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Open thread 7/6/24 — 38 Comments

  1. This, along with the “Flower Duet” from “Lakme,” will forever be two of the most beautiful pieces in Western Civilization.

  2. The BLS jobs report came out yesterday.
    https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/05/economy/june-jobs-report-final/index.html

    The unemployment rate moved a little higher, up 0.1 percentage points to 4.1%, marking the first time since November 2021 that the jobless rate was above 4%.

    But I thought the 2nd bar graph in the above link, a couple pages down, was concerning. Government jobs grew 70K, when most other industries are relatively static, or shrinking.

    The exception is education & health care which grew a little more than government jobs. I’m not sure why education and health care are lumped together, other than the fact that they are both labor intensive.

  3. TommyJay the regime is cooking the books
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/payrolls-rise-206k-after-huge-downward-revisions-unemployment-rate-jumps-three-year-high

    It appears that Biden's apparatchiks refuse to give up on the myth of a "strong labor market" just yet even as they admit to anyone who reads between the lines just how ugly things are getting.
    Moments ago the BLS reported that in June the US added 206K jobs, above the 190K expected.
    Not bad, especially with Goldman expecting 140K. Of course, a quick glance reveals where the "beat" came from: both previous months were revised sharply lower:

  4. There are some other lovely operatic duets.
    Lemme see: there’s the Sull’aria duet from Marriage of Figaro, the Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman, Mira o Norma from Norma, and the finale trio from Rosenkavalier just for openers.

  5. The news this morning is that a Parkinson’s Disease expert has visited the White House at least nine times in the past year. He’s a neurologist who also does motion disorders.

    Concealing a Parkinson’s diagnosis from the public is unconscionable.

  6. %"He's toast": Biden's ABC interview flops with Hill Democrats

    President Biden's interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos did little to tamp down mounting concerns from Democratic members of Congress about his ability to defeat former President Trump.
    Why it matters: Four House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to step down from the ticket, with lawmakers saying they expect more to follow soon.
    "The drip drip is about to be more than that," said one.
    Another told Axios: "We'll certainly amp up the public pressure as needed."
    https://www.axios.com/2024/07/06/biden-abc-interview-house-democrats-reaction

  7. "He's toast": Biden's ABC interview flops with Hill Democrats

    President Biden's interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos did little to tamp down mounting concerns from Democratic members of Congress about his ability to defeat former President Trump.
    Why it matters: Four House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to step down from the ticket, with lawmakers saying they expect more to follow soon.
    "The drip drip is about to be more than that," said one.
    Another told Axios: "We'll certainly amp up the public pressure as needed."
    https://www.axios.com/2024/07/06/biden-abc-interview-house-democrats-reaction

  8. I’m struck by the Jekyll – Hyde appearances of Biden.

    Yesterday he gave a stump speech in Wisconsin. His voice was strong, his eyes open, and he made sense most of the time – using a teleprompter.

    Sometime later he did an interview with George Stephanopoulos and it’s back to the reedy, weak voice, eyelids at half mast, and halting speech as he tries to remember words. A noticeable contrast.

    It’s like seeing two different people. IMO, they are medicating him for short appearances and letting him go unmedicated for thew longer stints where the medication’s effects might wear off in the middle and be obvious to all watching.

    Ot maybe Joe really does have a split personality. 🙂

  9. Wisconsin was the Loud, Yelling Joe, spewing lies with a liberal mix of swear words. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if Trump used those words.

  10. Kate:

    Anyone who is familiar with Parkinson’s – and I’m quite familiar with it, being close to 2 people with it – could easily recognize that Biden has had Parkinson’s symptoms for a long time. I first thought of the diagnosis for him years ago.

    I agree, though, that hiding such a diagnosis is wrong. But they do so many wrong things it’s hard to say which one is worst.

  11. Yes, Neo, my father had it, and I could see it.

    Honesty and the best thing for the country are not on the Biden agenda. Or Democrats’, either. They should have faced this last year and had an open primary.

  12. Re: Parkinson’s

    Biden could plead the “West Wing” precedent — President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS). This condition is a central plot point throughout the series. I’ve forgotten the details, but his MS is revealed and becomes a big deal.

    Then again, in real history we JFK and FDR who were less than candid about their health, not to mention Woodrow Wilson.

    Seems like more of a Democrat move.

  13. J.J., I do think they medicate him for the campaign appearances when he does the shouting routine. My father had Parkinson’s. I would call him, and he was really not entirely there mentally. So I’d call him the next day and he was sharp and knew what was going on around him. He was in and out, like Biden. (Although my dad was not as far “out” as Biden, even in his last days; Daddy was a whole lot more intelligent than Biden to begin with.)

  14. huxley, not that I approve of hiding things, but both MS and polio have mobility effects, not really mental effects.

  15. huxley, not that I approve of hiding things, but both MS and polio have mobility effects, not really mental effects.

    Kate:

    Depends on what one matches for. I was matching on “lack of transparency to voters on serious health issues.”

    By his last term FDR by wasn’t just suffering from post-polio paralysis. FDR had severe hypertension (high blood pressure) and congestive heart failure. These conditions were exacerbated by the immense stress and workload associated with leading the nation during World War II. He had also lost considerable weight and his health had deteriorated.

    FDR died of a stroke only a few months into his fourth term. Were any of his doctors surprised? I doubt it.

    Should voters have known how precarious FDR’s health was?

    That’s an interesting discussion as to the degree and the specifics.

  16. Yes, I think FDR’s health was poor enough in that last campaign that he should not have run, and his problems should have been disclosed. On the other hand, we were still in WWII. At least he switched out his VP.

  17. He didnt really step down then only several years later when the bahii operatives al queda kidnapped his daughter

  18. I think at this point, government doctors who mislead us or lie to us about the condition of key officials need to spend time in the gray bar hotel. If key people want health privacy, they can resign. We the people have an absolute right to know if POTUS, SCOTUS, SECDEF and others are actually fit for service. All these people need an annual government physical just like say … pilots.

  19. Some reading about the Parkinsons-like symptoms says that there are multiple possible disease and syndromes, and therefore multiple progression patterns in the illness. People like Biden who have suffered brain aneurysms in the past are somewhat more likely to develop these symptoms in old age. Whatever the underlying diagnosis, Biden is clearly not mentally well and should not be running for president, and he should not be in office.

  20. I didn’t know Parkinson’s had no certain diagnostic tests. From all that Neo and Kate have experienced personally, it sure sounds like Joe has it. What will the Democrats do? Aye, that is the question now. A lot is riding on that answer, which I’m sure will be something devious.

  21. as Ace would say, he died of heartache, and explosive flechettes,

    certainly Biden was barely functioning in ’21 and yet the apparat enabled him, in the worst possible way,

    those that pretended ‘it would be fine’ as the critical drinker put it, well they have to be held to account,

    I know thats a long cast of characters, like the one of Cleopatra,

  22. I was thinking of analogs of patriarchal families that resemble the Bidens, Faulkners snopes, of Yuknapatawa, the Sternwoods and the Crosses of Southern California, probably closest are the Shaws in Manchurian Candidate, yes the Angela Lansbury character comes readily to mind, Condon clearly thought McCarthy was a fool, like Gore thought of Nixon, the one that was Cantwell, and Henry Fonda’s character, name escapes me now is the noble Stevenson type, why noble well the right schools and the right pedigree, thats why they went with Nelson Rockefeller as much as with any political viewpoint, what ached in their craw that Nixon was right about Hiss, and someone as gauche as Chambers was the one to point it out,

    Stevenson could never get elected to the top job, so he was given the UN as a consolation prize, one might say he might have gotten wiser about Soviet intentions, after the Missile Crisis, but I tend to doubt it,

  23. “At least he switched out his VP.”

    Yes, to his credit, from what I’ve read he knew he wasn’t going to survive a fourth term, and that Commie Henry Wallace would have been a disaster. Truman may not have seemed an inspired choice but it turned out well.

  24. yes the fellow from the kansas machine, the pendergrast was pretty good all told,

    I think Obama was the closest to what Wallace might have been as President, with some unique elements to him

  25. J.J., my father’s Parkinson’s, in addition to the gait problems, freezing, and mild memory problems, was primarily a progressive failure of automatic and semi-automatic internal functions, and that’s what killed him. So far as we can tell, Biden doesn’t have those internal problems, and despite childish comments I’ve seen online, really, he couldn’t continue to travel and go to events if he did. I’m guessing he has one of the other dementias associated with what Neo and I have seen. He sees people who aren’t there. He can’t hold a train of thought or coherently express ideas.

  26. Two lovely women with lovely voices, dressed beautifully, creating wonderful music. Thank you Neo, for posting this uplifting video.

  27. Rick Beato has followed up his “The Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse” video which neo linked a week ago. He says a big reason is that passive social media has sucked up the young’s attention from music, art and even videogames.

    Furthermore, he says, the kids who take music lessons don’t even practice between lessons anymore.
    ________________________________

    Instead of practicing music, listening to music, looking up things about art, or playing video games, they’re doing [social media].

    I called one of my friends who’s a music teacher to ask him, “How many of your students only play during their lessons?” Meaning, they never practice during the week, they just play in their lesson.

    He said, “Oh, that’s easy. 100%.”

    This pretty much goes for any of my kids’ friends’ parents. When I ask them that question, they tell me their kids don’t practice. They go to their lessons every week without ever having touched their instrument.

    I know right now there are thousands of music teachers out there watching this who are going, “Yeah, that’s pretty much all my students too.”

    Why are they not learning instruments and why is video game playing going down? Because it takes work, and they don’t want to put in the work.

    It’s way easier just to open up their phone and put TikTok on, or YouTube Shorts, or Instagram and swipe up.

    –Rick Beato, “I Know You’re Angry, So Am I…”
    https://youtu.be/TU96wCDHGKM?t=259

    ________________________________

    This is tragic at so many levels. One of the most rewarding things in life, and such an important lesson to learn, is that hard work and practice pay off, even if one doesn’t become the best, rich, or a rock star.

  28. Apparently later on Wallace had second thoughts and even supported Eisenhower over Stevenson in 1956. Trust me miguel that will never happen to Obama.

  29. Yes, the Bidens have a lot in common with the family in “The Manchurian Candidate.” Look at all the people repeating that “Joe Biden is the Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Human Being I’ve Ever Known in My Life.”

    I also think of the Bidens as “Big Daddy” and “Big Momma” in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Families that lived together and were dominated by an overbearing patriarch (or matriarch) were a staple of 19th century life and literature, so there are probably other examples.

    I still prefer Gilbert O’Sullivan to Englebert Humperdinck.

  30. Open Thread – Sunday: Russian War on Ukraine

    Russian Escalation Strategy in Ukraine – The North Korean Deal, Kharkiv & Putin’s “Ceasefire” demand – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXwmcIfY0Y

    Timestamps:

    00:00:00 — Opening Words
    00:01:19 — What Am I Talking About?
    00:01:43 — The Russian Effort
    00:04:38 — Battlefield Dynamics
    00:11:32 — Losses & Costs
    00:20:10 — Kharkiv And Escalation
    00:26:28 — The Korean Connection
    00:39:26 — The Long Range Campaign
    00:47:59 — Putin’s “Peace”
    01:00:58 — What Next?
    01:02:56 — Channel Update

  31. Guess I’m not really that conversant with tennessee williams, I used the sternwoods because certainly the younger daughter, was more like at least one of the bidens, same with the crosses, which the late Robert Towne somewhat spliced the Doheny’s with the Mulhollands
    https://la.curbed.com/maps/raymond-chandler-quotes-square-books-los-angeles
    https://medium.com/@syfaern/raymond-chandlers-the-big-sleep-and-its-los-angeles-80-years-later-3211066e6ef

    the Sternwood residents was formerly that of Doheny is memory served don’t quote me,

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