Another time, a song came to my mind. In this case, that of the Los Mustang group, “I’ll buy you red balloons,” with a slight change in caption, more appropriate to the situation and the purpose of the White House and Pentagon to wage a war at the head of NATO against Russia and looking at the other opponent China: The balloons are red, a color associated with communism, and they say “…I will lie to you”. The Chinese fairy tale saga continues.

US planes fired again at unidentified flying objects hovering over US territory and its northern partner Canada. Now there were three targets, they were flying at a much lower altitude than the Chinese weather balloon, and although the media pack immediately got into the event and, of course, mentioned the version of the threat from Asia, only a few days later the White House conceded that they were not Were part of the “Chinese espionage program”. These are the key terms for instilling fear or at least insecurity, and they are used equally to lie and deny, so they keep the idea stuck in the public’s subconscious and in the terminology used by the media, whatever they choose may be

“While we cannot say definitively what these objects were thus far without looking at the demolition, and I’m cautious about saying so, we have no clue or anything to date that specifically points to the idea that these three objects were part.” of (China’s) spy balloon program or were definitely involved in outside intelligence efforts,” Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby initially said.

Remember the theory of the teacher Paul Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda of the Nazi Third Reich between 1933 and 1945, “lie, lie, something remains” or his other version “a lie repeated a thousand times makes it true”. . .

Shortly thereafter, Kirby’s own version underwent a slight change: “One thing we need to consider, and we think the intelligence community is considering as an explanation, is that these could be balloons associated with commercial or research facilities and are therefore completely harmless are .”

And the retraction came from the mouth of President Joseph Biden himself: “We still don’t know exactly what those three objects were, but at this time there’s nothing to suggest they were connected to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles of anyone other traded land. »… «The current assessment of the intelligence services is that these three objects were probably balloons associated with private companies, recreational or research institutions studying the weather or conducting other scientific research».

The hysteria or paranoia that the U.S. government seeks to instill or perpetuate in its citizens took shape again, lest there be many questions about the billions spent or wasted on guns instead of solving problems and bottlenecks in Americans. A piece of related information: each of the projectiles fired to bring down the balloons, both the Chinese meteorological artifact – which it continues to insist on as a “spy” – and the other “unknown” missiles, the AIM- 9X rockets, one of which failed, cost over $450,000.

To top it off, CNN reported that US intelligence officials said the “suspected Chinese spy balloon” was not intentionally directed to the US mainland where it was blown by strong winds as they (US intelligence officials) are monitoring it there had voyage across the Pacific and claimed it was intended to guard US military installations on Guam.

The event or accident of this fable has prompted the Pentagon to review its systems, in this case the NORAD or Northern Surveillance and Protection Command (US and its Canadian partner). Forgive my comment, but if I were Commanding General Glen VanHerck, I would resign. What to expect from the general who, when asked whether the objects shot down could be of extraterrestrial origin, replied: “I have not ruled anything out at this point.” If it were a humorous show on US television, they wouldn’t have to do the little cues that tell the audience in the room how to react, the laughter would be spontaneous and very natural. It’s a farce, ladies and gentlemen.

After the event, the command had to tune its radars to detect and shoot down the smaller and slower objects that erupted with the famous Chinese balloon.

But they are so ungrateful that they have not thanked China, let alone respectfully apologized. Biden said he didn’t want a conflict with China, adding arrogantly, “I make no apologies.”

For the rest, let’s find the lesson. As my grandmother used to say, “Better to catch the liar than the lame”.

The serious and true. The White House was able to divert attention from the continued flow of capital to the military industry with weapons destined for Ukraine, its own rearmament, that of NATO and other partners across seas and continents; Dangerously heating up the situation in this conflict with Russia and bringing them closer to nuclear projectiles, which puts all humanity in great danger; and strengthening the military presence and exercises in the Asian region, fueling tensions with Beijing.

It can be added with suspicion: shrouding in the fog the derailment of a train laden with highly toxic and polluting chemicals in a small town in Ohio (incidentally called East Palestine), which they didn’t report until more than a week later, which it was transporting, although not it is known where and where it was going and so far it has been disputed how this soup can directly affect the area and its inhabitants in the medium and long term – the rest of Americans are little aware of the situation. The ingredients of the brew?: vinyl chloride, which the authorities decided to immediately release and incinerate, releasing hazardous gases such as hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air, and also transporting ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene and butyl acrylate, the last three in rail cars that are also at were broken in the accident.

Biden has already said about the balloons: “I have no apologies” … and White House physician Kevin O’Connor certified: “President Joseph Biden remains healthy, strong, an 80-year-old man who has successfully campaigned for the Duties of the Presidency trained»… The Los Mustang parody is playing on my radio.

The day after the Verdi union’s warning strike, there is a rush at many German airports. In many places, the backlog must be cleared first.

Air traffic in Germany returned to service on Saturday without major problems after the Verdi union’s warning strike. In some cases, however, passengers at affected airports were still affected by individual flight delays and cancellations. After Friday’s strike, there was a backlog that needed to be sorted out, said a spokeswoman for operator Fraport in Frankfurt. It is unclear whether the effects will still be felt on Sunday.

After the end of the ban on night flights at 5 am, operations in Frankfurt began as normal. However, there will be more takeoffs and landings on Saturday to clear the delay. The spokeswoman reported queues in front of security checks.

Traffic changed to Saturday

The day after the strike notice, planes took off again at Munich Airport as normal – but it was significantly busier than usual. “There are no further failures related to the attack,” an airport spokesman said. However, he said, long queues formed at security checkpoints because “a lot of traffic was diverted from Friday to Saturday”. Also, Friday was the last day of school before the Bavarian carnival break.

The snakes “run through the building,” the spokesperson said. He was “enormously busy” – significantly more so than on a normal Saturday. However, it is difficult to estimate how long passengers would have to wait in line. He couldn’t say if any of them missed their flights because of it. “We have no chance of catching our flight,” said a passenger who said she was at the airport three hours before departure – and was still waiting in line half an hour before the plane was scheduled to take off.

Operations at Hamburg airport proceeded normally. “Everything is going perfectly normally,” a spokeswoman said. According to the website, the waiting time at the security checkpoint in the afternoon was a few minutes. It was said in the morning that the previous day’s rebookings could lead to a significantly higher load factor for individual flights. The spokeswoman emphasized in the afternoon that the airport only had figures on actual capacity utilization after the fact.

2300 flight cancellations

Operations at Stuttgart Airport are also back to normal. No failures were recorded in the flight schedule on Saturday morning. “Regular operations again,” the airport wrote on Twitter. According to a spokeswoman, only the first two flights were canceled at Bremen airport. Three more flights were canceled early in the morning in Hanover, but the first machines took off again around 5am.

A total of seven airports were largely brought to a standstill by Friday’s warning strike. Verdi’s union has called for a full-day strike and, in the current collective labor conflict in the public sector, is also threatening warning strikes at the rubbish dump, in hospitals or public order offices. According to the airport association ADV, around 300,000 passengers across the country were affected by 2,300 flight cancellations.

Passengers were also advised on Saturday to check the status of their flights. Even after the strike, there may be isolated changes to flight schedules, he said. In addition, passengers must report to the check-in desk in good time. Fraport recommends 2.5 hours before departure.

In the book Dopamine Nation, Anna Lemke explores new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain. The expert also shows how the population lives in an era of unprecedented access to high rewards and high dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, games, text messaging, relationship apps and social networking.

At the end of the book, the author lists ten reflections on the problem of addiction:

1) The ceaseless pursuit of pleasure leads to suffering;

two) recovery begins with abstinence;

3) Abstinence resets the brain’s gratification circuitry and with it the ability to experience pleasure in the simplest of pleasures;

4) Commitment creates a distance (both literal and metaphorical) between desire and consumption;

5) Drugs can restore homeostasis (the body’s ability to keep the body in balance), but remember what we lose when we eliminate our condition with drugs;

6) Tilting a little on the side of suffering returns our balance to the side of joy;

7) One must be careful not to become dependent on suffering;

8th) Radical Honesty raises awareness, enhances intimacy, and encourages a generous mindset;

9) Shame confirms that we belong to the human tribe; It is

10) Instead of running from the world, we can find escape by immersing ourselves in it.

Dopamine Nation Book | Photo: Disclosure

“Addiction can become a cause of pain”

In an article published in Issue 152 of the magazine west, writes Ana Paula Henkel on the subject. “DR. Lembke is the medical director of medicine at Stanford University and director of the Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford Addiction Medicine. “E reports that his patients struggling with substance abuse often believe their addiction is caused by depression, anxiety, and insomnia, but she claims that often the opposite is true: addictions can become the cause of pain not the relief.”

This explanation is plausible because, among other things, the behavior triggers an initial dopamine response that floods the brain with pleasure. However, when dopamine wears off, people often feel worse than before: “They start taking the drug to feel better or to feel less pain,” Lembke notes. “Over time, this drug becomes less and less effective with repeated exposure. But they are unable to stop because if they don’t use, they have a dopamine deficit.”

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that sends signals from one neuron to another and is probably the most important neurotransmitter in our experience of pleasure, motivation, and reward. Thus, dopamine is the final common pathway to all pleasurable, exhilarating, and rewarding experiences. The smartphone, for example, is the modern hypodermic needle that delivers 24/7 digital dopamine to a connected generation.