Friday, September 06, 2024

O. Henry; oh Henry; oooh Henry ...



 

Who knows if the google bot got the Pashto right ...

 سره ښکتهد تیوکراټانو او تیوکراسیانو 

(It was meant to say "death to theocrats and theocracies").

And here's a treat for those who saw the bearded lady in the Tamworth show way back when ...




Magdalena Ventura with Her Husband and Son or The Bearded Lady is a 1631 oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera. It is now part of the Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli collection and displayed at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid.

Another joke:



Get with the program bigots of the JD Vance kind, why that bearded lady could fool a Taliban fundamentalist, and all thanks to high end surgery conducted in American schools, with beard transplants a cheap optional extra ...

Here's a joke ...




Strange, wasn't he once a bright young thing with the world his oyster, and then he went off to work for the Daily Snail, a moronic decision, though no doubt overpaid, with the position requiring the daily enraging of Australians ... guess who no one talks about these days?

Sorry, at this point, an explanation is past due, because the pond is allegedly on a break. It still is, but the pond realised that to keep the comments section open for anyone wanting to shout at clouds there had to be a post, so our Henry, oh Henry, was the bunny of choice ...




Hmm, no mention of the current genocide? 

Yet that google bot works just as well for Zionist fundamentalists intent on running a theocratic state from the river to the sea ...

מוות לכל התיאוקרטיות והתיאוקרטיות

(though perhaps it should have suggested Netanyahu go to jail without passing Go, or collecting more corpses).

Never mind, on with the usual array of snaps, including a truly weird one for FDR ...




Then it was back to our Henry's standard game, citing sources in his usual pompous, pedantic, portentous way usual...




On a scale of references up against the usual - surely Thucydides had something to offer? - the pond would rate this well under an eleven ...




Even worse that link didn't lead to more talk of Alberico Gentili of the 16th century, it was just a way of staying inside the hive mind ... because it led to this ...




That piece also had nothing much to say about the current genocide ... though there were notes elsewhere, as per the Graudian, Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza.

...The Lancet medical journal recently published an estimate of deaths in Gaza from several respected scientists, who outline their process of estimation (comparison with similar conflicts) and final numbers. They estimate that about 186,000 total deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza, which is roughly 7.9% of its population, by mid-June 2024. This high number is despite various ceasefire agreements over the past six months. If deaths continue at this rate – about 23,000 a month – there would be an additional 149,500 deaths by the end of the year, some six and half months from the initial mid-June estimate. Using the method, the total deaths since the conflict began would be estimated at about 335,500 in total.

And if you followed that Lancet link, there was more:

...An immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is essential, accompanied by measures to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources for basic human needs. At the same time, there is a need to record the scale and nature of suffering in this conflict. Documenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war. It is also a legal requirement. The interim measures set out by the International Court of Justice in January, 2024, require Israel to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of … the Genocide Convention”. (11) The Gaza Health Ministry is the only organisation counting the dead. Furthermore, these data will be crucial for post-war recovery, restoring infrastructure, and planning humanitarian aid.

Ah, the Genocide convention. 

Funny how our Henry never seems to be aware of the Genocide convention ...

Still there are all sorts of genocides under way ...





... so what's another one ...

Then it was back to the humbug ...




There's barbarism, and then there's barbarism, and talking about one form of barbarism doesn't hide another ...




And so for some extracurricular reading for our hole in the bucket man.

Relax, they're stories in a Jewish newspaper, though just the headlines convey a world of pain ...





And so on and on, and so to a final gobbet, but at least the comments section stays open without the pond having to tweak the settings ...



When it comes to genocide, there's always, predictably, a deadly silence from a genocide enabler entirely supportive of an Israel stretching from the river to the sea, with nary a Palestinian to be seen ...

As for playing the Nazi card, go tell that to Tuckyo Rose ... or perhaps JD ...JD Vance To Join Tucker Carlson After Carlson Hosted Nazi Apologist On His Show, The former Fox News host recently platformed Darryl Cooper, a Nazi apologist who said Winston Churchill — not Adolf Hitler — was the "chief villain" of WWII.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance plans to join former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a live event following Carlson’s hosting of a Nazi apologist on his program.
Vance will be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 21 as part of Carlson’s “Live Tour,” according to PennLive. Vance is currently campaigning alongside his running mate, former President Donald Trump.
The news comes just days after Carlson hosted Darrly Cooper on his show, a Holocaust revisionist who said it was then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who was the “chief villain” of World War II.
“I thought Churchill was the chief villain of the Second World War,” Cooper told Carlson. “Now, he didn’t kill the most people, he didn’t commit the most atrocities, but … he was primarily responsible for that war becoming what it did.”
Cooper claimed it was Adolf Hitler ― who was responsible for the deaths of millions, including 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust ― who pushed for peace. Cooper referred to Churchill’s bombers’ actions in the war as “rank terrorism.”
“They were wiping these places out, as gigantic-scale terrorist attacks, the greatest, you know, scale of terrorist attacks you’ve ever seen in world history,” Cooper told Carlson, who did not push back on Cooper’s points.
Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney was one of many to correct Cooper’s dangerous claims.
“Actually, this is pro-Nazi propaganda, including, ‘Churchill was the chief villain of WW2’ and Hitler ‘didn’t want to fight,’” Cheney wrote Tuesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “No serious or honorable person would support or endorse this type of garbage.”
Cooper is one of just over 1,100 accounts Vance follows on X.
On his X account, Cooper bragged about the new followers he’d gotten since Carlson platformed him.
“You take the good w/the bad,” Cooper wrote. “I’m tarnished with people whose opinion means nothing to me. Meanwhile, my podcast listeners have increased by an order or two of magnitude, my subscribers are through the roof, and I’m blessed that these are the only people I have to please.”
A spokesperson for the Trump/Vance campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Now there's some fine Nazis for our Henry and the lizard Oz and the bromancer to get behind ... and now to end on a lighter cat lady in a shoe note ...





19 comments:

  1. "Who knows if the google bot got the Pashto right ..."
    Well going backwards, Google translate has it as "Down with theocrats and theocracies" so I guess it got it right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now that's better: מוות לכל התיאוקרטיות והתיאוקרטיות

      That's Death to all theocracies and theocracies. Much more appropriate.

      Delete
  2. Hi Dorothy,

    “In 1947, the International Military Tribunal described the execution of hostages as “a barbarous relic of ancient times”.

    What could have been on their minds in 1947?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sergeants_affair

    Enjoy your break.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Ah, the Genocide convention"

      "In a letter to Menachem Begin, an Irgun prisoner named Chaim Wasserman described the executions:[16]..."Later in the morning we found the following inscription on the wall of the cell of the condemned: 'They will not frighten the [insert any 'Himeland"] Hebrew youth in the Homeland with their hangings. Thousands will follow in our footsteps.' "

      "Daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21st Century conflict – Oxfam
      12 Jan 2024

      "Using publicly available data,
      Oxfam calculated that number of average deaths per day for Gaza is significantly higher than any recent major armed conflict including Syria (96.5 deaths per day), Sudan (51.6), Iraq (50.8), Ukraine (43.9) Afghanistan (23.8) and Yemen (15.8)."
      https://media.oxfam.org.au/2024/01/daily-death-rate-in-gaza-higher-than-any-other-major-21st-century-conflict-oxfam/

      Thousands will follow.

      Delete
  3. It says a lot about the Hole in the Bucket Man that he can’t simply say “it is wrong to execute hostages”; rather he has to dress it up with a typically pompous Henry History. Of course piling on all that excess wordage means there’s simply no room left to make any mention of retaliatory atrocities…….

    ReplyDelete
  4. So Holely Henry would have us contemplate "the cold-blooded murder of innocent hostages" as against "the unintended deaths (caused largely by Hamas's use of civilians as human shields)". Well that says it all then: 6 "innocent" deaths compared with the "unintended" deaths of tens of thousands.

    But we can be sure that the deaths of the thousands of "human shields" is of no consequence because the IDF keeps on launching the attacks that end in those deaths. The fact that by now the Israeli effort to somehow totally destroy Hamas - which nearly everybody knows just won't happen - has resulted in a lot of deaths that obviously don't matter because of "Judaism's emphasis on the duty to protect human life."

    "The Lancet medical journal recently published an estimate of deaths in Gaza from several respected scientists, who outline their process of estimation (comparison with similar conflicts) and final numbers. They estimate that about 186,000 total deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza, which is roughly 7.9% of its population, by mid-June 2024."

    Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/05/scientists-death-disease-gaza-polio-vaccinations-israel

    ReplyDelete
  5. ..."That’s why Moraes is correct that Musk’s defiance has to be understood as a defiance of Brazilian sovereignty itself:
    "Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country.

    "Even socialists who are sympathetic to free speech rights should be able to appreciate that the stakes here are bigger than speech. If Musk wants to contest court orders through ordinary legal venues he has that right, but this ongoing scofflaw behavior where he refuses to participate in that process has nothing to do with democracy."

    "Socialists should support Brazil's Twitter ban
    Judge de Moraes's order is an assertion of the people's sovereignty over capital."
    AUG 31, 2024
    https://www.carlbeijer.com/p/socialists-should-support-brazils

    ReplyDelete
  6. Here's one that might get us asking: time and cost (how long, and how expensive to build and operate):

    China to build first-ever thorium molten salt nuclear power station in Gobi Desert
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-06/china-building-thorium-nuclear-power-station-gobi/104304468

    But apparently the Chinese already have a working trial version unlike all those invisible SMRs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well GB, that news should send Mein Gott in paroxysms of joy - though when he was burbling about thorium molten salt reactors a few months back he appeared to believe that it was already a proven technology and would be used in subs any day now. Perhaps he was a mite over-optimistic?

      Delete
    2. And China today hosting 50 African leaders, lured by $50bn... adding to... SMR's and debt. They are trying hard to catch up with... "$315 trillion in debts globally"...

      Via nakedcapitalism... DON'T tell the kids!
      Charles Hugh Smith;
      "To summarize: 
      - will the Everything Bubble pop? Yes. 
      - Will the authorities try to reinflate the bubble? Yes. 
      - Will it work? No"

      "Is the "Everything Bubble" About to Pop?
      September 04, 2024
      ... [lots of charts trend are shockers]
      "There are a couple of funny things about amassing $315 trillion in debts globally to drive "growth": one is the interest due on all that debt, which becomes unsustainable should yields rise, and inflation, which either pushes yields higher, making it impossible to continue funding "growth" with more debt, or it lays waste to the purchasing power of wage earners' incomes, popping the bubble of free-spending consumption propping up the global economy and debt bubble."
      https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2024/09/is-everything-bubble-about-to-pop.html

      Delete
    3. Yair nah, Anony, the world will just declare bankruptcy and start over - as Argentina has done 9 times already, twice since 2000. The key is in the words of Charles Hugh Smith: "...the tens of trillions of yen, yuan, euros, dollars, pesos, etc., being borrowed or conjured into existence since the last spot of bother in 2008...".

      That's the key, mate: "conjured into existence". After all, as Holely Henry assures us "money is a social construct underpinned by a complex of social and institutional conventions."

      It would appear that we've been conjuring into existence just a little bit more of that social construct per annum than is really needed to accommodate the annual population increase, and when we do that, we make for long lasting inflation. We need that much to make all those super-rich billionaires though, so we'll just keep on doing it.

      Delete
    4. Yair, other Anony, but that's how the Gotts of this world function: if they're in favour of what you say, then it must be incontrovertibly true because, if it turns out not to be so, then they won't ever mention it again so it never really happened.

      Like note how the raptures about SMRs have kinda stopped of late ?

      Delete
  7. "... have accrued 1.2 billion views on X, new analysis says

    "The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate said Musk’s debunked claims are spreading widely and don't appear to be subject to X’s Community Notes fact-checking system."
    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/elon-musk-misleading-election-claims-x-views-report-rcna165599

    1,200,000,000 views of "Elon Musk's misleading election claims" ...

    Or the 20th placed news aggregator and purveyor of propaganda? NBC and all newscorpse assessts can and will fall toward the spot marked X. More reach, more folliwers, more violent and more feardul... "Musk’s response was a meme that said: “TAKE A BIG STEP BACK AND LITERALLY, F*CK YOUR OWN FACE!”

    Which / who is worse?
    And who said "we have begun to take legal steps against AI aggressors, the egregious aggregators, who are predatory in the confiscation of our content. ‘Open source’ can never be a justification for ‘open slather.’".

    NEWS CORPORATION REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR RESULTS FOR FISCAL 2024

    FISCAL 2024 FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR KEY FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
    "Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Robert Thomson said:

    “Fiscal 2024 was an outstanding year for News Corp, as we not only delivered robust earnings growth and created substantial shareholder value, but took a significant step to prepare the Company to prosper in the AI age.

    "Our landmark agreement with OpenAI is not only expected to be lucrative, but will enable us to work closely with a trusted, pre-eminent partner to fashion a future for professional journalism and for provenance. Meanwhile, we have begun to take legal steps against AI aggressors, the egregious aggregators, who are predatory in the confiscation of our content. ‘Open source’ can never be a justification for ‘open slather.’

    "For the quarter, revenues grew 6 percent to almost $2.6 billion, while net income improved significantly and profitability advanced by 11 percent to a fourth quarter record. Our core pillars of growth - Book Publishing, Digital Real Estate Services and Dow Jones - inspired the increasing profitability, and their strength augurs well for Fiscal 2025."

    BUT NOTE! Elon has no real shackles ala...
    "Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" ... "The “forward-looking statements” included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and we do not have and do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, and we expressly disclaim any such obligation, except as required by law or regulation."

    Elon is is cursing, lying and laughing all the way to... "F*CK YOUR OWN FACE!"

    Why is peter pan Musk doing this?
    "Musk told Peterson that Wilson’s gender transition has been the motivation for his push into conservative politics. 

    “I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that, and we’re making some progress,” he said.

    NBC TECH NEWS
    "Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child"
    July 25, 2024, By David Ingram

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An outstanding fiscal year for News Corp? Yesss, that must be the reason for yet more redundancies and Foxtel being put up for sale. Stil, as long as the Chairmen Emeritus and Junior are happy to maintain the pretence, then all will be well.

      Delete
    2. "is a way for News Corp to protect its weakening news properties in the UK,” said one former executive. “Too many are loss-making or near loss-making businesses and they need a way to find growth and protect their UK news holdings.”

      "The Sun, which is still battling with the fallout of the phone-hacking scandal, lost £66m last year and its online audience dropped by 4 million.

      "And the group’s radio and television arm lost nearly £54m, mainly driven by the cost of running the rightwing news channel TalkTV, which has lost its lead TV presenter Piers Morgan and gone online-only amid low ratings.

      "Despite the challenge of a declining print market News UK reported that the Times and the Sunday Times had recorded a profit of almost £61m and had 600,000 digital subscribers at the end of June.

      "Nevertheless, some News Corp investors have argued that the parent company could be worth more than $25bn (£19bn), but is languishing at $15bn because of the drag of its weakest publishing assets."
      ...
      https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/06/murdochs-uk-property-site-rightmove-lachlan-rupert

      Delete
  8. There’s a touching naivety to the apparent view among many US commentators that attendance at Harvard or Yale should somehow preclude politicians from being opportunistic reactionaries.

    Liars gotta lie, haters gotta hate, grifters gotta grift.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Another one bites the dust...
    "“The Prophet of Presidential Elections” . . . this is just magical thinking, my dude." By Andrew Gelman.

    "The NYT sinks to a new low in political coverage"
    Posted on September 5, 2024 1:57 PM by Andrew

    "OK, this is really embarrassing: “Harris or Trump? The Prophet of Presidential Elections Is Ready to Call the Race.” The video includes a tacky horserace-themed graphic."
    ...
    https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2024/09/05/the-nyt-sinks-to-a-new-low-in-political-coverage/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Error' causes Alexa to endorse Kamala Harris, refuse to discuss Trump

      Bot shouldn't have political opinions, says Amazon

      Brandon Vigliarolo

      https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/04/error_amazon_alexa_k/

      Delete
  10. Laughing Hannibal's....

    "Israeli podcasters are laughing about genocide. What would it take to stop?

    "It would be unfair to say these guys represent everyone in Israel, so I’m not going to say that. They said it themselves"
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/06/israeli-podcasters-laughing-gaza-genocide-two-nice-jewish-boys

    ReplyDelete

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