Archive for the ‘Mato’s Cats’ Category


Links November 2019

November 20, 2019

Sometimes some writers are able to transport spirit, inspiration, and meaning via poetry which cannot be measured rationally. Please skip if you are not in the right mood.


Graffiti under the bridge says,
“Life will pull you apart like mozzarella strips if you let it.
And you should let it.”

Your reflection in the mirror says,
“We were friends once, long ago.
Let’s be friends again.”

A fungus angel dies in a forest at dusk
while coal cranes coo a lullaby.

A genius dies in a nursing home
without ever once being seen or noticed.

We are tossed like leaves in a hurricane of tenuous agreements
(form ineffable, source ineffable,
nature ineffable, outcome ineffable),
and we worry what some Mary Whatevernut thinks of us.

We stand on the precipice of a plunge into chaos
(form unknown, source unknown,
nature unknown, outcome unknown),
and we argue about Republicans with strangers.

I once met a dead man in Barcelona
who has been with me ever since.
I showed him my hypochondria
and my disdain for my body
and the scars that cruel men have rent in my flesh,
and I said,
“Well? What can you do with this?”

He turned me around on the balcony and showed me the universe.
“This is medicine,” he said.
“Swallow it.”

And even now the aches still return,
and tears flow like melting glaciers
and I shatter as easily as eggshells in a blender.

But now I am upheld by the same might which swirls the galaxies,
and I know I can never truly fall.

Holy Queen.

holy moment.

thunderous majesty of being.

cold air in my nostrils.

shameful errors of the past.

emaciated bodies of Yemeni children.

whale corpses choked full of plastic.

teenage soldiers inflicting harm out of boredom.

belched-up delusions of ancient grandfathers.

flocks of featherbeasts.

rays of starlight.





Pull me apart like mozzarella strips,
and let only the real remain.


Feline news:

http://hatchingcatnyc.com/2019/11/14/cats-explosion-spca-shelter/ A sad story.

Environmental news:

http://news.trust.org/item/20191106134136-r4262/ Water scarcity in Egypt.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/11/delhi-air-crisis/601507/ Air pollution kills.
https://meta.eeb.org/2019/11/06/green-deal-impossible-without-cap-reform/ The fight about industrial agriculture.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191104112828.htm Water scarcity.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/firefighter-health-risks-california-wildfireshttps://www.ehn.org/is-bpa-dangerous-for-health-2641153205.html Bisphenol-A, endocrine disrupters.

Economic news:

At the moment US banks are not lending, depriving small businesses of cheap loans, hindering an economic “recovery.” JPMorgan for instance partly used federally insured deposits to prop up its share price with buybacks.

First: Banks could not function without public support. Without a gigantic cash injection (bailout) of some 500 million US$ they would all have closed down in 2008/2009. Consequently they should be turned into public utilities, mandated to serve the interests of the people.

Second: What does “recovery” mean? For most economists, even the”progressive” ones, it means more industrial production, more resource consumption, new factories and mines, higher statistical numbers of everything.

Investments in energy saving, in new technologies to achieve the same with less materials and energy, a transition to longer lasting goods, research in waste reduction, and new reuse, repurpose, upcycle, recycle schemes would not increase the numbers, they would rather decrease industrial activity.

Traditional economics does not regard such a development as desirable, because it would not be profitable for the big corporations and the rentier class.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/11/article/a-blue-dot-barely-visible-from-new-silk-roads/ Neither China’s Belt and Road initiative nor the USA’s Blue Dot Network should be supported. They both further globalization and in the end will lead to ecological collapse.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/china-usa-geopolitics-lithium/5695377 More resource wars, and more regime-change operation to secure control of crucial resources.

Media and technology news:

There’s a run on Huawei’s Mate X and Mate 30 Pro 5G phones in China and the company can hardly produce enough to meet demand.

YouTube Terms of Service: “YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access to all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable.” 

Swedish prosecutors have dropped their preliminary investigation into Julian Assange about allegations of sexual assault for the third time, after having it reopened without any new evidence or information.

Assange’s court case in Britain also faces difficulties because Lady Emma Arbuthnot, the judge presiding over Julian Assange’s extradition proceedings is embroiled in a conflict of interest and will no longer be sitting on the case.

They will not let him go, they rather will arrange an Epstein-esque suicide. Freeing Assange would be an incredible moral boost for the anti-imperial resistance and it would take tens of millions US$, an army of spies, agents, stooges, social media trolls, and thousands of articles in the establishment media to neutralize this moral boost.

https://consentfactory.org/2019/11/05/the-ministry-of-wiki-truth/ If you intend to use Wikipedia, read this first.
https://fair.org/home/can-deadspin-live-again-as-a-worker-owned-website/ “Worker owned” sounds like a socialist / communist plot.
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/repression/how-to-browse-the-internet-anonymously/ There are rumors that the NSA has a backdoor to Tor.

Imperial news:

A post in a web forum: “I’m an American but I’ve lived for several years in two European countries and one Asian country. In my experience, American culture is much more aggressive than any other developed country’s culture.”
Could that be true? The nation which brought freedom, democracy, peace, and stability to so many countries around the world?

https://off-guardian.org/2019/11/03/american-conspiracies-cover-ups/ Must read.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/31/epst-o31.html Was Epstein’s death a homicide?
https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2019/11/04/why-we-dont-know-what-to-eat-060299 Food is one of the most important factors in overall health and it would be surely beneficial to know more about the health impact of various diets. One problem is that people are different and have different nutritional needs — dietary advice has to take that into account. Another problem: Federal nutrition research most likely will find out that locally sourced, homegrown, home made food is better than industrial produced food. The food industry will not like that. And: The nanny state, telling us even what to eat. Which means that any recommendations and guidelines have to be worded very carefully.

Imperial conquest news:

In his most recent interview with RT’s Afshin Rattansi, Syrian President Dr. Bashar al-Assad again displayed consistency and candor, he apparently is still untouched by the persistent defamation, smearing, and slandering in Western media propaganda outlets.

He has held his country together for 9 punishing years of fighting against Western funded Islamic fundamentalists, invading mercenaries (the “moderate rebels”), direct invasions by  troops from USA, NATO allies, and Turkey, and a stringent economic blockade by Western countries.

His reputation among the populations of the Meddle East (the so called “Arab street”) is sky high, manifested in thoroughly researched reports and analyses from independent journalists as well as countless comments on social media and message boards. Paid trolls and uninformed gullible commenters, stirred up by propaganda lies, try to counter with phrases like “brutal bloodthirsty dictator,” “monstrous despot,” “butcher Assad,” and terms like mukhabarat, shabiha, barrel bombs, sarin gas, Caesar, Sednaya, used as contractions and shorthand symbols to affirm the wickedness of President Assad. They seldom go into details and their efforts are unconvincing.

Not many world leaders of his intelligence and integrity exist and there are none in the West (that’s another strong reason why they hate him so much).

In the interview President al-Assad asserted that Russia is helping Syria in combating terrorism because terrorism and its ideology have no borders and the world has become one arena for terrorists, who quickly move from one place to another.

President al-Assad further maintained that accusations of chemical weapons attacks are unfounded, particularly as the “White Helmets” group, which has fabricated many false flag atrocities, are an off-shoot of the Jabhat al-Nusra organization.

He also affirmed that the Israelis are enemies of Syria, occupying its land and directly supporting terrorists. Every time the Syrian army advanced against Al-Nusra terrorists in the south, Israel was bombarding Syrian troops. There was a close coordination between Islamic rebels and Israeli forces.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vNwe7yKbwo&w=420&h=237 About the White Helmets.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/08/pentagon-claims-us-authority-shoot-any-syrian-govt-official-who-tries-take-control Please read the comments.
https://www.rt.com/news/473102-bolivian-president-morales-announces-his Tried and tested regime change procedures still work. The empire thrives on chaos and on the lies, illusions, and false promises of a global propaganda machine. The paramount goal is to weaken or destroy emerging competitors or adversaries, while the wellbeing of the people, civil rights, social justice, and equality are not even afterthoughts.
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2019/11/12/bolivian-coup-comes-less-than-a-week-after-morales-stopped-multinational-firms-lithium-deal Thank god, our lithium supply is now secured.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/18/the-eighteenth-brumaire-of-macho-camacho-jeffery-r-webber-and-forrest-hylton-on-the-coup-in-bolivia/ Long read, but worth it.


Armargeddon news:


Uncategorized news:


News from cat land:

The cat family had two appointments at the veterinarian.

It was a cold, wet, and foggy day, not the best time to play or hunt outside. All the cats with the exception of Aunt Rosy had gathered in the living room near the wood stove.

I quietly closed the door to the hall, which is always open a gap so they can reach the cat flap in the entrance door. Then I fetched six pet carriers from the cellar and positioned them along the walls with the top door wide open (I use only top loading carriers). After that I softly lifted them one by one from their resting places and put them into the carrier, closing the door instantly. They were completely surprised and barely resisted.

During the car ride to the vet they complained vehemently and I constantly talked to them assuring that it will not hurt, that this visit to the vet is necessary to keep them healthy, and that they will be perfectly fine afterwards.

I know, they don’t understand the particular words and sentences. They understand a lot, more than one would imagine. They understand their name, they understand when I say “no!” They understand when I call “food is ready,” they probably understand when I say “sorry, I have no time at the moment,” though that will never make them stop begging or trying to catch my attention with whatever action they are capable of.

By and large they were all okey. They got their vaccination and a deworming pill.

Wendy has a small spot in the iris which could be benign but also be an ocular melanoma. The vet said that I should check this spot to see if it grows, but I can hardly make the spot out and Wendy usually is not keeping quiet with eyes wide open. I will visit the vet with Wendy in a few month again, just to be on the safe side.

Princess Min Ki had developed some tartar on her premolar teeth, which is surprising because she eats lot of natural food (mice, voles, birds). Of course in autumn and winter mice are hard to come by and so they are provided organic pet food, grain free and without sugar, BHA, food dyes, or other nasty ingredients. Princess Min Ki has a robust health and never suffered from any ailments, but she is 14 now and the age apparently takes its toll. 

I drove them safely home, parked the car in the garage (which is a part of the basement), put the carriers from the car into the hall of the basement and opened the carriers. They climbed out and sniffed around, they are not often in the basement so they had something to explore.

We then together went up the stairs to the ground floor and all had supper.

A few days later, Aunt Rosy, Princess Min Ki, and I drove to the vet again. Aunt Rosy is 15, but in good shape. She had her dental cleaning last year. I left the Princess there for the dental, which by cats unfortunately has to be done under anesthesia. When I fetched her two hours later and brought her home, she was drowsy, staggering around, and hardly be able to climb up the stairs from the cellar to the ground floor. 

What did I do to you, please forgive me!” I said, feeling guilty and pondering, if this was really necessary. The vet had told me that after removing a bit of plaque and tartar it came out that her teeth were in perfect condition. Maybe the anesthesia would not even have been necessary.

But who can tell for sure? Anesthesia, even the slightest form, will strain liver and kidneys, but persistent toothache could make life to hell. I hope that the sedations  my two older cat ladies had to endure will be the last ones and that they will have a jolly good time in their golden years.