February
1 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I took a longer route than necessary for the move today. I have driven the more direct route 3-4 times during the past months and wanted to see something different. The long route was 48 miles using these roads: Westside entrance to Red Barn RV Park, N. Ocotillo, E. 4th St, AZ80, AZ82, AZ90 & AZ82.
That side trip on AZ90 was to get me to Sunny D’s for breakfast. They had a huge crowd that was holding some kind of breakfast meeting. They were in a room by themselves and had been served which was good. The bad was finding a place to park.
I stopped at the Park office to see if I was in the space that I had reserved. The Park did not confirm that using email. There were no office hours posted but there was a very prominent sign that said “Do not knock, do not touch the door; call XXX”. I drove to the space that I had reserved, got parked and hooked up, sent an email asking how I should pay and await a response. The Park is full from what I saw so far; they do not need me, maybe don’t want me?
Both dogs are asleep now that we are parked. Erik had no issues during the trip but for an unknown reason started barking when I lowered the driver side window at Sunny D’s. I saw nothing to be barked at and can only guess it was the lowered window that set him off. He is a strange beast.
That is all the News I have for today. I’ll post this and then browse the Internet and see what is happening in the world. I’m sure that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent.
2 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There was a cloud cover again this morning so it was warmer than it has been or is expected to be. The low was 43.9° with the forecast high to be 53. A cold day and cold mornings in the forecast with lows in the 20s so may see low temperatures in the teens.
In this new location Erik has regressed and forgot what little training I had accomplished. I don’t have the patience to start over.
I have heard nothing from the Park office. I sent them another email saying that I did not receive their reply to the email I sent yesterday. Please send it again. I talked to the couple that did some dog sitting for me last year when I went to Tucson VA for eye surgery. They said that they did not know what the Park office was doing — indicating that the office was screwed up.
I think I’ll finish one of the nonfiction books that I have been reading. The second one is being read online, one hour at a time, which is going to be a longer read. I have another one that has been downloaded and waiting.
A shopping trip into Sierra Vista tomorrow which I hope to be done quickly. I also hope that Fry’s does not have empty shelves. They were showing signs of supply line problems when I left here in November.
3 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I was right, the low this morning was 15.6° and felt that cold or colder. I have not so good circulation in my hands and feet. They were hurting this morning so I knew it was probably colder than the 23 that was forecast. The forecast high for today is 50 then a repeat tomorrow with the weekend slightly warmer. It is not expected to be above freezing until Wednesday with highs back in the 60s. I moved into winter!
The trip into town started with breakfast at Café Olé where I had the Vegeta Omelet. A short shopping list at Fry’s which had full shelves for the most part. The cracker section had a gap tooth look and bottled juice was just being restocked.
Stopped at the Pet Corral and asked them about giving a bath to a Blue Heeler that does bite. The woman that I talked to was very aware of the temperament of Blue Heelers and said that they may ask me to muzzle him. They are willing to take him so we will see how he reacts in October. Patches will go for her semiannual bath in March.
This book is the first volume in a cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins.
From 1629 to 1775, North America was settled by four great waves of English-speaking immigrants. The first was an exodus of Puritans from the east of England to Massachusetts (1629-1640). The second was the movement of a Royalist elite and indentured servants from the south of England to Virginia (ca. 1649-75). The third was the “Friends’ migration,”—the Quakers—from the North Midlands and Wales to the Delaware Valley (ca. 1675-1725). The fourth was a great flight from the borderlands of North Britain and northern Ireland to the American backcountry (ca. 1717-75).
Today most people in the United States (more than 80 percent) have no British ancestors at all. These many other groups, even while preserving their own ethnic cultures, have also assimilated regional folkways which were transplanted from Britain to America. In that sense, nearly all Americans today are Albion’s Seed, no matter what their ethnic origins may be; but they are so in their different regional ways.
The concluding section of Albion’s Seed explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still control attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.
Albion's Seed also argues that the four British folkways created an expansive cultural pluralism that has proved to be more libertarian than any single culture alone could be. Together they became the determinants of a voluntary society in the United States. — Book promo @ goodreads.com
Inflation, it is just transitory. Move along, there is nothing to see here.
The dollar bill in your pocket is worth less than its actual cost in ink, paper, and printing press energy to make. It's finely-engraved toilet paper. – Economics 101: Inflation, Aesop @ Raconteur Report
4 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: February 4, 1934
It was warmer this morning with the low at 20.8°. The high yesterday was only 48.6 with a wind but the weather guessers are optimistic and forecast the high for today to again be 50. Maybe warm up to 58 tomorrow but the morning low may be in the teens again. It finally got above freezing at 9:00 am today.
I’ll not be doing much today other than trying to stay warm. I might have a better chance of doing that outside in the sun rather than inside Desperado. The Wave 6 is doing its best but that is not good enough.
This quote from the book The women of New York, or, Social life in the great city by George Ellington was published in 1870. Not much has changed with more than one author of today writing the same thing.
This society is an unnatural and unhealthy growth upon our body politic, and the day is not distant when it must be destroyed or reformed, or the Republic is ruined, and we drift into an aristocratic form of government as bad as that of France or England. When there is one class of people who waste so much money, another class must toil hard to make up the deficiency. How long the poor will consent to grow poorer that the rich may become richer, is a question which time alone will decide.
I have quoted the closing paragraph of another good post by JHK.
The actual global economy itself — the thing that sends, you know, products from one place to another — is seizing up like the engine on a beater 1998 Buick Regal. Long about right now, lots of things are not going from point A to Point B, including stuff of a food nature. It’s starting to irk the home-folks. When all that goes south, you’ll hear no more about Covid-19, systemic racism, the patriarchy, the drag queen story hour, and all the other hobgoblins that infest the Left’s gospel garden of Wokery. The kryptonite is coming on hard. They are done… and for the moment we are stuck with them running the country. – Death Wish, James Howard Kunstler
Just one quote from the joint statement made at the end of the Russia and China meeting held at the start of the Winter Olympics. I added the bold emphasis.
Russia and China stand against attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their common adjacent regions, intend to counter interference by outside forces in the internal affairs of sovereign countries under any pretext, oppose colour revolutions, and will increase cooperation in the aforementioned areas.
5 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low this morning was 22.5° which is not the lowest that it has been. However, Desperado’s water pipes were frozen. I don’t know that they have been broken; sure hope not, that is the expensive fix that I did last year. I’ll find out when and if the pipes thaw out later today. It did get above freezing by 8:30 this morning so there is hope
Yesterday we did the midday walks in temperatures that were what I prefer in the morning — the 40s with no wind. But we had wind also so the afternoon walks were not very good. Maybe better today with an expected high of 58
I have nothing else to report except this News flash — they wanted to be first with the News. Bloomberg accidentally reported that Russia had invaded Ukraine Friday afternoon with a headline on its homepage. “Live: Russia invades Ukraine,” read a jarring headline on Bloomberg’s homepage at around 4 p.m. It stayed up for about 30 minutes, according to Olga Lautman, a Russian analyst who posted the message on social media.
A pun that takes more time to form than most. I love it.
A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Amal. The other goes to a family in Spain. They name him Juan.
Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amal.
He responds, “They’re twins! If you’ve seen Juan, you’ve seen Amal.”
If we were merely dealing with the law of averages, half of the events affecting our nation's well-being should be good for America.
If we were dealing with mere incompetence our leaders should occasionally make a mistake in our favor. We are not dealing with coincidence or stupidity, but with planning and brilliance.
A meme for any seniors that may be reading.
Pfizer and Pepsi to Merge:
This will no doubt put Coca Cola out of business in the near future!The Pfizer Corporation announced today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form and this new product will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer.
It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one. Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names of cocktails, highballs and just a good old-fashioned stiff drink. Pepsi will market the now concoction by the name of: MOUNT & DO.
Thought for the day…There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer’s research. This means that by 2025, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs, huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.
6 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low this morning was 25° and I had frozen water pipes again. I don’t know why this is happening now when it was not before. The basement heater is working as it did before — a mystery.
I got a prompt email response from the dog trainer and an appointment is set for the day that I go into town again next week. For the trainer to promptly reply gives me a good feeling that she is running a business and this is not a hobby. Maybe she can help me with Erik.
I think I could get him trained without help but not to the level that I want plus I don’t have the patience. Maybe not the patience with help, we will see.
He met a fellow walker this morning and kept his tail curled up over his back while we stopped to talk. This is very good! He was very skittish when I first got him and he would have had his tail tucked down if he had met the fellow at that time. Improvement!
I had garbanzos and yellow split peas in the Thermal Cooker overnight. They should be done now and I can get some hulled barley and oat groats into the pot. That plus distilling water and reading are all that I have planned for the day.
Caitlin has joined me in the belief that the Biden administration is setting the stage for them to take credit for stopping Russia from invading Ukraine. It will be obviously true, so the narrative will run, that when Russia does not invade that it was US power that stopped them. No consideration will be given to Russia’s claim that they never intended to invade.
…[T]hose who claim the US power alliance is preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine is known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (“with this, therefore because of this”), which is the fallacy that correlation implies causation. It’s when someone puts forward the claim that because two things happened concurrently (or failed to happen as in the examples we’re looking at here), one must have caused the other. ‐ The Specious Reasoning Behind Claims That The US Thwarted An Invasion Of Ukraine, Caitlin Johnstone
7 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We had a morning low of 32.7°. This makes it the first morning in a week that it has been above freezing. If you believe the weather forecasters, it will freeze again tomorrow morning and not again for the remaining 9 days in the 10 day forecast. That would be good.
I think my pipe freezing issue was with the lines leading to the kitchen faucet. It was probably in the lines outside the basement area where the heater is and the continued cold never allowed the lines to completely thaw from one day to the next. The bathroom lines were not frozen so that is my best guess.
I may be adding water to the tank today or tomorrow. The distilling of water is almost complete, the cooking is done for now and the nonfiction ebook reading continues.
I have not quoted from this postingRegarding the Defense Medical Epidemiological Database Data Dump by Robert W Malone MD. I’m just providing a link and suggesting that you read it. The data that he discusses concerns COVID and what certainly appear to be vaxx side effects in our military. Is degrading the military simply an accident or was there intent?
Not much MainStream News about the Argentina Belt and Road agreement that it has signed with China. The next stop for President Fernandez will be in Moscow where he plans to tell President Putin that his country is a door for Russia to enter Latin America in a more decisive way. While the United States and the EU dither over Ukraine, which is of very little importance, Argentina slips into China and Russia’s sphere of influence. President Fernandez could be right, his country may be the open door.
8 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning the low temperature came in a very unusual way. It was freezing when we started our walk, warmed up to just above freezing and then fell to the 30.2° low about the time we got back to Desperado.
The water lines are also acting the same way. I have good flow in the bathroom and restricted flow in the kitchen. The kitchen even became worse between 7:00 and 8:00 which seems to indicate that the lines were freezing up more.
When it warms up I’ll go out and do the holding tank dumps and add water. That is about all that I have planned for today. Tomorrow I have my usual shopping trip plus the appointment with the dog trainer. So a busy day for me comparatively speaking.
M. Hudson can see this, PM Macron of France can see it, there are NATO members that see it but the US Elites just can not give up the thought that the US is indispensable. An indispensable country that has debts that it will never pay and half the population are “deplorables”. A Woke country that needs to Wake Up!
America’s rising pressure on its allies threatens to drive them out of the U.S. orbit. For over 75 years they had little practical alternative to U.S. hegemony. But that is now changing. America no longer has the monetary power and seemingly chronic trade and balance-of-payments surplus that enabled it to draw up the world’s trade and investment rules in 1944-45. The threat to U.S. dominance is that China, Russia and Mackinder’s Eurasian World Island heartland are offering better trade and investment opportunities than are available from the United States with its increasingly desperate demand for sacrifices from its NATO and other allies. – America’s real adversaries are its European and other allies: The U.S. aim is to keep them from trading with China and Russia, Michael Hudson
9 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
With the dog trainer appointment this morning and a distiller that wouldn’t distill my regular day was disrupted.
The appointment went well. I also got there a few minutes early and saw a class doing walks. Almost all the dogs were doing great and I would be happy to see Erik reach that stage. He does it now for a short time and does it when he decides. I want him to do it when I tell him to WALK.
We have our first private lesson next week with two more to follow. Then we can attend classes 1-3 times a week while we are here. Then join classes again when we come back next fall. I have hope for him.
I’m going to give us a day off from his mid-day walk. It is late, he is now asleep and I don’t feel like doing a walk.
We will go to the vet in Benson tomorrow for a booster shot. That will complete all his needed vaxxes and he will be good to go with the classes.
10 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I went to Benson early and had breakfast at the Farmhouse Restaurant. From there I went to my computer guy’s shop but had to wait there for him to open. Still no computer parts although they are being reported to be in transit and are now in Phoenix.
Then had another wait at the vet’s office for them to open. I was about an hour early for Erik’s appointment but they said they would take me after the two people in the office had been taken care of.
I warned them that Erik had tried to bite on his first visit. Sure enough they tried without the muzzle and he tried to bite. So they muzzled him and he got his booster. Now taking a nap which I will not disrupt for his mid-day walk. We can get back on schedule tomorrow.
Nothing else is happening here. I’ll get this posted and then check the Internet to see if the imminent invasion of Ukraine has begun.
11 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: February 11, 1934
I don’t have much to say today. That means there is nothing new with me. I might finish the one nonfiction book that I have on the Fire 8 today or tomorrow. The other one that I am reading online — perhaps by Monday. Already have another nonfiction downloaded to the Fire 8 so not lacking for reading material.
Erik and I will be back on our mid-day walk schedule today. We have retained the morning and afternoon walks that included Patches. She does the mile and half in the morning with a lot of energy but lags considerably in the afternoon. She is also having more trouble getting up the steps into Desperado.
Russia and China have emerged from the tyranny associated with Stalin and Mao, while the West has fallen into tyranny. If there is any hope for mankind, it is not in the West, which is demonizing its own founding fathers, demolishing its own historical monuments, black-listing its own classic literature, demonizing its own ethnic populations and permitting immigrant-invaders to dilute national ethnicities by overrunning national borders. Western countries are becoming Towers of Babel, devoid of a nationalist consciousness that patriotism requires. Countries with populations that have nothing in common can only be held together by force. Such countries are weak and are incapable of standing up to unified countries. – Someone Needs to Tell the Kremlin that the “Ukraine Crisis” Is Over, Paul Craig Roberts
This blog post, The cost benefit analysis on vaccinations, was written in May 2017. The author reposted it as evidence that his stance on vaxxes has not changed just because of Covid. It is worth reading.
12 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The midday walk with Erik yesterday was great. He did the majority of the two plus miles at a loose lease or slack leash. There are two things that he still needs to learn; come to a heel walk when I tell him to and start walking with me when I start to walk. At the start he now rushes out to the end of the leash; come to a heel walk — HA.
The Women of New York: Or, The Under-world of the Great City by George Ellington (pseud.) was published in 1869. There are reprints available that you can buy but are also available free. I could not find any reviews for the book so will make up one.
The first thing that you need to know is that the author published using a pseudonym. Considering the date that it was written and the subject matter it is understandable why.
The author is very critical of the elite women so the book probably created a backlash that he knew would come. He also wrote about prostitution that was not something that was done during that age. The city governmental authorities could not have been very pleased with the book and it’s author.
An interesting look at historical NY that you will not find in your conventional history books. For no other reason, take a look at it just for the illustrations; they are great.
Caitlin does come up with some good ideas from time to time. She did that in the posting that I have quoted. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent once again, US citizens are warned to get out of the country and 160 military advisors have been withdrawn.
I think it would be a lot more efficient and straightforward if all English-language news media were just run directly out of CIA headquarters by agency officials in Langley, Virginia. This way news reporters could eliminate the middleman and drop the undignified charade of presenting unproven assertions by western intelligence agencies as “scoops” that they picked up from “sources”.
I mean, right now the mass media are churning out stories about “intelligence” which says Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine very soon, citing government officials and anonymous sources. We are never shown the “intelligence”, and we are never shown any evidence of its veracity; we’re simply told what opaque and unaccountable government agencies want us to believe about a foreign government. We’re not even reminded by the publishers of these CIA press releases that western intelligence agencies have a very extensive history of lying about exactly this sort of thing, and we’re certainly not informed that Kyiv appears to be ramping up aggressions in eastern Ukraine. –Proposal: Just Run All Western News Media Directly Out Of CIA Headquarters, Caitlin Johnstone
13 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There is the same o same o happening here. I do have some red hominy in the Thermal Cooker and will get some cranberry beans cooked tomorrow or the next day for more succotash. That is about all there is.
On 7 February I wrote: “The next stop for President Fernandez will be in Moscow where he plans to tell President Putin that his country is a door for Russia to enter Latin America in a more decisive way.” It seems that Russia has quickly walked through that door.
Argentina has awarded a $864m contract to Russia-based Transmashholding (TMH) for the delivery of 70 passenger electric trains and associated upkeep activities. The project will receive financial backing from Russia. TMH intends to localise 25% of the project, such as the manufacturing of gears, final assembly works, trialing, and commissioning of the trains in Argentina.
This is happening while our president continues to bully Russia over Ukraine. Even Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is now asking for evidence of Russia’s alleged pending invasion. He is not playing the game; I think I can see him being ‘replaced’ soon by the CIA.
Fred Reed is now posting at The Saker but he is the same Fred. The quote is from another one of his good articles. Pop
Lincoln famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” You don’t have to. Being a politician, he didn’t add that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time, and that is enough. This is the basis of American democracy. – The Care and Feeding of the Rabble: Democracy its Own Self, Fred Reed
“A republic can’t succeed and won’t succeed in the tremendous international stress of the modern world unless its citizens possess that form of high-minded patriotism which consists in putting devotion to duty before the question of individual rights. — Theodore Roosevelt”
The author of the book from which I quote is a professor but so far he writes using common English. Much the same theme as that of James Howard Kunstler and John Michael Greer.
In coming years, our societies won’t face one or two major challenges at once, as usually happened in the past. Instead, they’ll face an alarming variety of problems—likely including oil shortages, climate change, economic instability, and mega-terrorism—all at the same time. Scholars have found that bloody social revolutions occur only when many pressures simultaneously batter a society that has weak political, economic, and civic institutions. These were the conditions in France in the late eighteenth century, Russia in the early twentieth century, and Iran in the late 1970s. And in many ways the same conditions are developing today for societies around the world and even for global order as a whole. — The Upside Of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon
14 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We had a couple of days that were above freezing for the low but back below freezing again yesterday and this morning. Not much below freezing with the low both mornings at 31.5°. The 10 day forecast is expecting that pattern to continue, just above and just below freezing from one morning to the next.
Tomorrow will be a shopping day. More importantly it will be the first lesson for Erik with the dog trainer. I know that it will be me that must learn the lesson before Erik but it is commonly spoken that we train the dog. A late posting tomorrow to tell you how it went.
Forget the schoolbook divisions of North America—the arbitrary borders that separate countries, states, and provinces; the fabled distinctions between East and West, North, and South; the compartments that are supposed to be political units.
Caitlin dosn’t understand that since the US is “indispensable” then it is also the rightful ruler of the world. It is only aggressive countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea that refuse to bow down that are the problem.
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”…
The casual way these people say such things reflects a collectively held worldview that you won’t find on any official document or in any schoolchild’s textbook, but which is nonetheless a firmly held perspective among all the drivers of the modern empire: that the entire world is the property of the US government. That the US is not just the most powerful government in the world but also its rightful ruler, in the same way Rome ruled the Christian world. — The US Government Truly Believes The Entire Planet Is Its Property, Caitlin Johnstone
Fun Fact: Life is easier in 2021 for a boy named Sue than it was in 1969.
15 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I had breakfast at Sunny D’s on the way to town and stopped at Fry’s to return a B-B-Q fire starter that would not start a fire. The stove top that I had put in does not have igniters so I need something to start a fire. I have ordered a MSR Handheld Piezo Igniter which I hope is going to do that trick.
Arrived just a few minutes before Erik’s appointment time and was trying to get him to climb some training stairs outside the training room. My trainer for today, Amy, came out to the dumpster and caught us in the act. So we started the lesson for the day.
Erik was very unsure of her so I had to attach the training collar. But Amy was then able to put him through some of his paces. She was very pleased with what I have been able to teach him so far.
Today we worked on walking, sitting, a little come and ‘place’. Place is their command that is used to get a dog to sit, stand or down in a particular place. They use slightly elevated platforms but the place can be a rug, bed or any place that is identifiable. This is going to be my homework this week — get Erik to Go to his Place/Bed.
After class was over I stopped at Fry’s and got groceries. Then a stop at the UPS Store where I got a backlog of mail and a package that had slippers. I should have ordered them a couple months ago, they are very warm.
We did about half the usual walk this morning and will skip the mid-day walk. The afternoon walk will be done in a strong wind with blowing dust unless something changes soon. It is now blowing a gale. This will also be my first attempt to use the training collar on my own.
The timing has gone all awry on them. The Covid-19 hysteria draws to a close against their wishes to drag it on forever. Even the triple-vaccinated are sick of it — and not a few of them are sick because of it. Governments and the corrupt medical establishment won’t touch this info with a stick, but the morticians and insurance execs are hopping up and down about what looks like a supernatural die-off of folks between 18 and 60 generally not susceptible to early death. Kind of worrisome, a little bit. Anybody with half-a-brain left is declining the offer of yet another booster — though Dr. Fauci was still tirelessly selling them last week.… The story, in all its multiple, gruesome levels, has gotten away from them. So many public officials are standing naked that Washington looks like a nudist colony. — Speed Wobble, JamesHoward Kunstler
The FDA can trace its origins as a federal consumer protection agency to the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. It has now become the governments word for The Science.
This is the same agency that required cough syrup that contained heroin to be sold be prescription only in 1914 but did not ban sales until 1924. They have come a long way in the past 100 plus years. In 2018 prescription cough medicines that include oxycodone must have a safety label indicating that it is for use only in adults aged 18 years and older. This was “for the children” don’t you know; adults are still free to become addicted. Follow The Science!
16 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Wind is the News of the day. It has been blowing since yesterday and we might get some rain today. It is also going to be cold with an expected high of 49° and freezing again tomorrow morning.
Erik did very well on our walk this morning with the training collar. The morning walks have been the ones where he has pulled the most and walked at a loose or slack leash the least. I know he does not like the collar but it is working.
Today I'll see how he does when he is walking without Patches. That is assuming that it will not be raining. I will also finish cooking the cranberry beans and red hominy together for my next batch of succotash. More reading of course, I even added another book to the Fire 8 that I’ll start reading soon.
Today’s globalized capitalism—which has linked the world together and subordinated people everywhere to its relentless energy as never before—is producing a stew of changes and stresses that’s an almost perfect recipe for widespread and even violent resentment of the world’s rich by the world’s poor. Because capitalism cultivates material discontent, because we naturally compare ourselves with each other, and because comparisons are now so easy through the Web and television, widening gulfs of wealth and opportunity can’t but encourage huge numbers of people to be chronically dissatisfied with their lot. — The Upside Of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon
I believe that Option 1 will prevail; however we must be forever on the alert until such time as the US controls Russia. Please note that if option 2 does prevail then there are two added options that come into play. Read the article to see what Andrei thinks.
For starters, a quick reminder here is what the Anglo propaganda machine claims:
DAWN RAID
Russia set to invade Ukraine at 1AM tomorrow [TODAY] with massive missile blitz and 200,000 troops, US intelligence claims. (Text from TV News screenshot)
Okay, then one of two things will happen tomorrow:
Option 1: nothing happens
Option 2: something happens
Option 1: If nothing happens, then, as Lavrov has spelled out recently, the Biden Administration will have to declare that “led by the glorious and invincible USA, and fully united against the Russian aggression, the West has deterred Putin from his bloodthirsty plans.” The problem with this version is that considering the abject and cowardly flight from all the western embassies and organizations to Lvov or even the EU, it will be hard to explain how such a panicked flight has “deterred Putin”. Only ignorant and terminally stupid people could take that kind of self-evident nonsense seriously.…So if nothing happens, the end result will be victory for Russia.
Option 2: If something happens, the West will blame it on Russia, irrespective of whatever actually happened. Then the verbiage will change to “lead by the glorious USA, and fully united against the Russian aggression, the West will impose sanctions from hell on Russia and stand by the heroic people of the Ukraine”. The minor problem here is that the West has already imposed pretty much all the sanctions it could and they only made the Russian economy prosper. The much bigger problem with that option will be that this will ruin the EU’s economy, something which the US leaders of the Empire not only want, but desperately need. But that is also something that will have a truly devastating impact on the EU’s economy and political atmosphere. —Tomorrow will be a big day (even if nothing happens!), The Saker (Andrei)
17 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We did only about one third our usual midday distance yesterday and got wet. I decided that we had enough and called a halt.
The afternoon walk was also curtailed after doing about half our usual distance. It wasn’t raining on us but there was a wall of rain falling very close to the north. As it worked out I made the right decision because the rain came within minutes after we got back to Desperado.
Erik was doing very good at a heel walk on a shortened leash. He still kept it loose most of the time, I was very pleased. If he will walk with Patches on a slack leash and heel walk by himself I will consider him leash walk trained. Not there yet but he is certainly doing great. One day I’m optimistic then he disappoints me and I wonder if I can ever get him trained.
I think the trainers that I am going to would have him trained in a week. The trainer, Amy, that we had for the first lesson could have been bit by Erik when she tried to put a loop leash over his head. She asked me to do it. By the end of class she was ‘handling’ Erik in a way that took me a couple of weeks to accomplish.
I’ll be doing more of the same today. I needed to dump holding tanks yesterday but it was raining, cold and the wind was blowing. I have made it this far but MUST get out there today and get that done. Fortunately there is no rain, no wind and it is a little warmer.
I think the former ambassador will prove to have been right. He joins me in his assessment of the Ukraine crisis.
Maybe I am wrong — tragically wrong — but I cannot dismiss the suspicion that we are witnessing an elaborate charade, grossly magnified by prominent elements of the American media, to serve a domestic political end. Facing rising inflation, the ravages of Omicron, blame (for the most part unfair) for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, plus the failure to get the full support of his own party for the Build Back Better legislation, the Biden administration is staggering under sagging approval ratings just as it gears up for this year’s congressional elections. Since clear “victories” on the domestic woes seem increasingly unlikely, why not fabricate one by posing as if he prevented the invasion of Ukraine by “standing up to Vladimir Putin”? — Today’s Crisis Over Ukraine was avoidable and predictable, Jack Matlock (U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 t0 1991)
No Russian invasion of Ukraine yesterday, no News from the media that they got it wrong. However, the new narrative is just what I said it would be “we must be forever on the alert until such time as the US controls Russia”. The invasion did not happen in the 16th as US intelligence(?) claimed but an invasion is still imminent.
I have quoted Caitlin’s closing two paragraphs. In the article she says that the new date for the invasion, per the ‘experts’ is after 20 February — not a certain fixed date.
The Ukraine invasion that never arrives is showing us once again that when it comes to Russia you really can just completely ignore all the so-called “experts” in the mainstream media. Just dismiss 100 percent of everything they say, because any random schmoe’s best guess would be better than theirs.
Looking to the mainstream media for truth is like looking to a prostitute for love. That’s not what they’re there for. That’s not their job. If you believed these predictions, the correct thing to do as they fail to come true is not to engage in a bunch of mental gymnastics justifying it, but to drastically revise the worldview and your media consumption habits which caused you to believe this crap in the first place. — Russian Invasion Prognosticators Are Like Cult Leaders Repeatedly Predicting The Apocalypse, Caitlin Johnstone
18 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: February 18, 1934
We have had the couple of freezing mornings that I expected. The next five days are forecast to be warmer but there may still be a freezing morning in the bunch. Then it will be back to freezing morning again with next Wednesday repeating the low temperatures and rain that we had this past week. Strong winds on Tuesday bring the rain to us. All a sign that what passes for Spring is trying to make an appearance.
Erik and I are settling into our new training routine — somewhat. He now responds better to SIT and PLACE than he did a few days ago. The walks with just him are also very good. When waking both Patches and Erik it is not as good. Patience, patience — HA.
Today, just as in the late Roman empire, deep stresses are rising and system resilience is declining. Just as was true then, too, the coherence of world order depends critically on the economic, political, cultural, and military might of a single superpower. The foundation of this might is access to abundant energy. “More than in any other modern nation,” writes the eminent energy specialist Vaclav Smil, “the United States has acquired its power and influence largely through its extraordinarily high use of energy.” And America survives, as the ancient city of Rome did, on lifelines of energy from distant regions.
As American leaders grasp how the shift from a high-EROI to a low-EROI world jeopardizes their country’s dominance, they’ll do exactly what Rome’s leaders did: they’ll use every means—including, when necessary, force—to organize and control the world’s territory to permit the extraction of energy. In the process, they’ll run headlong into other energy-hungry societies trying to do the same thing—in particular, India and China, two rising giants without remotely enough energy at home to satisfy their ravenous appetites.
The likely result: widespread conflict over energy resources… — The Upside Of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon
I would like to think that JHK is right in what he says in this closing paragraph. However, my pessimistic nature tends to disbelieve that it will happen.
We’re in the midst of a tremendous shift of public opinion. Winter is not over but the truth is budding now in a thousand places. The people are done kneeling docilly to be silenced and killed. They will not let this country, and many other nations in the Western Civ club, be destroyed without a fight. The unmasked are unmasking their masked antagonists. Stand by, now, to find out who has been behind all this deadly mischief. We will rip off their masks and the rule of law will be restored. — The Unmasking, James Howard Kunstler
19 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning the low was just above freezing at 32.5° that felt much colder. The expected high today is 69 which will be good if it happens and the wind is not blowing.
There has not been much News about the authoritarian vaxx mandate protest in New Zealand and Australia. Australia has built and is stocking concentration camps for the unvaxxed. Well, since those two former British colonies could get away with it Canada decided to join the fun. The trucker convoy protest there has turned into more than the Canadian government bought in for. If Biden decides that he will also join the fun I think there will really be some SHF.
Meanwhile the Mainstream Media is saying that there is nothing happening over there, look here at what is happening with Ukraine and Russia. The 99% in the United States care not a bit about Ukraine or Russia; they care about the invasion across our southern border, about inflation and about vaxx mandates. We do live in interesting times!
From the author of the #1 bestselling and Governor General’s Literary Award-winning The Ingenuity Gap — an essential addition to the bookshelf of every thinking person with a stake in our world and our civilization.
This is a groundbreaking, essential book for our times. Thomas Homer-Dixon brings to bear his formidable understanding of the urgent problems that confront our world to clarify their scope and deep causes. The Upside of Down provides a vivid picture of the immense stresses that are simultaneously converging on our societies and threatening a breakdown that would profoundly shake civilization. It shows, too, how we can choose a better route into the future.
This vitally important new book shows how, in the face of breakdown, we can still provide for the renewal of our global civilization. We are creating the conditions for catastrophe, but by understanding the underlying principles that make human and natural systems resilient — and by working together to put those principles into effect — we can still limit the severity of collapse and foster regeneration, innovation, and renewal. — Book promo @ goodreads.com
Is this a Great Country Or What? A travel warning issued by Seattle against travel within the city. A President that gives crack pipes to addicts. The shining beacon on the hill of freedom and democracy which the rest of the world is expected to emulate.
Local authorities in the city of Seattle have voiced their concerns that the city’s public transit system is too dangerous for the public to use, due to widespread drug use, violent behavior from criminals and vagrants, and other factors. — Authorities Say Seattle’s Public Transit is Unusable Due to Drugs and Crime, Eric LendrumSome words to live by: “Anybody who was paying attention to Afghanistan last year wants no part of depending on the U.S. these days.” — Unattributed
20 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The low was above freezing this morning at 33.8° however far short of the forecast 40. The weather guessers are expecting a low of 41 tomorrow morning; I’m expecting to still be cold. The high today may reach 70 but then much colder tomorrow with winds.
I will be doing the same things today as I do all my other days. Tomorrow will be the second lesson with the trainer for Erik and myself. I also need to get laundry done again so my morning will be filled with activity including grocery shopping.
The author of this blog is a professor that writes using common English, although it is her second language, and is not Woke. A reformed Democrat that is much more of a Conservative than a Concervative Republican is now.
A major goal is to create an environment of fear and insecurity. It’s easier to rob people who are terrified. Of climate change, crime, racism, a virus, a nuclear war with Russia. What we are experiencing is an economic phenomenon.
All of it — COVID, climate alarmism, BLM, foreign policy, crime rates — exists to complete an enormous capital transfer and permanently immiserate the people who consider themselves middle class.
We keep missing this because we still operate with outdated concepts. “US this, Russia that, Canada something else.” But the people who are robbing us don’t think like that anymore. They aren’t national agents. They are class agents. & mdash; Economic Phenomenon, Clarissa
21 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I had no idea that today was President’s Day until I got into Sierra Vista and found no traffic. Still did not know what holiday it was after finding Café Olé closed. Went to the Landmark for breakfast and did not want to show my ignorance so did not ask what holiday it might be. Looked it up after getting back to the Park and started typing this posting.
The training session did not go as well as I had hoped since Erik was distracted. But then again the trainer said he was doing well. I just was hoping he would do as well as he has been doing when on our mid-day walks. He did respond well to his Place and Sit commands. Doing these while another dog was close by providing a distraction. He also got a lesson in Leave It which I need to reinforce during the next couple of weeks before our last one-on-one training sessions.
Went to Fry’s and got groceries. Since I was much later than usual and there was a holiday there was a crowd. Then I stopped at my UPS Store and picked up the package that had the stove lighter.
The wind was blowing and picking up strength so I postponed the laundry visit until later in the week. I am not at the point where I must do it or search for the cleanest dirty clothes to wear.
Any war with Russia or China would have unthinkable consequences for the world, and it seems clear that no one but America wants conflict. The Germans and French have been trying to make their own peace with Russia outside of the NATO clique. The NATO faction are America’s only real allies in Europe, this a Globalist faction, they don’t represent any countries national interest. The failing Empire is on its last legs, crumbling socially and economically at home, a war, any war, would serve as a useful distraction. It appears clear now that the Empire would see the world burn if it can rule over the ashes. — Ruling Over the Ashes, Eamon McKinney
This was a joke in the 1950s that was not a joke and is certainly not a joke now in the 2020s. Most inflation waves are started with increases in the price of food and energy. It is no coincidence that the government focuses on the rate of inflation excluding those categories.
Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry ten [fifty] dollars’ worth of groceries. Today, a five-year-old can do it. — Henny Youngman
22 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There were clouds yesterday morning and again this morning but the wind came and blew them away both days. Probably will have strong gusts by later this afternoon. Spring-like weather in Cochise County — winds.
I have the distiller working again. That is the only thing that is working. The dogs and myself are not doing much. They are sleeping and I’m web browsing and preparing this posting.
Inflation Great Waves happen over many years. The media and politicians focus on the change from last month or last year. There is only an occasional look at any long periods of time. We are now in the fourth stage of the fourth Great Wave that has happened during the past 800 years. If this one ends as have all the others it is not going to be pretty.
A fourth stage [Of each Great Wave] began as this new institutionalized inflation took hold. Prices went higher, and became highly unstable. They began to surge and decline in movements of increasing volatility. Severe price shocks were felt in commodity movements. The money supply was alternately expanded and contracted. Financial markets became unstable. Government spending grew faster than revenue, and public debt increased at a rapid rate. In every price-revolution, the strongest nation-states suffered severely from fiscal stresses The rich grew richer. People of middling estates lost ground. The poor suffered terribly. Inequalities of wealth and income increased. So also did hunger, homelessness, crime, violence, drink, drugs, and family disruption. — The Great Wave by David Hackett Fischer
Sometimes Caitlin can surely simplify an issue.
The US empire criticizing Russia for violating another nation’s sovereignty is like Jeffrey Dahmer criticizing someone else’s eating habits. — Perhaps The US Should Shut … UpAbout Respecting Other Countries’ Sovereignty, Caitlin Johnstone
23 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The new sanctions against Russia are going to leave Europe very cold if gas supplies are curtailed. There will be no new gas delivered through Nord Stream 2 that is a given. To make up some of the difference the US will supply more LNG which is going to raise the price here in the US. A very smart move to fight inflation in this country.
The gasoline situation will also be getting worse. The last numbers that I could find were from November 2021 when the US imported 17,855,000 barrels of oil from Russia. However much was imported in February 2022 from Russia will very likely not be imported in March. Another smart move to fight inflation.
This is just temporary, the Biden administration said so. They must have a plan that for national security reasons they can not disclose to us plebs. As soon as Russia surrenders their resources to the US then everything will be back to normal or The Great Reset will take effect — whatever.
The later stages of every price-revolution [Great Wave] were always a time when inequalities of wealth and income increased, primarily because of disparities in the movements of prices, wages, rents, interest and production.… Other social consequences appear in rates of violent crime. In the late stages of every price-revolution, and especially during general crises, rates of homicide increase sharply in surges that correlate closely with price movements. — The Great Wave by David Hackett Fischer
I have become very disappointed and pessimistic with my Erik training efforts. It seems that the more I try the worse he gets. The training cost me a bundle so I’m invested. Maybe I simply admit that I made a mistake, have wasted the money and let Erik do whatever he wants. I may be getting older but certainly not getting any smarter.
24 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There was a dusting of snow on the higher peaks of the Whetstones this morning. No snow on Desperado or north of Huachuca City but there was some on the ground to the south. The low this morning was 27.9° with an expected high of 53. Perhaps this was winter's last gasp but I won’t bet on it.
Stopped at Sunny D’s for breakfast where the cook made the first omelet with cheese. The waitress caught the mistake and had a second one made. Habits are hard to break and some are hard to form.
Went to town and got my laundry done. When I got back to the Park I needed to add water and do the holding tank dumps. Then clean up the distiller and my work day is done.
David Hackett Fischer, one of our most prominent historians, has garnered a reputation for making history come alive—even stories as familiar as Paul Revere’s ride, or as complicated as the assimilation of British culture in North America.
Now, in The Great Wave, Fischer has done it again, marshaling an astonishing array of historical facts in lucid and compelling prose to outline a history of prices—“the history of change,” as Fischer puts it—covering the dazzling sweep of Western history from the medieval glory of Chartres to the modern day.
Going far beyond the economic data, Fischer writes a powerful history of the people of the Western world: the economic patterns they lived in, and the politics, culture, and society that they created as a result. As he did in Albion’s Seed and Paul Revere’s Ride, two of the most talked-about history books in recent years, Fischer combines extensive research and meticulous scholarship with wonderfully evocative writing to create a book for scholars and general readers alike.
Records of prices are more abundant than any other quantifiable data, and span the entire range of history, from tables of medieval grain prices to the overabundance of modern statistics. Fischer studies this wealth of data, creating a narrative that encompasses all of Western culture.
The most violent of these climaxes was the catastrophic fourteenth century, in which war, famine, and the Black Death devastated the continent—the only time in Europe’s history that the population actually declined.
Fischer also brilliantly illuminates how these long economic waves are closely intertwined with social and political events, affecting the very mindset of the people caught in them. The long periods of equilibrium are marked by cultural and intellectual movements—such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Victorian Age—based on a belief in order and harmony and in the triumph of progress and reason. By contrast, the years of price revolution created a melancholy culture of despair.
Fischer suggests that we are living now in the last stages of a price revolution that has been building since the turn of the century. The destabilizing price surges and declines and the diminished expectations the United States has suffered in recent years—and the famines and wars of other areas of the globe—are typical of the crest of a price revolution.
He does not attempt to predict what will happen, noting that “uncertainty about the future is an inexorable fact of our condition.” Rather, he ends with a brilliant analysis of where we might go from here and what our choices are now. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of the world today. — Book promo @ goodreads.com
What the Covid tyranny has exposed is the total corruption of not just the political class but of all the institutions of power and control. The political class has lost any remaining credibility they may have had prior to Covid, which, lest we forget was dubious even before Covid. Overwhelmingly the people now understand that it was never about what is now known to be no more than a seasonal flu. It is about totalitarian control over every aspect of people’s lives. Had this been confined to just the political class the results may have been different, but it has shown that all the governing institutions have been complicit in this atrocity. The mainstream corporate media, long worthy of public disdain, have proved themselves to be co-conspirators. Without their supporting narrative of lies, none of this would have been possible. Included in this odious group are big tech and social media. They silenced genuine but dissenting medical experts, while allowing celebrities and the unqualified (Bill Gates) to force feed the public these lies. The medical establishment, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary have been as guilty. The so called judicial systems of the west have proven themselves more concerned with preserving the establishment than pursuing any justice or accountability. The list goes on. The extent of the globalist control has alarmed and angered all. Credibility or trust in any of these bodies, rightly no longer exists. — The Age of Uncertainty and the Coming Anarchy, Eamon McKinney
25 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: February 25, 1934
I don’t plan on doing anything today.
However, I am doing something different. I’m quoting the book promo to a book that I have just started rather than just finished. The reason for that is I also have a quote from the book and want you to know what this Sleepwalkers is about. There are at least four books with that title; all with different subjects or themes. I also want to wake up those that are Woke and have made The Science their religion.
An extraordinary history of humanity’s changing vision of the universe. In this masterly synthesis, Arthur Koestler cuts through the sterile distinction between ‘sciences’ and ‘humanities’ to bring to life the whole history of cosmology from the Babylonians to Newton. He shows how the tragic split between science and religion arose and how, in particular, the modern world-view replaced the medieval world-view in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. He also provides vivid and judicious pen-portraits of a string of great scientists and makes clear the role that political bias and unconscious prejudice played in their creativity. — Book promo @ goodreads.com for The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler
Thus, in taking down Copernicus or Galileo from the pedestal on which science-mythography has placed them, my motive was not to “debunk”, but to inquire into the obscure workings of the creative mind. Yet I shall not be sorry if, as an accidental by-product, the inquiry helps to counteract the legend that Science is a purely rational pursuit, that the Scientist is a more “level-headed” and “dispassionate” type than others (and should therefore be given a leading part in world affairs); or that he is able to provide for himself and his contemporaries, a rational substitute for ethical insights derived from other sources. — The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler
I have not quoted from JamesHoward Kunstler’s postingThe Party of Chaos Blows Its Cover, just providing a link and suggest that you read it. He has written a long posting, for him, that covers a wide range of current topics.
“I once told my bestest friend in all the world that I was coming to one of her epic Halloween parties dressed as Amelia Earhart. Then I never showed up.” — Diogenes Sarcastica™
26 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
There is nothing happening here. So I will just report on world affairs and the continuing decline of the United States Empire. We do live in interesting times.
“For its part, the US benefited from the conflict for a number of reasons, according to the British MEP: the most important one was “the innate Russophobia of several powerful elements within the power structures of the West.” The second reason was to prevent a long-term economic and political rapprochement between Germany and Russia, and thus also China. The third one was to prop up America’s debt-ridden shale gas industry by forcing Western Europe to rely on its overpriced liquefied natural gas (LNG). And, finally, to take revenge on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its “crucial role in blocking their attempt to use Jihadi terrorists to destroy Syria, Iraq and Lebanon,” according to Griffin.” — Russia’s Spec Op: Why Kiev & Its Western Backers Had Failed to Implement Minsk Accords for 8 Years — Nick Griffin is a British politician who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014.
Sanctions? You just wait and see. Russia, as I am on record for years, doesn’t give a rat’s ass about West’s “reaction”. The Europe is on her own and will be utterly subjugated and will be finished off by the United States, who also wants to eat and live longer: Bolivar cannot carry double(c). It was Europe’s choice, she is on her own. Well, not really, she is with the US. Good luck—there is nobody to talk to in the West. From now on NATO will live with the widening military-technological gap across the whole spectrum of its capabilities, until this organization finds new meaning (well, Russia is not a real raison d'etre) or simply withers away. The totalitarian and an increasingly poor future for the West, especially the EU, is now guaranteed. But it is what it is. Finally, the United States was shown what it has become a long time ago—a militarily impotent declining power. It has, as you might expect, global ramifications. People love winners and US “elites” do not understand how winning looks like, other than to be reelected and continue to serve one’s own interests. Well, they have to wake up to a new reality—this New New World Order. — Welcome To The New World, Andrei Martyanov
27 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We went to town this morning with a stop at Café Olé for breakfast. Then filled Desperado almost full of gas, the pump shut me down at the predetermined dollar limit. They are going to have to up that limit or I need to do a second fill, which I have had to do before back in the day of high gas prices.
No problem getting groceries. However, I have a package at my UPS Store which I could not pick up. They have changed their hours so maybe I can get it on Tuesday when I have a RV repair appointment.
This is some of Koestler’s taking down Copernicus one of the Sleepwalkers in science history.
The figure of Copernicus, seen from the distance, is that of an intrepid, revolutionary hero of thought. As we come closer, it gradually changes into that of a stuffy pedant, without the flair, the sleepwalking intuition of the original genius; who, having got hold of a good idea, expanded it into a bad system, patiently plodding on, piling more epicycles and deferents into the dreariest and most unreadable among the books that made history. — The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler
28 February 2022
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning was much warmer with a low well above freezing. The expected high is 71 which will also be much warmer than yesterday. The forecast for tomorrow is for it to be even warmer. A touch of spring.
I will go to the RV repair shop tomorrow so good weather will be welcome. Probably be sitting outside with both dogs for much of the time while repairs are done.
Some very important advice concerning the Ukraine War.
Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see. — Edgar Allan PoeSome added good advice from someone that knows something about war. I have no idea what the truth about the war might be but I’m sure that it is NOT what the MainStream Media is telling us.
The propaganda is flying thick and fast over the war in Ukraine. The US mainstream media are apparently bending over backwards to publicize and popularize the talking points of the Biden administration, and the hawks in both the Republican and Democratic parties (who basically never met a war they didn’t like) are beating their drums more and more stridently in an effort to portray Ukraine as a vital US strategic interest. It isn’t (as I pointed out some time ago) — but that hasn’t stopped them. They see it as an opportunity to galvanize public opinion into supporting them. — The Ukraine War: Take everything you hear from both sides with a very large pinch of salt, Peter Grant