21 Comments
Apr 5, 2022Liked by laughlyn (johan eddebo)

"These measures, which US officials said were taken to sever the Taliban’s access to foreign assets..."

The insanity & hypocrisy of this is staggering...

The Times of London reports that the US simply abandoned a truly astounding arsenal of military equipment and weapons. This reportedly includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs. So, too, the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units. Oh, and the Taliban will likely inherit state-of-the-art military helicopters, warplanes, and other aircraft... The value of the abandoned equipment/weaponry estimates range from $10-$80 billion...

https://web.archive.org/web/20210901203254/https://www.themainewire.com/2021/09/heres-the-list-of-billions-in-military-equipment-the-us-left-behind-for-the-taliban/

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Apr 8, 2022Liked by laughlyn (johan eddebo)

I like your comparison with the hockey fans.

It seems to me that the choice of allegiance is made on a group level and then adopted by individuals. If your friends, family, neighbours - all your significant others - cheer for Oilers, it would be seen by them as a betrayal if you do not cheer or, worse, cheer for a team Oilers currently are competing with.

So dissenting is costly and painful. Moreover, as Hume once said: "If we believe, that fire warms, or water refreshes, it is only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise." Thus we believe that Oilers are the best. Many do not even dare to consider the possibility that the current narrative might be wrong, because it might possibly lead you to pain and social isolation.

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I wanted to thank you for your poetry reading on the most recent Aesthetic Resistance podcast. It is infectious.

Here is a poem in honor of another divinely mad poet, Christopher Smart, born today (April 11) who praised in Jubilate Agnos the elements of the day August 13, 1759, including his cat Jeoffrey.

Wild Gratitude

Tonight when I knelt down next to our cat, Zooey,

And put my fingers into her clean cat's mouth,

And rubbed her swollen belly that will never know kittens,

And watched her wriggle onto her side, pawing the air,

And listened to her solemn little squeals of delight,

I was thinking about the poet, Christopher Smart,

Who wanted to kneel down and pray without ceasing

In every one of the splintered London streets,

And was locked away in the madhouse at St. Luke's

With his sad religious mania, and his wild gratitude,

And his grave prayers for the other lunatics,

And his great love for his speckled cat, Jeoffry.

All day today—August 13, 1983—I remembered how

Christopher Smart blessed this same day in August, 1759,

For its calm bravery and ordinary good conscience.

This was the day that he blessed the Postmaster General

"And all conveyancers of letters" for their warm humanity,

And the gardeners for their private benevolence

And intricate knowledge of the language of flowers,

And the milkmen for their universal human kindness.

This morning I understood that he loved to hear—

As I have heard—the soft clink of milk bottles

On the rickety stairs in the early morning,

And how terrible it must have seemed

When even this small pleasure was denied him.

But it wasn't until tonight when I knelt down

And slipped my hand into Zooey's waggling mouth

That I remembered how he'd called Jeoffry "the servant

Of the Living God duly and daily serving Him,"

And for the first time understood what it meant.

Because it wasn't until I saw my own cat

Whine and roll over on her fluffy back

That I realized how gratefully he had watched

Jeoffry fetch and carry his wooden cork

Across the grass in the wet garden, patiently

Jumping over a high stick, calmly sharpening

His claws on the woodpile, rubbing his nose

Against the nose of another cat, stretching, or

Slowly stalking his traditional enemy, the mouse,

A rodent, "a creature of great personal valour,"

And then dallying so much that his enemy escaped.

And only then did I understand

It is Jeoffry—and every creature like him—

Who can teach us how to praise—purring

In their own language,

Wreathing themselves in the living fire.

From Wild Gratitude by Edward Hirsch Copyright © 1986 by Edward Hirsch.

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RF troops destroy, kill, rape, commit many atrocities in Ukraine. NOW! Whatever support Ukraine gained, that is useful but not enough. We live in the world, where the war must be stopped. Not by neutrality, virtue signalling, but active commitment either to have peace or not. RF is evil now, not an escape goat, but pure evil. Stop the war, then can be time for reflection and philosophy, whatever kind of philosophy and critical or geopolitical thinking, but now all what can help to stop the war need to be absolutely mobilised. Even small virtue signalling!! Absolutely Everything! Stop the war, get us go back to our lives, then think together.

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