You know, I'm going to have a birthday party next month and ask everyone to bring their own version of a "Chinese spy balloon". I think it'll turn into quite a fun party once we're all shooting the balloons down with our $12 billion pea shooters. :-)
You just can't make up the insanity our so-called "leaders" come up with just to justify America's obscene "defense" (more like offense) budget.
Not to spoil your party, but I once release several hundred balloons. While it was fun to watch them float away at the time, I find myself haunted by the environmental damage they may have caused. Maybe it was nothing; maybe some turtle somewhere swallowed some and couldn't poop them out.
Yeah, it will be an indoor party. Too cold to be outside. And I've heard horror stories about balloons in the environment. I cringe at all these sports events where they release them by the thousands. Not a good idea.
This is what happens when propaganda takes on a life of its own: flying paper planes could be fatal. And it discloses the mentality or lack of it - of our leaders and protectors. Are they even embarrassed, ashamed? Unbelievable.
This fiasco should put to rest the baseless notion that just because conservative republicans are batshit crazy, liberal democrats are automatically sane by default. With each passing day, the proof mounts (it's already a mountain range) that both major political parties in the U.S. have completely lost their fucking minds, to the point they don't even have the good sense to be embarrassed. The American media (whose job is calling bullshit on ruling class narratives but no longer do) have become shameless propagandists for Dr. Strangelove. And the enlightened bougie liberals (the 'woke') will shrug this off as not worthy of their attention while they go back to obsessing over preferred personal pronouns. In their minds, the dangerous macroaggression of nuclear brinkmanship isn't nearly as worthy of their attention as the urgent threat of perceived microaggressions.
Many "progressives" not only stayed home, but OPPOSED the event. Imagine that: the so called "left" and "progressive" political forces in the US OPPOSED an ANTI-WAR protest!
The "left" has been hijacked by privileged brats who put more importance on identity politics than on the survival of life itself. Interesting how their rhetoric of 'intersectionality' leaves no room for anti-war narratives.
In the 19th century USA, all "news" was partisan, and newspapers were published by political parties, full of the unashamed advocacy for aristocratic interests one might expect. When socialist and populist parties arose to publish their perspectives, the conceit of "objectivity" was created to elevate the two-party consensus as "reality" or "truth", and implicitly demote socialist and populist perspectives alike to mere opinion. Since Reagan deregulated mass media ownership and rescinded the Fairness Doctrine, the "news" has discarded the pretense of non-partisanship but retained the conceit of objectivity, which works out just as well or better for the oligarchs.
In other words, our feelings about what any institution should do are irrelevant to an institution's real purposes, to pantomime valuable (to them) action. If their purposes were to complete material endeavors, we would call that organization an enterprise instead.
“The only thing I ever saw that came close to Objective Journalism was the closed circuit TV that watched shoplifters in the General Store at Woody Creek. Don’t bother to look for it here, not under any byline of mine, or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a gross contradiction in terms.”
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972
You forgot".. and the Joker and Poison Ivy are in charge." Yeah, started using that very line too long ago. As things became more blatant, so much so, the sense of being mocked openly isn't misplaced, it's really the perfect analogy. Please dear people, associate, affiliate, organize in whatever communities you can. Preferably local but any sort will do if its focus is practical solutions and surviving the obvious status many of us have now. If not profitable, then expendable.
That howitzers into the desert article you rode a while back made it clear how much they need something to do. Here's more proof. It's funny but terrifying. IIRC Bertrand Russell said something about how weird it is that everyone discounts boredom as a possible reason things happen. You know things like nukes and such.
I keep thinking about what comment I should leave,, or should I even bother anymore, but I keep having all these old references conning up in my mind,, like one balloon flew over the coo coos nest,, or sargent Ororke shouting it's a balloon! Yeah I know I'm dating myself but I have to reach back in time to when insanity was not such the norm. I seriously now believe I'm living in an open air insane asylum and pretty sure it's starting to rub off on me...now I wish I could smother a few DC criminals with a pillow to put them out of all our misery.
Solidarity. I'm stealing that phrase from you "Open air insane asylum" that is the perfect description of the u.s. (lower case for disrespect" experience. I work at a lab that is international and many are saying the same is happening in their countries of the insane North.
There is a Greek word for leadership by those who are the least able or the least suited to lead - Kakistocracy. A kakistocracy is clearly what we have today, the world over.
this reminds me of the Sputnik Satellite hysteria in the 1950s, and the Sputnik News app hysteria of the 2020s. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Remakes are all the US has been doing for the past 30 years
Life at the end of the Roman empire by the Potomac!
Raytheon, Boieng and Lockheed are smiling at the news.
They'll start launching hundreds of balloons per month so that the Pentagon can place missiles orders!
Actually, Russia started using balloons as decoys in Ukraine after the news of the Chinese balloon became a political football in D.C. It's used to deplete the UkroNazi ABM missiles before the real missiles are fired on the targets.
The US is not less stupid than Saudi Arabia in this regard.
Saudi Arabia fires 2 to 3 Patriot missiles ($2-3million each) at Houthis' drones costing $5,000.0 and misses them most of the time!!!
Only an insane general can spend $9million to miss a $5,000 stone age drone manufactured in Yemen!
When the Saudis ran out of PAC-2/PAC-3 missiles they contacted Raytheon (manufacturer) and guess what they found?
The production capacity of PAC-2/PAC-3 is 250 missiles manufactured per YEAR!!!
and UkroNazistan is banking on these patriots to retake Crimea. They'll fire the annual production in just one week and they'll have to wait for a year before they can challenge Russia again.
Would you believe it's worse than that. It's every ammunition for every weapon. We in the u.s. (lower case) had to purchase from South Korea 155mm shells because Ukrainians were firing a years production in a month. The war is over all that's left is the final bleed out. I used to think Russia would stop at the Nipro river dividing Ukraine in half allowing the Western half to go parking lot as a buffer zone. The insanity of having both a DOD and a DOW (former State Dept. it would crazy to leave the Western half undefended.
Landru, what you and Nostradamus are pointing out is more proof—as if we needed it—that our military is not “the most powerful military in history”, but rather the most expensive paper tiger in history.
At this point, the only thing preventing Russia from a military conquest of not only the remainder of Ukraine but also of all Europe is that old saying “Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself”.
Those are interesting statements. I am not so sure Russia would move past the Dnipro river. Militarily going until someone stops you The Game of Risk I don't think works for Russia. That is something the u.s. would do. Controlling the most valuable space in Ukraine makes far more sense to me then returning to the previous capitalist ways. Nuclear weapons change how larger war efforts will be fought? The balloons I think are just one more piece of evidence as you say u.s. paper tiger, war as sanctions, embargo. Now that the u.s. dollar is dying a not as slow death as I thought, NATO expended and hollow as any military of the rich would be, an force of profit taking. NATO outstanding success in profits for the 1% and a failure as force. Or so that's how I see it. Caitlin's writing inspires people to think for themselves and communicate with other people who have information I would never have access to. I am here to learn, thank you for that : )
Sorry I misspelled Dnipro river. What I find fascinating, Putin has proven to be far smarter than anyone in the u.s. gov. which is hard to believe with so many people in u.s. gov., but that's the evidence so far. When did Russia begin the prep for Sanctions/embargo , weapons production? 2004, 2014? So many governments continue to believe u.s. statements of treaty and peace why? Putin I always knew is incredibly smart, I would love to sit with him for coffee just to understand what lies and actions forced him to do the right thing. Sounds odd even writing this, it's so counter to most everything ever written in the u.s. Sorrry, thinking to much on paper ha. Sorry one more thing, Did anyone in the u.s. think Putin was solely a greedy gangster or is he just that? I wish my Russian friend was still alive. He passed away four yrs ago, Anatoly "Andrew you are an ignorant fuck, ha", I miss you : ( Please ignore me.
While everyone is being distracted by party balloons...a train derails in East Palestine, Ohio and toxic chemicals are choking the air, water, and earth while government officials and Norfolk & Southern take no responsibility for the disaster whatsoever and leave people and nature to fend for itself. Business as usual. Why do we keep putting up with this? What else has to happen for people to wake up to the dystopia we are already living in? We could bring these corrupt systems down, but we have to stop feeding them with our time, attention, labor, and money.
The US no longer has any kind of rational governance whatsoever. We are literally being run by crooks and high school drop outs. Who treat war and blowing up billion dollar pipelines like it is some kind of video game.
It's perfectly rational. It exists to preserve property relations and the idea that 'being run' is some kind of bloody gift from God or something. But that's just what happens to societies that believe in labor theories of value and Great Chains of Being. They become slaves to imaginary friends.
You know, I'm going to have a birthday party next month and ask everyone to bring their own version of a "Chinese spy balloon". I think it'll turn into quite a fun party once we're all shooting the balloons down with our $12 billion pea shooters. :-)
You just can't make up the insanity our so-called "leaders" come up with just to justify America's obscene "defense" (more like offense) budget.
Not to spoil your party, but I once release several hundred balloons. While it was fun to watch them float away at the time, I find myself haunted by the environmental damage they may have caused. Maybe it was nothing; maybe some turtle somewhere swallowed some and couldn't poop them out.
Yeah, it will be an indoor party. Too cold to be outside. And I've heard horror stories about balloons in the environment. I cringe at all these sports events where they release them by the thousands. Not a good idea.
This is what happens when propaganda takes on a life of its own: flying paper planes could be fatal. And it discloses the mentality or lack of it - of our leaders and protectors. Are they even embarrassed, ashamed? Unbelievable.
Why would they be ashamed? Statecraft = stagecraft.
https://cornellpress.manifoldapp.org/read/the-performative-state/section/77c09f4c-2922-4201-92c4-274fe1bcfc86
Yes, a stage, a comic opera. And half-drunk ghouls applauding.
This fiasco should put to rest the baseless notion that just because conservative republicans are batshit crazy, liberal democrats are automatically sane by default. With each passing day, the proof mounts (it's already a mountain range) that both major political parties in the U.S. have completely lost their fucking minds, to the point they don't even have the good sense to be embarrassed. The American media (whose job is calling bullshit on ruling class narratives but no longer do) have become shameless propagandists for Dr. Strangelove. And the enlightened bougie liberals (the 'woke') will shrug this off as not worthy of their attention while they go back to obsessing over preferred personal pronouns. In their minds, the dangerous macroaggression of nuclear brinkmanship isn't nearly as worthy of their attention as the urgent threat of perceived microaggressions.
Yup, very well put.
Rage Against The War protest now happening in Washington DC
https://rageagainstwar.com
Many "progressives" not only stayed home, but OPPOSED the event. Imagine that: the so called "left" and "progressive" political forces in the US OPPOSED an ANTI-WAR protest!
The "left" has been hijacked by privileged brats who put more importance on identity politics than on the survival of life itself. Interesting how their rhetoric of 'intersectionality' leaves no room for anti-war narratives.
Very well said. Sadly, far more is coming. Thankfully we have Caitlin : )
In the 19th century USA, all "news" was partisan, and newspapers were published by political parties, full of the unashamed advocacy for aristocratic interests one might expect. When socialist and populist parties arose to publish their perspectives, the conceit of "objectivity" was created to elevate the two-party consensus as "reality" or "truth", and implicitly demote socialist and populist perspectives alike to mere opinion. Since Reagan deregulated mass media ownership and rescinded the Fairness Doctrine, the "news" has discarded the pretense of non-partisanship but retained the conceit of objectivity, which works out just as well or better for the oligarchs.
In other words, our feelings about what any institution should do are irrelevant to an institution's real purposes, to pantomime valuable (to them) action. If their purposes were to complete material endeavors, we would call that organization an enterprise instead.
“The only thing I ever saw that came close to Objective Journalism was the closed circuit TV that watched shoplifters in the General Store at Woody Creek. Don’t bother to look for it here, not under any byline of mine, or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a gross contradiction in terms.”
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972
Glad they have revealed their true nature for us to see. Thanks to the hobby balloonists for the truth of these goofs.
Gotham City has been overrun. Batman is dead. There are no superheroes but us.
"We are the leaders we've been looking for." --Jill Stein
LOL! Clever, self-deprecating humor is so rare and refreshing in this age of obnoxious self-importance. Well done!
And a pat on the back to you for a clever screen name.
Thank you for that : )
You forgot".. and the Joker and Poison Ivy are in charge." Yeah, started using that very line too long ago. As things became more blatant, so much so, the sense of being mocked openly isn't misplaced, it's really the perfect analogy. Please dear people, associate, affiliate, organize in whatever communities you can. Preferably local but any sort will do if its focus is practical solutions and surviving the obvious status many of us have now. If not profitable, then expendable.
Clandestine distractive process.
Bread and Circus's
the circus lost a balloon.
That is all.
Enjoy the show
Note how everyone stopped talking about Biden's document problems.
And the Norfolk Southern derailment which happened mere weeks after Biden helped the railroads against labor.
And have they even begun talking about the Nord Stream bombing revelations?
THE PEOPLE are the enemy of this war machine, not "other countries".
Celine's First Law is worth repeating. "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity."
Now we have uberhawks and control freaks having meltdowns (and demanding more money and power) over balloons. Balloons!
and it will only get more warped and absurd.
That howitzers into the desert article you rode a while back made it clear how much they need something to do. Here's more proof. It's funny but terrifying. IIRC Bertrand Russell said something about how weird it is that everyone discounts boredom as a possible reason things happen. You know things like nukes and such.
The MIC gotta eat….
I keep thinking about what comment I should leave,, or should I even bother anymore, but I keep having all these old references conning up in my mind,, like one balloon flew over the coo coos nest,, or sargent Ororke shouting it's a balloon! Yeah I know I'm dating myself but I have to reach back in time to when insanity was not such the norm. I seriously now believe I'm living in an open air insane asylum and pretty sure it's starting to rub off on me...now I wish I could smother a few DC criminals with a pillow to put them out of all our misery.
Solidarity. I'm stealing that phrase from you "Open air insane asylum" that is the perfect description of the u.s. (lower case for disrespect" experience. I work at a lab that is international and many are saying the same is happening in their countries of the insane North.
Yosemite Sam is offended by the unflattering comparison. You know how toons are.
There is a Greek word for leadership by those who are the least able or the least suited to lead - Kakistocracy. A kakistocracy is clearly what we have today, the world over.
this reminds me of the Sputnik Satellite hysteria in the 1950s, and the Sputnik News app hysteria of the 2020s. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Remakes are all the US has been doing for the past 30 years
there were many similar bizarre war propaganda driven collective hysteria events prior to WW I and WW II. It's how they roll.
It does seem to be one of those incontrovertible truths: those who seek power have the least imagination.
That is an excellent comparison. Or archduke ferdinand.
Life at the end of the Roman empire by the Potomac!
Raytheon, Boieng and Lockheed are smiling at the news.
They'll start launching hundreds of balloons per month so that the Pentagon can place missiles orders!
Actually, Russia started using balloons as decoys in Ukraine after the news of the Chinese balloon became a political football in D.C. It's used to deplete the UkroNazi ABM missiles before the real missiles are fired on the targets.
The US is not less stupid than Saudi Arabia in this regard.
Saudi Arabia fires 2 to 3 Patriot missiles ($2-3million each) at Houthis' drones costing $5,000.0 and misses them most of the time!!!
Only an insane general can spend $9million to miss a $5,000 stone age drone manufactured in Yemen!
When the Saudis ran out of PAC-2/PAC-3 missiles they contacted Raytheon (manufacturer) and guess what they found?
The production capacity of PAC-2/PAC-3 is 250 missiles manufactured per YEAR!!!
and UkroNazistan is banking on these patriots to retake Crimea. They'll fire the annual production in just one week and they'll have to wait for a year before they can challenge Russia again.
Would you believe it's worse than that. It's every ammunition for every weapon. We in the u.s. (lower case) had to purchase from South Korea 155mm shells because Ukrainians were firing a years production in a month. The war is over all that's left is the final bleed out. I used to think Russia would stop at the Nipro river dividing Ukraine in half allowing the Western half to go parking lot as a buffer zone. The insanity of having both a DOD and a DOW (former State Dept. it would crazy to leave the Western half undefended.
Landru, what you and Nostradamus are pointing out is more proof—as if we needed it—that our military is not “the most powerful military in history”, but rather the most expensive paper tiger in history.
At this point, the only thing preventing Russia from a military conquest of not only the remainder of Ukraine but also of all Europe is that old saying “Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself”.
Those are interesting statements. I am not so sure Russia would move past the Dnipro river. Militarily going until someone stops you The Game of Risk I don't think works for Russia. That is something the u.s. would do. Controlling the most valuable space in Ukraine makes far more sense to me then returning to the previous capitalist ways. Nuclear weapons change how larger war efforts will be fought? The balloons I think are just one more piece of evidence as you say u.s. paper tiger, war as sanctions, embargo. Now that the u.s. dollar is dying a not as slow death as I thought, NATO expended and hollow as any military of the rich would be, an force of profit taking. NATO outstanding success in profits for the 1% and a failure as force. Or so that's how I see it. Caitlin's writing inspires people to think for themselves and communicate with other people who have information I would never have access to. I am here to learn, thank you for that : )
Sorry I misspelled Dnipro river. What I find fascinating, Putin has proven to be far smarter than anyone in the u.s. gov. which is hard to believe with so many people in u.s. gov., but that's the evidence so far. When did Russia begin the prep for Sanctions/embargo , weapons production? 2004, 2014? So many governments continue to believe u.s. statements of treaty and peace why? Putin I always knew is incredibly smart, I would love to sit with him for coffee just to understand what lies and actions forced him to do the right thing. Sounds odd even writing this, it's so counter to most everything ever written in the u.s. Sorrry, thinking to much on paper ha. Sorry one more thing, Did anyone in the u.s. think Putin was solely a greedy gangster or is he just that? I wish my Russian friend was still alive. He passed away four yrs ago, Anatoly "Andrew you are an ignorant fuck, ha", I miss you : ( Please ignore me.
While everyone is being distracted by party balloons...a train derails in East Palestine, Ohio and toxic chemicals are choking the air, water, and earth while government officials and Norfolk & Southern take no responsibility for the disaster whatsoever and leave people and nature to fend for itself. Business as usual. Why do we keep putting up with this? What else has to happen for people to wake up to the dystopia we are already living in? We could bring these corrupt systems down, but we have to stop feeding them with our time, attention, labor, and money.
The US no longer has any kind of rational governance whatsoever. We are literally being run by crooks and high school drop outs. Who treat war and blowing up billion dollar pipelines like it is some kind of video game.
Exactly. Like it is a video game without real consequences. It is disgusting.
It's perfectly rational. It exists to preserve property relations and the idea that 'being run' is some kind of bloody gift from God or something. But that's just what happens to societies that believe in labor theories of value and Great Chains of Being. They become slaves to imaginary friends.