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).
Monday, February 13, 2017
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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