Day: May 20, 2016

Bubba’s Toxic Economic Legacy

Yesterday I went on a bit of a rant when I heard the Hillary if president wants to use Bubba to revitalize the economy……after hearing that I felt as if my head would explode……Bubba?  Please not him again.

But after my rant I thought that maybe I should post something about his “record” of accomplishments as an economic guru…..

Hillary Clinton recently stated that her husband would be a key player on economic policy. That’s not good news.

Over the past several months, Hillary Clinton has been somewhat hesitant to bring up her husband’s legacy as president, which, for many progressives, is a vexing reminder of how the Democratic Party embraced neoliberal policies towards the end of the 20th century, under the leadership of the the triangulating Bill Clinton. Faced with the insurgent campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton has tried to hype her progressive bona fides, which has meant avoiding some of Bill’s more despicable policies — from the 1994 crime bill and expansion of the war on drugs, to welfare reform and the Defense of Marriage Act. Almost two decades removed from the Clinton administration, there is a lot to find distasteful, and Hillary clearly wants to avoid discussing the worst of her husband’s presidency (which, like or not, she played a major role in).

Source: Bubba’s Toxic Economic Legacy: When Hillary Brags About the First Clinton Presidency Legacy, She Doesn’t Want You to Remember This | Alternet

If she is elected (I pray for our souls) she and her hubby will be just a repeat of the Bubba years…..only people that will benefit are their wealthy friends….both foreign and domestic…..

This country deserves better than the Clintons!

And You Think That The Syrian Conflict Is Confusing

I have written about just how damn confusing the Syrian conflict has become….we have 34 factions fighting…..and we are supporting this one or that…ISIS is supported by this one or that…..Russia is supporting Assad against….well who flipping knows?

I recently wrote a piece for Ace News Room on this situation (linked below if interested)……

Source: Syria: Just How Confusing Can One Conflict Be? – In Saner Thought

I bring this up because I have been watching the situation in Libya and it has become a massive cluster f*ck…….and now the US has decided to wade into the waters of another civil war….we just cannot help ourselves….we f*cked it up and now we have to try and make it worse…..

There are almost as many players in Libya as there are in Syria…..will we chose wisely or will it be just another rewplay of a failed policy?

In Libya there are very few truly national actors. The vast majority are local players, some of whom are relevant at the national level while representing the interests of their region, or in most cases, their city. Many important actors, particularly outside of the largest cities, also have tribal allegiances.

Since the summer of 2014, political power has been split between two rival governments in Tripoli and in Tobruk, with the latter having been recognised by the international community before the creation of the Presidential Council – the body that acts collectively as head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces – in December 2015. Several types of actors scramble for power in today’s Libya: armed groups; “city-states”, particularly in western and southern Libya; and tribes, which are particularly relevant in central and eastern Libya.

Source: A quick guide to Libya’s main players | European Council on Foreign Relations

How many times can the US make the same mistake before a new strategy is formulated?

Will a new president make any difference?  Can we afford to keep making the same mistakes?

Women Take Up Arms

I remember when the Army allowed women into the Ranger training course and couple of them passed with flying colors…..there was a bit of a push back….mostly from those people that think that women should be at home bare foot and pregnant cooking dinner, having his slippers waiting when Papa comes home.  And then after that “set back” the news broke that women would be allowed to choose “combat arms” when entering the Army…..meaning they could be thrown into the conflict just like their male counterparts……and once again those people that think that women are only good to keep the “home fires burning” were back in force….railing about all that 17th century bullsh*t……

But I have written about women in the Middle East that are as much “freedom fighter” as their male counterparts……(but in case you missed my superb posts)…….

Source: The female guerilla fighters of the PKK | Middle East Eye – In Saner Thought

https://lobotero.com/2014/10/24/objectifying-female-fighters-opendemocracy/

With your memory sufficiently refreshed ….there is more on the women of the Middle East that are doing more than their part to defeat the forces of evil……

It is no exaggeration to say that a strip of land along Syria’s northern border with Turkey is home to the most radical experiment in democracy and gender equality, not just in the Middle East, but in the whole world. Western Kurdistan, or Rojava, ‘the land where the sun sets’, first entered popular consciousness in that lopsided way that news from elsewhere hits Western TV screens, when Kurdish women fighters liberated Yazidi women and children from ISIS on Mount Sinjar in August/September 2015. When the might of the US, the Free Syrian Army and the other regional armies in Iraq were unable to stop the advance of ISIS, young women in military fatigues and floral scarves defeated men who can barely tolerate fully covered-up women. Such film footage was undeniably eye-catching. Yet rather than leading to further information and analysis of the Rojava phenomenon, it was appropriated for the purposes of capitalist consumerism. H&M tried to sell a range of clothing based on the women’s uniforms, provoking outrage in the Kurdish community for trivializing their struggle.

Source: Military fatigues and floral scarves — New Internationalist

These women are fighting evil and the right for a freer democracy in their homeland….

These women are proving that they are just as capable as any man and in some cases more so……

It is the 21st century in case you were not aware that the 17th century has long since passed……

 

Truman and Clinton’s Foreign Policy

Yes, I do read the American Conservative…..I do not agree with them much but I do like to get the perspective of others when I am writing……..and I am always looking for a historical perspective that I can use that could help my readers understand the issues and situations that I am always writing about….I hope it helps……

Recently I read a bit of a comparison between Truman and Clinton and since I feel that foreign policy will be of super importance in the coming years I had to press it for my readers……

Jonathan Chait considers Truman as a model for how Hillary Clinton might govern, and then says this:

It is impossible to predict how Clinton will handle foreign policy, but it is not fanciful to hope that her experience (unusually deep for a president) will enable her to imaginatively face the confounding challenge of radical Islam.

It’s true that we can’t know exactly what Clinton will end up doing abroad as president. However, we have a fairly good idea of how she approaches foreign policy issues and how she reacts to conflicts and crises overseas. Given Clinton’s longstanding record of hawkishness, the comparison with Truman isn’t a particularly reassuring or flattering one, but I fear it could be a very accurate one.

Source: Truman and Clinton’s Foreign Policy | The American Conservative

Clinton will be just an extension from Bush to Obama to her….a hawkish foreign policy with more and more conflicts that will be ever expanding…..and we will be forced to pay the price in so many ways…..