Listen to a reading of “We Ended It All Out Of Boredom”:
❖
In the end we went the way of the dinosaur
not because of any asteroid or apocalyptic disease,
nor because we failed to adapt quickly enough to environmental changes,
but because we got bored.
We let the bastards (who were just as bored as the rest of us)
wave their warheads around like dongs at a bachelorette party,
even egging them on, calling for starvation sanctions
and no-fly zones and endless escalations in brinkmanship,
because there was nothing new on Hulu,
because CNN needed the ratings,
because they canceled Jerry Springer,
because they don’t let you smoke anywhere these days,
because snarling at Putin made us feel giddy and euphoric
in a way we didn’t quite understand but kind of scared us,
because our friends stopped letting us masturbate our drama addiction on them,
because we shuddered at the thought of a boring world where nations simply get along
and collaborate toward the highest interest of all beings,
because that wouldn’t feed our egoic hungry ghosts,
wouldn’t give us the exhilarating conflicts we’ve been trained to expect by Hollywood,
wouldn’t distract us from the echoing screams of our early childhood trauma,
wouldn’t engorge our sex organs and release adrenaline and endorphins
and assist us in our interminable quest to be
anywhere but here.
We ended it all out of boredom.
Because we never figured out how to be okay with what is.
Because we never learned how to let our restlessness drain from our legs
and from our minds and down into the earth which birthed and sustained us.
Because we could never create enough space to let the beauty in
and be uplifted by the sunlight and the birdsongs and the wind in our hair
instead of by fighting and hating and selfing and othering.
A strange primate species showed up,
looked around,
couldn’t quite make sense of the place,
and checked out.
And now we are gone,
like the tyrannosaurs and the mastodons
and the dead stars and the forgotten gods.
A foolish mistake made playing foolish games
opened a Pandora’s box labeled “NO TAKESIES BACKSIES”,
and the rest, as they say,
was the end of history.
But hey.
Bright side.
At least we’re not bored anymore.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
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49 responses to “We Ended It All Out Of Boredom”
For now, global nuclear war does not threaten us. The disciples once asked Jesus, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall begin to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition) He answered: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but it is not yet the fulfillment [of the sign].” (Matthew 24:6) The global nuclear war, (this will be the fulfillment of the sign of Jesus), will begin as a result of ethnic conflict, “for nation will rise against nation”, like as in 2008 in Georgia. (Mt 24:7) In the Book of Daniel we read: “At the appointed time [the king of the north] will return back [Russian troops will return to where they were previously stationed. It also means the big crisis, plus the break-up of the EU and NATO], and will enter into the south [this will be the beginning of the WW3], but it will not be as the former [Georgia – 2008] or as the latter [Ukraine – now. But next time there will be the WW3], for the dwellers of coastlands of Kittim [the distant West] will come against him, and (he) will broke down [mentally], and will go back.” (11:29, 30a) This time it will be a world war not only by name. “The great power sword” will also be used. (Revelation 6:4) Jesus characterized him in this way: “A frightening things both and extraordinary (related to unusual phenomena) from sky powerful will be.” (Lk 21:11) For that reason there will be significant tremors along the length and breadth of the regions [of strategic importance] and famines, and pestilences. Some ancient manuscripts contain the words “and frosts”. The Aramaic Peshitta: “and will be great frosts”. (Luke 21:11) We call this today “nuclear winter”. In Mark 13:8 there are also words of Jesus: “and disorders” (in the sense of confusion and chaos). The Aramaic Peshitta: “and confusion” (on the state of public order). This extremely detailed sign fits only one war. Jesus stated: “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8) Many want to fight but not everyone realizes the consequences.
The universe is doubtless TEEMING with countless civilizations…just in our own galaxy, there are hundreds of billions of stars….and there are Trillions of galaxies by the latest estimate….therefore it is the height of hubris to think that we are the only self-aware species running around loose in the cosmos.
No doubt there are more than a few off-worlders carefully monitoring our latest flirtation with extinction, perhaps even laying off a few bets on whether we pull the plug…vs. saner heads prevailing.. My point: I rather doubt that these other folks will save us from ourselves, the reason being that if they did so, THEY WOULD NEVE BE ABLE TO FULLY TRUST US AS A SPECIES…. at least not for a very long time.
Caitalan’s poem has struck a nerve with me….BOREDOM could be playing a very large role in this unfolding disaster.
It sure as he’ll isn’t IMAGINATION!
Too bad….we could have been a contender…
Beautiful article/poem could pose as the ‘eulogy for a once most promising – if not emotionally stunted species’
If Shinsa would saved us a picture of themselves we can include them as a poster child for the soon to be extinct 21st century humanoid.
Ok, Ms. Gray is in. On the tippy toes, but in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZtj4e-A-HE
Interesting interview, especially about the part where China stacks 5 year plans on top of each other, so they can think 30 to 100 years ahead, where as nation like say, the US, can only really follow where the markets lead, and the markets, at the trading levels, are now thinking …haven”t seen the latest stats … 5 seconds ahead? Something like that.
MMT wasn’t mentioned, which was a disappointment, because Ms. Gray was at one point, in the same camp as Stephanie Kelton. Literally, I think. I don’t know much about campaigns as they move around, but I image that Ms. Gray, Ms. Kelton and Mr. Sanders, found themselves under some canopy of some kind sometime during the 2020 campaign swing.
Bernie got destroyed in 2020 because he was the greatest threat to the American section of the neo-liberal establishment ever, not because he was Socialist, neo-liberal Europe has a lot of those, but because he had at least one MMT advocate that I know of, and maybe more, in his camp. Stephanie Kelton is of course is, perhaps the leading proponent of MMT in the US, and it might be logical to assume she wasn’t alone?
Russia is now practicing MMT, Ms. Gray. They were forced to after they were crushed by the Sanctions of 2014, and realized after a forensic analysis of the financial hocus pocus that was involved in the disaster, that their own central bank, was 80% responsible for the pain that was inflicated throughout the nation.
Most of that pain, falling on the common folk. The oligarchs came out of it unscathed, of course, which is one reason, they now need to watch their back – in all directions.
China as we know, has been practicing MMT – with Chinese characteristics – for quite some, and that is one of the reasons I started making The Football Analogy in 2010, tha China is now up 46 to nothing vis a vis the West at halftime, and their first string has not yet seen the field.
My suggestion therefore, should you see this and they be available, is interview Michael Hudson on Russia’s radical shift from being a neo-liberal non-state into being a nation seeking autarky, and your former campmate Ms. Kelton, who is an MMT advocate with a mind quite possibly as brilliant as your own.
Hudson is brilliant too. Have them both on at the same time, perhaps? For me, it would likely produce the most brilliance I have seen on TV, and I go back to the rabbit ears.
We all float down here.
https://postimg.cc/0Kzytm9F
(If this does not post as an image, please click on the link, my apologies.)
no
Yup – that says it all. Perfect topper to Caitlin’s post.
This is a psychological phenomena I’ve observed at many different levels. Individual, group, familial, company, city, etc.
.
People are never content just being. We seek out drama to make our lives “more interesting”. Whether that’s from being trained by media, or the media is just mirroring and amplifying a deeper intrinsic human condition, the result is the same.
.
I’ve watched people wreck themselves and the people they care about for the sake of drama; it only makes sense that it would play out the same way on the world scale.
Pentagon/Rothschilds BUSTED !
This from RT
The Ukrainian authorities have been urgently destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories linked to the US Department of Defense, the Russian military claimed on Monday, adding that such activities hint at the military purposes of these studies.
As many as 30 biological laboratories have been established in Ukraine that are actively cooperating with the US military, the commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense force, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, said at a news briefing on Monday.
The list of these laboratories’ partners includes the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) – the largest biomedical research facility administered by the US military; the general added.
US bioweapons labs, billions in research is a ‘real problem’ – Russian security chief
Many of these laboratories have been active since the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine and their emergence in the country has coincided with a spike in infectious diseases in the region, including German measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis, the Russian military said.
When this evidence is presented at the UN – well – it will certainly trump the war criminal Cheney’s vial of anthrax BS !
Mushroom cloud, mushroom cloud, were did you come from?
Krysal and Saagar get one right. A No Fly Zone is a bad idea, and both find it disturbing that the American public completely disagrees with them. Even used the N word to convince their listeners to back off of this bad idea! It’s so unfair. When I use the N word, unless I put a neo in front of it, I will be downvoted in r collapse to -20 … automatically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTZ5_pul3no
Breaking Points is starting to doubt their own narrative, just a bit, in regards to the hero Zelensky. It is theoretically possible, in fact, that he not be in “our” best interests, apparently. At this rate, they’ll be calling for him to be strung up by a lampost by the end of the week.
I’ll say it again, all warnerds want dogfights, and warnerds are not just basement or online gamer types, they are everywhere, at all levels, and they are legion.
The US hasn’t had a real good one since Korea. Some dogfighting took place over Vietnam, but mostly it was about evading surface to air, and that is not dogfighting. Israel has had some good ones in their various and sundry wars, but once they started establishing 70 to 1 kill ratios, they were no longer meeting requirements necessary to meet the warnerd’s defintion of a dogfight. Plus those eastern Med air battles are a thing, long in the past.
I will say this about Saagar. He is a confident young man. He reasurred his listeners, in another segment, that if push comes to shove with China, “we can destroy their economy ten times over in the way Russia is as well.”
So good news on two fronts, the Russian economy is destroyed, and we can turn China into a stone age civilation (?), unclear there, anytime we want. In order to win this war, we only have to avoid 5th generational dogfighting between us and Russia over there, which by defintion, means there will be US missile strike strikes deep within the Russian Federation proper, on the day the dogfighting begins.
Pentagon/Rothschilds BUSTED !
This from RT
The Ukrainian authorities have been urgently destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories linked to the US Department of Defense, the Russian military claimed on Monday, adding that such activities hint at the military purposes of these studies.
As many as 30 biological laboratories have been established in Ukraine that are actively cooperating with the US military, the commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense force, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, said at a news briefing on Monday.
The list of these laboratories’ partners includes the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) – the largest biomedical research facility administered by the US military; the general added.
US bioweapons labs, billions in research is a ‘real problem’ – Russian security chief
Many of these laboratories have been active since the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine and their emergence in the country has coincided with a spike in infectious diseases in the region, including German measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis, the Russian military said.
Damn, I wish we had more reporters and journalists. What are we down to 12, 15?
Didn’t the Russians give up all of their biological weapons, after the collapse? So wouldn’t weapons of mass biological destruction being developed by a hostile next door neighbor, give them cause for concern?
MAD applies to more than just nukes.
I really do wish we a had media, because there seems to be no ceiling to the madness, now that it’s been eliminated.
Thanks for the information.
And it is information, Western media, and there are no dis, mis, or mals in it. Russian claims, are by defintion, information. They have made a claim, this is true, and if the Russians make a claim, especially one that is a potential global threat, and you choose not to disseminate the information to a wide audience, let along investigate its validity, by definition, you no longer exist.
I just noticed that all the industrial grade anti-Putin and Russophobic slander has invaded the “funny papers,” aka the “comics.” I’m talking about the forums where readers evacuate the foul intellectual turds they’ve accumulated and pass along to share with others to digest like the human centipedes that is their true nature.
~
Absolutely none of said shite being true in the slightest. All confected from whole cloth by an “intelligence community” gone stark raving mad with war fever. Burning their bridges before their train has even crossed over them. Achieving very certain point of no return, irreparable damage whichever way the war goes. Perdition, annihilation, eternal suffering and regret guaranteed, without your money back.
~
God damn but they have thoroughly converted the gibbering American populace into knee jerk haters willing to believe anything they are told on absolutely no evidence, no matter how outrageous or impossible. The words connote a fear and loathing so deep that many of their purveyors will never be satisfied unless and until they get to actually and personally rip Vladimir Putin’s throat out.
~
And these are the FUN lovers! The readers perusing the funny papers to be amused and have a laugh…presumably. Alas, seems as though they are just like the rest. Just like the ones who shriek “liar!” when told that Mr. Putin is opposing and their own sainted government, including Lord Biden, is supporting a rather large cadre of not just “neo” Nazis, but genuine World War II era certified, slabbed and graded Nazis direct from Hitler’s death camps via their genetic lineage and recorded ancestry which they flaunt with a sick creepy passion. When shown the actual evidence in the form of many thousands of photographs, film clips and published documents, they claim fabrication or, more than likely, the mainstream corporate media , whose word is always golden without the slightest shred of proofs, purposefully withhold all of the evidence and lie right in your face to say there is none.
~
There is an entire video (posted in today’s Consortium News) of the “Little Corporal’s” ocean of prevarications on this subject as he leads Ukraine to Glory posted immediately alongside reams of the actual evidence which is neither seen nor heard–ever– in the
Great Western Mass Brainwashing Rodeo. Warning: There are more color photos of little kids torn to shreds (by Ukie artillery fire in the Donbas) than you have seen since the Falujah massacre. I mean you will swear off meat consumption for life after this. Be careful whom you choose to believe. You will have to stop supporting Uncle Sam’s load of total fucking unholy fecal matter from across the entire animal kingdom should you decide to give credence to your own lying eyes.
~
Now, “strictures,” let’s see your evidence to prove there is any existence whatsoever to “Vlad the Poisoner, murderer & invader.” And Wiley Miller, normally an actually funny humorist, please apprise the viewing public how their interest is served by stirring the pot with not so subtle allusions to facts and interpretations you cannot substantiate, unless you prefer an even greater escalation of Washington’s incendiary work of mostly fiction. Why should you not call it Dopey Joe’s “New World Order” in your single frame? Or, Uncle Joe’s War in the real world? After all, he is the (front) man most responsible for this catastrophe. He and his mentor Barack Obomber. You know, your names will be hated for generations in the Eastern hemisphere, don’t you? Asswipes.
Whoops. That video I mentioned is in the latest (7 March) Saker blog, not CN.
The Rothschilds had Ukraine all ‘prepped’ – they planned to do to Ukraine what they did to Palestine !
Ruthlessly murder ( Russia has destroyed ELEVEN ZIO/US Bio Labs in Ukraine ) the Inhabitants and STEAL the land !
I know it and Putin KNEW it !
The Rothschilds are very very PISSED !
As the OWN the $US – the EURO AND the global western media – well – be prepared for ANYTHING !
I must say I’m rather impervious to the nuclear scare. I’d rather be bumped off instantly by a mushroom than spend a whole night with two broken legs in a shell hole like my grand-father during WW1 or five years in a prisoners’ camp in Germany like my father during WW2 with nothing to eat in the freezing cold, forced labor in the snow and being air raided every night the last months.
I’d sign for the mushroom at once! You’re toast before you can say Jack Robinson.
People don’t realize what being wounded in a war can be like: having a limp for the rest of your life, rheumatisms when it gets damp, being disfigured, amputated, PTSD that wake you up at night… I go for the mushroom! With the caveat that if we all get whacked at the same time, the queue at the Pearly Gates is gonna be a fucking nightmare! Let’s hope it doesn’t rain!
So let’s add to the bright side while we can. Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Prize of Medicine for curing Covid overnight. Not one word about the pandemic in the media since he invaded Ukraine and it seems the combatants don’t wear masks and don’t keep social distancing, which is a sure sign that the pandemic is over. Spasibo Vlad!
Another source of enjoyment is the EU hillbillies posing as presidents and prime ministers of the various countries they keep under the US boot who are presently busy sawing the branch they’re sitting on. Every time they sanction Russia, it bites them in the ass and enriches Russia (with the rising prices of oil and gas) and China (which sells Russia the goods it can’t buy from Europe and the US anymore).
My favorite being however the aircraft dog and pony show. A lot of airlines don’t own their planes. They lease them from firms that have just been ordered to sever leases to Aeroflot. The largest one, Irish AerCap, has 152 carriers out there. They’re now losing money every day since Aeroflot has grounded them to comply with the sanctions and of course stopped paying the lease.
How will AerCap get their planes back? Because their staff can’t fly to Russia, which has closed its airspace to foreign aircraft in retaliation… Of course they can always go to Moscow by train or car from Minsk but one can imagine the problems they will face in trying to repatriate their planes from a country which is already a bureaucratic nightmare at the best of times. Besides, even supposing they manage to overcome that and find crews to fly the planes back, the market doesn’t need 152 carriers coming out of the blue. Looks like some businesses will lay off or even fold. And all that for a pissing contest! Do me a favor: send the mushroom! We don’t deserve to live as a species. We’re wasting oxygen :o)
be sure to be close enough to a mushroom. the stuff your grandfather encountered isn’t impossible in a mushroom-scenario, with some radiation disease on the side.
the russians have been floating the idea of nationalizing planes (and businesses too).
Ah but we’re talking here of the mushroom that will end it all, the one that can’t miss you or leave you irradiated like the poor sods in Hiroshima. This is the ULTIMATE mushroom, next to which the death cap is a walk in the park :o)
for the 21st time…..
the time doesn’t matter any more
the centuries
gone into the abyss
of greatness, of horrors…
but wait, the time mattered
all of a sudden
when the greatest tragedy
unfolded and spread to all
breathing…
the gift of life
threatened by the toxic fantasy
of egos
then……..
all…
felt at once
said at once
ENOUGH!!!!!!
and so all still breathing
together
started digging deeper
together…
until then….it was deep ENOUGH!!!!!!
the billions breathed as hard as they could
in unison
for once
for one last time
and fanned the flames
of change
in the burn pit of time
with the egos flailing and screaming
about rights
not wrongs
howls of their pain ignored
compassion put on hold
by those who cherished breathing…
as it burns out, the burn pit of time
bellows the smoke and fumes
of the past
a past remembered
by those
who sought to breathe
who sought survival
who cherish the present……
Thank you Caitlin.
You are a Goddess.
Please excuse shitbits in their suffering.
we’re just too dumb monkeys.
Tactical nuke, looks like to me, by shape and contour of the cloud. A little baby, fired from a Davey.
Crocket that is. Remember those `50s style weapons? Required two man teams, but I’m sure one today could do the same if they gave him a nuclear tipped MANPAD.
Kidding of course, about being able to tell one from the other. As Ronald Reagan famously said, “If you’ve seen one mushroom cloud, you’ve seen em all.”
Feels like the 1950s and 1960s all over again. Everyone talking nuclear destruction, bomb shelters all the rage and everyone ready to put it to those terrible Russians. America also has the same type politicians except this time we have clueless Kamala and bumbling Biden making decisions instead of Jonn F. Kennedy. So basically we are screwed.
It’s a one trick pony show :o)
You’re a fucking idiot if you think that the normal people of the world are able to do anything against the rich, elites, politicians, and oligarchs. We aren’t doing anything because we’re “bored”. We can’t take these people down as much as we’d like to. So we just want to live our lives and do our best to be left out of the bullshit until we die
In this ‘live our lives’ paradigm you’ve outlined,
would it include endless unicorn rides
regardless of the chafing to everyone’s thighs
and the near constant bleat of lies
that leads us all to forever despise
all those with open eyes?
[Asking for friend]
We can’t do anything about the elites, oligarchs, etc. because we have no organized mechanism with which to do it. Anything we do individually, consumer choices, what clothes we wear, how we spend our free time, what entertainment we consume (all we really are in this sick society is consumers), does zero to affect anything about the elites. We’re totally atomized nobodies, so of course we can’t do anything about the rich assholes destroying the world.
Why are you here? Stick your head back in the ground.
Egoic consciousness. No one wants to feel their real feelings, self righteousness feels so much better.
I would donate a thousand dollars which I don’t have just to see a hip hop performance with CJ and Tim singing out of boredom this song.
Whilst doing some research last night I came across an article on a website called Foreign Affairs, a site that I’ve never come across before. The article was posted on December 28th and entitled ‘What Putin Really Wants in Ukraine – Russia Seeks to Stop NATO’s Expansion, Not to Annex More Territory’, and here’s how it begins:
As 2021 came to a close, Russia presented the United States with a list of demands that it said were necessary to stave off the possibility of a large-scale military conflict in Ukraine. In a draft treaty delivered to a U.S. diplomat in Moscow, the Russian government asked for a formal halt to NATO’s eastern enlargement, a permanent freeze on further expansion of the alliance’s military infrastructure (such as bases and weapons systems) in the former Soviet territory, an end to Western military assistance to Ukraine, and a ban on intermediate-range missiles in Europe. The message was unmistakable: if these threats cannot be addressed diplomatically, the Kremlin will have to resort to military action.
These concerns were familiar to Western policymakers, who for years have responded by arguing that Moscow does not have a veto over NATO’s decisions…..
I can’t put a link to the article because to get access to the full article I had to submit my email address whereby they sent me a link to the article, so if anyone wants to read the full article, you’ll have to do the same. Here’s a link to the page:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russia-fsu/2021-12-28/what-putin-really-wants-ukraine
Anyway, given that this information was in the public domain, it does seem odd that I haven’t come across it before in all the dozens and dozens and dozens of articles I’ve read about the Russia/Ukraine situation during the past couple of months or so. Yes, just about all of us who follow independent media know that Russia/Putin had major concerns about NATO expanding into Ukraine etc, but what I’m referring to is the fact that Russia/Putin made it quite clear to the US/NATO that if the threats weren’t addressed, then Russia would have to resort to military action.
” … it does seem odd that I haven’t come across it before in all the dozens and dozens and dozens of articles I’ve read about the Russia/Ukraine situation during the past couple of months or so.”
It does seem odd.
I keep buying the NYT. Part of a routine. Coffee bagel NYT or USA Today. But I can’t get through a single paragraph. This morning, halfway into one, I read “the human pathways that have been created were facing nearby bombardments by Russian … ”
I stopped and looked at pictures the rest of way while I finished my bagel.
What army spends all that time and effort mid-battle negotiating with an enemy to set up human corridors, just so they can …well, maybe, maybe not … bombard them too.
12 dollars it’s cost me so far. Tomorrow, I’m going to look at pictures in the USA Today. It’s a buck cheaper, and I need to tighten my belt in anticipation of any reverse sanctions.
It amazes me that people still read the NYT after their complicity in the invasion of Iraq.
Agree. I swore it off for the same reason for 5 or 6 years, but I found myself watching the Godfather Saga for the umpeenth time, and when Michael says,’ “Keep you friends close, your enemies closer,” it dawned on me, I might as well apply this principle when I’m having my coffee and bagel.
Because the USA Today’s sports section ain’t what it used to be, and that’s all it was good for in the first place.
I asked my therapist why the world is such a mess right now and he said, “Everyone hates themselves.” This makes total sense to me. People who hate themselves are self-destructive, and their self-destruction always affects and often destroys other people. Only a self-hating populace would destroy the very planet that gives them life. Only a self-hating populace would invent weapons that can end all life on earth. Only a self-hating populace ignores all the damage they cause. Only a self-hating populace would tolerate endless war as a distraction from their inner discomfort. Self-hate typically underlies, or is a symptom of, narcissistic disorders, sociopathy, and psychopathy. And what causes self-hate? Trauma. We now know from brain studies that trauma, whether it be emotional or physical, can affect the brain this way. And what’s the most effective, fastest way to cause widespread trauma? War.
Caitlyn is just upset that her hero, Vladimir Putin, is being subjected to the truth, in the worldwide press.
She is having trouble coming up with new ways to defend this invasion and slaughter of civilians in a country that offered Russia no challenge.
So … she is blaming CNN and much else.
But truth is a mighty disinfectant, much to her regret.
Thanks for clearing that up. Do you do windows, and if so by the square foot or hourly?
PS-As a veteran of Iraq & Afghanistan, I appreciate your thoughtful analysis and sophisticated insight into this delicate matter.
This is a PERFECT example of why we’re in the mess we’re in. We can no longer disagree with one another without insulting, on the most absurdly simplistic level, those with whom we disagree. This has become true of ALL sides of our political and cultural divides and helps explain, if it can be explained, why we have a recent occupant of the White House, in the midst of the most tense international situation since the Cuban Missile Crisis, joking about bombing Russia in a false flag op. God help us.
You don’t have the vaguest clue what this is about if you’re getting all your “truth” from CNN and the rest of corporate capitalist media. You’ve been trained like a puppy to believe anyone differing from that inane narrative worships Putin. So, your sense of truth is nothing more than propaganda with an American face. Try this, to educate yourself a little:
https://mtracey.substack.com/p/ukraine-is-trying-to-goad-the-us?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0NjgwOTY4LCJwb3N0X2lkIjo0OTgxMjAyNywiXyI6InE2MWVlIiwiaWF0IjoxNjQ2NTc0NDU0LCJleHAiOjE2NDY1NzgwNTQsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0zMDMxODgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.SRhLi9iTWoMt9R9ez86u_6jlzsYTribFnOkIGZ8DXBA&s=r
To supplement Caitlin’s poetry, an endangered species in the literary world, something even rarer these days: common sense:
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/tgif-when-history-begins/
And another bit of common sense:
https://original.antiwar.com/David_Stockman/2022/03/06/the-war-from-tds-trump-derangement-syndrome/
The following are some clips from an email sent out by Avaaz this morning in relation to Ukraine:
Putin isn’t stopping. His deadly drums of war grow louder every day.
As terrified families hide underground, their daughters, fathers, and even their grandmothers are risking everything to stop his deadly advance.
Hundreds have been killed and over a million refugees are on the run. But as Putin puts nuclear weapons on high alert, his vicious war could drag the whole world to the gates of hell.
Putin must be stopped.
Millions of us are getting this email, and if just a tiny fraction donates, we can supercharge our campaign to help end this senseless war. We could help get aid to refugees, support rights defenders and civil society across the region, expose the Kremlin’s online propaganda….
None of us wants this war, but democracy, freedom, and human rights are under attack. Let’s take a bold, defiant stand for Ukraine and the world we dream of — donate what you can with one click now
But unless the global community puts an end to it, Vladimir Putin seems poised to kill thousands in his crazed quest to erase Ukraine. And if the war spills over into other countries, we could soon be facing conflict and tragedy beyond our worst nightmares.
And then it says ‘Let’s do all we can to help. If enough of us chip in, we could:’, and then lists a number of things including the following:
‘Expose the massive spread of Kremlin-sponsored propaganda and disinformation online’
Yes, so now we know beyond any shadow of doubt that Avaaz IS – when needs be – an instrument of the Western fascist elite!
In case…
In case some sentient beings of the future suggest that since Homo sapiens could talk, it could reason…
America’s former buffoon-in-chief made a statement that most other members of the species would take as a viciously sarcastic statement…
This is not some meth addict under a bridge, toothlessly mewling out rah-rah. This is a person who was at the doorway between America-as-respectable, and America-as-lethal-contaminant-of-the-planet. (I expect that Caitlin would say that the doorway, if it ever existed, is miles away and long ago.)
What would Zelenskiy and the Ukrainians say, or Putin and Xi, at this fulgurating nonsense? What do Chinese F-22’s look like? This, more than anything else, suggests to the Ukrainians that they are on their own. One suggestion that’s been overlooked is that Zelenskiy, having gotten a smell of the slaughterhouse that’s behind Western politics, might call up Putin and beg him for some sort of Hong Kong style deal; or even just abject surrender – to take a chance with the “known knowns” rather than the funhouse mirrors of the West.
Saker and the Moon.
It’s so surreal, the essential information is readily available. Yet this insane narrative rolls merrily along, for the obvious reason the 99% want it too. If the most recent one could be called the Covid Narrative, I think a good candidate for this on might be, the Human Shield Narrative.
When I first saw this headline, I thought she was talking about Covid. People are bored with it, let’s move on to something else more exciting and graphic!
Covid still lies dormant though, and when the masses tire of “Standing with Ukraine” we can bring it back with new hysteria. Unless WW3 comes first.
Covid is real. That’s why Putin wants people to get vaccinated against it.
I’m not sure it’s boredom so much as a ubiquitous inability or unwillingness to agree on much anything that ultimately matters. Staying forever competitive and in conflict with each other is simply more stimulating. Cooperation is just too … boring. So, OK, maybe it’s also about boredom. Hate is everywhere now, while love seems the remnant of a failed idealism.
Flush the “we” before it leaves a stain in the swirl-pool, and get down with the “me” before the trendy joiners, dopey cheerleaders and baseless opportunists pull us all the way in.
“We” is the hiding spot for individual deficiencies, failures and even sin (should one go in for that sort of thing)-like the tragedy of the commons applied to groups of people.
Next comes “they” and eventually there is no “me” without one or the other.
But I do like the responsible “we”, the clarion call of collective ignorance and encouraged failure, although it’s seems we got a bit more ground to cover before we are willing to get down with that.
Nice poem CJ, thank you.
https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/extralegal-proceedings?s=w
What is going on in Ukraine is puzzling when compared to the US invasion of Iraq, “shock and awe”, destroying all of the infrastructure and using explosives against anything that moved or didn’t move. It’s different.
It’s less difficult to comprehend with a little shift of perspective. If the Russian goals actually are to intervene in the Ukrainian civil war, on the side that has been attacked for 8 years, after declaring independence, and to rid Ukraine of the NATO/US backed nazi forces attacking them, to the benefit of the rest of the people of Ukraine and Russia, then it makes more sense.
Ukrainian forces dug-in deeply in Mariupol won’t let civilians leave, but are shelling other Ukrainian civilians in the region, inviting counterattacks, which will kill Ukrainian civilians, which is good for who?
The Russian and Donbass separatist forces are being very patient and selective, and are avoiding damage to cities. Water and electricity are still working in most cities, and gas is flowing through pipelines.
The narrative in the west has been sold very well to most populations, but inquiring minds still want to know. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, who is careful and very conservative, but not a sycophant has tried very hard to get at what the facts may be and has come up with a remarkably similar perspective to mine, with the same motivation. Moon of Alabama, a German blogger, has raised that point. An important factor in Zelensky-the-peace-with-Russia-candidate’s transformation may be that he met the Azov battalion, who would not take orders from him, and threatened his life if he acted against what their stated goals for the nation were, repeatedly, consistently. Yarosh: if Zelensky betrays Ukraine, he will lose not his position, but his life
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/zelensky-and-the-fascists-he-will-hang-on-some-tree-on-khreshchatyk.html
When I see Zelensky saying that “he won’t negotiate with a gun to his head” and also say that “the only route to peace is through a direct negotiation between him and the Russians”, I think I understand his meaning. If he can be separated from those with a gun to his head, he can then negotiate for peace.
Andrei at Vineyard of the Saker is battle fatigued at this point, being a Russian in the west, but explains in more detail the Russian objectives, as I just did, and how the events on the ground make sense, as I just did, but in more and better detail. Importantly, the Russian forces much prefer patience to harming civilians, or allowing civilians to be harmed. We Americans might be this kindly disposed to Canadians in a similar situation. Day #10 of War, update with perspective.
https://thesaker.is/day-10-of-the-russian-special-operation-in-banderastan/
Moon of Alabama had a piece yesterday, updating the glacial tightening of Russian military encirclements and some special actions, but also the ethnic and religious differences of different parts of “Ukraine”, which are good tags for the hostilities seen between groups thrown together in a “country”, which could not work together to become a nation. This is an old imperial policy. Modern Ukraine was pieced together to serve German, and then Soviet interests beginning in WW-1, through to the USSR days of Khrushchev, who added Crimea to help a political deal work. The old religious boundaries reflect multiple different perceptions of nationality within the country. Galicia is important.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/disarming-ukraine-day-9-europe-increases-its-own-losses.html#more
Again, to understand the inscrutable Russian, you have to listen to them… They kept saying the same thing, politely, for a long time. Turns out they meant it.