Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Retreats and Silly Posturing

Plus pileated woodpeckers attack!

• Pope Francis died on 4/21, proving that some higher power thought it too cruel to allow to happen on both Easter and 4/20, so something’s right with the universe as far as I’m concerned. RIP, my favorite Argentinian soccer fan.

• Ukraine’s European backers are now pressing Ukraine to at least unofficially recognize that Crimea is part of Russia and to agree to a ceasefire in place, which would unofficially recognize Russian sovereignty over the portion of Ukraine it has conquered.

  • The ulterior motive is to create a new sinkhole of military grifting for the EU, much like the Korean Armistice did for the US in 1953. They want European troops as “peacekeepers,” or a trip wire.

  • Ukraine’s comedian-turned-President said Ukraine would never recognize Russian claims to Crimea or anything else.

  • For his part, Vladimir Putin said Russia was prepared for unconditional peace talks with Ukraine. Who sounds like they want the war to continue more?

• The British Government appears to have figured out it has no troops it can send for any peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, and has quietly scrapped the idea, according to The Times.

• Don’t worry, the British Government acted quickly to dispel any impressions of recovering sanity. It announced experiments to “dim the sun.” How? By throwing more chemical shit into the atmosphere, of course.

  

• There will be no US war on Iran. Much to Netanyahu’s fury, Trump is negotiating with the Iranians. A simple formula explains why: Big Oil + MIC > Israel.

• There was a terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 2 dozen people. In a scintillating display of discipline, restraint, and common sense, Indian and Pakistani troops then took pot shots at each other across the border.

• There’s nothing like the armed forces of two nuclear powers shooting at each other to give me that nostalgic duck-and-cover feeling of security.

  

• Indian PM Modi said those who carried out the attack “will be punished beyond their imagination.” I’m not sure whether he learned that from the Trumpian or Nutty Yahooian School of bluster, but I’m pretty sure it was one of them.

• Pakistan’s interior minister called for a neutral party to do an investigation, which at least sounds somewhat sane.

• Rwanda and the DR Congo pledged to sign a peace deal by May 2, under the auspices of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

  • Since Congolese activists were protesting mineral deals with the US just a few days earlier, and since Erik Prince and Blackrock are involved, I smell the aroma of good old US Empire exploitation.

• The Trump Administration lost 11 different decisions in 11 different courts in one week, including one finding Trump’s executive order to end collective bargaining for federal employees illegal.

  • Oops. Make that an even dozen. A Federal Judge in El Paso just ruled Trump couldn’t use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport anybody without due process. There’s that pesky 14th Amendment again.

• Tomorrow, Canadians get to choose between four political parties that don’t even mention Palestine in any of their platforms. Such courage and moral rectitude is commendable and clearly superior to that of their crazy southern neighbors.

  • There is a People’s Party of Canada as well, and their platform doesn’t mention Palestine, either.

• The AP deigned to report that Israel hasn’t allowed food into Gaza for 60 days and doctors say there might be malnutrition happening. They even included a photo of a World Food Program warehouse in Gaza. Looks just a bit sparse. The AP is clearly a den of anti-Semitism.

  

• The BBC reports that “meadowscaping” is becoming fashionable in the US. I didn’t know I was doing that when I decided to let the back half of my back yard go wild for the butterflies and fireflies, but it sounds much nicer than lazyscaping, which is what I first called it.

  

• Berlin authorities banned the display of the Russian flag on Victory Day commemorating the fall of the Nazi regime on May 8. Now that’s protecting democracy for you. Himmler would be so proud.

  

• Finally, a pileated woodpecker terrorized a Massachusetts town by attacking at least 20 separate vehicles. No word yet on whether ICE will try to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act. (Below: pileated woodpecker terrorizing a car somewhere down South. The NBC photo wouldn’t copy, the bastards.)

Thank you for reading, good day or night, and good luck.

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