Day: November 2, 2016

A Good Year to Go Green (Party)

In case you are counting…..6 days to go…..

I am told by many that I am farting in the wind with the Green Party….but I cannot in good conscience vote for a murdering cow or an ego-centric toad….but that is just me.

This election has shown that the two party system is worthless for they do not represent the people’s desires……instead they run for office on fears and insecurities…..

Sadly most will not take that into consideration before they vote….they will trot down and vote the way the media wants them to vote….they will do as they are told.

Most are proud that they are “independent” but that is a con job….they will inevitably vote for one of the two major parties….that makes them undecided not independent.

Jill Stein Green Party

The major candidates are worthless and the worse possible examples for us to follow…but we, the voter, have other choices…..sad part is that most of the country is too timid or brainwashed to vote for a better person…..and there are MUCH better persons in this election.

We were treated to a double “October surprise” on Friday, Oct. 7.

The video of Donald Trump crowing that his celebrity status entitles him to assault women slightly eclipsed Hillary Clinton‘s leaked speeches. But we still learned that Clinton holds “public and private positions,” that her populist promises regarding free trade, preserving Social Security, and checking the power of Wall Street probably won’t survive Inauguration Day.

Millions of voters have figured out that the two major parties don’t represent them. They’re right. It’s not a two-party system, it’s a two-party racket.

They’re frustrated with a choice that, we’re told, is limited to two nominees with deep disapproval ratings. Voter dissatisfaction is reflected in polls that show broad support for a choice of more than two on the ballot.

Source: A Good Year to Go Green (Party) | TheHill

You DO have a choice…..why not exercise that choice and send a message?  Voting for either of the Big Two is NOT sending a message….it is more like coping out!

If you are dumb enough to vote major parties then do NOT bitch about it after the election…it was your choice and YOU FUCKED IT UP!  PERIOD!

Armed And Dangerous?

6 days and counting……..

Recently that mental midget Rep. Walsh from Illinois made the comment that if “Trump loses he will grab his musket”…..now he is either talking about a gun of some sort or his wanker….personally I think he is lacking the later….so a gun it is…..

Sadly there have been several such comments from those on the Right…..there was something I read that said that about half the people expect violence after the election…..

How long will it be before someone gets shot by a Donald Trump supporter in what the shooter may likely consider an act of patriotic civil disobedience? Or before someone uses a gun against right-wing vigilantes?

There is no shortage of evidence pointing toward some violent outburst surrounding the presidential election results. Reporters interviewing Trump supporters at rallies, national polls showing likely voters are expecting Election Day violence, consumer-trend tracking firms saying demand is rising for gun purchases, and rhetoric from the longstanding cadre of right-wing loudmouths, all suggest some type of ugly response.

“Sixteen percent of Americans plan on buying a gun as a result of the upcoming election,” said a press release Thursday from Elementum, “the real-time supply chain platform company, who polled 2,000 Americans from October 20-24 and found that among those living in the South, 19 percent will buy guns and among Gen Xers, the number is nearly 23 percent, especially among women, 24 percent.”

Source: As Election Day Nears, 1 in 6 Americans Say They’re Buying Guns and Half of Voters Expect Violence | Alternet

Am I saying I am expecting violence after the election?  NO I am NOT!

But there is a story circulating that there could be the possibility of violence….and to be fair there are those saying any such notion is just wrong…..

Is it possible that enraged Trump supporters, convinced the election has been stolen through a massive fraud, could rise up in an armed insurrection, splitting the country? Sure, just about anything is theoretically possible. But how many Americans really will wake up on Wednesday, November 9, ready to pick up their firearms and start a civil war? Almost certainly not enough to succeed. Winning a presidential election is difficult, but it’s still a lot easier than toppling the United States government.

Source: Trump Supporters’ ‘Armed Revolution’ Overhyped by Left-Wing Media | National Review

There is the tagline that this will be a “rigged” election which possibly lead some misguided person to resort to violence….but a large scale revolt….doubtful!

Thoughts?

The Tragic Failure Of Real Conservatism In The Republican Party And The Best Hope For Tomorrow

This “press” is of an article, an op-ed, written by a loyal reader and friend of IST, The Ripening Wanderer……we may not always agree but in this case we do….I also see a loss of true conservative thinking…..replaced with issues that have NOTHING to do with governing.

I feel that his thoughts should be widely read…..we live in a partisan nation and that will NEVER change until more people understand the real differences in the political thinking…..

I do not see socialism hiding behind every liberal and I do not see fascists behind every conservative….what I see is a serious lack of understanding by the people of political philosophy….nothing will change until the people realize their differences and stop insulting each other and learn to work together….

I do NOT see any of the two parties working in the interests of the people….that must change or nothing will change….change that thing that all Americans vote for but never get……

My Dad was a staunch Republican all his life but if he were alive today I doubt he would give them the time of day. —– You see my Dad was a Conservative Republican and from what I have …

Source: The Tragic Failure Of Real Conservatism In The Republican Party And The Best Hope For Tomorrow – THE RIPENING WANDERER

Again I do not see Trump as the hope that is needed….but I guess anything is possible…..especially in the minds of the voters.

Does America Know What It’s Doing in the Middle East?

With this election the Middle East has taken a backseat to the antics of the candidates and their supporters…….while everyone is flapping their lips the death and destruction continues…..

But with the election at an end there is one question that needed to be asked for a long time now…..

Does The US know what they are doing in the Middle East?

More U.S. troops and patience won’t fix what ails the region.

The United States has been heavily involved in the greater Middle East, including the Persian Gulf, parts of North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan in Central Asia, for over forty-seven years. The U.S. foreign policy establishment seems determined to stay there for at least another half century, despite that fact that our strategic objectives are unclear at best, and our ability to achieve much beyond short-term military successes has proved wanting.

U.S. officials established an active military presence in the Persian Gulf in 1979 following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Subsequently, the worst-case scenarios were averted—the collapse of the House of Saud, a Soviet victory in Afghanistan, and Saddam Hussein in possession of Kuwaiti oil fields. But Americans’ memories are also punctuated by tragedies and setbacks, from the Beirut bombing and the Mogadishu firefight, to the more recent disastrous war in Iraq and the ongoing fight against ISIS. These episodes often overshadow the day-to-day courage and sacrifice, as well as the individual acts of heroism, by the members of the U.S. military tasked with bringing order to a notoriously disordered part of the world.

Source: Does America Know What It’s Doing in the Middle East? | The National Interest Blog

My opinion is NO the US does not what it has done…..

The so-called “Arab Spring,” a series of popular upheavals throughout the Middle East and North Africa triggered in late 2010 by an increase in food prices in North Africa, was misinterpreted in the West as a pro-democracy movement. With misguided support from Europe and the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, the movement spread, destabilizing the region. In Egypt in particular, a government takeover by Muslim fundamentalists ended only after the military intervened. The country, a core partner of the U.S., can no longer play its stabilizing role in the region.

Historically, political miscalculations and land grabs by Great Britain and France have led to the creation of artificial states in the Middle East, such as Iraq and Syria. Today, these are failed states, playgrounds for regional and global powers, as well as non-state actors, such as Daesh (also known as Islamic State or IS) and other terror groups. Except for Daesh, these groups receive at least some support from regional powers, and also from the U.S. and Russia, which are fighting a proxy war in Syria and Iraq.

Source: Western policy blunders helped turn the Middle East into a playground for regional and global powers

Sadly I do not think that who ever wins this silly election will change things for the better and we will be ass deep in the problems of thew Middle East for many years to come.

The only way out of this quagmire is to end our interventionism altogether….

Looking over the global landscape, the areas most touched by US interventionist foreign policy are objectively in the worst, most desperate shape. The mainstream media will report that the current disaster in Syria came about because the people decided to stand up to a cruel dictator in the “Arab Spring” that swept through the greater Middle East in 2011, and that the dictator cracked down so hard it caused the violence to spin out of control. We know, of course, that is not the whole story. The US had been involved in fomenting unrest in Syria at least five years or more before violence broke out. A WikiLeaks-released cable from 2006 shows how hard the US Embassy in Damascus was working to figure out a way to overthrow the government. Shortly after the partially manufactured protests devolved into violence, the CIA moved in and began arming (and importing) rebels to finish the deed. In five years the country has been destroyed, hundreds of thousands killed, millions left without homes.

Source: The End of Interventionism? – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Another situation is that the US cannot end its interventionism…..because it is now an addiction that will not be easy to kick as long as the pushers of war can make their profits.

U.S. War Policy Has Created The Multi-polar World

I have been lax on my attention to the Middle East and I have no excuse other than the damn silly election is just too moronic to ignore…I tried…but I was weak….I hope to rectify my oversight.

As a student of international relations I am always looking at the US and its policies…..none of which bode well for the future…..

Because of its rush to war it is creating a world that all reason has vanished….

Based on US war policy, Russia factors in as the biggest and most important player in the strategic realignment with its insistence of a “multi-polar” world.

As the United States squanders the enormous good will and respect it once had by marching forward on the tired legs of a dying empire, the U.S.’ enemies-of-its-own-making are beginning to forge new alliances that might not have been a reality had the U.S. at the very least pursued a strategy of positive reinforcement and cooperation as opposed to a policy of tension, pillage, and war.

The first major crack in the iron curtain of the Anglo-American world hegemon started becoming apparent with the emergence of the U.S. destabilization and proxy war against Syria. While the NATO/American proxy war has left hundreds of thousands of Syrians dead, hundreds of thousands more displaced, and destroyed much of the Syrian infrastructure as well as crippled the Syrian economy, another result of American policy in Syria is that it has strengthened and even created alliances that otherwise may not have existed not only between Middle Eastern countries but European, Asian, and African nations as well.

Source: U.S. War Policy Has Created The Multi-polar World

When this election is completed we will have a brand new president…..and that carries significant weight in the world….but how will this country use this new chance at calming and ever hectic world?

Hint:  Bombs are NOT the way!

Global Research has touched on what it calls “the invisible government”……

In 1929, he, Edward Bernays,  persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the New York Easter Parade – behaviour then considered outlandish. One feminist, Ruth Booth, declared, “Women! Light another torch of freedom! Fight another sex taboo!” Bernays’ influence extended far beyond advertising. His greatest success was his role in convincing the American public to join the slaughter of the First World War.

The secret, he said, was “engineering the consent” of people in order to “control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it”.

He described this as “the true ruling power in our society” and called it an “invisible government”.

Source: Inside the Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton and Trump | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

It will be fascinating to see how the “invisible government” will generate support for whatever tact the new president chooses…..will we continue our rush to war or will we find a calmer and compassionate way of dealing with the world?

My guess is if Clinton wins then the RUSH is on!