People are letting their partisanship blind them. Our town is covered with Harris / Walz yard signs. Covered, littered, filled to the brim. Once Biden was ditched, badaboom! Dem support went crazy.
But when I mention this to Trump-supporting friends, they say it’s not true. There’s no way a person with at least one functioning eye can drive around and not see this inundation of yard signs. The entire area around Main Street is plastered with them. Yet people sincerely argue that it’s not happening.
Denial of clearly observable reality is ripe on both sides. Everybody thinks that the other side’s candidate has no support. Then, when the opposing candidate wins, they can’t comprehend how it’s possible.
Clarissa's Blog 
My Rosh HaShannah War Report:
The conflict has expanded to Lebanon and Iran. Its erev Rosh HaShanna, the Oct7th Abomination War enters into its second year in a few days. Hamas stands totally crushed. Hezbollah, its to early to tell concerning the Israeli ground invasion or how its progress develops. But Israel correctly, under the leadership of Bibi, has expanded this multi-front war in a rational piecemeal manner.
Am quite sure that the Lebanon fight will present many and multiple difficulties due to the vast differences of fighting terrain. But this conflict shall not compare to the 2006 Olmert incompetence. Bibi to date has conducted a brilliant campaign in conjunction with the leaders of the IDF. Drone technology give the IDF tactical eyes in the sky that the IDF lacked under the Olmert mismanagement in 2006. Olmert the incompetent achieved virtually nothing in Lebanon other that high IDF casualties and internal damage from missile attacks. Hezbollah flaunted post war UN Resolution 1701.
The international community criticized Israel’s actions and called for a ceasefire. The war’s duration and civilian casualties raised concerns about proportionality and humanitarian impact. Israel goes into part II of this war with its eye-wide open: that Germany, Britain, and France view Israel as a direct threat to EU and British domination of the region of the Middle East. That the UNSCR242 an utter legal farce. The notion of inadmissibility of capturing land through war & land for peace, two fundamental rhetoric phrases of 242, just a political rhetoric sham. The recent attempted intervention of UNGA condemnation of Israel violates UNSCR338 which called a “negotiated settlement” of the conflict.
The Quartet has collapsed. Russia tied down in its effort to prevent the Ukraine from joining NATO. The BRICS alliance has expanded to directly challenge the G7 as an open rival. Nixon’s petro-dollar monopoly too has totally collapsed. Trump once elected, (honestly the Democratic Party has failed to field a real candidate for the Office of the President), he will have to address the Wilson 1913 establishment of the Federal Reserve and IRS bureaucracy. The continued dominance of the Dollar stands in the scales of judgment. Returning the Dollar to the Gold standard and Congress restored as the power to print US currency – that’s the economic issue facing the 2nd Trump Administration in a nut-shell.
My speculation of Part II of this War of Abomination, the Bibi leadership will confront the United Nations. Ultimately after issuing an ultimatum that the UN recognize Israel as a nation within the community of Nations of the Middle East and annul UNSCR242 or Israel breaks off all diplomatic relations with the UN and expels this corrupt worthless organization, together with the Red Cross, from all Israeli territories. The UN combined with the international courts, their perversion of Chapter VI to Chapter VII 242, has totally undermined the authority of both sets of corrupt institutions. International law determined only through sign treaties and not by UN International decrees. Israel never signed the Rome treaty which established the international court of the Hague.
The 2006 Lebanon War the IDF ground offensive faced stiff resistance from Hezbollah fighters. The terrain, guerrilla tactics, and Hezbollah’s preparedness made progress difficult. Bibi comes into this new Lebanon War having learned from bitter experience. The Olmert cigar smoking corrupt debauchery, it lacked well-defined and clear war strategic objectives. The current limited War Bibi will carry out, בע”ה, UN Resolution 1701 without UN corruption and incompetence.
The current Lame Duck US Presidential leadership has totally collapsed. If Harris could some how pull off an election victory, coming to theatres real soon, honestly this would shock me as much as Obama & Clinton felt outrage over the 2016 election results. Their Russia-Gate hooliganism combined with the MSM whore-house pravda press attempted to undermine and destroy the Trump Administration. That bitter conflict like the Olmert cigar smoking corrupt debauchery just smoke in the wind.
The times they are a chang’in – Bob Dylan. The USSR collapsed in 1991, the time has come to pull US forces out of NATO like the US did after the end of WWI. America has to deal with its National debt, can no longer kick that can down the road. Make America Great Again actively entails closing down the Federal Big Brother bureaucracies and government established Corporate Monopolies.
The crisis confronted by Teddy Roosevelt now threatens the American people once again … the Robber Baron Corporate Monopolies, Trump must chop down. The taboo Corporate Bureaucracy incest requires the hang man’s noose. Zuckerberg, Google, Amazon just the visible tip of a far larger more corrupt Corporate pulling the strings puppeteer ‘democracy’. These corporate established monopolies directly compare to the Titanic sinking iceberg; which has totally perverted the Department of Justice Federal bureaucracy, together with the intelligence bureaucracies. The current government established monopolies have made insignificant, the robber barons John Jacob Astor and James Fisk criminal-types that confronted and challenged the leadership of Teddy Roosevelt.
The current war shall require a massive change in the status quo, that involves a lot more than dhimmi Gazan refugees and Hezbollah terrorists. The stakes quite high. An Israeli victory directly threatens the domination of Europe over the countries of the Middle East. The prospect of a major down-grade from Queens, rooks, bishops and knights to pawns does not please the imperialist traditions of the post WWII European minor powers. The times’ they are a change’in, the balance of power in the Middle East … out with the old and in with the new.
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i see a lot of Harris/Walz signs in the same areas and houses I saw BLM and “love lives here” signs. So, not surprised in the areas they make an appearance. I also think people are still reluctant to put up Trump signs because of vandalism or social stigma.
I agree Harris does have more supporters than many give her credit for. It’ll will be another close election.
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The Harris enthusiasm is very real. We disregard it at our own peril. Denying reality is never a good strategy.
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None of that shite matters right now.
People are dying in the mountains of NC for want of clean water and medical care, unable to get out of their communities and neighborhoods, and without access to any resupply, in a no-reserves, last-minute supply-chain world.
And this is the stuff I’m hearing about the government response:
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1841479710171349363
The fedgov had relief, search and rescue, and military humanitarian help in HAITI within 48 hours of their big earthquake in 2011.
But they won’t send helicopters to do search and rescue from Fort Bragg, which is *right there*. Because red tape.
This is Katrina, in the mountains. The people with the most resources to help are sitting around with their thumbs up their arses waiting for… ???
It’s OK, they’re just hicks so they don’t matter, amirite?
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And to any fedgov politician, or wannabe fedgov politician, who isn’t talking about this right now:
F**k you.
The Cajun Navy was born out of the absence and incompetence of government response to Katrina. People looked at that situation on the news, saw nothing happening, and realized: “You know what, I have a shallow-draft boat and I could do it”. It was too late for a lot of people. There was a lot of hang-time between “OMG this thing happened” and “Well sh*t nobody’s going in there”.
It looks like something similar’s happening in NC right now. State and fed resources are hung up in some inscrutable nobody-knows-who’s-in-charge and where-are-our-orders BS. But we may right now be seeing the birth of the newest branch of the Cajun Navy. Hillbilly Air Force? Civilian helicopter pilots are (in some cases) ignoring officials telling them to stay out (same thing happened in NOLA– they wanted to avoid liability more than they wanted to rescue dehydrated, sunburnt people from rooftops), to drop off relief supplies and pick up people who need evacuating.
https://x.com/ChrisJacksonSC/status/1841140069345751129
It’s not enough. It’s been a week since the storm. A week is an eternity for people who have no water, are injured, whose medication has run out, and who can’t leave.
But maybe next time…
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But hey, know what government aid *is* getting in there?
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1841125525181353993
State of FL.
I don’t know if we have exactly what’s needed for the mountains, but I hope it helps.
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Thank you methylethyl for throwing some light on this. I haven’t found any information on other media and it’s a disgrace. In a way I am not surprised, though.
What are the demographics of the affected areas?
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AFAIK, mostly white, some black and hispanic, and a bigger-than-average concentration of Cherokees.
Are they really not covering this in the news? I don’t bother with MSM so seriously don’t know. But I’m watching my inbox and sparse communications from people I know there, and it just keeps getting worse. 180 dead, 600+ missing, many communities rendered inaccessible by vehicle, and it is worse than what happened to us with Michael (that was apocalyptic, but killed very few). The only way they’re going to get food into some of these places is by helicopter or pack mule. People have been hiking 30 miles or more to get out of their isolated homes to places where there are supplies and help, but not everybody can do that– old folks, kids, health problems… all those people are stuck unless somebody can figure out where they are and go to them. Cell service is very bad right in the mountains even in good times. It’s practically nonexistent right now.
What are you actually seeing in the news?
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–and a cavalry?
https://www.facebook.com/reel/600130849007608
These guys are taking ice and insulin to people using pack mules.
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Here is a scrutable reason: yes, red tape was involved – 9 people had to vote Yes for the (Democratic) NC governor “to exercise certain authorities under the N.C. Emergency Management Act. Their blessing would enable the Democratic governor to more easily mobilize rescue vehicles, order evacuations and begin other emergency actions by waiving some of the state’s transportation regulations for heavy vehicles.
Within an hour of making the request on Sept. 24 — before Helene ravaged the western part of the state — most of the council had responded with supporting votes. But come 9 a.m. the next morning, one member had yet to cast a vote: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor.”
He still hasn’t given his approval.
You can’t completely disregard Republicans trying to make Democrats look bad at any cost.
“It’s inexcusable in a time of crisis,” former Gov. Pat McCrory said of Robinson’s lack of participation in the vote. McCrory is a Republican.
Link: https://www.wral.com/story/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-didn-t-vote-on-state-s-emergency-declaration-records-show/21653112/
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Sounds like a load of absolute shite.
That’s exactly what I said about politicizing the issue. But I guess people will believe anything as long as it makes “their side” look more moral.
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A fracking VOTE by anyone is not what is stopping the higher-ups at Ft. Bragg from giving their underlings leave so they can go help their own families.
After Michael, my brother was stationed a few hours away in the next state, and his super put him on indefinite leave to come help put tarps on roofs and chainsaw our family members out of their neighborhoods. That is a thing they can do, and those guys are being DENIED. Why? Because of something the Lt. gov did or didn’t do? BS.
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An email prevented him from declaring a state of emergency, right on. Somehow during COVID we never heard of any email being needed for governors to arrogate to themselves extraordinary powers time and again. Our governor did this something like 19 times. It went on and on. If only we knew that somebody could abstain from writing an email for a few hours and that all would have been prevented.
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The laws vary by state, but the change in NC requiring the governor to get approval from a board was actually made after COVID-19: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article270289222.html
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…and didn’t require a unanimous vote. Aid is being deliberately held up by federales who want their “preferred vendors” to be the only game in town. They are able to do this where there are access chokepoints they can control.
It’s not about party politics (except insofar as both parties are complicit), it’s not about the state government. It is about federal-level corruption taking precedence over the lives, needs, and safety of ordinary people.
If you’re still confused, please see link already posted:
https://x.com/ryantyre/status/1841583311782568064
Legions of similar posts from individuals trying to get aid into NC confirm his account.
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methylethyl, I wasn’t talking about this rule change at all, but about Clarissa’s anger about the IL governor’s executive overreach. People who felt the exact same way in NC changed the rules there.
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You hit “reply” to my comment. If you are replying to some other comment, perhaps include a quote from the one you are replying to?
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The same article also says that it has to be a majority vote, not a unanimous vote. 8 people out of 9 voted yes, one (Robinson) did not vote. Even if Robinson voted “no” out of spite, the emergency powers would still be authorized, they did not need his positive vote for anything. Second, in case no email vote is submitted within 48 hours of the request, it is counted as a “yes”. It has been a week since the hurricane. Robinson is a dunce for not voting, but whether he voted or not is completely immaterial to the situation in NC. The handling of the crisis by the current NC governor is terrible, but he is not running for reelection so there is that.
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That’s exactly why I said this article is a load of tripe. How people believe this kind of clearly tendentious, dishonest reporting is something I’ll never understand.
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They’ve already sent military helicopters to Asheville. And they are just SITTING there because nobody’s told them what to do.
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If you want to know what really goes on with federal aid to disaster areas, this guy can tell you:
https://x.com/ryantyre/status/1841583311782568064
It’s a thing we’ve all experienced down here. Federal aid is shite, and it takes forever to get there. Fed-supported “nonprofit” aid such as Red Cross is worse. State aid is better. And private volunteers like the Salvation Army, Cajun Navy, and regular people with U-hauls are the fastest. Because they don’t have to make sure their buddies get govt. aid kickbacks. And because of the kickbacks, the FEMA bastards actively obstruct all the others.
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This is a devastating read. Not only did it get to the point where one can only count on the kindness of volunteers, governmental agencies end up actually hurting the volunteer effort.
In Ukraine, we would have already lost the war if the government didn’t give complete freedom to volunteers to do what they need and regular people to arm themselves and act on their own behalf.
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We have seen it in action. More than once. After Opal, power was out for a week, it was 90+ degrees outside, and we were all out doing heavy lifting trying to clear yard debris. No air conditioning, no refrigeration. People’s deep-freezes were thawing, everybody was desperate for the one thing we couldn’t get: ice. Guys were driving down from Alabama with truckloads of ice. Bagged ice. Dry ice. They were charging $10/bag for it, because that made it worth their while to make the trip.
So what did FEMA do? They started turning them away at the county line and threatening to arrest them, because they were “price gouging”. Red Cross and FEMA started giving away ice FIVE DAYS later. After everybody’s freezers had thawed, and trashcans all over the neighborhood reeked of decaying meat. The flies were terrible.
That guy finally made sense of it for me. Red Cross and FEMA had sweetheart deals with somebody for ice distribution. No competition allowed.
That was before Katrina.
Post-Katrina is a different landscape. Cajun Navy has taken the lead on circumventing the feds, and others have followed, groups and individuals, seeing a model for what can be done if you just get out there and do it, without stopping to ask permission, or assuming that the officals will be cooperative and want your help. In our county, there are a lot of roads in and out, and our state and county governments are not willing vassals of the fedgov, so after Michael, they were unable to pull that stunt.
NC has so many roads washed out, and their state gov. is more beholden to the feds, so they CAN pull that stunt there. And it looks like they are doing so with a will.
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This post from the Exit Group makes the same points you just made.
https://blog.exitgroup.us/p/how-to-claim-the-mandate-of-heaven
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“Mandate of Heaven”
Not sure yet if that’s a concept that can be applied in the West, but for sure and certain, the feds are spending their credibility and public trust at an astonishing rate, in order to play grab-the-dollars in the carnival wind tunnel. I’m not as optimistic as that guy about transfer of authority to those that are capable of doing what needs doing without looting the populace, but… one can hope, right?
I feel like FL right now is doing a pilot-program (on so many levels!) experimenting with, and modeling for others, how individual states might cut the feds and their politicized, blundering, graft-ridden inefficiency out of the loop in order to aid each other directly, and get stuff done. DeSantis is up against term limits in 2026 and who knows if we can find anybody to pass that baton to.
Gaetz has some whistleblower stuff here, confirming what had already been spreading on soc. med:
https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1842228675720237259
FEMA is renting out hotels near the disaster zone, filling them up with their personell (rendering them unavailable to people who just lost their houses, or can’t get back to them), and then… not giving them any orders. So they’re sitting there taking up space and valuable resources, and not helping, at the public expense.
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It is heart breaking. I read some reports from people who were able to get out of Asheville the day after the hurricane (students at a local University) due to good luck of having a car with a full tank of gas and a paper map. The roads are passable. Maybe not all of them, but there are ways to get in and out of the area. GPS was not (perhaps still is not) working in the area. A family member had a misfortune to be in New Orleans during Katrina. Interestingly, cell phone network was up and running all through the storm and a day after, it only stopped working after the place flooded. I think the government turns the communications off on purpose to make it harder for people to get in.
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GPS should be functional as it depends on satellites not ground infrastructure. But if it was via google maps through cell towers, then yeah, it wouldn’t be working. +5 on having a regular oldschool GPS like a garmin that just picks up satellite, and doesn’t require your phone service to be working. +10 for actually having a regular paper map of the area and using it. Those are hard to find anymore. A good road atlas is invaluable at times like this. It is how we got back into our county when the main roads were barricaded, after at least one storm.
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“Federal aid is shite”
I don’t think one aspect of neoliberalism gets nearly enough attention….. the people that get to the top under neoliberalism are 95% or so of the time people who shouldn’t be allowed to manage an ant farm, much less a country, state, city….
Very occasionally a talented leader rises and usually they reach the competence ceiling (above which only incompetent fools are able to rise).
All over the world in national and supranational organizations there is just massive elite failure…. clueless fuckwits who know how to schmooze and are incapable of making rational decisions.
It would be nice to think that this is the achilles heel of neliberalism but… it just makes the confederacy of dunces at the top more determined to hold on at all costs and so various types of societal breakdown and failure are the inevitable results….
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While I trust you as regards your perception of support for Harris-Waltz, you might want to share this with your readers:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-day-in-tim-walzs-minnesota
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Minneapolis couldn’t even get rid of Ilhan Omar, so I wouldn’t count much on Minnesota suddenly becoming less left-wing. I think it’s a fantasy on par with Trump’s rallies in NYC or the belief that California will turn red. It’s not happening, these places are lost. I don’t know why Trump is wasting his time on them.
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OT: Old Man Shaking Fist at Cloud Alert: The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
The article blames extracurriculars, the need for outside jobs and screens.
But given how many of these students are legacy admits, with time and a family cushion, and are qualified via test scores and grades, I reject these ideas.
Screens melted their brains! Uh huh.
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Accusing these ghouls of dual loyalty would be too charitable. They just have single loyalty.
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