Great sound quality for a 1919 recording. Either the year is wrong or it must have been digitally re-mastered. Igor Stravinsky called Rachmaninov “a six and a half foot scowl”.
About one grassroots relief effort for Hurrican Helene. From the comments: “One redneck with a chain saw is worth 100 PhDs.”
DEMs have no October Surprise on Trump, so it’s Woodward and back to Trump’s close connection to Putin ‘n Russia. Doubt that much if any of it is true—or relevant. However, Trump is definitely pro-Russia when it comes to Ukraine ‘n Zelensky – which is what I hold against him.
DRUDGE REPORT this morning has these articles:
• Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years, ex-KGB spy claims…
• CORN: The Don Running Disinformation Campaign, Not Political Campaign…
• FUENTES: I WILL NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP…
• ‘MAGA IS DEAD’…
On the Front page main Headlines: • WOODWARD BLOCKBUSTER
• TRUMP CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH PUTIN
• MANY PHONE CALLS IN PAST FEW YEARS
I may have read Woodward’s “Deep Throat (Watergate)” whilst in prison, but that’s it. This “War” book is sounding pitiful, and the DEMs are desperate since they’re having to use such a resource to attack Trump with, IMHO.
Trump Is Running a Disinformation Campaign, Not a Political Campaign
He’s not just lying. He’s creating an alternative reality.
David Corn
October 8, 2024
As Donald Trump attempts to return to the White House, he is not operating a political campaign as much as mounting a disinformation campaign.
The rough and tumble of American politics often includes false statements and lies—what once was called spin. Unfortunately, there has always been a degree of tolerance for campaign dissembling. Trump is no stranger to this mundane practice. He freely tosses falsehoods at the electorate. The economy when he was president was the best ever. He did a great job on Covid. The current rate of inflation is the worst in US history. The US has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe. Every Democrat and legal scholar wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. He was the smartest and most accomplished president the country has ever seen. And so on. It’s absurd braggadocio and a firehose of supposed but untrue facts—spewed to a degree far beyond what previous presidential candidates attempted to get away with.
These are things that might be exaggerations, but are more true than false, and more true than what the Democrats are saying. When Trump was president the economy was great. He did no worse with COVID than other world leaders. Plenty of Democrats didn’t like the Roe decision. Plenty of serious legal scholars questioned the decision. We have been giving a lot of money to Ukraine, if not more than European nations have been giving, perhaps more than we give the rest of Europe. Corn relies on “fact checks” that are themselves dubious. Here’s one of his own, “And he exclaimed, “She destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed California as the A.G…She destroyed the state of California.” Fact-check: She did not destroy California.” Seriously?
Politics today is all about creating and living in “alternative realities.” The one Corn is living in is one where he was never #MeToo’ed.
I reported a few months ago about how Drudge is now just a blaring nonsense site for the Democrats. I do stop by each morning just to see how many laughs I can get from their ridiculous headlines. Whatfinger, on the right, can be almost as bad, but actually has some occasional good links.
Rachmaninoff got tired of constant requests to play the C sharp minor prelude, so much so the Hofmann threatened to play it in a recital attended by Rachmaninoff as a joke, and in fact started to play it and then segued into another piece. Hofmann and Rachmaninoff were great admirers of each other. Here is Hofmann playing the piece.
A Twofer:
1) @ physicsguy – yeah, still hard to believe that DRUDGE swung so far to the Left…Geez!?
2) Another one-legged man dubbed ‘Lieutenant Dan’!?!? Yep:
‘The water’s going to come in, it’s going to rise. If you’re on land, it’s going to flood. You’re risking drowning. I’m in a boat, so the boat goes up with the water… it’s really the safest place to be, on my boat.’
He’s confident—UNLESS:
‘I’m confident in my ability to ride it out unless it turns into a situation, and I wind up in Kansas.‘
Unfortunately for him and Toto he can’t click his heels together to check if he is indeed in Kansas.
As a serious aside, boats and folks don’t float in water that has a lot of entrained air; will the storm surge water be all frothy? Hope not.
First heavy feeder band has been passing through here south of Ft. Myers, with accompanying tornado watches, heavy sideways rain, gusts estimated to 35-40 mph. This band looks to be gone within the next half-hour or so. Onward.
ArtDeco,
I found out early in my career what the AAUP is all about. Avoided it like the plague. National Association of Scholars is a much better organization, but has smaller membership and little influence. I was a member for about a decade and enjoyed meeting like minded academics, but dropped out after seeing it’s just not going to have any influence on stopping the rot.
sdferr
Stay safe.
Remember Operation Desert Storm & Bagdad Bob? We could all laugh at the obvious lies told by Bob and his corrupt government. But look where our government is now. FEMA really is doing a great job. They promise!
Will try physicsguy. That band has just now exited and it’s calm outside with mild winds 15-mph or so. This feeder-band was about half-again stronger than those of Helene a couple of weeks back. Gobs of rain and wind, sustained and gusting. Tornado warnings popped the cellphone every 15 mins, with numerous twisters reported on the ground further inland in Collier and Lee counties.
Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “War” has a bunch of quotes from Biden.
Ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden complained that Obama didn’t do enough to stop Putin in 2014, when the Russian leader invaded Crimea. “They fucked up in 2014,” Biden said to a friend according to Woodward. “That’s why we are here. We fucked it up. Barack never took Putin seriously.”
“That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f*cking guy!’ Biden declared privately about the Israeli prime minister to one of his associates in the spring of 2024 as Israel’s war in Gaza intensified, Woodward writes.
Hezbollah has been escalating its volume of rocket fire the last few days, now sending the largest barrages of fire since the war began a year ago, 90 to 100 at a time, concentrated on individual towns in the north.
Meantime, Pudding-Brain held a phone call with Netanyahu to “discuss” Israel’s response to Iran. The US administration is an enemy of Israel, so . . . pfffft
Surely it’s not a sign of political strength, let alone an indication of a needful disruption of Constitutional order. Say rather, dead on arrival. And the point of that? I read desperation.
Re: David Corn
Karmi, Abraxas:
Good grief.
I used to read Corn when he was an editor at “The Nation.” Now he’s a bureau chief at “Mother Jones.”
If you want the American left’s position du jour, he’s your man. If not, not.
Re: Harris destroying California
As California Attorney General, Harris was disliked by progressives. She actually was tougher on crime than lefties liked, though she supported progressive positions on the environment and LGBTQ rights.
sdferr, good luck and best wishes.
Thanks Kate, and so far, so good down here. Tornadoes inland thus far, fingers crossed they don’t show up any closer. After that, really, it’s the storm surge question, and that won’t be life threatening, but merely temporarily crud-bringing dwelling-damaging bother, minor troubles in the larger scheme of things.
Good luck sdferr…et al.
(And let’s hope that Fortune smiles upon the wise…heck, upon as many as possible…)
Liberals are furious that Bob Woodward waited to reveal critical details about Donald Trump in his book rather than when he became aware of the damning information.
“damning information”?!?!
Trump has called Russian President Vladimir Putin at least seven times since leaving office in January 2021 – and that he gifted the authoritarian leader COVID tests.
Former world leader calling another world leader “seven times” over a period of 3 years and 8-9 months is “damning information”?!?!
Sending another world leader COVID tests during the China Virus Hoax is “damning information”?!?!
Desperation…
Cursed Milton storm track seems ooching toward a Tampa landfall, so look out. Steady winds are picking up here, but still not too bad, gusts to high 40s as yet.
Well, it IS damning in the sense that Donald Trump “is [most certainly NOT] the smartest guy I know”…
As they say, “EVERYTHING is relative”…(especially when you’re the kingpin of a crime family….
Milton is “supposed” to be taking a right turn about now. It better do so or Tampa is sunk, literally.
@ Hubert > “Check out this column by John Lucas:”
Thanks for that link. Great story.
We don’t have to make America great again — we just need to get out of the way of the people who make it great now.
Lebanese terror outfit Hezbollah has changed its tune: After spending weeks trumpeting an apocalyptic end for Israel, the cadre of bloodthirsty cowards is begging the Jewish state to let up.
“We support the political efforts led by [Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri under the banner of achieving a cease-fire,” whined Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem — for the first time not conditioning a truce on an end to the war in Gaza.
Turns out bravely attacking your enemies with uncanny precision and skill, rather than begging them for peace, is effective as a military strategy.
Who knew?
@ TommyJay > “FEMA really is doing a great job. They promise!”
Great story by Olivia, detailing what government agencies THINK constitutes a fact-check (they learned it from the media).
What I find absolutely mind-blowing is that the webpage was ostensibly created to claw back the trust the agency has lost (a fool’s errand), and the whole list is one example after another of twisting the narrative, and exploiting technicalities to distort very serious and real concerns.
Nothing says transparency and accountability like mostly honest lies!
Loved her final mic drop.
Sdferr,
Eye wall is open with a lot of dry air coming in on west and south side. Looks like you may be spared a lot of rain until it passes. Whole lot of rain north and east.
The early C Sharp Minor Prelude composed at 19 is sooo Russian, almost to the point of sounding like a parody or caricature. Ditto the 2nd Piano Concerto, while an exquisitely beautiful piece, nevertheless has those heavy descending octaves as introduction paying homage to Mother Russia. It was only after spending time in America that Rachmaninoff was able to let loose and show his lighthearted, devilish soul. Listen to his mature Variations on a Theme of Paganini from the 1930s. In it he takes a somber almost evil sounding Dies irae and transforms it in variation 18 into one of the most beautifully melodic piano pieces ever composed. The Paganini Variations is his greatest composition.
Why was he sick of the C Sharp Minor Prelude? Because he’d become Americanized and by 1934 was a huge jazz aficionado. Russian music was too dark, pretentious, and depressing for him by then.
Sdferr: thanks for the link. Hadn’t heard that one.
More Shostakovich: the third (Scherzo) movement from his Piano Quintet in G Minor, Opus 57 (1940), in a live performance by Dutch violinist Janine Jansen from 2012:
Apparently, Shostakovich performed on the first recording of the quintet, on film, in December 1940, but the recording has not been published. I read somewhere that Shostakovich wrote the quintet to commemorate friends who had been killed or imprisoned during the Great Terror of 1936-1938.
Finally, Sviatoslav Richter and Oleg Kagan in a 1981 performance of Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Opus 21:
I am a complete amateur; I only watch the NHC projections. I thought it would come in at Venice. 🙂 So glad our daughter is not living in Lakewood Ranch any more. Hope all Floridians who post here are safe. Physicsguy, it might be interesting for you tomorrow morning as this thing exits Florida on the Atlantic side.
Kate,
Expecting just 2″. Forecast for tomorrow 70 mph gusts, but I doubt that will happen except maybe right on the coast. We are 15 miles inland. I may end being wrong, but I think we had it worse with Helene
My daughter says (she has friends still there) it’s coming in at about Siesta Key, south of Sarasota.
It has been blowing 45ish steady here the last hour or so, with gusts close to 60 I’d wager, but we’ve still got power and internet service. Cape Coral is probably a bit harder hit I’d reckon, though not too awful bad. Have yet to see any water rising, which is my gravest concern at this point.
Billionaire Elon Musk has endorsed the theory that UFOs are a ‘new weapons program’ hidden within the US government’s vast black budget.
The tech mogul recently told Tucker Carlson that he believes ‘we are the aliens’ because he has never seen extraterrestrial life in his time running SpaceX.
‘Unidentified flying objects’ are one thing,’ the tech mogul said in the interview, ‘but there’s always a bunch of classified programs that are underway: new aircraft, new missiles and things.’
His statements echoed that of the Pentagon, itself — which reported that a spike in UFO sightings from the 1950s and 60s had been caused by tests of advanced US spy planes and space technology.
But Musk promised to be the first person to expose extraterrestrial life, vowing to post any evidence he uncovers on his social media site X the moment he finds it.
…
‘I would guarantee that the split-second I see any evidence of aliens, I will immediately post that on the X platform,’ Musk told Carlson on the pundit’s new show, which is hosted on the social media site X.
‘It will probably be our number one post of all time,’ the billionaire added.
But Musk said he believes UFOs seen in the skies now are classified military vehicles.
‘Where are the aliens? Why don’t I see them,’ Musk said to Tucker.
‘A lot of people think we see aliens, but I have not seen any evidence.’
He continued to explain that SpaceX has more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit and ‘not once have we had to maneuver around an alien spacecraft.’
Many skeptical commentators have long maintained that UFOs could be classified US military test planes or other next-generation craft like the the Silent Ventus drone.
The drone was made by Florida-based start-up Undefined Technologies and generates thrust by ionizing the air with custom-made electrodes.
SpaceX has also been rumored to be building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified $1.8 billion contract with US intelligence agency the National Reconnaissance Office, which may have been the secret weapons Musk was referring to.
But the comments from the on-again, off-again contender for the world’s richest man elicited mixed reactions online, including from reporters responsible for bringing to light some of America’s most credentialed and high-profile UFO whistleblowers.
Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart — who conducted the first televised interview with UFO whistleblower David Grusch last year — has long maintained that Musk knows more than he is letting on about the government’s secret UFO programs.
‘I’ve been told by people who are aware of what Elon Musk and SpaceX are up to, that he has been read in to parts of “The Program,”‘ Coulthart told viewers of the cable channel NewsNation this May.
‘But at the moment, he’s taking the position he’s taken,’ he added. ‘Let’s see how long that lasts.’
Other critics on social media were less measured in their criticism of Musk’s comments, however.
‘So Elon is saying the USG has tech that can go from space to the surface of the ocean in seconds while also making sharp angle turns with no visible means of propulsion or wings and instantly disappear in front of pilots’ eyes,’ an X user shared.
‘Why is he wasting money on #SpaceX then?’
…
While the public criticizes Musk on X about his comments, he has been at least consistent with his opinion on UFOs throughout the year.
In May, the SpaceX founder said the people who believe there are aliens among us are the same people who believe NASA’s moon landings were fake.
Speaking on a panel titled ‘How to save the human race and other light topics’ at the 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference held in Los Angeles, Musk gave a similar response to what he shared with Tucker.
…
Nevertheless, Musk’s network of 6,426 Starlink satellites currently orbiting Earth as of September 2024, do routinely engage in evasive maneuvers to avoid collisions, as many as 275 such dodges per day to avoid other objects in space.
This week, Musk offered his best, unclassified assessment of what pilots and other military eyewitnesses were encountering when they report a out of this world craft.
‘If you had the top secret compartmented clearance, you would know about this new program,’ Musk told Carlson as a hypothetical. ‘So, then, you know, some pilot sees something moving fast and says, ‘Hey! I saw a UFO!”
Musk continued, speaking from the voice of a hypothetical senior Pentagon official: ‘Yeah, that was actually a new weapons program but we can’t tell you that.’
I went to college on the boundary of Sarasota and Bradenton. I remember the places now in the Milton news. They were beautiful. May they remain so.
Pay no attention to the global investment corporations that are vying for access to the natural resources—like lithium—in North Carolina’s landscape, and the shadowy business with no substantial presence in the marketplace, whose agents are running the property valuation operations! Confused? Allow me to explain.
On the FEMA website, one can navigate to a webpage that discloses the recipients of certain federal FEMA contracts, and what services those contractors provide; here’s an explanation of the relationship between FEMA and the private sector:
FEMA Advance Contracts for goods and services are competed [sic] and awarded in advance of major disaster declarations to provide efficient, cost-effective means for rapid delivery of supplies and services for recurring disaster response and recovery requirements.
If you search for the private companies with contracts for the “Housing Inspection Services” function, you’ll see two contracts, one to “WSP USA Services, Inc.” and the other to Vanguard Inspection Services.
Screenshot from FEMA webpage
[AF: there are more screenshots & quotes for other assertions, usually where I put …]
For context, WSP is a environmental consulting firm based out of Canada, with BlackRock and Vanguard Group being major investors.
…
Regarding Vanguard Inspection Services, it’s got all the markers of a front company; as far as I can tell, it looks as though VIS exists solely to do business with FEMA.
…
Now, a Florida county government recently announced that FEMA would be conducting “free” home inspections, which is part of the process to rebuild:
…
Per the same announcement, inspectors will consider things like livability, whether or not the utility connections and systems are in “working order,” the “structural soundness” of the domicile, and whether or not the property is “safe” to access.
First of all, we need to consider the implications of home inspectors, employed in part by BlackRock and Vanguard investments, surveying the damage and assessing the value of hurricane-stricken North Carolina—especially because of the vast lithium deposits in the ground beneath and around these private properties.
According to Straits Research, a major market analyst, the demand for lithium is going to explode over the next few years:
The global lithium market size was valued at USD 38.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach a value of USD 230.4 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 22.1% during the forecast period (2023-2031).
This is a more than 500% increase in less than a decade.
Here’s this, from a report less than two weeks ago;
Albemarle, a major lithium producer, is pursuing lithium production in North Carolina. Earlier this year, it announced plans to reopen the resource-rich lithium Kings Mountain mine in the state by the end of 2026, supported by $150 million in DoE funding. However, it has faced backlash from environmentalists and indigenous groups looking to block the development, which has led to delays. Albemarle is looking to expand its domestic lithium production.
And, wouldn’t you know it, but BlackRock is major investor in Albemarle:
….
Are company agents essentially working on behalf of BlackRock and Vanguard going to be impartial parties as they value and assess the properties destroyed by Hurricane Helene? Are they going to deem these residences “liveable” and “safe” if their bosses want what’s buried beneath the homes? Is there an incentive for these contracted “home inspectors” to screw the homeowners out of their own property? Will these homes be condemned, so the BlackRock and Vanguard bosses can dole out paltry “fair market value” pennies, and become even wealthier?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d reckon this is fixing to be one of the great wealth transfers in the history of the U.S.
I won’t go so far as to claim that the dreaded Democrats can control hurricanes, but they are confirmed adherents of the “never let a serious crisis to go to waste” school of politics and money.
Tropicana Field’s roof has been ripped away in St. Pete.
Water is rising here after the winds shifted to west-southwest, but it’s still out in the parking lot below sidewalk grade. Rising slowly though, so we’ll see where it quits.
@ sdferr (Hubert) thanks for the concert playlist.
“Also fun with a quasi comic spirit is op. 87 #15 ”
I love the sites that put the sheet music up while the musician is playing, and that one is really a corker!
My personal favorite poet is Frank O’Hara, who started as a young man with ambitions as a pianist before turning to poetry.
Rachmaninoff was his favorite composer for piano. O’Hara wrote a series of poems on Rachmaninoff’s birthday. Here’s my favorite of those:
____________________________
On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday
Blue windows, blue rooftops
and the blue light of the rain,
these contiguous phrases of Rachmaninoff
pouring into my enormous ears
and the tears falling into my blindness
for without him I do not play,
especially in the afternoon
on the day of his birthday. Good
fortune, you would have been
my teacher and I your only pupil
and I would always play again.
Secrets of Liszt and Scriabin
whispered to me over the keyboard
on unsunny afternoons! and growing
still in my stormy heart.
Only my eyes would be blue as I played
and you rapped my knuckles,
dearest father of all the Russians,
placing my fingers tenderly upon your cold, tired eyes.
Perhaps this belongs on the Milton thread, but I had the thought tonight, so:
I wonder how well Florida would be managing Debbie or Helene or Milton if DeSantis had won the presidential primary and thus have been or be pretty fully engaged in campaigning.
Perhaps it is a case of the country’s loss is Florida’s gain?
I guess Milton is still 6 to 8 hours away from us in central FL, but I hear wind gusts aplenty now. Probably time to shut down the computer to avoid issues with power surges if/when the power goes out. 🙂
@RTL
My thought is that DeSantis would have suspended campaigning to deal with the storm, and/or delegated whatever he could to competent underlings.
My other thought is that perhaps he would have a commanding lead against Harris.
@ RTL & Dax – the same thoughts had crossed my mind.
Lots of the news about both hurricanes features DeSantis, and rightly so.
Here’s a recent post showing his mettle.
I have no problem supporting him for President if he chooses to go that route later, but Florida is surely fortunate to have his undivided attention now.
“The safest place to be in a flood is on a boat. We learned that with Noah. Everyone that stayed on land drowned,” Malinowski told reporters.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor claimed that ‘Lieutenant Dan’ had been taken to a shelter by police:
“He has been rescued, and he is now in a shelter as well. If we can get Lieutenant Dan to go to a shelter, we can get anybody to do that,” she told reporters.
However, that may have been a lie or some political move to get other people to go to a shelter…I dunno. Mayor is a democrat, so she probably doesn’t ‘Dunno’ either, since:
But Lieutenant Dan, whose real name is Joseph Malinowski, was spotted on his small sailboat docked in Tampa Bay just moments later.
“I know the Mayor of Tampa just said in her press conference that Lieutenant Dan went to a shelter. He didn’t, I’m standing right here,” NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin tweeted just before noon alongside a photo of Malinowski popping his head out of the canvas covering his sailboat’s cabin.
OK – ‘Lieutenant Dan’ survived Milton whilst riding it out in a 20ft sailboat…
In re: the lithium rumors in North Carolina. The proposed lithium mine, which is getting the usual NIMBY resistance, is in King’s Mountain, west of Charlotte, and not in the high-damage Helene areas.
What is really a problem is Spruce Pine, the small town up in the mountains which contains the nation’s source of pure quartz, used in computer chips.
But people are noting that Lieutenant Dan’s epic story may just be one giant grift.
For one thing, the guy has a lengthy arrest record. Check out his mugshots:
…
Here’s one arrest from North Carolina in 2016 for assaulting a woman:
Of course, the fact that Joseph Malinowski was arrested over a dozen times only adds to his Florida Man credentials.
But there’s more.
He also lists himself as a “digital creator” on his Facebook page … and that’s not all:
Mena Ganey ?? ?
@mena_ganey
Lieutenant Dan is a digital creator who started a gofundme three weeks ago. He has four names: and was arrested for battering Leo/EMT with a violin. He’s already up to 20k and has accepted the mayors offer for shelter. I hate grifters.
So this career criminal made his way to Tampa Bay to purposely park himself in the worst, most visible spot.
All of this for internet clout.
Yeah, well, it worked.
A dangerous scam, if that’s what it is, but if people want to buy “Dan” a boat, it’s their money.
They may not know his background, however.
That’s how fraudulent “charities” and “fundraisers” make a living, as has been shown over and over.
Do your due diligence, and know where your money is going.
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Great sound quality for a 1919 recording. Either the year is wrong or it must have been digitally re-mastered. Igor Stravinsky called Rachmaninov “a six and a half foot scowl”.
(switching gears)
Check out this column by John Lucas:
https://johnalucas6.substack.com/p/the-american-spirit
About one grassroots relief effort for Hurrican Helene. From the comments: “One redneck with a chain saw is worth 100 PhDs.”
DEMs have no October Surprise on Trump, so it’s Woodward and back to Trump’s close connection to Putin ‘n Russia. Doubt that much if any of it is true—or relevant. However, Trump is definitely pro-Russia when it comes to Ukraine ‘n Zelensky – which is what I hold against him.
DRUDGE REPORT this morning has these articles:
• Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years, ex-KGB spy claims…
• CORN: The Don Running Disinformation Campaign, Not Political Campaign…
• FUENTES: I WILL NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP…
• ‘MAGA IS DEAD’…
On the Front page main Headlines:
• WOODWARD BLOCKBUSTER
• TRUMP CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH PUTIN
• MANY PHONE CALLS IN PAST FEW YEARS
How hard hitting is this new Woodward book? One headline links to – Trump and Putin Have Had ‘As Many as Seven’ Private Phone Calls Since Trump Left the White House, Per Bob Woodward’s New Book … er, OK. That’s Mediaite’s Title take on the book, but then they barely mention the calls and go into “Trump’s seemingly special treatment of Putin, including during the Covid-19 pandemic” … er, Ditto on the OK.
Another headline links to – Trump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says … that’s it Bob?! That article is from WP thru MSN.
I may have read Woodward’s “Deep Throat (Watergate)” whilst in prison, but that’s it. This “War” book is sounding pitiful, and the DEMs are desperate since they’re having to use such a resource to attack Trump with, IMHO.
Trump Is Running a Disinformation Campaign, Not a Political Campaign
He’s not just lying. He’s creating an alternative reality.
David Corn
October 8, 2024
As Donald Trump attempts to return to the White House, he is not operating a political campaign as much as mounting a disinformation campaign.
The rough and tumble of American politics often includes false statements and lies—what once was called spin. Unfortunately, there has always been a degree of tolerance for campaign dissembling. Trump is no stranger to this mundane practice. He freely tosses falsehoods at the electorate. The economy when he was president was the best ever. He did a great job on Covid. The current rate of inflation is the worst in US history. The US has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe. Every Democrat and legal scholar wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. He was the smartest and most accomplished president the country has ever seen. And so on. It’s absurd braggadocio and a firehose of supposed but untrue facts—spewed to a degree far beyond what previous presidential candidates attempted to get away with.
These are things that might be exaggerations, but are more true than false, and more true than what the Democrats are saying. When Trump was president the economy was great. He did no worse with COVID than other world leaders. Plenty of Democrats didn’t like the Roe decision. Plenty of serious legal scholars questioned the decision. We have been giving a lot of money to Ukraine, if not more than European nations have been giving, perhaps more than we give the rest of Europe. Corn relies on “fact checks” that are themselves dubious. Here’s one of his own, “And he exclaimed, “She destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed California as the A.G…She destroyed the state of California.” Fact-check: She did not destroy California.” Seriously?
Politics today is all about creating and living in “alternative realities.” The one Corn is living in is one where he was never #MeToo’ed.
More Dusty
==
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4pYANUAJAI
Karmi,
I reported a few months ago about how Drudge is now just a blaring nonsense site for the Democrats. I do stop by each morning just to see how many laughs I can get from their ridiculous headlines. Whatfinger, on the right, can be almost as bad, but actually has some occasional good links.
Yes, the American Association of University Professors is an organization of poseurs.
==
https://www.campusreform.org/article/tashjy-anti-israel-agenda-motivated-professors-abandon-academic-freedom-principles/26488
==
Have a gander at their board:
==
https://www.aaup.org/about/elected-leaders
==
You’ll notice that only two members of their board are drawn from disciplines where quantification is the mode. You’ll also notice the representation of the following faculty subsets on the board is as follows:
==
Natural sciences: 0
Engineering: 0
Business: 0
Medicine: 0
Rachmaninoff got tired of constant requests to play the C sharp minor prelude, so much so the Hofmann threatened to play it in a recital attended by Rachmaninoff as a joke, and in fact started to play it and then segued into another piece. Hofmann and Rachmaninoff were great admirers of each other. Here is Hofmann playing the piece.
A Twofer:
1) @ physicsguy – yeah, still hard to believe that DRUDGE swung so far to the Left…Geez!?
2) Another one-legged man dubbed ‘Lieutenant Dan’!?!? Yep:
TikTokker dubbed ‘Lieutenant Dan’ who lives on a 20ft sailboat in Tampa ignores ‘flee or die’ advice and vows to ‘ride out’ monster Hurricane Milton – ‘Lieutenant Dan’ (aka Joe Sea) has this to say about Storm Surge:
He’s confident—UNLESS:
Unfortunately for him and Toto he can’t click his heels together to check if he is indeed in Kansas.
As a serious aside, boats and folks don’t float in water that has a lot of entrained air; will the storm surge water be all frothy? Hope not.
First heavy feeder band has been passing through here south of Ft. Myers, with accompanying tornado watches, heavy sideways rain, gusts estimated to 35-40 mph. This band looks to be gone within the next half-hour or so. Onward.
ArtDeco,
I found out early in my career what the AAUP is all about. Avoided it like the plague. National Association of Scholars is a much better organization, but has smaller membership and little influence. I was a member for about a decade and enjoyed meeting like minded academics, but dropped out after seeing it’s just not going to have any influence on stopping the rot.
sdferr
Stay safe.
Remember Operation Desert Storm & Bagdad Bob? We could all laugh at the obvious lies told by Bob and his corrupt government. But look where our government is now. FEMA really is doing a great job. They promise!
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/10/fema_sets_up_a_rumor_response_webpage_to_set_the_record_straight_after_all_the_scrutiny_of_its_response_to_helene.html
Will try physicsguy. That band has just now exited and it’s calm outside with mild winds 15-mph or so. This feeder-band was about half-again stronger than those of Helene a couple of weeks back. Gobs of rain and wind, sustained and gusting. Tornado warnings popped the cellphone every 15 mins, with numerous twisters reported on the ground further inland in Collier and Lee counties.
And back to waiting.
Biden’s starting to lash out at all those who he feels betryed him.
Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “War” has a bunch of quotes from Biden.
Hezbollah has been escalating its volume of rocket fire the last few days, now sending the largest barrages of fire since the war began a year ago, 90 to 100 at a time, concentrated on individual towns in the north.
Meantime, Pudding-Brain held a phone call with Netanyahu to “discuss” Israel’s response to Iran. The US administration is an enemy of Israel, so . . . pfffft
A story like the following seems to me to scream “We’re doomed to lose this election!”: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13941935/tim-walz-electoral-college.html
Surely it’s not a sign of political strength, let alone an indication of a needful disruption of Constitutional order. Say rather, dead on arrival. And the point of that? I read desperation.
Re: David Corn
Karmi, Abraxas:
Good grief.
I used to read Corn when he was an editor at “The Nation.” Now he’s a bureau chief at “Mother Jones.”
If you want the American left’s position du jour, he’s your man. If not, not.
Re: Harris destroying California
As California Attorney General, Harris was disliked by progressives. She actually was tougher on crime than lefties liked, though she supported progressive positions on the environment and LGBTQ rights.
sdferr, good luck and best wishes.
Thanks Kate, and so far, so good down here. Tornadoes inland thus far, fingers crossed they don’t show up any closer. After that, really, it’s the storm surge question, and that won’t be life threatening, but merely temporarily crud-bringing dwelling-damaging bother, minor troubles in the larger scheme of things.
Good luck sdferr…et al.
(And let’s hope that Fortune smiles upon the wise…heck, upon as many as possible…)
UPDATE on my 9:59 am comment – Bob Woodward blasted as ‘disgusting’ for withholding critical information about Trump and Putin for his new book: ‘Do not reward this behavior’
“damning information”?!?!
Former world leader calling another world leader “seven times” over a period of 3 years and 8-9 months is “damning information”?!?!
Sending another world leader COVID tests during the China Virus Hoax is “damning information”?!?!
Desperation…
Cursed Milton storm track seems ooching toward a Tampa landfall, so look out. Steady winds are picking up here, but still not too bad, gusts to high 40s as yet.
Well, it IS damning in the sense that Donald Trump “is [most certainly NOT] the smartest guy I know”…
As they say, “EVERYTHING is relative”…(especially when you’re the kingpin of a crime family….
Milton is “supposed” to be taking a right turn about now. It better do so or Tampa is sunk, literally.
@ Hubert > “Check out this column by John Lucas:”
Thanks for that link. Great story.
We don’t have to make America great again — we just need to get out of the way of the people who make it great now.
Hezbollah begging for mercy proves Israel is right to fight —and shrug off Biden’s terrible advice
@ TommyJay > “FEMA really is doing a great job. They promise!”
Great story by Olivia, detailing what government agencies THINK constitutes a fact-check (they learned it from the media).
Loved her final mic drop.
Sdferr,
Eye wall is open with a lot of dry air coming in on west and south side. Looks like you may be spared a lot of rain until it passes. Whole lot of rain north and east.
The early C Sharp Minor Prelude composed at 19 is sooo Russian, almost to the point of sounding like a parody or caricature. Ditto the 2nd Piano Concerto, while an exquisitely beautiful piece, nevertheless has those heavy descending octaves as introduction paying homage to Mother Russia. It was only after spending time in America that Rachmaninoff was able to let loose and show his lighthearted, devilish soul. Listen to his mature Variations on a Theme of Paganini from the 1930s. In it he takes a somber almost evil sounding Dies irae and transforms it in variation 18 into one of the most beautifully melodic piano pieces ever composed. The Paganini Variations is his greatest composition.
Why was he sick of the C Sharp Minor Prelude? Because he’d become Americanized and by 1934 was a huge jazz aficionado. Russian music was too dark, pretentious, and depressing for him by then.
Shostakovich found a way out (op. 87, Prelude and Fugue no. 7 in A maj.): https://youtu.be/GLxEQJJWEpY
Sdferr: thanks for the link. Hadn’t heard that one.
More Shostakovich: the third (Scherzo) movement from his Piano Quintet in G Minor, Opus 57 (1940), in a live performance by Dutch violinist Janine Jansen from 2012:
https://youtu.be/OgeQG-PvDzE?feature=shared&t=975
Apparently, Shostakovich performed on the first recording of the quintet, on film, in December 1940, but the recording has not been published. I read somewhere that Shostakovich wrote the quintet to commemorate friends who had been killed or imprisoned during the Great Terror of 1936-1938.
Finally, Sviatoslav Richter and Oleg Kagan in a 1981 performance of Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Opus 21:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c69RkfsdguE&t=787s
High Russian art, performed in the depths of the Soviet Union’s final era of stagnation.
Also fun with a quasi comic spirit is op. 87 #15 Hubert: https://youtu.be/3lydTIHUvTk
Hamelin is particularly boisterous, Tatyana Nikolayeva less so (and she was the dedicatee).
Here’s one for our buddy Milton: https://youtu.be/1-B2KwFS11w
Milton eye coming ashore centered around Venice
I am a complete amateur; I only watch the NHC projections. I thought it would come in at Venice. 🙂 So glad our daughter is not living in Lakewood Ranch any more. Hope all Floridians who post here are safe. Physicsguy, it might be interesting for you tomorrow morning as this thing exits Florida on the Atlantic side.
Kate,
Expecting just 2″. Forecast for tomorrow 70 mph gusts, but I doubt that will happen except maybe right on the coast. We are 15 miles inland. I may end being wrong, but I think we had it worse with Helene
My reply: https://youtu.be/qYcZGPLAnHA?si=xJBua5gq9yZNzrUO
Yes, physicsguy, Helene came closer to you.
sdferr,
I have a good friend in Cape Coral.
My daughter says (she has friends still there) it’s coming in at about Siesta Key, south of Sarasota.
It has been blowing 45ish steady here the last hour or so, with gusts close to 60 I’d wager, but we’ve still got power and internet service. Cape Coral is probably a bit harder hit I’d reckon, though not too awful bad. Have yet to see any water rising, which is my gravest concern at this point.
Pictures and videos.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13942647/Hurricane-Milton-livestream-Watch-storm-Florida-Gulf-Coast.html
Glad to hear everyone is safe so far.
Stay vigilant!
I hope the Mail checks back on this guy later!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13942993/florida-man-strap-house-hurricane-milton-viral.html
Giancarlo Stanton stole a base tonight, which, that’s nuts. He just solo homered to give the Skanks a 3-2 lead.
And for something completely different – for Snow on Pine.
You have probably already read this one.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13942241/Pentagon-secret-UFO-retrieval-program-Immaculate-Constellation-whistleblower-report.html
But I thought this one was interesting, and not exactly what the URL implies.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13938399/Elon-reveals-military-sightings-UFOs-share-evidence-aliens.html?ico=related-replace
I went to college on the boundary of Sarasota and Bradenton. I remember the places now in the Milton news. They were beautiful. May they remain so.
Best to all.
One of the “conspiracy theories” that the media has been quick to “debunk” (as in “nothing to see here” without any additional proof) is moving up on the tin-foil-hat chart.
Olivia Murray is one of AT’s better columnists, and she puts a lot of dots up to be connected.
Do I need to say that denials by Blackrock and the government without real evidence will not impress me?
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/10/fema_contracts_out_its_home_inspection_services_to_blackrock_and_a_front_company.html
I won’t go so far as to claim that the dreaded Democrats can control hurricanes, but they are confirmed adherents of the “never let a serious crisis to go to waste” school of politics and money.
Just a reminder of who is in that club (hint: it isn’t you).
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-never-let-a-serious-crisis-go-to-waste-crowd-strikes-again/
Tropicana Field’s roof has been ripped away in St. Pete.
Water is rising here after the winds shifted to west-southwest, but it’s still out in the parking lot below sidewalk grade. Rising slowly though, so we’ll see where it quits.
@ sdferr (Hubert) thanks for the concert playlist.
“Also fun with a quasi comic spirit is op. 87 #15 ”
I love the sites that put the sheet music up while the musician is playing, and that one is really a corker!
My personal favorite poet is Frank O’Hara, who started as a young man with ambitions as a pianist before turning to poetry.
Rachmaninoff was his favorite composer for piano. O’Hara wrote a series of poems on Rachmaninoff’s birthday. Here’s my favorite of those:
____________________________
On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday
Blue windows, blue rooftops
and the blue light of the rain,
these contiguous phrases of Rachmaninoff
pouring into my enormous ears
and the tears falling into my blindness
for without him I do not play,
especially in the afternoon
on the day of his birthday. Good
fortune, you would have been
my teacher and I your only pupil
and I would always play again.
Secrets of Liszt and Scriabin
whispered to me over the keyboard
on unsunny afternoons! and growing
still in my stormy heart.
Only my eyes would be blue as I played
and you rapped my knuckles,
dearest father of all the Russians,
placing my fingers tenderly upon your cold, tired eyes.
–Frank O’Hara
____________________________
For more info:
https://newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/on-rachmaninoffs-birthday-frank-ohara-and-the-russian-composer/
Perhaps this belongs on the Milton thread, but I had the thought tonight, so:
I wonder how well Florida would be managing Debbie or Helene or Milton if DeSantis had won the presidential primary and thus have been or be pretty fully engaged in campaigning.
Perhaps it is a case of the country’s loss is Florida’s gain?
I guess Milton is still 6 to 8 hours away from us in central FL, but I hear wind gusts aplenty now. Probably time to shut down the computer to avoid issues with power surges if/when the power goes out. 🙂
@RTL
My thought is that DeSantis would have suspended campaigning to deal with the storm, and/or delegated whatever he could to competent underlings.
My other thought is that perhaps he would have a commanding lead against Harris.
@ RTL & Dax – the same thoughts had crossed my mind.
Lots of the news about both hurricanes features DeSantis, and rightly so.
Here’s a recent post showing his mettle.
I have no problem supporting him for President if he chooses to go that route later, but Florida is surely fortunate to have his undivided attention now.
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2024/10/09/what-leadership-looks-like-desantis-gives-inject-into-my-veins-answer-to-concerns-about-fema-in-florida-n2180375
UPDATE on my ‘Lieutenant Dan’ October 9, 2024 at 10:49 am comment:
Tampa’s ‘Lieutenant Dan’ emerges unscathed after braving Milton’s fury on his sailboat — despite mayor insisting he went to shelter
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor claimed that ‘Lieutenant Dan’ had been taken to a shelter by police:
However, that may have been a lie or some political move to get other people to go to a shelter…I dunno. Mayor is a democrat, so she probably doesn’t ‘Dunno’ either, since:
OK – ‘Lieutenant Dan’ survived Milton whilst riding it out in a 20ft sailboat…
In re: the lithium rumors in North Carolina. The proposed lithium mine, which is getting the usual NIMBY resistance, is in King’s Mountain, west of Charlotte, and not in the high-damage Helene areas.
What is really a problem is Spruce Pine, the small town up in the mountains which contains the nation’s source of pure quartz, used in computer chips.
https://www.techspot.com/news/104938-hurricane-helene-damage-may-threaten-critical-semiconductor-supply.html
Got a text from friends in Cape Coral they’re ok , going to see if their house made it.
@ Karmi – I can’t say yea or nay on this, but we’ve learned many times that people will do amazingly crazy things to get a GoFundMe started for themselves.
https://notthebee.com/article/lieutenant-dan-is-alive-but-people-are-starting-to-think-this-whole-thing-was-one-big-grift-heres-why
A dangerous scam, if that’s what it is, but if people want to buy “Dan” a boat, it’s their money.
They may not know his background, however.
That’s how fraudulent “charities” and “fundraisers” make a living, as has been shown over and over.
Do your due diligence, and know where your money is going.