Mike: I don’t know if it’s your computer or mine, but when I clicked your link I got a Norton popup saying my computer was infected. Twice.
Mike’s link is important, I was just going to post a similar link about 4 hostages being rescued, and are reported to be in reasonably good health. And interestingly, 3 of the 4 were men. Frankly, I’ve been skeptical of Neo’s idea that a number of the hostages are still alive, but maybe they are. However, the total rescued is just 7 out of 250, so to me that still doesn’t bode well for the majority of them.
F, I have norton on my computer and had no problem. It may be your browser; I use firefox.
Oh crap, hope I didn’t do that. I’ve never had any problems with JPost.
I looked at both links (Mac, Safari) with no trouble.
Four hostages rescued, the Hamas leader clinging onto his safety pad in Qatar says no surrender.
F – That’s a common malAd. Don’t trigger anything it contains or says.
Mike Plaiss – You didn’t. The ad bastards continue to find ways to camouflage their little bombs.
To apply an old Army trite to the Gaza situation and Israeli/Hamas; If you got ’em, smoke ’em.
In this case, until the pack is empty.
I don’t mean to judge but she seems to think Christian doesn’t require Christ
F — that comes from an ad served on the page not the link.
Well Steve, to the Atheistic Christian it is not — despite the contradiction in terms. Think of Albert Camus, the existentialist novelist nonetheless under the grip of Christian values, for example.
“We will destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages home and will make sure that Gaza will never pose a terror threat to us again,” she said. “We said from the very beginning that we’re not in this to degrade Hamas or deter Hamas or contain Hamas.
“We want to make sure that by the end of this war, they will not have the military capabilities, the desire, or the ability to hurt us ever again … We don’t want to see one more missile, one more attack, one more infiltration attempt through the border. That’s over.”
This would definitely cut down medical expenses and crime’s of passion. Wasn’t this tried before?
• Trump has nearly doubled his black support from 2020 to 2024, according to a recent CNN poll .. Trump’s support among black voters surged to 22 percent compared to 2020, when the 45th president only had the support of 9 percent of the demographic.
• Biden, on the other hand, saw his 81 percent of black voter support in 2020 dip to 69 percent.
I know far too many Republicans don’t want a black American as Trump’s VP, but this is the perfect time for this move to be made. Byron Donalds has been especially impressive lately—he had a couple close brushes w/ ‘Da Law in 1997 & 2000, but is not a convict like Trump. 😉 MSM fears Donalds and tries desperately to break him. Wesley Hunt is new to me, but looks exceptional as a VP candidate. Tim Scott is another strong VP candidate.
• ‘The reason why the Democrats have a hold on the Black community is because our parents’ parents’ parents keep telling us, ‘You gotta vote Democrat,’ Hunt said. ‘It is up to us in this generation to say, ‘Well, why?’
• In a message of optimism Donalds said he is starting to see a ‘reinvigoration of black family,’ claiming more young black people were forming nuclear family units which is is ‘helping to breathe the revival of a Black middle class in America.’
• National polling suggests there could be a realignment among nonwhite working-class voters without a college degree, and nonwhite conservatives have been shifting their support to Trump come November. Republicans argue that even small increases can lead to big shifts in the election results.
• Scott claimed this week the shift is ‘becoming just so blatantly obvious that it’s now undeniable.’ .. ‘You see a lot of black folks and minorities moving toward the GOP because of the issues of jobs and justice,’ Scott said.
Gov. Youngkin resists the Force. This report alludes to the amount of largess/boondoggle going on with the government slush funds created by legislation.
Electric vehicles are fine– but can’t be forced on the economy. Their utility varies by region. We don’t have the infrastructure to support full move to EV.
There was one casualty with the Israeli forces.
Hamas said about 50 of their members were also killed. That is a very good ratio, which it was higher. Really wish that the one Israeli hadn’t been killed.
Something different in case you wondered about hardware used in bone surgery …
A coworker goes in for installation of titanium plates in his ankle bones in a week or so.
Who doesn’t want a black vp? I think Trump needs an attack dog whose main role is wrecking the donkey party and the permanent government. Trump can govern from the high ground while his vp becomes “the eraser”. Someone who is impeachment insurance.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Trump could handle the spotlight on another.
@Karmi:I know far too many Republicans don’t want a black American as Trump’s VP
This is just a slander. Most Republicans would cut off their pinkies to vote for a black VP, but ones with enough positions they agree with and enough gravitas to support the ticket are like hen’s teeth. They may not like the ones currently on offer, but that doesn’t mean they’d reject any black VP whatsoever. Republicans tend to be too willing to trust that a black Republican is an effective one up front, and regret it later when they turn out not to be.
Clarence Thomas and Thomas Sowell are too old and too busy with what they currently do. Colin Powell is too dead, but he was also too left-wing. Condoleeza Rice isn’t interested, and probably too academic to do well in the role, and I have no idea how conservative she actually is.
The best VPs, I think, are the ones who take on the President of the Senate role and advance their President’s agenda there. The VP was not in the beginning ever intended to be an assistant or junior President, they were intended to lead the Opposition in the Senate. The Constitutional amendment that changed how VPs are elected was indirectly responsible for making the officeholder such a non-entity as he frequently is, and when it’s occupied by someone as insignificant as Kamala Harris it’s not of much value to anyone. I can’t think of any black Republican of national stature who could wrangle the Senate.
@Shirehome:Hamas said about 50 of their members were also killed. That is a very good ratio, which it was higher. Really wish that the one Israeli hadn’t been killed.
An old joke from WWII: A Navy officer listens daily to news from the war in China. The first day, 1 Japanese is killed to 100 Chinese. The next day, 10 Japanese to 1,000 Chinese. The third day, 100 Japanese to 10,000 Chinese. And every day his Chinese servant listens too, but with a bigger and bigger smile on his face. The officer asks him what good can possibly be found in this news, and the servant replies “Pretty soon no more Japanese.”
Hamas doesn’t have the Chinese advantage in numbers, not this decade, but I think Hamas is perfectly content to fight to the last Gazan, provided they can get Israel’s body count a little higher by doing so.
Here are some potential VP candidates, but they need more time to be vetted. I would certainly wholeheartedly support them if any of them are the nominee.
Byron Donalds, Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance.
If anything, Donalds would be in for more slander/attacks as he would represent a threat to the Democrat hegemon over the Black community.
Rep. Byron Donalds pushes back on Democratic criticism after saying ‘the Black family was together’ during Jim Crow
Trump’s support among black voters surged to 22 percent compared to 2020, when the 45th president only had the support of 9 percent of the demographic .. Biden, on the other hand, saw his 81 percent of black voter support in 2020 dip to 69 percent.
Those numbers are…are… are a huge uptick for Trump in what is probably a very tight race. Throw one of Trump’s black VP options into the race with him, and I expect that another large to huge uptick comes.
Planning ahead for 2028 is extremely important in case Trump does win…
Good encapsulation over the Hunter Biden story, recounted by Emma-Jo Morris, editor at Breitbart and former editor at the New York Post, during testimony before the House Weaponization Committee about the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story. From 10 months ago.
Here’s my question to those who accept that our intelligence agencies are to believed when it comes to other matters that may or may not align with conservative interests? It’s clear they were willing to go to great lengths to lie/misinform Americans.
I understand it’s conspiratorial to say the IC has been captured by the MIC, but can’t at least some/or most be explained by that?
Brian E:
DEMs and their MSM fear Rep. Byron Donalds, and for good reason, IMHO.
Probably too black & tough for the Republican party though…
Does anyone else see the Democrat schemes to take out Trump – Russia-gate, a phone conversion with Zelensky, Jan 6th, raiding Mara Lago, and four different indictments – as being akin to Wily Coyote’s attempts to get the Road Runner. If it wasn’t so bad for the country, it would be hilarious.
Since the indictments seem to be falling apart, I’m fully expecting a new and more desperate scheme. I hope the GOP is getting ready for an October surprise.
remember our man in havana, which effectively transposed what graham greene had been witness in portugal during the war, one thought it wasn’t cynical enough, one burnt out agent, with a vaccuum cleaner salesman who wrote up lists of phony agents, and non existent nuclear technology but that was christopher steele’s gambit, after another unbalanced operative, richard tomlinson, burned 150 of his colleagues,
if you have a real defector like the late tretyakov or putyev, who can give names and dates and places, he gave up the entire chapman ring, because he was their handler, the jeremy irons character in red sparrow, but peter strzok took all the credit, thats how he pretended to know something,
with the actual Havana account, the top honchos in the station, relied on Raul Castro’s future wife, to vouch for the Brothers supposed anticommunists, there were a few figures that were adjuncts that saw through that subterfuge,
it would be charitable to say they were as competent as that, but more often then not
they aren’t, take the notion of another mole in the security services, after ames, but before we discovered hanson, the Comoany was so daft, they thought the head of the Ames taskforce Paul Redmond was actually the mole, that was the going account into the 90s looks like that Coen bros take ‘burn after reading’but more often than not, you have a litvinenko who went native with the chechens, and hence incurred the wrath of the Khozayin, another title for Putin,
same for allen west, who the florida leg, buried him in an impossible, and the party ran him out of the state on a rail,
The war will not end with Hamas out of power. Islam is the problem, not Hamas. The good news is Islam sucks so badly it self destructs. Just ask an average Iranian. Not an Ayatollah just some Iranian woman.
Since this is an open thread here’s my chance. Why are women attracted to scumbag criminals?
@Karmi:Of course you can’t – or won’t (?). Is that “slander” to?!?
It is. If you have a name in mind, that is conservative and has the kind of Senate experience that would make a good VP, you propose that name to me, and I’ll check that person out. And if I see a reason why they wouldn’t be good, I’ll tell you what it is and give you a chance to rebut. And if I don’t see a reason, I will full-throatedly endorse that person in that last line of every comment I leave until the actual Republican nomination.
In the meantime, for all you know I’m black myself, and you have no business accusing strangers of racism on no evidence. It would be a 5% better internet if people didn’t do that.
Karmi: “Probably too black & tough for the Republican party though…”
——–
Just why do you think the Republican party has anything against blacks?
Because historically the Repub party was / is against slavery?? Unlike the Dem party, in case I need to remind you.
.
Or because Repub party majority is white?
Just like the Dem party is, if you don’t know.
….
Are you being silly, or maybe trolling?
I read a story of a visitor to a monastery where they had taken the vow of perpetual silence. The visitor and his party ate lunch. Before and after the Brother read from the lectern, the visitor said the foot stamping, finger tapping etc of non vocal communication was ” thunderous”!
Byron Donalds is great.
An asset to us, & to all America!
I liked Allen West, too. Not sure where he’s been, but I lost track.
Niketas: “… you have no business accusing strangers of racism on no evidence. It would be a 5% better internet if people didn’t do that.”
Big dittos!
Donalds seems like a good guy, but being a freshman Congressman I don’t think he’s cut out to “wrangle the Senate”. I’m not seeing that he’s had any experience as a whip in the Florida legislature, if he’d been one I’d not hold his being a freshman against him.
Niketas: Donalds freshman problem:
I can see that.
I like Tim Scott, but he has seemed too nice.
Don’t know much about Wesley Hunt yet. His gov website Bio is impressive.
Niketas Choniates:
It is.
You slandered humble me twice by saying I slandered you.
If you have a name in mind, that is conservative and has the kind of Senate experience that would make a good VP, you propose that name to me, and I’ll check that person out.
Are you sure you ain’t a Progressive? Sure sound like one of the Elite Uppity ones.
Anyway, you obviously don’t have the knowledge or experience to decide who is a good black VP choice for Trump.
he ran in the primary against abbott, probably got him to start moving the illegals out of the state, now he’s party chair in dallas,
Marlene:
Just why do you think the Republican party has anything against blacks?
Lack of action AND lots of words.
BTW, I haven’t used the word “racist” to describe the Republican party – in ref to your ‘Big dittos!‘
Long past time for the Republican party to break their White Tradition, and back their words up with some actions. Perfect time to take a large percentage of black American voters from the Democratic party…
Brian E. you’re absolutely correct about the IC.
@Karmi:Are you sure you ain’t a Progressive?
You can tell I’m not a progressive, because I don’t think skin color by itself counts as a qualification.
One of the frequent criticisms I hear of Trump was that he “didn’t drain the swamp”. No President will be able to do that without the help of Congress. A VP who knows how get Congress to do things would be essential and the VP has a Constitutional position within the Senate.
Lyndon Johnson, who had been the Senate’s Majority Whip and Majority Leader before becoming JFK’s VP, exploited his experience to great effect during his Presidency and the damage he did is with us to this day.
Anyway, you obviously don’t have the knowledge or experience to decide who is a good black VP choice for Trump.
Bummer. I was trying not to get too far from my phone in case Trump called to ask me, but I guess I don’t have to worry about it.
Karmi:
What action would you suggest? Obamaphones?
Trump did quite a few things that benefited the black population in general. The economy definitely helped. But there was also this prison release program of Trump’s.
Miguel: Allen West info: oh yeah, I do recall, now.
Thanks for the memory jog!
Trump did quite a few things that benefited the black population in general. The economy definitely helped. But there was also this prison release program of Trump’s.
100% agreement from me. Black American voters didn’t show their support in 2020 tho, for whatever reasons. Looks like they may have ‘buyers remorse‘ with Biden now though.
I have only been suggesting that the polls show a movement of black voters towards Trump, that that movement presents a great opportunity to attract even more black voters to the Republican party, and that is why I promote the idea of selecting a black VP—to also be groomed as the Republican presidential candidate in 2028. My lack of communication skills is probably messing up what I am trying to express…
Trump also, along with Tim Scott, proposed & pushed “opportunity zones”, which helped urban minorities greatly — those who used them.
…
And Trump set up non-sunsetting funding for HBC’s.
what happened in the 90s, was they got rid of welfare reform, but simultaneously, they chipped away at most blue collar work, that didn’t require an advanced degree, outsourcing much of it to Mexico and ultimately China, between NAFTA and the WTO admission of China, they struck at a large swath of the working class
then you depress wages further, with more increasing immigration, legal and illegal, so those at the middle of the pyramid got squeezed,
this was one of the concerns that Trump had since the late 80s, he blamed it to a degree on Japan, and lax trade agreements, but things escalated into the 90s, why did a free trade agreement require 2000 pages of fine type,
meanwhile the continued to spend on ‘guns and butter’ which inflated the cost of things, then came the popping of the subprime bubble, that affected those at the bottom rung of the economic latter, thats a recipe for social anomie if not unrest,
It is so frustrating that some groups — of any color, gender, etc. — put that attribute over policies.
We’ve seen repeatedly that policies and competence are what matters. They are what helps or hurts the most of us, regardless of color gender, etc.
POTUS has immense power to drain the swamp as long as he is “removal by impeachment” proof. He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
“By direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Brigadier General David E. Twigs, Major General by brevet, be, and is hereby, dismissed from the Army of the United States, for his treachery to the flag of his country, in having surrendered, on the 18th of February, 1861, on the demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts and other property of the United States in his Department and under his charge.
J. Holt, Secretary of War”
@Chases Eagles:He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
He can give an order that this be done. He cannot singlehandedly carry it out. We already saw in his first term that the departments disobeyed him at will and took direction instead from Obama from 2017 on.
He can’t singlehandedly stop paychecks, he can’t singlehandedly walk terminated employees out the door, turn off keycards, collect their laptops…. He depends on thousands of people doing the things he tells them to do–and he cannot count on having that. We had a general call up China and assure his counterparts there that he’d disobey Trump’s orders…
Not reasons not to vote for Trump, but it’s the difference between the org chart on paper and reality. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen in organizations a lot smaller than the Federal Executive.
remember our man in havana, which effectively transposed what graham greene had been witness in portugal during the war, one thought it wasn’t cynical enough…
Another addition to the cloak-and-dagger-in-Havana genre is Paul Vidich’s The Good Assassin: A Novel. Frank Olson, the CBW scientist who committed suicide in 1953 after the CIA gave him a dose of LSD- without informing Olson- was Paul Vidich’s uncle. Vidich wrote about it in The Coldest Warrior.
How does toothless congress help Trump with mutiny in the executive branch If they already refuse subpoenas?
Karmi:
I’m glad you clarified that. But I will add that there WAS a movement of black voters towards Trump in the 2020 election, particularly black men. It wasn’t a large movement, but it nevertheless was something, and it wasn’t just in polls but was also in the voting itself. A mind is a difficult thing to change, and it’s especially difficult to be a black person on the right because if the person goes public with it the disapproval can be extreme.
Niketas:
It would be a 5% better internet if people didn’t do that.
Only 5%? A mere, measly 5%? Well, I’ll take it; gains can add up and every bit helps.
Checking out the prospects for the fall election locally, I see that the beautiful Liz Joy is not running against Tonko this year. There is one Kevin Waltz, instead, who is not as easy on the eyes (at least not to me) but sounds like he has a decent speaking voice. He must not live far from me at all. He’s a J. D. law student downtown. Sounds like an uphill fight to get Tonko out… sigh.
Yes but from my perspective vidich indulges in the same narrative the cia followed up till around 1960 and authors like john saylez and peter bart have followed suit
@Chases Eagles:How does toothless congress help Trump with mutiny in the executive branch If they already refuse subpoenas?
Budgets. Budgets and appropriations are the power Congress has not given up and zealously protects. Attacking a department’s budget is much faster and more effective than legislation or appointed department heads shouting into vacuum. Subpoenas don’t do anything, as you observed.
Don’t even have to fire anyone, just stop paying them because there isn’t money and they’ll go.
Of course it need not go that far. A few examples and a few credible threats would encourage the others.
POTUS has immense power to drain the swamp as long as he is “removal by impeachment” proof. He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
Biden’s people have been working hard to expand civil service protections to prevent Trump from doing this if he’s elected. See this, for example:
President Trump issued an executive order creating “Schedule F” that removed civil service protections for a majority of federal employees. Biden reversed it in his first day in office, and has gotten OPM to go along with his scheme.
Something is seriously broken if the executive power is vested in the president but he totally depended on congress to suppress rank insubordination in his own branch.
The gradual–and accelerating–transformation of Britain into a Muslim state, which no one wants to talk about, or to acknowledge.*
If that question was asked, I missed it. She explains that she has consecrated her life to God and her order. No mention of marriage. Or Jesus for that matter.
For several years I attended morning mass most weekdays with a group of Episcopalian Franciscan nuns. They were kind, sensible women.
I think being married to Jesus is a metaphor, not doctrine.
I give credit to Trump for seeing the possibility of opening the way to more black Republicans.
I don’t see the lack of much outreach earlier as evidence of Republican racism, just a sense, not unreasonable, that the ROI on such effort would be minimal.
Re: Acolyte joke
The good twin in “The Acolyte” is named Osha. One might argue that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is not a good name for a tv show character even in a galaxy long ago and far away.
Internet wags assure us that OSHA’s other siblings, NASA, NATO and AWOL, will appear in future episodes (TBA).
huxley:
I believe (and I’m doing this from memory, so I’m not 100% sure) that she is asked if she loves Jesus, and she says yes.
Niketas Choniates on June 8, 2024 at 1:58 pm:
“The best VPs, I think, are the ones who take on the President of the Senate role and advance their President’s agenda there. The VP was not in the beginning ever intended to be an assistant or junior President, they were intended to lead the Opposition in the Senate. The Constitutional amendment that changed how VPs are elected was indirectly responsible for making the officeholder such a non-entity …”
+100! That is one of those great comments that provides obvious information [aka, connects the dots], but something I had not appreciated before. Thanks.
As you cite later, LBJ may have been the best example supporting JFK, and then himself later. While it is probably infrequent that the VP has to vote to settle a tie, I presume you also mean having the people skills, knowledge of the Senate rules and procedures, and maybe knowing where some skeletons are buried, to move legislation, appointments, etc. Having rousing* public communications skills is also a plus, which we see McConnell tends to lack. I think your comment also reflects a version of separation of powers even within the executive branch – something the Framers were very desirous of achieving.
*then again, the Senate was not intended to be the “rousing” body in the Congress, but the deliberative and cooling-off one.
@huxley:that the ROI on such effort would be minimal.
It still is, to be honest, because the ballot harvesters are not going to bring in votes for Trump and the Dems aren’t going to change the rules to make it harder for them to get their own party’s votes in. There’s far more ballots out there to harvest than can be brought in by the old-style voter outreach.
Why not forget about fictional agents like Bond and Bourne dashing to save the world from disaster and forget about CIA and MI6 officers reclining on their couches dreaming up espionage scenarios to thrill you. Check out what a real MI6 and CIA secret agent does nowadays. Why not browse through TheBurlingtonFiles.org website and read about Bill Fairclough’s escapades when he was an active MI6 and CIA agent? The website is rather like an espionage museum without an admission fee … and no adverts. You will soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit.
After that experience you may not know who to trust so best read Beyond Enkription, the first novel in The Burlington Files series. It’s a noir fact based spy thriller that may shock you. What is interesting is that this book is apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why? Maybe because the book is not only realistic but has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. It is an enthralling read as long as you don’t expect fictional agents like Ian Fleming’s incredible 007 to save the world or John le Carré’s couch potato yet illustrious Smiley to send you to sleep with his delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots!
What was it that they said about scoundrels and patriotism…?
What the Democrats are banking on in November (besides churning out fake ballots and “inviting” dead people and illegals to “vote early and vote often”):
Timestamps:
00:00:00 — Opening Words
00:01:21 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:04 — Space Driven Advantage
00:07:10 — The Constellation Revolution
00:14:53 — The Constellation Escalation
00:19:01 — Capacity As The Commodity
00:23:29 — National Launch Programs: Russia
00:32:44 — Let’s Talk USA
00:35:19 — SpaceX Path To Dominance
00:49:05 — Starship And Its Implications
00:55:57 — Other Players?
00:59:51 — The Way Forward
So will they stop the ballot counting for several hours?
Start arresting members of the opposition?
Jimmy the results with fake votes from every direction?
Declare a CONTINENTAL EMERGENCY? (To “save” Europe, of course…)
…I promote the idea of selecting a black VP—to also be groomed as the Republican presidential candidate in 2028.
Hey Karm, when you get a chance, ask Clarence Thomas what he thinks of your idea. BTW, the POC VP thing has been done. Oh, but not by a Republican! Right. That’s enough race obsession for today.
Niketas @ 8:16 “…just stop paying them because there isn’t money…
I LIKE that idea! I’d like to know if there is anything in the Civil Service law (which prevents fed employees from being fired) which prevents Congress from cutting their pay.
Another idea. Assign them duty in a windowless room with no telephones, computers or reading material of any sort – just a chair and four walls – and tell them that their job is to stare at the wall for eight hours. Bet they’d quit promptly.
Why would the Pope have a meeting with a group of U.S. comedians?
All anti Trump leftists BTW.
John:
Well, that’s the playbook. He has also met with former punk poet rocker Patti Smith. They were copacetic. She played at the Vatican in 2014, 2015.
_____________________________________
On the other hand Smith’s title song to her album, “Easter,” (1978) was a deep poignant, entirely sincere, meditation on Arthur Rimbaud’s First Communion.
The title song to her next album, “Wave,” (1979) was dedicated the Pope John Paul I, the one who lasted a month as pope, possibly because he had taken an unhealthy interest in Vatican finances. John Paull II followed and is the one we remember.
Smith was raised Jehovah Witness. Yet she has a romantic attachment to the Catholic Church, borne, I would guess, from her mystic poet tendencies.
Back in the 80s I wrote Smith a fan letter. Interestingly, her mother answered in beautiful old-fashioned Palmer script. “Patti and the boys are in Japan right now …” Smith employed her mother to handle the band’s correspondence!
This stuff is complicated. Conservative often reduce everything to a battle of ideas, but when it comes to humans it’s cultural/emotional attachments that carry the day.
Speaking of Rimbaud, I’m finally getting to French poetry and, romantic that I am, I am starting with Rimbaud. Here’s a gorgeous, hypnotic B/W animation (with English subtitles) of his signature poem:
_____________________________________
I went away, fists in my torn pockets;
My coat was, as well, becoming ideal;
I went under the sky, Muse, and I was your servant;
Oh! of what splendid loves I dreamt
My only pair of pants had a large hole.
A dreaming Little-Tom-Thumb, I spewed forth, in my run,
Rhymes. My tavern was under the Great Bear.
My stars in the sky had a gentle frill
And I listened to them, sitting at the edge of roads
Those soft September nights where I felt drops
Of dew on my forehead like a vigorous wine;
Where, rhyming amidst the fantastic shadows,
Like lyres, I pulled elastics
From my injured shoes, one foot near my heart!
I’m guessing one can’t understand the French without understanding Rimbaud.
Jack Kerouac looked back to Walt Whitman and Thomas Wolfe, but I would argue that Rimbaud was his real model.
Kerouac spoke French!
Well, his family was part of the French-Canadian diaspora living in New England…where they moved to find work, often in the mill towns, e.g., Lowell, Mass., etc.
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
An interesting article, which could have been written by Victor Hanson, comparing power politics in ancient Greece to our own current predicament….
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-805424
Well ok then. That settles that.
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-805433
Mike: I don’t know if it’s your computer or mine, but when I clicked your link I got a Norton popup saying my computer was infected. Twice.
Mike’s link is important, I was just going to post a similar link about 4 hostages being rescued, and are reported to be in reasonably good health. And interestingly, 3 of the 4 were men. Frankly, I’ve been skeptical of Neo’s idea that a number of the hostages are still alive, but maybe they are. However, the total rescued is just 7 out of 250, so to me that still doesn’t bode well for the majority of them.
F, I have norton on my computer and had no problem. It may be your browser; I use firefox.
Oh crap, hope I didn’t do that. I’ve never had any problems with JPost.
I looked at both links (Mac, Safari) with no trouble.
Four hostages rescued, the Hamas leader clinging onto his safety pad in Qatar says no surrender.
F – That’s a common malAd. Don’t trigger anything it contains or says.
Mike Plaiss – You didn’t. The ad bastards continue to find ways to camouflage their little bombs.
To apply an old Army trite to the Gaza situation and Israeli/Hamas; If you got ’em, smoke ’em.
In this case, until the pack is empty.
I don’t mean to judge but she seems to think Christian doesn’t require Christ
F — that comes from an ad served on the page not the link.
Well Steve, to the Atheistic Christian it is not — despite the contradiction in terms. Think of Albert Camus, the existentialist novelist nonetheless under the grip of Christian values, for example.
‘This War Will Not End With Hamas in Power’
This would definitely cut down medical expenses and crime’s of passion. Wasn’t this tried before?
Black Republicans court new Trump supporters with ‘cigars and cognac’ series and an eight-figure plan to capitalize on voters fed up with Biden – looks like Trump has 3 black Americans in the run for VP. Anyone who thinks they have it tough in America hasn’t looked at what black American Republicans/Conservatives go thru, IMHO:
I know far too many Republicans don’t want a black American as Trump’s VP, but this is the perfect time for this move to be made. Byron Donalds has been especially impressive lately—he had a couple close brushes w/ ‘Da Law in 1997 & 2000, but is not a convict like Trump. 😉 MSM fears Donalds and tries desperately to break him. Wesley Hunt is new to me, but looks exceptional as a VP candidate. Tim Scott is another strong VP candidate.
Gov. Youngkin resists the Force. This report alludes to the amount of largess/boondoggle going on with the government slush funds created by legislation.
Electric vehicles are fine– but can’t be forced on the economy. Their utility varies by region. We don’t have the infrastructure to support full move to EV.
VA governor declares ‘independence from California’ as Virginia exits emissions pact
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wArh9aARCrw
Not Freud. Socrates.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/its-time-for-the-city-to-cough-up-my-guns-mark-mccloskey-throws-down-after-judge-expunges-convictions-against-him-wife?
There was one casualty with the Israeli forces.
Hamas said about 50 of their members were also killed. That is a very good ratio, which it was higher. Really wish that the one Israeli hadn’t been killed.
Something different in case you wondered about hardware used in bone surgery …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6HLlBuca0w
A coworker goes in for installation of titanium plates in his ankle bones in a week or so.
Who doesn’t want a black vp? I think Trump needs an attack dog whose main role is wrecking the donkey party and the permanent government. Trump can govern from the high ground while his vp becomes “the eraser”. Someone who is impeachment insurance.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Trump could handle the spotlight on another.
@Karmi:I know far too many Republicans don’t want a black American as Trump’s VP
This is just a slander. Most Republicans would cut off their pinkies to vote for a black VP, but ones with enough positions they agree with and enough gravitas to support the ticket are like hen’s teeth. They may not like the ones currently on offer, but that doesn’t mean they’d reject any black VP whatsoever. Republicans tend to be too willing to trust that a black Republican is an effective one up front, and regret it later when they turn out not to be.
Clarence Thomas and Thomas Sowell are too old and too busy with what they currently do. Colin Powell is too dead, but he was also too left-wing. Condoleeza Rice isn’t interested, and probably too academic to do well in the role, and I have no idea how conservative she actually is.
The best VPs, I think, are the ones who take on the President of the Senate role and advance their President’s agenda there. The VP was not in the beginning ever intended to be an assistant or junior President, they were intended to lead the Opposition in the Senate. The Constitutional amendment that changed how VPs are elected was indirectly responsible for making the officeholder such a non-entity as he frequently is, and when it’s occupied by someone as insignificant as Kamala Harris it’s not of much value to anyone. I can’t think of any black Republican of national stature who could wrangle the Senate.
@Shirehome:Hamas said about 50 of their members were also killed. That is a very good ratio, which it was higher. Really wish that the one Israeli hadn’t been killed.
An old joke from WWII: A Navy officer listens daily to news from the war in China. The first day, 1 Japanese is killed to 100 Chinese. The next day, 10 Japanese to 1,000 Chinese. The third day, 100 Japanese to 10,000 Chinese. And every day his Chinese servant listens too, but with a bigger and bigger smile on his face. The officer asks him what good can possibly be found in this news, and the servant replies “Pretty soon no more Japanese.”
Hamas doesn’t have the Chinese advantage in numbers, not this decade, but I think Hamas is perfectly content to fight to the last Gazan, provided they can get Israel’s body count a little higher by doing so.
Here are some potential VP candidates, but they need more time to be vetted. I would certainly wholeheartedly support them if any of them are the nominee.
Byron Donalds, Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance.
If anything, Donalds would be in for more slander/attacks as he would represent a threat to the Democrat hegemon over the Black community.
Rep. Byron Donalds pushes back on Democratic criticism after saying ‘the Black family was together’ during Jim Crow
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/05/politics/byron-donalds-black-family-jim-crow/index.html
Niketas Choniates:
Of course you can’t – or won’t (?). Is that “slander” to?!? 😉
That CNN poll mentioned earlier showed:
Those numbers are…are… are a huge uptick for Trump in what is probably a very tight race. Throw one of Trump’s black VP options into the race with him, and I expect that another large to huge uptick comes.
Planning ahead for 2028 is extremely important in case Trump does win…
Good encapsulation over the Hunter Biden story, recounted by Emma-Jo Morris, editor at Breitbart and former editor at the New York Post, during testimony before the House Weaponization Committee about the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story. From 10 months ago.
Former New York Post Editor Laughs When Detailing Censorship Of Bombshell Hunter Biden Laptop Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28tXX0cvvI
Here’s my question to those who accept that our intelligence agencies are to believed when it comes to other matters that may or may not align with conservative interests? It’s clear they were willing to go to great lengths to lie/misinform Americans.
I understand it’s conspiratorial to say the IC has been captured by the MIC, but can’t at least some/or most be explained by that?
Brian E:
DEMs and their MSM fear Rep. Byron Donalds, and for good reason, IMHO.
Probably too black & tough for the Republican party though…
Does anyone else see the Democrat schemes to take out Trump – Russia-gate, a phone conversion with Zelensky, Jan 6th, raiding Mara Lago, and four different indictments – as being akin to Wily Coyote’s attempts to get the Road Runner. If it wasn’t so bad for the country, it would be hilarious.
Since the indictments seem to be falling apart, I’m fully expecting a new and more desperate scheme. I hope the GOP is getting ready for an October surprise.
remember our man in havana, which effectively transposed what graham greene had been witness in portugal during the war, one thought it wasn’t cynical enough, one burnt out agent, with a vaccuum cleaner salesman who wrote up lists of phony agents, and non existent nuclear technology but that was christopher steele’s gambit, after another unbalanced operative, richard tomlinson, burned 150 of his colleagues,
if you have a real defector like the late tretyakov or putyev, who can give names and dates and places, he gave up the entire chapman ring, because he was their handler, the jeremy irons character in red sparrow, but peter strzok took all the credit, thats how he pretended to know something,
with the actual Havana account, the top honchos in the station, relied on Raul Castro’s future wife, to vouch for the Brothers supposed anticommunists, there were a few figures that were adjuncts that saw through that subterfuge,
it would be charitable to say they were as competent as that, but more often then not
they aren’t, take the notion of another mole in the security services, after ames, but before we discovered hanson, the Comoany was so daft, they thought the head of the Ames taskforce Paul Redmond was actually the mole, that was the going account into the 90s looks like that Coen bros take ‘burn after reading’but more often than not, you have a litvinenko who went native with the chechens, and hence incurred the wrath of the Khozayin, another title for Putin,
same for allen west, who the florida leg, buried him in an impossible, and the party ran him out of the state on a rail,
the worse the better,
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13508011/Chicago-Brandon-Johnson-Mayor-Progressive-Office-Makeup.html
Cook County had an opportunity to do the right thing, but the overseers just want it to burn to the ground,
across the pond
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/07/who-is-winning-the-bbc-election-debate/
The war will not end with Hamas out of power. Islam is the problem, not Hamas. The good news is Islam sucks so badly it self destructs. Just ask an average Iranian. Not an Ayatollah just some Iranian woman.
Since this is an open thread here’s my chance. Why are women attracted to scumbag criminals?
@Karmi:Of course you can’t – or won’t (?). Is that “slander” to?!?
It is. If you have a name in mind, that is conservative and has the kind of Senate experience that would make a good VP, you propose that name to me, and I’ll check that person out. And if I see a reason why they wouldn’t be good, I’ll tell you what it is and give you a chance to rebut. And if I don’t see a reason, I will full-throatedly endorse that person in that last line of every comment I leave until the actual Republican nomination.
In the meantime, for all you know I’m black myself, and you have no business accusing strangers of racism on no evidence. It would be a 5% better internet if people didn’t do that.
Karmi: “Probably too black & tough for the Republican party though…”
——–
Just why do you think the Republican party has anything against blacks?
Because historically the Repub party was / is against slavery?? Unlike the Dem party, in case I need to remind you.
.
Or because Repub party majority is white?
Just like the Dem party is, if you don’t know.
….
Are you being silly, or maybe trolling?
I read a story of a visitor to a monastery where they had taken the vow of perpetual silence. The visitor and his party ate lunch. Before and after the Brother read from the lectern, the visitor said the foot stamping, finger tapping etc of non vocal communication was ” thunderous”!
Byron Donalds is great.
An asset to us, & to all America!
I liked Allen West, too. Not sure where he’s been, but I lost track.
Niketas: “… you have no business accusing strangers of racism on no evidence. It would be a 5% better internet if people didn’t do that.”
Big dittos!
Donalds seems like a good guy, but being a freshman Congressman I don’t think he’s cut out to “wrangle the Senate”. I’m not seeing that he’s had any experience as a whip in the Florida legislature, if he’d been one I’d not hold his being a freshman against him.
Niketas: Donalds freshman problem:
I can see that.
I like Tim Scott, but he has seemed too nice.
Don’t know much about Wesley Hunt yet. His gov website Bio is impressive.
Niketas Choniates:
You slandered humble me twice by saying I slandered you.
Are you sure you ain’t a Progressive? Sure sound like one of the Elite Uppity ones.
Anyway, you obviously don’t have the knowledge or experience to decide who is a good black VP choice for Trump.
he ran in the primary against abbott, probably got him to start moving the illegals out of the state, now he’s party chair in dallas,
Marlene:
Lack of action AND lots of words.
BTW, I haven’t used the word “racist” to describe the Republican party – in ref to your ‘Big dittos!‘
Long past time for the Republican party to break their White Tradition, and back their words up with some actions. Perfect time to take a large percentage of black American voters from the Democratic party…
Brian E. you’re absolutely correct about the IC.
@Karmi:Are you sure you ain’t a Progressive?
You can tell I’m not a progressive, because I don’t think skin color by itself counts as a qualification.
One of the frequent criticisms I hear of Trump was that he “didn’t drain the swamp”. No President will be able to do that without the help of Congress. A VP who knows how get Congress to do things would be essential and the VP has a Constitutional position within the Senate.
Lyndon Johnson, who had been the Senate’s Majority Whip and Majority Leader before becoming JFK’s VP, exploited his experience to great effect during his Presidency and the damage he did is with us to this day.
Anyway, you obviously don’t have the knowledge or experience to decide who is a good black VP choice for Trump.
Bummer. I was trying not to get too far from my phone in case Trump called to ask me, but I guess I don’t have to worry about it.
Karmi:
What action would you suggest? Obamaphones?
Trump did quite a few things that benefited the black population in general. The economy definitely helped. But there was also this prison release program of Trump’s.
Miguel: Allen West info: oh yeah, I do recall, now.
Thanks for the memory jog!
they don’t bring their a game,
https://notthebee.com/article/trump-haters-made-a-giant-chicken-to-troll-him-but-all-the-trump-voters-love-it
Neo:
100% agreement from me. Black American voters didn’t show their support in 2020 tho, for whatever reasons. Looks like they may have ‘buyers remorse‘ with Biden now though.
I have only been suggesting that the polls show a movement of black voters towards Trump, that that movement presents a great opportunity to attract even more black voters to the Republican party, and that is why I promote the idea of selecting a black VP—to also be groomed as the Republican presidential candidate in 2028. My lack of communication skills is probably messing up what I am trying to express…
Trump also, along with Tim Scott, proposed & pushed “opportunity zones”, which helped urban minorities greatly — those who used them.
…
And Trump set up non-sunsetting funding for HBC’s.
what happened in the 90s, was they got rid of welfare reform, but simultaneously, they chipped away at most blue collar work, that didn’t require an advanced degree, outsourcing much of it to Mexico and ultimately China, between NAFTA and the WTO admission of China, they struck at a large swath of the working class
then you depress wages further, with more increasing immigration, legal and illegal, so those at the middle of the pyramid got squeezed,
this was one of the concerns that Trump had since the late 80s, he blamed it to a degree on Japan, and lax trade agreements, but things escalated into the 90s, why did a free trade agreement require 2000 pages of fine type,
meanwhile the continued to spend on ‘guns and butter’ which inflated the cost of things, then came the popping of the subprime bubble, that affected those at the bottom rung of the economic latter, thats a recipe for social anomie if not unrest,
It is so frustrating that some groups — of any color, gender, etc. — put that attribute over policies.
We’ve seen repeatedly that policies and competence are what matters. They are what helps or hurts the most of us, regardless of color gender, etc.
POTUS has immense power to drain the swamp as long as he is “removal by impeachment” proof. He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
“By direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Brigadier General David E. Twigs, Major General by brevet, be, and is hereby, dismissed from the Army of the United States, for his treachery to the flag of his country, in having surrendered, on the 18th of February, 1861, on the demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts and other property of the United States in his Department and under his charge.
J. Holt, Secretary of War”
its impossible for them to do the right thing
https://nypost.com/2024/06/08/media/cnn-takes-heat-for-saying-israeli-hostages-were-released/
@Chases Eagles:He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
He can give an order that this be done. He cannot singlehandedly carry it out. We already saw in his first term that the departments disobeyed him at will and took direction instead from Obama from 2017 on.
He can’t singlehandedly stop paychecks, he can’t singlehandedly walk terminated employees out the door, turn off keycards, collect their laptops…. He depends on thousands of people doing the things he tells them to do–and he cannot count on having that. We had a general call up China and assure his counterparts there that he’d disobey Trump’s orders…
Not reasons not to vote for Trump, but it’s the difference between the org chart on paper and reality. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen in organizations a lot smaller than the Federal Executive.
https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1799547002046255553
miguel + cervantes
Another addition to the cloak-and-dagger-in-Havana genre is Paul Vidich’s The Good Assassin: A Novel. Frank Olson, the CBW scientist who committed suicide in 1953 after the CIA gave him a dose of LSD- without informing Olson- was Paul Vidich’s uncle. Vidich wrote about it in The Coldest Warrior.
How does toothless congress help Trump with mutiny in the executive branch If they already refuse subpoenas?
Karmi:
I’m glad you clarified that. But I will add that there WAS a movement of black voters towards Trump in the 2020 election, particularly black men. It wasn’t a large movement, but it nevertheless was something, and it wasn’t just in polls but was also in the voting itself. A mind is a difficult thing to change, and it’s especially difficult to be a black person on the right because if the person goes public with it the disapproval can be extreme.
Niketas:
Only 5%? A mere, measly 5%? Well, I’ll take it; gains can add up and every bit helps.
Checking out the prospects for the fall election locally, I see that the beautiful Liz Joy is not running against Tonko this year. There is one Kevin Waltz, instead, who is not as easy on the eyes (at least not to me) but sounds like he has a decent speaking voice. He must not live far from me at all. He’s a J. D. law student downtown. Sounds like an uphill fight to get Tonko out… sigh.
Yes but from my perspective vidich indulges in the same narrative the cia followed up till around 1960 and authors like john saylez and peter bart have followed suit
@Chases Eagles:How does toothless congress help Trump with mutiny in the executive branch If they already refuse subpoenas?
Budgets. Budgets and appropriations are the power Congress has not given up and zealously protects. Attacking a department’s budget is much faster and more effective than legislation or appointed department heads shouting into vacuum. Subpoenas don’t do anything, as you observed.
Don’t even have to fire anyone, just stop paying them because there isn’t money and they’ll go.
Of course it need not go that far. A few examples and a few credible threats would encourage the others.
POTUS has immense power to drain the swamp as long as he is “removal by impeachment” proof. He can shutter whole departments by transferring personal or just plain firing them.
Biden’s people have been working hard to expand civil service protections to prevent Trump from doing this if he’s elected. See this, for example:
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2024/04/opm-issues-final-rule-schedule-f-protections/395463/
President Trump issued an executive order creating “Schedule F” that removed civil service protections for a majority of federal employees. Biden reversed it in his first day in office, and has gotten OPM to go along with his scheme.
Something is seriously broken if the executive power is vested in the president but he totally depended on congress to suppress rank insubordination in his own branch.
The gradual–and accelerating–transformation of Britain into a Muslim state, which no one wants to talk about, or to acknowledge.*
* See https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2024/06/08/a-world-historical-transformation-is-taking-place-in-britain-yet-few-have-noticed-n4929722
Re: Are you married to Jesus?
If that question was asked, I missed it. She explains that she has consecrated her life to God and her order. No mention of marriage. Or Jesus for that matter.
For several years I attended morning mass most weekdays with a group of Episcopalian Franciscan nuns. They were kind, sensible women.
I think being married to Jesus is a metaphor, not doctrine.
I give credit to Trump for seeing the possibility of opening the way to more black Republicans.
I don’t see the lack of much outreach earlier as evidence of Republican racism, just a sense, not unreasonable, that the ROI on such effort would be minimal.
Re: Acolyte joke
The good twin in “The Acolyte” is named Osha. One might argue that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is not a good name for a tv show character even in a galaxy long ago and far away.
Internet wags assure us that OSHA’s other siblings, NASA, NATO and AWOL, will appear in future episodes (TBA).
huxley:
I believe (and I’m doing this from memory, so I’m not 100% sure) that she is asked if she loves Jesus, and she says yes.
Niketas Choniates on June 8, 2024 at 1:58 pm:
“The best VPs, I think, are the ones who take on the President of the Senate role and advance their President’s agenda there. The VP was not in the beginning ever intended to be an assistant or junior President, they were intended to lead the Opposition in the Senate. The Constitutional amendment that changed how VPs are elected was indirectly responsible for making the officeholder such a non-entity …”
+100! That is one of those great comments that provides obvious information [aka, connects the dots], but something I had not appreciated before. Thanks.
As you cite later, LBJ may have been the best example supporting JFK, and then himself later. While it is probably infrequent that the VP has to vote to settle a tie, I presume you also mean having the people skills, knowledge of the Senate rules and procedures, and maybe knowing where some skeletons are buried, to move legislation, appointments, etc. Having rousing* public communications skills is also a plus, which we see McConnell tends to lack. I think your comment also reflects a version of separation of powers even within the executive branch – something the Framers were very desirous of achieving.
*then again, the Senate was not intended to be the “rousing” body in the Congress, but the deliberative and cooling-off one.
@huxley:that the ROI on such effort would be minimal.
It still is, to be honest, because the ballot harvesters are not going to bring in votes for Trump and the Dems aren’t going to change the rules to make it harder for them to get their own party’s votes in. There’s far more ballots out there to harvest than can be brought in by the old-style voter outreach.
Why not forget about fictional agents like Bond and Bourne dashing to save the world from disaster and forget about CIA and MI6 officers reclining on their couches dreaming up espionage scenarios to thrill you. Check out what a real MI6 and CIA secret agent does nowadays. Why not browse through TheBurlingtonFiles.org website and read about Bill Fairclough’s escapades when he was an active MI6 and CIA agent? The website is rather like an espionage museum without an admission fee … and no adverts. You will soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit.
After that experience you may not know who to trust so best read Beyond Enkription, the first novel in The Burlington Files series. It’s a noir fact based spy thriller that may shock you. What is interesting is that this book is apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why? Maybe because the book is not only realistic but has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. It is an enthralling read as long as you don’t expect fictional agents like Ian Fleming’s incredible 007 to save the world or John le Carré’s couch potato yet illustrious Smiley to send you to sleep with his delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots!
See https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2023_06.07.php and https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2022.10.31.php.
Related: “…agents…”
Alas, they’re inside the gates….
(AKA, “More than you ever wanted to know about John Brennan…but were afraid to ask.)
“Deception Revisited”—
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/online-feature/deception-revisited/
H/T Powerline blog.
+ Bonus…alas…
“The Silent Insurrection of General Milley’s Hand on January 6, McLean Crushes House Committee”—
https://warroom.org/the-silent-insurrection-of-general-milleys-hand-on-january-6/
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
What was it that they said about scoundrels and patriotism…?
What the Democrats are banking on in November (besides churning out fake ballots and “inviting” dead people and illegals to “vote early and vote often”):
“Brain Dead People May Not Be Dead–Here’s Why”—
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/are-brain-dead-people-really-dead-5629496
To be sure, if that doesn’t quite work out the way it’s supposed to, there’s always Dr. J. to pick up the slack…
“Jill Biden, Edith Wilson, and the Changing American State”—
https://amgreatness.com/2024/06/08/jill-biden-edith-wilson-and-the-changing-american-state/
H/T Powerline blog.
Sunday Open Thread: Space the Final Frontier?
The New Space Race, SpaceX & Starship – Satellite constellations & Launcher Evolution -Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effFp6AnCWo
So will they stop the ballot counting for several hours?
Start arresting members of the opposition?
Jimmy the results with fake votes from every direction?
Declare a CONTINENTAL EMERGENCY? (To “save” Europe, of course…)
“Right-Wing Tsunami: Conservatives Ascendant In Euro Parliament Vote, Le Pen Thrashes Macron; Germany’s SPD Suffers Record Rout”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/right-wing-tsunami-nationalists-ascendant-euro-parliament-vote-le-pen-crushes-macron
+ Bonus:
https://europeanconservative.com/news/
…I promote the idea of selecting a black VP—to also be groomed as the Republican presidential candidate in 2028.
Hey Karm, when you get a chance, ask Clarence Thomas what he thinks of your idea. BTW, the POC VP thing has been done. Oh, but not by a Republican! Right. That’s enough race obsession for today.
Meanwhile,
Jewish writers are getting blacklisted and worry about their publishing futures
Not really antiSemitic, but “AntiZionist”. Opposing Zionism is okay. Of course, if you look into Judaism at any depth, what you find is… that’s right, you guessed it… !
he was just featured in the ties today
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/06/09/belgiums-anti-trump-prime-minister-resigns-after-suffering-right-wing-election-victory/
Why would the Pope have a meeting with a group of U.S. comedians?
All anti Trump leftists BTW.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-06/pope-francis-to-meet-prominent-comedians.html
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-francis-to-meet-world-comedians-including-whoopi-goldberg/ar-BB1nRmXg
Niketas @ 8:16 “…just stop paying them because there isn’t money…
I LIKE that idea! I’d like to know if there is anything in the Civil Service law (which prevents fed employees from being fired) which prevents Congress from cutting their pay.
Another idea. Assign them duty in a windowless room with no telephones, computers or reading material of any sort – just a chair and four walls – and tell them that their job is to stare at the wall for eight hours. Bet they’d quit promptly.
Why would the Pope have a meeting with a group of U.S. comedians?
All anti Trump leftists BTW.
John:
Well, that’s the playbook. He has also met with former punk poet rocker Patti Smith. They were copacetic. She played at the Vatican in 2014, 2015.
_____________________________________
Jesus died for somebody’s sins…
But not mine.
–Patti Smith, “Gloria” (based on Van Morrison’s original)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPO0bTaWcFQ
_____________________________________
On the other hand Smith’s title song to her album, “Easter,” (1978) was a deep poignant, entirely sincere, meditation on Arthur Rimbaud’s First Communion.
The title song to her next album, “Wave,” (1979) was dedicated the Pope John Paul I, the one who lasted a month as pope, possibly because he had taken an unhealthy interest in Vatican finances. John Paull II followed and is the one we remember.
Smith was raised Jehovah Witness. Yet she has a romantic attachment to the Catholic Church, borne, I would guess, from her mystic poet tendencies.
Back in the 80s I wrote Smith a fan letter. Interestingly, her mother answered in beautiful old-fashioned Palmer script. “Patti and the boys are in Japan right now …” Smith employed her mother to handle the band’s correspondence!
This stuff is complicated. Conservative often reduce everything to a battle of ideas, but when it comes to humans it’s cultural/emotional attachments that carry the day.
Speaking of Rimbaud, I’m finally getting to French poetry and, romantic that I am, I am starting with Rimbaud. Here’s a gorgeous, hypnotic B/W animation (with English subtitles) of his signature poem:
_____________________________________
I went away, fists in my torn pockets;
My coat was, as well, becoming ideal;
I went under the sky, Muse, and I was your servant;
Oh! of what splendid loves I dreamt
My only pair of pants had a large hole.
A dreaming Little-Tom-Thumb, I spewed forth, in my run,
Rhymes. My tavern was under the Great Bear.
My stars in the sky had a gentle frill
And I listened to them, sitting at the edge of roads
Those soft September nights where I felt drops
Of dew on my forehead like a vigorous wine;
Where, rhyming amidst the fantastic shadows,
Like lyres, I pulled elastics
From my injured shoes, one foot near my heart!
–Arthur Rimbaud, “Ma bohème”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_jn4e0P1I
_____________________________________
I’m guessing one can’t understand the French without understanding Rimbaud.
Jack Kerouac looked back to Walt Whitman and Thomas Wolfe, but I would argue that Rimbaud was his real model.
Kerouac spoke French!
Well, his family was part of the French-Canadian diaspora living in New England…where they moved to find work, often in the mill towns, e.g., Lowell, Mass., etc.
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
An interesting article, which could have been written by Victor Hanson, comparing power politics in ancient Greece to our own current predicament….
“The World’s Great Powers Are Adjusting To The New, Post-2016 Reality”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/worlds-great-powers-are-adjusting-new-post-2016-reality