Sunday Open Thread

An Olympic weekend!

Comments

[sbwaters]

My comment on the Twitter/AP dance:

@sbwTweet
The premise is that @AP is objective. AP officials have said in the past they consider writers’ #opinion to be #news. They skew with conjecture and leave vital facts out. Good #journalism practice is for local media to edit AP before publishing.

[Melinda]

WSJ Central Banks
@WSJCentralBanks
Brussels is withholding Covid-19 recovery funds from Hungary and Poland, escalating the battle over democratic standards that is deepening the East-West divide within the European Union on.wsj.com/2TWLP4Y

https://twitter.com/WSJCentralBanks/status/1422561276618752002

[Neo]

One idea that these politicians either haven’t considered or are suppressing is that COVID Delta virus could be the mechanism to end the pandemic.
If Delta is highly contagious (we are told this is true) and it is less lethal that the original COVID (supposedly this is true), those who are at less risk, like schoolchildren, could be induced to have Delta instead of a vaccine (there are reports that Delta is as bad as many folks reaction to the vaccine). Herd immunity could be achieved in a couple of months at an immunity level better than the vaccine.
Asking for a friend

[Melinda]

sbw-

Gell-Mann at werk.

MedicalQuack
@MedicalQuack
LOOK FOLKS, REUTERS BOT WRITING A NEWS STORY, EASY TO PICK THIS ONE OFF, THERE'S NO JOURNALIST AND OF COURSE THE STYLE..HEH!
Obesity is major risk factor, says epidemiologist... tmsnrt.rs/2XqxAVr

NEWSRIGGING, READ IT HERE bit.ly/1JLXW4h
WROTE IT IN 2015..

https://twitter.com/MedicalQuack/status/1422562420585730049

[Melinda]

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO)
@UK_MTO
Warning 001/Aug/2021

Category: Incident - Non Piracy

Description: An Incident is currently underway in position 2459.5N 05728.6E (Approx.
61 NM East of Fujairah) Investigations ongoing.

ukmto.org/-/media/ukmto/…

#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec

https://twitter.com/UK_MTO/status/1422553495996092427

[Melinda]

*Walter Bloomberg
@DeItaone
CHEMICAL TANKER THE GOLDEN BRILLIANT, OFF THE COAST OF FUJAIRAH, REPORTED ITS STATUS AS NOT UNDER COMMAND ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON - REFINITIV SHIP TRACKING DATA

https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1422565245768421384

[Neo]

Hillary Clinton's old campaign law firm uses China excuse to avoid Carter Page lawsuit

Perkins Coie's claim of "stateless" entity wins at federal appeals court level. Is Supreme Court next?

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/tuehillary-clintons-old-campaign-law-firm-uses-china

[Melinda]

Two tankers now....

Mark Scullion
@mscullion
Ship Reportedly Attacked At #UAE #Fujairah Port
#OOTT #Iran #Shipping #Persiangulf
@TankerTrackers @staunovo @TradersCom @KilduffReport @robert__gibbons @VKNGenergy
en.mehrnews.com/news/176902/

https://twitter.com/mscullion/status/1422563987603001353

Aurora Intel
@AuroraIntel
twitter.com/UK_MTO/status/…

Not conclusive by all means, but I have begun digging.

https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1422555129547534348

[Melinda]

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸
@julie_kelly2
This seems relevant. From DOJ filing dated 7/30/21:

“Multiple defense counsel have inquired about investigations into officers who were alleged to have been complicit in the January 6 Capitol Breach. We have received copies of investigations into officer conduct, have finished…

https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1422567258300239884

[Melinda]

Stephen Gutowski
@StephenGutowski
Dick Durbin Denies Second Hearing on ATF Nominee, Attacks @TheReloadSite for Publishing Report on Racism Allegations thereload.com/senate-judicia…

Durbin labeled The Reload an "anti-gun safety website" and implied I had made up the sources in my piece. Both of these claims are, of course, absurd. thereload.com/senate-judicia…

One of the sources Durbin accused of being faked responded to the Chairman's letter. Here are their remarks: thereload.com/senate-judicia…

Durbin again confirmed the existence of the Equal Employment Opportunity complaints against Chipman in his letter. He did not ask for their release despite claiming the allegations of racism were "baseless." He didn't respond when asked if the complaints should be released.

There's more in the full piece here: thereload.com/senate-judicia…

https://twitter.com/StephenGutowski/status/1422558351578308620

[Melinda]

العربية عاجل
@AlArabiya_Brk
قناة فيلق القدس الإيراني: اصطدام سفينة تحمل علم سنغافورة بلغم بحري قبالة الفجيرة #العربية_عاجل alarabiya.net

TRANSLATED FROM ARABIC BY MSFT

Iranian Quds Corps channel: Singapore-flagged ship collides with sea mine off Fujairah

https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/1422568557645291523

[Jane]

Looks like they got Cuomo. NY AG giving a presser now!

[Melinda]

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Jeremy's CNN colleague tried to help cover this up. Period. But Zucker and the rest of CNN don't care.

Jeremy Diamond @JDiamond1
BREAKING: NY AG Letitia James says investigation has concluded that NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women

https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1422576674537889792

[Neo]

CNBC: NY Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, retaliated against ex-employee, attorney general says
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/03/ny-gov-andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment-report.html

[Melinda]

Jorge Bonilla
@BonillaJL
RON DESANTIS MUST BE MADE TO PAY FOR THIS TREACHERY

Brent Scher @BrentScher
New York AG Letitia James just now says investigators were able to corroborate sexual assault accusations against Andrew Cuomo

https://twitter.com/BonillaJL/status/1422576343297011715
\

[MissMarple2]

Melinda,

Here's the wrapped thread by Oilfield Rando about the waste in the Infrastructure Bill.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1422019064273178626.html

So far, the only bridge funding I see is that for wildlife bridges to give critters a way to cross interstates.

[henry]

@vickimckenna

Why is NO ONE in the alleged "mainstream" media asking @SenatorBaldwin why one of her key staffers is leading violent and sometimes armed protests against local cops? wisconsinrightnow.com/2021/07/30/tif… @wisconsin_now

https://twitter.com/vickimckenna/status/1422578955777945602?s=21

[Jane]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/huge-dr-shiva-discovers-existence-secretive-long-fuse-report-exposes-twitter-government-collusion-momentous-discovery-pentagon-papers/

This is interesting. Twitter starting to be exposed.

[Melinda]

The Babylon Bee
@TheBabylonBee
Cuomo Assures Public He Always Kept Mask On While Sexually Harassing Women babylonbee.com/news/cuomo-ass…

https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1422579876712824838

[Melinda]

4 tankers involved in the Gulf of Oman, now. It appears that Iran has mined that Gulf.

[henry]

Time for some Persian carpet bombing.

[MissMarple2]

henry,

Obviously you don't understand Biden diplocay.

What really needs to be done is removing the sanctions and re-instituting the nuclear arms agreement with Iran.

Oh, and more pallets of cash.

[MissMarple2]

That should read "Biden diplomacy".

[clarice]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9856917/Pentagon-lockdown-gunshots-fired-near-Metro.html

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Bronze? gymnastics??

Who is Jessica Springsteen and why I don't care how she does with her horsey in the Olympics. Isn't horsey shit uber snobby ultra elite? So much for singing about the working man...

[MissMarple2]

Valerie Jarrett
@ValerieJarrett
·
2h
My dear friend @BarackObama is turning 60 tomorrow. For his birthday gift, I'm asking you to chip in $6 or $60 to help us bring the Obama Presidential Center to life in Chicago. Donate at http://obama.org/60-for-60/ #HappyBdayObama
------------------------------------
Or else.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Michael Smith
·
Beam me up, Scotty.

Far too many Americans have been seduced by communism and believe the existence under that system is some sort of Star Trek/Jean-Jacques Rosseau life where one just tells the replicator they want “Tea, Earl Grey, hot” and it appears or they can just lie beneath an apple tree until fruit drops in their mouth.

Hardly.

Back in 2013, former 60 Minutes commentator, Andy Rooney had this to say about communism:

“Communism got to be a terrible word here in the United States, but our attitude toward it may have been unfair. Communism got in with a bad crowd when it was young and never had a fair chance… The Communist ideas of creating a society in which everyone does his best for the good of everyone is appealing and fundamentally a more uplifting idea than capitalism. Communism’s only real weakness seems to be that it doesn’t work.”

Something not working would seem to be a big hill to climb, but Rooney reveals the collectivist fantasy lives on in the mistaken idea that “everyone does his best for the good of everyone is appealing and fundamentally a more uplifting idea than capitalism.”

This is the central fault, the fatal conceit (nod to Hayek), of communist systems because “everyone does his best for the good of everyone” presupposes all will be motivated by focus on some “central good” shared by all - but who determines what that “good” is? Who sets those goals? Who determines the behaviors necessary to achieve that state of “good”? Who organizes the population in pursuit of that “good”?

The answer is that somebody does. Without sufficient order, there would be anarchy and as a result it falls to the government bureaucracy to take on the role of the “decider”. Friedrich Hayek addressed this in his pivotal book, “The Road to Serfdom”, in the chapter titled: “Who, Whom?”:

“I believe it was Lenin himself who introduced to Russia the famous phrase “who, whom?”– during the early years of Soviet rule the byword in which the people summed up the universal problem of a socialist society. Who plans whom, who directs and dominates whom, who assigns to other people their station in life, and who is to have his due allotted by others? These become necessarily the central issues to be decided solely by the supreme power.

More recently an American student of politics has enlarged upon Lenin’s phrase and asserted that the problem of all government is “who gets what, when, and how.” In a way this is not untrue. That all government affects the relative position of different people and that there is under any system scarcely an aspect of our lives which may not be affected by government action is certainly true. In so far as government does anything at all, its action will always have Borne effect on “who gets what, when, and how.”

Perhaps the most accessible modern liberal/progressive myth is the Star Trek franchise – Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager – and somewhat less so in my favorite of all the genre, Star Trek: Enterprise (with Scott Backula as Captain Jonathan Archer).

In a post from long, long ago and far, far away (2005), blogger The Western Chauvinist offered this analysis:

“Anyone old enough to have seen the original Star Trek series created by Gene Roddenberry might recognize the utopian ideals of today’s liberals in it. Think about it. On any major policy we debate, Star Trek is the fulfilment of the liberal playbook.

Start with environmental policy. No fossil fuels burned in GR’s world. Nope – only dilithium crystals and warped space needed.
Isn’t it grand? No CO2 emissions at all – no SUVs, no lawnmowers, no contrails. No mining or drilling, except for those resourceful Neanderthals on some distant planet mining dilithium crystals. And the federation has such a sense of social justice that we end up fighting for their liberty! Awesome.

Next up, how about economic policy? Capitalism or socialism? How primitive. As far as I can tell, no currency ever changes hands. Everyone in the Federation seems to “work” for the Federation (is this the U.N.?). And, of course, they’re perfectly matched to their positions. I mean, Scotty was born an engineer. You get your food from this nifty device called a replicator – no charge! Housing, clothing, transportation, child care, education – all provided by the Federation. Whoopee!

How about health care? Well, Star Trek gives a whole new meaning to “universal healthcare”! I never saw Bones turn away anyone. He could take care of you even if your blood was green.

With all the fancy technology at his disposal, he could develop an antidote to anything. What is wrong with our greedy drug companies today! This is the 21st century isn’t it?

And finally, we can wrap up social policy, civil rights, race relations, international relations conveniently in “the prime directive”. This is encompassed by today’s liberal ethics of multiculturalism, political correctness and moral relativism. The policy of “non-interference” in evolving societies is analogous to the liberal’s hands-off who-are-we-to-judge attitude. Of course, Kirk was wont to defy the principle just about every episode, but his phaser was judiciously set to “stun” most of the time.”

Ever notice that the Enterprise was governed as a militaristic, totalitarian state with the word of the captain being the final say in everything – and that the morality of the crew was dictated by the morality the person in command? That changed in TNG, when Picard would convene the politburo to get their opinion, but like a communist regime, the decision of the chairman of the central committee was the last word.

The interesting thing in the Star Trek model is that there are rank differentiations, a command structure and a sort of moral code that could be translated as a religion in Star Fleet (even though creator Gene Roddenberry was a staunch humanist and thoroughly ambivalent about religion).

What about progression in the ranks? Were people motivated to achieve higher rank or did they just settle for whatever role they were assigned? Of course they pursued advancement in rank – from the desire to join Star Fleet and go to the Academy to getting posted on an interplanetary craft, people sought advancement. But why? There was no pay, no need to collect food, clothing, or shelter, so there was no need for capitalism – any civilization that appeared to espouse capitalism in the series was portrayed as backward and/or brutal (remember the Ferengi of Deep Space 9?).

It is because the medium of exchange, the motive force for action and the measure of success in a Star Trek society was/is power, position and status.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the same goes for a communist society – the greatest goal is a juicy job in the bureaucratic structure where one can wield some degree of power over someone or something. Where competition in a capitalist society is mostly out in the open and score is objectively kept by gains and losses, the competition in a communistic society is far less so. It puts the rights of the individual in direct competition with the needs of the collective and its planners. In capitalism, people seek individual achievement by serving others – by producing services or products other people want, need or desire.

That conflict between the yearning of the individual to be free and the demand of the collective is why communism has never worked and will never work. In the words of Hayek:
“…democratic socialism, the great utopia of the last few generations, is not only unachievable but that to strive for it produces something utterly different – the very destruction of freedom itself. As has been aptly said: ‘What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.’”

[Melinda]

Back on "Project", people. Focus!

Tom Nichols
@RadioFreeTom
Prepare for more "but Cuomo" excuses now that he's been investigated (and should resign), as the anti-anti-Trump folks try to excuse DeSantis and other GOP governors for killing thousands of people on the rationale that reigniting a pandemic is okay because Cuomo is a dirtbag.

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1422590398803980296

[henry]

Mines aren’t enough… now Iran hijacked a ship off UAE. per British navy.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If you filmed a series on John Paul Jones's ship 250 year ago it would have pretty much the same command, healthcare and universal state employment as the USS Enterprise in WWII, the Starship Enterprise on star date whatever, the Battleship Potemkin in 1900 or an Athenian or Persian galley in 400 BC.
That doesn't say anything about the political system they served.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Glad your headaches are PD.

[Melinda]

*Walter Bloomberg
@DeItaone
*UKMTO: INCIDENT UPGRADED TO POTENTIAL HIJACK

https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1422590158881296386

Soooo, 4 chemical tankers potentially hijacked in the Gulf of Oman?

[Melinda]

Back on Capitol Hill, Durbin's Dream Tax has made it to the Infrastructure Bill, a k a Plantationing Kit For Kongress::

Nick Short ‎‎
@PoliticalShort
Buried on page 508 of the 2,702 page infrastructure bill is a pilot program for a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee (MBUF) which is basically a long-term plan to make it too expensive to drive a car. lidblog.com/mbuf/

Objectives and more

https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/1422525643305197625

[Rocco]

PD, I'm curious about the shepards poles you're using for your feeders. Are they squirrel proof? I've tried everything I can think of to keep them off my feeders with no success at all. After my wife watched them climb up the pole and jump on top of the feeder, she put an aluminum pie plate on top of the feeder thinking they couldn't grip the aluminum. That didn't work so I removed the pie plate, doubled it up and stuck about 2 dozen tacks in the plate and placed it back on top of the feeder. I told my wife that maybe I should of used another plate so the pins wouldn't stick up through the plate so much. She said "why, are you feeling guilty?" I told her I didn't want to kill them, I just wanted to deter them. Then I watched one jump right on top of the plate again, the pins didn't phase it. My neighbor told me they have no brain to which I replied, well they've been outsmarting me for years! The squirrels are still winning!

[Dave (in MA)]

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/statehouse/officials-no-evidence-of-mysterious-bird-disease-in-mass/article_863156fc-f3d2-11eb-85eb-9f770ceb12bc.html
No sign of the mystery bird illness yet in MA, but they want people to stop putting out bird feeders as a precaution.
Another article I saw said that there's a theory that it may be a toxin from birds that ate cicadas, which would explain why it's prevalent where it's been seen so far, and that it might not be communicable from bird to bird.

[Dave (in MA)]

Check your brain at the door if you want to outsmart Rocco!

[Melinda]

More?

Reuters U.S. News
@ReutersUS
Tanker seized by suspected Iran-backed forces in Arabian Sea, say maritime sources reut.rs/3Cav7QP

https://twitter.com/ReutersUS/status/1422610795884597253

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Rocco grease the pole. You can also purchase a squirrel baffle, but they can usually figure a way around them from a nearby tree/wall etc.

Or do both. Olive oil, vegetable oil, lard. anything that makes it slippery.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Gus & Mel, That Metro DC Policeman who died by suicide was my cousin's son. 28 years old. He was sent to the Capitol after the riot, so not sure how that would have affected him.

He may have had underlying depression issues, and it sure is depressing to be a cop these days.

Been a rough couple of months in losing friends and family.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

The new president of Iran just took office. It would seem that he is making a statement.

Time to bomb the shit out of their military bases along the coast. Thank God we still have the BUFF's.

But this being Bidenworld and all we should expect a very strongly worded letter and the removal of half a dozen sanctions.

[Jack Lillywhite]

As if CoVid wasn't enough to worry about:

https://www.livescience.com/chipmunks-plague-south-lake-tahoe.html?utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_content=39D57A93-363E-437D-8FB8-628B952B46AF&utm_term=e79745a3-248d-4faa-b30b-7187d6c781b8

The leader is named Albert:)

[Melinda]

Thanks, Matt, sorry about that, all over again.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Rocco,

You can always go the Mark Rober route:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg

Rube Goldberg has nothing on Mark:)

[Jane]

Rocco,

I have a feeder that doesn’t allow squirrels. It’s on a pole. If the squirrels step on the feeder it closes the entrance to the feed.

[Jane]

Geez Matt, you have been thru enough!

[Melinda]

Michelle Wiese Bockmann
@Michellewb_
Lloyd's List can confirm that the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess, a 9,746 dwt asphalt tanker owned by Dubai-based Prime Tanker LLC was hijacked by heavily armed unauthorised persons who demanded the vessel sail for Iran. Story on our website soon.

https://twitter.com/Michellewb_/status/1422622537096306690

[henry]

New thread.

Albert? Did Alvin retire?

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Michael Smith
·
Keep in mind that the real objective behind the Democrat mega-spending bills is not the amount of money - they can't even find ways to spend what has already been appropriated - it is about the changes in HOW whatever money they get is spent and WHO controls that spending.

Bills like this 2700 page monstrosity are never specific about how the money is doled out, this is always left the the various heads of the departments in the administrative state, and as the Trump era revealed, even when a president appoints someone, there is no guarantee that person is going to follow what the president wants - it is also true that a lot of this spending eventually gets defined as "mandatory" and keeps on going even when government is "shut down".

The obscenely large numbers are there to distract from the process chicanery that is going on in the text of these bills. You have to ask the question, "Who benefits?" and drive it down to the lowest common denominator to understand the true objectives.

The money is secondary.

This why the GOP sometimes wins by cutting the top spending number but they always lose because, once the bill is passed, the money doesn't matter because the die is cast.

And like Charlie Brown, moronic Republicans like Mitt Romney fall for it every single time.

[Rocco]

Thanks Dave, I didn't know officials have asked the public to stop feeding the birds. I'll cool it for a while.

And thank you Steph and Jane for the suggestions, I'll try greasing the pole and check into different feeders, when this bird disease passes.

JiB, that was funny and I now I don't feel so dumb!

Damn squirrels!

[sbwaters]

For the late to the party:

New Thread!