Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Total Eclipses
“It’s apocalyptic, it’s like the end of times.”—William O’Neill, American human rights observer, about the situation in Haiti to the UN. IOW, chaos. It’s so much easier for US corporations to exploit natural resources in a state of chaos, as opposed to states with strong governments. See those hills behind these guys? They’re full of iridium.
Willingly oblivious to one more unfolding humanitarian disaster on top of so many others, tens of millions of Americans hit the roads,
so they could see this,
That’s what it looked like from the parking lot of our hotel just east of Cleveland, anyway. Very cool, totally awesome, humbling, beautiful, a reminder that we live in a great big universe, however you want to look at it. No wonder people thought it was a sign from the gods, and who knows? Maybe it is. I do not possess such knowledge. Whatever, I’m glad we got to see this.
Donald Trump took his rock solidest position ever on abortion. He wants to leave it up to the states. Leaving it up to the states instead of trying to impose it from the Federal level is obviously a sign that Trump is worse than Hitler.
Seriously, this should be no surprise. I mean, he is a New Yorker from the frickin’ City, after all. He’s never been for banning abortion, no matter what he, or Democrats, say.
According to German media, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology says that Ukrainian support for Zelensky has dropped from the 80s to 61%. I have absolutely no idea how accurate that is. If it is, well, a 20% drop is a 20% drop.
Genocide Joe Lyin’ Biden is promising student debt relief to tens of millions of Americans again. Anyone who actually believes this promise is
and probably a member of a cult.
Ecuador, in a flagrant violation of international law, stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest a former vice-president who had been granted sanctuary there years ago. In response, Mexico and Nicaragua severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador. Talk about a total eclipse of diplomacy. Hmm, smells like essence of
The Ukrainians have been launching drone strikes at Russian infrastructure. The Pentagon told Congress the strikes were ineffective.
Meanwhile, Russia claims strikes on the Ukrainian electrical grid have shut down power in the Kharkov region and damaged it in at least six others, including Kiev and Lwow. The Russian claim is supported by this great Substack article describing how Russia now has air supremacy over Ukraine.
Air supremacy is important. Just ask the French in 1940 or the Germans and Japanese four years later. A tipping point in this war has been reached.
In a move that can only be described as desperate, the Ukrainian parliament extended enlistments for troops who thought they would get out after 3 years of service, not to mention survival. Extending enlistments is not a good sign.
Norfolk Southern Railroad has agreed to a $600 million dollar settlement of a class action suit filed against it for its gross negligence resulting in the slow murder of the town of East Palestine, Ohio.
Back in the den of iniquity called Congress, the Pentagon is lobbying for $62 Billion more to go to the meatgrinding grifting operation in Ukraine. $600 million for East Palestine, $62 billion more for Ukraine. I trust our criminal kleptocracy’s priorities are clear now?
OJ Simpson is dead at 76. I remember how his trial was trumpeted by the media in a clear effort to racially divide the country, how people were so obsessed by first the slowest chase ever in his Ford Bronco, his trial, and how insignificant it all seems compared to what is happening now.
Our Islamic center down the street had a great celebration for the Eid holiday, but there wasn’t much to celebrate in Gaza or the West Bank.
Nothing to celebrate with, either.
As for me, my wife and I moved back into our house yesterday, the HVAC guy came out to look at the furnace, and the only thing wrong with it was an aging capacitor, which he replaced, so now we have heat.
The furnace is a 25 year old Carrier. Yet another reason Willis Carrier, inventor of air-conditioning, is one of my household gods.
Finally, in blatant and possibly treasonous defiance of the Tory image of England, the London Fire Brigade rescued Oreo the Cat, who had been stuck in a chimney for two days after a vacuum cleaner scared him into a panicked flight.
Thank you for reading, good day, and good luck.
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Three things to celebrate:
1. Your furnace, a solid Carrier, is back in working order. I hope it lasts another 25 years.
2. Oreo the Cat was rescued by the fire brigade. I hope Oreo stays away from chimneys and trees.
3. Awesome photo of the eclipse. We had it here in Toronto. As I wrote before, Arya the Cockatiel became quiet at around 3:20 pm, during peak darkness.
First, yay and congratulations for heat!! I'm also glad you got to see the eclipse - I was in the center of totality in 2017 and it really is almost indescribable.
As for Ukraine, my Ukrainian wife stays in touch with friends in Ukraine. She says Zelensky could have up to 40% support - no more. When she'll even talk about it, she says "Zelensky is stupid."
I see the ongoing destruction in Ukraine and of many places I've been. It's now moved to power plants, though not the associated dams. But no electricity, the new mobilization law without an end to the contract, lowered age to 25 etc etc will not help that support.
To me, it feels like it MAY be ending, unless France and the UK sent troops as they are discussing. If they do that, and Genocide Joe gets his $62 billion, then it's WW III - or WW last if it goes nuclear.