Intermedia artist/photographer/musician
Oasis, Iowa
Joined May 2007
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Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Around 3,700 years ago (1700 B.C.), a group of 6 elevated, C-shaped terraces at what is today Poverty Point, Louisiana, started being made by a group of people, some of which likely already lived in the region. They constructed small "houses" on the terraces and the complex seemingly became a trade center with several older mound complexes already in the area.
In 1300 B.C. the massive 700-acre complex at Poverty Point was expanded and at least 6 more mounds were made.
The largest mound (Mound A) is widely thought to be a bird-effigy mound that is 72 feet tall with its base dimensions 660 x 705 feet. It covers over 12 acres.
Until about 2012 most textbooks "assumed" it took the builders several hundred years to construct the massive, 72-foot-tall mound. This was the prevailing idea because it was thought that the hunter-gatherer society living at the site did not have the leadership, organization, or capability to undertake such a construction on a sustained basis.
In 2013 archaeologists Ortmann & Kidder published an article in the journal "Geoarchaeology," specifically reporting on the time it took to build Mound A. They took many core samples and examined sediment looking for signs of erosion (from rainfall over decades). They were astonished to find no evidence of internal erosion. They concluded that the mound was likely built over a 30-day period with perhaps up to a maximum of 90 days.
Mound A has an estimated 312,000 cubic yards of soil. The archaeologists wrote that it would take modern dump trucks over 31,000 loads to move that much soil. If the construction actually took the longest estimate of 90-days to complete, they concluded that 9,000-10,000 people were involved: 3,000 workers and the remainder consisting of their families and support workers providing food, water, baskets and clothing, etc. Their major conclusion was that the assumptions about hunter-gatherers being small, loosely knit bands of clans and family groups was clearly a misunderstanding.
Below 1: Mound A is on the upper right hand side of a reconstruction of Poverty Point.
2: The 72-foot-tall Mound A.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
What most people already understand, even without the economic terminology, is that firms like BlackRock operate less like investors and more like modern feudal landlords.
They buy essential infrastructure,water networks, ports, energy grids, data centres, and other public necessities, often using vast amounts of borrowed money and paying prices that ordinary market participants cannot match.
Once the acquisition is complete, the debt is pushed onto the acquired company itself.
The result is simple: the public pays.
Consumers repay that debt through higher water bills, rising energy prices, increased fees, and declining service quality.
The infrastructure becomes a cash-extraction machine.
Profits flow upward to shareholders and executives, while the financial burden flows downward to ordinary households.
When the model inevitably breaks down, the consequences are socialised. Communities are left with crumbling infrastructure, polluted rivers and failing services.
Thames Water's £14 billion debt mountain and repeated sewage scandals are a stark example of what happens when financial engineering takes precedence over public stewardship.
The executives who loaded the company with debt have already collected their bonuses.
The investors have already taken their returns.
And when the system finally reaches its breaking point, taxpayers are expected to pick up the bill.
Privatise the gains.
Socialise the losses.
That is the business model......
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
What the NATO left used to say about the nazis in Ukraine before they sold out
Democrat Ro Khanna @RepRoKhanna is running for reelection in California's 17th Congressional District [CA-17] on November 3.
✅Voted for the Ukraine Support Act
✅Voted for most key aid packages
✅Voted for sanctions
✅Condemns trafficking of children
ALT Track Ukraine graphic with a green header reading "Ro Khanna supports Ukraine receiving critical assistance." A green map of California over a field and sky carries the words "Running for US House CA-17." A photo shows Ro Khanna, a smiling man with short dark hair in a gray suit jacket and light blue open-collared shirt. Five bullets with green check marks read: Voted for Ukraine Support Act; Voted for most key aid packages; Voted for sanctions; Condemned trafficking of children; Condemned religious persecution. A black and yellow footer bar reads "TrackUkraine.com" and "Learn more here" with an arrow, beside a raised fist and sunflower logo. The bottom line reads "RoKhanna.com." Background image credit: Raimond Spekking.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Pat Buchanan, 1999:
“By moving NATO onto Russia’s front porch, we have scheduled a twenty-first century confrontation. … America will face a hellish dilemma: risk confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia determined to recreate its old sphere of influence, or renege on solemn commitments and see NATO collapse.”
Therefore, he said, “Offering NATO memberships to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and, as some urge, Ukraine is rashness bordering on madness.” Referring to maps the Clinton team must have ignored, Buchanan warned, “This would put the Russian base at Kaliningrad behind NATO lines and bring into a U.S.-led alliance three nations with huge Russian minorities.” Foreseeing future conflict, he observed that “Latvia is almost half Russian; eastern Ukraine, almost entirely Russian. America could neither defend nor liberate these nations without the risk of nuclear war.”
Pat Buchanan, A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America’s Destiny (New York: Regnery, 1999), 17–18, 22.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
This is all true. This former GOP state legislator closely aligned with DeSantis and Randy Fine -- Mike Caruso -- was arrested in August on charges of sexually abusing multiple young kids in his family, including his grandson and a niece.
He had previously advocated the death penalty for pedophiles. This picture is when Caruso, Randy Fine and DeSantis went to Israel in 2023 to sign a "hate speech" law that restricted the free speech rights of Floridians on behalf of Israel. They signed it in Israel.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
This sociopath doesn’t even have the heart to take responsibility for imposing a militarized energy siege of Cuba, which is now subjecting millions of Cubans to blackouts for as long as 36 hours, blocking basic medicine and driving infant mortality rates up 150%
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
You brought this upon the people of France. We warned you that attacking Iran would trigger an economic crisis. You and your regime backed aggression and the slaughter of Iranian children. Thanks to Netanyahu, Trump, and the Zionist lobby, things will soon get much worse.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Macron’s approval rating is now 15%, and I can’t help wondering: who are these 15%?
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Incredible footage from Australian filmmaker James Fenwick of the protests in France. Long live the revolution!
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
The US and Europe are infected with neoliberal politicians like Macron who collude with neofascists to fund war, serve capital, and deploy state violence against the people. This is the “democracy” they talk about in the West. It’s an illusion for everyone except the rich who it was built to serve, which is why revolution is required to put society in the people’s hands.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Neera Tanden has spent the last 2 years attacking the left, the more electable wing of the party. She has not helped defeat republicans at all, she has only helped them win by making sure weak democratic candidates win primaries. If you want more info on how she works for republicans, check out my article on her. substack.com/home/post/p-220…
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Wow.
Albanians just set fire to the Supreme Court after it allowed Jared Kushner to buy land in the country against the their will.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
Paris looks like a war zone. What is the cause? The cost of living? Mass immigration? A mismanaged economy? Excessive spending on war? A crisis of political legitimacy caused by an unaccountable elite? Europe will likely be a very different place 10 years from now.
Tim Dillon’s Personal Trainer retweeted
I don’t know if Zelenskyy watches the news, but the mood in France, Italy and Albania is not good. Large protests are underway, sometimes turning into clashes with police. In southern Italy roads are set to be blocked for the next two days. People are protesting bad education, poverty, soaring fuel prices and actual shortages of diesel and gasoline in some regions.
Against this backdrop, six months before elections in France and Italy, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking for another €70 billion to fund an endless war that Ukraine is losing. The previous €90 billion were already extracted with huge difficulty. Hungary and Slovakia have already said they will not take part in this new financing.
This is not about whether I support Zelenskyy. The economy in Ukraine is nearly stopped — by Russian strikes and by the incompetence of a wartime government. The Constitution is on pause, as one of Zelenskyy’s own friends has said.
The war is taking more lives and more land, and the only answer we hear is “give Ukraine more money”. Money that Europeans no longer want to give and can no longer afford to give. Every third euro in Ukraine is now Western borrowing.
To save the country we need a deal and a chance to rebuild. I do not believe Ukraine can remain an equal partner while it is this dependent on the West, or that this strategy has any long-term future.
It breaks my heart that this war is destroying so much in Ukraine and causing such degradation. It also breaks my heart that European countries, including France, Italy and Albania, are going through such hard times.
That is why I say again: let’s end the only war in Europe so that all of us can start building a future.
