history

some food for thought in these testing times: is anti-zionism = anti-semitism?

watch israeli historian and political scientist ilan pappe (jewish) debate journalist for jerusalem post melanie phillips (jewish)

and british born reporter and oxford graduate mehdi hasan (muslim) debate knesset member einat wilf (jewish)

since all middle easterners have been silenced and equated to “animals”, branded “incompetent, ignorant, uneducated and never to be believed”… it is nice to hear these words from 3 out of 4 speakers of jewish decent and one oxford graduated “muslim brown boy” that just maybe you can “half-believe”.

what is terrorism?

2014 gaza war – operation protective edge death tool – democracy now PBS

regardless of the bios, this is an interesting debate with some factual historic background to help you sort out your own thoughts. in this age of misinformation and propaganda please always research facts from several opposing sources in order to reach a best guess scenario. somethings of course, require no research – occupying, locking and controlling a people is wrong, kidnapping innocent civilians, killing the elderly and defenseless citizens is also outright wrong and all of them should be condemned. and while self defense is warranted to bring the perpetrators to justice, bombing an entire neighborhood, or schools, or a high-rises is no-way to justify getting a mass shooter inside. “collective punishment of civilians to achieve a political goal” is wrong and by definition is terrorism – no matter who partakes in that.

the troubles did not begin on oct 7th as many would like us to believe. the blood shed and oppression and resistance and terrorism has been going on for more than 75c years. our stance remains: condemn all collective punishment/terrorism no matter who partakes in them

bring the perpetrators to justice (*sometimes they are a group, sometimes they are a state)

free all hostages including wrongful detainment of political prisoners inside israel

stop the war and especially stop the killing of civilians – needless to say jewish, christian, or muslim… but especially atheists

negotiate a “just” peace with equally strengthened parties and an unbiased judge (meaning not the U.S.) to reach a two state solution or a one state with equal rights.

 

finally zionism is an ideology like communism, you can surely be against communism but not racist towards russians, or chineses who were communist or some of the founders of communism who where jewish. this is a mafia style gag order, routed in zero rational or reality.

…to peace and collaboration of all humans, and to everyone standing up to bullies, on the playground and on the world map – amen and dog bless america. by xy

CATEGORIES: clips, history, read

Apple ads: Find out why 1997 won’t be like 1993

apple think different ad campaign 1997 albert einstein

apple think different ad campaign 1997 john lennon and yoko ono

gap kakhis ad campaign 1993 ernest hemingway

gap kakhis ad campaign 1993 miles davis

i never connected the two, but apple’s “think different” campaign by chiat/day LA that came out in 1997 is practically the same as gap’s kakhis campaign that came out in 1993. who would have thought apple and lee claw of chiat would so blatantly rip a campaign form gaps in-house department! granted the kakhis ads where purely on the surface. miles wore kakhis and if you want to be just as cool wear khakis too. granted there was no gap around when miles wore those but that’s a minor note.

apple on the other hand connected to the thinking and culture of those individuals like john and yoko and einstein, and not so much on the appearance… but the idea to take an old cool picture and slap your logo on it – was not only the laziest idea but also one of the most beautiful, it really worked.

still some of my favorite campaigns, because they beautified the streets rather than pollute them. or so I say… by uh

CATEGORIES: history

spacex vs nasa: saturn and apollo programs that paved the way


elon musks spacex new starship super heavy rocket go for launch and the spacex’s replica nasa spaceshuttle version tesmanian falcon heavy

now i know kanye west and donald trump are the real genius’ out there but before elon, there was the incredible nasa saturn program and the german super villain engineer, and SS party member, dr. wernher von braun (the man behind the Nazi V2 rocket at peenemunde during world war II) who after the war “helped” take the first US astronaut to outer space and eventually to the moon.

rockets of the world by country – amazed at some of the tiny countries and their tiny rockets…

I had the pleasure of meeting and having breakfast with astronaut buzz aldrin (brag) so I may be biased, but here are 2 great documentaries that i enjoyed watching. if link is broken try and search for “nasa doco – the the moon – Pt1 – awesome” its a national geographic docu that is no longer available unfortunately…

enjoy – amazing to see how they risked it all to go into the unknown, the fogging up of the astronaut helmets, the first EVAs and 170 beat per minute heartbeat, one astronaut lost 10.5 lbs in just 2 hours of EVA – upon return they discovered 2 lbs of sweat in the shoes of his space suits. fascinating and impressive. by uh

CATEGORIES: history

and so you think you have friends?

“when the day is done”

my friend was crying to me to the other day, she was let down because the friends she thought she had, turned out not to be such friends. in trying to console her i said “you know what? i don’t have many true friends either, but that’s ok.” my father told me when i was a kid that “if, by the end of your life, you can count your friends on one hand, you should consider yourself a lucky man.” i couldn’t quite understand it at age 12… i thought i already had 20+ odd friends, but i so understand now what he meant. not sure if that helped her that night. but i was up till 5am drinking and talking to an artist who was visiting new york and what he said to me was even more profound… i’ll tell you…

we joked how today, people have thousands of followers but zero friends. i was trying to name a few of my good friends that i have acquired through the years. some had dropped off my list but came back into my life and redeemed themselves. i was able to roll off a few, three, four… and we then laughed, as neither of us named the other. you know, its not easy to become a friend – that’s no easy task…

he said when he was in art school and before he left for prague, he was longing for a new chapter. he was assessing the people he had spent his time with and sorting out in his head who they really were and why they had even come together. people travel not just physically but mentally and intellectually. when he told his teacher about this vacancy of souls the teacher said this:

 

“… don’t worry and don’t fret that you have so few friends now… you will surely find your friends in history one day.”

 

oh my beautiful jesus – whom i so don’t believe in – i think this was really one of the most beautiful of truths i have heard in so many years. i just stared at him for some time, and a warm smile just lite up my face. it all dawned on me, and crashed onto me… it connected all my dots… i just loved that… and i wanted to share it with you all – but more importantly i wanted to put it up here so i will never forget it. now, i can come here whenever i need, and remember the wealth of friends i have! and these are just the few i am able to roll off… there are many more!

tell me about love

tell me about dignity

tell me about sacrifice

tell me about range

tell me everything

tell me about single mindedness

tell me about fairness

… you can smile now.

ok now go to bed… and remember… you may have friends that you have never met, but in the end your true friends are those who inspire you and change you for the better. thank you to HT for our late night chats, and all of this, we miss you… my new friend!   by dd

CATEGORIES: f#@k your heroes... look at ours, history, music

Us vs. sweden: we have vloggers and so do they!

“this is my very first vlog EVER!” says alissa violet, making the world a better place one video at a time

and here’s the swedish equivalent, elin ersson, who was being trashed by haters for doing all of this for some fame and attention!! oh really? refugee deportation from gothenburg to Afghanistan the perfect topic for teenage fame.

I mean how horrible can people be to look past the brave efforts of this young girl, risking financial and physical damage to save a strangers life she believes is at risk. these horrible people consider her action to be fueled by self promotion? if this is how people do self promotion, and chase after their 5 minutes of fame, then be it… how fantastic that would be. yuuuuuge respects for swedish lioness elin ersson, so impressed with your bravery and conviction the world needs more of you. aside from the julian assange incident, i think i simply love sweden and even more now. we love you erin xx. by kt

CATEGORIES: clips, earth related, history, lovely

in honor of the persian new year here is a clip of the bygone golden days

above the 2500 year celebration party, “decadence and downfall : the worlds most expensive party”

and now that we are on this topic; here is “the fall of the shah” about the revolution of 1979. this may also be of interest.

the deposed shah of iran had a massive party to celebrate the 2,500 years of the persian empire, inviting the heads-of-state from around the world. it was the party of the century and monarchs, and the like, hustled to insure the right seats at the table. this of course was just a few year before the revolution and the beginning of islamic republic of iran. fun little movie from BBC – documenting the 2500 year celebration of the persian heritage. happy norouz, and for the rest of you happy first day of spring. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, history, must see docus, other places

Amok Science: Did the Polio vaccine in congo created the AIDS virus?

hilary koprowski was the target of accusations in the press, an allegation long refuted by “evidence” showing that the HIV-1 virus was introduced to humans long before his polio-vaccine trials were conducted in africa. however, the “evidence” is disputed and targeted in this documentary.

polio (oral) vaccine used in belgian congo as an experiment

I must say that I’m a total supporter of vaccines, and I believe strongly in the opinion of the scientific community. but like all good things that can go astray, I do have serious concerns about the lack of honesty, greed and monetary realities of the pharmaceutical complex. it is very very possible that this was a lapse of judgement, or involved a handful of bad apples, but it had to be suppressed in order to salvage the confidence of the public, save the moral standing of the west and avoid financial disaster for the pharmaceutical companies involved. that is very plausible and this documentary by channel four surely raises those doubts and drills holes into the conclusion of the royal society. watch it, judge for yourself, but don’t form an opinion till you research this thoroughly. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, history, must see docus

and now for some fake news: but a fun documentary – the dubious friends of donald trump

look at that pretty deal-maker face… and those gull wing collars on that jacket! def not a  loser!

this is a documentary about “…trump’s business and personal ties to oligarchs from the former soviet union, and their connections with the netherlands…”

part II: why is oprah the screen shot for this film when shes completely irrelevant to the film? – Aha! this is a black conspiracy… clearly!

part II covers “donald trump’s controversial friends, including billionaire Lev Leviev, suspected of trading in blood diamonds. He is one of the world’s biggest diamond traders and owns prestigious stores in new york and moscow, but he is also the owner of siebel, the netherlands’ biggest jewellery chain. leviev has ties with russian president putin, US president trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner. trump, however, claims he hardly knows this “king of diamonds.”

who made this documentary? zembla. they are a dutch television program. the documentaries are based on in-depth research. a documentary in 2001 about fraud in the dutch construction sector led to parliamentary inquiries. in may 2006, the program exposed the fact that politician ayaan hirsi ali had lied in her claim for asylum, which led to her resignation from parliament. this documentary was made in 2017 it has not lead to any resignations yet! more on zembla.

happy watching and for any accurate reporting please refer to breitbart news, or your facebook feed from friends. by ar

CATEGORIES: clips, history

brilliant: surf punk and a whole lot of kitsch to go with that…

cindy cruz of B52’s

the B52’s: “dance this mess around,” downtown cafe in atlanta, georgia in 1978 – now you know where the talking heads took their cues…

fred schneider of the B52’s

the B52’s “planet claire,” and its exceptionally brilliant long intro, a total fu to the rules of pop radio – november 1980 capital theater

cindy cruz and fred schneider

the B52’s “give me back my man” – early years… you may have to watch this one on youtube sorry!

…and if by any chance you are not into politics, and simply want to escape to a time when all we american had to worry about was how to party, here is the ultimate kitsch punk band that never got the credit it deserved.

these guys clearly didn’t take themselves too seriously, but i must say that in hind-site, they were punk as f#@k, more punk than the circle jerks and definitely more punk than the sex pistols. they were cool without trying to be cool, punk with out claiming to be punk. they had fun and did what they wanted until of course fame took over, and as the saying goes, radio killed the real super stars. i’d give my left arm to see them live in some santa monica venue back in the late 70’s… although i just learned they were not even from california, but rather from athens, giorgia!!! who says a dead man cant fart? (some of you may understand that better than others). by ac

CATEGORIES: clips, history, music

oliver stones granted exclusive access to putin

following up on the political thread, after you have watched citzenfour and risk you should definitely set a side time for the up and coming four part mini series by oliver stone on showtime. oliver stone was granted exclusive access to putin, we cant wait to see the whole thing..  by kt

CATEGORIES: clips, history

WWII and the rise of the SS in full color recently restored

a civilian political leader, adolf hitler, with only “good intentions” for the mother land…

young idyllic german youth with initially good intentions

the rise of the SS to power

 and the propaganda which followed that poisoned the minds of ordinary citizens.

remember that this already happened.

this is a great historic documentary in these very trying times. regardless of your current political views this is a good lesson in history and the events that lead to a disaster, not just for the nation itself, but for the world as a whole. worth a watch if you have any interest in the past or the future. enjoy and feel free to share it. by ar

CATEGORIES: clips, history, must be considered films