Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Tempests of Tyranny and Storms of Backlash

Plus a moose on the loose

• Benjamin Mileikowsky Netanyahu performed an act of treachery considered so vile that it has not been common practice in Europe since the time of William the Bastard Conqueror. It unfolded as follows:

  • Netanyahu, along with the US, agreed to a 21 day ceasefire with Hezbollah IF Iran promised not to launch a retaliatory strike against Israel for past illegal behavior on the part of the apartheid state.

    • I cannot help but note that a ceasefire would make Harris look better to Arab-American voters in Michigan.

  • Iran apparently agreed, for Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, called a meeting of his top lieutenants in a large apartment building to nail down how the group would implement the ceasefire.

  • After they all gathered, the Israelis hit the large apartment complex with some 80 2000 pound bombs, leveling at least half a dozen apartment buildings, killing all of the Hezbollah leaders along with over a thousand Lebanese men, women and children who had picked the wrong apartment complex to live in. (image courtesy AP)

• Damn! That’s low, Netanyahu. Even my ancestors waited until after the ceasefire or peace treaty before breaking it and driving the Native Americans out. This was reminiscent of the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, except of course it killed a lot more people.

• To absolutely no one’s surprise, Iran retaliated by striking Israel with some 180 missiles on things like airbases and Mossad’s HQ in Tel Aviv, many of which got through.

  

• Israel then invaded southern Lebanon, and there’s been fighting. Some Israeli soldiers, no doubt some of those of Hezbollah, and a lot more Lebanese civilians have been killed.

• Meanwhile, the International Longshoreman’s Association went on strike and shut down every American port from Maine to Texas.

  

  • The Democrats refused to do capitalism’s bidding and invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to force longshoreman back to work because

    • It’s October and there’s an election in a few weeks.

    • The Teamsters Union strongly backed the longshoremen’s strike, refusing to cross picket lines. The fact that the Teamsters endorsed neither presidential candidate, and that their president spoke to the Republican National Convention to give that non-endorsement, and could still endorse Trump, just maybe had something to do with that.

    • When the longshoremen made it clear that they really were costing the economy $5 billion a day, the shipping companies caved and agreed to a 66% raise over 5 years, and continued negotiations on automation.

• When you’ve outsourced all your country’s manufacturing so you don’t have to pay your own workers to make your stuff here, it’s kind of hard to replace the imports you need for your business if other workers refuse to unload your shit. Ironically, American port workers have more real political power now than ever before, and can literally grab American capitalism by the throat.

• The Anti-Defamation League claims anti-Semitic incidents in the US tripled over the last year, but nobody paid any attention because everybody knows by anti-Semitic they mean anti-genocide and most Americans want a ceasefire yesterday so STFU, ADL.

• $kamala Harris refused to call Netanyahu a “close American ally” by calling the Israeli people close American allies, thus adding one more anti-Semitic incident to the ADL’s tally.

• Protests spurred by skyrocketing food prices rocked Nigeria.

• Elon Musk’s XTwitter attempted to pay fines to get back online in Brazil, but apparently put the money in the wrong bank account, so Brazilians still have to use VPNs to access XTwitter. Way to display principle and competence at the same time, Elon.

• Hurricane Helene rampaged up through northern Georgia and South Carolina, dumping vast quantities of rain on western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, triggering mudslides which washed out roads, depriving tens of thousands of American of food, electricity, and water.

• The federal government’s response seems to be same it had to the Maui fires—don’t let aid in. Right now, all sorts of nasty rumors abound, and the only clear thing is that Biden/Harris are making Bush’s response to Katrina look compassionate. This is the best compilation of fact and rumor I’ve found on Substack:

Hurricane Helene and the Lost Mandate of Heaven

• Fun fact: Instead of going to any of the disaster areas, $kamala Harris went to a celebrity fundraiser for her campaign while Joe Biden said the federal government was doing all it could. The grift must flow.

• Finally, authorities in New Hampshire successfully extricated a moose from a covered swimming pool it had somehow gotten itself into. There’s nothing like a moose in your pool to show that maybe, just maybe, you need a better fence.

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

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