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David Collum: 2020 Year In Review: Making Sense Of The Craziest Year We’ve Lived Through
Plenty to write about this year. Available here
Cop Kills Man
Some total scumbag called the police on a man for “repeatedly starting” it in his own driveway.
But who are the police? Is is Andy Griffith and Don Knotts come to keep the peace?
No. It’s the American Nazi Communist Gestapo Stormtroopers of Death With Total Immunity Before Hand In All Cases.
So they just murdered the guy. Could have been your son.
At press time it was a 100% certainty that the murderer cop will not be held accountable because he his a government employee.
Police Officers Are Just Dumb Animals
Dave Smith Show
The What About Bobification of America
I love Bill Murray. I enjoy basically every movie he has ever done. One of my favorites is called What About Bob.
No matter how many decades pass, I can’t help but laugh out loud while watching it. In that classic, Bill Murray plays a man named Bob who is scared of everything. He is desperately scared, everywhere he goes, about getting sick. Everyday things are almost impossible for him because of this extreme fear. He can’t open a door without first wiping the knob. He can’t get on a bus with other people. Things like getting into an elevator are monumental tasks for him. In one scene, he holds his breath the whole time while on an elevator with other people. It’s hilarious.
He wants help dealing with this obvious mental condition and seeks out Dr. Leo Marvin. But, even the great Leo Marvin can’t handle the absurd extent of Bob’s phobias. The whole movie is ludicrous and hilarious, as you watch Bob baby step his way through life, scared of everything.
But, alas, times change and the comedy of yesterday has somehow become the reality of today. As I go out to the store, I am surrounded by Bobs. These people are terrified of breathing the same air as people around them. They are terrified of touching something that someone else has touched. They wear gloves and face shields and are scared to get on a bus or into an elevator with others. This kind of irrational behavior was funny in the context of one man in a comedy movie in the ’90s. But, it isn’t so much when everyone acts that way.
I was in Best Buy today, and they are one of the silliest when it comes to the mask wearing and all that stuff. I marched in like I always do, ignoring the people at the front. I found what I needed to but then asked a worker a question. As soon as he saw me, he physically jumped. I went to ask him my question again but he cut me off, saying, “Sir, you need to wear a mask here. I cannot speak to you if you won’t wear a mask.” I chuckled and told him that I am not able to. Another worker showed up with a box of masks. He held out the box of masks toward me as far as he could possibly reach, and turned his head away from me as far as he could so that he was as far from my face as possible. It was incredibly goofy and over the top, yet that is the 2020 norm in many places.
If you had told me a year ago that today the majority of people in public would act like Bob from What About Bob, I wouldn’t have believed you. And yet, here we are.
I don’t know about you, but I am going to continue laughing at What About Bob. I am going to continue living like a normal human being. I am not going to hold my breath in elevators or pretend like a piece of cloth or shield of plastic will protect me from germs. I am a human being, not a mentally-incapacitated panophobe.
We seemingly live in a world of Bobs and it isn’t funny any more. I’m left wondering if death therapy isn’t really that bad. Where’s that giant meteor when you need it?
Originally posted at: https://technoagorist.com/47
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Proponents OF Forever War In Syria Can’t Answer One Question Why?
Dan DePetris at Responsible Statecraft
Adesnik and Green observe that “U.S. operations in Syria have demonstrated that long-term efforts are sustainable, requiring the commitment of modest military assets deployed in a largely supporting role.” But one has to ask the following-up question: to what end? And how can we be certain that the long-term, “by, with, and through” campaigns they are so idealistic about don’t proliferate into totally different missions far removed from the reason U.S. troops were deployed in the first place?
Unfortunately, Americans are already witnessing this phenomenon play out in Syria. Indeed, if U.S. policy in Syria was really about defeating ISIS — a mission Washington accomplished over a year and a half ago — U.S. troops would already be back with their families to celebrate the holidays. But alas, the Trump administration’s Syria policy is not so much about fighting terrorism as it is about degrading Iran’s influence and pressuring Bashar al-Assad to resign, two objectives that are about as inconceivable as climbing Mt. Everest with a t-shirt and shorts. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the words of former Syria envoy James Jeffrey, who admitted earlier this month that U.S. Syria policy is nothing but a subsection of its broader maximum pressure policy on Iran.
More here
Economic Warfare – The Collapse Of Yemen’s Economy
Inflation as a weapon of war.
In this Aug. 25, 2018 image made from video, severely malnourished infant Zahra is bathed by her mother, in Aslam, Hajjah, Yemen. Yemen’s civil war has wrecked the impoverished country’s already fragile ability to feed its population. Around 2.9 million women and children are acutely malnourished; another 400,000 children are fighting for their lives only a step away from starvation. (AP Photo/Hammadi Issa)
According to local economists who spoke to MintPress, the reasons behind the collapse of Yemen’s economy and its currency are many and varied but the expansionary monetary policy that has been taken by Saudi Arabia is one of the key drivers of the Yemeni rial’s devaluation.
Local authorities supported by Saudi Arabia have regularly printed new banknotes in order to meet expenses compounded by the purchase of foreign currencies flowing into markets by foreign organizations.
By the end of 2019, the total rial liquidity in circulation in the country was more than three trillion, according to a source in the Aden-based central bank. As of the beginning of 2020, the bank has printed around 300 billion rials in order to address the budget deficit. The government of ousted president Hadi has largely relied on the central bank’s overdraft financing instrument to cover his spending abroad, including rent, travel, and entertainment.
Recently, Saudi’s proxies in southern Yemen have been selling large quantities of newly-printed banknotes in order to purchase foreign currency from the market and replenish their own foreign currency holdings. This has increased downward pressure on the rial’s value and helped drive inflation.
More here
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