Thursday, September 21. 2023
Wednesday, September 20. 2023
I'll expand this and point out "Anti-Gouging Laws" are a form of sanctions and not only make strenuous situations more difficult, but they also create their own markets (among people willing to pay, pay cash, and keep their mouth shut). Lots of government agencies will claim they 'work' and cite a few specific and unusual examples and claim "victory." Pyrrhic, at best. The same is true with governments discussing sanctions.
International sanctions rarely work because of the point made in the title - they create 'black' markets. Russia's oil has sanctions against it? So what. Some country that doesn't care about the West will buy it on the cheap, then resell to nations that support the sanctions but are happy to play intermediary, and eventually it gets back to the West one way or the other. Either as refined product, or by markets elsewhere that undermine the larger market and disrupt supplies.
The communist world had sanctions against many Western goods - but they were always available in communist nations. My father traveled to Russia with a suitcase carrying a few extra cases of Marlboros (he didn't smoke) and a few pairs of Levis. Always good to have the local currency (contraband) ready just in case. A friend who travelled to Argentina 8 years ago, where currency controls were in place, was directed to join a "currency club" where they got a "preferred rate of exchange". The official Argentine rate was so bad, many people set up these "clubs" where they'd exchange at a better rate, knowing they could get the currency out and exchange at better rates outside of Argentina.
There aren't many examples of sanctions working and doing what they're supposed to do. Usually sophisticated nations can find ways out of, or around, sanctions.
In the modern world, the claim was Russia's removal from the SWIFT payment system would cripple them. Someone forgot that the decentralized nature of the internet and cryptocurrencies made the hegemonic controls of a SWIFT system problematic. If you're going to cut someone out of the system - when might YOU be cut out of the system (for any variety of political reasons)? Russia isn't crushing it, economically, but the claims about how poorly it would be doing by now were clearly overblown and based on a poor understanding of modern economic interactions.
Tuesday, September 19. 2023
I posted on Monday about the death of someone I'd gone to high school with and the conversations it sparked, as well as the odd situation it presented due to the poor teen experience I'd had (and since resolved for myself), and the difficulty of finality when a relationship ends poorly.
Part of writing in a forum like this is to just 'get stuff out there'. Another part is to share ideas or feelings that may help others. Still another part is seeing what others share back.
Every single comment made is helpful and meaningful. While I haven't written for quite some time (I really need to fix how I handle time management), this was something I felt was good to share. I'm glad I did and thank you to everyone who commented. Maggie's is not just a forum to write, it's a place to share. One reason I like to post anonymously is because writing can be a way to draw attention to yourself, and that's not what I write to do. While some readers do know who I am, most don't. I like seeing what almost all our readers have to say (there is a rare comment I can't abide by...but free speech still rules my life). In this particular case - all were very useful.
Death and Birth are two things which bind us all. It's something we're all going to experience. The stuff in between? We're all going through stuff. Just stuff. My believe is sharing will help develop ways8: for us to bind together in better ways. So always trying to be open.
Thank you.
Monday, September 18. 2023
Saturday, September 16. 2023
This is a song for an opera, Clari. It came to mind after 8 hours in hospital yesterday repairing 3 hernias. Really nice to get home:
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there
Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere
Home! Home!
Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home
There's no place like home!
An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain
Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again
The birds singing gaily that came at my call
And gave me the peace of mind dearer than all
Home, home, sweet, sweet home
There's no place like home, there's no place like home!
Friday, September 15. 2023
Thursday, September 14. 2023
Good luck with that. AI is just a slightly new software thingy. In fact, IBM has worked on more human-like computer interfaces for decades.
Can you really define what is AI and what is just clever software stuff? Plus it's world-wide now, and you can't insulate the US from internet things without a police state.
Senate starts to fracture over how to govern AI
Wednesday, September 13. 2023
 Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist, would like to have a word
Your Fault: Our ‘Climate Change’ Dystopian Future Is Here
Ames, Iowa, underrated mecca of science
The Dating Pool Dropouts - Young men today feel they must be six feet tall, make six figures, and have six inches downstairs to get a girlfriend—so many have given up trying
Endangered Whales Unprotected With Wind Industry In Violation Of Sonar Limits, New Research Finds
‘Too rock heavy,’ too ableist, too white: Geoscience students identify concerns in field
Democrats Froth and Seethe After John Kennedy Reads 'Gender Queer' During Senate Hearing
Slate: Maybe some of these books really aren't suitable for younger kids
High stakes at New College
Colleges making Gen Z mental health crisis worse with trigger warnings
A Faculty Committee Recommended Censure, but She Was Suspended and Banished Instead
"[E]ven if we spend another year between now and the election carefully analyzing the structure and shape of the madhouse we’re locked in, it’s still a madhouse."
Massachusetts governor panics over migrant arrivals - demands ‘Right-to-Shelter’ law reform
Tuesday, September 12. 2023
Photo of true love from a pal in Colorado
Trail Life USA Celebrates 10 Years of Picking Up Where BSA Left Off
Shostakovich in South Dakota - A manifesto for the future of American classical music
Mistranslation of Newton’s First Law Discovered after Nearly 300 Years. A new interpretation of Isaac Newton’s writings clarifies what the father of classical mechanics meant in his first law of motion
Feminists Are Outraged At Men Going Overseas To Find Traditional Wives
Italy is a good bet.
Academia becomes female
ANALYSIS: Students are entering college unable to write
A Kiss Is Just a Kiss. The uproar over a fleeting outburst of uninhibited joy is ludicrous.
Normal for Europeans, isn't it?
Spiked: The disturbing truth about Just Stop Oil
Electric Vehicles for Everyone? The Impossible Dream
No, a fad
Climate Change Calamities
A blunt and chilling (but accurate) appraisal of where our government schools are taking us
Amid another rise in cases, Covid’s new normal has set in
The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back—and Won.
Professor to ‘hold space’ for students of color: ‘I see your pain, grief, anger’
Monday, September 11. 2023
Large Study Demystifies Female Squirting During Sex
It’s called the Autonomous Weeder, a self-driving, tractor-sized robot that uses cameras, computers, and lasers to identify, target, and eliminate weeds without damaging crops or disrupting the soil biome.
Are NFL Running Backs the New Face of America’s Labor Movement?
Scientism: The Great Grand Bluff Of Science
Cochrane Review the latest scientific institution ruined by COVID ideology
The 'Climate Emergency' Is a Hoax
How Do You Really, Really Feel?
More Climate Fairy Tales
Florida set to introduce Classic Learning Test as alternative to SAT, ACT
Students are entering college unable to write
GOV ABBOTT REACTS TO BIDEN’S ‘REMAIN IN TEXAS’ PROPOSAL
" This is what these Democrats voted for, at least when it was impacting only red areas along the border."
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PUSHES “INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE”
6-year-old boy suspended and labeled ‘potentially dangerous’ for playing cops and robbers during recess
Never forget: It was Randi Weingarten and the Bidens who sacrificed a generation of kids
MEET THE NEW PRINCIPAL OF JOHN GLENN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
New Mexico Lawmakers Call For Governor's Impeachment Over 2A Overreach
Are Emergency Powers A Test To See What Americans Will Put Up With?
If it Saves One Life and Other Meretricious Lies
The DEI Dieback
California Community Colleges system sued for imposing DEI standards on profs
Leftist students call North Korean defector Yeonmi Park a 'liar,' destroy flyers for her event at Syracuse
California’s Minority-Stress Experiment - Legislative efforts to combat “homophobia” and “transphobia” have produced few results besides stifling free speech.
Director Is Baffled After Reporter Asks Why No Diversity in Film About 18th Century Denmark
Chicago Fire - Brandon Johnson is on course to be the Windy City’s most damaging leader in living memory.
Bill Maher to MSNBC’s Ari Melber: ‘Try to Understand Why’ So Many Support Trump
What are Joe Biden’s unarticulated reasons for a very costly overseas intervention?
Saturday, September 9. 2023
Friday, September 8. 2023
Thursday, September 7. 2023
Wednesday, September 6. 2023
Tuesday, September 5. 2023
Why does every military expert on Youtube refer to that war as "us" and "we" vs Russia?
They never say "Ukraine." Ukraine is a puppet, getting slaughtered for nothing. I just do not understand. I do not feel like I am at war with anybody.
Monday, September 4. 2023
Early ancestral bottleneck could've spelled the end for modern humans
New York police will use drones to monitor backyard parties this weekend, spurring privacy concerns
Jordan Peterson Says He Will Move To Broadcast Mandated Social Media Training
Only Thing Today’s Avant-Garde ‘Artists’ Challenge is Our Patience - And some of their work is literally ‘wretched’
Corporate Media Gripped A Nation In "Climate Anxiety" Despite Scientists Who Say 'No Emergency'
This teacher is fed up with disrespectful students. She can’t do her job if students are swearing, stealing, and destroying property.
7th Grader Kicked Out Of Class For Gadsden Patch, Teacher Falsely Claims ‘Slavery’ Origins
College Students Are Struggling With Basic Math and Professors Are Blaming the Pandemic. “We’re talking about college-level pre-calculus and calculus classes, and students cannot even add one-half and one-third.”
San Francisco's Homeless Ticking Time Bomb - the majority of the city's homelessness budget goes to keeping people in no-contingency housing units, permanently.
The Whole Idea Behind Homeless Advocacy Is To Not Solve The Problem
City Of Chicago Sues Murder Victims For Not Getting Out Of The Way Of Bullets
Glenn Youngkin’s Quest to Keep Virginia From Becoming Illinois
‘Seismic Shift’ in Labor Law, Easing Unionization of Workplaces, Likely To Face Court Test ‘Within a Year’
British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment Against Her Will
Are 500,000 dead and wounded in Ukraine enough? Apparently not.
The realists were right. As the much-hyped counteroffensive against Russian forces stalls, the West is falling out of love with Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelenskyy: No 'Sustainable Peace' Without Crimea, Donbas
Sunday, September 3. 2023
Romans 12:9-21
12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
12:10 Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
12:18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
12:20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads."
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Saturday, September 2. 2023
Friday, September 1. 2023
Thursday, August 31. 2023
Is Taiwan an ally? No
Was Ukraine an ally? Nope.
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Inescapable Disparities -
'Margaritaville' singer Jimmy Buffett