A blog dedicated to the rational discussion of politics and current events.
Monday, September 16, 2024
USS Liberty Vet TELLS ALL: “It Was A Cover-Up From Day 1”
Saturday, September 14, 2024
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.
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.
Friday, September 13, 2024
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.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
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.
Monday, September 9, 2024
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.
That would make the president basically an official greeter.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
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.
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
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).
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Why do Christians support the persecution of other Christians?
I am talking about the Christian Zionists who support Israel for whatever their misguided reasoning happens to be. This is despite the plethora of evidence that the Zionist state attacks Christians.
FYI, since people in the US happen to be ignorant as hell: The Levant is the cradle of Christianity. This is a definition of the Levant:
an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of West Asia and core territory of the political term Middle East. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is equivalent to Cyprus and a stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea in western Asia: i.e. the historical region of Syria ("Greater Syria"), which includes present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates. Its overwhelming characteristic is that it represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the Eastern Mediterranean with its islands; that is, it included all of the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece in Southern Europe to Cyrenaica, Eastern Libya in Northern Africa.
And the Levant has quite a few Christians within its territory. Although, recent history has seen them emmigrate. This is expecially true in Palestine. This video comes from the Rev. Munther Isaac:
"An Israeli airstrike injured my sister, Fadwa, and my niece, Maria, as it targeted a house next to Saint Porphyrius church in Gaza, killing women and children from our Muslim neighbors.
Saint Porphyrius church community is yet again in danger by the Israeli murderous military"
The Church of Saint Porphrius is the oldest active church in the city. Located in the Zaytun Quarter of the Old City of Gaza, it is named after the 5th-century bishop of Gaza, Saint Porphyrius, whose tomb is situated in the northeastern corner of the church. A church was built on the site as early as AD 425, but the construction of the current church was undertaken by the Crusaders in the 1150s or 1160s; they dedicated it to St Porphyrius.
The church was sheltering hundreds of people when an Israeli bomb severely damaged one of the four buildings in its compound on Thursday evening, causing its ceiling to collapse and leaving dozens trapped under slabs of concrete, according to witnesses in October of 2023.
This is one of many daily attacks on Christians by the zionist regime which some Christians ignorantly suppport.
These people who claim to be Christians need to pray and meditate on how THEY would feel if they were being subjected to this treatment, yet the world did nothing.
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets--Matthew 7:12
Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Galatians 5:14
The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
James 2:8
If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Matthew 22:39,40
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…
Leviticus 19:18
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Isaiah 1:17,18
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow…
Monday, August 19, 2024
Euro 1 to Euro 6 – Euro automobile emission standards explained
I don't really have a problem with driving in Paris since I usually take public transportation, but this popped up on my social media feed. It's your tough luck if you don't understand Italian.
I do drive, but it got me wondering what I would have to do should I decide to try driving in Paris again.
Which led me to learning that European Union regulations have been imposed on new cars, with the aim of improving air quality since 1992. This means that a car has to meet a certain Euro emissions standard depending upon when it is made. There are charts out there that explain which Euro rating your car is. Finding out whether your car is a Euro 6 diesel or a Euro 1 petrol, knowing your car's rating is more important than ever now, given the increasing number of levies and fines being introduced for older cars, especially diesels.
So, while people in the US are freaking out that there will be changes in automobile emissions standards with a push toward lowering them. That being tied to air quality.
The good thing is that older cars which are not as efficient will be eliminated.
But, yes, your cars in the future may not run on petroleum.
🚨BREAKING: HUGE problem for Dems!
I always thought she sounded stoned, but this is a real scary thought if this is true.
If there ever was a time for people to vote third party, it's now.
Friday, August 16, 2024
Unhappy with the presidential duopoly candidates? There are alternatives. Here's why you should vote third party.
Lesser evil voting hurts the voters. It also doesn't help our political discussion.
This is worth a listen if you don't like US politics and want change.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Kamala Harris Says She Was a Progressive Prosecutor...
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections
OK, maybe you don't give an fcuk about Palestinians, but Israelis live high on the hog with universal health care, nice homes, education, and all sorts of other goodies paid for by the US tax payers.
You don't get the "socialism" and "welfare state", but you pay to support a nation that does not act in the US interest.
Friday, August 9, 2024
Kamala Harris: "She's completely incompetent!"
I thought about posting Tulsi Gabbard ripping Kamala Harris on her record for those people who talk shit about 'Orrible 'Arris being "a real lefty". You can look those up since I disagree with Gabbard's direction these days. And there were questions about whether Tulsi was a lefty back in the day.
But as I like to say, most of "the Democrats are the party of the left" wouldn't spot a lefty if they walked up and smashed them over the head with a "smash the state" sign.
That said, Here is Norman Finkelstein who is a true lefty and the subject of "American Radical: the Trials of Norman Finkelstein"
Kamala Harris is in no way a lefty.
It's too bad the Green Party isn't allowed any publicity because we wouldn't hear nonsense about the Democrats being a "party of the left".
You know that Russian Interference?
Actually, it's more like they blame Russians for interference even though the 2016 election was thrown by the Electoral College, which comes from the US CONSTITUTION! It's called distraction.
The Israel lobby actually does what the Russians have been alleged to do.
And I don't care how pro-Israel you happen to be: that money would be much better spent here.
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Democrats don't discriminate on race, religion, sexual whatever, disability, or just ability for that matter.
![]() |
| Former Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock as Pinocchio with his wife, Glenys as Jiminy Cricket. |
But the democrats decided to run a three time loser who was beginning to show signs of dementia before the election even began. Then they decided to close ranks to prevent Sanders from getting the nomination.
And don't get me into John Fetterman, who should have withdrawn after his stroke, yet remains in office.
So much for the Dems being "wildly lefty" since what Sanders proposes is pretty much taken for granted outside the US. It's only in the US that people want to work themselves to death because they are heavily in debt. Go figure.
But I digress.
Toss in that his running mate, Kamala Harris, pulled out of the running because she was a poor candidate. All the opposition has to do is to address her record and she's cooked.
But two really bad candidates managed to win an election based on "Trump bad".
I'm not so sure about Tim Walz, but I have the feeling that the Dems picked another "winning" line up.
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
ELECTION RIGGING: US HYPOCRISY IN ACTION.
I was just thinking about the people who like to believe their vote somehow counts in the corrupt US System.
So, let's start with the elephant in the room:
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
I've mentioned this one ad nauseum, but the basic gist is that the popular vote is pretty much irrelevant in electing the president. Most people don't give a shit about this unless it's their candidate who got screwed over. So, I am hoping that Jill Stein can win the electoral vote since she's on enough states' ballots to pull it off. So, a third party upstart winning the Presidential election with around 24% of the vote in a handfull of states might shake things up.
So, if you don't like the system and the duopoly candidates, Jill Stein is your candidate. Her winning the election will stir things up more than Donald Trump beating Hilary Clinton in the electoral college.
Take the test here if you don't think the Electoral College is something that needs to go:
https://www.270towin.com/quiz/
If that doesn't get you to vote for Jill Stein, I don't know what will. After all, what would shake up the US Political landscape more than having a third party upstart win the election...
This isn't in any real order than what is coming to mind, so:
THE PRIMARY SYSTEM
Every wonder why this process drags on so long: especially with modern communications technology? That's because the system is rigged so that candidates that don't have a lot of funding can beat out other candidates. And even someone like Bernie Sanders can get shut out of the nomination because the Political Parties are not governmental institutions, but private entities who make their own rules.
That should be pretty obvious if you have been paying attention for the past 3 presidential elections.
Unless you really believe that Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris are the best candidates the US could come up with...
Which brings us to the other elephant in the room:
BIG MONEY IN POLITICS
That kind of goes with the previous aspect to this, but it goes well beyond it as well. The two parties go for who the big donors want, not the people. The "Democratic" party is really obvious about this. The big donors pick and the party tries to whip up enthusiasm for Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Any candidate who talks about the issues doesn't make it too far in the process. Even someone as tepid as Bernie Sanders, who had popular support, will be pushed out for someone the big donors don't find threatening.
As I like to point out, which you will learn if you take the 270towin quiz, Vermont is a historically red state. And Sanders (along with Leahy) have represented the state.
You get the point.
Sure ranked choice voting is one way to fight this, but I would vote Jill Stein and then write in my dogs if we had that option in this election.
Ok, I could go into way more detail, but I am very frustrated by people who think voting for the duopoly is going to change anything.
Thursday, August 1, 2024
More 'Orrible 'Arris, and she's even more 'Orrible...
We won't need ads telling people cannibis use is bad. We will just say--"look at our president..."
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
It's 'Orrible 'Arris
Every wonder why she is being pushed as the "democratic" nominee despite not having campaigned or won a vote?
Because she's 'Orribe 'Arris. She had such a poor showing in 2020 that she had to drop out early on.
And for those on the right who believe she is somehow a radical leftist.
Give me a break. You wouldn't know a radical leftist if they smacked you over the head with a smash the state sign.
There's no real difference between her and Trump.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Amazon REMOVES Books Critical Of Kamala Harris
No surprise here. Well, other than that her father is a true radical leftist. But Kamala is estranged from him and has been for a while. So much for Rita Panahi who is someone I think wouldn't know a real lefty if they smacked her on the head with a "smash the state" sign.
Don't try and raise our hopes with someone who is in no way progressive, Rita.
Rita should stick to Oz politics since she has no idea about US politics.
But that pretty much goes for most of the Sky News Oz crowd.
Alas, this is a clip of a much longer show, but Caleb Maupin is on a few others as well. Rita needs to swot up (do Aussies understand that term?) on US politics before she says ANYONE in the "Democratic" party is in anyway "lefty". Start with Real News Network's piece on Undoing the New Deal: the 1944 Coup against Henry Wallace. Bernie Sanders wasn't the first "lefty" to be torpedoed by the duopoly establishment.
Next, Rita, look up "La France Insoumise", they do have translations of the material on the party. You will encounter something closer to the left that wants to nationalise industries and do things that real leftys like.
But steer clear of AI since it is horrible with languages if you need a translator. Mais je me porterais volontiers volontaire pour ce poste.
And while we're at it, this book has been censored by Amazon, which is a LOT OF POSTS relating to how they are something any freedom loving person should despise. Fortunately, you can buy the book at Lulu (https://www.lulu.com/shop/caleb-maupin/kamala-harris-the-future-of-america-an-essay-in-three-parts/paperback/product-zmkjegd.html?q=Caleb+Maupin&page=1&pageSize=4), buying from something other than the monopoly called Amazon is a strike for freedom.
Do your research, Libertarians, Amazon is everything you claim to despise.
Actually, Lulu is having problems processing the orders for this book.


