This is a solid, very well-done piece. I learned some things I didn’t know, and he pulled together some threads to help provide clarity about the importance of some things I did.
The DOJ has a long history as a weapon used by Democrats to abuse the American people. The author gives an outline of our founders’ attitudes against even having one. Democrat administrations always tend toward tyranny. Always. Because, as David Horowitz has warned us, inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out.
The list of horrors and abuses is long and sordid. It’s worth a read to remind us all.
BTW — Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Waco where Clinton and the vile AG Janet Reno violated American law and the Geneva Convention by incinerating dozens of innocent people including children with a military assault. No one was held accountable as the news media cheered wildly for Reno. When we look back on the descent of the news media into the propaganda wing of the tyrannical Democrats, this horrifying reaction of the news media will be a harbinger we should have looked at more closely. I remember being shocked. Really, really shocked. There was a disturbing, haunting quality to it that went beyond mere partisanship.
Today, it seems that it was a brief moment where we got a small peek at the evil that lurks therein. The most heinous acts imaginable were approved because of the political party responsible for the perpetration. As evil as it gets.
Again, read it. Disturbing. Informative.
Neo,
This holiday period of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas is always valuable to remind us to tell people that we appreciate them. Just wanted to tell you that I appreciate you and this blog.
What you do is valuable. I look forward to reading your posts and the comments of many of the bright, thoughtful people here. Thank you for providing it and for the work you invest in it. You are a treasure (even when I disagree with you 😉 )
While there is much to be depressed about as we survey the nation and the world, there are positives to celebrate. You and your blog are among those positives.
He did manage to get one brief mention of “human caused climate change.” Libya and Tunisia were bread baskets for Rome, so it wasn’t that long ago it changed.
Near the end of this video, the narrator tells us that the green Sahara period is one of 23 such periods that happened during the last eight million years.
Unfortunately, the video doesn’t mention that the periodicity of these climate changes are due to what are called Milankovitch cycles. The earth’s orbital fluctuations form the basis of Milankovitch’s work, which was published in the 1920s. The video does mention the importance of orbital changes, but neglects to give Milankovitch credit for the theory.
Milankovitch proposed that these orbital changes would cause climate changes throughout earth’s history. Rocks between 202 and 253 million years old provide physical evidence for the extension of his theory far beyond the Quaternary ice ages (https://archive.vn/7MDO8).
Neo, I second Stan. This Blog is a go to place for me several times a day. Thank you.
In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo I saw artifacts from the people who moved into the Nile Valley circa 5,000-6,000 BC. They had to leave the rest of North Africa because the area was drying up.
At this time of year, I like to watch “Seinfeld,” season 9, episode 10, entitled “The Strike.” Despite the title, this is widely known as the Festivus episode. Festivus is celebrated by the airing of grievances. For those of us who religiously read about politics, we need such a holiday. Lets not kid ourselves, Christmas is for children and wimps. Festivus for the rest of us!
I said 2 weeks ago this was going to happen, now parents(!) in Boston are demanding masking for the school kids in January. Philadelphia already has imposed such. Now even the CDC is getting in on the act. Note how now it is not just covid, but all respiratory viruses. They are willing to try any excuse to reimpose control over the population:
“America’s leading health officials are now recommending masking to prevent the spread of RSV and the flu this winter – not just Covid.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said during a briefing last week, ‘we also encourage you to wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses’, when discussing prevention measures for the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).”
What stan and SHIREHOME said– Neo’s blog is a daily must-read for me. And best wishes of the season to all her commenters.
physicsguy– Details about the Philadelphia masking mandate here, including the effects of pandemic-related lockdowns on the students’ learning. “The [test] scores also show how hard it will be for Philadelphia to meet the targets it set for the past school year, and for the next several years.”
“Temporary” mask mandate? I’ll believe that when 1) the southern border is controlled; 2) Brandon tells the truth about anything; and 3) the Phillies finally win the World Series.
One of my few predictions to come true is that the powers that be would eventually recommend reinstating masking. I was not alone, and it was perfectly obvious when you read or listened to the reasoning for suspending mask mandates. They didn’t stop calling for masking because it is true that masks do not prevent infection or the spread, nor because masking of children damages them developmentally, they said they would suspended masking because the Covid infection rate had declined.
I will not be wearing a mask ever again (except when working in my wood shop) and hope most others refuse to do so.
Well, Cornflour, we all have a lot of material for complaining on this Festivus.
However, Christmas, the religious festival, not the secular one, is for Christian believers.
The conclusion is that we should assume that every conceivable dirty trick and manner of undermining America is being pursued by Democrats. They steal elections using every possible tool. They use every lever of power, every avenue of propaganda, every corruption of truth in furtherance of imposing the tyranny they obsessively desire. They have infiltrated every institution. They have corrupted everything they touch.
And their opponents still don’t understand there’s a war going on.
Not just masks. Vaxx too. This is just heartbreaking. There is something really disturbing about this. Why would doctors be so heartless, so anti-science, so irrational? This makes no sense. What is the benefit to the hospital of insisting on something that has no value? Why force a girl to die?
Are we going to see social distancing? Despite its complete lack of benefit and absence of any scientific support? Politically driven superstition is especially pernicious.
Voodoo runs amok in America.
Words mean things and direct involvement means a very particular thing
Yeah, about Tucker last night. In my opinion Oswald and Ruby both acted alone. That is what I think. Tucker had a lot of conjectures about things, doing a lot conspiracy theories. His high level source can’t be named. Well that to me is a cover up. I watched Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV. I was HS Senior. Now that I am a Senior again I have not changed my opinion. My very best friend, my Other Brother, is basically calling me “misguided”.
Bugliosi addressed some interesting questions about the supposed corsican hit team many of them were in prison at the time that say steven rivele said to bill curtis they were involved bob baer floated an interesting conjecture relating to someone oswald was supposed to contact before the encounter with tippit
Then theres the whole tears of autumn scenario revenge for diems death but that means something different than direct.
Name dropping here i went to school with among others the son of antonio veciana of course i knew him them only as a punk but in an earlier life his father co founded alpha 66 before he went to jail on a drug beef he had said to have witnessed a meeting between the mysterious maurice bishop and oswald
Now incompetence probably overpowers malice unless there is some extraordinary evidence from oswald to mcveigh to atta to the pulse shooter the security services are not very good
Speaking of “Tears of Autumn”, I’m not overfond of the concept of the “Uniparty”, but John Boehner blubbering at the unveiling of Nancy Pelosi’s portrait is certainly revolting.
SHIREHOME said, “I watched Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV. I was HS Senior.”
I saw it too, only I was a lowly HS sophomore. We were visiting my cousin’s family in Perry County (PA) for an early Thanksgiving get-together that weekend, and the “kids” were banished to the den to watch TV while the adults started making lunch. I still remember the shock I felt seeing something like Ruby’s shooting Oswald, and knowing it was “live,” as they used to say, not a made-for-television drama. There have, of course, been many disasters since that occurred in full view of TV cameras, ranging from the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle breakups to 9/11, but this was the first such event that I saw while it was happening. It never occurred to me at the time or since to weave a conspiracy theory around Oswald’s murder; it was just too sudden.
Years ago I read “Legend, the Secret Life of Lee Harvey Oswald” by Edward J Epstein. He lays out Oswald’s five years in the USSR as a very privileged character. That convinced me that he acted alone, though maybe with some helpful hints from the Cubans.
I believe we should not be misleading in our statements, even if it is about leftist. The US government did not incinerate those people at Waco. A fanatical cult leader did. If I am not mistaken, a cult leader that had been previously kicked out of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in east Texas. That ” assault” vehicle that is most commonly shown appears to either be what we called an “88 Tank Recovery Vehicle” or simply an “88”, which is designed for towing and working on tanks . I have used a boom like that on one to pull tank engines from their hull. Or maybe some kind of modified M-60 tank with Engineering equipment. I care not to look and see exactly which it was. I had a supervisor at Fort Hood that was there at Waco with the equipment, though he never spoke much about it.
Now this fellow is the latest to go on the bandwagon but unlikely he would share anything with tucker
Surprised Bunge hasn’t remarked this. Amusing to speculate what Boehner’s blood alcohol level was.
Neo, I want to thank you for all the had work you put into your blog and the thoughtfulness of your analysis, you’re a very smart lady. I come here every day to read your latest and check the usually very interesting comments.
I don’t know how you handle the news these days, I find the descent into tyranny saddening and wonder if we will ever recover our liberty. My reading of history tells me we are in serious trouble. As Lord Acton should have said, the corrupt love power and they seem to have the upper hand these days. The only saving grace I see, is that they are total mediocrities about everything except politics. Somehow that will be their undoing. When they lose and how much damage will occur in the mean time is unknown.
Paul in Boston; PA Cat, and everyone else:
Please read Bugliosi’s book (at least the first few hundred pages) that I discuss in the post I linked. His book is absolutely definitive on the subject. Oswald acted alone with no help from anyone. Seriously, if the subject interests you, you owe it to yourself to read it.
Paul in Boston:
You’re welcome!
I do get very down about the news. Very. I try to remind myself that there have been many dark times in history that have reversed and gotten better, and that patience is needed. But I do get depressed.
Then I listen to the Bee Gees, or watch some dance, or talk to friends, or look at photos of my grandkids, to cheer myself up.
Unfortunately I also know lot of people of my age who are dealing with serious health problems. That’s hard, too.
At least the sunsets are getting later!
Nonapod:
Maybe Boehner, ex-Speaker himself, was crying out of nostalgia for his own glory days. Apparently the same artist painted Boehner’s official portrait. If I recall correctly, Boehner was always an easy crier.
SHIREHOME:
Tucker’s good on some things, but on others he’s a fool, and sometimes a dangerous fool in that a lot of people trust him.
So many things have been called ‘conspiracy theories’ so many things bandied about as truth sans evidence in official outlets
or look at photos of my grandkids, to cheer myself up.
Neo only shows people pictures of her grandchildren in meatspace. Some things aren’t done better than they were in 1970.
Then theres the whole tears of autumn scenario revenge for diems death but that means something different than direct.
Please demonstrate a connection between the Ngo family and Lee Harvey Oswald.
He lays out Oswald’s five years in the USSR as a very privileged character.
Two years. I think he was given a factory job in Minsk. Marina has since 1965 been married to Kenneth Porter. He worked in the building trades. They live in an exurb of Dallas and they have real friends – ones who do not blab to the media.
Well that would spoil the twist oliver stone fed on a soviet dezinforma op firsr revealed by mitrokhin elaborated on by max holland,
Epstein is said to have relied too much on angletons viewpoint from the likes of mangold and other
Interestingly angleton is sort of anti hero to both latham on the left and marchetti on the right
What stan and SHIREHOME said– Neo’s blog is a daily must-read for me. And best wishes of the season to all her commenters. — PA Cat
I’ll add my fifth kudos to Neo. An amazing effort and content. And great commenters.
_______
… patience is needed. But I do get depressed. Then I listen to the Bee Gees, or watch some dance, or … — Neo
I watched the Netflix series “Dead to Me” which is a black comedy. The lead character does something similar which she calls “meditation.”
I have engaged in such music listening as well, though my preferences are slightly more original but still lacking in any sophistication. I heard this next one recently in a new restaurant featuring a surfer/skateboarding/thrasher decor and vibe. I knew the song slightly but had to look it up. I must have completely missed the British grunge era.
Short and sweet. Best appreciated with a big sound system, volume set at 11. Love the video.
Corflower,
“Christmas is for children and wimps.”
That’s only true, for those who think Christmas is about Santa and presents.
On the subject of the very dark trends we are seeing–and whether it is possible to rationally maintain a sense of hope…I like a passage from the French writer Bernanos. Following the defeat of France and the British withdrawal at Dunkirk in 1940, the future of that Britain…and of western civilization…looked dark indeed. Writing in exile from Brazil, Bernanos said in December of that year:
“No one knows better than I do that, in the course of centuries, all the great stories of the world end by becoming children’s tales. But this particular one (the story of England’s resistance–ed) has started its life as such, has become a children’s tale on the very threshold of its existence. It mean that we can at once recognize in it the threefold visible sign of its nature. it has deceived the anticipations of the wise, it has humiliated the weak-hearted, it has staggered the fools. Last June all these folk from one end of the world to the other, no matter what the color of their skins, were shaking their heads. Never had they been so old, never had they been so proud of being old. All the figures that they had swallowed in the course of their miserable lives as a safeguard against the highly improbable activity of their emotions had choked the channels of circulation..They were ready to prove that with the Armistice of Rethondes the continuance of the war had become a mathematical impossibility…Some chuckled with satisfaction at the thought, but they were not the most dangerous…Others threatened us with the infection of pity…”Alone against the world,” they said. “Why, what is that but a tale for children?” And that is precisely what it was–a tale for children. Hurrah for the children of England!
Men of England, at this very moment you are writing what public speakers like to describe in their jargon as one of the “greatest pages of history”….At this moment you English are writing one of the greatest pages of history, but I am quite sure that when you started, you meant it as a fairy tale for children. “Once upon a time there was a little island, and in that island there was a people in arms against the world…” Faced with such an opening as that, what old cunning fox of politics or business would not have shrugged his shoulders and closed the book?”
David Foster:
But would England have been able to hold out long enough had the US not entered the war? It turns out they weren’t actually alone.
And of course, that old cunning fox Churchill was never willing to shrug his shoulders and close the book.
Neo…”But would England have been able to hold out long enough had the US not entered the war? It turns out they weren’t actually alone.”
Maybe not, hard to know. But Bernanos’ point, I think, is that too many people would–including some quite-prominent Brits–would have been willing to despair in mid-1940, without considering that *positive* surprises could lie ahead as well as negative ones.
David Foster:
Yes, agreed.
THE HOUSE GOP Intel Committee — a Minority report until January— has released their report that Covid19 was tied to CCPs bioterror weapons program.
The IC has only inadequately investigated this, and have lied about it.
Jon Baker. A tank recovery vehicle isn’t used in assaults in actual war. But against people armed with rifles, it and its tracks will suffice.
Oh. Forgot to say. I watched the hearings. I should have led with that.
There was no reason whatsoever for the feds to have any interest in the Branch Davidians.
The Texas Rangers said there was no illegal gun manufacturing going on. The drug allegation was a lie. If civilian LE needs military equipment, they have to pay damages or repairs or mileage or hours. Unless it’s a drug case, in which case it’s free.
If there had been underage women being abused, Koresh could have been arrested–as the local sheriff said repeatedly to the feds–any time he came into town. And that’s not a federal beef anyway.
And the Texas authorities took down the FLDS with the despicable Warren Jeffs where it really was happening and…didn’t murder a single child. Wimps. Not like the studly heroes of the FBI.
Fortunately, the feds knew the Right Sort of People would other and dehumanize the victims as members of the Lower Orders and so there was no outrage from the usual purveyors or Righteous Outrage.
I get Oswald acting alone. Until Jack Ruby showed up. “too convenient” is where conspiracy theories start.
Oswald could have done everything he did all on his own.
Why? He was unbalanced. Intel agencies know not to recruit the unbalanced unless something really weird is to be done right away. Deniability becomes difficult.
But if Oswald had been convinced he could do The Cause a lot of good by doing something really serious as the opportunity occurred, and then sent on his way with no further connection, it would be a really cheap way of making trouble. Some kind of trouble someplace sometime.
Quick example. Going on better than fifty years ago, a gas tanker blew up where I69 passes over I75 on Flint’s west side. It was closed for the longest time and the alternatives were a nightmare. It was always thought to have been an accident. No reason to think otherwise. Except…there was maybe a three-hundred yard stretch where the tanker’s fate would make trouble and, by golly….
I suppose Oswald could have been sent on his way with some helpful hints, just in case something happened in front of him.
About JFKs assassination. University of Houston economist (as well as Hoover Institution fellow) Prof. Paul Gregory was Oswald and Marina’s best friend in the summer of 1963.
Gregory was regularly visiting them and studying the Russian language.
He was unsurprised that Oswald ended up JFKs assassin, and therefore is skeptical of all conspiracy theories.
His book on Marina and Oswald is freshly out in November.
The Jack Ruby matter is troubling, he adds. But single actor, totally willed actor? Yes.
Lee Oswald was clever and resourceful. But also probably dyslexic, based on his postcard, filled with misspellings.
From the description of Paul Gregory’s book, “The Oswald’s: My Friendship With Marina and Lee”:
“After sixty years, Paul Gregory finally tells everything he knows about the Oswalds and how he watched the soul of a killer take shape.
“Identified by the FBI as a “known associate of LHO,” Gregory soon faced interrogations by the Secret Service. Later he would testify before the Warren Commission. Here, in The Oswalds, he offers the intimate details of his time spent with Lee and wife Marina in their run-down duplex on Mercedes Street in Fort Worth, Texas, and his admission into the inner world of a young marriage before candidly assessing the murder that marked a turning point in our country’s history.
His riveting recollection includes memories both casual and deadly serious, such as the dinner at his parents’ house introducing Marina to the “Dallas Russians,” a front-yard incident of spousal abuse, and a further rift in the marriage when he exposed to Marina that Oswald was not the dashing, radical intellectual whose Historic Diary would be a publishing sensation. And Gregory also gives a fascinating account of his father’s role as an eyewitness to history, serving as Marina’s translator and confidante in the first four days after the assassination.
“As a scholar and skilled researcher, Gregory debunks the vast array of assassination conspiracy theories by demonstrating that Lee Harvey Oswald did it and did it alone—that the Oswald he once called a friend had the motive, the intelligence, and the means to commit one of the most shocking crimes in American history.” https://www.amazon.com/Oswalds-Untold-Account-Marina-Lee-ebook/dp/B09X68M4LR
TJ:
That sounds like an interesting book. But what’s even more interesting – to me, at least – is that the fact that Oswald did it and acted alone has been proved not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but proved to a greater degree that that, and yet so many people don’t believe it. The need to believe otherwise seems to be wide and deep.
And Jack Ruby likewise – killed Oswald alone, beyond a reasonable doubt and even beyond that. Bugliosi’s book is highly convincing on that, as well. For anyone interested in these questions, it should be a must-read.
What is troubling about the killing of Oswald is that security was lax enough that the opportunity presented itself.
Richard Aubrey, I do not doubt the effectiveness of a tank recovery vehicle against lightly armed defenders. I have driven the older version with the 12 cylinder tank engines in them. Never drove the updated versions with jet engines. I knew a soldier from Desert Storm who claimed his unit used 88 s against Iraqi troops that were defending in trenches. He claimed they lowered that stabilizing spade in front and just plowed over the trenches in the assault…my issue is the claim that the government started those fires. It seems the fanatical cult leader started them, regardless of whether or not the government should have been there in the first place or not.
Jon Baker. The fires’ beginning is contentious. Nothing in the hearings had Koresh starting them.
Some reports had the fire starting in the kitchen, some as a result of teargas munitions.
as i recall from the spectator, the atf’s budget was up for review, so they had to make a big splash of it, how big was the raid, they brought in wesley clark, who was commanding ft hood, and schoomaker, ex delta who would rise to army chief of staff, in an advisory capacity, and in their ham handed they created a martyr which on top of the ruby ridge disaster, sparked the rebirth of the militia movement, and the tragic events of oklahoma city, I fear another great disaster may arise out of the injuries, that this regime has visited upon the people,
the security services did not handle oswald well, he was sporting more flags then the flight crew of a career, where he had been who he had associated with in byelorussia, who he had confronted on the streets of new orleans, who he met in mexico city, that info did not properly rise up the ranks to the appropriate sources, and we see the same pattern with mcveigh, thirty some years later,
with mohammed atta, just a few years after that, skip forward to a whole series of events from san bernardino to orlando, and the likes of strzok, mccabe et al get rewarded for their incompetence,
The eff bee eye have been caught on open mics calling their gas shells “burners”. They are deliberate incendiary devices. If the gas doesn’t drive them out, the fire will.
Neo,
Bugliosi has been called out for repeatedly lying and ignoring evidence that disagrees with his conclusion. Which means his version cannot possibly be considered authoritative by itself. Telling people to read it is as convincing as telling people to read Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon to settle all questions on religion.
It may be that his critics are wrong. It may be that he is. But the one thing that we know as a simple matter of logic is that he cannot be considered authoritative without engaging with the many serious criticisms.
and one can’t forget how he went mad over florida, and the 2000 election, but he reasonably accounted most data regarding that date, he didn’t have it all, for instance there was a cia operative, who was surveying and supporting certain exile elements in new orleans, and probably dallas, but much of the stories that were regurgitated by bill kurtis and other players,
jon baker,
The use of tear gas in the assault was a violation of the Geneva Convention. There isn’t any possible way to justify a massive military assault. None.
Dozens of children were killed. The news media didn’t care. The despicable Janet Reno (who was responsible for prosecuting innocents on fabricated day care center abuse charges in Miami) was lauded by the news media for her role. It was sick. Instead of any concern for the dead kids, they used the label “religious nuts” and the kids were ‘othered’ into irrelevance.
stan:
Bugliosi has been “called out” by the JFK conspiracy theorists, of course. But they have nothing – absolutely nothing – to counter it with, although they count on convincing those who have not read his book, which admittedly is very long. Bugliosi utterly and completely demolishes them – with the facts, which are OVERWHELMING. He ignores nothing; that’s what makes his book so exhaustive. Your analogy to a religious text is completely misplaced.
Read his book. Also, read all the posts I’ve written here about the assassination.
you can’t acount for every element, every person oswald was in contact, the soviets mounted an active measure ops almost as soon as the ambulance left parkland hospital, through european outlets, in france and italy, through vanity publications, like james buchanan, some of this jim garrison picked up on, the soviets don’t really want to admit how much contact they and their proxies had with oswald, in places like minsk, but some serious people, by establi0shment lights like mowatt larsen (i think his conjectures are often wrong, see his tds) do not discard these matters, out of hand, of course letting larry sabato make heads or tails of these documents seems utterly ridiculous IMHO
I would chalk it up to incompetence, how poorly the deep state handled these matters in 1963, and I can’t see they have done better nearly 50 years later,
miguel cervantes:
Read Bugliosi’s book.
i did, well not all of it, because it’s a massive tome, but it addressed most of the controversies i’ve heard,
stan jumps the shark citing the Geneva Convention.
Sheesh.
remember it was a warcrime when trump was said to be using tear gas, to clear lafayette square, then it turned out it was the dc police, but never mind,
Miguel:
That wasn’t a war crime either. But you should know that too.
@ stan > “…read Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon to settle all questions on religion.”
Works for me.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/controlling_the_department_of_justice.html
This is a solid, very well-done piece. I learned some things I didn’t know, and he pulled together some threads to help provide clarity about the importance of some things I did.
The DOJ has a long history as a weapon used by Democrats to abuse the American people. The author gives an outline of our founders’ attitudes against even having one. Democrat administrations always tend toward tyranny. Always. Because, as David Horowitz has warned us, inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out.
The list of horrors and abuses is long and sordid. It’s worth a read to remind us all.
BTW — Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Waco where Clinton and the vile AG Janet Reno violated American law and the Geneva Convention by incinerating dozens of innocent people including children with a military assault. No one was held accountable as the news media cheered wildly for Reno. When we look back on the descent of the news media into the propaganda wing of the tyrannical Democrats, this horrifying reaction of the news media will be a harbinger we should have looked at more closely. I remember being shocked. Really, really shocked. There was a disturbing, haunting quality to it that went beyond mere partisanship.
Today, it seems that it was a brief moment where we got a small peek at the evil that lurks therein. The most heinous acts imaginable were approved because of the political party responsible for the perpetration. As evil as it gets.
Again, read it. Disturbing. Informative.
Neo,
This holiday period of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas is always valuable to remind us to tell people that we appreciate them. Just wanted to tell you that I appreciate you and this blog.
What you do is valuable. I look forward to reading your posts and the comments of many of the bright, thoughtful people here. Thank you for providing it and for the work you invest in it. You are a treasure (even when I disagree with you 😉 )
While there is much to be depressed about as we survey the nation and the world, there are positives to celebrate. You and your blog are among those positives.
He did manage to get one brief mention of “human caused climate change.” Libya and Tunisia were bread baskets for Rome, so it wasn’t that long ago it changed.
Near the end of this video, the narrator tells us that the green Sahara period is one of 23 such periods that happened during the last eight million years.
Unfortunately, the video doesn’t mention that the periodicity of these climate changes are due to what are called Milankovitch cycles. The earth’s orbital fluctuations form the basis of Milankovitch’s work, which was published in the 1920s. The video does mention the importance of orbital changes, but neglects to give Milankovitch credit for the theory.
Milankovitch proposed that these orbital changes would cause climate changes throughout earth’s history. Rocks between 202 and 253 million years old provide physical evidence for the extension of his theory far beyond the Quaternary ice ages (https://archive.vn/7MDO8).
Neo, I second Stan. This Blog is a go to place for me several times a day. Thank you.
In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo I saw artifacts from the people who moved into the Nile Valley circa 5,000-6,000 BC. They had to leave the rest of North Africa because the area was drying up.
At this time of year, I like to watch “Seinfeld,” season 9, episode 10, entitled “The Strike.” Despite the title, this is widely known as the Festivus episode. Festivus is celebrated by the airing of grievances. For those of us who religiously read about politics, we need such a holiday. Lets not kid ourselves, Christmas is for children and wimps. Festivus for the rest of us!
I said 2 weeks ago this was going to happen, now parents(!) in Boston are demanding masking for the school kids in January. Philadelphia already has imposed such. Now even the CDC is getting in on the act. Note how now it is not just covid, but all respiratory viruses. They are willing to try any excuse to reimpose control over the population:
“America’s leading health officials are now recommending masking to prevent the spread of RSV and the flu this winter – not just Covid.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said during a briefing last week, ‘we also encourage you to wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses’, when discussing prevention measures for the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).”
What stan and SHIREHOME said– Neo’s blog is a daily must-read for me. And best wishes of the season to all her commenters.
physicsguy– Details about the Philadelphia masking mandate here, including the effects of pandemic-related lockdowns on the students’ learning. “The [test] scores also show how hard it will be for Philadelphia to meet the targets it set for the past school year, and for the next several years.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/12/philadelphia-schools-requiring-masks-10-days-after-winter-break/
“Temporary” mask mandate? I’ll believe that when 1) the southern border is controlled; 2) Brandon tells the truth about anything; and 3) the Phillies finally win the World Series.
Related to the Sahara thing — why we haven’t paved it over with solar panels — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ASvupr8Zg
Also Sahara related — Libya pulling out water from back when it was green to make artificial rivers — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOW6kLEckg
One of my few predictions to come true is that the powers that be would eventually recommend reinstating masking. I was not alone, and it was perfectly obvious when you read or listened to the reasoning for suspending mask mandates. They didn’t stop calling for masking because it is true that masks do not prevent infection or the spread, nor because masking of children damages them developmentally, they said they would suspended masking because the Covid infection rate had declined.
I will not be wearing a mask ever again (except when working in my wood shop) and hope most others refuse to do so.
Well, Cornflour, we all have a lot of material for complaining on this Festivus.
However, Christmas, the religious festival, not the secular one, is for Christian believers.
stan; SHIREHOME; PA Cat:
Thanks! Your appreciation means a lot to me.
Oh
https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-the-irs-helped-cair-islamists-win-georgia-elections/
Since we have batted this about in the past. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2022/12/15/insider-tells-tucker-carlson-that-cia-was-directly-involved-in-jfk-assassination-n1654028
Miguel,
The conclusion is that we should assume that every conceivable dirty trick and manner of undermining America is being pursued by Democrats. They steal elections using every possible tool. They use every lever of power, every avenue of propaganda, every corruption of truth in furtherance of imposing the tyranny they obsessively desire. They have infiltrated every institution. They have corrupted everything they touch.
And their opponents still don’t understand there’s a war going on.
physicsguy,
https://thepostmillennial.com/ukrainian-orphan-girl-denied-life-saving-surgery-because-shes-unvaxxed
Not just masks. Vaxx too. This is just heartbreaking. There is something really disturbing about this. Why would doctors be so heartless, so anti-science, so irrational? This makes no sense. What is the benefit to the hospital of insisting on something that has no value? Why force a girl to die?
Are we going to see social distancing? Despite its complete lack of benefit and absence of any scientific support? Politically driven superstition is especially pernicious.
Voodoo runs amok in America.
Words mean things and direct involvement means a very particular thing
Yeah, about Tucker last night. In my opinion Oswald and Ruby both acted alone. That is what I think. Tucker had a lot of conjectures about things, doing a lot conspiracy theories. His high level source can’t be named. Well that to me is a cover up. I watched Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV. I was HS Senior. Now that I am a Senior again I have not changed my opinion. My very best friend, my Other Brother, is basically calling me “misguided”.
Bugliosi addressed some interesting questions about the supposed corsican hit team many of them were in prison at the time that say steven rivele said to bill curtis they were involved bob baer floated an interesting conjecture relating to someone oswald was supposed to contact before the encounter with tippit
Then theres the whole tears of autumn scenario revenge for diems death but that means something different than direct.
Name dropping here i went to school with among others the son of antonio veciana of course i knew him them only as a punk but in an earlier life his father co founded alpha 66 before he went to jail on a drug beef he had said to have witnessed a meeting between the mysterious maurice bishop and oswald
Now incompetence probably overpowers malice unless there is some extraordinary evidence from oswald to mcveigh to atta to the pulse shooter the security services are not very good
Speaking of “Tears of Autumn”, I’m not overfond of the concept of the “Uniparty”, but John Boehner blubbering at the unveiling of Nancy Pelosi’s portrait is certainly revolting.
SHIREHOME said, “I watched Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV. I was HS Senior.”
I saw it too, only I was a lowly HS sophomore. We were visiting my cousin’s family in Perry County (PA) for an early Thanksgiving get-together that weekend, and the “kids” were banished to the den to watch TV while the adults started making lunch. I still remember the shock I felt seeing something like Ruby’s shooting Oswald, and knowing it was “live,” as they used to say, not a made-for-television drama. There have, of course, been many disasters since that occurred in full view of TV cameras, ranging from the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle breakups to 9/11, but this was the first such event that I saw while it was happening. It never occurred to me at the time or since to weave a conspiracy theory around Oswald’s murder; it was just too sudden.
Years ago I read “Legend, the Secret Life of Lee Harvey Oswald” by Edward J Epstein. He lays out Oswald’s five years in the USSR as a very privileged character. That convinced me that he acted alone, though maybe with some helpful hints from the Cubans.
I believe we should not be misleading in our statements, even if it is about leftist. The US government did not incinerate those people at Waco. A fanatical cult leader did. If I am not mistaken, a cult leader that had been previously kicked out of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in east Texas. That ” assault” vehicle that is most commonly shown appears to either be what we called an “88 Tank Recovery Vehicle” or simply an “88”, which is designed for towing and working on tanks . I have used a boom like that on one to pull tank engines from their hull. Or maybe some kind of modified M-60 tank with Engineering equipment. I care not to look and see exactly which it was. I had a supervisor at Fort Hood that was there at Waco with the equipment, though he never spoke much about it.
Now this fellow is the latest to go on the bandwagon but unlikely he would share anything with tucker
https://www.justsecurity.org/author/mowatt-larssenrolf/
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/402360.php
Surprised Bunge hasn’t remarked this. Amusing to speculate what Boehner’s blood alcohol level was.
Neo, I want to thank you for all the had work you put into your blog and the thoughtfulness of your analysis, you’re a very smart lady. I come here every day to read your latest and check the usually very interesting comments.
I don’t know how you handle the news these days, I find the descent into tyranny saddening and wonder if we will ever recover our liberty. My reading of history tells me we are in serious trouble. As Lord Acton should have said, the corrupt love power and they seem to have the upper hand these days. The only saving grace I see, is that they are total mediocrities about everything except politics. Somehow that will be their undoing. When they lose and how much damage will occur in the mean time is unknown.
Paul in Boston; PA Cat, and everyone else:
Please read Bugliosi’s book (at least the first few hundred pages) that I discuss in the post I linked. His book is absolutely definitive on the subject. Oswald acted alone with no help from anyone. Seriously, if the subject interests you, you owe it to yourself to read it.
Paul in Boston:
You’re welcome!
I do get very down about the news. Very. I try to remind myself that there have been many dark times in history that have reversed and gotten better, and that patience is needed. But I do get depressed.
Then I listen to the Bee Gees, or watch some dance, or talk to friends, or look at photos of my grandkids, to cheer myself up.
Unfortunately I also know lot of people of my age who are dealing with serious health problems. That’s hard, too.
At least the sunsets are getting later!
Nonapod:
Maybe Boehner, ex-Speaker himself, was crying out of nostalgia for his own glory days. Apparently the same artist painted Boehner’s official portrait. If I recall correctly, Boehner was always an easy crier.
SHIREHOME:
Tucker’s good on some things, but on others he’s a fool, and sometimes a dangerous fool in that a lot of people trust him.
So many things have been called ‘conspiracy theories’ so many things bandied about as truth sans evidence in official outlets
or look at photos of my grandkids, to cheer myself up.
Neo only shows people pictures of her grandchildren in meatspace. Some things aren’t done better than they were in 1970.
Then theres the whole tears of autumn scenario revenge for diems death but that means something different than direct.
Please demonstrate a connection between the Ngo family and Lee Harvey Oswald.
He lays out Oswald’s five years in the USSR as a very privileged character.
Two years. I think he was given a factory job in Minsk. Marina has since 1965 been married to Kenneth Porter. He worked in the building trades. They live in an exurb of Dallas and they have real friends – ones who do not blab to the media.
Well that would spoil the twist oliver stone fed on a soviet dezinforma op firsr revealed by mitrokhin elaborated on by max holland,
Epstein is said to have relied too much on angletons viewpoint from the likes of mangold and other
Interestingly angleton is sort of anti hero to both latham on the left and marchetti on the right
What stan and SHIREHOME said– Neo’s blog is a daily must-read for me. And best wishes of the season to all her commenters. — PA Cat
I’ll add my fifth kudos to Neo. An amazing effort and content. And great commenters.
_______
… patience is needed. But I do get depressed. Then I listen to the Bee Gees, or watch some dance, or … — Neo
I watched the Netflix series “Dead to Me” which is a black comedy. The lead character does something similar which she calls “meditation.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ipN9gaIB4c
I have engaged in such music listening as well, though my preferences are slightly more original but still lacking in any sophistication. I heard this next one recently in a new restaurant featuring a surfer/skateboarding/thrasher decor and vibe. I knew the song slightly but had to look it up. I must have completely missed the British grunge era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk
Short and sweet. Best appreciated with a big sound system, volume set at 11. Love the video.
Corflower,
“Christmas is for children and wimps.”
That’s only true, for those who think Christmas is about Santa and presents.
On the subject of the very dark trends we are seeing–and whether it is possible to rationally maintain a sense of hope…I like a passage from the French writer Bernanos. Following the defeat of France and the British withdrawal at Dunkirk in 1940, the future of that Britain…and of western civilization…looked dark indeed. Writing in exile from Brazil, Bernanos said in December of that year:
“No one knows better than I do that, in the course of centuries, all the great stories of the world end by becoming children’s tales. But this particular one (the story of England’s resistance–ed) has started its life as such, has become a children’s tale on the very threshold of its existence. It mean that we can at once recognize in it the threefold visible sign of its nature. it has deceived the anticipations of the wise, it has humiliated the weak-hearted, it has staggered the fools. Last June all these folk from one end of the world to the other, no matter what the color of their skins, were shaking their heads. Never had they been so old, never had they been so proud of being old. All the figures that they had swallowed in the course of their miserable lives as a safeguard against the highly improbable activity of their emotions had choked the channels of circulation..They were ready to prove that with the Armistice of Rethondes the continuance of the war had become a mathematical impossibility…Some chuckled with satisfaction at the thought, but they were not the most dangerous…Others threatened us with the infection of pity…”Alone against the world,” they said. “Why, what is that but a tale for children?” And that is precisely what it was–a tale for children. Hurrah for the children of England!
Men of England, at this very moment you are writing what public speakers like to describe in their jargon as one of the “greatest pages of history”….At this moment you English are writing one of the greatest pages of history, but I am quite sure that when you started, you meant it as a fairy tale for children. “Once upon a time there was a little island, and in that island there was a people in arms against the world…” Faced with such an opening as that, what old cunning fox of politics or business would not have shrugged his shoulders and closed the book?”
David Foster:
But would England have been able to hold out long enough had the US not entered the war? It turns out they weren’t actually alone.
And of course, that old cunning fox Churchill was never willing to shrug his shoulders and close the book.
Neo…”But would England have been able to hold out long enough had the US not entered the war? It turns out they weren’t actually alone.”
Maybe not, hard to know. But Bernanos’ point, I think, is that too many people would–including some quite-prominent Brits–would have been willing to despair in mid-1940, without considering that *positive* surprises could lie ahead as well as negative ones.
David Foster:
Yes, agreed.
THE HOUSE GOP Intel Committee — a Minority report until January— has released their report that Covid19 was tied to CCPs bioterror weapons program.
The IC has only inadequately investigated this, and have lied about it.
MAJOR BREAKING NEWS gets an important once over by Robert Gouviea in 13 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB9vp2IdZvQ
Jon Baker. A tank recovery vehicle isn’t used in assaults in actual war. But against people armed with rifles, it and its tracks will suffice.
Oh. Forgot to say. I watched the hearings. I should have led with that.
There was no reason whatsoever for the feds to have any interest in the Branch Davidians.
The Texas Rangers said there was no illegal gun manufacturing going on. The drug allegation was a lie. If civilian LE needs military equipment, they have to pay damages or repairs or mileage or hours. Unless it’s a drug case, in which case it’s free.
If there had been underage women being abused, Koresh could have been arrested–as the local sheriff said repeatedly to the feds–any time he came into town. And that’s not a federal beef anyway.
And the Texas authorities took down the FLDS with the despicable Warren Jeffs where it really was happening and…didn’t murder a single child. Wimps. Not like the studly heroes of the FBI.
Fortunately, the feds knew the Right Sort of People would other and dehumanize the victims as members of the Lower Orders and so there was no outrage from the usual purveyors or Righteous Outrage.
I get Oswald acting alone. Until Jack Ruby showed up. “too convenient” is where conspiracy theories start.
Oswald could have done everything he did all on his own.
Why? He was unbalanced. Intel agencies know not to recruit the unbalanced unless something really weird is to be done right away. Deniability becomes difficult.
But if Oswald had been convinced he could do The Cause a lot of good by doing something really serious as the opportunity occurred, and then sent on his way with no further connection, it would be a really cheap way of making trouble. Some kind of trouble someplace sometime.
Quick example. Going on better than fifty years ago, a gas tanker blew up where I69 passes over I75 on Flint’s west side. It was closed for the longest time and the alternatives were a nightmare. It was always thought to have been an accident. No reason to think otherwise. Except…there was maybe a three-hundred yard stretch where the tanker’s fate would make trouble and, by golly….
I suppose Oswald could have been sent on his way with some helpful hints, just in case something happened in front of him.
About JFKs assassination. University of Houston economist (as well as Hoover Institution fellow) Prof. Paul Gregory was Oswald and Marina’s best friend in the summer of 1963.
Gregory was regularly visiting them and studying the Russian language.
He was unsurprised that Oswald ended up JFKs assassin, and therefore is skeptical of all conspiracy theories.
His book on Marina and Oswald is freshly out in November.
2017 oral interview
https://www.hoover.org/research/area-45-lee-harvey-oswald-was-my-friend-featuring-paul-gregory
“He would do anything to get into the history books….” say Gregory.
“Lee Harvey Oswald Was My Friend” EXCERPT of NYTimes Mag piece
https://hnn.us/article/153915
The Jack Ruby matter is troubling, he adds. But single actor, totally willed actor? Yes.
Lee Oswald was clever and resourceful. But also probably dyslexic, based on his postcard, filled with misspellings.
From the description of Paul Gregory’s book, “The Oswald’s: My Friendship With Marina and Lee”:
“After sixty years, Paul Gregory finally tells everything he knows about the Oswalds and how he watched the soul of a killer take shape.
“Identified by the FBI as a “known associate of LHO,” Gregory soon faced interrogations by the Secret Service. Later he would testify before the Warren Commission. Here, in The Oswalds, he offers the intimate details of his time spent with Lee and wife Marina in their run-down duplex on Mercedes Street in Fort Worth, Texas, and his admission into the inner world of a young marriage before candidly assessing the murder that marked a turning point in our country’s history.
His riveting recollection includes memories both casual and deadly serious, such as the dinner at his parents’ house introducing Marina to the “Dallas Russians,” a front-yard incident of spousal abuse, and a further rift in the marriage when he exposed to Marina that Oswald was not the dashing, radical intellectual whose Historic Diary would be a publishing sensation. And Gregory also gives a fascinating account of his father’s role as an eyewitness to history, serving as Marina’s translator and confidante in the first four days after the assassination.
“As a scholar and skilled researcher, Gregory debunks the vast array of assassination conspiracy theories by demonstrating that Lee Harvey Oswald did it and did it alone—that the Oswald he once called a friend had the motive, the intelligence, and the means to commit one of the most shocking crimes in American history.”
https://www.amazon.com/Oswalds-Untold-Account-Marina-Lee-ebook/dp/B09X68M4LR
TJ:
That sounds like an interesting book. But what’s even more interesting – to me, at least – is that the fact that Oswald did it and acted alone has been proved not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but proved to a greater degree that that, and yet so many people don’t believe it. The need to believe otherwise seems to be wide and deep.
WRT Green Sahara. See “Sahara Pump”
https://infogalactic.com › info › Sahara_pump_theory
TJ; Richard Aubrey:
And Jack Ruby likewise – killed Oswald alone, beyond a reasonable doubt and even beyond that. Bugliosi’s book is highly convincing on that, as well. For anyone interested in these questions, it should be a must-read.
What is troubling about the killing of Oswald is that security was lax enough that the opportunity presented itself.
Richard Aubrey, I do not doubt the effectiveness of a tank recovery vehicle against lightly armed defenders. I have driven the older version with the 12 cylinder tank engines in them. Never drove the updated versions with jet engines. I knew a soldier from Desert Storm who claimed his unit used 88 s against Iraqi troops that were defending in trenches. He claimed they lowered that stabilizing spade in front and just plowed over the trenches in the assault…my issue is the claim that the government started those fires. It seems the fanatical cult leader started them, regardless of whether or not the government should have been there in the first place or not.
Jon Baker. The fires’ beginning is contentious. Nothing in the hearings had Koresh starting them.
Some reports had the fire starting in the kitchen, some as a result of teargas munitions.
as i recall from the spectator, the atf’s budget was up for review, so they had to make a big splash of it, how big was the raid, they brought in wesley clark, who was commanding ft hood, and schoomaker, ex delta who would rise to army chief of staff, in an advisory capacity, and in their ham handed they created a martyr which on top of the ruby ridge disaster, sparked the rebirth of the militia movement, and the tragic events of oklahoma city, I fear another great disaster may arise out of the injuries, that this regime has visited upon the people,
the security services did not handle oswald well, he was sporting more flags then the flight crew of a career, where he had been who he had associated with in byelorussia, who he had confronted on the streets of new orleans, who he met in mexico city, that info did not properly rise up the ranks to the appropriate sources, and we see the same pattern with mcveigh, thirty some years later,
with mohammed atta, just a few years after that, skip forward to a whole series of events from san bernardino to orlando, and the likes of strzok, mccabe et al get rewarded for their incompetence,
The eff bee eye have been caught on open mics calling their gas shells “burners”. They are deliberate incendiary devices. If the gas doesn’t drive them out, the fire will.
Neo,
Bugliosi has been called out for repeatedly lying and ignoring evidence that disagrees with his conclusion. Which means his version cannot possibly be considered authoritative by itself. Telling people to read it is as convincing as telling people to read Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon to settle all questions on religion.
It may be that his critics are wrong. It may be that he is. But the one thing that we know as a simple matter of logic is that he cannot be considered authoritative without engaging with the many serious criticisms.
and one can’t forget how he went mad over florida, and the 2000 election, but he reasonably accounted most data regarding that date, he didn’t have it all, for instance there was a cia operative, who was surveying and supporting certain exile elements in new orleans, and probably dallas, but much of the stories that were regurgitated by bill kurtis and other players,
jon baker,
The use of tear gas in the assault was a violation of the Geneva Convention. There isn’t any possible way to justify a massive military assault. None.
Dozens of children were killed. The news media didn’t care. The despicable Janet Reno (who was responsible for prosecuting innocents on fabricated day care center abuse charges in Miami) was lauded by the news media for her role. It was sick. Instead of any concern for the dead kids, they used the label “religious nuts” and the kids were ‘othered’ into irrelevance.
stan:
Bugliosi has been “called out” by the JFK conspiracy theorists, of course. But they have nothing – absolutely nothing – to counter it with, although they count on convincing those who have not read his book, which admittedly is very long. Bugliosi utterly and completely demolishes them – with the facts, which are OVERWHELMING. He ignores nothing; that’s what makes his book so exhaustive. Your analogy to a religious text is completely misplaced.
Read his book. Also, read all the posts I’ve written here about the assassination.
you can’t acount for every element, every person oswald was in contact, the soviets mounted an active measure ops almost as soon as the ambulance left parkland hospital, through european outlets, in france and italy, through vanity publications, like james buchanan, some of this jim garrison picked up on, the soviets don’t really want to admit how much contact they and their proxies had with oswald, in places like minsk, but some serious people, by establi0shment lights like mowatt larsen (i think his conjectures are often wrong, see his tds) do not discard these matters, out of hand, of course letting larry sabato make heads or tails of these documents seems utterly ridiculous IMHO
I would chalk it up to incompetence, how poorly the deep state handled these matters in 1963, and I can’t see they have done better nearly 50 years later,
miguel cervantes:
Read Bugliosi’s book.
i did, well not all of it, because it’s a massive tome, but it addressed most of the controversies i’ve heard,
stan jumps the shark citing the Geneva Convention.
Sheesh.
remember it was a warcrime when trump was said to be using tear gas, to clear lafayette square, then it turned out it was the dc police, but never mind,
Miguel:
That wasn’t a war crime either. But you should know that too.
@ stan > “…read Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon to settle all questions on religion.”
Works for me.