Day: November 3, 2016

Is The U.S. Green Party Irrelevant?

A good question…..and the answer is yes….not because of the issues but rather because the media does not want to gum up the system with more than two parties……and because the 2 parties do not want to relinquish their strangle hold on the political system.

This piece covers the history and the directions of the two Green Parties, Germany and USA…..(a historical perspective and thank you)

In countries like Germany, the Green Party wields real power. But in America, not so much.

Many Americans value environmental protection and want to see more of it. But Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, is drawing only 1 to 3 percent in recent polls, even in an election where many voters dislike the major candidates and are looking for alternatives.

Stein certainly has worked to differentiate herself from the two major party candidates. In July she asserted that electing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton—probably the choice of most pro-environment voters—would “fan the flames of … right-wing extremism,” and be as bad as electing Donald Trump.

Source: Why Is the U.S. Green Party So Irrelevant? | New Republic

The media would have to actually report political news if there were more than the 2 parties…instead of driving the conversation and being used as a propaganda tool.

The system has kept the Green Party from its rightful place in American politics…..work must be done if we are to ever move past the domination of the wealthy in our politics….

Nothing irrelevant about the Green Party…..just worthless diatribes and recriminations by the political elites……

Do the country a favor and at least check out the party before you vote.  The US deserves a party of the common people….Dems have long since relinquished that mantle……why not the Green Party-US?

Do NOT believe the hype…the Green Party is relevant and much needed.

News From Afghanistan–2 American Deaths

I know this close to the election and everyone is on the edge of their chairs hoping that their candidate will pull out the win….

But for those that actually care…..two more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan fighting the Taleban…..and unlike the media I will NOT put the troops on the back shelf for any reason……

Two US service members were killed Thursday battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan alongside local troops, reports the AP, rare combat deaths for American forces who largely handed over securing the nation to Afghan troops some two years ago. NATO described the Americans killed and two other Americans wounded in the assault as being part of “a train, advise, and assist mission” in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province. They have not been identified. Kunduz officials later said they were investigating claims that local civilians also were killed in the fighting, possibly in a retaliatory airstrike.

Taliban fighters briefly overran the city of Kunduz in early October, a show of strength by the insurgents that also highlighted the troubles facing local Afghan forces 15 years after the US-led invasion of the country. The Taliban captured and held parts of Kunduz a year earlier as well before the city was fully liberated weeks later with the help of US airstrikes. Though US combat operations are officially over, thousands of US troops remain in Afghanistan, and special forces routinely accompany Afghan forces on missions, notes Reuters.

IST wishes to give our heart felt sympathy to the families of these slain soldiers……

With the deaths of these two brings up the subject of money spent and results accomplished in Afghanistan……after 15 years…..

If there is one thing that is certain in this tumultuous presidential election, it is this: Whoever replaces Obama will have to deal with the mess in Afghanistan that he leaves behind – the one he inherited from George W. Bush almost eight years ago and was unable to clean up.

Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been spent trying to build up an Afghan army and instill Western values in a hard-bitten land of warlords and tribal hostilities that has never been successfully controlled or changed by a foreign power.

Now a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that points to a resurgent Taliban and failing social programs – including improving the plight of Afghan women — begs the question, “Why are we still there?”

In a story Monday, the Times says that the Taliban has stolen a page from ISIS and is actively using social media as a propaganda vehicle to trumpet its victories and taunt the government. One video, for example, showed Taliban fighters cruising around the outskirts of Lashkar Gar, the capital of a southern province, in a captured American Humvee; the government has said there were no insurgents near there. In recent days, the Times said, the Taliban released video footage – shot from cameras mounted on a drone — of a suicide-bomb attack in Helmand Province.

A bumper crop of opium poppies this year is helping to fuel the Taliban resurgence. The SIGAR report says that since 2002, the U.S. has spent $8.5 billion on counter-narcotic efforts “yet this year saw a 43% increase in opium production, according to the United Nations. Eradication results are the lowest in a decade because of security challenges, namely in Helmand Province.”

(yahoo news)

In case you are interested….we have spent $780 billion….that is just over 3/4 of a trillion dollars that is trillion with a “T”……

What part of this sounds like a success?

F-35, The Flying Turd

I have been a staunch supporter of the A-10 Warthog that is due to be retired for a flying lump of manure, the F-35……I have written several posts in defense of the A-10…..(a little reminder)…..

When I heard the the US military was thinking about replacing the A-10 Warthog with the ultra-modern F-35 I went into full ranting mode….I have been defending the honor of the Warthog…..but in case you missed some of the post I have written….a little reminder……

Source: A-10 VS F-35 – In Saner Thought

(that post contains several other posts on the A-10 controversy)

I have stated many times what a waste of taxpayer money this “brick” is and yet the defense department keeps throwing taxpayer cash at it……

The Pentagon will need as much as $530 million extra to finish the development phase for Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, the most expensive U.S. weapons system ever, defense officials said.

……..

The call for more money comes as the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has issued a fresh warning that the aircraft, projected to cost $379 billion for a fleet of 2,443 U.S. planes, is far from showing it has full combat capability.

Source: The Lockheed F-35 Needs Another Half Billion Dollars – Bloomberg

A project that should have cost $379 billion now needs yet another infusion of taxpayer cash to the tune of $530 billion……that brings the total of a trillion (trillion with a “T”) for a piece of crap!

How much  more money will this debacle cost the American taxpayer….,that waste of money is needed elsewhere……rime for the DoD to admit that this is a failure and spend the money on more realistic programs.

Put this turd in the crapper where it belongs…the A-10 is the best plane for the defense of our troops…..period!

When will the taxpayer begin to regret that their money is being pissed away on programs that about as useful as rotten turnip?

The Real Reason Millennials Are Going Green(Party)

5 days to do the right thing and vote for a candidate that actually stands for change…….or you can just be part of the problem of this vicious cycle….your choice.

This time around the young are more likely than not to vote other than the 2 major parties……I know…..both parties are claiming a growing support but I just do not see it….

I voted Green and there seems to be a growing like for the Green Party and Dr. Stein……she has opined an op-ed about these voters….

OPINION | Millennials like Green stances on debt, healthcare, the economy and more.

Young people are planning to break from the two-party system in unprecedented numbers this year. Their discontent is real: one May 2016 poll showed 91 percent of voters under age 29 wanted an independent challenger to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Media pundits have reacted harshly toward these young rebels, especially those supporting me and Ajamu Baraka, who as progressive Green candidates are constantly framed as taking votes from Clinton.

But instead of attacking our young voters, why not ask what’s motivating them to vote outside the two-party box? They’re well aware of the conventional wisdom that they should vote for the “lesser evil,” which the media has beaten into them for months. What few pundits have been willing to admit is that for many young people, voting Green is not a whim but a well-considered decision.

Source: Jill Stein op-ed: The real reason millennials are going Green | TheHill

My question is……has these young voters really seen through the BS that the media feeds them?

I hope so for we truly need the change that everyone wants but is too afraid to vote for it…..instead they vote for slogans and platitudes and in the end they are left holding the same bunch of corrupt individuals…….and a burning desire for change…..a pathetic cycle that needs breaking…..

Bay Of Pigs: A History

Are you old enough to remember the the Bay Of Pigs?

If so then…it was an attempt by the US government to overthrow the Castro regime on Cuba……..

Many Cubans welcomed Fidel Castro’s 1959 overthrow of the dictatorial President Fulgencio Batista, yet the new order on the island just about 100 miles from the United States made American officials nervous. Batista had been a corrupt and repressive dictator, but he was considered to be pro-American and was an ally to U.S. companies. At that time, American corporations and wealthy individuals owned almost half of Cuba’s sugar plantations and the majority of its cattle ranches, mines and utilities

In May 1960, Castro established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and the United States responded by prohibiting the importation of Cuban sugar. To prevent the Cuban economy from collapsing–sugar exports to the United States comprised 80 percent of the country’s total–the USSR agreed to buy the sugar.

In January 1961, the U.S. government severed diplomatic relations with Cuba and stepped up its preparations for an invasion. Some State Department and other advisors to the new American president, John F. Kennedy, maintained that Castro posed no real threat to America, but the new president believed that masterminding the Cuban leader’s removal would show Russia, China and skeptical Americans that he was serious about winning the Cold War.

Lots has been said and written about this policy failure by the US…..but until recently the “real” story has never been told mostly we have had suppositions….but the CIA has released the history of what actually happened…..

The CIA today released the long-contested Volume V of its official history of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which it had successfully concealed until now by claiming that it was a “draft” and could be withheld from the public under the FOIA’s “deliberative process” privilege. The National Security Archive fought the agency for years in court to release the historically significant volume, only to have the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2014 uphold the CIA’s overly-broad interpretation of the “deliberative process” privilege. Special credit for today’s release goes to the champions of the 2016 FOIA amendments, which set a 25-year sunset for the exemption:  Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy, and Chuck Grassley, and Representatives Jason Chaffetz, Elijah Cummings, and Darrell Issa.

Source: CIA Releases Controversial Bay of Pigs History

Until now the story about the aftermath has been an “official” BS story……

Although not considered as significant a U.S. foreign policy failure and embarrassment as the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Mongoose failed to achieve its most important goals. Meanwhile, throughout the spring and summer of 1962, U.S. intelligence reports indicated expanded arms shipments from the Soviet Union to Cuba. Amidst growing concern in Washington over whether the Soviet weapons being introduced into Cuba included ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, in October 1962 the Kennedy administration suspended Operation Mongoose in the face of this far more serious threat—one that resulted in the most dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

As always I am willing to force feed history to my readers….you are welcome….

The Poisoning Of American Politics

I wish I could be like so many other  sheep out there and vote for one of the major parties’ candidates….but I just cannot bring myself to compromise my principles…..principles?  Yea those things that too many Americans have forsaken to join the celebs on their way to fleecing the public.

One of the biggest culprits that is poisoning our politics is Hillary Clinton…..

FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information has the Clintonites falling back on their tried-and-true response to all the revelations coming from WikiLeaks and other sources – it’s all a Russian plot. Except, this time, the hysteria has reached such a fever pitch, and the conspiracy theories are so unhinged, that the political discourse in this country will be poisoned for years to come.

It started with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer:

“So the question is: Where did these [emails] come from? How did they get to the FBI? Is Russia involved in this? We don’t have a clue where this stuff is coming from.”

Source: How Hillary Clinton Poisoned American Politics – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

She is not alone.  This election has done nothing to improve the average Americans grasp of politics…..the voter is the big loser in this election…..

Political satirist Lee Camp honed in on the stupidity of this election early on. His show, “Redacted Tonight,” has used the sharp irony of satire to try to challenge the flawed thinking that has dominated the political conversation. In one segment aptly titled “This Election Is an Insult to Our Intelligence,” he called on viewers to reject the narratives they are being fed and think for themselves.

Camp has been joined by a chorus of political satirists — Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Larry Wilmore, Stephen Colbert, and others — that has aimed at using smart comedy to counter stupid politics. The sad thing is that when politics is already a joke, it is really hard to joke about it.

Source: I’m With Stupid: The Entire 2016 Election Has Been an Insult to Our Intelligence | Alternet

Nothing will improve for the American people with this election…..no matter which of the clowns wins….it will be business as usual and the voter will suffer from voter remorse.