Month: November 2016

Africa and the First World War

We are in the process of remembering the first World War….the world’s first modern war…..and the beginning of American interventionism….we all should study the causes and the effects……for this war created the world we know today.

A friend was teaching a class on the First World War….he knew of my interests on the conflict and asked if I knew anything about the war’s effect on Africa…I told him I knew more about the conflict and the Middle East but he asked if I would come lecture to his class on the African campaign….

ASkara soldiers at shooting practice in German East Africa

A million people died in East Africa alone during the First World War. Many Africans also fought in Europe, defending the interests of their colonial masters. Today, their sacrifice has been largely forgotten.

The most impressive monument for African victims of the First World War (1914-1918) is not to be found in Africa but in France. At the battle of Delville, one of the engagements of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the South African 1st Infantry Brigade sustained heavy casualties. John Del Monde knows the site well. He is a member of the board of the South African Legion veterans’ association. Together with partner associations from other Commonwealth member states, he has made it his life’s work to keep alive the memory of all those who fought for the British monarchy. To mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, ceremonies are being held in South Africa and Namibia and a new monument unveiled in Flanders, Del Monde told DW.

Source: Africa and the First World War | World War I | DW.COM | 16.04.2014

I was pleased to see the interests that the students showed in this part of the conflict……few sources on World War One seldom mention the deaths by Africans that fought in Europe….

I hope this lecture help some realize the scope of the deaths in WW1.

Should I Enter The 21st Century?

My Sunday begins as usual I would like to post on something that is not the same dismal stuff we all hear daily….but first….

Have you noticed that the nose picking, ass scratching Right can only handle one issue at a time?  Must be a hard life when your mind is that slow.

The staff after a day of reading Right wing flap-trap……

I guess they will be NO help in today’s post…..

Shall we talk about something interesting?

Recently I wrote a post about reading where I explained why books and reading are important to me and in closing I stated that maybe I should do a podcast called “Breakfast And A Book”…..my small attempt at humor…..apparently very small for most never got past the title……

Well my daughter read it and came by the house and told me that I should start a podcast.  I have been told numerous times that I have a face for radio…..

Not being the sharpest pencil in the techno babble box and being that I am an old fart….I had to ask….what the Hell is a podcast?

In case there are other old farts with a limited knowledge maybe this will help….

Podcasting is a form of audio broadcasting on the Internet. The reason it became linked with the iPod in name was because people download the broadcasts (audio shows) to listen to on their iPods. However you don’t have to listen to podcasts only on iPods; you can use your computer with some music software such as Windows built-in Media Player or iTunes for mac (which has a podcast library), or your smartphone, or even in your car. It really doesn’t matter, as long as you have some way to play music on your computer you will be able to listen to podcasts.

Or maybe this one will help……

But in short, a podcast is an audio and/or video recording made available on the internet, for which some mechanism of subscribing exists so that new ‘episodes’ can be automatically downloaded or the user automatically notified.

Their usage is limitless: News discussions, interviews, political debates, tutorials, etc. If there is a potential for a series of audio/video recordings on a specific topic or type of topics, podcasts are an option to be considered.

(c/net)

Now that we got the niceties out of the way……I would like to ask my followers and readers to weigh in on this situation…..would you guys be interested in a podcast from IST?

I was thinking a half hour show with discussions on the day’s stories…of course the stories I think should be talked about…….I would like for my readers to offer suggestions if they would….

If I do start a podcast it will be after the first of the year, 2017….time enough for me to get my stuff together to see if I can make it work…..

Please….let me have your feedback…it will be appreciated….

Poop Like A Rock

I begin my weekend…the weather is cooler than normal…still NO rain…..been about 60 days without a drop…..so without further ado…..”now for something completely different” (thanx to Monty Python)

NO this post is not some morbid constipation story that you were imagining…..

Many years ago I had a hobby making jewelry with semi-precious stones….I made rings, buckles, brooches, necklaces, etc….etc….etc…..

One of the stones I used a lot was one named copralite…..it had a wide variety of colors and shapes when sliced and polished…..

It was very popular when I was selling my pieces….that is until people learned that copralite was fossilized dinosaur poop.

People would commence in cleaning their hands in all sorts of ways and I would remind them that it was a ROCK!  And that it would not come off on their hands.

I relive a little piece of my past because of an article I read about copralite……

One of George Frandsen’s prize possessions weighs over 4 pounds, hails from the Miocene Epoch, and is named “Precious.” This paleontological treasure also happens to be a huge piece of fossilized coprolite—aka prehistoric poop—and nearly 1,300 similar samples like Precious have catapulted Frandsen to a Guinness World Record. The 36-year-old has entered the 2017 edition of the record book with the “largest collection of coprolite,” gathered from 15 states and eight countries. Frandsen, who runs the Poozeum website, secured his Guinness spot with 1,277 samples, but his site notes he’s gathered “several thousand more” since the August 2015 count. Per an article over the summer on Earth Touch News Network, Frandsen became “immediately hooked” on hardened dung when he came across a sample in a Utah fossil shop as a college freshman, earning him the first entry in his collection.

These types of fossils don’t pop up very often, but they often offer valuable insight into what animals of a particular era ate. Another highlighted piece in Frandsen’s collection is one that shows signs of “aborted coprophagy”—meaning an animal tried to eat it and then spit it right back out. Guinness notes that an expert in this sort of thing has indeed verified each and every piece in Frandsen’s collection (they’re rock-hard and emit zero smell, if you were wondering how awful that job must be). For other dream-seekers looking to make their mark in Guinness, Frandsen offers this nugget: “Have … lots of passion for whatever [you’re] doing. Mine is … fossilized feces … whatever your passion, you should follow it.” (Headed to the UK anytime soon? There’s a poop museum you can visit.)

Now that is a lot of POOP!

I understand being a collector….but poop?

On that note I take my leave…….enjoy your weekend and I will be back to form Monday…..that is in case you were wondering.

 

Closing Thought–18Nov16

Media distrust and Fake News……

This past election illustrated just how much social media can play in the election of a president….

Take Facebook for instance…..on a personal note….I do not and will not ever use FB for anything….mostly because I do not trust them at all….and the news coming out of the site does nothing to erase my suspicion…..

No, the pope didn’t endorse Donald Trump, and, no, Hillary Clinton didn’t sell weapons to ISIS. But those fake stories and others like them spread more widely on Facebook than actual news stories before the election, a new BuzzFeed analysis reveals. Specifically, the top 20 fake election stories racked up 8.7 million shares, reactions, and comments in the final three months of the election versus 7.4 million for stories from the likes of the New York Times and the Washington Post. The trend accelerated as Election Day drew near, and all but three of the 20 top performers were pro-Trump or anti-Clinton stories. “I’m troubled that Facebook is doing so little to combat fake news,” Dartmouth political science professor Brendan Nyhan tells BuzzFeed.

That may be changing. While Mark Zuckerberg initially dismissed the idea that fake news might have played a role in election results, he subsequently acknowledged that Facebook could do more about the problem. Since then, both Facebook and Google have moved to restrict such stories via ads, including Google barring fake websites from using its AdSense advertising program, reports Reuters. The Washington Post, meanwhile, interviews Paul Horner, one of the leading purveyors of fake stories, who says that “people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything.” And he adds this line sure to upset Clinton supporters: “I think Trump is in the White House because of me.”

If I read or hear something that I think would make a good post….I spend a lot of time verifying the info….if I cannot verify I let my readers know.

This is a list of things to do to determine the validity of a news article….

  • Avoid websites that end in “week” ex: Newsweek. These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts”.
  • Watch out if established mainstream media news sites are reporting on the story. Sometimes established media coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be a good un-bias alternative media source reporting on a topic or event.
  • Odd domain names generally equal odd domain names.
  • Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification, or that the author decided to not publish his/her name.
  • Check the “About Us” tab on websites or call the website landline number to chat with Editors and make sure that they are good guys.
  • Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the news source doesn’t know dick about web design.
  • If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to calm down and realize that it is just a news story. Go out and grab a beer with friends.
  • It’s always best to read multiple sources of information if you want. Or just read one source of information. Or don’t read at all. It is up to you.

I guess it is true….that it you say something long enough it will eventually be believed…..

I am just funny that way…..I want to give my reader as accurate info as I can without the filter of lies…..

Then we come to propaganda….the media is the biggest purveyor….the news is used to influence the public’s thinking….I would go into the use of propaganda but that would be a waste of time……instead if you can read then do it…..

https://lobotero.com/2014/01/06/propaganda-2-0/

https://lobotero.com/2013/01/11/what-is-propaganda/

Yes is why I have archives……

Hey! Old Farts! Listen Up!

How long have the Repubs been slobbering all over Medicare with their version of a better idea—-privatization?

For me it was with Reagan and his attempt to privatize the entire government as payback for all the support from the different industries.  Bush1 was no better.  We got a break during the Clinton years…..and then came another Bush2 and the same idea.  Obama years were pretty quite and then 2010 happened and the GOPers in Congress started thumping their chests again…..

And now we have a GOP House….a GOP Senate…..a GOP president and a SCOTUS with NO balls…..

How safe is your Medicare?

Maybe not as safe as you think……

Is Paul Ryan’s years-long dream of gutting Medicare about to come true?

With Republicans set to control both houses of Congress and the White House, Ryan (R-Wis.), who will serve another term as House speaker, “senses his moment,” as Salonobserves.

The Donald Trump transition website states that the administration will “modernize Medicare”—a euphemism, according to Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young at the Huffington Post, that corresponds exactly to what Ryan has in mind.

Speaking Thursday on Fox News‘s “Special Report,” Ryan said, “Medicare is going broke, Medicare is going to have price controls because of Obamacare,” adding, “You have to deal with those issues if you are going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has serious problems [because of] Obamacare.”

Source: Is Paul Ryan’s Dream of Gutting Medicare About to Come True? | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

How will this battle play out?

Check it out for yourself…….

House Speaker Paul Ryan proposed to privatize the current Medicare system, within the earliest days of the impending Trump administration.

As Members of Congress hastily hash out their opinions and post their announcements, TPM will track what they’re saying, charting whether candidates favor, oppose or release a foggy statement on the privatization and dismantling of Medicare.

The list will be updated as members of Congress release their opinions or figure out how they really feel about Ryan’s proposal.

Source: Your Medicare Phase Out Checklist

Your stupidity at the polls has consequences…….are you happy now?

Pres. Trump’s Infrastructure Plan

During the 2016 campaign president-elect Trump offered his plan for getting America great again…..he has a plan to spend about $1 trillion on infrastructure over a 10 year period….putting America back to work and renovating our aging infrastructure…..

I read an op-ed about Trump’s idea…there are not many out there right now….but that could change…..

Donald Trump was an outsider who boldly stormed the citadel of Washington DC and won. He has promised real change, but his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same – privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people. He needs to try something new; and for this he could look to Abraham Lincoln, whose bold solution was very similar to one now being considered in Europe: just print the money.

Source: Trump’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan: Lincoln Had a Bolder Solution – LA Progressive

Ambitious to say the least….workable?  I am not so sure.  Why?  Can you imagine the US Congress approving the spending of that kind of scratch on anything other than the Pentagon?  I can’t!

There is no doubt that our infrastructure needs some help….but will the GOP see it that way….they have not in the past.

Will they, the GOP,  have a change of heart?

Is There Anything Positive?

Is there anything positive about President-elect Trump?

Trump has started pulling back from some of his more iconic pledges during the campaign….but that matters not to his supporters because he was elected and they will justify each and every lie told to them….

I have a friend that he knew that I had a positive reaction to some of Trump’s foreign policy statements but he wanted to know if there was anything else I could say was a positive note….at this early stage of him being the president….

Well yes there is.

He has stated that TPP would was terrible deal for the American people and that he would work to see that it was not implemented…..

With the election of Donald Trump this week, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is effectively dead, Reuters reports. The 12-country trade agreement was signed last year after more than five years of negotiations. Championed by President Obama, it was supposed to be part of his legacy. Then the tide turned. Republicans, who had largely supported the TPP, nominated Trump, who called it a “disaster” and “rape of our country.” Even Hillary Clinton, who had supported the TPP while secretary of state, disowned it during the campaign, according to NPR. The Wall Street Journal reports the Obama administration had hoped to get it approved by Congress with the help of a Democratic Senate and incoming President Clinton. Neither of those things happened, dealing Obama a “bitter defeat.”

Leaders of both parties in Congress now say they won’t bring the TPP forward for a vote before Obama leaves office. It will be up to Trump to decide what to do with it, and the president elect has already stated his preference for renegotiating NAFTA and limiting imports. The TPP was set to be the biggest trade agreement in more than a decade. It got rid of many tariffs, set standards for intellectual property rights, and more. By excluding China, it was supposed to balance that country’s growing power in the region. China is likely to now pursue its own trade agreements in the region, possibly to the detriment of US influence.

I was opposed of this thing from the beginning and if he holds true to the rhetoric then that will be a positive thing……

He has also said that he wanted to re-instate Glass-Steagall…..I am waiting for word of this before I comment…..

Another country has decided to bow out of this horrible deal…….Vietnam

Vietnam has decided not to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with the trade deal’s future uncertain under incoming US President Donald Trump.- “The United States has announced it is suspending the submission of TPP to the parliament so there are not sufficient conditions for Vietnam to submit its proposal for ratification,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the National Assembly, according to Reuters.

from RT: 

Is this a dead issue?

Isolationist or Imperialist?

I will be posting this week on my favorite subject…..foreign policy……the new prez is an unknown quantity and his policies have not been given a fair judgment by the analysts…..

We have been listening to all sides on this debate….some claim that Trump will be an isolationist…..and others think he will continue the line of psuedo-imperialism……he has said so much in the days of the campaign that few know for sure what we are getting when it comes to foreign policy.

I have said several times….his appointments to DoD and State will be very telling in the direction he wants this country to travel…..

What comes next? Two foreign policy scenarios for a Trump presidency.

In the hit musical Hamilton, King George, newly estranged from the revolutionary American colonies, challenges his former subjects to justify their choice. “What comes next?” he asks, “You’ve been freed. Do you know how hard it is to lead? You’re on your own. Awesome, wow! Do you have a clue what happens now?”

We might well ask the same question.

The unexpected elevation of Donald Trump to the Presidency presents a failure for pollsters, a reorientation of American politics, and raises the fundamental question of what kind of policies a Trump administration is likely to pursue. On foreign policy, Trump’s statements throughout the campaign have been profoundly incoherent, ranging from more traditional hawkish Republican views on issues like the Iran deal, to more unorthodox, restrained views on Syria and other Middle Eastern conflicts, to his more conciliatory approach to Russia and truly bizarre fixation with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Source: Isolationist or Imperialist? | Cato @ Liberty

Analysts such as myself are waiting for the hammer to drop…..his appointees will be that hammer and foreign policy will be the nail….the fave for SecState does not fill me with optimism….

Please NO excuses…..comment on the two types of foreign policy….our citizens will have to enforce whatever set of policies this new prez has eventually decided on as his……

Trump And The Puzzle Of The Middle East

My friends at Ace News room have asked me to do a few observations on our new president-elect…..

As an American my perspective may be a bit different from those of our friends in Europe….

Since I am a foreign policy nerd I will be posting for the next couple of days on what a Pres. Trump will be facing…

Let me begin with the Middle East……

The region is awash with conflict and new prez will have to face the music and decide which is the best course for the US…….

Source: Trump And The Puzzle Of The Middle East

Please take some time and visit Ace News room…they have news from around the world daily…..

Closing Thought–17Nov16

Presidential scandals……it seems in recent history we have had more than our fair share of scandals around the White House.

Nixon it was Watergate and Agnew, Carter it was the hostages and peanut-gate, Reagan it was Iran-Contra, Clinton it was many most of them dealing with sex, Bush2 it was the lies for war and Obama…he had very little scandals other than the major news fakes…..and now we have a new president-elect, Donald Trump…..

It has been a little over a week since his victory and there has been nothing but confusion and contradictions and lies flying around Trump Tower…….how soon before we have our fist Trump Admin scandal?

On Monday, appearing at his first press conference since Donald Trump was made president-elect, Barack Obama spoke proudly about his administration’s track record, which was squeaky clean by two-term presidential standards. “I am very proud of the fact that we will—knock on wood—leave this administration without significant scandal,” he said. “We’ve made mistakes, there have been screw-ups, but I will put the ethics of this administration and our track record in terms of just abiding by the rules and norms, and keeping trust with the American people—I will put this administration against any administration in history.”

Source: The Trump cabinet is going to be plagued by scandals. | New Republic

This admin is shaping up as one that will be the talk of the town for decades after it slides into the annals of history…..it is looking like these years will make the corruption and scandals during the Grant admin look like amateurs….(don’t know about those years?  Read a damn book!)

For those that are too lazy to read that book…..

Source: Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration scandals – Wikipedia

Scandals are nothing new….but I think this time it will epic even more so than the scandals of the Grant admin…..