Some wishes for 2024

Let's pray and hope that none of the major ongoing wars in the world escalates into a full blown World War III. The Russo-Ukrainian War is already a world war by any other name given how many countries are involved. Unfortunately, too often the many lessons of history about war and peace are ignored or forgotten and history repeats itself again and again.

Will the senile, demented and corrupt 46th U.S. President finally resign for health reasons! He should have done so shortly after taking office to preserve his place in history as a great president.

Putin the Terrible will finally be ousted! The last czar, a megalomaniac and war criminal must go! The Russo-Ukraine War will come to an end!

Peace at last in the Middle East! Will the West, Israel, the Arab countries and the rest of the world handle the post war period of the Israel-Hamas War properly to promote lasting peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza and beyond? There is a huge opportunity to extend the Abraham Accords. Unfortunately, too many politicians still hang on to outdated political dogmas like the two state solution or to involve the totally discredited Palestinian Authority and the like.

Taiwan will remain independent until the people of Taiwan by a voluntary and without external pressure vote in a referendum for a peaceful, mutually accepted reunification with mainland china!

South Korea and North Korea will finally be reunited almost 35 years after Germany!

Let the Liberty Bell ring and the success of the shock therapy revive the well being, standard of living, and foster prosperity of the people in Argentina!

May as many countries as possible of Africa become become economic tigers and rid themselves of the vestiges of Western colonialism. However, e.g. separatists and Islamic terrorists are some of the dangers. Hopefully, federalism and a more perfect union will be evolving.

Last but not least: The propaganda and demagoguery of the climate change needs to be defeated! It is the famous Road to Serfdom (Friedrich Hayek) pursued by big government socialists of all colors and persuasions! Climate Change is largely based on pseudo, even manipulated science and ideologically tainted science!

Image of the day

2024 will be a major global election year! Que vadis into the second quarter of the 21st century!

Elections, Weight Loss Drugs, AI: What Will Define 2024? with Palki Sharma

Recommendable!

Earth Has Received a Message Laser-Beamed From 10 Million miles (almost 17 million kilometers) Away

Amazing stuff! This is not the latest news, but still very impressive.

If my back of the envelope calculations are correct, then the laser beam took less than 60 seconds to cross the distance. The distance between sun and earth is about 150 million km and light takes about 8 minutes to cross this distance.

"... Another challenge is having the system adapt its positioning configuration in real time. In this latest test, the laser photons took about 50 seconds to get from spacecraft to telescope, and both are hurtling through space while this is happening. ..."

"NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment has beamed a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) away – about 40 times farther than the Moon is from Earth – to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. This is the farthest-ever demonstration of optical communications. ...

Test data also was sent simultaneously via the uplink and downlink lasers, a procedure known as “closing the link” that is a primary objective for the experiment. While the technology demonstration isn’t transmitting Psyche mission data, it works closely with the Psyche mission-support team to ensure DSOC operations don’t interfere with those of the spacecraft. ...
The DSOC experiment aims to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by spacecraft today. ..."

Earth Has Received a Message Laser-Beamed From 10 Million Miles Away : ScienceAlert

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Comm Demo Sends, Receives First Data DSOC, an experiment that could transform how spacecraft communicate, has achieved ‘first light,’ sending data via laser to and from far beyond the Moon for the first time.

NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link A NASA technology experiment on the International Space Station completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system on Dec. 5, 2023. Together, they complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.

There is also a YouTube video available

On Three Conservative Minds by Edwin Feulner or why American conservatism is not very convincing

These are remarks by my former boss! They represent a nice, concise summary of conservative thought in America over the past 80 years or so.

"Edwin J. Feulner, Jr., is the founder and former president of the Heritage Foundation"

What distinguishes classical liberalism from conservatism or where did Ed Feulner err: 

1. He made no mention of individual liberty and responsibility/accountability
2. He made no mention of a limited and small government
3. He made no mention of federalism, the right to secede, separation of power, term limits
4. He espouses Kirk's principal no. 5 "adherence to custom, convention, and prescription" without any qualification. Unfortunately, all three are subject to voluntary and reasonable modification over time as open and free societies evolve and move on
5. Technological progress is too often derided or reviled

Where do classical liberals and conservatives agree:

1. Natural inalienable rights
2. All lives matter (born and unborn). Every life is precious
3. Constitutional law and democracy
4. Law and order. Due process
5. Freedom of speech
6. And more ...

According to Feulner, Russel Kirk was partially a conservative out of touch with  or ignorant of technological progress and the enormous opportunities it offers like a grumpy old man.

"Conservatives with at least a basic grasp of the history of our movement know that the victory of 1980—when the former governor of California was first elected president, launching the Reagan Revolution—began in an unlikely place: the ashes of defeat. And not just any defeat, but a decidedly crushing one: the election of 1964, when Barry Goldwater lost in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson.

Yet ... conservatives can trace the triumph of the 1980s even further back. At least a decade earlier, in fact—to 1953, when three highly influential books were published: Leo Strauss’s Natural Right and History, Robert Nisbet’s Quest for Community, and Russell Kirk’s Conservative Mind. ...
Yes, William Buckley’s seminal volley, God and Man at Yale, had come out in 1951, but it was still a relatively new work, and National Review wouldn’t debut for another two years. Derided by the intelligentsia, ignored by the media, and unsung even by its adherents, conservatism was so ill-regarded that the very notion of a “conservative mind” was considered oxymoronic. Left-liberalism, then in its post–World War II heyday, appeared to be the wave of the future. Who could challenge its seeming hegemony? ...
Strauss demonstrates that the idea of “natural right”—that there is such a thing as immutable truth, which remains true for all ages—goes back at least as far as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and it can count the United States of America among its progeny. But later political philosophers rejected the idea of natural right. ...

According to Strauss, this rejection is not only ahistorical; it’s a recipe for disaster. As he writes in Natural Right and History, the relativism it spawns “leads to nihilism”—the rejection of all moral and religious principles in the mistaken belief that life is ultimately meaningless. ...
Nisbet, however, noted the deterioration of such institutions as the family, the church, and the neighborhood had not, as many intellectuals had predicted, liberated man. Instead, it had produced alienation and despair. The simple fact is that, to quote the historian George Nash, man cannot live in “Hobbesian isolation.” As Nisbet points out, “The quest for community will not be denied, for it springs from some of the most powerful needs of human nature—needs for a clear sense of cultural purpose, membership, status, and continuity.” ...

Civil society is the antidote. To live in freedom, man must break the bonds between himself and the state through a revitalization of intermediate associations, such as the family, the church, and the neighborhood, the “little platoons” of life about which [Edmund] Burke spoke so eloquently. ...

Speaking of Kirk, although his best-known book is not a work of enchantment, it certainly broke the spell under which American conservatism had languished for more than one hundred years. The publication of Kirk’s landmark study, hailed by Whittaker Chambers as one of the most important books of the twentieth century, changed all that. Kirk showed conclusively that conservatism had an illustrious lineage, and he proved that many of the finest British and American thinkers, including Burke, Coleridge, John Adams, and John Calhoun—to say nothing of luminaries such as Tocqueville, Newman, Disraeli, Santayana, and Irving Babbitt—espoused this philosophy. He also demonstrated that much of America’s success derived from her conservative principles. ...

His book was not only, as Lee Edwards asserted, “a brilliant distillation of conservative thinking over the past 150 years,” but also “a scathing indictment of every liberal nostrum, from the perfectibility of man to economic egalitarianism.”  ...

Kirk unmasked the shallow rationalism of the cynical French philosophes and unveiled the egotistical underpinnings of Rousseau’s romantic sentimentalism. He exposed the heartlessness of utilitarianism and the absurdity of its founder and disclosed the spiritual bankruptcy of materialism in all its malefic forms. ...

Kirk’s book sets forth six “canons” or principles that provided a credo for American conservatives: 

1) belief in a transcendent order, including natural law; 

2) respect for the “variety and mystery of traditional life”; 

3) recognition that civilization requires classes and orders; 

4) acknowledgment of the crucial link between freedom and private property; 

5) adherence to custom, convention, and prescription; and

6) awareness that change is not necessarily reform, and agreement that Providence plays the final role in the affairs of men.

...

A critic for all seasons, he [Kirk] denounced the automobile as “a mechanical Jacobin” and reviled television as an electronic demon. No friend of modernism, he condemned materialism and all its works, including secularism, utilitarianism, positivism, statism, progressivism, and atheism, to say nothing of “power-tipsy professor[s],” “Behemoth” universities, and “quarter-educated” collegians. 

... "

Three Conservative Minds - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Unique and parallel Flow of Information Identified in The Human Brain

Amazing stuff! How human brains maybe different from those of our closest relatives, i.e. apes!

"... A team led by researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland used advanced data analysis techniques on top of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to analyze brain activity in humans, mice, and macaques.

Comparing the resulting brain 'traffic maps', the researchers found that the human brain uses multiple parallel pathways to shift information from one region to another, whereas the mice and macaque brains use just single channels. 
"What's new in our study is the use of multimodal data in a single model combining two branches of mathematics: graph theory, which describes the polysynaptic roadmaps; and information theory, which maps information transmission (or traffic) via the roads," ...

What's more, the researchers discovered that these parallel pathways are as unique as fingerprints: studying the particular way that information flows around a brain can distinguish individual nervous systems. ..."

"... To achieve this, the researchers used open-source diffusion (DWI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from humans, macaques, and mice, which was gathered while subjects were awake and at rest. The DWI scans allowed the scientists to reconstruct the brain “road maps”, and the fMRI scans allowed them to see different brain regions light up along each “road”, which indicated that these pathways were relaying neural information. ...
“Such parallel processing in human brains has been hypothesized, but never observed before at a whole-brain level,” ..."

From the abstract:

"Brain communication, defined as information transmission through white-matter connections, is at the foundation of the brain’s computational capacities that subtend almost all aspects of behavior: from sensory perception shared across mammalian species, to complex cognitive functions in humans. How did communication strategies in macroscale brain networks adapt across evolution to accomplish increasingly complex functions? By applying a graph- and information-theory approach to assess information-related pathways in male mouse, macaque and human brains, we show a brain communication gap between selective information transmission in non-human mammals, where brain regions share information through single polysynaptic pathways, and parallel information transmission in humans, where regions share information through multiple parallel pathways. In humans, parallel transmission acts as a major connector between unimodal and transmodal systems. The layout of information-related pathways is unique to individuals across different mammalian species, pointing at the individual-level specificity of information routing architecture. Our work provides evidence that different communication patterns are tied to the evolution of mammalian brain networks."

Unique Flow of Information Identified in The Human Brain : ScienceAlert

More parallel 'traffic' observed in human brains than in animals (Source: EPFL) In a study comparing human brain communication networks with those of macaques and mice, EPFL researchers found that only the human brains transmitted information via multiple parallel pathways, yielding new insights into mammalian evolution.

Evidence for increased parallel information transmission in human brain networks compared to macaques and male mice (open access)

In the mouse and macaque brains, information was sent along a single “road”, while in humans, there were multiple parallel pathways between the same source and target.

US Navy helicopters destroy Houthi boats in Red Sea after attempted hijack of a Maersk container ship

More half measures by the senile, demented and corrupt 46th President to protect global maritime trade by some militants. Is he not on vacation (see here) again!

That the West is intimidated by a bunch of Houthi militants threatening one of the major trade routes of the world is absolutely stunning (see here)!

These Houthi militants should have long been firmly warned one more such attack and you will regret the day you were born!

"... Houthi forces have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November, launching more than 100 drone and missile attacks on vessels passing through the vital shipping lane. ..."

US Navy helicopters destroy Houthi boats in Red Sea after attempted hijack

PM Modi laid the foundation for 46 projects in Ayodhya, India on Saturday

Recommendable! India, a rising superpower! It appears Prime Minister Modi personally enjoyed this visit.

Mercenaries in Africa: US Bancroft Group to Replace Russia's Wagner in the Central African Republic with Palki Sharma

Mercenaries are historically a very old business for fortune and adventure. Who else is out there? Putin the Terrible is loosing!

Soul Train Dancer Myron Montgomery Created The Harlem Shake During Nearly Two Decade Long Run

Very recommendable! Get in the groove for 2024! I will never forget when I first watched Soul Train episodes several decades ago on U.S. military TV (AFN) in my hometown Frankfurt am Main, Germany. My eyes popped out! Say what!

UNRWA EXPOSED with support for Hamas; IDF's Relentless Operations

Very recommendable! If only half is true what this report says about UNRWA, then it would be already a huge scandal! E.g. UNRWA staff is alleged to have assisted in hiding Hamas hostages.

Ukraine attacked Russian border town with missiles and drones and killed a dozen or more civilians

If verified, not a very smart move and it should be condemned! Eye for an eye is not a winning proposition. The Ukraine should have strictly targeted industrial sites or infrastructure or other potentially military targets.

Spain's 'Frankenstein Coalition' Puts Democracy at Risk. Really!

The ghost of the Caudillo Francisco Franco resurrected?

Why do ethnic minorities like the Basques or Catalans pose a serious threat to Spain's democracy? Were these minorities not brutally suppressed for decades by Franco. What is the situation of these minorities in Spain after Franco? 

How does federalism work in contemporary Spain? Maybe not so well!

"... The problem lies in what type of coalition Sanchez put together.

There are three main objections to Sanchez’s government. First, let’s deal with the criticism of his coalition partners.

Sanchez crossed all manner of red lines by bringing into the coalition parties that openly advocate for the liquidation of constitutional Spain. ...

But the development that most troubled Spanish society was the pact with Bildu, the party that took the reins from the Basque terrorist group ETA. For Americans acquainted with the Irish situation, Bildu is the Spanish equivalent Sinn Fein. ...
So, in order to keep the power he craves, Sanchez this year incorporated a new partner: Junts Per Catalunya (Junts), or Together for Catalonia.

It’s yet another secessionist party, whose leader is a fugitive from Spanish justice and lives in Belgium, and whose support for Sanchez is based on a key precondition; namely, the dismantling of the rule of law in Spain.  ..."

Spain's 'Frankenstein Coalition' Puts Democracy at Risk

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

Economic Freedom Cause for South Dakota Success

Recommendable! How about Kristi Noem for president in 2024?

Economic Freedom Cause for South Dakota Success | Cato Institute South Dakota’s secret recipe for success is economic freedom. More states should take notice.

11 Top Iranian commanders killed in Damascus airport strike - report

Very concerning! Pray that the Israel-Hamas War does not escalate!

This war in Gaza is already going way beyond its borders. There are related military attacks in and from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen going for some time.

"11 leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in an airstrike targeting Damascus International Airport on Thursday [12/28/2023] evening, Saudi media reported the following morning. ..."

Top Iranian commanders killed in Damascus airport strike - report - The Jerusalem Post Syrian media also claimed on Thursday evening that Israel had targeted sites in southern Syria and near Damascus with airstrikes in two separate waves.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who blocked Trump from Maine’s primary ballot, used to run the state’s Holocaust center

Thank you JTA! I could not believe it when I saw the headline!

This explains her obvious Trump Derangement Syndrome quite well!

"When Shenna Bellows was appointed Maine’s secretary of state in 2020, she described how her previous job at a Holocaust education center made her especially suited to the role.

Bellows, the former executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, tweeted that her work with Holocaust survivors “has taught me so much about how fragile and precious democracy is and about the importance of documenting and preserving our history to share with the future generations.” ..."

Shenna Bellows, who blocked Trump from Maine’s primary ballot, used to run the state’s Holocaust center - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

English for trippers: Beat the bait

Can't wait! Need aid? Don't eat it before you heat it!

Some thoughts on God, faith and religion in the 21st century

Dedicated to my late father Horst Bingel!

It is probably an undeniable truth that most human individuals have continued for thousands of years a quest to explain or figure out what the essence of life means and where life comes from etc. 

Humanity and civilization are unthinkable and would not exist without thousands of years of God, faith and religion. However, as they like to say, civilization is a thin veneer that would be even thinner without God, faith, and religion.

Over human history, many religions and faith have come and gone! Many of the currently still dominant existing or traditional religions are not very convincing anymore in the 21st century. Understandably, more individuals have doubts and turn away from them. Atheism and agnosticism and the like are among the weirdest or most illogical of all religions. A number of Pseudo religions like science (not science proper), environmentalism, climate change have emerged and cause confusion and worse. Nihilism and misanthropy have gained ground!

Religious freedom and tolerance are sacrosanct!

Who or what created the awesome, majestic universe and all its magic and mysteries? Maybe the greatest question of all matters related to religion. Who or what is the God that created the universe or what is even beyond?

Why life on earth has been possible and is so rare in our Milky Way galaxy to the best of our current knowledge. How life evolved in so many different forms? Why most likely extraterrestrial life exists, but has yet to be discovered? Is life more than just some form of chemistry combined with  physics developed over eons from some kind of primordial soup? 

What are the eternal fundamental principles of life if they exist? How strong are these principles?
Here are a some major ones (in no particular order):

• Generally no cannibalism
• Change is the only constant in life. Though the fundamental principles of science and mathematics rarely change since they replaced alchemy or what became before science
• A sense of caring for offspring, family members, friends, and strangers 
• Peace generally and most of the time dominates war. Similarly, good over evil
• Honesty generally and most of the time dominates dishonesty and crime
• A distinct preference for voluntary self-interested action, decisions, and fairness towards others
• A distinct preference and longing for community, cooperation, learning, virtue, humility, dignity, mercy, compromise, solidarity  and harmony
• A sense of individual liberty and individual responsibility. More liberty means more responsibility and accountability
• A sense of and strive for individual and/or group achievement
• A sense for the importance of equality and it trumps egality/equity. But not all humans are equal by nature and birth
• The Golden Rule: Do unto others what you would like to be done to yourself
• Variety, curiosity and experiments are the very spice of life
• All animal and human lives matter, every life (born and unborn) is precious. Killing, murder, harming and maiming of life are generally abhorred and tolerated only in a very few exceptional cases

What is love? What is the power of love that bears all, believes all, hopes all, overcomes all, and endures all? Why do we trust other human beings? Why does hope spring eternal?

Do prayers make a difference? Can faith move mountains figuratively speaking? Affirmative, to both questions.

Is there a soul? Does life after death continue or what about rebirth? 

What is divine intervention if it exists? Why so random? Why so unpredictable?

Can any human being be a God or a child of God or the like in the past present, or future? Most likely this is not possible! Such claims belong rather to fairy tales, wishful thinking, and mythology!

Or is every human a God or made in the image of God? Most certainly not!

What about the future? Human ingenuity is working on less dependence on nature and evolution. Some examples: Artificial intelligence, superhuman capabilities, robotics, humans overtaking natural evolution, better food and energy supplies, and artificial reproduction and/or eternal healthy life and much more.

Let me close with this version of the Serenity Prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

What am I missing or in Socrates's unforgettable famous words: I know that I know nothing!

Why we still can not find extraterrestrial life

I bet, there is extraterrestrial life somewhere in our Milky Way galaxy and in the universe at large. We are not alone!

There are several possible explanations:

1. Human capabilities are still to primitive to detect and to make contact with extraterrestrial life
2. Extraterrestrial life forms are so different from ours that we don't have the means to detect them yet
3. Extraterrestrial life forms are so primitive as to be easily detectable
4. Extraterrestrial life forms are so advanced that we are not able to detect them and/or their attempts to make contact with us have eluded us
5. If extraterrestrial life forms are similar to ours they are not able to contact us and their signature is too faint to be detected
6. Any combination of the above

Helvetia in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia

There all kinds of peculiar people living in freedom in the United States. E.g. the hit movie Witness (1985) made the Amish/Mennonite people living in Pennsylvania famous.

Now, I learnt that Swiss and German immigrants starting in 1869 preserved the historic origins of Switzerland more closer than Switzerland itself like the Rütlischwur (Rütli Oath of 1307 CE) and Urdemokratie (original democracy, basic democracy).

"Helvetia, West Virginia, a small village settled in 1869 by Swiss and German immigrants, is located in Randolph County. Its secluded location led to the preservation of traditional dance, music, food, and holidays. It is these traditions that make Helvetia both a great community and destination."

Historic | Helvetia, West Virginia | United States

Credits: Das winzige Dorf in den Appalachen ist schweizerischer als die Schweiz

December 29, 2023 - Russia launches largest air attack on urban areas in the Ukraine since full-scale invasion in February 2022

Putin the Terrible appears to getting desperate and nervous going into the third year of his invasion of the Ukraine! Is he now trying to force the successfully resilient and defensive Ukraine into submission by intensifying his war on several cities of the Ukraine?

Putin the Terrible probably realizes that the longer his so called "special military operation" takes and the more the already huge casualties increase his life and hold on power are in danger! See also my recent blog post here.

December 29, 2023 - Russia launches largest air attack on Ukraine since full-scale invasion

Portrait of the last czar, a megalomaniac and war criminal!

Houthi and Somali attacks on India-bound ships – India vows to find perpetrators in Red Sea

Very recommendable! Bravo! India, a rising superpower!

When the senile, demented and corrupt 46th U.S. President totally fails, India is stepping up!

Quite possibly, India's navy has already a stronger presence in the region than the U.S. navy!

I blogged here about this before! In short, the West is intimidated by a bunch of rebels!

1000 Israeli musicians sing with one voice, BRING THEM HOME! - Homeland concert

Enjoy!

Google to Replace 30,000 Jobs with Artificial Intelligence? with Palki Sharma

Good and bad news!

The last days of Hong Kong’s opposition district councillors after election overhaul

Recommendable! How the Communist Party of China continues to systematically destroy Hong Kong in contravention of the agreement with the United Kingdom!

Image of the day

Bravo Elon Musk! Let 2024 begin! DEI = Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Iranians defying their government though viral dance and joy campaign

Good news! Bravo! Civil disobedience in Iran! Will the theocracy/dictatorship survive 2024?

Russia Reopens Embassy In Burkina Faso After Over 31 Year Hiatus

Bad news!

Maduro Mobilises 6,000 Troops After UK Warship Goes to Guyana with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! Dictator Maduro is a buffoon, possibly a dangerous one too!

Mood improving game aims to lift players out of depression & anxiety

This is certainly a worthwhile approach!

Mood-lifting game aims to lift players out of depression & anxiety

Gene Alteration Platform Cuts Cruel Culling Of billions of Male Chicks

Good news! All lives matter! Vegetarians and carnivores may rejoice together! Triumphs of human ingenuity!

Even better would be tasty, better and resource efficient meat substitutes!

"Today, there are around eight billion hens in the world, laying more than 1.6 trillion eggs in 2022. 

And for farmers whose businesses depend on these egg layers, the inevitable male chicks that are hatched – roughly seven billion every year – do not have a fiscal benefit and are killed immediately.

Israeli startup Huminn Poultry has developed a gene that stops embryos from developing into male baby chicks when the eggs are exposed to a simple blue LED light.

The gene was introduced to a group of chickens that the company dubbed the “Golda line.” Their eggs, which also include the gene, are incubated under a regular blue LED light for 21 days until they hatch.

By day three of the 21-day development, however, when the embryos inside the eggs begin to determine their sex – and while they are still just bundles of cells – the light triggers the gene to stop all further development of eggs containing male embryos. ..."

Gene Alteration Platform Cuts Cruel Culling Of Male Chicks

To stop the killing of male chicks To stop the slaughter of male chicks, #Israel invented #Golda, a #hen that only lays female #eggs!

Huminn (formerly known as NRS Poultry) 

Iran And Israel: The Dynamics Of The Conflict Between Sworn Enemies – Analysis. Really!

Israel a sworn enemy of Iran? What an utter nonsense!

This appears to be another, convenient, ideology driven attempt of suggesting some form of non-existent equivalency!

Iran And Israel: The Dynamics Of The Conflict Between Sworn Enemies – Analysis – Eurasia Review

Robert Reich: Why Can Only The Rich And Powerful Go Bankrupt? Really!

Robert Reich (age 76) is such a lunatic and moron! Which media still give him an outlet or platform!

Again, this man is trying to take a cheap shot at promoting prejudices and stir up societal discord!

Robert Reich: Why Can Only The Rich And Powerful Go Bankrupt? – OpEd – Eurasia Review

Donald Trump Predicts Neither Biden Nor Kamala Will Be the Democratic Party Nominee

This prediction is not too difficult!

Well, the Dimocratic Party was already extremely foolish and/or malevolent with their 2020 presidential candidate, the lifelong pathological liar and senile, demented, and corrupt Biden and his clan.

Will the Dimocratic Party really want to repeat this disaster in 2024 and obviously risk loosing the presidency?

However, the Dimocratic Party is still doing everything in its power to risk a secession in 2024.

I wrote about Mistress Kamala here. Frequently giggling and many word salads are not a winning formula!

Exclusive: Trump Predicts Neither Biden Nor Kamala Will Be Dem Nominee

The Sputtering EV Market Shows What Happens When Companies Heed Planners Instead of Consumers

I like the title of this article! Kind of spot on!

When Big Government bans gasoline powered cars and forces consumers to buy EVs for no good reasons other than the Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion!

The Sputtering EV Market Shows What Happens When Companies Heed Planners Instead of Consumers | AIER

Mindestens 7000 Frauen sind in Deutschland seit 2015 Opfer sexueller Übergriffe von Flüchtlingen geworden

Wenn sich diese Zahl und der Hintergrund bestätigen ließen, wäre das sehr schlimm!

Das wären im Durchschnitt etwa 875 Frauen pro Jahr!

Leben in der Bananenrepublik D.!

Asyl und Sexualverbrechen: Tausende Frauen Opfer von Flüchtlingen (erfordert Abonnement) Durch die fast ungebremste Migration junger Männer wanderten zahlreiche Sexualstraftäter ein. Die CDU will auch deswegen die Asylzahlen senken – die Grünen schweigen zu dem Thema.

Going into 2024: When will the last czar Putin the Terrible be ousted!

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters the third year, the popular unrest in Russia should be growing as the huge number of casualties continues to rise!

When will the apparently lethargic, apathetic, slavish and docile people of Russia (formerly known as serfs) get rid of the megalomaniac and war criminal Putin the Terrible! How many more young Russian men have to be killed or maimed in this war! Will they show the world how brave and liberty minded they can be! Let the Liberty Bell ring in Russia!

Will somebody of the inner circle finally arrest or assassinate Putin the Terrible!

The sigh of relief would be heard around the world!

Hope springs eternal!

Ohio GOP governor vetoes bill that bans gender-affirming care, transgender athletes in girls sports

Some Republicans are confused! Very confused! Some are plainly RINOs!

He is one of a very few GOP governor to do something like it.

"DeWine has previously said the issue of trans sports participation should be handled by athletic associations rather than the government." (Source) It is a good point, but why did he not sufficiently influence the Ohio legislature to separate the issues of gender affirming care and transgender athletes in two bills.

Gender affirming care is one those most horrific euphemisms of our times! It stands for e.g. double mastectomy or castration!

When parents, perhaps out of ulterior motives, subject their children for no good reason to gender affirming care it should be called child abuse!

When it happens to girls and women outside of Western countries it is usually quickly and loudly condemned as female genital mutilation!

Gender dysphoria is largely one of those human fads and follies that come and go!

Ohio GOP governor vetoes bill that bans gender-affirming care, transgender athletes in girls sports | Just The News DeWine said he vetoed House Bill 68 after speaking with physicians who provide transgender treatments and impacted families.

Gov. Mike DeWine Vetoes Bill Protecting Kids From ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill to protect minors from experimental transgender medical interventions that are euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care.”

Ah those individuals with heavy rimmed spectacles like the controversial President of Harvard University!

Living ‘anthrobot’ cells show medical promise

Very recommendable! Amazing stuff! Great potential!

Poaching Row Pits Infosys and WIPRO against Cognizant with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! Poaching is legal! Part of competition and knowledge/skills transfer between enterprises!

Report: 46th U.S. President Takes 418th Vacation Day in Virgin Islands for New Year's

Anyone surprised!

The man "from Scranton", Pennsylvania! He is so pathetic!

How unfit for office is the lifelong pathological liar and senile, demented, and corrupt 46th President? His wife has been his partner in crime for decades!

Had term limits been for all Members of the U.S. Congress added to the U.S. Constitution, this man would have been long gone!

"Biden had already spent 417 days (39 percent of his presidency) on vacation, according to the Republican National Committee’s Vacation Tracker. ..."

Report: Biden Takes 418th Vacation Day in Virgin Islands for New Year's President Joe Biden reportedly took his 418th vacation day on Wednesday to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for New Year’s.

US Navy receives first long-range robotic submarine

Recommendable!

US Navy receives first long-range robotic submarine The US Navy has taken delivery of its first giant robotic submarine. Boeing's Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), also known as "Orca," has completed acceptance tests including extensive surface and underwater trials.

Canada requires workplaces provide free menstrual products in male and female employee restrooms. Really!

Canada quo vadis! Justin Trudeau, the son of a prominent former Prime Minister, is such a fool!

Men watch out in the battle of the sexes! By the same token, would not gender equality suggest for government require to provide free electrical shavers to men? (Caution: Satire)

"All federally regulated workplaces in Canada are required to provide free menstrual products in all employee restrooms, regardless of whether the bathrooms are designated for men or women.

Canada announced in May that it would change the labor code "to ensure access to menstrual products," and the update went into effect this month at federally regulated workplaces, including banks, airports and public service agencies.  ..."

Canada requires workplaces provide free menstrual products in male and female employee restrooms | Just The News

U.S. Department of Justice threatens to sue Texas over new border security law

Best joke of the day! 

Let's not forget the Governor of Texas procrastinated three years to do more about the illegal immigration!

So the lifetime pathological liar and senile, demented and corrupt 46th President clearly and obviously has violated the constitution and federal law since day one in office by allowing a mass invasion of illegal immigrants across the southern border!

We all can be so happy that this moron U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland did not become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice!

I recently wrote here about the Dimocratic Party doing everything in their power to threaten a secession in 2024!

"The Department of Justice is warning Gov. Greg Abbott that it will sue if Texas moves forward with legislation empowering state officials to remove people from the U.S. who they suspect of being in the country illegally.

The new legislation, which Abbott signed into law earlier this month, is unconstitutional and will disrupt the federal government’s immigration enforcement operations, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton wrote in a letter to the governor obtained by Hearst Newspapers. ..."

DOJ threatens to sue Texas over new border security law

Destroy Hamas, Gaza must be demilitarized, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace

Bravo! In general, there is little to argue with these common sense measures!

The cowardly killers, mass murderers, and hostage takers of babies, children, and elderly need to be defeated or they need to surrender! Never again! There is no place in this world for murderous fanatics!

The Arab/Muslim people need to stop being treated as dispensable pawns!

How about a peace agreement a la Abraham Accords between the next government of Gaza and Israel?

See also my blog post here on what to do after the Israel-Hamas war.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his preconditions for peace with Gaza in a Monday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, saying, “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized.”

“These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote. ...
The outline for a peace agreement came as Israel pushed its ground offensive farther into Gaza in its campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorist group. ...
Netanyahu dismissed calls to involve the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s demilitarization, saying the P.A. “glorifies terrorism” and was unwilling and unable to disarm Hamas. He lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning the Oct. 7 attack. ...

“For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote. ..."

Destroy Hamas, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace in Wall Street Journal op-ed - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Renowned Firearms Innovator Gaston Glock Dies at 94

Recommendable! R.I.P.

Two few countries have a Second Amendment right!

"... The Austrian Ministry of Defense’s specifications were exacting. The pistol was required to be self-loading, to fire the NATO 9x19mm cartridge, be ambidextrous, have a capacity of at least eight rounds, and be made of 58-or-fewer interchangeable parts that could be replaced without special tools.

Unlike the SIG Sauer, Beretta and Steyr, whose pistol designs might have been hindered by, as historian Stuart Brown put it, “preconception or existing tooling,” Glock built his design from scratch. The resulting pistol was christened the Glock 17 [invented in 1982], as his 17th invention. As Brown noted, “That the magazine capacity was 17 rounds was serendipity.”

Glock’s pistol stole the show, easily outclassing SIG Sauer’s, Beretta’s and Heckler & Koch’s submissions. He was awarded the contract for 25,000 pistols and the Glock name was launched into both fame and infamy. ..."

Renowned Firearms Innovator Gaston Glock Dies at 94

Die Schweiz hat in Nepal 10 000 Hängebrücken gebaut – heute gibt es andere Prioritäten

Die Schweizer sind manchmal kurios! Bergvölker unter sich oder von Bergvolk zu Bergvolk!

Erinnert irgendwie an "Laßt hundert tausende Blumen blühen" oder "Über den Wolken Muss die Freiheit wohl grenzenlos sein"!

Nepal: Die Schweizer Entwicklungszusammenarbeit verändert sich Über Jahrzehnte haben Schweizer Entwicklungshelfer in den Tälern des Himalaja Brücken errichtet. Inzwischen wünscht sich die nepalesische Regierung aber Tunnel und Schnellstrassen – das ist für die Schweiz zu teuer.

China’s dictator on Mao's 130th birthday threatens ‘reunification’ with Taiwan is ‘inevitable’ as crucial Taiwanese election looms

Typical election interference by a dictator!

If China were a regular liberal and open democracy including federalism, the world would be a much better place! What are the mainland Chinese people waiting for! Fatalism gone wrong!

Was there only a lone Chinese man with the courage and daring to stop  several tanks in 1989! Whatever happend to the unknown tank man?

I have no doubt that the people of Taiwan will voluntarily reunite with China once the Communist Party of China is no longer in power and democracy takes hold in China.

"The “reunification” of Taiwan with China is “inevitable,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping claimed in a speech Tuesday, reiterating Beijing’s long-held stance on the self-ruled island democracy ahead of a crucial election there next month.

“The realization of the complete reunification with the motherland is an inevitable course of development, is righteous and what the people want. The motherland must and will be reunified,” Xi said in an address marking the 130th anniversary of People’s Republic of China founder Mao Zedong’s birth."

China’s Xi claims ‘reunification’ with Taiwan is ‘inevitable’ as crucial election looms | CNN

Der Sozialismus: Eine Jahrtausende alte Geschichte verschiedener Anstriche

Empfehlenswert! Das ist der erste Teil von Drei eines längeren Essays.

Hinweis: Habe den Artikel wegen seiner Länge nur angelesen und überflogen. Vieles ist mir bereits bekannt.

Der Sozialismus:

1. Scheitert an der Natur des Menschen. Es ist ein ideologischer Wunschtraum, der in der Realität meist zum Albtraum wird
2. Kann ohne erheblichen Zwang und Unterdrückung des Individualismus nicht schnell verwirklicht werden. Gewöhnlich haben "allwissende" und "total planende" Sozialisten keine Geduld, denn sie geben ja vor zu Wissen wie der Mensch/Untertan zu beglücken ist
3. Hatte bisher höchstens in kleinen Kommunen Erfolg, weil deren Mitglieder freiwillig dem Sozialismus gefolgt sind. Oft sind solche Kommunen aber nach einiger Zeit gescheitert

Der Sozialismus: Eine Jahrtausende alte Geschichte verschiedener Anstriche Zahllose revolutionäre Bewegungen, die sich als verschiedene Spielarten des Sozialismus entpuppen, prägen die Gegenwart, und die Mär, frühere Anläufe wären „kein echter Sozialismus” gewesen, ist quicklebendig. Eine dreiteilige TE-Serie will die Geschichte des Sozialismus beleuchten.

Russia has launched Over 7,400 Missiles, Drones on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began almost two years ago

Bad news! Even if the numbers are exaggerated, they are still horrific!

When will the lethargic Russian people finally get rid of their last czar, the megalomaniac and war criminal Putin the Terrible! How many more young Russian men have to die or be maimed because of Putin the Terrible!

"... “A third of this number comprises S-300 and S-400 missiles, while about 900 are Iskander-M ballistic missiles, and 48 Kinzhal missiles have already been used,” reads the message.

The report states that approximately 3,700 Shahed attack drones were also used in the attacks. The Ukrainian air defenses successfully neutralized about 2,900 of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). ..."

Russia Launches Over 7,400 Missiles, Drones on Ukraine During Full-Scale Invasion During this period, Russian troops launched approximately 3,700 Shahed attack drones, 900 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 48 Kinzhal missiles in air strikes on Ukraine.

"Cemetery" of shells in the city of Kharkiv

When science showed in the 1970s that gas stoves produced harmful indoor air pollution, the industry reached for tobacco's PR playbook. Really!

Which playbook is the title of this propaganda and demagoguery article reaching for? 

Alarmism and hysteria! What pseudoscience is this article referring to?

Apparently, we lived very well for the last 50 years with gas stoves! Plus, if you open the window, the so scary sounding "harmful indoor air pollution" vanishes fast!

The opening paragraph slanders the natural gas industry:

"In 1976, beloved chef, cookbook author and television personality Julia Child returned to WGBH-TV’s studios in Boston for a new cooking show, “Julia Child & Company,” following her hit series “The French Chef.” Viewers probably didn’t know that Child’s new and improved kitchen studio, outfitted with gas stoves, was paid for by the American Gas Association. ..."

When science showed in the 1970s that gas stoves produced harmful indoor air pollution, the industry reached for tobacco's PR playbook

Super-propulsion: How sharpshooting insects flick their pee

Very recommendable! Amazing stuff! Great images!

Katja Krasavices Silicon Busen-Trick

Sehr amüsant! Wusste ich nicht! Silicon leuchtet im Dunkeln wenn bestrahlt! Werde künftig, die Taschenlampe meines Smartphones öfter benutzen (Vorsicht: Witz)!

How Amazon’s Custom AI Chips Work

Recommendable! Competition is good, more competition is better!

India Becomes Stock Market Superpower at over $4 Trillion market valuation or fifths largest in the world

India, a rising superpower!

Mexico's Military Running the revived Mexicana Airline and other businesses with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! I am afraid the Mexican President AMLO is a disappointment and failure. He is also responsible for the invasion of the U.S. by millions of illegal immigrants.

How India is Navigating the Israel-Hamas War with Palki Sharma

Mostly recommendable! The diplomacy of Prime Minister Modi involves Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. If Modi can help defeat Hamas and have the next government of Gaza sign a peace agreement with Israel, then he will go down in history as a great or even greater political leader.

However, Palki Sharma blundered twice in this video:
1) Israel did not "carpet bomb" Gaza
2) She keeps repeating the most likely highly inflated civilian casualty number provided by Hamas

Decoding India's Push to Recalibrate India-Russia Ties with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! India, a rising superpower, wants joint arms manufacturing in India and more nuclear power plants from Russia.

North Carolina State Board Approves Presidential Primary Candidates with the 46th President as the lone Democratic candidate!

Best political joke at the end of 2023!

"The following are the lists provided by the political parties for the 2024 primary, approved by the State Board on Tuesday:

Democratic Party:

    Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Libertarian Party:

    Toad Anderson

    Charles Ballay

    David (TrimeTaveler) Dunlap

    Jacob Hornberger

    Beau Lindsey

    Lars Mapstead

    Chase Oliver

    Michael Rectenwald

    Joshua Smith

    Mike ter Maat

Republican Party:

    Ryan Binkley

    Chris Christie

    Ron DeSantis

    Nikki Haley

    Asa Hutchinson

    Vivek Ramaswamy

    Donald J. Trump

"

State Board Approves Presidential Primary Candidates | NCSBE Includes Early Voting Plans for the 2024 Primary

The State Board approved candidates to go on ballots for the 2024 presidential preference primary in North Carolina.

Credits: North Carolina election board unanimous in primary ballot decision: Joe Biden lone Democrat

Austrian university severs ties with Harvard University over antisemitism concerns

Bravo! Hopefully, other universities will follow!

Black privilege, first black women, strong ideological bias, allegations of plagiarism, and very little academic accomplishment do not make a great Harvard University president!

"The Lauder Business School, a notable institution in Vienna catering to a diverse student body, including Israelis, has recently announced the cessation of its collaboration with Harvard University. This decision arose amidst concerns regarding the escalation of antisemitism on the Harvard campus and the perceived lack of appropriate response from its leadership.

According to a statement on behalf of the Austrian university, the partnership, which commenced in 2014 as part of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, symbolized Lauder Business School's "dedication to global educational collaborations." However, the unfolding events at Harvard have prompted a reevaluation. "In light of the recent developments, Lauder Business School has decided to withdraw from this network, thereby expressing solidarity with the Jewish student community at Harvard," the school stated. ..."

Austrian university severs ties with Harvard over antisemitism concerns - The Jerusalem Post Presidents from MIT, Harvard, and UPenn testified following a Department of Education investigation into rising antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

A Literary Renaissance in Basra, Iraq

Recommendable! Good news! Of all places!

Books are quaint in the digital age, but not yet extinct!

"... Many Iraqis are avid readers and take pride in the old saying that “Cairo writes, Beirut prints and Baghdad reads.” But in an age of smartphones and social media, younger generations have other distractions. Ashour’s strategy is to source books that are difficult to access in southern Iraq and host regular gatherings to discuss in-demand works that range from Nietze and Schopenhauer to Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which is particularly popular, he says. ..."

A Literary Renaissance in Basra - Ideas Beyond Borders Bookseller Mohammed Ashour is contributing to a cultural reawakening in Iraq’s former creative capital.

Der immer Hinwartende: Wolfgang Schäuble ist tot von Roland Tichy. Ein kritischer Nachruf!

Empfehlenswert!

U.a. hat Schäuble dazu erheblich beigetragen das D. zur Bananenrepublik verkommen ist. Er hat die schreckliche SED Kanzlerin Merkel ermöglicht. Die Berliner Mauer fiel und der Sozialismus breitete sich in ganz D. aus.

Kurzum: Er war zu lange Berufspolitiker! Laufzeitbegrenzungen für alle gewählten Volksvertreter ist eine längst überfällige Reform und GG Änderung!

"... Überarbeitung bis zur Erschöpfung galt als Normalfall. Sein Bundestagsmandat rund um das heimatliche Gengenbach bei Offenburg, das er immer direkt gewonnen hat, wollte er trotzdem nicht aufgeben.  ...
Schäuble verehrte preußische Tugenden. Der straff gelenkte Zentralstaat ohne nörgelnde Föderalisten war sein Idealbild. ...

Der Untertan der Paragraphenwelt [blieb] Untertan  ...

So bleibt Wolfgang Schäuble bei allem Glanz als Bundestagspräsident, der ihm das protokollarisch zweitwichtigste Amt verlieh, ewig der „Hinwartende“, wie ihn Fritz Goergen nannte. Er wartete hin, bis ihn Helmut Kohl als Nachfolger ausrufen sollte, nur ließ Kohl seinen treuen Gefährten so lange warten, bis sich die Nachfolge erledigt hatte. Er jonglierte und changierte in der Parteispendenaffäre, bis ihn Angela Merkel endgültig aus dem Rennen warf. ... Er wollte zum Bundespräsident berufen werden, aber der Anruf kam nicht, weil Angela Merkel einen intellektuell ihr weit überlegenen politischen Vollprofi im höchsten Staatsamt scheute. Trotzdem blieb der ihr loyal, und Merkel beließ ihn in hohen Ämtern, selbst als Bundestagspräsident kam er ihr nicht in die Quere. ..."

Wolfgang Schäuble ist tot. Eine glanzvolle Karriere eines mutigen Mannes (von Roland Tichy) Mit Wolfgang Schäuble ist einer der letzten Politiker der Ära Helmut Kohl gestorben. Kohl war sein Förderer, sein Verhinderer – und dann stand er Angela Merkel im Weg, mit der ihn eine rätselhafte Beziehung verbunden und mit der zusammen er seine Karriere beendet hat.