump and his court brownnosers are a bit short on irony.
Reply ↓
-
t Some posts online talking about new mods for Wolfenstein just dropped.
But hey, now that the US owns the Moon, we need boots on the moon dust. The corrosive, relentless moon dust.
Reply ↓
-
amfortas its regolith, and aint that corrosive, to my knowledge(dad worked at JSC, apollo12-skylab)…just so damned fine, from all the meteor, etc pounding over billions of years, that it gets into everything, and is like sand in the gears.
Reply ↓
-
-
re: Otto Preminger
Arguably one of the best directors around in the “old” era never doing “old” work.
(Preminer died on April 23rd, 1986)
via fb there is a nice very long text about Preminger and his films
It´s a text originally from MOVIE MAGAZINE in 1962
Reply ↓
Lynx links antidote?
Reply ↓
Happy Labor Day to those in the US. Start or join a union.
Reply ↓
From He Was a Top Lawn Care Influencer on YouTube. Then Everything Went Haywire.
So the real story here, NY Times ignores, is Google’s rapacious thirst for engagement to collect those advertising dollars.
But Greg’s story was about to spiral in bizarre and unexpected ways. In 2015, YouTube Kids debuted. It was pitched as a safe and educational experience for children. Stressed parents could leave it on autoplay, and their kids could watch hours of Peppa Pig or nursery‑rhyme videos. But by 2017, things had taken a disconcerting turn. Parents began reporting that they would leave their children for a while and return to find them being fed videos called “Mickey Mouse Baby Dead in Gas Explosion” or “Elsa Spiderman Attacked by Sharks.”
…
You might be thinking it was just the work of trolls, bored misanthropes skewing the YouTube Kids algorithm for their own nihilistic pleasure. But as Chelsey Weber-Smith, the creator of the podcast “American Hysteria,” has noted: Trolls tend to flash little victorious side glances to the camera. These videos were more like something your dreams might invent, weird and unsettling. Like how the characters would often repeat the same movements over and over, blank-eyed, as if taking part in some garish, otherworldly ceremony. As Weber-Smith said, “What makes this story even more bizarre, even more unnerving, is that no one has yet figured out the people who were making these videos, and why.”
…
YouTube allotted Greg his own adviser, a bespoke service he could utilize whenever he needed. And it wasn’t long before he did reach out to the adviser in a panic. He had posted a new video that wasn’t “Bad Baby”-themed: “It was just a vlog. And it didn’t even get a million views. I thought I’d ruined the channel.”
Well, Google knows where this content came from; We could know why.
YT gave us slop before we had AI slop.
Reply ↓
-
.Tom Algorithmic reward loops produce slop, often characteristic, and has done, as you point out, for a long time now. AI makes some content production cheaper and quicker.
Reply ↓
-
ChrisPacific It was called ‘Elsagate’ in 2017-ish when it first appeared. I remember finding it very strange and perplexing, especially all the live action content. This story sheds a lot of light on what happened and why.
It predates AI, but shows how actual people at YouTube and on the platform were behaving in AI-like ways. They had a loss/reward function (the algorithm, view count) and were incentivised to do whatever they had to do to maximize it, which led a lot of them in very weird and sometimes problematic directions. YouTube, for their part, clearly didn’t care about anything else. The next lines after your quote:
Greg’s YouTube adviser reassured him that he hadn’t ruined everything but calmly suggested that he take the new video down. “He said the algorithm didn’t like it. It confused the algorithm. He said, ‘I would just stick with the bad babies.’”
Reply ↓
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opxmdhCca5M/
Raisi’s BRICS Legacy Shapes Iran’s Future as War Resumes (The Duran)
Interesting that during the return of Witkoff/Kushner to Russia, there is a bit of an attempt to manage their audience’s expectations about Iran and the outcome of that war.
Reply ↓
>Why Won’t China Cut Ukraine Off From Drone-Related Sales?
Beijing is weaponizing access to Chinese products. In other words, any country that does not openly oppose China is allowed to purchase Chinese goods.
Reply ↓
-
Ben Panga How is that “weaponising” rather than just basic rationality and wanting to sell your products?
Reply ↓
Damn, no one beefing about gas prices today– I must change this:
Harvest Squeeze: Record-High Diesel Prices Negate $6 Corn
Driven by global refining tight spots and overseas infrastructure attacks, a record-breaking $5.85 fuel spike forces farmers to bite the financial bullet just as combines hit the field.
Probably should have posted this under the comment about the “no lube” remark… thinking about it “no lube” might make a pretty good catagory for Links ’cause who here ain’t feeling the shaft these days?
Reply ↓
As Gas Prices Soar, These Drivers Squeeze Every Mile From Every Gallon (NY Times)
When a traffic light turns green, Dan Kroushl is unlikely to be the first driver out of the gate. He won’t floor the gas pedal, and he never drives over the speed limit.
Instead, he eases forward by lightly pressing the accelerator, and the moment he sees a yellow light, he gently taps the brakes.
These techniques and others make Mr. Kroushl, 61, a so-called hypermiler, a driver who squeezes as many miles as possible out of each gallon of gas. And after a summer of soaring gas prices driven by the war in Iran, hypermilers like Mr. Kroushl say their strategies can help drivers who are feeling pinched at the pump make the most of every gallon.
America is going great.
I’ve never been one myself to floor it out of a light; never cared. That doesn’t mean I ain’t going faster than everyone eventually, just not right away.
I’ve always been amazed how quickly people start their cars, too. I get in, seatbelt up, gently turn the key. People are rolling before I even get my car started.
Reply ↓
I wish there was an avenue to have a national referendum for voters, one where we could vote on changing the name (a habit our fearless leader seems obsessed with) of the Trump presidency to the Dump presidency. It seems he has spent his second term filling a paper bag with his ideas, placing it on America’s porch, lighting it and running away. We should be able to return the favor.
Reply ↓
-
ambrit One idea I had was to make an AI Oval Office video with Fearless Leader speaking and have Dr. Doom standing behind him.
I miss “Pinky and the Brain.” That show would be perfect for today.
“Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
Stay safe.Reply ↓
The price inflation caused by “Operation AIPAC Fury” has just begun and will be much more noticeable by early November.
When looking at the amount of debt Private Credit will need to refi come 2027, the insatiable need for cash of AI and the other likely disturbances caused by Iran and weather I wonder when Mr Market will come down with a case of the screaming fantods.
Open AI and Oracle are looking vulnerable and the Paramount/Warner merger is looking shakier by the day…Iran may have been totally defeated 47 times however it appears that they haven’t read that memo.
Are there any guesses from the commentariat about what will trigger the cascade of Hoocoodanodes?
Reply ↓
-
LawnDart Mr. Hudson would like to address that topic:
My comments will be on how today’s oil crisis will cause a wave of financial defaults that will cause a world financial depression some time this autumn…
https://michael-hudson.com/2026/09/keyness-unfinished-monetary-revolution/
Reply ↓
-
Tom Stone Thank you, LawnDart.
Hudson is always worth a read.
I’m sure President Trump will deal with these issues with the same degree of self restraint and wisdom that he has demonstrated thus far in his second term.Reply ↓
-
dont know who this indian-sounding guy is(had to put subtitles on), but i found it very interestin, as i wait for sheep-time:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wHJLzh4qQ
Reply ↓
The Duran talking about the AfD win in Germany.
AfD Wins Big, CDU Collapse, Merz is Finished
Reply ↓
MEE short:
Netanyahu admits he intended October 7 to lead to war with Iran
Reply ↓
https://michael-hudson.com/2026/09/keyness-unfinished-monetary-revolution/
Hudsons latest came across my feed.
we need autarky, with subsidiarity baked into it.
i produce what i need on this farm, trade for what i cannot produce, and remain friendly with my neighbors.
just scale that up.
all this idiotic pinky and the brain bullshit has to stop.
america is just another frelled up country.
Reply ↓
A message from Donald Trump for Labour Day-
‘Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country. These Deranged People, after fighting for 10 years, should finally acknowledge that your Favorite President (ME!), knows how to WIN! They should be exhausted by now but, sadly, they’re not. They’re going to give it one last shot at ruining America, but we’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to win the Midterms, BIG, and SAVE AMERICA! President DONALD J. TRUMP’
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117230298017100144
I don’t think that Trump is a fan of Labour.
Reply ↓
-
Ben Panga >I don’t think that Trump is a fan of Labour
Certainly not if it’s his own labour.
Reply ↓
re: Why China’s Football Problem Is an Economic Problem
There is so much wrong with that framing that one hardly knows where to start. Perhaps the most obvious thing to point out is that the professional athlete pipeline in China begins with enrollment in dedicated sport schools at a young age – I have met a few people who were under ten when they started attending one – where trainees forego the standard school curriculum in favour of spending all their time training. Unsurprisingly, those who wash out (as many do) face difficulty finding careers due to their lack of basic education. I have not heard of its like anywhere else in the modern world, and any essay on the size of the talent pool that does not acknowledge this absurdly high threshold to entry is doomed by its author’s ignorance.
Speaking of ignorance, I cannot conceive of the level of hole-dwelling (no offence to halflings) required to hold up the performance of the Chinese National Football Team a sign of anything, given how consistent it has been over the past decades. They plumb new depths of humiliation on the field just as reliably as the sun rising from the east or water flowing downhill. And it’s not a curse that plagues all sports in China, or even women’s football for that matter, so all signs point to something very specific to men’s football.
(Rumour from a trusted source says it’s the hyper-critical Monday morning quarterbacks running the Football Association incentivizing the players to play hot potatoes instead of, ya know, soccer.)
Reply ↓
