Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Bubbles, Dirty Deeds, Accidents, a Vanishing Empire, and Glimmers of Hope

Plus a NEW 2024 Electoral College Map!

• Vladimir Putin said at a press conference in China, with no teleprompters or notes or anything, that the Russians were advancing on Kharkov not to take the city, but to take the land from which the Ukrainians are firing missiles at civilians in the Russian city of Belgorad.

• This makes sense. The Russians don’t want another house-to-house fight like they experienced in Mariupol. So maybe if the Ukrainians would stop firing missiles at Belgorad the Russians would back off of Kharkov. Why not give it a try, Ukraine?

• Oh, that’s right! The Ukrainian government is run by a bunch of Nazis with missiles, so they just can’t help themselves!

(London, 1944)

(Belgorad, 2024)

• As (the US Empire managers) please their own geopolitical notions, they bring closer the phase, in which holding control of events and preventing a catastrophic collapse would be very difficult. They live in a bubble and do not perceive outside signals that go against their preconceptions.—Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov(source: TASS interview).

• Sergey, that’s a triple bullseye.

• US Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch issued a glowing report about Ukraine, saying it “has created new opportunities for corruption,” and is “one of the least accountable governments in Europe.” Nobody knows and appreciates corruption like the Pentagon.

• Of course, when the Zelensky regime falls and Russia dictates terms, the Pentagon will blame Ukrainian corruption for the defeat, just like it blamed Iraqi, Afghan, and Vietnamese corruption before. Corruption is not only profitable, it is also handy to deflect blame from the right kind of corrupt people, American kleptocrats.

• Six people have died in armed clashes between French security forces and indigenous protestors in New Caledonia.

  

• According to French President Macron, this is all the fault of, wait for it, Azerbaijan! This must be true, since anyone who would erect buildings like this is obviously dangerously deranged.

• It turns out indigenous New Caledonians are angered by the French National Assembly changing their voting laws to allow new, mostly French and wealthy immigrants who have been there 10 years to vote in local elections, diluting indigenous political power.

• Now, why would France, Azerbaijan, or anyone else care about who controls the local government of New Caledonia? Well, let’s break out the handy-dandy CIA Factbook-New Caledonia:

Natural Resources: nickel, chrome, iron, cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, lead, copper

• Coming so soon after multiple African countries kicking the French out, it seems that the French Empire is vanishing like sugar in a fire.

• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot by a perfect patsy of a 71 year old man, once through the hand and at least once through the abdomen. It looks like he is going to live, so whoever it was who is behind this assassination attempt forgot about high-caliber bullets.

• The Russians are quick, the Chinese are neat, and we’re messy.—CIA agent in Spies Like Us. This was messy.

• The Iranian President and Foreign Minister were killed in a helicopter crash in foggy mountains yesterday. Well, fog and mountains and flying are a bad combination, but all of the escort helicopters made it, so right now I can jump to no conclusions.

• The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.

• In a rare fit of independence and integrity, the UK High Court has ruled that Julian Assange can appeal the American extradition request. Apparently, the bewigged justices didn’t believe US assurances that they wouldn’t kill Assange. I confess to astonishment.

• I do hope my favorite English satirist

  Laura K
  has recovered from her inevitable initial shock at this profoundly disturbing news.

• Former Ukrainian infrastructure minister Aleksey Kucherenko said that Russian strikes have taken out 90% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity.

• An American Airlines pilot refused to fly not one, but two Boeing planes from Los Angeles to Hawaii because of things like red lights indicating fuel and oil filter failures in spite of being told by management they’d fix any problems when the plane got back to LA. His passengers applauded him.

• If flying through foggy mountains isn’t a good idea, then flying almost halfway across the Pacific Ocean and back again on a plane with a possible fuel line problem definitely isn’t one. Oceans are big.

• Using my own model for polling, based on a consistent underpolling of Trump voters for the last 8 years, if the election were held today between Trump and Biden, and there was no cheating, the Electoral College map would look something like this:

• Minnesota for Trump? WTF, Barbarian?, some of you are asking. Well, Biden has a lead within the margin of error, and he barely carried the state the last time out. I think he’s in trouble there this year, but the DNC will just assume they’ve got it in the bag. They are arrogant people, you see.

• Don’t take Virginia for granted, either, Dems. Inflation’s a real incumbent-killer.

• Germany denied abetting the Israeli genocide in Gaza, saying support for Israel is at “the core of German foreign policy.” Thank you, Germany! It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that my government isn’t the only one controlled by a bunch of fanatical settler-colonialist genocidal maniacs.

• The US Empire announced it will withdraw all of its troops from Niger by mid-September.

• Finally, a bear decided to hang out on a southern California highway and there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. Eventually the bear figured out no food was available and the exhaust stank, so he wandered off.

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