Category: Primordial Soup

Missives from the most primitive place on earth.

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US Government to Address Holistic Medicine

RFK, Jr., has very diligently earned his reputation as the champion of the underdog in the realm of medicine. It is supremely refreshing to know that he will leverage his role as the leader of the department of Health and Human Services to put alternative and holistic medicines on the same footing as modern western medicine by addressing the problem of irreproducibility in the hodgepodge of studies that have failed to convince the medical establishment of the efficacy of these miracle cures, to the consternation of alternative medicine advocates and the detriment of the many reputable businesses that produce the highest quality urines for Ayurvedic applications.

The well-designed double-blind and properly controlled studies of vitamin A for measles treatment are coming, and the sterling environmental lawyer at the head of HHS will shepherd the studies that will show how unvaccinated children survive polio, measles and rubella by ingesting his personal medic’s 100% consistent herbal remedies better than vaccinated children who have been thriving for generations.

Yes, there is a replication crisis afoot in alternative medicine, and RFK, Jr., will fix it.

Efforts have been underway for years to improve the replicability of research studies, but some are skeptical of the US government’s motivations to help

Source: Amid White House claims of a research ‘replication crisis,’ scientists offer solutions

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The Timing of Israel’s Attack on Iran

The Israeli Prime Minister is a criminal on the lam in his own government. He has been on trial for corruption for over three years, and he was in charge of the government for years (2009 – 2021 and 2022 until now) before the October 7 atrocities occurred in southern Israel. His evasion of responsibility for the negligence of his administration of cronies has been nothing but stunning.

He unleashed unbridled violence against combatants and civilians alike in Gaza for the sole purpose of earning the distinction of an International Criminal Court indictment in order to galvanize his base, and when this base managed to keep his government intact on June 13, 2025, he launched attacks on Iran to draw attention away from the grievous situation in Gaza. In 20 months, this reprobate prime minister has managed to erase all memory of his gross incompetence at the heart of the October 7 massacres by overseeing atrocities that galvanize his base and by hoodwinking the American President into validating his bogus war against Iran with tactical strikes; strikes that squandered American taxpayer dollars and risked placing America’s most prized bomber in harm’s way in an ultimately unsuccessful sortie to defuse Iran’s atomic bomb progam.

In nearly all political crimes, it is the coverup that undoes the criminal. The Israeli PM’s military efforts have ensured that Israel’s national integrity is harmed by his removal. By thus ensuring that Israel’s existence is imperiled by any attempt for reckoning, the Israeli PM has delayed such reckoning beyond his death, by which time Israel may be a pariah nation. The deviousness of this plan is surpassed only by its unfathomable recklessness. It’s hard to imagine that any Israeli endowed with a sense of country, a grasp of morality and a desire for a peaceful future will elect to stay in Israel.

The timing of Israel’s attack on Iran one day after Israel’s PM survived a confidence vote in the Israeli parliament establishes political survival as his motivation, not patriotism.

 

The BBC’s Hugo Bachega reports from Jerusalem, after Israel launched overnight strikes against sites across Iran.

Source: Analysis: Why has Israel chosen to attack Iran now?

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Propaganda Network Volunteers to Fund Newsom’s Campaign

The statement from the propaganda network this far has been:

Fox said in a statement: “Governor Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”

The translation is that Newsom will have a nearly $1 billion war chest for his 2028 presidential campaign by around this time next year. Just as was the case with the Dominion Voting settlement, the propaganda network will cough up the money moments before subpoenas are issued for its records and for the White House call logs.

 

Source: California’s Newsom sues Fox News for $787 million for defamation over Trump call | Reuters

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Musk is Right About Harvard Grads

Bill Ackman is an expert at extortion. As an “activist” investor, he buys a spot on company boards, complains and whines ad nauseum until he gets his away and often cashes out before anyone has discovered that he has gutted the company he controls. Only a man this bereft of the slightest shred creativity required for creating a company that manufactures a product–a company that creates wealth–could ever graduate from Harvard for the purpose of extorting money from business, extorting his own alma mater for allowing free speech on campus and, eventually, helping elect an extortionist who extorted Ackman himself with Tariffs.

There is no moral to this story. There is only the repetition of phenomenon seen repeatedly in history: authoritarianism ultimately digs its own grave by causing unending infighting.

This is no illustration that all Harvard graduates are stupid, as Elon Musk likes to claim. It is ample evidence that a great many Harvard graduates positively are.

As trillions vanish from markets, the smart money gets a hard lesson about the president it was betting on.

Source: Trump Tariffs: Wall Street Billionaires Criticize Policy as Market Declines – Bloomberg

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Vote for Quality of Life Needs to Be Recognized As Such

Paris residents vote to make 500 more streets pedestrian 

Though only 4% of the city voters participated in this referendum, no significant opposition against making a city that is extremely pedestrian friendly even more pedestrian friendly. Tempting as it might be to view this as a reflection of “leftist” politics, no doubt exists regarding its being another manifestation of the global movement away from the noise, pollution, inconvenience and nuisance of rampant car culture in cities. In Paris, in particular, pedestrian life that was emphasized during covid lockdowns was reinforced by a magical Olympic experience wherein the entire city became a memorable character in every single sporting event. It is not surprising that people would opt to retain the camaraderie and social connection that car-free streets encourage. Paris is lucky enough to have a superb transportation infrastructure that provides residents with multiple means of getting about town. Absent any significant reduction in mobility, it is obvious that people would prefer to walk, bike or ride subway in order to retain neighborhoods devoid of car noise and pollution. Cities were made for people, after all.

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Elon Musk in Two Stories

There are two stories that perfectly capture the essence, the core, the totality and the absolute truth about Musk. The first is the piece by Sam Harris, The Trouble with Elon. The other is Harry Shearer‘s recounting of Elon Musk’s obsession with being a globally ranked video game player (starting at minute 4:00).

Continue reading “Elon Musk in Two Stories”
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Moral Ambiguity Undermines Military Operations

Source: Some Israeli soldiers refuse to keep fighting in Gaza

There is little doubt that the incoming American president’s threats to unleash hell motivated Hamas to accept wholesale Israel’s ceasefire terms, but the revelation of dissent within the ranks of the Israeli military documented in this AP article cannot be dismissed. The moral ambiguity of the military intervention in Gaza has very nearly torn Israeli society apart, and now it is now introducing cracks into the historically cohesive and unshakably united Israeli military. The Israeli prime minister is always quick to cast aspersions on foreign politicians who oppose his military escapade in Gaza, but dissent in the IDF, no matter how small, is a staggering measure of the degree to which the Israeli prime minister has degraded the cohesiveness of the Israeli fighting forces. No leader, foreign or domestic, has ever evoked open dissent in the ranks of the Israeli military. This fact renders moot the opposition of other soldier to this dissent:

“They are harming our ability to defend ourselves,” said Gilad Segal, a 42-year-old paratrooper who spent two months in Gaza at the end of 2023. He said everything the army did was necessary, including the flattening of houses used as Hamas hideouts. It’s not a soldier’s place to agree or disagree with the government, he argued.

The axiom that moral uncertainty weakens the morale of the fighting force that was manifest in Vietnam holds true in Israel. It is the moral ambiguity of the cause that harms the ability of the Israeli military to defend the nation. The dissenters correctly report the futility of much of the violence they are perpetrating in Gaza. As such, it is difficult to blame soldiers who are acting according to a clear understanding of the teachings of Judaism rather than on the deliberately ambiguous orders of a prime minister who is on trial and is more desperate than a cornered rat to retain power and avoid serving a prison sentence in his 70s.

A growing number of Israeli soldiers are speaking out against the Israel-Hamas war. They say they did or saw things that crossed ethical lines.

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Knowledge Trumps Faith, always

Source: Trump’s pro-Israel cabinet picks upset Muslims who voted for him | Reuters

The Muslim community’s disappointment in the exceptionally pro-Israel cabinet candidates that Donald Trump has thus far named is the ultimate proof that bargaining in good faith with a known bad actor guarantees one’s loss. Given the president elect’s history of instituting Muslim immigration bans, denigrating Muslims and embracing Benjamin Netanyahu, it is unfathomable how anyone could have had faith that he would approach the Gaza military conflict any more favorably toward Palestinians than Joe Biden. Knowledge of his past attitudes and actions provided absolute certainty of his intentions. Why did these leaders blink?

These Muslim leaders are not young men. They range in age from their 40s into their 70s. It is unfathomable that men in leadership positions can retain such naïveté into such old ages. Anyone endowed with good memory learns by his or her early 40s that bargaining in good faith while one fully knows the other party’s ill intentions is a terrible idea, a nonstarter. Even men of faith should have realized that one places faith in God, not in men. Faith in God is a tool with which one places accountability on men. The absence of accountability in this scenario casts unbounded doubt on the faith of the Muslim leaders.

Muslim leaders backed Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon. His choices are staunch supporters of their foe.

 

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BBC’s Not So Subtle Antisemitism Resurfaces

BBC News is not the sole outlet guilty of misleading headlines and ledes, but it bears the distinction of generating the disproportionate number of ledes that pin blame on Israel even though the story itself explicitly states a lack of evidence for claims made in the lede. This story is another perfect such example. The title of the story is “Five Gaza journalists killed in Israeli strike targeting armed group”, yet the text emphatically states

The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side, with international media being prevented by Israel from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.

There is absolutely no justification, therefore, in having a title that claims that Israel targeted journalists because no such event was verified. Furthermore, the BBC didn’t even verify that the credentials of journalists who were supposedly targeted.

There are so many lapses in editorial judgment in this piece that it is hard to see it as anything other than a deliberate smear against the Israeli military and the Israeli government. Given the British government’s unqualified support for Israel in the aftermath of the October 7th massacre, this is clearly a hatchet piece designed to denigrate a people, not a government. As such, it is clearly a piece born of antisemitism, and one that will ultimately stand as lie that will detract from whatever human rights case is ultimately brought against Israel.

Casting aspersions is a futile endeavor unbecoming of a legitimate news service. BBC News needs a new editorial board.

A Palestinian TV channel says they were in a marked media van in the central Gaza Strip.

Source: Five Gaza journalists killed in Israeli strike targeting armed group

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Great Actor Stands Up for Great Art

It is not a mystery why the ratings for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards Ceremony, better known as the Academy Awards or The Oscars, have seen rapidly declining ratings over the past decade: they are nominating and rewarding every shittier movies. Gone are the times when the awards committee would go to extraordinary lengths to promote movies that told worthwhile, original stories with breathtaking skill in direction and cinematography. Now, The Oscars are little more than auxiliary marketing campaigns for the vapid blockbuster movies that earn billions solely by virtue of outsized marketing campaigns and dominant distribution deals that leave movie fans with little choice of what to see.

Naturally, it falls to the old, established and accomplished actor to give The Academy the criticism it deserves. It is a tired cliché that the masses want pablum. Hollywood could make money by making good movies. Now, they are suffering the consequences of the commodification of their products: people can only eat so much pablum. Overfed on the tasteless stuff, movie fans can scarcely stand three-hour telecasts praising the stuff they have been force fed far beyond the point of satiety.

If anyone had any backbone in Hollywood, then they would heed Penn’s criticism, but much like a dictatorship, they have become prisoners in the system they created.

Sean Penn has blasted the organizers of the Oscars of being cowards who, in effect, limit the kind of films that can be funded and made. Source: Sean Penn accuses Academy Awards of cowardice at Marrakech Film Festival