Open thread – 28 October 2024

Posted on October 28, 2024 by TTG

Lots of yard work and Halloween decorating to do. Knock yourselves out.

I did get to see the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels pull off a wild Hail Mary pass yesterday. I don’t watch much football, but that was an exciting twenty seconds.

TTG

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81 Responses to Open thread – 28 October 2024

  1. morongobill says:
    October 28, 2024 at 12:10 pm

    Alistair Crooke on the Israeli airstrike on Iran as well as Lebanon on Judge Nap’s show this morning.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkNk76E3SI&t=478s

    • Yeah, Right says:
      October 29, 2024 at 3:18 am

      His explanation deserves consideration, whether you are inclined to believe him or not (I know that TTG does not, while I find it credible).

      To summarize:
      Crooke says that the first wave of F-15 to directly attack Iran were on an SEAD mission (the Israelis had already attacked Syrian AA radars), but while still 70 miles outside of Iranian airspace they were lit up by an “unknown air defense” system.

      They were therefore unable to get closer so they launched their anti-radar missiles from 70 miles out, which was too far to be successful.

      Once it became obvious that the SEAD mission failed then the next wave (F-35 that were to intrude into Iranian air space and actually attack the intended target) were ordered to abort.

      So that first wave was the only wave to actually strike into Iran, and what damage (minimal to none, according to Crooke) was done by whatever missiles the first wave F-15 and F-16 still had under their wings.

      According to him NO Israeli aircraft intruded into Iranian airspace. Next to no Iranian air defense batteries were attacked (he thinks some in the far west may have been attacked, that may be the HAWK system) and none of the “real” ground targets that the Israelis were intending to flatten were actually attacked.

      The subsequent statements from the Israelis were just bombast to cover their embarrassment though, obviously, only intended to fool the Israeli public.

      There is some other stuff he mentioned, but that’s the core of what he had to say about the attack itself i.e. a dismal failure both from a planning perspective and an operational perspective.

      Time will tell, because a failure as big as that described by Crooke can only be papered over for so long.

      • gordon reed says:
        October 29, 2024 at 12:43 pm

        I watched it a couple of days ago and your synopsis of what he said was excellent. His take is completely different from what the Israelis and the corporate media say. I am going with Crookes analysis.

  2. Lars says:
    October 28, 2024 at 7:20 pm

    Typically, Hail Marys seldom works. That one was astonishing.
    But now on to more important matters. There is a World Series going on and tonight they play in Yankee Stadium. This series is a throwback, since these teams have not played for 43 years in these circumstances. I expect it to go to a game 7 and the Dodgers have an edge. But it is baseball and as Freddie Freeman showed us, you never know.

    • TTG says:
      October 28, 2024 at 8:12 pm

      Lars,

      My father was a diehard Yankee fan. Even when he moved to Maine, he proudly wore his Yankees Cap deep in the heart of Red Sox territory. I attended a game with him at the old Yankee stadium with the Cub Scouts. We met Jimmy Pearsall, from the visiting team, after the game because he and my father both grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut. That was the only MLB game I ever saw.

      • leith says:
        October 28, 2024 at 8:17 pm

        My cousin Bobby and I used to get the cheap bleacher seats in fenway. Saw Piersall’s great defensive fielding up close.

      • ked says:
        October 30, 2024 at 5:45 am

        mine was too. the Yankees radio network reached across the USA in the ’30s… all the way to OK & afterwards, via Armed Forces Network (I have his Zenith TransOceanic from Korean War duty… still works). he took my brother & I to see them play the Senators @ DC Stadium in ’64. got to watch the greats of the era play – very exciting … Mantle & Maris scored & Yankees won 6-5! so I’m stuck pulling for the Yankees, but it’s ok I was born up thar.

  3. Lars Holfve says:
    October 28, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    My introduction to baseball was the 1965 WS, right after I moved to the US and I have loved it ever since. Later I got to play some on a local level. Then I spent many years coaching Little League.

  4. James says:
    October 28, 2024 at 10:07 pm

    TTG,

    You are the guy with the record of correct prognoses when it comes to Ukraine. Would you care to weigh in on those who think the tide is turning and the Russians will be at the Dnieper in six months?

    • TTG says:
      October 28, 2024 at 10:54 pm

      James,

      If the Russians can keep an army in the field, I do think they can reach the Dnipro in 18 to 24 months. Ukraine won’t get their territory back unless that Russian army collapses.

      • TTG says:
        October 28, 2024 at 11:44 pm

        James,

        That is reaching the Dnipro west of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. They’re already at the Dnipro opposite Kherson, but they won’t be able to cross it.

        • Yeah, Right says:
          October 29, 2024 at 3:25 am

          The Russians are also on the Dnipro at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, are they not?

          • TTG says:
            October 29, 2024 at 10:32 am

            Yeah, Right,

            Yes, they’re on the Dnipro from the ZNPP to the Black Sea. They were much further than that early in the war. They had Kherson and were well on their way to Odessa. That didn’t last.

          • Yeah, Right says:
            October 29, 2024 at 5:15 pm

            True. The Russians make no attempt to hold onto a hopeless position, unlike Zelensky who has done so time after time.

            Funny how that tends to cut across the notion that the Kremlin is careless with the lives of its soldiers.

        • James says:
          October 29, 2024 at 9:30 pm

          TTG,

          Interesting. Thanks for weighing in.

          • John Minehan says:
            November 10, 2024 at 4:37 pm

            I’m not sure the Russians Russians HAVE to or PLAN to cross the Dnieper.

            That Western part of The Ukraine is the heartland of the old Polish-Lithuanian Confederacy. Trying to take that gives them a Small War situation, which they may (or may not have) in Novorossiya anyway. By breaking Novorossiya off and stopping they show that they want that part that is really Russia

            It also means the Polish, Hungarians and Hungarians now have an Irredentist temptation, too.

  5. Fred says:
    October 28, 2024 at 10:17 pm

    “Unlike the stomach, the brain doesn’t alert you when it’s empty.” (Arab proverb)

  6. leith says:
    October 29, 2024 at 12:49 pm

    Giant fecal fountain in Moscow. Perhaps Fred’s Arab proverb refers to Russkii sewer engineers? More likely it’s corruption, fraud and other flimflam on the city Sewerage & Water Board. Those guys gotta make a living somehow, dachas are expensive nowadays.

    https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1850845859946131966

  7. Jovan P says:
    October 29, 2024 at 1:19 pm

    There are videos of a former US marine dead in an attempted incursion into the Bryansk region. Another dead has a US Ranger tattoo on his arm.

  8. Laura Wilson says:
    October 29, 2024 at 1:57 pm

    Best. Video. Ever.!

  9. English Outsider says:
    October 29, 2024 at 3:17 pm

    A passage in a recent sitrep from “Simplicius” caught my eye.

    The entire Western order has at this point in its lurid, terminal panic given up on not only truth, but any and all foundational values that have made Western civilization what it was. Threats, lies, and propaganda are flung with no accountability or attempt at justification; it seems we’ve entered the rapid parabolic singularity point of the ‘post-truth’ era in the West.

    https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-102824-russia-unleashes-lightning

    And I remembered – long time ago, it was, and how crucial it seemed then and how pointless now – this man. “Geoffrey Van Orden, 74, was once a brigadier general and is now the leader of the British Conservatives in the European Parliament. ”

    At the time, he was watching one of the more hysterical episodes in the body of which he was a member. “An echo chamber of self-delusion”. That was what he was witnessing and that memorable phrase was how he described it.

    https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/brexit-im-eu-parlament-interview-mit-tory-politiker-geoffrey-van-orden-a-bdab2a69-8898-4d01-a690-2ccfeb8f1769

    Big organisations can get like that. It could be seen in the UK parliament. The US Senate is in that condition a good proportion of the time. All in the bubble, all feeding off each others’ delusion. Until reality breaks in and then, disillusionment and anger. And frantic excuses and evasions as that reality can no longer be denied.

    “Threats, lies, and propaganda are flung with no accountability or attempt at justification.” That’s what we’re seeing now as the Ukrainian venture comes to its inevitable end – reality’s been knocking at the door there since the failure of the sanctions – and as we see the horrific moral bankruptcy of the West exposed for the entire world to see, in the welter of broken bodies and shattered lives that is Gaza.

    “The entire Western order has at this point in its lurid, terminal panic given up on not only truth, but any and all foundational values that have made Western civilization what it was.”

  10. Condottiere says:
    October 29, 2024 at 3:18 pm

    I’m boycotting the World Series this year. Two of the biggest markets but most hated teams (or dickbag loser fanbases) in baseball. The postseason has been rigged since 2018. MLB probably going to wrap it up tonight after realizing it wasn’t the rating juggernaut they hoped for.

  11. Keith Harbaugh says:
    October 29, 2024 at 5:52 pm

    A depressing interview with Avril Haines:

    “America’s top female national security official
    wants to figure out how to contribute to a more ethical society.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/29/avril-haines-biden-intelligence-adviser-profile-00180753

    Why is this interview depressing?
    Because if it accurately describes her interests,
    she clearly is in the wrong job.

    For reference, here is information about the job of the DNI:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence
    https://www.dni.gov/

    I don’t see much about dreaming about how to make the world a more ethical place.

    • Yeah, Right says:
      October 29, 2024 at 8:53 pm

      “America’s top female national security official wants to figure out how to contribute to a more ethical society.”

      I suppose she can start by looking at the practices that she either proposed or condoned.

      You know: targeted assassination and torture.

  12. d74 says:
    October 29, 2024 at 8:03 pm

    Little information on the IDF’s ground penetration (read invasion) of Lebanon.
    It seems to be going badly.

    Killing civilians is a very bad form of combat training.

  13. morongobill says:
    October 29, 2024 at 10:12 pm

    Alistair Crooke has done it again with this latest article at SCF about the mindset of current Israeli leadership.

    https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/10/29/a-heroic-preference-for-self-destruction-is-taking-hold-in-israel/

    • TTG says:
      October 30, 2024 at 10:01 am

      morongobill,

      I agree. This is a great essay by Crooke. It’s not just about current Israeli leadership. It’s focus is on both American and Israeli strategy and society, but it offers ideas on war and society that are applicable far beyond America and Israel.

  14. English Outsider says:
    October 30, 2024 at 5:51 pm

    TTG – I looked up Colonel Wilkerson’s account of the recent Israeli strike on Iran. A few minutes at the beginning of the interview:-

    The US administration persuaded the Israelis to pull their punches. But in the process the Israelis discovered they didn’t have sufficient punch anyway. Don’t know if that’s a fair summary but that’s how it came over to this outsider.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eALG8wK96M

    • TTG says:
      October 30, 2024 at 6:35 pm

      EO,

      This was one attack on Iran and it looks like it did some damage to Iran’s air defense system. But that system is certainly not knocked out. Could Israel mount a few more of these attacks in fairly rapid succession? I don’t know. Can Iran recover from her losses of her S-300s? I don’t know that either. They only had four to begin with. One was severely damaged in the prior Israeli attack. The remaining three took some level of damage. We will have to see if Russia is willing to replace those systems from their own stocks.

      We also don’t know how many ballistic missile attacks Iran can launch at Israel. The last attack didn’t do much damage. I don’t think either country can deal the other a knock out blow.

      • TTG says:
        October 30, 2024 at 8:45 pm

        EO,

        I just did some reading about the IRGC air defense systems. These systems are largely based on Chinese models and were developed with Chinese assistance. They are separate from the S-300 based network and include the totally Iranian produced Bavar-373 system. The entire IRGC AD system is well developed, well integrated and supposedly quite formidable. Taking out the S-300s alone will not take out Iran’s ability to defend itself.

        • English Outsider says:
          October 31, 2024 at 7:51 am

          TTG – yes. SEAD is another of those acronyms I no longer need to look up. We don’t seem to be as advanced in it as we thought. Also talk of effective Iranian EW. Colonel Wilkerson, who does not speak loosely, mentions Israeli emigration figures approaching the million. It also seems that the IDF is failing in Lebanon.

          The US no longer has the weapons in the quantity needed to assist Israel. Such weapons as it has are often technologically inferior. Yet we still refuse to accept this obvious reality.

          Our “echo chamber of self-delusion” in Van Orden’s phrase is not only inhabited by the American and European governments. Most journalists and analysts still talk as if the US still has the means to fight and win a multi-theatre war. That is a most dangerous delusion and the hard truth is that US military power is not adequate in any one of the theatres currently active or contemplated.

          The Israelis have squandered the sympathy they got after the original Hamas attack. Netanyahu’s Israel is now a pariah state, militarily impotent and unable to do more than savage the Palestinians as it goes down to defeat.

          That the Israelis can certainly do. We’re seeing videos of settlers waiting to go in and occupy Northern Gaza, with their leaders calling on them to seize the moment. Holding out hopes that they’ll be able later to occupy the entirety of Gaza. With the full support of their government. We’re also seeing further frenzies of brutality on the West Bank. Again government supported. As said before, we in the West are deploring these atrocities whilst providing the Israelis with the weapons and help to commit them.

          Militarily this is a disaster and it will be the third major military failure of the Biden administration. Morally, and electorates think in those terms though the politicians do not, we’ve not seen atrocities like this perpetrated by Western countries for eighty years.

          And when we did, neither your country nor mine were on the side of the perpetrators.

          I don’t believe Trump or Harris would be able to turn this round even if they wanted to. Too late. Electoral considerations or not Biden urgently needs to make that telephone call. Given what’s happened already leaving the Palestinians at the mercy of the Smotrichs and Ben-Gvirs doesn’t bear thinking about.

          • TTG says:
            October 31, 2024 at 11:33 am

            EO,

            If anything is going to kill Israel, it will be emigration. Gaza has been destroyed, but not pacified. Both Islamic jihad and Hamas can still threaten Israel with the occasional rocket. Hezbollah still has plenty of rockets and drones for Israel and have lost the incentive for holding back on launching them. Even Iran has proved that it can strike Israel with her missiles. An awful lot of Israelis are dual passported just for this predicament. They can flee to Europe or the US and not have to worry about the threat of the occasional missile strike. And it is very likely the most productive Israelis who are fleeing.

          • mcoh says:
            November 1, 2024 at 9:34 am

            eo.got this from a twitter post.what planet you on

            Lebanon.

            A. In one of the houses we searched in the Lebanese village we found a map of an Israeli settlement like the maps we found in Khan Yunis of the surrounding settlements.
            They had means of observation in the courtyard of the house. They planned to cut the fence and slaughter the citizens of the State of Israel with insane firepower.
            Almost every house has weapons, missiles, launchers, guns, chargers, ammunition in huge quantities.
            In the living room of the house, in the underground yard and in blue barrels in the middle of the street.
            They had a space ready to equip themselves with combat equipment.
            Take the 7th of October and multiply it tenfold. chills.

            B. It is unbelievable the gap between this amazing region of the country and the lowliness of the people who live in it.
            Crazy landscape, mountains, wadis and eternal green, breathtaking sunsets and sunrises and the scum sit in all this goodness and plan to slaughter children in Meshgav with and Kfar Giladi.
            I saw this hatred in Khan Yunis and in Lebanon.
            An evil axis of a society that grows itself on the blood of murder and hatred.
            This year’s war is our war of independence.
            There is no escape from going through every street and every house in Gaza and villages in Lebanon and destroying them. It takes time, it requires patience. But we have no other choice.

            third. Our reservists are the light and hope of Israeli society. Reporting to the call immediately after 200 reserve days, leaving family and work again, leaving them alone all the holidays, risking life again and saying that I am – this is not self-evident.
            The burden on the shoulders of so few people who are under the stretcher is too heavy to bear.
            The consequences for the woman and children, work and life is unimaginable and this small percentage of the population returns time and time again with supreme heroism.
            Yes, even knowing that maybe next time we won’t come home from the battle.

            This reality that there is a whole society that bears the name of heaven but is cut off from the battlefield is a terrible blasphemy.
            It is a great privilege for us to live a complete Torah life, a Torah life that follows the paths of the great warriors Moses, Joshua and David and other great men of our nation who held Sipa and Safra and not of those ungrateful ones who turn their backs on the redemption of Israel.

            D. A year ago we jumped out of the house on Simchat Torah and fought in Kfar Gaza. These were low moments of the State of Israel that was not there for our brothers and sisters.
            On this Simchat Torah we fought a valiant battle against many terrorists in the streets of Kfar Lebanon with tremendous power.
            We turned Gaza into a city of ruins for them,
            And now we are doing this to the villages of Lebanon. till dirt
            Both with a dog will rise and Kari will rise,
            And we got up.

            E. I don’t know what you sometimes hear from the commentators of the past in the news studios from the weakest of the wind.
            But we mow them out of shape. It is not for nothing that most of the Hezbollah fighters simply fled the villages. The rest that remained to fight – we eliminated. Tremendous firepower of a troop of paratroopers, drones, Zik and aircraft in the air, armor and engineering. They don’t stand a chance against us. We made a sword to their village.
            The spirit of unity between the fighters is strong, religious and secular, settlers and kibbutzim on the right and left. When we put a helmet on our heads, we are all the same with a Jewish soul that bravely breaks through and spreads light.
            Nothing will separate us.

            F. This moment when you stand in front of the encounter site of the Hero Nut fighters a few days ago and say a chapter of Psalms and a God full of mercy for those who fall in battle.
            shedding a tear.
            A few days later, he shoots when he encounters terrorists and mutters a chapter of Psalms for the healing of the friend who is being evacuated at that moment with a serious injury on a stretcher.
            These are sublime founding moments full of majesty and splendor.
            moments that make you a different person,
            Moments that make a nation different.

            “And in the evening there will be light”
            And this light, with God’s help, bursts forth and is full of hope.

          • TTG says:
            November 1, 2024 at 12:07 pm

            mcohen,

            That doesn’t sound much different from the stuff coming out of ISIS in its heyday.

        • leith says:
          October 31, 2024 at 8:36 am

          You have to wonder why the Bavar-373 systems and the even newer Arman SAM system did not respond to the Israeli attack? Both are long range systems. So they could have been used against IAF a/c launching from Iraq; even if F-35s did not penetrate Iranian airspace as the Israel claims.

          • TTG says:
            October 31, 2024 at 11:35 am

            leith,

            Those systems may have concentrated on the incoming missiles rather than the aircraft still in Iraqi airspace.

        • Yeah, Right says:
          October 31, 2024 at 10:33 pm

          The Iranians had the fate of Saddam Hussein to guide their thinking.

          Because Iraq did had some very sophisticated weapons but – and here’s the rub – it was all sourced from outside.

          The Iranians concluded that when Washington decided to go after a country they would first impose sanctions until its military equipment turned to rust and only then would they “shock and awe” that country.

          So the Iranians were determined that they wouldn’t field equipment that they didn’t make themselves, either under license or indigenously-developed.

          Not completely, 100% possible, but that was always the aim: if they couldn’t maintain it and support it themselves then they wouldn’t use it.

          Sanction Iran for a day or for a decade therefore made no difference to the readiness level of the Iranian military.

          Looks to have been a wise choice.

  15. Jim. says:
    October 30, 2024 at 6:19 pm

    It Has Been Awhile….So,,,Hello to You All..

    I Have Been Long Engaged in Intensive Home Care…For My Wife…Who Is Tough as
    Nails..And Recovering at 89….Because 100 is Her Goal….

    I Wanted To Express My Admiration For The Space Program and Team of People working To Make Things Happen Like The Recent Rocket Capture..and Other Dynamic Progress…For Elon (Oak Tree) Musk…The President Of Mars..

    Men and Women Like Elon.. with High IQs…and Tom Swift Imaginations..Are Proof…That Migration to America…has Strong Indications…It has all been Combined
    With Creative Genus..in a Free Nation..That Has Manifest Destiny..So That Evil Does NOT Over Take Good.. As Long As We Have Freedom from Tyrrany..My Best Regards
    Jim

    • TTG says:
      October 30, 2024 at 8:05 pm

      Hello back at ya, Jim,

      God bless ya for engaging in intensive home care. I know it’s an exhausting and stressful time for a family. I’ll say a prayer for both of you.

      SpaceX is producing some exciting times for space watchers. Once they get all the kinks out of Starship, I’m looking forward to seeing the first payloads destined for orbit, the Moon and Mars. Maybe we’ll see a GPS/Starlink constellation for the Moon or Mars. Judging by the after action reports from the Mars chopper, a GPS/Starlink constellation would be a huge help to future Mars exploration by drones. With NASA’s success with the first Mars helicopter, they’re looking at more and bigger choppers for Mars and beyond. The next will be the Dragonfly drone for Saturn’s moon Titan.

  16. Eric Newhill says:
    October 30, 2024 at 11:10 pm

    Meanwhile the leader of the free world is busy biting babies.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-aiQXHNsRM

    • Yeah, Right says:
      October 31, 2024 at 10:34 pm

      Well, he does look more like a ghoul every day, so this is just an example of method acting.

      • Eric Newhill says:
        November 4, 2024 at 5:12 pm

        YR,
        The government can do a Gestapo-esque no knock 5 hour raid on an isolated farm to capture and then execute a squirrel and a raccoon – the squirrel being a social media sensation – ostensibly because they might have rabies (they didn’t), but Biden can freely bite babies. Maybe they should do Biden like they did PNut the squirrel because, you know, rabies and all. Only a diseased feral beast randomly bites strangers’ babies.

        Same feral beast that allows known murder illegals to roam our streets.

        When did Cackling Kamala first know that Biden is a baby biter?

        Justice for PNut!!!!!!!!!!!!

  17. jld says:
    October 31, 2024 at 6:39 am

    To provide “open thread” matter which is not focused on any current mayhem of whatever kind I recommend this subject, consciousness, because ultimately EVERYTHING “lives” in our consciousness.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9bqa8hRonE

    • Eric Newhill says:
      October 31, 2024 at 11:00 am

      jld,
      True to some extent, but there are larger consciousnesses than ours – and those influence ours.

      • jld says:
        October 31, 2024 at 12:11 pm

        Oh, Well!

        Still an atheist but actually I am of the opinion that many consciousnesses interact with each other and possibly even with the material world, remote viewing, psychokinesis, poltergeist, shamanism.

        I guess even some animals have such capabilities.

        I have been healed from a tenacious dermatitis by purely “psychic” means, standing about 1.5 meter from the healer, no physical action no incantations or whatever.

        However I do believe that death is terminalin that it removes both consciousness and agency, no “eternal soul”.

        • Eric Newhill says:
          October 31, 2024 at 1:49 pm

          jld,
          So you believe that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of material matters – that is to say that we are mere meat robots experiencing the illusion of consciousness.

          Ok – then how would psychic healing, remote viewing, etc. work? How can a robot project its awareness beyond its physical location?

          What evidence do you have that material stuff, like cells, calcium, etc can become conscious, let alone project that consciousness?

          I know many people who think that it’s an all or nothing situation. You either accept the God of the Bible and the literal written word of the Bible (substitute Koran et al as applicable) – or you reject the whole shebang, become a nihilist and deny life after death, higher consciousness directing life to some extent and relegate all life to meat robots experiencing an illusion.

          I’ve never understood all or nothing, black/white thinking.

          • jld says:
            November 1, 2024 at 4:32 am

            Eric Newhill

            So you believe that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of material matters

            No, I don’t even believe that “material matters” exists, i.e. not even the particles, molecules etc… it’s all fields and events (observations of a “system” by another one).

            So I have no problem with psychic healing or remote viewing, as I just said.

            You seem to run on fairly rigid notions of ontology, what “exists” mean to you?

            May be you should watch the full video?

          • Eric Newhill says:
            November 2, 2024 at 8:42 pm

            jld,
            I watched the entire video. My position remains the same. Those guys are not aware of the body of literature on the metaphysics. They are speculating from a few experiences they’ve personally had and from egg head philosophy.

            Your position is basically new age Buddhism. Everything is consciousness, but we – as unique beings – are an illusion that is will be dissolved with the loss of the physical body.

            Well, even real Buddhism doesn’t hold that to be true. For example, read the Tibetan Book of the Dead. You, as an individual, will continue after loss of the physical body. In fact, you will even reincarnate into a new body, over and over.

            Now the Buddhists, being nihilists, think that is a bad thing. They seek to dissolve their being into the bright light of eternal consciousness, where all in one, etc. They do realize that it is very hard to do and most won’t. It never occurs to them that maybe not dissolving is either a good thing or the just the way things are. They are so worried about life as “suffering” with dissolving as the path to Liberation”, i.e. end suffering. IMO, Buddhists are a bunch of whiney pussy atheists. They are the religious equivalent of fentanyl addicts.

          • jld says:
            November 3, 2024 at 9:58 am

            Eric Newhill

            Thanks for your comment, yet…

            Those guys are not aware of the body of literature on the metaphysics. They are speculating from a few experiences they’ve personally had and from egg head philosophy.

            No, “these guys” are well aware of metaphysics, ancient and modern, the conundrums of Quantum Mechanic have triggered a flurry of questioning and the ancients Plato, Aristotle, even Kant or Bergson, are definitely obsolete.

            They are indeed “speculating” but it is not from from a few experiences, there is more than 5 MILLIONS publications about consciousness on Google Scholar, of which I have read a few hundred (over 3 years…) and theses are not “personal” but experiments with assorted measurements far from egg head philosophy.

            Most noticeably from the video they demonstrate that consciousness vanishes when some parts of the brain are damaged but not others (frontal cortex but not cerebellum), thus it DOES depend on “material matters” (so to speak, it’s not actually material) but is not an illusion either (how “illusory” is your tooth ache?).

            Your position is basically new age Buddhism. Everything is consciousness, but we – as unique beings – are an illusion that is will be dissolved with the loss of the physical body.

            Not at all !!!
            I am far away from Buddhism, leaning somewhat toward Taoism.

            The exact statement is “Everything APPEARS in consciousness” but is not an illusion, it is a MODEL of our embodiment in the world, most probably not an exact picture but this is the only thing available to us, as correctly pointed out by Descartes Cogito Ergo Sum (which is dualism which I don’t subscribe to).

            Also, though highly implausible there is no decisive argument against Solipsism we could very well be hallucinating the whole shebang.

            We FEEL to be unique beings, due to the persistence and unicity of consciousness and, yes, THIS could be an illusion because much of our modus operandi escapes consciousness but the raw perceptions are not an illusion (tooth ache, taste of sugar, smell of garlic, etc…)

            Now the Buddhists, being nihilists, think that is a bad thing.

            Yes, the Buddhists, are completely out of kilter, the self does not exist yet it reincarnate. 😀

            They try to “cheat” the world as it is and are prone to absolutely DEMENTED proposals like eliminating suffering by rewiring the whole life fabric, turning all predators to herbivores !!!

          • Eric Newhill says:
            November 3, 2024 at 2:12 pm

            jld,
            I didn’t mean academic literature on metaphysics. That’s all of the egghead stuff. I mean the literature on remote viewing, near death experiences, mediumship and psi – because all of that leaves no doubt that the eggheads are clueless.

            And yes, I am aware that all of those areas of study I mentioned have had issues with charlatans. However, academia is also well loaded with dishonesty. Btw, while I’m mentioning trickery, I prefer to not be gas lit. If I experience something, think about it and come to the conclusion that my experience is legitimate, then I don’t need some philosopher (or politician) telling me that I’m actually getting it all wrong, like I’m just an illusion. But have fun with it if that sort of thing tickles your fancy.

          • Eric Newhill says:
            November 3, 2024 at 2:33 pm

            jld,
            I highly recommend to you Dr. Ian Stevenson’s excellent research on reincarnation.

            If reincarnation is true – and Stevenson’s work removes practically removes most all doubt – then your musings are off-base.

          • jld says:
            November 4, 2024 at 5:05 am

            Eric Newhill

            Actually we are talking past each other, zero understanding either way…

          • jld says:
            November 5, 2024 at 5:20 am

            Eric Newhill

            The reason it fails is that we disagree on the meaning of the word “exist”, so everything else is moot.

        • LeaNder says:
          November 4, 2024 at 9:12 am

          I guess even some animals have such capabilities.
          ‘ve been wondering about that concerning insects, especially the ones even more annoying then flies. … 😉 Now I realize it may well be true.

          I have been healed …
          You do need to trust the healer. Not sure if I could. How did you meet him/her? … No doubt there are people with superior skills.

          Ever since a highly fascinating space experience, aware (conscious?) without self-awareness (petit Mal) I am somewhat fascinated with the brain.

          I recently watched a highly interesting documentary on ARTE, I link to the French version below. A neurologist experienced a TGA Transiente Globale Amnesia. A short memory loss. After that he wasn’t so sure he knew as much about the brain he thought he did. In the documentary he meets all types of people and scientists who study memory.

          E.g. I did not know about the rare phenomenon of people who can immediately tell you what they experienced on past days of their life.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthymesia

          There were scientists working with mice of flies too. Fascinating documentary:
          https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/111670-000-A/amnesie-ou-se-cache-la-memoire/

  18. Poul says:
    October 31, 2024 at 9:18 am

    Some American commentary on Iran’s missile attack. It’s shows Israeli AD missiles self-destructing without a chance of a hit. They should have not even attempted an intercept.

    https://x.com/IranObserver0/status/1851706195024752910

    • TTG says:
      October 31, 2024 at 11:40 am

      Poul,

      AD missiles should self-destruct if they miss an incoming target. That way they don’t land on populated areas and cause more destruction. I think that’s a terrific feature.

      • Poul says:
        October 31, 2024 at 2:09 pm

        I know but these were just launched as can be seen from the video. So the target they were shot at were already past them. Hence you would have been better off not firing.

    • Yeah, Right says:
      October 31, 2024 at 10:43 pm

      That is indeed an astonishing video.

      It might be just a trick of perspective, but some of those incoming Iranian missiles appear to be doing some sharp maneuvering as they dove onto the airbase.

      And later in the video there appears to be some decoys being released by the missiles, though that might also be debris from an intercept.

      But I don’t really see any successful intercepts at all. A couple of AD missile go off in amongst the incoming missiles but they don’t appear to have any affect at all.

      • TTG says:
        November 1, 2024 at 11:44 am

        Yeah, Right,

        And yet those sharp maneuvering, decoy assisted missiles hit mostly desert.

        • Yeah, Right says:
          November 2, 2024 at 8:42 pm

          TTG, they all hit within the boundaries of that air base.

          I see nobody claiming that any of them hit outside the perimeter of the base so, no, not “desert”.

          There is going to be a repeat demonstration from the Iranians, possibly in a few days, maybe a week or so.

          Let’s see then if they decide to use missiles with even better guidance.

          BTW, I assume that everyone here accepts that the Iranians need to get targeting information from the Russians, correct?

          In which case the CEP that everyone is talking about is going to be determined – in part, if not in whole – by the targeting information the Russians are willing to give the Iranians.

          (and, in passing, I’d like to point out that on the last occasion the Iranians refrained from using drones and cruise missiles, which are much more accurate. This time they can exhaust the air defense with ballistic missiles, then follow up with a second wave of cruise missiles).

          • TTG says:
            November 2, 2024 at 9:25 pm

            Yeah, Right,

            And they hit desert within the fence line of that airbase. Although I thought there was at least one building hit. Maybe that was by design, but I doubt it. We’ll see if the next strike does any better. They have to do better than just hitting a sprawling airbase.

            Immediate massive repeat attacks is the key, but neither the Iranians, nor the Russian seem to be able to do that yet. Something tells me the Israelis would also have a hard time mounting massive air attacks four or five nights in a row as well.

          • Yeah, Right says:
            November 2, 2024 at 11:25 pm

            TTG, more than one building. The hangar that everyone has seen, sure. But at least one hardened F-35 hangar, which was certainly going to have been empty.

            TTG: ” Maybe that was by design, but I doubt it.”

            The Iranians have a pattern of escalation: the first attack was predominantly drones, and intended to be intercepted. The second was exclusively ballistic missiles, clearly intended to signal that they can get missiles through the defenses.

            The next will be to prove that they can hit what they are aiming at.

            You turn up the heat slooooowly.

            TTG: “Something tells me the Israelis would also have a hard time mounting massive air attacks four or five nights in a row as well”

            According to Alastair Crooke they couldn’t even manage it on the first night.

            I know you don’t believe him, but to my mind he seems very confident in his sources, and I’ve seen no satellite images that contradict him.

          • Poul says:
            November 3, 2024 at 1:19 am

            Iran could also attack industrial centers. There is a lot more to hit than runways even with less precise missiles. Plus it will undermining Israeli war efforts if their weapons industry gets hit.

            Israel claimed to have bombed Iran’s missile factories so Iran can return the favor. And maybe throw in a tank factory or two under the catch phrase “The Right to Protect” last used in Kosovo.

  19. Keith Harbaugh says:
    November 1, 2024 at 5:02 am

    Wokeism captures the State Department:

    “How Gender Ideology Captured the State Department”
    2024-10-30

    https://www.city-journal.org/article/how-gender-ideology-captured-the-state-department

    “[The State Department’s] lodestar should be the national interest,
    but under President Joe Biden,
    the State Department has demoted that critical objective
    in favor of a new global agenda:
    to spread radical gender theory to foreign nations.

    The shift began at the top.
    President Biden and, in turn, the apparatus beneath him
    led America’s leftward charge on the world stage.
    Upon taking office in 2021,
    the administration used the previous year’s racial unrest as a pretext to issue a slew of executive orders and memoranda
    entrenching left-wing ideologies in all levels of the federal government,
    under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI.

    …

    The gender component of this agenda spread to the State Department through the president’s
    “Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons Around the World.”
    Published in February 2021,
    this memorandum directed State and other agencies
    to monitor closely and report on the “LGBTQI+” policies of our allies,
    to “broaden the number of countries willing to support and defend” the radical Left’s understanding of gender—
    for example, by funding pro-transgender “civil society advocates”
    in order to shift public opinion in those countries—
    and to tie in the principles of gender theory to America’s foreign-aid programs.

    If necessary, the memo maintained, agencies should use
    “the full range of diplomatic and assistance tools”
    to ensure foreign governments’ compliance with this agenda,
    including “financial sanctions, visa restrictions, and other actions.”

    …

    The heart of the department’s effort …
    is not to increase adherence at home
    but to spread it abroad.
    State recruited a cadre of gender activists
    to entrench these theories into foreign policy. “

  20. Fred says:
    November 1, 2024 at 8:47 am

    So are there any garbage people on this site? Speaking of gaffs, Ford shuts down ev production:
    https://freebeacon.com/energy/ford-halts-ev-production-at-plant-heralded-by-white-house-elissa-slotkin-in-blow-to-climate-agenda/

    Maybe Elon can give them some tips on reporting where all those federal funds doled out of this boondoggle went.

  21. leith says:
    November 1, 2024 at 3:06 pm

    Steve Seagal is in Kursk.

    https://x.com/GlasnostGone/status/1852383864573895156

    He has come a long way down since his hollywood days. In Russia he’s scarfing down too much caviar and too many of those buttered-up blinis. The guy is on his way to looking like Jabba the Hutt unless a heart attack gets him first.

  22. English Outsider says:
    November 2, 2024 at 12:09 pm

    Newsweek on Russian peace attempts in the ME:-

    “At War in Ukraine, Putin Emerges as Potential Peace Broker in Middle East”

    https://www.newsweek.com/war-ukraine-putin-emerges-potential-peace-broker-middle-east-1977721

    This is Mercouris territory. Sharp as a razor, elephantine memory, and looks around all over the globe connecting the dots. Family background diplomatic, contacts here there and everywhere, and in my view a national treasure. And we could do with a few such in this country, given the intellectual cesspool English political discourse has become. Here he’s putting the scalpel to the tangle in the ME and the part Russia is playing in it.

    I seldom agree with Mercouris’ conclusions, at least not on Ukraine, but that bothers no one except me and there is no one better at giving the big picture. Ex-lawyer so speaks slow. I use double speed to get over that and go to an alternative site to avoid the ads:-

    https://odysee.com/@AlexanderMercouris:a/iran-threatens-big-strike,-russia:4

    If that fails – it does sometimes – or if one isn’t too stingy to pay for Adblock Plus, there’s youtube:-

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B3ZLUYgYlE&t=1s&ab_channel=AlexanderMercouris

    • TTG says:
      November 2, 2024 at 6:07 pm

      EO,

      It makes sense. For pragmatic reasons I’m sure Moscow doesn’t want one of her major allies engaged in a war with someone other than Ukraine. And given the success of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, it may actually do some good.

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