Day: January 5, 2016

Professor’s 1st Class

Yesterday my grand adventure began….I am lecturing on US foreign policy and the Middle East from 1917 to today…..try condensing that into a 4 week course….now there lies the adventure…..

I began class by introducing myself and explaining what I would be attempting…..that is to give a rudimentary knowledge of foreign policy and how it impacts today’s situations……

My first question to the class was How many know of the Balfour Declaration?  2 …next how many know of Sykes-Picot Agreement?  10  Finally how many know of the Crane Commission?  0….out of 14…..2 failed to answer….there lies a problem…….

With my question answered I told the class that we would touch on Sykes-Picot then a little longer of the Balfour and finally extensive time on the Crane…

I then passed out the handouts….and took questions (if they pertained to the class)….

Finally I gave them an outline map of the Middle East and ask them to identify the countries I had listed….Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, West Bank, Syria, Turkey and Iraq and finally Iran…..I explained that there would be NO grade on the map that it would give me an idea of how to proceed in future lectures.  No one got the map correct….my work is cut out for me…..

Onward and upward

Class dismissed

Syria? Seriously, You Guys Gonna Stick To That BS?

Yes I know I have been a bitch when it comes to criticizing the US and its extremely myopic foreign policy….but after reading the line that the State Department is issued I could not stop the laughter…..and it went on and on…..

What I found so humorous was…….

State Department spokesman John Kirby is bragging up the US State Department’s sordid achievements of 2015, even things that they demonstrably never did. Key among those was the declaration from Kirby that the US brought “peace and security to Syria.”

Kirby went on to brag of the US…… “stepping up to aid the Syrian people during their time of need,” and taking credit for peace talks nominally set for next month, and which at this point don’t really have a set list of involved parties.

At this point I have to ask…..are they watching the same situation in Syria that I am?  Apparently there is more than one Syria….one that I know nothing about….how about you?

These words came as the State Department synopsis of the past year……written on their blog……

Everyone’s entitled to a bit of boasting now and again, but a year-in-review State Department blog post appears to have veered into overstatement territory on Syria, Politico reports. Authored by spokesman John Kirby, the DipNote post, entitled “Pivotal Foreign Policy Moments of 2015,” combines the recently trending hashtag #2015In5Words with what Kirby believes were the department’s greatest achievements this year. In it, Kirby takes a “look at how the United States has helped change the world for the better.” Included are five-word commendations such as “Diplomatic Relations Re-established With Cuba” and “Protecting Arctic Climate and Communities.” Other listings use more declarative, debate-provoking language: “Strongest Climate Agreement Ever Negotiated,” “Iran Peaceful Nuclear Program Ensured,” and “Winning Fight Against Violent Extremists.”

But it’s Kirby’s fist-bumps regarding Syria when eyebrows really start to rise. “Bringing Peace, Security to Syria” is perhaps the most surprising “significant success” he touts, proclaiming that “the Syrian people have borne a heavy load,” but the US, under John Kerry’s stewardship, “has led the world in humanitarian aid contributions since the crisis began in 2011.” The back pat continues with praise for a UN Security Council resolution that “puts forward a roadmap that will facilitate a transition within Syria to a credible, inclusive, nonsectarian government … responsive to the needs of the Syrian people.” All of which may sound overly optimistic considering, as Politico notes, Syria “remains embroiled in a nasty civil war and terrorized by the Islamic State.” Or as David Francis at Foreign Policy puts it: “The five words State used to describe the past year seem at the very least inappropriate and at the worst delusional.”

Is it possible that now everyone can see why I question our foreign policy?

We could always blame it all on Obama…..that is the easy part…..why not question the actions of the Congress as well….they are suppose to be the watch dog in all this and they are failing in their role….personally, Congress is a waste to money and time….they do nothing but chase cash for themselves….this country means nothing to them beyond their petty little lives…..

NSA: Did You Read The News?

The holiday season is over and there was a wealth of news that was sort of “bypassed” to report of something ridiculous (no doubt)……

Last week I posted a piece about the NSA spying on Israel and finding that Israel was using Congress people to do their dirty work in the new Iran Nuke deal……but if you were too busy to read the post allow me to give you a short synopsis….

In 2013, after Edward Snowden dropped his NSA bombshell, President Obama called for an end to spying on certain world leaders. But Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli bigwigs remained on the “keep an eye on” list for “compelling national security” reasons, current and ex-US officials tell the Wall Street Journal. Included in the US spying sweep were conversations between Israeli officials and US lawmakers and American-Jewish groups, which, as one senior US official tells the paper, resulted in an “Oh s— moment” that the executive branch would be nailed for spying on Congress. The White House, though, felt the info necessary to rebut lobbying Netanyahu might do against a US-Iran deal; still, it was “wary of a paper trail stemming from a request.” And so “we didn’t say, ‘Do it’ [to the NSA],” a senior US official tells the Journal. “We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it.'”

Instead, the administration more or less let the NSA share whatever info it saw fit, and the NSA did just that, reportedly following tight mandates about spying on communications “to, from, or about” Americans, the paper notes. For example, the agency took out names of individual lawmakers and any personal info in reports it submitted to the White House and also omitted any “trash talk” about the administration, officials tell the Journal. At least one presidential candidate isn’t surprised by the revelations. “This administration views Congress, Republicans, and sometimes even Democratic members of Congress as their enemy,” Ted Cruz tells CBS News. “At times, it seems like they view the American people as their enemy.” A National Security Council spokesman, however, tells CBS, “[W]e do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.”

Sorry but to me if these lawmakers were doing Israel a favor then they were working as a foreign agent of a foreign power….if true time for these people to be prosecuted…..where do their loyalties lie?

But wait there is even more…….

Source: The Mossad Caucus Exposed – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Bet I can name at least two that were acting on behalf of a foreign government……you have any thoughts?

They were working against the best interests of this country….time to BBQ their asses!

Stand-Off

I was planning to avoid this latest gimmick by those idiots in the Tea Party……but since NO one will ignore these twats I might as well join in……..

By now the whole country has heard or see or read about the militia stand-off in Oregon…..best I can deduce is that they are worried about the Constitution…..and yet I have heard NOTHING rational that would explain their fear….have you?

Personally, the fear I have is morons taking their grievances to an armed level……for years we were warned about blacks with guns and then the Hispanics with guns….but so far these idiots are the only ones that have threatened then acted on any violence…….

Yep there is a history lesson in all of this…..

Think Shay’s Rebellion (1786)……Traditionally depicted as a revolt of poor farmers embittered by land seizures and bankruptcies, recent research into the lives of Shays Rebellion’s participants suggests that Shaysites came from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and from different professions and states.   Research shows that the Shaysites’ grievances extended beyond the specifics of Massachusetts’ economic situation to issues like: rule by a faraway elite; cronyism and corruption in government; and regressive tax policy……sound familiar?

Can you recall what happened in that “Rebellion”?

Think about it and think about this…….

 

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The government will handle this situation with kid gloves…..they have a rep to live down….think Ruby Ridge and Waco……this cowboy mentality is a dead issue for a society of laws…..

Thoughts?

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Fox News Is Literally Dying Of Old Age

What can I say….”There is a God!”

But of course most FOX wqatchers will call this “political correctness” or “liberal wimp-itude” or apologists” or…..well you get the idea…..those off-handed insults directed at people that refuse to agree with them……you know Trump supporters…….

Audience data for 2015 contains bad news for Fox News. Fox continues to march towards extinction as the average age of Fox News, primetime viewers is stuck at 68, while the revitalized CNN saw their average viewer age drop to 59.

Source: Fox News Is Literally Dying Of Old Age As Younger Viewers Refuse To Watch Fox

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