It is not uncommon to be doing something seemingly innocuous when one is flooded with wild thoughts, musings that seem randomly meaningless, leading nowhere. Thoughts that think us. To dismiss them, however, is a mistake. For me, these unbidden guests usually visit me when I am out walking or lying in bed right before sleep.

Recently, as I was again walking across the meandering Housatonic River through the covered wooden bridge in Sheffield, Massachusetts, I found myself waylaid by the thought of the word "preposterous," which is usually understood to mean absurd, very silly, or foolish. Being happily eccentric and language obsessed, I thought of its etymology, which from the Latin means before-behind or before-after, which makes preposterous an absurd, nonsense word itself, which seemed appropriate to thoughts that were approaching me from the other side as I walked ass-backwards (my behind behind me) toward them. I wanted to see ahead to make sure I wasn't bushwacked by something more absurd than a word.

For when I exited the bridge, I passed a plaque commemorating a reported UFO sighting by 40 people and an alleged abduction on September 1, 1969 by Thomas Reed, who claims that when he was nine years-old he and his family were taken briefly aboard a disk-shaped flying UFO as they were driving down the dirt road between the corn fields and the marshes that I was approaching. While this strange, fascinating story is not the focus of my reflections, if it interests you, you can read about it here.

This might be the first time that average Americans read a top Russian official's views without a filter.

It's rare nowadays for Russian officials to give interviews to Western media, both because the first suspect that their words won't be accurately reported while the second fear being "canceled", which is why it's so important that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov just gave a written interview to Newsweek. He concisely summarized his country's positions on the Ukrainian Conflict, multipolarity, and the US' upcoming presidential election, which will be reviewed.

Regarding the first, he reaffirmed the official position that Kiev should comply with Putin's ceasefire request from over the summer and that Moscow wants to address the root causes of this conflict, not just freeze it for some time. The spring 2022 draft peace treaty could form the basis for resuming talks with Ukraine if the latter revokes its decree on banning them, though some details would have to change. He also warned against letting Ukraine use Western long-range weapons deep inside of Russia.

As for the second, Lavrov emphasized the regional dimension of multipolarity by referencing several leading blocs before describing BRICS as a model of multilateral diplomacy and confirming the importance of the UN as a forum for aligning the interests of all countries. Respect for one another's interests, a greater say in global governance for developing countries, and mutual cooperation are considered the driving forces behind this trend. China also shares Russia's views on this too, he said.

The outcome of the American election won't change anything, because the course is already set

The American presidential campaign of 2024 has been marked by a series of unprecedented events. These include lawsuits against one candidate and relatives of the sitting president, assassination attempts against Donald Trump and, finally, the unprecedented situation of Joe Biden being forced out of the race by his own party. All of this has made the election marathon an extraordinary event.

Meanwhile, domestic politics in the US is spilling over into the rest of the world, and it's helping fuel the growing dissatisfaction of the countries representing the world's majority with the intense attempts by Washington to maintain its leadership. But we should not read too much into the vote, because the policy of seeking to preserve American dominance remains the main strategy of both candidates.

Netanyahu is a despicable brute. But his slapping down of Macron is a priceless demonstration of how much of a non-entity the French leader is.

French President Emmanuel Macron got his marching orders with a smack on the head for daring to propose an arms embargo on Israel.

Israel's obnoxious leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly mauled Macron in a phone call for having the nerve to make such a suggestion.

With his typical bluster and deceit, Netanyahu claimed that Israel was fighting for Western civilization against an "axis of evil" led by Iran and that Macron should be ashamed of himself for not backing Israel.

It seems that Monsieur President got the message and has now shut up.

NBC News reported Friday that Biden administration officials from the intelligence agencies and the Secret Service have told President Trump the Secret Service cannot protect him from potential assassins when he is golfing, basically forcing Trump to suspend playing golf until after the election.

Trump has been the target of two assassination attempts and is also being targeted for death by Iran. A gunman wounded Trump on stage at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. One supporter was killed and two wounded who were seated in the bleachers behind Trump. The Butler attempt exposed scandalous security lapses by the Secret Service.

It's no secret that Kamala Harris is a power-hungry authoritarian... here she is explaining the immense power she wielded as a prosecutor - which she then implied she's used responsibly (vs. the evil Donald Trump).

Now, a clip from May of 2019 has resurfaced in which Harris fantasizes about weaponizing the DOJ against speech the government doesn't like, and the platforms that allow it.

Speaking at the annual NAACP 'Fight for Freedom Fund' dinner in Detroit, Harris threatened: "We will put the Department of Justice of the United States back in the business of justice. We will double the civil rights division, and direct Law Enforcement to counter this extremism.

The extreme weather ravaging the southeastern United States could be the proverbial October Surprise to impact the presidential election, which is only three weeks away.

Political observers often speculate on a wild card event that upends the race to the White House. Usually, it is a debacle over a sudden political scandal involving one of the candidates, or a foreign policy setback such as the failure in 1980 to release American hostages held in Iran, believed to have cost Jimmy Carter that election to Ronald Reagan.

With fears of a looming war between Israel and Iran embroiling the Biden administration, that event might seem a likely risk to damage the chances of the Democrat candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, would no doubt make plenty of political hay over the Democrats "getting us into another endless war" - at a time when American voters are weary of foreign military misadventures.

However, the annual hurricane season has wrought unprecedented destruction to multiple states in the U.S. along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The political repercussions are piling up. As the Associated Press reported this week: "Back-to-back hurricanes are shaping the 2024 election."

Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed into the U.S. - less than two weeks apart - and have wreaked apocalyptic devastation. Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds more are still missing. Winds and tidal surges have destroyed millions of homes. It is estimated that the cost of infrastructure damage alone could reach $100 billion and quite possibly much more. Ominously, there are several weeks left before the hurricane season ends.

Compounding the chaos is a storm of political recrimination and disinformation. This election was already supercharged with divisive tensions and bitter polarization. The political atmosphere in the U.S. is as ugly as hell, generating fears of a civil crisis, whatever the outcome on November 7. Trump's bid for election is based on his incendiary claims that Biden and the Democrats stole the last one in 2020. If he loses this time, there are real concerns that the constitutional order of the U.S. may go into meltdown. Even if he wins, the system faces a crisis from deep-seated opposition to another Trump administration.

"As the US increasingly resembles ancient Rome, being president is more and more dangerous. Something around 35 emperors met violent deaths, most from people in and around their courts. In other words, members of the Roman Deep State. An ugly situation is brewing in and around Washington DC." — Doug Casey

Don't kid yourself: Kamala Harris does not want to be President of the United States. She doesn't even want the ceremonial stuff, the incessant shuffling from one photo op to the next, the tedious Easter egg rolls, the prayer meetings, the turkey pardonings, the tiresome state banquets for men in strange headgear who are unfamiliar with using the fork and knife, and forbidden to sip chardonnay. . . .

It's obvious she has been played for a chump, that she was sandbagged into play-acting "the candidate" by an odd coalition of the distraught and the desperate — that is, the many agency blobsters who fear prison and the perfidious politicians such as Pelosi, Schumer, Mitch the Turtle, the Clintons, and Obama, paid to cover for the blob, often doing it badly, who fear the judgment of history, as well as the loss of their fortunes. Distraught and desperate characters make foolish decisions.

Republicans are looking likely to "flip" a US Senate seat in Montana, according to a new poll by the New York Times, which would give them control of that chamber of Congress if all the other races go as expected.

While most eyes have been on the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the entire House of Representatives is also up for re-election, along with 33 seats in the Senate. Democrats currently have 51 seats in the 100-member chamber.

"The math for Senate control is pretty simple. For Democrats, it isn't adding up," the Times reported on Thursday, citing the latest poll co-authored with Siena College that showed Jon Tester, the incumbent Democrat in Montana, trailing seven percentage points behind his Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.

Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL and a businessman, who just got involved in politics. The Times/Siena poll had him at 52% to Tester's 44%. Meanwhile, Trump has a 17-point lead over Harris in Montana.

The attack on UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura comes a day after two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon confirms that its headquarters in Naqoura was hit by explosions for the second time in 48 hours, a day after Israeli forces struck the same position.

Two peacekeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured after two explosions occurred close to an observation tower, the UN mission said in a statement on Friday.

"This is a serious development, and UNIFIL reiterates that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times," it added.

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law."