the progression;

see.........

 this is how three astronauts, who have just returned from landing on the moon, so we're told, respond to media questions. they hadn't, and if you have seen the stanley kubric interview, he tells you how he filmed the moon landing, in a movie set, for the first and third 'landing'. they didn't go there;

watch.........

 these days when the putin speaks lots of ears open up but brains don't always accompany the ears;

NATO started the conflict in Ukraine, but Russia will end it on its terms, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart this week in a wake-up call.

It’s always refreshing and necessary to bring reality into a conversation, assuming, of course, that the purpose of the dialogue is genuinely to resolve a problem.

France’s Emmanuel Macron requested the phone call with Putin this week. It was the first time the two leaders had spoken in nearly three years. The long absence was due to Moscow claiming that Macron breached diplomatic protocol after the last phone call in 2022 by leaking details to the media.

In any case, Putin showed magnanimity and a willingness to engage diplomatically by taking the call this week from Macron. The two leaders talked for over two hours.

Apart from Ukraine, another topic discussed was the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran, and the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites. Macron agreed with Putin that Iran has the right to pursue civilian nuclear energy production, and both appealed for diplomacy to prevent escalation, according to the Kremlin’s statement on the phone conversation............more..........

 we haven't been a government of and by the people for at least a hundred years;

As Americans celebrated another July 4, notably the 250th anniversary of America’s founding – fireworks, barbeques, and revelry swelled as the country’s institutions congratulated themselves for their democratic resilience.

Yet with recent events, the contradictions are impossible to ignore.

Even as millions extolled the ideal of “government of the people”, those truly in charged flexed their power where it actually matters: in boardrooms, think tanks, and war rooms.

Unelected billionaires now dictate policy by text message. The Iran strikes were ordered without congressional oversight, justified by a decades-old war authorization passed a generation ago. America’s wealthiest donors and corporations funneled record sums into campaigns, shaping trends and decisions without most people even realizing it.

Leaked private messages between Larry Ellison and Elon Musk in 2022 revealed casual exchanges like: “A billion… or whatever you recommend” and “$250 M with no additional work required”, from Marc Andreessen.

These leaked messages offer rare, concrete evidence of billionaires coordinating massive financial moves by text – treating sums that could fund entire public programs as pocket change.

The military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last month were carried out without congressional approval. Sadly, this is nothing new and continues a longstanding trend of presidents exercising unilateral military authority............more........

 mr peters investigates new car prices;

As you have probably heard or already know, the average price paid for a new vehicle is now about $50,000. You may have also heard or read that almost 20 percent of new car loans exceed $1,000 per month. It pays not to buy into that.

But how much does it actually cost?

I decided to see – using my ’02 Nissan Frontier (which I intend to keep for as long as possible) as the basis for the estimate. Right now, the truck is in great mechanical shape and so it costs me next-to-nothing to not buy into a loan on a new truck, – which would cost me a minimum of $31,900 (plus interest) for the least expensive new truck on the market, the Chevy Colorado...........more........

 tucker. deep state. explore;

I have stated that I know Bill Kristol. His father, Irving Kristol, founded the Neocons. I had direct conversations, and I can confirm that this has been an agenda dealing with Iran that has always been about regime change. I was told that removing the dictators and overthrowing Iran would somehow bring peace to the Middle East. We drew their borders, and they see themselves more as tribes than as citizens of a state............more..........

 mexicans share our feelings about being 'invaded';

In a role reversal that underscores a universal resentment of economic and social impacts caused by a major influx of foreigners, demonstrators marched in Mexico City on Friday to protest against the city's status as a hot new residential destination for American ex-pats and remote workers. Though it started peacefully, many demonstrators turned violent, with some of them accosting Americans and smashing the restaurants, banks and other businesses that cater to them.

Angered by soaring rents they rationally blame on foreigners, hundreds of protesters marched through Condesa and Roma -- two neighborhoods that are particularly popular with Americans living in or visiting Mexico City --  and proceeded to the US embassy and to a metro station. Their signs expressed a variety of sentiments: 

• Gringo: Stop Stealing Our Home
• Mexico For Mexicans
• Pay Taxes, Speak Spanish, Use Pesos Or Get Out Of Here
• Death To The Neo-Colonizer
• Expat = Gentrifier
• Your New Home Is An Invasion
• Gentrification = Neo-Colonization
• To Gentrify Isn't Progress, It's Dispossession 
• We Shouldn't Feel Like Foreigners In Our Own Land.............more..........