…well, I mean [DOT 27/3/22]

it's not what they say...

…we’ve all said something we didn’t mean at some point…but…we haven’t all been president when we did it?

Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, US president Joe Biden said in Warsaw on Saturday in a speech addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, a White House official said soon after the speech that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia.

…& who knows…maybe he didn’t mean to…but then again…in the same speech he did seem pretty keen on everybody being on the same page?

“I’m confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on being able to divide NATO, to separate the eastern flank from the west, to separate nations based on past histories. But he hasn’t been able to do it. We’ve all stayed together. And it is so important that we keep in lockstep,” Biden said.
[…]
Asked by reporters what seeing Ukrainian refugees at Stadion Narodowy made him think of as he deals with Vladimir Putin, Biden responded: “He’s a butcher.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/26/biden-tells-west-to-prepare-for-long-fight-ahead-in-warsaw-speech

…but then again…things haven’t been going vladimir’s way of late

Russian forces are shifting away from their country-wide attack on Ukraine and refocusing on the “complete liberation” of the country’s separatist Donbas region, a Russian general said Friday.
[…]
Speaking on the state-owned news channel Russia-24, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, deputy chief of staff of Russia’s Armed Forces, said his country’s military had completed the “first stage” of what President Vladimir Putin has called a “special military operation.”

Russian forces were no longer pushing multiple lines of attack across the entire territory, including around the capital Kyiv, the officials said, adding that they were instead focusing on the country’s east.
[…]
The Russian-backed breakaway “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk have been involved in a low-intensity conflict with Ukrainian forces since 2014, when Russia also annexed Crimea. More than 14,000 people were killed in the conflict before Russia’s invasion last month.

Rudskoy’s comments came as its armed forces appeared to settle on a strategy of relentless assault after its military was hobbled by bad planning and stiff resistance from Ukrainians.

A NATO official said the organization estimates that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops have died and tens of thousands more have been injured, captured or gone missing.

Earlier Friday, a U.S. defense official said Russia had deployed reinforcements to Ukraine, the first time it had done so since amassing 150,000 troops around the country.

After a counter-attack from Ukrainian forces, the Russian military also lost control of Kherson, the largest city to have fallen in the invasion, a U.S. defense official said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-forces-finish-first-stage-war-shift-ukraines-east-general-says

…& there’s been some degree of overstatement on russia’s part

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said Moscow could strike against an enemy that only used conventional weapons while Vladimir Putin’s defence minister claimed nuclear “readiness” was a priority.
[…]
Russia has approximately 6,000 nuclear warheads – the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. In an interview on Saturday, Medvedev said Russia’s nuclear doctrine did not require an enemy state to use such weapons first.

He said: “We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the grounds on which the Russian Federation is entitled to use nuclear weapons. There are a few of them, let me remind them to you: number one is the situation, when Russia is struck by a nuclear missile. The second case is any use of other nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies.

“The third is an attack on a critical infrastructure that will have paralysed our nuclear deterrent forces. And the fourth case is when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies, which jeopardised the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons, that is, with the use of conventional weapons.”

Medvedev added that there was a “determination to defend the independence, sovereignty of our country, not to give anyone a reason to doubt even the slightest that we are ready to give a worthy response to any infringement on our country, on its independence”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/26/russia-reasserts-right-to-use-nuclear-weapons-in-ukraine-putin

…& ok…nobody talks about nukes being let off without intending abject terror levels of intimidation…but…that does kind of come off to me as sounding like something that could also mean “frankly, at this point we’re pretty sure you could do some things that would effectively put our independence – & as far as those of us at the top are concerned our existence – in jeopardy”…& sounds a bit more like an attempt to suggest that…after biden’s other recent clarification that the US responding “in kind” didn’t mean literally in kind

Biden and other western leaders have become fearful that a struggling Russia may try to end Ukraine’s stubborn resistance in the war that has already lasted a month and claimed thousands of lives, with a chemical – or biological or nuclear – attack.

This week it emerged that the White House had set up a special “Tiger Team” to work out how the US would respond if such an attack should take place. But on Thursday, Biden also said: “It would trigger a response in kind” – meaning it would reflect what had taken place.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/nato-leaders-agree-upgrade-weapons-supply-ukraine-russia

…because some might have interpreted that as “you use chemical weapons & we’ll use ’em on you”…which they hurried to assure us all is not in fact what he was seeking to imply…but…if we take the arguably over-optimistic view that talk of bringing nukes into play is just talk that’s the rhetorical equivalent of “don’t push it” more than “I’m gonna push it” in the sense of “the button” then maybe part of what has vlad giving it the full “be afraid” is that he might have taken that in kind thing to hint that a different kind of turnabout-is-fair-play could be on the table?

The US has unveiled criminal charges against four Russian government officials, saying they engaged in two major hacking campaigns between 2012 and 2018 that targeted the global energy sector and affected thousands of computers across 135 countries.

In one now-unsealed indictment from August 2021, the justice department said three alleged hackers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out cyber-attacks on the computer networks of oil and gas firms, nuclear power plants, and utility and power transmission companies across the world between 2012 and 2017.
[…]
In a second unsealed indictment from June 2021, the DoJ accused Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, a 36-year-old Russian ministry of defense research institute employee, of conspiring with others between May and September 2017 to hack the systems of a foreign refinery and install malware known as “Triton” on a safety system produced by Schneider Electric.

The justice department unsealed the two cases just days after US president Joe Biden warned about “evolving intelligence” suggesting the Russian government is exploring options for more cyber-attacks in the future.
[…]
These charges show the dark art of the possible when it comes to critical infrastructure,” the official said.

The official added that the four accused Russians are not in custody, but the department decided to unseal the indictments because they determined the “benefit of revealing the results of the investigation now outweighs the likelihood of arrests in the future.”

The 2017 attack stunned the cybersecurity community when it was made public by researchers later that year because – unlike typical digital intrusions aimed at stealing data or holding it for ransom – it appeared aimed at causing physical damage to the facility itself by disabling its safety system.
[…]
The news of the indictment represents “a shot across the bow” to any Russian hacking groups that might be poised to carry out destructive attacks against US critical infrastructure, said John Hultquist of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/us-charges-russian-hackers-cyber-attacks

…but…some things are…well…serious as a heart attack

The Kremlin has moved to dispel rumours Russia’s defence minister has had a heart attack or been detained.

Sergei Shoigu is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and oversees the running of the armed forces in his senior cabinet role.

Despite his position, he had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, prompting speculation about his condition and whereabouts.

Ukrainian officials have openly speculated that he had suffered a heart attack during the early stages of the war.

Government advisor Anton Gerashchenko claimed on Friday: ‘Shoigu’s heart attack happened after a tough accusation by Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine.’

There had been further speculation he may have been detained or sidelined in response to Russia’s failure to swiftly take control of the country.

Russian defence minister ‘reappears’ after two weeks amid heart attack rumours [metro.co.uk]

…although…while I could see how the pressure could have got to the guy who surely must have been having a hard time with being the bearer of bad news about something he & his bond villain of a boss had in the works for a long time before it by all accounts failed to go to plan…at least he didn’t get run over with a tank…by his subordinates

Western officials have said they believe a Russian commander was run over by mutinous forces during the fighting in Ukraine, in a sign of what they described as the “morale challenges” faced by the invading forces.

They highlighted – and repeated – reports from earlier this week from a Ukrainian journalist that a colonel of the 37th separate guards motor rifle brigade was run over by a tank. Some reports said he had died of his injuries.
[…]
However, while there was some evidence to corroborate the claim that the commander had been run over, it was less clear whether, as the western officials claimed, the colonel had died. On Friday night, they partially retracted the claim in the light of conflicting evidence on social media. They said they were seeking to clarify whether he was alive or dead – and said that the key point was that he was a victim of a mutiny, not whether he had been killed or not.

…& this is why I tend to avoid links to the daily mail

Corroborating evidence for the claim made by western officials that the colonel had died was limited to the headline of a report on the MailOnline website, which said: “Russian commander who was deliberately run over with a tank driven by his own disgruntled soldiers in protest at the huge death toll in his unit has DIED.”

…anyway…the guy got a medal…but it sure has sucked pretty hard to be a russian general for the last month or so

Western officials believe that about one-sixth or maybe one-fifth of Russia’s original invasion force, which comprised an estimated 20 battalion tactical groups, is “no longer combat-effective” – a high degree of losses, reflecting the botched invasion and fierce Ukrainian fightback.

Seven Russian generals have been killed in the fighting, which has also led to several thousand Ukrainian military fatalities and civilian casualties. The latest official UN figure for civilian deaths is 1,081 but that is almost certainly an underestimate.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/25/russian-troops-mutiny-commander-ukraine-report-western-officials

…& I don’t know if they have admirals or if they call those something else…but the seaborne end of the thing hasn’t been having a smooth ride, either

Ukrainian forces have been bolstered by the dramatic destruction of a major Russian landing ship as it brought in supplies to its troops, as Moscow was accused of forcibly deporting thousands of people from the besieged city of Mariupol.
[…]
Nevertheless, as Ukraine’s Azov battalion appeared to be fighting a losing battle in Mariupol, elsewhere Russian forces have failed to advance – and a significant boost to morale was delivered with the sinking of the Orsk, a ship that had ferried soldiers destined for the besieged city.

Dramatic pictures were aired of billowing fire and black smoke as the Orsk, docked in Berdiansk on the Azov Sea, was hit by Ukrainian ballistic missiles.

The ship, which contained weapons and supplies for forces fighting in Mariupol, had featured in a report on Russian television just a few days previously.

It was said to be capable of carrying 20 tanks, 45 armoured vehicles and 400 troops. The fire on the Orsk reportedly spread to other vessels as well as an ammunition depot and a fuel terminal in the port.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/ukraine-sinks-orsk-russian-ship-moscow-accused-forcible-deportations-mariupol

…if it weren’t in such poor taste…what with the very real amount of death & destruction going on…I’d almost be tempted to find it funny how short vlad seems to have come up in a dick-measuring contest he started at nobody’s prompting…but just in case anyone was considering not existing in a state of seemingly permanent existential terror…let’s not forget that the ability to speak coherently is no longer apparently a prerequisite for people entrusted with nuclear launch codes

…which…sure…is a big old word salad with a strong hint of

…but I’m sure he was feeling distracted…with his mind on his money

Donald Trump’s ferocious money-raising machine, powered in equal measure by grassroots giving and large individual and corporate donations, has never really stopped turning – and it is currently raising huge sums of cash.

As of this month, Trump has $123m saved in his Save America political fund, more than the Republican and Democratic national committees combined, and 12 times as much as the fund – Pac for the Future – for the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

And all of that has been raised while Trump’s own ambitions remain unclear. Though his grip on the Republican party remains tight – and he has waged an endorsement war against his opponents – the big question over whether Trump will run again for the White House remains unanswered.

Without any declared candidacy, his war chest’s purpose and thus also that of its master, is unclear – and deliberately so.

Trump cannot easily spend the money on himself should he decide to run in 2024. Save America is registered as a leadership pac, or political action committee, not a campaign tool himself for himself. Yet Trump is not yet spending much, according to its “leadership” purpose of supporting Republican candidates going into this year’s hotly contested midterm elections.
[…]
Trump has not stopped raising money since he left office, either through thousands of small donations raised at Trump rallies or online, or via the big donor money-machine that Democrats cannot match – being schmoozed by Trump himself on the golf course and in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago.

Since Trump founded Save America in November 2020, the group has raised $124m – the largest war chest ever built by an ex-president – but spent only about $14m, or around 11%.

In contrast, the main fund for supporting Senate Republican candidates has spent about 80% of the $135m it raised since the start of 2021, while its main fund for congressional candidates has spent half of the $162m it has raised in the same period.
[…]
According to FEC financial disclosures, Save America spent more than $3m on events through February, $2m on consulting services, including to law firms representing witnesses sought by committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, including the Trump aide Dan Scavino and Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich.

It also spent $300,000 on ads, $200,000 in contributions to Republican congressional candidates, and at least $170,000 at hotels owned by Trump for lodging, meals and the renting of hotel facilities.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/27/trump-cash-money-raising-election-2024

…& money on his mind

…& why do you suppose someone might have been struggling to explain the meaning of recusal to him recently?

The texts were among about 9,000 pages of documents that Mr. Meadows turned over to the congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack. Democrats immediately seized on the disclosure to draw attention to the conflicts they said were presented by Ms. Thomas’s political activities and to press Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases concerning the election and its aftermath. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said that Justice Thomas’s “conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt” and that he had been “the lone dissent in a case that could have denied the Jan. 6 committee records pertaining to the same plot his wife supported.”

Justice Thomas, Mr. Wyden said, “needs to recuse himself from any case related to the Jan. 6 investigation, and should Donald Trump run again, any case related to the 2024 election.”
[…]
Ms. Thomas’s activities should have prompted Justice Thomas to disqualify himself from cases related to them, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University.

“He had an obligation not to sit in any case related to the election, the Jan. 6 committee or the Capitol invasion,” he said.

Professor Frost agreed that the situation was “an easy case.”

“When your spouse is conversing with people who have some control over litigation to challenge an election,” she said, “you shouldn’t be sitting on the Supreme Court deciding that election or any aspect of it.”

…& although thomas doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word either…& generally supreme court justices…be they n’er so poorly qualified…not to mention conflicted of interest…get to decide that for themselves…technically…it’s supposed to be part of that law they’re supposedly supremely upholding?

All federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, are subject to a federal law on recusal.

The law says that “any justice, judge or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

Judging by the nature of the text messages and the uproar over them, that provision alone is enough to require Justice Thomas’s recusal, legal experts said.

A more specific provision concerning relatives, including spouses, might also apply to his situation. Judges should not participate, the law says, in proceedings in which their spouse has “an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-recusal.html

…but true to form mr unpresidented the multiply impeached was on hand to make sure thomas’ position wasn’t the most laughable misapplication of the law this week

What stopped me in my tracks in the new lawsuit filed on behalf of former president Donald Trump was a reference to internal discussions at the Democratic National Committee that, the suit alleges, show that there was an effort within the DNC to “damage Republican presidential candidates’ credibility with voters.”

The startling thing wasn’t that line, an attempt to make utterly run-of-the-mill political-campaign activity seem nefarious. It was, instead, that as Trump and his lawyers were trying to make a case for how the investigation into possible links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia were a product of a conspiracy helmed by Hillary Clinton and her aides, they were citing these particular documents.

If you were just reading the lawsuit, you would learn that the internal discussions were revealed “after the DNC servers were hacked by an individual using the name ‘Guccifer 2.0.’ ” If, however, you were at all conscious during the period from June 2016 to, say, last week, you would recognize that the actual source of those documents was that they were stolen by hackers working for Russia. The investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election demonstrated that pretty robustly, including finding examples of hackers in Russia searching for translations of phrases that are later used by “Guccifer” in blog posts. This was part of the broader effort to aid Trump’s election that November.

In other words, as Trump and his lawyers were trying to prove that Clinton was the driving force behind the investigation into Russian interference, they were relying on documents released as part of that interference effort. It’s some mixture of dishonest and galling — and it’s not even the most ridiculous part of the case the lawsuit tries to make.

[…] Even in October 2020, it was clear that the probe wasn’t a function of Clinton’s campaign. There was lots of information about what actually launched the investigation, none of which was downstream from Clinton.
[…]
In other words, the feds had evidence of Russia trying to intervene in the election (through the hacking), evidence of various people linked to Russia working for Trump (through public and private information) and a by-then obvious soft spot from Trump for Putin, in particular. More would come out — data passed to a suspected Russian agent, that meeting at Trump Tower in July 2016 — but the predicate for the investigation was obvious. This has already been evaluated, in fact; the inspector general for the Justice Department found no bias in the origin of the probe.

This was all known as of October 2020, mind you. What the new Trump lawsuit tries to do is flesh out a dual-pronged strategy by Clinton’s campaign based, in part on information dug up by special counsel John Durham, appointed by Trump’s attorney general William P. Barr specifically to dig up information undermining the predicate for the Russia probe.

As the lawsuit has it, the Clinton scheme was centered in the law firm Perkins Coie. One attorney worked to generate the dossier of information that would later be used to obtain a warrant against the Trump adviser, Carter Page, who had traveled to Russia. Another attorney would ask a technology company to find a digital link between Trump and Russia and, when no link was found, to hack Trump Tower and the White House.

The first allegation is false. The second is ridiculous.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/25/trump-accidentally-proves-that-clinton-campaign-wasnt-driving-force-russia-probe/

…& I figure I should take a break from moaning about the whole arguably-there’s-too-much-oil-not-too-liitle-so-the-pricing-seems-suspect thing

So this is a pivotal moment for the next several decades of the 21st century, and we need to seize that moment. I mean, we’re talking about parochial issues like fuel prices in the U.S. I don’t miss the fact that it impacts people’s lives and it’s important. But there is a bit of a failure in leadership to not couch this important moment for what it is, and to pivot to talking to the American people about an extra dollar in fuel — it’s missing the forest for the trees.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/23/ukraine-russia-putin-war-alexander-vindman/

…day of rest & all…but…I really am starting to feel like the whole “let the market decide” thing does start to seem like a good way to wind up with that mythical $10 banana?

…I’m pretty sure some or all of you are familiar with dr sarah there

…she doesn’t claim to be an expert about india

…but the lady has very likely forgotten more about how agriculture works than I’ll ever know

…& her threads are often fascinating

…I know they say life imitates art

…but…it sure would be easier to navigate the troubled waters of a landscape that seems determined to flirt with incipient dystopia if we used language to elucidate rather than obfuscate?

…either way…places to be…people to see…that’s probably enough out of me

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28 Comments

  1. Thank you.  My previous amateur analysis about a grain shortage was wrong. It’s always good to hear from experts rather than paranoid hot takes from an idiot like me.

    I’m guessing that any grain shortage still probably applies to Russia and her satellite states.

    • …if you have the time to make your way through those threads she’s pretty clear about the part where there absolutely is the makings of a crisis…so I wouldn’t single you out as alone on not necessarily knowing it wasn’t exactly the one we’d all thought it seemed to sound like…& it’s also true that ukraine hasn’t got its next crop planted…which aside from leaving a gap in their projected income presumably also has an impact in the sense that most places that produce wheat consume most of their output domestically

      …so I’m pretty sure you’re on the money about that last part?

      • Beyond the fact that Ukraine very likely won’t be able to plant a crop this fall, I don’t see her saying anything about their ability to harvest the current crop—which I’m betting isn’t going to happen on its normal scale if at all. So that 25% shortage may still be real unless someone can educate me otherwise.

        • …it’s not impossible she talked about that elsewhere…she covers a lot of ground & she’s posted a lot of threads one way or another

          …but that part wouldn’t have been relevant to the point the threads I quoted were looking to make which was somewhat narrow despite the threads seeming quite expansive?

          • How would it not be relevant? If the Ukrainians can’t harvest the current crop, then there is actually a shortage regardless of the supply chain problems. It may not be 25% accounting for India (assuming the supply chain can actually get that shit out of India) but it’s still there.

            • …she was trying to explain that the 25% figure was misleading in a global supply context…so the stuff she was talking about was to do with places that specifically weren’t ukraine but who usually got the bulk of their wheat from that source…since that’s the market that she’s talking about having an issue with the supply being shipped to them (from alternate sources) but which the market has instead found a way to have trigger a price increase that’s arguably bigger than the extra costs of new shipping arrangements are sufficient to explain

              …I’d say it’s at least implied that the same is true with respect to getting wheat ukraine wouldn’t usually need to import shipped to that market (& I’d expect that to be one of many kinds of aid ukraine is going to need so how they pay for it is perhaps academic) since she definitely seemed to make a pretty solid case that there’s anything but a shortage of the stuff in terms of the bigger picture

              …so the domestic position from a ukrainian perspective, whilst entirely relevant to a discussion about ukraine itself, would be sort of besides the point with respect to the specific threads I quoted extracts from?

              • The immediate region has a population of 100 million+ people, and the war is going to hurt food supplies badly for a lot of people, especially because transportation is going to be a mess.

                But I think she’s right that other producers can make up for it in a lot of places outside that region if the planning is good. Which isn’t a given, of course. Her point that the issue on a global scale is transportation rather than supply is right.

                You can imagine all kinds of scenarios — the GOP works feverishly to demonize US food aid to the Middle East on the grounds of helping ISIS or some nonsense, Russians “accidentally” losing a few mines in a critical port, Modi deciding to put the screws to Muslim neighbors, ongoing first world indifference toward Africa….

                Putin is counting on Western conservatives to lose focus and their enablers in the press to go with them. And the people who would suffer aren’t only Ukrainians and Russians, or Western liberal politicians, but a number of different groups elsewhere.

                It’s going to be critical to see if places like the NY Times can keep their minds straight, or if they fall back on treating humanitarian disasters like abstract horse races.

                • …I’d have to check the math…but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the extra capacity in the US harvest would at the least go a long way & might even be enough that it could cover the supply ukraine is short of in terms of wheat

                  …not sure I’m expecting it would go that way…but in terms of putting money where mouths are that kind of thing could go a long way?

  2. I’d bet Hillary’s email server and the conspiracy tales of a dead aide that any DNC attempts to

    damage Republican presidential candidates’ credibility with voters

    didn’t need much effort.

    Desperate Trump is throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks.

    • …it seems pretty clear that he’s been interested in throwing anything he can out there in hopes of tripping up those headed down the many, many avenues that lead to legal & financial peril for him & his

      …& of course ultimately just about all of it is ultimately in service to socking away as much cash as he can find a way to get his grubby paws on

  3. I don’t know what Trump’s endgame is for cash, but the fact he’s hoarding… uh well, gotta pay those bills as living the life of a fake billionaire isn’t cheap.

    The funny thing to me is that Trump is basically sucking money away from actual GOPer fund raising.

    • It’s been noticed.

      That’s a long article, but yes, it says that Trump is sucking up all the money in the Republican Party. It also makes the point that the fundraising is Trump-specific, not relating to the Republicans. If something happens to Trump, it’s not like the donors will switch to a new messiah. The money will stop.

  4. Kate and Wills’s Royal Tour of the Caribbean did not go as well as the Windsors and the Foreign Office had hoped:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/25/william-and-kate-caribbean-tour-slavery-reparations-royals

    They’re home now, and this link doesn’t really mention it, but I guess the third leg, in the Bahamas, went a little more smoothly. I guess no one saw fit to ask why Nazi-loving ex-King Edward VIII was exiled to them specifically to serve as Governor during WWII.

    Still, rather than making a Royal Tour of the Caribbean, they should have booked themselves anonymously on a Royal Caribbean cruise. I’m sure it would have been much more fun.

    This brought a vague memory I had of reading that the Queen and Prince Philip doing something similar, and it being a huge success:

    What’s interesting about this is that in 1966 the Caribbean was decolonizing and the Queen and Phil set off on a goodwill tour to…well, maintain goodwill, and subtly persuade them to remain in the Commonwealth with the Queen as their figurehead Sovereign. Seems to have worked.

    For us, though, it’s a nice snapshot of the Anglo-Caribbean before the onslaught of mass tourism. And this little documentary is done quite sensitively, all things considered.

    • I couldn’t open that but I could open this version:

      https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/applebees-wayne-pankratz-email-reddit-gas-prices-lower-wages.html

      The story is sick enough. You can imagine some slick ambitious guy determined to be king of Applebees sent it out.

      But what also struck me is the list of lessons. Somehow it wasn’t until the end of the list that the reporter got around to “oh yeah, don’t treat employees like enemies.”

      Seems like #1 on the list should be “don’t promote idiots to be execs.” Treating problems like this as little more than smart ideas for email etiquette instead of warning sirens about institutional incompetence — that’s primo ideological capture stuff.

      • oof!

        He reasoned that cash-strapped people would have no choice but to take food-service jobs

        *checks jobmarket*

        he does realize literally everywhere is screaming for staff right?

        some places even got so desperate they raised wages

        not my place mind…i’ve made the argument to the office that we arent keeping/getting the good new techs coz the pay here sucks compared to pretty much every other company in town thats also looking for techs….

        but apparently thats crazy talk

        • “Most importantly, have the culture and environment that will attract people.”

          This is becoming a mantra now to try to offset low pay. My wife interviewed for a library job run by a for-profit library company and their biggest issue was “can you make it fun so people will enjoy coming to work.” Turns out the pay is so dismal that the library staff turns over about every 6 months, pretty much as bad as fast food positions.

          So their solution is to try to make the managers come up with ways to make the job “fun,” instead of just paying these people more.

          Fortunately, she never heard back from them again.

      • Meanwhile Applebee’s just made it easier for their competitors to hire staff — “unlike places like Applebee’s, we haven’t lowered our wages with the increase in gas prices.”

  5. …but just in case anyone was considering not existing in a state of seemingly permanent existential terror… As I am there and have no comment, I will move on to mention my appreciation of your fun use of language, such as “determined to flirt with incipient dystopia if we used language to elucidate rather than obfuscate?”

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