The inevitable end result of our last 56 years

[Joe Bauer]

I once checked in two couples into the Cypress Inn of Carmel, California.

Almost 20 years ago.

I helped them to their rooms. By coincidence, each couple was from Ireland. They did not come together nor did they know each other.

I have always been keen on accents. They have always intrigued me. 

Each couple had a distinctly "Irish" accent...but I clearly noticed a difference!

Before they departed and I had a few encounters with them as guests, I happened to mention the noticeable difference in their accents.

I was told that there is such a difference depending on what part of Ireland you were from. One of the couples told me they had a County Cork accent.

I forgot what area of Ireland the other couple was from.

[John Cotter]

59 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

I once checked in two couples into the Cypress Inn of Carmel, California.

Almost 20 years ago.

I helped them to their rooms. By coincidence, each couple was from Ireland. They did not come together nor did they know each other.

I have always been keen on accents. They have always intrigued me. 

Each couple had a distinctly "Irish" accent...but I clearly noticed a difference!

Before they departed and I had a few encounters with them as guests, I happened to mention the noticeable difference in their accents.

I was told that there is such a difference depending on what part of Ireland you were from. One of the couples told me they had a County Cork accent.

I forgot what area of Ireland the other couple was from.

What a beautiful place Carmel is. I’m fortunate to have visited that area of California years ago. I was particularly interested in Salinas and Monterey because of John Steinbeck and Big Sur because of Jack Kerouac.

My infatuation with America and Americana has never abated. As someone once said, the reason he liked America so much is that it’s the only country that hasn’t been Americanised. If only the Americans could tone down the militant capitalism, everyone would love them.

To answer William and Kirk, the only political ideology I subscribe to is democracy. George Bernard Shaw said, “Democracy without equality is a delusion more dangerous than frank oligarchy and autocracy”. I’m not sure what he meant by the second part of that sentence, but I fully agree with the first part.

Economic equality means just that. Otherwise, it’s the Orwellian Animal Farm absurdity, “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”

Equal opportunity is a big lie because the poor and especially the children of the poor don’t have the same opportunities as the rich. Therefore, there must be economic equality, including income equality for all fulltime workers, or as near to it as possible.

It’s a heretical idea (I seem to have a lot of those) but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

[Douglas Caddy]

1 hour ago, Matthew Koch said:

Jordan Peterson explains how Putin can't lose 

 

Peterson doesn't talk about it will take Russia two or three decades to get back to where it was in February 2022 when it launched the war against Ukraine. Russia's military has been shown to be pathetic. Its best and brightest people have fled the country. All the major corporations pulled out and will never return, Russia is a pariah. Peterson only focuses upon the West and its problems, which pale against those of Russia. Peterson does not have a genuine mind for geopolitics. 

[Joe Bauer]

7 minutes ago, John Cotter said:

What a beautiful place Carmel is. I’m fortunate to have visited that area of California years ago. I was particularly interested in Salinas and Monterey because of John Steinbeck and Big Sur because of Jack Kerouac.

My infatuation with America and Americana has never abated. As someone once said, the reason he liked America so much is that it’s the only country that hasn’t been Americanised. If only the Americans could tone down the militant capitalism, everyone would love them.

To answer William and Kirk, the only political ideology I subscribe to is democracy. George Bernard Shaw said, “Democracy without equality is a delusion more dangerous than frank oligarchy and autocracy”. I’m not sure what he meant by the second part of that sentence, but I fully agree with the first part.

Economic equality means just that. Otherwise, it’s the Orwellian Animal Farm absurdity, “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”

Equal opportunity is a big lie because the poor and especially the children of the poor don’t have the same opportunities as the rich. Therefore, there must be economic equality, including income equality for all fulltime workers, or as near to it as possible.

It’s a heretical idea (I seem to have a lot of those) but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

John. What did you make of my recollection of the different accents from Ireland?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Matthew Koch said:

Jordan Peterson explains how Putin can't lose 

 

“It’s not that you want to save the planet, it’s that you hate humanity.” 
 

There is an undercurrent of that in so many people. 
 

Of course his commentary on Putin won’t be very welcome here. I wonder if he’ll be called an apologist too, for not cheerleading escalation and WWIII. However, he has Piers Morgan on his own show a week or two later and he gives an analysis of Trump that some would probably like to hear. Morgan also points out that Trump was never that way before becoming president. Its an interesting dialogue between the two. 

[Mark Knight]

Speaking of Irish heritage, my mother was a Turley. My 6th great-grandfather was John Turley II, born in 1670 in Newry, County Down, Ireland. My 18th great-grandfather on my mother's side was Robert I the Bruce [Roibert a Briuis], King of Scots (1274-1329). [He also shows up on my father's side of the family as my second great-uncle's great-uncle's wife's 11th grandfather.] Mom had always said that we were of Scotch-Irish ancestry, but she only knew that she was told that as a child. [So I became the amateur genealogist to track it down.]

I do know that now and again I like some whisky, while other times I prefer whiskey. And when I drink, I'd much rather sing than fight.

[John Cotter]

25 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

John. What did you make of my recollection of the different accents from Ireland?

You’re spot on Joe. Most parts of Ireland have quite distinct accents and the Cork accent is one of the most distinctive ones.

Here’s a video of Corkman Niall Tóibín telling stories in a number of different Irish accents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS-tcF-aXrw

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Mark Knight said:

Speaking of Irish heritage, my mother was a Turley. My 6th great-grandfather was John Turley II, born in 1670 in Newry, County Down, Ireland. My 18th great-grandfather on my mother's side was Robert I the Bruce [Roibert a Briuis], King of Scots (1274-1329). [He also shows up on my father's side of the family as my second great-uncle's great-uncle's wife's 11th grandfather.] Mom had always said that we were of Scotch-Irish ancestry, but she only knew that she was told that as a child. I do know that now and again I like some whisky, while other times I prefer whiskey. And when i drink, I'd much rather sing than fight.

Genealogy is dead interesting. They were some tough times to be alive. I have Bruce’s mother Majorie in my lineage somewhere. I also have John Balliol, Bruce’s rival and protagonist for the throne of Scotland.  It was Bruce who seems to have given my family titles for their help in sacking Aberdeen. Those were very tough times to live, indeed. 

[Matthew Koch]

33 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Peterson doesn't talk about it will take Russia two or three decades to get back to where it was in February 2022 when it launched the war against Ukraine. Russia's military has been shown to be pathetic. Its best and brightest people have fled the country. All the major corporations pulled out and will never return, Russia is a pariah. Peterson only focuses upon the West and its problems, which pale against those of Russia. Peterson does not have a genuine mind for geopolitics. 

 Douglas,

IDK.. Russia's currency has gone up, it's sitting on a lot of European gas and most of the world's fertilizer, it got the United States to shoot a hole in it's boat by getting world trading allies to trade off the dollar, the Biden Administration is hurting relations with allies like Iran and Indian over their energy polices, Biden Administration remains the main suspect in the Pipeline sabotage, The 101st airborne is on the border of Romania and progressive voters are starting to rebel against their congressmen over support for the war to the point they sent a letter to Biden that they just rescinded.
Biden Admin Sanctions reminds me of Elmer Fudd trying to shoot bugs bunny..

Peterson is Canadian and I think he is speaking from his perspective and that perspective is like a lot of people outside of the United States. They know that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Who wants to fight for that? Plus people outside of America aren't getting their news from MSNBC so it's pretty hard to justify joining the fight if your countries CIA doesn't have a proxy war going on and Mocking Bird Media doesn't manufacture consent for the war. I shared the clip because like he said what's the worst is he backs away and Ukraine is left in ruin. This looks to be going so bad for Zelensky that they may be attempting a to use a dirty bomb to false flag a tactical nuke and then people like John Bolton and Matt Allison will call for assassination or worse to Putin. NATO and the Military Industrial Complex will go in and bail out their investment/Putin booby trap. This President has already made the world unsafe enough, any war against Russia with this President and Pentagon leadership is going to be a Mickey Mouse operation. 

 

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Peterson only focuses upon the West and its problems, which pale against those of Russia. Peterson does not have a genuine mind for geopolitics. 

The west is his culture, Douglas. One he is deeply concerned about, particularly the moving away from Judeao-Christian  values. Peterson does have a long history of studying tyrants from a psychoanalytical perspective, I think he is quite qualified in that domain. He is also very well schooled in history. But, he isn’t a geopolitical expert like Mearsheimer, he has no military experience in strategy. 

I guess we’ll see if he is right and if Russia turns the power off this winter. 
 

Putin views western culture as imploding, destroying itself from within. Independent of anything that any foreign leader has said, its something many of us see. The abandoning of the stoic values of the ancient Greeks, the fact people aren’t replicating, we rely on resources from elsewhere and we really don’t make anything anymore. Our leaders sell us out for corporations. We are teaching the young to be ashamed of any cultural identity or heritage. We are celebrating weakness and helplessness. What hope does the culture have? Its dying.  If we look at the promotion of collectivist values, we are putting in place the conditions that walked the world into tyranny and catastrophe in the twentieth century. of course this is a complex and large topic but, things are converging. Even in ancient Rome the people were in denial until the very end. 
 

What we are observing is that Russia has just turned to the east and is trading there. There is no doubt that the conflict and sanctions are actually impacting all sides. But, who is better equipped for hardship? The Russians who have a near history of tremendous struggle and hardship or the Europeans who have decades of comfort, decadence and an obsession with safety/fear and zero unity in society. 
 

Russia’s military is nothing compared to the US or NATO together but, it doesn’t need to be. The nukes and bioweapons are the deterrent. As Peterson is stating in this video, the Russians will call this a win, even if they leave next week. All it says to these other eastern block countries on its borders is; if you want your country smashed to bits and a massive death toll, then have NATO in. The cost is huge. Its easy for Putin inside Russia to reason why the conflict happened, as 14k ethnic Russians have been ethnic cleansed inside Ukraine between 2014 and the start of this conflict. And Russia is surrounded on its western borders by NATO troops (some of my friends are serving there). There is a similar surrounding of China on its south and eastern flanks. Its all easy sell to point out that they are being squeezed. 
 

FYI please don’t do what others do and assume I am apologising for Putin or Russia. I am just pointing out that when you step out of the powerful western media propaganda for a moment and pop a neutral hat on, it looks a little different. I keep repeating myself but, I desire peace, detente and rapprochement, which is what JFK would have pushed for, deescalation. 

 

 

[Matthew Koch]

1 hour ago, Chris Barnard said:

Of course his commentary on Putin won’t be very welcome here. I wonder if he’ll be called an apologist too, for not cheerleading escalation and WWIII. However, he has Piers Morgan on his own show a week or two later and he gives an analysis of Trump that some would probably like to hear. Morgan also points out that Trump was never that way before becoming president. Its an interesting dialogue between the two. 

The interesting thing that Piers doesn't get is that Putin said this for years only the old people in Russia believed him. Until, sanctions and like Douglas mentions corporations pulling out and showed them that Putin wasn't using hyperbole when he said the west hates Russia. So, NATO and Western Capitalism two things lefties used to be against unified the country and then the Ukrainians not taking the olive branch on the border or when Putin sent his military in to further illustrate that he didn't want to kill fellow Orthodox Christians and used his military to menace Kiev and Zelensky into taking the Donbas deal has further convinced people that this is a fight worth fighting. So it's going to be a cold winter for Ukrainians, and appears to be a dark one since the grid is being taken out https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/23/ukraine-faces-power-outages-after-massive-russian-strikes-target-energy-facilities

 

Lols, Maybe that's what Zelensky actually meant with his shirt that said come to the dark side? I love how the establishment thinks the population is so stupid that if they just make the right fictional movie reference the population that is so far in the matrix will support the war... 

 

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Koch said:

I love how the establishment thinks the population is so stupid that if they just make the right fictional movie reference the population that is so far in the matrix will support the war... 

They are at it all the time, using deeply psychological techniques and linguistics that coerce the minds of the masses. Much of it is so subliminal that people don’t realise their thoughts are being shaped. 

[Matt Allison]

Hmm, some confused people here. So time for a quick reality check:

Ukraine isn't bombing Russia.

No one is bombing Russia.

Putin is the only one waging war.

Putin is the only one bombing playgrounds and terrorizing civilians.

Cool. Now have a nice day.

[John Cotter]

2 hours ago, Mark Knight said:

Speaking of Irish heritage, my mother was a Turley. My 6th great-grandfather was John Turley II, born in 1670 in Newry, County Down, Ireland. My 18th great-grandfather on my mother's side was Robert I the Bruce [Roibert a Briuis], King of Scots (1274-1329). [He also shows up on my father's side of the family as my second great-uncle's great-uncle's wife's 11th grandfather.] Mom had always said that we were of Scotch-Irish ancestry, but she only knew that she was told that as a child. [So I became the amateur genealogist to track it down.]

I do know that now and again I like some whisky, while other times I prefer whiskey. And when I drink, I'd much rather sing than fight.

Well the surname Knight does suggest aristocratic ancestry. It’s great that you know your ancestry that far back. How did you do it? It’s harder in (southern) Ireland because the national records were destroyed during the Irish Civil War in 1922. One would have to go to various parish records to track things down.

The surname Cotter in Ireland is derived from the Viking name Ottar. There was a Viking king of Dublin named Ottar in the 12^th century. I like to think I have some kind of distant connection to the famous Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter – but of course everyone of northern European ancestry could say the same.

I have a notion that most of us have some kind of royal or exalted ancestry somewhere back along the line because the high status ones were the most likely to be in a position to procreate and ensure their children were similarly privileged. As Chris said, there were incredibly tough times back then.

I stay away from the whiskey and whisky except on rare occasions when I sip a small amount. It doesn’t agree with me at all. There were two or three occasions many years ago when I completely “flipped” on whiskey or whisky and got obstreperous, though not violent. I actually don’t understand why it ever became such a popular drink. As Plato said, whoever invented beer was a wise man.

Edited October 25, 2022 by John Cotter

[Douglas Caddy]

I would be interested in finding out whether Peterson has ever visited Russia. One's perspective changes with a visit. I spent two weeks Russia in 1974 and visited Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Odessa. Our small group of lawyers and their wives attended a trial in Kiev where three fearsome looking female judges presided. It was scary. We were invited inside the Kremlin and also went through Lenin's tomb. Three of us were on Russian television although we did not know that we were being filmed at the time. This was intermission at a symphony. All the Russians rushed out to the foyer because there was food. We did not know that and stayed in our seats. When we got back to the hotel, we found that we were on TV because the intermission was filmed.  The symphony show was played over and over again as there were no commercials and nothing else to watch. Our wonderful KGB guide's face turned pale the next morning when we told her that we had been on TV. Once she understood she relaxed. She was afraid for a moment that we had done something that reflected badly on her. That was the Soviet Union at the heart of the cold war. Now Russia in returning back to those terrible days, leaving the modern world and returning to a total dictatorship. If Peterson has not visited Russia, it is too late. Visiting there now would lead to arrest and a show trial and a long prison sentence. The West has its problems but it sure beats living in Russia by a million light years.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Douglas Caddy