Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Like a mirror, the situation in Ukraine reflects what is going on and what has been happening in the world over the past several decades. After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.
This happened in Yugoslavia; we remember 1999 very well. It was hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes, that at the end of the 20th century, one of Europe’s capitals, Belgrade, was under missile attack for several weeks, and then came the real intervention. Was there a UN Security Council resolution on this matter, allowing for these actions? Nothing of the sort. And then, they hit Afghanistan, Iraq, and frankly violated the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, when instead of imposing the so-called no-fly zone over it they started bombing it too.
There was a whole series of controlled “color” revolutions. Clearly, the people in those nations, where these events took place, were sick of tyranny and poverty, of their lack of prospects; but these feelings were taken advantage of cynically. Standards were imposed on these nations that did not in any way correspond to their way of life, traditions, or these peoples’ cultures. As a result, instead of democracy and freedom, there was chaos, outbreaks in violence and a series of upheavals. The Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.
Events in Ukraine are moving fast and faster. Dangers of economic paralysis in Ukraine and of wider war with Russia are very real. This essay will argue that we all need to notice our historical biases in perceiving and misperceiving events. My own bias is anti-war. Now is not the time in human history for geopolitical power plays and military alliances.
More than 440,000 Florida residents had been enrolled through the federal marketplace through the end of February, putting Florida on pace to exceed the federal government's initial projections by the time enrollment closes March 31.
The numbers are impressive for a state where Republicans control the governor's mansion and both houses of the Legislature. By comparison, Republican-leaning Texas has enrolled 295,000 through the federal site, even though its population is about a third larger than Florida's.
This is a very good look at the political volunteer network that has been built since 2007 in Florida and how they galvanize around issues. The grass roots in Florida is rebuilding the Democratic voter base. Also local candidates are coming out of the grass root movement.
A new mini-planet(kind of like Pluto, I mean Pluto used to be a Disney Dog and then a Planet and of course, God of the Underworld) has been discovered.
I assume the new mini-planet is gay:
A team of scientists led by Chadwick Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, and Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, have found a new dwarf planet beyond Pluto and another dwarf planet named Sedna, which was found over a decade ago. Their findings were published today in the science journal Nature.
In an interview with NPR, Scott Sheppard described the dwarf planet. “The object has a pinkish hue to it, so it would look a little pink, maybe a little reddish,” he said. The object, 2012 VP113, has yet to be given a formal name, but Sheppard tells NPR, ”Affectionately, we call it Biden, just because of the VP.”
Now remember that Pluto which is now relegated to some sub species of planet has a moon.
If this new planet has a pinkish moon....well, that solves the problem?
By Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, theguardian.com, 28 March 2014
One child and a driver were killed and five people injured after a suicide attack on an aid agency in Kabul on Friday, the third bloody assault to hit the Afghan capital in a week as insurgents stepped up a campaign of violence ahead of presidential elections.
The girl and the driver died when a suicide bomber detonated his car outside the Roots of Peace landmine charity in Kabul and four gunmen stormed the aid agency's office. Four civilians and a policeman were injured in the attack, said a spokesman for the chief of police, Hashmat Stanikzai.
At least six Afghan and foreign staff from the charity were trapped inside during the five hour-long assault, with armed guards trying to hold off the attackers as others hid, and special forces fighting their way inside.
"There were five attackers, one blew up a car bomb, three detonated suicide vests and one was shot by the police" [....]
Stronger than the storm my ass...that fat pig's career needs to meet the sausage machine that Tony Soprano found so useful. While people remain closeted in hotel rooms you can measure as single digit multiples of a cell, he parades his fat ass around the state and diverts relief money to projects so far inland you can't even smell the ocean. What a piece of shit.
The Republican-led House abruptly and unexpectedly passed a Medicare physician payment fix Thursday by an unrecorded voice vote, amid questions about whether the bill had the votes to clear the chamber.
Once again democrats help the republicans avoid taking a politically damaging vote. During the run up to the midterm elections when we should be doing everything we can to make sure voters know exactly where their representatives stand.
The American Jewish community’s network of charity organizations is a font of Jewish power, a source of communal pride and a huge mystery.
yeah, who cares if it's obviously against international law - if Putin can flout opinion, it just might work!
So Michael Wilner is a Jewish guy and an American citizen who has never lived in Israel. But he is the Washington correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and Saudi Arabia has denied him a visa to cover his beat when the president visits Saudi Arabia. Did I say that Wilner is an American citizen?
Reason number 6 million times infinite for the existence of the Jewish State.
Now it comes out. Shipment not properly labeled. Similar to fatal crash in Dubai?:
The final report of a UPS B747 crash in Dubai in 2010, details how that crew similarly attempted to depressurise the freighter aircraft to slow down the fire 30 seconds after the loss of aircraft systems and flight controls. In that accident in which there were no survivors, the time interval between fire detection and the onset of aircraft system failures was around two and a half minutes....Vincent remains convinced however that a fire which started in the cargo hold progressively and serially destroyed the aircraft’s communications systems; toxic fumes quickly overwhelmed the passenger cabin and the cockpit where at least one of the flight crew managed to don an oxygen mask allowing them to turn the aircraft back to either Kuala Lumpur or Pulau Langkawi.....Vincent remains convinced however that a fire which started in the cargo hold progressively and serially destroyed the aircraft’s communications systems; toxic fumes quickly overwhelmed the passenger cabin and the cockpit where at least one of the flight crew managed to don an oxygen mask allowing them to turn the aircraft back to either Kuala Lumpur or Pulau Langkawi.
By Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, March 20/21, 2013
KIEV, Ukraine — In an effort to stabilize Ukraine and extend its authority, the interim government has set a deadline of Friday for turning in the illegal firearms that are now carried openly by so-called self-defense groups in Independence Square, the politically important plaza in the center of the capital.
The order was seconded on Thursday by the French ambassador to Ukraine, Alain Rémy, who said the disarmament of the militias that helped overthrow the former government is a central requirement for the European Union to begin disbursing financial aid, along with the government fighting corruption.
Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, who was a staunch supporter of the protesters but never condoned violent tactics, set the deadline for Friday, the day Ukraine is scheduled to sign the political articles of an association agreement with the European Union [....]
Jordan Wiser, a student at Ashtabula County Technical School in Jefferson, Ohio is rightfully confused after being being arrested for bringing a weapon into school.
No, seriously.
”We asked Mr. Turiano not to attend our [ Lincoln -Reagan] event because we have no intention of allowing him a platform to spread hate and intolerance,” said Jennifer Owen, the Yellowstone County Republican chairwoman. “There is simply no place for racism in this party.”
By Nader Uskowi, Uskowi on Iran, March 15, 2014
Director of security and safety at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has told Fars News Agency that authorities have detected sabotage at the country’s heavy water reactor facility and neutralized it before any damage was done.
Asqar Zarean told Fars that Arak IR-40 heavy-water reactor was the intended target of saboteurs, but Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MoIS) was “instrumental in uncovering the plot.” (Fars News Agency, 15 March)
Zarean did not provide further details. It was not known if the purported attack on IR-40 was cyber or physical [....]
Also see Uskowi's:
Kerry: Iran Faces ‘Very Tough Decisions’ at Nuclear Talks, March 13, 2014
and:
EU to Continue Sanctions against Iran Pending Comprehensive Agreement on Nuclear Program, March 14, 2014
Indigenous women in the far north face high levels of sexual violence and exploitation, report says.
By Heather Roy, Al Jazeera, 15 March, 2014,
Inuit families sell their babies online, pimp out their daughters and turn a blind eye to human trafficking.
These are some of the claims made by Canadian consultant Helen Roos in a 159-page report released in November 2013, that presents anecdotal evidence of sexual abuse and human trafficking in Canada's remote arctic regions. The report stirred public debate last month, when it was picked up by media across the world's second largest country [....]
BBC News, 15 March, 2014
BBC's Orla Guerin: "This was a brazen attack during dawn prayer" (Video caption)
Six Egyptian soldiers have been killed by gunmen at a checkpoint in the northern Cairo suburb of Shubra al-Khayma, state media reports.
A security official said two bombs left behind by the attackers had been defused.
The violence comes two days after another soldier was shot dead in an attack on an army bus in eastern Cairo.
There has been an upsurge in violence since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.
Islamist militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in numerous attacks [....]
By David Osborne from Texas, The Independent, 11 March, 2014
[....] So rapid has been the change in its energy fortunes that even some experts, as well as policy-makers in Washington, are struggling to keep up. Nor are we just talking oil. So much natural gas is being released by the shale also that for now outlandish quantities of it are simply being burned off into the atmosphere.
Even predicting future oil output isn’t the precise science you’d expect. “We keep raising our forecasts, and we keep underestimating production,” Lejla Alic, an analyst with the International Energy Agency noted recently. Last year US production reached 7.4 million barrels a day, an increase over 2012 of 15.3 per cent. A jump that large hasn’t been seen since 1951. This year the US should produce 8.3 million barrels a day.
Take another indicator – the volumes of crude being moved by trains, often a mile long, from the shale fields to refineries and terminals. In all of 2008, train companies moved 9,500 wagons of the black stuff. Last year, 400,000 of them rumbled across America.
How long America’s shale boom will last is hard to forecast also. In Texas, which on its own is set to increase production to 4 million barrels a day this year, the drilling peak still hasn’t been reached, says Mr Gallegos. But, he suggests, “in the end it’s not the oil fields or the wells that will determine where all this goes. It’s the politicians around the world who set the price and make the markets.” Increasingly, the decisions that matter will rest with the US, as it adjusts to its new status as a glut producer.
“The United States is now poised to become an energy superpower,” write By Robert D. Blackwill and Meghan O’Sullivan, in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine [....]
By C. J. Chivers and Patrick Reevell, New York Times, March 14/15, 2014
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Early this month, Russian soldiers took up positions at the television transmission center here in the capital of the Ukrainian region of Crimea. Their arrival marked part of a broad effort to muffle dissent over the Kremlin-backed project to guide Crimea through a swift secession from Ukraine.
Several days later the soldiers handed over their post to a pro-secession militia. Some of these men carried whips. Technicians took the next step, removing Ukrainian networks from the air and replacing them with state-controlled channels from Moscow.
By this week the transformation was complete. The media hub’s entrance was adorned with bright flags and banners. A young woman cheerfully urged journalists to be seated for a pro-secession news conference at what she now called, with a confident Orwellian flair, the Open Press Center – no matter that several television station signals had just been unplugged.
The switchover marked one step in the abrupt shift in civic life on the Crimean peninsula, where open dissent has been suppressed by the implicit threat of force. In a matter of days, the Kremlin has succeeded in recreating the constrained conditions of Russia’s own civic sphere in Crimea.
With a mix of targeted intimidation, an expansive military occupation by unmistakably elite Russian units and many of the trappings of the election-season carnivals that have long accompanied rigged ballots across the old Soviet world, Crimea has been swept almost instantaneously into the Kremlin’s fold [....]