USS Liberty Vet TELLS ALL: “It Was A Cover-Up From Day 1”

Israel is not the US's ally or friend. It is a threat. This is the most egregious of the examples of why I say that.

Terroir (not terror)

 Terroir is a French concept 

to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contextual characteristics are said to have a character; terroir also refers to this character.

Terroir is the basis of the French wine appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the terroir – and using recognized and traditional know-how. The specificity of an AOC product is determined by the combination of a physical and biological environment with established production techniques transmitted within a human community. Together, these give the product its distinctive qualities.

The defining technical and geographic factors are set forth in standards for each product, including wines, cheeses and meats. Other countries and the European Union have similar labeling systems. The European Union's protected designation of origin (PDO and PGI) system has harmonized the protection of all geographical indications and their registration. When labelling wine however, producers may still use recognized traditional terms like AOC, and are not required to display the PDO and PGI logos or terms, mostly for aesthetic purposes.

OK, long definition, but what it ultimately means is that there are certain foods that are specific to an area. It's tied into the concept of slow food, which promotes local foods and traditional gastronomy and food production. Conversely, this means an opposition to fast food and industrial food production. Something which is better for the environment, and definitely better than being vegan and having your quinoa flown in from South America.

Tim Martin, @legrandgaulois on instagram, made this clip in French about his project on terroir. Tim is really into local crafts and foods, but his material is in French.

But he's basically talking about how the term "terroir" can apply to other regions, which is the short form of what I said above.

Anyway, check out the slow food movement if you like your food by region and season.

Is flying or driving really that pleasurable?

A bit of Eurail promotion. Not that I really need it since I would rather sit and enjoy the countryside as I go from city centre to city centre without the hassles. 

I would rather see the money spent on rail travel than rebuilding a dying technology.

Parisian Suburbs

 One thing I don't like about the US is its reliance on cars and planes. Especially since the US was once a world leader in high speed rail technology. Sure, DC has a really good public transportation system, but its Disneyland compared to the rest of the US. I don't think there are metros (subways) that go to NYCs airports, but it does have a fairly extensive underground system.

Is Project 2025 the start of the US version of the English Civil War?

 Short form: the English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. To put it in US terms: those who wanted power in the Executive vs those who wanted a popular voice. It was even more radical in France, but the US is closer to England than the continent in its political nature.

According to this video, project 2025 seeks to make the executive branch the more powerful one.

 

 I go a lot further than this video in that I would like to see the executive branch be basically that: administration of the laws passed by the legislature with a very minimal voice in the legislation process.

That would make the president basically an official greeter.

Discard the duopoly!

I know that at least one of my other co-bloggers was buying into Russiagate, but it was the arrogance of trying to run Hilary Clinton in 2008 and 2016 followed by the "nomination" of Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris which was the ultimate sickener for me.

It was also an eye opener since duopoly politics diverts from real issues to "culture wars"/"hot button" issues, while the real problems get worse. It also neglects popular opinion, which in this case is asking the government to follow the laws on the books about genoicide and aid to nations which violate the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

This man explains another reason why Russiagate is BS:

Support for Israel violates §502B & §620I of the Foreign Assistance Act,  Under §4 of National Security Memorandum 18, the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, 18 USC § 1091 and 18 U.S. Code § 2441 (Jen-o-Side), 1961 Foreign Aid Act which prohibits aid to nations which have nuclear weapons.

I hope that the perpetrators and enablers of genocide are convicted of their crimes.

The Rich Get Richer (a coming crash?)

 So, Warren Buffet is selling bank stocks for cash because of an impending crash in business real estate.

Maybe that's not the best way to summarise the situation, but it hits a bunch of fallacies.

First off, once someone gets into the millionaire class, they tend to make more money doing nothing than most people do by working. Especially if they are in the Warren Buffet league.

Next is the dislike of fiat currency for something commodity based, which is loaded with fallacies. First, commodites ARE volatile: just do a search on "economic crash commodities" for an eye opener. The Panics of 1869 and 1893 saw quite a bit of controversy around gold and gold reserves. Fiat currency is based upon the stability of the issuing body (usually national, but the European Central Bank issues the Euro, so multinational and definitely governmental). 

But the bottom line is that currency is basically a tool for commerce. The best example of this comes from Terry Nation's show Survivors from the 1970s, where a man has a suitcase he is very protective of. He dies during the night and we find out that its full of paper money, which is pretty much useless since most people have died from the plague. The world of Survivors is the libertarian's dream.

Seriously, while many people don't like central banks, they do a fairly good job of keeping the economy running along. Of course, any realistic discussion of avoiding crashes requires that we talk of things that the right likes to term "socialistic" because there is governmental intervention in the economy and people are supposed to play by the rules (e.g., competition laws).