I thought I would do something different today…a musical interlude…..I have had enough of the trolls and idiots for this week…….
One of the best blues guitarists that you have never heard of…..
Ana Popovic….I must take my leave there is a winter storm brewing and lots of crap is going on……TTFN….(tah tah for now)……ENJOY!
Everybody please enjoy your weekend….chuq
I was wondering how long it would take to back peddle from one of Trump’s biggest applause and chants….”Build the wall”….”Build the wall”……”and make Mexico pay for it”…..thunderous applause and minutes of delirious chanting……
I did not have to wait very long….it did not make it to 20Jan17 and the official start of the Trump presidency……
Donald Trump is apparently keeping his promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” on the border with Mexico, but dropping the part about making Mexico pay for it. Insiders tell Politico that Trump’s transition team is working with Republican leaders on a plan to sidestep the need for new legislation by asking Congress to fund the wall under a George W. Bush-era law authorizing 700 miles of “physical barrier.” The sources say Republicans are considering adding wall funding to a spending bill that must pass by the end of April. They believe Democrats are unlikely to threaten a government shutdown to fight the move—especially since President Obama and Hillary Clinton were among the senators that voted in favor of the 2006 law.
GOP lawmakers declined to confirm to CNN whether Trump is planning to use taxpayer dollars to build he wall, but Trump himself had a response to the story. “The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!” he tweeted Friday morning. Reuters reports that a sheriff in Massachusetts has suggested using prison inmates from around the country to build the wall. “I can think of no other project that would have such a positive impact on our inmates and our country than building this wall,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, a Republican, said at his swearing-in ceremony this week.
The question is…will he build this wall? Does anyone think this will truly stop the flow of immigrants leaving the country?
And will Mexico cave and without protests pay for something the US builds?
Yes Irene it is a Friday and what better time than a little history…..(is that heavy sighs?)
Very few people realize the Germany in 19th and early 20th centuries was a colonial power…..they were in control of what was called in those days German Southwest Africa….during their empire days they were brutal to the indigenous people….and now one of this situations has come back to bite them in the ass….
But first a little background……
Conflicts between the indigenous population and the Europeans, mainly over control of land, led to outbreaks of violence in the 1890s, which worsened in the 1900s. In 1903 the Nama began a revolt, joined by the Herero in 1904. The Germans pursued an uncompromising military campaign that by 1908 had resulted in the death of about 54,000 Herero (out of a total Herero population of about 70,000), many of whom were driven into the Kalahari Desert, where they perished; 30,000 others also died in the revolt. In 1908 diamonds were discovered near Lüderitz, and a large influx of Europeans began.
During World War I the country was occupied (1915) by South African forces, and after the war South Africa began (1920) to administer it as a C-type mandate under the League of Nations. In 1921–22 the Bondelzwarts, a small Nama group, revolted against South African rule, but they were crushed by South African forces employing airpower. After the founding of the United Nations in 1945, South Africa, unlike the other League of Nations mandatories, refused to surrender its mandate and place South West Africa under the UN trusteeship system.
Descendants of the Herero and Nama people brought lawsuit for for what they called a campaign of genocide by German colonial troops in the early 1900s….
Germany has been sued for damages in the United States by descendants of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia, for what they called a campaign of genocide by German colonial troops in the early 1900s that led to more than 100,000 deaths.
According to a complaint filed on Thursday with the US district court in Manhattan, Germany has excluded the plaintiffs from talks with Namibia regarding what occurred, and has publicly said any settlement will not include reparations to victims, even if compensation is awarded to Namibia itself.
Source: Germany sued for damages of ‘forgotten genocide’ in Namibia | World news | The Guardian
It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit plays out….could be a harbinger of things to come….
Keep in mind the US refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide by the Turks and they try very hard to sweep the Native American treatment under the rug…..like is said…interesting.
Class Dismissed!
There has not been much in the news about the battle for Mosul in Iraq during the first days of this new year….
Last year I was concerned that the slow uptick of US troops would once again be a problem for the US….I still think that the problem is still growing…..
As Iraq continues to try to get their military offensive against the ISIS-held city of Mosul going, the Pentagon has announced that the US has doubled the number of advisers embedded with Iraqi forces in the area, saying there are “about 450” advisers now involved in the fight.
Military spokesman Col. John Dorrian further confirmed that there are an “unspecified,” but expanding number of US “advisers” embedded inside the city of Mosul itself, where heavy fighting is constantly ongoing. Iraq claims to have about 60% control over eastern Mosul, the less populace half of the city.
Despite repeated reports out of Mosul portraying the situation as non-stop fighting in the city, Dorrian was quick to reiterate that none of the US troops are technically involved in “direct combat,” and are simply deployed into combat areas in support roles.
Which is misleading at best, as was the Pentagon’s report that 4,935 US troops are currently in Iraq. The number of troops “officially” in Iraq is a carefully negotiated figure between the US and Iraqi governments, and officials have repeatedly admitted that the US has made a habit of keeping large numbers of troops in Iraq off the books by labeling their deployments as “temporary.” Though there is no accurate figure on the total number of US troops in Iraq, most estimates put it around 6,000.
(antiwar.com)
We keep adding troops …slowly…..the added troops will make the chances of Americans being killed more likely with each new report.
How many more will it take before too many is enough?
I have been mulling over the lack of concern that Americans have shown for the deaths of Americans in combat. I posted a piece about the death of an American soldier in Afghanistan from an IED and several others wounded…after checking my stats with WP I found that fewer than 5 people actually read that post….I found that pathetic and disturbing.
My disappointment simmered for about a week and being an opinionated SOB I could not let it go…..8 years ago I posted an article entitled “Watermelon Makes You Horny” and so far it has 6870+ hits and yet a post about the death of American soldier got 3…..how pathetic is that?
Because of the lack of interest I decided to write this op-ed…..
2016 will see Hillary Clinton being elected president of the US….not because she is the better candidate…..but rather she is the ONLY candidate. Trump could have had a shot at the prize but he could not keep his mouth or his Twitter account silent…..because of his mouth the American voted for the only other person that was on the ballot (at least in their little minds).
Clinton being the uber warhawk that she is then America will continue all of our adventurism in the world….our troops will be asked to do more and more to “defend” the homeland (of course that is the biggest propaganda tool they have) and NO one will try to stop her….why? There is NO true anti-war movement any more….and there lies the problem.
There is NO shared experience any more……Americans have No idea what our troops are going through thanx in part to the media and the fact that only 1% of the population is effected by deployments and war…..this needs to stop!
Now you may ask how do we stop this trend of concern by the American people?
As an anti-war protester in years past it pains me to have the only solution to this problem…..and I write it with a grimace……CONSCRIPTION!
I have written several articles over the years calling for the same thing…..most of which were contained in this op-ed that I recently wrote….
As a veteran of Vietnam and a staunch anti-war protester when I returned home….I have worked in the anti-war movement for many years that is until age and handicap got in my way…..and I…
Source: Would a Return to Conscription Substantially Reduce the Probability of War? – In Saner Thought
(Contained in that post are the others that I have written on this issue…I provide them to make it easier to check my stand on this)
It is time for this country’s faux patriotic fervor to be replaced with genuine concern for our country and especially our troops….
Conscription would accomplish two necessary things…..it would give all Americans a shared experience on war and it would help fuel an anti-war movement that would in turn make all this interventionism be held up to accountability.
Believe when I say it pains me that I must result to this…..but the country has become too complacent in our attitude toward war….no matter what the media and government tries to label it….if it involves American troops in harm’s way then it is WAR!
I realize that this stand will not be popular with my Left wing brethren….but if there is a desire to end war then something has to happen….bitching about it does nothing to protect American lives or bring constant war to an end….
At least I have a plan….what’s yours?
