Daily Archives: July 9, 2022

Jim Chatfield| Special to Akron Beacon Journal

In Colorado last week, my wife and I enjoyed the ponderosa pines, fields of pink pinwheel morning glories interspersed with white, exotic mountain flowers such as shooting stars, old mans bear lichens gracing the trees, mountain roses and lupines.

Plant Lovers' Almanac:More about the bugs and the bees

Back in Ohio, the black raspberries in our yard were ripening, a sad loss to us, almost a reason not to travel, though visiting granddaughter June seals the deal.

Fortunately, we have friendsin Northeast Ohio who harvest those black raspberries. Not red raspberries, most peoples favorites, and wonderful, and not blackberries juicy and sweet, nor blueberries central to the most excellent blueberry buckle coffeecake, but to my taste the best of the early summer berries, the essence of woodlands black raspberries. Enjoy, friends.

Columbines (Aquilegia). When camping in the Colorado mountains, we came upon one of the most spectacular wildflowers you will ever see, the Rocky Mountain columbine (Aquilegia caerules), a lavender and white creation with big open blossoms with long backward-oriented nectar-bearing spurs.

There are over 60 species of columbines, members of the buttercup family, including a reddish version, Aquilegia canadensis, often found in Ohio woodlands. Hummingbirds love the nectar and a number of noctuid moths feed on columbines. Columbine leafminer flies and sawflies in turn love to feed on columbines. Plant garden columbine hybrids and species in partial shade, colors come in yellows, whites, blues and purples, reds and lavenders.

The Rocky Mountain columbinewas voted the favorite flower of schoolchildren there in the 1890s and was subsequently named the state wildflower of Colorado. It is something to see, but not to eat; columbines contain a number of toxic substances, especially in the roots and seeds.

Aspens and cottonwood (Populus spp.). Aspens are found in Ohio; in woodlands and come down to Secrest Arboretum for examples, and they are a delight due to their ever quaking, quivering nature, twittering in the wind due to the architecture of their leaves.

The flat leaf blade is at right angles to the leaf stalk (petiole) making the leaf particularly subject to movement with the slightest breeze. Cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) are considered somewhat coarse: taller, with larger leaves, stark trunks and major branches, and of course, all that cottonwood fluff, a mass of seeds, fruit capsules and cottony fibers.

Nevertheless, cottonwoods and all of the aspen species are closely related, in the same genus Populus. Dont believe me? When out west with abundant aspen groves, note the fluff not just on cottonwoods, but also on their aspen cousins.

Apple origins. No, not Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak: I speak of an apple a day.

It all started in the Tian Shan region of Kazakhstan, the heavenly mountains separating China and Central Asia. It is generally accepted now from genetic evidence that the progenitor of our domesticated apples is Malus sieversii. This tale is told well in one short chapter in the book Eating to Extinction: The Worlds Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them (2021) by Dan Saladino. Apples were spread by the land bridge to the Americas and by trade to Europe.

Saladino on those Tian Shan apples: Each tree is unique and so is the fruit; some apples are the size of tennis balls, others as small as cherries. Some are eye-piercingly lime green, others soft pastel pinks and purples. One might be sweet and honeyed; another spicy with hits of aniseed or licorice; others so mouth-puckeringly sharp and astringent youll want to spit them straight out.

As Saladino notes, apples were well known in the Roman Empire and mythically the goddess Pomona gave a golden apple to Hera upon her marriage to Zeus. Pomona is the Latin name for orchard fruit.

As I read this, a golden light dawned: As a crab apple lover, I know that apples are termed pome fruits,as fleshy fruits without a central stone; with a number of seeds in a separate chamber at the center of the fruit,so are other members of the rose family such as pear, quince, medlar, hawthornand mountain ash. But Pom-ona! How cool.

Then our American John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed saga. Though grafting desired apple types to a separate rootstock was known, Chapman traveled into Ohio and elsewhere with canoes full of pips, orseeds. Seeds result in variability, though, not reliably the best apples.

Why, Johnny, why? It was because he was a follower of the Swedenborgian religious sect, started by Emanuel Swedenborg after the first of his revelations in 1750. Chapman followed thebelief that plants suffer and so making those grafting cuts was not right. Ironically, later in life he became a vegetarian: Suffering was one thing, eating plants was apparently sacramentally sound.

Saladino details the history of deducing specifically where apples developed: It was clarified partly through the work of Nikolai Ivanovich Vasilov, the Russian geneticist who studied the worldwide center of origin of many crop species, including those Tian Shan apples. Saladinos essay refreshed my memory of learning of Vasilovs storied career while in graduate school.

Vasilov was lauded worldwide, but is a cautionary tale of the politicization of science. He ran afoul in the 1930s and early 1940s of Joseph Stalin and his loyal Trofim Lysenko, who declared genetics to be politically incorrect and favored the Lamarkian theory of acquired characteristics,train those plants to be better, dovetailing with revolutionary Soviet propaganda of the perfectability of nature. For his adherence to actual truth, Vasilov was sentenced to the gulags in 1941, and died there in 1943. Logic and science, and Vasilov, were victimized by propaganda! Truth matters!

Finally, it is interesting to note the three ways that apples multiply. From seeds come diversity, a great boon to developing novel and wonderful new varieties; there are as manytypes as there are apple seeds, most notably found in that now endangered Tian Shan area of Kazakhstan. Then there is grafting, asexual propagation involving taking cuttings that are essentially clones of each other, each scion identical to the next. Third, there is hybridization: sexual reproduction of different parents followed by cloning the results that are desirable (flavor, storability, color). Fuji and gala are results of such crosses.

In the end, it is this combination of sexual and asexual reproduction, and of nature and nurture, that mutually serve our horticultural and culinary interests. As Rachel Carson noted in Silent Spring,Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Both good and bad.

Jim Chatfieldis a horticulture educator and professor emeritus at Ohio State University Extension. If you have questions about caring for your garden and other topics, write to chatfield.1@osu.edu or call 330-466-0270. Please include your phone number if you write.

Plant Lovers' Almanac: A bit about bad bugs, blight and blooms

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A summer ode to black raspberries and columbines - Akron Beacon Journal

Election season really does bring the very worst out of everyone and, as if Queer people dont have it hard enough, this election season had to collide with Pride Month, putting us right smack in the middle of the fucking circus. For the Republicans, this means lighting their torches and sharpening their pitchforks so they can chase us around for a while in front of the cameras. Florida Governor and professional Ronald Reagen impersonator Ron DeSantis rejuvenated his fag-bashing blue-collar street cred by attacking the admittedly odd spectacle of family-friendly drag shows as child endangerment and calling on parents who engage in such G-rated Disneyfied camp to be hunted down by Child Protective Services.

Not to be beaten by the Texas GOP, who used the month of Stonewall as an excuse to rev up the engines of their pick-up trucks with a new party platform declaring that homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice and reiterating their opposition to all efforts to validate transgender identity in language so unhinged from reality that it would give early-nineties-era Pat Buchanan a rager. Those self-loathing closet cowboys seem to be just one Austin Pride Parade away from climbing a clocktower and declaring the murder of Matthew Shepard a state holiday to prove their cis-hetero manhood to daddy.

This is all part of a multi-year campaign by the Republican Party to chum wayward Trump populists without having to give up on forever wars and outsourcing. These neocons achieve this by posing like hip, politically incorrect, edgelords and kicking trans kids who play soccer in the teeth before grabbing their jock and flexing for the Proud Boys. But this year those mouth-foaming curb stompers werent to be outdone by a Democratic Party equally desperate to appear relevant in an age when they look increasingly like relics. Maybe Im just a contrarian asshole but the only thing that feels worse than being used as a prop by bigots like Greg Abbot to prove how edgy he is is being used as a prop by bigots like Joe Biden to prove how woke hes suddenly become.

This year, the Democrats celebrated Pride Month by beefing up the police state that failed to take Stonewall from us but somehow hasnt yet failed at winning over the hearts and minds of the GOP-traumatized children of these faggots who whooped their ass back in 69. Kamala Harris got the festivities cooking by revamping Nina Jankowiczs failed Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board as a brand-new rainbow bedazzled White House Task Force to Adress Online Harassment and Abuse.

This new Ministry of Information sets itself apart from the last by specifically condemning gendered disinformation which according to Kamala basically amounts to insulting anyone with a vagina or anyone who should have been born with one who is vanilla enough to be picked from my tribe to represent us on the Death Star. Her memo specifically singles out women and LGBTQ Americans in positions of public or political leadership, and yes that includes cis-gendered serial killers like Hillary Clinton. To top it all off, this whole new woke posse is being co-chaired by none other than those fine drone jockeys at the National Security Council.

Joe Biden followed up this stunt by surrounding himself with a Barney-and-Friends-grade funky bunch of diverse, photogenic, Queer children so he could be filmed with them signing his historic Executive Order on Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Individuals (You forgot non-binary furies, asshole!) This word salad of alphabet soup essentially amounts to the old man instructing various federal bureaucracies to look into GOP legislative hate crimes and wag their fingers at them. Joe ended his little virtue-signaling serenade with a special message to freaks like me who suddenly matter enough for him to acknowledge. Just be you. You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. Aw, thanks Pop-Pop, but go fuck yourself.

Do we really even want to belong with these people? Republicans have been horsewhipping us like Cossacks for decades and the Democratic cavalry only showed up to save the day with their empty gestures and glad-handing cash grabs when we started showing up on MTV. Joe Biden voted for both DOMA and Dont-Ask-Dont-Tell. In fact, the only Queer-friendly legislation that bastard has ever voted for are the hate crime laws that only empower the Queer-bashing prison system he spent the eighties and nineties juicing up with noted bigots like Bill Clinton and Strom Thurmond. This is the same prison system that gave Kamala Harris her political career with positions like District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California. Positions that Pride-hag used to hunt down transgender sex workers like dogs and throw them into mens prisons where she openly mocked them for demanding basic human rights.

Oh, but thats all over now, I can hear some suburban lesbian soccer mom cry out from the back of the room, theyve changed, theyve seen the error of their ways! Bullshit they have. In between Pride parades in 2018, then-Senator Kamala Harris sponsored FOSTA/SESTA, the opening salvo in the ongoing bipartisan war on sex workers. The bill essentially labeled the entire industry as a sex-trafficking cartel and violated the shit out of the First Amendment by making platforms like Reddit and Craigslist legally liable for content that aids sex workers by providing them the means to screen dangerous clients and share this information with a network of fellow working girls, keeping them safe and off the streets, away from serial killers and predatory pimps.

The National Center for Transgender Equality has found that 1 in 5 trans adults have participated in sex work. I have friends on the stroll, and they are not friends of Joe Bidens police state. Thats because 9 in 10 transgender sex workers report being harassed, attacked or just straight-up fucking beaten by the cops. But these women and femmes dont live in the suburbs and shop at the GAP. Most of them are Black or Latinx. Many suffer from years of trauma that the medical establishment conveniently labels as mental illness.

In other words, they arent conventionally pretty enough for a photo-op with a woke white supremacist. They dont pass for the kind of diversity Kamala Harris suddenly gives a fuck about. This is why nearly every presidential candidate in the packed 2020 Democratic Primaries backed FOSTA/SESTA, not just Joe and Kamala, but Warren, Gillibrand, Booker, even Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard. The only motherfucker with the stones to stand up for my sisters when it counted was a grizzled old breeder named Mike Gravel who died a true ally last year, but he wasnt even invited to the debates. I guess he too was too Queer for inclusion.

The Democratic Partys real allies are the police state and the prison industrial complex, and these allies will always be the mortal enemies of all Queer people because they represent the very worst of the same traditional power structures that the Queer Liberation Movement was built to smash, and this movement was built on shoulders of sex workers of color like Miss Major, Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P. Johnson.

This movement was also built in solidarity with the revolutionaries who showed us the way in the ghettos and jungles of the Third World, from George Jackson and the Vietcong to Mumia Abu Jamal and the Houthi rebels. The kind of people who thugs like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris rape and pillage while they kiss the rings of rampant fag-bashers like the Saudis and the Azov Battalion. The sick truth is that those colonialist con-artists only want to be seen passively giving a fuck about certain Queer people because we help cover up the stink of their crimes, just like the GOP camouflages their devotion to corporate welfare with casual fits of well-publicized bigotry.

Its all a big fucking game, dearest motherfuckers, and this is one genderfuck revolutionary who is tired of being played by it. If Queer means anything anymore, it means rejecting the shackles of mainstream society and the patronage of the Democrats amounts to little more than shackles with rainbows on them. As a community, we should take a stand and throw their thirty pieces of silver back in their fucking face and add a thick loogie to the barrage. As a tribe, Queer people should shout it from the rooftop of every fleabag motel and massage parlor, the Democrats will never be our allies because our allies are the people they step on in the streets on their way to the White House. We dont fucking belong to you, Joe Biden. We belong to no man.

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Democrats Will Never Be Queer Allies - CounterPunch.org - CounterPunch

Chris Pratt stars in The Terminal List, which is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video, and The Daily Beast is freaking out about the military thrillers politically incorrect plot and villains, going so far as to call it an unhinged Right-wing revenge fantasy.

Source: The Terminal List, Amazon

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The streaming series is based on Navy veteran Jack Carrs novel of the same name. As I noted a few weeks ago, if the series stays true to the novel, then certain people might not be happy about it.

Based on the early reviews of it, it looks like the series may indeed remain relatively faithful to the book. The best example of this so far is a June 29 review from The Daily Beast that proclaimed, Chris Pratts The Terminal List Is an Unhinged Right-Wing Revenge Fantasy.

Source: Terminal List trailer, Amazon

Whenever you read a headline that amusingly frantic, you can only hope that what follows is filled with as much frantic panic. Thankfully, the review does not disappoint.

The first line is a doozy that sets the tone. The Terminal List features Chris Pratt going vengefully homicidal due, in part, to a serious mental condition in Amazons latest, which follows in the tradition of Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher by delivering gung-ho macho action-drama tailor-made for fortysomething Call of Duty players.

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And the next line that finishes out the opening paragraph is just as good. Still, if this adaptation of Jack Carrs novel mostly fits itself into a particular dad-entertainment streaming niche, it also, to a large extent, comes off as a wet dream for militia-minded anti-establishment kooks, replete with a Pratt performance as a Navy SEAL who responds to injustice by murdering the guilty with extreme prejudice.

Look at all those buzzwords and phrases macho, fortysomething Call of Duty players, and dad-entertainment. And, of course, the best one of all wet dream for militia-minded anti-establishment kooks.

Source: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Disney

This is The Daily Beast at its very worst/best. Its possible to pick out something hysterical in nearly every paragraph, but the last contains one of the best gems.

The Terminal Lists decision to posit Reeces reign of terror as virtuous is ultimately its defining characteristic, affording a window onto a conservative-America mindset that views the government as inherently corrupt (and anti-soldier), and lone-wolf military men as the only figures capable of making the world a more honorable place.

Ive no idea how accurately that sums up the series, but it sure does offer an insight into the authors mindset. So if you want a chuckle, go read the whole thing.

Source: The Terminal List Trailer

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Other media outlets have also given The Terminal List poor reviews. They havent come close to Daily Beast-level hysteria, but there are lines suggesting that they also arent happy with the series veering away from the Leftist narrative.

For instance, on June 29, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, Each episode could have been trimmed to 15 minutes with no loss of nuance or characterization, and I suspect it would have made the series target demo tuning in for patriotically waving flags, substance-free military jargon and the very rare tautly edited suspense set-piece just as happy.

Source: The Terminal List. Amazon Prime Video 2022.

And on June 30, Variety opined, Reeces story is baleful, and its made clear to us that hes fighting the establishment as much as hes fighting for revenge, but if this series were an op to desensitize us against military violence, it couldnt have been made more effectively.

Still, not every review has been so negative. Collider gave it a decent review while also providing legitimate critiques of it.Regardless of whether the series is good or bad, The Daily Beast decrying it as an unhinged right-wing revenge fantasy tells us that The Terminal List isnt going to please the woke. So if nothing else, it at least has that going for it. And that might be enough to get viewers to flock to it.

NEXT: Variety: Netflixs Interceptor Takes On Right Wing Conspiracy Theories

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The Daily Beast Freaks Out Over The Terminal List, Calls It An "Unhinged Right-Wing Revenge Fantasy" - Bounding Into Comics

With the White House and leading Democrats promising to defy a recent Supreme Court decision overturning lawless precedents on abortion, Americans are wondering about our future. Will we see open confrontations between different branches of government? Between the states and the feds? Where will all this lead? The Streams John Zmirak interviewed film-maker Jason Jones, who recently released Divided Hearts of America, which explores our national schism on the Life issue.

John Zmirak: The abortion industry and its supporters arent acting like docile pro-lifers back in 1973 and 1992, when Supreme Court decisions went against us. Pro-choicers arent vowing to win the next presidential election, or draft an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. No, theyre talking like Southern secessionists after Lincoln got elected without a single Southern electoral vote.

Biden has condemned the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, as out of control. His administration is speaking of defying state laws by aborting babies on military bases. Clearly, the pro-choicers arent making an argument about the Constitution, or even morality. Theyre just threatening violent force, and relying on raw power. How do we respond as pro-lifers?

Jason Jones: The partisans of abortion, like the partisans of slavery and segregation, have more in common than finding their political home in the Democrat party. The advocates of abortion, slavery and segregation are of one mind in their rejection of our founding principle, embedded in the Deceleration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We shouldnt be surprised to see abortion advocates burn down churches, since they burned down churches in the wake of progress made by the civil rights movement. So how can we respond to the terrorism ignited by our progress toward a humane society? We respond the way the Rev. King responded. We orient our activism to the Deceleration Principle, to the inviolable dignity of the human person. We respect the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of our states and continue to fight for positive laws that conform to the transcendent moral order.

You helped make a recent film, Divided Hearts of America, on the abortion issue, starring Benjamin Watson. Tell us about the film.

In January 2019, sexual predator and former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law denying the child in the womb protection from abortion up to the very moment of birth. Cuomo celebrated this atrocity by turning One World Trade Center pink. Seeing the very space above the earth where terrorists killed 2,977 Americans turned into a monument to the culture of death was appalling. I was chomping at the bit to respond.

The following day, I received a call from producers Chad Bonham and Betsy Kennedy-Ryzewicz, who pitched me the idea of producing a documentary investigating how New York and other states became so extreme on abortion. Of course, I jumped at the chance to serve as a producer. We understood from the beginning we needed a courageous, levelheaded, and respected person on both sides of the debate to serve as our documentarian.

Benjamin Watson was our first and only choice. I assumed he would pass. Starring in a documentary that straddles the third rail of American politics seems imprudent. There is nothing to gain personally and potentially a lot to lose especially in the era of cancel culture. The four of us jumped on a call, pitched Benjamin Watson, and to our surprise, he enthusiastically agreed.

Within months we were in production. COVID thwarted our plans for a theatrical release, but in the fall of 2020, we were on pay-per-view. Now we are streaming on FOX Nation, on Amazon, and on DVD and Blu-ray.

The film is structured around a series of more than 30 interviews with Americans holding opinions from all over the political and social spectrum. Most notably, the film includes interviews with Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and presidential candidate and neurosurgeon Ben Carson. We made this film to unite our country in a time of extradentary division. In the end, we could only be united in a post-Roe America. As our movie exemplifies, abortion is at the heart of our division because it denies our principle of unity the inviolable dignity of the human person.

Divided Hearts highlights the vast gap in moral reasoning between pro-abortion activists and the rest of us. They favor absolute, slave-like ownership rights of the mother over the fetus, right up through birth. Abortion through all nine months, which is illegal in most of the world except China, North Korea, and Canada. How does that divide them from mainstream opinion in America? How long will the voters in blue states support politicians with views this extreme?

There are a few big surprises for the Deep state, and our depraved establishment. One of those surprises will be the eruption of pro-life Democrats across the country. As the abortion debate moves to the states, the abortion lobby will find it impossible to stomp out this wildfire. There are 500,000 elected offices in the United States and around 7,000 state representatives. Whereas the abortion industry found it easy to control the federal offices, they will find it impossible to wield veto authority over state offices. Look out; here come the pro-life Democrats. Not so surprising, we will see the extinction of abortion industry hucksters in the GOP. And half-stepping straw soldiers like Mitt Romney will be swept into the dustbin of history.

Do you think the fall of falsified decisions like Roe and Casey will end up splitting the country? Should we in red states just go our own way? Let those in blues states trip through their rubble-strewn streets, and freeze and starve in the dark? Or can you see another scenario?

The end of Roe will mark the beginning of a unified America. Sadly, in the short run we will see the blue states become older, poorer, more violent, horrible places to live. The red states will become younger, wealthier, freer beautiful places to live. This experiment of states grounded in a respect for human dignity side by side with states grounded in the will to power will produces a striking contrast. In the long run we will see our nation reunified around renewed appreciation for the vision of the human person embedded in our founding documents.

What would an America reunited on this issue look like? Wont pro-choicers continue to bitterly resist, as the Klan and Jim Crow Democrats resisted the outcome of the Civil War for 100 years?

In our lifetime, advocates for abortion will become as hard to find as advocates of segregation. The Supreme Court open the door to a culture of life and young people will sprint through it, running from the ideologies of nihilism and death that have been assaulting them since they escaped Planned Parenthood at birth. We will weather several years of tantrums from those who worship the gods of the last age but their gods are dying and soon they too will pass to their reward.

What messages do pro-lifers need to mobilize and transmit now, in this polarized moment?

The fall of Roe is an essential yet modest step toward a culture of life. We need to order our lives to serve the vulnerable. We must continue to push for laws that correspond to the true nature of the human person. We must unravel the faulty logic of Roe that has poisoneed everything from our foster care system to our foreign policy. It is not enough for our posterity to be born. We must work for them to be born into a beautiful, humane, and just world.

Jason Jones is a senior contributor to The Stream. He is a film producer, author, activist and human rights worker. Subscribe to his podcast, The Jason Jones Show.

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream, and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. Together, Jones and Zmirak wroteThe Race to Save Our Century,and God, Guns, and the Government.

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Will Abortion Tear America in Two? - The Stream

Joe Rogan claimed that despite numerous opportunities to interview former President Donald Trump, he turned them down because he didn't want to help the ex-POTUS. Rogan told Lex Fridman, a computer scientist, on 'The Lex Fridman Podcast' on Monday, July 4, "I'm not a Trump supporter in any way, shape, or form. I've had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once. I've said no every time. I don't want to help him. I'm not interested in helping him."

During a larger discussion about the polarisation of US politics, Rogan drew his line about Trump. When considering the history of this country's split, he predicted that the Trump period will be one of the weirder times. He went on to say, The Trump era is also going to be one of the weirder times. When people look back historically on the division in this country, hes such a polarizing figure that so many people felt like they could abandon their own ethics and morals, and principles just to attack him and anybody who supports him because he is an existential threat to democracy itself.

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Rogan also anticipated that Trump, 76, would make another bid for the presidency, adding that he would be running against a dead man' referring to Biden, who's 79. Rogan said, Hes running against a dead man, you know? I mean, Biden shakes hands with people that arent even there when he gets off stage. I think hes seeing ghosts. Did you see him on Jimmy Kimmel the other day? He was just rambling" Fridman meanwhile, suggested that Rogan frequently hosted contentious personalities, such as the musician Kanye West, and that Rogan would eventually reconsider inviting Trump. However, Rogan drew a contrast, stating that West is an artist and that he's doing well or not doing well doesn't change the course of our country to which Fridman asked, "Do you really bear the responsibility of the course of our country based on a conversation?"

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Rogan replied, "I think you can revitalize and rehabilitate someone's image in a way that is pretty shocking." Fridman pushed Rogan to reconsider, adding that he believed Rogan could get Trump to reveal more information. But Rogan said that Trump didn't do drugs which he said helped some of his other podcast guests open up during their conversations and that he'd need to do significant research to prepare to interview Trump. "I don't know if he would genuinely be there. I think he would be putting on a performance, he remarked.

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Im not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form. Ive had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once Ive said no, every time."https://t.co/8SeV9bxsjt

According to Variety, despite objections from those on the left who disapprove of the politically incorrect things he has made, Rogan's show, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of the most well-known and successful podcasts in broadcasting history. Trump supported Rogan in February after a video compilation of Rogan uttering a racial slur went viral, despite the fact that Rogan claimed he didn't support Trump. Trump said at the time that Rogan shouldn't have to keep apologizing to his critics. Additionally, Rogan's most recent statements appear to be at odds with those he made in 2020 when he declared that he would rather vote for Trump than Joe Biden, despite the fact that Rogan had previously supported Bernie Sanders and advocated a number of liberal political positions.

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Joe Rogan refuses to host Trump on his podcast: 'I'm NOT interested in helping him' - MEAWW

THE REDBIRD REVIEW

The Cardinals headed East, to Philadelphia and Atlanta. The travelers have gone missing.

In losing five of six to the Phillies and Braves, the Cardinals were outscored 31 to 14. Theyve lost four consecutive games, suffering through two shutouts and getting outscored 20-4 in the process.

The Redbirds have been the Fredbirds on this trip. They have one more game to go on the Road to Nowhere shout-out to Talking Heads and we should ask authorities to send out a search party in the general vicinity of Smyrna, Ga. to locate the Cards in time for Thursday nights series finale.

The Cardinals are 0-3 in the Georgia part of the itinerary. They have scored only one run in the last 30 innings of non-competition. This is worse than Georgias 43-6 win over Mizzou in a SEC football rout last Nov. 6 in Athens.

I say that because the MU football Tigers werent cast and promoted as a contender for the SEC East title. Not even close. The Cardinals have been touted and clearly overhyped as a NL contender. The absurdity peaked early, during spring training, with manager Oli Marmol and players beating their chests and going into full-swagger mode with oddly confident talk about winning a World Series.

Yeah, well to this point the Cardinals cant even beat a first-place Milwaukee team that keeps trying to hand St. Louis the NL Central. The Cards are as lucky as Wilbur the Pig from the childrens book, Charlottes Web. But they arent quite as lovable as Wilbur.

But the luck is with them because the Milwaukee Brewers cant get rid of them. With the Cardinals playing their worst ball of the season and staggering through early July with a bombed-out rotation and a dormant offense, the Brewers have lost four of seven games to the Pirates and Cubs to enable STL to stay within three games of first place.

The Cardinals have a 22-26 record outside of the NL Central, and that includes a 10-20 mark in games against reps from the powerful NL East and AL East. Outside of the division and their 6-6 record vs. the Brewers, the Cardinals have won only 12 of 31 games against opponents with winning records this season.

This goofy division is the JV of the National League. It would be funny, but the mediocrity is a detriment that saps the motivational drive of the team management and players.

Why worry?

Why strive to improve your team in a push for the division title, a quest for greatness and stronger postseason viability?

Why bother to go big and bold and make an aggressive trade to acquire a priority starting pitcher? And who needs a catcher? You can probably win the NL Central without one.

Theres no need to have a heightened sense of urgency when the NL Central provides a safe haven for a flawed team, a laid-back front office and franchise ownership that currently has its lowest MLB payroll ranking (13th) in the 10 seasons of the luxury-tax system?

Wheres John Lackey when you need him?

In 2014 John Mozeliak acquired Lackey from the Red Sox to fill the void in the St. Louis rotation. But there was another reason behind the trade: Mozeliak thought the clubhouse needed a salty dog and a politically incorrect loudmouth to challenge teammates. Lackey sharpened the edge. He definitely sharpened the edge. After praising Lackey for his irascible but effective presence, I received a text message from an irritated St. Louis pitcher. He informed me that teammates didnt like Lackey personally.

Yeah.

That was the point of adding him.

He had no desire to be a member of The Good Old Boys Club in St. Louis. Lackey shook up a mellow team culture, disrupted the cozy-comfortable Ive got your back if you have mine culture and put some spice in a Happy Talk space. The bristly porcupine Lackey was just what the Cardinals needed at the time. And the people on the team that didnt care for him didnt realize his value. At least not until the 2014 Cardinals made a postseason push to the NLCS. And the fellers didnt seem to mind Lackey in 2015 when he was a large part of a remarkably good rotation (2.99 ERA) that generated a 100-win season for a team short on offense.

Go find a new Lackey if possible.

This nightmarish roadie has been a Griswold family vacation for the Cardinals. At least the Cards can come home late tonight after trying to avoid a four-game sweep in Smyrna. At 26-7 the Braves have the NLs best record since June 1, scoring an average of 5.7 runs per game, slugging .498 and launching 133 extra-base hits (including 64 homers) in the 33 games.

The Cardinals will try to quiet the Braves with a rookie starting pitcher that has a 5.66 earned-run average overall and a 10.97 ERA on the road. The Braves are slugging monsters at home, and the Cards rookie has been bashed for a .854 slugging percentage in his three road starts.

Go get em, Matthew Liberatore.

NOTES ON MY SCORECARD

The Accounting Department: The Cardinals have lost six of their last seven games they are 7-13 since June 15 and 15-19 since June 3 and 28-30 since May 7 the current streak of four straight road losses leaves the Cardinals with a 20-24 record away from Busch Stadium this season. But that record has been getting worse; the Cardinals are 4-12 in their last 16 road games the Cards have a 9-19 road record against winning opponents, and have dropped 15 of their last 20 road games against winning teams.

The Cardinals are 18-25 overall (.419) vs. winning teams. None of the other seven NL teams with a winning overall record this season have a poorer winning percentage than St. Louis in all games against winning opponents the visit to Atlanta already is in the books as a loss, giving the Cardinals a 1-4-1 record in their last six series and a 3-5-1 mark in their last eight series.

Whats Wrong With The Offense? Since their five-homer detonation in Saturdays 7-6 win at Philadelphia, the Cardinals have managed only four total runs in their last four games (all losses.) And as I mentioned, they didnt score at all in two of the four defeats.

From Sunday through Wednesday the Cardinals have batted .216 with a faint .289 OBP and anemic .284 slug. Theyve gone 9 for 57 all singles with men on base during this 0-4 skid and are 2 for 24 (.083) with runners in scoring position.

But except for that 7-run uprising at Philly, the quiet stretch has lasted seven games, with the Cardinals losing six times. Other than the glaring failure to deliver with men on base and runners in scoring position, what are the primary reasons for the malaise during this 1-6 slump?

1) Tommy Edman isnt hitting. Hes 4 for 26 (.154) with one walk and a .185 onbase percentage over the seven games.

2) Brendan Donovan isnt hitting. Hes 4 for 25 with three walks, two hit by pitches and .290 OBP over the last seven. The rookie hasnt scored a run since the June 28 game vs. Miami.

3) Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .308 with a .823 OPS over the last seven games, but hes also struck out 30 percent of the time and doesnt have an RBI during the stretch. But that no-RBI count makes sense when you look at what Im about to share with you.

Over the last seven games the Cardinals have received little offense from the 1-2 spots in the lineup. And they have received scant offense from the 6-7-8-9 spots in the lineup.

The only three lineup spots that have functioned well during the last seven games are the 3-4-5 spots. Goldschmidt at No. 3, Nolan Arenado at No. 4, and mostly a combination of Juan Yepez and Nolan Gorman at the No. 5 spot.

In the last seven games the 3-4-5 lineup block has combined for a .338 average, .424 OBP, .588 slug and a 1.011 OPS. And the power has been there with six doubles and four homers. Theyve driven in eight runs, some on solo homers.

Youd think it would be more than eight RBI, right?

Heres the problem: over the same seven games the No. 1 and No. 2 lineup spots are a combined 9 for 56 (.161) with a pathetic .210 onbase percentage. The top two spots have been manned by Edman, Donovan, and, to a lesser extent Dylan Carlson. So when your No. 1 and No. 2 setup spots arent supplying abundant RBI opportunities for the 3-4-5 hitters, it becomes a damaging disconnect in the supply line.

And while the 3-4-5 guys have gotten on base at a high rate, their collective onbase percentage has largely been wasted because of the dead zone in the 6-7-8-9 lineup spots.

In the last seven games the final four lineup spots have combined for a .165 average, .259 OBP and an awful .578 OPS The four spots have cashed in only six RBI in 109 plate appearances in the last seven games. And heres the key statistic: those four spots are collectively 0 for 22 with runners in scoring position in the last seven games. Goldy and Arenado have done a lot of standing around on the bases.

The 3-4-5 spots have been isolated. Their 1.011 OPS is beautiful. But that hasnt mattered much because the other lineup parts have brought the offense down.

Outside of the 3-4-5 hitters, the other six lineup spots have combined for a .171 average, .502 OPS, and gone 2 for 29 performance. The six spots have only nine RBI in 171 plate appearances over the seven games. And solo homers are responsible for a high percentage of those nine RBI.

Way To Go, Bullpen: This road trip has pretty much been a disaster. But that cant be applied to St. Louis relievers. In the six games the Cards bullpen has allowed two earned runs in 21.2 innings for a 0.83 ERA . Zack Thompson and Gio Gallegos provided two innings of scoreless relief Wednesday after starter Miles Mikolas pitched six innings.

Thanks for reading

Bernie

Bernie invites you to listen to his opinionated sports-talk show on 590-AM The Fan, KFNS. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the show podcast at 590thefan.com or the 590 app which is available in your preferred app store.

Seeing Red, my weekly podcast on the Cardinals with Will Leitch, is available on multiple platforms including Apple and Spotify. Please subscribe.

Follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz

Please email your Ask Bernie questions to BernScoops@gmail.com

All stats used here were sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Stathead, Bill James Online, Fielding Bible, Baseball Savant and Brooks Baseball Net unless otherwise noted.

Bernie Miklasz

For the last 35 years Bernie Miklasz has entertained, enlightened, and connected with generations of St. Louis sports fans.

While best known for his voice as the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch for 26 years, Bernie has also written for The Athletic, Dallas Morning News and Baltimore News American. Bernie has hosted radio shows in St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Bernie, his wife Kirsten and their cats reside in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood of St. Louis.

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Bernie's Redbird Review: The Cardinals Are Having A Griswold Family Road Trip. But It Isn't Funny. - Scoops with Danny Mac

Cast: Paul GiamattiDustin HoffmanRosamund PikeMinnie DriverScott Speedman

Geners: ComedyDrama

Director: Richard J. Lewis

Release Date: Oct 26, 2010

The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.

Barney's Version is currently not on Netflix. Movies and series tend to come and go quite a lot in the streaming service unless they're Netflix originals. A Netflix account starts from $9.99 and gives you full access to their library with ad-free viewing.

Barney's Version isn't available to watch on Hulu. However, prices for this streaming service currently start at $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for the whole year. For the ad-free version, it's $12.99 per month, $64.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV, or $70.99 for the ad-free Hulu + Live TV.

Sadly, Barney's Version is not streaming on Disney Plus. With Disney+, you can have a wide range of shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney+, Pixar, ESPN, and National Geographic to choose from in the streaming platform for the price of $7.99 monthly or $79.99 annually.

Sorry, Barney's Version is not available on HBO Max. There is a lot of content from HBO Max for $14.99 a month, such a subscription is ad-free and it allows you to access all the titles in the library of HBO Max. The streaming platform announced an ad-supported version that costs a lot less at the price of $9.99 per month.

Unfortunately, Barney's Version is not available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Video. However, you can choose other shows and movies to watch from there as it has a wide variety of shows and movies that you can choose from for $14.99 a month.

Barney's Version hasn't made its way onto the Peacock streaming library. Peacock has plenty of other shows and movies for only $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year for a premium account.

Barney's Version is not on Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus has two subscription options: the basic version ad-supported Paramount+ Essential service costs $4.99 per month, and an ad-free premium plan for $9.99 per month.

Barney's Version isn't on Apple TV+ at the moment, sorry! In the meantime, you can watch top-rated shows like Ted Lasso on Apple TV with a subscription cost of $4.99 a month.

No dice. Sadly, Barney's Version hasn't made its way onto the Chili streaming service yet.

Barney's Version is not available to stream now.

Link:
Where to Watch and Stream Barney's Version Free Online - EpicStream

When Karan Johar shared a post in May implying that there will be no further seasons of Koffee with Karan, its fans seemed to give a collective gasp. No Koffee with Karan? Are the obvious signs about ache din being over true? One could almost hear the loud sound effects from Ekta Kapoors soap operas playing in our heads as many of us said to ourselves, kya kya kya? Thankfully Karan soon revealed that the show was not returning to television, but to an OTT platform, and all seemed well with the world again. There would be gossip, there would be sniggering, there would be hampers and bickering.

As intellectual and woke as we all genuinely are, or pretend to be, there are occasions, events or people that force us to abandon our principles. Koffee with Karan is one such instance, where many of us let go of our politically correct stance and watch celebrities tell Karan secrets he already knows. Watching Koffee with Karan is the entertainment equivalent of cracking politically incorrect jokes or dancing to item numbers. You are not proud of the fact that you like it, but you dont mind doing it occasionally.

After six successful and unfailingly controversial seasons on television, Koffee with Karan is returning for a seventh season on Disney+ Hotstar. The latest promo gives us a sneak peek of the guests and wild conversations to come. Season 7s guest list includes some old and some new faces. Ananya Pandey (whose father is yet to appear on Koffee with Karan, thereby allowing her to retain her struggler status), Vijay Deverkonda, Kiara Advani, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Shahid Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and of course Karans favourite, Alia Bhatt are amongst those lined up to brew cups of controversies with KJo.

While in the promos, Karan was seen desperately calling people asking them to be on the show, the criteria for selection have remained quite the same over the past six seasons. To find themselves on Karans couch (the one on the show that is), celebrities have to fall into that special space on the Johar-Venn diagram, which intersects the circles of good-looking, rich, and successful. The exceptions, of course, are his childhood friends who serve as filler guests between the truly happening ones.

But as someone who has watched almost all the episodes of the show, I couldnt help but wonder, what is it about Koffee with Karan that makes it so popular? Why do so many people call the show their guilty pleasure, and why do we voluntarily watch the same, or similar faces season after season?

Perhaps when it first began, with Karans favourites Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol gracing the first-ever episode, social media wasnt the omniscient beast that it is today. We didnt know what a celebrity had eaten for breakfast, how intense their workout was or whether they took a flight to or from Mumbai. There was still some mystery and intrigue around movie stars and Koffee with Karan was an opportunity to casually engage with them. Karan didnt bother concealing the fact that he was good friends with or the boss of almost everyone he invited. Watching the show made us feel like we felt like we had quietly slipped into a living room in JVPD or Bandra, to hear and watch famous people have a largely pointless conversation.

By virtue of his proximity to these stars, Karan could charm, cajole and even trick them into being at least a halfway real version of themselves. It was refreshing to watch these huge stars reveal their hubris and sometimes hurt, be snide, be catty, be genuinely funny, surprisingly honest and for a few brief minutes, completely relatable.

Deepikas post-breakup taunts against Ranbir, Kareena and Priyankas passionately wicked comments about accents and boyfriends, the forced camaraderie between Ranbir and Ranveer, the surprising wisdom of Katrina Kaif when she spoke about her past breakups, Hardik Pandyas infamous boasts, and Kangana Ranauts rant about nepotism that gave disgruntled film folk their war cry. These are some of the many controversial and memorable moments that have played out over the years on Koffee with Karan.

Over six seasons, Koffee with Karan has been resolutely superfluous, but also perhaps cathartic for us as viewers. Watching these wealthy, famous and venerated celebrities display the same human follies as the rest of us was oddly relieving. Somewhere we felt reassured that individuals, whose lives we envied, were probably just as dysfunctional as us common folk. They were bitter about ex-flames, they were insecure and yet confident, but more than anything else, they were just regular people who are talented, hardworking and most definitely lucky. Koffee with Karan also allowed its host to come into his own and change how the world perceived him. Karan is no longer the awkward director who was better known as Kajol and Shah Rukhs bestie. Today he is a film producer, director, television show host and now gearing up to make his OTT debut as well.

I personally like the fact the show has never pretended to be a serious chat show or a show that was meant to change the world. Though many people have criticised it for being fake or disliked the unintellectual conversations, I doubt Karan was ever trying to be like Oprah or even Ellen. He realised the power of smaller screens and the universal interest in gossip and brought them together to create a profitable show.

So come 7 th July, I am going to pour myself a beverage of my choice and be unapologetically entertained as I watch Ranveer Singh talk about a playlist he has for his bedroom endeavours or some such equally outrageous conversation. After two years of bad news, devastating loss and global pandemonium, perhaps we all need a cup of Koffee with Karan.

See more here:
Koffee Koffee hota hai: What is it about Karan Johar's brew that has audiences asking for one more cuppa? - The Indian Express

By Robbin Laird

On July 3, 2022, General (Retired) Petr Pavel, the former head of NATOs Military Committee, and now candidate for President of the Czech Republic, agreed to be interviewed by a team led Jol-Franois Dumont. Joining the interview team were Franoise Thom, the noted French Russian expert, Colonel (Retired) Joel Bros, former French Special Forces and former military attach to Czech Republic and by myself.

In this article, a number of takeaways from the discussion are highlighted (with the biography of the General to be found at the end of the article), but for the complete discussion readers need to go to the European Security website.

Pavel underscored that what is unfolding in Ukraine today is a product of the long-range perspectives and policies of President Putin. He noted: Russia still believes that the very possession of nuclear arsenal makes it a superpower, and enables it to dictate to other countries how to live and how to arrange their international relations.

The Russians take no blame for their actions, but argue that the West is the trigger of their actions. He underscored that They believe that theyre perfectly right. All the moves they do are well justified and the vast majority of Russian population stands behind President Putin in this belief. For all of us, it means that the situation international and security situation has fundamentally changed.

Russia is no longer just a strategic competitor. Its a direct threat to our security. President Putin, went so far by declaring a possible use of nuclear weapons against United Kingdom, France and other countries, threatening sovereign countries, including nuclear powers. Its not an issue for us to think if Russia is bluffing or if they are just posing threats, they are determined to use these weapons and they expressed their determination several times pointing to existential threats, but without being very specific.

When we look at the breadth of Russian strategic thinking, we have to understand that anything that would harm Russian perception of being a global power could be taken as existential threat to Russia and as a justification for using nuclear weapons, tactical or any other level.

But I believe that any use of nuclear weapons, even smallest tactical nuclear weapon would be breaching the threshold and would fundamentally change the whole paradigm of our security thinking.

We dont have to necessarily defeat Russia but we face the challenge of dealing with Russian thinking that whatever we do in terms of coming closer to them would be understood as our weakness and sooner or later, we would see them attack another country.

He argued that the war in Ukraine was having a significant impact on a reshuffling in Europe whereby the states most directly familiar with Russia and closest to Russia have views different from key states like France and Germany.

He argued that we see a new, I wouldnt call it fraction line, but potential division within Europe where countries bordering Russia such as Bulgaria, Romania, Baltic countries, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic are almost of the same opinion on how to handle the crisis. That means being very tough within the framework of sanctions against Russia, being extremely helpful to Ukraine in terms of humanitarian assistance including military assistance.

The exceptions to this are the states of Hungary and Turkey, as he noted, which form special cases as he noted.

He added that one outcome of the war in Ukraine could well be Ukraine becoming part of the European Union, which if this was to happen would enhance the weight of the Russian threat focused countries within the European Union.

He very clearly underscored the importance of working relationships in Europe so that new fault lines do not open up on the continent when facing the Russian challenge, as this would only aid the Russians in the long-term competition.

Thats why I believe that one of the most important tasks of our current presidency, which Czech Republic took over the 1st of July, would be to keep Europe together and find ways to handle the crisis in Ukraine and relationships with Russia. Because if we let ourselves become divided then Russia would prevail and that was their primary objective from the very beginning. We need to bring our understanding of situation to the same foundation so that we dont take different conclusions and potentially wrong decisions.

He was asked about the impact of Finland coming into NATO and triggering a broader European rethink on the direct defense of Europe. He felt that Finland and Sweden coming into NATO could very much aide the kind of rethinking necessary both in NATO and in Europe.

NATO over the years has become probably too politically correct in our own way that we were circling around the problems without being able to identify true nature. I was facing that situation even in a military committee when I asked my colleagues to come back to the basics and speak as soldiers, not as politicians or diplomats. At least around the table so that we understand each other.

I believe that Fins and Swedes will bring a lot of direct language, not necessarily politically incorrect, but very direct language. And especially with regard to Russia, the Fins are very well respected. Because even though Russians won the Finnish War in three months war, it cost them such huge losses that they, remember the war with Fins up to present days.

So even though Finland is a small country by geography, its a big country by their heart and approach and I believe that it may change the atmosphere in NATO for better because we would probably come back to calling problems by their proper names and finding straight and direct solutions to current problems.

Europe certainly could strengthen conventional defense capabilities and shape enhanced horizontal conventional defense escalation options, notably with the possibility of an integrated Nordic defense.

But the nuclear challenge remains significant, and an open question of how NATOs nuclear countries would address this challenge in more than a declaratory sense, such as was done at the recent NATO summit, where we learned yet again that NATO is a nuclear alliance.

That is good, but what modernization and training efforts will be generated to convey to the Russians that their strategy of escalate to de-escalate will not work?

This is how General (Retired) Pavel handled this challenge:

Russians have developed the principle escalate to deescalate. We know it. They are very skillful in using it. I believe that we havent done good job facing Russian deterrents by using nuclear weapons because when President Putin and Minister Lavrov are starting talking on increasing level of readiness of Russian strategic nuclear forces and so on and potential strategic strikes to Western cities or even blowing the whole countries out of the surface, our reaction was a little bit scared.

I believe that we should remind Russia that we have a nuclear weapons too and we are also determined to use them if we have to and that Russian cities are on our target list as well. But we are reasonable enough not to do it and not to threaten any country by using our nuclear weapons, but we only remind Russia that they are not the only country with nuclear weapons and with target lists.

The Russians only understand our strength. And Im always trying to explain in our debates with the Czech public, when I speak on deterrence, that the deterrence is not about frightening anyone, its not threatening. Its simply reminding that we have the capacity and making our adversaries of our proficiency and willingness to use our capabilities. Thats the very substance of deterrence and we havent used it in such a way to answer Russian threats.

We discussed the recent decisions made at the NATO Summit in Madrid to increase both force size and shift force deployments forward. Pavel welcomed these developments but cautioned that they will take time but must also actually be done and not just remaining as a summit declaration.

He was very clear that whatever the outcome of the war in Ukraine after that outcome is sorted out, the task of rebuilding Ukraine including its defense capabilities would remain as a priority for Europe and NATO. Once this war is over Ukraine military will have to be consolidated and provided with the equipment that will be interoperable, that would be manageable in logistic terms, but also in training terms.

As we aid Ukraine now, we will have to think of for future, how to equip and how to handle Ukraine and their capabilities in future. Its clear that their accession to NATO will not be in question for time, but at the same time itll be in our interest that Ukraine has a strong enough military, capable to deal with their security issues on their own but itll also in our interest that Ukraine remains our partner now that it is interoperable with our own forces.

He was then asked about his own country, the Czech Republic, and shaping their way ahead in light of the current defense and security situation in Europe. He commented that the Czech Republic went too far in reducing our defense expenditures after the end of the Soviet Union. At one point, and it was in times when I was Chief of Defense, we went even below 1% of GDP and the deficiencies in our capabilities were so serious that I confronted that time President Vaclav Klaus, because I saw that the capacity of military was so insufficient that we wouldnt be able to meet even basic tasks.

Since then, number of problems have been dealt with, but still the pace of modernization is not fast enough to meet the challenge. Now with new government, it seems that we will be able to finalize some modernization projects but given the pressure of state finances because of COVID crisis and now the war, I have some concerns that this government will be able to meet these commitments.

Our primary goal must be to meet our capability target from NATO defense planning. And thats heavy brigade equipped with tracked APCs ready by the end of 2025. Because this is our main contribution to NATO collective defense and also our contribution to increasing the capacity of NATO forces.

Czech Republic contributes beyond its weight to the battle groups formed in our Eastern border, both in the Baltic countries and we are also taking command and significant contribution to Slovakian battle group.

We also have contributed to air policing to multi countries and a number of other activities. And from what I hear from our government, it remains a priority, they are determined to keep the pace of our contributions and to meet also commitments made within NATO defense planning. However, I see that itll be a great challenge to succeed fully.

The photos show General (Retired) Petr Pavels time in service as Chief of Staff of the Czech Republic armed forces or his time as Chairman of the NATO military committee. We credit the provision of these photos to @Anna olcov.

General Pavel was appointed Chairman of the NATO Military Committee on 26 June 2015.

From July 2012 to May 2015 General Petr Pavel served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, the highest ranking officer in the Czech Army and the principal military adviser to the Czech Government. In September 2014, General Pavel was elected Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

General Pavel graduated from theArmy Collegein Vykov, Czech Republic in 1983 and since then has spent a large part of his military career holding positions in Special Forces, Operations and Intelligence divisions. Throughout his career, General Pavel has held a range of positions from Deputy Military and Air Attach of the Czech Republic in Belgium to Commander Special Forces to Deputy Director Operations Division at the Ministry of Defence,

In addition, General Pavel has also held his share of positions in International and National joint staffs representing the Czech Armed Forces as the National Military Representative to the US Central Command, as well as National Military Representative of the Czech Republic to SHAPE in Mons, Belgium.

Furthering his education in the United Kingdom, General Pavel has studied at the Staff College, Camberley, theRoyal College of Defence Studies, London andobtained an M.A. in International Relations from Kings College, London.

And here was an article in CZ Defence published July 20, 2019 which described his career from the standpoint of his memoirs:

The book brings a subheading In the front line. The Czechs loved General Pavel when he was the Chief of the General Staff. The world has known him as the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. He found a way to soldiers hearts a long time ago thanks to his heroic action in former Yugoslavia. But nobody could suspect that he, as a kid, was suffered from ADHD. So primary school teachers cursed him. And much more

This all has been written in a compact form not only by Petr Pavel, but also by his farther, sister, wife, sons and comrade-in-arms. His father, also an army officer, brought up his son in military style he continually entrusted him with the tasks, which exceeded the boys age by demandingness. And sent him to play hockey and to train gymnastics. On the threshold of adolescence, Petr went to a Military gymnasium and ensured a parental consent to jump with parachute.

He got here the best preparation so that he was able to assert himself in prestige reconnaissance units. At that time Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact, but the ice was starting to melt. Young Petr Pavel did the right think when apart of obligatory study of Russian studied English as well.

Thus, at the beginning of the 90s, he was one of the first, then Czechoslovakian, soldiers who participated in a foreign mission. Together with a unit consisting from volunteers, he set off to rescue French soldiers from captivity. In the middle of a ragging battle between the Serbians and Croats. The popular Czech slogan We can come to an arrangement didnt work so much as the rescue team wished. In spite of this, all were survived, the prisoners were rescued.

And only in the memoir the fans of General Pavel have a chance to find out all details of this adventure. For completeness sake, these details are additionally described in separate chapter by Colonel Karel Klinovsk, a participant of the mission and the best friend. Not less interesting is to look at the generals family life. He is relatively self-critical and admits that he hasnt always had enough time for his loved ones. In spite of this, from our conversation with his family, it is evident mutual respect, tolerance, love and never-dying support.

General Pavel also does a big favour in the closing chapters, which describe his service in NATO, and, thus, functioning of this organization, its attitude towards different recent or actual conflicts. We can even say that a reader acquires two books at one stroke a biography and a textbook of the global security policy.

Just two questions remain now: When a big foreign entertainment company shoots a picture about a rescue of the French contingent by an underestimated Czechoslovak unit? And when the memoires of General Peter Pavel can be issued at least in English translation for foreign readers?

And in the video below, General Petr Pavel is seen closing out his tenure as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee on June 29, 2018,

Continue reading here:
Europe, the War in Ukraine and Shaping a Way Ahead: The Perspective of General (Retired) Petr Pavel - Second Line of Defense - Second Line of Defense

Are you registering for classes for the upcoming fall semester at a prestigious and expensive university? You'll need to prepare for a cutthroat world of higher education and poverty that's in store for you.

Here is a definitive list of items you must take to college with you:

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Satan held a press conference today responding to the big loss of Roe v. Wade. He's doing his best to keep his chin up.

See more here:
Going To College? Here's What You Need To Pack For The Fall Semester In Order To Survive - The Babylon Bee