A plea to Mr. Trump. Syria is a quagmire to avoid. Send no troops there. . Military adventurism abroad is a distraction and a waste of blood and treasure. It makes us weaker not stronger. Focus on making America great again.
WE ELECTED MR TRUMP TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE HOME FRONT
Recently (yesterday February 24, 2017) we have heard murmurs from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that they may be preparing a plan to present to President Trump to deploy more troops to Syria. Mr. Trump should reject that notion firmly.
The deep military state and GOP war hawks like Senator John Mc Cain and his "Sancho Panza" side kick Senator Linsey Graham, have recently completed a "secret" trip to Syria. While there, Senator McCain is reported to have bad-mouthed the President and his polices. A "no no" for any American abroad but a real nasty thing to do for a US Senator (and a Republican) to boot. Such actions weaken our nation. Perhaps the grumpy old war hawk has a bit of aortic stenosis and memory loss. Like the Democrats (he is channeling) he can not accept that he lost the election for the "big job" when he had his chance. In that election the people soundly rejected him and his polices. Mc/Cain, the deep military state, and GOP war hawks are attempting to "control" Mr. Tump by entangling him in senseless, costly, bloody and wasteful adventures abroad and in this instance in the quagmire of Syria. But as a nation we can no longer afford such stupidity. These forces for unending war were successful with Mr. Obama..who became an unknowing tool for their purposes. Let us hope that Mr. Trump, with a much stronger personality, can resist and foil their sinister stratagems.
DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN THE QUAGMIRE IN SYRIA.
The post WWII world left the USA as the world's sole hegemon and in that role we grew overconfident. With the collapse of the Soviet Union we faced no competitors on the world stage. With no restraints on our actions, we admittedly did "stupid stuff". We fought many small, unnecessary and senseless wars. We wasted enormous troves of wealth, and sacrificed the lives and limbs of thousands of our young men and women for questionable purposes. At no time were we seriously threatened. In the process of over extending ourselves militarily on the world's stage, we spent profligately on "wars of choice", on thousands upon thousands of outposts and bases in foreign lands, and on military hardware.
US TAXPAYERS BURDENED WITH EXPENSE OF BEING WORLD POLICEMAN
While focused on these foreign adventures we unwisely permitted our essential infrastructure at home to decline. For decades we permitted successive governments to spend more than we earned in revenue. We hollowed out our middle class. Our debts soared. We ignored the millions of illegal immigrants surging across our borders. We watched as former vibrant industrial zones turned into "rust belts". We looked the other way while well-paying jobs were shifted abroad to other nations. We permitted US based companies generating huge profits to sequester their wealth in off shore in tax free havens--helping to depress our tax revenues. We engaged in policies which permitted huge trade deficits with all of our trading partners. We have become a nation with a weak economy, and a national debt approximately equal to our annual gross domestic product (GDP)--like shabby third world nations we once criticized. Today our debt approaches the $20 trillion dollar mark...similar to other debtor nations.
EXCESSIVE "DEFENSE" SPENDING IS AN OFFENSE TO OUR ECONOMY AND WELL BEING
One of the primary causes of this sad decline is the cost of the military expenditures millstone we collectively wear around our necks. It is budgeted under "defense" but it is an OFFENSE to our own economy. The costs of our foreign policy adventurism abroad stifles our economy and weakens us . These misguided policies have sickened our nation as a whole by limiting our ability to sustain the welfare of our citizenry and maintain our essential infrastructure.
Being the world's policeman is an expensive enterprise...which has been lumbered solely onto the backs of the American taxpayers. We are today, burdened by massive debt. Our cities are shot through with millions of illegal immigrants who are poorly integrated into society. Our economy stutters in a slow growth phase. We are saddled with an infrastructure which dates to the last century. Our nation's parlous state can no longer support the burden of playing the role of world hegemon, a role which advantages only a tiny fraction of our citizenry. While the rest of us pay for it in high taxes and inadequate services and with our infrastructure crumbling about our necks. It is past time that we have attended to the desperate needs of our own nation.
ACTUAL EXISTENTIAL THREAT WILL REQUIRE FULL RESONSE FROM A WELL FUNCTIONING MODERN NATION
To be truly "prepared" for actual an existential threat from abroad--a real threat that would require a fully engaged population and military response---we must have a strong modern nation---modern roads, airports, marine facilities, electrical grids--nationwide broadband , a flourishing industrial base, a world class educational system and adequate health care. In short a modern, well functioning, affluent nation.
The deep military state which is attempting to lure Mr. Trump into the same old stupidity, waste and loss is barking up the wrong tree in the wrong forest at the wrong time. Their advice should be soundly rejected.
Keep your promises Mr. Trump! Stay out of the quagmire of Syria. Focus on "Making America Great Again."
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
EXOPLANETS DANGEROUS DISTRACTIONS?
NASA has just revealed a treasure trove of new exoplanets (planets outside of our own solar system) located in orbit around a dwarf star designated "Trappist -1" located some 40 light years away (229 trillion miles away). Several of the (seven) new planets are described as being "earth like" and "habitable". The danger of contemplating these "other worlds" is that their mere existence threatens to act as a distraction from the desperate need of humanity to focus on HEALING OUR OWN PLANET----the only home for humanity and one which will remain "our only place" for the foreseeable future. Any hope of "colonizing" these distant places is absolutely and incontrovertibly impossible even with the most optimistic projections for breakthroughs in advanced technology. Even though NASA estimates that it would take 800,000 years (!) to reach Trappist-! using our most advanced rocket propulsion systems. The mere contemplation of space travel and colonization of other worlds is a dangerous mental exercise because it has the unintended tendency to encourage the disastrous "waste it and leave it" trait which, sadly, appears to be hard-wired into the mentality of human kind.
The Earth, our only home, is presently in a parlous state. Our atmosphere is polluted with human-generated gases that trap earth heat..and raise the over-all earth temperature. This rise in temperature will drastically alter the habitability of our planet. Our world oceans are polluted with human and industrial derived wastes. We have exterminated countless species to extinction and destroyed native flora and fauna over vast swaths of our beautiful blue planet. We know we are despoiling "our own back yard" and making it unlivable, but we seem incapable of making the necessary changes to our life styles and our economies to alter the inevitable outcome--no air fit to breath, no water fit to drink and no food fit to eat.
Our evolutionary past has produced not the species of primate physical anthropologists have designated: Homo sapiens ("man daring to be wise") but perhaps a better name would be: Homo adnihilo ( "man the destroyer"). An upright ape-species wonderfully able to manipulate its habitat with its hands, enabling it to make tools, to kill, to exploit, to destroy and to devastate. This now-dominant primate species also evolved a brain capable of understanding and contemplating itself and its surroundings, but even so it remains unable to control those manipulative and dangerous hands. The result of its mere 200,000 year dominance has taken our planet to the cusp of drastic ecological collapse. Only determined and intelligent human intervention can save our planet.
NASA has now provided us with knowledge of "new worlds" orbiting around Trappist-1 and a tantalizing new image. Will this image be simply seen by the dominant primate as more "novae terrae" to exploit, to conquer and destroy? Will that image distract our collective mechanistic human brains from the existential threat before us----to somehow HEAL THE EARTH we inhabit? For our days here on the "blue planet" are numbered and any imagined escape-passage to new worlds is and will remain impossible.
NOTES
LIGHT YEAR: The distance a beam of light would travel in one year at 186,000 miles per second.
DISTANCE TO TRAPPIST-1: 229 trillion miles.
COMMENT
A planet 40 light years away....is very far away indeed (229 trillion miles or 369 trillion km away). The Trappist -1 planets are just barely visible with the most powerful space telescopes, but impossible to get there even with the most optimistic view of advances in technology. Our fastest spacecraft ever launched--New Horizons-- that is the one which recently flew past Pluto in 2015 at more than 14 km /second or 32,000 miles per hour. New Horizons would take more than 800,000 years to make it to Trappist -1. Consider that humans (as Homo sapiens) have existed on Earth for a mere 200,000 years, thus the time it would take to go to Trappist-1 would be four times the length of time that humans have existed on earth. That is if we could overcome the problem of the crew's food supply (for 500,000 generations), micrometeorite impacts, and powerful cancer risks of cosmic radiation to the crew. But even with the vastly optimistic supposition of a breakthrough in technology which would permit spacecraft to approximate speeds approaching the speed of light there are vast technical problems which would inhibit any attempts. One of the most significant is the tiny concentrations of hydrogen atoms found in the near-void of space. There are only one or two per cubic meter. But during travel which approached the speed of light these seemingly insignificant gases would become a bombardment of intense radiation which would penetrate the space ship, and as it continued it would heat any conceivable material that it is made of to melting point with the heat of friction. According to Arthur and William Edelstein (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) in a 2012 a paper exploring the effects of cosmic hydrogen radiation on hypersonic or hypolightspeed space travel. The Edelsteins estimated that at 95% of speed of light friction with gas molecules in space would heat a space ship (of any conceivable material) to melting point.. See: BBC "How fast could humans travel through space?", by Adam Hadhazy, 10 August 2015 (downloaded 2-23-17)
Thursday, February 23, 2017
SCOFFLAW CITIES--NOT "SANCTUARY"
Scofflaw Cities and Scofflaw Mayors---Not Sanctuaries.
I can't imagine any politician---let's not even mention--"city pols"- acting out off altruism alone. They support and encourage the population of illegal immigrants in their cities because illegals help their reelection prospects...the only subject these "realist politicians" are concerned with--their own political survival. Illegals in the millions work for lower wages in the sweatshops, restaurants and small businesses located in the metropolitan areas of our nation. Their presence in large numbers in so called "sanctuary" cities increases the labor pool and lower wages for all workers. That results in extra profits in the pockets of the city investors and small business owners who politically and financially support the scofflaw mayors and motivates the "federal law be damned" attitude of these city fathers. In addition, in scofflaw cities illegal immigrants find it easy (and in some places are encouraged ) to obtain documents that establish their "residency" in the city. As a consequence, in our loose system of identification for voting purposes, it is child's play to register to vote---and vote illegally. This is another motive for the scofflaw mayor...a dependable block of voters---illegal voters.
This latter motivation gives support to President Trump's much criticized contention that "millions" of people in the inner cities voted illegally and most likely voted for the Democrat mayor and as well, supported his opponent--Mrs. Clinton.
I can't imagine any politician---let's not even mention--"city pols"- acting out off altruism alone. They support and encourage the population of illegal immigrants in their cities because illegals help their reelection prospects...the only subject these "realist politicians" are concerned with--their own political survival. Illegals in the millions work for lower wages in the sweatshops, restaurants and small businesses located in the metropolitan areas of our nation. Their presence in large numbers in so called "sanctuary" cities increases the labor pool and lower wages for all workers. That results in extra profits in the pockets of the city investors and small business owners who politically and financially support the scofflaw mayors and motivates the "federal law be damned" attitude of these city fathers. In addition, in scofflaw cities illegal immigrants find it easy (and in some places are encouraged ) to obtain documents that establish their "residency" in the city. As a consequence, in our loose system of identification for voting purposes, it is child's play to register to vote---and vote illegally. This is another motive for the scofflaw mayor...a dependable block of voters---illegal voters.
This latter motivation gives support to President Trump's much criticized contention that "millions" of people in the inner cities voted illegally and most likely voted for the Democrat mayor and as well, supported his opponent--Mrs. Clinton.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
ALL DC APPLAUDS MCMASTER--RAISES CONCERN
President Trump picked Lt. General H.R. McMaster and everyone in the DC establishment seems to applaud his choice. It is a pleasant change for Trump supporters. But the happy talk makes me feel suspicious. Is McMaster too close to the "deep state" and the military industrial establishment to facilitate the necessary changes we elected Trump to implement?
Even anti Trump CNN seemed (mildly) supportive of the President's choice. Jeremy Diamond wrote a piece for "CNN Politics" yesterday February 21, 2017. The piece shocked only in its departure from the regular negative fare dished out by CNN. While Mr. Diamond did include the requisite CNN negative digs at Trump, focusing at first on the "void" left by the dismissal of General Flynn, and the "rudderless" state of affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) after Flynn was "forced to resign" after only "24" days. Also noting in an aside that McMaster wasn't Trump's "first choice" remarking that Vice Admiral Robert Harward "turned down the job amid concerns of how the White House was being run". That was just the introduction.
But the author finally got to the subject of the piece--Lt. General McMaster. Diamond finally recounts the praise heaped on the choice of this military man by Senator McCain. The Arizona Senator characterized McMaster as a man of "genuine intellect, character and ability" and called him "an outstanding choice."
Much praise was heaped upon Trump's choice of McMaster by all of the normally negative media, such as "Morning Joe", the NY Times and even GOP hawks and "establishment" types. We heard nothing from the Democrat chorus of whiners (leaving out Congresswoman Maxine Waters who called all of Trump's cabinet choices "scumbags"). In fact the praise (excludsing Waters) was so universal that those of us who supported Trump because we are aware of the need for DRASTIC CHANGE in Washington and for radical alteration in the direction in which our nation is headed, MUST BE CONCERNED. If all of Washington, the biased media, the GOP establishment and deep state players as well as the CNN crowd find this choice "outstanding" then perhaps the rest of us should have good cause to worry.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
US CREATING ENEMIES TO JUSTIFY DEFENSE SPENDING?
ISIS IS ON THE WAY OUT
THE NEW BOGEY MAN IS RUSSIA
PHONY ANTI RUSSIA AGENDA
COMPARING USA TO LOW-DEFENSE SPENDING GERMANY
The latest stories from the Middle East indicate that ISIS the "terrible threat" of the Obama Presidency is on the way out. The Russians and Assad's Shia forces have extirpated this rag tag "army" of religious fanatics from the western parts of Syria. The Iraqis with the help of the USA are slowly but surely pushing them out of Mosul and the rest of Iraq. No longer can anyone be made to think they are a "fearsome or creditable" threat to the USA. Their fate is sealed. They are now only in the class of generalized "terrorists". They are useless TO SERVE AS EXISTENTIAL ENEMIES for the military-industrial cabal which has so much power in the USA.
Thus we see the need for the rise of a REPLACEMENT ENEMY a new bogeyman. It appears from what we hear every day in Washington that the new -SPECTER TO GENERATE FEAR--and defense spending will be Mr. Putin and the Russians.
The Washington military-industrial establishment needs its enemies. How could they justify the expenditure of more than HALF A TRILLION dollars ($600 billion), or 54 % of our total federal discretionary spending for military and military-related expenditures each year? How could we explain that level of profligacy to the American taxpayers who are apparently no longer threatened from abroad by the latest acronym of terror--ISIS? US taxpayers pay through the nose in the richest nation in the world yet are consigned to live in a nation with third world infrastructure and a life style on the level a little better than Venezuela for all their tax sacrifices.
That vast amount ($600 billion "defense" spending ) is cut out of our $3.2 trillion Federal tax revenues each year. The result of that spending strictly limits what we can and should spend on the necessaries of maintaining a great nation: replacement and refitting of our collapsing infrastructure, providing our children with a world-class educational system, and our citizenry with a meaningful healthcare program. Why must we spend the huge sums each year on guns, bombs, a world wide military footprint, millions of military personnel, and high-tech military hardware--if NO SERIOUS ENEMIES to threaten us? So as a result of this dearth of enemies the military-industrial-media cabal must CREATE OR CULTIVATE ENEMIES to JUSTIFY THIS GREAT EXPENDITURE OF WEALTH
Mr. Putin's Russia is now in the "create an enemy stage". The scenario is one that has been repeated over and over again since WWII. The new enemies' actions are all "threatening", "sinister" and "dangerous". He is tyrant, a "murderer", and he attacks his own people. Even when our new enemy is pushed and prodded to only to respond to OUR threats to HIS nation's existence (as in the US push to gather in the Ukraine into NATO) this new enemy is vilified for coming to his nation's defense or its best interest. All this to satisfy our need to spend, spend, spend on our military-industrial deep state and ignore the needs of our nation's people, our failing infrastructure, our sad state of healthcare and education.
The USA is the largest economy in the world. It should be able to have an up-to-date, functioning and modern infrastructure, a thriving economy, a world class educational system so our children can compete with others, a healthcare system that serves the needs of all Americans, as well as secure borders and sensible immigration policies.
To get to that state of affairs we must control the wasteful spending piddled away to enrich a small class of entrepreneurs and investors and Washington-media and government facilitators all working diligently to "protect" us from manufactured enemies". Rather, we must deny these forces and focus on putting our hard won resources into building a truly well-maintained, economically strong and powerful nation with a well-fed, sufficiently-cared for population, a well-educated citizenry living in a modern well-maintained nation. Such a nation would truly be powerful symbol of hope and the "shining city on a hill" to aspire to. "It can be done".
WHAT ABOUT GERMANY?
Try to imagine an America doing as well for its people and its economy as does Germany--the richest most economically powerful state in Europe. With only a fraction of our population, our size, our natural resources, our inventiveness, our ability, the Germans outperform us in getting the best for their people and the most out of each dollar spent! Perhaps that is where we would be if we only spent 1% of our GDP on "defense" as does Deutschland rather than three times that amount!
Let's put that in another way. The German government with a population of 81 million in 2015 spends only @ $39 billion for defense in US dollars annually, or less than $500 dollars per year per person as "overhead" for "defense". They seem to be quite safe and happy over there. We on the other hand (population @ 320 million) spend about $600 billion annually (not counting our ME wars) or nearly $2000 dollars per head each year for our "defense". We spend 400 % more than every German does for our "defense". Germany=$500/person/year vs USA =$2000/person/year. Why?
The Germans can put so much more to their Deutschmarks into supporting their citizens' well being, the encouragement and expansion of their industries, the maintenance and regular upgrading their infrastructure, and the excellent education of their students than we can.
Burdened as we are with defense spending to protect us from fantasy enemies--we can not!
I PROPOSE WE CAN HAVE IT ALL. THAT WE CAN CUT OUR SO CALLED "DEFENSE" SPENDING IN HALF AND STILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD. WE CAN BECOME THE TRUE "SHINING CITY ON A HILL" IF WE CAN GET CONTROL OF FOREIGN POLICY, DEFENSE SPENDING, AND STOP CREATING ENEMIES WHICH DO NOT EXIST.
THE NEW BOGEY MAN IS RUSSIA
PHONY ANTI RUSSIA AGENDA
COMPARING USA TO LOW-DEFENSE SPENDING GERMANY
The latest stories from the Middle East indicate that ISIS the "terrible threat" of the Obama Presidency is on the way out. The Russians and Assad's Shia forces have extirpated this rag tag "army" of religious fanatics from the western parts of Syria. The Iraqis with the help of the USA are slowly but surely pushing them out of Mosul and the rest of Iraq. No longer can anyone be made to think they are a "fearsome or creditable" threat to the USA. Their fate is sealed. They are now only in the class of generalized "terrorists". They are useless TO SERVE AS EXISTENTIAL ENEMIES for the military-industrial cabal which has so much power in the USA.
Thus we see the need for the rise of a REPLACEMENT ENEMY a new bogeyman. It appears from what we hear every day in Washington that the new -SPECTER TO GENERATE FEAR--and defense spending will be Mr. Putin and the Russians.
The Washington military-industrial establishment needs its enemies. How could they justify the expenditure of more than HALF A TRILLION dollars ($600 billion), or 54 % of our total federal discretionary spending for military and military-related expenditures each year? How could we explain that level of profligacy to the American taxpayers who are apparently no longer threatened from abroad by the latest acronym of terror--ISIS? US taxpayers pay through the nose in the richest nation in the world yet are consigned to live in a nation with third world infrastructure and a life style on the level a little better than Venezuela for all their tax sacrifices.
That vast amount ($600 billion "defense" spending ) is cut out of our $3.2 trillion Federal tax revenues each year. The result of that spending strictly limits what we can and should spend on the necessaries of maintaining a great nation: replacement and refitting of our collapsing infrastructure, providing our children with a world-class educational system, and our citizenry with a meaningful healthcare program. Why must we spend the huge sums each year on guns, bombs, a world wide military footprint, millions of military personnel, and high-tech military hardware--if NO SERIOUS ENEMIES to threaten us? So as a result of this dearth of enemies the military-industrial-media cabal must CREATE OR CULTIVATE ENEMIES to JUSTIFY THIS GREAT EXPENDITURE OF WEALTH
Mr. Putin's Russia is now in the "create an enemy stage". The scenario is one that has been repeated over and over again since WWII. The new enemies' actions are all "threatening", "sinister" and "dangerous". He is tyrant, a "murderer", and he attacks his own people. Even when our new enemy is pushed and prodded to only to respond to OUR threats to HIS nation's existence (as in the US push to gather in the Ukraine into NATO) this new enemy is vilified for coming to his nation's defense or its best interest. All this to satisfy our need to spend, spend, spend on our military-industrial deep state and ignore the needs of our nation's people, our failing infrastructure, our sad state of healthcare and education.
The USA is the largest economy in the world. It should be able to have an up-to-date, functioning and modern infrastructure, a thriving economy, a world class educational system so our children can compete with others, a healthcare system that serves the needs of all Americans, as well as secure borders and sensible immigration policies.
To get to that state of affairs we must control the wasteful spending piddled away to enrich a small class of entrepreneurs and investors and Washington-media and government facilitators all working diligently to "protect" us from manufactured enemies". Rather, we must deny these forces and focus on putting our hard won resources into building a truly well-maintained, economically strong and powerful nation with a well-fed, sufficiently-cared for population, a well-educated citizenry living in a modern well-maintained nation. Such a nation would truly be powerful symbol of hope and the "shining city on a hill" to aspire to. "It can be done".
WHAT ABOUT GERMANY?
Try to imagine an America doing as well for its people and its economy as does Germany--the richest most economically powerful state in Europe. With only a fraction of our population, our size, our natural resources, our inventiveness, our ability, the Germans outperform us in getting the best for their people and the most out of each dollar spent! Perhaps that is where we would be if we only spent 1% of our GDP on "defense" as does Deutschland rather than three times that amount!
Let's put that in another way. The German government with a population of 81 million in 2015 spends only @ $39 billion for defense in US dollars annually, or less than $500 dollars per year per person as "overhead" for "defense". They seem to be quite safe and happy over there. We on the other hand (population @ 320 million) spend about $600 billion annually (not counting our ME wars) or nearly $2000 dollars per head each year for our "defense". We spend 400 % more than every German does for our "defense". Germany=$500/person/year vs USA =$2000/person/year. Why?
The Germans can put so much more to their Deutschmarks into supporting their citizens' well being, the encouragement and expansion of their industries, the maintenance and regular upgrading their infrastructure, and the excellent education of their students than we can.
Burdened as we are with defense spending to protect us from fantasy enemies--we can not!
I PROPOSE WE CAN HAVE IT ALL. THAT WE CAN CUT OUR SO CALLED "DEFENSE" SPENDING IN HALF AND STILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD. WE CAN BECOME THE TRUE "SHINING CITY ON A HILL" IF WE CAN GET CONTROL OF FOREIGN POLICY, DEFENSE SPENDING, AND STOP CREATING ENEMIES WHICH DO NOT EXIST.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
DEMOCRATS PLAYING WITH FIRE
TREASON: THE CRIME OF BETRAYING ONE'S COUNTRY....ESPECIALLY BY ATTEMPTING TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT.
Democrats attempting to sink the ship upon which we all sail rather than changing its course.
The view from the top of Stratton these days is beautiful. Okemo valley seems like a great bowl ringed by snow covered peaks. North lies Bromley, its ski trails cutting white across the dark green spruce and hemlock forests, bright in the sun under a clear blue sky. It all looks so placid. But the scene up here belies the dangers for our nation---bubbling in the poisonous cauldron in Washington far to the south. There hysterical Democrats, forgetting that they are (or should be) Americans first are playing with fire, determined it seems to incite violence, delegitimize our President, undermine the nation's 2016 elections, and nudge the country into a dangerous political insurgency.
In the less than a month since the new Trump Administration stepped into office, the Democrats, with the help of a politicized judiciary, hold-over Clinton-partisans in the Washington bureaucracy, and aided and abetted by a biased media, have foolishly tested the bright line that separates valid political opposition and near- treasonous actions to destabilize, weaken and ultimately overthrow a legitimately elected government.
What are they thinking? Can they not foresee the tragic end-game and ultimate consequences and dire impact of such actions? The effects on our nation, its wealth, its foreign policy, its reputation, its military preparedness, its domestic tranquility, even the stock market would be shattering. The Democrats forget they have foolishly maneuvered themselves into the status of a minority party--one populated by dical feminists (who march with red "vagina caps" on their heads), violent and irrational academia, the LGBT and transgender community, illegal immigrants, the urban poor, and the elite-left of isolated enclaves along the coasts. This is not the demographic of a popular uprising with the possibility of leading this weakened polity back into power over an entire nation. Their actions, were they even partly successful, can lead only to chaos. They are a rump radical fringe, but even as such, aroused and incited to violence they could destroy the fabric and democratic processes of a nation. I can only conclude the Democrats are not thinking. Their hysterical hyperbolic speech and vicious actions are those of the desperate and despairing who have little thought for the long term well-being of our nation. If they are unhappy with the present election---there is 2018 for them to regroup and refit for a new presentation to the voters. But today and so far they are only poised to sink the ship upon which they sail rather than work within the system to change its course.
Their attempts to delegitimize a hard-won (and yes surprising) election by engaging in "war mongering Russia" for domestic political purposes in a attempt to help explain away their failures and justify their massive loss in 2016. The "theory" of Russian intervention in our election so satisfying to the hardcore left that Mr. Putin had some hand in undermining their candidate's massive loss is so unbelievable and insane it is embarrassing--even as a political ploy. They have thrown every road block into the legitimate and necessary process of Trump government in its attempts to form its cabinet so it can get on with serving the needs of the people. The incessant campaign of leaked information, half-truths, innuendo, allegations against the new President, his staff, and his nominees, almost always with no proof has come to the point where its constant repetition has become a white background noise..ignored by all.
The case of General Flynn, who has been forced to resign from his post as national security advisor, is dripping with irony. Flynn lost his post--as a result of political assasination. In pursuit of due diligence and in preparation for his new post he was in legitimate contact with the Russian Ambassador..prior to January 20, 2017. In those conversations he allegedly spoke of the recently imposed sanctions on Russia and the dismissal of Russian embassy staff from Washington by then President Obama. He was pursing a course of foreign policy action, upon which Mr. Trump had been elected...the legitimate and desirable "resetting" of relations with Russia. There was noting sinister or "traitorous" in this behavior. Unknown to him, his private conversations were being spied on. The secret FBI transcripts were then --illegally--leaked to news media. This was the illegal element in this fiasco. Not General Flynn's actions. That is the irony. Mr. Snowden is now under threat of a thirty-year jail term for similar leaks of classified information to the news media. Yet is has been the honorable, General Flynn who was forced out of his position by an avalanche of news reports of his "contacts" with the Russian bogey man---an evil specter manufactured by the Dems to assuage their pain of an embarrassing election loss.
Democrats beware!
Democrats attempting to sink the ship upon which we all sail rather than changing its course.
The view from the top of Stratton these days is beautiful. Okemo valley seems like a great bowl ringed by snow covered peaks. North lies Bromley, its ski trails cutting white across the dark green spruce and hemlock forests, bright in the sun under a clear blue sky. It all looks so placid. But the scene up here belies the dangers for our nation---bubbling in the poisonous cauldron in Washington far to the south. There hysterical Democrats, forgetting that they are (or should be) Americans first are playing with fire, determined it seems to incite violence, delegitimize our President, undermine the nation's 2016 elections, and nudge the country into a dangerous political insurgency.
In the less than a month since the new Trump Administration stepped into office, the Democrats, with the help of a politicized judiciary, hold-over Clinton-partisans in the Washington bureaucracy, and aided and abetted by a biased media, have foolishly tested the bright line that separates valid political opposition and near- treasonous actions to destabilize, weaken and ultimately overthrow a legitimately elected government.
What are they thinking? Can they not foresee the tragic end-game and ultimate consequences and dire impact of such actions? The effects on our nation, its wealth, its foreign policy, its reputation, its military preparedness, its domestic tranquility, even the stock market would be shattering. The Democrats forget they have foolishly maneuvered themselves into the status of a minority party--one populated by dical feminists (who march with red "vagina caps" on their heads), violent and irrational academia, the LGBT and transgender community, illegal immigrants, the urban poor, and the elite-left of isolated enclaves along the coasts. This is not the demographic of a popular uprising with the possibility of leading this weakened polity back into power over an entire nation. Their actions, were they even partly successful, can lead only to chaos. They are a rump radical fringe, but even as such, aroused and incited to violence they could destroy the fabric and democratic processes of a nation. I can only conclude the Democrats are not thinking. Their hysterical hyperbolic speech and vicious actions are those of the desperate and despairing who have little thought for the long term well-being of our nation. If they are unhappy with the present election---there is 2018 for them to regroup and refit for a new presentation to the voters. But today and so far they are only poised to sink the ship upon which they sail rather than work within the system to change its course.
Their attempts to delegitimize a hard-won (and yes surprising) election by engaging in "war mongering Russia" for domestic political purposes in a attempt to help explain away their failures and justify their massive loss in 2016. The "theory" of Russian intervention in our election so satisfying to the hardcore left that Mr. Putin had some hand in undermining their candidate's massive loss is so unbelievable and insane it is embarrassing--even as a political ploy. They have thrown every road block into the legitimate and necessary process of Trump government in its attempts to form its cabinet so it can get on with serving the needs of the people. The incessant campaign of leaked information, half-truths, innuendo, allegations against the new President, his staff, and his nominees, almost always with no proof has come to the point where its constant repetition has become a white background noise..ignored by all.
The case of General Flynn, who has been forced to resign from his post as national security advisor, is dripping with irony. Flynn lost his post--as a result of political assasination. In pursuit of due diligence and in preparation for his new post he was in legitimate contact with the Russian Ambassador..prior to January 20, 2017. In those conversations he allegedly spoke of the recently imposed sanctions on Russia and the dismissal of Russian embassy staff from Washington by then President Obama. He was pursing a course of foreign policy action, upon which Mr. Trump had been elected...the legitimate and desirable "resetting" of relations with Russia. There was noting sinister or "traitorous" in this behavior. Unknown to him, his private conversations were being spied on. The secret FBI transcripts were then --illegally--leaked to news media. This was the illegal element in this fiasco. Not General Flynn's actions. That is the irony. Mr. Snowden is now under threat of a thirty-year jail term for similar leaks of classified information to the news media. Yet is has been the honorable, General Flynn who was forced out of his position by an avalanche of news reports of his "contacts" with the Russian bogey man---an evil specter manufactured by the Dems to assuage their pain of an embarrassing election loss.
Democrats beware!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
FLYNN: JAW JAW, NOT WAR WAR
GEN FLYNN AN ICONOCLAST THE NATION NEEDED TO RIGHT ITS COURSE
"To jaw jaw is always better than to war war" Winston Churchill, 1954.
The military and foreign policy malfeasant "clowns" that dragged us into the Iraq War, the Afghanistan imbroglio, the disaster of intervention in Libya, "regime change" in Syria on the part of vicious minority Sunni radical groups, those in government who caused the rise of ISIS in Iraq and eastern Syria, and those who advanced the stupidity and humanitarian disaster of undermining the moderate pro-Russian president in the Ukraine, all desperately wanted to continue on their course of stupidity which was soundly rejected by the people in the last election. Those who questioned these failed policies, like General Flynn and President Trump, were the obvious targets of personal attacks, smear tactics, leaks of private conversations, and attempts at delegitimization.
By means of secret and possibly illegal telephone taps on private telephone calls, and leaks of that information to the press they have succeeded in undermining General Flynn---a patriotic American who opposed them. Too bad! General Flynn was following Winston Churchill's advice to "jaw jaw" rather than encourage "war war". The American people elected Mr. Trump to change the failed foreign policy course of this nation. General Flynn represented well those needed changes. He favored mending the fractured relationship with Russia, an admirable and wise policy. Jaw jaw is always better than war war.
General Flynn wisely supported a working relationship with Russia. Those in Washington who gain financially, and make a career of generating enemies rather than seeking ways to cooperate and compromise with other nations for the greater good were opposed to General Flynn and his policies. These forces of American policy apparently need enemies to prosper and advance their own--self emolument and aggrandizing agendas--. Their policies demonstrably have not advanced the well-being of the nation as a whole.
Flynn did nothing illegal. He was in his rights to seek out the Russian Ambassador as he prepared to take up his role as the nation's national security advisor to the President. His discussions with the Russian Ambassador were secret and rightly should have remained so.
However, the anti-Trump forces in the monstrously bloated Byzantine Washington bureaucracy did not permit that to happen. Secret telephone conversations were leaked to the press to undermine and weaken the President and control his policies.
The nation's foreign policy over the last decades has been a failure, and calls desperately for a radical change of course. Mr. Trump was elected to make those changes. General Flynn was well positioned to help the President in those goals. Sadly both men have met with the harsh reality of the entrenched, self- serving bureaucracy of Washington. In preparing to fill the position vacated by General Flynn, President Trump must remember why he was elected. The people want change. General Flynn's replacement must not be a Washington insider.
The military and foreign policy malfeasant "clowns" that dragged us into the Iraq War, the Afghanistan imbroglio, the disaster of intervention in Libya, "regime change" in Syria on the part of vicious minority Sunni radical groups, those in government who caused the rise of ISIS in Iraq and eastern Syria, and those who advanced the stupidity and humanitarian disaster of undermining the moderate pro-Russian president in the Ukraine, all desperately wanted to continue on their course of stupidity which was soundly rejected by the people in the last election. Those who questioned these failed policies, like General Flynn and President Trump, were the obvious targets of personal attacks, smear tactics, leaks of private conversations, and attempts at delegitimization.
By means of secret and possibly illegal telephone taps on private telephone calls, and leaks of that information to the press they have succeeded in undermining General Flynn---a patriotic American who opposed them. Too bad! General Flynn was following Winston Churchill's advice to "jaw jaw" rather than encourage "war war". The American people elected Mr. Trump to change the failed foreign policy course of this nation. General Flynn represented well those needed changes. He favored mending the fractured relationship with Russia, an admirable and wise policy. Jaw jaw is always better than war war.
General Flynn wisely supported a working relationship with Russia. Those in Washington who gain financially, and make a career of generating enemies rather than seeking ways to cooperate and compromise with other nations for the greater good were opposed to General Flynn and his policies. These forces of American policy apparently need enemies to prosper and advance their own--self emolument and aggrandizing agendas--. Their policies demonstrably have not advanced the well-being of the nation as a whole.
Flynn did nothing illegal. He was in his rights to seek out the Russian Ambassador as he prepared to take up his role as the nation's national security advisor to the President. His discussions with the Russian Ambassador were secret and rightly should have remained so.
However, the anti-Trump forces in the monstrously bloated Byzantine Washington bureaucracy did not permit that to happen. Secret telephone conversations were leaked to the press to undermine and weaken the President and control his policies.
The nation's foreign policy over the last decades has been a failure, and calls desperately for a radical change of course. Mr. Trump was elected to make those changes. General Flynn was well positioned to help the President in those goals. Sadly both men have met with the harsh reality of the entrenched, self- serving bureaucracy of Washington. In preparing to fill the position vacated by General Flynn, President Trump must remember why he was elected. The people want change. General Flynn's replacement must not be a Washington insider.
Monday, February 13, 2017
OROVILLE DAM IS A SYMBOL OF NATIONAL DECLINE
FEBRUARY 13, 2017
Oroville is an imminent disaster as well as a symbol of the larger problem of misplaced national priorities, national infrastructure decline, and its cause: foreign adventurism, government waste and profligacy.
Seventy-five thousand residents of this area have been ordered to evacuate their homes and are now scattered in schools, private homes, and crowded hotels all around Northern California. This disaster is only one example of many which we will experience in the coming years if we continue to ignore the in-not face the facts of our massive infrastructure decline. Our nation's roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, levees, ports, wastewater treatment, solid wastewater treatment, drinking water supply, railroads, inland waterways, airports, train stations are all in decline or collapsing around us. We are a nation with the most advanced military technology. but at home we live in a pot-holed, collapsing "third world nation". .
The Oroville dam, is an example and a symbol of what happens to a nation that ignores the natural decline and aging of its infrastructure. This dam was professionally evaluated a decade ago. At that time the engineers concluded that it was in need of massive repairs, particularly to the emergency spillway (which has predictably failed) but, typically nothing was done in the ensuing ten years. Now at Oroville the state and the nation face the prospect of a massive disaster the result of our failed and misplaced financial efforts.
After fifteen years of senseless and costly war, and the Great Recession, the nation's physical fabric is aged and frayed to the point of collapse. The last two previous administrations spent more than $4 trillion dollars on disastrous military adventurism in the Middle East. Over these years the government spent profligately, racking up half of a trillion-dollar deficits each year on war and military materiel. They ignored the nation's critical infrastructure upon which our wealth and our well-being rested. The predictable result was national decline and massive debt. Ironically much of the wasted national wealth was spent abroad to shore up foreign nations and their infrastructure.
During these years of profligacy abroad, at home the Obama government spent $700 billion dollars to bail out the nation's reckless, mismanaged banks which used the citizen's savings as gambling funds prior to the crash of 2008. The crash was a direct cause of their greed and malfeasance. The Obama Administration cast the average homeowner and their mortgages to the wayside taking trillions of dollars in wealth, retirement funds, and jobs and lost hopes with them. Most egregiously the Obamians failed to prosecute the bankers for their malfeasance. The government simply paid the bills, (with the citizens tax revenue) and moved on. But this lack of prosecution of the evil doers only facilitated an underlying threat--of banks"too big to fail" and the likelihood of a repeat of the Great REcession disaster to occur again.
Now after decades of financial malfeasance, plain stupidity, military adventure and government profligacy we find ourselves a nation with a nearly $20 trillion dollar national debt....a depleted, weakened, dispirited and disillusioned military, collapsing infrastructure (like the Oroville dam) and a divided polity.
What have we wrought of our once proud nation?
Isn't it time to stop the circular firing squad in Washington, put away our guns, end the wasteful counter-productive interventions abroad, and begin to focus our vaunted American energies and inventiveness on rebuilding this nation, its people and its infrastructure. It will take TWO POLITICAL PARTIES working TOGETHER for the common good to accomplish that task. But we weathered the Great War, the Great Depression, WWII, and even the foreign policy disasters. vacillation and stupidity of the recent past.
"It can be done!" (As engraved on the "Resolution Desk" in the Oval Office).
Oroville is an imminent disaster as well as a symbol of the larger problem of misplaced national priorities, national infrastructure decline, and its cause: foreign adventurism, government waste and profligacy.
Seventy-five thousand residents of this area have been ordered to evacuate their homes and are now scattered in schools, private homes, and crowded hotels all around Northern California. This disaster is only one example of many which we will experience in the coming years if we continue to ignore the in-not face the facts of our massive infrastructure decline. Our nation's roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, levees, ports, wastewater treatment, solid wastewater treatment, drinking water supply, railroads, inland waterways, airports, train stations are all in decline or collapsing around us. We are a nation with the most advanced military technology. but at home we live in a pot-holed, collapsing "third world nation". .
The Oroville dam, is an example and a symbol of what happens to a nation that ignores the natural decline and aging of its infrastructure. This dam was professionally evaluated a decade ago. At that time the engineers concluded that it was in need of massive repairs, particularly to the emergency spillway (which has predictably failed) but, typically nothing was done in the ensuing ten years. Now at Oroville the state and the nation face the prospect of a massive disaster the result of our failed and misplaced financial efforts.
After fifteen years of senseless and costly war, and the Great Recession, the nation's physical fabric is aged and frayed to the point of collapse. The last two previous administrations spent more than $4 trillion dollars on disastrous military adventurism in the Middle East. Over these years the government spent profligately, racking up half of a trillion-dollar deficits each year on war and military materiel. They ignored the nation's critical infrastructure upon which our wealth and our well-being rested. The predictable result was national decline and massive debt. Ironically much of the wasted national wealth was spent abroad to shore up foreign nations and their infrastructure.
During these years of profligacy abroad, at home the Obama government spent $700 billion dollars to bail out the nation's reckless, mismanaged banks which used the citizen's savings as gambling funds prior to the crash of 2008. The crash was a direct cause of their greed and malfeasance. The Obama Administration cast the average homeowner and their mortgages to the wayside taking trillions of dollars in wealth, retirement funds, and jobs and lost hopes with them. Most egregiously the Obamians failed to prosecute the bankers for their malfeasance. The government simply paid the bills, (with the citizens tax revenue) and moved on. But this lack of prosecution of the evil doers only facilitated an underlying threat--of banks"too big to fail" and the likelihood of a repeat of the Great REcession disaster to occur again.
Now after decades of financial malfeasance, plain stupidity, military adventure and government profligacy we find ourselves a nation with a nearly $20 trillion dollar national debt....a depleted, weakened, dispirited and disillusioned military, collapsing infrastructure (like the Oroville dam) and a divided polity.
What have we wrought of our once proud nation?
Isn't it time to stop the circular firing squad in Washington, put away our guns, end the wasteful counter-productive interventions abroad, and begin to focus our vaunted American energies and inventiveness on rebuilding this nation, its people and its infrastructure. It will take TWO POLITICAL PARTIES working TOGETHER for the common good to accomplish that task. But we weathered the Great War, the Great Depression, WWII, and even the foreign policy disasters. vacillation and stupidity of the recent past.
"It can be done!" (As engraved on the "Resolution Desk" in the Oval Office).
Monday, February 6, 2017
TRUMP ON USA: "WE'RE KILLERS TOO". TELLING IT LIKE IT IS!
PRESIDENT TRUMP DOES NOT LIE--TELLS IT LIKE IT IS.
THAT IS REFRESHING DURING A PRESIDENTIAL INTERVIEW.
Bill O'Reilly aired an interview with President Trump just before the Super Bowl on Sunday (February 5, 2017. During the broadcast O'Reilly asked Trump about his "respect" for Mr. Putin of Russia. O'Reilly added the allegations that Putin "murdered journalists and dissidents in Russia". Trump, sticking to the "respect" part of the question insisted he did "respect" him. Adding "I respect a lot of people, but that does not mean I'll get along with them." O'Reilly, ever the "diplomat" pressed on eager to get a few lines from the novice president that would resonate over the roar of the coming Super Bowl game. He was successful when he added:"Putin is a killer."
The President always ready to "tell it like it is", RESPONDED: "There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers. Well, you think our country is so innocent?"
The left and some on the right were dumbfounded. THE PRESIDENT TOLD THE TRUTH TO THE PUBLIC. They quickly made the claim that the President is making a "MORAL EQUIVALENT BETWEEN US AND RUSSIA." Oh my? How could that be? ARENT WE THE GOOD GUYS and everyone else all of them are BAD GUYS. That is how we ten year old kids saw the world in our days in the empty-lots of Brooklyn when we played our war games. Naturally we all wanted to be the GOOD GUYS. UTconcepts are for kids only.
How could it be that the USA and Russia may be morally equivalent? Such an idea tears at our very fabric. It's what makes us Americans. In the comic strip world of US propaganda we are always the "good guys". That is why we are so easily nudged and mugged into senseless wars with the "BAD GUYS". Trump's world is the REAL BUSINESS WORLD. The bottom line on Wall Street or Main Street is not part of a comic strip or fantasy. You have either won or lost. You have either lost money or made a profit. Your efforts were either effective or ineffective. The USA is either a winner or a loser! That is the real world. In the real world yes we do bad things like the other guys too. Perhaps being the big guy in the world stage we do MORE bad things than the other guys. Trump is exaxly right. "There are a lot of killers...and we have killed too."
ISN'T IT TIME THAT AMERICANS WERE FACED WITH. REALITY INSTEAD OF US PROPAGANDA?
We don't have to go into ancient history,to find examples of moral equivalence or (moral turpitude) of ours and Russia's actions two nations which are active in pursuing foreign policy goals which they see ase as essential for their survival or betterment.
Let's take the oft-used claim of Russia bombing civilians in Syria. This was a charge levied at Russia over and over again. It may be true. I expect it was. Do we do the same thing? You betcha! In fact at the very same time Obama was railing about Ruissia's attacks in Syria. US Boeing Strato Tankers were refueling Saudis Arabian jets over Yemen to enable the Saudi pilots the ability to sustain their murderous anti-civilian (over ten thousand killed) bombing campaign over Yemen. That they were dropping US-supplied (illegal) cluster bombs and giving targeting information to more effectively kill Yemeni civilians does add to our culpability there. I would say it probably exceeds anything Russia did in Syria. Yes we kill too.
We need not go into the extrajudicial killings by Obama of US citizens abroad and outside of a war zone, or of the thousands and thousands of innocent killed by his drone bombing campaign in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. etc. or his extrajuridical "kill list", etcetera, etcetera. I will not need tg go back to WWII, or the even Indian Wars to make my point or enhance this argument my argument..will I?
TRUMP TELLS IT LIKE IT IS. BRAVO FOR HIM!
THAT IS REFRESHING DURING A PRESIDENTIAL INTERVIEW.
Bill O'Reilly aired an interview with President Trump just before the Super Bowl on Sunday (February 5, 2017. During the broadcast O'Reilly asked Trump about his "respect" for Mr. Putin of Russia. O'Reilly added the allegations that Putin "murdered journalists and dissidents in Russia". Trump, sticking to the "respect" part of the question insisted he did "respect" him. Adding "I respect a lot of people, but that does not mean I'll get along with them." O'Reilly, ever the "diplomat" pressed on eager to get a few lines from the novice president that would resonate over the roar of the coming Super Bowl game. He was successful when he added:"Putin is a killer."
The President always ready to "tell it like it is", RESPONDED: "There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers. Well, you think our country is so innocent?"
The left and some on the right were dumbfounded. THE PRESIDENT TOLD THE TRUTH TO THE PUBLIC. They quickly made the claim that the President is making a "MORAL EQUIVALENT BETWEEN US AND RUSSIA." Oh my? How could that be? ARENT WE THE GOOD GUYS and everyone else all of them are BAD GUYS. That is how we ten year old kids saw the world in our days in the empty-lots of Brooklyn when we played our war games. Naturally we all wanted to be the GOOD GUYS. UTconcepts are for kids only.
How could it be that the USA and Russia may be morally equivalent? Such an idea tears at our very fabric. It's what makes us Americans. In the comic strip world of US propaganda we are always the "good guys". That is why we are so easily nudged and mugged into senseless wars with the "BAD GUYS". Trump's world is the REAL BUSINESS WORLD. The bottom line on Wall Street or Main Street is not part of a comic strip or fantasy. You have either won or lost. You have either lost money or made a profit. Your efforts were either effective or ineffective. The USA is either a winner or a loser! That is the real world. In the real world yes we do bad things like the other guys too. Perhaps being the big guy in the world stage we do MORE bad things than the other guys. Trump is exaxly right. "There are a lot of killers...and we have killed too."
ISN'T IT TIME THAT AMERICANS WERE FACED WITH. REALITY INSTEAD OF US PROPAGANDA?
We don't have to go into ancient history,to find examples of moral equivalence or (moral turpitude) of ours and Russia's actions two nations which are active in pursuing foreign policy goals which they see ase as essential for their survival or betterment.
Let's take the oft-used claim of Russia bombing civilians in Syria. This was a charge levied at Russia over and over again. It may be true. I expect it was. Do we do the same thing? You betcha! In fact at the very same time Obama was railing about Ruissia's attacks in Syria. US Boeing Strato Tankers were refueling Saudis Arabian jets over Yemen to enable the Saudi pilots the ability to sustain their murderous anti-civilian (over ten thousand killed) bombing campaign over Yemen. That they were dropping US-supplied (illegal) cluster bombs and giving targeting information to more effectively kill Yemeni civilians does add to our culpability there. I would say it probably exceeds anything Russia did in Syria. Yes we kill too.
We need not go into the extrajudicial killings by Obama of US citizens abroad and outside of a war zone, or of the thousands and thousands of innocent killed by his drone bombing campaign in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. etc. or his extrajuridical "kill list", etcetera, etcetera. I will not need tg go back to WWII, or the even Indian Wars to make my point or enhance this argument my argument..will I?
TRUMP TELLS IT LIKE IT IS. BRAVO FOR HIM!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
TRUMP TO END H1-B VISA JOBS DRAIN
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN JOBS LOST TO H1-B VISA HOLDERS
TRUMP TO THE RESCUE!
Mr Trump made some promises on job creation and in his first weeks as President he tried valiantly to make good on those promises. At Trump's urging, Ford Motor Company promised 700 new jobs at a plant in Michigan, Lockheed promised 1800 new jobs in Fort Worth, Amazon claimed it would create 100,000 new jobs this year. Other companies like Hyundai , and GM, Bayer and Monsanto promised new investments in the US that would lead to new well paying jobs.
Trump's latest effort on jobs, as reported last week in the Los Angels Times, (Feb 1, 2017 "What Trump's push to limit overseas workers means for India's army of high-tech migrant labor") )was swamped by the news of violent demonstrations against Trump and free speech for right wing supporters at Berkeley University and New York University. As a result, I fear that information regarding the H1-B visa holders and the jobs they sequester from American workers never reached a wider audience in the nation.
It is too bad. Perhaps if some of these higher educated students had realized that Trump was actually attempting to provide them with more and greater job opportunities they wouldn't be so close minded and critical concerning his Presidency.
The LA Times reported on February 1, 2017 that President Trump's pledge to protect American jobs and American workers will have a great effect in India, particularly on the large number of high-tech workers who vie for US H-1B visas, a document which permits the holder to travel to the USA and work here for three years. The article was not Trump propaganda---it simply emphasized Trump's likely efforts on this front to limit H1-B visas and focused on the consternation it is causing in India where high US salaries, and the experience of working in US firms often mightily advances the career of an Indian, Chinese, or Mexican worker when he or she returns home...if they do not simply stay on illegally!
The H1-B visa program brings some 85,000, mostly Indian workers to the USA annually, although some are Chinese and even Mexicans who get the nod. Can you imagine that. Nearly 100.000 jobs shunted off to foreign workers each year while our kids with similar degrees are forced to flip hamburgers in a Mc Donald's. It gets worse. Apparently the last Administration permitted to H1-B visa program to degenerate to the level where it permitted large Indian-based outsourcing companies to gobble up the visas for their own employees and then were permitted to send these workers to the US to work for US tech companies---but at much lower pay than Americans would be offered. To add insult to injury there are many cases reported where American workers were forced to train incoming Indian workers in their jobs, and then once the cheap labor was trained, the American worker was laid off. So here is another example of how the Washington elite, in consort with business interests screwed the American worker. Who profited from this deal? The big tech companies, got a rotating cadre of cheap but highly motivated Indian workers every year, which vastly increased their profits. The Washington crowd of Congressmen and Senators got the pay-off from the business companies to block any legislation and keep the process going. And the media, like the NYT, Washington Post, etc. etc. got journalistic access to other stories by NOT reporting on this corruption. This H1-B visa process is just another example of many of how the American worker has been screwed (there is no better word) and how it exacerbated all that was ill with America---too much money sequestered in the hands and bank accounts of too few, the scarcity of well-paying jobs, and the loss of upward mobility for working class kids here in America.
The Democrats and the GOP all permitted this system to flourish or fester and the American worker with his sheepskin degree still wet was turned out of the door and had to find a job in Mc Donald's or in Walmart, and go live in his parent's basement because he could not earn a living wage. Disgusting.
(It is noteworthy our new AG, Senator Jeff Sessions is a strong critic of the H1-B visa system, as are Congressmen Issa and Lofgren from California who have proposed corrective legislation, while Senators Durbin and Grassley proposed an end to the lottery system which makes it easy for Indian jobbers to flood the system with applications.)
It is clear why the working classes elected Trump! No one was looking out for their needs.
TRUMP TO THE RESCUE!
Mr Trump made some promises on job creation and in his first weeks as President he tried valiantly to make good on those promises. At Trump's urging, Ford Motor Company promised 700 new jobs at a plant in Michigan, Lockheed promised 1800 new jobs in Fort Worth, Amazon claimed it would create 100,000 new jobs this year. Other companies like Hyundai , and GM, Bayer and Monsanto promised new investments in the US that would lead to new well paying jobs.
Trump's latest effort on jobs, as reported last week in the Los Angels Times, (Feb 1, 2017 "What Trump's push to limit overseas workers means for India's army of high-tech migrant labor") )was swamped by the news of violent demonstrations against Trump and free speech for right wing supporters at Berkeley University and New York University. As a result, I fear that information regarding the H1-B visa holders and the jobs they sequester from American workers never reached a wider audience in the nation.
It is too bad. Perhaps if some of these higher educated students had realized that Trump was actually attempting to provide them with more and greater job opportunities they wouldn't be so close minded and critical concerning his Presidency.
The LA Times reported on February 1, 2017 that President Trump's pledge to protect American jobs and American workers will have a great effect in India, particularly on the large number of high-tech workers who vie for US H-1B visas, a document which permits the holder to travel to the USA and work here for three years. The article was not Trump propaganda---it simply emphasized Trump's likely efforts on this front to limit H1-B visas and focused on the consternation it is causing in India where high US salaries, and the experience of working in US firms often mightily advances the career of an Indian, Chinese, or Mexican worker when he or she returns home...if they do not simply stay on illegally!
The H1-B visa program brings some 85,000, mostly Indian workers to the USA annually, although some are Chinese and even Mexicans who get the nod. Can you imagine that. Nearly 100.000 jobs shunted off to foreign workers each year while our kids with similar degrees are forced to flip hamburgers in a Mc Donald's. It gets worse. Apparently the last Administration permitted to H1-B visa program to degenerate to the level where it permitted large Indian-based outsourcing companies to gobble up the visas for their own employees and then were permitted to send these workers to the US to work for US tech companies---but at much lower pay than Americans would be offered. To add insult to injury there are many cases reported where American workers were forced to train incoming Indian workers in their jobs, and then once the cheap labor was trained, the American worker was laid off. So here is another example of how the Washington elite, in consort with business interests screwed the American worker. Who profited from this deal? The big tech companies, got a rotating cadre of cheap but highly motivated Indian workers every year, which vastly increased their profits. The Washington crowd of Congressmen and Senators got the pay-off from the business companies to block any legislation and keep the process going. And the media, like the NYT, Washington Post, etc. etc. got journalistic access to other stories by NOT reporting on this corruption. This H1-B visa process is just another example of many of how the American worker has been screwed (there is no better word) and how it exacerbated all that was ill with America---too much money sequestered in the hands and bank accounts of too few, the scarcity of well-paying jobs, and the loss of upward mobility for working class kids here in America.
The Democrats and the GOP all permitted this system to flourish or fester and the American worker with his sheepskin degree still wet was turned out of the door and had to find a job in Mc Donald's or in Walmart, and go live in his parent's basement because he could not earn a living wage. Disgusting.
(It is noteworthy our new AG, Senator Jeff Sessions is a strong critic of the H1-B visa system, as are Congressmen Issa and Lofgren from California who have proposed corrective legislation, while Senators Durbin and Grassley proposed an end to the lottery system which makes it easy for Indian jobbers to flood the system with applications.)
It is clear why the working classes elected Trump! No one was looking out for their needs.
GET OUT OF YEMEN WAR
February 5, 2017
WHY ARE WE AT WAR IN YEMEN? NO GOOD ANSWER.
Can anyone in the government tell us why we (the USA) are fighting in Yemen...spending money, killing innocents and being killed? There seems to be no valid answer for that question. From this perspective it looks like a "lose-lose" situation. Our intervention in Yemen is costly, in both blood and gold, and may tar our already sullied reputations by our complicity in war crimes committed by our Saudi Arabian allies. .
Yemen a desolate, desert-and mountainous-land sits on the very southern tip of the Arabian peninsula and borders the Red Sea. It has no oil. There are no American businesses or business interests to protect. The people are the poorest in all of the Middle East. The nation has been in political turmoil for decades. In the last few years the Houthi, a minority Shia sect have been fighting for recognition of their rights and status in a majority-Sunni nation. The Houthi are considered formidable fighters, tacticians and sharpshooters. Internecine fighting over the last few years resulted in the overthrew of a Sunni-led, pro-Saudi government. The Houthi fought valiantly and subsequently defeated the pro Saudi regime and occupied the capital city of Sanaa. They are alleged to be accepting military and financial aid from neighboring Iran, though they (and the Iranians) deny those accusations. Their religious affiliation, opposition to Saudi influence in Yemen's internal affairs and their religious and amicable association with Iran have all contributed to the animus of their powerful Saudi neighbor. The Saudis see the Houthis as a threat to their rule and their control over their own restive population. They have mounted a ferocious bombing campaign against the Houthis to dislodge this group from Sanaa and replace them with a Sunni, pro-Saudi government, more amenable to Saudi influence. These are all goals that have little to do with America or American interests or should they arouse our sympathy or support..
Foolishly, the former USA (Obama) Administration was drawn into this religious-based civil war on the side of the Saudis. The result of the American-aided--Saudi bombing campaign has been aerial attacks on hospitals, schools, graveyards, outdoor food markets, electrical installation and even port facilities where food and medical supplies are landed in this impoverished country. The targets are uniformly civilian in nature. The campaign has caused the deaths of some 10,000 Houthi, caused hundreds of thousands to become internal refugees and significantly contributed to the malnutrition of more than a million children in a country which is perpetually on the knife-edge of food shortages. The UN human rights commissioner has cited Saudi Arabia for "crimes against humanity" a term which includes war crimes. This is not a conflict that we should be supporting. But we are there spending millions upon millions of tax dollars ins support of Saudi Arabia.
The recent Navy Seal attack on a mountain village in central Yemen is another example of misplaced effort. That operation resulted in widespread destruction and heavy loss of Yemeni civilian lives, including women and children, the destruction of a $75 million dollar aircraft, and the sad death as a result of enemy fire of one of our brave Navy Seals, as well as the serious wounding of other Navy men. This failed attack underscores the financial costs these questionable military interventions incur. The actual expediture of each is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Those outlays (especially in a nation which runs a @ $500 billion deficit each year) must be weighed against the benefits to our tax payers, our citizens and to the best return on our tax dollars for our nation. What are we doing there? Are these "enemies" any real threat to our nation? There seems to be little evidence of that. What have we gained by this failed military operation? On the "plus" side of the ledger we reportedly brought back a few charred and useless mobile phones and laptops. But each one cost us many tens of millions of dollars. Was this a good "business deal"? Not up to Trump standards, I would suspect.
In addition to the failed military operations the USA is supporting the Saudi Arabian bombing campaign in western Yemen. The actions of the Saudi Arabian coalition fighting the Houthi in Yemen is characterized by the UN as engaging in "international crime". We are part of and support this coalition to the tune of many hundreds of millions of dollars. These expenditures include aid to the Saudis in military logistics, intelligence, bombing targets, and the now infamous REFUELING OPERATIONS we conduct for the Saudis with our KC 135 Boeing Strato-tankers. These huge, and costly planes leave Inserlik, Turkey airport loaded with jet fuel, they fly to the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula where they hook up with Saudi Arabian fighter jets circling over Yemen bombing civilians targets. The US refueling operations permit the Saudi jets to hit more civilian target on each run. These infamous refuling operations have no doubt cased the lives of thousands of Houthi citcilians. They are costly both in geld and to our reputation. Perhaps the Saudis repay us. But the real danger here is more to our reputation and the possibility that the USA may be charged as an assessory in the WAR CRIMES charges that are sure to be leveled against Saudi Arabia for their actions in Yemen.
Do these sound like good investments for our scarce funds? Do they produce jobs for Americans? Can this money be more effectively spent? Why are we supporting likely war criminals?
WHY ARE WE AT WAR IN YEMEN? NO GOOD ANSWER.
Can anyone in the government tell us why we (the USA) are fighting in Yemen...spending money, killing innocents and being killed? There seems to be no valid answer for that question. From this perspective it looks like a "lose-lose" situation. Our intervention in Yemen is costly, in both blood and gold, and may tar our already sullied reputations by our complicity in war crimes committed by our Saudi Arabian allies. .
Yemen a desolate, desert-and mountainous-land sits on the very southern tip of the Arabian peninsula and borders the Red Sea. It has no oil. There are no American businesses or business interests to protect. The people are the poorest in all of the Middle East. The nation has been in political turmoil for decades. In the last few years the Houthi, a minority Shia sect have been fighting for recognition of their rights and status in a majority-Sunni nation. The Houthi are considered formidable fighters, tacticians and sharpshooters. Internecine fighting over the last few years resulted in the overthrew of a Sunni-led, pro-Saudi government. The Houthi fought valiantly and subsequently defeated the pro Saudi regime and occupied the capital city of Sanaa. They are alleged to be accepting military and financial aid from neighboring Iran, though they (and the Iranians) deny those accusations. Their religious affiliation, opposition to Saudi influence in Yemen's internal affairs and their religious and amicable association with Iran have all contributed to the animus of their powerful Saudi neighbor. The Saudis see the Houthis as a threat to their rule and their control over their own restive population. They have mounted a ferocious bombing campaign against the Houthis to dislodge this group from Sanaa and replace them with a Sunni, pro-Saudi government, more amenable to Saudi influence. These are all goals that have little to do with America or American interests or should they arouse our sympathy or support..
Foolishly, the former USA (Obama) Administration was drawn into this religious-based civil war on the side of the Saudis. The result of the American-aided--Saudi bombing campaign has been aerial attacks on hospitals, schools, graveyards, outdoor food markets, electrical installation and even port facilities where food and medical supplies are landed in this impoverished country. The targets are uniformly civilian in nature. The campaign has caused the deaths of some 10,000 Houthi, caused hundreds of thousands to become internal refugees and significantly contributed to the malnutrition of more than a million children in a country which is perpetually on the knife-edge of food shortages. The UN human rights commissioner has cited Saudi Arabia for "crimes against humanity" a term which includes war crimes. This is not a conflict that we should be supporting. But we are there spending millions upon millions of tax dollars ins support of Saudi Arabia.
The recent Navy Seal attack on a mountain village in central Yemen is another example of misplaced effort. That operation resulted in widespread destruction and heavy loss of Yemeni civilian lives, including women and children, the destruction of a $75 million dollar aircraft, and the sad death as a result of enemy fire of one of our brave Navy Seals, as well as the serious wounding of other Navy men. This failed attack underscores the financial costs these questionable military interventions incur. The actual expediture of each is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Those outlays (especially in a nation which runs a @ $500 billion deficit each year) must be weighed against the benefits to our tax payers, our citizens and to the best return on our tax dollars for our nation. What are we doing there? Are these "enemies" any real threat to our nation? There seems to be little evidence of that. What have we gained by this failed military operation? On the "plus" side of the ledger we reportedly brought back a few charred and useless mobile phones and laptops. But each one cost us many tens of millions of dollars. Was this a good "business deal"? Not up to Trump standards, I would suspect.
In addition to the failed military operations the USA is supporting the Saudi Arabian bombing campaign in western Yemen. The actions of the Saudi Arabian coalition fighting the Houthi in Yemen is characterized by the UN as engaging in "international crime". We are part of and support this coalition to the tune of many hundreds of millions of dollars. These expenditures include aid to the Saudis in military logistics, intelligence, bombing targets, and the now infamous REFUELING OPERATIONS we conduct for the Saudis with our KC 135 Boeing Strato-tankers. These huge, and costly planes leave Inserlik, Turkey airport loaded with jet fuel, they fly to the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula where they hook up with Saudi Arabian fighter jets circling over Yemen bombing civilians targets. The US refueling operations permit the Saudi jets to hit more civilian target on each run. These infamous refuling operations have no doubt cased the lives of thousands of Houthi citcilians. They are costly both in geld and to our reputation. Perhaps the Saudis repay us. But the real danger here is more to our reputation and the possibility that the USA may be charged as an assessory in the WAR CRIMES charges that are sure to be leveled against Saudi Arabia for their actions in Yemen.
Do these sound like good investments for our scarce funds? Do they produce jobs for Americans? Can this money be more effectively spent? Why are we supporting likely war criminals?
Saturday, February 4, 2017
OBAMA BOOBY TRAPS TRUMP WH
February 4, 2017
OBAMA LEAVES COW FLOP AND TRIP WIRES AROUND WHITE HOUSE
COMMENT ON AUSTRALIA AND YEMEN FIASCOS
Mr. Obama, like the Democrats in general, is loath to accept the will of the people. They voted him and his surrogate out of power. But, it seems he readily ignores the inner dictates of the "constitutional scholar" he claims to be. For he has not be able to accept the dictates of the Constitution to go quietly from power. He hypocritically denies the PEOPLE their right to choose their leaders and his actions harm the nation's overall welfare. Apparently, rather than try to facilitate our vaunted "peaceful turn over of power" from one administration to another...as willed by the people...Mr. Obama has attempted to leave patches of cow flop and trip wires for the new president to step in or stumble over. These tricks hurt the nation as a whole, and shine an unfavorable light on Mr. Obama's character.
Some recent examples of Obama booby traps: The Australian refugee deal...in which Mr. Kerry and Mr. Obama upon realization of their loss soon after the shocking November 8th election and in collusion with the Australian PM, arranged for a purposely distasteful deal to box Mr. Trump in to an agreement he would have to accept. It involved over one-thousand refugees from various places in the Middle East, who had sought refuge in Australia, but were deemed unacceptable by the Aussie government. These unfortunates were consigned to inhumane detention on an offshore islands prison facility--reminiscent of the French penal colony on "Devils Island". The deal would foist these unvetted and now unhappy and hardened individuals onto US shores. Mr. Trump made his displeasure known in a call to the Austrailian PM. The press castigated Mr. Trump for being "undiplomatic". Just as Obama planned.
The second pile of cow flop Mr. Obama left outside the Oval Office for Mr. Trump to step into was a poorly planned Navy Seal attack on an isolated mountain village in Yemen. I posted a recent blog warning Mr. Trump (see above February 2, 2017) that the recent US Navy Seal attack on a Yemeni mountain village was not a "good deal". Most of Trump's supporters hoped that Obama's unending wars would wither away under a more pragmatic, "America first" Trump Administration. I was saddened to see our novice President hoodwinked by the military into a "dumb", very costly, bloody, and in the and-useless attack. After the fiasco in Yemen, the military establishment quickly tended to lay the blame for the failure and loss of life on our still wet-behind-the-ears President, apparently setting the stage for others to characterize him as "careless and reckless". The whole operation smells like a sinister plot. Was it another Obama tripwire set up to blow up in our blustering, brash President's face? That swamp in Washington, is inhabited with perilous poison sumac, sticky quicksand, jaw snapping 'gators, and five-meter-long Burmese pythons. Mr. Trump you better watch your step!
The Yemen war is another booby trap wire snaking across the red and gold tufted carpet in the Oval Office. Mr.Trump must be aware that the UN is investigating the Saudi Arabian bombing campaign in Yemen against the Houthis as a case of WAR CRIMES. The humanitarian tragedy of the Houthis, a Shia sect which has aroused the ire of a wealthy and powerful neighboring Sunni state--Saudi Arabia. The Houthi uprising overthrew an existing pro-Saudi Yemeni government and occupied the capital city of Sanaa. This is an ugly, bloody, religious cilvil war. But Mr. Obama somehow foolishly inserted himself, our government and military planners, and our military forces into the confused battle on the side of the powerful oil-monarch of Saudi Arabians. Mr. Obama, has supplied the SA monarchy with our most advanced fighter jets, smart bombs, cluster bombs, ground intelligence, information on bombing targets and logistics to use against the Houthi minority in western Yemen. The Saudis have mercilessly bombed Houthi schools, hospitals, graveyards, electrical installations and even essential port facilities. They have killed over ten thousand civilians according to recent UN statistics More than two million children are claimed to suffer from malnutrition. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homes to become internal refugees. Ex President Obama claims to have encouraged his unruly and heartless Sunni ally to restrict bombing to military targets. But there are no Houthi military installations in this impoverished desolate land. So the Saudis simply continue bombing civilians with their US supplied munitions
The UN has taken notice of the attacks on civilian targets and threatened to take up the case of Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Their continued and persistent attacks on these targets makes that case very likely to succeed. The fact that the USA supplies Saudi Arabia with all of its armaments, cluster bombs, military intelligence, and even more egregiously actually refuels Saudi fighter-bomber planes in the air over Yemen (using USA Air Force KC 135 Boeing Strato-tanker aircraft) so that the Saudi pilots could hit more civilian targets more frequently on each run. The facts clearly implicate the USA in any war crimes charges that the Saudis may face.
One must mention this glaring Obama hypocrisy here. It does not go unnoticed that Obama's government, the Democrats and the GOP were all free and loose with their repeated (and partly justified) attacks on Russia bombing of alleged civilian targets over Syria, while Obama's government was supplying the bombs, logistics, and refueled Saudi jets over Yemen to bomb Yemeni civilians----killing them just as effectively as were the Russians killing Syrians.
Ugly!
Mr. Trump should tread carefully as he treads around in Washington. Each mucky step in the DC swamp can turn up a slimy, slithering snake. My advise: Stay out of Yemen. Call those refueling planes back. Stop selling the Saudis cluster bombs. And the next time some guy with scarambled-eggs his cap-brim try's to sell you a "sure thing--slam dunk" military operation in some far away place make sure it does not have a trip wire attached to it.
There may be those in the military who are secretly laying a trap for our new President. Washington is a dangerous place. Especially get out of Yemen. No good cam come to you there. Your enemies know that being a convicted war criminal would be a hard epithet to laugh off.
OBAMA LEAVES COW FLOP AND TRIP WIRES AROUND WHITE HOUSE
COMMENT ON AUSTRALIA AND YEMEN FIASCOS
Mr. Obama, like the Democrats in general, is loath to accept the will of the people. They voted him and his surrogate out of power. But, it seems he readily ignores the inner dictates of the "constitutional scholar" he claims to be. For he has not be able to accept the dictates of the Constitution to go quietly from power. He hypocritically denies the PEOPLE their right to choose their leaders and his actions harm the nation's overall welfare. Apparently, rather than try to facilitate our vaunted "peaceful turn over of power" from one administration to another...as willed by the people...Mr. Obama has attempted to leave patches of cow flop and trip wires for the new president to step in or stumble over. These tricks hurt the nation as a whole, and shine an unfavorable light on Mr. Obama's character.
Some recent examples of Obama booby traps: The Australian refugee deal...in which Mr. Kerry and Mr. Obama upon realization of their loss soon after the shocking November 8th election and in collusion with the Australian PM, arranged for a purposely distasteful deal to box Mr. Trump in to an agreement he would have to accept. It involved over one-thousand refugees from various places in the Middle East, who had sought refuge in Australia, but were deemed unacceptable by the Aussie government. These unfortunates were consigned to inhumane detention on an offshore islands prison facility--reminiscent of the French penal colony on "Devils Island". The deal would foist these unvetted and now unhappy and hardened individuals onto US shores. Mr. Trump made his displeasure known in a call to the Austrailian PM. The press castigated Mr. Trump for being "undiplomatic". Just as Obama planned.
The second pile of cow flop Mr. Obama left outside the Oval Office for Mr. Trump to step into was a poorly planned Navy Seal attack on an isolated mountain village in Yemen. I posted a recent blog warning Mr. Trump (see above February 2, 2017) that the recent US Navy Seal attack on a Yemeni mountain village was not a "good deal". Most of Trump's supporters hoped that Obama's unending wars would wither away under a more pragmatic, "America first" Trump Administration. I was saddened to see our novice President hoodwinked by the military into a "dumb", very costly, bloody, and in the and-useless attack. After the fiasco in Yemen, the military establishment quickly tended to lay the blame for the failure and loss of life on our still wet-behind-the-ears President, apparently setting the stage for others to characterize him as "careless and reckless". The whole operation smells like a sinister plot. Was it another Obama tripwire set up to blow up in our blustering, brash President's face? That swamp in Washington, is inhabited with perilous poison sumac, sticky quicksand, jaw snapping 'gators, and five-meter-long Burmese pythons. Mr. Trump you better watch your step!
The Yemen war is another booby trap wire snaking across the red and gold tufted carpet in the Oval Office. Mr.Trump must be aware that the UN is investigating the Saudi Arabian bombing campaign in Yemen against the Houthis as a case of WAR CRIMES. The humanitarian tragedy of the Houthis, a Shia sect which has aroused the ire of a wealthy and powerful neighboring Sunni state--Saudi Arabia. The Houthi uprising overthrew an existing pro-Saudi Yemeni government and occupied the capital city of Sanaa. This is an ugly, bloody, religious cilvil war. But Mr. Obama somehow foolishly inserted himself, our government and military planners, and our military forces into the confused battle on the side of the powerful oil-monarch of Saudi Arabians. Mr. Obama, has supplied the SA monarchy with our most advanced fighter jets, smart bombs, cluster bombs, ground intelligence, information on bombing targets and logistics to use against the Houthi minority in western Yemen. The Saudis have mercilessly bombed Houthi schools, hospitals, graveyards, electrical installations and even essential port facilities. They have killed over ten thousand civilians according to recent UN statistics More than two million children are claimed to suffer from malnutrition. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homes to become internal refugees. Ex President Obama claims to have encouraged his unruly and heartless Sunni ally to restrict bombing to military targets. But there are no Houthi military installations in this impoverished desolate land. So the Saudis simply continue bombing civilians with their US supplied munitions
The UN has taken notice of the attacks on civilian targets and threatened to take up the case of Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Their continued and persistent attacks on these targets makes that case very likely to succeed. The fact that the USA supplies Saudi Arabia with all of its armaments, cluster bombs, military intelligence, and even more egregiously actually refuels Saudi fighter-bomber planes in the air over Yemen (using USA Air Force KC 135 Boeing Strato-tanker aircraft) so that the Saudi pilots could hit more civilian targets more frequently on each run. The facts clearly implicate the USA in any war crimes charges that the Saudis may face.
One must mention this glaring Obama hypocrisy here. It does not go unnoticed that Obama's government, the Democrats and the GOP were all free and loose with their repeated (and partly justified) attacks on Russia bombing of alleged civilian targets over Syria, while Obama's government was supplying the bombs, logistics, and refueled Saudi jets over Yemen to bomb Yemeni civilians----killing them just as effectively as were the Russians killing Syrians.
Ugly!
Mr. Trump should tread carefully as he treads around in Washington. Each mucky step in the DC swamp can turn up a slimy, slithering snake. My advise: Stay out of Yemen. Call those refueling planes back. Stop selling the Saudis cluster bombs. And the next time some guy with scarambled-eggs his cap-brim try's to sell you a "sure thing--slam dunk" military operation in some far away place make sure it does not have a trip wire attached to it.
There may be those in the military who are secretly laying a trap for our new President. Washington is a dangerous place. Especially get out of Yemen. No good cam come to you there. Your enemies know that being a convicted war criminal would be a hard epithet to laugh off.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
PUTTING MR TRUMP ON NOTICE
FEBRUARY 2, 2017
MR TRUMP YOU ARE ON NOTICE
NO MORE DUMB DEALS LIKE THE YEMENI SEAL RAID
LET'S HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON
The American people who elected Mr. Trump are putting him ON NOTICE. No more Pentagon initiated dumb "business" deals!
The raid on a tiny Yemeni mountain village Mr. Trump foolishly signed on to...an operation planned by Mr. Obama...was a dumb deal. How else could you characterize a raid which cost the nation the life of one of its Seals, the serious wounding of several other, the loss of a $75 million dollar aircraft, which had to be blown up on the ground--.and the cost of the operation itself probably in the tens of millions of dollars. Not to mention the political and international fall out related to the unnecessary devastation of a small Yemeni village, the blow to American prestige, and just as seriously ---the egregious and horrible deaths of numerous Yemeni women and children, among them an eight year old child of an American citizen.
What did the deal produce on the other side of the ledger? A few charred cellphones and a unusable laptop.
This is an example of a very DUMB DEAL indeed. The very kind that Mr. Trump railed against while on the campaign trail. Going back to that trough will very quickly poison Mr. Trump's cache good will he has with the heartland American people.
MR TRUMP YOU ARE ON NOTICE
NO MORE DUMB DEALS LIKE THE YEMENI SEAL RAID
LET'S HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON
The American people who elected Mr. Trump are putting him ON NOTICE. No more Pentagon initiated dumb "business" deals!
The raid on a tiny Yemeni mountain village Mr. Trump foolishly signed on to...an operation planned by Mr. Obama...was a dumb deal. How else could you characterize a raid which cost the nation the life of one of its Seals, the serious wounding of several other, the loss of a $75 million dollar aircraft, which had to be blown up on the ground--.and the cost of the operation itself probably in the tens of millions of dollars. Not to mention the political and international fall out related to the unnecessary devastation of a small Yemeni village, the blow to American prestige, and just as seriously ---the egregious and horrible deaths of numerous Yemeni women and children, among them an eight year old child of an American citizen.
What did the deal produce on the other side of the ledger? A few charred cellphones and a unusable laptop.
This is an example of a very DUMB DEAL indeed. The very kind that Mr. Trump railed against while on the campaign trail. Going back to that trough will very quickly poison Mr. Trump's cache good will he has with the heartland American people.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
DEMOCRATS HEAL THYSELF!
February 1, 2017
"RESIST-RESIST-RESIST IS THE CRY OF THE WOUNDED AND DYING."
The Democrat Party is in disarray. They simply can not accept the fact that they lost the election fairly and squarely. Yes, they won the popular vote, but that is not how our constitutionally-based system works. They lost decisively. They lost all across the nation in State Houses and governorships. They lost the Senate. They lost the House of Representatives. They lost the White House. And now they are going to loose the Supreme Court as well. They are losers.
How did this happen to the once powerful "party of the people" formerly led by the likes of FDR, Truman, JFK, and Johnson? The answer: greed for money and power. Party officials were led astray by the big donor class which enticed them to abandon their natural constituency of middle class workers and follow the "globalist trail". They took up the false god of "identity politics"---which led them into the restricted and shadowed zone in which the party now finds itself. They fell victim to the Clinton political machine which sucked up billions of donation dollars and Machiavelli-like closed off all opportunities to conduct an open and legitimate search for viable an electable presidential candidates. They succumbed to greed and power. They made themselves losers.
HAVING AN INEFFECTIVE "LOSER PARTY" AS THE OPPOSITION...WEAKENS OUR NATION.
Now the Party of FDR and JFK has become an hysterical, radical opposition, focused only on arousing its narrow base, obstructing the normal and necessary operation of the new government and speaking only to a more and more tightly restricted elements of their base-- extremists and radicals. The nation is divided. It needs a more centrist opposition which will deal honestly, realistically and responsibly with the issues facing all Americans...across our broad land. The white working classes, the poor, the small businessman, the average Joe and Jane of America's heartland who need representation. But the Democrats speak now only to the radical fringe. They are today vigorously and hysterically embarked on a mission of obstruction to the Trump Presidency. Their cry to "Resist--Resist--Resist" is the scream of the wounded and dying. Not a rally call for resurgence. Blind meaningless and unprincipled opposition hurts us all. We need a loyal opposition. Loyal to the people of this nation...not just to party elites, big donors and special interests.
Democrats heal thyself! Raise your Party out of this deep well!
"RESIST-RESIST-RESIST IS THE CRY OF THE WOUNDED AND DYING."
The Democrat Party is in disarray. They simply can not accept the fact that they lost the election fairly and squarely. Yes, they won the popular vote, but that is not how our constitutionally-based system works. They lost decisively. They lost all across the nation in State Houses and governorships. They lost the Senate. They lost the House of Representatives. They lost the White House. And now they are going to loose the Supreme Court as well. They are losers.
How did this happen to the once powerful "party of the people" formerly led by the likes of FDR, Truman, JFK, and Johnson? The answer: greed for money and power. Party officials were led astray by the big donor class which enticed them to abandon their natural constituency of middle class workers and follow the "globalist trail". They took up the false god of "identity politics"---which led them into the restricted and shadowed zone in which the party now finds itself. They fell victim to the Clinton political machine which sucked up billions of donation dollars and Machiavelli-like closed off all opportunities to conduct an open and legitimate search for viable an electable presidential candidates. They succumbed to greed and power. They made themselves losers.
HAVING AN INEFFECTIVE "LOSER PARTY" AS THE OPPOSITION...WEAKENS OUR NATION.
Now the Party of FDR and JFK has become an hysterical, radical opposition, focused only on arousing its narrow base, obstructing the normal and necessary operation of the new government and speaking only to a more and more tightly restricted elements of their base-- extremists and radicals. The nation is divided. It needs a more centrist opposition which will deal honestly, realistically and responsibly with the issues facing all Americans...across our broad land. The white working classes, the poor, the small businessman, the average Joe and Jane of America's heartland who need representation. But the Democrats speak now only to the radical fringe. They are today vigorously and hysterically embarked on a mission of obstruction to the Trump Presidency. Their cry to "Resist--Resist--Resist" is the scream of the wounded and dying. Not a rally call for resurgence. Blind meaningless and unprincipled opposition hurts us all. We need a loyal opposition. Loyal to the people of this nation...not just to party elites, big donors and special interests.
Democrats heal thyself! Raise your Party out of this deep well!
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