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Open thread 4/23/24 — 54 Comments

  1. Whilst the Republican Russia Doves are determined to give the Democrats control of the House before a new Congress — Trump: I Want Mike Johnson, Don’t Vacate

    Maybe Trump is finally realizing that he will probably need Republican voters who support Ukraine against Russia in order to win?

    Bill Barr says he will back Trump in 2024 because the ‘far left’ is a bigger threat to democracy (despite calling him a crook and saying he would jump off a bridge if Donald was the nominee)

    Dershowitz: Joe Wants Votes from Jew-Hating Mob — Hide the Guillotines!!!

  2. Trump with Johnson is more of the “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” thing than anything. Trump is fine with working with anyone that will listen. If Johnson can be persuaded to back the Trump agenda, that’s fine. If not, Trump can always bully him into obediance or have him replaced. I’m fine with either, since Johnson has proved himself to be as spineless as the other GOP front-benchers.

  3. Yes bidens shambling shell is wirh al queda they are still a thing and when they remind us what will the chattering parrots say

  4. It isn’t 1980 anymore. Russia has a per capita GDP and population comparable to Mexico. They are no more a military threat to the EU than Mexico is a military threat to the United States. Germany alone has a higher GDP than Russia. Germany and France together have a higher population than Russia.

    The EU taken together has a GDP of $27 trillion compared to Russia’s $5.5 trillion and a population of 450 million to Russia’s 150 million. Russia’s median age is 40 years compared to Europe’s 44 and its birthrate is 1.42 children per woman compared to the EU’s 1.46.

    Russia is not a serious threat to Europe now and is not growing into one–its population is aging and dwindling like Europe’s but without Europe’s wealth. The EU has chosen to outsource much of its defense to the US, and our bloated ticks in Congress have been happy to enrich their cronies and themselves by obliging, with our money. But the EU can change this at any time, and if they really think Russia is a threat to them, maybe they ought to do a little more.

    As for nuclear weapons, sometimes it’s easy to forget that France and the UK also have them. If they wanted to get serious, they could have more, and so could some of the other EU member states.

    It’s a bummer for Ukraine to have such a bad neighbor, and bummer for their 30 years of independence from Russia to be curtailed. But the EU is more than capable of dealing with any threat from Russia. This is not our circus, not our monkeys, and not worth the bones of one Oklahoma Marine, much less the risk of any American city getting nuked. It is not America’s job to babysit a richer and more populated region thousands of miles away, spending our tax money and risking our young people’s lives, just because one craphole country is picking on its weaker neighbor. We have our own security problems much closer to home and if we must needs be involved abroad, China is plenty of real threat to handle.

    But that might get in the way of court-martialing our servicemen for misgendering trans soldiers by using the wrong pronouns. If our government really thought Russia was a serious threat, we’d be getting serious too, and not just sending tax money to contractors with connections.

  5. Dropping by to say hi.
    We are in Wyoming again for the summer, so my reading and commenting will be sporadic.
    I’m trying to skim the news to find out if WW3 has started up, but won’t be doing any deep dives or comprehensive “research.”
    My best regards to Neo and the Salon, and apologies if I miss important personal notes, or duplicate comments made by others.

  6. Niketas:

    Location, location, location. Russia has the history and the present actions of an aggressive expansionist state, but why believe your eyes?

  7. Nice video on bass guitar lines. A couple of my new friends are a drummer and a bass player. The drummer plays in many cover bands, while the bass player is primarily a jazz guy but also plays in cover bands to pay the bills.

    The drummer recommended an old Jethro Tull album, Benefit, that I used to own as a teen, but got stolen in robbery decades ago.

    Listening to it on a good home stereo cranked up, the bass line of the song, “Inside,” is excellent. It is a very active bass line, which as described in neo’s video, can be too busy. But this one is very harmonic and sonorous.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1VYRZF8bCs

    The song itself is interesting because it is an oblique love song. The lyric mostly speaks of traveling, the outdoors, and innocuous elements of being indoors. But the reason he wants to be indoors is to be with his new lover. I think the instrumental scoring is derived from the sounds of being outdoors.

  8. The article I mentioned, says, that in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. said:

    “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity, and the right to use whatever sea lanes it needs. I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”

  9. The GOP’s Pro-Russia Russia Dove Caucus Lost. Now Ukraine Has to Win – couldn’t resist 😉

    10 popular misconceptions about Ukrainian history, debunked

    Myth 1: Crimea has ‘always been Russian’
    Myth 2: Ukrainians, Russians are ‘brotherly people’
    Myth 3: Ukrainian culture is undeveloped
    Myth 4: Holodomor was caused by poor harvests
    Myth 5: Russians liberated Europe from Nazis
    Myth 6: Ukrainian nationalists are ‘Nazis’
    Myth 7: Moscow is the rightful successor of Kyivan Rus
    Myth 8: Ukraine is a divided country: Nationalistic west vs. pro-Russian east
    Myth 9: Communism is good
    Myth 10: Ukraine is a puppet state controlled by the West

    Are dreams of Russia’s expansion feasible? — 12/16/2021 article by “Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok – ex-chief of the 1st direction group of the 1st directorate of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, colonel.” Brief w/ my added Bold:

    Attempts to realize fantasies will only lead to wars

    Russia will expand its territory by gathering lands and spaces, since constant expansion is not just one of the ideas, but the true existential of our historical existence. This opinion is expressed by individual representatives of the political class of the country.

    In their opinion, for centuries the Russian state, with its harsh and inactive political interior, was preserved solely due to the relentless striving beyond its own borders. It has long forgotten how, and most likely never knew how to survive in other ways.

    External expansion, Russian thinkers believe, serves to defuse the internal tension that accumulates in society and which in no case should be released into the wild through liberal experiments.

  10. Crimea has been russian since the battle of york town for us they fought subsequent battles with the turks and of course the crimean and russo turkish wars not to mention the Great patriotic one

    No the rime of duranty doesnt appeal

    Now thats just patent denial

    The azovs and swoboda are a thing much diminished from 2014 when they had three ministers

    The arguments get weaker from then on

  11. Regarding the discussion on an earlier thread about Easter and Passover being out of alignment.
    Yes the Jewish calendar has to add an occasional leap month since their months are more strictly tied to the lunar cycle than the Gregorian calendar. Twelve lunar months does not equal 365 and 1/4 days. Always falls short. So to keep the thing aligned with the seasons, an occasional leap month, Adar 2, is added.
    That being said, the reason ” Easter ” does not stick with Passover is because the Churches have decided not to keep it tied to Passover but to the ridiculous spring equinox. All churches would have to do is say we will observe , ahhhem, “”Resurrection Day” ,the first Sunday after whenever Passover falls that year. The calender systems are not inherently the source of the problem. The disengagement with Passover is the problem.

  12. There have been stirrings of Crimea independence for as long as Ukraine has existed as an independent country.

    After 1991, the status of Crimea in the now independent Ukraine was a major political issue from the beginning and the politics of the 1990’s featured a continuous struggle between the central government in Kiev and the local authorities in Crimea, before the matter was finally resolved in 1998.

    Almost immediately after independence, the Crimean parliament sought to assert its autonomy, going so far as to declare its independence on May 5, 1992, only to retract that declaration the following day. On May 6, the newly adopted (in Crimea) Crimean Constitution was amended to identify Crimea as part of Ukraine (albeit a highly autonomous part). In June of 1992, the Ukrainian parliament recognized Crimea’s status as an “Autonomous Republic” under the Ukrainian Constitution, but the controversy of the scope of the powers of the Crimean government was not resolved until December 23, 1998, when the Verkhovna Rada accepted a new, less ambitious constitution that had been adopted in Crimea two months earlier. (Article 135 of the Ukrainian Constitution provides that the Crimean Constitution must be approved by the Ukrainian parliament.)

    Periodically over the past six decades, some Russians have claimed that the 1954 transfer was illegitimate. Nevertheless, in 1997, Russia and Ukraine entered into a treaty agreement that recognized Ukrainian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula.

    Understanding the Constitutional Situation in Crimea
    https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2014/03/understanding-the-constitutional-situation-in-crimea/

  13. I’m impressed with Maurice Gibb’s ability to play funky, oddly timed basslines while singing. It’s not an easy thing to sing and play an instrument simultaneously when what you’re playing and what you’re singing don’t exactly line up rhythmically, as is the case with many basslines. Generally it’s easier to strum rhythm guitar while singing, since in most rock and pop arrangements the rhythm guitar will be strummed on every whole, half, quarter, eighth, or sixteenth note in a 4/4 song. But most bass lines require locking in with the kick drum, which typically will play on the 1 and the 3 and “and” of the 3. And funkier basslines will generally have additional passing notes which could fall almost anywhere in the measure. It’s one of the reasons bassist/singers like Paul McCartney and Sting are so impressive.

  14. But of course Crimea is truly independent especially so since 2008! They get more and more independent every day under The Russian Federation!

    Now the Crimean Tartars had been independently removed from Crimea and replaced by ethnic Russians in the old Soviet days but Vlad has even more independence for them since 2008.

    Old Russian habits of independence never die or fade away.

  15. I like this new SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C & Type-A so much I did a tweet on it – are tweets still called tweets on X? Nope…oops! Tweets are now Posts – that’s what my Tweet Post button is now called.

    Anyway, got the 256 GB Ultra Dual Drive for less than $22. Not as fast (150MB/s) as my SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.2 Solid State Flash Drive, but smaller & less bulky (1 3/8-inch x 3/4-inch) and has sliding retractable Type-C & Type-A connections. Mainly use SanDisk and Samsung USBs due to issues I had on other brands w/ Linux ext4 format.

  16. The most uncelebrated bass legend is James Jamerson, who played the overwhelming majority of the great Motown hits of the 60s which were not only fantastic records but had a huge impact on bass throughout pop music. Gibbs was influenced by McCartney, who was also an outstanding bassist. And McCartney was influenced by Jamerson.

    Or maybe some of the less heralded Wrecking Crew bassists like Joe Osborn and Ray Pohlman.

  17. I have been singing while playing bass for decades. Yes it is tricky at first but is learnable, essentially like a drummer or pianist who develops rhythmic independence with their limbs, two hands for piano and hands and feet for drums. In fact I have known quite a few drummers who are good singers as well as good drummers which should be even harder.

  18. As a young wannabe rock star, I read Guitar Player magazine. So many of the bassists interviewed cited as an influence simply “Jamerson.”

  19. Long ago I was surprised to discover that John Entwistle of the Who is always in the top 10 lists of rock bass players. In 2011 Rolling Stone pegged him as the #1 rock bassist of all time.

    Here’s his most famous solo:

    –The Who, “My Generation”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc

    It is impressive.

  20. External expansion and external involvements have also served to defuse internal tensions right here in the USA. Our politics being so often deadlocked, presidents have gone aboad looking for their legacies.

  21. Abraxais:

    That is what is so “useful” about history.

    Yep like the time we invaded Canada (see 1812) and reinvaded Mexico (1916) because it is so applicable to Ukraine and the ancient actions of Russia (2008, 2014, 2022). Or maybe you are deeply concerned about the Dominican Republic, Grenada, or Cuba because of external involvements and internal tensions?

    Otay, Buckwheat.

  22. AesopFan:

    Have a good time in Wyoming! You write well. Feel free to drop in even if you don’t have a deep dive to share.

  23. The drummer recommended an old Jethro Tull album, Benefit, that I used to own as a teen, but got stolen in robbery decades ago.

    TommyJay:

    “Benefit” is probably my fave Tull album, though sometimes I”ll drop back to “Stand”. I listened to “Aqualung,” a great album, too many times and I do get weary of Ian Anderson scolding Western Civ and Christianity.

    “Thick as a Brick” and “Songs from the Wood” were good, but for me Tull never again hit the high notes of their first four albums.

    It’s weird that they started as a blues band. Tull chose, at least from what I read, the flute, because he didn’t want to compete with Eric Clapton on guitar.

    As I understand it, Anderson picked up the flute and learned to play it well enough in a few months to play on Tull’s first album.

    I suspect Anderson was freakishly talented at music. Some of his later financial moves were clever too.

  24. om doesn’t think much of JD Vance because he doesn’t think Ukraine can “win”, if winning is returning to the pre 2014 borders.

    Viktor Orban doesn’t think much of Ukraine winning either. Soros and the US government has already turned their guns on Orban for his anti-muslim immigration, anti-LBGT, pro-Hungary positions.

    I wonder if we’ll do to Orban what (we) US/State Dept/CIA did to Yanukovych in 2014?

    ‘Ukraine is not anymore sovereign state’, says Hungary’s Orban
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LqxzeUZqTk

  25. Brain E plays the sad trombone for his favorite Vlad toady; Yanukovych.

    Because reasons.

    Orban is Hungary’s problem. Those Russians didn’t treat Hungary all that well in 1956.

    Orban can be right about many things, but that doesn’t make him right (correct) about Ukraine or Russia.

    What a monstrous idea Brain E?

    Funny, but Mark Levin doesn’t seem to fit into the Brain E love of Vlad script. Is Mark Levin a Soros plant?

    J D Vance got elected to the US Senate, less than 6 years ago. Time will tell how wise he really is. But he is new, and new shiny toys always are a good deal.

    Any other flashes of brilliance to share?

  26. Brain E finds Orban to be a useful tool in his Narrative Shaping project for Vlad.

    Curiously the Poles are also conservative regarding social issues and correct about the dangers of Muslim immigration but astoundingly are completely opposite in their policies regarding Ukraine and Russia when compared to Orban and Hungary.

    ‘Splain that Brain E.

    https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2024/04/23/breaking-senate-aligns-with-house-passes-ukraineisrael-foreign-aid-bill-79-18-n2173228

    “BREAKING: Senate Aligns With House, Passes Ukraine/Israel Foreign Aid Bill 79-18”

    Wasn’t. Even. A Close. Thing.

    Vlad weeps.

  27. @ huxley – Merci beaucoup, mon ami.

    (Keep working on your French! I’ve enjoyed your stories.)

  28. How the West stole Ukraine

    The law legalizing the sale of farmland and lifting the country’s 19-year moratorium on land transactions was passed on March 31, 2020. Ending the moratorium was a key condition for aid from Western institutions – part of a series of policy reforms that the IMF conditioned a US$8 billion loan package upon. Faced with a deep economic crisis, an ongoing civil war, and the rapidly escalating COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine risked plunging into default without the loan package. The timing of the bill’s passage coincided with mandatory COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in place across the country, effectively quelling any further protests or demonstrations.

    With 33 million hectares of arable land, Ukraine has large swaths of the most fertile farmland in the world. Misguided privatization and corrupt governance since the early 1990s have concentrated land in the hands of a new oligarchic class. Over 4.3 million hectares are under large-scale agriculture – with the bulk, three million hectares – in the hands of just a dozen large agribusiness firms. In addition, according to the government, about five million hectares – the size of two Crimea – have been “stolen” by private interests from the state of Ukraine. The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals, and large agribusinesses is thus over nine million hectares, exceeding 28 percent of the country’s arable land. The rest is used by over eight million Ukrainian farmers.

    Ukraine’s staggering and growing foreign debt – estimated at US$132 billion in 2020 – makes it likely that reconstruction will be dictated by international financial institutions and foreign interests, which have already indicated that they will use their leverage to further privatize numerous sectors, including agriculture. For instance, the World Bank has asserted that Ukraine’s reconstruction must be accompanied by “further liberalization of the agricultural land market,” while the Ukraine Reform Tracker, presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in July 2022, states that the post-war moment presents the opportunity to “[extend] the right to purchase agricultural land to legal entities, including foreign ones.” The post-war reconstruction plans proposed by international financial institutions are therefore laying the groundwork for further concentration of land in the hands of oligarchs, foreign interests, and large agribusinesses.

    War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land
    https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/war-theft-takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land

    War and Theft: Frequently Asked Questions
    https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/pdfpreview/war-theft-faq.pdf

  29. Curiously the Poles…. are completely opposite in their policies regarding Ukraine and Russia when compared to Orban and Hungary.

    ‘Splain that Brain E.– om

    You tell me. I suppose Poland has more ethnic relationship with western Ukraine than Hungry, which would create a natural bond.

    Poland does have its issues with Ukraine.

    Poland’s Tusk is calling out the sale of Ukraine’s farmland through partnerships with western investment co. and agribusiness, creating a rift with Poland’s farmers.
    Even Macron has now called for a limit of Ukraine exports of grains and other foodstuffs to the EU.

    France joins Poland’s push to curb Ukrainian imports
    The push to curb farm imports could cost Ukraine €1.2 billion in lost revenue
    https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-imports-europe-france-poland-agriculture/

  30. About Nikita post on unthreatening Russia….

    I agree with all you say, except for all the aggressive invasions you leave out. Namely, Georgia, Crimea, Eastern Ukraine.

    Again, Brian E — I doubt that little that is claimed is untrue. I believe it.

    But the same “theft” argument was put upon the landed classes as the enclosure movement decimated rural and farm jobs, as British industrialisation took off. Their concerns largely overlap Ukraine’s

    Somebody’s gonna use it or lose it. So…?

  31. Re John Entwistle,

    This features one of the first bass solos in rock history. John Entwistle used a new-on-the-market Danelectro bass to play it, but he kept breaking strings trying to record it. A bit of a bummer that replacement strings weren’t available, as he had to go out and buy an entire new bass.

    https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-who/my-generation

  32. Brain E’s Narrative Shaping continues, “How the West Stole Ukraine” from a BabylonBee start up. Golly gee, those were NATO armies that rolled into Crimea, Moldova, Donetsk, Luhansk, and other areas in 2022.

    I guess the Sun rises in the West in Brain E land. But then most people are rightly concerned by the threat posed by an aggressive expansionist Russia to Western Europe. Will Brain E’s next propaganda piece be “How the East saved the West?” Glory be to Mother Russia!

  33. huxley,
    As a kid, I preferred Stand Up. Listening to Benefit for the first time recently I thought it was pretty good & then I recalled, “Oh, it was Stand Up that I really liked.”

    Having been through both several times recently, I think Stand sounds a little more dated and perhaps derivative of preceding bands like Cream, and Benefit has grown on me.

    I skimmed the Wiki on early Tull. Fascinating. (Mr. Jethro Tull was a real 18th-century agriculturist. Ha.) I was wondering if Anderson had a longer history/upbringing with the flute, but no. I did notice that much of his early output did not have much technical difficulty in his flute playing.

    Enjoyable music isn’t about complexity or difficulty necessarily. But for me anyway, musicians do need to execute well. Jazz is not my favorite genre, but I’m listening to it often at local live venues because those guys care a great deal of their musicianship.

  34. How the West stole Ukraine
    ==
    The term ‘stole’ does not mean what you fancy it means.

  35. no the West is practically beyond saving, I have no illusions about Putin, but we have done most everything to hurt ourselves, and make the Adversary stronger, the same goes for Xi, specially with Xi, the man who actually killed a million people, but we treat him like
    Oliver Twist, begging for a bowl of soup,

  36. Art Deco, yes, that was a little hyperbole on my part. The real thieves are the Ukrainians oligarchs (whatever or whoever they are) for stealing the rights to the land– much like Russian assets were stolen post collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Here’s an example, though small compared to the total land owned by a few of the wealthiest of these people.

    Mykola Solskyi, the Ukrainian agriculture minister, is suspected of being involved in the illegal acquisition of millions of euros worth of state land before he joined the government.

    According to NABU, Solskyi led a group that was involved in the misappropriation of farmland in the northeastern Sumy region between 2017 and 2021 before he became part of the government cabinet.
    The country’s anti-corruption agency, NABU, leveled the allegations on Tuesday without directly naming Solskyi.

    The agency said “a current minister” was being treated as a suspect in an investigation into the illegal acquisition of state-owned land worth 291 million hryvnias (€6.9 million) and attempting to seize land worth another 190 million hryvnias (€4.5 million).

    Under the guise of a government agricultural land use program, that group allegedly destroyed documents affirming the rights of state-owned enterprises to the land, then transferred those rights to individuals associated with the group.

    Ukrainian agriculture minister under suspicion of orchestrating land-grab scheme
    https://www.politico.eu/article/ukrainian-agriculture-minister-under-suspicion-of-orchestrating-land-grab-scheme/

  37. More of the headwinds Ukraine faces in its accension to the EU.

    A Czech lawmaker allied to former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is mounting a rearguard action against granting Ukraine another year of emergency access to the EU market, according to emails seen by POLITICO.

    In an 11th-hour push, Martin Hlavá?ek on Thursday asked all members of the European Parliament to join him in submitting amendments to further tighten restrictions on Ukrainian farm goods as part of the renewal of trade liberalization measures.

    Czech MEP mounts last-minute bid to stop Ukraine free-trade extension
    https://www.politico.eu/article/martin-hlavacek-czech-mep-andrej-babis-free-trade-ukraine-eu-market-trade-liberalization/

  38. om, foreign ownership of Ukraine’s most durable resource is not a good thing.

    According to the article, 64% of Ukrainians opposed the 2020 law allowing foreign ownership of land even through partnerships.

    And if you think Black Rock, or any other investment group has Ukraine’s interests at heart, you would be delusional.

  39. Interesting. Russian food products are not subject to sanctions in the EU.

    To appease the protesting farmers, Tusk said last week that he would consider national legislation to ban Russian and Belarusian imports because they, like Ukrainian goods, destabilize the Polish and EU markets.

    On Monday, he backtracked, arguing that he’d pursue an EU-wide ban instead.

    The Polish PM’s twisting and turning has experts and the international community wondering if he really knows how to quell the farmers’ unrest — or is just adding fuel to the fire.

    For one thing, there is no evidence to support Tusk’s claims that Russian — or even Ukrainian — imports are to blame for the Polish farmers’ woes. As recently as January another EU country, Latvia, pushed for a bloc-wide ban on farm imports from Russia and failed, after other capitals argued that it would be too costly. (Russian food, unlike energy and some other exports, is not subject to Western sanctions. EU countries like Spain and Italy are still big buyers).

    Putin the only winner as Poland’s Tusk flounders over Ukraine border fight
    https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-only-winner-poland-donald-tusk-flounders-ukraine-border-fight/

  40. Brain E:

    Would The Russian Federation’s attempt to own all of Ukraine be a more pressing issue? Not that oligarchs are a problem in Russia? Of course it is because of The West. Are there corrupt oligarchs anywhere else but The West and of course in Ukraine?

    Inconceivable.

    Income inequality! Populism and the masses!

    Is there anything else to distract folks with?

  41. I did notice that much of [Ian Anderson’s] early output did not have much technical difficulty in his flute playing.

    TommyJay:

    Agreed. I suspect Tull’s “Bourée” was based on a Bach piece Anderson taught himself early.

    I’ve also wondered if his overblown flute was a cheat.

    No disrespect. Ian Anderson was a guy topped off with talent.

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