[World Stage] Palestinians reject vaccines

    By PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 11:34am |

    Go figure...

    Comments

    Homage to Rumsfeld Iraqi toll


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 11:42am

    Hitchens' support for the Iraq War ruined him as a writer and thinker.


    by Aaron Carine on Thu, 08/05/2021 - 6:02am

    Meat, it's a worldwide meme:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 1:02pm

    Since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I've been on a keto diet. It's an epidemic and someone has to do something about it. So of course I've been pouring paint on high carb vegetables.


    by ocean-kat on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 2:34pm

    re: Canada:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 9:17pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 9:40pm

    Already doing it, tho more Belarus

    https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-lawyer-united-states-citizen-detained-mo...

    (oddly CNN released this story 2 months after)


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:13am

    Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse has been assassinated at his home

    Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was shot dead on Wednesday after a group of unidentified individuals attacked his private residence, according to the country's interim prime minister, Claude Joseph. The First Lady was also reportedly injured in the attack, according to BBC News. This story is still developing....


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:21pm

    when there's a major assassination, it's never too soon to start the conspiracy theories!


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:26pm

    not a good sign:


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:32pm

    ooh, Insight Crime on the Haiti assassination; these guys really know their stuff on corruption, gangs, organized crime, failed government and the like south of the U.S. border:

    ,


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 12:54pm

    Haiti's interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, offered few details about President Jovenel Moïse's assassination, aside from a cryptic comment that some of the attackers were speaking Spanish. https://t.co/WIR9zpGOIP pic.twitter.com/8Ve3BizhQM

    — The New York Times (@nytimes) July 7, 2021

    There are Haitians that speak Spanish and have relatives living in Dominican Republic too…

    — Drogon (@drogon_dracarys) July 7, 2021

    from NYTimes Live Updates on the story 

    here's what they've got there so far:

     


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 2:10pm

    I get the idea he wouldn't hold elections so let seats empty around the country, so not much sympathy apparently 


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 4:08pm

    From Port au Prince: high drama, intrigue, not boring whether truth or lies, that's for sure; highly recommended read:

    stuff like

    “We found twelve holes in the president’s body,” Pétion-Ville deputy justice of the peace Carl Henry Destin told Le Nouvelliste late Wednesday afternoon. “The president’s office and bedroom were ransacked. We found him lying on his back, blue pants, a white shirt smeared with blood, his mouth open, his left eye gouged out. We saw a bullet impact at the level of his forehead, one in each nipple, three at the hip, one in the abdomen.“

    The judge told the paper the bullet wounds were made with large caliber weapons and with 9mm rounds. No other person at the presidential residence was shot except for the first lady, Destin said

    and this

    The ongoing police operation was expected to go through the night, Communications Minister Pradel Henriquez said. He reminded Haitians that “a state of siege” had been declared that “involves a curfew” and also limits press freedom.

    “There is information circulating on social media that is not in favor of what’s happening here,” he said.

    Henriquez noted that some of the alleged attackers were Haitian. He also reiterated that among the assailants “were individuals who spoke English, who spoke Spanish, who entered the home of a president.”

    and this 

    Haiti’s National Police killed four of the suspected assailants allegedly behind the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse Wednesday morning and arrested two others, while the department had the other killers trapped and they were exchanging gunfire, the agency’s interim chief said late Wednesday.

    “At the moment I am speaking to you now the police is engaged in a battle,” Interim Chief Léon Charles said during a press conference flanked by members of the government, including acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

    The police chief said three policemen who had been held hostage by the killers had been freed. He did not provide other details, or say what had led police to the alleged attackers. 

     as for this

    The first lady was flown to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, then taken to Jackson Health System’s Ryder Trauma Center.

    it tells me two things:

    1) the U.S. was not involved in the assassination (though the gang at Russia Today probably has cooked up some story about the CIA already)

    2) DeSantis' Florida has better trauma care than Haiti (if you pay out of pocket), believe it or not.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/08/2021 - 1:07am

    across the now-closed border between the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, there's this interesting little demonstration going on about that perennial worldwide favorite grievance,."stolen lands":


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 1:54pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/08/2021 - 1:55am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 2:26am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 2:30am

    Europe's biomass blunder

    https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-biomass-en...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 5:58pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 2:05pm

    Spontaneous protests have erupted in Cuba following the government’s botched handling of COVID and decades of repression and misery.

    Last time this happened was 1994 which sparked the rafter crisis. https://t.co/7qYwFLo4oA

    — Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) July 11, 2021


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 9:32pm

    retweeted by Matthew Yglesias on Cuba (like Garcia Martinez, Yglesias has Cuban heritage)


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 9:36pm

    video, Cuba today:

    after this retweet:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 9:41pm

    looks like an authentic video catch of Cuban government shenanigans (no guarantees, tho):


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 10:10pm

    here's a video & interpretation you can pretty much trust not to be agitprop, from CNN's Havana bureau chief


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:37pm

    here's another video from CNN's Oppmann


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:50pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 4:13pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:03am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 6:36pm

    Belarus feel-good timeout
    (there actually are humans behind all the politics and protests and movements - 
    at least on one side...)


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 9:19am

    VOA blather on Cuba

    https://www.usagmwatch.com/biased-voice-of-america-voa-news-report-does-...


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 7:26pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 9:14pm

    and BLM blather on Cuba:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 12:34am

    says that BLM blather is the sort that shows stupidity about how Cuba works:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 2:22am


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 4:19pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 6:22pm

    Hah. But it could all be teh fault of the white supremacist U.S. hegemon and its NATO toadies. Forced the Soviets and the Peoples Republic to become colonizers, too. (Tankies might also think about taking a second look at Qanon, sometimes they have interesting explanations for these type of things?)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 8:45pm

    Jeffrey Epstein, int'l mover?


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 10:58pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 11:27pm

    Wuhan gain-of-function attack

    Wow! Talk about coverup. And not in a conspiracy hushed tones style - matter of fact. And the left will bear a lot of responsibility if they don't add the hard questions and take tough actions. Hopefully Biden symbolizes a new tack.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/17/2021 - 2:15am

    25,000 troops deployed to quell South Africa riots, 117 dead !!!

    By ANDREW MELDRUM and MOGOMOTSI MAGOME @ AP.com, July 15, 2021 (with slideshow of 6 photos at link)

    JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In one of the largest deployments of soldiers since the end of white minority rule, 25,000 South African troops began taking up positions Thursday to help quell weeklong riots sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. At least 117 people have been killed in the violence, authorities said.

    The government said 10,000 soldiers were on the streets by Thursday morning patrolling alongside police, and the South African National Defence Force had also called up all of its reserve force of 12,000 troops.

    In a show of strength, a convoy of more than a dozen armored personnel carriers brought soldiers into Gauteng province, South Africa’s most populous, which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.

    Buses, trucks, airplanes and helicopters were also being used to move the large deployment of troops to trouble spots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal province that have seen violence in mainly poor areas.

    The unrest erupted last week after Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court for refusing to comply with a court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry investigating allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

    Protests in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal quickly escalated into a spree of theft in township areas, although it has not spread to South Africa’s seven other provinces, where police are on alert.

    More than 2,200 people have been arrested for theft and vandalism and 117 people have died, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, acting minister in the presidency said Thursday. Many were trampled to death in chaotic stampedes when shops were being looted, according to police.

    “These are not demonstrations. This is economic sabotage and we are investigating with a view to apprehending the instigators,” Ntshavheni said at a briefing Thursday. One person has been arrested and 11 others are under surveillance for inciting and planning the unrest, she said.

    The armed patrols have brought stability to Gauteng, authorities said. Army troops stood guard at the large Maponya mall in Soweto, which was one of the few retail centers not badly hit by the rampage but remained closed.

    Volunteer groups cleaned up shattered glass and debris from shops that had been stormed and looted in Johannesburg’s Soweto, Alexandra and Vosloorus areas.

    “I spoke to some of the guys who are unemployed in my area to come and help. The mayor supported us with transport to get here. We came here with two buses,” said George Moswetsa, a resident of Vosloorus in eastern Johannesburg who was helping to clean up a mall that had been trashed.

    The unrest, however, continued Thursday in [....]


    by artappraiser on Mon, 07/19/2021 - 7:43pm

    ^ Cry of the unheard? I think not. I think there are a lot of people there who are happy to put their lot with any agents provocateur that comes along. As it's always a Darwinian situation there since majority rule, where everyone can't get spoils of gold everyone expected, so they fight over the same...


    by artappraiser on Mon, 07/19/2021 - 7:49pm

    good point, important to not let The Woke drag the more successful western democracies into a similar horrible quagmire:

    really got me thinking about the increase in votes for Trump among certain demographics in 2020 and how some were no doubt reacting against one form of the same (hence Clyburn forbidding the use of the word "socialism" as well as "defund" until the Georgia special election was over.) It's the "redistribution" meme, stupids. It's scary to a lot of people and it's not just about income per se, it's also about supposed privileges, somebody in power is deciding what tribe gets what, education. property, spoils, tax refunds, govt. benefits, etc.


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 6:34pm

    What caused South Africa's riots?


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/22/2021 - 4:43pm

    breaking scoop in Palestine:
    (okay, 2 scoops to be exact)
    "& then they came for the ice cream - and i said nothing"
    Never thought about a dessert being "anti-semitic",
    but either you're for the iconoclasts or against them.


     

    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 9:58am

    (found retweeted by David Frum)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/22/2021 - 3:47pm

    long-time expert reporter on Afghanistan, Carlotta Gall, retweeted this video, she must know and trust the source

     


    by artappraiser on Fri, 07/23/2021 - 1:12am

    Chinese meddling - tech falls

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/27/investing/tencent-meituan-chinese-tec...


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/27/2021 - 11:09pm

    and so it's Afghanistan deja vus allover again:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 12:09am

    Japan's asexual youth culture coming home to roost?


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 2:27am

    This incredible woman embodies the true spirit and superhuman efforts of Greece’s valiant firefighters and firefighting volunteers.

    Amazing set of pictures captured by photojournalist Marios Lolos in Afidnes (6.8.21). # pic.twitter.com/Nb4eVK3CXs

    — The Greek Analyst (@GreekAnalyst) August 6, 2021

    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 8:38am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 10:36am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 10:05pm

    Jonah hearts Nation Building

    Jonah then

    Back in pre-Bush days Jonah bashed Gore for being smug and praised Bush's "anti-nation building" tendencies.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2000/10/bush-gore-nation-building-jonah-g...

    Of course what we were doing in Somalia or even Bosnia was hardly Nation Building in the Marshall Plan sense - it was more a long-term presence, partly military base like SKorea, WGermany, Saudi Arabia, and partly give aid & experts, like those East European Soros & UNAID & USIS post-Wall. 

    So Gore's job-honed statements turned out to be more accurate, and Bush's wannabe campaign currying favor turned out to be at complete odds with how he would govern. Call me surprised.

    But Jonah kind of has a point in backing a continued presence in Afghanistan (and presumably elsewhere) - like soldiers at the Korean DMZ it's not that painful, the benefits of maintaining the status quo are obviously better than the alternative bloodbath and return to the 14th Century Caliphate, and possibly in another 20 years there could be a different promising outcome - maybe. Consider this like Iraq overflights - Husseina was a bad man, but it could be worse. And so we held on until Bush popped that bubble in 2003. Trump popped the Afghani stalemate 2-3 years ago. Let it be written - sometimes (often?) a stalemate is worse than a rout. Especially for the people who live there.

    Jonah today

    https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2021/07/29/div-class-libPageB...

    [Jonah is a much more serious person 22 years later. Sadly before that transition he assisted the chaos mucking that made the GOP such an abomination today - at least he's progressed, but certainly some responsibility]

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 7:02am

    note from Live Updates @ Al Jazeera English


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 10:00am

    Canada is willing to take 20,000 Afghan refugees:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 10:03am

    O CANADA, just a reminder that talk is cheap!


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 3:35pm

    new "great game" with NATO out of it:

    China too, of course.

    And in that context need I even mention fucking Pakistan (which if we were going to invade someplace in 2002, should have been the place, not Afghanistan, but that's water-over-the-damn ancient history now as India can be just as sucky these days)

    NBC'S Engel is there, arrived 10 hrs. ago:

    Carlotta Gall may be on the way, odd that she hasn't tweeted for 19 hrs!

    Meantime Laura Rozen is a good one to follow on both the breaking.and the game


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 10:22am

    Buzzards will pick at the pieces. Worth realizing how much Saudis and UAE have been playing a black hand the last 20-simething years. They bought off Trump.

    Invade Pakistan? Fuhgidddaboudit. 100x as hard as Afghanistan, and what's the payoff exactly?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 11:46am

    Chinese Dubai black sites?

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_611b9dbae4b05e3b33a0f266


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/17/2021 - 10:15am

    Haiti hit by powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake, killing at least 29 people Twitter News LIVE

    A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday in the western part of the nation, killing at least 29 people and reducing buildings to rubble, AP and Reuters report. Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared a state of emergency and will mobilize government resources to help victims in the affected areas, says AP. The damage and devastation come as Haiti braces itself for Tropical Storm Grace, which could hit the island in the next few days. Keep it here for the latest updates.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 3:52pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 4:59pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 4:59pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/14/2021 - 5:06pm

    latest from NYTIMES live updates: PORT-AU-PRINCE --

    [....] The quake overwhelmed hospitals, flattened buildings and trapped people under rubble in at least two cities in the western part of the country’s southern peninsula. At least 304 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured, according to Jerry Chandler, the director general of the Civil Protection Agency. An untold number were missing.

    “The streets are filled with screaming,” said Archdeacon Abiade Lozama, head of an Episcopal church in Les Cayes, one of the afflicted cities. “People are searching, for loved ones or resources, medical help, water. ” [....]

     

    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 12:42am

    BREAKING: 724 people have died in Haiti earthquake

    — The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) August 15, 2021

     


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 11:34am

    Tropical Depression Grace to drench Haiti with 2 inches per hour, bringing threat of floods, mudslides

    Haiti could see widespread rain totals of 5 to 10 inches, with localized amounts of 15 inches.

    By Matthew Cappucci @ WashingtonPost.com, Aug. 16

    Here's a good picture from NYTimes.com which suggests what that means up close & personal

    Injured patients are assisted outside the general hospital due to the lack of available beds in Les Cayes, Haiti, on Monday. Orlando Barría/EPA, via Shutterstock

    an important part from the NYTimes article which reminds there is no real government right now:

    ....the destruction of churches across the southern peninsula may be the biggest blow to longer term support for Haitians in the affected area.

    For many Haitians, their only source of aid throughout their lives, in the absence of strong government institutions, has been the church. Many were in ruins after Saturday’s earthquake, leaving entire towns and at least one city without a church left standing.

    “Our church is destroyed and many churches in and around Les Cayes are destroyed but we have faith and we know that as long as people are still here, we can build back our community,” said Rev. Yves Joel Jacqueline, 44, who works at Les Cayes’ cathedral with Haiti’s cardinal, appointed by the Vatican.

    “In Les Cayes, we are the only thing here. There is no support from the government,” he added.

    The heavy concrete rooftops and domes of churches across the southern peninsula are now caved in, tabernacles crooked or buried under rubble, walls marbled with deep cracks. Every church seen by reporters from The New York Times in a 25-kilometer drive in and around Les Cayes on Sunday was completely destroyed, with the over 100 year-old cathedral in the city of Jeremie, an architectural landmark, left in ruins.

    Father Jacqueline stood atop the rubble of his church and leaned on a gnarled set of red and white radio towers that collapsed at the building’s entrance, printouts of a past Christmas program strewn across the ground.

    The priest had shared the residence with the Archbishop of Les Cayes and Haiti’s cardinal. All three men escaped the building as they were having breakfast, but a disabled priest who was eating with them and two women who tend to the residence were killed.....

    here is the accompanying NYTimes video

     

     

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 08/16/2021 - 4:48pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 08/18/2021 - 2:25pm

    Haiti A tool built by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the number of fatalities may range from 10,000 to 100,000 or more

    Another similar:

    Axios news:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/20/2021 - 8:56am


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 4:21pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 6:30pm

    when escaping the unpleasantry of covid by going to the Riviera only works if you have a yacht:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 08/17/2021 - 10:42am

    Kenya's Deputy President Ruto campaigns for 'Hustler Nation'

    By Emmanuel Onyango, BBC News, Nairobi, 19 hours ago

    From pushing wheelbarrows to making much of the fact that he was a chicken seller in his youth, Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto is increasingly framing next year's general election as a contest between "hustlers" and "dynasties".

    In Kenya, hustlers refer to those - especially young people - who struggle to make ends meet in an economy that is said to be no longer working for them.

    The word dynasties, on the other hand, is a moniker to describe wealthy families that are seen to have dominated politics - and the economy - since independence from the UK in the 1960s [....]


    by artappraiser on Thu, 08/26/2021 - 2:49pm

    7.1 earthquake @ Acapulco:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 2:25am

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